I had just moved into a waterfront house a few years ago and everything was going pretty well for me. I had a nice stable job, the new house was beautiful, and the neighborhood was really great. Plus I had a nice view of the lake from my living room, where the windows faced the backyard. I thought everything was perfect, but something strange happened one night.
It was late at night and I had just woken up. I was thirsty so I got out of bed and went into the kitchen to get a glass of water. As I was gulping down the water, I noticed something outside faced the kitchen window, where the backyard and the lake could be seen. I noticed a lone woman standing in front of the lake, right outside the fence. I could just barely see her and she wasn’t moving at all. Her back faced me as she looked out onto the lake so I couldn’t see her face, and it was just her out there. It was late at night so there was nobody else outside and I thought it was strange that she was out there. I assumed she was probably intoxicated or just passing the time for some odd reason. So I went back to bed without thinking too much of it.
I went to work the next morning and came home later that night. I had gone into the kitchen again to grab something to eat and then I looked out the window again. The same woman was there again but this time, she was standing in front of the lake while in my backyard.
Frightened and concerned, I walked outside and tried to get her attention.
"Hey you, over by the lake, are you alright?" I yelled across to her.
But she stood there and didn’t respond at all. At this point, I was very worried and I decided to go back inside, to call the police. I grabbed the phone from my bedroom and called 911.
A few moments of waiting and...
"911, what's your emergency?"
"Yeah, there's some strange woman in my backyard. I tried talking to her but she didn’t respond and this is the second time I’ve seen her.”
“What’s your location sir?”
“5269, Burning Meadow.”
I heard the creak of my front door.
"Shit, I think she might be in my house right now, I just heard the front door open. I thought she was in the backyard."
"Are you in a safe location inside your home?”
"I'm inside my bedroom right now. Oh my God, I can hear someone's footsteps out in the living room. I think someone is walking towards my room right now."
The footsteps were becoming quicker and louder as I could hear them getting closer.
"Sir, does your bedroom door have a lock?" she asked.
"No, it doesn't."
I frantically looked around my room to see if I could somehow hide myself. Then I realized I could hide in the wardrobe and I stuffed myself inside, carefully watching through the crack in the door. In a few moments I heard the sound of somebody entering my bedroom and then I saw her. Her skin was oddly pale, her clothes were torn and dirty, and she was muttering to herself the words, "The man next door."
I didn't know what that meant but I was too terrified to care. Thankfully she left after a while. But I didn’t leave that wardrobe until the cops came.
When the cops searched the area, they didn’t find any signs of forced entry or anything missing. That’s when they asked me if I had locked my front door but I assured them that I did. Of course, it was obvious they were doubtful and I was too.
They extended their search to around the lake area and that’s when they found a woman’s body. I had given them the description of my female intruder and they said it matched the description of the woman they found perfectly. That’s when they asked me to identify her, to be certain. Lo and behold, it definitely looked just like the woman I had seen in my house. But they said that the woman had to have been dead for a few days at least. A few weeks later the police contacted me again and they said that they had arrested my next door neighbor, due to his connection with the murder of that woman.
I couldn’t help but find the whole thing disturbing. To think that my next neighbor had been a murderer this entire time and I didn't know it. It was terrifying, but there was something else that I thought was even worse. How could I have seen that woman in my house if she had been dead for so long? And was that what she meant when she kept muttering that phrase to herself?
"The man next door."
