[Music] when hit the fan with my parents I had to move out I was down on my luck living situation wise I could only crash on the couches of my friends for so long I was looking on all the roommate and apartment apps and websites and I found something that caught my eye on this app a man named Luke had listed a room for rent in his three-bedroom one-story house the rent price was 1,200 a month he'd basically be my landlord and roommate as he would also be living in the house he made sure to
note on the ad that he'd be out of the house most of the time and that the renter would have the place to themselves often he did put in all capital letters a few ground rules though including no parties no large Gatherings no drinking in the living room and no use of the basement they seemed like pretty standard rules I went to view the house in person and meet Luke the second he opened the door I got a bit of a read on him that he was a little reclusive his demeanor was quiet and a
little awkward he showed me the house I could tell he was nervous because his voice would shake and he would stutter the bedroom was a good size and the actual floor plan of the house was good it was an open layout meaning the kitchen living room and dining room were all one big open space for 1,000 a month in my area it was a steal he laid out some more ground rules in person and he emphasized again how I can't go in the Attic or the basement as I used them for storage only sounded fair
enough on the spot I told him I'm interested we shook hands I left and 2 days later I was moving in we didn't draft any sort of lease or contract I was just going to be paying him off the books month to month the first day of every month I had settled in pretty quickly the bedroom I was renting was already furnished with a bed and basic Furniture so all I did really was hang some of my wall decor and fill the dresser and closet with clothes the bedroom had had a lock on it thankfully
and he gave me the key to it so I could lock it when he wasn't home which seemed like a nice gesture at first Luke never told me what he did for work he just told me he usually wouldn't be home but I quickly learned that wasn't true anytime I'd come home from work his car was always in the driveway quickly I started to pick up on loud sounds outside of my bedroom at night from footsteps to doors opening and closing constantly one night I went out in the middle of the night just to go
to the bathroom and I noticed the basement door was opened I walked over to the top of the stairs and looked down there was a dim light from down there seemingly from a far Corner out of view I heard banging sounds coming from down there it was like 2: a.m. what could he be doing down there then the bang stopped and Luke appeared at the bottom of the stairs and looked up at me it was so creepy that describing it in words doesn't do it justice he looked visibly annoyed as he looked up at me
I apologized and said said I'm just going to the bathroom he almost angrily responded shut the basement door I listened to him insanely weirded out I went to the bathroom and then back to bed I laid awake for a while after that now with my mind racing wondering what he's doing about a week later I returned home and noticed my bedroom door was unlocked I always locked it before leaving every day I looked around my room to see if anything was missing and while nothing seemed to be missing I noticed some things had been moved
for starters my clothes in the dressers were not neatly stacked anymore they had been looked through I could tell the closet door was also cracked open it was Dawning on me that he had his own key and he likely came into my room and went through my stuff this felt like a clear invasion of privacy and a violation of my tenant rights I had to figure out how to confront him about it I went to knock on his bedroom door but he didn't answer his car was in the driveway once again so he had to
be home I was getting such weird vibes from all this I gave up and went back to my room after microwaving my dinner while I was in my room relaxing and watching TV I heard the door to Luke's room open I took this opportunity to get up and confront him so I went out to the living room and caught him in a hurry about to leave the house I stopped him and asked if he went into my room he looked at me with a blank expression and straight up said no I delicately responded without being
hostile saying that the door was unlocked locked and some of my stuff appeared to have been gone through he then claimed that I had the only key to my bedroom and then he said he's in a hurry he has to go and he left I was flabbergasted by all of this I wanted to ask my parents for advice but at that time I hated them and wanted nothing to do with them I was already back on the apps and websites looking up other listings I knew I didn't want to stay here then I realized this
was the first apparent time that Luke wasn't home while I was curiosity got the better of me and I had to check out the basement I checked out the windows first to make sure his car was gone and it was I then went over to open the basement door oddly enough I couldn't find any light switches so I just used the flashlight on my phone to navigate around the steps were so creaky I felt like I was in an abandoned house I got to the bottom and there was a tan carpet that was curling upwards
at the walls as if it were poorly fitted to the floor it was a very small basement at least the main room there was was just this one ugly couch in the middle of the room there was also a slightly funky smell down there and the smell only got worse as I got closer to this door in the corner I attempted to open the door but unfortunately it was locked or maybe I should say fortunately because I'm not sure I fully wanted to know what was in there admitting that smell it almost smelled like raw
sewage but worse I did one little quick sweep around the main room of the basement though and I found nothing just some taped up cardboard boxes which which I was not going to open I went back upstairs and shut the door the rest of that night I stayed in my room I never heard Luke come back he must have gotten back after I had fallen asleep I woke up the room was still dark my alarm was not going off something else had woken me up I heard the floor next to my bed crack and I
turned and saw Luke leaning over my bed looking at me I screamed and he replied to me to shush and then asked me if I went into the basement I screamed no how did you get in here I locked the door he then asked me are you sure I flipped the cards on him and yelled did you come into this room when I wasn't home he replied no then he turned around and walked toward the door I asked how did you get in here then I saw him hold up his hand in the dark he
wasn't holding anything at the time I didn't know what it meant he said to me before leaving the room I think you should find other living arrangements and then he closed the door I started packing my right then and there I wasn't staying another minute in that house I knocked on his door and yelled at him to give me half of the rent money back since I'd only been there like 2 weeks moments later he opened the door and just his arm stuck out from the door holding a small stack of $100 bills he managed
to make even handing me the money insanely creepy I grabbed it it was only $400 whatever it was close enough I just wanted to get out of there I was fully packed and out of there within an hour I slept in my car that night I ended up back at my parents house the next day and after explaining the ludicrous I just went through something changed where they were more welcoming to have me back I still moved out a month later but my parents and I are fine now if you're choosing to have a random
roommate from online just be careful and use your best judgment after meeting them [Music] it was my junior year of college I had moved off campus into a student apartment building my roommate was sort of assigned to me by the school in the sense that he was just someone else who needed someone to live with his name was David and he seemed like a nice guy at first he was friendly and polite always smiling and making small talk but as the days went by I started to notice strange things about him little quirks and odd
behaviors that made me feel uneasy it started with the way David would always linger in my room asking pushy questions about my personal life and poking around my belongings as if he were way too comfortable doing so at first I brushed it off as harmless curiosity even if I found it kind of weird but the more I thought about it the more it bothered me then there were the sounds I would hear coming from David's room late at night talking and shuffling noises that were slightly concerning I tried to ignore them telling myself it was
just David watching TV or talking on the phone but deep down I knew knew something wasn't right one night unable to sleep because of the strange noises coming from David's room I decided to investigate I crept silently down the hallway and pressed my ear against David's door straining to hear what was going on inside what I heard was just weird it was the sound of David whispering to himself his voice low and muffled and then just as suddenly as it had started the whisperers stopped and there was nothing but silence then I heard Jeff David
said my name did he somehow know I was outside his door I quickly and quietly tiptoed away from his door and back to my room I silently crawled back into my bed I didn't know what to make of this why was David talking to himself was he hiding something from me or was he sleepwalking but then how did he know I was outside of his room I couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness the next day I kept thinking about the night before as the day days went by and the sounds from David's room persisted my
paranoia only grew worse I couldn't shake the feeling that David was hiding something from me David's Behavior also became stranger I started to notice little subtle changes in his behavior like he would make strange glances at me and his movement seemed a little furtive one night I woke up at some off hour in the night and heard David's Whispering voice from outside in the hallway like right outside my door it was genuinely freaking me out and I was wondering if he was sleepwalking I went to the door and put my ear up against it and
like last time the whispering stopped and then David once again said Jeff this time I replied and said yeah you good he didn't respond I just heard his footsteps walk away to his room the following night I woke up to the sound of my bedroom door closing I heard David's footsteps walking away in the hallway this was getting out of hand the next day I decided to confront him about his potential sleepwalking I told him I'd been hearing him walking around late at night and heard him close my door last night I then asked him
if he has ever been known to sleepwalk or have any kind of sleeping disorders he seemed to not know how to answer at first but then he said yes he does tend to sleepwalk sometimes I wasn't buying it though something was up I decided to search David's room for answers I knew it was risky but I couldn't ignore the nagging feeling that something was wrong I waited until David was out of the apartment then I crept into his room I knew that I might not have much time so I searched quickly tearing through drawers and
closets in search of anything that might explain David's nightly strange behavior and then just as I was about to give up I found it a small nondescript drawer hidden at the back of David's closet I pulled it open and my blood ran cold at what I found inside it was a collection of photographs dozens of them mostly featuring me as asleep and one other guy who looked to be our age all mixed together they were taken from different angles and distances some of them so close up that I could see the pores on my skin
and individual strands of hair on my head I felt sick to my stomach as I realized what I was looking at David had been secretly taking pictures of me while I slept without my knowledge or consent I couldn't believe it I had been living with some kind of sick Voyer like he probably got off somehow to these pictures he had been violating my privacy and invading my personal space for who knows how long I wanted to confront David to demand answers but I was afraid of what he might do afraid of what he might say
afraid of what might happen if I confronted him alone so I took a picture of the contents of the drawer and then took a handful of the photos as evidence to use against David I packed my things and the next day I showed the photos to the department in charge of student housing accommodations and they told me to let them take the appropriate action I was lucky and got assigned to a different apartment with the normal person who needed a roommate I never spoke to David again even now years later I still can't shake the
memory of those chilling photographs and David's whispering and creeping around at night I never found out who the other guy in the photos was it was definitely his old roommate but I was never able to find his name but who knows maybe he also found out [Music] when I was 23 I had to move out of state for work I still work with the company but I've been able to move back to my hometown and work at the local office here but at the time I needed somewhere to live that wouldn't be Bank breaking I
made a posting on basically all the websites for a roommate Facebook Craigslist Twitter and even on my neighborhood subreddit I had a guy named Rob reach out to me on Facebook stating he has a room available in his place I looked at his pictures to see if he looked like a somewhat normal guy and he did I was open to the idea of having a male roommate as long as they seemed normal even though my parents were very against it Rob and I facetimed during which he gave me a virtual tour of the place apparently
he owned the place outright it was a modest house in the middle of town only a 10-minute drive from where my office would be he also seemed pretty nice I didn't get any bad vibes at all his price was fair and his rules were pretty fair too he said it was available to move in right away which was perfect so it was settled a week later I had all my things packed and drove down I met Rob right out front of the house where he greeted me and handed me a key the first thing I
noticed about him was he was really short he was eye level with me he helped me bring some of the bigger and heavier bags inside he showed me my room which was furnished already he said one of his friends had been living there and recently moved out I replaced all the pillows and bed sheets with my own of course the rest of that day was me settling in Rob I could see was trying to get to know me me and presumably make me feel at home I didn't get any overly friendly Vibes yet the next
day was Sunday Rob offered to drive me around town to show me around I wasn't eager to but I said sure just to get off on a good start with him he drove us around town showing me where the good shopping centers are good restaurants and stuff like that but then he offered to get us lunch I really wasn't hungry and he was suggesting a sit down lunch almost like a date I didn't want him to get any kind of wrong idea I just needed a room I said I'm not hungry and then he right
away suggested we go grab drinks somewhere instead I politely shot it down too saying I don't drink on work nights he was being a bit pushy saying come on just a couple drinks I still maintain my politeness and said another time he gave up and he went really quiet all of a sudden like he was upset I'll admit I was slightly uncomfortable but nothing I couldn't handle yet that week was my first week at work and so my my attention was focused mostly on adjusting to the work week it wasn't until a few days into
the week that I got home and did my laundry and noticed my hamper full of clothes seemed moved like the clothes weren't how I remembered they were left and it wasn't until I was loading the washing machine that I noticed a pair of my underwear was missing I checked my room top to bottom like five times it was gone I had a disturbing thought what if Rob no I refuse to believe that just yet and there was no chance in hell I would confront him and ask him that still I was now starting to wish
there was a lock on the bedroom door that weekend I bought a lockable door knob from Ace Hardware and while Rob wasn't home I swapped out the current doorknob with the new one now I could leave the place in peace I figured I'd tell Rob the next time I saw him he didn't come home that night though he must have been working his schedule seemed pretty random that night I awoke to banging on my bedroom door it was Rob he was saying my name and he didn't sound happy I checked the time and it was
like 1:30 in the morning I decided I would pretend I'm asleep I was honestly kind of scared to open the door I had a feeling it had to do with the doorknob and I was right the next morning I woke up to a bunch of texts from Rob saying we need to talk be home after work I simply responded is this about the doorknob and he responded back yes I apologized to him and said I was planning on telling him he replied back it comes off today I was getting incredibly nasty and weird vibes from
his tone my next response I thought out a little longer and basically said How I hope he can sympathize and understand that I'm a girl and I just feel safer being able to have privacy in my room he responded a little nicer this time but he still basically said no to my request and that the old doorknob needs to go back on I was confused I was upset but I had to respect his rules I did also install it without telling him so I felt like he had a right to be kind of mad but
how did he know I changed it it's not like I had the old doorknobs sitting out in the open the idea that he tried coming into my room that night kind of scared me I changed the doorknob back the next day and returned to Ace this is where things went really downhill though there was a knock at the door one day when Rob wasn't home it was a girl around my age she asked me if I was living here with Rob and I said yes she warned me to get out of there immediately that Rob
has multiple restraining orders against him from different girls and he's known to be a very dangerous creepy stalker I was at a loss for words I asked her how she knew I was here she said she knew that he was trying to rent his room and that it's not surprising he opted to have a girl move in she said she saw me moving in and wanted to wait till he wasn't home to come warn me I thanked her so much I truly was terrified now I had already paid Rob for the entire month I didn't
know what to do she said she would help me in any way she could I took her number and she left I started packing my things and looking for other places I could move to I found something across town a studio apartment sublet for a little more money I contacted the poster of the aded and she told me I could move in as soon as possible perfect now I just needed to tell Rob and get my money back I started packing some of my stuff into my car and I texted him that I'd have to
be moving out tomorrow as something with my family came up and I needed to go home he didn't answer he got back to the house house about an hour later and asked me about my text I came up with my best fake story possible and he said yeah he'll give me the money back tomorrow after he goes to the bank I was super relieved about an hour later he knocked on my door and then said did by some Chance some girl say something to you I simply said no what do you mean and he said
never mind it just seems like you're running away out of here for another reason I insisted that it was purely because of the family reasons he said okay and left sadly the story didn't end there I woke up that night and screamed at the top of my lungs when I saw a black figure sitting on the end of the bed it was Rob he turned and put his hand on my mouth and went sh I said please don't hurt me and he responded why would I hurt you I knew someone said something to you don't
believe what these girls say I said you're scaring me and this part is still just as insane to me as it was in that moment he started to caress my leg and he said I don't mean to scare you right after I said he's scaring me I got out of the bed and ran for the door and he screamed at me to stop I ran outside with my phone in hand and called the police I hid in the bush until they showed up and I explained the entire situation to them they made Rob come outside
and give his side of the story basically I told them I just want to get all my stuff out of the room and I'm leaving so the cops stayed there as I collected the remainder of my stuff and brought it all to my car I also insisted on Rob then mowing me the money back while the police were there and he did so actually the whole time the police were there he tried his best to act like some normal dude I could tell one of the officers then pulled me to the side to tell me
that this guy had been arrested before for other incidents with women but Rob denied ever coming in my room or touching me or anything so it was all he said she said I left the house and went straight to a hotel for the night the next day I moved into the studio apartment luckily the girl who posted it was able to to facilitate my quick move in I have never and will never live with another man who's not my boyfriend or husband ever again or just anyone I don't know for that matter [Music]
