CuriositiesSEP 28, 2022

30 People Are Sharing Shockingly Terrifying Things They’ve Witnessed

Austėja Akavickaitė and Adelaide May Ross

154

It was a dark and stormy night. A lone panda was wandering through the forest, clutching his umbrella and trying to make his way home before being struck by lightning. As he watched his paws squish into the mud with every step, he suddenly saw another pair of feet appear right in front of him and jolted to a halt. He slowly looked up, raised his umbrella out of the way, and his eyes met the Grim Reaper. “Boo,” it said with a sickening smile, and the panda went sprinting in the opposite direction, screaming at the top of his lungs as thunder crashed in the background...

Alright, clearly I’m no Stephen King. But as we make our way into spooky season, what better way is there to get in the mood than to hear stories of the creepiest things people have ever witnessed? Down below, we’ve gathered some of the most disturbing and unsettling stories Reddit users have shared in this thread that might make you want to sleep with one eye open tonight, as well as an interview with the host of the podcast Disturbed: True Horror Stories, Chad.

So close the curtains, dim the lights, turn on your spookiest playlist, and enjoy these horrifying true stories. Be sure to upvote the ones that you find particularly unsettling, and let us know in the comments if you have any of your own creepy stories to share. Then if you’re in the mood for even more terrifying true stories, check out this haunting Bored Panda article next.

#1

30 People Are Sharing Shockingly Terrifying Things They’ve Witnessed

I'm a paramedic and had just put a car accident victim in a body bag with a decapitation from driving under a trucks rear trailer. Coroner gave us the Ok to load him up. He was wearing a heavy jacket and sweater so we just stuck him in the bag and began to load him. After we got underway to the morgue, I heard a noise and the guy was thrashing around in the body bad violently :O I was out of my mind. This guy had 90% of his head missing!! We pulled over and my partner who didn't see it, goes back and opens the bag while I was about to p**s myself. All of a sudden a very small chihuahua jumped out and ran up to my partner. He must have been in the guys jacket pocket or?? and been knocked out or just quiet until we got underway. Took me the rest of the shift to relax after that. 32 years in EMS and I've never had anything like that happen to me.

anon, Isaac Quesada

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485points

To gain some insight from an expert on real-life horror stories, we reached out to Chad, the host of Disturbed: True Horror Stories podcast. First, we wanted to know what inspired him to start this show in the first place. "I’ve had an interest in horror since I was a kid and have gotten more into True Crime as well," Chad told Bored Panda. "I’ve been an avid podcast listener for many years. I loved the end result of what I would hear in a podcast, but I grew an interest in seeing what it takes to make that all come together. I thought it would be interesting to do something I hadn’t quite heard before, which was a unique blend of true crime and horror. Thus, Disturbed was born."

We also asked Chad why he thinks horror stories are so captivating. "I think people have a fascination with scary stories because they really make you feel something in a way that’s hard to describe," he shared. "We all have our own fears and seeing or hearing other people’s experiences can activate part of us that we are hard wired for - survival. Depending on how well the story is written, it can really immerse you in the experience and allow you to feel the fear and terror of the writer."

When it comes to what stories he chooses to featured on his podcast, Chad says, "The stories I decide on for Disturbed are the ones I personally find the scariest or most fascinating. I try to feature a wide range of topics from paranormal, creepy encounters, ufo, cryptid creatures, unexplained etc. If it’s a well written experience in that realm, then I’m probably interested in it. We also have a dedicated hotline for people to send in voicemail submissions of their experience or just comments on the podcast."

#2

I don't find it that creepy but my friend at the time had a melt down over it.

It was halloween night, I was in 4th grade I think, there was a cat that came up to me in the neighborhood we always trick or treated in. I have a huge soft spot for cats, so I pet it for a minute or two then continue on my way. The cat starts following me. Then more cats start appearing and following me. This heard of cats followed us for multiple blocks, standing a few feet back, making no noise.

They don't stop following me so my friend started freaking out, called me a witch on the verge of tears, then made me call my mom to pick us up. The cats left when my mom drove up.

OwnTypeOfFunny, Harrison Haines

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272points

We also asked Chad if he had a favorite story that had been featured on his show before. "I have a fascination with glitch type stories where something happens that just might be giving us a glimpse into what reality really is," he told Bored Panda. "We featured a story in an early episode where a person was driving on their regular commute home. They began to notice that the drive wasn’t feeling right and that they seemed to just keep going in spots where landmarks or turns should be. In one specific stretch of road, they heard a voice in their head saying 'you should just keep going, it will be okay' said in their own voice, but not their own thought."

"They sort of panicked and jerked the wheel to the right, even though the turn appeared to be some 300 yards up the road," Chad continued. "The person's instincts screamed to turn now, and they were right. Had they not jerked the wheel and turned, they would have plowed into a thick forest of pine trees at 60mph and likely been killed. The person felt as if an unknown force was attempting to lure them off the road. I didn’t do the story much justice here but you can hear it in Episode 11 “I was almost lured off the road to my death”.

#3

I work as a dog walker. We had a client who was an extremely rich & well known coin collector that lived alone with his dog & had a bit of an alcohol problem. Really nice guy just smelled like booze and was very disheveled every morning when we’d pick his dog up to walk her. One Monday morning I walk into his huge house and it looks like he’s asleep on the couch as he normally is, so I called his name to wake him up. I realized he’s half on his couch and in a really weird position. He wasn’t waking up so eventually I walk over to him and his eyes are wide open blood coming out of his nose and mouth and his hands are turning black and blue. Threw up on his patio and called 911. They said he’d been dead since Friday, he lived there alone and didn’t have friends or family nearby so I was the one that found him. Really really sad as he was very nice and not very old. But yeah still have nightmares of that wide open mouth and eyes with blood covering his face

LittleTitLover, SHVETS production

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243points

Chad also left us with some wise words, "Stay safe out there y’all. Be vigilant and trust your gut when something doesn’t seem right. Question things, be curious. Reality almost certainly isn’t just what we see. There's more going on that we don’t understand or comprehend. So be curious."

If you'd like to hear more horror stories and check out the Disturbed podcast, you can find it right here. And if you have your own scary stories to submit to Disturbed, you can do that right here.

#4

Ex cop from NSW Australia here. Shift started at 7am. Instantly a double beeper (Urgent job) about someone being hit by a train. Got there and the station master told me that he was about a hundred meters down the track. I said “any chance of resus?” He looked at me like I was an idiot and replied, “he has no head.” I walked up the track and saw this young kid (he was 17) with no head. I looked up further and saw his head on the side of the track. There was little blood. His neck was pretty much seared from when he laid his neck across the track to end his life. When they came to take his body they put his head in between his legs. I’ll never forget that image of this person with their head facing forward in between their legs. Looked like a cheaply made horror movie. Definitely the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen and probably contributed to me not doing that job any more.

NESJunkie22

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233points

Even if you’ve never experienced anything particularly creepy or disturbing, there’s a good chance that you like to live vicariously through others who have. Whether that’s through fictional characters in one of the dozens of horror stories Stephen King has written, a film based on a real-life nightmare, or through hearing your friends’ scariest stories around a campfire, many of us have a huge appetite for the creepy and unsettling.

But why do we love to hear these tales? Isn’t life bleak enough, with climate change, war and the stress of making ends meet amidst inflation? Well, according to Haiyang Yang and Kuangjie Zhang at Harvard Business Review, one reason we love to be frightened is just to feel something. Lots of us live for the adrenaline rush that can come from seeing a suspenseful film or being scared by actors in a haunted house. And when we’re exposed to something that horrifies us, we are stimulated mentally and physically in opposing ways. Part of us is fearful or filled with anxiety, while another part is excited. This cocktail produces a surge of adrenaline that we can't help but enjoy.

#5

This is only creepy in hindsight. My (now ex) husband and I were living in a building with 9 efficiency apartments. We were the middle apartment on the 3rd floor. One day the neighbor that lived directly underneath us knocked on our door. He came in and started apologizing for being short with us several days before. (Honestly he had no need to apologize; he was not rude or anything. We got home at the same time he did and he politely told us he didn't have time to talk.) We told him it was fine and then chatted for a few more minutes. He told us how we were really nice neighbors, and we joked about the time our cat got out and wandered into his apartment, probably thinking it was our apartment. Before he left he said, "Hey listen, I'm going to be working on a project so if you hear banging and loud noises, don't get alarmed. When I'm finished with that I'm going on vacation, so you won't see me for a while." We told him that was fine and didn't think much of it.

About a week later he was found dead in his apartment. The "project" he was working on was a scaffold to hang himself. Before he hung himself he paid his rent in advance, left his door unlocked, and turned his heat up to 90 degrees. He had an ex wife that he was feuding with, so we think that he wanted her to be the only one who would come looking for him and find him as a disgusting, decomposed mess. Unfortunately he didn't account for the smell. We started smelling something putrid early one morning, so I called the rental office and had them investigate. (I told them it was probably a sewer leak.) The poor maintenance man walked in on the mess.

So basically the dude came up to say goodbye to us and to make sure we weren't on bad terms with him before he died. I wish we would have seen a warning sign or something so that maybe we could have gotten him some help, but we weren't close with him and there was really no way for us to have known.

MoonLitCrystal, Farzad Sedaghat

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218points

#6

Worked in wound care. Lady came in with severe decubitus from neglect in a nursing home. Both her legs were rotted on both sides from lack of blood flow from not being turned. Put her in the whirlpool and over the next 20 minutes her legs disintegrate. All the rotted flesh comes off in chunks. When we pull her out, she basically has two skeleton legs with meat hanging off them... and maggots. The bastards opened the window in her room to deal with the smell of her rotting flesh... in August. Instead of rotating her like they should have.

RoninRobot

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209points

We also enjoy having novel experiences and getting to live vicariously through characters who are in a world or a situation we can only imagine. We do this all the time while watching films, reading books and listening to podcasts. Most of us don’t have any idea what it would actually be like to start selling meth, but a little part of us thinks we do after binging Breaking Bad. We may have never experienced a real-life love affair, but a romantic novel can help us feel like we have.

It’s the same with horror stories. We don’t actually want someone breaking into our home in the middle of the night with an ax, but we can imagine the experience in great detail after seeing it portrayed on film. Being exposed to terrifying stories makes us feel like our lives are a bit more exciting than they actually are, without having to be in any real danger. Horror is exciting and fun when we have the opportunity to turn it off or step away from the situation.

#7

Out delivering shopping on Halloween, in Edinburgh, UK. Heard eery, loud, piercing screams come from the other end of the dark street I was on. Two little girls exactly alike, dressed as ghouls wearing makeup, came sprinting out of the darkness straight to me, both screaming. They immediately grabbed my jacket and stared up at me shouting something about a woman trying to take them away. Then from behind them out of the dark a bedraggled woman came hobbling along, pale, topless, with extremely saggy breasts and sores all over her arms, and tried to pull the two girls away from me stating they were her daughters.

I asked the kids where they stayed once I'd gathered my senses and took them home, and phoned the police on this woman, who was covered in sores. She tried to take another child off somebody else so I grabbed her, and as my hand wrapped around her arm, my fingers slipped into one of her large open sores.

Luckily somebody nearby let me use their sink to wash my hands. Still had to complete my shift, which was the second most annoying part of this story!

RS1100lb

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187points

#8

When I was barely 19 I got a second job as a bartender in a dive bar. Everyone including my boss knew I was underage but I was still encouraged to drink. One night, being too young and drunk to know better, I accepted a ride home from a coworker. I was giving him directions to my house, turn left here, straight at the light, etc. but he started ignoring me and turning right when I said left, then left when I said go straight, and I got SCARED.

Luckily I carried a knife with me at the time. He insisted that he was taking me somewhere nice. I pulled out my knife and held it to his throat until he stopped the car. I got out and RAN home.

Quit that place right after.

Edit: yeah, I’m a girl, but this could have happened to anyone. In hindsight dude was creepy way before then, but I was super oblivious/naiive and drunk on top of it all.

Years later when Tarantino’s Death Proof came out and Kurt Russell’s character turns left instead of right, it brought it all back. I don’t carry anything anymore but I definitely hold my keys in my fist if I ever feel in danger, just in case.

Webfunkk, Alex Chernenko

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182points

#9

Working at a supermarket when I was a teenager. Late at night not many people in the store, minimal staff. I was stacking a shelf. The cleaner had just turned up to start his shift (he started when the store closed).
I watched him walk past the dairy section then saw 3 cartons of milk from different spots all fall from the shelf and spill on the floor. These were the plastic type that only really broke 50% of the time when dropped and they all broke.
I said "Great start to the night mate"
He replied "can't get any worse"
As he bent down to pick up the first carton he clutched his chest and had a heart attack. He died that night.

ego2k

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165points

While you may assume that scary movies and ghost stories appeal to everyone, according to psychologists, there are a few prerequisites that need to be in place before we can start enjoying horror stories. First, we need to believe that we are physically safe. If we feel that we are still in danger when we pause the film or turn it off, we won’t be having any fun. We also need to be psychologically detached from a horror story to enjoy it. For example, we need to understand that when we see a woman being murdered in her home onscreen, she is just an actor covered in fake blood and is perfectly fine in real life. Finally, we need to know that we can control or manage the dangers we see in a horror experience. When we’re in a haunted house, for example, we know that we can easily outrun the zombies if we really needed to. Once all of these requirements are in place, we can fully immerse ourselves into a horror film or experience and still sleep well at night.

#10

My wife and I saw a guy jump off of a parking garage. We didn't know he was up there until he hit the ground about 30 feet in front of us. It was horrible.

anon, Elina Fairytale

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144points

#11

Around 6am, sun not quite up yet, when I'm awoken by the sounds of blood curdling screaming. The most horrifying sound I have ever heard and I will never forget it. Turns out a woman was being murdered in the parking lot right by my apartment. The police showed up almost immediately but it was too late for her. She was trying to break up with her abusive boyfriend and he put a hit out on her. The hired guy stabbed her as she was getting in her car to go to work. (Ex) boyfriend put on a show for the police, crying and everything. Horrible.

Brittaya

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141points

#12

I was a cop in a very remote location in northern Australia.

Late at night I received a call about a body found in a bush cemetery. Bush cemeteries are these tiny, old cemeteries that are normally out in the middle of nowhere. The cemetery had a handful of plots (some from early 1900s), and was dotted with termite mounds.

The matter was of interest as the body was in a shallow, unmarked grave, and wrapped in a canvas bag.

The detectives are all based in the city some 450kms away. It was decided that they would come down the next morning. This meant that a crime scene guard must be posted at the location in the interim.

I volunteered as crime scene guard. I grabbed my fold out camp chair and settled down for the night to chill with old mate. It was a pretty nice night so I just spent the time looking up at the stars. It was just me, the body, and the Milky Way.

A couple of hours pass uneventfully. At about 2am the quiet tranquility was pierced by blood curdling screams. The screams were coming from the bush land some 10-15 metres behind me. It sounded like someone was being brutally murdered.

I hit the deck then started creeping forward on my belly, hand on my holster. I call out multiple times but there was no reply. Oddly enough, the screams would rise and fall, and were getting closer. I wasn’t sure if the rank smell was me s******g myself or the decomposing body next to me.

I start dragging myself towards the screams. As I get closer it almost sounds like there at two sources of screams. One is off to my right, and another is fast moving to my left.

I take cover when I get to the tree line and wait. I’m staring at the corspe when a red fox darts out of the trees and tears towards the body. The little f**k starts [screaming] (https://youtu.be/CmLdgCczb_g) like this and is soon joined by its demon spawn. I charge at the bastards to scare them away. They retreat to the bush again but I heard the buggers screaming all night long.

DelagoMoney

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135points

Certain types of people do have a larger appetite for horror than others, though. A daredevil who loves thrill-seeking activities is more likely to want to spend an evening watching a scary movie than a person who is highly empathetic and will have a hard time enjoying the film because they feel too bad for the victims. Gender and age also play a part in enjoyment of scary things. One survey found that young people tend to be more interested in horror than older audiences, and men are more likely to enjoy being scared than women. Socioeconomic status can also play a role, as more affluent populations tend to consume more horror films. This is likely because people who are not as privileged cannot always feel safe enough and in control enough to derive pleasure from a horror film. It’s not fun if it does not seem unrealistic.

#13

I grew up in a hillside house which backed up to about 50 acres of woods. My room was on the second floor so it was basically level with a plateau and a road that lead further up the hill and into the woods. One night I heard something and decided to look out the window. I saw a guy standing along the road just staring at the house. I flipped out and my Mom came into the room. When she saw the guy, she proceeded to go outside and tell him to f**k off which he promptly did. She told me she wasn’t scared of stumble bums and would have stabbed his a*s. I was 10.

LiquidSoCrates, Gabriel Siqueira

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133points

#14

A few years ago I was woken up by someone lightly poking me in the forehead at 5am. I woke up thinking it was my roommate, but when my eyes started to adapt to the darkness I saw a 2 meters man standing next to my bed.
He immediately threw himself to the floor and covered his face. I didn’t know what to do, and I couldn’t even scream as I was completely shocked.

While I was thinking of what to use as a weapon he got up and starting running out of the apartment, and for some reason I jumped out right behind him (don’t know why I did tbh) and only then I started screaming for help. He eventually made it out of the apartment and started going down the stairs, I gained some sense and realised I probably shouldn’t be following this huge, tall, unknown man and ran back to my apartment.

One of my roommates was ready to go follow him, bat in hand and all but we decided it’d be better to just call the police.
We never found out who he was or why he was there, and nothing was stolen or taken.

Took me a long time to make it through the night calmly again and even more to feel comfortable at that apartment, specially by myself.

p1nktarantula, Yanal Tayyem

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131points

#15

This happened a few months ago. I was driving down my street coming home after a night out, as soon as I approached my house I noticed a guy in a suit just standing across the street in the field looking at my house. I didn't want to pull into my house at that point so I just drove around my neighborhood. 10 minutes or so go by and I drive by again, he's still there and he hasn't moved. At that point I just drove around again, 5 more minutes and he's still just standing there, staring at my house. At that point I just pulled into my driveway to see what he does.... Absolutely nothing. He didn't even flinch, couple hours later he vanished. No idea who TF he was but it still creeps me out.

MatticusPrime127

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131points

Now, you might only enjoy consuming horror stories due to the excitement and entertainment factors, but you might be pleasantly surprised to learn that there can be even more benefits. Viewing a horror film with someone you’re romantically interested in can actually be a catalyst to falling in love, as being scared and experiencing your hearts pounding rapidly together can be a bonding experience.

In the same way, we can bond with friends through being scared together as well. Oxytocin is often released following a frightening experience, so people who are scared together tend to be closer after the experience. And finally, the catharsis of finishing a horror film can flood our brains with endorphins when we finally get to relax. So if you’re a fan of Stephen King or Alfred Hitchcock, watch away! And you might even consider inviting your next date to view a scary movie with you too.

#16

This actually happened last night.

Me and my friend were walking home from a party, and we passed a generally abandoned campground. We heard a dog barking, which was unusual since it was one in the morning. The bark sounded weird though. It kept persisting, until we both realized what it actually was. It was a guy imitating a dog’s bark. We heard insanely aggressive crunches coming from the woods, so we booked it back to my friends house.

Maybe not the creepiest thing ever, but it really freaked us out.

LthePerry02, Neil Rosenstech

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124points

#17

About two year ago I took a delivery that I will never forget. It was around 9 pm on a Saturday and I had to take two extra large pizzas to an address that was outside of town in the country. I pulled down a very long gravel driveway up to a run down farm house with one porch light acting as a beacon. As I walked up to the house I noticed Halloween decorations still up on the porch (it was the middle of June) one of which was a grim reaper sitting in a rocking chair. There was no door bell so I knocked on the door, no answer. Knocked again, no answer. Right as I was about to knock for a third time the door slowly creacked open. A decrepit male voice spoke "hold on a sec" a light came on revealing an old man in his underwear. The guy must have been in his 70s or older . He had a terrible hunch and stood no taller than 4'11to 5ft. He was grinning revealing yellowish black teeth. I told him the total was $17.xx. He asked if I could carry the pizzas inside to the kitchen (normally I would say no, but I didn't want this oldtimer to hurt himself). The house was immaculate from what I could see. The old man asked me to wait in the hallway so he could light a candle since the kitchen lights were out (I know weird right?). As he lit the candle I could see five pickle jars sitting on the counter in front of me. The old man asked me to put the pizzas on the floor next to the counter. So I bent over and placed them on the floor. As I was getting up I heard an exhale and the candle went out. I asked the old man to light it again so I could see to no response. I heard the sound of a jar opening followed by the clicking of a lighter. The candle was lit again revealing the old man holding a pickle. He said that "this is Margery, she isn't supposed to be awake right now but since we have a guest who brought food ,it is ok". At that moment I wanted to get TF out of there but couldn't for some reason. He walked over to me and handed me the pickle and told me to "put her next to the pizza box". I did, and I f*****g hate pickles. He then paid me and a booked it out of there.

Edit:- He did tip me though

Throwawayanalflakes

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118points

#18

Caregiving. Noc shift.

Got a complaint around 3am about screaming and banging.

Cool. Someone with Alzheimer’s is sundowning. Let me re-direct them.

I get on the elevator to the fourth floor. As I approach the floor I hear this wailing and shrieking. Like a banshee or a witch. And she is just slamming her walker on everything.

I get out. Immediately confronted her. Gently suggested let’s go back to your room. Have some water. Maybe use the toilet. She is still howling up a storm. Like just uncontrollable shrill screaming. Halfway down the hall she immediately goes silent. She slowly picks up her hand and points a bony trembling finger in my direction.

“He is right behind you”

Immediately go into f**k this mode. I get the creepy crawlies all up and down my spine. I pick up the pace. Take her back to her room. Get her into bed. Immediately nope out.

F*****g done.

TheRealDannySugar, cottonbro

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115points

The stories on this list might be even more unsettling than a film or television show portraying nightmares because these accounts are true. But if you’re looking to fully immerse yourself in spooky season, we hope you’re enjoying this list. Keep upvoting the responses that you think deserve their own Halloween feature films, and then let us know in the comments if you have any frightening stories of your own to share. And if you’re in the mood to keep up your scary story momentum, you can find even more terrifying tales from Bored Panda right here.

#19

I once escorted a church group, ages young kids through adults, on a weekend overnight outing to a camp in the Poconos. The camp was set at the confluence of two streams and was somewhat rugged. The group had lots to do - a climbing wall, boating, hiking, sports, all kinds of stuff, including a nature center and little museum. The nature center had interactive displays, fish tanks, small animals, etc, and a "touch table" - a large wooden table with sides, on which was scattered all sorts of artifacts the guests could pick up and handle. These items included deer antlers, bones, turtle shells, feathers, arrowheads and pottery, rocks, seeds and nuts, tanned hides, etc. Little kids especially loved it. All of the items were found by guests or staff while out in the camp, and returned to the nature center. I handled the items also, and I noticed one bone had a really odd shape. I am an environmental scientist by profession, and an outdoorsman and naturalist for fun, and can generally recognize what bones came from what parts of what animals. This bone was a HUMAN MANDIBLE - the lower jawbone of a person. It was severely worn smooth and had no teeth, but easily recognizable as such. It had been there for years, handled by thousands of people, and no one noticed or at least reported it.

psilome

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112points

#20

This was probably 13-14 years ago. I was working as a delivery driver for an auto parts store and I'm taking a shortcut through a neighborhood. It's during the winter which, in my state, gets mid level snow but it's extremely cold. Suddenly a toddler in just a diaper bursts out of the front door of the house next to me covering his ears and screaming at the top of his lungs. He runs about 20 feet and disappears into someone else's back yard. I immediately call the cops and start making laps around the block trying to find him because, again, it's winter and the kids in a damn diaper. Cops show up and take over but I'll never forget the look on his face or the sound of him yelling.

VinceIsWellCool, Zeeshaan Shabbir

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104points

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