Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Five years ago, when I was in my late teens
and early twenties, I worked as a dancer and lived
in some rough neighborhoods. Because I was young and didn't
know any better, I ended up in a few risky situations.
So I was renting a place in one of the
worst parts of my small city. My boyfriend at the
(00:40):
time lived nearby, just down a long one way street
that led to a big intersection. So it was around
ten pm on Christmas night and he had just gotten
back from spending time at his family's house. He mentioned
he had a few things to take care of at home,
so I was left waiting for him. Now, at the time,
(01:02):
I didn't have a car, and since he hadn't bothered
to pick me up on his way back, I was
getting more and more frustrated. Eventually, I decided to walk
to his apartment. It wasn't a smart choice, especially since
the street I had to walk down was a long
one way road in a really bad neighborhood. The area
(01:22):
was known for being dangerous, especially at night, but I
wasn't thinking clearly. I just wanted to get to his
place and didn't want to wait any longer. The street
was set up with a few houses, but most of
it was taken up by a big elementary school and
a huge recreational field next to it. The whole area
(01:43):
was really dark at night, and to get to his house,
I had to walk against traffic, so any cars coming
down the road would be facing me directly. I made
it about half way down the street. On my right
side was the school in the field, and on my
left was the road, and that's when I noticed a
(02:04):
car coming toward me. I didn't think much about the car,
but then it started to slow down as it pulled
up next to me, all four windows rolled down. Inside
there were four big young men, two in the front
and two in the back. They started shouting at me
(02:26):
and saying other inappropriate things in a really aggressive way.
I tried to ignore them and kept walking, but I
sped up, hoping to get to the busy, well lit
intersection near my boyfriend's house as quickly as possible. At
this point, they were yelling at me to come back,
but there wasn't really any space for them to turn
the car around. The only way they could circle back
(02:49):
around was a cross street far down the road. I
was already feeling nervous, but then things got worse. Out
of nowhere, they put the car in park and all
four four of them started getting out. As soon as
I saw them getting out of the car, I started
running as fast as I could toward the intersection. I
(03:09):
honestly don't think I've ever run that fast in my life. Thankfully,
because it was a one way street, I was already
pretty far ahead of them by the time they got
out of the car. They didn't have enough time to
circle back around before I made it to my boyfriend's house.
I'm not even sure if they tried, but just knowing
they put the car in park in the middle of
(03:31):
the street, got out in the freezing cold, and started
yelling and coming after me was terrifying. When I told
my boyfriend, he was really upset that I didn't just
wait for him. He said it could have ended really badly,
and honestly I believe he's right. It goes without saying
that this wasn't the first time something like this happened,
(03:54):
but it was definitely the last time I walked around
that neighborhood alone at night. This took place on Christmas Eve,
after my shift. I worked the late second shift usually
from five p m to one a m. Though we
(04:16):
sometimes stay later if needed, and that night we didn't
finish until around two a m. Now the warehouse is
in a decent part of town, but a few blocks
away it starts to feel unsafe at night. When the
shift ended, my friend and I were the first to
head out to the parking lot. We stood there trying
(04:37):
to warm up our cars, which were covered in frost.
We were talking for about five to ten minutes, and
during that time I noticed a small car driving by slowly.
I didn't think much of it because the road was
a bit icy and I figured they were just being careful.
But then I saw the car coming back down the
(04:58):
road toward us, and this time it pulled into the
parking lot across from us and parked. That felt strange
because it was the parking lot for a welding shop
and no one is usually there after ten p m
except for police sometimes setting up speed traps. So I
pointed the car out to my friend and he said
(05:19):
he had noticed it too and thought it was a
bit weird. Then a few moments later, a guy got
out of the car and started walking across the street
toward us, but the car he came from didn't stay.
It drove off. As soon as he stepped out, the
guy walked straight over to us and asked my friend
(05:40):
if he had a lighter. Now. His tone wasn't threatening,
but the way he just showed up out of nowhere
put me on edge. While my friend responded to him,
I decided to walk over to my car and start
scraping the frost off the windows. I thought if I
kept myself busy, maybe he wouldn't bother trying to talk
to me. But as soon as I got out of
(06:01):
my car with my wallet in hand to use one
of my cards to scrape the windows, the guy called
out to me. I didn't want to be rude, even
though something about the situation felt off. I told myself,
it's fine. There are cameras watching, and the other workers
will be out in about ten minutes. I figured I'd
(06:22):
be okay. I'm six feet tall and about one hundred
eighty pounds soaking wet, but this guy was a lot
bigger than me. He looked like he was around six
feet two inches or six feet four inches and at
least two hundred fifty pounds. He started making small talk
with me, asking questions like what kind of work we
do there, and saying how it sucks to work on
(06:44):
Christmas Eve, Just random stuff like that, But I got
the feeling he was trying to size me up. Normally,
I get really nervous around people and can barely make
eye contact even with people I know. But I remembered
something my grandpa always told me, if you're in a
sketchy situation, stand tall, stick your chest out a little,
(07:09):
and make direct eye contact the whole time, like you're
not scared, so they think you're more trouble than you're worth.
I noticed him glancing at my wallet several times, which
made me even more uneasy. To be safe, I took
a small step back so i'd be in clear view
of the cameras. Then he said, hey, man, do you
(07:33):
think you could give me a ride to my house.
It's just down the road. I ran out of gas
at the store and need to go back home to
grab some money. Then he mentioned the grocery store where
his car supposedly ran out of gas, which is about
a mile down the road to the east. But the
strange part was he had come from the west. When
(07:55):
he walked over to us, I couldn't figure out how
that made any sense. My gut was telling me there
was more to this story than he was letting on,
and I started to feel even more on edge. And
if he needed a ride to his house in the west,
why didn't he just get a ride from the person
who dropped him off, who came from that direction in
(08:16):
the first place. That didn't make any sense. Then I
remembered reading online that during the holidays, some people try
to trick others into giving them a ride. Once they
get in the car, they forced the driver to take
them to their house and rob them. So at this
point I was done playing along and thought to myself,
(08:38):
this guy is definitely trying to rob me. I slowly
started walking backward toward my car, keeping my eyes on
him the whole time, trying to stay calm. I told
him I'm good man, and you need to get off
our company property. He looked annoyed and said, come on, man,
it's Christmas Eve, and I could see the anger in
(09:01):
his face. But I stood my ground and said, dude,
but get off the property. Then I reached my car
and opened the door, keeping my eyes on him the
whole time. As I leaned in and started reaching under
the seat for the knife I keep for safety. He
noticed what I was doing, and that seemed to make
(09:24):
him think twice about whatever he was planning. He hesitated
for a moment, then turned around without saying another word.
I watched as he walked down the street and disappeared
into a dark alley, blending into the shadows. About a
block away. I walked over to my friend's car to
tell him what just happened. He said the guy had
(09:45):
been trying to get him to give him money for
lighter and even asked for a ride to the ATM.
Two days later, I saw a picture of the same
guy on the local police department's page. They were asking
for information about him because he was wanted for a
series of robberies that happened during Christmas Week. It was
(10:13):
a Christmas evening in twenty twelve, and at the time
I was about sixteen or seventeen years old. My mom
and I were on our way home after a long
fun day with our extended family in Greater London. As
we drove, the hum of the car engine was the
background to our conversation. At first, we talked about how
(10:34):
much we enjoyed Christmas, and the funny stories shared with family.
But then the conversation shifted to Santa Claus, and from
there we started talking about other holiday characters, like the
Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, and jokes about how
magical these stories felt when I was younger. As we talked,
(10:55):
I brought up a memory from my childhood. My mom
used to keep my baby tea in a small jar
with a blue fairy sitting on top. It was a
delicate jar, and I could picture it so clearly, the
bright blue fairy with tiny wings perched on the lid.
I told my mom how much I used to love
that jar. It always felt special, like it held a
(11:18):
bit of magic from my childhood. But as I spoke,
I realized I hadn't seen it in years. I remembered
the last time I saw the jar. It had black
duct tape wrapped around it, probably to keep it from
opening by accident. If I had to guess, I'd say
that was years ago, maybe around two thousand and seven,
(11:40):
about five years earlier. When we were packing to move house,
we talked for a while about baby teeth and the jar.
My mom said she hadn't seen it in a long time.
Either and hoped it hadn't been lost during the house move.
We both felt a little sad thinking it might be gone,
but we weren't s or. I thought it was a
(12:02):
bit gross that my mum had kept all my teeth
and that they were just sitting somewhere in the house.
We laughed about it and kept talking for a while
before moving on to another topic. Not long after we
arrived home, we walked through the front door and greeted
our dog as we always did. My mum headed into
(12:25):
the kitchen and I followed right behind her, and there
on the kitchen floor was the small jar. It was
broken into two pieces, and all the tiny baby teeth
were scattered across the floor. At first, I thought my
mum was trying to scare me, even though she had
never played a prank on me in her entire life.
(12:47):
But when I looked at her face, I realized she
wasn't behind it, and she was just as shocked as
I was. That's when I knew this wasn't her doing.
Without wasting a second, she grabbed her phone and started
calling everyone she could think of, friends, family, anyone to
tell them what had happened. Meanwhile, I stood there staring
(13:09):
at the mess on the floor. How had the jar
ended up here right after we had just been talking
about it. My dog Peica was already pretty old at
the time, probably around eleven years, and she was very
calm and well behaved. When we weren't home, she would
(13:30):
mostly just nap or quietly wait for us to come back.
She never went through our belongings or caused any kind
of mess. In fact, it wasn't even possible for her
to get into most of our stuff, since everything was
stored in drawers or cupboards that she couldn't reach even
if she tried. I looked around the kitchen, trying to
(13:52):
make sense of it all. How could the jar, which
I hadn't seen in years, suddenly appear here, broken and
scattered on the floor, And why now, just after we'd
been talking about it. It felt so bizarre and completely unexplainable.
I still can't figure out how it happened or what
(14:14):
caused it. It's one of those moments that stays with
you no matter how much time passes.
Five years ago, when I was in my late teens
and early twenties, I worked as a dancer and lived
in some rough neighborhoods. Because I was young and didn't
know any better, I ended up in a few risky situations.
So I was renting a place in one of the
worst parts of my small city. My boyfriend at the
(00:40):
time lived nearby, just down a long one way street
that led to a big intersection. So it was around
ten pm on Christmas night and he had just gotten
back from spending time at his family's house. He mentioned
he had a few things to take care of at home,
so I was left waiting for him. Now, at the time,
(01:02):
I didn't have a car, and since he hadn't bothered
to pick me up on his way back, I was
getting more and more frustrated. Eventually, I decided to walk
to his apartment. It wasn't a smart choice, especially since
the street I had to walk down was a long
one way road in a really bad neighborhood. The area
(01:22):
was known for being dangerous, especially at night, but I
wasn't thinking clearly. I just wanted to get to his
place and didn't want to wait any longer. The street
was set up with a few houses, but most of
it was taken up by a big elementary school and
a huge recreational field next to it. The whole area
(01:43):
was really dark at night, and to get to his house,
I had to walk against traffic, so any cars coming
down the road would be facing me directly. I made
it about half way down the street. On my right
side was the school in the field, and on my
left was the road, and that's when I noticed a
(02:04):
car coming toward me. I didn't think much about the car,
but then it started to slow down as it pulled
up next to me, all four windows rolled down. Inside
there were four big young men, two in the front
and two in the back. They started shouting at me
(02:26):
and saying other inappropriate things in a really aggressive way.
I tried to ignore them and kept walking, but I
sped up, hoping to get to the busy, well lit
intersection near my boyfriend's house as quickly as possible. At
this point, they were yelling at me to come back,
but there wasn't really any space for them to turn
the car around. The only way they could circle back
(02:49):
around was a cross street far down the road. I
was already feeling nervous, but then things got worse. Out
of nowhere, they put the car in park and all
four four of them started getting out. As soon as
I saw them getting out of the car, I started
running as fast as I could toward the intersection. I
(03:09):
honestly don't think I've ever run that fast in my life. Thankfully,
because it was a one way street, I was already
pretty far ahead of them by the time they got
out of the car. They didn't have enough time to
circle back around before I made it to my boyfriend's house.
I'm not even sure if they tried, but just knowing
they put the car in park in the middle of
(03:31):
the street, got out in the freezing cold, and started
yelling and coming after me was terrifying. When I told
my boyfriend, he was really upset that I didn't just
wait for him. He said it could have ended really badly,
and honestly I believe he's right. It goes without saying
that this wasn't the first time something like this happened,
(03:54):
but it was definitely the last time I walked around
that neighborhood alone at night. This took place on Christmas Eve,
after my shift. I worked the late second shift usually
from five p m to one a m. Though we
(04:16):
sometimes stay later if needed, and that night we didn't
finish until around two a m. Now the warehouse is
in a decent part of town, but a few blocks
away it starts to feel unsafe at night. When the
shift ended, my friend and I were the first to
head out to the parking lot. We stood there trying
(04:37):
to warm up our cars, which were covered in frost.
We were talking for about five to ten minutes, and
during that time I noticed a small car driving by slowly.
I didn't think much of it because the road was
a bit icy and I figured they were just being careful.
But then I saw the car coming back down the
(04:58):
road toward us, and this time it pulled into the
parking lot across from us and parked. That felt strange
because it was the parking lot for a welding shop
and no one is usually there after ten p m
except for police sometimes setting up speed traps. So I
pointed the car out to my friend and he said
(05:19):
he had noticed it too and thought it was a
bit weird. Then a few moments later, a guy got
out of the car and started walking across the street
toward us, but the car he came from didn't stay.
It drove off. As soon as he stepped out, the
guy walked straight over to us and asked my friend
(05:40):
if he had a lighter. Now. His tone wasn't threatening,
but the way he just showed up out of nowhere
put me on edge. While my friend responded to him,
I decided to walk over to my car and start
scraping the frost off the windows. I thought if I
kept myself busy, maybe he wouldn't bother trying to talk
to me. But as soon as I got out of
(06:01):
my car with my wallet in hand to use one
of my cards to scrape the windows, the guy called
out to me. I didn't want to be rude, even
though something about the situation felt off. I told myself,
it's fine. There are cameras watching, and the other workers
will be out in about ten minutes. I figured I'd
(06:22):
be okay. I'm six feet tall and about one hundred
eighty pounds soaking wet, but this guy was a lot
bigger than me. He looked like he was around six
feet two inches or six feet four inches and at
least two hundred fifty pounds. He started making small talk
with me, asking questions like what kind of work we
do there, and saying how it sucks to work on
(06:44):
Christmas Eve, Just random stuff like that, But I got
the feeling he was trying to size me up. Normally,
I get really nervous around people and can barely make
eye contact even with people I know. But I remembered
something my grandpa always told me, if you're in a
sketchy situation, stand tall, stick your chest out a little,
(07:09):
and make direct eye contact the whole time, like you're
not scared, so they think you're more trouble than you're worth.
I noticed him glancing at my wallet several times, which
made me even more uneasy. To be safe, I took
a small step back so i'd be in clear view
of the cameras. Then he said, hey, man, do you
(07:33):
think you could give me a ride to my house.
It's just down the road. I ran out of gas
at the store and need to go back home to
grab some money. Then he mentioned the grocery store where
his car supposedly ran out of gas, which is about
a mile down the road to the east. But the
strange part was he had come from the west. When
(07:55):
he walked over to us, I couldn't figure out how
that made any sense. My gut was telling me there
was more to this story than he was letting on,
and I started to feel even more on edge. And
if he needed a ride to his house in the west,
why didn't he just get a ride from the person
who dropped him off, who came from that direction in
(08:16):
the first place. That didn't make any sense. Then I
remembered reading online that during the holidays, some people try
to trick others into giving them a ride. Once they
get in the car, they forced the driver to take
them to their house and rob them. So at this
point I was done playing along and thought to myself,
(08:38):
this guy is definitely trying to rob me. I slowly
started walking backward toward my car, keeping my eyes on
him the whole time, trying to stay calm. I told
him I'm good man, and you need to get off
our company property. He looked annoyed and said, come on, man,
it's Christmas Eve, and I could see the anger in
(09:01):
his face. But I stood my ground and said, dude,
but get off the property. Then I reached my car
and opened the door, keeping my eyes on him the
whole time. As I leaned in and started reaching under
the seat for the knife I keep for safety. He
noticed what I was doing, and that seemed to make
(09:24):
him think twice about whatever he was planning. He hesitated
for a moment, then turned around without saying another word.
I watched as he walked down the street and disappeared
into a dark alley, blending into the shadows. About a
block away. I walked over to my friend's car to
tell him what just happened. He said the guy had
(09:45):
been trying to get him to give him money for
lighter and even asked for a ride to the ATM.
Two days later, I saw a picture of the same
guy on the local police department's page. They were asking
for information about him because he was wanted for a
series of robberies that happened during Christmas Week. It was
(10:13):
a Christmas evening in twenty twelve, and at the time
I was about sixteen or seventeen years old. My mom
and I were on our way home after a long
fun day with our extended family in Greater London. As
we drove, the hum of the car engine was the
background to our conversation. At first, we talked about how
(10:34):
much we enjoyed Christmas, and the funny stories shared with family.
But then the conversation shifted to Santa Claus, and from
there we started talking about other holiday characters, like the
Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, and jokes about how
magical these stories felt when I was younger. As we talked,
(10:55):
I brought up a memory from my childhood. My mom
used to keep my baby tea in a small jar
with a blue fairy sitting on top. It was a
delicate jar, and I could picture it so clearly, the
bright blue fairy with tiny wings perched on the lid.
I told my mom how much I used to love
that jar. It always felt special, like it held a
(11:18):
bit of magic from my childhood. But as I spoke,
I realized I hadn't seen it in years. I remembered
the last time I saw the jar. It had black
duct tape wrapped around it, probably to keep it from
opening by accident. If I had to guess, I'd say
that was years ago, maybe around two thousand and seven,
(11:40):
about five years earlier. When we were packing to move house,
we talked for a while about baby teeth and the jar.
My mom said she hadn't seen it in a long time.
Either and hoped it hadn't been lost during the house move.
We both felt a little sad thinking it might be gone,
but we weren't s or. I thought it was a
(12:02):
bit gross that my mum had kept all my teeth
and that they were just sitting somewhere in the house.
We laughed about it and kept talking for a while
before moving on to another topic. Not long after we
arrived home, we walked through the front door and greeted
our dog as we always did. My mum headed into
(12:25):
the kitchen and I followed right behind her, and there
on the kitchen floor was the small jar. It was
broken into two pieces, and all the tiny baby teeth
were scattered across the floor. At first, I thought my
mum was trying to scare me, even though she had
never played a prank on me in her entire life.
(12:47):
But when I looked at her face, I realized she
wasn't behind it, and she was just as shocked as
I was. That's when I knew this wasn't her doing.
Without wasting a second, she grabbed her phone and started
calling everyone she could think of, friends, family, anyone to
tell them what had happened. Meanwhile, I stood there staring
(13:09):
at the mess on the floor. How had the jar
ended up here right after we had just been talking
about it. My dog Peica was already pretty old at
the time, probably around eleven years, and she was very
calm and well behaved. When we weren't home, she would
(13:30):
mostly just nap or quietly wait for us to come back.
She never went through our belongings or caused any kind
of mess. In fact, it wasn't even possible for her
to get into most of our stuff, since everything was
stored in drawers or cupboards that she couldn't reach even
if she tried. I looked around the kitchen, trying to
(13:52):
make sense of it all. How could the jar, which
I hadn't seen in years, suddenly appear here, broken and
scattered on the floor, And why now, just after we'd
been talking about it. It felt so bizarre and completely unexplainable.
I still can't figure out how it happened or what
(14:14):
caused it. It's one of those moments that stays with
you no matter how much time passes.
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