A Chicago woman says she was terrified to discover a stranger lurking outside her apartment complex on her Ring camera — and now she’s sharing an essential safety tip for women who live on their own.
Musician Mary Alice, 25, dished details of her chilling encounter with the unidentified man outside her Windy City home in a TikTok that has clocked more than 27.2 million views since it was posted on March 31.
The TikToker told viewers she noticed a man hanging around her complex earlier that day.
“He just gave me bad vibes,” she ominously declared, saying she assumed he was not a resident of the apartment block as she had never seen him before.
She said the stranger appeared again when she returned home that evening — and he struck up a conversation.
“I got out of my car at night, and he tries to make conversation with me about my headlight because it’s out right now,” the singer-songwriter explained. “[I said], ‘Oh, yeah, I know. I just have to get around to it. Whatever.'”
Mary Alice said she made it safely into her apartment, locked the door behind her, and didn’t turn her light on.
She decided to check her Ring camera and was terrified by what she saw.
“He [the man] is standing in the street, which is very close to my apartment building, staring at my building,” she stated. “He did not leave for five minutes.”
Mary Alice claims that the man went from standing in an empty parking spot outside the complex to “hiding behind a car,” where he “waited” several more minutes before leaving.
The TikToker told her followers that the man now knows what car she drives and the apartment she lives in — she wants others to stay safe and vigilant.
“When you go home at night, don’t turn your lights on immediately after you get in your apartment, especially if people can see the windows of your apartment from the street,” Mary Alice implored. “Because if someone’s following you home, they’re gonna know what apartment you live in.”
Viewers were disturbed by the story and thanked her for the crucial safety tip.
“I’m so glad you thought of that,” one wrote. “It would’ve never been my first thought. You definitely just saved a lot of people.”
“I have smart lights so I can turn them on from my phone,” a safety-conscious commenter chimed in. “I normally turn them on way before I get home as I’m always scared that someone might be inside.”
Mary Alice does not appear to have provided updates on the sinister situation on social media, but she did post a video in April sharing her lock, alarm, camera and light bulb recommendations.
In the caption of her initial video, which has recently resurfaced and started trending on TikTok, she implied it wasn’t the first scary encounter she had had.
“I’m so tired of feeling like prey,” she wrote. “My lights are only on in my bathroom now because it’s the only room I have with no windows.”
The Post reached out to her for comment.