The Lets Read Podcast - 96: Episode 085 | Creepy Church & Chatroom Stories | 23 True Scary Horror Stories

Episode Date: April 6, 2021

Welcome to the eighty-fifth episode of The Lets Read Podcast! This podcast includes narrations of true creepy encounters submitted by normal folks just like yourself. Today you'll experience horrifying stories about Creepy Churches, Chatrooms & Cruises... HAVE A STORY TO SUBMIT?► www.Reddit.com/r/LetsReadOfficial FOLLOW ME ON - ► Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/letsread.official/ ► Twitter - https://twitter.com/LetsReadCreepy ►YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/letsreadofficial ♫ Background Music: Iron Cthulhu Apocalypse https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFvrqVSJE8E PATREON for EARLY ACCESS!►http://patreon.com/LetsRead Update Description

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would drop me off in the morning and we'd stay in the woods all weekend. We'd only come out for school. We loved pretending we were frontiersmen. We'd build shelters, traps, practice making fire with sticks the whole nine yards. When we got to be in high school we got this notion to pull a Stand By Me. This was based on the movie of the same name that had just come out. The idea was that we'd walk the railroad tracks out into the country, but instead of looking for a body we'd find cool bridges to fish from and a camp a little ways off the tracks. Of course we knew this was dangerous and we'd likely be trespassing but we were kids. We had a lot of fun. We did find beautiful rivers, we discovered bridges no one went to, we fished, we hid from trains. At night

we camped in the woods just near the tracks and made small hidden fires. Nothing bad ever happened. It was idyllic. In fact, it was so fun we did it multiple times, never had a problem. After high school, me and Joe went our own ways. We both left home, but always stayed in touch and always tried to coordinate visits so we'd see each other occasionally. Well, one summer in the mid-90s, it worked out that we were both in town for about a week. We'd do stuff with family in the day, and at night we'd either catch drinks at a bar or sit outside Joe's house around a fire and talk about the old days.

One night, Joe and I got to talking about our stand-by-me trips. Well, nostalgia and beer are a heck of a mix. Soon, we decided to take a day, walk the rails, camp one night, and walk home. The day came, we started out early morning. We had my wife drop us off in our old spot where we used to start, right outside our hometown. She thought this was absolutely crazy and made sure to mention it. When she pulled away, Joe suggested that instead of walking the usual route, we take the opposite direction just to be adventurous. We knew the land well, we had a map, so I gave a sure and off we went. The day went fine. It was fun and a little sad but in a good way. We found a bridge and sat on

the edge, smoked a joint and moved on. We had no fishing gear but we brought some canned food and other stuff. Before night started to set in we picked a spot to camp. It was a thick forested area, trees on every side of the train tracks so you felt like you were in a tunnel. We had brought small hammocks to sleep on but before we set them up we decided to do a little scouting of the perimeter. Now this is what we used to do in the old days too. We'd walk the area around a little bit to make sure some dude's house wasn't just over a hill and we were actually camping in their yard. We walked maybe a hundred or so feet into the woods and up a small incline. We figured if we didn't see anything from on top of this short

hill we'd be fine. But when we got to the top we saw an old building down at the bottom about a hundred yards into the woods. It was barely visible. We pondered over what to do. We both assumed it was a sugar shack or something because there didn't appear to be a clear road into it. From where we were, there didn't look to be anyone in it either. All was quiet. No movement could be seen. No lights. We decided to walk a little closer just to make sure. We came down the hill very slowly and as we neared the building we saw it wasn't a sugar shack at all. It was an old church. It looked like it had been

abandoned for years. It was a squat, sagging building whose wooden planks were almost black from years of moss and rot. A cross still stood on top of the place, also weathered black. None of the windows had glass and there were no doors, just open doorways. We got close enough to see inside. There were rows of pews in the built up section in front for a preacher to stand. We didn't go all the way in, we didn't want to. Beyond all that, there was no sign of anyone else. No footprints, no paths, no roads. It was an abandoned church. We left immediately and went back up the hill to our spot we had picked to camp. Having a hill between us and the church made us feel better but we were still a little uneasy. We chalked it up to the natural creepiness seeing a church in the middle of the woods would elicit.

Besides, at this point it was dusk and we had just decided to rig up our hammocks and go to sleep and move on at early morning. Night set in and as we lay in our hammocks and shot the breeze, we began to hear something in the direction of the church. Our conversation about it went a little like this. Do you hear that? Yeah, what is that? It sounds like people singing. And it did sound just like singing. We both slid right out of our hammocks and hunkered down, straining to hear more. We listened for a minute or two and the singing continued but it wasn't getting louder. Finally we decided to creep back up the hill and see if we could spy where the sound was coming from. We could still

move very quietly in the woods from the old days, it was second nature to us. The moon was barely out but it provided enough light so you wouldn't walk right into a tree but it was near pitch black. We didn't use flashlights as we crept slowly up the hill and we didn't talk. When we got to the top we saw a light in the distance. It was coming from the church and the singing was coming from inside. Joe and I put our heads close together and had a hushed conversation that boiled down to, can you believe this? The light looked to be like candlelight from the way it flickered, and though we tried, we couldn't make out what was being sung. It sounded like church music, but in another language. We sat and watched for a while,

trying to see who was in there, but we only saw occasional shadows. We had no intention of getting closer either. We had about a football field length between us and we aimed to keep it that way. The singing continued for a bit and then it stopped. After that a booming male voice began to chant. I was already freaked out but this voice thoroughly scared the life out of me. It sounded like some old testament preacher you could see in movies but again it was like he was speaking in a different language because we couldn't understand a single word. Eventually it got to where the single male voice would say something and then a bunch of voices would answer in song. This lasted for a while,

and then they all broke into this long, sustained wail that just kept getting louder. It got so loud and so disturbing that I covered my ears. Then it stopped. At this point, I was just getting ready to say, alright, let's get out of here. When Joe put a hand on my shoulder and hissed, they're coming out, they're coming out. We were far enough away that we couldn't make them out really well, but what we could see was a line of figures walk out the open doorway, all holding hands in single file. We could see some of them had flashlights,

and they began to sing again and the light from the flashlights began to move towards us in the hill. We booked it back down to our campsite, grabbed our stuff and ran to the tracks. Once there we ran down the tracks in the direction we had come from. After a few minutes we stopped and looked back. We saw lights coming down the hill. They were moving erratically like whoever was holding them was shaking them. We continued to run in spurts and walk as fast as we could. We eventually stopped seeing the lights and came to a road. By our map we knew a small town was about 15 minutes down it and we walked there, got to a 24-hour gas station and called my wife to come get us. My wife and other friends all just thought it was kids messing around.

But I heard those voices and they sure didn't sound like kids to me. Not sure who those people were but it was definitely the creepiest thing that happened to me out in the woods. To give the context of where this story is based, I live in a smallish college town near a small to medium sized city. The town itself doesn't have a lot of people and is mostly here to cater to the demand that comes from the college. Because of this, the stores around the college are mostly open 24-7 so that the college kids will be able to impulse buy whatever they like. The other bigger seller around here is gas. Of course, gas can be bought in the city, but being a town that is often gone through in order to get to the city, a lot of places will try to keep the price of gas slightly lower than any of the stations in the city. My story begins when I was working overnights in a gas station

slash liquor store when I was doing part-time classes in college but mostly doing classes online so they wouldn't ruin my availability for a full-time job. The store that I worked at only had one person working on overnights for a long time Even though a lot of people, especially girls, would complain of the lack of cameras And the fact that you don't always get the best people going into a liquor store gas station in the middle of the night The owner's hand was forced on one night, before I started working there When a woman who came in to buy milk went outside to her car only for a man to come up behind her and shove a gun to her back, demanding her money. She complied with him and

luckily he let her go. She ran into the store sobbing hysterically and though police arrived shortly after, he was never found. I personally preferred having two people on, even if there wasn't a safety issue. The night seemed to go by so much quicker when there was someone else there and it was really nice that the person I normally close with and I got along so well. Overall, there were four overnight shift workers. Josh, Nick, Dixie and myself. Dixie had another job and really was only working there as a favor to one of the managers,

so she would only work two nights a week with either Josh or I. Josh and I worked together three nights a week, and Nick worked with Josh or I two nights a week. Dixie was really nice and fun to be around, but she didn't particularly like the job or want to be there. Josh would get annoyed with her a lot for just standing behind the register while he did all the work, but it was only one night a week so he didn't complain too much. Nick, on the other hand, was a bit different. He worked there five days a week, just like Josh and I, but they never seemed to put him with one person more than one day a week. Nobody seemed to really like him or like working with him. Nick was a little

off from the start. He was one of those people who told you his entire life story as soon as he met you, giving a bunch of really personal details that no one really felt comfortable hearing. One thing he always seemed to talk about was the strain on his marriage. Apparently he had a really bad drinking and drug problem for a very long time and the drug park got better when he could switch over to smoking but he couldn't seem to get his drinking under control. He was really hard to be around but you kind of get used to some people in that kind of job being sketchy. I was there for almost three months when Nick's story seemed to escalate out of nowhere. He began telling people

that when he was younger, he was diagnosed as a psychopath and he had to take a bunch of pills for it every day so he wouldn't become violent. Not exactly what you want to hear from someone you're alone with in the middle of the night, but okay. We all have our problems and some people get dealt a bad hand when it comes to mental illness. I myself have always struggled to get my anxiety and depression under control and without medicine I wouldn't be killing by any means but I'd probably be hospitalized and a danger to myself category so as creepy as that was I assured him that a lot of people need to take medicine for some kind of illness and as long as as you stick to it and are honest with medical professionals, there's no reason you can't still do anything anyone else can do. He seemed pleased with this answer and soon after the subject was turned to other things. He was especially cheery and nice to me after that for the next week or so, letting me know daily that he was taking his medicine and felt like things were going well with him. I always answered enthusiastically but I'm pretty sure everyone, especially Josh, was aware of how much I wish he would stop talking to me about it

and would leave me alone. Josh had a wife and daughter who was two at the time so he couldn't help but see us younger girls through the eyes of what his daughter might potentially have to deal with when she was our age and seemed to go out of his way to end my conversations with Nick rather quickly, which I was grateful for and didn't really try to pretend that he liked Nick. It wasn't long before Nick started conversations with me going into details about why he was diagnosed instead of how his medicine was working which I won't get into here because a lot of it is very violent and intimate. I told him repeatedly that I didn't want to know about that to which he would act like he understood and change the subject, only for him to circle back to it an hour later. When I confided to Dixie about it,

she told me that she would take care of it and told her friend Which was the manager who asked her to come to work there The manager couldn't really do much since I seemed to be the only one that he would talk to about these things And told me to come to her again if he ever made me feel uncomfortable again It was starting to get increasingly tense for everyone working with him After he was talked to by the manager and soon enough two other women who worked with him on the night shift reported comments that he had made to them to the manager. I was questioned in which I agreed that all of the statements made by the women were similar to things that had been said to me. Nick was given a final warning and a write up.

The next couple of times I saw him, he would go on rants about how people there were only reporting him because they didn't like him. I assume he didn't know that I had been questioned too and neither Josh or I had any intention to tell him. He got so angry at one point that he practically was in tears, saying how lucky those fools were that he was on his meds and what he would do to them if he wasn't. Luckily, it was at about that point that his shift ended and pretty much as soon as he clocked out, Josh told him that we had a lot of work to get done that night, so we didn't really have time to chat with him. He nodded and walked out the door without another word. Josh wasn't lying either.

The truck had come extremely late that day, so there was still quite a bit of things that still needed to be put on the shelf. One thing that the earlier shifts never seemed to do, unless they absolutely had to, was stocking the drinks cooler. It was true, that was easier to do at night when there were a lot less customers, so it was annoying since we couldn't chat but we just went with it. I can't remember the time that Josh went into the drink cooler but it must have been pretty late since we had been there for a while at that point.

I was still focused on stocking the shelves and making sure everything looked full if we didn't have it when the bell chimed signaling someone had come in. I threw out a good evening and I'd be right there since anyone that came in that late usually only wanted a pack of cigarettes or to pay for gas and cash. I put down my box and went to the registers, slowing dramatically once I could see them. You guessed it, there was Nick, not looking at me but leaning next to my register. I'd be lying if I said I had a reason to be afraid. It did turn out he was drunk but I couldn't detect it right away from the smell of booze that always seemed to linger in the air around there and Josh was right on the other side of the wall. Even so, I considered for about 30 seconds if I should actually go or if I should run into the cooler

and get Josh. Nick wasn't a young fit guy or anything. Years of drugs and drinking had aged him prematurely and ruined his body but he was still intimidating to a 20 year old girl. Unfortunately Nick made the decision for me when probably tired of waiting turned toward me and that's when I noticed immediately that there was something off about him. My voice was nothing more than a pathetic whisper when I asked him what he wanted. He just stared at me, nothing of his face to tell me what he was thinking. I was about to speak again when he spoke, barely intelligible because of his slurring. You leave you here alone?

It took me a second to shake my head and tell him in a hopefully stead voice that Josh was in the cooler and asked if he wanted me to go get him, again staring at me in silence. At this point, I didn't care what he said, I just wanted him to say something. The silent staring was creeping me out. I asked with more force in my voice, what do you want, Nick? As soon as I stopped speaking, he grinned at me in a disgusting, almost singing voice. He said, you're lying. You are alone. He laughed and took a step toward me, but stumbled, allowing me to take several steps back. At this point, I should have run to Josh. I should have called for him.

Anything, but I couldn't believe that I was reading the situation right. Nick was really weird, but I had never felt an actual danger around him before. He had never come off as more than a little unstable. He continued to come forward in slow stumbling steps telling me to, come here, I just want to talk. I kept out of his reach telling him to back off and that I would hurt him if I had to. He thought that was particularly amusing and laughed loudly enough that Josh told me later was what caused him to look through the spaces of the racks and see what was going on. Josh was out of the door in a second and seemed to come out of nowhere, shoving himself in between Nick and I. They didn't even say anything,

just stared each other down before Josh said in a stern tone, I think you should leave now, man. Nick stared blankly for a moment, then scoffed, telling us that we couldn't take a joke. I was trying not to cry at this point. The only thing more terrifying about the situation was knowing that if Josh hadn't been there, and he had somehow caught me, I would have stood no chance against him. Josh left me standing with my back against the wall, corralling Nick to the door. Completely unexpected on both of our parts, Nick turned and took a swing at Josh. Luckily, either because he was drunk or just really uncoordinated,

he missed Josh's face and Josh grabbed the back of his coat and brought him down as he smashed his knee into Nick's stomach or chest area, I'm not sure which, and used the opportunity of his sputtering to drag him to the door and throw him out, locking it. Josh had just turned and told me to call the cops as we heard this sickening crack behind him. We both jumped and looked at the door to find this big circle of glass. It's hard to explain, but if you've ever seen a movie of one or an actual car wreck when something's hit a windshield but not hard enough to break through it, it turns white all around the point of impact. That's what the door looked like. Josh didn't have to tell me what to do. This time I ran to the register and grabbed

my phone, going to the corner furthest away from the front door and huddled on the floor. I didn't even notice at the time but Josh told me later that when he turned to see the glass, that was the first time that he noticed that Nick had a hunting knife in his other hand. The fact that he had tried to punch Josh instead of stab him is a mystery and a miracle. I was sobbing when the operator picked up the phone. I don't even know how she understood me. I was crying so hard but between my distress and the sounds of Josh and Nick yelling at each other in the background with loud smashes of Nick hitting the door, she got the urgency of the situation. She asked me where I was and luckily she knew the address because just as I

got up to look at the receipt to see what the address was the glass smashed. I dropped back to the floor and she told me that officers were already on the way and to do whatever I could to get away or hide even if I had to leave Josh. The hole wasn't big enough for him to get through and he had made it by grabbing the ashtray from outside and throwing it at part of the window he had been repeatedly punching, causing it to break through. He didn't make it to break through. From that hole he could reach the lock on the door. According to Josh, he walked to the door and put his mouth against the hole that he had just formed had said something.

I'm sobbing now just thinking about it. In that horrible sing-song voice that he had used the first time I talked to him that night, he said in such a happy tone, they're never gonna find you too. Needless to say, as tough as he was acting, Josh was completely losing it as much as I was. He was older than Nick, in his mid-thirties, but he was a beanpole and wasn't exactly known for his fighting skills. Even so, as soon as Nick unlocked and started to open the door, Josh slammed his body into it, knocking Nick backward from the impact. Josh yelled for me to run and even though my legs felt like they could give out at any moment, I ran right behind him to the receiving doors in the back of the store. Nick was cursing and yelling for us as the door jingle

went off. Josh slammed into the back door, cursing in pain as he realized that it wouldn't open. We found out later that Nick had pushed the dumpster in front of the door, locking the wheels of it again before he came in. We seemed to both realize at once that he actually planned how he was going to end our lives. Nick rounded the corner, still doing that awkward stumbling walk, though faster now. It at least gave me time to slam the back door room shut and lock it. I was sitting in front of it, Josh bringing over anything he could to find to barricade the door shut when Nick reached it. He must have heard me crying because he kept calling out my name,

telling me that I wasn't who he wanted. He would make sure that I died before I even felt the pain if I opened the door. He then started stabbing the door, screaming at me to open it. I screamed and moved when he stabbed it the first time but Josh and I both moved immediately to hold it shut again. I remember Josh and I making eye contact. We were both crying by now and I wanted so badly to say something to comfort him but I couldn't think of anything to say. I dropped my phone when I ran to hold the door shut and neither of us could move to go get it. So we had no idea how long until the police got there and the door was made out of wood. So it wouldn't last long against his body slams and offered no protection if his knife went into one of our hands.

All I could think about was that I was going to die here. That my dog would never know why I didn't come home. That I would never get my degree and have enough money to actually start enjoying my life. That all the plans for the future my girlfriend and I had made would never happen. In the most anticlimactic and wonderful finish ever, it suddenly went silent. There was no police car alarms, no yelling, nothing. It was as if though Nick had just vanished. Josh and I looked at each other, not even daring to breathe, listening for any sign of life on the other side of the door. We both slammed to the ground when a gunshot went off once, then twice, then a third time. There was mere silence, then a voice rang out asking if anyone was here.

We weren't sure if we should say anything. Then the voice continued with his name and that he was an off-duty EMT who had been listening to the scanner. Josh got up and pushed the thing aside in front of the door, opening it just enough to put his head out of it, and then it seemed like all the breath just left him. He opened the door and went out into the store. I ran and grabbed my phone, seeing that the call had disconnected or the dispatcher had hung up.

When I went out to the store where Josh and our rescuer was, he was in the middle of explaining how the police over the scanner were sending a bunch of cars, but they all were pretty far away and had a horrible feeling that they wouldn't get there in time when the dispatcher was telling them what they'd find when they got there. He didn't want either of us to go outside until the police got there, though Nick had been shot in the shoulder, he had still had the knife when he took off. The EMT said he would have run after him but with the state that the store was in, he was scared that someone in here could be dying or hurt. The next 20 minutes was a blur. Josh and I was sitting on the floor hugging each other when the police got there.

The EMT had called dispatch and told them of the new situation and most of the cars that were coming to our location were diverted to looking for Nick. It was soon after that that Josh got to use his phone to call his wife and she came right over, only bringing their daughter because he begged her to. He seemed to completely break down when he held his daughter and hugged his wife. I had an extremely similar reaction when I finally got to go home and came to see my dog's body wiggling excitedly proudly displaying his flamingo toy for me to have as a welcome home gift. Nick was found two weeks later in an old RV in the woods

that he'd been using to do his drinking and do drugs so his wife couldn't catch him. Apparently the reason he had come after us was because he had thought that the reason that Josh wanted him to leave so quickly was so he could call the owner again and this time the complaint would get him fired. Unknown to us, his wife had kicked him out four days before this happened and was in the process of getting a restraining order against him over threatening texts and phone calls she had been getting. He stated that his job was all that he had left and Josh needed to be punished for trying to take that away from him. He said that I wasn't the target and he didn't want to have to end my life but he knew that he had a much better chance of killing Josh with me there than Dixie since Josh would be more likely to face him to protect me. Neither Josh or I called the owner or even a manager over his comments that night

though maybe we should have. It was disturbing what he was saying in hindsight but we were so used to him being a creep and saying really horrible things at that point that it didn't even register to us that he could be serious about trying to hurt someone. I had known him for three months and Josh had known him for six and he had never done anything violent toward anyone. Everyone just thought he was all talk. We also put faith in the fact that every employee had a background checked on them before they were hired, so it's not like Nick had ever been violent before. He took a plea deal so the two counts of attempted murder would be dropped

and he would instead go to a mental hospital for offenders. The reason that I'm writing this story now, other than the other stories on the sub inspiring me is that I got a call two weeks ago notifying me that as long as there's no setbacks to his health status Nick is set to be released on June 8th of this year when I called Josh he said that he had received the same news the day before neither Josh or I work there anymore and Josh has since moved away to another town on the other side of the city and I have switched to going to college completely online and am in a new place that I'm renting with a roommate. I don't think he'll come after either of us. I don't see

how he could blame us for what had happened. I read so many of these stories and after the fact everyone seems so prepared for what to do if they ever see the person they're writing about again. I don't think I'd be any more prepared to face him this time than I was back then. I've had pretty intense nightmares ever since that day. But ever since I got that call, every time I close my eyes, all I can hear is that one sentence louder and clearer than I had ever heard it since itread Experts. Conquer rugged terrain with on-road comfort. Until June 15th, receive up to $60 on a prepaid MasterCard

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Visit BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. 19 plus to wager Ontario only. Please gamble responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. I'm a small skinny female student in my late 20s who works part-time as a waitress. It's usual for me to walk home late at night and my town is not known for much crime. Nothing really ever happened to

me here but sometimes I had strange encounters with customers at the bar I'm working at. It was about 4 in the morning a few weeks ago on a Monday walking home from my late shift on Sunday. I read a lot of stories here and I'm also always aware of my surroundings. I don't like that random customers would know my address or where I live so I like to walk different ways to my apartment. I was on one of the main streets of my city but it was very late and the city is small and it happens often that I don't see a single person on the way home. Suddenly I heard yelling all over the street and since I was alone, small and not really strong, I walked slower and

hid behind a wall. I tried to figure out where the noise is coming from and there I saw them, a seemingly young couple arguing heavily over something in the middle of the road. I decided to keep hidden since I don't know exactly what's going on. I dialed the emergency number of my country just in case I needed it later. I kept watching cause I had to pass this way no matter what and that's when he grabbed her hair and pulled it heavily. He was beating her for a few seconds still in the middle of the street. The scene was over quickly and they vanished from my sight behind a big car, still yelling at each other. I thought about still calling the police but thought that there couldn't be anything done because they stopped and if you get involved in something like this, the women sadly often deny what happened.

I was still hiding behind the wall and was torn. On the one hand, there was nothing to report anymore and on the other hand, I felt responsible for that girl's safety. I tried to get a little closer and the yelling stopped. I wasn't able to see them anymore. After waiting for like 30 seconds that felt like hours, I decided to continue walking home because there was nowhere else to be seen. Instant regret is hitting me really hard, but didn't know what this guy was capable of or if he was carrying a weapon. Weapons are not that common in my region. I had to do something, so I turned back to where I last saw them and there was the girl already walking fast towards me hoodie down her face. She had clearly a defensive body language so I wasn't afraid of her. I could see her realizing

that there is another person on the street who could maybe help. The guy was still behind her apologizing. That was when he also saw me and he stood still immediately. The girl is crying a little as she reaches me. I can see she was way younger than me and I try to look as angry as possible at her attacker. The guy looks at me and completely stops following her. I asked her if this was her boyfriend and she said yes but only for a couple of dates. She told me she was only 16 and she has to go home because she's already late. Yeah, a 16 year old on a Monday at 4am. Right then a police car drove by, also the only car on the road and the guy starts to scamper away. Their yelling was so loud,

of course one of the residents heard them, was smarter than me and called the cops. The girl told me her name and that she doesn't want to get involved with police because of her strict parents and the fact that she was out way too late already. No one in the police car saw us and I told her to walk home because I wanted her to get there safe. She seems fine and we walk away from the police car. It was a dumb thing to do and I do regret it. I should have insisted that she tell them her story. I know that now in that moment I thought it would be the right thing to do. I walked her to her nearby apartment complex. It was not in the direction that I had to go and the guy had vanished after he had seen the police car and

I made sure that he didn't follow us. He actually ran in the opposite direction. I gave her my phone number and told her to write me a quick message when she gets home safe because now I kind of felt responsible for her. The next dumb thing I do is I didn't walk her to her door. She was naive, maybe a shy girl, and I told her to break up with that idiot immediately and by that time he had sent her already five messages and called her quite a few times. Thankfully she never texted back. I hope she got home safe and did break up with him but I'll never know. I didn't want her to feel forced to give me her number and I kind of regret that too. It's likely that this was just a fight between two young and

dumb kids but I hate the uncertainty that had left me inside. To me he seemed vicious but not a serial killer crazy. Maybe she was just too cool or afraid to text me or she found it not important enough to follow up but I hope that she got home safe. This happened between the ages of 13 to 16. I'm 26 now, but I still remember it vividly. When I was in the 8th grade, my friend Jenny and I were messing around during PE and our teacher was getting irritated that we weren't paying attention or doing what we were supposed to do so he separated us. Before we parted ways, I handed her my phone and told her to give me her number so she quickly put it in and I put my phone back in my sweat pockets and went to the other

side of the gym. I texted her, hey, it's me, and a picture of me making a face and she replied a couple of minutes later. We were talking back and forth for a couple of minutes before I said something I thought was hilarious and I looked up to watch her read my text and burst out laughing. That was when I got a response without Jenny ever looking at her phone. Who was I texting? I replied asking who I was talking to and they never responded. After class ended I walked up to Jenny and asked her what her number was. She told me her number and the number I had in my phone was off by one digit. The person never texted me back so I ultimately forgot about it.

A couple of days later I was standing outside my school talking to my friends when I got a text from the number. You look good in blue, it said. Who is this? I asked. Jenny, they responded. It wasn't Jenny. I looked around, but amongst all the cars and kids, I couldn't even begin to imagine where the person was who was texting me. I was wearing a blue shirt that day but I didn't really get creeped out by it because being a 13 year old teenager I didn't really realize the severity of how weird that was. So for a couple of years I would randomly get text messages from this person who I found out was a man telling me he loved me and telling me he was going to make

me his one day and things like that. I never told my mom about it because, again, I didn't realize the severity of it. That was until something happened when I turned 16. One day after school my sophomore year I was sitting on my couch watching TV when my phone chimed. It was a picture message from a number I didn't have saved in my phone. I opened it and it was a picture of a male's private area. I yelled ooh and threw my phone. A couple of seconds later my phone chimed again. I picked it up and it was a picture of a big Hispanic man coming from the same number. I showed my mom's boyfriend at the time and he called my mom to come home.

When my mom got home I showed her the pictures and told her everything. Of course she was angry at me for not telling her years ago when this all started but I just apologized and she told me it wasn't my fault and we were going to the police. So we get to the police station and file a report. The officer who shall remain unnamed in short did nothing. He ran the number and told us this number is from town over so it's technically out of our jurisdiction. My mom asked if we should go to the town over and file a report and he said no and that he would call him. This is how the conversation went between the officers and the man. Hey I'm from the town over, police department.

Have you been sending pictures to a young girl? No habla ingles? Oh, okay, sorry. And that was literally it. That was the whole confrontation. My mom was livid. She lost her mind on this officer. I don't even remember most of what she said except for that it was very loud, there was lots of cussing and the officer was scared. He looked at my mom and told her, Look, he hasn't ever showed up in person and he doesn't live in town. My suggestion is just to block his number. My mom, dissatisfied with this answer, grabbed me and we left we were going to the next town over's police department yes he was right i had never seen him in person but he had seen me in person

he knew things like where i was and what i was wearing and had been texting me for years on the way to the police department he called my mom pulled over and grabbed my phone. Hello? Hello, where's saying my name? This is her mother, you sick monster. He started laughing and told her she's mine. I'm going to take her away from you and make her my wife. You can't stop me. My mom started screaming that he was going to kill this coward. The whole time he just laughed at her while my mom yelled and I started crying. After he hung up my mom called the police again and they told us that there was nothing they could do and to just block him. Luckily that was the last time I'd ever heard from him. This was 10

years ago and I still think about it all the time. I have a daughter who I worry about things like this happening to as well or that one day that man will come back and begin to target her. This happened a few years ago while I was still in my hometown. I was going for a late night walk in the early AMs, which was fairly common and I always felt relatively safe and street smart to avoid bad situations. My walks would often take me all over town, though my favorite haunt was a park we had down by the river, though it was known as a hangout spot for weirdos and druggies so late. I've always walked there plenty of times and never encountered any problems, so I went down there again, all the same to enjoy the breezy river air.

The walk to the park itself was uneventful, and so we'll get to the anatomy of the park itself, something vital to realize the magnitude of the situation. The park was unfenced and easy to get into, open to the public, and looking from the park itself you could see an opening to the beach and river along it. There needed to be an opening because the beach was a bit of a drop off. You had to take a moderate step down from the concrete supporting the park itself just to get onto the sand and away from this opening. The disparity between the concrete steps and beach became such a length that they needed fencing so as to prevent people from falling and hurting themselves. Basically everything not beach led to a major drop off into only a sparse line of sand or muddy area, with the only thing separating you

from the drop was either fencing or a major tree line. So as I'm walking through the park, there's nobody around, and it's absolutely silent until the hooting of an owl breaks it. I'm surprised because owls were rare in those parts in that time of the year, but I ignored it and continued my walk as it continues hooting. As I meandered closer to where it sounded, I noticed two things. That the owl sounded like it was in pain, and that it was on the ground. I get really concerned for it and want to help it, so I start going over to where the hooting is coming from, though tentatively, because even right then a weird chill climbed up my spine,

though I couldn't say why. I get closer and it sounds louder, more hurt, and is definitely on the ground in the same place. I keep walking closer and hear it right behind the tree line after the drop-off point. For more of the park's layout, anywhere past the tree line led to a drop that was just the thin line of earth separating you from the water like a gorge. If you jumped down you were relatively stuck because you couldn't go forward for the water climbing back up was nightmarish for all the roots of trees jutting out and going left to right would have forced you to follow an extremely narrow path with little room. This owl was right behind the drop off point So even getting closer I couldn't see it The owl kept hooting and I got to right in front of the trees and could hear it right under me All I had to do was jump down and I would see it and be able to get it

But I didn't The weird feeling, this chill up my back Kept getting higher and higher and more intense the closer I got And my conscious brain finally picked up on why. I started counting. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and the owl hooted 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 it sounded again and again and again and finally I realized why I felt so creeped out and why my subconscious brain was screaming at me to run away. It wasn't an owl. It was a recording. A recording of a wounded owl.

On the ground. Waiting for anyone to come with the intention to help it. Past a tree line obscuring their vision. Past a drop-off point you couldn't climb back up from, and on a path you couldn't run in at all. Where someone, anyone anyone could be waiting. It was a lure meant to lead someone into a trap, and I suddenly felt very, very cold and clammy and like I was being watched. I immediately turned and started speedwalking away, taking the nearest exit out of the park and onto as many lit streets as I could, all the way home, constantly checking to see if I was followed.

I stayed up the entire night, fully paranoid, and looking out all the windows I could see if anyone was there, though nothing bad ever did happen and no one ever tried to get me. The next night I went back with my sister's cell phone with the intent to call the police and report it if I heard it again But no hooting ever occurred and upon a more thorough inspection nobody seemed to be lying in wait I kept an eye on the newspapers for a bit after that too To check if anyone else reported similar happenings or, God forbid, if anyone got hurt in a similar incident But nobody ever did and it never happened to me again. That's the end of my story and while I do continue to take night

walks, I always carry a weapon on me to defend myself and always, always make a point to trust my instincts. My Instincts My family were expatriates in the United Arab Emirates back then, so I grew up in Abu Dhabi and went to school there. This is crucial to the story because anyone who has lived in the United Arab Emirates or the UAE will probably understand the prejudices I had to rely on in this story. As for those of you who had never lived in the UAE or even heard of the place, I'll elaborate further on. It was the early afternoon on a weekend. Some friends and I had decided that we'd go hang out at the mall. As my luck would have it, I happened to arrive earlier than my friends and had found a way to kill time while I waited. I figured I'd just walk around and do some window shopping. Being a rotund young

lad it wasn't like walking around for half an hour would do me any harm. Now before I continue I need to inform you of the mindset you were all instilled with when living in a country like the UAE. When you saw Pakistanis in the UAE, especially dressed in an all-white garb, you have kind of accepted that they acted weird or would stare inappropriately without any self-awareness. You knew that if they dressed that way, they most probably had come to the UAE from the poorer parts of Pakistan, the rural areas, and worked menial jobs. These Pakistani men of rural background also had a reputation for certain misconduct. I don't mean to claim that Pakistanis are deviants, merely that this particular socioeconomic group, who more often than not were single men living as guest

workers in the UAE, were known to usually be involved in these sort of cases of assault, especially involving young boys. I realize some people might call me prejudiced, but the UAE is very much a caste society. Taking such mental shortcuts based on how people dressed was easy because more often than not, you were right. Now back to the mall. I took the escalator going up to the second floor and as the escalator was going up, I see a group of five Pakistani men Dressed in the garb I mentioned earlier, going down the escalator in the opposite direction

I didn't think much of it at first and I couldn't help but notice that one of the men was staring at me Mind you, he wasn't staring in a zoned out sort of way No, this was a very predatory stare If anything, it seemed like he was sizing me up. My mind was initially flooded by the prejudices I had mentioned earlier and it made me uneasy. Bah, poppycock, I told myself. As I got to the top of the escalator, I figured I was being just a paranoid jerk. These guys were just checking out a mall. They probably didn't have anything similar where they came from and wanted to take in the sights.

But boy was I wrong. At the top of the second floor escalator I turned left. The paranoid curious part of my brain made me turn my head to look down the escalator to see what those guys were doing. They were all staring at me now and were taking the escalator back up. Alright. Okay, maybe they forgot to check one of the stores, I reasoned. I mean, this was all happening in a mall in broad daylight. What could they do to me?

On the one hand, I was scared, but on the other hand, I felt that maybe I was being paranoid. The second and third floors of the mall looped around the building. So yours truly decided to pull some sick Cold War spying techniques and walk around the balcony admiring the view while keeping an eye on the group of men every time I turned a corner. At every corner I took a quick glance and at each instance I noticed that they were still staring at me and following my direction. At this point I was desperate. I still doubted myself and thought that maybe I was reading too much into things and I got a lightbulb moment. McGrundy's is a bookstore franchise in the UAE. As luck would have it there, there was one in the mall. I decided to try out an experiment. Going by the comportment of these men and the way they dressed, they didn't strike me as avid readers familiar with the likes

of Bronte, Wilde, or Dumas. Surely a bookstore would be the last place any of them would go, unless they had nefarious intentions. And I went to the back of the bookstore where I would keep an eye out on everyone who came in and out. The coast was clear at first, and I breathed a sigh of relief. But before I could even form a coy smile and mockery of my irrational fear, to my horror, the man walked into the bookstore. Anyone who has lived in the UAE would immediately recognize how strange it is for such people to enter such a store and because of their rural backgrounds they tended to have no education and because they usually worked in menial jobs,

there was no way that they were going to be a class of people who would spend money on books. Now I knew I was being followed. As I watched, my fears were confirmed by the fact that these guys seemed to be more interested in finding someone behind the aisles rather than the actual books on the shelves. These men were clearly not looking to finger through pages of a good book and I wasn't about to find out what they had planned to do when they found me. I zigzagged through the aisles, stooped like a hunchback, until I managed to go around them and exit the store. I took the escalator from earlier and went downstairs. I figured if they would try anything, the entrance to the mall would be the safest place for me. Just as I'm going down

the escalator, I see them come out of the store. We make eye contact and they come in my direction. As I reach the bottom of the escalator, my friends come in through the main entrance. Boy was I relieved. I finally felt safe. Funny enough, I didn't tell them what I had just gone through. Not really sure why. Maybe I thought it wasn't worth it. In any case, we were about to have a meal, so't help but feel triumphant and frankly I hope it showed in my eyes. Every time I think back to that event I can't help but laugh. I'm kind of proud of 15-16 year old me for the whole bookstore tactic but make no mistake I was scared. If there's any lesson I can impart it's the following. Trust your gut. Even if your gut makes prejudiced assumptions, you're better off feeling like a jerk for a few

moments after you realize you were wrong rather than being dead forever. I was working as an assistant manager at a local KFC where I worked for roughly 2-3 years. I have some very good memories from this place as well as some really funny stories. We became severely understaffed at one point and my general manager at the time left to work for CC's Pizza, another local chain. Because of this, I was left in charge of the store until they found or decided on a replacement for him. After probably three months or so, during this time tensions were high due to our staffing issues and I was given a raise for holding down the fort, keeping the store open despite most of the employees walking out on me the one night. They finally sent us help, a guy and several of his employees from a store located about 40 minutes away. Some things to understand about this store, it was located in a very wealthy neighborhood and

subsequently had very wealthy employees. Anyway, the new manager Mike comes in and immediately starts barking orders at everyone. Obviously no one is listening to him, but when I tell them to do the exact same thing they get it done post haste. He asks me why they won't listen to him but will listen to me and I explain to him that they aren't here for the money, they're here for the experience. I remind him that they're driving Ferraris to work and that he needs to be their friend and their boss. In other words, earn their respect and they will respect you. He agrees to let up on them and try it my way instead. He did listen to me and did start to earn their respect. Then he turns on me and starts demanding stupid and ridiculous things around the

store, most of which are related to late night cleaning which he knew I didn't do myself and didn't have time for with deposits and what not. I got admittedly angry and told him to screw off. After a few weeks of this and a serious amount of stress over the last few months, I decided to put in my two weeks notice. At this point I already started looking for a job elsewhere and had several offers on the table. I took a job about two miles up the street at a local Burger King as their general manager. I ended up working a lot of late shifts because we were understaffed for those particular shifts. This was fine but it also meant closing the front by myself, mopping storefront, locking doors, etc.

while my cook closed the back of the house. I didn't really pay much attention at first. It was barely noticeable. But at the same time every night the same car would park in the front of the lot facing the store and just sit there for hours on end. I honestly thought it was kids making out or something at first but that clearly was not the case. I was always last to leave the store and set the alarm. One night, the second I lock the door behind me and start to head to my car, the engine turns over in the car at the front of the restaurant. It startled me so I looked over but all I could see was the headlights and the car didn't move.

I hurried to my vehicle and started to drive away. The second I left the parking lot, so did the other car in the parking lot. My drive wasn't particularly far from home, but I had this gut feeling that it would be a bad idea to head there. I start down the very empty 1am highway and switch into the left lane with the guy still following behind me. After a minute or two at 10 or 15 miles above the speed limit, I decide to switch into the right lane and drastically slow down to see if he'll pass me. The guy also switches over and slows drastically down. No, I'm not stupid. I know when I'm being followed and at this point I'm scared. I grab my almost dead phone and call my husband.

I frantically spout off what's going on and he tells me to drive to the police station so I start heading in that direction. I don't know if this guy caught on to that or not but right before we hit the road the station is on. He blows by me at an insane speed and keeps driving. I turn around and went home. Fast forward another week and I see the same guy sitting out in the parking lot again in the same car. This time I called the cops right away at the urging of my cook and my assistant manager. The cops showed up and get the guy to come out of the car. It's Mike from my old job. He tells them he wasn't doing anything wrong and developed a crush on me from our time

together at our old job and just wanted to say hi. They didn't arrest him but told him to get out of there saying that he was loitering and it put enough fear into him that thankfully he didn't Again. This took place about four years ago when I was still in college. So I want to preface by saying I didn't always make the smartest choices but I have learned better now. I would not recommend anyone doing what I did. Around that time I was doing acting jobs on the side for fun and was part of a Facebook group that covered the whole state. This was my main source to find any auditions before I found an agent. One night I was scrolling the page and saw there was an audition for this action film. I had never heard of the production company but that was pretty common as many college

students would also use the page with the made-up production company name. Me being a person who couldn't resist auditioning for everything at the time sent the director a message with my headshots. It took about 30 minutes for him to respond. I'd like to note that this was one in the morning when I had sent the last message. I being naive thought this was normal. He asked if he could call me and I gave him my number. Minutes later he called, introducing himself as Eric. He explained the plot and told me the role I would play which completely threw off my guard because at the time I hadn't done many notable things for someone to just give me a role. I wish I had seen the red flags but instead I let it get much worse.

During this time I learned that Eric taught classes on a military base nearby and this film was loosely based on his 30 years in that field. I thought that was cool and realized that this wasn't some college project. Then the conversation took a turn as he started to focus on my headshots I had sent. He kept saying that I was so pretty and that I'd fit well in his other business. He kept the focus there even when I tried to ask more about my part. When I asked what that business was he refused to elaborate, saying that I'd need to fill out some paperwork first as people had tried to ruin him in the past. I was apparently blind to the red flags that were

currently in front of my face and signed all the paperwork because I was way too nosy. Looking back, those documents probably weren't legal. I sent them back to him and he said I would hear from one of his partners, Karen. He also set up a time to meet later that day at around 7pm and had me write down an address. I wasn't from the area so I didn't know where it was and figured I would just look it up later that day. 10 minutes later I get a call from Karen. She sounded nice and spoke highly of Eric. I expected this since they work together. She told me that she was excited that I was going to join the project and asked if I wanted to know about their other business.

I told her yes and she started talking. So he had the production company that made films and another that made adult films. She told me that I would be a great fit and would love to have me on the team. I flat out rejected her offer. She tried to make me budge by telling me that their company was really popular but I wanted no part of it. A few days after this all happened I tried looking up the company and it didn't exist. She kept trying to get my opinion on really disgusting things that I won't mention because it gave me nightmares for the longest time.

I could tell Karen was getting pretty frustrated that I wasn't going to break. She soon ended the call by going on about how excited she was that I was going to be in the one film. Most people would have cut ties with this by now but my curiosity got the better of me and I found myself driving to the location Eric had made me write down. I knew it was a bad idea but I just wanted to know. It was getting pretty dark by the time I was close and I wasn't familiar with the area at all. When I finally arrived I saw this run down church with a single white truck in the parking lot. Finally I talked myself out of the situation and turned around. I paused on the street next to the parking lot and quickly texted Eric.

I told him that I didn't feel comfortable and would not be taking part in his project. Right before I took off, I glanced at the church and saw a figure of a very large man standing in the dark in the lobby. I practically floored it at this point and went straight back to my dorm. When I got back, I had a new message from him saying, I'll see you again Don't be scared I never heard from him again but to this day I'm insanely paranoid that he'll find me I still live in the same town but I had moved a lot since then

Occasionally I'll get friend requests from people who have his production company in their job description but I quickly block them I don't know what would have happened if I had gone into the building that night or if I had played into Karen's hands but I'm happy to be here and that's what really matters. If it's a flat or a squeal, a wobble or peel, your tread's worn down or you need a new wheel, wherever you go, you can get a pro at Tread Experts. Conquer rugged terrain with on-road comfort. Until June 15th, receive up to $60 on a prepaid MasterCard when you purchase Kumho RoadVenture AT52 tires. Find a Kumho Tread Experts dealer near you at treadexperts.ca slash locations.

From tires to auto repair, we're always there, treadexperts.ca. For context, I am female and currently 21 years old, though at the time of this event I was 16 years old. I've never viewed myself as an attractive person. I've always been kind of chubby, I had bad acne in my teen years, I never cared at all what I wore, and I almost never wore makeup. I was an extremely awkward teen who had barely any friends and next to no self-esteem due to a very abusive relationship I had a few years prior, but that's a different story entirely.

My point is that I was a completely different person during this time and looking back, I know how naive I was and what I should have done instead to better protect myself. So it was the year 2015 and I was going on my very first cruise with my family. It was an 8 days 7 nights cruise that was taking place a few days after a tsunami had passed nearby. After a rocky start, literally the boat rocked back and forth the first two days and everyone was miserable and me suffering a slight panic attack during a routine evasion drill. I'm claustrophobic and really hate crowds. It ended up being one of the best weeks of my life and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Some of the downsides to this cruise was the fact that it was a North

State cruise taking place in October, which meant chilly weather and no swimming, and because it was during a school year, I was the only guest my age on that cruise. The closest age to me I think was either 6 years old or 40 years old, so that kind of stunk, although I did end up crushing hard on our assistant dinner time waiter who was around 30 years old and had the sweetest smile I'd ever seen. Anyways, time to get to the meat of the story. So as far as I know, most cruises have at least one formal night where everyone dresses up really nice for dinner and they serve special meals like lobster, steak, etc. As I said before, I wasn't the most attractive person out there, but I did doll myself up for this special occasion. I wore a turquoise knee-length dress, tan-colored high heels, my mom curled my blonde hair and I put on some makeup that really made my blue eyes pop.

I honestly did feel kind of pretty that night. Dinner was amazing and I finally got to try Lobster Tail for the first time. Loved it. I also of course made eyes and mildly flirted with our assistant waiter. I made him laugh because of how red my face would get whenever my dad called me out on it. So after our dinner, my family and I all decided to go our separate ways for the night. There was a bunch of events going on that each of us wanted to get to. Well, except for me, who spent most of the cruise finding random relaxing spots to sit and draw. I was and have always been an avid artist.

So anyways, after a couple of hours I decided I wanted to find my dad for some reason that I don't exactly remember. My mom had told me that he was going to the karaoke thing going on, so I started making my way around the ship looking for wherever this was happening at. That's when I met him. I noticed him staring at me and at first it was flattering. Like I said, I was average looking and had next to no self-esteem, so having anyone of the opposite sex look at me and smiling made me feel good. He looked to be not too much older than I was and was dressed in a cruise employee uniform, so I decided to approach him and ask if he knew where the karaoke room was. His smile never left as I asked him, and in a thick Indian accent he told me that he didn't know, but that we could search together for it.

I thought it was a little weird at first that he was an employee but didn't know where an event was taking place, but I brushed it off and thought it was possible for some newer employees to not know where everything was yet. So he and I started walking around the ship together and casually chatted while doing so. He told me his name was Felix and was 21 years old. He also, as I suspected, did recently start working for this cruise liner a few months ago. For the record, I did find him kind of cute and liked how comfortable he felt talking to me about his life. As we continued walking around, he told me about how he was born and raised in India,

how his family was kind of poor, how rooster fights were illegal back home but he watched them anyways and stuff like that. I enjoyed listening to his stories about life in a different country considering I've never been anywhere but America at this point in my life. We had eventually stopped looking for my dad and were just walking and talking together. We were now standing outside on the deck and leaning against the railing. I admired how beautiful and ominous the dark water reflected the stars. It was as if we were floating in the galaxy. It was completely beautiful. He then started telling me how lonely he was and how hard it is working on a cruise ship and watching hundreds of couples being romanted

together while he has no one. I told him that I understood how he felt because I was also single and hated feeling alone. He looked at me and told me he was surprised that I don't have a boyfriend because of how beautiful I was. I blushed and looked away as I told him that most guys back home don't look at me twice and he was surprised by that. You know that feeling when someone or something is behind you and you can't see it but you know you can sense it's there. Well I felt something behind my head and when I turned around to find out what it was before I realized what happening, Felix's face was right in mine and he planted an unexpected kiss on me. I pulled back in surprise and he asked me what I thought about it.

I stuttered nervously and tried to think of a reply. No, yes, I was a naive young person who was always looking positively at people but I wasn't completely stupid. This is a 21 year old stranger who was flirting with a 16 year old girl. I also had the sudden realization that no one knew where I was or who I was with. Before I could even say anything Felix started telling me how he knew of a couple of spots on this ship where we could be alone to do things together. I started panicking and really wanted to get away from him. Now another fault of mine is that I'm way too nice for my own good and I'm always afraid of hurting people's feelings or coming across as a mean

person even when I'm clearly in a dangerous situation. I'm still too friendly to everyone now but nowadays I have much more of a backbone and wouldn't have a problem telling someone like Felix to kindly screw off but as I said I didn't have that confidence back then and I had no clue how to get out of this situation Felix put his arm around my waist and started guiding me toward one of the areas he was talking about. I started stuttering. Maybe we shouldn't. We just met and I we might get caught and you'd be in trouble and my father might be looking for me. I know that sounds dumb but I was trying to make him think of ways where this could be bad for him so it seemed like I was trying to look out for him. Don't judge me too harshly. He told me not

to worry about it because people mess around with staff sometimes and their boss never finds out. That only made me panic even more. He leaned in for another kiss and I stupidly let him because I was scared of making him angry. After the long, uncomfortable kiss, I slightly turned away and told him I just wanted to keep looking at the night sky. He insisted that we should start messing around because we don't have much time together. I tried to hold back from crying at this point. And by the grace of the good lord above, my phone suddenly made a noise and I noticed my father had texted me asking where I was. I tried to mask my relief but I immediately told Felix that I had to get going because my dad was wondering where I was and that he was very protective of me. Felix showed his disappointment

to me saying that but then he asked me for my phone number. My heart sank and I gave it to him. Again, stupid young female who doesn't know how to say no. I'm aware of how foolish that was. It was a good thing I didn't give him a fake though because he immediately texted my number to prove its authenticity. Once I thought he was satisfied I started saying goodbye and walking away. He grabbed my wrist and spun me back toward him and asked for a hug goodbye first. I sheepishly agreed and gave him a light hug. I wanted to start crying when he squeezed me tight and pulled me against his groin and asked if I could feel it, if you know what I mean. I quickly stepped away and sped walked towards my hotel room. I made sure he

didn't follow me and once I was safely inside my room, I hopped on my bed and started crying. Of course, I couldn't tell my parents about this because I would be in trouble for putting myself in this situation. Or so I thought. I promise my parents aren't really like that. I know now that in reality, my former marine father would have tracked Felix down and let him know to never touch his daughter again. A few minutes into my cry, my phone vibrated with a text from an unknown number claiming it was Felix. I wanted to block him immediately but again, stupidly, I was afraid that would anger him and he would somehow find me. So I answered him and we talked for a few minutes.

We kept talking about how he wanted to see me again before I left the next day, which at this point I repeatedly thanked God for and I kept telling him that it just wasn't possible because my parents didn't want me leaving my room for the rest of the night, which was a lie. I did eventually end up leaving my room and asked an older female employee where the karaoke event was, which she immediately took me to. Side note, the room was literally two hallways down from where I first found Felix, and I kicked myself for that later. I found my dad and didn't leave aside for the whole rest of the night. Luckily, I was able to enjoy the rest of my night dancing around with my father, and I did hide around him whenever I spotted Felix walking around who was making it obvious that

he was looking for me. I know the story isn't as scary as the most on here but at the time it was terrifying to me and my own kindness could have got me into a very bad situation. The moral to my story is that everyone needs to be careful when going on cruises or other types of vacations. Just because someone wears an employee uniform doesn't mean they're trustworthy. There's many people out there who take advantage of kind people and want to use that against them. Just please make sure whoever you're with always knows where you are. And don't put yourself into risky situations. So growing up I lived in a small town in the south of Ireland.

A kid lived in my neighborhood and we absolutely couldn't stand each other as children. Let's call him D. We didn't talk at all for years and then as we got older we actually became best friends. We got closer and were pretty much inseparable. We did everything together. At the time we both had some issues going on and we bonded a lot over that It being a small town in rural Ireland there wasn't a whole lot for teenagers to do We had a small enough circle of friends and we generally just hung out in the park or walked around town to pass the time There was a spot down a field across from the park with a little river running

beside it that had a rope swing hanging over it. If we got good weather in the summer we go down and bring a couple of towels and just hang out, although we hung out there almost every day anyways. One night I went on a walk down to the swing and called him to come and meet me. He was feeling really down and so was I so we were just talking about it and then we sat in silence for a bit. All of a sudden we hear this horrifying scream coming from down the field somewhere but since it was about 10pm it was too dark to really see it. It didn't sound like a scream of someone playing around with friends, it sounded like a scream of horror. It was kind of like a double scream as if someone was screaming and then their mouth was covered and then uncovered.

We lived in a fairly rough town, so we both looked at each other like, oh no, someone's being murdered. We're looking down the field to see if we could see anything at all, when I thought I could see a black figure gliding towards the river. I could have been soiling myself so bad my mind was playing tricks on me, but we didn't stick around to find out. We bolted back to the road and made back for our neighborhood. We stopped to talk about what we thought it was at my school around the corner. We only talked for a couple of minutes before the school alarm starts going off as if someone had broken in. We were way too far off for it to trigger the alarm as we were outside the entrance gate. We were spooked as it was, but that was enough for us to book it all the way back to my house.

We theorized that potentially it could have been what has been described in Irish folklore as a banshee. Thankfully I've since moved out of that town and we never did find out what set off that alarm or what in God's name made that scream. And I don't know if I ever really want to find out. I had just finished my freshman year in college at West Virginia University. Let's go Mountaineers. I had just moved out of my dorm room and same day moved into my first apartment that was on the first floor of a three-floor apartment building. They only make you stay in dorms your first year because of overcrowding. I, being recently cheated on, decided I would hop back onto Tinder and see what was out there in a college town over the summer. I spent that night swiping away when I got in a match with this guy named Chad.

I remember I looked at his profile a little longer than others, mostly because he wasn't 100% my type from first glance, but I was generally so bored with all my friends home for the summer. I put my phone down and didn't think much of it after seeing we had matched. The next day at around 5pm I was just scrolling on Instagram when I remembered I created that Tinder account. I decided to go back onto the app not thinking I would have any messages when I realized that I didn't have my notifications on. That's why I didn't see any notifications, honestly just thought I was ugly. Well by my surprise I had a few different messages ranging from the typical corny pickup lines to the gifs. I went through answering, not really putting much thought into my responses, normally just a lol or hey. Most of the connections just fizzled out like they do on apps like Tinder.

It was only then that I noticed that one guy was replying almost instantly after I would answer. It was Chad. Chad was your typical Tinder profile. Selfie very awkwardly angled, a dog, and of course the shirtless picture. I was honestly just very bored. He was kind of cute and just gave me something to do. I don't remember word for word of the conversation and since this I deleted my tinder account and app altogether but I do remember him being very nice. He offered to hang out and I declined at first but he was very persistent. I wasn't in the mood to meet someone new. was just fun to talk to at the time then he asked again to hang out and get food and if you know me you know that food is the

weight of my heart I agreed and said yes I started to get ready to go and get food when he offered just to bring me food so we could hang out at my place instead of going out. I said sure because I genuinely didn't want to leave my house. Very dumb, always meet in public locations. Chad picked me up a personal size pizza and didn't get anything for himself which I found odd so I didn't even eat any of it and just told him I would eat it later because I wasn't as hungry as I thought I was. We watched half a movie and made brief conversations before it started and I told him I had just started my new job at Claire's at the local mall. This is important for later. Before I made an excuse to get him to leave, claiming I was too tired and had to work in the morning. I kind of just forgot about him and kept on messaging guys on Tinder when

he hit me up a few days later wanting to hang out again and I politely declined. He kept texting me and blowing up my phone altogether. It had been about a month later and I had started dating my ex Austin. He always found Chad super creepy and a threat to the relationship so he had me block him on everything. So I did. My ex was very controlling. The only thing I had forgotten to block him on was his physical phone numbers since we had moved to communicating mostly on Snapchat. I got a very angry text a day after blocking him on Snapchat and Instagram. He was really upset that I had blocked him and demanded answers. I explained my boyfriend didn't want me talking to him anymore really upset that I had blocked him and demanded answers. I explained my boyfriend

didn't want me talking to him anymore and requested that I block him. He became angry because I had not told him I was seeing someone. Mind you, I hadn't seen him in almost a month and I was only dating Austin for a week or so at this point. I said I was sorry and that I wouldn't block his number in case he ever needed to get a hold of me for one reason or another. Austin and I were a very short-lived relationship where I ended up walking in on him in bed with a girl he always told me not to worry about. I texted Chad to vent about the whole situation and that was what I thought was the end of us knowing each other since I hadn't heard from him for the rest of that month. I went to Florida for my cousin's wedding and when I came back, I came to find out by running into him that Chad had moved into the apartment right above mine and into the room directly above mine as well. It's a four bedroom college apartment set up to where you rent your individual room and

share a common area and kitchen. I thought it was kind of strange but I didn't think too much into it. I had started seeing this other guy I met on Tinder named Zach not too long after returning from Florida. Zach and I were just starting to get to know each other when I started getting texts from Chad again asking to hang out and if he could cook me dinner this time. I just brushed them off not thinking much of them and politely declining explaining I had a boyfriend. He then proceeded to get upset again that I had not informed him of my new boyfriend. This is where I started to get very annoyed and I told him we were neighbors. That's it. Nothing more. Nothing less. And he stopped replying.

That's it right? Weird Tinder guy moves into the room above yours right? I wish. I started noticing some very weird things. When I would leave my room, I would always shut the door behind me because I didn't know my roommates too well at this point so it was just a habit. As soon as I would shut my door, I would hear his door shut. That's the first thing I noticed that I thought was strange, but then I realized that every time I would leave my apartment He would be out in the balcony I would shut the door to my room and I would hear his door shut Then I would shut my front door and I would hear his balcony door shut

Every time I would walk to my car I would try not to make eye contact and just pretend I didn't know he was even there But every time he said the same thing Hey neighbor. This went on the whole time while I lived there. He slowly stopped doing it as much, but still here and there would do it. He always stared down Zach every time he walked into my apartment with me. Then, about halfway through my sophomore year of college, I finally realized that I was being stalked. These next few events

I'm about to describe happened over a few month period of time, so it took a while to connect all of them. I started feeling like I was being watched for a while. Honestly, just thought I was being paranoid, but then there was one night that freaked me out like no other. I was sitting in my room, remember I lived on the first floor of the apartment building, when I started hearing whispering, not talking, whispering. I thought at first it was just one of my neighbors but I quickly realized it was too soft of a voice to penetrate the walls of the apartment I was living in. I started freaking out and I turned off all of my lights to realize that there was a figure standing outside of my window whispering to itself.

I quickly shut the blinds and forced myself to go to sleep and pretend it didn't happen. I later found out my roommates had seen the person standing outside my window but never told me because they didn't want to freak me out. I didn't think much after that because it never happened again, or so I thought. I later found out from my roommates that they had seen someone outside my window on multiple occasions but never told me, and when we went out to my window, we realized my window's screen had been removed. The next event happened when I was working at Claire's. When I arrived to work, my assistant manager seemed very on edge and I asked her what was going on, just thinking her and her boyfriend were having issues again. She tells me that she has to wait to talk about it until there isn't anyone in the store. We assisted in helping customers for the next hour or so and till the store finally had no customers.

She then proceeds to tell me there was a really weird call this morning from a guy acting very strange. This guy had called on the store phone to ask about a return policy to which my assistant manager told him our policy was 30 days except body jewelry. He said he didn't have any body jewelry and said that then you should be totally fine to return, just bring in your receipt. He said okay and that he's on his way to the store right now. She said okay sir, we'll see you soon then. He then tells her he wants to make sure he knows how to get there, this is important for later, and asked her to stay on the phone. She gave him directions once he got into the mall because she was the only one in the store and had customers to take care of. He then asked what time we were closing tonight and she told him we close at 9pm. She insisted she had to get off the

phone and he asked her just a few more seconds, I'm almost there. She heard a tapping and he asked her do you hear that and she said yes and he said good. He was pleasuring himself while on the phone with her. She demanded that she had to get off the phone to which he said, You did such a good job, baby girl, and hung up. Remember, the guy said he was on his way to the store, so why would he need to know when we closed unless he wasn't actually on his way and just wanted to know what time I would be leaving the store? Hearing that freaked me out because anyone who knows me knows

that I close on Tuesdays and Thursdays by myself, including Chad. We notified security of the weird call and I went about my shift as normal but just kept an eye out on my surroundings. We didn't get another call for a few weeks but when we did this time I was actually in the store with my manager. It had just hit 9pm and I was closing the gate to the store when my manager picked up the ringing phone to only hear heavy breathing on the other side. I begged her to give me the phone because I would have been able to recognize the voice surely if it was Chad. She refused, we hated each other and just hung up instead of handing me the phone. I was very upset because at this point I had felt like something was up involving me but I didn't know what at this point yet. The next event is a small event but shows his dedication

to just me and it happened in November. Zach and I had taken a break and I decided as always to put myself back out there and see what was out there and where would I do such a thing. Of course, Tinder. And of course I stumbled onto his profile again and he had super liked me. At this point I had not put two and two together that he could have been the one who was stalking me and harassing me, so I swiped right to be nice just for him to hit me with that same line. Hey, neighbor. The next event is the event that finally made me go to the cops after being stalked and harassed for almost a year at this point.

I had gotten ready for a night out with one of my guy friends, Sean. Sean came over to my house before we went out to the clubs that night. I didn't want a drink, so I decided to drive us down. As we were leaving my apartment, there was Chad. Hey neighbor, Chad had said as I was walking with Sean to my car. We get to the club and have a lot of fun to the point where I didn't even think about Chad. I take Sean home and I go home. I woke up the next morning to a flat tire. Now I live in West Virginia where the roads aren't the best so I

just assume I hit a pothole. I put on my donut tire that you can only use for less than 100 miles and I drove my car to the local shop. The lady takes the keys to my car and pulls my car in and starts working on it. She then comes walking in and I was thinking that was pretty quick but she wasn't done. She came in to ask me a question. Now who did you stab in the back? Excuse me? I asked her surprised. She then repeats herself. I'm asking you who'd you make angry? I replied saying no one that I was aware of. Why? She then proceeds to tell me, Somebody slashed your tire up. They put one slash on one side of the tire and one slash on the other.

Wherever you were at, they were making sure you weren't going anywhere. As a quick reminder, my tires were slashed while I was asleep at my apartment complex where the creepy Tinder date guy Chad also lives above me and saw me leave with a guy earlier in the night. After this I went to the police and got a report on everything that had happened leading up to that moment. The police suggested that I move and start fresh. My apartment complex wouldn't let me out of my lease even with the police telling them it is unsafe for me to live there anymore. I ultimately moved into another apartment building within the same apartment complex but on the second floor this time. I switched cars with my brother and quit my job.

I looked like I dropped off the face of the earth. And then the final event that happened to me was a text that confirmed my scariest fears. I got a text only a week after I moved in from the one and only Chad saying, since when aren't you my neighbor anymore? Proving he was looking for me and hasn't seen me in my car. I asked my old roommates if they had said anything to him and they all said they didn't even know what he looked like and that just further proved that he was watching me so intently to know that I had moved only after a week of not being there. I blocked his number after that last text and moved a third time within a year to avoid this guy. Nothing ever happened to him legally because, unfortunately, there was no physical evidence.

I have been helping deliver newspapers since my dad started as a carrier when I was six. Eventually my dad was given his own distribution center so when I turned 16 and got my license, I started doing them on my own. Most of the people in the depot have been there for years. They've watched me grow up and I consider many of them an extended part of my family. We spent every holiday together, the newspaper never had a day off, countless birthdays. But there was one guy who always gave me the major creeps. I was about 14 when he started I think. I used to hang out in the back office with some of my other friends as the years went on and he always hung out back there because he was also friends with these people. At least that's what I thought. One of

them recently told me they only tolerated him. I never spoke to him because something just felt really off about the guy but nothing happened until last year. I moved home following my graduation from college. I was already having a hard time readjusting because I no longer had any friends in the area and I was missing my college town. Creepy guy that I'll just call B started hanging around me a lot. He had a weird man crush on my dad too, always buying him extra gifts for birthdays and holidays, sucking up majorly. I did my usual nice greeting, keep to myself stuff. But then he started buying me gifts for no reason. My mom told me to just keep them because it was all stuff I

liked, Marvel and cat themed things. That was probably my first mistake. He started acting like we were BFFs and coming out to find me while I was sitting in my car and talking about how I deserve so much more than being trapped here at the depot and that he will do whatever it takes to get me out of here because he really cared about me and I deserve so much more. I never really acknowledged it because I thought it was really weird and I thought if I just kind of nodded quickly he'd go away. This went on for weeks then he started texting me telling me to sleep well after work and just being generally really creepy. I should probably mention I was 22 at the time and this guy is well into his 40s. I started avoiding him and he kept leaving

things on my bench. I came in one day and there were cat posters taped along the back of my bench. I kept taking them down but they'd be back up the next day. When I started avoiding him he made a Facebook group chat with me and my dad complaining about every little thing and just being a major jerk. He made a really rude remark about my friend who was visiting from Germany so I blocked him on Facebook because I wasn't going to deal with it anymore. B made a new Facebook and remade the group chat just to keep doing it. I went away for a while on a vacation to visit my childhood friend in Washington and when I got back, he was calling me by my full name which I absolutely hate. I was tired and

jet lagged so I went off on him and he whipped around and blew up three times worse telling me I was all these terrible names and I thought I was so perfect because I was the boss's daughter and there was no one there as perfect as him. My jet lagged brain broke down after he walked away. I'm glad I held on till he left but I stormed out to my car and told all my guy friends to keep him as far away from me as possible because I was so fed up. He started texting my brothers asking if they were on his side and if they had his back over mine. My roommate who was a guy started getting threatening texts from him about wanting to fight over me. Everything was spiraling out of control. My dad made us sit down at the local Denny's one morning to work

everything out because he was so sick of B blowing up his phone. When my dad was there, things were fine. B said he wasn't mad at me, but I was just the catalyst the day of the fight and whatever. My dad left to pay the bill and suddenly B's attitude changed. I was in the wrong and treated him terribly and all he ever did was love me and I treated him so poorly. He kept trying to hold my hands over the table telling me he loved me over and over. I put on a polite show because I just wanted this to end and thought if I was nice about it things would be different. Apparently my answer to everything is be nice and it'll go away. He walked me to my car after the conversation at Denny's and asked if I noticed anything different. I told him no and

he got agitated. Apparently he spent a lot of money on Captain America clothing, everything from a hat to shoes. I told him I didn't notice clothing like ever and B got increasingly angry, telling me he did it to feel better about himself and impress me. Cap is my favorite superhero, I didn't even know he knew that. He had left the depot for a while and when he asked to come back I told my dad's manager I knew we were desperate and I would be okay if I didn't have to talk to him. I wore headphones every day, my music full blast so I couldn't hear anything over them. He kept coming to my bench and would stand there waiting for me to acknowledge him and he'd storm off angry when I didn't. He would glare at me if I ever talked to any other carrier

even though I'd been friends with many of them for years. My tipping point was something I found out after the fact. My guy roommate had gone to the grocery store late one Sunday when he was walking to his car he noticed some guy watching him. The guy watched him as he loaded the car and smoked a cigarette and that's when my roommate realized it was B. My roommate got in his car and started driving home and he noticed B was following him. He tried taking several wrong turns and every time B followed. My roommate called his friend and said he was coming over and when he said so to open the garage to make it look like he lived there. When my roommate met his friend in the house he told him everything and they watched

him drive by the house eight times before leaving. No one called the police. I feel like that was the only thing that justified calling the police because the harassment and stuff couldn't justify police action. I knew that from years of watching crime shows and I was angry when I found out that no one called. I told my dad I wanted them gone. I couldn't take it anymore. Texts are easy to avoid but now he was stalking us to try and figure out where I lived since I wasn't living at home but renting a house with my brother and our friend. I spent months watching over my shoulder

whenever I went to the store worried he'd follow me home. After he started going to my parents house a lot because he knew where they lived like he was waiting for me to be there one day. No one was taking this seriously. The gifts continued and my mom kept telling me it was free stuff and to just keep it. But the gifts always came after something bad and it was feeling oddly like an abusive relationship. Oh no, you're angry? Here's a gift to make you forget and like me again. My mom felt that way till her birthday and a giant bouquet of roses and a teddy bear appeared at her job from B. We didn't even know he knew where she worked. After that he started cornering

me in the parking lot. I told him he'd been told to stay away from me and I'd appreciate it if he listened. Look, he said, I'm sorry I took you for granted. I never should have done that. Are we okay now? I was floored. I told him if he thought that's why I was avoiding him, he was more insane than I thought. After that, he was done at the depot and I didn't see him for a while. A couple times I definitely saw him driving around on my route but I couldn't prove it to a cop if I called it in. The last time I saw him I was at my second job. I worked in a music store at a local mall. I was messing around with my co-workers when I turned around and saw him watching me from our hip hop section. My stomach dropped.

I almost collapsed and I started panicking. I ran him back and told my co-workers. They agreed if he asked they didn't know who I was and I could stay in the back till he left. I was a manager but I didn't think I could actually kick him out because he was just watching me. My co-workers said he was there for almost two hours just wandering around, never bought anything. It was like he was trying to wait me out, figuring I had to go back out front eventually. He texts my dad now and then trying to get his job back and fix things. My mom told him if he ever came near us again, she'd call the cops. When my dad wouldn't take him back, he started showing up

at my uncle's depot and then started a group chat with him and my dad saying they needed to sit down and talk. I was with my dad when my uncle called him about it. My dad called everything a misunderstanding. I said I didn't classify stalking as a misunderstanding. That day he came to my other job I decided I was moving back to my college town three hours away home no longer felt like home I didn't feel safe going anywhere I still worry one day he's just going to show up in my new city I transferred to the music store there I had worked with these people my senior year of college and they have looked out for me even after I moved. They all know the story and I know they would all fight for me if it came down to it so I feel safe but I still panic when we walk to our

cars after dark and have to check the parking lot to make sure he isn't there. It's been almost a year and all I can say is I hope I never see him again. This all happened last night, and I have to tell someone. This all takes place last night at my parents' house in Wyoming. It was probably around midnight, and I woke up from a deep sleep. My mom was visiting my grandmother for the week due to the virus and my dad had gone out earlier that night. Anyway, it was late at night and I started hearing noises coming from the hallway. It wasn't regular noises like the house settling. It was rhythmic like knocking on a door. But instead of a knock, it was a loud soft creaking. I tried to ignore it but eventually

I started to hear haunting voices calling out my name. It was getting louder. I have always been very spiritual and my grandmother says I have the gift. I remember being scared but I was always very brave for my age. So I went into the hallway and the noises did not go away like in the movies. Instead I could hear them more clearly. There was a faint slapping as if someone was beating someone and this loud creaking. I started hearing cries of pain and night and that's when I knew that this was an evil spirit. So I grabbed the holy bible and started to pray to God in the hallway. The spirits didn't like this and the noises became louder.

They started cursing and shouting harder and I could hear the beating getting harder so I knew the ghosts were angry. I've always been smart for my age and remembered what I had learned on a documentary about ghosts. The thing is that they don't like water. That's why you never hear about hauntings on rainy days. You hear about haunted houses, haunted castles, haunted cars, but never a haunted waterfall. Coincidence is that ghosts hate water. Anyway, I went downstairs and filled a pink beach pail for sandcastles with water. I bravely went up the stairs and the noises were going crazy. It was like the whole house was

practically shaking. I knew it was coming from my parents' room so I kicked open the door. The lights were off but I could see all this movement so I shouted the first thing that came to my mind. I yelled as loud as I could, glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth and threw the water at the ghosts. They were extremely angry. I then ran downstairs and could hear one of the ghosts bolting after me. I hid outside and slept in a tent for the night. The next day when I came inside I told my dad about it. He got very quiet and started telling me about how he was hoping I would be a little older before he had to confirm about the ghosts to me. He said that the ghosts have been haunting our family for generations and that

he knew I was special and would start hearing them. He said he wasn't home at all that night and didn't come home until the morning. I asked him if he knew I wasn't inside the house and he said he noticed that but figured I was very mature for my age so I'd be okay. He told me ghosts are real and have been haunting the house and if that ever happens again I should just hide under my bed and not come out no matter what. He said the ghost might hurt me if I go in there and throw water at it again. He said he would come in and tell me when the ghosts are gone. He told me not to tell my mom when she came home because he didn't want to worry her about them. I finally feel accepted by my dad for being mature enough to be entrusted with this secret and I hope I can protect my mom from them.

In the summer of 2018, I was in a long distance relationship. Not that long, he only lived about 4 hours away. It was pretty serious but also pretty new at the time. My boyfriend, who had driven those four hours to see me on every break we had from school, essentially begged me to come visit him at his grandmother's house. I didn't have a car at the time but I really wanted to impress him and show my dedication to the relationship by going to visit him. So I dropped some coin on a Greyhound bus and was excited to meet up with him. At first, everything seemed fine. I took a seat at the back of the bus because I really didn't want to speak to anyone but the bus was pretty full so inevitably this guy sat down next to me. No red flags, just seemed like a regular guy in maybe his late 20s or early 30s so I put my earbuds in and just ignored him.

Before I continue, I'd like to highlight some character flaws of mine at the time that this happened when I was 18. I was an extremely non-judgmental person and tended to see the best in people, even to a fault. This tends to land me in very bad and sometimes dangerous situations. At 18, I simply didn't know any better and kind of overlooked potentially concerning actions There was a guy in the seat in front of us who was non-stop talking To no one in particular But he was facing a girl in the next set of seats across from him

Again, I didn't want to judge Maybe he had some type of mental problem he couldn't help and he wasn't doing any harm So I ignored him too and continued to stare out the window, listening to music. That is until he turned around and stared at me. Now I might have been naive but not stupid. A chill ran through my spine as I made eye contact with this man. He had these cold, callous eyes and his skin lacked so much saturation it looked like he'd been covered in dust. I take out my earbuds and he immediately turned to the guy next to me and they engaged in conversation. I was really set on edge when I overheard them discussing how they were both

ex-convicts that recently got out of prison. Remember me being non-judgmental? I figured maybe they served prison time for something that was minor, given their access to a public bus. I'm not sure how all of that works. Obviously, they don't do background checks for a Greyhound bus, but still, I try not to think anything of it. The man in front of us turns to me now and I can't remember exactly what he said, but he called me baby which kind of freaked me out, but I couldn't say I wasn't used to it. I figured it was just another grown creep hitting on me. Annoyed I put my earbuds back in and ignored him until the bus stopped at a rest stop. Most people got off including the guy next to me leaving just me

and the guy in front of me in the back of the bus. He asked if I would come up and sit next to him to make friendly conversation and my stupid self actually did it. Keep in mind that I was 18 and unfathomably stupid and I also lacked the gut feeling that something was wrong. He starts telling me that he just got out of prison and hasn't seen a woman in a long time. I said something along the lines of, well that's unfortunate and inched away from him. He scooted over to me so that our legs were touching and that's when my heart rate really started to pick up. The next thing I know his hands are on me. He's wrapped them around my waist and went on about how small I was

and then commented on how it had been so long since he last touched a woman. I was paralyzed. I had no idea what to do. He kept going on about how I should be a model while continuing to grope me. Again, I was absolutely terrified and couldn't bring myself to move. Soon enough, everybody got back on the bus including the guy who sat next to me who shot the other man a weird look that prompted him to let go. I scrambled out of the seat and still sat behind him, not knowing what to do but feeling safer that other people were on the bus. He didn't bother me again after that so I just prayed it would stay that way. It gets worse. The bus stops at another rest stop and this time I get off, not wanting to be stuck in that vehicle again.

I'm just chilling, as much as one can be chill after something like that. When a girl I recognized from the bus came up to me, she said, hey, that guy that was talking to you just left in a car but is circling the building. He keeps leaving and then coming back. I'm sorry I didn't say anything earlier. I thanked her for the warning, put a hoodie on in 85 degree weather and flipped up the hood so he wouldn't see me get back on the bus and luckily I never saw him again. I was too embarrassed to tell anyone what had happened due to my lack of competence and general understanding of how the world can be. When I met up with my boyfriend I gave him

very vague details wanting to forget it ever happened. But now, I don't think that's possible. Have you ever jumped from the roof of a two-story building? It hurts, especially when you're unable to pull off a proper landing. I had to do this once in order to save my own life. Let me take you back to when I was 18 and 19 years old, and 26 now. My boyfriend at the time was extremely abusive, but being scared, naive, and believing that he loved me and would change, I stayed with him. We had several problems. We abused substances together, which was one of the reasons why I believed we really loved each other.

Just the drugs were making us act a way we never had before towards each other. We had trust issues, we were desperately codependent, were on and off constantly, and he had a problem with not being able to keep his hands to himself in his fits of rage. I was very depressed. My family and friends didn't want anything to do with me for obvious reasons, but he made it seem like I couldn't have friends anyway or even talk to anyone without his knowledge. He would check my phone when I slept. He would interrogate me. When I had a job, I worked in a place that had horrible phone reception. If I didn't return his text fast enough or if the text

didn't add up because of the reception and the fact that he wouldn't receive my texts in order, he accused me of texting someone else I was cheating on him with and would threaten me. He would insult me, tell me he knew I would never leave him because I wouldn't be able to get anyone better than him. He called me stupid, ugly, all sorts of terrible names. I never even cheated on him. He would lie to me about sleeping with other women just to hurt me and see me cry. Then he would physically abuse me, slap, choke to the point that I thought he was going to knock me out or worse the worst one of all however was this one time we were hanging out at a park partaking in things we probably shouldn't have in public I won't go into too much detail because

I'm afraid of him seeing this and I've been scared for years that he would find me I literally have nightmares about him finding out where I live and showing up at my house. I wake up drenched in sweat and I'm actually sweating typing this right now. So we're at the park and for some reason to this day I still can't fathom why he starts hurting himself right in front of me. I freak out and tell him I'm going to call an ambulance for his own safety and he just takes off running. About 10 minutes later a police car and paramedic shows up and he's nowhere to be found. I told them the general direction he ran in and apologize for wasting their time. Maybe about 20 minutes later he calls me. I answer and he's just screaming at

me. Why would you call the cops on me? I apologize profusely, trying to explain through my tears that I was deeply concerned for his safety and that I hadn't actually called the police, that I had called an ambulance and didn't know the police would also show up. I'm crying, begging him to tell me where he is. He says he's on the roof of a building and gives me cross streets to his location. I stupidly meet up with him. I climb up the building onto the roof. The sun has gone down and it's dark at this point. We just start talking and he's acting like everything is normal. I can't remember what we're actually talking about but I remember thinking how nice it was to actually just have a conversation with him without yelling, insults, or accusations. Then, all of a sudden,

he pounces on me. I'm on my back and his knees are digging into my shoulders, holding my arms down. His eyes look crazy and soulless. Then he starts slapping me in the face. I later find out that one particular slap was so hard he gave me a black eye. He's screaming at me. I can't remember what all he's said but I know he was calling me names, accusing me of things I never did. Then he starts punching my legs and telling me that he's gonna have his way with me. My back is hurting from the stucco roof and it's bleeding through my shirt. I think he choked me too but I can't remember. I seriously thought that I was about to die. Then I had finally went into survival mode. I'm sobbing and pleading with him. If you really love me why are you doing this? I never even did anything to you.

If you truly love me you'll just stop. Please. As soon as I say this it's like flipping a switch. His eyes and demeanor change and he gets off of me. He starts apologizing and as soon as he turns his back I jump off the roof. I landed horribly and I hear him from the rooftop yelling. At this time I'm thinking I broke my back and feet and I'm lying in a crumpled heap in an alleyway. I hear him coming down and I'm thinking how I need to get to the street and scream for help. He's getting closer, trying to help me up and while dragging myself army style to the road, I scream as loud as I can for him to not touch me. You just tried to kill me. I see a man on the sidewalk across the street. I yell to him to please help and call the police.

I'm guessing he did, I think I kind of blacked out at this point, but I remember seeing my ex run off with my purse in his hands. I went to the hospital and the police caught him a couple of hours later, and from what I heard, he put up a pretty good fight with them. It's been so long now that this story feels like a bad dream. I can't believe this actually happened happened but I am grateful I survived. Needless to say I have been clean for several years. I have my family, friends and life back. I am married now to a wonderful man who would never even think of hurting me. We have a couple of children and I love my life. To anyone out there in an abusive relationship,

please get out while you can. Nothing is worth risking your life every day with a lunatic and there is someone out there who will love you and not take you for granted. You're worth so much more. This story comes from last night at around 11pm in rural New Zealand. For context, we live 5 hours south of Auckland and 20km from the nearest town. The area I live in has some of the highest murder rates in the country. The story starts when I was lying in bed, watching Netflix on my phone. I felt very sleepy and could hardly keep my eyes open but for some reason I didn't turn the show off. I closed my eyes and suddenly a steadily louder white noise filled my ears but I could still hear the show I was watching. I felt my head, for lack of a better word, shake around and this continued for what felt like 30

seconds to a minute. I tried opening my eyes but it felt like I forgot how to do so, they just wouldn't open. After a minute it stopped. I remembered how to open my eyes and check the time immediately, it said 11.49pm which meant that I had been out for at least 10 minutes. I was incredibly confused and I was surrounded by sweat. I don't know what happened, but I felt like it must have been paranormal. If anyone has any answers to what happened to me last night, please let me know. This first story happened to my friend who was in 6th grade at the time and for privacy reasons I'm going to call her Macy. Macy lived about a 5 minute walk from the elementary school she attended and always walked to and from school.

To get to the school she had to walk along a sidewalk which was right next to a small group of trees that obscured some small houses. The road leading to the houses was one that branched off of the main road and let back out onto the main road. This day she was walking home when someone whispered, hey. She turned around confused thinking maybe it was just another kid from her school. When she saw nothing, she shrugged her shoulders and continued to walk home. Less than two seconds later, she heard it again, and now very frightened, she turned around again. This time, she could see two eyes peeking out from behind a tree. Macy, being someone who was always taught stranger danger, yelled for the person to

leave her alone and picked up the pace home. The person stepped out from the tree, and when she threw a look over her shoulder she could see it was a disheveled man, tall, scraggly, and very, very thin. He was wearing a ripped plaid shirt and dirt covered jeans. His tired blue eyes and yellow teeth created an image that would forever be burned into her mind. In his hand was something shiny and she knew it was a knife. She had no idea who the man was and why he wanted to attack her when many kids walk this route. Macy had left late because she was in the school choir which rehearsed after school. Come here little girl. Macy's heart began to race as she took off not wasting another second.

She didn't turn back around but she could hear pounding footsteps. She arrived at her apartment complex and ran into the main office where she had made friends with the secretary. She ran right up to the secretary hiding behind her desk. The secretary very confused asked what was wrong and after catching her breath Macy explained. The secretary called the police and she made a statement but as far as she knows nothing ever came about to the man but just this year now a sophomore in high school she read an article that was dated a few years ago about a man who had been arrested for kidnapping a young girl in an area nearby her old elementary school. The man's face was burned into her mind, and she just knew it was the man, even if she didn't have any proof. To be continued... their other twin. Whether from ending their own life or illness, thousands across the world were

brought together for this one singular purpose. I admit I was somewhat shy about posting and remained a bit of a lurker. However, as I became more comfortable with the community, I grew into a daily poster and was able to befriend many on the forum. A select few of these people and I became very close and did much to help one another to work through our grief One member, a girl who said she was from Montana, probably did the most of all to help me move forward She had lost her twin sister in a similar circumstance just as I had my brother and had a specific insight many others in the forum did not. It was not long until her and I were confessing our deepest secrets to each other and it was very nearly as if I hadn't lost my twin at all. You may ask why I

would tell a complete stranger all my deepest and darkest secrets. I suppose the anonymity was the reason. Even if the person knows or thinks they know all about you, they still don't know your true identity and location. That aspect of the internet gives you carte blanche to bury your soul to a person you're confident doesn't know the true you. The connection we formed over my time on the forum was the best thing that could have happened to me at the time. However, my confidence in my anonymity and comfort with this person would ultimately come back to bite me and make my life on the internet and outside of it complete torture. It was an average ordinary morning when I discovered my friend's true face. I fired up my computer and opened my mail only to be overwhelmed by a barrage of angry and vicious messages. As I scrolled through each one, it soon became clear

what was happening. Someone very close to me had dumped all my terrible secrets onto the forum and wider internet. I tried to deny it to myself for a long time, who the identity of the person was, but I was eventually forced to face the facts. Apparently my supposed friend on the forum had told everyone there some of my private feelings towards my dead brother and the way in which he chose to end his life. We all have those opinions or feelings we keep to ourselves because we know they wouldn't be popular with those around us. I never said anything terrible or anything like that, but most of my words surrounded my anger toward my twin. I probably could have phrased some of them better, but that's the fatal flaw of the internet. Without context or hearing the person's tone of voice, things can get lost or misconstrued. Over a short time, the situation would become far worse. The threatening messages started. People I had once called friends were now threatening my life. It wasn't just

online, either. The messages were soon coming to my phone. This fact only proved to cement her guilt since she was one of the very few who had my number. The most terrifying aspect of the phone messages was that many knew my real name and address. This was when I truly came to fear for my life. I'd become a bawling and panicking mess. When I would finally sum up the courage to confront her about this, the pieces would all begin to fall into place. Her written reply laid it all out clearly. I had foolishly walked right into the clutches of a person who hated me and my family. My friend, all these months, turned out to be the drug-addicted ex-girlfriend of my brother.

In my opinion, she was one of the major reasons he took his life, and my family agreed, which is why we had barred her from the funeral and anything taking place that day. She swore she'd get back at us, and boy, she did. Apparently, she had been on the forum one day and guessed who I was. Just to be sure, she pretended to be a bereaved twin and started to suck up to me. Once it became obvious that I was who she thought I was, she saw it as an opportunity to get her revenge. In hindsight, things were starting to make more sense. She'd always been a bit pushy when trying to get me to tell her a secret. To make me more comfortable, she'd tell me something, which we all know now was a load of

BS, and I would always fall for it. All through her message, it was clear she had no remorse for what she had done. In fact, upon hearing of the many threats in my life, she decided to push things along by doxing me. What she hoped to happen had and she was very pleased by the result. This final message was the last time I'd heard from her. No replies would come to my following emails and soon after I'd be forced to get a new address. After I spoke with my family and our lawyer I took their advice and got rid of all my prior connections. This included having to move to a new place. I was and still am concerned about the remainder of my family. Although my brother's ex was able to get her revenge on me, the rest of them were assumed to still be in danger.

My father assured me that they would be fine and from all appearances he may be correct, at least for now. I had stepped away from the internet for almost nine months, and am just now beginning to dip my foot back into the pool. Naturally, I will never return to the form in which all these problems spawned. Even though I've not yet had any run-ins with anyone from there, I will never again expose myself to the level of being identified. Even the account from which this story has been sent is a one-time use throwaway, so if any of those coming across this story may have any questions, I'm sorry. None will be forthcoming anytime soon, and certainly not from this account.

If there is anything you can take away from this mishap, perhaps it is a lesson of caution. I and many others have discovered to our detriment how big of a sewer the internet can be. Like the sewer, there lurk many rats. On the internet, the rats are waiting in hiding to destroy others. Many have no reasons, they're just evil. I suppose I'm trying to advise you all to be careful and remember that no one on the internet is really your friend unless you know them in real life. And although many perils linger there, the internet is not real life. This happened a very long time ago. I'd just turned 13 and, as ashamed as I am to admit it,

I was head over heels in love with Justin Bieber. Although it's plain as the nose on my face now that he's the king of cheese, back then I was convinced I was going to be his wife and nobody was going to tell me otherwise. Due to my blind allegiance to the Biebs, I would comb the internet on a daily basis in search of pages or forums about him. I was overjoyed the day I discovered a new forum that alleged to be the official Justin Bieber forum. Of course, I would join right away and began making posts pledging my undying love for him. Within a matter of months, I became one of the top posters. This honor was beginning to make me feel somewhat popular within this fandom. However, like most other young people,

I was growing bored with the same names and starting to search for a new place dedicated to my beloved Justin. A few days of Yahoo searches led me to a relatively new forum with a chat room. Once again, I joined up as fast as I could and started looking for folks to talk to. The first few weeks, the room was almost dead. This didn't bother me though. I saw it as a chance to be in at the ground floor of something new and even maybe get the attention of Justin himself. The following weeks showed a great amount of growth in the forum and boatloads of fans soon began to pour in. I would welcome the new members one by one and thought of them all as my friends.

One girl and I began chatting and became besties in no time. After talking back and forth for a few months we discovered that I lived in the next town over. Since we were the two biggest Beaver fans it was only logical we should meet. So on a Sunday morning in August I badgered my mom into taking me to a park on the edge of town to meet my best friend. I tried to get my mom to drop me off and leave but she wouldn't. I was so worried she was going to embarrass me. After all my friend, we'll call her Zoe, assured me she lived nearby and her mom could bring me home mom wasn't having it and I'm so very thankful she wasn't the plan was for us to meet at a picnic

table in the far end of the park Zoe said it was just a few yards from her door and she'd walk over when she saw me arrive I sat at the table and waited. About five minutes passed before I was approached by a middle-aged man. He asked me my name and I hesitated to answer. So, he quickly explained that Zoe had sent him to get me. She was unable to come over right then but if I followed him, he'd take me over to the house. I had no reason to not trust him, but something about him scared me. I told him I'd wait, but he continued trying to convince me. As he started to get closer, I began stepping backwards. The look on his face became wilder and wilder with each step. I finally gave up on the pretense and blurted out that I didn't believe him. Once this was said, his eyes bulged

out and he lunged and tried to grab me. I let out a scream and't believe him. Once this was said, his eyes bulged out and he lunged and tried to grab me. I let out a scream and continued moving backward, now at a faster pace. When I was sure I had enough space, I turned and ran for my mom's car. The distance between the table and the car seemed like a mile. I could hear him running behind me and he was getting closer by the second. When I caught sight of our car, I began screaming for my mom as loud as I could. If I could make it to the car I was sure I'd be safe. I was about 50 yards from the car and my mom got out and began running to me. She had the most terrified look I'd ever seen on her face. We met one another a few steps from the car and she grabbed me and began asking me what was wrong. I turned around to show her but the strange man was gone. A feeling of relief washed over me. I turned back

to her and attempted to explain what had just happened. It's a miracle she understood a word but she listened intently and led me back to the car. From there, we drove directly to the police station down the road and I told the police the whole story. My computer was taken and I was without any connection to the internet. At that time, I was still unsure what had really happened and wanted to talk to Zoe again. My mom would let me use her laptop to do it and it wasn't until she explained to me what had been going on did I understand the seriousness of the situation. Even then, the police had to map out every little aspect of it before I'd accept that Zoe wasn't real. This fact hit me like a truck. I probably cried for a whole week. Not only did I feel stupid about being tricked and scared from very nearly getting abducted, I felt like my best friend had just died. It all seemed so

childish in retrospect, but that's just what I was then. A child, and one that didn't know any better. The guy who had orchestrated everything was eventually caught and convicted. The police were almost positive he had done the same thing to at least one other girl, but he wasn't talking. He took a plea bargain so there was no trial. I don't know if I would have had the guts to testify if there had been. Since then I've went through the counseling process and it helped me a lot. At least now I can laugh about it. When I grew up I was determined that all those I love would have it drilled into their heads that people aren't always who they claim to be on the internet.

The day my younger sister first logged on, I spent almost an hour telling her my story and about the other hundreds of dangers online. I did my best not to scare her, but it is very important to me and my mom that she be prepared. Yesterday was her 13th birthday and I reminded her one last time to be careful. Since it was all fresh in my mind, I figured I'd write it down and share it. My hopes are that others will show it to the young people in their lives so they will have the skills to navigate the net in a safer way and not have the same experience as I did. Tracy Blair was the oldest of three born to Tony and Kirk Blair. By all accounts, the girl was a happy and friendly child, as was her home life. The fast-growing family had just recently moved to a larger and more modern home across town, and Tracy was said to be somewhat

saddened by the move and feared she would lose all friends she'd made. However, once it became apparent most would stay in contact, her attitude would change for the better. Although she was able to keep most of her older friends, she didn't hesitate to make new ones online. Her experience with the internet had just begun and many of the hazards that went along with it would need to be learned quickly. Despite her innate suspicion of strangers, the girl was still young and trusting of those around her age. Unfortunately, an unknown man with evil intent would use this trust to his advantage. On a foggy morning in 2015, Tracy would disappear from her home, never to be seen again. From what is known, she had

recently been in contact with someone posing as her 18-year-old boyfriend. They had been chatting back and forth in Japanese animation chat rooms and the boy was doing his utmost to get Tracy to meet him. The chat logs show that she was very reluctant to do so. Multiple times she tried to express upon him the seriousness of the situation, especially as to her age. Tracy was barely 14 at the time and well aware of the legality surrounding any relationship they may have. The young girl seemed to be more interested in making friends rather than anything more intimate, but he didn't appear to be catching onto her signals. By November, his many months of badgering had finally paid off. Tracy agreed to meet with him early that morning prior to leaving for school.

She believed her parents would be none the wiser and she turned out to be right. The young girl obviously had no idea what laid ahead of her. Everything she held dear, except her cell phone was left behind, so any talk of her running away could be discounted. Thousands of hours of police work have gone into the investigation and despite having a long trail of chat logs between her and the unknown boy, the computer forensics team are still no closer to tracing his name or location. The team doubts many 18-year-olds would have the extensive computer knowledge this individual appears to have and are going with the assumption it was an older male. This theory is supported by a similar case in which an unknown middle-aged

man had been posing as a teenage male. This man had also convinced another teenage girl to meet with him. On the day of the meet, he had attempted to abduct the girl, but a family picnicking nearby heard the girl's screams and drove the man away. The man was able to escape and is still at large as of the time of this writing. The similarities between the two cases have convinced authorities that Tracy was likely the victim of this same perpetrator. How many other young females have fallen for this ruse is unknown. However, what can be almost positive of is that he, or those like him, may be online attempting to gain the trust of another child this very minute. So I please ask all of you to educate your children on the dangers of the web and monitor

their contact online. They also want it to be known that they are still working diligently on Tracy's case and hope she will be found safe very soon. In the meantime, the safety of your own children should be foremost in your mind. If you have any information about Tracy's disappearance, detectives ask you to contact your local law enforcement officials. After being ejected from a large metal detector forum in 2009, I thought it would be a great idea to create a forum of my own. So a few months later I did just that. Unfortunately, the lifespan of my baby wasn't that long. I finally closed up shop around the end of 2013, but it managed to attract a decent number of people and even a few relatively well-known members. While I would eventually make a good few friends from the endeavor on one particular evening, I got a private message from a man I wish I'd never met. The man who called himself Oscar

contacted me in the early spring of 2011. He had been a member of the forum almost since its inception and sounded like a nice and knowledgeable guy. At some point in the last few months, he had realized I lived very close to him and thought I would be the perfect man to message. Oscar had been planning a very barebones expedition out to the mountains where he believed a lot of treasure was hidden. I guess because of my connections and experience of the local hills, he felt I could benefit him in being the second member of the trip. I was somewhat familiar with the story of the treasure and had prospected in the area. Despite this, I harbored many doubts about the existence of it.

During the next several months, I expressed these to him in countless messages back and forth. I will admit his enthusiasm and certainty excited me at times, but it would take far more proof before I would agree to join him. He would bring me the proof in the following weeks and I would finally agree to be his partner. A month later after the rains had completely ceased we drove away from town and hopefully into the arms of a lot of treasure. Now the hard work had truly began and hard it was. Day after day we toiled in the dirt digging and moving massive rocks only to uncover nothing. It took a while before we would realize we had read the map wrong and had reversed course.

The hiking was far harder than it had been in the past and with no real obvious clues, I began to lose hope. Then, out of nowhere, we stumbled across a whole new mystery. We'd been hiking all day and were looking for a good place to camp when Oscar stepped into a small hole that turned out to be a lost mine. For the remainder of the night, I tossed and turned, eager for the search that would come with the dawn. It eventually came and we spent a good three hours digging out the entrance to make it large enough to enter. Around lunch, it was big enough for me

to crawl into. I did so for a good 50 feet when it opened up into a larger room about knee high. As I shone my light around I came to realize it had been cleaned out long ago. This wasn't the first time I'd had this same experience but I promise it never gets easier. I went ahead and knocked off some samples to get assayed and took a few pictures to show Oscar and shimmied back out. As I related what I had seen inside the mine, Oscar's expression grew dimmer and dimmer. Even after handing him the samples, he appeared to be angry at me. It wasn't that big of a deal really, after all we still had the

treasure to find. He threw the samples down at my feet and huffed. You trying to screw me? The scowl uncovering his teeth as he said it. I know what this is. You're trying to trick me and come back for it so it's all yours. As the last words dropped from his mouth, his right hand moved towards his pistol. I glanced up to his eyes, hoping to measure his seriousness. They had morphed from a bright blue to almost black. He wasn't joking. Any bit of saliva I'd once had in my mouth was gone in an instant and I could feel my body begin to tremble.

I was surely seconds away from death. There was a.45 strapped to my belt too, but I was far from a shootist and he had the drop on me. The best I could hope for was to talk my way out of it. Oscar, I promise I have no intention of doing anything like that. I couldn't stop the stutter in my voice. My hands fumbled from my phone. Look, I took pictures. His hand tightened on the grip of the pistol, but he held his draw. I handed him the phone, almost dropping it at least once. He stared at the screen intently for several minutes in complete silence, occasionally flipping from page to page. I didn't dare move or speak as he did so.

However, my eyes stayed glued to his gun hand the entire time while I said a silent prayer. My hope was that he had as much experience as me and would know the mind was played out. When he did finally speak, I jumped slightly because I was so focused on his gun. Alright Wayne, it looks like you may be telling the truth. From these pictures it looks to be cleaned out but if I come back here and see somebody's been digging, I'm going to track you down and put a bullet in you. I did my best to hide my relief. He handed me my phone and we headed down to the mountain. I was overjoyed to be leaving. As we descended, I kept my eyes fixed on his pistol, just in case he'd try to catch me off guard. No more words were exchanged between us.

Once my car came into sight, I hustled my tail as fast as my legs would carry me, but never let him get behind me. I hightailed it out of there, happy just to be getting out of the mountains alive and having long forgotten anything to do with treasure. It was clear I was never going out with that crazy man again. I'd always read old stories about how prospectors would get gold fever and kill each other, but never believed I'd be put in the same predicament. Oscar did try to connect with me a few times more but after what happened the first time he had to know I'd never be able to trust him again. The chance he was trying to lure me out to him so he could kill me was too high.

Thankfully I'd forgotten to give him my address. At least I could check the mail without carrying a gun with me I'd hoped. In the years since this happened I've been out and about detecting for this and that always looking out for my old partner over my shoulder. Since I shut down the forum I've taken to lurking around never posting any information that may let him know who I am or if I'm still alive. Occasionally I come across one of his posts and move along but the most recent of his I saw caused me to shudder when I read it. It appears he's on the search for a new partner to accompany him on his next treasure hunt. For a long moment I thought

about posting a warning or at least telling of my experience with him in the mountains but I decided against it. I've stayed safe all these years keeping my head down and never believed in poking a sleeping bear. I can only hope his posts go unanswered. I don't know if I could live with the knowledge that I could have prevented a tragedy and chose to stay silent. Just this past week, my sister shared with me a terrifying tale of a small group of predators working out of a major kids' entertainment forum. She'd only just discovered the group's existence in this past month. Her daughter had been a member of this forum for many years by this point,

but had never reported any strange interactions with an adult. Although grown-up members are not unheard of on this site, its overwhelming aim is to cater toward children under 16 years or younger. My niece is currently approaching 14 and her own interest in this subject has waned drastically in the last few years. Nonetheless, she has made many friends through the forum and enjoys connecting with them on a fairly regular basis. The dangers lurking on the site have been brought to her attention by a poster on Reddit. The poster told a story of how her son had been approached by two different men on the forum to meet for intimate reasons. One of them had been building up to it, at first befriending

the 12-year-old, talking a lot of their common love for music and animation. The other was much more brazen in his actions, even going as far as sending illicit pictures. By the time the mother had discovered the existence of the man in which the police both had moved on or changed their usernames. Despite a lot of hard work, the police were unable to track either one and several operations to draw the mouth failed. In the comments below the post, another parent shared the details of a similar incident in which his son was propositioned by an adult man for photos. Just like my sister, I was disgusted by the stories I read on the Reddit page and was thankful I was childless

These awful accounts didn't stick to the realm of Reddit for long After having an in-depth discussion on internet safety with her daughter My niece took it upon herself to ask her friend if they had been approached or propositioned by an adult on that forum or the internet in general What she discovered would shock even her. No less than six of her friends, male and female, had been approached and solicited for a variety of services. Two of those also personally knew someone who had been assaulted by an adult that they had been groomed by on the internet. The thing about all this that concerned us the most was that three of them had been solicited on that specific forum. Both of the children, one of each gender, had even had this

happen several times during their time being a member. With all she had heard over the last few weeks, my sister was terrified and saw only these kinds of monsters behind every tree. She even considered making her daughter end her membership on the forum, but I managed to help her see how that may drive a wedge between her and my niece. The girl was only there to speak to her friends anyway, and forbidding her from doing that wouldn't keep her safe from the predators that existed there. She was going to have to trust her to make her own decisions. The girl was becoming a woman, and I was positive that she had been raised well enough to make the correct ones.

God, I hope I'm right. Every once in a blue moon I like to log on to the deep web and search for weird and strange things. In general it's a relatively tame place. All the stories you hear about red rooms and hitmen are bull 99% of the time and these sites you see covered on YouTube are just FBI and other various law enforcement agencies honey traps set up to capture criminals and stupid kids looking to score online. The majority of the trafficking taking place on the deep web these days is insiders leaking information to journalists and pervs sharing lewd photos of kids. Yes, there are many other uses for it, but the virtual anonymity of the platform allows these behaviors to thrive.

I would like to make it clear I wholly support whistleblowers having a safe place to pass on information they might have, by the way, but obviously not the illicit stuff that people do on there. And the story that I'm about to share occurred in my early days surfing the deep web. I had heard all the stories and was eager to see how real they were. Like others, I was a little disappointed in what I'd found The raciest place I'd come across was a picture and video forum that was heavy on the adult stuff I guess the best description of it is a deep web ex-hamster crossed with LiveLeak Everything was allowed as long as it was legal So the kid stuff was banned, thankfully

The adult videos were the main reason I was there, I'm not gonna lie. A lot of the other members traded their homemade videos and pictures between one another and I enjoyed checking those posts out. Most of the modern mainstream adult movies are a little degrading to the actresses, but I discovered the amateur stuff was not. Pretty vanilla, actually. This made them much easier for me to enjoy. It may have been my third or fourth time I'd visited the site when I got a private message from another member. I wasn't sure why he chose me or even how he knew I was there at the time, but I read it anyway. He said he was a moderator and noticed I'd visited multiple times but had not shared anything. Apparently the sharing thing,

while not required was highly encouraged. He wanted to know if I had anything to share basically. I've never been the kind to film myself doing it however I didn't want to cause any trouble. After thinking about it for a minute I remember I had a few photos of my ex-girlfriend's older sister she had sent me, don't ask, and so I sent those. 30 minutes later, he sent a second message. He sounded pleased with the pictures and had a few files I could download. Despite being grateful, I was a tad bit leery of downloading something from a stranger, but my curiosity got the best of me. The first few videos were pretty average yet enjoyable. However, the next was a bit unsettling. It was a guy slapping his female partner over and over and then choking her with a length of rope.

I skipped that one completely and moved on, but the next one was even worse. The video started with a close-up of a woman's leg wearing a spiked high heel. Then it pulled away to show a kitten laying on the floor. This confused me for a second but then the woman raised her leg and stomped on the kitten. I spent the next several minutes weeping uncontrollably. Being a massive animal lover, this kind of garbage horrifies me. Call me a child all you want but there was nothing appealing about this. The tears eventually gave over to sheer anger and I sent a venom-laden message to this idiot voicing my distaste for his joke I let my anger get the best of me and I foolishly threatened to send them to the cops

Looking back on this now it was an empty threat The cops wouldn't likely be able to find the guy or really care After witnessing what I had I stayed off the deep web for about a month. When I did return, I noticed a new message from the guy that sent me the horrible videos. I was reluctant to read it at first, kind of wanted to move on and put it behind me, but another part of me wanted to see his justification for thinking I'd like that garbage. Ultimately, I made the right choice, or maybe not. It depends on perspective, I guess. What I would read, I was not expecting. For some reason, he got into his head that I didn't belong on the forum, and he wanted to drive me away. My mistake was threatening him. He must have

foreseen this, and he suggested I search my hard drive. He claimed he had hidden a file within the download that had enough CP to put me in prison for a long time. This left me with no defense. A search of my hard drive uncovered an unknown file that I didn't recognize and it was indeed a massive file. Although it may have been nothing, there was no way I was going to take the chance of infecting my computer with this filth. Hours of work left me with no hope of removing it. Perhaps a more computer literate person could do it but I was not one of those. I battled around with it in my mind for a long time until I saw no other option.

A sledgehammer made quick work of the laptop. In less than ten minutes, my problem was solved and I'd learned my lesson. From that day on, I'll never download anything unless I know for certain it is safe. Since then, I only peruse the deep web on a used and disposable laptop I purchased just for that purpose. In addition, I don't engage with anyone there and to be honest, I find less and less that draws me back. The surface web has plenty of free stuff to consume and the dangers are far less. If you do find yourself lurking around the deep web, keep in mind that most of the folks there are using it for a reason. Most have something to hide or unseemly work to do. Please, be safe, and don't trust anyone.

Sometimes the things we say to others can come back to haunt us. Even when it's someone we think we know well, words and intent can become twisted, especially over the internet. This next story should serve as a strong reminder to be careful of what you may say to others. Although you may mean them no harm, not everyone can take a joke. At the end of 2012, I stumbled upon a male-centered chat room run by one of those men's fashion and style magazines. I lurked for a week or two before I decided to officially join the discussion. The topics thrown around were what you would imagine a bunch of 18-45 year old guys would talk about to one another. Women, beer, guns, the usual things. Another very common thing

you will see if you spend any amount of time around men is harmless banter. The old yo mama jokes and the type. On occasion, the mean-spirited fellow will come along and take things too far, but normally most lines are rarely crossed. That being said, almost every one of us men have said something that offended another without meaning to. While speaking face-to-face, your meaning can occasionally be misconstrued, but online, the chances of this happening can increase greatly and thinking of what you're about to say is very important. On one occasion, I said something I didn't feel was that bad, but every day since then I've wished I could take it back. I believe I'd been a member of the chat for over a year then.

The room was relatively active, and I was one of the most active. I traded friendly barbs back and forth with others on many occasions, and nothing ever became of it. One morning over coffee, I was BSing with a group of three or four other members. All but one guy were long timers. The fourth dude had been around for less than a month. That didn't matter to us though. Regardless of how long you'd been around, we welcomed everyone with open arms. If I recollect right, the new guy had made a joking comment about his wife and the others of us did the same. Up to then, all was well with the group, but then I made my own joke about the new guy's wife, and everything broke out from there. To show how little I thought about it at the time, I can't even remember what the joke was about.

If I was to guess, it was probably about her weight. If that was the subject, in hindsight, it was likely the wrong thing to mention, but in my defense defense I'd heard much worse than things exchanged there and never blinked an eye. What was said doesn't matter. If it offended the man I was out of line and take full responsibility for my actions now. That morning was a slightly different matter. Even after the guy told me I'd gone too far I disregarded his words and told him to chill out and to stop being a wuss. I probably couldn't have said anything worse. The rest of the guys quietly left and he and I were the only two remaining. No reply came from his end for a long time and I was just about to log off when he began typing.

He demanded I apologize that second or he was going to beat an apology out of me. Naturally, this made me chuckle. I replied by saying, what are you going to do? Reach to the screen and punch me? I still hate myself for being such an a-hole. I don't have to jerk off. I know exactly where you live and to make sure you're paying attention. I know your kids' names and what school they go to. Now, I was beginning to get angry myself. Threatening my children was way overboard. This made my response to him cruder than usual. I confidently called his bluff. To my surprise, he wasn't bluffing. He would follow by typing

out my full address, including my children's full names, birthdates, and schools. He wanted my full attention and he most certainly had it. I'd never been so terrified in my life. Just to drive his point home, he added by telling me that he lived in the next town over. Even if he was lying about that, I wasn't going to risk it. My reply to him was perhaps the most thought out apology I'd ever given someone and be sure I meant each and every word of it. He made me wait several minutes before he answered. I was beginning to pull my hair out. The relief I felt after reading it was indescribable. Okay, I accept your apology. Let this be a lesson to you. You never know who you're talking to and what they may know or are

willing to do to get back at you. By this point, I was so spent from the shock of the last half hour I could only answer with a thank you. I could only hope he meant what he said and my family was safe. In the end, my apology would have never been made if I was the only person in danger. He could come over and do his best to whoop me but the second my family became a target, no matter how mad it made me, I had no other option. You have to believe any man angry enough to threaten another's kids is crazy enough to carry them out. That's never a thing you should wager on. Moving on to this last year, my family and I were at the local Irish festival having a great

time. My run in with a guy from the chat room had faded from my mind. My daughters were at a booth getting their faces painted and I was sitting nearby taking a break with a beer. My wife was waiting in line for some snacks. I was sitting alone, taking in the wonderful smells and sounds filling the air. Out of nowhere, a uniformed cop drops down next to me on the bench and says hello. I thought nothing of it and said hello back. Brent wanted me to let you know that he may have forgiven you, but he hasn't forgotten. He pointed you out to me and asked I pass on the message. We police take care of each other you see.

Have a fun day. The cops stood up and quietly walked away. I was struck dumb. Not a word could form in my mind. I helplessly scanned the crowd looking for what I didn't know. My daughters and wife carried on, clueless as to what had just occurred. I spent the remainder of the day constantly looking over my shoulder while trying to hide my fear from them. A day hasn't gone by since that I haven't been on guard. This year's festival is soon approaching and my daughters are highly anticipating it. My instincts tell me not to go, but doing that would only draw questions I'm not ready to answer. More than likely I'll be spending this weekend there, searching the faces of every strange man

and police officer, wondering if my family is safe to enjoy themselves. I can only pray that his anger has cooled over time and last year's talk was nothing more than a gentle reminder to be kinder to my fellow man. Hey friends, thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and click that notification bell to be alerted of all future narrations. If you got a story, be sure to submit them to my subreddit, rLetsReadOfficial, and give and receive feedback from the community, and maybe even hear your story featured on the next video. And join my Discord to interact with me and other listeners directly. If you want to support me even more, grab early access to all future narrations for

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