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I still don’t know if I narrowly avoided something really bad, or if this guy was just deeply unstable, but it has stayed with me for years.

A stranger walked past me while I was at work one day, stopped, and asked me out on a date. I’d never seen him before. It caught me off guard, but he came across as confident and kind of “old school” so I said yes.

He asked if he could pick me up for a coffee date and I agreed.

When he picked me up, he already had a McDonald’s coffee for me. It was from right near my house. I took a sip and immediately realised I didn’t like it because there was no sugar in it. I have a huge sweet tooth and always have sugar in coffee.

That tiny moment is what changed the entire night for me.

Because I didn’t like the coffee, I stopped properly drinking it and just pretended to sip it so I wouldn’t seem rude. But from that point my brain also started questioning everything.

Why would he already buy me a random coffee when the whole point of the date was supposedly to go get coffee together? He didn’t even know how I took it.

Then things started feeling off.

He drove straight past where we were meant to go. When I asked, he casually changed the destination to somewhere further away. During the drive I also caught him in small lies. He said he worked at my local Woolworths, but I told him that couldn’t be true because I’m there all the time and would have recognised him. He didn’t really respond.

He then started repeatedly asking if I had finished my drink. Not once or twice. Around ten times.

By the time we turned off the main road toward the new location it was fully dark.

At one point he turned down a road heading toward bushland. I stopped questioning him at that point because something in me felt like I needed to stay calm and not escalate anything.

There was also something large and metal in the glove box that kept moving and banging, and he kept drawing attention to it.

After that, his behaviour changed completely.

He started driving erratically, swerving from one side of the road to the other while using his elbows on the wheel. He started yelling that he was Kanye West and I was his Kim Kardashian. Then he drove down a dirt road, and then off the dirt road into the bush.

We were driving through trees in the dark.

Eventually he stopped the car right at the edge of a lake. The water was basically at the front of the bonnet.

Then he just sat there in silence.

For about 15 minutes.

It felt like he was waiting for something.

When he eventually got out of the car, it was pitch black outside. I couldn’t see where he went or what he was doing. My heart was absolutely pounding.

The second he got out, I grabbed my phone and texted my friend telling her to call me and say we had training and not to ask questions. I also made sure to casually describe where I was in a way that made sense.

When he came back and got in the car, my phone rang. My friend followed exactly what I asked.

After the call he just looked at me and said “so you have to go?”

I said yes.

He then sat in silence for another few minutes before finally turning the car back on and driving me home without saying a single word.

I never saw him again.

To this day I still wonder if not liking that coffee is what saved me. If he had added sugar and I had actually finished the drink, would my life have changed completely?

Was I Almost Kidnapped By A Guy With A Homemade Wooden Cage Built On The Back Of His Pickup Truck?

In the summer of 2021 my boyfriend and I were staying on Tulalip Indian Reservation. The house we were renting had terrible phone service. To get a signal we would have to walk or drive to the main road. It was about a mile walk down the hill. No street lights. Our relationship was very toxic. We fought all the time. And when we did he would take off and leave me at the house no car and not cell service. This was one of those times.

My boyfriend had been sitting in his truck listening to music. When I looked out the window his truck was gone. I walked down to the main road. That was usually where I would find him just parked there where he had phone service. Probably texting other girls.

He was not there so I started walking toward the gas station. And I am trying to call him. The gas station is another mile away. It is very dark. I think it was like midnight or 1 am. As I am walking an old blue pickup drives by and come to a stop about the equivalent of a block away. He doesn't say anything I can't even see him. The driver opens their door. A car comes toward us. He closes his door and drives off. I shrug it off. About 5 minutes later the truck comes back this time driving towards me on my side of the road. He is driving very slowly. The windows are so darkly tinted I cannot see the driver. I notice what I had thought was a canopy is actually made out of wood. Another car passes and he takes off fast again.

I turn around and start back to the house. Here comes the truck again. The wood thing looks like a cage or big wood box with a door. He again stops about a block away and pulls over and opens his door. And again when a car comes he takes off.

My boyfriend is not answering my calls. I am just getting back to the private road that heads up to the house. Here comes that damn truck again. I pass the road and keep walking. I don't want whoever this is to know what road I live on. I don't want to lose phone service. And once I start up that road there will be no traffic to scare him off. This time I start taking pictures of him. I wish I still had that phone that I took those pictures on. I text the pictures to my boyfriend and my best friend saying if something happens to me look for this truck. The truck takes off again. I thought maybe I was safe and he got scared because I took his picture. I called my best friend asked him to stay on the phone with me. I had started walking back toward my road. I figured I was safe. The truck had not come back.

Right when I started up my road the truck came back again. I started running faster than I have ever run in my life. I run up this hill and into the woods. You guys I see the headlights go by. The truck continues straight up to where all the houses are. I keep running up towards the house but stay close to the tree line. It is dark enough I can see the headlights from pretty far away. I hear the truck coming back before I see him. By this time I am around the corner and not too far from where the houses are. I duck down behind a tree and bush. The truck goes back down the hill very slowly. Once it feels safe. I start making my way back to the house. This truck comes back!!! I am ducking behind peoples fences and broken down cars in their yards. This guy is just relentless.

I made it safely back to the house. I could hear every time that truck came back. And he was circling. He would drive by about every 25 minutes very slowly for the next 3 hours at least. By then my best friend had driven an hour to get there. My boyfriend finally checked his text messages 5 hours later and came home acting all worried. Whoever that dude is with a wooden cage built on his truck LETS NOT MEET!!!!!

And for those of you wondering why I did not call 911. The US Marshalls had a warrant out for me at the time. Calling the police was not an option.

about 2 weeks ago i was walking back from a grocery store about 10 minutes away from my apartment alone with my hood up and my earphones in when i heard a really weird kissing catcalling sound. it was literally so loud and caught my attention that i took my earphones out to see where it came from and as i was looking around this really weird guy had this smirk on his face, looking around dramatically as if to sarcastically say “oh who could that have been” - obviously immediately i knew it had to have been him so i gave him the most disgusted, angry look i could muster and in return he quite literally stuck his tongue out at me and made really weird gestures with his tongue. it was so unsettling and disgusting and once i got far enough away i threw my middle finger up at him and continued walking.

it really creeped me out even though ive had more unsettling experiences with men but there was something about this that just really gave me a bad feeling and i told my roommates about it, laughing about it at first and how ridiculous it was that he stuck his tongue out at me but honestly it made me so angry.

fast forward to today, literally an hour ago, i went to a different grocery store than last time that’s super close to my apartment. and as i entered, so did he, and i immediately recognised him and jumped. i think he definitely recognised me too because he looked at me and it’s like i could see this expression of excitement on his face and he gave me this weird flirty look like he was taking me in with his eyes. i once again gave him the meanest stare and was going to go about my business when i realised he was staring at me from across the aisle and wasn’t moving. i immediately texted my house group chat asking if anyone was home to accompany me through the store and my roommate said she’d be there in 5 minutes.

during that whole 5 minutes, i stayed in the aisle and he didn’t move either. he kept picking up the same bag of oranges over and over and i would look back at times and we would make eye contact. immediately i was like, this is suspicious that he’s not going about his business, he seems to be waiting for me to start walking around so he can follow me around the shop.

my roommate eventually turned up and i filled her in and he watched me as i spoke to her. she can be combative and as i was talking, she would look at him and tell me he was watching us speak. i started to do my food shop and as soon as we moved in his direction he left to another aisle super fast but continued to keep eyes on us as we would walk by. eventually i began to get angry and as we turned a tight corner, he chose to walk beside me and made eye contact with me. so i piped up.

i confronted him and said “i remember you from last time. i recognise you and i remember what you did. if you try anything i will go straight to the police and report you.” people around the store looked up as i said this and he kept his head down and said so quietly “i don’t know what you’re talking about” my roommate said angrily “what do you mean you don’t know? you do know” and i repeated “this whole store knows as well, if you try anything i will tell the police”. we walked away and i was essentially calling him a perv super loudly as i did. like i wasn’t shouting when i said this to him, i would say i was speaking in normal volume as firm as i could. but other people definitely heard and took a look at us during the confrontation.

we then got in the line to pay and as i was checking out he joined the line too and kept catching my eye. i decided i would tell the security guard in the store about him, completely aware that the security guard wouldn’t be able to do much but i just wanted the guy to see me speak to security and point in his direction to send a message that i was not to be fucked with if that makes sense ?

anyway, speaking to the security guard was so insanely useless. but i’m hoping the optics of seeing me speak to him did something?

what i was aiming for is to scare him into just leaving me alone if he sees me again. i’ve never confronted a man like this before but what made me do it was the fact that he obviously recognised me and instead of feeling some type of shame or embarrassment seemed very ready to follow me through the store and make me uncomfortable.

i decided to come here and ask you guys if you think i did the right thing? as a survivor of childhood S/A i’m just feeling really triggered right now and scared. i was worried that if i didn’t say anything and just let him walk around eyeing me up that he would take liberty to do it again and make me uncomfortable if i saw him around again like 2 weeks ago, but also im scared that since i confronted him, my face is really in his mind now and hes going to want to retaliate somehow or i dont know if i made the situation worse for myself?

any perspectives on if i did the right thing or advice on what to do if i see him again would be super helpful as we seem to live in the same area.

thanks so much and wishing safety for u all <3

Apologies if this isn’t great it’s my first time writing on here. I also didn’t know whether to put it in AITAH or creepy encounters so I thought this would be better

For context I (16f) worked nightshift at a bakery 5 days a week, it wasn’t a dodgy part of town but because of the hours we had some odd people come in.

I used to work full time at a bakery doing night/morning shift. Because we were open so early in the morning we used to have crackheads come in for raspberry danishes most mornings.

Normally they were okay and didn’t bother us, but there was this really creepy bald homeless crackhead (39m) who I was always too scared to serve. But my bosses wanted me to serve everyone as I was shy and they wanted me to get used to it.

Then he started coming in every day. Trying to talk to me. I’ll always remember how he would do anything to try make conversation. Then he started coming in multiple times a day, asking my co-workers when I worked. UNFORTUNATELY, they weren’t the nicest people and didn’t like me so told him.

Then one day, maybe a month after he started coming in he handed me a note that pretty much said “hi, you’re really beautiful and I would love to get to know you, here’s my number , love _____” anyway I asked my bosses to call the cops because he was still coming in and OBVIOUSLY a minor (I was and am very short and have a baby face) but they didn’t.

The only way we got rid of him was my 6”8 boss screaming at him. But he kept watching me out the back carpark. It was so so scary and I wish I called the cops myself.

Anyway now we get to the bad part. I started thinking about quitting because it scared me so much and how they didn’t call the police. I was so paranoid he’d come back I’d be constantly looking around to make sure he wasn’t there, if there was a noise in the back I’d jump and be scared it was him. I started around 2am so I’d run from my car as fast as I could into work.

Anyway because of this I’d occasionally ask my coworkers we’ll call them Jane (56f) and Susan (42f), who did the day shift if they’d seen him or her come in. They usually said no but sometimes he’d come in and ask about me.

For a bit more context it was summer in a bakery so it got up to 40°c or higher most days inside, so I would wear shorts. Definitely not short shorts in any way. I wouldn’t get dress coded at school anyway.

One day I asked Susan if he’d come in. And she turned around and said “you know you’re acting like you want him by wearing those shorts. He’s probably stalking you because he thinks you want him. You’re asking for it” then Jane kinda backed her up and agreed.

Not their first instance too. They’d already both been shit talking me for around a year for god knows what. So yea i kinda was like wtf and burst into tears. I quit shortly after but still work there casually

AITAH for not wanting to talk to them even while we’re working together, and now refusing to work on days they work?

I drove to the park to take a walk, as soon as I got out of my car someone was driving their car really fast and stopped suddenly. They were saying some things i couldn’t hear from a distance so I walked up the car and he said “ come in brother” and I said “ why I’m going for a walk” and he said “ just come in brother” and I said “ I can’t” and before I walked away he was doing that hand symbol were your two middle fingers are rolled into your palm ( forgot what it’s called) then he said “ I love you brother” and drove off

I’m going to preface this by saying that I should’ve known better and half of this is my fault.

This was about 10 years ago. My two friends and I were running a lemonade stand as children in the early 2010’s did. We literally live in the smallest town imaginable, at this point in time there was only a gas station, our school, and a really old abandoned church. One of my friends was a few years older than us so she was technically “watching/babysitting” us. nonetheless, our parents felt like we were safe enough to stay home alone for the day.

We had our fair share of customers, a bunch of them were people we knew.
It started to get dark outside, but it was that weird hour before the sun fully goes down. We hadn’t gotten a customer in a while so we were thinking about packing up, all of a sudden a white nissan pulls up. Instantly my friend’s dog starts barking (He is a husky/German Shepherd mix), but he’s very very calm and he barely ever barks. A man with orange curly hair and a very distinctive “save the children” shirt on.
I remember that he had one hand in his pocket and one hand out.

One of us asked him if he wanted any lemonade, and we reached to pour a cup for him. Once it was full, he took it from our hands, drink it super fast and then slammed it back down on the table. At this point, the dog was going ballistic and sniffing his pocket.
I kid you not, this man started to hit my friend’s dog. The older girl who was with us was starting to get alarmed, but me and my friend weren’t because we were really naïve and trusting.

The man says “I actually don’t want any lemonade.” to which we respond saying “why?”
He pointed to his car and ask us if we had an outdoor outlet for his “electric car”
now, I am odd and at this point I knew a lot of about cars. His car was not electric in fact it was very very old.

He then points across the street to the old abandoned church. he told us that he wanted to go attend the church service and he wanted to charge his car while he went. (again, it was abandoned and it was a TUESDAY.) He says that he can follow us to our house and look for the outlet with us. (her house was behind us as we were in the front yard, but it was down the driveway quite a bit.)

The older friend immediately says “my father just got back from the army and I’m sure he would love to help you. Let me call him.” (crazy right? slay girl.)
Immediately this man turns around and gets right back into his car.

The older friend called her mother and explained the situation. Her mom was really far away so she couldn’t really do much for us, but she just told us to go back inside. Of course we were all kids, so we didn’t listen.
We decided to walk down the street to the gas station to get a slushy and some more lemonade for the next day.

The same man was parked at the gas station with all of his windows down. I noticed that he had a black hoodie on now, and the hood was over his head and the drawstrings were pulled tight. All you could see was his curly hair sticking out of the top and a fraction of his face. He let out the strangest laugh combo with the weirdest smirk I’ve ever seen. He rolled his window up and then picked up his keys next to him and tried to put them in the ignition.

Our older friend took us by our shirts and we booked it down the road. I have never ran so fast in my life. We ran all the way to the police station at the very end of the block. We told a police officer who was parked outside the entire situation and he took us home and made sure we got inside safely.

Am I being really dramatic about this situation? Could it have been nothing? I’m just wondering if anyone has had a similar situation and what you would’ve done.

Im 19 and i just started my first job at a thrift store and Ive been working for about a week last night it was only me my coworker and the manager we closed and I was sitting alone outside the store when a random car pulled up he said are you ok? Do you need a ride is someone coming to pick you up? That startled me and I told him no my mom was coming to pick me up and that I was ok but he said are you sure and still tried getting me in the car. He said he used to work here and mentioned my other managers name then my coworker pulled up and parked right behind me and asked if I was ok and if I needed a ride. I told him i was ok and he told me bye and left. Then the other guy said Is that ***** I said yes and he left. Now I’m confused about 2 things How did he know my coworkers name because my ex coworker told me no one left after him and he only started a week before I did. And what was he doing there after closing time..

This is a true story, and I still think about it all the time.

Back around 2019, my younger sister started freaking out over this “monster” she swore she saw near our house. She kept talking about nightmares where it would kill her, and she became terrified of going outside alone for a long time. None of us believed her. We thought she was just a kid with an overactive imagination. About three years later, I saw something myself.

It was summertime, and the sun had just started going down. It was that dim point in the evening where it’s not fully dark yet. I let our dog outside and stood on the porch for a minute just enjoying the weather. Then I noticed my dog completely frozen, staring toward the trees.

Our family property is surrounded by pine trees, and this was in the far corner of the yard, probably around 100 feet away. There was something standing there. I’ve never seen anything like it before or since. The closest thing I can compare it to is a deer, but wrong in every possible way. It looked like it was halfway standing on its hind legs. It had a longer neck than a deer, and its face was disturbingly human-shaped — completely flat, no muzzle or snout.

I honestly can’t remember facial features anymore, but I knew it was looking directly at me. Then it slowly walked off into the trees, and I assume crossed the road. The second I noticed it, my entire body went cold. I completely froze. Then I threw the door open, screaming and crying because I genuinely could not process what I had just seen.

I told my family there was some kind of monster outside. My dad grabbed his gun and ran out to investigate while I stood there shaking, desperately trying to explain what it looked like. My younger sister immediately knew we had seen the same thing. After that, we kind of bonded over it because nobody else believed us. I became terrified of going outside alone too, especially at night.

Then about three weeks later, my dad’s friend came over and started talking about some crazy-looking creature that had sprinted across the road while he was driving over. He was trying to describe it, so I made a quick sketch of the thing me and my sister had seen. He said, “Yeah, that’s it.” That part still messes with me.

It’s been years now, and sometimes it almost feels dreamlike. I can’t even clearly picture the creature anymore, like my brain blocked it out or I’ve subconsciously tried to convince myself it wasn’t real. But I know what I saw. I remember everything else vividly, the weather, the time of day, my dog staring into the trees, my dad coming back inside and telling me there was nothing out there and that I was imagining things.

But I know I wasn’t. Three different people saw the same thing at different times. Even now, I still get horrible anxiety looking toward that part of the yard at night or honestly being outside at night in general. I know what I saw felt real.

Part of me is still waiting for the day I see it again, either so I can finally get a picture… or just know for sure I’m not crazy. has anyone else seen something or had an experience like this?

I work behind a bar that throws events so often deal with drunk people and have had a few creepy encounters with men. However this one stands out to me.

I laugh about it now, and did on the day to be honest, but it terrified me and left me petrified.

I was working a wedding and a man came up to the bar, he started talking to me about work while my colleague served him. He was really nice and we had a good laugh. He asked if I was the manager, which isn’t massively relevant just felt like mentioning it. He then asked for my name, I gave it to him as I have a name badge and at this point wasn’t uncomfortable or in any danger.

I tell him my name then he reaches his hand over the bar and says “look at this” as we were talking about work I think ‘oh he’s gonna show me a scar he got from the job or whatever’ he then says “hold it” still confused but still not uncomfortable or finding it weird yet I do.

I was confused at what he meant so I went to hold his hand like it was an item, he then made it clear he wanted me to shake his hand (not sure how that happened just did) but he doesn’t shake my hand. He holds it, he’s not holding tight he’s very gentle but he just holds it. He then says “feels right doesn’t it?”

At this point, it’s weird. Lines have now been crossed, he’s now being creepy. I’m now uncomfortable. I uncomfortably laugh and agree he says something I don’t quite hear over the music but I caught the end of it “or I could just lean across the bar and kiss you right now.” I again don’t really say anything because wtf.

He quickly goes “oh but wait there’s cameras” I say “yes, there is right there, staring right at us” knowing full well they probably don’t work but this may keep me safe. My colleagues are right beside me this whole time but they don’t really know what’s happening as they can’t hear him.

He then tells me to meet him outside, I agree, trying to keep myself safe and get this situation over with. He’s still got ahold of my hand may I add. He says “u probably won’t tho will you” I deny and say i definitely will meet him, again unsure of what to say unsure of what he may do if I say no.

He finally leaves after a bit more of him saying to meet him outside and I quickly turn to my coworkers and loosely explain. I see him appear at the window that stares right behind the bar from outside. I tell my coworkers I’m uncomfortable and I’m going to go upstairs for 5 minutes.

On my way up, one of my managers passes me, I run to her and tell her what happened, she’s like “wtf” and says she’ll be down here for the rest of the night anyways.

He stayed at the window all night (the night was almost over like 30 mins left idk) but still he kept looking over and I was still a bit shaken up and like “wtf just happened”

The end of the night approached and I start to go around the tables doing my shut down jobs with one of my other colleagues. At one point we’re just stood there, not sure if we were folding table clothes or what honestly it’s a blur.

Suddenly I feel someone’s hands on my arms and I hear a voice whisper in my ear “you left me hanging” before I even processed any of that I was screaming, I only realised what was happening when my brain heard my scream and my body reacted. I ran to my manager who was just ahead of me. I refused to look back but I hear him say something like “bloody hell that’s one hell of a scream” my manager didn’t hear the scream and seemingly no one else but him and my coworker did either.

My manager seemed un phased by this new situation and I started to feel silly for screaming and running away but that was just how my body reacted, I had no control nor did I know it was happening until it did.

Anyways he didn’t approach me again and shortly left but I felt so scared and uncomfortable all night, I drove home with his voice in my head afraid he was gonna pop up from the back seat, even though I check them before I start to drive.

So i like watching different history channel shows of all sorts. Today I felt like watching monster quest because cryptids are interesting and the stories are entertaining. So start up the fire stick and hit play and during the ad instead of the audio for the commercial it was this very deep low voice. Almost as if someone was using a voice changer but was saying things that sounded like another language or something I couldn't make out words I recognized. There was also a tone/frequency behind it with kinda an ethereal vibe. I turned it up because wtf is going on . Pause it for a few sec and then play and it continues, it got even weirder when it continued through the actuall episode once it started. I was able to record 30 seconds of it to document it to try and figure it out. I paused the show and hit play still kept happening. I paused it again for a total of 7 minutes and then the show played normal once I hit play. Post wouldn't let me add the video but I will send it if u ask or dm me

About a year ago I was at a hospital. I usually get my medication from the first floor at the psychiatry department, but because my doctor was on leave that day, I went to the neurology department to get a prescription for medication refill.

It was my first time on the second floor. I needed the bathroom but I didn’t know where it was so I asked a female worker and she said she would take me there

While we were walking she tapped a male worker on the shoulder and I kept following her but I already felt something was off She took me to an isolated area with empty looking offices and stopped near a room

There was a sign saying it was for staff only and a changing room Inside it was a fairly empty room with some stuff inside, and behind them was a small door which I thought was the bathroom. But what made me uncomfortable was how she held the door and waited for me to go in while she stayed outside

I refused even though she kept insisting, and I left straight away. I was really scared and just wanted to get out of there.

All I could think about was the male worker being behind me. I was walking through a dim area with no proper lighting except the light from the hallway, so I walked calmly and didn’t run or do anything sudden.

Later, I asked a nurse, and she told me the bathrooms were actually on the other side of the hospital, completely different from where she had taken me.

I also take medication for my mental health and before that I had bad anger issues If this happened before treatment I feel I could have reacted badly without thinking

After this experience I started getting anxious in hospital buildings so now I usually take my dad with me to appointments because I feel more comfortable and less stressed when he is there

I know it’s probably a is a bit extra or not creepy but I what I saw tonight creeped me tf out

asked my dad if I could use my scooter that I saved up for and he said yes so I rode around for a bit until I went near the apartment complex near my dads house so behind it there is a golf place and it was 12:00 and I want to take a picture with the scooter

I look to my right and there is this woman just standing there her back turned to me and I was on call with my friend and I said yo wtf was that she told. Me to show her so I did and she told me to get the f out of there but

I wanted to stay for a few minutes to see if she would move or not but she stayed perfectly still and the alley ways light were dim but she was just a few feet away but she didn’t do anything so I speeded back home and I don’t know if I am overreact or what cause there was nobody around just me and her

This was a few years ago I think I was around 17. But I remember a time when I was in my house and wanted to take my dogs to the backyard to play.

Before I opened the back door, I proceeded to see a guy jumping our 6 foot gate into our yard.

He looked homeless but I cant say for sure if he was or not. When I saw him I got so scared that I froze and didn’t know what to do. After a few seconds I called for my dad, and we both went out to confront him.

As my dad was yelling at him and asking him what he was doing, and why he was jumping our fence. He just went back over to the other side and didnt say a word.

I was scared shitless and frozen in fear and thank God my dad was home.

Edit: Title was meant to say "Stranger almost jumped the gate to my house"

Tldr at bottom. Resubmitted due to not having enough paragraphs.

I'm visiting Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. As I was having trouble finding my Airbnb, I ran into a Russian girl coming from the same apartment who lived in a unit above me. I asked her for help and she got me in to the building and was very pleasant.

She then states that she lives there and if I have any questions about the neighborhood to what's app her. My host confirms she does live there. I think okay, cool. We exchanged numbers and then she texts me a bit later saying by the way, you are quite cute, wanna go to dinner? Honestly, the spontaneous idea was interesting to me, so I said yes, why not.

You only live once. I just thought it'd be cool to meet a local, practice my Russian (everyone in Kyrgyzstan speaks russian or Kyrgyz) and just hang out. I did find her cute as well. 

We meet at a restaurant and everything is fine for awhile, but then she starts doing this weird stare, like staring deeply into my eyes and commenting on the colour and how perfect they are. She then starts doing the same for my nose. Super weird. She asks me if I used drugs to dilate my eyes and change their colour. I say no. We then go back to standard stuff that isn't weird at all like hobbies, interests, work, travel, etc.,

Then, she goes on a long tangent about her obsession with wanting plastic surgery for a more perfect face (didn't notice she had minor cosmetics until she pointed it out), but she literally went on and on about wanting a perfect face, then repeatedly asks me if I got a nose job, to which I keep saying no. She kept getting right up close to my face to look at my nose, eye, or ears. She states that I look like an ideal Russian man (I am not, just American with Irish/English/German roots) and keeps commenting on weird body parts.

She also wanted to watch me eat and didn't order any food, only drinks. She just sort of stares at me the whole time.

She then tells me this super sketchy story about how there used to be prostitutes living in the apartment building, but they were evicted recently.

Other weird observations. She pulls out not just a second phone, but even a third phone. I ask her why, and she says it's common in this country due to how bad service is. Pretty weird. I noticed also that she repeatedly uses hand sanitizer or goes to wash her hands. Over and over again. She mentioned a few times, "please don't be scared of me" while staring at me deadpan.

She also told me some weird story about how she is in nursing school and that her current professor keeps having hallucinations and how it's freaking her out. I figured this was likely a language barrier issue, so I confirmed with Google translate and yes, this is correct. Just such a weird off topic thing to mention. Then some random story about a crazy ex who pulled a knife on her one time and "wanted to cut her open."

She later does order something after I finish eating, so I awkwardly now sit there waiting for her to finish.

I say I'm ready to go and figure she is probably hoping to just get a free dinner from a foreigner, but interestingly she offers to pay. She had to make stops to wash her hands many times and kept insisting on spraying sanitizer on my hands and stuff. We then walk back to the building and parted ways.

She then texts me a bunch of weird photos. At first, strange, grainy photos of her legs dangling at the gym or herself putting on lipstick and staring dead pan into the camera with a glazed over look. Random pictures of her hair styling, and I mean a ton of them. Some mildly sexy, but not overtly like sexting. Several of them have extremely creepy lighting, like super dark and surreal looking as if from a David Lynch film.

The really creepy ones were a bunch of close up photos of one eye, like completely zoomed in and just labeled "мой глаз." They had no context and she just kept sending them all night. 

She states how she loved meeting me and wanted to meet the next day for a museum. I said I have a lot booked, so maybe not. I said nice to meet you in Russian, but did not comment on the photos. She sends me a bunch of other messages and starts repeatedly calling me.

I tell her firmly I am not interested and would like to stop communicating, but she continues to call, send weird texts, and endless creepy photos of her eye or just staring into the camera deadpan.

I booked a hotel and got the hell out of that Airbnb.

What am I dealing with here? I feel like this is just a really mentally unwell person: the OCD like behaviour, preoccupation almost with body dysmorphia, and weird mannerisms and photos not making much sense.

However, the three phones and whole story about the prostitutes really sketches me out. I started thinking maybe she is trying to solicit sex? But then, she never asked or really made any major advances and if she is that obsessed with hand washing, I doubt it?  A scammer maybe, but then she offered to buy dinner and didn't ask for anything? I just get a major off and creepy feeling from the entire thing. 

I do hope she can find help and just feel pretty sad about the whole thing. 

Tldr: Met a Russian woman at my Bishkek Airbnb building, she asked me to dinner. The date was filled with red flags: intense staring at my face/body parts, wanting to watch me eat, obsessive plastic surgery talk, repeated hand-washing, three phones, random stories about prostitutes/a knife-wielding ex/a hallucinating professor, and unprompted "please don't be scared of me." Afterward she sent weird random photos of her eye and pushed to meet again. Not sure if she's mentally unwell, a scammer, or something else — but I'm creeped out and relieved I left that Airbnb behind.

I (32F) am a mom and a wife and one of my favorite things to do to get away for a little while is go on glorious, long hikes in the woods. I haven't been able to do it for over a year because of being pregnant and then having a newborn, but my son just turned 1 a while back and I have been focusing a lot on getting back into shape. Last week, my husband asked me what I wanted to do for Mother's Day and I told him what I really wanted to do was go get lost in the woods for a couple of hours. The pun was absolutely not intended.

I live in rural Oregon and while my property is surrounded by farmlands, I have a friend who lives a couple miles up the road who's property meets up with endless acres of BLM land. If you don't know, it's land that belongs to the Bureau of Land Management and is often sold to logging companies. When it's not under contract, it's generally open to the public as long as you leave no trace. There are thousands of acres of dense forest, waterfalls and rivers, wildlife trails, and fire access roads. You can generally navigate between these access roads but there are definitely places where one could get turned around, especially because there's rarely any service.

This specific area, my friend and I have both hiked and ridden our horses on for years so I was confident that the trails I planned to take up to a lookout point were safe to take alone. On any given day, I wouldn't have been alone as I would have brought my wonderful dog with me but, unfortunately, she had passed away when my son was 4 months old. I considered taking my friends dog but she ended up being locked in the house and my friend was at work. Besides, I always carry while out so I wasn't worried.

The hike started out like any other. I took the main fire road down towards the river, crossed, and then took a specific trail that fishtailed up towards a ridge. From there, it was a two hour trek that bends, rises, and falls, until you get to a clearing. From that clearing, it goes straight up for a long while to the lookout on some giant rocks. The hike is a good 4 hours round trip.

I made it to the ridge and was walking along the trail when I heard voices. I didn't want to run into people, I prefer to be alone, so I began preparing myself to politely say hi and continue on my merry way. Trying not to engage in conversation like many do. However, that didn't work out like I planned. The voices belonged to these three men (probably around my age) walking very casually on the trail. Now, it's not a sin to be a man, but when you're a woman out in the middle of nowhere and outnumbered, you tend to become a little vigilant.

I did the old "on your left," and offered a nod while passing, but one of them reached out and stopped me. I mean, he actually put his hand under my elbow and gave me a nudge. I turned around, thinking that he stumbled, but he launched into this conversation that I can't remember everything about. He was talking about where they're from and what a beautiful day it was and introducing themselves, etc. All the while, I'm slowly walking away. The other two joined in from time to time, but overall, I got this uneasy feeling about them.

I tried a few times to end the conversation and speed ahead, but one of them would always ask a question, expecting an answer, or if I picked up my pace, they picked up theirs as well. I even went as far as saying the proper "goodbye" and "nice to meet you" but they would just follow right along. The tipping point for me was I started to ask strategic questions and got really offhanded answers. For example, I specifically asked where they were going and they all sort of glanced at eachother and then one of them said they were going to the waterfall. Now, I know exactly where that waterfall is and wasn't in the general vicinity as us or where the trail was heading.

This all bubbled up to a moment where the trail went up a steep bank and you had to climb up a little, using rocks and the big root of a tree to continue on. They stopped in front of me and tried to convince me to come with them to the waterfall. I said no and decided to use this moment to show them that I was indeed carrying, hoping that it would atleast show them that I was capable of protecting myself if needed. I conceal carry at my hip, hidden under my shirt, so I casually lifted the bottom of my shirt and wiped my glasses. I could sense a feel of nervousness go through one of them, and he was just staring at me intensely.

I don't remember exactly what I said, but i was able to keep my cool and scramble up the steep bank first, getting ahead of them. And as soon as I was at the top, I just started running as fast as I could down the trail. I didn't look back, I didn't pause to listen, I didn't even care if I left something behind, I just ran. Lucky for me, there was a deer trail that shot out to the side, eventually weaving through a thick bunch of brambles. I took it, carefully picking through and trying not to leave an obvious sign that I went that way. My plan was to go as downhill as possible to get to the bottom of the ridge so that I could back track my way down to the access road.

However, that did not happen. I did eventually end up on another trail but I have no idea which one and after forever of walking, it just ended. When I turned around to walk the other way, it also disappeared into a deer trail that went literally nowhere. At this time, my only option was to pick my way back up the ridge, hopefully find the original trail, and avoid the creeps as they would have been further away by now. The problem, was that no matter how much I went back and forth on the little dead end trail, I could not find the spot where I came down at. It was terrifying and I could feel myself start to panic. I found a good spot and decided to have lunch.

I guess tuna sandwiches are pretty smelly because as I was trying not to cry my eyes out, these two random dogs came walking up the trail. They were great Pyrenees and if I had to guess, belonged to somebody who took good care of them. They had no collars but were really gentle and sat with me for a long time while I cried my heart out to them. I absolutely believe with every fiber of my being that God sent these two dogs to me. When I was done crying and settled back down, they both stood up and I kid you not, led me randomly through the woods on a trek I would have never taken on my own. We went down random deer trails, over a rock field, and down into a valley that led up to a part of the access road I had never been to before. They walked with me all the way down to the part where I finally recognized where I was, and then came with me to my friends house where I called my husband.

In the end we decided to call the non-emergency line and just let them know of the strange behavior of the boys and I gave as many details as I could remember. Nothing bad ever happened, and I'm starting to reason with myself that I was scared for nothing, but I will never forget those dogs. They ended up running off soon after I called my husband and I'm kicking myself for not thinking to record my mishap or atleast get a picture of the dogs so I could find the owner and thank them.

So, if anybody has a pair of guardian dogs that often go missing from your property, just know that they might be helping somebody in need.

ORIGINAL POST: https://www.reddit.com/r/creepyencounters/comments/1t5ewj8/for_months_i_was_confused_why_i_kept_finding_long/

(Re-upload - Mod said first post broke rule 6 so I've taken a bunch of details out)

Hi all, update following my last post a week back about me catching neighbour coming out of my apartment having used my shower.

My cousin’s husband is a police officer so I went to him directly about filing a report. He came over to my apartment first as I gave him a visual break down of what happened on the stairs and changes odd things I’d noticed in my apartment since January. Primarily just hairs everywhere and missing food. And how my door was unlocked that day. Though I did a thorough clean following the event on the stairs my police friend was able to still find some hairs and so he bagged those up.

I gave him my statement in detail and some dates best I could, when I remember finding the first hair; when I first noticed food going missing etc.

Also he advised me not to talk to the family not even with a friend to avoid any confusion or get lawyers involved or muddy the waters with accusations.

With all that done he left and came back 2-3 days later. He and his partner went to talk to the family on Sunday because they knew both parents would likely be home then. Long story short she confessed to everything immediately and broke down into tears and apologised once my police friend brought up how 5 months of entering someone’s house even with keys is still very much an offence and she could easily end up with a sentence of some should I pursue it. And that that sentence could very easily involve the inside of a jail cell irregardless of if she stole something or not. (I don’t know how true this is, it might have just been my friend and his partner pressing and exaggerating for a confession but it worked).

They talked for an hour with the parents and her all in the same room to get answers from her. Then the same day he came up to mine with his partner and they gave me the breakdown.

Answers to commonly asked questions below:

⁃ how did she get in/have her own keys? The locks on our doors are the type that use a code on the lock barrel that only the manufacturer or partnered/approved locksmiths have access to. She knew this because her parents got the locks changed when they first moved in. And in fact she used the same locksmith from all the way back then.

The locksmith presumably remembered the family and apartment but just didn’t pay attention to it being the 5th floor this time instead of her own 3rd floor. So he came over and took the barrel out, saw the code, went and made a set of keys and done. I was none the wiser. Both my locks on my door are different brands but presumably they operate in the same way so having 2 locks made no difference.

⁃ what was she doing in my apartment? Anyone who said she just needed space, you were right. She has 2 younger step-siblings and her mother is a tutor (not a teacher as I presumed previously, she tutors at home) so at any given point there’s always some kids around the house. She would say to her parents she was going out to study or work or a girl friends house and use my house as a hotel while she studied or relaxed. The reason she used mine was partly because she knew it would be empty but also because my schedule was predictable. As I work an average 9-5 like everyone else but leave the house at 6-6:30 to get gym done too that essentially gave her the house from 6 to 5.

⁃ How long? My guess was right. It started in January, once she figured I’d broken up with my gf at the time around November. My gf would stay at mine when I went to work and back sometimes so yea that would have been an interesting situation if they had crossed paths.

⁃ So then how did she knew I was coming home early that day? And that I wasn’t going to work straight after gym like usual and so she bolted out the shower? Or on the days I didn’t go gym how did she know not to come in? Two fold. Firstly I go to a commercial gym in my country and so they have an app. Irregardless of if you’re a member or not, one of the things the app lets you see is how many people are in each branch so you can see how full it is. All you have to do is download it and scan the QR code at the entrance by the turnstiles to add it to the “my gyms” tab. It literally shows you like “Branch No. 21 (Address) - 9/50 - 18% full”, she would refresh the app in the morning and if it went up by 1 around 6-6:30am and she heard me go downstairs or use the elevator (not hard when it’s 6am and the apartment is otherwise silent) then she would know the house is empty.

Now for the creepiest most messed up bit of it all. She had put an AirTag on my car. She insisted that she had only put it recently and initially just presumably gambled that I wouldn’t be home sooner than expected (or maybe she just put an ear to the door), but then one thing lead to another and yea. (I don’t know how much I believe this, again this could be an attempt to not look so guilty)

That day when we clashed she refreshed the app and saw I left the gym, but then my car didn’t move, she connected the dots and tried to leave asap. When she heard me coming up the stairs she didn’t have time to lock up and so we met on the stairs with my door remaining closed but not locked. (Extra detail, the AirTag was stuck to under my car).

⁃ The using my shower? She claims she didn’t do it always just on hot days or days she couldn’t at home. I can’t deny or confirm this, like I said previously being a gym goer id shower 5+ times a week so.

⁃ How did her parents never notice? Well the dad leaves early for work, 5am ish since his bus route starts around 6. The mom is up around 6-7. But since she’s preparing for her own students for the day + her own kids to send to school she wasn’t too bothered what her eldest 20 year old daughter was doing really. She’d just say “I’m going to the college library” or “I’m going to my girlfriend’s” and that was good enough.

⁃ Did she have a thing for me like a crush? My police friend didn’t really say anything about this presumably he never asked since it’s not as important as other details or it never came back. It makes little difference.

⁃ How’s my standings with the family right now? The mum and dad both apologised to me. The mum via text and the dad in person at my door, he offered to pay for the camera I installed as his daughter was the direct cause of it but it was cheap off of amazon so I said no it’s fine. We had a 10-15 minute conversation and he was very apologetic and explained his daughter had always been extremely quiet and well behaved so something like this would never have crossed his mind in a million years.

He added that his daughter’s never had a boyfriend (at least that he knows of) and only has a few friends so her social interaction skills aren’t necessarily top notch and that even when guests would come she’d hide away in the spare room. So to the few people who predicted that maybe Covid and lockdown lead to her not having good social interaction skills. You were half right. He again offered me money for my troubles like missing food, new locks and cleaning etc but I felt bad enough already I declined.

He did also ask if I would press charges and I again said no. More on that below. He said he will send his daughter to apologise to me in person too when the situation has calmed down as she’s apparently very very tense and upset and hasn’t left her room in days.

⁃ Am I going to press charges? No. I’m still not happy about the situation ESPECIALLY the f**ing AirTag on my car, but the family is apologetic as well as the culprit herself and honestly no one is going to gain anything from this. I would like an apology though. (For anyone that cares about the extra detail, she got the AirTag as a gift a while back from her parents because she kept losing her stuff)

⁃ Have I seen her since? No, she won’t apparently leave her room and is terrified that I’ll press charges, though presumably her family’s told her I said I won’t.

⁃ How do I currently feel? Well I was never especially worried or nervous just really really creeped out about the whole situation. It felt like I’d been a parasite host and somehow never noticed until then. I currently still feel a little angry and a small part of me is thinking to seek “revenge” but any “revenge” I seek like money or slander is truthfully going to impact the parents more than her.

- Do I feel bad for her? Truthfully? No. She’s not 10. She’s 20 or something and educated so yea you should be remorseful, feel guilty and scared. Get over that hump and we’ll talk. Plus there’s loads of spaces for young adults like public libraries and her college spaces. By no means was my house the only viable option.

⁃ Finally. Did she use my bed? Or wear my clothes? Believe it or not. Yes. She did.

⁃ Any advice I can give? Check your wifi devices. If I had checked that I would have noticed her phone and laptop all the way back when. Obviously my wifi modem is in my house and so she helped herself to that. Again it’s one of those things. How often does one check their wifi devices. Truthfully, with all my family visiting me and their devices I probably wouldn’t have noticed 1 extra phone amongst the existing 10+ but I 100% WOULD have noticed the 1 extra laptop. So let that be a lesson to all. And yes I have removed her devices from the list and changed my password.

Back when I was like 22 and still living with my parents during university, my school was only around a 30 minute bus ride away, so I was still commuting from home in Seoul. One day around lunch time, I was getting ready for my 3PM class when the doorbell rang.

My dad had left for work maybe half an hour earlier, so for some reason I just assumed he had forgotten something and come back home. Which is actually crazy in hindsight because I’m normally super strict about checking the door camera and have insane stranger danger. But that day my brain just completely skipped that step.

So I opened the door.

And this young guy immediately kind of barges in saying he’s there to check the internet because there was apparently some service request. Before I could even properly process what was happening, he was already inside asking where the computer was.

I remember just standing there confused because the situation felt oddly… fast? Like I hadn’t actually invited him in, but somehow he was already in our house sitting at our desktop.

The whole thing immediately started feeling off.

He seemed really nervous and shaky, and I remember getting this weird unsettled feeling being alone in the house with him. He started fiddling with the computer too except the computer wasn’t even turned on yet 😭 which somehow made the whole thing feel even stranger.

Then I noticed the company logo on his vest wasn’t even the internet company my family used.

At that point I called my dad and asked if we had scheduled some internet appointment. My dad immediately goes “No.” Which honestly was a miracle because my dad NEVER picks up his phone during work. Like ever.

I repeated that out loud to the guy while he was sitting there at our computer and we both kinda looked at one another like ???

And something in me suddenly realized I needed this guy to know I didn’t live alone, so I handed him my phone and told him to talk directly to my dad.

They spoke for maybe a minute or two. Then the guy got really apologetic saying he mixed up the addresses or went to the wrong house, and then he left.

To this day I genuinely still don’t know what that was.

Part of me thinks maybe he really did just mess up the address while doing some service call. maybe it was his first day on the job, and he was nervous because he was late to his appointment? But another part of me felt something was really off and unsettling from the beginning.

I try not to think about it too much because thankfully nothing happened, but looking back it actually freaks me out a little how differently that situation could’ve gone. Especially because it all depended on tiny things lining up perfectly — my dad randomly answering his phone, me noticing the wrong company logo, and my instinct suddenly kicking in halfway through the interaction.

Needless to say I check the door camera religiously now lol.

Weirdest encounter I've ever had in my life a few hours ago.

Its about 11pm, im staying in the Hampton Inn in Ogden near Washington Blvd (later learned this is a high crime/drug area?) Im restless and decide to take a brisk walk with headphones and some loud music to clear my head before getting some sleep.

Everything is normal, until I turn a corner around the hotel building. About 20 feet away from me is a roughly college aged woman wearing a tanktop, short jean shorts, and no socks or shoes, facing away from me.

She is swaying lightly and tugging her shorts up aggressively, generally acting strange and unstable. At this time, I assume the lady is either drugged out hard or is incredibly drunk. I decide I dont want to engage and turn around slowly to walk the other way. She had her back to me the whole time.

After I take a step or two, I feel uneasy having my back to her, especially in my deafened state with headphones. I cut the music and pull an earbud out, and continue walking away.

Maybe 4-5 seconds later, I hear her breathing heavily very near me like some kind of animal and whispering(?) hissing(?) something unintelligible. She is within 2 feet of me at this point. Her bare feet were basically silent on the pavement, and allowed her to sprint right up to me without me noticing. She must have really booked it too, she would have had to clear 15-20 feet in that time.

Reasonably startled, I square up to her, put my hands up with palms facing outward, and exclaim "Jesus Christ!" I must have glanced at her bare feet at this time, because she responds "Oh! What? Did you see my feet? Did they scare you THAT bad? PUSSY!" She seems genuinely puzzled by my reaction, but was very clearly in some kind of manic state.

I quickly walk away, and she continues to shout things at me about her feet, me being a "pussy", and other unintelligible nonsense.

What really struck me as the most odd is that she was totally alone. No crowd of other drunk college kids, no friends, nothing. I expect weird behavior like this from packs of kids, but not a lone young woman? I did a welfare call with the police because I was concerned about how her little routine might go with someone else on the street tonight. Hopefully she got some help if she needed it.

Any ideas what the hell that was about? Im familiar with drug behavior - I've spent extensive time with regular meth users, one of whom had a full psychosis event, so not light users either. This lady was some kind of bath salts zombie or something.

I (16f) work at a fast food chain during the week, and since I’m homeschooled, I get to work opening shifts. My mom picks me up, so I work the same hours every day, Mon–Thur.

Well, starting about a month ago, maybe longer, this guy started coming in super nice. The second time he came in, I asked if he wanted the same drink that we keep behind the counter, and he said something along the lines of, “Oh, you remember? Is that a good or bad thing, huh?”

Then, like the next time after that, he said, “I used to work here like 27 years ago. I’m old, I know.” He kept coming in. One day, he put his hands on the ordering counter and got closer and said something like, “Wow, your eyes are so beautiful.”

After that, my coworkers started taking his order for me. Unfortunately, we put the receipts on their tray when we bring out their food, which has the name of whoever’s drawer it is which is usually mine so he may have my name. So we stopped putting the receipt if it’s my drawer, but it might be too late.

He’ll come back to order multiple things until I am forced to take his orders some days. Once, while my coworker was taking his order, he started talking to me: “You don’t have your hair in those braids today, huh?” Weird he even noticed I usually do.

He sits in one of two booths that lets him watch me, and my coworkers say he does watch and look for me. He never comes the days I don't work. He came later then usual today. I’m just hoping he’s not trying to figure out the hours I work. I don’t really know what to do. I’m pretty sure management knows.

Context: we had just moved into a new build street. When my family was moving in, there was about 3 out of 25 houses occupied (most of them were still being built when we moved in)

So here’s what happened:

I was only 7 (this was in 2009/2010in the uk) so I don’t remember exactly what I did on that day. But I vividly remember a man in a white van. It was unmarked (no company logo/business info) but there had been many vans like that coming & going in that area since it was being developed.
I remember being on my scooter going up and down the new pavement when a man shouted

“do you like Scooby doo?”

I knew not to trust strangers but it felt different when the builders had basically got to know the only child on the street.

So I said “yes”
He said “do you like teddies?”

I was obviously hyped at the thought of a free toy so I said “yes”
& I’ll never forget this moment

He asked if I was alone

He opened the back door of his van

& there sat, upright, like it was placed: a Scooby doo teddy/soft toy

He told me to go and get it
Like he told me to get in the back of his van and retrieve the perfectly positioned toy at the very back

Thinking about this now makes me sick but also very grateful to have a dad like mine
I remember I was either about to or was half inside this van when he ran round the corner and screamed at this man.

He said “what the fuck are you doing?”
“That’s my daughter”
I remember how this man’s whole vibe changed from a happy man giving toys, to a scared puppy.
He stuttered trying to explain he just wanted to give me a toy.
My dad said “if you want her to have it. I’ll go get it”
So he walked to the back of this van and got the teddy for me.

I remember when he did that, the commotion had people/workers looking over.
This isn’t a story about getting attention.

This is about my adult mind realising how planned it was.
He’d clearly done it before. He’d clearly perfected the technique. I’ll never forget the empty wood panelled van with nothing but a Scooby doo toy sat upright on the very back panel.

Whenever I hear of a missing child case from 2009 onwards involving a suspicious van it makes my stomach turn because what if he just learned to make sure the parents weren’t keeping an eye on their child? What if this was the start of a bigger thing?

I’ve tried to google missing person/attempted kidnapping cases from the uk from 2008-2011 to see if anything matches what I experienced because that was TOO PLANNED to be a first attempt?
Maybe I’m just overthinking it but my dad doesn’t like to talk about it so that makes me think I’m not overthinking??

TLDR: got lured into the back of a van with a teddy positioned perfectly at the far end, saved by my dad, looking back I now worry it was too planned out for it to be a first/last time kidnapping