Speaker 1: I was at home making dinner on a regular night
after work. It was around seven pm or maybe even later,
and I'd gotten home from work only an hour before.
I wasn't making anything fancy, just a small chicken breast
and some frozen corn. I had just finished with the
chicken and began draining the water from the corn when
a light scraping sound came through the house. It was
short and quick and not very loud, but the strangeness
of the sound that made me flinch a little. I
continued doing what I was doing, thinking it was just
some weird sound that the house was making that I
had just never heard before. But then again, that same
scraping sound vibrated through the walls. It was such an
unusual sound I had no idea what to think of it.
I quickly finished plating my food, then went toward the
front door to listen for it again, hoping to pinpoint
where it was coming from. I waited for maybe thirty seconds,
not hearing anything, then went back to the table to eat.
Even still, at this point, I wasn't thinking anything of it.
I was only curious as to why the house was
making that sound, But I wasn't worried in the slightest,
I spent a few minutes eating, then went over to
the couch to rest and watch some Netflix for a bit.
But through the show I would constantly hear that obnoxious
scraping sound over and over. Eventually it was just getting
so aggravating that I turned off the TV and just
waited listening. When the sound came again, I was able
to hear it more clearly coming from somewhere upstairs. I
quickly walked up to the second floor, still just annoyed
at the house for ruining my night, but also a
bit more concerned that there may actually be something wrong.
Speaker 2: With the house.
Speaker 1: At the top of the steps, I stayed in the
hallway waiting again for the sound. A whole minute went
by of nothing, so I began searching the rooms to
make sure everything was okay. It didn't seem like anything
was unusual or broken, so now I was starting to
really get confused and worried. I put some shoes on
and went outside, and while it was dark, I figured
i'd maybe be able to see a tree scraping against
the house, or possibly some other issue. I went to
the side of the house where I knew there was
a tree, but it wasn't windy at all, and the
branches were nowhere near the side. I kind of just
stood there wondering how this was happening, and Wyatt suddenly
started tonight. I was tired and this was the last
thing I wanted to be doing. I walked back around
to the front of the house, and on my way
to the front door, a glimmer of light came in
the side of my vision. I turned and looked as
it seemingly came from the front of the house. I
walked further down the driveway by the sidewalk and looked back,
and that's when I saw a small light coming from
one of the windows in a dark room of my home.
After a couple seconds, I realized there was the attic
window and that the light was moving, almost like someone
was shining.
Speaker 2: A flashlight around.
Speaker 1: I was horrified someone was in my attic doing who
knows what and for how long. I stayed out front,
calling the police as I stared at the window, watching
the light move around slowly, But as I was talking
on the phone, the light got dimmer before shining directly
at me. They held it there for a couple seconds,
then shut it off, and even from outside, I was
able to hear a few loud thuds. I immediately ran
over to my neighbor's yard, trying to explain to the
operator what was going on, while looking over at my
house in terror. From where I was, it looked silent
and calm, but that only made it more scary, knowing
that something awful was likely going on inside. After a
few minutes, though, nothing else was seen, and the cops
finally made it. They searched the house first, then brought
me inside to talk. They found multiple shoe prints in
the attic, and they suspected it was likely a group
of teenagers messing around with me and likely not trying
to cause any harm. There were no signs of anyone
living there or anything, which was a relief. They found
some carvings in the wooden beams, though, but they weren't
anything specific, just lines basically. Again, the cops assured me
that the kids were probably just messing with me and
trying to get a reaction out of me. As for
how they got in, they think they may have somehow
gotten on the roof and climbed in through a window
while I was at work that day. However, they exited
through the attic doorway.
Speaker 2: On the ceiling and got out through my back door.
Speaker 1: I know they said confidently that it was just a
harmless group of kids, but that doesn't make me feel
any safer. Knowing that some random group of people broke
into my house and was camping out there all day
and at night while I was home is really unnerving.
I mean, those cops didn't actually know what the group's
intention were either, so who knows what they actually planned undoing.
Speaker 2: As a kid, I grew.
Speaker 1: Up in a normal neighborhood. We had a nice, mid
sized home and a very ordinary family. When I turned seven,
we adopted a small dog named Max. He was my
best friend for years, and as I grew up, i'd
be home alone more often, but with Max there with me,
I'd never really feel like I was alone. I never
felt the need to worry or be afraid of anything.
Unfortunately this didn't last forever though. When I turned fifteen,
my family sold our home and moved twenty minutes away
to a more isolated, smaller house in a forested area,
and sadly that summer Max passed away due to old age.
I was thankful that it was summer, though, because I
had time to grieve at home without having to go
to school or anything. After a few days of the
family grieving together at the loss of our first family dog,
things went back to normal. My parents went back to
work and I stayed home on summer break. However, I immediately
felt a difference. This was the first time I'd ever
really been completely home alone in my entire life. Without
Max to always be by my side, I was constantly
paranoid and uneasy about every small sound coming from the house.
Not to mention, we'd only lived in the place for
a few months, so I didn't even really know the
area or feel fully safe yet. Anyway, just a week
after losing Max, it was another regular day. My parents
left for work and I stayed home. The house was
only one story, so the layout was basically just a line.
When you walk in the front door, there's the kitchen
and living room, which then leads to a long hallway
with two rooms on the side. In my parents' bedroom
at the end. For the past week of being alone,
I'd always walked down the hallway and close all of
the bedroom doors. For some reason, I didn't like seeing
the doors open in the hallway, as it just gave
me a weird feeling, so this day was no different.
I went along the hallway, closing each door until I
got to my parents' room. I pulled the door through
the doorway and began walking back, but immediately realized that
I didn't hear the click sound of the door being
fully shut, so I turned back around and pulled the
door shut more firmly, this time hearing the click sound
of the door locking in place. I went back to
my room, where I had my computer and closed the door.
I put on my headphones and watched YouTube for almost
two hours straight, since there wasn't much else to do
by this point. Though it was about nine a m.
And I was ready for some breakfast. I laid my
headphones on the desk and opened my room door, stepping
into the hallway. As I stepped out and turned towards
the living room, I couldn't help but notice something was
off in the corner of my eye. I turned my
head to look back down the hallway and instantly froze.
The door at the end of the hallway was open,
I mean wide to open. I must have stood there
for a whole minute, just trying not to make any
noise and listen for any movement in my parents' bedroom.
Speaker 2: At this point, though I didn't know what to do,
I knew that I.
Speaker 1: Had closed that door and there was no way it
could open on its own, so I was pretty confident
that somebody could be in the house. I hadn't heard anything, though,
so I had no idea where they were. They could
have been in any room in the house. By now,
I decided to vary quietly and slowly walk through the
living room and into the kitchen, frantically swiveling my head
all around, fearing that they were hiding somewhere. Upon reaching
the kitchen, I grabbed one of my parents large steak knives,
gripping the knife tightly in my right hand. I felt
slightly better, but ill terrified. I quickly and carefully double
checked the living room and dining room, making sure the
intruder wasn't hiding anywhere. Then stood at the end of
the hallway. I walked down to the spare bedroom, trying
to open the door quietly, but it was old and creaky.
Everything seemed to be exactly how it was left. Nothing
moved at all. I backed out and closed the door.
I saved my parents' bedroom for last, as it was
the room with the open door, and I was terrified.
It didn't help that this house was in the middle
of a forest. Knowing that no help was anywhere nearby,
I stood at the doorway for another minute, only able
to see half of my parents' bed, while clutching the
knife and listening. It was dead silent. Fear continued to
rise inside me as I called.
Speaker 2: Out shakily, but there was no response.
Speaker 1: I tried to sound confident, but I knew it was
a thin act. I took a step inside, looking around
the corner. It seemed empty, just like the other rooms,
with nothing moved at all. I even crouched and looked
under the bed, but no one was there. I walked
to the other side of the bed, and just as
I noticed a small spot of dirt on the floor,
I heard a soft thud from behind me. I jumped,
heart racing and stared at the bathroom door that was shut.
I could hear frantic movement in there, while also seeing
a slight shadow from under the door. A few seconds
passed as I stood in fear before hearing one last thud,
followed by footsteps fading away.
Speaker 2: Outside the house.
Speaker 1: Still in shock of what had just happened, I carefully
walked over and opened the door. Immediately noticing the open window,
I quickly closed and locked it, then ran to my
room to grab my phone. I don't know why I
never called the police. I guess I was just young
and I didn't want them to come over if nobody
was actually there. But upon reflection, I know I should
have just left the house and called the cops to
begin with. Anyway, I called my parents first, who then
called the police and came home soon after. During their investigation,
they found small patches of dirt from someone's shoe pretty
much throughout the whole house except for my room. They
were able to tell that it was only one person. However, strangely,
they didn't take anything. Not a single thing was missing
from our home. This was obviously really creepy and unusual,
making the motives of the intruder much more disturbing. We
moved out of the house several months later, though mostly
due to other problems with the house. Being in my
twenties now, I still think about this encounter every once
in a while. I wonder what would have happened if
I wasn't wearing my headphones and heard the person enter,
since I probably would.
Speaker 2: Have looked and seen them.
Speaker 1: It's terrifying to imagine, but I'm thankful for how everything
turned out, aside from them the intruder never getting caught.
I'm a twenty four year old female and I rent
a very small house near my work. Nothing has ever
happened to me like this before, but afterwards I have
been much more careful about who my friends are. The
day started out the same as every other weekday. I
went to work, came back home, made some dinner, then
sat on the couch to watch a show or a movie.
It was Friday, so I like to stay up a
little later than usual, but sometimes my eyes wouldn't let me.
I turned on a movie around eight o'clock, and at
some point I fell asleep during it. It wasn't until
a sharp and sudden sound made me jump back out
of sleep. It was my phone, and a sound I
had never heard before. I picked it up from the
coffee table and squinted my eyes at the bright screen.
It was a notification for a message I received on Facebook.
Opening it, it took me straight to the Facebook messenger app,
which I had never actually used before. I was confused
seeing a text from a man simply saying hello. His
name looked familiar, but was definitely not one of my
close friends. I clicked on his profile and saw that
we had one mutual friend and that we'd been friends
on Facebook for four months. This sparked my memory from
when I accepted his invite. Honestly, I just accept anyone's
invite as long as they have mutual friends with me.
I don't share anything too private online, so it never
really mattered to me.
Speaker 2: I went back to the messenger app and just.
Speaker 1: Said hi to be polite, though also beginning to recognize
how late it was and how odd it was to
randomly text someone at this time. Immediately after I sent it,
the three dots appeared as the person was typing, followed
by a new message reading it. I immediately gasped and dropped
my phone on the tape while looking over at the window.
The text read I loved that movie too, we should
watch it together. I didn't see anything outside the window,
though it was completely black outside. I was shaking, knowing
now that someone was definitely watching me. I felt super
uncomfortable too, not knowing how long they'd been watching. Then
I heard my phone beep again and light up with
a new message. I was horrified and just stared at
my phone on the table, unable to move and too
scared to look at the message. I can't even tell
you how long I was frozen there for as everything
just fell so strange. Before the door bell rang, I
jumped again, now with tears in my eyes from the
panicked state I was in. I grabbed my phone and
dialed nine one one, then tried to explain my situation
as best I could, while overwhelmed and crying. The operator
told me they have someone on their way just five
minutes out, then told me to lock myself in a
room and wait for the help to arrive. I agreed,
trying to calm myself down. Just as I was ending
the call, another message came through, then another, and another,
spamming my phone with that awful beep sound before I
turned it on silent. I barely got myself to open
them and saw maybe ten or fifteen messages in all
caps of the man demanding me to open the door.
Then the very last message simply read never mind. I
didn't know what that meant, but it only took a
few seconds for me to find out. A soft bang
came from the other side of the house. It was
very muffled, as if it were far away, though I
stood still listening for a moment before another one louder.
This time, I go through the hallway by the kitchen,
able to hear the sound more clearly. Now I could
tell it was coming from the basement. I quickly ran
to my bedroom. Hearing another much louder bang followed by
something shattering. I locked myself in the room, crying uncontrollably
from the fear of the situation as I listened to
the sounds of the man making his way through the
basement and up the stairs. I knew I kept the
basement door locked, but I was sure the man would
break through at any minute.
Speaker 2: I heard the.
Speaker 1: Doorknob rattling, followed by several shoves as if attempting to
push through it, before three loud knocks.
Speaker 2: Came from the front door. Police open up.
Speaker 1: I sprinted to the front door, unlocking it and letting
them in. There were two male police officers, and I
think they could see the worry in my eyes. I
pointed to the basement door, talking fast and telling them
that he was in there, and they immediately took their
guns out and rushed in the intruder's footsteps ran down
the steps as the officers opened the door and carefully
followed after they caught the man after a quick struggle.
To keep this short, the man had broken in through
the window well in the basement, so that's what the
he always was. As for who he was, he actually
was the man on Facebook. I assumed he was using
a fake account or something, but no, that was actually him.
He didn't give any reason for breaking in, aside from
apparently just wanting to talk to me. It was very
odd and creepy. I'd never had anything like that happen before,
as I kind of just thought these were things that
only happened in movies. Later that week, I went through
my friend's list and removed anyone I didn't know personally.
It's sad that I have to do that, but I
guess this is the world we live in now.