I'm a sophomore in college and I live in a house with three other girls we live in the student housing area and we really went all out with Halloween decorations mostly girly ones like pink pumpkins and cute ghost our house faces the main street so it's easy for people to see the backyard is full of trees and bushes and it feels more private there's a small trail that leads to the back door but it's a little hidden and doesn't connect to the main sidewalk so it's not easy to find our house has a big window
on the back door and we didn't have any curtains or blinds on it because of that anyone walking by could clearly see into the entire bottom floor of our house which felt a little strange we knew we should have covered it up sooner but we didn't think it was that urgent at the time then one night my roommate and I decided to watch a movie together we ended up getting so comfortable that we both fell asleep on the couch I never sleep on that couch because it's super uncomfortable and she doesn't either for the same
reason but that night we both just passed out in fact we both woke up at different times that night and decided it was easier to just stay on the couch instead of walking the 10 steps to our room I feel like it was some kind of instinct or maybe even a guardian angel looking out for us we had also fallen asleep with almost every light on so anyone looking through any window could easily see us on the couch and all of our girly decorations it was about 5: in the morning when I was suddenly woken
up by my roommate shaking me and urgently Whispering for me to get up saying there's someone trying to get in my heart raced as I instantly sat up still groggy and saw her terrified face staring at the back door I turned my head and that's when I saw him there was a man standing outside holding a flashlight and trying to pick our lock I can still remember how my body froze as I looked at him I heard a sharp scraping noise coming from the door it wasn't the sound of keys or something normal it was
more like a thin wire scratching against metal it felt like time stopped for a second as I realized what was happening we were both Frozen in fear staring at him after what felt like forever he suddenly stopped all three of us just stared at each other for about a minute too scared to move then slowly he backed away from the door and disappeared into the darkness my first thought was to run to the door and make sure it was locked but I've never been so terrified walking up to a door the fear made my legs
feel like they could barely move and I never want to feel that way again we quickly grabbed our phones and called the police as well as some friends who liveed nearby to make sure we were safe they said it could have been a drunk college student or someone with bad intentions but we'll never know for sure I still feel sick thinking about it and hope it was just a mistake but something tells me it wasn't after that we quickly installed more cameras door window Stoppers and covers for every part of the house 3 weeks later
we had a Breakin but that's a story for another time I went to college in a historic city in Florida the city was not too big or too small but it had a lot of old buildings and Treeline streets I stayed in a duplex located downtown just three blocks from campus so it was an easy walk to my classes the area I lived in was known for being safe and the neighborhood had large beautiful homes the duplex was an older house that had been divided into two units there was a main front door that everyone
used and it had a lock for security then each unit upstairs and downstairs had its own separate door with a lock as well I stayed in one of the units and the setup made it feel private while still being part of a shared building I stayed in the downstairs unit and had two roommates but that night only one of them was home we knew the girls who lived upstairs but we didn't talk to them much just said hi when we saw them when they moved in we told them how important it was to keep the
main front door locked and they usually did a good job with that that night my roommate and I stayed in for the evening we knew the front door was locked so we felt safe and spent some time chatting about our day then at some point we heard a knock at the front door and realized the girls upstairs had ordered a pizza we didn't think much of it at the time and went back to what we were doing but later we found out that after getting their Pizza they forgot to lock the front door and this
was something we had always worried about but since they usually kept it locked we trusted it was Secure that night anyway So eventually my roommate and I went to bed in our own rooms I had a queen-sized bed and I often kept my phone and laptop beside me on the bed it made things easier if I wanted to check something or use my laptop before falling asleep I fell asleep as usual thinking everything was fine a few hours later I woke up Suddenly at first I wasn't sure why but then I noticed something there was
a man standing over my bed watching me when I realized I wasn't dreaming I saw the man moving my phone and laptop off my bed I asked him who he was what he was doing and why he was there I was still a little out of it from earlier so I felt confused and had no idea what he was planning my mind started racing thinking about all the terrible things that could happen then for a moment I thought my roommate might have invited someone over maybe a random guy she met on Tinder and he had
walked into the wrong room by mistake I tried to convince myself this was all just a misunderstanding but as I kept asking him questions who he was what he was doing here he didn't explain anything I started to feel more nervous as I realized something was seriously wrong I owned pepper spray which I kept for situations like this but they were on a shelf near the door right behind the man there was no way I could get to them without him noticing I knew that if I tried to reach for them it could make him
angry or even more dangerous I felt completely trapped trying to figure out how to stay calm while my mind raced with fear I knew I had to do something fast so I shouted there are five people who live in this house and if you don't leave right now I'll scream and they'll all be here in seconds fortunately that was enough to scare him away I'm not sure if he had anything with him or if he took something from me but I saw him grab something in the dark and quickly run out of my room as
soon as he was gone I slammed the door shut and locked it then I started looking for my phone I couldn't find my phone anywhere but then I suddenly remembered something between my room and the front door was the room of my roommate who was home the thought of the man possibly going into her room made me feel even more terrified so I knew I had to act fast I quickly grabbed my pocket knife that I kept nearby for safety I took a deep breath counted to three and then yanked open my door I ran
straight into my roommate's room heart pounding in my chest when I looked she was sound asleep and there was no sign of the man anywhere relieved I sat down beside her and told her everything that had happened she looked at me confused and asked are you sure you weren't just dreaming I was so shaken but I knew what I had seen wasn't a dream but then I started to doubt myself until I walked out of her room and saw that our front door was wide open I went back to my room to search for my
phone and when I finally found it it was hidden under a pile of clothes far from where I had left it that made me feel cold with fear as I knew for sure someone had been in my house and my room while I was sleeping they had enough time to hide my phone and that made me even more scared about what his intentions might have been I ran back to my roommate's room and by then she believed me we locked the door and pushed Furniture against it to barricade ourselves inside my hands were shaking as
I dialed 911 I tried to explain what had happened as clearly as I could but my voice kept trembling within minutes we heard the loud sound of police sirens getting closer police cars filled our street and yard the officers shouted for us to leave the house and run toward toward them at least 12 police officers rushed into the building the officers asked me to write a statement and I gave them a description of the man but to this day I've never heard anything else about the case I feel very lucky that the situation Ended as
it did but the thought of what his intentions were still scares me my family and I spent our childhood in southwest Montana near a wide flowing river the valley where we stayed was special to the local native tribes and it was said to hold deep meaning for them according to rumors the land near the river was used for vision quests and other important ceremonies while I don't know if this is true I wonder if it connects to something strange that happened to me and my sister anyway so one day my older sister and I decided
to explore the woods on an island formed by the river splitting into two branches before coming back together the island was Lush with tall trees and thick bushes all around it felt peaceful yet a little creepy as we walked through the forest with only the sound of the water rushing nearby we weren't sure what we were looking for but the place had a certain energy the island is about half a mile long and feels massive with dense cottonwood trees growing wild all over it it's always been a quiet and calming Place almost like stepping into
another world I spent so much of my childhood exploring every corner of it climbing trees waiting near the edges of the water and I had never experienced anything unusual or unsettling there but this day felt different though I didn't realize it at first the weather was picture perfect with sunlight streaming through the trees and a light Breeze rustling the leaves the air smelled fresh a mix of damp Earth and the faint scent of Cottonwood bark my sister and I were walking slowly taking in the beauty around us when I felt something strange it wasn't physical
but I can only describe it as an emotional pull like a tug deep in the center of my chest it felt like an invisible fishing line was hooked to my heart gently pulling me forward I didn't feel like I had a choice I just had to walk in the direction it was leading me at that time in my life I was much more open to spiritual or Supernatural ideas so I was more likely to trust what I was feeling my sister noticed I had stopped paying attention to her and asked if I was okay I
couldn't answer her it was like I couldn't speak or even think clearly my sister could tell something strange was happening so she decided to stay close and follow me I kept moving forward completely drawn by the feeling in my chest as if it was pulling me deeper into the Cottonwood Forest the trees grew closer together their thick Trunks and branches creating a shaded almost tunnel-like path the pull was so strong it was all I could think about my sister stayed a few steps behind but I didn't look back or speak to her as we walked
further the feeling seemed to guide me to a specific spot up ahead I saw two trees that had grown together their trunks arching gracefully over a dry Rocky streamed the trees formed a natural opening almost like a doorway a natural doorway sounds typical but it felt like the closer I got the more everything around me became alive when my sister and I stepped through the trees into the Dry Creek bed clearing the pulling sensation stopped instead something else happened the light around us seemed to change it became golden and Rich almost like you could touch
it all the outside sounds disappeared and it felt like time itself had stopped it was still the same Forest but at the same time it felt completely different like we had stepped into another world as my sister and I stood there silently taking it all in I suddenly saw something black about 2 ft tall Dart across the clearing it moved so fast that I could barely tell where it went it either came from behind one tree and vanished behind another or though it sounds strange it looked like it came out from under one tree and
disappeared under another I only saw it for a split second but I knew I'd never seen anything like it in these Woods before and I never saw anything like it again after that not long after this both my sister and I realized that the strange feeling the pull and the way the world had seemed so different was fading away and everything around us slowly went back to normal within seconds it was clear we were standing in the same Forest as before nothing seemed different from the many times we had walked there before my sister and
I walked home in silence both feeling like we had just experienced something meaningful and hard to explain
