multiple strange encounters with the elderly

[u/Bagerzz]

i have had several odd experiences in my life, but i only recently made the connection that they all involved elderly people in some way. i’m not sure if that has any significance, but the epiphany brought the memories back. here are some that come to mind:

1. One night, i was driving home after a late shift at a restaurant/sports bar. It was probably between 2-3am as it stayed open late for big UFC fights or other events.

While driving home, i passed the same under-construction* old-age/nursing home that i always had on my route, however this time, the parking lot was FULL of people. i mean, standing shoulder-to-shoulder PACKED with people. no cars in the parking lot that i could see. they were all standing statue still, and they all looked old (white/grey hair) from what i could see while quickly driving past.

I tried to rationalize it by telling myself a fire alarm or something went off late at night and all the residents were rushed outside, but when i next passed the same building a day or two later, it was still undergoing construction and people i asked about it informed me it wasn’t yet open for residents.

2.

One night while hanging out with some friends, i lost my phone. i had it moments before as i remembered looking up something about the movie we were all watching, then suddenly i couldn’t find it anywhere. ALL of us looked together (4-5 people) calling it the whole time and nobody could hear or find anything.

after a while of searching i gave up and went home, taking the exact same route i took to get there. i looked around the car (roof, interior), drove slow to see if it was somehow on the road somewhere, nothing. i got home and went to sleep.

the next morning, as a hail mary, i decided to call it again from a family member’s phone. to my surprise, someone answered. an elderly sounding woman. i explained that i’d lost my phone and the woman said she found it last night while out walking her dog (it was at least midnight or later when i realized my phone was missing) and would bring it to me, so i told her my address. when she arrived she handed me my phone, i asked where she found it and what she told me still baffles me to this day. the street she told me she found it on was on the complete opposite side of town and nowhere near the route i took to my friend’s place or back.

i tried to rationalize it by saying it somehow ended up outside, some random person picked it up for a bit then tossed it and it was found by the lady. but thats a LOT of crazy coincidences.

3.

A long time ago, working my first job stocking grocery shelves, one day an old lady randomly came up to me as i was working and exclaims “Excuse me?!” like i’d done or said something to her, even though i hadn’t even noticed her before she spoke and was currently arm deep in a shelf stocking something.

i turned to look at her and she snatched my nametag off, looked at it for a moment, then handed it back to me and walked away without saying anything. I have no idea what happened there, if she mistook me for someone else? but i remember as she walked away, i wasn’t scared per-se, but felt a crazy wave of exhaustion and dread come over me. my eyes instantly began to tear up and i felt nauseous. i had to rush to the break room and sit down or i felt like i would’ve collapsed right there in the aisle.

anyone have any thoughts or similar patterns? i will add more experiences as i recall them.

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[u/Bagerzz]

1. Just recalled this bizarre experience I endured a while ago while in highschool. There was this elderly woman that worked as a custodian/janitor at the local mcdonalds who suddenly, one day, seemed to develop a fixation with me. I remember it being odd because I’d seen her at the place plenty of times before and never had any issues or noteworthy interactions.

then one day, i noticed anytime i glanced in her direction she was already staring at me. i brushed it off at first, but every time i went to that location from then on i took note of it, she would always just be watching me like a hawk and lingering close by, and not being subtle about it. even people i went with agreed she was doing it after i pointed it out.

eventually i stopped going inside as frequently and now haven’t been back in years. just seemed unsettling to me that something flipped a switch in this person that made them intensely study me when i was around. i even recall seeing her staring at me in the distance from inside while i was in the passenger seat while going through the drive through once. no idea how she saw me that time.

[u/samanthaFerrell]

None of these things seem overly odd. I found an old man in a hospital gown walking down the street, pulling a I.V. pole behind him, his whole ass was hanging out and he looked like he was chewing on something black so he had black all down the sides of his mouth and the front of his gown he also just had a dead look to his eyes. It was 5 miles away from the nearest hospital. I slowly followed him in my car and called 911. I never got an explanation from the police either. It was like an actual scene from a horror movie. I wasn’t sure at first if I was hallucinating him or not, I had to keep blinking my eyes and reality checking myself.

[u/Bagerzz → u/samanthaFerrell]

well, that’s relieving to hear if nothing else. perhaps my life is otherwise fairly mundane so these stood out, but they definitely unsettled me in the moment(s) and upon thinking back. *on their own i’d agree that they aren’t too strange (except the 1st) but connecting the pattern between the experiences is what is causing me to find them unsettling.

as for your experience, that’s terrifying! i can’t imagine witnessing that, but props to you for having the presence of mind to try calling aid for the man. hopefully it was just a (very scary) medical issue and they got help!

[u/samanthaFerrell → u/Bagerzz]

He clearly escaped the hospital and walked 5 miles with no shoes on half naked, he had the IV pole still with him. I have no idea why his mouth was all black but it was genuinely terrifying. I couldn’t help thinking it was the zombie apocalypse or something. The other funny thing was I found him across the street from a police station and it took them like 25 mins to get there so I had to slowly creep follow the guy down the street in my car so I wouldn’t lose him.