Transcription
I live in northern Utah, on the edge of a small highway town. There's not really anything but a few stores, truck stops, and motels right up along the main highway. The roads to the outskirts are all dirt, just leading to a few other homes and large private acres of forest and grassy fields.
This was a pretty typical day for me. I worked remotely from home and finished up around 6:00. From there, I headed into town to grab some groceries and stock up on a few items around the house, even though it was a highway town. The highway wasn't actually all that busy, so none of the stores were ever too crowded. I pulled in and started shopping.
While I was in there, though, I happened to notice a guy looking at me. At first, I thought nothing of it. I probably just looked over at him at an awkward timing while he happened to be looking over at me. I kept going about my shopping, but a couple of minutes later and in a different aisle, I saw him again in the corner of my eye. He walked into the same empty aisle I was in and stood just 5 or 6 feet to the side of me. I kept looking forward and tried to find what I needed, but I noticed he wasn't really moving around or grabbing anything. So, I just shifted my eyes a little bit over so I could kind of see him better. Even though I wasn't looking directly at him, I could tell he was looking at me. This time, I said hi, then continued about my business. The man didn't say anything back to me. I hurried up and grabbed what I needed and left the aisle.
Honestly, I just thought the dude was a little weird, but I wasn't thinking too hard about it. I went to the checkout counter and paid for everything, then headed back out to my car. I parked in the far back of the lot like I usually did. I tossed everything in the trunk and got in. And when I looked up at the rest of the parking lot, there were maybe 30 or 40 other cars, but something felt off. Then I saw him again. He was standing between a couple of cars looking over in my direction. He didn't have any groceries in his hands, so I don't think he even checked out or got anything. The hell was up with this guy? Probably some creepy trucker running on 2 hours of sleep or something.
I pulled out of the parking lot and started heading home. The sun was mostly down by now, so the empty dirt roads were dark and quiet. I parked out front and brought in the first couple of bags of groceries. While putting that stuff away, I got a little sidetracked by a phone call from my dad. But eventually, I got back to it and headed back outside to my car to grab the rest of the groceries. When I did, I saw something. I had to squint and let my eyes adjust to the dark for a moment, but far out and kind of off the side of the dirt road, there was a truck. Its lights were all off. I could only see the general shape of it, silhouetted by the night sky. I own just under 40 acres of land, so where that truck was was on my property. It definitely wasn't there when I drove home. And if it was just turning around or lost, why would it be parked with no lights on? I slowly walked up to my car and got my groceries out, keeping an eye on the truck the entire time.
The best possibility I could think of was that it could be just some regular driver that pulled off the highway and thought that this empty land would be a good place to sleep instead of paying for a motel. Even though it was on my property, I wasn't going to make a fuss if I didn't have to. You never know who could be in there or what they might do. I went back inside. After tossing the groceries away, I opened up the curtains on the front of the house just so I could keep an eye out there. Over time, say the next hour or so, I felt less and less nervous about it and thought that it was almost surely a driver sleeping. Still strange, but harmless. I spent another hour in the living room watching a show and never saw the truck move. It was getting late, so I closed the curtains and went upstairs to get in bed. I think I fell asleep pretty quickly.
However, in the middle of the night, I woke up having to use the restroom. I never checked the time, but I think it was probably 2 or 3:00 a.m. I got up half asleep and walked across the bedroom floor and into the hallway where the bathroom was. As soon as I opened the door, I heard a creek downstairs. I'd never heard that happen before. I listened for a second, then closed and reopened the door to see if it happened again, but it didn't. I walked to the end of the hallway and looked down the stairs. It was all dark down there, only a small amount of moonlight coming in from the kitchen windows. But there was something in that downstairs hallway. I could see a shadow moving ever so slightly on the side of the wall. I couldn't tell if it was actually in the hallway or maybe outside the back door, and the shadow was just reflecting onto the wall, but I immediately felt my heart pumping. I quietly backed up and went back into my room, closing the door as slowly and carefully as I could so as to not bring any attention. Then, I got my phone and called the police. I kept my voice low. For the first 5 minutes I waited, I didn't hear anything. I started doubting that they were in my home until suddenly I heard creaking again. Very slow and very subtle, walking across the floor below me. It sounded like they went into the living room. A minute later, a cop car showed up. There was a scurry of footsteps running around down there and eventually leaving my home just as the officers ran up. Thankfully, they caught him running back up toward the truck that was parked in the field.
Disturbingly, I recognized him as the creepy guy from the store earlier. I guess he really was stalking me. Even worse than him following me and breaking into my home, he was armed. The guy claimed he was just trying to rob me, but from the looks of it, it seemed way more personal than that. And I don't know how long he was inside my home for, but he never took anything. He didn't even have a backpack to take anything with. Plus, he knew I was home. He probably was watching me from somewhere outside all night. What he really would have done is better left unknown.
This was during a road trip last summer. I was taking a long route home from visiting a few relatives. So, I was driving about 4 hours each day to a different destination. This was after my last stop. Everything left on the last 8 hours of driving home was just empty woods. As far as I knew, there was another city I wanted to stop at, but it was just too far out of the way for me to justify stopping there. From my previous stop, I left at 6:00 p.m. to get to my final Airbnb that I had booked at a cabin about 2 hours away. It happened to be on the route home, so that's why I went with it. I figured it'd be better than whatever cheap and crappy motel there was along the road.
Where I was, the landscape was pretty flat, but there were a decent amount of trees scattered around. When I pulled up to the cabin, it was clear they had planted a row of large pine trees perfectly in a line at the front of the cabin with the gravel driveway going through the middle. Honestly, the outside of it mixed with the landscape was a little bit spooky. I parked and unlocked the padlock with the code I had emailed from the host. Despite the outside, on the inside, the cabin looked newly renovated, probably to be an Airbnb, but it was really nice. Small, but cozy. I didn't unpack much since I'd only be there for the night. I sat at the table and ate a meal I'd picked up from a drive-thru.
But only 10 minutes after I'd gotten settled in, there was a knock at the door. It startled me because I never heard a car pull up or anyone walking outside. I got up and answered the door. There was a man looking about 40ish with a gray and black beard and shaved head. "Hi, I was just stopping by to make sure you got in and everything was good," he said with a smile, knowing it was just the host now, I said I was good and it was all great. I then said good night and shut the door. I thought it was a bit strange he showed up unannounced just to ask if I was okay, but I thought he must have lived close by or maybe even on the other side of the property or something. Also, it's worth mentioning that the guy had an unusually strong odor coming from him. It smelled like maybe he'd been working out in a field all day. I just found it a bit odd as well.
I went back to the table and finished eating, then took a shower to wind down for the night. I was only in there for maybe 5 minutes before feeling tired enough and just wanting to lay in bed already. I dried off and hopped in bed, staying on my phone for a little bit when there was another knock at the front door. This one scared me just as much as the first time because again, I never heard a car pull up or anyone walking outside. It had to be the host again, but why? And so soon after, he just came over. Immediately, I knew this was odd, and I felt really uncomfortable. I checked my phone, and of course, there was no text or call from him. I slowly walked into the main room, hearing him knock several more times. I wasn't sure if I wanted to answer the door or not, but I ended up just calling out from the other side and asking what he needed. He stopped knocking. "Can you open the door, please? I just wanted to ask you one more thing. I'll be quick. I promise," he said.
I didn't respond for a few seconds because I honestly didn't know what to say. In those few seconds, he must have gotten impatient because he knocked on the door again and asked if I could open it. I said it was late and I wasn't in the mood, so if there wasn't an emergency, then I'd like to be left alone. He took a long time to answer after that. The silence was really eerie. Once it reached a whole minute, it was even more so. I didn't hear him walk away. So, was he just standing out there? I quietly walked up and looked through the small window on the door. He wasn't out there. I immediately thought that he must have snuck away because surely I would have heard his footsteps on the gravel if he just walked away. But then, where was he? I didn't know what to do. I felt really uncomfortable and didn't know why he was acting so strange. I stood there by the door for a minute and listened for anything. Honestly, I was scared to move. But then I happened to glance over at one of the windows in the living room. I saw his eyes staring into mine. I panicked and sprinted to the bedroom where I called 911. While I waited, I heard what sounded like him trying to lift open the window, which was terrifying, but also odd considering he had to have had a key to his own house. But that's when I figured it all out. That man wasn't the host. This was confirmed when police arrived. He had already run off. We have no idea in which direction, but we got in contact with the actual host and owner of the cabin. I don't know what that man's intentions were that night. Obviously, he was lying and clearly plotting something, but I'm just glad I didn't open the door.
It was spring break. I was 18. And this year, my family took a trip to a small cabin out in Minnesota. It was just me, my mom, and my younger brother, who was only seven at the time. We were planned to stay at this cabin for the whole week, and part of the reason we were going to Minnesota was to check out some of the smaller towns and scout for a place we might want to move to in the future. Anyway, the cabin my mom booked we had never been to before, and I don't think she knew how far out it was from the closest towns. She was probably more concerned on the price. It was really far north and about 35 minutes out from any shopping areas. I guess it was a good test at how good we'd handle the rural life, though.
The drive there was a little over 10 hours. I drove the first few hours and my mom drove the rest. We got to the cabin at sunset. It was really pretty, the orange skies setting over the dense forest and wildlife. Way different than the skyscrapers and massive office buildings we were used to. The cabin itself was noticeably old, however. Everything creaked, and it didn't look like the place was professionally built. It was fine, though. I mean, it was a cabin after all. We settled in for the night, testing out the wood burning fireplace and just resting after the long drive. I ended up napping for most of the evening. My mom went to bed around 8:30, but because I took a long nap, I stayed up a bit later. My little brother was also in his room, so it was just me hanging out in the cabin. I sat by the fireplace on my phone for a bit, then thought I'd get some fresh air and check out the back porch. It was a really small wooden deck with a sketchy looking fire pit in the middle and a few chairs around it. I sat down and looked out into the forest. The night was really quiet. No cars or busy streets, just the occasional bird crowing in the distance and the trees rustling in the wind. I loved it. Being further up north though, it was a bit more chilly than I expected. I spotted some logs stacked up on the side of the cabin and figured I'd give the fire pit a try. I lit it up no problem, and the fire stayed well-maintained in the center, so I guess it wasn't as sketchy as I thought. Anyway, I sat by it for a while. I never get to do this sort of thing, so I just soaked it all in.
After about 30 minutes of being outside, there was a very sudden and just completely out of nowhere sound from within the forest. Honestly, I had no clue what it could have been, but I did think that the way it sounded and echoed through the trees was kind of like an axe chopping into a tree or wood. It was only one sound, though, and I didn't think it was really possible for anyone to be out here near us. It was pitch black out there, so I couldn't see anything. But whatever it was, it sounded pretty close. As I stayed out there for the next 5 minutes after hearing the sound, I felt my nerves building up a little bit. Just this uneasy feeling that ruined the peacefulness from before. I ended up snuffing out the fire pit and heading back into the cabin. From the sounds of it, my mom and brother were asleep already. I still wasn't all that tired, though. I don't know if it was still from the long nap or maybe the sound I heard waking me up, but I still didn't really feel like going to bed yet. I stayed up in the living room on my phone. I had some movies downloaded, so I didn't have to worry about Wi-Fi.
Only 15 or so minutes in, I heard something. I paused the movie and listened. I wasn't sure if it was the cabin creaking from someone waking up or walking around in their room or maybe just wind hitting the walls. It gave me that uneasy feeling again, though. I wasn't used to being in this kind of environment, so I think that's why I got so easily unnerved. It was only a minute later that I heard it again, though. This time it was from the opposite end of the cabin, not where the bedrooms were. It was from outside the wall just next to me. The only thing there was a window. I leaned a little closer and listened. Just when I thought I might be hearing something, a loud sequence of knocks shook the front door. It vibrated across the wooden walls. I froze up for a moment, then heard my mom get out of bed and hurry into the hallway, asking what that was. I was standing up at this point, knowing something was wrong, but told her someone was at the door. I could tell she was pretty frightened, too. She immediately went back to get her phone and call 911 because there was no reason for anyone to be banging on our cabin door in the middle of nowhere and in the middle of the night. As she did, I walked up to the door and looked out the peephole. It was extremely dark. There were no porch lights or anything, but I could see the basic figure of a man standing fairly close, just staring ahead at the door, and in the dark, I could see the outline of a heavy wooden axe in his hand. I felt my eyes widen and nerves spiking. Everything rushed through my mind. I tried to think of any reason this wasn't what it looked like, like maybe he needed help or was lost or I don't know. Nothing seemed to explain this as being anything but bad. The man banged on the door several more times as my mom was on the phone with an operator. They never spoke though, stating any excuse for them being here. They just aggressively knocked on the door. In the heat of the moment, it was hard to tell how much time passed. It felt like forever, though. But then he did what we were all terrified of. One loud crack slammed into the door and the slightest bit of the metal axe pierced through the wood. At that point, we all ran into the farthest room and locked ourselves in. We heard more hits against the door, but only four or five before they stopped. We weren't sure if he'd busted the door down already or if he had given up, but we just waited. It took just under 15 minutes for the first officer to arrive to the cabin, which was honestly quicker than expected given how far out we were. The front door had several large gashes in it, but there were no signs of the man having gotten in. There were also no signs of where the man went. It's just assumed that he walked back out into the forest. The running theory is the guy was out in the forest when he saw my campfire from all the way out there luring him to the cabin. It doesn't explain what he was doing out there at night with an ax or why he came up to the cabin, but there's not really any way to know those things without him being caught and questioned. We obviously didn't stay there any longer. In case you were wondering, we didn't end up moving there either.