Reddit user direwolf107 asked the folks at r/AskReddit about their profound encounters with strangers, and got some wonderful answers.
10.
I was about 16 and getting the bus home from school. It was always super crowded and and you'd be really lucky to get a spot on before the driver closed the doors and drove off. You could wait 4 or 5 buses before one came along that you could get on.
Anyway, me and my friends had been really lucky that day and managed to squeeze on to the first one, just about. The lady behind us started begging to be let on, saying she had a job interview. The bus driver said he was sorry, but the legally couldn't because of how many people were on. He kept asking us to move down but there wasn't any room and people were starting to get mad and telling him to just go. The woman started sobbing. It was about 2010 so we'd all been hit really hard with the economic crash, and jobs were hard to come by.
Like, it broke my heart. It was the first time I'd really seen an adult publicly in such distress. So my friend and I just got off and she got on. We didn't even look at her or exchange any words. The bus was free for teenagers, all we lost was 30 minutes that we would have normally waited anyway. But my parents were fairly comfortable, I'd never had to face how bad things were before. It feel like a big moment for me.
I still think about her from time to time. I hope she's okay, I hope she got that job. I can't imagine how it must have felt to be that desperate.
9.
I was on my way back from Disneyland Paris, sat in the airport and a guy beside me was typing away on his laptop. A little curious at what he was writing I peeked over and saw the title "the last letter I'll ever write". I was frozen for a few minutes, im 24 and I had absolutely no idea what to do. I thought maybe he was a writer and if I ask ill look stupid. Eventually though I turned round to him and said, "Look man, I really hope I'm making a fool of myself, but are you OK?".
Turns out he and his long term partner had broken up, and they were meant to be coming on this holiday, that he'd now come on with his dad. He blamed himself, and he'd been going to therapy for a while to get out of a a pretty dark place but some days were better than others, and writing the letters was an exercise from his therapist.
We chatted for a bit, about her, his dad, me, life in general. Turned out his brother lived nearby me and frequented a coffee shop right by where I used to live.
Eventually my plane got called, and we hugged and I told him I really hope things get better for him and that at the very least I'd had a lovely time talking to him. We left there and I still wonder what happened to him. I hope he's happy now, I hope that he's managed to find some good in the world again. But I guess I'll never know for sure.
8.
When I was a kid, I flew by myself for the first time. At the airport, when I was about to check in, I spotted an elderly lady looking at me. Deeply. At first I thought I accidentally hit her or something, so I asked if she needed anything. She nodded. Didn't give it much importance so I just checked in and headed to my plane. Later, already on the plane, I see the very same lady, looking for her seat. Of course I helped her and asked her what number her seat was. She handed me her ticket. "B37". I'll never forget it because I was the C37. She sat right next to me. I was scared. I was a kid, and I wasn't used to coincidences. Anyway, long flight.
When we arrived and were waiting for the plane to land for us to head out, she finally says "You know, you really look like my daughter, I even thought you were her! But she passed away 5 years ago, silly me. Here, this is her with my grandkids". She handed me her phone with a zoomed in picture. I was paralyzed when I saw her.
She looked EXACTLY like me. But she was 28 and I was 10. I couldn't even talk. Now that I am older, every time I look in the mirror for my birthday, I remember that lady and the picture. I am a living photo of her daughter. Every year that goes by, is a year that I look more like that woman in the picture.
When I turn 28, I hope this memory will finally scare me less.
7.
GiphyA stranger I interacted with at Wall-Mart about 4 years ago is still engraved in my brain.
I was with my mom shopping, and we found ourselves at the yogurt section. I love this stuff, so I was looking around at all the flavors pretty carefully. Well, after a little while a searching, a older man came up and started also searching through as well. He was maybe mid 40s or early 50s. I remember him being really tall, and he had a resemblance to my features. He had my build, same skin complexion, same hair color, you name it.
As we're searching through, he chuckles and says how he's gotta find the perfect flavor, and I agree with him. It's like our little mission to find the best kind - it was a lighthearted feeling just searching through the brands and flavors with him. He asks what my favorite flavor is, and turns out we had the same favorite. I thought that was pretty cool.
A little bit more looking through the section goes by, and he introduces himself as John.
My name is Jonathan.
He then found the ones he wanted, which were the same brand as the ones I was getting, and he put them into his cart, smiled at me, and rolled away.
I have not seen him since, but every time I remember the story I can't help but think that there's always a possibility I met my future self - even if it's just a silly idea.
6.
When I was fresh out of college I drove over two hours away for a job interview and got into a car accident like a block away from the building. My car was completely totaled. A woman who was stopped at the stop sign near my accident pulled over and got out to make sure I was okay. I was completely fine physically but have very bad anxiety and immediately had a panic attack. I was sobbing and couldn’t catch my breath and this complete stranger sat with me the entire time telling me to breathe and just being so caring and supportive. She waited with me for the police to come, she helped me talk them through what happened, she called my mom for me, she even called the office I was on my way to so she could let them know about the accident and that I would call them to reschedule my interview. As if that wasn’t enough, once she found out that I was that far away from home and it was going to take my mom two hours to get to me, she CANCELLED HER MEETING THAT SHE WAS ALREADY LATE TO SO SHE COULD DRIVE ME HALFWAY.
She did not think it was a big deal whatsoever. She just stepped up to the plate to help without question. I would have been completely alone and lost without her that day. She was an angel, honestly. I lost her business card between all the paperwork from the accident and I've been kicking myself over it for the last five years. All I want is to call her and tell her how thankful I am and that I've kept her in my thoughts ever since. Roxanne if you're out there, thank you so so much. And please for the love of god send me your last name so I can send you some flowers.
5.
GiphyI was having a rough day and I thought I'd get an ice cream to cheer myself up. I was standing in the line and this old lady looked at me and asked if I was okay. I said I was fine and just had a rough day. I got up to the front to get my ice cream and she tells the cashier, "I've got this young man, he's had a rough day". She smiles at me and says enjoy your ice cream. I still think of her whenever I have a rough day. I send her my good vibes.
4.
An old man I overheard telling his grandkids that if their dad got accepted to the job he was interviewing for in town, they would move there and then they could visit each other all the time. I never even saw the guy interviewing for the job but I really hope he got it
3.
A year after graduating from a tiny college on Idaho, I was at Disneyland with a high school buddy. I was totally convinced that I saw a college friend, Adam, in line at Pirates of the Caribbean. I kept waving at him, but he looked at me like I was out of my mind. My high school friend tried to talk me down, saying that "Adam" clearly had no idea who I was...it's not him...everyone has a twin...yada, yada, yada.
The line finally snakes around to where I am standing right next to "Adam" so I tap him on the shoulder and ask "hey, aren't you Adam M?" And he says "no, I'm his twin brother Aaron"
34 years later and I still tell that story at parties. I only met Aaron once, in 1986, in line at Pirates, but I do wish him...and Adam...a very happy birthday on Facebook.
2.
I met my husband's doppelganger once. The man looked EXACTLY like my husband. I was eith someone at the hospital waiting for their medical transport to pick us up and I saw who I thought was my husband across the street. My husband was supposed to be at work so I was confused. I called out to him but he didnt respond. My patient and I walked over to him but I stopped short a few feet away because I started to realize maybe it wasnt actually him. His clothes were different and this man was assisting someone in care giving type role -my husband absolutely would not do that.
The guy noticed me staring at him and so I explained why and even showed him a picture of my husband. He swore that was a picture of him and this was all some practical joke. I had to show him pictures of my husband and I together for him to realize the pictures were not of him. This man could have been his identical twin. I often think of that encounter and how insane it was. I also think of the astronomical chances that not only did my husband have a doppelganger but that we lived in the same city for a while and I happened to cross paths with him.
1.
Once I was walking to work past a homeless shelter pickup spot. It was a sunny day, middle of summer. A small lady was standing on the sidewalk wearing rain boots, a yellow raincoat, and wrapped completely in a blue vinyl tarp. As I walked by her, she leaned into me, looked me in the eye and said, "...fish monster...?"
I still think about her. Did she think I was a fish monster? Was she concerned that I had seen a fish monster? Perhaps she felt I was unprepared, and her questioning tone was more about if I'd heard about the potential of fish monsters.
Such a surreally complex interaction in just two words. One thing I know for certain is that whatever the fish monster status was, she was clearly the best prepared of everyone present.
Do you have something to confess to George? Text "Secrets" or "🤐" to +1 (310) 299-9390 to talk to him about it.
Reddit user eazyp96 asked the folks at r/AskReddit:
"What's your creepy AirBnB story?"
10.
My fiance and I were staying at an AirBnB in Helsinki to visit family. When we got there and got settled, we were chatting about things we thought were missing in the apartment, specifically I remember saying I wished there was another towel hook in the bathroom (there was only 1 and obviously 2 towels being used). The next day we went out and were out pretty much all day, and when we got back that night there was another towel hook in the bathroom...
I had a similar experience with a landlord. It was an "apartment" (about 200 square feet) built on to the side of his house. I moved in during the summer. When it started to get cold, I joked to my bf that I should preheat the oven and leave the door open to warm the place up. The next day he came over and said he had a space heater he was bringing over, "so, ya know, don't use the oven to heat the place, haha".
9.
My sister and I were staying in a cute little detached house in a wealthy part of San Diego. It was right by the beach, but the house was super hippy and relaxed, the man who lived there was out of town, so some of his stuff was out, he was literally making his own kombucha. He had a bathroom attached to his little house that had a door that led to outside. He shared this bathroom with a tenant in another house who didn't have one. Around 4am she comes home drunk, goes into the bathroom, and starting banging on the door to our room viciously. She's screaming about how he stole her phone yesterday...this man has been out of town for a week. It was scary to wake up to in the middle of the night, but our stay was still great.
8.
GiphyI got to an airbnb in the middle of nowhere in Kansas, at about midnight. The airbnb was 12 dollars for a night. The property was a quaint little house on some farmland, and I had passed the nearest house about a half a mile down the road. The host was already asleep when I got there so I let myself in and made my way to the couch where I was supposed to sleep. It was eerily quiet and pitch black outside, and I was already nervous so I couldn't get to sleep. The living room was decorated with all kinds of random artifacts and treasures, I was looking around and taking everything in.
There were cool rocks and souvenirs, but most curiously there were weird religious objects and books with cultish symbolism. I googled a word I saw on a tapestry, which turned out to be the name of the religion the host followed. The religion revolves around UFO's, the 'bible' they follow is basically just a categorization of hundreds of types of space ships. I was a bit on edge after reading that, but after MUCH research, I concluded that it wasn't a murderous death cult, just super weird.
I also nosily read through a journal that was just sitting on a coffee table, where the host had written things about her travels. One entry was about how she traveled to Peru and saw a space ship, she wrote about how she'd never seen one that close before. It was all very strange, but I eventually got to sleep regardless.
When I woke up in the morning, the host made me coffee and unprompted, began telling me about her religion, among other conspiracies, like the government being able to control tornados. She was very kind and not overbearing, just eager to tell someone her truth. We talked for an hour or so before I got back on the road, and she sent me away with a bunch of stuff to research and an airbnb magazine. Best airbnb i've stayed at. Close second would be the gay nudist hostel in memphis.
Okay, I’m going to need more information about the Memphis one.
Was looking for cheap airbnb’s on the same road trip as the crazy lady’s airbnb. Going thru memphis I found a pretty cheap ‘hostel’ which was really just this guys house. The host said that nudism was encouraged but it’s ok if you’re not comfortable. It was really bizarre to hang out with naked dudes but I eventually got comfortable with it (after a few drinks) and had a great night nudily chatting it up and watching Impractical Jokers. The whole place was squeaky clean and I felt safe the whole time. The host even made me some costco lasagna for dinner. He also really liked nudist puns. News article about the airbnb
7.
A few years ago, some friends and I rented an AirBnB flat in London for a convention. We'd been corresponding with the owner, who had told us that she would meet us in front of the building to give us the keys and show us around. We messaged her when we got to London, and got a message back confirming the building address and flat number, and telling us the keys were in a lock-box on the front of the building. Weird, but fine.
When we got to the building, there was no lock-box, so we messaged her again. Got a message back saying something like "oops, wrong flat, on my way". (Which was weird considering she'd confirmed the address in the same message?) We waited 30 minutes and then messaged her again, asking how much longer she'd be. It was around 10pm and raining, and we were all tired. She messaged back about 10 minutes later that she was sending someone else, and to wait inside the building. Which we couldn't, because the door was only accessible by key/buzzer.
At around 11pm, a car pulled up with a guy in it, who yelled out the window "keys?". One of my friends went over and the guy just handed him a set of keys, with a tag on it that said the flat number we'd been told. He didn't ask our names, or for ID or even identify himself, just handed over the keys and drove off. It was at this point that my other friend suggested we should just bite the bullet and go see if we could get a hotel room, because this was kinda sketchy, but as we were all so tired, we decided to just see if we could get into the flat, and if it was the one in the pictures, we'd stay at least that night. It was (it was super nice, actually!), so we stayed.
We messaged the owner a few times during our stay, but didn't get a response until the night we were due to leave, when we just got told to leave the keys on the kitchen table and pull the door shut behind us. No reply to any of our questions about anything else. Weird experience.
6.
Stayed at one in Rome. The door had 5 deadbolt locks on it. The windows were barred. Found out why. Randomly though the day people would try to open the door and look through the windows.
Multiple times we would turn around and see people peeking though cracks between the curtains.
We weren't even there a lot. Usually a quick meal or drop stuff off then back out to see the sites. Really nice place though.
5.
Stayed in an airbnb recently that was pretty insane. It was a shared space with several other people in it, but I had my own private room and small living room with a mini fridge and counter. I stayed in room and barely came out since covid-19 quarantine measures had just started to be enacted. Pretty soon after getting there I started having shortness of breath and vertigo. I started finding drawings in a sketchbook I had that I had no memory of drawing.
I didnt speak to anyone for days and started getting really paranoid that someone was going to try to come into my room while I slept. After about a week there I thought I had already died and everything I was seeing was a hallucination to get my mind ready for death. I lived with that and other weird thoughts for another week till I read something on reddit about carbon monoxide poisoning. Called the gas company and turns out, sure enough there was a natural gas leak in my room. Lucky to be alive. Took weeks to get the host and airbnb to even compensate me for my stay.
4.
GiphyI messaged the host asking for towels. She told me they were under the bed in a drawer. They were in the second drawer that I opened. The first drawer was stuffed full of sex toys and bondage supplies. To each their own, that's her sexual expression. But you gotta put that somewhere else when you have guests staying over. I shouldn't have been surprised since she had about 30 framed photos on the wall in the tiny studio apartment. Photos of herself from various pole dancing competitions and boudoir shoots.
3.
A last minute long weekend to Montreal, my first trip to this incredible international city that is affordable and close for people up north in the US. My card was hacked during booking. I arrive and the address doesn't seem to exist. It was just northeast of mile end, I forget exactly where, but it was right near a freeway that split the road in two. Google maps showed the air bnb to be right where the highway was that divided the street. I almost gave up as scammed and returned home. On one last loop I found the address, tucked behind an iron stairwell.
I parked, walked up, and the front door was unlocked. I was freaking out because I thought someone was home and didn't know they had been the target of an air bnb hack and things might get out of control. I sit there for a few and a big guy walks in through the back door. I'm now shitting bricks. He says "oh, hi, you must be [username]. I'm [whatever]. Did you have trouble finding the place?" Turned out to be a super nice guy who was a decades long, successful professional musician and couldn't have been nicer. When I told him the story and asked about door locks, he replied "you must be from the States. Montreal is the safest city in North America. I never lock the door and nobody will ever bother you here." That was mostly true. On one hand, I saw a guy blink out a contact lens and everyone stopped to help him find it and not crush it. On the other hand, a group of quite rough people who hang out near McGill gave me sh!t for not having a Canadian accent.
2.
I'm not sure if this applies,we ALMOST got the room but bailed out quickly. So, here's my story:
My parents and I were on vacation, and we were searching for a place to stay (yes, I am aware it was dumb of us not to make a reservation beforehand) as soon as we got out of the bus. It's normal for people renting rooms there to approach you and ask you if you'd like to rent a room,and soon enough we were approached by this bald guy. That's the only thing I remember about him, the fact that he was bald. And shady. I didn't have a good feeling about him, even though I was only a kid. So he comes towards us,and starts talking to my already exhausted dad (who probably wasn't thinking straight at the time) and tells him he has a nice apartment nearby. We agree to go. My dad is carrying our stuff, and walking parallel with the guy, and my mom and I are walking behind them. We enter this neighborhood and we pass a café.
The waiter, a young guy of I'd presume 16-17, comes near my mom and I and quietly tells us not to go with the bald guy, because he's up to no good. At this point I was scared sh!tless, and my mom was worried ,but we decided to check the place out anyway. We arrived at the apartment and there were a LOT of stairs. When we finally went into the room, it was all stuffy and clustered and dark,bunker-style. I remember the furniture being colourful but unsettling. He asked us what we thought and my mom and I started protesting about it, saying we'd like to check out another place. He started getting weirdly desperate, telling us we wouldn't find a place cheaper, that he had other rooms, we should think about it etc. His demeanor instantly changed from calm to frustrated and almost angry. My dad finally told him we wouldn't stay there and we booked it out quickly. When we passed the café again, the waiter said that the guy had criminal ties. We got another apartment, thankfully which was pretty nice for a 10 day vacation but God, the claustrophobia and anxiety that overcame me when we stepped into that room is still real, years later. I can't help but wonder if something happened there.
1.
My husband got us an AirBnB for our anniversary a couple of years ago in the mountains near a National Park. It was one of these where we just rented the room in a larger occupied house.
Night 1: We arrive before the host does and had a hard tine finding the property. We actually drove past it several times and dismissed it due to the large gate blocking the driveway and multiple keep out signs. Once we drive down the driveway, we realize we are there before her and use the hidden key to go inside.
There is no real furniture inside. Some old particleboard stuff and couch in the living room, but it is sparsely furnished. There is nothing but a bag of apples in the fridge.
About that time the host shows up. She describes her long commute to a city multiple hours away everyday and describes how her boyfriend worries about her. She is sure to mention a few prople in the area have bothered her before, and she is armed because of it. And also, we must ALWAYS lock the driveway gate behind us. Overall, we get a distinct feeling she is lying or hiding something. We assume it is that she actually doesn't live at the AirBnB full time but doesn't want anyone to know, so she exaggerates to throw folks off. It would explain the weird furniture, too.
Night 2: Husband and I return to the AirBnB after dark. As our headlights light up the driveway, a man in just STANDING in the middle of the gate. We jump out of our skins, but he gives us a friendly wave. We realize this must be the boyfriend (oh, he DOES exist).
We go into the house, and the host tells us they are going to a concert for the night. The boyfriend has a VERY intense stare anf literally says NOTHING. All while our host is gushing about her exciting night, he's just silent. Our host is sure to emphasize that she saw us and our car in town earlier in the day, as well. Okay, so these folks are a bit odd, no doubt.
Husband and I are exhausted, so we go to our room. I immediately notice our stuff has been gone through and put back carefully. There were not coasters in the room before, but now room temperautre water bottles are on coasters. The clothes I had out and folded feel wrong, like they've been moved and put back.
At this point, I am more angry than creeped out. We make a joke about how it was a bit like a bad horror movie, and go to sleep. We are then woken up by the couple, not only when they come home late but a none too lengthy time after they went to their bedroom. Gee, I wonder what was happening...
It is important to now note (and remember for later) that the house has two sides. One that we never saw, and one with two bedrooms (the hosts and ours). We had to pass by her bedroom to leave the house.
GiphyDay 3: Before leave for the Park, I arrange our stuff specifically to see what will happen. I also take anything with any value with us.
Night 3: The host texts us during the day that she will be staying with her intensely silent boyfriend for the night. Perfect, no more snooping our stuff; no weird noises to be expected!
We come back and go to bed early after a long night of hiking. Once again, it is clear our stuff has been looked through. A solid feeling of discomfort and just wanting to be done with the AirBnB settles in.
Guys, gals, and every other identity, things are about to get real. We are woken up in the wee hours of the morning by something that sounds like it was sliding on the roof. I notice a weird light reflected in the window sill, like car headlights heading down the driveway. And then all the power in the AirBnB goes OUT.
At this point, my instincts are telling me to GTFO. I cry out, "What was that?!" Husband grumbles that it is fine and goes back to sleep. I sleep none the rest of the night. There are no more noises, not even the sound of our host coming in late.
Moreover, what are we going to do? Look through a house we don't know, in the dark, when we have to pass by her room? I settle in for a night of tense vigilance.
Day 4: I tell husband that I am NOT staying here anymore. Husband says I am overreacting. I pack all of our suitcases and try to persuade him that SOMETHING is wrong. He is adamant a branch slide across the roof and knocked out the power.
So we go outside. There are no trees near the house. There are no trees down. The powerlines are all still intact. I am freaking out at this point, which is unusual for my husband because I am the more scientific and logical one.
Husband convinces me to leave our things at the AirBnB and go hike to mull it over.
As we leave the house, the freaking gate across the driveway is unlocked and open. OPEN. Oh, and all the surrounding neighbors have power.
At this point, I say something about the headlights, and my husband says he didn't notice the lights. At this point, I am theorizing that our host really is harassed by locals and they climbed the roof and disconnected the power (the powerline connected hust above our bedroom).
My husband calls the host to report the power issue. She mentions that her grandfather has actually passed away the night before and her brother will be on the property preparing the family graveyard shared on the property. We say something about leaving, and the host REPEATEDLY insists that we stay another night, and says she will be home in the evening, too.
I tell my husband that I have no idea WHAT is going on, whether corporeal harassment or otherworldly visitors I don't believe in, but it is time to listen to our instincts. Are we REALLY going to sleep having our ONE exit trapped by this woman and her boyfriend?! We've been lied to, our stuff has been moved, and sh!t is happening.
Night 4: We come home that night, my husband packs our car while I offer my condolences, and we FINALLY GTFO. I've never slept better than that night.
Do you have something to confess to George? Text "Secrets" or "🤐" to +1 (310) 299-9390 to talk to him about it.