Updated: October 6, 2026
Gang Stalking, Stalking, Harassment, and How to Document What You’re Actually Experiencing
There was a time when I would have written this article very differently.
When I originally wrote about ‘gang stalking’, I was fresh out of a difficult romantic relationship. The breakup was still weighing heavily on me emotionally, and I was experiencing things around me that I interpreted as evidence that I was being targeted.
Some of those experiences felt very real. Some frightened me. Some were too coincidental to ignore.
And I said nothing.
I did not file police reports. I didn’t ask anyone to formally investigate what I was experiencing. Part of the reason was simple: I was afraid no one would believe me.
Even worse, I feared that the moment I tried to explain what was happening, someone would decide that I was crazy.
Two years later, I look at the subject differently.
I have not rewritten my history and decided that everything I experienced was imaginary. I still believe there may have been circumstances in which I was being watched, harassed, or targeted.
What has changed is the question I am asking.
Instead of asking:
“Was I being gang stalked?”
I believe the better question is:
“When someone believes they are being targeted, how can they determine what is actually happening and gather credible evidence without either being dismissed or allowing fear to become the evidence?”
That distinction matters.
The Problem With the Term “Gang Stalking”
“Gang stalking” is generally used to describe the belief or experience that multiple people are coordinating surveillance, harassment, intimidation, following, interference, or other unwanted behavior against one person. (Sheridan et al., 2020)
People who report these experiences sometimes call themselves “targeted individuals.”
The problem is that the term carries enormous baggage.
Some reported cases involve behaviors that are already well recognized: stalking by former intimate partners, cyberstalking, workplace harassment, harassment by associates of another person, unwanted surveillance, threats, impersonation, doxxing, property damage, or technology-assisted monitoring. (Stevens et al., 2021, pp. 367-376)
Other accounts involve claims of extremely large networks of strangers, coded gestures, organized street activity, electronic weapons, mind control, or hundreds of unrelated people participating in a coordinated operation. (Sheridan et al., 2020)
Those are very different claims.
Treating them all as one phenomenon doesn’t help anyone.
And automatically assuming that every person reporting coordinated harassment has a mental illness doesn’t help either.
There Is Another Possibility We Don’t Talk About Enough
Sometimes something really is happening.
And sometimes our interpretation of what is happening can extend beyond what the available evidence supports.
Those two things can exist at the same time.
Someone might genuinely be receiving unwanted calls from an ex-partner, for example, while also becoming so hyperaware of their surroundings that an unfamiliar car, a stranger looking in their direction, or someone walking behind them begins to feel connected to the same situation.
That doesn’t make the person stupid.
It doesn’t automatically make them mentally ill.
It means fear changes the way human beings process uncertainty.
And when you have been living under stress for weeks or months, separating observation from interpretation becomes extremely important.
This is where documentation can become powerful.
Not because every suspicion deserves confirmation.
But because evidence can tell a story that fear alone cannot.
Stop Trying to Prove the Theory. Document the Behavior.
This is the most important lesson I would give anyone who believes they are being targeted.
Do not begin with:
“I need to prove that a network of people is stalking me.”
Begin with:
“What can I objectively demonstrate happened?”
That shift changes everything.
Instead of writing:
They’re following me everywhere.
Write:
October 3, 6:42 p.m. — A blue Honda Civic, Georgia plate [number if safely observed], remained parked across from my residence for about 35 minutes. I photographed the same vehicle outside my workplace on October 1 at approximately 4:15 p.m.
Now someone else can examine the information.
One statement is a conclusion.
The other is evidence.
The Stalking Prevention, Awareness & Resource Center recommends maintaining an incident-and-behavior log specifically because individual stalking behaviors can appear insignificant when viewed separately but reveal a pattern when documented together. (Stalking Incident and Behavior Log, n.d.)
Build an Evidence File
If you genuinely believe someone is stalking or harassing you, your goal should be to create a record that another reasonable person can evaluate independently.
Document:
- Date, exact time, and location of each incident.
- Exactly what occurred, using observable facts rather than assumptions about motive.
- Names or descriptions of individuals involved.
- Vehicle descriptions and license plates, when you can observe them safely and legally.
- Witnesses and their contact information.
- Screenshots of texts, emails, direct messages, call histories, social-media messages, or threats.
- Original emails and electronic records rather than screenshots alone whenever possible.
- Voicemails and unwanted communications.
- Photographs or video of property damage, unwanted gifts, notes, or other physical evidence.
- Police report numbers, responding officers, case numbers, and dates when you make reports.
- Previous incidents that show escalation, repetition, or a recognizable pattern.
Federal stalking guidance similarly recommends documenting the time and location of incidents, witnesses, police report information, detailed descriptions, correspondence, voicemails, electronic communications, telephone records, and other evidence. (Report to Congress on Best Practices Regarding Enforcement of Anti-Stalking Laws, n.d.)
Keep originals whenever possible.
And keep a backup somewhere the suspected person cannot access.
Separate Three Things: What You Saw, What You Know, and What You Believe
This is a discipline I wish more conversations about targeted individuals included.
Suppose you see the same person near your home three times.
Observation:
The same person was present near my house on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
What you know:
You recognize the individual and can establish that the person was physically present.
Interpretation:
My ex sent this person to watch me.
The first two statements may be documented.
The third requires additional evidence.
That doesn’t mean your interpretation is necessarily wrong.
It means you haven’t proved it yet.
Learning to tolerate that distinction protects your credibility.
It also protects you from getting trapped in a theory where everything becomes evidence for the theory.
Coincidence Is Not Evidence — Patterns Are
Human beings are extraordinary pattern-recognition machines.
Sometimes that ability protects us.
Sometimes it misleads us.
If you have become afraid that you are being watched, certain cars, colors, strangers, noises, gestures, conversations, social-media posts, or coincidences can suddenly feel connected.
This is where you have to become your own investigator rather than your own prosecutor.
Ask yourself:
Could this event reasonably have happened if nobody were targeting me?
If the answer is yes, record it if it genuinely concerns you—but don’t automatically assign it meaning.
Then look at the larger record later.
Real patterns should survive scrutiny.
Look for Corroboration
Strong evidence exists independently of your interpretation.
A threatening voicemail is evidence.
Security-camera footage is evidence.
A witness seeing someone repeatedly outside your home may be evidence.
Repeated communications from identifiable accounts are evidence.
GPS trackers or unauthorized account access may be evidence.
Property damage is evidence.
Someone coughing while walking past you probably isn’t.
A stranger wearing the same color shirt you saw yesterday probably isn’t.
A car driving through your neighborhood once probably isn’t.
The standard should become:
Would this mean something to another person who did not already believe my theory?
That question is extraordinarily useful.
Don’t Confront People to Create Evidence
Trying to catch, follow, expose, confront, or provoke someone you suspect can make a dangerous situation worse.
It can also destroy your credibility.
If stalking is happening, safety matters more than proving you are right.
Stalking-safety guidance recommends preserving evidence, developing a safety plan, involving trusted people, and, when appropriate, contacting law enforcement or victim advocates. The National Domestic Violence Hotline also warns that continued interaction with someone engaging in stalking behavior can sometimes increase risk. (Stalking Safety Planning, n.d.)
You don’t need a dramatic confrontation.
You need documentation.
Tell Someone You Trust
This is another thing I wish I had done differently.
Fear of being called crazy can make people isolate themselves.
Isolation makes everything harder.
Find one grounded person you trust.
Not someone who automatically tells you that everything you’re seeing is part of a conspiracy.
And not someone who immediately dismisses everything you’re experiencing.
You need someone capable of saying:
“I believe that you’re frightened. Now let’s look at what we can establish.”
That is support.
A stalking or domestic-violence advocate can also help evaluate behavior, identify risk, develop a safety plan, and determine what information may be useful to law enforcement. SPARC offers stalking-specific resources, including a documentation log and its SHARP stalking risk-assessment tool. (Stalking & Harassment Assessment & Risk Profile (SHARP), n.d.)
Mental Health Support Does Not Mean You’re Admitting That Nothing Happened
This subject deserves to be addressed directly.
One reason people who believe they are being targeted may avoid therapists is fear that seeking psychological help automatically means admitting that the entire experience was imagined.
It doesn’t.
Being frightened for months can affect sleep, concentration, judgment, anxiety levels, relationships, and your ability to evaluate ambiguous situations calmly.
A good trauma-informed professional should help you function and examine what you’re experiencing—not ridicule you.
You can protect your physical safety and your psychological health at the same time.
Those aren’t competing explanations.
Both are ways of taking yourself seriously.
If You’re Being Stalked, Documentation May Tell the Story
Stalking frequently consists of repeated behaviors rather than one dramatic event. That’s why documenting incidents matters. (Stalking, 2025)
A single unexplained vehicle may mean nothing.
Twenty documented appearances of the same identifiable vehicle connected to the same individual may mean something very different.
One unwanted message may seem trivial.
Dozens of unwanted communications after someone has clearly been told to stop can establish a pattern.
The purpose of documentation isn’t to force events into a theory.
It is to allow the pattern—if there is one—to reveal itself.
And What If the Evidence Doesn’t Support What You Initially Believed?
Then that information matters too.
This may be the hardest part.
If weeks of careful documentation fail to establish the connections you thought were there, don’t manufacture them.
Don’t expand the theory.
Don’t decide that the absence of evidence proves how sophisticated the people targeting you must be.
Consider another explanation.
That is not surrender.
That is critical thinking.
Your goal should never be to prove yourself right.
Your goal should be to discover what is true.
Looking Back at My Own Experience
When I originally wrote about this subject, I was hurting.
I had come out of a relationship carrying deep emotional wounds, unanswered questions, distrust, and fear.
I also believed the things happening around me weren’t accidental.
Some of those beliefs remain with me today.
But I no longer feel compelled to explain every experience.
And I don’t need someone else to confirm every conclusion I reached during one of the most emotionally difficult periods of my life.
What I wish I had known then was how to document.
I wish I had written down dates.
Times.
License plates.
Repeated contacts.
Specific incidents.
Screenshots.
Witnesses.
Things another person could independently examine.
That evidence may have supported some of what I suspected.
Perhaps, it could have challenged some of it.
Either outcome would have been valuable.
Because clarity is more powerful than fear.
To Anyone Who Believes They Are Being Targeted
I am not going to tell you that nothing is happening to you.
I also won’t tell you that every frightening thing you notice is connected.
Neither response serves you.
Instead, I will tell you this:
Become precise.
Write it down.
Save the message.
Preserve the photograph.
Record the date.
Record the time.
Identify the witness.
Protect the original file.
Report threats.
Seek professional help when appropriate.
Get another set of eyes on the evidence.
Separate what you observed from what you concluded.
And allow the evidence—not fear, not strangers on the internet, not your ex, and not even your own first interpretation—to tell you what happened.
There is tremendous power in being able to say:
“I don’t know yet. But I’m documenting it.”
That isn’t weakness.
That’s discernment.
And sometimes discernment is how we begin finding our way back to ourselves.
Embody. Empower. Evolve.
References
Sheridan, L., James, D. V. & Roth, J. (2020). The Phenomenology of Group Stalking (‘Gang-Stalking’): A Content Analysis of Subjective Experiences. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17(7). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17072506
Stevens, F., Nurse, J. R. & Arief, B. (2021). Cyber Stalking, Cyber Harassment, and Adult Mental Health: A Systematic Review. Cyberpsychology 24(6), pp. 367-376. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2020.0253
Sheridan, L., James, D. V. & Roth, J. (2020). The Phenomenology of Group Stalking (‘Gang-Stalking’): A Content Analysis of Subjective Experiences. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17(7). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17072506
Safe + Sound (n.d.). Stalking Incident and Behavior Log. Safe + Sound. https://safe-sound.org/learningcenter/stalking-incident-and-behavior-log/
Justice.gov (n.d.). Report to Congress on Best Practices Regarding Enforcement of Anti-Stalking Laws. https://www.justice.gov/d9/2023-06/Anti-stalking%20report%20to%20Congress_updated_11-30-2022.pdf
The National Domestic Hotline (n.d.). Stalking Safety Planning. The National Domestic Violence Hotline. https://www.thehotline.org/resources/stalking-safety-planning/
SPARC (n.d.). Stalking & Harassment Assessment & Risk Profile (SHARP). SPARC. https://www.stalkingawareness.org/sharp/
CDC (2025). Stalking. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/intimate-partner-violence/about/about-stalking.html
