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McDonald’s Stories That Made Familiar Places Feel Wrong · Scary Stories Hub

0:06
Speaker 1: My name is Wyat Courson, and I love spending the
0:09
Speaker 1: weekends with my grandkids. Their names are Matt and Tracy,
0:13
Speaker 1: and they always come by at the end of every
0:15
Speaker 1: week to spend some time with me. We usually spend
0:18
Speaker 1: these days at the park having fun, and one thing
0:21
Speaker 1: that we always do after a long day of playing
0:23
Speaker 1: around is to go eat at the nearest McDonald's. Just
0:27
Speaker 1: like everyone else in the United States, my grandkids are
0:30
Speaker 1: obsessed with the notorious Happy Meals, and while I always
0:34
Speaker 1: take them to get their meals, I find myself getting
0:37
Speaker 1: tense because every time I walk through the doors of
0:40
Speaker 1: a McDonald's restaurant, I get shivers up my spine. Now,
0:45
Speaker 1: I'm sure you're wondering what could I possibly be afraid
0:49
Speaker 1: of in a McDonald's restaurant, But the thing is, I've
0:53
Speaker 1: always felt like this since that fateful incident. It happened
0:58
Speaker 1: on the ninth of November nineteen fifty five. I was
1:02
Speaker 1: twenty two years old at the time, and if I'm
1:04
Speaker 1: remembering correctly, I had recently gotten a job as a
1:07
Speaker 1: taxi driver. My job took me all over Downey As
1:12
Speaker 1: I would spend the whole day driving people around, and
1:14
Speaker 1: I would always come back late at night. That day,
1:18
Speaker 1: I was supposed to take a woman to her friend's house.
1:21
Speaker 1: I asked well her friend lived, and she told me
1:23
Speaker 1: he lived very close to one two o seven Lakewood
1:26
Speaker 1: Boulevard at Florence Avenue in Downey. I remember being really tired,
1:33
Speaker 1: as I had driven around a lot of passengers that day,
1:36
Speaker 1: but I managed to muster up the strength to do it.
1:39
Speaker 1: So she got into the car and I started taking
1:41
Speaker 1: her to the address. I picked her up around two
1:44
Speaker 1: thirty am, and we finally arrived at her destination by
1:48
Speaker 1: three AM. I put on the radio during the drive
1:51
Speaker 1: back home, and on the station I tuned into, they
1:54
Speaker 1: were talking about some of the recent ghastly things that
1:57
Speaker 1: had been happening in Downey. Were. For starter, a couple
2:00
Speaker 1: of mentally deranged patients had escaped from the Downy Asylum
2:04
Speaker 1: and ever since these dangerous patients escaped a lot of
2:07
Speaker 1: people had been going missing in town. There was no
2:11
Speaker 1: hard evidence yet, but the cops believed the deranged patients
2:14
Speaker 1: were behind the strange disappearances in town, as most of
2:17
Speaker 1: them were insane murderers. The last thing the station said
2:21
Speaker 1: before I turned it off was remember to be careful, folks,
2:25
Speaker 1: and please try not to stay out late in Downey.
2:28
Speaker 1: The cops have rounded up some of the escape patients,
2:30
Speaker 1: but there are still many of them out there. I
2:33
Speaker 1: already knew I wasn't supposed to be out this late,
2:36
Speaker 1: as it was three in the morning, but with the
2:38
Speaker 1: massive fear going around town and the lack of drivers
2:41
Speaker 1: at night, I found myself making a lot of money
2:44
Speaker 1: when working the nights. I knew it was risky, but
2:47
Speaker 1: I needed the money, and I also knew how to
2:50
Speaker 1: protect myself if anything happened. I put on some music
2:54
Speaker 1: after that announcement to lighten the mood, and as I
2:56
Speaker 1: drove on, I came across a very strange sight. I
3:00
Speaker 1: was at the McDonald's restaurant on one O two O
3:03
Speaker 1: seven Lakewood Boulevard at Florence Avenue in Downey, California. Now,
3:09
Speaker 1: I know seeing a McDonald's restaurant in this day and
3:11
Speaker 1: age is a regular thing, as they are basically everywhere,
3:15
Speaker 1: but in my time they were a very rare sight.
3:19
Speaker 1: This was because the restaurants were still owned by the
3:21
Speaker 1: original McDonald's brothers, Richard and Maurice mc donald's, and the
3:25
Speaker 1: restaurant wasn't really a mass franchise, as Ray Kroc hadn't
3:29
Speaker 1: bought them out yet. I also didn't know they started
3:32
Speaker 1: offering twenty four hour services, as the early mc donald's
3:35
Speaker 1: restaurants didn't offer that. But that wasn't the major thing
3:40
Speaker 1: that seemed strange to me. No, what really seemed strange
3:44
Speaker 1: were the twenty five plus people who were seated outside
3:47
Speaker 1: the restaurant and eating burgers at three a m. I
3:51
Speaker 1: didn't believe my eyes at first, as I figured there
3:54
Speaker 1: was no way these many people would be eating out
3:56
Speaker 1: here this late, knowing fully well that the streets were dangers.
4:00
Speaker 1: But as I drove closer, I realized my eyes weren't
4:03
Speaker 1: playing tricks on me, as all those people were actually there.
4:08
Speaker 1: I decided to drive up to the restaurant, and I
4:10
Speaker 1: remember seeing the massive neon chef called Speed lighting up
4:15
Speaker 1: the driveway. Most of you don't know this, but Speed
4:19
Speaker 1: was McDonald's original mascot before it was replaced by Ronald
4:22
Speaker 1: McDonald in nineteen sixty three. After I had parked my car,
4:27
Speaker 1: I got down and made my way to the restaurant.
4:30
Speaker 1: To make things a bit clear, I'd like to point
4:32
Speaker 1: out that at that time, McDonald's wasn't really a full
4:35
Speaker 1: blown restaurant. It was more of a hamburger stand, as
4:39
Speaker 1: you couldn't dine in the restaurant like the McDonald's in nowadays,
4:43
Speaker 1: but there were chairs outside where people could see it
4:46
Speaker 1: and eat if they didn't want to leave.
4:49
Speaker 2: Then.
4:49
Speaker 1: I remember being very perplex seeing over twenty people on
4:52
Speaker 1: those chairs at that time of night. I tried to
4:56
Speaker 1: come up with a feasible explanation as to why they
4:58
Speaker 1: were all here, but I so I decided to order
5:02
Speaker 1: a burger and talked to some of them. I walked
5:05
Speaker 1: up to the counter to order a hamburger for fifteen cents,
5:08
Speaker 1: as that's how much they were sold for at the time,
5:11
Speaker 1: But before the cook could take my order, I noticed
5:13
Speaker 1: a twelve year old child staring at me with a
5:16
Speaker 1: strange look in his eyes. At first, I thought there
5:20
Speaker 1: was something on my face, as I figured that was
5:22
Speaker 1: why I was staring at me like that, but I
5:25
Speaker 1: soon realized that there was nothing strange on my face.
5:29
Speaker 1: Even after confirming this, the child kept staring at me,
5:32
Speaker 1: and while he didn't say anything, it looked like he
5:35
Speaker 1: was trying to tell me I didn't belong there. I
5:39
Speaker 1: was about to say something to the child when the
5:41
Speaker 1: cook came to the stand and took my order. The
5:44
Speaker 1: man asked, hey, sir, what would you like me to
5:47
Speaker 1: get you? So I told him the hamburger please. The
5:51
Speaker 1: cook then said, and would you like a twenty cent
5:54
Speaker 1: milkshake to watch that burger down? So I replied with yes,
5:59
Speaker 1: you can ad a milkshit. As the cook went to
6:02
Speaker 1: get my order, I noticed something very odd in the
6:05
Speaker 1: hamburger stand. The cook was the only one there. I'd
6:09
Speaker 1: been to a McDonald's hamburger stand before and there were
6:12
Speaker 1: usually two or three people working the stand, so seeing
6:15
Speaker 1: him doing everything alone seemed strange to me. When the
6:19
Speaker 1: man came back with my buger in milkshake, I tried
6:22
Speaker 1: to make some small conversation. So I asked him I
6:26
Speaker 1: didn't know McDonald's started working at night. Is this new
6:29
Speaker 1: twenty four hour service here to stay or is it
6:32
Speaker 1: just a one night thing? I noticed the cook got
6:35
Speaker 1: really nervous when I asked him this question as he
6:38
Speaker 1: started to stutter, No, No, it's not a twenty four
6:42
Speaker 1: hour service thing. I just worked a late night shifts sometimes.
6:47
Speaker 1: I could tell he was hiding something now, so I
6:50
Speaker 1: said well, it's a pretty busy night for you, having
6:53
Speaker 1: all these people out here at three in the morning.
6:56
Speaker 1: Immediately as I finished my sentence, the cook froze. His
7:00
Speaker 1: eyes were bulging red now as he looked me dead
7:03
Speaker 1: in the eyes and said, you can see him too.
7:07
Speaker 1: Shocked at his response, I backed away from the counter.
7:11
Speaker 1: I thought he was playing a sick prank on me
7:13
Speaker 1: at first, but before I could respond, I heard the
7:16
Speaker 1: sound of police sirens. I looked to the driveway to
7:21
Speaker 1: see a cock car pulling up towards the restaurant, and
7:23
Speaker 1: two police officers walked out of the car. I knew
7:27
Speaker 1: they had been patrolling the streets at night due to
7:29
Speaker 1: the recent events in town. I opened my mouth to
7:32
Speaker 1: greet the officers, but before I could say anything, one
7:35
Speaker 1: of the officers said, what are you two doing out here?
7:38
Speaker 1: By this time, we didn't know mc donald's started working
7:41
Speaker 1: at three forty five in the morning. His statement made
7:44
Speaker 1: me confused, as I wondered why he used the words
7:47
Speaker 1: you too when over twenty five people were sitting at
7:50
Speaker 1: the restaurant. I wanted to ask the officer what he
7:53
Speaker 1: meant when he said license and registration please. I quickly
7:57
Speaker 1: did as he asked as I showed him my paper,
8:00
Speaker 1: and when I was done, he asked the cook in
8:02
Speaker 1: the hamburger stand. Unlike me, the cook didn't give his
8:06
Speaker 1: papers to the officers, so he was asked to step
8:09
Speaker 1: out of the stand, but the cook refused, so the
8:12
Speaker 1: officer pulled out his gun and said, please step out
8:15
Speaker 1: of the hamburger stand, sir, I'm not going to ask
8:18
Speaker 1: you again, and with no other options, the cook did
8:22
Speaker 1: as they asked. Immediately as the man stepped out into
8:25
Speaker 1: the driveway, I saw a look of realization on the
8:28
Speaker 1: police officer's face as he shouted, it's him, It's Tim Miller.
8:33
Speaker 1: I've just found one of the most dangerous mental patients
8:35
Speaker 1: that escaped from the asylum. After this statement, the officer
8:39
Speaker 1: immediately went to restrain the man with his other colleague
8:42
Speaker 1: come into a system. And as this bizarre arrest went down,
8:46
Speaker 1: I noticed another very strange thing that didn't make sense
8:50
Speaker 1: for starters. The twenty five plus people that were sitting
8:53
Speaker 1: and eating their burgers didn't show any reaction to what
8:56
Speaker 1: was going on, and that was very strange to me,
9:00
Speaker 1: is every normal human being would show some reaction after
9:03
Speaker 1: finding out that it was an escape mental patient that
9:06
Speaker 1: just made the food they were all eating, but they
9:09
Speaker 1: didn't care to be honest, it seemed like they couldn't
9:12
Speaker 1: see what was going on as they just kept chatting
9:15
Speaker 1: and eating. As the cops dragged the man called Tim
9:18
Speaker 1: Miller away, he started to scream, I'm not crazy, I'm
9:23
Speaker 1: not crazy. He can see them too. The officer who
9:27
Speaker 1: took notice of this then walked up to me and said,
9:30
Speaker 1: are you with this man? Are you also an escape?
9:33
Speaker 1: What is he talking about? I was scared now, so
9:38
Speaker 1: I said, no, officer, I just arrived here like all
9:41
Speaker 1: these other people. The cop, who was visibly confused, raised
9:45
Speaker 1: his gun at me and said, what other people? There's
9:49
Speaker 1: no one here? Are you sure you're not one of
9:52
Speaker 1: the mental patients. The other officer who had put Tim
9:56
Speaker 1: Miller in the car then told his colleague, even if
9:59
Speaker 1: he is an escape mental patient, I don't think he'd
10:02
Speaker 1: tell you, Frank. He's clearly crazy, so let's just take
10:05
Speaker 1: him in and confirm it at the asylum. I wasn
10:08
Speaker 1: annoyed now, so I said, what do you mean there
10:12
Speaker 1: aren't other people? Can't you see them right here eating burgers?
10:17
Speaker 1: The cop was convinced I was crazy now, as he
10:20
Speaker 1: told the other officer to restrain me, But before they could,
10:23
Speaker 1: I shouted, what is wrong with you people? Can't you
10:27
Speaker 1: see the twelve year old boy standing here? And as
10:30
Speaker 1: I touched the boy's shoulder to make my point, I
10:34
Speaker 1: felt shiftless go up my spine. The child's skin was
10:38
Speaker 1: as cold as eyes, and immediately I touched him. Each
10:42
Speaker 1: and every one of them stopped eating and looked at me.
10:46
Speaker 1: I instantly took my hands off, as I knew full
10:49
Speaker 1: well what I touched wasn't human. His skin wasn't supposed
10:53
Speaker 1: to feel like that, And as my mind struggled to
10:56
Speaker 1: make sense of what was going on, all the twenty
10:59
Speaker 1: five people vanished before my very eyes. That was my
11:04
Speaker 1: breaking point, as I fell to the floor screaming. The cops,
11:08
Speaker 1: who were convinced I was crazy, now restrained me and
11:11
Speaker 1: took me in. I didn't blame them, because even though
11:15
Speaker 1: I knew I wasn't a mental patient, I completely lost
11:19
Speaker 1: my mind at that moment. I was taken to the
11:22
Speaker 1: Downy Asylum that night, and the staff confirmed to the
11:25
Speaker 1: police that I wasn't one of the mental patients who
11:28
Speaker 1: had escaped. But even though this was cleared, up. The
11:32
Speaker 1: cops still insisted that I had clearly lost my mind
11:35
Speaker 1: and I should be checked in. I spent my days
11:38
Speaker 1: with numerous psychologists and I told them everything that happened
11:41
Speaker 1: that night. Not many of them believed me, and the
11:45
Speaker 1: ones who did asked me to give a detailed description
11:48
Speaker 1: of the people I saw. Shockingly enough, all the descriptions
11:52
Speaker 1: of the faces I could remember matched the ones of
11:55
Speaker 1: many people that had gone missing in down Here. The
11:59
Speaker 1: case back both the cops and psychologists as they wondered
12:03
Speaker 1: why I saw those missing people that night, people who
12:06
Speaker 1: the two police officers assured everyone weren't there. Investigations were
12:12
Speaker 1: carried into the matter, and it was eventually revealed that
12:15
Speaker 1: Tim Miller, the mental patient who was caught on that night,
12:18
Speaker 1: might have been behind their disappearances. For starters, the man
12:23
Speaker 1: suffered from a peculiar case of alternate personality disorder. He
12:28
Speaker 1: had four different character traits, one of them being a
12:31
Speaker 1: cook and another being a violent killer. The cops believed
12:37
Speaker 1: Tim had broken into that McDonald's restaurant after hours and
12:40
Speaker 1: posed as a cook to lower in potential customers. They
12:44
Speaker 1: then theorized that after serving them their food, Tim would
12:47
Speaker 1: switch personalities and kill each and every one of them,
12:51
Speaker 1: a faith that I might have met that night. The
12:55
Speaker 1: McDonald's restaurant further proved this claim as they confirmed they
12:59
Speaker 1: had ordered a used kitchen whenever they arrived in the mornings,
13:03
Speaker 1: and they also said they didn't know who Tim Miller was.
13:07
Speaker 1: McDonald's further stated that they also didn't offer twenty four
13:11
Speaker 1: hour service at this time. While this theory seemed like
13:15
Speaker 1: the best possible option, none of these claims were ever confirmed,
13:19
Speaker 1: as the supposed perpetrator was deemed mentally insane, so his
13:24
Speaker 1: words and confessions weren't clear, and the bodies of the
13:27
Speaker 1: victims were never found. No feasible explanation was also given
13:33
Speaker 1: as to why I saw those people, and after a
13:36
Speaker 1: year of undergoing treatment, I was released back into the
13:39
Speaker 1: real world. Even at eighty nine years of age, I
13:44
Speaker 1: can still remember that night very clearly. That particular McDonald's
13:49
Speaker 1: still stands to this day in Downey as it escaped modernization.
13:54
Speaker 1: The McDonald's restaurants still didn't offer twenty four hour service
13:57
Speaker 1: after this incident, and it was until they were bought
14:00
Speaker 1: out by Ray Kroc that a few branches started offering
14:03
Speaker 1: the service. In the year two thousand and two, nearly
14:07
Speaker 1: forty seven years after this incident. I know it's been
14:11
Speaker 1: a very long time since it happened, and I kept
14:14
Speaker 1: quiet about it as I didn't want anyone to see
14:16
Speaker 1: me as a crazy person. This is why I always
14:20
Speaker 1: get shivers every time I walk into a McDonald's restaurant,
14:24
Speaker 1: as I sometimes see people that I believe don't belong there.
14:29
Speaker 1: I try to brush off that strange feeling as I
14:31
Speaker 1: don't want to be called crazy, But deep down, every
14:35
Speaker 1: time I passed that particular McDonald's restaurant in Downey, I
14:40
Speaker 1: always wonder if those missing people still appear there every
14:44
Speaker 1: night to order a happy meal, just like the rest
14:48
Speaker 1: of us.
14:50
Speaker 3: This story was taken from the personal diary of my father,
14:54
Speaker 3: Wyatt Coulson. I'm his daughter, Jeanette Coulson, and sadly Whyatt
14:59
Speaker 3: passed way recently. I found this in his diary when
15:03
Speaker 3: I was clearing out his things, so I decided to
15:06
Speaker 3: share his story with the rest of the world.
15:11
Speaker 2: As a chief magazine editor, I am always working extra
15:14
Speaker 2: hours in my office. I enjoy my work and hardly
15:17
Speaker 2: ever complain about work pressure. However, this also means I
15:21
Speaker 2: barely get time to cook lunch or dinner. There is
15:25
Speaker 2: McDonald's a few blocks ahead of my office. I usually
15:28
Speaker 2: visited it at least four to five times a week.
15:31
Speaker 2: I mean, who doesn't love a cheesyburger on a weekday.
15:36
Speaker 2: But I've always had this odd feeling of being watched
15:40
Speaker 2: since the moment I stepped in. Until today, it's not stopped.
15:46
Speaker 2: So it all started three years ago. When I took
15:50
Speaker 2: up this position. I knew it was going to be
15:52
Speaker 2: a demanding role, but it promised the professional exposure I
15:56
Speaker 2: wished for. I still remember the first time I walked
16:00
Speaker 2: through the double doors of the McDonald's. The distinct smell
16:04
Speaker 2: of freshly brewed coffee, cheese burgers, and a set of
16:07
Speaker 2: eyes followed me throughout the room. I ordered my food
16:12
Speaker 2: and sat at the last table beside the window, looking
16:15
Speaker 2: at the hustle and bustle of the street while I
16:18
Speaker 2: enjoyed my snack. Some time later, I was sipping my
16:22
Speaker 2: coat when the hair on the nape of my neck
16:25
Speaker 2: rose and I felt the weird stare again. From the
16:30
Speaker 2: moment I entered the McDonald's, I felt as if someone
16:34
Speaker 2: was keeping a watch on me. For the first time,
16:37
Speaker 2: I scanned the store and spotted an old, creepy looking
16:41
Speaker 2: man sitting on a table near the fire exit. He
16:45
Speaker 2: was not eating anything, just sitting at the table and
16:49
Speaker 2: staring at me. He never blinked, just stared straight at me.
16:56
Speaker 2: His eyes were red and had dark bags under them.
16:59
Speaker 2: It looked as if he had not slept in days
17:01
Speaker 2: or had a hangover. However, nothing seemed to face him.
17:06
Speaker 2: He just kept looking at me, following my every move.
17:11
Speaker 2: I was a bit spooked, but tried to ignore the
17:14
Speaker 2: whole ordeal with the man. Soon I finished and walked
17:17
Speaker 2: up to the exit. He followed me with his eyes
17:20
Speaker 2: and gave me a creepy smile as I stepped out
17:23
Speaker 2: of the door. A few days later, when I went
17:26
Speaker 2: there again, I was immediately greeted with his creepy stare.
17:31
Speaker 2: No doubt the man was sitting at the same table,
17:34
Speaker 2: scanning me with his eyes and keeping an eye over
17:37
Speaker 2: my every action. I ignored it, ate my food and
17:43
Speaker 2: left quickly. Just as last time, he smiled at me,
17:48
Speaker 2: displaying his rotten, crooked teeth, but this time he waved
17:53
Speaker 2: at me. Spooked, I moved out as quickly as I
17:58
Speaker 2: could and sped walk to my office just in case
18:00
Speaker 2: he followed, but he never did. Later that week, when
18:05
Speaker 2: I went to gravel Bite again, the man was sitting
18:08
Speaker 2: at his usual table, staring at me and smiling. I
18:13
Speaker 2: knew this was odd, so I approached the girl at
18:15
Speaker 2: the counter and pointed at the man and asked about him.
18:19
Speaker 2: To my utter surprise, the girl looked at me funny
18:23
Speaker 2: and said in a very plain tone that the table
18:27
Speaker 2: was empty and no man was sitting there. I was
18:32
Speaker 2: certainly very shocked, but kept my cool and described the man.
18:37
Speaker 2: I asked her if a person with a similar appearance
18:40
Speaker 2: had visited the store. Ever, the girl said no and
18:44
Speaker 2: took my order. The worst part was while I was
18:49
Speaker 2: conversing with the girl, the man was sitting at the
18:51
Speaker 2: table and smiling his creepy smile at me. It felt
18:56
Speaker 2: as if he was amused by my panic. I was
19:00
Speaker 2: stressed and scared. It was confusing. Only I could see
19:04
Speaker 2: the man and the girl on the counter cultn't I
19:07
Speaker 2: blamed it on stress and the lack of sleep. I
19:10
Speaker 2: collected my order and decided to eat it in my cabin.
19:14
Speaker 2: When I stepped out of the door with my purse
19:16
Speaker 2: and food in hand, the man smiled, waved, and winked
19:19
Speaker 2: at me. Every time I walk out. I felt like
19:24
Speaker 2: he did something more. It scared me, and I decided
19:28
Speaker 2: not to visit the place for a while.
19:30
Speaker 3: A few weeks.
19:31
Speaker 2: Passed and the incident at McDonald's had totally flown out
19:34
Speaker 2: of my mind. It was late around nine in the
19:36
Speaker 2: evening and I was driving my car out of my
19:39
Speaker 2: parking lot when I spot the same man standing across
19:43
Speaker 2: the street. At that moment, all I could think about
19:48
Speaker 2: was getting the hell out of that deserted parking lot.
19:51
Speaker 2: The man stood there and looked at me with a
19:54
Speaker 2: creepy expression. A ton of questions ran across my mind,
19:59
Speaker 2: but I had no time to find the answers to
20:01
Speaker 2: any of them. My whole body was in flight mode
20:05
Speaker 2: as I drove past him straight home. Once I was
20:09
Speaker 2: settled in, my mind was going round and round about
20:14
Speaker 2: all the possibilities. Had he followed me to my office?
20:19
Speaker 2: Did he know any of my personal information? Why was
20:23
Speaker 2: he following me? Did he know where I lived? And
20:27
Speaker 2: more importantly, why was I the only one able to
20:31
Speaker 2: see him? It was all so scary. I again thought
20:37
Speaker 2: this was a side effect of my busy schedule and
20:39
Speaker 2: stress lifestyle. Before I saw a doctor, I decided to
20:43
Speaker 2: take a few days off to relax and calm my mind.
20:46
Speaker 2: Over the next few days, I spent my time cooking, reading,
20:50
Speaker 2: going to the park for walks, and relaxing. Not once
20:54
Speaker 2: did I spot the man on my week off, and
20:57
Speaker 2: I was convinced that I was seeing things due to stress. However,
21:02
Speaker 2: it all changed the night before the day I was
21:04
Speaker 2: supposed to get back to work. I was sipping tea
21:07
Speaker 2: on my balcony when on the sidewalk right in front
21:11
Speaker 2: of my home stood the creepy man from McDonald's. I
21:16
Speaker 2: was shocked and scared to death. The teacups slipped out
21:21
Speaker 2: from my hands and I ran inside, shutting all the
21:23
Speaker 2: windows and blinds. I turned off all the lights and
21:27
Speaker 2: decided to peek out to check if he was still there.
21:31
Speaker 2: When I looked out, the sidewalk was empty. There was
21:34
Speaker 2: no sign of the man. The next day, I decided
21:39
Speaker 2: to visit the McDonald's again to confront the man myself,
21:42
Speaker 2: as I was certain he would be there. When I
21:46
Speaker 2: entered the place, his usual table was empty and the
21:49
Speaker 2: manager of the store was standing at the counter. I
21:52
Speaker 2: approached him and narrated the incident. After hearing my story,
21:56
Speaker 2: the man revealed a shocking truth that cracked the floor
22:00
Speaker 2: beneath my feet. Mister Dudley, the manager told me what
22:05
Speaker 2: had happened in the McDonald's a few years ago.
22:07
Speaker 1: He sad. When this place was newly opened, we had
22:11
Speaker 1: a few factory workers visit us regularly for lunch. The
22:14
Speaker 1: man you described was one of them. One afternoon, during
22:18
Speaker 1: the lunch rush, we had three masked men come in
22:21
Speaker 1: and rob this place. The workers tried to unarm the
22:24
Speaker 1: masked robbers, but by the time the cops were called,
22:27
Speaker 1: one of the robbers had shot this man and he
22:29
Speaker 1: died on the spot. It was a hit and run case.
22:34
Speaker 1: The masked men were never found. The worker never got
22:37
Speaker 1: his justice. Many customers before you I had claimed to
22:41
Speaker 1: see the man smile and follow them around.
22:44
Speaker 2: I had no idea what to say to him. What
22:48
Speaker 2: should I do, mister Dudley for the man to stop
22:51
Speaker 2: following me?
22:52
Speaker 1: Honestly, I don't know what you should do. The people
22:55
Speaker 1: who had claimed to see the man never visited here again,
22:59
Speaker 1: so I know nothing of this matter or what happened
23:02
Speaker 1: to them.
23:03
Speaker 2: The spirit of a dead worker was following me. It
23:07
Speaker 2: seemed to get one step closer every time I saw it.
23:11
Speaker 2: What do you guys think I should do? Why did
23:14
Speaker 2: the spirit choose to follow me? What must have happened
23:18
Speaker 2: to the people before me? And most importantly, how will
23:23
Speaker 2: this end? Is it still follows me? I sometimes see
23:28
Speaker 2: it in the lobby of my office, in the park
23:31
Speaker 2: below my window, and many other such places. What should
23:37
Speaker 2: I do to make it stop?
23:40
Speaker 1: When I was thirty three, I was the sheriff of
23:43
Speaker 1: this small town. Being a sheriff of a small town
23:46
Speaker 1: comes with a lot of late night shifts, always being
23:48
Speaker 1: on high alert, taking care of the old folk in town,
23:51
Speaker 1: and hardly any personal life. That's why when I was
23:55
Speaker 1: single at thirty three, it was hard, as it is
23:57
Speaker 1: to date, let alone have a stable relate. So when
24:02
Speaker 1: I walked into our town's only McDonald's that night to
24:04
Speaker 1: grab a quick bite, it was no surprise that I
24:07
Speaker 1: was dumb struck looking at the beautiful woman standing behind
24:10
Speaker 1: the cash counter. Stacy Harris was a stunning woman with
24:14
Speaker 1: blond hair, blue eyes, a slim figure and cute smile.
24:18
Speaker 1: We hit it off instantly, and soon she was my girlfriend.
24:22
Speaker 1: It didn't hurt that like me, she too had a
24:24
Speaker 1: late night shift at the McDonald's and had her mornings off.
24:28
Speaker 1: It was common for me to stop by every other
24:30
Speaker 1: night to eat a snack and check on her. As
24:33
Speaker 1: she was new in town, recently divorced, and trying to
24:35
Speaker 1: get a fresh start. I was more than willing to
24:37
Speaker 1: give her just that. The first incident happened on one
24:41
Speaker 1: of those nights when I was swamped with work and
24:43
Speaker 1: couldn't visit Stacy at McDonald's. I clearly remember her hysteric
24:48
Speaker 1: crying voice on the phone when she called me to
24:50
Speaker 1: come get her. The moment I reached the place, it
24:53
Speaker 1: was completely trashed. The tables were turned over, the ketchup
24:57
Speaker 1: and dips were all over the place, and my girlfriend
24:59
Speaker 1: was crouched behind the counter crying. Back in the day,
25:03
Speaker 1: CCTV cameras weren't that common, and as it was a weekday,
25:06
Speaker 1: there was no one at the McDonald's except her, so
25:09
Speaker 1: no one witnessed the man in the hoodie who had
25:12
Speaker 1: barged into the place, trashed it and threatened to kill her.
25:16
Speaker 1: It was also unusual that, as a first respondent, even
25:19
Speaker 1: I didn't know what to make of it. Our town
25:22
Speaker 1: was a pretty quiet one, with hardly any issues, so
25:26
Speaker 1: for someone to trash a fast food restaurant and threaten
25:28
Speaker 1: a woman was strange. Nevertheless, as a sheriff and a
25:33
Speaker 1: responsible and loving boyfriend, I comforted Stacy and took her
25:37
Speaker 1: home while asking my backup to take over the situation.
25:41
Speaker 1: The second incident wasn't a trashed restaurant, but a phone
25:44
Speaker 1: call to Stacy's home. Some guy with a deep, raspy
25:48
Speaker 1: voice had called her and threatened to kill her. These
25:51
Speaker 1: calls and threats just got more and more frequent. Sometimes
25:56
Speaker 1: there was a dead cat on her porch or a
25:58
Speaker 1: dead bird. Once a stalker went as far as to
26:01
Speaker 1: break into her house while she was away and trashed
26:04
Speaker 1: her bedroom. No wonder all these incidents drove her crazy.
26:09
Speaker 1: Soon our relationship was facing the back lash of the
26:12
Speaker 1: constant stalking, threats and dead animals. Stacy was so scared
26:17
Speaker 1: to get out of the house or to work. Our
26:19
Speaker 1: late night meet ups at the mc donald's had stopped.
26:22
Speaker 1: I was so worried and stressed for her. All the time,
26:26
Speaker 1: being the sheriff of the town, me and my team
26:28
Speaker 1: were investigating this case with great effort. Surprisingly, the incidents,
26:33
Speaker 1: meaning the phone calls, the dead animals. The break ins
26:36
Speaker 1: only happened when Stacy was alone or when there was
26:39
Speaker 1: no one at her home. I had my cops patrol
26:42
Speaker 1: around her home several times, day and night. I stayed
26:45
Speaker 1: at her place whenever I could, but everything seemed normal
26:48
Speaker 1: when I was around or when my men patrolled the place.
26:52
Speaker 1: This got me thinking that maybe some one who was
26:55
Speaker 1: very close to Stacy, or from within the police department,
26:58
Speaker 1: was behind the stalking. Being the sheriff of the town,
27:02
Speaker 1: it was shameful that I couldn't protect my own girlfriend.
27:06
Speaker 1: My first suspect was her ex husband. When Dan was
27:09
Speaker 1: brought in for interrogation, turns out he too had received
27:12
Speaker 1: a couple of calls from the same stalker. This was
27:16
Speaker 1: very absurd, and our investigation was hitting dead end after
27:19
Speaker 1: dead end. Nothing led to anything. There were no clues.
27:25
Speaker 1: Whenever we tried to investigate the home invasions, we never
27:27
Speaker 1: found a single clue showing the presence of the stalker
27:30
Speaker 1: inside the home. This so called stalker was either very
27:34
Speaker 1: good at it, or maybe we're all being misled and
27:37
Speaker 1: the truth lay right under our noses. My tipping point
27:42
Speaker 1: was when I was staying the night with Stacy and
27:44
Speaker 1: I woke up to a burning basement. I ran upstairs
27:47
Speaker 1: to find my girlfriend knocked down on the bed and
27:49
Speaker 1: a broken vase lay right next to her on the floor.
27:52
Speaker 1: Some one had forcibly entered the house while I was
27:55
Speaker 1: asleep on the living room couch had managed to knock
27:57
Speaker 1: my girlfriend unconscious and loot the basement of flame without
28:01
Speaker 1: waking me up. I called the fire department and carried
28:04
Speaker 1: Stacy out of the house. After the fire, Stacy and
28:08
Speaker 1: I officially broke up. It was sad to lose such
28:11
Speaker 1: an amazing woman, but the damage done by the fire
28:14
Speaker 1: had killed the remaining hope and spark inside Stacy. She
28:19
Speaker 1: was severely depressed and unable to have a relationship with
28:21
Speaker 1: any one, not even herself. She was soon admitted to
28:25
Speaker 1: the psychiatric ward and taken care of there. I visited
28:29
Speaker 1: her a couple of times, but I couldn't watch the
28:31
Speaker 1: woman I loved diminish in front of my eyes. We
28:34
Speaker 1: kept on looking for the stalker, but found nothing. After
28:39
Speaker 1: a few months of being in the care, she was
28:41
Speaker 1: released and better than before. As soon as she returned
28:44
Speaker 1: to her house, the stalking continued and drove her insane
28:48
Speaker 1: all over again, but it all ended on a fateful
28:52
Speaker 1: night when she was kidnapped from the parking lot of
28:54
Speaker 1: a local mall and her dead body was found next
28:57
Speaker 1: to an abandoned home near the creek. It devastated me.
29:03
Speaker 1: The case was officially closed and the dead body had
29:06
Speaker 1: no DNA or clues on who killed her. Apparently, according
29:10
Speaker 1: to the autopsy, she had overdosed on drugs, but Stacy
29:15
Speaker 1: did not do drugs at all, and I knew that
29:18
Speaker 1: for sure. Still brings me the tears thinking about her
29:22
Speaker 1: death and how she might have struggled. The death of
29:26
Speaker 1: Stacy Harris somehow made it to national TV, and all
29:30
Speaker 1: the theory, speculations and information about it was broadcasted to
29:34
Speaker 1: the world to see. The FBI stepped in next and
29:38
Speaker 1: tried to investigate the case. Anew I had almost lost
29:41
Speaker 1: hope when the FBI agents revealed the shocking truth behind
29:44
Speaker 1: Stacy Harris's murder, which shook the whole town and the nation,
29:50
Speaker 1: and most of all me. The facts that no one
29:54
Speaker 1: had seen the stalker, heard the phone calls, or that
29:57
Speaker 1: there was no DNA of any sort of evidence of
30:00
Speaker 1: stalker were proved that there was no stalker. Stacy Harris
30:05
Speaker 1: did everything to herself, as she was a patient of
30:08
Speaker 1: a rare mental disorder called d i D Disassociative identity disorder.
30:15
Speaker 1: Her stalker or the man in the black hoodie was
30:18
Speaker 1: none other than Stacy herself, or should I say, her
30:22
Speaker 1: alter ego. She was the one who kidnapped and killed herself.
30:29
Speaker 1: The fact that such a wonderful and loving woman was
30:31
Speaker 1: going through something like this was sad, but even more
30:35
Speaker 1: heartbreaking was the fact that me, being her lover, failed
30:39
Speaker 1: to see it.