Latest / True Horror Stories / 3 Allegedly True Craigslist Marketplace Horror Stories That Will Change the Way You Shop

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3 Allegedly True Craigslist Marketplace Horror Stories That Will Change the Way You Shop · True Horror Stories

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This happened last summer. I'm a thirty two year old
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: male and I live alone in an apartment outside of
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the city. At the time, i'd just moved in and
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: had thrown away a lot of old stuff that I
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: had for my other place, so I was occasionally scrolling
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: through Craigslist and Facebook marketplace looking for a few furnishings.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: The two things I needed the most were a coffee
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: table and a TV stand, but I wasn't in too
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: much of a rush, so I didn't mind searching for
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: a couple of weeks if I had to. I remember
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: it being a Monday night and I had just gotten
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: home from work. I was scrolling through some posts on
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Craigslist at the dinner table and came by a coffee
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: table that I liked, cheap, not too old, and in
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: good condition. I sent an email and continued scrolling, but
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: not even twenty seconds later I got an email ply back.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: The man Cole said he could sell it to me,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: but it had to be tonight because he was moving
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: out and planned to throw it away in the morning.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Having nothing else to do that night, I responded, sure,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: just let me know where to pick it up from.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: He sent over an address, and I did a quick
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Google search of it. The house was twenty five minutes
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: away in a neighborhood i'd never been to before. I
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: told him to give me an hour and i'd be there.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Although I was tired and it was pretty late, I
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: didn't mind doing a quick pickup. I was also just
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: happy to finally get a coffee table for my living room.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: I finished eating my meal at the table, then got
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: in my car and started driving there. There was a
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: light drizzle outside, so I was hoping the table wasn't
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: too heavy and we could quickly get it in my
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: car without getting water damage. The drive there felt long,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: going down some white roads until ending up in a small,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: poorly lit neighborhood. By poorly lit, I mean that there
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: were very few street lights, all being dim, and most
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: of the houses had their lights off. It was late,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: so I didn't expect everyone to be up at this time,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: but still it was a bit creepy when I found
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: the house. It was a small, one story place, one
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: of the few houses that had its lights on. As
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: I turned into the driveway, I saw a man standing
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: in the corner of the garage, seemingly searching for something.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: When I put the car in park. The man looked
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: over at me, then quickly ran inside. I waited for
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: a minute, thinking he was going to come back out,
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: but he didn't. I exited my car and walked into
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: the garage, knocking on the door. Then I knocked again,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: but nobody was answering. I wasn't sure if I should
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: go to the front door or what, but it was
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: giving me a weird feeling, and I was starting to
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: think of just leaving when the door suddenly opened. It
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: was a different man than I'd seen in the garage,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: but he introduced himself as Cole. He invited me in
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: to check out the coffee table. I followed him into
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: the living room. The table looked as it did in
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: the pictures and wasn't broken or anything, so I was
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: good to buy it. Cole was making small talk with me,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: telling me about his new place he just bought, but
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: every time I tried to interrupt and say I'd like
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: to buy the table, he would keep talking. It started
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: to get uncomfortable standing there listening to him talk over
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: me for five whole minutes. It felt like more of
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: a distraction, like he was keeping me there. I finally
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: just cut him off and said I was in a
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: hurry and needed to get home soon. He stopped talking
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: and said I could have it for free. I suspiciously
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: said okay, then asked if he could help me haul
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: it into my car, and we both grabbed it and
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: started walking it through the house. It wasn't super heavy,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: but it definitely was a two person lift. We got
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: it into the garage and set it down for a rest,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: but right away I heard someone running up behind me.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: They came from the side of the house, running up
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: to me, wearing a mask and hoodie. I froze up,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: both scared and confused. The man wasn't very aggressive, and
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Cole just stood there with a blank face. The man
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: asked for my wallet and phone, holding up a knife
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: at me. I put my hands up, but I really
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: didn't feel threatened enough to comply. He asked again, louder
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: this time, but I took my chances and sprinted for
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: my car. The man lunged at me, but I kept running,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: getting in and locking the door. Before they could do anything,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: I backed out and drove away, and that's when I
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: noticed a cut on my arm that went through my shirt.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: The man must have slashed me, but in the moment
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: I didn't even notice. I pulled over a few roads
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: down and called the police, providing them with an address
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: and description of the two men. To sum it all up,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: the cops questioned Coal, which was actually his name, and
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: after a brief interrogation, he admitted the masked man was
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: his buddy and they were just trying to rob me
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: with no intention of selling anything. They were both young
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: and it was their first time trying something like this,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: so I guess they were nervous, and that's why it
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: felt so strange. Lucky for me, the cut on my
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: arm wasn't deep at all, not even needing stitches. When
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: it came down to it, they were given a few charges,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: but nothing too serious. I'm glad I chose to run, though,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: because I worry that if I had let them take
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: advantage and rob me, then they would have had the
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: confidence to continue doing it After this, though, I don't
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: think they'll be trying that again. I know I'll be
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: criticized for this, but I used to be a frequent
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: user of Craigslist. In my defense, I always met in
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: public places and made sure to talk on the phone
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: and everything before going out and meeting them. For me,
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: it was the easiest place to sell random items around
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: the house or to buy things that would otherwise run
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: my account into the negatives. For years, I had nothing
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: happen at all. I'd met tons of random people and
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: bought or sold more things than I can count. But
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: after this everything changed. I was searching around for a
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: bicycle and came across a nice one for cheap. Maybe
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: not that nice, but it just looked like a normal
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: bike and was said to still work, which was fine
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: for me. I emailed the person about my interest and
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: they replied within the hour saying it was still available
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: for the listed price. We had a quick phone call
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: discussing where and when to meet up, eventually deciding on
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: a gas station that was halfway between both of us.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: The agreed on time was six thirty on the day
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: of drove and got to the gas station fifteen minutes early.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: He said he would be driving a blue Chevy truck,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: so I stayed on the lookout. Thirty minutes went by
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: and the man still hadn't shown. The sun was setting
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: and I really didn't want to do the deal in
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: the dark, so I texted him asking if he was close.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: A minute later, I got a call. Sorry, I'm on
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: my way right now, be there in a few minutes.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Then he hung up abruptly, without letting me say anything.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: He spoke in a rush, which made it hard to
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: tell if I should be worried about the strange nature
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: of the call or if he was just trying to
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: get here quickly because he knew he was late. I
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: sat in my car waiting another fifteen minutes for him
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: to finally show up. The truck he drove was really
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: old and beat up, not exactly making me feel good
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: about buying something from him. Him, I got out and
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: greeted him. He was an average height man, wearing baggy clothes,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: looking around twenty to thirty years old, and for lack
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: of a better word, looked dirty. He had gross hair,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: and his clothes looked like they'd never been washed. He
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: walked around to his truck bed and opened it, pulling
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: out the bike. Surprisingly, it was in perfect condition. It
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: didn't look like anything fancy, but it was definitely well
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: taken care of, unlike everything else with this man. I
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: did a quick walk around and wrote it for a minute,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: and it was all good. But then I put everything
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: together in my head and instantly lost my excitement. This
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: bike was almost definitely stolen. After seeing the man in
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: his truck, there was just no way this could be
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: his bike. For the bike being at least five to
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: six years old, there wasn't a single scratch or speck
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: of dirt on it. Once the thought came into my head,
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: I knew I wouldn't feel comfortable buying it unless I
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: was sure it wasn't stolen. I tried to be discreet
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: about it and asked, so, how long have you had it?
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: Few years? He responded That gave me nothing, So I
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: asked why he wanted to sell it. Pretty common question,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: I think, but his response threw me off. What's it matter?
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: It works right? He looked at me with an impatient
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: and rude face. Ironic how he was the impatient one.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: After making me wait for him to show up, I
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: said I no longer wanted it and told him to
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: have a nice night, then went to open my car door.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: The man was quick to force my door shut before
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: I could fully open it. Nah, you're buying it. I
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: didn't come out here for nothing. I knew this was
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: a bad situation, but I saw a few cars and
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: people right by us, at the gas station, so I
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: wasn't too worried. I expressed my concerns about where he
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: got the bike from and that I wasn't going to
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: buy what wasn't his. He hesitated, then shoved me against
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: my car and yelled at me to give him the money.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: He hit me again, and I was forced to pull
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: out my wallet and give him all my cash. He
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: jumped back in his truck and drove off, almost causing
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: an accident on the way out of the gas station.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: I looked around at the three or four people who
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: were just standing there watching, Not to single one of
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: them helped me or even stayed to be a witness.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: Cops never found him, so I was out one hundred
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: bucks not to be that person. But I also kind
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: of lost faith in humanity. No one cared to help me,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: but they all cared to watch me get beat up
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: and robbed in public. I posted an old laptop for
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: sale on Craigslist a few months back. It worked just fine,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: but I had to buy a better one for work,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: and I really had no reason to have two. I
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: wasn't looking for much. I think I listed it for
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: eighty dollars, which was a really good deal. After a
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: few days passed with no responses, I mostly forgot about
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: it until I checked my emails again a week later
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: and saw i'd gotten a message. They simply said they
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: wanted to look at it and asked if it was
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: still available. I replied, and later that day they got
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: back to me. They said they could swing by tomorrow,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: and we agreed on five o'clock. Later that night, I
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: realized I never got his name. The email address he
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: was sending from was some personal email that looked more
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: like a gamer tag, so it wasn't that helpful. I
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: didn't think too much of it, assuming he just didn't
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: realize what address he was using. On the following day,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: I reached out and sent him my address A few
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: hours before five. It was my day off, so I
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: was going to be home all day. Around four thirty,
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: I checked my emails again, but the guy still hadn't
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: responded to my last message. Maybe he didn't feel like
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: it needed to be responded to. I went over and
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: opened the blinds on the window so I could see
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: when he pulled up, then sat on my couch and
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: turned on the TV. I was sitting there for almost
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: an hour, watching TV and glancing out the window every
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: few minutes, but they never showed. Considering our last contact
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: was from yesterday, I figured he had second thoughts and
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: was standing me up. In all honesty, I didn't think
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: that much about it. I just continued watching TV and
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: tried to enjoy the rest of my night as I
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: normally would. By eight o'clock, I was dozing off on
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: the couch, in and out of sleep when I woke
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: up to a sound at my back door. After gaining
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: full consciousness, I got up and looked over, seeing nothing
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: out there. I flicked the porch light on just to
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: be sure, but the backyard was empty. The sound I
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: heard was hard to identify because I wasn't even awake,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: but I thought it was the sound of someone trying
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: to open the door. I went around and made sure
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: all the doors were locked, then checked the windows to
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: see what I could see until a knock came at
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: the front door. Quietly walked up and looked out for
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: the peepole. There was a guy, late thirties maybe on
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: my porch. He was pacing back and forth and talking
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: under his breath. Then he stopped and came back up
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: to the door and knocked again. Who is it, I asked,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: keeping the door closed and still looking out the peepole.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: He stared at the door, then said he was trying
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: to talk to the homeowner. The way he said it,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: with a stutter and slurred words, made it obvious he
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: was on something or wasn't right in the head. I
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: chose not to respond, and once the guy realized this,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: he called out again, saying he really needed to talk
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: to me. He was pacing again, acting really unsettling. While
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: keeping an eye on him, I took my phone out
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: of my pocket and dialed nine one one. Knocked again
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: while I was on the phone, but then he ran
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: off the porch toward the garage. I immediately went to
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: get my newer laptop and pulled up the live feed
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: from my security camera that I had just above the garage.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: On the footage, his car was parked all the way
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: up my driveway, probably just a few inches from touching
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: my garage door, and the guy was using a crowbar
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: to try and wedge the garage open. He looked insane,
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: but it scared the shit out of me. After some
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: failed attempts, the guy went in his car and was
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: shifting around trying to find something in his glovebox before
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: getting out and hitting my garage with his crowbar, then
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: driving away. Despite providing the security footage showing the man
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: and his car to the police, the guy remains unidentified.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: It's also unclear if he was related to the Craigslist posting,
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: but I'm convinced it was. I don't know what that
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: guy wanted or what he would have done had he
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: gotten inside.