There's a very thin line between staying safe and disappearing without a trace. A lot of people have come frighteningly close to never making it home and leaving their loved ones with unanswered questions about what happened to them.
Several netizens shared experiences like these in an AskReddit thread after someone asked what had happened to them that made them feel lucky they hadn't become unsolved mysteries. Their accounts are genuinely chilling, and some will have you wondering how you would have reacted in their shoes.
Settle in, Pandas, and scroll on to discover just how close these people came to becoming stories nobody could explain!
#21
My mom has a story about the time she was driving across the country with my brother and me when we were very young. Dad had taken a job in California and we were moving out to join him—no doubt an exhausting trip for all of us.
One night we were at a rest stop or a gas station when a man came over to the car and pestered her with too many questions. He finally reached his hand through a partly open window, as if to open the door. Fortunately our little Scottie went ballistic and tried to bite him. The man backed off and my mom managed to drive away. I don’t even want to contemplate other scenarios that might’ve happened to us.
One night we were at a rest stop or a gas station when a man came over to the car and pestered her with too many questions. He finally reached his hand through a partly open window, as if to open the door. Fortunately our little Scottie went ballistic and tried to bite him. The man backed off and my mom managed to drive away. I don’t even want to contemplate other scenarios that might’ve happened to us.
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Being extra careful and paying attention to your own safety doesn’t mean you have to go through life being suspicious of everyone. But it can help you stay prepared and make it easier for someone to help if something goes wrong.
Now, Pandas, have you ever experienced a close call that still makes you wonder how things could have turned out differently? Tell us what happened in the comments. Your story might be exactly the reminder someone else needs to take their own safety a little more seriously!
#22
I took the city bus to college. I had a man in a car follow me from my house to the bus stop.
He then appeared at the bus stop where I got off the bus, up to a spot where I normally would cut through an area with just a sidewalk, across a medical campus to an apartment complex.
He showed up in the apartment complex parking lot. I quickly ran to the edge of the apartment complex which had another sidewalk-only path to the college campus.
When I emerged on the other side, he was there waiting at the campus building I did work-study from. I went in a side door I usually didn’t use. He tried to get to me but couldn’t quite.
I got his tag number and called the police and then told a friend I worked with. He had a police scanner and turned it on immediately to the proper channel. He got the person’s name and address off the radio and gave it to me. I have since lost it. I always wonder if he escalated.
The scariest part of this is — he knew my route. Every turn I made, he was there. He had a plan.
He then appeared at the bus stop where I got off the bus, up to a spot where I normally would cut through an area with just a sidewalk, across a medical campus to an apartment complex.
He showed up in the apartment complex parking lot. I quickly ran to the edge of the apartment complex which had another sidewalk-only path to the college campus.
When I emerged on the other side, he was there waiting at the campus building I did work-study from. I went in a side door I usually didn’t use. He tried to get to me but couldn’t quite.
I got his tag number and called the police and then told a friend I worked with. He had a police scanner and turned it on immediately to the proper channel. He got the person’s name and address off the radio and gave it to me. I have since lost it. I always wonder if he escalated.
The scariest part of this is — he knew my route. Every turn I made, he was there. He had a plan.
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#23
I had a strange guy show up at the front door when I was 16. Looked like he was in his 20s. I was babysitting my siblings (who were no older than 7 at the time) so they were making a lot of noise. The guy told me he was selling magazines and would I please come take a look at them in his car. I thought this sounded really off. I don't remember what I told him but, suffice to say, I didn't follow him. He kissed my hand before he left which really weirded me out. I shut the door on him and locked it. He never came back that I know of, but I was scared to be home alone for a long time after that. In fact, because of that, I never open the door unless I'm expecting someone.
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#24
Not me, but a friend of mine was almost abducted from a mail parking lot when she was in college. A couple of guys were hanging around the mall entrance, she noticed them when she went in, but she figured they were just waiting for a ride or something. She finished up her shopping and they were still there when she left. Suddenly, they were on either side of her and one of them grabbed her arm, I can’t remember the details exactly, but I believe they said they had a gun and told her to take them to her car and get in. She’s my hero, because despite her terror, she had the sense to throw her keys as far as she could and run back to the mall. I shudder to think of what would have happened to her if they had gotten her into the car.
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#25
So this story isn’t as harrowing as the others since everyone had good intentions. But when I was around 16 my mom and I took a trip to NYC. I was from a small town so I was sheltered and naive.
One night we had tickets to CBGB but my mom wasn’t feeling well so I went alone. I met a girl around my age and her dad there. I talked to the girl the entire time. Afterwards her dad asked me if I wanted a ride back to my hotel. Not thinking anything bad I agreed. He was parked way in the corner of a pretty empty parking garage. I followed this guy I had just met into a dark parking garage. And my cell phone didn’t have good service so I couldn’t text my mom to tell her what I was doing.
Nothing bad happened he dropped me off in front of my hotel and even waited until I went in. But years later I think to my self how dumb that was. Anything could have happened to me and my mom wouldn’t have known anything.
One night we had tickets to CBGB but my mom wasn’t feeling well so I went alone. I met a girl around my age and her dad there. I talked to the girl the entire time. Afterwards her dad asked me if I wanted a ride back to my hotel. Not thinking anything bad I agreed. He was parked way in the corner of a pretty empty parking garage. I followed this guy I had just met into a dark parking garage. And my cell phone didn’t have good service so I couldn’t text my mom to tell her what I was doing.
Nothing bad happened he dropped me off in front of my hotel and even waited until I went in. But years later I think to my self how dumb that was. Anything could have happened to me and my mom wouldn’t have known anything.
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#26
Not me, but my husband, was a swimmer and when he was a school age kid he would ride the city bus from school > practice > home. One time he was talking to the bus driver (or the bus driver was talking to him?) and my husband mentioned that practice was going to be really late that day. The driver informed him that it was after hours of the bus system running but that he could come back in his own personal car and pick him up and drive him home. My naive husband said sure! Later, at swim practice, his coach asked him who was going to pick him up from the late practice and my husband happily informed him the bus driver would in his personal car! Coach was immediately like omg no - not that exact quote but something like it - and called my husband's mother to inform her what happened and make sure she was there to pick him up instead. To this day my husband and I ponder what would have happened if the coach didn't ask and my husband had gotten into the car with the bus driver late at night. Would he have just driven him home like a nice Samaritan? Or would my husbands body never been found?
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#27
My mom trained us thusly on stranger danger: scream and run. I later found out that this originated when she was almost abducted on the way home from elementary school in the mid-'60s. She lived about 5 blocks from school and was walking home one day when a guy in a car pulled alongside her. He said something like "hey hop in, I'll give you a lift home!" and my mom refused.
He tried once again, saying "It's OK, I know your mom. She asked me to give you a ride." My mom continued to say "no," and his attitude suddenly shifted and he screamed at her "YOU GET IN THIS CAR RIGHT NOW!"
My mom yelled "NO!" at the top of her lungs and sprinted the rest of the way home. I don't think she ever told my grandma what had happened and she never saw the guy again.
He tried once again, saying "It's OK, I know your mom. She asked me to give you a ride." My mom continued to say "no," and his attitude suddenly shifted and he screamed at her "YOU GET IN THIS CAR RIGHT NOW!"
My mom yelled "NO!" at the top of her lungs and sprinted the rest of the way home. I don't think she ever told my grandma what had happened and she never saw the guy again.
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#28
I was 20/21, living away from home in a bottom level apartment. I was wearing a night shirt while washing dishes around 10:30-11 pm. The window in the kitchen was open slightly and I suddenly became aware that someone was jacking off very nearby. Thank goodness I had a cat who was hissing and spitting at the window or I might have run out the nearest door and almost directly into him. At the time I had no idea he was right outside the window because he sounded so close.
I called the cops and they didn’t even really take a report. Couple weeks later in the same apartment complex it happened to another woman. This time her upstairs neighbor saw it and scared him off, but not before he dropped his gun. This one made the newspaper. Still pissed the cops didn’t take me seriously.
I called the cops and they didn’t even really take a report. Couple weeks later in the same apartment complex it happened to another woman. This time her upstairs neighbor saw it and scared him off, but not before he dropped his gun. This one made the newspaper. Still pissed the cops didn’t take me seriously.
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#29
I'm pretty sure we've all encountered some pretty shifty situations, just in some cases, we may not realize how close we were to trouble.
For me, it's two that I am aware of:
First is when I was 10 years old, and refused to get in the car of a man who claimed he was my dad's friend, and chose to be rude instead, and he sped off in a different direction than he was saying he would. He was a nondescript man in a nondescript car who complimented me on my skirt and said he's going to coffee at my dad's and that he'll drive me so I don't have to walk. I told him I don't recognize him, and that if he's at my dad's place when I get there, I will apologize, but I don't trust him.
The second was when I was 16 years old and I went to France to practice my French before my end of school exams. I was there for two weeks, and alone, just staying at a place of a family friend. I was always a tomboy, and all my friends were guys, so I was a bit naïve. After about 10 days, I was really social contact deprived, and I got talking to a student at an art gallery, and then went to watch a movie at his place. Given how naïve I was back then, I've allowed him to completely victim-profile me (given the information shared). His place smelled like rotten meat too. There is an odd chance that he was just strange, but then, he wasn't socially awkward in public, so I think it was more dropping pretenses rather than not knowing how to talk to people. He started asking me over and over and over whether I was afraid yet, while watching the movie, and it didn't seem conversational. Not only was he really giving me his entire attention when asking, but he asked multiple times. That's when I realized that it's dangerous. I told him I see no reason, because I always text the address of where I'm at to my mom and boyfriend, and I made sure my body language shows how relaxed I was. I sunk into to the couch and 'lounged' as much as possible and trash talked a little. I let that sit a bit, and then told him it was getting late and I had a curfew, and whether he'd please walk me to the bus, that I would feel much safer with him. He almost seemed disappointed.
For me, it's two that I am aware of:
First is when I was 10 years old, and refused to get in the car of a man who claimed he was my dad's friend, and chose to be rude instead, and he sped off in a different direction than he was saying he would. He was a nondescript man in a nondescript car who complimented me on my skirt and said he's going to coffee at my dad's and that he'll drive me so I don't have to walk. I told him I don't recognize him, and that if he's at my dad's place when I get there, I will apologize, but I don't trust him.
The second was when I was 16 years old and I went to France to practice my French before my end of school exams. I was there for two weeks, and alone, just staying at a place of a family friend. I was always a tomboy, and all my friends were guys, so I was a bit naïve. After about 10 days, I was really social contact deprived, and I got talking to a student at an art gallery, and then went to watch a movie at his place. Given how naïve I was back then, I've allowed him to completely victim-profile me (given the information shared). His place smelled like rotten meat too. There is an odd chance that he was just strange, but then, he wasn't socially awkward in public, so I think it was more dropping pretenses rather than not knowing how to talk to people. He started asking me over and over and over whether I was afraid yet, while watching the movie, and it didn't seem conversational. Not only was he really giving me his entire attention when asking, but he asked multiple times. That's when I realized that it's dangerous. I told him I see no reason, because I always text the address of where I'm at to my mom and boyfriend, and I made sure my body language shows how relaxed I was. I sunk into to the couch and 'lounged' as much as possible and trash talked a little. I let that sit a bit, and then told him it was getting late and I had a curfew, and whether he'd please walk me to the bus, that I would feel much safer with him. He almost seemed disappointed.
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#30
About 4 years ago I went to walk to the store at the bottom of a little where I lived. There was no sidewalk down the street so you kinda just had to walk in a ditch the whole way down. You'd have a little bit of two parking lots to walk through a bit of the way. The first was the stone masons lodge, which is where I got to. Which was right across the street from my home. So I walked across to the lot and started to head down the hill. There was a red truck sitting vacant in the lot. As I go to exit the lot and continue my walk down a smaller four door car pulls in and almost hits me as he went to the inside on the way in so I was on his side of the car. Well he barely even got out the sentence, "hey can you help me find" before he grabbed my arm and tried to pull me in. I'm not sure what his reasoning was as it was always weird to me. Was he just gonna have me hanging halfway out and drive off if he could...or what? But the owner of the red truck came out of the masons lodge and started hollering and he sped off. I really believe that Man saved me that day. I don't think Dude would of let up.
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#31
I'm a little late to the party, but I was almost a victim of a stranger abduction in a foreign country.
When I was in college, I studied abroad in Madrid for a semester. It was overall a really wonderful experience and I highly recommend study abroad for any college student who can manage it. I absolutely loved Madrid. It was my first big city experience. Unfortunately, I didn't get along well with my host mother, so I tended to take really long walks, often in the middle of the day (never did get the hang of siesta).
I was walking in a park one afternoon, and since it was the middle of siesta and kind of the off-season for tourism, there wasn't anybody around. A man came up to me and started speaking English. Weirdly, he was speaking English with a Spanish accent, but he was asking me for directions to something nearby, so I assumed I'd been interpreting his accent wrong. I told him where to go, but he insisted he'd just come from that direction and it wasn't there. He tried to lead me down a side path to show him, but I wasn't having it. Then I noticed that there was a car a little ways behind him. Now, this was a park with some roads through it (for anyone familiar with the area, it was Buen Retiro), but he was parked on what was distinctly a footpath. To this day, I'm not entirely sure how he got a car there.
Anyway, he says "I'll drive there, you can show me, we can go together." And I said no, and repeated the directions I'd previously given. All of a sudden it was like a switch flipped and he's thanking me for the directions, telling me how glad he was that I spoke English (despite the fact that it clearly wasn't his native language), that I was a beautiful, helpful person, and started giving me a hug. A creepy sort of hug that went on way too long and involved some wandering hands. I started to pull away, and then he sort of shoved my head into his shoulder so I couldn't scream and started to drag me to his car. Luckily for me, I'd been taking martial arts classes back home, so I managed to throw him to the ground. I heard something crack, and I kicked him (this part was not self-defense, I was just pissed) and ran away. Only time in my life I've ever managed to run in heels.
If he'd actually gotten me in the car, I don't know how anyone would have found me. It was the start of a long weekend, and I was a shy kid without many friends, but wasn't super close to my host mother, who lived alone. It's entirely possible she would have assumed I was off with someone else or was traveling that weekend and forgot to tell her. I may not have been reported missing until I didn't show up for classes. I highly doubt this guy was a trafficker or anything (Taken is just a movie, after all), but I have no doubt he had malicious intent.
When I was in college, I studied abroad in Madrid for a semester. It was overall a really wonderful experience and I highly recommend study abroad for any college student who can manage it. I absolutely loved Madrid. It was my first big city experience. Unfortunately, I didn't get along well with my host mother, so I tended to take really long walks, often in the middle of the day (never did get the hang of siesta).
I was walking in a park one afternoon, and since it was the middle of siesta and kind of the off-season for tourism, there wasn't anybody around. A man came up to me and started speaking English. Weirdly, he was speaking English with a Spanish accent, but he was asking me for directions to something nearby, so I assumed I'd been interpreting his accent wrong. I told him where to go, but he insisted he'd just come from that direction and it wasn't there. He tried to lead me down a side path to show him, but I wasn't having it. Then I noticed that there was a car a little ways behind him. Now, this was a park with some roads through it (for anyone familiar with the area, it was Buen Retiro), but he was parked on what was distinctly a footpath. To this day, I'm not entirely sure how he got a car there.
Anyway, he says "I'll drive there, you can show me, we can go together." And I said no, and repeated the directions I'd previously given. All of a sudden it was like a switch flipped and he's thanking me for the directions, telling me how glad he was that I spoke English (despite the fact that it clearly wasn't his native language), that I was a beautiful, helpful person, and started giving me a hug. A creepy sort of hug that went on way too long and involved some wandering hands. I started to pull away, and then he sort of shoved my head into his shoulder so I couldn't scream and started to drag me to his car. Luckily for me, I'd been taking martial arts classes back home, so I managed to throw him to the ground. I heard something crack, and I kicked him (this part was not self-defense, I was just pissed) and ran away. Only time in my life I've ever managed to run in heels.
If he'd actually gotten me in the car, I don't know how anyone would have found me. It was the start of a long weekend, and I was a shy kid without many friends, but wasn't super close to my host mother, who lived alone. It's entirely possible she would have assumed I was off with someone else or was traveling that weekend and forgot to tell her. I may not have been reported missing until I didn't show up for classes. I highly doubt this guy was a trafficker or anything (Taken is just a movie, after all), but I have no doubt he had malicious intent.
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#32
Okay so this did not happen to me... but it happened to a close friend of mine where I was growing up in... lucky for my friend that her older sister was with her and was immediately suspicious of it (thank good!!).
So my friend and her older sister were riding their bikes to a campsite and hiking trail close to the neighborhood where we lived, to buy ice cream from the on-site mini store (it was just a small thing that sold memorabilia trinkets and necesseties like water bottles, band aids, canned food and other for hikers). But they also sold Ice Cream. Which was popular among us local kids who could bike there in the summer and get a good excersize in (it was a 30min there and back ride).
While they were there my friend got her ice cream open and left the store so it would not melt and drip inside, while her older sister was choosing hers & paying for them.
While my friend was waiting for her sister there was a man who pulled up to the mini store in a campervan, smiled to my friend and told her that if she wanted to she could say hello to his puppy in the back.........
Thankfully she was very hesitant to do so and asked what kind of breed it was instead of simply going with it...
While he was insisting on it that his puppy was shy, and maybe would come out if she went in and things,
her sister came out from the store and asked what was going on, the man had smiled and said the same thing to her but she began arguing against this mans urges to go see the puppy with clever questions like "Why don't you take the dog out so we can see it must be warm.." she was talking so loud the store owner came out, and then the guy immediately rolled up the window and drove off....
They told everyone about ut as soon as they came home and we weren't allowed to go alone to the ice cream store anymore after that. their mom called the police about the man and described the van. It wasn't seen again luckily and we will be thankful for ever they never became an unsolved mystery.
So my friend and her older sister were riding their bikes to a campsite and hiking trail close to the neighborhood where we lived, to buy ice cream from the on-site mini store (it was just a small thing that sold memorabilia trinkets and necesseties like water bottles, band aids, canned food and other for hikers). But they also sold Ice Cream. Which was popular among us local kids who could bike there in the summer and get a good excersize in (it was a 30min there and back ride).
While they were there my friend got her ice cream open and left the store so it would not melt and drip inside, while her older sister was choosing hers & paying for them.
While my friend was waiting for her sister there was a man who pulled up to the mini store in a campervan, smiled to my friend and told her that if she wanted to she could say hello to his puppy in the back.........
Thankfully she was very hesitant to do so and asked what kind of breed it was instead of simply going with it...
While he was insisting on it that his puppy was shy, and maybe would come out if she went in and things,
her sister came out from the store and asked what was going on, the man had smiled and said the same thing to her but she began arguing against this mans urges to go see the puppy with clever questions like "Why don't you take the dog out so we can see it must be warm.." she was talking so loud the store owner came out, and then the guy immediately rolled up the window and drove off....
They told everyone about ut as soon as they came home and we weren't allowed to go alone to the ice cream store anymore after that. their mom called the police about the man and described the van. It wasn't seen again luckily and we will be thankful for ever they never became an unsolved mystery.
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#33
I had the same thing happen to me with a man in a car when I was around 19 (I'm shorter than average, so I've always looked younger than I am).
I was walking down the street by myself, waiting to meet up with a friend. A car pulled up to me and started trailing very slowly, until the guy rolled the window down and shouted to me that he had a question. He held out his phone and asked me, "can you show me where the high school is? I'm lost and I have no clue where I'm going." I knew this was an absolute lie, because from where we were, you could literally see the high school, with the name of the high school in giant letters, from where I was standing.
I took a few steps backwards, away from his car, pointed over my shoulder while still maintaining eye contact with him, and I said, "...it's literally right there."
He leaned forward in his car even more, held out his phone again, and said, "oh. Well, I'm picking up my cousin from school, and I have to drop her off at the Boys and Girls Club, and I don't know how to get there either. Can you show me that?" That was also a very obvious lie, because the high school gets out at 2:02 pm, it was after 4:00, and high schoolers don't go to our local Boys and Girls Club. It's only for kids.
At this point, I took out my phone, held it up so that he could see it clearly in my hand, and responded with, "uh, just type in 'Boys and Girls Club' and it'll bring you right there with GPS. You don't need a map."
I pretended to call someone after I answered, but I never took my eyes off of him. I think that rattled him a bit, because he kind of just morosely answered, "oh," looked all around before peeling off, and drove in the entire opposite direction of the school. A friend of mine is a sheriff in our town, so I told him about the guy and gave him his license plate number, but I never heard anything else after that.
I was walking down the street by myself, waiting to meet up with a friend. A car pulled up to me and started trailing very slowly, until the guy rolled the window down and shouted to me that he had a question. He held out his phone and asked me, "can you show me where the high school is? I'm lost and I have no clue where I'm going." I knew this was an absolute lie, because from where we were, you could literally see the high school, with the name of the high school in giant letters, from where I was standing.
I took a few steps backwards, away from his car, pointed over my shoulder while still maintaining eye contact with him, and I said, "...it's literally right there."
He leaned forward in his car even more, held out his phone again, and said, "oh. Well, I'm picking up my cousin from school, and I have to drop her off at the Boys and Girls Club, and I don't know how to get there either. Can you show me that?" That was also a very obvious lie, because the high school gets out at 2:02 pm, it was after 4:00, and high schoolers don't go to our local Boys and Girls Club. It's only for kids.
At this point, I took out my phone, held it up so that he could see it clearly in my hand, and responded with, "uh, just type in 'Boys and Girls Club' and it'll bring you right there with GPS. You don't need a map."
I pretended to call someone after I answered, but I never took my eyes off of him. I think that rattled him a bit, because he kind of just morosely answered, "oh," looked all around before peeling off, and drove in the entire opposite direction of the school. A friend of mine is a sheriff in our town, so I told him about the guy and gave him his license plate number, but I never heard anything else after that.
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#34
I was working at a casino and my shift would end at 2 or 3 am. One day they put security detail on me, to walk me to my car for about 2 weeks. About a month later I found out that a girl whom looked just like me was abducted from the casino grounds and police thought the guy was really after me when they reviewed security footage. He abducted her, and they caught him on tape several times after that, right as my shift ended. The casino moved me to the morning shift and I dont know if the guy was ever caught because I became pregnant and so sick I needed to quit.
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#35
I think I was around five or six when I was waitting in a tanning salon for my mom to stop tanning, they had a small waitting room I'd sit in not the best place to leave a child especially when one employee is at the front going in and out cleaning things. One time a guy walked over, and sat by me trying to be all buddy to buddy with me. He kept trying to talk to me so I calmly said. "My mommy said not to talk to strangers." The one thing she'd told me to say to strangers when they approached me, this didn't stop him however. He said and I quote "Well I work with your mommy so it's ok." He just kept going on and on after that, and even offered to take me out to get something, but I just kept looking ahead pretending like he didn't exist. Nothing really exciting happened after that, but once the employee returned back he stood up, and left the building. Thinking back on it this tanning salon was primarily a female establishment, and he didn't go into any of the rooms or check in just tried talking to me. I'm just really really glad I listened to my mom, if he took me I don't think anyone would have found me.
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#36
I hitchhiked on the Highway of Tears, this was before anyone paid attention to it, early 90's.
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#37
Way back in my college days, there were two nights I remember in particular that I had way to much to drink, left the party to presumably walk home (not unusual to walk, its a very walkable town) only to 'come to' and realize I had been walking in completely the wrong direction (and for quite a while). The one big one I'm thinking of was on a very rural road by that point. This was in the middle of winter and I could very easily have ended up missing and no-one would have any idea where I was.
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#38
Oh gosh, I'm so happy to hear you made it out safely. These stories are wild.
As to whether I have one? Maybe, I'm still not sure to this day. About ten years ago, I was a young teen. My family was moving back home to New York (the state, not the city) for my dad's job. The house they bought had a rent-back for the sellers for the summer, so we stayed in an apartment temporarily in White Plains. It was a pretty nice city, clean and not too crazy if I remember correctly.
My mom and I went out one afternoon to visit an art supply store a few blocks over and grab a slice of pizza for lunch. On our way back, we passed a construction site. For some reason, we both locked eyes with the same worker, who started walking in our direction, and then each other. I don't remember ever speaking to her to determine something was wrong; I think it was just one of those moments where we both knew instinctively something was really off.
Now mind you, this was broad daylight, in a city. We weren't even close to alone. Should anything happen, there would be literally hundreds of witnesses. Despite this, we both felt really uncomfortable, and immediately started speedwalking away from the site. After a few storefronts, I checked the throng of people over my shoulder. About ten people back, I see him, weaving in and out of the crowd, headed towards us. At that point, we really start hustling, trying to put distance between him and us. When we don't see him behind us anymore, we ducked into a little boutique. We skulked around in the very back, behind the clearance racks, and watched the windows.
Neither of us saw him after a good five minutes, so we thought we must have just panicked. Just as we're about to start walking towards the front of the store, he slowly walks by. We see him pass by, turn around, and peer into the window, which luckily was one of those semi-mirrored ones. Hard to see in but easy to look out, and we were way in the back. He just looked briefly, checked up and down the street once more, turned around, and headed back, presumably, to the construction site.
We waited in the store for another 10-15 minutes. After that, we high-tailed it out of there back to the apartment. When we got back, we told the front desk fellow about him just in case, and he thankfully believed us (bless you, Richard). He said he'd keep an eye out.
We never saw that guy again. To this day, we still talk about how weird that whole event was. It should be noted that my mom is filipina, and though I certainly wasn't getting close to the construction worker, he looked like he could have been as well. My mom has a face that a lot of people think they know too. It's entirely possible he thought she was an acquaintance and was just trying to flag us down to talk (most filipino social circles are large). But I don't know, the fact that we both got that ick-feeling makes me think not.
As to whether I have one? Maybe, I'm still not sure to this day. About ten years ago, I was a young teen. My family was moving back home to New York (the state, not the city) for my dad's job. The house they bought had a rent-back for the sellers for the summer, so we stayed in an apartment temporarily in White Plains. It was a pretty nice city, clean and not too crazy if I remember correctly.
My mom and I went out one afternoon to visit an art supply store a few blocks over and grab a slice of pizza for lunch. On our way back, we passed a construction site. For some reason, we both locked eyes with the same worker, who started walking in our direction, and then each other. I don't remember ever speaking to her to determine something was wrong; I think it was just one of those moments where we both knew instinctively something was really off.
Now mind you, this was broad daylight, in a city. We weren't even close to alone. Should anything happen, there would be literally hundreds of witnesses. Despite this, we both felt really uncomfortable, and immediately started speedwalking away from the site. After a few storefronts, I checked the throng of people over my shoulder. About ten people back, I see him, weaving in and out of the crowd, headed towards us. At that point, we really start hustling, trying to put distance between him and us. When we don't see him behind us anymore, we ducked into a little boutique. We skulked around in the very back, behind the clearance racks, and watched the windows.
Neither of us saw him after a good five minutes, so we thought we must have just panicked. Just as we're about to start walking towards the front of the store, he slowly walks by. We see him pass by, turn around, and peer into the window, which luckily was one of those semi-mirrored ones. Hard to see in but easy to look out, and we were way in the back. He just looked briefly, checked up and down the street once more, turned around, and headed back, presumably, to the construction site.
We waited in the store for another 10-15 minutes. After that, we high-tailed it out of there back to the apartment. When we got back, we told the front desk fellow about him just in case, and he thankfully believed us (bless you, Richard). He said he'd keep an eye out.
We never saw that guy again. To this day, we still talk about how weird that whole event was. It should be noted that my mom is filipina, and though I certainly wasn't getting close to the construction worker, he looked like he could have been as well. My mom has a face that a lot of people think they know too. It's entirely possible he thought she was an acquaintance and was just trying to flag us down to talk (most filipino social circles are large). But I don't know, the fact that we both got that ick-feeling makes me think not.
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#39
I can’t say for sure what would’ve happened here, but once when I was probably around 9 or 10 while at a girl scout cookie booth at a local department store, two mid-20s looking men approached me and the other girl working the booth at the time. The troop leaders were supposed to be watching us but they’d gone into the store for a bit so we were alone in the store lobby (attached entrance room to the store itself, so we were selling in the store but not where any customers and staff were). It was a slow day at the store I guess because we were alone without other customers coming in and out for at least 10 mins with the men. The men told us they assumed we were teenagers (i remember at the time thinking it was flattering but as an adult I realize a 9 year old is not going to be mistaken for 18). They invited us to a “party” and gave us the address to an old motel in town. We told them actually we’re just kids! We can’t even drive! But they got more and more belligerent about us attending this “party” until even offering to take us themselves, and more pressure and belligerence. This obviously freaked us out. I remember I wanted to go inside to find the adults, but we’d gotten the big talk about not leaving our products or money unattended so got nervous and just waited with the booth. We then told them our troop leaders were in the store and would be looking for us if we left. they booked it out of the lobby after that. I remember when our leaders came back, we told them and they flipped! They went and searched the parking lot and the store but didn’t see the guys. Nothing ever came of the motel address mostly because I don’t think our leaders reported the incident to the store or LE out of fear of getting in trouble for “leaving” us. But it is still a little spooky if i think about, if those guys had just grabbed us instead of trying to coax and pressure us into coming, where would I be right now?
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#40
I was in New Zealand by myself in 1996. I was in this little town on the west cost of the North Island, and staying in a hostel. I went down to a little bar and got some drinks, again alone. After, I started walking back to my hostel but got turned around. I ended up in an alley, in a lot of shadows. Suddenly, at the end of the alley was a group of 8-10 young men, maybe in their early 20s. I was about 22 at the time. Theses guys were clearly drunk and looking for trouble. They laid eyes on me and started immediately running toward me saying “get her,boys!” I turned the other way and ran like mad, with no idea where I was. Just after I lost them (or thought I did), I turned a corner and there was my hostel. It was honestly a miracle They didn’t catch me. I don’t know what they had in mind, but it wasn’t good. I had extremely short hair at the time and got a few homophobic comments even though I am cis-het so I wondered if that was the reason they targeted me, or if it was just because I was a woman a lone.
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