In a terrifying encounter with hints of a scene from the hit BBC series Luther, a woman was left frightened on a bus when a man who was asking her questions slowly turned around to reveal he was wearing a white, ghostly mask.
The 22-year-old woman was sitting a few seats away from a hooded figure, who began asking her questions – where she lived, if she was alone, and what her name is.
The incident happened on January 3 in Sheffield, and the woman told HuffPost UK she started filming the man “to raise awareness of the dangers of travelling alone as a woman.”
After asking a few questions, the man then turns to face her – revealing a white mask strikingly similar to the “no face” ghost in the Studio Ghibli film ‘Spirited Away’.
The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, described the incident as “the creepiest bus journey of her life.”
She posted the video on Facebook, where it has been shared almost 1000 times. She wrote on the post: “This guy staring ahead while I’m sat behind asking me questions like what’s your surname, are you alone, where do you live
“He turns around with a mask on his face and walks suddenly towards me then stops, turns around and goes back to his chair.”
After the encounter the woman quickly got off the bus and entered a local shopping centre. “Just glad Crystal Peaks was open and I could make a beeline for that once I got off the bus,” she wrote on her Facebook page.
Many users were quick to point out the similarities between a recent episode of BBC’s Luther.
In the first episode of the latest season of the hit crime drama, which aired on New Years Day, a serial killer hides at the back on the top floor of a double-decker bus.
He is wearing a white mask with his hood up, and waits until he’s alone with one other woman before he crawls to where she is sitting and stabs her to death.
The 22-year-old told HuffPost UK: “I don’t want any hate towards the guy, that was never my intention, he clearly just needs some sort of help.”
A spokesperson for South Yorkshire Police said: “We are aware of this and our officers have spoken to a man in his 30’s.”