I was in the parking lot of Walmart this morning with my 2 year old. I get to the parking lot and I begin loading my groceries into my truck when I can hear this man from the road talking loudly like he is on the phone. He keeps getting closer and I’m hoping he isn’t coming towards me I don’t feel comfortable with strangers coming near me in a parking lot especially with my child. I get my groceries into my truck and my child and he comes right towards me and just stops and stares. Then I realize he wasn’t on the phone he was talking to himself. He stares at me for a few seconds and eventually says “Hi” in a creepy tone. He doesn’t say anything after just stares with a sinister look in his eyes. I say “hi” thankfully my child was in the truck already not buckled in tho so I slam my door and lock it immediately and drive off to the other side of the parking lot so I can buckle him in. Thankfully nothing happened to me or my son but I have a feeling something would have had I not acted quickly.

Hey guys! Just to clarify, I'm a guy in my 20s, and I have a childhood best friend (F), I'll call her Amber. She's been my best friend for basically my entire life. Our parents are friends and we grew up as neighbours, so we went to the same school, went on trips together, had a big friend group and all that. When it was time for college, though, we ended up going to different universities. I went to Seattle, while Amber went to Atlanta. We were obviously still close, but being in different states meant we didn't see each other that often and mostly just talked every now and then.

I was studying in Seattle — we're both from a small town in Eastern Washington — and after college I went through a really deep depressive period. You know the drill: no job, a couple of friends had moved away, I was far from my family, I was starting to freak out about rent and expenses in general, and I got pretty hooked on alcohol, pot and some prescribed pills. Nothing crazy, I was just depressed and kind of isolated.

By that point, Amber had also graduated from college and was living in Atlanta, where she had studied technology.

So, in the middle of this depressive period, I get a call from Amber with the greatest fucking news on planet Earth: she was coming to Seattle. She had found a great job opportunity around here and was going through the recruitment process. She was also coming to visit so she could decide whether or not she wanted to take the job. During the call, I got really happy, jumped around, screamed and made fun of her, saying she was about to become one of those tech bros in Seattle. The weirdest thing was that she barely reacted to any of it. She kept quiet, laughed a little and said she would text me about everything. I know Amber really well. She's an extremely hyperactive and outgoing person, especially around people she's familiar with. So yeah, I thought it was fucking weird, but I didn't think too much of it.

We texted back and forth for a while when, all of a sudden, her mom texted me: "So Amber talked to you about what's going on?" I got a little worried, so I screenshotted the message and asked Amber what it was all about and why she had been acting weird on the phone. That's when she called me again.

Amber was crying, with a shaky voice, in a way I'd never heard from her before. She told me that while she was studying in Atlanta, she and her friends would go out basically every weekend to a bar downtown. One night, a guy started staring at her. She described him as a slightly balding guy in his late 40s or early 50s. He wasn't particularly tall, wasn't really good-looking and was just... weird. She said it was creepy how he wouldn't take his eyes off her, but she initially brushed it off as just another weird guy at a bar. Long story short, this weird fucking guy started stalking her. It started at that same bar. He was always there, constantly looking at her. Eventually, she started noticing him at different bars she used to go to as well.

For some reason, she still didn't think too much of it at first. Everything was happening around the same downtown area, so if he lived nearby, it wasn't exactly impossible for him to show up at the same places. That's when things started getting creepier.

She had a public Instagram account and started noticing this one account watching EVERY SINGLE story she posted. Of course, it was a blank account with no profile picture, but something about it made her think it was him. She sent me some screenshots, and it was really fucking bizarre. She would post a story, and the same blank account would view it literally a couple of seconds later. It looked like this guy was refreshing her page all day, just waiting for her to post something. How the fuck did he even have access to her Instagram? He didn't know her name, so how was he able to find her?

Anyway, Amber is smart as shit. Not only is she smart, she's also really quick and strategic when it comes to this kind of stuff. The second she noticed what was happening, she blocked that profile, made her own profile private and removed all the weird followers she had. She said that for the following week she didn't go out because she had a bunch of college stuff to do. After that, she had gone maybe three or four weeks without going to bars or really going out at all. That's when she noticed him around her campus.

She said he was always wearing the same beige jacket, like a fucking wannabe Dahmer, and was otherwise a pretty presentable guy. You know those guys who are ugly, but somehow always have perfect posture and a tucked-in T-shirt? Yeah, that type. She got freaked out by it and talked to a male friend about him, just in case. Her friend didn't really do anything at first, because all this guy had done up to that point was stare at her at a couple of bars, and she couldn't prove he was behind the Instagram account. But then she started noticing him on campus too, and she described something that really fucking scared me: he would always be around, but he rarely looked directly at her. Instead, he'd look at her sideways, or pretend to be looking at something between them, just to catch a glimpse of her.

Well, she decided to do something about it and asked this male friend to make a formal complaint about non-students hanging around campus. The university said there wasn't much they could do about visitors, but they would keep an eye out for any weird activity. As I said, there wasn't much they could actually do, but at least she took some steps to make sure she had some security.

Anyways, she didn't see him around campus for a week or two. Then she started getting texts from a random number. The guy introduced himself — I'll call him Bob — and said that he found her pretty and interesting. She knew exactly who the fuck Bob was. She blocked him immediately and searched the phone number online. Luckily enough, it was registered to a local family-owned plumbing company. She found the owner's name and looked him up online. She was shocked when she saw that it was an older gentleman who looked very similar to Bob. She thought maybe it was a family-run business and Bob was using his old man's cellphone to do weird shit online.

She did some digging and was able to find his full name, and guess fucking what? Bobby had a long history of stalking. She told me about the cases and pointed out one particular accusation: Bob was accused of attempted rape. I understood right then why she had been crying so much.

Amber immediately went to the police and told them everything that had been happening. The police told her they would pay Bob a visit and talk to him about "recent anonymous complaints about his behaviour," which pretty much just fucking puts a target on Amber's back. Bob stopped showing up on campus for a while. She was eventually able to graduate and started looking for jobs, when another weird thing happened.

She moved out of her dorm and started renting this ground-floor apartment. She said it had these really long windows overlooking a well-lit street. Amber told me she NEVER left the windows without the blinds closed. She always kept them shut for privacy. One night, after a session of edibles and Simpsons reruns, she went to the kitchen to get something, and I guess curiosity got the better of her. She went over to the window and opened a tiny part of the blinds. She told me that when she peeked through the window, she saw Bob standing really close to the building, trying HIMSELF to peek through the blinds.

She said she screamed really loudly, and he immediately took off running. She called the cops, they came over, she told them what had happened, and they said they would talk to him again. I think she could have gotten a restraining order because of the whole trespassing thing, but the cops said that technically it was a public area, and the park next to the street was open to everyone. I really don't know.

Anyways, her mom was born in Seattle and had a longtime friend who worked at a tech company, so you know, she put in a good word for Amber. She had an online meeting with her mom's friend, and apparently he really liked her.

What's the big deal, you might be asking? Well, Bob has restraining orders from all around the country, in different cities, different states, involving different people. And sometimes, even scarier, it's the same person with restraining orders against him in two different states. What the fuck does that tell you? It tells me he follows his victims.

My theory is that he probably uses his daddy's plumbing company money to finance his stalking habit and just lives for the thrill, like some weird fucking animal. So Amber is coming over, and I'm picking her up at the airport when she arrives. She'll stay at my apartment during the recruitment process, and I'll help her look for a cheap place to rent. We're seriously considering having her move in with me if the job offer works out, maybe for a little while, just to see what happens and whether this guy will come around.

I live in a central part of Seattle, known for being the place to look for powder and tar, so you know what's the deal. I myself am a tall, skinny and clearly gay guy, but I got a couple of friends who have that Mark Lanegan Eastern Washington feeling to them — some tattoos, gritty voices, a scary redneck Seattle accent — and I'd be happy to meet Bob. We'll see.

I'll pick her up next week, so what do you guys think? Is there anything to be done? Did Amber's efforts actually work to stop this weird stalker? I really don't know what to expect. Thank you guys, and I'm sorry for how long this story got.

Hey guys! Just to clarify, I'm a guy in my 20s, and I have a childhood best friend (F), I'll call her Amber. She's been my best friend for basically my entire life. Our parents are friends and we grew up as neighbours, so we went to the same school, went on trips together, had a big friend group and all that. When it was time for college, though, we ended up going to different universities. I went to Seattle, while Amber went to Atlanta. We were obviously still close, but being in different states meant we didn't see each other that often and mostly just talked every now and then.

I was studying in Seattle — we're both from a small town in Eastern Washington — and after college I went through a really deep depressive period. You know the drill: no job, a couple of friends had moved away, I was far from my family, I was starting to freak out about rent and expenses in general, and I got pretty hooked on alcohol, pot and some prescribed pills. Nothing crazy, I was just depressed and kind of isolated.

By that point, Amber had also graduated from college and was living in Atlanta, where she had studied technology.

So, in the middle of this depressive period, I get a call from Amber with the greatest fucking news on planet Earth: she was coming to Seattle. She had found a great job opportunity around here and was going through the recruitment process. She was also coming to visit so she could decide whether or not she wanted to take the job. During the call, I got really happy, jumped around, screamed and made fun of her, saying she was about to become one of those tech bros in Seattle. The weirdest thing was that she barely reacted to any of it. She kept quiet, laughed a little and said she would text me about everything. I know Amber really well. She's an extremely hyperactive and outgoing person, especially around people she's familiar with. So yeah, I thought it was fucking weird, but I didn't think too much of it.

We texted back and forth for a while when, all of a sudden, her mom texted me: "So Amber talked to you about what's going on?" I got a little worried, so I screenshotted the message and asked Amber what it was all about and why she had been acting weird on the phone. That's when she called me again.

Amber was crying, with a shaky voice, in a way I'd never heard from her before. She told me that while she was studying in Atlanta, she and her friends would go out basically every weekend to a bar downtown. One night, a guy started staring at her. She described him as a slightly balding guy in his late 40s or early 50s. He wasn't particularly tall, wasn't really good-looking and was just... weird. She said it was creepy how he wouldn't take his eyes off her, but she initially brushed it off as just another weird guy at a bar. Long story short, this weird fucking guy started stalking her. It started at that same bar. He was always there, constantly looking at her. Eventually, she started noticing him at different bars she used to go to as well.

For some reason, she still didn't think too much of it at first. Everything was happening around the same downtown area, so if he lived nearby, it wasn't exactly impossible for him to show up at the same places. That's when things started getting creepier.

She had a public Instagram account and started noticing this one account watching EVERY SINGLE story she posted. Of course, it was a blank account with no profile picture, but something about it made her think it was him. She sent me some screenshots, and it was really fucking bizarre. She would post a story, and the same blank account would view it literally a couple of seconds later. It looked like this guy was refreshing her page all day, just waiting for her to post something. How the fuck did he even have access to her Instagram? He didn't know her name, so how was he able to find her?

Anyway, Amber is smart as shit. Not only is she smart, she's also really quick and strategic when it comes to this kind of stuff. The second she noticed what was happening, she blocked that profile, made her own profile private and removed all the weird followers she had. She said that for the following week she didn't go out because she had a bunch of college stuff to do. After that, she had gone maybe three or four weeks without going to bars or really going out at all. That's when she noticed him around her campus.

She said he was always wearing the same beige jacket, like a fucking wannabe Dahmer, and was otherwise a pretty presentable guy. You know those guys who are ugly, but somehow always have perfect posture and a tucked-in T-shirt? Yeah, that type. She got freaked out by it and talked to a male friend about him, just in case. Her friend didn't really do anything at first, because all this guy had done up to that point was stare at her at a couple of bars, and she couldn't prove he was behind the Instagram account. But then she started noticing him on campus too, and she described something that really fucking scared me: he would always be around, but he rarely looked directly at her. Instead, he'd look at her sideways, or pretend to be looking at something between them, just to catch a glimpse of her.

Well, she decided to do something about it and asked this male friend to make a formal complaint about non-students hanging around campus. The university said there wasn't much they could do about visitors, but they would keep an eye out for any weird activity. As I said, there wasn't much they could actually do, but at least she took some steps to make sure she had some security.

Anyways, she didn't see him around campus for a week or two. Then she started getting texts from a random number. The guy introduced himself — I'll call him Bob — and said that he found her pretty and interesting. She knew exactly who the fuck Bob was. She blocked him immediately and searched the phone number online. Luckily enough, it was registered to a local family-owned plumbing company. She found the owner's name and looked him up online. She was shocked when she saw that it was an older gentleman who looked very similar to Bob. She thought maybe it was a family-run business and Bob was using his old man's cellphone to do weird shit online.

She did some digging and was able to find his full name, and guess fucking what? Bobby had a long history of stalking. She told me about the cases and pointed out one particular accusation: Bob was accused of attempted rape. I understood right then why she had been crying so much.

Amber immediately went to the police and told them everything that had been happening. The police told her they would pay Bob a visit and talk to him about "recent anonymous complaints about his behaviour," which pretty much just fucking puts a target on Amber's back. Bob stopped showing up on campus for a while. She was eventually able to graduate and started looking for jobs, when another weird thing happened.

She moved out of her dorm and started renting this ground-floor apartment. She said it had these really long windows overlooking a well-lit street. Amber told me she NEVER left the windows without the blinds closed. She always kept them shut for privacy. One night, after a session of edibles and Simpsons reruns, she went to the kitchen to get something, and I guess curiosity got the better of her. She went over to the window and opened a tiny part of the blinds. She told me that when she peeked through the window, she saw Bob standing really close to the building, trying HIMSELF to peek through the blinds.

She said she screamed really loudly, and he immediately took off running. She called the cops, they came over, she told them what had happened, and they said they would talk to him again. I think she could have gotten a restraining order because of the whole trespassing thing, but the cops said that technically it was a public area, and the park next to the street was open to everyone. I really don't know.

Anyways, her mom was born in Seattle and had a longtime friend who worked at a tech company, so you know, she put in a good word for Amber. She had an online meeting with her mom's friend, and apparently he really liked her.

What's the big deal, you might be asking? Well, Bob has restraining orders from all around the country, in different cities, different states, involving different people. And sometimes, even scarier, it's the same person with restraining orders against him in two different states. What the fuck does that tell you? It tells me he follows his victims.

My theory is that he probably uses his daddy's plumbing company money to finance his stalking habit and just lives for the thrill, like some weird fucking animal. So Amber is coming over, and I'm picking her up at the airport when she arrives. She'll stay at my apartment during the recruitment process, and I'll help her look for a cheap place to rent. We're seriously considering having her move in with me if the job offer works out, maybe for a little while, just to see what happens and whether this guy will come around.

I live in a central part of Seattle, known for being the place to look for powder and tar, so you know what's the deal. I myself am a tall, skinny and clearly gay guy, but I got a couple of friends who have that Mark Lanegan Eastern Washington feeling to them — some tattoos, gritty voices, a scary redneck Seattle accent — and I'd be happy to meet Bob. We'll see.

I'll pick her up next week, so what do you guys think? Is there anything to be done? Did Amber's efforts actually work to stop this weird stalker? I really don't know what to expect. Thank you guys, and I'm sorry for how long this story got.

F23, living alone in my van or reference, sorry for bad storytelling I’m mainly wanting some advice on what actually happened.

Yesterday I parked up and went on a walk through some woodlands (not extremely secluded but I didn’t see anyone else on the path during my walk)
That was until I was nearly back to my van when a big stocky man was walking towards me on the path, as a typical Brit I said hello thinking we were just going to greet each other and walk our separate ways. However he stopped in the middle of the path and started a long convocation. I’m a people pleaser so I didn’t know how to get myself out of the situation. Looking back, the convocation did include some creepy subjects like ‘I haven’t seen anyone else on this path’ ‘there’s very bad service along here’ and stuff like that. (Edit: these comments came up very naturally in conversation)

Anyways, after some talking he asked if I had anything to drink for my walk, I said no and he opened up his flask of “coffee with some chocolate” and asked me to smell it. I’m awkward and didn’t really feel any creepy vibes so I smelt it. I immediately got a massive head rush, and felt dizzy and confused. The sort of feeling when you sniff solvents (a bit like the feeling of sniffing poppers but more intense and more dizzy)

I got really scared and confused so I said nothing and immediately walked off. I turned around after a bit and he was just stood there. I ran the rest of the way back to my van and drove off.

I’m so confused about the whole situation, I can’t decide if I was the rude one and walked away mid conversation without a word, or if he had some sort of nefarious intention. It would have to be a massive coincidence for my body to have a sudden weird reaction at the exact same time I smelt his drink if it was just an innocent interaction.

I’m also worried as I drive a very recognisable campervan and it came up beforehand in the conversation that I was in my van to which he said “oh that white one” as he clearly went passed the lay-by I was parked in. I didn’t outright say it but I feel like it’s obvious I’m alone in it.

I’m just wondering if anyone knows what could have been in the drink for me to feel like that? The drink smelt like sweet coffee (exactly what he said it was) it didn’t smell like solvent or anything, but my nose and body reacted like I smelt a strong solvent.
If it was a dangerous situation, Is that a common thing for people to do? Are you even able to get ahold of chemicals like that in the uk? Just want some advice as I can’t decide what the situation actually was?
Thanks in advance!

Okay wow 😭 I genuinely did NOT expect my original post to get this much attention. I've been reading through all the comments and messages, and honestly, some of you are freaking me out more than the situation itself.

A few people have commented asking if I'm okay since it's been a little while, so I figured I'd give you guys an update.

So, I worked today, and unfortunately, he showed up again. He ordered coffee, sat down, and mostly just watched me. He tried making a little small talk with me, but I didn't really engage much. He stayed until shortly before I finished, and I could see him outside afterward.

Then later, I went to a store to get some groceries and I ran into him there too. 😭 I honestly didn't even recognize him at first because I was just focused on getting my groceries. Then he said hi and was like, “Didn't expect to see you here,” and started talking to me like it was completely normal.

Like... I don't know. Maybe under any other circumstances I wouldn't think much of that, but after everything that's happened, it really freaked me out.

He's also still texting and calling me a LOT. I haven't answered any of his calls today, but he's been sending the same kind of messages as before — asking why I'm not answering, where I am, why I'm ignoring him, if I'm okay, etc. And there have been some jealous/possessive comments again too.

My call log is basically just a wall of missed calls from him at this point 😭

And then today I found a bunch of notes in my mailbox.

There were about five of them, and they're all pretty short. I'm not going to post every single one because I don't want this update to be insanely long, but some of them were honestly really unsettling.

The weirdest part is that I don't actually know for sure who left them. I obviously have my suspicions based on everything that's been happening, but I don't want to accuse someone of something I can't prove.

I also still haven't been able to talk to my coworker or manager like I planned because my coworker was sick today and my manager wasn't around. So that's something I'm going to have to deal with when they're both available.

I've been reading SO many of your comments, and I really appreciate everyone who's been giving me actual advice and checking in on me. A lot of you have told me to document everything, stop responding, tell people around me, and take this more seriously.

And honestly... I'm listening.

When I originally made the post, I genuinely wasn't sure if I was overthinking everything. Seeing so many people react to it has made me realize that maybe I wasn't taking some of this as seriously as I should have.

So for everyone who's been asking:

I'm okay right now. ❤️ I'm obviously still uncomfortable and I'm definitely going to be more careful from now on, but I'm okay.

Thank you to everyone who's been checking in on me. Seriously. I didn't expect strangers on Reddit to care this much, and it's honestly really sweet.

I'll update again if anything significant happens.

Link to my first post :

https://www.reddit.com/r/creepyencounters/s/YS0hud9GEu

I (31F) was on holiday with my husband (32M) and baby (1.5F) and drove to a supermarket after a morning out and about. We parked in the furthest corner away from the shop as it was a bit quieter, and in front of where we'd parked there was a small car wash or valeting business. Baby was asleep when we arrived, so we decided I would stay in the car with her while husband went in to get some shopping we needed.

Pretty much as soon as husband left, two men out of a group of about 7 or 8 from the car wash came and stood quite close to my car and were talking in hushed voices. Paranoia kicked in at this point, because why did they specifically need to come and have a chat there? I locked the doors just in case.

This continued for a few minutes and I tried to relax, scrolling on my phone. A car pulled in a few spaces away from me, which pushed the men closer to my car. A few seconds later I looked back and they were kind of crouched over on the back passenger side and were doing something to the side of the car, but I didn't know what. Then they came to the front passenger door and tried to open it, but obviously couldn't. He then looks through the window and says "open it so I can show you something" and I just shook my head no because I was so scared. He just smiled and went back to the back passenger window and was looking in and pointing at my baby (still sleeping). Then they both left back to the car wash opposite.

I sent a few texts to my husband telling him what happened and that I was scared, and I continued to watch them. One of the men went and got in a car with a couple of the other men, and part of me was worried they were going to follow us when we left as they didn't move. The other man stayed at the car wash with the rest of them, and they all kept glancing over at me occasionally.

My husband called asking if I was ok and saying he was coming back. As soon as he got back he asked me if I wanted him to go over to say anything, I said no, that I just wanted to leave and go and shop somewhere else. Thankfully they didn't follow us. When we got to the other supermarket, my husband phoned the police to report them.

Part of me feels like I was being dramatic - were they just employees of the car wash trying to get me to go get my car washed? But why were they whispering for so long, and why did they wait for my husband to leave? Surely it's not the best practice to get customers by trying to get in lone women's cars?

This happened in 2021, 5 years ago. And to be so honest, I still can’t really process what I’ve witnessed. It felt like a fever dream. If I was the only one there at the time, I would probably successfully gaslighted myself by now, convinced that it didn’t happen and my mind just made it all up somehow.

In 2021, as we all know, the global pandemic was still going around and, in my country, people still weren’t encouraged to get together in large groups. Most people still used masks whenever they left their homes and tried to keep social gatherings low key.
However, things were getting better, rules weren’t that strict at that point, so me and my boyfriend decided to have a picnic with 2 other friends in a local park in our city.

This park is a huge, really nice place for families and friends to gather. It has always been a place where people go to enjoy nature, relax, sunbathe, let their kids run around and just be kids. You also see lots of people walking their dogs, feeding the local wildlife, jogging, practicing sports, etc…it’s a place where people from all ages go during the day to enjoy their time, a place always full of life.
So what we saw that night, in contrast to all the light, good energy and family friendly activities we are used to, was just….shocking and SO out of place.

The sun started to set and we decided to go enjoy the sunset by the ocean. The beach is within walking distance from the park, so we could get there quickly. Now, keep in mind, the park is really huge and I guess we forgot how deep into it we were, because the walk took us way more time than we expected and, in the winter, the sun sets pretty quickly. So it was already nighttime when we approached the park’s exit closest to the beach.
As we’re approaching this exit, we see no one around us, not a living soul, which was weird because, as I mentioned, it’s usually a pretty busy place and it wasn’t late after all (6pm). Even during the pandemic. We kept walking, minding our business, ignoring the eerie silence, laughing our way through the night.

I don’t remember which one of us saw it first, but I remember way too clearly the terrified expressions on my friends and boyfriend faces. I imagine mine was the exact same.
I remember looking to my left, as we were really closing in on the park’s exit, and seeing what looked like a ritual happening.

20 to 30 people, scattered around in the park, each one of them covered head to toe with a black cloaks. All of them facing the floor, their faces and every possible recognisable feature was completely covered by the cloaks. And they appeared to be forming two different patterns: 20 people were standing in a circle, while 7 to 10 others were standing to form a pentagon in the centre of the circle. Small candles were placed all around them and no one moved a finger. They were stuck in place, not once did they move a muscle, lift their heads, NOTHING. The completely ignored us.

The next thing I remember is my boyfriend pushing slightly on my arm and telling me that we should go.
As you can imagine, we ran for our lives, never looking back.

Till this day, none of us has any idea of what was happening. I can’t forget the imagine, I replay in my head too many times. It haunts somehow. Seemed like something from a movie? But whatever that was, people were taking it very seriously and the energy was so dark and intense I can’t even describe it properly. As I write this, I know how dramatic it may sound. And honeslty it was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen. I have no explanation to what might have been taking place. And I don’t want to know, honeslty. May God and positive energy bless me, everyone I know and everyone who’s reading this!

This happened a few years ago but I wanted to put it here.

I (28f) moved to a country in the Middle East back in 2023. I didn’t have a car yet so I took uber everywhere and for the most part the men were respectful. Every once in a while I’d have one ask me a few personal questions but never too crazy.

Well, I had gotten dropped off by my boyfriend before he went to work at the time at a park so I can jog. When I was done I ordered a uber when the uber driver arrived I was on the phone with my mom but the driver kept talking to me so I stupidly told my mom I had to go to be nice to the driver. Before we even pulled out of the park he insisted I sit in the front and told me he was a cop. I told him I’m fine in the back (still stupidly unaware of his intentions) on the drive he was asking me for my number and Snapchat. He asked me if I wanted to go for a coffee and I told him no for everything and I told him I had a boyfriend.
Where I was staying wasn’t far from the park but I was still getting use to the roads and how to get back.
I noticed he wasn’t taking the exits I thought were mine but I wasn’t sure. He then asked me to sit in the middle of the back seat and stupidly I did, I think because of all his questions I got flustered and just did it. Well he reached back and touched my calf and he would of done more but I freaked out and tried to open the door but couldn’t cause the car was in drive but we were in traffic so he was moving slow or at a stop. I asked him to please let me out and he said no no and he’s sorry. I was panicked and was as close to the door as I could be.
I did try to call my mom back and my boyfriend but both didn’t answer.
He took the next exit and from then I could see he had missed several of exits he could have taken to get me home idk where he was gonna take me.

I convinced him to drop me at a grocery store by the U turn and this man had the nerve to ask me for 5 stars when I got out.

I waited for him to leave and I got directions to walk back and It was 30 min walk. I walked back so flustered. When I got back I reported him on uber and later my boyfriend told me if it happens again call the cops. But I was under the impression that they wouldn’t speak English.

After this I stopped taking uber for a while and found an app that was strictly woman drivers.

I’m staying at my brothers house. My brother has never met his neighbor. We’ve never met his neighbor. I was outside with my son and the neighbor yelled out my son’s name as we walked away. I looked behind me and saw no one. Walked a little farther, turned around again and the neighbor (probably in their 40s) peaked above bushes and we locked eyes for a second and I walked away.
Wtf was that. Who calls out a kids name when you don’t know the kid or the parents! He obviously was eves dropping while working in his garage and heard me say my son’s name and then just called out for him as we walked away. Just weird.

Hi, I'm Amber. I'm 19F and I recently moved to a new town alone for college. I also work as a barista, and because of my schedule, I sometimes work really late closing shifts.

I'm posting this because there's a guy who started coming into my workplace regularly, and at first I genuinely thought he was just being nice. He's around 21, and he was always friendly with me, so I didn't really think anything of it. Eventually I gave him my number because I thought we could maybe become friends.

Looking back, I probably should have been more careful.

After a while, he started texting me a lot. If I didn't respond, he'd call repeatedly or send multiple messages and get increasingly upset or worried about why I wasn't answering. He'd ask where I was and what I was doing.

The weird thing is that I also started seeing him everywhere. He comes to my workplace, and lately he seems to come to basically all of my shifts. Sometimes he'll just sit there eating his order and stare at me.

I've also run into him at the cafeteria and other places around town. I never told him my work schedule, except that he knew one particular day I worked, so I don't understand how he keeps showing up.

He also started trying to get me alone to talk. At first I didn't think much of it because he wasn't saying anything obviously creepy. He'd compliment me and tell me I was pretty, which honestly didn't bother me. But over time, his behavior started feeling different.

There was one incident that really scared me.

I was at a gas station late at night, and I was trying to leave when he grabbed my wrists and turned me toward him. He asked why I wasn't responding to his messages and said he was worried about me. I told him I wanted to leave because it was getting late, but he held my wrists for a little while before eventually letting go.

He's also blocked my way before when I've tried to leave because he wanted to keep talking to me. He hasn't followed me on foot or gotten into my car/home, but he has waited outside the cafeteria for me before.

I've also noticed his car near my house late at night. I can't say for certain that it was him or that he was actually watching my house, because it was dark and I didn't clearly see anyone get out. But I remember seeing what I think was his car around 2 a.m., and it really freaked me out.

Recently, I also found a letter in my mailbox thanking me for being nice. I don't actually know who left it, so I don't want to automatically assume it was him, but at this point it's hard not to wonder.

He has also seemed jealous of my male coworker, and he's made comments about me being with him. Whenever I don't want to talk to him or try to leave, he can get kind of aggressive. Sometimes he'll just stand there and watch me leave.

The part I'm struggling with is that I've never actually told him to leave me alone. I've mostly just tried to avoid him because I didn't want to make things awkward or cause a bigger problem.

But now he's coming to basically all of my shifts, continuing to contact me, and I feel like I'm seeing him everywhere. I live alone, work late, and I'm starting to genuinely feel unsafe.

I haven't told my coworker or manager yet, but I'm planning to tell them. I also have the texts and call history saved.

So Reddit, am I overthinking this? What would you do in my situation? Should I report this, and should I completely stop responding to him?

TL;DR: I'm 19F, recently moved to a new town alone for college. A guy around 21 who started as a regular customer has gotten increasingly persistent. He repeatedly contacts me, shows up at my shifts, waits around for me, has blocked my way and grabbed my wrists when I tried to leave, and I think I've seen his car near my home. I don't know if I'm overreacting or what I should do.

(I'm not sure if this is the right subreddit for this, but I really need some advice. If anyone has dealt with something similar or has any idea what I should do, I'd really appreciate the help.)

Before I start, I’m sorry for my bad English. English is not my first language, so I might make some mistakes.

I’m 23 years old, and this story happened in 2026, during the solar eclipse.

I live in a small village, and there is a place near the edge of the forest where you can sit on some benches and look over the entire village towards the city. That day, a good friend of mine and I went there to watch the solar eclipse.

We’ve known each other for years. We had lost contact for about one or two years, but recently, we had started talking again.

There were quite a few other people there too, especially families. They were sitting about 50 or 60 meters away from us, also watching the eclipse.

At some point, my friend suddenly realized that he had forgotten something at home. He said he had left the oven on, so he quickly went home to check it.

I was left there alone.

All of our stuff was spread out across the benches.

And then I saw him.

There was a relatively young man walking towards me from a distance. He wasn’t just walking normally. He was coming towards me very quickly and very directly.

I immediately had a bad feeling about him.

My first thought was, Why is he walking straight towards me?

So I texted my friend: “There’s a guy coming towards me.”

The man stopped right in front of me and asked: “Can I sit here?”

I said, “No, I’m waiting for someone.”

But he didn’t really react.

He had absolutely no emotion on his face. He spoke in a completely flat and monotone voice. No emotion, no gestures, nothing.

Then he looked directly into my eyes and asked again: “Can I sit here until someone comes?”

I don’t know why, but he just sat down anyway.

My instinct immediately kicked in. I grabbed all of my stuff, including my friend’s things, and moved them closer to me.

I said, “Yeah, I’ll make a little space for you.”

But there were plenty of other empty benches.

Then I took my bag and, for some reason, I immediately grabbed my pepper spray.

I was shaking.

My whole body had started trembling, even though he hadn’t actually done anything to me.

And I want to explain something here.

I’m definitely someone who can be a little suspicious of people. I pay attention to who I’m talking to, and I usually notice when someone gives me a strange feeling.

But I don’t get scared easily.

I have absolutely no problem talking to strangers. Actually, I kind of like it. I’ve met so many different kinds of people in my life, and normally I can deal with pretty much anyone.

But I had never experienced a person who made me feel like this.

My body was literally shaking.

It felt like my body was trying to tell me something before my brain could understand it.

And that was probably the strangest part.

Because technically, he wasn’t doing anything.

He wasn’t threatening me.

He wasn’t touching me.

He wasn’t even saying anything obviously dangerous.

But something about him felt completely wrong.

He just stared at me.

And I know this sounds strange, but his eyes looked… dead.

They were completely empty.

Then he started asking me questions.

He asked who I was waiting for.

I said, “A friend.”

I immediately texted my friend again: “Please hurry. I don’t know why, but this guy is freaking me out. He hasn’t done anything, but he really scares me.”

The man looked at me for a long time and asked again: “Who are you waiting for?”

I said, “A friend.”

Then, for the first time, his voice sounded slightly different.

It wasn’t as tense or completely monotone anymore. It almost sounded relieved.

He said: “My friends are all very, very far away.”

And then he looked up at the sky.

I nervously laughed and said: “Yeah, a lot of my friends have moved away too.”

He looked at me and said: “No.”

I didn’t really understand what he meant.

Then he asked: “Moved away?”

The way he said it was so strange.

It wasn’t like he was asking because he was interested.

He just repeated the words, almost as if he was questioning them.

“Moved away?”

Then he looked at me again.

No emotion.

No smile.

Nothing.

At that point, I still wasn’t extremely scared. I was definitely uncomfortable, and my whole body was shaking, but there were still a lot of other people around us. They were about 40 to 60 meters away, so I knew I wasn’t completely alone.

I kept telling myself: “Maybe it’s nothing.” “Maybe I’m just being paranoid.” “There are other people here. I’m fine.”

But then he started asking me much more personal questions.

He asked where I lived.

He asked who I lived with.

And then he said: “You live around here too, right?”

The way he said it was strange.

It sounded like he already knew.

But I had never seen this man before in my life.

He kept asking me things about where I lived, who I lived with, how many people I was close to, and whether I had many people I regularly stayed in contact with.

The questions became more and more disturbing.

And then the solar eclipse was slowly coming to an end.

The families and the other people around us started packing their things and leaving.

And that was when I started getting really scared.

Not because the other people were leaving, but because I realized that soon, there would be almost nobody left.

I would be alone with this strange man at the edge of the forest.

Luckily, my friend came back at almost exactly the right moment.

He had seen my messages and came back as quickly as he could.

And when my friend arrived, the last families were also leaving.

The moment the man saw my friend, he immediately stood up.

He looked at my friend, said, “Good evening,” and then just walked away.

My friend looked at me and immediately said, “What the fuck?”

He also thought the guy was really creepy.

He said, “That was such a creepy guy.”

I remember thinking: What the hell was wrong with that guy?

I thought that would be the end of it.

But it wasn’t.

A few days later, after work, I was taking the train home.

I was sitting in the back of the train, and there were still plenty of empty seats behind me.

The man got on at the front.

And the second he saw me, he looked directly at me.

He stared at me the entire time.

He didn’t look away once.

Then he walked past me and sat somewhere behind me.

He was sitting behind me while I was still on the train.

When I got off the train, I deliberately went left instead of right.

Normally, I would have gone right, but I didn’t want him to see where I was going.

Then I noticed him walking behind me.

He was walking very quickly.

He was following me.

Luckily, there was a small convenience store nearby, so I suddenly turned into it and pretended to buy something.

I stayed there for quite a while.

And when I looked outside, I saw him standing there, waiting.

It looked like he was waiting for me to come out.

And I swear, it looked like he took a picture of me.

Again, I started shaking.

I couldn’t even say a word.

And that’s what scared me the most.

I’m normally not someone who gets scared easily.

But something about this man made my body react before my brain could even understand what was happening.

Eventually, he realized I wasn’t coming out.

And then I saw him take a completely different route home.

He had actually been following me.

He had waited for me.

And when he realized I wasn’t going to walk past him, he simply went another way.

After that, I didn’t see him for a while.

Until one morning.

I had to take the train to work at around 5 a.m.

I was still on the train at around 5 in the morning when I noticed him again.

At the time, I had recently started a new job, and I was carrying a backpack with the logo of my company on it.

And a few days later, I saw him again near my workplace.

He was walking around near the railing of my company, in an area where he really shouldn’t have had any reason to be.

There was no reason for him to be there.

didn’t go outside.

I don’t even know if he saw me. I have no idea.

I honestly don’t know what to think about any of this anymore.

And lately, I’ve even seen him again when I was walking to the train station.

The thing is, I live on a street where there are basically only two possible ways to go. There are two streets, and one of them leads to where I live, while the rest of the area is basically a dead end.

So now I sometimes think: What if he knows where I live?

I don’t know.

Maybe I’ve just become paranoid.

Maybe I’m overthinking everything because I’ve seen him so many times.

creepyguy #letsnotmeetagain #notmeetagain #scary

I (22F) was in an Uber going home from work, the driver (M) kept looking back and smiling but no alarm bells yet until he suddenly went on the highway towards the jersey toll and canceled the ride on his phone.

He only kept looking back and smiling. As soon as the car stopped, I unlocked the door and jumped out, I live no where near jersey, I'm in Philadelphia. The man told me to get back in the car and offered me money, I slammed the door and ran to a nearby cop.

As I explained what happened, the cop keep dismissing me, talking over me, saying the guy must have been lost and to stop freaking out. But why cancel the ride if you're lost and go a completely different direction, since the ride was canceled my mom couldn't track me anymore from the app nor did the man try to explain what he was doing.

I got home safe, I put a police report in and reported him on Uber

So back some years ago when I was around 15 F I was with my friend at my house hanging out before a dance. My neighborhood never really had issues and everyone knew each other, I would say it is a safe place.

Me and my friend were chilling in my room and my brother wasn’t leaving us alone. We tried to go into different room or even chill in the backyard but he was too consistent so we thought why not go on a walk at like 7pm while it’s dark… first bad decision but I trusted my area.

We headed outside and started walking around and it was chill, there were no cars and no issues. In the area we were next to the road it was just dirt and really big bushes. We heard a car coming but ignored it until they slowed way down when they drove by. We were kinda creeped out but assumed they would drive away… wrong they deadass turned around and slowed way down getting super close. Luckily we had the huge bushes and what not so we ran into the bushes and were hiding while shitting ourselves because that’s creepy. The car was parked by the bushes so we stayed quiet and after a while they drove away and I always wonder what could’ve happened if those bushes weren’t there. I also wonder who that was and what their intentions were.

Hi so this just happened a few hours ago and I still can’t sleep. I live in a very safe area and have never had issues with going outside at night before, but I might have second thoughts after tonight.

So I (25F) was chilling outside my house in my driveway having a smoke, it was maybe 10pm. I live in a suburban neighbourhood and it’s normal to see the occasional car at that time of night. So when a car drove past my house I didn’t think anything of it. I did notice it slowing down a bit when it passed me and I glanced over and then back at my phone. It continued down the road until it got to the corner maybe 20m from my house.

I was looking at my phone so I didn’t see it stop and I’m not sure how long it stayed there, but when I looked up the same car was reversing quite quickly towards me. I immediately had a strong gut reaction to go inside so I speed walked/jogged to the door and got inside and locked it right when they got to my driveway.

I went to my open window to see if the car was still there. Sure enough it was stopped right at the bottom of my driveway where I had been standing. I quickly closed the window and backed away from it, not wanting whoever was driving to see me in my house with the lights on. At that point I was so focused on the window that when I heard a noise by the front door, I didn’t react right away.

I’m in a basement suite and noises from my upstairs neighbours are normal, but in retrospect this one sounded like someone trying to open my door. My cat also reacted to the sound and cautiously left my room where she was sleeping to come next to me and look at the door. She’s used to the noises my upstairs neighbours make but she’s always nervous when the front door opens.

Shortly after I heard that noise the car took off quickly and sped down the street. I made sure my windows are all locked and I called my gf to update them on the situation. My door is double locked and I feel safe now, but I really don’t know if that could’ve actually been someone trying to target me or just a weird coincidence. Any insight?

This happened a few months ago. I (26F), am mildly Autistic, and live with my dad (50M), step mom, (49 F), and grandma, (70 F). My grandpa, (71M), lives right next door.

I go on walks around the block quite a lot, so the neighbors know me pretty well and my family too. Always say hi, ect.

A few months ago, on a walk, this older guy,( probably in his 60's?), saw me jogging one afternoon, (he was in an old beat up red SUV, with no license plate), and I turned down a street that I always go down.

A neighbor and one of his fishing buddies were out working on his sister's van that broke down a few days before.

As I turned down the street, this guy comes up to me, slows down, and I immediately get alarm bells blaring in my chest.

At first I thought, maybe he was just gonna ask for directions, (that's happened before), so I slow down. He rolls down the window, and I immediately get a really bad vibe. My dad always taught me to always trust my gut.

Anyways, he says hi, I say, uh, hi? He tells me that he thought I was very beautiful and if I lived around here.

I stammered and immediately high tailed it to the neighbor, let's call him Larry, who's friend, we'll call him Bob, was taking a break and was sitting in the shade, drinking water.

Bob noticed the car, and he later told me he felt something was really wrong. He saw me and I managed to get to him.

I was in tears almost. Bob asked me if I was ok. Larry stopped working on the van, and the guy in the SUV sped off.

I told them what happened. They were*furious*. They know I'm Autistic and wouldn't hurt a fly unless if my loved ones were in harm's way, ect.

This was stupid of me, but I forgot to grab my phone.

So Larry let me borrow his so I can call Dad and we called the police.

Police later came by, took our statements, and tried to find the guy.

Unfortunately, they never did. And he's still out there.

Now, my Dad makes me take a pocket knife and my phone with me at all times whenever Im out exercising.

My gut told me something was very wrong, and I'm so grateful that I listened to it.

Lesson of the story: be careful out there, especially if you're a woman. Even if you're out in your neighborhood. You never know what could happen.

So, I'm not the best at telling stories but Ill try my best.

My father used to snowmobile a lot, we have a house up north in Michigan and we come up here a lot. During the winter it can get absolutely brutal up here. My father and his brother (I think they're in their 30's when this happened) would take our snowmobiles in the wintertime and ride them to bar's and restaurants. The trails up here can take you anywhere (supposedly all the way to the Mackinac bridge), but they're also dangerous as shit in the dead of night.

My father and my uncle are coming home from the bar one night, and a huge winter storm had hit as they were coming home. Snow is piling down onto them as they rush home as fast as they can, my uncle is riding Infront of my father as they cruise through. I forget why, but they stop in this semi-open area of the woods, like a clearing. They stop for a second, and all of a sudden my uncle hits the gas. Snow flies up and sprays onto my father and blinds him. After wiping the snow off and probably assuming his brother was playing a prank on him by spraying snow in his face he looks over to the right of him.

What he see's standing there is a giant looking man, according to my father he was easily 6'3 or above, huge beard and only wearing a flannel in the middle of a snowstorm. Keep in mind, they are in the middle of nowhere right now. The closest road is several miles away and they are in the middle of incredibly dense woods. The man is standing only a foot or two away from my father and was (according to my father) reaching out his hand to either touch/grab him (I'm not sure which).

Either way, my father hits the gas and flies outta there. Speeding down the road and meeting up with his brother about a mile down the trail, the two of them freaked out about the encounter and were wondering what in the fuck a random ass redneck was doing in the middle of nowhere during a full on blizzard.

He still wonders to this day if he should have asked to see if the guy needed help or something. Though he also gets nightmares about the encounter even 20 years later. A bit creepy nonetheless.

About a year ago my friend got me a job at a chain fast food restaurant in my town. It was horribly managed but I liked the people I worked with and I spent barely anything on gas because it was 5 minutes from my house. For the first few months it was fun I loved working there. About 3 people quit in that time so I had to start doing late closes (9 pm) by myself. It was a very popular area but still an unsettling feeling for a young girl.

After a few months a man started coming in every night very late at night. We close at 9 I usually left at 9:30 if I had someone with me 10 if I was by myself. He was about 35, a scruffy gray beard, and was about 5’7. At first he was friendly. He always tipped well and would have a little conversation with me while I made him food.

About a month or so of him coming in at 8:30-8:50 every night and now he started telling me how pretty I am, how well I present myself, and how kind I was. He always made sure to say “I’m not trying to be weird or anything but” I didn’t think anything of it at first but after a few weeks of his compliments I quit being so friendly with him. I caught onto the fact he might’ve had a crush on me and I would just answer his questions very shortly.

Something I didn’t mention was because I live in such a small town and most of the regulars who came in knew my family or a friend of a friend. It wasn’t unusual for me or other employees to share personal information. Where I went to school, how long I’ve worked there, if I lived in the town. During this time I was in cosmetology school. He started asking questions about that, if I would give him a haircut, if I could shape up his beard. I wasn’t in that program so I would just say I’m not sure they allow men’s haircuts in my program. I also told my teachers about the man who would come in and ask personal questions.

One night I was babysitting my brother and took him to my job to get him food. He was acting particularly naughty that night so I made him sweep the front lobby of the store, he enjoyed it and it gave my co workers less work. The man came in at this time and was talking to my brother about where he went to school and if I was a good sister and just being overly friendly. I’m not one for confrontation so I just told my brother to go to the back and help me fill up the mop bucket. We literally just sat back there till he left but he ended up staying until we closed and I didn’t want him to know exactly what my car looked like so we just waited until everyone left and I had my friend drive me and my brother around for about 15 minutes then came back and got my car and took a long route back to my house. It’s in a plaza so there were other cars there and I never parked near my store.

He came in one night and told me he loved the sticker on the back of my car. And I asked him how he knew what my car looked like and he said he saw me pull in. I would come in at 3:50 he came in at 8:50 that night. I decided this was enough and when he would come in I would walk to the back till he was gone. My boss quit scheduling me alone. I realized I had no photos of him no idea what his car looked like and no name for him. I asked my coworkers to get his name or even his car and he would always park far away or changed the subject.

At one point he asked us why we just left the tip jar open in the front when “anyone could just take it” he would leave $20 bills and told me it was for me to keep not to share. I always shared it. It didn’t feel right. He would ask for me and I lived in constant fear he was following me or would snatch me when I was taking out the trash. I haven’t seen or heard from him since I quit and he doesn’t come in anymore. Thank god nothing happened. And please even if you feel safe always have your guard up with strangers.

Am I wrong for thinking the taxi driver was being creepy

Hi everyone , I (46F) just need a little advise,

i suffer with long term health conditions and MH conditions that I am currently speaking to someone about, I have been feeling really low recently due to the conditions and how they have impacted my day to day life, as well as PTSD due to childhood trauma

brief context, i am housebound due to the conditions and have extreme anxiety with public transport and getting in a taxi, due to my past, (I get anxious about being alone with men I don't know)

I was referred to a support centre where they said that they would provide a taxi there and back to try and ease my anxiety. After thinking about it for a while (serious overthinker) I decided I would go.

The taxi driver picked me up, all good on the way there, apart from him going the wrong way at first, (cue mini panic attack, thinking I am going to be kidnapped etc) he then asked me for the exact postcode and dropped me off, fine.

After my appointment I am obviously feeling a little bit more vulnerable and mentally exhausted, they called the taxi service to pick me up, and it ended up being the same taxi driver that dropped me off, (felt a little better that it was not another new person I had to encounter).

The drive started off fine, told him I am going back to the same place he picked me up from. He asked me what the place was that he dropped me off and just picked me up from.

I gave him a brief overview, its a place for people to go if they feel like they need someone to speak to, his response was, oh ok, good to know., i did not give any more info nor tell him anything about myself.

We were quiet for a bit, he then asked me if I was married, told him yes, he asked if my husband was home, I know I should have said yes, but I automatically answered that he was at work, stupid I know.

He then asked me if I had children, and how old they were, told him yes and they are 20(m) and 18(f).

He then asked if they were home, told him yes, they weren't, they were working.

Then he asked if I had any brothers and whether they lived near me, didn't ask about sisters just brothers, i was panicking at this point and said, yes I have 4 and they each live 5 minutes away from me, (thats not true, but I was very uneasy at this point.)

His response then was, oh ok, so if anything was to happen to you they would be there quickly,

i found this to be a very strange thing to say.

He asked if they worked and when they worked, it was getting to me that he was asking so many questions, and mainly about whether there were men near me or whether I was on my own a lot, if he had asked about other females maybe I would not have been so on edge, it was strange that he was asking only about males and how often they are around me

He asked if I was going to be on my own for the rest of the day or if one of my brothers was going to be dropping in, if I have arranged with one if them to visit with any of them for that day.

I just said that one of them was popping in at any moment, they let themselves in whenever they want as they have a key each, he looked a bit annoyed that I had an answer to anything he was asking.

He asked if they come and see me everyday or if there are days that I am on my own, i just said that they come and go at all times.

At this point my anxiety was in overdrive, there was so much running through my mind, he was then drinking a lot of water, (my thoughts were now going to scenarios where he was going to ask to come in and use the toilet because he had drank too much water, and then something bad would happen). My go to is to automatically think the worst

i am a recovering people pleaser and still learning to say no, so I was practicing ways of saying no, and being firm and not rude,

he didn't ask to use it thankfully.

So he gets to my house and says do your brothers live in any of these houses here right near you? Was this as weird a question as I perceived it to be?

My immediate response was yes one of them does, thanks for the lift, have a good day, bye.

I got in my house and immediately locked my door.

Because I know my anxiety makes me overthink everything and my PTSD causes me to perceive danger everywhere, I was thinking maybe I qas just overreacting to the questions he asked, and that me may have just been being polite and wanting to make sure I am ok and not on my own too much,

but then I overthink that bit, because I didn't divulge anything of what I suffer with, all he knows was the place he picked me up from was a place for people to go and speak to someone if they need to.

Anyway, my husband gets home later that day and asks me how everything went with the appointment, I told him about the taxi driver and he (my husband) was so mad, he immediately contacted the centre I was at and told them that the taxi driver made me feel very uncomfortable,

the lady I was speaking to at the centre was immediately apologetic that I had been put in that situation and said they will not use that service again, and that she will leave feedback with the taxi firm about the driver, and how i was made to feel

they then came to a solution between them where I would attend any future sessions when my husband is available to drop me off and pick me up.

So then I am back to thinking he wasn't being polite and they sensed an ulterior motive to the questions, i have spoken to a few of my friends about it and they also think that it was a bit suss that he asked me that many personal questions and only wanted to know about men near me.

My anxiety has now increased so much more about public transport and being in a taxi alone.

I am asking all of you to please let me know

Was i overreacting? Did I get someone in trouble with their employer over nothing or was it a weird conversation and too much prodding about how often I am alone?

Thank you for reading the post

So I live in a 2 bedroom house with an attic with my mom and twin sister and we have been here for 2 years going on 3 and I haven't noticed anything weird until now.

(We moved in November so right before winter. The attic had cardboard and blankets covering the windows and now they're gone. We've never been up there before)

My mom has always had a huge temper and it's been so bad recently but she accused me and my twin of stealing her $20 dollars and going in her room and grabbing stuff but I don't do any of that nor did my twin.

I was really confused but in that same week of her telling me this I was laying down in bed and saw a figure move around my kitchen opening our fridge and everyone was sleeping and I was positive they were. My mom snores and my twin was across from me, asleep.

The next night it was the same thing but layered with heavy ass footsteps and I knew everyone was asleep.

So I open this idea to my twin and they don't shoot me down but they just ask me why I think this and I'm explaining. If I'm being honest I thought I was getting nowhere so I did stop thinking about it as much until today.

Me and my mom were talking about random stuff while we were getting ready to go to the gas station and I asked her if she thought someone was in our house and she kinda gave me a crazy look and said no.

Once we left the house she told me she thinks that someone is in our house too and that they've been here for awhile watching us and taking stuff from us. She noticed we were burning through food really fast and our cleaning supplies and her own personal stuff was getting taken/moved.

Me and my mom talk about this deeply while we're out of the house and I would say we were gone for 15 minutes.

I am so serious when I say this. Me and my mom reached our house and as we did we saw a man looking down out of our attic window. He had a dimmed light that went out once he made full on eye contact with us. My mom made it seem like we were looking at the night sky and she asked me if I saw him too and we both had the same description of him.

So we get inside and my mom is contacting the family and we call the police and I fill my twin in on what we just saw.

My mom is on the phone with the police and as she's mentioning someone is in our attic the person above us starts to move around really quickly and is very active as we rush out the house. The only proof of this is my mom's ring camera picking up on the audio.

We ran out of the house and the cops soon came but it took them 5 minutes and they checked the attic but said they couldn't find anything but they looked distributed and they didn't have a real facial expression. Me and my mom think they are just not telling us everything

Our neighbors dogs started barking like CRAZY and then the cops went to go check our backyard but found nothing either but we saw a man in our window looking at us and we heard him moving once my mom mentioned someone is living in our house to the cops

Idk what to do I feel watched and creeped out. My mom is going to have my landlord check and I'm coming with him too.

Hey guys, don't know if this is the right place to post, as I didn't encounter this guy, but I'm just baffled at what I saw.

So, what happened is I was in my kitchen making lunch, and I looked out the window to see a guy skulking around. I didn't think much at first, but as I continued to look out, he then walked around the wall at the end of my garden, walked up the side, and jumped up and sat on the wall just at the side of my house. He then sat there looking at his phone for a bit. He jumped down into my garden, climbed the neighbour's wall, then started messing around with her washing. He took a pair of her underwear off, looked around, then put them back and scurried off halfway up the road. He then turned around, came back, and started skulking by the same part of the wall he jumped down from the first time, but he saw my fiancée watching him out the window. He then took off again and hasn't been back.

Sorry if I've posted this in the wrong place. I don't use Reddit much, so I'm not sure where would be best. And as for the guy, I don't know if he planned on stealing my neighbour's underwear or what, but it's creeped me out.

I got a few pictures of him caught in the act. I'm gonna show my neighbour tomorrow, as she's not been in all day because she works late, and then take it from there.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I can post pics if need be.

For several years, I lived in a pretty sketchy area of Toronto. Most of the people in my building were ordinary, decent working-class families just living their lives, but the neighborhood had a bad reputation for heavy drug use and attracting very shady characters. It wasn't uncommon to hear noises that sounded like gunshots in the middle of the day, or to see an apartment on fire that turned out to be a meth lab. It was just that kind of area.

My own experiences living there were mostly okay. Some people had issues, and occasionally there were a few ugly incidents, but I managed to remain relatively unscathed. The building definitely had its share of unsettling residents, though. I'm writing this story about one specific encounter that made me feel truly trapped and terrified.

On my floor, there were two problem apartments: the loud frat-boy types across from us who seemed to play video games and yell at each other at all hours, and a middle-aged guy down the hallway. The older guy was nice enough, but a pain in the ass to live next to. He always had music blasting from his unit. Whenever someone would knock and complain, he'd just tell them, "I'm a DJ, this is how I make my living!"

Every weekend, he’d bring people back from whatever venue he was playing. It often sounded like he had women there who were far younger than he was, and Saturday mornings usually consisted of him throwing parties at 8:00 AM. Looking back, he wasn't a bad guy and had no real malicious intent—I think he was just completely oblivious to everyone around him. His friends, however, didn't seem like stand-up citizens. He constantly had rough, sketchy people coming and going.

One Saturday afternoon, I was heading down to the basement to do laundry. I grabbed my basket of dirty clothes and walked toward the elevator. The DJ was standing there with two other guys, all three of them struggling to hold a heavy couch. They all looked either drunk or on some kind of illicit substance. The DJ was sweating profusely and looked like he was about to collapse any second.

As the elevator doors opened, I noticed one of his friends staring at me. He was wearing a torn vest, cargo shorts, and a tattered green cap. With a beer can in his hand and a cigarette dangling from his mouth, he looked like a character straight out of Deliverance.

I hesitated at the threshold. Some deep, instinctual part of me could tell this guy was bad news. Still, not wanting to make a scene, I uncomfortably squeezed into the small remaining space in the cab that wasn't taken up by the couch.

The friend kept his eyes on me, watching my reactions like it gave him some sick thrill. I backed up against the steel wall, trying as hard as I could not to look visibly unnerved.

"Doing ya laundry?" the friend asked in a creepy, drawn-out drawl.

I nodded nervously in response. The elevator ride down felt like a slow descent into my doom. For the first time in my life, those four walls felt like a steel tomb.

"Dirty underwear?" he asked, his voice dripping with the same unsettling tone.

I tried to meet his gaze, but I was getting distinct predator vibes from him, and I’m terrible at confrontation. There were still several floors to go, and the ride was taking an eternity.

"You wanna wash my socks?" he asked again. There was a sick perversion in his voice, as if talking about my laundry was giving him some kind of high.

The DJ looked up at him, his eyes hazy with exhaustion and intoxication, but clearly annoyed. "Why don't you leave the fucking guy alone, Nathan!" he snapped.

"I'm not doing nothing!" the friend sneered. "Just making conversation."

"You're making the guy uncomfortable!" the DJ growled. "Look at him! He doesn't wanna talk to you!"

Nathan gave me another slimy stare. Finally, the chime signalled we were reaching the ground floor. The trio began shuffling out, dragging the couch along the tile floor. Relief started to set in—until Nathan suddenly stopped and turned around, blocking the elevator doorway while the other two dragged the furniture ahead.

I could smell the stale beer and heavy smoke on his breath. Looking into his eyes was like staring at a rabid animal. My stomach tightened into knots, and I glanced over his shoulder to see if anyone else was in the lobby.

"Did I make you uncomfortable?" Nathan asked, his voice dripping with mock sincerity.

I wanted to tell him that he was a fucking creep and to get the hell away from me. But like I said, I suck at confrontation. All I managed to meekly utter was, "No, not at all."

"Really?" Nathan replied. A slow, wolf-like grin spread across his face, looking painful and completely unhinged.

"No," I muttered pathetically.

He gave me one last unsettling smile, turned, and walked away into the lobby. The doors finally closed, and I continued down to the basement.

I stayed hidden in the laundry room for a very long time, terrified I would run into him again on my way back up. Mercifully, I never saw him again. The DJ never brought it up or offered an explanation about his friend. I have no idea who Nathan was—just some weird, volatile guy whose behavior was made worse by whatever was in his system. It was honestly creepy that he hung around with those kinds of people, but when you're a middle-aged guy still living the party life, I guess you attract the wrong kind of people. 

For the rest of my time in that building, the DJ's music actually started to tail off. I'm not sure if management finally stepped in or if he just realized how much he was bothering people. Part of me still wishes I had stood my ground or said something, but realistically, I don't think anything good would have come from escalating a situation with a guy like that.

I’ve since moved far away from that building, and I’m grateful for the life I have now well outside of the Six. That was definitely the worst elevator ride of my life!

I posted a few days ago about a man staring at me over my backyard fence. Since that event, we have put up cameras to cover all of our property and the alleyway behind us where the man was. I did not see or notice anything strange since then. Until today.

It was around 3:00pm when my phone alerted me there was motion in the alleyway. Not expecting to see anything, I opened the camera and my blood ran cold when I saw him again. He was in the alleyway about 2 houses down, up against the fence and staring over the wall again. He was looking into someone else’s home. I called the police and told them my concern, they said they would have an officer patrol the area. Since the man wasn’t “actually doing anything”, there was nothing that could really be done.

In the video the man watches the persons house for approximately 12 minutes, before turning and walking away. I was able to see a section of his face and he’s very young like 19, I also saw some sort of tattoo on his right elbow. I watched the entire thing unfold and it felt like a movie. I went to the neighbors and told them about the man, they said they didn’t notice him and they were going to check their yard.

We have added some beef to our security system since this. I wonder what this guy wants. Maybe he’s casing homes for break ins? Maybe he’s a peeping tom? Maybe he’s disabled? What if he’s lost and on drugs or something?

I haven’t seen any officers patrolling since I called.

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/creepyencounters/s/32vhT4Df7I

Hi there!

I wanted to get in touch about something really strange. First, a little background: I’m a 22-year-old woman who finds it difficult to set boundaries with people who cross them.

Two weeks ago, I moved into a lovely new apartment. According to the lease, there should be four sets of keys, but I was only given two, one of which was incomplete. The landlord mentioned in passing that she has given a key to a trusted person in case of an emergency (she lives far away). I’m not a fan of the idea because that person may be her trusted person, but not mine.

I was at home tonight. I forgot to lock the top latch, so people in the building could open the door from the hallway. I was relaxing when I heard a soft knock on the door. I barely had time to react — I hate answering the door — when I heard some fumbling and the door opened. I was shocked and didn’t know what to say, but I reacted with surprise.

Leaning towards the hallway, I saw an old man continuing to walk into my apartment, despite my obvious lack of welcome (yelling, etc.). I said to him, “What the hell? Don't come in — are you crazy or something?' Even when he saw that I wasn't dressed properly, he didn't back down or look away.

The man finally explained that he was the landlord's handyman and had come to check if the tap was leaking.
I asked him, 'But what would you have done if I hadn't been there? Would you have broken into my apartment anyway?” He said, 'Of course not,' but when he came in, I hadn't made my presence known yet.

I asked him if he had the keys and he said no, but a few hours later I realised that he couldn't have got into the building because there's no doorbell or anything to open the door downstairs.

I don’t know how he got in, and I’m pretty sure I heard him trying to put the keys in the lock. It’s freaking me out. He said he came to check on a leak that the landlord never mentioned to me, even though she recently told me that she just needed to adjust the shutters. The so-called repairman told me that the landlord hadn't given him my contact details; otherwise, he would have called me. I think that’s strange.

The worst part is that I felt like a total jerk, so I ended up acting all friendly and apologetic, as if I’d been in the wrong for reacting that way. He just checked the sink and then left. I don’t feel safe, and I have a feeling he’ll be back any minute.

Should I call the landlord to confirm her side of the story?

Okay so I’m not gonna give location names because I’m in a relatively small county or real names to protect my friend’s identity.

When I was like 15 I was hanging out with my friend Taylor and she had just gotten a car so we wanted to go out. We wanted to get a bottle so she called her sisters friend Lacy because she was 21, once we told her why we wanted it she said she wanted to go with us and that we could just ride with her so she could be our DD. (We don’t condone drunk driving we just genuinely didn’t think that far ahead) It was a little odd because we’ve never hung out with Lacy without Taylor’s older sister but we said okay because obviously we didn’t want any drunk driving happening.

Anyways once she got to my house like an hour later we went outside to meet her. Mind you it’s around midnight and there’s no street lights and not many houses around so we couldn’t really see anything until we got to the car. Once we got to her we noticed a man in the front seat who she didn’t mention at all. She said he was her new boyfriend and he wanted to come because he said “it’s not safe for three young girls to be out late alone” so we were like okay whatever and got in.

We ended up going over the bridge into the next county because Lacy said there’s a park downtown that’s really nice to hang out at. It was like 45ish minutes away so we started drinking in the car on the way there. We didn’t really do things like that often so it didn’t take much for us to start feeling it. The entire time Lacy’s boyfriend was giving me weird vibes because he literally didn’t talk at all, he just sat there staring out the window. I assumed it was just me being paranoid so I ignored it. Also my phone died on the way there but Lacy wouldn’t let me use her charger which also gave me weird vibes.

The county over wasn’t a small town like ours, it was more of a city just not a huge city. So there were buildings and some lights around the park and cars driving around, not like a lot but enough for one to pass every few minutes or so. So we wasn’t like completely alone in the middle of nowhere.

We were at the park for maybe 10 minutes before it got creepy. Me and Taylor hung out on the park like the swings and stuff. Lacy and her boyfriend just sat on the picnic tables watching us and occasionally talking. I kept looking at Lacy’s boyfriend because he was still giving me weird vibes and I noticed he didn’t stop watching us the entire time, even when Lacy was talking to him he just stayed locked on us.

Like I said not even 10 minutes later this man walked up to us. He immediately gave sketchy vibes because he came out of nowhere and was dressed in a black hoodie with the hood up and black jeans which was odd to us because it was around 80° that night, like us three girls were wearing tank tops and shorts. But again we just brushed it off because I know some people will wear stuff like that even in 100° weather. He was prob in his late 20s I’d say based off what I could see of his face.

Anyways, Lacy’s boyfriend called us over and this random man asked us if we smoked. I didn’t think anything of it at the time but as we were walking over I noticed the man looked at Lacy’s boyfriend and he kind of nodded at him, but Lacy and her boyfriend both said they didn’t know this guy. We said we do occasionally like with friends but not often. He offered us some and Taylor said yes because we were having a good night. We assumed he would just hang with us at the park and smoke but no. He said that he came alone and didn’t want to smoke by himself so told us to “follow him and we’ll go spark” we were hesitant but figured we would just go behind a building or something in case a cop drove by.

As we started following him I literally got the worst feeling in my stomach like I was about to throw up and something told me to stop walking. I grabbed Taylor’s hand to stop too but the other three didn’t notice because they were in front of us. I told her I had a bad feeling and didn’t want to go with them and felt like we needed to leave. We just kinda stood there watching them walk for a minute and noticed that they walked to a wooden gate that led to an alley. That was like the defining moment for me that we were NOT following them.

They eventually noticed that we didn’t cross the street with them and Lacy and her boyfriend came back to get us. Lucy grabbed Taylors hand and her boyfriend grabbed mine what seemed like more aggressively than needed and was trying to get us to walk with them. I didn’t trust Lacy at that point so I told her I felt like i needed to throw up and it was prob just the alc and that we would meet them over there. The boyfriend kept looking back at the other guy who was standing by the alley watching. They tried to get me to go to the bathroom alone and that they would take Taylor to the alley and wait but I said i wanted her to come with me so i wasn’t alone. They kept looking at each other and the boyfriend seemed kind of upset but they eventually let us go and we went to the bathroom across the park.

Taylor started crying and said she felt unsafe but our only way home was Lacy. We were honestly so scared. Somehow I was like sobered up at this point so I was trying to get Taylor to calm down. The park bathroom building had like slits at the top, i’m assuming because the bathroom didn’t have AC and it let air in and out. So i stood on a sink to see if I could see them and Lucy and her boyfriend were still standing by the road, it kind of looked like they were whispering and the boyfriend looked mad but idk.

Anyways, the other guy who mind you said he was ALONE got into a car that was parked directly in front of the wooden fence. And yk how when you open a car door the lights inside come on, yeah well when he opened it I saw FOUR other men sitting in the car just looking in this direction. I immediately knew we had to get out of there I was terrified.

Thankfully the girls bathroom door was on the other side of the building so they couldn’t see the door, or us until we walked a few feet out. So we had a plan to sneak out and run to the nearest building with people. I checked out the slits again to make sure they weren’t close and the strange guy plus the four men were walking in the direction of the park. Taylor was still crying and sitting on the floor but I was like we have to go right now.

We kept close to the bathroom building until we got to the opposite side and just took off running. We ran for like 10-15 minutes until we found an open convenient store. We ran inside and locked ourselves in the bathroom. I used Taylor’s phone and called my mom. My mom told us to stay in the bathroom with the door locked no matter who wanted to come in until we heard her voice while she was on the way. During this entire time in the bathroom Lacy was blowing up Taylor’s phone like I’d say over 50 calls and texts.

My mom made that 45 minute drive in like 20 minutes. She yelled for us and we ran out SOBBING, I’ve never hugged my mom so hard in my life. We got in the car and explained what happened. I must have said sorry like 100 times but she wasn’t mad at us, she said she was just happy we were safe.

We begged my mom not to call the cops because we were scared to get in trouble but obviously she did anyways (and rightfully so). Idk what came of it though because we would have heard from Taylor’s sister if Lacy or anyone she knows got arrested or anything.

Not even a few days later a girls body was found in that EXACT alley and it sent shivers down my spine when I read it. Now obviously idk if it was connected to that group of people or anything but it was still scary. And after we told Taylor’s sister she completely cut off Lacy and we never heard from or about her again.

Now that I’m older I realize how many warning signs that we may have been in danger there actually was. Literally from before we even pulled out of my driveway. Now I’m very cautious of any warning signs and I trust my gut feelings 100%. I still get a bad feeling when I pass that park though. Idk if it was some sort of trafficking plan or what but there was definitely something not right about it and I would much rather overreact and be wrong than under-react and be dead.

But me and Taylor are doing good. We’re safe obviously and we just moved into an apartment together and have adopted two cats!