Curtis Bay is not too far from where I live, we have a similar house here. The number of drug houses in this area really increased in the last two or three years. In my area it seems someone with ill intentions moves in as soon as a family moves out, and the new residents often sell drugs, offer drugs to passers by, create odd smells. I’ve never seen anything like it in all my years in the city.

I suggest you install smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. The squatters in the house near me did something to the hot water heater, I imagine to get hot water without paying the gas bill. The house immediately next door to them had problems with carbon monoxide and then the fire. The carbon monoxide gave the man, the one living immediately nextdoor, headaches. I remember he showed dysphasia last year, I was there when the police were dismissive to him because of his speech patterns. Carbon monoxide poisoning can alter your ability to form phrases and make it hard to make yourself understood. It’s a shame all of us recognized that but the police were indifferent. Please get a carbon monoxide detector just in case. Your story sounds so much like the beginning of the house on Saint Benedict Street near me. I wish you well, please keep writing updates. Stay safe.