Speaker 1: I live in the western territory of Wyoming. Most of
Wyoming is made up of small towns and long roads
going between them. I live in one of these towns,
consisting of maybe forty to fifty buildings total and barely
the area of a square mile. The next nearest town
is an hour drive away. Anyway, My cottage type home
is down a trail away from the center of town.
I live alone with my dog Sam, but I find
it peaceful, at least for right now. I never found
that I had to worry about anything being so far
away from civilization, but one night I realized that that
was exactly why I should be worried. I worked from home,
so just like any other day, I worked until five
and then got off and took my dog for a
long walk. We would often go through a trail I
made in the forest behind our house. It was the
middle of winter, though, so it was fairly cold and
there was a light snowfall. I walked Sam for maybe
twenty minutes before the sun began setting, and I decided
it best to turn around and head back to the house.
Alonger walk back, Sam perked his head up and stopped,
suddenly staring ahead. It was somewhat dark at this point,
but I could still see clear enough that nothing was there.
I kept walking forward and Sam eventually followed, but a
few steps later I noticed something on the path. I
got closer. There were footprints in the thin layer of snow.
While it was already odd for there to be footprints
on a self made trail next to my isolated home,
what was more odd was the direction in which they
were going. They went across the trail, not along it,
and based on the angle, they were going straight through
the trees in the direction of my house. I would
have noticed them on our way up the path, so
they had to be recent within the last ten minutes
for sure. I tugged Sam along, walking quickly on the
trail as the snow began to pick up. When we
exited the tree line, it was too dark and snowy
to even see the house clearly. Getting closer, though, a
really bad, unnerving feeling came across me. I felt safer
with Sam next to me, but something just didn't feel right.
I went up to the front door and opened it.
Sam seemed to be acting normal, so.
Speaker 2: I felt a bit of relief.
Speaker 1: I took his collar and leash off, but after a
few minutes I couldn't shake the thought of those footprints
in the snow. I decided I needed peace of mind
and grabbed my coat to go check and make sure
that no footprints were around the house. It was really
dark and the snow was heavy now. I walked around
the side and started looking for any signs of anything,
but with so much snow, I was sure it would
be covered up by now. Still, I just wanted to
make sure I was on the left side of my house,
saying nothing at all. When Sam suddenly started barking from inside.
It startled me, but I immediately ran back round to
the front and went inside. I called out for Sam,
running through the living room and over to the back door,
where I saw him standing. His tail was between his
legs and he was staring at the back door intensely.
I hurried over to him, his gaze not even shifting
from the door. My adrenaline was rushing through me by
now getting really scared. Looking over at the back door
more closely, my heart stopped when I saw water on
the floor inside the house, right by the door. Mat
I switched on the backyard light, seeing footprints going right
up to the door, then back out and around.
Speaker 2: The side of the house.
Speaker 1: I was really scared and quickly ran to grab my
hunting rifle from the other room. I know it's not
the most practical self defense weapon, but it was intimidating
at least. I felt trapped. Had a disadvantage unknowing of
who this person was, where they were, or what they wanted,
but seeing as they tried entering my house, they were
willing to risk their life for whatever it was they
were after. The footprints went off to the right side
of the house, though, so I ran over to that
area of the home and turned on the lights, then
opened the blinds on the window. Just as I opened
the blinds, I heard loud, heavy footsteps running away from
the window. Sam began barking again, and I tried to
look out, but I couldn't see anything through the snow.
I stayed on high alert for hours, unsure of what
exactly to do. Police in this area weren't exactly able
to provide as much service as they may do in
more populated areas, so I really was on my own
for the most part. Thankfully, that seemed to be the
end of it, though I notified the police of the
incident the next morning, but I never found any answers.
I don't know who it was or what they were
trying to do. It was extremely creepy, though. It made
me a bit more uncomfortable with living so far from others.
But luckily I still have Sam with me, because without
him scaring the intruder away, I don't know if i'd
be here right now.
Speaker 2: This happened to.
Speaker 1: Me several years ago when I was in college. It
was just after finals and winter break was starting, so
they gave us a little under a week to get
our stuff together and leave for the month. I'm not
sure if all colleges did this, but always didn't allow
students to stay in the dorms during large breaks like
winter and summer. Anyway, my parents were supposed to come
on the very last day possible. I didn't have much
to pack, so I just waited. During these days, though,
I said bye to all my friends and the whole
building was pretty much emptied immediately. It was winter break,
after all, so everyone was eager to leave. My parents
were driving, though, and they had busy lives, so that's
just how it was for me. I honestly didn't mind
the quiet, though, but it was the night before my
parents were going to arrive, and basically no students were
here anymore. Around ten o'clock, I got ready for bed
and turned off the lights in my room. I don't
think it was even five minutes later when a knock
came from my door. I jumped, as it kind of
freaked me out. I had no idea who could possibly
be at my door, given all the people I knew
had already left. Not to mention it was ten pm, regardless,
I got up and went over to the door. When
I opened it, I was surprised to see a large
young man standing there, bundled up in a winter jacket.
He looked like a student, though. Can I help you
with something?
Speaker 2: I asked.
Speaker 1: He asked me if i'd seen a guy here. He
didn't give me a name, but rather just described his
features before answering. I asked why I had no idea
who I was talking to or why he was at
my door, so I wanted some answers first. He stumbled
out a few words before settling on saying that he
was his roommate and he wasn't sure where he went,
but if he was his roommate, then why didn't he
just give me a name. It all seemed really weird.
I wasn't sure how to respond and stood there for
a moment thinking of what to do, before he interrupted
my thoughts and asked me something really bizarre. Can I
check if he's in your room? I immediately said no
and began shutting the door. The guy stopped me, though,
putting his hand on the other side. He wasn't trying
to push it open, but he was pushing hard enough
to keep me from closing it. I told him to
back off as sternly as I could, but he again
asked me to check my room. I didn't know what
the fuck was going on, but I knew I needed
to find a way out of this quick before it
escalated to something a lot worse. I only had a
few seconds to think, and I realized in those moments
that I'd already messed up by opening the door in
the first place. I guess spending so much time living
in a dorm, I never had a reason to fear
opening my door. I backed up, letting the guy open
it fully. He smiled. I gestured with my hand, allowing
him to come inside. I barely had anything in here,
nothing worth stealing if that's what he was after, so
I hoped this would get him to be in and
out quickly. As soon as he took a few steps
and passed me in the room, I walked out the
door and into the hallway. He turned and looked at
me as if I had offended him by walking out.
I just didn't want to be trapped in a small
room with this random, big dude. He glanced around my
room for a few seconds, then he came back into
the hallway, and without saying another word, he left. I
had no clue what just happened, but the more thought
I gave it, the crazier it seemed. Thinking about his appearance,
I knew it was snowing, so it wasn't odd that
he was wearing thick winter clothing. But what was odd
was that he seemed to have just come from outside.
His jacket had water droplets from recently melted snow, and
his nose was red like he'd been out in the cold,
snowy night for a while. I just didn't understand what
random student would go straight from outside to my dorm
room on the third floor and knock on my door
at ten pm. Why was he even asking me how
did he know I was here? There's a hundred rooms
in this building and he happened to knock on mine.
Nothing made sense at all, and it kept me up
all night. I even moved my small dresser in front
of my door, just in case. Before my parents picked
me up. On the following day, I decided to walk
over to the police department across the street. When I
told them what happened, they seemed to be a lot
more interested than I had expected. I answered a ton
of questions until finally they told me what was going
on after ruling me out from being a suspect. A
kid on the floor below mine was missing yesterday morning
when his parents came to pick him up. He had
no roommate, and with the building so empty, it made
the case a lot more difficult. Obviously, hearing about the
guy at my dorm last night, they were thinking it
may be a good lead. But days turned to weeks
and then months. I don't know what happened, as it's
been many years. I think back about how that guy
at my room knew that someone was missing and said
it was his roommate, but obviously he was lying. I
don't think he ever turned up either. I also think
about why he came to my room specifically, and if
he planned to make me go missing as well. He
also could have just been some random guy looking for
his friend, but that seems unlikely due to all the coincidences.
There's so much I don't know, and unfortunately we'll probably
never know. I drive for a local grocery chain in
my area. It's not a full sized semi truck, it's
more of a large van, but I usually have an
eight to ten hour route that goes.
Speaker 2: Between three to four stores.
Speaker 1: It's a pretty simple job that pays nice enough and
gives me little to no stress. The only time things
do get stressful is in winter. The van struggles in
the snowy conditions, and with thousands of dollars worth of
cargo in the back, it puts a bit of stress
on me. This winter had been worse than most, with
more snowfall, ice, and foggy conditions. On this particular day,
I had to stop at four stores. It was snowing
a decent amount, but the plows were keeping up with
the roads, so there wasn't too many issues. By the
time I finished unloading the last of the cargo. At
the fourth store. It was eight o'clock and the snow
had started piling up a bit more on the road. Dark,
snowy and unplowed roads are never a good combo when driving.
One thing to mention as well is that large trucks
and vans have an easier time managing the snow when
they are heavier, giving them more traction. So with no
more cargo in the back of my van, I had
to drive extra carefully since the back wheels were lighter
and could slide out easily. The start of the drive
back went well, but the further route I got towards
the warehouse, the less plowed the roads were. There was
a long stretch of road that leads directly to the warehouse,
and I was worried that it may not be plowed
at all given the state of the main roads. This
wasn't a main entrance to the warehouse lot either, but
it was a less busy side route that a lot
of US drivers use frequently when coming in from the south,
as it saves nearly five minutes of driving turning onto
this road, though I was surprised to see it was
actually plowed recently, barely any snow on it at all.
This was rare because this road only leads to warehouse buildings,
so it wasn't seen as a priority for plowing companies.
Thankful for this, I rolled down the road at a
steady pace. I don't remember what I was thinking about,
probably just my plans for the rest of the night.
Speaker 2: After I got off.
Speaker 1: When out of nowhere, the road ahead was packed full
of snow. I slammed on my brakes and luckily I
was able to stop just before I hit the snow,
but it definitely got me awake and a bit dazed.
I looked up and in the headlights was a completely
unplowed road for the.
Speaker 2: Rest of the way up to the warehouse.
Speaker 1: I'd never seen a road only plowed half way with
such a sudden stop. There wasn't even anywhere to turn around,
so they must have just plowed all the way up
here and then backed all the way out. I couldn't
believe it. After a minute, I was getting a bit angry, Actually,
who would do something like this?
Speaker 2: I left my van on, but got out and looked
at the road.
Speaker 1: It was really cold and snowy, but I could see
clear tracks from multiple vehicles. I turned and looked down
the road where I came, and not far from the
back of my van, I saw something on the ground.
I walked over and got a closer look. On the
road was a bunch of equipment like parts to something.
I didn't know what they were, but they looked expensive
and definitely didn't belong on the road. It seemed like
they'd fallen out of a truck that was heading to
the warehouse. I got back inside my van and started
backing out. At the time, I was telling myself that
I was just being dramatic, but I couldn't help but
feel like I was in the middle of some weird
crime scene. When I made it off the road, I
pulled around and drove the extra minutes around to the
front of the warehouse and took the main entrance. As
I was pulling up, though, my work phone started buzzing.
The night manager at the warehouse was calling me, which
was extremely rare. I picked up and they immediately asked
if I was okay and told me to take the
main entrance and not the back route. I just said
okay since I was already at the warehouse, but then
I went inside to talk to him and figure out
what was going on. Apparently he had just gotten word
in from a neighboring warehouse that one of their drivers
got jumped and robbed on the back road.
Speaker 2: He said the police were already on their way as well.
Speaker 1: Hearing that everything made sense in my head, and I
fell silent for a second, then told him what happened
to me. It didn't take long for the guys to
get caught, though, because the expensive equipment they stole turned
out to be highly secured and had internal trackers. It
was a group of young men who admitted to making
the road into a trap where they would follow a
truck once they turned in, and then block their only
exit once they reached the dead end. Then, of course
they'd rob the cargo and hold the driver at gunpoint
while they did it. I was creeped out for a while,
unsure of what to think. I'd never had something like
that happened to me before, so it's strange for me
to think that if I had arrived only a few
minutes earlier, I would have been caught in a trap
and had a gun to my head.