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3 True Fat Shaming Horror Stories That Will Change Your Perspective · True Horror Stories

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: This happened last month, right before the weekend. I live
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: alone and am quite used to doing things on my own.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: I don't usually go shopping at dusk, especially alone, but
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: I'd gotten off work late and Costco was on my
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: way home. I figured it'd just be quick, grab what
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: I needed, and head out before it got dark. I
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: wasn't even thinking about being careful. That's what makes this worse.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: By the time I pushed my cart out into the
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: parking lot, the gloomy sunset had taken over the sky
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: and shadows stretched long between the parked cars. My cart
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: was full, so I was more focused on not leaving
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: anything behind. I quickly reached my car, opened the trunk,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: and started filling it with shopping bags. Once it gets dark,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: it'll be difficult to see because I parked further from
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: the street lights. I was on my own when I
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: heard breathing behind me. Hey, excuse me, do you have
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: jumper cables? Turning back, I met a man. He was
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: standing just a few feet away. He was probably in
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: his forties at least that's how he looked. His greasy,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: dark hair, stained shirt and sunken eyes told me might
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: be bad news. Something about him immediately set off alarm bells.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Although he didn't appear overtly dangerous, the way he stood
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: too close and smiled made me uneasy. I wanted to
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: tell him to back off, as he was totally clueless
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: about personal space, but I forced a polite smile. No, sorry,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: I don't. I turned back to my car, hoping that
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: he would get the hint, but I heard him take
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: a step closer. Are you sure you look like the
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: kind of person who keeps things organized?
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: Can you check your car please?
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: I stood petrified. My eyes immediately scanned the Costco parking lot,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: which had only cars and no people, and who was
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: getting dark? Now I could smell the stale odor of
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: sweat from the guy's shirt. Without turning back, I replied coldly, sorry,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: can't help you, still wishing he'll go away, but instead
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: he brought his face way closer to my head, and
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: he sniffed my hair like a dog. I felt his warm,
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: foul breath on me. The horrible realization that a random
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: guy was standing right behind me sniffing my hair doesn't
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: occur every day. I turned around, no longer trying to
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: hide my disgust. What the hell are you doing? He
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: gave this sleazy grin as if this is how he
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: wanted me to react. Didn't want a pride, But you
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: get your shampoo here at Costco?
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Smells amazing.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: I was stunned to see his audacity, seeing him so close,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: I forgot to speak. But he was completely shameless because
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: he kept going with his little, too personal questions like
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: what other things I get from Costco? How often I
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: visit this place, et cetera, et cetera. I didn't answer
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: any but that, and he asked me something that sent
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: a chill down my spine. Do they sell underwear?
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: How about you show me the ones you're wearing right now?
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: My wife's about your size. I want to get something similar.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: My hands went numb. I genuinely thought I was about
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: to be assaulted right there in the parking lot. I
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: closed the trunk tightly, got inside my car and locked it.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: I just wanted to get out so bad that I
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: didn't even buckle my seat belt. The man watched me
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: for a few seconds and then got into a Honda
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: with a dark blue hue parked right behind me. Once
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: I got onto the road, his car was following me.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Drops of sweat appeared on my forehead as I watched
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: him driving past other cars to catch up to me.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Every turn I made and every lane I changed, he
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: trailed behind me. I dodged cars and sometimes even sped
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: just to lose him, but he was one bloody leech,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: too desperate.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: To let go.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: For the next half hour, I drove in loops across
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: side streets instead of straight home, since I didn't want
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: him to know my address. However, he clung to my side,
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: never stray too close or too far. I was shaking
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: and almost broke down crying. When I thought of the
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: adjacent police station, I ignored red lights and grounded it
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: toward the main road. I watched his car slow down
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: behind me as soon as I entered the precinct parking lot.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Then he turned the other way like he's got a
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: sudden emergency. I staggered into the lobby and blurted everything
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: to the front desk officer. They took my statement, helped
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: me cool off, and watched Costco parking lot security footage.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Two days later, they contacted me once more. As it happens,
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: the man had just come out of jail. He registered
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: as a sex offender, carrying several charges related to stalking
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: and harassment. He had no business being anywhere close to
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: that area. They said I was lucky. I do not
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: consider myself lucky. I still check behind me as I
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: leave work. Even now. Occasionally I smell his breath while
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: I sleep, and I haven't visited that Costco since. To
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: all the women out there, if you're ever alone and
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: someone approaches you too closely, trust your instincts. I still
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: find it terrifying to enter Costco or any other large retailer,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: due to an incident that occurred when I was seven
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: years old. I often forget the reason we went there initially,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: as that one horrifying encounter overshadowed nearly all my childhood memories.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Maybe Mom needed to get milk or paper towels and
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Dad was at work, so I just tagged along. It
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: was an ordinary weekday afternoon. We didn't have many big
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: stores where we lived, so entering Costco was like taking
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: part in an adventure.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: For me.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: It was enormous, packed with every single thing that existed.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Innumerable aisles, brilliant lights, high shelves, cool air, and free
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: samples made my eyes glitter in awe. I was clutching
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: mom's hand because she kept saying I could get lost
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: in here. When we walked, I'd bounced in place and
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: kept asking whether we could visit the toys or books
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: once she's finished. Two seconds, baby, I just need to
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: get some new soup flavors for dinner, she replied. When
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: we stopped by the instant food aisle and Mom got
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: busy checking it, she let go of my hand to
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: reach across the aisle to grab.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: The soup packets.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: That was the moment I spotted a man. He slowly
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: walked up to me with this not so genuine smile.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Though it was summer, he wore a windbreaker and had
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: a ragged beard. He bent slightly down and leaned in
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: toward me. Hey, buddy, want to check out the toys
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: with me? Now, I was just seven, but my mom
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: did teach me about stranger danger, so I glanced at
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: my mom, who was a few inches behind me. The
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: man kept his voice so low that I bet no
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: one hurt him other than me. I nodded my head
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: and no, and then called out for my mom. Seeing
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: me do that, he left quickly. I didn't tell Mom
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: about him, because she grabbed my hand again to move
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: to another section for the next twenty minutes we explored Costco.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Mom got all she needed and even bought me a toy,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: so our expedition was highly successful. She was heading for
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: the checkout when I told her that I had to
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: use the washroom, which was at the right. She nodded
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: in agreement and pointed me in the direction of the washroom,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: reminding me not to talk to anyone and that she
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: would be waiting right here. I headed toward the restrooms
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: from the rear of the store, turned right, and was
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: just about to enter when someone grabbed me from the back.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: I turned around to see it was the same man,
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: and now I'm alone in this corridor with him. He
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: reached out and firmly grabbed my wrist. His other hand
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: swept over my mouth before I could yell. His fingers
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: smelled like sweat and trash. I started crying, but my
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: muffled screams died down.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: In my throat.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: I recall his face up close. His eyes were wide
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: and swirled side to side, though he kept murmuring something.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: Like stay quiet, that's okay.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: It wasn't okay at all. I then took the only
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: action that came to mind. I bit as palm as
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: hard as I could. My teeth dug deeper on that
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: needy side of his hand. He yelled and removed his
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: hand from my mouth For a second. That's all I needed.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: Gathering all my breath, I yelled for Mom, Although I'm
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: not sure whether she could hear me from that distance,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: the scream was loud enough to draw the attention of
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: two Costco employees who were arranging shelves nearby. The man
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: pushed me to the ground and then sprinted away without
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: waiting another second. Lying on the ground, I kept crying
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: for my mom until the employees came and picked me up.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: One stayed with me while the other called security. Shaking
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: and crying, I tried to explain what had happened. My
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: mother arrived a minute later. That was the first time
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: I saw my mom crying in public. She hugged me
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: to her chest and continued crying for god knows how long.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: The Costco security looked through the CCTV footage and did
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: find the guy walking in and leaving as well. He
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: wandered around without making any purchases for more than an hour.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: He lurked at the children's books and toy sections suspiciously,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: even looked at the cameras occasionally like he despised being record.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: They called the cops, but he was never caught. Currently,
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: I'm in my thirties, and every time I go to
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: a bathroom stall alone, while just walking down those empty corridors,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: I get a flashback of my memory from that day.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: I never look away from my niece whenever we go shopping,
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: to consider what might have happened if I had followed him.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: That day still scares me to sleep. I used to
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: work overnight shifts at Costco. You punch in after the
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: store closes and spend the next eight hours immersed in forklifts, pallets,
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: and an overwhelming silence. Most nights were uneventful. We spent
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: our night's restocking shelves, enjoying our music and making jokes
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: to keep ourselves awake. But there's one night I'll never forget.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: It was around two thirty in the morning. I was
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: assigned to restock near Doc three, the far end of
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: the warehouse with the emergency exits and load bays are.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: It's always a little colder and quieter back there, like
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: even sound avoids that corner. I had my headphones in
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: but low enough to hear if someone called out. I
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: was casually checking the delivery receipts of new stock when
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: I noticed the corridor leading to the emergency door. The
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: corridor was in darkness, but the door was cracked open,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: letting the yellow gleam of the street light outside peek in. Now,
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: these doors are always supposed to stay shut. Not only
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: are they alarmed, but it's a major security risk to
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: have them unlocked or a jar. We had previously received
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: a warning about this issue, so I assume someone just
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: forgot to pull it shut all the way, maybe one
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: of the truck drivers or even a coworker who went
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: for a smoke. I started walking over, figuring i'd close
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: it and let security know. But when I got within
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: about fifteen feet, I stopped. There was someone standing in
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: the end corner of the corridor. He was trying his
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: best to blame. In the dark, I couldn't see him clearly,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: but I could make out a shape. It was a
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: man with messed up hair, and he was watching me.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: Who's there, I can see you. He didn't say a
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: word and didn't move. He just stood there like he
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: was waiting for something. At first, I thought it might
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: be a homeless guy or a worker locked out. But
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: something about the way he stood completely still, like a statue,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: I reached down slowly to grab my radio from my belt.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: The second my hand touched it, the man bolted. He
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: didn't say a word, he just turned and sprinted into
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: another corridor leading to the left. It was gone before
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: I could even speak into the mic. I grabbed a
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: flashlight and checked the corridors, only to find nothing but void.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: My mind wanted to believe he was gone, but my
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: gut feelings spoke otherwise. I got back to restocking the aisles.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: From time to time, I kept glancing at the long
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: empty corridors. Fifteen minutes went by and I had just
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: started believing that the man's gone when I felt something
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: wet on the back of my neck. It seemed like
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: drops of water. But the ceilings of Costco are well built.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: It's impossible to have any leakage, So where did the
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: water come from? My eyes kept searching the high ceilings,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, I felt the aisle in
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: front of me shut her. Am I getting sick or
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: assist an earthquake? I was just hoping to check the
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: other side when I saw a head rising above the
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: top shelf. The man was looking at me from the
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: top of the shelf. He had climbed up and was
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: watching me like some deranged peeping tom. Guess what the
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: water drops were? As druel that brief encounter we had,
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: I will never forget his eyes. They were staring me
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: down like hungry wolves. I screamed at the man and
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: called the security immediately. The aisle trembled once again as
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: he climbed down and ran for the emergency exit. Security
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: came down with flashlights. A few of the other night
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: staff helped check the area, but we didn't find anything.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: No one saw where he went. Everyone tried to brush
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: it off, thinking it was some attic looking for shelter.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: The next afternoon, I got called in early for my shift.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: A security manager wanted to show me something. He brought
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: me into the back office where the camera feeds or
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: stored and pulled up footage from the night before. He
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: didn't say anything, just let it play. I watched myself
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: on the screen, stacking inventory and organizing palettes. Everything looked
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: normal then way in the background, barely visible unless you
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: were looking for. It was the emergency door, and someone
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: was already there. A man had been standing in the
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: shadows for over an hour. He would occasionally lean forward
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: and slowly, very slowly push the door open in by inch.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: Then he'd pull it back like he was testing something,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: like he was trying to see how close he could
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: get without being noticed. The whole time, his face was
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: hidden in the dark, but his posture hunched slightly, head tilted,
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: looked off almost inhuman. Whoever that man was, he knew
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: where the cameras were, he knew when to move, and
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: worst of all, he wasn't just watching, he was waiting.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: I transferred to another shift a month later. I still
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: work nights, but never in a building that big or
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: that empty. Now, every time I pass an emergency door,
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: I check it twice