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00:00Back in 2020, when the pandemic was still causing all kinds of chaos, I started driving for Uber
00:14to make ends meet. I was laid off from my retail job and needed quick income. The thing about
00:20rideshare gigs is you see all kinds of people, especially when you're working late nights like
00:24I was. There were awkward encounters, drunk passengers, weird conversations, but none of
00:30that compares to what happened one Friday night in October. It was a little after midnight and I
00:36had just dropped someone off at a hotel near the outskirts of town. My app pings almost immediately
00:41with a new request. The pickup location was about six minutes away, in front of a bowling alley that
00:47was part of a strip mall. Pretty standard stuff. The name on the ride said Derek. I accepted it and
00:54started heading over. The area was quiet when I arrived. Just a few dim parking lot lights.
01:01No cars in sight and the bowling alley looked closed. But there was a man standing alone under
01:06one of the lights wearing a gray hoodie and jeans. He was tall, maybe 6'2", with his hands in his
01:12pockets, head down like he was looking at his shoes. As I pulled up, he looked at me but didn't wave or
01:18move. I rolled down the window and said, you Derek? He nodded slowly, walked over, and got into the
01:25back seat behind me. I started the trip and asked him if the destination in the app was correct,
01:31an address about 20 minutes away in a residential neighborhood I'd never been to. He said, yeah,
01:36that's right, in a quiet, calm voice. I remember thinking he sounded a little off. Not drunk or high,
01:43just sort of flat. Emotionless. But I didn't think too hard about it at the time. I started driving,
01:51and he didn't say anything for the next 5 or 6 minutes. I glanced at him in the rearview mirror
01:56now and then, and every time I looked, he was staring straight ahead. Not out the window or at
02:02his phone, just at the back of my head. I tried to break the silence by asking how his night was going.
02:08He paused, then said, just needed to get out of there. I asked out of where. He said, doesn't
02:16matter. So I didn't push it. We drove a while longer. About 15 minutes in, I realized we were
02:23getting closer to the destination, but the address was in a really isolated part of town. No street
02:29lights, big yards, and lots of trees. As we approached the address, he suddenly leaned forward
02:35and said, actually, can you pull into that driveway right there? He pointed to a house on the right.
02:41The house was dark. No lights on inside or out. It looked old and abandoned, honestly. It had an
02:49overgrown lawn and paint peeling on the siding. There was also no car in the driveway. I said,
02:54is this your place? And he said, just pull in. I hesitated, but turned into the driveway.
03:00I stopped near the front of the house and put the car in park. He didn't get out. I looked back at
03:07him and said, everything all right? He stared at the front door and said, wait here. Then he got out
03:13and started walking toward the house. He didn't go to the front door. He walked around the side of the
03:19building and disappeared from view. I sat there for maybe two minutes, trying to decide what to do.
03:24The ride was technically still going. I didn't want to drive off and get penalized, but I also
03:30felt like something wasn't right. My gut told me this guy wasn't just heading inside to grab
03:35something. Finally, I ended the trip manually. I marked it as complete and started to back out
03:41of the driveway, but before I could shift into reverse, I saw him walking back toward the car,
03:46fast. His hands were empty, and he had this strange look on his face, like he was angry or excited.
03:52I unlocked the doors because I didn't want to make it a confrontation, but something in me was
03:57screaming not to let him back in. He opened the rear door, got in, and said, take me to the other
04:03place. I asked, what other place? He said, just drive, I'll tell you. I said, you need to put it in
04:11the app. He didn't answer. He just stared at me in the mirror. I said again, I can't take you anywhere
04:18unless you put it in the app. He didn't say a word. After a few seconds, he told me to drive to
04:24where I picked him up. I didn't want to argue anymore, so I started heading back toward the
04:29strip mall. The whole way there, I felt this pressure in the car. He wasn't talking, but I
04:34could feel him watching me. The hairs on my arms were standing up. He was still staring at the back
04:40of my head. At one point, I tried to lighten the mood. I said, rough night? He replied, you could
04:47say that. I asked if everything's all right, and he said, not yet. I didn't ask any more questions.
04:55When we got back to the strip mall, I parked under the same light where I picked him up,
04:59but before I could say anything, he leaned forward and asked, you ever wonder how you're going to die?
05:04I froze. I laughed awkwardly and said, not really something I think about. He didn't laugh. He just
05:12leaned back in his seat, and after a few seconds, he said, I think about it all the time. Then he
05:18opened the door and got out without another word. He didn't close the door right away. He just stood
05:23there for a second, half in and half out of the car. Then he looked at me and said, you picked the
05:29wrong guy up tonight. He shut the door and walked off into the darkness behind the bowling alley.
05:35I sat there for a minute, too shaken to move. Eventually, I drove home, constantly checking my
05:42mirrors. When I got home, I looked at the trip details again. Something was off. The name had
05:48changed. It no longer said Derek. It was blank. No name, no profile picture, no trip history. It was
05:56like the ride never happened. I contacted Uber support to report it, but they told me the trip
06:02data was unavailable. They said sometimes that happens if the app crashes or if the rider cancels
06:07midway, but I know what I saw. I know I completed the trip. I know the man got in and out of my car,
06:15and I know he said what he said. You picked the wrong guy up tonight. I've never seen him again,
06:21and I hope I never do, but every time I get a ping in a dimly lit parking lot or have a silent
06:26passenger in the backseat, I remember that night, and I remember that feeling that something terrible
06:31could have happened. That maybe he changed his mind at the last second, or maybe he was never
06:36planning to do anything, just wanted to scare someone. But I still wonder what he meant,
06:41and if he ever found the right car.
06:43This happened in 2021, when I was driving for Uber full-time. I live in a city that gets a lot
06:59of tourists, especially in the summer, so ride-share gigs can be decent money if you're
07:04consistent. I worked mostly nights, partly because I'm a night owl, and partly because it's less traffic
07:10and better tips from drunk passengers coming back from bars. The night this happened, it was around
07:151.30 in the morning, a pretty normal Saturday night crowd. I had just dropped off a group of
07:21college kids who wouldn't stop yelling in the back of my car, so I was glad to get a request
07:25that looked quieter. The name said Chris, and the pickup location was a small side street just off
07:31downtown. The weird thing was, the pin was in kind of an odd area, not near any bars or
07:37apartments, more like near the back lot of an old strip mall. But I figured maybe it was just a bad
07:43GPS marker. It happens sometimes. I drove over and saw a guy standing at the corner, hoodie on,
07:50jeans, staring down at his phone. I pulled up and said, Chris? He nodded and got in the back without
07:57saying much. He didn't smell like alcohol or slur his words. He seemed sober and just really quiet.
08:04He didn't say hello, nor did he answer when I asked how his night was going.
08:09Some people just aren't talkers, so I didn't think much of it. I started the ride, and the drop-off was
08:15on the opposite side of town, 25 minutes away, in the suburban neighborhood I'd been to maybe once
08:20or twice before. The thing was, it was dark out there, like no streetlights in some areas.
08:26Pretty isolated. I noticed about five minutes into the trip that Chris had his phone out,
08:31but he wasn't texting or calling anyone. He was holding it flat in his lap with the flashlight on,
08:37just shining the beam upward, slightly toward my seat. I asked him kind of half-joking,
08:42everything alright back there? He just mumbled, yeah, and then turned the flashlight off.
08:48The next 20 minutes were dead silent, just the hum of the engine and a weird tension building in the
08:53car. I don't know how to describe it, something just felt off about this guy. Not threatening,
08:59but definitely unsettled, like he wasn't really there. We got to the neighborhood, and I followed
09:05the GPS to the house, but as we pulled up, I noticed it was totally dark. No porch light,
09:11no inside lights, nothing. I asked, is this the right place? Chris didn't answer, he just sat there.
09:18I turned around and looked at him. I repeated myself a little louder, saying, hey, is this it?
09:25He stared past me out the window. I repeated myself one more time, and finally he nodded,
09:31so I put the car in park and said, have a good night. He didn't move, he just sat there,
09:37so I asked again, are you good? He finally reached for the handle and stepped out, but he didn't close
09:43the door. He just stood outside the car with the door open, facing the house. I sat there waiting.
09:50A few seconds passed, then 20, and then a full minute. I was just about to say something,
09:56when he suddenly turned around, looked at me through the open door, and said, I need to go back.
10:02I blinked, and said, back where? He said, where you picked me up. His tone was flat, with no emotion.
10:09I didn't know what to say. That was a 25 minute drive, and it wasn't like I could just reverse
10:14the trip. I told him he'd have to request a new ride, but he just stared at me. He begged me,
10:21saying, please, I need to go back. I told him again, you need to request it through the app.
10:27That's when he said something that sent chills up my spine. He said, I can't, they're not gone yet.
10:32My only response could be, who's not gone? He didn't answer. He just stood there,
10:39still holding the door open, and I noticed he was breathing heavily. At that point,
10:44I started getting seriously uncomfortable. I said, look, I can't just start a new ride unless you
10:48request it. He stared for another second, then slowly backed away and closed the door.
10:54He walked toward the house, even though it was pitch black and looked empty.
10:57I waited until he got to the porch before I pulled off. The moment I turned the corner,
11:03I ended the trip in the app and started heading back toward downtown. A couple blocks down,
11:08I stopped at a 24 hour gas station to use the bathroom and get a drink. I parked at the side
11:13of the building, went inside, and came back out maybe four minutes later. And when I got back to
11:18my car, I felt like my brain short circuited. Chris was sitting in the back seat, same hoodie and
11:24same expression. I thought I had locked the doors before going inside, but somehow he was in the
11:29back of the car. I opened the driver's side door and stepped back in slowly, keeping my eye on him
11:35through the mirror. How did you get back in? I asked. He just said, take me back. I said, I'm calling
11:42the cops and reached for my phone. That's when he leaned forward, close enough for me to hear his
11:47breath and said, they're still in the house. I don't know why, but I didn't call the police.
11:54Something about the way he said that made me feel like he was having some kind of episode.
11:58I played along and said, whose house is that? And he said, my parents. I asked him if he lived there
12:05and he said, not anymore. That made the hair stand up on my neck. I started slowly driving back to where
12:12I picked him up. Every part of me was screaming not to do it, but I didn't know what else to do.
12:18As we got closer, he started breathing heavier. He was rocking slightly in the back seat.
12:25At one point, he whispered, they're still there. They won't leave, no matter what I do.
12:31When we pulled up to the house, there were still no lights, still no signs of anyone living there.
12:36He got out without saying anything and then walked up to the front door and stood there.
12:40He didn't knock or anything. He just stood still. I waited maybe 30 seconds, then pulled away again,
12:48making damn sure the doors were locked. I drove three blocks, parked under a streetlight,
12:53and sat there for 10 minutes, trying to process what just happened. I debated calling the cops,
12:59but what would I even say? That a guy got into my car twice and said weird things?
13:04There was no crime technically, as far as I knew, so I just drove home and didn't sleep that night.
13:09The next day, I reported the ride to Uber, and honestly, I regretted not reporting this to
13:15the police, because the man might have been sick in the head needing help. I hope he didn't hurt
13:19anyone. Who knows if that house was even really his parents' house, or if he actually was just
13:24having a manic episode? I'm an 18-year-old girl that lives alone in my apartment with my dog.
13:40I live about 8 miles out of town, so getting food delivered can be a hassle sometimes.
13:45I never thought anything of Uber Eats being bad. You may hear some stories, but never think they
13:50will happen to you. At least, that's what I thought. It was Friday evening. I was cleaning
13:55my apartment, getting ready for my boyfriend to come over. We're long distance, so I only get to
14:00see him on weekends, so I usually try to get it cleaned up before he arrives on Saturday.
14:05I had been cleaning for about two hours, and it was past 6pm, so I was feeling hungry. I didn't want
14:11to dirty any dishes, as I just cleaned them all and cleaned the kitchen. I decided to order food,
14:16so I wouldn't have to make a mess. I ordered my food and got the notification that my driver was
14:21on his way and driving a white Honda Fit Sport. I'm a young girl living on my own, so I have my
14:27delivery instructions set to leave my order at my door for contactless delivery. I was sitting in
14:32my living room, watching TV, when I got the notification that my food was delivered. As soon
14:37as I got that notification, I jumped up, eager to get my food. I was starving. When I opened the door
14:43to grab my food, he wasn't there, so I thought maybe he set it at the wrong door. But looking
14:49down at all the doors, none of them had the food at them. So I went back in, and was going to message
14:54him when I heard a knock at my door. It was my next door neighbor. He was holding my food. He said,
15:02hey, sorry, I picked up your food from your delivery driver because he was looking through your windows,
15:06and I wasn't sure what he was doing. I took the food and thanked him, wondering what the hell just
15:12happened. I went back in, ate my food, and enjoyed a movie when I started to get ready for bed. I took
15:18a shower, then went to turn off my TV and make sure all my doors were locked before going to bed.
15:24I laid down in bed, called my boyfriend, and eventually ended up falling asleep. I woke up a
15:29few times during the night to my dog growling at the window or the back door. My dog isn't a huge,
15:34scary dog. He's a small, five-pound Morkie, but it's still pretty scary when he growls at something
15:39and catches you off guard. I finally got him to calm down and go back to sleep.
15:45It wasn't even fifteen minutes later that I woke up to banging on my window.
15:50My dog started going crazy, barking, growling, and even whimpering. I couldn't move in my bed.
15:56I took the bedsheets and pulled them over my head, just leaving enough to not cover my eyes so I could
16:00see the window. I called the police and whispered into the phone quietly. I explained to the operator
16:06that someone is in my backyard and my window doesn't lock so it can easily be lifted up.
16:11She told me to go to a different room and police would be at my apartment shortly.
16:15I ran to my kitchen and grabbed a knife, just waiting to see blue and red lights or hear sirens.
16:21It felt like forever. I looked out the window of my kitchen and never expected to see what I saw.
16:27The Uber driver's car that delivered my food. His car was sitting across the street from my apartment.
16:33When you open the door to my apartment, there's a large open field to the left that's used for
16:37parking trailers and letting dogs play. He was parked there, but I didn't see anyone in the car.
16:43I put two and two together and thought to myself, he's in my backyard.
16:47The police finally arrived. I could barely even speak. I was shaking and crying.
16:52I explained to one officer what happened while the other went to check out my backyard,
16:56which is where my bedroom window is.
16:58Another officer who arrived went to check his car because it was still in the field,
17:02but he wasn't in his car. The two officers came back and started talking with the officer I was
17:08speaking to, telling her there's footprints in my backyard, which it had just rained the night
17:12before so it was very muddy outside. I started panicking once I heard that, not just because that's
17:18not what you want to hear, but also because where was this guy if he didn't come back arrested with
17:23the cops and wasn't in his car. My neighbor came outside to see what was going on. The officers
17:29explained to him what was happening. Then he spoke about how he picked up my food for me earlier that
17:34day. The neighbor invited me to sleep over at his apartment for the night if it made me feel any
17:38better. Oddly, I passed on the offer, and when all the cops left, I went back into my apartment.
17:45Thinking it was all over, I took a few hours to get comfortable enough to fall asleep,
17:49but at 2am I woke up to banging on my front door and heard, Police. There's no way this is happening
17:55right now, I thought to myself. I got up and went to my front door, scared to open it. It was the
18:01woman I spoke to earlier. She explained they stayed at my apartment, hidden to watch for that guy,
18:06in case he showed back up, and he did. They caught him walking up to my front door, thinking he was
18:12going to try to find a way in. My heart fell to my stomach when I heard her say that. She then
18:17explained he was arrested, and I don't have to worry about him anymore. I thanked her, and went back
18:22to try and sleep. Unfortunately, I couldn't fall asleep this time. I also don't use Uber Eats anymore
18:28when I'm home alone.
18:29I was 26 at the time, and I'm male. I was in Washington D.C. on a sort of vacation visiting
18:44my then-fiancée. I'll call her Sarah for the sake of the story. I was visiting for a graduation she
18:50was having for her basic training. It was a big deal for her family, and she asked me to be there for it,
18:55so I said why not, and booked a flight to be there. I'd be arriving about a week before the rest of her
19:00family so she and I could have some time, just the two of us, before she would be busy with having all
19:04of her family there for the occasion. She stayed with me at my hotel during this time, and eventually,
19:10we decided we wanted to go and explore some of the nearby historical sites that Washington had to
19:14offer. I'd never been there, of course, so the idea piqued my interest, and we decided to do it.
19:20Once we arrived at our location, we spent about four hours walking around and seeing all the sites.
19:25From the Lincoln Memorial, to the Washington Monument, the Congress Building, and even the
19:29White House. It really was a fun and exciting experience for myself to see all these places,
19:34as I had missed out on going on a school trip in high school to visit them.
19:38Sarah at the time seemed to appreciate my interest in them as well, and we really enjoyed ourselves.
19:44After we finally decided we had enough walking around and were ready to return to the hotel,
19:48we used the Uber app to call for a ride. We had used it earlier to arrive and had no issues,
19:53so we decided to just use it again for the ride back. Sarah made the request on her phone while
19:58I sat down under some shade and waited. I was pretty tired from all the walking we did,
20:03and I could feel my body just ready to get back to the hotel for a long needed nap.
20:08Eventually, after about ten minutes of waiting, a car pulled up in front of us along the side of the
20:12road. Sarah motioned for me that this was the car, as the place they stopped at was not a parking
20:17spot or a place a car would just stop at on its own. I stood up and followed her to the car where
20:22she opened the back door and stepped inside asking the man, Uber for Sarah, and he gave a slight nod
20:27without saying anything, so I followed her into the car and shut the door behind me. Now looking back
20:33on this, I realized how stupid both her and myself were in doing this. We should have asked for the
20:38driver's name and verified the car was a match to the one on the app. I didn't have access to any of
20:43this myself, and she made the request on her phone, so it didn't really cross my mind at the time to
20:48do any of this. As we both sat in the back of the car, which was a grey-colored minivan, the driver
20:54didn't speak to us. I found this a bit odd, as any other driver I'd ever had would at the very least
21:00greet me once I entered or confirmed my name, but this guy? Nothing. He started driving without
21:06acknowledging either of us, other than the nod he gave when Sarah asked him if he was our Uber,
21:11and I did pick up on how weird it was, but I was tired and didn't really feel like trying to engage
21:16with a man myself. I laid my head back and just closed my eyes. I then felt a tap on my arm from
21:22Sarah after what felt like only five minutes of the drive. I opened my eyes and looked at her,
21:28and she didn't speak to me. I could see the look on her face was one of worry, and it had me wondering
21:33what exactly she was concerned about. She then pointed to her phone, which was showing the route the Uber
21:38would take to drive us back to our hotel. It didn't take me long to realize that the way we
21:43were going was not the way the route had said. In fact, it was the opposite way. I could see Sarah's
21:49face drain with color shortly after, when a notification popped up on her phone saying our
21:54Uber had arrived, followed by a message from the driver asking where we were. My heart sank into the
21:59pit of my stomach. It was then I realized how dumb I was by not verifying the car and driver before
22:05we just both stepped in. The picture that was on Sarah's phone within the app did not match the
22:10driver, and I knew we had gotten ourselves into a situation. I slowly looked back towards the driver,
22:16but I didn't say anything. I didn't know what this man's intentions were, or what he was capable of,
22:21and honestly I didn't want to find out. I just knew at that moment I had to get both Sarah and I out of
22:27that car. I leaned forward and told the man that we had changed our minds and would be fine just being
22:32let out where we were in an attempt to get us out of the situation without alarming the man of what
22:36we knew. He glanced at me through the rearview mirror in the first actual acknowledgement of us
22:41he had given since we stepped into the vehicle. I caught his glance as he stared at me without
22:46saying a word in what felt like minutes but was probably only ten seconds. He didn't stop the car
22:52though, he didn't even say a word in response to me, and just kept driving the car as if nothing had
22:56been said. My patience had run out and I knew whatever this man had in store for us wasn't
23:02good. I then did the only thing I could think of at that moment and reached into my pocket pulling
23:06out my pocket knife. I flipped the blade out and without wasting another second I told the driver,
23:12I know you're not our Uber driver, I don't know what your plan is here or what you think you're
23:16about to do to us, but I have a knife and if you don't pull this car over right now I have no
23:20problem using it. The driver's eyes quickly looked at me again within the rearview mirror and I knew he
23:25could see the knife gripped tightly in my hand. He quickly pulled the van over and I heard the doors
23:30unlock. Sarah and I wasted no time in getting out of that car as fast as we could. The moment we were
23:36both out the man sped off. We quickly took a moment to gather ourselves as Sarah was having a panic
23:41attack and I myself was still wrapping my head around what the hell just happened. Sarah quickly
23:46pulled out her phone and responded to our actual Uber driver and informed him of our location and asked
23:51if he could come pick us up. The actual driver arrived within a few minutes and this time we
23:56made sure it was the right one. We told him everything that had happened and it was then
24:01that he informed us something that made the blood in my veins go cold. He told us there had been
24:06multiple instances recently where people were posing as Uber drivers in the area as it was an easy way to
24:11find many tourists and people not from the area that wouldn't think twice about just getting into a car
24:16thinking it was a Lyft or Uber. Apparently many people had gone missing and they could only assume
24:21the worst. He told us both we were lucky we noticed when we did and hadn't gotten further away from where
24:26we had been picked up which was probably the only reason the man let us go and of course the fact that
24:30I was armed. We made it back to the hotel without issue and we quickly reported it to the police.
24:37We gave the best description of the man and the car that we both could and the police told us they'd
24:41call us with any information they could find. We never heard back from them so I assumed the man
24:46was never caught or found and that worries me that he could still be out there doing this to others.
24:51Again, I realized how stupid we both were after all this, not verifying whose car it was we were
24:57getting into. But let this be a reminder to everyone listening, do just that. Always verify
25:02your Uber drivers and always make sure you're aware of your surroundings.
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