Latest / Martin Animations / 7 CRAIGSLIST HORROR STORIES ANIMATED

Transcript

7 CRAIGSLIST HORROR STORIES ANIMATED · Martin Animations

0:01
Speaker 1: When I was 19, I was looking for a room
0:03
Speaker 1: to rent in the city I was moving to for college.
0:06
Speaker 1: It was about an hour away from my family. I
0:08
Speaker 1: wasn't having much luck, and my mom started helping me
0:11
Speaker 1: look for a place. She found an ad on Craigslist
0:14
Speaker 1: for a room for $ 300 in a house, everything included.
0:18
Speaker 1: The homeowner was a man, and he rented the additional
0:21
Speaker 1: rooms upstairs to other women while he lived in the
0:23
Speaker 1: finished basement. The ad stated he rarely ever saw the
0:26
Speaker 1: other roommates because he had a kitchen and his own
0:28
Speaker 1: entrance downstairs. and that he preferred women because he had
0:31
Speaker 1: issues with male roommates in the past partying and causing damage.
0:36
Speaker 1: We decided to take a look since it was the
0:37
Speaker 1: cheapest that we could find in the area. My mom
0:40
Speaker 1: and I went to the house to view it. Decent house,
0:43
Speaker 1: decent neighborhood. He opened the door and was very welcoming.
0:47
Speaker 1: He was middle-aged and the kitchen and living room were
0:49
Speaker 1: furnished nicely and clean. My mom loves to talk and
0:52
Speaker 1: get to know people so they were engaged in conversation
0:55
Speaker 1: while I stood there quietly and observed the place. He
0:58
Speaker 1: then said he would show me my room. We head
1:00
Speaker 1: towards the staircase to go up, as I thought, since
1:03
Speaker 1: he said on the phone my room was upstairs with
1:05
Speaker 1: the other roommates, but he opens another door and we follow.
1:08
Speaker 1: He takes us down to the basement and opens a
1:10
Speaker 1: door to a very small room, no closet and no windows.
1:14
Speaker 1: He proceeds to say this is my room and I
1:16
Speaker 1: will be sharing the bathroom in the hallway with him,
1:18
Speaker 1: and his bedroom did not have a door on it.
1:21
Speaker 1: I was definitely thinking absolutely not, this is weird, but
1:24
Speaker 1: they were so deep in conversation that I couldn't interject.
1:27
Speaker 1: He then leads us to the upstairs and shows us
1:29
Speaker 1: the other rooms which the doors were open and says
1:31
Speaker 1: they are currently rented. He then starts telling us elaborate
1:35
Speaker 1: stories about the other women, not very nice stories describing
1:38
Speaker 1: drinking problems. My mom was listening intently but I took
1:41
Speaker 1: the time to investigate further. I looked in all three
1:44
Speaker 1: rooms in the bathrooms. There was furniture but not a
1:46
Speaker 1: single item in there that looked like it belonged to
1:48
Speaker 1: a woman, no clothes or anything, only men's clothes in
1:52
Speaker 1: one of the closets. He had no problem with me
1:54
Speaker 1: creeping around his tenants' rooms without their permission. I then
1:57
Speaker 1: heard him tell my mom that he has some of
1:59
Speaker 1: his stuff in their closets but they don't mind. I
2:02
Speaker 1: was feeling really uncomfortable and started moving them back downstairs
2:05
Speaker 1: as they talked. My mom had mentioned when we arrived
2:08
Speaker 1: that her and my dad were going on vacation the
2:10
Speaker 1: next week but I couldn't go because I had to work.
2:13
Speaker 1: He brought it up again and that I should come
2:15
Speaker 1: by the next week and have dinner with him and
2:17
Speaker 1: the roomies to see if we would all get along.
2:19
Speaker 1: I said sure and we left. As soon as we
2:22
Speaker 1: got in the car I told my mom I would
2:24
Speaker 1: definitely not be living there.
2:26
Speaker 2: She was dumbfounded.
2:28
Speaker 1: I had to explain to her not only did he
2:30
Speaker 1: lie about the room I would be in, that I
2:32
Speaker 1: was not supposed to be in the basement with him
2:33
Speaker 1: as well as share a bathroom with him and he
2:35
Speaker 1: didn't even have a damn door, but also did she
2:38
Speaker 1: not notice how no one else even lived there? She
2:40
Speaker 1: still didn't get it and thought I was just being
2:42
Speaker 1: paranoid and thought he was nice and it was a
2:44
Speaker 1: cheap deal. I had to explain it to my stepdad
2:47
Speaker 1: and get him to tell her by no means would
2:48
Speaker 1: I be living there. I tried to report the post
2:51
Speaker 1: but by the time we got home that day he
2:53
Speaker 1: removed it. I think he planned on murdering me at
2:56
Speaker 1: dinner or abducting me and holding me hostage in that
2:58
Speaker 1: basement room that had no way to escape. When I
3:10
Speaker 1: was 21 years old, I broke up with my first
3:12
Speaker 1: ever serious girlfriend, with whom I had been together for
3:15
Speaker 1: eight months. Needless to say, I was devastated. I fell
3:19
Speaker 1: into a deep depression. I began abusing painkillers and Xanax
3:23
Speaker 1: really heavily. and I began looking for any chick I
3:25
Speaker 1: could find to rebound with. I ended up looking on
3:28
Speaker 1: the personal section on Craigslist and found an ad for
3:30
Speaker 1: a girl named Stephanie. I began talking to her and
3:33
Speaker 1: I arranged for her to come pick me up one night.
3:36
Speaker 1: We had intercourse that night and decided to make it
3:38
Speaker 1: a regular thing. She was an older lady, about 35,
3:42
Speaker 1: and a bigger girl but she had her own apartment
3:44
Speaker 1: and enough money to keep me loaded on as much
3:46
Speaker 1: drugs and alcohol as I wanted. To be honest, I
3:48
Speaker 1: kind of used this lady and used her as my
3:50
Speaker 1: sugar mama for lack of a better word. After a
3:53
Speaker 1: while she grew really attached to me and started to
3:55
Speaker 1: want a more serious relationship. Eventually she started dropping hints
3:58
Speaker 1: about wanting to get married. She said she wanted to
4:01
Speaker 1: do this to help me out so she could get
4:03
Speaker 1: me on her insurance so I can get help for
4:04
Speaker 1: my drug and alcohol problem which I refused to consider.
4:08
Speaker 1: One day we got into a big argument and she
4:10
Speaker 1: told the police that I had been abusing her and
4:11
Speaker 1: got a temporary restraining order on me. A week after
4:15
Speaker 1: she did this she called me crying her eyes out
4:17
Speaker 1: saying please forgive me I love you and all this
4:19
Speaker 1: other stuff and said she wanted to come pick me
4:21
Speaker 1: up buy me some dope and alcohol and get me
4:24
Speaker 1: something to eat. Being the addict I am, I of
4:26
Speaker 1: course accepted. From the moment she picked me up I
4:29
Speaker 1: noticed that she was acting kind of odd. She was
4:31
Speaker 1: usually really talkative and was always on my ass wanting
4:34
Speaker 1: to talk to me about this and that, but on
4:36
Speaker 1: this day she was oddly quiet. When we got back
4:39
Speaker 1: to her apartment, after I walked in, she immediately pushed
4:42
Speaker 1: me on the couch and pulled my pants down and
4:44
Speaker 1: began giving me head. I had been getting bad vibes
4:47
Speaker 1: off of her the whole night so after this happened...
4:50
Speaker 1: I immediately asked her for a ride back home, which
4:52
Speaker 1: she quickly agreed to do. About ten minutes after I
4:55
Speaker 1: was home, I got a call on the phone. I
4:57
Speaker 1: picked up the phone, and to my surprise, a lady
4:59
Speaker 1: on the other end said, This is the St. Louis
5:01
Speaker 1: County Police Department. We're going to need you to come
5:04
Speaker 1: outside to talk to you. I ran downstairs, hid my
5:07
Speaker 1: weed and my pills, and then walked outside to figure
5:10
Speaker 1: out what the hell was going on. When I walked outside,
5:13
Speaker 1: there were about seven different cops on my porch, and
5:16
Speaker 1: they were all pointing tasers and guns at me. One
5:18
Speaker 1: of them hit me in the back of my leg
5:19
Speaker 1: with a nightstick and put me on the ground, and
5:22
Speaker 1: I was handcuffed. The cops then talked to my mom
5:24
Speaker 1: and got permission to go inside of the house where
5:26
Speaker 1: they took a drug dog and began doing a thorough
5:28
Speaker 1: search of my room and my basement area. None of
5:31
Speaker 1: the cops on the scene would tell me what was
5:33
Speaker 1: going on. Whenever I would ask a question about why
5:36
Speaker 1: they were there, they told me I would have to
5:38
Speaker 1: talk to the detective at the station. When I got
5:40
Speaker 1: to the police station, I had a bombshell dropped on me. Apparently,
5:44
Speaker 1: this lady had accused me of kidnapping and raping her.
5:47
Speaker 1: She told the police that she had come by my
5:49
Speaker 1: house to return some of my stuff because we had
5:51
Speaker 1: just broken up, and that I had come out, held
5:53
Speaker 1: a knife to her throat, and forced my way into
5:56
Speaker 1: her vehicle, taking her back to her apartment and raping
5:58
Speaker 1: her repeatedly. Thankfully, I had remembered that we made a
6:01
Speaker 1: couple of stops on the way to her apartment. She
6:04
Speaker 1: had gone inside of a gas station to get a
6:06
Speaker 1: couple packs of cigarettes with me, so there was no
6:08
Speaker 1: way that I could have kidnapped her. The police still
6:10
Speaker 1: swabbed my d * * * for DNA, and they
6:12
Speaker 1: also took my clothes for evidence. and I was forced
6:15
Speaker 1: to spend the night in the St. Louis County Jail
6:17
Speaker 1: wearing nothing but hospital scrubs. I was released the next morning,
6:20
Speaker 1: but my ordeal was far from over. This lady began
6:23
Speaker 1: constantly stalking me. She would call me every night at
6:26
Speaker 1: odd times from blocked numbers and either begin crying into
6:29
Speaker 1: the phone or just beg to talk to me. I
6:31
Speaker 1: also began seeing her vehicle quite a lot in the neighborhood,
6:34
Speaker 1: even though she lives nowhere close to me. I called
6:37
Speaker 1: the police about this a couple of times, but they
6:39
Speaker 1: didn't really seem to care. They told me I would
6:41
Speaker 1: have to go get a restraining order on her in
6:43
Speaker 1: order to make it stop I wanted nothing to do
6:46
Speaker 1: with the court system though because I have a criminal
6:48
Speaker 1: record and I just decided to ignore her and hope
6:50
Speaker 1: that the problem would go away. After a couple of
6:53
Speaker 1: months she finally did stop bothering me. However, to this day,
6:57
Speaker 1: sometimes I get calls at 2 or 3 in the
6:59
Speaker 1: morning from blocked numbers and every new girlfriend I get
7:02
Speaker 1: she messages them on Facebook and tells them how I
7:05
Speaker 1: raped her.
7:19
Speaker 2: I used to work as an event coordinator at the
7:21
Speaker 2: Swan and Dolphin Resort slash Convention Center. Sometimes we'd have
7:26
Speaker 2: to get there at really early hours of the day
7:29
Speaker 2: before the union laborers showed up. This was to get
7:33
Speaker 2: everything ready and set up for special events and stuff
7:36
Speaker 2: like that. One day, one of my managers had cut
7:40
Speaker 2: my hours due to a budget decline in the company.
7:44
Speaker 2: This resulted in me not making as much money as
7:47
Speaker 2: I used to, which caused me to fall behind on rent. Therefore,
7:51
Speaker 2: I had to start making some money until I could
7:53
Speaker 2: either get more hours or find a new job. Eventually,
7:59
Speaker 2: I began to sell some items on sites like Craigslist
8:01
Speaker 2: and eBay, which added to my income. It wasn't much,
8:06
Speaker 2: but it was enough to financially support myself through this time.
8:10
Speaker 2: At the time, I was in the process of selling
8:13
Speaker 2: a specific type of radio from the 40s that was
8:16
Speaker 2: worth a pretty penny. It was my grandpa's radio, and
8:20
Speaker 2: I guess it somehow got passed on to me after
8:23
Speaker 2: he died. I've gotten several offers for it, but the
8:27
Speaker 2: majority of them were people trying to lowball me for
8:30
Speaker 2: prices too small. At one point, however, I get a
8:35
Speaker 2: message from a guy who seemed really interested in it
8:38
Speaker 2: who was willing to offer me $ 500 for it, which
8:41
Speaker 2: was more than the listed price. I, of course, accepted
8:45
Speaker 2: the offer, and he then told me that he could
8:48
Speaker 2: come after 5 after he got off work. This was
8:52
Speaker 2: actually better for me, as I'd be out until 4. Anyway,
8:56
Speaker 2: 5pm rolls around, and a few minutes after, I get
9:00
Speaker 2: a knock at the door and open it. Standing at
9:03
Speaker 2: my doorstep is an older looking man, maybe late fifties, tall,
9:09
Speaker 2: with a long grey beard. To describe him a little better,
9:13
Speaker 2: he looked like a biker you'd commonly see in country movies.
9:17
Speaker 2: In a very deep and raspy voice, he says, uh,
9:22
Speaker 2: hey there, I'm here for that radio. I happily let
9:26
Speaker 2: him in and show him the radio sitting on the
9:29
Speaker 2: kitchen table and even got him a snack. Oddly enough,
9:34
Speaker 2: he immediately begins inspecting the condition of it and even
9:37
Speaker 2: went as far as checking the inside. After what felt
9:41
Speaker 2: like forever, he puts it down and says he'd do
9:44
Speaker 2: it for $ 300 as the condition wasn't the best. Needless
9:49
Speaker 2: to say, of course, that $ 500 deal was out the window.
9:54
Speaker 2: He then stares at me with this intimidating look where
9:57
Speaker 2: I felt like I didn't have a choice. In the end,
10:02
Speaker 2: I had to agree and did the deal with him
10:04
Speaker 2: right then. Mind you, I'm a petite 5'7 girl, so
10:09
Speaker 2: I wasn't going to try and argue with someone like him.
10:13
Speaker 2: He gives me the money, puts the radio in his car,
10:16
Speaker 2: thanks me, and drives off. I wasn't sure why, but
10:21
Speaker 2: something about him just gave off a negative vibe which
10:24
Speaker 2: made me glad he was gone. The rest of the
10:28
Speaker 2: night was normal, where I had been watching a movie
10:31
Speaker 2: in my bed when my phone rang. The call was
10:35
Speaker 2: coming from an unknown number, but the area code was
10:38
Speaker 2: the same. Without thinking much of it, I pick up
10:42
Speaker 2: and immediately recognize the voice on the other end. It
10:46
Speaker 2: was the man from earlier calling me to thank me.
10:50
Speaker 2: What he said, however, will forever be burned into the
10:53
Speaker 2: back of my mind. Hey Sally, uh, look, thank you
10:59
Speaker 2: so much for your hospitality and kindness. If I'm being
11:02
Speaker 2: completely honest with you, I was planning to kill you
11:05
Speaker 2: with a knife I had in my back pocket the
11:07
Speaker 2: second I walked into your house. But you were just
11:11
Speaker 2: so kind, I just couldn't pull myself to do it.
11:15
Speaker 2: Take care now. Right then, my mouth draped open as
11:20
Speaker 2: humanly possible with all these thoughts racing through my mind.
11:25
Speaker 2: If I'm being honest with you, I wasn't sure what
11:28
Speaker 2: to do other than to process as to what I
11:30
Speaker 2: just heard. I would have called the police, but I
11:34
Speaker 2: later found out that the number he was using was
11:37
Speaker 2: fake from an app. That basically meant that even if
11:41
Speaker 2: police were to track the number, it wouldn't lead to him.
11:46
Speaker 2: After that, I removed the listing from Craigslist and never
11:49
Speaker 2: touched the site again. As scary as this was, I
11:53
Speaker 2: never received any updates on his identity or if he's
11:57
Speaker 2: in jail or not. There are seriously some crazy people
12:02
Speaker 2: out in the world who are willing to do anything
12:04
Speaker 2: to you. I emphasize that you please be careful when
12:09
Speaker 2: selling or buying something from sites like Craigslist. You never
12:13
Speaker 2: know who's out there. and what they're capable of. This
12:25
Speaker 2: happened when I was in my mid-twenties back in 2012
12:29
Speaker 2: when I was living in Sarasota, Florida. I had just
12:33
Speaker 2: graduated from college and had gotten a job in IT
12:36
Speaker 2: as a software engineer at a really good company. Because
12:41
Speaker 2: of this job, I was able to move out of
12:43
Speaker 2: my parents' house and get an apartment. It wasn't big,
12:48
Speaker 2: but it was spacious enough where I could store most
12:50
Speaker 2: of my stuff. When moving out, odds are you'd probably
12:55
Speaker 2: have a few items left over that you no longer
12:57
Speaker 2: needed or wanted. Well, I had the same situation and
13:02
Speaker 2: had some things I didn't need that I put up
13:04
Speaker 2: for sale on Craigslist. At the time, Craigslist was booming
13:09
Speaker 2: in popularity, where people were buying and selling left and right.
13:14
Speaker 2: One of the items I had listed was this large
13:17
Speaker 2: tote I had used back when I played sports. It
13:21
Speaker 2: was in pretty good condition, and I figured I'd snag
13:24
Speaker 2: a deal on it since sports were popular in my town.
13:28
Speaker 2: I'd say within a day, I had gotten a message
13:30
Speaker 2: from someone nearby interested in the tote. He seemed nice,
13:36
Speaker 2: didn't live too far, and was willing to pay more
13:39
Speaker 2: than what I was listing it for. Being so close
13:43
Speaker 2: to me, he'd offer to just meet me at my apartment,
13:46
Speaker 2: which would make for a smoother transaction. I'll be honest,
13:50
Speaker 2: I was a little uncomfortable knowing that him, a complete stranger,
13:54
Speaker 2: would know where I lived. That being said, I brushed
13:59
Speaker 2: it off and told him I'd do it. Later that night,
14:03
Speaker 2: I hear a knock at the door and was greeted
14:05
Speaker 2: to a man who looked to be in his mid-thirties
14:07
Speaker 2: with this Swedish accent. He immediately goes to hug me,
14:13
Speaker 2: telling me that it was a nice way of saying
14:15
Speaker 2: hello in Sweden. Being a gay guy, I didn't really
14:19
Speaker 2: mind it and thought it was a kind gesture. He
14:23
Speaker 2: hugs me for a good ten seconds before letting go
14:26
Speaker 2: and asking me for the tote. I gladly give it
14:29
Speaker 2: to him, and he then proceeds to pull out a
14:32
Speaker 2: $ 100 bill and hands it to me, making sure our
14:35
Speaker 2: hands touched. It was a little uncomfortable, but I dismissed
14:40
Speaker 2: it as something people always did in Sweden. He thanks me,
14:45
Speaker 2: hugs me again, and walks down the hallway to the exit. Now,
14:50
Speaker 2: let's fast forward till about two days later. I happened
14:54
Speaker 2: to be sick on this day and had called off
14:56
Speaker 2: work to rest. As I'm taking a nap in my room,
15:00
Speaker 2: I hear a heavy knocking on my door, which abruptly
15:02
Speaker 2: awoke me. I opened the door and was greeted to
15:06
Speaker 2: two police officers and the property manager. Confused, I asked
15:11
Speaker 2: what was going on, to which they then asked if
15:14
Speaker 2: I knew this person. The property manager showed me a
15:18
Speaker 2: photo of a man on his phone who just so
15:20
Speaker 2: happened to be the guy I had sold a tote to.
15:24
Speaker 2: I tell them yes and explain that I had sold
15:27
Speaker 2: him a bag, but that was all I ever knew
15:29
Speaker 2: about him. They take down my name, my description of him,
15:34
Speaker 2: and what he ever said to me or did to me.
15:38
Speaker 2: Whenever I asked why they needed that information, they informed
15:41
Speaker 2: me that they couldn't tell me as of now. That
15:44
Speaker 2: being said, they leave, and it wasn't until a few
15:47
Speaker 2: days later where I had finally gotten my answer. Turns out,
15:52
Speaker 2: The man I had sold the bag to had been
15:55
Speaker 2: wanted for owning 23 terabytes of CP. To put that
15:59
Speaker 2: in perspective, a single terabyte is equivalent to a thousand gigabytes.
16:05
Speaker 2: This meant that he had about 13,000 hours of content downloaded.
16:10
Speaker 2: When I was told this, I was beyond disgusted, knowing
16:14
Speaker 2: I was talking to a predator, a wanted predator in
16:18
Speaker 2: my home. The tote I had sold him was to
16:22
Speaker 2: keep certain documents that contained information on how to cover
16:25
Speaker 2: his tracks. Obviously, this plan never went through as he
16:30
Speaker 2: did end up getting caught in the end. I was
16:34
Speaker 2: interviewed for about a week by police before my complete
16:37
Speaker 2: shock slowly got back to normal. After that, I deleted
16:42
Speaker 2: my entire Craigslist account and decided to not sell anything else. Anyway...
16:48
Speaker 2: That's my story, and I hope you can take this
16:51
Speaker 2: as a learning opportunity to never trust people online. Before
17:01
Speaker 2: I begin with my story, I want to point out
17:03
Speaker 2: that this isn't the type of story to make you
17:05
Speaker 2: jump out of your seat. This is, however, a very
17:09
Speaker 2: real and traumatizing story for me. To preface this, I'm
17:14
Speaker 2: a female. currently 18 years old and live on a
17:17
Speaker 2: ranch in a very secluded small town in rural Iowa.
17:22
Speaker 2: It mostly consists of multiple farms, lands, fields, etc. I've
17:29
Speaker 2: lived there my whole life and even met some of
17:31
Speaker 2: the people in my town who were very respectful as
17:35
Speaker 2: it's a quiet little town. I won't mention the name
17:39
Speaker 2: of it as I don't want this getting out there,
17:41
Speaker 2: but it has a population of about 2,000 people. This
17:46
Speaker 2: happened during the summer of 2021, and is by far
17:51
Speaker 2: the most horrifying thing that's ever happened to me. For context,
17:55
Speaker 2: I work at a gun store in my town, which
17:58
Speaker 2: is very safe for the most part. However, I always
18:01
Speaker 2: bike to and from work, as both my parents worked
18:05
Speaker 2: late nights in the city and couldn't get me until
18:07
Speaker 2: later in the night. Well, one day, my bike had
18:11
Speaker 2: been stolen by someone from the rack right outside of
18:14
Speaker 2: the shop when I wasn't paying attention. I was obviously
18:18
Speaker 2: pissed because of this and didn't bother contacting the sheriff
18:22
Speaker 2: as they really didn't care what happened around here. Most
18:27
Speaker 2: of the time, they wouldn't take theft seriously and either
18:30
Speaker 2: half-assed investigated them or claimed that they didn't have enough evidence.
18:36
Speaker 2: With the police no longer being an option... I call
18:40
Speaker 2: my dad, telling him the situation, and he said he'd
18:43
Speaker 2: come by to get me after work. On the way
18:46
Speaker 2: home that day, he's giving me a lecture throughout the
18:50
Speaker 2: whole car ride about how I was careless. That night,
18:54
Speaker 2: I had been on my computer, searching through Craigslist to
18:57
Speaker 2: see if I could find an affordable bike to buy.
19:01
Speaker 2: I didn't need a super expensive bike, just one that
19:04
Speaker 2: would get me from point A to point B. Within
19:08
Speaker 2: 20 minutes, I had found one that seemed like a steal.
19:12
Speaker 2: It was a standard bike that seemed to be in
19:14
Speaker 2: great condition and was only $ 70. The seller was only
19:19
Speaker 2: 15 miles away from the nearest city, so it was
19:23
Speaker 2: a long drive, but it would be worth it. My
19:27
Speaker 2: parents had been at work that night, and with no car,
19:30
Speaker 2: I had taken an Uber to the drop-off spot. When
19:34
Speaker 2: my ride had dropped me off, I notice a black
19:37
Speaker 2: van parked on the side of the road with its
19:39
Speaker 2: lights turned off. It was the only vehicle in the area,
19:44
Speaker 2: so I could only assume that was him. I messaged
19:48
Speaker 2: the seller asking if that was him in the van
19:51
Speaker 2: to which he then said yes and to come over.
19:55
Speaker 2: I ever so slowly walk over towards the driver's side
19:59
Speaker 2: when I see a man roll down his window and
20:01
Speaker 2: introduced himself as Jeff. He had claimed that he was
20:05
Speaker 2: the one selling the bike and that it was in
20:07
Speaker 2: the back of the van. He then tells me I
20:11
Speaker 2: could go ahead and open the doors and just grab
20:14
Speaker 2: the bike. I then thought to myself as to why
20:18
Speaker 2: he wasn't doing it and when I asked him this
20:21
Speaker 2: he said that he had a bad knee and that
20:23
Speaker 2: it hurt to walk. Not wanting to pry and too
20:27
Speaker 2: tired to care I proceeded to walk towards the back
20:30
Speaker 2: of the van where the bike was. As I'm about
20:34
Speaker 2: to open the doors I can see very faintly from
20:37
Speaker 2: the window A man wearing a vendetta mask staring back
20:41
Speaker 2: at me. The second I noticed him, I instantly knew
20:47
Speaker 2: that this wasn't some exchange and there was definitely no bike.
20:52
Speaker 2: Not making it obvious I noticed him, I told the
20:55
Speaker 2: driver that I didn't need the bike anymore and that
20:58
Speaker 2: he could go. However, I was afraid if he had
21:01
Speaker 2: known I had seen someone else back there and tried
21:04
Speaker 2: my best to stay calm. I start running towards a
21:08
Speaker 2: nearby Walmart when the driver tries negotiating that he'd lower
21:12
Speaker 2: the price. But no matter what he said, I still
21:17
Speaker 2: ignored him, hoping he'd just go away as I knew
21:20
Speaker 2: there was no bike. I approach the Walmart and that's
21:25
Speaker 2: when the van immediately drives away, disappearing into the night.
21:30
Speaker 2: From there, I had spoken with security about the incident
21:33
Speaker 2: and that's when they had called the police. At that point,
21:38
Speaker 2: I explained where I was, what I did, and what
21:41
Speaker 2: was said. As you could imagine, the listing had been
21:45
Speaker 2: taken down, and I never saw it again. I was
21:49
Speaker 2: unable to give a good description of the van, other
21:52
Speaker 2: than the fact that it was black with windows. I
21:56
Speaker 2: had assumed the cops would tell my parents about this,
22:00
Speaker 2: but given that I was 18, the cops couldn't inform
22:03
Speaker 2: them without my consent. I had Ubered back to my
22:06
Speaker 2: house safely, with thankfully nobody following me. Till this day,
22:12
Speaker 2: I'm still unsure as to what that man's intentions were,
22:16
Speaker 2: but they obviously weren't good. I advise anyone thinking to
22:21
Speaker 2: use Craigslist to not do it, as it's not only sketchy,
22:25
Speaker 2: but also dangerous. And for those of you who are
22:29
Speaker 2: going to do it, I emphasize you please bring someone
22:33
Speaker 2: else along with you. It may just save your life.
22:41
Speaker 1: This happened about a year ago. I'm a college student
22:44
Speaker 1: and I was basically forced to move out on my own,
22:46
Speaker 1: which I didn't mind. But that meant finding a new roommate,
22:49
Speaker 1: which can be a daunting and scary experience. I've had
22:52
Speaker 1: a few weird encounters, but I think this one takes
22:54
Speaker 1: the cake. I posted an ad on Craigslist looking for
22:57
Speaker 1: a bedroom in a shared house or apartment for $ 300
23:00
Speaker 1: or less. And on my ad I mentioned... please no
23:03
Speaker 1: phone calls, only texts or email, because I find being
23:06
Speaker 1: on the phone with someone I haven't had a chance
23:08
Speaker 1: to size up a really uncomfortable situation. I'm just awkward,
23:12
Speaker 1: I guess. Anyway, I got a call from a dude
23:14
Speaker 1: who clearly didn't read the no calls part, which I
23:17
Speaker 1: mention because this type of phone call was exactly the
23:20
Speaker 1: reason I don't like to talk to strangers on the phone.
23:22
Speaker 1: At first he was just pleasant and normal, told me
23:25
Speaker 1: he had a room available and relevant information like that.
23:29
Speaker 1: We started to talk about when and where we'd meet,
23:32
Speaker 1: and he started going on tangents about random stuff. I'm
23:35
Speaker 1: in a combination of too interested in deep conversation and
23:37
Speaker 1: too awkward to end the call when it started to
23:39
Speaker 1: get weird. So this call went on for two hours,
23:42
Speaker 1: and we talked about the meaning of life and all
23:44
Speaker 1: kinds of weird stuff like that. Honestly, this should have
23:47
Speaker 1: been the red flag. And I shouldn't have met him.
23:50
Speaker 1: And of course I also should have grown a pair
23:52
Speaker 1: and told him I needed to leave. So he wants
23:54
Speaker 1: me to meet him at his place and show me
23:55
Speaker 1: the room. I've since learned that you should really insist
23:58
Speaker 1: on meeting in public first. I got to his neighborhood
24:01
Speaker 1: and it was run down on a level that made
24:02
Speaker 1: the ghetto I grew up in look nice. Saggy front porches,
24:06
Speaker 1: hot cracked concrete, sad people with old beat up Lincolns.
24:10
Speaker 1: You get the picture. His house blended right in. The
24:13
Speaker 1: yard was seriously overgrown and the front door didn't work.
24:17
Speaker 1: I went around the back and just looking at the
24:18
Speaker 1: guy standing in the doorway and seeing the kitchen behind
24:21
Speaker 1: him was enough to make me realize I really just
24:23
Speaker 1: wanted to leave. No way in hell. The guy in
24:27
Speaker 1: the doorway was a man with a sort of clown
24:29
Speaker 1: style afro. He was leaning on a cane on his
24:31
Speaker 1: right side, his eyes looked crazy, and the house smelled
24:34
Speaker 1: musty from ten feet away. Again I'm a coward, so
24:38
Speaker 1: instead of trusting my gut, I go inside, and I'm
24:40
Speaker 1: polite thinking, it's okay, it'll be over in twenty minutes
24:44
Speaker 1: and I can get out. I don't know what made
24:46
Speaker 1: me think this man who had a two-hour conversation with
24:49
Speaker 1: me on the phone about life and philosophy would let
24:51
Speaker 1: me get away that easily. He took me up a
24:54
Speaker 1: flight of creaky steps into a small bedroom with no
24:56
Speaker 1: door and a mattress on the floor. I thought no
24:59
Speaker 1: way in hell would I live with a 40-something years
25:01
Speaker 1: old man and no door on my bedroom. But it
25:04
Speaker 1: wasn't a moot point because my mind was made up
25:06
Speaker 1: before I even saw the room. I wouldn't have lived
25:08
Speaker 1: there for free, let alone for $ 200 a month. Things
25:12
Speaker 1: got weird. He tried to hold me hostage with conversation again.
25:16
Speaker 1: I think he was lonely. He talked about how some
25:18
Speaker 1: of his family were millionaires. He might have been delusional.
25:21
Speaker 1: The whole story seemed made up. Then he told me
25:24
Speaker 1: about an 18-year-old girl that has also checked out the
25:26
Speaker 1: room and tried to and told me about how his
25:29
Speaker 1: mom hated white people. He was black, I was white,
25:32
Speaker 1: and it sounded like he sympathized with her. Obviously, that
25:35
Speaker 1: was super uncomfortable. Eventually, I was able to find a
25:38
Speaker 1: break in conversation and plucked up the courage to make
25:41
Speaker 1: up an excuse to leave. I was never so happy
25:44
Speaker 1: to leave a place in my life. I don't know
25:46
Speaker 1: if he was necessarily a rapist or anything, but he
25:48
Speaker 1: really gave me the creeps.
25:58
Speaker 3: Last year, I broke my leg and was unable to
26:01
Speaker 3: do a lot of things that I typically do. I
26:03
Speaker 3: live alone in a smaller house, and my friends and
26:05
Speaker 3: family were really nice in helping me out when I
26:07
Speaker 3: first got the crutches. Soon after, though, I realized that
26:10
Speaker 3: I would have to do yard work, and I didn't
26:12
Speaker 3: want to ask family or friends to do it. Everybody
26:15
Speaker 3: in my neighborhood takes great pride in their yards. The
26:17
Speaker 3: lawns are all very green and trimmed often. There's generally
26:21
Speaker 3: nice flowers in most as well. I have a typical garden,
26:24
Speaker 3: just some basic flowers by the house. and then most
26:27
Speaker 3: of my front yard is just grass that I cut weekly.
26:30
Speaker 3: I decided to go on Craigslist to find somebody to
26:32
Speaker 3: keep up my yard for a few weeks until I
26:34
Speaker 3: would be able to again. There was only three weeks
26:36
Speaker 3: until I would be able to do yard work, and
26:38
Speaker 3: I didn't want to hire a company because I knew
26:40
Speaker 3: that would be really expensive. I found an ad on
26:43
Speaker 3: Craigslist that said, male, just graduated from high school, looking
26:46
Speaker 3: to earn money doing odd jobs during summer. He even
26:49
Speaker 3: listed yard work in the ad, and I figured this
26:51
Speaker 3: would be a good person to go with. I contacted
26:54
Speaker 3: the kid, whose name was Michael. He responded, saying that
26:56
Speaker 3: he was excited to have a job for a few weeks,
26:59
Speaker 3: and I told him he would come over once a week.
27:01
Speaker 3: The job would be cutting the grass and watering the flowers,
27:04
Speaker 3: also cutting down weeds if there were any, and picking
27:06
Speaker 3: up sticks in the yard. Probably would only take an
27:09
Speaker 3: hour or two each week. The next week, Michael arrived
27:12
Speaker 3: at my house, and I went outside to greet him.
27:14
Speaker 3: Right away, though, things seemed strange. Michael did not appear
27:18
Speaker 3: to be in high school at all. He had a
27:20
Speaker 3: full beard for starters, and I know some high schoolers
27:22
Speaker 3: can grow full beards, but he just didn't look eighteen
27:24
Speaker 3: or nineteen. more like 29 or 30. Right away, I
27:28
Speaker 3: said to Michael that I thought he said he had
27:30
Speaker 3: just graduated high school. He looked confused for a moment
27:33
Speaker 3: and then said that he looks a little older than
27:34
Speaker 3: he actually is. He admitted that he hadn't just graduated,
27:38
Speaker 3: but claimed he forgot to change his ad for a
27:39
Speaker 3: few years. More like 10 years, I thought. Still, he
27:43
Speaker 3: looked capable of doing the work, and he was already here,
27:46
Speaker 3: so I gave him the information that he needed, and
27:48
Speaker 3: he started working. I went inside and went over some
27:51
Speaker 3: work stuff. I was working part-time at home and part-time
27:54
Speaker 3: in the office at the time, Occasionally, I would glance
27:57
Speaker 3: out the window to see what Michael was doing. The
28:00
Speaker 3: first day went pretty well. He did all of the
28:02
Speaker 3: maintenance work in about an hour, and then I paid him,
28:04
Speaker 3: and he left. The next week was a bit different.
28:07
Speaker 3: There was the same amount of work to be done,
28:09
Speaker 3: if not less, but he was there for almost three hours.
28:12
Speaker 3: I wasn't quite sure why he took so long, because
28:14
Speaker 3: I wasn't paying him by the hour. But finally, he finished,
28:17
Speaker 3: I paid him, and he left. The next week, which
28:20
Speaker 3: was the last one, he was there for a lengthy
28:22
Speaker 3: amount of time again, and this time, I noticed him
28:25
Speaker 3: poking around some of the windows and areas of my
28:27
Speaker 3: house from the outside. I really didn't know what he
28:29
Speaker 3: was doing. Cleaning the windows was not part of the job.
28:33
Speaker 3: That's seemingly what he was doing, though. I was careful
28:36
Speaker 3: not to let him notice me when I watched him work,
28:38
Speaker 3: but seeing this was a little confusing. At last, he
28:40
Speaker 3: was done, and I paid him for the final time,
28:43
Speaker 3: and he left. I was glad to be done working
28:45
Speaker 3: with Michael. He was a little strange and definitely misrepresented himself.
28:49
Speaker 3: But that same night, at about midnight, I was still
28:52
Speaker 3: awake and on my phone in my bedroom, I'm a
28:54
Speaker 3: bit of a night owl, and I frequently stay up
28:56
Speaker 3: past midnight. I heard the sound of a window opening
28:59
Speaker 3: at the opposite end of my house. Immediately, I knew
29:01
Speaker 3: it was happening. I just knew it had to be Michael.
29:04
Speaker 3: Looking back, I could have been wrong, but I had
29:07
Speaker 3: more than a hunch. I didn't know what he wanted
29:10
Speaker 3: or what he was trying to do, but when I
29:11
Speaker 3: suddenly heard footsteps coming into the house, I knew I
29:14
Speaker 3: had to do something. I stepped out into my hallway,
29:17
Speaker 3: just a couple of steps. Then, I shouted as loud
29:20
Speaker 3: as I could that I knew it was Michael, and
29:22
Speaker 3: I had a gun. I didn't have a gun, but
29:24
Speaker 3: I wanted to scare him off. It actually worked and
29:27
Speaker 3: I heard footsteps moving back until I heard noises around
29:29
Speaker 3: the window again. I left my room and walked into
29:32
Speaker 3: the living room to see an open window. I went
29:35
Speaker 3: to the front of my house and saw what sure
29:37
Speaker 3: enough appeared to be Michael running out of the front
29:39
Speaker 3: yard and onto the street. It was not difficult at
29:31
Speaker 3: all for them to find Michael because his ad was
29:32
Speaker 3: still on Craigslist. I'm glad I was awake that night
29:34
Speaker 3: when he tried breaking in, or I'm not sure what
29:35
Speaker 3: would have happened.