The Paranormal & Other Scary Stories Thread

Okay so here's the scary story that I said I'd share. This happened to me last summer. It is not paranormal but honestly sometimes I think a ghost may be preferable. This is the story of how I was stalked while walking home alone after dark.

Most of you regulars here are aware that I'm a female, but I will just confirm that for context for those that don't know of me. My Dad always cautioned me against walking home alone after dark just because I was a girl. He never did this with my (younger!) brother. I'm not a throw caution to the wind type of person, but I have always refused to go through life afraid of what if situations. Well one night last summer, I had an experience where I soon wished I'd heeded my Dad more.

I'd been invited to a party. It was a Friday night so no work the next day, so I stayed out late. I'd arrived at the party with another girl who was supposed to walk back with me and crash at my place, but she hooked up with a guy and that was the end of that plan. At that point it really wasn't a big deal for me. The party was in walking distance from my home and I'd walked home alone after dark plenty of times before and never felt unsafe. One of the guys at the party who I knew offered to drive me home as he was designated driver for a group and had a spare seat, but I foolishly declined, insisting I didn't have far to go. I really should have accepted that ride.

I'd say at a normal walking speed I should have got from the house the party was held at to mine in around a quarter of an hour. It was only after about five minutes of this time though that for some reason I suddenly looked around. That's when I saw him. At first I didn't think nothing of it: just a guy walking along the same path as me wearing a hoody. It was late by this point and getting cooler, so having his hoody up wasn't unusual. I thought nothing of it and carried on. A couple of minutes later I turned again, still not sure why, and he was still there. I was walking quite slow and he seemed to be intentionally keeping his distance from me at that time. After I turned a corner he turned as well. I turned again and so did he. At this point I was starting to get worried. I reached into my pocket for my phone to make a call, any call – the police, my parents, my then-boyfriend, any friend, but my phone wasn't there. I realised that I must have left it at the party house or worse lost it somewhere else. I'm not a typical young woman of my age group, I'm not constantly glued to my phone. I hadn't even missed it until I needed it.

So I tried a trick I read online to see if someone is following you. I doubled back on myself. Did a loop around some streets and ended up close to where I first saw the guy.

He followed me all the way.

I then realised that he must also now know that I was aware of him. At this point I was not just worried. I was frightened.

What would you do in such a situation? Try to keep your cool? Run and hope you're faster? Me, I just kept walking, then quickly ducked down a back alleyway that ran behind some houses. I knew he would follow me, but I also knew that there was this house with a shed that a small person (which luckily am I) could squeeze behind and hopefully not be seen from the path in the darkness, so I practically leapt over the fence and positioned myself there in the shadows. I could see where the path ran behind the fence, vaguely illuminated by lights from the houses on the other side, enough so that I could see his shape as he appeared along there.

He stopped. I knew he was looking for me. I am not a religious person but I was silently praying at that point that I was correct about him not being able to see me in my hiding place. Luckily, he instead picked up speed and continued down that alley. I think he must of assumed I got off the main street and had made a run for it. Trust me, that thought had also been in my mine as an option.

I still waited a good five to ten minutes behind that shed, then crept out. There was a light on in the house it belonged to, so I knocked on the door and explained to the owner what had happened. She was a kindly lady around my Mum's age who was shocked that something like that would happen in our town and called the police for me as well as my parents. My dad came to pick me up. He never said I told you so.

I told the police everything that had happened and what I am done to convince myself that the guy was following me and how I had hidden from him. They told me I was very lucky. Unfortunately they never caught the guy. How could they? I never saw a face. It scares me to think that that guy could be walking the streets of my town this very night. That I might walk past him in the daylight and not know it was him. And worse of all, the thing which frightens me the most, is the thought that maybe I know that guy. That he was at that same party I was that night and that maybe he'd seen me leave alone after refusing that ride. These are all the kind of thoughts that still spin through my head about that night every day. I have not stayed out late any night since.