I Shouldn’t Have Gone for a Walk at 2AM | True Scary Stories - Scary Stories from Bad Vibes

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
I used to walk a lot at night. I live
in a small town the kid where most people are
asleep by ten pm, and the streets get so quiet
it's almost peaceful. I put in my headphones, listen to
a podcast or some ambient music, and just wander around
for a while to clear my head. This happened in

(00:28):
the late October of last year. It had been raining
on and off all day, and by the time it
cleared it was already around eleven thirty pm. I remember
checking the weather and seeing the rain was supposed to
hold off until the morning, so I figured I'd go
for a quick walk before bed. My usual loop is

(00:50):
about thirty minutes a few neighborhood streets that circle back
to my place, but that night, for whatever reason, I
felt like doing something different. There's a wooded trail near
the edge of town. Not super deep into the woods
or anything, just a short footpath that cuts through a
patch of trees and connects two neighborhoods. I'd taken it

(01:12):
in a few times during the day, but never at night.
It's not lit or maintained well, and after a storm
it can get muddy. Still, I don't know something about
the night felt calm, The air smelled clean, and I
had a strange sense of nostalgia I can't explain, like

(01:32):
the kind you get from an old song you can't
quite place. So I took the path. It starts at
the end of a cul de sac that dips into
a small slope. I stepped around a few puddles and
kept walking, music low in my ears. I was maybe

(01:53):
five minutes in when I noticed something weird. No wind,
no bugs, no distant cars. It was just so quiet.
It was so quiet that I took my headphones out
just to confirm. That's when I realized how unnaturally silent
everything was, even in the middle of night. There's usually
some sound, leaves moving, distant barking, a plane overhead, but

(02:18):
there was nothing, just my breathing and the squeaky sound
my shoes made. I started walking a little faster, not
because I was scared, exactly, just unsettled. Then I saw
someone up ahead, not close, maybe thirty to forty feet away,

(02:39):
just standing in the middle of the trail, no flashlight,
no phone, not moving. At first I thought maybe it
was just a sign or a tree, like my eyes
were playing tricks on me. But the shape was two
human shoulders, head, arms by its side. Still, I froze.

(03:03):
I tried to clear my throat say something like hey
or okay, but my voice caught and the longer I stared,
the more wrong it though, Like something about the way
the figure stood didn't look right, too stiff, too balanced,
almost like it was being held up. After a few seconds,

(03:27):
I took a step back, just one, and I swear
to God. As I did, it tilted its head, not slowly,
not naturally, but like a jerk, a sudden, mechanical tilt
to the side. My legs moved before I had time
to think. I turned around and started walking fast, not running.

(03:51):
I didn't want to make it chase me, if that
makes any sense. But I was moving quick, watching the ground,
trying not to slip. Then I heard it, splashing sounds,
heavy footsteps behind me, hitting puddles, not running, just walking,
but hard getting closer. I didn't look back. I cut

(04:15):
through the trail faster than I ever had, hit the
edge of the cul de sac on the other side,
and booked it down the street. I turned corner after corner,
not stopping until the main road with street lights and houses.
Only then did I glance behind me, nothing, no one.
The street was empty. I walked the rest of the

(04:38):
way home in the days. My clothes were soaked, even
though it hadn't rained. I remember locking the door behind
me and just standing in my living room trying to
process what the hell just happened. I'm a twenty two

(05:02):
year old male. It was a regular morning. I had
just got off the bus and was walking five minutes
to campus. Pull my headphones on. The university was massive,
plastered with signs you can't miss it. It's an important detail. Still,
a dirty little mini van pulled up beside me. The

(05:22):
man inside looked to be in his forties. His clothes
were grimy. The van was grimy, but nothing strange. It's
normal for these local vans to hauld all kinds of junk.
He asked gently where the UNI was. I pointed, smiled
and told him it was straight ahead, and declined. His
offer for a lift seemed generous. He drove off. I

(05:48):
put my headphones back in and kept walking. One minute later,
the van was stopped in front of me again, get in,
he said, I'll give you a ride. I smiled and
repeated the same no thanks. I was a few feet away.
He stared at me for a few seconds, then drove away.

(06:11):
I kept going. My friend called me, telling me that
he'd be late and to wait at the cafeteria. As
I talked, the van rolled up beside me for the
third time. He asked again, but this time the tone
had shifted. He looked at me longer, his gaze slid
from my chest to my feet. He wasn't offering me

(06:33):
any help. He looked tense, like someone who expected to
be obeyed. I took the phone away from my ear
and told him, dude, the UNI is literally two steps away,
and I pointed, thanks, but no. He watched me for
a few seconds more and drove off. The road was

(06:54):
nearly empty. Then I realized he wasn't lost. If he
wanted to get to campus, he'd already be there. He
looped the block he was circling me. My first honest
thought was confusion, then anger, why had I been so polite,
and then a sharper feeling concern. I flipped on survival mode,

(07:18):
and even if he wanted to rob me, he had
many chances to do that, as the road was very empty.
One minute later, at the edge of campus, he stopped
me again, get in I'll give you a ride. This time,
I looked at him dead in the face and said no.
Now you can go wherever the hell you want to go.

(07:40):
He didn't even look on my face at all this time.
He stared at my hair, then my body for thirty
seconds straight, slow and hungry, like a predator, deciding which
move to make. I couldn't read his eyes lust something darker. Honestly,
I didn't want to know. I know something in the

(08:01):
passenger seat a rope. It was a small detail, but
it landed like a weight on my chest for a second.
I imagine scenes I'll jump him, I'll punch him, I'll
teach him a lesson. I felt that boiling superhero instinct,
the idea that I could handle it because I'm a
guy like him. I wasn't a very strong guy, but

(08:23):
I thought I had a good chance, or because I
can't let the slide because I'm a man. I crossed
the road and slipped through the university gate, leaving the
van behind me. But the van pulled up near the
campus walls and parked. I stopped inside the door, frozen
and shaking with a mess of emotions, shock, confusion, anger.

(08:48):
I even told myself out loud. Maybe I should have
gotten in the van. Maybe I should have led and
put his hands on me so I could beat him
when he had his guard down. I wanted him to
meet the wrong person, and believe it or not, I
turned around and was heading outside the campus back to him.
Then my friend messaged me, Okay, I just arrived. Let's

(09:11):
finish our study. He called again, telling me to hurry
up so we can get a good spot in the library.
I let it out aside and walked back inside. Now
that I'm writing this, I know how reckless that impulse
to be a hero was. It was raw motion, not strategy.
I'm common, gentle by nature, but men sometimes they think

(09:33):
they can handle sexual assault like it's a problem they
can fix with force. That's not true. It can go
wrong in a second. I'm very lucky it didn't for me.
This happened a few years ago. It was a short encounter,

(09:54):
but definitely lasted. It was New Year's Eve twenty eighteen.
I was nine, my brother was six. I was at
a friend's house watching the fireworks from her back garden.
We left around ten pm and began the four minute
walk home. It was dark, but we were comfortable walking
home as we had many times, and could see my house.

(10:19):
As we got closer, my brother stopped talking about the
fireworks and asked, who's at our house. I didn't think
much of it and just said mom, why? He said, well,
who's she outside with? I was obviously confused and looked
up to see two men leaning against our wall. Late thirties.

(10:41):
My neighbor at the time often through parties, so I
assumed it was someone from her house and gave him
a simple don't know. Took his hands and continued walking.
We got about twenty feet from my house when they
stood up and began walking towards us, barking. I grabbed
my brother and ran with him back down the street.

(11:03):
At the end of the street, there was a ginnel
leading to the back gardens. I crossed over the street
and hid behind the end house with my brother. I
called my mom, yes I was nine, with a phone.
She answered and started having to go at me. She
assumed I was joking and went to the front door,
expecting no one to be there. I heard the door

(11:24):
open and it was silent for a few seconds. Then
I heard her yelling, what the fuck are you doing?
Sat on my walls. I heard frantic apologies coming down
the phone, then her yelling again and why the fuck
are you barking and changing my children? She later said,
they apologized and ran down the opposite street. My brother

(11:44):
was too scared to move, and whatever adrenaline I had
was gone and I couldn't carry him anymore. We asked
around and no one saw anyone. Our curfew was then
moved to eight pm. She said it didn't seem drunk,
but they didn't stick it round enough for her to
be sure. Shortly after, I was in the same backings

(12:08):
with a friend around seven. The area had back gardens, garages,
and a circular road around the garages. We were sat
at an elderly neighbor's garage when a fully tinted van
came in. We ignored it, assuming it was here to
fix something. After ignoring it, we could Pulley forgot about

(12:28):
it and began to skip in the road. The van
began driving behind us. It chased us three times behind
the backings. After the third time, we had the bright
idea to leave the backings and close the gate behind
us to avoid eating chased. I mentioned it but brushed
it off, and I never really mentioned it again, but

(12:49):
I imagine it could be connected. And we moved shortly
after after this, and honestly still now. My brother suffers
from severe anxiety when it came to going anywhere alone.
It's gotten a lot better in the recent years, though. Okay,

(13:14):
this is a pretty weird one and happened to me
when I was about sixteen or seventeen. I can't exactly
recall fully, but when I was around that age, I
often traveled back and forth on foot for my friend's
houses if they weren't that far away. For context, I
live in a small village in the UK. It's often
really quiet besides a few mischievous teenagers, and as a

(13:37):
teen myself, I was flat broke and public transportation didn't
run too late. Bus routes were also asked, so I
would often walk. One night, after a few drinks at
my friend's house, it was probably around eleven pm, i'd
begin my usual walk home, listening to some music and
chilling the usual On my route, I usually would take

(14:01):
a shortcut through the suburban estate of old people's homes
and bungalows. It's pretty dark as the street lights are
scattered a bit. As I was walking through, I saw
a scrawny figure in the distance with a large silhouette
of hair, stumbling a little, almost like they were drunk.
As I approached, I could make out an old, wrinkly guy,

(14:23):
probably about five six, with gray, long missy hair, wearing
a long cream mac raincoat, kind of an Einstein esque look.
I tried to swiftly pass him, but before I passed him,
he turned to me and grinned with white eyes, saying,
I like little boys? Do you like little boys? I

(14:45):
rest past him, quite scared and just said no, sorry, mate,
or something to that effect. As I got further away,
I began to run a little, and I turned back
to see him slowly following me. I eventually shook him
off and got home. This may not be the most
interesting story, but that night has always stuck with me,

(15:08):
and I think about it often as I usually take
the same shortcut all these years later. For some context,
I'm now fourteen, and I'm a female. I was around
eight or nine years old when this happened. It was

(15:30):
around five or six am. Everyone was going to work
and school. Normally at this time my brother would drop
off my mom to work. I lived with him. My
mom some lady and my mom's boyfriend at the time,
I changed and walked out with my backpack. I'm supposed
to go to school way later, like around eight am.

(15:54):
As I'm walking out, the lady that lived with us
looks at me while she's doing the dishes and just
lets me knowing that my brother and mom had already
left and that it's unsafe. Oh and for some more contexts,
that lady was my mom's boyfriend's ex. Why she was
living with us, I don't really know. She just gives

(16:15):
me a glare and I walk out. I have no
idea that my brother left with my mom, and assume
he had left me. See no car outside. I began
crying and crossing the street, hopelessly calling out for my mom.
I then see these big trees and two guys. They

(16:35):
were really skinny and looked to me about twenty to
twenty five. Their clothes weren't the best, and they had
these weird grins on their face. One of them spots
me and tells me, we know where your mom is,
makes a motion with his hand for me to follow him,
and they go back behind a bush. But I'm forever

(16:55):
thankful that I turned back around and went into my house.
It was still dark outside. I am scared to think
of what could have happened. This may not be the
most interesting story, but it hurts me how at such
a young age these things can happen to you. Stay
safe and take care of your kids. I don't tell

(17:23):
people this story because it sounds made up. It's not.
I don't care if anyone believes me. It happened, and
it still messes with me when I think about it.
Back in twenty eighteen, I was living in a small
apartment on the edge of town. Nothing fancy, just a
one bedroom. The building was old, smelled like flower and wood,

(17:46):
but it was cheap and quiet. I was doing contract
work from home, so I would often go on long
walks at night just to clear my head. My route
was always the same, up two blocks, cut over through
a small park, then looped back down towards the grocery
store and home. It took about forty minutes. I usually

(18:09):
started around midnight, not for any spooky reason, just because
I kept weird hours and like when the streets were empty.
So one night, late September or early October, I went
out as usual. The air was damp and cool, high humidity.

(18:29):
I had headphones in podcasts, playing Hoodie. On normal night,
everything felt fine until I turned off the main road
and cut through the park. There's a narrow sidewalk that
runs along the back edge of the park, pass some trees,
and then splits off into two directions. Left takes you

(18:50):
towards the residential streets. Right cuts down towards a quieter area,
mostly old industrial buildings, and a dead down street that
backs up into the woods. I had taken the right
path a few times before, but not in quite a while.
That night, I went right. I don't know why. I

(19:11):
wasn't thinking about it. It just felt like the way
to go. Almost immediately, it felt wrong, not scary exactly,
just off, like the air fell heavier. My footsteps sounded
louder than usual. In the street lights that usually lined

(19:31):
the section, only one of them was fully lit up.
It was maybe fifty feet ahead, and it flickered every
few seconds. I took my headphones out. I couldn't hear anything,
no wind, no cars, not even my own breathing. For
a second, it was like I stepped into a bubble,

(19:54):
but the sound just didn't carry right. That's when I
realized something even stranger. I didn't recognize what street I
was on. Keep in mind, I've walked these neighborhoods dozens
of times. I knew every turn, every crack in the sidewalk.
But for some reason, the street didn't look familiar at all.

(20:14):
It was narrow, darker than it should have been, and
something about the houses on either side looked weird. Shapes
of houses but little detail, no mailboxes. I didn't see
any cars in any driveway. I liked to see what
street I was on, but I couldn't find a street sign.
That's when it hit me. Every street in the neighborhood

(20:36):
had a sign, eating alleyways had signs, but this one didn't.
All I could find was a bare metal pole with
nothing on it. I stopped walking. I was confused. Something
in me, something deeper than fear, told me not to
keep going, told me that it made a wrong turn

(20:58):
that didn't make sense. I could still see the park
path and a glimpse of the street light, maybe a
two minute walk back. But before I could move, I
saw something up ahead, a person leaning up against one
of the broken light poles, not really moving. I couldn't

(21:18):
make out much as It was kind of dark, but
they were tall, maybe six feet, leaning perfectly still facing me,
not doing anything, just standing there. I always said I'd
be the person that chose flight, but I stood frozen,
trying to decide if I should call out or just leave.

(21:41):
And then the closest light to me flickered once more
and then went out. It was almost completely dark. I
didn't wait. I turned and started walking fast back towards
the park, slightly running, but more like those fast paced
walking competitions. I told myself I was just being paranoid,

(22:03):
that it was probably just someone having a smoke or
waiting for a ride. That I just let everything get
to me and I was overthinking things. Then I heard
it footsteps. They were coming from behind me and sounded
like they were matching my pace. I sped up, and
it sounded like the footsteps behind me sped up. I

(22:27):
suddenly stopped. They stopped, so I turned around. No one
was there, at least I couldn't see anyone, just the
empty street. I couldn't hear anything either. That's when I
know something even worse. I wasn't standing on pavement anymore.
I was standing on wet dirt in my confusion. I

(22:49):
had walked off to the side next to the park,
but within the trees, and these trees were pretty thick.
I don't know how it happened. I hadn't turned, I
hadn't left the street. I thought I was walking straight
the whole time, and now somehow I was deep enough
in the trees that I couldn't see the light. I panicked,

(23:13):
full on panic. I turned around and started running, no
idea if I was going the wrong way, hoping that
I would see something familiar. After about two minutes of running,
I stumbled on the front of the park, the opposite
side of where I was standing before, and now I
was on the street that now looked very familiar. It

(23:35):
was a street by my apartment. Somehow I had come
out two blocks from where I went in. The park
was now behind me. I walked back the next day
in the daylight, trying to trace my steps. I found
the path through the park, found the split where I
went right. But I have no idea how I got

(23:55):
into that street. I still don't know what street it was.
There's no street sign, and everything looked different in the daylight.
I don't know. Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me.
I haven't been back that way since

All Episodes

I Shouldn’t Have Gone for a Walk at 2AM | True Scary Stories

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Dateline NBC

Are You A Charlotte?

Stuff You Should Know

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}I Shouldn’t Have Gone for a Walk at 2AM | True Scary Stories