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7 WALKING HOME ALONE HORROR STORIES ANIMATED · Martin Animations

0:03
Speaker 1: I was walking home from the mall on Valentine's Day,
0:06
Speaker 1: feeling pretty good about my day of shopping and indulging
0:09
Speaker 1: in some much-needed me time. The sun was starting to
0:12
Speaker 1: set and the sky was a beautiful shade of pink
0:14
Speaker 1: and orange, so I decided to take the long way
0:16
Speaker 1: home to enjoy the peacefulness of the quiet streets and
0:20
Speaker 1: the beauty of the sky above me. I was 25
0:23
Speaker 1: and excited to be starting a new job at the
0:25
Speaker 1: coffee shop next to my apartment. I had finally moved
0:28
Speaker 1: out of my parents' house and was beginning to feel
0:30
Speaker 1: like my life was going in the direction I wanted
0:33
Speaker 1: it to I was listening to music through my earbuds
0:36
Speaker 1: but had this nerve-wracking feeling that something was just off.
0:40
Speaker 1: It's like I could feel someone watching me. Almost like
0:44
Speaker 1: an invisible set of eyes were just locked directly to
0:47
Speaker 1: my every move. My heart began to race and my
0:51
Speaker 1: breathing became shallow as I quickened my pace and I
0:53
Speaker 1: was desperate just to get home. I looked over my
0:57
Speaker 1: shoulder and, of course, there he was.
1:01
Speaker 2: My ex.
1:02
Speaker 1: The one who can get over me and just wouldn't
1:04
Speaker 1: leave me alone. After we broke up almost a year
1:07
Speaker 1: before this, he did everything he could to convince me
1:09
Speaker 1: to take him back. At first, it was normal stuff,
1:12
Speaker 1: like having flowers sent to my home or mailing me
1:14
Speaker 1: sweet letters in the mail. It was romantic and nice
1:18
Speaker 1: and kind of innocent even, but I didn't want to
1:21
Speaker 1: get back together with him, so I never responded to
1:23
Speaker 1: any of it. At this point, I hadn't seen or
1:26
Speaker 1: heard from him for a couple of months, and I
1:28
Speaker 1: thought that he had finally gotten the hint that it
1:30
Speaker 1: was over between us. but apparently not. He was walking
1:34
Speaker 1: about ten feet behind me, and when I looked back
1:36
Speaker 1: at him, I could see this sort of sinister look
1:39
Speaker 1: in his eyes. He'd always been a bit creepy, but
1:41
Speaker 1: this was some next-level stuff. He didn't say a word.
1:45
Speaker 1: He just sort of smiled this horribly disturbing smile. I
1:49
Speaker 1: tried to ignore him and keep walking, but he started
1:52
Speaker 1: following me more closely, getting closer and closer with each step.
1:56
Speaker 1: I turned a corner, hoping to lose him, but he
1:58
Speaker 1: was still there. and every step that I took, he
2:02
Speaker 1: took the same one only five feet behind me. I
2:06
Speaker 1: started to feel my panic set in. I'd always felt
2:09
Speaker 1: safe walking home alone, but now I felt like I
2:11
Speaker 1: was being hunted or stalked like someone's prey. I pulled
2:15
Speaker 1: out my phone, calling a friend, but she didn't answer.
2:18
Speaker 1: I tried calling my roommate, but still no answer. I
2:22
Speaker 1: was completely alone with no one to help me. I
2:25
Speaker 1: had called the police on him many times before and
2:27
Speaker 1: the last time they just straight up told me not
2:29
Speaker 1: to call again about him unless it was a life
2:31
Speaker 1: or death situation and I really didn't want to hear
2:34
Speaker 1: about that again. So I started to run, hoping to
2:38
Speaker 1: get to my apartment building before he caught up with me.
2:41
Speaker 1: I could hear him getting closer and closer with every
2:44
Speaker 1: step and so close that I could even hear his
2:46
Speaker 1: heavy breathing. I was gasping for air and my heart
2:49
Speaker 1: was pounding in my chest but I knew that I
2:52
Speaker 1: had to keep running. I finally made it to my
2:54
Speaker 1: building and ran inside but he caught the door and
2:57
Speaker 1: followed me in. I could hear his footsteps echoing down
3:00
Speaker 1: the hall as I ran to my apartment and locked
3:02
Speaker 1: the door behind me once I was safely inside. I
3:06
Speaker 1: was okay. I wanted to scream and cry at the
3:08
Speaker 1: same time but it wasn't over yet. I tried to
3:11
Speaker 1: calm myself down but my mind was just racing. I
3:15
Speaker 1: didn't know what to do. I didn't want to call
3:17
Speaker 1: the police. I didn't want to make a scene and
3:19
Speaker 1: I didn't want to draw attention to myself. I just
3:21
Speaker 1: wanted it all to be over. I wanted my ex
3:24
Speaker 1: to be one of those guys that just moves on
3:26
Speaker 1: when a relationship ends. My roommate found me curled up
3:29
Speaker 1: in a ball in front of the door and asked
3:31
Speaker 1: me what happened. Through tears and hyperventilation, I told her everything.
3:36
Speaker 1: She was horrified and told me that she didn't care
3:39
Speaker 1: what they said the last time that I had called
3:41
Speaker 1: and that she was calling the police, because being chased
3:44
Speaker 1: home by your psycho stalker ex is in fact life
3:47
Speaker 1: or death. Just as she got a hold of the dispatcher,
3:51
Speaker 1: we heard a noise outside the door. I froze, my
3:55
Speaker 1: heart racing. My roommate and I stared at each other
3:58
Speaker 1: with wide eyes, waiting, listening for any noise coming from
4:01
Speaker 1: outside my door. Was he trying to get inside? I
4:05
Speaker 1: grabbed a knife from the kitchen, just in case. The
4:08
Speaker 1: noise stopped and I started to relax a little. My
4:11
Speaker 1: roommate was explaining everything to the dispatcher when suddenly it
4:14
Speaker 1: started again. This time it was louder. It was a
4:18
Speaker 1: loud banging noise, but the banging wasn't coming from the door.
4:22
Speaker 1: It was almost like he was stomping around outside the
4:24
Speaker 1: door having a tantrum that he wasn't able to get inside.
4:28
Speaker 1: I'd never experienced that side of him and I never
4:31
Speaker 1: knew that he was capable of doing something like this.
4:34
Speaker 1: Throughout our whole relationship he seemed so normal. The reason
4:38
Speaker 1: we broke up was because he had cheated and I
4:40
Speaker 1: felt like if he was willing to risk our whole
4:42
Speaker 1: relationship for one night with a random woman then our
4:45
Speaker 1: relationship didn't mean much to him to begin with. You'd
4:49
Speaker 1: think that he would have been able to move on
4:50
Speaker 1: by the time this all happened. I crept up to
4:54
Speaker 1: the door, knife in hand, and peered through the peephole.
4:57
Speaker 1: I couldn't see anyone, but I could hear someone breathing.
5:01
Speaker 1: It sounded like his mouth was pressed against the door
5:03
Speaker 1: like he wanted to hear it. I started to panic again,
5:07
Speaker 1: but my roommate tried her best to calm me down.
5:10
Speaker 1: The police told us to stay inside and keep the
5:12
Speaker 1: door locked until they arrived. They said it would only
5:15
Speaker 1: take around ten minutes for them to get there. We
5:18
Speaker 1: sat on the floor and waited for the police. All
5:20
Speaker 1: the while, I could hear him still breathing on the
5:22
Speaker 1: other side of the door, and I knew that all
5:25
Speaker 1: he wanted was to get inside and do God knows
5:27
Speaker 1: what to me. Finally, the police got there, and they
5:32
Speaker 1: arrested my ex. He didn't put up a fight and
5:35
Speaker 1: went with them willingly. They took him away, and I
5:38
Speaker 1: was finally able to sort of breathe a sigh of relief,
5:40
Speaker 1: but unfortunately, this sort of fear and panic would stay
5:44
Speaker 1: with me for quite a long time. No matter how
5:47
Speaker 1: much I wanted to or how convenient it would be,
5:50
Speaker 1: I could never get myself to walk home alone again.
5:53
Speaker 1: I never forgot the feeling of being followed and hunted
5:55
Speaker 1: by someone who had supposedly loved me before. I was
5:59
Speaker 1: lucky to make it out alive, but the thought of
6:01
Speaker 1: what could have happened is something I still think about
6:04
Speaker 1: almost every day. I never thought that someone I once
6:08
Speaker 1: loved could turn into a monster. It's important to always
6:11
Speaker 1: trust your instincts. I learned that the hard way and
6:14
Speaker 1: I hope that my story can serve as a warning
6:16
Speaker 1: to others. It serves as a reminder that sometimes love
6:20
Speaker 1: can just turn into an obsession and that obsession can
6:24
Speaker 1: turn into something much more dangerous. I was so excited
6:31
Speaker 1: to start a new life in the city. My girlfriend
6:33
Speaker 1: and I had just moved into a small apartment and
6:36
Speaker 1: I was eager to explore a place that I'd never
6:38
Speaker 1: been before. I got to the grocery store to pick
6:41
Speaker 1: up a few things and as I was walking home
6:43
Speaker 1: I was texting my girlfriend about all the cool things
6:45
Speaker 1: I came across on the walk and All the fun
6:48
Speaker 1: stuff that there was for us to do together around
6:50
Speaker 1: the city. I was so preoccupied with my phone that
6:53
Speaker 1: I didn't even realize that I'd gotten turned around. I
6:56
Speaker 1: don't know how I was stupid enough to not look
6:58
Speaker 1: where I was going, but I was just really excited
7:00
Speaker 1: to tell her about my day and everything I saw.
7:04
Speaker 1: After a while, I finally looked up and realized that
7:06
Speaker 1: I had no idea where I was. The streets were
7:09
Speaker 1: empty and the buildings appeared to look abandoned with their
7:12
Speaker 1: doors and windows boarded up. It kind of looked like
7:15
Speaker 1: something out of an apocalyptic video game, The Last of Us.
7:20
Speaker 1: I was starting to feel uneasy and honestly a little scared.
7:23
Speaker 1: This looked like nothing of the area that I was
7:25
Speaker 1: just walking in not too long ago. I looked at
7:29
Speaker 1: my phone's map and started making my way back in
7:31
Speaker 1: the right direction. I was around four miles from home
7:34
Speaker 1: still and it was getting dark. As I was walking
7:38
Speaker 1: I saw an old car with a taxi sign on top.
7:41
Speaker 1: It was starting to rain and the darkness was engulfing
7:43
Speaker 1: the streets around me, but I still hesitated for a
7:46
Speaker 1: second before getting in. It didn't look like an official
7:50
Speaker 1: taxi and I'd seen way too many true crime shows
7:52
Speaker 1: to trust it, but I just wanted to get home
7:55
Speaker 1: and the thought of being lost in this unfamiliar place
7:57
Speaker 1: was freaking me out way more than getting in the car.
8:01
Speaker 1: I knocked on the window and the driver rolled it
8:03
Speaker 1: down just a little crack and it was enough for
8:05
Speaker 1: me to ask if he was able to take me
8:06
Speaker 1: where I needed to go.
8:08
Speaker 2: He didn't speak.
8:09
Speaker 1: Just nodded a yes in my direction. He unlocked the
8:13
Speaker 1: doors and I got in and told him to drop
8:15
Speaker 1: me off at the gas station near my apartment building
8:17
Speaker 1: and I gave him the address. The driver started the
8:20
Speaker 1: engine and we were off. I still had my maps
8:23
Speaker 1: app open and glanced at it every so often to
8:25
Speaker 1: make sure that we were going in the right direction.
8:28
Speaker 1: Only the further we drove, I noticed that we had
8:31
Speaker 1: started going in the opposite direction of my apartment. I
8:34
Speaker 1: started to get nervous and asked the driver if he
8:36
Speaker 1: could take me home or even just let me out
8:38
Speaker 1: so I could find another ride but he didn't say
8:40
Speaker 1: a word and instead just kept driving. I started to
8:45
Speaker 1: feel panic set in as the car took me further
8:47
Speaker 1: away from my home. I demanded that the driver let
8:50
Speaker 1: me out and he just sort of chuckled to himself.
8:54
Speaker 1: I tried to open the door but it was locked
8:55
Speaker 1: and didn't have a button to unlock it. It was
8:58
Speaker 1: one of those locks where when the car is locked
9:00
Speaker 1: it retracts into the door and He can't pull it
9:03
Speaker 1: up to unlock it. And I was trapped. I started
9:08
Speaker 1: to feel a cold sweat on my skin as the
9:10
Speaker 1: fear that I was feeling began to fill every inch
9:12
Speaker 1: of my body. The driver drove for what felt like forever,
9:16
Speaker 1: taking me deeper into the outskirts of the city down
9:19
Speaker 1: its darkest, deserted streets. In reality, we probably only drove
9:23
Speaker 1: for around 30 minutes, but the panic and fear that
9:25
Speaker 1: I was feeling in that car made every second feel
9:28
Speaker 1: like hours. The rain was coming down harder and harder
9:32
Speaker 1: and I could feel the driver's eyes on me through
9:34
Speaker 1: the rearview mirror. He was watching me closely and it
9:38
Speaker 1: was making me even more afraid. I was trapped in
9:41
Speaker 1: that taxi with a stranger who seemed to have no
9:43
Speaker 1: intention of letting me go. The fear and desperation was
9:47
Speaker 1: overwhelming and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't
9:50
Speaker 1: think of a way out. Eventually the taxi pulled off
9:53
Speaker 1: to the side of the road and the driver turned
9:55
Speaker 1: to look at me. He was wearing a black hoodie
9:58
Speaker 1: and his face was littered with the trash he tattoos
10:00
Speaker 1: i'd ever seen i almost wanted to laugh for a
10:03
Speaker 1: second and remembered where i was and decided that that
10:07
Speaker 1: wouldn't be the best idea i could see a sort
10:10
Speaker 1: of creepy smirk on his face as he spoke to
10:12
Speaker 1: me in a harsh voice welcome to your final destination
10:16
Speaker 1: he said and i felt a chill run down my
10:19
Speaker 1: spine I didn't know what to do. I tried to
10:22
Speaker 1: reason with the driver to just let me go and
10:25
Speaker 1: there'd be no harm done, but he wouldn't listen. He
10:28
Speaker 1: just laughed as he got out of the car and
10:29
Speaker 1: walked towards the back door. I didn't even know what
10:32
Speaker 1: to think. I had no idea what he was going
10:35
Speaker 1: to do with me. The driver opened the back door
10:37
Speaker 1: and dragged me out of the car by my jacket.
10:40
Speaker 1: He threw me into the gutter and I hit the
10:42
Speaker 1: ground hard. I was in pain, but I was still alive.
10:46
Speaker 1: I tried to get up and run but he was
10:48
Speaker 1: fast and caught me, tackling me to the ground. He
10:52
Speaker 1: put a knife to my throat and I was on
10:53
Speaker 1: the verge of tears and I tried to scream but
10:55
Speaker 1: nothing came out. Why are you doing this? I asked,
11:00
Speaker 1: my voice shaking. And the driver just laughed saying, why not?
11:06
Speaker 1: I was terrified and I couldn't move. I could feel
11:09
Speaker 1: the cold metal of the knife against my skin. Finally,
11:13
Speaker 1: I was able to muster up a scream loud enough
11:15
Speaker 1: that somehow a group of people nearby were able to
11:18
Speaker 1: hear it. I heard footsteps coming from down the street
11:21
Speaker 1: and thank God that they were getting closer. The man
11:25
Speaker 1: told me to shut up and press the knife harder
11:27
Speaker 1: against my skin. And just when I thought things were
11:30
Speaker 1: over for me, I heard a voice calling out in
11:32
Speaker 1: the distance.
11:33
Speaker 2: Hey, what's going on here?
11:36
Speaker 1: I looked down the street and only about 50 feet away,
11:38
Speaker 1: a group of people were walking towards us. They were
11:41
Speaker 1: watching us and I realized that the driver was beginning
11:44
Speaker 1: to get nervous. His hands began to shake and he
11:47
Speaker 1: got off of me as fast as he could. He
11:49
Speaker 1: turned and ran away on foot, just leaving his car
11:53
Speaker 1: and me laying there on the street, reeling from what
11:56
Speaker 1: had just happened. The group ran towards me and one
11:59
Speaker 1: of the guys helped me up and put pressure on
12:01
Speaker 1: the wound that I didn't even notice that I had
12:03
Speaker 1: on my neck. They called the police and an ambulance
12:06
Speaker 1: took me to the hospital. I needed a few stitches
12:09
Speaker 1: for the laceration of my throat but was otherwise physically okay.
12:14
Speaker 1: The police searched the vehicle and realized that it was
12:16
Speaker 1: stolen and there was nothing in it to tie it
12:19
Speaker 1: to the person who had done that to me that night.
12:23
Speaker 1: Now years later, another man was abducted in the same
12:26
Speaker 1: manner in that area, only this time the man was
12:30
Speaker 1: caught and he was arrested. I was called in due
12:34
Speaker 1: to the correlation in the crime and was able to
12:37
Speaker 1: identify the man as the man who attacked me on
12:40
Speaker 1: that night. and thank God that he was charged and
12:44
Speaker 1: sentenced to seven years in prison. He never admitted to
12:48
Speaker 1: kidnapping anyone else, but we knew that that was probably
12:50
Speaker 1: not true. I tried my best to get over it,
12:54
Speaker 1: but the emotional scars will always be there, along with
12:57
Speaker 1: the physical one on my neck. I'm so grateful to
13:00
Speaker 1: the people who saved me, and I'll never forget the
13:03
Speaker 1: fear and desperation that I felt in that taxi. but
13:06
Speaker 1: I'll also never forget the kindness and bravery of the
13:08
Speaker 1: strangers who risked their lives to help me and make
13:10
Speaker 1: sure that I was okay. From that day on, I
13:13
Speaker 1: made sure to always pay attention to my surroundings and
13:17
Speaker 1: never let my guard down again.
13:24
Speaker 3: It was back in the summer of 1974, and I
13:27
Speaker 3: was 16 years old at the time. I had just
13:30
Speaker 3: attended a concert in the city with my friends Dave
13:33
Speaker 3: and John. The three of us were catching a train home.
13:37
Speaker 3: We had got off at our stop and we began
13:39
Speaker 3: walking home down the main road, chatting about the concert
13:42
Speaker 3: and still buzzing from the cool vibes. It was around
13:46
Speaker 3: 12am and we were crossing at a main intersection. There
13:50
Speaker 3: wasn't much traffic around this time of night and as
13:53
Speaker 3: we crossed the road, we suddenly noticed a beta brown
13:56
Speaker 3: colored station wagon stop in the middle of the intersection
13:59
Speaker 3: right near us. His window was down and the driver
14:03
Speaker 3: was around 25 to 30 years old and although he
14:06
Speaker 3: looked a little dodgy, we just assumed he was going
14:08
Speaker 3: to ask for directions and so we just stood there
14:11
Speaker 3: waiting to see what this guy wanted, completely unaware of
14:14
Speaker 3: the sheer terror that was about to follow. In that
14:17
Speaker 3: very moment, the guy pulled out a pistol from his
14:19
Speaker 3: lap and what he uttered next still gives me shivers
14:22
Speaker 3: to this day. He said in a calm tone, Who
14:26
Speaker 3: wants it first? We just froze in absolute shock and
14:30
Speaker 3: terror and it took a few seconds for all the
14:33
Speaker 3: reality of this to finally sink in. We didn't even
14:36
Speaker 3: have time to exchange a look, and we all hightailed
14:39
Speaker 3: it across the intersection. As our footsteps thundered across the road,
14:44
Speaker 3: the sound of gunshots filled the air as we ran
14:46
Speaker 3: for those bushes. I was absolutely terrified waiting for that
14:50
Speaker 3: bullet to hit me or one of my friends in
14:52
Speaker 3: the back. As we ran further into the park and
14:55
Speaker 3: mustered up the courage to look back, we could no
14:58
Speaker 3: longer see the car and breathe a sigh of relief.
15:01
Speaker 3: We all just stood there trying to get our breath back. Luckily,
15:05
Speaker 3: we all knew the area pretty well, and we decided
15:08
Speaker 3: to continue along the old gravel road that we knew
15:10
Speaker 3: would take us back towards our homes. As we walked
15:13
Speaker 3: down the path, our conversation was pretty minimal, as we
15:16
Speaker 3: were too preoccupied over the thoughts of what had just
15:18
Speaker 3: happened and how lucky we were. However, that feeling of
15:22
Speaker 3: relief didn't last very long. As we got near the
15:25
Speaker 3: end of the gravel road, I could make out a
15:27
Speaker 3: car at the very end, and I started to wonder
15:30
Speaker 3: to myself, Could that be the guy? We kept walking,
15:34
Speaker 3: but then just like out of a scary movie, the
15:36
Speaker 3: car flicked on its headlights and started revving its engine,
15:39
Speaker 3: and under the dim lights of the street, my heart
15:41
Speaker 3: began to sink as I then realized it was the
15:43
Speaker 3: brown station wagon. We knew he could see us. He
15:47
Speaker 3: was waiting for us, taunting us. He must know these
15:51
Speaker 3: streets well and where each of the different roads would lead. Well,
15:55
Speaker 3: we didn't waste another second. We took off once again
15:57
Speaker 3: and jumped the fence of a neighboring house. We didn't stop.
16:01
Speaker 3: We just kept running and running and jumping all of
16:03
Speaker 3: the fences. I glanced toward the road many times and
16:06
Speaker 3: I would see his car screaming past. Each time we
16:09
Speaker 3: made it to a main road, we would see his
16:12
Speaker 3: car appear again and once again speed towards us and
16:15
Speaker 3: we dove over fences and tried to find another way.
16:18
Speaker 3: This happened about two or three more times after that.
16:21
Speaker 3: Around 1.30am, We got down the end of another side road,
16:25
Speaker 3: and we couldn't see at the time, but the fence
16:28
Speaker 3: we jumped was covered in barbed wire, and it tore
16:30
Speaker 3: our clothes as we slid down. I let out a
16:33
Speaker 3: few groans as it grazed my arm. We were now
16:36
Speaker 3: in some kind of paddock-type area, and we could faintly
16:38
Speaker 3: hear the screeches of its tires racing around trying to
16:41
Speaker 3: find us. We just stood there crouching in the dark,
16:44
Speaker 3: breathing heavily, standing in cow manner, but we didn't care.
16:49
Speaker 3: We probably crouched for about 15 minutes or so, just
16:52
Speaker 3: waiting in the dark, Figuring by now he must be gone,
16:55
Speaker 3: we made our way back onto the main road. We
16:58
Speaker 3: kept our eyes peeled and kept glancing over our shoulders,
17:01
Speaker 3: and as the headlights appeared in the distance on many occasions,
17:05
Speaker 3: we each stopped breathing for a second wondering in anticipation
17:08
Speaker 3: whether or not it was going to be the brown
17:09
Speaker 3: station wagon. We didn't see him again after that, and
17:13
Speaker 3: around 3am we walked my friend John home. Dave came
17:17
Speaker 3: back to mind for a bit so we could talk
17:19
Speaker 3: more calmly about our experience. Dave went home later that night.
17:25
Speaker 3: What was only meant to be a 20 minute walk
17:27
Speaker 3: home turned into a two hour terror trip that I
17:30
Speaker 3: will never forget. What was even more scary was a
17:33
Speaker 3: week or so later, I heard on the news that
17:35
Speaker 3: an elderly lady was shot by a random stranger one
17:38
Speaker 3: late night not too far from where this happened. Whether
17:41
Speaker 3: it was the same guy or not, I'll never know.
17:44
Speaker 3: All I really know is that my friends and I
17:46
Speaker 3: were incredibly lucky to escape that night. I live in
17:54
Speaker 3: a relatively safe area in Scotland, though I've had several
17:58
Speaker 3: really odd and scary experiences since I moved here about
18:01
Speaker 3: four years ago. I'm a short 29-year-old woman and I
18:05
Speaker 3: work in a pub, so I often get out of
18:07
Speaker 3: work quite late. I never wear my headphones when headed
18:11
Speaker 3: home at night, so this particular night was no different
18:14
Speaker 3: than usual. Alarm set, doors locked and checked, then said
18:18
Speaker 3: goodbye to my colleague and then went our separate ways
18:20
Speaker 3: to get home. I usually cross a grocery store car
18:24
Speaker 3: park to get home, and that night something struck me
18:27
Speaker 3: as odd. There were a couple of cars parked there,
18:30
Speaker 3: which is normal, but something just felt off this time.
18:34
Speaker 3: I looked over my shoulder and I clocked a guy
18:37
Speaker 3: in a hat walking a distance behind me. This wasn't weird,
18:40
Speaker 3: but I decided to keep an eye on him nonetheless.
18:44
Speaker 3: I exited the car park to the main road that
18:46
Speaker 3: I lived off of, but still had a good mile
18:48
Speaker 3: or so to go before I finally reached my flat.
18:52
Speaker 3: I checked over my shoulder again, and sure enough, the
18:55
Speaker 3: guy was walking in the same direction as me. The
18:58
Speaker 3: distance between us was starting to close, so I decided
19:01
Speaker 3: to cross the road. Looking over my shoulder, I was
19:04
Speaker 3: able to not only look for traffic coming, but I
19:06
Speaker 3: was also able to keep an eye on him. I
19:09
Speaker 3: crossed the road and didn't bother to look back for
19:11
Speaker 3: another few minutes, assuming he had stayed on the other side.
19:15
Speaker 3: But I began to hear footsteps approaching. I glanced over
19:19
Speaker 3: my shoulder and saw this guy was about 20 feet
19:21
Speaker 3: behind me. I had a soft drink in a glass
19:24
Speaker 3: bottle in my bag, and figuring I was overacting but
19:27
Speaker 3: better safe than sorry, I stuck my hand into my
19:29
Speaker 3: bag and gripped the bottle. Another 45 seconds in, this
19:33
Speaker 3: guy was close enough to touch me, but he slows
19:35
Speaker 3: to my pace and then says, Hello there, how are you?
19:39
Speaker 3: I ignored him and I don't respond. I long ago
19:44
Speaker 3: gave up on pretenses of being polite if I feel uncomfortable.
19:47
Speaker 3: If I'm feeling uncomfortable, I really don't care about a
19:50
Speaker 3: stranger's feelings. But he persists in talking to me. Hi there,
19:55
Speaker 3: are you going to work today? No, I was being
19:58
Speaker 3: short with him. Are you going home? Yes, I said coldly.
20:04
Speaker 3: Do you live in this direction? I just looked at
20:07
Speaker 3: him and he tried again.
20:09
Speaker 2: Do you live off this road? Where do you live?
20:12
Speaker 2: Do you live close by?
20:13
Speaker 3: I don't respond to him and I slowed my pace,
20:17
Speaker 3: letting him walk on. I was still gripping the glass bottle,
20:20
Speaker 3: ready to hit him with it should he try anything.
20:23
Speaker 3: He tried to slow down so that I would catch
20:25
Speaker 3: up with him, but I slowed down so much that
20:28
Speaker 3: I was barely walking. He was maybe 300 yards away
20:31
Speaker 3: at this point and simply stopped and turned around, watching
20:35
Speaker 3: me and waiting for me to catch up with him.
20:37
Speaker 3: I reached into my pocket with my free hand and
20:39
Speaker 3: tried to get my phone. Of course, my phone was dead.
20:44
Speaker 3: I figured it would last the walk home, but the
20:46
Speaker 3: dodgy battery had other ideas. Surprisingly though, I wasn't really afraid.
20:52
Speaker 3: He had started walking again, but again, still quite slowly.
20:57
Speaker 3: He looked over his shoulder again after another minute, and
21:00
Speaker 3: I seized the opportunity. There was a path to a
21:03
Speaker 3: block of flats that was obscured by tall hedges, so
21:05
Speaker 3: I leaped behind I waited for nearly 10 minutes, never
21:09
Speaker 3: letting go of that bottle the whole time. I peeked
21:13
Speaker 3: around the hedges to make sure he was there. I
21:15
Speaker 3: peeked behind bins and bus stops to make sure he
21:18
Speaker 3: wasn't hiding, but as far as I could tell, I
21:20
Speaker 3: had lost him. Maybe he didn't mean anything by this,
21:24
Speaker 3: but if you suspect a woman is afraid of you
21:26
Speaker 3: and she's walking alone at night, don't speak to her.
21:29
Speaker 3: It won't help. And especially, don't ask her where she
21:32
Speaker 3: lives repeatedly. I wasn't drunk. I didn't appear to be
21:36
Speaker 3: drunk or need any help. I was just walking home
21:39
Speaker 3: like I usually would. I am, however, inclined to believe
21:42
Speaker 3: that he had bad intentions. I would rather be too
21:46
Speaker 3: cautious than not. So did that creepy dude who seemed
21:50
Speaker 3: to be following me home that night.
21:52
Speaker 2: Screw off.
21:59
Speaker 3: I'm a 28-year-old male, and seven nights ago at around 10.30 p.m.,
22:03
Speaker 3: my life changed. I was walking home from work in
22:08
Speaker 3: downtown Vancouver, British Columbia when I was randomly punched and
22:11
Speaker 3: kicked by someone walking past me. Now, I had never
22:14
Speaker 3: seen this person before. I said nothing to this person
22:18
Speaker 3: and I wasn't in their way. In fact, I made
22:21
Speaker 3: a point of moving out of his way as he
22:23
Speaker 3: was walking fairly close to me. As I walked past him,
22:26
Speaker 3: he swung his hand out, punched me in the forehead
22:28
Speaker 3: and went in for a punch. Being a fairly big
22:32
Speaker 3: guy with defensive training, I was able to protect myself
22:35
Speaker 3: from the second punch. After working a very long and
22:39
Speaker 3: hard shift, I didn't want to get into a fight,
22:41
Speaker 3: so I tried to flee. That's when I saw some
22:44
Speaker 3: people walking in my way and watching what was going on.
22:48
Speaker 3: I screamed for them to call the police, and that's
22:50
Speaker 3: when he started to kick me in the back. The
22:53
Speaker 3: couple didn't call, so I reached for my phone and
22:56
Speaker 3: pushed the power button about five times to activate SOS mode.
23:00
Speaker 3: The operator picked up, and when the assailant heard I
23:02
Speaker 3: was on the phone, He bounced. The police came, took
23:06
Speaker 3: my statements, and in the process, another unit arrested the guy.
23:10
Speaker 3: I've had a pretty bad headache, and I'm all bruised up,
23:13
Speaker 3: but the worst part is the mental anguish that I
23:16
Speaker 3: suffer walking in public, and even more so when I
23:18
Speaker 3: have to walk alone at night. The walk is down
23:22
Speaker 3: a very populated main road, but that doesn't ease the
23:25
Speaker 3: pain and stress. I always make sure to watch every
23:29
Speaker 3: single person now check over my shoulders every couple of
23:31
Speaker 3: seconds and practically jog all the way home. I feel
23:35
Speaker 3: like an idiot for even feeling this way. As a
23:38
Speaker 3: male raised in a household of competitive fighters, I was
23:41
Speaker 3: always told to never feel weak, but all I wanted
23:44
Speaker 3: to do when I got home that night was just
23:46
Speaker 3: sit in the shower and break down. Anyways, that's my story.
23:51
Speaker 3: Thank you for taking the time to listen to it
23:53
Speaker 3: and letting me vent. And for anyone else that walks
23:56
Speaker 3: home at night, please be careful.
24:04
Speaker 2: My name is Matthew, and this is the most horrifying
24:06
Speaker 2: experience I've ever had. This was something straight out of
24:11
Speaker 2: a horror movie. I lived in a rural town in
24:14
Speaker 2: California and worked at a local Domino's. I have to
24:18
Speaker 2: walk past some woods in order to get to my house.
24:21
Speaker 2: I have been working at Domino's since I was 17
24:24
Speaker 2: and I am now 19. I have also been walking
24:28
Speaker 2: past the woods and nothing strange has ever happened to me.
24:32
Speaker 2: Until today. So my shift at Domino's ended at 7.30,
24:37
Speaker 2: a bit later than my normal time I get out.
24:41
Speaker 2: So I'm walking and I could see the woods maybe
24:44
Speaker 2: a few miles up ahead. Finally I get to the
24:48
Speaker 2: woods and I'm on the side of the road. To
24:51
Speaker 2: get a better idea of where I was, imagine a
24:54
Speaker 2: road and trees on both sides. Now there are barely
24:58
Speaker 2: any cars or people on the road at this time.
25:03
Speaker 2: Keep in mind that it's getting dark and you only
25:06
Speaker 2: have very little light so it really added to the creepiness. Anyway,
25:11
Speaker 2: as I was walking I thought I could hear something
25:14
Speaker 2: coming from the trees. I looked but I didn't see anything.
25:21
Speaker 2: I continued walking when a rock was thrown at me
25:24
Speaker 2: and landed right in front of me. I then turned
25:27
Speaker 2: around and looked to the trees and I could see
25:29
Speaker 2: someone waving at me. It was dark so I couldn't
25:33
Speaker 2: see who it was or how they looked. I asked, uh, hey,
25:38
Speaker 2: do you need something? He responded in a loud whisper
25:42
Speaker 2: and said, hey, come over here, I want to show
25:46
Speaker 2: you something. I told him that I had to get
25:49
Speaker 2: home and that I couldn't be late. He responded saying, Oh,
25:54
Speaker 2: don't worry. It will only take a second. I really
25:57
Speaker 2: need your help with something. I told him I'll help,
26:00
Speaker 2: but I only had a minute. He said a minute
26:04
Speaker 2: is all it will take. I took a deep breath
26:07
Speaker 2: and walked over to him. He said that he found
26:11
Speaker 2: a man-made hole dug in the ground and wanted to
26:14
Speaker 2: see what was down there and that he didn't have
26:16
Speaker 2: a light. I told him I would shine my light
26:19
Speaker 2: with my iPhone down there to take a look. Doing
26:23
Speaker 2: that was the biggest mistake I've ever done. I walked
26:28
Speaker 2: over and stood by the hole with the man behind me.
26:32
Speaker 2: Before I was about to shine the light, the man
26:35
Speaker 2: pushed me down the hole. I fell about 20 feet
26:39
Speaker 2: and landed on something soft. I started cussing and screaming
26:43
Speaker 2: at the man, but I didn't see him. I stood
26:47
Speaker 2: up and I could feel the soft thing I was on.
26:51
Speaker 2: I had to see what I was standing on. I
26:54
Speaker 2: shined the flashlight on my phone and shined it down.
26:58
Speaker 2: I felt like my whole world had been shattered. The
27:02
Speaker 2: light revealed the body. It was a naked woman who
27:06
Speaker 2: looked to be about 20 and she had been killed.
27:10
Speaker 2: She had cuts everywhere on her body. I stayed down
27:14
Speaker 2: there for a good half hour before finally managing to
27:16
Speaker 2: climb out and run home. I didn't tell my parents
27:20
Speaker 2: about what I saw. I only told a few of
27:23
Speaker 2: my closest friends. My name is Courtney and I was
27:28
Speaker 2: 23 years old when this happened. I worked at a
27:32
Speaker 2: McDonald's right near my house. In order to get to
27:35
Speaker 2: my house or to my work, you have to pass
27:37
Speaker 2: by a public park. I always carry pepper spray on
27:41
Speaker 2: me in case anything happens to me. I've been working
27:46
Speaker 2: at McDonald's for a few months now and whenever I
27:49
Speaker 2: would work, I would always pass by the park and
27:52
Speaker 2: nothing has ever happened until this one night. It was
27:57
Speaker 2: a Wednesday, I believe, and I had just gotten off
27:59
Speaker 2: from work. It was around 11pm and I was starting
28:03
Speaker 2: to walk home. The reason why I walked from work
28:07
Speaker 2: to home is because my house is close by, so
28:10
Speaker 2: there's no need to drive. Anyway, while I was walking,
28:15
Speaker 2: I looked behind me for whatever reason, and I saw
28:17
Speaker 2: a man in all black following me. I thought nothing
28:21
Speaker 2: of it, and just simply kept walking. I looked behind
28:25
Speaker 2: me once more, and this time, I could tell that
28:28
Speaker 2: he was walking a bit faster. I walked faster too,
28:32
Speaker 2: hoping that this guy would go away. I felt like
28:36
Speaker 2: he could put his hand on me at any moment
28:38
Speaker 2: so I had my hand on my pepper spray just
28:40
Speaker 2: in case. And then it happened. I felt a hand
28:46
Speaker 2: cover my mouth and another hand grab my neck. I
28:50
Speaker 2: screamed and took out my pepper spray and sprayed the
28:53
Speaker 2: man in the eyes and he fell to the ground.
28:56
Speaker 2: I ran home while the man lied on the ground
28:59
Speaker 2: screaming in pain. I finally came home and went inside
29:03
Speaker 2: almost out of breath. But unfortunately, it didn't end there.
29:10
Speaker 2: My parents weren't home and when I went to look
29:12
Speaker 2: out of my bedroom window, I saw the man across
29:15
Speaker 2: the street looking right at me. He then ran off
29:19
Speaker 2: into the darkness and I never saw him again.