Recently, I was talking to a guy who started bragging about something that honestly made my stomach turn. He was talking casually about a couple of local hotels and mentioned an acquaintance of his who works at one of them.

The punchline of his little boast? Whenever a woman checks into the hotel, this worker immediately calls him.

Picture this: You check into a fancy hotel. The lobby is bright, the staff is super welcoming, and a worker politely hands you your key and shows you to your room. You feel completely safe. But the second that door clicks shut, that same "professional" worker pulls out his phone. He tells his buddy exactly what you look like, your name, where you're from, and why you're there. Then, after his shift, they hunt down your social media, zoom in on your pictures, and talk about your body with a cheap, predatory mentality.

The guy I was talking to shared this like it was a funny, trivial anecdote. He was proud of it. He was completely blind to how much of a psychological horror story this actually is.

It really forced me to look differently at how we interact with the world. We rely so heavily on the "mask" of a uniform or a polite greeting. Psychologically, we have to. If we questioned the motives of every cab driver, delivery person, or hotel clerk, we wouldn’t be able to function. We take a mental shortcut and equate a professional smile with good character.

But that warmth is just a social contract. You hand over your physical safety, your home address, and your sleeping quarters to people whose true intentions are a complete mystery.

And honestly, it’s not just strangers in the service industry. It’s the coworker who nods in meetings but resents you, or the boss who acts like a mentor while undermining you. We are surrounded by people acting out their assigned roles.

It just pays to remember: You only ever see the face they want you to see. You never really know what happens when the shift ends and the mask comes off.

This happened some years ago, I think, almost nine years ago. It was a fall evening, it was very cold and windy and just very unpleasant outside. So even if it wasn't late, I decided to take a taxi home so I wouldn't have to walk from the subway to where I lived. The taxi dropped me off on my street. From the street you had walk up a few steps to reach the sidewalk. The sidewalk / pedestrian area was a little bit elevated and separated from the parking spots and street level.

As I was walking up those steps, I was very surprised to see a man, maybe around 30 or 40, sitting on the window sill of a shop. And he was huffing something from a plastic bag. This was very unusual for my neighborhood, which was generally very safe. That was the only time I ever saw drugs in that area.

So I stopped surprised for a second. Then I walked up the rest of the steps and I took a left to walk to the entrance of my building.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the man get up and slowly walk.

I hurried up to reach the entrance. The entrance was a large door and the upper part was a glass panel, a window so you could see outside. It opened with a key card. The super had recently fiddled with the spring and the door and made so it would shut very, very slowly behind you. Which I thought was a very bad idea because someone could grab the handle after you and enter behind you in the building.

This thought crossed my mind as soon as I opened the door and went in. So I turned around, grabbed the handle and shut the door as fast as I could, even made sure I heard the click it makes from auto locking. I was relieved and I thought that, well, it was all in my head and nothing bad was happening.

I managed to walk about two or three steps towards the elevator. And that's when the man reached the door and he started forcing the handle, like trying to rip it out. And then he started banging with his fists on the window and screaming. He wasn't saying any words. He was just like howling with his mouth agape, extremely loud, even tilting his head back. I walked as fast as I could to the elevator. I pushed the button. And it wasn't coming fast enough. All the while he was banging his fists on the window. And howling and howling. I was just stood there watching him. He looked like a fucking ghoul. At some point he was making gestures with his index finger towards his mouth, like pointing inwards. But again, I have no idea what any of that was supposed to mean. I took the elevator, ran inside the apartment, locked the main door and then also my bedroom.

Then I never saw anyone huffing or shooting anything up in that area again. It was the only time I felt in danger.

The door was also fixed soon after.

I don't know how to start this as I'm still shaken up by this whole situation. So please don't mind if some sentences don't make sense or there are grammar mistakes. I tried to fix them as best as i could.

So, To keep myself from rambling on too much, I was on a walk today and it was already dark outside. It's starting to get close to winter here so days are getting shorter and daylight doesn't last as long.

On my walk i decided to stop at an empty park to enjoy the evening before heading home. Soon after sitting down at a bench and listening to music I noticed this one guy dressed in all black walking across the road to the park i am in. I don't think much of it first as people can go where they want and it's pretty common for people to use the park as a Shortcut. Also wearing all black clothing is very common. But I will admit though that I had a weird feeling about him from the start.

I noticed him staring at me a lot and I did stare back. At this point i was on high alert and could feel my heartbeat. We were on the opposite sides of the park and he kept walking closer to me. Still staring.

I'm already panicking like crazy at this point. Then he suddenly stopped walking and turned around to walk towards these balance beam things. At this point I'm the one staring at him. As I stared I noticed him slowly making his way to me. First one the beam, then throwing trash to the nearby trash bin and then to this weird art sculpture that was almost right next to me.

I quickly stood up and started to walk away from the park. I took off my headphones to listen if he came any closer but I thankfully didn't hear footsteps. After making it out of the park i noticed 4 older women walking and i speed walked until i was around a few meters in front of them. I kept checking behind me like a crazy person but I noticed he stayed at the park and didn't follow me. At least hopefully

I have lived around here for many years now and nothing like this has ever happened to me before. To say i was terrified would be an understatement.

I'm still shaken up by the fact that I would have been greatly hurt or worse if I hadn't left. But at the same time i feel like an idiot for not leaving sooner and trusting my gut.

Take my story as a reminder to stay Careful and safe out there. Trust your gut when it tells you something.

When I was 20, I flew alone from Denver to Monterrey, Mexico, to visit my dad and brothers. I had a layover in Dallas, there I met a lady in her early 30’s. She was very kind, and was telling me she’d just dropped her kids off for the summer and was returning back to Mexico. She completely gained my trust, and I let it slip that I was traveling by myself.

We sat apart on the flight, but the second we landed in Monterrey, she came up to me again down in the terminal.

She asked if I was getting picked up already. I told her I was still waiting. She claimed she was too, and then asked if I would walk with her to a gas station near the airport.

I immediately felt weird about it. I told her I couldn't leave because my dad could arrive any second. She kept insisting. I tried to offer a safer alternative: "We can go back inside the airport to buy what you need, it's safer." She flat-out refused and said she preferred the gas station.

Trying to change the subject, I asked who was picking her up. She said it was a man she had never met before. Huge red flag.

She asked me one more time to go with her to the gas station. Right then, my dad pulled up to the curb. The exact moment she realized my dad was there, she stopped talking, turned around, and quickly walked away into the crowd.

When I got in the car, I told my dad what happened. He looked at me, dead serious, and said, "There isn’t a gas station anywhere near this airport. Not in walking distance at least." To this day I believe she had bad intentions. I don’t know what would’ve happened if I would have listened to her.

So my husband and I were sitting in the front room our living room watching TV. Door locked. We have black out curtains on the front windows to prevent glare on the TV.

Then there's a knock on the door. We ignored it. Our neighbors have our cell phone numbers if it was an emergency and even if it was them they would call out to us by name. Plus it was 10:30 at night. So there's no reason anyone but emergency services should knocking on the door.

Then the person at the door started knocking harder and calling out "Hello? Hello? Is there any one there?" My husband gets up and goes to the door. The screen door is locked and the chain is still pulled. He asked the guy what he needed.

The guy said he was from Verizon doing a service call. My husband says you have the wrong house we don't have Verizon. The guy asked my husband if he was sure. He thinks that it has to do with a landline. My husband tells again we don't have any Verizon services.

Then the guy offers my husband to switch to Verizon. My husband says no we are good. Thanks him and closes and locks the door.

Husband says the man was not in an uniform nor did he have a work badge. Just a guy in a polo shirt and khakis. Also there wasn't a vehicle parked on the street. We agreed to call the police if they didn't leave but they just walked down the street afterwards.

I thinking it may have been an attempt at stealing our information making us think we are signing up for some bundle deal but any insight is welcome.

I was 17, It was my first year of college and I had started attending school in Los Angeles. My parents lived up north near San Francisco, and I got homesick a lot, being new to the big city and all. So I liked to surprise them on weekends and randomly make the drive up north. During the day it took 7 hours; at night it took 5. So I really enjoyed going at night.

Driving fast, 400 miles of city roads that eventually turn to inland and then desert roads with sand on both sides of you, and a dusty smell from the air outside. I paired this drive with fun audiobooks about mythology, or a nirvana playlist; it was the best.

I made this drive many times, but I still liked to have my iphone's map on, just cause. This time, the map told me to take a different route up, in the middle of the drive, desert part. This was to maybe save time or something? So I pulled off an exit from the main road, and turned right onto this road.

This was a one-way road, with only one single lane for my car. There were absolutely no cars in sight, around in front or behind me, no lights. It was so dark at night, and there was a bit of dust so I slowed down my driving. As time went on, I got more comfortable with this road, and tuned into my audiobook and my attention drifted for a bit. Then, all of a sudden, I saw a big shape on the road up ahead. I WOKE the F up and SLAMMED on my breaks. It was an old car. And I mean OLD. It was the curved shape of a bug-type or 1920's car (I'm not good with car brands), and it was turned horizontal to the road, blocking a lot of it. The car type was also hard to remember because it was also completely burned and black. Imagine you're playing GTA and you blow up a car - it's black skeleton is what remains. That's what I was looking at.

I was stopped on the road completely, and my curiosity was edging me to open my car door. But I didn't. This felt so off. I took a breath then I drove forward and did my best to maneuver around the car, even getting into the sand a bit, and when I was past, I kept driving, eventually finding a way to get off that road.

I was spooked in that moment, and honestly really glad I was paying attention to my driving. It's so natural to just drift off because you assume the road will always be clear for you, no matter what. This was super weird.

In the years after, I heard that this was a technique for people to get you out of your car so they can do god knows what. But I only heard about that once, I don't even know from who, and also, that explanation just didn't really sit well with me. The car was OLD. It looked like it had been there for a VERY long time. Not like some people had just put it there recently. Even the ground it was lying on was caved in and dusty and the road cracked. That's why it didn't make sense to me. How long was it there? How was I the first person to see this? When there's something blocking the road, it usually gets taken care of asap, in my city experience at least. Like what would happen to the next car if they didn't stop? Should I have done something?

I had so many questions lol, I just had to stop thinking about it until recently.

This isnt insanely creepy but it is a bit weird.

So in my town we have a lake you can go to with several spots for to go to First beach, (main beach) second beach, ( a grassy area with access to the water) the boat launch and the hidey hole. Most people who use the hidey hole is because they want their dogs to be free or to fish on shore without worry. It is also a quiet place to swim if you wanna swim alone or away from lots of people.

So my husband and I went to the hidey hole which has one spot for parking a vehicle. It then has a small but steep hill that leads to the shore and water if your stood at the top of the hill you can only see one section of the water.

Alright that should be enough description. So Im swimming while my husband is just enjoying being in the water further to the right. A truck drives by then drives by again and stops behind my car. A minute or so later a older man walks to yhe edge of the hill and begins talking to me. He asks if im having a good time, i reply in kind. He explains that he was here earlier and dropped his car keys and was wondering if I had seen them. I shake my head and look to micharl and asks if he's seen them. He hadn't and then purposely made himself known to the man who suddenly decided he would look elsewhere and left.

M0As we were going into the car my husband pointed out the man likely thought I was alone as he only saw me, and my car was a Malibu with a purse on the passengers seat really giving the solo female vibe. My husband also pointed out the man drove there so what was he talking about missing keys, though that i chalked up to him having a missing key fob and had his other one with him.

I dont want to think about what might have happened if I had been alone but thankfully it was the only time I saw him.

When I was about 12 years old, me and my bestie went for a walk at about 7-8 p.m. It wasn't something special for us, cause we liked to walk in the evening. It was dark.

There were very few streetlights in the area where we lived, so we walked in total darkness. When we reached the skating rink, which was flooded in winter, we saw a black car. I think it was an SUV. A man with a beard was sitting in it, watching us. Wherever we went, he was watching.

We felt uneasy, so we decided to go somewhere else, but... The man got out of the car and was talking on the phone with someone, supposedly casually approaching us closer and closer. We got scared and walked briskly in the other direction. The man glanced at us, and then returned to the car.

After walking a little bit, so as to disappear from his field of vision, we ran. I've never run as fast as I did then. And the car was following us. We hid in a dark park behind bushes, waited a bit and left, remembering this incident for the rest of our lives.

Hey guys, the title doesn't sound bad but I promise it was pretty creepy. (I'm writing this on my phone so I'm sorry for any spelling mistakes! Also, my left hand is twitching pretty badly so there's that!)

This happened a few days ago, but I'm still thinking about it. So, I work at this grocery store, and I was working the night shift on that day. I always wait outside for my grandma to pick me up, (that was dumb, I know. I wait inside now!) I also sat on this small small wall that's just in front of the entrance, and as I was walking towards the small wall, I saw the woman on my left. She was behind this wall where we kept the carts, and it looked like she was going to go inside the store.

I go in front of that wall to go sit (I know I keep calling it a "small wall" but I can't remember the exact name for the life of me), and she goes in front of the larger wall, and sits next to me. There's a small space between us but she's still pretty close. I thought, "that's a little weird but who am I to judge?" But then she starts to stare at me. Just... Stare. And I can see her through my peripheral. I was just paying attention to my water bottle, the planes flying by, I even had a small conversation with a mom that was walking inside with her kids. I was doing anything to ignore her staring cause I felt uncomfortable.

I didn't know what she was going to do or say, but she just didn't say anything. At all. Thankfully my grandma came not long after, and I immediately got inside. I thought to myself again, "maybe she's weird or a little off." But right when I got in the car, we started driving off... She got up and immediately left. She didn't even go inside the store at all.

Was she planning to rob me? Do something to me but didn't because there were people around? Maybe she wanted to ask for money? But she didn't say anything, and I've met plenty of people who would straight up ask. Or maybe she just likes staring at people.

I told my supervisor about the interaction, and he told me that if I see her again to let him know immediately. I wait inside the store now whenever I work the night shift. And I plan on keeping it that way. That's not my only weird encounter at work, but it was pretty creepy how she just stared but didn't say anything.

When I was about 13, my younger cousin was 10, and my elder cousin was the same age as me. We went to a store, like Amazon, to receive our parcel in person there. When we arrived at the pick-up point, we stood in line.

There was some kind of incomprehensible adult guy in front of us, about 60 years old. Maybe 56. At first we talked to each other, but then the guy started trying to get into our dialogue, inserting some phrases. We made it clear that we didn't want to talk to him. They tried to be polite to him, looked bored, and so on.

The guy didn't take his eyes off me. He looked at me, assessed me. I'm a girl, but since it was winter, I was wearing a hat and a scarf that hid half of my face and looked like a guy. The stranger asked if I was a guy. I said no, I'm a girl. From that moment on, he asked me to take off my hat, show my face, said I was beautiful, and asked questions. But my elder cousin stood between us and started answering his questions, blocking me from him. It was really terrible bullshit.

The stranger shared his life in the USSR, compared us to him and got closer and closer, eventually pinning us in a corner. He also approached my younger cousin, but the little guy didn't give a shit, to put it mildly, and he was playing brawl stars or some stuff like that. Idk. It started to bother us, but, thank God, some woman stood up for us and transferred the stranger's interest to herself.

I was able to record some elements of our dialogue with the stranger on a dictaphone and eventually showed them to my parents. My cousin's father is a cop, so he told us how to act. As a result, we decided to ask for camera footage at that pick-up point, because that man was completely unknown and he was clearly insane. At least that's how he looked and acted.

Unfortunately, we were refused to show the video from the surveillance camera, they say, we need to ask the authorities. We did not file a police report, as the man had long since left and disappeared, but it was a lesson for us. By the way, that guy stood in the parking lot for a long time, waiting for us to get out and watching us as we walked home. I'll remember this fast-paced shit for the rest of my life. ^{_^}

My memory about this night is hazy so I apologise if anything is unclear. When I was a teenager I would stay at my girlfriend's house regularly. One night in I think September or October. We decided to go to the shops to buy some snacks to watch a creepy movie. It was around 7pm when we left the house and was already dark out. we were walking down her street chatting and giggling fairly loudly as teenage girls do.

I think it's important to note that at the end of her street there was a cul-de-sac type area with 4 streets coming off the circle with a grassy area in the middle of the road. From where we were stood across the grassy area to the left was the shops. When we reached the end of her street I froze unable to move however she kept talking as she hadn't noticed yet. Until I pointed directly across from us was a man dressed in all black monk robes I couldn't tell if he was facing us or not initially. I believe he was bald and I saw the back of his head as he was peering into people's gardens through the fences. He heard us and turned around to face us and he stood staring us for what felt like forever but couldn't have been more than 2 minutes. I turned to my gf to see if she was seeing what I was seeing only to see that she wasn't next to me she had ran back round the corner. We ran back to the house in a panic.

I remember distinctly sitting on the floor of her kitchen shaking. We told her parents but they either didn't believe us or didn't care. After about 20 minutes and an argument we decided to go back to the shops. We walked back round to the cul-de-sac and the man was gone. Everything was normal as we went into the shop and bought our food but we did make sure to alert the clerc about the man and told her to watch out as she was alone in the shop then we said goodbye and left the shop.

Then as I was in the middle of the grassy area and my gf was on the other side of the road I turned around and saw the same man walking down a street as soon as he saw us he started sprinting towards us. I screamed at her to run and we took of sprinting towards her house. Luckily we were both quite athletic and managed to run quick enough to make it into her house safe.

I've stayed at hers multiple times after walked at night to the shops again and we've never seen him again and I still can't believe that actually happened if it wasn't for my gf being there I wouldn't have believed it either.

Edit after speaking to my girlfriend abt this we cannot think what on earth he was planning to do. His actions (peering into people's houses) suggests attempting to rob a house but why on earth would he have been dressed like that. We live in a fairly small city the only murders are either drug related or gang violence never from my memory been any cults or serial murders nothing was reported in the news the days following I've never heard of anyone else seeing something like this. He could have been trying to scare someone but after double checking it was in October and was no where near Halloween he was old he wasn't some annoying teen playing a prank I have absolutely no idea what he could've been doing if anyone has any ideas please let me know

I used to work at this gas station, I got up early in the morning. 3:00 a.m. It was always pitch black when I went in. There were only two openers, me and this other gal.

We would enter through the back door and do our morning stuff. This particular morning was no different than the rest. It was the middle of winter, bitterly cold, snowing lightly. No wind.

I start flipping on lights preparing to open the front doors, when I see a figure across the parking lot. I can't really make them out at first. Not too tall. Maybe 5'5, slim build.

I walked to the front doors ready to unlock them.

Then this weird ominous feeling falls over me. I looked up and this figure had gotten closer. They are next to the pumps now.

This person is completely dark as if they're covered head to toe in dark fabric. Definitely wearing a jacket and pants and shoes, but they looked almost flat. No face. Their stride was strange.

My coworker is now at my side and we're both just watching.

I'm not even sure what I'm looking at, at this point.

They continue past the gas pumps and into the parking lot of the tow truck company next door. That's when I realized.

This person is walking backwards.

I asked my coworker, "Is that person fucking walking backwards??" She whispered back, "Don't unlock the doors."

But it was time to open, so I did. As soon as I do, this person turns 180° and starts bolting backwards towards the door of our gas station. My coworker screams and I rush to lock the doors again.

Once they get to the doors they stop, dead stop. I'm pretty sure both me and my coworkers' jaws are on the floor at this point. The figure slowly turns around to face us. It's a woman, she's pale and smiling, a crooked seething smile, she had jet black eyes, it was like looking into a black hole. It was horrifying. The feeling of dread was welling up inside me so immensely I thought I might throw up. This woman starts pounding on the door, so hard that I'm sure she had bruises on her hands, smiling at us the whole time.

That was enough for both of us. We sprinted to the back. We called the cops but by the time they got there she was long gone. The cops did see her footprints in the snow though, confirming that she had been walking backwards.

We checked the camera footage after, she walked away after we ran to the back. Again walking backwards. She walked back through the parking lot and off camera into the next lot, and that's the last we saw of her.. It was so strange.

​

Hey guys, i just want to start by saying i know its something a lot of women lived but i still think about it and since this happen im scared to go out alone so i hope writing this will help me in way. Also im not the best in english so dont mind this.

I(F20 at the time of the story) went to the mall to buy some thing i needed. Almost every store where close but the store i needed to go where opened. When i got inside the mall i saw a man staring at me, im used to people staring at me cuz i had bring pink hair at the time so i didnt made a big deal out of it. Something put me off about this man, he was old and he was looking dirty but like i said im used to man looking at me so i just brushed it off.

Anyways i got into the first store and i didnt found the thing i was looking for so i decided to go into the other store that was all the way to the other side of the mall. When i got out of the store the mall was almost empty and i started walking to the other store i saw the same men behind me walking but again i brushed it off because i didnt think something like that would happened to me but i still had that strange feeling inside me, screaming at me that i wasnt safe. So i started walking faster.

When i got into the other store i was feeling a bit safer i was saying to myself that if he was really following me he wouldnt come into the store well i was wrong.

I was into the aisle searching for what i wanted and there i saw him coming where i was. He got near me, so close that i needed to step back to the point that i bumped into the wall and he cornered me. He looked at me up and down, stared at my boobs for what felt like an eternity. I cant stop thinking about the moment my back touched the wall. I felt trapped, i had no escape, behind was a wall, on my left there was a wall, at the front and on the right there was him. He finally step back and leave. I was relieved but i stayed until the store was close to make sure he was gone. I stayed in the store for a good 20 min. When i couldnt stay longer i got to the cash and paid my thing.

I got out and he was there waiting for me, sitting on a bench right in front of the store. He wanted to make sure he would see me get out of the store. And is was at this moment i really realized what was happening. I was terrified i didnt know what to do and a part of me was still thinking that i was overreacting. My car was near the first store i was so i needed to walk all the way back, there was no one inside the mall. I was alone with him still following me walking much faster then me. I was looking behind my shoulder and everytime he was there.

Fortunatly i saw a security i ran to him and told him everything. The man kept walking like nothing happened. I got home safe after that but this still Hunt me to this day. Im scared every time i need to go outside after dark. Just typing that give me anxiety.

Does anyone know what i can do to feel better. To stop being so scared to go out. Im even scared to go out in the day cuz this all happened in a mall the place i thought was the less likely to being followed.

i'm a F(19) and i was driving back home with my 2 friends in the car when i noticed my tesla battery was at 20%. i went to the chargers i usually always go to because it's situated in a large area surrounded by a lot of different shops + a large chain grocery store. the way these chargers are situated is that there are two rows of charging spots back to back. when i first arrived, i noticed that the row on one side was already full.

now, there was a middle aged woman and a man who were hovering over one of the cars that was charging. i assumed they had just gotten out of their car, or were about to get back into the car to leave. i decided to circle back to the other side to see if there was any available spaces on the other row, but when i saw there wasn't any, i decided to just park in an empty parking space and wait for one of the cars to leave since i assumed that woman and the man were going to leave soon.

but it got strange once i saw that the woman had now circled back to the other side where i was parked and was now hovering over another empty car that was in the middle of charging. i don't remember where the man was during this time, i assumed he was either in the car they were charging or had gone inside one of the stores. me and my friends sat and waited for a few minutes but we noticed that the woman kept oddly lingering around the tesla charging area, she would go back and forth around the parking lot (she was out of the car completely the entire time btw) and just hover around some of the cars for a few minutes. i even pointed out to my friends that this behaviour was strange, stating that she seemed to be doing nothing and that i didn’t even know if any of the cars belonged to her because she kept hovering over multiple ones.

then the really weird part was when she actually tried talking to me. she started to look straight at me, and she was saying something i couldn't make out as my door was closed and my windows were up. she started gesturing towards me and i could see her trying to speak to me. a gold car pulled up in front of my car and the window rolled down to reveal the man she was previously with, he started talking with her and then they both tried to talk to me while my windows were still up. the woman then made a gesturing motion with her hands signalling me to roll down my windows as the man continuously tried to also talk to me. at first i thought maybe they were trying to notify me that a spot was available to charge in now but i looked around and i didn’t see any available charging space.

my friends started trying to tell me the woman was trying to speak to me, and at this point i'm already super suspicious and panicking, so i just scream at them that i don't want to talk to her, and i ultimately decide to just find another charging area because i did not trust them.

i don't know if this was some sort of kidnapping/trafficking attempt, it seemed like they wanted to get me out of the car by asking me to roll down the window, or they were waiting for me to park in one of the charging spaces so i could get out of the car. it could've been completely harmless, as again i don't know what they were saying, but whatever it was, it was definitely suspicious.

do you guys think this was some sort of trafficking/kidnapping attempt, or just a miscommunication?

EDIT : i was not aware i couldn’t use a certain word in the title! i definitely was not trying to get clickbait. i’ve never been on this subreddit before and only found it through looking up "trafficking attempt" on the reddit search engine to see which appropriate subreddit i could post this experience on. i didn't read the pinned post, that's my bad, sorry!

​This happened when I was around 16 or 17 years old. I’m almost 22 now, but I still remember his face and the way he looked at me like it happened yesterday.

​At the time, going to the nature reserve down the street from my house was a regular thing for me. It was an easy way to get some exercise, and as a amateur photographer, I loved capturing pictures along the paths. It was a well-frequented spot—people were always out there jogging, riding bikes, or walking. Everyone was friendly, and since it was right down the road from my home, I always felt completely safe.

​It was a cooler day—cool enough to warrant a light jacket, but warm enough that anyone actually exercising was dressed down. I was walking down a trail, completely absorbed in my phone while reviewing the photos I’d just taken.

​I looked up just in time to see a woman speed-walking directly toward me.

​She looked straight at me, smiled, and said loudly, "Hi honey! It’s been so long since I’ve seen you!"

​I froze, completely confused. I had never seen this woman before in my entire life, yet she was greeting me like I was her own granddaughter. My immediate instinct was to be polite and play along gently, assuming she might be elderly and suffering from dementia or memory loss.

​Before I could answer, I noticed a man walking behind her. He passed right between us, walking painfully slow, his eyes fixated.

​I looked back at the woman and offered a confused, "Oh, hey! Yeah... it’s been a while."

​She didn't miss a beat. "Hi honey, I’m so glad you made it to the trail. Your grandma’s been so worried about you!"

​"Yeah, I'm sorry, Grandma," I replied.

​In that split second, a quiet understanding passed between us. She knew I didn't know her, and she knew I was confused—but she wasn't confused at all. She was being a woman’s woman and running interference.

​As soon as the man walked far enough out of earshot, her expression shifted completely. She looked me dead in the eye and dropped her voice.

​"Are you here alone?" she asked.

​"Yes," I said, my heart dropping.

​"That man has been following you for a full 10 minutes," she whispered. "You switched three different trails, and he was still right behind you. I noticed you were alone and followed you to make sure you were safe."

​Panic set in. She offered to give me a ride home right then and there. Even though I was scared, she was still a stranger, so I told her I didn't feel comfortable getting in her car, but asked if she would keep an eye on me while I walked back. My house was just down the street, and I usually took a dirt path through a tree line as a shortcut.

​She agreed instantly. She told me she had pepper spray and a gun in her car, and that she would slowly drive down the main road parallel to the trail. Through the thinning trees, she’d be able to see me the whole time and could pull over and jump out if anything went wrong.

​I started down the shortcut path alone. A few moments in, I heard heavy footsteps crunching on the dirt behind me.

​My heart was hammering against my ribs. I stopped walking, grabbed my camera, and turned around, pretending I was just spinning to take a picture of the scenery.

​My stomach dropped. He was right there—much closer than he had been before, closing the distance between us fast.

​The moment he saw my camera in my hand and realized I was looking right at him, he abruptly slowed his pace again. I quickly lifted my phone to my face and started talking out loud, pretending I was recording a video or live streaming.

​I broke into a fast walk and made it to the clearing near the road. The stranger’s car was idling right there waiting for me. At that point, I threw all hesitation out the window—he was too close, and I was not taking any chances.

​I ran over to her car, opened the passenger door, and played the part one last time: "Hey Grandma! I'm ready to go now, got a few more pictures like we talked about."

​I jumped in, and she drove me straight to my house safely.

​Looking back, the details of that man still haunt me. He was wearing heavy dark boots—not running shoes—black jeans, and a thick hoodie with his hands buried in his pockets the entire time. It was entirely too heavy for the weather, especially for someone allegedly out for a walk or run on a nature path.

​When the woman first approached me and conversed with me, I remember the exact look on his face when he thought she was leaving. He looked excited. He was tracking me.

​I have never gone back to that reserve alone since that day. I've always had a fear of being abducted, but you never truly think it will happen to you until you find yourself being hunted in broad daylight.

I’ve only just come across this sub and thought I would share, as it may just help someone in the future if something similar happens.

I used to live in a two bedroom shotgun house in an industrial estate about a 7 minute walk from a very popular inner city street in Melbourne, Australia with my boyfriend. I was a student and my boyfriend was a bartender, so five nights a week I was alone in our house until about 2am.

This house had always given me the creeps. We had one neighbour which was a revolving sharehouse that had dealers and other random unsavoury people staying there and the other side was a mechanic. It was old, the landlords didn’t look after it but it was cheap in a very cool area.

One night I was home alone (around 10pm) and someone aggressively knocked on our front door. Because of where we were in the industrial estate we didn’t get much foot traffic at night, but we were so close to so many bars, restaurants and other places that if you were in need of help you would just go there. So I ignored it, until they banged on the door again a couple of minutes later.

We didn’t have a peephole, but the front bedroom window was next to the door, so I could kind of peer through the windows without anyone seeing me. I asked who was there, and a man just said “Pizza delivery!”. I said through the door, “I didn’t order any, sorry!” And thought that would be the end of it. He asked if I was sure, and I cheerfully said, “yep, absolutely wrong house I’m sorry!”

Something told me to look through the window, so I’ve peered through to see this man just standing by my front door, no pizza in sight. I called down the hallway, “David! Can you please call the police and go get the dog from outside??” as loud as i could and this guy just turned and bolted from the house, absolutely no pizza around nor did he have a car or a bike.

The next week someone on the other end of our street had a violent break in that left them barricaded in the bathroom for an hour while some lunatics ransacked the place, and a week after that our neighbours car was stolen. This is very unusual for the area.

I think often about what would happen if I’d opened that door. Thankfully we moved out when we got a bit older and my now husband stopped working nights a year later.

I had said in my last post that I had almost been kidnapped twice. This is the first time. The first time I was ever almost kidnapped.

This happened when I was eight years old. I’m almost 22 now, but the memory of that day and the look on my mother's face that night still haunts me.

​At the time, my family lived in a townhome complex in a small town where literally everybody knew everybody. It felt like the safest place in the world. Our complex had a little neighborhood park that sat literally right outside our backdoor. Because of where it was positioned, my mom could easily glance out the kitchen window while cooking to keep an eye on me. My older brother—who is three years older than me—was upstairs in his room playing video games.

​The park was right next to a wooded area that bordered our town’s water tower. Everyone called it the "Smiling Tower" because it had a massive, bright smiley face painted on it. Teenagers in town were always sneaking up near it, and as an eight-year-old, I thought the whole area seemed cool and mysterious.

​It was a normal afternoon, and I was swinging by myself on the set near the tree line.

​After a few minutes, I heard voices coming from the woods near the water tower. At first, I didn't think much of it. I assumed it was just a few older kids from my school hanging out. But as I kept swinging, the rustling got closer, and a single voice called out to me.

​I turned my head toward the tree line.

​Standing just inside the shadow of the trees was a man. He was staring at me and smiling. Being an eight-year-old raised in a close-knit town where everyone was friendly, I didn't feel alarmed. I just smiled back.

​"Hi honey, are you having fun?" he asked. "Do you want to play?"

​I shook my head and replied innocently, "My mother told me I'm not allowed to go into the trees. That's why I have to play right here."

​"Oh, well, we won't go too far," he coaxed.

​Even at eight, a gut feeling told me to obey my mom and stay put. "No thank you," I said. "But if you want to come swing with me, you can."

​Looking back, it frightens me how easily he agreed. He stepped out of the woods, walked right onto the playground, and sat down on the swing next to mine. A few minutes later, a couple of my neighborhood friends came over to join us. To us, he was just a nice adult playing at the park. We laughed, swung on the swings, and interacted with him like he was just one of the kids.

​Eventually, he left, and when it started getting dark, I went inside for dinner.

​That night, my family was sitting around the TV watching the local news. A breaking news report came on: a man had been taken into custody for attempting to kidnap an eight-year-old child just down the street from our complex.

​They flashed his mugshot on the screen.

​My heart did a strange little drop. I looked up at my mom and casually said, "Hey, I know that guy! We played on the swings together earlier today."

​I will never, ever forget the way the color completely drained from my mom's face. She turned ghostly white, staring at me in absolute horror as the realization hit her of how close she had come to losing me.

​It turned out he wasn't from our town at all. He was a predator wandering the area looking for an easy target.

​After that day, my mom never let me go to that park alone again—even if it was right outside our back door.

Hi, this is my first post, but after reading a few threads I want to get others opinions on this creepy story I have and what could've happened. For context, during this story I was 14F, and I have always been a shorter and more petite person.

It started with me, my mom, my friend, and her mom going to Eaton Centre Mall in Toronto, Canada. We were innocently shopping and going from store to store as we usually do. We decided to enter indigo as I love reading and wanted some new books. As we entered, I noticed a man entering a short amount of time after us. I didn't even register it at this point since it was a Saturday and the mall is super crowded. From what I remember, the man had on a blue jacket with a hoodie underneath, dark jeans, a baseball cap with his hood on top of it, and dress shoes/loafers (I forget what they're called). He was tall and had a medium-sized build.

I noticed him as we went up to the 2nd floor for some mystery books (my favourite genre). As I was browsing, I entered the aisle next to us and noticed him standing there, with no book in his hand or anything, and we made eye contact. I still didn't think anything of it at the time, but I did recognize him from when we entered the store.

I ended up needing to use the washroom, and to enter the washroom at Indigo you need a code. There is a separate code for the men's and women's washrooms, which the employees at Indigo will give you if you ask. So I went up to ask the employee for the washroom code for the girls' washroom. I went into the big handicapped stall and since I was a 14-year-old at the time, I was on my phone watching TikTok. I remember a video was playing where it was the ' don't say the same thing as me ' type of video. I used to love these for some reason, so I was on the account trying to beat as many of these videos as I could. I would respond to the out loud and I was in here for maybe 1 minute max before the door opened. I assumed somebody else was using the washroom, and since I was a disrespectful 14-year-old, I kept playing the video and talking out loud.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a pair of loafers/dress shoes appeared from the gap under the stall door. The person on the other side is quiet and says nothing for a few moments before shaking the stall door like they were trying to get in. I yell "Taken!" and watch the person hesitate for a second before leaving the washroom. I thought, "Huh, that's weird" as it was an abnormally long amount of time, and they didn't go to any of the other open stalls. Shortly after, I left the stall and washed my hands at the outside sinks because there was no soap in the handicapped stall. The washroom door opened again, and the man with the jacket and dress shoes was right there. I told him, "This is the women's washroom" and he responded with a "huh, ok" in a way I could tell he was foreign. He took a second to stare at me for longer before leaving. It creeped me out, but I quickly finished washing my hands and left.

We went to check out the few books I picked, and as we were in line, I noticed the man again. He's right behind me where there's a table of trinkets near the checkout line, and he's 'looking through' them while holding eye contact with me. He wasn't even looking at the stuff he was picking up and never dropped his eyes from mine until I turned away and stepped closer to my mom. We paid, and then left and started heading to the next store. I see the man get up and follow us out of the store. It's now that I realize that we are being followed, and I tell my mom. We quickly enter another less busy store than Indigo, and I sit in some lobby chairs as my mom tells the cashier to call mall security.

As I'm sitting in these lounge chairs with my friend, I see the man pace back and forth in front of the store watching us. He starts to enter, so my friend and I move closer to the back of the store. He doesn't stay for long and leaves after, still pacing in front of the store. We go back to sitting and waiting, and the man suddenly stops pacing and quickly walks out of view. Very shortly after, mall security comes and tells us that they didn't find him, but have gotten multiple reports of similar incidents. We leave the mall right after.

I want to know if anybody has had similar incidents. Did me responding out loud to those TikTok videos make it seem like I was on the phone, and did it make him hesitate to do whatever he planned on doing? Did I do anything wrong, or does anybody know any more information on Eaton Centre Mall stalkers? Also, I know this isn't super creepy, but I thought I should post it here for any advice, information, or opinions.

Me and my friends were walking home from school and some old guy (we’re like 99% sure) started taking photos of us, and then when we walked by him he said something like “smile for candy camera” or at least that’s was we heard. It’s very possible he said candid but uhm we’re creeped out. If this means anything weird pls tell us!

Hi there, I just wanted to share an experience with you.

This happened to me last evening. It was a Sunday and I got off the Metro and was walking back to home. It was around nine PM. On the way I had to pass a particular street which was dimly lit. Walking by I saw a man waving out to me. It was a family father, mother and a small child of around ten. They were reasonably dressed. The man once again motioned for me to come closer. I did not move closer to the man as he had requested as I was already at a distance of some five feet from where they were standing.

"Tum ha la Marathi yet ka?" he asked.

I nodded. He said he wanted some help. He explained that they had come from some village and had run short of money and could I help them? He shook my head as I have been through such episodes before. He then moved closer to me and said that it was OK, they did not need money they only wanted some food. The lady also joined in mumbling something. The man moved a bit more closer and was staring at me, and I had a weird feeling. I shook my head and walked away.

Later on I discussed this incident with some of my friends. One of them said that he had heard of similar incidents. Such incidents "happen" mostly in a dimly lit street in which a family had approached a passerby and has robbed him by hypnotizing him. The man usually calls out to the victim and then somehow gets him involved in a conversation and then does the rest. My only safeguard was that I had stayed at a distance from him, he had tried closing this distance but I had moved away and most importantly I had not looked at his hand movements or established eye contact with him.

I was stunned... Just wanted to check up with you all if you had ever come across such a similar scenario?

Regards.

When I was 19 and living in my state of origin, I used to work at a school as an after school counselor. I didn’t have a car so I had to walk 3+ miles home.
On my way home there was a pizza place I liked that I stopped at, on my way out of there I called my then girlfriend.

I heard someone yell from behind me and when I realized they were yelling to ME this skinny dude with a beanie was already walking up next to me. This is on a road that wasn’t busy during the day let alone at 7:00 pm in December.

Dude starts going on a rant about the state having a drug epidemic and how he was in the FBI. he was going through his pockets like he was trying to find something. Then asking why I keep looking at my phone, insisting my girlfriend was NOT actually on the phone and that I was lying.

He then said people are rude but that I wasn’t. He said most people would have told him to go away. I told him I wasn’t really all that nice and that I’m just introverted and didn’t like talking to strangers much either. He suddenly stopped going through his pockets

He called me some slurs that I won’t repeat and rode his bike a bit ahead of me then put it in the sidewalk path sideways and sat behind it. So I (like any sensible person) crossed the street so I could get home without going near him. He then ran across the street and yelled at me more slurs then said I was “on candid camera” and then ran to the other side of the road saying my generation doesn’t know anything and rode away calling me even more slurs.

Definitely creepy looking back and now that I’m 25 near 26 years old I think about what I could have done differently. There was a bit I left out so this wasn’t too long but I genuinely hope the man got the help he needs.

Me (20 Female) and my friend (21 Female) experienced something crazy when we were roughly 16 y/o. my friend we'll call her C, she lived with me and my family while we were in school due to home life circumstances and we had lived together for about a year at this point, we would always go outside and walk around the neighborhood, between 8pm and 4am (this is important) we would go outside when we were bored, wanted fresh air or wanted to smoke the devils lettuce so this time was no different

before all of this happened me my dad and C were on the way back from shopping, and I told him that when we got home we wanted to go for a walk and he said "i don't think ya'll should go for a walk tonight, something is telling me that it just isn't a good idea" and me being 16 and stubborn I got upset and was arguing with him about how "we go on night walks all of the time" and "why can't we go on a walk this specific night, it's only 8 o'clock so it's not like we're going out super late" and he told us he would rather us not but that he wasn't going to argue so to just do what we want.

we ended up going on a walk around 8:30-9ish. usually we would bring my uncles pit bull rebel with us because she's highly trained in case anything were to happen, but he was home so she was with him this night so i just brought my dog onyx(small solid black American cocker spaniel) so she could go in a walk too (also important) we were walking down the road like normal and theirs a curve where and starting at that curve and about like 40 feet after theirs no houses just woods on both sides on the road and behind the curve was a field

we went to our usual spot with the woods on both sides of the road and we stopped to smoke and 2 cars drive past us so we put the stuff in our pockets and stood off the side of the road to not be in the cars way the first one drove normally and slowed down because of the curve coming up and then another car drove by afterwards but while the car was passing us it went way slower, at the time we didn't pay much attention to it because people new to the neighborhood usually went a lot slower because the curve is about a sharp 90 degree turn.

i did take note of the car because i'm usually pretty observant, it was a black car kinda like a Camry but what stood out to me was the windows they were extremely tinted you couldn't see inside, we didn't think about this car until after the whole situation was over, at this point we had smoked and nothing was out of the ordinary to us, we then went to go walk back to my house and in the curve standing off of the road was a man, we didn't know where he came from he was just standing there, which was off because around that curve was just woods and a field and when we came around he was just standing there staring at us, not as if he was walking and then stopped when he saw us, he was standing there just staring at us not moving,

at this point i had sobered up faster then ever. we kinda slowed down and just stopped walking and stood where we were, looking at him, he didn't move where he was standing. onyx started growling and just stood in front of us, she never growls at anything she's a very sweet dog and usually walks up to anyone she sees so i had a sinking gut feeling something was wrong, he lifted his arm and I noticed he had something big in his hand then a bright light hit us, it was a flash light one of those old big ones with the handles and the yellow tint, he stood still and all we could see was light, and somewhat of a shadow of his figure behind it.

my vision went away for a second because it was dark outside so i had to adjust to the light being in my face, at this point in time i started to back up slowly still facing him and watching, C followed and we were slowly walking backwards and onyx just stood there watching him, he then started walking towards us onyx stood her ground and didn't move.

we then started walking a bit faster and he was starting to move faster to the point he was gaining on us, he got close to onyx and tried to grab her and C walked up towards him to try and grab onyx and i yelled "she's fine she can bite his hand off" "come here" and he got close and touched her and she whined loud and ran towards us she wasn't on a leash because she's very well trained and doesn't go more then 5 feet away from me. we had turned around at this point and started speed walking but i was constantly looking back to keep and eye on him.

i looked at C and i said "run." so we ran and C followed me and so did onyx, and then the man started running after us. we then ducked off the right and hid behind an RV at the first house we got to he didn't see where we went because the woods blocked his view. at this point we were running farther from my house because he was blocking the one way to it. we hid behind the RV and crouched down, i had onyx between my knees holding her collar hoping she didn't make a sound we were dead silent holding our breath just looking at each-other and listening very carefully, we then heard him speak he was on the road right in front of the RV we were behind.

he was on the phone with someone, and we heard his say "they were just here, i lost them" "it was 2 girls" and C looked at me and whispered "what do we do" i put my finger over my mouth motioning for her to hush. then we heard him say "wait." then he went silent. at this point i was sure he heard her and i was thinking of every possible thing we would do in this moment to keep us alive. i sat there listening and then off to the left of me where the woods were i heard a crack of a tree branch.

we were at the house of this lady i met the summer before with her granddaughter and she was sweet and i knew i could trust her. we could see her back porch and i grabbed C's arm and ran to the porch i didn't knock at first i could see a bunch of burly motorcycle men playing cards inside we stood there for a moment because i didn't want to bother them and still thought maybe I'm crazy even though all of this had happened then we heard foot steps coming from behind us. i then started banding in the door screaming for help, the guys all looked at us and one came to the door and asked if everything was okay. i immediately told him a man was following us and trying to kidnap us and that we needed help.

he let us in and all of the guys grabbed their guns and all went outside and searched the whole neighborhood when we got inside we told the the guy who opened the door everything that had happened. i then called my mom after several tries because their was no service and got ahold of her, we told her what happened and she came and picked us up from the house, when she got there all of the men were back they searched the whole neighborhood and couldn't find anyone. my mom thanked them.

we went home and my mom called and filed a police report and the cops said they would keep an eye out but that it was odd because we lived in a quiet neighborhood with a bunch of older people and families, a relatively safe neighborhood. after that night we never went on another walk again past dark even in the daytime there for awhile and my dad told me "i knew something bad was going to happen i had a gut feeling" and from then on out i never doubted my dads gut feelings.

i'm still not sure what would have happened if he had got to us, what his plan was, for the next few weeks i kept replaying it over in my mind wondering what would have happened if he got us, and later on i thought maybe he was a sex trafficker considering he was talking on the phone with someone else so he wasn't the only one in on it, and what if it was more than 2 people. i still think about it sometimes just sitting and wondering what could have been had we done anything different, i still wonder what i could have done different.

ps. i'm sorry if the story is long this is my first time writing a post i read a lot of them but never write but i know people appreciate details and context so i tried to do my best at that. thank you for reading

So Friday night me and some friends went to see the new Street Fighter movie. While waiting in the lobby before the movie, this random guy who none of us knew walked up and started talking to us.

He was taller with short, black hair and facial hair, and wearing a long, black coat (not quite trench coat length, but getting there). Had to be somewhere around 25. He was honestly kinda hot (which he probably uses to his advantage). He asked us what our favorite characters were and then started going on about how much he liked Chun Li because of her thighs, and saying how he wanted her to crush him with them. Just being generally weird and creepy.

At this point I'm already pretty uncomfortable and want to leave the conversation. But then out of nowhere he starts talking about how he has a Nazi family heritage. Just decided to throw in a fun fact. Halfway through talking about that, a group of young girls walk past to go to their movie. He stops midsentence and completely pivots his attention to them, and the first question out of his mouth is "how old are you girls" and they respond "18". He completely forgets about us and starts talking to them instead.

At this point me and my friends walk away quickly cause this dude was just giving off really creepy, predatory vibes and we wanted nothing to do with him. Didn't run into him again and never want to. I hope those girls stayed safe.

I just got woken up by a cars headlights that stood still for a little too long. we have a drive way that’s i can fully see from my room. I wanted to see what was outside and saw a random white jeep i’ve never seen before. I saw them run out their car then they took 2-3 photos with flash on and ran back to their car and left as fast as they could. I’m thinking of calling police but might be a bit much. what should i do?