September 29, 2025 • 80 mins
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Scary Stories and Rain.
A couple things before we begin.I have two new podcasts that I
would love for you to check out.It's the same type of stories,
but one with a crackling campfire background and one with
more of a dark, eerie background.
Scary Stories and Fire and ScaryStories in the Dark.
The links to each of them are inthe description to this episode.
(00:22):
Please check them out and give them a follow.
It would really mean a lot. And if you're not following this
podcast yet, please do that as well so you get reminded when a
new episode comes out every single night.
Also, if you haven't subscribed yet, you can get rid of all of
the ads for 299 a month and be automatically entered to win
every single giveaway that I do every month.
(00:43):
Just 299, no more ads, all the giveaways.
I want to say thank you for being here and I really hope you
enjoy this episode. This story I'm about to tell
only a few people close to me I've ever heard.
(01:03):
However, I never actually explained in detail what
happened that night to absolutely anyone.
For this story specifically, it is necessary to explain my
general area I live in as it pertains to this event.
I live next to Yellowstone National Park.
Which in of itself has drawn millions of tourists each year.
(01:26):
Part of the reason I am telling this is merely a warning to
people who decide to visit during the summer months.
Last year in the summer of 2020,me and some of my buddies
decided to go have a night out and do some camping out near a
spot where we have been to multiple times in the past.
After all this was right after things started to become normal
(01:46):
again and lock downs were lifted.
I decided to head up to the campspot early in an effort to make
sure my gear was still set up from earlier that day.
I did this as an effort to reserve the spot as its first
come, first serve. Therefore, with everything in
hand, I left my house right before sunset.
(02:07):
We were all supposed to meet up within the hour, so I didn't
really have any concerns of being by myself.
I then began my 30 minute drive up to the location.
When I finally arrived, I immediately noticed my tent and
everything inside. Was gone.
Now just for some context, I staked the tent down in multiple
(02:28):
areas just to be sure it stayed for the period I was gone.
Inside was my sleeping bag and afew other miscellaneous items I
left just to keep it weighted down.
However, everything, literally everything disappeared as if it
was never there. I looked around and even the
stakes and rocks I placed on theoutside were missing.
(02:50):
I immediately knew something waswrong because I did not see any
campers on the way up. Also keep in mind I do not have
cell service as it's a couple miles back into the wilderness.
I then decided to drive back down from where I came to get
service and get a hold of my friends and let them know what
happened. Least to say I was not happy
(03:12):
with the situation and knew thatwhoever took my belongings were
still in the area as it had onlybeen there for an hour or two.
However, my friends insisted that I stayed and at least hang
out for a few hours as it took weeks of planning.
So once I made sure everyone arrived, I then decided to go
around the area in search of anysign of footprints or
(03:34):
indications that maybe these people were close by.
As you can guess, I wasn't able to find anything.
I eventually played it off and decided I would just look for it
in the morning and contact the Forest Service to report it
missing. I also didn't want to ruin the
party for everyone and decided to stay.
In hindsight, this was by far one of the worst decisions I
(03:58):
could have ever made. As the night went on, everything
seemed fine so I thought around one or two in the morning.
Most of my friends decided to call it a night.
I ended up sleeping in my truck.This was perhaps one of the
better decisions I made that night, that along with always
(04:19):
making sure to bring my bear spray and sidearm for protection
from unexpected guests, I eventually fell asleep.
However, it's important to note that I was still a bit on edge
as only a couple hours before all of my belongings were taken,
I decided to leave my window rolled down a bit just in case I
heard anything creep up on us inthe middle of the night.
(04:41):
After about two hours of me being asleep, my worst nightmare
came true. At first, I just heard something
moving around outside of our camp.
This was enough noise to wake meup and I immediately froze and I
didn't move whatsoever. Therefore, this was partially
(05:02):
because I knew whatever was making the noise was large, not
just a raccoon or any other smaller creature.
I then was paralyzed just listening intently to whatever
was happening outside of our camp.
My first thought was that it wasa bear.
We also had sightings recently in the area.
(05:23):
At one point I swear it could have only been maybe 20 or 30
yards away. Also, another key point I
noticed was that there was absolutely no other noises.
Usually there's grasshoppers or birds, but it was complete and
utter silence. Now, in a wilderness, that's
never a good sign. It means there's a large
(05:45):
predator or something of the like in the area.
Meanwhile, it's pitch black outside and our fire had
completely gone out. After about 15 minutes of not
hearing anything, I decided I just needed to stop being
paranoid. But just as I was about to fall
back asleep, I saw something to the right of our campsite.
(06:08):
It was just a few yards away from our fire pit and probably
about 20 yards from me. To my absolute horror, it was a
person. I immediately freaked out.
This was no average person either, let alone the fact that
it's 3 or 4 in the morning and you're in someone's campsite.
(06:29):
This person was wearing what I made out to be some kind of
mask. I got a very good look at
whoever it was, and it was a deer skull on their face.
They were wearing a black robe and that's about all I noticed.
I sure didn't want to leave my truck and confront this person.
So I did what I thought was best.
(06:50):
I turned my truck on and began honking the horn until all my
friends were awake. I rolled down the window and
told them we need to get out of here immediately.
After seeing what I saw, then did exactly that.
Meanwhile, this person hasn't moved.
Mind you, just as I thought it was bad, the situation got even
(07:11):
worse. More of these figures began
appearing in front of us throughthe trees, wearing the same
outfits as mentioned earlier, but with a multitude of
different masks. I immediately put my truck into
reverse and began speeding away.They began walking closer and
closer, but luckily I was able to drive out of this spot in
(07:32):
time. As I began to speed down the
road out of there, three more ofthese figures appeared out from
the side of my truck, this time with a dog and way more
aggressive than the previous ones I saw.
They began throwing rocks at my truck and chasing after me.
At one point they were literallyright next to my passenger
(07:53):
window until I accelerated even more and eventually lost them.
As I looked back in my mirror, Isaw only one figure left, just
simply peeking and staring at mebehind a tree.
This image is forever seared into my head.
From this night on, I refuse to ever go back up there.
(08:16):
I have never ever spoken of thisto anyone.
Even when I was around my friends that experienced this,
we never mentioned it to each other.
It's been over a year now since this happened and all I can say
is that I believe these people were in some sort of cult.
I heard other stories about similar events happening and
(08:37):
even cattle completely disappearing.
It's very barbaric and you wouldn't think that such a
beautiful National Park that attracts so many people year
round would have such dark and disturbing secrets.
My advice to anyone that decidesto travel to these mysterious
and preserved parks of intrinsicbeauty would be to always bring
(08:58):
protection of some kind. Likewise, make sure you let
others know about your plans andnever go.
Alone. There are hundreds of missing
persons reports across the national parks inside the United
States, and I could have very well been one of them if I had
stayed just a few minutes longer.
Nature has a way to attract verydifferent types of people.
(09:22):
Some want to explore and push themselves to their limits.
Meanwhile, some simply don't want to be seen and lurk in the
darkness of night. A former Green Beret once told
me the key to survival was always being aware of your
surroundings and listening to your instincts.
If a particular situation doesn't feel right, chances are
(09:46):
it's not. Stay safe.
Everyone, I'll tell you the. Story about the two times that I
was almost kidnapped in the samespot.
I was in high school and in the best shape of my life.
(10:07):
I wasn't an athlete or anything,but I was growing into a woman's
body 5/8 and a long youthful body, almost completely muscle.
For that short period of my life, I was actually interested
in maintaining myself, so I started a morning routine of
going for a walk before breakfast.
I lived in the neighborhood adjacent to this great park
(10:29):
where I spent my life growing up.
Soccer practice dates, you name it.
I believed that by hanging upside down on the monkey bars
once a day before breakfast thatI would stretch my spine just
enough to keep growing taller and to alleviate any compression
that might cause pain as I got older.
(10:49):
On a hot summer morning before 10, AMI rolled out of bed, got
dressed, and headed for the park.
I don't think it's necessary to describe the area beyond the
fact that it was completely surrounded by houses.
It was a pretty safe spot. The parking lot comes first
between my street and the park itself.
(11:09):
In the lot, I could see a white van.
The park district has vehicles that look just like it for
things like picking up litter, sanitizing the playground, and
bringing out the mowing equipment.
I thought this van was here to trim trees or something, so I
paid it little attention and headed for those monkey bars.
(11:29):
Before I could make it to the playground, a voice stopped me.
Hey. A man called from the driver's
seat. A second voice came from the
passenger's seat. Come over here.
I walked away disinterested, butknowing that two men had rolled
their windows down to watch me and talk to me made me feel
(11:52):
self-conscious. I didn't want my shirt to roll
up while I hung upside down or stretch my hamstrings and give
them a show of any kind that would give them the
satisfaction. These were grown men and I was
in high school. Needless to say, I was prey and
I knew it. Pretty creeped out, I decided to
(12:13):
go for my routine walk, determined not to let 2 idiots
change my workout. A woman has the right to go
about her business. Fear turns to anger as the white
van with the windows rolled downcrept alongside me.
I was on the sidewalk, so a safeenough distance from the van on
the road. I couldn't remember what they
(12:36):
were hollering at me, but you can bet it was degrading,
sexual, and not at all what grown men should say to a minor.
My anger boiled up inside and before I let them get away with
making me feel so violated, I decided to express myself too.
I shot my middle finger high in the air and wagged it around.
(13:00):
Now here is where the big oops happened.
I know that this road darts intoseveral no outlet neighborhoods
and turning into one, especiallyif you're not from around here
like these guys were, means thatyou're going to U-turn and come
back around. That's exactly what they did.
As soon as I saw that white van accelerate angrily and swoop
(13:21):
into the adjoining St. I knew they were about to come
back for me. My stomach dropped and I knew
that I had only seconds to hide.No, I wouldn't reach the park in
time. I knew that by the time I
reached it, they would spot wherever I was going and attack
me. I was close to a turn off into
(13:41):
another neighborhood where I knew Mr. D lived.
Mr. D was a police officer and whose son happened to be dating
my sister at that time, so I hadhis number.
I never ran so fast in my life. I dove behind a conifer tree in
his front yard and made myself as small as possible in the
shadows. Sure enough, that white van came
(14:05):
from the opposite direction, inching down the road at only 5
miles an hour. The windows were rolled up this
time, probably to make it easierto get away with stuffing a
screaming girl in the back without anyone hearing.
They stopped at the intersectionwhere I disappeared.
I took my phone out and texted Mr. D.
(14:26):
Hi, it's me. There are two guys following me
and I'm hiding in your tree. Help.
I watched through the pine needles as the guys pulled over
and got out, talking quietly andlooking around.
I hated them just watching as they talked about me.
The front door swung open and Mr. D came out in full uniform.
(14:49):
It turns out that I had texted him while he was leaving for
work. He did not look for me, but
stamped down to the end of his driveway and looked down the
street. Seeing those men notice a cop
staring at them and watching that white van speed away was a
magnificent sight. The second time I was almost
kidnapped on that curb happened the same summer, but this time
(15:13):
it was raining lightly. It was dim and kind of muggy
outside, so I remember that no one was outside except for me.
I started jogging regularly in the evening, and that day was no
exception. I thought that the rain would
keep me cool and enhance how much longer I could go.
(15:33):
Indeed, indeed, I was helped somewhat by the rain, for I had
been running for a while and wasn't that tired yet.
I kept my eyes focused on the sidewalk in front of me, but I
could see the park slide past mein my peripheral vision.
I was on the opposite side of the street as the last incident,
a pretty beat up olive green sedan came rolling quietly up
(15:57):
the road with its headlights off.
I thought that was weird but knew that it would soon pass me.
The sedan was in the oncoming lane, so we were face to face
for a few meters and I noticed that it slowed down
significantly before pulling over to the curb.
I was running towards this parked car, which already rang
(16:19):
my alarm bells. My suspicions flared into
OverDrive as the driver's side door opened and a tall bald man
built like a refrigerator came out of it and crossed over to
the passenger side. But I tell you, I amazed myself
in that second before he even crossed in front of the first
headlight. Before my foot could finish
(16:41):
another rhythmic step of a long jog, my brain sent a flaming hot
shiver of adrenaline through my body so fast that I actually
sprang up in the air when my foot landed and pushed me off
the pavement. I spun around in mid air and
darted in a new direction away from the man.
The phrase fight or flight ceased to be a figure of speech
(17:03):
as I actually witnessed it transform my body and put my
conscious self into autopilot. If there's something I learned
that day, it's that you can't choose fight or flight.
Your body will do whichever it wants automatically.
You might be programmed to be a fighter, or you might be someone
like me whose flight mode is so powerful that it thrusts you
(17:27):
into space like a glitch in the Matrix.
I didn't spring in the directionof the sidewalk.
No, that was too dangerous. He would just follow me in his
car. I actually saw houses whirring
past me as I made my way throughbackyards and patios.
I wish I could say I never ran so fast in my life, but as you
(17:49):
can recall, I had already run from my life once before about
this fast. I dared to look over my shoulder
and I could see a dark blur of alarge human maneuvering
unnaturally through the backyards on my trail.
I don't know how, but I outran him.
I think it was my knowledge of the neighborhood, having lived
(18:10):
there all my life and knowing which house had a fence, which
ones led to more cover, which would lead to dead ends,
etcetera. I burst into my house and
blubbered the whole story out toanyone who could listen.
To be blunt, no one really cared.
It's not like I had evidence of this happening and because there
(18:31):
was room for possibility that I misinterpreted his stopping and
getting out to maybe ask for directions or check on a tire,
that's exactly what my family chose to believe.
For a long time, I felt angry. Angry that these men came to my
turf, my home, my neighborhood, and made me fearful.
(18:55):
I couldn't think of a way to violate someone even if I wanted
to, but men like these do it in their free time.
I stopped working out after my second close encounter with
abduction. I guess I look fine as a 23 year
old shut in, but that's mainly thanks to my strict diet of
vegan chocolate, antidepressants, and atheism.
(19:17):
And that's my story. This story may not be scary to
some, but it remains as one of the most unnerving things I've
ever experienced. In the summer of 2017, I was
working at a satellite campus ofmy university as a residential
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assistant. Allow me to give a description
of this campus before continuingthe story.
It was once in a state and for acollege campus, relatively
small. To put things into perspective,
I was one of only 22 students onthe entire campus in the spring
semester. And one of sixty in the fall.
(20:01):
I am not sure what the population was during the
summer, but you get the idea. Not only was it small, but it
was very old. The former estate was built in
1712 / 300 years before this story takes place.
To save on budget when acquiringthe property, my university did
(20:22):
not demolish any of the older buildings.
They just stood there, empty andcondemned.
One of these buildings was a bigmansion at the center of the
campus, which served as the administration building for the
university that owned the property prior to my own.
The most prominent feature of the campus is the old windmill,
(20:43):
a historic landmark and a Playhouse for the daughter of
the family who owned the estate.The story behind the windmill
goes that the daughter used to run to the top floor, waving to
the seafarers as they sailed on by.
One night, while coming down from the top floor of the
windmill, she fell down the steep stairs, broke her neck,
(21:06):
and died. Rumor has it that her ghost
wanders through the windmill, and while the structure remains
locked throughout the year, somesay they can sometimes see a lit
candle coming from the top floorwindow.
I wish I could say this is wheremy story takes place, but
unfortunately it doesn't. With all of this being said,
(21:28):
this campus is no stranger to the paranormal.
As this campus is very small, there are only 6 residential
buildings for the students to live in.
These buildings are all named after historic nearby towns and
one of which, Sagapanac, is saidto be haunted.
The dorms are arranged in two rows, 3 in the front and three
(21:52):
in the back. Each dorm is only two stories
with two suites on each floor. When you walk in, there are
doors to the left and the right leading to each suite and a
staircase leading to the second floor where the two other suites
are. As an RA, one of my duties was
to make rounds. This involved us going to each
(22:12):
suite to make sure that the maindoors were locked and that the
residents didn't need anything. One night it was time for us to
perform our nightly rounds before closing the RA office for
the night. The other RA and I decided to do
them together since it was a rather tedious activity.
To expedite the process, I wouldcheck the first floor doors
(22:34):
while the other RA would go upstairs to check the 2nd floor
doors. As we are in Sagapanac, I am
standing around waiting for the other RA to come back downstairs
when I noticed a couple of pairsof shoes at the bottom of the
staircase. A pair of brown work boots and
black sneakers. Nothing too far out of the
(22:55):
ordinary, right? We make our way to the next
building and seconds into stepping into it, the other RA
and I stopped dead in our tracks.
At the bottom of the staircase is a pair of brown work boots
and black sneakers. I quickly stepped outside to
check what building we were in, and to my disbelief, I found
(23:19):
myself staring at the sign for Sagapanac.
Dumbfounded and creeped out, we decided to end our rounds there
and close up shop for the night.To this day, I am still not sure
if what had happened to us was due to paranormal activity, a
glitch in the matrix, or an unusually silly mistake that
(23:39):
neither I nor my partner noticed.
How did we end up back in Sagapanac?
If this does have a supernaturalexplanation, who or what wanted
us back inside I will never truly know.
(24:02):
It was a Thursday in August of 2002.
I was 12 years old and had livedwith my mom for the past six
years since she and my dad got divorced.
Soon after their divorce, my mommet a new man who moved in with
us a few months later. Looking back, I can remember a
few times where he had shown redflag behavior like 1 evening
(24:25):
maybe in 1999 when we, my sisters and I were watching ATV
show finale very late. He was drunk and came into the
living room, smashed the TV withhis hands.
Back then the TV screens were made of glass.
He cut his hand badly and yelledat us while bleeding.
(24:47):
My mom forgave him after he probably came up with a million
excuses in the following days. In the beginning of 2002, my mom
finally decided to have a break in their relationship and her
and I moved into a different apta few miles away to get some
distance. Me, still being the naive kid
who thought she could have two dads, wasn't very excited about
(25:08):
the idea. I already hated seeing my mom
and dad split, and now I had to let go of a man I had gotten
used to over the course of all these years.
I was still just a kid and ignored all the signs and I even
remember resenting my mom for leaving him.
As I said, my story starts on Thursday the 8th of August 2002.
(25:31):
I was in school and not feeling very well.
I also noticed some type of rashon my hips so my teacher sent me
to the doctor and the diagnosis was shingles.
I can still see the doctor rightin front of me telling me that
if the rash gets worse and goes all the way around my hip, it
could potentially be very dangerous.
(25:52):
So I went home for the day and was allowed to stay home the
next day too. Friday the 9th.
On Friday morning, my mom woke me up about 20 minutes before
she went to work so she could check on me, have a little
breakfast with me, and bring me back to my bed to make sure that
I would rest. After she left.
I remember lying in my bed and being relieved that the rash had
(26:15):
gotten better overnight when I suddenly heard a noise from the
hallway. My room was not connected to the
hallway so I could only see the adjacent room and since my mom
had left a couple minutes prior,I assumed it was her and called
out to her. Seconds later, my mom's
ex-boyfriend appeared in my doorframe asking me what I was doing
(26:38):
home and why I wasn't in school.After I told him that I was sick
and had shingles, he immediatelysaid to me how much he missed us
kids and my mom and how sorry heis for not being there and that
he would love to talk to my mom and make things right.
Since I was still unhappy about their breakup.
(26:59):
I said stupid stuff like I missed him too and I wanted them
to get back together. I cannot believe I seriously
believed that At some point, after a few minutes of small
talk and him pretending to care about my well-being, he made me
promise not to tell my mom that he came by before he left.
I obviously told her the minute she came home because I couldn't
(27:22):
keep secrets from her and I alsojust wanted her to know.
And again, me being a stupid 12 year old did not even question
how he even entered the apartment without a key without
someone opening the door for him.
I never in a million years wouldhave thought that this might be
illegal or inappropriate behavior.
(27:42):
I knew that man, and he had lived with us for a number of
years. The same day, just a few hours
later, my dad drove me to my grandma's, as I had planned
weeks in advance to stay the weekend with her, and I already
felt much better. My mom was supposed to pick me
back up on Sunday, but on that morning my mom hadn't answered
(28:04):
her phone for about 12 hours, which was unusual.
A friend of the family picked meup, drove me home, and still no
news from my mom. Since there's a rule in my
country that a person has to be missing for 24 hours before
breaking the door to the apartment, and she became
missing on Saturday evening. The police were only allowed to
(28:27):
open the apartment on Sunday. My sisters, my dad and I all
went inside. I grabbed all of my school
supplies and went to the bathroom.
After exiting the bathroom, I found my mom's dental prosthesis
on a counter in the hallway. Not realizing it could be
potential evidence, I picked it up and brought it into the
(28:48):
kitchen where my dad was sittingwith a police officer.
My dad later told me that as soon as he saw the prosthesis,
he knew something had happened. My mom had her teeth fixed just
a few months prior and would notleave the house without that.
After picking up our stuff from the apartment, my dad drove us
back to his house and we waited.Monday morning and still no
(29:13):
message from my mom. We didn't go to school that
Monday but planned on returning the next day.
Tuesday morning I woke up on my own even though my dad had said
he would wake us up and take us to school.
I was about to go downstairs when I saw the village priest
leaving our house. Police have found my mother the
night before. On Monday evening, one of my
(29:36):
mom's neighbors went upstairs todo laundry in the attic when he
noticed one of the doors being locked.
No resident from the apartment building had a key to this
specific room, so they had to call the landlord to open the
door. I try not to think about what
they discovered since it was themiddle of summer and my mom had
been dead for about 48 hours. My mom was murdered by her
(30:01):
ex-boyfriend after he returned to the apartment on Saturday
afternoon to talk. The last person my mom spoke to
was my aunt. Shortly before they hung up, my
mom said there's someone knocking on the door.
It's him again. I got to go, I'll call you
later. He gained access to the.
(30:23):
Apartment the same way he did onFriday with a credit card.
He was arrested only a day laterin a bar after telling the bar
man that he had done something really stupid.
Yeah, I'll say 8 months later, in April of the following year,
my sister and I had to testify in the murder trial.
(30:46):
But before we gave our testimony, our father argued
with the court and made sure that we didn't have to face the
killer. I remember sitting down in a
large and very cold room, my father right by my side, holding
my hand, lawyers to my right andto my left, as well as the judge
in front of me. I remember being asked about the
(31:08):
day he came into our apartment and answering all of the
questions as truthfully as I could.
They sentenced him to nine yearsin prison.
Manslaughter, in effect, was theofficial cause.
Seven of those nine years he spent behind bars and as far as
I know. He moved back close to our
(31:29):
hometown, close to where it all happened.
Over the years, people have toldme that I was lucky.
He could have killed me too. If my mom had still been at home
that day, if she had left just afew minutes later, maybe she
would have run into him downstairs.
Or if he had gained entry to theapartment while we were still
(31:50):
eating breakfast. Lots of ifs and could haves.
I know I won't be able to changethe past but I am sure glad I
can control my future. In 2014 I moved to England from
(32:14):
Canada to gain work and travel experience and also to quote UN
quote find myself. I ended up living in Essex with
three other roommates. They were all women, all a bit
older than I was. I was 24 at the time.
Megan was 31, Cherry was 34 and Cassie was 38.
(32:38):
Megan was from New York, Cherry from New Jersey and Cassie from.
Poland. All four of us shared this three
story flat. The back of our home was the
living room and kitchen. The back wall was complete glass
that looked out into the garden.The garden was completely fenced
in. The house had an interesting
(32:59):
dynamic to say the least. Tons of stories from that time
in my life. I adored all my roommates except
for Cherry. After living with Cherry for
seven months, I was over her antics.
One day I come home from work, Ilock the door, make myself
something to eat and go up to bed.
(33:20):
I brought some work home with me.
So I'm in my 90 with all these papers around me and my
headphones in and jamming out. I had headphones on because
Cherry was out to dinner with work friends.
Batman's booze. And then soon after that a
tantrum was surely to come. I just didn't want to have to
listen to her crazy scream crying.
(33:42):
I am working away, completely focused until I feel something.
I look up to see a man standing over me.
I don't register it right away and passively say Cherry's room
is on the second floor and continue to work.
He doesn't leave again. Cherry's room is downstairs.
(34:07):
You. He then interrupts me.
I'm not here for Cherry. A cold chill iced my veins.
My fight or flight kicked in. Just then.
I start surveying the situation.I look him up and down.
He has a bottle of Prosecco in one hand and a knife in the
(34:28):
other. He is about 5-10, wild muddy
brown hair and black eyes. He has a light blue polo shirt
on and one side of his collar ispopped up and a distinct
Manchester accent. Once I focused in, I realized
his eyes were black because his pupils were completely dilated.
(34:50):
Crap, I was in trouble. I needed an escape plan.
Unfortunately this man was standing in between me and my
bedroom door. I needed to get downstairs, but
I needed for him to think it washis idea.
I decided to play along. Just then he uses his knife to
(35:10):
pop the cork. Prosecco started flowing onto my
carpet. I said Oh no, let's clean that
up. I prefer to drink out of a
proper flute anyways. He nodded, replying.
Yeah, you're a proper classy bird.
Let's go. I try to act as natural as
(35:32):
possible. I try not to show that I'm
shaking all over and try to gaincontrol over my breathing.
We take the long journey down tothe main floor of my flat, all
three floors. He has the back of my knight.
He bunched up in one hand, and Icould feel the point of the
knife graze my. Back with his other.
(35:53):
I was trying to playfully speak with him as we walked down the
stairs. I couldn't tell you what I was
saying, I was most likely rambling.
I couldn't hear anything over myheart beating in my ears.
We get to the bottom of the stairs and there is a hallway to
my left that leads to the front door.
(36:14):
On my right, which is much closer to us is the kitchen and
living room. We make our way into the
kitchen. I point to the cabinets that had
the wine glasses. He said he knew where they were
and started towards them. I now had the kitchen table in
between us. It was time to run.
(36:35):
I burst into a Sprint down the hallway towards the door.
My hands fumble over the locks, shaking and sweating.
I swing open the door and see two men walking across the
street. They must have been walking home
from the train. There was a big train station in
front of our house. I call out to them for help and
(36:56):
suddenly I am flung onto the ground.
Little pebbles piercing my skin sent sharp pains where they
jabbed. The intruder pushed me out of
the way to run and escape. One of the men chased after the
intruder while the other said for me to go inside while he
surveyed my home and to call thepolice.
(37:17):
I locked the doors and I called the police.
While I am on the phone with dispatch, I manically run around
the house to double check all the windows and doors.
Suddenly I hear a loud bang on my door.
I informed the dispatch of the banging and she informs me that
police weren't there yet. I thought it might be one of the
(37:38):
gentlemen who helped me. I go to look out the eye hole
and it's him, the intruder. He came back, he's banging on my
door screaming that I had his glasses and that he was not done
with me. I absolutely freaked out.
The dispatcher attempted to calmme down but I'm losing my mind.
(38:02):
She then said they are pulling onto your street now, you should
hear their sirens. I did, thankfully.
The intruder then blasts off. One officer jumps out of the.
Passenger side while the car is still moving.
And chases after him. The second officer comes to my
home, interviews me and the two gentlemen, collects some
(38:23):
evidence and takes photos. After some time of him being
there, Cherry comes home and freaks out.
Once the situation was explainedto her, she said, Oh my gosh,
that could have been me. Yeah, thanks.
Cherry, it's all about you. The next morning I am called in
(38:46):
to identify a man they had in custody.
I pointed him out. I go into a little room and the
officer pulls out an evidence bag.
He asked me if the items were mine.
They were. They were my underwear and
photos taken from my home. The officer informed me that the
intruder had been stalking me for some time now.
(39:08):
He estimates about three months.He had made a nest outside our
home on top of a hill that overlooked into our living room
and kitchen. He is a known offender and
dealer. He then told me how lucky I was
to get out practically unharmed.Others weren't so lucky.
I really hope I never see that man again.
(39:30):
However, I would love to run into those two gentlemen again.
Every day I am thankful for them.
This summer I decided to pick upsome graveyard shifts in my
current full time job simply because it pays more and I'm a
(39:53):
university student drowning in student debt.
About two weeks ago, on the rareoccasion that I get to sleep
during the time the sun is down at 3:30 to 4:00, AMI was
suddenly awoken by a loud sound.Me being half asleep, I honestly
didn't know what the sound exactly was.
(40:13):
So I just chalked it up to beingone of my neighbors dropping
something because I live in an apartment with very thin walls.
So I just try to go back to sleep.
After about 10 minutes of layingthere with my eyes closed, I
hear the sound again, but this time I am pretty much awake so I
recognize what the sound was immediately.
(40:37):
Someone was knocking on my window.
For context, I'm a single femaleliving alone and in a basement
suite, so my windows are basically level with the
sidewalk. Obviously I'm freaked out.
I don't know what to do. I don't want to move and make
any loud noises so they don't know I'm home and I'm just
(41:01):
frozen laying in this bed. Then I hear the knocking again.
I instantly bold up as my fight or flight kicks in and run to
the front door which has my keyswith my pepper spray on it.
The keys clink together and makea noticeable sound and the
knocking starts to get more intense and loud.
(41:22):
This is when I realized the window with the screen by my bed
is almost all the way open because my cat likes to sit on
the edge and I forgot to close and lock it.
I start to freak out, already having major anxiety.
I start looking for my phone just in case I need to call the
police. Me being clumsy and shaking from
(41:44):
anxiety, I dropped the phone on the ground and whoever is at my
window proceeds to what sounds like slid either their
fingernails or a sharp object down the screen.
I realized this person's intentions are either to come in
or scare me. So like an idiot and not
thinking, I run to the window asfast as I can, slam it shut and
(42:06):
lock it while avoiding looking outside at whoever it was.
The knocking stops and I wait about 30 minutes without hearing
anything else. I lay back down and eventually
fall back asleep. The next morning I honestly
couldn't believe that even happened.
I start to think maybe it was a dream so I go outside and
(42:30):
investigate and I see an empty beer bottle and a ripped
blanket. I text my only friend who knew
where I lived and asked them if they were messing with me and
they said no, which I figured because they don't drive and
live quite far away and the buses around my house stop
running well before 3:00 AM. So I called my landlord and told
(42:54):
him what happened and he says toignore it and that this has
happened. Before, which is creepy.
Anyway, I obviously recognize now I should have done a lot of
things differently and called the police right away.
It hasn't happened since. Nonetheless, still super
(43:15):
terrifying. I live in a small small town.
You blink and you miss it. The best way we can boast about
it is a single stop sign and a gas station, which we only have
(43:36):
because of the nearby highway. Any actual semblance of a town
is 25 minutes away, so when things get scary out here, it's
amplified. The occasional homeless person
is no big deal. They are often drifting through
addicts running rampant and willsteal everything they can from
(43:57):
your house. But it's the normal out here.
However, what happened a few years ago certainly wasn't
normal. Originally, I was dead asleep in
my bed. I only woke up because it was
burning hot in my room, but it was summertime and there wasn't
much I could do. I just remember tossing and
(44:20):
turning until I got a creepy feeling that fell into the pit
of my stomach. I glanced over to the bathroom
door that was open with the light on.
Everything was normal. I left the light on so I
wouldn't trip and die if I had to pee in the middle of the
night. Next, I glanced at the window
directly across from my bed. I had no curtains, but I did
(44:43):
have a crappy set of blinds. Part of the blinds were broken
from wear and tear and the crappy AC output beneath it
would make them move back and forth so you would get a glimpse
outside every so often. The yard light was still going,
but what made me stop was the outline at my window.
(45:04):
The figure of someone was directly at my window, almost
like it was waiting for the blinds to move to watch me.
I didn't have an imagination as a child that had been trained
out of me, but the sight was enough to pour every horror film
into my head at that moment. I squeezed my eyes shut and
(45:26):
pulled my blankets over my head and slept in a cloth oven that
night. By morning time, the figure was
gone. I remember running to my mom's
room on the verge of tears in the morning telling her what
happened. She laughed at me like I was an
idiot and told me it was probably just a stray cat that
(45:46):
had climbed up there. For one odd reason or another.
I almost believed her since my window was pretty high off the
ground. But something didn't sit right.
Later that day when we were doing yard work, I glanced over
at my window and saw one of our metal patio chairs had been
pushed up to it. I pointed it out to my mom, who
(46:09):
then proceeded to chew me out. That's how the cat probably got
up there. Moron.
Stop leaving furniture everywhere.
But I hadn't moved it. It was heavy enough that I
struggled with it. So we moved it back.
And so began a pattern. At night I would see the figure,
(46:31):
complain to my mom, and we wouldfind a chair moved back every
single morning. This went on for a few weeks.
My mother stopped caring about my concerns until 1 morning we
saw where the outside screen of my window had been sliced open.
I still remember her shaking herhead and complaining about those
(46:53):
Dang stray cats that we had still yet to see.
I could tell she was unnerved bythat development.
I couldn't handle it anymore andI opted to sleep in our living
room that night. The only problem was our kitchen
and living room connected, whichmeant there were always several
windows. The first night of my move went
(47:16):
well. Despite my back hurting from the
couch, I avoided my room like the plague.
It wasn't until about four days later when we ran into an issue.
I woke up and glanced at the clock above the fireplace.
It read a little past three. AMI couldn't realize why I had
(47:36):
woken up until it happened again.
There was a beam of light shining in from the kitchen
window, almost like someone was shining a flashlight in.
I saw it trace along the walls and land on the love seats
across from the couch I was on. I was mortified when I told my
mom, she continued to laugh at me.
(47:59):
I gave in and decided I would sleep in my dad's room even
though it had a gigantic window.He slept in the recliner with a
huge TV so I felt more safe having someone around.
The yard light was directly outside the window anyways, it
seemed foolproof. That was until I woke up out of
(48:19):
habitual fear and watched through the window across from
the bed. Everything seemed normal as time
drug on and I felt like a moron.Maybe my mom was right.
That was until I saw a lone figure come out of the woods by
the backyard shed, walk directlyunder the light and head to the
(48:40):
patio furniture like he had beenhere plenty of times before.
I still remember the large buildthe man had and the confidence
like he was the one who lived here and wasn't creeping around
my yard in the dead of the night.
I just remember listening to theTV until I fell asleep again,
hoping to get another glimpse. My dad would have been angry if
(49:03):
I had woken him up. He was grumpy on a good day and
terrifying on a bad day. I didn't feel like risking it
until I had solid proof, becauseI was scared.
The next morning, my mom chewed me out again for the patio
furniture, which was routine almost a month later.
(49:23):
But this time something new happened.
She demanded I stop playing in the tool boxes in the garage.
A bunch of tools had been taken out and left on our doorstep.
Screwdrivers, a hammer, flashlights, etcetera.
It wasn't me. I begged with my mom and pleaded
(49:44):
with her. Just stay up with me.
One night we couldn't close our garage because it was an open
carport and I wasn't going to get beaten for touching tools
because of someone else. It was driving me mad.
Finally she agreed that night wewould stay awake in the living
room. I finally fell asleep before my
(50:07):
mom did, but I remember her waking me up in a panic.
She pointed to the window that overlooked into our garage.
We could see the top of someone's head as they walked
back and forth. There was a sound of someone
placing metal tools down on the brick steps, as if they were
trying to be quiet but couldn't fully muffle it.
(50:29):
She whispered for me to go wake up my dad.
My dad was angry, having been woken up in the middle of the
night by his frantic daughter. He grabbed his weapon and headed
out from the back door towards the front of the house where the
garage was located. We heard my dad screaming and
someone dropping tools. Then a shot rang out twice.
(50:52):
The frantic footsteps pounding out of the garage felt like they
were coming from my chest. My mom peeked out of the window
and then opened the door and my dad stumbled in.
He had missed both times becauseof his unstable aim, but told us
that there was a man crouching at our front door, looking at
our door handle. None of us slept that night, and
(51:14):
in the morning the law from the closest town arrived.
They didn't do much besides ask if anything had been stolen for
a description of the man and then told us that we should
install cameras. That was it, they said the guy
was probably just looking for something easy to steal for
quick money. If that had been the case, why
(51:37):
hadn't he stolen the tools, the generator, the welder, or broken
into any of the vehicles just sitting in the garage?
We finally set up hunting trail cameras around the house, but
nothing has happened since. Coming home from college for
holidays. I still have nightmares about
(51:57):
the incident years later when I sleep in my own bed.
I don't know what he was lookingfor or why he did the things he
did. Yeah.
Welcome to Scary Stories and Rain.
A couple things before we begin.I have two new podcasts that I
would love for you to check out.It's the same type of stories,
but one with a crackling campfire background and one with
more of a dark, eerie background.
Scary Stories and Fire and ScaryStories in the Dark.
The links to each of them are inthe description to this episode.
(00:22):
Please check them out and give them a follow.
It would really mean a lot. And if you're not following this
podcast yet, please do that as well so you get reminded when a
new episode comes out every single night.
Also, if you haven't subscribed yet, you can get rid of all of
the ads for 299 a month and be automatically entered to win
every single giveaway that I do every month.
(00:43):
Just 299, no more ads, all the giveaways.
I want to say thank you for being here and I really hope you
enjoy this episode. This story I'm about to tell
only a few people close to me I've ever heard.
(01:03):
However, I never actually explained in detail what
happened that night to absolutely anyone.
For this story specifically, it is necessary to explain my
general area I live in as it pertains to this event.
I live next to Yellowstone National Park.
Which in of itself has drawn millions of tourists each year.
(01:26):
Part of the reason I am telling this is merely a warning to
people who decide to visit during the summer months.
Last year in the summer of 2020,me and some of my buddies
decided to go have a night out and do some camping out near a
spot where we have been to multiple times in the past.
After all this was right after things started to become normal
(01:46):
again and lock downs were lifted.
I decided to head up to the campspot early in an effort to make
sure my gear was still set up from earlier that day.
I did this as an effort to reserve the spot as its first
come, first serve. Therefore, with everything in
hand, I left my house right before sunset.
(02:07):
We were all supposed to meet up within the hour, so I didn't
really have any concerns of being by myself.
I then began my 30 minute drive up to the location.
When I finally arrived, I immediately noticed my tent and
everything inside. Was gone.
Now just for some context, I staked the tent down in multiple
(02:28):
areas just to be sure it stayed for the period I was gone.
Inside was my sleeping bag and afew other miscellaneous items I
left just to keep it weighted down.
However, everything, literally everything disappeared as if it
was never there. I looked around and even the
stakes and rocks I placed on theoutside were missing.
(02:50):
I immediately knew something waswrong because I did not see any
campers on the way up. Also keep in mind I do not have
cell service as it's a couple miles back into the wilderness.
I then decided to drive back down from where I came to get
service and get a hold of my friends and let them know what
happened. Least to say I was not happy
(03:12):
with the situation and knew thatwhoever took my belongings were
still in the area as it had onlybeen there for an hour or two.
However, my friends insisted that I stayed and at least hang
out for a few hours as it took weeks of planning.
So once I made sure everyone arrived, I then decided to go
around the area in search of anysign of footprints or
(03:34):
indications that maybe these people were close by.
As you can guess, I wasn't able to find anything.
I eventually played it off and decided I would just look for it
in the morning and contact the Forest Service to report it
missing. I also didn't want to ruin the
party for everyone and decided to stay.
In hindsight, this was by far one of the worst decisions I
(03:58):
could have ever made. As the night went on, everything
seemed fine so I thought around one or two in the morning.
Most of my friends decided to call it a night.
I ended up sleeping in my truck.This was perhaps one of the
better decisions I made that night, that along with always
(04:19):
making sure to bring my bear spray and sidearm for protection
from unexpected guests, I eventually fell asleep.
However, it's important to note that I was still a bit on edge
as only a couple hours before all of my belongings were taken,
I decided to leave my window rolled down a bit just in case I
heard anything creep up on us inthe middle of the night.
(04:41):
After about two hours of me being asleep, my worst nightmare
came true. At first, I just heard something
moving around outside of our camp.
This was enough noise to wake meup and I immediately froze and I
didn't move whatsoever. Therefore, this was partially
(05:02):
because I knew whatever was making the noise was large, not
just a raccoon or any other smaller creature.
I then was paralyzed just listening intently to whatever
was happening outside of our camp.
My first thought was that it wasa bear.
We also had sightings recently in the area.
(05:23):
At one point I swear it could have only been maybe 20 or 30
yards away. Also, another key point I
noticed was that there was absolutely no other noises.
Usually there's grasshoppers or birds, but it was complete and
utter silence. Now, in a wilderness, that's
never a good sign. It means there's a large
(05:45):
predator or something of the like in the area.
Meanwhile, it's pitch black outside and our fire had
completely gone out. After about 15 minutes of not
hearing anything, I decided I just needed to stop being
paranoid. But just as I was about to fall
back asleep, I saw something to the right of our campsite.
(06:08):
It was just a few yards away from our fire pit and probably
about 20 yards from me. To my absolute horror, it was a
person. I immediately freaked out.
This was no average person either, let alone the fact that
it's 3 or 4 in the morning and you're in someone's campsite.
(06:29):
This person was wearing what I made out to be some kind of
mask. I got a very good look at
whoever it was, and it was a deer skull on their face.
They were wearing a black robe and that's about all I noticed.
I sure didn't want to leave my truck and confront this person.
So I did what I thought was best.
(06:50):
I turned my truck on and began honking the horn until all my
friends were awake. I rolled down the window and
told them we need to get out of here immediately.
After seeing what I saw, then did exactly that.
Meanwhile, this person hasn't moved.
Mind you, just as I thought it was bad, the situation got even
(07:11):
worse. More of these figures began
appearing in front of us throughthe trees, wearing the same
outfits as mentioned earlier, but with a multitude of
different masks. I immediately put my truck into
reverse and began speeding away.They began walking closer and
closer, but luckily I was able to drive out of this spot in
(07:32):
time. As I began to speed down the
road out of there, three more ofthese figures appeared out from
the side of my truck, this time with a dog and way more
aggressive than the previous ones I saw.
They began throwing rocks at my truck and chasing after me.
At one point they were literallyright next to my passenger
(07:53):
window until I accelerated even more and eventually lost them.
As I looked back in my mirror, Isaw only one figure left, just
simply peeking and staring at mebehind a tree.
This image is forever seared into my head.
From this night on, I refuse to ever go back up there.
(08:16):
I have never ever spoken of thisto anyone.
Even when I was around my friends that experienced this,
we never mentioned it to each other.
It's been over a year now since this happened and all I can say
is that I believe these people were in some sort of cult.
I heard other stories about similar events happening and
(08:37):
even cattle completely disappearing.
It's very barbaric and you wouldn't think that such a
beautiful National Park that attracts so many people year
round would have such dark and disturbing secrets.
My advice to anyone that decidesto travel to these mysterious
and preserved parks of intrinsicbeauty would be to always bring
(08:58):
protection of some kind. Likewise, make sure you let
others know about your plans andnever go.
Alone. There are hundreds of missing
persons reports across the national parks inside the United
States, and I could have very well been one of them if I had
stayed just a few minutes longer.
Nature has a way to attract verydifferent types of people.
(09:22):
Some want to explore and push themselves to their limits.
Meanwhile, some simply don't want to be seen and lurk in the
darkness of night. A former Green Beret once told
me the key to survival was always being aware of your
surroundings and listening to your instincts.
If a particular situation doesn't feel right, chances are
(09:46):
it's not. Stay safe.
Everyone, I'll tell you the. Story about the two times that I
was almost kidnapped in the samespot.
I was in high school and in the best shape of my life.
(10:07):
I wasn't an athlete or anything,but I was growing into a woman's
body 5/8 and a long youthful body, almost completely muscle.
For that short period of my life, I was actually interested
in maintaining myself, so I started a morning routine of
going for a walk before breakfast.
I lived in the neighborhood adjacent to this great park
(10:29):
where I spent my life growing up.
Soccer practice dates, you name it.
I believed that by hanging upside down on the monkey bars
once a day before breakfast thatI would stretch my spine just
enough to keep growing taller and to alleviate any compression
that might cause pain as I got older.
(10:49):
On a hot summer morning before 10, AMI rolled out of bed, got
dressed, and headed for the park.
I don't think it's necessary to describe the area beyond the
fact that it was completely surrounded by houses.
It was a pretty safe spot. The parking lot comes first
between my street and the park itself.
(11:09):
In the lot, I could see a white van.
The park district has vehicles that look just like it for
things like picking up litter, sanitizing the playground, and
bringing out the mowing equipment.
I thought this van was here to trim trees or something, so I
paid it little attention and headed for those monkey bars.
(11:29):
Before I could make it to the playground, a voice stopped me.
Hey. A man called from the driver's
seat. A second voice came from the
passenger's seat. Come over here.
I walked away disinterested, butknowing that two men had rolled
their windows down to watch me and talk to me made me feel
(11:52):
self-conscious. I didn't want my shirt to roll
up while I hung upside down or stretch my hamstrings and give
them a show of any kind that would give them the
satisfaction. These were grown men and I was
in high school. Needless to say, I was prey and
I knew it. Pretty creeped out, I decided to
(12:13):
go for my routine walk, determined not to let 2 idiots
change my workout. A woman has the right to go
about her business. Fear turns to anger as the white
van with the windows rolled downcrept alongside me.
I was on the sidewalk, so a safeenough distance from the van on
the road. I couldn't remember what they
(12:36):
were hollering at me, but you can bet it was degrading,
sexual, and not at all what grown men should say to a minor.
My anger boiled up inside and before I let them get away with
making me feel so violated, I decided to express myself too.
I shot my middle finger high in the air and wagged it around.
(13:00):
Now here is where the big oops happened.
I know that this road darts intoseveral no outlet neighborhoods
and turning into one, especiallyif you're not from around here
like these guys were, means thatyou're going to U-turn and come
back around. That's exactly what they did.
As soon as I saw that white van accelerate angrily and swoop
(13:21):
into the adjoining St. I knew they were about to come
back for me. My stomach dropped and I knew
that I had only seconds to hide.No, I wouldn't reach the park in
time. I knew that by the time I
reached it, they would spot wherever I was going and attack
me. I was close to a turn off into
(13:41):
another neighborhood where I knew Mr. D lived.
Mr. D was a police officer and whose son happened to be dating
my sister at that time, so I hadhis number.
I never ran so fast in my life. I dove behind a conifer tree in
his front yard and made myself as small as possible in the
shadows. Sure enough, that white van came
(14:05):
from the opposite direction, inching down the road at only 5
miles an hour. The windows were rolled up this
time, probably to make it easierto get away with stuffing a
screaming girl in the back without anyone hearing.
They stopped at the intersectionwhere I disappeared.
I took my phone out and texted Mr. D.
(14:26):
Hi, it's me. There are two guys following me
and I'm hiding in your tree. Help.
I watched through the pine needles as the guys pulled over
and got out, talking quietly andlooking around.
I hated them just watching as they talked about me.
The front door swung open and Mr. D came out in full uniform.
(14:49):
It turns out that I had texted him while he was leaving for
work. He did not look for me, but
stamped down to the end of his driveway and looked down the
street. Seeing those men notice a cop
staring at them and watching that white van speed away was a
magnificent sight. The second time I was almost
kidnapped on that curb happened the same summer, but this time
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it was raining lightly. It was dim and kind of muggy
outside, so I remember that no one was outside except for me.
I started jogging regularly in the evening, and that day was no
exception. I thought that the rain would
keep me cool and enhance how much longer I could go.
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Indeed, indeed, I was helped somewhat by the rain, for I had
been running for a while and wasn't that tired yet.
I kept my eyes focused on the sidewalk in front of me, but I
could see the park slide past mein my peripheral vision.
I was on the opposite side of the street as the last incident,
a pretty beat up olive green sedan came rolling quietly up
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the road with its headlights off.
I thought that was weird but knew that it would soon pass me.
The sedan was in the oncoming lane, so we were face to face
for a few meters and I noticed that it slowed down
significantly before pulling over to the curb.
I was running towards this parked car, which already rang
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my alarm bells. My suspicions flared into
OverDrive as the driver's side door opened and a tall bald man
built like a refrigerator came out of it and crossed over to
the passenger side. But I tell you, I amazed myself
in that second before he even crossed in front of the first
headlight. Before my foot could finish
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another rhythmic step of a long jog, my brain sent a flaming hot
shiver of adrenaline through my body so fast that I actually
sprang up in the air when my foot landed and pushed me off
the pavement. I spun around in mid air and
darted in a new direction away from the man.
The phrase fight or flight ceased to be a figure of speech
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as I actually witnessed it transform my body and put my
conscious self into autopilot. If there's something I learned
that day, it's that you can't choose fight or flight.
Your body will do whichever it wants automatically.
You might be programmed to be a fighter, or you might be someone
like me whose flight mode is so powerful that it thrusts you
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into space like a glitch in the Matrix.
I didn't spring in the directionof the sidewalk.
No, that was too dangerous. He would just follow me in his
car. I actually saw houses whirring
past me as I made my way throughbackyards and patios.
I wish I could say I never ran so fast in my life, but as you
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can recall, I had already run from my life once before about
this fast. I dared to look over my shoulder
and I could see a dark blur of alarge human maneuvering
unnaturally through the backyards on my trail.
I don't know how, but I outran him.
I think it was my knowledge of the neighborhood, having lived
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there all my life and knowing which house had a fence, which
ones led to more cover, which would lead to dead ends,
etcetera. I burst into my house and
blubbered the whole story out toanyone who could listen.
To be blunt, no one really cared.
It's not like I had evidence of this happening and because there
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was room for possibility that I misinterpreted his stopping and
getting out to maybe ask for directions or check on a tire,
that's exactly what my family chose to believe.
For a long time, I felt angry. Angry that these men came to my
turf, my home, my neighborhood, and made me fearful.
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I couldn't think of a way to violate someone even if I wanted
to, but men like these do it in their free time.
I stopped working out after my second close encounter with
abduction. I guess I look fine as a 23 year
old shut in, but that's mainly thanks to my strict diet of
vegan chocolate, antidepressants, and atheism.
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And that's my story. This story may not be scary to
some, but it remains as one of the most unnerving things I've
ever experienced. In the summer of 2017, I was
working at a satellite campus ofmy university as a residential
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assistant. Allow me to give a description
of this campus before continuingthe story.
It was once in a state and for acollege campus, relatively
small. To put things into perspective,
I was one of only 22 students onthe entire campus in the spring
semester. And one of sixty in the fall.
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I am not sure what the population was during the
summer, but you get the idea. Not only was it small, but it
was very old. The former estate was built in
1712 / 300 years before this story takes place.
To save on budget when acquiringthe property, my university did
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not demolish any of the older buildings.
They just stood there, empty andcondemned.
One of these buildings was a bigmansion at the center of the
campus, which served as the administration building for the
university that owned the property prior to my own.
The most prominent feature of the campus is the old windmill,
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a historic landmark and a Playhouse for the daughter of
the family who owned the estate.The story behind the windmill
goes that the daughter used to run to the top floor, waving to
the seafarers as they sailed on by.
One night, while coming down from the top floor of the
windmill, she fell down the steep stairs, broke her neck,
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and died. Rumor has it that her ghost
wanders through the windmill, and while the structure remains
locked throughout the year, somesay they can sometimes see a lit
candle coming from the top floorwindow.
I wish I could say this is wheremy story takes place, but
unfortunately it doesn't. With all of this being said,
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this campus is no stranger to the paranormal.
As this campus is very small, there are only 6 residential
buildings for the students to live in.
These buildings are all named after historic nearby towns and
one of which, Sagapanac, is saidto be haunted.
The dorms are arranged in two rows, 3 in the front and three
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in the back. Each dorm is only two stories
with two suites on each floor. When you walk in, there are
doors to the left and the right leading to each suite and a
staircase leading to the second floor where the two other suites
are. As an RA, one of my duties was
to make rounds. This involved us going to each
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suite to make sure that the maindoors were locked and that the
residents didn't need anything. One night it was time for us to
perform our nightly rounds before closing the RA office for
the night. The other RA and I decided to do
them together since it was a rather tedious activity.
To expedite the process, I wouldcheck the first floor doors
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while the other RA would go upstairs to check the 2nd floor
doors. As we are in Sagapanac, I am
standing around waiting for the other RA to come back downstairs
when I noticed a couple of pairsof shoes at the bottom of the
staircase. A pair of brown work boots and
black sneakers. Nothing too far out of the
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ordinary, right? We make our way to the next
building and seconds into stepping into it, the other RA
and I stopped dead in our tracks.
At the bottom of the staircase is a pair of brown work boots
and black sneakers. I quickly stepped outside to
check what building we were in, and to my disbelief, I found
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myself staring at the sign for Sagapanac.
Dumbfounded and creeped out, we decided to end our rounds there
and close up shop for the night.To this day, I am still not sure
if what had happened to us was due to paranormal activity, a
glitch in the matrix, or an unusually silly mistake that
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neither I nor my partner noticed.
How did we end up back in Sagapanac?
If this does have a supernaturalexplanation, who or what wanted
us back inside I will never truly know.
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It was a Thursday in August of 2002.
I was 12 years old and had livedwith my mom for the past six
years since she and my dad got divorced.
Soon after their divorce, my mommet a new man who moved in with
us a few months later. Looking back, I can remember a
few times where he had shown redflag behavior like 1 evening
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maybe in 1999 when we, my sisters and I were watching ATV
show finale very late. He was drunk and came into the
living room, smashed the TV withhis hands.
Back then the TV screens were made of glass.
He cut his hand badly and yelledat us while bleeding.
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My mom forgave him after he probably came up with a million
excuses in the following days. In the beginning of 2002, my mom
finally decided to have a break in their relationship and her
and I moved into a different apta few miles away to get some
distance. Me, still being the naive kid
who thought she could have two dads, wasn't very excited about
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the idea. I already hated seeing my mom
and dad split, and now I had to let go of a man I had gotten
used to over the course of all these years.
I was still just a kid and ignored all the signs and I even
remember resenting my mom for leaving him.
As I said, my story starts on Thursday the 8th of August 2002.
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I was in school and not feeling very well.
I also noticed some type of rashon my hips so my teacher sent me
to the doctor and the diagnosis was shingles.
I can still see the doctor rightin front of me telling me that
if the rash gets worse and goes all the way around my hip, it
could potentially be very dangerous.
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So I went home for the day and was allowed to stay home the
next day too. Friday the 9th.
On Friday morning, my mom woke me up about 20 minutes before
she went to work so she could check on me, have a little
breakfast with me, and bring me back to my bed to make sure that
I would rest. After she left.
I remember lying in my bed and being relieved that the rash had
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gotten better overnight when I suddenly heard a noise from the
hallway. My room was not connected to the
hallway so I could only see the adjacent room and since my mom
had left a couple minutes prior,I assumed it was her and called
out to her. Seconds later, my mom's
ex-boyfriend appeared in my doorframe asking me what I was doing
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home and why I wasn't in school.After I told him that I was sick
and had shingles, he immediatelysaid to me how much he missed us
kids and my mom and how sorry heis for not being there and that
he would love to talk to my mom and make things right.
Since I was still unhappy about their breakup.
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I said stupid stuff like I missed him too and I wanted them
to get back together. I cannot believe I seriously
believed that At some point, after a few minutes of small
talk and him pretending to care about my well-being, he made me
promise not to tell my mom that he came by before he left.
I obviously told her the minute she came home because I couldn't
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keep secrets from her and I alsojust wanted her to know.
And again, me being a stupid 12 year old did not even question
how he even entered the apartment without a key without
someone opening the door for him.
I never in a million years wouldhave thought that this might be
illegal or inappropriate behavior.
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I knew that man, and he had lived with us for a number of
years. The same day, just a few hours
later, my dad drove me to my grandma's, as I had planned
weeks in advance to stay the weekend with her, and I already
felt much better. My mom was supposed to pick me
back up on Sunday, but on that morning my mom hadn't answered
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her phone for about 12 hours, which was unusual.
A friend of the family picked meup, drove me home, and still no
news from my mom. Since there's a rule in my
country that a person has to be missing for 24 hours before
breaking the door to the apartment, and she became
missing on Saturday evening. The police were only allowed to
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open the apartment on Sunday. My sisters, my dad and I all
went inside. I grabbed all of my school
supplies and went to the bathroom.
After exiting the bathroom, I found my mom's dental prosthesis
on a counter in the hallway. Not realizing it could be
potential evidence, I picked it up and brought it into the
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kitchen where my dad was sittingwith a police officer.
My dad later told me that as soon as he saw the prosthesis,
he knew something had happened. My mom had her teeth fixed just
a few months prior and would notleave the house without that.
After picking up our stuff from the apartment, my dad drove us
back to his house and we waited.Monday morning and still no
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message from my mom. We didn't go to school that
Monday but planned on returning the next day.
Tuesday morning I woke up on my own even though my dad had said
he would wake us up and take us to school.
I was about to go downstairs when I saw the village priest
leaving our house. Police have found my mother the
night before. On Monday evening, one of my
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mom's neighbors went upstairs todo laundry in the attic when he
noticed one of the doors being locked.
No resident from the apartment building had a key to this
specific room, so they had to call the landlord to open the
door. I try not to think about what
they discovered since it was themiddle of summer and my mom had
been dead for about 48 hours. My mom was murdered by her
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ex-boyfriend after he returned to the apartment on Saturday
afternoon to talk. The last person my mom spoke to
was my aunt. Shortly before they hung up, my
mom said there's someone knocking on the door.
It's him again. I got to go, I'll call you
later. He gained access to the.
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Apartment the same way he did onFriday with a credit card.
He was arrested only a day laterin a bar after telling the bar
man that he had done something really stupid.
Yeah, I'll say 8 months later, in April of the following year,
my sister and I had to testify in the murder trial.
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But before we gave our testimony, our father argued
with the court and made sure that we didn't have to face the
killer. I remember sitting down in a
large and very cold room, my father right by my side, holding
my hand, lawyers to my right andto my left, as well as the judge
in front of me. I remember being asked about the
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day he came into our apartment and answering all of the
questions as truthfully as I could.
They sentenced him to nine yearsin prison.
Manslaughter, in effect, was theofficial cause.
Seven of those nine years he spent behind bars and as far as
I know. He moved back close to our
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hometown, close to where it all happened.
Over the years, people have toldme that I was lucky.
He could have killed me too. If my mom had still been at home
that day, if she had left just afew minutes later, maybe she
would have run into him downstairs.
Or if he had gained entry to theapartment while we were still
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eating breakfast. Lots of ifs and could haves.
I know I won't be able to changethe past but I am sure glad I
can control my future. In 2014 I moved to England from
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Canada to gain work and travel experience and also to quote UN
quote find myself. I ended up living in Essex with
three other roommates. They were all women, all a bit
older than I was. I was 24 at the time.
Megan was 31, Cherry was 34 and Cassie was 38.
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Megan was from New York, Cherry from New Jersey and Cassie from.
Poland. All four of us shared this three
story flat. The back of our home was the
living room and kitchen. The back wall was complete glass
that looked out into the garden.The garden was completely fenced
in. The house had an interesting
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dynamic to say the least. Tons of stories from that time
in my life. I adored all my roommates except
for Cherry. After living with Cherry for
seven months, I was over her antics.
One day I come home from work, Ilock the door, make myself
something to eat and go up to bed.
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I brought some work home with me.
So I'm in my 90 with all these papers around me and my
headphones in and jamming out. I had headphones on because
Cherry was out to dinner with work friends.
Batman's booze. And then soon after that a
tantrum was surely to come. I just didn't want to have to
listen to her crazy scream crying.
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I am working away, completely focused until I feel something.
I look up to see a man standing over me.
I don't register it right away and passively say Cherry's room
is on the second floor and continue to work.
He doesn't leave again. Cherry's room is downstairs.
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You. He then interrupts me.
I'm not here for Cherry. A cold chill iced my veins.
My fight or flight kicked in. Just then.
I start surveying the situation.I look him up and down.
He has a bottle of Prosecco in one hand and a knife in the
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other. He is about 5-10, wild muddy
brown hair and black eyes. He has a light blue polo shirt
on and one side of his collar ispopped up and a distinct
Manchester accent. Once I focused in, I realized
his eyes were black because his pupils were completely dilated.
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Crap, I was in trouble. I needed an escape plan.
Unfortunately this man was standing in between me and my
bedroom door. I needed to get downstairs, but
I needed for him to think it washis idea.
I decided to play along. Just then he uses his knife to
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pop the cork. Prosecco started flowing onto my
carpet. I said Oh no, let's clean that
up. I prefer to drink out of a
proper flute anyways. He nodded, replying.
Yeah, you're a proper classy bird.
Let's go. I try to act as natural as
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possible. I try not to show that I'm
shaking all over and try to gaincontrol over my breathing.
We take the long journey down tothe main floor of my flat, all
three floors. He has the back of my knight.
He bunched up in one hand, and Icould feel the point of the
knife graze my. Back with his other.
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I was trying to playfully speak with him as we walked down the
stairs. I couldn't tell you what I was
saying, I was most likely rambling.
I couldn't hear anything over myheart beating in my ears.
We get to the bottom of the stairs and there is a hallway to
my left that leads to the front door.
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On my right, which is much closer to us is the kitchen and
living room. We make our way into the
kitchen. I point to the cabinets that had
the wine glasses. He said he knew where they were
and started towards them. I now had the kitchen table in
between us. It was time to run.
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I burst into a Sprint down the hallway towards the door.
My hands fumble over the locks, shaking and sweating.
I swing open the door and see two men walking across the
street. They must have been walking home
from the train. There was a big train station in
front of our house. I call out to them for help and
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suddenly I am flung onto the ground.
Little pebbles piercing my skin sent sharp pains where they
jabbed. The intruder pushed me out of
the way to run and escape. One of the men chased after the
intruder while the other said for me to go inside while he
surveyed my home and to call thepolice.
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I locked the doors and I called the police.
While I am on the phone with dispatch, I manically run around
the house to double check all the windows and doors.
Suddenly I hear a loud bang on my door.
I informed the dispatch of the banging and she informs me that
police weren't there yet. I thought it might be one of the
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gentlemen who helped me. I go to look out the eye hole
and it's him, the intruder. He came back, he's banging on my
door screaming that I had his glasses and that he was not done
with me. I absolutely freaked out.
The dispatcher attempted to calmme down but I'm losing my mind.
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She then said they are pulling onto your street now, you should
hear their sirens. I did, thankfully.
The intruder then blasts off. One officer jumps out of the.
Passenger side while the car is still moving.
And chases after him. The second officer comes to my
home, interviews me and the two gentlemen, collects some
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evidence and takes photos. After some time of him being
there, Cherry comes home and freaks out.
Once the situation was explainedto her, she said, Oh my gosh,
that could have been me. Yeah, thanks.
Cherry, it's all about you. The next morning I am called in
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to identify a man they had in custody.
I pointed him out. I go into a little room and the
officer pulls out an evidence bag.
He asked me if the items were mine.
They were. They were my underwear and
photos taken from my home. The officer informed me that the
intruder had been stalking me for some time now.
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He estimates about three months.He had made a nest outside our
home on top of a hill that overlooked into our living room
and kitchen. He is a known offender and
dealer. He then told me how lucky I was
to get out practically unharmed.Others weren't so lucky.
I really hope I never see that man again.
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However, I would love to run into those two gentlemen again.
Every day I am thankful for them.
This summer I decided to pick upsome graveyard shifts in my
current full time job simply because it pays more and I'm a
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university student drowning in student debt.
About two weeks ago, on the rareoccasion that I get to sleep
during the time the sun is down at 3:30 to 4:00, AMI was
suddenly awoken by a loud sound.Me being half asleep, I honestly
didn't know what the sound exactly was.
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So I just chalked it up to beingone of my neighbors dropping
something because I live in an apartment with very thin walls.
So I just try to go back to sleep.
After about 10 minutes of layingthere with my eyes closed, I
hear the sound again, but this time I am pretty much awake so I
recognize what the sound was immediately.
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Someone was knocking on my window.
For context, I'm a single femaleliving alone and in a basement
suite, so my windows are basically level with the
sidewalk. Obviously I'm freaked out.
I don't know what to do. I don't want to move and make
any loud noises so they don't know I'm home and I'm just
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frozen laying in this bed. Then I hear the knocking again.
I instantly bold up as my fight or flight kicks in and run to
the front door which has my keyswith my pepper spray on it.
The keys clink together and makea noticeable sound and the
knocking starts to get more intense and loud.
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This is when I realized the window with the screen by my bed
is almost all the way open because my cat likes to sit on
the edge and I forgot to close and lock it.
I start to freak out, already having major anxiety.
I start looking for my phone just in case I need to call the
police. Me being clumsy and shaking from
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anxiety, I dropped the phone on the ground and whoever is at my
window proceeds to what sounds like slid either their
fingernails or a sharp object down the screen.
I realized this person's intentions are either to come in
or scare me. So like an idiot and not
thinking, I run to the window asfast as I can, slam it shut and
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lock it while avoiding looking outside at whoever it was.
The knocking stops and I wait about 30 minutes without hearing
anything else. I lay back down and eventually
fall back asleep. The next morning I honestly
couldn't believe that even happened.
I start to think maybe it was a dream so I go outside and
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investigate and I see an empty beer bottle and a ripped
blanket. I text my only friend who knew
where I lived and asked them if they were messing with me and
they said no, which I figured because they don't drive and
live quite far away and the buses around my house stop
running well before 3:00 AM. So I called my landlord and told
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him what happened and he says toignore it and that this has
happened. Before, which is creepy.
Anyway, I obviously recognize now I should have done a lot of
things differently and called the police right away.
It hasn't happened since. Nonetheless, still super
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terrifying. I live in a small small town.
You blink and you miss it. The best way we can boast about
it is a single stop sign and a gas station, which we only have
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because of the nearby highway. Any actual semblance of a town
is 25 minutes away, so when things get scary out here, it's
amplified. The occasional homeless person
is no big deal. They are often drifting through
addicts running rampant and willsteal everything they can from
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your house. But it's the normal out here.
However, what happened a few years ago certainly wasn't
normal. Originally, I was dead asleep in
my bed. I only woke up because it was
burning hot in my room, but it was summertime and there wasn't
much I could do. I just remember tossing and
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turning until I got a creepy feeling that fell into the pit
of my stomach. I glanced over to the bathroom
door that was open with the light on.
Everything was normal. I left the light on so I
wouldn't trip and die if I had to pee in the middle of the
night. Next, I glanced at the window
directly across from my bed. I had no curtains, but I did
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have a crappy set of blinds. Part of the blinds were broken
from wear and tear and the crappy AC output beneath it
would make them move back and forth so you would get a glimpse
outside every so often. The yard light was still going,
but what made me stop was the outline at my window.
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The figure of someone was directly at my window, almost
like it was waiting for the blinds to move to watch me.
I didn't have an imagination as a child that had been trained
out of me, but the sight was enough to pour every horror film
into my head at that moment. I squeezed my eyes shut and
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pulled my blankets over my head and slept in a cloth oven that
night. By morning time, the figure was
gone. I remember running to my mom's
room on the verge of tears in the morning telling her what
happened. She laughed at me like I was an
idiot and told me it was probably just a stray cat that
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had climbed up there. For one odd reason or another.
I almost believed her since my window was pretty high off the
ground. But something didn't sit right.
Later that day when we were doing yard work, I glanced over
at my window and saw one of our metal patio chairs had been
pushed up to it. I pointed it out to my mom, who
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then proceeded to chew me out. That's how the cat probably got
up there. Moron.
Stop leaving furniture everywhere.
But I hadn't moved it. It was heavy enough that I
struggled with it. So we moved it back.
And so began a pattern. At night I would see the figure,
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complain to my mom, and we wouldfind a chair moved back every
single morning. This went on for a few weeks.
My mother stopped caring about my concerns until 1 morning we
saw where the outside screen of my window had been sliced open.
I still remember her shaking herhead and complaining about those
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Dang stray cats that we had still yet to see.
I could tell she was unnerved bythat development.
I couldn't handle it anymore andI opted to sleep in our living
room that night. The only problem was our kitchen
and living room connected, whichmeant there were always several
windows. The first night of my move went
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well. Despite my back hurting from the
couch, I avoided my room like the plague.
It wasn't until about four days later when we ran into an issue.
I woke up and glanced at the clock above the fireplace.
It read a little past three. AMI couldn't realize why I had
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woken up until it happened again.
There was a beam of light shining in from the kitchen
window, almost like someone was shining a flashlight in.
I saw it trace along the walls and land on the love seats
across from the couch I was on. I was mortified when I told my
mom, she continued to laugh at me.
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I gave in and decided I would sleep in my dad's room even
though it had a gigantic window.He slept in the recliner with a
huge TV so I felt more safe having someone around.
The yard light was directly outside the window anyways, it
seemed foolproof. That was until I woke up out of
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habitual fear and watched through the window across from
the bed. Everything seemed normal as time
drug on and I felt like a moron.Maybe my mom was right.
That was until I saw a lone figure come out of the woods by
the backyard shed, walk directlyunder the light and head to the
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patio furniture like he had beenhere plenty of times before.
I still remember the large buildthe man had and the confidence
like he was the one who lived here and wasn't creeping around
my yard in the dead of the night.
I just remember listening to theTV until I fell asleep again,
hoping to get another glimpse. My dad would have been angry if
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I had woken him up. He was grumpy on a good day and
terrifying on a bad day. I didn't feel like risking it
until I had solid proof, becauseI was scared.
The next morning, my mom chewed me out again for the patio
furniture, which was routine almost a month later.
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But this time something new happened.
She demanded I stop playing in the tool boxes in the garage.
A bunch of tools had been taken out and left on our doorstep.
Screwdrivers, a hammer, flashlights, etcetera.
It wasn't me. I begged with my mom and pleaded
(49:44):
with her. Just stay up with me.
One night we couldn't close our garage because it was an open
carport and I wasn't going to get beaten for touching tools
because of someone else. It was driving me mad.
Finally she agreed that night wewould stay awake in the living
room. I finally fell asleep before my
(50:07):
mom did, but I remember her waking me up in a panic.
She pointed to the window that overlooked into our garage.
We could see the top of someone's head as they walked
back and forth. There was a sound of someone
placing metal tools down on the brick steps, as if they were
trying to be quiet but couldn't fully muffle it.
(50:29):
She whispered for me to go wake up my dad.
My dad was angry, having been woken up in the middle of the
night by his frantic daughter. He grabbed his weapon and headed
out from the back door towards the front of the house where the
garage was located. We heard my dad screaming and
someone dropping tools. Then a shot rang out twice.
(50:52):
The frantic footsteps pounding out of the garage felt like they
were coming from my chest. My mom peeked out of the window
and then opened the door and my dad stumbled in.
He had missed both times becauseof his unstable aim, but told us
that there was a man crouching at our front door, looking at
our door handle. None of us slept that night, and
(51:14):
in the morning the law from the closest town arrived.
They didn't do much besides ask if anything had been stolen for
a description of the man and then told us that we should
install cameras. That was it, they said the guy
was probably just looking for something easy to steal for
quick money. If that had been the case, why
(51:37):
hadn't he stolen the tools, the generator, the welder, or broken
into any of the vehicles just sitting in the garage?
We finally set up hunting trail cameras around the house, but
nothing has happened since. Coming home from college for
holidays. I still have nightmares about
(51:57):
the incident years later when I sleep in my own bed.
I don't know what he was lookingfor or why he did the things he
did. Yeah.
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