The babysitter started to feel more and more uneasy about this statue throughout the night. She felt as though the eyes were following her, whenever she moved around the room with the children. She decided to call the parents. "I’m so sorry to bother you", she said, "but I was wondering if I could move this clown that you have in the rocking chair, it’s starting to scare the kids and I."

"What clown are you referring to? I don’t recall us having a clown fitting that description. Are you sure its sitting in the rocking chair?" the mother asked hurriedly.

"Yes, I’m sure.” said the girl. "It’s sitting right here, I’m looking at it right now…Why? I know it’s probably very old and I shouldn’t attempt to move it out of the way, but."

"Take the kids and get out of the house, now. The neighbor across the street will let you in. Call me immediately when you get there." and with that, the mother hung up.

Frightened and confused, the babysitter grabbed the kids and ran out. When she and the kids arrived safely at the neighbors, she called and the mother answered. "What’s wrong? Did something happen? Are you all okay?" the girl asked.

"Yes, we are fine, but it’s not us we are worried about, it’s you and the kids. I’m so glad you called–we were afraid this would happen again. We will be there shortly along with the police, I’ll explain everything when we get there", and the mother hung up.

The parents later explained to the girl that for some time, the next-door neighbor had been giving them problems. He was mentally ill, heard voices, the whole bit. On numerous occasions he had snuck into their house and tried to kidnap the children. This time, he dressed up in a clown suit, painted his face, and waited quietly until he had the opportunity to do what he came to do.

The parents had informed the police many times but never had any proof until now about what was happening. They thanked the girl, paid her, and drove her home.

Cambry Belle from OK
Alexi Pierrottet from Corona CA
Janelle Revere from MA
Alex Warwick from NJ
Emily W. from Loveland, OH
Sarah from NH
Rose Emran from NC
Nick M
Chloe from North Bergen, NJ

Variations:

• The clown is sometimes in the living room.
• The clown statue turns out to be a “little person” that was living in the garage for 4 months and would go in and get food whenever the parents left the house. This time, he saw the parents leave, and went in to get food like he always did, not expecting there to be a babysitter in the living room.
• Sometimes the babysitter calls the parents asking them if she can put a blanket over the clown statue.

One night a babysitter was looking after a child in a nice suburban neighborhood. The little boy was asleep upstairs and she was watching some TV in the living room downstairs, waiting for his parents to come home, when the phone rang. “Hello, this is Anna. Who’s calling please?” she said as she picked up the phone, looking around for some paper and a pen to take down a message for the family. The caller didn’t answer but instead only breathed heavily on the other end of the line. The girl huffed in exasperation and rolled her eyes as she hung up and returned her attention to the show she was watching. The stranger called again and breathed into her ear as she asked who it was. She hung up more quickly this time and instead of being annoyed by the prank, the babysitter began to glance around herself in the dark room, getting freaked out in this painfully unfamiliar house.

After the third call the girl called the police. She felt a little foolish and thought she might be overreacting, but she couldn’t help being scared.

The officer listened to her story. He said, "Hang up the phone and the next time the phone rings we will trace the call."

She hung up and the heavy breather called again. She slammed the phone down and almost immediately it rang again. This time it was the police – they informed her that the call was originating from the same house.

She ran upstairs to check on the boy and found a man holding him with a knife under his chin. The police arrived in time and quickly arrested him.

Marcel Fontaine from Norwalk CT

Photo from the 2006 film When a Stranger Calls

Posted via email from Urban Legends Online

A young couple went out to dinner one evening and left the babysitter in charge of their two children. The children had been put to bed and the babysitter was watching the television when the phone rang. She answered but all she heard was a man laughing hysterically and then a voice saying, "I’m upstairs with the children, you’d better come up." Thinking it was "one of those prank phone calls" or a practical joke she slammed down the receiver and turned the television sound up.

A short time later the phone rang again and, as she picked it up, the unmistakable hysterical laughter came down the line and the voice once again said "I’m upstairs with the children, you’d better come up." Getting rather frightened she called the operator and was advised they would notify the police and, should he phone again, could she keep him talking in order to give them time to trace the call and have him arrested.

Minutes after she replaced the receiver the phone rang again and, when the voice said, "I’m upstairs with the children, you’d better come up," she tried to keep him talking. However, he must have guessed what she was trying to do and he put the phone down.

Only seconds later the phone rang again, this time it was the operator who said, "Get out of the house straight away, the man is on the extension." The babysitter put down the phone and just then heard someone coming down the stairs. She fled from the house and ran straight into the arms of the police. They burst into the house and found a man brandishing a large butcher’s knife. He had entered the house through an upstairs window, murdered both the children and was just about to do the same to the poor babysitter.

Photo credit:

Posted via email from Urban Legends Online

Once the parents had left, the babysitter invited her boyfriend over to Annie and Jack’s house to party. He brought her some booze and together they drank liquor and tried LSD, something they had never done before. When Annie called home to check on the baby, the babysitter told her about the pretty colors and the turkey that she was cooking in the oven.

Annie got very upset and went to find her husband so they could rush home and see what was going on. When they got to their house, Jack ran upstairs to get the baby, and Annie stayed with the babysitter to try and make sense of what she had said earlier on the phone. Jack came running down the stairs in a panic asking over and over again "Where’s the baby? Where’s the baby?" Suddenly, both Jack and Annie smelled something burning. They ran to the kitchen, looked in the oven and found their beautifully burnt baby.

Taylor from Woodstock GA and
Ashley from Niagara Falls NY and
Darren from Omagh, NI

A young couple were waiting impatiently to leave on their first vacation since the baby was born. The young mother’s aunt had promised to babysit but was thirty minutes late. The young woman called her elderly aunt to find out what was going on, the old woman apologized for her forgetfulness, and said she’d speed right over.

Since the aunt was only a couple miles away, the couple decided they’d go ahead and go rather than wait for her and risk missing their flight.

Two weeks later when the couple returned they were horrified to find the baby still sitting in the high-chair where they’d left it, except now it was dead and bloated, and covered with flies. The aunt really had sped, and unfortunately crashed and died before she made it over.

Another Version

Should Have Waited

A couple getting ready to go on vacation became late for their flight while waiting for the arrival of the baby sitter they secured for their newborn. The mother called the babysitter who promised that she would be at their house in no more than 5 minutes. The couple raced out the door to make their flight, leaving the baby home thinking it will only be alone for a few moments. Two weeks later when the couple returned they found the baby still in the crib, dead. The couple were devestated to discover that the babysitter got in a car crash while rushing to the house.

Olivia from PA

Posted via email from Urban Legends Online