While taking telephone floor duty early in my real estate career (just a few years ago), I received a call from a man looking for some rural land on which to build. I found several pieces, and he wanted to see the first that afternoon. It was February and already getting dark but he was insistent that he see it that day.
I found someone to cover for me and arranged to meet him at a local convenience store/gas station. The land was not far from where I lived, and I intended to go home from there. While driving to meet him, I had a strong urge to call my husband and give him this man’s contact information as well as where the land was located.
As I turned into the convenience store, I saw this man standing in the drive holding an overcoat, wearing gloves with the fingertips cut out, and carrying a large heavy stick. I pulled up and told him to follow me.
He said he had been up since 5:00 AM and was too tired to drive. He walked in front of my vehicle so I couldn’t pull away and to the driver’s side. He placed his coat and stick in the back of my car. As we drove, this man began talking in a manner that made me grow exceedingly uneasy.
When we got to the land, I handed him the plat and he got out to see where the corners were located. I told him I dropped my cell phone and needed to find it. At this point, we were still on a local paved road. I found the phone and called my husband to drive over where we were as the man was talking crazy. He came back to the vehicle and wanted to pull along the side of the land, which we did. There were still mobile homes and people around. He wanted me to pull up further. I told him my car was too low to the ground to go further. He got out of the car and mentioned walking the land.
The strangest thing happened when I tried to get out of the car — my door would not open! I told him to go ahead while I saw what was wrong with my door, and that I was not going in the wooded area with him anyway. He walked away by himself and I climbed out through the passenger side and went to the driver’s side. The door opened right away!
All this time, my husband is frantically calling every few minutes for directions. I got back in the vehicle, the man looked up and came literally RUNNING back to the car! I looked at him and said, “I thought you were tired!” I turned the car around and started back to where I picked him up. My husband called yet again, still not finding my location. I told him I would be home in a few minutes. Thankful to be away from this creeper.
The next day…I called the listing agent for another piece the man expressed interest in seeing. The listing agent was on his way to my office, so I told him to come see me. I described what happened, we called the man, and the agent spoke with him. Later in the week, this agent called me and said this man called him at 5:00 AM one morning. He didn’t answer the phone and waited until later in the day to return the call. He told the man never to call him at that time of morning again.
A week or so later, a local appraiser called this same agent and told him he had someone in his office interested in some land. The agent told him he would meet the man at the land. When the client drove up and got out, the agent told me he knew it was the same person, and he had a gun sticking out the waistband of his pants! He told the man to put the gun away, it was not hunting season. Then the agent walked over to speak to a neighbor and get away from this crazy man.
Not long after, I read in the paper that this man was arrested for assault. Just recently, I saw in the newspaper where he approached a woman at a local MacDonald’s, sat down uninvited, and made some inappropriate comments.
In the course of the conversation, he mentioned where he would be the next night. She notified police. They arrested him at a local pizza establishment. He resisted arrest and kicked a police officer in the stomach.
I told my story in the office then and again just recently after the latest arrest. We have a dangerous occupation and must always take precautions and go with our instincts when something doesn’t feel right.
