In 2018 I worked at a popular makeup store. It was situated in a very popular, busy mall, the biggest one in our city. My manager and I were on the late shift this weekend and were finishing at 9pm.
*Very important to mention, during that time there were a number of almost abduction cases in that mall. None of them were successful and kids were mainly targeted. I'm in my early 20s but could pass for 16.
At around 8pm our store is absolutely dead and my manager and I are both tired and bored. I go to stand at my usual spot - the entrance of our store. I usually smile at / greet shoppers walking by just to pass time and keep myself distracted.
Directly opposite our store, there is a small stall where funny and funky t-shirts are sold. It has shelves with huge gaps between them so I can easily see people on the other side of this stall.
While I'm standing at our store entrance, I see a male through the shelves, staring at me. He was white, probably in his mid 30s, tallish, extremely disheveled appearance. His shirt was grey and had black greasy looking stains on it, his hair was longish, tangled/knotted and unkempt. He also had a stained white sling bag that resembled a mini sack, he was holding it oddly - gripping and scrunching the material of it and not the actual strap of it. He looked very out of place. I brushed it off at first and just avoided looking at him. 5 minutes later, I see him still staring at me. Completely fixated.
At this point I'm kind of creeped out so I go back inside the store to tell my manager and she says it's okay, he's probably just being a weirdo and there are security guards in the mall. I say okay and decide to stay within the store, trying to occupy myself with cleaning counters.
10 minutes later, I've forgotten about this guy and I'm back at the door. I look at the stall again and the guy is still there, HOWEVER, this time his body is facing me but he's looking downwards at something he's holding.
I look closer and he has a camera in his hand. It's positioned dead center of his stomach (as to 'keep it out of sight') focusing on me and I'm standing there confused and panicked. Before I can even move the flash from his camera goes off and now I am absolutely terrified. The flash also seemed to shock him because he was startled by it and sort of leaped backwards when he saw it go off. As soon as it did, he looked straight at me and took off running.
I was now shaking now and ran back inside to tell my manager but she wasn't very helpful. She told me to not stress about it and try to forget it.
Why was he taking pictures of me and why did he run? And what else was on the camera??
I ended up resigning not long after, after a few more creepy experiences that may very well be connected to that man. But I'll never really know
Creepy, yet wise old man.
I was around 10 or 11 when this happened. Just for some basic backstory, my parents are separated and my dad is a dick. He had gone a bit overboard in making me hate myself that night so I planned to run to my moms house. Quite stupid, really. Long walk and I didn't even know the way there.
Anyways, I had made it out of the house and was just turning the corner when an old man had run into me.
I live in one of those closed off neighbourhoods where mostly old people live, I don't know what it's called. But I knew pretty much everyone who lived in that place, and I'd never seen this guy before.
"You shouldn't run away. It's not safe for a little lady like yourself at this time of night." He had said, in a soothing yet creepy voice.
It was weird that he knew I was running away, but I shook it off. "My dad is mean, I'm going to my moms house." I had replied. And this part I remember so vividly. He said it in such a chilling voice.. "You'll regret it, young lady." I remember spinning around to see nobody. It was so strange.
I ended up sitting at the corner until my dad had realized I was gone and got in the car to find me. I don't think I ever mentioned this strange man to anyone, and yet I still think about him a lot.