Man trapped in bookstore overnight sparks Twitter sensation
"Happy reading!" responded the London bookstore's Twitter account after an American tourist had told them, in a tweet, that he had been locked inside their building for over two hours.
David Willis of Dallas, TX became trapped overnight in a Waterstones bookstore in Trafalgar Square, London after employees closed and locked the store, apparently unaware that Willis was still reading upstairs.
Willis had tried contacting Waterstones staff, and the police, even accidentally setting the bookstore alarm off, but nobody came. After an hour, he posted a photo of the locked bookstore doors to Instagram:
"This is me locked inside a waterstones bookstore in London. I was upstairs for 15 minutes and came down to all the lights out and door locked. Been here over an hour now. Supposedly someone is on their way," wrote Willis in the Instagram caption.
After two hours had gone by, Willis tweeted directly to Waterstones:
Either believing Willis was pranking them, or totally unaware of his tweet altogether, the bookstore tweeted out:
After Waterstones' unhelpful response to Willis' desperate plea, many British twitter users took interest in the ongoing suspense, claiming the hashtag #WaterstonesTexan. Soon enough, Twitter had become flooded with tongue-in-cheek conversation over Willis' situation, though hoping for a happy outcome. Check out their responses in the gallery.
After being trapped inside the bookstore for close to six total hours, Willis announced he was finally freed.
What would you have done if you were locked overnight inside a bookstore? Let us know in the comments below.
