Man had life saved by social media after thinking he was being stalked by his neighbour

Social media might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it certainly comes in handy in some situations.

On the odd occasion, it can even make the difference between life and death - especially when the topic at hand has piqued the interest of Reddit users who love to sink their teeth into a good old mystery.

Amateur sleuths dusted off their detective hats to get to the bottom of quite a bizarre conundrum which a frightened bloke shared on a forum a few years ago.

But the now-notorious post has recently resurfaced - and the moral of the story remains just as prominent today too.

A user who goes by the username @RBradbury1920 explained that they had suddenly started to find notes stuck around their apartment with odd scrawlings on them from an unknown source that were 'in a handwriting that wasn't his'. Spooky, right?

The Reddit user explained strange Post-it notes started appearing all around his apartment. (Getty Stock Photo)

In a post, he wrote: "On the 15th of April, I found a yellow Post-it note in a handwriting that wasn’t mine on my desk reminding me of some errands I had to do, but told literally nobody about.

"While odd, I chalked it up to something I did in my sleep, thinking maybe in my half-awake state I scrawled it so it didn't appear to be my handwriting. I threw it out and thought little of it."

However, after this continued for a few weeks, the bloke started to think up all kinds of conspiracy theories.

Just four days after finding the first note, the Redditor explained that they had discovered another Post-it had been placed on the back on his desk chair which chillingly reminded him to 'make sure he saved his documents'.

He explained: "I was freaked out, but there were no other signs of a break in, so I set up a webcam in my house aimed at my desk and used a security-cam app for it to record after detecting movement.

"On the 28th, I woke up to find another post-it note, this one saying, 'Our landlord isn't letting me talk to you, but it's important we do'."

But when he checked what his webcam had picked up, he 'found nothing' - and to add another layer of mystery, the computer's recycling bin had also been emptied, which he said he was 'certain he did not do recently'.

The man became convinced that he was being stalked. (Getty Stock Photo)

As I'm sure you can gather, it was really chalking up to be quite the epic whodunnit.

The man told social media users that he suspected it might be the work of a stalker or possibly a burglar who was weighing up his property and trying to frighten him - so he turned to Reddit to get an outside opinion.

He'd really started to panic after noticing another Post-it note, which was blank, had been stuck on the outside of his door as well as on some of his neighbours doors too.

At this point, the paranoid Redditor was pretty sure that his landlord was the one playing Post-it note mind games with him - however, Reddit users realised it was more likely something even more concerning might actually be going on.

After a few people questioned that the notes didn't 'make any sense in the context' if the landlord was behind them, one smarty pants clicked onto the fact it was 'likely that [the man] is writing the notes himself, but he is forgetting'.

So, the lad looked a little bit closer to home and surprisingly found the answer was right under his nose all along.

Updating those who had followed the 'stalker' saga, he wrote: "Thanks to everyone who sent suggestions and gave advice on how to proceeded – especially to those who recommended a CO [carbon monoxide] detector...because when I plugged one in in the bedroom, it read at 100ppm.

"I had CO poisoning and thought my landlord was stalking me."

So, the good people of Reddit may have saved the original poster's life with their detective work, as you can become seriously ill if you breathe this poisonous gas in.

Symptoms of CO poisoning include headaches, dizziness, confusion, nausea, vomiting, brain fog, impaired memory, chest and muscle pain as well as shortness of breath.

But I guess we ought to add severe paranoia and a penchant for doodling on Post-it notes at this rate too.

The man later explained that his apartment was situated 'above the garage' and that he had been writing 'all sorts of nonsense' before someone warned him what was going on - so he was very, very grateful he made a Reddit account, to say the least.

Remember to always contact the emergency services before sharing a post on Reddit in most crises, though.