[Music] this happened back in a magical delicate age when I still believed in Santa Claus it was Christmas Eve night or technically Christmas at that point the time I have no idea all I know is it was late and everyone in my house was probably asleep I woke up randomly to what I don't know but I was probably extremely thirsty I had to get out of my bed and walk all the way downstairs to the kitchen to get a glass of water there were night lights on in the living room and kitchen so I didn't
have to turn on any lights to see where I was going whenever I was thirsty when I was a little kid I'd always decide to finish the glass in the kitchen instead of bring it up to my room I don't know why just one of those stupid things I did as a kid as I was sipping the water I heard noises come from down in the den where we had our Christmas tree it sounded like a big bag I peered my head around the wall leading down the stairway to the den but it was a
little too dark to see who could be down there I actually thought maybe it was my mom so I started walking down the stairs and the rustling of the bag stopped I turned down the couch side lamp and there I was greeted with a massive man both in height and size wearing a red suit and hat and a familiar of long white beard it was Santa Claus he waved me over and I nervously but excitedly walked over to him he patted my head and said he was just delivering my presents for his black bag I
looked at the back which seemed to be full of small boxes I tried to get a peek in the bag but he stopped me and said no no don't do that it's a surprise I noticed there were already some presents under the tree he turned me around and whispered in my ear I need to go back to bed for some reason I didn't go I just turned around and kept looking at Santa eventually he actually started walking me up the stairs telling me we need to be quiet he asked me which way my room was
and then he told me to go up the second flight of stairs that was when I actually obeyed him I looked down the stairs when I was at the top and all I saw was the eerie figure of the Santa Claus looking up at me I realized he turned off the nightlight as I was walking up the stairs I went to my room and shut the door excited that I just saw Santa as I tried to fall back asleep I heard a loud bang from downstairs in the den the sound traveled all the way back
up to my room I assumed that was Santa leaving the house the next morning I woke up early to my mom screams downstairs I ran down to the den where my mom and dad already were to a disturbing and confusing scene for my young self there were no presents under the tree and the sliding window was broken I don't mean the glass was shattered I mean it was slammed shut so hard it got knocked off the sliding mechanism I confusedly asked my parents what happened and explained that I saw Santa last night when I told
them this they frantically tried getting as much info out of me as possible my dad called the police and when I asked him about the story for fresh details before writing this he said the 911 operator said on the line that two other calls for the same incident had come in that morning apparently a man dressed as Santa Claus was targeting certain houses with accessible windows and he was stealing the gifts under their Christmas trees I believe there's a special police and help for that man my parents had to tell me later that day that
Santa isn't real and that should anything like that ever happen again not to trust it I once worked as a night security guard for a brief horrible part of my life it was for many places but for the longest time a mall in Chicago which shall leave the name out so that the story can in no way get traced back to me as the lone night security guard in a huge city mall it was very relaxing and laid back but of course working graveyard hours was the worst especially when I had to do it on
Christmas Eve night I did my regular pacing back and forth the wide halls of the mall occasionally having a seat by the big Center Christmas tree which would stay late 24/7 after getting a coffee from the security lounge section I stepped back into the hall and noticed all the way on the other side of the mall a light was on in one of the stores a light that wasn't on before I swear now one was supposed to be in the mall besides me I jogged over to the store and set my coffee down under a
plant it was a jewelry shop I tried opening the door but it was locked so how could anyone be in there the light in the store suddenly started flickering so naturally I had to chalk it up as faulty wiring false alarm I knelt down to pick up my coffee again and as I looked up I saw someone's head behind the front counter of the store just their head like they were hiding but it happened so fast one moment there was light the next darkness and when the light flicked back on again the head was gone
I literally rubbed my eyes and shook my head wondering was I seeing things I took my master keyring off my belt and fiddled for the key to the store I didn't know where the light switch was and to be honest I was way too freaked out to check behind that counter with nothing but a flashlight I shut the door and relocked it and walked back to my post by the Christmas tree I started chugging my coffee because I really thought I was losing it after seeing what I saw the lights in that store all the
ways down on the other side of the hall were still off but I heard a click and then a bang I go down in my direction followed by someone running across one side of the hall to the other before disappearing in an intersecting exit hallway I sprang up and almost spit out the remainder of my coffee I ran down the hall so I came to the intersecting smaller hallway this hallway which led to one of the exits had a bunch of massage chairs coin-operated kiddy rides and the public restrooms I didn't see anywhere else that
person could have gone besides the restroom as the exit doors were all locked from both sides I got to the door of the men's bathroom and stopped once again faced with the fear of confronting whoever was in that mall with me I cracked the door opened just slightly enough for me to start speaking into the bathroom saying whoever's in here needs to get out before I call the cops there was a crying and moaning type noise coming from inside the restroom I opened the door fully and realized it was coming from one of the stalls
I repeated what I said at the door but the crying sounds didn't stop I knelt down in front of the stall to get a peek under and I saw two black shoes facing the door facing me it seemed the person was just facing the stall door making these crying noises the crying stops and then the next thing I saw was the person on the other side of the stall quickly get on their knees and look under the door back at me I recognized it as the same person from behind the counter in that store I
got back on my feet and left the bathroom to call the police and explained the situation as a security guard I never encountered anything like this overnight and I did know how to deal with it I definitely did not want to make it physical a couple police officers came to the doors at the end of the hall and I let them in we all went to the men's bathroom again and the stall door was still shut and the man was still inside for the longest time the officers demanded he come out with his hands up
after a while of him refusing to listen the male officer started kicking in the stall door until it broke open the two officers I pre handed the nutjob inside the stall as they walked him out of the mall though the man had his head turned to look at me the entire time I looked away his dead eyes staring into my soul genuinely disturbed me he looked like he wanted to kill me before he was put in the back of the police car he said my name and I immediately got the chills the officer said they
would find out who he is and everything and they went on their way my shift ended a few hours later and for the remainder of my time working at that mall it was always paranoid every time I turned the corner that he'd be standing there our parents had our youngest sibling much later than the head my brother and I this happened last year when I was 18 my older brother was 24 and our youngest sibling Rachel was just 2 I was home from college for winter break my older brother would be returning home from out
of state in a few days and my parents were on a couples vacation it was about a week before Christmas and I was tasked with taking care of Rachel until my parents got back my time watching Rachel consisted of a lot of sitting around the house having friends over and just watching TV and movies I would let Rachel play in the living room with her toys as I'd watch TV with no lights on but the Christmas tree which I always find to make watching TV a lot more relaxing when Rachel started to get tired I
brought her up to her room changed her and put her in the crib upstairs I made sure to turn on the baby monitor as my parents did every night just to make sure I could hear her if she got restless something to know Rachel's room shares a bathroom with my mom and dad's room so basically both my parents and Rachel's rooms are connected to a bathroom which thus connects the two bedrooms in the sense I went back downstairs to watch TV I think I was watching The Grinch when sound started coming from the baby monitor
distorted human-like noises [Music] didn't sound like Rachel so I hurried back upstairs to Rachel's room my Berenstain so quickly and aggressively that she immediately awoke and started crying I looked around the room naturally then I picked Rachel up and started gently rocking her but I realized this didn't help she was probably too big for it so I put her back down in the crib and started tickling her then gently whispering her back to sleep when she had her eyes closed again I left the room a few minutes later I heard Rachel crying again through the
baby monitor I ran up to see what's wrong and she was standing in her crib pointing at the bathroom door which was cracked open I honestly didn't remember if it had been cracked open like that earlier or not I went to check the bathroom and it was clear I told her calmly she's imagining things I wasn't sure how much she understood of what I was saying but after a few minutes in there with her I got her to settle back down once again I went down to the living room to continue watching TV the orange
light on the baby monitor once again started going off I felt like I was in a horror movie scenario I could distinctly hear a man's whispering coming from the baby monitor I ran back up to that room faster than ever burst through the door - Rachel's crying again I went to pick her up to get her out of there and when I turned for the door I looked into the dark bathroom which now had the door wide open there was a man in my parents room and he started walking through the bathroom towards me and
Rachel I ran out of the house to the neighbor's house while holding Rachel our neighbor Judy led us in and let me use her phone to call the cops they didn't find anyone but Judy let us stay the night at her place regardless the next morning Judy went back to my house with me to look around as support the house seemed clear however I couldn't help but look around the house to try and find out how he got in but I just couldn't and it made no sense a couple weeks later my mom sent me
to the Attic to put some of the Christmas decorations away and you wouldn't believe what I found up there in the corner of the Attic is the bed of blankets and a pillow hidden behind a bunch of ripped up boxes stacked up as a wall I immediately associated it to that man in our house we have no idea how long that man was actually in our house for [Music]