09/05/2026
Three Terrifying Stranger Encounters
Story 1: The Delivery Driver and the Stalker (Late Night Delivery)
A sandwich shop delivery driver is making a late-night run around 11 p.m. At an empty intersection, the red light takes abnormally long to change. A black car with heavily tinted windows pulls up beside him. The driver feels uneasy but continues. After the light turns green, the black car doesn't move.
He arrives at the delivery address—a street of about ten nice-looking houses, but every single one is completely dark. The house he's delivering to has no lights either. He knocks, and the door swings open slightly, as if unlocked. Inside, there is no furniture, no decorations—just dust. The house appears empty and abandoned.
As he walks back to his car, he notices the black car now parked a few houses down. Then, through his car window, he sees something blocking the back seat. He realizes someone is hiding inside his car. He bolts back toward the house. A man in a black hoodie and pants jumps out of the back seat and runs to the black car, which speeds away.
Police arrive and tell him the entire street is unoccupied—the homes are new builds not yet sold. They also reveal that multiple similar reports have come in recently: someone orders delivery with a fake name and address, then follows the driver. The man had snuck inside the delivery driver's car and was waiting for him to get back in. The suspect was never found.
Story 2: The House Sitter and the Uninvited Guest (December)
A young man agrees to house-sit for a close friend's family while they're away for a week. He has done this before and is comfortable staying there. Around 6 p.m., after settling in, he goes out for dinner and returns to watch TV.
Around 6:30, a man in his 30s knocks on the door. He asks if the homeowner is there, calling him by name. The house sitter says he'll have to come back another time. The man leaves without another word. The sitter texts his friend, who says he has no idea who that man is.
Around 9 p.m., the same man knocks again. This time, the sitter does not open the door and yells through it for him to come back another day. The man stares at the door, thinks for a moment, then walks away again. The sitter locks the door but does not call the police, not wanting to overreact.
Later, after showering and turning off the lights, he does one last check of the windows. When he looks at the front door, he notices the lock is sideways—it is unlocked. He knows he locked it. He goes to grab his phone from the end table, but it is gone. Someone has already taken it.
He grabs his keys and runs out the front door, then calls 911 from his car. Police search the house and find the same man sitting in a spare bedroom. He is arrested silently, with a forged key to the front door in his pocket. The friend still claims not to know the man, but the two have barely spoken since. The sitter is certain that if he had gone to bed without noticing the unlocked door, he would not have woken up.
Story 3: The Gamer and the Intruder with Knives (Late Night at Home)
A man comes home from work at 10 p.m. and stays up late gaming while his friends sleep. A few hours in, he hears a single loud knock. He checks the front door—no one is there. He chalks it up to the old house settling and goes back to gaming.
About half an hour later, he hears a click, like something closing. He takes off his headset and does a quick walkthrough of the house but sees nothing obvious. He returns to his desk but hesitates to put his headset back on.
A couple of minutes later, a reflection or shadow moves across his computer screen. He spins around. His desk is in the living room, with a long hallway behind him leading to three rooms and the front door. He realizes the reflection moved from the left side of the hallway to the right side—toward his bedroom. He is now certain someone is inside that room.
Without hesitating, he sprints down the hallway and out the front door. He hears nothing as he flees. Police arrive and pull a man out of the house. He is about 55, large, with bloodshot eyes and a disheveled beard. He is carrying two knives. The intruder had no particular reason for choosing this victim—he was simply unstable and dangerous. The man knows he got lucky that night to still be standing there today.
