She felt as though she might have been hallucinating. Maybe she was having some sort of weird waking nightmare. There was no other explanation. It was like she was in a horror movie. But this was definitely real. He had been living in her house the entire time, and she had no idea. But once the truth became very clear, she started to freak out!
Life wasn’t easy for Tracy. She was a single mom with five kids and was living in Rock Hill, South Carolina. She had struggled to provide for her family for several years, which was very difficult sometimes. Some of her kids were fully grown, but everyone lived under the same roof to save money. But they were a happy family. Then, something happened that would prove to be a potential threat to everyone’s existence.
On a seemingly normal September day, Tracy heard odd noises in the attic. She immediately assumed it was an intruder. But she always made sure to lock her windows and doors. She did this because she and her family lived in a bad part of town where burglaries were common. She saw no evidence of a break-in, so she figured it was her mind playing tricks on her. But soon, she started to realize that perhaps it wasn’t her imagination, after all.
Tracy continued hearing random noises coming from the attic. This continued for several days. But when she asked her kids if they had been messing around in the attic, they said no. She believed them too. The attic was too musty and dark to be any kind of fun for the kids. She rarely went to the attic, unless she wanted to store something up there. But when the noises didn’t stop, she came up with a theory of her own.
One day, Tracy noticed that the sounds kept moving from one room to the next. But she might have missed that if she hadn’t been cleaning the house. She assumed a raccoon or a possum had made their way inside and was living in the attic. If that was the case, then she’d have to contact Animal Control. Unfortunately, it was Saturday, and they were closed on weekends, so she figured she’d call on Monday. But the source of the noise in the attic had other ideas.
It was around 2:30 am that night when a creaking sound woke Tracy up. It came from the ceiling and it was followed by thumping sounds on the floor of her bedroom. She looked down, and despite the dimness, she noticed a bunch of nails on the carpet. It dawned on her that those nails were coming off of the ceiling boards. She was frozen with fear. Whatever was up there, it wasn’t a raccoon or a possum.
Tracy thought “there was some poltergeist stuff going on.” But she was too scared to go up to the attic and check. So, she hid under the blanket and did her best to slip back into a deep sleep. Before she did, she thought about what was haunting her attic. She didn’t want to go on like this, so the following morning she decided to get to the bottom of things.
When she woke up, Tracy learned that her nephew had stopped by to visit her two grown-up sons at the house. Having three young men there put her mind at ease. She told them about the noises coming from the attic and asked them to check it out. The men went upstairs while Tracy waited safely in the hallway outside the attic door. No one was prepared for what the boys found up there.
The young men knew something wasn’t right the moment they walked into the attic. For starters, there was a foul stench, and there was garbage thrown on the floor. Tracy’s old jackets and coats had been packed up in a single corner by the heating unit. She had brought them to the attic to store them, but not like this. And then, the boys noticed a body.
The body in the corner moved as soon as the men started exploring the attic. The stranger was apparently sleeping. But now he was looking straight at them and they were staring back at him. For a few seconds, that was all they did. They were frozen with shock. Then, the man stood up and ran past them. Tracy caught a glimpse of the man as he made it down the stairs and escaped. She suddenly realized that she knew him.
The family immediately called the cops, but by the time they arrived, the intruder was gone. However, Tracy recognized the man. 12 years earlier, he had come over to do some housework for her. She even dated him for a little while. Unfortunately, he had a history of criminal tendencies, which forced her to break up with him. But the man didn’t handle the break-up well and tried to get back at her.
The man wanted Tracy back, but she turned him down. So, he stole her truck. But she reported him and cops caught him. Even after he went to prison, he kept trying to harass Tracy. He sent her letters assuring her he’d changed and pleaded with her for a second chance. After his release, Tracy heard he moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. She assumed these were just rumors. But then, she found out it was true in the worst way possible.
Police searched the attic where the man had been living this whole time. They assumed that he had been there for several weeks. “He had packed all the old coats and jackets into the heating unit and was sleeping in the heating unit,” said Tracy. They even found a bunch of plastic cups he used to relieve himself, which was also the source of the foul stench. Then they made a more frightening discovery.
Authorities discovered that the man had reconfigured the air vents on the ceiling so he could spy on Tracy while she was in bed. Tracy was horrified when she learned that she had been spied on. “It’s got me flabbergasted,” she said in an interview. “How can you look at someone through an air vent?” But they still had no clue how he broke into the house or how he got in the attic. The only available access was the hallway door between her kids’ bedroom. And the threat wasn’t over.
Authorities know the man’s identity, but he has managed to evade them. For the time being, he remains at large. Days after he ran off, Tracy could have sworn she saw him lurking near her house, but cops found nothing. Meanwhile, she wants him caught. “I want him to be charged with it,” she explained. “It could be somebody else he does the same thing to, but she might not be so lucky.”