3 Disturbing TRUE Horror Stories — Transcript

Three true horror stories highlighting unsettling encounters and the importance of vigilance when alone at night.

Key Takeaways

Always stay aware of your surroundings, especially when alone at night in isolated or unfamiliar places.
Trust your instincts and take precautionary measures to protect yourself if you feel unsafe.
Sharing experiences with trusted friends can provide support, but it’s understandable to withhold details from family for various reasons.
Even routine commutes or familiar places can present unexpected dangers.
Preparedness, such as carrying a self-defense tool, can provide a sense of security in threatening situations.

Summary

A young woman shares a disturbing encounter at a North Carolina rest area involving a suspicious man who followed her inside the restroom late at night.
She describes feeling unsafe but managing to stay calm and leave safely, emphasizing the importance of awareness and preparedness.
The second story recounts an uncomfortable experience on a New York City train where a homeless man verbally harassed her, and no one intervened.
The third story involves a late-night bus commute and a threatening encounter with a man waiting on a dark street, prompting her to call for help.
The narrator reflects on how these experiences have made her more cautious about her surroundings, especially when alone at night.
She highlights the psychological impact of these events, including ongoing feelings of unease and the replaying of these moments in her mind.
The video aims to encourage viewers to be vigilant and prepared for potentially dangerous situations in everyday settings.
The stories emphasize the unpredictability of encounters with strangers and the importance of trusting one’s instincts.
The narrator also touches on the difficulty of sharing such experiences with family due to concerns about restrictions or worry.
Overall, the video serves as a cautionary tale about personal safety and the importance of situational awareness.

Chapters

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

Speaker A

I'm sharing this experience to encourage others to be more careful when being somewhere alone at night, especially at rest areas. This incident occurred not too long ago. This happened in North Carolina while I was traveling with my dad, who is a truck driver. I joined him

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for a few days on the road to gain some experience because I'm interested in getting my CDL in a few years. We're from Georgia, so the drive to North Carolina wasn't long, and we arrived basically the same day. The delivery was

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scheduled for early the next morning around 12 or 1:00 a.m. We stopped at a rest area for the night. The parking lot was full of trucks, but the restrooms were completely empty, likely because most drivers were asleep in preparation

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for early deliveries. As soon as we parked, my dad went straight to sleep. I'm usually a night owl, so I stayed awake. Around 2:00 a.m., I decided to use the restroom. I also brought my razor with me so I could line up my

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mustache, assuming no one would be inside at that hour, and that I'd feel free and comfortable taking my time since I usually only do that at home.

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When you enter the restroom, there's two sections, one on the left and one on the right. I went to the left side and noticed a man standing near the urinal.

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He was very tall, at least around 6'4. I didn't think much of it and went into a stall to use the bathroom. Afterward, I washed my hands. I noticed that he was still standing there. Just as I was

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about to leave, he unzipped his pants and began using the urinal. I felt uncomfortable, but I didn't think much of it at the time still. To make it seem like I had left, I went to the right side of the restroom instead. I stood in

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front of the mirror to line up my mustache. However, around 10 seconds later, the same man entered that side of the restroom. This immediately raised concern. He had already been on the other side, so there was no clear reason

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for him to follow me. He started walking toward me, and as soon as I took out my razor, he suddenly stopped directly behind me. He looked shocked, almost as if something hadn't gone the way he expected. At that point, I felt

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genuinely uneasy. I continued lining up my mustache as quickly as possible without messing it up, trying to remain calm. Through the mirror, I noticed him walk to a urinal and pretend to unzip his pants. When I looked back at him, he

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was staring directly at me, pretending to use the urinal. He nodded at me and I nodded back, not because I felt comfortable, but because I didn't want him to think I was aware that he was up to something. A few seconds later, he

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entered an empty stall. When I glanced back, he was standing completely still in the corner of the stall, staring directly at me with wide eyes. I pretended not to notice. About 20 seconds later, he returned to the urinal

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and again pretended to unzip his pants, briefly looking at me before turning away. Once I finished lining up my mustache, I left immediately. As I passed him, I kept the razor in my hand in case I needed to use it to defend

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myself, considering I had to walk past him to get out. While I'm not short or weak, he was much taller and appeared to be at least 20 years older than me.

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Considering I'm 5'9 and he looked like he was in his late 30s or 40s, I knew he could easily overpower me. I exited the restroom and noticed security cameras near the entrance, which gave me some relief. The man did not follow me, thank

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God. I was flooded with relief. I turned to the truck where my dad was still asleep along with all the other drivers in the lot. I told a friend what happened and about 20 minutes later he replied. He suggested I go back to the

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restroom on FaceTime with him, which I did for some reason. However, the man was gone. I explained everything in detail and showed my friend where the guy had stood and been before. Then I left the restroom about 5 minutes later

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and ended the call since he had to go. As I stepped outside again, I noticed a separate parking lot behind the rest area for passenger vehicles. One red car had its headlights on and was the only car illuminated. When I turned to look

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at it, the headlights immediately shut off. I couldn't see who was inside due to the darkness and distance. I don't know if the driver just got there and was parking, leaving, or possibly even the same man from earlier, but the

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timing unsettled me. I went back to the truck where my dad was still asleep.

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Nothing else happened that night. I returned to my normal life. However, I never told my dad about the incident because he's very strict and had only recently started letting me go outside alone. I was 17 at the time, and I knew

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telling him would likely result in him not letting me go outside alone again until I turned 18, which then I would be independent and can go wherever. The only person I told about this was my friend. Afterward, I tried to

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rationalize what happened. The man didn't appear homeless or on drugs, but the way he was acting was far from normal. He had clean clothes and a well-kept beard, so I doubt he was homeless or a crackhead. Still, what

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continues to bother me is what he was planning and why he acted the way he did. And what will creep me out forever about that night is what would have happened if I hadn't had my razor with me. Since that incident, I've become

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much more careful about my surroundings, even during the day. And I avoid going out alone late at night.

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I'm a woman in my early 20s and I've lived in New York City my whole life.

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So, navigating the MTA at any time of day or night is second nature to me. For context, my one-way commute from the city to home is about 2 hours each way, involving two trains, a 30-minute bus ride, and then a dimly lit 5-block walk

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home. After doing it for so many years, I usually don't think twice about it.

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But there are two nights I still replay in my head all the time. The first instance happened on the train. I had just stepped on right before the doors closed, so I stayed standing near them.

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I had headphones in, but I could faintly hear a homeless man saying something at me. At first, I ignored it, assuming he was talking to himself, but he kept staring directly at me. So, I took out one earbud and asked what he said.

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That's when I clearly heard him angrily insult me and call me a [ __ ]. My heart instantly started pounding. I still remember how hot my ears and face felt.

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It was like all the blood rushed straight to my skin. I started trying to make eye contact with other passengers,

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silently hoping someone else would acknowledge what was happening, but nobody would hold my gaze for more than a second. Everyone just looked away. At the next stop, even though it wasn't my stop, I got off and quickly moved into

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the next car over, desperately hoping the man wouldn't come out and notice where I went. The unsettling part is that this honestly isn't even unusual while commuting in New York. Most of the time, you just keep your head down and

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try not to engage with whoever the aggressor is. Still, I kept glancing through the train windows, waiting to see if he followed me. Two stops later, I finally saw him step off the train. I didn't even realize I'd been holding my

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breath until the doors closed behind him. The second instance happened when I was in grad school. I had night classes that ended around 8:30 p.m. So, by the time I caught the bus home, it would usually be well after 10:00. Late night bus rides

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always feel different, quieter, and more unpredictable. Usually, the drivers only stop if someone pulls the string or requests it. That night, I was listening to horror stories during my commute, and the specific story I was listening to was about a woman being followed. So,

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when I got off the bus, I remember lowering the volume and becoming extra aware of my surroundings. The final part of my commute requires me to walk past a couple of stores before turning down a dark residential dead-end street with

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terrible lighting. One of the stores I p

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back. That's when I noticed the man from the bus. Up until that moment, I hadn't paid attention to him at all. But the second I changed direction, he literally stopped walking. Like, he froze. Then he just stared at me wideeyed. It

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immediately made me uneasy, but I tried to brush it off and went into Popeye's anyway. They barely had anything left because it was so late. So, after a minute, I left and continued heading home. It wasn't until I was halfway down

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the block that I noticed him again. He was standing right at the entrance of the dark street I had to turn down. He was just standing there waiting. At that point, my pace slowed immediately, and I called my brother. He's usually never

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home, so the fact that he answered honestly felt like a miracle. I think he could hear something was wrong from my voice alone because the second I told him I was by Popeye's, he immediately said he was coming to meet me. Knowing

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my brother was on the way, I finally turned down the dark street and passed the man. And then I heard footsteps behind me. The man had started walking too. He stayed behind me, matching my pace, and then he quietly told me that

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he loved me before mumbling other things that I couldn't understand. At that point, I decided it was safer to stay somewhere with light. So, I walked back to the store area and waited outside a liquor store nearby. Since I live in the

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neighborhood, I recognized a lot of the men who usually hung around there. And I remember scanning the area hoping to spot a familiar face. But that night, I didn't recognize anyone. That's when the man approached me. He repeatedly asked

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if I needed help and insisted that he could help me while slowly moving closer. I said no loudly more than once.

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And honestly, if he genuinely thought I was lost and wanted to help, that would be one thing, but I was clearly saying no over and over and he just kept advancing toward me anyway. Then I noticed he was wearing latex gloves.

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This was postco, so my immediate thought was that if he was that cautious, why wasn't he wearing a face mask, too? and it wasn't even cold outside, so the gloves looked completely out of place.

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Then he started repeatedly telling me that I needed to go home, almost like he was trying to pressure me into walking past him again. A few seconds later, he walked into the liquor store, and the second I saw him move further inside, I

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turned the corner where my brother was finally walking toward me. The entire situation probably lasted 5 minutes at most, but it felt so much longer than that. That's the strange thing about moments like these. They happen fast afterward when you replay them in your

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head, but while you're living through them, time barely moves. The story I'm about to tell is truly one of the most terrifying things that has ever happened to me and is a prime example of how a great night can quickly

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turn into a real life nightmare. These events took place a couple of years ago when I was 19. Now I'm almost 26.

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However, I clearly remember all the details and honestly, I still can't really explain what happened. For some context, I'm from a relatively large city in southern Europe. My neighborhood consists of small houses and some residential buildings. Nothing out of

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the ordinary. No sketchy places or abandoned houses. To be fair, it's quite boring from time to time. Plus, I know personally all of my neighbors, so I've always felt safe living there. Back in those days, my life pretty much

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consisted of going to my lectures at university, then going back home to study for my exams, getting some sleep, and doing the same thing for entire weeks. I didn't have much free time at all. One Friday though, my parents

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decided to visit some relatives from a different city. They were going to arrive there in the afternoon, stay on Saturday, and come back sometime on Sunday. This meant one thing. I had the house for myself during the weekends.

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What could be better for a young guy like me at the time? I enjoyed being alone at home ever since I was a kid.

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This was also a perfect opportunity to invite my friends over since, as I said, I didn't get to see them that often because of studying. So, I called them and they agreed to hang out on Saturday.

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We were going to order food, play video games, and just catch up with each other. There was just another thing I had to do before the weekend. I had completely forgotten that on Friday evening, the annual geography quiz was

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going to take place at my university. I had to go since I already promised my peers. Plus, I had nothing else to do that evening. I thought it might be fun and not to brag about it, but I've

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always been good at such quizzes. The evening went smoothly. My university friends and I formed a team of six people. There were a total of 10 different teams which were going to take part in the competition. The students

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hall we were in was packed to the brim. I didn't expect so many people to show up. Actually, we were enjoying the night. Free food and beverages were being served for everyone. The atmosphere was great in general, and

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just like that, we were at the last question of the quiz, and soon after, it was time for the results to be announced. To my surprise, our group finished second out of 10 teams. We got a small award, took a photo together,

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and it was finally time to go home. My friends and I parted ways, and I hurried to catch the last subway. The city where I'm from doesn't have a metro system running all night, which to be fair kind

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of sucks. Anyways, I got off at my station and now I was walking 10 minutes away from my house. This was in the beginning of October, so the weather was getting kind of cold. Plus, I was tired.

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I just wanted to get home, eat some microwave noodles, and go to bed. What I heard next was one of the loudest, most blood curdling screams that I've ever heard in my entire life.

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It was a human scream, a man's to be more specific, but it sounded as if the person was getting his arm cut off, like he was in excruciating pain. I stopped immediately in my tracks and tried to look around so I could see where it came

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from. It was so strange because that whole street was completely quiet. Most of the houses, if not all of them, had already turned their lights off. I was actually freaked out for a second because the whole situation was so

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unexpected. But then another scream followed. This time, I managed to get a better understanding of the direction it was coming from. It was the direction of my house. I rushed to get home. I wasn't running, but I tried my best to walk as

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fast as I could while constantly looking over my shoulder and carefully listening for some movements near me. As I was just turning right at the corner near my house, I saw a group of four, maybe five people in the distance. They were

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probably 200 yd away from me. As soon as they saw me, all of them started running toward my direction. I was takenback by this. I asked myself why on earth someone would do that just by seeing a random person on the street. My

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instincts kicked in and told me to run this time. My house was right between my position and theirs, but luckily much closer to me than the group of people who were now shouting some unintelligible things. I got to my front

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door and just as I was trying to unlock it, my keys fell on the ground like in a movie. I picked them up, but before turning the key, I decided to have a final glance at those men. All of them

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were homeless looking with dirty, ripped clothes. Seeing this, I knew I did the right thing to run. Finally, I got into my house, then closed and locked the door as fast as I could. I was breathing so heavily, and all kinds of thoughts

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were going through my mind. For example, that they were going to break in any second now, and that my parents were not at home, meaning I was all alone. I stayed and listened next to the door in complete darkness for what felt like an

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eternity, but it was probably a couple of minutes. Nothing happened. Everything was silent outside. This was somewhat reassuring, but very weird at the same time. Deep down, I knew the danger had not passed yet, and most likely the

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attackers were still out there. After a minute or so, I slowly got up and went to look through the window. There was no one. I went to the other window near the kitchen and yet again couldn't see anyone. Just an empty street with the

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wind blowing the tree branches. Still, I decided it would be better to dial 112 and report all the strange things which happened that night. I explained everything to the lady on the phone, including the screams I heard earlier.

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To be honest, she wasn't so helpful at first. For some reason, she kept asking me multiple times if I knew the people who ran after me. And since I wasn't harmed, they pretty much can't do anything. At the end, she said she'll

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send a police car to patrol the area and that they'll keep me updated if they see anything suspicious. I thanked her and got off the phone. Maybe 15 or 20 minutes later, I saw a police car moving slowly through the neighborhood and

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passing my house. This was when I decided it was time to get some sleep simply because I was so exhausted. It was way past midnight at that point. The next morning, I tried my best not to think of the events from last night, but

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there were so many questions in my head that still remained unanswered. My best friend called and said our other friend is feeling sick, so he won't be coming today. So, it was just me and him hanging out at my house all day. Before

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him leaving, I decided to briefly mention yesterday's story without much details so I didn't get him worried. We joked about it, but at the same time, I saw he was genuinely concerned about me.

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My parents called too and asked if everything was okay. I said yes since I knew how easily my mom gets worried. I was going to tell them, but I wanted to do it after they arrived back home. In

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the evening before bed, I double checked all the doors and windows in the house if they were locked. I turned on a movie on the TV and I slowly started forgetting everything that happened last night until maybe an hour into the

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movie. I could swear I heard a loud bang from outside. It sounded like someone threw a rock at the house. I grabbed the remote and turned the TV off so I could better hear. I wasn't sure if it really

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happened or the paranoia was making me hear things. Again, complete silence. I didn't know what games were being played here, but slowly the fear was turning into annoyance and anger. I peaked through the window of my bedroom, which

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is on the second floor facing the street, and everything seemed normal. I decided to stay awake and alert as long as possible, but I guess at some point around 4:00 a.m., I dozed off. Several hours later, I was woken up by the

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sounds of my family getting home. It was already around noon. I had slept throughout half of the day, basically, which is unusual for me. At first, they joked that I looked like I had just woken up and asked to help them with

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their bags from the car. I thought it was time for me to tell them about everything that happened those past 3 days. And as I expected, they got very upset and worried, but at the same time, they were glad I was okay. A week later,

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we decided to install cameras in front and in the back of the house, and nothing similar has happened again. I never got an update from the police either. To this day, I have no idea what could have caused those people to chase

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after me. Who was that screaming man? And why was he in such distress? Was he an actual victim of the lunatics, or was this some sort of sick strategy by them to lure people closer, chase after the potential target, then rob them, or even

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worse? Lastly, was the sound I heard on the second night connected to all this, or was it just my mind playing tricks on me? I've asked myself the same questions a million times, but I guess I'll never be certain enough to know the truth.

Topics:true horror storiespersonal safetynighttime encountersrest area horrorpublic transportation safetyurban safetystranger dangersituational awarenessself-defensecreepy encounters

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened during the rest area encounter in North Carolina?

The narrator encountered a tall man behaving suspiciously in the restroom late at night. He followed her to different sections, acted strangely, and stared at her, making her feel unsafe until she left.

How did the narrator handle harassment on the New York City train?

She initially ignored a homeless man’s insults but became alarmed when he stared at her and insulted her directly. She moved to another train car at the next stop to avoid him and felt relieved when he got off two stops later.

What safety advice does the video convey?

The video encourages viewers to stay alert, trust their instincts, avoid being alone in isolated places at night, and be prepared to defend themselves if necessary.

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