[Music] [Music] when I was newly single after my 2-year relationship ended I was back to living alone again and back to swiping on Tinder and all those apps I had been single for a few months already and I had met a few people in that time during that time I matched a girl on Tinder named Tracy and she gave me her Snapchat but it quickly fizzled out to her just watching my stories and not really communicating that kind of used to happen all the time when I was in college but now being in my late
20s using Tinder and just being reminded of how immature all this online dating stuff is it feels a lot different at this age I own a corner town home in a little Community if you're wondering what I do I'm an accountant good money but miserably boring after my ex moved out I thought I would be ready for the privacy and peace and quiet but I'd say after the first month the novelty of that wore off maybe I'm more of a relationship person or I just need people around but being alone was getting to me that's
why I was constantly swiping on dating apps and trying to go on dates just to get out of the house this was last December I posted something on my snap story that had to do with Christmas and guess who commented on my story it was that Tracy girl who I hadn't spoken to in weeks she struck up a conversation about us doing some Christmas theme stuff together together and from there we started chatting for a bit I suggested the most festive things I could think of ice skating going to the village and looking at the
decorations but she suggested we decorate my Christmas tree firstly I did have a fake tree but it was up in the attic so I told her I didn't have it up yet because it's kind of a two-person job getting it out of the attic she said she'd gladly come over and help so I figured why not I told her to come over around 900 that night it was already dark at that point when we made the plan man it was likely like 7:30 because I remember hurriedly grabbing my keys and rushing to drive to the
liquor store to buy a couple bottles of wine when I got back to the house I vacuumed and swept the floors ever since my breakup the things my girlfriend would do to clean the place were left to me and I realized how quickly a place can get dirty 9:00 p.m. rolled around and I was low-key sitting upright on the couch with the TV on pretending like I was just chilling in the living room watching a movie already meanwhile I had set everything up to be cozy and relaxing but I sat there for a while waiting
on her to message me or for the doorbell I sent a followup saying let me know when you're on your way and I eventually started to think she was flaking until finally around 9:30 when she said she's outside she came inside and I was shocked to find that I was looking up at her she was a couple inches taller than me I'm 5'10 so she had to be at least 6t tall I also immediately picked up on the fact that she smelt like she was drenched and perfect perfume we went straight to the couch and
sat down and she sat really really close to me like our legs were touching this is where I started to get confused in how exactly I was feeling she looked a bit older maybe a little rougher I'm not sure how to explain it and underneath that overpowering smell of cheap smelling perfume I couldn't help but feel like there was a slight hint of body odor which completely turned me off I asked her if she wanted wine and she said yes please so I went and poured a couple glasses as we talked have you ever met
someone for the first time that you've been texting or dming for a while and when you finally meet they just end up being nothing like you pictured in your head that was pretty much this something about her felt off like she lacks certain social cues I handed her a glass of Mero and we cheers each other I sh you not she almost immediately spilled a huge drop of red wine on my light blue couch I composed myself but I wanted to scream I said it's okay as I ran to the kitchen to get a damp
paper towel and sponge I ran back to the couch and blotted it as quickly as I could before it would settle she kept apologizing and I kept saying it was okay after this it got a little more tense and to break the tension I suggested I get the tree out of the attic so I went up to the attic slid over the giant box with all the tree Parts in it and started handing her down the pieces one by one each piece getting bigger until we got got to the biggest part the part that I
wouldn't be able to handle going down the ladder on my own she grabbed it with ease I had to remember this girl size once everything was handed down I went back down and we assembled the tree in the living room with Christmas music playing I poured her more wine and I drank more myself I loosened up a bit more wine makes any situation feel better once we had the tree set up next was the ornaments I told her my ornaments were all in the crawl space these ornaments were all for my childhood my parents gave
me bins and bins of Christmas decorations so I went down to the crawl space and one by one started taking out the bins while I left Tracy in the living room to relax as I was doing all of this I started feeling woozy like the wine was getting to my head I've never been a heavy drinker so I do have a low tolerance but I felt like I hadn't drank that much to feel this way I grabbed the first bin and started lugging it up the stairs by the time I got to the top Tracy
wasn't anywhere in sight I assumed she was in the bathroom at first and called her name I looked around each room and then saw that the bathroom was empty I scratched my head in confusion as I kept calling her name I went to message her on Snap but she never opened the snap I checked the two bedrooms too but she was gone I couldn't believe this she snuck out on me this was when I started wondering if she thought I was ugly or weird or something even though and though truthfully I wasn't even really into
her either I crashed onto the couch which suddenly felt a lot more comfortable than before and honestly as far as I remember I periodically checked my phone to see if she opened my snap and just watch whatever was on TV until my memory just faded to Black I swear everything just went [Music] black and then I woke up in darkness no lights no TV on I looked around in the dark room and I knew I was hearing things I felt like I was still on the couch and I felt weak my limbs were hard to
move but I managed to find my phone right under me within seconds and I checked the time the second the phone screen lit up I saw it even though the light was facing toward me that glow from my phone screen with the brightness all the way up revealed the outline of a tall person's silhouette standing in front of me for some reason I didn't scream I just put the phone down bringing the room Back to Darkness I finally opened my mouth to say Tracy hoping it was her but still not in that moment remembering what
had happened earlier whoever was standing there didn't answer me I eventually picked my phone back up and turned on the flashlight and I saw that it was in fact Tracy standing in front of me she wasn't moving she was just looking down at me I felt locked to the couch I don't know if it was because of pure fear or the effects of whatever she had obviously laced me with I genuinely was having a hard time moving my limbs I felt weak and helpless all I could manage to say was Tracy a couple more times
she turned towards the stairs and again I swear she sprinted toward them and all I heard were the disturbingly loud Stomps of her running down the stairs I heard something slam from downstairs looking back I'd imagine it was the front door everything looked and sounded so wonky in those minutes after I woke up each passing minute I felt more and more clearheaded and moving became easier I checked Snapchat to see that her account was gone AKA she blocked me I looked out the front window and saw no cars outside besides my own and the neighbors
and then I realized I never saw the vehicle that she arrived in or if she even arrived in one I checked my entire home from top to bottom checking for anything that could have been stolen the only items I found missing seemed kind of bizarre at first but honestly made so much sense soon after every last bottle of pills from my house was gone all my vitamins and supplements my bottles of Aderall and even the bottle of oxy that I had prescribed but never fully used after a surgery those were in the drawer next to
my bed I noticed a bottle of vodka was taken from my mini fridge in my room too but other than that I didn't see anything else that could have been stolen still I called the police right then and reported the robbery I gave the Snapchat username and explained that I I never got her number or knew anything really about her identity minus the name that she gave me which was Tracy Gibson the police knocked on my neighbor's door since all of our homes are attached even though it was like 1:00 a.m. with me standing next
to them they question if he'd seen or heard anything strange to which he said no he'd been asleep after about 20 minutes the police left I made sure all of my keys were still in place so as to make sure she couldn't get back in but other than that this Tracy person disappeared Without a Trace I knew her behavior was quirky and wonky from the first few minutes of meeting her and it makes so much sense now I won't even call it a theory because I just know this is the truth I think that girl
or woman I should say was older than she claimed and she was potentially homeless with a serious drug addiction I think she drowned herself in perfume to mask the body odor that was honestly still showing through she laced my wine with something when I was in the Attic clearly I don't know exactly how long I was out but it was enough for her to scour my entire home for any and all drugs and supplements I still remember how disturbing of an image it was seeing her tall silhouette standing in front of me while I was
just waking up on the couch honestly after this I didn't even decorate the tree that year this happened on Christmas Eve back in in '97 when I was 7 years old since we're Jewish we don't celebrate Christmas so Christmas Eve was just like any other night for us our dad is a doctor and since he's Jewish he always works on call at the hospital during the Christmas holidays so he wasn't home tonight that just left my little sister and I by ourselves for the evening while our dad worked technically our mom was home but to
be blunt she was an alcoholic back then being a 7-year-old I had no idea what alcoholism was all I knew was that my mom was always passed out once it got dark and near impossible to wake up sorry if it sounds harsh or TMI but it's relevant to my story my sister and I were downstairs watching TV when we heard a knock at the door being the oldest I went to see who it was our door had glass panes built into it which made it easy to see who was on the other side there was
a man standing outside in a Santa suit holding a bag and when he saw me he smiled and waved at me to come to the door I went near the door but did not open it and I thought it was odd that someone dressed like Santa would come to our house out of anyone's house in the neighborhood he said Hey kid it's me Santa let me in I'll give you your presence I remember Point Blank telling him that Santa isn't real and that if he was he doesn't give Jews presents anyway that's when he said
of course I'm real in the past I only used to visit Christian homes but lately I felt bad that Jewish kids never get any presents so this year I I changed the rules so that you can get presents too but I didn't buy it and instead I remember getting mad at him arguing that Jews get presents we just get them during Hanukkah and not on Christmas the smile fell from his face and all his Jolly charm disappeared as he began demanding I open the door I told my sister to dial 911 and the guy seemed
to run away we did call the cops however unfortunately the operator didn't understand what we were saying looking back I think she may have thought we were just little kids excited that Santa Claus was coming to our house regardless she didn't take us seriously and instead just told us that this number was to be used for emergencies only before disconnecting the call my sister and I now got really scared because we didn't know who else to call since we were only four and seven the only numbers we knew how to dial were our home number
and 911 and since this is the '90s my dad didn't have a cell phone yet and I had no idea what the hospital number was to reach him there and with our mom impossible for us to wake up we were essentially on our own we hoped the man wouldn't come back but a few minutes later he was knocking on the door again he said he knew the cops weren't coming and to go ahead and let him in or we'd be in big trouble my sister started crying and ran upstairs trying to wake my mom not
knowing what else to do I did the one thing that made sense to my 7-year-old brain I grabbed a bunch of candles we keep for our manora and lit them all then ran below where the smoke detector detor was I blew out all the candles quickly before tossing them all up to the smoke detector thankfully they gave off enough smoke to set off the smoke alarm as an adult I realized how stupid this was and fortunately I did not accidentally set the house on fire but at that time all I knew was that the smoke
alarm would instantly call 911 for me and send help to our home there was a fire department not even 2 minutes from our house so they got here pretty fast my sister came downstairs scared of the fire alarm but I I told her there was no fire and to not go outside but instead wait inside with me to my amazement the guy still did not leave instead the bastard ran to the firefighters presumably telling them that he was glad they showed up I remember that he claimed he was my dad and that he dressed up
like Santa Claus for Christmas Eve to surprise us he explained that his suit didn't have any Pockets to hold his keys and that with the door locked he couldn't get the door open to save us from the fire so he begged the firefighters to break down the door and surprisingly the firefighter seemed to believe him they were actually getting ready to break down the door and told us to stand back but we started crying shouting at them that he's not our dad that our Dad is working at the hospital and that we have no idea
who this guy was and that we don't even celebrate Christmas the firefighter who was about to break down the door thankfully stopped and listened to us he asked you don't celebrate Christmas I told him no because we're Jewish and showed him my kipa on my head as well as our manora I then broke down crying explaining how I set off the smoke alarm to try and get help because the police wouldn't believe us and so please not let the guy in the firefighter thankfully believed me and then asked the guy why Santa would show up
to a Jewish home I don't remember exactly what the guy said but the firefighters clearly didn't believe him two of them wrestled the guy to the ground while the other called the police to come by they also asked what hospital my dad worked at so they could let him know what was going on the police arrived and arrested the guy while another officer stayed with us until my dad came home and explained the situation to him my dad was furious with our mom for being wasted and essentially sleeping through the whole thing but mostly he
was grateful that we were okay as far as Christmases go I was glad to have our usual boring and quiet Christmas the following year to this day I think being Jewish saved my sister and I's lives because had we opened that door to let Santa in there's a good chance that would have been our final Christmas it was December 2022 my girlfriend Charlotte and I were driving to the Pocono Mountains we had rented a super cozy looking Airbnb decked out with Christmas decorations and it was nicely located with a nice view big property and not
far from a cute little village to make things even more festive feeling there was a snowstorm coming that night so we set out on the the road a little earlier to allow us time to get groceries and everything set up in the Airbnb from the city to the Poconos was about 4 hours we made decent time we stopped at a Family Dollar for some snacks and groceries and then we went straight to the Airbnb we turned towards the uphill Gravel Road through a clearing in the trees that led to the property the house was surrounded
by Woods it had a big Deck with a hot tub on it which was very appealing especially the idea of sitting in it during a snowstorm there were ACH bunch of Christmas decorations on the property including some light up reindeer a big snowman and big decorative candy canes lining the walkway to the front deck we had to take a few trips to and from the car to bring everything inside first impression the place had a very comfy feeling as we expected from the pictures it had a Christmas tree in one corner stockings hung on the
walls and a bunch of smaller decorations scattered about it had that very welcoming smell of wood that you'd expect in a country log cabin though it was more so just regular house then I realized why there was a stack of logs next to a big fireplace in the living room there were three bedrooms though of course we only needed one we put our luggage and such in a second bedroom I did the usual stuff like inspect the fridge turn on the TV to see if there's cable or Netflix and look out all the windows there
was an upstairs but it was more of a loft with a pool table and a couple of couches then there was a basement for the hell of it I went down to check out the basement it was fairly big relative to the size of the house it felt disconnected from the Airbnb though it wasn't furnished for hanging out in it was dark and cold and felt more like a space to do laundry in a workspace then there was a knock at the front door I hurried up to answer it and there was a guy who
looked to be in his late 40s he was wearing gray sweatpants and a ripped up yellowish brown jacket he smiled at me and said how are you folks doing I replied good and asked him if he was the airb be host he replied he runs the place with his brother I asked for his name and he said Tom Tom said he lives just up the road next door if my girl and I need anything I thanked him and then he walked away I found it interesting that he knew I was with my girlfriend Charlotte didn't
come to the door but maybe his brother told him about us I did have a conversation with Mike the host about it being my girlfriend and I wanting to do something festive it was Pitch Black out and it was snowing we cranked up the heat in the house and started preparing the dinner we bought which was chicken thighs broccoli potatoes and Cornbread it was pretty grab bag we ate on the couch with the Christmas tree lights on in the corner giving the room a nice comfy glow as we watched The Polar Express it was the
only good Christmas movie on any of the streaming platforms if you can't tell we really love Christmas after the movie and when we felt we had digested enough we went outside to the deck to hop in the hot tub I turned on all the decorations and Christmas lights in the front yard and as we sat in the hot tub watching the snowfall it felt like Bliss until the bubbles on the hot tub stopped and it went silent we heard unmistakable footsteps from somewhere on the property Charlotte and I looked at one another I asked her
if I should shout who's there but she said no the footsteps moved further and further until they were no longer audible I told Charlotte it was probably a deer but deep down I knew those were the footsteps of a person after the hot tub we went to to take a shower before bed the hot water in the shower didn't last for more than maybe 2 minutes though something was wrong when the water turned ice cold we screamed and jumped out of the shower I messaged Mike the host about it he responded within half an hour
saying that's odd and that he'll have a guy come and look at the hot water heater tomorrow we went to sleep after our half shower in the middle of the night though we awoke to very aggressive bangs on the front door of the house Charlotte was shaking me terrified I said I'm going to check who it is but she demanded I stay in the bed and don't make a sound honestly I was glad she said that no part of me wanted to know who was at the door in the middle of the night I think
there were three sets of really loud and angry sounding bangs before they stopped we sat upright for a few minutes in silence whispering to each other I went over to lock the bedroom door for added security I guess minutes dragged along but ultimately after about half an hour of sitting wide awake we eventually drifted back off to sleep first thing in the morning I messaged Mike again about the knocks at the door he answered more quickly this time seeming pretty confused like us he basically said how strange that is he didn't know why anyone would
be roaming around late at night like that he said if anything like that happens again that we should alert the authorities honestly not the most reassuring response but I mean he was right what else could he tell us grab a gun and shoot whoever was at the door I didn't want to keep complaining to Mike constantly but I mean these were some valid concerns I was bringing up to him there was a lot of snow outside and it was a dark cloudy day there were still some flurries falling onto the ground I went out to
wipe the snow off my Jeep and while I was doing so I noticed Footsteps in the snow they looped around the house I remembered the knocks for the night before and wondered if it was from the same person but these Footprints looked fresh and it snowed all night surely the footprints from last night would have filled in by now I heard footsteps approaching now actually and I saw Tom walking from around my car I told him about the hot water heater problem and that Mike said they were sending someone to take a look at it
he said he knew and that he was here to take a look at it actually I also told them about the knocks at the door last night and the footprints in the snow I even showed him he looked at them and said there's a lot of strange folk out here that go snooping around at night I asked if we should refrain from using the hot tub at night then and he said no that shouldn't be be a problem the people around here are harmless he went inside into the house and walked around for a bit
before walking down to the basement he told me he'll have a look at the hot water heater Tom seems like a weird dude honestly I messaged Mike saying Tom's here now checking out the water heater Mike replied back asking is Tom the name of the plumber and I replied no your brother he replied what do you mean he said he's my brother it started to click in my head I responded do you have a brother brother named Tom who runs this Airbnb with you and he replied no who is this person I hurried to Charlotte
and told her to collect her things quietly we need to get out of here as quickly as we could we packed our bags grabbed all of our stuff and brought it outside to the car in one trip I'm sure we left behind a charger or something small but who cares we got in my car and when I started it I looked in the rearview mirror and saw Tom quickly approaching the rear of the Jeep I put it in Drive and drove out of there as quickly as I could when we were back on the road
we called Mike and explained everything and told him he needs to call the police now he didn't stay on the line with us for long but 20 minutes later he called us back we were in the car still he said the police were there now and didn't see anyone in the house Mike was on his way to the house as well but he was mostly calling to get more details from us we drove around the area and explored just as a way to calm our nerves after what just happened after a few hours we drove
home Mike messaged me later that night updating me and apologizing for everything he said he didn't know anyone who resembled my description of Tom what disturbs me is that man was watching us the entire time from the moment we arrived to when we were in the hot tub and he was probably the one banging on the front door in the middle of the night who knows what his intentions were it's a good thing we left when we did though
