August 30, 2023 | Christine Tran

Survivors Dish On Their Creepiest Encounters With Stalkers


What happens when someone can’t take no for an answer? Stalkers aren’t just the stuff of thrillers and horror movies. Stalking is an upsettingly common form of harassment that afflicts people from all genders, ages, and walks of life. With the rise of social media and texting, it’s easier than ever to keep tabs on someone, regardless of whether the person even want their tabs kept. We might joke that we’re “stalking” our exes when do things like scrolling through their timeline pictures—but in many cases, stalking doesn’t simply stop at online peeping. Unwanted attention can put real relationships and even lives in serious danger.

Reddit asked users to share their scariest encounters with stalking. From overeager suitors to violent exes who couldn’t let go, there are plenty—too many—stalkers to go around. Close the blinds and set the alarms to these 42 chilling stories about the creepiest personal encounters with stalkers.


36. Take a Big Hint

High school boyfriend, I (Senior) split up with him (Junior). He was already controlling, judgmental, and physically hurtful.

I was moving on to college at the local university. He went crazy, lost his darn mind. He began by sending threatening messages (about 200 a day), making phone calls, showing up during my classes. Showing up at my house. Broke into my car and sat in the backseat; my best friend & I had gone to the movies, and when we came out I was going to drop her off at home and she noticed a huge mark on the passenger side of the car—looked in the back seat and there he was laying on the floor trying to hide. Bought a new car with new plates.

He broke into my dorm room, I then left the dorms because I felt unsafe and moved into an apartment not far from campus with two female roommates. He found out where I was living and broke in there too while I was in the shower. Told him to get out and he came after me with a blade. Had to call the authorities and lock myself in the bathroom, he was gone by the time the authorities showed up.

Was dating a newer guy, who was an absolute gentleman and I warned him about the ex-boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend crashes one of our dates and jumps the new guy with five friends. I also end up with my face smashed in for "cheating.”

I moved back into my parents’ house. Ex-boyfriend attempted to break into my parents’ house at five o'clock on a Sunday, so my entire family was home. Dad caught him and put a piece in his mouth...that was the end of that. Dad is 6'5" tall, ex-forces, and scary.

Dad did not end him; however, I think that scared my ex enough. He has left me alone for five years now. I travel back home frequently and when he sees me he looks the other way.

A restraining order is just a piece of paper. In that state, I was underage to legally carry a concealed weapon.

scared girl and creepy guy split image

35. No Laughing Matter

He'd show up everywhere I went, dressed as a clown. It was like a bad horror movie. I couldn't figure out for the longest time how he knew where I'd be, but it turned out a "friend" was feeding him info. Once I cut her off, he had a lot harder time finding me.

Creepiest Encounters with Stalkers FactsWikimedia Commons

34. Tracking Details

She would use Find My iPhone to track me. She later told me she knew when I was going on a bike ride because of the speed at which I traveled and the route I took.

Strangest Interactions factsPexels

33. Timestamped Stalking

I made it very clear to this girl that I didn’t want anything to do with her, but she doesn’t take no for an answer.

Every morning I turn my phone on and see that I have usually over seven missed calls and 10 or 13 new text messages from her. She stalks my Facebook and usually says, "So how come you were able to update your status at exactly 11:37 and not able to text me back." She follows me home and waits outside my house. Horrible.

Creepiest Encounters with Stalkers FactsShutterstock

32. Too You Long Enough

When I was in high school this one girl stalked me for almost two years. The thing is, I didn't realize that she liked me until two months into her showing up outside of all of my classes.

Creepiest Encounters with Stalkers FactsShutterstock

31. Put Some Effort in

My husband's ex-wife stalked me for a bit some years back, but it was a really weenie way of stalking. She had her friends stake out my apartment to see if he was over, probably followed me to work and other places too.

I was having issues with my future in-law and made the mistake of making a blog post about it. By some "miracle" one of the ex's friends found the post and told my in-law all about it.

One Monday I came back to my office and saw I had a lot of missed calls and some hang-ups on the caller ID over the weekend. He recognized the number as hers. I was all ready to confront her, but he said he'd take care of it.

Like I said, it was really weenie. She nor her friends ever had the stones to really step to me. She threatened him a few times saying she was going to come over to have a word with me, and I said by all means, I'm ready. Never happened.

Creepiest Encounters with Stalkers FactsShutterstock

30. Bad Communications

For over a year, a guy with a blocked number kept calling me once every three days or so, and he'd just groan and say my name out loud. I guess he likes when I say, "Who is this?!" over and over again.

I didn't want to change numbers because it has my birth date in it, and I suck at memorizing new numbers... But after a year, I just had to.

Haven't gotten the calls since. So I'm going to assume it was one of my acquaintances who I was no longer in touch with.

Creepiest Encounters with Stalkers FactsShutterstock

29. The Tweeting Twerp

Yeah. He ended up making several Twitter pages trying to impersonate me over several months. I ended up finding him. He got his. It's a long story. Didn’t want to bore anyone.

Creepiest Encounters with Stalkers FactsShutterstock

 

28. Far Away Friends

My dad casually informed me one day that my nice friend from overseas called. It took me a while to figure out it was some random guy from some random catch-all chatroom (AOL era). I had mildly stuck up for him after some person responded to his "Hello, peoples" with a "get screwed." All I said was, "Well, that was rude. Hello to you, too."

Three months after the phone call, my boss comes up to me with a smile on her face and hands me this hammered tin wall decoration thing that you might find in the home decor section of Big Lots. The kind with the primitive wavy-haired stick figure playing a flute in front of a big stylized sun. She said my friend from Egypt had stopped by with a gift. She said he seemed very bashful, but sweet.

So...

This guy called my parents (first time they'd ever received an international call) and then three months later showed up in person at my mall job 20 minutes before my shift.

That was basically it. I later found emails from him in an account I rarely used. He wanted to thank me for my kindness and was excited to have found a "true friend." End of story. He was never untoward. Never explicitly red-flaggy. And was seemingly content just knowing that I received his gift. Maybe he was a ghost, you guys. I dunno.

Creepiest Encounters with Stalkers FactsShutterstock

27. Just Colleagues

I used to work with an older guy. Old enough to be my father. I tried to be friendly with him because we worked in nearby departments and I didn't want trouble to be had from anyone I worked with.

I guess no one was very really nice to him there, so he took to me like butter to bread. He'd quickly leave his department if he saw me and just chill in mine and do all my work for me. I never asked him to and I preferred doing my own work because it gave me something to do.

One day my car wouldn't start, so he offered me a ride home. I agreed because screw walking ten miles. From that point on, he would show up randomly at my house wanting to hang out or go out to eat or whatever. At first, I would let him stay for a few hours because I thought he was harmless, but after putting up with him every day for a week, at work and outside of work, I got annoyed. I started avoiding my house or pretending I wasn't home. He didn't like that too much.

He started showing up at places I was at. Movie theater, mall, fast food places, even my mom's house one time. I couldn't figure out how he knew where I was each time until a friend inspected my car and found a tracker on it.

Once he realized he couldn't find me anymore, he took to cornering me at work. One time he had me cornered and shoved his tongue into my mouth. Naturally, I freaked out and bit him, and once I was able to get away, I ran to the manager's office. It was caught on tape, thank heavens, and he was promptly fired.

I ended up moving shortly afterward and didn't tell anyone my forwarding address beyond family. I have him blocked on social media. I did see him once in a store, but he was with his wife and I was with a friend who was built like a tank. I don't go to that store anymore.

Creepiest Encounters with Stalkers FactsPixabay

26. Cross Out This Ex

When I split up with my ex of two years, I decided that because we were friends before, we'd remain friends after.

Big mistake.

He'd changed my email recoveries to his email, so I couldn't change my password, he'd looked at my Google Chrome passwords and written them all down, regularly checked my emails, Facebook messages, everything.

After we split up, he was physically violent, so I told mum to ban him from the house. He was still doing bits for her while I was at work, visiting often because we were friendly, etc.

When he'd ask me when he'd be able to see me again, I always told him soon and put him off, because of the nature of our break up. The cruelty scared me to the core, I was a changed person. I felt trapped. Then, he didn't make it any better when he'd climb over my back-garden fence and knock on my window (ground floor, back of the house), and demand to be let in.

It got to the point that even after months after we'd split up, and after I'd not seen him in roughly three months, I arranged a date with a guy. The date was awful, but that's another story. My ex left multiple messages on my phone, and after the date had finished he asked me where I was. I answered that I was in town, and he had apparently read my messages to this guy on the dating site I used, got his number and called him multiple times after. He'd also messaged my mother telling her that I was on a date with a stranger and so on.

I just remembered that he also turned up at the train station, saw me meeting this guy and he then left. He wanted to surprise me apparently.

When we were together, he also found out some things about my past and when an old flame messaged me on Facebook, he and I got into an argument. He was staying over at the time and stormed out of the room to shout in my mother's face that I was a "filthy cheater.”

Glad that's all over now.

Internet quizPixabay

25. I Spy With My German Eye

I used to date a German girl. We broke up and shortly after I began dating an English girl.

It had been a few weeks and the English girl and I were having a picnic in the park. I looked around and noticed the German girl hiding behind a tree with a video camera filming us. I confronted her on it and she was quite upfront, no shame. She'd been following me for weeks and had dozens of tapes of me. Creepy.

Also made me realize how not observant I am.

Creepiest Encounters with Stalkers FactsShutterstock

24. Geek for You

Not the most extreme case for sure but this was my experience:

Went to a geeky trivia thing in costume, started chatting up this guy, with his friend awkwardly staring at me and not talking. At the end of the night, the awkward friend asked me out, and for some reason I said yes, I think mostly out of curiosity.

We go out on one date. Then I'm leaving town the next day and he asks if he can drive me to the airport and pick me up when I get back. Sure, thanks. He texts me frequently over the next week or so, but I'm relaxing on the beach and mostly ignore him. Fly back home and he's wearing a suit, standing there with flowers.

We go on two more dates, then he says I love you. When I didn't immediately say it back he starts crying, saying he's feeling really vulnerable. Christ. So I do what any other idiot would do in that situation and say it back, awkwardly doing the "there, there" thing.

Turns out his friends are inexplicably super fun. I basically told this guy we're not compatible (he hates and never wants kids) and this will never end in marriage, and he reluctantly agrees to just be friends. He goes grocery shopping with me (I got anxious going alone because I'm weird) and I hang out with him and his friends on the weekends.

I ended up getting really sick and was in the hospital for a week, and afterward could hardly walk and was out of work for a month.

He came to see me in the hospital uninvited and sat there silently crying the whole time. On the grease board in my room, they had written up my emergency contacts: mom, dad, boyfriend. He knew he and I weren't "together" but didn't know I had moved on. That's when stuff hit the fan.

Nonstop calls, texts, emails. He's crying saying he wants to end his life, etc. I call the authorities and send them to his work to see if he's really a danger to himself. They decide he's ok and I get a text from him saying thank you for calling the authorities, it means a lot to me that you care.

Realizes I'm ignoring him, and starts texting my Google voice number saying I know you blocked me, but I really need to talk to you, etc.

One day he shows up on my front porch and won't leave until I come out, so I'm trapped inside. I'm still recovering from the hospital, underweight/malnourished, and way smaller than him, so I just call the authorities. They urge me to get a restraining order.

Thankfully, I was able to print everything out, the calls, texts, emails, etc. and I won in court. Seriously guys, save everything and print out hard copies.

Creepiest Encounters with Stalkers FactsShutterstock

23. Should Have Swiped Left

Met a guy on Tinder, he asked for my phone number, so we could WhatsApp because Tinder’s chat is messed, then immediately started talking as if I'd already agreed to sleep with him (I hadn't even agreed to meet him).

We go back and forth with me telling him to stop and him saying he's respecting my boundaries then doing it again, so after a few times I blocked him and unmatched on Tinder.

He then rang me five times that night (I also blocked him on my phone after the first one, but it let him leave messages on my voicemail and then he started ringing from withheld numbers), and again the next day, and a few days later, and a few days after that.

All the voicemails were "I was only joking, unblock me now," and he was basically commanding me to unblock him. Eventually, he rang a few weeks ago when I was in a shop and I answered (he had left it a week, so I wasn't thinking it could be him) and I shouted, "DUDE SERIOUSLY, TAKE THE MESSAGE" and hung up, and I haven't heard from him since. I reported him to Tinder.

It would've been a nothing sort of thing except he lives really close by, so now I have a rule against swiping right if someone's less than five miles away.

Creepiest Encounters with Stalkers FactsShutterstock

22. Bad Feels

Rewind to me being 15, a confused middle school kid who was picked on for being "emo" with abandonment issues and a need to feel loved and wanted.

Got an online boyfriend who was like, 19. Started out great, until I was losing interest and wanting to leave him. He became obsessed with finding out who I was interested in, what I was doing, etc. He would hack my accounts on my social networking sites to read the messages and whatnot.

Any time I tried to break up with him, and even before that during our serious conversations, he would say he would off himself if I left.

Eventually, I just stopped worrying about what he does if I left so I began to just ignore him. He ended up breaking off contact with me and just disappeared.

Creepiest Encounters with Stalkers FactsShutterstock

21. Musical Chairs

One time I was on the way home, I was pretty far away, so I had to take a lot of public transport. I swear, the same guy followed me onto every single train and bus that I took until I got home. I could tell because of the type of clothing he was wearing, bright green Nike tee and green joggers.

I sat in certain places and even moved onto another carriage whilst I was on the train, but this guy still managed to follow me all the way until I reached my house.

Like I would have understood if this guy lived in my area or lived next to my house or was visiting a neighbor, then this happened.

I entered my house and he just stood outside. I went up to my room and he was still there. I couldn’t even focus on my work cause I could feel his presence still there. Eventually like 40 minutes later he left in a taxi.

It was actually so terrifying.

Creepiest Encounters with Stalkers FactsShutterstock

20. You’ve Got Scary Male

Does "harmless stalker" count?

At the time, I didn't know he was harmless. He was always in the dorm cafeteria every single meal I ate. Like, more than coincidence. Then I started working at the cafe and he came up to me with a rose as I was slopping stuff onto people's plates. Um...thanks, dude, but my hands are obviously full.

So he stopped by my dorm room later to give me the rose. We chatted. He was totally not my type. I said thanks and just went on with life, not thinking much more of it.

That year of school ended, and I continued to live on campus in an apartment.

I started to get anonymous admirer letters in the mail...from a state across the country from me.

Well, another friend I made had transferred to that state. So after the third letter, I wrote back (this was before cell phones), saying, "Tony! I just figured out who this is. You funny guy! How is life in your new digs?"

I got a reply that creeped me out. "It seems you think I'm someone else. Don't worry, I'll be back in town soon for the reveal."

Yikes.

I got another letter that was now postmarked from the town I lived in. This one was much more detailed.

It said, "I want a photo of you. Black and white. With you wearing (he named very specific clothing that I owned), sitting on a bar stool with your long hair part-way over your eyes..."

A little too specific for me not to have a clue who this was. So I went to the campus authorities and asked them for advice. They had nothing to charge him with, so they had no advice.

The next letter actually gave a return address. From right down the street from me. It was as creepy as the last one.

So I showed it to the guys who lived above me in the apartment. These guys were members of the wrestling team. HUGE men.

They said, "Well, let's go visit this weasel!"

So we went over to the address. The wrestlers waited around the corner when I went to the door.

The guy who answered the door—I have never seen before—no clue who he was and he had no clue who I was.

So I asked him to look at one of the letters. He laughed and goes, "OH! I know who this is. But I'm not going to tell you because he'd end me! Aaha"

And that's when my wrestling buddies rounded the corner and came into the apartment. They said, "Would you rather have him end you? Or US?!"

The guy about soil his pants and said, "Ok, OK! It's (the guy from the cafeteria)! Don't do anything! I'll tell him to leave you alone!"

The stalker came by the next day. He was very apologetic. I told him no meant no the first time and he crossed the line. That I fully expected to never see him again. He said, "Understood." and left.

Then the next day, he stopped by again! But it was to tell me that he had sent me a Valentine and there was no way he could stop it now, so that when I got it, not to send the wrestlers over to end him.

The end.

Best Christmas Gift factsPexels

19. I Know What You Didn’t Do

Not your traditional stalker but still meets the definition of a stalker in my mind. I am a guy and had a guy friend who was hopped up on various substances and believed I had taken his girlfriend so for over a month period. He stalked me all over town so that could catch me in the act.

Work, the bar, home, mutual friend's house etc. Would hide, but he was so terrible at it we would see the car, or one time he dropped his credit card in an apartment complex elevator. Would randomly call from different numbers.

Was more funny than scary because I knew he didn’t own a piece and could have taken him in a brawl. So for that crazy month, I parked my car in the most visible locations and had someone on Facetime when I walked into my apartment.

Creepiest Encounters with Stalkers FactsShutterstock

18. Stalking is a Family Affair

One of my older brothers had a stalker when I was younger. She had dated my brother's then-girlfriend (who is also a total psycho, but that's another story) and was sure on getting my brother out of the picture.

She would come to our house at all hours of the night, she would attack our vehicles, she would follow us when we went out. The final straw was the night she tried to break into our house and severely vandalized my brother's truck. The authorities were called, and she was apprehended, and she left him and our family alone.

Creepiest Encounters with Stalkers FactsShutterstock

17. Having a Type Isn’t Always Cool

I had this stalker throughout high school. She would claim we were dating even when I already had a girlfriend. I'm Asian and she was obsessed with Asian people. We had one conversation once and we asked basic questions to get to know each other and every answer she gave was related to Asians.

The creepiest thing she did was give me an envelope and told me not to open it until I got home, but of course, I opened it right then and there. Inside were pages of creepy stuff about me. She'd have creepy love letters. She had a page of graph paper in there that had my name written in every single square front and back. She had drawings of me. One of the drawings she had was a picture of me and her making out in the hallway and my then girlfriend watching us and crying in the background. I told her to back off after that.

Princess Margaret, The Countess of Snowdon factsMax Pixel

16. High School Creep-Heart

I have kind of a stalker, but only if I'm in his area. There is a guy from my hometown who “ain't right.” I'm not sure what his problem actually is, but I'm guessing low IQ and raised by a bunch of hillbillies. I remember when I was in high school band, they used to have to run him off the school grounds occasionally because he was making the majorettes and cheerleaders uncomfortable during practice.

Somehow, I am lucky enough to be his main target. He cornered me in a convenience store when I was 18, put his arm around my shoulders and started telling people I was his girlfriend. A male friend finally came to my rescue and walked me out of the store.

If I go to events at my old high school I will inevitably run into him. I can see his eyes light up when he sees me, and I start panicking and looking for somewhere to hide. I also quit going to the store where my mom works because I was afraid he would be in there.

The last time I saw him was at a high school football game several years back. I was standing beside my dad and stalker came up behind me, threw his arm around my shoulder and said, "You're pretty." My dad laughed because they all think he's harmless. Perhaps he is, but he still scares the heck out of me.

I should mention I'm in my 40s now and this is still going on. I literally go into a full-fledged panic attack trying to find somewhere to hide if I see him.

Thankfully, now that my immediate family members have all graduated high school, I don't have to go back home that often.

Creepiest Encounters with Stalkers FactsShutterstock

15. Prince Harming

I had a boyfriend in high school who was sexually and emotionally hurtful. That didn't take well with me for long. The last straw was when I overheard him telling his friends that he was planning on getting me pregnant around graduation time, so I wouldn't ever leave him.

When I broke up with him, he left random gifts on my porch for about a year. Cupcakes, flowers, random necklaces and watches, perfume. He would always text me as soon as I brought the items inside, so I'm pretty sure he was watching me somehow. I started asking my dad to throw them out when he got home from work.

He would also show up at my job and apply for it when I wasn't there. He applied multiple times. When I blocked him on all social media, he just made new accounts with fake names and sent me weird messages. I always knew it was him, though, because he had the same birthday on every new Facebook he made.

It was such a weird thing because I never felt like I was in danger. He was always creepy enough to get my attention, but not enough to alarm me. I found it all kind of hilarious. Is that bad?

Creepiest Encounters with Stalkers FactsShutterstock

14. Play If For Me Again

I had one when I was first starting my radio career (DJ for US readers, presenter for English readers). I was a reasonably good looking early 20s male with a decent personality. Over my career I had several "ardent fans" but only the one I would call a stalker.

She started by calling the radio program more and more often, then began hanging out in the radio station's parking lot until I got off work. If I was doing a public appearance she would always show up. Eventually, she figured out what car I drove, and she began following me from time to time. I spoke to the authorities about it and learned to do small "counter-surveillance" things like vary my route from work to home, make random turns, leave at different times. You know, break up the pattern as much as possible.

She was more annoying than dangerous. Basically, she was a 30-something-year-old woman with the mentality of a 14-year-old with a crush but the "following me" thing was pretty creepy.

One night I was leaving work, tired, and not paying attention. She followed me to the apartment complex I was living in. Luckily, I figured it out before I got to my building. So I did a tour of the whole complex, then drove across town towards the authorities station. I guess she figured out where I was headed because she quit following me about two blocks from the station.

Anyway, thankfully, she never did figure out where I lived. Then one day it just stopped. No more following, no more calls, no more anything.

Apparently, a radio station across town had hired a new guy and she became fixated on him. Once I found that out I called and gave him a friendly heads-up.

Weddings That Were More Trash Than ClassFreepik,freepik

13. eStalker

I moderate on Reddit, and a lot of people really hate moderators, so I've had a few threats.

The scariest thing is when they start PMing with personal information and that kind of thing. I haven't ever had a run-in with anyone from Reddit who hated me, but the things they claim to want to do (behind the guise of anonymity) are pretty creepy. Threats of all kinds.

Just part of moderating I guess.

Creepiest Encounters with Stalkers FactsShutterstock

12. My Bloody Valentine

Had a girlfriend scratch my initials into her ankle with a spoon.

...I dated her for another month.

Awkward Wedding factsShutterstock

11. Say “I Don’t”

I met my "stalker" at a work party. We chatted for a while and that was that. The next day, I got a friend request from him. I didn't accept it, but I didn't reject it. So, the next day I got a message from him saying he enjoyed our chat the other night. I decided to accept his request. Every day he would message me. I would reply back every once and a while, just to chat about work, etc.

THEN he started saying he wants to marry me. That he Googled where I lived, and that he stopped by the other day and why I didn't message him back because I was home. He knew the color of my bedroom, wanted to know what I slept in...so I blocked him from Facebook.

I start seeing this creepy car driving around my neighborhood a few times a week...he made a new page and continued to message me saying he will marry me. I quit Facebook, but he got my e-mail already. For months he would e-mail me asking to join again...yadda, yadda, yadda. I couldn’t delete my e-mail because of work. This went on for almost two years. I would reply back to his emails telling him to stop e-mailing me and that I was going to call the authorities. Finally, I just started deleting the emails, and eventually, they stopped.

Creepiest Encounters with Stalkers FactsShutterstock

10. Fright in Shining Armor

I was only about 14 when this happened, and the dude who was stalking me was a few years older, let's call him Tom. I used to compete in equestrian events and Tom's mum was the president of one of the clubs I belonged to. His mum dragged him along to an event one day where he must have seen and taken a liking to me.

I don't remember actually talking to (or even meeting) him that day, but he took it upon himself to look through the club's membership forms to find my phone number. Tom called me every single day, multiple times, for months on end. Twice on weekdays and three times on weekends. I politely told him that I wasn't interested but he was convinced that he would make me like him through sheer will alone.

I stopped taking his calls after he started threatening to find and beat up any male I happened to mention, be it family, friend, or boyfriend, and would fly into a rage at the slightest thing. Sometimes he would call just to scream at me about something that happened at school that really made him angry.

He started to find out which events I was going to attend by going through the entry forms his mum was sent and he would show up and follow me around all day demanding to know why I didn't want to date him. He went as far as grabbing me and shaking me when I would try to ignore him on the ground or grabbing at my horse's reins if I was mounted.

My mum and I asked Tom's mum to stop bringing him to events as I was starting to get scared and she accused me of leading him on and acting like I was too good for her boy when I should be considering myself lucky that someone like him would even look twice at someone like me. He eventually stopped when one of my brothers came to an event and stood over him while telling him to leave me alone.

Doesn't sound very scary, but to a 14-year-old me with very little experience dealing with pushy men, I felt quite threatened, especially since my address was on the same form he got my phone number from.

Creepiest Encounters with Stalkers FactsShutterstock

9. Fight or Flight

I had a girlfriend who broke up with me for this guy she worked with and the guy started stalking me!

Really weird, I wasn’t even really mad or sad we broke up, but I would get these phone calls every night just after 9pm, and nothing would be said, just silence on the line. Sometimes he would put the phone next to a cd player. This happened for about a month (from a private number).

Vodafone to Vodafone is free after 9pm. So I knew it would have to be someone who knew I was on Vodafone. Anyway, a mutual friend said something to me about my ex’s new boyfriend really hating me (for some reason?) and I got his phone number and then used another phone to ring him while I had mystery caller on my phone. Sure, enough it was engaged. So long story short, I found his address and went to his house and hit him in the face a few times.

I didn’t do a lot of damage to him. I remember hitting him once or twice and then it was obvious he wasn’t going to fight back so I said something like "Stop ringing me you jerk," and walked away. Never heard any more about it and no more four-hour phone calls on a private number every night.

Moment That Killed Their Relationship FactsPixabay

8. All for the Attention

My ex-boyfriend started stalking my family last year.

We've been broken up for five years, but they've always had a soft spot for him, so when he became down on his luck early last year (got kicked out of his house, lost his job, started taking bipolar medication, engaged in substance misuse, ended up in a locked psych ward) they felt bad for him and would visit him in the psychiatric hospital he was in.

Then he got released and started showing up at my parents' house unannounced, showing up at their respective workplaces several times a week, and would say and do things that made them fear for their safety. Eventually, my mother arranged an appointment with a friend she knows who helps people in tough situations find a job, a place to live, etc. He didn't show for the appointment and stopped stalking my family cold turkey. It appears he wanted pity and not help.

Quiz: Saving Private RyanMax Pixel

7. Moms Are The Gateway to The Heart

I had kind of a stalker. It was this guy my mom knew and worked with, but he was my age. This was a couple years ago—we were 25 years old.

We hadn't met yet, but we were in the same circle of friends. He was apparently always asking about me and telling everyone he wanted to meet me.

He friended me on Facebook, and I accepted since I knew of him from my mom & friends. This is where it gets creepy. He started showing up places based on my updates on FB. It went over the top when I was in NYC and taking the train out to my parents’ house.

I posted something about this and he makes independent movies. When I got off the train, he apparently filmed me, but I still didn't know who he was at this point and was just creeped out. Later on, he decides to tell my mom that he was randomly at the train station doing a scene for his movie and some girl who looks like her was in it and he's convinced it's me.

Anyway, he then started showing up random places he heard I would be from friends and stuff. He started bringing me presents based on things he found out I liked, and it was super creepy. I didn't enjoy that at all.

Creepiest Encounters with Stalkers FactsShutterstock

6. Drop the Camera and the Obsession

When I was 15, a kid I had never met from another state messaged me, asking me if I had liked a girl named "Kimmie." I had never met a girl with that name before.

Turns out, she was actually a student at my high school. She was a year younger than I was. I received a notification from the same kid who asked me about her before, tagging me in a picture.

It was a picture of me from a trip I had taken to Florida. There, I had found a list of comments from people I had NEVER MET IN MY ENTIRE LIFE, discussing how attractive I was and "I'm usually better looking in other photos.” She also went on to say that she had many other pictures she had of me saved to her computer. That was enough for me, I messaged her asking her to get rid of the picture and every other picture of me on her computer. She apologized profusely, and I never spoke to her again.

It was weird for everyone involved.

How Cheaters Got Caught FactsShutterstock

5. Karma Has No Substitute

Stalker was a substitute teacher in high school.

His eyes lit up when he first saw me. He became the substitute teacher in all of my classes whenever teachers were out, which oddly enough started happening quite frequently. Somehow, he learned my schedule and started to meet me outside of my classroom.

He would show up at lacrosse practice and hide behind trees. He would show up at home and away games. He knew my birthday. I had independent study classes and once he found me in my French class. I was sitting in a window sill in a third-floor classroom and he asked me out on a date. He inched closer waiting for my answer, so I said yes, fearing being pushed out of the window. I started telling my friends, who started to witness his strange behavior.

Finally, on my birthday (a Friday), it was raining, and I was pulling out of my parking spot to take my friend home. Dude appears out of nowhere. Walks around my car twice and knocks on the window and states, "You're a brat. You're nothing but a rich, spoiled brat. You don't even deserve this car." My friend whose name is Van told me then and there that on Monday morning, he would tell the principal if I didn't.

I was terrified. I knew I would have been blamed. My parents were going to think it was my fault. All weekend, I was terrified.

Finally, Monday morning comes, and I'm shaken. Over the loudspeaker, as the day's events were being announced, a voice mentioned that the substitute teacher would not be back, as he had a heart attack in church and passed right there the day before.

Teacher teaching a class at collegefauxels, Pexels

4. Relationship for One

I'm not entirely sure if this falls under the definition of "stalker," but a few years ago I served a guy at work, it was a fairly standard transaction.

I then went on holiday for a week and had some colleagues approach me when I got back, saying my ex-boyfriend had come into the store to see me, told them his name was Chris (I've never dated anyone named Chris) and that they were not allowed to tell me he had been in because I would get scared and have him thrown out by security.

Some of the security guards asked me about this as they said they were concerned about his behavior and I confirmed that I had no idea who he was. He did come in, several times after that. He would never come over to me to introduce himself and would avoid me if I was serving on the tills, but he would go up to random colleagues of mine, say he was my ex and if I saw him in the store, I would have him thrown out.

Sometimes he would say it when I was within earshot. Eventually, he made such a nuisance of himself that security actually did have to throw him out. I didn't see him again after that. My colleagues found it amusing, I was just puzzled as I had no idea who this guy was, I didn't recognize him at all and I found it a little disturbing that somebody would do this to a complete stranger.

Creepiest Encounters with Stalkers FactsShutterstock

3. Never Letting Him Go

I dated a guy for about two months, and he had an INSANE ex-girlfriend. She showed up at his house no less than a dozen times over the short period that we dated. They had been going out for a year and she just got crazier and crazier.

Even after we broke up she continued to stalk me, sending me FB messages and texting my phone.

I ended up switching numbers and getting rid of my real name online.

Five years later, she gives up stalking me when he gets engaged to a girl and moves out to Texas.

She moved out to Texas.

She then lured the fiancé into a parking lot of a Denny’s (I think) and jabbed her in the face with a fork.

Cab Drivers Share Experience factsGetty Images

2. Calling the Authorities

After I broke up with my hurtful ex, he kept trying to run into me or get me to meet up with him for "closure.”

I didn't feel safe doing so as when I broke up with him he threw me on the ground to prevent me from leaving the apartment while he held a blade to his neck threatening to off himself. Eventually, he sent me an email threatening to off my cat if I didn't see him again.

I never responded but let his parents know what he was doing and never heard from him again.

Bizarre People FactsShutterstock

1. Wakey, Wakey

My ex stalked me for a bit.

He broke into my house left an engagement ring on my bed and a note saying how he'd pleasured himself in my sheets because they smelled like me.

This was all after I broke up with him...

Creepiest Encounters with Stalkers FactsFlickr

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