Feels Like Stephen King? 2011 Update

What I am about to briefly talk about is normally seen in movies. The character is walking along, a stranger is walking past, the suddenly the stranger locks eyes with the character and says something that either the character doesn't understand or isn't quite sure what he heard, attempts to talk to the stranger but the stranger appears to ignore them and/or continues walking/going on with their business like nothing ever happened.

This sort of thing usually happens in horror movies but I haven't experienced anything that appeared malevolent. For example:

Today I was walking home from work and some random female jogger comes up, locks eyes with me, then says something I completely don't understand! When I tried responding several times, she just continued on jogging as if nothing ever happened!

Another time was in the early morning in front of a Safeway. I had stayed the night in my car out in the parking lot for I was traveling cross country, I got out to go into the store to buy some things and as I approached an attractive young girl, who worked at the store, came out and as I passed her buy she said something. Now as I approached her, it was as if she was looking past my left shoulder and not even close to making contact, when she spoke I understood what she said but I didn't believe she was speaking to me (though apparently it might have been a direct compliment to myself), after passing her I turned to look who she was talking to but there was no one there! So after realizing this I was surprised in believing that she was actually talking to me, but she did not even turn around to look at me. It was eerily quite and even when I tried to greet her, it was as if I was not there. It was as if time stood still for our entire interaction. No sound or action from anywhere else in the city it seemed. Creeped out by this I continued into the store and gathered what few things I needed quickly and before I headed to the check out counter I had the strange feeling I was being watched, and indeed I was. She was standing at the front of the store watching me the entire time. Normally I would find this awesome since I don't get the attention of many gorgeous ladies but this was a little creepy. I pulled up to the only cashier and my things were bagged by the girl who was now acting like she had never even seen me before. So I left and that was that.

I have had several other instances but most of them brief like the one with the jogger. Am I just crazy and imagining that people are saying/doing these things or is it just that I have come across several random individuals who are hard of hearing or sense of courtesy? (2009)

So in September 2010 I left for Japan to live my dream, which I might describe in a future blog, and I had a couple creepy experiences:

First, I believe took place while I was in Nagoya, while I was waiting to meet a friend. Pretty much not all that shocking but basically I witnessed someone's eyes completely change.

I was outside of a random convenient store (which they have a lot of) and was seated under a tree munching on some snacks I just bought and simply passing time. Many people were passing by of course, taking notice of this random lone white person in a sea of Japanese, but after a time my attention was drawn to a couple. They seemed like a regular couple just walking past but as they had my captivation the male's eye's went completely black.

This sort of thing happens regularly in Japan right? I mean they invented Anime so kids are always wearing contacts right? No this is not that kind of mistake. This guy's eye's went from a normal pair of eye balls to complete black. This happened after he blinked a few times. Of course he knew I was staring and when they passed he darted a look back at me but his eyes were normal again. 0_o

This next story is even stranger.

I was staying in Kyoto at the time. Wondering around, or urban exploration as I called it, I was burning time while my host was out working. Pretty soon weather turned bad and it began to rain but I had no umbrella on me to keep myself dry. The Japanese are a super polite people and this can often lead them to generosity and inexplicable kindness. So as time passed, while waiting on a street corner, an elderly man noticed my lack of proper devices to keep myself dry. He wanted to give me his umbrella and I politely told him no, but instead of leaving me he took me by the hand and lead me to a small market and purchased me a kasa (Japanese for umbrella). Afterwords and a gracious thanks we parted ways. I looked around the store for a bit to see if there were some snacks I could afford. After leaving I started to walk along the avenue when I noticed a man dressed in a black business suit step out of a build some many feet in front of me. I hardly gave him a glance when he turned to me and gave me the loudest snake like hiss I ever heard. I would have trembled but I was completely perplexed by how he managed to make this sound.

He hardly stood for a second and hadn't even stared at me but, after this hiss he had made, he simply turned his back to me and continued on his way like nothing even happened. I was stunned and eventually a little creeped out. There was no one else around at the time so I had no one to look at and basically give the, "WTF?" expression and feel validated that I wasn't crazy in hearing this.

Unfortunately I am crazy, at least until someone else can validate this sort of experience. So this wraps the 2011 update for things that happened in 2010.