Transcription
[Music] I grew up in a small town in West Virginia. I won't share the name of the college I attended, but it was a small university in a little town about 15 minutes from where I grew up. I was a freshman in 2021, and COVID was still an important factor in my college experience.
One of the biggest impacts was on the dorms. Most students didn't stay on campus due to COVID, so they rented apartments nearby. I was poor and didn't have that luxury. So, I stayed on campus and drove home for the weekend since I lived so close. Still, I wanted the full college experience in the dorms.
On my first day, I met my roommate. We had chatted a little over text because the school had given her my phone number so we could get to know each other, which I thought was a little strange. She messaged me first and seemed nice. Meeting her in person, she was still nice, but didn't say much. She carried a privileged attitude. One time while talking, she said, "Everyone has their own rooms due to a lack of students. I did last semester and now until you joined." I was a little taken aback and didn't know what to say, so I just changed the topic and continued the conversation.
I told her I lived nearby and that I'd leave for the weekend on Friday and be back on Monday morning at 6:00. She didn't say much during the weekdays. She mostly stayed with her boyfriend in his dorm room.
Now for the creepy part. The first Friday, I packed my bag for the weekend and left. I came back Monday morning at 6:00, just like I said I would. I didn't have class until 10:00, so I went back to sleep. I had a thick memory foam mattress and after lying down for about 10 minutes, I felt the edge of the bed indent. I didn't move. I waited a minute, barely processing what was happening because I was so tired. Then the mattress went back up. That's when it hit me. Someone had leaned on my bed. I turned around and saw her facing the wall, presumably sleeping. So, I went back to sleep.
The next weekend, I left again and returned at the same time. Again, I wanted more sleep. Moments after lying down, I felt the mattress indent again. But this time, it wasn't just the edge. The whole side sagged and someone was sitting next to me. I didn't move. I lay there frozen. And then I heard them get up. My bed was very high. In fact, I needed a step stool to climb onto it. And I heard them jump off. I held my breath, then looked over. She was again lying on her bed facing the wall. I didn't know what to think. Was I hallucinating from the lack of sleep? Was it sleep paralysis? It couldn't be. I could still move. Could someone have gotten into my room? Impossible. We were the only ones with keys. I decided I must be extremely tired and just imagining things. So, I went back to sleep.
When Monday came around, I was really nervous. I walked in and saw her lying down facing my bed. She was asleep, so I climbed into bed and tried to sleep as well. 5 minutes later, I felt my bed indent again. I squeezed my eyes shut, felt someone sit next to me, and braced myself to turn around. Then I felt a hand on the back of my neck. My heart sank. I thought I was going to pass out. I didn't move a muscle. They didn't squeeze. They just held my neck. What felt like hours later, I felt them finally get off my bed. I still didn't move. I stayed frozen for a few more moments, terrified, then turned around. She was facing the wall, sleeping, but I didn't care. I left the room immediately and called my mom. I didn't go to class. I told my mom everything and she reported it to the school. I was allowed to switch rooms, thank God. They asked if I wanted to involve the police, but I said no. There wasn't actual proof she had done anything. I just asked them not to give her another roommate.
After unpacking in my new room, I remembered a few things. She had once told me that she had a previous roommate who didn't stay long, but she never said why. I also remembered one day she opened a locked drawer containing about 10 bottles of prescription medicine. She said it was for a skin issue. I wondered if that was true. Maybe she had another disorder or scary side effects from the medication.
A few days later, I realized I had left a book and binder in her room. I didn't care much about the book, but she messaged me asking me to come get it. I told her I needed to focus on school in my new room, but agreed to retrieve my things to avoid suspicion. My key still worked, so I went in. She wasn't there, and I sighed in relief. I grabbed my belongings and turned to leave. As I turned, she was standing in the doorway. I hadn't heard her unlock it. I smiled, trying to stay calm. She didn't say anything at first. I walked past her to leave. Then she asked, "Where's your new room?" I told her it was on the first floor. She asked which hall and I lied. She asked what it was near, the stairs, the front, the office, etc. I said I didn't remember, but she kept pressing. I lied again, saying it was near the stairs. I turned around and left, never seeing her again.
I thought about telling her boyfriend, but I was too scared. I still think about it. Was I dreaming, hallucinating? I don't think so, but it couldn't have been anyone else. Only we had keys. Maybe she was sleepwalking as a side effect of her medication. Or maybe she was planning something sinister. My mom thinks she was testing how close she could get to me before I woke up. And that one morning she might have actually tried to choke me. I don't know. It's in the past now. And I hope she never had another roommate again.
[Music] This incident occurred during my time at university. I attended the University of Huddersfield from 2021 to 2023. It's not exactly known for its nightlife, so a lot of students end up spending late nights on campus, especially in the library or the academic buildings that stay open 24/7. I've never been the type to stay out late myself, but this happened during my last year when I had no choice. I was taking an advanced statistics class, and our professor was notorious for loading us with massive assignments. The due date for one of the biggest projects was approaching and I hadn't made as much progress as I should have. My laptop had been giving me issues, so I decided to use the computers in the business building.
The business building is a little isolated from the rest of the campus. It's three stories tall, kind of old, and it always had this weird sterile silence to it, especially at night. But the computer lab on the second floor was usually pretty empty after 9:00 p.m., so I figured it would be the best place to focus. That night, I got there around 10:00. The campus was already dead quiet, and when I stepped inside, I noticed right away how much colder it felt than outside. I swiped my student ID, heard the beep, and the door unlocked. The whole place had an overwhelming odor of cleaning chemicals, which meant that I wouldn't bump into any of the cleaning staff as they had already done their rounds in this building. I went straight to the computer lab, booted up one of the computers, and started working. For a while, it wasn't bad. The hum of the computer and the tapping of my keyboard filled the silence. I kept glancing at the clock in the corner of the screen, reminding myself that I'd leave before 1:00 a.m.
But around 11:30, something weird happened. I was scrolling through some data when I heard the sound of a door slamming shut somewhere down the hallway. Not the front entrance. It came from further inside the building. At first, I brushed it off. Maybe it was just the air system or the janitor. But then I remembered the janitors had already come through and by now they'd be long gone. I tried to ignore it and kept working. But then came footsteps. Slow, heavy footsteps echoing from the hallway outside the lab. They weren't rushed and they weren't faint. Whoever it was, they were walking like they wanted to be heard. I froze in my chair, staring at the computer screen, hoping they just passed by. But instead, the steps stopped right outside the lab door. I could see through the little window in the door if I leaned back, but I couldn't bring myself to look. I just sat there holding my breath.
After maybe 10 seconds, I heard the door handle being rattled. It wasn't like someone casually testing it. It was someone deliberately trying to scare me. Like whoever it was wanted to open it but couldn't. My heart started pounding. The lab doors locked automatically after a certain time. So I knew they shouldn't be able to just walk in, but the way they kept rattling the handle made me feel sick. After maybe 30 seconds of this, the sound stopped. The footsteps started again, slowly moving down the hall until they faded away. I sat there in silence, debating whether I should just pack up and leave. But my project was due the next morning, and a part of me thought that maybe it was just another student messing around. I tried convincing myself of that and went back to typing.
But not even 10 minutes later, I heard it again. Footsteps. Only this time, they weren't coming from the hallway. They were above me. The ceiling in that building has those thin panels, and you can sometimes hear the pipes when the heat kicks on. But this wasn't pipes. This was the distinct sound of someone crawling or dragging themselves directly above the tiles. I stared up, terrified as to what I would see. I could see one of the tiles shift slightly, just enough to know that weight was pressing down on it. Then came this slow creak, like someone carefully lowering themselves, trying not to be heard. I had enough at this point. I yanked out my flash drive, shoved my notebook into my backpack, and sprinted towards the door.
The second I stepped into the hallway, it was like I'd walked into a different world. The hall was dimly lit by those buzzing fluorescent lights, and all I could hear was the sound of my sneakers squeaking against the tiles. I walked fast, trying not to outright run. I got to the stairwell, shoved the door open, and started down. That's when I made the mistake of looking up. On the landing above me, just one floor up, there was a man. He wasn't a student, nor was he a professor. He looked out of place, like his clothes were baggy and torn. His face half shadowed, but I could see his mouth was hanging open like he was grinning really wide. He didn't move. He just stood there staring down at me. I bolted. I flew down the stairs so fast I almost tripped. I slammed through the first floor door and I sprinted for the front entrance. My ID card barely registered fast enough to unlock it, but once it clicked, I shoved it open and ran across campus without looking back. I didn't stop until I was inside my dorm with my door locked behind me and my back pressed against the door as I tried to catch my breath.
The next morning, I went back only because I had to turn in the projects. When I walked into the business building during daylight, it felt like a completely different place. But I noticed something that made my stomach drop. I saw one of the ceiling tiles was missing. The one directly above from where I had been working along with the one from the corner, which is the tile I saw moving. It was as though someone had been watching me work, then proceeded to rattle the door handle to deliberately mess with me. And when they found the door to be locked, they proceeded to climb back up into the ceiling and enter from there. I dread to think what his intention was if he entered the lab before I ran. I think it's safe to say I'm going to buy a new laptop and in the future complete my assignments from the comfort of my own dorm.
[Music] My name is Annabelle. I'm 20 years old from the UK. And this happened to me in high school, which is what we call college here in the UK. This was when I was 16. I'm about to tell you about the scariest day of my life. Sounds dramatic, I know, but you'll see why.
So, for context, my school had these lanyards with ID cards on them. And although anyone can walk into the building, you can only go beyond the foyer if you scan one of these IDs on a screen, which opens the door into the school. The IDs have your face and name on them, but a lot of kids flip them around so you can't see their picture. You also need this to open up pretty much every door in the school other than for classrooms. Also, this was a fairly newly built school. It was really small, but looked bigger because the building was pretty large. A third of the building was a special school for kids with learning disabilities. Another third of it was a nursery, and the last third of it was the actual high school. I had just started at this high school, and I vividly remember everyone being told on the first day to make sure not to let anyone in the school that we didn't know.
The day that this incident happened, it was the second week of school, but this was actually only my second full day there as I'd been feeling sick all week. I had geography class all day, and it was about halfway through the day when this takes place, about 20 minutes after lunch period. I remember drinking a heckload of juice that I got from the cafeteria at lunch because I had to finish it all before lunch period ended since we're not allowed drinks out in class, and I had nowhere to put it without it spilling over. So, 20 minutes later and yeah, I really needed to use the bathroom. I asked my teacher if I could go quickly and we're not usually allowed to go to the bathroom during class anyway, so he was pretty annoyed about this since we only just had break, but he could see I really needed to go, so he reluctantly agreed. This is significant because at this point, nobody else would really be walking around the school. I never even really saw teachers walking around often during class hours.
I left the class and let myself through a set of double doors into the cafeteria. And keep in mind, there was nobody in there at this point. I carried on walking into another large room with a second set of classrooms, used the bathroom, and let myself back into the cafeteria again to head back to my classroom. When I let myself back through the doors to the cafeteria, though, there was a man sitting at one of the tables. It wasn't weird for someone to be in there. Like I said, people aren't usually walking around during class hours, but they still do. I mean, I was too at that time. I didn't know who it was that was sitting there. He was too old to be a student, so I assumed it was either a teacher or a parent, and I just continued walking. But then he said, "Hey." And I let out a squeal because I'm quite a nervous, jumpy person anyway, and I wasn't expecting him to speak to me. I was pretty embarrassed, but he laughed and said, "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."
This is when I realized he actually had a lanyard on. So, at this point, I was assuming he was a teacher. What I realized though when I look back on this is that even though he had his lanyard on with the ID, the ID part was flipped over so that the side with your face and name on it was facing the back side of the card holder that's attached to the lanyard. Like I said earlier, kids would do that all the time at the school. The scanner would still work, so it wasn't a big deal, but definitely weird for a teacher to do. I didn't really pay attention to this detail at the time, though. "I need some help getting some work things out of my car. Do you mind coming out with me for just a sec?" he asked me. I didn't hesitate to reply with, "Yeah, of course." Because again, I just assumed this was a teacher.
We walked out of the cafeteria in silence and into the foyer and then out of the building. And I kind of noticed he seemed a bit nervous, like teachers usually make small talk with you when you're walking somewhere with them. And he was saying nothing. And also he was moving his hands a lot. Like at one point he had his hands in his pockets and then he'd take them out and kind of hold his hands together. I'm really shy and not too good in social situations. So I didn't make any attempts at small talk either. With the layout of the front of the school after we left the building, you've got about 50 or so meters, which is about 55 yards to the car park, which you can't see until you're right next to it because there's a bunch of bushes which obscure it. If you walk straight on without turning into the car park, you'll be off the school property. So, we were walking to the car park in silence and then he suddenly says, "Yeah, my work stuff is in the boot. That's what we call the trunk of a car in the UK." He said, "I have a few bags, so I just need you to help me carry a couple into the school." I said, "Yeah, that's fine."
We got to the car park and he said, "My car is the blue one down at the end." And as we got a few meters from it, I could kind of see something in the back seat. And as we were getting closer to it, I realized there were at least two men hiding in the back seat. I froze and instead of running away, I blanked and I guess they saw that I could see them because the back door swung open. And all of a sudden, there was a man scrambling out of the car and the man who I thought was a teacher grabbed my arm as I turned to run back to the school. This guy was pretty tall and large, by the way. And for context, I'm 5'2 and quite underweight, so I don't know how I managed it. Rush of adrenaline or whatever, but I used all the strength in my body to yank my arm out of his grip and start running back towards the school. I could hear multiple heavy footsteps running after me, but thank God they stopped pretty soon after I started running away because my school had big glass automatic doors and you have to just wait for them to open. And they definitely would have caught up to me if they kept going. I guess the fact that they were glass doors though would have been risky if there was someone walking by. Either way though, I got into the foyer and ran straight into the open cafe, which was attached to the library, and I ran up to the person working at the cafe to tell her the situation. She calmed me down and came with me into the school to a teacher's office and called my parents and the police.
There's security cameras in the parking lot, so they were caught and charged with attempted kidnapping. Also, turned out that man was able to enter the building because some kid dropped their lanyard outside the school, and that's what he was using and why he flipped the ID over. I didn't go back to school for a couple of weeks and I'm still having therapy for this experience. But I felt writing this whole thing down and sharing my story would help me process things. This remains the scariest experience of my life.
[Music]