I can think for me would be in 1995. I was 15. For some reason I took this job where I would go door to door trying to persuade people to subscribe to the local newspaper. Most of the time we just went to apartment buildings. For some reason our boss dropped me and my good friend off at an apartment building on the outer part of the downtown area. It wasn't the most savoury part of the city either. He drives off and as it turns out the landlord of the building refuses to let us in and solicit. He also didn't trust us enough to come into the building and use the phone to call our boss to pick us up. So, like chumps we sit and wait in between the doors for our boss to pick us up.

Then after 45 minutes or so we see these two guys show up. They might be 20 years old and are both bigger than us. They stand outside the apartment entrance - put black ski masks on - and confront me and my friend. They ask us if we know how to get into the building, we say we don't. One guy pulls out a knife and tries to "jimmy" the lock to get into the apartment building. I turned to my friend with the intention of telling him "lets get out of here" only to find that he was already rapidly walking away. I did the same.

Then the strangest thing happened. The two masked men apparently gave up getting into the building and started following us. I was never so frightened in my life. We had seen their faces. They started following us down the street and luckily we were close enough to the downtown core that we were in a populated area. It was December, so it wasn't unusual to see someone in a ski mask either.

Then we saw the first place to go and it was a hotel. The guys were still behind us a ways and saw us go into the hotel. For some stupid reason we didn't stay in the heavily populated hotel lobby. I have no idea why but we were scared and took off up a floor on the elevator. We were on a floor where no one else was walking around but we saw a pay phone and called our boss to come and pick us up. We still didn't know if the suspects were going to come and find us. Our boss showed up at the front door and we got in his car. He didn't believe us about the story and we actually got fired later that night since we didn't sell anything.

So here's the kicker. We are in a hotel lobby. We are surrounded by adults who could have called 911. The odds of those suspects doing anything to us is remote and yet we STILL kept running to an area where no one was located. It goes to show you one thing, that you can't think clearly when you are in a panic situation. All of the times we claim that if a certain person on UM did something different than nothing would have happened. For example if Rob Shafer doesn't reverse his car too fast then the transmission doesn't explode and he can still follow the truck. But he was in a panic and acted on impulse.

Bottom line is people do stupid things in a crisis situation and this was one of those situations where we could have easily been cases on UM

Wow. That's weird!
I have a couple, but when I was 15/16, this guy called my phone (private teen line,my room only) and asked for someone. I said sorry wrong number.... He called back again trying to strike up a conversation. He called a lot, for days, then weeks.

I didn't have caller I'd back then, I mean, my telephone was one of those clear see through ones, where you could see the colorful wires of the inside of the phone. So, my friends and I decided to forward my calls to a friends house with caller I'd. Sure enough he called, and then one of them called to prank him or something stupid, and forgot to call "private". So he started calling them too.

Then it got weirder. He started calling drunk and being all sexual, even saying he was masturbating.
So, of course we told no parents....We found his address and it was at this shady apartment complex( what's up with creepers in apartments??) and we staked it out. We hit every number until someone buzzed us in.
It was teens, of course we asked them about the guy that was calling us. They told us that he would come out of his apartment naked all the time, and bring home prostitutes.

I was standing in front of his apartment door and someone started coming from outside (we heard a key to the main entrance) so I started knocking, just so we wouldn't look suspicious. Up walks this tall guy, in a scruffy beard, dirty work boots and a frown. He walked up to me and said "no ones home" and I said "how do you know?" then he said " because I live here" and then he opened the door with his key and went in and shut the door.

We stood there in shock for a moment, then went outside and talked to the kids more. We learned that he seemed to like little kiddies.... That is what he was doing when he was coming out of his apartment naked, watching kids playing!!

I'm not proud of this, but we came back later dumped trash all over his pick up truck. Ketchup and mustard was included. We left a mess for him, we are all mad and disgusted and wanted to make him mad I guess.
I started seeing him a lot in public places, the gas station, restaurants, he drove down my street! He was following me. My boyfriend angrily confronted him in a parking lot and the sightings ended.

Not long after that, I saw his name and picture in the newspaper. He had kidnapped a 13/14 yr old girl from her school bus stop. He took her back to his apartment and raped her. Afterwards, he took her back to the bus stop. The girl was able to tell her mom, and the police caught him. There was a standoff, he was hiding in a shed.

P.s. my parents no none of that. So when I see kids/ teens being involved in risky behavior, I totally understand how the parents are confused and never knew anything.

Wow. That's weird!
I have a couple, but when I was 15/16, this guy called my phone (private teen line,my room only) and asked for someone. I said sorry wrong number.... He called back again trying to strike up a conversation. He called a lot, for days, then weeks.

I didn't have caller I'd back then, I mean, my telephone was one of those clear see through ones, where you could see the colorful wires of the inside of the phone. So, my friends and I decided to forward my calls to a friends house with caller I'd. Sure enough he called, and then one of them called to prank him or something stupid, and forgot to call "private". So he started calling them too.

Then it got weirder. He started calling drunk and being all sexual, even saying he was masturbating.
So, of course we told no parents....We found his address and it was at this shady apartment complex( what's up with creepers in apartments??) and we staked it out. We hit every number until someone buzzed us in.
It was teens, of course we asked them about the guy that was calling us. They told us that he would come out of his apartment naked all the time, and bring home prostitutes.

I was standing in front of his apartment door and someone started coming from outside (we heard a key to the main entrance) so I started knocking, just so we wouldn't look suspicious. Up walks this tall guy, in a scruffy beard, dirty work boots and a frown. He walked up to me and said "no ones home" and I said "how do you know?" then he said " because I live here" and then he opened the door with his key and went in and shut the door.

We stood there in shock for a moment, then went outside and talked to the kids more. We learned that he seemed to like little kiddies.... That is what he was doing when he was coming out of his apartment naked, watching kids playing!!

I'm not proud of this, but we came back later dumped trash all over his pick up truck. Ketchup and mustard was included. We left a mess for him, we are all mad and disgusted and wanted to make him mad I guess.
I started seeing him a lot in public places, the gas station, restaurants, he drove down my street! He was following me. My boyfriend angrily confronted him in a parking lot and the sightings ended.

Not long after that, I saw his name and picture in the newspaper. He had kidnapped a 13/14 yr old girl from her school bus stop. He took her back to his apartment and raped her. Afterwards, he took her back to the bus stop. The girl was able to tell her mom, and the police caught him. There was a standoff, he was hiding in a shed.

P.s. my parents no none of that. So when I see kids/ teens being involved in risky behavior, I totally understand how the parents are confused and never knew anything.

Wow, that's probably more dangerous than mine above. I'd have still told your parents that though.

That one day I lost my phone.

pre cell phone days i got lost overnight in Chicago

While I was one vacation with my girlfriend 6 years ago in the summer, I got a call from my mom saying that my dad(who was my absolute best friend my entire life), a man she'd been married to for 32 years had completely vanished, taken some of his clothes from their house, even watered their outdoor plants and simply disappeared, without as much as a note or message. I was 3 hours away and started doing a hard search for him via my cell (keep in mind I was JUST out of highschool) and nobody at his work knew of his whereabouts(and he was a very big deal, being quite wealthy).....I told my mom to go to the banks to check their join account movements and there was a transfer of 50 grand out of their account.

We were mere seconds away from calling the police as I was speeding home, when we got a call, from him, stating that he'd fallen in love with a woman half his age(whom he'd been cheating around behind my mom with for two years) and couldn't be married anymore, so he was starting a new life.

There wasn't any remote hint of this up until the moment of it happening, this was a man whom I lived with for 18 years and had even gone on an isolated weeklong fishing trip DAYS leading up to him leaving my mom(although it explains all of the "work" texts he was sending) and neither of us had any idea of this. He was always home on time from work, he never went out.....he was LITERALLY leading a double life.

I later found out the reason he left was that his work had discovered his improprieties during work hours and people we knew were going to be finding out. Rather than face me(a 6'5 BJJ brownbelt with a temper) and my mom, he totally bailed while she was at work and I was on vacation....

He is an absolute psychopath, and is the reason I believe that anyone is capable of absolutely anything. Prior to the day my dad left, I would've sworn up and down that he was incapable of such a crazy, callous thing, I wouldn't have believed it and would've looked for ANY possible alternative theory to this.....but from that point forward....let's just say, "fool me once" ....

While I was one vacation with my girlfriend 6 years ago in the summer, I got a call from my mom saying that my dad(who was my absolute best friend my entire life), a man she'd been married to for 32 years had completely vanished, taken some of his clothes from their house, even watered their outdoor plants and simply disappeared, without as much as a note or message. I was 3 hours away and started doing a hard search for him via my cell (keep in mind I was JUST out of highschool) and nobody at his work knew of his whereabouts(and he was a very big deal, being quite wealthy).....I told my mom to go to the banks to check their join account movements and there was a transfer of 50 grand out of their account.

We were mere seconds away from calling the police as I was speeding home, when we got a call, from him, stating that he'd fallen in love with a woman half his age(whom he'd been cheating around behind my mom with for two years) and couldn't be married anymore, so he was starting a new life.

There wasn't any remote hint of this up until the moment of it happening, this was a man whom I lived with for 18 years and had even gone on an isolated weeklong fishing trip DAYS leading up to him leaving my mom(although it explains all of the "work" texts he was sending) and neither of us had any idea of this. He was always home on time from work, he never went out.....he was LITERALLY leading a double life.

I later found out the reason he left was that his work had discovered his improprieties during work hours and people we knew were going to be finding out. Rather than face me(a 6'5 BJJ brownbelt with a temper) and my mom, he totally bailed while she was at work and I was on vacation....

He is an absolute psychopath, and is the reason I believe that anyone is capable of absolutely anything. Prior to the day my dad left, I would've sworn up and down that he was incapable of such a crazy, callous thing, I wouldn't have believed it and would've looked for ANY possible alternative theory to this.....but from that point forward....let's just say, "fool me once" ....

Geez that sucks. You were seconds away from pretty much being part of a UM segment and being one of those family members who says: "I KNOW my dad, he would never just get up and leave like that without saying something." Hey my parents have been together for 38 years and I think it would crush my insides if I knew my dad was leaving. Almost as if everything I believed in - and implemented in my marriage - is a lie.

Most of the time those family members are right, but in some cases there are times when they'll just get up and leave to start a new life and leave the old one behind. Perhaps your mother knew something was amiss? 32 years is an awfully long time to be with someone and not notice things that are off kilter since you know that person better than anyone else. Or maybe your dad was just that good at pretending.

Geez that sucks. You were seconds away from pretty much being part of a UM segment and being one of those family members who says: "I KNOW my dad, he would never just get up and leave like that without saying something." Hey my parents have been together for 38 years and I think it would crush my insides if I knew my dad was leaving. Almost as if everything I believed in - and implemented in my marriage - is a lie.

Most of the time those family members are right, but in some cases there are times when they'll just get up and leave to start a new life and leave the old one behind. Perhaps your mother knew something was amiss? 32 years is an awfully long time to be with someone and not notice things that are off kilter since you know that person better than anyone else. Or maybe your dad was just that good at pretending.

I'm presently getting my MA in Criminology & have my BA & a psych minor etc and have basically gone through my dad's entire life and arguably know him NOW better than he does....one of the things that gives me chills with UMs is that I can REALLY see my mom & I sitting there in utter misery in front of a camera like you see all the time in segments.

What I've discovered since he left, is that he'd been unfaithful to my mother since I was 2 years old(I recalled something I saw as a toddler and carried around with me my entire life that he later he confirmed had actually happened) and what I've deciphered over the past 6 years is that we were part of a psychopath's web of lies, it's hardened my view and outlook on life and trust among other things, I've been with my girlfriend for 7 years and trust her about as much as I can anybody. I've written term papers on my father and the destruction he's done, we joke in my department that "you couldn't sell this story to Hollywood cuz it's too unbelievable!"...

My mother knew NOTHING, I've more or less interrogated her pretty hard and have found out several hard truths(since they married out of HS, over time one grew up & the other didn't, he spent frivolously and was completely reckless with money and finances since he made so much, but had a superficial charm that could make you think he was your best friend), but it was on all accounts a VERY happy marriage, no marriage is perfect....but I'm talking no warning signs here, which is why at the time, we thought maybe he had a tumor or amnesia or SOMETHING, because we couldn't understand it. We were an INSANELY tightknit family and to this day, I keep his last anniversary card that he gave her less than THREE WEEKS before he left and the things he wrote were absolutely BEAUTIFUL.

Watching alot of these UM episodes where you hear someone could "NEVER do such a thing" always hits home, as I would've said the exact thing. I've more or less dedicated my career after hunting down and picking apart his lies and am damn good at what I do because of it. Two years back, I decided against working special crimes for CSIS or RCMP because it was too toxic, now I study juvenile rehabilitation.

I abide by the idiom, "Anyone is capable of ANYTHING"....

Phew, that was pretty cathartic lol.

Then it got weirder. He started calling drunk and being all sexual, even saying he was masturbating.
So, of course we told no parents....We found his address and it was at this shady apartment complex( what's up with creepers in apartments??) and we staked it out. We hit every number until someone buzzed us in.
It was teens, of course we asked them about the guy that was calling us. They told us that he would come out of his apartment naked all the time, and bring home prostitutes.

I am a dude and I had almost this exact same thing happen to me. (lol) I was probably 21 or so, living in an apartment when one night I began receiving phone calls from some unknown person. At first the voice sounded like a woman. She began kind of flirting, so I flirted back (just having fun). I didn't think anything of it because I have had a lot of female admirers in my life, and even had random women call me up before (not being cocky, just telling the truth). Well the calls kept coming in day after day and it became obvious to me that the voice was not a woman but a MAN.

At this point I was sort of angry thinking "God I am stupid, I have been flirting with a dude." I had no idea who it was, but this person knew a LOT about me. I didn't recognize the voice, and I am positive none of my friends were pulling a prank. (I asked them numerous times and they swore on their lives it wasn't them or anyone they knew).

I never told this person anything personal about myself, like where I worked, etc. Well, anyway, I quit my job about the time this was going on and began another job (at a convenience store). I did not tell this person about my job change.

Well, the FIRST night I was on the job, I got a call at the store. It was the mystery man. He said "I just came in there and saw you." Boy was I freaked out. At this point I was both pissed and scared at the same time. Here I am working in a convenience store, sometimes alone on the graveyard shift, and this stalker is ALREADY targeting me the first day on the job. Again, I have no idea how he knew I even took the job. These calls went on for months with intermittent breaks. The stalker knew lots of private things about me that I never mentioned to him.

Well, eventually I decided to get the number off caller ID and try to trace it. Eventually I traced it to a motel in an adjacent town. I went to this motel (with a friend) and, let me tell you, it was one CREEPY place. I had never heard of it before, but it was in the most slum part of town. It had no lights on at night -- completely dark. It consisted of maybe 10 rooms (each room you drive up to separetely). If you were to look at the place, you would think it was closed down or vacant -- it was that bad.

Now I was with a good friend of mine who is a huge comedian. He is also a pretty tough dude, but even he was scared ****less. Usually he would laugh or make fun of me, but not now. He suggested I go to the Police. So, we drove to the Police station in my town. We talked to an officer who happened to be coming on her way outside. I told her very briefly about the story and she said "well since the calls are coming from the other town, you need to go to their police station." So, we drove back to the other town and went to their station.

I walked into the office of one of the officers on duty (this was like 1 AM). He had his feet propped on the desk sort of chilling. I told him what happened and he looked over at another officer and said "Hey, Jim, this guy is getting calls from such in such Motel." The other officer looked at me and shook his head in disgust and dismay. They basically explained that this motel was the bane of society and nothing that went on there would shock them.

Eventually this officer said "well we can investigate if you want us to, but I will tell you something off-the-record. My advice to you is that you and your friend go find this guy, beat the **** out of him and you have my word we will look the other way."

The cop actually said this. Of course my buddy was chuckling, and I sorta smiled, but I knew that I was not going actually take his advice. But, the cop was serious. He was so disgusted with that place that he was actually encouraging me to take the law into my own hands. (I never went and sought out the guy, as I didn't want anything to do with him).

There are lots of things about this story I am forgetting or don't want to mention. But eventually the calls stopped and life went back to normal. Luckily I didn't end up a statistic.

I'm presently getting my MA in Criminology & have my BA & a psych minor etc and have basically gone through my dad's entire life and arguably know him NOW better than he does....one of the things that gives me chills with UMs is that I can REALLY see my mom & I sitting there in utter misery in front of a camera like you see all the time in segments.

What I've discovered since he left, is that he'd been unfaithful to my mother since I was 2 years old(I recalled something I saw as a toddler and carried around with me my entire life that he later he confirmed had actually happened) and what I've deciphered over the past 6 years is that we were part of a psychopath's web of lies, it's hardened my view and outlook on life and trust among other things, I've been with my girlfriend for 7 years and trust her about as much as I can anybody. I've written term papers on my father and the destruction he's done, we joke in my department that "you couldn't sell this story to Hollywood cuz it's too unbelievable!"...

My mother knew NOTHING, I've more or less interrogated her pretty hard and have found out several hard truths(since they married out of HS, over time one grew up & the other didn't, he spent frivolously and was completely reckless with money and finances since he made so much, but had a superficial charm that could make you think he was your best friend), but it was on all accounts a VERY happy marriage, no marriage is perfect....but I'm talking no warning signs here, which is why at the time, we thought maybe he had a tumor or amnesia or SOMETHING, because we couldn't understand it. We were an INSANELY tightknit family and to this day, I keep his last anniversary card that he gave her less than THREE WEEKS before he left and the things he wrote were absolutely BEAUTIFUL.

Watching alot of these UM episodes where you hear someone could "NEVER do such a thing" always hits home, as I would've said the exact thing. I've more or less dedicated my career after hunting down and picking apart his lies and am damn good at what I do because of it. Two years back, I decided against working special crimes for CSIS or RCMP because it was too toxic, now I study juvenile rehabilitation.

I abide by the idiom, "Anyone is capable of ANYTHING"....

Phew, that was pretty cathartic lol.

Two things:

One, your dad sounds like a jerk and a selfish human being. I know he will always be a part of you and your whole world can come crashing down when you find out stuff like this about him but try not to let him represent all that's good about society and some people.

Secondly, if it isn't too personal, I am interested in hearing about this vision you had as a toddler when you saw something that was amiss that had to do with his affair. What was it that was later confirmed?

I am a dude and I had almost this exact same thing happen to me. (lol) I was probably 21 or so, living in an apartment when one night I began receiving phone calls from some unknown person. At first the voice sounded like a woman. She began kind of flirting, so I flirted back (just having fun). I didn't think anything of it because I have had a lot of female admirers in my life, and even had random women call me up before (not being cocky, just telling the truth). Well the calls kept coming in day after day and it became obvious to me that the voice was not a woman but a MAN.

At this point I was sort of angry thinking "God I am stupid, I have been flirting with a dude." I had no idea who it was, but this person knew a LOT about me. I didn't recognize the voice, and I am positive none of my friends were pulling a prank. (I asked them numerous times and they swore on their lives it wasn't them or anyone they knew).

I never told this person anything personal about myself, like where I worked, etc. Well, anyway, I quit my job about the time this was going on and began another job (at a convenience store). I did not tell this person about my job change.

Well, the FIRST night I was on the job, I got a call at the store. It was the mystery man. He said "I just came in there and saw you." Boy was I freaked out. At this point I was both pissed and scared at the same time. Here I am working in a convenience store, sometimes alone on the graveyard shift, and this stalker is ALREADY targeting me the first day on the job. Again, I have no idea how he knew I even took the job. These calls went on for months with intermittent breaks. The stalker knew lots of private things about me that I never mentioned to him.

Well, eventually I decided to get the number off caller ID and try to trace it. Eventually I traced it to a motel in an adjacent town. I went to this motel (with a friend) and, let me tell you, it was one CREEPY place. I had never heard of it before, but it was in the most slum part of town. It had no lights on at night -- completely dark. It consisted of maybe 10 rooms (each room you drive up to separetely). If you were to look at the place, you would think it was closed down or vacant -- it was that bad.

Now I was with a good friend of mine who is a huge comedian. He is also a pretty tough dude, but even he was scared ****less. Usually he would laugh or make fun of me, but not now. He suggested I go to the Police. So, we drove to the Police station in my town. We talked to an officer who happened to be coming on her way outside. I told her very briefly about the story and she said "well since the calls are coming from the other town, you need to go to their police station." So, we drove back to the other town and went to their station.

I walked into the office of one of the officers on duty (this was like 1 AM). He had his feet propped on the desk sort of chilling. I told him what happened and he looked over at another officer and said "Hey, Jim, this guy is getting calls from such in such Motel." The other officer looked at me and shook his head in disgust and dismay. They basically explained that this motel was the bane of society and nothing that went on there would shock them.

Eventually this officer said "well we can investigate if you want us to, but I will tell you something off-the-record. My advice to you is that you and your friend go find this guy, beat the **** out of him and you have my word we will look the other way."

The cop actually said this. Of course my buddy was chuckling, and I sorta smiled, but I knew that I was not going actually take his advice. But, the cop was serious. He was so disgusted with that place that he was actually encouraging me to take the law into my own hands. (I never went and sought out the guy, as I didn't want anything to do with him).

There are lots of things about this story I am forgetting or don't want to mention. But eventually the calls stopped and life went back to normal. Luckily I didn't end up a statistic.
That is one of the best stories ever! It reminds me of that episode of Seinfeld where their friend sounds just like his wife on the phone......the police did not take you seriously IMO because you are a man. I'm glad you are ok and didn't have to drop kick a fool that was off his meds.....

I can think for me would be in 1995. I was 15. For some reason I took this job where I would go door to door trying to persuade people to subscribe to the local newspaper. Most of the time we just went to apartment buildings. For some reason our boss dropped me and my good friend off at an apartment building on the outer part of the downtown area. It wasn't the most savoury part of the city either. He drives off and as it turns out the landlord of the building refuses to let us in and solicit. He also didn't trust us enough to come into the building and use the phone to call our boss to pick us up. So, like chumps we sit and wait in between the doors for our boss to pick us up.

Then after 45 minutes or so we see these two guys show up. They might be 20 years old and are both bigger than us. They stand outside the apartment entrance - put black ski masks on - and confront me and my friend. They ask us if we know how to get into the building, we say we don't. One guy pulls out a knife and tries to "jimmy" the lock to get into the apartment building. I turned to my friend with the intention of telling him "lets get out of here" only to find that he was already rapidly walking away. I did the same.

Then the strangest thing happened. The two masked men apparently gave up getting into the building and started following us. I was never so frightened in my life. We had seen their faces. They started following us down the street and luckily we were close enough to the downtown core that we were in a populated area. It was December, so it wasn't unusual to see someone in a ski mask either.

Then we saw the first place to go and it was a hotel. The guys were still behind us a ways and saw us go into the hotel. For some stupid reason we didn't stay in the heavily populated hotel lobby. I have no idea why but we were scared and took off up a floor on the elevator. We were on a floor where no one else was walking around but we saw a pay phone and called our boss to come and pick us up. We still didn't know if the suspects were going to come and find us. Our boss showed up at the front door and we got in his car. He didn't believe us about the story and we actually got fired later that night since we didn't sell anything.

So here's the kicker. We are in a hotel lobby. We are surrounded by adults who could have called 911. The odds of those suspects doing anything to us is remote and yet we STILL kept running to an area where no one was located. It goes to show you one thing, that you can't think clearly when you are in a panic situation. All of the times we claim that if a certain person on UM did something different than nothing would have happened. For example if Rob Shafer doesn't reverse his car too fast then the transmission doesn't explode and he can still follow the truck. But he was in a panic and acted on impulse.

Bottom line is people do stupid things in a crisis situation and this was one of those situations where we could have easily been cases on UM
indeed;stay out of stairwells,elevators and parking decks when in danger.glad you were ok.

When I was 9 or 10, I was playing in the woods near my house.
A man with a dog approached me and asked me if I wanted to be a model.
I enthusiastically responded, "YES!!"
He said he'd like to take some pictures of me right then and there.
I said, "Let me just go ask my Dad..."
I went home and when I returned, the man was gone.

I never saw him again.

Last year I needed some coins for the laundry and since it was 10pm there were no banks open and a lot of stores like 7eleven and such don't like to give out their coins

I decided to go to a carwash a few miles from my university, It was completely dark, no one around, scary as hell. I knew at the time it was really dangerous but I figured the faster I put the money in the machine, the quicker I could get out of there.

My dollars kept being rejected and I basically stood at this machine for over ten minutes trying to get coins and it finally worked.

Looking back, that was one of the dumbest things I have ever done. Nothing happened, but so much could have.

I was staying alone in a hotel in a city in the Northwest for a convention. I went to eat in the bar so I didn't have to leave the hotel. I sat AT the bar so that I was close to the female bartender. A man from across the bar started talking to me. I was polite, but not all that engaging, figuring maybe it was a cultural difference (I'm from the northeast, we don't talk to strangers, or look at them, or acknowledge them, unless it's to flip them off while driving :lol: ) and didn't want to be rude. Soon, the guy came over and sat on the bar stool next to me and started telling me his life story, how crazy the mother of his children was, his life in a logging town, etc. Then, he invites me to his room to raid the minibar. Asks me what my favorite drink is. (I told him something odd, knowing the ingredients were NOT in the minibar.) He says he has that in his room. I decline. Repeatedly. I try in vain to get the bartender's eye. No dice, she's intent on closing. Eventually the guy leaves. I linger as long as I can and walk out with the bartender. There is the guy, waiting at the elevator that I need to use to get to my room, telling me his room number and still pestering me to go to his room. The bartender, even though I mentioned something, scampers off. And then I panicked and did something really stupid. I went and hid in the ladies room. "One exit," I thought as I stood in there, "you picked a place with only one exit to hide, stupid!"

Fortunately, when I finally left the ladies room (like 15 minutes later), he was gone.

This happened to me two years ago when studying abroad in England. I had just endured a pretty traumatizing loss and was frustrated to be so far from home and isolated from family who could comfort me. So I went on a walk into the park alongside a river. There were plenty of people- at first. I got really far and soon there were less people. I was leaving the tourist area, which is just what I wanted since there was an obscene amount of them. I found this really quaint bridge and beautiful town with lovely architecture since I had walked about two miles out of Oxford. It was just what I had wanted. But since I was alone and tired at this point, I wanted to head back and get something to eat, then return another day. So I turned back around. I encountered a friendly fisherman who said hi and a couple other people who said hello. Not to sound rude, but people in Oxford were not friendly for the most part, so it was refreshing to see such nice people. Then a fourth guy said hi and was sitting on a bench. I replied as I had with the others and kept walking. But then he started trying to talk to me. I ignored him and kept going- then he followed me, waving whenever I looked back. I got scared since less people were on the path. So I crossed the highway and tried to lose him. I was sure I had. There were some people around and then I ended up in a meadow which ironically had been my destination all along. But then he found me, waving like we were old friends. It was very disturbing. I definitely learned the true face of instinct that day. My legs took off on their own until I got out of the meadow and somehow ended up near an elementary school full of people. I was still shaking when I got there because I kept thinking about what could have happened. Some lady pointed me back in the right direction to my lodgings and I felt safe at that point but it was a scary experience.

Oh, I just thought of a funny one.

I was in a small town in Lithuania, we only had about an hour and a half there, so instead of spending it in a restaurant, we decided to hit a grocery story, buy some bread and cheese to make sandwiches and then explore the town. Now, at the time I think I knew all of 4 words in Lithuanian. (I'm down to 1 now.) We were approached by a homeless man. We had spent the last of our Lithuanian money, as we were moving on to Latvia. He was asking us for something, at least we think he was. We kept shrugging and saying we didn't understand. We walked off, he followed us, continuing to talk to us in what I assume was Lithuanian. We could not shake him. Finally, in a last ditch effort to get rid of this homeless man who had been following us for 15 or 20 minutes, I offered him a sandwich made from the last of our bread and cheese. He smiled, took the sandwich and wandered off. I guess the man just wanted a cheese sandwich. Who knew?

Okay, around 2000 or 2001 I was dating this older woman for some reason. I'm 20, I'm young and naive and stupid and thought it was a thrill. She was about 30. The problem was, she lived with her old boyfriend still. Nothing was going on between them but she didn't have a place to live. It was still his house and I thought it would be smart to not have him be around when I'm there. You know, awkwardness?

Anyway, he comes home early from work one night - maybe midnight. He knows someone is with his ex and while he can't stand the sight of her anymore he still probably had a male pride thing with another guy in HIS house with his ex. We were just sitting in the kitchen, so it isn't as if he "caught" us doing anything.

Well he was livid, he forbid anyone from being in the house when he wasn't there, especially someone who was involved with his ex. Then he stormed out of the house, I thought he was going to grab a gun but instead he sat out in his truck on the street with the vehicle turned on and was waiting for me. I turned to the girl and said "I thought you guys were over a year ago?" She said they were but it was still his house and he didn't want me there. So I got into my parent's van and left knowing he was probably going to follow me. The girl told me to just drive as fast as I can and not be a hero. So I did.

He followed me at every turn. Every light, etc. I was starting to get scared, I didn't want to stop and get out of the car in a remote place because we'd be alone and I didn't want to drive home because he'd know where I'd live which was still with my parents at the time. And it was their van, not mine so I didn't want him to do any damage. No matter which way I turned he followed and I was sending him on a wild goose chase. You know how we talk about how a case would never happen if the person had a cell phone. Yeah, that was me. I couldn't find any cops either so I did the smartest thing I could think of, I ran a red light. It was borderline but I saw the light changing to yellow and I knew if I sped up I would go through the red just as the other light was turning green and he would be far enough behind me that he'd have to stop.

That's just what happened, I ran the light and he stayed behind and I left him in the dust. I got home all shook up and called her up. She said she was praying for me the second I left the house that nothing would happen. And she then told me something pretty haunting. In the passenger seat of his pick up truck were things like an axe, a saw and a baseball bat. Stuff he would use for everyday chores but certainly something he could have used on me in the heat of anger. And I asked myself........"Would he have tried to kill me with that?" Needless to say the relationship didn't last very long. Apparently when he got home he got into a fight with the girl I was seeing and it got pretty physical. A couple months later she moved out and I helped her.

But I never forgot that night. The Dick Hansen episode really strikes a cord with me with the fear of someone following you in their car.

The year would have been 1991 and i was in the 3rd grade. We had all been dismissed to go outside for recess and i had picked a swing that i normally would always go to. It was on the outter edge of the recess grounds and probably 50 yards from a residential street. So, i was on the swing, when to my left a White full sized van pulled up. Inside was a man, and he just looked at the playground. He didnt say anything, but just sat there and looked. Being all of 10 years old i didnt think anything of it. I thought maybe it was a parent stopping by to say hi. So after about 5 minutes, he said something to his passenger, sort of shook his head, and left. That night when I got home i overheard on the news as we were eating that there was a white van traveling through the area trying to kidnap kids. I told my mom what i knew and she called the police. I never heard anything about it since.

Oh, I just thought of a funny one.

I was in a small town in Lithuania, we only had about an hour and a half there, so instead of spending it in a restaurant, we decided to hit a grocery story, buy some bread and cheese to make sandwiches and then explore the town. Now, at the time I think I knew all of 4 words in Lithuanian. (I'm down to 1 now.) We were approached by a homeless man. We had spent the last of our Lithuanian money, as we were moving on to Latvia. He was asking us for something, at least we think he was. We kept shrugging and saying we didn't understand. We walked off, he followed us, continuing to talk to us in what I assume was Lithuanian. We could not shake him. Finally, in a last ditch effort to get rid of this homeless man who had been following us for 15 or 20 minutes, I offered him a sandwich made from the last of our bread and cheese. He smiled, took the sandwich and wandered off. I guess the man just wanted a cheese sandwich. Who knew?

:) I like it.



I have two that particularly stick out in my mind, and they're both from just a few years back.

In my hometown, there is a large reservoir and a natural river just outside the city limits. There is a very small, three-lock dam obstructing the river, and by that dam is a levee. On top of the levee is a running trail about half a mile long. I used to go down there to do speed work a lot--down a half mile at regular pace, back a half mile sprinting, and so forth.

One day I decided to go down by the dam to run. It was in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday and not many people were down at "the lake" as we call it because of that. Typically one could expect a car or two there, but besides my own car the parking lot was empty. I got out to stretch by my car and noticed a burgundy-colored Honda about twenty years old out beside the public restrooms about 800 feet from the trail parking lot. A man got out and started walking away from the car around the side of the restrooms. I watched him walk and apparently he noticed. He turned around and met my gaze and continued to walk. Then, he suddenly reared around quickly and leered at me, like he was trying to taunt me. Then he turned around and disappeared around the building.

That nervous, adrenaline feeling was descending on me, but I continued to stretch, keeping my eye on the vehicle. I assumed what he did was simply circle the restroom building, because I watched him come out around the other side, get in his car, and started it up. It was at this point he came straight towards the parking lot I was in. Just before he got about 200 feet to the turn-in, I jumped in my car, locked my doors, started it up, and put it in reverse. I remember I squealed my tires. I don't even remember passing him. All I did was take the most unusual route back to my mother's house I could muster and watch for his car in my rearview mirror. I've never seen that car or individual again.


The second happened in Hawaii, which I moved to in 2010 before I was deployed to Afghanistan. I took my dog out to allow her to relieve herself since my fiance and I didn't have a fenced-in yard at the time. We lived just a few blocks from a downtown area of a small town near Schofield Barracks, and there were numerous sidewalks leading there. One ran right by the house we rented. I had my dog on her leash and a man walked by on the sidewalk not more than 300 feet away from the little patch of yard we had out front. He passed our house, and just before he disappeared out of sight, he stopped dead in his tracks, turned around, and stared at me. I mean, just stood still and stared. I waited a few seconds for him to ask directions or at least say something as I halfway expected, but when he didn't, I picked up my dog and shuttled in through the backdoor and locked it behind me. I got on the floor and low-crawled to the front window, where I peeked around a curtain as discreetly as possible to see the sidewalk. He was STILL standing there, staring. It was at this point I shimmied along the floor until I reached the hallway, then ran to grab the handgun we keep from another room, loaded it, and chambered a round. I got back in the living room and got sight of the sidewalk and saw the man was no longer in sight, but I took up position away from the windows and near the door. I waited like that for close to thirty minutes, but nothing happened. Like the first story, I never saw that man again. I told my fiance what happened after he came home from work. Looking at it told out here, it really doesn't seem like too much of a big deal--but I just cannot accurately explain it; I just knew something was very wrong. There was something sharply threatening in the way he stood and stared at me. It was one of the most legitimately frightening moments I've ever had. I really did think he was going to attempt to enter our home and that I was going to have to shoot him. It was nightmarish.

Can any of you link me to similar threads/pages? I love reading these stories.

Ok guys, I know that many of you enjoy reading this stories as well. I recently found out about reddit and love these scary real life stories they are posting on this subreddit. Give it a chance: http://www.reddit.com/r/letsnotmeet

I walked into the office of one of the officers on duty (this was like 1 AM). He had his feet propped on the desk sort of chilling. I told him what happened and he looked over at another officer and said "Hey, Jim, this guy is getting calls from such in such Motel." The other officer looked at me and shook his head in disgust and dismay. They basically explained that this motel was the bane of society and nothing that went on there would shock them.

Eventually this officer said "well we can investigate if you want us to, but I will tell you something off-the-record. My advice to you is that you and your friend go find this guy, beat the **** out of him and you have my word we will look the other way."

The cop actually said this. Of course my buddy was chuckling, and I sorta smiled, but I knew that I was not going actually take his advice. But, the cop was serious. He was so disgusted with that place that he was actually encouraging me to take the law into my own hands. (I never went and sought out the guy, as I didn't want anything to do with him).

There are lots of things about this story I am forgetting or don't want to mention. But eventually the calls stopped and life went back to normal. Luckily I didn't end up a statistic.
Makes me wonder how many cops have that type of thinking...and how many crimes have been covered up because of it.

One day I decided to go down by the dam to run. It was in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday and not many people were down at "the lake" as we call it because of that. Typically one could expect a car or two there, but besides my own car the parking lot was empty. I got out to stretch by my car and noticed a burgundy-colored Honda about twenty years old out beside the public restrooms about 800 feet from the trail parking lot. A man got out and started walking away from the car around the side of the restrooms. I watched him walk and apparently he noticed. He turned around and met my gaze and continued to walk. Then, he suddenly reared around quickly and leered at me, like he was trying to taunt me. Then he turned around and disappeared around the building.

That nervous, adrenaline feeling was descending on me, but I continued to stretch, keeping my eye on the vehicle. I assumed what he did was simply circle the restroom building, because I watched him come out around the other side, get in his car, and started it up. It was at this point he came straight towards the parking lot I was in. Just before he got about 200 feet to the turn-in, I jumped in my car, locked my doors, started it up, and put it in reverse. I remember I squealed my tires. I don't even remember passing him. All I did was take the most unusual route back to my mother's house I could muster and watch for his car in my rearview mirror. I've never seen that car or individual again.

Stories like this make me glad I'm a man when I go out running!

Stories like this make me glad I'm a man when I go out running!

Yeah, it's awful. It makes me angry sometimes. I just choose more populated areas when I run outside now, or take a friend or two. But I shouldn't have to in the first place, when you get right down to it.

Yeah, it's awful. It makes me angry sometimes. I just choose more populated areas when I run outside now, or take a friend or two. But I shouldn't have to in the first place, when you get right down to it.

Speaking of running, someone found a human head in a wooded area right by this running trail that I run on all the time. Police found the badly decomposed body hours later in the same area. The creepy thing is, I go running all the time and I used to live literally right across the street from where the body was found so I probably ran right by the body several times!

I was in New York City like 6 or 7 years ago visiting friends at college. We were all big Sopranos fans and one friend was a relative of Joey Gallo so we would joke around and pretend to be gangsters and what not. One night we went out to Little Italy to a little Italian place and we were like the only ones there that night which struck me as odd but it was winter and it may have been snowing out but we were young and would always go out.

Anyway we ordered a really big Italian dinner and wine and my friends were hitting it pretty hard and we were all laughing and just having a great time in general and I for whatever reason was drinking light that night. Anyway my friend got up to use to rest room and about 10 minutes or so go by and my friends are acting really stupid quoting the Sopranos and what not and I noticed that either the manager or the owner that was there is really not enjoying us being there regardless of having order a really big meal.

Then my friend comes back and he looks at us as serious as can be and just says "We have to leave now." and then one of my friend starts making jokes and that's when the Owner/Manger approaches us and says "He's not ****ing joking you need to leave now."

So we all get up and head out an head for the subway and the streets are pretty dead because of the weather. I look back just to see if anyone is following us and sure enough two big Italians in black trench coats are following us.

For whatever reason and at this point I'm scared we're gonna end up like one of the victims on The Sopranos I didn't let my friends know we're being followed.

We make it to the subway and as we get on the subway and I turn to look back feeling so certain the Italians are going to get on with us. And then I have one of those moments that feels like everything is in slow motion. One of the Italians is standing in the doorway and he's reaching into his coat and I'm about ready to shove my friends out of the way and then he just pulls his hand out of his coat and waves this scary as hell wave as the door closes and the train pulls away.

After calming down I asked my friend what happened and while me and him would always bull **** each other had tells me that he took a wrong turn going to the bathroom and that he ended up in an office and there was a beating going on. If there was any truth to this or not I have no clue. I like to think that the Owner/Manager got tired of us acting drunk and stupid and for whatever reason decided to mess with us and sent out some guys to follow us.

All I know is at least back then the Mafia was still alive in some fashion.

The closest I probably came was several years ago. I was driving to a new job and had to make a left turn in this bad land. The guy next to me was also making a left turn (it was like a four-lane street) and I don't know what happened but he suddenly overshot me and nearly smacked the retainer. Shortly there after he drove up beside me and started yelling "What the **** is wrong with you?!" and telling me to pull over. I told him I was sorry (I really didn't know if it had been something I did during my turn) but that just seemed to make him more angry. This went on for about a minute before he suddenly pulled away and likely made another turn. I don't know if he had just calmed down or if he had just come upon his turn off the road. It's possible he might have seen the cop car way down the street in the opposite direction.

Either way, I'm glad that situation didn't continue. I would not have pulled over. I've seen too many cases on Unsolved Mysteries and America's Most Wanted to know that those situations can end very badly.

I am a dude and I had almost this exact same thing happen to me. (lol) I was probably 21 or so, living in an apartment when one night I began receiving phone calls from some unknown person. At first the voice sounded like a woman. She began kind of flirting, so I flirted back (just having fun). I didn't think anything of it because I have had a lot of female admirers in my life, and even had random women call me up before (not being cocky, just telling the truth). Well the calls kept coming in day after day and it became obvious to me that the voice was not a woman but a MAN.

At this point I was sort of angry thinking "God I am stupid, I have been flirting with a dude." I had no idea who it was, but this person knew a LOT about me. I didn't recognize the voice, and I am positive none of my friends were pulling a prank. (I asked them numerous times and they swore on their lives it wasn't them or anyone they knew).

I never told this person anything personal about myself, like where I worked, etc. Well, anyway, I quit my job about the time this was going on and began another job (at a convenience store). I did not tell this person about my job change.

Well, the FIRST night I was on the job, I got a call at the store. It was the mystery man. He said "I just came in there and saw you." Boy was I freaked out. At this point I was both pissed and scared at the same time. Here I am working in a convenience store, sometimes alone on the graveyard shift, and this stalker is ALREADY targeting me the first day on the job. Again, I have no idea how he knew I even took the job. These calls went on for months with intermittent breaks. The stalker knew lots of private things about me that I never mentioned to him.

Well, eventually I decided to get the number off caller ID and try to trace it. Eventually I traced it to a motel in an adjacent town. I went to this motel (with a friend) and, let me tell you, it was one CREEPY place. I had never heard of it before, but it was in the most slum part of town. It had no lights on at night -- completely dark. It consisted of maybe 10 rooms (each room you drive up to separetely). If you were to look at the place, you would think it was closed down or vacant -- it was that bad.

Now I was with a good friend of mine who is a huge comedian. He is also a pretty tough dude, but even he was scared ****less. Usually he would laugh or make fun of me, but not now. He suggested I go to the Police. So, we drove to the Police station in my town. We talked to an officer who happened to be coming on her way outside. I told her very briefly about the story and she said "well since the calls are coming from the other town, you need to go to their police station." So, we drove back to the other town and went to their station.

I walked into the office of one of the officers on duty (this was like 1 AM). He had his feet propped on the desk sort of chilling. I told him what happened and he looked over at another officer and said "Hey, Jim, this guy is getting calls from such in such Motel." The other officer looked at me and shook his head in disgust and dismay. They basically explained that this motel was the bane of society and nothing that went on there would shock them.

Eventually this officer said "well we can investigate if you want us to, but I will tell you something off-the-record. My advice to you is that you and your friend go find this guy, beat the **** out of him and you have my word we will look the other way."

The cop actually said this. Of course my buddy was chuckling, and I sorta smiled, but I knew that I was not going actually take his advice. But, the cop was serious. He was so disgusted with that place that he was actually encouraging me to take the law into my own hands. (I never went and sought out the guy, as I didn't want anything to do with him).

There are lots of things about this story I am forgetting or don't want to mention. But eventually the calls stopped and life went back to normal. Luckily I didn't end up a statistic.



Your story is scary.... too bad there arent any books for Kindle this spooky...