Shadowing Practice: 3 Disturbing TRUE Online Dating Horror Stories - Learn English Speaking with Video
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I think most people out
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there have tried online dating in some way or another by this point.
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I remember my one and only time using an online dating app almost ended in a legitimate nightmare.
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Everyone that I knew was using Tinder.
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Many of my friends were using it for reasons other than dating and they were having a lot of success.
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When I finally caved in and decided to give Tinder a chance, I was at an all-time low mentally.
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The first few days, I think I got a couple of matches, but the conversations went nowhere.
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Then I matched with Zoe.
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Before our conversation even went anywhere, I was already attracted to her just based on her pictures alone.
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We started messaging on the app and then that evolved into just regular old text messaging.
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There was an immediate connection between us, or at least I thought there was.
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I think I was just excited to finally be getting attention from someone.
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After a lot of small talk, I finally asked her out for drinks.
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With almost no hesitation, she accepted my offer.
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That first date night was probably my best experience with Zoe.
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From there, things only went downhill.
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After I dropped her off at her house after drinks, she texted me right away.
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She told me how much fun she had and that she couldn't wait to see me again.
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At that moment, I felt exactly the same way.
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Over the next week or so, we started going on more dates and hanging out at my apartment.
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Things were moving fast, but that was okay with me if I'm being honest.
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I wasn't looking for my soulmate, I was just looking for some fun.
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Which is something I thought we both established from the beginning.
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but I think there may have been a miscommunication somewhere.
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The first time I told her that I couldn't hang out because I already had plans, she lost her mind.
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I'm not just being an insensitive jerk.
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She literally drove over to my apartment as I was getting ready to leave
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and forcibly put herself between the doorway and me.
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I ended up missing my plans with my friends because I spent way too much time consoling this woman.
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She stayed over at my apartment that night and a few hours later, she was talking sweetly to me and acting cute.
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It was like she was a different person a few hours prior.
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I remember that night she kept telling me how cute our babies would be, and how she couldn't wait to start a family with me.
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Obviously now I realize that's a glaring red flag, but at the time I was an ignorant and lonely man, and I didn't understand how big of an issue that could be.
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That isn't a conversation you have with your partner after only hanging out for a week and a half.
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After that crazy night, I started to wait long periods of time in between text messages before I would answer her.
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While she would wait for a response, she would send dozens of messages before I would even respond to one message.
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It was getting out of hand.
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A few nights later, I had to cancel plans with her because I got stuck at work.
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Just like when she lost her temper about me hanging out with my friends, she lost her temper again.
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Since I was at work, I couldn't really respond how I wanted to, so I admit my answers were a little vague.
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Almost two hours after I canceled our plans, she showed up outside my work.
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Thankfully, I work at a laboratory and the door stays locked at all times.
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This didn't stop her from trying.
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She was pounding on the door, trying to get it to open.
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Finally, I went down there before some of my colleagues called the police.
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As soon as I walked out, she started to hit my chest.
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She was furious and shouting.
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I apologized for some reason, and then she started to cry.
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I remember feeling bad for her.
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I explained why she couldn't just show up here.
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I also tried to end things with her, and then the anger turned to sadness.
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It was horrible, and I had no idea what to do.
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She was upset with herself and begging me to give her one more chance.
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I agreed, but the condition was that we take things a little slower from now on.
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She agreed and told me she wouldn't text me for the rest of the night until I texted her
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And was not pleased when I had 33 missed text messages from her I shook my head
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and went back to work Trying to figure out how to get myself out of this
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That night I got out of work late and went straight home
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When I got to my bedroom that night I noticed
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that two of my dresser drawers were just slightly ajar
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That may not seem weird for some people but I'm
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so freakishly OCD about drawers and cabinets being closed
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that I'll check to make sure every drawer in the house is shut before I leave for work.
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Even though my door was locked when I got home, and I know that nobody has a key to my apartment, it felt like somebody had been there.
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My mind went right to Zoe.
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I texted her and asked her what she did for the rest of that night.
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She sent me a picture of her and her parents from earlier that evening and said that they played cards.
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I tried to believe her, but my gut was telling me otherwise All night long, I felt horrible I kept hearing things in the apartment
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that made me think someone was in there I kept telling myself
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that it was my imagination I ended up getting up and shutting the bedroom door For some reason, just doing that made me feel safer
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Even though I could still hear weird sounds from outside the bedroom I did my best to ignore them Even my cat,
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who was sitting on the edge of my bed kept looking at the door like he was suspicious as well.
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It was a rough night.
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That next morning when I woke up, I felt sick.
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I don't know if it was a coincidence or
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if all the stress from the Zoe stuff just worked me up enough to make me sick.
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I was off from work and I decided to just stay home all day and watch movies on the couch.
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I was texting Zoe throughout the day.
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She was surprisingly calm about me canceling plans with her because I was sick.
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I thought to myself that maybe our last conversation got through to her somehow.
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That was probably the best day I had talking to her since our first date.
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I actually enjoyed texting her.
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We literally texted all day.
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That night at about 8pm I was on my couch watching a movie and I started to get cold.
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I went into the bedroom to get a sweatshirt.
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When I got into the bedroom I turned on the light.
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Just reliving this moment is giving me the chills.
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In the corner of the room is a full length mirror.
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When I turned on the light, I saw a person hiding under my bed in the reflection at the bottom of the mirror.
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Not just any person, it was Zoe.
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I could see her bright blonde hair.
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Her face was looking in the opposite direction but I could see part of it in the reflection.
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She was just calmly lying there.
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Instead of freaking out and giving her any indication I saw her, I decided to grab a sweatshirt that was thankfully on the back of the door
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and I turned off the light and left the room.
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I got back into the living room
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and made sure the movie I was watching was playing loud enough to be heard from the bedroom.
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Then, as quietly as I could, I left the apartment and delicately shut the door so it wouldn't make a noise.
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While I was doing this, I continued texting Zoe.
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Instead of leaving the building, I went into the laundry room and called the police.
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I told them that a woman I had been seeing was hiding under my bed.
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Within a few minutes, the police showed up and apprehended Zoe.
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She was still hiding under the bed.
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The most The horrific part was that she had a huge knife on her, not just like a pocket knife.
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When the cops asked her if she intended to use that on me, she responded with, I don't think so, maybe.
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I showed the police all my text messages just to prove to them that I wasn't lying about anything.
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I did feel bad for Zoe in a way.
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Unfortunately, something wasn't clicking in her brain.
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From what I understand, after this night, Zoe did indeed get the help she needed.
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at least that's what I was told.
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I never saw her again.
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Not long after this incident, I moved far away from that town.
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Once in a while, I'll get a text message from a random number that just says hi.
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I know that isn't much to go on, but I just know deep down that Zoe.
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I understand not every experience with Tinder is like this, but my one experience is enough to be retired for good.
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I don't know if anyone remembers the joy of dating in 2020, but it wasn't the easiest thing in the world to do sometimes.
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I'm a social guy, I love to go out and meet people.
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I just enjoy talking to other humans face to face.
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When that wasn't an option, I felt like an animal trapped in a cage.
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This thing started to open back up slowly.
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A friend of mine told me to give the online dating thing a try.
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I downloaded this app called Bumble.
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I met a lovely young woman by the name of Kelsey.
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At first glance she looked legit.
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We were messaging a bunch and just doing all the early small talk stuff like you do when you first meet someone.
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The first night we were messaging, Kelsey asked me if I would ever be opposed to meeting up with her at a later, more unconventional meeting time.
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I didn't understand what she meant.
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I had a feeling I knew what she was getting at but I wanted her to say it.
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Finally, she did.
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She asked if I would be okay meeting her after midnight.
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Now, I'm no online dating expert but if someone asks to meet you at midnight, I feel like you can't help but assume it's just an implied hookup.
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I started acting playful and flirtatious with her.
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I was playfully grilling her and asking her why she would want me to meet up so late.
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She was being flirty with me right back.
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After some spicy messages, she came clean
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and told me she was camping with her family at a local lake in my hometown, one of the few activities that was still going on during that time.
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She told me she would have to wait for her family to go to sleep so she could sneak out.
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This is when my first alarm bell started to ring.
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Why would this 26 year old girl need to sneak out?
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She's old enough to make her own decisions.
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I was also a little tweaked out meeting a random stranger at a dark lake at midnight.
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I started going through her pics again.
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This chick looked real to me.
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Her pictures didn't look fake in any way.
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I decided to check and see if she had social media, and sure enough, she did.
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Kelsey had a Facebook and an Instagram.
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This girl was real.
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I was half worried I was being catfished for a second.
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Once I decided that she was real and she had a paper trail of social media, I agreed to meet up with her at the lake at 12.30 that night.
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We continued to message for several hours until I got ready to leave.
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The lake and campgrounds were about 40 minutes from my house.
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While I was driving there, Kelsey told me to park on the other side of the lake.
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For context, if you were to go to the campgrounds, you would drive down a long path to the right of the entrance.
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If you were going to the public park, which closes at dark, you would drive to the left after the entrance.
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Each path just leads to a different side of the lake, but tons of paths connect through the park.
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I asked her why she wanted me to park over there, and she told me it was because it would be a lot more private.
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The campgrounds were loaded with people.
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If we met on the other side of the park, the side that's closed, we could be alone.
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Those were her words.
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Naturally, I was completely bought in at this point.
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When I was getting close to the lake, I texted her and told her that I would be in there in about five minutes.
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She texted me back and told me that she was walking over to
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that side of the lake and she couldn't wait to see me.
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I got to the lake a little after 1230.
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I ignored all the signs that said no trespassing after dark.
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I wasn't surprised when I was the only car in the massive parking lot.
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I drove all the way to the end of the lot and parked under a tree, just for a little extra privacy in case the park had security.
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I texted Kelsey after I parked and told her that I was getting out of my car and walking toward the lake.
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I actually had some butterflies in my stomach.
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I was excited about meeting up with this girl.
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She texted me back and said, I see you.
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I looked all around and I didn't see her.
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I started to loudly whisper her name but no response.
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I texted her back and asked her where she was.
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I told her I didn't see her.
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She responded by saying that she was right over here She said, how can you not see me?
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I was super confused and I was starting to get frustrated I couldn't tell
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if this was her playing a game or
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if I was just being an idiot We did this text dance for a few minutes
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And then I told her
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that she needed to come out to the main path where I was leaving I looked at my phone
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and the three typing dots just sat there for a couple of minutes When she finally messaged me back, she told me to look over to my right.
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I turned to my right, and a large figure came out from behind the tree and waved.
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Then, just as quickly, jumped back behind the tree.
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I stayed where I was for a moment.
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Something was wrong.
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The dark figure that popped out from behind the tree looked a lot taller than me and they were extremely skinny.
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It was the polar opposite of what Kelsey looked like in her pics.
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In every picture I saw Kelsey was short and curvy.
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Before I did anything I got a message from Kelsey telling me
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that she was cold and needed me to warm her up.
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Instead of messaging her back, I decided to call her.
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I heard a loud vibration coming from my other side, not in front of me where the figure was just a second ago.
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I looked to my right and didn't see anything except darkness.
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Now I was on edge.
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I thought I could hear someone breathing in the darkness, but I couldn't be sure.
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I didn't respond to Kelsey yet.
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She sent me another message.
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This time, the message was begging me to come over there
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because she was starting to get sad that I didn't want to see her anymore.
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Every alarm bell in my head was ringing now.
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Without thinking, I turned around and sprinted back to my car.
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While I was running to my car, the figure from behind the tree, as well as another person from the side of me, ran out of the darkness and chased me.
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I had enough of a head start on them
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that I was able to make it to my car before they caught me.
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I got inside my car and locked the door.
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While I was sitting in there, I looked up through the windshield.
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The sight of these two running at me will always haunt my dreams.
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It's a nightmare that's burned into my brain forever.
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While I was starting my car, the two figures reached my vehicle.
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The tall, skinny person was standing right in front of my car.
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It was an older man with a patchy beard.
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He looked disgusting.
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It was like his skin was melting off his bones.
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He had a tattoo of what looked like an eagle on his neck, but it was too dark to be certain.
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The other person was standing by the driver's side door.
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This was a larger man.
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He was basically two of me.
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He was bald and had this massive beard that went down to his chest.
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Other than the beard, the most defining characteristic I could make out was a tattoo of a rose on the side of his head.
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The large man was trying to open the door.
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The skinny guy was beating on my hood with what looked like a hammer.
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I was screaming.
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I was trying to leave, but I was scared that I was going to run the guy over.
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I don't know why I cared about that, but I did.
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While the larger man was beating on my door, he ended up cracking my window with his fist.
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Once he cracked the window, I didn't care anymore.
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I floored the car and nearly ran over the skinny man.
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He moved out of the way.
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While I was driving, I got the last message I would ever receive from the fake Kelsey.
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All it said was, I know where you live.
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I was too afraid to go home.
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I didn't know if he was bluffing or not, but I didn't want to take the chance.
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When I finally stopped shaking, I called the police and reported the altercation to them.
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They looked up this Kelsey online, and as I said before, she was a real person.
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It's just that whoever these monsters were, they pretended like they were her.
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They found the sweet girl on Facebook and basically stole her identity.
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The police notified the real Kelsey, who promptly made her profile private.
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We tried to track the number, but the phone was already not in service anymore, and the dating profile was deleted.
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They even questioned the real Kelsey to see if she knew anyone who fit the description of the man I encountered, but she didn't have a clue who they could be.
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It's been about six years since that night, and to my knowledge, these guys have not been caught.
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I didn't fully understand until that night, but now I know for sure that monsters are everywhere
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and you really need to be careful especially when you meet strangers online.
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Four years ago I moved to a new town for work, a town that I'm still in today.
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When I first moved here, I was struggling.
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Not financially, I was struggling in other ways.
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My whole life I've struggled to meet people.
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Not just romantically, but even just friends.
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I guess I'm a weird guy.
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Something that I'm proud of today, but growing up, even through my 20s, it was hard.
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When I arrived in the new town, I realized quickly that the nights felt long and lonely with no friends or anything to do socially.
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I was texting my friend from back home and he told me to check out this dating app.
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I didn't love the idea.
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It's nothing against online dating, I just never understood it.
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I'm not the greatest at texting people, and to basically build a relationship off a text conversation seemed impossible to me.
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My friend continued to convince me, so I finally gave in and downloaded several of the dating apps.
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A few weeks went by, and sadly, it was rare for me to get a notification on any of the apps.
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I had given up on them until I got a notification from the lovely Tinder app.
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I had matched with someone and received a message from a girl named Beth.
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She had this goth thing going on, and I loved it.
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The only other girl I had dated at the time was also very goth.
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I have a type, I guess.
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I started messaging her.
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Something about her was making it easy for me to text.
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She had a way of carrying the conversation that made it engaging.
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One thing I liked about her right away was that she didn't have social media.
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She called social media the devil.
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I couldn't agree more.
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I didn't have any social media accounts either.
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The very few matches that I got before her on the other apps ended quickly when I said I didn't have Facebook.
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Apparently that made me a creep.
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We set up a date and I was happy when Beth walked into the restaurant.
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She looked exactly how she looked in her pictures.
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The date was a success.
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After that, we went on a few more dates.
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It started to feel like this was heading into relationship status and not just let's see where this goes.
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After a few dates I could say confidently that Beth was weird and I don't mean that as an insult.
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I like weird.
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She was dark and at the same time I just assumed it was like dark type of humor.
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Once I was completely head over heels she suggested a different type of date for our next outing.
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She asked
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if she could take me on this romantic moonlit hike through the woods to show me this cool spot
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that was deep in the forest that hardly anyone knew about.
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I should say I hate the outdoors, but I would have honestly done anything for Beth already, so I agreed to this hike.
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I was expecting to go on the hike right at nightfall, but she told me it had to be much later.
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I didn't understand why, but I agreed anyway.
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That night, we hung out at my place for a while, and at one in the morning, she said it was time to go.
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I almost thought she was kidding, but she wasn't.
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I was driving, and she was guiding me.
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This town and the surrounding area were still very new to me, so I didn't really have a firm grip on where I was going.
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We had been driving for almost an hour.
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I had no idea where I was.
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We were way out in the middle of nowhere, and she told me to pull over.
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We were far enough out that I didn't have any service on my phone.
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When I got out of the car, I was looking for a trail of some kind.
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Beth must have noticed me doing that because she told me that we weren't hiking a trail.
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She was taking me on a special trail to a place in the woods that was described as magical.
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I wasn't thrilled, but I trusted Beth.
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We started walking through the woods I had boots, jeans, and a zip-up sweatshirt on
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And I still found it a little difficult to walk at certain times I only point
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that out because Beth was wearing a white dress
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And these weird sandals
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that looked like they were made out of wood This was the first time I'd seen her wear anything
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that wasn't black I was amazed that she didn't appear to be struggling at all While we were walking, she was talking about the weirdest things I wasn't paying attention to what she was saying
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that much because I was trying to focus on where I was stepping since it was mostly pitch black.
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The moon was bright that night, so thankfully there was at least a little light as we navigated the woods.
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I kept asking her how much further until we got to where we were going, like I was a child in a car.
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She kept ignoring my question and just laughing every time I asked.
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At one point, she shouted in excitement so loudly it made me jump.
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When I asked what happened, she turned around with so much joy in her eyes and told me to look at what she found.
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I looked up from the ground expecting to see something like a flower, but instead, Beth was holding a big snake that was very much slithering all over her hand and arm.
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I fell and landed right on my back.
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I didn't expect to see a snake two inches from my face.
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Beth laughed and kept asking me if I thought he was cute.
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I didn't lie, I told her I hated snakes.
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I had no idea if that snake was venomous or if this area of the US even had venomous snakes.
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She kept playing with it and bringing it close to my face.
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Every time she got close, I would seize up.
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I finally asked her to please let the snake go so we could continue the walk.
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I was all done with this trip in case you couldn't tell.
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She laughed and finally let the snake free.
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She got close to me and told me not to worry because we're just about there.
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We walked for another minute or two and then we were in the decently large clearing.
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The moon was so bright and because of the open clearing, it wasn't that dark.
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She took her sandals off and started to dance and twirl around in the clearing.
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I was following her as she danced.
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While I was watching her, I was wondering to myself how long we would have to stay there.
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She stopped dancing abruptly and was just looking blankly into the forest.
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Before I said anything, she asked me if I was ready.
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I didn't know what that meant.
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I was getting ready to answer her when, I kid you not, three other women came out of the woods.
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They weren't dancing like Beth was just doing.
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These women burst out of the tree line with a purpose.
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The shock of seeing other people caused me to fall over again.
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I didn't even get fully to my feet yet when three women grabbed me and were attempting to hold me down.
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I was in a full panic now.
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Beth skipped over to this rock and pulled out a beige cloth bag from behind it.
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I didn't see what was in the bag, but it sounded like tools of some kind hitting each other.
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I was squirming and screaming.
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These women were small, but they had a vice grip on me.
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I felt like I could barely move.
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Two of the women looked young, probably in their 20s.
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The other one was older, and I would say at least 50 years old.
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Beth was heading over to me with a bag in her hands.
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What happened next I still struggle to believe happened to me, even though I was there and witnessed it.
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The women started to chant something.
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I'm not a language expert, so I have no idea what it was.
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Maybe Latin.
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I had been squirming around so much that the zipper from my sweatshirt was about to break off.
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I gave it everything I had and pushed forward.
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By some miracle, I was able to snap the zipper and slide my arms from the sweatshirt.
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The women who were holding the sweatshirt fell back and I got up and ran.
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I ran blindly through the woods, no idea where I was going.
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I could hear them screaming behind me.
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They weren't angry screams, they sounded like sad screams.
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I didn't care.
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I kept running.
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I was sure I was running in the wrong direction for my car, but I didn't care.
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I just wanted to get as far away as possible from Beth and these women.
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The sound of them crying started to fade and get quieter.
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I got to the road eventually, and of course my car was nowhere in sight.
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I continued running down the road until I got to a 24 hour gas station.
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I still didn't have service on my phone but the gas station worker called the police for me.
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When they showed up I told him my story and naturally he didn't seem to believe me.
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He started asking me questions about drug use and alcohol.
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When he asked
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if I could take him to this clearing in the woods with insane women I told him
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that I had no idea where it was and that I was following a girl named Beth.
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He took down everything I said but clearly didn't believe me.
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drove me to my car which was several miles away, parked on another road.
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The only reason we found it was because someone called in an abandoned car on the side of the road.
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When the police tried to find Beth, they couldn't.
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She didn't have any social media and her phone number was apparently a fake number app.
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Her dating profile had been deleted or she unmatched me.
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It dawned on me at that moment
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that I had never seen where she lived or even what kind of car she drove.
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It's like she came out of nowhere.
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this strange woman was.
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It felt to me that she made her profile to lure me or someone else into the woods.
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I have nightmares to this day about this experience.
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I have no idea what was in that bag, or what she intended to do to me.
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She never made another attempt to contact me.
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I know this story seems outrageous, and I've had people over the years not believe it.
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That's okay.
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People can believe whatever they want.
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Unfortunately, this really did happen and I have to live with this memory forever.
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For all those who don't believe me, I just hope that you never have your own experience like this
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because you never know what can happen in this weird life of ours.
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Speaking Goals for This Clip: Mastering Real-Life Narrative Flow
This video is perfect for english speaking practice and even IELTS speaking practice because it focuses on telling a personal story with natural pacing, emotion, and detail. You’ll learn to structure a narrative—from setup to conflict—using conversational language, which is key for fluency in daily interactions or exam tasks. Whether you’re sharing a story with friends or describing an experience in an interview, this clip helps you sound authentic and engaging.
Phrase Bank: Reusable Expressions for Daily Conversations
- "caved in and decided to give [something] a chance" – To finally agree to try something you were hesitant about.
- "there was an immediate connection" – To describe feeling close to someone right away.
- "things only went downhill" – When a situation starts well but gets worse.
- "lost her mind" – To react very angrily or irrationally (informal).
- "glaring red flag" – An obvious sign that something is wrong.
- "got stuck at work" – To be unable to leave work because of tasks or problems.
Fix Your Weak Spots: Rhythm and Emphasis in Emotional Speech
This dialogue is ideal for shadowspeak (or shadow speak) practice because it’s full of emotional shifts—excitement, confusion, frustration, and relief. Notice how the speaker slows down when describing tense moments (e.g., "she was pounding on the door") and speeds up during explanations. Practice mimicking these changes to make your speech more dynamic. Also, pay attention to phrases like "I admit my answers were a little vague"—the stress on "vague" emphasizes the speaker’s guilt. Mastering this rhythm will make your English sound more natural, whether you’re using it for shadowspeaks exercises or real-world conversations.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was already attracted · being closed · is shut |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have tried · It's been · I've struggled |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | anyone who fit · women who were · car which was |
| Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past | was using · were using · were moving |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.