topic Re: Unsolved mysteries in Community Chat

Unsolved mysteries

hyacinth003 — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 09:08:53 GMT

No, not the television show!

I wondered if anyone had one in their life. Not talking about something necessarily very serious, etc. Just wondered if you had something happened that puzzled you, and you still can't figure it out.

I have one that dates back to the 1980's. I was living and working in Chicago. I lived alone (with my first kitty) in a great one bedroom apartment. It started late one Friday night. I had a date cancelled by someone that night. He was called in to work, so we couldn't get together that night. I was asleep, and my phone rang in the middle of the night. As I spoke to the caller, I thought it was him. As I started becoming more awake, I started to wonder if it were really him. The caller asked "what are you wearing?" I didn't think it was him then, and I hung up. He kept playing on my conversation about him working, etc. As he spoke, I got a funny feeling it wasn't him.

This began happening more. A phone call in the middle of the night, he used my first name, and I got really spooked. There was no caller ID at the time, and the phone company recommended I change my phone number, not to give it out hardly ever, and keep track of who I gave it to. I changed my number twice and still got calls. I ended up feeling so anxious, I ended up changing jobs and moving.

To this day, I do not know who did this. After moving, the calls stopped. I was ready to ask my brother to stay over and answer my phone if it happened again!!

My unsolved mystery!

Hyacinth

Re: Unsolved mysteries

Mom2Dogs — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 11:43:16 GMT

@hyacinth003 I do not have an unsolved mystery but yours story is scary!

Re: Unsolved mysteries

4kitties — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 11:57:44 GMT

@hyacinth003

Sounds like a creepy stalker! Scary stuff!

I am thankful most calls can be traced now and we have caller ID to protect us from most unwanted calls.

Re: Unsolved mysteries

LindaSal — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 12:48:18 GMT

That is one scary story. I had a similar experience when I was in my 20's. Not as involved as your story though. I have a cousin who is a detective and he told me that 9 out of 10 times it's actually someone you know, which frightened me even more.

Re: Unsolved mysteries

VanSleepy — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 14:49:44 GMT

I have a similar story, too, but it didn't continue as long. And it was also in the 80's in Chicago.

My current mystery is my four chairs from my backyard patio set are missing. I thought I must have put them in the shed last year, but they're not there. Not in the basement either. Then I thought my daughter must have borrowed them and I forgot. Nope. I can't believe someone would come in my yard to steal some inexpensive chairs, but I don't know what else could have happened to them.

Re: Unsolved mysteries

candyagain — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 15:00:02 GMT

Glad your stalker stopped!

My unsolved mystery is a great uncle that disappeared in the 1880's. He seemed to have been a "black sheep". In those days family didn't talk about secrets but it was always said by my grandmother, his niece, that he left and no one heard from him again.

My daughter and I wonder if he left for the Gold Fields. Not many dependable written birth and death records at that time in the West so hard to say what happened to him.

We always said we'd look for him in geneaology records but life gets busy. A family unsolved mystery.

Re: Unsolved mysteries

CelticCrafter — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 15:10:51 GMT

Similar story as the OP.

I was in high school, the phone would ring the minute I walked in the house and they would say I was being watched.

It went on for a while and stopped when my mother called the police and a detective came to the house.

It had to be someone in the neighborhood that had a vantage point and could see what was going on at my house.

We never did find out who it was although we had our suspicions.

Re: Unsolved mysteries

hckynutjohn — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 19:36:33 GMT

@hyacinth003

I have several unsolved/unresolved things. If they are unsolved, to me that does not mean it's a mystery.

One had to do with a hockey player friend. He called me one day and said "I have something to tell you, and want to do it in person". As set up a time and place for 3 days later.

It was a coffee/toast type of place he wanted to meet. I got there and waited for him to come. I waited and waited and after 90 minutes I figured he was a no show. No cell phones back then, so!

When I got home I called him, no answer. After several tries I gave up. Next day same thing, so I decided to call his brother, who also played in my hockey league.

To my shock told me his older brother had died earlier in the morning of the day he wanted to meet with me. He was only 40 years old.

What was so important to him that he could not tell me over the phone? Beats me, and his brother had no idea either. Still a mystery(?) to me, but nothing like the one you experienced for sure.

hckynut 🇺🇸

Re: Unsolved mysteries

Frenchlop — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 21:09:10 GMT

This is a very interesting topic!

Re: Unsolved mysteries

kelshar — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 00:58:16 GMT

When I was in 7th grade, my first class of the morning, I sat at a desk that had writing on it. I don't know why........but I wrote "hi". Then the next day, I saw a response that also said "hi". We we would just go back and forth. It was just simple questions (nothing deep or that gave away our identies). I can't quite remember if I stopped responding or if they did. It was so long ago, I can't remember the details.

I never found out who I was corresponding with. Who knows, it could've been more than one person. I think it was one person. I recall this went on for a few weeks to a month. It's funny the little things we remember.

Re: Unsolved mysteries

Oznell — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 01:31:07 GMT

That was extremely scary, @hyacinth003 , -- the fact that he called you by name, is what makes it even more harrowing. It's a shame that you had to move, but in the end, you probably did the exact right thing for the situation, since the harrassment (which who knows how it might have escalated), then stopped.

Re: Unsolved mysteries

Susan in California — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 05:17:09 GMT

@hyacinth003

That was a creepy experience, and I'm glad you moved.

In the 1980s we lived in a house on a hill on a private road with eight other houses. Our house was the third house up, and all the houses had an acre of land. The whole back yard area was bordered by a county park with lots of trees, and a barbed-wire fence separating the park from the homes.

In the back, my husband planted an orchard, and we had an area to park our travel trailer. It was a safe area where kids played with each other, going from home to home.

The back of our house was all glass with a wrap-around deck. we never felt a need to cover the windows at night, because the park was closed from the evening on, and the park ranger lived with his family in the park. His son was our older son's best friend.

One day, my husband had to get something out of our trailer, and he called me to come look.

Inside, several cans of food had been opened (green beans) with a knife, and a spoon was still inside one can. There was some mold floating in one can.

The bed in the back had been slept in, and the down comforter on top was dirty, with dirt.

Luckily, the toilet had not been used, but someone had slept and maybe lived in there for at least one night.

We realized the whole back of our house was like a fishbowl, which exposed our livingroom, diningroom. The back bedroom had drapes, which were closed at night.

We didn't have homeless in the mid 1980s, but a visiting friend told me that people do seek out isolated county parks if they are hiding out, on the move. It really gave me the chills.

From then on, we closed the blinds in the back, and kept our doors locked. It was a creepy feeling.

My husband kept wondering if it had been kids, but the opened cans of green beans, all jagged from the use of a knife, made me think it was a desperate, hungry person.

We were young, and this was more than 30 years ago. We sold that house about 5 years later, and we live about four miles away now. But I was just thinking about this the other day.

Re: Unsolved mysteries

EastCoastGal — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 06:18:49 GMT

@hyacinth003... First...for some reason I can't make my print larger or heart posts, edit posts, etc. I don't know why but this is why this is so small. I'm sorry to hear what you went through with that guy years ago...especially since he knew your name! How scared you must have been! You even moved and got another job! Wow! At least you never heard from him again. That's the important thing. For some reason it was on your mind again because you started this post. My "Unsolved Mystery" is, unfortunately, similar. In the middle 70's l was working as a secretary in an inner-city school district. I worked in my first high school there for 2 years. I ended up transferring to another of their high schools because l wouldn't "cooperate" with the first principal. That's a whole different story!! I was lucky that another secretary to the principal position opened up. I didn't know how to drive so l took a bus to the other side of the city but l also had to transfer to another bus. That was a pain because when l got off one bus l had to walk a couple blocks to the next bus stop. Wasn't fun in rainy and stormy weather! I mention this because it may have something to do with who my stalker was! I lived alone in an apartment like you. He would call at night. I asked who he was. He wouldn't tell me. It was the first time I received a call like this being pretty new in this big city. I ended up hanging up because l didn't know who he was. He called again that night but l hung up. The calls continued. Some of his calls were heavy breathing. I would immediately hang up.. I called the police and they had a lock...or whatever it was called so we could try to catch him. He didn't call at my apartment again. Then he started calling me at work! I would hang up. I thought who knows me and where l work? Maybe someone l used to work with at the other school because there were a lot of teachers? I knew my former boss's voice so l knew it wasn't him. This continued for a few weeks l guess. So long ago you know?? The calls stopped for probably 6 months or so or maybe longer. I got married and the calls started again! I couldn't believe it! The student that l thought it was (because he always stared at me when l got off the bus) l found out he died. I don't know how. These calls at home were in the middle of the night. I would have my husband (at the time) answer the phone. I contacted the police again and they put another lock on my phone. Eventually the calls stopped. I was married and he probably was no longer interested.This all lasted for about THREE YEARS!! Yes! Three years! I was thinking about this one night recently and it dawned on me that when l was walking to the second bus stop, l walked past a police car that was parked every day in an area where they could watch both sides of the street for speeders. They would stare at me but l didn't think anything about it. Then a police officer at work told me one of the policemen liked me. I don't remember the conversation. He never asked me out but l could have been dating my soon-to-be husband at that time and said l was dating someone. I don't know but I have the "feeling" that my stalker was this police officer!!! He knew where l worked. He found out my name. He could easily get my phone number and l never received any calls after a lock was put on my phone. I will never know for sure but it was a very scary time of my life!!

Re: Unsolved mysteries

EastCoastGal — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 06:21:34 GMT

Wow!!! I made several paragraphs in my post above but they didn't work. I guess I'm really having a difficult time posting!

Re: Unsolved mysteries

San Antonio Gal — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 13:52:05 GMT

@EastCoastGal - I was going to ask you to separate it into paragraphs, but I see you already tried.

Re: Unsolved mysteries

San Antonio Gal — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 13:55:53 GMT

@hyacinth003 - I'm thinking this person had to be connected to someone in your inner circle. Back then, how would you get someone's number that was unlisted? I don't think it was possible.

This is a great thread, BTW. I don't have anything to contribute, but I'm enjoying reading the mysteries.

Re: Unsolved mysteries

EastCoastGal — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 14:05:45 GMT

@San Antonio Gal I also probably wrote too much! I had a stalker for 3 years back in the '70's. He was never caught! Frightening experience! I should have only written this much! I hope the OP reads it though. Thanks for your note!

Re: Unsolved mysteries

kelshar — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 14:44:07 GMT

@hyacinth003 and @EastCoastGal I'm so glad you're OK. How scary! hyacinth003, did you have the phone book unlist your phone number? You said you changed your number twice but he still kept calling. If not, maybe he was getting it from the phone book. If you were not in the phone book.......then My God!! How frightening. Glad your both alright.

Re: Unsolved mysteries

EastCoastGal — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 15:01:22 GMT

@kelshar Thank you so much for your kind words! I really appreciate it! It was a very frightening time but it could have been so much worse! The most frightening part was after not hearing from him for six months then to answer the phone late at night and it was him again! That's why I think it was the police officer.

Re: Unsolved mysteries

AuntG — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 00:11:22 GMT

This isn't "my" mystery, but I remember when a night clerk was taken from a motel, murdered, and the body was dumped not far from our house. Back in those days, murder was uncommon in our rural area. As far as I know, it remains an unsolved mystery.