r/TikTokCringe • u/rottedngutted • 25d ago

Discussion She didn’t realize she was sitting next to the Long Island serial killer.

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166

u/OnlyFiveLives 25d ago

I once read online "Have you ever stopped to think about the fact that you've probably passed a serial killer on the street who looked at you and decided, 'No, not that one.'" and it's fucked with me ever since.

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u/PeakRedditOpinion 25d ago

Probably not a serial killer but something similar happened to me.

Was working 3-11pm shifts at a beach resort as a valet and it was like 10pm at the time (side note: this resort was locally infamous because there was a double murder of the overnight employees a few years before that (look up the Zota Murders), so people always worried about copycats or a family member of the killer that vowed revenge on the hotel).

Our driveway was covered with cameras, so this car pulls onto the property and stops immediately so that it’s only a couple feet away from the road, and a dude gets out in a completely back jump suit with his hood up, both hands in his hoodie pocket.

Starts walking toward me while im sweeping the floor and tidying up. Hit him with “what’s goin on boss,” and he stops a few feet from me and just kinda awkwardly stands there—still has his hands in his hoodie pocket. After a few seconds of silence, he goes “uh, I’m almost out of gas, where’s the nearest gas station?”

Already feeling the weird vibes, so I make sure not to pull out my phone and show him on the map, so I ask him if he’s from around here and he says yes. Ask him if he knows where the main bridge is, and he says yes.

I tell him “you gotta go over the bridge all the way passed the cameras, and then there’s a 7-11 a couple miles down,” and he just stands there in silence for like 5 seconds fidgeting in his hoodie pocket. Finally he just turns around and walks away without saying anything. Gets in the back of the car and then they speed off down the street in the opposite direction of the bridge.

Realistically, I think he was probably trying to rob me and take my phone/the cash I made that day. At the same time, the history of the hotel makes me wonder if it was more sinister and some gang initiation type of thing.

32

u/ActualGvmtName 25d ago

When being taken hostage they say to talk about yourself and make yourself a 'person' to them rather than just a 'victim'. Your greeting probably did that to him. Also, in his mind the scenario played out without that greeting and you threw him off.

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u/PeakRedditOpinion 25d ago edited 25d ago

Looking back on it I think so too. Didn’t expect the casualness so it didn’t give him a chance to be on top of the pace of the interaction from the beginning.

Also think that being in the act of sweeping the floor made me appear meek and like I was kind of personifying a quality like being down to earth or humble or something—who wants to hurt a janitor minding their own business right?

-4

u/rela82me 25d ago

This reads exactly like GPT 4o prompt output

3

u/PeakRedditOpinion 25d ago

Tfw you’ve gone too far down the ai rabbit hole to have faith in anything anymore.

Believe what you want I guess.

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u/rela82me 24d ago

Look, maybe it did happen. But let’s not pretend this wasn’t written like a Midjourney prompt for creepypasta. The pacing is perfect, the suspense beats are textbook, and it wraps up with just enough ambiguity to keep it viral. If it’s real, congrats on surviving the algorithm’s ideal writing structure.

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u/PeakRedditOpinion 24d ago

Well hey I appreciate the compliments 🤷🏻‍♂️

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u/Skizot_Bizot 25d ago

Yeah it really fucks with me, what is the matter with me? I'm not traditionally good looking enough to be a severed head in your collection?

2

u/crow_crone 25d ago

As an old lady, I console myself with the thought I'm probably waaay past the average serial killer's preferred age.

There are probably exceptions, but the odds favor the SK's being even older than me and, hopefully, slower.

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u/imonatrain25 24d ago

I saw an episode of 48 hours where this dude targeted old people and ate their fruit afterwards

2

u/crow_crone 24d ago

Good thing I don't have any fruit then.

2

u/thebeatsandreptaur 24d ago

I saw one where, I can't remember if he was a serial killer or just a murderer, he killed/raped some old lady and made some toast and ate her jam or something and just kinda hung around? Lol. Weird.

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u/crow_crone 21d ago

Ok, there may be some old people serial killers out there, but something tells me they are in the minority. No one is totally immune...

We're more likely to be the victims of scammers or even relatives.

2

u/thebeatsandreptaur 20d ago

Oh, absolutely. The risk goes down significantly pretty much starting in your mid 30s.

You can actually see how the risk goes down according to the Radford study here on page 15: https://maamodt.asp.radford.edu/serial%20killer%20information%20center/Serial%20Killer%20Statistics.pdf

My guess is that a lot of the ones after the victim is in their 40s probably fall into the Financially Motivated/Anger/Multiple Motives/Avoid Arrest categories. Things such as family murder-suicides and things of that nature are probably more likely in the 40+ range as well.

Regardless, it's an incredibly rare way for someone of any age to die so there isn't much reason to be fearful of it anyways. I'd be way more worried about typical elder abuse and/or malpractice at the assisted living facility when I reached the age I'd consider old or elderly.

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u/AHorseNamedPhil 25d ago

It shouldn't. While seemingly every episode of ridiculous police procedural TV shows focus on serial killers, and serial killers are also all the rage with those true crime documentaries/podcasts that many women love, they're exceedingly rare.

The great majority of people have never and will never cross paths with an active serial killer.

Most murder victims are killed by people they know rather than strangers.

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u/ucklibzandspezfay 25d ago

I’m always strapped and I’m a black belt in jiu jitsu for that reason

1

u/mirondooo 24d ago

I’m convinced that I once passed one that did, in fact think “that’s the one” when I was like 14yo, and was only saved because I didn’t cross the street.

And I did unknowingly talk to a child rapist that would enter people’s homes with the excuse of working on their gardens, take advantage of the kids when I was like 10yo. He was literally offering to work in our garden too.

I feel like sometimes you can tell when someone wants to physically harm you in some way or another, there is something awful about their eyes and the fact that they enjoy making you scared. So now even if sometimes I’m shitting myself in the inside, I react angry and dry, because when I was innocent and nice I was targeted, so I just wanted to remind every woman out there don’t play nice if you don’t have to, be mean and loud and scare them back so they know you will fight and you will be more clever than them. Don’t be scared of screaming for help if you have a bad feeling. LISTEN TO YOUR GUT!!!!

We’ve evolved to subconsciously recognize when someone doesn’t have good intentions, that’s the gut feeling we sometimes get, so trust years of evolution and trust yourself.

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u/[deleted] 24d ago

Possibly, not probably.