Moments in your own life that could've been relatable to UM?

[Oldschooler81]

I know being a longtime UM viewer (especially on the crime and missing person cases) made me vigilant about locking doors, watching my back in almost any situation. Everytime I go up to an ATM I think of Matthew Chase.

As far as specifics though...once in 1995 when my mom was late coming home from work (she sometimes stayed at the office late, that day I called and didn't get an answer). Since she wasn't home by about 20 minutes later, I got a little worried and couldn't help thinking about seeing my townhouse on an episode.

"Orangevale California, 7pm. A typical suburban neighborhood. What happens when a woman doesn't return home from work at the usual time?"

Also in '02 or 03 I was working at a Blockbuster Video for the opening shift one day, when the manager for the day was late (it turned out the guy had a power outage and overslept). I got to the store and was really worried, calling a couple friends who worked there while I was waiting outside, but at the time nobody knew. Meanwhile customers were showing up, many of them confused and a couple angry, lol. It was just me and him who were scheduled to work that day, so no one else was there.

That was the perfect setting for a UM Stack voiceover intro: "Opening time. The store was abandoned, the manager...no h-where to be found."

[TheCars1986]

There was one time where I went walking from a bar to a McDonald's (literally right down on the same street, about a five minute brisk walk) and got some food and ate at the restaurant. When I was walking back to the bar a car pulled up with a black man in his late 40's early 50's and a young black woman mid-20's early 30's asking me for cigarettes. They both got out and stood with one foot on the ground, and one foot in the car and asked me if I had any smokes, to which I told them I didn't smoke and then started to continue my walk. That's when the guy said something else and I just kept walking and then he said, "Come on man I'm talking to you" but it wasn't in an angry tone it was almost kind of disappointed, and that's when the woman got out and tried in her most sincere voice to ask me to come back towards them (I was probably about 10-15 yards away from them at this point) and to see if I knew where a particular highway was...the highway (which is really just a busy road that connects Baltimore to Annapolis) was literally DIRECTLY PARALLEL to the road I was walking and its the most travelled road in the entire town...everything is on this road and it was in crawling distance from where I was walking so I figured something fishy could have been going on. I kind of laughed (thinking it was a pretty dumb question) and told them something like, "It's literally right there" and pointed and then turned to keep walking and that's when she asked if I had any cigarettes and I told them again I don't smoke and something to the effect of I was done with them and kept walking when they finally got in their car and left. I'm assuming they figured I was drunk being that I was walking down a fairly busy road in the direction of a bar and that they were planning to rob me. Why else would the woman want me to come closer to them just for directions? They were acting very strange and their body language was kind of odd so I thought maybe they were high/and or drunk and maybe I was just overreacting about the whole thing. But the fact that they both got out of the car kept nagging me...I guess I could have called police but didn't think it was worth bothering them being that the people left and didn't make any attempt to come back, but for the rest of the night I kept playing out my re-enactment in my head thinking I could have been an unsolved mystery.

[Orange_Sody_84]

I've posted this experience in another thread. one morning I had to be at work a little bit early. as was my custom I usually sat there listening to my car's CD player before walking into the main building. as I was about get out and go inside a car pulled directly behind me blocking me in. I became scared.

With a sigh of relief I realized it was a Taxi. but I got creeped out as I wondered why was it just sitting there? I wondered if I should stay in the car or make a run for it. because of the angle of the Taxi I couldn't see who was in it or what they were doing. I sat there for a moment contemplating what to do. after a few minutes I decided this was silly. just go to work.

As I was about to open my door someone pounded on my window. it was a co worker asking what's up? needless to say I was terrified. the Taxi was rudely just idling there because it was early for a pickup. before my Co worker scared me to death I imagined a Stack voiceover.... "A 26 year old man... was early for work one morning... never.... to be seen again."

[Oldschooler81]

Oh I think I would've been creeped by both those examples too.

TheCars - sounds like those people probably were either drunk or just a little off, but that's smart to just keep walking. They sound like they just stepped out of a UM robbery segment, what other reason would they have to want you to come closer, so I think I'd have done the same thing. I always get a little suspicious of demanding people in a situation like that too. I don't smoke either and I cringe when I get someone asking me "Hey got a cigarette man?" or something.

BTW I dig your username - they're one of my favorite 80s bands.

OrangeSody - that's a perfect UM intro, your friend banging on the window would've made me jump too! It's ingrained in me to look for the nearest escape route. Heck I don't even like it in the supermarket when I get boxed in by shopping carts in an aisle.

[CuriousMind90]

Last spring (Spring of 2009) I was walking home from school. The block was quite and abandoned.
There was an older man, maybe in his '60s. I observed him bend over in his car (backseat) picking up something, with relative ease. As I came closer to him, he asked if I could come and bend over and pick up something--I think he had said he had lost change--in the back seat. I noted that he had in his hand some kind of pipe or solid sort of object--I forget exactly.

Somehow, immediately I felt very suspicious--something inside me told me, 'Don't do it' and this image in my mind of me bending over to pick up the change and him slamming the bar over my head and stuffing me in the back of his car flashed through my mind. I said, politely, "Sorry, sir, I'm busy--I've got to go." and he said something like, "It'll only take a minute" and I repeated, "I'm sorry, I don't have the time" and kept walking.

What drove me off was the fact that I had seen him bending and picking up stuff from the back of the car with ease. It made me suspicious that just a moment later he'd ask me to bend and pick something out of the back of the car when he himself could do it with ease, plus the fact that he had a bar of some sort in his right hand--A good hand to use if you want to strike someone over the head with it, I'd imagine.

[MegtheEgg86]

I have two that really freak me out.

1. In the spring of 2009, I was preparing to go on a run on a trail that runs directly on top of a levee and ends at a small, three-lock dam that controls the Little Tennessee River's flow into Ft Loudon Reservoir. It's not unusual to see a number of people's vehicles in the parking lot as there's a nearby affluent community where a lot of retirees lives, and they're always out walking the trail. This day, however, I was the only one who parked in the lot at the end of the trail.

I had gotten out of my car and was stretching when I saw an older model maroon Chevrolet pull up about 500 yards across from my parking lot beside a women's restroom. I couldn't see the man who was driving very well, but I could see enough to know he was attempting to peer around the corners of the building, almost as if he were looking for someone. I was slightly suspicious but thought nothing of it as he pulled away and continued towards the boat ramp. I had finished stretching by the time I noticed he had circled the ramp parking lot and was coming back towards my direction. I froze where I was when I noticed he was craning his neck to try to look at me--it was almost as though he was "staring me down." He began to make his way towards the trailhead parking lot when I got back in my car, locked the doors, and turned on my ignition. By the time I was backing out of my space, he passed behind me back in the direction of the boat ramp lot he'd come from, still staring at the back of my car--and I mean, he looked behind him when he had already passed by, driving forward. For whatever reason, he never followed me out of the area. But I remember being incredibly pissed off that I should be made to feel afraid for my own safety in the middle of the afternoon.

2. When I was living in Hawaii with my then-boyfriend (who was an active duty Army officer stationed there), we didn't live in the absolute safest area on the island, but we weren't in certain danger everytime we ventured out either. I was in our sliver of a front yard with my dog one afternoon when a man came walking down the street about 800 yards away from me. He had a clear view of me and our house. The moment I saw him I immediately became uneasy for reasons I can't explain--it was something about the way he moved. Anyway, as soon as he caught sight of me he began to stare, and stare, and stare. I took it as him "checking me out", to which I never look away when it's unwelcome--I stare back and let the individual see the look of displeasure on my face, although it's never anything blatant. Apparently that was the wrong answer, because soon he had stopped in his tracks and was beginning to turn to face me. At this point I actually picked my dog up, went around the back way into the house where he couldn't see me, and began to run to lock all the doors. I ran into the backroom where we kept a medium caliber handgun and loaded a magazine into it. I came back into the living room, ducked under a window, and peered out from behind a curtain to see if he was still there. He was. He was still staring at the house. After about 20 seconds, he continued down the street. I didn't leave the house again until my boyfriend got home from work. I never saw the man again the entire time I was there. But it was the strangest encounter I have ever experienced. Just typing about it gives me chills. He had no expression on his face.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by Oldschooler81

BTW I dig your username - they're one of my favorite 80s bands.

I have their logo tattooed on my arm...all time favorite band.

[Oldschooler81]

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

I have two that really freak me out.

1. In the spring of 2009, I was preparing to go on a run on a trail that runs directly on top of a levee and ends at a small, three-lock dam that controls the Little Tennessee River's flow into Ft Loudon Reservoir. It's not unusual to see a number of people's vehicles in the parking lot as there's a nearby affluent community where a lot of retirees lives, and they're always out walking the trail. This day, however, I was the only one who parked in the lot at the end of the trail.

I had gotten out of my car and was stretching when I saw an older model maroon Chevrolet pull up about 500 yards across from my parking lot beside a women's restroom. I couldn't see the man who was driving very well, but I could see enough to know he was attempting to peer around the corners of the building, almost as if he were looking for someone. I was slightly suspicious but thought nothing of it as he pulled away and continued towards the boat ramp. I had finished stretching by the time I noticed he had circled the ramp parking lot and was coming back towards my direction. I froze where I was when I noticed he was craning his neck to try to look at me--it was almost as though he was "staring me down." He began to make his way towards the trailhead parking lot when I got back in my car, locked the doors, and turned on my ignition. By the time I was backing out of my space, he passed behind me back in the direction of the boat ramp lot he'd come from, still staring at the back of my car--and I mean, he looked behind him when he had already passed by, driving forward. For whatever reason, he never followed me out of the area. But I remember being incredibly pissed off that I should be made to feel afraid for my own safety in the middle of the afternoon.

2. When I was living in Hawaii with my then-boyfriend (who was an active duty Army officer stationed there), we didn't live in the absolute safest area on the island, but we weren't in certain danger everytime we ventured out either. I was in our sliver of a front yard with my dog one afternoon when a man came walking down the street about 800 yards away from me. He had a clear view of me and our house. The moment I saw him I immediately became uneasy for reasons I can't explain--it was something about the way he moved. Anyway, as soon as he caught sight of me he began to stare, and stare, and stare. I took it as him "checking me out", to which I never look away when it's unwelcome--I stare back and let the individual see the look of displeasure on my face, although it's never anything blatant. Apparently that was the wrong answer, because soon he had stopped in his tracks and was beginning to turn to face me. At this point I actually picked my dog up, went around the back way into the house where he couldn't see me, and began to run to lock all the doors. I ran into the backroom where we kept a medium caliber handgun and loaded a magazine into it. I came back into the living room, ducked under a window, and peered out from behind a curtain to see if he was still there. He was. He was still staring at the house. After about 20 seconds, he continued down the street. I didn't leave the house again until my boyfriend got home from work. I never saw the man again the entire time I was there. But it was the strangest encounter I have ever experienced. Just typing about it gives me chills. He had no expression on his face.

Wow - on a completely serious note, I'm glad you were ok and got out of there safely. I think our first instinct in situations like that are usually right, in fact it just about always is. Both of those guys sounded like potential creeps to say the least.

I've had a few seriously frightening things like that almost happen too. In 1994 mom and I were almost run off the road by some idiot teen guys while we were going to Walmart one evening. Basically there's a two lane, kinda narrow bridge that goes from one city to the next (they since built a better one in '99 I think, but when we lived there, that was still the only way there) and I guess they wanted to get around us. Since they couldn't, they tailgated us the whole way there, just being loud and obnoxious (think of a teenage version of Albert Leon Fletcher and his cousin outside that supermarket). I was never so happy to get to the parking lot, lol.

[haloworld]

This is something that happened to an uncle of mine.

In the late 1970s, my uncle drove a cab in New York City. One day he picked up a guy who was pretty strange and stood out as a particularly unusual character.

According to my uncle, the man kept talking about how he was being haunted by his neighbor's dog. Aside from this odd fact, he talked about working for the postal service. At a red light, the passenger abruptly ditched the cab.

According to my uncle, the guy creeped him out enough that he made no effort to stop him. The experience with this passenger shook my uncle up enough that it stayed with him for a few more months/years.

When David Berkowitz was arrested as the Son of Sam killer, my uncle felt certain this was the same passenger. To this day, he is adamant that he picked up Berkowitz in his cab.

I guess according to UM, this could have been one of the members of a Satanic cult that actually committed the murders.

[Smokescreen]

Originally posted by haloworld According to my uncle, the man kept talking about how he was being haunted by his neighbor's dog. Aside from this odd fact, he talked about working for the postal service. At a red light, the passenger abruptly ditched the cab.

Holy crap!! Now THAT'S interesting!!! (And creepy!)



Okay, so here's my story:

This took place in the spring of '85 and I was eight years old -

I was staying at my grandparent's place and decided to go outside and play by some railroad tracks that ran across this empty field. It was the middle of the week and around seven or eight pm, the sky was overcast. While there were houses about a few hundred yards away, there was nobody nearby and it was pretty quiet out.

So I'm just walking up and down the tracks, throwing rocks and whatnot when I notice a black van driving down the street at the end of the field. I didn't really pay any attention until the van started to slow down.

This black van then turned onto the grass and proceeded to drive through the field right up to the train tracks, in front of where I was standing.

Now I knew this wasn't normal and then the guy said "Come here!" As best as I can recall, he had aviator glasses (or some kind of sunglasses similar to aviator's) , black hair and a black mustache.

I freaked, turned around and sprinted across the field, down the back lane and to my grandparent's house. I didn't even turn back to see if he was following. I got my grandpa and my aunt to call the cops.

Now the thing that really scared me was that around that time, our teachers and parent groups at school were warning us kids about a "black van" seen around our part of town and not to go near it and report it immediately. (I know it sounds cliche, but this was damn real)

In late '84, one girl had gone missing and was found dead months later in the winter of '85 (Her murder became a cold case until about three years ago, due to DNA evidence)

Anyway, it seriously scared the sh*t outta me at the time - especially when the van started driving up on the grass, through the field and straight towards me - I seriously thought I was gonna end up being a kidnapping statistic and that my friends and family would see a picture of eight year old me in the newspaper's obituary section


Here's a link about the poor girl who was found murdered (I ended up working with her brother in the late nineties)

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/st...n-charges.html

There's a pic of the guy who did it and the thing that weirds me out is that he looks a lot like the guy who tried to get me to go into his van! Now of course, it may totally not be him but when I first saw his pic, it kinda made my blood run cold.

[TheCars1986]

That story just reminded me of one when I was in the seventh grade. I lived in a populated suburban neighboorhood although there weren't many small children, more older retired couples or people with older kids. I would walk to school every morning and the road I walked down kind of curved to a stop sign, so one morning I walked out and a truck passed me by with two "rough" looking rednecks and one of them kind of snarled in my direction. When I got around the corner, the truck was just sitting there kind of up on the curb at the stop sign. The brake lights were on, and I knew they weren't just waiting at the stop sign because they wouldn't have been up on the curb. So I waited for about a minute to see if they were just waiting for someone or something innocent, but nope they didn't get out or take their foot of the brake. Needless to say I was scared to death so I ran back in my house, and just freaked the hell out for about thirty minutes. The cops were called and I gave them a report and after that I never saw the truck since. It honestly could have been two guys just waiting for somebody, because it was early in the morning and I don't see why or how two guys would want to abduct a child in a populated neighborhood in broad daylight but it still freaked me out!

[SageSlowdive]

I've already posted on this forum before, that I've been a victim of attempted kidnapping TWICE.

(I'll make them short, and to the point)

1) I was in a mall when I was 11, a smiled at a man who preceded to follow me through JC Penneys - once I got to the appliances sections, and tried to loose him (I was cautious even as young as I was) he started sprinting toward me with a look of anger on his face, so I took off, ran out the store until I found someone who could help me. To this day, I still think he was going to kidnap me - he was a middle aged man, mustache, and wearing a camouflage jacket and jogging pants.

2) Just last year, a friend and I decided to spend the day shopping in this outdoor mall/park. We thought it would be fun to park in the city, and ride a transit bus there and back. We were there for nearly 5 hours, when we realized the bus was coming, so we had to wait near the main road. A white van went by and my friend was shaking a bracelet on her hand, so it looked like she was waving. The white van immediately made a U-turn and came back, which automatically made me suspicious. The guy just looked creepy and tried to talk us into getting in the van with him - every memory of Tara Calico, Angela Hammond, Bobbi Jo Oberholtzer/Annette Schnee etc. flashed through my mind. I became defensive and told him to leave, we weren't interested. Bitterly, he drove away and inexplicably threw a rope in the back of the van to which mortified my friend and I. I was shaken up for the rest of the day - the guy was expressionless.

My mother was almost a victim of the Huntington Mall Rapist in 1987 (here's a link if you're not familiar: http://saturdaygazettemail.com/News/...r/201010220534) he came running after her outside of the Huntington Mall (West Virginia) luckily she managed to find a security guard, but the guy ducked away. This case is pretty famous because the guy they caught DNA's did not match the rapists. So happy they finally found the real guy who did it.

AND

I was personally acquainted with kidnapping victim Samantha Burns who went missing way back in 2002. The case has been pretty much solved - two men admitted to killing her, but her family is still searching for her bones.

[CuriousMind90]

Another tidbit:

Once, I was coming back from a concert at age 11 or 12 with my parents. It was late at night and we took the subway home. I wasn't looking around, I was talking to my parents and so my eyes were on them. Suddenly, this guy who was sitting in one of the subway car corners gets up, either pushes at me or grabs my face and gets right in my face and screams "STOP TALKING TO ME! STOP LOOKING AT ME!".

Immediately my dad jumped up and pushed him back and other people in the car got between them and the cops were called. The train came to a stop. The cops arrived, and when they did, the man claimed we were lying, that that never happened. But when other passengers also said that it happened, he was escorted off the train.

For days after I kept having this vision of him showing up at my home. I couldn't get his scary appearance (He was wearing I believe a leather jacket, and oddly, even though it was nighttime, he was wearing sunglasses).

[CuriousMind90]

This isn't my own life, but...
Around 1991 or 1992, my dad was driving on the road. A guy pulled ahead of him in a bad way, nearly causing an accident. My dad kind of has road rage, and as he stopped, he screamed at the guy.

The guy proceeded to get out of his car, seemingly calmly walk over to my dad's car, pull out a large knife and tried to stab my dad through the driver side window. Luckily my dad's car at the time had power windows--He rolled them up quickly and sped away.

[melskie007]

In 1980 when i was a child.

I was walking home from a friends house and as i almost reached my house, i heard a mans voice behind me. He said "hey little girl, you wanna see my dog?" I stood there looking at him and he was perhaps at the end of the street, still a ways away. I said "what dog?" and he turned to his white van he had parked on the street. He said "it's in my van, he's right here". I just stood there, sort of wondering and curious as i was a child. He then pulled candy out of his pocket and asked me if i liked pop rocks. I then thought he seemed suspicious and said "My parents told me not to talk to strangers". and began to run, as i turned back he was already in his van peeling out! I was a cute child so my parents always had me come home straight from school and i was only allowed to play in front of my house. I can now see it was for the best as sick people like this man roam the streets preying on small children.