As The Raven Dreams Podcast - ATRD Ep. 167 - Scary Public Transit and Stalker stories

Episode Date: March 13, 2025

Today's episode contains 2 stories Narrated by my wife, Marie's Field Of Nightmares. She doesn't have a podcast, but she's on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@MariesFieldOfNightmares Today, on the 167th episode of the As The Raven Dreams podcast, we have 10 True Chilling stories. These stories come from the shadowy corners of reality, where everyday life takes an eerie twist & ordinary people experience the extraordinary. Today we will be diving into scary Public Transport stories and Stalker stories. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like or rate the podcast, and leave me a comment with your thoughts if the platform your own supports it! Scary story episodes 2 to 3 times a week (New stories On Wed/Fri, Comps/remasters on Sundays) If you have a story to submit, would like to find where to listen to the podcast, or want to find me on social media platforms, all of that info can be found at https://www.astheravendreams.com You can also send stories into my subreddit (r/theravensdream) or email them to me at [e-mail] Want to check out some ATRD Podcast Merch? ➤ https://teechip.com/stores/astheravendreams Or for signed merch ➤ https://ko-fi.com/AsTheRavenDreams I wrote a novel, "The Insomniac's Experiment" by Raven Adams! Check it out on amazon (Or you can email me for a signed copy!) Join Patreon to get early access and support the Podcast! ➤ https://www.patreon.com/AsTheRavenDreams Check out my gaming channel with my pal Ghost_Ink ➤ @superNefariousBros On YouTube Disclaimer ➤ Episodes include a content warning for language and sensitive/disturbing content. Listener discretion is always advised. ALL Audio and visuals on this podcast are copyright of AS THE RAVEN DREAMS / RAVEN ADAMS and may not be duplicated, in any format. Bless This Mess. #AsTheRavenDreams #TrueScaryStories #GlitchInTheMatrix Thank you to all of the authors that have stories in todays episode... CharlieGotOld, Corey, Walter Clark, Aussie-Orchid, Summer Character, No-Champion-6776, Richard pennington, Andrew B., Cole As Well As Any Author That Has Requested Anonymity. TimeStamps… 1 ➤ 00:24 2 ➤ 10:19 3 ➤ 16:12 4 ➤ 23:14 5 ➤ 32:18 6 ➤ 37:57 7 ➤ 42:36 8 ➤ 48:10 9 ➤ 57:34 10 ➤ 1:00:12 Midrolls after the first story and at about 50 Minutes. ----- #TrueScaryStories #AsTheRavenDreams #GlitchInTheMatrix #RedditStories And Remember; You are loved, you are important, and you are valid. Never let anyone tell you otherwise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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And as always, thank you. I've lived in a pretty populated area for most of my life. It's so congested that I don't even own a car and, in... In fact, I take the train to most places. When it's nice, I might walk or ride my bike instead, but for the most part, it's the train. My work also covers the cost of the past due to their going green initiative, which was one less thing I had to pay for. I also work at a hospital, so I think it was their way of trying to get less cars on the road

and to make more room for emergency vehicles. Still, not a bad thing in my opinion. So while on the train, I try to be pretty observant and aware of the people around me. You never know when you may be the only person available to help someone in need, or when something goes down that you need to pretend you didn't see for your own safety. It rarely happened, but it still did. And even as a guy, I knew when it was best to mind my own business. but there was something that happened on one of my rides a few years ago that I wanted to share.

I was taking the train around 2 a.m. after a late night at work. I'm an ER nurse, and that night in particular, we had two critical patients come in that we were working on pretty consistently. I was exhausted, but we saved lives, so I was happy. I remember finding a seat and decompressing on the ride. anticipating going home to my apartment and passing out for the next eight hours. I pulled out my phone and was responding to a message as we came upon another stop. A few people got on and some changed cars, including a woman who looked a bit dishevelled. She was wearing a short, shimmering dress and lace-up heels.

Her hair was curled but now looked frizzy like it had been messed with, and she loosely carried one of the smallest purses I'd ever seen. My first thought was, she was probably heading home after having too many drinks in a nearby pub. As she entered the bus, she seemed to scan the car nervously, and when her eyes met mine, her whole face lit up with recognition.

She had a wide smile as she approached my seat. She said hi and sat next to me, really close. The seats were more. more bench-like, fitting two people comfortably, but she had sat close enough to nearly be sitting on my lap. It was definitely unexpected. I had no idea who this chick was, but she sat by me like she recognized me. I was confused, but I thought maybe she'd mistaken me for someone else. Now that she was next to me, I could smell the alcohol on her. She began asking how I was,

how my night was going, even with her words being slightly slurred. But while her speech was slurred, her eyes didn't match. They were alert, focused, almost pleading. She would look around the train before turning her attention back to me. I played along, telling her about my night and what I did. She told me the same, as I wondered where this was going. Then her conversation started becoming the same. more flirtatious.

She said that I was really cute and asked if I was seeing anyone, and I told her no, which wasn't a lie. Then she smiled at me, and offered to have me come home with her. She said that she would make it worth my time, smiling. Was this really happening? Did this woman really just get on the train and immediately try to take a stranger home? I politely declined and said that I needed to get home, but to my surprise? She pushed it.

She said I could stay there and that she would even make breakfast for us. She was attractive and definitely my type, but none of this seemed right. She was clearly under the influence in trying this with a complete stranger. And I didn't feel comfortable with it, so I again declined, mentioning that she was drunk and instead I offered her my number, saying that maybe we could get together another time. Around this time the train was slowing down, and I heard the doors opening for the car in front of us, going into hours. She quickly looked up and backed down at me, grabbing my hand.

She squeezed it, and while looking me in the eyes, smiled and said, Please? That's when it finally clicked. The nervous scanning of the car, the forced cheerfulness, and now the desperate pleas in her eye. I realized what was going on. There were two guys now walking into our car, and I asked her if she needed help. I could literally see the relief in her eyes immediately. She smiled and hugged me, and I fell into the roll, putting my arms around her.

I looked up and saw the two men looking over the seats, and when they got to ours, they didn't take their eyes off of me. They looked over both of us and sat in the seats behind us. She then looked up at me and whispered, Next stop, and tried to laugh, so I played along. As the train pulled into the station, the doors slid open and we stood together. She grabbed my hand and we both started walking to the doors. But I noticed the other two guys stood up with us.

I could tell that they were right behind me. As we exited the train, barely out the door, I heard one of the men call out. She stayed close, but we both turned around. The man asked if I was with her, and I confirmed. Then he made the comment, that's funny, she certainly didn't act like she had a man back at, insert name of pub.

The other guy made the same comments about what she was doing, and she responded saying that she was just having fun, that she wasn't trying to hook up with anyone. I could kind of get the picture, of what had happened here. In between the remarks about her, one of them asked me her name. Well, crap, she didn't tell me her name,

so I had to try my best to play it off. I stood a bit more in between them and told them that she's clearly not interested and to step off before I called the cops. And everything went by way too fast after that. The first guy kind of chuckled and turned towards the other and then swung forward, punching me in the gut.

I went down pretty fast. I'm not a big guy by any means. The two of them began kicking me repeatedly, and I could hear the woman screaming, as well as a few other people that were at the stop. I remember a few people being there, but I remember nothing about them. I do remember the intercom going off,

saying something along the lines of security to platform four. The girl kept screaming stop. And then finally one guy yelled at the other, let's go, let's go. Then the other guy spat at me and said, control your girl. And then they both ran off. The next hour or so was a blur of transit police statements and paramedics surrounding me. Thankfully, I didn't have any broken ribs, but was incredibly sore and bruised. They insisted that I go to the hospital, though, to make sure there was no internal bleeding.

and I agreed. The woman stayed by me and apologized profusely. She kept saying it was her fault and how she should have never involved me, but to be honest, I'm glad she did. I'm glad that she was brave enough to approach me for help, because I would take that beating again in a heartbeat. Who knows what they would have tried with her had she been alone? When talking to the cops, she explained how she was dancing, how they were. how they kept trying to dance with her, but they were touching and grabbing her so she left.

They followed her on to the train, and that's when she quickly made her way to my car and spotted me, deciding that I would help her. She said that she saw my badge that I still had clipped on my jacket, and when she approached and saw it was for a hospital, she knew she could trust me. That was one of those moments that I was proud of the work that I did. She knew that she could trust me and chose me. I got beat up for it, but I may have saved her from a much worse fate. The hospital visit confirmed that nothing serious was wrong,

so I was good to finally go home hours later. The woman, whose name was Kate, thanked me, and that was the last time I saw her. I never heard anything else about the men, however, so I don't know if they were ever caught. That was probably one of the craziest and scariest things to ever happen to me, though. And while I would do it all over again to help someone, I hope that I never meet those guys again. This happened 21 years ago when I was in college,

yet I feel like it happened yesterday since I can't shake the frightening memory of what went down that evening. I lived at home during these years, and sometimes I would visit a few old friends from high school who still lived in my hometown. It was a brisk October night, well past midnight, and I had just set out, on foot, to home from my friend's house. For a little background, this is an older-style town, a bit on the smaller side, but I still had a decent walk ahead of me, about a mile if I had to guess. These sidewalks are drenched in darkness with enough light from yellow street lamps to help pedestrians see ahead. I'd walked about a block before I noticed someone suddenly walking right behind me. That usually wouldn't be a problem as someone else walking home meant you weren't alone,

but I immediately sensed something off about this guy, as he'd seemingly come out of nowhere. And again, it was well past midnight. He didn't seem to be a guy just walking home. I couldn't even turn around to see his appearance, as it might have set him off. I could only see what he looked like out of the corner of my eye. He was huge, about six foot four, and appeared to be in his mid-twenties. I noticed his intense expression on his face from the corner of my eye.

This guy was royally pissed off about something, and it looked like he was about to. to take it out on me. I have to admit, it wasn't so bad when he was only walking behind me, but he was also walking fast, which wasn't a big deal, right? I assumed he would pass me up, and then that would be that.

But when he got within one foot of me, the hair stood up on the back of my neck. I continued walking as if nothing was wrong. I mean, the guy was just walking behind me, so it's not like I had a legitimate reason to hit the panic button and start freaking out just yet. Then, the man started panting heavily. Not like someone would when they were out of breath,

but rather he was breathing heavily through his nose, making the strange vibes worse. At some point, I inevitably crossed an adjacent street, hoping that he would go a different way, and that this nightmare would be over. But after I made it to the other side with him still close behind, behind me, I realized this was far from over. While on that same road, I crossed in the middle of the block to the other side.

I figured, if I did this, I would be on my side and he would stay put, but that's not what happened. Instead, he followed behind me, seemingly picking up his pace even more. My heart had already been racing, but now it was beating out of my chest. I mean, who follows someone across the street in the dead middle of the block? I was so terrified at this point that I felt at any moment I might scream and take off running down the street. After he followed me to the other side, I was sure that this guy would grab me and that I would never see my family again. But I kept my composure and continued moving forward. As I did, the words of Robert Stack from Unsolved Mysteries ran through my mind, saying,

A young man left his friend's house late one night after a few of his buddies were watching movies together. He was never seen again. My reaction may have been extreme, but I honestly felt that this guy would do something to hurt me. Well, at this point, I came to another street to cross. I ended up crossing it while the car was racing by. I wouldn't say that it almost hit me, but the driver gave me an awkward look and a long horn honk to express his displeasure

at my bolting out in front of him like I did as he passed. I had no choice but to ignore it and let it roll off my back. Running out in front of a car may have been stupid, but it was a blessing in disguise, because after I caused a scene, the strange man went up the road adjacent to the one I was on. meaning he was no longer behind me.

Relief washed over me as I watched him walk away. I got home just fine that night, though the memory reminds me, along with everyone listening to this, that walking alone at night may not be such a good idea, even if you're a stronger young guy like I was. As for the stalker, I'm not sure what his motivation was for following so close to me like that, but it was incredibly frightening at the time,

especially when he crossed the street with me mid-block for no good reason. In hindsight, I could only speculate, but now that I'm older and wiser, I realize the guy might have been on drugs, possibly crack, but again, that's only speculation. It's also possible that he had just come from one of our town's dive bars and was drunk. Maybe he'd been kicked out or something, I don't know.

Thankfully, I never saw him again after that, nor did I walk alone for almost a mile away like that again, so late at night. Hey, Raven, I told you I would eventually write this story out, so here it is. I would prefer if he would make this anonymous, not for me, but for the other people involved. It's really easy to find the record.

of this if you know where to look. I need to give a warning as this story does involve mentions of an abuser. I will not go into details. I have to give some backstory for how I could be around this person and not know who he really was. A long time ago, I worked at a video rental store. I would trade rentals for free sandwiches from the subway next door. This led to hanging out at a Denny's after work, early in the morning.

Through this, I met many different people. The Denny's was off I-5 between Seattle and Portland, so many different types of people gravitated there. One night, I strolled in after work, and the place was rather dead. There was a new person sitting in the smoking section. Yes, it was that long ago. Me being me, I sat down across from them in the booth uninvited.

The person was wearing a black trench coat, had long blonde hair, and all the looks of an edge lord. Just the kind of person that would give at least a good conversation. I sat down and said, Hey, I'm Bill. You look like you need a friend. Nope, don't need friends, he said. Undaunted. Well, I always need more friends.

This was the sort of friendship that would last for 20 years, until it all went to hell. For the first few years, we were just roommates in a house of 11 people. I will call this person Dave. Sorry for all the Dave's out there. Dave was 6'4 and thin. He had mental problems, as in on disability. I was told that it was because of a sleeping issue that he had, which I witnessed. He might sleep one night out of five.

The rest of the time, if he walked by him, sleeping, his eyes would pop open and see who it was. Given his sleeping issues, he slept on the couch in the computer room of the house. Dave was also a compulsive liar. Never a lie that would hurt anyone or get someone's hopes up. Just about what he had done in his life and things that he knew. It really came across as brilliant storytelling. It's hard to explain how much it was to live. listen to his stories. As a bonus, he was an excellent game master for D&D. Over the years,

some of what I thought were lies would actually turn out to be true. So it made it even harder to pass off what he would say. He was also one of the most well-read people I knew. We could argue philosophy, dissect books we read, and even once had a screaming match over the theories of Stephen Hawking. I eventually moved out of the house. I got married and bought a house, so there ended up being some distance. He moved away to Oregon, then Las Vegas. Then he moved in with me and my family for a short time. Looking back, I didn't know the risk I took.

Then he started a relationship with the longtime friend of his who lived a long ways away. In short order, he moved in with her. her. This is where it gets dark. So Dave and Mary and Mary's daughter all moved in together. They had two of their own kids together. Mary's daughter went off to college and then went to visit her dad. This is when it all came out. Dave had actually been inappropriate with her for four years.

She hadn't had the courage to press charges until she was states away at her dad's. Dave called me and admitted all of it and asked for my forgiveness. I cannot explain how shocked and enraged I was. I had been telegaming with him, his wife, and his stepdaughter for years. I had let this man into my home with my own two daughters. I'm lucky that I was two-thirds of the U.S. away from him. I don't know what I would have done, and I don't want to find out. Another bit of luck was that this was in a state that could have given him the death penalty.

He got life without parole. I cannot imagine what it was like for Mary and her daughter, let alone the two that he had with Mary. I was investigated along with him, as I had been his friend for 20 years. How could I not have seen it? Well, it was only in hindsight. All of his girlfriends had teenage daughters. daughters, or they looked young for their age. I assisted in the investigation by giving him names and numbers of all the people that I was still in contact with.

This was with full knowledge that questions would be asked about me, that my background would be looked into. I knew that I was clean, and I had passed some pretty rigorous checks in my past, even held a security clearance once, which I could never hold again thanks to this. Let me tell you, the police investigator was one of the nicest guys in the world. He had already done some checks into me and told me that I was not considered part of Dave's group. This was all done before I even knew. You don't know you're being investigated until they want to tell you. It had to be one of the most surreal moments in my life. I even volunteered for him to remote desktop into my computer for the investigation into me.

Keep in mind that I hadn't been face to face with Dave for almost a decade at this point. Everything had been online or over the phone. I think I'm rambling, but I don't know who needs to hear this. Don't blame yourself for not knowing the filth in others' hearts around you. The only way you could see it is if you are like them. Because you aren't looking for it. You would have to be something like them to see it. At least that's what I tell myself.

Thank you for taking the time, Raven, and to all those out there, don't blame yourself for others' actions. They are not you. I used to go on a lot of business trips for this company I used to work for. I probably had to go to at least one conference a quarter, so I was pretty used to traveling. I had the process down of going from the airport to the car. rental place to the hotel to the point that I was damn near on autopilot going through it all. But there was one year back in 2018 that instead of my normal routine, I skipped the car rental. My hotel was right next to the convention center and I wasn't planning on going anywhere else.

It was for three days, there was a restaurant in the hotel, as well as a few places with the a few places within walking distance, if I really wanted to get out too. I was in Orlando, and I was not a fan of the humidity, so I typically stayed indoors anyways. So from the airport, I took a bus straight to my hotel. Mind you, this bus's route typically shuttled from the airport, but did have some other stops, so getting people with luggage was pretty cool. comment. When I got on, the bus was about half full. I took an aisle seat and tucked my small suitcase under my seat to keep it out of the way. Like I said, it was only three days, so I didn't pack much. I was also the type to use the laundry facilities in the hotel in the worst case

scenario. Once my stuff was put away, I sat and started doing whatever on my phone to occupy my time. On the next stop, a few people got on, including this ordinary guy. He was probably about mid-30s, wearing cargo shorts and a bright blue polo shirt. There was nothing remarkable about him, except for the way he immediately locked eyes with me and sat directly across the aisle and stared at me. At first, I just ignored it. You get all types of people on public transit, right? But I could feel that I was being stared at. Every time I glanced up from my phone, he was still glaring at me with this intense anger, like I had personally wronged him somehow. Then he started muttering under his breath.

I couldn't make out what he was saying at first, but his voice would randomly get louder, as if he wanted people to hear certain pieces of what he was saying. Fing tourist, ruining everything, no respect. You can see what he was going for. I just remember thinking how weird it was, considering we were in Orlando of all places. The entire city was basically built on tourism. It would be like getting mad about gambling in Vegas.

But whatever, to each their own. own. Some people just choose to be mad, I guess. Then suddenly, he stood up. I thought maybe he was moving to a different seat or about to get off at the next stop. But instead, he quite deliberately kicked my foot as he walked past, seemed to patrol all the seats like he was observing who all was sitting there, and then took a seat closer to the front. I just remember being like, What the hell? I didn't have my feet out blocking the aisle. I had them under me because, while I typically used rentals, I had taken buses plenty of times before, and I'm aware of how much space I take up. Hence the reason I chose to use a smaller suitcase, since I knew I didn't

have a rental. There was also an older woman with a cane that walked by me without hitting me, kicking me, or even brushing against me. If she could get by without any contact, I knew I wasn't in the way. But his ranting got louder as he said something like, someone should do something about them, clean up the city. Looking around, especially at me. Other passengers were taking notice of him at this point and even moved away from him, shooting nervous glances in his direction. Then he got up again, pacing the aisle, and the bus driver told him to pick a seat.

So he stormed back my way and once again kicked my leg. Now, I was pretty annoyed. I was already getting sticky and hot, and this guy was being a dick for no reason. So I finally said something. What the hell's your problem, man? That was all I said, and while I probably shouldn't have, I wasn't going to just sit around and let him keep this up. It was like I flipped the switch on in him.

He turned to face me, and his face was bright red. He started screaming at me about how I was the problem, how people like me were polluting his city, and that the world would be better off without me and everyone else on the bus. I told him he needed to calm down and have a seat. He pulled out a knife. Everything seemed to happen so fast. He lunged at me as he screamed at me to die. Some of the passengers were trying to step back to not get pulled into the fight.

People were screaming and I could hear the bus driver shouting something. I remember a sharp jerk on the bus that apparently was from the driver swerving over to the shoulder. I was too busy trying to watch this guy swing his arm at me with a knife. He was nearly on top of me and trying to stab me when finally I saw two guys, another passenger and the driver, pull the guy off of me. They managed to restrain him, and one of them grabbed the knife, and there we stayed until the police showed up. When they arrived, I told them how I was on the bus first, as well as a few other. people, and then he got on afterwards. I explained what he was spouting off, and I even admitted to confronting the guy. The police said several others on the bus confirmed what I was saying, too,

so I wasn't to blame either. They said this guy just seemed to have a problem with tourists, I guess. But here's the kicker. They asked me if I knew the guy because they checked his ID and everything, and he wasn't even from Florida. He told him he was in town staying with his girlfriend. And after they spoke to the man and told them a bit about what I said, including me being there for business, the guy asked to apologize to me because he thought I was a tourist. I just stood there dumbfounded,

with a torn sleeve on my cheap button-up shirt and dirty slacks, thinking about how this guy wasn't even a local himself. had just tried to stab me because he thought I was a tourist, but apparently being there for business made it okay? If I was there for vacation, I certainly would not have been wearing what I was. I'd probably be wearing something closer to what he had on, but if he had known I was there on business,

he wouldn't have attacked me. But what if he attacked the two girls sitting in the back that looked like they were there for vacation. His reasoning made no sense, clearly, and I was just flabbergasted by his response to it all. I got a ride to my hotel by the police, had to buy a new shirt, and then explained to my boss, who was meeting me there,

he flew in a few days before me what had happened. The whole conference, I kept thinking about how the guy wanted to shake my hand and move on, Like, somehow that made his actions worse, that he was trying to harm someone there for business. Not the fact that he tried to stab a stranger on the bus, but that he tried to stab the wrong kind of stranger. I didn't take buses very often, but that event was enough to make me choose a rental or an Uber from then on. Back in the 1990s, I used to work as an advertising executive in Baltimore when I lived in New York. city every day. The commute was really tiring, but I really enjoyed my job. I would wake up around

6 in the morning, would take the three train to Penn Station, and when I arrived there, I would usually catch a 7.15 am track, and the train ride would normally be 2 hours and 15 minutes. I would do this every day without any problems, only this one day would put a sad end to this streak. It was a Friday morning, and I hopped on a 615-3 train like every day. There was no issue so far. Around 623, we then arrived at the third and last stop before entering Manhattan, and then we took off from that station about a minute later. Around 626 or 627, the train came to a complete stop. I was surprised, because trains usually wouldn't stop this early in the time. the morning as less people took the train at this time. I waited for about five minutes,

before the conductor came on the speaker and said, we're extremely sorry for the delay, there's an issue going on and we're trying to resolve this ASAP. Thank you for your patience. I was annoyed because I didn't want to be late for work, as my boss would lose his mind if anyone was late. Time kept going by, and now I was on the train for like 40 minutes. Now I was getting concerned. What the hell could be going on out there? Twenty minutes later, the conductor came on the speaker again and said, We're all so sorry that we're being held here for this long. We're expected to be here for a while now.

Thank you so much for your patience. An hour had already passed by, and everyone in the subway car started to get very anxious and grumpy. Ten minutes later, I would have the most disturbing moment of my life. Right outside of my subway car, I heard a bunch of gunshots and yelling. Someone must have had intentions on killing somebody. I was so frightened at this moment that I could only sit and wait until the train would move again. Everyone else in the car felt the same way.

For like the next 35 minutes, I would hear constant sirens above me. Every police department in the city had to have been called. I would also hear loud talking outside of the car, and I could tell a huge crime scene was going on. Time still flew by, and I was still stuck in the tunnel. Around 8.30-ish, the train finally moved again and everyone happily cheered loudly. There was no signal as we were still underground. We then arrived at the next stop, and we were all forced to exit the train as the whole line would be shut down for the remainder of the day. day. I then called my boss and told him that I wouldn't be making it into work that day and

explained to him what exactly had happened. He then said that it was all good and hoped that I was safe and sound. After getting off the phone, I then walked up to a police officer and asked him what had happened. He told me that he couldn't tell anyone what the situation was and that I would have to find out in tomorrow's newspaper. I said thank you. and then walked out of the station and hailed a taxi all the way back home. The next morning, I went outside of my apartment front door to grab my newspaper. I picked it up, and what I read on the front page, I felt as if my heart went into my stomach. On Thursday night, a homeless man stole a gun from a gun shop and ran off.

Nobody was able to catch him as he ran too fast. Later he would enter a train station not too far off from my station and would jump on the tracks and run away as witnesses said. He then hid from police between multiple stops from the night up until morning. It was at the station that I stopped around the time I was on the train that a security guard working behind the surveillance cameras spotted a homeless man on the tracks and informed the train conductor about this, which resulted in the train stopping for an estimated

two hours and 30 minutes. During this gruesome time period, the police were called and they kept searching for the man everywhere until the police and us heard gunshots from underneath the train, and the cops fired back at the man.

He was immediately killed after being shot. It then took a while for other police and EMTs to arrive at the scene and they then carried the body of the homeless man out in a body bag. About five years later, I quit that job because I got a higher-paying job offer, and that was in the city,

and I didn't have to commute all the way down to Baltimore. After this scary incident, I became extremely afraid of guns, and whenever I see one at a store or on TV, the memory keeps playing back in my head of when I heard the shots fired right outside, and underneath the subway car that I was in. I live in a very small town where everyone knows everyone else. Last weekend, a girl walked up to my porch and said that she had a friend who wanted to get to know me and asked if I was single. I told her I was and she asked for my number.

I didn't see the harm in that as I am open to meeting new people. Well, big, dumb mistake on my part. I'll never do that again. She left, and about five minutes later, I remember. received a text from the guy. And it turns out, I have known of this person for almost 30 years, but we've never met or spoken to each other. He told me that he thought I was pretty and that he'd like to get to know me better and asked if he could stop by to talk in person. I said that was fine. The guy shows up with four other people, and it was immediately clear to me that they were all on

drugs of some sort. I hadn't seen him for a very long time, so I was not expecting how he looked. His name is Carrie, and he didn't have a single tooth left in his mouth. He might have weighed 110 pounds, 5'7

at most. I was immediately regretful. Not only were all of his teeth missing, but he had no job, no car, no money, and was currently homeless. I recognized immediately that this guy was trying to find a home for the winter, and he thinks he's going to date me.

It's obvious he thinks very highly of his looks and his charming ways. Honestly, his flirting was extremely repulsive. I got rid of him by making up an excuse that I had to be somewhere. Four days later, my doorbell cam captured a video of Carrie walking up to my porch steps, where he decided to sit with his back to the camera. He turned and looked directly at the camera twice. It gets creepier a few days later. I woke up on Friday morning at about 5.30 a.m. and decided to smoke a cigarette.

I don't smoke inside, and since I caught him sitting on my porch step, I would check my camera for any sight of him, and I didn't see anyone, so I stepped out and smoked. I was half asleep and staring down at the ground when I heard a voice. My head snapped up, and I'll be damned, he was standing less than three feet from me. I nearly jumped out of my skin and screamed at him and said, You just scared the crap out of me. What the actual hell is wrong with you? I truly have no idea what direction he came from

and how he was able to walk up on my porch without making a single sound. He laughed until he saw that I was furious. Then he started explaining. that he was there to tell me his phone had died, and wanted to know if I had tried calling or texting him. The only text I sent to him was asking why the hell he was sitting on my front porch at 3.47 a.m. and he never answered. Leaning in toward me, trying to flirt with me after creeping me the hell out, he says,

Good morning, sunshine. Oh, I wanted to slap his ugly face. I told him, I'm not a morning person at all, so you need to go. He started explaining again why he was there, and then he started pouting and walked away very slowly, and kept turning back to look at me like I was going to change my mind and invite him in or something. It was unbelievable. My doorbell camera actually recorded part of this interaction. After that, he started watching me from half a block away in front of a bowling alley that has a bench that directly lines up with my front door.

For two days, he watched my every move. It even started pouring rain, and he just sat there watching me. I haven't seen him around in a couple of days, but I'm hoping he moved on to someone else. But my intuition is saying that he isn't done just yet. The cops know all about it. My son works for our sheriff's department and filled them in on it. This is one of the creepiest encounters I have ever had. And I'm a paranormal investigator.

I've always said that it's the living you got to worry about. And this proves it. I live around Sydney, Australia, and thus regularly rely on public transport to get around the city. I've dealt with my fair share of creeps, weirdos, and other charming people one would see. This was the only time I genuinely felt my life was in danger. I was shopping with two of my friends, and our plans to grab a bite to catch a late-night movie fell through. We got on the tram, or light rail in Randrick, minding our own business, and we were busy chatting, showing each other memes and ignoring the other passengers.

I felt my shoulder brushed by something, not bothering to look. I leaned to the opposite side and figured someone accidentally did it while moving through the tram. It happened again, and I jumped when I realized it was a hand on my shoulder. I looked at him, and I took my iPod out to see a respectable-looking guy. He had on a decent suit, didn't smell bad, or had any of the creepy traits you'd think of when hearing about this kind of story. Stereotypes suck, but yeah. He asked if I had a boyfriend, and I gave him an awkward smile and told him I did. I was lying, but it's easier to lie than reject, and I have found it to be safer, too.

I leaned away, hoping he would get the hint, and he loosened his hand. I thought that would be enough, and he would find somewhere else to go. He sat directly behind us, me specifically. I felt uncomfortable, sure, but he hadn't done anything else that would cause alarm. other than some creepy thing. I sent a quick snap to the group chat to tell them about it. One of my friends gave him a filthy look and asked if I wanted to move. I said no, the tram had already filled up,

and it would be hard for us all to sit together, and I didn't want to be split up. I didn't want to be caught alone with that guy. We stayed in the same spot. Occasionally one of us would get a look at him, and it felt like he was okay. One of my friends, knowing two of us were nervous, started joking and pulling us into conversation. We laughed when I felt something pull my hair, smoothing it with my hand and moving it to rest on my chest.

It must have irritated me, so I moved it again. I felt a pull on it again and turned to see him holding it and sniffing it. I yanked it away and demanded to know what he was doing. He didn't say anything and gave me a creepy smile while leaning back in his seat. He looked so smug it was infuriating. Clearly, he enjoyed my distress. I looked around the train for someone who could help and everyone was preoccupied in their own world.

Again, I was just grateful my friends were here. Thus far, he had violated my personal space, but hadn't done anything violent. We went to the waiting area when the tram pulled up. I looked at him and he was still sitting down, now feeling like I could breathe again when I stepped off. We were walking through the crowds and talked about going to one of my favorite restaurants when I noticed he was walking behind us. I whispered to my friends that he was here. Now, it could have been innocent.

We pulled over a taxi, and, yes, Uber hasn't destroyed them, and got inside the back since none of us wanted to be social. In Australia, generally if you get in the front seat, it means you want to talk. Anyway, we told him about the restaurant we wanted to go to, and the driver seemed to know about it. Since there was traffic, he had to wait a moment to join Sydney's chaotic traffic. When the front passenger door opened and the man had the sheer audacity to get inside. We screamed at him to get out.

He said that he was my boyfriend and we were playing a prank on him. The driver was confused and asked us to stop screaming. It was only when my friend opened the backseat door that he realized we weren't. joking. The driver swore pushing him to get out and finally the creepy guy opened the door got out and slammed it. I couldn't hear what he was saying but he was shouting at us as he left. So yeah he stalked us through two different ones and I'm happy the taxi driver didn't believe him. Looking back I'm unsure what I would have done differently, and I guess, we would have ended up calling the police.

Also, Raven, it's great to hear about your book. I'll be picking up one soon. So this happened back in the summer of 2020. I was working at a highly esteemed golf club and hotel, and by this point I had worked there for a number of months, and was, and still am, good friends with a lot of the staff. That June, I had turned 18 and now was. I had turned 18 and now was able to work on the bar, and I really enjoyed meeting new people and having fun with my coworkers. Everything was great. We had new starters coming and going, and I was always friendly with all of them, as I am a firm

believer that there needs to be more kindness in the world. I digress. We had a girl start with us on the service side of things. We will call her Ellie. Ellie started off being really nice and just your average normal girl. But her personal hygiene wasn't the best. Not that she didn't take care of herself physically, but you could smell her before you could see her.

As I did with everyone else, both on my team on the bar and the floor staff, I was as nice as possible to her, and she was a bit too nice to me, to the point where my colleagues were saying that we would make a cute couple. At the time, I was already in a relationship, so I just genuinely wasn't interested. This stayed the same for a couple of days, until on my smoke break, probably around 1 a.m., Ellie comes out and joins me. We just sit in chats and the like until she says something that catches me off guard.

She had told me that she was 15. when she had told the managers and the rest of the staff that she was 18. I didn't really think anything of it, other than why would you lie about that? Until the next day when I was supposed to train her on the bar. I explained to the manager in private what she told me the night before, and he said that he would check it before he moves Ellie to my station, to which I thought fair enough, and then got on with my work.

About an hour later, when we had a really slow part of our shift, she asked me if she could talk to me out in the smoking area. I agreed, trying to be nice, and switched with my coworker. As soon as we got outside, Ellie just starts breaking down, tears streaming from her eyes, saying so much but not really making any sense. Me being me, I kind of brought her in for a hug as I don't really know what to do in these situations. She sobs into my shoulder for a good five to ten minutes before she calms down. We sit and talk about something else before heading back inside to continue our duties.

I didn't know at this point, but Ellie was telling everyone on the service floor that I had asked her out, and saying that we were now in a relationship. Still, not knowing what she had told half of my coworkers, she came over and asked for my Snapchat. which I obliged again, just trying to be nice. Nothing else really happened that night. It's only when I was getting on my motorbike that she came up and asked if I could give her a lift home. I live in the complete opposite direction as to where Ellie did, and I didn't have a spare helmet, so I said no.

And she basically started crying again, saying that she had no way else home. I offered to buy her a taxi, but she declined now completely normal, and no signs of worry about how she would get home and the like. So I set off. And as I'm writing home, my music keeps getting paused by the notification sound every three seconds. I don't really think much of it, as I'm in a few groups and presumed there was a discussion, or argument, going on in one of them. It was only when I got home that I noticed I had 42 messages from Ellie

asking if I got home yet and if I was okay. And then one caught my attention. I love you. I had known this girl that I still didn't know the age of for less than two weeks. And she was saying that she loved me? I messaged my girlfriend at the time and explained the situation. I also replied to Ellie saying that I had just gotten home and to pull. please refrain from saying things like that, as I had a girlfriend, and that was that.

Or so I thought. The next day, Ellie was off, which was somewhat of a relief, as I didn't really want to be around her, as she was starting to creep me out. Then, one of my close friends, Matt, came up to me and said that she had told everyone that I had asked her out, that we were now dating, and that I took her home on my bike, which I adamantly denied as, well, none of that had happened. I messaged Ellie asking, What the hell?

As this was completely random and infuriated me slightly. She opened the message, and the little bubble icon that Snapchat has went on and off a few times before her character disappeared. But then a picture came through. I opened it, and she had taken a selfie outside of my flat door. Now completely livid, I asked her how the hell she found where I lived, and what she was doing there. I said that if she didn't leave now, I was going to call the police.

She said she wanted to see if I was at home so that we could, quote, spend the day together. To say that I was angry was an understatement, but I was also very, very creeped out. I tried to get back to work and just finished my shift, as I had booked off for the next couple of days. and I needed it. The shift was very uneventful, as you would expect at a golf club. After finishing, I kind of just got on my bike and headed home not wanting to look at my phone, which I didn't for that night. And the next day, when I eventually looked at my phone,

I had over a hundred texts and missed calls, all from Ellie. This was my breaking point. I called my manager and a. and explain the situation and basically said it was me or her who had to leave. As I'm still on the phone, I get a knock on my door. I don't have a peephole, so I had to open it to see who it was. Without thinking, I excused myself from the phone call and opened the door. It was Ellie, and she stood there in what I could only describe as lingerie.

I stood shocked and slightly disgusted. I looked her up and down and sort of said, What the hell? Under my breath, before near enough, slamming the door in her face and locking it. I ran back to my phone, and near enough shouted at my manager and HR that I was filing a restraining order on Ellie

because she had just shown up at my door when she should have been at work, and said that if they didn't fire her as of right now, I would be finding somewhere else to work, as this had gotten out of hand. They said that she had gone too far and they would terminate her contract after the phone call. After finishing up with both my manager and the HR team,

I called the police, as I could hear her asking me to open the door during this time. The police came, and she actually attacked one of the female officers, saying, he's mine! Well, safe to say, she got arrested. They took her away. I spoke to one of the officers about her restraining order

and found out that she is no stranger to them. She'd been arrested five times for similar offenses. And I also found out that she was 15. I still feel gross knowing how old she was and seeing her in such revealing clothes. I later had to go to court to settle the restraining order for some reason that I can't remember, and Ellie was just giving my girlfriend,

who I brought for moral support, the most evil eyes I had ever seen. She got arrested for forging an ID, public indecency, and assaulting a police officer on top of the restraining order. Deep down, I know she was struggling, and part of me feels bad, but what she did was wrong,

and honestly scared me a bit. I don't know how she found out my exact address because I don't allow Snapchat access to my location. Thank you all for letting me share this, and I hope you all had a good holiday. So I used to hike to the Hollywood sign. One of my favorite hobbies, although I always needed a couple of days of recovery afterwards. Sadly, these hikes have come to an unfortunate end, and the following is why. A year ago, I did the usual wake up at 5.30 a.m., breakfast, exercise clothes, stretches, and then left. I always take the B-line, formerly the Red Line, from downtown Los Angeles to East Hollywood, and then begin my hike.

Two and back takes around three hours. The first hour from the station to Griffith Park, which leads to the sign, was fine. I was walking along, taking in nature, the cool air, and the feeling of being with the natural atmosphere outside of the city. Then, I entered the park. As I entered where the parking lot was, a black car with its windows tinted pulled up. Since I was a kid, I've learned to trust my sixth sense, i.e. that instinct that has no physical evidence but tells me something is either right or seriously wrong. Sadly, in this case, my instincts told me that something was wrong, and I was right. Two guys with black hoodies came out of the car.

Trusting aforementioned six cents, I stopped and watched. Both men stopped and turned to stare at me. Thankfully, this was early in the morning, so there was daylight. I realized, however, had they decided to try to attack me, I'd have little recourse to defend myself. So I decided to do some acting. I looked around, looking like intentionally I was exploring the area or trying to figure out where I was.

Thankfully, they appeared to buy it. They walked up the trail out of sight. I cautiously continued my hike, being cautious to keep them ahead of me. There is a gang which shall remain unmentioned who has, on occasion, murdered people in this area. So, this is a reason, in my opinion, to do hikes early in the morning, and with people if you can. You never know who may be on the trail with you. I remember once, when I was five, I might have interacted with the stalker.

It was Halloween night, and me and my friends were trick-or-treating. A young lady about 21 came up to me and asked me and my friends to follow her. We took a moment and devised a plan. Now, we were kids and this plan was really dumb. They decided that they would go get their parents and then come back, but I could go ahead. So I followed her. Now, you're probably yelling stranger danger in your head, but it was Halloween, so that didn't come into effect.

We were about halfway to her house when my neighbor called my name. He asked me what I was doing with her. I said that she asked me to follow her, so I did. After that, the neighbor went into parent mode. He told her to let go of me, and she ran. I was still holding on to her, so I let go, and my neighbor helped me up. Then, he said to never follow a stranger. I promised and walked back to my friends.

They asked if I was okay, and I said yes, but that it was scary. Now, I wonder if my neighbor hadn't been there, where would I be now? This person did also submit a follow-up. Hey, it's me again, Raven. I wanted to clarify some things from my last post. Yes, my parents are aware of this event. Also, my friend and I were in a shady neighborhood. Anyway, here's the follow-up.

After that night, my mom and dad called the police. That same year, a SWAT team had actually raided her house. I know this because I was playing in my front yard at the time. Apparently, inside, they found some pictures of me everywhere. She was in her basement, and she was, um, yeah, to my photos. I was five, so I really just didn't understand, or see what was wrong. But to my neighbor, if you're out there, Thank you.

I wouldn't be here without you. Hey there, friends. I hope that you enjoyed this collection of scary stories on this episode of the As the Raven Dreams podcast. If the platform you're on has the option to follow podcast and you enjoyed my work, please do consider doing so. Also, leaving ratings and reviews are super important for the algorithm to support the growth of the podcast. I'm just one guy doing this.

I don't have a team. It's literally just me doing everything. So any support like that is greatly appreciated. Never expected, though. So if you go above and beyond with that, I do appreciate it. Some platforms also allow you to leave comments, and if you feel inclined to do so, please do. I would appreciate that. I do have a Patreon in a merch store that you can also check out if you want to support a little further. The Patreon site of things get you early access to all of my content. It is formatted differently as it goes in line. with what my YouTube channel is, but it is the same stories, just different collections. There is also a website, astherravendreams.com, where you can check out pretty much everything about me, my social media platforms, fiction stories I've written if you want to read those, as well as submitting your own stories, which there's a big button on the front page you click to do so,

and those stories basically keep the podcast alive, to be honest with you. So, yeah. All that said, friends, I do hope that I see you again. here very soon. Until then, remember that you are loved, that you are valid, that you are important. You're the best you that you can be. Don't forget it. And until next time, much love and sleep well.