Mysterious Basement Dweller Discovered by Arkansas Family

A professor from Harding University in Arkansas and his family discovered that an unknown man had been living in their basement, following a series of strange occurrences in their home.

Dutch Hoggatt recounted that he first sensed something was off when his shoes, which he usually kept near the back door, went missing. He asked his wife if she had gotten rid of them, but she hadn’t. As time passed, he noticed chairs being moved and some food disappearing.

Authorities later identified the man as Preston Landis. It turned out he had been living secretly in their home for several days, initially hiding in the crawl space before moving to the basement.

The Hoggatts explained the situation to their daughter and son-in-law, Cherisse and Mark Gregory, who initially found it hard to believe. “I think they thought we were both crazy,” Cherisse said, “and I’m like, ‘This doesn’t just happen all of a sudden.’”

On April 29, while Dutch was at church, his wife Sharon searched the house and ventured into a storage room beneath the basement stairs.

“As she went further in, her eyes widened, and she started to back away,” Mark recalled. “She said, ‘There’s someone in there. I can see their legs or jeans or something.'” Mark went downstairs to investigate, finding the person in the closet silent.

Confronting the situation, he yelled for the man to come out while holding a baseball bat. “I started banging on the door and frame to scare him a little bit, and finally he said, ‘Okay, I’m going,’” he said.

Landis, once outside, told the Hoggatts he was homeless. Authorities stated he had arrived on April 27, first residing in the crawl space before moving to the basement. He had made a makeshift bed in a supply closet.

Law enforcement charged him with burglary and theft of property, setting bail at $15,000. The family emphasized that nothing was actually stolen from their home and that Landis expressed regret for his actions.

“We’re not mad at this guy,” Dutch remarked. “I feel sorry for him. It’s good to know someone was living here because this situation could have lasted much longer.”