" I just talked with Paul , and we figured this picture was take away right after he send his 2nd murder . "
WARNING : This situation contain reference of violation , violence , kill of nipper , and destruction . Please proceed with caveat .
Every month, I ask BuzzFeed readers to sharethe creepiest things they’ve ever experienced. I’ve been doing this for a while now, and I started to notice that a truly shocking number of people were sharing stories in which they or someone they knew had a run-in with a serial killer. This got me wondering just how many people have actually had an experience like this, because it seems like it’s waaay more than I’d previously thought. So naturally, I turned once again to BuzzFeeders like you andaskedpeople to share their serial killer encounters. Here are 19 of their stories:
1.“One ofthe Hillside Stranglers— Angelo (Tony) Buono — lived in Glendale, California next to a teen center in 1968. For a while, he was a volunteer councilor at the center. After closing, he would often invite a few teens to sit on his porch and drink beer. I drank many a beer on that porch with him. He told stories about being some kind of mobster. He was dismissed from the center because of a few girls complaining of ‘creepy’ behavior, including my 16-year-old sister.”
2.“My great uncle witnessed serial killer Wayne Nance leaving the home of two of his victims (the parents were murdered, while the children survived) in the middle of the night. My uncle, a secret smoker, was having a cigarette on his porch and noticed a truck leaving the house across a field from his home. As this was a rural area where everyone knew everyone, it was odd to have anyone coming or going at that time of night. My uncle is mentioned (briefly) in the Wikipedia article about him. Nance is known to have killedat least sixpeople but is suspected of killing more. He was killed by one of his intended victims less than a year later.”
3.“When I was a teenager, I was in a band in Atlanta. My partner, who was Black (yes, this will figure into this later), and I were the lead singers, and we had different backup musicians. Right after graduating high school, we were approached by a local producer who had aspirations of signing us as a duo to include recordings, promoting, and gigs. We went to his studio downtown to meet with him and discussed our future. After about an hour or so, we left without a contract, but he stated he’d like to meet with my partner later to discuss details. We both looked at each other to try and figure out why he wanted to meet with him and not both of us. We talked about it later, and we decided that he wasn’t a good fit for our style of music and never met with him again. About a year or two later, the producer was arrested for murder. The producer’s name? Wayne Williams: the Atlanta child murderer.”
— Anonymous
According to the FBI , Wayne Williams kidnap and murdered an estimated 29 Black tike , teens , and vernal adults from 1979 to 1981 . Most of them were boys . you could take more about his casehere .
4.“I’m not gonna mention the name of the killer, but this happened to my friend when we were in our early 20s. My friend lived with her parents in an apartment building. A guy in his 50s moved into the same building. My friend started getting these weird notes in the mail that were like love letters. They were so poorly written that at first she thought a kid had written them. Pretty soon the letters turned threatening. Someone also started coming to their door when my friend was alone. This someone tried to take a peek through the peephole a few times. My friend and her parents went to the police, who did nothing.”
" in the end , one day , in the heart of the day , this someone tried to break in through the door , guess my friend was home alone . fortunately , her dad was there , too , and they predict the constabulary . The police make it and ground and arrested her 50 - year - quondam neighbor who turn out to be the interloper . He had leather boxing glove and oodles of rope with him . My friend and her parents found out during the trial that this guy wire was a sequential sex offender and had vote out people by asphyxiation . He had also been sort as a psychopath . What makes me super angry was that he aim a super clear condemnation . That kinda person has no business live around unconstipated masses . "
— whale_tail
5.“Bruce Mendenhall was naked in the bathroom of the truck stop I worked at, washing himself from the sink. I was alone, with one entrance in/out and away from the main building, as a 24-year-old woman, cussing out a serial killer for lewd behavior. Found out from news after his arrest who he was. I’ve been more careful with strangers ever since then.”
While the actual number is unsettled , Bruce Mendenhall , aka the Truck Stop Killer , is estimated to have been involved in the last ofas many as nine women .
6.“It was 1974 in west Seattle, and I was staying overnight at my girlfriend’s place. She lived in her parents’s rental house with a roommate. At about 2 a.m., someone knocked on the front door. The bedroom was situated so that I could peek out the bedroom window and see the front porch. I didn’t recognize who it was, so thought nothing of it and went back to sleep. A couple days later, her roommate answered a knock at the door to some guy saying, ‘Oh you’re not the one,’ and proceeded to ask her where the other girl (my girlfriend) was. He didn’t know her name, just called her the other girl. With that on top of other odd things going on at the time, my girlfriend and I decided to move her out of that house and into our own place.”
" A few calendar month later , I was back at the lease doing some repairs with my future brother - in - law . The couple that had moved in after we result had propel out already . Turns out , the female renter had been abduct at Lake Sammamish State Park and bump off by Ted Bundy . She looked very similar to my girlfriend , with long dark hair .
In the chain armor we gathered that ’d been cede to the house after her mate moved out , we happen letters addressed to Ted Bundy . The hombre I saw at 2 a.m. that one night I now recognized as Ted Bundy . "
7.“My dad was born and raised in the Bronx and was in his 20s when the Son of Sam was active in the ’70s. One night, he and his girlfriend were sitting in their car after he picked her up from work. They noticed a car slowly drive past them. A few minutes later, he saw the same car pull up behind them with no headlights on. He wasn’t able to make out who was in the car, but after a few minutes of seeing no movement, he got nervous because the Son of Sam was targeting couples sitting in cars.”
" He pulled away , but quickly notice that the number one wood begin follow them , so he pulled up to a local bar that had a crowd gather alfresco . When he did , the railway car tardily drove past them . They waited there for a few hours before going home and thankfully did n’t see the railroad car again . He obviously does n’t know for sure if it was the Son of Sam , but he said after that , his intestine always recount him that there was a good chance it was . "
— ejt263
8.“My aunt was a nurse at the prison Son of Sam was an inmate at in UpstateNew York. She told me a story about the time he either got attacked or got into a fight. After it was over, she had to sew a piece of his ear back on.”
9.“My mother was working at a bank in the ’90s. At the time, they didn’t yet have the bulletproof glass, and she was standing at the head teller’s window. Danny Rolling (the inspo forScream) came in and pointed a gun at her head until she gave him the money he was after. She put a dye pack in one of the bags, so some of the money was ruined, and he had to rob another bank.”
— josephinesolar
Danny Rolling , also known as the Gainesville Ripper , killedfive University of Florida students in 1990 . He was alsoconvictedof plume a bank in Gainesville the same week that the bodies of his victims were found in 1992 . you may read more about his casehere .
10.“My father-in-law worked with Robert Shulman in the post office, said he always had cuts and bandages on his hands.”
— katns23
Robert Shulmanis a serial killer who let in to murder and dismembering five sexual activity prole in Long Island , New York in 1996 .
11.“My mom was at Gilchrist Beach in Texas with her younger cousin. She was about 18, and her cousin was 14. A guy approached them and, while only looking at her cousin, asked if they wanted to go to a party. My mom got weird vibes and decided against it, going back to the cabin with her cousin. A couple weeks later, my mom saw a photo of the beach guy in the paper. He had murdered some man who had been killing young boys. Creepy beach guy was Elmer Wayne Henley.”
— sarabevillee
Elmer Wayne Henley was convict for aid Dean Corll — aka the Candy Man — in the murder of at least six of 28 young boy in the former ' 70s . As this person mention , he finally kill Dean in 1973 . you could read more his casehere .
12.“In Houston in 1971, a friend and I worked late nights at a gas station. We were invited by Elmer Wayne Henley to go to a party with his friend Dean Corll. We didn’t go, but he came back several more times with invitations and offered us free weed as well.”
13.“Back in the early ’80s, kids were allowed to roam freely. Parents were less concerned, I suppose. I was a free range kid. My single mom would work late, so I was home alone a lot. One night, my brother happened to visit the apartment we lived in. Someone knocked on our door. It was Fred, a neighbor from a few apartments over. Fred was a friend’s stepdad. I knew him — would start pickup games of football, kickball, Marco Polo, etc. in the pool with us kids. So, when Fred knocked, I almost opened the door.”
" My brother stopped me . I told my brother , ' That ’s Fred . He ’s cool . ' My brother replied , ' I do n’t recognize him , so he is not come up in . ' He opened the window just a crack and asked what the man want . ' Uhhh , can I get some water system ? I ’m really thirsty , ' Fred asked . My sidekick give him a cup of water through the window . Then , Fred demand if he could utilize the phone . I guess Fred thought that would get him into my apartment . My blood brother snap up the wall phone , with the super prospicient extension cord , and handed it to Fred , again , through the windowpane .
I think my brother was being ridiculous . I knew Fred , and he be intimate me . Fred knew I was home alone often , but clearly , he did n’t expect my brother would be at my place that solar day . Well , he sure did n’t get in that nighttime . That turned out to be a good thing .
Less than two eld by and by , Fred was arrested in connection with the death of 12 - yr - previous Amanda Ray . He was also suspected for the disappearance of a 5 - year - old male child many years prior , too . frigid case detectives are win over he also was the murderer of4 - year - old Neely Smith , who was snatch from our apartment complex and drink down , but the pillow slip is still unsolved .
His name isFred Coffey . He is currently serve a life condition in one of the North Caroline correctional adroitness . I am convince Fred was coming for me that night , and by the grace of God of God , I was spared . "
14.“When my son was about 4 years old, we used to drive up to Mendocino and stay at a friend’s cabin. One Sunday when we were driving back to Sonoma County on a very curvy road, the big rig behind us kept flashing his lights. I knew that meant that maybe something was wrong with the car. I pulled over on a pull out, and the truck pulled in behind me. The driver got out and told me my back tire looked dangerously flat. So we were standing there looking at my perfectly inflated tire when I noticed that he had a tire iron in his hand but was trying to hide it behind him. He offered to give me a ride into to town when all of a sudden my son’s head popped up in the back seat.”
" He ’d been sleeping and wrinkle down in his car seat . The human being look startled and grabbed my weapon . I jerked it back , jump in the car , and pull out on the route . He got in the truck and hinge on my ass all the way down the mountain . I did a few fancy turns when we beget to the next town and lost him .
The next twenty-four hour period at study , I was show a newspaper , and it had a draft of a man who was belt down women by pretending to be a truck driver who rive them over because something was wrong with their car . I call the police in Mendocino and go up to give a statement and look at mugshot . The killer was caught soon after , and I will always recollect how my son pop up like that believably saved my life . "
15.“I was separated from my wife, and she started dating another man. It bothered me that in no time, he was around my kids. I did some digging and found out the guy was married with two children — one of them being an infant. I told my ex-wife, who immediately began to defend him. Fortunately, the relationship ended, but shortly thereafter, I was watching the news and saw that a suspect had been arrested for the murder of a 15-year-old girl in what was previously a cold case.It was him.”
" When they said his name , it waste me away . They show a pic of the dupe , and she look very like to my X - wife . When the trial happened , the main prosecuting attorney ’s witness was the valet de chambre ’s wife . Turns out , she actually had become so soaked off that he was take affair with my ex-husband - wife that she called police force and told them he kill the girlfriend . The cat is now in prison . They even covered the grammatical case in one of those offence shows . "
16.“Several of my friends have told me how they worked at Bojangles or Taco Bell with convicted serial killer Henry Louis Wallace in Charlotte, North Carolina. It seems the ’80s and ’90s in Charlotte was a dangerous place to be.”
Henry Wallace , also known as the " Taco Bell Strangler , " was active in Charlotte from 1992 through 1994 , where he obliterate and plunder nine young Black women . you’re able to read more about his casehere .
17.“I lived with one, I suppose. My ex-fiancé was in prison for three decades, and during that time, he became a high ranking member of a gang. While in prison, he was involved with the killing of several other prisoners, namely (though not limited to) child molesters. Anyways, when we were together, he would tell me about what happened, and as ‘tough’ of a man as he was, he would lay in bed with me and cry about how awful he felt as a human being for taking lives. It was pretty bizarre. Spoiler alert: He ended up back in prison, only this time he will never see the light of day again. It was sad in some ways to see someone so institutionalized and yet be in love with them knowing that they weren’t meant for this world (the free one) and that the lives of all those people involved were just wasted.”
18.“Steve Brooksfrom St Pete, Florida was a dear friend. He had previously spent time in prison and was living life on the outside. My family was new in the area, and he spent time at my home, taught my kids how to tell if people were trying to sell them drugs, helped my family get acclimated to the area. We barbecued with him and his family and spent lots of time with him. I knew he was a criminal before, but it really felt like he was a changed man. In 2017, a person he worked for was murdered in a parking lot, and a couple of months later, he led police on a chase from Florida to Pennsylvania by way of Alabama. He murdered an elderly couple and stole their car. Steve ended up being shot by police because he didn’t give up. I wish the families of his victims all the peace in the world; it was a very sad ending to what seemed like a fresh start for this man.”
19.“My husband and I live in Buffalo, New York. We had theBike Path Rapist, aka the Bike Path Killer, who committed a series of rapes and murders around bike paths in the area between 1975 and 1994. At the time, he (Altemio Sanchez) was all over the news because advances in DNA technology tied Altemio to the deaths and murders, exonerating and freeing Anthony Capozzi, who had been serving time for the conviction. A few days later, my husband (then-boyfriend) came over to my parents' house to pick me up. He turned and handed me a big photo of his little league team and said, ‘Hey, recognize anyone here?’ I saw a friend of his, ‘Paul,’ but noticed nothing else. He then pointed to the coach and goes, ‘Recognize him? That’s Coach Sanchez. Coach Altemio Sanchez.'”
" He continue , ' I just talked with Paul , and we figured this photo was claim flop after he committed his second murder . ' My hubby ca n’t remember much about how Sanchez was because it was so long ago , but he say from what he think , he was just a normal hombre , nothing out of the average . All tell , Sanchez has been connected with up to15 rapes between 1975–1994 as well as the three slaying , but it is mistrust the true phone number is quite mellow . Sanchez recently pass on September 29 , 2023 while serving a 75 - yr life sentence , in what is being ruled a felo-de-se . "
Note : submission have been delete for length and/or lucidity .
