Strange mail: harassment or my own paranoia?

[mustard_seed]

Hey guys.
I'm sorry if this belongs somewhere else. I debated putting it on the PD-in-law's section. Please let me know if I need to move it.

I received a strange item in my mailbox today and am unsure whether I'm overreacting and paranoid, or whether this could be connected to UPDMil's ongoing harassment. I'm currently NC with IL's, but I just found out they've been pushing DH to bring me back in line.

I found a newspaper in my mailbox today that seems like it was placed there by someone other than the postal worker. The address label had been ripped off, so it wasn't like it was just placed in the incorrect mailbox. And we don't subscribe to this newspaper. The headline story was related to the theme UPDMIL had been harassing me on for months after our wedding last year. This was the issue that finally caused me to react at DH, who then tried to set a boundary with her ("stop sending these creepy messages"), when the whole situation blew up. (Have had issues with IL's for years, have had several periods of VLC).

I told DH my initial thoughts, and he gave me a bewildered look and said he couldn't possibly imagine her doing something that weird. But I absolutely can imagine her doing something that weird. IL's live about 20 minutes away and could easily do this without our notice; mailbox is at the end of a long drive.

I'm sure there's nothing I need to or can do about this. I definitely don't want to react in any way. But it's making me feel a bit crazy 
Does this seem like a PD thing to do?

[Cat of the Canals]

Sounds exactly like a PD move. And I know exactly what it feels like to have that "Am I being paranoid?" feeling. My husband and I once thought his mom might have "done something" to some brownies she gave us. We refused to eat them and trashed the whole pan. She probably hadn't done anything to the brownies, but it was telling that we both felt like she might have.

[square]

Whixh do I believe is more likely?

A newspaper you don't subscribe to, with the address label ripped off, was dumped in your mailbox by a postal worker or random passer-by, that just happened to feature a topic central to an issue your MIL has

Or

Your MIL, who lives 20 minutes away and has been willing to harass you to the point of NC on a topic, decided to stick the paper in your box to make some insane point

I know which sounds way more likely.

BTW, if you are in the US, that's a federal offense. Tampering with mail.

[mustard_seed]

Sounds exactly like a PD move. And I know exactly what it feels like to have that "Am I being paranoid?" feeling. My husband and I once thought his mom might have "done something" to some brownies she gave us. We refused to eat them and trashed the whole pan. She probably hadn't done anything to the brownies, but it was telling that we both felt like she might have.

Thank you for sharing this... it's good to know I'm not the only one who has these thoughts. Yes, it really says something that this even seems possible. I wish my husband could see this stuff as it sounds like yours does.

[mustard_seed]

Whixh do I believe is more likely?

A newspaper you don't subscribe to, with the address label ripped off, was dumped in your mailbox by a postal worker or random passer-by, that just happened to feature a topic central to an issue your MIL has

Or

Your MIL, who lives 20 minutes away and has been willing to harass you to the point of NC on a topic, decided to stick the paper in your box to make some insane point

I know which sounds way more likely.

BTW, if you are in the US, that's a federal offense. Tampering with mail.

When you put it this way, it really seems like a no-brainer. Which, TBH, is what my mind said first, before I talked myself out of it. Thank you for the sanity check and feedback.

I am in the US and looked into the mail tampering thing-- I'd definitely heard that before, but didn't realize just how big of a deal it was. Before I even brought it up again, my husband said the same thing, like, isn't this breaking the law? He also mentioned putting a security camera at the end of our drive if anything like this happens again.

[mustard_seed]

And to clarify... My husband definitely thinks this was weird, and most likely not the postal worker who put the paper there. But he doesn't think it's his mom either. Time will tell... if she's doing stuff like this, I suspect it's bc I am no contact via phone and social media. I blocked her and her husband. So maybe that's also why it made sense in my head... it's a next logical step to continue her harassment via mail.

Thanks again for support and sanity. Thankful for this forum.