Before I start writing this little anecdote, I want to write a little disclaimer. It’s entirely possible that, by making this blog entry, I will be misrepresenting an innocent person. This blog entry is about an event that I witnessed and a person who seemed to be really rather suspicious but he may well have been a perfectly innocent person. Anyway…
As is often the case, I was sitting at Bath Bus Station happily waiting for the 232 to Corsham to arrive and playing Tetris while I did so. This was actually the same day that I made this video. After a short period of time a couple of young teenage girls approached. Between themselves, they complained about a “creepy” man they had seen who “probably fancied” one of them.
My initial reaction to this conversation was “Sheesh! These people seem awfully judgemental. I wonder which peculiar seeming, yet innocent, person they are talking about?” my little question was answered a little while later when he made appearance.
The man looked pretty cool actually: he was a little short, wore a blazer and a bowler hat. I thought to myself that somebody who wears slightly unusual (and I don’t mean that in a derogatory way, I just mean that you don’t usually see people wearing that) clothes had just been categorised as ‘creepy’ by these young girls. Anyway, he then started talking to them.
“Hello, girls,” he said, sounding friendly enough.
They both said “Hello.”
“Is this your bus then?” he asked, pointing to the bay where the 232 arrived.
“Yes it is,” said one of them.
“Ah I see, I’m not sure where my bus is,” he told them.
“Okay.”
“Well nice to see you again, girls,” he said and then kissed one of them on the cheek.
After this little interaction, I still wasn’t entirely sure that he was anything but a harmless overly friendly person, after all, maybe he did that to everybody.
A little while later the “Creepy Man” returned and, this time, I decided to do a little experiment. As he got closer I looked at him and gave him a friendly smile, waiting to see how he would react to this. However, he simply ignored me and this was most probably a much bigger invitation for interaction than any of the girls had given him.
But, anyway, he then chatted and waited with the girls, every now and then he’d wander off somewhere and they’d talk about how unnerved they were about the whole thing. Eventually the 232 bus to Corsham arrived and I, and the teenagers, got up, ready to go on board. I sat down in my usual seat (fifth row, on the left) and the girls sat down a little behind me. I heard them talking with relief that the man was now gone. However, things took a small turn for the worse when he got on the bus too, he even asked the driver where the bus went. Now, maybe I am just being suspicious, but this is what gives me the idea that he had some malicious intentions towards these girls because his getting onto this bus seemed a contradiction to his saying that he didn’t know which bus to get on, surely he would realise he was standing right next to his stop?
Once he got on the bus, he sat down next to the girls for a little bit, but, after a short while, moved to a seat by himself. I wasn’t entirely sure that I had judged the situation correctly, so I sent a text message to a friend of mine asking them for their opinion and they seemed to agree with me. I decided I would keep an eye on this person, if they got off at the same stop as the girls perhaps I would too and intervene if necessary. However, about half way through the journey, I noticed that the man seemed to be fast asleep! Even if he had been planning to do evil, the Sleepy Murderer now would probably snooze all the way to the end of the line. And he did.
