I do real estate photography. One day I was alone shooting in an empty house, which is quite normal. I had this really uncomfortable feeling that I wasn’t alone. I had already checked the whole house before I started taking photos, but I kept getting the feeling that someone else was there. The feeling was so strong that I had goosebumps and felt nauseous.
I’m not a small guy, but I felt like a little kid scared of the dark. I decided to re-check all the rooms to ease my mind, but didn’t find anything. I checked closets, bathrooms, bedrooms etc but I was definitely the only one there. As I finished shooting the last room in the house, this feeling that someone was with me was so overwhelming that I pretty much sprinted out of the house when I took the last shot. I felt better when I got outside, but I still had an uneasy feeling.
The realtor ended up pulling in the driveway as I was finishing photos of the front of the house and asked if the house cleaner did a good job. I said it looked fine to me, and she went into the house with her husband to prep it for a showing. When I was shooting the backyard, I noticed them both out of the corner of my eye through a back window, but there was a third person with them. I was confused because they came alone without anyone else.
Turns out the house cleaner wasn’t finished before I pulled up and came in. She saw a large guy with tattoos come into the house and panic, so she jumped into the kitchen pantry and hid. By the time she realized I was the photographer, it was too late for her to come out without it being awkward, so she stayed in the pantry the whole time. I’m not sure if maybe I saw her out of the corner of my eye when walking past, or if maybe I smelled her perfume, heard her breathing and didn’t realize it, but my subconscious was screaming at me that someone was there? It was the most uncomfortable I’ve ever been inside a house like that before and made for a funny story after.
I should add that I had headphones on for the majority of the shoot, so it was 100% my fault for not being more aware of everything. I just assumed it was like any other empty house, so I was listening to music right when I came in and didn’t stop until I had the weird feelings.
I should add that I had headphones on for the majority of the shoot, so it was 100% my fault for not being more aware of everything. I just assumed it was like any other empty house, so I was listening to music right when I came in and didn’t stop until I had the weird feelings.