The Smiling Man Horror Story
About five years ago, I lived in the center of a major US city. I've always been a night person, so I was often bored after my roommate, who was clearly not a night person, went to bed. To pass the time, I went for long walks and contemplated.
It was Wednesday, somewhere between one and two in the morning, and I was walking near a park patrolled by the police, quite far from my apartment. It was a quiet night, even for a weekday night, with very little traffic and almost no one on foot. The park, like most nights, was completely empty.
I turned into a small alley to return to my apartment when I first noticed him. At the far end of the street, on my side, was the silhouette of a dancing man. It was a strange dance, like a waltz, but he ended each "box" with a strange step forward. I guess you could say that he danced walking straight towards me.
Deciding that he was probably drunk, I went as close to the road as possible so that he could get most of the sidewalk past me. The closer he got, the more I realized how gracefully he moved. He was very tall and thin and was wearing an old suit. He danced closer until I could see his face. His eyes were wide open and insane, his head thrown back slightly, staring up at the sky. His mouth was curved into a painfully wide smile. With a glance and a smile, I decided to cross the street before he came closer.
I looked away from him and crossed the empty street. Reaching the other side, I looked around ... and stopped rooted to the spot. He stopped dancing and stood with one foot in the street, completely parallel to me. He was looking at me, but he was still looking at the sky. The smile still spread wide across his lips.
It made me completely and completely unnerved. I went again, but did not take my eyes off the man. He did not move.
Half a block between us, I turned away from him for a moment to look at the sidewalk in front of me. The street and sidewalk in front of me were completely empty. Still discouraged, I looked back to where he was standing and found that he was gone. I was relieved for a moment until I noticed it. He crossed the street and now sat down slightly. I couldn't say for sure because of the distance and the shadows, but I was sure he was looking at me. I didn’t look at him for more than 10 seconds, so it was clear that he was moving fast.
I was so shocked that I stood and looked at him for a while. And then he moved towards me again. He took giant, exaggerated steps on tiptoe, as if he were a cartoon character sneaking up on someone. Only he was moving very, very fast.
I would like to say that at that moment I ran away, or pulled out my pepper spray, or my cell phone, or whatever, but I didn't. I just stood there, completely frozen, while a smiling man crept up to me.
And then he stopped again, about a car away from me. Still smiling my smile, still looking up at the sky.
When I finally found my voice, I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind. I wanted to ask: "What the hell do you want ?!" in an angry, commanding tone. What happened was a whimper: "What the hell ...?"
Regardless of whether people can smell fear, they can certainly hear it. I heard it in my own voice and it only scared me. But he didn’t react to it. He just stood there and smiled.
And then, after what seemed like an eternity, he turned very slowly and began to dance and walk away. Just. Not wanting to turn my back on him again, I just watched him walk away until he was far enough out of sight. And then I realized something. He never left and danced. I watched in horror as his silhouette in the distance grew larger and larger. He was returning my dear. And this time he ran.
I ran too.
I ran until I was off the side road and returned to the lighter road with little traffic. Then looking back, he was nowhere to be found. The rest of the way home, I looked over my shoulder, always expecting to see his stupid smile, but he was never there.
I lived in this city for six months after that night and never went out for a walk again. There was something in his face that always haunted me. He didn't look drunk, he didn't look high. He looked completely insane. And this is very, very scary to see.
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