Speaker 1: I'm a twenty six year old female, and it was
October of last year when this happened. The weather was
getting colder and we had a few days in a
row of constant raining. I didn't mind, as I spent
most of my time working from home. This day, I
had gotten up early and started work, but around one
PM I was interrupted from my zoom meeting by the
powers shutting off. I knew right away it was the
power to the whole house, and not just my computer,
because all the lights went out too. I quickly got
my phone and held it up as a light source,
then went over to the window to see if the
neighbors were blacked out too. It was really dark outside
because of the clouds and heavy rain, but all the
houses nearby still had their lights on. Now I was
a little worried that something was actually wrong with my house.
I left the room and went downstairs, getting a better flashlight,
and then heading down into the unfinished basement. I maneuvered
around in the dark through my stacked up storage boxes
until I got to the electrical panel. The main power
switch was in the off position. I'm not too experienced
with these sort of things, but I did know that
usually the switches would just be loose and not fully
pushed the other way. I flicked it back to the
on position, and everything immediately lit up and seemed to
be working. I shut the electrical panel and went back
upstairs to my office, then waited for the internet and
everything to get running before I rejoined the Zoom call
and got back to work. I was at my desk
for the rest of the afternoon, working late to prepare
air presentation for tomorrow. I didn't finally close my computer
until eight pm. The storm was just as bad as before,
but it was way darker outside, which made every flash
of lightning beam through the windows. I got up from
my desk and opened my office door, but as I
left the room, I heard a few bumps from downstairs.
I didn't think it was anything more than something blowing
into the side of the house, but as I got
to the bottom of the stairs, the power shut off again.
It caught me by surprise, even scaring me a bit.
I stood there for a moment and listened for something
that might have caused it, but it was silent aside
from the rain and thunder. Even the bumps that I'd
been hearing just seconds ago had stopped. I went over
and got the flashlight again and made my way over
to the basement door. I opened it and walked down
to the bottom of the steps. The sound of the
storm was way louder than I was expecting, echoing through
the room in a way that it wasn't before. I
shined the flashlight around and started walking through the boxes
toward the electrical panel. But on the floor below it
was a puddle of water. I was shocked, but I
don't think it really set in yet as to what
that meant. I got closer and pointed to the light
around the floor, seeing more wet areas on the concrete
before my light fell on a few stacked up boxes
above it. The window well was open and water was
flowing down the wall into the basement. Now my heart
was racing, and when I approached it, there were muddy
shoe prints on top of the boxes, like it had
been used as a stool to climb in and out
of the window well. I frantically spun around, flashing my
light all throughout the basement, terrified that someone was hiding
behind the boxes and watching me. Then in an instant,
I sprinted to the stairs and ran up to the
first floor. I grabbed my keys and locked myself in
my car, then called the police. They arrived ten minutes later,
clearing out the house and not finding anyone. They did
confirm though, that someone had broken in, finding undone screws
to the window well. They set it back in the
place to prevent any more flooding, But after I gave
my statement, they basically just said to update them if
I had any new information. There was nothing else, with
no idea who broke in or what they were trying
to do. Even more unsettling is the fact that when
they shut off the power earlier in the day, they
were probably in my basement only a few feet from me,
hiding in the dark. While I had no idea, that
could also mean that they were in my house for hours,
and yet I still can't find any reasons for it.
In twenty nineteen, I had taken a trip to northern
Wisconsin and had been staying in an airbnb. It was
a cabin located in the woods right by the Canada
US border and was part of a park that had
a bunch of similar cabins that I think were owned
by the same per I wasn't far out from town
or anything, though. It was only ten minutes from the
nearest store, but the immediate area around the cabin was
very secluded. Each place had their own trail leading just
to their cabin. The first couple days of being there,
I mostly stayed by myself, either inside or walking on
the trails. After that, though, I got kind of bored
and thought I'd hang out at the park center with
some of the others that were staying in the cabins.
The park center was basically just this area with some
charcoal grills, fire pits, and benches, and every time I'd
passed it there were groups of people standing around and
having a good time, so I decided to go check
it out. I showed up around five and right away
met a couple really cool guys. We shared some beers
and sat by the fire pit just shared some casual
campfire talk. It was just us for a while, but
around sundown another guy showed up. Of course, we offered
him some drinks and let him join us by the fire,
but I immediately felt something was off about this guy.
He wasn't talking that much and didn't look like he
was enjoying himself. I mean, this park was for people
vacationing at the cabins, so it was just a little
strange that he looked so tired and unhappy. It kind
of killed the mood for the next couple hours, but
I don't think any of us wanted to tell him
to leave. Eventually, though, one of the guys left, and
then the other leaving just me and him. I stood
up and put out the fire, then said I was
going to head back for the night, but that it
was nice meeting him. The guy stayed sitting, though, and
just looked at me with a tired stare. Around and
walked away, not saying anything else. While I started walking
down the trail, I looked back a few times, catching
the man still looking at me. He'd look away as
soon as I saw him, acting like he wasn't watching me. Luckily,
the trail to my cabin was well lit by some
outdoor lamps, and from what I could see, I don't
think he followed me. I made it back inside and
took a quick shower, then sat in the living room
for fifteen minutes before going to bed. After the few
beers from earlier, I passed out right away. I can't
recall what time it was that I woke up, because
it was all kind of a blur at first, but
I remember being confused and rolling over to look at
the clock when I saw a man standing in the
open doorway to the bedroom. I could only see his
figure as there was only the moonlight coming through the window.
I was absolutely horrified and frozen staring back at this man.
But then he spoke and I recognized his voice as
the guy from the fire pit. I need to stay here,
he said, in a broken and harsh voice. I didn't
know what he meant, and I tried to ask, but
only stuttered out a few syllables before he repeated himself,
I need to stay here. He spoke even more harsh
this time, so I quickly replied, saying okay, but still
had no clue what was going on or what he
even meant. At this point, I thought he was psycho
or something, which also meant he was unpredictable. I slowly
got up from my bed, careful not to make any
sudden moves. Now, with my eyes adjusting and being face
to face, I could see him more clearly. His tired
look from earlier was accentuated, and sweat was dripping from
his face. We looked each other in the eyes for
a few moments, then he stepped back into the hallway.
He stood with his back against the wall, as if
giving me space to leave, but I noticed his left
hand was stiffly held to his side, like he was
keeping something out of my sight. After a few more moments,
I quickly walked past him, and as I got around
the corner, I saw him still standing in the hallway,
just watching me leave. Once I was outside, I ran
down the trail and by chance, a group was at
the park center having drinks by a fire pit. I
got them to call nine one one for me. In
minutes later, they came and searched the cabin, finding the
man standing in the hallway still and holding a knife
in his left hand. When they got him down to
the station, they questioned him, but his answers didn't make sense,
and the man seemed really unstable, so it was all
counted under insanity. I don't even know what else to
really say about what happened, but I'm just thankful that
in that moment, something told the man to let me
go before anything else happened. I live in a duplex
in a small community. I'd been there for over a
year and hadn't found anything to really complain about. The
neighbors that were sharing a wall with me had moved
out only a month after I moved in, and nobody
had bought or rented it since, so it didn't really
feel like a duplex at all because the other side
was just empty. Anyway, this was a pretty normal night.
I had just gotten off of work at ten and
picked up some fast food before going home. I turned
on the TV and ate my dinner on the couch.
While I was eating, though, a quiet thud came from
behind me. I turned around and looked at the wall
that connected my duplex to the other, and the thud
happened again. I muted the TV and went up to
the window, looking out at the driveway. There were no
cars or moving trucks outside, and it didn't look like
the lights were on in the other duplex either. I
went back to the wall and leaned my ear against it.
The sound was very muffled, but I could hear soft
footsteps walking around in doors opening and closing. It was
like they were inspecting the place or looking for something. Again.
That duplex unit had been empty for over a year,
and I'd never seen anyone enter or leave it, and
it being almost eleven pm only made it more unusual.
After a few minutes, I knew there wasn't much else
to really do, so I went back to the couch
and continued watching TV. I stayed up for a while,
probably one am, before getting in bed. As I tossed
around and tried to fall asleep, I suddenly heard that
same noise. I sat up, looking at the wall, but
when the thud sounded again, it was a lot louder.
I tiredly got up and walked over to the bedroom door,
but before I opened it, I heard another sound, soft
footsteps slowly walking across the floor downstairs. A chill instantly
ran through my body. I stepped away from the door
and quietly got my phone from the nightstand. I turned
the volume down as low as possible and called the police,
whispering my address to the operator. I tried to explain
my situation, but as I did, a shadow appeared under
the door. I immediately stopped talking and anxiously stared across
at the door while the person on the other side
slowly walked around. They were very cautious with each step
they took, almost not making any noise, but their shadow
showed that they weren't going very far. They were just
walking back and forth in the hallway. By now, I
was sure that they knew I was in this room,
but I still remained quiet and hoped that somehow police
would come quick enough to help me. A grueling few
minutes went by until a sudden, loud footstep rang through
the hallway, followed by another and another. For some reason,
whoever was out there no longer cared to be quiet,
moving through the hallway quickly and beginning to open doors
to the other rooms. When he came back to my room,
he twisted the handle and tried a few times to
force it open, but moved on from it without too
much of a fight. Then he went back downstairs and
did the same before leaving the unit. Police came a
while later, but I think the person that broke in
had figured out that I'd likely contacted the police, and
that's why they started rushing. Whatever it was they were
trying to do. A few things had been stolen, but
not enough to really justify breaking into a place, and
from their behavior, they seemed to know that I was
in the house. A few weeks later, though, I found
a small camera hiding under one of the night stands
in the spare bedroom. I took it into the police,
but there was no way to trace it or see
what kind of information was on it. Whether they were
just trying to spy on me or had other intentions
that we don't know. There's really no way for us
to get an answer. It's been months since this happened
and there's been no signs of them coming back. But
it's possible that I wouldn't even know if they did,
at least not until it's too late.