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8 Thanksgiving Horror Stories That Will Ruin Your Family Gathering · True Horror Stories

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Speaker 1: Christmas is a time of year to be happy, merry,
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Speaker 1: and joyful, at least for most people. I love spreading
0:07
Speaker 1: cheered to family and friends on Christmas. My joyful mood
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Speaker 1: usually translates to my co workers as well. My work
0:13
Speaker 1: in customer service, which many people know, can be a
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Speaker 1: nightmare at Christmas time, so it helps to try and
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Speaker 1: stay upbeat well. On this specific Christmas Eve, customers were
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Speaker 1: doing some final Christmas shopping before Christmas Day. Right at
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Speaker 1: the end of my shift, I cashed out a pretty
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Speaker 1: normal looking guy, I would say the average height range
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Speaker 1: of like five foot seven and maybe hundred and fifty pounds.
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Speaker 1: He had parted black hair glasses and was probably in
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Speaker 1: his mid forties. He was buying some fairly normal stuff
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Speaker 1: and not really anything Christmas related. The whole interaction was
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Speaker 1: mostly friendly and till the very end when I said
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Speaker 1: something I now wish I didn't say. I ended our
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Speaker 1: transaction by saying, in my bubbly voice, thank you sir,
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Speaker 1: and have a happy holiday. He stopped and turned back
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Speaker 1: to me and said, what did you just say? I responded,
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Speaker 1: nervously and semi confused, have a happy holiday. He stormed
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Speaker 1: back to my register and screamed at the top of
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Speaker 1: his lungs, it's merry Christmas. I backed away in a
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Speaker 1: slight panic and just said, okay, sir, I'm sorry. He
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Speaker 1: walked away mumbling to himself, but I could tell he
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Speaker 1: was furious by his recent actions. For a couple of minutes,
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Speaker 1: I kept staring outside, and I could see him pacing
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Speaker 1: in front of the store, still seemingly mumbling to himself.
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Speaker 1: A few people actually came into the store and said
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Speaker 1: that there was someone outside talking about Christmas and Jesus' birthday.
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Speaker 1: I began a panic, thinking this guy was going to
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Speaker 1: come into the store again, or wait until I got
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Speaker 1: out and try to follow me home or something. Well,
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Speaker 1: Luckily for me, my boyfriend worked at the same store
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Speaker 1: and he was driving us to my mom's house for
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Speaker 1: a Christmas Eve party the end of the night. We
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Speaker 1: left shortly after six, and at first I was relieved
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Speaker 1: when I didn't see the man outside. We were almost
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Speaker 1: to my boyfriend's car when we saw the man running
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Speaker 1: after us from the side of the store. My boyfriend
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Speaker 1: opened up the back seat door so I could hop in,
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Speaker 1: and he stood there in front of the car. My
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Speaker 1: boyfriend said in a stern voice, Hey, is there a
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Speaker 1: problem man? The man, still in a rage, said that
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Speaker 1: lady has no respect for Jesus or Christmas and she
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Speaker 1: should be punished. My boyfriend, confused, told the man to
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Speaker 1: back away and leave us alone, and the crazy man
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Speaker 1: actually tried to jump past my boyfriend to get into
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Speaker 1: the car to punish me or whatever that meant. My
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Speaker 1: boyfriend slammed the guy down to the ground and got
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Speaker 1: in the car and we drove off like fools. We
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Speaker 1: decided on the drive not to call nine one one
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Speaker 1: because we didn't want to bother them on Christmas Eve,
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Speaker 1: so we thought and just wanted to get the event.
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Speaker 1: On December twenty sixth. We did alert our store manager
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Speaker 1: of the situation so we could call the police if
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Speaker 1: the guy ever came back into the store. I still
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Speaker 1: work at the store, and almost a year later, I
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Speaker 1: have never seen that man again. I can say for
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Speaker 1: certainty that I will never say Happy Holidays again. I
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Speaker 1: love Christmas. It has always been a great day to
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Speaker 1: spend with my family. And call me cheesy, but I
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Speaker 1: really just enjoy the spirit of the day. My whole
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Speaker 1: family and I had just finished a beautiful Christmas dinner
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Speaker 1: and most of my family went into the living room
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Speaker 1: to wait for me to exchange presents. Christmas Day was
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Speaker 1: when we did presents with grandparents and cousins. I was
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Speaker 1: in the kitchen watching dishes with my brother Jake and
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Speaker 1: cousin Teresa. While I was washing dishes, I looked out
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Speaker 1: the window and thought, I know to somebody up on
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Speaker 1: my shed. I didn't really let it bother me because
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Speaker 1: I figured it was some kind of shadow from the tree.
4:07
Speaker 1: After a few more minutes of washing, I noticed the
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Speaker 1: figure again, and this time I was definitely sure that
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Speaker 1: it was a man. I told my brother and cousin
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Speaker 1: to look out the window, but don't make it obvious.
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Speaker 1: They noticed it as well. We all talked quietly among ourselves,
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Speaker 1: trying to figure out what we should do. Our thought
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Speaker 1: was that this man was technically trespassing in my back yard,
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Speaker 1: so we decided to call the police. They told us
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Speaker 1: that they would send somebody out to take a look
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Speaker 1: right away. Trying not to panic and hoping everything stayed
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Speaker 1: how it was until the police showed up was not easy.
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Speaker 1: The kids started to get restless as well as the
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Speaker 1: grandparents were wondering what was the hold up. My parents
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Speaker 1: knew something wasn't right, but they did a really great
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Speaker 1: job of keeping everybody in the living room. After a
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Speaker 1: couple of minutes, we noticed the man starting to approach
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Speaker 1: my house, and he wasn't alone. There were three more
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Speaker 1: men that came out from behind the shed. They started
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Speaker 1: to surround my house. Confused and terrified, we tried to
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Speaker 1: remain calm. What happened next was nothing shy of a
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Speaker 1: Christmas miracle. The flashing lights appeared and we heard a
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Speaker 1: minor altercation outside the house. The officers were able to
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Speaker 1: catch one of the men while the other three fled
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Speaker 1: while somehow not bringing a lot of attention to my
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Speaker 1: family inside. I spoke with the cop outside and gave
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Speaker 1: my statement. What turns out, my cousin, Teresa had broken
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Speaker 1: up with her boyfriend several months before Christmas, and the
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Speaker 1: man they detained was in fact her ex boyfriend. Teresa
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Speaker 1: had started seeing somebody new, and this man figured the
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Speaker 1: new boyfriend would be at the house for the Christmas party.
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Speaker 1: Her ex and his friends clearly planned on attacking him,
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Speaker 1: or at least putting a good scare into him, so
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Speaker 1: I thought, until the officer informed us that my cousin's
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Speaker 1: ex was equipped with a knife and brass knuckles in
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Speaker 1: his pocket. Luckily, nobody got hurt, and I'm not actually
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Speaker 1: sure what kind of trouble we got into for this.
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Speaker 1: The rest of the night went smooth. Then we opened presents,
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Speaker 1: but I had an uneasy feeling for the rest of
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Speaker 1: the night that the other men might return and try
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Speaker 1: to finish the plan they started. Being the father of
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Speaker 1: two small children, Christmas Eve is usually a very early
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Speaker 1: night for my family, because the kids wake me up
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Speaker 1: around six a m. For Sanna's presence. At about ten pm,
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Speaker 1: I got into bed with my wife and started to
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Speaker 1: fall asleep. Shortly after this, I was jolted awake by
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Speaker 1: our doorbell. I jumped out of bed and ran down
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Speaker 1: the stairs, more angry than anything else that some idiot
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Speaker 1: ran my doorbell on Christmas Eve after eleven PM. With
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Speaker 1: two small children asleep. Without even thinking, I opened the
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Speaker 1: door and said, what do you want? It was an
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Speaker 1: old man with a dirty black beard. He was wearing
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Speaker 1: a red jacket and red sweatpants. His face was filthy.
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Speaker 1: He said, in a slow and haunting voice, please let
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Speaker 1: old Chris Kringle come inside and get warm. I slammed
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Speaker 1: the door in his face and said through the door,
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Speaker 1: if you don't leave right now, I'm calling the cops.
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Speaker 1: The man was quiet for a moment and then knocked
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Speaker 1: on the door slowly. I yelled one more time, trying
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Speaker 1: not to wake my kids. Do you want to be arrested?
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Speaker 1: He then started to bang on my door vigorously and relentlessly.
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Speaker 1: My wife then ran down the stairs, who I might
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Speaker 1: add as a third degree black belt and asked what
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Speaker 1: was going on. I told her to call the police
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Speaker 1: and then make sure the kids were all right. The
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Speaker 1: man must have heard me on the phone because he
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Speaker 1: stopped knocking. I could hear him muffle through the door
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Speaker 1: say Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night,
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Speaker 1: and then he laughed as he walked away. After feeling
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Speaker 1: a slight moment of relief, thinking this ordeal was over,
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Speaker 1: I decided to wait at the front door until the
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Speaker 1: police showed up. A cop showed up several minutes later,
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Speaker 1: and I explained the situation to him. He stated that
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Speaker 1: he had no other calls or similar reports like this
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Speaker 1: to night, and that's when we heard my wife scream
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Speaker 1: from the kid's room. The police officer headed up the
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Speaker 1: stairs first with me right behind him. The man was
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Speaker 1: trying to break into the window where my daughter slept.
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Speaker 1: The cop immediately tazed and arrested the man, who just
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Speaker 1: kept saying, don't worry, I'm Santa Claus over and over again.
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Speaker 1: The situation was never really explained to me. Apparently he
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Speaker 1: was just a homeless man who was wandering around. The
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Speaker 1: cop said that he may have been possibly on something.
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Speaker 1: Either way, I never sleep quite right on Christmas any more. First,
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Speaker 1: let me say I come from a somewhat unconventional family.
9:11
Speaker 1: We are all a little weird or wacky in our
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Speaker 1: own way. Sometimes we get along great and sometimes not
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Speaker 1: so much. On Christmas Day, my parents and I usually
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Speaker 1: stay home and don't see any of our extended family. However,
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Speaker 1: this past year, we decided to go to my grandmother's house.
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Speaker 1: This is a little different because my grandmother and I
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Speaker 1: have a very rocky relationship with one another. I have
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Speaker 1: overheard my dad mentioning stories about my grandmother and my
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Speaker 1: now deceased grandfather that bordered on child abuse. I remember
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Speaker 1: being really young and my grandparents screaming at me for
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Speaker 1: the smallest things, and my parents abruptly taking me home.
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Speaker 1: But anyway, I'm in my twenties now, and my father
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Speaker 1: decided since it was Christmas, we could give spending the
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Speaker 1: holiday at my grandma's a chance. The days started out
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Speaker 1: pretty uneventful and dare I say pleasant, A lot of
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Speaker 1: conversations and happy memories. My dad and aunt were reminiscing
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Speaker 1: about snowball fights and such from their childhood. There was
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Speaker 1: a healthy conversation about politics, which I thought for sure
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Speaker 1: would change the mood, but surprisingly did not. After several
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Speaker 1: hours and a nice dinner, everyone made their way to
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Speaker 1: the living room for coffee and it just hang out
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Speaker 1: in the couches. I left my coffee on the kitchen
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Speaker 1: table and made my way to the back of the house,
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Speaker 1: where the only bathroom was. I washed my hands, fixed
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Speaker 1: my shirt, and walked out of the bathroom. When I
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Speaker 1: walked into the hallway, I was greeted by my grandma,
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Speaker 1: who was just standing there staring at me. I said, Hi,
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Speaker 1: what's going on? And I tried to keep walking, but
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Speaker 1: she wouldn't move. Now, this is a narrow hallway and
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Speaker 1: you're only fitting one across. Excuse me, please, I said,
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Speaker 1: semi annoyed, yet still she did not budge at all. Finally,
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Speaker 1: She spoke up and said, what do you think you're doing?
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Speaker 1: She sounded nervous and almost a little angry. I was
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Speaker 1: just going to the bathroom, I said, starting to get
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Speaker 1: uneasy about the entire situation. She started to poke my
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Speaker 1: chest and said where is he? At this point I
11:20
Speaker 1: was beyond confused. I told her I had no clue
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Speaker 1: what she was talking about. Where's who? I finally shoved
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Speaker 1: past her and started to make my way down the
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Speaker 1: long hallway. That's when it happened. I heard her scream
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Speaker 1: like a banshee and chase me down the hall. I
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Speaker 1: turned around, and she lunged at me with a small
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Speaker 1: kitchen knife. She was trying to stab me. She just
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Speaker 1: kept screaming, where is he? Where is he? At this point,
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Speaker 1: she had fallen to the ground, trying to take me
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Speaker 1: down with her. After a minute of this, my father
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Speaker 1: finally came running in with my aunt and lifted her up.
11:57
Speaker 1: I was too scared to use any force because I
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Speaker 1: didn't want to hurt her, but I also didn't want
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Speaker 1: to get stabbed. I was so angry and upset. I
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Speaker 1: started to grab my things and told my family I
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Speaker 1: was leaving. As I made my way toward the door.
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Speaker 1: She walked back into the living room and said, in
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Speaker 1: a calm voice, Oh, where are you going? You haven't
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Speaker 1: even finished your coffee. I just left and didn't even respond.
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Speaker 1: This woman, my grandmother tried to stab me, and I
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Speaker 1: still have no idea why. I found out several weeks
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Speaker 1: later for my cousin that after my father and I left,
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Speaker 1: my grandmother cried for hours and was basically inconsolable. She
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Speaker 1: didn't know why we were so angry and left so abruptly. Clearly,
12:45
Speaker 1: my grandma had some sort of episode that night that
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Speaker 1: she can't remember. But there are so many unanswered questions,
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Speaker 1: like who is she referring to. I haven't seen or
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Speaker 1: spoken to her since. My dad did try to reach
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Speaker 1: out and explain to her why we left and why
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Speaker 1: we won't be coming back, but she doesn't believe he
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Speaker 1: is telling her the truth when he transcribes the events
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Speaker 1: back to her. The worst part about all of this
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Speaker 1: is that this will probably be the Christmas that I
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Speaker 1: always remember the most. This is a short story that
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Speaker 1: happened to me approximately three to four years ago. I
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Speaker 1: used to work for a charitable company that would distribute
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Speaker 1: presents to families or individuals in need during the holiday time.
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Speaker 1: For the most part, I love this job. I paid
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Speaker 1: decently well and was incredibly rewarding, but on this one
13:42
Speaker 1: specific Christmas Eve, it was enough for me to never
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Speaker 1: want to do something like this again. I usually worked
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Speaker 1: or traveled with another associate named Jose, but since it
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Speaker 1: was Christmas Eve and it was our last stop, I
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Speaker 1: told him I would go alone and he would go
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Speaker 1: home to his wife and an enjoy what was left
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Speaker 1: for the holiday. It was about five p m. So
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Speaker 1: it was getting pretty dark as I made my way
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Speaker 1: toward the recipient's house. I arrived and went up to
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Speaker 1: the door with a big tote of presents, all wrapped
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Speaker 1: and ready to be distributed as they pleased. A man
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Speaker 1: answered the door in pajama pants and a skin tight
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Speaker 1: sleeveless shirt. The guy was overweight and clearly did not
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Speaker 1: take care of himself. He looked like he hadn't shaved
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Speaker 1: or showered in weeks. I said to him, in my
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Speaker 1: still bubbly voice. Hi, I'm Jamie and I'm here to
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Speaker 1: drop off the presents. He stared at me and smiled
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Speaker 1: with his yellow, unbrushed teeth. He looked right at me,
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Speaker 1: and said, well, you sure are pretty, which freaked me
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Speaker 1: out a little bit. I just awkwardly smiled and said thanks.
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Speaker 1: He then said, honey, I've a lot of trouble with
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Speaker 1: my back and I can't lift these presents. Will you
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Speaker 1: please bring them into my living room for me? Like
15:00
Speaker 1: a fool, I complied, as this wasn't an uncommon request
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Speaker 1: to bring the presents in the home for those receiving them.
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Speaker 1: I walked in and the man shut the door behind me.
15:10
Speaker 1: I walked slowly in his near pitch black house. When
15:13
Speaker 1: I noticed in the few seconds of being in this
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Speaker 1: house was that there were no signs of children, Christmas decorations,
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Speaker 1: or anything that even looked remotely festive. I turned around
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Speaker 1: to ask him where I was going, and that's when
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Speaker 1: I noticed him. He was hunched over and staring at
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Speaker 1: me like I was a piece of meat basically salivating.
15:35
Speaker 1: He started to approach me and put his arms out
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Speaker 1: like he was going for an embrace or a hug.
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Speaker 1: More creeped out than I've ever been in my entire life,
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Speaker 1: I decided the answer was to just run away. I
15:47
Speaker 1: dropped the presents there and ran to the door. He
15:50
Speaker 1: locked it behind me. The knob was locked, and so
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Speaker 1: was the chain. I quickly was able to get them
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Speaker 1: undone and out of the house without any further incident.
16:00
Speaker 1: I got into my car and called my supervisor and
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Speaker 1: explained the situation to him. Only told me next made
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Speaker 1: my eyes fill up with tears. I had mixed up
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Speaker 1: two of the numbers of my GPS when I set
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Speaker 1: out for the house. I was on the wrong block
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Speaker 1: and clearly at the wrong house. The guy wasn't expecting
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Speaker 1: presents and played along to get me into his house.
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Speaker 1: I have no idea what his intentions were, and and
16:25
Speaker 1: thankful nothing else happened. Running through the scenario on my
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Speaker 1: head makes me wonder how I was able to undo
16:31
Speaker 1: the locks before he grabbed me or made a move
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Speaker 1: towards the door. However, his pause and action or change
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Speaker 1: of heart may have very well saved my life. The
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Speaker 1: traumatizing events of this story happened to me several years ago.
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Speaker 1: This is the first time I am sharing my story
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Speaker 1: publicly in hopes it may help others who read it.
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Speaker 1: At the time, I was a mother of a four
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Speaker 1: year old daughter. Her name is Juniper and she is
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Speaker 1: my entire life. The day of these events, my husband
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Speaker 1: was at work, so I decided to do some Christmas
17:07
Speaker 1: shopping at the mall. On the way in, Juniper saw
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Speaker 1: Sana sitting in the middle of the atrium and began
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Speaker 1: jumping because I assumed she associated Sana with presents. We
17:17
Speaker 1: decided to get into line, even though it was long,
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Speaker 1: we could get a picture and she could tell Sana
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Speaker 1: what she wanted for Christmas. When it was finally Juniper's
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Speaker 1: chance to sitting on his lap, I immediately felt uncomfortable.
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Speaker 1: I didn't like the way he was staring at her.
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Speaker 1: His eyes were big and looked as if though he
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Speaker 1: had been on something. She sat there for a moment
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Speaker 1: and told the man what she wanted as I watched,
17:40
Speaker 1: filled with anxiety. After about two minutes, he got her
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Speaker 1: off his lap and winked goodbye to her and said
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Speaker 1: Merry Christmas. Happy this ordeal was over, we did a
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Speaker 1: little bit of shopping we had to do and pressed
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Speaker 1: on through the day. While I was browsing around one
17:56
Speaker 1: of the clothing stores, I looked up and thought I
17:58
Speaker 1: noticed the mall Sanna's sitting outside of the store we
18:01
Speaker 1: were in. Not taking any chance, as I grabbed Juniper
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Speaker 1: and walked out of the other entrance of the store.
18:07
Speaker 1: After a little while longer of shopping, we decided to
18:10
Speaker 1: get some lunch in the food court of the mall.
18:12
Speaker 1: I kept my eyes peeled because I just had mother's
18:15
Speaker 1: intuition that something wasn't right. We were finishing our food,
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Speaker 1: and literally as we were about to get up the mall,
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Speaker 1: Sanna came over to our table. He walked right up
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Speaker 1: to Juniper and said, in a jolly Sanna like voice,
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Speaker 1: Hey there, Juniper, remember to be good so Sanna can
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Speaker 1: come and bring you lots of presents. She was so excited,
18:38
Speaker 1: and so were all the people around me. It's easy
18:40
Speaker 1: to say what you would do in that situation, but
18:43
Speaker 1: I just stood still. I thought, freaking out my daughter
18:47
Speaker 1: and rushing her away from Sanna would be a traumatizing event.
18:50
Speaker 1: So I grabbed her hand and told her it was
18:52
Speaker 1: time to go. She said goodbye to Sanna and we left.
18:56
Speaker 1: That night, at home, I told my husband about the
18:59
Speaker 1: entire story. He was angry, but agreed with my course
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Speaker 1: of action. The next day, I woke up at about
19:05
Speaker 1: eight a m. My husband was already gone for work
19:08
Speaker 1: for the day. I happened to look outside and saw
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Speaker 1: a strange blue car that I had never noticed parked
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Speaker 1: outside my house. This didn't really bother me, considering it
19:17
Speaker 1: could have been any one, but it was just peculiar.
19:21
Speaker 1: At about eleven a m I looked out the window
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Speaker 1: again and noticed the car was still in the exact
19:26
Speaker 1: same spot. I made the choice to go out to
19:29
Speaker 1: my mail box in the front of my home and
19:31
Speaker 1: investigate the car. The car was empty except for the
19:34
Speaker 1: passenger seat. There was a Santa hat on the seat.
19:39
Speaker 1: I tried not to jump to any conclusions, but it
19:43
Speaker 1: was just starting to make too much sense in my head.
19:46
Speaker 1: I ran inside and called my husband. He said I
19:49
Speaker 1: was grasping at straws, but decided to come home anyway
19:52
Speaker 1: to make sure I was okay. A couple of minutes later,
19:56
Speaker 1: my worst fear was realized. I looked out the window
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Speaker 1: and saw the man in his car. It was the
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Speaker 1: Malsanna and he was taking a picture of my house
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Speaker 1: with his cell phone. Once he saw me, he drove away,
20:10
Speaker 1: and he drove away so fast I couldn't get the
20:12
Speaker 1: license plate number. Minutes later, my husband came home and
20:16
Speaker 1: I explained what I saw. We called the authorities, but
20:19
Speaker 1: there really wasn't anything that could be done. I felt
20:22
Speaker 1: angry with myself that I looked at the car all
20:25
Speaker 1: morning and couldn't get a license plate number. My husband
20:29
Speaker 1: stayed home from work the next day just in case.
20:32
Speaker 1: At about noon, we walked around the house and noticed
20:35
Speaker 1: footprints outside of Juniper's window, footprints in the snow that
20:39
Speaker 1: neither of us left. That night. I couldn't sleep. I
20:44
Speaker 1: felt like I was just waiting for something horrible to happen.
20:47
Speaker 1: My husband, Juniper, and I all decided to have a
20:50
Speaker 1: camp out in the living room so she could be
20:52
Speaker 1: with us all night. Shortly after midnight, my husband and
20:55
Speaker 1: I were alerted to the sound of a car pulling up.
20:59
Speaker 1: It was the Mall Sanna car from the day before,
21:01
Speaker 1: and he was approaching the house with a giant bag
21:04
Speaker 1: in his hand. I called the police as my husband
21:08
Speaker 1: stalked him through the windows. The lights were off, so
21:11
Speaker 1: the Malsenna couldn't see us through the windows. He made
21:15
Speaker 1: his way all the way to Juniper's window. He started
21:18
Speaker 1: to tap on the windows, almost as if though he
21:21
Speaker 1: was trying to wake her up. My husband stood on
21:24
Speaker 1: the other side of the window, trying not to scare
21:26
Speaker 1: him away until the cops came. That's when we heard it. Hey, Juniper,
21:31
Speaker 1: it's Senna. Come take a ride in my sleigh and
21:35
Speaker 1: I'll show you the reindeer. Praying that the cops would
21:38
Speaker 1: show up any minute, I sat in the fetal position,
21:41
Speaker 1: not knowing if this lunatic had a gun or any
21:43
Speaker 1: other weapon. He kept tapping and whispering, it's me Senna.
21:50
Speaker 1: Finally the cops showed up, and when we heard the
21:53
Speaker 1: sirens out front, my husband jumped out the window and
21:56
Speaker 1: tackled the Molsenna. My husband yelled for the car, and
22:00
Speaker 1: the cops detained the man. He didn't have any weapons
22:03
Speaker 1: on him, but his car did have duct tape and rope.
22:08
Speaker 1: It gives me nightmares to this day thinking of that
22:11
Speaker 1: horrible situation and what could have happened. My Christmas miracle
22:15
Speaker 1: is that my family is safe and my daughter didn't
22:17
Speaker 1: have to really experience any of the intense feelings my
22:20
Speaker 1: husband and I did over those couple of days. If
22:25
Speaker 1: you was a parent to have instincts about the safety
22:27
Speaker 1: of your child, please follow them. If I would have
22:31
Speaker 1: just left them all when I felt uneasy, I could
22:33
Speaker 1: have possibly avoided this entire series of events. This happened
22:47
Speaker 1: two years ago, but I always think about it Every
22:51
Speaker 1: Christmas Eve. We spend the evening at my grandparents house,
22:54
Speaker 1: where we have a feast and swap presents with cousins,
22:57
Speaker 1: all the people we won't be with on Christmas Morning.
23:01
Speaker 1: It was a merry and festive evening and spirits were high,
23:05
Speaker 1: if not a little worn out. On our way home,
23:08
Speaker 1: Pulling into our driveway, we instantly felt something was off.
23:11
Speaker 1: The corner of our house. Decoration lights were hanging haphazardly
23:15
Speaker 1: free of the roof, and something else we couldn't quite
23:18
Speaker 1: pinpoint right away. Luckily, the kids were already asleep from
23:22
Speaker 1: the soothing dark car ride, so we sat in the driveway,
23:25
Speaker 1: the motor off and ticking as it starts to cool.
23:28
Speaker 1: Did we live that many lights on inside? My husband
23:32
Speaker 1: asked me, because he would never he is a stickler
23:35
Speaker 1: for turning out lights before we leave. I shook my head.
23:38
Speaker 1: Now the Christmas tree was the only thing we left on,
23:42
Speaker 1: But now there was a soft glow from the windows
23:44
Speaker 1: at two ends of the house, one being the primary
23:47
Speaker 1: living room area toward the front where we were, and
23:50
Speaker 1: the other the window at the left side of the house.
23:52
Speaker 1: The hallway bar our bedroom, and it slightly lit the
23:55
Speaker 1: side yard between our house and the neighbor. We both
23:58
Speaker 1: agreed that it looked like someone was or had been
24:01
Speaker 1: in our home. Call the cops. Stay in the car
24:04
Speaker 1: with the doors locked. He re cranked the car and
24:07
Speaker 1: I didn't even bother getting out. I just slid over
24:10
Speaker 1: the center console until the driver's seat, just in case.
24:13
Speaker 1: He has a concealed carry permit, so he drew his
24:16
Speaker 1: weapon and went to check the front door. It was
24:19
Speaker 1: still locked, so he unlocked it. About the time I
24:21
Speaker 1: started telling the police that our house seemed suspicious and
24:24
Speaker 1: we thought someone might be in it. They of course
24:27
Speaker 1: said that we should wait outside, but I knew that
24:29
Speaker 1: there was no use in telling my husband that, as
24:32
Speaker 1: he was already starting inside and flicking on more lights.
24:36
Speaker 1: It was nerve racking to sit there and watch the
24:38
Speaker 1: open front door spilling light onto the lawn. I cracked
24:42
Speaker 1: my window just the tiniest bits so I could hear
24:44
Speaker 1: sooner if something started happening. Luckily, nothing did, and when
24:48
Speaker 1: the cops pulled up, I let them know my husband
24:50
Speaker 1: was inside and what he was wearing, since he did
24:53
Speaker 1: have his gun out. But all the opening and shutting
24:55
Speaker 1: of car doors alerted him and woke the kids, so
24:58
Speaker 1: he'd come back to the front door with his gun
25:00
Speaker 1: back under his jacket. I went back to keep the
25:03
Speaker 1: kids busy while he talked to the cops, and then
25:05
Speaker 1: the cops cleared the house. Our visitors were no longer there,
25:09
Speaker 1: but they had broken in through the back yard. Many
25:12
Speaker 1: of our Christmas presents were gone, the heaviest ones, it
25:15
Speaker 1: seemed as I'd bought most of them, and they had
25:17
Speaker 1: left one of their own. A large pile of poop
25:20
Speaker 1: on the back porch. Mat decorations I had up inside
25:24
Speaker 1: were knocked down and scattered all over the place, the
25:27
Speaker 1: tree completely disheveled. Two pieces from my Nativity seen were
25:31
Speaker 1: smashed on the floor. Our laptops were gone, and my
25:34
Speaker 1: jewelry box had also been pilfered. But unbeknownst to them,
25:39
Speaker 1: although some had sentimental meaning that was all custom or
25:43
Speaker 1: low level stuff, anything real was in our hidden safe
25:46
Speaker 1: they had not found. My husband made sure not to
25:49
Speaker 1: touch the light switches that had been on so that
25:51
Speaker 1: they could dust for Prince and other evidence was taken
25:54
Speaker 1: and we gave a report for the theft. It seems
25:58
Speaker 1: they spent a while inside the house without much fear,
26:01
Speaker 1: brazenly turning on lights, leaving a steaming pile, and maybe
26:05
Speaker 1: as they left, hopping up and tearing the Christmas lights
26:08
Speaker 1: off the corner of the house. No out of the
26:11
Speaker 1: place finger prints came back, so they must have been
26:14
Speaker 1: wearing gloves and it remains unsolved. Next year, I ask
26:19
Speaker 1: for a security system for Christmas.