The world is a scary place with lots of strangers. People tend to be very trusting in nature, but you never really know anyone’s intentions.
Take a look at these 14 people who share their scariest encounters with strangers.
1. Bang! Bang!
I was driving home from work at 2 am. I’m a nurse and I live in a small city. The roads were totally deserted and it was a freezing night. I don’t live far from work, maybe a couple of miles. I’m driving down a residential street around the corner from my house and I see a man laying face down in the street.
Now remember, I’m a nurse. My first thought was “Great, gotta help this guy up.” I was coming off a long shift and falls happen all the time. As I slowed down the car I suddenly realized what an idiot move that was. I’m a 100 lb woman and I don’t carry any weapons. I thought I should do something to help the guy so I called 911 as I drove past him and slowed to a stop at the end of the block. While I was stopped at the light I explained to the dispatcher that there was a man in the road who might need assistance.
All of a sudden I hear a loud BANG! BANG! from the driver’s side window. I screamed and looked over. A man was pounding on my window and jiggling the handle of my locked car. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw that there was no man laying in the street. Still on the phone with 911, I screamed “I’M SO SCARED!” to the dispatcher and floored it through the red light. I quickly told him what had happened and even though I was right by my house, he told me to keep driving. After a few minutes I had calmed down and he told me to loop back around. I pulled over down the road from my house and stayed in the car. I didn’t see the man anywhere, so I got off the phone with the dispatcher who told me he was sending a police car to cruise the area.
As I gather up my things I do a final scan of the area, and I see the man. He is walking with two other men. I hunched way down in my car until they were far down the road, then bolted into my house.
I don’t know if he had ill intent, but it freaks me the hell out that he wasn’t alone. ALWAYS LOCK YOUR CAR DOORS. And carry mace.
2. 86’d
I’m a karaoke dj. I usually get home between 2-3 AM, but tonight I got off around 11 because the bar had a power outage. I live alone in a triplex behind a house. I live in the middle of a city but the property I’m on is rather large. So there is a big back yard behind my apartment.
As I was coming home tonight I noticed that my cats weren’t waiting for me in the window. (They can hear my van pulling in the driveway. They are in the window every night. No exception) I thought it was odd. Then I noticed that my kitchen light was on… I never leave my kitchen light on. At this point I was a little freaked out. That’s when I thought I saw movement in my kitchen. I called 911 and the dispatcher told me to lock my van doors and remain in the vehicle and stay on the line. Officers showed up very quickly (less than 5 mins) they parked on the street and walked up to my van. They asked me to stay quiet and give them my house key. One officer went to the back of my apartment and the other used my key to unlock the door.
When he opened the door all was quiet. Then he yelled REALLY loud telling someone to come out. I heard the police officer that was in my back yard start yelling and the other officer ran out to join him. My neighbors had come outside at this point and I was freaking out.
It seemed like a long time, but they walked a cuffed woman towards me and it turns out it was a patron that i had 86’ed this last weekend. I don’t know how she found out where I lived. She was hiding in my bedroom closet with a very large knife and a bundle of rope. (?!?!)
I don’t want to think about what would have happened if I had gone to bed with her waiting for me.
3. Longest Red Light Ever
I was driving home from a big big city near my little town late at night after a day there with this dude on our first date sometime in March of 2012. My date was asleep and his seat was reclined really low. We got into town at around 1am and I noticed this guy standing on the corner I was about to stop at at a red light. He looked like he was probably on something. He was talking to himself and pacing. I was a little nervous, but whatever. I’m a little too quick to judge people sometimes.
So I stopped and we accidentally made eye contact… At least I accidentally did. I could tell he was yelling at be cause I kept hearing “bitch” and some other… Uh… Things as I was stopped at the LONGEST RED LIGHT EVER as the guy I was with was sleeping cozily in the passenger seat (really really reclined.) After about 10 seconds of the guy cussing me out he hopped over to my car and swings the passenger door open REACHING FOR ME. I started screaming bloody murder and the guy I was on the date with woke up suddenly and started smacking the guy (I think it started as reflexes). The crazy guy is yelling “Fuck, man! Didn’t see you! Fuck! Oh fuck, didn’t see you! This bitch!” Etc., and my date pushed him out the door as I zoom off, running the red. He closed the door and yelled “WHO THE FUCK… WHAT THE FUCK WAS…?” I’m hyperventilating and then I started half laughing half crying because my nerves were shot.
We got some ice cream at 1am. Then I took him home and went home myself. We laughed about it. But, I don’t like to think what would have happened if he hadn’t been there.
4. Something Stinks
About three years ago, I moved to London. I was looking for a flatmate, but had no luck. I turned to my friend, Marcus. After a week or two, Marcus and I moved in together. After we moved in, he put some of his stuff in storage so that he could make room for me in his flat.
When I moved in, everything was fine and well. Fast forward about a year. I went to get some stuff out of the storage locker that Marcus put his stuff in. As I opened the door, an absolutely RANK scent hit me like a bat. I switched the light on, and saw a couple old boxes, and a couch.
I was looking for the source of the smell, but I couldn’t find it. I grabbed what I came for, and left before I could vomit. Now, fast forward to about a month ago. I went back to the storage unit to get something else, and the smell was even worse than before. I had to hold my nose as I walked into the storage unit. I saw an open box, and I decided to look into it. I found stuffed animals. Like, dead animals that were stuffed. I looked into the box under that one, and I found rotting animals.
I was competently disgusted, so I went to Marcus to confront him. As I walked into the flat, I shouted “MARCUS, YOU SICK FUCK. WHY ARE THERE DEAD ANIMALS IN OUR STORAGE LOCKER?”. He came out of his room, and sat me down on the couch. He told me that he wanted to be completely honest with me, and he told me that he was into necrophilia.
Let’s just say that now I’m moved in with my parents.
5. Monster Under My Bed
This incident happen to my mum before she had me over 20 years ago..
She worked at a local pub, the pub mainly catered for fisherman as the town is on the coast of Western Australia. So she knew most of the people who would come in for drinks or a feed.
However every now and again people from town would come in, she told me one bloke used to come in who she known from house parties around the place and always wanted to talk to her while she was working and would say sorry and keep doing her thing. One night she finished work around mid night and walk home which was a few kilometers away.
She lived with a few house mates who were blokes , all good mates. when she got home from her shift, she decided to have a shower. making her way back to her room she realized her door was open which is normally shut, all the fellas were asleep so she blew it off as wind or something. She laid down in bed to go to sleep but something didn’t feel right and for reasons she cant explain to me, she felt the need to look under her bed.
What she saw under the bed was the bloke from the bar who had followed her all the way from her work, she tells me that she just stared at him for ages and he didn’t move not even breath, to the point she thought he was dead, she went out room calmly and went to one of the guys room to tell them she had a dead bloke under her bed.
They raced in with baseball bats to find the guy half way out the window. He managed to escape and run away. The police were called and because they all knew who he was, the cops picked him up the next day.
6. I’ll Be Home Late
My dad was out for a job interview, so me and my sister had the place to ourselves for about 2 hours. I watched TV downstairs and went outside, and when I went back in, I left the door unlocked for my dad, since it was getting close to the time he said he’d be home
I went upstairs and hung out with my sister for a while. I heard the front door open, and rummaging through cabinets as well. I just assumed that it was my dad, since he always likes to check everything is in place before relaxing. I also heard my dad’s door open and close, albeit slowly, a few times.
I was talking with my sister when the phone rang. To my surprise, it was my dad on the other end. He told me that he was going to be getting home late and that we needed to make our own dinners. It felt like my heart fell to my feet as he said. I realized that it wasn’t my dad that had entered the home.
I hurriedly rushed downstairs to see if everything was okay. Several things were gone, and the front door was wide open. I then heard what sounded like breathing, coming from the downstairs bathroom. I chocked the urge to yell as I saw a hand wrap around the door, and a face peer around my corner.
As soon as the guy saw me, he ran like hell out of there. I chased after him, but he was long gone. On the floor in the bathroom, I found later of all things, a boxcutter knife. I’m not sure what his intentions were with the weapon, but they weren’t good if anything.
7. 140 lbs of Straight Muscle
My wife had gone shopping for the day and so I was in the basement doing some woodworking. I heard her car pull in, and so I headed up the stairs to help her with her stuff. She ran into the house saying someone was after her.
I got pissed. People tend not to mess with me (important to the story) as I’m 6’1 and 260. I used to be a power lifter and work at a saw mill. In my wife’s words I’m somewhere between a bear and a mountain man. We also have a great pyrenees who happened to have been inside with me at the time. For those of you that aren’t familiar with pyrenees, they’re great dogs. They’re a guard breed originally from France. Ours is 140 pounds of muscular guard dog. They are the sweetest dogs, great with kids, unless you threaten their people. Then they get nasty mean. For example, we have coyotes here. We also have a 16 pound mutt (wife’s dog). One day two coyotes attacked the little dog in the yard and the pyrenees killed them both.
Back to the story. I’m pissed. So the dude busted up in my house assuming she was alone since my truck was in the shop. He wasn’t expecting me or the Pyrenees. the big dog charged him (all 140 pounds of big dog), grabbed the intruder by the arm and dragged him top the ground. I grabbed the dude by the throat and told my wife to call the cops.
I got to spend about 15 minutes threatening to kill this man if he moved. The pyrenees never let go of his arm. Cops showed up, took my statement and hers and bad guy went to prison. Seems this fool had followed my wife from the store (it’s a 30 minute drive and she tried to lose him twice) after making some passes at her, but she said she knew if she could get home, she would be safe.
8. Oh So High
I lived in a sketchy part of my city and I live alone. From time to time, I invite a few friends and classmates over. ( somehow relevant ).I lived in a fairly large place and money was getting tight so I figured I should get a roommate. Three months ago, Shiela moved in.
A little background on Shiela. This girl is kinky as hell. She would invite various men over a few times a week. Yesterday was when she drew the line when she invited a guy over and he went ahead and stole a guitar my friend left in my place. I was furious but also very passive-aggressive. I went to my friend’s house and when I came back, another guy is sitting on our couch. I got more angry because Shiela never fucking learn.
I noticed this guy is a little shifty. A got a good laugh because I noticed that the guy was so high, he’s trying not to die.Maybe that’s why Shiela left him alone. So I went to sleep.
I woke up to get ready for school this morning and I saw this guy happily eating cereal on or table. ( I got used to this ) I sat next to him to eat my oatmeal and we ate breakfast in silence. Shiela came out of her room and ate breakfast too. So we’re just silently eating there for 15 minutes or something. This guy stood up, washed his bowl and carefully placed it in a drawer. “Thank you for the cereal, ladies”, he mumbled and then quietly went out of our apartment. I said something like, “out of all the guys you invited over, at least that guy is polite”. Shiela just stared at me in confusion, she said ” wasn’t that your friend? “.
Then it dawned on me that I just shared breakfast with a guy who was so high he entered a random house.
9. Always Lock Your Door
A month ago, I was at a pharmacy filling a prescription. I have central pain following a stroke I had in my early 20’s. I can walk, but the brain damage causes severe burning in my entire body. Due to this, I am on morphine and seen by a specialist at a well known hospital.
I dropped off my prescription and waited. I noticed a guy behind me, standing way too close. He could hear everything we said. I sat down and tested my blood pressure. I noticed him walking around in the aisles by me. I thought he was waiting too. They called my name 20 mins later. I didn’t see him while leaving the store. I looked in my car and got in, locking my doors immediately due to paranoia of watching scary movies,I guess.
I stopped at the first stop sign and out from behind the tree jumps the same guy. In one motion he was out from behind the tree and was grabbing my passenger side door handle. It was locked. He seemed as shocked as I was and looked like he was grabbing for the back passenger door.
I started screaming and put my hand on my horn and sped away. Other cars were also honking. I saw him run. I drove until I saw a cop car sitting at Carl’s Jr and ran in. He took my info and drove to the stop sign and asked me to follow. I couldn’t see him anywhere. The police officer said it happened last week to an elderly lady, so he needed to find him. I was really, really lucky. Always lock your door.
10. Broken Doorknob
In college I lived with my mom and aunt. We had a house on a hill in the woods. You had to drive up to get to the garage and the front yard sloped down to the left to expose all the floors of a pretty turret on the side of the house.
To get to the front door, you had to step onto a wooden walkway that followed along the whole left side of the garage. There was about four feet between the bottom of the walkway and the ground underneath at the door.I got home late one night and saw my aunts light was still on. She was a night owl like me.
I pulled in, parked and walked up to the front door. It was dark but I could see there was something wrong with the doorknob. It was hanging out of the door and the screws were mostly out. I unlocked the deadbolt, locked it again and went upstairs to ask my aunt what had happened to the knob.
She was really confused and told me she had just been out there smoking and it was fine. I told her it was broken and she argued that she had literally been out there only a minute before and hadn’t even seen me pull in because she was still walking up the stairs to her room.
We both go back downstairs and I show her the door. Her face turned white and we realized that in the time between her shutting the door and me getting to it, someone had tried to break in buy pulling the locks out. We had many more instances after that with someone stalking us but never found out who it was.
11. Bathroom Distractions
On Saturday I got a call from a few friends about going to the Mall. It was a stressful week at work so I thought some retail therapy would definitely help. We shopped for the typical lady stuff like make-up, lingerie and shoes before we decided on hitting the food hall for a spot of lunch. I gave the girls my order and told them I would come and find them as I needed to use the restroom. The restrooms at the end of a large and wide corridor, they were your typical mall type with lots of stalls.
Anyway, so I sat down to, well you know…and I could see from the Gap on the floor between the wall of the stall and the floor, lots of movement from someone’s shadow. I wasn’t sure if they’re we getting changed or not so I didn’t pay much attention at first but it felt like the shadow was coming from above at some points. You know as if they light above were being obstructed by something? After maybe the third time I decided to look up and I could see a phone and parts of a guys arm leaning over. Someone was taking photos of me! I instantly shouted out “What the fuck you fucking pervert” and in a moment of sheer shock and disbelief, this all very quickly turned to fear as I got up and leapt out of the stall and was greeted by an empty bathroom. Not one person was insight and from the quick glance of the mirrors opposite, there was only one stall shut that was next to mine. I ran for the restroom exit but it was locked!
Luckily, it had a twist lock that I could turn and as I did, I heard a stall open from behind me. I got out immediately and turned as I exited and noticed a sign on the on the door saying “Closed for Maintenance”, this sign was not here when I went in. I screamed some more, shouting to get anyone’s attention as I ran down to corridor towards the food hall and had obviously caught the attention of a few people. A group of 3 guys stopped me and clearly could see the panic in my eyes, they quizzed me, I explained, two ran towards the ladies restroom and one to find security. Security arrived within seconds. After a while a rather large crowd had gathered due to the commotion and although I was in the comfort of my friends, security and now the Police, I’d never felt more alone. Security and the Police, nor the two guys found any one. There was a few “Staff only” and fire exit doors down the corridor, so plenty of escape routes for whoever this guy was to go through.
I gave my statement down at the station later that day once my parents showed up. The Police said they had security tapes from the CCTV cameras that point down the corridor and will keep us updated with any news.
Hopefully they find this guy.
12. Sinister Maintenance Man
I was reminded of this recently, but it happened >10 years ago. I was living in my first apartment, alone. It was a third floor studio with vaulted ceilings in a huge complex that promoted itself as a “community”, with socials planned and picnic/playground areas among the buildings. Staff would drive around on golf carts waving hi. It felt like a safe place.
So one day I called up maintenance because my a/c wasn’t working. A man comes up to look at it. He’s short but kind of wiry looking, maybe late 40s and leathery, like he’s spent most of his life in the sun. He’s in overalls, has a bushy mustache, all smiles.
He’s inside my apartment with a screwdriver looking at the a/c and we’re making chit chat. All seems innocent until he stands upright, says it’s fixed and takes a step toward me.
He’s looking me in the eyes while he flips his screwdriver, suddenly not so friendly anymore. Then he says (I still remember the words exactly) “You know what I think? I think you’re pretty naive to be living in an apartment all by yourself. Here you’ve let a strange man in to your apartment – you even let me close the door. Anything could happen.”
I could feel the smile melting off my face but I tried not to let on I was afraid. Then I kind of laughed and said “Ha! That’s what my boyfriend said when I told him I was calling you guys. He insisted he come over. He’ll be here any second and you guys have already finished! You’ll probably run in to him on the stairwell.”
At that he left abruptly and I locked the deadbolt after him. I’d lied about my boyfriend coming over but immediately called him to make it (almost) the truth. At the time I thought I was overreacting and didn’t mention it to anyone. Looking back ten years later I realize just how sinister what he was saying was.
13. an*l Beads
In the 1980s, my family went to the SEC Basketball Tournament in Birmingham, Alabama. Because of so many fans showing up for the game, all of the good hotels and decent motels were sold out, so my family had to stay at a very seedy-looking Travelodge.
The door wasn’t very secure, the phone was two-toned black and white, the TV had only one channel, and you could barely tell Three’s Company was on. I had to pee so I went to the bathroom and noticed the toilet top wasn’t there. By toilet top, I don’t mean the seat, I mean the lid over the water tank in the back. I didn’t think much about it since the rest of the room was so messed up.
My dad was out trying to find tickets to the basketball games and I decided to take a nap. After a while, there was a knock on the door. I guess the door didn’t have a peephole, because my older sister asked, “Who’s there?” The reply was,”Uh, room service.” I guess either my sister or my mom opened the door and I heard them slam the door and go hysterical, going, “OH MY GOD! OH MY GOOOOOOD!” The knock on the door had already half-woken me up, but their shouting woke me up for real.
I asked them what was going on and they said there was a scruffy looking guy holding the lid to the toilet, using it upside down as a tray, with a dildo, an*l beads, and two packaged condoms sitting on it. The dildo was white or maybe off-white and my mom and sister said it didn’t necessarily look unwashed, but it had a brownish stain on most of the shaft.
They pushed chairs up against the door until dad got back, and then we changed motels.
14. Thank You Cards and Flowers
I was 11 years old, i spent the night hanging out with my closest friend at the time, I left around 7 o clock. She was about a 15 to 20 minute walk away from my house. it was the month of december, so it was icy and dark outside.
While i was walking down the long sidewalk, i had to make a turn half way. Across the turn down the sidewalk i noticed a man way further down, he was alone at that moment. 10 seconds later a 4 door car drove up to him, it was a long street till my turn so i watched him talk to whoever was in the car, it sped off and he just stopped, watching me walk.
As i kept walking all i heard was “HEY YOU, COME HERE, STOP, HEY YOU!” I freaked the fuck out. I started walking faster..and then noticed he started running towards me. I started running for my life. Since the ground was covered in snow and ice, all i literally thought as i was running was “please god don’t let me slip, mom mom mom please help me” i was crying as i was running. He caught up extremely fast, I kept looking back and noticed the car slowly driving behind him, as I ran i felt his arm reach out and try to grab the hood of my sweatshirt.
By gods grace his hands slipped, and i ran a block trying to find a house with it’s lights on. I finally found one and banged at the door, almost ready to break it down to get in. this older couple finally answered. I ran inside explaining what happened. the husband then went outside to try and find him, when we went out he saw the man standing at the end of the street staring at him, then he ran off. my mom called the cops and pulled me out of school for 4 days afterwards, he was never found. For a while after I would would buy flowers and a card and leave it on the couples step, thanking them for saving my life.
God only knows what would of happened if he got me, and dragged me to the car. Let’s never meet again.