As it turns out, reality is pretty unsettling
“My friend and I are walking downhill towards a sharp left turn when out of seemingly nowhere, a woman steps around the bend and starts hiking up the hill towards us with her head down.”
“To preface and give so context, I am a 21-year-old male who makes a habit of taking road trips across the US and am not one who is inexperienced when it comes to hiking or dangerous situations. I have had people stalk my camp in Kansas and stare over my fire in Utah with a shotgun. Point being, I’ve had weird experiences but none that have ever chilled me like this one.
This just happened earlier today and I want to get it out while the image is still sharp in my mind. I was out hiking a trail in southern Indiana with a female friend of mine. It was around 90 degrees and muggy as all get out. The trail specifically is the Three Lakes Trail and it is a little over ten miles long and is circular so nearly impossible to get lost. We had arrived early in the morning and so there was almost no one in the park at all, save for a few parked vehicles. We had been hiking the trail for about three hours and not seen a sole. Usually, I pay attention to my surroundings a bit more and am cautious of people just because of life experiences and this sub, but with good conversation and laughs, I was distracted.
My friend and I are walking downhill towards a sharp left turn when out of seemingly nowhere, a woman steps around the bend and starts hiking up the hill towards us with her head down. She was of average height but much more muscular than a typical woman. She is wearing a sports bra, short shorts and a backpack which left most of her body exposed. Her tattoos are what first caught my eye. All across her body are these weird shapes and symbols that didn’t make much sense. I didn’t see anything that resembled a picture or English words. As she came within about ten feet of us, she looked up and we made eye contact. That is when everything in me just froze up.
Her face had similar symbols tattooed all over and in strings all over her face. Her eyes though are what I’ll remember for a long time. They were just black sockets and in the shade of the dense canopy, I couldn’t make out much about what it actually was. With how humid it was that day, I don’t believe that the dark sockets were makeup and so I assume that all around her eyes were tattooed solid black. On top of this, she must’ve had colored contacts in her eyes as there was no white at all. With every horror and cult scenario, I’ve ever heard running through my mind and her face chilling me to the soul, I blurt out, ‘Good day for a hike!’
She just looks at me with this empty stare, holds eye contact and walks by us. I have never been so shaken up from running into someone out on a trail before and hope to never see something like that again.”
“It was 2015, I was in my second year of university and to give you context, I lived at home and simply drove to class since the university was only 15 minutes from my house. I lived in a condo that was pretty upscale and it was situated right at an intersection so when you exit the parking garage, you’d have to wait at a signal. I had quite an expensive car that my parents had bought me and it often stuck out in a crowd. My city is quite safe though so I’ve never felt threatened and often drove with my window down. It was fall so everything was quite peaceful and chill.
One morning, I was coming out of the parking garage and waiting at the signal to turn left when a Jaguar drove up beside me. I didn’t think anything of it and continued listening to my music when I see him roll down his window and gestured for me to look at him. Thinking he needed directions or wanted to get in my lane, I turned the volume down and he immediately said, ‘You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen’. Flattered but not interested cause I had a boyfriend (and I KNOW I’m not beautiful), I said thanks awkwardly. Before university, I had been to an all-girls private school in another country so I had REALLY LITTLE experience with guys flirting or compliments like that from strangers. He then insisted that I give him his number and that we could go out for coffee sometime. I said no thanks, that I had a boyfriend but thanks for the compliment. He insisted that I give him his number. People on the sidewalk were looking now cause he was yelling quite loudly through his car to mine. Wishing the signal would open, I didn’t know what to do. So, as an inexperienced young woman who watched way too much tv, I decided to just give him a fake number. Bad idea. He took it on his phone and thank god the signal opened so I booked it out of there and I’m guessing he turned right. When I got to university, I totally texted all my friends about it and we laughed at how he would call the number and find out it wasn’t mine.
I wish that was the end but it wasn’t. A few days later, it was the weekend and two of my friends and I decided to go watch a movie at the theatre across the street. If anyone knows the Mississauga downtown area, they know that everything is in the same area; the theatre, the mall, the community center, everything. So we were sitting in the concessions area, waiting for them to open up our theatre to enter and THIS GUY walks up to me. He’s all like, ‘Oh hey! I tried calling you but I think I got a number wrong cause it kept going to some old lady number’. I’m just shocked at this point but don’t think much of it cause we’re in my neighborhood and it’s totally possible to run into him. I once again iterate that I have a boyfriend and that I wasn’t interested. My friends get all protective too and probably see my body language so one of them steps up and says, ‘Hey buddy, she’s not interested. Her boyfriend’s coming any minute now and you don’t want to meet him’. He mumbled something that I couldn’t hear and just says that he’ll see me later. At this point, I’m a little creeped.
For the next few days, I see him every morning at the signal. Somehow he knows my timings and gets lucky enough to get right beside me every time. I’ve started driving with my windows up at this point and have my sunglasses on every day so he doesn’t see my expression. He horns, he rolls his windows down, one day he got really close to the side of my car to yell something closer. I try my best to ignore him. However, I can’t really do much about it cause he’s technically not done anything illegal. Here’s another problem, I know he lives near me. But the problem is that my parking garage is shared by my building and another building so I don’t know which one he could live in. I can’t report him to the building security cause they’re pretty useless and don’t care and it’s getting on my nerves but I don’t know what to do.
The final straw was when I was in my university library trying to get books for an essay. I’m in the quiet zone, working near the aisle when I notice this guy looking at me from the sofa area. I’m not very good with my far sight and just thought the person was spaced out like many others in the library. I was curious why this person wouldn’t look away after a while so I asked the guy beside me in the individual study desk area to take a picture of me.
Since the man staring was in the shot, I’d be able to zoom in and take a better look. The student complied and I zoom in. IT’S HIM. This guy, he’s like at least 28-34, he looks nothing like a student, no bag or anything near him so there’s no way he’s here for freaking books. Coincidences don’t happen this often. At this point, I’m freaked so I go to the front desk with books and as I check out, I tell the girl at the desk of what’s happening. She graciously arranged for the senior librarian, a 6-foot tall man, to escort me to my car. I’m paranoid the whole car ride home, how did he find me? My university is close, 15 minutes away, BUT NOT THAT CLOSE. It involves quite a few turns and he really didn’t look like a student.
After like 5-6 more days of the signal BS, I get tired and tell my boyfriend and parents about it. My parents freak the hell out. They live in another country as expats so it’s not like I could leave my home either. My parents and boyfriend are all on a conference call with me so they’re discussing how this guy is possibly following me. Then my boyfriend suggests that maybe it’s cause of my car. I’ve only personally seen 1-2 of them in my city and my car colour was rose gold so literally anyone could spot me. It wouldn’t be that hard for him to follow the only rose gold car in the city. They all come up with the idea of my boyfriend switching cars with me for the next few weeks. I was also to leave for class 2 hours before my normal schedule to throw him off and tint my boyfriend’s car so that the creep doesn’t spot me in the new car. My boyfriend also gets my own car tinted. The tints for both cars are illegal by Ontario standards but at this point, we’d rather pay fines than getting followed by the creep.
This plan works. I no longer see him and I really do think he was following my car around. Maybe he’d even go to local hangout spots and check the parking lots to see if he could spot my car. Either way, for the next few weeks it all works out and everything’s fine. Then one day, while I’m heading to the gym, I get a call from my boyfriend that the creep is following him in my car. My car is tinted at this point so the creep doesn’t know it’s my boyfriend in there not me. He says that he’s calling the cops and to use our Find My Friend feature to just keep an eye on where he’s heading just in case something happens. I’m legit worried at this point. After a few hours, I hear back.
So after my boyfriend called the police, the dispatch said that the cops wanted him to drive to the mall parking (there’s a police station at this mall) and that a cop could come out to his car in plain clothing to ward off suspicion. The creep was of course following my boyfriend in my car and the cop affirmed this, approached the creep and apprehended him. He threatened him with stalking, took down his info and gave him a serious warning. My boyfriend had gotten out the car by then and the creep apparently stared him daggers at him the whole time.
The creep was never able to find me again and my parents in the meanwhile had worked to get me moved to a new home outside of downtown in a more affluent neighbourhood where I wouldn’t stick out too much. I’ve also changed my license plate, still have a tint but also changed my car colour so it’s more neutral. I rarely go to the downtown Mississauga area now so…”
“Yesterday I was at a local coffee shop to study for an exam. I was sitting at a long table, and at some point, a guy asks if he can sit on the other end. He’s working on his computer, and he asks me what I’m studying for.
He leaves to take a smoke break, and when he comes back, he asks me if I liked his blog post. I have no idea what he’s talking about, so I put on my glasses to read the title ‘Basic White Bitches…’. I told him that I didn’t know what he was talking about, and go back to my studying.
When I pack up to leave, he asks me for my Instagram handle. I don’t think much of it, I live in a friendly neighborhood, so I told him and left. About an hour later I see that he added me, and look at his WordPress blog that’s linked in his bio. His most recent post was titled ‘This White Girl at the Coffee Shop’, describing how he believes that I got onto his computer, scrolled down to read his blog post on how he hates white women, and then lied about it….. I commented on the blog post saying that I didn’t touch his computer, then I blocked him on Instagram. Not too worried about it since I don’t frequent that coffee joint and seemed like some weird one-off encounter.
Today I find an email in my inbox from the guy (guess he got my email from the comment I made).
‘You didn’t have to tell me your Instagram username if you were uncomfortable. I was just being friendly. But blocking me after giving me your username? That’s just petty.
And I’m definitely not interested in or attracted to you, I have a girlfriend. So I see no reason for you to feel uncomfortable. Am I not wrong?
So who did snoop on my laptop anyway? Surely you saw who did it if you were sitting five feet away. After I followed you, what made you click on my link to get to my blog if you knew nothing about it? I’ve never clicked on a WordPress link. Everyone hates random people’s blogs. You wouldn’t have clicked on it if you didn’t already know where it was going.
I’m not even interested in this topic anymore. I’m bored. I just like to drag things on for the hell of it.
You can keep trying to cover it up but I know how people work. I’m not even mad. I’m just slightly entertained that you are persistent in your lies.
Anyway, imma dip the hell outta here don’t want to make you ‘uncomfortable’ or anything. My advice to you is don’t give out your Instagram username if you’re just gonna fuckin’ block ’em.
Wasting my time and yours. Millennials are too fuckin’ shy. And I’m here to make a difference. No kid my age will open their mouth to a random stranger so I have to take up the slack of everyone my age.
Later. I’m bored af.
-Name
don’t @ me’
“This happened a few years ago when I had just moved to a new city, age 20, female, working and going to school full time. I had a hard time meeting guys my age so I turned to online dating in hopes of meeting ‘the one’. I chose ‘Plenty of Fish’ thinking it somehow wasn’t like the other dating sites. This is where I met Anthony.
He messaged me first and there were a few red flags but I was desperate to talk to someone off POF who wasn’t just trying to hook up or score nudes. I noticed all of his pictures were of random pro skateboarders and Nick Cave. Naive, I continued to chat with him because he seemed harmless. I couldn’t quite point out what gave me a weird feeling but it all started off innocent enough and I thought he was just a little weird/quirky. A few random and weird messages on POF, some song lyrics, long word vomit type soliloquies, compliments on my red hair. Again, naive, I gave him a link to my personal blog on Tumblr in hopes of having some common interests.
Anthony made a Tumblr account that night and went through every single one of my posts, liking each one, going all the way back through years of content. I must have had 500 likes by the next morning. Some time passed, I was no longer interested in pursuing Anthony mostly due to the fact that all of our conversations were one-sided and just… random and bizarre. Every once in awhile he would send me a random message on Tumblr about clouds, his clothes, some more unrelated lyrics, his love of foxes. He actually asked me to go on a date with him but I told him I had a boyfriend. By this time I had been dating my boyfriend for 6 months. Anthony still continued to like my posts on Tumblr, was reblogging a lot of art, animals, and various interests. He posted one selfie of his face. He looked my age, messy long brown hair, beard. I was grateful we had drifted apart and simply deleted and ignored any messages he sent me from his account.
One day I received message on Tumblr from a girl named Tandy. She said she had recently moved to the city and was looking to make some friends. She had been following me awhile and thought we had a lot in common. I looked at her Tumblr and she had quite a bit of content dating back several months. All of her posts related to my own interests and I thought I had met my new best friend. We began chatting for hours, bonding over various things and exchanging experiences. She loved all the same music and seemed like such a cool person. Being new to the city, I still hadn’t made many friends and was eager to perhaps start an offline friendship with Tandy. I invited her to my boyfriend’s show. I figured it was public and safe. I would be surrounded by people and I had by now added her on Facebook, saw what she looked like and felt comfortable with her. She didn’t have many friends or updates on her page but I attributed that to the fact that she said she was new to the city, a homebody introvert type, and was putting in long hours at a local radio station she worked at. Innocent naive me believed everything. I was so excited to have made a friend. We had even exchanged numbers and texted daily. I know that the person I was talking to that whole time was indeed Tandy. After chatting for a month, the day finally came. It was my boyfriend’s show and I was going to meet her.
The doors had just opened so there weren’t many people at the venue yet, but I recognized her right away sitting at a table. I noticed she was not sitting alone. She was sitting with a guy in a toque with his face shrouded with hair and a beard. My heart literally stopped because I realized she was sitting with Anthony. My boyfriend was setting up his gear. None of my friends had arrived yet. No one knew at this point about Anthony. Only my boyfriend was aware that I was meeting Tandy at the show. Tandy smiled at me and said hello. She hugged me. Anthony was silent. He stared at me. I awkwardly waved to Anthony. I said, ‘Hey Anthony, we finally meet.’ Anthony smiled and nodded his head but did not say a word. Tandy quickly interrupted, saying, ‘Anthony told me you guys met on Tumblr too! Small world. Anthony is actually my boyfriend.’ Somehow I just could not believe the coincidence but regardless spent the night with them, chatting with Tandy and being stared at by Anthony. He literally did not say a single word to me the entire night. My boyfriend had no reason to think anything was going on and for some reason, I was super embarrassed about the situation so I did not tell my boyfriend about Anthony that night.
Later I texted Tandy to inquire about her relationship with Anthony. I didn’t get a reply. I called her 3 times and the phone was out of service. I went online, her Tumblr was deleted. I went on Facebook, her account was there but no longer being updated for the week that I watched it. She didn’t respond to any of my messages. I went onto the website for the radio station she apparently worked at, and she was not listed anywhere as a personnel or a volunteer. I later made a friend who worked at this radio station and she confirmed there was never anyone named Tandy who ever stepped foot into the station or did any of the stuff Tandy claimed to be doing. Tandy effectively disappeared off the face of the earth. I went onto Anthony’s Tumblr page and he was still posting art, music, foxes. I decided to creep into what he was liking on Tumblr and all of his likes were of red-headed women in various states of bondage, abuse, Kate Winslet in Titanic, Scully from the X Files, fan fiction about kidnappings and enslavement, red-haired women dressed as foxes in cages.
I still thought I had control over the situation. In fact, nothing happened for a while after that. Until a month went by and I was at the art gallery with some friends. I was going through the exhibits when my heart dropped. Anthony was there too. He followed us through the exhibit for awhile then disappeared. I couldn’t figure out how he knew I was at the art gallery on that day. I saw him at a few other events that I could not understand his connection to. No one knew who he was. He just lingered in the background and disappeared. I saw him at a bunch of other shows, a smaller party at my friend’s gallery, and a pop-up shop downtown for my friend’s business.
My boyfriend had another show a few months later. The band was loading in gear and the bar was empty. Doors had just opened maybe 5 minutes and I was waiting for sound check. I look at the bar and my heart drops again. In full construction uniform, Anthony is at the bar holding his hard hat. He is still wearing his work vest and still in work boots. By now I am freaking out and actually ran into the bathroom to think of what I needed to do. The woman at the bar saw me run into the bathroom and came to check up on me. I asked her about the man in the construction uniform at the bar and she told me he was really weird, had arrived an hour before doors opened and stood outside waiting to come in. He didn’t order a drink. He just appeared to be waiting. I asked this woman to get my boyfriend who was just finishing a sound check at this point. I told my boyfriend everything I knew about Anthony. Of course, my boyfriend went to Anthony like a bat out of hell and interrogated him at the bar. Anthony had no expression as my boyfriend told him to get lost and that he never wanted to see him again. Anthony took his hard hat and backpack and left. When the show started, I finally began to relax. My friends were there and I felt a little more protected. I looked beside me and you guessed it… Anthony had changed into regular casual clothes and was standing right beside me. He just stared. I ended up hiding in the green room the entire show and I left early with my boyfriend. We could not find Anthony after that. My boyfriend asked how Anthony was finding out my whereabouts especially considering the Art Gallery trip was only talked about on a Facebook group event. I told him I never added Anthony on Facebook. My profile security settings were on the highest possible. My boyfriend asked if I still had Tandy as a friend on Facebook and I said yes. I then realized that Anthony was stalking me through Tandy’s Facebook account and I needed to block and delete her. It took a lot to accept that Tandy was not real, had pretended to be my friend, was perhaps even paid by Anthony to gain my trust. That was hard to swallow. I blocked and deleted ‘Tandy’ and I never saw Anthony at an event ever again.
Then my boyfriend started getting strange friend requests on Facebook. One was from a ‘fan’ of his band who lived in Ontario. My boyfriend initially was stoked and had no issue talking to this ‘fan’ about his music and possibly making it out to Ontario for a show. But as the conversation went on, he got a bad feeling. More and more this fan asked my boyfriend about ‘his rose’, which was what the ‘fan’ referred to me as. The ‘fan’ asked my boyfriend if he would bring his rose to the next show. My boyfriend got wise to this and blocked the ‘fan’ immediately. He didn’t tell me about this ‘fan’ until a few months later.
I happened to be on my boyfriend’s computer and noticed him in a Facebook conversation with a girl named Lynn. She was beautiful. Blonde, thin, listed as a model and living in a city 3 hours away. I couldn’t help myself as the messages started to pile up while I was checking my email… I read my boyfriend’s conversation with Lynn and my heart sank. Initially I thought he was having an affair with her. Lynn was using such sweet language, sending pictures, asking him to meet up… asking if ‘your rose would be mad if she found out’. I was shaking when I called my boyfriend down and asked him straight up who the hell is Lynn!? My boyfriend said it was Anthony. I didn’t believe him until my boyfriend told me about the ‘fan’, showed me all the messages, pointed out the location where all these messages were coming from… the same city we lived! Anthony didn’t realize at the end of every message it said ‘Sent from _____’. Not Ontario, not the nearby city, yet the profiles listed a different city entirely. Lynn had hundreds of friends who ended up being bots from Thailand and India. Lynn used the same style and language as the ‘fan’ and, I noticed, Anthony himself. I ended up creeping Anthony on Facebook and finding out all the information and pictures he was using of Lynn were actually from one of Anthony’s mutual friends on Facebook. I found her actual legit profile and everything. Me and my boyfriend blocked and deleted all the accounts. I gave up my blog that I spent over 5 years cultivating and gaining 5K followers.
Anthony went as far as to find a few listings that my boyfriend had made on Kijiji for various things. Anthony actually contacted my boyfriend and set up a meeting to buy some tools. All was set to go, my boyfriend was going to meet him until the potential buyer called my boyfriend to ask ‘Can I meet you at home?’ My boyfriend declined. The potential buyer then asked, ‘will your rose be with you?’
My boyfriend hung up and deleted all of his Kijiji ads. Anthony must have found them by searching my boyfriend’s e-mail. By now I am terrified and have gone to the police but unless Anthony physically harms or threatens me, nothing can be done. We lived like this for about another year. So by now, I have been stalked by Anthony for 2 years. Eventually, all the weird stuff just stopped and I never heard from Anthony ever again. His Tumblr is still active. He still posts foxes and likes and follows a very particular kink scene with redheads. I haven’t seen or heard from him for several years now. My boyfriend is the only one who has ever heard Anthony’s actual voice.”
“Okay so about three years ago I went on holiday with my boyfriend and his family. It was lovely; long hot days on the beach, exploring the cities, swimming in the ocean. But I’m thinking of one particular night.
My boyfriend and I had hung out with his step-sister most of the holiday. She’s a year younger than us and likes getting drunk. Despite the fact she annoyed us by following us all the time, we still hung out with her. So this one night she suggests we go and find a club. I state that I nor she are old enough, only my boyfriend could get in. But nonetheless, we are all walking to the OTHER SIDE of the island to get to this club. We’re all pretty drunk; I fell over several times along the journey.
So, we finally get to this club, only to see all the people leaving it. We didn’t realise it was around 2am, and it looked like the club was shut. A bit disappointed, we look to a McDonald’s and suggest that we refuel there. I go inside and order, but tell my boyfriend and his SS that I need some air. I go outside for a cigarette.
I’m smoking when a black car pulls up into the taxi space on the road. I have the idea that we may as well get a taxi back; I’m hurting from falling down, and I’m very drunk.
‘How much for a taxi to [hotel name]?’ I ask him.
‘Ten euro,’ he replies.
Now, the problem was, I only had five euros. I said to this man, ‘Please will you drive us for five? We’re from the UK and we don’t know around here very well!’
So this man says, ‘For you, five euro.’
My boyfriend and his SS come out of McDonald’s with the food, and they see me talking to this man. I tell them he’s a taxi man, and that he’s taking us back. The taxi man is surprised to see them and says he didn’t know I was with friends, but come on, hop in. We are all about to get in the car, me and SS in back, boyfriend in front when the man requests I sit in the front. I had wanted to sit in the front anyway, and me being very drunk and stupid (please forgive my lack of intelligence in this story) I decided to just comply and go in the front, despite my BF’s protests.
So for the first part of the journey, everything’s good. We’re all chatting and laughing together, and the taxi man is joining in. We have music on the radio, and I am looking out the window at the wonderful oceanside views. Plus, the cool air is nice on my hot, drunken face.
We all continue chatting away, and the taxi man is being friendly, asking us questions about the UK and just generally making conversation. We all start laughing and chatting away again, and he takes my hand, his right hand on the wheel. Bear in mind this man is probably about 50, very chatty, so I thought nothing of it, he was being friendly. Throughout our conversations, he is holding my hand every now and then. I’m starting to feel a little uncomfortable, but shrug it off. But it progresses.
He placed my hand on his thigh, holding it tight in his hand. I move over on my seat, away from him, but he keeps my hand there. I turn around and see the SS, and she mouths, ‘Are you okay?’ I nod because the man has now let go of my hand. I see the SS whisper something to my BF, and they go quiet for a minute. Seeing as he let go, the conversations continue. I can see we are getting closer to our hotel, and I’m wishing for us to be there, quickly.
The man takes my hand again. This time he places it on my thigh, his hand holding mine tightly. I’m feeling very vulnerable at this point; I am wearing a short, tight vest dress. I immediately clamped my legs together. I am now silent; I froze. My BF notices and says ‘Mate, take your hands off her now.’ The man laughs, and says ‘Friendly! I’m being friendly!’ He continues keeping his hand on my thigh. At this point, my BF and his SS are saying ‘stop it! Pull over!’ But he says we are close to the hotel now.
I feel sick, the alcohol creeping up my stomach and throat. The man is still grasping my hand, and he moves it further up my thigh. I’m completely stiff at this point, knowing that if I let my legs relax even in the slightest, things would escalate. But they did anyway. He guided my hand up, and with one of his fingers, he touched me. I don’t need to say where, because you already know. I stare out the window, and I’m begging for the car to stop. And luckily, it does. I jump out the car, and my BF and the SS are looking at me. ‘He touched me,’ I say.
My boyfriend races over to the driver’s window, shouting and screaming at him. But the man speeds off, very fast, and as he does my BF kicks his license plate, and we see it dent. We go back into the hotel, and needless to say, I drink more.
The next morning we are going on a boat trip, and my BF’s family are asking if I am okay, after hearing about what happened. I say yes because it’s true. It’s over now, could have gone a lot worse, and I (hope) I’ll never see him again. We leave the hotel lobby, and that’s when I see them.
Taxis. White. Yellow ‘TAXI’ signs on top of them. Pulled in the taxi ranks. I head over to one.
‘Excuse me,’ I say to a taxi man. ‘Are all taxis white here?’
‘Yes,’ he says. ‘Only taxi colours are white with the sign on top.’
I feel my insides churning.”
Unsettling Reality 