- 9 months ago
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00:00this story happened like 10 years ago i grew up in a smallish house for the majority of my
00:16childhood i shared a bedroom with my older brother two twin beds on opposite sides of the room two
00:22dressers and two closets we didn't even have enough room for a desk it wasn't cramped but
00:28wasn't exactly comfortable either so when my brother went away to college i immediately moved
00:33his bed out of the room and commandeered the space so to speak with his permission of course
00:39i was finally at the age where a bedroom desk was a necessity so it was nice not having to do
00:43homework in the basement or upstairs in my dad's office that arrangement worked seamlessly for the
00:49two years before i myself went off to college at which point i wasn't living at home anymore so it
00:54didn't matter after graduating my brother got a city job in our hometown area so we ended up moving
01:00back into my parents house and the first thing he does you guessed it re-seize our bedroom that i had
01:06spent months of expended effort redesigning i was a little irritated at first but my parents
01:12contextualized it by saying i had basically done the same thing to him so it was only fair i couldn't
01:18argue with that so i just accepted it by the time i graduated i had also found a city job so i opted
01:25to move back into my parents house just like my brother had unfortunately i didn't have a room anymore
01:31so i'd have to make other arrangements the only other unused room in the house was our upstairs
01:36guest bedroom so even though it was half the size of my old room it would have to do the trick
01:42the guest room was right next to my dad's office which was the only other room on that floor
01:47it was also directly above the garage which meant every time someone clicked the garage door button
01:52the whole floor would vibrate for the full 10 seconds it took the door to open the room kind
01:56of overhangs the house slightly since it's on the corner so there were two windows on intersecting
02:01walls one overlooking the driveway and one overlooking one of the sides of the house it wasn't ideal
02:08but it was private and quiet most of the time this particular incident happened on a friday evening
02:13when i was home alone my brother was in baltimore for some work-related conference and my parents
02:19were spending the night at our family shore house like they did most summer weekends i was coming
02:24off an absolutely grueling day at work so i decided not to go out with any of my friends or even leave
02:29the house i just wanted to order some food and call it an early night it was around 11 30 and i was
02:36lying in bed reading a book trying to unwind from the day the house was completely quiet which was kind
02:42of nice since it's usually pretty chaotic when everyone's home that's when i heard the unmistakable
02:47sound of the garage door starting to rise followed by that all too familiar vibrating of the floor that
02:52i'd gotten used to over the past few months it took a few seconds for it to really hit me none of my
02:59family members should have been home my parents had specifically said that they were staying at the
03:03shore house until sunday night and my brother wasn't supposed to be back until saturday afternoon
03:08it took several seconds for that realization to fully sink in but when it did my heart started
03:14racing i immediately jumped out of bed and looked out the window toward the driveway but it was too
03:19dark to make out anything clearly i could see that the garage door was open but i couldn't tell if
03:24there was a car inside or who might have opened it without another thought i rummaged through the
03:29closet until i found one of the baseball bats my parents had thrown in there for my younger days
03:33as i was quietly walking down the stairs i tried convincing myself that there was a logical
03:39explanation for the garage door opening maybe my parents had forgotten something and driven back
03:45maybe my brother's plans changed hell maybe the door had glitched and opened on its own
03:50when i got to the bottom of the stairs right before turning the corner toward the main part of the
03:55house i could hear faint voices the voices were definitely coming from the other side of the house
04:00where all the bedrooms were they were too quiet for me to make out what they were saying but i could
04:05tell that there were at least two people talking that's when i knew for certain that someone had
04:10broken into our house i pulled out my phone and dialed 911 whispering my address and telling the
04:16operator that my house was currently being burglarized i left the call live and put the phone back in my
04:22pocket like they tell you to the operator told me to stay put and not to announce my presence but i felt
04:28this overwhelming urge to defend my house it was like i was being compelled by some invisible force
04:34to do something rather than just hide and wait so against the operator's instruction i decided that's
04:39exactly what i was going to do i crept down the hallway toward the voices clutching the baseball bat as
04:45tightly as i could as i got closer to my parents bedroom i could hear the sounds of drawers being opened
04:51and things being moved around they were clearly searching for something valuable i took a deep breath
04:57knowing that what i was about to do was probably stupid but unable to stop myself i started yelling
05:04as loudly as i could to catch them off guard then charged into the room with the baseball bat raised
05:08above my head there were two men rummaging through my mother's closet and they both yelled out in shock
05:14when i burst through the door i could tell they hadn't expected anyone to be home let alone someone
05:19willing to fight back that gave me confidence despite the fact that i was outnumbered and they could
05:24have easily had weapons of their own i swung the bat at the closer of the two men connecting with his
05:30leg he cursed and hobbled a few steps before falling over i turned to the other one but before i could
05:36get a clean swing at him he dropped his shoulder and tackled me before i could react the two of us
05:41hit the ground hard and i immediately realized that this guy was significantly larger and stronger than me
05:48he wrestled the bat out of my hands without much effort then got his hands around my throat and
05:52started choking me i was fighting for my life clawing at his hands and trying to get him off of me
05:58when i saw the first guy crawling towards us he had something in his hand that looked like a knife
06:04and in that moment i realized i'd made a grave mistake by trying to play hero a mistake that was
06:09going to cost me my life i genuinely thought those might be the final moments of my life i started
06:15accepting that i was going to die in my parents bedroom and all i could think about was how devastated my
06:20mom would be when she found out but then in the background i heard the faint sound of police
06:25sirens approaching the last thing i remember is the second guy picking up my baseball bat and swinging
06:31it at my head everything went black after that when i woke up someone was shaking me gently
06:38i opened my eyes to see a police officer kneeling beside me asking if i was okay i was dazed and
06:44confused and it took me several seconds to remember what had happened i looked around the room and saw
06:50that the door connecting my parents bedroom to the backyard was wide open the intruders had clearly
06:55knocked me out and fled through the back when they heard the sirens the officer told me to stay put and
07:00not to move too much in case i was concussed or had other injuries i had a raging headache but i was
07:07conscious and coherent which seemed like a good sign once the paramedics confirmed that i was okay i
07:13refused to go to the hospital despite their recommendations i gave the officers a detailed
07:18account of what happened they told me they were currently searching the neighborhood for suspects
07:23but by the time they'd arrived the men were already long gone after the police finished their
07:28investigation and took some photos of the scene i called my parents and brother to let them know what
07:33had happened my parents yelled at me pretty harshly for being stupid enough to confront those guys
07:39and i deserved it had i just done the smart thing and hid there's a good chance the police would have
07:44been able to apprehend the perps the men were never found despite the police canvassing the neighborhood
07:50and following up on a few leads my parents installed the comprehensive security system the moment they
07:56got back from the shore house complete with cameras motion sensors lights the whole nine the days after
08:02the break-in something kept bothering me about the whole situation all the doors to my house were locked
08:08that night and the only way to open the garage door was through a little button in my car that my dad
08:13had programmed to be a wireless switch there was no way anyone would just stumble upon it whoever had
08:19broken in that night had known me or my family well enough to know where that button was up until that
08:24moment i never locked my car when it was in the driveway either so that's something the culprits would
08:29have had to know as well even more concerning was the timing they somehow knew that my parents would be
08:35away for the weekend that my brother was out of town i don't live in that house anymore but my parents
08:40were never able to determine who had broken in it was actually something that made my dad really
08:45paranoid for a long time since he too thought that whoever had broken in was close to the family in some
08:50way i'm not going to go as far as to say that night changed me forever or anything cliche like that
08:56but i will say one thing life before and after you've accepted you're gonna die are two very different things
09:02i can still remember that feeling of thinking it was the end for me it just felt so dissociating
09:10nothing can replicate that feeling
09:22this happened about six months ago and i'm still shaken up by how calculated and personal the whole
09:28thing was i had recently moved back to my hometown to help care for my aging mother who lives about 20
09:34minutes away from me i found this small duplex that was perfect for my situation close enough to get to
09:40her quickly if needed but far enough that i still had my own space and independence my mom has been
09:46having some health issues lately nothing life-threatening but she's had a few minor falls around the house
09:52and she's stubborn about accepting help i'd been trying to convince her to get one of those medical
09:57alert systems but she insists she doesn't need one and that i'm just being overprotective
10:02it's been a constant source of stress for me especially knowing that she's alone most of the time
10:08on this particular evening i was just settling in for the night it was around 9 pm and i was on the
10:13couch watching tv when my phone rang the caller id showed a local number that i didn't recognize
10:19but since i was still relatively new to the area i figured it might be important and answered
10:25the woman on the other end identified herself as a nurse at a local emergency room she said
10:30my mother had been brought in about an hour ago after taking a fall and hitting her head
10:34according to her my mom was conscious but asking for me and they wanted to know if i could get to the
10:39hospital quickly i was horrified this was exactly the kind of call i'd been dreading since moving back
10:45i didn't doubt the legitimacy of the call for one second the woman on the other end knew my mother's
10:51full name her address and even mentioned her recent hip replacement surgery from a few months ago
10:57i immediately stopped what i was doing trying to keep calm and level myself by saying a silent prayer
11:02i didn't even think about locking up the house i just grabbed my keys pulled the front door shut
11:07behind me and raced to my car the drive to the hospital was a nightmare i kept running through
11:12scenarios in my head and only a few of them were remotely good when i got to the er i rushed up
11:18to the reception desk and told them i was there for my mother i gave them her name and said i'd
11:23received a call about her fall the nurse looked confused and checked her computer then told me there
11:28was no record of anyone by that name being admitted or treated that evening i insisted there had to be
11:34some mistake since i had just gotten a call from someone claiming to be a nurse there
11:39the receptionist was sympathetic but firm they had no record of my mother being brought in and
11:44they suggested i try calling her directly to make sure she was okay so that's what i did i stepped
11:50outside and called my mom's landline and she answered she said she'd been sleeping and wanted to know why i
11:56was calling so late i didn't want to scare her so i just said i was checking up on her and told her to
12:01go back to bed and that's when the heart-sinking realization hit me this had been a setup someone had
12:07deliberately given me false information to get me out of my house i jumped back in my car furious
12:12that i'd been tricked so easily when i pulled into my driveway the front door was still closed just
12:18like i'd left it for a moment i thought maybe i was being paranoid and nothing had happened but the
12:23moment i stepped inside i knew i'd been robbed the house had been completely ransacked my tv was gone
12:30along with my laptop and small jewelry collection i kept in my bedroom but as i looked around more
12:35carefully i realized the thieves had taken some really strange things too family photos had been
12:41removed from their frames not the frames themselves just the actual photos my prescription bottles from
12:48the bathroom medicine cabinet had been emptied and taken it was insane they had taken things that had
12:53relatively little monetary value yet huge sentimental value to me it was sadistic i'm telling you
13:00there's no reason a thief would ever take family photos there just isn't i called the police immediately
13:06but i was already feeling defeated at that point deep down i knew the thieves were long gone and there
13:12was nothing i could do about it i told the police everything i remembered the phone call verbatim and
13:18after hearing it the police reached the same conclusion i had whoever had been on the other end had known
13:24things about my mother and i that no stranger could possibly know for the life of me i couldn't even
13:30come up with a list of people who would have that information or even ways that someone could have
13:34gotten that information in the first place the officers told me to feel free to call back whenever
13:39i had something concrete then they left i was utterly baffled just imagine how unsettled you'd feel if
13:46some stranger knew enough about you to lure you out of your house the theft itself was bad enough but the
13:52fact that they targeted family photos and medical information suggested it wasn't just about quick
13:57cash i couldn't shake the feeling that they were planning something longer term possibly identity
14:03theft or some other scheme that required personal documentation but over the next few weeks nothing
14:09else happened even though my mother quote can't remember who she might have talked to about her
14:14personal info i'm pretty confident that she's the source of the leak she surprisingly has a lot of
14:19friends for a woman her age and knowing her she probably said too much to the wrong person i've
14:25warned my mother about that very thing and she's finally agreed to be more careful about who she gives
14:30personal information to but i can't shake the feeling that we're still being watched by someone who knows
14:34way too much about our lives and isn't finished with whatever they're planning either way i recently got
14:41a ring camera so hopefully that's enough of a deterrent if anything else happens i'll send an update
14:49i'm a single guy in my early 30s and i've been living alone in this rented house for over a year
15:02now it's nice little place in a quiet neighborhood nothing fancy but it's comfortable and the rent is
15:08reasonable i've gotten into a good routine here and really feel like i'd made it my home
15:13the incident happened on a thursday night around half past 11. i was getting ready for bed when i heard
15:19aggressive pounding on my front door not knocking but actual pounding like someone was trying to
15:24break it down i looked out the window but couldn't see much because of how poorly the porch light is
15:30positioned despite not being able to see who it was and the aggressiveness of the knocking
15:35i'm a pretty buff guy so i wasn't scared or anything more so irritated and confused i opened the front
15:42door careful to keep the screen door shut as an added layer of protection i'm not sure what i was
15:47expecting to see but what i did see was surprising to say the least there was this extremely agitated
15:53man standing there he looked to be maybe a few years older than me he was average height had disheveled
15:59hair and was wearing clothes that looked like they had been slept in multiple nights in a row
16:04but what really caught my attention was how angry and unstable he seemed his eyes were darting around
16:10and he was breathing heavily like he'd been running or was having some kind of panic attack
16:15he was also pacing around like he couldn't keep his feet on the ground before i could even ask what
16:20he wanted he started yelling that this was his house and demanding that i let him in he said i was
16:26trespassing and that he was going to call the police if i didn't get out immediately i thought he was
16:31either on drugs or having some kind of mental health crisis or maybe a combination of the two
16:37i tried to calm him down and explain that he had the wrong house but he became even more agitated
16:42that's when he started rattling off details about the house that made me freeze up
16:47i don't even remember everything he said but he knew several things about the house that you
16:51couldn't observe from outside it details that only someone who had actually lived there would know
16:56like for example he knew that the door for the master bedroom is poorly designed and bangs into the
17:00toilet he knew that the back door sticks and you have to lift it slightly while turning the doorknob
17:06there was some other stuff too but i really can't remember it all i don't think i even said anything
17:11while he was talking i was just standing there in shock but that was only the beginning it was about
17:16to get much much weirder through the screen door he pulled out a folder and started showing me
17:22documentation he had what appeared to be a lease agreement with his name on it dated from about
17:28six months before i'd moved in he had pieces of mail addressed to him at this address everything
17:33looked official though i suspected it had been forged somehow but the most unsettling part was
17:39when he pulled out his phone and started showing me photos they were literal pictures of him inside my
17:45house sitting on my current couch watching tv cooking in the kitchen even lying down in what was
17:51now my bedroom the photos looked recent and completely legitimate they weren't obviously
17:56photoshopped or staged and most of them weren't solo they had other people in them all of whom i'd never
18:02seen before he showed me one photo that he claimed was from this past fourth of july just a few months
18:08ago it was a selfie taken by a woman i didn't recognize in it the woman him and a few other people were
18:15facing the camera and smiling at the kitchen table there was a box of fireworks off to the side
18:21and the detail and context of the picture made it look completely authentic that's when i genuinely
18:26started questioning my own memory and sanity how could this person have all this evidence if they
18:32never lived here i started wondering if i somehow blocked out memories of sharing the house with
18:37someone and if i was the one having some kind of psychological breakdown it was freaky especially
18:42since i knew for a fact that i had been home on the fourth of july so the pictures made even less
18:47sense the whole situation was so surreal that i told them i was going to call the police to sort
18:52everything out not even in an antagonistic way i just didn't know what else to do i figured they
18:58could check the records and determine what was going on but the moment i mentioned calling the cops
19:03the guy's demeanor changed completely he suddenly became very calm and said he'd wait outside while
19:08i made the call then he just walked away from the door and disappeared into the darkness
19:13i watched from the window but i couldn't see where he went when the police arrived about 10 minutes
19:19later i explained the whole bizarre situation they told me i should try reaching out to my landlord to
19:25get in contact with the previous tenants and that i might get some answers that way i had all the
19:30required documentation proving i was renting this house but when i offered to show it to them they
19:34waved it off they said whoever had been on my doorstep was probably just going through a mental episode
19:40and as long as they were gone i should just carry on with my life then they left i wasn't just going
19:46to sit there and be satisfied with that though whether or not that guy had left still left the
19:50question of how in the world he had all that evidence with my landlord's help i was eventually
19:56able to get in contact with the previous tenants i should mention that my landlord had no idea what
20:01had happened either and said he didn't know anyone matching that guy's description and had never
20:05rented to anyone like that but anyway the old tenants also had no idea who i was talking about
20:12they said they'd never lived with anyone matching his description and they'd lived in the house alone
20:16for three years before moving out they were just as confused as i was about how this stranger could
20:21have such detailed knowledge of the house and apparently legitimate photos of himself inside of it
20:27for the next two weeks i was constantly on edge but nothing happened and i started to think that
20:32maybe it had just been some elaborate scam that had failed but of course that turned out to be
20:37mostly wishful thinking one night i came home from a night on the town with my friends to find my house
20:44completely ransacked it wasn't like a typical burglary where someone grabs obvious valuables and runs
20:50the place was completely turned upside down like someone had been looking for something specific
20:55what that thing was i had no idea the craziest part is that most of my electronics and other valuable
21:01items were still there despite the fact that the rooms they were in were completely trashed the police
21:06found no signs of forced entry which suggested that whoever did it had a copy of my key given the
21:12timing and connection to the strange incident two weeks earlier it seemed obvious that the same person
21:17was responsible the police took things more seriously after that so did my landlord he replaced all the
21:24locks in the house immediately and free of charge and also installed additional security measures
21:30the going theory and the one i believe is that some crazy person really does believe he lives in my
21:35house and broke in to look for his personal belongings or something and okay sure that's problematic
21:41enough on its own but that does absolutely nothing to explain how he had all that documentation
21:46let alone literal copies of my house key i wish i had the sense to take a closer look at that so-called
21:52lease agreement he had shown me because i might have been able to get his name but in the moment i just
21:57wasn't thinking clearly the documents don't even bother me that much all that stuff could have been
22:02easily forged or altered including the alleged pieces of mail what freaks me out to my core though
22:08are the pictures i have no explanation for any of that stuff it's possible they're really old pictures
22:14whose dates are doctored but even if that's the case it still doesn't explain how my landlord who's owned
22:20that house his entire life didn't recognize him one of my friends suggested that i'm up against
22:25something not fully natural i don't believe in that kind of stuff but i will say that i've had this
22:31constant creepy feeling hanging over me whenever i'm in my own home which is most of the time
22:36i can't even begin to rationalize the whole thing i just hope that's the end of it
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