← Southern Cannibal's Scary Stories
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Riley
This happened on Christmas Eve of 2021. My brother, who was 22 at the time, and I, a female, 31 at the time, lived together in a city about two hours away from our hometown, where our parents still live. I'll call myself Riley and my brother Shadow for privacy. Our mother's birthday is Christmas Day, so as a family, we've always celebrated her birthday on Christmas Eve growing up. However, now that my brother and I are managers at our jobs, sometimes it's harder to get the day off to be able to travel home. Luckily that year we were able to work it out and actually come home on Christmas Eve. And later on in the story, for the safety of my parents, I'm really glad we came home that extra day early. We get home on Christmas eve at about 5 in the afternoon. We have our mom's birthday celebration with cake and presents, just the four of us, me, Shadow, and our mom and dad. It was a great time winding down that night. We had decided to watch some Christmas movies to get into that holiday spirit. Dad tends to fall asleep pretty easily when he sits down, so he was starting to nod off. At about 2030 minutes into the movie, Shadow and Mom are talking on the other couch and I'm distracted by my phone when suddenly there is a loud knocking at the door. It's nearly 9pm at this time and we were not expecting anyone to help visualize. The front door has a window in it, but the glass is designed in such a way that it lets light in, but you can't actually see inside. I'm sitting on a couch that is directly in front of the door. Further in, past the foyer into the open vaulted living as well as the kitchen open concept. I can see a figure standing there and for some reason my stomach sank and I felt really scared all of a sudden. I almost felt like my body knew something was wrong, but my mind hadn't caught up yet. I slap dad lightly in the arm to wake him up as the guy knocks loudly yet again in his half sleepy state. I tell him, dad, someone's at the door. Well, he gets up and opens the door. Instead of using the home security system to talk to this person via the doorbell camera. I can't remember specifically what the man at the door had said, but it was an older guy, probably mid to late 60s, and he kept repeating to my dad, she's here. I need to see her. The stranger did say a name, but I don't remember the context, so for the sake of the story, we'll just call her Sandra. Sandra lives here. She has my medicine and I need my medicine. He repeats to my dad. Uh, nobody named Sandra lives here, sir. You have the wrong house. Dad said back. I felt my heart start to race as I jumped up to the door, feeling the need to help. Shadow and mom jumped up too, and eventually all four of us were at the door telling this man that he had the wrong house, when suddenly he began to force his way past my dad, nearly knocking him over. Now, dad is not a small man by any means. He's over six foot tall and over £300. I couldn't believe at the time that this scrawny man had been able to catch my dad off guard. In what felt like slow motion. I hold up dad as he, Shadow and Mom start trying to close the door. The man had his hand on the door's edge and refused to let go. Still managing to push against all four of us, Shadow begins to punch the man's hand on the door repeatedly to get him to let go, taking about six or seven punches before the man lets go in pain, and as he falls back, the door slams shut. We lock the deadbolt quickly before the man has a chance to try and open it again. The stranger immediately begins banging on the door so hard that it feels like he's trying to break it, and all the while screaming for this Sandra woman. I immediately decide to call 911 while my mom tries to go find something to defend us. We've always lived in this city and my parents never owned guns, so the only thing my mom found was a rather large, sturdy rolling pin. Better than nothing at the time. Right next to the door on the wall was the security camera pin pad where we could see the man pacing back and forth from his car to the door to bang on it some more. Still calling and screaming for Sandra. Sandra, I know you're in there, so come out. Give me my medicine. I had gone to my childhood bedroom, which was also at the front of the house, to see if I could see the guy while on the phone with dispatch. It took about 15 minutes for the police to finally show up. In that time, the guy had walked all around the front of the house. It felt like he was looking for a place to get in, but my parents had a privacy fence all the way around, so we got really lucky with that. He also randomly had a bag in his hand at one point, which he didn't have initially. I thought that was strange. The cops pull up behind the man's truck, which was in our driveway. One starts talking to him near our front door while the other stands closer to the guy's vehicle. I don't remember all of the conversation but they ask him why he's here and what he wants. The man tells them again about Sandra and his medicine. The taller cop starts walking to our door as the other cop convinces the man to walk back towards his truck. My parents open the door to the cop as I then rejoin them from the bedroom. We explain to the cop what had happened and we tell him how the guy tried to force his way inside the house. Dad also tells him that they've lived here for over 10 years and have never heard of this Sandra. Dad goes outside with the cop and eventually we find out that Sandra is my parents new next door neighbor who had moved in less than a month prior. The man was her ex husband. They had only been separated for less than half a year and were still doing things for one another and that included Sandra picking up his medications for him. She also explained that during the time he was banging on our door when I had seen him going to the side of the house, he had actually gone and got the medicine from her at the house next door and yet came back to our house and continued to bang and yell on our door for her for some reason that was the bag that I'd seen in his hand. The cops took down our information and he let the guy go on the grounds that he wouldn't come back and he agreed. I don't know what was going on with him mentally and the cops never got back to us on anything so I guess it was just forgotten about. All I know is Christmas Eve will never be the same for us and I'm really glad Shadow and I were able to come the day early because if we hadn't I don't know what would have happened if our parents had to go through that all alone. Stay safe this holiday season everyone and don't forget to always check the door before opening it, whether that's through the peephole or your doorbell camera. Don't risk it and be safe. This was Christmas Vacation 2019. I was a 21 year old female and home from college. For context I had went and picked up my sisters from school. We got to the house and the door was wide open. My sisters and I didn't think anything of it and we thought it was my dad that had left it open. He was upstairs sleeping and the whole downstairs was totally trashed. Nothing was stolen and was all a mess. My mom got home a minute later and went and woke up my dad while I had started to clean up the mess. I had heard someone talking and I didn't recognize the voice, but I thought it was just someone outside because my neighbors were having their house worked on. Time passed and I got it all cleaned up with the help of my parents. My sisters and I were playing Guess the Christmas song game and laughing and having fun while our parents were out doing Christmas and grocery shopping. It was about 6pm and dark outside and we kept hearing noises, but we just turned up the TV for the game. Then all of a sudden there was a knock at the door. My sisters and I just all looked at each other, scared for what was about to happen. Then this person started banging. I. I had my sister call our parents and I called 911 just because I was the oldest and in charge. They sent cops out right away and when they got there, they stood at the front door and they said it was clear to open the door and talk. I looked down just to make sure that's actually who they were. And I then saw the flashing lights and three police officers. I opened the door and they had asked for details about what had happened. I then explained that there had been a break in earlier, or so we thought, but nothing was taken. And then I told him that this person had knocked on the door and started banging on the door. Right at that moment, my parents pulled up in the driveway and then got out to make sure we were all okay. The police officer said that they didn't find anything suspicious outside nor anyone around. He told us that the person could have heard the sirens and then probably fled the area. Days passed and nothing happened and my sisters and I were still very scared. It was December 22nd and I was home alone because my dad went to work and my sisters and mom went to the doctor's office. I was sitting in the living room watching tv, but I had the volume low because I was still pretty scared that someone was watching the house and listening in. I had heard someone trying to get into the back door. So I ran upstairs to the window that can see the back door from above and I saw a strange man with a black bag. He walked down the driveway towards the front of the house. I ran downstairs and made sure that the door was locked. I called 911 and I texted the family group chat that we had made recently and I told them that the police were on their way. I went to look out a separate window and the man saw me and then ran towards that window. I went into a complete anxiety attack. The man started screwing my name and telling me he was going to wrap his hands around my throat and kill me as well as many more sexual things that he wanted to do to me. This man had looked familiar, but I didn't get a good enough look at him to figure out who he actually was. I ran to the front door to look for the police and as soon as I moved the blinds to look out, he was standing right there looking at me. It was nobody that I knew and I was really scared on how he knew me and my name. He had a smile that felt like it ran ear to ear. The cops were now coming down the street and he started screaming, you bitch, you're gonna pay for this. Then started running away. The police didn't see him, but since I did, they had asked me to give as much details as I could remember about his facial features and that someone was going to do a sketch on his face. My mom and my sister showed up and my sister started comforting me as I was describing this man. My mom then looked at me and then said, oh my God, that looks like my ex boyfriend from many years ago. To which I then replied with, I don't know him but he knows my name and he was saying nasty things that he wanted to do to me. Well, it was then Christmas Eve and I still wasn't okay after that day. I was traumatized to say the least. My dad was trying to take my mind off the situation by playing board games with my sisters and I. And then we had opened up a couple of gifts and had saved the rest for Christmas Day. That night it was time for bed. My sisters, being nine, were so excited for Santa to come to our house. I had stayed awake in my room scared to death about the situation that happened two days before. I tried to sleep and I woke up to sounds of pebbles being thrown at my window. I peeked out my window trying not to be seen and it was him yet again. I walked quietly to my parents room trying not to wake my sisters and I woke them up. I was crying, scared to death and I had a huge anxiety attack. My dad went to my room and looked out the window but nobody was there. All he saw were the pebbles on my window sill. My dad set the alarm on the house before we all went to bed so that if this man broke a window or tried to open a door, it would set off the alarm and then call the police immediately. We were just sitting in my parents room and about 30 minutes went by and we didn't hear anything anymore. Then all of a sudden, a rock then went through my window, breaking it. My parents had called 911 and there was a note actually taped to this rock and they told me not to touch it so that the police could fingerprint it. The man broke into the back door and my dad ran downstairs to protect the house and his family. Now, my dad used to be in the military and he got the guy to the ground and held him there until the police had arrived. This was the worst Christmas break and Christmas time of my life. I ended up moving out at the beginning of January and I no longer talk to my mom anymore because she's the reason that this happened. It was her psycho, crazy ex boyfriend who did all this. I still cannot believe that all that happened. I still think about that time when I was home alone and how I could have ended up dead if I didn't call the cops. I'm so glad I made it out of that situation alive. I just can't help but wonder how the hell did my mom end up dating such a psycho. This happened in 2015. Just to give you a small rundown. My dad is in the Navy and when he came home from Afghanistan, he decided to do what he always wanted and he bought a sailboat. It was a 38 foot endeavor by the name of Saragon. We were a family of seven, soon to be eight, so the transition was difficult for a while, especially for an 11 year old kid like me at the time. This all took place in San Diego, California in a small marina called Fiddler's Cove. Once we sailed into the harbor, it became quite apparent that we had some shady neighbors. The one that immediately caught my attention was the nearby neighbor about two slots down the dock. He lived in a rusted trawler looking vessel by the name of Queen Bee. It looked worn down and right on the verge of sinking. The appearance of the man was no different. He was balding, with some kind of rash developing around his mouth. He immediately greeted me and my siblings, but never made any social interaction with my parents. He actually avoided them altogether while we were living there. But whenever I was by myself, he never hesitated to strike up a conversation with me. I was a social kid and I never thought much of it. Nothing happened for several months until one day when I was using the public showers that the marina complex had and he was at the sinks on a towel. We went through the normal routine of random conversations until he all of a sudden told me. He then told me that when nobody else was around, he would dance in front of the mirror naked, and that these kids walked in and saw and didn't care. He continued to tell me that it shouldn't be considered weird because, you know, we're all boys here. So if I wanted to dance in front of the mirror or two naked, it would be totally fine because nobody cares. When he said this, he stared at me like he was expecting me to do it right there. I was already feeling very uncomfortable because I had never even heard an adult say this. I didn't tell my parents because I thought I was just too young to understand and that maybe what he said was actually normal and I should just lighten up. I will never forget what happened. For the next several weeks, every time I came in for daily hygiene, he'd come out of the shower not wearing anything and just act normally like there was nothing wrong. If not, whenever there were other people in the latrines, he'd leave his shower stall's curtain open, showing himself as I passed. I finally communicated this to my parents. This time they told me to just never look and that I should walk to the RV park showers, which was over a mile away. I did do this, but when I couldn't, I just used the marina showers where he was. And he was there every time. Either we just coincidentally chose the same time to do hygiene, or he'd just wait for me because he was always waiting there. What happened next will forever haunt me. This happened on Christmas Eve of all days, which only makes it all the more memorable. I walked into a completely empty bathroom. My brain was half expecting him to be there, considering how routine it was. But my kid's excitement for the following day drowned out that fear of the man being there. I dropped my clothes and towel in one of the stalls and proceeded to my locker to grab my toiletries. And as I'm making my way back, the man slipped out of the bathroom stall behind me like it was a literal horror movie. When I then turned, I saw that he was completely nude. I knew immediately that something truly wrong was going on here. The 0100 transition from normal to completely scared shitless was already so overwhelming for me, and his expression of excitement only made it worse in response. I just froze. I just wanted to cry, but I just remained frozen looking at him. He got closer and he acted like my reaction was just a green light for him to make the next move. I then found myself being cornered into the handicapped bathroom stall. He was so close. He then placed his hands on my shoulders and he put his thumbs under the collar of my shirt. I was already crying at this point, and he then whispered, it's okay, buddy, it's okay, over and over again as he then tried to take my shirt off. My fight or flight then kicked in and I pushed myself under his arm and then ran as fast as I could. He gripped my shirt really tightly trying to hold onto me, but then immediately let go. I just ran. I went to these staged rocks near the beach where I cried for what felt like hours. Once I finally felt brave enough, I went back where the room was emptied. My hygiene items were neatly staged on the sinks. I got dressed and I tried to act as normal as possible because for whatever reason I thought that I was going to get in trouble. I didn't tell anyone what happened for a long time and my attitude towards everything changed to where my family were very concerned for me, but I still never told them. I almost never saw that man again after that. Maybe because I refused to go anywhere alone. The man eventually just completely disappeared and he abandoned his boat to where it was soon towed away. When this happened, I was listening to my parents who were conversating to the neighbors, and they were talking about the man. They had talked about how everyone knew him to be gay, whereas others claimed he was a pedophile. That apparently led to a number of investigations. I don't know if what they were saying was even true because it seemed to only be a rumor. I never did say anything until he was then brought up during some late night family discussions. And that's when I told them everything. They were all shocked. My dad got very angry because I didn't tell him and he said if he knew, he would have marched over to his boat and killed him right there. I'm just truly relieved that the man didn't go through with whatever he was doing and that I managed to get away because I know many aren't so lucky. I don't know where I'd be right now if that were the case. Just know this. Sometimes pedophiles either act on it right then and there or they slowly build up to it. To try to get you accustomed to certain things, just please tell someone if this is going on. I'm 19 years old now and I recently joined the army. I now try to stay as alert as possible for these characters because you just never know when they might reveal themselves. And to that man, I really hope you're burning in hell now. This happened on November 26th of this year. So just a few days ago. It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving because of the holiday, I had made the hour and a half drive down to stay with my parents over the holiday and the weekend for some overdue family time. We had a great holiday and we spent Friday Black Friday shopping. We spent Saturday playing Monopoly and watching movies and then all day Sunday relaxing at home. When Sunday night rolled around, I had an itch to get out of the house living an hour and a half away. I usually have to run my errands by myself, so I thought a little run to the store would be nice. My dad said he didn't want to go and my mom was hesitant but ultimately decided she would go if we could go to a couple of stores that she wanted to go to too. We went to our first two stores without issue. Quick backstory though. Things in my hometown, where my parents live, have recently gotten pretty bad. A shooting and a stabbing, along with a string of robberies had broken out in the couple of weeks before this. My mom and I were paying pretty close attention at our first two stores, but apparently not as much as we should have been. When I pulled up outside the third store, I parked in the front row with my car facing the doors. I vividly remember that there was no one else parked in this row but me. We walked in and started browsing, starting at the Christmas section and making our way to the back of the store in an upside down U shape. Once we made it to the other side of the store, I told my mom I was going to go look for a snack at the front of the store and I then wandered off alone. I browse for maybe about five minutes before returning to my mom, who was right where I had left her right? As I get to her though, two things happen almost simultaneously. Management calls a security check over the intercom for the section my mom and I are standing in. A tall skinny man rounds the corner and upon making eye contact with me, darts halfway down the women's shoe aisle behind where my mom and I are standing. Immediately, I get bad vibes from this guy. He's singing loudly, banging on shelves and stealing quick glances at me. Coupled with a security check, I've got alarms totally going off in my head. I immediately tell my mom in a whisper that I don't like this guy and we should move. She agrees as we start to walk away down this side aisle we're on. The man walks out of the women's shoe aisle to follow behind us. My mom directs me to cut down the next aisle and make my way to the one aisle over to the main aisle. When we reach the end of the aisle we cut down. We see two employees and a large man who also turned out to be an employee as well, and they're looking at us like a deer in the headlights. My mom overhears the workers then whisper, there they are. Now under the impression that they've taken us for shoplifters, we begin to make our way to the front of the store to check out the few items that we have. These employees all follow closely behind us, but my mom and I are still so confused and getting nervous. When we get to the register, one of the employees comes over to check us out, but we overhear the other two talking about the man and still glancing over at us. We ask if they're talking about the same man that we had seen from earlier and they confirmed they were. We told them about his behavior, that he seemed high on drugs and was acting odd. The male employee then tells us then he had asked him repeatedly if they sold guns or ammo. They continue talking and it eventually becomes clear that they've lost track of him, but that he is still in the store. As they scan the store from the front, the male employee then says, hey, there he is. As I turn around to see where the man is, he slams his hand out on the shelf right behind me at the checkout. He's standing less than two feet behind me and while he's got eyes on me, I'm avoiding eye contact. He sidesteps me and stands right beside me. Despite the only other available register being at least 10ft away. Wally's checking out. He keeps walking around the end of the counter and he starts asking if they have laser attachments for guns. For some context, we're in a well known bargain store that primarily sells clothes, furniture and home decor. This is not somewhere you'd go if you were looking to purchase a gun or anything like that. He's continuing to glance at me and I'm pretending not to notice, suddenly very aware that I'm his target. Here to pay for a small purchase of a hat, he pulls out a large wad of cash, pays for his purchase, and then walks out to his car. Immediately my mom and I ask for an escort out to my car, which the male employee agrees to. He steps into the lobby area and checks the parking lot as we walk out. Shortly behind him, I point out my car, but now there's another car parked two spots away in the same row as me. It's a dark colored older model suv. The man has walked down to his car and is now standing outside of it with the door Open, watching the store and talking to someone in the passenger seat. My mom and I are ushered back inside along with all of the employees and other customers. The manager locked the doors and then called the police, then got everyone inside away from the windows. When the police finally arrived, the man had pulled off. The cops talked to the manager for a rundown of what happened and told her to call back if he returned. What we realized later is that we think that he may have just moved his car whenever he felt someone was suspicious of him. And then he returned afterwards to case the store again. Ultimately, the manager sent two young female cashiers home for the night for their safety. During this time, I had called my dad, who insisted on coming over to the store to follow me and my mom home. In the meantime, we had sat on one of the for sale couches in the back of the store and just talked to the employees. This is when we found out the scariest part of this whole story. Apparently, this man had been following me and my mom so closely and for so long that the employees originally thought that he arrived with us. That is, until they realized that we weren't paying him any attention. As soon as they realized we weren't together and that this man was following us is when they called the security check on our section. The deer in the headlights look they gave us when they found us was because they knew that we were possibly in real danger and that this man did not have good intentions. My mom and I then began to wonder if the man had followed us from the previous store. This immediately sent shivers down my spine, and I've never in my life felt this much like prey. Thankfully, this story ends with me being at home with heightened anxiety about going anywhere after dark and a phone call to the store's management thanking all their employees for saving me and my mom for what really could have been a much worse fate. Like I said, my dad ended up driving over to follow us home. But the last few nights, I've really been haunted by the what ifs. What if the employees hadn't noticed something was wrong? What if I'd gone shopping alone that night like I have so many other times before? What if I'd walked out to my car without ever knowing I was being followed? Foreign apologies for the interruption from the stories, but I wanted to talk about today's sponsor, Uncommon Goods. Spark something uncommon this holiday with just the right gift from Uncommon Goods. The busy holiday season is here, and Uncommon Goods makes it less stressful. With incredible handpicked gifts for everyone on your list. All in one spot. Gifts that spark, joy, wonder, delight and that. It's exactly what I wanted feeling they scoured the globe for original, handmade, absolutely remarkable things. Somehow they know exactly the perfect gift for every single person. You know, I actually just got myself this omelette maker. Seriously, and I'm really excited to use it because I love making breakfast. They've got tons of things just like this and more. I'm sure you'll be able to find a nice holiday gift on there for your friends and family. Also, when you shop at Uncommon Goods, you're supporting artists in small and independent businesses. Many of their handcrafted products are made in small batches, so shop now before they sell out this holiday season. To get 15% off your next gift, go to UncommonGoods.com cannibal that's UncommonGoods.com cannibal for 15% off. Don't miss out on this limited time offer. Uncommon Goods were All out of the Ordinary I'm a guy and this happened when I was 15. I was at home by myself since my parents were out of town for the weekend. It was during Christmas break so I didn't have school then. I was in my house already dressed for bed. Well, at about one in the morning, I was sitting in the living room with a window open and I saw two guys two houses over. I had actually heard them say loudly that they're going to break into the house they were at and then the other two to their right. With my own house being one of them, I freaked out. So I closed the window, got on my jacket and shoes and then I got out of the house for safety's sake. I didn't put on my pants because I didn't want to waste time. I know it might sound weird or possibly even fake, but it's seriously not. I actually left my house in just my jacket, shoes and underwear. When I got outside, I got on my bike and I biked down the sidewalk for what felt like hours. Thankfully, I had my phone in my jacket pocket so I could see on Google Maps where I was going. I was biking for about a mile and a half when I arrived at the police station, there was a cop outside the front door. I then approached him and I explained everything to him. He told me it'd be okay and that he'd give me a ride back home. He led me to his patrol car and I put my bike in the back and buckled myself in. My legs had felt like popsicles getting that I didn't have any pants on the cop drove me home and there were the same two guys about to go into my house. The cop got out of the car just in time, telling the guys to freeze. No pun intended. I grabbed my bike and got out of the car just as he was arresting the two guys. I put my bike in the garage and the officer put the guys in his patrol car. I thanked the officer for not only taking care of the guys, but for bringing me home too. When I went back in the house, I took off my jacket and shoes and went to bed, 100% relieved now. I slept like a baby then. Then on Monday when my parents came home, I didn't even tell them what happened because I didn't want to worry them. Plus, they also probably wouldn't even let me stay home alone again. Like I mentioned earlier, I can honestly understand if it might sound fake or weird, but this had actually happened to me. To this day, I still make sure the house is secure at night before going to bed or if I leave for any reason at all. It was a pretty scary thing to have happened. For some context, I'm a guy and this happened when I was 19. I was at my house with my roommate Victor, and we had just got done decorating the house with all sorts of Christmas decorations and we decided to go to Target to do some Christmas shopping since they had some stuff on sale. After we were done shopping, we drove back to our house and we decided to worry about the stuff we bought until later and we decided to just relax for a bit. Anyway, it was almost 10pm when we then heard footsteps outside on the patio, then knocking at the door. There was no way either one of us were answering it at this hour. I then checked my phone on the doorbell camera that I have hooked up to my phone, and I kid you not, I saw a guy standing there wearing a Santa Claus outfit. I also saw something tucked into his pants. Then I recognized it. It was a gun. Victor saw it too and we both went into my bedroom and then locked the door as quietly as possible. The lights were already off when we got in. Then the guy at the door pulled out the gun and then said something like, I've got a special gift for whoever's in there, please let me in. We then both went into my closet and locked the door and then Victor called the police. That's when the guy in the Santa suit then said. I said, let me the fuck in or the door gets busted down. I'm not playing around here. The police then finally arrived and the guy was taken away and arrested. We both went to go explain to the police about the situation. After we explained everything to the police, they left. We were just so relieved that the guy was taken away and we were really lucky that neither one of us answered the door. It thankfully never happened again after that night. Never, and I repeat, never answer the door for anyone at night, unless it's someone you know. I'm a 23 year old Canadian woman and this story took place in the countryside of Quebec Province. It happened to us during Christmas of last year. Last year, my boyfriend Zach and I thought it would be a great idea to stay at an Airbnb for the Christmas holidays. It was our first time using Airbnb and after what happened to us, there will be no other time. We found a cute secluded cottage house in the countryside and Airbnb for an absurdly cheap price, which probably should have been the first red flag. But it was our first time trying out an Airbnb, so we didn't pick up on it until it was way too late. My boyfriend arranged for us to stay there on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We genuinely thought the host was really nice and welcoming. Fast forward to Christmas Eve and we had packed our things and Zach drove us to the Airbnb. When we arrived to our destination, we noticed that there was not one, but three identical cottage houses next to each other. We we found that a little odd since we were literally in the middle of nowhere with no neighbors for miles but three houses in a row. It was getting dark and I was cold, so we just brushed it off. Thinking the host probably had multiple Airbnbs. We made our way to the Airbnb and there was a number padlock on the front door, which we expected. The host had sent my boyfriend the code earlier that day. What we didn't expect was that the padlock was not budging after entering the code that we were given. For a moment we thought that maybe we had entered it wrong by accident. But after checking the code again and trying the padlock several times without any luck, panic really started to set in. Zach was annoyed and tried calling for the host, who didn't pick up. Zach told me to wait in the car while he went to check around to see if he could find a different padlock, thinking that we might have gotten the wrong Airbnb. It didn't sound outlandish since there were two other identical houses right next to this one. Unfortunately, none of the padlocks matched the code that we were given. Seriously, we were about to give up and just leave when My boyfriend received a message on his phone from the host. Oh, sorry, I gave you the wrong code. Here it is. We were finally able to go in the Airbnb, and it was super cute. But our high spirits had been slightly crushed from spending an hour out in the freezing cold trying the different codes because of our host. It was already nighttime by then, so after unpacking, we decided to get some sleep, hoping for the next day to be a much better one. I woke up on high alert in the middle of the night, Zach still sleeping soundly next to me. Maybe the unfamiliar environment around me had woken me up, I thought. I got up and was heading downstairs to the bathroom to go pee when a noise coming from the front door stopped me dead in my tracks. I was midway down the stairs when I heard the front door knob turning. What the hell? I was frozen in place, staring at the front door, expecting someone to barge in at any moment. But they didn't. Whoever was at the door was turning the doorknob over and over, but it was locked. Dread filled me as I realized there would be no reason for anyone to be here. Trying the doorknob of the secluded house in the middle of the countryside at 2am, I tiptoed back to the room and shook Zach awake. He was a bit grumpy to be woken up like this, but as soon as he noticed how frightened I seemed, he became seriously concerned. I told him that someone was at the door trying to get in. Confused, he got up, went downstairs and grabbed a knife from the kitchen, then made his way to one of the front windows. He moved the curtains just enough to look outside. There was nothing there. I thought that maybe I just imagined it and we went back to bed. But I was really confused. I was certain of what happened, and I still wasn't sure that no one was out there. But after a while, I just fell back to sleep again. Morning came, and after spending some more time in bed, my boyfriend and I made our way downstairs to go make some breakfast. We had bought some pancake mix as well as some fruits and syrups for the special occasion. Well, when we got down there, we found all of our shit was gone. Like literally the food and everything. We left downstairs before going to sleep. It was all gone. The worst part, Even the Christmas presents that we'd gotten for each other were gone too. There were no signs of a break in either. This was the worst Christmas ever. The Airbnb host maintained that he had nothing to do with what happened that night. We reported what happened to us to Airbnb support and we did get a refund, but since we couldn't prove it was the host who stole our stuff, he was never held responsible by the company. Zach also filed a police report but was never contacted about this again, so we assume the police didn't find anything about what happened. Zach and I have agreed to never go to an Airbnb ever again, especially not for the holidays as it is now December and in the spirit of giving, I thought I'd share a story with you after being a long time listener. This incident took place the week right before Christmas. I'm a female and I was 19, living with my parents in a nice part of town. It was a Sunday night and I was coming home from a little get together. It was a house party but nothing crazy. It was part of my work night out. My boss didn't want us out clubbing and arranged for us to have some drinks in her house instead and we played silly festive games and had really stuffed our faces with food. Now it was very dark outside and we had some moderate snow. My house was only a 15 minute walk away and it was 8:45pm I felt very safe doing this walk and hindsight is 20 20. I wasn't drunk and I had texted my mom to let her know I was on my way home. She didn't have an issue with me going out, I just texted her so she knew I was walking alone. There was an area with crappy street lights and this part of the walk involved me walking up a decent amount of stairs, like 30ish. I was wrapped up warm due to the snow. I had a long coat on, scarf and a hat and some fingerless gloves and thick leggings and boots. I wasn't showing skin at all which is relevant to what happened next. As I was walking I had that horrible feeling you get when you know someone's watching you. A sense of dread flowed through me and when I turned around I saw a man was behind me. I tried to ignore him but I felt nervous. He was tall and I couldn't make out his face at this point. He eventually caught up to me and I expected him to just walk ahead but instead he fell into step with me. He said hey to me but I decided to ignore him and just focus on getting up the steps and then going home. After these steps it was only like seven minutes to my house. As I started walking up the steps the man repeated himself and I continued to ignore him. I sped up but he did too and he said hey yet again. This Time more aggressively. When I ignored this too. He then stopped and said, why are you ignoring me? I had a horrible feeling and I felt so vulnerable. I could now see that he was white with dark hair and he was wearing a dark jacket and trousers. I didn't want to look at him and I just kept focusing on walking. The snow brightened the steps immensely, but it was still so dark. When I'd gotten up a few steps, I suddenly stumbled because I was panicking and I'd felt the man grab me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and then said, careful, baby. I felt sick and I tried to shrug him off, but he was stronger than me. My heart was thundering in my chest and I felt him move with me. He shoved me really hard towards the concrete wall. The steps didn't have any railings and I could feel his face rubbing against me. He was trying to move my scarf with his mouth or something, but he couldn't. He then started whispering fuck right under his breath because he couldn't expose my neck. So he sort of pushed his legs so he was holding me in place. He then used one hand to rip my scarf off my neck before burying his face into my neck. I was petrified and I kept trying to shove him away from me, but I couldn't. I felt so weak and panicked. I couldn't breathe. I began shouting at him to get off of me, but the more I struggled, the harder he pushed himself against me. I started crying because I felt so angry that I couldn't get free. He told me to just relax and he started making gross comments about my body. I then spat on him because I didn't know what else to do at this point. But this only made him angry. He kneed me in the crotch and then slapped me across the face, then grabbing my chin and telling me I was a dick tease and to stop playing hard to get. I was terrified because I knew what he had planned to do and I felt like I was going to die. I started begging him to just let me go, promising that I wouldn't tell anyone, but he wouldn't listen. He unzipped his pants and grabbed my hand. I felt like I was about to throw up, but I also felt like I was floating away from the entire situation. I don't know how long it lasted, but as if by the grace of God, I suddenly heard yells coming from the top of the stairs. I could hear someone yell, hey. What the fuck do you think you're doing? And the man suddenly let go of my hand, unpinned me from the wall and took off running. I remember just crumbling to the ground with the hand he had been holding far from my body. I tried wiping it on the ground because I could feel him on me and it made me feel so disgusting. I just sobbed as I then heard footsteps approaching me. I was aware of people asking me if I was alright, but I couldn't answer. I just wanted to go home and shower for an eternity. I felt vile and embarrassed. It turned out that this couple had been walking along the road and had heard me crying and saying no. They followed the sounds and they knew something bad was happening. I remember continuing to say no when he made me touch him. But I didn't realize how loud I was being because I was so gone from the situation in my mind. My scarf was on the ground next to me, but I couldn't bear to pick it up. He had unbuttoned my coat at some point too and I just felt broken. The man and woman who found me kept trying to keep me calm, but I was inconsolable. I felt so ashamed and disgusting. I felt stupid for walking home. I felt like I'd asked for it for simply just walking outside. I didn't even do anything you could say was flirtatious, but even if I had, I didn't deserve what happened to me. The police were called and I had to be seen at the hospital. My parents were called as well and I was so ashamed to face them, especially my dad. I felt like I was dirty and tainted now and that they wouldn't be able to look at me anymore. As soon as they were allowed to see me, my dad rushed in with my mom. They both hugged me and my dad actually started crying when he saw my bruised up face, which was a shock to me. My dad is a very macho, strong dude, so seeing him teary eyed only made me cry. The police assured us that they would do everything possible to find the men who attacked me. I went home and spent a whole week in a daze. Christmas wasn't the best. I really felt numb after that whole ordeal and I kept blaming myself for what happened. I went through every single what if in my mind for hours on end. I actually quit my job because of something a co worker said to me. I felt like I could never face them, but my mom told me I had nothing to feel ashamed of and that no one would judge me for what happened. Well, when I went back to work after Christmas, one of the older ladies told me that I had to snap out of the stage, that I was apparently in. Her exact words to me were, hey, at least you weren't raped. Whatever happened couldn't have been that bad. Once she said that, it was like all this pent up rage spilled right out of me. I then screamed at her that she was a total fucking idiot and walked out of the store. I never went back. Having some gross man pin me against a wall, grope and kiss me all over and force me to do anything with them was horrific. That night was the worst night of my life. Nothing will ever compare to it. If that couple hadn't been passing by, if they hadn't intervened, he would have raped me and for all I know he would have killed me afterwards. I just couldn't believe her audacity. My crime was walking outside with only the flesh on my fucking face showing. He first saw me from behind though, so technically he didn't even see my skin and he still targeted me. It doesn't matter what you wear, you should be able to walk at night without freaks attacking you. It's taken a long time, but I finally feel like I can enjoy Christmas with the support of my family and best friend. Christmas is no longer just a painful reminder of what happened to me. I do still struggle with nightmares, especially at this time of the year, but I have coping mechanisms. Sadly, the man who attacked me that night was never caught. My parents and I moved from that area because it was just too painful for me to stay there. It upset them too whenever they were near the place that the attack happened at. I'm 27 years old now and honestly it does still haunt me that he's out there. Part of me really hopes that one day he'll be caught, but part of me dreads it because it'll mean he'll have done the same thing to someone else. And I'm not even sure if I can handle the thought of that. My message to anyone listening is to always remember that it isn't your fault if a predator targets you. You didn't ask for it no matter what. I live in a lovely suburb now with my fiance and our dogs. I finally feel safe for the very first time in a long time. For some context. I was a 12 year old kid when this story took place and I was a shorter kid for my age. My friend and I, Jayden, were at our friend Mike's house. It was mid winter in the middle of daylight savings time so it got dark pretty early. It was like 8:30 at night and our moms wanted us to walk home. For some context it was about a 10, 15 minute walk from Mike's house. Jayden and I lived pretty close together and we had to split ways about halfway through the walk. Anyways, we started on the walk and we were only about 12 minutes through the walk. Then out of nowhere, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a man about 15 yards behind us. Now of course I didn't think anything of it, but then we took a turn and the man took the same turn behind us. At this point Jay didn't notice the man too. So just in case of the worst, we started to speed walk a little bit. This is where it started to get weird. The man had picked up his pace as well at this point. He had yelled something out that we couldn't understand and then he started sprinting right for us. We were terrified and we started hauling ass down the street and within a minute we were now at the turn where we had split ways. We didn't even say a word. Then ran down our different paths. I ran down my street and up to my front doorstep and I looked back and the man was now standing about 60 yards away from my house, just staring at me. This was the first time that I'd gotten a real good look at the man. And my best description was that he was around 45 years old, wearing a plaid button up shirt with black sweatpants and he was standing around 6 foot tall. Anyways, after about 4 seconds of staring at the man, he just turned around and walked away. I then opened the front door and ran upstairs to my bedroom and then instantly called Jayden. After Talking for about 20 minutes he we both decided on not telling our parents. I never came out of my bedroom for the rest of that night. I also forgot to mention that this took place on December 21, only four days before Christmas. I really thought that was the end of it, but to my absolute horror it wasn't. So on Christmas Eve my family and I were sitting on the couch watching Christmas movies and then there was a knock on the door. Keep in mind it was almost 10 o'clock at this point. We all kinda just sat there looking at each other. Then they knocked again for context for the next events. My dad was no small man. He was 6 foot 4, built like a truck and at least 300 pounds. He would turn into a mama grizzly bear protecting her cubs. Whenever it came to protecting his family. Anyways, he went to the door and answered it. You guessed it, it was the man from before. I then let out a loud scream and I had screamed for my dad to close the door. He looked back at me and then to my horror, the man had tried to push his way into our house. Before I knew it, my dad and the man were now in a struggle and my dad shoved him right on his ass and then slammed the door closed and locked it. Then the guy got up and he started to bang on the door, then screaming, I'm gonna kill you. And he then started banging more. My dad told me, my mom and brother to go lock ourselves in the bedroom and call the police and for my mom to grab the biggest knife she could find. We did, and my dad got his gun, a rifle that he had used for hunting. The next thing I know, I then hear my dad then scream, get the fuck out of here or I'm gonna shoot you. He screamed that as loud as he could. And then a few seconds afterwards, the doorknob had stopped turning and the banging stopped. At this point, my brother and I were still sobbing and my mom was still on the phone with the police. My dad then swung open the door just in time to see the old man's beat up SUV then speeding away. We came out of the bathroom still sobbing and shaken up and we were all just hugging each other. We then sat down to wait for the police and I had to tell my parents about how a few nights before, what had happened with the man. And it was a mixture of being mad for not telling them and still being in shock. Within about five minutes later, the police had arrived. We gave them our descriptions and statements and they had a cop stay in our neighborhood for the rest of the night. Jayden was in shock when I told him and I never walked anywhere alone after that for like three years. As most stories go, the police never found the man. To this day, and as far as I'm aware, I've never seen him again. I really hope it stays that way. Because of what we all went through. This will always be a terrifying holiday memory for me and my family. In the early 90s, my father was a highway bus driver. This happened in late fall or early winter and there was only a few inches of snow on the ground. And I figured it might be a good Christmas story. On one of his runs, he had a passenger that had recently had a leg amputated because of diabetes. The man was loud, bitter, whiny, and suffered phantom pains in his leg that was no longer there. He was making everyone around him very irritated and frustrated. He even mentioned that he wished the old fucker upstairs would stop screwing him over and into suffering. Not Too long after that, a man was standing on top of a hill and had waved my dad down. The man got on and bought a ticket, and he said he lived along the highway about an hour's drive. My father had no idea how he got there. There was nothing around. The man then sat next to the grumpy old man and then said, hey, I know you. The old man just replied with bullshit, I've never seen you in my life. To which the man replied back with, no, you're right, you've never seen me, but I've definitely seen you. I was watching you when I was hiding in your wife's closet, you know, when you came home early from work. Well, the old grumpy man started to laugh, then said, you should have done me a favor and take her with you when you went to hide. For the next hour or so, the mystery passenger was cracking up one joke after another and were telling of shenanigans they did as children, amongst other things. Then the guy told my father he was getting off right around the next curve. He looked at the old man and then said, your grandson Jay really needs you more than you know. Please take care. Then got off the bus. My dad was surprised. There was nothing around, just forest covered in a fresh thin layer of snow. And as he was about to drive off, the old man said, hey, he forgot his money. My father stopped the bus. He grabbed the bills that were left on the seat and then ran to catch the guy to return his money. Only when he got off, he couldn't find the man anywhere. No house or driveways anywhere near the area, and no footprints. Nothing. No one on the bus saw where he went either. My father just gave the old man the money and then said, I think he left this for you. To which the old man replied with, how did he know my grandson's name? According to my dad, the rest of the trip was real quiet and barely a word was spoken. But the old man with the missing leg sat there with a smile on his face and he didn't say a word for the rest of the trip. My dad passed away eight years ago, and he probably told me this story some 15 years ago, so there's some details that are probably not accurate. However, I do assure you that the story is real. In his 25 years of driving in Ontario Northland, he and his coworkers had plenty of scary or strange encounters. One abusive man that followed his bus for six hours to get his wife back, One European guy who had accused the driver of driving in circles and had started to punch the driver while he was driving. A moose, nearly kicking the windshield out of the bus. Drunk passengers causing problems. A stripper losing a five foot python in the bus and then found three weeks later. Yeah, my dad had some pretty wild stories, that's for sure. It was Christmas Eve of 2016 and my mom's family had come up from Durban to spend the holidays with us in Johannesburg. They arrived around 1pm and after they had settled in they immediately started drinking. My cousin and I had decided to go see the Christmas lights and everyone eventually told us that they wanted to join us. We had to take two cars because there was like nine of us. We had left my house at 6pm and we had had a really good time. We left there at about 11 and on the way back my cousin had told me that she needed to fill gas. So we had stopped to fill gas and my parents who were in the other car decided to stop at the McDonalds directly opposite of the gas station. My dad had then called us to ask if we wanted anything. For some more context, there were about four of us in my cousin's car and then five in my parents car. As soon as my dad cut the call with us, there were now two men who ran up to my parents car with guns and knives. My dad immediately then shouted take whatever you want. That's when my cousin and I ran out of the car to see what was happening when another guy came out of nowhere and was now screaming, if you dare to fucking move, I'll blow your brains out. We all just stood there as my mom and dad were trying to help everyone out of the car before these men drove away. They eventually drove away and they took my dad's wallet and phone, my mom's purse, as well as the house keys and personal documents with our address on them. We then immediately called my mom's brother and his wife who were luckily nearby, as well as the police. My dad and my mom's brother went to the police station while we were driving home. I know this might not seem like a very scary story, but it was one of the most traumatic events that I've ever experienced and I still can't drive at night to this day because of it. The police did find the car but everything in it was gone, including the house keys and the documents with our address. Thankfully and obviously we managed to change the locks the same night. But this experience still haunts me, especially this happening during the holiday season. This happened back in 2017 when I was 18. I had started working as a cashier at a dollar store in my tiny hometown. The pay wasn't that great, but my co workers were. I had made a lot of good friends that I still have to this day, and most of the customers were friendly. Most of them, that is, until one day when this man came in. We'll call him Chris. Chris was a big guy, probably about 6, 4, 300 pounds. He wore glasses and he had a big beard. He usually had his son with him when he came to the store. This particular day, I was in a good mood. I don't remember why, but that changed when Chris and his young son came through my line. Then putting their items on the counter. I rang him up and as I was waiting for his receipt to print, I was swaying back and forth impatiently as our printers were super slow. I had heard him chuckle and looked up at him and he then said, just above a whisper, with the creepiest grin, are you dancing for me? I instantly felt nauseous, but I just kinda laughed it off. I was too shy back then to stand up for myself. I would later live to regret that. His son looked so uncomfortable with what his father had just said to me. But he stayed quiet, almost like he was used to this behavior. I finally handed over the receipt and Chris pulled out a pen, quickly scribbling on the back of it. He then said, call me sometime, then left the paper on the counter. It was his name and number. I immediately threw it in the trash and then moved on to my next customer. Later that day, when I got off work, I checked my phone and I noticed a Facebook friend request from Chris. He had used my name tag to find me online. I just blocked his account and moved on. After that, I saw Chris in the store a lot, almost every day that I worked. And no matter how many people were in my line, he'd come to my aisle just for the chance to whisper gross things to me. I started ignoring him, acting like I didn't hear anything he said, and just stared straight forward at my monitor until the transaction was over. I told my manager about him. She was a good friend of mine by that point, and she took what I said very seriously. She started letting me hide in the back whenever Chris came into the store so that I wouldn't have to deal with his weird ass. I was really grateful for that. But one particular, very busy day, I wasn't able to do that. It was the holidays and every register was open. All hands on deck. I saw Chris come in and so did my manager, who was working the register behind mine so when Chris got in line, when I had five others waiting while my manager only had three people in her line, she then quickly called out, hey, I can get you over here, sir. Kristen blatantly ignored her, so she called out again. This time he left my line and he went to hers, very obviously angry about the interference. I breathed a sigh of relief when he left the store, but his truck never left the parking lot. He was also parked right next to my car. Hours passed and when it was time for me to go home, I waited and waited, but he never left. I then told my manager to watch me as I walked in my car, which she agreed. I fast walked in my car making sure not to glance his way. I got inside, locked my doors and waited for a few more minutes. He still didn't budge. I was tired and ready to go home at this point, so I just cranked up my car and pulled out of the parking lot. Well, when I reached the first red light, I looked in my rearview mirror and what do I see there? His truck was right behind me. By this point I was more angry than scared, but definitely still uneasy. He followed me all the way through town and and I knew I couldn't go home. So I decided to drive to my mom's workplace. I had called her on my way there and I told her what was happening. She waited outside for me and when I pulled into the parking lot, Chris kept driving forward. I was relieved, but I had had enough. I broke down and told my mom everything. I was shocked when I told her his name and that she had somehow remembered him from high school. He was the same age as my mom. Word got around to my older brother and he was livid. He found Chris on Facebook and well, he had sent a very detailed angry threat to him. To this day, I'm not sure what Ole said. All I know is Chris opened it and he never responded. From that day forward, he never said another word to me. He still came in the store almost every time I was working, but he never spoke a single word to me. I'm very thankful that this is all that happened because a lot of these cases don't end well for anyone. Things could have gotten a lot worse, but I'm so grateful that they didn't. I'm also very grateful for my protective older brother who had apparently scared the life out of this man from ever attempting anything else. I'm not really sure what Chris goal was, maybe just to scare a shy 18 year old girl, but I'm really glad I never had to Find out. I'm a 17 year old female and I was either 13 or 14 when this happened. My family decided to go to Duke's for lunch. Believe it or not, I had actually never eaten there before, so I was kind of excited to try out a new restaurant. Let me explain the layout first, the room we sat in was long, rectangular shaped with booths along each wall and tables for larger groups in the middle, which is where my family and I sat at. Upon sitting down, I noticed a guy sitting a few booths in front of me, facing me. He appeared to be in his late teens, maybe 17 or 18. He was sitting with the woman who had her back facing me. Obviously, since I couldn't see her face, I couldn't get a good look at her, but she seemed to be older than him. I just assumed she was probably the guy's mother. Anyhow, I immediately got a weird vibe from this guy as he then kept staring at me and flashing his eyebrows at me in a very creepy and flirtatious kind of way. Like I said, I was only around 13 at the time, so I found it very strange that some 17 or 18 year old guy would be flirting with me. I decided to just ignore him and not say anything to anyone as to not ruin our lunch. As I'm waiting for my food, which of course is taking forever, I kept noticing that every time I looked in the guy's direction, he was just staring at me with the creepiest smile I'd ever seen. Literally just staring, smiling and flashing his eyebrows at me like a complete creep. Well, not long after our food arrives, I look over at the guy again and he's still staring, except this time he's now resting his chin on his hands and is currently making a heart shape with his hands. I was absolutely disgusted and just weirded out by this guy. I had always appeared a lot younger than what I actually am, so this dude had to have known that I was much younger than him and that I was clearly only a kid at the time. I mean, what normal adult guy is attracted to a 13 year old girl? And the fact that there was someone else with him made this all the more weirder. The woman had to have noticed him acting like a creep, right? I can't help but wonder if that's how the guy normally acts in public because the woman he was with didn't even act like anything was wrong. Well, after what seemed like forever, the creepy guy had finally left. I had never felt so relieved in my entire life. Now I can finally have a nice normal lunch with my family. You're probably thinking that the story ends here. Well, it doesn't. After lunch, my family had to make a stop at Walmart for a few things. At this point, I had pretty much forgotten all about the weird guy, and I didn't think anything else would happen at this point. So now we're at Walmart. I want to mention that this all took place close to the holiday season. So as you can imagine, Walmart was packed. There were so many people there that it would have been very difficult to find anyone I knew in the crowd. I don't even remember what we were looking for, but when we were almost done shopping, guess who I spotted just a few yards away from me? Yeah, you guessed it. Creepy restaurant guy. I was horrified. With all these people here, what were the damn choices? Chances that I would see this guy again at my exact location in the store? I could only think of two explanations. Again, this was the holiday season, so there was a good chance that it could have just been a coincidence that this guy was also shopping at the Walmart. But I really didn't think that was the case. Second, during lunch, I know my family had mentioned going to Walmart afterwards. So as crazy as it sounds, I couldn't help but wonder if the creepy guy was listening to our conversation. The restaurant was very busy and noisy, so it would have been difficult for the guy to hear what we were saying. However, he was only a few tables away from us, so I guess it could be possible. At least this time the guy wasn't staring and didn't seem to notice me. So I took that as my opportunity to hide amongst my family members. Thankfully, we were able to pay and leave the store without any more encounters with the weird guy. My family thankfully didn't notice him at the restaurant or at the store. And to this day, I still haven't told anyone about the encounter. So, to the creepy guy at Duke's, I hope you're no longer checking out underage girls, and I also hope I don't ever encounter you again.