As The Raven Dreams Podcast - Scary Stories For Dark Dreams - Vol 38 | ATRD Podcast

Episode Date: July 17, 2025

Today we have more than 2 hours of true scary stories with a late night ambience. Scary Stories For Dark Dreams is a collection of older stories, remastered and put together in a long form episode. This Collection includes the following stories; Scary State Fair Stories, Scary Nightshift stories, and several Scary Stalker/Creeper Stories. So, turn down the lights, tune in, and let the haunting tales of everyday people take you down that dark and creepy road. Remember, these aren't just stories... these are true experiences that remind us that our world can truly be scarier than fiction. Support the channel for Early Access AND more! Patreon ➤ https://patreon.com/AsTheRavenDreams Check out the Merch Store! ➤ https://teechip.com/stores/astheravendreams Much Love, and Sleep Well... ----- #TrueScaryStories #AsTheRavenDreams #RedditStories ➤ Stories include a content warning for language and sensitive/disturbing content. Viewer discretion is always advised. ➤ ALL Audio of this Podcast are copyright of AS THE RAVEN DREAMS / RAVEN ADAMS and may not be duplicated, in any format, without explicit permission ➤ If you like any of the following stories, consider subscribing! - Dark Web horror stories, creepy lets not meet stories, stalker stories, Glitch In The Matrix Stories, Unexplained Horror stories, Paranormal stories, cryptid encounter stories, Crazy ex lover stories, creepy neighbor stories, quantum immortality, true scary stories from reddit, or any other True horror Stories! ➤ And Remember; You are loved, you are important, and you are valid. Never let anyone tell you otherwise. -TIMESTAMPS- Midroll ad after the 1st story, no other ads after that. Story 1: 00:24 Story 2: 09:52 Story 3: 16:00 Story 4: 29:53 Story 5: 35:39 Story 7: 42:21 Story 8: 44:52 Story 9: 53:40 Story 10: 1:06:57 Story 11: 1:13:35 Story 12: 1:19:44 Story 13: 1:31:24 Story 14: 1:34:43 Story 15: 1:41:39 Story 16: 1:45:21 Story 17: 1:53:05 Story 18: 1:57:17 Story 19: 2:01:53 Story 20: 2:13:29 Story 21: 2:16:39 Story 22: 2:24:03 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Rigolet. Publié. Savourer. Admirate. And profite. If you have a true scary story you'd like to share with the podcast, go to as-the-raven dreams.com and click the button to send it my way. Also, if the platform you're on has the option to rate the podcast or leave a comment, please consider doing so.

And as always, thank you. I used to work at a restaurant that was open pretty late. But it was also attached to a bar that was open until midnight. When the restaurant closed, the bar stayed open and served some menu items, but not everything. It was normal for people to go to the bar and order appetizers and drinks, but they always pushed hard to get people to order more than that on the restaurant's side. They had a rewards program where you could get a free appetizer after 10 visits, so when they redeemed that, the manager always nagged us to push them into ordering a meal, or even dessert to try and recover the cost, I guess.

Their beliefs, not mine or the other servers. So, anyways, it was one of those shifts that I worked until midnight, so I was going to be moving over to the bar side. I remember that it was almost 10 p.m. because that was when the restaurant closed, and we just had a couple, a male and female, come in and they had specifically asked to sit at one of the tables near the front door. This was actually pretty uncommon, because most people wanted to sit in the booths which lined the sides or in the back. It wasn't something that caused me to become suspicious of them, or think that they were weird or anything. It was just a bit out of place, is all.

So, I got them seated, started to hand them a menu when they said they didn't need one, and then asked if they could just get the chips and salsa appetizer, and two waters with lemons. Again, people did that a lot, so I didn't question it, and I took their order to the back. However, there were a few things that I did find a bit odd, since it was so cold. close to us closing, I did find it weird that they didn't just go to the bar side for chips. Those people typically went over there anyways, and those that just order an appetizer usually sit around and talk for a few hours. So, I will say that part of me was a little whiny when I started thinking that they were going to keep me here on this side of the restaurant longer,

causing me to run behind on cleaning. We weren't allowed to sweep or, but we weren't allowed to sweep or vacuum the floors if there were any customers in the dining area, so I would have to wait until they were done before I could finish. But the other thing that I noticed was that both of the shirts they were wearing still had the tag hanging on them. It writes under the arm. I saw this when he was pushing the menu back at me, and when I brought out their drinks. She was tucking hers into the shirt. Again, it was weird, but I also have heard stories where people bought stuff, and they then just kept the tags on it so they could return it. Not my thing, but to each their own. I saw him tapping on the little table kiosk, so I figured he was redeeming the appetizer anyway.

So if they were just cheap, then so be it. I made better tips on the bar side anyways. After I brought out the drinks, I walked by them once to let them know that their food would be out shortly, and they were very short and quick to dismiss me. Again, whatever. If they were going to be that kind of customer, then we'll just get through it and move on with my night, right? However, my boss did not see it that way. He'd been pacing the kitchen and when he still didn't see a ticket come back for them, the only other occupied table was already eating.

He questioned me about it, becoming impatient as he was wanting to go home too. There was another manager on the bar side, so unlike me, he was going to be able to just go home. I told him that they didn't want any entrees. They just wanted the appetizer. He became annoyed that he was being held back because someone wanted something they could just get from the grocery store across the street. His words, not mine. He then told me to go and offer them something else,

like a beer or the daily soup or something like that, to try and get some money out of them. I reluctantly did what was asked of me. As I approached the table, I noticed that they were leaning in and talking quietly, but then stopped when we made eye contact. I didn't want to do this, as is, so I tried to be chill about it, mentioning that we had a new chili recipe, and I offered some of that.

Then the guy snapped back. We just want our chips, man. That's it. So, I smiled and said that's no problem, promising that I would be right back with them. I went back to the kitchen and told the boss that that was a no-go and started to grab their chips. He became more annoyed and told me to keep. keep an eye on them, thinking they were just going to run out without paying. I tried to argue that they were probably just going to redeem the reward, but he didn't like to be told he was wrong, so I brought them their food and went back to the kitchen to talk

with the chef. I don't really know what was up with my boss that night. He was usually an ass, but that night he was worse than normal. He would not let up on this couple. He stopped, stopped pushing the food thing because I guess he realized that that would have kept him there longer, but he was adamant that they were going to do a dine and dash since they got a refill and sat close to the door. So, I was told to do a walk by their table every couple of minutes, and I mean literally two minutes max. The couple seemed to be just as annoyed as I was, because the last time that I approached them, the guy went off. but it was what he said that was concerning. I walked up to the table and I was going to mention paying at the kiosk

when the guy yelled in a cleaner version, Dude, leave us the hell alone. We're only here for an alibi for Christ's sake. He said this as if it was something a normal person would say, shoving another chip in his mouth. The woman would not make eye contact with me and continued to look down at the table. I just walked away and told my boss what they said,

yelling at him that if he was so worried about it, then he could go talk to them himself. I refused to go back to that table, pissed off and also a little freaked out. Why would you say that out loud, and what would you need an alibi for? I told the chef about what was said, and I just walked by the doorway to see if they would leave a cross.

card or cash or something. However, we got the notification on the screen in the back that the chips were redeemed, leaving them with no bill to pay. So I checked again for them, and I saw them take off out the front door. I went over to their table, noticed that they took their receipt and nothing else. After that, I just cleaned up, still replaying the whole event in my mind. The rest of that night went fine, and thankfully, I never saw that couple again.

I contemplated reporting it to the authorities just in case there was something more sinister behind that comment, but I was hoping he just said that to get me to leave them alone. Because, if not, it was pretty stupid. When they redeemed their reward, it shows us the email address, name, and phone number for the account that was logged in. Sure, all of it could have been fake, but there was still a chance that it was real and could trace back to one of them.

I held on to the info for the time being, until I heard reports about some car break-ins where someone had been shot and killed. One of them had happened that same night, and was within the general area. That was enough to at least report it to the police, just in case it could be related. Unfortunately, if it was, I never found out. I never heard anything about the case or from the cops that took my statements, so I have no idea.

I still do think about it at times, wondering how real that statement he made was, and also hoping that they don't think I'm a risk or try to find me. At least I don't work there anymore, or even live in the same state, so I guess I'm probably safe. I have a short and super basic story that is probably considered tame in comparison to some of the others out there, but to me was one of the most terrifying nights of my life. My boyfriend and I rent a house that is owned by his aunt and uncle, and is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. We live on the outskirts of a small town,

but the land out here is owned by his family, and this house was built to be in the back, corner of their lot. It was supposed to be their getaway cabin, or something like that. We ended up in a weird situation, and we needed a place to stay,

and they basically told us we could live there as long as we paid rent, and they didn't want much, so we jumped on it. That's all to say that the house itself is rather isolated, and there's only one way to get there if you're not on foot,

and that is the long driveway that goes out to a gravel road. There are no other houses around, as again, his family owns all this land, and this is in the back corner. The part of this that I don't like is that my husband's job has him sometimes going on business trips that last around three to four days. And when this happens, I get to spend time alone in this empty cabin. I'm going to be honest here, There is very little that I'm scared of, but when I'm alone, I get terrified of how dark and quiet this place ends up being. As you can probably assume, the creepy story happened on a day where he was out of town, and I was home all by myself. It was the middle of spring, and my husband was a couple of states away for a conference, so I was home alone with, at the time, a very young puppy.

that we had taken in from a friend of his, so that me being alone didn't feel quite so lonely. I had spent the whole day trying to train him to not go on the floor, and taking him for a walk around the property, so I was pretty exhausted by the early evening. Since it was just me and the pup, I decided to go ahead and sleep on the couch with the TV on, which I know that's not healthy,

but I didn't want to go sleep in the bed all alone. So I'd put on a TV show and was just lying there with the puppy, watching whatever came on, and I heard what sounded like someone walking outside the window. I obviously jumped up because, again, a super-isolated little house out in the middle of nowhere. I perked up a bit, and I looked out the nearby window to see if someone was there,

but I couldn't really see anything. After a few moments of feeling a bit anxious, I finally came to a mental conclusion that there was no way that I hurt somebody. It was probably just the wind or a deer or something like that. I got comfortable again, and I started to doze off after just a few moments. Probably around an hour after I fell asleep,

I did one of those half-awake, slow wake-up things, things, where I was mostly conscious, but my eyes were still closed. After trying to go back to sleep, I started thinking that I was smelling something, something that didn't smell like my home. It almost smelled like a person's bad breath. At first I thought it was the dogs, but I slowly opened my eyes to try to figure out what it was, when the source of it was literally right in front of my face. As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw the face of a man that I have never seen before in my life, just staring at me.

I don't think I have ever jumped that hard in my life, and I definitely lit out a quick scream, which caused him to jump as well. He then gets up and starts running towards the door, and before he leaves, he seriously looks back and says, you forgot to lock your door and then takes off into the yard. I was just sitting there with my heart racing a mile a minute, watching this man walk out my front door and down the driveway to the dirt road and just take off down the road like nothing had ever happened. I have absolutely no idea who this man was, how he knew my house was here,

and why the hell he had walked into my house like that and been staring at me. There was no reason for him to be on this property, or to be anywhere near my house. And what's worse, I know for a fact that I did not leave the front door unlocked, because I lock it the second I get inside. It's a habit. So I don't even know how he got into my house. I obviously told my husband and his family that owned the property. They didn't know who he was based on the description.

either. So that was the most terrifying moment of my life. And it definitely made me want to never stay home alone ever again. The next couple of times that my husband went out of town, I actually took the dog to his aunt's house a few miles down the road and just stayed there. Of course, now the pup is full grown, and he's one hell of a guard dog, so I'm not really anywhere near as concerned. But I still hope that I never meet that man ever again. Hi, Raven, big fan here. I'm listening to all of your videos for a while now, and I thought that I should share a very scary story that happened to me.

What happened to me didn't freak me out as much at the time, but over time the more I thought about it and what almost happened to me, the more terrified I got. I think it's because my brain blocked what happened and that it was so scary that I felt numb for a while. My brain has always tended to be good at blocking out traumatic events. This is kind of a long story, so I apologize. This happened back in the fall of 2017.

I was almost 22 at the time, and my friends and I were first semester seniors in college. My super close group of friends consisted of five of us, two guys and three girls, me being one of the three girls. I'm going to change all of our names, including my own, for privacy. Our group consisted of, myself, girl one, Daniela, girl two, Nicole, girl three, Marie, Guy one, Jack, and Guy two, Nolan. I'm almost 28 now and I do not drink anymore, but as you know, a solid number of college kids tend to go out and get a bit drunk sometimes, perhaps a bit too often. My friends and I, on the weekends, were some of those back in the day. It was Jack's 22nd birthday, and he was throwing a birthday celebration dinner, and then after the dinner, the plan was,

was to go to an area of the city that had a strip of bars and nightclubs. It wasn't the first time that we'd been there, and I didn't like to go often because it was at times a questionable area, but alas, I wanted to be there for my friend's birthday. So, after our delicious dinner, I tagged along and we went to the party strip. We went to about four bars and nightclubs, until I realized I had regrettably gotten a bit too drunk. Nicole had as well. I asked Nicole if she wanted to go Uber with me home,

but Nicole was the kind of girl who would keep going, no matter how drunk she got. I, on the other hand, always chose to stop when I hit a certain point. Even when really drunk, though, I always still remembered everything, and I never drank myself into a blackout. Marie, who is now my ex-best friend, for many reasons, wanted to stay and had no thought in how I would get home.

And Nicole, who I'm still close with to this day, considered going with me. But then Jack and Nolan stepped in, asking me if I wanted them to take me home. That's when I said, no, it's fine. I'm not going to make you stop celebrating your birthday early just because I drink too much and don't feel well. They insisted again, and I said, No, really, it's fine. Don't worry about it. I'll get home safely.

I really didn't want to be the reason that Jack left his celebration night early, or anyone there for that matter. They offered to walk me out and wait with me for my Uber to arrive, and I at least agreed on that. I told Nicole that she should just stay as well, because she was having fun, and I didn't want to make her go home early with me either.

It was midnight at this point, and I was just super tired on top of it, and I kind of just wanted to hop into bed. Looking back, firmly insisting that they should stay was one of the dumbest decisions I've ever made, especially since they were only trying to keep me safe. On the app, it said that my car was a black Toyota Corolla, and that my driver's name was Michael. A few minutes later, the app said the car was on our block arriving,

and a black Toyota Corolla pulled up. I said, Michael, Uber for Daniela? And he said, yes. My friends then hugged me goodbye and told me to be safe, and to please text them when I got home. I told them, I will have a fun rest of your night. He also looked like the guy in the picture, so I wasn't suspicious of anything. Back in the day, I would sometimes feel very car-sick after drinking,

and I would ask the driver if I could sit in the front. So I asked him, and he said, that's totally fine. By the way, I haven't done this in years. I think at such a young age, we all just make decisions that we don't think about too much, quite often, and failed to realize how dumb these decisions were later on. Sitting shotgun in a passenger's car can be so dangerous. But I was young and dumb, so please don't judge me. After I hopped in, we made a right turn and drove a few blocks.

On the route home, there's a darker area of little fields of grass, and some houses that you pass before going under a bridge, and getting on to the highway. Just as we were maybe 400 feet from the bridge in the dark area near the houses, he said, Wait, may I have your address? I was slightly confused, but I gave it to him, assuming the app messed it up, or was having some sort of glitch or something.

So I brushed it off. Then, this is when I saw the guy entering my address into Google Maps. This is when I began to begin to get to. to get a little suspicious. I looked directly at him and said, The Uber app should automatically have my address and directions. Why are you using Google Maps? He stayed silent for a few seconds before mumbling.

This is easier. This is when full suspicion kicked in. I got louder and more demanding, saying, Pull up the Uber app. He looked at me as if he was taken aback. This is when my Uber driver, Michael messaged me, asking me where I was standing, so that he could pick me up. My blood ran cold.

I asked, you aren't actually an Uber driver, are you? He looked at me quietly and said, no, with a weird smirk on his face. Now, I knew that I was likely in some serious danger. As someone who is the opposite of passive, and will kick someone's arse if I have to for my safety, I said, If you don't let me out of this car, I will not only punch you in the face, but I will pepper spray you and continue to tase you as your nose bleeds. And I'll call the police as you whimper in pain, feeling real freaking sorry.

I also have a pocket knife in case of idiots like you, and I won't be scared to use it on you after I use the rest of my things on you either. To be honest, all I had on me was my fist ready to punch, but he didn't know this. I had to be intimidating and make it seem like I had on me some things that could really hurt him. He backed slightly away from me with his back towards his left corner of his seat.

I then demanded, Stop this car now and let me the hell out. He looked really shocked, and he pulled the car to a halt. I then asked, Why the hell did you even pick me up? He stayed silent, looking really shocked. One, as if he didn't expect me to figure out this soon, and two, that I would threaten him this badly,

and be more than happy to fight back. He gave a look that kind of said, and this one isn't worth it. I got out of the car, slammed the door, and I ran as fast as I could towards the bar again, even though they were several blocks away. I made it about two blocks before this guy finally put his car in drive and sped away really fast.

I was still mortified, and still being in a super dark area near the houses was a huge insults to injury. Luckily, this guy was nowhere in sight. why the two cars were the exact same, I guess just horrible luck and a horrible coincidence. I immediately called the real Michael after I had received his message and told him about what had happened nearly in tears, explaining that that was why I was in a different location now.

The real Michael was such a kind and caring godsend. He said, oh, no, I'm so sorry that just happened to you. He told me to stay calm, to stay on the phone with him, and to give him the description of my exact location, and what I was wearing so that he could more easily spot me, and said that he would be there to pick me up as quick as possible. About three minutes later, as I'm standing in the dark shaking out of adrenaline, I see a black Toyota Corolla speeding towards me, as Michael said on the phone,

I spotted you. I'm here. I cannot describe the amount of relief that I felt in that moment. I hopped into Michael's car and he said that what just happened was so scary and that I needed to be more careful out there. I told him that the guy in the car fit his exact same description and had the same car, and that when I asked him if it was an Uber for Daniela, he said yes. And that I was always super careful

and express that there was no way I could have known. Michael was really shocked to hear of this coincidence, but was super concerned and caring. He asked me if I needed him to take me to the police station and said that if I needed him to, that he would turn his app off after getting there, and that I wouldn't have to worry about any charges for the ride home. I said I was super thankful,

but that I would just call the non-emergency line and file a police. police report when I got home, and that I just wanted to get home. He understood, said that he had two daughters himself, and knowing that I was someone's daughter, it hit an extra protective, worried nerve in him. I immediately knew that he was a safe person to ride home with, even before I got into his car with how he spoke on the phone. He helped me calm down, and when he got me home, he waited until I entered my apartment

building, and once I finally got inside my apartment, I gave him one hell of a tip for saving me from this situation. Because between the time the guy sped away and Michael picked me up, it had only been a few minutes. Who's to say that guy wasn't going to turn back around? After I got home, I called the non-emergency line and filed a police report, but there was only so much they could do, since all I could give was the guy's car model and what he looked like and where he picked me up. I was in too much of a fight or flight mode when it all happened to look at the license plate or take any pictures. I wish that I had, but my only focus was to get out of that car and get away from whoever that man was as fast as possible. I told my friends what happened the next day, and they said that they were not letting me go home alone ever again.

no matter the circumstances, and I appreciated them for that. To this day, I 100% believe that had I not caught on before the other car got onto the highway with me in it, that I would have been kidnapped or trafficked. I do not believe that guy had any intention of actually bringing me home that night. I believe he was putting my address in to trick me into thinking he was going to drive me home. and that he was going to end up driving me to a different place. And I don't want to ever find out what that place could have been. I believe that he was some part of a ring of men

that drove around waiting for young, drunk, vulnerable girls to mistaken them for an Uber and hop into their car. I'm forever thankful for Michael, because quite a few Uber drivers will cancel the ride after five to ten minutes of waiting. but Michael, he continued to circle around looking for me until he finally called me. I am forever grateful that I made it out of that situation. I want to start this by saying that this was a very long time ago, when times were very different,

and I don't hold any ill will towards people for it either. Back when my biological brother and I were about, 12 and 13, we went to a local fair with the rest of our family. There were about seven of us kids at the time, as well as my parents. We were the second and third oldest, so we were allowed to venture around on our own while our parents took care of our younger siblings. One of our favorite rides was supposed to be scary. I don't remember the name of it, but it was like a rollercoct.

It had flashing lights and screaming, and while it didn't go upside down, it did go sideways. Like, the seats went at a 90-degree angle. We thought that we were tough since we weren't afraid of it, so we went on it a lot. So when we went on it this year, we expected it to go as it did every other year. We liked to sit in the front, but by the time we got there, it was already taken. So we sat in the very back. We went through the normal line and the ride operator led us through, but yet the whole time that we sat there waiting,

he was constantly looking back at us, looking angry. We were always taught to respect your elders, so we just looked away or looked down and kept our mouth shut, but my brother and I looked at each other like we had both noticed. Once a few more people got in, He started walking to pull down the chest bars. There was a buckle that went to cross our lap that we did ourselves, and then the operator would pull down the bar that went over our shoulders, like a backpack.

I watched as he pushed the little latch on the ones in front of us to bring it down, and then as he approached us, we made eye contact. He tapped the side of the ride and turned around to head back to his stand, without lowering our safety bar. We just thought that maybe he had forgotten and tried to get his attention, but he didn't even turn around. We tried to pull it down ourselves, but between the angle and being a child, without the strength of an adult, it didn't budge. So we tried to yell a bit more to get his attention again, which caused the guy in front of us to look back. He wouldn't have been able to help with the bar either, but it was obvious.

that he understood the problem. The operator, however, didn't seem to see a problem as he made the warning for the ride starting, and then we felt the jolt of the ride moving. That's when we started panicking and screaming. With the side being up in the air a bit and going sideways, we were terrified of falling out and getting hurt, if not dying. Thankfully, the guy in front of us also started yelling

for the man to stop the ride, and between the three of us, it was getting the attention of the rest of the passengers. Part of me still wonders if he would have kept going if no one else had noticed. Thankfully, he did stop it, with half of it on the beginning track. The operator angrily came over and basically harped on us for making such a scene. We didn't know what to say, but thankfully the guy in first, of us had our backs and yelled at this guy for not checking the bar. The operator then said that the back seat was supposed to be out of order because the bar

was broken and then accused us of sneaking on to the ride. Those were the reasons he claimed that he didn't check ours. He looked right at us multiple times, so if he knew we weren't supposed to be there, why wouldn't he just tell us to get out? Instead, he risked the lives of two young boys. Again, the guy in front of us didn't fall for that, as he saw us get in two, and this caused an argument between the two men. We ended up getting off the ride, and after some choice words, the man walked with us back to our parents. He explained to us that there was an incident on the last ride, and for our safety, he just wanted to walk us back.

The rest of that day was pretty dull, as we were nervous to ride anything else that we hadn't ridden already, and we definitely didn't want to go without our parents. I don't know what my brother's true thoughts on the matter were that night, but I do know how I felt, and it's always stuck with me to this day. My brother and I were foster kids, and we definitely didn't look like our parents and some of our other siblings, if you catch my drift. Since we've been looked at funny before, I always wonder if that guy that night was thinking the same thing. If he felt so strongly about us that he was willing to potentially risk our lives,

like I said, it was a different time, so it's definitely possible. Thankfully, I don't run into that kind of thing anymore, but I do hope that that man changed his ways. Hi, this is my first post in this community. I was reminded of this incident the other day after a woman posted about being stalked by a creep for almost ten years. Well, I too started using Facebook and Orkett when I was 14. Back then, in 2009, I didn't have many friends in school, and I was elated to meet a few like-minded people online. I posted pretty regularly on a group dedicated to my small home to my small home town. town. I became friends with quite a few people from the same group, but I tried to limit my

interaction with people who were of my age. One day, I received a friend request from a guy, let's call him K, who was in his late 20s. I skimmed his profile, and I came to know that he was a high school chemistry teacher. I noticed that he was into writing poetry, and he posted poems and memoirs on his timeline frequently. He was undoubtedly good at writing. Anyways, I accepted his friend request and forgot about it. A few days later, I received a text from him where he introduced himself. It was a formal conversation.

He asked me about my school and future plans. I didn't really think much about it. As time went on, we started chatting more often, and I told him that I wanted to take up literature in college as my major. So, he would often send me links of his poems published in various online portals to my email, from an alternate email of his, and asked for feedback. After a few months, right before my school finals, I began experiencing anxiety attacks stemming from the fear of academic failure.

One day, I spoke to Kay about it, and he told me that many of his students go through similar problems, and he counsels them out of it. He gave me his number, and he asked me to call him whenever I felt anxious. He said that he would help me just like he helped his students. I knew my parents would be furious if they found out that I had exchanged phone numbers with a stranger online. But one day I decided to call Kay from our landline number.

I didn't have a cell phone until I was 17 when my parents weren't home. We spoke about the usual stuff, but before hanging up, he asked me if this was the time that my parents were normally at work and there was no one home. And I said yes. After that, he started calling me in the afternoon almost every day. Sometimes I wondered why a fully grown man who was supposed to have a lot of life of his own, would invest so much of his time on a teenager. Sometimes he even called me from his work.

Even though the topics of discussion during the phone calls were generic, I still grew a little uncomfortable. One day, our maid, not a luxury in India, overheard me talking over the phone with Kay for an hour. I think that she figured out it wasn't someone from my school by the way I was speaking. She immediately alerted my mother. As expected, she was furious. I was not only grounded until my finals,

but my parents also looked through my Facebook and my emails. The next day my mom came home early from work, and she picked up the phone as soon as it started ringing and asked Kay to never contact me again. I removed him from my friend's list, and we never spoke again. Cut to six years later in 2015, I'm a second-year college student living in a completely different city. One day, I received this friend request from a woman that I didn't know or have any mutuals with.

At this point, I was only using Facebook to stay connected with people that I knew in real life, so I deleted her request. A month later, the same woman sends me another friend request, and I delete it again. unlike the first time, she resends the request just after a few hours of it being rejected. I decided to have a closer look at her profile. She had never posted anything significant. Nothing unusual, until I took a good look at her information section. The email ID used to create that Facebook account was the same one that Kay used to email me with. I was shocked.

I dug a little deeper, and the account only had five friends. One of them was a guy, let's call him R, whose timeline was full of explicit content, including cropped screenshots from pornography videos, photos of minors in school uniforms, etc. But what startled me was a photo of a desk that he had posted. Even though it had been years, I still recognized that desk and window. Kay posed in front of it in one of his DPs when we were friends. It's his house. I checked the other profiles on the woman's friend list, and they were equally shady,

and posted similar content as ours. I also googled her display picture. It was originally posted by a woman on a matrimonial site. Honestly, I was a little freaked out. I always found Kay wanting to talk. to a minor for hours to be creepy, but I never imagined that the guy would go to this extent. But I guess that's how creeps work.

Later, I also found text in my other folder sent from that fake profile. Anyways, I blocked all of the accounts involved. It was super weird. If I ever have children, I'm going to make sure that none of their online activities go unsupervised. until they're adults. Listening to the stories that you read, which I do religiously and with much appreciation,

I often get frustrated by young women who allow creeps to do uncomfortable things to them due to social anxiety. But I am very much guilty of the same thing. When I was in university, my boyfriend and I decided to take a spontaneous day trip to Montreal, a three-ish hour-hour, bus ride from where we live.

We had a great day, and we caught the 1 a.m. bus back home. The bus was packed, and we were stuck sitting at the very back in a row with three seats. My boyfriend sat in one corner, I sat in the middle, and an older man sat in the seat next to me. Since we had a long day, and it was so late, I started falling asleep. Then I noticed a hand caressing my hair. I woke up, and it was not my boyfriend. I turned to look at the man next to me, and he pretended to be asleep.

Thinking maybe it was a mistake, I fell back asleep, only to become aware of a hand touching the top of my head again. When I woke up, the dude next to me again pretended he was asleep. At this point, I'm feeling thoroughly creeped out, but I didn't know what to do. My boyfriend was fast asleep, and there were literally no other seats available. So, I tried my hardest to stay seated upright and awake. Anytime I nodded off, his hand would find its way to my head, shoulder, the back of my neck. It was awful, and I was so painfully shy that I had no idea what to do.

Finally, we got to our destination, and I got off the bus as quickly as I could. Thankfully, the creep was continuing on to another stop, so we left without him following. I still kick myself for doing nothing in that situation. So, girls, if someone is being a creep, call them out on it. Don't let it be a regret that you carry. Your voice matters. Back when Facebook started to become really popular, I found myself. adding everyone I knew that I could.

My 10-year high school reunion was coming up, and I wanted to reconnect with some of my friends that I had lost touch with. Thanks to Facebook, I was able to find one girl in particular that I used to be really close with, and when we were together, it was like time was never lost. Because I was trying to find so many old friends and even family members, that I'd lost touch with, it wasn't uncommon for me to just accept any friend request that I got. So, when I got a friend request from Vince, I looked at his profile, which showed he was the same age as myself, that he graduated the same year, and even had a few mutual friends.

I didn't hesitate to add him. I know it may have been dumb of me to assume that he went to the same school as him, but it all seemed reasonable at the time. After adding him, he even messaged me shortly after asking how I had been. I even asked him what classes he took because I couldn't remember him, and he named a few teachers that I had. Again, I chalked it up to it having been a decade since I last saw him, or maybe he was just more of an acquaintance.

So, we continued talking, and it was always friendly banish. There was never anything more than that because I was in a very happy and healthy relationship at the time. He even mentioned meeting up sometime, and maybe this is me not being able to read between the lines, but I remember saying that I couldn't wait to see everyone at the reunion that was coming up. Thinking back to the conversation, I remember he stopped responding at talks of the reunion, or that he would cut it short. As mentioned, my friend that I reconnected with, Miranda, and I had already been hanging out. The reunion was going to be in October because it was also going to be a costume party,

but we made plans to go to the state fair in September as a double date. Her and her husband, Garrett, as well as me and my boyfriend at the time, Miguel. We all met up, introduced each other as the guys hadn't met him. yet, and just started walking around and talking without actually doing anything at the fair. We finally got around to a few games, and then we stopped to get something to eat. Miguel went to find an open picnic bench while the other two were getting the food. I went to buy a pitcher of beer. While I was waiting in line, I heard my name being called, and when I turned in the direction of the voice,

I was met with Vince. I greeted him with a smile and a hug, asked him how he had been, and we briefly talked. I told him that he should say hi to Miranda, and since he seemed to be waiting in line two, I grabbed my pitcher and told him I would be right back with her. They were already at the table,

so I explained to the group who I had just seen, and Miranda followed me back. But when we got it, there, he was already gone. I tried explaining to Miranda what Vince looked like and what I knew about him, but she could not seem to remember or place him. Again, we just shrugged and thought that maybe we would run into him later and continued on with our night.

Later that night, as we started winding down, I wanted to get on the Ferris wheel. It was always my favorite, and I'd had fond memories as a kid on it. it, so Miguel and I took it while Miranda and Garrett waited. The first time around, we stopped close to the top and looked over the side and waved down at them. However, I noticed Vince standing down there off to the side. He was looking up at us, and he appeared angry. It was one of those moments when you see someone that looks like they're in a bad mood

in passing, and you kind of just think, what's wrong with them? but then you move on. So, I made a mental note that he looked mad and just went back to our ride. The second time around, we stopped dead center at the very top, and just like I had seen in the movies, Miguel had decided to propose to me. It was super sweet, and this also had my head all over the place. So while I'm thinking about everything at once, Miguel shouts over the side, Hey, she said yes, and Miranda shouts back.

When we got back down and off the Ferris wheel, I walked up to my friends and we talked a bit. I showed her the ring and even had a few people congratulate us. While we were caught up in the moment, we heard from the side, You whore! At first I looked around with one of those, yikes moments, but continued on with the conversation. until Vince pushed his way through to stand by us.

That was when I realized that he was the one that had said that. I just looked up at him and he said something like, So what? He just wanted to leave me on and break my heart? Then he looked at Miguel and told him something like, I'd pass on this one if I were you, along with some other choice adjectives. At this point, I didn't know what to say,

so I just stared at him. I had told Miguel about Vince as well as the other friends that I reconnected with, so he knew about him, and as mentioned, there was nothing romantic between him and I. After all this, I even went back and looked through my messages, and there was nothing that was ever said that could have been hinted toward something romantic.

So this just came out of nowhere to me. Thankfully, Miguel was able to be able to be. to speak and tried telling Vince that he needed to back off, when Vince shoved him and pulled out a small knife. He started shouting and insulting me more, saying that he would make sure everyone in the state knew about who I was. The next thing I know, Garrett punches Vince and gets him to drop the knife, and then he takes off. We were just going to let it go since he left, but someone else had apparently called the cops, so we told them what all had happened. They actually found him,

and he was charged since he had a weapon. Again, looking back, I'm kind of glad they did, because who knows what he would have tried if we were more secluded, like while walking back to our cars. We all tried to calm down and decided to hit up a local bar to unwind a bit more. After that night, Vince tried to message me a few more times.

Just more disrespectful banter. And he even tried the same thing with Miguel and Miranda. He also tried to message other friends from school, which made for awkward conversations at the reunion. However, it also cleared some things up. After speaking to several people, no one recognized this guy. We even went through yearbooks and checked our class,

as well as the graduating classes before us, us and after us, but there was no one that looked like him or went by the name Vince. We finally decided that it was just some creepy guy that was having random people, and I guess I was his lucky target. Thankfully, after my friends all told him to shove off and everyone including myself blocked him, I never heard from him again. So, at the very least, my proposal anniversary was definitely. memorable for multiple reasons. And as for Vince, I hope that we never meet again.

The story began when I was 19 years old. I was living in a large Canadian city. I had graduated high school the year prior and was struggling to find a job while deciding what I wanted to study in college. For context, I was living in a crowded neighborhood. and just a five-minute walk up the street, you would reach a busier road with lots of little cafes, small markets, pharmacies, bars, restaurants, parks, pretty much everything you needed was nearby, and everybody knew everybody.

My father spent his retirement days taking a walk up the street to meet his buddies at the bar. One of his close friends worked as a janitor at the pharmacy just across the street, and due to his troubling back pains, he offered me a job to help him clean the building after hours, to help ease the pain off his back, and he would pay me cash every week. Of course, I accepted.

It was short hours, easy cash, and very close by. Best of all, I would have an empty building to work in, and I did not need to interact with people, Since the pharmacy building was just across the street from the bar that my father would most likely be at, I would stop to chat with him before going to work. One of my father's friends, let's call him Frank, a 60-plus-year-old man, was having a beer with my father one afternoon. Frank was always really friendly to me, and I didn't mind interacting with him. however things have shifted and I started feeling afraid of Frank.

One evening, as I'm working in the pharmacy clearing out the trash and mopping the floors, I glanced down the front door, which thankfully are locked by this hour. I noticed Frank pacing back and forth right in front of the building. I thought nothing of it, and I continued cleaning up. An hour later, I passed by the front doors again and noticed that Frank is still standing outside. By this point, it's nearly 10 p.m. and dark outside. I unlocked the door and asked if he was okay. He responded by saying that he wanted to know what time I got off work.

Being young and naive, I thought that was okay to ask since I knew him. and I told him that I finish whenever I'm done cleaning up, but I didn't mention that I was nearly done for the night. Luckily, by the time I was finished and was ready to head home, the street was completely dead silent and deserted. The very next night, I headed out to work at 5 p.m. and began cleaning up. This building is divided into two separate buildings, the main one and one office next door as a different address.

This means that sometimes I need to exit the main building and walk outside to get to the other building. This night, I had my mop with me and a few garbage bags heading into the next door building. As I stepped outside, there was Frank, standing around again facing the building, as if he was waiting for me. I felt uncomfortable and a little bit afraid.

He tried talking to me, but I cannot remember what he was trying to say, as I was too focused on hurrying over to the next building. I got inside and locked the door right behind me, leaving Frank outside. It was a small office building, so I was done within 30 minutes. As I headed to the door to head out, Frank was still standing there. I didn't want to leave until he was gone. At some point, my boss calls me on my cell phone to ask me why I'm taking so long.

I couldn't help but explain to him that Frank, who he was also friends with, was standing outside waiting for me. A minute later, I heard my boss come outside and yelled at Frank to leave me alone while I'm working. Thank goodness. I finished my work for that night, and I peeked out the doors to see if the coast is clear before heading home. I was relieved to see that not a single person was out there. Then again, it was after 10 p.m. I walked up the street to wait for the crosswalk to turn green so I could cross and head home.

As I'm waiting, I hear someone behind me. I turned to see who it is and, sure enough, it's Frank. I wanted to cry out of frustration and fear. He approached me and began a normal conversation, pretending that he wasn't being creepy at all. He was telling me that he wanted to take me to the movies that night. I laughed and was too shy to tell him to screw off and just said,

What? It's late already. He said it was okay, and there were movies. that late at night anyways, and I insisted that I should go home to change, meet him back at the corner, and he would wait there at the corner for me to come back, and then take me to the movies. He asked for my phone number,

and, being too scared and stupid, I began giving him my digits. Luckily, I snapped back into focus mode and changed the last two of my digits. I pretended to go home, to change and to meet him later. I hope he waited there all night because I went to shower and got into bed, peacefully sleeping. A few days later, I went up the street to visit my dad at the bar before my next shift. The store connected to the bar had a shoe sale going on and had

set up a table full of shoes outside to attract more customers. I walked past, not interested it anyway, but there was Frank, just outside the bar. He stopped me, and he guided me to the table full of discounted shoes and said that he wanted to buy me a pair, whichever pair I liked. By this point, I was fed up, and I ignored him and entered the bar. I approached my dad, and he noticed Frank talking to me outside, and asked what we talked about. I was too embarrassed to tell him the truth, so I said, Oh, nothing, really.

Right after I answered that, Frank was standing at the doorway of the bar talking to some guys, and my blood started to boil, and I ended up telling my father the truth instead. Actually, he offered to buy me a pair of shoes. Absolutely enraged, my father stood up tall in his chair and gave me a little. a look of what did you just say? I then told him everything. Frank has been waiting for me outside of work too, and he tried taking me to the movies late at night one night. My father did not even waste another second. He walked up to Frank and right away punched him right in the neck in front of a crowd of people. Don't you ever speak to my daughter again. Don't you ever approach

her, you son of a bitch? yelled. Frank was shocked. Apologized to my dad repeatedly, looked me right in the eyes and apologized to me as he walked away. I thought that was the end of it. I hadn't seen Frank anywhere for a few weeks after that, when suddenly my dad started going to a different bar, just ten steps away from the first one. It was much darker, quieter, and really just... a depressing-looking bar. The further in you go, the darker it gets. My father and I sat at a little table and started chit-chatting.

From the top of his shoulder, I noticed a man sitting in the far end of the bar in almost complete darkness. I knew it was frank. But I didn't panic, nor did I mention it to my father, because I knew he was staying away after being throat-punched in public. Eventually, my dad moved to sit at the bar instead of the table, so, of course, I followed. Frank then sat a little bit closer to us,

still keeping a distance, though. After starting to feel uncomfortable from Frank's stairs, I asked my father, can we sit at the front of the bar? I just want to be closer to some sunlight. He agreed, so we moved again, to the very front. A minute later, Frank changed tables again, closer to us once more.

He looked really angry and revengeful. I can't explain it. He just looked very pissed off, unlike the Frank that I knew beforehand. After a while, we decided to head home. It's a five-minute walk for me, but my father being elderly with physical issues, he needs to take a few breaks here and there to rest his back and catch his breath. While we were walking, he needed to take his first breaks, so he sat down on the edge of someone's concrete fence.

As I waited for him to rest, I noticed in quite some distance behind us, Frank was heading our way. But he just stopped, standing in the middle of the sidewalk, just staring in our direction. He was far enough away that I wasn't too worried. My dad got up and we continued walking, having no idea who was behind us.

A minute later, he needed to rest again. I turned around to check and, of course, Frank was still there. He seemed to stop walking every time we stopped walking. This happened a few times, and I was getting more and more freaked out. Frank didn't know where I lived. Even though I lived so close to work, where he was stalking me, he never really followed me home, thankfully, until that day. We got really close to the house now, and Frank was catching up behind us.

I didn't want him to know where I lived, so I lied to my dad and said, I really need to use the washroom. Do you mind if I go ahead? Of course, he had no problem. with that, and I hurried up home. I wanted to get inside before Frank saw which house that I went into. I immediately went up to my bedroom window, which faces the road that we were on. This is when I noticed my hurrying home made no difference, because Frank could just wait

and see which house my father went into. As I'm watching through my bedroom window, I saw that my father noticed who was behind him. He yelled at him to screw off. I guess my father protected us also and stood there until Frank went way beyond him, so he didn't see where we lived. After a while, Frank very slowly walked past every house, my father standing a dozen feet behind him waiting for him to leave. He looked at every house trying to see if he could see me through a window.

I was well hidden. He wouldn't have seen me. as he continued making his way down the street he got so frustrated that he started punching himself in the head a few times I can't help but wonder what his plan was if he was so angry in following us home that day for the first time with that face full of rage this was the last time I ever saw him before I learned years later that he got severely mentally ill

and was put into an institution. So, Frank, let's never, ever meet again. I have always been the kind of person that likes to take night drives. The roads are less congested. The world seems to settle into a settling calm, and my thoughts drift freely as I navigate the dark, quiet streets. I have one drive, however, That changed a lot of things for me.

One that sort of ruined things for me, and made me realize how close to death my simple little drive got me. It was about two in the morning, and I was returning home from a friend's house. The drive was a smooth one. I knew it like the back of my hand. I was just drifting along, my headlights piercing through the darkness,

the radio playing softly in the background. As I kept on down this seemingly, endless road, flanked by dense woods on either side. As I was breathing in the cool night air as it blasted me in the face through the window, I noticed a car stopped on the side of the road with its hazards flashing. I kind of paused mentally for a moment, thinking, should I stop? It was really late, and I was alone, but the idea of leaving someone stranded in the middle of the road like this just didn't sit right with me.

I decided to stop just ahead of the car, a safe distance away from the stranded vehicle. A man stepped out of the car, and I noticed that he was limping slightly. But a look of relief spread across his face as he approached my window, so I assumed that he did need help. He looked a bit dishevelled. He was wearing a dirty shirt and some old-looking sweatpants. But nothing about him was screaming red flag. He just looked like he chose to dress lazily that day. Or maybe he just didn't have a lot of money. Hey, thank you so much for stopping.

My car, um, broke down. His voice trembled a bit from what I assumed was the cold. Is there any way that I could ask you to give me a ride to the nearest gas station? I hesitated a bit. torn between wanting to help this guy and that nagging feeling that something was a bit off. I could call a tow truck for you. I figured I should at least offer that to see if he would be enough. The guy sighed and looked around for a moment and then shivered again.

I appreciate that, but that would take so long. It is seriously freezing out here. Please, just a quick ride. This is where I started to feel a bit guilty. It was pretty cold, and he was definitely not dressed for the weather. I hesitated, but then I decided that it was just a quick ride down the road, so I let that part of me that wanted to help out win. He got in, thanking me profusely, directing me to a gas station a few miles down the road.

After he gave me the directions, he just sat. there silently staring out the window. I glanced at him occasionally, noticing that he was clenching his hands, sweating a bit, and just looking a bit unsettled. This kind of bothered me, since he said that it was too cold outside, but now he was sweating. It wasn't that hot in my car. It was a bit strange, but I just figured that I would get him to the gas station and it would all be over. We finally arrived at the gas station.

He thanked me and got out of the car. His voice still a bit shaky. He shut the door, and as he was walking away, I noticed something on the floor of my car. I was about to roll the window down and call out to the guy to tell him that he dropped something, but when I clicked on the cab light, I noticed what it was that was on the floor.

It was a knife. A small kitchen knife. smeared with blood. After a second or two, it kind of clicked. He was holding this knife in his pant leg. That's why he was limping. It must have fallen out during the trip, and I guess that he just didn't notice that it wasn't there anymore,

because he was walking towards the gas station. I immediately grabbed my phone and called 911, telling them that I just gave a ride to a guy that I think may have stabbed someone. I had to explain the whole situation, and as I was doing so I thought about the car. I realized that he was in the seat, but I didn't see him driving it. I just saw him get out, and he didn't want me to call a tow truck, which made me think that, maybe his victim could have been in the car.

To wrap this up, I drove back in the direction of the car with 911 still on the phone, informing them where I was going, and I told them that I would wait for the officers. I had to give them all the information that I could, what the guy looked like, what he was wearing, everything he'd said. I will also note that there was no one in the car, so I was wrong on that thought. They took the knife, obviously.

They took his car, and I was questioned a lot about the whole thing. After a while, I think they were satisfied that I wasn't involved, but they told me that they would give me a call if they had any further questions. I have literally no idea if they ever caught that guy, but I did get called in again for some more questions, but the questions seemed really vague. Like, they didn't know where to take the investigation. I do hope that they caught him eventually,

and I hope that they found whoever it was that, He'd stabbed. To this day, I cannot shake the visual of that man as he got out of my car. I will remember his face for probably the rest of my life. And, with all this said, I hope that he and I never meet again. I'm an independent photographer and graphic designer. I take photos for anything from family photos, weddings, birthdays, muddoir, anything.

There's very little that is off-limits to me. I also enjoy touching up photos on request of the customer, and I even make merchandising, like calendars, business cards, and the likes. Being self-employed gives me the opportunity to travel all over for different people and friends, and it also gives me the opportunity to take photos of things that I really enjoy, nature, and abandoned places. There's just something about seeing an abandoned house or building, and being able to capture it being taken back over by nature, that really speaks to me. You can also stand in these places and get a sense of the memories that were made here, both the good and the bad.

I had a friend that had invited me to her batched the red party, and also wanted me to be her photographer. However, she lived in Chicago, Illinois, and I lived right outside Boulder, Colorado. So, I was taking a solo road trip. Of course, that didn't really bother me because I enjoyed it. I left a few days early knowing that I would end up stopping randomly for photos, and I brought along plenty of equipment. While driving through parts of Kansas, I learned of an abandoned fairground that was near by,

and I knew that I had to check it out. This place was not easily visible, so it did take me a few minutes to finally find it. I wouldn't suggest this, but I wasn't sure if people were allowed in, so I parked in a nearby lot, and I trekked across a field to get there. It was honestly breathtaking. There was this cute little shoehouse that was sun-fated, an old roller coaster that was being overgrown by trees and vines, and what looked like a haunted house or funhouse-style building, that looked like it had caught fire at one point.

I got some great shots, and you could really stand there and feel the presence and imagine what the place was like when it was open. But that joyous feeling soon faded when I started feeling like I wasn't alone. It was that feeling like when someone hovers over your shoulder. I found myself constantly looking over my shoulder and scanning the area, expecting somebody to be there, and hopefully they would just tell me to leave. But I never caught anyone.

I do believe in the paranormal, so part of me also thought that maybe it was a strong energy that was left here. Since I didn't see anybody, I decided to keep walking around and shoot what I could. But that feeling still lingered. and it didn't stop there. I started hearing what sounded like someone walking, like the slight tap on the concrete or crunch of leaves and other debris on the ground.

However, it was only whenever I walked. I know it sounds odd, but I knew it wasn't from me. I could walk while watching my feet, timing the sounds, and the ones that I was hearing were not from me. Now, I was starting to really feel like I was being. being followed or watched, it was kind of spoking me, so I thought I would slowly make my way out. I tried to be sly and take a panorama to kind of get another glimpse of the area, but then I

noticed that everything seemed to stop. There was no longer a breeze, there was no sway from the trees and other vegetation, the dilapidated canopy was still, and the sound of wildlife were completely gone. I picked up my pace and got back to my car. I put my camera in the passenger seat, and I left. I noticed that there were no other cars or people around like I was expecting. It is possible they parked in another secluded place, but definitely not seeing a car made it a little more uneasy.

I made it to my destination, and the party was great. I took a lot of great photos. I even told them about my experience, and my friend wanted to visit it someday herself. I would love to go back too, but I think it would be a better experience when I'm not alone. When I got home, I set up my camera and my computer, and I was excited to go through all of the photos. The pictures from the fairground came out just as I had hoped.

But I also realized that I had captured more than what I expected. In the picture by the canopy, there was a small dark figure standing next to it. I couldn't quite make out what it was, and even in zooming in, there were no details. I started spotting some more figures near the roller coasters, near the entrance, and most alarming for me was the panorama. It appears that I was surrounded by these figures, and I never even knew it. I knew I felt like I was being watched, and yes, it was a bit of a bit of,

unsettling, but I never really felt like I was in danger. I don't know if whatever these things were, were just curious, or maybe even protecting me. I later learned about this place and that there were a few fatal accidents on the roller coaster, so I wonder if some of the figures I saw were from them. I'm just thankful that they weren't aggressive, though, and I hope I can go back to witness more. maybe with my own eyes instead of through a lens. I have quite a few horror stories from when I was a front desk attendant for a hotel, but most of them take place when I worked the overnights for the same location.

I have a lot of experiences with genuinely creepy and weird people, but I think it would be more fun to share one of the experiences that was a bit more unexplainable, unless just this one guy was kind of creepy. So, as I mentioned, I worked as the overnight front desk attendant for this hotel for a couple of years, actually. The schedule kind of sucked, and I had to really work to adjust my sleep schedule, and it made days off incredibly difficult, but the pay was decent for the time. and, to be honest, I didn't have much going for me in my life beyond working there. The nights typically consisted of sitting at the front desk for hours, dealing with one or two people that would show up in the middle of the night,

and because they spent too much time on the road, and sometimes I would have to take things up to rooms if there was an issue or an emergency. Beyond that, I would sit at the desk and pretty much just find out. file out the paperwork that had to be done each night. The story that I want to share happened during my first year on the night shift. I don't recall the time of year, but I think it was early winter or mid-fall. The whole thing started when I got a call from the third floor of the building. It was a guest that I had checked in at the beginning of my shift, and when I checked him in,

he seemed like a pretty decent person. He seemed sane, stable, and polite enough. I know that it sounds weird that I'm saying this, but I am saying it to demonstrate that he probably wasn't crazy. Anyways, he called down and asked if I could help him, and he asked me if there was anything I could do about the temperature of the room. I mentioned that there was a thermostat in the room, and that most of them were set to a pretty stanched.

standard temperature, something like 73. He then said that it was set to 73, but that the room was feeling really cold by the door. Like there was a major draft coming in from the hallway. That was kind of weird since his room was literally in the middle of the hallway, so he was nowhere near any draft-causing spots, like windows or exits. I told him that I would go ahead and come,

up to see if I could help him out and check it out shortly. After I had hung up the phone, I went ahead and placed the be right back sign on the desk and went up to the third floor to see what was going on. When I got up there, I was a bit annoyed. The floor was a pretty standard temperature, but then I walked toward his room and noticed that this guy was actually not lying to me. As soon as I approached his door, it felt like the hallway went from this nice ambient temperature

to about 20 degrees or so colder. We weren't booked full, so there was only one other guest staying in a room near him, and their door didn't feel cold, so they didn't have the AC on or anything else. But, for some reason, the closer that I got to his door,

the colder it felt. I knocked on his door to let him know that I at least felt what he was talking about. When he answered, I told him that he was definitely correct, that it was colder, but then said that I couldn't figure out what it was, as there weren't any drafts. And there was nothing that should have been causing the colder temps. I then asked him if he wanted to go ahead and just move to another room, and after a bit of contemplation, he said that he would. We went through that whole process. I got him in another room down the hall, closer to the elevator, and I apologized for the inconvenience. He seemed satisfied

with this resolution, so we moved on, and I thought that this was the end of it. Except, about 20 minutes later, he called down to the front desk again. This time, he was a little bit of lot less happy. He started going off about how someone had knocked on his door multiple times, but when he went to answer it, there was nobody there. This was a really weird thing to have happening, mostly because, like I mentioned, there was only one other person near him, and that person was an older gentleman that looked like he was there for business, not the type to knock and run.

I pulled up the camera system to check if I could see. see his door, and sure enough I could. I asked him when the last time it happened was, and he started telling me that it started happening almost as soon as he got settled into the new room, and that it had been happening every couple of minutes. He said that each time it happened, there would be no one on the other side of the door, so he assumed that they were knocking and running away. He then said that he had even walked around the hallways and not seen anybody home.

hiding. As soon as he finished explaining this, I heard, clear as day, three very aggressive knocks on the door of his room come through the phone. He then got up and angrily said, see, there's that

SOB again. The problem was, I was staring at his door from the camera. There was nobody there. I even kind of said that under my breath, and at first I don't think he understood what I said, because he responded with,

yeah, right, because they knock and they run away. I then reiterated my statement by saying, No, sir, I'm looking at your door from the camera. There's nobody there. As in, no one came to your door and knocked at all. He paused for a moment, but came back with a much less angry and much more confused tone, saying, but you you heard the knocking, right?

I told him that I did hear it, but I said that at no point in time did anyone come to his door. Pretty much right away, we heard another very loud knock on the door, and he started saying, is there anyone there now? To which I responded, no. I could tell that he was starting to freak out, and to be honest, I was as well. Between the weird drop and temperature around his old room and now this phantom knocking,

it seemed like some sort of spirit or ghost was following him and was seriously messing with this guy. I know it was just the two isolated events at this point, but they were bizarre and were not things that we had ever had reported. The knocking was definitely more terrifying than the cold spot, but both events kind of had me leaning in to supernatural or paranormal territory. After a few seconds of silence, I offered to move him to one of the more expensive rooms on another floor,

basically upgrading him for free because of this. He did agree, and when he came down to the front desk, he was pretty pale and quite obviously freaking out. I asked him if he was going to be okay or if something else had happened, and he told me that as soon as he left his room with his stuff, he started hearing something laughing. I kind of passed over his comment and told him that we would get him taken care of. I got him in one of our most expensive rooms, which was not on the third floor.

And I told him that if there were any more issues, I would go ahead and offer him a full refund. He just kind of nodded and slowly stepped back to the elevator with zero energy in his step. A few things to wrap this story up. First things first, he did not have any more issues. When he checked out in the morning, I was told that he wanted to give praise to my manager for how I handled his issues, basically saying that I went above and beyond for him. And to anyone that will say that he was faking the problems or doing something to cause them,

I'm going to say that I highly doubt it. The cold spot issue, well, I guess he could have had the AC on in the room, but that would be kind of dumb to do if I was coming up to see why it was cold. Plus, it felt like it was more in the hallway than coming from his room. The knocking thing, I'm pretty certain, was not his doing. After I got him in the third room, I actually went back and watched the camera footage, and unless he was so committed to the bit that he opened his door and looked around confused each time, and then left to walk around the hallway and angrily threw the door open for his act,

all without knowing that I could see him on camera, mind you. then I'm pretty certain that it was real. On top of that, after he left his room, I saw him start to walk down the hallway. And then I watched him pause to look back and around for what I'm assuming was the laughing. I literally watched the color drain from this man's face on the footage, and there's really no way to fake fear that intense. Also, this was the only complaint that I ever received about all this, which makes me seriously think that whatever this was,

it was directly attached to him. In the end, it was super weird and a genuinely creepy situation, and I kind of felt bad for the guy. By the time he got into the new room, it was already past midnight, and I'm concerned that he didn't sleep very well. I do hope that whatever this was wasn't actually attached, and was just messing with him for that night for some reason, and I hope that he made it wherever he was going safely.

And also, to that man, I'm sorry that your stay at our hotel was so eventful. Around three or four years ago, when I was 12, I was at my aunt's house visiting for camp. I was upstairs and saw the camera go off saying that someone was at the back door. It was my older cousin, so I went downstairs to open the door. I was able to see him for a little bit before I actually got to the door, with the window by the door. He looked so determined and focused on opening the door.

He spent less than a minute there, and then got in his car and sped off. I didn't think much about this honestly. All I thought was, oh, he must have been in a rush if he didn't bother to call us to open the door. I was even thinking about opening the door and calling out to him before he drove off, but I was feeling lazy that day. About two minutes later, the house phone started ringing along with my personal phone and my grandma's phone. I picked it up, and it was another one of my...

my aunt's telling me not to open the door and to stay away from the windows. They told me they had already called the cops, but that I should call again. I was confused, and I had asked what happened. They explained that my aunt and cousin got into a very heated argument about the business that she owned and left him $300,000 in debt, the day before that led to him hitting her. The next day he came looking for her very upset, but he couldn't find her at the office. He proceeded to drive to my aunt's house while on the phone with some family members, telling them how he was going to kill my aunt, which was his mother.

I remember going to the kitchen and picking up a knife to keep with me just in case. I was shaking while thinking about where to hide. He ended up coming back, and he started walking around the house looking, through the windows before he sat on the front step. Luckily, I was on the second floor. I don't even know what exact time I called the police due to my panicking. The cops ended up coming and made my cousin leave, but my grandma wanted to talk with him first.

Throughout their whole talk, I still hid upstairs listening through an open window. I prayed that she didn't mention my name in case he came back later in the night. Luckily, he never did. To this day, I am so glad I did not open that door. I feel like I was truly protected. We normally don't lock both the screen door and the actual door, but we did that day. He struggled so much with the lock on the screen door that he broke the handle. Luckily, it didn't open to the door where he knew the code.

The situation still gives me so much anxiety, and I don't understand. and how we went back to acting like nothing happened. I'd never been back since, just in case he snaps again. Hey, okay, I'm not sure where to begin. This isn't one of those, oh, he looked at me funny in the grocery store, let's not meet kind of stories. My life was actually in danger,

and I wasn't sure if I was going to make it out alive. I hate those stories where someone is little, looking at someone strangely, and that ends up being their story. I live on a property in a rural country town. It isn't close to the town itself, and is about 15 to 20 minutes away. I can't see my neighbor's house, and they certainly can't see mine. The property is about 100 acres of land, some bushland with some paddocks and a small garden close to the house. We have three guard dogs to alert and, well, to bite anyone who gets too close.

Even though I'm an adult, my parents don't like leaving me at home alone at night. And before this happened, I thought they were being ridiculously overprotective of me. I was settling in for the night with a movie, some popcorn, and I was waiting for a friend to come meet me. We have gates, but they're mostly left unpatlin. Basically, the unspoken rule is if you open a gate, you close it, mainly so livestock doesn't get out of the paddocks. Anyway, sorry, you'll find that I tend to ramble a lot. My friend texted me telling me that she would be running a little late. This isn't uncommon for her, as she is pretty terrible at time management.

I settled down in front of the TV, and then I heard the dogs barking. They're idiots, and sometimes we'll bark at a mob of kangaroos jumping past, or I thought they were excited because my friend got here. It was aggressive, and I heard a loud yelp. I got up and grabbed my crowbar ready and peeked out the window. I saw my dog running back to the house, limping, and I opened the front door to let him in. He was bleeding. Oh, it was on.

I didn't immediately call the police because, one, it would take them a long time to get out here, and two, I didn't want to call them if this was just a feral dog or something. They would never let me live it down. It looked like someone had possibly stabbed him, but it didn't look like it hit any vital organs. I wrapped towels around him, hugged him, and told him he would be okay. I was really scared. When I looked back, there was a scruffy and dirty-looking man standing at the window looking in. This wasn't really uncommon. People would go for a walk in the bush, not understand how to get back, and then follow the nearest road.

It was weird how he didn't call out, and didn't look like he'd been stuck outside for a while. So, I asked him, Are you all right, mate? He knocked again. Can I come in? Now, normally if my family were home, we may let him in and call the police, and then the cops would just drive them home or wherever.

I didn't want to let a random man into the house, though. My dog's barking and starling. He has a scary bark, and it tends to keep people away. Do you need me to call the cops, mate? My tone was a lot less friendly and more concerned this time. No, don't call the cops. Let me in. I want to come in.

He demanded, and then shook the doorknob roughly. Now, piss off, I said. I picked up the phone and called the police. Now, even if the cops left immediately, it would still take them a good amount of time to get to the property, and the creepy leer on the man's face told me that he must have known that too. The operator answered me, I told her that I needed the police and that there was a man trying to break into my house.

He then broke the glass with something in his hand and was trying to open the lock. I screamed and backed up, and then ran toward the back of the house and opened the door to run out. I hated leaving my dog locked in another room. He grabbed my arm, and he yanked me backwards. He said something to me, but I couldn't quite make it out. We struggled for a while. He kept trying to pull open my shirt, and I was screaming. I was punching, biting, kicking him.

I wasn't going to go down without a fight. My dog then pushed through the door, that little legend. Even when he was injured, he still came to help. He grabbed this guy's arm, bit down, and he shook. The man screamed so loud, and I took the opportunity to, to get a quick hit into the guy's head. I just wanted to knock the guy out. I wasn't trying to kill him.

When he was on the ground, I pulled my dog off of him and we sat nearby. I held a knife in my hand and just hugged my dog. He was bleeding, but it wasn't lethal. As I thought, it took the cops a while to get there. The Amboes came too and took care of us. He woke up and told them that I went crazy, and that my dog was rabid and vicious.

They didn't believe him. My parents panicked when they got home, but they were happy how I handled myself. We obviously pressed charges against him, and screw that guy. And Chief, my dog, and my savior, got stitched up and is still kicking. He gets treats all the time,

and honestly he's spoiled rotten. We upped the security, at the house, just in case it ever happens again. But I doubt that it will. We now have cameras around the place, and motion lights in case some stranger ever tries to pay us a visit. The other dogos, unfortunately, were terrible card dogs, but that's okay. They're still beloved pets. As for the idiot who attacked me, he is in prison.

And I hope every day that he spends in there is totally. misery. As I've mentioned before, I'm a big guy, six foot, five inches, and 300 pounds. I've worked many physical jobs, so at this time I was in good shape. This allows me the freedom to do stupid stuff that most would be too afraid to do. I don't think about it. Call it my big guy privilege, if you will. I would often take walks late at night, most of the time with friends, but at this time I was living on the streets of Portland out of my car. I did this by choice. My sister lived across the Columbia,

and I could stay there whenever I wished. Just most of the time I didn't feel like going back there. I would have to be back in the morning anyway for work. I would also have bouts of insomnia, times when I just couldn't sleep. See, I was used to physical jobs, and at the time I'd landed a desk, job, and I had to burn off a lot of energy. So, I would choose a direction and walk. That night,

I went to Old Town slash Chinatown. That's what it was known as at the time. This is not a place for a young white guy to be in, but I was ignorant of that fact. I loved the area, the very ethnic style of the buildings, at least their facades. The smells and the people, they were always so nice to me. There was a pizza place that I loved and had been too often, but was closed at this time, so I was just wandering when I heard something behind me. Looking back, I saw a couple of guys walking the streets like me. No problem. I turn and just keep on walking. After some time of aimless wandering,

I hear more noise behind me. Now, there are like six guys walking in a group. Thinking nothing of it, I just keep going. Now, I have to say that I was walking down alleys, looking at storefronts, I was just stopping at anything that caught my eye. The group of guys probably thought I was looking for some place to break into. At that time, though, I was getting a bit worried.

As Ron White once said, I don't know how many I could take, but I knew how many they were going to use. I started getting scared as they were getting closer and closer. I saw a phone booth. Yes, this was that long ago. And I stepped in. To this day, I have no idea why I did that,

but it may have saved me. In that phone booth was a card for a Baptist church. It took me back to the crazy guy at Denny's in my previous story, and I decided to go for crazy and act like a preacher. Now, I was raised in a very Christian household, almost cult-like, so I knew the Bible backwards and forwards. I started yelling out verses into the receiver, which was not connected to the phone.

I was just holding it up in front. of me like a microphone, talking about the wages of sin and how only the Lord can save. I turned and walked through the group of men belting out verse after verse. I probably scared those poor guys who were most likely just trying to protect their homes. To this day, I do feel kind of bad about it, but I also never walked there again at night. I hope from time to time they think of this story and laugh about it like I do. do. Even though at the time, I was scared, stupid. And thanks again, Raven, for doing such a good job bringing life to these stories.

Back in the 90s, my small family at the time, which was my wife, myself, and my 8-year-old son, moved from Virginia to Rhode Island to be closer to my wife's parents. She lived there as a kid, and moved to Virginia when she was in school. which is where we met and decided to stay. We had visited on several occasions, but since her parents were retired, they were usually the ones to come see us. There were definitely new places to visit and see that we had never been to, so it was kind of like a vacation when we first got there.

A few months after moving in, we started seeing posters and newspaper ads for the state fair coming up. and my wife insisted that we go as we hadn't been to one in years. We definitely hadn't been since our son, Brendan, was born, so I agreed, thinking it would be a fun experience for our little family. I have never been to a weirder fair. We got there in the evening, and we got to witness a beautiful sunset. I remember because my son was listing off.

the different colors in the sky. We were hoping to get there earlier to beat the rush, as we went on a Saturday, so we didn't think twice when the parking lot was pretty empty. We thought we just got lucky. But it wasn't just the parking lot that was empty. The actual fairgrounds were looking just the same. I think we spotted maybe two or three other parties, but that was it. The whole experience there was eerie.

They had music playing that seemed very carnival-esque, and it was maybe three or four different songs on repeat. It would play an ad in between them about visiting certain stalls, like the pretzel booth or the ring-toss game, just things like that. But it had that muffled and crackling sounds to the ads, like the really old videos have, or like an old record player.

The recordings were probably reused for years. Another thing that made me think that was because we never even saw a specific pretzel stall. The fair had been open for about a week already, so I figured everything should have been well set up by now. Even though we still thought it was a bit odd, we just tried to make the best of it, thinking there just wouldn't be any lines or a wait, and I tried to have a good time.

Besides, Brendan didn't really seem bothered by it, and he didn't seem afraid either. We bought some tickets and went to a few game booths nearby. Everyone we went to, though, was being attended by someone that said very little, and just stared at us the whole time. We went to the bottle game, where you use softballs to try to try to. to knock over the glass bottles, and the guy reeked of cigarette smoke. When he wasn't hacking up a lung and wiping his hands, he was staring at my wife. Due to the way she was raised, she didn't scare easily, so when I thought it was awkward

and felt I needed to be a bit more protective, she said that we should just continue as normal. So we tried out a few more games, but I couldn't deal with the staring. so I thought we would just go ahead and try some rides so that we didn't have to focus on other people. Brendan chose a ride that sat four people to it, and each individual seat spun, and then the whole machine spun together. He was having a good time,

but I couldn't help but notice a few of the workers standing near the ride, talking, and every once in a while they would turn over to look at us, point towards us, and then turned back to talk and smirk. I told my wife that I was starting to get uncomfortable, and I thought there was something possibly sinister going on that we weren't aware of. She actually did share my concerns after noticing the pointing. And since we did have a kid with us, we decided it was best to probably just leave.

Brendan still had a few tickets left, and he was adamant. that we let him use them. So, we stopped at one of the games right at the entrance, which was a fishing game. While he was playing, I noticed the guy that set the game up had something in his pocket, something specific that was metallic and looked like a handle.

This made me want to snatch up my son and wife and run. However, I didn't want to alarm my family or alert anyone that worked there, so I just kept them close. and as soon as he reeled in his last line, I grabbed him, and we swiftly walked to the exit. I told my wife what I saw when we got home, and she also shared that she had noticed one of them eyeing her. That was bad enough, but when they called someone else over and they both talked quietly while smirking and making hand motions, it started putting her on edge.

We talked to several people throughout the week, including her parents. and they all thought what we were describing was unreal. They said they had never had issues like that, and they almost didn't believe us. One of our friends even said that they had gone that same week as us, and they said it was very busy with lots of people, and everyone seemed friendly. I don't know why we had such an extremely different experience,

but it was almost like we were pulled into some kind of different dimension in that place. We didn't go the following year being too weirded out, but we did go a few years later, and it was a normal fare. What's even weirder is that now that my son is an adult, we've talked to him about it, and he doesn't remember the fair being weird at all. He said he remembers the bright colors, the poppy music, and the friendly staff. He says he even remembers one of the guys doing a magic trick and getting a little bit of the guys. a toy from them. I thought maybe he was remembering from another time, but he specifically said that this was when we first moved to Rhode Island, because it made him happy and excited to have moved

there. I still don't understand that night, but I guess at least we made it out safe and we all seem to be ourselves. I just hope that nothing like that ever happens again. So, I used to live on the streets of Portland. I don't have too many scary stories from then. There is, however, one story that freaked my friend out that I was walking with. My girlfriend and our two friends, who were also a couple, often did things at night. The girls were in college at the time, and it was a Christian college with some strict rules. so bars and the other usual stuff were a no-go.

So we would drive to some places that we hadn't been and just wander. Here is where I have to explain something. I am a big guy. I was six foot, five inches, and around 300 pounds. I had worked as a security guard, furniture mover, and I lumped loads for truckers. I was still pretty fit. In high school, I played football and trained in various martial arts.

This means that my friends were more than happy to wander into places that we shouldn't be, because they had me around. I was always paying attention. I would tell them that we needed to move to the other side of the street to avoid some people, or owly mouths that I didn't like. This is all to say that they felt protected when I was around, and would often not think about the dangers around them. Enough backstory.

Now, to the story. My group was wandering around near the event center in Portland, the one off of the freeway. I think it's called Rose Something. Now, we had many adventures walking around, going up to Mount Tava Park after dark, and looking at the skyline. Never had we felt in any danger, or even really worried, as we should have. We made a day of street surfing, as we called it. This was getting an all-day, all-zone pass from the Max Line, Portland's mass transit. We would park our car at the 60th and Division Station.

It was near a police station and was in the Hawthorne District that was known to be safe. And then we would ride the train and bus all day, going where we pleased. This night, we'd gone back to the car and decided that we didn't want to stop. stop. We got into the car and drove to the event center. There was free parking at night, and it was near one of my friend's homes. Walking from the parking spot to a Denny's, so that we could get our munch on, were laughing and joking. I was totally absorbed in talking, so much so that I didn't notice this large man walking towards us. While he was not as tall as me, he was physically bigger, wild curly hair, and he was walking like he owned the sidewalk.

As he approached, he starts yelling loudly, And the great Lord Satan will take you, points to each one of my friends in turn, And you and you. He didn't point at me. He didn't even look at me. He just walked on babbling. My friend looked at me and said, Why didn't he point at you?

I was still shocked a bit, but laughed it off and said, Well, you see, Satan and I have a deal. That was all I could think to say. I had no idea who this guy was, never seen him before nor since. I know it doesn't seem that scary, but at the time we were young and invincible, and to see the danger that could have been,

and, well, looking back at this, it could have gone much, much worse. Thank you for your time, and thank you, Raven, for doing such good work. Thank you. We moved into our apartment slash townhouse complex at the beginning of the year. We live in a cute little loft-type townhouse. My husband works about an hour away and does a hybrid schedule. Part-time he works from home, and the other he goes to the office. He also works a swing shift, so he doesn't come home until around midnight.

We wanted to be closer to our friends and family, so we moved into a gated community in our hometown. The security guards make my husband feel better about leaving me alone with the dogs on the days that he had to go to the office. I first noticed weird things happening the first week that my husband went back to the office. Every day when I took my dogs out, I would have to go outside first, because someone kept leaving food on our doorstep. I was constantly throwing it out. I even mentioned it to my spouse, and I thought that it was on purpose, and it was annoying that it was the food dogs shouldn't eat.

Then I noticed the guy. He would smoke in front of my apartment. He was in front of one of the apartment buildings, but I never saw his face, because he was always in the shadows. I would just see his shadow and red embers of whatever he was smoking. So far, not so bad, right? Things started to escalate when, whoever it was, realized what my husband's schedule was. As soon as it got dark, I would hear walking back and forth from the pathway between the buildings. At first I just thought it was people in the complex walking their dogs, but I started hearing light knocks at my door,

so light that I wasn't sure that I was hearing them at first. I would peek out my window and see no one. As weeks passed by, the knocks would get louder, but every time I would check there would be nobody. there. Sometimes I would open the door, and no one. It's super easy to get away, though. We're a corner unit and there's four paths to go to different areas of the complex. It was weird, but things kept escalating. And my dog started to react and would bark when she sensed someone walked to the door. I would hear a man giggling when I would go down the stairs to open the door, but they would be gone by the time I actually opened

the door. Once the dog was snarling by the big window next to the door, and I had the creepiest experience. Someone was whispering and taunting the dog. They were saying things like, What are you going to do, puppy?

You can't get me. Or, you want to bite me, boy? But you can't. I was terrified and called the security guards to tell them what was going on. They came. No one was there except the smoking guys who said that he saw nothing because he had just come out. Security patrolled for a couple of nights, but nothing happened on those nights.

Again, this only happened when my husband wasn't home, so whoever it was knew his schedule. And suddenly, and as quick as it started, it stopped. I also noticed that the smoking man was now gone. Rumor was that he was part of an infamous toxic couple in the complex. You would hear them for hours screaming at each other, until one day she'd had enough and her brother came to help her kick the dude out for good. It was then that things clicked. The couple was quiet at night.

They never fought after dark. The dude that was smoking only came out after dark. While I only saw him in the same spot, he was probably the one that was messing with me. Things stopped as soon as he got kicked out. What creeps me out more is that, when I took the dog out, he would sometimes wave hello. Now it makes sense why our dog always pulled me away

as soon as she spotted him. This happened back when I was a teenager. Probably about 15 years ago now. I lived in a smaller town where, if something happened to you, the whole town seemed to know before the end of the week. This also meant that people knew who not to mess with or talk about, if you catch my drift. I was just lucky enough to work for one of those people, and lucky that he treated me like his own daughter. I worked at a local pawn shop, and just in case, I'm going to make up some names, too.

It was run by a guy named Tony. Tony was a big guy, physically, and in popularity and personality. Everyone knew him, and was either close to him, steered clear of him, or was on his bad side. My dad used to work for him, and I thought that he was a good guy, so he suggested that I apply at the pawn shop, thinking he would be able to help me get the job. Of course, it worked, and shortly after, his wife was showing me around and telling me how to use the register. I was mainly working after school, helping ring people up and cleaning up shelves. After I graduated, I continued to work there for a few years since I was making decent money, and trying to go to a local community college.

That's when I really started tackling the night shifts. And I got to see a bit more of why Tony was so popular. You see, the pawn shop was a legit business up front. People were always bringing stuff to trade or have appraised. The size of the building was big enough to have quite the collection of stuff, too, from housewares, toys, electronics, weapons, and a lot more. So there were plenty of purchases being made all day long. But, at night, Tony had a whole other business being conducted in the back.

He ran poker tournaments. And I'm assuming that definitely helped fluff the numbers for the shop as well, as being why some of the people avoided him. As I got older and after I left the pawn shop, I learned that it definitely wasn't small bets going on back there. So, while he had his game going on in the back, he had someone running the front, leaving the store open often late into the night. This was used as a cover for why they were still open, I suppose. Once I turned 18, I started working that same late night shift. Surprisingly, we still had some people coming in at nights to look around the place. or maybe Tony's friends picking up some consolation prizes.

We also had people coming in at all hours, with all kinds of odd items, looking to make some fast money. After watching others and being taught some of the simpler methods of inspecting items, I was able to offer prices as well. I also learned how to put my foot down and not get walked all over when it's not what they were expecting. I also had Tony and Margaret on my side in most cases. So, when I had a guy come in with some old comic books,

I expected the whole thing to be pretty routine. It was super late when this guy came in. I remember this because I figured it was just another one of those guys that was expecting me to not look too closely, thinking I would be too tired or uncaring. I've had people come in with things as stupid, as a rock and trying to claim it was part of the boulder that sealed Jesus in his tomb before he came back.

The problem with this assumption was, one, I don't half-ass things when my boss is Tony, and two, I'm actually an avid comic book collector, thanks to my dad. So this guy comes in with one of those bank boxes that was heavily damaged. The bottom of it looked soft and warped. like it was wet and recently dried out, and there was no lid. This already had me thinking that the comics were probably in bad condition. He did have them all in sleeves, though, so I guess he had that going for him. He said that they were all original prints, and that we should be grateful that he chose us to sell them to.

I started pulling out a few of them to inspect them, but I could instantly tell that they were not as rare and special as he implied. To not bore anyone with the details, I'll just say that the most damning part was where the copyright and pricing was obviously altered, as it was slightly skewed, and you could see a fine dark line, like something was printed or stamped there.

It wasn't raised like it was taped over, but I've seen that too. Hoping to not cause a scene, I offered the guy like $25 for the box. There were probably about a hundred or so comics in there, and I was expecting to throw them in the $1 or less comic bin that we had, so we could make some kind of profit off of them. The guy reacted like I had just kicked his dog,

saying that he had rare comics in there. I told him that there may be some rare ones, sure, but due to the damage that most of them had. had, they're not worth it to go through each one separately. I then suggested that he take them to an actual licensed appraiser, and then he could come back and we could talk more then. Or, he could sort through them himself. He then said that that was the reason he brought them here for me to do it. Again, I told him that I wasn't a licensed to praise her. And also, I didn't have the time to go through his stuff. But he begged to differ,

claiming that that was my job. After some petty arguments and name-calling, I then said fine for that. I'll take the whole box for $10 or you can get out. That's when he really started throwing the derogatory remarks and saying that I didn't know anything because I was just some naive little girl. channeling my inner Tony, I yelled at him to get the hell out and to take his crappy knock-off comics with him. His idea for a response was to threaten me and said he would come back and slit my throat

while he stood over my body. Now, I can usually be pretty level-headed, but that, that caused me to really scream to get the F out of my store. Of course, this got the guy, his attention in the back, so Tony and one of his friends came up and asked what was going on. I told them what had happened, and what his response was, but Tony was already walking up to this guy, ready to toss him out the front door by his ears, I'm sure. But the guy quickly walked out

with his comics without another word. We all watched for a bit making sure that he actually left, and then went back to our night. I know that I did a few things around the shop, watched some movie that we had there, and I helped escort some of Tony's friends out, but the rest of the night seemed to go fine. It was probably somewhere around 11 p.m. That Tony came out and told me that I could go ahead and head home. He usually stays behinds to lock up, and I'm still very thankful for that fact. As I was walking to my car, which was at the edge of the lot, it wasn't very big, so probably five or six spots from the building, I walked by a car that had just turned their headlights off.

Normally, I wouldn't think much of this, but since we were closing, it caught my attention that they were turning off and not coming back on, like they were going to leave. I had stopped just past the car, and I watched as the comic guy got out of that car. I immediately was on edge and started putting my keys between my fingers, contemplating if I should run to my car or towards him to run back to the building. I chose to run towards the building, praying that I would get Tony's attention. However, I could hear him speeding up towards me as well, but as soon as I grabbed the door to open it, I felt my hair being pulled knocking me to the ground.

I yelled for Tony and thank God he had excellent hearing, or something, because he swung that door open so fast, smacking my ankle with it, and that guy was immediately on the ground. There were some good punches being thrown by Tony, as well as a few threats before he finally let that guy leave. I know he tried not to scare me any more than I already was,

but the guy had a knife. I saw it fall to the ground, but I was in such a shock that I didn't even think about picking it up. Tony did, though. He hid it from me as he went back inside. I know that he didn't want me to call the cops because of his things in the back, so I didn't.

I did tell him that if the guy came back during the day, I would consider it since he wouldn't have anything going on, and he agreed to that. He made sure that I was okay, though, and he followed me home just to make sure I was safe. I also ended up getting a nice extra bonus that week for my hard work, quote-unquote. Tony had always been like another father or uncle to me, and I never had problems with him, so I definitely didn't want to cause any problems for him. So, yeah, I may have been stupid for not calling the cops, but the fact that I never saw that guy again

made me think that Tony probably got through to him. I was still pretty freaked out there for a few weeks when I had to work at night or work alone. I know that not every pawn shop is going to have someone like Tony, but a word of advice, threatening somebody over a few dumb comic books probably isn't good for your health. Oh, and to the comic book guy,

you had better hope that we never meet again. I, 22, female, had an unsettling thing happen, and I need support or somewhere to share. I don't know, I'm freaked out. Anyways, I'm a pet sitter, and I've been pet sitting in my area while taking college classes for four years now. I'm well-established, and usually vary on top of things. This slip could have cost me. Yesterday, I got a call from someone who needed a pet sitter to walk their dog,

but they live out of state and were going to be in a hotel room. It sounds sketchy already. I tried to see the good in people, though, so I pushed forward with the meet-and-greet, which was today. My boyfriend overheard me talking to my mom about where I was going, and he was immediately suspicious. He told me all about human trafficking and the different methods they use. He said he absolutely did not want me to take the job no matter what story they gave me. I told him I couldn't just cancel the meet-and-greet, so... He drove me there.

I met a woman in her 50s with her husband and the dog. They said they were here on business working in construction. Everything went fine. She showed me around their hotel room and gave me instructions for the dog along with the room key. We talked about my college classes and my future plans, but I was on guard the whole time. I noticed when we entered the stairwell to go upstairs, the husband said he was going to get the laundry and went downstairs as we went up. So then, I was even more on guard.

It's a little weird because they had just arrived at the hotel an hour before we met. Why would they be doing laundry? I agreed to the one week of walks, gave her my rate, and I left. Skip forward to later, we tried digging deeper to find out all that we could about these people. My boyfriend searched the phone number of the lady, and it gave a lot of information. Addresses, names, a lot more than I expected. Out of all the information we found, the weirdest and freakiest thing was that the number she gave me was activated in July, one month ago. What the heck?

I mean, maybe it could be a coincidence, but that was weird. The reason I say that my boyfriend saved me, is because I didn't think of any of this stuff. Call me stupid if you want, but if he didn't overhear me and talk some sense into me, I would have blindly gone through with this, and who knows what would have happened. I'm supposed to start on Tuesday,

but I'm going to make up an excuse and cancel. Due to an event that happened to me as a kid, and having inattentive and uncaring parents, I now hate him. fairs. I don't care for carnivals or circuses either, for that matter. I hate clowns and big crowds of people. Some people think it's more of a paranoia, but regardless, at least I know I'm safe. When I was around 10, I believe, my parents took me and my older brother to a local state fair. At the start, it was a lot of fun. I loved all the rides, and I specifically

enjoyed the games that had the huge stuffed animals that you could win. I never did win one, but as a kid, you always have this weird air of confidence going in to one of those booths, thinking that this time will definitely be different. This time I'll be stronger, and have way better aim, or better luck. Sadly, it was always in my head. So, that year, my brother Ricky won a little bit of it. to go through the little haunted house they had set up each year. He was around 14 or 15 at the time.

I don't think I was old enough to do it prior, but I was finally able to. I was excited to get to go through, but at the same time, I was super nervous, but when Ricky teased me about being scared, I knew that I had to do it. So while my mom waited outside, my dad, myself, and Ricky all went in. I underestimated how scared I was going to get, though. It started out pretty cheesy. It had a dark path that was slightly outlined,

kind of looking like a mini golf course. There were some small ghosts moving on the ground and floating from the sky, but it slowly got worse and worse as the fake bodies fell out of holes in the walls, a couple of bloodied skeletons dangled from the ceiling, but it all started to get to be too much for me. When real people started jumping out and holding weapons,

I got overwhelmed. I know that I screamed and started crying several times, and I remember doing everything I could to keep a hold of my dad or my brother's hand. My brother would shake me off, as boys do, since holding my hand wasn't cool, so I would end up finding my dad's hand to hold instead. At one point, something had happened causing me to fall down. It was dark, so I quickly got up and called out for my dad and brother.

I didn't hear a response from Ricky, but I heard my dad say something. He sounded close, so I walked toward his voice and grabbed his hand again. We were getting to the end, which became a very enclosed hallway, so my dad put his hand on my back and pushed me in front of him. This all was completely dark. I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face, and I was worried about somebody jumping out at me. I think I was holding up some people with how slow that I was walking,

so I started whimpering, trying to get through it, but I was finding it hard to walk any faster. That's when my dad actually picked me up. I was a very small girl for my age, but my dad obviously rarely carried me at that age so I didn't expect it. But I was going to take full advantage of it, and I buried my head and his neck, closing my eyes so I didn't see anything in case something else happened. I started hearing the sounds like we had made it to the end, like the soft, spooky music that was playing at the entrance,

so I knew we were done with the house, but not the horror. I felt my dad stroked the back of my hair and seemingly sniffed my hair. I thought he was being funny, so I looked up at him, and I realized that this wasn't my dad at all. I was a kid, so his hand was big and slightly rough, so I thought it felt like his. And since I was ten and terrified, I didn't question it when he picked me up.

But when I saw his face and his creepy smile, I flipped out. I tried wriggling off of him, but he seemed to hold me tighter. I noticed that he was also walking to the backside of the haunted house, which scared me even more. Why was he trying to take me to a secluded spot? The only thing behind there was part of a parking lot that they used for storage and trash. So the only thing I could do at that point was scream. I screamed with all of my might, and I wiggled and I wiggled and the...

I hit this guy in his chest and I flailed my legs. We started attracting attention, and I don't know if it was that or if he had let his guard down, but I managed to slip right through his arms, dodging him as he tried to grab me and I took off. I just remember running as far as I could away from that guy and yelling for my parents or my brother. Finally, I saw my mom and I ran to her. She was confused Because she said she hadn't yet seen my dad or Ricky And was surprised when I got out first

I told her about the man that I had run into And I don't think she fully understood what had actually occurred She first thought it was funny that I ran to someone that I thought was my dad I tried telling her that he wouldn't let me go And she said something like Well, you got away, so it's okay Yeah, my parents weren't the best. Anyways, I stuck close to my parents after that,

terrified that that guy was going to come back for me. As you may have guessed, my parents never reported this creep, and now being an adult, it pisses me off so much. I don't have a good relationship with my parents, and their lack of safety is definitely one of the reasons. I even remember news stories on TV,

talking about how a little girl had been abducted from a fair in our area one year. It was after the one that I went to, but I was still young at that point. And I always remember thinking, that could have been me. And it very well could have been the same guy. I don't remember if the girl was ever found as I've been trying to find articles on it, but haven't had any luck so far. If there's a takeaway from this, It's to be a better parent than mine were,

if you're a parent, and if you're a kid, just don't trust any strangers, no matter what. It was the month of January, and I had just gotten done with my exams at college. I'm 21, and being in a long-distance relationship, I hadn't seen my boyfriend in over three months. Since I had some free time,

my boyfriend and I planned this getaway trip to the mountains, as it was the prime time to experience the snow. Although this meant that I would have to fly out to his city, I've never been there before, so I was a little skeptical at first, because this trip had to be kept a secret from my parents, not approving me having a boyfriend, let alone traveling with him, but we had been together for five years, so I was determined to go.

All of my friends knew about this trip and had all the required details. Fast forward to the day of my flight, I was seated in the window seat next to a fairly older guy, probably in his late 30s. I was on my phone, and so was he. He was texting someone back and forth, and I remember thinking how, annoying his phone's notification ringtone was. He gave me a very weird vibe the moment he sat next to me, but I shrugged it off as I thought it was just prejudice against him.

As the flight took off, I noticed no one occupied the aisle seat beside him, and I wondered why he was not moving up there because, one, naturally, anyone whether me or him would like some privacy. Two, men usually shift or make space for a woman in our country in a public setting. The man was glued to the seat, and I could feel his eyes on me when I was looking out the window. Some time passed by, and he started making small talk and questioning me. Things like, where are you from? Are you going to stay in the city that you're flying to?

How old are you? Is your friend coming to pick you up from the airport? I could feel the creepy vibes oozing from his sinister face, and I knew that I had to be smart enough to not tell him my personal information. I lied to him, and I told him that I indeed lived in the city that I was flying to, so there couldn't be any chance of him trying to mislead me. I avoided him and did not take my eyes off of my phone for a long time. He tried to put on the nice guy act,

and started telling me about his job and travel plans for the upcoming weekend, and I wasn't even replying to him at this point. I could, in some way, physically feel him getting closer to me. I was a little freaked out, but I thought I could handle this for another 20 minutes before the flight landed. At this point, the overhead lights are dimmed off in the flight, as it was night, and at the exact time, I swear this creep grinned and relaxed before staring down at me like we were in love or something. I just backed up to the window and started clicking photos of the view from the flight. This is when the creep says,

You're so cute. Can you give me your number? I was frozen. He was inches away from my face. No, that's weird. I replied, not being too angry about it, considering he could be a psycho killer. Give me your Instagram, then. At this point, I was sure that this dude would not stop at this.

No, I have a boyfriend. Stop, I said sternly. This creep stared at me without blinking and put on the mask of a nice guy again, and then offered me a bottle of water. I was glad the flight attendant announced that we were about to. to land. I would finally be away from him. This is when he started to extend his hand towards me and whispered, Can I hold your hand?

I was scared because I thought that this guy was definitely going to touch me. What? No, are you mad? I managed to semi-scream. He just gave me a blank look and said, But why? I kept quiet and was internally pleased. praying for him to leave me the hell alone. The flight eventually landed, and I hurried to get out of there with my stuff.

I turned back a few times, and I could see that he was pointing towards me, and his friends were all smiling and staring at me. I quickened my pace toward the baggage claim, and so did he and his friends. I started texting my boyfriend frantically, and he told me to stay calm and to just get out of the airport as quickly as possible, without him catching up to me. I picked my bags, and I got out of the terminal and was waiting for my cab, and I was relieved that I finally made it out.

A couple moments later, I felt someone touched my hair, and I turned around, and this creep was standing behind me with a crazy smile on his face. My heart was beating so hard that I thought it would jump out of my chest. Do you need a ride home? We could take you. Don't hesitate too much. Without saying anything, I picked my bags up, and I walked up closer to a family with kids,

and I asked if they could accompany me to the parking lot where my Uber was waiting for me. I told them the entire ordeal, and how this weirdo would not leave me alone. They accompanied me and waited until I was gone. I thanked them several times. This weirdo kept staring, at me with his cold eyes and sunken cheeks as my Uber drove past him.

He thankfully did not follow me or anything. I finally reached my boyfriend safely. The trip went smooth. I didn't think about this incident much because it was just a blur at that point. A few months later, while scrolling through my Instagram, a new follow request popped up on my profile. I opened it. My heart was in my mouth.

It was that creepy weirdo. He had somehow found my Instagram. His message popped up with, Remember me? I blocked him, and I deleted my Instagram, and I haven't been back on there since. P.S., my inner voice told me to complain about the weirdo to the flight attendant,

but I didn't because I was already running late, and I had only an hour to reach the bus stop during the rush hour. I didn't want to waste time at all by explaining the situation and getting consoled by everyone. I wasn't even sure how this thing would even pan out if I complained, because my country is a little weird about these things. I just wanted to get out of the airport ASAP, and reach the bus stop in the next 40 minutes, which was only possible if I could run out of the airport.

Although I do insist that if you're in a situation like this, Try to get to a crowded place and ask for help from someone. Better if they're a group of friends or family. Plus, make sure you do your research about the city you're going to and know where you're going.