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true | Human Trafficking Facts and Stats | Hi, everyone. Due to the nature of this subreddit and because it's a hot button topic on social media in general, we receive a *lot* of posts and comments about encounters being possible human trafficking.
Unfortunately, there is a massive amount of misinformation about what human trafficking is and isn't, and the vast majority of these interactions here in this subreddit and elsewhere on social media are not how trafficking typically occurs.
# **What is human trafficking, anyway?**
Human trafficking is the movement of people through coercion, deception, force and any combination of those three, for exploitative sex, labor, or both. Human trafficking DOES NOT usually occur by spotting some girl alone out and about, following her and kidnapping her or "tagging" her to kidnap later. For sex trafficking in particular, the people trafficked almost *always* know and often times love or trust the person that trafficked them.
Human trafficking is, disgustingly, a business, and it'd be bad for business to grab some random girl that might have a rich family to look for her, and to do so in front of witnesses. While there have been a few cases of trafficking that have occurred that way (it's sensational and scary, or we wouldn't know about it), it is by far the exception and not the rule. You are more likely to be trafficked by a romantic partner than anyone else.
# **How it happens**
"The most pervasive myth about human trafficking is that it often involves kidnapping or physically forcing someone into a situation. In reality, most traffickers use psychological means such as, tricking, defrauding, manipulating or threatening victims into providing commercial sex or exploitative labor. Another myth is that traffickers target victims they don't know. Many survivors have been trafficked by romantic partners, including spouses, and by family members, including parents." - Polaris Project
"Perpetrators of human trafficking span all racial, ethnic, and gender demographics and are as diverse as survivors. Some use their privilege, wealth, and power as a means of control while others experience the same socio-economic oppression as their victims. They include individuals, business owners, members of a gang or network, parents or family members of victims, intimate partners, owners of farms or restaurants, and powerful corporate executives and government representatives." - Polaris Project
# **Recent Statistics**
Based on data* from the [2021 National Report](https://humantraffickinghotline.org/en/resources/2021-national-report) by The Human Trafficking Hotline:
* **72% of trafficking is for sex**, 10% is for forced labor, 4% is for both sex and labor, with the remaining 14% being for unspecified purposes.
* 62% of sex trafficking victims are adults, **28% are minors**. In some cases, demographic information is not provided to the hotline, which is why the percentage here doesn't add up to 100%.
* 84% of sex trafficking victims are female, 8% are male, with the remaining 8% having another gender identity, defined as someone who identifies as any identity other than cisgender male or female.
In the vast majority of cases (33%), the country of origin of victims was unknown. When the country of origin *was* known, the majority of victims were US citizens.
*note: this data is all from substantiated tips received by the hotline from January 1, 2021 until December 31, 2021, the vast majority of which came from victims themselves.
# **Additional Info & Sources**
For more information, please visit [Polaris Project](https://polarisproject.org/victims-traffickers), a wonderful resource for information about human trafficking and ways to help if you are interested, or [The Human Trafficking Hotline](http://humantraffickinghotline.org/), which keeps one of the most extensive data sets on human trafficking in the United States.
If you believe you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking, you can also call +18883737888 (open 24/7) to make a report (this is a United States number, if you suspect human trafficking in another country, please refer to your country’s national human trafficking hotline).
You can also text 233733 with HELP or INFO to get more information or to report suspected human trafficking in the United States.
[Here is a story](https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/p1bmel/i_was_a_victim_of_sex_trafficking) from this exact subreddit that we approved with verification that describes OP's experience.
Any misinformation about trafficking in this thread will result in it being locked. Any off topic comments will be removed. | https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/16t9o8w/human_trafficking_facts_and_stats/ | LetsNotMeet | fortunesoulx |
true | This woman on the train | This happened last week, and while she didn't seem malicious, the things she said was creepy. I (19M) was going home from university, and to get home, I have to use the train. As I got on, a lot of the seats were occupied. In my country, the seats are put in a way so that four people can talk and sit in front of each other, and they are kinda close, perfect for talking, even with strangers, sadly.
I see that there is a free space in front of this girl, who one or two years younger me, but you can never know. I go there, and I ask her if I can sit down. "Of course", she replied, and looked at me in a strange, intense way. I pulled out my phone to distract myself from her. She also had a chocolate in her hand, that's gonna be important for later.
She asked me "Where do you live?" and I was like 'Why do you have to know?", so she asked when I'm gonna get off the train. I told her the place, and she told me that she's getting off the next one.
She started singing, then said "Oh, sometimes I sing. I'm a silly girl", then did it AGAIN. Whenever she said something, she looked at me like she was waiting a response, so I replied "it's okay to be silly", because I just didn't want to talk to her.
Then, she told me that "You're pretty", and when I asked "What?" she asked if she's pretty. In my language, the second one is an extension of the first ("Szép vagy" turned to "Szép vagyok?"), so it seemed like she corrected herself. Then she asked if she had chocolate on her face, she did. I also got the chocolate in her offered to me, but I declined.
She also told me about her piercing that came off, and she put it on in the middle of the train. I told her that she should get it fixed where she got it, and she said "In Germany? Will you go there with me?" but obviously, I told her no.
While she tried to put on her piercing back in (her mouth-piercing), she told me that she's in love with me. I told her that I have a girlfriend (I don't, but the university I attend has much prettier girls than her) and that "the pacing is too fast for me", and she told me that she will beat my girlfriend.
Her "I love you" started escalating into "I'll kidnap you" and "Strip for me". She asked me if I'll go with her, and if she could go with me home.
Then, when the train arrived at my destination, she asked me "Are you going, love?", I told her yes, and went on my way. Luckily she didn't follow me home.
She also asked me when we are going to meet again. Hopefully never. | https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/17eqxga/this_woman_on_the_train/ | LetsNotMeet | Firec0in |
true | To the mumbling man in the library | This happened to me just a few minutes ago, I just got home and I'm still shaken.
For context I'm a latin american woman. I look young, and I'm also very short for where I live, although it would be considered average in my mothers country. Getting picked up from school and dropped off at the library, I sat down at a small round table, the nearest one at the door which also happened to be the nearest at the receptionist desk.
It was a while before I noticed the man, he was at an elongated table with multiple chairs along the edge. He was the only one there, and was mumbling to himself and flipping through several picture books. It was clear the man had some sort of mental illness or maybe he was severely mentally challenged, but he was minding himself, and wasn't bothering anyone, so I didn't pay him much mind. There were many mentally challenged people who would come to that particular library to read or study or whatever, so I couldn't have cared more.
More time passed, I was working on summarizing an article for my history class, and I didn't even remember the guy. But the man, out of nowhere, walked to my table and sat down across from me. He didn't look at me. He didn't talk to me. He didn't ask if the seat was available. He didn't even move my things that were sprawled across the table. He just settled with his books, never ceasing to mumble incomprehensible words.
My anxiety had spiked, this is really unusual where I am, and I was mentally racing through possible options and risks, because I truly didn't know if he was dangerous or not. Doing this, I noticed many things about him, most about his manner, but I also noted how he dressed. He wore dirty glasses, and wore clothing that bore holes and muddy stains. He had a long untamed beard, and wore a Cartoon Network baseball cap. His books weren't any picture books,either, they were for first grade girls (I know because I used to read them when I was kid), the Pinkalicouse series I think, but I'm not sure.
He didn't even make eye contact with me, it's as if I and my supplies weren't there to begin with. I also noticed his mumbling, he was saying things without stopping, and I couldn’t understand a single thing he said. It's as if he just spoke to make a continuous string of sounds, like he was reading a run-on keyboard smash or something. He didn’t take any breaks while he spoke all this gibberish, not to breathe or rest. He would flip through the books quickly, wouldn't read them outloud or anything, and then he'd set it aside before grabbing another.
At this, I began to text my mom asking her to pick me up, but she didn't respond. Normally I would have no issue telling off a stranger who was being creepy. I was taught by my mom that the fastest way to get rid of a creep is to make it clear that you're not gonna be polite or quiet. If he was being creepy,I would have made a scene, called over the receptionist, or yelled at him, but this man hadn't even looked at me. He was just odd, like I said I suspect he was either on drugs, or was severely mentally ill, but he hadn't done anything creepy so far. I told you, he didn't even acknowledge me.
I looked around then, trying to see if all the other tables were occupied and he had to settle with someone else. Nope. There were several empty tables. Even the one he sat at previously was clear too. I then looked at the people around me to see if they knew what was happening, but no one acknowledged the situation, not the receptionist or other students. I really didn't expect them to say anything, but a nod to ask if I was all good would have been very reassuring.
Still feeling unsettled, acting busy, my mom texted back in a panic. She tried calling me, but I declined, and then texted her that he was right across from me.He never stopped mumbling. She then told me to get up and go to the receptionist desk, which was right across the table I sat at. I refused, and walked to the back of the library instead since I didn't want to be in his view.
I won't lie, I still feel a little guilty about my behavior. I understand that his manner was very odd, but if he really was an old man with a severe disability, I was treating the poor guy like a dangerous lunatic. So I quietly acted like I needed something, and stood up, walking and hiding in the back of the library. He didn't look at me as I moved, and didn't say anything. Just kept mumbling odd sounds, flipping through those books and piling them up when finished.
When I reached the back, my cousin called me. He lives with us and had been staying home all week because he was ill, and he had to be quarantined. I had texted him, after my mom didn't immediately respond so he knew what was up. He asked me if i was ok, I responded that I was fine and away from the guy at the other side of the library. I explained that the kids section was there, so mothers were reading with their children, and I figured sticking near them would be the safest thing for me. He told me he called my parents, and my dad was coming since he was the closets. I thanked him and hung up.
I looked for horror books, I had recently gained an interest in vampires so I looked for anything relating to that. As I looked through the sections trying to find the scary genre, I peered over the edge of the shelves. They were at shoulder height since it was the kids section. I could see the head of the man, still at my desk. I only looked for a moment because I didn't want him to see me. So I ducked and turned back to looking for a book.
I had finally found the horror section, when I started to skim through them, picking out a few and reading the back before sliding them into the slot they belonged in. I had the thought to look back over and see what he was doing. He had left my table alone, and was now following a woman. The man only halted when she ducked into the hallway containing the bathrooms.
This was enough to make me go back to where the mothers were, and I received a call from my mom, who informed me that my father was there. She had been too far away to get me before him, and I could see his car through the window stemming across the library's wall. I waited on the phone and as he walked, I waved until he saw me at the back of the library.
I approached, hung up, and gave a little more context, building off of what my mom had already told him. He nodded, asked me to show him the man, and walked with me to get my things. We looked around on the way there, but we couldn't see him. I'm pretty sure he left or was in the restroom. I don't know, I'm just glad I was with my dad.
He helped me grab my things, and I called my cousin in the car to tell him I was safe, and assured my mother that I was with my dad. We talked on the way home, and I told him everything, explaining why I was so unsettled with the man. I described his clothes, his manner, my dad even laughed when I told him what kind of books he had with him, and most of all I explained his odd mumbling. How he would just make sounds and vowels without stopping or taking breaks. Hearing that my dad mentioned that he could be on drugs, but that he most likely was just out of touch with reality and I agreed with him.
Honestly, I hope the man is alright, and I hope he was just someone with a disability and very poor social skills. Assuming that's the truth, I give him my sympathy. But if he really had bad intentions and sat with me to creep me out, then, to the man who wouldn't stop mumbling, I hope we never meet again.
Thank you for reading this, if you have any suggestions on what might be up with him, please tell me. I want to hear every possibility.
| https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/17ex8uq/to_the_mumbling_man_in_the_library/ | LetsNotMeet | Suitcase_and_Go |
true | The burglar who nearly killed me | So this was May 2017. My husband Jim and I own a 5 floor, hundred year old building which has our business in it- an antique mall- our apartment upstairs, and various other tenants.
We’d had several back-to-back burglaries in the prior years and had reinforced the front doors of the business pretty intensely. Aggressive steel bars, more cameras, etc.
Anyway, at 3AM we were sound asleep upstairs, as one is, but then we got a call from Sonitrol, our security company. We had a motion detect in an unusual location- not the main floor where 90% of the jewelry is, but downstairs.
That sort of thing is usually a spider on the camera, or a mouse or some shit.
So we ran out less than prepared.
I was only wearing a tank top, undies and flip flops.* Jim did not grab his baseball bat, but at least had pants.
I went one way to check the front door, which was intact, and Jim went the other to check around back.
Suddenly he called me and said “Someone’s inside,” so I fumbled with my phone trying to call 911- in that situation, your monkey brain is in the driver’s seat, and the phone is the black monolith from 2001. Finally I managed it, and rounded the backside of the building, narrating to the 911 operator.
Broken glass, broken window.
I said- as I later heard during the run up to the trial- “Oh my god they’re in there, please come NOW”. Then there was an *unholy* crash. It sounded like everything inside was being smashed to bits.
The feeling of listening to someone busy destroying your livelihood is something I can’t quite capture. Who was in there? How many? What path of destruction was being wreaked? I could only yell down the phone at a faceless voice, begging for help that I knew was still minutes away.
Bear in mind I was freshly awoken into a horrible situation, barely clothed** and it was escalating by the second.
As it turned out the burglar, Troy, had come face to face with Jim, trying to exit the building out the broken window, before I’d arrived. They locked eyes and Troy said “Oh shit” and reversed direction, back to the depths of the building.
Then he dropped his backpack with stolen merch, flung himself bodily over a giant iron gate, smashed through the restaurant tenant’s door, and then subsequently out their main door.
https://imgur.com/a/2HTv1V5
At that point he’d caught a lot of glass to the face and body, and was bleeding pretty good.
Jim caught him on the exit and fucking *pounced on him*. Full body slam to the cement. Then he pinned Troy.
Adrenaline is wild. I was not crying but urgently begging the operator to hurry, hurry, hurry- I was terrified I was going to see my husband die before my eyes. And then I ran right into the fray because, again, adrenaline. It gets right up on you, and you just do the stupidest shit.
They were in the middle of the street, dimly orange lit by the streetlights and it was hard to parse what was going on.
Fucking thank sweet baby jeebus, Troy did not have a weapon and was wildly unprepared to have a madman tackle him in the dark; as it turned out, he had done hundreds of burglaries and never been caught. Jim had the upper hand and had him fully pinned down, and Troy was wisely playing possum.
Suddenly we heard a roaring engine and someone laying rubber.
Apparently I started screaming. Yeah, it was Troy’s getaway driver, his wife Kelsey. She leaned out her window and yelled “Get the fuck off him or I’m gonna kill the bitch”. (That was me, the bitch c'est moi.) Clearly captured on audio, but I don’t remember it.
Not willing to wait, she then tried to run me over.
I vaguely remember realizing things were going horribly wrong, but desperately trying to read the license plate into the phone with an idiotic laser focus. It was out of state and I struggled to read it. That’s all.
My brain deleted how close she’d come to turning me into a bloody smear- within maybe a foot of me, fast, while I dodge like a badly clothed matador, clutching my phone.
We had to listen to the 911 recording a year later in the prosecutor’s office, synched with the video. The video was from a nearby business, with really good exterior cameras. Jim started crying; he had no idea what a close call it was.
The engine revving overwhelmed my screaming at a certain point. My voice was blown out, I was trying to chant the license number like an incantation but *you can’t hear it* because the engine roar and squealing tires.
Jim let Troy go, of course. Troy jumped into the car and they tore off down the street. The police showed up maybe a minute later, but they were gone.
Anyway, Troy had bled all over Jim from the door glass. Jim freaked out so hard later. We figured Troy was likely using IV drugs (correctly, as it turned out) and I had to inspect Jim for cuts, using a flashlight to make sure I missed nothing. He still got tested.
Unlike a number of other incidents, this one was taken pretty seriously, due to the amount of evidence as well as violence and, you know, the attempted murder.
Several months later, they arrested Troy and Kelsey. They had Troy’s DNA from the bloody clothes Jim was wearing and all over the car they’d been driving, which had been stolen but ditched.
It turned out they were wanted in *five counties* for hundreds of commercial burglaries over several years, to support their oxy habits. (Back before the age of fetty!) We were the only fuck up they made- they didn’t know we lived on the premises.
Kelsey, the wife, flipped on Troy. They accepted a plea for her- much to my displeasure since *she* was the one that tried to kill me. At least she ratted him out six ways to Sunday.
He refused a plea. He wanted a trial. I would not wish a trial on my worst enemy.
You get interviewed, alone, by the defense team. Did you know they can lie? They sure can! They won’t in front of the jury, but one-on-one they’ll eat your soul and pick their teeth with the shards. You don’t get a lawyer- you’re on Team Prosecution. Theoretically I can understand it… but it’s still utterly maddening.
They took me first. They played the 911 tape, second time I’d heard it. They insisted that because I kept saying “they’re inside”, that I was lying and there was someone else, not Troy or Kelsey. Sorry, I just use it as a nongendered pronoun, guys. I hadn’t yet seen the person, so they were a “they”. Which is what I told them, adamantly.
Then they took Jim. They told Jim that I admitted I’d lied and there was another person inside the building. He luckily laughed and was like “absolutely the fuck not, she didn’t.”
Finally the day before trial, Troy accepted a plea. Thank god. I had been having the stupidest meltdown ever- do I dye my hair something other than purple? (I’d just spent $700 on it!) What shoes do I wear? I don’t have conservative shoes! How can I cover my tattoos? Basically the most pointless shit I could control because that train was rolling on, without me.
Kelsey got off with probation. Troy was in prison from 2017-2020, until he got released early, adjacent to Covid.
Kelsey seems to be clean and living a normal life, remarried with kids and looks happy. I watch her on FB. I really hope so. (I do occasionally wish she has a raging case of hemorrhoids or something tho, I’m not a saint.)
NOTE: you’re welcome to DM me if you think you know me, but I’d appreciate if you don’t post it! It’s not wildly important or I wouldn’t put this up, but, yeah be cool please.
*Not where my username comes from, just a weird coincidence
** Fuck the towel, know where your shoes are at night. This is critical. In the immortal words of Kate McKinnon, who cares if your pink pocket and stink rocket are on full display- you best be able to *run*. I cannot emphasize this enough. | https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/17dk14r/the_burglar_who_nearly_killed_me/ | LetsNotMeet | underpantsbandit |
true | Friendly customer decided to be a creep | This happened 16 years ago but it stayed with me, both because it terrified me and because I still feel like an idiot.
I live in Honduras, which has more than its fair share of problems. Violence and poverty being the top of the list. So you kind of grow up with messed up stuff being normalized. One of them is families marrying off their daughters to rich suitors. Some times its putting peer pressure on the daughter to be open to the advances of some rich prick, and other times it feels like outright sexual trafficking. Especially in families where either mom or dad are not in the picture.
More common in small towns but not unheard off in bigger places. Growing up me and my siblings were shielded from the nastier things that happen here because our parents busted their humps to put us in good schools, live in a relatively safe place and raised us to be cautious and not go where we're not supposed to.
My mom owned a cafe in a port so a lot of her clients were tourists and foreigners who stopped in route to their villas or beachouses.
One of them was this older American who through chit chatting a few times ended up getting along with my parents. Even inviting our whole family once to a cook out in his beachhouse. He was always nice and friendly and gave off a sweet vibe, he even kind of looked like Santa Claus.
So one day when I was taking his order, he asked me to sit down with him. He asked me about school, my goals once I graduated and no alarm went off in my head because I figured he was bored and wanted to chat with somebody before my mom came back from her break.
Then things took a bad turn.
He commented about knowing about my family's recent hardships. Mainly about debts and dad not being able to work due to an accident. I nod along, figuring that my parents asked him for help or a loan or something.
He then says he was talking about them having me go with him back to the States since I have a Visa and helping him out while living with him. He made some comments about my looks, said ''everybody'' would rather wait until I graduated which was still a few months away but that my family needed help now and it wouldn't appropriate for him to step in if they weren't ''his'' family.
So if we went off and got married soon, he'd take care of everybody. I was stupified and basically just murmured out something that was like ''no thank you, sir.''
He said I didn't have to decide right away but that we should go on a trip in his boat this weekend to see if we get along. He claimed my parents were conflicted but decided not to tell me anything because they wanted me to finish school and then choose for myself.
But he flipped that on me saying I was the oldest, I needed to look out for my siblings and that my parents had taken care of me and I needed to take care of them. At this point I felt a pit in my stomach because I believed he really did speak with them about taking me away and they really were thinking about it.
Instead of telling to fuck himself, I started kind of negotiating saying if so and so could come with me on the weekend boat trip and if I could finish High School over in the States and so forth. All while holding back tears.
He calmed me down and told me my parents already said no but that I should really think about it and wait for them to bring it up. And he made me promise not to tell them that he'd already given me the heads up. That it was important that I proved to him that he could trust me.
Turns out he was full of shit. He brought the idea up to my parents two days AFTER he had told me, my mom instantly shut it down and that he insisted she should ask me for my opinion and my mom told him she wouldn't bother because I was going to finish school, go to college and then I could do what I wanted with my life.
This was during dinner, two full days after the talk with that old man and I started bawling telling them that he had said this and that and not to tell anybody.
So yeah, I felt like the biggest idiot in the world for thinking my parents would just hand me away like a sack of potatoes but God did I feel relieved.
So wherever you are Creepy Santa, let's not meet again. | https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/17ciitd/friendly_customer_decided_to_be_a_creep/ | LetsNotMeet | sirsersar |
true | She would watch me sleep | I'll admit, i'm addicted to this subreddit. I probably spend 2 or more hours a day just reading the posts, so i decided to contribute with my own story.
This happened when i was around 12 years old. Me and my family lived in a small apartment, but it felt cozy to me and we knew some of our neighbors and would sometimes even invite them to our house, they were great people. At the time i used to sleep next to my brother's bed, and felt safe with his presence, like nothing bad would happen to me.
The only thing i can say was bad about the apartment, was that our bedroom was next to the bedroom of our neighbor, which was a little higher than ours. If you wanted to see their room, you could do so by getting on top of a chair, while they could see almost our entire bedroom with no effort. Despise it being freaky i didn't think much about it, since like i said, i had my brother sleeping in the same room and felt like nothing could go wrong. Oh, how innocent i was...
The day everything started, i had barely finished my dinner and decided that i would go to sleep early, so my brother was not in the room at the moment. Everything seemed fine, until i woke up and saw something that still give me chills to this day.
What i saw was a silhouette of a person right next to the window, and while i could not see their face at all, i knew they were staring at me. I remember screaming as loud as i could and running desperately to the living room, where my mom was watching TV. I explained what happened to her and she didn't seem bothered at all, she was like "Oh ok" and continued watching TV like nothing happened. A few days after that event i was feeling way better about it, but even them, i decided to keep the curtains closed, just in case. Until one day i woke up in the middle of the night and for some reason, had the idea of opening the curtains. And as you already expected, she was there staring at me once again, and like the first time, i couldn't see her face at all, just a black figure.
I don't know how many times she did that, but for the following days i would wake up like 2-3 times every night, and while the curtains were always closed, i would have this feeling that she was there, watching me sleep.
A few days later i decided to tell my parents everything, and that's when things get creepier. They said that right next to our apartment, lived an elderly woman who was sick and had her son taking care of her. They said that they would leave to take out the trash, and she would sneak behind them and smile, while patiently waiting for them to turn around. I tried telling them how i felt paranoid she was always watching me and they said something like "She's a sick old lady, scaring people is probably the only highlight of her week, just ignore her and keep sleeping". While nowadays i don't care much about that, i remember being very angry with them, why weren't they helping me?
I did exactly as they said, and just ignored her every night, while keeping the curtains closed. It took some time, but i was finnaly starting to forget about the experience, until a few weeks later, that's when things took a turn for the worse.
From my mother's perspective, our family was always different from others. My mom was the one working all day while my dad would be at home with us, so he would always bring me and my brother to school and then go pick us out when it ended.
One day i was at school waiting for my dad to arrive when a friend came up to me and said she could bring me home with her dad's car. I completely forgot my father was coming to get me, so i said yes and went inside.
When i got back home i knocked at the door, but other than my two dogs barking, there was no response. I started to get anxious so i kept knocking over and over, until i heard a big sound coming from the old woman's apartment, and that's when i realized i had made a big mistake. As soon as i heard the sound i ran to the elevator and clicked the buttons as many times as i could. Our elevator had a window at the center, so i was terrified she would show up in it, but thankfully she didn't.
After i left the building i decided to lay down on the street, trying to process what had happened, when my friend saw me and invited me to their house. I was watching cartoons while her dad was calling mine, explaining why i was not at school.
When my dad came back, i ran to him and gave him a big hug while crying, and he said "It's ok now."
My brother's class usually ended 30 minutes after mine, so we had to go back to school and get him. The entire time i was expecting my father to scold me, but instead he was very calm and told me he was thinking of buying a cellphone, so i could message him if anything happened.
After that experience i was even more terrified of the old woman, but kept the curtains closed like usual, and kind of got used to it. Eventually, we moved to a different house, and i never saw that woman again. Not that i would be able to recognize her, since everytime i saw her at the window her face was completely black.
And that's how my story ends. Thankfully i didn't get to see how she looked like, but i realize my story was not as interesting as some others that i have read. In any case, i hope you enjoyed it and sorry if some things don't make sense, english isn't my first language.
​
​ | https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/17ciq03/she_would_watch_me_sleep/ | LetsNotMeet | SeaGovernment8802 |
true | I’ll Never Go Back There Alone | This happened to me when I was seventeen years old. I was just about to graduate high-school. I was homeschooled and very encouraged to pursue entrepreneurship. I was trying to establish a photography business that I could run after graduating. In order to build my portfolio I decided to ask a few friends and acquaintances to model for me. I asked a girl I worked with if she and her husband would like to model a couple’s session for me. It would be a win win since they would receive free photos and I would get to add them to my website as sample work.
We planned a day to meet and I asked them to meet me at a local park one evening. Something you should know about this park is that it is pretty far out in the country. The park has soccer fields, baseball fields, a golf course, and walking trails so it is on a large plot of land and fairly secluded. The only house in view of the park is the caretaker’s home directly across the street from the entrance. Unless there is an event or a weekend, there is usually not many people there. I felt pretty confident meeting the couple there because I was only planning to arrive about fifteen minutes early to set up, so I wouldn’t be alone long.
The park has an entrance where you can drive down a road into the parking lot to get to all the sports fields, playground, and down to the pond. The front of the park has a large grassy strip which is where I was planning to set up for my photos. I bypassed the entrance and pulled into a little dirt section at the front of the park and began unloading all of my props. I was always taught to be a cautious person, especially as a young woman, so I took a quick glance to see if anyone was at the park. I saw one car in the parking lot, and two guys tossing a ball in the baseball field, along with their pit bull. Across the street I could see the caretaker out in her yard so that made me feel a lot better. I decided I would just keep an eye out and continued setting up my things. I would glance up every now and then to make sure that the two men were still on the baseball field. I had no reason to believe they would bother me, but something in my gut just told me to keep watch.
The couple I was waiting on seemed to be running late. I finished my set up and glanced up to check on the two guys. To my horror they were gone. The car was still there but the men and the dog where nowhere in sight. There was a bit of a hill in front of me that blocked some of the park entrance from sight so I thought maybe they had just decided to walk one of the nature trails. But again, that feeling in my gut just told me something was wrong. I looked at the caretaker’s house and she had gone back inside. I couldn’t get everything back to the car quickly, so I just grabbed my camera equipment and hopped in my car. I locked the doors, turned on the ignition, and got my phone out.
Literally as soon as I got settled in my car I see the two guys coming over the hill with their dog. I feel my gut feeling melt into panic. You have to understand, there was no reason for them to come up to where I was. It’s literally just an open, grassy yard. If the dog needed to relieve himself, there was plenty of place for that at the woods edge, or the nature trail, or the walk to the pond, all of which were way closer to them than where I was. They walked around my setup and when they got to my car one guy went around the front and the one holding the dog on the leash circled my car. I assume that they realized I had already noticed they were coming and that I was no longer vulnerable, because they rejoined and walked further down up and around through the soccer field. Once I felt like I was no longer in danger I glance down at my phone to see that the couple I was supposed to meet had apparently forgotten about it and were at the beach. I was so fed up at that point, I jumped out of the car, grabbed up all my props, and shoved them into the car.
This was my first experience of how scary it can be to be a female out alone. I’ve had multiple experiences since, but this one sticks out to me the most because I am absolutely certain that those guys intended to do me harm. And what kind match would a seventeen year old girl be against two grown men and a pit bull? One thing is for certain, I will never go back to that park alone. | https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/17cgtln/ill_never_go_back_there_alone/ | LetsNotMeet | EconomistDistinct468 |
true | My screaming may have saved my life. | Some context first - this story took place in 2020, when I was 18 years old. I lived in a relatively safe neighbourhood - but my country does have a high crime rate in general, so take that with a pinch of salt.
My dad had passed away earlier in the year, and I had no siblings, so my mom and I lived alone in our house. The Covid lockdowns were still in place, but as certain restrictions were lifted, people were starting to return to work.
Between my house and the train tracks was a stretch of empty field. It became a safe, quiet space for me to escape to whenever I needed to get out of the house. I would normally sit there once a day for a cigarette or two, sometimes for a little picnic. My home situation was complicated, to say the least, and due to the pandemic I had nowhere else to go.
On this particular day, I went there for a few minutes to smoke, as always. I was about halfway through my cigarette when I noticed a young man walking along the train tracks, on the other side of the field. He was barefoot, and wearing dirty, worn-out clothes. He noticed me, and made a hand gesture suggesting that he was asking for a smoke. I should have just left, but as a teenager, I found it difficult to say no to people.
I walked across the field and handed him a smoke. He took it from me and I immediately felt uneasy with the way he was looking at me. He asked me: "Don't you live in that house over there?" and pointed at my house. I avoided answering the question, and at this point realized that I needed to leave. I had left from my front gate that day. For him to know where I lived he must have watched me leave from the back gate before. I told him I needed to get going. He started insisting on giving me a hug to say thank you, and I declined several times.
At this point, I turned around and started walking away quickly. I didn't get very far. He caught up to me, and put his arm around my waist. I panicked - not knowing what to do. All I could think of was that I needed to get away. As I tried to start running, he grabbed me from behind and started dragging me toward the row of houses, where the view from the road is completely blocked. The fences were high too, so no one could see the field from their backyards. We were completely isolated.
I was kicking and struggling, desperate to get out of his grasp. He ended up throwing me on the ground, with him on top of me, still holding on. In a split second, my life flashed before my eyes. That feeling that something terrible was about to happen came over me. I couldn't escape - he was too strong. My arms were trapped by his and he was holding me down, so I couldn't kick him. I did the only thing left to do and I started screaming for help.
Suddenly I was free. I could move. He had let go, and jumped off of me. He ran away. My heart was still pounding. I was shaking, in shock from what had just happened. He disappeared into the industrial area on the other side of the train tracks. I immediately ran towards the road. As I reached it, I noticed it was empty. There were no cars parked in my neighbors' driveways. No one heard me screaming, and had he realized, that day could have had a far worse ending.
He knew where I lived, and I was terrified of him returning. For months, I had panic attacks and nightmares and I could barely leave my house without breaking down. I moved away from there a year later, but I still sometimes get scared when I'm home alone or walking around town.
Thankfully, I never saw him again and I hope that I never will. | https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/17anr3t/my_screaming_may_have_saved_my_life/ | LetsNotMeet | Novel_Environment_89 |
true | How do i handle this situation? | EDIT: Thanks everyone for your kind comments, I may talk to a relative who works with the police.
This happened a couple of days ago.
I probably should have reported it then and there but I don't know.
A couple of days ago I was on a train heading home from work. A bit earlier than normal because I was planning to work from home for the rest of the day since it was an office job. After I got off the train, I decided to go to a vending machine and get myself a Pepsi. It was there on the vending machine to the left of the one I was at, there was a man: Black hair, brown skin, tatoos of letters/numbers on his knuckles, 5"8 and I heard him mutter something to me I had my headphones partially on And I am partially deaf in one ear, so I took off the headphones and asked him what he needed.
It took a while for me to understand what he wanted but it seems he was asking for change for the vending machine, considering he was actually looking for the Change dispensary slot for money, I checked my wallet to see if I had any change but I didn't. But The thing is I tried paying for my Pepsi with my card and he saw me do so.
So what he said next took me by surprise: "why don't you use your card? So I won't have to stab you in the chest."
At the time, I thought I misheard him because I was partially deaf and it was the first time i was threatened, so I asked him to repeat it but he said "Can you use your card" without mentioning stabbing me in the chest and because i felt shitty not to I did (in hindsight, I probably shouldn't have). I scan my card on the EFTPOS machine and I think he ordered something akin to a LE Snack. "He then goes on to say that I don't usually do this."
After he got the food, he looked at the food and looked back at me and said "Are you sure?", and I said "yes",
He kept on repeating the question, but each time I said "yes 100%, I'm sure you can keep it", he even tried to return the food to me.
Then he told me that a lot of his friends use drugs like weed, crack cocaine and offered me some to to which I declined.
He then said something along the lines of "When you get to the heaven They will be asking you about this moment."
He then asked for my name to which I gave a fake one after which he shook my hand and got on the nearest bus.
It was around this time, an old lady that was sitting nearby listening to the entire thing told me "you do realize he just said he was going to stab you in the chest? I was on standby, just in case something happened". To which I responded that I gave him a fake name and left a little startled.
At first, I didn't really think much of this encounter. But lately I've been more on Guard as the days go by. I went to the shop shortly after that encounter and every time I see someone slightly matching that description I was on guard.
I tried reporting this to Crime Stoppers but then they called me and asked me to call the police.
This is where things get a little stupid for my part, I didn't end up calling the police, honestly, I've always been scared of talking on the phone and causing a stir when it's not needed. I am aspergers and i have a bit of an anxiety problem.
So here I am at the moment, not sure how to go forward with this..
I should have gotten that old lady's details that way. I would have had a witness and I should have reported this the moment it happened. But I didn't.
What should I do?
(IF this is the wrong subreddit for this kind of thing.... sorry...)
TLDR: A couple of days ago, while getting a drink from a vending machine after leaving the train, I was approached by a man who subtly threatened to stab me when asking for change. I obliged, he made unsettling comments, offered me drugs and left. Still havent reported to police due to Anxiety. | https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/17awwdz/how_do_i_handle_this_situation/ | LetsNotMeet | dylan760 |
true | The creepy man from the bus | (Sorry for my English, I'm a French native speaker and only learned it at school).
I've never forgotten that event, even though it happened over 10 years ago now. Today I'm a 26 (F), and I still get goose bumps, and it's even creepier with my adult eyes.
In fact, to be more precise, this event took place over a period of more than 6 months.
To put it in context, it all started when I was about 14. At the time, I was attending a private secondary school in the south of France, and I used to go to my grandmother's every evening, to wait for my mother to get off work and pick me up.
My grandmother, who was retired, would wait for me in her car when I got out of school, but the more time passed, the more I wanted to be independent. So I asked her if I could take the bus home, and she agreed. I liked to put my headphones on and take advantage of the long journey to listen to my favorite music and be in my own bubble.
The nearest bus stop to her house was about ten minutes away on foot, because, by bad coincidence, the one opposite the dead end she is living in had been condemned for lack of use. But that didn't bother me, as I'm more of a stroller by nature. So I started taking the same bus, every day, at roughly the same time (although this could vary, I didn't have classes on Wednesday afternoons, for example).
When I was 14, I was really childlike. When I say childlike, I mean, I've always had a childish face, but this time it really showed. I didn't have a "woman's" shape, I always had cute stuffed animals hanging on my bag, well, I guess you can imagine.
And then, I first noticed this guy on the bus, must have been in September-October. He must have been in his forties, not very tall, and bald. Why did I notice him, you might ask ? Well, because he was staring at me. I even had the feeling that he wasn't blinking. He was giving me smiles that didn't inspire confidence, but it was completely instinctive: I'd never been confronted with the reality of the world, I was still very naive, but I knew something wasn't right.
I didn't say anything.I just decided to "run away" from the situation that didn't make me feel comfortable, by looking in another direction, and that was that. That was just the beginning of something I would remember forever.
This man took the same bus as me, every day, at the same time, even when my schedule changed.
To this day, I have still no idea how he could have got these informations: was he watching me? Did he live around the school? He was always staring at me with those strange smiles, never letting up, but never talking to me. I'd get off the bus at my stop, he'd stay on, and then the cycle would start all over again the next day. I was so terrified of this situation that I didn't dare telling anyone: I was afraid they wouldn't believe me, and also that I wouldn't be allowed out of the house afterwards.
And then one day (it was around May-June, at the end of the school year), I'd had enough: I got off at a stop halfway through the journey, and hid (naively) behind a tree to try and lose him. I'd had enough of these persistent stares... Except that the guy also got off. And he started looking for me. There was nobody around, and that's when I realized I wasn't safe. The guy was calling me "*Where are you, sweetheart? Come on, let's have a chat*!" I was, so to speak, sweating and unable to move from my tree. Of course, he eventually found me."*You're really pretty, you know that? I'd love to have a chat, get to know you..*."Frankly, I didn't want to get to know him at all, he terrified me, and I wanted to go home. I tried to make him understand that he was freaking me out and that I wanted him to leave me alone. I asked him what he wanted, and he kept saying the same thing over and over, "*just to get to know each other*"...
The next bus arrived and I took the opportunity to run on to it, except that he did too.
He sat down, stopped talking and stared at me, smiling. I was in an internal panic, my thoughts were going in all directions and I didn't know what to do. I made the worst decision of all, getting off at my usual stop and going back to my grandma's anyway, thinking he'd do as usual and stay on the bus. Except that this time, he got off at the same time as me. The stop was in a very lightly trafficked area, and was lined with little dirt paths that served as shortcuts to parallel thoroughfares. I told myself that he was going to kidnap me, that he was going to take me down a small path and that I would never be able to go home again. But I didn't want him to notice my fear, as it seemed to "fuel" him in a kind of domineering pleasure. So he started asking me to "*get to know each other*" again, while following me. I picked up the pace, but he kept lining up with me : he wouldn't let go.
Eventually I reached my grandmother's dead end, and finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel. I ran up to her house, and she was standing in the doorway reading a book. She saw me coming, red-faced, still shaking with panic, with the bald guy staring at us from behind the gate. She saw my face, and I didn't need to talk to her : she yelled that she was going to call the cops if he didn't get out of there fast. He turned around and left the dead end.
After that, my grandmother categorically refused to let me back on the bus. Until my senior year, she picked me up in front of the school gate every day .I never saw that man again. When I think that this guy, this ADULT, followed a 14-year-old girl home... That he became fixated on me, and that this happened EVERY day... Who knows how far it could have gone? Maybe that's what's most worrying about all this. To this man : let's not meet again, and I hope that he never meets a young girl again aswell.
Today, I no longer take public transport, unless I'm accompanied, because it terrifies me.
| https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/179y1t2/the_creepy_man_from_the_bus/ | LetsNotMeet | SaltyBerlin |
true | Creepy encounter during urban exploration | This story comes from Belgium and took place in 2020 during COVID confinements. I was 20 back then.
At the time, because of the severity of the pandemic in Belgium, the law stated that you could only go out to practice sports or to work so I took the habit of meeting with a friend (Sully) to go out for runs and to practice all kinds of sports in general.
Both of us were quite fond of urban exploration and knew a spot in the outskirts of Brussels consisting of an old sports and wellness center where we took the habit to hang out after our runs.
(To get into the spot, you must go through a hole in a fence on a street, cross a small portion of woods and you'll come up on a football pitch and tennis courts and up on a hill is the center which is an old 4 story building. The hole center takes a whole street block)
On that day, we had just finished a 5km run and went to our spot as usual, we where walking to the building since it was about to rain when we saw 2 teenagers sitting on the roof edge and I remember thinking that it bothered me since we were planning to to to the roof as well, so we went to the hall area to wait for a bit in hopes that the people leave.
(In the hall area, you have a clear view into the kitchen, which you must go through if you want to go to the roof, you can also see into another smaller hall and into the dinning room.)
Sully was rolling himself a cigarette whilst I was gathering 2 chairs and an office table for us to sit.
This next part gives me chills to this day.
As I finished setting everything up, I remember starting to feel unwell, as I was being watched, and not in a good way. That's when I looked at the kitchen and saw, for a brief moment, a head sticking out of the door frame and staring right at us.
It was a man, I couldn't say what age he was since he was all dirty but the one thing I remember is that he had an exaggerated happy expression on his face, like he had just found exactly what he was looking for.
At that moment, I just froze and was unable to react bravely yo the situation. I leaned slowly towards Sully all whilst keeping eye contact with the man and told him very calmly that we had to go immediately.
I tend to make lots of jokes to all of my friends and especially to Sully but when he saw the look I had on my face when I told him we had to leave, he didn't say a word, just took hist backpack and stood up. We ran to the football pitch and saw that the two teenagers where still on the roof so we started to tell at them asking if the man was with them or if they saw him but they answered that "no" they hadn't seen anyone and had come by themselves so if someone was there, he wasn't with them.
We told them it was probably better for them to leave as well since we didn't know what the man in the lobby was up to. They told us they would be fine and they would leave a bit after.
We decided to leave since we had already told them what we saw and we also had already been out for very long so it wasn't very legal with confinement rules.
As we where walking towards to woods, I turned back and I could swear I saw silhouette standing in front of the stair case leading to the roof but my mind didn't quite react and I just left alongside with my friend.
I was so shocked (because nothing like it had happened to me before) that I just decided not to talk about it to anyone in fear of them not believing me or possibly making fun of me.
My friend Sully is the only one who was there, he didn't take a look at the man but he is as scared as me just by seing my own reaction at the time.
I don't know what happened to these teenagers, I found local articles and papers dating from that time about teenagers being chased by a crazy man in an abandonnés building but the information given wasn't enough for me to be sure it was the same people and the same story. | https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/1792ufk/creepy_encounter_during_urban_exploration/ | LetsNotMeet | EnvironmentHealthy14 |
true | almost kidnapped in a ghost town | I never tell anyone this story, but reading all the stories on here I feel like I need to post about it. Because of this I don’t go on walks alone or even with friends unless it’s in a very public place. But even then I am paranoid…
With that being said, my friends family had just moved to a new town 15 minutes from where I lived. It was a complete ghost town, with one tiny grocery store, a post office, and a school. This down was so secluded and quite I rarely ever saw cars drive by. One night, as we were unpacking boxes we heard a knock at the door. It was a big tall man with a shotgun in his hands. Being from Oklahoma this could mean you’re either meeting your hick new neighbor, or it’s actually someone wanting to harm us. Turns out it was just a hick neighbor coming to introduce himself. He told my friends mom about the lack of police, and how everyone tends to carry their own guns in order to protect themselves, because the police were usually no help and 15 minutes away. He also talked about how these areas can be dangerous and that my friends mom should keep a gun with her.
At this time I was 13 years old, and knowing this information, you would think I would simply stay my ass inside and not wonder the streets of this dangerous hillbilly ghost town, but I did. There was no service, no cable, and nothing to do but go outside. We would walk to the store and get snacks, walk to the school and play on the playground. Majority of the time we wouldn’t see a single car or person but the same clerk in the grocery story on every walk we took.
There was a day my dad had brought me to her house, and right off the bat we walked to the park. That day I was sick to my stomach, but was so eager to go see my friend I went anyways. I had a terrible feeling, and now that I’m older and have experienced bad anxiety I can now say that day I was experiencing some pretty bad anxiety, and I didn’t know why I felt this way. When we got there we actually ended up hanging out with an old friend who had transferred to this school a year prior. After he left, we sat on the bench for what felt like ages taking selfie’s and talking, when all of a sudden the stereotypical creepy van pulls up to the park.
Now my friend was and still is way braver than I was and will ever be, and she was always the dare devil one in our friendship. But for some reason, around this time I just assumed it was a family coming to play, and my anxiety was gone. But my friend was scared. She immediately had a bad feeling when the van pulled up, and I could tell she was ready to leave. But we decided to stay and see who it was before we just ran off. Of course, like something out of a movie came out two big men literally barreling over to where we were. We immediately started to walk away, and they tried to follow and grab us. At this point we began to run. They got back into the van and followed us. I have no idea how but they didn’t catch up to us, but we ran as fast as we would up the road and straight to the grocery store. I was so horrified when we got inside I couldn’t even speak. That sick feeling I felt on the way to my friends house made complete sense. My mom was always watching true crime growing up, and sometimes she would have me watch with her, so I was always really scared to walk around because of that. But even with that fear I never thought it would never happen to me. The van was parked across the street, but eventually drove off.
We walked home with no way to call anyone, thinking they could be waiting for us around every corner with absolutely no one around. It was the scariest day of my life. I didn’t tell anyone for years, which was stupid of me, but at 13 years old I didn’t know what to do. I’m turning 21 soon, and this story still keeps me up at night sometimes, I can’t help but imagine what would have happened if they captured me and my friend, where we would have gone, and what would have happened to us. | https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/178nix5/almost_kidnapped_in_a_ghost_town/ | LetsNotMeet | Pale_Instruction_161 |
true | to my recent ex who threatened me many times, let’s not meet again. | tw for a lot
i (f20) recently broke off contact with my ex (m19). we were only together for two months, in those two months my living situation had changed suddenly and i ended up moving in pretty fast. at first, it was just me, him and his roommate. he was soso sweet and honestly the first time i was in something healthy, until it wasn’t. i mean he even tattooed one of the tattoos i have, on himself after a week of talking, i really thought that was cute LOL, was so blind.
i found out his roommate (m30) had been convicted w a felony for battery, they both claimed it was false but i don’t think it was so i was already iffy about him. ex and roommate always talked about k!lling people, especially cops, like no joke, every single day.
anytime someone made them mad, everytime they didn’t like someone, anytime someone looked at them too long.
me and ex had went to a party, both of us came home very drunk and was also tripping. there was a weird moment when us three was in ex’s bedroom and ex had left me in the room with roommate, exchanged looks and shut the door, just me and roommate. he kept looking at me but wouldn’t say anything. luckily i was on facetime with a friend and once he realized that, he left too. to me it was all weird but maybe i over thought it.
eventually, ex’s babymama (18, pregnant with his twins) moved in as well. after this is when things really took a turn. he would become more aggressive and consistent with the fact he wanted me to be in bed when he woke up to the point where one day, i left the room to go get water and i didn’t even make it halfway to the kitchen before i heard him stomping out. once he was infront of me, he looked me in the EYES and said ‘i swear i’m gonna sh00t you.’ i was shocked and all i could say was ‘excuse me?’. ‘why are you not in the fucking bed? it pisses me off’ at that point i was honestly scared. after this, he would randomly bring up how he ‘wanted to choke me and watch me struggle to live’ and would randomly grab my throat saying ‘sometimes i’m worried im gonna snap ur neck’. anytime we argued, he would talk abt how he was going to end his life in detail. once i moved back to my hometown, i stopped answering and the texts to my mom started. telling her i was talking about ending my life and he needed to know if i was okay. he was trying to keep tabs on me.
i told my mom not the answer but she keeps answering anyway and i don’t know what to do as of now.
so, to the man who completely love bombed just to scare me away, i hope we do not meet again. | https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/178gcvo/to_my_recent_ex_who_threatened_me_many_times_lets/ | LetsNotMeet | brainzr0ttin |
true | Encounter with weirdo on Hwy 1 | So this happened about 4 years ago. My girlfriend and I were both 21 years old. We were out on a drive up hwy 1 past davenport CA. We spent the day at the beach and driving up and down some back roads in my jeep. It started to get late so we decided to call it a day and head home. If your not familare with Ca. Hwy 1, some stretches of the highway are on cliffs high up above the ocean. There are alot of turnouts along the highway and people will park in them to watch the sunset. We were on a stretch of the hwy pretty far between any houses or buisness and I drove past this particularly sweet turnout that almost ALWAYS has a car parked in it during sunset time. For once it was empty. Since it was around sunset time, I did a U-Turn and backed into the spot.
The spot is small, there is a huge dirt mound on side and a steep cliff face with a trail going up about 60ft on the other side. The gap inbetween the two sides was like 16 ft. The mound was on the passenger side and the cliff face was on the drivers side. And we were pretty close to the edge, it wasnt an abrudt edge though, there was a medium size dirt mound so cars wont just roll off the cliff. So anyways, I was pretty stoked. So we sat there in the back of my jeep facing out over the ocean watching the sky turn red. It was nice.
About 25 minutes in, my hopped out and to get her water from the front of the car. She came back and then right after she sits down this black bmw suv pulled up. Like I said there was only room for 1 car at this tight spot. You theoretically could park two, but you would have to park directly park infront of my car and block me in. And that's exactly what this guy did. I was pretty annoyed awhen he pulled up because I think that's rude to pull up on someone in such a small spot and then block them in. My gf said "wtf?" "I know right what a rudeass" I said back. Then she said "no I mean I saw that car drive past when I was getting my water and the guy looked at me, so it's weird that he turned around and parked there". Which was strange and made me more annoyed, but it was a nice evening so were like whatever and we brushed it off, they'll probably leave in a couple of minutes anyways. So we kept enjoying the sunset.
10 minutes pass and then the driver steps out of the car. He was this yuppie looking kind of guy probably in his late 40's or early 50's. About 6'3". He was wearing a button up shirt and tie. He looks around and slowly walks up to the back of my car (he's on the passenger side) and says hello to my girlfriend and I, we say Hi back. There's a pause and he looks over the edge and says "thats a long ways down" then he looks back at us with a creepy half smile. So I'm already a little bit weirded out so I just say "yeaaaaah it sure is" with a forced a laugh at the end. He then asks "do you guys have any cigarettes? Maybe something healthy like American spirits?" (Lol "something healthy") BUT I coincidentally did have some American spirits cigarettes. They were on my dashboard in the front so he definitely saw them which made the way he asked seem kind of weird to me. So I gave him one and he goes "ahhh yes thank you" he went back to his car and started to rummaged through the back. My girlfriend and I were both looking at eachother, I say "isn't this kind of weird?" She goes "yeah, why cliff comment?".
The guy comes back after a couple of minutes with a fold out chair and a small duffle bag. He puts the duffle on the ground and folds out his chair and sits right next to us he was about 3 ft away from us, he didn't have the cigarette I gave him anymore I dont think he even smoked it. He randomly starts asking us questions. Like; "are you guys homeless?" And I go "uh no, were not homeless" I throw in a short laugh at the end because I just was trying to play it cool and not seem weirded out. He then asks "are you two from around here?" I go "yeah we live in the mountains by hwy 17" he replies "that's pretty far from here isn't it?" I go "its like 30-45 minutes, so not too far". The sun was starting to get lower in the sky and it started to get dimmer out. Mr. American spirit guy reaches in the duffle bag and pulls out some glasses and a huge handle of vodka??? "Here do you guys want some?" I say "no we're good" then he says "come on, lets relax a little" then I say "nah I need to drive". "Suit yourself" he says and he pours himself a fat glass and downs it immediately after. My girlfriend and I threw glances at eachother that communicated "this is weird".
We sit there in awkward silence for about 10 minutes, there was some kind of weird tension in the air. Then out of no where he asks "so does anyone know your out here?" Uhhh red flag??? Also at this point I was starting to get annoyed because he was ruining the evening with his creepyness and questions. so I was kind of short with him and said "yeah most likely". He just nodded and didn't say anything. It was just turning into a weird ass interaction and I was getting such a weird feeling in my gut about this whole situation. I eventually 'asked' my girlfriend "well should we wrap it up?" She immediately said yes. So I stood up and my gf crawled in over through the back seat into the front passenger. I close the rear door and immediately the dude snaps his head towards me in am almost comically creepy way and deadass says "how are you going to get out if I'm blocking you in like this?" Im thinking "wtf is this dude on?" But realized he had a good point. But I tried to act chill and said "I think I got it" I got inside my jeep, locked the doors and turned it on. My girlfriend said she saw him start rummage thru his duffle bag again. I started to get an adrenaline rush at this point and shit started to move fast, not even paying attention to the dude I engaged the 4wd, and there was just enough space between his car and the cliff face for me to angle my driver side up the cliff face it tilted my jeep at a sharp 45 degree angle, which was sketchy because I pinned the gas when I looked in my mirror and saw the guy quickly walking around to my side. I was barely able to get past his car without hitting it or flipping my jeep onto it, but once I did I peeled out of there.
My girlfriend and I were like "holy shit!" we looked back at the guy as we drove away and he was standing there with a blank expression on his face and he was holding something long in his right hand close to his side, I dont know what it was. He just stood there looking at us for a seccond then he started to quickly pack up his things. I had to pull over real quick to put my jeep back into 2wd before going faster down the road, and we saw the guy pull out and drive away in the opposite direction. We never saw him again after that. I'll never park along hwy 1 near night time again. | https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/178ahfi/encounter_with_weirdo_on_hwy_1/ | LetsNotMeet | Born2bwylde_ |
true | Encounter with traffickers in China | I’m a woman. I’m Chinese but grew up in Sydney, Australia. However I was born in Beijing but on the outskirts of it in a large town called Yungang Residental District where my mums family is from. When I was 5, I immigrated to Australia but my family would still travel back to China every few years. This incident happened in the snowy winter of 1997 when I was 11 years old.
My grandparents still lived in Yungang and introduced me to a brother and sister who lived in the same building as them. I can’t remember their exact ages but I think the older girl was around 14 and the younger boy was around 6. I still remember the exact outfit as I was wearing as I’d been wearing the same outfit all trip. At that time flared jeans were in and, coming from Australia, I wasn’t prepared for the snow and coldness of the Chinese winter and so on my first or second day there, my Chinese cousin had taken me to a shopping mall where she’d helped me haggle down the price of a bright pink duffle coat with fluffy white trimming. I thought it was the most fashionable thing ever (haha) and wore it every day. I have photos of me from the trip wearing that exact outfit.
We walked around town and ended up going to a very large park with a lake inside it. It was a little bit of a distance from the center of town. We were playing by the shore, throwing rocks, joking around and having a good time. At some point I looked up at realised it was getting dusky. Although it probably wasn’t very late but considering it was winter the sun set early. The park, which had never been very busy to start with, was nearly deserted. There were still some other people but they were a fair distance away from us.
All except for two men who suddenly approached us. They were middle to late middle aged, the “uncle” type. One of them approached me and said he was a friend of my father’s and that he’d asked him to pick us up. I remember being confused because my dad didn’t live in this town and was in another district about 2 hours away in Beijing where his family were from. Pretty quick I realised something was off and so did the brother-sister I was with. We all started making excuses and backing off.
I still remember very clearly that as we started backing away, the man who approached us looked back over his shoulder at his companion as if asking him what he should do. His companion was standing a little distance away beside a white van with the door already slid open. I completely believe that he was considering snatching one of us and making a run for it. However perhaps because there were 3 of us and perhaps because there were still people around in the peripheries, they didn’t do anything.
As I walked away rapidly I looked back over my shoulder and remember seeing the two men just standing there, watching us go. That 15-20 minute walk back was one of the scariest walks in my life as I imagined someone grabbing me from behind every second. The sun set just as we got into my building and burst in through the door, so happy to be home safe. I did tell my mum and grandmother about it but at that time child kidnappings in China (while already definitely happening) were much less of a massive and widespread news story as it is now. I think my mum especially felt that my being almost kidnapped was somehow a commentary on her parenting skills and was very dismissive and even now dislikes it when I bring it up.
Now that organised child and/or bride kidnappings are such a huge story in China it often makes me shiver at night to think how different my fate could have been. There have been so many stories about young women/girls kidnapped and forced into becoming brides of villagers in remote countrysides, sometimes tied to beds and having their legs broken to prevent them running away. They’re forced to bear children one after another. No one in the village will help them because almost all the men in the village have “purchased” brides from traffickers in this way. There’s also children, usually boys, kidnapped into families who have been unable to have kids or adopt legally. They fare a bit better but can also be abused and neglected.
Now that I have my own kids and safe and warm in my bed in Sydney, I sometimes think about how wildly and irrevocably my life might have derailed that snowy evening in Yungang and shiver. Hi | https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/176vzwb/encounter_with_traffickers_in_china/ | LetsNotMeet | amandarama89 |
true | Weird friend i had two/three years ago | hi reddit, ive been scared to tell this story to anyone not involved because i am always petrified she'll end up finding her way back to me, but on here, and in this subreddit i dont think she will.
trigger warning for grooming and stalking
​
two or three years ago, i met this girl thru mutual friends. she seemed like, amazing, she was so kind and eager to be friends with me, she'd give me presents, and compliments, so much. too much almost. now in this friendship i was developing with her, she'd talk about kidnapping me and having her to herself. obviously, you tell a traumatized naive 16 year old that she'll think its a joke, which is exactly what i did. after a while she started to get oddly sexual with me (i was in a very committed relationship at that time too.) asking if she could feel me up when we met because she didnt know what boobs felt like, or saying how her truck bed was perfect for sex under the stars in a field. mind you shes a year and 11 months older than me. i eventually moved to be with my friend group, unaware that she also lived here, but went to school with my friends. we were all friends with her, and they all have their sides of what happened that i wont recount, as its their story to tell.
once i moved here, she'd try and come see me everyday, even after she turned 18 and i was 16 almost 17. she even bought me three pairs of booty shorts for christmas with the note "cant wait to see you in these, i picked the perfect colors ;)". i had been uncomfortable with her advances from the start and had even told her on multiple occasions that i was uncomfortable, but it didnt stop her advances. even trying to manipulatively convince me to leave my partner at the time. once i started to pull away emotionally from her, she chewed me out, threatening to kill herself or shoot up her school if i didnt wanna be friends with her.
once new years rolled around, and i couldnt handle the constant at this point harassment i was getting from her, i finally told my friends what was happening with her. they told me i was actively being groomed. the gifts, the compliments, the unwavering obsession with me. it made me sick, so me and my roommate finally decided to cut ties with her, blocking her on everything and having one of my parents tell her she was not welcome near me or the house again.
she was PISSED, she started to drive by my house or near my street almost every day after she got out of school, even at one point deciding to do a burnout very loudly at my friends house because she knew i was at their house. she would ask my friends about me and ask if i done ignoring her. once she found out i got told i was groomed by her, everything switched. she hated me, said i ruined her life, lead her on, forced her to smoke weed, she even started saying i sent her nudes and started to sexually flirt with her first, all of those not true in any way. she was telling these and so many other things about me to complete strangers at her school too. she was so mad at me, even on my 17th birthday tweeting that she wished id just die already. all her anger, or anything she had said about me would come back to me obviously, as she was actively talking to or engaging with my friends.
it had been months since i had heard about her or anything she had said about me, i was finally content but that paranoia i had was still strongly there, and terrified.
i was going to a concert for one of my favorite bands ever, and i was even happier about it because they were playing in a city near me. i had tweeted about getting tickets, and just how excited i was about it. me and my roommate go to the concert, and we're having an amazing time during the openers, i go out to get a cup of water and out of the corner of my eye i see her. she hated this band, she even bashed me for liking them so much. knowing that i brushed my worry off and went back into the concert venue. once the openers left and the band started played me and my roommate we're having SUCH a good time. then during the third or fourth song i turn around and see her so close it was uncomfortable. my body threw me into a panic attack on instinct, and me and my best friend had to leave the concert immediately. it was horrifying, and im still petrified to go to concerts in my state honestly.
i havent heard anything about her or her whereabouts since then besides hearing she got admitted into a mental hospital for saying some fucked shit to a friend of hers.
sorry for such a long story, thank you to anyone to who read, and to that girl, i truly hope we never meet again. | https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/17006wq/weird_friend_i_had_twothree_years_ago/ | LetsNotMeet | ToeExcellent7247 |
true | A creepy bicycle man in the fields | This story happened a while ago but it still messes with my mind. Sidenote: I live in a quiet countryside where is usually nothing happening. I'm a 18 years old girl who can easily walk around my hometown alone without even being scared because it's really safe here. Basically no crimes.
So, as usual, me and my dog went for a walk one evening. It was nice weather outside so I decided to go for a nearby field. I usually let my dog out of her leash there so it was fun for both of us, she's a nice dog and always comes when I call for her. We get to the field and everything is going really really well and nothing seems off, except I have this kind of odd feeling in my gut that I never usually have, the last time I had the same feeling when I was eight years old and we were driving at night with my family. I had the same feeling then and I told it to my parents "I feel like something is wrong, you should be careful" I said something like that. They slowed down because I was oddly serious at the moment, a minute after I said it a deer came out of nowhere and we would've crushed if we had gone by the same speed as a minute before. We were all shocked and my mom thanked me, I still remember it like it was yesterday.
However, in the field, ten years later, I get the same gut feeling. "Whatever" I think and keep going completely ignoring it. We roll around the fields and a nearby forest until the sunset starts to set. I put my dog back to her leash and decide to leave from one of the tiny paths that go through a small forest (it's the quickest way to my home). It's not a popular way to go but it's quick. As I'm walking along that path I suddenly spot a silhouette in the end of the road just before the forest starts. I think nothing of it at that point and just keep walking but after just a little while I have a strong gut feeling and stare at the silhouette for a while, it's then that I notice that the silhouette is staring at me without moving. I just think that maybe they were waiting for someone, because at first the silhouette looked like a child's. But as I got closer I noticed that it wasn't a child but a grown man who was riding difficulty looking child's bicycle. It was a blue-green boys bicycle, his legs were way too long for it and his whole body looked like he was forcing himself to ride it. It was really unsettling sight. Still, my dumbass didn't want to turn around and have a couple of kilometers waste of time and even though it was creepy looking I still thought "maybe he's waiting for someone that comes from my way?". But every step i take he follows me with intense expression. I'm only like a twenty meters away from him when he starts to do a weird 'jumps' on his bike, smiling the ugliest and the most unsettling smile I've ever seen, just staring at me with wide eyes. He kinda looks like he was expecting something and is so excited about it that he needs to jump. He looks like he's in his fifties or something, very long and thin legs and arms, bald and that creepy unsettling smile. That's when my alarm rings went on, I glanced behind me and no one was there, it was just me, a 18 years old small girl with her fluffy (definitely not a guard) dog. I turn around 360' and start to jog where I came from, 'just in case'. I glanced at him and sighed in relief when I noticed he wasn't following me or anything, I thought that maybe he wasn't waiting for me after all and called myself stupid and a scaredy cat. I was so wrong.
My adrenaline starts to slow down again as I'm in the middle of the fields and I still see no sign of him following me. I let my dog out of her leash again and she starts to run around. I'm nearly at the end of the field (I only have a kilometer or sum a forest part before I get to my home after the field part) when my dog spots a rabbit or deer or some interesting thing and flies towards it, I panic because she has never done that before and yell for her. I yell plenty of times for her loudly and finally she comes back. I'm relieved that nothing happened to her but but as I put her back to her leash I notice something form the corner of my eye. The freaking bald long legs is biking towards me, he's not looking at the ground when he bikes, but me. Freak out wasn't enough to express my feeling in that moment. I have never seen a human who looks so crazy. More than crazy. what surprised me the most was that he was biking through a field, and I can tell you it is not a easy field to even walk sometimes. It has muddy ponds that you need to jump over but that psycho just biked through them. He was struggling A LOT to bike there but somehow managed to still do that, I didn't watch for another second behind me because I just started running. I ran so freaking full speed (and I have asthma) that I saw black and nearly collapsed, my lungs hurt so bad that I thought I was dying but the adrenaline kept my blood running and my legs too. Once I glanced behind me and he was there, struggling badly to keep up his full speed on the field grounds with that ugly white smile and the way too little bike. After that I just ran like crazy until I found a house, hid in their yard without even minding that I was in someone else's yard. It didn't matter to me in that moment at all. I waited a while with my breathing stuck in my throat, but he didn't come. I was planning to yell as loudly as I could if he found me but he never did. At some point the adrenaline started leaving my system and I left my hiding spot. I ran again until I reached an area which had multiple people in their yards so I would have help if I saw him again. But I didn't. I typed 911 into my phone but couldn't bring myself to call, mostly because I had no proof and I didn't want my parents to find out because they are overprotecting so I wouldn't probably leave my house anymore (I still live with them sidenote). I've been paranoid after this incident, my dog was frightened too. I guess she noticed something was really off too. I swear to god that I will always ALWAYS listen to my gut when it's telling me something from now on. I'm still scared of him, I've expected to randomly spot him in some area and what he could've done to me. I can't forget his awful smile. I feel like he's gonna jump on my window one night and do what he wants to me. I feel paranoid and helpless, I'm still thinking about calling the police. | https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/16y6nk5/a_creepy_bicycle_man_in_the_fields/ | LetsNotMeet | Pumpkin_piE6848 |
true | Could someone please help explain this weird intruder behaviour? | I’ll post the whole story for context.
Last night I got home from work at about midnight, and went to bed. I asked my partner to check the door before we went to bed because we live in a council block and just want to be safe.
My flatmate works at a nightclub, and she got back at around 5-7am I’m guessing. I think she didn’t close the door properly, she has done this before, and this is how the intruder got in.
I woke up at about 8am and heard the bathroom door opening and shutting, the toilet seat opening and closing. We don’t get on with our other flatmates and they argue with us whenever we talk to them (lol) so I assumed it was one of them in a bad mood. The thing that really panicked me was when our bedroom door was opened, and when I said ‘hello’ the door quickly shut. It was very frantically opened.
When my partner got dressed and went to the kitchen, we heard the front door close - the person left. Nothing had been taken but the storage cupboard door was open and toilet roll packaging was pulled out onto the bathroom floor.
Upon speaking to my flatmates, one person was out and the other person who came home from work was asleep, so it was an intruder.
Why would they be opening and shutting stuff in our bathroom? Really very disturbed by this.
thanks | https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/16qxf44/could_someone_please_help_explain_this_weird/ | LetsNotMeet | edamamekid |
true | Date gone wrong | In june 2023, i was on a lot of dating apps and would meet people regularly to have sex. I was texting with someone and he invited me over. I took a uber to his place in the afternoon. The building was old and a bit creepy, i started feeling unsafe but my rational side took over and i went in. The front door was broken so i was able to go in. I texted him that i just got there and was waiting for him to show up. A few minutes later, I knocked to what I thought was his apartment. He texted me « apartment 9 » but he wasn’t there. I went back to the lobby and texted that I was leaving in the next few minutes since I didn’t get any reply. A man shows up in the lobby and I follow him to apartment 15.
I said
« That’s weird, why would you tell me you lived in apartment 9? »
« No i live here, apartment 15 »
« Yes I noticed. But you said apartment 9, why? »
He didn’t seem to understand my question, he looked intoxicated.
Apartment 15 was disgusting. Trash everywhere and it smelled like death. I knew i had to leave but i didn’t want to offend him. At this point, i’ve been in the apartment for a few minutes only.
« blow me »
Aint no fkg way. I showed him our text messages.
« Is this your phone number? » I asked.
« No »
I panick. I tell him that I have to leave. I unlock the door, opened it, step outside. I feel something in my back, he was burning me with his cigarette. He then tried to pull me inside, beat me up and stole my bag. I was on the floor of the hallway when he kicked me in the face then close the door.
I ran outside and called the cops.
THE SAME NIGHT, he text me « ? » WHICH IS SO WEIRD WTF.
My jaw was fractured on both side, i lost a tooth and chipped another one.
He’s now in jail and we’re waiting for the court to know exactly how much time he will serve. | https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/16matur/date_gone_wrong/ | LetsNotMeet | Alexurfavourite |
true | I was almost a victim of a killer. | Over 4 years ago, I went to work at a warehouse in the small town that I'm from. I decided to leave after my health started to get worse physically and I was diagnosed with panic disorder and severe anxiety after the situation that I'm about to tell you. This changed the way that I developed friendships after that job; that's for certain.
So, I started this job on April Fools day of 2018 (which was odd to me) and I had no kind of high expectation of the job. All I wanted was to do my job, get paid, and go home as I had two children at home and many things that I could work on there. The job wasn't hard and it made pretty good money for all duties considered so, I really couldn't complain. I worked second shift for about 5 months and I went to dayshift.
While working on second shift, I kept to myself mostly until, one day, I met someone from one of the lines after we struck up a conversation about gaming. For the sake of anonymity, we'll name him JF. Well JF was a pretty good guy and we had a lot of things in common. I went home that night and he popped up as a suggested friend on Facebook (again, another oddity) so, I decided to add him. When I did, we started talking more at work until he suggested that we should hang out so, we did hang out. Pretty frequently.
We were friends for a month at this point and one day, he decided that he was going to introduce me to his partner. She seemed decent at first: super nice, didn't seem to be a judgmental type so, I was cool with her. From then on, I would hang out with him when my kids were spending time with my mother. One time, we were talking at a restaurant and he started to vent to me. "Dude, she's such a bitch sometimes. The other day, I forgot to take the trash out and she threatened to stab me if I didn't. I've never been in a relationship where someone's threatened me but, she's got good intentions, dude." When he said that to me, I was concerned but, of course, we had only been friends for a month so, I thought that maybe, he was being morbid jokingly so, I chuckled at him. He gave me a pretty serious look and said, "I'm not joking. She really did." That concerned me.
Fast forward about 8 months: They're still together and we all hang out pretty regularly forgetting the things he told me then. One day, we were all talking and he seemed a little off that day so, I asked him what was wrong in front of her. He flashed a smirk and said, "Nothing, dude. I'm just a little tired." He didn't have his eyes on me though. He had them on her when I asked that. When we went to work the next day, I asked him again. "Do you promise to keep this between us?" Of course, I agreed. He said that he was breaking up with her and she went a little crazy. He said that she grabbed her gun and pointed it at him and said, "If I can't have you then, no one will." He said that he diffused the situation and is trying to look for a way out. Not really knowing what to say, I just said, "You'll figure it out, man. If you need somewhere to go then, you can come stay with me until you get her out of the house."
Fast forward to another year: he finally decided to leave her. When he did, she flipped out again. This time, he told her over text. She said that she was going to find him and kill him and he was actually out of work that day with a vacation day. He sent me a text that said, "Hey, let me know if she comes over to work looking for me." That struck me as odd because, I had no idea of the situation that was unfolding. She actually did come to our job and she asked me where he was and I said, "I have no idea. I thought he was with you and you guys went out of town or something." All she did was roll up her window and drive off. I called him and told him that she came by and he called the police about it. They had found her up the road with a loaded gun in the car.
Two months later: he decided to talk to her again and when he did, he had something to tell me. When he called me, he asked if I had seen her around and I hadn't. He said, "I would take some vacation days if I were you." Dumbfounded, I asked him why. He said to me, "Because, she's out of jail and her cousins are in town trying to find the people she has personal vendettas with. You're one of them." At that point, I was terrified. I grabbed my kids and went out of town. Took two weeks off of work. Come to find out, that next day, her and her cousins went to the next town over and shot 3 people in an apartment and killed them. I got the news about it the day after it happened. The reason why he knew they were coming after me is because, they made a Facebook Messenger group that he was included in and sent a list of names. Everyone regarded it as spam and decided to disregard the message but he knew what it was. 3 of the names on that list were the people that they shot. The fourth name on that list... was mine. After they found the evidence and he decided to go public about the group and screenshots that he had, they were all charged with first degree murder.
From then on, I was very careful about who I would stick my neck out for because, even though, he knew the context of that list and her intentions, he decided to not inform anyone else on it. Needless to say, we aren't friends anymore and I dodged a bullet. Literally. Sorry for the long post. I felt like it needed context. Stay safe, y'all. | https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/16libmf/i_was_almost_a_victim_of_a_killer/ | LetsNotMeet | Scare_Country |
true | I thought I was alone so I tried to sleep. I was wrong. | This story is something that I think about from time to time and it creeps me out. So I am writing this to get it off my chest so anyways lets begin.
Two almost three years ago I was seventeen years old at this point I was accustomed to being in horrible situations, as all I had was my mother and she could not hold down a job for long because she had her own issues to tackle and so as I grew up we stayed in and out of roommates houses. We never really had our own place to stay except twice but that didn't last long either and we would be forced into a new environment with a snap of a finger. So when I was 17 we are lead into a situation where we are going to be homeless again and I was used to it at this point as I had slept in the street more than I'd like. The day comes when we have to leave our roommates house and my mom is able to stay at her boyfriends trailer. I had nowhere to go as I had no friends at this point as I halted my friendships because they were bad for my health and mental state and overall were toxic. My mom offered me to go with her but I didn't want to as I felt like getting between my Mom and her boyfriend was kind of weird plus I'm used to the street and I didn't think it was as bad as it was at the time.
So here we are I get dropped of at a McDonalds and I eat some burgers before I go off into the streets once more. Eventually the sun fled and darkness was all that remained and so I look for a place to sleep for the night. I went into many places that night trying to sleep but none of them were working because it was either too hot or the lights were too bright or the mosquitos were biting me. That's when I remember a house that I used to go into to chill in, this house was under construction and nearly finished so the doors all shut and the windows were all settled so there were no Mosquitos. I go through the back like always and I make my way upstairs. Eventually I settle in the bathroom because there is less debris on the floor.
So I lay there and I try to sleep. Eventually I hear some sounds down stairs but I didn't think anything of it. I figured it was the door that I came through swinging open and close or something. Eventually after laying there for maybe a hour I open up my phone and I look at old photos of my life thinking about how messed up it was that I got to this point and how I lost everything. The noises were still happening this entire time but I paid no mind to it. Eventually for whatever reason I get up and I go to sit down on the back porch because I just couldn't sleep.
I make my way down stairs and out the back door to the porch. I am messing around on my phone for maybe 5 minutes when it happens. I see movement to my left from the back door I just exited from. I glance over and time itself freezes. At first I think that it's a illusion but I was in fact wrong. I see a man shrouded in darkness peering past the wall inside to gaze at me.
His lower half of his figure was behind the wall entirely and I could not see anything but his upper body. The rest of his body has leaning to the left peaking behind this wall almost like the man was trying not to let me see his full body as it would make his presents known. The man was a pure black silhouette and I could not make out any features. After noticing him I just sat there and stared at him for what seemed like forever but was probably a minute or two. I expected him to come outside and talk to me because I normally talked to a lot of homeless people and I thought the man was just homeless. He didn't come outside though, he had not moved at all actually.
He was as still as a statue, quiet as a mouse, maybe if I had not noticed him he would have stared at me the entire time. I eventually after staring at him got up and got my bicycle and made my way out of the property. As I am walking out of the backyard I peer into the window that is next to the door I saw the man in. The moonlight revealed the man was still there only now he was watching me walk out of the property. I could tell because the moonlight revealed the top of the mans head and I saw his left eye gazing at me. He was a white male who was very tall and had a jacket of some kind on.
I could not make out many details because he was still cloaked in darkness. After seeing this I just move a little faster out of there. I got to the front of the house on the street and I looked inside to see if I could see him again. I could not. I got on my bicycle and waved goodbye to the house because I figured the man was still watching me. Then I drove away. For the rest of the night I could not sleep. I tried two different spots but both were no luck.
This is where the story ends I know I didn't have a crazy chase or fight to the death or anything but this was real life and its not the same as the movies or books. I don't know what the man was doing in there, I assume he was trying to sleep like I was but the way he was staring on me was very unnerving. It makes me wonder how long the man was in the house for and what would have happened if I actually fell asleep in the house. Would he have stared at me while I was asleep completely blinded to his presents? Or did he have other intentions? I will never know but now I don't go into houses like that anymore at all after this experience.
So, to the man shrouded in darkness, lets not meet again.
​
Edit 09/18/2023: Upon request I spaced out the block of text into paragraphs. | https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/16kmu4f/i_thought_i_was_alone_so_i_tried_to_sleep_i_was/ | LetsNotMeet | Reddit-892 |
true | Creepy apartment chase | This happened over ten years ago, so excuse me if the details are a little fuzzy.
When I was in highschool my friend Claire came to sleep over. We made some plans to sneak out and hang out with some guys, and then one of them would drive us home.
We go out to our friends' apartment, have some fun, and around midnight we decide it's time for us to head back. But when we ask to be taken back, everyone says no, despite previously agreeing to bring us back. Everyone said they were too drunk or too high, so we eventually decide to just start walking back and we would make some phone calls to see if anyone could pick us up and bring us the rest of the way back. My house was a good 20 minutes away by car on the highway so there was no way we were walking all the way back.
The apartment was towards the back of the complex, so we start making our way to the entrance. We don't even get halfway there before a car slowly starts rolling up behind us.
I was 15 or 16 at the time, and very naive to the ways of the world, so I wasn't too concerned, but Claire was a little smarter than me on this night. She tells me to start walking faster. So we start walking faster. The car also picks up their pace behind us. Again, she tells me to walk faster. So we start moving as fast as we can, and that's when the car pulled slightly in front of us and two of the passenger doors open and two men get out.
Realizing there's no "walking faster" to get out of this situation, she instructs me to "Run NOW" so she takes off running and I follow her. She runs towards a group of parked cars and jumps behind a pickup truck, and for a minute we hope and pray that we weren't spotted. This is where details get a little fuzzy, one of them must have gotten back in the car at some point, as there's only one of them following us behind the truck.
We hear a set of footsteps quickly approaching and she quietly indicates that we're now going into stealth mode. This man is on the other side of the truck that we're hiding behind. He's circling the truck looking for us, and we're slowly and quietly circling it on the opposite side to avoid being spotted. It felt like a scene from a movie or video game. We somehow managed to do two or three circles around the vehicle without being detected, and by the grace of the gods, he gives up and decides to go back to the car with his friends.
This is our one shot to get away. She tells me to run again, so we run for what felt like an eternity, but in reality was probably only 15-20 seconds. We find the pool house area and find a spot to hide. We were hidden behind some fences and bushes and we're anxiously waiting to see if they discover us.
Their car pulls around to the pool house and we're biting our nails hoping they don't stop and get out. The car slowly drives away and we realize we haven't been spotted! We were safe for now. But the car circled around the apartment complex for hours and hours and hours. They weren't giving up on looking for us.
We were safe for the time being, but now we needed to find a way out of there. It was the middle of winter, and of course we were dressed to impress the guys we went to hang out with, so short shorts and revealing tops. We were FREEZING. We found a dirty disgusting captain America blanket that we huddled up under while making phone calls to find someone to pick us up. We tried contacting the guys at the apartment but no one answered our calls. None of our friends answered our calls. We felt completely alone and hopeless. But around 5am someone finally answered and said they would pick us up. The best news I had ever heard in my life.
Our friend gets to the apartment complex but can't find the pool house. The group of men is STILL constantly circling around, so there's no way we're coming out of hiding. We manage to figure out where our friend is at with a little detective work, figuring out what building they're facing, what's in front of them, are there dumpsters nearby, etc etc.
We figure out where they're at so we make a run for it. We spot their car and hop in as fast as we can. "GO GO GO," we tell them and our friend speeds off towards the entrance. We pass the group of men on the way out and that was the last we saw of them.
We made it back around 6am, just in time to sneak back in without my parents ever knowing we even left. If Claire hadn't been with me that night I definitely would have been abducted, raped, and possibly killed.
So thankful for Claire and our friend that picked us up, but a big 'fuck you' to the adult men we went to hang out with as teenagers, and especially 'fuck you' to the guys that intended to harm us.
On a happier note, I'm now very diligent and aware of my surroundings, and we washed the dirty captain America blanket and shared custody of it for years after this encounter.
So to the men who terrorized me and my friend in a shitty apartment complex, let's not meet again. | https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/16b74r6/creepy_apartment_chase/ | LetsNotMeet | swampbitchh |
true | Owl man | UPTADE1 : 08/09 [the record](https://imgur.com/a/HMjCnhE)
UPTADE2: 10/09, that night I forgot to close the window and obviously I heard lm. It always makes me feel so uncomfortable, but especially there I distinctly heard TWO whistlers. On the evening of the recording I also heard 2 noises but even if the recording seems strong it stayed away so I thought cool the guy was able to talk with his owl, I still record for the fun but in the end it’s much less scary!
(The whistler did not go under my window because a car passed and he definitely went after)
But this time it went under my window, and the two noises are not at all the guy and an owl but well TWO different whistles, so 1 that doesn’t really sound like an owl.
**therefore, firstly**: it makes a noise OF HELL but REALLY ULTRA STRONG, I have the impression that every night it is gradual, last year it was not like that
**2nd :** no bird will answer such a noise because with several whistles it’s really messy, so the guy does not try to attract birds.
I am ULTRA uncomfortable, really. I didn’t record this time, my tel was off and I was afraid that turning it on would make noise, I’m still afraid to make noise when I hear them. I might try tomorrow, for the sake of the gesture, even if I hate to hear, I like to record.
UPTADE 3 : 11/09
This night he only made a few shy hoo hoos, not managing to record it. I don't think there will be new uptades because I will soon be leaving my mother's house and I need to rest.
**STORY** : 07/09
Ps: I am French so the translation may not be perfect
So first of all you have to know that I was born and I lived until my 18 years in the area where it happens, so the noises of the nature of the area, normally, it knows me. I went to town when I was older, I come back to see my family during the holidays. Meanwhile, last year, they moved to a really secluded hamlet in the fields, a few kilometers from my childhood village.
Last summer, I pass for a small stay, it is hot, so I open the windows at night (by closing the shutters). The windows overlook the street, but anyway, there is literally no one here, we have neighbors but they are couples of fifty so I know I will not be disturbed to sleep, at 9pm it is total silence. I fall asleep, quiet, but at 3am I woke up by a noise: it’s the sound of a bird. It’s strong enough to wake me up but it stays far away, I’m out of it, I listen to it to determine what it is, but I can’t.
I can’t go back to sleep because the noise completely breaks the silence, but something keeps me from closing the windows; the noise gradually gets closer to me, and it makes me feel really weird. The noise comes to my windows, it scared me because it is not at all the behavior of a bird to do that, so I get out of my bed discreetly and I stick my ear to the shutter. And there I hear something that terrifies me and I can not move at all: the "song" of the bird twitches, and misses. It’s not a bird, it’s a human with a Bird whistle (to imitate and attract birds), walking down the street. The guy’s like a few yards away from me. I have a really weird feeling, I feel like I’m witnessing something that I won’t have to so I stay frozen and I wait until it leaves far enough away to not hear me close the windows. I ask myself many questions: there are fields all around, small forests a few kilometers, why the guy will use his pipe IN THE STREET? If there was a bird with that song in the area, I would have heard it from my window, and it’s not. Anyway, the guy left, too weird but well, after a few hours I go back to sleep.
The next morning I tell my parents, they don’t believe me and think I dreamed. It pisses me off, I don’t like people thinking I’m off the rails, so I decide to leave the windows open tonight and try to record the sound so they believe me and also so we can figure out which bird the guy is trying to imitate, I tell them and they make fun of me by telling me that it will not happen again.
But failed, at 3am, the guy is at the appointment and wakes me again. This time I take out my tel and I stick it to the shutter to record the sound. I hear the guy coming up to my window. I hear him walking, so it’s definitely not a bird.
The next day I make my mother listen to the sound, she thinks it’s the sound of an owl. [I don’t have the recording since] Ok, it’s the sound of an owl, but well that does not explain why there is a guy who makes the owl under my window when there is no owl!
Third night, I always leave the windows open, I’m always afraid but I’m too curious. 3am, I hear the guy coming, and I’m going to stand this time behind the front door, 2 steps from my room on the same facade. The door is glass a little blurred, the street is lit by some street lights, in short, if the guy passes I will see his silhouette and I can determine what the owl man looks like. Well, no. I can’t see it, I can hear it, but I can’t see its shadow, not even a small shape. It’s so weird.
The next nights I keep hearing it, my mother got up at 3 am to see and heard it too. Once my mom closed the window when he was right next door out because too much noise for sleeping, and the noise just stopped when he heard. I end up closing the windows all night, I don’t know what else to do to investigate, the only thing I didn’t do is go outside when it’s there, and I’M NOT GOING TO do it. I still hear it closed window, but it does not wake me.
It lasted a week, every night. I go home and I don’t think about it too much, but my mother sometimes tells me that she hears it, sometimes she hears it not in the street but in a small road perpendicular to the street, which leads to the fields. She says what she hears is an owl, but I know it’s not an owl and it’s him.
And we get to THAT NIGHT. That night I came home, at 3 am. Like I finished writing it is 4 am, it took me 1 hour to tell everything. I closed the window before he got too close to me, because he always scares me, and I don’t want to go through that. And I thought shit, I should have recorded it. Anyway tomorrow night, if I hear it, I’ll record it again and try to publish the sound, I don’t know if we can here.
Do you have any idea what this guy’s goal is? Why play the bird whistle in the street? Why does he absolutely want to attract owls? It can’t just be an enthusiast, the guy does it all the nights of the week. | https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/16b8979/owl_man/ | LetsNotMeet | Deadlyisdead |
true | The cartoon character stalker | My parents had purchased a condo about 10 minutes from their home around the time my older brother was born, with the intention that my siblings and I have the option of renting it when we would come of age. I moved in alongside my brother a few weeks after my 18th birthday, exhilarated by the freedom from our childhood home, which had become laden with traumatic memories over the years. The move took 2 or 3 days, and we had a U-Haul coming in and out of the driveway during that time.
My first day of college occurred a few days later. I had a full schedule 3 days a week (which I would later regret), with my last class getting out at 6pm. The city I live in is notorious for heavy traffic, and I would not get home until roughly an hour and a half later, despite the university being less than 15 miles away. The sun was mostly down by the time I turned into my street, and there were a few people, some accompanied and one alone taking their evening strolls. There was nothing remarkable about it. The driveway was occupied, so I parked on the street and made my way home.
The following day, I got off my closing shift at 9pm. It was dark by the time I got home, and there was a man walking on the strip of sidewalk that faces the condo. I would not have noticed that he was the lone man from the evening before, if it was not for him wearing the same outfit: A bright yellow hoodie, black nylon track pants with white pinstripes, grey nike trainers, and a tan baseball cap. As I got out of my car, we shared a quick glance and continued on our ways.
Two days later, I got off my closing shift and picked my (now ex) boyfriend up for a date. We went back to the condo so that I could change, and in the dark, I saw the man again, wearing the same outfit and on the same strip of sidewalk. "It’s him again!" I sounded more surprised than sussed out, and my boyfriend was confused. I explained that I had been seeing him walking around and that he was always wearing the same thing. We got out of the car and stared at him, our bodies turned toward him. He ducked behind a car. Now properly sussed out, we got back in my car and watched him get into his and drive away with his lights off. It was too dark and he was too far away for us to catch a license plate. At this point, I was not sure if this man even lived in the neighborhood. We went about our night, and I dropped my boyfriend back off at his parents’ house. He told me to call him and/ or the police if I saw the man again, and I agreed.
I got home around midnight. The man was a street away from his usual spot, crouching below a tree and hugging his knees under his chin. I drove past him and noticed a different man in a blue flannel and jeans approaching a street light. He got under the illuminating glow and pulled his phone out, attempting to make a call. I was unsure if the two men had any association with each other until I look back over at the yellow hoodie man. He was no longer under the tree. He was also under a street light, a few meters away from the tree. His back was turned to me, but it appeared as though he was taking a call. As I looked back and forth between the two men, it became pretty obvious that they were communicating with each other. I drove away and called the police. They told me to stay where I was or go to another safe location and that they would contact me when the matter was taken care of. I dozed off and was awoken maybe an hour later by the promised phone call. I was told that neither of the two men were residents of the area, and that they were simply told not to come back on reports of suspicious activity. After being advised to call again if they came back, I went home.
I was tired enough that I had no trouble sleeping for a little while. Around 4 am I was sharply roused by the metal screen door rattling against its frame. The force slowly grew in intensity and eventually, the walls and floor were quaking. I peeked through the blinds of my second story window which overlooks the front door and of course, saw the man in the yellow hoodie, aggressively attempting to open the screen door. I was shaking in my boots on my mattress, which was still on the floor as I had not yet purchased a bed frame. I received a call from my equally bewildered brother who was in his room. I told him to call my dad while I called the police.
It has now been almost four years and I can assure you all that my street smarts have markedly improved. | https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/16azxkx/the_cartoon_character_stalker/ | LetsNotMeet | isaballz |
true | The old man in the apron up the road wouldn't leave me or my family alone. | So for context, I grew up in the suburbs, and outside of the occasional play park or sports field, there was nothing to do. Me and my neighbours used to play Knock and Run, or its other name, Ding Dong Ditch. for context I have a sister who is a year younger than me, and my neighbour James was the same age as me; his older sister was 14 at the time, and she also played with us from time to time, although I think she just wanted to hang out with my sister, whom she thought was cute. I was admittedly the biggest coward in the group, and to this day, my flight instinct is significantly stronger than my fight instinct, so I would never ring the doorbell as I would always find a way to wiggle out of it. I always found watching it more entertaining than doing it. On this particular afternoon, my cousins came over. One of my cousins was my age; the other was a few years younger than me and couldn't play with us; and the other was a year older than me, but everyone treated him like he was an adult, even though he was only 11. or at least that's how I perceived it. lets call this cousin Daniel as he is somewhat important to the story, I am not a reliable narrator, as it has been almost ten years since these events, but I will try my hardest to remember them. Anyway, I am getting off topic.
​
My cousins came over, and we were banished outside to play, and we all decided that knock and run was a good idea. We usually just played around our immediate street, never venturing further than the next street over out of fear of getting lost in the copied and pasted suburban streets. We made our way up the street to the play park on top of the hill; it sat where a house could have been, and someone could cut across it onto the next road. As we sat on the play equipment, we decided that a vote should decide who knocked first, and of course I was picked. I remember getting myself out of it and getting my older cousin to take my place. I am thankful that he was and is as proud as he is. It helped me get out of a lot of situations. We decided that our first target would be the fanciest-looking house in the area, a white marble house with a fountain in the front yard and a curved driveway. I remember sitting next to a car; I was small enough to look under it from the kerb, and I had a clear view of my cousin sneaking up to the door and ringing the doorbell three times in order to get the attention of whoever was inside, and he bolted down the pathway towards the street to hide behind the cars, but before he got to the fence, an older man in a black leather apron with what I assumed was paint came sprinting after him. I immediately knew something was wrong; this wasn't the usual response to a knock and run. Sure, we have encountered some angry people before, but this was something very different. He practically flew down the walkway towards Daniel and threw his hand out to grab him. This didn't feel like anything someone his age could do, and it scared the shit out of me. I think I might have been the only one with a clear view of what was going on, which meant that I was the first to see what was happening. It wasn't until the man was practically on top of Daniel that he noticed that he was being chased, and the scream that he made when he realised this will always stick with me.
​
As I said at the start of this, Daniel was and still is a very proud person who will always try to prove himself, so hearing this scream of pure terror struck at my core. Everyone was clued in at this point as to what was happening. Daniel didn't open the waist-high gate at the end of the path; he just jumped it, which I think ultimately saved him from getting hurt as the old man had to take a second to open it. Daniel was sprinting down the street as fast as I had ever seen him. "Stop you little shit," the man shouted with a deep, angry voice. which did actually stop Daniel in his tracks; they were both standing in the middle of the road at this point, reminding me of an old western movie when two cowboys would be standing at either end of the main road. The man marched straight up into Daniel's face, and I could finally get a good look at him. His skin resembled rough leather, and the few strands of hair on his head had long since greyed. He was clean-shaven, and he was wearing white pants, a white button-up, and a black leather apron that had what I rationalised as red paint on it. After he was maybe half a foot from Daniel, he started to berate him, and I could only make out the words "Sick people in there", Everything about this man threw me off, and I could see my neighbour and my other cousin, who was hiding in the bushes, felt the same. My neighbour's older sister, whom I will call Tay, screamed out at him from the other side of the road, which gave Daniel the opportunity to run as fast as he could away from the man. We all ran at that point. I don't think I or anyone else knew where we were running off to, but I found myself in the carpark of the shopping centre across the road from me.
I waited there for maybe 30 minutes, just watching cars come in and out, feeling safer with the large group of people. I had no idea at the time if he chased one of us, but I knew that I was safe. I made my way back to my house and found that I was the last one to return. My cousin Daniel ran straight home, and Tay followed him. My other cousin and neighbour ran around the suburbs for a bit before deciding to go home. My mum was missing when I got home, and I realised that she had been told what happened. My mother is someone who isn't afraid of protecting her own, and she is one of the strongest people I know, so I felt pretty safe that she was aware and was off telling him to fuck off, but when she got back she seemed off; she didn't want to talk about it or anything, and any colour from her face had completely drained. We slept at my neighbour's house that night because my mum wanted to talk to my dad about something serious, and I think we all knew what it was about.
Nothing happened for a while after that. Not for a while, but my mum was a lot more protective of what we did outside; we were no longer allowed to play knock-and-run or go up the road without a parent. It really bugged my sister, who loved to play outside, but I don't think she fully understood what happened. I have a lot more stories about this guy, and I probably will write more because this has helped me get a better grip on everything that happened throughout that year, but I hope you enjoy the very first event in one of the worst periods of my life.
Part 2
Ok, so before I get into the next few events, I think that it is important to address some things that I've read in the last post. I know that we were the ones who originally disturbed him, but I thought it was important to dedicate a post to that event as it kind of kicked off a lot of stuff. I will probably update this post with a few more stories just to get it all out there, but I just wanted to say that I fully understand my and everyone else's part to play in Part 1, but I believe that the issue really began after that, which is what I'll show you today. I am sorry if I upset anyone.
Thank you all so much for the positive reception to Part 1. It means a lot that people are interested in what I've got to say, which makes me feel better about writing about other events. First things first, I promised a few of you that I would ask my mum what the old man had told her last night at dinner, and I did manage to do so. She was surprised that I remembered what happened and tried to sweep it under the rug, but I kept pressing her for answers. I'm not proud of pressuring my mother into talking to me about something like this, but curiosity got the better of me. I know that that isn't an excuse, but I feel it somewhat justifies my actions, as a lot of you wanted to know as well. After I pressed her for more answers, she grabbed my arm and led me to my room before placing me on my bed. She sat next to me and told me not to repeat anything of what I said to my sister, my cousins, or anyone else who was involved with this man throughout that year. She finally opened up about how she was sitting at home watching TV when she heard a loud knock on the front door. It was my cousin Daniel and my neighbour Tay, who looked terrified and exhausted. After letting them in and grilling them for answers, my mum was rightfully pissed that someone had spoken to them in such a way, and so she got up to go and confront the man, and on her way out, my other cousin and neighbour arrived, whom she also sent inside. She was concerned about where I was, but Daniel made it clear that I ran in the opposite direction of the man and that he would go out looking for me (which he didn't). My mum made her way up to the play park and saw the man pacing back and forth up and down his driveway. He didn't seem angry or upset; he apparently didn't seem like anything besides someone marching back and forth, which took my mother's mood from enraged to confused. She walked up to the front gate and let herself in, which made the man stop almost immediately and stare at her. I am surprised that she didn't turn back and go home at that point, because that's what I and what I imagine anyone would have done, but as I said in Part 1, I am a coward. The man marched up to my mum and started to berate with her about trespassing on his property, which she met by berating with him about terrifying some kids. This apparently went on for a couple minutes before he said something that terrified her. My mum didn't say exactly what he said because she said that she was trying to forget it, but he said something along the lines of, "I will show both of you what it feels like to have somebody on your property when you don't want them there, and then I'll shut those fucking kids up forever." He tried to grab her at that point, but she quickly moved away and left his yard, swiftly walking back home. this really affected my mum. But that was the answer I got from her. I gave her a hug and apologized for pressing her to tell me, and we got back to dinner shortly after. I don't regret her telling me, but it just feels like knowing the end of a movie and seeing all of the hints leading up to it, recontextualizing a lot of stuff.
It had been about a month, maybe a month and a half, since the first initial incident with the man; we hadn't seen him since, and I was forgetting about it until I went to the shops one day. For context, my parents had started to let me go to the shops by myself to grab little things for them. I was young at the time, and the shops were across the road from me, so getting there wasn't an issue. One day, my dad asked me to go and grab a loaf of bread for him. He gave me two 2-dollar coins and sent me on my way to the shops. I was getting used to doing this on my own and enjoying my independence. I grabbed the bread, which was on the far side of the large supermarket, and made my way towards the registers. I stopped by the toy aisle and took a look at all of the low-quality, mass-produced action figures that I desperately wanted. This was part of my routine; even now, if I wanted something but didn't have money to get it, I would just look at it. But on this occasion, I wish I had just continued to the registers. I felt two hands push me to the ground from my left. I was shocked for a moment, as I didn't fully know what had just happened. The sticky and dusty floor beneath me hurt. It took me a second to look at my attacker, and when I did, I immediately knew that this was very wrong. It was the old man from up the road; he had found me in the place that I had hid from him just a month prior. He started to shout at me, but I couldn't understand what he was saying. I don't know if it was the adrenaline ringing in my ears or his rage just taking over, but the tone in which he was shouting shook me. I tried to get up to run, and when I planted my foot on the ground to get up, he kicked it out from below me, which made me fall back on the ground. Thank God a staff member arrived at this point; they must have heard his shouting from across the store and come to check on what was happening. I didn't get a good look at the staff member, but I am thankful for them. As I got up to run with the loaf of bread in my hand, I could hear the man reacting to me getting away, and it took everything in me not to look behind me to look at him, but I knew that he was furious. I ran straight out of the store with the bread without realising it and almost threw up from all of the emotions. I told my parents when I got home, and they both made it clear that I wouldn't be going on any shopping trips by myself from here on out. They didn't think about how me and my sister walked together to school, which in hindsight should have been something that they thought of.
The trip to my school wasn't a long one; it was just over a kilometre long, or just over half a mile, but the trip was still tough on small legs. There were quite a few hills, which added time to our trip there, and the path went along a creek with nothing around it. It was nice and isolated, which helped relax my mind after school. Not long after the supermarket incident, me and my sister were walking home from school and just made our way to the beginning of the path along the creek when we saw a suv that had been parked there for what I assumed had been a while. I thought it was empty, but as you could probably guess, it wasn't. We turned to enter the creek when the SUV car door opened, and we heard someone shouting out to us "Hey, do you guys want a drive home", It was the man. My sister, who was always trusting of others, started to walk towards the truck, but I quickly held her back. "What's wrong?" the man said in a cheerful tone. This was very different from the unintelligible screaming from just the week before, and I obviously wanted nothing to do with this man. I quickly started to lead my sister towards the creek, and the man quickly scooted over towards the door. "Wait up; I will walk you home." I should have run up the hill towards the school, but instead I started to sprint down the creek. Looking back at this, I feel stupid. Daniel was faster than me, and the man had been able to catch up to him in seconds, but for some reason he didn't leave his truck. All I heard was another unintelligible scream and his truck driving away. My sister was beyond pissed that we didn't get a ride home and that we had to walk, but I didn't care. She and I were safe, and so we continued walking along the path. Thinking back to it, the path was beautiful and connected on either side to small, quiet streets--the perfect in-between of isolation. Sadly, my young mind didn't realise that the creek opened to two quiet streets, and so when I saw that same silver SUV on the street at the end of the path, I froze. What could I have done? I felt powerless and had to take care of my sister, who was only now figuring out that this man may not have good intentions. I decided that the best course of action was to cross the creek and walk through the bushes to the other side. This was a beyond dangerous idea as there were slippery rocks, animals, and running water. This very easily could have injured or killed us, but somehow we managed. We climbed over logs of wood and under tree branches, through prickly bushes, and through large plants. but we managed to do it and crossed over to another road that we followed towards the main road, which took us home. Obviously, those two SUVs could have been different, but at the time I was certain they were the same, and even now I am not 100% sure if they were different. I only found out about this later, but my parents got the police involved at this point, but based on the fact that more stuff happened, I am going to say that they probably didn't do much.
There were a few other things that happened throughout this time, like mail being stolen, our bins being pushed over, and the front door knocking at the early hours of the morning that we knew was him, although we had no real proof.
The last thing that I will bring up before I end this post is something that I am not 100% sure was a dream or not. For context, my dad used to have "campouts" with me and my sister; we would sleep out on the couch, and my dad would sleep on a mattress on the floor. The couches we would sleep on were right next to the front door in the living room. and we would watch movies with pizza or some other type of takeaway. It was really fun, and I remember those nights, but one particular night will stick with me. Everyone else went to sleep, and Naruto was on. I hadn't watched or read Naruto at that point, but I recognised the characters. I was sitting directly next to the large window that looked out onto the driveway. I was just enjoying doing nothing when I saw some movement out on the driveway, and so I looked out, and there he was, walking up to our front door, wearing his white pants and white button up t-shirt. He was staring directly at our front door with such focus that it felt like nothing would break it, but something did, and it was me. He looked at me, and I could see in his eyes that it was funny to him. He simply held his hand up, waved at me, and then placed one finger on his mouth as if he were telling me to shush, and then he jogged away. I surprisingly fell asleep not long later, and for the longest time I thought it was a dream until I read all of Naruto and recognised the scene. It was then that I realised that it might not actually have been a dream and that he might have been attempting something, and after what my mum had told me, I think I know what he was trying to do.
Part 3
So it's been a while since I've given you guys an update. I have been busy with school, and digging up these memories is a little distracting for me. I would like to thank you all for all of the incredibly positive responses to my post. It makes me feel better about all of this, but without further ado, let's just start the story.
It was summer, and the local council decided to have a fair. The local council hired a few clowns, some face-painting stations, food trucks, and bouncy castles at the local football field. Of course, me and my sister were beyond excited to go. For a young child, this was the hottest ticket in town, and my parents were happy to take us as it was just down the road and free. I remember the field being beyond busy; the crowd was difficult to walk in and even harder to see through, but we managed to find ourselves right next to a giant blow-up bouncy slide. As it was summer, the actual balloon of the slide burned to the touch, and the sun made me feel like I was slowly melting. Regardless of this, I must have spent at least 40 minutes going up and down that slide. I was having too much fun and didn't notice that both my parents and sister had gone missing in the giant crowd of people. I got down from the slide, put my shoes and socks back on, and started to make my way through the crowd. I didn't actually know where I was going, and I remember feeling incredibly anxious as I waddled around the fair. It wasn't until I felt a hand on my shoulder and then on my forearm that I felt a little safer. It was my dad, I thought; he had found me. I couldn't actually tell whose arm it was, as the angle at which it was holding my arm made it difficult to look at in a crowd. The whole day was overly stimulating, and I wasn't thinking clearly. I should have known from how hard the hand was gripping me or the fact that it was leading me to the parking lot that something was wrong. I only really felt terror when I saw my parents running towards me, running faster than I had ever seen them run. Adrenaline immediately coursed through my veins, and I pivoted my body around and immediately saw the leathery hand on my arm and white pants. The link was connected in my mind as to who this was. My mother's scream was the first thing I heard, and the angry or annoyed grunt of the old man followed it. He started to jog with me towards his truck, but I had started to fight back against his grip. He may have been old, but he was stronger than any elderly person should be, and he was faster too. Everything about this man was wrong, and it may have been my young mind making it all up, but I still believe that something was very weird about him; no elderly person should be like this. At this point, I was only a couple feet away from his car, and as he opened the door, I felt two hands on my right arm that pulled me hard against the man's grip. The man's grip held on before my dad came out from behind me and slammed the old man's head into his car, which loosened his grip on me. At this point, my mother grabbed me and ran, and we went straight home. Apparently, they didn't notice me slip away on the bouncy slide, and they ran into some family friends who offered to take care of my sister while they searched for me. I don't know what type of person it takes to do something like that in such a populated area, but this man was not normal, not in the slightest.
My dad returned later that night; he looked really roughed up and drained of all energy. From what I had gathered over the years, they got into a pretty brutal fight that ended with the police breaking it up. My dad didn't get into that much trouble considering that he had called the police on the man before, but they still took him to the station to give a statement. When he sat down on the couch, he looked exhausted, bruises forming all over and a cut on his lip and upper eyebrow still leaking blood, but he had a smile on his face, and I could hear him telling my mum that it was over. They were both hopeful, and so was I.
A couple weeks later, my cousins came back over, and Daniel wanted to know everything. He felt like he was the main victim and deserved to know everything because he was the one that the man shouted at and the one that the man wanted to get the most. I don't disagree that the man would probably try to hurt him on sight, but it felt weird to me—almost like he was trying to take credit for something that to him sounded like a creepy story but to my family was real. Anyway, we decided to go out for a bit. My parents trusted us because we were with my older cousin. We went up to the usual play park, which was across the street from the man's currently vacant house. Daniel was telling us all about how he swore that he saw him near his house. Keep in mind that he lives almost three hours away. I am not saying that he is a liar, but I am saying that he wanted to be part of this. Anyway, we were playing hide-and-seek. Tay, our neighbour, was seeking, and she had only just started to count down from 60. I always tagged along with Daniel because he always found the best spots. We ran across the road towards the man's house, and Daniel jumped the fence, which I immediately stopped at. "Come on," he said from the other side of the waist-high fence. "No one will find us", The house felt like a void that we would get sucked into, and I had up until this point refused to even be near it, but for some reason I agreed. I joined him in the man's yard, and to my shock, Daniel wanted to go deeper into his home, not just his yard. I made it clear that this was a very bad idea; even if he was in custody, jail, or whatever, we would be breaking into someone's home. Daniel didn't seem scared by it, though. I think the whole idea of being in the man's house seemed too attractive to him. We went around the side fence into his backyard; it was overgrown, almost like no one had been living there for years. I made my way towards his back window and looked inside. From what I could make out, he was a hardcore minimalist, only having a TV, chair, fireplace, and shelf that housed some photos of a much younger man and some medals. He was a veteran; it changes nothing to me, but it explains his above-average speed and strength, especially for his age. The sound of a door sliding open almost made me yell in fear. Daniel had found an unlocked sliding door and wanted to venture inward. I ran around to find him, but he was already inside before I could stop him. At this point, I was also curious to find out more, but I understood the risk of this all. It didn't matter if I understood it because I went in with him. The rest of the house reflected the living room; the kitchen had a fridge and a stove, and the dining room only had a small table with one wooden chair. There was no decoration on the walls or signs of life besides these sad reminders of how lonely the man had been. As I said, this changes nothing for me. I hate this man more than anyone can know. We made our way upstairs and found two completely empty rooms and one bedroom—a single bed with a bedside table filled with different types of weapons—a hatchet, a knife, and a knuckle duster. I had never seen a knuckle duster before, and I successfully fought the urge to take it and put it on. This was something that Daniel failed to do, as he almost immediately grabbed it, which I almost hit him for. We continued searching the house, and Daniel had the idea that he must have something weird in his wardrobe, and when we opened it, he gave a disappointed sigh as there was nothing inside except a few white button-ups and white pants. This especially creeped me out as he never wore anything else. We made our way back down the stairs and into the living room, and to our surprise, we missed the table that sat next to the couch; it was just out of view and only had one drawer. Daniel opened it and struggled to get it out fast, but when he did, we found something profoundly strange. It was a single photo; neither of us could make out what it was, but we knew that it looked familiar. Daniel sat down in the chair bored, and it was only then that we heard Tay scream out that she had given up. Daniel shot up and sprinted back out to the backyard. We had both completely forgotten about her, but as I put the photo back into the drawer, something stood out to me about the photo: the fence was navy blue. This was something unusual in my area, and I knew of only one navy blue fence in the suburb, our side door entrance fence. This realisation made the photo seem so much clearer. The white pebbles on the ground leading to the backyard, the cream colour of the garage next to it, and the green bush at the end of the path—this was my home. He had a photo of my home. I quickly met back up with Daniel and Tay, and we went back home. I should of told my parents, but I was scared that I would be in trouble if they found out that we were in his home. I understand why we would be, but I still didn't want to live up to it.
About a month after that, we were having another campout with me, my dad, and my sister. Both my sister and my dad had fallen asleep with the TV still on, illuminating the room. It was one of those weird situations where you were both really comfortable and really uncomfortable. That was my situation, and on most nights I love this feeling, but that feeling will always be tied to this night. I was drifting off to sleep as well, but I heard the sliding backdoor open slowly. I peered up above the couch and saw a silhouette of a man standing in the doorway. I froze with fear and started to cry. My dad woke up at this point. I am not entirely sure how; maybe it was a parental instinct, but he knew almost immediately that something was wrong. He got off the bed and crouched towards the dining room, which is where the backdoor was. The other man had begun to walk slowly through the house at this point, murmuring to himself. To my horror, I recognised the pants—the bright white pants. So many questions went through my mind, the most prevalent one being 'how he was in custody'. But none of that mattered because there he was, standing in my dining room, holding something. My dad charged him from around the corner and tackled him into the wall. The old man punched him in the arm, and my dad immediately dropped that arm. It was the knuckle dusters that Daniel was wearing. It was at this point that the lights turned on. I don't know if it was my dad or the man, but they came on, and my dad made a noise of pure horror. Both men were fully healed from their last fight, but my dad took a real beating. I had always expected that the old man had had his ass kicked, but now I am not so sure. My dad was standing in the doorway to the living room, shielding us with his body. My sister was awake and crying at this time, as was I, and my mum also ran down the stairs and immediately saw everything that was going on. The man had lunged at my dad with a thing in his hand that I could see was a hatchet. My dad threw himself to the side, and his other arm got scrazed by the hatchet, drawing blood. My mum at this point leapt towards the old man and pushed him into the kitchen bench, which made him scream. But he was up almost as fast as he was down. He slashed at my mum and missed her, and my dad ran to the other room and started to call the police. My mum was dodging his slashes while also throwing things at him. Once she got to the knife block, she armed herself with two knives and threw one of them, and the handle hit him in the face. knocking him back, my mum took the opportunity and drove the knife into his shoulder. which made him scream again. He fell to the ground and didn't try to get up until the police arrived. After this happened, we moved—not too far away, maybe just half an hour away. Even though we live so close to that place, we have never returned. As much as I have been tempted to go back and relive some stuff, for the time being, I am pretty comfortable staying here. Apparently, he paid bail and was staying in the hospital for a while before staying at somebody else's house. I know that he made his way back to his house before making his way to my home. It creeps me out to think that I could have been in his home at the same time as him.
Well, anyway, it's been ten years, and it's been something that's been on my mind for a while. I want to thank you all for hearing my story, and I think it's tradition on this subreddit to say this. To the old fucking creep up the road who terrorised my family, let's not meet again. | https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/16a7uzp/the_old_man_in_the_apron_up_the_road_wouldnt/ | LetsNotMeet | ReallyJamesHenry |
true | You could be a model.. | I grew up in a small town. Total population was maybe two thousand. Everyone knew everyone else, or least knew your family members. It was a safe town, with mostly middle class working families. Nothing major ever happened and the crime rates were low. I grew up feeling safe and secure. To note, I grew up in the 90s.
One summer day, my good friend Jenny and I were out for a bikeride. We were 11 or 12 years old. We were allowed to bike anywhere we wanted, as long as we didn't leave our town and wore our helmets. There was a new road being constructed in between the two main neighborhoods. The new road was to provide a shorter way of accessing the main road to get to the next town. At the time, the road was still under construction but was nearly complete. All that was left was paving and painting. Jenny and I decided to bike down the gravel road.
Jenny and I were about halfway down the road. The road was about a kilometre long. At the halfway point, we noticed a man walking. He was early 30s and very handsome. I didn't recognize him and Jenny didn't either. As we got closer, he broke out in a big smile and said hello. We said hello back as he didn't seem threatening or scary. He asked us if we were having a good summer and we said yes. He told Jenny and I he was a photographer from a nearby city and was in town to scout out models for his new postcard company. He said Jenny and I had beautiful features. He said everything in a very flattering way that made us feel special. He said we could be models.
He asked if he could take our pictures. He said we had the look he wanted and the scenery right now is perfect to promote the town. He said he knows he will sell tons of postcards and we could all make money. Jenny and I eagerly agreed. He got us to stand with our hands on our hips and smile big. He took a disposable camera out of his back pocket and began snapping photos. He took about 10 photos in total, from many angles. I remember feeling a little uneasy and said we should probably go because we needed to be home soon. He said he would get in touch with our principal on the first day of school to give us some money from the postcard sales. We foolishly confirmed we went to the local elementary school, though it was the only elementary school in town so it wouldn't be hard to figure out. Neither Jenny or I remember (to this day) giving him our names. This is an important detail for later.
Jenny and I talked about becoming famous on the way home. I told Jenny that I wondered why he didn't have a professional camera. She said she wondered that too but we agreed cameras are expensive so maybe he didn't have a nice one with him in case it rained.
That evening at supper, I told my parents about my potential new found fame. They were horrified and got on the phone with Jenny's parents. The two sets of parents called police and gave statements. Police sort of downplayed it and said it was unusual but nothing criminal had happened. My parents had a long talk to me about safety, as did Jenny's parents with her.
The following Spring, Jenny and I were hanging out together. This time a little older and a little wiser and a lot more cautious. We were walking along a quiet side street, just talking about music and tv shows. A minivan approached us and slowed down. A friendly looking woman asked us if we knew where Smith's Road was. We told her she just needed to drive straight for less than a minute and it's the first right hand turn. She said she was having difficulty finding it and would we mind hopping in and showing her. I instantly said no. Jenny also declined. Then, the woman said it was okay because she knows who we are. She called us both by first name and said she saw us on a postcard. By now, we were both freaked out. We were on a stretch of the road that had no houses. The nearest one was about 100 metres away. And it wasn't common for people to have cell phones back then so neither Jenny or I had one. The woman continued to ask us to get in her minivan. Jenny, who is normally super chatty, was staring into the vehicle intensely. Her body language was stiff and I could tell she was scared. Suddenly, and seemingly out of nowhere, Jenny screamed "RUN!!!!" I didn't know what was happening but I ran and followed Jenny. We ran off the road and through a field and into a yard another street over. I recognized the yard and house as belonging to a school teacher. We pounded on her door and she answered. We told her what happened. And then Jenny said something I will never forget. She said she saw the photographer man from last summer crouching down in the the very back row of seats. She said she knew something bad was going to happen.
Police and our parents were called. We gave statements and a vehicle description, as well as descriptions of the man and woman. Unfortunately the police were never able to locate them. Jenny and I never saw them again. We had some serious trust issues with strangers after those encounters and I had nightmares of being kidnapped into early adulthood.
Always make sure to teach your children that strangers are not safe, no matter how nice they are. My situation could have had a much more unfortunate outcome if things had gone even slightly differently.
Those are two people I sincerely hope to never meet again | https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/165vr8o/you_could_be_a_model/ | LetsNotMeet | justjustme3333 |
false | Yummy | Have you ever felt the taste of human flesh hit your tongue, the sweet but tangy flavor seeping into your taste buds as you crunch down on the flesh covered meat, well it's what I long for.
A boy had grown up in a small town, yet he remained unnoticed and invisible to those around him. No one noticed his perfect emerald green eyes that glistened when rays of sunlight hit them or his bush of hair that curls together just right, but I noticed him. I noticed how every Tuesday he would walk to the library to catch up on his studies and biweekly he would go to his grandma's nursery to sew with her.
Even though we grew up in the same town and went to school together, the two of us had officially met at a charity event in Lesotho. It was an event where we helped build new homes for the community. Oren and I were placed in the same group. As we worked together, I got to know him better and I immediately grew obsessed with him. Once the event was over and we returned home, sorrowful thoughts suffocated me. Being away from Oren felt as though my heart was getting ripped out of my chest. Having to go a day without his energetic laugh and alluring scent of burning wood, surged an aching through my stomach. Before I knew it, I began to long for his touch and his presence.
When I started university at Bridgeport, I had found out Oren was attending Bridgeport as well. Walking through the tall doorway into my biology class, sitting there, looking as perfect as ever, was Oren. He waved at me. Butterflies penetrated my stomach as I walked over and sat in the seat next to him. Just as I sat down, the bell rang and the teacher started his lecture.
After an hour and a half of painstakingly enduring biology class, Oren and I decided to walk to a cafe nearby. As we were seated, engaged in a conversation about our class, a girl approached us. The girl sauntered up to Oren with a provocative sway of her hips and breast practically jumping out of her shirt. It seemed someone else had noticed him too.
My mind was consumed with resentment as I watched the girl talk to Oren, completely disregarding my existence. The sound around me seemed to fade away, as if my ears had become deaf to everything else once they began discussing the idea of hanging out. I felt an urge to release a piercing wail and assert my ownership over him, but I couldn't ignore the painful truth: he wasn’t mine. I was aware of the wandering eyes of Oren glancing at me and giving me the look as if asking if I'm okay.
I nod my head, deciding to enter myself into their conversation, “Where are you guys thinking about hanging out?”
\\
Almost looking offended, the girl replied, “I’ve got two tickets for a movie.”
“I'll pay for a third ticket so Liyla can join,” Oren blurted out.
“I don't mind,” the girl replied. Obviously she minded.
The girl then bellowed at me, “I don't think we've met before, I’m Nevada.”
“Liyla,” I uttered.
Nevada smiled distastefully. She turned her attention back to Oren, continuing to seduce him in front of me. Not able to stomach anymore of their flirting, I excused myself to the restroom. Instead I went straight out the door of the cafe. I didn’t care if Oren saw me. My heart was broken. Tears flowed uncontrollably along my pimple-filled cheeks, as I walked aimlessly around.
I continued walking in a random direction for what felt like hours until I found myself back at my dorm. Walking inside, I hear the ding of my phone and see a message from Oren.
Are you alright?
I threw my phone against the wall, hoping to shatter it into pieces. I sprang into my bed, burying my face into my pillows.
That night felt different. The air was suddenly thick, like a smoker's lung filled with mucus. It felt as if clouds covered my shining sun. Unable to get out of bed, I decided to skip my homework and go straight to bed.
In the middle of the night, I suddenly woke up. My body was unable to move.
Great another night of sleep paralysis, I thought, having been through this many times before. I lie there waiting for the hallucinations to start. In the corner of my room, I saw a short and stubby man wearing the typical trench coat, but with a sombrero. I wanted to laugh but the grip of sleep paralysis was a virus in my body. I then moved my eyes to the other side of me to see the exact same figure.
Now a little startled I try to keep my eyes closed in order to have this pass, when I feel the touch of a person's lips around my calf, biting me. The pain grew as if it felt that someone was tearing my skin off, when I tried to scream nothing came out, just the breath from my lungs.
Next thing I knew I saw the face of a man appear as if it's coming down from my ceiling like a spy, while unable to scream the figure laughs at me struggling to move. The figure then drops through me, I can feel the coldness take over me and my thoughts become not my own. The feeling of dread suffocates me after. Eventually laying there for maybe an hour, the biting sensation on my calf stops, I start to feel the droopiness off my eyelids, and I pass out.
As the sun awoke, so did I, I roused to the overbearing feeling of hunger. I swiftly make my way into my kitchen where I devour anything in my sight: raw meat, vegetables, raw noodles, you name it. Still this feeling of hunger never left.
My attention is driven to the notification from my phone, walking over to the cracked phone, I checked to see that Oren had texted me, it read ‘we’re meeting at the movies in an hour, see you then?’ I responded with a thumbs up and checked the time. It was already 7:30 pm, and I slept all day.
Getting ready was hard, my tear filled eyes restricted me from looking my best. After I put on my clothes, I skipped doing my makeup out of fear of it getting messed up and looking worse than I already did. While I'm getting ready the intense feeling of hunger never leaves, but gets worse; It felt as though someone was ripping me from the inside of my stomach.
Locking the door behind me, I started the 10 minute walk to the movie theaters. The whole walk it felt as though someone was watching me, I couldn't shake the feeling. No matter how much I turned my head or how quick, I never saw a person or even an animal nearby.
Walking up the sidewalk to the theater, I see Oren and Nevada talking rather close to each other. I assumed they were waiting for me; when I noticed them walking inside. Dumbfounded, I came to a stop and checked my phone to see a message from Oren.
Change of plans, we aren't going anymore.
My heart shattered even more than it already has, I've officially been replaced. I slowly walk inside and walk up to Oren, “Thanks for ditching me,” I say, not letting myself cry in order to not show weakness. He doesn't respond and I see a sly smile on Nevada's face, admitting my defeat, I decide to walk away.
Once I walked out of the theater, I began to start running. The ravenous craving of food with a mixture of immense dismal, seeped into my blood. so, I decided to go to the cafe.
Walking inside, the fluorescent lights make my eyes shift from the gloomy atmosphere to the liveliness of the cafe; I sit down at my usual table and wait for one of the workers to come take my order. I finally get the chance to calm down and examine my thoughts.
Following a short wait, a lengthy woman comes up to me and asks, “Can I get you anything?”
“I'll take a jelly bun and one large coffee with 3 pumps of caramel and 5 pumps of cream,” I responded.
As she was writing down my order I couldn't help but look at her arm, that's when the intrusive thoughts started appearing.
I wonder what she tastes like
fills my thoughts as if not my own, unable to control the overwhelming thoughts I decide to just walk out.
Walking in a random direction I notice a park in the distance, thinking I could sit there to clear my thoughts; I walk up and sit on a swing. A few minutes later a child comes bouncing along the pathway with her pigtails that look like curly fries. The thoughts come back ‘eat her.’ I gasp and jump off the swing while flying in the air. Tumbling while getting up, I ran, not knowing where to run to, I just ran. Not too long later I ended up back at my dorm.
Unlocking my door with shaking hands, I quickly barricade myself inside. unable to stomach the pain anymore, I decided to call Oren to see if he could come over to help. After talking to a sorrowful and concerned Oren, he agreed to come over. I soon heard the knock of the door and ran to it, opening the door.
I see Oren as gorgeous as ever, dressed in what I imagine is his best casual wear. That's when I look to the left of him and see Nevada holding onto his arm; The tenderness of my heart turned to ice. “Come inside,” I mumble while holding my stomach. That's when both of them walk inside my dorm and sit on the couch hand in hand.
Feeling like I'm about to get sick, I say I'm using the bathroom and walk towards the washroom that's in my room. While sitting at the toilet, throwing up all of the junk I've eaten today, I feel inside of me like something is moving throughout my body, slowly taking control of each limb. As my body becomes not my own, I stand up quickly and head towards my bedroom once more.
That's when I instinctively grab something from underneath my bed, a box. In this box I keep my firearm which I'm not technically supposed to have, but I do incase of protection. In almost a trance- like state I grab the gun out of the box and load it with ammo; what am I doing?
Slowly walking out of my room, I pointed the gun right at Nevadas head. Oren nor Nevada could see me as the couch was facing away from my room, this felt right. I pulled the trigger under my finger, the deafening sound of the gun rang through the room. I look up to see Nevada no longer in sight, but Oren right next to her aiding her. This is what he should be doing to me, I'm the one in pain, I'm the one who called him here, only him, not her. This enrages me as I lift up the gun again, point it right at Orens heart, and as I did before, and pulled the trigger.
I strolled over to Oren to see him lying there, gasping for air and coughing up blood. As he says his last words, "Why."
The guilt pierces my heart like the bullet I just put in his, no this is his fault, I shouldn't feel guilty for him picking another girl over me.
An intense smell hit my nose, the smell was indescribable, and it made my mouth water like never before. That's when I realized the smell was coming off the corpses below me. I kneel down and lick the skin of Oren, a rush fills me as my taste buds grow excited at the taste of his skin. Whatever was inside me, controlling me, made me long for more of Oren, not in a sexual way, but I wanted to ingest him.
Going into the kitchen, I grab the largest knife I have, then make my way back to the bodies on my floor. Immense anger filled me as I looked at Nevadas face, still more beautiful than me, even after life. I lifted up the knife and plunged it right into her stomach, blood oozing out as I moved the blade out of her, just wanting to make sure she's finished off.
I lick the blade of the knife and the sweet taste of blood hits my tongue. I then go into a fury of chopping up Nevada piece by piece, making sure to cut bite sized chunks to feast on. Slowly the feeling of hunger disappeared and the discomfort faded, I felt accomplished.
After I finished my meal, I realized I was left with nothing but bones, hair, and the body parts I'd prefer not to eat.I grab some rags and cleaning spray, and get to work cleaning up all of the blood on my floor. After I quickly grabbed a box and shoved the discarded organs,,rags from cleaning, and the knife into it. At this time it was pitch dark out so I sneakily made my way out of my dorm with the box, and to a nearby dumpster where I know stray dogs like to roam. I place the box just outside of the dumpster with stuff on top of it to hide it from the human eye.
As I made my way back to my dorm I quickly scanned over the crime scene to make sure I cleaned it back to the way I left it, so that my roommates wouldn't get suspicious. After that I stroll into my bedroom, take a deep clean shower in order to wash all of the blood off me , and make sure to put my bloody clothes into a trash bag that I will throw away in the morning. I then make my way into my cozy bed and soon find myself dozing in a deep sleep.
Once again I woke up to the feeling, or rather not the feeling, of my body. Already expecting what was about to happen, prepared myself for the inevitable. As I was staring at my ceiling, I saw the sombrero man appear like a dangling spider, not really scared of him, but more intrigued. I tried to talk but my vocal cords feel as though someone is ripping them as I tried. As he is moving toward me he sticks out his tongue and licks my face from cheek to forehead, and said, “Good job my little prodigy,” he then screamed an inhuman like screech and fell into me, coldness shook me to the core.
I must've passed out because next thing i knew i opened my eyes to daylight, surprisingly my anxiety was low this morning. I got dressed in my usual sweats and a sweater, then grabbed the bag of bloody clothes and my backpack as I exited my front door. I was off to my first class, but not before stopping at a different dumpster than the night before.
As I'm walking into the classroom, I glance at the seat Oren had sat at the day before. I sit in the chair next to it and wait for the teacher to do roll call of the classroom, as he does each day. After hearing Orens name called and getting no response, a feeling of pity flows through me. Why do I keep feeling bad for him? This was his fault. During class my thoughts wandered to the sombrero man I kept on seeing. Being a huge believer in the paranormal I decided to google any past deaths in my dorm. Turns out in 1947 there was a man the age of 23 who ended up killing 18 women and men, and eating them. This man hung himself in order to escape the police right here in my room. Past people in my dorm have stated seeing the man in a sombrero, no one believed them, but i did.
I realized I liked this life. I liked eating people and the thrill of covering up the discarded body parts. It made me feel as though I was the most powerful when ingesting the meat of humans. This delight would soon be crushed, as the justice system would soon catch up with me. News went around that there was a box found next to a dumpster full of human body parts. ‘Shit.’ Almost as quickly, people soon noticed that Oren and Nevada were missing, Nevada more than Oren. I went on with my life, soon forgetting about Oren and Nevada, as I was now focused on finding my next meal.
One morning I got a knock on my door, my roommate was out so I got my lazy butt up off my bed and walked right up to the front door, opening it I saw the police. By heart dropped, they knew. All i could do was let them search my dorm, they found loads of evidence against me and arrested me right on the spot.
I was thrown into a jail cell for around 5 months before my trial, the food was terrible, tasted nothing like the flesh of a human, it was tortuous. At my trial I saw the families of Oren and Nevada, all of them were crying and or giving me a death stare. I couldn't help but smile at each and everyone of them. Turns out eating people isn't taken too lightly in my country, and I received the death penalty. I wasn't scared, or sad, all I could think about was the sensation of flesh hitting my tongue.
Being tossed into a solitary confinement cell this time, I spent the next 32 years there, being alone, having nothing to do, and away from any human contact, not even my family wanted to visit me. the food was a little better at least, i received raw lamb at my request, it was the closest tasting to human in my opinion. On the morning of another Monday, it turned out to be my execution day.
To my surprise, my cell door swung open. Standing there I saw a scared woman, I could smell it, in a police uniform holding a pair of handcuffs. Knowing the drill, I turned around and put my hands behind my back, ready to feel the icy metal against my skin. Her shaky hands put the cuffs on me and led me out of my cell. Walking through the prison was nostalgic, as we were twisting and turning through the prison, we made it to a door, the door led us outside and the light of the sun blinded me, after not seeing it for so long. Waiting for us was a van that I figured out was leading me to my death.
Sitting in the chair, where I was about to die, was oddly calming, the knowledge that death is near gave me the thrill I had missed all these years. I wonder if this is how the man felt as he was dangling there, unable to breathe, and slowly losing consciousness. I wonder if it gave him that thrill. After waiting for what felt like forever, there was a man that came in with gloves on, along with other people around him assisting him as he hooked up the needle to the poison I assumed. The needle was placed into my arm and slowly I felt the substance seep into my blood, he then switched the substance with another mixture, this one made me feel drowsy. I started to slowly lose consciousness as the man switched the bag one more time. That's when I felt cold, I could feel my body slowly starting to fail.
I felt the tight grasp of hands wrap around my neck, fingertips digging into my larynx.
Just then the face of the sombrero man appeared as I closed my eyes, his face an angry expression “You failed me little one,” he said in a disappointed tone, “now you must face the same fate I did.”
His grip tightened around my throat, I closed my eyes and felt tears leave my eyes. Even though I never asked for this, the sensation of failure lingered within me. I wanted more than anything to still be out in the world, tasting the flesh of humans; but I wasn't prepared for this. Accepting this fate I felt as the breath from my lungs started to slow, and my once beating heart turned to a hollow void. There was nothing but a rigging in my ears as I was trapped in my own body, unable to move. This was my end.
| https://www.reddit.com/r/scarystories/comments/17f9oxu/yummy/ | scarystories | DeceasedRat4 |
false | The Void | Robert Bastian has been imprisoned by the four walls of the home he had died in back in 1965 for 58 years now.
When Robert died in the living room of this run of the mill little American house on 522 Primrose Lane in Guthrie, Oklahoma, it was but 2 years old. The damn foundation hadn’t even finished settling before he was struck down.
He had purchased it with his new wife, Annie, the second it was complete. Together, they had planned on building a home within this house.
She became pregnant relatively quickly, and 9 months later in August of ‘64, their baby boy, Thomas, was born.
He was a proud father. That year that he had both his baby boy and his beautiful wife was the best 13 months of his life.
In the end, it wasn’t a war that got Robert Bastian, nor was it a car accident, or a robbery. It was a goddamn aneurysm.
If Robert could have spoken in the first few years following his death, he could've told you that all he remembered was laying down on the couch on a warm September day back in 1965 after fiddling with the carburetor on his old AMC Rambler. He had been out there, leaned over the engine, when he became light headed.
Robert stumbled inside, took a rag from the kitchen counter, soaked it in cool water from the sink, and then laid down on the flower patterned couch. When he lifted his arms to place the wet rag over his eyes, he felt a tremendous pain jolt through his head...and then...he felt nothing.
The first 2 years that Robert spent wondering the halls of this now old house, he remembered his death vividly.
10 years after his death, he remembered he had died. He remembered waking up here inn this cold, gray place. A quiet, shadowy replica of his home.
20 years after his death, Robert Bastian still understood the concept of life and death, though he couldn’t quite remember the specifics of of his own aside from that bouncing baby boy that somebody had named Thomas.
30 years after his death, Robert Bastian wasn’t entirely human anymore. He remembered a little boy named Thomas. Or maybe it was Tommy? He knew the boy was important to him, though he didn’t remember why.
The personality, memories, and individuality of the dead fade over time like limestone on a beach shore.
For 58 years, Robert Bastian has not heard a sound. There is no sound in the void. It’s as if this world...this plane of existence...has been placed permanently on mute.
Today, If you, a living, breathing person with a future ahead of yourself and family still aware of your existence were to stand in the living room, and look out into the front yard through the double windows of that small one story red brick house, you would see nothing extraordinary.
Across the street sits a modest, white brick single story house. To it’s left, a small field with trees and a well manicured lawn.
Primrose has always been a single lane road, and you may occasionally see a soccer mom go by in a van with a stick figure family stuck to the rear window.
Or maybe you’ll see the owner of that modest one story home across the street mowing his lawn depending on the time of year.
What you don’t know, however, is that Robert Bastian is standing there too. What you don’t see, is what Robert Bastian is seeing as he looks out that window.
He mostly sees...nothing. Darkness mostly. Every now and then, it seems that God, or whomever is in charge, will pull the blanket of blackness back just enough to make out an outline of the large oak tree in the front yard. On really good days, he can even see the silhouette of the house across the street. Mostly though, Robert Bastian peers into the void, and has been for years now.
He knows not why he stands there. Staring.
For the first 25 years after his death, he wondered aimlessly around inside what was once his home, but was now his prison. From the living room and Down the hallway, and into the bedrooms.
Sometimes he would stop and Stare at the bed for a moment. Oftentimes, he could feel the presence of something laying there, though he could not see it. Robert would stand there and try to latch onto that presence, whatever it was. It was a warm spot amongst all this cold.
Then, after he felt he had taken in all the warmth that the presence had to offer, he would Make another lap. Through the kitchen. Into the garage, where he would Stare at a parked car that wasn’t his.
The warm spots weren’t always by the bed. Sometimes he would come across them in the hallways for a brief second. Sometimes in the living room. Other times in the kitchen, especially if he hung around the stove or kitchen table.
Over time, the house changed. Things would fade out of existence, and new ones would fade in. His floor model television set with the wooden legs and wood grain paneling disappeared one day, and reappeared as a large, black, boxy television. Eventually that faded into a massive, flat television. Not that it matters anyway. These days, Robert Bastian doesn’t even know what a television is anymore.
What DOES matter is out there, though he doesn’t know what that is.
In the first few years, the windows nor doors would open no matter how hard he tried. It wasn’t a lock that was holding them shut, or even a set of hands from the other side. It was a force of nature. They wouldn’t just not open...they wouldn’t even rattle. They behaved as 2 foot thick bank faults, even though he could peer through their glass into the void outside.
As I said, what is left of Robert Bastian, standing in that living room looking out that set of double window there at 522 Primrose Lane isn’t Robert Bastian. At least not anymore. It’s an echo. It’s a spiritual imprint. A Fossil in the bedrock of time. In the bedrock of this house.
Today is October 23rd, 2023, and across the street back here in the world of the living, the 59 year old man that owns 529 Primrose Lane has just been declared legally dead by Hospice. Cancer is a sonofabitch, and stomach cancer has bested even some of the strongest fighters.
That man had made it a point to die at home. He had bought this house in the summer of 87 when he was 23 years old.
He hasn’t figured out that he’s dead yet, though, and he’ll work his way to the window soon enough. It might be weeks. It might be months. It might be years. He’s got all the time in the world.
Hopefully, though, he’ll be able to occasionally catch glimpses of his childhood home across the street when he does find that window.
Thomas Bastian will become a shell soon enough. He’s got nothing but time.
| https://www.reddit.com/r/scarystories/comments/17f4bx7/the_void/ | scarystories | True_Crime_Kent |
false | A subjects knock | [An audio story about knocks](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wxgM69r3SWs) | https://www.reddit.com/r/scarystories/comments/17f6dl7/a_subjects_knock/ | scarystories | Creeper_Woods |
false | this house | i awake.
i find in front of me a house unkept.
grass tall, as the house stood, its only superior.
i move through with difficulty, yet hastily.
this house finds me every night, i dont know why its here, i dont know why its unkept, i dont know why i see myself, in the shattered window...
staring, everpuzzled, staring, behind myself.
whats behind me? i look behind him.
tick, tock,
tick, tock,
on the wall behind myself stands a clock.
one moment its attached to that very wall, the second its a grandfather clock.
it switches, from one state to the other.
i look behind me.
yet again
its her i see.
utmost beauty, and understatement certianly.
sittting here patiently, under this tree.
the grass seems to bend over her. or around her.
"this house" she speaks, "it finds us here"
this woman, though im uncertian, seems kind and empathetic. not tall, maybe my size.
"come" again she beckons, everytime so far, ive listened to her, i trust her, surely, shes friendly.
i sit next to her. she looks down and gives me a forced smile. it doesnt seem forced to trick me, yet to give me false hope, that everything will be fine.
"the sky, this house, this grass even. what are they Anna?"
i dont remember ever knowing her name, yet i felt
compelled to call her that.
"how do you picture this house, this sky, the grass?"
i wonder,
"i see a two story home" i begin, "there are vines of leaves piercing through every window, yet they look wooden, as if its a tree. the roof red, the walls white."
she asks again a question, this one more abstract, she looks up, at that sky, unlike ours.
"how do *you* picture this house"
confused i ask
"is someone up there Anna?"
"behind it, there they are. they dont see what we do, yet they try, desperately, to picture it with our vague descriptions"
"how could we describe it to them best, Anna?"
"there is no way to accurately help them picture it, we will just hope, they see shat you do"
i sit. in silence, pondering.
they cant see Anna, me, this house or the grass. what do they see?
perhaps they are in their own world. with another Anna, that i cannot picture.
"You? up there, what do you see?"
"well" Anna adds, "we will have to wait"
this house that finds me, what does it look like? | https://www.reddit.com/r/scarystories/comments/17eurj4/this_house/ | scarystories | Wonderful_Audience60 |
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