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- [00:00]
American Express Representative
With the American Express Platinum card, you can unlock over $1,500 in value annually with statement credits on select purchases and other benefits so you can access more jet setting and more resetting and downward dog. Learn more@americanexpress.com US Explore Platinum Terms apply Bring along an American Express card to open the door to rewards wherever you go. Morning coffee run with an old friend Earn cash back Weekend getaway Earn miles Dinner at the hottest restaurant in town. You you get the idea. No matter the place or the plan, AMEX rewards your inner explorer. See if you pre qualify for an American Express card with no impact on your credit score. Learn more@americanexpress.com check 4 offers. Your credit score may be impacted if you accept a card. Terms apply.
- [00:50]
Storyteller
When I was 18, I was desperate to find a place to stay for universidy. There's a massive housing shortage where I live so I went on Facebook to find a room. Eventually a man from Egypt dmed me saying that he has a private room available. He told me that he had moved to Egypt due to being ill and decided to rent out his three bedroom house. He had no profile picture or any info on his profile other than his name. He gave me the address to get a house tour with the current tenants that are moving out. His son was the one that let me have a house tour and Amanda gave me the keys later on via mail. This is a shared house with three students with the kitchen and bathroom being shared. I tour around and everything seems to be normal and clean in this house. So I asked the former tenants why they're leaving. They told me that the landlord is a weird guy but I think nothing of it and decide to sign the contract via email. I did not see a son after the house tour. After signing the contract, the landlord got my phone number on WhatsApp and messaged me saying that he wants to build a friendship with me. I say that I'm too busy right now with school. He would call me sometimes 10 times a day and ask why I'm not picking up. He called me because he said he was lonely and needed company. Most of the time I wouldn't respond and just move past it and pay the rent. About a month after I moved into the house, his messages became strangers. I notice you have a heater and an air fryer on your table. Could you please not use those? Why do you own two laptops? That's kind of strange he would say. If this man really claimed that he's living in Egypt and I've never seen him in person and my windows and my doors are fully shut and locked. How did he know that those items were sitting on my table? There were multiple messages like this commenting on the kind of objects in my room or how I organize my room. More importantly, he would attempt to charge €150 more on the rent for using my air fryer too much in my room. Again, how could he tell that I was using my air fryer and not my roommates since I'd never brought my air fryer outside of my private room? As for the roommates, they were pretty chill and also students not from Egypt. However, when I told them all about the messages I had received, they said that they hadn't gotten anything like that and heard nothing from the landlord. The roommates claim that they've never been in my room or contacted the landlord. I don't believe them, so I asked to see their WhatsApp and there have been no messages other than rent has been paid. I tested if the roommate's key could open my door and it could not. They were also gone for majority of the day, so I had started to test him. I would put specific objects onto my table in my private room and see if he says anything about it. Well, he noticed and that's when I freaked the hell out in the middle of a class lecture. Then two days later, after ignoring all the comments about the objects I placed, I got several calls from unknown phone numbers. I only answered twice. The voice vaguely sounded like the landlord and then says to come home. I came home and the trash that I threw out that day was all over the front door to my private room. Finally, after nearly a year of dealing with this, I finally found a safer place to stay and filed a restriction order against this Egyptian landlord. I still have absolutely no idea how he knew what objects I had in my private room or how that trash ended up in front of my door. One friend of mine believes there were hidden cameras, while another believes a roommate was spying on me. But again, I don't really know. I was in my 20s at the time, young and full of ambition. At the time I was a raging alcoholic and drug addict, so my memory is kinda hazy. So I do apologize if most of the details aren't there and major other events are left out. I'm also now sober almost a year. Anyways, I moved to Salt Lake City, Utah from Arizona and I had gotten a job as a service tech. One of these jobs I went on was adding devices for equipment on a string of gas stations starting from St. George to Salt Lake. Slowly working my way up the state to Salt Lake City, hitting every store that was needing devices. I cannot remember exactly where I was for the life of me. Somewhere between Richfield and another town. One of those small towns in between. I had finished my store late, about 10:11pm or so and wanted to get to the next town over so I can continue my work in the morning rather than drive two hours in the morning as I'm driving down the highway. The Google maps had told me to take this dirt road to get to the town I was working in. Next, hesitant on why this was around, I turned left into it. A long dirt road with nothing around me. Pitch black darkness other than my high beams. About 57 minutes into my drive, my truck takes a sputter. It was an old 2008 work truck, a real piece of crap. I cursed under my breath and put it in park. I lifted the hood and nothing seemed to be wrong. I have mild mechanical knowledge of course. I look down on my phone and see I have no cell service at all. I check my work phone and the same thing. My only option here was to pretty much either wait it out until daytime or find a spot where I can get a bar of service. So I took option two. Also, I usually carry firearms, but this trip I had forgotten to bring it with me. Wielding a 10 inch pipe wrench and a Milwaukee flashlight, I walked into the desert determined to be rescued from the dark abyss. I'd like to add that this road was barely paved. I mean you would not even take a truck on this unless you had to or it led to a specific point. I wouldn't even call it a road, more of a trail. Brush and trees lined up the trail like a natural wall. I'm not anxious or get scared very easily. I grew up in Arizona so I was pretty used to the dark, quiet desert. Every step further from the truck made me feel more tense. I walked for about 10 minutes until I heard laughing. Kind of muffled laughing. Something you'd hear right out of a kid's show right behind me. I swung around quickly. Nothing. My boots are sinking into the mounds of sand as I quickly just keep pushing forward. My heart is beating out of my chest like a ticking time bomb. I hear it again, but closer, louder, like if it was 45ft from me. I'm fully sprinting into the desert, brush and sand now, eyes darting like lasers around for somewhere to hide. I do not believe in the paranormal or aliens or really anything like that. I just figured it was some deranged desert Hobo or something or some sort of drug addict. The adrenaline coursing through me. I hid behind a rock that was nearby, crouched down, my right knee hurting by all the rocks on the ground. But I didn't care. I needed to hide. The rocks were one of those three footish mound rocks. The moon was shining bright so I could see some things. As I am scanning the desert, I see silhouettes of two people running. I can barely make them out, but my eyes had adjusted to the dark abyss I forgot to mention. After a while of this running, I turned my flashlight off and I give away my location. I hear them talking but I'm far away enough to not be able to understand what they're saying. I literally sent out a message to my family and friends saying that I love them and that I'm sorry for anything I'd ever done wrong in my life. They didn't send because I didn't have any service. Just coping in a traumatic event. I'm not a small guy. I'm five'10, £230. But I was unarmed and outnumbered and God knows how many others were out there with them and what they were planning on doing when I was found and helpless. I waited. But they didn't leave the general location of where they were at. Scrambling around like mosquitoes, I had thought of the only thing I could do. I grabbed two smallish rocks. I'm not religious, but I prayed to God that night and threw them far in a direction away from the truck and the road. I heard them scurry away towards the noise, shouting at each other as they trucked through the desert. I slowly crouched and walked through the brush back to the truck. I forgot to mention this earlier, but I heard another set of stomping after the two had run. There were three people in the desert with me. As I got closer I could see the truck. I felt like I was in heaven. Every step was closer to salvation. My boots filled with sand. Every stop into the soft cold sand. Branches and bushes stabbed me in my cargo work pants. I hear them telling me for the love of God, I could not turn around. I don't even care to see who or what it was that was chasing me. I see the truck. The truck driver side door is completely open. I had left it closed. I checked the back seat and flung open the door some more. I flew into the driver's seat in the truck and did the most stupid thing ever. But the only thing I could think of. I started. Took a couple of tries to start it but cranked it let out a massive roar. I threw the gear shifter in drive and drove. As I was driving, hauling ass down the dirt road, I saw hooded people hiding along the sides of the road, ducking as I drove by, scattering into the darkness like roaches in a kitchen. I rolled down the window and chucked my pipe wrench as hard as I could right at one of them and then sped off. I watched it do flips right into where they were. I yelled as I sped off into the pitch dark desert night. Trails of dust followed the truck as I drove. Silence. Nothing but me and my heavy breathing trying to make sense of the whole situation. I drove until I saw the town lights. I was sweating, white knuckles on the steering wheel, gritting my teeth, going at least 75 miles per hour. I got into the small town at around 12am I threw myself into a local 711 looking terrified. The cashier asked me what was wrong and I asked her to just call the sheriff's office. The sheriff was just some old burly looking man. I'm covered in tattoos head to toe. So he treated me as a criminal, almost myself. Turns out some hose had bursted. Do not remember exactly what it was though. I got into town and called my boss who was upset at the late night call he was receiving. He was shocked at what I said and he said to call the sheriff's office and mechanic. Mechanic guy was super nice and didn't charge me for the repair. The cops were not really much help. They basically looked at me like I had been up too long and I was hallucinating. I was not. They asked if I had taken drugs or drank and barely wrote anything on the report. The mechanic was telling me that he had never heard of anything like that happening in the area. I stayed in the motel that night. I believe it was a Motel 6 but I can't remember. I swear I didn't get a lick of sleep that night after I showered the dirt off me. I ended up returning home early and quit this job later down the line for other reasons. I have since moved out of Utah to Florida. A photo I had taken on the service call had came and reminded me of the story. I had to write it down. I had to tell someone. Was this a robbery? Why were they trying to hurt me? Did they just see the work truck and say oh, expensive tools and copper? I have no idea. I'm just curious. Who do you think these people were and why were they hunting me like an animal? Has anyone out there had a similar experience? How close do you really think I was to being murdered in the desert. I forgot to mention that the truck was looted. I remember that all the wire pipe and some power tools were taken from it. We humans are not afraid of being alone in the dark, but finding someone else in the dark with us, that's a different story.
- [12:51]
American Express Representative
Bring along an American Express card to open the door to rewards wherever you go. Morning coffee run with an old friend. Earn cash back. Weekend getaway. Earn miles Dinner at the hottest restaurant in town. You get the idea no matter the place or the plan. AMEX rewards your inner explorer. See if you pre qualify for an American Express card with no impact on your credit score. Learn more@americanexpress.com check 4 offers. Your credit score may be impacted if you accept a card Terms Apply the Platinum card's five times membership Rewards points on flights got us to paradise with special access to unforgettable experiences and late hotel checkouts. Platinum card membership for a trip that's next level. Learn more at americanexpress.com Explore Platinum terms and Pointscap Apply.
- [13:40]
Storyteller
The following story comes from 2013 when I was making my living as a bartender in a small lounge just off Washington Square Park. Lopez was a Sunday brunch regular that I dreaded seeing every weekend. An elderly Latino man, he was both very gay and very wealthy, having formerly been a high ranking employee at the U.N. it may seem strange to say, but Lopez was very different from your average gay man. He was a special breed. He had been gay since being gay in New York City was considered dangerous. This has made him tough and pushy. Though Lopez was old and frail in appearance, he was an intimidating bastard in spirit. When he had his eyes set on a target, nothing could frighten him off its trail. I unfortunately became that target before even realizing it. I was a tall, broad shouldered 25 year old man at the time. My image was the last thing that came to mind when I thought victim of sexual harassment. That's why it caught me so off guard. At first, Lopez and I made small talk. I told him about myself and he told me about himself. Then I served him a glass of albarino and went about my business. Soon, however, Lopez began staying through my entire shift and demanding my attention virtually the entire time. He would even go out of his way to frighten off the other regulars that I'd chat with. His tone changed. It went from cordial to syrupy sweet. The conversations he'd trapped me in began focusing more and more on past sexual exploits and lovers. That's when he started to make moves. Sometimes I just want to have sex with you so bad, he'd say that. Or if I could just see you in a thong. I wasn't about to have this at work, so I told my friend and manager. It blew me off, however, telling me that Lopez was a nice guy, that he'd take really good care of me if I let him. I was shocked by this. When I told the general manager, he went one step further and he accused me of being homophobic. At this point, I knew it was up to me to handle this myself. The next Sunday, when Lopez sat at the bar, I looked him dead in the face and said, don't screw around with me today. I'm not interested and I will not be harassed. Even while I spoke, Lopez's lips curled into a smile. He was pleased that he had shaken me this much. I felt immediately powerless. The following Sunday was to be my last. I had given notice and told everyone exactly why I was leaving. Lopez had been begging me every week to spend time with him after my shift. That past Sunday, when I had so unsuccessfully tough talked him, he even waited for me outside. I was not going to let things progress any further, since this was to be my first stretch of unemployment for a good while. I had also decided to take advantage and realize a lifelong desire to visit Brazil. I had purchased tickets, but I hadn't yet told anyone at work about these plans. That Sunday came and went as usual, with Lopez sitting in his regular spot, lavishing me with compliments and repeatedly inviting me to his home. To my relief, he left well before my shift had even ended. As I headed home that late afternoon, however, I found myself staring straight into Lopez's face. As I rounded a corner, he quickly locked arms with me and began steering me in a different direction. I freaked out and immediately recoiled. He apologized, hey, I know I give you a lot of crap, but it's all just a tease. You know that, right? He said, as well as other similar things. All of the sudden, Lopez didn't seem so bad. I actually felt a little guilty taking his advances so personally. In this frame of mind, I stupidly agreed to get a drink with him. The group was about his age and definitely represented the leftovers of Greenwich Village's glory days. Things got strange pretty quickly. A wrinkled old lady in a miniskirt waltzed over and kissed Lopez right on the cheek. Then, without even being introduced, slipped her hands in between my legs and began rubbing in my upper thigh. When I backed away, she had turned to Lopez and said, you need to open this sweet young flower up Keep in mind she's talking about a bearded man. Adding to the creepiness factor. He smiled at me and replied, oh, Chi Chi, this one's too young and strong. We have to break him in first. The feeling of sitting there and hearing two elderly people talk about me like a sexual favor that was about to be passed around was just way too much to handle. I got up and left as I hit the door and this was by far the worst part. Lopez called after me, leave now. But who knows what old friends you might just run into in Brazil. To this day, I have no idea how he knew of my travel plans. I had told no one at my job, none of my other regulars or anyone I knew that had contact with Lopez. Either way, cue three weeks of me perpetually looking over my shoulder in Brazil. Fortunately, my stalker lost interest in me the time I returned. But let me really just emphasize, Lopez, I pray to God that I never see you in my life ever again. This was back in 2013 when I was living in New York city as a 23 year old. I was living with my best friend from college on the west side near Times Square in K Town. I was going through some tough times back then as I was unemployed at the time. I had a lot of time so I would go on walks by myself just to clear my head from time to time. One night I was feeling especially depressed so I decided to walk to town to grab a drink by myself. I'm Korean by the way. I walked into a Korean bar and got some weird looks from the waiter as I had asked for a table by myself. After ordering a couple of soju bottles, I was feeling pretty drunk so I decided to walk back home. However, as I was exiting out of the bar, this Korean guy followed me. He looked very normal, just like a nice Korean guy. He told me that he saw me drinking at the bar by myself and that he would love to walk me home just to make sure I get home safe. I politely declined. After all, my apartment was pretty close, but he insisted and he looked so harmless that I decided to just take him up on his offer. We walked for like 10 minutes I think and it was quite pleasant. We were both a little drunk, but I remember talking about all sorts of things, nothing personal. When we finally arrived at my apartment, I thanked him and wished him farewell. Now my apartment was a five story walk up and there was a main door where we needed a key to open to get into the building. No doorman. I didn't think much of it and inserted the key to Open the door and went in. The door takes a while to close shut and it was my mistake for not checking before I went up the stairs. While I was approaching the second floor, I heard someone grab the door from closing and I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. I literally got goosebumps all over my body and I felt like I was in danger. As I started to pick up the pace, I heard footsteps going faster up the stairs. I lived on the fifth floor and I started to run up clutching my keys in my hand. The guy started to run up the stairs as well and I could literally hear him getting closer and closer to me. This all happened in a couple of seconds, mind you, but it felt so long. I finally got to my floor and as I tried to open the door, I. I looked back and literally saw the guy's head on the staircase. I rushed to open the door and I managed to close the door right on his face. My heart was beating so fast and I didn't know what to do at that point. It was already 3am and my roommate was asleep. Luckily, he didn't knock or anything, so I decided to just go to my room and hope that he's gone home. Around 7am, my roommate woke me up. She said that there's a man standing in front of our apartment door. My heart sank and I explained the whole situation to her. She and I went to the door and screamed that we were going to call the police if he didn't go home. I looked at the people and he told me that he would only go home if I gave him my number. We then called the police and saw him being escorted out. My roommate had to go to work, so she left the apartment and called me a few minutes later. She told me that she saw the guy speaking to the police downstairs. Apparently he had tried to lie to the officers that I'm his girlfriend and that we got into a fight. My roommate went right up to them and explained to the officers that I do not have a boyfriend and that she doesn't know him at all. The police let him off with a warning. About two hours later, I heard a buzz from the main door downstairs. Maybe it's the police. Surely it can't be him again, right? I answered the intercom and I was shook. It was him again. Just give me your number and I'll go away, he said. I warned him that I'm going to call the police again if he doesn't leave. A couple of minutes later, I heard ferocious knocks on my door. He must have gotten in when someone was entering the building. I was so scared at that point, so I immediately called the police again. Unfortunately, the guy ran away before the police got there. The worst part about this experience was that my roommate and I were so scared to leave and come back to our apartment, I would have anxiety every time I come home worried that I might see him in front of our apartment door again. For about a week, the police escorted us when we felt scared. Blessed them. I never saw him again, but it was one of the scariest moments of my life. Before I start, here's a bit of context to my story. My husband and I lived in a small two floor house with two main entrances. One along the front and on the other side of the house, which opens up into the laundry room. When we're too busy or it's too late to walk our dog, we hook his collar into a long line that's attached to one of the pipes in the corner of our house so we can use the bathroom. We used to do this from the door in our laundry room, but we noticed the large step from the door to the ground had been taking a toll on his hip. As a result, we had started getting him out through the front door instead, since the porch is much closer to the ground. This particular night I was home alone with my dog and it was around midnight when I decided to let him outside one last time before going to bed. I hook him up to his line, close the door and lock it before heading into the kitchen to put away the dishes. This was pretty routine. Even if he used the bathroom quickly, he liked to walk around along the way, front and side of the house for a few minutes before coming back inside. As I'm putting away the dishes, I had heard a scratch on the door. How my dog signals when he wants to come inside. So I head over to let him back in. Since I've watched way too many scary movies, I always look through the door's peephole before opening the door. Out of habit, I check that my dog is in front of the door. Instead, I see a man staring very intently at the door handle. I freeze with my hand on the door handle. I don't know how much time went by, but then I heard another scratch, this one louder than the last. This kind of wakes me up from my initial shock and I run to grab my cell phone. I call my husband to tell him what's happening. He was very confused. I probably wasn't explaining the situation very well, but he says that he's heading home. This is when I realized that my dog is still outside with this person. I head back to the front door, trying to make as little noise as possible to check whether the stranger is still there. Just like before a standing there, head bowed, looking at the doorknob. I tiptoe over to the laundry room and slowly open the door as quietly as possible. I can't see my dog anywhere and the side of my house is covered in gravel. I knew I couldn't step outside without making a lot of noise. With my heart still pounding in my chest, I go to the front door to keep an eye on the stranger and to get a better look at him. I considered calling the police, but I didn't feel like they would take me seriously since all this man was really doing was just standing in front of my house. I tried taking a picture of him with my cell phone, but my camera was only able to take pictures of the peephole and not the images behind the glass. All of the sudden the man looks directly at me. I swear he knew I was there. He glares at me, then opens his mouth to show this taunting, malicious grin. He just stood there that way for a few seconds. With that, he turns around and starts to walk down the street. I stayed in the same place, almost expecting him to rush back and start pounding on the door. Luckily, my husband got back after a few minutes. Long story short, he convinced me to call the police and we went out looking for our dog. It turns out this man had cut the end of the line connected to the pipe and well, our dog decided it was a good time for him to explore my neighbor's backyard, which was where we found him. It's been three years since this happened. We've since moved to a new house for unrelated reasons and the police weren't able to come up with any suspects. Ever since then, we take our dog on very long walks before the sun goes down. Packages by Expedia. You were made to be rechargeable. We were made to package flights, hotels and hammocks for less. Expedia Made to travel so this was about six years ago when my friend Anthony and I were about 18 years old. Anthony and I were good friends and we would spend a lot of our time just driving around town. We lived in a smaller, upscale area where nothing ever happened. Just a few miles away in the next town over was the farmland. It was a bunch of farms, ranches and really old homes. There were always stories about creepy farmers from there. So anyways, one day during our driving adventures we ended up in the backroads of the farmland and ended up finding a small dirt road that led to a really nice scenic area. We stopped and checked it out. Anthony was really into photography at the time and thought it would be a good idea to come back to the location for some pictures. We were outside of the car, just kind of walking around and exploring. Now this dirt road was about two miles long and there was only one house on the road. It was a big old house and it didn't look like anyone was living there. Then about a mile down from the home was the end of the road which was surrounded by small grassy hills. And just beyond the hills was a small wooded area with huge trees. Anywho, as Anthony and I were doing some exploring, we see this old beat up Dodge Durango sitting just outside the wooded area. We didn't think too much of it though. I mean there were usually a lot of beat up old abandoned cars on the farmland. Just as we were about to start walking back to the car, we see an old dude, maybe in his 50s walking around the wooded area with a black trash bag. The bag was obviously full of something. The man saw us and then just started watching us. He didn't move an inch. He was maybe 100ft away from us at the time, but it felt as if he was staring us in the eyes. Anthony and I got a bit creeped out and went back to the car and left. A few days later in the morning we headed back to the dirt road for some photos. It was around 6am and the sun was just about to rise. We got there, joked about seeing the creepy old dude and then started taking photos. We were on top of a hill and maybe 300ft from the car. We'd been there about an hour or so and then all of a sudden we saw the Dodge Durango coming down the road. It was the same exact one we'd seen the other day. I pointed it out to Anthony and he didn't seem to care one way or another. I, on the other hand, was a bit worried. Why was he coming down here again? Would he recognize us? That's when he pulled up directly behind our car. He pulled up and just sat in his vehicle. He didn't get out, didn't do much of anything. After maybe 30 minutes we headed back to the car. Anthony was now a bit worried since this farmer guy was still right behind our car. When we walked him to the car we got a crystal clear look at him. He was definitely in his 50s, he had lots of white scruff on his face. And he was wearing a black coat. He gave us a look up and down. He had just the meanest look on him. He just looked angry. He looked full of hate. We got in the car really quickly and then took off. Then he started to chase us. We were going down the road at maybe 30 miles per hour. It felt a lot quicker since our little car was so bumpy on the dirt road. The guy was super close to us, maybe a foot or two behind us at all times. He had his high beams on. Even though we kicked out a cloud of dust, we couldn't seem to lose sight of this guy. We got into the main road, and when we went to turn right, he had also turned at the same exact time. He was now driving on the wrong side of the road and was just staring at us from his car as we were right next to him. He had pulled out a knife and started pointing it at us. He then passed us, cut us off, and we arrived at a stoplight. He was right in front of us. And then we saw his reverse lights come on. Another car that had pulled up next to us, which was the only car that we'd seen all morning, started honking his horn. The farmer was not stopping. He was still reversing. Anthony threw the car in reverse and backed up and pulled onto the shoulder. Once we had some distance between us, Anthony gunned it and we got in front of the farmer man. We were on a pretty wide open and empty highway, but there were still stoplights every mile or so. After we got back in front, we had started doing 100 miles per hour just to get away from this guy. He was still on our ass, though, and he wouldn't let up. We were coming up on a light, it turned red, and we just barely made it through. The farmer was maybe two seconds behind us now, and we thought he would stop at the light. Nope, it blew right through it. He had now caught up to us again and was right next to us. They started slowly drifting into our lane, and Anthony hit the brakes. For whatever reason, the farmer man started swerving. He ran right into a guardrail. I still remember all the dust and debris flying out from behind him. We made a U turn and just took off back to our side of town. On the way back, we had called the police. We told them everything about what had just happened, how we even saw him with some trash bags the other day. We made it back home in one piece. We just couldn't believe what had just happened. We were still trying to figure out why he did all that stuff. About 30 minutes later we got a call from the police. They were asking if we knew why he was chasing us. We told them we had no idea and we had never met him before and we had only seen him that one other time. The officer told us that the guy was drunk and was apparently also being arrested for warrants. He also told us to fill out a statement about what we'd gone through. We never found out anything else other than what we were told. This was about six years ago and I still have to drive past that dirt road every now and then. Not a single time I've driven past that road without thinking about how we were chased by that creepy old dude. The one home that was there has since been torn down. There's always talk in the community about building big fancy homes down there. Anthony and I met up again recently and joked about it. We still wanted to find out what was in those trash bags, but we didn't want to go back down there and I really don't think anyone can blame us Packages by Expedia you were made to be rechargeable. We were made to package flights, hotels and hammocks for less. Expedia made to travel A little backstory My girlfriend and I have been living together for years and about two years ago we decided to move to a new rental house. The house is in a nice quiet suburb on a dead end street with a huge property, 200 acres of farmland at the end of the street. We had met almost all of the locals and gotten along with them like a house on fire. About three months after moving in, my GF decided I think it's time to make a long term commitment and a huge decision without consulting my partner and adopted us a nine month old dog. The dog was completely untrained. Luckily we had a big backyard and most of the neighbors had dogs as well so they understood that the training process was a tough one. Barking constantly etc. Aside from a few pairs of my girlfriend's underwear going missing, which we assumed was the dog, she likes jumping up and taking clothes from the line. Things are great. Anyway, back to the story. I work early mornings 3:30 4:30am I came home from work one day a week after adopting her to find our new untrained dog had escaped our yard and went walking. Lovely. I call my girlfriend to tell her what happened. She says that she'll be home soon. Meanwhile, I decide to continue walking around and ask the locals if they've seen her, which to my pleasure they have. Unfortunately for us, the Last I saw of her, she was heading towards the huge farmland at the end of the street. Great. I head down to the end of the street to see if I can find her, but there's a giant fence in the way and a trespasser will be shot sign out front. Naturally, I fear the worst and decide not to enter. This is when my girlfriend gets home and meets me at the end of the road. She found out who owns the property and managed to get his number from another neighbor. She calls him and he tells us to meet him out front of his house, which is right next to the property. This place looks completely unkempt. The fence is rusty and broken, the bushes are overgrown and taken over. Despite logic, we went inside to wait. From there. Before we can reach the door, I look in the window and I see something really, really weird. Mannequins. Mannequins everywhere. All wearing lingerie and covered in some red crap, I assume paint, but you never know. What the hell. We share a glance at each other and then he just shows up out of nowhere. This middle aged, sunburnt Australian farmer shouts at us that he's seen the dog and to follow him and he'll show us where it is. I didn't really want to follow, but based on the stories some neighbors have told us, he's completely willing and has on more than one occasion shot and nearly killed other people's dogs. So we follow. It's at this stage that he starts small talk with my girlfriend, asking how old she was, how long we'd been at the house, all questions about her. The questions start to get quite personal when luckily our dog then shows up. We grab her, say thanks, and then pretty much gap it out of there. After that, we had decided to fix up our fence, buy a dryer to put inside and avoid that end of the road altogether. A few days later, I get up at 2:30am for work. It's a Wednesday. I proceed to get ready for work, hop in my car, pull out of the carport and I noticed a wide ute idling on the road outside. Our house wouldn't usually be an issue for me, but this is a quiet road and I know after four months there no one is up at this time. I turn on my high beams only to find out that it's the same farmer from the property. He immediately drives off. I call my work and tell them I won't be in. I'm not going to leave my girlfriend at home alone. After that, I park my car out front and stay up all Night, just to make sure he doesn't come back. The same thing happens the next two mornings. Same ute, same time, but same crap. He drives off as soon as I hop in my car and turn the lights on. After that, for a couple of days, nothing happens. Until Monday morning, I get up for work and he's freaking back. At this stage, I've really had enough of this crap. I lock up the house, hop in my car and high beam the hell out of him. He drives off. I dial the police and follow him just long enough to get his license plate number before. Before he loses me doing 50 miles an hour down our long, bumpy road. I pass all the details to the police. License plate, car description and address. And they tell me to go home, stay there, and they'll send someone over immediately. I go inside and wake up my girlfriend, tell her what happened and that some of the officers will be here soon. Ten minutes later, four squad cars show up at our house. Two go down the road and park outside his house. One officer comes in to question us further and make sure we're okay. They both stay until the sun comes up. One leaves and the other stays parked out front. Later that day, we get told that they had caught the guy doing 120 down the highway. Searched his car and found two knives, one pistol, one rifle in the cabin, along with photos of my girlfriend and a pair of her underwear. Needless to say, we're freaked the hell out and filed a restraining order for when he does get out of jail. In hindsight, I wasn't very smart in the situation. Should have called the cops a lot earlier on, but this crap has never happened, so I kind of didn't think either of our lives were at risk. Big damn mistake. Definitely have learned my lesson.