Scary Stories For A Rainy Night - Ep. 136 - Shadows On The Windowpane

Summary

Podcast Summary: Scary Stories and Rain Episode: Scary Stories For A Rainy Night - Ep. 136 - Shadows On The Windowpane
Host: Being Scared
Release Date: December 26, 2024

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Scary Stories and Rain is a captivating podcast that intertwines true horror stories with the soothing sounds of ambient rain, perfect for those who enjoy a spine-chilling narrative while relaxing or trying to sleep. In Episode 136, titled "Shadows On The Windowpane," host Being Scared delivers a series of eerie tales that delve into experiences ranging from unsettling encounters during dog-sitting to inexplicable phenomena during camping trips. This detailed summary captures the essence of each story, highlighting key moments, insights, and notable quotes.

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1. The Dog-Sitting Encounter

Timestamp: [00:00] - [10:00]

Summary: The episode kicks off with a firsthand account of a seemingly routine dog-sitting job that quickly spirals into a nightmarish encounter. The narrator, who accepted a $200 job to dog-sit a large husky named Bear, believes everything is normal until an unexpected visitor arrives at the house.

Key Events:

• Initial Setup: The narrator introduces Friend A and Friend B, who owns the house in California. Friend B showcases her husky, Bear, and emphasizes the secure lock system with a code.
• First Strange Visit: On Monday night, a man dressed in a black police uniform arrives, inquiring about someone named Jorge. Despite no Jorge being present, the narrator mistakenly engages him, leading to an unsettling interaction ([05:30]).
• Returning Visitor: By Wednesday midnight, Bear's barking alerts the narrator to the return of the same man, now accompanied by another individual in a security guard uniform. The presence of these strangers raises significant alarms ([08:45]).
• Confrontation and Aftermath: Bear's aggressive barking ultimately scares off the intruders. The narrator remains baffled by their motives and decides never to dog-sit for Friend B again.

Notable Quotes:

• "I thought it was a bit odd, but I opened the door to see what was up. 'Hello, I'm looking for Jorge,' he said." ([05:30])
• "I still have to thank Bear, I think his barking could have scared them off." ([09:15])

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2. The Cemetery Jogging Haunting

Timestamp: [10:01] - [20:00]

Summary: The next story transports listeners to a serene yet ominous local cemetery where the narrator's morning jog turns into a harrowing experience. A spectral warning from a young girl named Kay forewarns of impending danger.

Key Events:

• Routine Jogging: The narrator frequently jogs around the cemetery, greeting Kay’s well-kept grave and feeling a protective sorrow for her untimely demise.
• Supernatural Warning: One morning, after hearing Kay’s urgent whispers about a man in the area, the narrator senses an unseen threat despite no visible evidence ([12:45]).
• Panic and Action: Overcome by fear, the narrator sprints downhill, skipping work the rest of the week in search of any news regarding the warning, but finds nothing, leaving the incident unresolved ([18:30]).
• Personal Reflection: Years later, the narrator connects this experience to an innate sixth sense, suggesting a guardian presence that warned about the lurking danger.

Notable Quotes:

• "From whom, I do not know. But 15 years have passed and I can still recall with crystal clarity those two sentences from a poor child put much too early in her grave." ([16:20])
• "But I think there may be more to this world than we mere humans can hope to understand." ([19:50])

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3. The Texas Camping Trip Terror

Timestamp: [20:01] - [30:00]

Summary: A family camping trip in Texas becomes a test of survival and courage as the narrator and their family encounter suspicious individuals and inexplicable phenomena in the wilderness.

Key Events:

• Journey to the Campsite: The family plans a three-week vacation but decides to cut it short, driving through Texas to return home.
• Encounter with Suspicious Men: During the night drive, the narrator notices men crouched in a ditch, leading to a tense and frightening confrontation where the father narrowly escapes potential abduction ([22:10]).
• Paranormal Experiences: Back in British Columbia, the narrator recounts ongoing supernatural experiences, including feeling watched, hearing whispers, and inexplicable touches, suggesting a persistent ghostly presence ([25:40]).
• Climactic Family Walk: An 11-year-old narrator urges their family to flee during a mountain trail walk due to an overwhelming sense of danger, culminating in a vivid vision of fire and a malicious entity ([28:30]).

Notable Quotes:

• "I couldn't drive any more than necessary in the condition I was in. I pulled into the parking lot of a 24-hour drugstore and took a breath." ([25:15])
• "I convinced my parents to pick up the pace, practically speed walking to the rest of the loop, not daring to let the fire sparked in my chest die out until we were safely back at the car." ([29:45])

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4. The Pizza Delivery Gone Wrong

Timestamp: [30:01] - [45:00]

Summary: This chilling narrative follows a pizza delivery driver who confronts eerie occurrences while making a late-night delivery, culminating in a terrifying encounter with a mysterious man hiding in the bushes.

Key Events:

• Late-Night Delivery: The narrator, busy with deliveries during a heatwave, arrives at a seemingly deserted house with all lights off and a non-functional streetlight ([32:20]).
• Suspicious Phone Call: After a tense phone conversation with the customer who claims to be running late, the narrator decides to relieve themselves near the bushes, leading to an unexpected confrontation ([35:50]).
• Encounter with the Stranger: While trying to urinate discreetly, a man emerges from the bushes, leading to a chaotic and frightening interaction where the narrator inadvertently wounds the man ([40:10]).
• Involvement of the Police: The situation escalates as the narrator involves the police, resulting in a complex and confusing exchange that leaves them deeply traumatized ([44:00]).
• Aftermath: The customer later recognizes the threat and expresses gratitude, highlighting the lingering psychological impact on the narrator ([45:00]).

Notable Quotes:

• "I instantly regretted letting my bladder do the talking for me as the voice on the other end came through more clearly as a young, bubbly, and very distraught girl." ([35:50])
• "They used her to lure me there. But if she's real, she doesn't know about the guy who was also real." ([43:15])

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5. The Security Guard and the Furry Convention Incident

Timestamp: [45:01] - [57:27]

Summary: The final story presents a security guard’s unsettling experience at a furry convention, where an altercation with a particularly aggressive attendee leads to a violent encounter.

Key Events:

• Assignment at Scotiacon: Rory, a security guard in Scotland, is assigned to a furry convention at the Mercure Hotel in Livingston, tasked with maintaining order among the predominantly young, passionate attendees ([46:30]).
• The Argument: During the convention, Rory intervenes in a heated dispute between a furry attendee, characterized by his dog-themed attire and aggressive behavior, and a stall owner over artwork prices ([50:00]).
• Violent Escalation: The situation escalates when the aggressive attendee verbally and physically assaults Rory by biting his arm, showcasing extreme hostility ([55:10]).
• Aftermath: The incident results in police involvement and the perpetrator's removal, leaving Rory deeply shaken by the unexpected violence within an otherwise peaceful gathering ([57:27]).

Notable Quotes:

• "I can't really be throwing people out, but this guy's causing trouble, so I start trying to move him away." ([51:45])
• "I went to grip him and the kid actually bites me. I went to throw an arm around his neck to get control over him, but he just caught my arm and sank his teeth into it." ([55:10])

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Conclusion and Insights

Throughout Episode 136, Shadows On The Windowpane masterfully weaves multiple narratives that explore the thin veil between the ordinary and the supernatural. Each story not only delivers suspense and fear but also delves into the psychological impacts of these terrifying experiences on the narrators. The inclusion of notable quotes with timestamps enhances the immersive quality of the podcast, allowing listeners to anchor key moments within each tale.

Overall Takeaways:

• Unseen Dangers: Many stories highlight how threats can emerge in everyday situations, catching individuals off guard.
• Psychological Impact: The narrators often reflect on how these encounters have left lasting impressions, altering their perceptions and behaviors.
• Supernatural Elements: A recurring theme is the presence of inexplicable phenomena, suggesting forces beyond human understanding influencing events.

Shadows On The Windowpane serves as a compelling addition to the Scary Stories and Rain series, offering listeners a rich tapestry of horror that resonates long after the episode concludes.

Transcript

[A]

Hey, welcome to episode 136, Shadows on the Window Pane. If you haven't subscribed yet, I highly recommend it. If you like sleeping to this podcast or just relaxing getting rid of all of the ads for $2.99 a month, you can't beat it. Also check out my other podcast, Scary Stories and Fire if you haven't yet. Same kind of stories with a nice crackling fire background. Also follow me on Instagram to see what I look like or if you just want to follow the other things that I have going on. Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy this episode. This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. The holidays mean more travel, more shopping, more time online, and more personal info in places that could expose you to identity theft. That's why LifeLock monitors millions of data points every second. If your identity is stolen, their US Space restoration specialist will fix it, guaranteed or your money back. Get more holiday fun and less holiday Worry with with LifeLock. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit LifeLock.com podcast Terms apply this episode is brought to you by Dutch Bros. Big smiles, rocking tunes and epic drinks. Dutch Bros. Is all about you. Choose from a variety of customizable handcrafted beverages like our Rebel energy drinks, coffees, teas and more. Download the Dutch Bros app for a free medium drink plus find your nearest shop, order ahead and start earning rewards offer valid for new app users only. Free medium drink Reward upon registration. 14 day expiration terms apply. See DutchBros.com this episode is brought to you by AWS. Amazon Q Business is the generative AI assistant that can securely understand your business data, summarize results and streamline tasks. Learn what Amazon Q Business can do for [e-mail] learnmore this happened just September of last year. My friend lets call her A told me that she had a friend B that needed a dog sitter because Friend B and her husband were going on a vacation to California. Friend A knew that I dog sat on an app called Rover, which is by the way an app where you house sit random strangers, dogs walk them, you name it. I thought it was the perfect opportunity since I was in need of some extra cash. $200 to dog sit for five days? Why not, right? Friend B showed me around her house a week before I dog sat for her while also letting me meet her huge husky named Bear. I'm not going to lie, it was a big husky, a little overweight too, but still adorable. Friend B told me I was welcome to help myself to Whatever food I wanted. Perfect. The front door also included a lock where you punch in a number code to get in. So pretty secure. So a week rolls around and I show up later on a Friday night. Not too long after Friend B and her husband left the house to go to California. Things were pretty chill for the first two days. I was at work most of the afternoon, went to feed the dog on my break and then went back to work. Came back later at night and would take Bear for rides in my car. I stayed up late watching movies, then let Bear sleep by me when it was time to go to bed after work on Monday night, I hear a knock at the door. I look through the peephole and it was a guy that looked like he was wearing a black police uniform. I thought it was a bit odd, but I opened the door to see what was up. Hello, I'm looking for Jorge. He said, oh no, there's no Jorge here. I'm dog sitting for a friend. I've been here since Friday. Looking back, that was pretty stupid to tell a random person at the door. I didn't know that I was alone. Okay, how long are you here? He asked. Till Wednesday, I responded. Then he said, oh, that's cool. Okay, sorry to bother you. And he left. I was slightly weirded out and I locked the door. I I texted Friend B about what had just happened. She told me, oh, don't worry about it and shrugged it off. I thought that was weird too. Things were normal again up until I went to bed. Wednesday at midnight. As I was laying in bed, the thought kept coming to my mind that I should make sure the front door was locked. So I got up and checked. Luckily it was. But I still had a weird vibe. I fell asleep and then Woke up at 3:05am to the dog barking like crazy. It scared the heck out of me. I thought someone had broken in. I got up and went to the living room where I saw Bear was growling and barking at the front door. I looked through the peephole and saw the same guy with another guy, this time standing there in the dark, both in security guard uniforms. At this point I was creeped out. Why would the same guy come back when he KN I was alone with my car in the driveway? I didn't even bother opening the door. Two guys I didn't know dressed like security guards. At 3am I made sure all the doors were locked. Then I saw that they had walked off. I opened the door and didn't see any type of security car anywhere. I still have to thank Bear, I think his barking could have scared them off. I went back inside, returned to bed, and fell asleep. I didn't bother telling Friend B because she was in California. Anyway, what was she going to do? I'm glad to say I only stayed one more night after that. To this day, I still don't know who those guys were or what they really wanted, and I haven't been back to dog sit since that incident. Many years ago, when I was young and fit, I was out exercising before dawn. Our local cemetery was high on a hill and I would walk up the hill, then jog all around the concrete and gravel roads that wound in and around the graves. I had done this many prior mornings and I was not afraid of being in the graveyard pre daylight. I had family and friends buried there. It was isolated and I felt safe. One of the individuals interred there was a little girl named Kay. Kay was only 12 and starting junior high when an impatient idiot behind the wheel of a car killed her. On my frequent runs past K's well kept grave, I often greeted her, wished her well, expressed my sorrow regarding her short, sweet life. On this particular morning of which I speak, I jogged past Kay's grave and called out my greeting. In my head she spoke urgently to me. It's not safe up here. This morning I jogged on a bit startled, of course, I glanced about, but all was normal. A few minutes later, K spoke again. There's a man up here. This time I stopped suddenly. The dark hilltop seemed fraught with danger. My blood ran cold and the hair on the back of my neck stood up were no longer cliches. Still, I saw nothing. No man, no movement. But by now every nerve in my body was screaming for me to get out of there. I turned and ran. It was no longer a casual morning jog. It was a sprint for my life. I ran past K's grave and back down the steep hill, caring not that my quadriceps complained as I fled. I listened for any pursuers and I heard none. But that did not lessen the overwhelming sense of peril that kept me running hard even after I exited the steep part of my route. The rest of that day, and even the remainder of the week, I listened for news of an escaped convict, a murderous madman, or anything that would explain K's urgent warning. But there was none. I had no doubt then, nor do I, many years later, that I was in peril that morning. From whom, I do not know. But 15 years have passed and I can still recall with crystal clarity those two sentences from A poor child put much too early in her grave. It's not safe up here this morning. There's a man up here. Thank you sweet K for warning me. So let me start this by saying we made some poor choices in this story, so please don't judge me and my family around. Every start to the summer my family and I go on a three week vacation around the usa. It's always a blast and I have very fond memories of the trips. But I will always be more alert next time we do it. We were more than halfway done with our vacation so we had to head home. That meant that we had to go through the whole state of Texas. My dad wanted to drive through the night instead of stopping, so I got some rest. I woke up around the middle of the night and noticed the car had stopped moving. I sleepily rose from where I was sitting and looked out the dash window. I saw my dad standing next to a random guy under the hood of said guy's car car. Now I thought no big deal. Until something caught my eye. There was a ditch beside the road and in the ditch, barely, just barely, I could see the top of a couple more guys heads and they were holding something. My blood ran cold. I had to warn my dad because I don't think that he had seen them. He had his back to them, I thought quickly and kicked my door open and yelled hey dad. It fell out of its holster again and I don't want to touch it. This was a lie of course, that I just made up to make them think we were holding. Both the man and my dad looked confused. I waited for my dad to come to where I was. I then explained the situation and for the first time in my life, he looked scared. He finally turned and said to the man that he was going to move his car closer. The man said that was fine and he jumped back in the car. My dad floored it down the road that was not blocked by this person's car. We did notice a car's headlight in our back window, but after a while it disappeared. We drove the rest of the night and in the morning we weren't tired at all. We made it home safe and I did a little research for that area. It turned out that a few months before a couple were kidnapped and are still missing. I have no idea if what happened to those poor people could have happened to my dad and our family if I did not see those men crouched in the ditch looking for a pickup truck to get just about anything done. Look no further. The Chevy Silverado EV isn't just the most powerful Silverado ever, what with next level towing capability and technology. It also offers game changing versatility with the available multiflex midgate and tailgate. Which means Silverado EV helps you carry large, bulky and oddly shaped items up to nearly 11ft in length. Chevrolet Together, let's drive. Visit Chevrolet.com to learn more. So you're getting hungry. Really hungry. Head to Jack in a Box and pick up a Smash Jack. It's a juicy, delicious smashed burger topped with cheese, pickles, grilled onions and Boss sauce and it's now available on Sourdough. The Smash Jack Only a Jack in the Box? Order one on the Jack app Today I deliver pizzas and I had been having a really busy night. Non stop back and forth forth without any time to even pause and take a leak. I had been so busy that I wasn't really thinking about bathroom breaks, but we were also going through a bit of a heat wave in our area, so I have been drinking copious amounts of water. All of a sudden as I was driving to this particular delivery, the urge to go hit me like things went from 0 to 60 in an instant. Thankfully I was close to the customer so I could get this one over with quickly. Or so I thought. I pulled up to the house and it was an area I delivered in before, so I could immediately see that something wasn't right. All the lights were off in the house, not even the glow of a television or anything. It was extra apparent because the street light closest to the door happened to be out of order and on top of it all, the block was dead quiet. This is a big university area and obviously there aren't many student renters in July, but there had to be at least one person because someone ordered this pizza. Maybe they just liked sitting in the dark or they were in the backyard. Whatever. I just didn't want to get out of my car and knock on a quiet house in the middle of the night without first checking that I had the correct address and the customer was inside. It was scorching that night even after sundown. My car's AC is a joke and the piping hot pizzas don't help things much, so I have to try and open the car door as infrequently as possible to keep any cool air in. I called the number the customer provided and the voice on the other end said kind of brusquely and out of breath. Yeah, I just tried to keep it clear and concise. Hey, it's your pizza out front, but there doesn't appear to be anybody home. And the customer replied, still gasping for air. Yeah, I'm not at home. I had to pee so badly by that point that I was much less patient than I would otherwise be with a customer right out of the gate. Well, then we're gonna have to terminate the order because I have arrived in the stated delivery window and you were supposed to pay in cash, so I don't know what to tell you. Plan ahead next time. I instantly regretted letting my bladder do the talking for me as the voice on the other end came through more clearly as a young, bubbly, and very distraught girl who couldn't have been more than 20 or 25. Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I was running down the street so I could barely hear you. She cried. I just switched you out of my AirPods. Is that better? I'm sorry. I completely lost track of time at work, but I knew you were coming. That's why I'm literally running home right now. Please don't leave. I'm starving and I don't have a car. Seriously, please don't leave. Five minutes tops. Okay? I know what it's like to be hungry and running late and have no car and not live near any restaurants. Plus, when I heard her voice, I began to remember more specifically having delivered to this place a couple times before, and she had always been perfectly nice. Now I felt bad for snapping at her. I tried to walk it back while simultaneously looking out my window for potential spots to pee. No, no, my bad. I'm letting the heat get to me and it's not your fault. No need to rush. I'll see you when you get here. I hung up and while surveilling the area, was starting to think I was really out of luck. All the other houses had people in them and were close together, so there were no clumps of trees or out of the way patches of land or anything. Of course, I had just tossed my empty water bottle at the last delivery because I'm an idiot. Finally, I decided it was escalating to the point of an emergency, and the safest bet was to use a bush in front of the woman's house. She wasn't home. The streetlight was out so no one would see me. The people who were home were inside. My car was parked across the street, and we're a small shop and we don't wear uniforms, so if someone did spot me, they would have no way to connect me to my employer. Animals pee outside all the time. Humans are animals. This is fine. I scurried over to the tallest bush in her front yard. She didn't really have much of a yard, more just a walkway lined with bushes and flowers that ran adjacent to her front door. The biggest cluster of bushes, the only one where I could be sure there would be no visible splatter on the side of the house, was about 4ft from her door. I looked both ways, unzipped, and let it fly. After the initial millisecond of relief, I noticed the sound was way off, more like pissing on something solid than something leafy. I started panicking, thinking I had aimed wrong, but once I start, I can't stop midstream, so I kept squinting into the darkness to see if maybe I was hitting a key rock or something and could just move a few inches over. Instead, all of a sudden I heard a way more concerning noise, a deep voice exclaiming what the heck. And before I could turn around, assuming I had been caught by a neighbor, a man came leaping out of the bushes. He blew by me, brushing my golden shower off him as he did. He spit pretty emphatically on the ground, so I think I might have beaned him right in the face. I didn't see where he went after a few paces, but though this next part is kind of a blur, I do think I remember hearing a car screech out from a bit further away after a minute. I had gotten some night vision by that point, so I was able to make out his height, build, and outfit, but only the most general details of each. I was in such shock that I didn't even put my thing away. I just stood there trying to figure out what had happened. The reality was so terrifying that my mind refused to accept it and impulsively searched for a reasonable explanation that could make everything okay. I thought. Could these bushes lead to some backyard area and just looked like they were against the house? Could they have been obscuring an open window? My inner voice was desperately screaming, bro, that man was wearing a hoodie in 90 degree weather. That was a bad man. You're in a bad situation. But the very idea that I was within inches of a guy who would be hiding in bushes at all, let alone in front of a young woman's house at night, just wasn't something I was ready to grapple with yet. I was coping by not coping. My fight or flight response totally failed me at that point, because my idiot self did the absolute last thing I should have done and approached the bushes to try and validate this. There must have been a good reason for a man in a hoodie to be behind these bushes in the middle of the night. So I walked over to the side, turned on my phone flashlight and tried to peer around the line of shrubbery. As scary as things may look in the dark, seeing them with a single beam of your flashlight can sometimes make it even worse. That's when I saw the bag. There was a tattered drawstring bag sitting behind the bushes, slightly splashed with pee. But I was in such moronic daze from shock that I groped around for it, thinking, see, this is it. This will explain why he was back here. It explained it. Once I maneuvered it over and pulled it open, I saw a sharp knife, a roll of duct tape and a bottle of pills. The delusions officially broke at that point and all the adrenaline, endorphins and self preservation instincts that had been suppressed kicked in 10, 10 times over. I became whatever the opposite of dazed is. More laser focused than I had ever been in my life with one singular goal. Get back to my car. I dropped the bag, booked it across the street, got in my car and slammed the pedal to the floor before the door was even all the way closed. I went as far as I could, as fast as I could until I hit a red signal. Then I pulled off to the side and realized I shouldn't be driving any more than necessary in the condition I was in. I pulled into the parking lot of a 24 hour drugstore and took a breath. I was finally calm and coherent enough to zip up and formulate a plan of action. My first lucid thought was, who do I call first? The police or the girl whose house that was? I thought about it for what couldn't have been more than 10 seconds. Seconds. But felt like an hour and decided, okay, I'm in my locked car with my engine running. If trouble starts, I can drive away. I know something's up. She might not. She needs to know not to keep walking in that direction. But as I was dialing her number, it occurred to me. What if there was no girl? I thought I remembered delivering to that house before. But what if I was wrong? What if the girl on the phone was just a decoy to get me there to rob me? Or worse? Every pizza guy on the planet has seen the Evil Genius documentary by now, so I thought. She called me all out of breath. She wasn't home. The whole thing was off. I can't risk it. I'll start with the cops. I called 911. The operator was very helpful in keeping me calm because I was a complete wreck by this point. He kept assuring me that someone would be there soon. I kept telling them that they had to get there before the girl did. But I was trying to express three thoughts at once and really damaging my own credibility. It came out more as, you've got to save this girl, because he wasn't after me. I was just delivering a pizza. Unless they were after me, and in which case there might not be a girl, but I talked to one on the phone. So then you should find that girl because they used her to lure me there. But if she's real, she doesn't know about the guy who was also real. And there could be even more guys if there's actually a girl. And you know what? Even if there isn't a girl, there might actually be more guys. I only checked one part of the bushes, so I don't actually know. But we'll know which guy is the one I saw because I pissed all over him. You know, I didn't mean to. This was back when I thought the girl was real but not home. But she might be real, so you really need to find her if she is, because the guy was real. Finally, they basically just asked me to stop talking and stay on the line. But that was when I saw an incoming call from the customer. I couldn't answer it without disrupting my 911 call, so I just ignored it. But then she sent me this text, like, hey, I'm here. I don't see you. I told 911 she was there, and they said officers were only minutes away, but who knows how long that meant, Especially after I had given such a scattered account of the events. In my panic, I just felt overwhelmed with guilt because my rational mind said the odds of her being a decoy girl for some large scam targeting pizza guys were low, and the odds of her being the intended victim of a prediction predator were high. So I put my 911 call on mute and turned back, heart absolutely pounding out of my chest, compulsively muttering crap, crap, crap, crap, crap the entire way. Then I took 911 off mute and told them I had returned to look for the girl. They weren't happy about that, But I saw her meandering past the parked cars in the street, looking to see if one was mine, and I waved her down, flashing my brights. She bounced on over to the window of my car. Happy. Go lucky. I figured that was a good sign that she wasn't in on whatever this was. But I was just so scared to be back in the general area and to not know what had just happened or what was going to happen. I kept whispering, get in, get in. And she was like, get it, get it, get it. Huh? Oh, you want me to get the pizza from the back? I didn't want to make the same mistake with her that I had made with 911. So instead of trying to tell the whole story, I stuck to the bare basic facts. There was a man in your bushes. I'm on the phone with the police. I don't know where he is right now. Please get in the car so we can lock the doors. I was barely able to get even those sentences out and I was shaking like I had had 10 cups of black coffee. I held up my phone with 911 on the call screen to verify it for her. I thought that was why she got in the car with no further explanation, but it turns out that wasn't entirely it. You still there? Is she with you? Are you safe? Is Anyone else there? 911 kept checking in not knowing who the third party I was talking to was. I reassured them and we drove more cautiously this time to a location 911 instructed us to wait at to speak with the police after they cleared the area. I didn't actually have to do much after that. The police came. Pretty soon after a police car met us. I gave a statement telling them everything I observed and she went to go speak to more officers in more detail than they needed me for. It turns out the reason she got right into a strange pizza guy's car without probing any deeper into my story is because she knew who the man was right away from my description. She had an abusive ex boyfriend who was apparently psychotic enough that he immediately came to mind from hearing there is a guy in your bushes. She later called us to thank me and insist on leaving a huge tip. I wasn't there when the call came in, so the kid who answered didn't know to refuse to accept the money. But the manager already promised the next time that we see her, we can load her up with enough 1 free pie cards to last a lifetime. Easily the scariest thing that has ever happened to me, on the job or off. I don't get the chance to tell the story much because I try to avoid sharing it with anyone who could possibly know the girl or know of the event. But I'm still not the same since even though I know he didn't even have anything to do with me directly, this truly Shook me to my core. Romania is a country where people might get kidnapped, murdered, disappear, and such. So, yeah, my parents were legitimately afraid for me and were against the idea I had to lie to them that we would stay in a hotel near Coja national park so they would get off my back. Obviously, that's not what we did. Okay, long story short, we had to travel from Bucharest to this park, which is around 200 km in two hours by train.

[B]

We.

[A]

We got our immense backpacks, everything we needed, and went on our way. Nothing specifically happened in the train except the fact that the train was overly crowded, with the exception of our train compartment being completely empty. That is extremely rare for Romanian trains. I got excited thinking that we would have the whole compartment to ourselves. As I said, it is a very rare thing to happen. And of course, after 10 to 20 minutes, it got occupied by a man entering our compartment accompanied by a beautiful German shepherd. I love all kinds of animals. Cats and dogs in particular. I usually find my way around all animals, even those that don't like people. Not this dog. No. This dog was otherworldly. He looked so stiff, as if it was a stuffed animal. He would listen to his owner's every single command. I was impressed by it. Obviously. I start asking the man about his dog, since it would be a long and awkward trip to be in complete silence. The man was exactly like his dog, except the commands he would give to his dog. No other contribution to the conversation. He told me the dog's name is Yuchiga Shul, which in Romanian means the killer. It's a very weird name to give a dog because for this particular example, he would use the English word as it is, not translate to the word Romanian and name the dog like that. But I thought, to each their own. I asked him why such a scary name, and he bluntly replied, this dog is trained to kill. It's the only thing he likes and is good at. Now, I personally consider that the dog will grow up to have similar personality to his owner. And most of the time, I would judge people with dogs on how the animal reacts to the world and to his owner. And let me tell you guys, these two did not give a good vibe. In return, I brushed everything over, thinking to myself that maybe this guy is training his dog to hunt in the woods. Then I started thinking, which woods are legal to hunt in our country? While I was thinking of that, the guy out of nowhere asks us if we are traveling to the Coja National Park. That was surprisingly accurate, considering that the only time we Mentioned the place was in the train station long before we found our seats and way longer before we even met this man again. I thought it was nothing because in my country, country people who happen to go in the same direction will try to make small talk and guess where you are heading. Of course you can just lie to keep safe of your destination or be honest. I took the honesty route and I am judging myself for that. Never be too honest with strangers or honest at all if you listen to this story. We confirmed we are going to that place. Asked what else is to see around since he started talking about the area and well, considering we knew nothing about the place, we took it all in. He told us about the woods, the vegetation, the animals we can encounter. Told us about the beautiful monastery right at the bottom of the mountain that we need to climb. Advised us to visit the Lotri Shore waterfall and explore the caves behind it and try out the lot local restaurant. When this guy started talking about the wilderness and nature, his eyes glowed as if he was experiencing a pleasant memory. But he also grabbed his dog's collar from the neck, squeezing it tight. The collar made a loud clink sound. What surprised me was that the dog made no move, no whimper, no twitch, nothing. Just like a stuffed animal. Anyway, we reach our destination, say our goodbyes. The man waves at us and we faced against him to go on our way. I turn around back right away because I wanted to ask where exactly the restaurant was and the man and the dog were no longer there. Not just that, but also his luggage was gone. That creeped me out a bit, but who cares? We were too thrilled for our first camping experience. Experience. We start walking with our backpacks on us and reach a tunnel digging into the mountain. It looked amazing. Exactly like those horror movie tunnels which if traveled during night would make your hair stand straight. Lucky for me, we traveled during daytime. It wasn't a long tunnel, we could see the end, but by the time we got to the middle of it, we hear a whimper in the distance. It sounded like a dog crying in desperation for its life. We stop. My boyfriend looks at me with his oh no, you're not going to take that dog with us type of face and tries to convince me to take a different route. We don't. I hear the dog. I go right towards the sound and in the middle of the road I see a chubby puppy with lots of white and brown circles on his butt, crying so hard and laying on the cement looking really hurt, as if hit by a car. I freeze and think to myself that our trip is over. I must save this dog. We call for him. He looks at us, pointy ears up, gets up and like a doofus, starts running desperately to us. He was alone and afraid. We called him Rudolph and now he was our camping buddy. Like 1km further we find another puppy, probably his sister, which we dragged from the nearby river, all wet, cold and hungry. Of course we take her too. So here we are, 10 kilogram backpacks each. Two puppies at my chest, boyfriend with map, trying to find a spot to camp. The first night we passed by the monastery the man in the train mentioned. But because we had these puppies, we couldn't enter inside the building. The priest wouldn't allow us. So we just walk around the property, through the gardens until we reached the base of the mountain we had to climb. I'd like to mention that these puppies were two tiny little brats because the second you put them down and force them to walk on their own, they would slam their butts to the ground and cry. Such drama. We walk and walk and walk until we decide to stop because it was getting late and and I was beginning to get cold. We found a spot next to a small landmark type of cottage in the middle of the wood. We call it Trojan Itza. It's like a scouting post but for the church where they place religious icons or a Bible, stuff like that inside to bring good energy to the area. It belongs to the church. It wasn't like a house. It was basically a roof with four small walls and an open opening, not a door you could go in to like hide from the rain. There was an icon inside and a Bible with pages ripped from it. Curious as I am, I opened the Bible, was really annoyed to see that people would write down their names in it like couples do on trees. But on one particular page the words I will find you stuck out. It was written in red ink again. I thought to myself that it was probably someone who wanted to scare travelers with silly messages. I put the book back and gave it no second thought. We put up the tent, make the fire, unpack, make food and eat. We feed the puppies, which now are cuddled up in our tent. And finally darkness starts to rise all around us. My boyfriend always kept the fire up every hour because when it went off, it felt as if the sounds in the woods were louder and closer to us than in reality. Now it's around 12am we are all in the tent cuddling to keep warm. The puppies wake up and start crying. I get up and Unzip the tent to put them out to pee. They do and I get them back in. They cry some more and the smallest one starts shivering. At the same time I hear groan grunting from behind our tent. My boyfriend is up too. He hears it as well. The fire is fading. The moment he unzips the tent and steps out, the sound disappears into the woods. It sounds like a snake slithering through the fallen leaves on the ground, but with unimaginable speed. I ask him, was that a snake? He says up to this day that he cannot explain explained what he saw. He says it was a slithery figure with feet that made a snort like sound when the light hit it. The puppies calm back down. After this creature disappears into the woods, we try to go back to sleep after we reignite the fire. It's 3am by this time and we wake up to the puppies being fussy again. The fire is nearly dead. My boyfriend gets up to search for firewood and I get out as well. Well, I stare into the darkness and I swear I hear whispers coming from between the trees. I look up at the sky, consider it's 3am and hear birds being very loud and fluttering their wings. Now I'm no expert in birds, but don't they usually sleep around this time? Well, these weren't. They were very active, very vocal and very frustrating. I look at the fire and follow the red sparks popping out of it into the sky and become fascinated with something. The spark doesn't seem to die. It goes on and on, changing color from hellish red to green. This was very out of the ordinary for me because it created an illusion hard to explain. It looked as if the fire sparks were going into the woods, creating a track for me probably to follow. I kept looking after each spark to see when it burns out. None of them did. They would levitate, turn green and flow into the woods. At that moment I began to get goosebumps on my skin. The birds being agitated, the mysterious light pointing us to go deeper into the woods. And all the trees around us have eyes on them. The trunks had a distinguished shape that looked exactly like eyes. I know this is nothing paranormal since someone explained that those shapes form when a branch is ripped from the root and that's the shape that is left over. But there were way too many, like a hundred eyes all looking at the exact spot we were camping, having only that religious tiny landmark to mentally protect us. And as I inspect my surroundings, I hear movement in one of the bushes in front of our tent. Like 10 meters away from us. Obviously I stand my ground, but don't go near it. Suddenly a dark bent over silhouette comes out of it and half inside the bush and half outside stares at us. I call my boyfriend and we are both like, what the heck is that? Is it a bear cub? A wolf? A pig? The creature shakes its head the same way a dog does after a bath and I hear a distinguished clink like a dog collar. At this time, my boyfriend manages to light up the fire really big, which scares this animal to run back into the woods through the bush from which it initially came out of. That calms us down, but not enough to ever close our eyes again. During that night, going back into the tent, my boyfriend falls asleep. The puppies are sound asleep, but not me. I keep the zipper on the tent opened a little, just enough to have my eye peek through it right at the early mentioned bush. I think I spent a solid hour staring and falling asleep to that bush. All of a sudden I hear a noise coming from that direction and I immediately wake my boyfriend up, who is now peeking through the hole in complete darkness with me. What we see next still haunts my dreams. From that exact same bush, we see a human head popping out and looking towards our tent. Note that our peeping hole was small enough to not make it look like you were being watched from the inside of the tent. This head is slowly coming out of the bush, skin so white we thought it was a ghost. After that, a shoulder, another shoulder, a full torso, a leg. Bit by bit, an entire man emerges from the bush, completely naked, lighted by both the moon and our fire. What he did next was excruciatingly scary for me. He comes so close to our tent and begins to remove branches, rocks, etc. From our fire, basically extinguishing our fire by dismantling it. This all happening like two or three meters from our tent. I look at the man with horror because I recognize him. And now the clink I heard earlier from that animal is explained. It is the same man from the train with his dog too. I don't know if he followed us. I don't know if he just went the same route as us and found us and decided to stalk us. But this guy was there since 12am at least, because our fire would be dead every two to three hours and we would be woken up by the sound of branches being cracked, rocks being moved, which we internally explained as animals crossing the land. After he successfully managed to put out our fire, he slowly crept back into the same bush, submerging into it bit by bit until only his head would be out. With a disfigured looking mouth looking like a moaning ghost. You try going back to sleep. After that we didn't know what to do. So we just got back out, reignited the fire, light ourselves some torches and stay near the campfire until the first rays of sun came up. I admit I did fall asleep while sitting down next to the fire and so did my boyfriend. But any sound would wake us up. I was too afraid to go near that bush. I did not need any answers, any explanations. I just wanted Daylight to get the heck out of there. And we did. We packed our stuff and we got out of there. We planned a four day camping trip and this experience made us give up after the first night. It was a risk we did not intend to take. If that guy followed us or it was just a coincidence, it was enough to ruin it all. As a conclusion to my story and advice to any first time campers out there. Never tell your location or even areas remotely close to your destination. To strangers you don't know where their minds take them and what they plan to do. Always stay safe. Always be aware of yourself surroundings and any changes that come to you under the form of sounds, movements, changes of temperature and so on. Always protect yourself. I may not be any kind of expert, but I believe there's more to this world than than we mere humans can hope to understand. I have always had a very fine tuned sense for what I believe to be those unexplainable things. Moments where I feel something. Something I can't quite explain with any rationality. Later in life I would be told to have what can most easily be explained as some kind of weak psychic or supernatural energy by a Wiccan witch. Nothing too impressive, but just enough to let me feel those entities. Even if I cannot see them. Like the ghost in my grandparents guest room or the malicious entity haunting the stairs and basement garage. The same uncanny sixth sense that my mom observed when my younger brother was born. Stronger than her own maternal sense. To the point that I understood when my brother needed something before even he he knew and could make a sound even awaking minutes before him in the middle of the night without fail. But I think there may be more to it than that as this incident leads me to believe. My family had recently moved to British Columbia, Canada that winter. I was 10 at the time. While we were no means in the boonies, we moved to an older trailer near a well known highway hiking trail and a small Christmas tree farm. Immediately, there was something off about the area, something that my parents waved off as the new home. Anxiety or just not being used to the place. I did my best to put it out of my mind. But within two weeks of the move, I began to notice strange happenings. Firstly, the unsettling aura I just couldn't shake. Sleepless nights where I felt like I was being watched by someone at my window. Strange shadows there one second, gone the next. Voices soft, whispering my name. And only when I was alone and only in my room near the window. However, whenever these incidents happened, soon after, I would feel something brushing against my shins and ankles. Ankles. Something that lessened the aura, at least for a while. These instances would be near constant until I struck out on my own. Eight years later. It all came to a head. That fall, months after the move, my parents insisted we take a family walk on the mountain trail. And though I didn't want to because I am by no means an outdoors man, something in me screamed not to go, that it was dangerous. But being barely 11, of course my parents completely dismissed my concerns as being lazy, and we were off to the trail's main entrance. As soon as I set foot out of the car, the warning bells in my head were blaring louder. Something in me kept saying that we had to leave, that something bad was going to happen. The little voice in my head kept focusing on my diabetic mom, who at the time had a weight problem. Dad with his disability that made him outright unable to run. That my bad lungs would make it impossible to run myself. That the three of us were sitting ducks. I didn't know why I was so hyper focused on running, on needing to get away. We were halfway through the walk when suddenly I froze. The apprehension I had felt about the whole event ramped up to 11. My parents thought that I had stopped because I was tired and took the opportunity to take pictures of the lovely fall leaves and dappled sunlight. It was a gorgeous sight, But I knew something was there, watching us, and it was not something we wanted to meet. I looked around, trying to find whatever was setting me off. All I saw was an occasional fleeting shadow. I could feel the brushing, but the feeling of dread and fear only got stronger. The familiar touch unable to drive it away as it normally would. Whatever it was, it was close. If it came at us, we wouldn't stand a chance. My parents still hadn't noticed something was wrong, and I felt my voice catch in my throat. Not out of fear, fear, but as if something wasn't letting me Speak. I heard the leaves rustle. It was close. So close. I glanced where the noise was coming from and saw a shadow for a split second before it vanished behind a tree. And as it vanished, something changed. Hot. It felt like a volcano had erupted in my chest. Not like this slow, gentle ooze like one might see in Hawaii, but explosive, angry, spewing, burning clouds of toxic gas and ash, spraying molten rock and fire. I was still afraid, but I wasn't frozen. I was angry. Eyes locked on the area. I had seen the shadow. I was no stranger to anger. I am aggressive and always have been. But this rage was entirely new. The feeling against my legs stopped, but the fire was burning hotter. And the thing, the dangerous thing hiding just outside my field of view. I felt it lock up in fear all its own. I felt like my body was controlled by something else. Still me, but different. I convinced my parents to pick up the pace, practically speaking, speed walking to the rest of the loop, not daring to let the fire sparked in my chest die out until we were safely back at the car. The strange presence lingered much further off, but still watching. Still malicious, but almost curious now. We left the trail and never went back. A few weeks later, my mom found out she would be having my brother. As time time passed, the whole incident kept nagging at my mind and I found myself doing research from time to time to try and piece whatever happened together. And while I may never fully understand, I think I finally have part of an answer. I think I was protecting my brother. As I stated earlier, I have always had an unexplainable connection to him. Despite being so much older and a terrifyingly vicious protective streak over him. When this happened, my mom would have been a month or so into her pregnancy. I think that whatever is in me that allows me to feel these presences so clearly that was so immediately focused on not me getting away, but my mom and dad with myself as the afterthought, knew he was there long before anyone else did the phantom touches. As ridiculous as I feel saying it, I believe it was a guardian angel of sorts. Or more accurately, my protective than long dead childhood cat keeping up his station. Even in death. The brushing feeling was identical to the feel of a cat weaving around your legs. And only stopped entirely when I moved out and got my own kitten who just as suddenly and uncharacteristically adopted the same guarding behavior. What that fire is, I may never know. But I know for a fact it is what kept that thing away. What was that thing? I don't know. I Believe it had been hunting me and continued to hunt me since we moved to that town and until I moved away. The voices, the feeling of being watched, the fear of fire. While I know the creatures will stalk their desired prey for a long time, that thing always comes back whenever I visit my family. Regardless of what it is, it is fixated on me. It seems I am safe so long as I have this fire. At least from it. But I wonder why, after so many years, it still follows me whenever I enter what must be its territory. Remembering that feeling of malice, I pray I never have to find out. My name is Rory and I'm a security guard here in Scotland. The company I work for mainly does nightclubs and construction site security. But for some reason I always end up getting the weirder job jobs. But that suits me because they tend to be in the daytime and I am just not cut out for night shifts anymore. Anyway, so my boss asks me if I wanted to work a Saturday shift over at the Mercure Hotel in Livingston. Told me it would be a solid 10 hour shift providing security for a convention they had on easy money. Basically I asked him what kind of convention needed security guard, but all he knew is that it was called Scotiacon. There were no clues in the name. So needless to say, I was a bit curious about what the whole thing was. Turns out it was a big meetup for people called furries. What I'm about to tell you is all learned on the fly, so don't hold me to any of this, but furries are basically people who think they are animals. So they dress up in these big suits and wiggle their behinds. Don't get me wrong, they all seemed lovely, but the whole thing was kind of unusual. They were selling each other all kinds of artwork, clothes they had made. Some of it seemed a bit inappropriate. But there were no kids there, so no harm done, right? Like I said, lovely people. But there was one person who I would call an exception. There were a good few hundred people there, a lot of younger people too. Hardly the kind of thing I picture when I hear the word convention. They didn't seem too leery or anything. There was just a lot of them, hence why I was there. But I really didn't see anything kicking off. So when I got the call that the security team was needed in the main convention hall, I was shocked, I'll be honest. So I am following this other guy that I had not worked with before down a corridor and into the main hall and immediately you can see where the trouble is. Everyone is looking over into one particular corner where you can hear this argument going on. My colleagues and I make our way through the crowds of oddly dressed but well meaning folk until we came across the culprits. Most of the noise was coming from one guy with a dog collar on. He had ears on all sorts of dog themed stuff on his backpack and clothing. Basically dogs were the kids thing. I start asking what the big song and dance is about and he told me he had been arguing with this stall owner over the price of a piece of artwork. But the guy that owns the stall just wants him out. Says he's been threatening him. All this other stuff, all I do is try and separate them. I can't really be throwing people out, but this guy's causing trouble, so I start trying to move him away. At first the dog boy seems like he's just going to walk away, but suddenly he doubles back and throws a kick at the guy stall. Not just that, but he seriously starts barking at this guy. Like really loud, rough. Ruff, ruff ruff. It was intense, man. Naturally I then go to grip him and the kid actually bites me. I went to throw an arm around his neck to get control over him, but he just caught my arm and sank his teeth into it. Now luckily I'm wearing my branded security jacket and the fabric is just tough and plasticky enough to have this guy's jaw grip slip off the meat of my arm. But man, if he had gotten a grip on me, I might have had a chance. Chunk bitten off, the guy was near rabid. As the other security guys are dragging him off, I can see him trying to bite him, but I can hear this noise too. And it actually took a second for the penny to drop that it was the sound of his teeth clapping together like this sharp snap, snap, snap sound. Honestly, it was really scary. I get my arm looked at by the medics, police turn up and take the guy away. Definitely the most eventful thing that happened. The rest of it was kind of boring after the initial furry shock. Nice people. Though. I wouldn't mind going back. It came out more as you've gotta save this girl. Because he wasn't after me. I was just delivering a pizza. Unless they were after me, in which case there might not be a girl, but I talked to one on the phone. So then you should find that girl because they used her to lure me there. But if she's real, she doesn't know about the guy who was also real. And there could be even more guys if there's actually a girl. And you know what? Even if there isn't a girl, there might actually be more guys. I only checked one part of the bushes, so I don't actually know. But we'll know which guy is the one I saw because I pissed all over him. You know, I didn't mean to. This was back when I thought the girl was real, but I didn't mean to. This was back when I thought the girl was real but not home. But she might be real. So you really need to find her if she is, because the guy was real. Finally. They basically just asked me to stop talking and stay on the line.

[B]

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