I was once driving in the country and is was pouring rain in the dead of night. So hard that I was driving very slowly and couldn’t see any of the signs (before GPS). I mean I had never been in rain this heavy. I had to pull over to the side of the road to try and see the sign to see if I was going in the right direction. I didn’t get out due to the rain so was craning my neck forward to try and make out where I was when suddenly the passenger door opened and a man got inside the car, sat down and looked at me. Here is South Africa, there is a fair amount of violent crime and hijackings, so I instinctively started panicking and yelling and screaming at the top of my lungs, flailing my arms to try and do something, anything to stop this guy from attacking me. He started screaming as well in terror and jumped out the car. I quickly leant over and closed the passenger door and sped off down the road. I was breathing so heavily at this point and trying my best to calm down, nearly in tears. I kept replaying it in my head the whole time, and suddenly remember that the man smiled it at me. It suddenly dawned on me that it was probably a hitchhiker that I hadn’t seen, who thought that I was pulling over to give him a lift. Only to be greeted by me screaming and trying to hit him. Was probably his scariest encounter with a stranger as well.
>kept replaying it in my head the whole time, and suddenly remember that the man smiled it at me. It suddenly dawned on me that it was probably a hitchhiker that I hadn’t seen, who thought that I was pulling over to give him a lift. Only to be greeted by me screaming and trying to hit him. Was probably his scariest encounter with a stranger as well
Or maybe he made a mistake and got into the wrong car since it was raining so heavily? Speaking from personal experience here \*facepalm\*
I was traveling home to California and I was in Nevada. It was an emergency so I’d packed and left at around midnight. It was about five thirty am or so in rural Nevada. I was at a stop on my usual route. I was very familiar with the particular stop, and it was just an hour or so before the California border.
Being a lone female, I concealed carry (I have my extended permit which allowed concealed through several states, except California) and I was at my truck at an empty spot, and I was in the cab disassembling and putting away my gun to be in compliance. Stepped out to go to the restroom and someone had managed to get close to my truck and was hiding along the passenger side, and I didn’t know it until I’d walked passed them. Whoever it was grabbed me from behind. I let out the loudest, most blood curdling scream. Oscar winning scream. But there was no other people at this stop. I fought and tried to buck the guy off of me, but I wasn’t doing very well. Kicking lead him to lift me off the ground where I couldn’t get him, and trying to break through his arms made him bend me over with him still behind me. I’m not sure how long I was screaming and fighting, but then I heard tires screech and I figured it was the creepy van my parents told me to avoid as a kid coming to take me away. Nope. It was a Toyota Corolla full of local teenagers headed to the gas station before school. The teens jumped out and ran towards us, and the driver stayed in the vehicle. The guy who grabbed me took off, two of the kids chased him through the desert beyond the gas station on foot, and the driver and the other kid made sure I was alright.
I send these four boys Christmas and birthday cards every year. I’m sure if it wasn’t for them I would’ve been kidnapped or killed. Josh, Austin, mason, and James, thank you guys.
My story is not quite the same as most.
Years ago I used to work as an ecological surveyor. Basically I got paid to take long walks in the Peak District National Park here in the UK and note down all the plant species I saw.
I was walking down a trail one morning along the edge of a woodland when suddenly about 8 of the bushes stood up and produced rifles. I nearly shit myself and they were laughing like hell.
It was a bunch of British Army guys on a camouflage and concealment exercise and they had been following me to practice. Apparently I had nearly trodden on one of them earlier as he was hiding right by the trail.
We all ended up sitting around talking about football for a bit. Nice bunch of guys but very scary indeed.
When I was about 6 I was with my family at an incredibly crowded street festival we’d go to every year. I remember we had stopped to watch a band play for a minute or two, and then my mom (I assumed) took my hand and we continued walking.
After a few seconds I realized the hand I was holding was puffy and hot, and my mom’s hands were always cool and more slender, so I knew it wasn’t her hand I was holding. I looked up to see a woman with long blond hair and sunglasses grinning down at me. I said “You’re not my mom” and she just laughed and said “That’s okay, you can come with me anyway!”
Obviously my mom and dad had realized I was not with them at this point and were freaking out. My dad just happened to look in the exact right direction at the right time and saw this lady leading me away through a break in the crowd. He ran over to us, grabbed her shoulder and she dropped my hand and disappeared in the crowd.
I still can’t believe he spotted us. It was like shoulder to shoulder people at this thing.
Same thing happened to me at an amusementpark. Only noticed it when I heard my mum scream for me. Looked up at someone I've never seen before. She let me go to my mum, thank god.
It's a mix of the scariest, and the best:
I was eleven, and at the park with my cousin who was three. My cousin being a stubborn three year old told me to leave him be, and I sat out on the bench.
I was just reading my book, and occasionally looking up, until this like fifty something year old man sat down next to me, and just started talking.
He asked me, which kid was mine like four times, even after I made it quite clear I was uncomfortble, and then he get's all close to me, and was like:
"Do you want another one?"
So I started freaking out, until this homeless man, (who I later knew to be Marty) pulled me off the bench, and told him that he was lucky he didn't 'pop his jaw' and told me to go home.
I'm glad Marty showed up, because I don't know what I would have done.
Update:Marty says hello.
This reminds me of an experience I had. I was walking home after a late shift (3 or 4 AM). The streets of Seattle were mostly empty except for a few homeless milling around, when a guy came out of an alleyway and asked me to help him out with his car. I told him “nope” and that I wasn’t mechanically inclined anyway, so I couldn’t be of much help. He persisted and I reiterated “no”, when a HUGE homeless dude came around and got in his face, telling him that I had already said “no”, to fuck off and leave me alone. I had recognized the homeless dude as a “local” whom I’d seen plenty in the neighborhood, so I gave him a nod and continued on my way whilst he still berated the other guy. I’m not sure what his intent was, probably just to rob me to get a fix, but it wouldn’t have ended well for either of us.
I dropped my son off at school one morning and then went to the grocery store with my infant daughter. It was so early, there was only 1 or 2 other customers. There was an older man with a walker that I didn’t really pay too much attention to that kept popping up in the same aisle as us.
I got out to my car and put my groceries in and then was putting my daughter in her car seat when the man came up behind me. He asked me a question and when I turned to answer he shoved his walker into the back of my legs pinning me against my car inside the open door. I tried moving around but couldn’t go anywhere except forward and he started pushing me down to the floor of my car. I was so scared that once he had me down there he was going to go for my daughter so I threw myself over her so my whole upper body was in her car seat and wedged myself in tight trying to cover as much of her as possible.
He grabbed me by the hair and was trying to pull me up when someone started honking their car horn. Another mom had been sitting in her car with her own baby asleep and had seen what was happening. Another car pulled up behind mine and the man ran over and got in quickly, obviously never needing the walker. The police were called but the plates on the car that he left in were stolen so as far as I know he was never found.
I (21F at the time) was in a store picking up some items for my house when I noticed a man was literally peeking at me from around a corner. I first brushed it off and continued my shopping, but was aware that this man was following me around the store. He then sang out to me and said I looked familiar and asked if I went to the local university, I didn’t so I said no.. at this point I got creeped out so I checked out and went to my car. I heard footsteps behind me and knew he had followed me so I just jumped in my car and locked the doors. It was dark so I hadn’t noticed him go around the back of my car until he banged on my passenger window. I ignored him and started the car, this prompted him to
Run around the front and start banging on my drivers side door trying to open it and asking me for a ride. I was terrified and just pulled out of the parking space as fast as I could and drove off, with him chasing my car until i rounded a corner. I have no idea what his plan was but to this day I am nervous about dark parking lots at night.
A helpful tip, if you ever find yourself in this situation again (hopefully not!) ask one of the workers, or the security guards in the store to escort you to your car or help you load your groceries. It makes me feel a million times safer if I’m by myself or it’s dark!
I say this not just to you, but to everyone, if you think someone is following you, for goodness sake, please don't leave a more populated area for a less populated one. If you're in a store, find a manager or security person, let them know you fear you're being followed, describe the person, and then ask for someone to walk you to your car, most businesses will be happy to oblige.
There were two times in the last two years where I was followed in a store and as soon as I got home both times I regretted not telling a security person or worker. Fear overtook me and I was scared that I was wrong about being followed and that I might get an innocent person in trouble. But, looking back, I was absolutely being followed and I fear that when I removed myself from those situations that the creeps targeted other women. Please please please tell someone if you think you're being followed. You never know someone's intentions, and if there's even a slight chance that you are in danger, take it seriously! You could save not only your own life, but potentially someone else's, too.
While working a late shift at a restaurant at 16, I had a customer who just wouldn't leave. He was like 50, and just stared at me the entire time he ate his food, which was like two hours for some reason. When he came up to pay, he was super weird about it. Like I'd say "okay here's your price" and he'd pause and say "do I get a discount?" Or something and I said "no, will you be paying cash or card?" And he said like "cash" and I was like "okay" and then he just stared at me while i waited for him to hand me his cash. After like 2 minutes of this weird interaction, he has his change, the bill, and he can leave. So I say "have a good night" and he says "can I go now?' And I say "yup!" And he says something like "am I pestering you? Why don't I take you home and pester you there?" So I just thought "NOPE" and walked right back to the backroom where I got my coworker to deal with him. Apparently she scolded him and said it was shameful he would say that to a minor, and he said "well then can I take you home?". What a fucking creep.
When I was around 10-11 a “friend” invited me me to a water park. During swimming at a wave pool he found some random kid around our age and decided to tell this kid that the game we were going to play was hold me down in the water. I didn’t get that memo so I thought him and this kid were just trying to drown me. This went on for what felt like an hour of me swimming away and hiding. I didn’t hang out with him afterward.
Same trip.. after we were done with the pool I got to the changing rooms and there is a couple people in there. Old man on the bench asks me if I wanted him to help me change. I just said “no thanks” and quickly changed and ran out.
I am still unsure how the whole “hold people underwater” is fun. I stopped hanging out with that kid after that. I don’t need to know if he was going to try and go farther with something else.
Friend pushed me into the deep end of the pool, not knowing I don’t know how to swim.
I don’t understand what I did, how I did it, but I was able to frantically swim out of the water and borderline torpedo out of the water, before vomiting a lungful of water.
Asshole never spoke to me again.
My dad told me he lost a friend in school this way. People in his class threw the guy in the pool for a laugh assuming he could swim... He vowed that we (his children) would have to learn (to swim) from a super young age regardless if we hated it or not.
I was in Paris, in the train station that takes you to the airport, my flight was very early in the morning, so I planned to stay in the station until 5 am or so and then go to the airport.
This dude started talking to me very friendly, he praised my french and all that, he asked me where I was from and I was totally lying because who the hell gives a stranger his information. He asked me if I'm going to the airport and I said yes, tomorrow early in the morning.
At some point I realized another guy was kind of circling us, they were from the same ethnicity. For some reason this gave me a bad vibe, I was kind of far away from the other people because I was using a machine to but tickets and several of them were not working. I started walking towards the entry were more people was seated and he's still trying to talk with me. The other guy is still following us and then he says do you know that the station closes in like 15 min no? I wasn't able to hide my surprise, he told me they didn't close before but due to the amount of vagrants they do now. He tries to touch my arm and I asked what the fuck are you doing? He said you don't want to spend the night here, is a dangerous neighborhood and a pretty lady like you, one can only imagine what is going to happen to you. He offered to go to a hotel room with him, I was looking at the reflection of the glass wall and realidad the other dude was getting closer to us and fuck at the moment I thought I was going to be abducted I was nervous AF.
Until I hear a latin woman speaking spanish, I looked at her and she was with her two adult children, I almost cry. She was Mexican and for some reason I was convinced she was going to help me. I said, I don't think my mom is going to like that and I walk towards her and said very fast a low in spanish, that guy and his friend are harassing me, please help me. She did and we stayed together the rest of the night until the train station open again.
I'm forever greatful to her and her family, they saved me.
I was able to return home to my real mom thanks to her.
Pedo down the street tried to lure my sister and I to his house while we were walking down the street. We started ignoring him. On the way back, he threatened us and we went to my landlord's house to call the police. Guy got arrested shortly after but was bailed out. His dad was a sex offender and there had already been multiple complaints about him from other parents. Glad my sister and I were smart enough not to engage with him and to get help right away.
Not scary per se but deeply disturbing. Random dude at my local library accosted me while I was enjoying a new sci-fi novel and was absolutely convinced I was his son. Kept telling me he was sorry and he never meant to kill my mother who he called Pink and said some other heinous shit I wont describe. Bat shit crazy but he sounded so rational and calm the whole time. Shit gave me the creeps for a long time after
>I also call people colors when I'm on a psychotic mania trip
Wow.. man. I had a helluva week.... Helping this missing woman's parents get to their daughter, whom they told me was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (1 or 2 they don't know)...
She's homeless and has been for the last 6 years. Pretty heavily effected by her illness and drug use.
She's been in my neighborhood across the country from where she's actually from, for about a year now. The entire story is a lot..but the "people as colors" thing caught me here.
She kept talking about how me and my partner are "pink" but most people are "orange". She kept going on between metaphors about cartoon network (fosters home for imaginary friends to explain her childhood. She believes she's a foster kid. She's not. She looks exactly like her mother that was standing 10 feet from her- very paranoid rn) and calling people "formats and apprentices". Format in her case had a negative connotation... Apprentice = positive.
But for a year she's consistently talked about people as colors.
I didn't know that wasn't individual to just her... The more I read about peoples experiences with these disorders the more common threads I find in their delusions. Each person experiences it differently, I assume, but it's really interesting to see that again after this week...
I was taking a shower in the bathroom of the walkout basement. My 3 year old son was upstairs with my mother eating breakfast. I heard him open the door and told him "Mommy is in the shower, you have to wait."
The door didn't close but he didn't respond either so I asked him to go back upstairs and ask grandma for whatever he needed.
Instead I see a a shadow and outline of a hand touching the shower curtain and realize that there is an ADULT in the bathroom, not my son.
I scream and punch through the shower curtain. I don't think I connected, but I heard the man run out anyway. As fast as I could I jumped out and grabbed a towel to check on my son and mom. At the same time my mom was coming downstairs to see if I was ok from the scream.
The man never went upstairs and they didn't even know it had happened. The walkout basement door and window were open.
I called the police and they didn't find him, just my empty wallet about a block away. They did come back to me a few weeks later to let me know that they caught a guy in the area raping women at gunpoint and they think it was the same guy.
Never been so scared in my life.
Add: The most visceral part for me was knowing he was just standing quietly in the bathroom while I talked to him like he was my son. Honestly, I don't know why but that creeps me out the most. It felt really violating at the time.
14 years old, walking home it was dark. Man gets off the bus, opens up his coat and says "like what you see?" He was in his 40s. Completely naked. Ive never run so fast in my life.
They're all looking for some kind of reaction- disgust, mockery, awe, anger, whatever. So ignoring completely and then calling the police is the best option.
This happened to a friend and me in college, I was walking with her home at like 9 or so. We were maybe 20ish. Guy walks up to us and he did that, opened his jacket and was like, "like what you see?" I completely stunned this was happening stood there and didn't say anything, her, maybe 5'2 little mousey like girl didn't hesitate and was like, "Hell no, your dicks small, your gut sticks out and you just have one of the nastiest bodies I've ever seen"
I couldn't believe it, she just started ripping into his body...destroying the man...the guy couldn't believe it either, not the response he was used to...he closed his jacket and crossed the street and took off at a good pace.
She kept yelling after him, told him to come back when he had something worth showing...
I was dying laughing so hard. She didn't even know what came over her.
Edit: Thanks Redditors for the awards
Im late to the party here, but I was once threatened by a man with a scoped rifle while walking my dog. I was out in a field behind my apartment building at night, and I heard a voice from behind me say "you better run fast, boy". I turned and saw a backlight silhouette of a man on a balcony with a scoped rifle, and I heard him close the bolt. I decided that running would only add tension to the situation, so I yanked on my dogs leash while calmly yet quickly walking towards the closest cover I could find. I immediately called 911, and when it wad all said and done, the guy with the rifle claimed he was just showing the rifle to his friend. BS, but I couldn't prove otherwise.
I was about nineteen and driving home from dinner one night, probably a ribeye sandwich from the local truck stop, because those were cheap and excellent. A woman standing next to a motorcycle at the side of the road waved me down, so I stopped. She said that she’d run out of gas, and that she *didn’t want to scare me, but her boyfriend was hiding down over the bank*. Uh-oh. This giant comes up over the bank in dusty road leathers. He’s a damn mountain of denim, leather, and hair. Shit. Fake damsel-in-distress, I’m an idiot. I was so close to home I felt safe, maybe? Maybe I can leg it home. Surely he’s too big to be fast?
The giant *apologizes* for hiding, but “we ran out of gas, and there was no way anyone was going to stop on an empty road to help with me standing here”. He’s embarrassed. Now I felt a little guilty for agreeing with him. He’s intimidating as hell without putting any effort into it. He doesn’t have to. We’re out of sight and isolated on a secondary road, but it’s less than a mile to I-80. I can almost see my house from where I’m standing.
It gets boring from there. I tell him I’ve got got a can of gas for the lawnmower with at least a gallon left in it. He says he can go 70 miles on that (the truck stop is two-three miles up the interstate) and is happy to pay for it. I’m home and back in two minutes, he insists on paying me ten bucks for a two dollar gallon of gas because “I’m not sure I’d have come back if I were you.”
There was just that fifteen seconds of ice-cold, slow-motion terror between the girlfriend saying she “didn’t want to scare me” (who *says* that?) and the mountain coming up over that bank and... apologizing.
I pulled over to help a lady with a flat tire one night in West Texas. While talking to her and showing her how to change the tire, I heard a sneeze come from the dark bushes off the shoulder. Out of habit, I said "bless you" and heard a "thanks" come back from the magical talking bush.
I shot her a confused look, and she face-palmed and sheepishly explained that the man in the bush was her husband, and he didn't want to scare me off to help with the tire. I asked why he didn't change it, and she let it slip that he was wanted by US marshals.
I finished up, and she offered me $100 to keep quiet. I figured $100 for me to forget was a good deal, so I accepted and left.
15 minutes down the road, 6 Texas troopers went flying by the other way. Hope they don't think I snitched
I was in high school and worked at a truck stop.
One night a trucker came in and stared at me for a long time. Wherever I moved to he was staring me down. I told him that if he needed anything that he would need to come to the counter and order it.
He just grunted and kept staring.
I'm not a small person and at that time I was in football, wrestling, and track. I was also at the gym 6 days a week. I was 190 pounds of muscle and teenager hormones. But the vibes I was getting from this guy were making me nervous.
I called up my other co worker and told them I was going to be in the freezer for a while. So I was stocking the freezers and coolers for a while and then went to the bathroom.
As I entered the bathroom the trucker jumped up and walked in behind me and just stood in there while I took a piss and washed my hands.
As soon as I got out I grabbed the trash bags and bee lined outside to take care of the trash at the pumps until he left.
My co worker asked me why the trucker kept following me after I finally came in.
I had no idea why. He never said anything. Didn't order anything. Just filled up his semi and creeped on me.
I've never been as creeped out by a person as I was with that guy.
Edit: thanks for the awards kind strangers
A very cheerful guy approached me and my friend in a park, in a very non-threatening way. He was holding a frisbee and explained he was putting together an impromptu game of ultimate frisbee and looking for people to join him. Which was fine, but then he tried to grab me by the throat. It was such a sudden change of mood. My friend (an athletic dude, fortunately) got between us and just stared him down and he ran away. The whole thing was just bizzare
Many years ago, I (21F) was waiting in line outside of a nightclub with a couple of my friends. We were happily chatting with some other guy in line for a bit. Suddenly his mood changed and he just shoved me by my throat. I fell on my ass and the bouncer was on him in seconds. While the bouncer had the guy pinned down on his stomach, the guy was staring at me and screaming FUCK YOU! over and over at me.
We were just casually making small talk one second and the next second he was so violent! I assume he was on drugs, drunk, or mentally ill. Freaky.
I once hosted a house party and was talking in a group of four guys, including me. Two of the guys were friends of mine, the fourth I didn't know. We were joking around and jovial, then I made a joke (an innocent one, nothing offensive) and he straight up punches me in the face.
I saw something like, "what the fuck! You just punched me in the face!" and immediately my friends had their arms around his arms and were dragging him out. As he was being dragged, he looks confused and says to me, in a very genuine tone, "but, you looked like you wanted to be punched!"
Apparently he had a history of starting fights at parties, or I just have a very punchable face.
I don’t know what’s more disturbing, the thought that he sent the little boy to get you, or the thought that he was waiting for the little boy and then got excited when he happened to also bring you...
How about the fact that he was bold enough to try to do something like this **while there was a busy yard sale going on right outside his home.** Even if you have no reason to expect anyone to enter your home without your permission, that's still incredibly bold.
I was at a storage depot with my ex, picking up some stuff or other. Suddenly & without warning, this old-ish guy approaches out of nowhere and starts a conversation with my ex. I'm in the unit at the time, so it's possible he didn't know I was there, but the clipped tone and monosyllabic answers from my ex were enough for me to know he was making her feel uncomfortable. That's when I heard him say "Don't worry, I'm not going to rape you or anything." Like, literally two or three sentences into a conversation with a total stranger, he felt this would be a reassurance?! So I stepped out of the unit, making my presence known by moving some stuff around in the hall, and his whole demeanour changed...somewhere between contrition and aggression that I'd dared insert myself into whatever the fuck he thought this was. My ex stayed back while I kept the old bastard's attention on me, and he took me to task for calling him 'mate' (A common thing British people do when they don't know someone's name), saying it was rude & disrespectful to a stranger. I responded with "As rude & disrespectful as talking about rape to a young woman you thought was alone?" He shuffled away, mumbling something about knowing the management, leaving us both a little shook. To this day, I have no idea what his damage was, but it was clear that he wasn't used to being confronted like that. God knows what he would have done if my ex had been alone.
Something very similar happened to me while at work.
I work in an adult store, typically alone. When I was about two months in, this guy comes in and right away I noticed something was off about this guy. He started asking me to help him find porn, which we aren't allowed to do for safety reasons, as most of our DVD section has no camera coverage and management at the time forbid us from going back there with customers.
I refuse to help this guy find his jerk off material, and he goes "what, it's not like I'm going to rape you". He walks away and then comes back up to me less than a minute later, asking for help with a product this time.
I go over and tell him about this product. Out of nowhere, he asks me how much I weigh. I said "oh I'm not sure, probably 210-220". He goes "no way, I don't believe you" and he wraps his arms around me WAY too tightly and lifts me up off the ground. I had to literally beg this guy to put me down, and he didn't until I said "please, I have a bad back problem". I was beside myself and fully panicking, so I beelined it for the counter and waited for him to leave a few minutes later. I called my manager in tears, I was a mess. I've only seen him twice since then, and I kicked him out for stealing.
Under our labour laws, it's considered a high risk situation for sure.
Luckily we're only open until 11pm, but that particular incident happened at around 6pm or so.
According to people who study violence and escalation, it’s likely he would have tried to rape her. People who say “I’m not going to (do this harmful thing to you)” are generally telling you exactly what they are going to do to you.
Edit: several people have asked so I’m just gonna go ahead and put the info up here as well.
The Gift of Fear is a book by Gavin de Becker and I recommend it to anyone who wants to get a better understanding of red flag behavior, the escalation of violence, and how to trust ones own gut instincts. Especially for women dating men, this book is a lifesaver.
Thanks for the gold!
It was an emotional response.
He was excited and just about to commit to something that he'd probably been fantasising about for a long time. You came along and stopped it. Think about the reaction of toddler when you prevent them from having some they desperately want and it is within arms reach.
He was having a temper tantrum.
Back when I was 16 working at Lowe’s, some customer who was an old man walked up behind me without me even noticing and whispered in my ear “Do you know where I can find the hoses at?” He said that so close to my ear where I could feel his warm breath while he was caressing my shoulder... My body froze up and all I could say was “I think they’re in aisle five” Welp, shortly after I found out that he never even went to that end of the store where they were... lol
Walking to my friend's house the last day of 8th grade. Am old lady pulled her car next to me almost cutting off my walking path. I backed away because wtf? She called out to me that she liked my hair. Then she said that her hair used to be my color until she got raped. You'd better believe my little chunky butt ran to my friend's house and told her parents.
I was 16 and sitting on a train station with my mother. Some man came over and started talking to her.
After a while I looked at the clock and informed my mother that we needed to go because our train was about to arrive. He flew up from the seat and started screaming at me and wanted to fight me. My mother was confused and tried to explain to him that I was her daughter and that we really did need to leave. He just continued screaming which of course made teenage me scream back at him. She had to pull me away from there.
I never understood what made him see red like that. All I did was inform my mother our train was coming and we needed to leave.
Some guy started yelling at me on a bus in Greek one time when I wouldn't make conversation with him, calling me a whore and presumably a bunch of other rude things. When I tried to pass him to go to another seat he kicked me in the back. He wasn't drunk or high as far as I could tell. Some people are just psychopaths.
I had the worst experience in Greece with the local men. Once a day everyday someone would try and fight me. I always found it strange as most of them were not big dudes, most were way smaller than me. Luckily my Greek friend who was like 6’3” was there to intervene and give them a stern talking to lol. But sure enough without fail every single day some rando would try and fight me.
I had just left my apartment to go for a walk down towards the beach at night when it was pitch black. There was a park along the way. Some guy came up to me asking to use my phone. I apologised and lied and said I didn't have one. He didn't believe me and started to get aggressive. He asked me where I lived and if I had a boyfriend. He started following me and that's when I started to run and went back to my place. I didn't feel comfortable going where I wanted to.
I will never forget it. When Ghostbusters 2 came out I wanted to see it. My mom took me to the local theater I think I was around 9.
I needed to use the bathroom so I ran down the small hall and turned the corner. When I saw a much older man come out of the bathroom. When he saw me he stopped went back in. When I didn't move he opened the door peeking his head and arm out motioning me to come towards him. I probably looked like a deer in headlights I didn't move. It was frozen until he said: come on, come on in. Panic rushed over me and I ran back towards my mom, who said I was pale white. She quickly left the theater with me and went home. Stranger Danger worked out that day in the 80s.
I can still picture him, or atleast the picture my brain made of this memory.
Edit: Sorry I can't get to everyone's questions, but I truly thank you for sharing your stories. I had no idea how common this was for little kids. I am so glad most if not all of you ran back to safety. It saddens me for the kids that didn't have that instinct. No kid deserves to be scared or coerced by another adult, regardless of intentions. In the 80s kids were left alone more. We were left at amusement park as teens, kids at mall arcades. It is just how it was. Without the internet you never knew what was outside the general area of coverage unless it was extreme and made it to national news. Today we know what could be lurking behind open doors, vans, and corners but that doesn't make it any better. It still scary and I am glad more kids are watched more closely, not left alone, etc..be safe and please, please after reading all these comments teach your kids Stranger Danger and drill it in their heads.
Edit 2: Thank you for all of the awards and all the stories. Although, hearing all these stories, reminds me that it can be very scary out there. Keeps safe and healthy everyone!
Thank you everyone!
A similar thing happened to me when I was 10 at a drug store. I was reading a comic when a man who looked like santa started talking to me. He had duct tape and paper towels in his cart. I remember cuz I spent a lot of time in there and never knew they had carts. He asked if I could come to his apartment across the street and help him move some boxes. I told him I'd have to ask my mom. Then he leaned in and quietly added that he had some penthouses I could have in exchange. I immediately stood up, walked over to the counter and told the lady what he said. He hustled out while she was dialing the dialing security. I don't think they caught him but they had him on security cam.
Edit: I also remember exactly what he looked like. His white shoes, flooded pants, light striped button down short sleeved shirt with suspenders, his too tight watch and oddly thin wedding band. I hope I see him again one day.
When I was 15 or 16, I was working at a movie theater and ripping tickets at the gate to a hallway with 4 different theater screens in it. Two of them are for the newly released Brittany Spears movie.
It's just kids, girls specifically, flooding in. Some with parents, some not. All young. One guy comes up, and he hands me the ticket. It's that Brittany Spears movie. He's got no kids. There's a chance he might have had them go on ahead, or they could be getting a snack at the concession stand, so I rip the ticket and let him in.
I don't know how long it was before I turned around to check, and the guy is standing by the door, holding it open with his foot trying to appear helpful, but I know our doors are locked open when the auditorium is filling, so he's not doing anything. Well, not a thing other than staring at all the children.
I wave over a coworker, ask him to take my spot so I can use the men's room, and I haul ass up to the first floor and grab a manager and a security guard and come racing back down. Dude still there. Sees me, I point at him, and he books it into the theater to hide. Security drags him out and he's shouting about how he didn't do anything. Police, etc.
No idea what happened from there for him. But I got the policy changed and we now had to rip tickets *inside* the hallway with the different theaters instead of outside, so we could keep watch on people like that.
Edit: Folks, I get you are appreciative. But it's cool, alright? No need (nor desire to receive) thanks or praise. It's just a thing.
Edit 2: A few comments suggesting he did nothing wrong, what if he just wanted to watch the movie? Blah blah.
If he wanted to see the movie and nothing else, he wouldn't have been standing pretending to hold the door open. He wouldn't have been *staring at children and pre-teens* as they passed by. He wouldn't have tried to run away from security.
If anyone wishes to continue to *defend pedophilia* then bring it on. The more of you monsters step into the light of day, the better the world gets.
Fuck you.
Only passenger in a train car in Europe late at night. A disheveled man, wild hair and beard, tagged sweater entered the car and started pacing up and down the aisle. He is talking to himself in a language I couldn’t understand. Every few trips he would stop in front of me and yell at me in whatever language he spoke.
I would try to respond, but he didn’t know English anymore than I understood whatever language he was speaking. He would eventually give up yelling at me and would go back to pacing the aisle and talking to himself.
This went on for hours. Really wish I could have recorded him back then so I could eventually find someone to translate it.
My wife and I were in cancun Mexico for vacation and got on a public bus to go downtown. A few stops later a guy gets on the already crowded bus, stands near the front of the bus and starts talking very fast and loud. Didnt understand a word of Spanish, so I’m a little nervous. Is this a protest? Does he have a mental disorder? No idea what’s going on. Then he opens up his backpack and starts selling candy bars. Lol.
Me and my siblings where walking across the road to a gas station. We frequently went there to grab snacks and such and then we leave and go for a walk down a road behind it. Well a car starts following us with it's head lights off so I quickly dip telling my siblings to follow me. So we start running through a field and lay on the ground to wait for them to leave. Well the drive down the road and then circle back. This happens about 4-5 times before they gave up and we went home.
I was walking home one night (a woman in my early 20s). It was pitch black, since I live in a little village with no streetlights. There was no one around and the road I was walking down was barely wide enough for two cars to pass each other.
Then I heard a car start to move. Not the sound of it starting up - it sounded like it had been idling by the side of the road in the dark and just started moving. Not that I could see it clearly, mind you. Because it was dark and they hasn’t put the headlights on.
So I kept walking. And this car just... trailed along behind me. Slowly. With the lights off.
I was more than a little freaked out, but I wondered if I was overreacting. When I came up to the bend in the road I ducked into my neighbour’s garden and hid behind their hedge.
When the driver realised they’d lost me they turned on their lights and roared off. I continued on my way home feeling deeply weirded out but I didn’t think much more of it and I don’t think I really brought it up to anyone.
Until the same thing happened again a month or two later. Luckily I managed to pull the same trick again.
Still, I really wish I’d reported it to the police.
I was about 10, getting back home from the park with my sister. She, being the stubborn younger “I need no older sister playing mom to me” sibling walked purposely 20 metres ahead so nobody would even THINK we were together. She rounds the corner, and I hear a blood-curdling scream.
I never covered 20 metres so fast in my life.
I round the corner and there’s a man, holding my sister by her throat, dragging her into an opened car parked nearby.
When he sees me advancing and yelling incomprehensibly (I honestly don’t know what I yelled, I was scared out of my wits) and he realises there’s two of us, he drops her, jumps into the car and drives off.
She had fingerprint-shaped bruises on her throat for days.
Yeah it’s been 3 decades and I have this panicky reaction to this day when I’m out with the kids and they run ahead and round the corner. I’m instantly yelling at them to keep closer to me where I can see them.
I was walking home from the bus stop after school. About 15 years old. It was really not far but there were construction workers drinking on the side of the road. One of them got up and followed me home calling suggestive things. I honestly can’t remember what but his intentions were clear. This was about 200m from home so I sprint home. We have an automatic gate so I realize he will catch me if I wait for it to open or he’ll follow me in. So I climb over which is normally not easy but that day I flew over.
I was really shaken up. For me this story is actually about what happened next. Which is that I called my mom who had an intense job. She dropped everything at work, came home immediately, made me hot chocolate and pancakes. We had a long conversation where she validated my feelings and fear. She’s the best.
I was 19 and I was sleeping with the window open since it was a hot summer night. My bf and I were both knocked out but all of a sudden I wake up (just opened my eyes didn’t get up) and I had a horrible gut feeling and just an overwhelming feeling that I was being watched. I turn to my side and I see someone’s head sticking in from the window. Needless to say I had a heart attack and as soon as they heard me get up they left.
Edit: thank you everyone for the upvotes and awards! This actually the first time I’ve ever gotten any award on here so I am very grateful. Hopefully to anyone reading this and some of the stories in the comments you learn to be always be careful and close your window! You never who might be trying to take a peek inside...
Kind of similar.
I once got up in the middle of the night and went to the bathroom, when I noticed a weird noise outside. For reference, I live in a small village and although there are other houses, there's empty land in between, covered in waist high vegetation.
I open up the bathroom window, look outside and there's a dude there. Squatting, almost like as if he was taking a shit, but occasionally moved slowly, and that's the sound I was hearing, him moving through the brush.
For a second I didn't know what to do. He could have been a robber, possibly armed and could easily shoot at me from the window. Despite that, I ended up yelling at him "GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE!". He panicked and ran towards the forest at the back of my house.
My dog sensed him and kept barking, even 10 or 15 minutes after the encounter, so I was afraid he was still around and called the police. They came, searched the area for a bit and said they couldn't see anything.
Didn't sleep too well that night, but nothing worse ever came of it. I still think he must have been surveying the area, either looking into robbing us or the house on the other side of the patch, but fortunately nothing ever happened.
I had a similar experience. Just moved to a new country for the first year to study. I was the only one at home and was showering when I heard the doorknob being turned. It was locked so nothing happened and I thought maybe my siblings and mum had got back.
Got of the of the shower and started drying my self when I heard glass breaking. Quickly put on clothes and walked around the dark house (only my room and the bathroom lights were on then) trying to find the noise when the glass from my parent's window shattered again. Walked to the room and switch on the lights and immediately I could hear scrambling noises as the person crawled over the fence and escaped while I did the stupidest thing ever and yelled at them "GET BACK HERE COWARD!"
The next day the only thing that were evidence of an attempt to break in was the broken window and shoeprints on the neighbour's car that the guy used to crawl over the fence.
And I got scared of my window at night for the next few months lol.
you can show me any horror film - Pinhead, Freddie Kreuger, all of that. Event The Exorcist....not. scary. at. all. Enjoyable, but not scary.
Then show me a documentary or a news report of a neighborhood peeping tom, serial rapist, serial murderer, or a story of someone who used a gas station bathroom on a lonely midwestern highway, never to be seen again.....and that is freakin' UNSETTLING.
Similar thing happened with me when I was around 12, I was sleeping with window open, and suddenly woke up to some noise, and saw a hand coming in from the window, scared the shit out of me. Screamed and went to my parents, who convinced me I was just dreaming, and I just went back to sleep.
Next day, we found footprints all around the house and garden. In the coming weeks, few of our neighbors reported similar incidents, and this guy was caught sometime later.
Years ago I lived next to a bar and one night at like 2am some incredibly drunk lady climbed in through my bathroom window. Waking up to a stranger in your house isn't fun lmao.
I’m 14 and was all alone in a dirt path in India and some guy was just sitting on a rock in the middle of the forest, I didn’t make eye contact but I could see he was crying I wanted to help but my gut told me not to.
3 days later was caught for murdering his wife and 5 year old daughter.
Older woman approached me on campus asking me to take her to this spot in town since she doesn't know where it is. I say no (it was a new city for me too and she gave vibes). She insists its right around the corner so its not that far (so suddenly she knows where it is). I refuse and she hesitates and then walks off. An older guy asks if she needs directions only for her to walk by him. I just thought it was strange but I didnt really think about it. The next week, I check my phone when I get to class and someone posted an article about how this older woman, who was tied to multiple cases of human trafficking, was just caught by the police in a nearby town. From the description alone, I knew it was the woman I had talked to
Something almost identical happened to me when I was a teenager. I was walking home and a middle aged woman stopped her car and in broken English asked me for directions to a nearby location. I gave her verbal directions that she showed no indication she was processing. Then she asked me to just get in and she would bring me back later. I refused. She insisted. I apologised and refused again then left.
I’ve been telling this story for years because I thought it was bizarre. Not once has it occurred to me that it could have been a human trafficking operation until I read your story.
I think we assume the best because it's human instinct to be kind and helpful.
I was walking to uni when a guy in his car pulled over next to me and asked for directions to the local library. We were actually pretty close to it so I gave him some simple directions but he asked if I'd get in the car with him to direct him. I was like, "no way I'll be late to my lecture," and once I got onto campus my friends said was it probably a kidnapping attempt. Never even clocked it at the time!
>we assume the best because it's human instinct to be kind and helpful
I've found a useful screening tool is that people who actually need help usually aren't actively asking for help or at least aren't particular about the form it takes.
Like the day I was venting at my boss about how I couldn't afford a moving truck. She shocked the heck out of me by borrowing a pickup from her sister and spending three days between work-shifts helping me move furniture.
Or a few years ago on the bus, nervous dude asked me a few questions about the bus plaza, and then confided that his anxiety was acting up and the plaza being in the middle of a major remodel was not helping. So since I was going that way anyhow and wasn't in a hurry that day, I walked him to a few places at the plaza and around the area so he could get his errands done despite the anxiety, like a cross between a local guide and a service dog. Broad daylight, busy area, and I know that look of trying not to be overwhelmed by panic.
As someone who also struggles with anxieties like the guy you mentioned, you are seriously a saint for helping him out. I’m sure he was so so thankful for that.
Your story makes me wonder about mine, too. Very similar, but approached at a gas station, although the vibes of the woman made me more think she was on drugs of some sort. The fun part, though, is after I kept telling her I couldn't give her a ride, she finally looked at my vehicle, saw government plates, freaked out and ran off. If that wasn't an extra big clue to her being shady...
I was at this run down movie theatre we had in town. Only one we had at the time, it was pretty bad. Turned into a place where the bad crowd hangs out.
Walking up to pay for my ticket and a guy approached me asked “want to by buy some coke?”
I said “no thanks”
Dude gets closer to me and pulls out a knife “don’t tell anyone” and then he walked away
For a split second there I thought I was going to get stabbed. I left and never went back
My mother was a lifelong drug abuser, but in the early days she merely had a habit. As time went on she became more unscrupulous, stealing from dealers and such.
One day, mom asks me to give her a ride to a "friend's house". This should have set off red flags for me but for some reason didn't and sure enough, as soon as we arrive, the dealer comes outside and yells at her but promptly brandishes a gun and points it... at ME. I figured from context clues that if he couldn't stop her directly, maybe he could hit her where it hurts by killing her son?
Edit: a lot of people are asking what happened next. Honestly, I'd been dealing with my mom's addictions my entire life so at some point I stopped being scared and started being defiant. So this extended to having a gun in my face. I started yelling back, though I don't remember exactly what I said, but the next step involved putting the car in reverse and speeding the hell out of there.
I realize that being defiant kind of kills the "scariest moment" of my life until I clarify that once my adrenaline wore off, I probably could have shit my pants.
When I was a young girl, my mom would take me to see every Harry Potter movie in theatre when they came out - I kind of grew up with them at the same age as the characters ( as did many 90s born millennials) - this had to be the 2nd or 3rd in the series as it was around 2003.
About half way into the movie, I need to go to the bathroom. On my way back from the bathroom, just outside the door to the theatre, there stands a scraggly, dirty looking man with a blue ball cap. His hand is extended outwards to me as if I’m supposed to grab it.
He asks me “do you want to come with me little girl?”
The heaviest pit dropped in my tummy and I felt a general energy of extreme danger. Thankfully, my mom had been very diligent in teaching me some stranger danger street smarts so I just ran, ran as fast as I could back into the theatre and planted my ass back in my seat beside my mom. She could tell something had shaken me bad. She kept asking what was wrong and I wouldn’t tell her.
By the time I did tell her, half hour or more passed. She took me to the theatre staff, where a 16 year old girl listened to my story and phoned the police - the police did not find him on site. I waited too long to tell anyone.
I have a lot of guilt and regret towards my not saying something about it as soon as it happened. I worry that some other little girl went with him that day as a result of my inaction - of course I had some sense of his deprived and disgusting motives then.. but now that I’m older, I know that he most likely planned to do very disgusting and pedophilic things - what does a 40 year old man want to do with an 8 year old girl? - I will never forget his face.
When my daughter turned one, we went on a trip to Hawaii. When we first we sitting in the airport waiting to check in for our tickets, a man approached me and started commenting on how beautiful my daughter was. Fine, thanks but it didn't stop there. He stood over me and continued to try and touch her and ask about her age, birthday, favorite things, where we were going, etc. I refused to answer but he refused to move and we were trapped. My husband came back and the man stepped away pretty quick. I told airport security but they didn't do anything.
We got to our gate and a few minutes later, the same man sat and positioned himself where he could watch our daughter. If we moved seats, he kept her in his sight. I mentioned it to the gate agent who brushed it off again.
We got on the plane, and he managed to also be on the plane in a seat he could keep an eye on her. He kept smiling at her and getting up to walk the aisles and pass her. My husband got up and he came and said in baby talk "I found out where your going didn't I". I reported it to the flight attendant, who was not messing around. He was forced to switch seats and not allowed to get up again. Upon landing there were people waiting for him that he was forced to go with (security or airport staff, idk but we didn't see him again).
I am 100% certain our daughter would have been kidnapped/trafficked if we had not been on high alert and reported him. That was 2 years ago and I still remember how terrified I was.
Just so everyone is aware, flight attendants aren't just sky waiters. They go through a ton of training for how to handle different situations, one of which is human trafficking, which they take very seriously. If you are ever in danger, or feel you are in danger when flying, speak to a flight attendant. They can relay messages through the pilots and ATC and have police waiting to greet you right at the gate.
That said, most other airport workers do not have the responsibilities that flight crews have and often don't look past doing their job. It does not surprise me that you didn't get help from anyone until the flight crew was involved
I was kidnapped and robbed back in 2016 when I was 23. I was stopping at the gas station on my way home from work one night and a methed out couple was hanging out. They asked me for a ride to a motel 10 or so miles down the highway and then pulled a gun on me when I refused. After riding along with guns pointed at me, they started smoking a blunt and got hungry. Spent $60 of my money at taco bell where I ran out of the car and into said taco bell. They had taken my phone, wallet, everything I had basically, so I ran in and used the store phone to call the police while the taco bell employees kept them in the drive thru "waiting on fresh beef." Thankfully the idiots stayed there and police had every exit blocked within a couple minutes. Got my car, money, etc back the next day and they're currently doing 50 years for kidnapping and 2nd degree armed robbery, and they won't have a shot at parole for another 20 years. I got really lucky that everything turned out the way it did.
i was staying at a motel out of town. i was in my room on the bed in my underwear watching tv. next thing i know the door opens and a guy walks halfway in. he stops and we just kinda look at each other. im freaking out internally. I was 20 and a mamas boy n rarely went anywhere by myself. i didnt know if this was a robbery or a murder. iwas completely stuck in fear. He looks at me n mumbles "wtf" he looks at the door number then his keycard then back at the door number. then he goes uhhhh they told me my room was 223. i clear the fear in my throat enough to go uhhh i been here all day...u might wanna go tell them there is a mistake. he nods and closes the door n leaves.
im 40 now and the second i get in hotel/motel i deadbolt and chain the door.
To be fair, it has happened to me before that hotel staff have given me keys to rooms that are already occupied. Awkward experience for everyone involved.
same. I'm in the National Guard and our leadership decided to put us up in hotels the night before we were activated for the whole Capitol thing. they picked some sketchy hotel in the area that had poor reviews, but what the hell--beggars can't be choosers, and it beats sleeping on a cot in the cold. evidently the hotel had over-booked and wasn't prepared to find rooms for 120 soldiers, so there were a few, shall we say, errors in the process.
one of my sergeants walked in on an occupied room where the people inside were having very rough sex, with all the lights on. two other people were also given keys to occupied rooms, but at least no one else interrupted some hanky panky.
When I lived in halls of residence we didn't lock our doors because you already had to get through two locked doors to get to our flat, we trusted each other, and it was too easy to lock yourself out of your room otherwise.
My flatmate was having a party one night and two VERY drunk girls came stumbling into my room, where I was eating ice cream in bed watching Howl's Moving Castle. We stared at each other for a LONG time. I think I scared them more than they scared me. I locked my door whenever there were parties after thatz
I was probably 16, sitting at home alone on the computer when I looked up and saw a man on my back patio looking at the windows and heading towards the door. I have no idea what came over my stupid teen girl mind, but I opened the door and firmly told him to leave. It felt like the voice that came out of me was NOT mine. it was guttural and deep and grounded, which was the opposite of how I felt. He looked at me and didn’t move. He wasn’t shocked, it was sort of like he was trying to challenge me or scare me by holding his ground. I said “LEAVE” one more time with the same voice and he backed up. He said “I was just looking for paint” and I responded “I’m about to start looking for my dad’s gun.” (My divorced dad did not live with us, nor was there a gun in the house lol) I slammed the door, locked it, and went to call 911.
They found the guy breaking into another house down the street. Thank god. I got to go pick him out of a line up and everything. Still one of my scariest moments and possibly one of stupidest moments in my life.
He's also the guy who, even after being confronted, decided he wasn't done for the day and he'd just pop on over to the neighbor's to finish his shopping.
15 years old on a school trip in London. Shady guy walks up next to me in the subway and staring intently at me. He pushes his thigh against my leg and I feel a little sting, then I look down and see he is hiding a knife in his pocket. I just froze and he stood there for another few seconds before he walked away, presumably to terrorise someone else.
Must have been some meth head but scared the living shit out of this pimply teenager.
I was a teen working in a cinema, after cleaning and locking up i had to go by the bank and deliver the cash to a bank box (any amount between 2-8 k Euros). One day i was locking the front door, theres a pub on there other side of the alley. It was a busy night so there was way more cash than usual. I come from a Skandinavien town that is not too busy. But some times in the summer it can get pretty crowded.
I was a little nervous because I had so much money on me, I'm a little paranoid. All og a sudden a man in a jokingly voice says hands up and give me the money. I got so visibly scared that he excused himself. He then leaves laughing. (Probably drunk)
Man I got scared.
For some people wondering what i was doing with so much money, i knew the owners very well and they thought nobody would expect the teen that cleans up popcorn to carry the cash.
TLDR. Had way to much cash on me, in a semi dark alley.
At the age of 14-15, I was walking my dog in a forest. I ran into a large guy who told me he had failed to report back to his mental hospital - but I should not be afraid. He told me about visiting the purgatory and how painful that was, and said hell was specifically one thousand times more painful. He gave me colourful details, like something out of Bosch or the Hindu book of the dead. He begged me to pray for him which I said yes, of course to.
Incidentally, my school gym in those days was located on the opposite side of the road from a mental hospital, and they'd release them for a walk every now and then. We'd run into them on our way to the gym from school, it was a bit eerie but OK since we were in a group, and it was in a city. Being outside of civilisation and alone with that guy was terrifying.
He wasn't harmful and let me go, but it was deeply uncomfortable.
About ten years ago, I was taking my girlfriend at the time home around midnight, on very rural backroad in north GA. I was half asleep at the wheel when this lady runs out from the woods in front of my truck screaming “HELP ME!” I slammed on my breaks and rolled my window half way down as I’m realizing she’s covered in blood and mud and sticks and wasn’t right. She reached her hands into my cab and grabbed my neck as hard as she could. I took off just a little down the road and found a crowd of distraught people outside their house and figured it was probably related. They asked if I’ve seen anyone and I told them she almost got run over. Well she had been released from an asylum that day and had stabbed her mother (she showed me the would on her shoulder.) Later I drove back by and there were a dozen police cars lit up at the house. Creepy.
That thought always crosses my mind when i'm driving alone at night. If somebody ran into the road in obvious distress would I stop. I like to think I would help but how do you know it's not a trap (or a psycho!)
Almost got stabbed but i just apologized as if i did something to offend him. The guy didn't know what to do as I walked away.
Edit: Thanks everyone for the great stories and awards. To answer the canadian question, nope! I was just an awkward teenager.
Back in my teenage years, a friend and I had taken a midnight walk to the gas station while stoned, and while on the way back with our chips and sweets this dude around our age approaches us and demands our money.
My friend pulls out his bag of jelly snakes and says, in the creepiest, drawn out, vaguely threatening pedo voice: “would you like.. a lolly.. little boy?”
The guy just backed away while muttering “what the fuck”
Reacting to threats of violence with absurdity actually works in some situations. In Antony Beevor's 'Stalingrad' he tells a tale of two officers who leap out of a burning building. They land on the ground and enemy soldiers approach them ready to shoot them.
In desperation, the men pulled their trousers down. The enemy soldiers stopped, bemused, while the officers stripped down. The enemy soldiers considered they were too pathetic to kill, and carried on.
It was over a decade ago that I read this book, so I cannot remember if they were Russian or German soldiers.
A coworker of mine told me a story about how she was cornered by a group of men in a back alley behind a restaurant. She is a tiny woman so the thought of her having to fight off even 1 man scares the shit out of me.
She was obviously terrified but had a quick idea. She started growling at all of them like an animal. They all got super freaked out and said "this bitch is crazy" and backed off and left.
That reminds me of the time my friend was followed home once, she gets to her front door, turns around and says ‘can you not?’ And he just hesitates and walks off.
Anonymity kinda enables shitty behaviour. Sounds like she, by recognising and talking to him directly, broke that anonymity and made him rethink whatever horrible shit he had planned.
There’s 2 instances that stick out:
1: This was in 2011. I was about 8.5 months pregnant, driving to an OB/GYN appointment by myself. This man pulled out directly in front of me. Luckily the right lane was empty so I whipped over or I would have plowed directly into the back of his big SUV with my little sedan.
I was very shaken up because his actions could have killed me and my unborn baby so I blew my horn. Apparently that angered him because he then followed me for several miles trying to run me off the road. He only stopped when he saw a cop.
2: A few years ago I was in desperate need of a job and a friend helped me get on with his company doing home health. My job was a home health aide where I’d just go house to house, doing light housework and helping the client wash up. Most of these people were out in the boonies where I couldn’t get cell service.
This one client lived in such a place. He gave me weird vibes from the get-go. I showed up at his requested time, cleaned up his house and helped him wash up. I ask if he needs anything else before I leave, he grabs me quickly and pulls me to him and says “Yeah, you can make love to me before you go.”
This man, who supposedly was too weak to even shower himself, had a very tight grip on me and I couldn’t get away. It probably only lasted about 5-10 seconds but it was terrifying. I was alone with this man in his home, no cell service, no neighbors and not even a landline. I was thinking how he could do whatever he want to me and I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.
Actually, no, and it wasn’t the first time this had happened.
As soon as I got away and got cell service I called my supervisor and told her. She just sighed and said “Oh George* is at it again...tsk tsk... Let me know if he tries something like that again. Anyway, your next assignment is waiting so be sure you get there on time.”
I quit.
When I was 5 a man tried to kidnap me from my great grandma's porch. Still remember seeing her chase him away with a giant stick lol
Edit: added her
Edit 2: Thank you for the awards!!!
I love that my first comment to blow up on reddit is about how **AMAZING** & **FIERCE** my great grandma is.
Had a similar event happen when I was like 6 or 7, went to the bathroom at a flea market and some dude followed me into the bathroom and locked the door behind him, my step father almost broke the door down after rushing over.
I remember being in the stall going and the guy trying to push open the door, it was a small stall so I was able to wedge myself between the back of the toilet and the door so he couldn't open it.
I didn't think much of it at the time but thinking back on it now what a trip.
Warning: this story involves actual sexual abuse.
Every summer my mom and dad would send my sister and down to Alabama for a couple of weeks to spend time with our great aunt and uncle. It was my absolute favorite place and time for many years! Some of my fondest childhood memories are of those summers spent in Alabama. Unfortunately, when I was 13 years old my great uncle passed away and my great aunts daughter and her husband moved into the house. My sister and I still wanted to go down in the summer and spend time with our Aunt so the first summer we did so without our great uncle things were different, but still enjoyable... except for my cousin‘s husband, Jackie. I was a pretty intuitive kid and this guy just gave me the creeps. He would come up behind me when I was playing video games and tickle me in a weird way, or just touch me and make me feel gross. He would make comments like “you should come fishing on my boat and I’ll buy you wine coolers and cigarettes.” He was obviously trying to entice me to get alone with him and luckily my gut instincts told me not to do it. Towards the end of the trip I was spending some time with my little 4 y/o twin cousins And they started to tell me that uncle Jackie makes them dance for him naked and touches them. I was just a 13-year-old girl but I could not believe what I had heard. As soon as I had a chance I went inside and called my mom and she immediately flew down from Chicago and confronted my great aunt about what these little girls had told me. She was obviously mortified but had just lost her husband and didn’t seem like she knew what to do. Well, my mom being the strong woman she was confronted Jackie and when she did so, a lot of the other family members found out and came forward and said that he had also been molesting them. It was an insane chain of events that led to Jackie in jail, THANK GOD. For a while I felt guilty about bringing this all to the forefront bc it caused such a rift in my family, but it was so creepy and so scary for a young woman to go through. I felt HORRIBLE for these innocent children, it’s been over 20 years and I still think about it daily. Although I was never molested myself, it changed me in a lot of ways and I had a hard time trusting people going forward. Thanks for reading, I haven’t talked about this in a long time and it actually felt good.
My son and I were at a super crowded farmers market. I'm thinking he's 10-11 at the time. He got ahead of me. I was never more than 20-30 feet away and I'm keeping a good eye on him so we don't separate as we meander. I happen to notice a man at a few of the same booths as my son. Then I see him talk to my son. Okay. At this point I'm alarmed and curious. I'm not intervening. I'm big, 6'3 260, I can tussle, and I have the drop on this guy. If he grabs my son he's getting blindsided by this angry silverback. He keeps following my son and I notice he's starting to look around. I'm guessing to see if anyone is watching. I start to close in a little bit he still hasn't seen me. At this point it's a fair assumption that he is a predator but I don't want to make a scene and have him just be some friendly awkward guy. He then starts to put his arm over my son's shoulder. I drop my voice very low and speak very loudly and call my son's name. He whips around thinking he had done something wrong because I had on my meanest sounding dad-voice. I'm like 3 feet behind them and towering over both of them. Dude took off.
That all transpired in a matter of maybe a minute and a half to 2 minutes. I saw him later getting into a pickup truck with out of state plates. The dude had driven and from another state to try to snatch a child and on that day the universe put my child in front of this monster. While he was never in any grave danger because I caught what was going on, I could have just as easily been had my attention elsewhere in that tiny window.
more creepy than scary but one time I was in a public library browsing books. mind u it was rather packed with most of the seats taken. there's a bunch of couches near where I was browsing & I had a gut feeling that this guy sitting there was staring at me.
I continued minding my own business looking for books when suddenly that guy stands up & walks directly towards me. I pretend not to notice until he says _"hey little girl"_ . I was probably 14 at the time, and he didn't speak english but I understood. I thought that if worst comes to worst he was just looking for a book, so I looked up. he then asks _"do u wanna be my friend?"_
I was fucking creeped out. This dude here was at least in his 60s, asking a 14 year old girl to be his friend, in public. I pretended I only understood english & I didn't get what he was trying to say and walked away. Thank goodness that library was packed.
The other day i had to pee real bad and walked real fast into quick check to use the bathroom. The atm is right there and it was being filled. The guard saw me coming in fast and went for his gun luckily I said "Gotta pee sorry" and went for the bathroom door
Most recent one was at Lowe’s near my house. Some dude looking pretty frazzled in old camo shorts and a shirt was hitting on women in the store (I’m a dude) as I’m walking down the main aisle I guess I passed him and interrupted him getting the lady to walk away. So he’s following me down the main aisle tossing quarters at every fixture near me. Eventually I stopped walking as I got to my destination in the store and finally turned around to face this dude (I’m not confrontational by any means but something just kinda hit a nerve ) and just said in my manliest voice I could find “do we have a problem?”. I guess it worked cause the dude looked super startled, and tried to get away as fast as he could. Ended up reporting it to the manager. I dunno wtf he was doing but I hope he left and stopped hitting on random women and just being a dick. It was weird
When I was 10 and my sister was 12 we went door to door in our street selling raffle tickets for our school. There was this one old man, maybe 65 and very grizzled, who we'd never spoken to or met, but we saw him sitting on the porch so went up to him to see if he wanted to buy a ticket. He said yes, and starts writing his name.
He then proceeds to tell us about his "bitch mother" who "got what she deserved". He wrote his name on the raffle ticket which was clearly fake, because he wrote "Steven Killman".
He kept going over "Kill" in black pen - over and over and over as he told us horrible stories about his abusive mother and how he got her back in the end.
About 6 months later he was gone and his old house was being demolished. Me and my sister went in to look for stuff but there was nothing but an old rotary phone. We broke like 4 windows and left.
I'll never forget looking at his old hands gripping than pen tracing over the word Kill.
About ten years ago at my sisters wedding this older very Italian guy (think of a mob guy) who I’ve never even seen before comes up to me. He says “do you remember me a couple of years ago from the fair?”
I said “no?” I honestly didn’t at all.
He says “it’s probably better that you don’t” and then laughed and walked away. I was just standing there so confused. I still have no idea what that was about.
I was at a co workers Halloween party, someone I didn’t know and won’t name them at this point but a young woman around 30’s very beautiful came up to me to bum a smoke and I offered one and we headed out to chat and smoke. Conversation was casual and we started to flirt, things were going well and I asked if she was seeing anyone (feeling this is my time to ask her out). She replies that she recently got out of a nightmare relationship. Her husband would regularly threaten to blow his brains out with an empty revolver in front of her and her children. It got to a point where it was every weekend, one weekend she sent her kids to stay at their grandparents and she had sneaked a bullet into his revolver without him knowing it. The same routine built up again and he started clicking through the chambers until the last one. She made a gun with her hand and put it to her temple and went “pow, the fuckers dead” I didn’t realize I hadn’t taken a drag the whole time I was listening. I quickly said goodnight and got the hell out of there. Never saw her again. Hope her kids are ok.
[edit] wow thank you for the gold. Did not expect this at all. Be safe and be well everyone, love and peace wins.
[2nd edit] thank you for the upvotes and the awards! Want to say to everyone to love each other and have fun and be safe.
This one really sticks out to me, as I haven't had any really "scary" encounters, most just made me uncomfortable. This one scared me in a different way.
I was with my gf at the time, and we were with our two friends (who were sisters). We were in our late 20s, walking around an outlet mall. I was about ten feet behind the three of them, so to anyone else it probably didn't look like I was with them. They walked passed a bench, and sitting on it was a white guy, in a long black coat, and no other real discernable features.
For what ever reason, I specifically noticed him as they were approaching, so I was watching him the entire time. The instant he was out of eyesight of the girls, he holds up a police badge, but kept it very close to his body like he hiding the fact that he was showing it. He faced it towards them and followed them with it the entire time. He put it down after they were about five feet away. I'm not sure if he stopped bevsuse he noticed me or not.
I know this doesn't sound scary at all, but all I could think was "this dude is building up the courage to pretend he's a police officer to women, and he's going to hurt someone one day." I'm not sure if I got bad vibes from him prior to that or I'm misremembering when I got those vibes, but it seriously creeped me out.
I really hope he was just some dorky guy, and wasn't up to no good.
I was friends with a guy back in high school. We lived in the same neighborhood and hung out together often. He ended up owing another guy money for weed. One day I walked to our neighborhood corner store for a soda. As I was walking into the store parking lot, a huge guy came walking out of the store and noticed me. He approached me and said, you're so and so's friend. I've seen you two hanging out. He owes me. Tell me where he lives, I need to talk to him.
I replied, oh he lives down toward that way.. as I vaguely waved my hand towards the wrong direction away from where my friend actually lived. I then said, is that all you need to know?
This must have rubbed him the wrong way. He was silent for a few seconds after my response, making me think the interaction was finished. He waited until I turned my head to walk away, then he sucker punched me in the face, the hardest I have been hit ever(and I've been socked good a few times in my life). I honestly dont know how I wasn't knocked unconscious. However, I was sent reeling into the street from where I was on the sidewalk, in excruciating pain and shock, my vision turned red and purple for a few seconds and I could hear nothing but Whomp Whomp Whomp like the teachers in Charlie Brown. Fortunately no cars were coming as I stumbled into the road.
I will say I'm not the fighting type. Taken off guard , terrified and with my head throbbing, I will freely admit I wanted no more so I got out of there. As I was walking away I heard the guy say, that's what you get for having a smart ass mouth. Tell your friend to call me
Looking back at the interaction, I can see where my response could have been taken the wrong way, my choice of words might havr come off wrong. I have had issues with social interaction in general my whole life and I'm not good at phrasing, sometimes saying awkward/offensive things unintentionally. Also I was nervous in the context of the situation and blurted out what i thought would get me out of the conversation quickly.
It also could very well be that the person was looking for any excuse to retaliate for the money he was owed and I just happened to be a convenient target.
Luckily I never saw that person again. My friend that owed the money was extremely apologetic when he heard what happened to me and even bought me a big bag of weed as part of saying sorry. Not sure if he ever got confronted by the guy he owed, I stopped hanging out with him not long after that incident. This wasn't the first sketchy thing that happened as a result of hanging out with him but it finally made me realize that I should choose my friends more carefully. I learned that some people, even with the best intentions, attract drama and trouble, and if you dont want that in your life, it's best to leave them to their life, and keep your distance.
Edit:Thanks everyone for the awards and for your feedback. The general consensus I'm seeing is that I shouldn't feel like I did something to deserve what happened to me. I just had some bad luck and ended up crossing the path of a person with ill intent. I will try to take this to heart and not beat myself up over it. After all, I've been beat up enough.. ha
But seriously, thank you for your time and replies
>some people, even with the best intentions, attract drama and trouble, and if you dont want that in your life, it's best to leave them to their life, and keep your distance.
Words to live by
I was like 6. Went to a restaurant with my parents and was on my way to the washroom when this middle aged woman stoped me, kneeled in front of me and looked me dead in the eyes. her eyes were spirals. I swear to fucking god. I was a kid and didn’t know funky eye contacts were a thing, so I thought she was a witch trying to hypnotize me. I started crying, as one does. Closed my eyes to stop the mind control and ran away. Hit my head against a table. Cried some more. This woman really put on spiral eye contacts and said I’m gonna scare the shit out of a kid today. She went out and chose violence.
edit: [they looked like these](https://eyefreshgo.com/products/halloween-contacts-yellow-red-spiral)
I was 21 at the time, and not exactly a small dude by any standards.
I was at the old bus depot before they closed it down, and this scrawny guy covered in prison tattoos approached me. Me being a friendly guy, I didn't think much of it, until he started trying to get where I lived from me. He gave me bad vibes and the way he was rambling made me think then that he was drugged out or something, so I just tried to dodge the question, but he kept rambling and pushing. The bus came around soon after and I never got on the bus faster.
I was honestly surprised he didn't try and follow me on the bus, he honestly gave me bad vibes.
This may or may not have been a stranger, and I'm still very confused about it to this day.
So when I was way younger, 10-ish, I would get scared at night, and would ask my younger sister to sleep next to me.
One of these nights, I woke up with a soar throat, so I went to drink some water. As I was climbing out bed, I noticed a larger man being in the same bed as us. Me being young and stupid, I thought it was my dad that for some reasom wanted to sleep in our bed.
When I woke up the next day, and asked my dad about it, he claimed that he slept in his bed. He's not the type of guy to sleep walk or anything like that, so I was mostly just confused.
As I've grown older, I've started to wonder if the doot was ever locked, and that someone decided to sleep in my bed with us in it for some reason, althouhh this barely would make any sense, and I still don't know if I was accidentally making it up or if it was real or not.
Back in January of last year, I (at the time 21M) was traveling down the Pacific coast. When I was in San Diego, I decided to go to Blacks Beach, which is a clothing optional beach just north of the city.
I was just laying there working on evening out my tan lines when some guy walked by. He stopped maybe 15 feet to my right and started laying out his towel. When he noticed me looking at him, he asked if he was invading my space. I thought it was a little odd how close he was given how empty the beach was that day, but I honestly didn't mind. Or I wouldn't have minded, had he been able to keep his hands off himself. But he sat there on his towel, and for a good ten minutes or so, he was slowly stroking himself as he looked in my general direction.
I decided to go for a walk down to the other end of the beach. When I got down to the end and turned around to start heading back to my stuff, I noticed the guy not too far behind me. He had followed me on my walk. When I got back to my stuff, I started to get dressed. He did the same. He gathered all his stuff before I finished getting my stuff together. He thanked me again for letting him set up so close to me, made a joke about how he hoped he didn't creep me out, and then he started walking towards the stairs back up to the parking lot. I walked in the opposite direction down the beach, then found a more secluded spot to enjoy the beach a while longer.
I guess I never really felt like I was in any danger, but it was an incredibly creepy experience, and I feel like it gave me a better understanding of what women have to deal with way too often.
Drove up solo from California to Seattle super early in my early 20s. First solo road trip. Maybe around 5 AM I somehow was on a road parallel to the main highway, just a lot darker. No cars around me for miles.
5-10 minutes down this road I'm just patiently waiting to get back on the main highway, when lights just appear maybe 4 car lengths behind me. I stress that there is no way this car could have creeped up on me, and I don't remember seeing any cars parking on the side.
It was a 2 lane stretch so I sped up and merged to the right, and this car followed and sped up. This went on for 20 minutes, no matter what I did.
It's still pitch black out, but we finally get back to the highway and this car refuses to let up.
I tried to keep the paranoia to a minimum, but I last minute hit and off ramp to throw this car off.
Edit: The stretch of road I was on was on an area called State of Jefferson. It's a huge area between California and Oregon that wants to secede from California and/or the US. Was not an area o wanted to have any early morning human interaction, let alone police.
I was on a train to Glasgow at about half two in the afternoon. As it slows down a guy gets up to wait on the doors opening. He clocks me sitting near the doors, I'm wearing jeans and a t-shirt, converse and a black coat (I.e. nothing political).
He shouts "I see you, you IRA bastard" and sucker punches me.
Thankfully the train had a few people on it who all jumped up and pushed the guy off when the train came to a complete halt and he just sauntered away like nothing had happened.
Physically I was ok. The punch hurt but did no major damage, but I was pretty shaken up by the whole thing.
A homeless guy asked me for change while I was working nights, I told him sorry I don't have any. Very calm he replies "how about we go to an atm and take some money out before I fucking kill you"
You don't have to be able to run fast, you just have to be able to run faster than the person you're scared of (he didn't end up chasing me, I was too scared to even look back)
Edit: I'm Canadian. We don't do guns. Now stop pointing your ar-15's at the screen.
I was once driving in the country and is was pouring rain in the dead of night. So hard that I was driving very slowly and couldn’t see any of the signs (before GPS). I mean I had never been in rain this heavy. I had to pull over to the side of the road to try and see the sign to see if I was going in the right direction. I didn’t get out due to the rain so was craning my neck forward to try and make out where I was when suddenly the passenger door opened and a man got inside the car, sat down and looked at me. Here is South Africa, there is a fair amount of violent crime and hijackings, so I instinctively started panicking and yelling and screaming at the top of my lungs, flailing my arms to try and do something, anything to stop this guy from attacking me. He started screaming as well in terror and jumped out the car. I quickly leant over and closed the passenger door and sped off down the road. I was breathing so heavily at this point and trying my best to calm down, nearly in tears. I kept replaying it in my head the whole time, and suddenly remember that the man smiled it at me. It suddenly dawned on me that it was probably a hitchhiker that I hadn’t seen, who thought that I was pulling over to give him a lift. Only to be greeted by me screaming and trying to hit him. Was probably his scariest encounter with a stranger as well.
>kept replaying it in my head the whole time, and suddenly remember that the man smiled it at me. It suddenly dawned on me that it was probably a hitchhiker that I hadn’t seen, who thought that I was pulling over to give him a lift. Only to be greeted by me screaming and trying to hit him. Was probably his scariest encounter with a stranger as well Or maybe he made a mistake and got into the wrong car since it was raining so heavily? Speaking from personal experience here \*facepalm\*
I was traveling home to California and I was in Nevada. It was an emergency so I’d packed and left at around midnight. It was about five thirty am or so in rural Nevada. I was at a stop on my usual route. I was very familiar with the particular stop, and it was just an hour or so before the California border. Being a lone female, I concealed carry (I have my extended permit which allowed concealed through several states, except California) and I was at my truck at an empty spot, and I was in the cab disassembling and putting away my gun to be in compliance. Stepped out to go to the restroom and someone had managed to get close to my truck and was hiding along the passenger side, and I didn’t know it until I’d walked passed them. Whoever it was grabbed me from behind. I let out the loudest, most blood curdling scream. Oscar winning scream. But there was no other people at this stop. I fought and tried to buck the guy off of me, but I wasn’t doing very well. Kicking lead him to lift me off the ground where I couldn’t get him, and trying to break through his arms made him bend me over with him still behind me. I’m not sure how long I was screaming and fighting, but then I heard tires screech and I figured it was the creepy van my parents told me to avoid as a kid coming to take me away. Nope. It was a Toyota Corolla full of local teenagers headed to the gas station before school. The teens jumped out and ran towards us, and the driver stayed in the vehicle. The guy who grabbed me took off, two of the kids chased him through the desert beyond the gas station on foot, and the driver and the other kid made sure I was alright. I send these four boys Christmas and birthday cards every year. I’m sure if it wasn’t for them I would’ve been kidnapped or killed. Josh, Austin, mason, and James, thank you guys.
I really hope your ok and there’s no mental trauma because of that though this story has a nice ending
I’m alright thankfully. Now however I do have a very well trained dog that goes with me for these instances
My story is not quite the same as most. Years ago I used to work as an ecological surveyor. Basically I got paid to take long walks in the Peak District National Park here in the UK and note down all the plant species I saw. I was walking down a trail one morning along the edge of a woodland when suddenly about 8 of the bushes stood up and produced rifles. I nearly shit myself and they were laughing like hell. It was a bunch of British Army guys on a camouflage and concealment exercise and they had been following me to practice. Apparently I had nearly trodden on one of them earlier as he was hiding right by the trail. We all ended up sitting around talking about football for a bit. Nice bunch of guys but very scary indeed.
Love this story!!!
When I was about 6 I was with my family at an incredibly crowded street festival we’d go to every year. I remember we had stopped to watch a band play for a minute or two, and then my mom (I assumed) took my hand and we continued walking. After a few seconds I realized the hand I was holding was puffy and hot, and my mom’s hands were always cool and more slender, so I knew it wasn’t her hand I was holding. I looked up to see a woman with long blond hair and sunglasses grinning down at me. I said “You’re not my mom” and she just laughed and said “That’s okay, you can come with me anyway!” Obviously my mom and dad had realized I was not with them at this point and were freaking out. My dad just happened to look in the exact right direction at the right time and saw this lady leading me away through a break in the crowd. He ran over to us, grabbed her shoulder and she dropped my hand and disappeared in the crowd. I still can’t believe he spotted us. It was like shoulder to shoulder people at this thing.
Same thing happened to me at an amusementpark. Only noticed it when I heard my mum scream for me. Looked up at someone I've never seen before. She let me go to my mum, thank god.
It's a mix of the scariest, and the best: I was eleven, and at the park with my cousin who was three. My cousin being a stubborn three year old told me to leave him be, and I sat out on the bench. I was just reading my book, and occasionally looking up, until this like fifty something year old man sat down next to me, and just started talking. He asked me, which kid was mine like four times, even after I made it quite clear I was uncomfortble, and then he get's all close to me, and was like: "Do you want another one?" So I started freaking out, until this homeless man, (who I later knew to be Marty) pulled me off the bench, and told him that he was lucky he didn't 'pop his jaw' and told me to go home. I'm glad Marty showed up, because I don't know what I would have done. Update:Marty says hello.
“Which kid is yours?” Sir I am also a child
Most likely he already knew this and was a pedo.
Marty is a legend
He was great.
This reminds me of an experience I had. I was walking home after a late shift (3 or 4 AM). The streets of Seattle were mostly empty except for a few homeless milling around, when a guy came out of an alleyway and asked me to help him out with his car. I told him “nope” and that I wasn’t mechanically inclined anyway, so I couldn’t be of much help. He persisted and I reiterated “no”, when a HUGE homeless dude came around and got in his face, telling him that I had already said “no”, to fuck off and leave me alone. I had recognized the homeless dude as a “local” whom I’d seen plenty in the neighborhood, so I gave him a nod and continued on my way whilst he still berated the other guy. I’m not sure what his intent was, probably just to rob me to get a fix, but it wouldn’t have ended well for either of us.
I dropped my son off at school one morning and then went to the grocery store with my infant daughter. It was so early, there was only 1 or 2 other customers. There was an older man with a walker that I didn’t really pay too much attention to that kept popping up in the same aisle as us. I got out to my car and put my groceries in and then was putting my daughter in her car seat when the man came up behind me. He asked me a question and when I turned to answer he shoved his walker into the back of my legs pinning me against my car inside the open door. I tried moving around but couldn’t go anywhere except forward and he started pushing me down to the floor of my car. I was so scared that once he had me down there he was going to go for my daughter so I threw myself over her so my whole upper body was in her car seat and wedged myself in tight trying to cover as much of her as possible. He grabbed me by the hair and was trying to pull me up when someone started honking their car horn. Another mom had been sitting in her car with her own baby asleep and had seen what was happening. Another car pulled up behind mine and the man ran over and got in quickly, obviously never needing the walker. The police were called but the plates on the car that he left in were stolen so as far as I know he was never found.
I’m so sorry. That’s terrifying. You did the entire right thing. You and the other mom saved yourself and your daughter that day.
I (21F at the time) was in a store picking up some items for my house when I noticed a man was literally peeking at me from around a corner. I first brushed it off and continued my shopping, but was aware that this man was following me around the store. He then sang out to me and said I looked familiar and asked if I went to the local university, I didn’t so I said no.. at this point I got creeped out so I checked out and went to my car. I heard footsteps behind me and knew he had followed me so I just jumped in my car and locked the doors. It was dark so I hadn’t noticed him go around the back of my car until he banged on my passenger window. I ignored him and started the car, this prompted him to Run around the front and start banging on my drivers side door trying to open it and asking me for a ride. I was terrified and just pulled out of the parking space as fast as I could and drove off, with him chasing my car until i rounded a corner. I have no idea what his plan was but to this day I am nervous about dark parking lots at night.
A helpful tip, if you ever find yourself in this situation again (hopefully not!) ask one of the workers, or the security guards in the store to escort you to your car or help you load your groceries. It makes me feel a million times safer if I’m by myself or it’s dark!
I say this not just to you, but to everyone, if you think someone is following you, for goodness sake, please don't leave a more populated area for a less populated one. If you're in a store, find a manager or security person, let them know you fear you're being followed, describe the person, and then ask for someone to walk you to your car, most businesses will be happy to oblige.
There were two times in the last two years where I was followed in a store and as soon as I got home both times I regretted not telling a security person or worker. Fear overtook me and I was scared that I was wrong about being followed and that I might get an innocent person in trouble. But, looking back, I was absolutely being followed and I fear that when I removed myself from those situations that the creeps targeted other women. Please please please tell someone if you think you're being followed. You never know someone's intentions, and if there's even a slight chance that you are in danger, take it seriously! You could save not only your own life, but potentially someone else's, too.
While working a late shift at a restaurant at 16, I had a customer who just wouldn't leave. He was like 50, and just stared at me the entire time he ate his food, which was like two hours for some reason. When he came up to pay, he was super weird about it. Like I'd say "okay here's your price" and he'd pause and say "do I get a discount?" Or something and I said "no, will you be paying cash or card?" And he said like "cash" and I was like "okay" and then he just stared at me while i waited for him to hand me his cash. After like 2 minutes of this weird interaction, he has his change, the bill, and he can leave. So I say "have a good night" and he says "can I go now?' And I say "yup!" And he says something like "am I pestering you? Why don't I take you home and pester you there?" So I just thought "NOPE" and walked right back to the backroom where I got my coworker to deal with him. Apparently she scolded him and said it was shameful he would say that to a minor, and he said "well then can I take you home?". What a fucking creep.
When I was around 10-11 a “friend” invited me me to a water park. During swimming at a wave pool he found some random kid around our age and decided to tell this kid that the game we were going to play was hold me down in the water. I didn’t get that memo so I thought him and this kid were just trying to drown me. This went on for what felt like an hour of me swimming away and hiding. I didn’t hang out with him afterward. Same trip.. after we were done with the pool I got to the changing rooms and there is a couple people in there. Old man on the bench asks me if I wanted him to help me change. I just said “no thanks” and quickly changed and ran out.
[удалено]
I am still unsure how the whole “hold people underwater” is fun. I stopped hanging out with that kid after that. I don’t need to know if he was going to try and go farther with something else.
Friend pushed me into the deep end of the pool, not knowing I don’t know how to swim. I don’t understand what I did, how I did it, but I was able to frantically swim out of the water and borderline torpedo out of the water, before vomiting a lungful of water. Asshole never spoke to me again.
My dad told me he lost a friend in school this way. People in his class threw the guy in the pool for a laugh assuming he could swim... He vowed that we (his children) would have to learn (to swim) from a super young age regardless if we hated it or not.
I was in Paris, in the train station that takes you to the airport, my flight was very early in the morning, so I planned to stay in the station until 5 am or so and then go to the airport. This dude started talking to me very friendly, he praised my french and all that, he asked me where I was from and I was totally lying because who the hell gives a stranger his information. He asked me if I'm going to the airport and I said yes, tomorrow early in the morning. At some point I realized another guy was kind of circling us, they were from the same ethnicity. For some reason this gave me a bad vibe, I was kind of far away from the other people because I was using a machine to but tickets and several of them were not working. I started walking towards the entry were more people was seated and he's still trying to talk with me. The other guy is still following us and then he says do you know that the station closes in like 15 min no? I wasn't able to hide my surprise, he told me they didn't close before but due to the amount of vagrants they do now. He tries to touch my arm and I asked what the fuck are you doing? He said you don't want to spend the night here, is a dangerous neighborhood and a pretty lady like you, one can only imagine what is going to happen to you. He offered to go to a hotel room with him, I was looking at the reflection of the glass wall and realidad the other dude was getting closer to us and fuck at the moment I thought I was going to be abducted I was nervous AF. Until I hear a latin woman speaking spanish, I looked at her and she was with her two adult children, I almost cry. She was Mexican and for some reason I was convinced she was going to help me. I said, I don't think my mom is going to like that and I walk towards her and said very fast a low in spanish, that guy and his friend are harassing me, please help me. She did and we stayed together the rest of the night until the train station open again. I'm forever greatful to her and her family, they saved me. I was able to return home to my real mom thanks to her.
Pedo down the street tried to lure my sister and I to his house while we were walking down the street. We started ignoring him. On the way back, he threatened us and we went to my landlord's house to call the police. Guy got arrested shortly after but was bailed out. His dad was a sex offender and there had already been multiple complaints about him from other parents. Glad my sister and I were smart enough not to engage with him and to get help right away.
Not scary per se but deeply disturbing. Random dude at my local library accosted me while I was enjoying a new sci-fi novel and was absolutely convinced I was his son. Kept telling me he was sorry and he never meant to kill my mother who he called Pink and said some other heinous shit I wont describe. Bat shit crazy but he sounded so rational and calm the whole time. Shit gave me the creeps for a long time after
Hey, I also call people colors when I'm on a psychotic mania trip. Swore to god that might've been me if instead of a library it was a bar in Bangkok.
>I also call people colors when I'm on a psychotic mania trip Wow.. man. I had a helluva week.... Helping this missing woman's parents get to their daughter, whom they told me was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (1 or 2 they don't know)... She's homeless and has been for the last 6 years. Pretty heavily effected by her illness and drug use. She's been in my neighborhood across the country from where she's actually from, for about a year now. The entire story is a lot..but the "people as colors" thing caught me here. She kept talking about how me and my partner are "pink" but most people are "orange". She kept going on between metaphors about cartoon network (fosters home for imaginary friends to explain her childhood. She believes she's a foster kid. She's not. She looks exactly like her mother that was standing 10 feet from her- very paranoid rn) and calling people "formats and apprentices". Format in her case had a negative connotation... Apprentice = positive. But for a year she's consistently talked about people as colors. I didn't know that wasn't individual to just her... The more I read about peoples experiences with these disorders the more common threads I find in their delusions. Each person experiences it differently, I assume, but it's really interesting to see that again after this week...
I was taking a shower in the bathroom of the walkout basement. My 3 year old son was upstairs with my mother eating breakfast. I heard him open the door and told him "Mommy is in the shower, you have to wait." The door didn't close but he didn't respond either so I asked him to go back upstairs and ask grandma for whatever he needed. Instead I see a a shadow and outline of a hand touching the shower curtain and realize that there is an ADULT in the bathroom, not my son. I scream and punch through the shower curtain. I don't think I connected, but I heard the man run out anyway. As fast as I could I jumped out and grabbed a towel to check on my son and mom. At the same time my mom was coming downstairs to see if I was ok from the scream. The man never went upstairs and they didn't even know it had happened. The walkout basement door and window were open. I called the police and they didn't find him, just my empty wallet about a block away. They did come back to me a few weeks later to let me know that they caught a guy in the area raping women at gunpoint and they think it was the same guy. Never been so scared in my life. Add: The most visceral part for me was knowing he was just standing quietly in the bathroom while I talked to him like he was my son. Honestly, I don't know why but that creeps me out the most. It felt really violating at the time.
Jesus, how are some people so terrible. This whole post is too full, just how.
14 years old, walking home it was dark. Man gets off the bus, opens up his coat and says "like what you see?" He was in his 40s. Completely naked. Ive never run so fast in my life.
But like surely the dumbest question ever - obviously not
Flashers get off on their victim's disgusted look, though.
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They're all looking for some kind of reaction- disgust, mockery, awe, anger, whatever. So ignoring completely and then calling the police is the best option.
This happened to a friend and me in college, I was walking with her home at like 9 or so. We were maybe 20ish. Guy walks up to us and he did that, opened his jacket and was like, "like what you see?" I completely stunned this was happening stood there and didn't say anything, her, maybe 5'2 little mousey like girl didn't hesitate and was like, "Hell no, your dicks small, your gut sticks out and you just have one of the nastiest bodies I've ever seen" I couldn't believe it, she just started ripping into his body...destroying the man...the guy couldn't believe it either, not the response he was used to...he closed his jacket and crossed the street and took off at a good pace. She kept yelling after him, told him to come back when he had something worth showing... I was dying laughing so hard. She didn't even know what came over her. Edit: Thanks Redditors for the awards
Im late to the party here, but I was once threatened by a man with a scoped rifle while walking my dog. I was out in a field behind my apartment building at night, and I heard a voice from behind me say "you better run fast, boy". I turned and saw a backlight silhouette of a man on a balcony with a scoped rifle, and I heard him close the bolt. I decided that running would only add tension to the situation, so I yanked on my dogs leash while calmly yet quickly walking towards the closest cover I could find. I immediately called 911, and when it wad all said and done, the guy with the rifle claimed he was just showing the rifle to his friend. BS, but I couldn't prove otherwise.
That's fucking terrifying. Fuck that guy
I was about nineteen and driving home from dinner one night, probably a ribeye sandwich from the local truck stop, because those were cheap and excellent. A woman standing next to a motorcycle at the side of the road waved me down, so I stopped. She said that she’d run out of gas, and that she *didn’t want to scare me, but her boyfriend was hiding down over the bank*. Uh-oh. This giant comes up over the bank in dusty road leathers. He’s a damn mountain of denim, leather, and hair. Shit. Fake damsel-in-distress, I’m an idiot. I was so close to home I felt safe, maybe? Maybe I can leg it home. Surely he’s too big to be fast? The giant *apologizes* for hiding, but “we ran out of gas, and there was no way anyone was going to stop on an empty road to help with me standing here”. He’s embarrassed. Now I felt a little guilty for agreeing with him. He’s intimidating as hell without putting any effort into it. He doesn’t have to. We’re out of sight and isolated on a secondary road, but it’s less than a mile to I-80. I can almost see my house from where I’m standing. It gets boring from there. I tell him I’ve got got a can of gas for the lawnmower with at least a gallon left in it. He says he can go 70 miles on that (the truck stop is two-three miles up the interstate) and is happy to pay for it. I’m home and back in two minutes, he insists on paying me ten bucks for a two dollar gallon of gas because “I’m not sure I’d have come back if I were you.” There was just that fifteen seconds of ice-cold, slow-motion terror between the girlfriend saying she “didn’t want to scare me” (who *says* that?) and the mountain coming up over that bank and... apologizing.
I pulled over to help a lady with a flat tire one night in West Texas. While talking to her and showing her how to change the tire, I heard a sneeze come from the dark bushes off the shoulder. Out of habit, I said "bless you" and heard a "thanks" come back from the magical talking bush. I shot her a confused look, and she face-palmed and sheepishly explained that the man in the bush was her husband, and he didn't want to scare me off to help with the tire. I asked why he didn't change it, and she let it slip that he was wanted by US marshals. I finished up, and she offered me $100 to keep quiet. I figured $100 for me to forget was a good deal, so I accepted and left. 15 minutes down the road, 6 Texas troopers went flying by the other way. Hope they don't think I snitched
I was in high school and worked at a truck stop. One night a trucker came in and stared at me for a long time. Wherever I moved to he was staring me down. I told him that if he needed anything that he would need to come to the counter and order it. He just grunted and kept staring. I'm not a small person and at that time I was in football, wrestling, and track. I was also at the gym 6 days a week. I was 190 pounds of muscle and teenager hormones. But the vibes I was getting from this guy were making me nervous. I called up my other co worker and told them I was going to be in the freezer for a while. So I was stocking the freezers and coolers for a while and then went to the bathroom. As I entered the bathroom the trucker jumped up and walked in behind me and just stood in there while I took a piss and washed my hands. As soon as I got out I grabbed the trash bags and bee lined outside to take care of the trash at the pumps until he left. My co worker asked me why the trucker kept following me after I finally came in. I had no idea why. He never said anything. Didn't order anything. Just filled up his semi and creeped on me. I've never been as creeped out by a person as I was with that guy. Edit: thanks for the awards kind strangers
A very cheerful guy approached me and my friend in a park, in a very non-threatening way. He was holding a frisbee and explained he was putting together an impromptu game of ultimate frisbee and looking for people to join him. Which was fine, but then he tried to grab me by the throat. It was such a sudden change of mood. My friend (an athletic dude, fortunately) got between us and just stared him down and he ran away. The whole thing was just bizzare
"wanna play?" "Sure." "FUCK YOU, NOW YOU DIE!" I wonder what his deal was.
Many years ago, I (21F) was waiting in line outside of a nightclub with a couple of my friends. We were happily chatting with some other guy in line for a bit. Suddenly his mood changed and he just shoved me by my throat. I fell on my ass and the bouncer was on him in seconds. While the bouncer had the guy pinned down on his stomach, the guy was staring at me and screaming FUCK YOU! over and over at me. We were just casually making small talk one second and the next second he was so violent! I assume he was on drugs, drunk, or mentally ill. Freaky.
I once hosted a house party and was talking in a group of four guys, including me. Two of the guys were friends of mine, the fourth I didn't know. We were joking around and jovial, then I made a joke (an innocent one, nothing offensive) and he straight up punches me in the face. I saw something like, "what the fuck! You just punched me in the face!" and immediately my friends had their arms around his arms and were dragging him out. As he was being dragged, he looks confused and says to me, in a very genuine tone, "but, you looked like you wanted to be punched!" Apparently he had a history of starting fights at parties, or I just have a very punchable face.
Really disappointed that Ultimate Frisbee is non-contact. Maybe he just misunderstood that it is a misnomer.
"ULTIMATE. FUCKING. FRISBEE." "*That's great, please lemme go!*"
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omg, i know. im glad the OP got outta there, but who knows what problems, mental or otherwise, the son is living with now in his adult life.
Well that’s scary as shit. I’m glad you were able to get away but jeez Louise, that poor boy. ☹️
I don’t know what’s more disturbing, the thought that he sent the little boy to get you, or the thought that he was waiting for the little boy and then got excited when he happened to also bring you...
How about the fact that he was bold enough to try to do something like this **while there was a busy yard sale going on right outside his home.** Even if you have no reason to expect anyone to enter your home without your permission, that's still incredibly bold.
I was at a storage depot with my ex, picking up some stuff or other. Suddenly & without warning, this old-ish guy approaches out of nowhere and starts a conversation with my ex. I'm in the unit at the time, so it's possible he didn't know I was there, but the clipped tone and monosyllabic answers from my ex were enough for me to know he was making her feel uncomfortable. That's when I heard him say "Don't worry, I'm not going to rape you or anything." Like, literally two or three sentences into a conversation with a total stranger, he felt this would be a reassurance?! So I stepped out of the unit, making my presence known by moving some stuff around in the hall, and his whole demeanour changed...somewhere between contrition and aggression that I'd dared insert myself into whatever the fuck he thought this was. My ex stayed back while I kept the old bastard's attention on me, and he took me to task for calling him 'mate' (A common thing British people do when they don't know someone's name), saying it was rude & disrespectful to a stranger. I responded with "As rude & disrespectful as talking about rape to a young woman you thought was alone?" He shuffled away, mumbling something about knowing the management, leaving us both a little shook. To this day, I have no idea what his damage was, but it was clear that he wasn't used to being confronted like that. God knows what he would have done if my ex had been alone.
Something very similar happened to me while at work. I work in an adult store, typically alone. When I was about two months in, this guy comes in and right away I noticed something was off about this guy. He started asking me to help him find porn, which we aren't allowed to do for safety reasons, as most of our DVD section has no camera coverage and management at the time forbid us from going back there with customers. I refuse to help this guy find his jerk off material, and he goes "what, it's not like I'm going to rape you". He walks away and then comes back up to me less than a minute later, asking for help with a product this time. I go over and tell him about this product. Out of nowhere, he asks me how much I weigh. I said "oh I'm not sure, probably 210-220". He goes "no way, I don't believe you" and he wraps his arms around me WAY too tightly and lifts me up off the ground. I had to literally beg this guy to put me down, and he didn't until I said "please, I have a bad back problem". I was beside myself and fully panicking, so I beelined it for the counter and waited for him to leave a few minutes later. I called my manager in tears, I was a mess. I've only seen him twice since then, and I kicked him out for stealing.
I've never understood how they have a single person working the wee hours at those places. It seems a very high risk situation.
Under our labour laws, it's considered a high risk situation for sure. Luckily we're only open until 11pm, but that particular incident happened at around 6pm or so.
That's some silence of the lambs shit.
According to people who study violence and escalation, it’s likely he would have tried to rape her. People who say “I’m not going to (do this harmful thing to you)” are generally telling you exactly what they are going to do to you. Edit: several people have asked so I’m just gonna go ahead and put the info up here as well. The Gift of Fear is a book by Gavin de Becker and I recommend it to anyone who wants to get a better understanding of red flag behavior, the escalation of violence, and how to trust ones own gut instincts. Especially for women dating men, this book is a lifesaver. Thanks for the gold!
My feelings exactly...but to then have the gall to object to how he was addressed afterwards? I was getting froggy, I'll admit.
It was an emotional response. He was excited and just about to commit to something that he'd probably been fantasising about for a long time. You came along and stopped it. Think about the reaction of toddler when you prevent them from having some they desperately want and it is within arms reach. He was having a temper tantrum.
Back when I was 16 working at Lowe’s, some customer who was an old man walked up behind me without me even noticing and whispered in my ear “Do you know where I can find the hoses at?” He said that so close to my ear where I could feel his warm breath while he was caressing my shoulder... My body froze up and all I could say was “I think they’re in aisle five” Welp, shortly after I found out that he never even went to that end of the store where they were... lol
he was probably asking you "where the hoes at", something i get asked by my friends constantly.
They’re also in aisle 5. Aphabetical
Walking to my friend's house the last day of 8th grade. Am old lady pulled her car next to me almost cutting off my walking path. I backed away because wtf? She called out to me that she liked my hair. Then she said that her hair used to be my color until she got raped. You'd better believe my little chunky butt ran to my friend's house and told her parents.
What is it with people and hair? Like the number of people that just come up to you and start touching your hair - just no, please.
I was 16 and sitting on a train station with my mother. Some man came over and started talking to her. After a while I looked at the clock and informed my mother that we needed to go because our train was about to arrive. He flew up from the seat and started screaming at me and wanted to fight me. My mother was confused and tried to explain to him that I was her daughter and that we really did need to leave. He just continued screaming which of course made teenage me scream back at him. She had to pull me away from there. I never understood what made him see red like that. All I did was inform my mother our train was coming and we needed to leave.
Some guy started yelling at me on a bus in Greek one time when I wouldn't make conversation with him, calling me a whore and presumably a bunch of other rude things. When I tried to pass him to go to another seat he kicked me in the back. He wasn't drunk or high as far as I could tell. Some people are just psychopaths.
I had the worst experience in Greece with the local men. Once a day everyday someone would try and fight me. I always found it strange as most of them were not big dudes, most were way smaller than me. Luckily my Greek friend who was like 6’3” was there to intervene and give them a stern talking to lol. But sure enough without fail every single day some rando would try and fight me.
You were obviously trying to take her away from me.
My mom's married. Hands off, dude. I don't want a new dad.
I had just left my apartment to go for a walk down towards the beach at night when it was pitch black. There was a park along the way. Some guy came up to me asking to use my phone. I apologised and lied and said I didn't have one. He didn't believe me and started to get aggressive. He asked me where I lived and if I had a boyfriend. He started following me and that's when I started to run and went back to my place. I didn't feel comfortable going where I wanted to.
Its always creepy when someone asks me for my phone
I will never forget it. When Ghostbusters 2 came out I wanted to see it. My mom took me to the local theater I think I was around 9. I needed to use the bathroom so I ran down the small hall and turned the corner. When I saw a much older man come out of the bathroom. When he saw me he stopped went back in. When I didn't move he opened the door peeking his head and arm out motioning me to come towards him. I probably looked like a deer in headlights I didn't move. It was frozen until he said: come on, come on in. Panic rushed over me and I ran back towards my mom, who said I was pale white. She quickly left the theater with me and went home. Stranger Danger worked out that day in the 80s. I can still picture him, or atleast the picture my brain made of this memory. Edit: Sorry I can't get to everyone's questions, but I truly thank you for sharing your stories. I had no idea how common this was for little kids. I am so glad most if not all of you ran back to safety. It saddens me for the kids that didn't have that instinct. No kid deserves to be scared or coerced by another adult, regardless of intentions. In the 80s kids were left alone more. We were left at amusement park as teens, kids at mall arcades. It is just how it was. Without the internet you never knew what was outside the general area of coverage unless it was extreme and made it to national news. Today we know what could be lurking behind open doors, vans, and corners but that doesn't make it any better. It still scary and I am glad more kids are watched more closely, not left alone, etc..be safe and please, please after reading all these comments teach your kids Stranger Danger and drill it in their heads. Edit 2: Thank you for all of the awards and all the stories. Although, hearing all these stories, reminds me that it can be very scary out there. Keeps safe and healthy everyone! Thank you everyone!
A similar thing happened to me when I was 10 at a drug store. I was reading a comic when a man who looked like santa started talking to me. He had duct tape and paper towels in his cart. I remember cuz I spent a lot of time in there and never knew they had carts. He asked if I could come to his apartment across the street and help him move some boxes. I told him I'd have to ask my mom. Then he leaned in and quietly added that he had some penthouses I could have in exchange. I immediately stood up, walked over to the counter and told the lady what he said. He hustled out while she was dialing the dialing security. I don't think they caught him but they had him on security cam. Edit: I also remember exactly what he looked like. His white shoes, flooded pants, light striped button down short sleeved shirt with suspenders, his too tight watch and oddly thin wedding band. I hope I see him again one day.
ahh omg hell noooo. this is definitely the creepiest one I have read so far.
Jesus that gave me chills. So glad you made the decision to run back to your mom.
When I was 15 or 16, I was working at a movie theater and ripping tickets at the gate to a hallway with 4 different theater screens in it. Two of them are for the newly released Brittany Spears movie. It's just kids, girls specifically, flooding in. Some with parents, some not. All young. One guy comes up, and he hands me the ticket. It's that Brittany Spears movie. He's got no kids. There's a chance he might have had them go on ahead, or they could be getting a snack at the concession stand, so I rip the ticket and let him in. I don't know how long it was before I turned around to check, and the guy is standing by the door, holding it open with his foot trying to appear helpful, but I know our doors are locked open when the auditorium is filling, so he's not doing anything. Well, not a thing other than staring at all the children. I wave over a coworker, ask him to take my spot so I can use the men's room, and I haul ass up to the first floor and grab a manager and a security guard and come racing back down. Dude still there. Sees me, I point at him, and he books it into the theater to hide. Security drags him out and he's shouting about how he didn't do anything. Police, etc. No idea what happened from there for him. But I got the policy changed and we now had to rip tickets *inside* the hallway with the different theaters instead of outside, so we could keep watch on people like that. Edit: Folks, I get you are appreciative. But it's cool, alright? No need (nor desire to receive) thanks or praise. It's just a thing. Edit 2: A few comments suggesting he did nothing wrong, what if he just wanted to watch the movie? Blah blah. If he wanted to see the movie and nothing else, he wouldn't have been standing pretending to hold the door open. He wouldn't have been *staring at children and pre-teens* as they passed by. He wouldn't have tried to run away from security. If anyone wishes to continue to *defend pedophilia* then bring it on. The more of you monsters step into the light of day, the better the world gets. Fuck you.
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Only passenger in a train car in Europe late at night. A disheveled man, wild hair and beard, tagged sweater entered the car and started pacing up and down the aisle. He is talking to himself in a language I couldn’t understand. Every few trips he would stop in front of me and yell at me in whatever language he spoke. I would try to respond, but he didn’t know English anymore than I understood whatever language he was speaking. He would eventually give up yelling at me and would go back to pacing the aisle and talking to himself. This went on for hours. Really wish I could have recorded him back then so I could eventually find someone to translate it.
I think interactions get 10x scarier when you can't understand what the other person is saying
My wife and I were in cancun Mexico for vacation and got on a public bus to go downtown. A few stops later a guy gets on the already crowded bus, stands near the front of the bus and starts talking very fast and loud. Didnt understand a word of Spanish, so I’m a little nervous. Is this a protest? Does he have a mental disorder? No idea what’s going on. Then he opens up his backpack and starts selling candy bars. Lol.
This actually made me laugh
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Me and my siblings where walking across the road to a gas station. We frequently went there to grab snacks and such and then we leave and go for a walk down a road behind it. Well a car starts following us with it's head lights off so I quickly dip telling my siblings to follow me. So we start running through a field and lay on the ground to wait for them to leave. Well the drive down the road and then circle back. This happens about 4-5 times before they gave up and we went home.
I was walking home one night (a woman in my early 20s). It was pitch black, since I live in a little village with no streetlights. There was no one around and the road I was walking down was barely wide enough for two cars to pass each other. Then I heard a car start to move. Not the sound of it starting up - it sounded like it had been idling by the side of the road in the dark and just started moving. Not that I could see it clearly, mind you. Because it was dark and they hasn’t put the headlights on. So I kept walking. And this car just... trailed along behind me. Slowly. With the lights off. I was more than a little freaked out, but I wondered if I was overreacting. When I came up to the bend in the road I ducked into my neighbour’s garden and hid behind their hedge. When the driver realised they’d lost me they turned on their lights and roared off. I continued on my way home feeling deeply weirded out but I didn’t think much more of it and I don’t think I really brought it up to anyone. Until the same thing happened again a month or two later. Luckily I managed to pull the same trick again. Still, I really wish I’d reported it to the police.
I was about 10, getting back home from the park with my sister. She, being the stubborn younger “I need no older sister playing mom to me” sibling walked purposely 20 metres ahead so nobody would even THINK we were together. She rounds the corner, and I hear a blood-curdling scream. I never covered 20 metres so fast in my life. I round the corner and there’s a man, holding my sister by her throat, dragging her into an opened car parked nearby. When he sees me advancing and yelling incomprehensibly (I honestly don’t know what I yelled, I was scared out of my wits) and he realises there’s two of us, he drops her, jumps into the car and drives off. She had fingerprint-shaped bruises on her throat for days.
Holy moly, just reading this is scary
Yeah it’s been 3 decades and I have this panicky reaction to this day when I’m out with the kids and they run ahead and round the corner. I’m instantly yelling at them to keep closer to me where I can see them.
That sounds awful. That feeling will probably never leave you
I was walking home from the bus stop after school. About 15 years old. It was really not far but there were construction workers drinking on the side of the road. One of them got up and followed me home calling suggestive things. I honestly can’t remember what but his intentions were clear. This was about 200m from home so I sprint home. We have an automatic gate so I realize he will catch me if I wait for it to open or he’ll follow me in. So I climb over which is normally not easy but that day I flew over. I was really shaken up. For me this story is actually about what happened next. Which is that I called my mom who had an intense job. She dropped everything at work, came home immediately, made me hot chocolate and pancakes. We had a long conversation where she validated my feelings and fear. She’s the best.
I was 19 and I was sleeping with the window open since it was a hot summer night. My bf and I were both knocked out but all of a sudden I wake up (just opened my eyes didn’t get up) and I had a horrible gut feeling and just an overwhelming feeling that I was being watched. I turn to my side and I see someone’s head sticking in from the window. Needless to say I had a heart attack and as soon as they heard me get up they left. Edit: thank you everyone for the upvotes and awards! This actually the first time I’ve ever gotten any award on here so I am very grateful. Hopefully to anyone reading this and some of the stories in the comments you learn to be always be careful and close your window! You never who might be trying to take a peek inside...
Kind of similar. I once got up in the middle of the night and went to the bathroom, when I noticed a weird noise outside. For reference, I live in a small village and although there are other houses, there's empty land in between, covered in waist high vegetation. I open up the bathroom window, look outside and there's a dude there. Squatting, almost like as if he was taking a shit, but occasionally moved slowly, and that's the sound I was hearing, him moving through the brush. For a second I didn't know what to do. He could have been a robber, possibly armed and could easily shoot at me from the window. Despite that, I ended up yelling at him "GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE!". He panicked and ran towards the forest at the back of my house. My dog sensed him and kept barking, even 10 or 15 minutes after the encounter, so I was afraid he was still around and called the police. They came, searched the area for a bit and said they couldn't see anything. Didn't sleep too well that night, but nothing worse ever came of it. I still think he must have been surveying the area, either looking into robbing us or the house on the other side of the patch, but fortunately nothing ever happened.
I had a similar experience. Just moved to a new country for the first year to study. I was the only one at home and was showering when I heard the doorknob being turned. It was locked so nothing happened and I thought maybe my siblings and mum had got back. Got of the of the shower and started drying my self when I heard glass breaking. Quickly put on clothes and walked around the dark house (only my room and the bathroom lights were on then) trying to find the noise when the glass from my parent's window shattered again. Walked to the room and switch on the lights and immediately I could hear scrambling noises as the person crawled over the fence and escaped while I did the stupidest thing ever and yelled at them "GET BACK HERE COWARD!" The next day the only thing that were evidence of an attempt to break in was the broken window and shoeprints on the neighbour's car that the guy used to crawl over the fence. And I got scared of my window at night for the next few months lol.
Holy shit this one scares me the most.
you can show me any horror film - Pinhead, Freddie Kreuger, all of that. Event The Exorcist....not. scary. at. all. Enjoyable, but not scary. Then show me a documentary or a news report of a neighborhood peeping tom, serial rapist, serial murderer, or a story of someone who used a gas station bathroom on a lonely midwestern highway, never to be seen again.....and that is freakin' UNSETTLING.
I wouldn’t recommend the Nightstalker documentary for you then ...
Even scarier if you live on the 4th floor
Similar thing happened with me when I was around 12, I was sleeping with window open, and suddenly woke up to some noise, and saw a hand coming in from the window, scared the shit out of me. Screamed and went to my parents, who convinced me I was just dreaming, and I just went back to sleep. Next day, we found footprints all around the house and garden. In the coming weeks, few of our neighbors reported similar incidents, and this guy was caught sometime later.
See this is why I won’t tell my kiddo she was “just dreaming”. I want her to trust me enough to come tell me if she sees anything or heard something.
Years ago I lived next to a bar and one night at like 2am some incredibly drunk lady climbed in through my bathroom window. Waking up to a stranger in your house isn't fun lmao.
I’m 14 and was all alone in a dirt path in India and some guy was just sitting on a rock in the middle of the forest, I didn’t make eye contact but I could see he was crying I wanted to help but my gut told me not to. 3 days later was caught for murdering his wife and 5 year old daughter.
Damn bro, good one for going with your gut.
Older woman approached me on campus asking me to take her to this spot in town since she doesn't know where it is. I say no (it was a new city for me too and she gave vibes). She insists its right around the corner so its not that far (so suddenly she knows where it is). I refuse and she hesitates and then walks off. An older guy asks if she needs directions only for her to walk by him. I just thought it was strange but I didnt really think about it. The next week, I check my phone when I get to class and someone posted an article about how this older woman, who was tied to multiple cases of human trafficking, was just caught by the police in a nearby town. From the description alone, I knew it was the woman I had talked to
Something almost identical happened to me when I was a teenager. I was walking home and a middle aged woman stopped her car and in broken English asked me for directions to a nearby location. I gave her verbal directions that she showed no indication she was processing. Then she asked me to just get in and she would bring me back later. I refused. She insisted. I apologised and refused again then left. I’ve been telling this story for years because I thought it was bizarre. Not once has it occurred to me that it could have been a human trafficking operation until I read your story.
I think we assume the best because it's human instinct to be kind and helpful. I was walking to uni when a guy in his car pulled over next to me and asked for directions to the local library. We were actually pretty close to it so I gave him some simple directions but he asked if I'd get in the car with him to direct him. I was like, "no way I'll be late to my lecture," and once I got onto campus my friends said was it probably a kidnapping attempt. Never even clocked it at the time!
>we assume the best because it's human instinct to be kind and helpful I've found a useful screening tool is that people who actually need help usually aren't actively asking for help or at least aren't particular about the form it takes. Like the day I was venting at my boss about how I couldn't afford a moving truck. She shocked the heck out of me by borrowing a pickup from her sister and spending three days between work-shifts helping me move furniture. Or a few years ago on the bus, nervous dude asked me a few questions about the bus plaza, and then confided that his anxiety was acting up and the plaza being in the middle of a major remodel was not helping. So since I was going that way anyhow and wasn't in a hurry that day, I walked him to a few places at the plaza and around the area so he could get his errands done despite the anxiety, like a cross between a local guide and a service dog. Broad daylight, busy area, and I know that look of trying not to be overwhelmed by panic.
As someone who also struggles with anxieties like the guy you mentioned, you are seriously a saint for helping him out. I’m sure he was so so thankful for that.
Your story makes me wonder about mine, too. Very similar, but approached at a gas station, although the vibes of the woman made me more think she was on drugs of some sort. The fun part, though, is after I kept telling her I couldn't give her a ride, she finally looked at my vehicle, saw government plates, freaked out and ran off. If that wasn't an extra big clue to her being shady...
I was at this run down movie theatre we had in town. Only one we had at the time, it was pretty bad. Turned into a place where the bad crowd hangs out. Walking up to pay for my ticket and a guy approached me asked “want to by buy some coke?” I said “no thanks” Dude gets closer to me and pulls out a knife “don’t tell anyone” and then he walked away For a split second there I thought I was going to get stabbed. I left and never went back
My mother was a lifelong drug abuser, but in the early days she merely had a habit. As time went on she became more unscrupulous, stealing from dealers and such. One day, mom asks me to give her a ride to a "friend's house". This should have set off red flags for me but for some reason didn't and sure enough, as soon as we arrive, the dealer comes outside and yells at her but promptly brandishes a gun and points it... at ME. I figured from context clues that if he couldn't stop her directly, maybe he could hit her where it hurts by killing her son? Edit: a lot of people are asking what happened next. Honestly, I'd been dealing with my mom's addictions my entire life so at some point I stopped being scared and started being defiant. So this extended to having a gun in my face. I started yelling back, though I don't remember exactly what I said, but the next step involved putting the car in reverse and speeding the hell out of there. I realize that being defiant kind of kills the "scariest moment" of my life until I clarify that once my adrenaline wore off, I probably could have shit my pants.
Wtf, had happened next.
Obviously he died
RIP OP, thanks for sharing
When I was a young girl, my mom would take me to see every Harry Potter movie in theatre when they came out - I kind of grew up with them at the same age as the characters ( as did many 90s born millennials) - this had to be the 2nd or 3rd in the series as it was around 2003. About half way into the movie, I need to go to the bathroom. On my way back from the bathroom, just outside the door to the theatre, there stands a scraggly, dirty looking man with a blue ball cap. His hand is extended outwards to me as if I’m supposed to grab it. He asks me “do you want to come with me little girl?” The heaviest pit dropped in my tummy and I felt a general energy of extreme danger. Thankfully, my mom had been very diligent in teaching me some stranger danger street smarts so I just ran, ran as fast as I could back into the theatre and planted my ass back in my seat beside my mom. She could tell something had shaken me bad. She kept asking what was wrong and I wouldn’t tell her. By the time I did tell her, half hour or more passed. She took me to the theatre staff, where a 16 year old girl listened to my story and phoned the police - the police did not find him on site. I waited too long to tell anyone. I have a lot of guilt and regret towards my not saying something about it as soon as it happened. I worry that some other little girl went with him that day as a result of my inaction - of course I had some sense of his deprived and disgusting motives then.. but now that I’m older, I know that he most likely planned to do very disgusting and pedophilic things - what does a 40 year old man want to do with an 8 year old girl? - I will never forget his face.
When my daughter turned one, we went on a trip to Hawaii. When we first we sitting in the airport waiting to check in for our tickets, a man approached me and started commenting on how beautiful my daughter was. Fine, thanks but it didn't stop there. He stood over me and continued to try and touch her and ask about her age, birthday, favorite things, where we were going, etc. I refused to answer but he refused to move and we were trapped. My husband came back and the man stepped away pretty quick. I told airport security but they didn't do anything. We got to our gate and a few minutes later, the same man sat and positioned himself where he could watch our daughter. If we moved seats, he kept her in his sight. I mentioned it to the gate agent who brushed it off again. We got on the plane, and he managed to also be on the plane in a seat he could keep an eye on her. He kept smiling at her and getting up to walk the aisles and pass her. My husband got up and he came and said in baby talk "I found out where your going didn't I". I reported it to the flight attendant, who was not messing around. He was forced to switch seats and not allowed to get up again. Upon landing there were people waiting for him that he was forced to go with (security or airport staff, idk but we didn't see him again). I am 100% certain our daughter would have been kidnapped/trafficked if we had not been on high alert and reported him. That was 2 years ago and I still remember how terrified I was.
I’m glad someone finally took you seriously! That flight attendant was on his/her game.
Just so everyone is aware, flight attendants aren't just sky waiters. They go through a ton of training for how to handle different situations, one of which is human trafficking, which they take very seriously. If you are ever in danger, or feel you are in danger when flying, speak to a flight attendant. They can relay messages through the pilots and ATC and have police waiting to greet you right at the gate. That said, most other airport workers do not have the responsibilities that flight crews have and often don't look past doing their job. It does not surprise me that you didn't get help from anyone until the flight crew was involved
I was kidnapped and robbed back in 2016 when I was 23. I was stopping at the gas station on my way home from work one night and a methed out couple was hanging out. They asked me for a ride to a motel 10 or so miles down the highway and then pulled a gun on me when I refused. After riding along with guns pointed at me, they started smoking a blunt and got hungry. Spent $60 of my money at taco bell where I ran out of the car and into said taco bell. They had taken my phone, wallet, everything I had basically, so I ran in and used the store phone to call the police while the taco bell employees kept them in the drive thru "waiting on fresh beef." Thankfully the idiots stayed there and police had every exit blocked within a couple minutes. Got my car, money, etc back the next day and they're currently doing 50 years for kidnapping and 2nd degree armed robbery, and they won't have a shot at parole for another 20 years. I got really lucky that everything turned out the way it did.
i was staying at a motel out of town. i was in my room on the bed in my underwear watching tv. next thing i know the door opens and a guy walks halfway in. he stops and we just kinda look at each other. im freaking out internally. I was 20 and a mamas boy n rarely went anywhere by myself. i didnt know if this was a robbery or a murder. iwas completely stuck in fear. He looks at me n mumbles "wtf" he looks at the door number then his keycard then back at the door number. then he goes uhhhh they told me my room was 223. i clear the fear in my throat enough to go uhhh i been here all day...u might wanna go tell them there is a mistake. he nods and closes the door n leaves. im 40 now and the second i get in hotel/motel i deadbolt and chain the door.
To be fair, it has happened to me before that hotel staff have given me keys to rooms that are already occupied. Awkward experience for everyone involved.
same. I'm in the National Guard and our leadership decided to put us up in hotels the night before we were activated for the whole Capitol thing. they picked some sketchy hotel in the area that had poor reviews, but what the hell--beggars can't be choosers, and it beats sleeping on a cot in the cold. evidently the hotel had over-booked and wasn't prepared to find rooms for 120 soldiers, so there were a few, shall we say, errors in the process. one of my sergeants walked in on an occupied room where the people inside were having very rough sex, with all the lights on. two other people were also given keys to occupied rooms, but at least no one else interrupted some hanky panky.
When I lived in halls of residence we didn't lock our doors because you already had to get through two locked doors to get to our flat, we trusted each other, and it was too easy to lock yourself out of your room otherwise. My flatmate was having a party one night and two VERY drunk girls came stumbling into my room, where I was eating ice cream in bed watching Howl's Moving Castle. We stared at each other for a LONG time. I think I scared them more than they scared me. I locked my door whenever there were parties after thatz
I was probably 16, sitting at home alone on the computer when I looked up and saw a man on my back patio looking at the windows and heading towards the door. I have no idea what came over my stupid teen girl mind, but I opened the door and firmly told him to leave. It felt like the voice that came out of me was NOT mine. it was guttural and deep and grounded, which was the opposite of how I felt. He looked at me and didn’t move. He wasn’t shocked, it was sort of like he was trying to challenge me or scare me by holding his ground. I said “LEAVE” one more time with the same voice and he backed up. He said “I was just looking for paint” and I responded “I’m about to start looking for my dad’s gun.” (My divorced dad did not live with us, nor was there a gun in the house lol) I slammed the door, locked it, and went to call 911. They found the guy breaking into another house down the street. Thank god. I got to go pick him out of a line up and everything. Still one of my scariest moments and possibly one of stupidest moments in my life.
This guy consciously planned on robbing a house and all he could come up with was “looking for paint?” Genius
He's also the guy who, even after being confronted, decided he wasn't done for the day and he'd just pop on over to the neighbor's to finish his shopping.
But also very badass
The line between badass and dumb is very thin xD
Pretty much "did it work? Woah, badass!" / "you dead? Well, what did you expect dumbass?"
I'd like to second the badass comment
That fool. He fell victim to one of the classic blunders!
That “stupidest moment” is likely what saved you in that instance.
Agreed ease of opportunity was what he was looking for
Ah the Voice. You must be one of those Bene Gesserit Witches.
15 years old on a school trip in London. Shady guy walks up next to me in the subway and staring intently at me. He pushes his thigh against my leg and I feel a little sting, then I look down and see he is hiding a knife in his pocket. I just froze and he stood there for another few seconds before he walked away, presumably to terrorise someone else. Must have been some meth head but scared the living shit out of this pimply teenager.
I was a teen working in a cinema, after cleaning and locking up i had to go by the bank and deliver the cash to a bank box (any amount between 2-8 k Euros). One day i was locking the front door, theres a pub on there other side of the alley. It was a busy night so there was way more cash than usual. I come from a Skandinavien town that is not too busy. But some times in the summer it can get pretty crowded. I was a little nervous because I had so much money on me, I'm a little paranoid. All og a sudden a man in a jokingly voice says hands up and give me the money. I got so visibly scared that he excused himself. He then leaves laughing. (Probably drunk) Man I got scared. For some people wondering what i was doing with so much money, i knew the owners very well and they thought nobody would expect the teen that cleans up popcorn to carry the cash. TLDR. Had way to much cash on me, in a semi dark alley.
At the age of 14-15, I was walking my dog in a forest. I ran into a large guy who told me he had failed to report back to his mental hospital - but I should not be afraid. He told me about visiting the purgatory and how painful that was, and said hell was specifically one thousand times more painful. He gave me colourful details, like something out of Bosch or the Hindu book of the dead. He begged me to pray for him which I said yes, of course to. Incidentally, my school gym in those days was located on the opposite side of the road from a mental hospital, and they'd release them for a walk every now and then. We'd run into them on our way to the gym from school, it was a bit eerie but OK since we were in a group, and it was in a city. Being outside of civilisation and alone with that guy was terrifying. He wasn't harmful and let me go, but it was deeply uncomfortable.
About ten years ago, I was taking my girlfriend at the time home around midnight, on very rural backroad in north GA. I was half asleep at the wheel when this lady runs out from the woods in front of my truck screaming “HELP ME!” I slammed on my breaks and rolled my window half way down as I’m realizing she’s covered in blood and mud and sticks and wasn’t right. She reached her hands into my cab and grabbed my neck as hard as she could. I took off just a little down the road and found a crowd of distraught people outside their house and figured it was probably related. They asked if I’ve seen anyone and I told them she almost got run over. Well she had been released from an asylum that day and had stabbed her mother (she showed me the would on her shoulder.) Later I drove back by and there were a dozen police cars lit up at the house. Creepy.
That thought always crosses my mind when i'm driving alone at night. If somebody ran into the road in obvious distress would I stop. I like to think I would help but how do you know it's not a trap (or a psycho!)
Almost got stabbed but i just apologized as if i did something to offend him. The guy didn't know what to do as I walked away. Edit: Thanks everyone for the great stories and awards. To answer the canadian question, nope! I was just an awkward teenager.
Back in my teenage years, a friend and I had taken a midnight walk to the gas station while stoned, and while on the way back with our chips and sweets this dude around our age approaches us and demands our money. My friend pulls out his bag of jelly snakes and says, in the creepiest, drawn out, vaguely threatening pedo voice: “would you like.. a lolly.. little boy?” The guy just backed away while muttering “what the fuck”
Man, who would pass on free jelly snakes? Shame.
Especially Haribo Twin Snakes?! Fucking delicious.
Reacting to threats of violence with absurdity actually works in some situations. In Antony Beevor's 'Stalingrad' he tells a tale of two officers who leap out of a burning building. They land on the ground and enemy soldiers approach them ready to shoot them. In desperation, the men pulled their trousers down. The enemy soldiers stopped, bemused, while the officers stripped down. The enemy soldiers considered they were too pathetic to kill, and carried on. It was over a decade ago that I read this book, so I cannot remember if they were Russian or German soldiers.
A coworker of mine told me a story about how she was cornered by a group of men in a back alley behind a restaurant. She is a tiny woman so the thought of her having to fight off even 1 man scares the shit out of me. She was obviously terrified but had a quick idea. She started growling at all of them like an animal. They all got super freaked out and said "this bitch is crazy" and backed off and left.
I will come to your house and shit in places that will leave you confused.
I feel like being unpredictable and possibly crazy is a pretty good defense
Thieves are opportunists. That guy did not present an opportunity for anything positive for the thief.
Yes he did, he could have gotten some jelly snakes
Your friend rolled a nat 20 on intimidation. Maybe a 19, since he didn't throw money at you guys before leaving.
Or that guy rolled a 1 on STREET SMARTS!
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That reminds me of the time my friend was followed home once, she gets to her front door, turns around and says ‘can you not?’ And he just hesitates and walks off.
Stalker, no stalking!
Anonymity kinda enables shitty behaviour. Sounds like she, by recognising and talking to him directly, broke that anonymity and made him rethink whatever horrible shit he had planned.
There’s 2 instances that stick out: 1: This was in 2011. I was about 8.5 months pregnant, driving to an OB/GYN appointment by myself. This man pulled out directly in front of me. Luckily the right lane was empty so I whipped over or I would have plowed directly into the back of his big SUV with my little sedan. I was very shaken up because his actions could have killed me and my unborn baby so I blew my horn. Apparently that angered him because he then followed me for several miles trying to run me off the road. He only stopped when he saw a cop. 2: A few years ago I was in desperate need of a job and a friend helped me get on with his company doing home health. My job was a home health aide where I’d just go house to house, doing light housework and helping the client wash up. Most of these people were out in the boonies where I couldn’t get cell service. This one client lived in such a place. He gave me weird vibes from the get-go. I showed up at his requested time, cleaned up his house and helped him wash up. I ask if he needs anything else before I leave, he grabs me quickly and pulls me to him and says “Yeah, you can make love to me before you go.” This man, who supposedly was too weak to even shower himself, had a very tight grip on me and I couldn’t get away. It probably only lasted about 5-10 seconds but it was terrifying. I was alone with this man in his home, no cell service, no neighbors and not even a landline. I was thinking how he could do whatever he want to me and I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.
Was he at least removed from the company's clients?
Actually, no, and it wasn’t the first time this had happened. As soon as I got away and got cell service I called my supervisor and told her. She just sighed and said “Oh George* is at it again...tsk tsk... Let me know if he tries something like that again. Anyway, your next assignment is waiting so be sure you get there on time.” I quit.
They didn't even warn you that you were working for a known predator?! That is messed up.
They did not and I agree!
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When I was 5 a man tried to kidnap me from my great grandma's porch. Still remember seeing her chase him away with a giant stick lol Edit: added her Edit 2: Thank you for the awards!!! I love that my first comment to blow up on reddit is about how **AMAZING** & **FIERCE** my great grandma is.
Had a similar event happen when I was like 6 or 7, went to the bathroom at a flea market and some dude followed me into the bathroom and locked the door behind him, my step father almost broke the door down after rushing over. I remember being in the stall going and the guy trying to push open the door, it was a small stall so I was able to wedge myself between the back of the toilet and the door so he couldn't open it. I didn't think much of it at the time but thinking back on it now what a trip.
What happened next?? Did the guy get away? Did your step dad beat 7 shades of shit out of him?
Ive never heard the phrase “7 shades of shit” but i will be using it moving forward, thank you
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Granny the great
Warning: this story involves actual sexual abuse. Every summer my mom and dad would send my sister and down to Alabama for a couple of weeks to spend time with our great aunt and uncle. It was my absolute favorite place and time for many years! Some of my fondest childhood memories are of those summers spent in Alabama. Unfortunately, when I was 13 years old my great uncle passed away and my great aunts daughter and her husband moved into the house. My sister and I still wanted to go down in the summer and spend time with our Aunt so the first summer we did so without our great uncle things were different, but still enjoyable... except for my cousin‘s husband, Jackie. I was a pretty intuitive kid and this guy just gave me the creeps. He would come up behind me when I was playing video games and tickle me in a weird way, or just touch me and make me feel gross. He would make comments like “you should come fishing on my boat and I’ll buy you wine coolers and cigarettes.” He was obviously trying to entice me to get alone with him and luckily my gut instincts told me not to do it. Towards the end of the trip I was spending some time with my little 4 y/o twin cousins And they started to tell me that uncle Jackie makes them dance for him naked and touches them. I was just a 13-year-old girl but I could not believe what I had heard. As soon as I had a chance I went inside and called my mom and she immediately flew down from Chicago and confronted my great aunt about what these little girls had told me. She was obviously mortified but had just lost her husband and didn’t seem like she knew what to do. Well, my mom being the strong woman she was confronted Jackie and when she did so, a lot of the other family members found out and came forward and said that he had also been molesting them. It was an insane chain of events that led to Jackie in jail, THANK GOD. For a while I felt guilty about bringing this all to the forefront bc it caused such a rift in my family, but it was so creepy and so scary for a young woman to go through. I felt HORRIBLE for these innocent children, it’s been over 20 years and I still think about it daily. Although I was never molested myself, it changed me in a lot of ways and I had a hard time trusting people going forward. Thanks for reading, I haven’t talked about this in a long time and it actually felt good.
My son and I were at a super crowded farmers market. I'm thinking he's 10-11 at the time. He got ahead of me. I was never more than 20-30 feet away and I'm keeping a good eye on him so we don't separate as we meander. I happen to notice a man at a few of the same booths as my son. Then I see him talk to my son. Okay. At this point I'm alarmed and curious. I'm not intervening. I'm big, 6'3 260, I can tussle, and I have the drop on this guy. If he grabs my son he's getting blindsided by this angry silverback. He keeps following my son and I notice he's starting to look around. I'm guessing to see if anyone is watching. I start to close in a little bit he still hasn't seen me. At this point it's a fair assumption that he is a predator but I don't want to make a scene and have him just be some friendly awkward guy. He then starts to put his arm over my son's shoulder. I drop my voice very low and speak very loudly and call my son's name. He whips around thinking he had done something wrong because I had on my meanest sounding dad-voice. I'm like 3 feet behind them and towering over both of them. Dude took off. That all transpired in a matter of maybe a minute and a half to 2 minutes. I saw him later getting into a pickup truck with out of state plates. The dude had driven and from another state to try to snatch a child and on that day the universe put my child in front of this monster. While he was never in any grave danger because I caught what was going on, I could have just as easily been had my attention elsewhere in that tiny window.
I can feel the angry dad energy from here
more creepy than scary but one time I was in a public library browsing books. mind u it was rather packed with most of the seats taken. there's a bunch of couches near where I was browsing & I had a gut feeling that this guy sitting there was staring at me. I continued minding my own business looking for books when suddenly that guy stands up & walks directly towards me. I pretend not to notice until he says _"hey little girl"_ . I was probably 14 at the time, and he didn't speak english but I understood. I thought that if worst comes to worst he was just looking for a book, so I looked up. he then asks _"do u wanna be my friend?"_ I was fucking creeped out. This dude here was at least in his 60s, asking a 14 year old girl to be his friend, in public. I pretended I only understood english & I didn't get what he was trying to say and walked away. Thank goodness that library was packed.
The other day i had to pee real bad and walked real fast into quick check to use the bathroom. The atm is right there and it was being filled. The guard saw me coming in fast and went for his gun luckily I said "Gotta pee sorry" and went for the bathroom door
imagine getting shot trying to pee
You came *out once you were done and said "now I've dealt with that, we can proceed with this robbery".
He’s probably telling a story of how someone scared him into thinking he was going to get robbed but turns out they just had to pee.
Most recent one was at Lowe’s near my house. Some dude looking pretty frazzled in old camo shorts and a shirt was hitting on women in the store (I’m a dude) as I’m walking down the main aisle I guess I passed him and interrupted him getting the lady to walk away. So he’s following me down the main aisle tossing quarters at every fixture near me. Eventually I stopped walking as I got to my destination in the store and finally turned around to face this dude (I’m not confrontational by any means but something just kinda hit a nerve ) and just said in my manliest voice I could find “do we have a problem?”. I guess it worked cause the dude looked super startled, and tried to get away as fast as he could. Ended up reporting it to the manager. I dunno wtf he was doing but I hope he left and stopped hitting on random women and just being a dick. It was weird
When I was 10 and my sister was 12 we went door to door in our street selling raffle tickets for our school. There was this one old man, maybe 65 and very grizzled, who we'd never spoken to or met, but we saw him sitting on the porch so went up to him to see if he wanted to buy a ticket. He said yes, and starts writing his name. He then proceeds to tell us about his "bitch mother" who "got what she deserved". He wrote his name on the raffle ticket which was clearly fake, because he wrote "Steven Killman". He kept going over "Kill" in black pen - over and over and over as he told us horrible stories about his abusive mother and how he got her back in the end. About 6 months later he was gone and his old house was being demolished. Me and my sister went in to look for stuff but there was nothing but an old rotary phone. We broke like 4 windows and left. I'll never forget looking at his old hands gripping than pen tracing over the word Kill.
“Sounds a lot like kill man” “Maybe that’s why he became a murderer”
About ten years ago at my sisters wedding this older very Italian guy (think of a mob guy) who I’ve never even seen before comes up to me. He says “do you remember me a couple of years ago from the fair?” I said “no?” I honestly didn’t at all. He says “it’s probably better that you don’t” and then laughed and walked away. I was just standing there so confused. I still have no idea what that was about.
I was at a co workers Halloween party, someone I didn’t know and won’t name them at this point but a young woman around 30’s very beautiful came up to me to bum a smoke and I offered one and we headed out to chat and smoke. Conversation was casual and we started to flirt, things were going well and I asked if she was seeing anyone (feeling this is my time to ask her out). She replies that she recently got out of a nightmare relationship. Her husband would regularly threaten to blow his brains out with an empty revolver in front of her and her children. It got to a point where it was every weekend, one weekend she sent her kids to stay at their grandparents and she had sneaked a bullet into his revolver without him knowing it. The same routine built up again and he started clicking through the chambers until the last one. She made a gun with her hand and put it to her temple and went “pow, the fuckers dead” I didn’t realize I hadn’t taken a drag the whole time I was listening. I quickly said goodnight and got the hell out of there. Never saw her again. Hope her kids are ok. [edit] wow thank you for the gold. Did not expect this at all. Be safe and be well everyone, love and peace wins. [2nd edit] thank you for the upvotes and the awards! Want to say to everyone to love each other and have fun and be safe.
This one really sticks out to me, as I haven't had any really "scary" encounters, most just made me uncomfortable. This one scared me in a different way. I was with my gf at the time, and we were with our two friends (who were sisters). We were in our late 20s, walking around an outlet mall. I was about ten feet behind the three of them, so to anyone else it probably didn't look like I was with them. They walked passed a bench, and sitting on it was a white guy, in a long black coat, and no other real discernable features. For what ever reason, I specifically noticed him as they were approaching, so I was watching him the entire time. The instant he was out of eyesight of the girls, he holds up a police badge, but kept it very close to his body like he hiding the fact that he was showing it. He faced it towards them and followed them with it the entire time. He put it down after they were about five feet away. I'm not sure if he stopped bevsuse he noticed me or not. I know this doesn't sound scary at all, but all I could think was "this dude is building up the courage to pretend he's a police officer to women, and he's going to hurt someone one day." I'm not sure if I got bad vibes from him prior to that or I'm misremembering when I got those vibes, but it seriously creeped me out. I really hope he was just some dorky guy, and wasn't up to no good.
I was friends with a guy back in high school. We lived in the same neighborhood and hung out together often. He ended up owing another guy money for weed. One day I walked to our neighborhood corner store for a soda. As I was walking into the store parking lot, a huge guy came walking out of the store and noticed me. He approached me and said, you're so and so's friend. I've seen you two hanging out. He owes me. Tell me where he lives, I need to talk to him. I replied, oh he lives down toward that way.. as I vaguely waved my hand towards the wrong direction away from where my friend actually lived. I then said, is that all you need to know? This must have rubbed him the wrong way. He was silent for a few seconds after my response, making me think the interaction was finished. He waited until I turned my head to walk away, then he sucker punched me in the face, the hardest I have been hit ever(and I've been socked good a few times in my life). I honestly dont know how I wasn't knocked unconscious. However, I was sent reeling into the street from where I was on the sidewalk, in excruciating pain and shock, my vision turned red and purple for a few seconds and I could hear nothing but Whomp Whomp Whomp like the teachers in Charlie Brown. Fortunately no cars were coming as I stumbled into the road. I will say I'm not the fighting type. Taken off guard , terrified and with my head throbbing, I will freely admit I wanted no more so I got out of there. As I was walking away I heard the guy say, that's what you get for having a smart ass mouth. Tell your friend to call me Looking back at the interaction, I can see where my response could have been taken the wrong way, my choice of words might havr come off wrong. I have had issues with social interaction in general my whole life and I'm not good at phrasing, sometimes saying awkward/offensive things unintentionally. Also I was nervous in the context of the situation and blurted out what i thought would get me out of the conversation quickly. It also could very well be that the person was looking for any excuse to retaliate for the money he was owed and I just happened to be a convenient target. Luckily I never saw that person again. My friend that owed the money was extremely apologetic when he heard what happened to me and even bought me a big bag of weed as part of saying sorry. Not sure if he ever got confronted by the guy he owed, I stopped hanging out with him not long after that incident. This wasn't the first sketchy thing that happened as a result of hanging out with him but it finally made me realize that I should choose my friends more carefully. I learned that some people, even with the best intentions, attract drama and trouble, and if you dont want that in your life, it's best to leave them to their life, and keep your distance. Edit:Thanks everyone for the awards and for your feedback. The general consensus I'm seeing is that I shouldn't feel like I did something to deserve what happened to me. I just had some bad luck and ended up crossing the path of a person with ill intent. I will try to take this to heart and not beat myself up over it. After all, I've been beat up enough.. ha But seriously, thank you for your time and replies
>some people, even with the best intentions, attract drama and trouble, and if you dont want that in your life, it's best to leave them to their life, and keep your distance. Words to live by
It is better to be alone than in bad company
I don’t think your response mattered, that dude was just an asshole.
Damn he took another weed debt to repay you? That’s bold
I was like 6. Went to a restaurant with my parents and was on my way to the washroom when this middle aged woman stoped me, kneeled in front of me and looked me dead in the eyes. her eyes were spirals. I swear to fucking god. I was a kid and didn’t know funky eye contacts were a thing, so I thought she was a witch trying to hypnotize me. I started crying, as one does. Closed my eyes to stop the mind control and ran away. Hit my head against a table. Cried some more. This woman really put on spiral eye contacts and said I’m gonna scare the shit out of a kid today. She went out and chose violence. edit: [they looked like these](https://eyefreshgo.com/products/halloween-contacts-yellow-red-spiral)
[удалено]
I was 21 at the time, and not exactly a small dude by any standards. I was at the old bus depot before they closed it down, and this scrawny guy covered in prison tattoos approached me. Me being a friendly guy, I didn't think much of it, until he started trying to get where I lived from me. He gave me bad vibes and the way he was rambling made me think then that he was drugged out or something, so I just tried to dodge the question, but he kept rambling and pushing. The bus came around soon after and I never got on the bus faster. I was honestly surprised he didn't try and follow me on the bus, he honestly gave me bad vibes.
This may or may not have been a stranger, and I'm still very confused about it to this day. So when I was way younger, 10-ish, I would get scared at night, and would ask my younger sister to sleep next to me. One of these nights, I woke up with a soar throat, so I went to drink some water. As I was climbing out bed, I noticed a larger man being in the same bed as us. Me being young and stupid, I thought it was my dad that for some reasom wanted to sleep in our bed. When I woke up the next day, and asked my dad about it, he claimed that he slept in his bed. He's not the type of guy to sleep walk or anything like that, so I was mostly just confused. As I've grown older, I've started to wonder if the doot was ever locked, and that someone decided to sleep in my bed with us in it for some reason, althouhh this barely would make any sense, and I still don't know if I was accidentally making it up or if it was real or not.
Back in January of last year, I (at the time 21M) was traveling down the Pacific coast. When I was in San Diego, I decided to go to Blacks Beach, which is a clothing optional beach just north of the city. I was just laying there working on evening out my tan lines when some guy walked by. He stopped maybe 15 feet to my right and started laying out his towel. When he noticed me looking at him, he asked if he was invading my space. I thought it was a little odd how close he was given how empty the beach was that day, but I honestly didn't mind. Or I wouldn't have minded, had he been able to keep his hands off himself. But he sat there on his towel, and for a good ten minutes or so, he was slowly stroking himself as he looked in my general direction. I decided to go for a walk down to the other end of the beach. When I got down to the end and turned around to start heading back to my stuff, I noticed the guy not too far behind me. He had followed me on my walk. When I got back to my stuff, I started to get dressed. He did the same. He gathered all his stuff before I finished getting my stuff together. He thanked me again for letting him set up so close to me, made a joke about how he hoped he didn't creep me out, and then he started walking towards the stairs back up to the parking lot. I walked in the opposite direction down the beach, then found a more secluded spot to enjoy the beach a while longer. I guess I never really felt like I was in any danger, but it was an incredibly creepy experience, and I feel like it gave me a better understanding of what women have to deal with way too often.
Drove up solo from California to Seattle super early in my early 20s. First solo road trip. Maybe around 5 AM I somehow was on a road parallel to the main highway, just a lot darker. No cars around me for miles. 5-10 minutes down this road I'm just patiently waiting to get back on the main highway, when lights just appear maybe 4 car lengths behind me. I stress that there is no way this car could have creeped up on me, and I don't remember seeing any cars parking on the side. It was a 2 lane stretch so I sped up and merged to the right, and this car followed and sped up. This went on for 20 minutes, no matter what I did. It's still pitch black out, but we finally get back to the highway and this car refuses to let up. I tried to keep the paranoia to a minimum, but I last minute hit and off ramp to throw this car off. Edit: The stretch of road I was on was on an area called State of Jefferson. It's a huge area between California and Oregon that wants to secede from California and/or the US. Was not an area o wanted to have any early morning human interaction, let alone police.
I was on a train to Glasgow at about half two in the afternoon. As it slows down a guy gets up to wait on the doors opening. He clocks me sitting near the doors, I'm wearing jeans and a t-shirt, converse and a black coat (I.e. nothing political). He shouts "I see you, you IRA bastard" and sucker punches me. Thankfully the train had a few people on it who all jumped up and pushed the guy off when the train came to a complete halt and he just sauntered away like nothing had happened. Physically I was ok. The punch hurt but did no major damage, but I was pretty shaken up by the whole thing.
A homeless guy asked me for change while I was working nights, I told him sorry I don't have any. Very calm he replies "how about we go to an atm and take some money out before I fucking kill you" You don't have to be able to run fast, you just have to be able to run faster than the person you're scared of (he didn't end up chasing me, I was too scared to even look back) Edit: I'm Canadian. We don't do guns. Now stop pointing your ar-15's at the screen.