Anyone here have a scary experience before?

[rajmahal]

Back in the early 90s my boyfriend, later my husband, and I went to Yosemite's Bear Lodge (I think that is the name- there is a giant wood carved bear in front) before spring- I think it was February. We deliberately chose a floor level outer facing room away from everyone else, on the outer wing. It was past 8:30 at night - maybe after 9-when we arrived at the lodge and there was no food for miles, so we tried to see if the restaurant would serve us. I waited in the car while my boyfriend went in and talked to the sole waiter to see if he would serve us past close. There were no other people around the lodge at all, none left in the restaurant either- a couple cars that presumably belonged to other lodgers far across the parking lot- that was it. While my boyfriend was inside the restaurant chatting, I saw a large, striking looking man, much older than me, very tall and strong build, a heavy jacket, dark hair. He came out of what was a living quarters beside the restaurant, looked like- I remember there was a light in that direction. He had no purpose out there in the very cold dark night (there was snow on the ground). I felt uneasy as he was looking at me alone in the vehicle. He went out of sight and then returned again presumably doing hotel "chores." Again, he looked at me in the vehicle, passing right in front of it and I felt purposely to get a closer look at me. I had the heater cranked up and it was a Acura Legend with all the locks locked. I had the radio on. I felt sure that I could honk for help if he approached and my boyfriend was coming back in moments- I felt safest waiting in the car rather than exiting to head to the entrance of the restaurant. I could see my boyfriend through the restaurant window speaking to the waiter only a few feet away. This was before cell phones were ubiquitous. I still felt disconcerted like this man was appraising me and that his second trip near to my car was just an excuse to check me out. I'm not one of these woman that thinks everyone is always checking them out, either- that's not my ego talking here. Soon, my boyfriend came back outside and straight to the car and told me the cook would feed us.

The man made his way back across the restaurant on the sidewalk in front of our car, saw my boyfriend rejoin me and then he disappeared around the corner again. I never saw the man again. I had a very bad feeling at the time about the way he had looked at me, trying not to be caught looking at me, a side look and not like he thought I was "cute"- it was predatory and opportunistic. I mean, it was just him and I out there in the parking lot in the snowy dark, the hotel rooms and the office were across the big lot. I told my boyfriend at dinner that I was uncomfortable about some guy outside- I asked if he had noticed the guy watching us- he had. The waiter said it was just the handyman; he worked there. We ate alone in the restaurant with the friendly waiter telling us about life growing up in Yosemite and how dull it is during the off-season. He was young like ourselves and we all had a good time talking. After dinner we went back to our room and crashed. Early the next morning, we went into Yosemite park alone, visited the glorious Ahwahnee Hotel (formerly), saw deer, walked in the snow, took photos, found a private spot near a huge rock... I don't remember seeing anyone else on the trails or around the park, really- I think one Japanese family was at Mirror Lake with us later. Then my boyfriend and I left for home, after just that one night's lodging.

I recognized the face of the man I saw that night some years later. He worked and lived at the lodge as a maintenance man. His name was Cary Stayner. I connected the lodge, the face, that trip. My feeling had been correct. Not long after, Stayner went on to kill a mother and two teenage girls (and at least two other women, including a Yosemite ranger) while they were staying in a floor level outer facing room at that very same lodge. Stayner told the mother he needed to check their air conditioner and the rest is grim as grim gets.

Looking at it now, I have always felt he was "casing me" to see if the driver I had arrived with was another female. He seemed put off once he saw I was with my boyfriend. Perhaps he didn't have time enough to come up with a ruse with which to gain access to us in our room or perhaps my boyfriend's presence dissuaded him from targeting me. This momentary brush with such a dangerous person, taught me to always trust my female instincts and err on the side of caution if I feel uneasy about someone, go with it. If I had to do it again, I probably would have splurged and stayed at the Ahwahnee that night. If something like that ever happens again, I'm not staying for dinner and lodging near someone that imposing that looks at me that way, but no one has given me that look before or since, like a hunter sizing up prey. I hope I never see it again, but I will know it immediately, if I ever do.

[brawlpups]

I have had many strange and edgey experiences, guns, knifes, psychopath best friends, gangbangers, unsolved mysteries roomate, hood rats, etc. so I'll only give out a couple.

Satanic cults in southern Cali, not much known about them when I was there in the late 70's and no one had heard anyting about it at the time untill an article in playboy.

While I was in the military a Mayan Satanist told stories of belonging to a network that did sacrifices, he talked of drinking blood and getting blood lust., etc. etc.

We went out one night and he hooked up with a bud who was basically a skinhead. They started out by taking out a large military knife and drawing blood to be blood brothers, the skinhead came over and asked if I wanted to be a blood brother and said I'd pass. He looked at me menacingly and asked what was the matter didn't I like them? He had the knife pointed at me and then the conversation turned to the devil and how when he flew over it sounded like a screaming jet and asked me if I wanted to come wit them to see a sacrifice. I thought to myself, I bet the screaming is what I would hear when they cut (my) throat and I said I'd pass again.

Later the party ended up in a bikers apartment in some wierd southern Cali courtyard apartments. The Biker started to playbox and was jabbing at me out under the streetlight in the darkened courtyard but I could sense that when we closed in if I was unaware he would try hooking a kidney, liver, or hard organ and kill me or put me in the hospital with a serious, possibly fatal rupture.

I danced around, crcling back, and managed to divert his repeated attacks so he couldn't close on me. The Biker became enraged and the homicidal intent became clear in his glaring eyes and menacing speech. He was unable to close the deal, luckily for me and I managed to get home in one piece and away from my friends of the evening.

This is how I learned that sometimes there are people you need to avoid. I'm a little dense at times and always often overly trusting.

And strangely I've had run several more run in with satanic groups. The middle class is blissfully unaware of what sometimes goes on around them.

Trust in a higher power for deliverance and guidance from the forces of darkness. (and for me, get better friends)

Thanks for being my audience.

[englishman]

I've had a couple. The one which unnerved me the most was when I was 16 years old and went to a further education college, it was total shock in comparison to what I used to, at my regular school which was very sporty, academic and arrogant, there was often fights as it was a very charged masculine environment, a lot of people liked to act like tough guys who could take exception to the slightest of insults, but the teachers had a grip of the situation and most of the kids didn't push it too far, as they would easily make an example and exclude those who took the *.

The further education college was a totally different ball game, you had to share lessons with adults in their mid twenties, some were on welfare and put on the courses through outreach centres, very often the lessons would descend into chaos, tutors would just walk out of the room. In other groups drug dealers would turn up outside of classrooms to try to get to people in the lessons, students and tutors got assaulted, there was always gangs of people hanging around who weren't students. I tried my best to give it all a wide birth not get involved in the drama, fortunately a lot of scumbags on my course left, but they had managed to make 10 or so regular peaceful students leave my course due to pressure and bullying.

The area nearby the college was rough, I had a few friends who lived in the area so occasionally if it was quiet I would take a shortcut through there, it was never short of incidents students from the college walking through the area were often getting robbed and beaten up, it never felt right walking around there you always felt on edge and on a few occasions I managed to avoid the undesirables, but you had to listen around and find out what was going on from other students.

One day me and an acquaintance from another course who knew my mates decided to cut through the area, but we took a bit of a shortcut and went deeper into the area then usual, this would of cut a big chunk of the journey. It wasn't late it was 11 in the morning on a Friday. It was a quiet walk there was no-one about but the area was unusually still and desolate, but we continued on talking about football (soccer) and college minding our business. We walk by a series of flats (apartment blocks) around four stories high, most of the buildings were boarded up on the ground floor, we start to notice litter but this isn't your regular type of stuff, hypodermic syringes, foil with burn marks, glass pipes, smashed bottles etc, something doesn't seem right but there is no point turning back, as another mile and half or so and we're out of the area.

We pass the flats and there is a boarded up house, out of nowhere around 12-15 lads aged around 19-25 come storming out of one of the houses aggressively shouting at us, I know two of the faces and these are people I always knew to give a wide birth to, they were ferocious fighters with a reputation for violence. Four or so the group run across the road at us, with rest following shouting "What the * are you looking at! * come on then" one of them leaps forward at a ridiculous velocity and gives the associate I was with one hell of head butt, two of the others run in and start throwing punches at me which I manage to partially evade.

Fortunately for us some big guy was walking up his driveway with his kid, who saw this unfold and shouted at them to stop, they stopped temporarily and started shouting back at him. The acquaintance I was with took the head butt like a boss he was still on his feet but bleeding, we took the opportunity to get the * out of there, we were both in good nick and had a good headstart on the other group who began surging down the road towards us, there was two of them on pushbikes and we could hear a car starting up, we changed directions and took a short cut through the grounds of a church, we heard the car screech by as we where running through there, from here we cut down side short streets and alley ways, trying to keep off the longer main roads, we finally reached civilisation there was so much adrenaline going through me I was nearly sick.

We never saw the guy again who interrupted the potential beating, but we owed him one, most people would of avoided the confrontation, we scanned the newspapers and there was no news about a mob of people beating a man up in that area. I learnt my lesson and never cut through this area, I took the long route through the safe area's which added an extra 30 minutes to my journey and about three months later I passed my shitty course and never set foot in that area again, if I had my own way I would hope the government fires a dozen or so cruise missiles into that area, as nothing has ever changed around there.

[niktun]

About 5 years ago, I was living with my ex-boyfriend in a different part of my town near the college. There was an empty lot next to my house, which was on the corner, directly across from the college.

It was about 8:30 at night, on Easter Sunday, and my kids were trying to sleep for school the next morning. There was a truck parked in front of my house playing music really loudly. My ex went outside and asked them to turn the music down because the kids were trying to sleep. They yelled obscenities and drove off and shot twice at the house when they did. Luckily, they didn't hit the house or anything but I was terrified afterward that they would come back some day. Clearly they had nothing to lose.

This was my ex who was very violent towards me, both mentally and physically. He was a very large man (6'8"/300 lbs), Army veteran, and had some severe undiagnosed mental illness. I used to lay awake at night thinking of ways to kill him because I figured that would be the only way to get away safely. He finally sent me to the hospital and I talked to the police at that point. I knew I would die if I stayed, at least attempting to get help would give me a chance of living. He moved out before I came home and other than some threatening calls and text messages, I've not heard from him since. He used to threaten that if I left, he knew where my family lived. But, apparently he was very scared of the police, so every time I heard from him afterward I only had to mention them for him to leave me alone.

[nowhereman]

Wow, interesting thread.

I was trying to sell an electronic keyboard in the mid-80s via advertisement in the newspaper of a large Midwestern town (100,000). I had this guy call asking questions about it. He made some creepy comments asking whether I liked to "party", etc. And a date was set for me to stop by (it was about an hour drive from where I lived, I don't remember why he was unable to come to my house. Possibly, he had "no car").

I stop by this big house, he seems to be the only one there. While there wasn't anything particularly nefarious about the guy or anything that was said, something was not right. At some point, he called in a young kid age 18-20 to check it out because he would be the one playing it. I don't know what the situation was with these people, but there was something that was not right with the older man (mid 30s-40 possibly). There was no female (mom/wife) around and it was a weekday.  Maybe "partying" was mentioned again, I don't really remember. All I know, I tried to be all business and get out of there as soon as I could. Maybe his plan was to overpower me and then rip me off...

Anyhow, when I saw the scene in the Zodiac movie where Graysmith freaks out in the creepy old house with Bob Vaughn, my experience felt a lot like that.

[charlotte]

You people are spooking me. Mine is a bit of a different kind of scary story. When I was 17 my mom, me, and my younger brother lived in an apartment in Tennessee that was a little out of town. The complex was at the edge of a big tract of forest, and our apartment was the closest to the forest. You walked three steps out the door and ran into a steep hill about 20 feet high that led to the forest. You had to climb it on all fours. We’d go for walks back there occasionally, and my mom and I both felt watched every time. It was very spooky. I grew up in the country playing in the woods, so this wasn’t a case of city folk spooked by the big bad woods.

Anyway, being young and foolish, I one day went for a walk by myself in the woods. For the life of me I can’t think WHY I did this as scared as I was of those woods by then. I didn’t go far before I got the spooky feeling of being watched. I turned around to head back home, thinking what an idiot I was. At some point I realized I was being followed. I don’t have words to describe the wave of raw fear that washed over me at that moment. Alone in the forest, nobody home to hear my screams, no weapon, and something is following me...... In spite of my terror I knew two things: to not take off running because that would cause whatever it was to chase and overtake me and to not look back because if I saw it I’d panic and run. It was a very long and very frightening walk back home! I never went in those woods again. I do wish I’d peeked out the window to see what it was stalking me.

[formermayor]

No scary experiences that really come to mind, I had great parents and generally a good extended family. My parents were cautious but not overly protective. I know my Mom prayed for us literally every day but I think they suspected that we could handle most situations we ran into. Closest thing to a scary experience was having dinner in Lubby's cafeteria in Killeen, TX the day before that guy drove through the side of the restaurant and shot and killed 27 people. That gave me some strange feelings.

[jthou]

Mine isn’t as scary as some of what others have posted but when I was a teen, maybe 14 or 15 I was standing in my front yard talking to a couple of neighbors. I lived next door to some gang members involved in the drug trade. There had been shootings there before.at parties. Anyhow this one night a car comes and turns the corner, when they get in front of the neighbors house they do a drive by shooting. This is all happening less than 50 feet or so from me and my friends. While the guns weren’t pointed directly at us, if you’ve never seen the flash of the gun and heard the reports coming in your general direction it’s a frightening experience. I don’t know if I had ever moved so fast in my life. We got around the side of the house in about .000001 seconds flat. There were 2 or 3 guns and they shot at least 20 times. It happened so fast we saw the first 5-8 shots before we reacted and realized what was happening. I’ve been around and shot guns my entire life but to be on the other end was definitely a scary experience.

[nowhereman]

Apr 15, 2018 15:27:03 GMT jthou said:

Mine isn’t as scary as some of what others have posted but when I was a teen, maybe 14 or 15 I was standing in my front yard talking to a couple of neighbors. I lived next door to some gang members involved in the drug trade. There had been shootings there before.at parties. Anyhow this one night a car comes and turns the corner, when they get in front of the neighbors house they do a drive by shooting. This is all happening less than 50 feet or so from me and my friends. While the guns weren’t pointed directly at us, if you’ve never seen the flash of the gun and heard the reports coming in your general direction it’s a frightening experience. I don’t know if I had ever moved so fast in my life. We got around the side of the house in about .000001 seconds flat. There were 2 or 3 guns and they shot at least 20 times. It happened so fast we saw the first 5-8 shots before we reacted and realized what was happening. I’ve been around and shot guns my entire life but to be on the other end was definitely a scary experience.

Holy cow. I would have been scared sh__less.

[brawlpups]

Apr 12, 2018 3:30:21 GMT charlotte said:

You people are spooking me. Mine is a bit of a different kind of scary story. When I was 17 my mom, me, and my younger brother lived in an apartment in Tennessee that was a little out of town. The complex was at the edge of a big tract of forest, and our apartment was the closest to the forest. You walked three steps out the door and ran into a steep hill about 20 feet high that led to the forest. You had to climb it on all fours. We’d go for walks back there occasionally, and my mom and I both felt watched every time. It was very spooky. I grew up in the country playing in the woods, so this wasn’t a case of city folk spooked by the big bad woods.

Anyway, being young and foolish, I one day went for a walk by myself in the woods. For the life of me I can’t think WHY I did this as scared as I was of those woods by then. I didn’t go far before I got the spooky feeling of being watched. I turned around to head back home, thinking what an idiot I was. At some point I realized I was being followed. I don’t have words to describe the wave of raw fear that washed over me at that moment. Alone in the forest, nobody home to hear my screams, no weapon, and something is following me...... In spite of my terror I knew two things: to not take off running because that would cause whatever it was to chase and overtake me and to not look back because if I saw it I’d panic and run. It was a very long and very frightening walk back home! I never went in those woods again. I do wish I’d peeked out the window to see what it was stalking me.

Certain animals will follow you in the woods for various reasons. 
Bear, usualy curious, buck deer because they want to scare you off and are territorial, canids such as coydogs. It's eerie but the world of man is no less so.

[rozb]

I was just going to start a thread about this. Very interesting! And creepy!

I've had quite a few what I would consider "small" incidents. 

--most recently I was, how shall we say, "groped" on the NY Subway. It's an interesting story. I got on a car at rush hour with people packed in like sardines. I was standing in a big mob. Suddenly I felt the guy behind me pressing something long and hard up against my butt. Now don't laugh, but I tried to rationalize it to myself. It just seemed so cliché! I told myself, "Well maybe he just went shopping at Whole Foods and he's got a zucchini in his backpack." (My sisters still kid me about that). It continued. I only had an inch or two to move around. I was trying to move away from him. I never felt scared, though, because there were just too many people around. It went on for a while, until we got to the next stop, when all of a sudden I'm being pulled off the train and police badges are being shoved in my face. Turns out there were two undercover cops in the train who saw the whole thing. They whisked me away. I never saw the guy. I only read in the police report later he actually, er, had it out exposed and was rubbing it against me, ew. The cops said they were watching me get more uncomfortable and try to get away from him.

--The scariest thing that ever happened to me was when I was in undergrad. I was alone in the basement of the library reading when I started to hear a funny noise. I thought it was a bee buzzing. It just went on and on and I kept ignoring it. Finally I looked up and there was a guy about two inches from my face doing . . . well, you know what. Holy crap. You know how libraries can be, so quiet and empty sometimes. I have never run so fast in my whole life. I was petrified! He'd been there like ten minutes watching me. 

--I've had several peepers. One happened and I didn't even know about it until the next day when a friend of mine told me he heard about it on the police scanner. What? They never told me, but they arrested a guy right outside my house. Once I was coming out of the shower and a voice said something disgusting RIGHT at my window. 

--For those reasons I never have an apartment on the first floor.

--Just recently, I was staying with my brother's family in a nice house in suburban NJ while I commuted to NYC. Very safe place, or so I thought. A few strange things happened. One night I stepped out at about 3 a.m. to smoke a cig, like I usually did. After about ten seconds I heard movement, and then a man's voice about two feet away from me clearing his throat. OMG. It scared me to death. What was a man doing in this neighborhood at 3 am? Later we were told there was a prowler in the area.

--same place. One morning I went to park my car at a side street, where I would then walk another block to the bus. As I was pulling in, a man who for some reason just gave me the creeps waved at me from about half a block a way. He yelled and started trying to talk to me. Said he "lived there" and he'd "seen me around." He "wanted to ask me some questions." I didn't like it. He was bald and big and just didn't seem from that area. But being "polite" I yelled back Hello or something.  He said his wife was looking for work, and did I know where she could apply for jobs in NYC? Huh? No, that was wrong. I ignored him, and then had to finish parallel parking. You know how you have to concentrate and look behind you. I finished, and just as I was about to get out of the car I looked up and saw he was RIGHT THERE, in his vehicle, blocking my driver's side door and staring at me. Scared me to death! I swear he was some kind of killer. His eyes were terrifying. I was shaking I was so scared. My heart was beating so hard. I ended up turning the car back on and just driving slowly away. He followed me for about five minutes. I had to fund a different place to park where there were lots of people, and then he drove off. Never saw him in the neighborhood again.

[msw123]

My dad was in the impact zone at the Pentagon on 9/11. He had shared his general experience before, but I didn't learn that he was actually in the impact zone until a couple months ago. For the longest time I had this unresolved... grief - for lack of a better word... regarding 9/11 -- even 17 years after it occurred. I can't explain it, but it's like I wasn't able to move through all of the 5 stages and get closure. Knowing where exactly he was that day and hearing him explain what he saw and what he smelled -- for some reason getting these details helped me get the closure I needed in order to work through the unresolved feelings I had about 9/11.

I think this overwhelming NEED TO KNOW is similar to what some of JJD's victims' families experience. I hope that they're able to get the information they seek now that the EARONS has been caught.

Thanks for letting me share this story.

[red]

Apr 7, 2018 21:22:29 GMT rajmahal said:

Back in the early 90s my boyfriend, later my husband, and I went to Yosemite's Bear Lodge (I think that is the name- there is a giant wood carved bear in front) before spring- I think it was February. We deliberately chose a floor level outer facing room away from everyone else, on the outer wing. It was past 8:30 at night - maybe after 9-when we arrived at the lodge and there was no food for miles, so we tried to see if the restaurant would serve us. I waited in the car while my boyfriend went in and talked to the sole waiter to see if he would serve us past close. There were no other people around the lodge at all, none left in the restaurant either- a couple cars that presumably belonged to other lodgers far across the parking lot- that was it. While my boyfriend was inside the restaurant chatting, I saw a large, striking looking man, much older than me, very tall and strong build, a heavy jacket, dark hair. He came out of what was a living quarters beside the restaurant, looked like- I remember there was a light in that direction. He had no purpose out there in the very cold dark night (there was snow on the ground). I felt uneasy as he was looking at me alone in the vehicle. He went out of sight and then returned again presumably doing hotel "chores." Again, he looked at me in the vehicle, passing right in front of it and I felt purposely to get a closer look at me. I had the heater cranked up and it was a Acura Legend with all the locks locked. I had the radio on. I felt sure that I could honk for help if he approached and my boyfriend was coming back in moments- I felt safest waiting in the car rather than exiting to head to the entrance of the restaurant. I could see my boyfriend through the restaurant window speaking to the waiter only a few feet away. This was before cell phones were ubiquitous. I still felt disconcerted like this man was appraising me and that his second trip near to my car was just an excuse to check me out. I'm not one of these woman that thinks everyone is always checking them out, either- that's not my ego talking here. Soon, my boyfriend came back outside and straight to the car and told me the cook would feed us.

The man made his way back across the restaurant on the sidewalk in front of our car, saw my boyfriend rejoin me and then he disappeared around the corner again. I never saw the man again. I had a very bad feeling at the time about the way he had looked at me, trying not to be caught looking at me, a side look and not like he thought I was "cute"- it was predatory and opportunistic. I mean, it was just him and I out there in the parking lot in the snowy dark, the hotel rooms and the office were across the big lot. I told my boyfriend at dinner that I was uncomfortable about some guy outside- I asked if he had noticed the guy watching us- he had. The waiter said it was just the handyman; he worked there. We ate alone in the restaurant with the friendly waiter telling us about life growing up in Yosemite and how dull it is during the off-season. He was young like ourselves and we all had a good time talking. After dinner we went back to our room and crashed. Early the next morning, we went into Yosemite park alone, visited the glorious Ahwahnee Hotel (formerly), saw deer, walked in the snow, took photos, found a private spot near a huge rock... I don't remember seeing anyone else on the trails or around the park, really- I think one Japanese family was at Mirror Lake with us later. Then my boyfriend and I left for home, after just that one night's lodging.

I recognized the face of the man I saw that night some years later. He worked and lived at the lodge as a maintenance man. His name was Cary Stayner. I connected the lodge, the face, that trip. My feeling had been correct. Not long after, Stayner went on to kill a mother and two teenage girls (and at least two other women, including a Yosemite ranger) while they were staying in a floor level outer facing room at that very same lodge. Stayner told the mother he needed to check their air conditioner and the rest is grim as grim gets.

Looking at it now, I have always felt he was "casing me" to see if the driver I had arrived with was another female. He seemed put off once he saw I was with my boyfriend. Perhaps he didn't have time enough to come up with a ruse with which to gain access to us in our room or perhaps my boyfriend's presence dissuaded him from targeting me. This momentary brush with such a dangerous person, taught me to always trust my female instincts and err on the side of caution if I feel uneasy about someone, go with it. If I had to do it again, I probably would have splurged and stayed at the Ahwahnee that night. If something like that ever happens again, I'm not staying for dinner and lodging near someone that imposing that looks at me that way, but no one has given me that look before or since, like a hunter sizing up prey. I hope I never see it again, but I will know it immediately, if I ever do.

[red]

Oh My Gosh! How scary, I can't believe you had an encounter with him! Thank God he passed you by.

[cityofchill]

There was a time in my life when I had some crazy/scary experience just about once a week. At the time, I actually sought danger and put myself out there over and over because I thought it was fun and interesting to have these experiences. I can't even begin to list the insane * I've seen and experienced, from being robbed numerous times, to chasing a burglar out of my home with a hammer, to...I'm gonna stop myself. In the end, it wasn't a close call or bad situation I experienced that made me back away from life on the edge. It was when a loved one got hurt and almost died because of our lifestyle. I mellowed out a lot after that and now have an incredibly boring life. I was attacked by a coyote in March. That was pretty messed up. And last August, I was waylaid on a darkened forest path by a would-be robber who blinded me with an LED Defender while I was photographing fireflies. I won't say how I got out of that one, but I will say that a sturdy tripod has many uses