30 Unbelievably Strange Encounters With Random Strangers That These People Just Can't Forget About

Guy was wearing the exact same outfit as me. Like same shoes, same colored jean, same sweatshirt and even same hat. Wouldn’t have been surprised if he had the same underwear even. But it was definitely the biggest glitch in the matrix moment I’ve ever had.

I've shared this story before, but one New Year's Eve, a friend of mine and I were standing outside of a liquor store. Both of us were underage, but another friend of ours was 21, so he was buying the alcohol for the night. 

I was smoking a cigarette and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man approaching. He looked homeless and I assumed he wanted a cigarette or some change. the first words out of his mouth were, "Happy New Year's gentlemen, how you doing?" We both said we were good and commented about how nice it was. Although it was mid-winter, it wasn't that cold that year in Chicago. 

He laughed and said, "Yeah, me too. Y'all got any plans?" We told him we were going to meet up with some friends after our buddy came out of the store. He smiled and said, "Well, y'all be safe now. Me, I got myself a joint from the Mexicans at the car shop. I'm gonna go to my spot in the alley, smoke, put out my sign when I don't want nobody around, *Do not disturb the rat in the hole*. Then they know, this is the condominium and leave me alone." 

My friend and I both looked at each other right after he said that. We were both writers and instantly recognized how beautifully weird what he had just said was. I asked if he wanted a cigarette, but he declined saying, "Nah, thanks."

Our friend came out of the store at that point and we told him we had to go. He shook our hands and the hand of our other friend and told us again to stay safe. As we were walking away, we heard him shout to us, "Happy New Year!"

He never asked for change or a cigarette and even declined my offer to have one. He just genuinely wanted to talk to us, which is rare in Chicago. He didn't want anything, but he did give me an anecdote and a phrase that has stuck with me for years; *Do not disturb the rat in the hole.*

For the purpose of this story, my name is "Buster."
I was visiting my brother who lived in a fairly big city at the time. He lived in a townhome amongst a bunch of other townhomes which all look identical. I got in late on a very delayed flight and made my way there on my own. My brother left the door unlocked for me so I could make my way in without waking up his family.

I am exhausted when I arrive and open the door and start heading up the stairs. The door at the top of the stairs opens and I figure it's my brother who I've woken up. I hear a voice shouting "Buster, get back! YOU STAY THERE!" he yells this a few times and turns the lights on. I'm starting at a man in his 70s in his underwear, terrified, and a little barking dog is trying to attack me. I am terribly confused as to who this person is, why he's in my brother's house and why he knows my name and is yelling at me.

After a few moments of exchanges it occurs to me that my brother doesn't have a dog and that he is yelling at the dog, named Buster, and that I've entered the wrong house. I try to stumble through and apology and just back away. My brother was pretty amused by it all but I felt horrible for scaring that guy.

A woman who was clearly not sound of mind in a macdonalds told me with deep and serious certainty that we are not to eat figs as they are the fruit of the devil.

I had watched a nature documentary the previous day and explained to her in great detail the anatomy of a fig (which is in fact, a flower) and the life cycle of wasps and how they use figs to their advantage.

She was very confused.
Then she turned around and went to find somebody else to hassle about not eating the devil's fruit.

in the dollar store by the hollywood theater in portland oregon, (its like 20 miles from my house) i was buying some soda when i saw a guy in a "vietnam veteran" jacket. i, being the patriotic m**********r that i am, said that i appreciated his service. then he said "that will be $100". i thought he was joking. he was not. i did not have $100, and i said to him as much. he said "well give me anything you have." i gave him five cents, as i only carry what i need to buy stuff on me, and that was the change. he just walked away without thanking me. it was weird as all hell.

Not sure if this is the strangest but fresh in my mind. Bought a Honda Odyssey for the family car. Had a guy stop me in a parking lot, maybe mid to late 50s, asked me if I wanted to join his odyssey club. He then proceeded to tell me it’s more of a cult and I can’t have any felonies but must be willing to commit one. He was clearly joking about that but dead serious about the club. I regret not finding out more but I was just so confused at the time.

Going into my hotel room. (This was a s**t hotel, I was low on money and just needed somewhere to stay for a couple of nights.)

On the phone with my husband, a guy walks up to me as I'm pulling out my key card. He gestures at himself and the door, in a 'can I come in' kind of way.

I say "No" and look at him, he keeps standing there, then he goes a few steps away. I stupidly think we're done and open the door and he moved forward to come in with me. I slam the door without entering and book it down the stairs to the front reception desk.

If I hadn't been on the phone, distracted and tired, I would never have let him get so close to me. What could have happened but didn't? Just so strange.

A few stick in my mind, but this one I have just never understood.

I'm at a busy downtown intersection, on a sunny Saturday, waiting for the light to cross. Guy beside me starts making small talk. Very chatty. We had quite a wait for the light for ... some reason I don't remember... so it was a bit of a chat.

He made some unusual remarks asking me about my ethnicity (somewhat accurate). Then it was him telling me his life story, out of the blue.

Ok, maybe he's hyper for some reason. I'd just moved to the city from a more rural area so I was polite and didn't elbow him away. Not sure if maybe I should have. His story about himself was just a bit memorable because it involved some globetrotting and a few other random details.

I thought nothing more about it after crossing the street and we went separate ways.

Then a couple of months later I'm in a downtown mall. Same guy walks up to me, out of nowhere, and starts chatting to me again. I interrupted him and said "Yeah, I remember meeting you before," and I repeated the life story ramble that he'd done earlier. At that point he does a disappearing act.

I have no clue to this day what that was about. Just odd.

A pleasant looking middle aged woman came up to me on a bus, sat beside me, and then told me in a whisper "my teeth are trying to kill me." And then sat out the ride in silence.

My family and I were traveling cross-country and stopped in this tiny rural coffee shop for lunch. The waitress came out to take our order, she took one look at me and said “Hey Kim, how’s your mom doing? I said “I’m sorry, I think you’re mistaking me for someone else, I don’t live around here and I’m not Kim.” She kept insisting that I was just joking around and teasing her. This went on for quite some time, until I had to convince her with my drivers license that I was not this person that she knew. She was blown away and said I could be a twin to this person that she knew, as I look exactly like Kim, talk like Kim, everything.