So, I live in New York City. My neighborhood is sort of a mixture of gentrified and “hood”. I’m from here - I grew up down the block from where I live now. I am way more comfortable and familiar with the hood aspect of my neighborhood. I mean, I am a person of color, I’ve always been pretty poor, and I’ve had many scrapes with the law selling drugs that now some hipsters are making a fortune on legally. The “authentic” aspects of the hood that the new folks love so much (and pay a lot for experiencing) are the scary ass industrial train tracks, the abandoned factories covered in graffiti (some of which is mine), and the corner stores that are run by families I have known since I was little. I used to be much more dangerous to walk around…. but now it’s not so bad. Even at night, as there are often young people from out of town coming back from a night out, bustling out of the train station and walking back to their apartments. So I feel less afraid about walking around at night.
Until I saw something that really changed my life, shook me to my core, and now I will never be out there at night again.
I love all types of strange mysterious: cryptozoology, aliens, ghosts, urban legends. Some years after I had a sleep paralysis experience, I went on a multi-week bender looking up everything I could about the phenomenon. It scared and intrigued me. It lead me to all sorts of other things, from folklore to modern accounts of hauntings, creepypastas etc. I read about some figure in a hat during sleep paralysis episodes, about Indrid Cold and the appearance of mothman, and other stories about the smiling man. All of this kept me up at night, and thought I was spooked, I was fascinated and loved reading about all of this stuff.
One day I was at my ex’s house, who lives in the neighborhood, until about midnight. I knew I had to be going because there is still a time where people are indoors and the only people who are out at the time are up to no good, are strung out or desperate, and I have gotten into a few weird situations in the past if I walked home too late. Especially on a weekday, where people weren’t hanging too much. This was a Wednesday night.
I knew, as soon as I stepped outside, that the night was a strange one, because there was not a single person, a single car. It was super still. There are a few corners that I dread passing this late, because I know there are people hanging on stoops sometimes that WILL fuck with you if you pass by alone and they can get away with it. No cars and no foot traffic at night is the ideal “get away with it” time. I avoid those areas by taking minor detours that lead me to the park of a school, where I walk between the school and the industrial freight tracks. Sure its scary in its own way, but there are no places for anyone to hide, so I can see danger from a block or more away, no one lives over there so no one is hanging out, and once I get past that, the light of the train station is right there. My house is some 100 yards down from the train station. I take this detour, and in this totally empty night, I am almost to the train station. I start thinking about all of the scary shit I have been reading, and of course im spooked. But I think that’s normal. Look at this night, look at what I’ve been consuming as far as content. I just picked up the pace.
Then, I saw a man standing under a street light, stock still. Of course, I thought “yea, sure, thank you destiny. This is what I deserve”. Sort of laughing internally about this weird sight, although my heart was beating out of my chest. It was still funny-scary.
The guy had on a hat, I can’t tell you what kind of hat it was. At first it seemed like a cabby hat, but it was not exactly in that shape. I dont think it was a top hat or a derby type hat, I dont know. I didn’t look directly at him for too long because, like I said, standing under a street light on the industrial freight area / school park street at midnight on a Wednesday was sus as hell. I just kept it moving.
From the corner of my eye, I can see the guy making violent movements. At first it seemed like he was throwing punches in the air, or throwing something, and I waited to hear the impact of a rock or a bottle or something. Since he was faced away from me at that moment I looked really quick to see what he was doing, and it seemed like he was doing a dance move. Like the same dance move over and over. I was keeping my face as straight as possible, walking down the block on the right side (more toward the school side) while he was across the street by the gates that lead to the freight train lots. He was on my left, and Im turning my eyes to the left, but trying to seem like im looking forward.
He then takes off that weirdly shaped hat and raises it over his head, and then puts his hands to his side, but the hat stays. Im looking at him more closely now because I can’t understand what Im seeing. He made this noise like “YEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!” like a little kid, and the had slowly lowered ONTO HIS FACE. lol. he was looking up, making this crazy face (from what I could see where I was at) and that crazy noise, as the hat lowered down on his face SLOWLY even though nothing was touching it from what I could see. If it was day time, and another context, I might have thought he was a street performer doing a magic trick.
The yell is what made me start speed walking. and I stopped looking at him. But, the way the sound was, I could tell he went from “YEEEING” up at his hat and the sky, to YEEING at me, in my direction. It was also getting louder and closer, and I knew that he was moving. Was he following me? I didnt know at that moment. But I needed to get to the corner, because at the corner was basically the block where the regular subway entrance was (above ground) and the subway was on his side…. where people got out and there was a lot of light.
Once I got to the corner, I kept walking, and turned to look at the train station as I heard the screech of a train, which meant a train was coming in from either direction and likely to stop. That fuckin guy was there, frozen RIGHT in front of the station steps, sort of silhouetted by the bright light of the station. He was in a position as if he froze in mid creep-walk. Imagine a cartoony, exaggerated sneaky walk, but frozen still, as if in my LOOKING At him, he couldnt move, or was pretending that in being still, I couldnt see him anymore. He looked like he was PAUSED. He had this enthralled expression, and was looking up into the sky, almost like a child pretending to be invested in something elsewhere when they know they are caught doing something they aren’t supposed to do. He was obviously following me.
I didn’t want to turn away again, so I walked backwards…. literally backwards… home. I was far enough away from him that if I saw him move toward me again, I would be confident enough in the space between us to bolt. But I would run past my house in that case, as my building was maybe another 8 buildings away. I didnt want him to see where I lived. I would just sprint (I’m pretty fast) down and around the far corner, and make my way back to my ex’s house.
But he didn’t move. He just stayed there in this weird stance, frozen looking up, as I walked backwards the rest of the 80 yards home. At my door, I was obscured by awnings and other stuff that I knew would allow me to open my door without being seen. Of course, I fumbled the fuck out of my keys because I was shaking really badly. I was scared in that short time I was fumbling the keys he would make it to me. Once I got inside I ran upstairs to my apartment, to look out my window to see if he followed me. He didn’t. But I could hear him go “YEEEEEE!!!!” once or twice more, within a span of about 10 minutes or so. They seemed farther away.
Two more things: no one came out of the train. I Suppose that isnt impossible at that day and time, but it’s usually extremely unlikely that no one comes out. For that entire time, as far as I knew, we were all alone, which is SUPER STRANGE For my hood.
And, his eyes were really far apart. I noticed that when I saw him in front of the train station. Not enough for me to think there was something wrong, but it was uncanny. Something was just not right.
That night I didnt sleep, and I had trouble sleeping for some days after. And if I go outside at night, it has to be when people are still out. I don’t go down that block anymore.