Latest / True Horror Stories / 3 True Disturbing Craigslist Encounters Horror Stories | Vol. 2 That Will Ruin Your Online Shopping

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3 True Disturbing Craigslist Encounters Horror Stories | Vol. 2 That Will Ruin Your Online Shopping · True Horror Stories

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: In twenty eighteen, I went through a divorce that left
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: me basically without anything. I managed to move into a
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: small home, but had nothing to fill it with. I
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: needed furniture, appliances, literally everything. Obviously, this is a big
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: task to take on, especially financially, so I thought this
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: was the perfect opportunity to get some discounted stuff on Craigslist.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: My priority was on the big things like a couch,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: TV and so on, and it really didn't take long
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: to find some deals. I messaged a few people and
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: picked up a few things, and during this process I
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: found and contacted a cellar about buying their TV stand.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: It was posted for forty bucks and looked like a
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: super average wooden TV stand. The seller, Matt, was very
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: strict on when I could pick it up, though it
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: had to be after nine because of his work schedule,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: and it couldn't be on the weekend. This time frame
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: still worked for me, but I just found it kind
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: of odd how specific he was, and I figured that
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: was probably why no one had bought it yet. I
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: agreed to pick it up on a Wednesday at nine thirty,
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: and on that day I followed through. He sent me
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: his address and I headed out thirty minutes to his place.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: The town he lived in i'd only heard in conversation
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: before and had never actually been to it, and I
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: soon found out why. Most of the homes were run
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: down and very old. Even the roads were in bad shape,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: with a lot of the street lights not even working.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Pulling up to Matt's house didn't make me feel any better.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: It was just as run down looking as the others,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: with only what looked like a hallway light on inside.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: I sorted out forty bucks and shoved the bills in
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: my pocket, then stead and walked onto their porch, ringing
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: the doorbell. As I waited, I looked around at his lawn.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: He had stuff everywhere, like garden statues and just interesting
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: decorations all throughout his yard and even on the porch.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Then he opened the door. Matt was a tall and
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: skinnier looking man, probably in his forties. He had a
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: tired look, as if he hadn't slept in days, and
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: I could smell booze from his breath as he welcomed
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: me inside. If I'd known beforehand that this was who
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: I'd be buying from, I never even would have come here.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: But it was too late. For that now. As we
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: walked down the hall, there was stuff scattered all around
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: the house, not to the point like a hoarder's home
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: you'd see on TV, but more like an abandoned house
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: that had been trashed by random teenagers. When we got
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: to the living room in the back of the house,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: he pointed at the TV stand. The room was barely lit,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: making it hard to see what condition it was in.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Any chance you could turn on the light for me,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: I asked politely. Matt didn't respond, but walked over to
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: the wall and flicked on a small lamp in the corner.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: It was around this time that I got a really
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: weird feeling that something was wrong, and before I even
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: got to look at the TV stand, I heard someone
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: else behind me. Another man had come around the corner,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: standing next to Matt. He didn't say hello or anything,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: he just watched me. I was really unsure what to
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: make of this and didn't want to overreact right away,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: but was also getting really uncomfortable as that eerie feeling
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: only grew larger. I was standing there trying to think
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: of what to say or do, but then Matt walked
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: past me and stood in front of the TV. Stand.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: They were now on either side of me, facing me
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: and not speaking. Several long seconds passed as nobody spoke
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: or moved before I quickly walked past the other guy
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: and down the hallway toward the front door. As I left,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: I heard them laughing in the room behind me, like
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: this was funny, and as I got halfway to my car,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: the front door slammed shut. I can't even find any
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: reasons for what occurred that night or what those two
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: guys were trying to do. Maybe it was just some
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: sick joke they were pulling, trying to get me to
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: freak out, or maybe it was something more sinister. I
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: don't plan on finding out though. I was twenty three
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: and looking for a studio apartment to rent. I was
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: fresh out of college and had almost no money to
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: work with, only making a bit more than minimum wage,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: so I really needed the absolute cheapest place I could find.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: At first, I was looking for one bedroom and studios,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: but over the following weeks it became apparent that that
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: was just not in the budget. Reluctantly, I went on
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: to Craigslist and looked at their section for housing. I
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: knew this site had some bad reputation, but one of
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: my friends had a good experience and vouched for it,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: so I gave it a go. The first day of
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: looking on Craigslist, I didn't find anything, though I got
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: a bit of hope seeing there were a lot of listings,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: they just weren't in my area or price range. I
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: think it was on the third or fourth day that
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: I reloaded the website and found a new listing that
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: piqued my interest. It was for a place a few
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: miles away. I clicked on it and looked at all
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: the details, seeing it was a studio and a small
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: apartment building. The pictures were really low quality, like so
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: pixelated that I couldn't see anything, but with everything else
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: seeming good, I sent the owner a message. He replied
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: quickly and we scheduled a tour later that day around seven.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: From our quick back and forth, I saw nothing unusual
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: about this guy. His messages were very professional, and he
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: seemed happy to show me the place. A couple hours later,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: I got in my car and started driving over to
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: the address he sent me. I should mention that I
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: knew before beforehand that this wasn't a very nice area
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: of our city, but it's the cheapest area, and honestly,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: I didn't think it was that bad, though in hindsight,
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: maybe I was just being naive because it was my
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: only option. Anyway, I pulled up to this rather old
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: looking apartment building. I parked on the side of the
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: street and got out, texting the man that i'd arrived,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: and walking up to the front door. I didn't see
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: the man anywhere, so I buzzed the room and waited
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: for a few seconds. Then the door unlocked. I stepped in,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: greeted by a staircase in the middle in two rooms
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: on either side. Before I even got to looking at
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: the room numbers, a voice yelled from somewhere above the staircase,
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: saying they were on the third floor. Assuming the man
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: was talking to me, I started walking up At this point, though,
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: I was beginning to wonder why he didn't meet me
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: at the door, especially since he was so professional when texting.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: As I reached the top of the steps, there was
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: a small hallway with two doors, one of which was open.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: I walked over and looked inside, seeing a man standing
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: a few feet away and looking over at me. He
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: greeted me and shook my hand, then showed me inside,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: but immediately I was confused. The place had a couch, TV, chairs,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: and even food on the counters. It was clearly lived in.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: Does someone else live here? I asked kindly. The man
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: quickly replied with a short laugh and said no one
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: lived here and everything would be gone by tomorrow. I
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: smiled and said okay, but that response didn't come off
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: the right way to me. He started leading me further
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: in hinting out features of the place, but it suddenly
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: came across me that this wasn't even a studio. There
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: were multiple doors which had to lead to other rooms.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: This was at least a one or two bedroom apartment,
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: and there was no way the price could be what
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: he said it was. It seemed like he noticed my
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: suspicions as he stopped what he was saying and moved
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: toward the hallway. He opened one of the doors that
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: was clearly to a bedroom and started telling me to
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: take a look inside. But before I could answer, we
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: were interrupted when my phone chimed. I pulled it out
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: of my pocket and checked who it was. My face
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: went pale seeing it was from the man from Craigslist,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: asking where I was. I looked up in horror realizing
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: what had happened, and I could tell that whoever this
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: guy was in front of me knew that I I
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: figured it out. This terrifying moment passed and the guy
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: didn't move or say anything. He just stood and looked
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: at me with a blank stare. After a moment, I
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: hurried out of there and down the stairs, not hearing
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: the guy follow I got in my car and left,
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: being so horrified. I never even texted the actual man back,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: as I was no longer interested in staying anywhere near
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: that place, and I didn't know if maybe he was
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: in on it too somehow. But whoever that guy was
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: that lured me into his home was so close to
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: being able to probably abduct me. I don't know, and
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: I don't even want to know. But I never opened
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: Craigslist again. After that night. I was on Craigslist for
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: the first time in probably five years. I'd forgotten about
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: the site, never having any need or use for it,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: and never really hearing about it anymore. But due to
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: my moving situation, I needed to get rid of a
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: bunch of random things. I initially called a junk removal company,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: hoping they would just take everything, but their estimate was
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: over four hundred dollars for getting rid of just a
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: couple things. So that's when I went to Craigslist. I'd
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: put up a listing for free stuff and had pictures
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: of all the things I was giving away. Maybe I
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: just didn't know how it worked nowadays, but I thought
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: i'd get a lot of responses from people wanting to
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: pick up free stuff. However, I barely got any, and
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: the ones that did respond to the listing ended up
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: ghosting me after couple texts. Then, about a week after
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: making the listing, a man who introduced himself as kJ
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: reached out. He said he wanted to pick up my
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: couch and was good to do so on any day.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: I really thought this was just going to be the
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: same as all the other people that reached out, so
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: I didn't put much effort into getting this man to
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: actually come pick up the couch. I let him know
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: that I worked between nine and five, so if he
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: wanted to pick it up, he could just let me know. Again,
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: I didn't think he'd actually come, but sure enough, in
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: the morning before work, he sent me a text saying
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: he'd like to swing by tonight. I told him that
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: was great, and as I left work that night, I
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: sent him my address. The drive home was only twenty
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: ish minutes, but I'd hope he comes sooner rather than later,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: because I didn't want to waste my night waiting on them,
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: even more so if they didn't end up showing. When
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: I pulled in to my driveway, though a car was
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: parked on the curb right next to my house, nobody
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: was in it, and it was the only car parked
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: on the whole street, so it seemed clear that they
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: were at my house. Thinking it was CAJ I quickly
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: got out and ran out to my front door, but
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: he wasn't there. It was in the back of my
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: mind that this could be just some crazy coincidence and
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: the car was for someone else's house, but I wasn't convinced.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: I got inside and sent a text to kJ asking
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: what his eta was. Then I stood by the window
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: and looked outside. After ten or so minutes, I still
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: hadn't gotten a response. I didn't see anyone outside either,
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: so I calmed myself down and turned away from the window.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: I went to the kitchen, pouring myself a drink and
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: just standing there when a small thud sounded from upstairs.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Unaware of what it was, I put my drink down
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: and listened. There were a few seconds of silence, then
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: suddenly heavy footsteps were running down the stairs. I was
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: so caught off guard. I just stood where I was
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: and stared down the hallway as a man appeared at
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: the other end, running right to the front door. He
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: swung it open and ran out, and when I made
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: it to the front he was already driving away in
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: that car that was parked on the curb. I was
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: still stunned, trying to process what happened because it was
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: all so sudden and quick. Eventually I got my phone
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: out and called the police, then tried calling kJ, but
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: he didn't pick off, which meant to me that it
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: was definitely him who had broken in. When the police investigated,
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: they found that Kj's phone wasn't registered to a name
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: or address, so we were back to square one. Nothing ever,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: did come of it, despite me trying multiple times to
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: get the police back on the case. As far as
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: I know, nothing was stolen, So maybe he didn't have
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: enough time, or he was waiting for me. Maybe that
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: thought I heard was him accidentally giving himself away, so
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: he took his chance to run now that he didn't
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: have the surprise on me. But whatever really happened, all
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: I can do is hope that he never comes back.