I mean...I have another story that might be relevant but it's a tag long. If people don't think it is, mods can chuck it somewhere else.
I've been on these boards for nearly 20 years, in various shapes, so I might well have told this one before. I'm reminded of it now as my family immediately made the connection with my mum's odd incident.
When I was about 14 or 15, I would often walk over to a friend's house, about two miles away. We lived in a built up area (still near the estate where Gran lived), but at night, the main street was largely deserted. Lots of brightly lit neon and shop displays, which only went to disguise how empty the place was after dark. Now, it's all bars and takeaways, but back then (probably about 1987/8), it was silent, with very little traffic for such a main road (A61 leading into Sheffield).
So, walking to my friend's place, I'm in a rather hyper-vigilant mode. It wasn't the toughest neighbourhood, but it had problems and a fair few issues around violent crime, hence I keep my wits about me. And to my dismay, I see two local...ahem..."characters" coming the opposite way. These two are the classic little angry bloke/big tough bloke combo. They're the same age as me, but given that I'm a queer, disabled geek without much money, we were not predisposed to get on. There's no way out of this; crossing the road admits fear and will inevitably lead to a confrontation. I'm just going to have to try and face it down. I know that the very least I'm going to get is a load of verbal abuse.
Except, when we meet up, they just stare at me oddly. The little one is silent for once. The big fella just looks nervous and says "Alreight? as we do up here. And they go on their way. And I sweatily continue onwards, with frequent glances over my shoulder.
Next day at school, I see the big one. He tells me that the little one wanted to start something but they didn't, for reasons that become obvious when he asks "Was that your dad?"
"Who?"
"That bloke you were walking with. Him in the big black hat. Reminded me of Freddie Krueger."
Remember how I said I kept looking around? I'm absolutely certain I was alone. The streets were empty apart from the three of us. And when I told my parents, they immediately reminded me about the Man in the Hat on the stairs. So I'm quite fond of him myself.
