u/cherrycapsule

i’m a person fascinated by cryptozoology and encounters with the unknown though i believe a skeptical approach is important and i generally take 99% of sightings with a massive grain of salt especially in this day and age. i like to ask people about their experiences irl and have been doing this for years, and i have no way to verify so there’s the obvious caveat that this may be made up, but i haven’t been able to stop thinking about this one for weeks.

source of the story is a guy who i would describe as very pragmatic and grounded in personality, he had no other spooky experiences, woo woo beliefs, or even a religious background. he works in finance and is highly educated.

he was in arizona visiting a friend and they were driving on the desert highway very late at night. it was desolate and there wasn’t anyone else on the road at this hour. they were going 60-70mph. they see what he describes as a “black humanoid figure” (he is not familiar with any cryptid terminology) come into sight in the rear view and it’s CHASING them. note that he couldn’t be sure of its color, just that it appeared black in the darkness of the night. he said that it was too dark to make out any features besides a general humanoid shape and eye shine reflected in the tail lights, i believe he said it ran on two legs not four, and that it caught up with and then kept pace with the car for around 2 minutes. he and his friend were petrified and asking each other “what the fuck is that” and they questioned what to do, deciding against stopping or slowing down at all. he was terrified that the thing was going to collide with the car and said it came extremely close to the side at one point. it did not make any sounds. then just as abruptly as it appeared, it stops following them and stays still as they continue to drive at 70mph. it recedes out of sight and that’s that.

he said afterwards he was shaken bad and did some digging on the area and learned about skinwalker legends and their roots in native mythology, but didn’t put a label to what he’d seen, only was adamant about its shape, speed, and that it scared him so much he refuses to drive in arizona at night ever again.

Hi, I just moved in with family in Queens, NY and I want nothing more than to work in a lab, but I'm not a competitive applicant. I'm 25. I graduated from Duke with a B.S. in environmental science, but that's about it. I had a rough go of it in undergrad with depression and untreated ADHD and I didn't do any undergrad research nor begin building a network. The only wet lab work I've done is the lab component of my chem and bio classes.

Post-college, I've gotten a grip on my mental health and it feels amazing to be in possession of a functioning brain, but I've been adrift career-wise and bouncing around as a freelance tutor, illustrator, barista, etc for years.

As for career goals, I want to eventually get a masters in toxicology or something adjacent, but I want to get ANY amount of work experience first. I've been applying to research assistant/lab tech jobs with universities and hospitals for two months with no luck. I've emailed a few PIs and asked if I could work in their labs on a volunteer basis with no response. I'm feeling demoralized, but also lucky to not have to worry about bills right now, as I'm under no deadline to move out. I know it's hard out there, but is it so hard that I should just switch focus and look for unrelated jobs? Or if I want to work in a lab, is NYC just not the move?

I feel like being derailed earlier in life has set me back in a significant way, and I truly just want to course correct and get my foot in the door so that I could be doing something I'm passionate about in 10 years... it's my dream to work in the sciences, please help a girl out ):