# A total stranger freaked me out today **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 18, 2002, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-total-stranger-freaked-me-out-today/137233 "2002-11-18T01:20:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-total-stranger-freaked-me-out-today/137233/21 "2002-11-19T03:33:19Z")
Sorry, but I don’t have to be a sci fi fan, pedophile, stalker, drug addict OR all around frightening individual to go and buy a ticket to a movie. It’s called, " Purchasing a ticket legally to a venue that is open to you, and sitting down and not doing anything to anyone around you and leaving when the venue event ends. " I go to movies alone ALL THE TIME when I am travelling for business. I get my drink, my popcorn, sit down with a magazine to read until the lights go out and enjoy the film. I’m still wondering what part of all of this qualifies this person as a threat or imminent danger to you and the children in the theatre… I can tell you this much, if a total stranger called security on me in the middle of a movie because I was guilty of the heinous crime of being a male sitting alone in public, they’d best be prepared to go to the mats on it. I paid my ticket, I kept to myself and watched a movie. It sounds like this man did the same. ??? ---
**Author:** ![Cataclysm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Cataclysm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cataclysm)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-total-stranger-freaked-me-out-today/137233/22 "2002-11-19T04:11:00Z")
It’s not like **Greywolf** called security on this guy. She just said he creeped her out. I’m sure that’s perfectly legal. And I agree with **BiblioCat**. Sounds like you got a case of creepy guy radar. And the fact that your husband got the same vibe… well… Have you asked him what it was about the stranger that creeped him out? ---
**Author:** ![TVGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/82dd89/32.png) [@TVGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-total-stranger-freaked-me-out-today/137233/23 "2002-11-19T05:35:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cartooniverse \* > \*\*Sorry, but I don’t have to be a sci fi fan, pedophile, stalker, drug addict OR all around frightening individual to go and buy a ticket to a movie. > …[snip]… > I’m still wondering what part of all of this qualifies this person as a threat or imminent danger to you and the children in the theatre… > \*\* I love how now the guy was implied to pose an “imminent danger to you and your children” what part of the story was that in?😕 And I never said that I thought the guy was doing anything untoward, I was simply meaning to express my opinion that in my mind, seeing a single adult buying a ticket to sit alone in what is widely regarded as a kid’s movie (special effects or no) would probably set off my “off” alarm as well. On the other hand, I might think the guy was cute and wonder why such a cute guy was sitting alone at the movies, ya know? (OK, **TVGuy** , now you’re creepin people out worse than “single movie guy”) I always thought that old game “telephone” was funny because people couldn’t hear what the last person said. It’s funnier here when everyone can READ what everyone else said … I love the SDMB sometimes! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-total-stranger-freaked-me-out-today/137233/24 "2002-11-19T14:50:55Z")
Would he have been more or less creepy if he kept turning around and looking at you. I myself have gone to movies, including family movies, alone. (yes I am an adult male) Sometimes I feel creepy and out of place. Being in a large room with all these other people in their groups can make a person feel a bit like an outsider. One of the great things about movies is how you become part of a group and have a group expierence even if you really don’t have someone in your life to share it. I’ll bet that befor the movie started that something was on screen, probably slides. So this guy concentrates on the slides instead of looking around the room at the life he probably wants to have but just doesn’t have right now. (friends, family, ect) But I don’t think **Greywolf73** is weird for being a little creeped out. I do a little ‘threat assesment’ for the people around me in public places all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-total-stranger-freaked-me-out-today/137233/25 "2002-11-19T15:15:52Z")
When that dreadful “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” with Gary Oldman and Winona Rider first came to theaters here, my wife and I went to see it. Ahead of us in line was a 50-something woman, dressed in a vaguely Victorianesque outfit, but not Gothy. It seemed to me that she had a rather, um, determined look in her eye as we stood in line for the tickets. When Particlewife and I sat down in the theater, the woman was a couple rows ahead of us in an isle seat. She was staring intently at the blank screen, rigid with anticipation. She had popcorn, and was eating it steadily, one kernel at a time, with very rigid precision, never taking her eyes off the screen. She freaked me out. It was as if her whole life was spent building up to this moment. Same sort of vibe, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-total-stranger-freaked-me-out-today/137233/26 "2002-11-19T15:49:00Z")
When I saw “Creepy Guy Radar” I couldn’t help but read it as “Creepy Radar Guy.” Reminded me of Ugly Naked Guy from “Friends.” I also don’t see what was so creepy about him. From your description, he sounds kind of hot. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-total-stranger-freaked-me-out-today/137233/27 "2002-11-19T15:57:13Z")
Was he wearing a Hawaiian shirt and smoking a cigar? ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-total-stranger-freaked-me-out-today/137233/28 "2002-11-20T03:34:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TVGuy \* > \*\*Well, let’s see - single adult male dressed in long black coat buying a single ticket to a KIDS MOVIE. > > Single adult male in long black coat sitting by himself in the middle of a theater full of KIDS at a KIDS MOVIE. > > It’d probably set of my “off” bells too. > > Although I never find myself going to kids movies, so maybe not. \*\* Not to pick on you there, **TVGuy** , but my god in heaven. So now it’s also awful to be single and male in public. Well we sure cannot have single males walking around the streets, watching movies and buying food and running errands and stuff, now can we? Oh, I get it. Harry Potter is on par with Barney, TeleTubbies and Poke’Mon?? Not for nothing, but that film has very little to do with JUST being a child, and a heck of a lot to do with a ripe imagination. My apologies, I guess I shall never go to a movie alone again. Ever. In any city in the country. If I DO dare to, I guess I’ll just need to paste dozens of photos of my kids all over my clothing so other ADULTS going to the movie will see that I have kids, and so I must be okay. Obviously it is very much NOT okay to be a male alone at a movie theatre. Gosh, I better check the local ordinances… :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-total-stranger-freaked-me-out-today/137233/29 "2002-11-20T03:40:32Z")
I know a grown man is unacceptably odd alone in a children’s movie…and for this reason **I have never seen a Disney Animated movie…** AT ALL!!! :eek: ☹ ---
**Author:** ![TVGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/82dd89/32.png) [@TVGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-total-stranger-freaked-me-out-today/137233/30 "2002-11-20T04:02:32Z")
Feeling a little _sensitive_ tonight, **Cartooniverse**?? Sheesh 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gerome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Gerome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gerome)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-total-stranger-freaked-me-out-today/137233/31 "2002-11-20T11:46:44Z")
Sorry if this is a little off topic, but why is there such stigma surrounding going to the movies by yourself sometimes? I go to the movies alone, not because i have no friends, but because they don’t like the films I do…yet I tell some people that I went alone and they act like I’ve done something incredibly bizarre. I just never understood it, that’s all - I always saw the cinema as an entertainment thing, not a social thing. Perhaps they see it a different way. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-total-stranger-freaked-me-out-today/137233/32 "2002-11-20T11:55:15Z")
Just for the record, when I was a publicly noticable freak/quasi-goth, I used to do that for no good reason. I would make whatever movements I needed to do to accomplish whatever task I was doing (buying a ticket, walking to the seats, etc.) then sit down in one swoopy movement and not move again, no shift, no wiggle, no stretching of arms, until the movie was done. I used to do this on public transit all the time. Black clothes, long hair, pale skin, totally motionless. It’s a hell of an effort… ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-total-stranger-freaked-me-out-today/137233/33 "2002-11-20T12:32:38Z")
Once, back in my fabled C-store cashier days, after I’d worked a 12 hour shift on very little sleep, I began to wonder about some of my customers. In any given 8 hour shift, I’d see between 300 and 600 people come through that truck stop. How many of them, I wondered, are serial killers? After all, truck drivers travel a lot, it would be easy for them to pick up vagrants and hitch hikers and “disappear” them…how many of them are rapists, or child molesters, or armed robbers? How many of them have torn the “Do Not Remove Under Penalty Of Law” tag from their mattresses? We run across hundreds of people as we go about our daily routines. Any one of them could have disembodied corpse pieces buried in their backyards. I say when the Creepy Guy Radar goes off, heed it, or you may be next! (cue ominous organ music) ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-total-stranger-freaked-me-out-today/137233/34 "2002-11-20T14:39:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Marlitharn \* > \*\*How many of them have torn the “Do Not Remove Under Penalty Of Law” tag from their mattresses? > > \*\* Why do people think this is funny? If you look at the tag it clearly reads Don not reemove under penalty of law UNLESS BY CONSUMER! If it is your mattress you can cut it off and YOU ARE NOT A CRIMINAL!!! I think **Cartooniverse** is on the right track. There is definetly a growing stigma about being a single adult male. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-total-stranger-freaked-me-out-today/137233/35 "2002-11-20T16:06:56Z")
I know a guy who always goes to movies alone (heck _I_ sometimes go to movies alone). He is a die hard film buff and he finds it distracting to have someone accompany him. He views movies in a Zen-like ascetic manner – trying to make it _perfect_. Gets comfy, no distracting snacks or beverage, no fidgeting, just pure viewing experience. He also likes to see the big budget fx films on the big screen. He’d probably fit the description of the guy you saw to a T. He also wouldn’t give a rat’s ass if anyone found him creepy. He goes entirely to see movies and tries to utterly tune out the rest of the world. ---
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-total-stranger-freaked-me-out-today/137233/36 "2002-11-20T17:53:41Z")
Now, before I get some kind of incendiary attack leveled against me, I should point out that I am, in fact, a card-carrying, D&D-playing, Harry Potter-reading dork/geek/what have you. That said, Guy in Black Duster at Harry Potter Flick = Dork. There’s no shame in it, and I wouldn’t be worried, particularly if he didn’t do anything untoward. The black duster subset of dorkdom is one of the “I mistakenly believe that I am cool” factions, a la faux goths, etc., and posturing in a way they know will creep out the normals with their sheer “coolness” is a classic trait. ---
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-total-stranger-freaked-me-out-today/137233/37 "2002-11-20T17:56:01Z")
I forgot to clarify that Black Duster \<\> Cool Under any real-world circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![Demo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demo/32/8472_2.png) [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-total-stranger-freaked-me-out-today/137233/38 "2002-11-20T19:49:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zette \* > \*\*I give random strangers footrubs all the time, C. What’s your damage, man? Is that creepy??? > > 😉 \*\* Eeew, you touch strangers’ feet? That’s disgusting! ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-total-stranger-freaked-me-out-today/137233/39 "2002-11-21T04:06:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scupper \* > \*\*Now, before I get some kind of incendiary attack leveled against me, I should point out that I am, in fact, a card-carrying, D&D-playing, Harry Potter-reading dork/geek/what have you. > > That said, > > Guy in Black Duster at Harry Potter Flick = Dork. > > There’s no shame in it, and I wouldn’t be worried, particularly if he didn’t do anything untoward. The black duster subset of dorkdom is one of the “I mistakenly believe that I am cool” factions, a la faux goths, etc., and posturing in a way they know will creep out the normals with their sheer “coolness” is a classic trait. \*\* Well, my husband is a dork too(minus the black coat)–in fact he takes his dorkiness to the next level by playing Warhammer. 😉 Actually, now that I’ve thought about it a little more, I think that **Larry Mudd** is on the right track. I think this guy may have been under the influence of something and was tripping while watching the movie. The fact that he was alone didn’t creep me out. If this guy had come with a big crowd of people, I think my creep-radar would still have picked him out. I don’t know what it was. Maybe his posture, body language, just “bad vibes” in general? It had nothing to do with what he was wearing. And for the record, yes, he WAS actually sort of cute. If you find that I’ve-got-a-body-stashed-in-my-trunk Ted Bundy vibe appealing, that is. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-total-stranger-freaked-me-out-today/137233/40 "2002-11-21T10:21:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scupper \* > \*\*I forgot to clarify that > > Black Duster \<\> Cool > > Under any real-world circumstances. \*\* How about a black leather trenchcoat? I used to wear one of those. Switched to a 3/4 length car coat a couple of years back… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-total-stranger-freaked-me-out-today/137233.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-total-stranger-freaked-me-out-today/137233.md?page=3)