← Southern Cannibal's Scary Stories
Southern Cannibal's Scary Stories
Over 3 Hours Of Scary Stories! Horror Story Compilation! | Episode 548
03:10:09
Loading summary
Transcript40 lines
- [00:00]
Geico Spokesperson
How do you feel when you switch to Geico and save on your car insurance? It's like going to work on one Thursday morning and thinking to yourself just one more day until Friday. But then somebody in the elevator says Happy Friyay. Then you check your phone quickly and discover today is actually Friday. So yes, Happy Friday. Random stranger in the elevator. Happy Friday indeed. Yep, switching and saving with Geico feels just like that. Get more with Geico.
- [00:34]
Ryan Seacrest
This happened a couple of years ago when I was still pretty young, probably around the age of 10. I lived close to a gas station in a pretty urban part of town and so I relatively often walked up there to grab myself some snacks and whatnot. On this specific day I had gone up to grab myself a drink for lunch. My brother, who is home with me, decided to stay. The way that I walked was in the back streets of our suburb. There's a dead end street with a connecting footpath that's not visible from the road that I was able to access as a shortcut and there's almost never any cars or people on the dead end road. It's a quiet back street. I walked up with no issue, grabbed my drink and began to walk home. I was almost home walking down the dead end street to the connecting footpath when I saw a man walking his dog about 100ft in front of me. I took no notice until he got to the end of the footpath and his dog stopped to sniff around. That's when he turned around and saw me and stopped. Still, his dog stopped too. They both watched me walk the 100ft towards them. Keep in mind, this path is invisible from the road which I lived on and the dead end road is barely ever used so I was completely alone. This man stood and watched me without moving or breaking eye contact for about five minutes while I slowly walked down the street. I was totally freaked out. So in an act of genius for 10 year old me, I called my mom on the phone and I began to babble to her about nonsense as the man was now in earshot. I was just telling her where I was, knowing she'd be able to know if anything happened and she then comforted me a little. The man creepily stared at me as I walked up to him and I had to push past him to get to my house. Unfortunately my house was really close to the footpath so he followed me home. I went inside and I bashed on the door for my brother to let me in. When he did, I went inside and I very discreetly peaked out of the front window. The man was still there with his dog watching the house. He stayed there for what felt like hours, but was probably only around 10 minutes. Since then, he's begun walking around the house a lot more. I've seen him a couple of times. Every time he sees me, he stops and stares at me. And yeah, it creeps me the fuck out every time. This took place in February of 2023. I'm a 23 year old college student and I'm a female. On this particular day, I needed to stop and get gas. I really wanted an energy drink. So I went inside, not only for that, but because I was paying in cash. Usually I just bring enough cash with me to pay for my gas and whatever I'm getting. So I grabbed like 50 bucks. Well, as I'm walking inside the gas station, There was a guy behind me who I had held the door open for just because, you know, that's the normal general respect thing you do for someone, right? He responds to me doing so by thanking me profusely. I just told him no problem and didn't really think too much about it. Continuing about my day and getting my energy drink like I had originally intended. I also grabbed a snack. The guy that I held the door for also happened to be in the snacks area. No big deal. Well, shortly after, we both ended up in line with the guy behind me. Now, I'm always very aware of my surroundings, and I noticed that when he got in line, he didn't have anything in his hands, which I thought was kind of strange. But hey, maybe he just didn't find anything he liked there. Well, after I get done checking out, I hear him say that he wants to get gas and pay with his card. So that did ease my mind a little and it made sense. Now to this next part of the story. It's gonna make me seem really naive. The thing is, I always try my absolute best to truly see the good things in people, you know, see the best, if you will. That's just who I am. And I don't always recognize the bad in people. I used to always get yelled at for giving people on the side of the road money because they could possibly be scammers. But the way I look at it is I'm not giving these people $100. I'm giving them like 20 at most. And if I bought some stranger some lunch for the day, then whatever, I don't really care. And at the end of the day, I know regardless, I'm doing the right thing. And if they're spending it on something else that's on them. So anyways, this guy starts making small talk with me and he then looks at me and says, do you think they'll let me put $10 on my gas pump and then come back later and pay it? I just realized that my son has my wallet and I'm completely out of gas. I reply back to him with honestly, I don't think they'll let you do that. But all you need is $10, right? Yeah, only 10, he replied. I told him that I could give him the $10 just to help him out. This is just who I am. Are you sure? How am I supposed to pay you back? He asked. I just told him he didn't have to worry about it, it's fine. I then asked him what pump he was at so I could pay for his gas. He told me and I told the cashier that I wanted to put $10 on his pump and then another transaction as well to buy my items and to also put the rest of the money on my pump, which is like 30. Well, when the guy walked out, the cashier lady checking me out had asked me, young lady, I'm not trying to get into your business, but do you even know that man? I told her no, but that I was just trying to help someone out who's having a rough go at it. Well, she replied back, telling me that he was just in here the day before asking others for money just like he did to me. I didn't really care though. I replied back to her, oh well, I guess it is what it is. I guess he got me this time. She asked me if I wanted to cancel the $10 on his gas and to get my money back, but I just went ahead and went through with it because he's already left the building and I'm not trying to start a big confrontation. Plus, I mean, it really is only $10. I don't really care that much about it all. While this is happening, there's another guy online telling me I should get my money back and all this bullshit and that people like this are what makes this country so bad. And he went on a whole tangent that I honestly just want to block out. I mean, I just wanted to pay for my things, get gas and get the fuck out of there. Plus I still have the hour and a half drive that I have to do for my school. So that's what I did. I paid for my things and walked out with the cashier lady. Then following me out for safety reasons, I Guess I get to my car and I start pumping my gas. Just so ready to get the hell out of there and get on the road. But as I was pumping my gas, I watched as the cashier lady walked up to the guy who had just scammed me out of the $10. I couldn't really make out what she was saying to him, but it didn't look good. The guy now seemed really irritated then focusing all of his attention towards me, looking directly at me. Aw fuck. I muttered to myself. I don't really know why he would look at me like that. I mean, it's not like I was the one yelling at him and it's not like I even asked for my money back. Plus he already pumped the gas at this point. Well, he continued looking at me, yelling out loud, hey, thanks again for the gas. Which I'm not gonna lie, I thought was kinda weird after just looking at me with so much disgust. But I just replied back with yeah, no problem man. Before then getting in my car and driving off. I'm not even kidding. Immediately when I got to the light, I saw the guy's car now behind me. I could tell it was his car because he was in a bright red Toyota and he had absolutely no tint on his windows, so I was able to see him. I didn't want to panic and I tried to really not think anything of it. That is, until I started driving and he was still behind me. I tried to just assume that maybe he was just going in the same direction I was, but then I got into the highway. This is when things went from bizarre to just outright creepy. I started getting seriously nervous and paranoid because he was staying in the same exact lane that I was and he wasn't switching lanes at all. My first thought was that he was following me, but I kept trying to think logically, telling myself that I'm just being paranoid and that he's probably just going in the same way that I was. But either way, I have an hour and a half to drive. So if he really wants to follow me, he's gonna have one hell of a trip on his hands. So I told myself I was gonna wait about 20 minutes before I truly allow myself to actually get worried. Well, that's exactly what happened. I waited about 20 minutes and he was still behind me. Fuck. Alright, this isn't just me being paranoid anymore. This guy is definitely up to something. I decided to act like I was going to take an exit to test if he was actually following me or if it really was just a Big ass coincidence. I acted like I was taking the nearest exit, turning on my turn signal, I got into the exit lane and then quickly shifted out of the exit. And immediately he did the exact same thing, fully confirming that he was indeed following me. At this point, I was now beating myself up for even being nice to somebody because I've now potentially put myself in a lot of danger. I was nervous and I was consumed with more anxiety than I've ever had in my life. I also still had such a far drive. I was hoping that maybe he would just give up because it's literally an hour and a half of a drive. I also got annoyed at the cashier because I literally told her that I didn't want a confrontation. But she proceeded to walk up to him when I was still on the property, which is honestly what I think made him follow me. But I also don't want to place all the blame on her. Let's be real, it probably was just a creep or something. Regardless, anyways, so he continues to literally follow me for over an hour. At this point, I began telling myself in my head that I was going to go to the nearest police station and not lead him anywhere near where I live. So I was looking at my phone for the nearest police station when he pulls up right next to me and is telling me to roll down my window. I shook my head no and he just got behind me again. He did this for a few times and at that point I was getting kinda nervous because I didn't know if he had a weapon or anything on him. And since we're still on the highway, I know that there's patrol cars to sit on the side of the road watching for speeders all the time, but I hadn't seen one yet. But during my morning drive from earlier, I saw at least two at the point where I hadn't passed yet. So I decided to literally go 30 over the speed limit just to get a cop's attention. With the psycho behind me keeping up with me fairly well. Well, thank my lucky stars, there was literally a cop sitting right there. I know I could be called stupid because I could be fined or be arrested for reckless driving, but I honestly think that's worth more than my life because I didn't know if this guy had a weapon or anything on him and he kept pulling up next to me. So the cop flips his lights on and obviously when I pass him, the guy just keeps going. Well, I get pulled over and I explain to the cop everything that's happened and also exactly why I was going fast. And although he did lecture me, he actually didn't give me a ticket. He told me there was another patrol car just up ahead so he'll get a word out and possibly get the car pulled over. So we both pulled onto the highway and he followed me. And the rush of relief when I saw his car being pulled over was amazing. I will forever thank that cop for being so understanding and also not giving me a ticket that day. I guess this lesson shows to always be aware of your surroundings and to always think on your feet, don't panic, and maybe watch who you're nice to. My whole entire life, I've always been told that I'm way too nice to people and that I'll never learn my lesson. Well, after this, I think I've learned plenty. I have no idea what that guy had planned, but one thing's for sure, it was not good. To the guy that followed me for an hour to do God knows what. I really hope you enjoyed my $10. So this isn't my personal story. It's a story my grandpa used to tell at all the family gatherings. So it was the mid-1960s in Atlanta, Georgia. My grandpa was a greaser and a mechanic and he used to walk the streets of Atlanta late and night just to get away from his home. A little backstory on my grandpa is he was a very hard worker and he really loved his beer. He was never abusive or anything of that nature and was all in all a good man. I just wanted to add that bit in there. So one night in 1967, my grandpa had just got off work and decided to walk to a gas station to get a pack of cigarettes and a six pack of Milwaukee's Best. Well, he gets into the store and he gets his cigarettes and beer. He then decides that he's going to go through Memorial park and then sit on a bench and drink his beer and smoke. So as he starts walking towards Memorial park, he sees three guys walking real close together. Note that it was dark and the park was dimly lit. He had to squint to get a better view of exactly what he was seeing. And it was two guys dragging their friend. It looked like the guy being dragged had gotten drunk and passed out. Now, what my grandpa meant by drag isn't like they were pulling his body from behind and dragging. Have y'all ever seen the movie Weekend at Bernie's? Well, they were dragging him like that. They had each arm over each of their shoulders. They were both wearing black 1930s looking gangster suits. And gray fedoras and the man that they were dragging was wearing a blue business suit. While my grandpa is watching them, he goes to light a cigarette and he realizes that he forgot his lighter and he couldn't light any. So he decides he'll go over and ask the three men. While he's on his way to them, they get up to a bench and they sit their drunken friend on the bench. They then briefly look at my grandpa and then casually walk away into the night. Now very confused, my grandpa thought that maybe they were going to go back and get their car and then drive it to where the closest gate was to the bench and then pick him up from there. So my grandpa decides that maybe he could wake the guy up and ask him if he's got a lighter or maybe he has some matches so he can light up his cigarette. As my grandpa approached the slumped over man, he realizes that the man's eyes are wide open and it looked as if he was stargazing. So my grandpa gets right up to him and then says, hey man, you got a light? The man didn't budge. So my grandpa said again, hey buddy, you got a lighter that I can use to light up my weed? Weed is what my grandpa called a cigarette. Back then, the man didn't move or say anything, so my grandpa stepped a little closer to him, putting his hand up in front of the man's face, waving it side to side, trying to see if the man's eyes would react. But they didn't. So my grandpa put his hand on his shoulder, kind of shaking him a little. And as soon as he did that, the man fell on the ground onto his back, showing three bullet holes that went into his chest. After my grandpa saw the bullet holes, he then hightailed it out of the park and went straight home. Then locking his doors just in case he was being followed by the same two men from before.
- [18:27]
Geico Spokesperson
How do you feel when you switch to Geico and save on your car insurance? It's like going to work on one Thursday morning and thinking to yourself, just one more day until Friday. But then somebody in the elevator says, Happy Friday. Then you check your phone quickly and discover today is actually Friday. So yes, Happy Friday. Random stranger in the elevator. Happy Friday indeed. Yep, switching and saving with Geico feels just like that. Get more with Geico.
- [18:56]
Ryan Seacrest
Step into the world of power, loyalty and luck. I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse with family cannolis and spins me everything. Now you want to get mixed up in the family business? Introducing the godfather@champacasino.com test your luck in the shadowy world of the Godfather slots. Someday I will call upon you to do a service for me. Play the Godfather now@Champacasino.com Welcome to the family.
- [19:26]
Chumba Casino Spokesperson
No purchase necessary. VGW Group Void we're prohibited by law. 18 plus terms and conditions apply.
- [19:31]
Ryan Seacrest
My grandpa told me that he never heard any other news about it and he had never seen anything in the newspaper about it. He said he would have called the police, but back then he was way too afraid that those two men would know who would have called the police and they would have came after him. My grandpa passed away in 2003. He was an honest man and I really miss him every day. That story has forever stuck with me and I just thought I would share it. This happened when I was 12. I was home alone for one night since my parents were in town with friends. I was in my room around 4:30am When I was woken up to the sound of knocking coming from the front door. I wasn't going to answer it, but when I looked down the peephole, there wasn't anyone near. Shockingly, then about 10 minutes later, the knocking happened again. I put on my shoes and sweatshirt just in case I needed to get out of the house through the back door. I looked out the peephole again and I saw a guy who looked at me in his early 50s standing about a yard away, but I didn't get a good view of his face so I couldn't tell who he was. I even saw a knife tucked into his jeans. Then he took four steps towards my house. I freaked out, so I went out the back door as quietly as possible. Don't get me wrong when I say this, but before leaving the house, I didn't put on any pants. Yeah, I know, it's weird, right? But I didn't want to waste any time, but thankfully I was still wearing my tighty whities. Anyway, when I got outside through the back door, I got to the sidewalk and ran for what felt like miles. I was running for about two blocks and I then walked for about five more blocks until I finally found a police car. The officer in the car rolled down the passenger window and asked me, hey kid, you okay? Why aren't you wearing any pants? I told him there was a guy at the front door of my house with a knife and I left to go get help. I told him I didn't have any pants on because I didn't want to waste time and that I Was scared for my wife. He told me, it'll be okay. And then he told me to get into his car so he could drive me home and then take a look at the situation. I got in his car and he drove me. When we got to the house, the officer told me to stay in the car until he got the guy, just for my safety. After about three minutes, he came out of my house with the guy in handcuffs. I got out of the car and I went to go see who the guy was that tried to get into my house. I was absolutely shocked when I saw who it was. It was my mom's ex boyfriend. Apparently he wanted to come to the house in the middle of the night to slit her throat to get revenge on her for dumping him. But when he saw she wasn't home, he was angry. And I kid you not, that guy with the knife actually told me that I was his other target if she wasn't there. He then said to me, you're really lucky you got out of the house in time to get the police. Otherwise you would have been dead. The officer put the guy in his car and he came back to me and I told him how the guy is my mom's ex boyfriend. He said that he'd call my parents to come over and that he'd tell them about it. I gave him my mom's number, he called her and then they said they were on their way. About five minutes later, my parents came home and the officer told them what happened. Afterwards, I told my parents everything else. They were glad I wasn't hurt, but were also confused about why I left the house while I was still in my underwear. I just told them I was scared for my life and didn't want to waste time. They understood. We thanked the officer and then he left and that guy with the knife got taken away. I went in the house with my parents, sat down in the living room and explained to them a second time the entire story. They were just glad I wasn't hurt, or worse. I'm now 23 and I have my own place. And I always make sure my place is locked before leaving for any reason or even going to bed. We haven't heard from my mom's ex boyfriend since, and we hope it stays that way. I never liked being home alone, especially at night. The creaks and groans of the old house seemed to take on a life of their own, echoing throughout the empty rooms like ghostly whispers. On this particular evening, my parents had gone out for a dinner party, leaving me with the usual Instructions to lock up and stay safe. As the clock ticked away, I tried to distract myself with the movie, the soft glow of the TV casting flickering shadows around the living room. The ambience, however, did little to ease the uneasy feelings settling in my stomach. Every small noise made me jump, and the wind outside rattled the windows like a chorus of distant whispers. I decided to retreat to my bedroom, convinced that the comfort of my own space would dispel the growing sense of dread. But as I climbed into bed and pulled the covers tight, an unsettling feeling lingered in the earth. Suddenly, a chill swept through the room, and I noticed a draft that seemed to come from the hallway. I dismissed it, attributing the sensation to the old house's quirks. Just as I closed my eyes, I heard something soft, almost imperceptible. It was footsteps. My eyes shot open, and I strained to listen. The rhythmic sound echoed throughout the quiet house, each step deliberate and intentional. Panic set in as I realized the footsteps weren't mine. The realization hung heavy in the air, and I lay frozen in bed, my ears tuned to the haunting cadence. Unable to resist, I cautiously slipped out of bed, my bare feet meeting the cold floor. The hallway stretched out before me, dimly lit by the soft glow of the moon filtering through the curtains. The footsteps continued, growing louder with each passing moment. Against my better judgment, I followed the sound, a lump forming in my throat. The steps led me down the corridor and into the heart of the darkness. The air felt charged with an inexplicable energy, and a sense of foreboding washed over me. As I approached the end of the hallway, the footsteps abruptly ceased. The silence that followed was deafening. I stood there, trembling, my eyes straining to pierce the shadows. That's when I saw it. A figure, vague and indistinct, standing just beyond the reach of the feeble moonlight. My heart raced and a chill ran down my spine as the figure then turned to face me. Panic consumed me and I stumbled backward, retreating to the safety of my room. I locked the door, my breath shallow and rapid. I called 911, and shortly after, I heard sirens and saw the flashing lights. They called my parents. And then, what do you know? The police came out of my house with a very skinny and creepy looking guy. They took him away, and I never saw him again after that night. I know a lot of people out there would stay home alone at a very young age due to their parents working night shifts. But in my case, I was never able to stay home alone. One day when I was 15, I thought I was old enough to stay home alone. My parents were going to the store really quick to get some last minute things for dinner. I was too lazy to go just for a couple of items and I wanted to stay home and watch a movie that I had recorded on tv. After whining to my mom that they weren't going to be gone for a long time, I convinced her to let me stay as she was leaving and telling me a thousand times to make sure the door was locked and to not open the door for anyone. I then rushed into the living room and turned on the tv. Our home has two doors. There's a door on the right side where the driveway is and a door on the left side where the living room is. We don't ever use the left door and this is something all of our family and friends know. If I ever had a friend coming over, I always made sure they knew to knock on the right side door. Even when we get deliveries, I always leave a side note saying to please use the right door. My family and I make jokes about the left side of our home looking abandoned. Since we don't use it, my mom focuses on cleaning the right side anyway. As I turned on the TV and laid down on the sofa, I suddenly heard a loud knock on the left side door. I paused thinking maybe it was the tv, but then I heard it again. I turned off the TV and ran towards the hallway. I didn't dare to look out the window. I was scared that it would have been more noticeable as I was in the hallway. I was peeking towards the door. It felt like I could see how the door vibrated each time the person outside was knocking on the door. I didn't know what to do or who it could be. Everyone I know knows to use the right side door. I was so scared that my legs gave up on me and I sat down as I looked at the door. The knocking then got even louder. I don't even think it was a knock anymore. It was more like full on punches. After what felt like hours, it eventually stopped. I sat there crying. When I suddenly heard the right side door then open. It was my dad. I looked up at him and I actually felt anger because I thought it was him who was knocking. I was immediately convinced that my parents did this to scare me. But my dad was just genuinely worried and asking why I was crying. I told him what happened and after he clarified that it wasn't him or my mom who was knocking, he told me that my mom kept saying what if something happens to her while she's home alone. How are we going to live with that? So she apparently made my dad drive back to the house to get me. As I came outside and looked at my mom in the car with a worried look, I started to really wonder if I had made it up. Did the knocking really happen? Or deep down, was I just really scared to actually stay home alone in the car? I asked my parents if they saw anyone walking as they reached the house, but they said there was no one. It's been seven years and to this day I still wonder if someone was really out there. The story happened to me back in 2008 when I was 11 years old. I normally have a terrible memory, but this event was so traumatic for me that I can remember it as if it happened yesterday. I had just gotten home from school, ate a snack, and decided to go take a nap. My parents had just started allowing me to stay home by myself while they were at work. My grandma had recently undergone open heart surgery and my parents had decided to let her come and live with us. It was a good decision because there would be an adult at the house when I got home from school. Even though my parents had just recently started allowing me to stay home by myself, they still didn't really like the idea. Most of the time, my grandmother would always be home in the evenings when I got home. On this day, however, she was out running errands, which meant I had the house all to myself, which I really liked. During that time, I got some packages off of the porch. After that, I ate my snack and I think I sat down and watched a little television. I can't remember exactly. I ended up going to my room to take a nap since I was tired. I knew that my grandmother would probably be home any minute, but my parents wouldn't be home from work until later. I took my shoes off and crawled into bed and was asleep in seconds. I don't think I was asleep for more than 15 minutes when I heard someone open the front door downstairs. I thought it may have been my grandma, but that thought vanished because no one in our household used that door. We always used the door in the garage instead. This sort of freaked me out, especially with the fact that I didn't even hear the garage door go up. I then yelled out to see if it was my grandma. There was no response. I yelled for her again. There was still no answer. I continued to lay on my bed and for a second I was sort of freaked out. I used to watch crime shows and I was a bit paranoid. Sometimes I Then thought that maybe it was just my grandma and that maybe her garage door opener wasn't working or something. It was impossible for some random person to just walk into our house uninvited. Or so I thought. I closed my eyes and attempted to go back to sleep. I didn't even get to fall asleep until the door to my room opened. I sat up in my bed thinking it was my grandma. It was not my grandma. It was a man. A random man that I'd never seen before in my life. I was frozen. He just stood in my doorway staring at me. I continued to lay on my back unmoved. I was frozen in place. We both just stared at each other for what seemed like forever. I know you're probably wondering why I continued to lay in the bed despite an intruder being in my room. I knew that if I tried to run, he would be able to catch me. There was nowhere to run to because he was standing right in my doorway. We both continued to have a stare down. He didn't even move. He just stood at the doorway, not doing anything but just staring daggers at me. I expected any moment that he would walk towards me and do only God knows what. To my horror, that's exactly what happened. He began to step towards my bed. I shouted at him to get out, but he continued to walk towards me with an evil grimace on his face. I was paralyzed with fear and I had no idea what to do. I just kept yelling at him to get out. He then shouted at me to shut up. I was frozen. I needed to do something before this man would end up doing something horrendous to me in my own bedroom. I was so in shock that this was happening that it didn't even seem real. When he got towards my bed, I did the only thing that I could think of and I threw my blanket over his head and made a run for the door. Throwing my blanket over his head seemed to distract him for a little bit. When I reached the door, I was horrified. When he grabbed me by my arm. I took my other hand and I scratched his hand with my fingernails. He violently threw me on the ground and proceeded to beat the living hell out of me. Each punch on my head and jaw was the most painful thing I had ever experienced. At the time, I was only 11 years old and I weighed no more than 80 pounds soaking wet. This man was way bigger than me and him being on top of me was smothering me and cutting off my air supply. As he put his hands around my neck, I was surprised at what he was about to do. The bastard was about to fucking strangle me. When he put his hands around my neck, he began to squeeze. I grabbed his wrists and began to scratch them as hard as I possibly could with my fingernails. That pissed him off, and he hit me so hard that I was surprised the blow didn't knock me out cold. He then proceeded back to choking me. At that very moment, I could feel my air supply begin to cut off. I know this is cliche, but I literally felt the life draining out of me. I could feel myself getting weaker and weaker, as if I was going to either pass out or die at any moment. It's no exaggeration when people say they have watched their lives flash before their eyes. At that moment, I was determined not to accept the fact that I could be murdered in my own home. I then did the only thing that I could think of, and that was to play dead. As it was strangling me, I began to close my eyes and make my whole body go limp, as if I was a ragdoll. That was the only thing that I could think of. And it seemed to work because he released his hands from my throat and dropped my limp body to the ground. I then felt him stand up and he then kicked my motionless body, I guess to make sure I was dead. He proceeded to kick me a couple more times, which hurt like hell. Despite the kicks, I tried my best to stay as still as possible. I felt him hover over me and he was inches away from my face as the intruder stood over me. His heavy breaths filled the room. I could hear the sound of my own heartbeat pounding in my ears, drowning out any other noise. Fear flowed all throughout my veins, but I knew I had to gather my strength and find a way to survive. I cautiously opened my eyes, peering up the man who had just tried to take my life. His face was contorted with anger and malice. His eyes filled with the darkness that sent shivers down my spine. He saw me, clear as day, open my eyes. My act was up. He knew I was still alive. I knew that I couldn't let him win. I had to fight back. Summoning every ounce of courage I had left, I mustered a weak voice and pleaded with him not to kill me. I informed him how my parents loved me and if I died, it would ruin them. I promised him that if he left, I wouldn't tell anyone that he had been there. He only sneered, his lips curling into a sinister smile. He leaned into my face and he told me that there was no way he could Let me live. After I'd just seen his face, his words sent a surge of adrenaline through my body. I knew that I couldn't reason with him, but that I had to find a way to escape. I scanned the room, desperately searching for anything that could help me. My eyes landed on a heavy lamp sitting on my bedside table. It was my only chance. With a burst of energy, I kicked the crap out of him and I lunged towards the lamp, grabbing it with all my might. The intruder lunged at me, but I swung the lamp with all my strength. Connecting with his head, he stumbled backward, but I was not able to see his full reaction due to the fact that I took off running after I had hit him. Seizing the opportunity, I bolted towards the door. My body ached with every step, but the fear propelled me forward. I could hear his heavy footsteps behind me, closing in fast. I had to find a way to escape. As I reached the top of the stairs, I made a split second decision. I knew this decision could possibly kill me, but I would rather have died from trying to save myself than to die by his hands. I leaped over the banister, hoping to catch him off guard. The fall was painful, and unbeknownst to me, at that moment, I had fractured my leg. The jump was painful, but my adrenaline was activated. I continued running towards the front door. With a burst of adrenaline, I flung open the door and then sprinted out into the street. I didn't even attempt to look back, fearing that it would be right behind me. I ran as fast as my trembling legs could carry me, tears streaming down my face. Finally, I reached a neighbor's house and pounded on the door, praying for someone to answer. Luckily, I knew the neighbor, who I'll refer to as Nadine. She was a woman who had been to my house a couple of times and she was friends with my mom. When she opened the door, her eyes widened in shock at the sight of me. Bruised and bloodied, barely able to get the words out, I informed her that an intruder was in my home and that he was trying to kill me. Nadine quickly ushered me inside, calling the police and comforting me. It was over. I had escaped the clutches of a monster. Despite it being over, I was still scared for my life and my whole body was trembling. My leg was also in so much pain that I could barely stand. After the adrenaline had finally worn off, the police and ambulance arrived in Aideen's house. I was quickly rushed to the hospital to be treated for my injuries. At the hospital, I gave the police a detailed account of the horrifying Events that had unfolded in my own home. They assured me that they would do everything in their power to catch the intruder and bring him to justice. I found out that I had fractured my leg when I jumped from the banister. The doctor had informed me that as a result of me running on my leg, I had made the fracture even worse. My parents rushed home from work to the hospital, their faces etched with worry and fear. They held me tightly, tears streaming down their faces, as they realized the danger that I had faced alone in our own home. It was the best feeling in the world to see my parents, and I immediately let out all of my emotion when I saw them. My dad was in so much rage that he wanted so badly to get his hands on this guy. I had never seen him so angry before. He was always a cool, calm, and collected guy. But that day, I saw another side of him that was a bit frightening. My grandmother was extremely apologetic, and she blamed herself for not being home on time. I reassured her that what had happened had nothing to do with her and that I wasn't mad at her. News of the incident spread throughout the community, and neighbors rallied together, offering support and assistance to my family. The sense of unity and compassion was overwhelming, and it helped us to begin to heal from the trauma that we had endured. As the days turned into weeks, the police investigation intensified. They combed through evidence, interviewed witnesses, and tirelessly searched for any leads that could help identify the intruder. The fear of him returning haunted my every thought, but I refused to let it consume me. Slowly, I began to regain a sense of normalcy. Therapy sessions helped me rebuild the trauma and rebuild my shattered confidence. The physical scars healed, but the emotional wounds would take much longer to mend. Weeks passed, and the police finally made a breakthrough. They apprehended a suspect matching the description that I had provided. It turned out that he had been locked up before for petty offenses. To my surprise, he had never been locked up for murder or assault. The evidence against him was overwhelming, and he had pled guilty for his attack on me. The police had informed my parents that he had entered our home through the front door. Apparently, I had forgot to lock it after grabbing the packages off the porch. An even more startling revelation was that he had lived just two doors down from us. He had apparently went to stay with his ex girlfriend after he had attacked me. I had never seen him in our neighborhood before. As a matter of fact, many of our neighbors claimed that they had never even knew that he lived in the neighborhood. Knowing that he was behind bars brought a sense of closure. But the memories of that fateful day would forever be etched in my mind. I had survived a nightmare, but I was determined to not let it define me or let it take over my life. I never wanted to be a victim and I don't see myself as a victim. After that I began taking self defense classes and taking up martial arts. It has made me feel empowered and less like a helpless victim. Now at age 26, I vow to never be a victim of a crime like that again or to ever have my life threatened. Though the scars of that day would never fully fade, I learned to live with them. They served as a reminder of my resilience and the power of the human spirit. I had faced the darkest of moments and emerged stronger than ever. I don't see myself as a hero or anything, but more so just someone who did whatever they had to do to survive. And thank God I did. I'm a 25 year old female, but during the story I was 19. I was taking my first big trip. 2 hours with my brother and nephew. My Ford Explorer drained gas horribly, so even though I filled up right before we left, we needed a refill before heading back home. We had a really great day, going to a museum and out to eat. I called my dad and I told him where I was and I had asked him to guide me to a gas station because my Internet wasn't working. Him being a bigger man, I guess he doesn't really care what a gas station looks like just to get the cheapest gas. Now if it doesn't look like you can see every corner of the lot and it's not well lit up, I won't even pull into that gas station. He guided me to the cheapest, closest one. It was right off the highway and was the creepiest spot but I was running on fumes at this point. I pulled him to the station while my nephew and brother were both sleeping in the car. The first and last time that I left my nephew in the car alone, only having cash, I had to walk inside the station. There were about three people in line and the lady checking out was counting coins so it was kind of taking a while. I had stared out the doors so I could keep an eye on my locked car. I could see my brother, which made me feel better. Then a man walked in. We caught eyes and me being the southern girl I am, I gave a slight smile, not thinking anything of it. He got in line right behind me. He gave me chills, feeling like he was so close. Then I heard him whisper you shouldn't be smiling at people like that. And before I could turn around, he had put his hand between my thighs. I froze, unable to speak or move. It felt like he was holding a knife to my back. Fear consumed me. Then he said, do you have a boyfriend? I whispered back to him, um, my husband and son are in the car. While gesturing out to the parking lot with a nod. You could still see my brother sleeping, and I really hoped he'd believe me. He then started trying to move his hand farther forward. My legs were locked as tight as they could be. At least I had enough reaction to try to stop it from going further. He then asked me why I was in there smiling like a slut. Right then, a cop walked into the gas station. Relief for a moment, but then the guy behind me mumbled, you say anything and I'll cut you. He walked forward with his hand still where it had been. I stood frozen while the cop chatted lightly with the cashier. It felt like an eternity. Finally, it was my turn, and like I had hoped, he removed his hand. A small wave of relief washed over me. I was fighting the tears so hard that I was shaking. The cop noticed and asked if I was okay. I just looked at him and said, yeah, I'm fine. Nearly running out of the gas station, I still faced the daunting task of filling up my gas tank. At this point, I started crying. The man came out of the gas station and walked to the corner, meeting with two more men. I was shaking and now cursing at the slow pump. At this point, I wasn't even scared for myself. I was scared for my brother and my nephew. I probably would have done anything that man asked just to keep them safe. The men started pointing in my direction, and I was just about to drop the gas pump and run around the car right when the cop came out and walked right to me. He asked if I was really okay. I said that I was lost and that I didn't know how to get to the highway. So I was in a bit of a panic. But in reality, I just felt really sick to my stomach and the world was now spinning. I didn't know if those men had guns or if the cop would even believe me. The cop then said, oh, well, I'm actually getting on the highway right now. Why don't you follow me? I finished pumping my gas. I could tell that I was in complete shock at this point, legitimately just going through the motions. I got in my car and pulled out with the cop. I was thankful we didn't Go by the men. I was terrified they might see my license plate. We got on the highway and made it about 20 minutes into the drive before I broke down bawling my eyes out. We had to pull over because I couldn't even think straight. My very confused brother had tried to comfort me while not understanding what the hell happened. For whatever reason, I just felt wrong to talk about it. I refused to tell anyone about it for months. I was really embarrassed that I didn't do or say anything. And the more time went by, the worse it felt. I know now that I was in full shutdown panic mode. I forgive myself for my reaction, but I won't freeze again. I'm honestly still scared to be in line at gas stations. Always stay vigilant out there. This happened a few days ago. A few days before Thanksgiving. I was going to my girlfriend's house after school and they don't really live in the best neighborhood. I was just gonna hang out at her house when her mom then suddenly said, hey, didn't you wanna go to the gas station down the street? She then quickly looked at me and I said, oh, sorry, I forgot about that. We were only in middle school, so I thought I would be fine because the neighborhood didn't really seem that bad. Not until much later when I realized that I was very wrong. I said it was fine and that I could ask my mom for some money and then we could go down in a brief second. Her younger brother also wanted to go, and I'd like to mention that he's quite the energetic little boy. So we got out of the house and he had started walking down the street and immediately we had started hearing some sirens. She informed me that this was normal and that it's actually been happening recently. I didn't think about it at the time, but now that I think about it, it was actually pretty weird that some random sirens were going on when it was almost dark out. We ended up seeing a lot of sketchy people as we got closer and closer to the gas station, all of the people looking at us and I could tell they were looking at me, thinking if I was their parent or not because I was taller than both of them. The little boy woke all C. He was very energetic and he wanted to hug everyone around him. I have to tug on his bag and tell him that he can't go up to any stranger and act like they're friends. But C Still didn't listen. He got pretty annoyed at my response, but my girlfriend, his sister, then informed him that I was Just trying to help and keep him safe. As we went to the gas station, there was a line of like four or five people. Some of them instantly looked at us, others just ignored us. We got a few things and then got in line. I only had a few bucks, so I didn't really get that much. But my girlfriend had like $20, so she had quite a bit. When we got to the counter, the guy looked at me and then looked at my girlfriend and her brother. You kids got out of school early, didn't you? Having some fun? What's your favorite game? I didn't trust that guy and I honestly thought it was really weird how he was asking little kids how their day was and what their favorite video game was out of nowhere. Regardless, we paid and left. People were still looking at us as we left, as well as when we were going to their house. As we were walking down the street, some lady had also started looking at us. This didn't really worry me at first. That is until they started walking after us right down the street. We ended up switching the side of the street we were on and they still followed us. Eventually we started running. I had put my hand in my pocket and started to bring out a piece of chocolate that I got as if it were a weapon. No joke. I actually did this. I don't know what made them stop, but they eventually stopped and then just turned around. I'm very thankful that whatever it was had made them give up on chasing us and we eventually made it home safely. Everyone please be safe and remember that even if the neighborhood doesn't seem that bad, there are messed up people in every part of the world. My name is Maya, I'm a 20 year old female, and this is the most horrifying thing that's ever happened in my life. Here's some backstory before everything happened. It was about 8:45pm on a Saturday and I had been craving candy all day. So I decided I was going to walk down to the laundromat that was about 40ft away from my house. As I got close to the laundromat, I saw that there were about three men just kind of sitting there. It looked like they were just hanging out and not really doing any laundry. I then suddenly got a weird pit in my stomach, but I really wanted a piece of candy, so I just ignored it. So as I walked in, they had all just stared at me with like hungry, evil eyes. I started to get very anxious, but I had already put my money in so I figured I'd just Get my shit and go. While I was choosing what I wanted, I had felt someone behind me and I froze. I then heard a whisper right in my ear, hey, pretty lady, whatcha doing at this time of night? Immediately, I started hyperventilating and I then darted out the doors. I figured I'd be okay since I'm outside while there were plenty of other people. But I was wrong. I was about to be at the gas station that was close to the laundromat because I felt like I shouldn't go home yet. Probably the smartest thing I've done. But as I was walking towards the gas station, I felt like I was being watched and I swore that I heard footsteps. So I had started speed walking and I then got the courage to look behind me. And guess what I saw? Yeah, the creeps from the fucking laundromat. So I started running, but then they started running after me. Side note, running while you're having a panic attack is absolute hell. Well, I had finally made it to the gas station and in a panicked voice, I had asked the man that was working to check if they were still outside. The man then said to me, oh my. Are you okay? I think they're trying to kidnap me. They've been following me ever since I left the laundromat. I told him, don't worry, we're not going to let anything happen to you. The man said, my coworker is going to stay with you and call the cops while I check outside. He then ran outside and checked after about five minutes. He then came back and said they were hiding behind the building. But when they saw me, they got in a black SUV and then drove off. Ten minutes later, after I calmed down a bit, the cops had finally showed up and took my information. I called my dad to come and get me from the gas station and to also let me stay with him and my mom for a couple of days because I just didn't feel safe around there. I never got a call back from the police, so it's pretty likely they were never caught. This might not be scary to a lot of you, but when it happens to you in real life, it's the scariest thing ever. This occurred when I was 19. One night around midnight. I had just left a 24 hour gas station after buying some snacks and drinks. My apartment was six blocks away, but about a block into walking, there was a guy who I went to high school with who had approached me from behind. It was Daniel, a guy that I used to be friends with, but not Anymore. I'll explain why later on in the story. Anyway, Daniel had asked me where I was going. I frustratingly told him that I was going home. Daniel and I used to be friends, but not anymore because we got into a fight over friendship issues. He then said to me, hey, you don't need to be rude. I just asked you a question. Then he asked me if I've seen Craig, a guy that we both graduated high school with. Keep in mind that Craig is actually my roommate at my apartment. I ended up lying to Daniel and I just told him that I haven't seen him recently. He then shouted, that's fucking bullshit. I saw you hang out with him the other day. Tell me where the fuck he is. I angrily told him that I didn't know where he was and to fuck off then, I kid you not. He then pulled out a gun and pointed it directly at me. Just as he did that, he then shouted at the top of his lungs, tell me where he is right now. I freaked the fuck out and dropped my bag of stuff right under the ground. And then I shouted in a scared tone, oh my God, dude, are you serious right now? Then he shouted, shut the fuck up and tell me where he's at. I told him that I didn't know where the hell he was, honest. Which only angered him even more. Then he aggressively shoved me to the sidewalk and then laid me flat on my back. Then he got right in my face, giving me the most disturbing angry look on his face that I've ever seen. He then put the gun right up to my head. He then shouted at me, this is your last chance, you little fuckface. If you don't tell me where he is right now, you die. I was really fucking scared at this point. I was shaking super hard and my adrenaline was racing incredibly fast and I began crying. I begged him to let me go and that he didn't have to do this. Then surprisingly, a cop showed up and then shouted at Daniel, police, Step away with your hands up. Then out of nowhere, my roommate Craig actually ran up to me and asked if I was okay. I told him yes, and Craig was actually explaining to me that he was out walking and actually saw Daniel point the gun at me. Then that was when he had called the police while hiding behind a tree. Daniel was arrested and then taken away. After the police left, Craig then pulled me in for a hug. I was crying and hyperventilating incredibly hard. We both did this for a few minutes and I then thanked him for calling the police and that he's a lifesaver and that I'm really lucky to have him as a friend. I then grabbed my bag of stuff from the gas station then went back to our apartment safe and sound. We were both just really glad that I wasn't shot and that Daniel didn't see Craig when he was out walking. I still have no idea why Daniel did all this. He's just freaking psycho. Even to this day I still have PTSD from that night and it still gives me nightmares. This happened to me around 10 years ago. I had just finished a 10 hour shift as a nurse in a major hospital. It was a chilly Autumn evening around 10:30pm on my way home I realized I needed milk and some groceries for a late meal. I had decided to stop at a petrol station that stayed open 24 7. I'm from the UK by the way, so we call gas petrol. I pulled up at the side of the forecourt rather than the pumps as I didn't need petrol and I didn't want to obstruct any other car. I then got out of the car, not bothering to lock the car as I was only going in for a few minutes. I got into the shop and then proceeded to grab some bread and milk as well as some meat to make some toasted sandwiches. I noticed that the cashier was really looking at me in a strange manner and I felt a bit uncomfortable so I hurried up so I could just leave and go home and then eat and get some sleep. As I approached the counter, the cashier looked at me intently and then spoke in a quiet, calm voice. He slowly checked out my purchases while telling me to not turn around to react. He then told me that while I was getting my things he had noticed a man climb into the backseat of my car and lie down. I was absolutely terrified by this and I didn't know what to do. He then reassured me that he had already hit a silent alarm alerting the local police station to an emergency. After about five minutes we could hear the police sirens approaching and the cashier then spotted the men quickly exit my car and take off. Unfortunately, by the time the police arrived he was out of sight. After giving statements and searching my car, I was advised by the police to have someone come pick me up as I then fingerprinted the car and other tests. The very next day I was able to retrieve my car and the police officer advised me that the man in question had been found hiding in a garden not too far away. He had a knife and tape on his person. It was pretty damn Obvious what his intentions were. I still have nightmares about what could have happened to me and I'm so thankful that whatever he had planned didn't go down. Now if I ever have to go to the petrol station, I always park in the well lit forecourt and I always make sure that I lock my doors. I was 13 or 14 when this story took place. I'm a female. For extra context, I lived in a trailer park in a small town. It wasn't a stereotypical run down seated trailer park at the time when we moved in, but over the 10 years that we lived there, it was slowly going downhill anyways. I woke up early every morning during that time of my life so that I would have enough time to read my Bible and also have time to spend alone with my devotions before I had to get ready for school. Well, I was doing my usual morning routine of reading my Bible with a small lamp on in my room. I began to hear what sounded like taps on my window. So I stopped reading and listened intently to the noise. I distinctly heard multiple taps. A few seconds would go by and again multiple taps. I wasn't sure if anyone else was awake in my house at the time, so I just thought it had to be my mom in the next room. So I went to go check. No one else was awake. Both my sister and mom were still in bed, sound asleep. Immediately my stomach dropped to the floor and I slowly tiptoed back to my room. I tried to ignore the feeling and just went back to reading my Bible. A few seconds later, there it was again. Three more taps. That is when I realized the sound had to have been coming from my window. I looked at the window, but it was still dark outside so I couldn't see anything or anyone. I knew there wasn't any bushes or tree branches outside of my window that could be making that noise. So I sat there waiting, listening, and now pretending to read. My heart was beating so hard in my chest that I could hear it in my ears. And that's when I heard what sounded like someone saying my name. I slowly, without looking at my window, got up and went to go get my mom. I woke her up telling her about the tapping at my window and how I thought I heard someone saying my name. She sat up groggily and slowly got out of bed. She came into the kitchen with me to have me tell her again what was happening so that she could fully understand what I was saying. Now that she was somewhat more awake, I was telling her that I thought someone was outside my window, trying to get my attention. That is when I saw him. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw a man standing on our porch right outside the kitchen window. He was wearing a big bulky coat with the hood covering most of his face. He was waving at me and waving his arm in a come here kind of motion. My mom wasn't in view of the window, so I don't think he could have seen her and she couldn't see him. I started to quietly tell my mom that he was right outside the window. What? I then heard him say, hey, come outside. At first she didn't want to believe me, so I told her again that he was right there and to just look. As I was pointing at the window. That's when she looked and we both just froze in horror, not knowing what to do. The man I assumed saw me pointing him out to my mother and he ran off the porch. That's when my mom snapped out of her fear and then ran outside to see where he went. We didn't see him, so she told me to continue getting ready for school and eventually I ran to the bus stop to go meet my friends. In hindsight, I shouldn't have left the house without someone with me. But we were so confused as to what had happened. I guess it was easier to act like it never happened. When I got home from school and my dad came over to hear the story of what had happened, he made us call the cops and tell them. They came to the house, took our statements and they dusted the window and porch door for fingerprints. They told us that it was good that we hadn't opened the door for him because just a couple of weeks prior to this there had been a break in at a trailer a street over from ours where a lady had been sexually assaulted with her children locked in another room. We don't really know if it was the same guy that knocked on my window and tried to get me to come outside. We never heard from the cops on whether or not they found the guy. Even to this day, almost 20 years later, I still think about that morning and I'm so grateful that I didn't open that door. For reference, I'm a 19 year old female, not an average build and 5 foot 4. The story took place during the summer of 2023. It was mid June and late at night. The previous day my mother had paid me for doing chores around the house like I'm normally supposed to do. It was only $20 and there was not a lot I could do with it. So I decided to walk up to Walgreens. Keep in mind it was 9 o'clock at night and not a lot of people were out and about around this time. Anyways, I already had a dress on so I slipped on my sandals and grabbed my cash app card that I normally use to purchase things at the store since I didn't have a real bank account at the time. Now I live in a trailer park that's filled with creeps, drug addicts and alcoholics, so I always keep my pocket knife on me in case anybody decides to come up behind me or try to put their hands on me. The Walgreens I was headed to was a five minute walk away from my house, so I figured I would be in and out within a 20 minute span. As I was walking in the dead of night, only having the streetlights dimly lit the road enough for me to see so I don't trip over anything that might be lying in the street, I heard a twig snap in the little patch of woods close to the entrance of my trailer park. I swiftly turned my head to the right as I was on the left side of the street. I thought nothing of it, so I kept walking. About another five to 10 steps later, I hear rustling in the bushes in the same spot that I heard that twig snap. At this point I pull out my pocket knife and stare at the woods, expecting someone to jump out at me. I stood there for about five more minutes, not hearing another sound come from the woods. I continue my walk to Walgreens and get there 30 minutes before they have to close, only getting myself two 2 liter bottles of Coke. I pay at the register and make my way out the doors, carrying my Cokes in a shopping bag, occasionally switching it from hand to hand so my fingers don't turn purple. As I reach the entrance of my trailer park, I anxiously stare at the patch of woods for a brief moment, hoping that what I had heard earlier had to have been a stray cat, maybe even a deer. By chance. I stared at the road ahead of me, hoping that would take my mind off my anxiousness. Just what I had feared. I heard footsteps coming from the treeline of the woods. They were not an animal's footsteps. These were human footsteps. I once again took out my pocket knife, gripping it tightly as I now walked at a swifter pace. I then hear those same footsteps leave the treeline and then step onto the concrete. I whip around and see what looks like a man, probably about six foot one, dressed in all black, standing under one of the streetlights. I stared at him for maybe about 30 seconds before I turned around and started booking it down the street to my house. As I got closer to my house, my heart dropped as I heard the man running after me, his footsteps now reaching closer and closer to me. I run even faster, eventually getting up the stairs on my front balcony to my house. I hurriedly open the storm door, then opened the front door, shut the storm door, and then shut and lock the front door. I anxiously look through the peephole on the front door and see the man now walking away from my house and then vanishing into the darkness. I sighed a breath of relief, but my heart was still pounding through my chest from the sudden adrenaline rush and running to get home so quickly. I was really hesitant to tell my parents, knowing that they'd bicker at me about going out late at night. I eventually called my boyfriend and told him what had happened. He seemed pretty understanding and he told me that I should only go out during the day from now on. Never do it late at night. I told myself that I never in my life would ever go out at night ever again. Let this be a warning to those of you who go out late at night. Always bring a weapon with you and always trust your gut. So this happened in the early 1990s. My best friend Diane's mom had to work all night, so she asked if I wanted to stay over and of course I said yes. She lived in an older trailer park closer to the industrial side of town in Florida. At the time we were both 17 and cell phones weren't really a thing and she didn't have a house phone. I had to use the bathroom, so she came in there with me and we were just hanging out and talking about boys. All of a sudden we had heard banging underneath the bathroom floor and we were instantly terrified. Now it was dark outside, but we peeked out of the front door anyway. We didn't see anything, so we just sat down and started talking again. The banging started again, only this time it was underneath the living room floor. So we grabbed a butcher knife from the kitchen and then sat down hoping the knocking would go away. It didn't. We heard it once again. So we went outside with the butcher knife and then sat on the steps. Scared out of our minds. We just sat there looking and listening. We had heard a noise from underneath the trailer again, so we had took off running to the store, which was about an acre away. The store was closed, but we had used the payphone to call the police. They told us to go back to the trailer and wait. We didn't realize that we had left the butcher knife on the steps and to our horror, the knife was now gone. We then ran inside and waited for the police. They saw a young man who had turned out to be 18 years old walking away from the trailer park with the butcher knife in his hand. He had told them that his friends had dared him to scare us. We did impress charges, but we never saw him again. The story probably isn't nearly as scary as it sounds. At least it wasn't what had happened to me since I was just a kid and had no idea just how much danger I was in at the time. Looking back as an adult, though, it really sends a chill down my spine and I'll be forever grateful to my friends who may have inadvertently saved my life that day. I'll start with a little background. I had a pretty chaotic early childhood and I was raised by a single father who was a truck driver. Because of his long hours, I spent most of my time being watched by either family or his various girlfriends that came and went. I was also left alone on occasion, and because of this I quickly became a very independent child, gaining my dad's trust that I was capable of taking care of myself if I really needed to. I used to really resent him for being gone all the time, but I know now that he was just doing his best to keep me fed and a roof over our heads. Anyways, it was understandably difficult for him to maintain a stable relationship as a result of his hectic work schedule, but one day he met the woman that would end up becoming my stepmom. It seemed like a perfect fit, as her father owned a trucking company of his own and he quickly offered my dad a job where he'd be guaranteed to be home every single night. The only catch is we'd have to move. My dad's old job was based out of Portland, since they were hauling the containers that came off of those big cargo ships that would come through the port. That's where we always lived, and I had spent my first 10 years as a city kid. But my new grandpa's company was in a really rural area. It was the kind of town that isn't really even a town, if that makes any sense, more like a collection of properties that dotted a rural highway. It was the type of place where people say the phrase I'm going into town when they're making a trip to Walmart an hour away. So yeah, it was a big change, but my dad thought it would be good for Me, I guess, coming from the relatively rough area where we lived in Portland, he had an idyllic image of what our new life in the country would be like. But boy, was he wrong. What at first seemed like our own little piece of paradise in the woods turned out to be more like something out of Deliverance. We lived in a row of a few houses. Just off the highway. Maybe a few hundred yards behind our house, through trees and thickets of BlackBerry bushes, was a trailer park. On the other side of our house was a few hundred yards of forest with a river on the other side of it. There was an abandoned railroad bridge that ran over the river and you could access it from a trail that connected the trailer park to our street and then to the bridge. A few months into living there, I had already made a few friends in the area. Since the trailer park was full of kids my age and we all went to school together, I was pretty much given the freedom to go wherever I wanted, but was strictly forbidden from entering the trailer park. It was known to be home to some of society's less desirable citizens, mostly just some meth heads and convicted felons, but a few of its residents were guilty of much more heinous crimes. I knew that when we lived there, we had always heard rumors of there being predators in the park, but nothing concrete was ever confirmed until we moved away. That brings me to the day when this story takes place. I went out to the river looking for a few of my friends. These were the days before cell phones, so I actually had to go out searching for them. We were in a stretch of hot weather and had all agreed the day before to meet up at the river and go swimming. I was walking through the forest along the riverbank when I saw a few of my friends on the opposite side playing in the water. I thought it would be fun to scare them, so I hid in the bushes and started throwing rocks in their general direction to make the water splash near them. After a few minutes, they had started shouting and hurling rocks into the woods towards the direction of the railroad bridge, which was a little further down the bank from where I was thoroughly pleased that I had scared them. I made my way to the bridge to cross over and then have a laugh at their expense. The trail crosses under the railroad bridge, and once I got to that point, I had stumbled upon what just seemed like somewhat of an odd discovery at the time. There was a pair of dirty men's underwear sitting in the dirt, which was weird, but it wasn't completely abnormal to find trash down there. Not thinking much of it, I crossed over to the other bank, shouting at my friends about how I totally scared them and such. However, they just seemed puzzled, which in turn confused me. That's why you were yelling and throwing rocks back across the river, wasn't it? I asked in confusion. I told them I was trying to scare them by throwing rocks from the other side of the river, but apparently they were completely oblivious to the walk splashing around them because they were focused on someone else on the opposite riverbank and it definitely wasn't me. They explained how there was this man under the bridge and he was watching them. He was known around the trailer park as someone parents warned their kids to stay away from. He had some sort of mental condition and he was always a little too friendly with the children that lived there. He was probably in his 30s or 40s at the time and he lived with his elderly mother who was his caretaker. My friends saw him down under the bridge watching them from the other side and he was completely nude from the waist down. You can only imagine what he might have been doing. To this day, I'm eternally grateful My friends reacted the way they did. Instead of running to their parents, they decided their best course of action was to hurl rocks at him first. Which probably wasn't the best idea, but hey, it saved my skin. It's awful that they saw what they did from the other side of that riverbank, but if they didn't do what they did, I would have walked right into something horrific. My dad and stepmom divorced about a year later and we moved away, but I still kept up with some of those friends I made on MySpace. About a year after I moved, one of my friends told me that that same man had tried to abduct a little girl from the trailer park, but was thankfully caught before he could seriously hurt her. Now that he was card handed, the police were able to arrest him and he was supposedly incarcerated in a mental health facility. Out of curiosity, a few years back, I had looked up that old trailer park on one of those registered sex offender maps online and it was full of red dots. I'm very grateful that I made it out of that place and I hope that it's safer for the children that live in the area now.
- [79:55]
Geico Spokesperson
How do you feel when you switch to GEICO and save on your car insurance? It's like going to work on one Thursday morning and thinking to yourself, just one more day until Friday. But then somebody in the elevator says, happy Friday. Then you check your phone quickly and discover today is actually Friday. So yes, Happy Friday. Random stranger in the elevator. Happy Friday indeed. Yep, switching and saving with Geico feels just like that. Get more with Geico.
- [80:24]
Ryan Seacrest
Hey it is Ryan Seacrest. There's something so thrilling about playing Chumba Casino. Maybe it's the simple reminder that with a little luck, anything is possible. Chumbacasino.com has hundreds of social casino style games to choose from with new game releases each week. Play for free, anytime, anywhere for your chance to redeem some serious prizes. Join me in the fun. Sign up now@chumbacino.com sponsored by Cumba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group Void where prohibited by law. 18 + terms and conditions apply. This happened to me about 10 years ago when I was 17 or 18. For context, I look very young at 17. Most people thought I was 14 or younger. My whole family was at my aunt's beach house for the weekend. Her beach house is on the bay in a nice trailer park community where everyone knows everyone. My cousins and the other kids wanted s'mores that Saturday night and me being one of the oldest there, I had to make them. Since the house is in the community, we couldn't make a real fire to make them, so I was just using the grill. All of the adults, my grandparents, my parents, my aunt and uncle and a few others were on the deck drinking. A few of them were already drunk, including my dad. If all of the adults wanted to look over, they could see me standing at the grill making s'mores. Well, while standing there bored, waiting for the marshmallows to cook. I'm looking around and I noticed a car that I hadn't seen parked on the street before and I knew it didn't belong to any of the neighbors or their friends who are typically down here. I didn't think anything of it at first and I looked away. A few minutes later a shady looking guy comes up to me holding a dog leash. I don't remember exactly what he said word for word, but he said that he was looking for his lost pug. He was very specific about it being a pug. I was being nice telling him no, I hadn't seen any dog off leash at all. Next thing I know my dad came off the deck stumbling over and slurring his words. My dad starts to tell me to go into the house and he tells this guy to go away and then no, he hasn't seen his dog. And they kept trying to mention this dog to the point that my dad had to tell him to go fuck off after my dad said that he had walked away right to the car. I noticed earlier that I'd never seen before. Once I got into the house I was telling my one cousin and his girlfriend who also has a house in the neighborhood. I told him about how he said he was looking for a pug. His girlfriend then tells me she's the only one in the community with a pug. They say that pedophiles will use dogs as a tactic to try and lure children, but I've never seen it happen or heard it happen to a person until it happened to me. Firstly, a bit of background about me. I've been a caver for over 15 years. I'm a team medic for cave Rescue, a firefighter and also a specialist paramedic for the UK Hazardous Area Response Team, also known as hart. I have a wealth of experience and knowledge and in no way a novice to the underground environment. Last Saturday we went into a fairly dangerous unstable mine. The mine is on a horizontal level and is a deep at it. The mine was recently reopened after around 100 years and is known for its collapses in very unstable dangerous areas. We were fully equipped with all of the relevant equipment for a standard walk in and out trip, not requiring any rope access. We had a really good trip into the mine. We had a look at specific hazards and some pretty minerals on the way out. We were passing through chest deep water for about 300 meters and had to pass under a horrible bit of timber work holding the entire world up above our heads. The other five, also either paramedics or cave rescue, went first one by one, which is the best practice when moving through dangerous bits of mines. I was at the end of the line and just about to take my turn when absolute fear really did strike. I was stood perfectly still watching my best friend turn away from me to pass under the timbers of the collapsed stope above when the ground suddenly disappeared from under me. No warning and no slight movement. Just boom. The next thing that happened was I was stuck in a chest deep hole under 4ft of water with hundreds of thousands of gallons forcing me down as it rushed through the hole that I was stuck in. My chest was crushed forcing all of the air from my lungs and causing extreme panic to now set in. From above. All anyone could see was a rushing swirling pool drenching the above passageways rapidly. All five were convinced that I was dead and due to the hole couldn't get anywhere near me. After what felt like forever I suddenly felt like I was falling but still in water and Was still unable to breathe. What happened was that the floor and ceiling of the expanse fully below collapsed into a hidden stove. This caused me to fall around 30ft, landing on my neck, then shoulder and then my chest before then being pushed down at deep flooded winds. Which is a mine shaft that doesn't go to the surface. At this point, I knew that I was too deep to be able to swim back. As I was being sucked down the shaft by the rapid waterfall from above. At some point, I took a small breath in of water, which was agony, and my foot was caught onto something. I kicked my foot back and pushed as hard as I could at what I hoped was the correct way up and not launching myself further into the dark abyss. At this point I felt scared, panicked and just desperate not to die. I remember the feeling of being desperately sad that I'd never see my children again. And a really painful emotion flooded over me and I knew that I had to take this last breath of water. This last breath of water would cause me to drown. And that was it. Game over. As I took the involuntary breath in, fully aware that it was my last, I realized there was air mixed in with the water which made me choke and splutter. I then gasped again and I realized I was in a chamber. I scrambled to the side and looked up. The roof was collapsing further and the water was flooding the space rapidly. I was around 20 to 30 meters under the floor that I was previously standing on. I took stock of the kit I had and threw a space blanket over me. Once the water began subsiding, I looked up and to my huge relief, I could see a headlamp. I took my helmet off and shined a light at myself to give a thumbs up. At this point, both myself and my best friend had a little tear of joy and relief. However, quickly recognizing I was still in mortal danger, they then got a plan in place. Three were sent to the cars to collect ropes and kit. The other two jumped the hole and made rapid progress to the end of the mine to collect an old scaffolding barrier that when turned upright, looked like a ladder. Now this bit of metal is very heavy. The two left. Both fellow cave rescue team members linked five caving belts together, lowered the ladder into the void with massive hesitation. But realizing this was my one chance, I re entered the water that had nearly killed me just minutes before. I swam out to the bottom and managed to traverse and then crumbly climbed to jump the ladder and pull myself up. At this point, it was really a do or die kind of moment. Once my weight was on the ladder, the belts began digging through the floor causing more collapse from the ceiling onto me. Button also pulling the edge of the hole and floor closer to my friends that were rescuing me. Once at the top of the ladder, I was still a good six feet below the hole, so I had to stand on the top round and held a bell with one hand, at which point the ladder spun from under my feet leaving me suspended yet again. I managed to kick out and find a small fault in the rock and I just pushed as hard as I could causing the leaning wall to start collapsing, causing a loud rumbling noise. My head and shoulders were above the lip, but I struggled as the lip of the hole was just thick with slimy mud. Kicking back, I managed to level my body and roll over. This was it. It was enough to get up and out of the hole. This took around 30 minutes in total from the ground opening to me being back above the hole, this was the most scared I've ever been and I absolutely knew I was going to die. But thank God I survived. I work as a childcare professional and one of the kids that I look after recently got into hiking. I decided to take him to a really cool trail in Salt Fork State Park. We were all set to hike to Hozack's Cave after parking right near the beginning of the trail head. The trail was about a half mile, which is why I chose this trail for our hike that day. I also chose this trail because anytime that I had been on it before, it was very busy and full of other people and a very popular spot which made me feel secure. However, this past summer we had a cluster of severe summer storms which caused massive damage to the trail. So to my surprise, it was much more difficult and completely empty. Now I wasn't bothered by the trail being obviously empty because there was a small construction crew working on a bridge that was just barely visible from the trailhead. He was still up for the hike despite the entire width of the trail being washed out until it was no more than a foot wide with a 6 to 12 foot drop off into a creek bed that is solid rock and several trees down. He is very athletic and I was confident in his abilities and he was so excited to tackle our adventure. We made it all the way to a platform that allows you to see the entire cave. There were many downed trees surrounding the platform and it was actually closed at this point, but we had made it this far so we decided to maneuver around the platform and proceeded a few hundred feet into the cave. We spent the most time in this area due to the difficulty, so I know exactly what it looked like. There were tree roots directly under the platform and you could climb down either side of them. It's also worth noting that Hozag's cave is much more like a cliff with an overhanging rock formation and a trickle of waterfall directly in the middle. It's not a creepy closed up cave, it's very open and beautiful. We got into the cave and I noticed a candle that was not burning recently but had been at some point sitting on a large rock that had a heart carved into it. I chalked it up to someone just having a date or something and just disregarded it. He wanted to climb to the top where I noticed two more candles and three stacks of small rocks that had been stacked up by somebody. I definitely felt weird at this point, but it was about this time that he had found a small puddle full of baby salamanders and he wanted to catch them. It was the happiest that I'd seen him in a very long time and I didn't really have the heart to tell him that it was time to go. We spent about an hour catching baby salamanders and I watched him have the time of his life. Well, we had finally decided to leave and when we got to the platform dead center in the middle of the tree roots was a wet washcloth hanging that was absolutely not there before he noticed it as well. But he didn't pick up on the severity of the situation we were in at that moment. I factually knew two things. One, someone was watching us and we didn't see them. And two, they were now potentially hiding in the woods and made it a point point to not be seen, but to leave an object to be noticed. There was no running back with the Nero Trail and I wasn't about to tell him that we were in potential danger. I told him to go in front of me and I just kept encouraging him that he was doing great over and over and that seemed to speed him up naturally. I never saw anyone while we were on the trail. When we got to the car I locked the doors immediately. On our way out of the park a very dirty man, probably in his 30s, came out of the woods and made it a point to stare at me with the most empty of expressions that I've ever seen. The man followed me with his eyes and head as I drove by him and continued to stare at me until I couldn't see him anymore. I knew the third fact at that point he made it a point to make himself apparent to me and that facts one and two were true. That stare stuck with me for days and I considered counseling after this as it really bothered me for several weeks, causing me severe anxiety. I tried to just tell myself that maybe we just interrupted his bath time and he was camping and just didn't want to startle us. After all, the crazy looking man had ample time to do anything that he wanted while we were catching salamanders. I just cannot in any way rationalize why he stared under my eyes the way he did if he wanted to go unnoticed. Deep down I know that it is much more likely that it was a deliberate action intended to scare me. The kid that was with me never had any idea how panicked I was and to this day it's the most fun that I've ever seen him have. He brings it up regularly and it was a very positive experience for him. However, it was one of my worst experiences ever and it made me feel so so sick and disturbed for some background I'm a 20 something female from the UK. When I was 15 I had my first girlfriend and looking back there were many red flags. But I was young and naive. She put me in a few creepy situations that I've never told anyone until now. We lived in a quiet rural town and we used to go on walks through a forested area right by our house that you could access from a little side path. People would sometimes walk their dogs along there, but this was rare and it was mostly secluded and eerie. As you walked further in the path got hilly so eventually you reached a point where you were high up and you had a stream of water below you and it was very unsteady. If you picture something like a cliff, that was how I'd look. Now it must be said that I really hated this forested area. I appreciate nature but the seclusion and darkness of it just creeped me out. Something about it just made my skin crawl. My girlfriend knew this but she insisted that we walk there anyway because she wanted to smoke without her parents knowing. Plus she made me feel guilty about not wanting to go along this path, reminding me that we needed to spend time together and that if I didn't come I couldn't spend time with her. I reluctantly went with her, although I couldn't shake the creepy feeling that it gave me. One afternoon as we were walking along she insisted on going up the hilly sections as far as we could go. I felt very uncomfortable but I didn't want her to think I was a wimp so I carried on walking with her despite the time of day. The trees were so tall that it felt like it was night. It was dark and there were no sounds of civilization. You couldn't even hear birds, only the sounds of twigs breaking in the stream, gushing as we got closer. Once we reached the top, my girlfriend motioned for me to sit on some of the old tree stumps, which I did. We were chatting like we usually did. She was holding my hand and smoking her cigarette. However, she seemed a bit quieter than usual, and she was nodding her head in response to me more than she was actually speaking to me. I thought it was unlike her, but I didn't question her on it. After a while, she stood up and walked over to the stream and looked down. I watched her, kind of confused. She had her back to me before. She then turned around and started to tell me that she had made a den for herself down in the stream. I was baffled by this. She never came up here without me, as far as I knew. And it was impossible to get down there without serious injury. If you jumped off from the top, it would be very easy to break a bone. Or worse. You couldn't reach the part of the stream we were at by taking a different path, because no matter how you walked, all the pathways led to a tall height above the stream. I voiced this, but she just came closer to me, beckoning me to come to the edge with her and look over. I hesitated. Something felt really off about it, and I was already really uncomfortable being in the forest because I hated this area already. I stood up, but stayed in place and I shook my head, making a face and saying something about how you couldn't have a den down there and you'd die if you tried to make one, and that I didn't want to stay here any longer. She seemed unfazed by this, and she kept telling me that she'd been coming down here on her own for weeks. And she told me again that she'd found a way to climb down without getting hurt, and that there happened to be a cave that you couldn't see unless you climbed right down, and that inside she had made herself a den. Again. This just didn't make any sense to me. And I then realized I was starting to feel afraid. Maybe it was just me being dramatic, but in that moment she really was starting to creep me out. I knew that she was lying. I can't stress enough how impossible it would be for her to have made a den down there. But still I stayed standing there and so did she. She beckoned me forward yet again, and I decided to appease her a little by craning my neck. She then told me, just come over. Stand right next to me. Now, I wasn't thinking in my head that she was some crazed murderer who was going to hurt me, but I did feel uneasy. Still, I stupidly decided to walk over just a little and take a look. Keeping my distance, I peeked over a little. I just saw rushing water and a lot of what I call bushes, but nothing out of place. While I was looking, I could see my girlfriend in my peripheral vision. She was just staring at me, smiling like I'd never seen her smile before. I turned to face her and took a few steps back to get from the edge again. It's just water, I told her, and she turned to stare down again. Then she started telling me to climb down and she'd show me her den. I refused again. I wasn't thinking she was trying to hurt me, but something about it all just felt off wrong. She kept insisting that I just climbed down, that it was easy and she would come down after me, and then we could chill out in her den. I tried to keep it light to hide my unease, so I said something about how if we got down there, we probably wouldn't be able to get back up again. She told me that she'd been down lots of times and you could get back up and that it was worth it. I knew in my guts something was off about this, so I told her no and I said I wanted to go home. I then backed away a little and I told her if she wanted to go down, she could, but I wasn't sticking around to join her. Something about the defiance in my voice must have made her give up, because she huffled at me before grabbing my hand and pulling me along with her back the way we came and out of the forest. She never mentioned it again, and maybe it sounds like I was being dramatic for no reason, but I knew in my gut that something was wrong. I don't know what her intentions were, if she was trying to spook me with some weird prank, but it was one of the creepiest experiences I've ever had. I'm not saying she was trying to murder me or anything, but again, I can't stress enough how impossible it would have been to make a den down there. We eventually split up because she was so toxic, and since then I've heard nothing but bad news about her. Always listen to your gut, guys. It's never wrong. This happened three years ago Today on the dot. So a bit of background. I may have been stalked and chased out of camp by a possible escaped convict after finding a cave and trying to look inside side this all went down during the spring break of my junior year of high school. My school was in a pretty small Iowa town with a district spanning several smaller hamlets. During the summer of 2014, a few friends of mine put together a film club that would make short films and compete in national film festivals against other schools. We were a pretty small group and found it kind of difficult to get together for any actual filming until spring break of 2015, when we made plans for a little excursion. Four of us ended up going on the trip, myself and three members of the club, let's call them Jake, Bill, and Kyle. We ended up choosing to go camping out at Mossy Glen Hollow, a supposedly haunted state park up in the northeastern Iowa. Since the 1850s, there have been several murders and suicides out at Mossy Glen, including a few decapitations and a hired Hitman in the 1930s. Now, being the edgy teens that we were, we jumped at the chance to go hiking and camping somewhere like that. It was within 15 minutes of a small town as well, so stocking up on food wouldn't be that big of an issue either. So, all lights green, we loaded up two of our sedans, programmed the gps, and off we went for a spring break, camping in some haunted woods. After the first hour and a half on the road, a few red flags began to fly. After the last large town before getting way out in the boondocks, my phone's data signal cut out and the GPS randomly changed directions on us. Since none of us had any idea where the hell we were at or where Mossy Glen was supposed to be, we didn't have much of a choice but to just blindly follow the new route. To save on continuity, I'm going to throw this section at the end. It's not really important to the story, but can give a bit of perspective on how places like Mossy Glen end up in the legal state that this place was in. Once we were firmly in the middle of nowhere, our GPS took us off the paved highways and onto the gravel roads. At this point, you would typically see the usual brown Iowa DNR signs designating that you were near a state park, but there were none. There weren't even any tree clumps to indicate that you were near some sort of Forest. Red Flag 2 another 10 or so minutes into the drive, and the gravel road soon turns into a dirt road, then a low maintenance road, then a class B minimum maintenance road. With Iowa's dedication to road preservation, this basically means that somebody probably came by and took a peek in the 90s and then probably forgot all about its existence. As we come around the last hilly bend that the GPS shows on our route, we see a farmhouse with a large machine shed with no lights or activity around either, and no cars in the driveway. A bit weirded out that a house would be right next to a state park. We slow down and keep rolling. To our dismay, however, the road dissolves into a mess of washed tractor tire gouges from last fall's harvest. We stop the cars as far down as we can pass without getting hung up on a frozen rut and unpack some of our equipment. The road gradually narrows, snakes down the middle of a field and turns down into the very small but very thick clump of woods at the bottom of a wide ravine. We get out and hike down the gradually steepening slope and take in the scenery. At first, everything looks like a pretty damn cool set to film at. There are several limestone outcrops hanging off of the hillside, a footpath with some picturesque tree overhang, and even a few birds out that made an unseasonal return from wintering down south. We can all hear some water running, but we can't identify a source. From the trail looking off in any direction, all we could see was a seemingly endless sea of trees. At the bottom of the hill was a small pond in the middle of a grassy clearing with a fence. As we approached the fence, we noticed a sign. Private Property Keep out. Bill checks his watch and realizes that it's almost time for dinner, so we trek back to our vehicles and hook up the gps. The nearest town over was a little place called Edgewood that had several diners as well as the gas station to load up on supplies for the next week. We brought some canned food, but not much beyond that. As we got to town, we realized that Edgewood was a lot smaller than we had expected. Less than 900 people. It would turn out everyone knows everyone in these small towns, so we got several weird looks when four strangers rolled up with plates from the other side of the state. Kyle thought to ask the cashier and a few people at the gas station about Mossy Glen Hollow and why the only route in was through some dude's field on a busted out dirt road. To our surprise, nobody had even heard of a place called Mossy Glen, nor could they figure out why the hell four high schoolers suddenly rolled into town looking for the place Red Flag 3 we shrug it off as just a few crazy locals and take off back down the dirt trail. As we round the corner back near the farmhouse, we notice that all lights are still off and nobody seems to be home. I suggest that we leave some sort of note on the house door that we're going to be parking on the side of the road near their place just to be safe. It's starting to get late in the day and being this far out in the country, it wouldn't be unheard of to come face to face with a shotgun when the homeowners find our cars. Since the road is impassable from that point on anyway, parking there wouldn't realistically block anybody off of the road and would still technically be on public land. We hike back down the wooded trail and start scouting for a place to set up camp for the night. Making sure to be on the public side of the fence pond area, we discover that the sea of trees that we saw earlier was actually quite a bit thinner when seen from below. In fact, the dirt path led to a decently sized clearing with a creek and a small waterfall cutting through the limestone deposits. None of us can believe that we had missed such a thing a few hours earlier. When Bill came to a realization, he disappears around the corner back into the trees and then emerges at the top of the trail a few minutes later though, we could plainly see him, the trees lined up just right so that you couldn't see anything beyond the rocks below the path ledge. Continuing further up the creek, we notice that there are conveniently placed rocks about the perfect distance apart to step without disturbing the water or surrounding rocks. One could walk almost silently up and down the creek while the sound of the water masked the steps. Not thinking much of it, we took some pictures of the large moss covered boulders all around and got some pretty nice scenic shots. We find a place to make camp and everything's going great until we approach the waterfall. Just before the waterfall, set a clearing without any large boulders or rocks as well as an odd arrangement of logs. One sat horizontal, supported at each end by two piles of rocks. In front sat a crude stone circle with a pile of burnt logs inside a fire pit with a bench. Though a bit surprised at first, we shrug it off as some weekend project that the people up at the house put together. After all, with such a cool place just a short walk from home, why not? I have a similar fire pit set up at home so I'm not too concerned. Hey, what the hell is this? Kyle yells from a boulder a few yards ahead. On inside a blaze orange beanie, a single gardening glove, an empty can of beer, and a stick of deodorant that has seen some serious wear. Looking closer at the beer can, we realize that it must have been opened fairly recently. Foam is still fresh in the bottom of the can, and it still had a funny smell. Bewildered by what the hell we just found, Jake starts looking around the other side of the boulders upstream of the items. Holy crap, guys, there's a cave over here. He shouts back to us. Later on, he told us that the cave was large enough to comfortably fit a person inside of it, and then, more disturbingly, he saw some red fabric inside as well. Before he can get a good look around, Kyle calls the three of us back over to him with a sense of urgency. He speaks very quietly to us and then indicates that we shouldn't shout back. Shampoo. Freaking shampoo, dude. He whispers, pointing urgently down at his feet. Sure enough, in the mud and leaves, there's a blue bottle of Suave shampoo right next to the creek. At this point, we're all adequately freaked the hell out and ready to call our little soiree quits. Bill remains pretty sure that this is just junk left behind by the people up at the house after a weekend of way too many beers, but things just didn't add up to me. There's one detail that I've been leaving out up until this point. The day before, this part of Iowa got some really heavy rain, which contributed to the mud situation on the road and on the trail. With the combination of wind and rain, the items on the rocks would have shown some serious signs of being wet, if not being displaced entirely. Also, the air was pretty cold as it is every year around this time, not getting above the mid-40s for the whole week. Then everything starts to click for me. Whoever drank the beer and left the shampoo hat, glove and deodorant and shampoo down there must have done so sometime this morning. The fire pit also had fresh char mark marks. The rocks and the wood had not been wet for a while, meaning that it must have been lit last night at the earliest. The small cave would have provided enough shelter from the rain to stay dry with the freezing temps all throughout the day. Whoever was using shampoo out here must have had little other choice to do so. If it was the homeowners, they would have had to be serious masochists to bathe in the shallow, freezing rocky creek rather than at home. And if it wasn't them, then we likely weren't alone right now. Whoever left these things out left in a hurry. And if they were here four hours ago, they would have been able to see us on the trail cliff long before we even knew they were down here. Remembering the arrangement of rocks in the stream, they could have even been leaving their camp just as we were coming down the dirt trail. As I processed this, I started to look around at my surroundings and I realized that the small area was bordered by the thick trees on the trail side, several sets of huge boulders on the pond side, and limestone cliffs everywhere else. Due to the tree, rock and hill cover, you could light a fire in the pit at night and nobody around you would ever know. The illusion of being able to see up the dirt trail from the camp but not down. Played in reverse from the cliffs. If you were wearing brown or green, you could easily see down from the rocks on top of the camp below, while blending in with the trees above. Coming to these realizations, I noticed something else. Something more sinister. The birds and small animals that we previously heard are now quiet. Aside from the soft babble of the creek, the entire place is completely silent. As I start to explain this to the rest of the group, I see the wheels turning in their heads as well. Jake starts to head back to the small cave when a rustling up on the limestone ridgeline catches our attention. Something large was shifting around up there. Something that apparently didn't want Jake to see what was in that cave. We all look up and whatever or whoever made the noise starts shuffling down the ridge toward the makeshift camp. Because of the high cliff, the only way down to us would be by going all the way back down to the pond and then double back up the stream. Realizing this and almost crapping ourselves at how open we were, we book it back up the stream, up the dirt path, across the field, and back to our cars. On the drive back to Edgewood, we all try to process what the hell just happened back there. I took a look at a satellite map and the really only accessible way to the cliff where we heard the noise would be to walk up there from the pond. It was too craggy to approach from the adjacent field to the east. Whatever made that noise would have to be large too, and a deer getting up there wouldn't necessarily be out of the question. It would have had some incredible timing to have started moving around just as Jake started looking at the cave and whatever red fabric was inside of it. Kyle found a report of an escaped convict from a local prison. A few weeks ago and he was convinced that it was his camp that we found, though we were all doubtful at best of his idea. To satisfy his concerns, we agreed to report the strange things we found to the police anonymously since we all really wanted to get home at this point. None of us followed up on them though, and I really doubt anything ever came of it. A small, close knit town police department gets a report of strange sightings from strangers the same day that four high schoolers roll up and park outside a farmer's house for a few hours and then book it out. Doesn't exactly spell high threat criminal activity to me. Still, things just don't add up. Whoever came running down that cliff wanted to keep whatever was inside that cave hidden, but not enough to actually fight four decently tall and able teenagers. We figured that he just wanted to scare us off since the noises seemed to stop once we reached the dirt path. I thought it was odd that someone living out in the woods with seemingly something to hide would set up shop in a state park. That is until I checked my GPS again. That little reroute that it took us on was an old entrance to the park that had been cut off by the purchase of the lake area sometime between the map records used for Google's navigation being updated and on that very day. The current entrance to the park is about two miles north of where the GPS sent us, thinking it found a faster route. The place we were at was still public land for sure, but not quite what we pictured. So yeah, to the dude in Mossy Glen Hollow. I don't know who you were, but I'm really glad we didn't see you face to face. I hope you all enjoyed this story and please everyone stay safe. I go caving with my dad, who grew up mining uranium until his family's mind went belly up. He's pretty used to enclosed spaces and being underground, and I was raised similarly, albeit without the raid on gas. I rappelled into pits I can't see the bottom of, bouldered my way along and over one of the largest underwater rivers in North America, nearly caught in a flash flood and slipped into a crevice whose bottom is, as of today, not mapped and has never been reached or documented by anyone. It was by far the scariest damn thing to ever happen to me. I had to brace myself with my feet back against one wall and legs stretched out in front of me, arms on either side. I was in a pretty good spot to be roughly 10ft down on wet smooth rock and my headlamp came unplugged from its battery in my pack, meaning I only had the light from my dad looking down on me 10ft up to see by. He had to leave to get rope, and I couldn't really go anywhere or reattach my lamp to my position. So I got to chill in that crevice for roughly an hour. But God, it felt like so much longer. I thought the fall itself was scary, but it was nothing compared to that complete darkness. And it was so quiet I could hear my blood rushing in my ears, could hear my knees creaking under the pressure. Every piece of gravel that came loose from the tread of my boots hitting the sides of the crevice on the way down, just fading out. I started seeing lights and little flashes and I couldn't tell if my eyes were opened or closed. I also couldn't move to check or I'd fall God knows how far. I could hear more than I ever wanted while simultaneously experiencing the most quiet I'd ever felt. And all I could feel was the rock against my back and hands and presumably what my feet were braced against. I started to not be able to tell up from down. Started hearing footsteps and seeing movement in shapes from the corner of my eyes. It was utter hell waiting for my dad to come back with the rope to help me back out. I know what I experienced was just due to lack of visual and auditory stimuli, but damn, it was the scariest thing I've ever experienced. And we always, always bring a good amount of rope with us now, even if we think we won't need it in a ca. I've been caving as a hobby for several years now. Nothing really creepy ever happens while caving, but I've been in some dangerous situations which have left me questioning my sanity or the sanity of those around me. So I used to cave with a gang of people from a university club. But I'd been out of university a few years now and been doing my own thing. Well, one weekend me and my friend letscaller Jane decided we should go on a little trip to a cave with these guys, you know, to see how the old club was doing. The club that taught us how to cave and we in turn taught the new guys when we were the oldies. So anyway, it's going okay and me and Jane go off caving on our own. But that evening we decided to join the group and cave with them in a cave near the campsite. Now it was raining a bit and I was starting to feel uneasy. But to be honest, I never voiced My concerns and just went with it. A large group of about 10 people get to this cave. The cave is basically a river on the inside normally, but it has a few levels of corridors that you can explore high above the river. The entrance is super tight though, and requires you to climb down this tight pipe, using your feet to fill for footholds. There's no way to see what is below you and basically if you lose your footing, there is a nasty fall of about 3 meters. But keep your head on and it's fine. Well, anyway, we get to the cave and the guys in the club are doing their thing. Jane and I are just the old dudes coming along for old times. We get into the cave and there's one girl who gets stuck there in the entrance at the end of the group. Well, turns out it was her second cave ever and they brought her into this one even though she was panicked in a much larger cave earlier that day. Two of the leaders stay behind to help her calm down and get her into the cave. And the rest of us potter on down some of the long corridors and start exploring the cave. Then I ask the leader of the group, a girl who I thought knew how to cave, let's call her Dick Shit, what time it is. She tells me that she doesn't have a watch. I ask her how does she know what time to leave the cave at to be on time for the callout. Now, a callout is arguably the most important thing about caving. It's where you let someone on the surface, even your buddy who you ring, know that you and whoever else are going to this cave and will be out at this specific time without a call out. No one will know you were missing for days and have hundreds of caves to check anyway. The leader of all these innocent sweet beginners tells me that she did not leave a call out that or bring any first aid kit or safety equipment. I hold my cool because I don't want the others to panic. But I tell her quietly, I am now the call out, be out of the cave at this time. I give her my watch and start back towards the entrance. At the entrance, the two other leaders are sitting with the girl who got stuck earlier and they manage to get her into the cave and are now sitting with her. I tell them the situation and I tell them that I'm leaving the cave. They ask me to go get an SRT kit, basically ropes and a harness, and it's in case the pan and girl needs to climb back up. So I do just that. A Little while later I come back with the gear, which they didn't all have and I had to borrow off other cavers who are luckily at the same campsite. While I get back to the cave and the others are leaving, slowly mind you, as it's a difficult entrance and climbing out is even harder. They all manage to get out, but lo and behold, the panicked girl gets stuck, and with two leaders trapped below her, she's blocking the entrance. We harness her up and I rig up an anchor to try and secure her on a rope in case she falls, but she's wedged tight. Then I get the news from the others below that the cave is starting to fill. This was due to rain. After what seems like an eternity of them nicely talking to this panicked girl, telling her that she's doing great and she'll be fine, I freak out. I shout at her that she needs to get her shit together and get out of the cave because two others are stuck behind her, it kind of works. And she nearly stops having a panic attack. Not entirely, but stops hyperventilating, which just makes her more stuck. She still won't climb out though. So against all common sense, I lie down into the hole and grab her by the harness and then pull her up and out of the cave. After that, I told the club that they need to get their crap together and stop being cowboys. But I haven't gone back to them since. When I was about 15, a girlfriend and I decided to hitchhike about a K or two up the road. We were honestly just being lazy. Stupid. I know. A ute pulled over and my girlfriend pushed me in, so I was piggy in the middle. I honestly can't really remember that much of what the guy looked like. He was just your average middle aged guy. As we got in though, he had started making weird comments that made us feel uneasy. The kind where you look at your girlfriend and make eye contact. As in saying, we need to get the fuck out of here. So as he drove us up the road, I had turned around and then said, hey, we'll just stop off here. That was when we got close to a complex that has a pub, a few takeaway places and a big cinema. In other words, a well populated area. Unfortunately, it was in the middle of the day and there weren't many people around. Well, as we had hopped out of the car, this guy reached over and he grabbed my ass. We jumped out and then hurried off into the complex, trying not to look back. When we made it back to the corner where the cinema was we went up the big stairs so we could still see the road. The ute was still sitting there, not moving. After about a minute or two, as we're trying to decide what to do, a security guard walked past and had seen us. We must have looked really freaked out because he had followed our gaze to the car then back at us, then asked us, hey, how are you girls doing? Are you okay? We very shyly replied back that yeah, we're fine, obviously lying, which he could see right through. He then turned around and had started walking towards the ute and he got about 3/4 of the way to the car before the bloke took off. My girlfriend and I haven't hitchhiked since. I truly believe that there's no such thing as a safe town. A few months ago, and I don't know why, but I agreed and decided to go with my friend Michael to a house party which he was attending during her first year of high school. Even though I wasn't invited, Michael was able to make some exceptions and I accepted the invitation. Knowing that I wouldn't be able to drive. I had made a choice to go with Michael. When we arrived at the home late that night, Michael had told me to leave my phone in the car. He explained that maybe I could lose it or maybe someone I don't know could try and take it from me when I'm not looking. At first I was confused. I simply nodded and we got out of the car. I then went with Michael into the home or backyard where the party was taking place. I glanced around the backyard and I saw people engaging in various activities such as smoking, drinking, and possibly even doing drugs in small groups. Michael had encouraged me to go mingle and say hello to a few of the people there. After a few hours, I realized I had way too much to drink because my vision was completely foggy. After getting closer to the house, I leaned against the wall to support myself. As I did so, I noticed the time on my watch indicated that it was either midnight or one in the morning. I knew then that it was time to leave. So I had set out to find Michael and despite my overwhelming need to collapse, I had scanned the yard for him, but I was unable to locate him or even see him. When I'd asked a few of the others if they'd seen Michael, they all said that they hadn't. I had decided to call Michael to find out where the hell he was, so I reached inside my pocket to fill for my phone, but it wasn't there. I then Cursed myself in the back of my mind because I realized that because I had left my phone in Michael's car, it had disappeared along with them. I realized there was only one way to get home now, which was walking. Because I had remembered my house wasn't too far away from this house. But on this night it was really chilly because it was full. I thought about asking someone else to take me home, but I didn't really know anyone else they could help. So I just stuck with my idea of walking home in the darkness all by myself. Well, I then got to the road and I had started stumbling or walking down the street and I knew then that I had way too many drinks because I felt really lightheaded and dizzy. A few minutes later I had made it to the main area of the street and I just kept walking. And I had lazily started thinking about a bunch of different things, like why did Michael decide to leave me alone at the party? Or why did I decide to listen to Michael's idiotic idea of leaving my phone in his car so that I couldn't call him or anyone else for that matter. I started cursing myself for being so careless with my drinking and even getting drunk in the first place, just knowing that I shouldn't have done that. I stopped walking on the side of the road because I was getting tired and I crossed my arms over my chest tightly to keep myself warm. But then I remembered there was something I could do which was hitchhiking. I then held out my arm and stuck out my thumb, hoping someone else could see me. I watched as a couple of cars drove past me. They wouldn't stop and as the minutes ticked by, I had started feeling really uneasy, thinking I would have to start walking again. Now it was past one in the morning at this point and there were a few cars driving past me, but no one was stopping because they either didn't notice me or they just didn't care. I hesitated and I thought about walking home again, but I realized that in my drunken state it would be too daunting. So I was still holding out my thumb when a gray truck pulled up and then stopped in front of me. And I then smiled as I stumbled towards the vehicle. The window rolled down and an older looking man with a beard asked me if I needed a ride. I told him yes, and then I told him where my house was before getting into the truck, feeling really grateful for the ride. As we had started driving down the road, the man had started trying to make small talk with me, asking what happened to me However, I was way too disoriented to even have an actual conversation with him, so the only thing I could manage to say were low mumbles or just murmurs and groans. As we had turned the corner to my street away from the party, I had started feeling uneasy. For some reason, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was strange about this man. Suddenly we drove past my house and I had told the man that we had driven past it. I then felt my gut telling me to get out but I couldn't because I was too drunk to move. I was just about to tell the man to let me out before we got way too far away from my house when the man suddenly turned to me and I then noticed that he had a very sinister look on his face. You know, you really shouldn't be drunk while hitchhiking because you'd make a very easy target, the man said, smirking darkly. The man reached over and had started rubbing my leg and I didn't know what the hell he was trying to do, but I knew that it probably wasn't anything good. But before he could do anything else to me, we both heard a loud siren behind the car and then a flashing red and blue light flooded the night. I realized it was the police and I jumped for joy on the inside. The man then panicked and stopped, then unlocking his doors which had finally allowed me to jump out of the car. I ran as fast as I could in my mindset and the police officer rushed over to me and that's when I then told him the entire story about what happened to me. The police officer then told me his side of the story. He told me he was looking for someone in a gray truck who apparently stole something from the store. I'm not sure if it was the same man who picked me up or someone else, but I was really glad the police officer stopped that car. I then took the offer of getting taken back home from the police officer. When I finally got home, I decided that I wouldn't get so drunk that I couldn't think straight. I now know the importance of being responsible and staying aware of my surroundings, even when having a good time. My name is Cassidy. I had previously met with people through online apps, but then I deviated to just asking random strangers for rides whenever I wanted to go for a walk into town. Usually at night I'm a girl and I've never had another girl offer me a ride. It's always just men. Usually my nights are easy going and people just take me where I need to go. No Questions asked. A moment that particularly creeped me out was when I was 16 and I snuck out of my parents house in December. The temperature was freezing. It was maybe 35 degrees Fahrenheit. I was shivering and wandering around in the dark, headed to a park. I know it's dumb, since I wasn't even doing anything fun. It would have been more comfortable to stay in my bed. But as a young person, I was just really prone to making bad decisions. So as I'm walking, I realize it's way too cold for me to walk the whole mile that I wanted to go to the park. So I'd stuck my thumb out and then a guy pulled over for me. At first the guy seemed nice. I don't really care how a person looks if they're being kind enough to offer me a ride. I was really just happy to sit in a warm vehicle. He asked me where I wanted to go and I showed him the directions to the park. He said that he was headed home from a party and that he thought I was pretty. He smelled heavily of booze, so this made me a little worried. And I didn't want to tick him off because I know how drunk people can become upset if triggered. As we pulled up to the park, he grabs and squeezes my thigh. And then he asked if I wanted to hang out with him. I paused for a moment and I could barely even look at his face. I was so shocked. Especially when I didn't even hint to anything of being interested in him in that way. He tried to caress my face, but I couldn't stand to look at him. The fact that he was way older and drunk, well, it really made me want to leave and not stay any further. I tried to unlock the door, but it was locked. And I told him I didn't think it was a good idea to stay as I was already at the destination that I chose. He then insisted that I was so beautiful and that he's really a nice guy. This was the one time that I didn't bring any protection, like a knife or anything on me. I would have rather froze outside than drove away with this creepy guy to his place since I had no idea what his real intentions were. So that is what I did. I had to convince him that I really wanted to stay at the park. And then he unlocked the door, maybe realizing that I'm not even worth the trouble. I felt my heart beating so fast and I then ran into the dark to see him drive away, which did make me feel so much safer. I took a Nap on the cold damp grass trying to stay as warm as I could once I felt good enough to walk. I had flagged down another car to give me a ride that same night and this man asked if I wanted to make money. I think we all know how that sounds. So I immediately said no. And that was the end of our convo and he took me home. I know it sounds crazy to put myself in a situation like that where it's really cold and asking for rides for men, but I still continued to do so in the same wintery conditions years later. I usually got lucky. The most I would get were just compliments of older men saying I look pretty but then I leave. And I'm usually glad that I leave before anything weird happens. But to the creepy guy grabbing my leg, I really hope that you stopped grabbing strangers thighs just because they asked you for a ride. This occurred in 2009 when I was 20 years old and I was leaving my home state of California to head east for my corrections job. I was driving down the loneliest highway portion of the route and it was about 3am on a Sunday. They don't call it the Loneliest highway for nothing. I hadn't seen another soul for at least half an hour. I was getting sleepy but I wasn't tired enough to pull over and take a nap. That's when I saw a broken down car on the side of the highway. I slowed and saw a woman standing next to the car. I approached this woman with caution, rolling down my window just to sliver something about her just wasn't right. I couldn't put my finger on it then but I know now it was my subconscious screaming red flag. Red flag. I asked her if she needed me to call her a tow truck or AAA for her and she immediately tried to open my door. I then explained to her that I didn't feel comfortable letting her inside but that I'd wait until a tow truck came. She then immediately got this look of rage on her face and she started berating me. Come on, you're a big man. What am I gonna do to you? Then she started saying I was cruel for not letting her in. This is where I fucked up. I can see this now. Ten years later, I begrudgingly unlocked my door figuring she's right. She's at most 5'two and I'm over 6ft and have 100 pounds over her. She looked to be about 90 pounds or so. She then slips in and I ask her who I can call. This was 10 years ago, so I had a little BlackBerry slide, I think at the time. She then starts telling me that she'd prefer I just give her a ride to the next town. Now I'm starting to realize I done fucked up because she's avoiding eye contact and she's fumbling in her purse. And then when I mention calling for help, she's getting very aggressive, demanding I take her to the next town. I was so busy trying to unfuck this situation that somehow I had missed a man who was either hiding in or near her car. It wasn't until he was almost to my driver side door that I managed to catch him in my rearview mirror. Flight or fight kicked in right there. I put my car on drive and sped off right as this fucker was reaching for my car door. I then sped off and heard a pinging noise and then my rearview mirror fucking exploding. He was shooting at me. The adrenaline alone had me doing near 90. And by this time, homegirl realized in whatever drug induced stupor she was in that her little plan was futile. She started hitting me, telling me to stop and let her out. When I reached enough of a distance. I did just that. Pulled over and demanded she got the fuck out. She started going for the oversized purse she had, but I had enough. I was literally shaking with adrenaline. I reached over, opened the door and pretty much shoved this bitch out. I tried grabbing her purse, but she had managed to hold onto it, but not before dumping half of what was in there on my passenger seat. I then sped off with my door still wide open. I waited until I got a good distance from her, then slammed it shut and locked it. I clenched the wheel and drove as if I was on autopilot. It wasn't until later that morning that I pulled into a Denny's did I realize how close I was to pretty much dying. I had a pretty good cry. And I then realized that a bunch of her things spilled onto my passenger seat. Most of it was nasty. Wadded up napkins, a few tubes of lipstick and drug paraphernalia. I had considered calling the cops for finding a highway patrol officer. I did do something stupid. I tossed all of her things that had fallen into a trash bag and then threw them away. At the time, I had really dreamed of becoming a cop. And I knew if I got caught with drug paraphernalia that would be impossible. I didn't think they'd believe me that the drug paraphernalia wasn't mine. I had noticed a cop at the gas station from the Denny's and I told him what happened. He pretty much berated me for pulling over and letting her in. He did say he'd look into it, but I doubt he did. I was so shaken up that I pretty much just picked up my pancakes then left to continue on my way. I never did replace that mirror. I ended up just selling my car as where I had moved to didn't require me to have one. Even to this day, years later, I hesitate to stop and help stranded motorists. And honestly, you should too. So a little background here. My father was in the army for 21 years, retired and moved to a very small town in central Florida. He got bored after a couple of years and even though we didn't need the money, between his retirement and what my mom was making as a bookkeeper and tax prep, he wanted to go back to work. He had started working at various gas stations and it being a small town, the owners wouldn't care if I came there and helped him out with stocking the coolers or even running the register, just so long as I didn't sell any beer or smokes. This all took place in the late 80s and early 90s. The actual story I'm going to tell took place in 1990 and I remembered the date well because it was shortly after my birthday and being 15 in Florida, I had just gotten my learner's permit and my dad would let me drive him to and from work just to get some experience on the road. Both day and at night I was sitting in my usual spot at a table that was set up along the windows, book in hand, feet propped up and a Mountain Dew on the table along with some snacks. I would generally spend most of that evening that way, reading books and getting up to run the register and stock the cooler at different times. I remember glancing up because something caught my attention that was unusual and I realized that a lady was walking up our parking lot from the direction of the interstate. The gas station was right on i75. This in itself was really strange because of where we were located. You didn't get many people walking and definitely not walking from the direction of the interstate. I figured she had broken down somewhere and was coming to use the phone to call for a tow truck or something. I was completely wrong. She came into the store, looked around for a few minutes, and I remember just getting a strange and creepy feeling about her. She walked up to the counter and had started telling my dad a story about how she had gotten stranded and how she had needed a ride up to the next big town north from Us Ocala was the town. This is important. My dad lets her know that he's working and there's really no way that he can take her. She turns and looks at me and while she's looking away from him, my dad catches my eye and then subtly shakes his head no. I was confused for a second, but then she turns back to my dad and points at me asking if I can take her. My dad responded back that I only had a learner's permit and that I wouldn't be able to drive her anywhere and then drive back. Normally I would have done it even though it was illegal because I'd done it a few times before already. But I didn't argue with my dad since this was completely out of character for him. He was normally very chatty with customers, but for whatever reason he was almost curt and dismissive of her. Turns out he had a bad vibe about her from the minute he had seen her walking up the drive. Well, she cusses him out for a minute and he basically tells her to get the hell out of the store. She then slammed the door open. I thought the glass was going to break from just how hard she had slammed it, but then she walks out of the store and down the driveway. I keep an eye on her and continue to watch as she makes her way up to the interstate and then starts up the northbound Don ramp. Almost a year passes and I'm in my bedroom less than a week before my 16th birthday. I can hear my dad yelling from the living room, son, get your ass in here. Look at this. I then quickly run to the living room to see my dad pointing at the TV and I look at the mugshot of the lady up on the screen and I immediately remember the lady who had been in the store. Well, turns out I almost gave a car ride to Aileen Wuornos, who was later convicted of being a serial killer and then later being put to death. I still have nightmares about what could have happened to me to this day. It really gives me the creeps. I had never been a fan of night driving and this night in question was no exception. I was only 16 and I had recently earned my driver's license. My parents had fully trusted me enough to drive alone, but the darkness that shrouded the world beyond my car's headlights still terrified me. I was on my way home from a late night study session with my friends Sarah and Mike. The rural road I was driving on was enveloped by tall, gnarled trees that seemed to reach out for me. Their branches Casting eerie, elongated shadows on the asphalt. This night felt suffocating, and I turned up the volume of my radio to try and distract myself from the fear that threatened to grip me. The road ahead seemed endless, and the darkness played tricks on my eyes. I had swore that I saw movement at the edge of my vision. Figures lurking in the shadows. Panic clawed at me, but I told myself it was just my imagination. Suddenly, my headlights caught a figure on the side of the road, hitchhiking. I slammed on the brakes, my heart pounding in my chest. The person was just a silhouette in the darkness, their thumb outstretched, asking for a ride. Fear gripped me, but I couldn't just leave someone stranded in the middle of nowhere. I then cautiously rolled down my window and asked, hey, are you okay? The stranger stepped closer, and as the faint light from the car's interior revealed their face, I gasped. It was a woman. Her features twisted in a grotesque smile that was anything but human. Her eyes glowed with an unnatural, otherworldly light, and her skin was deathly pale. Can you give me a ride, sweetheart? Her voice sent chills down my spine, A haunting whisper that seemed to come from the grave. I fumbled for the door locks, then hit the gas, leaving her standing in the rearview mirror. My heart raced as I sped down the road, haunted by the image of that terrifying looking woman. I finally reached the safety of my well lit suburban neighborhood and my trembling hands reached for my phone to call my parents. My voice shook as I recounted the encounter with the eerie hitchhiker. My mom's voice trembled as she spoke. Oh, honey, you're not the first one to see her. The locals call her the Midnight Specter. She's said to be a restless spirit who seeks a ride to escape the darkness. People say that she only appears to those who drive alone at night. My blood ran cold as I remembered the woman's ghastly face. I parked my car in the driveway, vowing to never drive alone at night on that road ever again. That encounter had forever changed me, and the darkness of that night held secrets that I never wanted to uncover. So, yeah, I won't be going on that road ever again at night. It was around summer of 2007, and I was about 8 at the time. My grandpa and his wife took my little sister and I to this music festival to get us out of the house. I don't remember that much, but I do remember it was a big field with people sitting on blankets that they brought with them, as well as fancy bottles full of drinks. There was also a stage about 50 yards ahead of where we were with a band playing oldies music that I didn't recognize, the sun had set and the sky had just turned a dark blue. Linda, my grandpa's wife, stands up and then says she's getting something to drink. I asked if I could go since I was pretty thirsty myself and it was pretty hot out. She took my hand and brought me with her. We both got smoothies and we were heading back to where my sister and grandpa were when then people suddenly started screaming and running. Linda grabs me and picks me up, making me drop my smoothie and it then spilled all over my white shorts. We hid behind a food truck and I had started crying because I was really confused and scared and also sticky. I was and still kinda am a finicky kid. I also had bronchitis, so I was beginning to wheeze. Linda holds me and then shushes me gently to calm me down. It's okay, baby. Shh. It's okay. I then hiccuped and tried to calm down. With the screaming still surrounding me, I got scared again and recall my chest feeling tight. Baby, you need to calm down, okay? Breathe. Copy my breathing. Once I was calm enough and the terrifying excitement died down, we cautiously made it back and Linda then asked my grandpa what had happened. Two guys started arguing and then one pulled out a gun and started going crazy. He said. I remember this vividly since I had pictured a man holding a gun to another and shouting like a psycho. We then sat down on our blanket and I realized I was still thirsty. So Linda went on her own this time to get everyone a water bottle while my sister, who was about three at the time and myself stayed put. My grandpa comforted me and told me I was safe. But not 20 minutes later we hear another single shot and more screams. My grandpa grabbed me much like Linda did before, while she then grabbed my sister and we ran off leaving the blankets we had behind. I don't really remember much after, but I remember falling asleep in the car and waking up with my head on my grandpa's shoulder with him, then telling my mom about what happened. Of course my mom was worried, but ultimately decided that we would stick to playing in our neighborhood for a few weeks and no more festivals for a while. It was a really heart racing experience for me and I had this experience completely locked in the back of my mind until recently.
- [151:02]
Geico Spokesperson
How do you feel when you switch to GEICO and save on your car insurance? It's like going to work on one Thursday morning and thinking to yourself, just one more day. Until Friday. But then somebody in the elevator says Happy Friday. Then you check your phone quickly and discover today is actually Friday. So yes, Happy Friday. Random stranger in the elevator. Happy Friday indeed. Yep, switching and saving with Geico feels just like that. Get more with Geico.
- [151:31]
Ryan Seacrest
Hello, it is Ryan and we could all use an extra bright spot in our day, couldn't we? Just to make up for things like sitting in traffic, doing the dishes, counting your steps. You know, all the mundane stuff. That is why I'm such a big fan of Chumba Casino. Chumba Casino has all your favorite social casino style games that you can play for free anytime, anywhere with daily bonuses. So sign up now@chumbacasino.com that's chumbacino.com sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group void we prohibited by law 18/ terms and conditions apply. I was a young teen girl and I went bowling with two of my best friends. I'm a 5 foot 2, brown haired, green eyed 15 year old girl. When we were leaving the bowling alley we had met these two grown men who were whistling at us as well as hollering really nasty things to us. When we got to the car, the car had broken down. However, it was perfectly fine. Earlier we had gone back in because it was a hot summer night. It was also closing time and the men were still in there. They were now trying to touch us and asking if we needed a jump when we hadn't even told them that the car was broken down. We were now trying to talk to one of the workers to distract us from the men, but that didn't stop them. I kept trying to tell them our ages but it didn't even bother them. It was truly starting to creep me out. We then walked back to the car and they had followed us. The car was parked pretty far away from ours so we felt fine when they got to their car. They then sat in their dark car staring over at ours and they still weren't leaving. We had to sit there for over an hour waiting for someone to come pick us up. We had decided to walk back into the bowling alley with the men honking at us and calling out to us through the window. They were waving us over and telling us that they had what we needed. My friend had almost believed them but I told her that he was lying just to get us over there. We walked back in and then told the worker. She told us to stay inside until we see them drive away. That's when my friend's dad then calls her to tell her to come out. So while we're walking out, the two men in the car drove really fast over to us, but we ran to the car. We had told our dad about the whole situation and he told us to close the doors and then stay inside the car and to not leave. The men then finally drove away and we haven't seen them since. I'm very glad that none of us ever walked over to their car. Something really bad could have happened had we done so. This happened on a warm summer day when my twin and I were just eight years old, heading to an ice cream shop with our mother. Cass and I were super excited because we almost never had money to go out and get a treat like this. We had dressed in matching summer dresses that had a cat chasing a ball of yarn on the bottom of the dress, hers pink and mine purple. With both of our long hair and pigtails. We entered the shop and we were excitedly deciding what flavor of ice cream we were going to get when at a table no more than four feet away from the door sat an old man who made a strange noise. He had meowed like a cat and when we looked over at him, he was licking at his hand and pawing at his face like a cat would. He pointed to our dresses where the cats were and then smiled, revealing a major lack of teeth, and then once more began meowing, making intense eye contact at us both. We both just looked at each other, trying to hold back our laughter, when he then made a hissing noise and reached for us. My mother, who had been watching from in front of us after hearing the hiss, simply gave the old man a weird look and just told us to keep walking. With the distraction of ice cream, my sister and I were completely sidetracked until we had to find a place to sit, my mother tactically picking the seats farthest away from the weird meowing old man. We were really enjoying our ice cream, making a mess when the old man oh so casually tiptoed over so that he was sitting at the table right in front of my sister and I, but also behind my mother's back. He began licking at his hands again and staring at us and then he began loudly meowing and attempting to purr. My mother got an odd look on her face, but didn't turn around, just sternly told us that we were going to have to finish up outside. Unfortunately, we had to walk directly by him to get out the door. As we passed, he pointed at us and in a weird high pitched voice then said, you like kitties? I'm a kitty myself Take me home with you. I just want lovings. And then he meowed once more and with that he began standing up as if he was gonna leave with us. Before my mother could even make sense of what to say, a man from a neighboring table who must have overheard stood up and they got between the man and us. Yeah, I don't think so pal. As all the man said. I remember before leaving, glancing over at the man's table where his two sons sat, who gave us equally weirded out looks at the situation that just occurred right in front of them. I shrugged at the boys as if to say that I didn't know what that was all about either. My mom then quickly thanked the man who interfered and we leave, forcing her to choose between having two messy 8 year olds eating melting ice cream in her car or wait until we're done with the possibility that the weird old Catman might come out. The entire way home we had to lean out of the car windows, the silence only being broken by the humming noises and the occasional meow sound from my sister and I with a laugh. Yeah, that was a weird one. This happened to me when I was 16. I had decided to do something over the summer break just so that I wouldn't get bored. My dad had offered me to house sit for one of his coworkers while she was away on business. I agreed and my dad made the arrangements. He said that I would get paid $200 for the five days that I'd be house sitting for her. It seemed like a pretty good deal. So on that Monday my dad had dropped me off at around 7:30 in the morning. His coworker was in a rush so she had briefly explained where everything in the house was and then took off in a cab right towards the airport or wherever she was going. At first I didn't feel that bored. The house seemed to be fun in and she also had a dog, which was a plus because I loved animals. I guess the main reason she needed someone to house sit for her was to take care of her dog, a small Maltese by the name of Ivy. I played some video games that she had in the living room, then took Ivy for a walk around the block. I then watched some scary videos on my laptop before I decided to order some Chinese takeout for dinner. After dinner I had watched some more Southern Cannibal videos in the guest room where I had been sleeping before I actually fell asleep. The next few days were uneventful. I spent time with Ivy, played video games, cooked, clean, and so on I wanted the house to be clean when the owner returned. It was a Thursday night when this happened. The next day, a Friday, my dad's co worker would arrive. I finished my dinner that night and washed the dishes, wiped down the counters and stove, and made sure Ivy had all the food and water that she'd need. Then I retired to the guest room and watched some more videos in bed again. It was around 11:30 when I had heard the car pulling into the driveway. I felt confused as nobody should have been arriving. Not the owner and definitely not the mailman. I paused the video I was watching and then listened to the sound of heavy footsteps making their way up to the front door. Then bangs. Heavy, loud bangs. Someone was banging aggressively on the door. My heart began to pound furiously. I guess I only thought this could happen in scary movies, but at that point I had found myself in my own scary story. The banging on the door had paused, and then an angry man's voice then roared, open up, Jenny. I know you're in there. Open up the door now. Before the pounding resumed. Jenny was the house owner's name. This man was looking for her. But why? I thought about the information that my dad gave me about her, and I remember that he had mentioned that she had an ex. Could this crazy guy outside be her ex? Open the door right now, Jenny. The man outside roared again. Open it now or I'll do it. And you won't like it if I do that. My heart began to pound even harder and I felt as though I couldn't move, but I knew that I'd have to. I slowly crept out of the guest room and put on my shoes and jacket, which I luckily left by the back door. Outside, I could hear the man cocking back the hammer of a gun. Damn it, I muttered. He's got a gun. I crept back to the guest room, then picked up a trembling Ivy. She whined softly, and I had stroked her head just to keep her quiet as the first few shots then rang out. I knew that if the man fired enough bullets into the door, I'd definitely be dead. So I picked up my phone from the nightstand and dialed 911. After briefly explaining to the operator what was going on, I dialed my dad, who is luckily still awake. I told him the situation, and he said that he'd come as soon as possible. As soon as I tucked my phone into my pocket, I heard the gut wrenching sound of the doorknob falling to the floor and then the door opening. He got in. Or so I thought. I silently closed and locked the guest bedroom door before making my way to the window and then opening it. The guest room was on the first floor, so I could easily escape unharmed. That was if the crazy man didn't somehow catch and then shoot me to death. I climbed out of the window with Ivy in my arms and began to run as fast as my trembling legs would allow me to get away from the house. To my absolute horror, I heard the crazy guy then screaming, hey. Stop it. From behind me, and before I knew it, he was chasing me. Ivy whined and squealed in terror as I ran, but I was determined not to end up on the news as a dead teenage girl being another statistic. I ran for what felt like hours, all the while hearing the man firing his gun from behind. It was really a miracle that I wasn't shot to my advantage. The cops arrived just as I tripped over my shoelaces and then fell forward hard onto the pavement. The blaring cop cars were followed by my dad's car. Upon seeing me, my father rushed forward then hugging me. I hugged him back and then hugged a trembling Ivy. I turned to see officers unarming and then handcuffing the man. That night, my dad had spent time with me in his coworker's house, along with an officer who had volunteered just to make us feel safe, I guess. When morning came, my dad's coworker arrived and upon hearing everything that happened, she had paid me $500 for keeping her dog safe and also going through all the fear and trouble. To this day, I'm so grateful to have the ability to get away and I really believe that it came from all the scary stories I've watched to gain experience. I'm really happy that I made it out alive, but I still wonder what would have happened if my dad's coworker hadn't gone on her business trip. Would she have been killed? I really hope not. I'm 22 and this incident happened about a year and a half ago. I had just moved into my first apartment and I was in the process of moving in. The door that led into my apartment locks itself automatically when closed, so I was going to the entrance of the apartment complex to get my mail while talking on the phone with my boyfriend. I returned to my apartment and sat on the bed while opening up my mail. While using the phone. I dropped the phone on the floor and it landed under the bed so I had to lie on the floor and then stretch for it. I then saw something that caught my eye. There was someone under my bed. My eyes widened and I then choked the urge to scream. The person under my bed was lying with his bag towards me and his head to his chest so I couldn't see his face and he didn't see me trying to be rational while so many thoughts rushed through my head. I had picked up the phone and then said Sorry, I dropped my phone. I'm just gonna take a shower real quick and then call you back. The bathroom is right by my bed, so I hastily walked in quietly, locked the door, turned the shower on and then jumped out of my window and called the police for reference. My apartment is on the first floor. They told me to wait nearby but to go across the street and see if anyone comes out of the door to the apartment complex. This was during the summer and it was actually still light out. I placed myself across the street, hiding behind a car while watching my open bathroom window and the entry door. I called my boyfriend and he came to me just before the police. I gave them my keys and they went inside. Only moments later, two cops came out holding a thin and tired looking man. His eyes looked crazy but he didn't try to get away. The policeman that stood beside me and comforted me while the police searched through my house told me that the man stood outside my bathroom door with one of my kitchen knives waiting for me to come out. This man had somehow crept in my entry door while I was getting my mail and then hid under the bed. The man that was trying to hurt me turned out to be a homeless person and he was eventually placed in a mental hospital. My boyfriend luckily moved in with me the very next day. Thanks for listening everyone. I just wanted to share my story so that others might know what to do if they're ever in a situation like this. The police told me that what I did was truly amazing and rational and that if I had screamed, this could have ended really badly for me. In the summer of 2022, I had applied to work on a cruise ship sailing around the islands of Hawaii. To start, I wouldn't recommend this job to anyone. We worked ridiculous hours and had absolutely no days off. This story, however, starts before I even boarded the ship. To work on cruises in America, one must complete STCW training. This is basically a week long course that teaches you basic firefighting, paramedic and seaworthy skills. After passing my medical, I headed off to complete this STCW training at a place that we'll call po. I flew in for training stupidly early. I think it was 5am when I arrived and I waited for the rest of my group to get to the airport. Once we were all there, we had took a bus to the training camp. You can imagine the tension. Here we are completely new to each other, embarking on the adventure of a lifetime. All was well, except for this one guy. He's the center of this story. We arrived at the camp and set our bags into our rooms. I was lucky to not have a roommate once our initial meeting started. This man, who we'll call S, decided to cause problems from the get go. He was about 60 years old with grimy hair and old tattered clothes. Now, I'm not one to judge, however, when someone is interrupting an explanation of a unique job, I definitely need to listen in. Throughout the meeting, this man continued to interject with useless anecdotes and questions that would obviously sleep. He answered shortly. Now I know it sounds like I'm being really harsh on this guy, but the average age of people at this meeting was maybe 25. I myself was 22 at the time and we all felt that we thought this guy was slowing us all down. Anyways, as class progressed, this 60 year old guy took a liking to one of the 20 year olds. I guess that's kind of natural. But he'd run ahead to open doors for her and wait for her to exit class so that he could hold the door open for her. I guess it was sweet, but there still seemed to be something wrong with this guy. We went to firefighting training and he slowed us all down. We had to get our gear on in 60 seconds and the guy failed. After that day, things started to go downhill. So because S failed, he was no longer able to join the cruise ship and would be sent home. His flight, however, wouldn't leave until the same day that we flew to Hawaii. He still sat with us at lunch and he asked us what our courses were about. One day at lunch, I had made the mistake of saying that I loved people born in May. Well, turns out this guy was born in May and he decided that I was his new target. His roommate told me that he would spend his night standing up and staring at the wall for hours. That or making weird faces in the bathroom mirror. Anyways, after that he made sure to always be by me and to also mention that he wanted a family with me. Keep in mind, I'm 22 and this guy is 60. He's older than my dad. The worst thing by far that happened was the last day that I was at P.O. i came out of class to use the bathroom and S was standing in the girls bathroom. He cornered me against the wall and he told me that he couldn't stop thinking of me and that he wanted to impregnate me. He told his roommate that I was in love with him just because of the birth month. Luckily I reported this lunatic but I later found out that he had lied on his work for him saying that he never committed a felony when in actuality he'd gotten arrested for beating and stalking his ex wife. He was homeless, she had a whole restraining order against him and they still let him go as far as the training camp for this cruise ship. Had this freak passed his firefighting test, he would have been working closely with people on vacation. And that thought makes me sick. How could someone get this far in the process without being stopped? It really makes me think twice about the people I encounter on board ships. Thank goodness I'm not working there anymore. But for the love of Pete, do better cruise companies. Please look further into the people that you're employing and keep the vacationer safe. It's the least that you can do. I don't really share my dating stories unless they're funny or just incredibly awkward. You know the sort of stories which my friends usually get entertained by over breakfast when we have to catch up. There was one moment though, which completely changed dating apps and how I viewed them. I had always approached dating positively. Even the worst dates I would take something positive from. Despite being in my late 30s, I had tons of confidence in finding someone someday and I always took pride in my appearance, working out, you know, those kind of things. My job was to sell, so I was pretty bubbly and chatty, even if some days it was not how I felt on the inside. During a period of a successful showroom opening of which I was the manager. After traveling for work and being on top of the world, I decided to rejoin the dating apps. It felt like the right time. I began dating regularly that spring and I had been briefly messaging someone on Bumble who had lived about an hour away. His name was John. He had a few attractive photos, no bio, but seemed pleasant enough. We were going to meet up sometime, but due to us both being busy, it kind of fizzled out and I ended up unmatching with him when our conversation ceased. But a few weeks later, John had popped back up in my app one day at work and we rematched. We talked briefly about work and the weather. It had been a beautiful sunny spring. John mentioned that his work took him across South Wales as a company rep. Wales in the UK is a relatively small area with a main motorway running through it. It's quite easy to travel across the south of the country this way. John mentioned who would be passing through my work area and wanted to pop by. My body instantly went into anxious mode. It felt like when your relatives dropped by unannounced. But worse, as it's a stranger that you barely even know on a nap. I told him not today. I said that I was busy and that I just can't have people dropping by in my workplace. I suggested that we meet on an actual date in a public place. He agreed. I wasn't too worried. He knew the nature of my work, but I hadn't told him where my showroom was. But as he made further jokes about showing up, I got concerned. I realized that he wasn't taking my no very seriously. I headed outside to see the businesses adjoined to me on our very small industrial unit side and left early for the day. It was a Friday, so this wasn't unusual. But I then realized I was very alone. Now for some reason, call it gut instinct, I had decided to click on his profile and check his location. And to my horizon, this guy who lived over an hour away was now within a mile or two of me. On Bumble. There is or was a way too precise location showing at the bottom of your profile. I worked in a showroom set in a rural area with maybe three other businesses adjoining mine, as well as a few houses further down the road. But overall it was really quiet and the whole area was less than a mile square in size. We were surrounded by sheep and farmland. I headed inside and sat there for a second. I decided I was going to move my car, which was parked outside, further down the unit estate, put the electric shutter door down and lock up just to make it appear as if nobody was there. Luckily, the front of the building had no windows and I could just hide out. As I walked swiftly towards the entrance, keys in hand, I had heard tires on the concrete entrance driving slowly toward my workplace. I then realized it was now too late to close the shutter door. The car stopped, a door shut, and in walked John from Bumble. I was taken aback by how scruffy he was in person. He had holes in his shoes, unshaved, and he was overly cocky. I called out, what are you doing here? I told you not to come here. He laughed us off confidently, telling me that it wasn't hard to find me using Bumble's location and what kind of showroom I was working in. Looking around the showroom. He commented that I was working alone before coming in way too close to me. My confident facade was now crumbling. I nervously showed him a few things we sold, demonstrating them as well as walking. As I talked, he remained within a foot of me, smiling creepily, clearly disinterested in talking. He started saying things like, you're really hot in person, you look way better than your photos. Then said proudly with a big grin, I'm making you really nervous, aren't I? Yeah, you are and I'd actually prefer it if you just left. He enjoyed this answer and then said, I'm not leaving without a kiss. Then he started trying to touch my arm. I became frustrated, but I knew that I had to be tactical in getting him to leave. As I turned to casually walk away into the office to grab my phone. He then slammed me very hard across my backside before proceeding to try and grab my waist and then pull me toward him. Alarm bells were now ringing. I told him to get out, my hand on his back, pushing him out of the big roller door. Still smiling and enjoying this, he grabbed my neck and tried to force my face into his kiss to me. I felt myself instinctively hit him in the face and then shouted to get out, bluffing that I'll shout for someone next door to come help me, knowing all too well nobody was actually around to help me. Surprisingly, and to my relief, he got right into his car and left. I then shut up the showroom. I went into the office and instead of unmatching this guy, I had watched his location as he drove first further away. I reopened the showroom, called my brother who had begged me to call the police, but I just brushed it off saying that he's gone and to not worry. I had checked his location all day until later on I had noticed him heading back past my area as a precaution, I had locked up and as predicted, he did stop by and he found the place locked up. I should have called the police, I know, but it seemed somewhat embarrassing to me to admit that I'd been careless about the information that I'd been giving to this guy. I reported him to bundle later on. I also ignored his messages before I unmatched him, asking me if I'd found him attractive and if we could meet again. Frustratingly, despite me reporting him, I've seen him several times on various apps. From that day onwards, I've hidden my location and I don't tell anyone where I were. I now have a very busy job elsewhere with a lot of colleagues and dating has since lost its shine. The story is a little different than most stories you hear on here. In this story I am technically the online stranger, but you'll understand later why this becomes a scary story. Bear with me as I'm not really the greatest storyteller to give a little background when this happened. I was a 17 year old kid who really enjoyed pranking people on the Internet. I didn't have ill intent with this situation. I was just looking for a laugh as most rebellious teens do. I am sharing this story as a warning to others of how a seemingly funny situation has the potential to turn into a scary one. This takes place in a high crime area in Missouri. Okay, now onto the story. Back in 2017 most nights I had spent at home with my boyfriend, now husband. I was 17 and his brother was 19. Many nights we would stay up late and we would find ourselves getting bored, typically winding up at Steak n shake at 3am joking and laughing and just being annoying teenagers. This night in particular, we had spent the evening watching the most insane clips from MTV show Catfish. We ended up talking about how funny it would be to actually prank someone by catfishing them. Now I know what you're thinking, it's a stupid idea and could potentially harm someone's feelings. But we were just kids looking to prank some people and we didn't really think it through that well. We decided to create an account with fake tumblr girl photos on a popular dating app and swiping riot on every man who came across to see who would take the bait. Eventually our account matched with an older man in his 40s. My brother in law decided to take the lead with the messages. The man was very eager to meet. He was begging to hang out immediately and we all decided that it could be really funny to set up a meeting time and spa with this man and go there to see his reaction. We then picked the Walgreens down the street and to meet at 10:00pm 10:00 came around and we all got in the car and headed for the Walgreens. Once we got there we went over to the side of the building and sat on the sidewalk in front of the red box. The man texted us and said he was two minutes away. While we waited, we decided it would be safe to just stay where we were and to just see what happened. The man texted and told us that he had arrived. We responded that we were inside the building near the makeup aisle. We sat and watched as this man went into the store and began searching for the girl in the photos. After a few minutes, the phone pinged with a text. I can't find you. Are you sure this is the correct Walgreens? Of course I'm sure. I come here every day, silly. I replied with a look of cringe on our faces. We really tried to play up the desperate bimbo act. I was just in the restroom. Maybe that's why you couldn't find me. I'm over by the vitamin aisle now. Where are you? We replied. We got up and we decided to go inside the Walgreens and Window shop to try and see how this man was reacting. If you've ever been to a Walgreens, you know the entire back of the store has slanted mirrors near the ceiling, so you can see any aisle of the store from where you stand. We caught slide of the guy and watched as he paced through the A aisles looking pissed and typing angrily on his phone. We decided it would be a good time to go sit back down on the sidewalk just in case he realized it. A few seconds later, we had received a new text from the man. Is this some kind of joke to you? I have checked every aisle in this damn store and you're not here. Of course, as teenagers, we found his anger at the situation to be hilarious. We decided to act clueless and then replied, what do you mean I'm right in the candy aisle? He then replied, do you think I'm an idiot? At this point, the man came storming out of the store, muttering angry things under his breath that we couldn't quite understand. The man got in his car and then left the parking lot, pulling him to the stoplight right in front of the store. We all burst out laughing thinking it was the funniest prank ever. The man must have had his window window down and it hurt us and then immediately locked eyes with me. He took the turn at the light and we decided now would probably be a great time to get the hell out of Dodge. As we got in the car, a new message from the man then popped up and read, you were those kids sitting outside, weren't you? What? You think this shit is funny? At that point, we saw his car had only gone a short distance down the road, whipped around and started speeding back towards the store. We then immediately booked it around the back of the store and took the back way home. Thankfully, he didn't see us get into our car, so he never did manage to find us. When we arrived back home, we then immediately deactivated the account. I know what we did was really stupid and I'm very apologetic to whoever the girl in the photo was that we used for this prank. And I'm also really sorry to the dude for wasting his time. But at the same time I truly believe that if this man had caught up to us, he would have potentially hurt us. Moral of the story is catfishing is not fun nor is it okay. The situation we put ourselves in could have really ended badly. The area was known for daily shootings and high crime. We could have been messing with the wrong person. Thankfully however, we had made it out untouched. Don't be like us. Stay safe everyone.
- [184:14]
Chumba Casino Spokesperson
How to have fun anytime, anywhere step.
- [184:16]
Ryan Seacrest
One go to chumbacasino.com chumbacasino.com Got it.
- [184:21]
Chumba Casino Spokesperson
Step two collect your welcome bonus.
- [184:23]
Ryan Seacrest
Come to papa. Welcome bonus.
- [184:25]
Chumba Casino Spokesperson
Step 3 Play hundreds of casino style games for free.
- [184:28]
Ryan Seacrest
That's a lot of games all for free.
- [184:29]
Chumba Casino Spokesperson
Step 4 Unleash your excitement.
- [184:31]
Ryan Seacrest
Woohoo.
- [184:33]
Chumba Casino Spokesperson
Chumba Casino has been delivering thrills for over a decade. So claim your free welcome bonus now and live the chumba life. Visit chumbacasino.com ETW Group no purchase necessary Void but prohibited by law. See terms and conditions 18 + All right, we're all set for the party. I've trimmed the tree, hung the mistletoe, and paired all those weird shaped knives and forks with the appropriate cheeses. And I plugged in the Bartesian.
- [184:54]
Ryan Seacrest
Bartesian.
- [184:54]
Chumba Casino Spokesperson
It's a home cocktail maker that makes over 60 premium cocktails, plus a whole lot of seasonal favorites too. I just got it for 50, so how about a Cosmopolitan or a Mistletoe margarita?
- [185:05]
Ryan Seacrest
I'm thirsty.
- [185:06]
Chumba Casino Spokesperson
Watch. I just pop in a capsule, choose my strength and wow, it's beginning to.
- [185:11]
Ryan Seacrest
Feel more seasonal in here already.
- [185:12]
Chumba Casino Spokesperson
If your holiday party doesn't have a bartender, then you become the bartender. Unless you've got a Bartesian, because Bartesian crafts every cocktail perfectly in as little as 30 seconds. And I just got it for $50 off.
- [185:25]
Ryan Seacrest
Tis the season to be jollier. Add some holiday flavor to every celebration with the sleek, sophisticated home cocktail maker Bartesian. Get $50 off any cocktail maker at bartisian.com cocktail that's B A R T E S I A N dot com cocktail so this happened in 2021. My girlfriends and I were planning on going to Myrtle beach on vacation for a week. I hopped on Tinder a week or so prior and turned on my settings to show the guys in Myrtle just to see what I had to look forward to. When I got down there, I ended up matching with this attractive guy and we were talking for a bit Before I drove down for my vacation, he seemed pretty cool. So we talked about possibly meeting up when I got down there. Well, one night we did make plans, but he couldn't meet up until at least 11 at night. I should have known then and there that that was a red flag. But I'm no stranger to meeting up with men for a little extra fun while on vacation, because why not? I was gonna get free drinks. So he tells me to meet him at this one sushi restaurant not too far away from the boardwalk. But when we got there, they said they were closing. Then he suggested we go to this one tequila bar that was within walking distance. As we walk there talking, he then realizes that he doesn't have his id. Red flag number two. I was then like, maybe I should just leave because they probably won't let you in. He said he's fine because they let him in all the time. Okay, I said, feeling that gut feeling that something is off. And we went to the bar and got in the elevator. Lo and behold, they wouldn't let him in. He then suggested that we just get a beer and smoke at his place. And my dumbass agreed because free drinks and I didn't get all dressed up for nothing. We drove separately to his place and all was good for a while. Drinking beer, listening to music, and smoking the devil's lettuce. One of my friends even called to check on me to see if I was okay. Thank God. Okay, so now that we're buzzed and stoned, things started spicing up and we had started making out on his bed. All good at this point. Then things started getting hot and heavy with lots of heavy bedding, and were about to do the deed. This is where it took a turn for the worse. He proceeded to grab a condom, but I had to stop him because I have a severe latex allergy. And the mood suddenly changed. On a positive note, he refused to do it without a rubber. But then we were both just awkwardly laying there looking at the ceiling with my head on his arm. Then out of nowhere, he then said, well, if I can't fuck you, I guess I'm just gonna have to kill you. Then he proceeds to actually start trying to choke me out. Now, I've had many online encounters, more than I'd like to admit, but I have never been so scared in my entire life. I literally saw my life flash before my eyes. I then grabbed his arm and pulled him off of me. Then saying, what the fuck do you think you're doing? Luckily, showing no fear while saying, it and he stopped and was just like, aw, come on, I was only joking. You don't make jokes like that with someone who's a complete stranger, I said. I also made a big deal about how it wasn't funny nor something that should even be joked about. Then he kept going on and on about how he didn't rape me, which I stated that I know he didn't because nothing happened. Things had calmed down a bit on the outside, but inside I was freaking the fuck out. This man was still holding onto me and he wasn't letting go anytime soon. I wanted to get the hell out of there and get back to my hotel where I felt safe. He finally gets up and goes to the bathroom and then I finally make my escape. I put on my dress so fast and didn't even bother to put on my underwear. Her shoes. I just grabbed my stuff and hightailed it out of there. It doesn't end there. On my way back, this man is blowing up my phone with calls and texts saying that he didn't rape me and he was just joking. I told him I was extremely uncomfortable and that he doesn't have to worry about me going to the police, but that he needs to leave me alone and lose my number. I finally got back to the hotel around 4am and my one friend was actually still up and I then told her what happened. She said that she had a feeling that something wasn't right and that's why she stayed awake. I am just so thankful I got out of this situation safely and unharmed while also enjoying the rest of my vacation. Moral of the story is to always trust your gut, ladies. If something doesn't feel right, it probably isn't. And to the weird Tinder guy from Myrtle beach, don't contact me again. During the summer of 2019, maybe fall, somewhere between August and October, I had met this woman on Tinder. She was pretty, attractive, young, brown, curly hair, had it all. Not too far into our conversation, she got into how she's new to the area and she's recently divorced from some abusive man and had spouted out some really horrible things that she's endured. She showed me her two boys and talked about how hard it is being a mom of two all alone and also how lonely she gets. And then before you know it, she's talking about how she hasn't had sex in a long time and just how badly she needs it. I was in pretty rough shape in the penal department, if you get what I'm saying. And I was more than Willing to meet her and help her out. She had tried to get me to send her money to buy her kids a game so they can be distracted, and I got suspicious by that. I had offered to buy it and bring it, but she said they wanted to buy it on the system and download it, which I got even more suspicious. She said to get a gift card and that seemed more reasonable, but I was still suspicious. She had made it clear to be careful when I scratch a sticker so that I don't ruin the code, and I lied and I said I got it but ruined the code. She was pissed, but she said to come anyway. She asked if I had more money to get another and when I said of course, she had sent me her address and said to come. I put an Uber in because I needed a new truck at the time and it happened to be the same guy who I've had two, three times before and I've become somewhat friends with. We got along and I told him how I was going to meet this girl and he told me to be careful because he knows the area and he knows people on the street that aren't the most upstanding citizens. Now, I was relatively new to the area as well, but I was also aware of what areas to stay clear of and who lived there and who did not. And I can promise you this, mom did not live here. As we approached the house, the Uber driver then said to me, is this it? And he had said it in kind of a concerned tone, to which I just said I'm not sure. He asked me if I had ever met her before and I told him no and that I kinda got bad vibes, but I still risked it. He said that if I need a ride out to just quickly call him and then I can cash app him for a ride home. I thanked him and then hopped out. As I walked up, I noticed two bald black guys smoking a blunt in the backyard, which was also clearly visible from the front steps. And when they saw me, the one guy's eyes damn near fell out of his head and he immediately dropped. The second guy facing away from me was instinctual and he dropped too, but he also turned as he dropped, so at the last second we locked eyes. They then ducked so they were below waist high bushes and were probably laying either flat or on all fours. I immediately put in some distance between me and that house and down the street was a church. I sat at that church and I had asked if she had company, but she said no. I asked her if she knew that two guys were in her backyard, to which she said yes. I asked who they were and I don't really remember what she said, but it was something dismissive to where I asked her if she's really there to step outside on the front porch and I'd come over. She refused and I proceeded to insult the two men on how stupid they were to mess this up and to be outside smoking while I was on the way. I then called my Uber driver and told him to come get me and I told him I'd throw him an extra 20 bucks to step on it. He knew and he came within five minutes. He lived around the corner and he went home because he knew that I'd call him pretty quickly. I told him what happened, which he just said, yep, you're lucky you're smart enough to not go in because they honestly probably would have killed you. Those words made my adrenaline rush again because deep down I knew I was going against my better judgment just for a quick piece of ass. I told my buddy back in Jersey when he had met someone from New York who was sketchy. I told him it would be bad. It went anyways and he had a gun stuck in his face and his $500 watch stolen from him. I ignored that advice and I almost lost my life to all the guys out there who are just desperate to get laid, willing to ignore all the red flags and even skull and crossbone flags. Take a trip to Vegas or something before you go to the extreme of meeting a sketchy woman in a sketchy place under very sketchy circumstances. That's just really not worth it.
- [195:11]
Chumba Casino Spokesperson
How to have fun anytime, anywhere.
- [195:14]
Ryan Seacrest
Step 1 Go to chumbacasino.com chumbacasino.com Got it.
- [195:18]
Chumba Casino Spokesperson
Step 2 Collect your welcome bonus.
- [195:20]
Ryan Seacrest
Come to papa. Welcome bonus.
- [195:22]
Chumba Casino Spokesperson
Step 3 Play hundreds of casino style games for free.
- [195:25]
Ryan Seacrest
That's a lot of games all for free.
- [195:27]
Chumba Casino Spokesperson
Step 4 Unleash your excitement.
- [195:29]
Ryan Seacrest
Woo Hoo. Ch.
- [195:30]
Chumba Casino Spokesperson
Chumba Chumba Casino has been delivering thrills for over a decade, so claim your free welcome bonus now and live the chumba life. Visit chumbacasino.com ETW Group no purchase necessary. Void but prohibited by law. See terms and conditions 18 all right, we're all set for the party. I've trimmed the tree, hung the mistletoe, and paired all those weird shaped knives and forks with the appropriate cheeses. And I plugged in the Partisan Partisan. It's a home cocktail maker that makes over 60 premium cocktails plus a whole lot of seasonal favorites too. I just got it for 50 off. So how about a Cosmopolitan or a mistletoe margarita?
- [196:03]
Geico Spokesperson
I'm thirsty.
- [196:03]
Chumba Casino Spokesperson
Watch. I just pop in a capsule, choose my strength and wow, it's beginning to.
- [196:08]
Ryan Seacrest
Feel more seasonal in here already.
- [196:10]
Chumba Casino Spokesperson
If your holiday party doesn't have a bartender, then you become the bartender. Unless you've got Because Bartesian crafts every cocktail perfectly in as little as 30 seconds. And I just got it for $50. Off.
- [196:22]
Ryan Seacrest
Tis the season to be jollier. Add some holiday flavor to every celebration with the sleek, sophisticated home cocktail maker Bartisian. Get $50 off any cocktail maker at bartisian.com cocktail that's B A R T E S I A N dot com cocktail.