[Music] my name is Garrett and this took place when I was a sophomore in college when I didn't get a dorm after freshman year I scrambled for off-campus housing long story short I ended up in a Co-Op part of a three housee community that was sort of near campus but not really it wasn't ideal but it was cheap and I didn't have many options plus I had a bike so I didn't really mind the extra travel time most of the residents were young students like me but there were a few Exceptions there were a handful
of alumni one or two Tas and a few older people getting their degrees later on in life but the person who immediately stood out to me was an older woman who lived in one of the other houses from what I could tell she was maybe in her late 50s even though she looked a little older than that she had graying hair and walked with a sort of Limp like she had some kind of back injury she was really quiet and mostly kept to herself and she always had this blank expression on her face I assumed
she had some kind of connection to the university maybe faculty or maybe an alumni but no one explained and I didn't ask the first time I saw her do something strange was in our common kitchen which was a little weird to begin with because the two other houses had their own kitchen so I wasn't sure why she'd be hanging out in hours she wasn't cooking or eating or even talking to anyone she was just standing there while the rest of us were talking and running around making dinner and listening to music she didn't try and
join in she just watched us blankly I caught eyes with her a few times and part of me got the feeling that she was watching me specifically even though I knew that was unlikely no one acknowledged her which I thought was a little weird too maybe they knew something I didn't later that week I was doing some homework in my room when I saw her again I glanced out my bedroom window and there she was staring up at me as if that wasn't strange enough by itself she wasn't even on the sidewalk but rather in
the middle of the street it was getting late and it was decently cold too so she must have been freezing out there I couldn't tell if she was looking into my window or just in the general direction of the house but I felt like she was staring at me specifically I don't know why I did it but I waved at her trying to be friendly the moment I did I instantly regretted it she didn't wave back instead she jumped up and down a few times like she was excited and then ran towards one of the
other houses presumably hers I felt kind of sick not only had I acknowledged her but I had confirmed that she had been looking into my room the entire time and even if she hadn't she now knew which room was mine later that night I asked one of my housemates about her he told me that that woman had always been there and that I should try my best to ignore her like the rest of them did I inquired further about her but the guy genuinely didn't know anything and said he was just repeating what someone had
told him when he moved in it didn't sit right with me so I asked around until I got some semblance of an answer one of the seniors in the specific house she lived in told me that she was associated with the university and was a little kooky but that she didn't have a History of Violence or getting physical I asked him why no one found that as strange as I did and he told me that they really couldn't control who lived there as that decision was up to the property manager I wasn't fully satisfied with
that answer but there was nothing I could do so I tried to just block her out of my mind but then it got worse one night I walked out of my room and nearly ran into her she was in the hallway standing right in front of my door I literally jumped back because she caught me so off guard it was past midnight on like a Tuesday so the house was mostly dead she didn't say anything when she saw me she barely even reacted instead she just turned and walked away as if I were the one
who had intruded on her I'm not going to go into every little detail but there were several more occurrences like that one where I caught her either snooping somewhere where she had no business being or doing something she had no business doing at some point I lost my room key all three houses had once been part of the same Hotel so all the rooms had personal locks and keys it was a co-op so most people just left their doors unlocked but I was someone who couldn't sleep comfortably knowing someone could just walk into my room
so losing my key was a big deal everyone had a spare including me but I was pissed because I'd have to go make a copy of the key and that was an extra annoyance I couldn't afford at the time a few nights later I woke up randomly in the night I wasn't sure why at first but then I heard it there was a soft bumping coming from my closet every 20 seconds or so it sounded like something shifting behind the door like something was moving inside of my closet I'm not one to scare easily and
I'm definitely not one to be helpless in a danger situation so I was going to deal with this myself I quietly got out of bed and took a deep breath I slowly walked over to the closet trying to keep my breathing under control my heart was racing in one fluid motion I ripped the closet door open and screamed like a crazy person just as I expected the woman was in there she had one of my my ties wrapped around her neck and her eyes were wide open she was holding a kitchen knife with her other
hand my scream must have startled her because before I could react she lunged at me with the knife outstretched I screamed again only this one wasn't pretend it was a scream of pure fear I wrestled her to the ground and was able to disarm her pretty easily given how frail and small she was that didn't make the situation any less terrifying though she kicked and fought and bit as I pinned her to the ground screaming the whole time I yelled for help and I heard some doors slam followed by some of my housemates running down
the hall my friend Lee immediately helped me immobilize the woman and the two of us kept her pinned while someone else called the police the rest of the night was a blur the police got there quickly and arrested her on the spot by that point she had stopped screaming but she refused to say anything either which was extremely unsettling the cops found my room key on her real big shocker there a few weeks later we got our answer about who she was apparently she was the property manager's sister who he had been letting Liv there
under the radar she had severe mental health issues and instead of getting her proper care he had just thrown her into one of the unoccupied rooms I believe the property manager was eventually arrested for negligence and a slew of other things and rightfully so I honestly blame him so much more for what happened than her if anything I feel bad for her but my pity won't erase the fact that she tried to kill me I could have lost my life that night I have no idea why she seemed so interested in me specifically but I
can only hope nothing like that ever happens to me again I'm graduating soon and I'm definitely going to miss college but I don't think I'll ever be able to look back at my time here without thinking about that [Music] night this is this isn't really my story but I essentially watched the whole thing happen so I'm telling it anyway I've lived in a modest two-story home with my husband Benjamin for the better part of 20 years now all of our kids are out living their own lives and I couldn't be prouder but I'm about to
tell you happen last year someone had just moved into the house across the street which was really nice because I was getting sick of looking out at a vacon house all the time I'm retired so I spent a lot of time on my front porch knitting reading enjoying the weather with my husband you name it I also listen to a lot of True Crime podcasts out there and sometimes I'll just play music the person who moved into the house across the street was a young guy maybe mid 20s he drove an expensive looking BMW and
always dressed in flashy clothing so I figured he was either well off or seriously pretending I hope I'm not giving the wrong impression about him he was actually really sweet he introduced himself to us after a few days his name was Quinn and he was a few years out of college like I had guessed he was a really bright guy and got along really well with Benjamin they laughed and talked about sports and Benjamin even dropped a few of his own College stories that I hadn't heard in a long time Quinn said he worked in
the entertainment industry and that he did freelance work for some internet personality person whatever that means it kind of went over my head but it must have been lucrative he looked pretty wealthy like I said he talked about stocks with Benjamin and told us about some some of the Investments he was making all in all he seems like a nice guy things were normal for a few months like I said I spent a lot of time on my porch so Quinn would often wave to me when leaving his house and I always waved back I
can't remember exactly when but I started noticing the same girl going over to Quinn's house every so often she drove a little white convertible and she was pretty young blondes the type of girl you'd expect a guy like him to date to be frank she dressed a bit scandalously which I didn't fully appreciate I figured she was his girlfriend maybe checking on the house while he was out she had her own house key so it made sense it became a regular thing once maybe twice a week I'd see that car roll up while Quinn was
gone she'd go inside stay for a while then leave I didn't really understand what she was doing but young people date differently these days so I kept my thoughts to myself then one evening I saw them together Quinn pulled in into his driveway with her in the passenger seat that confirmed it she was his girlfriend just as I had assumed but shortly after that day things started getting tense at least that's what it seemed like one afternoon I was out tending to my little garden when I heard shouting from across the street Quinn and the
girl were standing in the driveway yelling at each other I couldn't catch what they were arguing about but I didn't need to she kept throwing her hands in the air practically spitting her words at him it looked like she she was going to strike him eventually she got in the car slammed the door and tore off down the road Quinn shook his head and went back inside I don't even think he noticed me I figured it was a lover spat every couple fights and it wasn't my place to butt in where I was unwelcome but
then I saw that girl's car in front of his house again when he wasn't home not once not twice but multiple times I told Benjamin and he said it was rude to pry and that I should just leave the poor boy alone which I agreed with but then came the night everything went sideways Benjamin and I were asleep when we woke up to Sirens blaring outside we rushed outside joining the handful of neighbors who had come out to see what was going on Quinn's house was swarming police cars an ambulance the whole nine we watched
as the cops emerged from his house with that girl in handcuffs she didn't struggle or scream just accepted what was going on and stared ahead with a blank expression we saw Quinn being rushed outside on a stretcher he was a bloody mess and I gasped at the sight we didn't see him for a week after that I was worried sick when he finally came back Benjamin and I walked over to check on him he let us in without hesitation and told us everything apparently that girl her name was Ellie had confessed to everything making things
easy for the police for starters she wasn't supposed to have his house key she had stolen his spare and made a copy without him knowing according to him she started asking him for Things Fancy dinners jewelry expensive trips when he hesitated she got possessive and angry which was when things started going downhill in their relationship every time she had shown up unannounced to his house he hadn't been aware she had access to his location through his phone which I didn't even know was possible she had gone through all of his stuff but worst of all
she had planted hidden cameras in his room room every time she went back to his house when he wasn't there she was replacing the camera batteries and making sure they were still working the argument between them that I overheard was Quinn's attempt at breaking up with her she refused and Quinn reluctantly agreed to go on a break Ellie had seen everything through the cameras and the next night she went to his house with a knife I'm not going to explain the rest you get the idea somehow Quinn managed to get her to the grounds but
not before she seriously injured him the doctor said he was an inch away from needing surgery or dying Benjamin and I tried to console him but he was visibly shaken the last thing he said before we left was that he had learned his lesson about flaunting his money especially around pretty girls he moved out not long after he said he didn't feel safe in that house anymore and that his ex had tons of friends just like her and he didn't feel comfortable with the thought that they might have known where he lived we never saw
him again I pray to God he's doing okay no one should ever have to go through something like that especially not someone as young as [Music] him when I moved into my new place I was just looking for a fresh start I won't get into the details but let's just say I had a bad situation with an ex that made staying in my old city impossible I ran into some money early in life and made some bad decisions about the kind of women I surrounded myself with lesson learned the neighborhood I moved to is really
nice low crime quiet mostly families the houses here are really spaced out which was partially What drew me there but for some reason the property next to mine is much closer in proximity than most of the other properties are to each other and by the way that house next door is huge when I first saw it I thought I could easily fit a family of 10 that's honestly what I assumed at first that a big family lived there great grandparents and everything but I could not have been more wrong even though I tried to be
lowkey I wasn't going to be a rude neighbor I took it upon myself to introduce myself to everyone in the neighborhood for whatever reason I decided to introduce myself to my Nextdoor neighbors last I couldn't tell you why everyone else I met seemed really sweet and genuine I'd say 90% of them were parents of young children and yes they were all slightly intimidating purely based on how successful they seemed to be I wasn't too sure how a younger guy like myself would easily blend into a community like that but that was more of a personal
concern when I got around to meeting my next door neighbor my social battery was mostly drained from having spent the day making small talk with strangers I knew if I just went back home I was never going to be as motivated to meet them so I just sucked it up and walked up their driveway I had gotten a custom to being greeted by someone middle-aged so when a youngl looking dude in a mullet opened the door I was a little taken a hell he looked even younger than me which was definitely a shock I recovered
quickly and went ahead with my new to the neighborhood Spiel as I went on he flashed me this massive smile and actually cut me off before I could even finish talking he said something along the lines of oh wow someone who was born in my decade what a nice surprise I laughed and told him the same thing venting to him about how out of place I felt as a single guy in his late 20s among so many families with kids he told told me not to worry about that and that most of the people who
lived here kept to themselves which was kind of a relief for me he introduced himself as Damon and told me I should come by for a drink sometime I Shrugged my shoulders and said hell why not right now to which I expected him to laugh and invite me in instead though he looked over his shoulder like he was scanning his living room and then he turned back to me saying he wished he could but he was busy working I asked him what he did for work because it just seems like a normal follow-up question to
what he said and he dropped his smile a bit after a weird stare he laughed and just said Finance but didn't elaborate any more than that which I thought was a bit strange I told him fair enough and asked if he had any roommates to my surprise he told me he lived there alone which was absolutely insane to me given how big the house was we chitch for a few more minutes and he gave me his number before going back inside I was excited that someone my age lived here especially because he seemed like a
really chill guy but I couldn't get over how odd it was for someone like that to live all alone and yeah I know I was essentially doing the same thing but you have to keep in mind my house wasn't even half the size of his anyway I went back home and got on with my life that was about 6 months ago for a few weeks after that nothing eventful really happened I texted Damon a few days after he gave me his number to try and set something up but he'd always complained about how busy he
was and how sorry he was that we couldn't hang out eventually I gave up with him not in a hostile way just in a you do you kind of way I'm definitely not the type of person to bend over backwards for someone who seems disinterested I never saw anyone coming or going from Damon's place no visitors no parties no girls nothing he never even got takeout delivered which was strange to me because his car was always in the driveway I genuinely didn't know what he ate because I literally never saw him leave the house the
guy lived like a ghost I work from home and the office in my house is on the third floor which overlooks Damon's property if you're wondering how I knew so much about his living habits I know it sounds obsessive and a little creepy but his house was also just a glance away from my monitor so I couldn't help but look over from time to time one night it was a Wednesday night I remember that distinctly I woke up around 2:00 a.m. to the sound of loud music I sleep with my windows open so that's probably
how I woke up so easily at first I thought I was imagining it or it was part of a really Vivid dream I was having but I was wrong I got out of bed and peaked out my window and there they were seven or so cars lined up in Damon's driveway there was no mistaking it he was having a party now don't get me wrong I'm not the type to complain about some noise I've been to my fair share of House Parties but it was the middle of the week and the volume was insane I
figured I'd just go over knock and ask him to turn it down I threw on a hoodie and walked over it was a full-blown party that much was clear from outside I knocked on the door but no one answered I pulled out my phone to text Damon but I decided against it knowing he'd probably ignore me and give me some BS excuse the following morning I knocked on the door again harder this time still nothing I reached for the handle half expecting it to be locked but to my surprise the door swung open inside the
first thing I saw was a pile of shoes in the foyer at least 10 pairs but there was something off there was literally no one in there I moved further in expecting to see people in the living room maybe the kitchen but it was completely empty there weren't even any drinks left out I could hear people over the music that I was playing in the background though which I didn't understand but then I really listened to it and everything hit me all at once it wasn't even music really it was a recording a literal recording
of people laughing yelling clinking glasses the whole party was fake all of it but that didn't make sense to me it still didn't explain the shoes or the cars there were people in that house that much was certain I should have turned around right then but I needed to know what was going on I moved discreetly around the house until I saw a door that was slightly a jar I gently pushed it open and it led down to the basement I'm not sure how I knew but something told me what I was looking for was
downstairs it was dark down those stairs with the except of a very faint light coming from somewhere I couldn't see there was no reason to go down there I knew that but I did it anyway I got to the bottom of the stairs and looked around the light was coming from another door somewhere deeper in the basement I crept towards it and as I got closer I started to pick up on another noise I hadn't been able to hear earlier over the music it sounded almost mechanical it was this heavy rhythmic grinding like heavy machinery
or a buzz saw or something I got a little closer close enough to see through the crack there were three people standing in there looking across the room at something that was out of view they were all older looking guys significantly older than Damon they were wearing heavyduty work clothes and had on these protective goggles and thick rubber gloves I also realized they were wearing what looked like work boots even though I had seen all those other shoes upstairs under different circumstances I would have assumed that they were Construction workers I really wanted to see
what they were looking at but it was too far out of view after a few seconds of me just standing there I started to pick up on this awful bleach smell or some kind of Cleaning Solution that's what did it for me I started to feel this awful pit in my stomach like my life was in danger I can't explain it I turned to leave trying to be as quiet as possible as I was finding my way back to the stairs the light from behind me suddenly dimmed like someone had shut the door door behind
me I didn't actually hear the door over the music but I felt it I sprinted up the stairs as fast as I could I ran through the house and burst out the front door I didn't run directly to my house I jumped my own fence and made it to the backyard I slipped in through my side door locking it behind me my chest was pounding but under no circumstances could I let Damon or any of those other guys know it was me who had been snooping around I gathered myself and went up to my office
making making sure all the lights up there were off I crouched down below the window and peaked over at Damon's house there was no one there but then a few minutes later the front door flew open and like eight guys poured out scanning the yard the driveway the street but Damon wasn't with them I could tell because everyone looked older like those first guys I had seen a few of them looked like they were arguing about something but I couldn't make out what they were saying one of the men actually shoved one of the other
ones and I thought they were about to start fighting in the street but they didn't eventually they all went back inside and the music stopped soon after that I stood at the window trying to make sense of what had just happened I thought about calling the cops but what would I even say the music wasn't playing anymore and there was no real crime I could actually report the thing I couldn't understand was how none of my other neighbors had a problem with the loud music especially since most of them had children I figured if they
had been able to hear it and I called the police Damon would know it was me and the shoes I had no idea what that was about either the people I had seen were all wearing boots so did they bring extra pairs of shoes just to leave in the foyer I had too many questions and I didn't know what to do so I just went to bed the next morning I woke up and looked out my bedroom window every single car was gone including Damons I went upstairs to try and get some work done but
I couldn't concentrate and found myself looking over at d D's house every 5 seconds after a few hours of his car not being there I decided to go for a walk partly to clear my head but mostly to take some low-key glances through his windows nothing though days passed and Damon still didn't return or his car didn't at least I was baffled with every passing day I still couldn't figure out how my other neighbors had been able to sleep through all the noises that night so I just straight up asked them I went to a
few houses and asked them if they had heard the party he had a few nights ago no one knew what I was talking about even after I told them which house it was coming from and how late it was I thought I was going crazy that was a few months ago now the crazy thing is Damon still hasn't returned and it's clear no one is maintaining his house as the grass is starting to get really long and there's an untouched pile of packages leaning against his front door I don't know what to make of this
it could be nothing but I feel like no one would go to such lengths to disguise what they were doing with the f party unless it was something illegal but would people going to such lengths really forget something as important as locking the front door maybe that's what those guys had been arguing about I really have no idea and the fact that none of my other neighbors seemed bothered by it makes me think I'm involved in some huge conspiracy or something I know I'm just being paranoid but I just have so many unanswered questions when
Damon returns if he ever does I'm debating whether or not I should just go and straight up ask him [Music]
