This story is from when I was a senior in high school. Back then, I was a rebellious teenager, but only when it came to my family. I was not a bad kid by any means, just a punk when it came to my family.
I had a loving family, but I was that kid who was too cool to spend time with them. They always expected me to entertain my little brother, Jake, who was only 10 years old at the time of the story. I was 8 years older than him.
With that age difference, we may as well have been different species. Whenever we would take trips, my family would usually stay somewhere on or near the ocean. We only lived about 5 hours from the coast, so it was an easy trip.
This specific year, they decided to take a trip to Maine. Don't get me wrong, it was beautiful, and as an adult, I would love to go back, but as an 18-year-old, I thought that this was the worst trip we could ever take. Before I continue the story, let me just acknowledge that I know how much of a piece of garbage I was back then.
Even as I write this, I can't believe how much of a little punk I was. We got to the house, and it was incredible. It looked like something out of a Stephen King novel, which was fitting because we were in Maine.
It was a massive white house with green shutters that was deep within the trees. My dad even made the joke, "This is how most horror movies start, isn't it? " Probably not the best thing to say in front of a 10-year-old.
But my brother didn't care. He was just as mesmerized by the house as I was. Inside the house was almost like a maze.
The back center of the house was a huge living room that had an awesome view of a forest behind the house. The rest of the house had all these hallways that intersected in places that strangely didn't make sense. It was like a house you would design in the Sims and not something you'd see in real life.
The weirdest part of this place was not the hallways. It was that the house connected to a small adjoining house. The house where the owner of the property we were staying at lived.
His name was Hugh. He was, let's say, strange. He was tall and wore this very old sweatstained bucket hat.
His teeth were very yellow, but it wasn't his physical characteristics that stood out. It was his personality. He was goofy and loud, a bit eccentric even.
He welcomed my family and acted very friendly toward us. He kept referring to how kind folks from Maine were. My family's polite and nodded along with him while he was talking to them.
He told us that he was right next door if we needed anything and other than that we wouldn't hear or see him for the entire week. We weren't thrilled about having this person basically in the same house as us. But there was nothing we could do now and we just decided to make the best of it.
Well, my family decided to make the best of it. I was being the worst and telling my family that I wanted to leave. I was looking for any excuse to leave and come home.
The first morning there, while we were eating breakfast, my parents told us that we were going on this great hike. I told them that I didn't want to go. After a little back and forth, they decided to let me stay at the house, and the three of them were going to go on the hike.
The main reason I didn't want to go was that right before vacation, I had just started dating this girl, Danny, and I wanted to talk to her. I knew if I went on the hike, I wouldn't get service. So, I ditched my family to text my high school girlfriend.
I was telling Danny about the house and sending her pictures of the weird layout. When I told her about the adjoining house, she didn't believe me. I told her I was going to send her a video to prove it.
At the end of one of the hallways was a door. I sent her a video telling her that behind that door is Hugh's house. She still didn't believe me, so I sent her a video.
I went to open the door assuming it would be locked and it wasn't. The worst part of this was that the door to Hughes was right next to the door to my bedroom. This guy's unlocked door that was right next to where I would be sleeping.
I didn't love that. I ended up walking inside Hugh's house while on FaceTime with Danny. It was just a normal little house.
The room I was in had a TV and a couch. Nothing spectacular. I heard a door shut from somewhere in the house, and I panicked and ran back to our side of the house.
A few minutes later, Hugh was knocking at the door. He was still cheerful and goofy and asked why I was recording videos of his house. I tried lying and telling him that I was just lost, but he didn't believe me.
He also didn't seem that mad. He told me that he had cameras in his house and he got alerted to one of the doors opening. When he checked it, he had me on video flashing my phone all over the room.
I just told him the truth after that and he laughed. He made some weird comment about how nobody in Maine locks their doors. I laughed awkwardly and said I had to go.
He left and you better believe I locked the door. Maybe people in Maine don't lock their doors, but where I'm from, you locked the doors and checked twice. Danny told me that she didn't trust this guy and that I needed to protect myself just in case.
I carried a large wooden chair over to the door and basically propped it against the door as a makeshift lock. When my family came back, I told them about the weird interaction with Hugh, but they were more angry with me that I went into his house. They were right, but I still yelled at them anyway.
My parents had only been back for maybe 30 or 40 minutes and told me to get ready because we were going out for dinner. Again, I protested and said I wasn't leaving. My parents were still a little upset about the Hugh thing, so they didn't bother fighting with me.
They told me that they would bring food home for me. Not long after they were gone, the sun went down. I looked out the windows and it was pitch black, like no light at all.
A couple of hours later, I was sitting on the couch texting Danny when I heard a loud crash. I sprang up right away. It sounded like it came from the end of the hall where Hugh's door was locked.
I started putting pieces together in my head, and I concluded that the sound very well could have been the sound of the big wooden chair being knocked over. My first thought was that Hugh was trying to get in. I snuck over to the hallway, wanting to catch this creep in the axe.
It was too dark to see at the end of the hall. I flipped the light switch and the chair was knocked over and on the ground next to the chair was a backpack. A backpack that wasn't mine.
I ran to the screened in front porch, locked the door that led to the inside of the house and made sure the screen door to the outside was locked. I know it's not exactly a fortress, but it would at least give me time to make a move if I needed to. I sat in the fetal position on the ground under a patio table.
I didn't know what to do. And of course, I left my phone in the living room where I was texting Danny. I heard footsteps coming from inside the house.
Not erratic movements, just normal walking. I don't know exactly how long had passed, but it was at least several minutes when I saw the headlight of my dad's van pulling in. I got up, ran outside, and told them to stay in the car.
My parents were confused because I was speaking incoherently about what happened. That's when Hugh came over, and I just about fell on the ground. He leaned over to my dad and said he needed to talk to him in private.
I tried pulling my dad back, but he basically just dismissed me. I could tell by Hugh's body language that something was wrong. He wasn't being gleeful and silly anymore.
He looked like he had seen a ghost. My dad shook Hugh's hand, turned to me, and told me to get into the van. He said that we needed to go somewhere quickly.
My little brother was confused, and I could tell my dad was freaked out. My dad drove away from the house and to the grocery store parking lot about a mile down the road. Just minutes later, we saw several police cars drive by the parking lot.
We all started yelling at my dad to tell us what was going on, and he was honest with us and told us everything. Hugh also heard the loud noise. He got an alert that his camera had been set off.
The chair that I was using as a lock must have had enough of an impact on the door when it was knocked over that it registered movement on Hugh's camera. He assumed I was trying to get inside his house again. He thought that maybe I was trying to pull some kind of high school prank.
He checked the cameras and didn't see anything. He said he had a gut feeling that something was wrong, so he decided to invade our privacy and check the camera that he had in the hallway of the house we were staying in. It was too dark to see anything until I turned the light on.
He still only saw the knocked over chair in the backpack, which he thought could be mine. Just as he was about to turn the camera off, he saw a tall, bald man come out of the bedroom I was staying in. A man he knew wasn't my dad and wasn't me.
The man grabbed the backpack and went back into the room. Hugh ran outside immediately to help me and noticed that's right when I had locked the screen door and ducked down. He was smart enough to assume that I probably wouldn't have believed him.
And he was right. I wouldn't have. Instead, Hugh hid in the front yard with a clear vantage point of the house just in case this intruder tried anything.
He didn't want to sneak in through the adjoining house and potentially alert the intruder because he thought that might put me in danger. As soon as my family returned, he told my dad everything and that's why we ran off. We were only in the parking lot for a few minutes when Hugh called and said that the police chased the man into the woods and they hadn't caught him yet.
He told us to remain there and that he would grab all our things and bring them to us. We stayed at a hotel that night and drove home the next morning. If I hadn't acted like a spoiled kid and stayed at the house, all this could have played out much differently.
It could have been a lot worse. A few months later, my dad reached out to Hugh and asked him if they ever caught the guy. They never did.
Even with all Hugh's cameras around the property, they still didn't know how he got in or even what his intentions were. He could have just been a homeless man looking for shelter. At least that's what I told myself back then so I could sleep at night.
Sometimes the scariest things that happen to us aren't always face tof face interactions. Sometimes it's just people hiding in plain sight. Every year my family goes on this epic vacation together.
We stay at my aunt and uncle's house that's right on the ocean in West Palm Beach. Their son Will is the same age as me, and we've always been good friends. It's also not just my immediate family.
My other aunt and uncle join us and bring their kids as well. Their daughter Teresa is my best friend. We went all through high school together, and because we're the same age, have the same last name, and kind of resemble each other, everybody thought we were twins.
We would love these family vacations because we would tell strangers that we were twins. As we got older, Teresa, Will, and I would party like rock stars on these family vacations. We would spend the day on the beach with the family, but at night, Will would take us to bars and clubs.
Because he was the local boy, he knew all the hot spots. On one specific family vacation from a few years ago, the three of us witnessed something weird, something that still bothers me and freaks me out to this day. Teresa and Will aren't so freaked out.
They think what we witnessed was some kind of prank or just a weird occurrence. I'm just not so sure. The trip was like any other West Palm family vacation.
We were living it up. Once in a while on these trips, Will would accidentally have a little too much to drink. Maybe it wasn't accidental.
The boy liked his drinks, but because of this, Teresa and I would know exactly when he hit his limits. That's usually when we would call it a night and find a ride home. I was always responsible for us getting home.
I would only drink to a certain point and then spend the rest of the time making sure that Teresa and especially Will didn't end up in a ditch somewhere. On this specific night, Will started getting a little rowdy in one of the bars. He kept saying that because he was a local, he could run his mouth, but that's not a thing.
He was making a lot of people inside the bar mad, and he ended up getting thrown out of the bar we were at. And I mean, he physically got thrown out of the bar by the bouncer. He was mumbling a little bit, but he was fine.
He didn't hit his head or anything. I think his self-esteem was hurt more than anything. I told Teresa to watch him while I tried to find us an Uber or another way home.
He kept calling me a buzzkill and that's kind of how I knew it was time to go. I secured us a ride that would be there shortly. While we were waiting, I called my boyfriend and just told him about the night we were having.
He laughed and told me to call him when I got back to the house. Just as I hung up the phone, Teresa ran over to me freaking out. She said she wasn't paying attention to Will while she was on her phone, and he got up and wandered off.
The boy was in no condition to wander anywhere. I tried calling him, but his phone kept going right to voicemail, which is right on brand for Will. After a few minutes of running around the streets yelling his name, I heard Teresa shout at me that she could see him.
Thankfully, it was Will. He was walking in a very crooked line and heading towards the swamp or forest or something. I don't know what you would call it in Florida.
I don't know the difference between what qualifies as a forest or a swamp. It was a heavily wooded area with a lot of mud and dirt. I'm going to refer to it in the story as a swamp because I feel like that's more on brand for Florida.
Anyway, Teresa grabbed him before we entered the swamp and started giving him a verbal beatdown. Will was laughing and acting like a toddler. As soon as Teresa let go of Will, he sprinted into the swamp.
I don't know if it was adrenaline or rage, but without thinking, we sprinted into the woods after him. It only took us a little while to catch up. He was so messed up that he wasn't moving very fast.
Using the flashlight from the cell phone, we were able to see just how dirty and gross this area was. Our feet were completely covered in mud. As we started heading out of the thick brush, Will, of all people, told us to shush.
We both looked at him like we were going to smash him in the face. And before we could speak, he told us to be quiet again. He ducked down and looked scared.
This was a completely different Will than 10 seconds ago. It didn't take us long to realize why Will got down. We heard shouting and screaming coming from somewhere in the swamp.
It wasn't just normal screaming. At least to me, it didn't sound that way. It was like screams I've never heard before, and I haven't heard them since.
The three of us just stayed quiet and stayed put while the sounds of these screams echoed all around us. We couldn't tell exactly where the screams were coming from, but whoever was screaming sounded like they were in trouble. Then, almost as abruptly as they started, the screams stopped.
We didn't move. We stayed put in that muddy swamp for at least another 15 minutes. Then, we sprinted out of the swamp as fast as we could and made our way back to one of the streets with the bars.
We got a ride home and sobered up real quick. We tried figuring out what we heard so we could make a rational explanation. Anything we came up with wasn't good.
Teresa came up with the idea to check out the swamp in the morning. During the day, she said we could safely navigate the area and see if there was anything to be worried about. I know I would never be able to navigate my way back to exactly where we were that night before.
But Teresa's good like that. She's like a professional hiker, and she proved that by getting us to the exact spot we were hiding in the night before. All three of our indents were still in the dirt from where we were hiding.
We all talked for a little bit about what direction we thought the screams came from, even though it was hard to pinpoint because of the way the scream echoed. We all surprisingly agreed on the same general direction. Teresa led the way through the thick brush.
This wasn't like a normal path. We were basically walking through bushes and mud puddles. A few minutes later, Teresa gasped.
On one of the tree branches was the sleeve of a denim jacket. Just the sleeve. On the ground below the torn sleeve was a bunch of different footprints in the mud, almost like it was a struggle of some kind.
I was ready to go back, but Teresa pushed forward a little bit. Not far from the sleeve was a small opening surrounded by trees. On the ground was the rest of the denim jacket.
Surrounding the jacket were more of the footprints in the mud that looked like they were all bunched up in one spot. Again, making me feel like a struggle took place here. Leading away from the jacket was one set of footprints.
They led straight into more thick brush where it was impossible to track the footsteps anymore. I was done with all of this. I told Theresa and Will that I didn't feel safe anymore and that I wanted to go back to the house.
They weren't as freaked out as me, but they were uneasy about all of this. We went back to the house and I don't know why I let them talk me into this, but we agreed to just let it go. I was sure at that moment that we had witnessed some form of potential crime, but Will and Teresa didn't fully agree.
They said it was possible, but most likely it was just a joke, or even more likely a coincidence that we found the code and just happened to hear screaming the night before. Will also convinced us that if we got law enforcement involved, we would be the only ones linked to the crime, if there was one. And that scared us, even though we clearly had nothing to hide.
He made the point that it's possible the cops wouldn't believe three young adults were just in the middle of this random swampy area and witnessed a potential crime. Would they really believe that our drunk cousin just wandered into the swamp? If I could do it over, I would have called the police right after I heard the screams.
At the time, I just thought Will made good points, and I thought it was best to just move on and forget about it. It's been several years now, and I still think about that scream. I've always wondered if I truly witnessed a crime or if I just witnessed some intense domestic issue.
I'm happy to get this story off my chest. It's been therapeutic in a way to share this. I hope nobody has to ever hear those kinds of screams in your lifetime because you'll never forget them.
This story I'm about to tell you happened to my girlfriend and I last summer. It was the first time we were able to travel together as a couple, and we were excited about it. She came with me one time on a family vacation, but that's not the same as being alone together.
So, this felt like a memorable and important next step. The trip ended up being memorable, but not for the right reasons. Not that anyone will ever find out who we are, but just in case, for privacy sake, I'm going to refer to my girlfriend as Vanessa in the story.
One important detail I need to point out in the very beginning is that Vanessa loves to remind me that I'm way too nice and generous when it comes to meeting people. She claims there's a difference between just being nice like a normal person and being like my version of nice, which is apparently treating every new person I meet like they're my best friend. Those are her words, not mine.
I'm an overly friendly guy, and that's gotten me into trouble many times in my life, but only once did it almost cost me dearly. This story starts on the way down to Ocean City, Maryland. It's a fun little tourist town.
It's basically just a large coastal town with a ton of condos, hotels, and restaurants. And it's all right on the ocean for the most part. I used to travel there with my family when I was a kid, and this was the first time I visited as an adult.
When we were about 20 minutes away from the condo we would be staying at, I decided to pull over at a gas station and fill up the tank, as well as grab a few drinks. While I was inside, a guy who later introduced himself to me as Henry bumped into me. He turned around and started apologizing like crazy.
I put my hands up and assured him that it was completely fine and probably my fault anyway. Henry was a good-looking guy. He was wearing a pink and black button-up shirt and it was mostly unbuttoned.
He had kind eyes and he made direct eye contact while we were talking. He was probably in his late 20s if I had to guess, but I don't know for sure. We talked for a minute or two while we were in line and I told him that we were headed to Ocean City.
He lit up and told me that he and his girl were also heading to Ocean City. I got excited and told him the name of the condo that we were staying at, and he smiled and said he thinks he knows where that condo is, and he's pretty sure that they're located right near us. I was excited for this genuine interaction.
I get excited meeting people and making friends. One of my weaknesses is not being able to see the flaws in people. I think it's a strength, but Vanessa thinks it's a weakness, even though she loves that about me.
Henry asked me to exchange numbers and I did without hesitation. I told him that I'd give him a call sometime during the week and we could link up at the beach or maybe grab dinner one night. We gave each other a bro hug and went our separate ways.
When I got back in the car, Vanessa knew right away that I must have made a new friend because of the way I was acting. I told her the story and she just rolled her eyes. We got to the condo that afternoon and just had a relaxing evening in the room that night.
Our room was on the fifth floor and it overlooked the ocean. We sat on the balcony and admired the view until we went to bed. The next day, we went down to the beach early.
We're both early risers, so getting up early is no issue. We set up our chairs a little after 7:00 in the morning and drank our coffee on the beach. A few hours later, I heard someone shout my name from behind me.
I turned around and Henry was waving at me with a woman following him. She was not like Henry. He was mirroring a lot of my mannerisms and energy, and she looked miserable.
She was pale. Most of her face was covered by these huge sunglasses, and the rest was shaded by a huge sun hat. She was also wearing leggings and a button-up long-sleeved shirt.
She was also carrying this large tote bag that looked empty. This was a woman who did not like the sun. She didn't say much.
Henry introduced her as his woman friend, Sarah, and she just waved and gave an unenthusiastic smile. She was the opposite of the Henry I met the day before. After an awkward introduction, Henry asked if they could join us, and of course, we agreed.
The more the marrier was always my motto. They didn't have chairs or beach gear. Henry just plopped himself in the sand while his woman friend stood there.
I got up and offered her my chair, and she was hesitant for a second, but then took the seat. While we were sitting there, Henry told us they were staying in the building that was directly next to ours. My mind was blown.
I couldn't even believe the odds of that happening. That was a major red flag for Vanessa, but not for me. We hung out for another hour or so and then went back to the room.
Before we left, Henry kept asking if we could all go out tonight for a drink, but I could tell Vanessa didn't want to, so I just told him I'd call him if we decided to go out. When we got back to the room, Vanessa started to tell me about all her concerns. She said that Henry seemed fake and that he was giving her major creep vibes.
She also said that Sarah was one of the rudest humans she'd ever met. She complained about the sun the entire time. She also made a great point and said that she doesn't know anyone who comes to a beach town and hates the beach and then yet goes down to the beach without bringing a chair, a towel, an umbrella, or anything.
I told her she made great points and that I wouldn't call Henry the rest of the trip. The last thing I wanted was to ruin Vanessa's vacation. That night, I was sitting on the balcony smoking a cigar, even though that wasn't allowed.
It was late, but I'm not sure of the time. I was looking down on the beach, and I swore I could see Sarah down there walking alone. I mean, she had the big tote bag, the big hat, and the same outfit from earlier.
I was just too far away to be sure. I went back inside and got ready to call it a night. Vanessa was already in bed.
I went to make sure the door was locked and I thought I could hear someone talking coming from outside the door. This alone wouldn't be concerning as there are several condos on the floor, but the talking sounded like it was coming from right outside my condo. I tried to listen, but it just sounded like incoherent mumbling.
I got close to the door to check it was locked. And before I could grab the door knob, I noticed it shook as if someone was trying to open it from the other side. Instead of running or freaking out, I just politely shouted that they had the wrong room.
I heard the sound of footsteps running away after I said that. I had just assumed that maybe somebody had mistakenly tried to get into the wrong room. After all, accidents happen.
I stayed awake a little longer just to make sure I didn't have another surprise guest. Nobody else came to the door, and I went to sleep. The next day, the same thing happened.
Henry and Sarah seemingly came out of nowhere and joined us on the beach. They were wearing the same clothes again. Normally, that wouldn't be weird on the beach if you were wearing a bathing suit or something, but Henry and Sarah were not wearing bathing suits.
He was still wearing the same outfit I saw him wearing at the gas station, and she was wearing the same outfit as the day before. We didn't spend a lot of time at the beach on this day. I could tell Vanessa was all done with these two.
I politely told Henry that her and I were going to go back to the room for a while and then have a romantic dinner out. I told him that I'd text him if we were down to grab a drink later. He seemed overly excited for some reason and let us go.
While we were getting ready to go out, I looked out the balcony and I saw Sarah standing on the ground where the beach meets the patio of the condo building. She wasn't facing the building. She was facing the ocean.
It was weird that she was in front of our building and not where they were supposedly staying. But the weirdest thing was that Henry was nowhere to be found. She was by herself.
I watched her for a little while, which made me feel like a creep. A few minutes went by and Henry emerged from what looked like the bottom of our building. I watched him go over to Sarah.
He started waving his hands around and then stormed off in the opposite direction from where they were staying. Sarah waited a few seconds and then followed him. That whole interaction felt weird, but who am I to judge?
Once Vanessa was ready, we left the condo and went out to eat. While we were out, my phone kept ringing. It was Henry.
I didn't answer it. After dinner, we started walking back to the condo since we were only a few blocks away. Henry called again.
Vanessa told me to just text him back and tell him we're going to bed so he stops calling. So, I texted him and said that we were walking back from dinner and that we were going to bed early. Immediately, my phone started ringing.
It was Henry. I didn't answer. He finally sent a message that said, "Hey buddy, let's meet for a drink before you get back.
It's too early to go to bed. " Vanessa rolled her eyes and even I was getting annoyed now. I responded with another text that said, "Thanks for the offer, but we're going to bed.
We're already about to be at the condo. " Then I got the weirdest text of all. A text that may have had some other implications.
All it said was, "Don't go to your room yet. " We both stopped and contemplated the text while standing in the parking lot of the condo. Henry was strange, but was he capable of something malicious?
Vanessa thought so. We got to the room a few minutes later and noticed that the door was slightly open. I know for a fact that I did not leave the door open.
Vanessa started to panic and she waited in the hall. I slowly entered the room and was relieved everything looked how we left it, at least at first. Then I started noticing things that weren't how we left them.
The balcony door was open, but nobody was out there. In the bedroom, both of our suitcases were completely ransacked, and the only thing missing was a pair of Jordans I brought, Vanessa's bathing suit, and a picture of us that we had printed out and left on the dresser in the bedroom. We called the police and told them that we thought it might be Henry and Sarah who broke into our room, but those were almost for sure fake names.
The condo next door had no record of a Henry staying there. And the only Sarah in the building was not that Sarah. When they tried to track the phone, it was no longer in service.
The local police told us that it's not something that happens a lot in that town, but occasionally some people will try to rob tourists. We were just some of the unlucky people who were chosen. I guess the only thing I took from this experience is that I really need to be more careful about who I trust.
And if anyone out there visits Ocean City, Maryland, just be careful because somewhere out there, Henry and Sarah are still lurking.
