Latest / Martin Animations / 7 NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH HORROR STORIES ANIMATED

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7 NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH HORROR STORIES ANIMATED · Martin Animations

0:00
Speaker 1: I recently moved into this quaint suburban neighborhood, and ever since,
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Speaker 1: I've had a sense of unease. The residents here were
0:08
Speaker 1: friendly enough, always waving and offering warm smiles as I
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Speaker 1: walked by, but there was something about their gazes that
0:15
Speaker 1: left me feeling on edge. One evening, as I returned
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Speaker 1: home from work, I noticed a flyer in my mailbox,
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Speaker 1: an invitation to join the Neighborhood Watch, a group of
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Speaker 1: residents dedicated to keeping the community safe. I kind of
0:29
Speaker 1: laughed to myself. because I always thought that was sort
0:31
Speaker 1: of a thing of the past, but I considered attending
0:34
Speaker 1: a meeting, but my schedule was already packed, and I
0:37
Speaker 1: had little time for social engagements at the time. As
0:41
Speaker 1: the weeks went by, I couldn't help but notice the
0:43
Speaker 1: watch members becoming increasingly more visible. They patrolled the streets
0:47
Speaker 1: at all hours. They even had walkie-talkies, and they were
0:51
Speaker 1: crackling with static as they exchanged updates and reports. It
0:55
Speaker 1: was pretty corny. But I appreciated their dedication to our safety,
0:59
Speaker 1: but I couldn't shake the feeling that they were watching
1:01
Speaker 1: me just a little too closely. It's worth noting that
1:05
Speaker 1: these stares and unwanted attention was nothing new for me.
1:08
Speaker 1: I have a neon green mohawk and a tattoo of
1:11
Speaker 1: a moth on my neck. One night, after returning from
1:15
Speaker 1: a late shift at the office, I found my front
1:17
Speaker 1: door wide open. Panic surged through me as I started
1:21
Speaker 1: to rush inside, fearing for the worst of being robbed.
1:25
Speaker 1: To my relief, nothing appeared to be missing or damaged.
1:28
Speaker 1: and I just chalked it up to my own carelessness
1:31
Speaker 1: and resolved to being more vigilant in the future. After all,
1:35
Speaker 1: it was pretty windy, and I suppose it is possible
1:38
Speaker 1: that I could have left the door slightly open. However,
1:42
Speaker 1: the incidents didn't stop there. Over the next few weeks,
1:45
Speaker 1: I've found my trash cans overturned, my garden sort of trampled,
1:49
Speaker 1: and my car vandalized. I reported these events to the police,
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Speaker 1: but they were never any leads or suspects. As the
1:57
Speaker 1: harassment escalated, so too did my suspicion of that neighborhood
2:01
Speaker 1: watch and the weirdos that were a part of it.
2:04
Speaker 1: Through all of these incidents, the neighborhood watch was always
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Speaker 1: outside and around, and whenever I questioned them if they
2:09
Speaker 1: had seen anything, they mostly just shrugged and seemed kind
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Speaker 1: of unresponsive. I began to wonder if they were behind
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Speaker 1: these incidents and targeting me for reasons that I couldn't
2:20
Speaker 1: possibly fathom. The fear and paranoia that gripped me were palpable,
2:26
Speaker 1: leaving me constantly on edge. And I was determined to
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Speaker 1: find answers, so I decided to attend the next Neighborhood
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Speaker 1: Watch meeting. As I entered the community center, I felt
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Speaker 1: the weight of just all the eyes that were clearly
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Speaker 1: on me. The room was quiet as the members kind
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Speaker 1: of exchanged these uneasy glances, but I thought maybe I
2:46
Speaker 1: was just reading too much into their body language. The
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Speaker 1: meeting began with the usual updates and reports, but I
2:52
Speaker 1: couldn't help but notice the tension that was in the air.
2:55
Speaker 1: When it came time for new business, I mustered my
2:58
Speaker 1: courage and confronted the group about the harassment I'd been experiencing.
3:02
Speaker 1: I even went as far as to accuse the watch
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Speaker 1: of having some sort of vendetta against me. I was
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Speaker 1: met with a mixture of shock and sympathy and denial.
3:12
Speaker 1: Several members insisted that the watch had nothing to do
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Speaker 1: with the instance, while others suggested that perhaps I had
3:18
Speaker 1: made some enemies in the neighborhood, and maybe those people
3:21
Speaker 1: were the ones causing me those issues. Now as the
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Speaker 1: meeting ended, I felt a weird mixture of frustration and
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Speaker 1: kind of hopelessness. It seemed that no one was willing
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Speaker 1: to admit any wrongdoing or help me find the truth.
3:35
Speaker 1: I decided that if I wanted answers, I would have
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Speaker 1: to find them on my own. Over the next few weeks,
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Speaker 1: I conducted my own covert surveillance so to speak discreetly
3:44
Speaker 1: documenting the movements and actions of the watch members one
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Speaker 1: night i ended up having to work late when i
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Speaker 1: pulled into my driveway i noticed that the floodlight positioned
3:54
Speaker 1: right above my side door was on now feeling that
3:57
Speaker 1: hunch i decided to leave my car parked in the
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Speaker 1: road and quietly made my way to the side door
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Speaker 1: now when i made it inside i found two of
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Speaker 1: my neighbors who looked like they were trying to find
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Speaker 1: something in my kitchen I pulled out my cell phone
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Speaker 1: and started recording a video, and I couldn't believe what
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Speaker 1: I captured. My neighbors appeared to be planning something in
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Speaker 1: my kitchen drawers. Thankfully, in the video, you can clearly
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Speaker 1: see and hear them discussing calling the cops. I remain
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Speaker 1: hidden and allow the two to leave my house. As
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Speaker 1: I piece together this weird puzzle, a chilling theory sort
4:32
Speaker 1: of emerged in my head. These neighborhood watch members believe
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Speaker 1: that my unconventional appearance made me a threat to the
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Speaker 1: community's image. and they had to take it upon themselves
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Speaker 1: to get rid of me. Now, with the evidence that
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Speaker 1: I now had with the phone video, I just confronted
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Speaker 1: the police with it. Surprisingly, they were appalled by my
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Speaker 1: findings and decided to take immediate action. The guilty members
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Speaker 1: were not only removed from the neighborhood watch, but thankfully
5:00
Speaker 1: they were also arrested on several different charges. Now, with
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Speaker 1: the truth out there, the neighborhood watch in my little
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Speaker 1: town was completely disbanded. Not knowing if anyone else was
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Speaker 1: involved with these two, I found it increasingly difficult to
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Speaker 1: trust anyone within my now community. However, not long after this,
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Speaker 1: the harassment completely stopped, and my life felt like it
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Speaker 1: finally returned to normal. I had managed to expose all
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Speaker 1: of this on my own, and the ordeal hadn't made
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Speaker 1: me stronger, I guess. In the end, my actions sparked
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Speaker 1: a conversation within the neighborhood about tolerance and acceptance. People
5:38
Speaker 1: began opening up to one another. sharing their own experiences
5:41
Speaker 1: and perspectives, and as a result, our community became more
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Speaker 1: inclusive and understanding. As for me, I decided to remain
5:50
Speaker 1: in the neighborhood, determined to be a force for positive change,
5:54
Speaker 1: even though I was kind of lazy and didn't want
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Speaker 1: to leave. I even went as far as forming my
6:00
Speaker 1: own neighborhood watch, using my newfound sense of empowerment to
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Speaker 1: help protect and actually uplift my fellow neighbors and community.
6:08
Speaker 1: Now although the scars of those weeks would always still
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Speaker 1: be there, they also served as a reminder of the
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Speaker 1: strength and courage that can be found within each of us,
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Speaker 1: even in the face of all the adversity that you
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Speaker 1: might see. Now my experience taught me that standing up
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Speaker 1: for oneself and seeking the truth, no matter how difficult, weird,
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Speaker 1: and sometimes scary the journey may be, can make a
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Speaker 1: lasting impact on you and those around you. Back in 2019,
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Speaker 1: I moved from the West Coast to a small town
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Speaker 1: in upstate New York. The town had that charming feel
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Speaker 1: that you would find almost in a Hallmark movie. Everyone
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Speaker 1: seemed to be friendly and helpful, and I felt welcomed
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Speaker 1: into the community soon after moving in. Now, a few
7:01
Speaker 1: months later, one of my neighbors went door-to-door informing everyone
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Speaker 1: that there had been a theft from their shed, which
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Speaker 1: was in their backyard. The supposed thief had stolen a
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Speaker 1: weed whacker, lawnmower, and other outdoor tools. Although the news
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Speaker 1: of the theft had left some of the neighborhood shocked
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Speaker 1: and kind of scared, I didn't feel uncomfortable or really paranoid.
7:21
Speaker 1: Having lived in a rough neighborhood before, I was kind
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Speaker 1: of desensitized to theft. However, I reassured my neighbors in
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Speaker 1: a concerned voice that I would keep my eyes peeled
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Speaker 1: for any sort of behavior like that. A couple of
7:33
Speaker 1: weeks went by without any further news of any sort
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Speaker 1: of theft in the neighborhood until one afternoon when I
7:39
Speaker 1: got home from work. I found a flyer in my
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Speaker 1: mailbox with the headings, neighborhood watch the flyer wasn't really
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Speaker 1: official there's no official watch team but rather a group
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Speaker 1: of neighbors who wanted to get together to stop ongoing
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Speaker 1: thefts confused as i had not heard or been notified
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Speaker 1: of any other crimes in the area i went next
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Speaker 1: door and asked my neighbor cliff if he had heard
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Speaker 1: anything cliff was one of those kind of stoic types
8:05
Speaker 1: he was in his early 70s and a widower his
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Speaker 1: wife irene had passed away a few years before i
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Speaker 1: moved into town Even though Cliff was quiet, he was
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Speaker 1: one of the nicest people I had met since moving there.
8:18
Speaker 1: He had helped me fix my car, dishwasher, dryer, and
8:21
Speaker 1: even installed a new sliding door for me after a
8:23
Speaker 1: storm knocked a tree through the previous one. I never
8:27
Speaker 1: asked him to do any of these things, but he
8:29
Speaker 1: always insisted, saying that it gave him a chance to
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Speaker 1: get out of the house and be productive. I liked
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Speaker 1: his calm and quiet demeanor as it reminded me of
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Speaker 1: my dad. When I asked Cliff if he had heard
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Speaker 1: anything about the ongoing crime, he kind of grumbled in
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Speaker 1: his gruff voice, saying, I don't really know too much.
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Speaker 1: I guess some punks have been breaking into sheds and
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Speaker 1: stealing stuff. Nothing of mine has been stolen. I nodded
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Speaker 1: and made some small talk with him before I started
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Speaker 1: to walk down his driveway. When I was a few
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Speaker 1: feet away, he shouted to me, Hey, just be careful
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Speaker 1: and make sure you lock your doors. I did hear
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Speaker 1: that whoever's doing that is breaking into houses now, so...
9:10
Speaker 1: I smiled and thanked him for one last time. That
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Speaker 1: night was no different from any other night. I made
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Speaker 1: my dinner, had a few glasses of wine, and did
9:19
Speaker 1: some work on my computer. At around 11 that evening,
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Speaker 1: I thought that I had heard something outside, like a
9:25
Speaker 1: cough or something. I made my way to the big
9:28
Speaker 1: window in my living room and looked through the blinds.
9:31
Speaker 1: Across the street, I saw one of my neighbors outside
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Speaker 1: looking right at my house. It was strange and a
9:37
Speaker 1: little creepy, but I thought that he could have been
9:39
Speaker 1: just looking at the stars, so I just sort of
9:41
Speaker 1: dismissed it. A few minutes later, I couldn't shake the
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Speaker 1: weird and horrible feeling in my stomach. I decided to
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Speaker 1: get up and grab another glass of wine. My kitchen
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Speaker 1: is in the back of the house and I have
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Speaker 1: one of those big bay windows over the sink and
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Speaker 1: counter that overlooks the backyard. I have a big yard
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Speaker 1: that empties into a... a small wooded area. When I
10:02
Speaker 1: was pouring another glass I happened to look out the
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Speaker 1: window and I thought that I saw some movement. I
10:07
Speaker 1: shut the lights off in the kitchen so I wasn't
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Speaker 1: visible from the outside. I cut my hands and looked
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Speaker 1: through the glass of the window. To my disbelief there
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Speaker 1: was a person in my backyard looking at my house.
10:19
Speaker 1: I couldn't tell who it was as it was too
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Speaker 1: dark and they were far enough away but it was
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Speaker 1: undeniably a person. While I stood there in a sort
10:29
Speaker 1: of panic, the silhouette of the person started to jog
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Speaker 1: towards my house. I jumped back, trying to process my thoughts.
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Speaker 1: I decided to call the police but my phone was
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Speaker 1: in the other room. As I composed myself and started
10:42
Speaker 1: briskly walking toward the other room, I heard a loud
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Speaker 1: bang upstairs. I froze again. In those brief seconds of panic,
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Speaker 1: I heard heavy footsteps upstairs. I ran to the closet
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Speaker 1: in the living room and hid underneath all the blankets.
10:57
Speaker 1: My phone was still on the other table and I
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Speaker 1: didn't know what to do. At this point, I had
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Speaker 1: no idea how many people were in my house and
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Speaker 1: what kind of danger I truly was in. Within seconds
11:07
Speaker 1: of hiding, I could hear the heavy boots making their
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Speaker 1: way down my hardwood steps. In a sheer stroke of luck,
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Speaker 1: there was a knock on the door and the footsteps
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Speaker 1: stopped abruptly. The boots sounded like they were right outside
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Speaker 1: my door. Another knock on the door and this time
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Speaker 1: was followed by the line, Hello? Is anyone home? This
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Speaker 1: is the police. I heard the steps move a bit
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Speaker 1: faster and stop in another room. By the sound I
11:35
Speaker 1: could tell that the intruder was no longer near the
11:37
Speaker 1: closet door. With only one hope, I ran out of
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Speaker 1: the closet and to my front door. I opened it
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Speaker 1: up and thankfully, it actually was a real police officer.
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Speaker 1: I started to frantically plead that someone was in my
11:50
Speaker 1: house and I heard the steps go in that direction.
11:53
Speaker 1: The two officers began to run inside and in no
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Speaker 1: time at all, they were escorting a man out of
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Speaker 1: my house in cuffs. I felt sick as I stood
12:04
Speaker 1: and stared at the officers arresting the man. Not because
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Speaker 1: I had an intruder in my house, but because that
12:10
Speaker 1: intruder was Cliff. Cliff from next door. I was speechless
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Speaker 1: as he walked by. mumbling some sort of nonsense to himself.
12:21
Speaker 1: While I was outside talking to the cops I noticed
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Speaker 1: the neighbor across the street whom I saw staring at
12:26
Speaker 1: my home and the other person whom I saw in
12:28
Speaker 1: the backyard come over to me. I immediately went into
12:32
Speaker 1: defense mode thinking that these two were part of the
12:34
Speaker 1: intrusion but I couldn't have been more wrong. These two
12:38
Speaker 1: were on a late night walk and had seen Cliff
12:40
Speaker 1: going into my window upstairs. They called the police and
12:43
Speaker 1: were watching Cliff's movements upstairs. I guess they didn't want
12:47
Speaker 1: to bring attention to the situation in case I was
12:49
Speaker 1: in immediate danger. After an investigation they found out that
12:54
Speaker 1: Cliff was the neighbor thief as well. He admitted to
12:57
Speaker 1: stealing all those belongings and breaking into my home. However
13:01
Speaker 1: he never admitted what he had planned on doing inside
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Speaker 1: my home that evening which still kind of makes me
13:06
Speaker 1: sick thinking about it. I guess after his wife died
13:09
Speaker 1: and retiring from his job he was bored and was
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Speaker 1: looking for any form of excitement he could find. He
13:16
Speaker 1: found that rush from stealing and unfortunately that hunger, I guess,
13:19
Speaker 1: just kind of grew. And in hindsight, I'm thankful for
13:23
Speaker 1: our little makeshift neighborhood watch. If it hadn't been for
13:26
Speaker 1: my lovely neighbors, the end of this story could have
13:30
Speaker 1: been much different.
13:42
Speaker 2: My mother was the type of person who really depended
13:45
Speaker 2: on no one. That was until she had to have
13:48
Speaker 2: both of her legs amputated. She lived on social security,
13:53
Speaker 2: and she was not a rich woman. When she came
13:56
Speaker 2: home from rehabilitation, my brother and I had to find
14:00
Speaker 2: someone to help her get up and ready in the morning,
14:03
Speaker 2: and also to put her to bed. She was fine
14:06
Speaker 2: during the day with her trusted wheelchair. My brother worked
14:10
Speaker 2: weird hours with the railroad, and I lived far away,
14:14
Speaker 2: so we were of no help. Luckily, she had a
14:17
Speaker 2: neighbor who was a caregiver and had offered her services
14:20
Speaker 2: for $ 15 an hour. She did this professionally and I
14:25
Speaker 2: couldn't believe our good luck. I would call my mother
14:29
Speaker 2: daily to check up on her and she seemed to
14:31
Speaker 2: be just fine. One morning I had called and she
14:35
Speaker 2: was crying and she said that the caregiver's husband had
14:39
Speaker 2: been there that morning and tried to kiss her and
14:42
Speaker 2: that he made her lie naked for a very long
14:44
Speaker 2: time and it was cold. I told my mother how
14:47
Speaker 2: could that be true? Who would be trying to kiss
14:50
Speaker 2: an 80-year-old amputee? I also didn't hire an unexperienced man
14:55
Speaker 2: to take care of my mother. I called the woman
14:58
Speaker 2: and she said she had an emergency and that she
15:01
Speaker 2: had to have her husband come over and help her.
15:04
Speaker 2: I told the woman what my mom had told me
15:06
Speaker 2: and she and I agreed that maybe my mother had
15:08
Speaker 2: some dementia. She said that her husband would never do that,
15:13
Speaker 2: especially to a woman in her.
15:14
Speaker 1: 80s with no legs.
15:16
Speaker 2: My mother then told me that she didn't want them
15:18
Speaker 2: in her house ever again. Then the woman quit on
15:21
Speaker 2: us the next day with no warning. I think she
15:24
Speaker 2: must have known he was a pervert. Maybe she was too.
15:29
Speaker 2: I unfortunately am very ashamed to admit that I didn't
15:32
Speaker 2: do any background checks. The next time I visited, I
15:37
Speaker 2: had went to their house to pay them what we
15:39
Speaker 2: owed them. This was the first time I had met
15:42
Speaker 2: the husband. The husband would not make any eye contact
15:46
Speaker 2: with me I left with the feeling that my mother
15:49
Speaker 2: was probably right. Well, later in the year, the next
15:53
Speaker 2: time I visited, I heard that he was in jail
15:56
Speaker 2: for molesting his wife's granddaughters who were still in diapers.
16:00
Speaker 2: I will never ever stop feeling guilty for not believing
16:03
Speaker 2: my mother. Who the hell knows what he actually did
16:06
Speaker 2: to her? Did he drug her and molest her too?
16:10
Speaker 2: Did he go through her stuff? Did he try on
16:13
Speaker 2: her clothes? I hope that perverted bastard rots in jail
16:17
Speaker 2: where the fellow prisoners hear what he did to the
16:19
Speaker 2: little girls and old women and give him a taste
16:22
Speaker 2: of his own medicine. I grew up living in rural Vermont.
16:33
Speaker 2: We had lived on a mountain road and there was
16:35
Speaker 2: a field behind our house that I often played. There
16:39
Speaker 2: were also woods on the far edge of the field,
16:42
Speaker 2: and if you went through them, this would take you
16:44
Speaker 2: to another field. The entire thing was fenced in as
16:48
Speaker 2: cows were placed inside each summer. The field was owned
16:52
Speaker 2: by a local farmer. I often played with the cows
16:56
Speaker 2: and I had also followed them through their various paths
16:59
Speaker 2: in the woods. One day when I was around 12
17:02
Speaker 2: years old, I was playing in the woods as normal
17:05
Speaker 2: and I was riding on the back of one of
17:07
Speaker 2: the cows. She ambled slowly along and I just casually
17:12
Speaker 2: rode along eating some blackberries that I had picked. She
17:16
Speaker 2: headed down a trail in the woods that I knew
17:18
Speaker 2: would bring us out of a clearing that I'd really
17:20
Speaker 2: enjoyed sitting in. When we popped out, I glanced over
17:25
Speaker 2: at the fence as it bordered the property of one
17:27
Speaker 2: of our neighbors. This man had always made me nervous.
17:32
Speaker 2: His hair was tangled into one big mass of a knot,
17:35
Speaker 2: and he smelled horrible. Unfortunately, he was outside in his yard,
17:41
Speaker 2: and he spotted me immediately. Now, he didn't own that
17:45
Speaker 2: field or the cows, so I wasn't too bothered. I
17:49
Speaker 2: just got down off the cow's back and began to
17:52
Speaker 2: poke around in the berry patch. Suddenly, I heard the
17:55
Speaker 2: twang of barbed wire fencing then being strained. I looked back,
18:00
Speaker 2: and the man was climbing over with a rifle. I
18:03
Speaker 2: quickly ran into the woods to hide, thinking he wouldn't
18:07
Speaker 2: follow me, but he did. I could hear the sounds
18:11
Speaker 2: of sticks cracking as he pursued me. I ducked under
18:15
Speaker 2: some branches to catch my breath and I sat quietly
18:18
Speaker 2: as I could as my ears strained. He was definitely
18:22
Speaker 2: still out there, but I still had a lead on him.
18:26
Speaker 2: I knew that there was a spot a little further
18:28
Speaker 2: up where I could climb under the fence and then
18:31
Speaker 2: come out on the road. I made a break for
18:34
Speaker 2: it and I climbed out of the pasture quickly. Once
18:37
Speaker 2: I was on the road, I stopped to look backwards,
18:40
Speaker 2: assuming I was now safe. The man stepped out of
18:44
Speaker 2: the woods and he stood there pointing his gun right
18:47
Speaker 2: at me. I thought that I was going to die
18:50
Speaker 2: right on the spot. I then slowly walked backwards, watching
18:54
Speaker 2: him the entire time. Right in that moment, a vehicle
18:59
Speaker 2: came around the corner and when I then turned to
19:02
Speaker 2: look at who it was as they drove by, I
19:05
Speaker 2: turned back to the man and he was gone. I
19:09
Speaker 2: avoided that pasture for a very long time after that.
19:17
Speaker 2: I'm a 21-year-old male and my girlfriend is 20. We
19:22
Speaker 2: rented out an apartment for a month. The area was
19:26
Speaker 2: secluded and after dark, everyone would really just mind their
19:30
Speaker 2: own business. The neighbors would hardly even talk to each
19:33
Speaker 2: other or even be outside in the evening. Our apartment
19:37
Speaker 2: was in a building with four floors and each floor
19:40
Speaker 2: had a single apartment. All of the apartments were very
19:44
Speaker 2: compact and built to be rented to students. The night
19:48
Speaker 2: that we moved in, our taps ran out of water,
19:52
Speaker 2: so I went upstairs hoping to borrow some from the
19:54
Speaker 2: people living upstairs. I had realized that two out of
19:58
Speaker 2: the four apartments were vacant, and they were also locked.
20:02
Speaker 2: The apartment on the fourth floor was lit from the inside,
20:06
Speaker 2: so I decided to ring the bell, but to my disappointment,
20:10
Speaker 2: Nobody answered. Over the next week, we had gotten used
20:14
Speaker 2: to hearing the sound of someone whacking a rod or
20:17
Speaker 2: some sort of metal on maybe the floor or some
20:20
Speaker 2: other object. This would start late at night after 1.30 a.m.
20:26
Speaker 2: and then continue for hours. Initially, we didn't really care
20:30
Speaker 2: about it, but after some time, it got us intrigued.
20:35
Speaker 2: The sound was clearly from one of the apartments above us,
20:39
Speaker 2: But as I already mentioned, two of the three apartments
20:42
Speaker 2: were vacant for sure, and the third one seemed vacant
20:46
Speaker 2: as well. But as I said, it was lit from
20:49
Speaker 2: the inside. I knocked on its door many times, but
20:53
Speaker 2: no one ever answered. The whacking sound was a daily occurrence,
20:58
Speaker 2: and on some very late nights, we could hear someone
21:01
Speaker 2: climbing the building stairs. It seemed as if we were
21:05
Speaker 2: the only ones living in this building, especially during the day.
21:09
Speaker 2: and until the very late nights. We had made up
21:13
Speaker 2: theories just to try and convince ourselves that it was nothing,
21:16
Speaker 2: but the pattern of the whacking was way too irregular
21:19
Speaker 2: for it to be made by wind or something other
21:21
Speaker 2: than a person. It would start almost daily at around
21:24
Speaker 2: the same time. We had asked people around, but we
21:28
Speaker 2: didn't get any satisfactory answer. No one knew if anyone
21:32
Speaker 2: lived there. Towards the end of our stay, I saw
21:36
Speaker 2: a shady looking man going upstairs during the day. I
21:40
Speaker 2: asked him if he was the owner of the apartments upstairs.
21:44
Speaker 2: He said that he was, also including the one on
21:46
Speaker 2: the fourth floor. I asked him if anyone lived upstairs,
21:51
Speaker 2: and also about the strange whacking sound. He told me
21:54
Speaker 2: that no one did, and that he's actually looking for tenants.
21:58
Speaker 2: He also said that he had no idea about the sound.
22:01
Speaker 2: To my surprise, he then asked me, So how long
22:06
Speaker 2: are you going to stay here? Four more days. We're
22:10
Speaker 2: actually leaving on the 30th of this month. I replied.
22:14
Speaker 2: He asked me if anyone else had rented the place
22:16
Speaker 2: for the next month, and I told him that I
22:19
Speaker 2: didn't know. The strangest part is that for the next
22:23
Speaker 2: four days, there was neither the whacking sound nor the
22:27
Speaker 2: sound of someone climbing up the stairs late at night. However,
22:32
Speaker 2: My girlfriend's internship got extended by two days, and we
22:35
Speaker 2: decided to stay there. And just as I had anticipated,
22:39
Speaker 2: the whacking sound resumed after the 30th, the day we
22:43
Speaker 2: were supposed to leave. I don't know what it was,
22:47
Speaker 2: I don't think I'll ever know, but I'm just happy
22:50
Speaker 2: that we got out of that place without any crazy consequences.
22:54
Speaker 2: It really freaked me out sometimes, and I even feel
22:57
Speaker 2: weird thinking about it, even now. This truly frightening story
23:06
Speaker 2: occurred more than a decade ago, just when I was
23:09
Speaker 2: about to head into my teenage years. My friend and
23:12
Speaker 2: I were wandering around in the neighborhood I was living in,
23:16
Speaker 2: as we always did. We had strayed several blocks from
23:19
Speaker 2: the house we were staying at, when two dogs started
23:22
Speaker 2: barking up a storm at us as we passed their house.
23:25
Speaker 2: They were pet bulls. The dogs were digging around the
23:29
Speaker 2: ground under their fence, where it was clear it had
23:32
Speaker 2: been a place they had escaped before. We could tell
23:35
Speaker 2: the dogs were about to break out, so my friend
23:38
Speaker 2: and I started running. As we saw the dogs get
23:41
Speaker 2: up under the gate and start coming at us, we
23:43
Speaker 2: went into this person's yard and we shimmied up a
23:46
Speaker 2: tree which had branches for us to get up on.
23:50
Speaker 2: The dogs are now at the base of the tree barking,
23:53
Speaker 2: which made the owner of the yard we were in
23:55
Speaker 2: come out and then shoot the dogs away. As we
23:58
Speaker 2: were still in the tree, the owner, which looked to
24:01
Speaker 2: be about 50 years old, then started telling us to
24:04
Speaker 2: get into his garage so he could keep us safe.
24:07
Speaker 2: My friend and I just looked at each other, knowing
24:10
Speaker 2: between our eyes this was danger. We proceeded to tell
24:14
Speaker 2: him that we were okay and we were going to
24:16
Speaker 2: head home, but he was at the base of the
24:19
Speaker 2: tree at this point, attempting to coax us into letting
24:22
Speaker 2: him help us down. The tone and mannerisms in this
24:25
Speaker 2: guy were truly sinister, and even as young boys, we
24:29
Speaker 2: could tell he was a predator. The man kept looking
24:33
Speaker 2: back and forth on the street just to make sure
24:35
Speaker 2: that nobody was watching this go down but eventually someone
24:39
Speaker 2: walking their own dog down the road came along and
24:43
Speaker 2: I said that was my relative. We jumped down as
24:46
Speaker 2: the man backed up and we then ran up to
24:48
Speaker 2: this person like we knew them. I always wonder what
24:52
Speaker 2: would have happened if we had actually let the man
24:54
Speaker 2: keep us safe.
25:00
Speaker 3: First of all, I just want to say that if
25:03
Speaker 3: you don't explicitly know someone in real life, do not
25:06
Speaker 3: add them as a friend on any sort of social media.
25:09
Speaker 3: It could either be spam or someone trying to do
25:12
Speaker 3: something terrible to you. Anyway, this year I'd finally gotten
25:17
Speaker 3: on Snapchat. My friends had pressured me to get on it,
25:20
Speaker 3: although I didn't really want to. I just wasn't into
25:24
Speaker 3: the idea of sending or receiving pictures and videos of
25:28
Speaker 3: myself or other people. I'm not the best at presenting
25:31
Speaker 3: myself or the things in my life, and I usually
25:34
Speaker 3: wasn't interested in other people's lives. I was an introvert,
25:38
Speaker 3: by definition. Even though I didn't expect it, I was
25:41
Speaker 3: growing kind of fond of the app after using it
25:44
Speaker 3: for a few weeks. I began taking more and more selfies.
25:48
Speaker 3: I think it was helping me not care too much
25:51
Speaker 3: about my appearance.