Episode 335: Disturbing True Reddit Stories
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What unsettling event did the narrator experience at the first gas station?
This happened right after my first year of college, when I was back home visiting my family for the summer. At the time I was nineteen and I'm the eldest girl in my family. I grew up in a pretty smallish town. Somewhere between seven and ten thousand people living there, depending on exactly where you drew the boundaries. We had two high schools, but neither one of them was very big. We had a main stretch through the town with restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, all the usual stuff. But you could drive five minutes in almost any direction and suddenly be surrounded by fields and country roads. My family had lived there for years, so I was extremely familiar with and I love the area that we lived in.
Small towns really allow you to get the feel of things. You come to learn when restaurants are going to be busy, which intersections backed up during our rush hour, and which shortcuts could save you a few minutes. One evening, my parents asked me to pick up my younger brother from baseball practice. No problem, not like I was doing anything anyway. I remember it being early May. And around six o'clock. So it was still light outside, although the sun was starting to get lower. When I first got to the baseball field, practice was still going. And rather than sitting there waiting, I realized that my truck was low on gas, and I decided to go fill up in the meantime. There was this gas station maybe two minutes away that I think I'd stopped at a hundred times growing up.
It was right off the main road and a round trip would take me no more than five minutes. So I head off on my way. But as I approach it, at around 610, something immediately felt off. The first thing I noticed was that there wasn't a single car at any of the pumps in the lot. Now it wasn't impossible for the station to be empty, obviously, but at six in the evening on a weekday? I found it unusual that people after work weren't filling their cars up. Then the second thing I noticed. There was a van sitting directly in front of the food mart. Now it wouldn't have stuck out if it had been parked in one of the normal spaces facing the building. But it was turned sideways, almost parallel with the storefront, with the side of the van positioned right near the entrance.
It appeared that they had just pulled into the lot and driven straight up to the entrance without even trying to park it in a way that made sense. I remember seeing this as I was about to turn into the law. But for whatever reason? I had this overwhelming feeling. that I shouldn't make that turn. It's difficult to describe if you weren't there because there wasn't one specific thing that I could point to that sketched me out. The entire place just had this air about it. And if I'm ever in a situation where my gut tells me not to do something. I do what I can to listen. So I take one last look at that storefront. And even though nothing looks amiss. I'm not gonna ignore this feeling. So I bailed on that plan.
I knew there was another gas station about a mile down the road where a friend of mine was.
Why did the narrator decide to skip the first gas station and go to a different one?
And I figured I'd just go there instead. I pull up to that gas station at maybe six thirteen if I'm trying to timeline this thing properly. Everything there, completely normal. Cars coming and going, people getting gas. My friend was working behind the counter. I walk into the shop, throw down 20 bucks, ask her to put it on pump three. She does, I give her a warm goodbye, and I head back to my truck. Any weird feeling from the other station had already begun to fade. So by about six eighteen, as I was back on the road heading back toward the baseball field, My route took me directly past the first gas station yet again. It couldn't have been later than 620 when I approached it. And this time, I saw two men come running out of the little food mart.
Both were wearing dark clothing. I got a decent look at one of them because he came around toward the driver's side of the van. This guy had longer hair, although from where I was, I couldn't tell much beyond that. The second guy stayed on the opposite side.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What unsettling event did the narrator experience at the first gas station?
0:17–3:19
2
Why did the narrator decide to skip the first gas station and go to a different one?
3:19–6:20
3
What did the narrator witness when he returned to the original gas station?
6:20–9:07
4
How did the police later reveal that a robbery had taken place at the gas station?
9:07–12:04
5
What details emerged about the two men involved in the robbery and the van?
12:04–14:48
6
How did the narrator’s brother’s violent outburst at a kids’ soccer game unfold?
14:48–17:25
7
What tragic actions did the brother take after killing his wife?
17:25–20:09
8
How did the narrator’s childhood experience with a strange man shape his protective behavior toward his sister?
20:09–22:52