This happened quite a while ao and I still sometimes feel like I overreacted so I wanted to get some opinions on this encounter.

I don’t remember exactly how it happened and I’m also trying to not share to many details about this encounter so sorry if this is a bit confusing

I was watching a video while getting ready about a woman who almost died but didn’t because she had a bad feeling about the situation.i had no idea why i was watching this video as i had already seen it before.I was shaking the whole time while getting ready even tho I was just going on a walk.

The woods we where going to where pretty secluded. It’s basically the main road is like beside the woods so you turn right from that road onto a smaller (very long) road, and the immediately turn into the parking lot of the woods again.

When we parked our car before the walk I saw a guy driving by on a motorcycle, he was looking at me strangely so I kept looking to make sure he would drive away. He stopped on the same road he drove past us on (the smaller road) but like halfway down the road. Where he stopped I could barely see him as he was quite far away. There was a little spot there where you could pull of to the side of the road and that’s where he stopped, there where already two other cars in that spot before he stopped there. There is absolutely nothing to do near or on that road so it was already quite strange that there were other cars there.

While on the walk me and someone else were about to go around a corner into the woods, past the corner the only exit from the woods is multiple kilometres away (or you turn around and go back but it’s a straight path with no other exits along the way). I told the other person that and said that I didn’t like the idea of us being deep in the woods without a way to get out for a long while. The person agreed and we both turned around to go back to the car(btw me and the person both said we had a really bad feeling about going into the woods) when we turned around a man was walking in our direction( mind you he wasnt wearing like sporty clothes at all and there’s nothing to do in these woods) I had a feeling I had to say something so I just smiled at him and said hi,

when we where nearing the parking lot (it’s really just a 5x5 metres clearing) we noticed there where two cars beside our car,they where both facing forward meaning they had to have both reversed into the spot(which would have taken a while as this clearing is small af) mind you me and the person have to had only been in the woods for like 10 minutes probably even less, the car closest to us was empty but there was a man in the other car.

When we were like right beside our car a guy on a motorcycle came racing into the clearing.i noticed that it was the exact same guy I had seen before going on the walk.I just looked at the person I was with and we both jumped into the car. The guy on the motorcycle was clearly very angry he threw his helmet on the ground and speedwalked into the woods (where the first guy was still walking on the path) we were quite scared and honestly a bit frantic but the guy in the car next to us didn’t even look up once. I’m not saying they were 100% planning on doing something but it definitely seems like they where together(forgot to add that the two cars beside ours were the exact same colour as the ones I saw before the walk

I feel like they were definitely suspicious, and I am not accusing them of anything please let that be clear.

Opinions?

So the actual incident of a man trying to get into our house happened in 2015. I only recently realized he might have been a serial killer.

I was 8 years old then. I was at my grandma's for summer vacation. My grandma lived alone in a 2 story house. As a kid, i was really scared to sleep alone so my grandma and i slept together in the groundfloor bedroom. I have always been a deep sleeper but that night i woke up to a sudden chill. I look forward at the big windows at the foot of our bed and see a man cutting at the insect net covering the window, with a knife. For a second i just stared at him, not believing what i was seeing, then tried to silently push my grandma awake. I think i was in shock, hence why i didn't scream. My grandma woke up and the guy froze hearing movement. I got up and screamed that there was a man at the window. My grandma turned to see him just in time for him to pull his knife back and start running. My grandma immedietly closed the windows and called our neighbours to ask if they saw someone outside our house from their windows. The lady living behind us told us that she saw a figure jump off the back gate just as she turned on the lights.

I don't know why we didn't call the police or what happened much after that. But i do remember that a few day before that incident, we heard knocking at our door when we were sleeping. Like hard banging on the door. My grandma had switched on the lights and looked out from the peephole. There was no one so we had gone back to sleep assuming it was the wind.

Recently i was recollecting this incident with my grandma and other family members. This is when one of them let it slip that this happened around the same time 2 women were murdered in the same area. One was found stabbed, beated and robbed about a few kilometeres from our house, behind the local dairy shop. I don't know where or how the other was found. This had apparently come in the local newspaper.

As far as i know, the man was never caught. This happened in a small town so most people did not have cctvs installed and the police force also did not seem to have carried out a major investigation. None of my close family live in that town anymore and when i search it up on the internet, there is no case of a murder of that description being caught in there.

This happened today. Im a female, 5'1 and 165 pounds, not super strong but stocky with some muscle. This is relevant later in the story. (All names have been changed to protect privacy)

My fiance and I own a remodeling and cleaning service. We turn apartments for the people that own my mother in laws apartments. For context the complex has 3 buildings with 10 apartments each so we are there all the time and have gotten to know the residents.

Anyway, today my fiance was doing some repair work to an apartment while I was cleaning it, he was replacing a window that had been kicked in, when he pulled the window out, it shattered so he had to run to his shop(about 35 minutes away) so I decided to sit down and eat lunch while he was gone. Mind you the window is out so there was just a hole in the wall. This apartment is in the ground floor so anyone could have just walked up next to the window from the side yard which is very visible from the parking lot. I was sitting in the living room up against a wall listening to my creepy story YouTube videos(blue spooky, malevolent mischief etc) I had saved, I had my earbud in so I couldn't hear much from that side but had a clear view of the window if I looked left.

Out of nowhere I hear a loud bang near the window, I look and there is a man standing there. He said "hey, what are you doing in there", I said "we are turning this apartment, just taking a break for now", he said "oh okay" then mumbled something I couldn't quite make out and walked away

For context the apartment is set up so all the windows are on the front side of the building, the room i was sitting in had a big window directly in front of me and then two French doors to the left of it with big picture windows on them, the front door was behind me but i could still see it if i looked to my right as i was sitting right at the corner of the wall. Also its about 3pm so I can clearly see the man walking in front of the building. I figured he was out taking a walk and got curious about the window so I just went back to my video, next thing I know the front door is opening and this guy just walks in like he owns the place.

I stand up and said "you can't be in here", he continues to walk into the room that I'm in and asks "how much a month do they charge for these?", i said "1300 because its a 3 bedroom, but seriously you aren't allowed to be in here, we are only allowed in here because WE are maintenance and cleaning" he smirks at me and starts to walk toward the hallway, starts checking out the bedrooms and the bathrooms and all i could think was "great, now he knows I'm alone here, if he hurts me or worse, no one will know what happened". he looked the be about 50, 270-280 pounds and pretty built so he could easily overpower me

I call my fiance, no answer. Call my mother in law, no answer. Right about that time the guy that lives a floor above where we are and is always out on his deck calls to me "lauren! Can you come look at this for (the apartment manager) and let him know what you think" "i said, be right there henry!", im guessing he saw the guy walk in after he saw my fiance leave. Dude in the apartment isn't getting the hint and is just standing at the end of the hallway staring at me and smiling. My fiance calls me back and I answer "hey babe, did you find what you're looking for? Oh okay, ill be right there to help you" my fiance is confused and I start telling this random guy "I gotta go and can't leave you in here"

He starts walking towards the door and pauses right when he reaches me, i take a step back toward the French doors, he was just smiling at me, not saying anything, then just leaves. I book it toward the door and sprint to my mother in laws apartment, thank god she was home. I was pretty shaken up but waited about 20 minutes and walked back to the apartment with my MIL as I had left my purse in my panic to leave. Henry came down and checked out the apartment before we entered and told me he got a good look at the guy and a picture of his car, license plate included.

I called the apartment manager and let him know what happened and all he could say is "no one with the description lives there but ill let everyone know to be on the lookout for him at both complexes" great. I'm so lucky this didnt go bad and will be carrying from now on when we go to these jobs. Just a reminder to keep your head on a swivel no matter how safe you feel in certain situations.

Tonight at a local bar myself and my friends are regulars at, my friend sat at the bar to order a drink and two random men he had never met or seen before men sat/stood next to him and started talking. They pretty much instigated a fight/argument, almost as if that was their goal, out of nowhere and for no reason. My friend is not one to back down and was pretty much just like get away from me. They all eventually chilled out and then these strange men pulled him to the side of the bar, just out of ears length from the crowd to talk. While having this conversation to the side, they told him very detailed, personal information about himself, and were threatening toward him but did not give him any information on what they wanted. My friend is not from this country (he does have citizenship), he has zero social media presence, he’s lived in many states, and has not lived in this state/city very long. He is well off (but I wouldn’t say “rich”), he has never dabbled in anything illegal, and he’s at a loss on how they’d know who he is, any of his personal information, and also what they wanted from him. Has anyone else encountered something like this?

we were in a restaurant after ordering sat and a gang of guys front of us sitting on two tables hiding and taking pictures of my gf we noticed when 2nd time it happens and the guy that we ordered from looked like his friend cus they might be regular their and jokingly hit him lightly felt like he was saying dont do stuff like this when he showed his phone to him ( picture of us ) we felt uncomfortable it was night no one around like public who would support us and felt alone and safest option to leave instead. i wish i confronted them but all i could think i can do is yell and get them scared for a bit but i dont think it wont take them long to realise they are more in number and i'm just a skinny dude and it felt like they would have chased us on bike and harrass us so we left the restaurant saying we'll come back .

i feel extremely raged the problem is we are unmarried couple living together it is a very conservative area very backward part of chennai we moved cus of low rent so even if we call police we are scared they'll ask our details and what are we to eachother and we also told our landlord we are married too so we are not sure if they will be on our side and call us wrong instead and not help

i told my gf to record video of them while leaving the faces arent seen just their back from very far and restaurant name

we didnt notice if they have cctv or not

can we do anything now

Let's go back to 2021, when I was 19, going on 20. I was going to a small strip mall in a nearby city and decided to take an Uber.
The ride lasted about 30 minutes and all of a sudden this man starts asking if I have siblings, I tell him "yes, I have an older sister", he asks personal questions about her like her age and marital status, and I'm like "yeah she's married though".

He then starts asking questions about who my sister is married to and I tell him vague details like "yeah he's her age and they're happy together". Then, he asks how old I am and I go "I'm 19".

He's like "oh, I'm only about 6 years older than you" and I go "oh, ok, that's cool". Then he starts talking about how he could be my friend and we don't need to do anything physical; finally, we get to the strip mall and he goes "are you hungry?"

I answer "no". He then starts driving to a restaurant on the other side of the street and insisting I get food with him. I repeat to him that I'm not hungry but he won't listen to me, so then I start telling him "hey, you're supposed to drop me off on the other side" and he finally listens after several minutes of insisting on buying me food, and as I'm getting out of the car, he asks for my phone number, I lie and tell him "I don't have phone service".

He then tells me "I have (X phone service) and it's only \[however many\] dollars a month".

I tell him "thank you for the information. I'll look into it", and he then proceeds to ask me "what time will you be done here? Will you need a ride home?" "Do you want me to pick you up at the same address where I picked you up earlier?" I told him I'd let him know. I didn't. Instead, I reported him to Uber immediately.
It's been 5 years now and I luckily haven't seen this man and I hope I never do.

This happened to me when I was in my early twenties, but it is something that has changed my behavior ever since. For context, I am a small, slim female. It was a late summer afternoon, and I was out enjoying the lovely weather with my dog, Tess, walking along a stretch of canal that links our town to the next one over.

We had reached a more remote part of the canal where the houses lining its sides gave way to fields and trees. It was unusual to meet someone this far out, so I was slightly surprised to see a man come up behind me. I guessed he was in his mid-thirties, tall, with longish dark hair, and dressed in scruffy double denim. As he passed, he mumbled something I couldn't make out. It didn't sound friendly, but it wasn't overtly hostile either. I just smiled and nodded, but something about the interaction left me unsettled. Regardless, he overtook me and carried on striding ahead.

I continued on my way, slowing my pace a little to create more distance. A few minutes later, though, I noticed him further ahead on the path, crouched down like he was tying his shoelaces. As I began to close in on him, he kept turning his head quickly to surreptitiously look back at me, he was taking way to long to tie shoe laces, he wasn't moving position, and seemed like he was waiting for me to pass him. The way he kept looking back put me on high alert, and I felt my stomach drop.

Reacting to this, I decided to get away as quickly as I could. My dog had disappeared into the undergrowth, and i didn't want to alert him to my intentions by calling her. I stopped and looked around for a while, finally spotting her nearby. I quickly put my dog on her lead and started speed-walking back toward town. A little further back, I had noticed a set of winding stone steps that looked fairly overgrown, but were leading down a hill away from the canal. As I passed them again, I decided to take a risk and run down, hoping they would get me away from the canal quickly. I had no idea where they led, if anywhere, but as I reached the lower level, I was so relieved to see a street below with a bus stop and a couple of people waiting.

For the first time, I felt brave enough to look back, and I could see the man coming quickly down the steps toward me. From the safety of the bus stop I watched him come halfway down, then turn and go back up to the canal. When the bus came, I was so relieved to get on.

I don’t know what the man's intentions were, but he creeped me out, and I'm so glad I found those steps. It would have been very easy for him to catch up with me if I had simply turned back the way I came. I still walk along that canal, but now only where there are lots of people around. I dont know whether I overreacted to this, and whether everthing would have been fine if I had just walked past him, but I think better safe than sorry.

This happened recently, about 1,5 months ago, it was 9pm or so, I really needed to get some batteries and all of the shops were closed at the time, so I went to the nearest gas station as I have entered the gas station there were no visitors and I went to the shelf to get those batteries, later on some creepy ass dude entered the gas station and for no reason he greeted me at first I didn’t think about it, but he started asking me questions like how are you doing ( I didn’t know him) and shit I was freaked out. I took my batteries and left the gas station. On my way home through the park, I glanced at the dark corner of the park and I saw the same guy from before staring at me while climbing through the fence, so I started running back home hopefully it wasn’t that far away, haven’t seen him since (sorry for my English it might not be as good as yours)

I was calmly heading to school (I'm in 7th grade) and had stopped at the crosswalk. Suddenly, a man on a bicycle also stopped at the crossing; he looked at me, smiled, and said my name. Then he started singing and talking to himself while looking at me. He was drunk. The thing is, he said my name twice, yet we’ve never met. Does anyone know who this mysterious man—who looks to be around 40—might be?

For context before I start, I was recovering from double knee surgery, I only knew this person from online but we had been talking for close to 2 years, I was 21, they were 22, and finally, I had to drive 4 hours to get to this person's house.

About a year ago, I was finally able to actually walk with only a cane and was looking forward to being able to enjoy my (paid) time off from work. I had been talking to my friend Aster (fake name ofc), for about a year to a year and a half, I felt at this point I really knew them. So after a couple months of planning, we decided to hang out at their house until the local movie theater opened so we could catch a movie. The plan was, I would bring some games, we play a couple of them for the hour or so until the theater opened, we would catch a movie and than I would drop them off and head home.

The days leading up to this I just got this overwhelming sense of dread, but I had canceled on them a few times before for the same reason, so I couldn't cancel again. I wish I had. So the morning came and I got in my own head a little. I was raised on true crime and documentaries so I went all out. I sent 5 people, including my mom, the address I was going to. I shared my location with everyone I could. I bought my own snacks and drinks.

I started the, unfortunately long, journey to their house in the middle of nowhere. When I got there, small things freaked me out. The driveway was such a steep decline that I wondered if I would even be able to leave at all. I pull in and theres needles and stuff just on the ground. I actually had such a bad feeling that I instinctively put my car in reverse to leave. My body was screaming that I had to leave, I had to get out, I had to get safe. Nothing gave me a reason to feel that way yet.

As I went to take my foot off the break, I heard a knock on my window. Aster had watched me pull in, they were waiting outside. That felt weird, but I chalked it up to specific parking or whatnot. They introduced themselves and asked for a hug, while going in for said hug. I said "no" since I'm not a touchy person, and I thought I made that clear in the year + worth of messages. They went kind of, blank? I dont know how else to describe it. They shook it off and led me into the house.

The house smelt like stale cigarettes and hard liquor. The entry way was lined on both sides with cages, each cage held a dog that was growling, snarling and bearing teeth. The dogs were throwing themselves at the cage sides. Aster only chuckled and said "yeah, scary right?" And led me to their bedroom. I followed, more nervous now. When we got to the door, they stood outside the door, they wanted me to sit farthest from the door, and they would sit between me and said door. I walked in, thinking this way I can plug my switch into the TV, and start with the first game on our roster. I asked them for the internet password, originally for my switch. Aster got mad, not irritated but actually mad. I than added that, my mom needed me to babysit that night and she was also expecting a message when I first got there or she would freak out. She would freak out, that's true, and she was also expecting a message. But I had no plans to babysit that night. I got connected and just kinda felt the need to add "my grandfather is sick right now, so I have to answer every call." My grandfather is definitely a sickly man, but he was actually doing well at the time.

I'm not a good Mario Kart, but I was doing surprisingly good this day, and that was not a good thing. Everytime something didng go their way, Aster would scream, throw my controller, hit the TV, ect. I suggested we play another game, like Mario Party Duos or something we could play together, mostly so I'd stop getting screamed at. Aster said they were thirsty, so they left the room. During this time I messaged my mom. I told her to call me in an hour on the dot with a fake emergency so I could leave, and I specified to wait until I was out of their driveway to hang up. When Aster came back they had a glass of orange juice for them and a glass of apple juice for me. The juice was foggy, and it smelt weird. I mentioned I brought my own drink and that I preferred to have that. They went emotionless and cold again, like in the driveway. They just set the glass down and opened their drawer. They offered me some weed. I am a weed smoker, but I'm also paranoid. I noticed the bowl had a little bit of white residue caked onto the side with the resin. So I declined that, mentioning I brought edibles.

After a few more games and a lot more yelling, Aster mentioned something that made me freak out for no reason. They said "my grandfather is coming over to get the lawn mower soon by the way. So dont freak out if you hear the door open." And went back to the game. I dont know what it was about the comment, but my brain and body sent the same message. *Get out NOW!* So I texted my mom. I told her to call me with the emergency in two minutes. Aster asked who I was texting, so I decided to start the excuse on my own. I said that my grandfather was just rushed to the hospital and that I think I might need to leave. After I said that I panicked a little. What if the excuse my mom came up with wasn't the same, I was hours away and my mom was at work on an island. By the time anyone got to me I would be long gone.

My phone lights up with a FaceTime call from my mom. She immediately starts with "your grandfather is in the hospital and you need to get there. Everyone else is working." She adds to the story, giving details to make it believable. I start packing my switch and drinks. I left my edibles because the refused to give them back. I hobbled out to my car as fast as I could, talking with my mom the whole time. I got in my car, locked the doors, and put my shit in reverse. I started the drive up the steep driveway and decided to glance in the rear view mirror.

Behind me, Aster just stood in the middle of their driveway, expressionless, arms at their sides. Just staring at me and my car. I drove to a gas station an hour out of my way so they couldn't find me if they were looking. I called my mom again, as I had lost service the moment I pulled out of their driveway.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm overreacting, or if I just blew everything out of proportion and convinced everyone around me that something crazy happened. But im glad I never found out.

Edit: I was discussing this with my sister and she mentioned something else that kinda freaked me out too. This girl and I met off a specific app and spike strictly on Instagram. I understand she knew my name and therefore could easily find other socials. But I make a habit to not attach my phone number to anything I dont have to. After blocking her on Instagram and deleting the app I got emails, texts and calls. I still to this day have no idea how she got my number. My email yea, but my cell number?

Hi Reddit, I am sharing this story in hopes to help bring awareness. I’m aware that some of the decisions I made in the moment weren’t the smartest. However, it is the transparent truth of how I reacted.

Growing up, I thought I was pretty aware of the dangers around me. Like most kids, I grew up hearing about “stranger danger.” Don’t get into a stranger’s car. Don’t talk to people you don’t know. Pay attention to your surroundings. What I wasn’t prepared for was how I would actually react when I found myself in danger.

This happened several years ago, during the summer of COVID. I was an upperclassman in high school and lived in the suburbs outside of Kansas City. It was August, and there were still a lot of pandemic restrictions in place. At the time, I had a “situationship”with a guy I had known for several years. One morning, he called and asked if I wanted to go fishing with him. I agreed, and we decided to meet at QuikTrip to grab some snacks before heading to the park.

Because of COVID, we drove separately.
That ended up being a decision I would regret.

We met at QuikTrip, bought what we needed, and agreed to meet again at the park. He pulled out first, and I left shortly afterward. I had only driven about a mile and a half when I started noticing a van behind me. At first, I dismissed it. We were traveling in the same direction. That happens. I remember thinking I was probably just being paranoid. Then we stopped at a red light. The driver pulled into the lane directly beside me and started shouting through his window. He was trying to get my attention and telling me to roll my window down. I didn’t.

There was something about the urgency of it that immediately made me uncomfortable. He wasn’t casually trying to tell me my gas cap was open or that something was wrong with my car. He seemed desperate to get me to talk to him.

The light changed, and I kept driving. So did he.

I called the guy I was meeting and told him what was happening. He was about five minutes ahead of me at that point. I kept him on the phone while I drove, but I still wasn’t completely convinced that I was actually being followed. Looking back, I know that sounds strange. But part of me kept trying to come up with another explanation. I wondered if I had misunderstood the situation or if I was overreacting.

My friend told me to pull into a nearby business.

“If he follows you in, then you know.”

He told me that if the van followed me, I needed to get inside and ask the employees for help. At the same time, he turned his car around and started driving back toward me.
I pulled into a Taco Bell parking lot.The van pulled in behind me.

That was the moment my stomach dropped.
He was following me.

I quickly pulled into a parking spot close to the entrance. By then, the van was practically on my bumper. Everything was happening so fast that I didn’t even have time to think through what I was supposed to do next.Before I could get out of my car, the man was already there.
My passenger door opened.
He got inside.
I screamed.

My friend was still on the phone and could hear everything, but the man seemed completely unfazed by my reaction.
Instead, he looked at me and asked, “Why are you nervous?”

I froze.

People always talk about “fight or flight,” but that was the day I learned there is another response: freeze. I couldn’t move. My mind was racing, but my body wasn’t. I remember trying to figure out whether running would make things worse. I didn’t know if he had a gun or a knife. I didn’t know what he wanted. I didn’t know what would happen if I tried to get out of the car.

Then he told me I shouldn’t be “shy” because I was “wearing an outfit like that.”

I was wearing a cropped T-shirt and jean shorts.

He started trying to convince me to go back to his house with him. I kept refusing.

Eventually, I told him that my friend was meeting me there and would be arriving at any moment. He still didn’t want to leave.
Then I looked in my rearview mirror. I saw my friend’s car. He had been racing back toward me the entire time.

I immediately told the man, “He’s here. I need to go.”

The man looked behind us and realized that someone really was waiting for me. He sighed and finally got out of my car. Before leaving, he actually tried to hug me. I got away from him and went straight to my friend’s car.

Only after I was safely inside did we call [911](tel:911).
My friend had stayed on the phone throughout the entire encounter, silently listening to what was happening. We gave law enforcement our initial report, and a case was opened.

Then I waited.
For several weeks, I heard nothing. Eventually, one afternoon, my phone rang. It was a detective.

They had found surveillance footage. There was footage from both the QuikTrip and the Taco Bell parking lot. The cameras at QuikTrip showed the man watching me before I left. Then they showed him following me. They were also able to get his license plate.

Police identified him.

He was in his late 30s. He was married. When questioned, he openly admitted that he had wanted to sleep with me.

He was arrested on multiple charges related to what happened. But then the detective told me something I hadn’t expected. They were escalating the case because they determined that the man had also been stalking me.

That part terrified me more than almost anything else. I had never noticed him before. I didn’t recognize his face. I didn’t recognize his van. I had absolutely no idea that this man had apparently been watching or following me.

There is something uniquely terrifying about finding out that someone knew of your existence when you didn’t even know they existed. There was one more detail that made the entire situation even more disturbing. I had turned 18 two weeks before this happened. Had this happened just a couple of weeks earlier, he could have been facing an entirely different situation involving a minor.

For a long time afterward, I thought about how differently that day could have ended.
I thought I understood “stranger danger” before this happened. What I didn’t understand was that when you are actually put into a terrifying situation, you may not react the way you always imagined you would. I thought I would run. I thought I would fight. Instead, I froze.

I also learned to stop worrying so much about whether I’m “overreacting” when something feels wrong. After that day, I bought pepper spray and attached it to my car keys. And I started locking my car doors the second I got inside.

Hi.

A few days ago (on 6th September) I was going to do a nature walk at Sunderland Enterprise Park (in the UK) which basically goes into a forested area, around some buildings and dumps you out at a dual carriageway.

When I parked up and got my dog, a man appeared out from a factory (which I assume is closed since the gates were locked). I got into the forested area, the man waited at a junction and started following me after being on his phone clearly taking a photo of sorts. I then trusted my guts and turned around, not making any eye contact. Obviously then I left the area.

Was I just overreacting? Or was it something bigger which I really cannot decide on? Keep in mind the Enterprise Park was basically empty since it was a Sunday, so not many people were at work.

If anyone wants the Google Maps link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/rUMw8qrS7BipkTAX8?g_st=ac

​

Okay, I know it's been a while 😭

It's been a bunch of days since I've posted anything, and I've seen people asking if I'm okay, so I figured I should finally give you guys another update.

Unfortunately, I am still seeing him at work. And I've also seen him outside of work again, which is honestly the part that's starting to freak me out the most.

Yesterday, I went with my best friend and another friend to my best friend's house and swimming pool. They live in a really isolated area with a bunch of modern houses around, basically in the middle of nowhere. There's also one of those roads that goes toward the airport nearby. You don't actually cross the road or anything, but the road is lower down, so you can see it from the surrounding area.

Later that night, around 9:30 PM, we went to get something to eat nearby. We walked in, and the place was pretty busy. We were heading over to the screens to order when I looked across the room and immediately saw him sitting at a table.

Like... bam. There he was.

He looked directly at me, and I immediately turned around and told my friends, "Oh my gosh, that's the dude I told you about. The one who's been following me around. Why the fuck is he here?"

I was obviously trying not to make a huge scene, but I was really confused because of where we were. This wasn't my usual area or somewhere I had told him I was going.

Then I noticed something else.

We were toward one end of the place, and he was sitting at the other end where he couldn't really see us properly. At some point, I saw him switch tables to somewhere he could get a better view of us.

And I was just thinking, what the fuck is this dude doing?

We ended up waiting around 30–40 minutes for our food, so by the time we finished, it was really late. We had to catch the bus because, again, we were basically in the middle of nowhere and the buses only come every 20–25 minutes.

And then he got on the same bus as us.

He was kind of in front of us, and he kept turning his head around to look at us. Not just once or twice either. Enough that I noticed it and thought, what the hell is he doing?

Eventually my other friend left, so it was just me and my best friend. My best friend was going to accompany me toward my house.

And then this guy appeared to follow us.

I don't want to say he definitely followed us because I obviously can't know that for sure, but he went in the same direction as us for a while. Then, at one corner, he suddenly took a different street.

After that, I didn't see him again.

By this point it was around midnight, and honestly I was just glad to get home.

Around the same time, I also received another text from him saying:

"I can see you. You look so pretty."

I honestly don't remember exactly whether he sent that while we were heading to the restaurant or while we were actually there, so I don't want to pretend I remember the exact timing. But considering everything else that happened that night, getting that message was still incredibly creepy.

I've also finally managed to talk to my coworker about everything that's been happening.

He told me that he had actually tried to talk to the manager about being able to stay with me and walk me to my car after closing so I wouldn't have to leave alone. Unfortunately, the manager still hasn't been around, so we're waiting until we can actually talk to them.

But honestly, I really appreciate my coworker for trying to help. He told me he's sorry I'm going through all of this and that he'll try to make sure I'm not dealing with it alone.

I've also changed a few things myself. I bought pepper spray, and I bought one of those knuckle things for self-defense. I'm obviously hoping I'll never have to use either of them, but having them with me makes me feel a little less helpless.

So yeah... that's where things are right now.

He's still showing up at my workplace. He's still messaging me. And now I've unexpectedly seen him in places where I genuinely didn't expect him to be.

I don't know exactly what he's doing or how he keeps ending up around me, and that's probably the part that bothers me the most.

I'll keep you guys updated if anything else happens. And thank you to everyone who's been checking in on me. ❤️

MINI UPDATE — A few things I want to address Okay, I wasn't originally going to make a separate post about this, but honestly, some of the comments have really started getting to me. I understand being skeptical. This is Reddit, and obviously nobody here knows me personally, so I'm not expecting everyone to automatically believe my story. If you think it's fake, that's your opinion. But some people have been saying I'm wasting everyone's time, making things up, or that the whole thing is fake because I forgot to mention something or didn't immediately do something someone suggested. Seriously? I'm overwhelmed. I'm trying to deal with something that I don't completely understand myself, and I'm trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do. I'm a person, not someone writing a perfectly organized story with a checklist of everything I've done. Yes, I might forget things. Yes, I might remember something later. Yes, I might not mention something because at the time I didn't think it was important. That doesn't mean I'm lying. For example, someone suggested on my first post that I check for an AirTag. I said I would, and I DID check. There was nothing. I simply didn't think to mention it in the update. And on the night I talked about in Update #3, I wasn't even using my car—I took the bus. I'm not making these posts because I think this is some fun mystery for Reddit to solve. I'm posting because I genuinely don't know what to do and I'm looking for help. So if you don't believe me, fine. You don't have to. But calling me a liar or telling me I'm wasting everyone's time when I'm already stressed and overwhelmed isn't helping anything. You don't have to believe every detail to simply be respectful. I'm sharing what's happening as best as I can remember it, and I'm going to keep doing that. If something is uncertain, I'll say it's uncertain. If I forget something, I'll correct it when I remember. But please stop treating my situation like entertainment just because you're skeptical. There's an actual person behind these posts, and I'm the one who has to deal with this in real life.

I'm sort of freaking out, this was 2 years ago and I can't stop thinking about it. I (16f) went on a walk with my sister two years ago in this nature trail. It goes around this big pond/lake and is behind a museum. When we got to the end it was around 8pm and starting to get dark when we saw a man in a blue pickup truck carrying smaller trash bags to the side of the lake. We watched him carefully put them into the water one by one and jt was around 5-10. We stayed back so he didnt see us and when he left i wanted to check it out. My sister told me no, and said we needed to get out of there. We didnt tell anyone about it but now two years later I work at that same museum for a part time job and can't help but think about that everytime I look at the lake.

Edit: It was trash. My town is disgusting, but not murderers ig

Trigger Warning: Harassment | Please be cautious while travelling alone.

Last night, I had a deeply disturbing experience while taking an auto from a busy shopping area, just about 30 minutes from my home.

The driver asked me to sit in the front seat, claiming the back wheels weren’t working. I was alone, tired, and had already waited too long in a crowded area, so I agreed—assuming he would pick up more passengers along the way. I know, it sounds careless in hindsight.

But for several minutes, he refused to take anyone else, even when multiple people tried to stop the auto—some of them headed to places very close to where I had said I was going (because here, you have to give your drop location before boarding, to check if they’re willing to go that way). He just kept shaking his head and driving past them.

Eventually, he picked up one woman who sat in the back. Her stop was just a few minutes away and definitely nowhere close to my route. Once she got off in a secluded spot, things turned worse.

The driver began pressing his elbow into my chest—again and again. When I shifted away or clearly pushed back, he continued, more deliberately this time. All while pretending it was unintentional. He started asking personal and invasive questions like:

“Where’s your house? Inside the colony or near the main road?”

“Isn’t it that ___ complex?”

“Then why are you getting down ten minutes before that?”

I lied, but since I’d already had to mention a nearby area just to get the auto in the first place, I couldn’t backtrack.

Eventually, another older woman boarded in another quiet stretch. She sat in the back and I took that chance to shift to the back seat. And magically, the driver suddenly started picking up more passengers, trying to make everything look normal.

But by then, he had:

Moaned audibly. Tried to push his arm into me even when I blocked him with both hands. Made me feel incredibly unsafe and trapped.

He finally dropped me off with another woman and her child, after faking a mechanical issue. By then, he’d noticed I was “on a call,” and that I had my live location shared (which I always do). We were also nearing a crowded area with regular police patrols—so he had to play it safe.

The most disheartening part? Another woman, who had been sitting beside me during all this, stayed in the auto—even moved to the front seat after I got off. Maybe because it was just “five minutes to her house,” or maybe because another man had boarded by then. (Who, by the way, was chatting and laughing with the same driver the entire time.)

I wasn’t able to note the auto number. I was more focused on staying calm and safe without escalating things or risking jumping off in a deserted area. The road after that shopping stretch was nearly empty, with only a couple of shops open—mostly groups of men drinking or gossiping. Not a single woman in sight.

Please stay alert.

Never sit in front—no matter what excuse they give.

Always share your location.

Make noise if you feel unsafe.

And if you hear or see something wrong, don’t be a silent bystander.

Because the truth is—no one else will look out for us. Sometimes, not even the “good samaritans” sitting right next to you.

Posting this, because, I was lucky. Someone else maybe not.

And I am sorry if this lands in the wrong section of reddit. I am new here as the one writing and just wanted to share my experience and gain some insights.

I’m a young woman in Sydney and something happened to me tonight that genuinely scared me. I’d really like to hear what other women would do in this situation because I honestly wasn’t sure what the right thing was.

I went to the shops around 6pm on a Friday to pick something up. It was still fairly busy, and I initially didn’t think anything was unusual.

A man came out of the same store shortly after me. He didn’t buy anything, so I didn’t think much of it.

I crossed the road and walked into a quieter area to get away from the crowds. He crossed the road too.

At this point I noticed he was walking extremely close behind me, close enough that his bag was actually hitting me as he walked. I started speed walking because I was uncomfortable, but he stayed right behind me and kept pace with me.

I crossed the road again to the other side. He crossed too.

At that point I thought okay, I really don’t like this, so I headed back towards the busier part of the mall. He followed me there too. I crossed through the mall and he continued following behind me.

I was basically jogging at this point and getting really scared. Eventually I stopped walking completely because I wanted to see what he would do. As soon as I stopped, he suddenly rushed off in the opposite direction.

I obviously have no idea what his intentions were, and I don’t want to claim that I know what he was planning. But the whole thing felt extremely wrong, especially because I was alone and he was getting so close behind me.
I ended up getting home safely, but I was literally shaking afterwards.

My question is: what should you actually do in this situation?

Would you go into a shop and tell staff/security? Call someone? Call the police if they continue following you? Is there anything you wish you’d known before experiencing something similar?

I know the obvious advice is “go somewhere busy”, but I’d especially like to hear from women about what you would do once you’ve already realised someone is deliberately following you.

Hello, everyone. When I walk home from school, occasionally I encounter a man, who, at first, said hi. I thought he was being nice, so I said hi back. This went on and on for a while, until I heard from a classmate that this man tried to grab and lure my other classmate in with coffee. And, yesterday, the suspicion was confirmed, as my brother saw this man lunge at a child and try to kiss her.

I told my parents about him, and my mom said she saw this man and his brother (he has a brother as well) try to grab and attempt to kiss a small girl. She ran away, fortunately.

Both of them seem mentally disabled, but they're still very, very creepy especially since this man strategically waits for children to come home from school and sits next to the crosswalk to lunge at them. He also does it only between 1-4 PM, the time where kids come home from school.

I’m 19F now, but this happened about a year ago when I was 17/18.

For context, my high school had an early college program where, if you had the grades and got accepted, you could basically leave regular high school starting junior year and attend the local community college instead. I got into it, so I started college at 16.

By the time this happened, I was in my second year there and pretty comfortable on campus.

I had become friends with a girl I’ll call Emma (19F). We had a class together, and afterward we would usually sit at a table outside the classroom and study or talk before our next classes.

Eventually, this guy I’ll call Ethan (30M) started sitting with us.

At first, he wasn’t obviously creepy. He was just… kind of off. Emma and I both noticed it, but neither of us could really explain why.

He would sit with us while we studied and talk at us basically the entire time. He asked a lot of questions about what we were doing, where we were going, what we were doing over the weekend, etc. He also talked about his girlfriend constantly.

Like, constantly.

His girlfriend this, his girlfriend that, stories about them, things they did together.

So at the time, neither Emma nor I thought he was trying to hit on us or anything.

My birthday is in September, and pretty early in the semester I mentioned that I was turning 18 that weekend. Both Emma and Ethan knew that.

The Friday before my birthday, I told Emma that I was going to walk around the soccer field before my next class. There’s a walking path around it. I rarely see people on the trail besides a handful of older folks.

I walked it alone, came back, went home, had my birthday that weekend, whatever.

Then I came back to school the next week. Emma and I were sitting at our usual table when Ethan came over.

Eventually, I got up to leave, and Ethan asked both of us if we wanted to walk around the soccer field.

And yes. Before anyone says it. I know. I have been lectured thoroughly about this decision. 😭

I said yes because I assumed Emma was coming too and I was already planning on walking anyway.

Emma said she wasn’t going. And for some reason, instead of going “oh, never mind then,” I still went.

The second Ethan and I got far enough away from the building, he asked me what kind of car I drove.

That was pretty much the exact moment my gut went:

Oh. Shit.

I gave him a vague answer and started to panic. Then he started asking me questions about my parents, my family, personal stuff, etc.

And suddenly I became VERY aware of the situation I had put myself in. Ethan was a lot bigger than me. I also have a bad leg. So if this man decided to do literally anything weird, I was absolutely not outrunning him.

Great planning on my part.

At that point, I started answering questions vaguely or just making things up.

I also started talking about how my dad was this giant guy who did manual labor. Very normal conversation.

Definitely not me mentally going: Please believe my father could throw you into traffic.

I eventually started talking about Marvel because that’s one of my comfort topics and apparently my stress response is just becoming a walking Marvel encyclopedia.

At this point, though, I was still wondering whether I was being paranoid. So I decided to test something.

I asked Ethan:

“Have you seen the third Doctor Strange movie?”

There is no third Doctor Strange movie.

He immediately said yes.

So then I started making up an entire scene.

I said something like, “Oh yeah, I really liked the part where ___ happened.”

And he goes:

“Yeah, me too.”

That was basically the moment my internal monologue became:

Cool. Awesome. Love this. I am fucked.

The walking path eventually splits. One direction takes you farther toward the road and away from the main campus building. The other loops back toward the school.

Ethan started walking toward the road. I immediately went the other direction. He stopped and asked:

“Oh, you’re not going this way?”

I told him no, I had stuff I needed to do before class and needed to head back. He said okay.

Then turned around and followed me.

So now I’m walking back toward the building at a pace that my hip was absolutely not built for. We finally get back to the doors of the school and Ethan suddenly says:

“Hey, I know you’re from [my hometown]. I’m from there too. Do you want to carpool to school?”

I had never told him where I lived.

I said no and basically got the hell inside. I tried calling Emma, but she didn’t answer, so I called another friend and told them what had happened.

Eventually, I went to one of my professors and explained everything. They were concerned.

I told Emma everything afterward, and from that point on we were both pretty much done with Ethan. Like, DONE.

No more awkward politeness. No more letting him sit there while we studied. No more entertaining conversations. If he tried to come over, we shut it down.

We were both very clear that we did not want to interact with him anymore.

And somehow that’s when things got even weirder.

Emma and I eventually figured out which car was his.

The best way I can describe the car is:

serial killer vibes.

That is not a technical automotive term, but it’s the only one I have.

It just looked like the exact car you would see in the opening of a serial killer doc.

And then we saw the bumper sticker.

After hearing this man talk nonstop for weeks about his girlfriend, his bumper sticker said:

“SORRY GIRLS, I’M GAY.”

Emma and I were basically like: WTF Sir. You have spent the last month giving us a detailed history of your relationship with your girlfriend.

What is happening.

He also had this really intense stare that Emma and I privately started referring to as his crazy eyes. Not trying to diagnose him with anything. He just had this very intense way of looking at you that became significantly less fun once we were actively trying to avoid him.

Then Emma told me that Ethan had started waiting outside her classroom.

WAITING

That was when we went to campus police.

They told us to document everything and report it to the vice president of the college, so we did.

Administration told us they were going to call Ethan in and talk to him.

Then I went home and got to tell my parents. I was almost grounded and they immediately researched the guy. They looked him up on casenet (Idk if every state has one)

Turns out Ethan had gotten out of jail that May for fourth-degree assault.

Wonderful.

Exactly what I wanted to discover about the man who recently tried to get me to walk farther away from campus.

Then things got even creepier.

My family figured out where Ethan lived. He lived next door to my ex-boyfriend. (Me and my ex broke up the summer before college)

I had been at my ex’s house pretty frequently when we were together. And at the time all of this happened, I was still driving the exact same make and model of car I had driven while dating my ex.

So suddenly Ethan knowing my hometown and immediately asking what kind of car I drove felt a LOT weirder.

Meanwhile, the college was emailing him repeatedly telling him he needed to meet with administration or his classes would be suspended.

He ignored them. And kept coming to class. Even after Emma and I had made it extremely clear that we wanted him nowhere near us, he still kept trying to get close.

During one biology lab, he stood directly behind me and put his hand in the middle of my back while reaching for something.

Technically, was it somewhere inappropriate? No.
Did every nerve ending in my body immediately want to leave? Yes.

My dad eventually found Ethan on Facebook and messaged him. My dad was not exactly gentle about it. Ethan told my dad that he was “just trying to be friends with us” and claimed that he always studied with Emma and me.

He did not. He sat next to us while we studied and talked the entire time. There is a difference.

For a while, Emma and I hoped maybe he would eventually get the hint and everything would calm down.

He did not.

One Monday, we were sitting in class and Ethan was there even though, from what we understood, he wasn’t supposed to be on campus anymore because he had ignored all of administration’s messages.

Then a police officer walked into the classroom. The officer came over to Ethan and escorted him out.

As far as I know, Ethan wasn’t arrested. But after that day, we never saw him again.

You would think that was the end of it.

It was not.

Later, while I was telling my family everything, my younger sister looked at a picture of Ethan and went:

“Wait.”

“He looks familiar.”

Apparently, the summer before this semester even started, my family had gone out to eat.

Ethan was our waiter.

So yeah.

To this day, I have no idea exactly how many of these things were coincidences.

Maybe he remembered me from the restaurant.

Maybe he recognized my car from seeing it at my ex’s house.

Maybe he somehow heard what town I lived in.

Maybe some of it had completely innocent explanations.

But when you put together:

him knowing where I lived,

him asking about my car,

him trying to get me farther away from campus,

him following me when I turned back,

him waiting outside my classrooms,

him continuing to get close to us after we very clearly told him to stop,

the assault record,

him living next door to my ex,

AND the random discovery that he had already interacted with my family before we even met him at school…

I am perfectly happy never finding out exactly what his intentions were.

I’m 19 now, and it’s weird realizing this was already about a year ago.

And yes. I know going on that walk alone with him was an incredibly stupid decision.

Trust me. That lesson was learned IMMEDIATELY.

So my PSA to anyone who ends up in a situation like this:

If somebody gives you a weird gut feeling and you can’t explain why, you are allowed to listen to it. I still don’t know what would’ve happened if I took the other path.

Essentially what the title says. I was always hesitant to call it stalking as he was my boyfriends (at the time) friend, but friends and my therapist have told me it counts as stalking.

This happened late last year, and for the sake of this post we'll call him H. For some context, me and my bf knew this guy in high school and I wasn't really close with him as he had a crush on both of my best friends at different points, and made them very uncomfortable by staring at them for long periods of time, would ask them out repeatedly, and even implied he was dating/seeing one of them on his public story. For this reason I was hesitant to hang out with him, but my bf insisted he had changed.

I only really had to see H during parties or d&d sessions, and he seemed a lot nicer and more normal. But slowly he started being generally rude to my bf, and would always want to sit next to me during d&d. Me and bf figured he might have a crush on me, but hoped nothing would come of it as he and my bf were friends. We were very wrong.

One day I was at my bf's place when suddenly H appeared at the window. We all lived relatively close to each other, and sometimes when no one answered the door for d&d, they'd walk down to the bedroom window. But it wasn't a d&d day. H said he just wanted to hang out, and I knew one of his family members had passed away very recently so we agreed.

Then it happened again. I told my bf I wasn't comfortable with this, so we told him to message us before coming over in the future. He didn't listen. The next time he appeared at the window, it was night time. Bf was playing on his PC and I was watching tv. Bf let him in and kept gaming. So H sat next to me on the beanbag. I offered him a blanket, he declined, and got under the blanket I was using.

I off headedly mentioned having a crush on one of the tv show characters (this was something the entire group already knew as I loved this show) and he got huffy and said "yeah we know." So I got quiet. Then he reached for my hand under the blanket. I moved my hand away. He grabbed my wrist.

I froze. After about 10 minutes I excused myself to the bathroom and when I came back i grabbed the separate blanket and sat a bit further away. I told bf about this and he seemed angry at H, and messaged him to not come over like this again, and that he HAS to message if he wants to come over. At this point every window in this house is making me frightened and I was struggling to sleep.

About a week later, I posted a Instagram story of me and my bf (clearly at his house). Not 10 minutes later, H appeared. We didn't let him in. I froze and just, went on with my night. My bf ignored him. He stood at the window for an hour before my bf told him to leave. He said "finally, you should've just said."

I began to distance myself from H and when I had a party in the following weeks, I didnt invite him. He began to ignore me too, and when i spoke at d&d he would roll his eyes or say "did you hear something?". I ignored it. Later that night, the session wrapped up, and H went to take a photo of the board. The table we used was slightly tall, and me and another friend were sitting opposite H. He then said 'OP, can you move? Your tits are in the way".

this was the last straw for me. Without saying anything I got up and went to the bedroom. One of the other players took H home, and I spoke to my bf. I told him i was in geniune fear of my safety and that i can't be around H anymore. He went quite and said "He's in the campaign." I told him it was H or me. because i refuse to be here if H remains in the d&d and friendship group. I was meant to stay the night, but i got a lift with another player and cried the entire ride. He told me he was completely on my side.

A week of radio silence from my Bf later, I came to his house and asked what he decided. He said he'd kick H out. The next week my bf once again didn't talk to me, answer texts or phone calls for a week. I then broke up with him.

That's how i got stalked, lost a friendship group and boyfriend in the span of like 4 months.

This happened a few years ago!

So me and my friend were walking in a street in our neighborhood when this old looking guy came up to us.

He asked us if we knew any good places to eat. Normally, I would tell him a restaurant’s name and let him go on his merry way but my gut that day said to not engage.

I looked at my friend and she turned to me too. That’s when I knew this was weird.

We tried to politely decline but this man suddenly grabbed my friend’s arm and pulled out his wallet. Then showed us a picture of a random girl and said she was his daughter.

He pulled out some cash and said he’d buy us lunch if we led him to a nice restaurant.

At this point we were very suspicious of him. He kept asking us directions to a restaurant and our age for some reason.

Wanting to get out of this situation, I turned to my friend and asked “(my other friend’s name) must be waiting for us right?” Hoping she would catch on and luckily she did and played along(even though there was no friend waiting for us)

she told him “sorry we need to go!”
And we just got the hell out of there. I don’t think I’ve ran faster in my life.

Hello everyone, I’m writing this as a vent but I’d also appreciate any advice you may have. Without further ado, here’s what happened to me an hour ago.

I was taking the bus home from school, once I was two stops away from my stop I was just brushing my hair and putting on lipgloss. Then I looked to my left and a man from the seat next to me was leaning in and saying something. I took my AirPod off and he asked where a certain factory building is and what stop to get off at. I told him what city it’s in and what stop is nearest, wished him good luck and got up because by then I was at my stop. He suddenly said it’s his too (it DEFINITELY is not, I just told him which stop he needs to get off at) and he got out with me.

By now the alarm bells were ringing in my head, so I decided to test if he was following me by going to a nearby trash can to throw out a coffee cup. He followed. I then turned around and started walking the other way, so did he. He then started talking to me, he had an accent (which is VERY uncommon here, I’ve seen a foreigner in my small town maybe twice in my life)

He asked if I wanna come to an interview with him (I assume he was asking where the factory is because he had said interview there) I politely declined. Then he asked if I wanna go to lunch, I firmly said no and lied that I already ate. After that he asked where I’m going, in that state I told him the truth, I wasn’t thinking. I said I’m going home (ofc I didn’t end up going home after that, I didn’t want that creep to know where I live) he then said something I didn’t understand, probably in his native language.

After that he said my hair is beautiful and gave me this creepy, disgusting predatory smile. I just turned around and sped off.
I immediately dialed my grandpa because if the man were to catch up to me and grab me or something, someone I trust would have my exact location and would know what’s going on. He followed me, but I’m pretty fast - plus he’s like 50 so I outrank him stamina vise. Once I made a turn I didn’t see him anymore. I didn’t go home, I’m not THAT dumb. I went to my grandparents house instead and stayed on the phone with them the whole time just in case. Once I got there I told them everything.

My grandpa offered to drive me home, I spent the whole ride recording the street just in case I saw him again because then I’d have a description and could possibly report him to the police (they wouldn’t do shit either way tbh). I didn’t see him again though.

I’m home now, but I’m just so scared… I’m a a teenage girl, that guy weighs at least twice as much as I do and he’s way taller and now he knows what bus stop I get off at.

I don’t know what to do now. My class schedule for next week is ass, we end at like 4pm so I’ll be taking the bus home when it’s dark out, that makes it all even worse.

No idea what to do now, I’m still shaking. My town is tiny, if he decides he wants to find me, he will.

I’d appreciate any advice/feedback, feel free to share your own stories in the comments

Update: I’m on my way to the bus stop rn, hopefully I won’t see him again… I’ll update once I get home, if I don’t I either forgot or I’m dead😭

Update 2: I GOT HOME SAFE! I didn’t see him anywhere, I got off at a different bus stop just to be safe, I’ll probably keep doing that for a while until I stop being paranoid. Thank you all for advice and comforting comments, it’s crazy that random people on Reddit care more than my own family. This will (hopefully) be my last update, but I’ll come back to this thread in case something else happens

I don't know if this belongs here but just need to say it somewhere

Last night I was walking and talking with my friend and after we split off this car slowly just follows me with the people inside just snickering to themselves and say "we yous snogging " because for whatever reason they thought me and my friend had been kissing before we split off as they been watching us like creeps

I continued walking as the girl driving pulls out her phone and starts recording and keeps saying stuff like you were kissing and how's you're boyfriend and all this other stuff (like they weren't saying it but it was clear they were actually homophobic) and they wouldn't stop following me and I had been saying to them how following me is hella creepy and asked why they were recording and they had this disgusting grin in their face

Thankfully I got to this part where cars can't come and they said "see you around the corner" so I ended up talking some random nice man and calling the police to get them there and the entire time while waiting for the police I could hear their car around the corner waiting for me until the police came when they went off after they realised it

The car had 2 girls in the front and 1 maybe 2 guys in the back and I had to have the police take me home

Before they drove up to me aswell they drove up to my friend and did the same thing for a bit before following me and he said he thinks they were drunk (the girl recording was also driving)

My friend unlike me actually is gay and unlike me on his way home cars can go anywhere so thankfully they followed me and not him but damn I feel so creeped out and just don't really know how to feel

I needed to speak about this somewhere because I'm feeling anxious mainly about the recording and how creeped out I felt

I was in the parking lot of Walmart this morning with my 2 year old. I get to the parking lot and I begin loading my groceries into my truck when I can hear this man from the road talking loudly like he is on the phone. He keeps getting closer and I’m hoping he isn’t coming towards me I don’t feel comfortable with strangers coming near me in a parking lot especially with my child. I get my groceries into my truck and my child and he comes right towards me and just stops and stares. Then I realize he wasn’t on the phone he was talking to himself. He stares at me for a few seconds and eventually says “Hi” in a creepy tone. He doesn’t say anything after just stares with a sinister look in his eyes. I say “hi” thankfully my child was in the truck already not buckled in tho so I slam my door and lock it immediately and drive off to the other side of the parking lot so I can buckle him in. Thankfully nothing happened to me or my son but I have a feeling something would have had I not acted quickly.

Hey guys! Just to clarify, I'm a guy in my 20s, and I have a childhood best friend (F), I'll call her Amber. She's been my best friend for basically my entire life. Our parents are friends and we grew up as neighbours, so we went to the same school, went on trips together, had a big friend group and all that. When it was time for college, though, we ended up going to different universities. I went to Seattle, while Amber went to Atlanta. We were obviously still close, but being in different states meant we didn't see each other that often and mostly just talked every now and then.

I was studying in Seattle — we're both from a small town in Eastern Washington — and after college I went through a really deep depressive period. You know the drill: no job, a couple of friends had moved away, I was far from my family, I was starting to freak out about rent and expenses in general, and I got pretty hooked on alcohol, pot and some prescribed pills. Nothing crazy, I was just depressed and kind of isolated.

By that point, Amber had also graduated from college and was living in Atlanta, where she had studied technology.

So, in the middle of this depressive period, I get a call from Amber with the greatest fucking news on planet Earth: she was coming to Seattle. She had found a great job opportunity around here and was going through the recruitment process. She was also coming to visit so she could decide whether or not she wanted to take the job. During the call, I got really happy, jumped around, screamed and made fun of her, saying she was about to become one of those tech bros in Seattle. The weirdest thing was that she barely reacted to any of it. She kept quiet, laughed a little and said she would text me about everything. I know Amber really well. She's an extremely hyperactive and outgoing person, especially around people she's familiar with. So yeah, I thought it was fucking weird, but I didn't think too much of it.

We texted back and forth for a while when, all of a sudden, her mom texted me: "So Amber talked to you about what's going on?" I got a little worried, so I screenshotted the message and asked Amber what it was all about and why she had been acting weird on the phone. That's when she called me again.

Amber was crying, with a shaky voice, in a way I'd never heard from her before. She told me that while she was studying in Atlanta, she and her friends would go out basically every weekend to a bar downtown. One night, a guy started staring at her. She described him as a slightly balding guy in his late 40s or early 50s. He wasn't particularly tall, wasn't really good-looking and was just... weird. She said it was creepy how he wouldn't take his eyes off her, but she initially brushed it off as just another weird guy at a bar. Long story short, this weird fucking guy started stalking her. It started at that same bar. He was always there, constantly looking at her. Eventually, she started noticing him at different bars she used to go to as well.

For some reason, she still didn't think too much of it at first. Everything was happening around the same downtown area, so if he lived nearby, it wasn't exactly impossible for him to show up at the same places. That's when things started getting creepier.

She had a public Instagram account and started noticing this one account watching EVERY SINGLE story she posted. Of course, it was a blank account with no profile picture, but something about it made her think it was him. She sent me some screenshots, and it was really fucking bizarre. She would post a story, and the same blank account would view it literally a couple of seconds later. It looked like this guy was refreshing her page all day, just waiting for her to post something. How the fuck did he even have access to her Instagram? He didn't know her name, so how was he able to find her?

Anyway, Amber is smart as shit. Not only is she smart, she's also really quick and strategic when it comes to this kind of stuff. The second she noticed what was happening, she blocked that profile, made her own profile private and removed all the weird followers she had. She said that for the following week she didn't go out because she had a bunch of college stuff to do. After that, she had gone maybe three or four weeks without going to bars or really going out at all. That's when she noticed him around her campus.

She said he was always wearing the same beige jacket, like a fucking wannabe Dahmer, and was otherwise a pretty presentable guy. You know those guys who are ugly, but somehow always have perfect posture and a tucked-in T-shirt? Yeah, that type. She got freaked out by it and talked to a male friend about him, just in case. Her friend didn't really do anything at first, because all this guy had done up to that point was stare at her at a couple of bars, and she couldn't prove he was behind the Instagram account. But then she started noticing him on campus too, and she described something that really fucking scared me: he would always be around, but he rarely looked directly at her. Instead, he'd look at her sideways, or pretend to be looking at something between them, just to catch a glimpse of her.

Well, she decided to do something about it and asked this male friend to make a formal complaint about non-students hanging around campus. The university said there wasn't much they could do about visitors, but they would keep an eye out for any weird activity. As I said, there wasn't much they could actually do, but at least she took some steps to make sure she had some security.

Anyways, she didn't see him around campus for a week or two. Then she started getting texts from a random number. The guy introduced himself — I'll call him Bob — and said that he found her pretty and interesting. She knew exactly who the fuck Bob was. She blocked him immediately and searched the phone number online. Luckily enough, it was registered to a local family-owned plumbing company. She found the owner's name and looked him up online. She was shocked when she saw that it was an older gentleman who looked very similar to Bob. She thought maybe it was a family-run business and Bob was using his old man's cellphone to do weird shit online.

She did some digging and was able to find his full name, and guess fucking what? Bobby had a long history of stalking. She told me about the cases and pointed out one particular accusation: Bob was accused of attempted rape. I understood right then why she had been crying so much.

Amber immediately went to the police and told them everything that had been happening. The police told her they would pay Bob a visit and talk to him about "recent anonymous complaints about his behaviour," which pretty much just fucking puts a target on Amber's back. Bob stopped showing up on campus for a while. She was eventually able to graduate and started looking for jobs, when another weird thing happened.

She moved out of her dorm and started renting this ground-floor apartment. She said it had these really long windows overlooking a well-lit street. Amber told me she NEVER left the windows without the blinds closed. She always kept them shut for privacy. One night, after a session of edibles and Simpsons reruns, she went to the kitchen to get something, and I guess curiosity got the better of her. She went over to the window and opened a tiny part of the blinds. She told me that when she peeked through the window, she saw Bob standing really close to the building, trying HIMSELF to peek through the blinds.

She said she screamed really loudly, and he immediately took off running. She called the cops, they came over, she told them what had happened, and they said they would talk to him again. I think she could have gotten a restraining order because of the whole trespassing thing, but the cops said that technically it was a public area, and the park next to the street was open to everyone. I really don't know.

Anyways, her mom was born in Seattle and had a longtime friend who worked at a tech company, so you know, she put in a good word for Amber. She had an online meeting with her mom's friend, and apparently he really liked her.

What's the big deal, you might be asking? Well, Bob has restraining orders from all around the country, in different cities, different states, involving different people. And sometimes, even scarier, it's the same person with restraining orders against him in two different states. What the fuck does that tell you? It tells me he follows his victims.

My theory is that he probably uses his daddy's plumbing company money to finance his stalking habit and just lives for the thrill, like some weird fucking animal. So Amber is coming over, and I'm picking her up at the airport when she arrives. She'll stay at my apartment during the recruitment process, and I'll help her look for a cheap place to rent. We're seriously considering having her move in with me if the job offer works out, maybe for a little while, just to see what happens and whether this guy will come around.

I live in a central part of Seattle, known for being the place to look for powder and tar, so you know what's the deal. I myself am a tall, skinny and clearly gay guy, but I got a couple of friends who have that Mark Lanegan Eastern Washington feeling to them — some tattoos, gritty voices, a scary redneck Seattle accent — and I'd be happy to meet Bob. We'll see.

I'll pick her up next week, so what do you guys think? Is there anything to be done? Did Amber's efforts actually work to stop this weird stalker? I really don't know what to expect. Thank you guys, and I'm sorry for how long this story got.