[0:10]I'm 30 years old and I share a house with my sister. It's a two-floor house, a mother-daughter house, meaning it has two kitchens. My sister takes the downstairs, I take the upstairs. My sister isn't home a lot because she often stays with her boyfriend who lives 20 miles away. Like I said, I'm 30. I shouldn't let being home alone ever freak me out. But, admittedly, sometimes it does. This happened on a night that I was home alone in my living room, watching a scary movie. My part of the house is an open layout, so the living room, dining room, and kitchen are all one big space. My couch is in the middle of the space. So as I watch TV on the couch, my back is to a large part of the room behind me. So for those a little more easily spooked, it wouldn't be the most comfortable place to be sitting alone watching a scary movie. I'll admit, as I watched in the dark room with nothing but the light from the TV to cancel the darkness of the room, I found myself glancing over my shoulder a lot. I like to think I'm not the only 30-year-old male that does that. But anyway, after the movie, I brushed my teeth, turned off all the lights in the house, then went to sleep. My sleep lasted for about two hours. I woke up around 1:00 a.m. and I wasn't sure why I woke up at first. Then I heard a voice downstairs. It sounded like my sister. It sounded like she was inside the house, so it's not like she was calling for me to open the door, but still, I knew it was my sister's voice. I didn't know what she was yelling up to me, though, but I was still groggy and not thinking straight. All I could think was that she must have been calling for me or arguing with her boyfriend. So I got out of bed and went into the pitch black hall. I turned on the hallway lights and then made my way through the living room and heard my sister's voice again from downstairs. Now I could understand her to be saying my name. I made my way downstairs in the dark, yelling back at her, what is it? I looked for the light switch in the foyer downstairs, but couldn't find it. I'm not lying when I say I was groggy as hell. I walked down her little hallway towards her kitchen, find a light switch and flick it on. The light in the kitchen lights up her little apartment, including her living room. The light starts off dim and needs time to brighten up, but I still saw that there was no one down there. Not her, not her boyfriend. I went to her bedroom, but it was empty. I called her name really loudly one time. No one called back, but shortly after I yelled, I heard something drop to the floor in my sister's bedroom, which I had just checked and it was empty. I went back up the stairs like a little kid and went back to my bed to where my phone was. I tried to call her a few times, but she didn't pick up. I had myself locked in my room, wondering if I had just hallucinated all of that. Eventually I fell asleep, and in the morning I woke up to texts from my sister asking why I called her at 1:00 a.m. I asked her if she was home last night, and she told me no. She was currently staying at her boyfriend's house. I went downstairs to her bedroom to see what may have fallen down on the floor, but there was not a single object on the floor that could have made that noise. I'm led to believe I hallucinated everything I heard that night, but that's what I want to believe, because the alternative would be much more horrific. But I've never really hallucinated anything else or had any kind of sleep disorders. So how vividly I heard my sister's voice, and that sound in her room, really freaks me out.
[3:41]I was left home alone a lot as a kid, just due to the fact that my mom was single for a good chunk of my upbringing and she worked as an RN on a crappy RN schedule and my brother went away to college. This was a night that my mom was working an overnight. It was a weekend night, so I had this girl Molly over who I was talking to, and she hung out for a while. We watched a couple movies and what not and eventually she had to go home because her parents don't like her out late, so I was left alone to hold down the fort. I continued to watch TV in my room in bed. My bedroom is upstairs next to the backyard, so when someone dragged one of the chairs on the deck outside, I heard it. I got up and looked out the window, and I saw someone sitting on one of the deck chairs down below. I called Molly's name thinking it was her, after all she'd only left under 10 minutes ago. Whoever it was looked up at me, but it wasn't Molly. I immediately pulled away from the window to hide. That was not anybody I recognized, not in the darkness at least. I texted a few close friends in our group chat if it was one of them messing with me. The ones who answered all said no and asked what I was talking about. I didn't really believe any of my friends would come to my house to mess with me like that anyway. Scared shitless but still curious, I slowly walked back over to the window to look down again and that person was still sitting in the chair looking up at my window. It was a he, that much was clear, and he definitely saw me. I hurried away from the window again to turn off the TV. I sat in my bed in a ball basically with my arms wrapped around my knees. I waited in darkness for a while. I didn't even want to turn my phone screen on because I was scared he'd see the light. I didn't even want to move because the window was opened and I feared that he'd hear any movement I made. I wanted him to assume I was just no longer in the bedroom. I waited enough time. It had to be a solid five minutes of just sitting there. I highly doubted that man outside could still be there. I finally mustered up the courage to get up and look out the window. I felt a little part of me die inside when I saw he was still down there looking up at my window. Instead of running away from the window again, I tried to be brave and said down to him, what do you want? I then noticed his shoulder started to go up and down as if he were laughing really hard, but he didn't make any kind of audible laughing sounds at first. Till I heard a slight whistling sound coming from him. It seemed like he was laughing so hard he was wheezing. I asked him to please go away, then walked away from the window again. I went back to my bed. I was scared to call the police for some reason. I left my room and sat at the top of the stairway listening. The back door was being pushed. He was trying to get into the house. I ran back to my room to hide again. I was 14, I didn't know what else to do. Eventually I heard the front door's doorknob being fiddled with and the man trying to push the front door open as well. He gave up quickly, thank God. I closed my bedroom window and curtains. If our doors weren't locked, I could have been killed easily. I was skinny and weak when I was 14 and definitely not a fighter. I didn't leave my room again that night until my mom got home around nine. I told her what happened, and her reaction was angry at me for not calling 911, and in hindsight, that was very stupid of me. One of the many things I did, or rather didn't do at a young age that I question greatly.
[7:13]This was the story of how I almost died as a young kid, home alone, and possibly the most intense night of my life with way too much going on. We're a family of five. I was 10 at the time. My older brother was 14, my little sister was five. It was a Friday night. My brother was out with his friends causing trouble clearly because a dreaded phone call came to my parents. All I remember was I was in my room playing a Star Wars video game when I heard my mom start freaking out crying. I got really scared and hurried to see what was wrong. My mom was on the phone with a hospital, calling to inform my parents that my brother had gotten hit by a car. Obviously we were all shaken and really scared. My brother's leg was broken, but I don't know what else was said on the phone. All I know is my parents hurried to get their coats on and got my little sister from her room and asked me if I was okay to stay home alone. I said yes, and they hurried out to the car and left. I was of course really worried for my brother, but I really didn't want to go to the hospital and see him in any kind of bad condition. I don't think my parents wanted me or my sister to either, but they didn't want to leave my five-year-old sister home without them. It's worth mentioning my brother recovered just fine, as his injury is no longer relevant to the story, other than it being the reason why I was left home alone on a Friday night. Before my dad left, he was trying to calm down my mom, telling her he was going to be okay. So seeing my dad like that made me feel better. I had a feeling my mom was just being overdramatic like any mom would be. I continued playing the Star Wars game for a couple more hours, when I heard the front door open. I had my bedroom door closed. By this point, it was easily past midnight and past my bedtime. So I turned off the TV and PlayStation and crawled into my bed with my Game Boy. I tried listening to hear my parents' voices. Maybe hear if my brother was with them or just hear what they were saying, but I didn't hear anything. After a few minutes of not hearing them even come up the stairs, I had a feeling something was wrong. I went to my door and quietly opened it, then walked over to the ledge and banister that overlooked the living room. The lights were off, but there were three tall people standing in my living room. They weren't my family. I was so petrified that I was frozen for a second before I could quietly walk back into my room and shut the door as quietly as I could in my trepidation. But it wasn't quiet enough, and I knew it. They had to have heard the door click shut even if just slightly. I hurried to my closet door, opened it quietly, stepped inside, then shut the door. I had myself sitting behind a bunch of the boxes and bags of clothes that were stuffed in my closet. I was actually pretty covered from view.
[9:54]There was this short period that felt like forever that I was anticipating my bedroom door open, and it did. And at that moment, I knew I was going to die. I heard footsteps walk into the room. I couldn't tell how many people, it may have been one, it may have been two. I heard the footsteps move to my bed, then I heard my covers being played with.
[10:15]Then silence. Then more footsteps towards the closet door, then silence for a few seconds. And then the closet door opened. My heart was in my throat by this point. All I did was sit quietly and hold my breath. The door was open for a really long time, but I didn't look up, I didn't move. It had to be a good 20 seconds of silence before the door closed again. Footsteps walked away from the door, then out of the room. I finally looked up. And I just realized from where I was crouched down behind the bags and boxes, I may have been visible to that person. It wasn't until probably an hour that I heard my parents return. I ran downstairs to them. The front door was left ajar by the people who broke in and they had stolen a number of valuables from our house. It was a night that just went from bad to worse for our family. My parents were in such a rush when they left for the hospital that they apparently didn't even lock the door. I was lucky to have not been killed or kidnapped. I look back now and really wonder if the person who opened the closet and just stood there for 20 seconds saw me hiding in there. Maybe he was just a guy that came to rob a house, not to kidnap or hurt a child. Or maybe he just didn't see me and I just narrowly escaped death or injury.
[11:42]I was home alone for an entire week one time when I was still a teenager living with my parents, which was a rare occasion since my parents don't go out a lot. My mom's rich friend Patty invited my parents on a trip that she was paying for. I'm an only child, so I was left alone in the house. We lived in New York, Ohio, which is in Linking County. Yes, our county was actually called Linking County. My parents' old house had woods in the backyard and was on some quiet road that only a few cars would pass per day usually. We had a huge deck in the backyard overlooking the woods and a decently large backyard. We even had a little fish pond and above ground swimming pool. This was on a Thursday night. I remember because I had conversations with friends about plans for the weekend that day. This was in July of 2013. I was out on the deck smoking weed with my speaker playing music. That's about the time it started. I thought I heard a voice from out in the woods. I lowered the music and listened for a little bit. It didn't repeat. So I raised it back up. When the music was loud again, I heard a voice from out in the woods again. This time I turned the music off completely and listened for longer. There was a voice calling from the woods again, confirming I wasn't just hearing things. It was a male's voice saying, hey, over here. He was kind of distant, but not too far. The woods were anywhere from 20 to 30 yards away from the deck, and that's where the voice was coming from. I didn't think in a million years it was someone calling out for me, though, rather maybe just some kids playing manhunt or something. The voice called out again, hey, over here, we need help. This time I realized the voice was too deep to be a kid. And when a voice yells out we need help, obviously, that'll always be slightly concerning. I was getting a little bit uncomfortable now because now I was questioning if these yells were directed at me. Now I heard the voice yell, straight in front of you, please come help us. And the voice was coming from straight in front of me in the woods. Now I had a feeling this was directed at me. I reluctantly called back, who is that? And they responded, we just need help, we're stuck in the woods. I called back, what does that mean? Then the voice replied back, just please come help, straight in front of you. I got out from my seat, walked down the steps of the deck, onto the grass, and proceeded towards the woods. I called out, I'm coming, where are you? The voice replied instantly, right in front of you, I see you. I replied back, wait, are you alone or with someone? There was no answer this time. I stopped in my tracks about halfway towards the woods. I had a bad feeling in my gut about this. I started walking backwards, back towards the house and the deck. I didn't even want to turn my back to the woods because it took me that long to realize there was something very suspicious about this situation. I made it back to the deck, and the voice didn't say anything else. If they truly saw me and this was real, they would have said something like where you going at the very least. They knew I was onto the situation, but who even knows how many people were in there. Could have been one, could have been three. All I know is getting stuck in the woods makes absolutely no sense, especially if he or they were able to literally see me. Like, what did their shirt get caught on a branch? I went inside the house and locked all the doors just to be safe. I chilled in my living room for a bit, still high, and I think that's why I was more trusting at first because of how high and relaxed I was. Then though, I heard the voice again from outside, closer now, definitely in the backyard and not the woods anymore. I heard splashing of water. It could have been the pool or the pond. I hurried to the window to see. I didn't see anyone at first.
[15:46]But then the voice called, I see you, with a laugh. I noticed him. It was one guy, at least one guy visible. He was hidden behind the pool on the other side and I could only see his head. It was just too dark to make out anything besides his dark, medium length hair. I closed the blinds and tried to ignore it. Maybe he'd lose interest if he saw I wasn't entertaining him. He was probably a sick, deranged person who enjoyed messing with people, so I didn't want to give him what he wanted. But my breaking point was when there was a horrible aggressive banging on the window where I had just closed the blinds and on the other side, the guy was screaming, help. I screamed at the top of my lungs to fuck off, you freak, the police are coming. I screamed it over and over, trying to make myself sound crazier than him. I heard him start to laugh on the other side of the glass. His laughing started to fade away as I assume he walked away. I sat back down on the couch, trembling, shaking, out of breath. I sat there for a while and it seemed like the guy had really given up. I still got a good night's sleep that night because weed helps me sleep. I wonder if I would have handled that situation any differently if I wasn't high, though. The situation made me more paranoid about who I open my door to.
[17:16]I'm 23 years old and I live at home with my parents still. One day they were both not home and I was outside playing basketball in the front yard. At some point while I was playing, I looked up at one of our upstairs windows and saw a woman standing there. Not my mom, not my sister. It was a random woman. I guess when she saw me looking at her, she dipped away from the window. When I went inside and upstairs to check the lounge room, she wasn't anywhere. I checked every single room I could, every bedroom, the bathroom, every closet. Then I checked the downstairs, which included the living room, kitchen, dining room, one bedroom, and more closets.
[18:00]Finally I checked the basement and I highly doubted she could be down there. It's a small basement with a couple couches, a bar and two closets. There weren't many places for someone to hide, but when I opened the second closet door, I was incredibly scared, as I didn't know of any other places someone could be hiding in the house. This was the last uncheck spot that I could think of. I yanked the door open as if I were ripping off a Band-Aid, and like I did with the closet before this one, I right away pushed myself into the closet just in case that woman was in there and I'd have the jump on her. But all I pushed myself into was a bunch of coats and coat hangers. I was so confused. I wasn't going to question my sanity, though. I definitely saw that woman and I knew it. It wasn't the kind of thing you would just so vividly imagine. I went back to the middle floor and screamed very loud that whoever was in the house needs to get the F out. I actually screamed so loud that our next door neighbor came over and asked if I was okay. I told him that I literally just saw a woman at her upstairs window watching me play basketball. He came in and helped me search again. When we couldn't find her, I was left to assume that she snuck out through the back door, which I did unlock after all when I went to grab the basketball from the yard. So my neighbor left. I locked all the doors, called my parents, and told them the crazy story, and they weren't too thrilled. But they asked me to make sure nothing was stolen. I did just that, and luckily it seemed anything that was worth something was still in place. So now fast forward to that night. I went to sleep after checking the house one more time just for peace of mind. It was hard to fall asleep, though. My mind was racing for obvious reasons. Most people can't relate to seeing a stranger at their window inside of their house. But my restlessness helped me out in this situation, and here's why. I was finally starting to drift away slightly. Then I heard some noises from the other side of me. I had the fan on above me, so the room wasn't dead silent, and that's why I didn't immediately turn to my other side at the first sound I heard. But the sound started to sound human-like. I turned to my other side, and there she was, getting out from under my bed. She stood up tall above the bed, and I screamed so loud, louder than earlier before. I jumped out of my bed and tackled her to the floor, and had my hand around her throat, asking her who she was. My doorbell rang, my neighbor again. I picked the tall dirty looking woman up off the floor and dragged her to the front door with me as she struggled and scratched at me. I still have two scars on my right arm from her claws. I opened my front door to my neighbor again, and he let himself in and helped me restrain the woman. This was when I called the police. The whole time we waited for the police, the woman was screaming and cursing at my neighbor and I, threatening us, too. The best way to put it, she looked and acted like a meth head who currently suffering from withdrawals. When the police arrived, one of the officers knew exactly who the woman was. They had dealt with her multiple times before. Her name was conveniently Karen. It was satisfying to watch her be brought into the back of the police car. I let my neighbor know how grateful I was for him coming so quickly to help. And that night, my mind continued to race, but instead of being completely freaked out, which I still was a little, I felt this overwhelming feeling of satisfaction. And I can't fully explain why.
