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The original was posted on /r/truescarystories by /u/Mariemisch on 2025-05-26 03:25:35+00:00.

So I went to Gatlinburg w/ my parents and some friends. We went on a mountain coaster and it rained. Afterwards, my friends daughter (she is 12 and let’s call her emily) wanted to swim in the indoor pool. The older ppl wanted to go to bed and since I’m the second youngest in the group (24), she begged me to go with her since I was already soaked from the rain. I agreed and after we got back, we changed and headed to the pool.

We swam and started making some fun dance vids on TikTok. I of course kept them private since we were in bathing suits. Now the way this pool is set up, there is a window that can see into the hallway, and you can see the pool from the hallway. As we were dancing, I noticed 3 older men passing the window very slowly. I didn’t think much of it and kept playing with TikTok.

Later, I notice them pass slowly again. They did this like 7 times. I didn’t mention it to Emily bc I figured I was being paranoid. Suddenly, a man busts in the room yelling “hey ladies! Is the water warm?!”. Me and Emily just kinda watched him and he just stares for a sec then points to 2 other men, who start walking in, and says “we want to swim. Is the water warm?”. Now my instincts told me to get in front of Emily, who was just awkwardly watching, but my fear told me to get away. (I ofc would have grabbed Emily). I didn’t know what to do so I just stood there. The man then tells us to hang on and let him and his friends get their bathing suits so they can swim with us. They then full on run out like they are in a rush.

Now Emily being 12, laughs saying “wow that was weird”. Putting everything together and also my gut screaming at me, I told her we needed to leave. She pouted ofc saying “but we are having fun and I never get to see you”, but I looked at her saying “no, i have a feeling this is a bad situation to be in and we HAVE to leave before those men come back”. We left but I feel like i could have handled it better.

I feel like I might have been paranoid. Was I correct in making us leave? It worries me that I completely froze like I did when those other men came in.