3 True Lockdown Horror Stories: School and Hotel Terror

TL;DR

Three lockdown encounters unfold: two students hiding in a basement bathroom are stalked by an armed intruder, a New Jersey officer finds a boy stabbed and trapped in a locker by an abductor, and a solo hotel guest is warned by the front desk that an intruder is inside her room during a lockdown.

Transcript

I was 16 in my junior year of high school I had nine periods in a school day fifth period was lunch and straight from there was my astronomy class my astronomy class was actually held in one of the two basement classrooms of the school my high school was big there were three floors and even that wasn't enough to accommodate all the classes offered ... Read More

Key Insights

• The first story's narrator was a 16-year-old junior whose astronomy class met in a remodeled basement classroom nicknamed 'the chamber,' which had no intercoms or loudspeakers, so students there could not hear morning announcements or lockdown alerts.
• During the school lockdown, the hallway lights upstairs were turned completely off, which the narrator recognized as abnormal because lights were usually left on during lockdowns, signaling that something serious was happening.
• The intruder in the first story was dressed like a homeless man rather than staff, followed the two boys into the pitch-black basement bathroom, breathed heavily outside their stall, and banged on the door before being locked out of the classroom.
• The teacher in the first story reported seeing a gun sticking out of the man's pocket, though the narrator himself never saw a weapon; after the incident the school installed cameras everywhere and increased its security budget.
• The second story is told by a retired New Jersey police officer with 20 years of service, responding to a middle school lockdown after a suspicious man exited a white van behind the school and entered by the boys' locker room.
• The officer found a 12-year-old boy trapped and screaming inside a locker in the football team's locker room; the boy had been cut on the arm with a knife while resisting an abductor trying to force him to the van.
• The officer's stated biggest mistake was not recording the white van's license plate first; the van vanished during the rescue and was spotted a week later in a 7-Eleven parking lot, where the suspect was arrested after identification.
• The third story takes place in a Hampton Inn in New Jersey, where a hotel lockdown triggered a flashing white light and a looping message; the front desk then called the guest to warn that someone was in the room with her and to leave immediately.

Questions & Answers

Q: What is the video 3 True Lockdown Horror Stories about?

The video narrates three allegedly true lockdown stories submitted by subscribers via email, with the authors' names withheld. Two stories take place in schools and one takes place in a hotel. They include a high school basement encounter with an armed-seeming intruder, a New Jersey officer rescuing a boy trapped in a locker by an abductor, and a lone hotel guest warned that someone is inside her room during a hotel lockdown.

Q: Why couldn't the students in the first story hear the lockdown announcement?

The first story's narrator had astronomy class in one of two basement classrooms at his large high school. The basement, formerly a janitorial area, was remodeled to look like a normal hallway but had no intercoms or loudspeakers installed at that time. Because of this, no classes were held there during first period for morning announcements, and the students could not hear the lockdown alert, learning about it only through a text message.

Q: How did the two students escape the intruder in the school bathroom?

Hiding in the corner stall of the pitch-black basement bathroom, the narrator and JJ heard the intruder enter and breathe heavily right outside their stall, then press and bang on the stall door. They crawled under the side walls from one stall to the next until they reached the other side of the bathroom, jumped up, and ran to pound on the door of JJ's classroom, where the teacher let them in within seconds and locked the door.

Q: What happened to the intruder in the first story?

After the boys got into JJ's classroom, the intruder came to the door, looked through the window, tried the knob, and banged on it in apparent anger before walking back toward the stairs. The students sat in silence for over an hour until police arrived, and the boys described the man to the cops and the dean. Because the incident got no media attention, the narrator says they never learned whether police caught the man.

Q: Who is the narrator of the second lockdown story?

The second story is told by a retired New Jersey police officer who served 20 years on the force. He says it was the most disturbing call he ever received during his career. He responded to a lockdown at a nearby middle school, whose name he withholds for legal reasons, after a suspicious man was seen stepping out of a white van parked behind the school and walking in through the back door by the boys' locker room.

Q: How was the boy found in the middle school locker room?

The officer navigated the dark school with a flashlight and gun, hearing faint scratching, dings, and thuds on the locker doors. After shouting 'police,' a boy began screaming for help in a muffled voice and pounded on a locker door. The officer realized a 12-year-old boy was trapped inside a locker. The boy had a knife held to his back and was bleeding from a cut on his arm from resisting the abductor.

Q: How was the suspect in the second story eventually caught?

The officer's biggest mistake was not getting the white van's license plate first, and the van was gone when he ran back outside. He told dispatch to be on the lookout for a suspicious white van. The man's van was spotted a week later in a 7-Eleven parking lot, where the suspect was arrested after being properly identified as the person responsible for the attempted abduction of the boy.

Q: What made the third story different from the other two lockdown stories?

The third story does not take place in a school. The narrator was staying alone at a Hampton Inn in New Jersey while visiting Rowan University, a college they were considering. About an hour after returning to the room, a hotel lockdown alarm went off with a flashing white light and a looping message telling guests to remain in their rooms. The front desk then called to warn that someone was in the room with the guest and to get out immediately.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• A 16-year-old and his friend JJ skip a basement lockdown to explore the darkened school, spot a bum-like stranger upstairs, and flee back to hide in the basement bathroom, where the man corners them by banging on their stall.

• The boys escape by crawling under stall walls and pound their way into JJ's classroom; the teacher, who claims he saw a gun in the man's pocket, locks the door as the intruder bangs on the window before police finally evacuate the students.

• A retired New Jersey officer responds to a middle school lockdown, finds a stabbed 12-year-old trapped in a football locker, and learns an abductor from a white van was forcing the boy out with a knife; the suspect is arrested a week later at a 7-Eleven.