I don't know if it counts, but one instance of a scary stranger comes to mind. I was driving and turning off a side street and onto a big main road in my town, the one that has the majority of our stores and restaurants and such. A haggard, middle-age woman was walking down the sidewalk toward me. She was limping, and had one hand crammed into the pocket of her jacket. I got stuck waiting for a long line of cars to pass so I could turn, and she used her free hand to motion for me to roll down my window, never taking her other hand out of her coat. As not to be rude, I obliged.

She explained that she had bad knees and one of them was giving out on her. She was going to meet some family at the mall about a mile down the road, but she wasn't sure she was going to make it before her knee gave out. I was already running late to pick up my boyfriend from work in the plaza right next to the street I was turning off of, and I didn't exactly like the idea of a somewhat shady stranger (she still didn't take her other hand out of her pocket) in my car, so I told her I was unable to give her a ride. She persisted, so I told her I could use my phone to call her family to come pick her up, but she insisted that they didn't have phones with them and that I needed to give her a ride. I then volunteered to call 911 for her, since she was limping really bad and looked like she was in a lot of pain. She stood bolt upright and her face was a terrifying combination of rage and panic. "No! Don't call 911! Don't you fucking call 911!" And she took off running, hand still in her coat pocket.

After I picked my boyfriend up from work, he came with me to another store in the plaza so I could grab some things, and while we were shopping, I told him all about what happened. As we were leaving the store, the same woman was hobbling down the sidewalk in front of the stores in the plaza, hand still in her pocket. I pointed her out to my boyfriend, and he called out to her to get her attention to see what was up. She turned with a sad, grateful smile, but reverted to that same angry panic when she saw me standing with him, and took off running again, all without taking her hand out of her pocket.

I don't know who she was or what she wanted or what she had in her pocket that she refused to let go of, but she was incredibly shady and I'm really glad I never found out.