I Was a Victim of a Peeping Tom

The story of the incident that sparked my obsession with personal safety, signs that someone is watching you, and what to do if you suspect a voyeur is lurking around your home.

In my early 20s, I was living “the life”. I had a sweet one-bedroom apartment in the downtown core of the small city I lived in, a great job, and lots of good friends.

Considering most of my friends were over visiting frequently, I felt safe in my home.

Until one night changed everything and made me realize the importance of personal safety.

This night forever changed me.

It was 2005, I worked as a brokerage rater for UPS. The shifts were the same every week: Monday to Friday, from 10:30 pm to 2:30 am.

I didn’t have a vehicle, so the same person drove me home every night, at the same time.

On one Thursday night in late November, I arrived home at 3 am and made “supper”. I started up my old windows computer to chat with my long-distance boyfriend and relax at the end of my workday.

I had a very smart cat, his name was Resin. Resin was sitting on my kitchen table and making the noise cats do when they see a bird outside.

It was 3 am, I knew he wasn’t looking at a bird.

I had my blinds open and could see something moving outside. Although I was on the ground floor, I lived in an old Victorian house so my windows were about five feet from the ground.

It was too high off the ground for an animal to be visible to my cat.

However, it was the perfect height for someone to look in my windows.

Being a young person and (stupidly) illegally smoking marijuana in my apartment at the time, my first instinct was to call my guy friends who lived down the street and not the police.

Since my friends lived literally 60 seconds down the street (I counted on one drunken walk home), they would get there quicker than the police.

I knew they would be awake, playing video games and socializing. There were six young guys who lived in the large house and many of them worked shift work, so I knew someone would be awake.

With trembling hands, I picked up my cordless phone and called my best friend Nick’s cell phone. When he answered, I whispered: “I may be paranoid, but I’m pretty sure there’s someone looking in my kitchen window”. He replied, “We will be right there!”.

At this point, Resin and I were on the other side of the apartment by our only way out, the front door. I could hear yelling outside and we stayed inside until my friend knocked and yelled: “It’s okay, he’s gone!”.

I wasn’t paranoid.

I looked through my peephole and opened the door. Three of my close friends piled into my small apartment, full of adrenaline and anger.

My friend Nick proceeded to tell me that they approached my house quietly and caught a young man looking in my window.

When describing the man, Nick said: “He looked like a nerd who plays dungeons and dragons all day in his mom’s basement!”

When they approached him, one of my friends asked “What the fuck are you doing, man?” and he mumbled that he thought it was “his house” and took off running.

My friends ran after him, one of my friends, nicknamed “Tree” because he was so tall, was naturally the first to catch up to him. He threw the peeping Tom to the ground. Tree said that he heard a snap and the man was yelling and holding his arm. My friends roughed him up a bit. He took off and understandably, they let him go.

My friends stayed for a while and encouraged me to contact the police. They kept saying how bad they felt about letting him go and not holding him for the police. In my eyes, they were heroes, especially after what happened next.

I didn’t call the police, it was 4 am by the time my friends left. I figured he had learned his lesson and was long gone. I didn’t think the police would be able to do anything and figured it was a one-time occurrence.

I was wrong.

A few minutes after my friends left, I heard a rustling on my deck. I almost opened the door without looking in the peephole, thinking one of my friends forgot their phone or cigarettes. Instead, I looked through the peephole and saw a stranger.

He came back.

His chest was heaving and I could hear heavy breathing through my door. I rushed to my phone and called the police, then my friends.

Once again, my friends ran over to my place and when the peeping Tom saw them, he yelled in bewilderment “Where are you guys coming from!?”.

He ran away and the police never showed up.

That morning, I stayed up until 9 am and watched out the window. I couldn’t believe the cops never came to my rescue. If it hadn’t been for my friends down the street, I may have been a victim of rape or worse.

I went out and spoke to my neighbor, who was a retired professor and avid gardener. He was shocked by what happened and told me that he and his wife would keep an “eye on things” for me.

I called the 911 line back. The man had moved my deck furniture so maybe they could send someone to do fingerprints?

The dispatcher refused my request, stating that it wasn’t possible to get fingerprints because there was a frost buildup on everything.

She did not send the police to take a statement from me or talk to my friends to obtain a description of the voyeur.

They did exactly what I figured they would do, brush off my request for assistance.

A few weeks later, it was Christmas break. I was home for the night and once again, I heard someone on my deck.

I couldn’t see anything but this time I called 911 immediately. The dispatcher I talked to was very empathetic. She stayed on the phone with me while I waited for the police to arrive.

I told her my story. She searched my file and didn’t find any evidence of my previous phone calls.

Neither of my calls for help were documented by the dispatchers.

The dispatcher put me on hold and after several minutes, she was back on the line.

Since I provided the date and time of my phone calls, they were able to listen to the recordings. She told me that the situation was not handled correctly and that it wouldn’t happen again.

The police showed up and I thanked the dispatcher for her kindness and hung up the phone.

The police were very compassionate. They said they checked around my home and didn’t find anyone.

They assured me that from now on, my calls would be taken seriously and to call back if I have any further issues.

Regardless of their attentiveness, he was still out there.

In the days, weeks, and months following the incident, I was a mess. I barely ate, I stayed up all night after my shifts, watching out my window until I saw my neighbor outside gardening. Then I fitfully slept for a couple of hours before going to work.

My mind raced constantly, I kept thinking about my colleague dropping me off in the middle of the night and driving away. Is he watching me enter my home?

Many serial killers begin as voyeurs, watching and stalking their prey. What was his goal? The fear of the unknown was the worst part of this whole ordeal.

Then something occurred to me: If he wasn’t watching me, he was watching another innocent woman who had no idea.

Seeing the effect this incident had on me, my parents begged me to come home but I loved my apartment.

I didn’t want to let him win even though he was. I eventually gave my notice and moved to a secured building with a cookie-cutter esthetic that I hated.

But I was safe.

Signs that a voyeur may be watching you

• Disturbed ground or cigarette butts around your windows.
• Anything out of place around your home, furniture moved, or things missing from outside of your house.
• Your pets may behave strangely or go into defensive mode at random times.
• Your doorknob feels loose or you notice pry marks around your exterior door.
• You feel like you are being watched. Trust your instincts.

What to do if you suspect you have a voyeur watching you

• Call the police and explain what you have been experiencing. If you are not taken seriously, ask to take your complaint up the chain of command.
• Notify your neighbors, friends, and family about your situation. Do this via phone call, NOT social media.
• If possible, attempt to alter your routine.
• Always keep your blinds closed at night.
• Install longer screws on your exterior doorframe. This will reinforce your locks and make your door very hard to kick down.

• Install a deadbolt and slide lock to your exterior door.
• If you do not have a personal safety device, use your key fob for your car. Keep the device by your bed and with you at all times, this way you can easily hit the alarm button to alert outsiders to the peeping tom and scare him or her away.
• If you don’t have a dog, consider adopting one. A dog is one of the best security systems money can buy.
• Install security cameras or a well-hidden trail cam outside of your home to catch the predator on video.
• Consider taking a home defense course, or if you know someone in the military or law enforcement, ask them to teach you some moves. My husband is a soldier and has taught me some self-defense tactics, it is helpful to know how to defend yourself.
• If someone is dropping you off at home, have them stay and make sure you get inside your home safely.
• Every time you approach your home, stay inside of your vehicle and keep your doors locked until you have verified no one is around your home.
• Never confront the voyeur directly, call the police to deal with him or her.
• If you are having a hard time dealing with the situation, consider getting a roommate or relocating.
• Seek counseling. I wish I had done this after the incident occurred, it would’ve saved me many sleepless nights.

I learned valuable lessons from what I experienced. I realized that we often let our guard down in and around our homes.

I am very safety conscious now, I don’t like being alone at night, and I’m very scared of being outside in the dark. There is some anxiety that goes with being proactive but I have realized that the cops don’t always come when you need them so it’s important to be prepared.

I was completely oblivious to the signs that someone was watching me. I never noticed the cigarette butts around my window until after the night I discovered I had a peeping Tom. I don’t know what his goal was or what he was planning to do to me that night and I don’t want to know.

Most crimes happen close to home because that’s where people feel the most secure and are likely to disregard their personal safety.

Young people tend to think they are invincible to crime.

Young women want to be strong and independent. We don’t want to admit that we are afraid, so we test the limits and refuse to close our blinds or lock our doors.

My amazing cat and friends potentially saved my life that night and I will be forever thankful to them for this. If they hadn’t been around that night, I hazard to think about what would've happened to me.

Be aware of your surroundings and take your personal safety seriously, my story can happen to anyone.

“Do not think because an accident hasn’t happened to you that it can’t happen” -Safety saying, circa early 1900s

Amy Cottreau is a freelance writer who hails from a small city in Atlantic Canada. She enjoys interacting with fellow writers, dreaming of ideas for her next article, and researching a myriad of topics.

If you enjoyed this story, please visit my website “Raining on Darkness” where I discuss hoaxes, true crime cases, and unresolved mysteries!