1 Hour of Rainy Alone at Night Horror Stories | Vol. 1 (Compilation)

Important: I stayed at an Airbnb about three years ago. There was no occasion; it was more of just a weekend getaway to spend some time off from work. The Airbnb was a cabin four hours away from my hometown. The cabin looked like it was mostly isolated, only having three or four other cabins within a mile of it, and the woods were right in the backyard. This was just what I was looking for, and I was super excited when I arrived early in the morning. I explored the property and messed around with some of the

cool features. In the afternoon, I sat outside on the back patio in one of those swinging chairs, and as I was looking out into the distance, I saw a man walking in the woods. He looked like a regular guy from what I could see, and I figured he was probably staying in one of those other cabins. He walked deeper into the woods until I couldn't see him anymore, and I continued enjoying the nature. I want to say I stayed out there for almost an hour before going inside, making dinner, and then sitting down to watch

a movie at the end of the night. During this movie, the doorbell rang. I didn't even know the cabin had a doorbell, but regardless, I went up and answered the front door. A man stood on the porch, and I recognized him as the guy I had seen earlier in the woods. “How can I help you?” I asked. The man smiled wide and said he'd been lost for a few hours and needed help getting back to his cabin. I paused for a second, knowing there was something strange about this guy, but I couldn't quite figure out

what it was. “Yeah, let me get my phone, and you can search the address.” I closed the door and went over to the couch, picking up my phone and going back. But when I opened the door, he was gone. He wasn't anywhere on my porch or in the front yard. I stood in the doorway for a second, then closed it and went back to the couch. I knew something was off about that guy, but this just didn't really make any sense. I stayed cautious for a while, but eventually, I went to bed. I slept surprisingly

well, and in the morning, I got up and went outside on the back porch to drink my coffee. But just ten minutes later, I saw something I didn't expect to see: that man from yesterday was walking in the woods in the same place he was before, seemingly walking on the same path. One thing I knew for sure now was that he definitely wasn't lost. But then why did he come up to my cabin? I went back inside after seeing that and called one of my friends to tell them about this weird situation. It made me

feel better to talk it over and have someone else be confused with me. But as we talked, I heard something that almost gave me a heart attack: the doorbell. I quickly whispered to my friend what was happening, and I left the phone call going while I answered the door. “Do you need something?” I asked. The man smiled and repeated the same thing he said yesterday about being lost and needing help. I looked at him with an annoyed and confused face, then he spoke again. “Can you get your phone and search for the address?” My whole

body went cold when he said that. I slammed the door shut and updated my friend, who told me I needed to get out of there right away. I agreed, hurrying to pack all of my bags. I checked the peephole to make sure the guy had left before I went out to my car. After shoving my bags in the back seat, I got in and started backing out. As I did, the man appeared in the front window, standing inside the house and watching me drive away. When I got home, I contacted the Airbnb owner and let

them know about this crazy guy who broke into his rental. His response was very short, and he didn't even seem worried about it at all. He just apologized for me disliking my stay. I don't know what he was trying to do, but it had my head spinning the whole time. Even now, I still don't know what his plan was, but seeing him standing in the window inside the house just thirty seconds after I left was the most horrifying and creepy thing I'd ever seen. I'm 29, and I live along the Appalachian range in Lower West

Virginia. I've been going backpacking and camping for years, exploring different trails all around the nearby mountains. My best friend, who lived just a few miles from me, would often join me on these hikes. We usually planned one big trail every year in the fall, being anywhere from a few days to a whole week of backpacking and camping. In 2019, we planned to take a trail across the range to a small lake at the top of the mountains. In the days leading up to the trip, though, my friend had to call it off because of an

emergency at his work. I'd already taken the whole week off of work and had everything ready to go, so I decided to just go alone. On Monday morning, I drove to a nearby trailhead, then started my route. This wasn't a regular recreational trail like you typically see on a four-hour hike. These backpacking trails didn't have defined paths, so you have to use maps, compasses, and landmarks to navigate where you're going. Typically, there's a large landmark in the distance, like a specific rock formation, that you hike toward, and when you get there, you could see your

next landmark, and so on. I spent the first two days hiking toward a ridge in the mountains. When it got dark on the second day, I set up camp several hours from reaching the ridge. I pitched the tent, got a fire going, and then heated up some of the food I brought in my bag. The sun had already set, and it was around eight o'clock when I laid in my tent to rest and read. I left the fire going, planning to put it out before actually sleeping. Twenty minutes into reading, and through the fire crackling

outside, I heard the strong sound of a stick snapping right behind my tent. I jolted up; my first thought was a black bear possibly having smelled the food I cooked earlier. I didn't hear anything else, though. I crawled out of the tent and shined a flashlight into the tree line behind my tent. Nothing. I called out aggressively to scare away any predators, but again there were no sounds of anything running away. It was really strange because the stick snapping was very distinct, definitely being from something stepping on it. I stayed outside the tent for a

while, looking around constantly before putting out the fire and going inside. I found it really hard to sleep that night because I was so focused on listening for more sounds. In the morning, I was almost surprised to have even slept through the night. I packed my tent and everything else at the campsite, then continued along until I reached the ridge. From there, it was a straight shot to the lake. I was moving fast, trying to get there before dark so I wouldn't have to move my campsite again the next day. I arrived with about an

hour to spare before sunset. The lake was beautiful, very much worth the hike. I walked around it, enjoying the scenery, pitched the tent, and set up my camp on the tree line beside the lake. As I sat by the fire, I kept turning around, hearing soft noises somewhere between the trees behind me. I figured I was just being paranoid, but it was really creepy. It almost sounded exactly like footsteps, but I knew nobody would be out here; I would have seen their tent when I walked around the lake. It was too dark at this point

to see anything further than a few feet, so looking around wasn't an option anymore. An hour later, I got in my tent and laid down. Every few minutes, I would hear footsteps again. They were barely too quiet for me to tell for sure what they were, though eventually I got so tired that I fell asleep. What I think was only an hour after I fell asleep, I woke up to the sound of someone running away from my tent. I jolted up and grabbed my flashlight, rushing out of the tent and looking in the direction of

the footsteps. I saw the bare back of them running away in the distance; my heart was beating rapidly. I looked down and saw footprints all around my tent, like they had been walking around me, searching the campsite. I tried to get the campfire going again as fast as I could so I could see better. I was terrified; I had nowhere to go and nobody to help me. I sat at the fire all night, keeping my head on a swivel, but I never saw or heard anything else. In the morning, I snapped a few pictures of

the lake, then started the hike back. I had planned to stay for a whole day, but I wasn't comfortable anymore, feeling like I was being followed. I was able to make it back without any more trouble, thankfully, but along my journey, I began noticing several things missing from my backpack: small things like food, a few tools, etc. But I always had my bag with me. Even today, I wonder if whoever had been outside my tent that one night had actually snuck inside and stole from my bag while I was asleep. Even the thought of it

makes my whole body shiver. My roommate was out of the house for the week, so I had the place to myself. It was spring break, so my college classes were out too. I had no plans and really nothing I needed to do. On Monday, I was basically trapped inside due to a huge storm blowing through our city. This was common around this time of year, but it still always seems worse every time. Every time, the trees looked like they were gonna blow away, and the house would shake and creak non-stop. Knowing I wouldn't be able

to sleep, I decided to just stay up. I turned on the Xbox and started up one of my video games, playing for well over an hour, probably until 11 o'clock, when the doorbell rang. I paused the game and got up, but then I remembered the whole storm and everything. Who would be outside right now? I went over to the front door and looked through the peephole. Nothing. I opened the door; the wind and water hit me right away, but when I looked around, I didn't see anyone. I closed the door and thought maybe the wind

had somehow rung the doorbell. I don't know; it sounds dumb now, but what was I supposed to think? I went back to my game, but only a couple minutes later I heard a huge crash in the backyard—stuff tumbling over and breaking. I immediately knew it was our patio furniture and ran over to the back door. Everything was scattered around the yard, blowing around in the wind. I quickly put on my shoes and went outside. I started pushing each piece of the furniture up against the back of the house. The wind was so heavy it would

even hurt sometimes. When the water would hit my face, I was rushing, going as fast as I could until I saw someone. They were standing at the edge of the backyard, watching me. I looked back at them for a moment, but then grabbed the last piece of furniture and ran inside to escape the rain. I looked out the back door as I dried off, but the person was gone. Between that and the doorbell ringing, I was a little bit nervous. I sat in the living room this time, just scrolling on my phone because I was

tired of being interrupted. After a while, I struggled to keep my eyes open. I got a blanket and laid down on the couch; I didn't feel like going upstairs, and the storm was much louder up there anyway. It took a while, but eventually, I drifted into sleep. A few hours later, still well into the night, I woke up from a sudden burst of heavy wind outside, shaking the house. I pulled the blanket to the side and sat up, moving my feet to the floor as I prepared to go check if the furniture outside was still

there. But just when my feet touched the floor, they were soaked. It woke me up immediately. I looked down and saw a puddle on the ground right next to the couch. Then I saw another, and another, leading in a line across the floor. Inside the puddles were faint, muddy shoe prints. I stood up and ran to the corner of the room, my heart beating rapidly in my chest. After a minute of hearing nothing but the wind outside, I slowly followed the shoe prints. They led all throughout the house—upstairs and downstairs—but I could clearly tell that

they entered through the back door, which I had stupidly forgotten to lock in the rush of getting out of the rain. I locked it and pulled my phone out to call 9-1-1, but then the thought crept into my mind: what if they're still inside? I stayed quiet and moved into the corner of the house where I felt the most hidden and called. I waited in silence for them to arrive. When they did, they took a look around, seeing everything I saw, but to nothing more. They told me it seems like a personal attack, though, because

nothing was missing, and they were clearly focused on my house in particular. However, they walked right up to me while I was sleeping and seemingly did nothing but watch me, which is super creepy but doesn't make much sense; if they wanted to do something to me, they would have at that moment. After some thought, this led me to believe that whoever it was had actually come for my roommates. They saw me, then looked around the whole house, and then left, doing absolutely nothing. So, if this was a personal attack and my roommate was there, I

think things may have gone a lot worse than they had. I was house-sitting for one of my best friends last year. They had a few lizards and some fish that I had to feed, along with a bunch of house plants to water. They were on a two-week-long business trip, so I agreed to take care of everything while they were away. Their house was a lot nicer than my apartment too, so I was glad to do it. The first week went by, and it was great. It felt kind of like being in an Airbnb. Then one

night, while sitting at the table in the kitchen, I heard a man cough right outside the house. It scared me because it was so close—being just outside the back door. I quickly walked over and turned on the outdoor lights to show that I was home. I waited a minute before looking out the window; whoever was there was gone now. But why were they there in the first place? I stayed extra cautious for a while, but there was nothing else. It was a little past seven, and I had nothing to eat, so I went outside to

go pick up some food. But as I was walking out, I noticed some footprints in the yard. The grass was pressed down, and there was a clear path they walked in. I followed them, going from the sidewalk to the back of the house, and then turning around and going back to the sidewalk. I got in my car and went out for food but thought about it while driving. I couldn't come up with any reasons someone would do that; it really just seemed pointless. When I got back to the house, I did a quick search for

any more footprints in the grass but didn't see anything. I went back inside and sat down to watch TV. After an hour, I was starting to get sleepy, so I shut it off and got in bed, sitting up on my phone for a bit. That's when I heard someone outside again. They were walking through the front yard. I listened as they went up to the front door and then went around to the back door. I got up, more alert now, as I heard the back door shifting around like they were trying to open it. I

went to the top of the stairs and flipped the light switch, turning on the downstairs lights. The person stopped. I walked down a few steps, then leaned over the railing and looked at the back door. Nobody was there anymore, and for some reason, that terrified me even more. Seconds later, I saw shards of glass flying across the living room as I heard a window shatter from where I was standing. I couldn't see it, but I immediately ran upstairs and into the bedroom. I heard a few cops, then the glass crunching as they stepped. Inside, as

soon as they were in, everything turned to chaos. It was like they were pushing everything over, hitting and breaking things. I called the police, but I feared they wouldn't make it in time to help me. After a minute of destroying the bottom floor, the intruder ran up the steps and went into one of the spare bedrooms, doing the same thing. Then, he came up to the bedroom that I was in. He tried, but I had locked it. Instead of leaving, he started smashing something against it, trying to break it down. One of the panels from

the door nearly flew off, allowing him to reach in and open it. The man stepped in. He was wearing a face mask and a hoodie and was holding a metal baseball bat. I was in the corner of the room, holding back tears as he looked at me in rage. But then he looked away and started smashing the walls and furniture all around the room. He didn't even acknowledge me; he just went around me, destroying the entire room in as little time as possible. Then he ran past me and went into the next room before he

finally went downstairs and left the house. I stood in that same spot, frozen, until the police came. My friend came back early the next day to deal with the situation. Basically, everything in the house was trashed and destroyed, but nothing was stolen. The police said it almost certainly had to be someone she knew who had something against her, but she couldn't think of anyone who would do this to her. I tried to give a description of the man, but he was fully covered, so I wasn't of much help. The most terrifying part was that the

man just ignored me, confidently unthreatened by me. To this day, whoever that was hasn't been back to my friend's house, and their motive still remains unknown. This happened to me last year. I worked at a gas station, which I know is very typical for these sorts of things, but when you actually work there, you never really expect anything to happen to you. That night, it was raining outside—not too heavily, but enough to make it uncomfortable to be outside without any sort of covering. In weather like this, there are a lot fewer people coming into the

convenience store to grab snacks or pay for gas with cash, so my job is to just be there. I'd occasionally walk around the store to stretch my legs and stay awake, but I'd spend most of my time on my phone. As I was looking through my social media feeds, I suddenly heard a strange noise coming from outside. It sounded like someone was tapping on the glass door. I looked up from my phone and saw a figure standing outside in the rain. It was a man, his face hidden by the hood of his jacket. I waved,

showing he could just walk in and that the door wasn't locked. He didn't move, though; he just kept tapping on the door as if he didn't see me. I walked over and pulled the door open, greeting him. He didn't look at me but walked right past me and over to the counter. It was almost comical in my head how oblivious this guy was. I went back around the counter, and the man asked for a pack of cigarettes, then paid with cash and walked out. That's when I looked out the window and noticed there were no

cars in the parking section or by the gas pumps. The man walked off until he reached the road, then continued walking along the shoulder through the rain like it was nothing. I would have been a lot less confused if he had bought a gas container or something, assuming his car ran out down the road or even broke down, but he just got a pack of smokes and left. With nothing better to do, that's all I thought about over the next hour. It was just such an odd thing. I came to no further sensible conclusions, though,

and ended up stocking some items to continue passing the time. While doing so, I heard someone tapping on the door again. I walked around the aisle and saw that same man standing outside. I walked over and opened the door. "Are you all right?" I asked. He didn't respond. "You can borrow the phone if you need," I said, trying to offer any assistance. "Down the road," he said. I peeked my head out and tried looking but saw nothing in the distance. But then my gaze fell on a gas container sitting by one of the pumps. I

pointed at it and said, "Help," which was when I realized he probably didn't speak much English. I said, "Sure," and walked out to the pump with him. He handed me a credit card, and I started pumping the gas into the container. The man was standing behind me, like he was trying to stay out of my view, which made me uncomfortable. Once the container was full, I quickly handed it over and started walking back, but the guy stopped me, grabbing my arm. He started speaking quickly, but I couldn't understand him. I pulled away and started walking

back to the doors, but then he yelled something, like he was talking to someone else, and just as I reached the door, I saw a man on the other side of the counter shoving everything into his backpack. He looked up at me and instantly jumped over the counter, but then everything went black. I woke up laying on the floor with a massive headache. It seemed to only be a couple of minutes after the incident, and I almost immediately realized that the guy behind me had hit me over the head in an effort to help his

accomplice. Buddy, escape! I got the cops over, and they took me to the hospital, but I had no serious injuries aside from a concussion and needing a few stitches. The worst part of it all is the embarrassment I felt afterward; like I'd been played so easily and let them get away with it. Honestly, though, I'm thankful that I got hit over the head and blacked out before anything else happened because the CCTV footage showed the guy inside holding a gun. If I had tried to stop him or even shown I was a threat in any

way, I could have been put down and never woken up. I'm a 31-year-old female, and this happened when I was 29 back in 2020. My friend, let's call her Stacy, told me that she had a friend, who I'll call Brianne, that needed a dog sitter because Brianne and her husband were going on a vacation to California. Stacy knew I dog sat on an app called Rover, which is an app where you house-sit random strangers' dogs, walk them, you name it. I thought it was the perfect opportunity since I was in need of some cash—two hundred

dollars to dog sit for five days; why not, right? Brianne showed me around her house a week before I dog sat, while also letting me meet her huge husky named Bear. I'm not going to lie; it was a big husky, a little overweight too, but still adorable. Brianne told me that I was welcome to help myself to whatever food I wanted. The front door also included a lock where you punch in a number code to get in, so it was pretty secure. So, a week rolls around, and I showed up later on a Friday night,

not too long after Brianne and her husband left the house to go to California. Things were pretty chill for the first two days. I was at work for most of the afternoon, went to feed the dog on my break, came back later at night, and took Bear for rides in my car. I stayed up late watching movies and let Bear sleep by me when it was time to go to bed. Anyway, after work on a Monday night, I hear a knock at the door. I looked through the peephole, and it was a guy that looked

like he was wearing a black police uniform. I thought it was a bit odd, but opened the door to see what was up. "Hello, I'm looking for a George," he said. "George?" I thought. "Oh no, there’s no George here. I'm dog sitting for a friend. I've been here since Friday." Looking back, it was pretty stupid to tell a random person at the door I didn’t know that I was alone. "Oh, okay. How long are you here?" he said. "Till Wednesday," I responded. "Oh, that’s cool. Okay, sorry to bother you," and then he left. I was

slightly weirded out and locked the door. I texted Brianne about what just happened; she pretty much just said, "Oh, don't worry about it," and shrugged it off. I thought that was weird too. Things were normal again up until I went to bed Wednesday at midnight. As I was laying in bed, the thought kept coming to my mind that I should make sure the front door was locked, so I got up and checked it. Luckily, it was, but I still had a weird vibe. I fell asleep, then woke up at 3:05 a.m. to the dog barking

like crazy. It freaked me out a little; I thought someone had broken in. I got up and went to the living room where I saw Bear was growling and barking at the front door. I looked through the peephole and saw the same guy with another guy this time standing there in security guard uniforms. At this point, I was creeped out. Why would the same guy come back when he knew I was alone? I didn’t bother opening the door this time. Two guys I didn’t know dressed like security guards at 3 a.m.? I made sure all

the doors were locked. When I saw that they had walked off, I opened the door and didn’t see any type of security car anywhere. I still think Bear's barking could have been what scared them off. I went back inside, then went to bed and fell asleep. I didn’t bother telling Brianne because she was in Cali anyway. I'm glad to say I only stayed one more night after that. To this day, I still don't know who those guys were or what they wanted, and I haven't been back to dog sit since that incident. Last year, I

went on a long 10-day road trip. It wasn’t to any single place; I just drove in a big loop, stopping at five or six different cities. I actually didn’t book any hotels in advance because I wasn’t sure exactly how long I would spend in each city or where I would want to take breaks during the drive, so I was relying on hotels allowing walk-ins. The first five nights, I was able to find decent hotels on the course of my drives, but the sixth night, I ran into some issues. I was driving between cities and felt

my eyes getting heavy around 11 p.m. I wanted to keep going and get to the next major city and then sleep in a parking lot or something, but there was no way I could make it when I was so sleepy already. I pulled over and contacted a few big-name hotels that were on the way, but none of them were accepting walk-ins at the time. I was getting nervous thinking I might have to park on the side of the road and sleep, which was obviously dangerous, but... Then, I saw a sign for a hotel 10 miles

ahead. I drove until I reached the building, then parked by the front. The hotel was small, looking more like a motel, being a single story with a bunch of rooms. There were a few other cars in the parking lot, but it was mostly empty. I got out and went up to the reception desk, asking the woman there if I could have a room. Luckily, they had one available, and she gave me a key card. I got my bag from the car and brought it to the room. It was really outdated, but for the price, it

wasn't all that bad. However, only a minute after I went inside, there was a knock at the door. I walked over and opened it a crack just to see who it was. There was a man mumbling something to himself, and right when he saw the door open, he pushed into it, trying to force himself into the room while still talking to himself. I put my arm out and stopped him, preventing the man from fully entering. He stopped talking and looked up at me as I told him to leave. After a second, he turned around and

walked away. I made sure he actually left, then locked the door. It was really weird, but I didn't feel too threatened because I was sure it was just some crackhead who was lost. Another 15 minutes, then I fell asleep. A couple of hours into the night, I woke up to a knock on the door. I was immediately irritated, knowing it had to be that man from earlier. Having learned my lesson, I put the chain bolt on the door before cracking it open. It was a good thing I did because the second I unlocked the door,

the man rammed into it, starting to yell random sentences that made no sense. I backed up right away and called 9-1-1. The man didn't let up, though; he continued slamming into the door, trying to break in. A minute into the chaos, the man shoved a knife between the door and tried cutting the chain. There was no way it could cut it, but it definitely horrified me to know that he had a knife with him. The yelling, banging, and cutting went on for several minutes before it went quiet. Police showed up a while later, but the

man was gone. I don't know what was wrong with him or why he wanted to get inside my room so bad, but he definitely had some bad intentions. It may have just been because he was drugged up, but breaking into someone's room with a knife is horrifying. All it takes is one wrong move, like answering a door or leaving it unlocked, for someone like him to take advantage. I don't think he had something against me personally, but I still have this feeling sometimes like I'm being watched. I moved across the state to a newly built

house. My previous landlord decided he wanted to sell his house, so when our lease agreement was up, he kicked me out. I decided to also lease this new house, but I was honestly really excited for this place. As soon as I moved in, though, I noticed my neighbor across the street staring at me several times within the first couple of days. He was a middle-aged man but didn't seem to ever be away from his house. I tried to brush it off, assuming that maybe he was just curious about the new person in the neighborhood, but

the more I saw him, the more I realized there was something off about him. He never spoke to anyone, he never smiled, and he never left. He just stayed in his house watching. I would catch glimpses of him through my window and see him standing in his driveway at odd hours of the night. It was starting to freak me out. One night, as I was settling in for bed, I heard a noise outside. It was a scraping sound, like someone dragging a heavy object across the ground. I peeked out the window, and there was my

neighbor dragging what looked like a large ladder across his lawn. It was really late; I had no idea why he would be needing to do any work on his house at this time. I tried to tell myself that I was just being paranoid because I was in a new place surrounded by new people, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right about my neighbor. I tried to calm myself and eventually fell asleep. The next morning, I saw him outside again. This time, he was standing at the end of my driveway, staring at me

through my window. I pulled the curtain shut and tried to ignore him, but the feeling of him watching me gave me chills. I didn't like that he was by my driveway either, so I quickly got into my car and pulled out of the garage. He was back in his yard by then, but he watched me as I drove away. Things grew a lot worse from here. One night, as I lay in bed, I could clearly hear someone walking in the grass in my backyard, which was fenced in. I got up and looked out the window,

but the footsteps stopped. I waited in my bed for probably 30 minutes, but I didn't hear any more footsteps. I got up and checked the window one more time to be safe, and far back in the yard was a figure. It was hard to make them out because it was so dark, but there was definitely someone standing there, watching me. I backed away and called the police, but the man had left before they arrived. I told them all about my creepy neighbor, but they told me there was no evidence of any. wrongdoing, and that my

neighbor had never been in trouble with the law, I was basically on my own unless something more serious actually happened. I started to take precautions—locking my doors and windows and avoiding being outside as much as possible. Even then, I didn't feel much safer. I'd been at the new house for almost two weeks at this point and even thought about breaking my lease agreement. Then something happened. I got home from work late and pretty much went straight to bed, but in the middle of the night, I woke up to the sound of something thud against the

side of the house. It sounded like it was right up against the wall outside my bedroom, which was on the second-story floor of my house. I slowly got out of bed, heart racing in my chest, and pulled the curtains back from my window. I jumped back and screamed, seeing my neighbor's face staring at me from just inches away from my window. He was standing on a ladder trying to look into my bedroom. He quickly climbed down and ran away. I called the police again, and just a few minutes later, they caught him trying to get

the ladder down. While he didn't admit to what he was doing, it was very obvious. In the following days, one of my neighbors came by and explained that they had some weird encounters with that neighbor guy as well. They said they saw him looking through their windows as they were coming home from work one day. Part of me wonders if they could have prevented this whole thing from happening to me if they had just reported the guy. But either way, it's over now. I lived with my older brother for about four years after I finished

school. We shared rent on an apartment together since neither of us could afford anything on our own. But during the fourth year, my brother started making better money and he planned to move out once the lease came to an end. I wasn't making a lot, so I knew I couldn't afford to pay for the apartment alone. I looked around online for a roommate for a few months but decided to just move out as well and find a cheaper place. I searched up until the last month of our lease at the apartment. My brother had basically

moved everything out already and there was a lot of pressure on me to find somewhere quick. But with my extremely low budget, it wasn't easy. Eventually, though, I stumbled across a listing posted by a homeowner renting out a room in their house. The man's name was Evan. I sent him a text to let him know I was interested, then kept searching. A few minutes later, he responded. We scheduled a time to call later in the day, and when we did, he explained all the details. He said he lived alone in the house and was renting

out his spare bedroom, but I'd be able to use all the other rooms in the house too. Sounded great to me, so I agreed to it, and a couple weeks later, I tossed everything in a U-Haul and drove down to the house. Between this time, we'd been texting and calling, and he sent me a bunch of pictures of the house, but I hadn't had the chance to view it in person yet. I got there around noon, parking in the driveway. The house was definitely small, but it looked nice from the outside. Evan was standing in

the garage, waving me over. He gave me a quick tour, then helped me unload all of my stuff into my room. Evan seemed like a regular man in his mid-30s, which was almost 10 years older than me, but I didn't really mind. He didn't hold conversations very well, though, and was somewhat shy. Anyway, we finished moving everything inside and I dropped the U-Haul off. I Ubered back to the house and by then it was almost 8 PM and I was really tired. Evan was on the couch watching TV, so I told him I was going

to bed early, and I went to my room. All in all, it seemed like a decent place and I was happy with it. I unpacked some more, then set up my bed, and by nine o'clock, I was finally ready to sleep. I walked over to my door to lock it and turn off the lights, but as I reached my hand out, I saw the knob on the door was empty, as in there was no lock on it. Confused, I opened the door. The lock was on the outside of the door. I stepped into the living

room and asked Evan why the bedroom door locked from the outside. He looked confused and said he never noticed that, but he would switch it around tomorrow. I shrugged and said okay, then went back to my room. I was tired and not too worried about it, but it was definitely an odd find. I got in bed and fell asleep. In the middle of the night, I woke up. I heard someone moving around in the kitchen, which I assumed was just Evan getting water or something, so I closed my eyes again. A minute later, I heard

him walking back down the hallway, but as he was passing my room, he stopped. I opened my eyes and looked at the door. He was standing out there quietly for maybe 15 seconds before I heard a click. He locked my door. My stomach dropped, and I felt my face go cold as Evan walked down to his room. As soon as I heard his bedroom door shut, I got up quietly and went over to the door. I tried the handle, and it wouldn't budge. I stood in shock for a few moments. seconds coming to reality that

this man I just met has now locked me in a room. My fear started to turn into anger. I called out for Evan, telling him to open the door. It only took a second before I heard Evan run out of his room and over to my door. I heard him place his hand on the door, but he paused for a few seconds before he unlocked it. I swung the door open right away. “What the—” I confronted him. Evan was stumbling over words, saying he just wanted to make sure he was safe because he didn't know

me. I understood that concern, but locking someone in a room was not a smart way to go about it. I told him that I was going to pack up and leave in the morning, and I stayed up all night on the couch in the living room waiting for the U-Haul store to open at nine o'clock. I looked into the hallway, seeing Evan's bedroom door was still closed, hopefully meaning he was still asleep. Then I drove straight there and drove the U-Haul back to the house. When I went inside, though, Evan's bedroom door was open. “Evan!”

I called out. I walked over to his room and peeked my head inside; his room was empty. I moved my eyes around the room in disbelief, seeing as things were only getting weirder. I backed out and got straight to moving my stuff. I powered through two hours of moving boxes and taking apart my bed. I only had two boxes left. I ran inside and picked up another, then rushed to the front door until Evan appeared in the doorway. “Move,” I said. He stared at me emotionless. After a few seconds, he stepped aside. I hurried past

him and shoved the box in the U-Haul. The last box was half full of random food I kept from my old pantry at the apartment. I decided to just leave it. Evan was freaking me out, and I wanted to get away from him as soon as possible. I started closing the back of the U-Haul before Evan interrupted, “You forgot this.” He held out the last box. “Oh yeah, thanks.” I grabbed it from him and climbed back in the truck. I felt him watching me as I stacked the box, and when I turned, he had his

hand on the door. He started pulling it down, trying to close me in. I was able to stop him before the door was even halfway down. I shoved him on the ground, but he got up and ran—not into the house but off into the trees away from the house. I didn't know what to think, but I didn't care. I quickly shut the back door and drove away. My brother was nice enough to let me stay with him until I found a new place. I don't know what happened at that house or what would have happened,

but there was definitely something very wrong going on. I'm a receptionist at a local hotel, and most of my shifts are overnight. I'm in charge of the front desk, and my main responsibilities are to check in guests, answer phone calls, and keep an eye on the security cameras. It's usually a pretty quiet job since our hotel isn't the biggest or busiest. This night, the hotel was mostly empty; there were only a few guests staying with us. I was sitting at the front desk on my phone when I saw a man start walking towards the doors

outside. I stood up and greeted him when he came inside. He looked up at me with bloodshot eyes and said, “I need a room for the night.” He was definitely high on something, but regardless, I checked him in and gave him a key to his room. It was standard to allow walk-in bookings when the hotel was less than 75 percent full. He started walking toward the elevators, and I sat back down and pulled my phone out. A few hours later, I was sitting at the front desk when I heard a noise coming from the hallway.

It was a thump, sound like a door trying to be forced open. I got up and walked around the corner to the end of the hallway. The man I checked in a few hours ago was standing there trying to open up one of our maintenance doors. “Can I help you find something?” I asked. He looked over at me with those creepy eyes. I asked again, but he just stared at me. I wasn't really sure what to think; maybe he was really high and looking for the vending machine or something. I don't know. I didn't want

to anger the man, though, so I went back to my desk and forgot about it. A good amount of time passed with no activity—no sounds from any of the rooms, nobody entering the building or walking through the halls. It was around three in the morning, and I did a small walk around the bottom floor just to keep myself awake and busy. As I got to the hallway by the front desk, though, I heard a very sudden loud banging coming from one of the rooms. I stopped and listened for a moment, then went up the stairs

to the second floor, where I thought it came from. It was very quiet now, which made me somewhat nervous. I walked down the hall, hearing nothing, but when I reached the end, one of the room's doors was open. I listened again for a second before lightly knocking; nobody responded. I cautiously peeked inside, unsure of what to expect. It seemed empty. I wasn't comfortable walking all the way inside, though, so I couldn't really look around, but I was sure nobody was inside. I closed the door and looked at the... the other tenants had reported anything, but

he was taking it seriously. I was still furious, though. "You can't just show up unannounced at this hour!" I exclaimed. He frowned, looking somewhat taken aback. "I'm sorry, but this is an emergency," he said, trying to sound reassuring. I didn't want to get into an argument, but I felt uneasy about him being there, especially since it was so late. "Can’t this wait until morning?" I asked, my voice calmer. He shook his head, insisting that it was urgent. Reluctantly, I stepped aside, allowing him to pass. As he moved past me, I felt a chill run down

my spine. I locked the door behind us and followed him down to the basement. As he worked, I stayed close by, wanting to ensure that he wouldn’t do anything strange. I kept my phone nearby, ready to call for help if needed. The whole situation was surreal. He was chatting about the repairs, trying to keep the mood light, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. After a few minutes, I voiced my concerns again, saying that I was uncomfortable with him being there. "You don't have anything to worry about," he said, but I could

hear a slight nervousness in his voice. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he finished and promised me that everything was fixed. He left the basement and went back to the door. "You should get some rest now," he said with a smile that felt more like a grimace. I nodded, still shaken. "You really need to text me before you come back next time," I reminded him, trying to assert some boundaries. He apologized again and assured me he would. I closed the door behind him and leaned against it, taking a deep breath. The whole experience left

me feeling on edge. I decided I would make it clear to him that I wanted him to stay away unless it was absolutely necessary. After all, having a landlord should not feel so invasive. The alarms actually went off in the house, though, so this was really suspicious. I told him I’d just call someone in the morning and went to close the door when he suddenly forced his body inside, pretending to not notice I was closing the door. I just stood there, now not knowing what to say or do. He looked at me fully in my

house and smiled. "It'll only take a minute." He put down the duffel bag and asked me to follow him so he could show me the problem with the pipe. He opened the basement door and started walking down, and I hesitantly followed. Down a few steps, before I thought of something, I said, "Hold on, I’m gonna go get my phone so I could take pictures of it. I’ll be right back!" I hurried back up the steps; thankfully, he stayed. I rushed to my room and got my phone and keys, then went to the front door. But

before I left, I quickly went over to the duffel bag and opened it just to make sure I wasn’t wrong. Inside the bag, there were no tools—at least not normal ones. I didn’t know what they were, and I didn’t have time to figure it out. I heard him coming back up as I rushed out of the house and into my car, driving away. I called the police as I drove to a parking lot nearby. What happened after this still bothers me every day. My landlord was still there when they showed up; however, the duffel bag

he came with was not. They never found it. Through everything, all that ended up happening was I was able to move out without having to pay the fee for breaking the lease. Him showing up randomly, being creepy, or even inviting himself in wasn’t enough to do anything. I, of course, took the deal, though—moving out right away. But in the back of my mind, I know he’s out there, probably doing whatever he was going to do to me to someone else. Then there’s nothing I can do about it.