Philadelphia woman smelled a burning chemical scent from next door. The alleged squatter said he burned his toast: ‘This is house of horrors 2.0’

Mckenna (@mckenna114) has lived in a Philadelphia townhouse since April. Since moving in, she has reported a suspicious, burning, chemical smell coming from the next-door house. She believes she may be living next to a ‘house of horrors’ with an alleged squatter.

“I am living next to the Philly house of horrors 2.0,” she alleged on TikTok. She claimed that beside her, there is an abandoned townhouse she shares a wall with. Mckenna alleged that from that townhouse, she has been smelling a burning, chemical, plasticky scent. She also said she could see it seeping through her walls.

“Last night, I came to my wit’s end, because I’m sick from it. Like, I’m physically ill,” she reported. She saw smoke at midnight, and although she was usually asleep then, she saw it and called the fire department. It was a potential health hazard, like a moth found in a tampon. But more than that, the next-door townhouse was supposed to be empty, so the smoke was unexplained.

“And they came out, and they tried to bust down the door, and there is a squatter that lives in there,” Mckenna alleged. She claimed that the person who was supposed to be in the property allegedly owed $18,000 in back taxes. Therefore, Mckenna believes the person currently settling into the supposedly empty house is squatting.

She had to call the fire department

The squatter allegedly came out and told the firefighters the townhouse is his home. He also allegedly claimed he didn’t burn anything and didn’t need the fire department. But according to Mckenna, when he opened the door, she saw smoke coming from a small gap. In a twist, the man allegedly said, “I burned my breakfast.”

Mckenna didn’t buy his excuse. She commented, “I don’t know about you, but I, as a 26-year-old woman—I know the difference between burning toast, burning breakfast, and chemicals.” Although she denied being around drugs, Mckenna said she knew the difference regardless.

When he told the firefighters that he burned his breakfast, they allegedly agreed. They asked to peek inside his house, then promised to leave him alone. Mckenna claimed that they peeked inside with a flashlight. When they partially opened the door, the firefighters allegedly saw nothing noteworthy and wished the man a good night. She claimed that she watched and recorded the interaction from her car window.

Then, one of the firefighters allegedly approached her car window. He allegedly told her, “Good luck with that guy. He’s a whackjob.” Mckenna felt uncomfortable going back to her house and asked the firefighter for a report so she could tell her landlord. However, he told her to call emergency services instead. The firefighter also allegedly added that he would write in his report only that the squatter “burned toast.” Mckenna claims the house beside hers has no electricity or gas, which made the burning suspicious.

What was the squatter cooking up?

After the fire department left and Mckenna went into her house, she alleged she heard screaming from next door. Then she heard other voices, which made her believe the alleged squatter wasn’t living alone.

“I feel like he keeps them captive. Like, this is house of horrors 2.0,” she argued. Mckenna claimed that aside from the supposed squatter, she saw no one else leave the house.

In an update, Mckenna said that the police allegedly found out that the man next door was burning plastic, and that he had allegedly been squatting in the same location for six decades. They were unsure whether other substances were mixed in, and called the house “unlivable.” Mckenna said authorities planned to move the man to a shelter.

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