I'll preface my stories by saying I'm not superstitious and don't believe in ghosts. While I'm spiritual I'm not religious. Overall I always work off logic whenever possible, so I'm looking to dispel rather than confirm any bouts of paranoia or doubts about the mundane dread and doom life brings about. I do however believe wholeheartedly in evil, regardless of what form it takes. Yet despite 5+ decades on this rock and travelling all over the country and half the world, only two examples are forever burned into my brain. Both will undoubtedly go with me to my grave.
The first story is one that's a little more "pedestrian", but happened later in life than the other one. I was only shortly out of the Corps and while still getting my post .mil career up and running, I was working security jobs. One job I took for the OT was working Christmas season security at a chain retail outlet that had been targeted in a series of armed robberies (this was back in the late 80's, when cash was still king). In one of the robberies a suspect had killed a manager.
It was coming up on closing time and every register was packed with customers. I was posted up between the registers and the manager's office where the safe was. There was a guy who had come in 10 minutes or so earlier (saw him from the back) who was now loitering near the exit, adjacent to the registers. He was wearing a large, blue, down filled coat. He had a beard and a scar on one side of his face. He pinged my radar because he hadn't purchased anything and he was just standing there. He didn't seem like the usual husband who'd had enough and just wanted to get out of the crowded aisles to wait for the wife/kids to get done.
After a quick scan for other anomalies, I oriented myself to focus on him exclusively. Before that I had been tucked away a bit and don't believe he'd seen me. As he's standing there, he crosses his arms, but his right hand went inside his coat. Now I'm on high alert and move to a better position. As I do, he turns and looks my way. At that exact moment I feel a cold wave wash over me. He has completely dead eyes and I know I'm staring at someone who's pure evil. Not just a bad person or a violent person, evil with a capital "E".
Then he moves his hand deeper into his coat. I'm not gonna lie, I'm scared now. This dude is seriously bad news and the hair on the back of my neck is standing up. But I suck it up and take two steps towards him as I slide closer to a wall. My gun side is towards the wall and no one can see it but him. I've got a Ruger GP100 loaded with .357 Glaser Safety Slugs (late 80's remember) and two Comp II's full of .357 125gr JHP's on the belt. I'm mentally checking off my sight confirmation and remember that if I do need to reload, the 125's will hit 6" higher at 20 yards. He's staring hard at me and his arm is moving like molasses inward. So I unsnap and take a full grip on the gun as I set for a strong Weaver stance (again, late 80's). He can see that I have a clear shot with no one behind him, plus I have partial cover and he's in the open. Several seconds pass but it seems like an eternity, then he turns and storms out of the store.
I can still clearly picture him to this day. I've actually drawn on bad actors since then, but this is the one and only time I've ever felt what I felt when he turned and stared me. A week later another store was robbed two towns over. No one was hurt but a shot was fired. I never heard of them catching the guy and moved out of the region a year later. I still believe it was him and that he was way more than your garden variety armed robber. Evil has a different "vibe" and when it's active that vibe seems to be on a whole other level.
This was a long post so I think I'll save the creepier story for another time.
Last edited by glocktogo; 03-27-19 at 13:36.
What if this whole crusade's a charade?
And behind it all there's a price to be paid
For the blood which we dine
Justified in the name of the holy and the divine…
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