so me n my friends person 1 person 2 and person 3 we were having a sleepover at person 1's house originally it was me person 1 and we wanted to go to target because we did our makeup n so person 2 joined n came to my friend's house so after a few minutes my friend person 1 asked her mom to take us to target and so her mom said yes and we went to target everything normal we saw my other friend person 3 we just saw him randomly he said he was meeting with his girlfriend but anyways we were got candy for a candy salad n we headed to Walmart to get the bowl so we got our bowl but my friend person 3 went out of walmart to wait for us outside he was by some fields and then we texted him and asked him where he was n he told us so we were just walking to him but still couldn't see him but we were still close to walmart by a flower section outside but i was on my phone texting my mom and i guess i never noticed but my friend person2 some sketchy guy slowing down by us he had a black van and she said guys.... and person 1 started running fast i looked at the man i could see he was up to no good cause first of all he had a black van ofc and he was alone he was not shopping just driving around and i saw he had a beared n a black fedora but couldnt see more because i dashed and followed my friend person1 n person 2 followed the guy turned n left but he went uphill n we saw he looked like he was going to turn back around so we all started panicking n calling person 3 n i saw him across from us so i ran to him n my friends followed a long and we told him everything so we looked somewhere to hide n catch our breaths and so we were under some benchs n person 1 didnt feel safe n called her parents n they said they were on their way and so we got out of there n stay on the light n we saw the black van took a turn and we freaked n it parked infront of us we all sprinted so fast i was about to cry they wanted to go inside the bathrooms but thats n easy kidnap for them cause they could come inside but anyways so we didnt go inside the bathroom but we stayed outside looking for better hiding places at this time i thought it was over and then my friend person1 said wait guys thats my parents n she also said that because they said they saw us running so we sprinted to them and we told them but we headed home safely, guys this was a scary experience but to all teens n adults too be careful of ur surroundings u may think nah it will never happen thats what i thought but not anymore.

This happened last year, right before I switched up jobs in October.

I used to work really early in the morning. I would catch a transit bus at 4:30, get to my intersection and hopefully catch a connecting bus. (I didn’t like walking in this neighborhood for 2 reasons. 1.) I was almost hit by a drunk driver while walking to work, and 2.) I have a lot of body pain that made walking distances difficult.)

My bus was running late so sadly I did miss my connection and was forced to walk. So I began my 15 minute walk to my job in the dark of the morning.

Now, the neighborhood is strange. One of those where you simply cross a street and you are in either the “good” or “bad” side of the neighborhood. I was in what was the newer, “good” side of this area. To add into this, the area is barely lit with hardly any street lights. So it was an anxiety inducing walk.

As I am walking, I see headlights down one of the darkened streets. It catches my attention and I glance down it for a split second, and then I focus back on the path ahead of me. Suddenly, the car is peeling out of that street and does a sharp turn to pull up right next to me.

In the car were 3 - 4 guys. I want to say they were early to mid 20’s. It was hard to tell. But I immediately went on high alert.

When they got up beside me they started screaming at me about how they were going to kill me and a bunch of other shit before they eventually made a U-turn on the road and peeled off in the opposite direction.

My heart was racing, I was shaking. It was the second time something bad happened in that neighborhood that put me off that I couldn’t wait to get a new job away from the area.

While their threats were empty, and probably just a bunch of dudes being jackasses, it didn’t take away the fact that for a split second I was afraid they were going to mow me down with their car or jump out and beat the shit out of me. It only added fuel to the growing PTSD fire of almost getting rammed by a drunk driver.

Luckily I got a new job within a month of the incident. But I am still nervous around traffic. And every time a car speeds by me while I am walking on the sidewalk I feel my heart racing because I think of that time and the drunk driver.

I was watching tv when I heard a few coughs outside. Our walls are thin so I heard them loud.

I thought at first it was the guys doing work on a unit across from me. It bothers me but they park outside my unit. I dont say anything though since eventually they'll be done and gone.

But I checked with my blinds and it wasnt. It was just some dude. Sitting in my chair out front which is something weird even for the workers.

So I went out of my doorway and asked "Can I help you?" He said "Oh im not doing anything. Im just smoking". He pointed to a running car which was his.

Im baffled. Why would anyone ever smoke outside their car and park in someone's driveway to do it. Use the side of the road or use a parking lot or literally anywhere else.

So I said "um this is my house. Can you leave?" He again reiterated he's not doing anything and he'll leave if I want so I say yes. He gets in his car and goes.

But it is obviously someone's house. He even pretended to be surprised about that after I walked out of it to question him. It couldn't he anything else but a house....it even has our last name on a plaque in the window.

Can't imagine any scenario where someone would sit in someone's chair on their porch smoking if he wasnt planning something uncouth. I just think thats not normal behavior. I wrote his licence plate down just in case.

This happened last summer when I ( f18 ) was 17 went out with a friend (f19) at the time 18 for a stroll in the woods ( We live near a big forest )

So when leaving the forest I kinda noticed that something was off .

I turned back and ther was a really tall guy ( around 1.90 ) standing right behind me only leaving a little gap between me and him .

He looked very pale , had light blue shorts with white stripes on and a dirty white top . He had pretty big and dark eye bags, blonde-ish white hair and looked like if he was in his mid twenties.

I instinctively took a step back and my friend out of panick did the same .

The guy stood still and asked us if we were interested in se* and if we were lesbians and that he would have some "nice" friends at his place.

My friend ( thank god ) told him friendly that we weren't interested and the creep turned back without saying anything and left the way WE took to get out of the woods and walked back in.

We took seperate ways to get home instantly because of both of us being creeped out.

I told my older sister when I got home and her face turned pale while I was telling her .

She asked me some questions about the guy and told me that this guy sounds like her stalker from school time .

Apparently this guy lived in a little village that was near the woods .

To this day on I'm way too scared to go into the woods there , even if it's with my friends . I just hope that I'm never gonna see that guy again in my life .

I had just parked at the local trail I often visit when, about thirty seconds later, an older man parked next to me. He started leaning over as if to ask for directions. I rolled down my window, and he kept trying to peer into my car. Sensing something odd but dismissing it initially, I asked if he needed anything. He mentioned he was there for a walk and continued to glance inside my car. He then asked if I wanted company for my walk. I usually go on walks to be alone with my thoughts, so I wasn't interested, especially given his strange behavior. I politely declined and got out of my car.

Despite this, he followed me and invaded my personal space, making me uncomfortable with his intense staring and proximity. Although I'm a tall man and wasn't feeling physically threatened, his behavior was disconcerting. After walking together briefly, I excused myself, saying I needed to use the restroom, and started walking faster to create distance. When he tried to keep up, I told him I'd catch up later and quickly left the area, feeling uneasy.

I feel a bit guilty, thinking he might just be a lonely old man, but I believe I did the right thing. Normally, I'm not uneasy around others, but something about this interaction felt off. I prefer to trust my instincts in these situations.

I take a walk every morning as part of my waking up routine. This morning, towards the beginning of my walk, I pass a man who asks me something. He is slightly too close to me but not enough to make me uncomfortable, just enough that I don’t want to slow down or have a listen to what he has to say. I have my earphones in as well, and don’t take them out but hear enough that he had asked for the time. Without breaking my stride, I glance at my watch, say 7:30, and keep walking. If he said anything else, I didn’t hear.

About 20 min or half an hour later, well far away from the first time I came across this guy, that same guy walks up from behind, again too close to me, to ask for the time. I tell him at that point to get away from me, stop following me, and that I already gave him the time. That escalates things immediately, because he shoots back, “Why, is it because I’m Black?“. I respond no, it’s because he approached me about a mile away with the same question. He says he lives in the neighborhood, so I say fine but please stop following me. He denies following me and calls me “ching-chong bitch” and yells for me to “go back to China” as I cross the street to put more distance between us.

This guy follows me across the street and keeps following me as I cross back over. At this point, I’m yelling for him to get away from me and stop following me and he’s repeating the same lines about being Black and hurling racial slurs at me. I’m getting worried that while there are people out at 8am either walking their kids to school or going to work, no one’s going to step up because of bystander effect.

After I cross the street for a second time, he gets right in my face yelling about how he’s not following me. I have my back against an apartment complex and am getting worried that things are going to get physical, when a tall woman with pink hair walks up. I don’t remember what she said, but I at some point confirm to her that he wasn’t leaving me alone. She’s about the same height as this guy, and starts to yell for him to stop following me. He is now being badgered by her and he’s also yelling back the same denials about not following me, being from the neighborhood, and accusing that this is all because he’s Black.

Thanks to my lady savior, I’m able to break away. A couple that was exiting their apartment, who witnessed all of this, ask if I’m alright, which I say yes without stopping. I walk half a neighborhood block down to duck through an alley. As I’m walking down the alley, checking the entire time to make sure that guy’s not following me, I see the woman with the pink hair has disengaged and is walking off. I’m so glad it didn’t escalate for her and feel bad for not being able to thank her for her help. I take a circuitous route home, looking behind my shoulders every once in a while.

This was in middle school, my teacher was absent one day and this gym coach was substituting for him that day, I’ve seen him around the school before and he’s substituted for us a few times. I was sitting in my desk talking to my friend behind me and pretending to do my work. And for some reason he decided to walk around the room to check if we were doing the assignment.

So I turned to my desk and started writing. He goes one by one by everyone’s desk but slows down once he reaches mine. He hovers over me just staring down at my work, I got nervous bc I didn’t want him calling me out. But for some reason I felt his breath on me heavily which was grossing me out. He was a frail old looking man, so I didn’t think much of it.

He walked really slow, and seem harmless but was very passive aggressive when he spoke to us.

I’d always get this weird creepy vibe from him but always thought it was just me. A few months go by and the rumor of him being fired circled around the school. I was curious so I’d ask around to know what the “tea” was. Apparently the same teacher that would sub for my class was fired. He was caught trying to touch the girls during practice and throughout gym periods, he touched a girl which was soon reported by the student.

And he even got caught hiding in the crack of the door watching the girls change in the locker room, he’d just watch them. He finally got caught while doing so, and he was soon fired and kicked out of the school. The news made it everywhere, even on the news, it spread like wildfire.

Thinking back on it now, it gives me chills to think that he’d watch girls change. And thank goodness he got caught.

You never know people intentions.

Before I start, I must say I haven’t told many people this. Mostly because it was a very scary experience for me.

This happened in Kelowna, Canada in the 80’s. I was about 14, and was babysitting at a neighbours house while the parents were gone. They had a nice house — like most in the neighbourhood — and it was right on the corner where 2 streets connected.

My house was right outside a bus stop across from theirs.

This happened pretty late at night in the winter, so it was dark out. Maybe 11 or 12 at night. I was sitting on the couch when I thought I saw something out the back door. It was one of those glass doors that lead to the porch. It was weird though because I couldn’t see much.

You know when the lights are on and it’s dark out so you can’t see anything but black and your reflection? That’s what I saw.

But I could have sworn it looked like something was there. So I got up and walked close to the window. It definitely looked like something was there but I still couldn’t see.

I got closer. Still couldn’t see. I honestly should’ve just turned on the lights, but instead I put my face right to the glass and cupped my hands by my eyes to look out.

Maybe about 1 inch from my face on the other side of the glass was a man. He looked tall and pale from what I could see (which wasn’t much) and he was staring at my very scarily. Keep in mind he would have been watching from the backyard.

Naturally I jump back and let out a short scream. But stupid teenage me didn’t call the cops. I called my parents instead. My father came over to take a look. There were still footprints in the front and backyard. I don’t remember much after that because it just felt like a very unreal experience

You never expect this stuff to happen to you until it does. Anyways, hope you enjoyed the story because I sure didn’t enjoy experiencing it ✌️

I (F21) was visiting my cousin in a neighboring city. She lives in a middle of nowhere suburb with high crime. Her specific area is more secluded and safer, but you have to ride the bus through the shady part first to get there.

I rode the bus to the center of this city and got on another bus towards the suburb. When I got on, I paid my fare and quietly asked the ticket guy to announce my stop. He said it would be a long way.

I huddled in a seat towards the tail of the bus and waited for the bus to depart, keeping a close watch over my possessions. As the stops came and went, the bus became packed and a lady sat next to me at some point.

Sitting across from me on the front of the bus was a man that looked to be in his late twenties, chatting with a group of friends. He kept staring at me.

When the lady next to me got off the bus he rushed to get up walking towards me, presumably to sit next to me, but thankfully another passenger was faster and took the seat so he went back to his friends.

I remained composed but my gut was telling me something was very off. In that moment the ticket guy, who was handing out tickets to new passengers, loudly tells me that my stop is in two stops. I see the creep look at the ticket guy, then at me and then exchange a look with his friends.

We had reached the 'middle of nowhere' part of the suburb where the stops were literally in the middle of nowhere, with few sparse buildings and no people on the street. It had started to get dark.

At this point I was aware I needed to think fast and think fast I did.

The bus came to a stop and the doors opened. I waited until the last moment, got up and made my way towards the doors at the end of the bus.

The guy jolted up from his seat and hurried his way to the other door which was in the middle of the bus and closest to him. He walked out right before the doors closed, but I remained inside.

When he realized I didn't get off he started following the bus. I still wasn't safe because he knew my stop was next. I talked to the ticket guy and the driver and God bless their hearts they kept watch over me, let me ride the bus to the end of the line and back and my cousin's family waited for me at the bus stop on the way back.

I’ve been reading stories on this sub for a while and figured this belonged in here.

Three years ago, I (17f) at the time, was driving down a very busy street in my fairly large city. I was in the left lane and had my indicator on to move into the right lane. For context, the speed limit on said street is 45mph, justifiably so, but most people drove at 70mph+.

I put my indicator on a reasonable time before my turn, but this car to my right was driving very recklessly. Eventually, I slowed down to allow him to pass, instead of doing so, he matched speed with me.

Following this, I sped up, inadvertently cutting him off, and took the right turn. He very quickly turned behind me, riding my bumper to the point I thought he hit it, and on a very narrow two-way street, came up next to me. He rolled his window down, pulled out a gun and said “yeah, bitch, is this what you want?” (Windows were down) and continued pointing it at me until he saw another car coming down the street, at which point he went ahead and overtook me to to avoid being hit.

As a seventeen years old, I was terrified. I’m also not from the US, so having a gun so close to me was even scarier. Just glad it didn’t escalate. Never cut someone off after that.

One day I was with my cousins and we were riding our bikes around this abandoned track field with a bunch of trees. A hour or so passed and this middle aged man enters through the gate, he had an orange bag on, a blue shirt and some jeans on, he also had a black cap on. He sits down on a log and watches us the whole time. Me and my cousins were obviously creeped out and just ignored him, he seemed to be eating his food or whatever so we just thought he was minding his business and we were just being paranoid.

After like 3 hours we were all pretty thirsty and tired. There was a store right around the corner where we could have gotten some snacks and drinks so we decided to leave, it was getting late anyways . Mind you the man was still there just watching us.

While leaving I ran over a rock and my bike leaped forward a little almost knocking me off my bike. I laughed it off and we went on.

Once we reached the store I reach inside my pocket for my phone. It wasn’t there. I asked my cousins if they had it. They said no. So i frantically told my cousin to go run back and check if i had dropped it, and he did. He comes back after 5 minutes and there was no sign of my phone. I start freaking out and I run back to the track field to look for it my self with my bike. I searched the grass, the trees EVERYTHING BUT I still couldn’t find my phone.

Then I started realizing something, the man was still there, watching me frantically looking for my phone. He just sat there and stared at me. Both my cousins come back from the store and find me still looking for my phone. My older cousin finally pulled out her phone and tries to track mines down. Thankfully, I always had my location on.

The GPS on her phone showed that my phone wasn’t far away from me and it was where I was at. I was about to declare victory until my cousin whispered in my ear “ what if that guy has it? “ the idea wasn’t completely absurd he was actually sitting in the area where my phone claimed to be according to the GPS. But I just brushed it off and told her that wasn’t going to accuse a random stranger of stealing my phone .

She calls me stupid and we just kept searching, as I was still searching my bigger cousin kept a close eye on the guy, which he was still chilling over there. Few moments later he starts walking away. My cousin looks down on her phone up at the guy right when he started moving, my phone on her GPS started moving as well in the same direction he was moving so my cousin taped my shoulder and showed me what was happening.

I started to freak out, my heart dropped. I didn’t have idea how to deal with the situation. My cousin ended up telling me that we had to confront him or I would never have my phone back and we cannot let him leave with it because it was my phone after all. So I did just that. I slowly ran up to him and politely approached the man. “ excuse me, sir. Have you seen a pink phone anywhere?”

He slowly turned around and just looked me up and down with this sinister mocking smirking look on his face, he denies that he had ever seen a phone and started walking away. “ the GPS is literally moving once he start walking away again.” My cousin says. At this point, I was pissed.

Not the fact that he took my phone, but the fact that he lied to my face, he looked at me dead in the eyes and told me that he hadn’t seen my phone, I gave him a chance to come clean. I could’ve been aggressive, but I wasn’t. I was a polite and patient. Even though HE was the one with MY phone.

At this point I was pissed so I scream. “HEY STOP?!” he stops in his tracks, but slowly puts his hand in his pocket.

I thought fast and assumed that he was gonna pull out a weapon , so I stepped back. Not to my surprise he pulls out my phone and hands it to me then, nervously laughing and apologizing. “Your lucky we didn’t call the police.” My cousin says. The word police clearly scared him and he starts apologizing then he flees. My cousin was fuming and so was I. I started cussing at him and yelling, and I was just overwhelmed about the situation.

What would you have done in this situation?

I never really thought about this as a creepy story until I got some creeped out reactions when retelling it now as an adult. I hope it fits here. This happened years ago so I’ll do my best to accurately describe it. I do have a pretty good memory of my childhood so here it goes.

When I (28F) was about three years old, I was with my mom at a grocery store/market. I was carrying a plushie with me as I often did at that age and holding my mom’s hand with my free hand. It was a plushie of Tweety.

While we were walking down one of the aisles, I dropped my plushie and by the time I got my mom’s attention and we turned to get the plushie, a man had picked it up. Instead of giving it to a worker, or anything normal, he walked off with the plush. My mom called out repeatedly in an attempt to retrieve the plushie and we followed the man up until the entrance/exit of the store. At that point my mom stopped following him. He got into his car and left, without even having bought anything.

A store security guard then came. He asked why I was crying to which I replied “se llevo mi Tweety” (he took my Tweety in Spanish). He asked my mom who took it and she told him that the man had gone to the parking lot and gotten into his vehicle, but there was nothing the security could do at that point.

Years later, I still remember this and it still makes me kinda mad to think about it.

This encounter happened a few months ago.

For context I (18M) live about 1.5km away from a shopping centre (or just under a mile). The route I take usually requires me to turn 2 corners and walk straight for the rest of the journey. Although pretty early on in the walk, there is a tall apartment block to the left of the pathway along the main road. I would say it has about 4 or 5 levels.

I live in a shady area and previously the apartment block had a case of a stabbing that killed a woman a year before my story takes place. I witnessed the cleanup crews hosing the area down when that happened. This caused me to be pretty weary of the area in general.

On this day in particular I needed to go to the shopping centre to pick up a couple supplies. I noticed as I started walking the pathway of the straight road that the sky was pretty dark. It was early in the afternoon so this meant a storm was on the way. Not a drop of rain fell as I made my way to the shop.

Once I had arrived I picked up what I needed and went window shopping for a while. When I was satisfied I exited through the door i had originally entered and began walking back home. I made it to the final set of traffick lights that was probably a 7 minute walk away from my house. The rain started to trickle at first. And then after that it poured pretty heavily.

3 minutes later I could see the apartment block about 20 metres ahead to the right. The rain was still pouring down and so the visibility wasn't that great. But what I could make out was a man in a dark green poncho. He had the hood of the poncho over his head and a big grin on his face for some reason.

As I got closer and closer to him, I didn't like the feeling I was getting. He reached his arms out almost as if he was attempting to bring me into his embrace, keeping that same smile he had before. The man was 5 metres distance from me when I took the opportunity to cross onto the median strip of the main road

I noticed his glance followed me as I crossed into the middle grassy patch. Even though there was no traffick, he decided not to chase me down and continued walking along the pathway as he kept eye contact with me.

The thought of what might've happened if I walked into his arms still frightens me today. Even if he didn't mean any harm and was not trying to grab me, I still didn't like the vibe I got from him. And when I reached the middle of the road I felt safer and relieved especially considering he didn't attempt to follow behind me.

Tldr; On my walk back home from a shopping trip, a man in a green poncho stared me down with a smile on his face and his arms out. I had a feeling he was going to hurt me so I crossed the road to avoid him. He continued to stare into my eyes as I tried to get away from him.

I’ve kept this one inside for nearly 15 years now! Finding the right platform to relieve a burden is nice.

When I was 15 I went to a show in Liverpool, UK with a friend, my friend told me he was staying at a friends house so I boarded the 25 minute train home alone.

This was the last train home, at around 23:30, I found a seat and stared out of the window as the city lights faded into peripheral twinkles.

Some five minutes in, my trance was broken by the soft croak of an older guy, maybe 50 with dusty blonde hair and aviator framed glasses: “Hello young man, are you okay you look lonely?” Shocked and confused I nodded “I’m okay thanks” “The names Dean, do you like smoking weed and drinking beers I’ve got some at my house, are you stopping at Crewe? You could pop in”, “n,no I’m getting off at Runcorn” I mistakenly replied, cringing internally.

I excused myself to use the bathroom, as I made my way hastily across the carriage, the twinkling city lights now replaced by dank fields and semi-urban decay, I peeked back, noticing the man playing with what seemed to be a needle.

I speed up to the bathroom and locked the door, it was only ten more minutes until my stop. ‘The next stop is Runcorn’ I don’t think a digitised train announcement has ever sounded so heavenly. I threw the door open and bolted to the exit, as my feet touched the station floor I felt a firm grip on my shoulder, looking back in fear and trying to shake off the grip I acted fast and instinctively, I shouted “Dad!” At a completely empty on the other side of the gate.

The now stumbling backwards Dean let out a ‘oh fuck’ under his breath and ran to the other side of the train, while I ran through the gate, sprinted all the way home and told my parents who told the police. We never heard anything.

I was 11 years old when this happened (currently f24) visiting my dad and stepmom over the summer in Saskatchewan, Canada. My dad worked long days during the week so on her day off he had planned for my stepmom to take my sister (8 at the time) and I out for a day to get some bonding time in with us as we didn’t know her super well yet. She took us to get our nails done, to the mall and on the way home we stopped at a McDonald’s.

We planned on eating inside in the restaurant but it was very busy so my stepmom asked my sister and I to find a table and wait there while she went to the counter to order our food. I noticed this rough, older looking woman (possibly 60s/70s?) looking towards the direction of the table my sister and i were seated at. All I could remember is thinking she looked like a drugged out Susan Boyle, she looked possibly homeless and addicted so I didn’t give her much of a thought, letting her do her own thing and I just tried to talk to my sister about random stuff.

Once my stepmom came back to the table, this woman was seemingly already approaching us and then stopped beside us. She just said hello so we all kinda said hi back and tried to ignore her, she asked if we were my stepmom’s daughters so she says “they’re my stepdaughters” trying to be simple to kinda shut her down. The lady says we we were beautiful girls and begins to walk towards the door. She stops one last time and asks “how old are they?” We had the impression she was on her way out so my stepmom just says to her “11 and 8.” Her eyes lit up and she looked at me with a strange look, “I’ve always wanted an 11 year old. I’d buy her from you.” That definitely crossed a line so my stepmom finally tells her we are trying to eat lunch and asks her what she’s even saying in a somewhat aggressive tone, the lady got one last look at me and then she finally left.

She definitely didn’t have the money to buy me even if I was for sale anyways lol, so I wasn’t worried. I think she was possibly on some drugs and not in the right mind. But knowing my shy ass at 11 I wouldn’t have known how to get rid of this lady if she tried to talk to us without my stepmom there. We weren’t super close then, but I respected her a lot after that day for being ready to protect us even in a minor situation like that.

My aunty owns a local diner in the middle of a small town where everyone knows everyone. Recently, she had almost half of her waiters quit within a month, which she knew about but didn’t tell me why when telling my mom this and I overheard it while doing homework at the dining table.

Then she asked my mom if my two older sisters could help out, but my mom said that the oldest is moving out of town to live with her fiancé, but agreed to let my second older sister work. Then my aunty asked about me. Mind you, I’m a 15 y/o girl and the last thing on my mind to do after school is going to work, even for a few hours. Even if I find time to get home in the evening and finish my homework, I still wouldn’t like the idea at all.

My mom was quiet for a little before agreeing, since even I know that money is a touchy subject. Ever since my dad divorced my mom, I was chosen to stay with my mom 100% because my dad is an alcoholic and often liked to hurt my mom and have done some nasty things to my sisters and I. I don’t know where he is now, probably in jail, or married to another poor women who will be his next victim, but that’s partially the reason why we are struggling when it comes to money.

Fast forward a week. I went to school on a Wednesday morning like normal, except I had to pack a set of extra clothes in my already stuffed backpack. My aunt talked to me and told me I have to wear a uniform, and she doesn’t want my mom to know what I wear, so she wants me to put it into my backpack instead of going to school in it, she even said she can wash it every week since it’ll probably smell like eggs and other diner foods.

I usually take the bus to school, so days that I work, I would take another bus that dropped me off about a two minute walk from the diner. The bus drivers really didn’t care about if we got off on unusual stops, or maybe they had no idea and were just working for a paycheck, much like I’m about to do. And each end of my shift, my aunty will drop me off back home, after I changed back of course.

Once at the diner, I would go to the back, through the kitchen, which had two chefs who worked harder than any cook I’ve ever seen, and right to my aunty’s office. There I could see her computer on a desk, a whole lot of paper work, clothes all around, and just a total mess.

So my outfit is basically a button down white t shirt, a white mini skirt, and one of those tiny aprons that only cover from waist to crotch area. I kind of liked the way this fits on me, but the fact that I’m wearing all white means I’m going to get dirty, maybe every night. My sister has a similar outfit, but her skirt is longer since she sometimes does shave her legs or something, I just know that I don’t have the same issues she has.

The first night went well, I got a lot of people looking at me funny and asked if I’m a kid, to which I told them my age and some of them were upset a kid is working, some were happy that they think I’m trying to help the family business, and some were just weird and happy to just see me. Whatever the reason it was, I just like talking to people, so this was super easy, plus most of them didn’t mind if I would bring out one plate at a time instead of like five or six like pro waitresses.

Friday night comes around, and this is the night I finally meet the guy, who’s one of the main reasons why those other waitresses quit. My aunty really wanted me to meet him since he’s in about three or four times a week and orders a good portion. His name was Larry, and he seems really nice and friendly, he even treated me more like a friend than a waitress and would have me sit down with him while he told me stories about how he fixed cars, travels for work, eats at every restaurant ever, and stayed at every hotel in the world. I never told him my age, but I’m pretty sure he can tell I’m a minor.

Often enough, he sits at a booth in the corner of the restaurant and would ask me to sit beside his so he could kick his feet up on the other side bench, which I didn’t mind, but it only started to get weird when he would poke one of the buttons hidden from my apron and think it’s my belly button and ask if I had an outie belly button and if I’m ticklish. I do in fact have an outie belly button, but I didn’t tell him that, I would just fake a giggle. Sometimes I would feel his hand brush up on my chest, which I don’t care much of either, but there was a few times I felt like he was feeling my chest for my nipple, which I still don’t know why he would want to see them since my chest is still pretty flat (again, I’m 15, I know it’ll grow).

Sometimes he grabbed my arm or thigh and give me massages, which really don’t feel good, and if I tell him I don’t like it, he just tells me it’ll start to like it. Usually after every visit from Larry, I would make up a dozen excuses that I needed to go before he would accept and let me go.

I didn’t mind anything weird about Larry, he seems innocent enough, like a grandpa who just wants to spend time with his grandkids, but I really wish I wasn’t chosen to babysit him everytime he comes here. And since he spends like $100 a week here, my aunty tells me to just ignore and let him ramble on since he’s the reason this business is still afloat. Which are my aunty’s words, and I’m pretty sure $100 a week cannot cover rent alone.

After about a week of seeing Larry almost most of my shift, he came in with his laptop and showed me his Facebook and told me to look myself up so we can be friends. I seriously don’t want Larry in my life 24/7, so I just lied and told him I never made a Facebook.

He simply laughed, thought for a second and wrote my whole name out in the search bar. For a second, I was so shocked that I turned pale, even for my light skin. I had a name tag, but only my first name. But my stupid sister probably told him our last name when he asked. She may be older, but she doesn’t act like it. He found a picture of me and sent a fr, to which my phone goes off, making Larry laugh and my heart drop into my stomach.

He sent me a few messages just to hear my phone go off a few times as I pulled it out and fake laughed before swallowing the throw up in my mouth. He then proceeds to go through my gallery, which my fb is public since I was pretty stupid enough to want to make as many friends as possible, much like instagram and try to gain as many followers. He founds pics of me that I wish he wouldn’t find and could comment on how my clothes are too revealing and I should take these pics down.

He commented on my friends and how he could find me a good set of friends to be with, to which I had no idea who he’s referring to since he told me before he’s since, no kids, and lives alone. Then even seeing pics of me with my belly button revealed and comment on my outie belly button and poke my belly again. I could really feel his finger trying to find my belly button again, which just felt so disgusting that I just got up without a reason this time and just stormed to my aunty’s office.

I confessed everything to her and told her how disgusted I am, and at first she seemed to be on my side, but when I explained the things he did to me, she quickly changed sides and told me I’m just over exaggerating and he’s just treating me like a kid in a friendly way.

I wanted to burst out crying and asked my sister for help, even wanting to talk to mom about this and confess it all, but my sister calmed me down and told me how aunty would have to let us go, then he wouldn’t have enough money to keep our apartment, and then we’ll have to live with dad. I had no idea if this were true, but the things my dad did to me are in fact worse than what Larry had done so far.

Fast forward a few months to present day, I still work at the diner and still see Larry on an almost daily basis. He still acts the same and once in a while touches me, but it’s gotten to the point that it’s nothing too concerning, like my chest or thigh, which I still don’t care about too much, I only care when he tries to touch my belly button or nipple. I know that for summer, mom will make me work, and because of my age, I legally can’t find a job anywhere else.

I’m pretty much okay if I have to keep working for summer, the only good thing about Larry is that he would often order twice in one sitting, which made aunty very happy, and I would get a good tip because of it. I guess if you have advice, then I’ll take it, but I don’t think getting rid of Larry will be of my best interest since I’ve read too many creepy stories of stalker situations, and trying to escape the creep only makes things worse, but also aunty probably would fire me, and mom would be upset.

If I reveal all of this to mom, this would only make our family situation much worse since my mom relies on aunty way too much. But either way, it feels good to share this, I feel like just talking about it makes me feel better, and reading other stories makes me feel like I’m not alone and maybe I’ll find help in the best way. I might be in this situation for a while, but sharing it relieves some of the stress. Thanks again for listening, if I have any updates I will post them here.

EDIT:

Thank you everyone for your comments. I wish I could respond to all of them. I am glad everyone is so nice and helpful, and the messages of advice too. I want to talk to my mom, but I’m scared this will make her worried for me and bring her down. My mom secretly drinks to relive her problems (I think she gets it from my dad, but she’s not violent). I know she will blame herself for all of this and I don’t like seeing my mom drink and get worse. I think I’ll work through summer vacation and quit after.

Larry still comes almost every day. After reading some comments, yesterday I told him I will be deleting my fb and made it private and deleted him from my friends. He was sad and asked a lot about if I’m okay and gave me advice that I think is good. I still don’t think Larry is a bad person he just is lonely I think.

I didn’t talk to my aunty yet. I love my aunty and I don’t think she will want to put me in danger, but I think she also doesn’t think I Larry as a bad person. I really want to work hard this summer and make lots of tips for mom, maybe enough that it can make up for when I stop working after summer vacation.

This happened to me roughly ten years ago. For reference I’m M and would have been in my early to mid 40s then. I was meeting a friend for coffee and was running a bit early so I had about half an hour to kill so I stopped at a little park on the way to the coffee place.

It had a parking area along the main road that led to the park itself (which was basically an asphalt trail around a small oval shaped pond which was half lined with a wooded area. There was a shelter and restrooms and a kids playground right near the parking lot.

It was late morning and very sunny and getting warm so I opened the driver’s side window all the way and the passenger side window an inch or so. I was scrolling thru emails on my phone when I noticed movement a few yards away on the trail. A young man in black sweat pants and a black hoodie was stretching with his back towards me. I was the only car parked in the lot at the time.

I went back to my phone and emails when suddenly there was a pounding on the passenger side window. It was the guy who had been stretching a minute ago. He scared the crap out of me. I asked him can I help you? He didn’t reply but put his face by the crack in the window and was grinning with a crazed look in his eyes. I quickly started the car up and shut both windows just as he dashed over to my side of the car and began trying to open the door.

I honked the horn a couple times and shouted at him asking what his problem was. He was still grinning like an idiot and not saying anything. Another car suddenly pulled into the lot and parked a few spaces away and the grinning guy turned and ran off towards the woods. I pulled out and left the park, checking in my mirror to make sure he didn’t come back out.

That event weirded me out for some time afterwards and I was thankful my car doors were locked and that I was able to close the windows before anything could happen.

original post was deleted due to wall-of-text rules… feels a bit silly reposting, but still want to share nonetheless as it was a very creepy encounter.

this happened last night. I was almost home after a long day of traveling, and it was approximately 1am as I rounded a corner and stopped at the intersection right near my home. the light was red, and as I slowed to a stop, out of the corner of my eye, I saw three people on the side walk.

they were all dressed in black, and wearing white face masks or face paint (or a combination of the two). one was crouched on the ground, while the other two were standing crooked. they were still as statues when I came to a stop, but when I looked at them, they all started crawling/walking towards me. I was exhausted, and apparently my instinct in moments of terror is to just laugh and shake my head like I was in on the joke. they were super close to my car, but thankfully the light turned green and I was able to get out of there before they reached my car.

since you could see the corner of my house from the intersection, I ended up just driving for quite a while and then turning around once it felt like enough time had passed so that they wouldn’t follow my car pulling into the street I live on. I imagine it was just some teens playing a prank, but afterwards I was thinking about it being a school night and most people wouldn’t be having sleepovers in the middle of the week.

I’m debating if it’s worth calling the non-emergency line to report it just in case… regardless, I shan’t be going out past sundown for quite some time, and I’ll likely invest in some door lock reinforcements.

I was at a large outdoor mall in Columbus, OH and wanted to do a little shopping before going into work nearby at 2PM. SO, keep in mind this happened on a Wednesday afternoon in May.

I parked on the first floor of a garage, a row directly across from the main entrance of the indoor mall area towards the back. As soon as I parked I made eye contact with a guy walking in the next row (I was 26F at the time and this guy looked to be around my age if not younger).

He turned towards me and started walking my way, I put my head down, started gathering my things and next thing I knew he was knocking on my window.

I can’t remember if I already had the window down or if I rolled it down more but anyways the window was almost half way down.

He asked me where the closest restroom was, I told him there is one as soon as you walk in the main entrance of the mall. He said he didn't know where that was and if I would show him there. I pointed and said you literally just need to walk down this row and go through the doors and the signs will be right there. He really wanted me to show him where it was.

He just stood there and looked at me for what felt like forever after he realized I wasn’t going to get out and show him to the restroom.

He then asked me if he could hop in the back seat real quick and that’s when my confusion went to panic. I really started to panic. I don't even remember if I responded to that right off the bat. He just kept going on asking if he could get in and then asked to hook up in the back seat and I (being a nice person I guess?) just said no thank you I have a boyfriend I'm "sorry" ??????? to which he responded "it's okay, I have a girlfriend and I love her". This just kept going on, me telling him I needed to go and get to work and that I was sorry. He kept texting or something with his phone during the conversation too.

I was afraid he’d try to open my door and I didn’t want to lock them and somehow trigger this guy into doing something else.

Somehow I finally got the courage to start the car back up, reversed the car and got the absolute f out of there before he could say anything else.

I worked a couple blocks away and hurried into the building before I called security.

I have no idea what this guy's intentions actually were, I truly felt that he was trying to get me out of the car and possibly had other people close by. Maybe he really did just want to hook up? But who in their right mind goes about it in that kind of way? Was he bait for human trafficking? Was he just trying to rob me? He just seemed to be a normal person until the interaction furthered.

Thankfully (but not) I was in a rental car because mine had been stolen exactly three weeks prior to this happening… just very happy this guy did not see what I typically drove if he happened to snag the license plate and make/model of the car.

What do you think this was? Any similar experiences? I still think about this and it’s been about 2 years now.

Crazy woman threatening to call CPS

This isn’t really creepy but it was scary for sure.

No, I am not the parent in this situation, but rather the kid. This was (who knows ) years ago. I was young. Maybe like 7 or 8 (think 7). I was with my two other siblings, my little bro and older sis. We’re all 3 years apart.

Anyways we were all in the car, waiting for our mom who had gone inside a Pizza Delight to pick up our food which she had pre ordered beforehand. This was in Bayers Lake I think? We were only alone in there for a minute. And I was tired so I was half asleep against the window.

I was abruptly woken up to aggressive and loud banging on our car window. My sister (maybe 10 at the time) was sitting shotgun, I was in the backseat diagonal from her, and my little brother (prob 4) was beside me.

We all immediately looked to where the sound came from and saw a 40-50 year old looking lady. I don’t remember much about her and it was late out. But her hair was kind of frizzy, thin, and crazy looking; It was silvery-blonde, she had a receding hairline and was sweating profusely on her forehead. She looked a little on the heavy side and her face was practically pressed up against the glass and she had an intense crazy look.

She held her phone up against the window (my sisters window) with the white emergency dial screen up, and yelled something at us. I can’t remember what. My mom was literally walking back to the car when this happened and was like “wtf”. So she immediately gets into the car, and the woman runs around to her door and grabs it, yelling at her about how she’s a terrible person for leaving her kids alone in a car and that she was gonna call CPS.

Our mom explains to her that she was only gone for 5 minutes max and that she had a 10 year old in the car with a phone, the car was locked, and she could see the car from where she was in the restaurant. The lady keeps screaming at my mom though, and grabs my moms wrist. So my mom (who is in the military) immediately rips her hand off her wrist and slams her door shut, rolls down the window to give her the bird and books it. (The woman was screaming the whole time and looked genuinely insane and terrifying).

Anyways we later dubbed her “Pizza Karen” around 2020 when we were reminiscing about the event and laugh about it now. But yeah that’s my story. Hope it temporarily fulfilled your boredom 🤙

My youngest son is autistic and 5 years old. It’s very obvious that he’s autistic. He constantly stims with his hands, rocks back and forth and doesn’t respond to communication. He’s a gestalt language processor so he repeats “catch phrases” that only I can understand. For instance he will say “wittle wobbles” when he has a hole in his sock.

Saturday I took him and my daughter (8) to the park. A man, probably in his mid to late 30s was there with who he said was his niece. Her and my daughter hit it off so he came over to talk to me.

My son is in his own little world but playing on the equipment from time to time. And he hits himself in the head so I constantly redirect him. The man asks if my son is autistic and I say yes. He then asks when he was diagnosed. I told him at the age of 2, almost 3. He asks if he’s in regular classes or special needs. I don’t answer him right away because I’m getting uncomfortable. He can tell and responds with “I think my nephew is autistic and he’s 3”.

So I let my guard down a little, which was the wrong decision. I tell him he’s in a special needs class. He asks what school because he wants to know options for his nephew. I hesitate and then tell him the 4 schools in the district that offer a special needs class, not specifying which school my son goes to.

Then he asks if my son runs off a lot. I just reply sometimes. He notices the gps tracker on my son’s ankle. He asks how well that tracks him and if he ever tries to take it off. At this point, I realize that this is not a conversation I want to have. I tell him that I’m not comfortable talking to him about this anymore. He responds with “I’m concerned about my nephew”. I tell him not all autistic children are the same and he should get him evaluated.

I call my daughter over (who is upset bc she was having fun playing with the little girl) and pick up my son and we go to the car. I’m watching him as we leave and he’s just staring at us.

My daughter asks why we had to go and I tell her that we have to go home and do stuff around the house. She’s very intuitive and asks “is it because of that girl’s stepdad?” I ask her why she thinks he was her stepdad. And she said that the little girl told her he was her mom’s boyfriend.

I ask what else she said about him. She tells me the little girl said “[man’s name] likes to talk to girls like your mom and it makes my mom mad.” I then ask if there was anything else and she tells me the girl said she was glad she met my daughter because she’s an only child and doesn’t get to play with other kids except at school. She also tells me the little girl asked for her phone number and wanted to see her again soon.

The man was lying to me. For what reason, I don’t know. I can only assume to make it seem like he was single? Could be more sinister than that, I have no idea.

I immediately call the police and tell them everything. They get my info and say they are sending an officer to the park. By the time the officer got to the park (a couple hour later, ugh), they were, of course, gone. I give the dispatcher a description, the man and little girl’s first names and what I think he was driving since it was just us there so I assume it was his vehicle in the lot. They tell me they will call if they need any more information.

Lesson learned. I’m almost certain that he took advantage of my willingness to help another autistic person to try to get information about my son or about me.

UPDATE: The man has been found and arrested.

My brother shared my story with his friend who is a sheriff’s deputy in the county to the south of me. They had gotten similar reports about a man matching the same description. One report included him allegedly trying to lure a disabled toddler away from his mother at a trampoline park. They had video and his license plate this time.

My brother’s friend sent me the guy’s mugshot and asked if this was the man. It was.

My brother’s friend was investigating the trampoline park incident but since it was a different county, didn’t know of my report until my brother shared it with him.

I asked about the girl that was with him and he couldn’t tell me anything other than she’s safe.

They arrested him in a county almost 2 hours away from me yesterday. I found out his full name and looked up all his charges. He had a warrant in the state to the north of me for so many things including stalking, violating a protective order and child endangerment. And now new charges due to the trampoline park incident.

Since nothing technically illegal happened in my situation he won’t have charges brought against him for that. But my story may be needed for his case. I’m not a lawyer or law enforcement so I don’t know specifics on how or why but maybe to show a trend of his behavior? Targeting disabled children? When I find out more I’ll update here.

Parents, trust your instincts!! I know some comments think I went too far calling the police but in this case, I am confident now that I did not. Who knows how many times he may have done this but it went unreported.

I [F23] staying with my friend [also F23] for a couple of weeks in the town I grew up in. She works at a restaurant. Without giving away too many details about the location, it’s a plaza with a river nearby, a movie theatre, restaurants, and boutiques. We entered through the parking garage on the bottom floor which has 3 stories (both elevators and stairs, this is important).

Her shift was about 6 hours, so I decided to do some shopping, listen to music, and walk around before eating at the restaurant my friend works at. I was sitting at the bar on the corner alone, listening to music.

A bigger man approached me. He had a security guard beanie on that was incredibly dirty and tattered up. He was muttering, and his eyes were barely open. What I got from his muttering was “Are you ...” “I like your…” “Is anyone sitting…”, but keep in mind it was incredibly muttered , i’m just guessing what he was trying to say (all of this was said while he was switching back and forth between looking into my eyes and staring at my chest)

I told him multiple times I couldn’t understand what he said. After a bit of back and forth, I put the headphones back around my neck and he left me alone. I told my friend about what happened immediately. I tried to shake it off, hoping it was an isolated incident.

If this is where the story ended, I wouldn’t be writing this unfortunately.About an hour later or so, I see someone approach the bar to my left out of the corner of my eye, and I felt their eyes on me. I didn’t look, but somehow I knew it was him. My heart started beating really fast. I texted my friend and told her I felt really sketched out. I wanted to believe that I was misreading things and was just letting anxiety get the best of me, but I couldn’t shake the feeling.

30 minutes or so later, she gets off. As we walked towards the parking garage stairs to get to our car, I saw him sitting on a bench, waiting for me. The benches aren’t super close to the elevators, they’re closer to the restaurant if anything. The second I spotted him, my blood ran cold. He saw us walking towards the stairs to the parking garage and started running towards us.

I was face to face with him by the time we got to the top of the stairs. We booked it back to the restaurant and used the employee elevator to get to her car (and an employee escorted us to the car as well).

The employee told us there are a lot of cases of homeless people who walk around the restaurants, so I presume he was homeless and just walking in and out of restaurants until he saw me. I’m incredibly thankful I trusted my gut, and that I saw him. I don’t know what would’ve happened to us if I didn’t see him at first… but I don’t want to find out.

[TL;DR] a man attempted to approach me multiple times while i was at the bar alone, he waited for me on a bench, and chased me to the parking garage when he saw me walk out of the bar. (I’m on mobile so I apologize if the formatting is shit)

My female friend came to visit me for a long weekend and I [22 F] won’t be letting her stay ever again.

Backstory: We were friends for ~3 months before we both moved to separate states and continued our friendship virtually until now. It has been a healthy friendship with open communication.

We have had our disagreements but mostly always talked it out and moved on. They mostly revolve around her believing I don’t open up enough and for me, she does things that are inconsiderate at times like be jealous of my long term friends (to their faces) and have an odd attitude problem at times (only has been shown maybe 3 times).

She can also be a bit obsessive and get upset when I don’t text her for more than a day. She’s got loads of my photos saved to her phone and remembers every little thing about me and has a list of my interests. I’ve seen it endearing until now.

The Trip.

Day 1: The first day of the trip was great. She was bubbly and brought me a gift with a sweet note of appreciation. We went clubbing and headed to bed (separately) for the night. This is where things got weird.

Remember, we slept separately. Well, I woke up and she was in my bed. But, not in my bed. She was sitting upright on top of the blankets next to me with her feet straight out and her back against my headboard while looking forward. I was startled and said “Oh.” instinctively. She just looked at me. She never said she was waiting for me to wake up or maybe she was uncomfortable on the couch—nothing. Then, she left my room. I have no clue how long she was sitting there.

Day 2-3: Day 2, in the morning, we walked the city where she was engaged and wanting to hold my hand while we were out and about. By midday (still Day 2), her attitude has shifted completely and she is near mute. She isn’t conversing with me, enjoying any activities or even smiling anymore. At the bar, arcade or even at home watching movies.

You know how those driving games take a silly little photo for your profile pic on the leaderboard? I was blowing a kissy face in mine. I glanced at hers and even snapped a pic without her noticing. Her head was tilted forward looking up at the camera. She was blank faced and you can mostly see the whites of her eyes. It was like the film poster of a horror film (See; The Orphan 2009).

Anyways, for the rest of the trip, she continued to not smile. She was cold to every service worker. She responded with one word answers otherwise, complained about any and everything. I asked “Are you okay?” a couple of times and she replied “I’m fine” avoiding eye contact everytime. Car rides were silent. Dinners were silent.

Day 4: Final day. I drove her to the airport at 3 am. I asked if she enjoyed her visit and she said “It was ok. It was fine.” I told her I enjoyed having her. She boarded her flight and left.

I cannot figure out what caused this 180 degree shift. I paid for everything, took her to all sorts of events she wanted to go to and even took a day off (my first sick day..ever) to take her to more.

I felt myself overcompensating because I felt insecure of being a terrible host or something. I’ve had several friends stay with me and express to me that they enjoyed themselves so much they never wanted to leave. I don’t believe I did anything so wrong to ruin this trip.

When she arrived home, she did not contact me but she posted photos and videos of me captioned “Mine” on her social media. I haven’t brought this conversation to her yet.

All of my family and friends believe I narrowly avoided a Selena-Yolanda/ Lifetime film situation and that I was potentially with someone unstable. What do you think?

[edited for “walls of text”]

TW: mentions of SA, abduction, stalking, etc

I’m on a throwaway account for privacy reasons. This was fairly recent…it was the evening on the day before my first day of an upperclass grade in high school.

So basically, there’s this trail a couple of blocks away from my house that starts in between two houses and goes back through a row of residential houses and then it leads into a path into the woods. The path is usually fairly populated, especially during the summer, with lots of runners, tourists, bikers, etc. I’ve never felt endangered on the trail before this day and I’ve even walked on it alone at night, pouring rain, etc.

Anyway, so it was a bright and sunny summer day right before my first day of school. I was walking my very not scary dog and we were nearing the beginning of the path (still in residential row) when I noticed this harmless-looking guy running towards me. He was wearing athletic clothes and running shoes so I thought absolutely nothing of him. As I continued to walk a little deeper into the path (still not in the forest section) I heard him turn around and start running towards me. I again didn’t think much of it because I figured he was looping back around to continue his run. He was tall and athletic looking but nothing too intimidating. He started to run ahead of me further into the path but then he turned around AGAIN to run towards me. That’s when I started to get a little suspicious.

He did another circle around and started running back towards me when I heard him say “excuse me.” I was 100% expecting him to be a lost tourist (since I live in a pretty populated area) and I assumed he just wanted directions so I stopped and answered “yes?” politely. At this point I was still pretty close to the entrance of the trail but I was definitely in the secluded section where we were nearing the dense forest. There was also nobody else on the trail from where I could see which I didn’t notice until the end of our interaction.

After I initially acknowledged him, I noticed him nervously looking around and frequently avoiding eye contact to flip his head around in search of something which I now I assume was bystanders. He then asked “how much do you weigh?” And immediately my flight or fight response kicked in. My heartbeat even now is picking up just remembering that feeling. I answered quickly “I’m sorry but that is absolutely none of your business.” I started to slowly back up while watching him to make sure he wasn’t going to make any jumps at me. My voice was also gone at the time from recently being sick so I immediately got more nervous because I knew I couldn’t scream for help if he had any foul plans.

After I declined his prying question, he then started walking closer to me, still nervously looking around. I was getting extremely anxious now but I tried to remain calm and assertive. He then asked “can I pick you up?” (meaning physically) and my heart dropped even more. I said “absolutely not. Step away from me now, sir” and I started to walk away more quickly. I was walking towards the exit of the trail (yet it was still extremely secluded and there was nobody else on the trail) when he came up to me AGAIN and then said “do you want to feel this and guess how big it is” and he exposed himself. Immediately I would have screamed if I could but my lost voice could only talk so loudly and I said “get the hell away from me. You are disgusting.”

I quickly turned around and started walking FAST to the street at the side of the trail when I truly think an angel was sent for me. I saw an older woman walking two LARGE dogs and I speed-walked up to her and said very quietly (because I could hear the man walking quickly behind me) “can you please act like you know me” and she immediately was like “oh my goodness hi friend how are you? Come walk with me!” And I turned around to see if the man was still behind me and he was SPRINTING away from us and nervously looking back at me while running back up the trail. But the story does not end here.

The woman and I continued to walk as I started crying and I was shaking violently telling her about what had just happened. We walked along a street that was connected to the trail back towards my house but we decided not to go straight to my house because we didn’t want to lead my stalker to my direct address in case he continued to follow us, and thank GOD we did that. Because he was.

As we were walking along the street and we started to walk farther away from the seclusion of the trail and more towards the populous streets, I noticed a dirty car driving very slowly towards us with no license plate on the front. Immediately, even from several hundred feet away, I could just FEEL it was him and I told the woman that I thought it was him coming towards us. Thankfully there were more people around us so we just kept walking, because if we had turned around it would have been 10x more dangerous going back towards the dark and hidden trail. As the car drove by us I put on a “bitch face” and stared directly at the driver and of course it was him. He stared back at us with large, wide eyes and I then guessed he was possibly on drugs. I still don’t know though.

He continued down the street away from us but then started speeding at the opposite direction, and back towards the trail. We started to walk up closer to the crowded streets and more towards my house when I saw him circle by again. He circled two more times and as he was circling for the final time I knew I had to get his license plate on the back photographed in case I were to contact the police. His license plate on the back was only a paper with letters WRITTEN ON, however I did take a photo and it came in handy later on.

After a while of walking around to avoid leading him to my house, he was gone, so I quickly thanked the lady and ran in. I burst out in tears and told my dad what happened. All of my parents’ friends were at our house at the time (including two HUGE ex-police officers) and man when I tell you the ENTIRE group ran out of my house cursing saying they were going to “f*cking kill that pedophile.” They ended up running around the entire neighborhood with my license plate photo looking for the car. And guess what: THEY FOUND HIM.

He was still circling the streets looking for me when one of my dads’ friends found him. They said he still had the same wide eyes. He called the police when he found his car circling and the cops sped in and immediately pulled him over and he was arrested. They literally had to hold my dads’ friend back from beating the living daylight out of him.

Long story short the aftermath was me filing a restraining order and attempting to get him imprisoned because he had in fact been arrested numerous times before for battery, sexual assault, etc, but he had somehow escaped. So I found a wanted man on the run. But ladies, unfortunately—he was released from jail after about one month! To this day I believe the justice system failed this case but time has passed and there’s no longer anything I can do but keep my eyes peeled and always stay alert.

I have not walked on the trail since the incident. Before that day I had walked my dog on it almost daily. It was a peaceful environment for me now forever ruined.

To the man— I hate you. I hope someday you rot in prison forever. I will never forget the fear and embarrassment I felt that day. No young girl should ever have her favorite walk ruined because of a disgusting pedophile.

I will forever wonder what he had done if my angel had not saved me. Possible kidnap? Not sure. But i am glad i never found out.

Okay so I have 2 encounters from the same place, told to me by someone who went there. For context : this was in a school, the school had a large oval with a fence around it (weird but it was a good school), it was a good area not known for bad vibes or anything, it was in a suburb so a lot of homes around.

story a) 4 years ago. There’s was this woman, she was around her forties, I mean, she had a stroller so she probably had a young child. Anyways, she would take her phone out and record the school yard, for context: there was a big dirt hill leading down to the entree of the school, its a direct route to a lot of suburbs and at the highest point you can see the whole school oval. She came for about a week and would record while the school was outside a lunch/recess and then she disappeared , never came back. Probably never will.

story b) 1 year ago, same school. This time it was a man, sketchy, wearing, black hoodie, shoes, pants etc. He came up to a group of younger girls and I kid you not, asked if they wanted a photo. The girls actually said yes, probably out of fear but then were hiding behind trees etc. He was quick took the photo and sped down the path. A teacher was called but the man was already gone. He was probably mid-twenties or so. Unfortunately no camera footage would’ve been recorded as there are no cameras around. I don‘t know if he’ll come back but didn’t see him for the rest of the year.

I was 19 at time around 2009 .I had a weekday off work. I decided to go to the beach by myself and brought my guitar along. This was rural Northern California where the beaches are below cliff faces and usually empty of other people.

There was a particular beach where someone had built a driftwood hut into the side of a steep cliff with the beach below about 100 feet. You can just barely see the roof of the structure from the highway. I had always wanted to check it out so I parked my car on the highway and made my way along a narrow trail to the hut.

It was a beautiful day so I set up near one of the huts windows and was playing my guitar and watching the waves. Suddenly I hear someone else walking down the trail. I'm a little nervous but figure it must be well known to locals or something.

Then enters the man. Immediately I get major creepy vibes from him. He is in his late 50s, overweight, unshaven, thick glasses, sloppy dirty clothes, sweat pants and a dirty white shirt, but not homeless or anything.

He immediately initiates conversation with me. First just nice pleasantries, talking about the view, the weather, then he starts asking personal questions. "Do you live around here?", "do you go to college?" "Are you working today?" "Are you here with anyone?" I answer very vaguely and am starting to get uncomfortable and feel trapped.

The hut is very long and narrow and there's no way for me to get to the trail leading back to the car without passing by him. At this point I only say the bare minimum trying to show him I'm not interested in conversation. I look away and he snaps a picture of me on his disposable camera. I ask him what he is doing and he says he wants to show his friends back home how beautiful the girls in California are.

At this point I start brainstorming my options. I can try to run past him but I will have to get close. I can jump out the windows of the hut towards the ocean but it's a pretty steep cliff face to the beach 100 feet or more below. My gut started telling me this was a dangerous situation but I was frozen I didn't know what to do.

Then he tells me that he needs to go to his truck to get something, something about his camera. But I knew he had already used his camera. He leaves the hut but there's still no way for me to get to my car without passing him. I'm brainstorming what to do.

But i kept thinking maybe I'm overeacting. I run to the entrance of the hut but he's already making his way back down thr trail towards me. This is the gross part... he has a very large and visible erection in his sweat pants and he has something under his arm. I run to the opposite side of the hut and jump out of the window, sitting on the ledge of the steep cliff.

In that split second where I had to make a decision I look in the sky and see two hawks fighting eachother. I had just read the Alchemist and if you remember the universe sends the main character omens and signs. One particular omen in the book is two fighting raptors which ended up meaning something bad was coming and to run.

In that moment I knew I had to scale the steep cliff to the beach below. I decided I'd rather die falling or die swimming across the river ( the beach below was also the estuary to a large river) than find out what the creep was planning.

So I started scaling the steep cliff. He ran to the edge and asked where I was going. He yelled for me to come back. Adrenaline kicked in so hard I made it down surprisingly fast without falling or getting hurt.

Luckily he didn't follow, he stood there the entire time yelling for me to come back. I was shaking. I made it to the beach and hid in some vegetation for what felt like forever but was probably only 20 mins.

I finally decided it was safe to walk down the beach to where the actual trail was. I could see a man standing at the top. It wasn't him, I could tell by the silhouette, but I was terrified he had an accomplice.

I decided to risk it and run up and ask for help. It ended up being a park ranger. I told him the whole story. We walked to the hut and the creep was gone.He put out a radio call so enforcement would be on the watch and I filed a police report.

When I left abruptly, I left my purse and all my stuff in the hut. It was all still there when I returned with the ranger but I was terrified that he went through my belongings and saw my address on my ID. For months afterward I was scared to be alone at home.

I think the creep would have done something awful if I had stayed in the hut that day. I think he might have gone to his truck for a weapon or rope or something but I'm not sure since I couldn't see what he was tucking under his arm.

At 19 I didn't know to trust my gut. Now I know not to worry about what anyone thinks if I feel danger and the need to bolt. I'm not religious or anything but I thank the universe for sending me a very clear sign at such a pivotal moment.

Nothing ever came of the report but sometimes I search for that town name and crimes in case I ever recognize his mugshot.

I'm afraid this isn't a very exciting story, more awkward and confusing than creepy I guess. I apologize if this isn't the right place to post it, but seemed like the best fit.

I'm trying to make sense of something that happened a few years ago.

It happened on Long Island, NY. I was at the mall with my wife. I smoked at the time, and I had gone outside to smoke a cigarette.

While I was standing outside the mall, a guy came up and stood next to me. He was a short, rotund black man in about his early 30s, dressed in somewhat shabby-looking clothes. Looked like he didn't care much about his appearance. I'm a white guy, was about the same age as him at the time, and wearing a t-shirt and jeans.

He said 'Hi', and asked what I was up to (in a friendly smalltalk kind of way). I mumbled something about being at the mall with my wife. He said he was about to head home.

I said 'ok' in a noncommittal way, and half-turned away, hoping he would take the hint that I didn't want to talk to him.

He sort of stood there for a bit, and then said 'Going to have some dinner.' and I sort of said 'oh', again in what I hoped was a 'I don't want to talk to you' way.

Then he said 'Chicken curry, mmm'.

At that point, I was somewhat annoyed that he hadn't taken the hint and was still talking to me, so I said 'Ok, well enjoy.' in a dismissive way, in an attempt to indicate that the conversation was over.

He stood there for a while longer and then said 'So, er, do you hustle?'

I had no clue what he meant by 'hustle', but it seemed obvious that 'No' was the correct answer, so I said 'No', and he sort of said 'Ok' and walked away.

Something about the awkwardness of the situation and the ambiguity of his use of the word 'hustle' has made the event stick in my mind, and I'm still trying to figure out what he meant.

Was he trying to sell me drugs, or hoping that I would sell him some drugs?

Was he propositioning me for sex? That seems like the obvious answer, but that's not really what the situation felt like. I'm straight, but I can usually recognize when a guy is flirting with me, and I just didn't get the impression that that was what was happening. Difficult to put into words.

It would also be odd, given the fact that I had just told him I was at the mall with my wife. Did he expect me to just abandon my wife at the mall to go have sex with him?

I've always associated the word 'hustle' with making money. Was he hoping I would pay him for sex, or offering to pay me for sex?

Was it neither sex nor drugs related, and he was simply about to ask me if I was interested in some sort of moneymaking scheme?

I got in my car about 12 midnight to go pick up my wife. As always i do my safety things lock the door. Starting seeing someone walk towards my car immediately I take off the break and out the car in reverse. Getting. Ready to leave. Soon he goes up to my side window and look at me. My first thought was this dude asking for fucking money.

I was like nope didn't give a duck he's right there and back up he started walking away then and when I look in his hand I saw the large knife.

Back when I was in middle school (I’m 29 now), my family moved into one of the first houses in a new development. There were a few other homes at that time, though most of the neighborhood was empty lots and dirt mounds.

One day, my cousin and I decided to walk to the other side of the neighborhood which was pretty empty. There was a huge hill there we could sit and gossip on.

As we walked, a landscaping van slowly drove past us with its windows down. There were 2 older men inside who just eyed us suspiciously. We didn’t think anything of it at first because, you know, landscapers in a new neighborhood makes sense.

But then they passed us 2 more times after that. Probably circling the neighborhood lost (or so we figured). We finally got to the hill and sat for a bit. I almost forgot about the van until we saw it driving down the street again.

The van rolled to a stop several hundred yards in front of the hill. It sat there for like 3 mins before slowly driving down another street. My cousin and I left immediately after they were out of sight.

Maybe nothing would have happened, but it still creeps me out wondering “what if?”

So from my first update. I’m going to be talking about the man who tried to go behind the desk of my job, thankfully A was there and saved the day.

On my last post I explained my size. Sense then I’ve lost a lot of weight and grew out my hair. Apparently so did he.

I didn’t see him for 2 months. Then I kept getting texts from my co workers asking if I could come in there was a guy who won’t take no for an answer and persisted on flirting and asking them out.

I never could make it due to work or school or not being able to drive. But one day while I was opening a man walks in and it sent alarm bells in my head. I felt uncomfortable and couldn’t pin place why, never met this man before I thought so why did he give me such a extreme feeling of dread. Until he opened his mouth and I recognized that voice.

Same man from that day who made me question why I still work this job. He was back and creepier then ever, 5 foot nothing scruffy man with to much confidence and a habit of flirting with women a lot younger then he his.

From my coworkers accounts they’ve had many similar experiences to mine. Him trying to kiss our hands touch our hair call us names .(baby beautiful darling) you get the idea. He will stay and wait till no one else is in the shop to ask you out.

Well today he got more confidence then he should and asked me out while my boss is right next o me. My boss couldn’t here but I immediately said no and went to finish orders where I heard. “You won’t even give me a try” I said nope and shook my head when the lady who ordered came in. I started talking to her and he walked out pretty fast. Before he came in tho he walked past back and fourth infront of the window staring then eventually came in.

Maybe it’s paranoia from so much true crime but I’ve never felt so creeped out in my entire life. Before this he pretended not to know me or recognize me and asked me out again and tried to kiss my hand. Now he just talks like he knows me and insists on fist bumps which I do to make it less ackward and he talks to me like a bro until someone else in the store leaves and he thinks we’re alone.

He starts all shift with my co workers and says he is waiting on a date. Which never shows up and he waits till closing to leave and keep asking for their number. We’re sitting down to talk about it today and talk to our boss about saying if we can’t find a solution like split shifts we’re going to quit. There’s other things I can’t say because it’s my coworkers experience not mine. But to say he’s a total creep and there’s definitely something off about him.

To clarify I’ve been in martial arts and self defense due to violent situations in the past. And have taken weapon defense classes for years. I’m taking precautions to not be put in a position to have to defend myself. Not that I can’t.

Ok a little update. My co workers have been told all separate names from this guy. And when asked where he works he tells everyone a different answer. He hasn’t shown up to a few of my shifts tho so hoping he got the hint.