It’s finally that time of the month. That’s right, Halloween! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cracked up watching someone running around in an inflatable dinosaur costume on Facebook. (If you haven’t seen it, you should.) I’ve watched Halloween H2O, Monster House and made it to season three of American Horror Story. As it stands, celebrating Halloween thus far has been a huge success.

After dressing up for four days in a row last year and not wanting to spend any more money on a costume that isn’t clever, I’m actually considering spending Halloween at home this year. The thought of continuing my horror movie streak while gorging on my favorite snacks is oddly satisfying even though this is my fave holiday.

To top it off, recently I’ve been hearing and experiencing more than my fair share of real-life horror stories about ride-sharing. As if the story my friend reported last Halloween about racking up a fare of almost $200 after catching a ride during the busiest time of night wasn’t horrifying enough, it gets worse. After you read some stories of ride-sharing experiences around the Q.C., you may welcome surge pricing, prime-time pricing or increased cab rates.

Keep in mind, this anecdote is in no way an attempt to negate the many positive aspects of ride-sharing — utilizing some sort of transportation via phone or app to get around, they are ideal for sharing with friends and saving money. We all know I’m a huge proponent of getting around safely at night, especially on a high-consumption night like Halloween. Instead, the goal is to highlight ways in which we can all continue to remain vigilant and keep a terrible ride-sharing headline from making the paper. (The names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.)


If this one doesn’t give you the chills, I don’t know what will. I was at work a week ago and one of my coworkers asked if I had heard the ride-share horror story involving two of my other coworkers. We’ll call them John and Joe. John started. He was out on Montford Drive the weekend of Hurricane Joaquin and was super wasted. After standing in the rain alone waiting for his rideshare for quite some time, a dark-colored Nissan pulls up and a guy tells him to get in.

Once inside, he glances down at his phone and realizes his ride wasn’t supposed to arrive for five more minutes. Confused, he asked his driver what company he worked for and the driver assured John he was just trying to help because he saw him standing in the pouring rain.

Uneasy, but not scared, John was relieved to be out of the rain. As they approached the first light, the driver proceeded to break up cocaine and snort it. He then casually asks if John minded if he stopped and took his dog out before dropping him at home. As if it wasn’t bad enough already, my “stranger danger” alarm was going off and the hair on my forearms was standing up!

So, they pull into the garage at the guy’s house and the driver gets out, walks inside, takes his dog out and proceeds to get back in the car. No harm, no foul right? Wrong. The most eerie part of it all? The next weekend, my other coworker, Joe, experienced almost the exact same thing. Same guy. Same car. It wasn’t until Joe was sharing his story that John even spoke about the incident. Joe was out on Montford and elected to go home instead of hanging out later with some friends. He attempted to pull up his ride-share app of choice, but was having difficulty getting the request to go through.

Just as he was about to give up, the dark Nissan pulls up. Highly intoxicated, he too, was grateful for the last-minute ride. Joe asked about paying for the ride and was also told by the driver that he just saw him on the side of the street and thought he would offer him a ride. Joe even asked if the driver would mind taking him by Cook-Out for a late night snack and the driver obliged.

After getting food, the driver asked if it would be okay if he took his dog out. Joe agreed. They pulled up to the house and pulled into the garage — and he closed the garage behind them. But this time he asked Joe if he wanted to come in. Joe obliged and found his way to the driver’s bedroom, where the driver proceeded to ingest cocaine. It seemed to Joe that the driver just wanted to talk and Joe soon asked for the driver to take him home, which luckily he did willingly.

Not the ending you were expecting I’m sure. But maybe the one you were hoping for. This was by far the creepiest ride-share story I’ve heard yet and I hope it helps you stay on your p’s and q’s this Halloween. Do you have a scary ride-share story you’re dying to tell?