A Routine Grocery Trip Turned Into a Nightmare

I live in northern Utah on the edge of a small highway town. There's not really anything but few stores, truck shops and motel right up along the main highway. The roads to the outskirts are all dirt, just leading to a few other homes and large private acres of forest and grassy fields. This was a pretty typical day for me. I worked remotely from home and finished up around 6:00.

From there, I headed into town to grab some groceries and stock up on a few items around the house, even though it was a highway town. The highway wasn't actually all that busy, so none of the stores were ever too crowded.

I pulled in and started shopping. While I was in there, though, I happened to notice a guy looking at me. At first i thought nothing of it. I probably just looked over at him at an awkward timing, while he happened to be looking over at me. I kept going about my shopping, but a couple minutes later and in a different aisle, I saw him again in the corner of my eye. He walked into the same empty aisle I was in and stood just 5 or 6 ft to the side of me.

I kept looking forward and tried to find what I needed, but I noticed he wasn't really moving around or grabbing anything. So I just shifted my eyes a little bit over so I could kind of see him better. Even though I wasn't looking directly at him, I could tell he was looking at me.

This time, I said hi, then continued about my business. The man didn't say anything back to me. I hurried up and grabbed what I needed and left the aisle. Honestly, I just thought the dude was a little weird, but I wasn't thinking too hard about it. I went to the checkout counter and paid for everything, then headed back out to my car. I parked in the far back of the lot like I usually did.

I tossed everything in the trunk and got in. And when I looked up at the rest of the parking lot, there were may be 30 or 40 other cars, but something felt off. Then I saw him again. He was standing between a couple cars looking over in my direction. He didn't have any groceries in his hands, so I don't think he even checked out or got anything.

The hell was up with this guy? Probably some creepy trucker running on 2 hours of sleep or something. I pulled out of the parking lot and started heading home. The sun was mostly down by now, so the empty dirt roads were dark and quiet. I parked out front and brought in the first couple bags of groceries. While putting that stuff away, I got a little sidetracked by a phone call from my dad.

But eventually, I got back to it and headed back outside to my car to grab the rest of the groceries. When I did, I saw something. I had to squint and let my eyes adjust to the dark for a moment, but far out and kind of off the side of the dirt road, there was a truck. Its lights were all off. I could only see the general shape of it, shadowed by the night sky. I own just under 40 acres of land, so where that truck was on my property. 

It was definitely wasn't there when I drove home. And if it was just turning around or lost, why would it be parked with no lights on? I slowly walked up to my car and got my groceries out, keeping an eye on the truck the entire time. The best possibility I could think of was that it could be just some regular driver that pulled off the highway and thought that this empty land would be a good place to sleep instead of paying for a motel.

Even though it was on my property, I wasn't going to make a fuss if I didn't have to. You never know who could be in there or what they might do. I went back inside. After tossing the groceries away, I opened up the curtains on the front of the house just so I could keep an eye out there. Over time, say the next hour or so, I felt less and less nervous about it and thought that it was almost surely a driver sleeping. Still strange, but harmless.

I spent another hour in the living room watching a show and never saw the truck move. It was getting late, so I closed the curtains and went upstairs to get in bed. I think I fell asleep pretty quickly. However, in the middle of the night, I woke up having to use the restroom. I never checked the time, but I think it was probably 2AM or 3AM. I got up half asleep and walked across the bedroom floor and into the hallway where the bathroom was.

As soon as I opened the door, I heard a creek downstairs. I'd never heard that happen before. I listened for a second, then closed and reopened the door to see if it happened again, but it didn't. I walked to the end of the hallway and looked down the stairs. It was all dark down there, only a small amount of moonlight coming in from the kitchen windows. But there was something in that downstairs hallway. I could see a shadow moving ever so slightly on the side of the wall. 

I couldn't tell if it was actually in the hallway or maybe outside the back door, and the shadow was just reflecting onto the wall, but I immediately felt my heart pumping. I quietly backed up and went back into my room, closing the door as slowly and carefully as I could so as to not bring any attention. Then, I got my phone and called the police. I kept my voice low. For the first 5 minutes, I waited, I didn't hear anything.

I started doubting that they were in my home until suddenly I heard creaking again. Very slow and very subtle, walking across the floor below me. It sounded like they went into the living room. A minute later, a cop car showed up. There was a scurry of footsteps running around down there and eventually leaving my home just as the officers ran up.

Thankfully, they caught him running back up toward the truck that was parked in the field. Disturbingly, I recognized him as the creppy guy from the store earlier. I guess he really was stalking me. Even worse than him following me and breaking into my home, he was armed. The guy clamied he was just trying to rob me, but from looks of it, it seemed way more personal than that.

And I don't know how long he was inside my home for, but he never took anything. He didn't even have a backpack to take anything with. Plus, he knew I was home. He probably was watching me from somewhere outside all night. What he really would have done is better left unknown.