As The Raven Dreams Podcast - ATRD Ep. 072 - Scary Night Shift Stories & Internet Creep Stories - 8 True Scary Stories

Episode Date: April 28, 2023

Hello and Welcome to the 72nd episode of The ATRD Podcast! Today we have some intriguing and terrifying stories submitted by everyday people. In Today's Episode we will have stories that happened during the overnight shift, as well as stories about creeps on the internet! ➤ Want your story featured? Go to https://www.astheravendreams.com/Submit ➤ Want to know where to follow me on the internet? Go to https://www.astheravendreams.com/the-nevermore for all my links! ➤ You can also get EARLY ACCESS By joining my Patreon! https://patreon.com/astheravendreams Thank you to all of the authors that have stories in today's Video... Vanessa, K.M. , Gman12, Katelyn, AddictedToHummus, IEC, HighTechNerd, NurseOwen ➤ All stories within are used w/ Either direct permission from the author- or under some level of CC license (where noted) True Stories are not verified, and should all be considered 'supposedly true'. And Remember; You are loved, you are important, and you are valid. Never let anyone tell you otherwise. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/astheravendreams/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/astheravendreams/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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WestJet, where your story takes off. If you have a true, scary story, you would like to hear featured on this podcast. Please, go to as the ravendreams.com and click the button to send it my way. Also, consider rating this podcast on whatever platform you're listening to, as it does help. And of course, thank you. Hey there. I've been a long-time listener, and I had a story that I wanted to share with you that, unfortunately, happened to me.

I used to work at a liquor store for a little over a year. I actually quit after this event. occurred. I'm a single and first-time mother. My baby is almost 10 months old, so, needless to say, she pretty much never leaves my sight. Sometimes my mom would visit and help me take care of her or watch her while I slept at my place, but it's not very often as she lives about an hour away. That's more so when she just comes to visit on the weekends. I'm in my early 30s and had been with the same guy for the last seven or eight years until he learned that I was pregnant. Then he claimed that he never loved me and he was just there for the ride, etc., etc.

So he moved out of the apartment that we shared, leaving me to pay the rent alone, which I couldn't afford. After a nightmare of a move and more debt to deal with, I moved out too and at least found a place that I could afford on my income. Before all of this chaos, I had a steady job at a staffing firm, irony, and they laid a lot of people off, which left me desperate to find anything that would pay me. That's how I ended up working at the liquor store.

To my surprise, they treated us better than I expected. They even had benefit options and were flexible and willing to work with all of us when it came to our schedules. This was a huge relief for me because I didn't have someone that lived close by to watch my daughter, nor could I afford to pay for a babysitter or daycare. So I told the owners, which was an older couple, about having such a young child, and their wife, Darla, was smitten when she saw her the first time. She told me that I was more than welcome to bring her with me,

since it's not like she was going to be running down the aisles potentially breaking things. This was such a huge stress lifted from me, knowing that I could work and still keep my eye on my daughter. I usually stayed behind the counter at the register, and she stayed in her car seat. Darla actually brought in a small bassinet that she had bought specifically for me, and she kept it in the back room. When I worked, I would bring it out and set it up, which gave her. for a bit more wiggle room.

They really did treat me like family. The pay was decent, too, so I knew I would eventually need to find a job where I made more, but, for the moment, I was feeling happy again, and felt like I belonged, so I was definitely getting comfortable with the job. Anyways, sorry for the ramblings. I didn't really have a set shift, and would work days or nights, basically, wherever they needed me. This happened when I was working the closing shift, which was from about 5 to 11, but more typically

until midnight, after all the closing work was done. It usually wasn't too busy being a smaller store, so it wasn't unusual to be alone on the night shift, which I was okay with too. We had a few of our regulars come in as normal, but then after 9 or 10 p.m. on a Tuesday night, it was pretty dead. I would turn on the TV that was behind the register or just watch something or play a game on my phone. The owners were okay with this, as long as when a customer came in, we were paying attention to them. Maybe not watching them like a hawk, but checking the above mirrors to make sure they're not stealing anything,

and making sure you're giving them your attention. It made sense to me. So, on this night, I had my daughter in the bassinet, and she was sleeping. I was playing Sudoku on my phone when the doorbell chimed, and a guy walked in. I greeted him, and when all he did was look at me and quickly look away, I immediately took a mental note of what he looked like. Whether they're rude or suspicious, those people tend to stand out. Unfortunately, he was kind of hitting both labels.

He was wearing jeans in a gray hoodie, with the hood pulled up. It had been raining, though. so I could see the hood was a little wet, and I assumed that maybe that's why it was up. He had a bit of a beard growing that stuck out from the hoodie, but not much. And after opening the door, his hand remained in his front pocket when he walked around. This is when I started feeling a little uneasy about this guy.

I would glance up at the mirrors and would see him constantly looking up at it too, and he would quickly look back down when our eyes would meet. I started watching his movements closer, and I noticed that he was looking around the store. Not like he was trying to find something, but more so casing the place. This started to worry me. We weren't in a bad or shady part of the city, and, in fact, the store was part of a strip mall of stores, which actually had a small open bar at the end, so even though I was alone in the store, I was definitely not alone in the middle of nowhere.

While doing my best to not let him notice my nervousness, I slowly dialed 911 on my phone and just let it sit there without hitting the call button, and then slid it back under the counter. After he walked up and down every aisle, he came back towards the front while also looking down the back where the office was. He then approached the register, empty-handed, mind you, and turned his attention to the small shooter, bottles that we kept up front on the counter.

He grabbed a few and laid them in front of me. I asked them if he had found everything that he was looking for. While looking down, he said, kind of. He then looked up, making direct eye contact and then asked, Are you here alone? I at least wasn't stupid enough to tell him the truth, so trying to sound as intimidating as possible, I told him no, in that the boss was in the back and asked if he wanted me to get them.

He gave me a sinister smirk, declining my offer, and tossed a few bills at me. After giving him his chain, she grabbed the bottles and put them in his pocket, which is when I noticed there was already something in his pocket, something long. I wanted to scream right there, but to my surprise, he just left. I watched as he walked around the corner, and when he was out of his... view, I quickly went to lock the door. At this point, I was pretty freaked out, and reasonably so. I called Darla to tell her what I just witnessed and let her know that I wasn't feeling

comfortable with being alone. Thankfully, she agreed, and understood, and she said that she would have her husband, James, come down there. She also told me to keep the door locked, and just let the customers in as they appear. This is what I meant by they were always very considerate instead of just telling me to buck up. As far as I was aware, they had never been robbed, so it was a pretty scary situation all around.

Made worse, in my opinion, because I had my little girl with me. So I waited anxiously for James to arrive and just kind of paced the front watching my daughter as she seemed to be the only thing to calm me down. Unfortunately, this would come to an abrupt halt when I heard someone trying to open the door. When I looked over at the door, my heart dropped,

seeing the same guy. Except this time, I must have ruined his plans when he noticed the door was locked. I saw his face immediately turned to one of anger and aggression, and we then made eye contact. I froze, not knowing what to do as my phone was on the counter, which was closer to the door. The door and the two walls were just glass, so what was stopping him from trying to break it, or worse yet, how well would the glass hold with his banging and yanking on the door?

Because that's exactly what he started doing. He began yanking on the door harder and pounding on the glass while yelling at me to live. let him in. I just kept telling him no and yelling at him to leave, but he wouldn't let up. My daughter was now awake and crying, and this guy was yelling. I then noticed that his right hand, which he was using to bang on the door, was holding something. And when he would lower his arm to yell at me, I could finally tell that it was a large knife. I was in full panic mode at this point, I went to grab my daughter ready to run to the back when the glass finally broke. Thank God they had an alarm system that went off when there was glass breaking. So with my daughter and

my arms, I ran to the back and locked myself in the bathroom, hoping he wouldn't try to go back there. Unfortunately, as I sat there, I realized I didn't have my phone on me, so all I could do was wait until someone came to help. It felt like an eternity, trying to calm my daughter while also trying to keep myself calm, when I started hearing somebody calling out for me. They identified themselves as an officer and said that I was safe, so I opened the door. I saw two men standing by the door in uniform, and they asked me if I was okay, and then led me out to where James and Darla and a few other random people.

were. They hugged me, asked if I was all right, and also apologized that I had to go through that. We then all talked to the cops about what I saw, and, thankfully, they at least had security cameras that recorded and saved every 24 hours. So we were able to provide that to the authorities. The guy also didn't get very far, as some people that were leaving the nearby bar could hear this guy yelling and banging, and one of them in their drunken bravery chased him down. I had to identify him, and, man, I never thought that IDing someone would be so unnerving, especially when they gave me that same smirk when pointing them out. Needless to say, I was pretty shaken up by this, and I told James and Darla that I didn't

think I could do it anymore. They were disappointed to see me go, but also understood. I've been out of work for a little over a month, and I'm incredibly thankful that my mom has been able to help me with rent and groceries for this past month. Darla actually called me last week and said that they were putting in reinforced glass and a much better door because of this, which was good to hear. But she also asked if I would be willing to come back if I was only working on days.

I'm still mulling it over, as it was a pretty decent paying job, but that night keeps replaying in my head. Anyways, thank you for listening. I had a really weird encounter with the guy online about two years ago that I thought would be interesting to share. In the end of the whole thing, nothing really happened to me, but it was a bit eye-opening to the fact that these people exist in our modern world, and this kind of thing happens, even to this day.

What's worse, it was on Facebook, of all places, that this whole thing unraveled. So, a couple of years ago, I got a friend request from a name that was vaguely familiar. Like, I knew the person's name from somewhere, but I honestly

could not place where I knew him from, nor could I place. a face to the name. Their profile was pretty well locked down, so going to it, all I could see was his profile photo, and that wasn't his face. It was a photo of a young child fishing. Like I said, his name seemed really familiar, but I just could not seem to figure out where I knew it from.

So I just kind of assumed that it was someone from high school that didn't make much of an impression on me, or something. I ended up accepting his friend request, and as soon as I did, I got a direct message from him, like, immediately, to the point that I almost assumed that this could have been a bot, and they were going to pitch some kind of scam to me. The message said, hello, G-Man 12, thank you for accepting my request. How have you been? which was definitely a bot-like message.

I ended up responding with something like, I'm fine, but how do I know you? He replied with the sad face and a, You really don't remember me? I told him that I didn't. And he mentioned that he went to the same high school as me. Of course, this information is easily accessible, so I kind of just prodded a bit extra

to see if they were just scraping my page for information to claim that they knew me. But then he mentioned a specific class. Ms. Browers, biology class, fourth period of sophomore year. He said that he and I were partners in the Cell Biology Project, which made it all click. I actually did know this guy. He was someone that I was acquaintances with.

I wasn't super close to him, but he was someone that I had met in the past. so I was a bit more comfortable with adding him as a friend. I mentioned that I knew who he was now and apologized for not remembering him, saying that it had been a long time and that I had a bad memory, just trying to make light of the situation. We chatted for a bit, just catching up on a few things that had happened over the years. And really, it was a pretty normal conversation. The next day I had actually gotten another message,

from him. It was just a hey. So I responded and asked what was up, just making small talk again. He sent a message that said, I promise that what I'm about to say to you is not a scam or anything. It's not an MLM, but I have to shoot my shot. Obviously, this message did not bode well. I assumed that he was about to try to sell me on some kind of pyramid scheme, but it was actually weirder than that. He mentioned that he was about to go on a retreat for a group that he was a part of, and that he wanted to talk to me about going with him. I asked what kind of group he was referring to, because it was a bit weird to put it that way. And he told me that it was like a church group,

and that it was what they called a self-focus and healing retreat. And they encouraged people to bring friends that may benefit from it. He then mentioned that he saw a self-focused and healing retreat. I was going through some tough times and that it may really help me. I told him that I wasn't really religious and that I did appreciate the thought because I was going through some things. But I didn't really see me fitting into the group if it was for a church. He pushed it a bit further, saying that it wasn't a religious retreat and that all were welcome. I said that if it was for a church, how could it not be religious?

and he mentioned that they were not the type of group to push faith on their visitors, and that they would not be trying to convert people. It was simply about trying to find yourself and committing to self-reflection. This all sounded really weird. An event called a self-focus and healing retreat for a church group that wasn't faith-based or religious in nature. I was definitely curious. so I asked him if he could give me any information on his church, expecting something like a website or something. He then told me that he could actually get me in on one of their sessions, which was, again, a weird word to use.

I asked if it was an in-person thing, trying to get out of it, and he mentioned that, thanks to COVID guidelines, they had moved their normal sessions to be online through Zoom calls. I relented and said that I would just go ahead and sit in on the next one and see what it was all about. It was an hour of my time on a Tuesday. It wasn't a big deal to me in the end. The minute that Zoom call started, I knew that this was way more than just a little church get-together. When the session started, there was a group of like ten men that walked into the camera's focus, and they were all wearing white robes and masks.

Not like a certain group that one may associate with this kind of dress. They were actual masks, not hoods. They covered the entirety of the men's faces, with holes only cut out for their eyes. The ten men then started chanting and stepped in unison to create a circle on the stage, and after about five minutes of chanting, they formed a line and stared straight. into the camera. No joke, this entire line of men then started to undress, like stripping down from their robes to literally nothing except for the masks.

I have never clicked off of a Zoom call so damn fast. This was a cult. This guy was trying to recruit me into some kind of cult, and apparently they needed to be naked to do whatever they did during their weekly meetings. I will give them credit for taking it online to be considerate of those that may not be able to make it in person, but yeah, not for me. The guy then sent me a message about two hours later asking me what I thought, and I mentioned that it seemed a bit cult-like, and that I didn't stay for the whole thing. He got pretty irate, and asked me when I left. I mentioned that I left whenever the old men on stage started getting naked.

and he went off. He started on about how I didn't understand the importance of what they were doing, what they're stripping down signified, and since I left, I missed the entire point of the session. I told him again that this was a cult, and that I didn't need to understand it. Needless to say, he blocked me, which was fine with me. I wasn't really interested in all this because, yeah, cults are not my...

thing. That's the strangest thing that I've ever dealt with online, and I'm kind of glad that I haven't gotten a message from him about it again at all, and that he decided that blocking me was the proper way to deal with it. And if I'm being completely honest, I kind of almost wish that it was just a pyramid scheme. While I was going to school to become an RN, I took a job working the front desk at a local hospital. The job itself was pretty easy. I checked people in and out, took calls, directed them to different units, scheduled appointments, pretty simple stuff.

To be honest, the hardest part was probably dealing with the printer. Even better, I typically worked the graveyard shift. My classes started around nine, so I would get off in time to sleep a few hours, go to school, eat and sleep some more. more, and then right back to work. So there was even less work to do over nights, unless it was a Friday or a Saturday. Those seemed to be the busiest nights. And no, I didn't have much of a social life at the time.

I had plenty of friends. I just chose to get straight into schooling and work as much as I physically could to save up money. That way I could have more money in possibly free time whenever I landed my dream job. I guess I had goals, if anything. Anyways, so this happened on one of those nights. The only person to have shown up had already been called back, so the waiting room was empty. The TV was on some kind of game show, and I was sitting at the desk working on my homework. The whole front of the building was a plain wall except for a small cutout that had a glass sliding door that led into another small square glass area.

Then, there was another set of doors that brought you into the building. So, if someone comes in straight from the front, I could see them enter both sets of doors. However, if someone were to come in from the side lot or walk up from the side, I may not see them enter the first set of doors. That's what happened with this lady. I had my face down in my textbook when I heard the whooshing sound of the doors opening. I looked up and saw a lady approaching the counter. Because of where I work, I do pay attention to how people look and try to understand the current state that they may be in. And with her, I noticed right away that something was not right.

She was very thin and frail-looking, but judging by her overall build, demeanor and way of talking, she looked like she couldn't have been more than 40. She had on a huge jacket that she was nearly swimming in, which immediately alarmed me because we saw people dress like that when they were trying to hide a wound, a weapon, and for women, sometimes a very pregnant belly. Her hair was stringy and oily and pulled into a bun, and her face was sunken in with dark bags under her eyes.

I asked her how I could help her and what she was there for and she said she actually didn't need a doctor but she asked for my help specifically she was talking a mile a minute jumping around in her story but what I got out of it was that her car broke down and she asked if I could come look at it

she said that she was trying to get to see her mom who lived a few hours away who had been at home dying of cancer but that's why she ended up here At first I really did feel bad for her. I knew my fair share of friends and family that had had cancer, and I knew how scary that could be. So that immediately got my sympathy.

However, I was not and never have been a car person. Even though I'm a guy and I guess people expect me to know these things, I can get my own gas and check fluids, but that's about it. so I told her that I wasn't really a car guy, and she said it was okay, but insisted that I'd just come to see if I might notice anything. I again explained that I couldn't be of any help and also said that I couldn't leave the building, since I was the only person working the front desk. She started to become more agitated and pushy on having me look at it,

and as she pleaded, she started adding to her. story, and it wasn't making sense. She kept saying that her kid was dying and needed to get home to her, but earlier, she had said it was her mom that was dying. I was catching all these discrepancies, and it was starting to make me feel more suspicious of the whole situation. So I tried to slow her down, as I walked with her towards the door, hoping that this would also help.

And I asked her what exactly was happening with her. car. She, at first, wouldn't say more than it just wouldn't start. So, I tried clarifying to see if it died while she was driving, or if she was trying to start it. Did she get any lights and so on? But no matter how much I tried, she would not give me any more information other than, I don't know, it won't start. Please, can you just come look at it? the more that I questioned her, the more flustered and agitated she became, almost in tears that I wouldn't go out there, so I just stopped and asked her if she was okay, if maybe she was in some sort of trouble, which is when she finally let go of my arm and stepped back saying that she was fine. I told her that I would call a tow truck for her, as they could at least be more helpful than I was, and she screamed at me to not call in her. anybody. I stood there, waiting to see what she would do next when she walked out angrily,

saying, just never mind, I'll figure it out. I stood there to see where she would walk to and noticed that she walked to the side of the building where I could no longer see her. I thought it was weird, but then went back to my desk. However, the whole interaction was still eating at me, so I decided to ask one of the med techs in the back if they could, watch the desk while I stepped outside for a quick break. They agreed. I wasn't lying about that part. I could not leave the desk unattended.

They agreed, and once they came up, I walked outside and towards the side of the building, staying as close to the wall as I could. That's when I saw the woman, and what I assumed to be her car, as well as some guy. They were seeming to be in a pretty heated argument by the way. way they were throwing their hands, and he was punching the car. I wasn't close enough to really hear what was being said, but the only thing I could make out was no, you go. Even worse, after a few more minutes of back and forth, they both got in the car, him and the

driver's seat and her in the passenger's seat, and then drove off, without a single issue. I went back into the building, pretty spooked at that point, and I took to the car, and I told the guy watching the desk what had happened. He agreed that it was really suspicious, but since they left and didn't really do anything, said that ultimately there was nothing that we could do. I continued working that night, but that weird feeling kept on lingering. What was her end goal? What was her plan after I got outside?

The fact that there was a guy out there with her and that the car started just fine freaked me out. And I couldn't shake the feeling that... I may have avoided a horrible situation. I'm curious if anyone else has heard similar stories like this. Could this have just been an attempted robbery? A kidnapping? I have no clue, but I try not to think about what could have happened anymore. Thankfully, I never saw them again.

And I hope that no one else ever fell for their sinister scheme. Way back when I was 15, maybe 16. I used to be a member of a medium-sized online forum that was designed for indie authors to share their work and get feedback, or even win small prizes for little contests and competitions that they held. I was actually one of the most active users on the forum because I was really giving being an author everything I had,

and I was putting a lot of effort into writing short stories for my collection. My whole situation started during one of the writing competitions that I mentioned. I don't recall the theme. I just remember that I was super confident that I could write a decent little story for it. Much to my surprise, I actually won the competition. The prize was a $20 target gift card, so it wasn't like it was some big contest for a major reward, but to me it was an amazing feeling knowing that I had won this contest,

where dozens of people had entered. The day that I won, I received a private message from one of the head mods of the forum. At the time, I only knew him as White Oak. And after a while, which I'll explain in a bit, I did learn what his full legal name was. That said, for the sake of the story, I'm just going to refer to him as White Oak. So White Oak sent me a DM with the message. saying, Congrats on winning our monthly writing competition.

Your story was chosen by majority vote of the mod team, and, as such, you have won a gift card. I just need to know where to send it to, and to whom I'm sending it, and I'll get it in the mail right away. And, being a super-excited 16-year-old girl, that was feeling like she had just won the entire world, I responded with my first and last name, as well as my home address.

At no point did I pause to think that maybe I should have asked my parents, or not sent this random person my home address, because I thought this was going to be a professional trade-off. I won a contest, I was getting a prize. After I sent that, he told me that he would get the card in the mail here as soon as possible, and once again told me that my story was perfectly written, and just really talked up my prose. I was elated that someone that was so important was giving me attention.

He was important to me, at least, because he was a big shot on the forum. I thanked him. We had an informal conversation that was pretty much where I thought it was going to end. I thought it was just going to be him complimenting my work and me thanking him. Of course, that's not. where it ended. About a week later, I hadn't received any word on the gift card, or whether or not it was on the way,

and while I didn't want to be pushy, I decided to send White Oak a message to just ask if he had sent it yet, as I was super excited to get it. He messaged me back pretty much right away and said that he was going to send it in the next day or two. But he hadn't yet. I thanked him again, just mentioned that I was still excited about the whole thing. After a few minutes of not getting a

response back, I thought that that was the end of the conversation. But then, White Oak sent me a message saying, you know, you're really beautiful. I was a bit confused. He had no way of knowing what I looked like. I messaged him, asking where that came from, and he responded by saying, oh, I looked you up and found your Facebook. I was looking at your pictures and just wanted to tell you that you were beautiful. To say that I was a bit shocked would be an understatement. I responded by saying, oh, I didn't expect you to look me up. In his words, he couldn't help himself because of how sexy my name was.

And he said that he was very happy to know that I was just as sexy as my name. At this point, I knew that. that he was probably just going to keep going with it, so I figured I would go ahead and shut him down and tell him that I was only 16, and that he should probably move on. He then told me that he, again, in his words, preferred girls my age because they were less likely to fight back. I was mortified by this comment. I didn't respond to this message. I figured that I would move on instead, and it would just... go away. Unfortunately, on this forum, there was no method of blocking people or ignoring them,

which was either a major design oversight for the page, or was done maliciously, based on what happened later. So, because of that, I had no way to stop him for messaging me. And he did keep messaging me, he would send me a message daily telling me how much he loved me. He would send me random messages asking me to send him naked pictures of myself. He would send me messages telling me all the things that he was doing to himself while thinking of me and creeping through my Facebook. After several days of putting up with this, I decided I would move to take action against White Oak. I figured I would contact the owner of the forum with a message and tell him what his second in command was doing.

This did not go as I expected. Of course. I sent him a message with screenshots of the messages that White Oak had been sending me, and I explained that I had given White Oak my information for the gift card that I won in the contest. I tried to give him as much information as I could, and explain the whole thing as best as possible. And the screenshots that I took were more than enough to really display what was happening. He did reply, but his response was that he would just have a talk with him about it.

He didn't say sorry. He didn't seem to really care or that he was shocked at all. About two days later, he sent me another message that said, I spoke with White Oak about the situation, and he told me that it never happened. I believe him, please do not contact us about this again. I was livid. He was literally believed. He was literally believing. that White Oak had never sent me any of the messages, even though I literally had receipts. I messaged him back saying just that, asking how he could believe White Oak over me when I had screenshots of the conversation, and then I mentioned that I would be passing the information on to the police, since I was a minor. I thought for sure that he would see this

and see that he needed to take it seriously. But then, the next day, When I went to log in to see if he had replied to me, my account was gone. Like, completely, gone. I tried to log in and had kept giving me an error saying that my account didn't exist. When I tried to do a forgot password, it said that my email didn't exist in the system. He had completely purged my account, it probably as a way to cover for White Oak. As now, I had no live access to my account. account. I still had the screenshots, but a lot of good that would do me if I couldn't prove anything

was on the site. At this point, I decided to bring my mom and dad into the situation. I told them that I had won a writing contest, and that I had given the site my information for the gift card. I told them about how the guy had found me on Facebook, and I gave them my screenshots and explained the whole thing. They were not happy, obviously. And they implemented several controls in my internet usage, which was fine, but when my dad contacted the police, they basically told him that there wasn't much they could do without information on the person, since all I had was a username on a random forum. Again, disappointing.

But this was around 2008 or so, so I don't think they had the forensic capabilities that they do now. I can't really say that I fault them for it. Maybe they could have done something more, but it was what it was. And then, the final bit of the story. About a week

after this all happened, I had signed into my Facebook, which I admittedly should have deleted it, considering that's how he'd found me. I saw when I logged in that I had a friend request from a man named Gary T. At first,

it didn't click in my head who it was. I accepted it, and as soon as I did, I got a message saying, I'm sorry we had to delete your account. I miss you so much, and I'm glad that you accepted my request. I responded with some harsh words, and thankfully, Facebook does have a block option. And I blocked him. I felt sick that he had really found my Facebook, and that he thought I would seriously just sit there and let him stay on my friends list.

Thankfully, that was the last time that I ever heard from White Oak, or Gary T. The only reason I thought about submitting this story was that White Oak came up in a conversation with my sister. I had completely put it out of my mind after all of these years, but she mentioned him for some reason during one of our conversations, and it led to me thinking about the whole thing. That night, I actually went home and googled his name. And after a bit of digging, I found out that he was in prison. At least, probably.

I found a story about him being arrested and charged for lewd behavior with a minor, as well as several counts of soliciting minors. From what I read, he's going to be in prison for a very long time. So, at least with that fact out there, I guess I never have to worry about needing white oak ever again. A number of years ago, I was pretty active in a few sites that were basically like many social media pages that weren't very well known. There was one in particular that I really enjoyed. It was a page that was dedicated to a specific game, and that's a pretty decent-sized MMO.

And I like to lurk the boards and just kind of read what others were so. or talking about. I did get active on the board at one point, and that's when I ended up having a conversation with the person that, very quickly, became my long-distance-online girlfriend, Amanda. I was young and still pretty naive about things on the internet, but she and I became pretty fast friends and had a lot in common. We talked a lot in DMs on the site and discussed pretty much everything. She was the same age as me, 17, and she had a lot of the same issues that I had.

Basically, she was just like me, and we hit it off pretty quickly and got close. We ended up agreeing that we should give it a shot to see what happens. And I was over the moon because I've never been much of a social butterfly, and I've only ever had one girlfriend in my life before this point. And that was in middle school for like three months. Obviously, the relationship started on the MMO board, and we chatted there a lot, and then it went over to email so that we could get a bit more personal. It wasn't anything lewd or anything like that. It was just us talking a bit more about ourselves and saying things that we didn't feel comfortable throwing out there on a potentially unsecured forum.

We emailed each other non-stop, and I tried to go a step further and ask her if she had a lot of her. a Facebook account so that we could be friends on there and get a bit more into real-time communications. She told me that she didn't, and that she didn't feel safe using Facebook, because it was watched. I asked her what she meant, and she told me that, if you use Facebook, you were on a list of people that were being watched. I know that Facebook isn't exactly the best platform, and yeah, they're probably on the short

list of pages that are checked by the government agent. but they aren't interested in me. A 17-year-old from the northern part of Mississippi? But I had to respect her opinion, no matter how strange it was, and just say that it was okay and that we could keep talking through email. After a while, she ended up messaging me and asking for a picture of myself, because she, in her words, was really falling for me and needed to know what her prince charming looked like. If that message didn't make me swoon a bit, then nothing would. I went and got my mom's

digital camera and took probably the worst Myspace-style selfie that has ever existed. I was a bit of a scrawny kid, so I had to make myself look a bit bigger than I was, and with a bit of camera trickery, I made it work. When I sent it, she responded with a heart and told me that she was absolutely in love with me, and just kept complimenting me and telling me how amazing I was. Like I said, I was elated with the fact that someone was out there giving me positive reinforcement. At this point, you may be asking which part of this was the creepy part, and that's actually still coming. In fact, it's what happened next.

I will say that, at the time, I wasn't exactly super secure about my information. I wasn't paranoid or anything, but I did still keep some of my information hidden and secured. Like, I had told Amanda my first name, and she knew how my last name started, just the first letter. She knew the city I lived in, but that was pretty much it. I guess outside of knowing what I looked like. I didn't anticipate that, with just my first name, last initial city and appearance, that she could ever find me in person. But that is exactly what happened.

Kind of. Biennue at board of Via Rai. Embarked and profite. Embarked and celebrate. Rigolet. Publié. Savour. Admire.

And profite. Via Rai. La voice that we love that am. A few weeks after Amanda and I had started, quote-unquote, dating and chatting a lot, she kind of went silent. I was a bit concerned, but at the same time, I had sort of moved past the excitement of having this random online person compliment me. That may sound shallow, but that's pretty much all the conversations were. And after a bit, you kind of grow numb to the constant compliments.

I kind of assumed that maybe she had moved on a bit from us as well, and just left it at that. Then, on that really awkward Saturday afternoon, I was sitting on the computer in the living room and playing the Sims. I heard a knock on the door, and I assumed it was just the mailman delivering a package or something like that. So I hopped up and went over to the door and pulled it open. And I had no idea who the person was that was standing there. The man on the other side of the door gave me a huge smile, said my name, and kind of gave a bit of a little bit of, what I guess was a squeal. It was a strange happy sound.

That much I remember. I kind of stared at this guy in confusion. I had no idea who he was or how the hell he knew my name. And I kind of said that to him. Like, hi, who are you? He then dropped a bombshell on me, which I'm sure that you're all expecting at this point, and said that his name was Arnold,

and that he went by Amanda, online. My heart sank. This middle-aged, overweight, balding man was my online girlfriend. Amanda had told me that she was my age, and had described herself in detail, although admittedly she never gave me any photos, which I now know why. Not a single word of the description that she gave me included bald, middle-aged, overweight, male, or creep that would show up at my doorstep on a random Saturday afternoon. I replied to him with, Your, Amanda?

The girl that I met online, Amanda? Sort of shyly said, Well, yeah, I know I'm probably not what you'd expect, but I'm her. Now, this is where things got really awkward. My dad walked into the room and asked me who it was at the door. I can't even begin to explain the feeling that hit me. I had no idea how to explain to my dad that this guy at the door was pretending to be a 17-year-old girl online,

and that we were dating, and that he had somehow found where I lived, and was now at the front door. I tried to say that he was just some guy, but he cut me off and said, I love your son, and I drove almost 10, hours to meet him. I'm not going to get into the whole conversation or everything that happened,

but I will say that my dad was very confused, and then very angry. Amanda, or I guess Arnold, tried to keep saying that we were lovers and that he was there to come get me and that we were going to live together, and a bunch of other really creepy things that did not help my situation at all. My dad then told Arnold that if he didn't get off the property, he was going to leave in an ambulance. And after a bunch of arguing and the police showing up, he did end up leaving. He hadn't actually done anything. There were no lewd comments ever made between us, no promises of anything, so technically all he did was show up on the doorstep of a minor that he met online. Which, I guess, isn't a crime in enough of.

itself. So he was basically told to drive off. Obviously, that was the last time that me and Amanda, or Arnold, ever spoke, and I blocked his email. This was absolutely too creepy and awkward for me, and it absolutely destroyed my trust in people online. I'm older now, and a lot smarter about things, and I don't really have any reason to develop friendships on the internet. One side effect of this is that I, now, just assume that everyone online is a 50-something-year-old, balding man that's overweight, which has kind of become a running joke on the internet. If the situation wasn't so terrifying for me at the time, I could almost laugh at the fact that I lived through it. Back in my early 20s, I used to work for a large tech company that made and repaired a lot of large expensive.

equipment. Most of it was medical related, but there were a few other cleaning and sanitizing things they did as well. Now, with that type of equipment, came a lot of pretty important partners and stacks upon stacks of confidential information. Of course, you can't really hide those kinds of machines easily, so that meant that the building I worked in was huge.

Not to mention the entrances in every room or office had restricted. access. Everyone had a badge and your badge would only let you in to the rooms and areas you were supposed to be in. When I started, I got lost once and I learned my lesson. People gave you weird looks if they didn't recognize you, so I caught on pretty quickly. I was hired to do data entry, but pretty quickly they had me doing other tasks, including filing, and I even found myself helping with a lot of tech support question. I would say that a majority of the people that worked there were older, so there was always an issue with someone's system and they could never quite understand how to access the task manager. But I did genuinely enjoy it.

Other than them always thinking I was a genius with tech, everyone was kind and inclusive and never demanding, which honestly was not what I expected when I started there. Anyways, that was just to give a little background as to where I worked. That was where the story took place. I usually worked the normal Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. shift with occasional late nights when I wanted to get ahead. Or if I was behind. At this point, my wife was out of town visiting her mom, so I decided I would get in some extra work to get ahead of things. there was a new partner coming in, and from what I've experienced, it was going to get crazy. So if I was going to be alone that night anyways, I thought I might as well get some more work done so I could be ahead.

By 5 p.m., I started walking out, and most people were already gone by then as well. I went home, had dinner, took a shower, and then I went straight back to the office. By the time I got back, it was already dark, and the parking lot was nearly empty. I buzzed myself in through two sets of entry doors, and then used my cart again in the elevator to get to the fourth floor. It was pretty dark in the building with some of the main area lights being motion activated, so as I walked away from the elevator and down the hall towards the east side of the building, where my office was, the lights were beginning to kick on as I passed them. Saying I got a bit of a scare when I saw some guy standing by the stairs would be an understatement.

I lit out a small yelp and expletives, but then, trying to be a grown man, I laughed and just said something like, Hey man. And the response that I got back was sorry, but he didn't look up from his phone. I just took note of what he looked like and carried on towards my office. At first, the guy himself didn't alarm me. He was wearing the green and black striped shirts that our janitors normally wore with black pants. He also had a mop and bucket with him, so I just assumed he was one of the janitors working late.

I go to my office, leaving my door cracked open, call my wife really quick to give her an update and then started working. It wasn't too long after, maybe 30 to 45 minutes, when I start to hear something outside, it was talking. But it was just one voice, and the person sounded very angry. I couldn't quite make out everything that was being said, but there was a lot of sighing and F-bombs. I started getting a bad feeling, so I slowly got up and walked to my door. Listening from the doorway, I could hear the voice a bit more, and it definitely sounded like it was a one-sided argument. Like someone was practicing what they were going to say to someone else?

If that makes sense. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, though. And I didn't feel comfortable trying to leave, so instead, I quietly shut my door, locking it. I then closed the blinds in the narrow window by my door and turned off the light. I then went back to my desk and tried to continue working, but also kept getting distracted. I interacted listening to the arguing. At one point, I stopped entirely as I could hear somebody dragging their feet near my office. I remember nearly holding my breath as I heard the doorknobs being jiggled and the sound of the card reader denying access.

I didn't have panic attacks or anything of the like prior, but that's the only way I could think to describe how I was feeling. I was starting to feel overwhelmed, and I had this thought that I was. was in danger. But I just froze in place, hoping that the door lock and access machine would protect me. Shortly after, I heard what sounded like somebody kicking the door, shouting another expletive, and then walking off. I waited several more minutes before I finally came back to reality and contemplated my next steps. I thought calling the cops sounded like the smart thing to do, but even if I did, they wouldn't

be able to get past the first set of doors without security buzzing them in, and there was no one on the security post due to the time. So I would have had to have left my office, unprotected, just to let them in. I decided to stay behind my locked door and called my wife again to let her know what just happened. I probably downplayed it a bit, not wanting to worry her. She told me that I should at least call my boss to let them know, and I agreed. I called my boss and had to leave them a message, and then I just waited to see if I could hear anything again. When it was seemingly silent, I opened my door and looked out again, not hearing or seeing anything.

I took this opportunity, leaving all of my stuff except my wallet and phone in the room, quietly letting it lock behind me, and I ran as fast as I could out of the building. I even took the fire escape stairs to not be in the center of the building, in case that person was still there. I was able to leave and get home unscathed, but was still pretty freaked out. The next day, I went into work as normal, prepared to tell my boss about what happened. However, before I could even turn my computer back on in my office, my boss was at my door wanting to talk about the voicemail. I explained everything that happened. and I could tell by the look on his face that something was not right.

He said that the janitors were only supposed to be there during normal business hours. So he was immediately suspicious when I told them they were there. Unfortunately, their access cards would still let them in. But the problem was that they all knew that they should not be there. Other than the fact that they were there so late, the rest of the experience was definitely not okay, so he had me go with him to security to review the tapes that night. What I saw seriously scared the hell out of me,

I was hoping that I was just being paranoid, but knowing now what was behind that door made me realize that my feelings were warranted, which I think was worse. We watched the footage as the guy scanned himself in, bringing with him the mop and bucket that I saw. He walked around the two floors that he could get to and then had stopped and was looking at and doing something on his phone

where I saw him, so long that the lights had turned off. Shortly after, I walked in and saw the guy and then went to my office. That's when the guy continued on going to each office door, trying his badge and, of course, being denied access. janitors were not allowed in the offices, unless accompanied by someone with access to that room due to confidential information. So he even stopped and tried my door. While the fact that he was trying all these doors was pretty unsettling itself, it's what he was carrying that made it more terrifying. The guy was holding a hammer in his other hand.

He had left the Mopin' Bucket in the hallway and just had this hammer and the badge. You tell me what he was planning on using that hammer for. As I stood there watching this, trying not to flip my lid in front of the boss, he asked me if I recognized the guy. I confirmed that he was the guy from last night, but I didn't know who he was. The problem was that the security guy watching the footage with us did not know the guy either, which was a problem. They see the janitors all the time and have had to help them with access to some rooms, so they were pretty familiar with them.

This guy, he was not, though. So, now, they had to go and review the access logs and see who was trying to get into these restricted rooms, which made things worse. My boss shared with me later that the guy who was there that night did not match the guy whose badge it belonged to. like it had been stolen even better they ended up talking to the owner of the badge because he came in the next day needing to be signed and let in

and he was in a panic because he realized his badge was missing and then he knew exactly what had happened to it it was actually his roommate apparently he was kicking him out because he wasn't paying his part of the rent anymore it was his home he had just let his friend

slash the roommate move in, and he had also been stealing some of his belongings. So he told him that he had to go. That night, the guy went on a rampage, destroying things in the house while he was gone, and apparently stole his badge that he kept in his room. I guess that he thought he would be able to get in here, steal some things that he could sell or blackmail him for, maybe, but he didn't have access to anything like that,

which made him mad. I, of course, just became a potential threat since I saw him. The guy whose badge was stolen was reprimanded pretty hard, but he didn't lose his job. He did come up and talk to me and apologized profusely for what happened, but I in no way had any ill will towards this guy. It's unfortunate that someone he called a friend would do that, but it's also not like he had the badge out in the open. He at least kept it in his room, so other than hiding it or locking it up, what else could he have done? He did help in tracking the guy down, though, and he was arrested, so at least we didn't have to worry about him again. That was still just one of the scariest things I have ever experienced, knowing my gut instincts could have absolutely saved me that night.

So, to wrap this up, I'll just say to trust your instincts. Even if nothing happens, I think it's a hell of a lot better to be hypervigilant than to be in an I wish I would have done this situation. So I have a story about a guy that I met on the internet that ended up being, well, I think creep is probably an understatement, but it's the best work. I can think of to define him. I'm sure some people out there have more appropriate choice adjectives for him, but creep works for me.

Anyways, this was a good number of years ago. I was pretty active on a social media platform that doesn't exist anymore. I had garnered a decent following by posting stupid pop culture memes and references. Pretty shallow, I know, but it was fun and I was like 16 at the time, and I liked the friendships that I was making, mostly because I didn't have many friends in real life. Most of the people that hung around my page were pretty decent, to be honest, and I rarely had to block anyone or report them. One day, I had gotten a message from someone that had followed me saying that they enjoyed

my page, and they thought that I was a pretty cool person. Obviously, they hadn't met me, and I didn't put much in ways of personal information out on the page, but again, I was young and that kind of validation was something that I wanted. They seemed pretty normal at first, just telling me that they liked my content and about how much they enjoyed this show or liked that band. It was a pretty normal conversation for the most part, and then they followed it up with a pretty common ASL, which, for those that don't know, is age, sex, and location, asking for information about me. me. I told them that I was

16, female, but then said that I didn't really want to give out my location. The other person said that they were 19, male, and that they lived in the same state that I actually lived in. Obviously, he didn't know that, but I was

kind of irked to see that he did live in the same state. He didn't push me at all to tell him where I lived, though, so although I was a bit, I said irked earlier, but I don't know if that's the right word, I still talked to him,

because he didn't know that I lived in the same state. We talked every once in a while, just chatting about whatever, mostly him telling me about the movies and things that he liked. Then, out of seemingly nowhere, he started hounding me and asking me for more information on who I was, and then telling me that he loved me. I told him that he was being a creep,

and that if he didn't stop I was going to have to block him. Then he threw out, go ahead and block me, Caitlin, if it'll make you feel better about yourself. I was sufficiently freaked out, because I had never told him my name and there was no indication that my name was Caitlin on my page. I immediately blocked him. The fact that he knew my name told me that he had somehow gotten information on me, and I wasn't going to risk him being a creep even more than he already had. But, of course, if that was the end of this, it would be a rather boring story, and this was certainly not the end of it.

I thought that he was just going to go away after being blocked, but he was just getting started with me, apparently. The next day I got a DM from an account that had literally no information associated with it. To the best of my knowledge, this site required information like a name and such, but the name was blank. The picture was plain white, and the description on the account was just not done with you yet. I knew right away who it was going to be, and I wasn't surprised when I saw that the message was, I have something for you. I stupidly said what do you want, and he responded with an incredible,

an appropriate image. I won't describe it, but you can probably guess what it was. I blocked this account, too, but it didn't matter. Every other day, he was messaging me with gory images, pictures of himself naked, and other various disgusting things. It hit a point where I just ended up logging off my account entirely, and basically forgot that it existed. For about two weeks, this was sufficient enough to stop him from being able to harass me.

Until I checked my email one day and saw a message from an email address that was just random characters. Sure enough, when I clicked that message, I knew that it was him. I knew that it was him. The message was a picture of me from my prior year's school yearbook. It had my first and last name, home address, school address, and then another very disgusting photo of part of his body. This was where I knew that I had to end this. I needed to get someone else involved.

I ended up bringing it up to my mom. I was a bit slow with explaining it, but after a while I basically just put it out there that this guy now knew where I lived, where I went to school, had my full name and picture. I showed her the email, and she told me that we... needed to tell my dad, and he said that we needed to take it to the police. Thankfully, the police did take it seriously, because this was a fairly credible threat, and he was sending adult content to a minor. We ended up making the report.

My parents basically told me that I wasn't allowed to use the computer anymore, and they informed my school of the situation too. That way, if someone was found around the school, or if anyone came up their me, they would know that it could be this guy. Even worse, that is exactly what happened, and how this all ended. It was about two weeks later, and there was an announcement over the intercom that the school was going into lockdown, and that all students needed to remain in the classrooms. We were all a bit curious and scared.

This was the early 2000s, so this wasn't a common thing to have to go through these kinds of things. After several hours, they announced that the lockdown was over, and then my teacher got a call and they asked me to come to the office. When I got there, my parents were there and I had to sit in with them, the administration, and the police to discuss the situation. Apparently, this guy had come into my school and told the front office that he was my uncle, Ronald, which actually was my uncle's name. And, worse yet, he was an emergency contact for me, and he told him that he was there to come get me out of class for the day because I had a doctor's appointment. Thankfully, the front desk person knew my uncle, and had his photo on file on the computer.

And this guy was not him. Plus, they knew that there was a potential threat with this rando, and they asked him to wait in the lobby while they called me down. They then called the school resource officer, and he immediately cuffed the sky. Fun fact about this creep. He was in his mid-40s, not 19, like he said, and he didn't actually live in the state. He was from Texas. I know that I didn't mention where I lived, but it was nowhere near Texas, which meant that he already knew where I lived when he asked, and that's why he said that he lived in my state.

I have no idea what this guy's intentions were, though I can kind of make some incredibly disturbing assumptions, but I'm glad that I ended up talking to my parents about it. I was banned from the computer for something like two years at my house, and I was fine with that. Sure, it was nice having the validation of strangers, but it clearly came at the cost of my own safety and security, and that was absolutely not worth it.

In the end, he went down for a number of things, including the content he had on his hard drive. And I don't think he's going to be getting out of prison. Like, ever. I'm thankful for that because I never wants to meet him ever again. Back around 2006, I worked as a contracted security guard. I worked at a lot of different places such as hotels, hospitals, tech and banking buildings, you name it. The job was always the same with minimal rules varying depending on the business.

I have plenty of stories of weirdos trying to get past me, vindictive ex-workers and more that I'll consider sharing in the future, but the ones that freaked me out the most were the ones that I have no explanation for. I'm by no means a small guy, and just standing within inches of someone was typically enough to get them to back off. But I will nope right the hell out of a haunted house. So, when my next contract was in a closed hotel, I was less than thrilled about the idea. But I bucked up and told myself that I could make it through the month and a half that I would be there. The hotel was empty because it had been shut down and the owners went bankrupt. The people, or debtors, I guess, had rights to the property, the furniture and whatever else was in the building,

so they hired security guards to monitor it until they were able to retrieve everything they wanted. I worked some of the day shifts when they needed someone to cover them, but usually just worked the overnight ones. There was always a shift partner, and we were never alone, so that definitely helped a lot to keep my mind busy, so that I didn't dwell on the creepiness around me. If you've ever been in a large empty or abandoned building, you may know what I mean. The eerie silence is intense. And when you look around and see the building is in good condition

and looks like you should see people coming out of the pool area, sounds of doors opening, people walking, and you just see none of this, it kind of puts you in a situation, where you feel like you should be on guard. Sorry, it's kind of hard to explain. Definitely like something bad is happening that you aren't aware of or will happen. It's just an unsettling feeling.

Anyways, it was probably about 2 a.m. or so, and my shift partner Trent and I were talking about food when we became really hungry. We didn't really have a lot of places nearby that delivered, so he offered to go grab something for us. This is where my stomach was louder than my brain. I thought I could totally handle being alone for a short amount of time until he got back, so I agreed and he left. So I was sitting there at the front desk, just waiting for time to pass.

I played some stock games that was on my phone given to us by work, and then pulled out the small rubber ball I had found earlier that was in my pocket. I started bouncing it off the floor to the wall and would catch it, and just repeat this over and over. Until one of these cycles, it was disrupted. The ball was coming back to me when it just seemed to fall to the ground. It was almost as if someone had blocked it from coming back to me, causing it to just stop.

It was definitely weird, but I just chalked it up to losing momentum. Maybe I didn't throw it very hard, I don't know. so I went to pick up the ball when I started hearing a thumping noise. It made me stand up straight, stiff as a board when I heard it. Then I noticed that the thumping was in the same pattern that I was causing with throwing the ball. Thump to the floor, thump to the wall, thump after catching it. I stood there listening to this on repeat for several cycles. I first thought that someone must be in here and maybe they're doing something.

something else and it just conveniently sounded the same, or that someone was messing with me. So I decided to check the floor above me, where it sounded like it was coming from. I took the stairs and started looking over the floor. I didn't immediately see anyone, so I continued looking down the halls, checking to see if any of the doors were open. We were given a master key that opened any and all of the doors of the hotel, including all of the rooms. But from what I could see, there were no open doors.

Then I heard what sounded like a door opening or closing. I turned to look towards the hall where I thought it was coming from and made my way in that direction. This is where I started feeling anxious. Something was not right, and I didn't know what it was. But not seeing the cause of the sound immediately was starting to be. make me panic. With my hand on my taser, I shouted out,

This premise is closed to the public. You should leave now, or you will be prosecuted by the owners. I was hoping that I sounded burly and threatening and didn't let my fear show through, but I was even more so hoping that whoever it was would just leave. However, it wouldn't be that easy. As I stood there and started to make my way down the hall, I heard what sounded like feet stomping or running, but I was still not seeing anything. The stomping continued to get louder and faster like it was coming towards me, and I froze not knowing what to do.

Then, suddenly, I felt a strong shift in the air and it got really cold. This is where my fighter flight finally kicked in, but I wasn't about to fight something that I couldn't see, so I darted back downstairs to the first floor and out the front door. I refused to go back in that building alone. I called Trent to see where he was at, and he said he was pretty close by, so after I hung up, I took a minute to pull myself together and went back in, but I turned all of the lights on on the bottom floor.

We usually just had the light on at the desk and the lobby, but I wanted to be able to see all around me at this point, When Trent got back, I told him that I thought I heard sounds upstairs but didn't find anything, and played it off as possibly hearing things or just echoes. So he brushed it off too. We didn't have any more experiences that night. I had to work there the next night but had a different shift partner, and he seemed nervous from the start.

I'm not one to make fun of people's fears, but I did ask him what was up. He then explained how that place gave him a really weird, off feeling that he just couldn't shake. I asked him to explain more and he told me his past experience, which was similar to mine. He even mentioned the stomping and running noises that he'd heard. So I probably shocked him when I started rambling about my paranoia of this place too, but he agreed with me. We both joked about how under no circumstances would we go to the second floor, and we definitely weren't going anywhere alone. After talking to some other guys that worked there,

one of them mentioned how he was friends with one of the previous owners, and they told him that he felt the place was haunted, as they'd experienced the same thing. I was mentally freaking out. I was glad to know that I wasn't just being a coward, and that others were experiencing this too. But then, I also had to acknowledge that this, whatever it was, existed. I did work through it, but I tried to swap shifts as much as I could because I don't do ghosts.

Thankfully, I never had another experience, but I also avoided any situation that may have given me one. Oh, and they've since leveled the place. so good riddance. Hey there, friends. That was today's episode of the As the Raven Dreams podcast, and I really hope that you all enjoyed this collection of scary stories. If you did, please do consider checking out my YouTube channel where I do these same stories, but a little bit earlier than I do them here on the podcast form,

and also in slightly different collections. If you really enjoy the podcast, please do consider giving it a rating of any sort if the platform you're listening on has ratings. Any honest rating is appreciated by me, be it five star, one star, however you want to do it. Just know that rating the podcast helps tremendously. And if you would like to support further, I do have a Patreon and channel memberships if you'd like to do things on the YouTube side, where for as little as a dollar a month, they get early access to my content. never ever expected but always appreciated. That said, friends, I hope that I do see you on the next episode of this podcast.

And of course, until then, sleep well.