People Are Revealing Their Most Frightening Childhood Memories, And These 50 Might Give You The Creeps

When I was fourteen I was on my way to swim practise when a lady asked me for directions to wherever the f**k, I can't remember.

I was a dumb, stupid, naive dumbfuck who didn't question why the f**k she later asked me what my name and age was. I've never, ever told strangers my name, I give whatever fake name pops into my head, but when I said that I was fourteen she turned to the man she was with (her boyfriend) and said, "She is fourteen." in spanish. (I spoke the most basic of spanish back then).

He replied something I didn't understand, but I got this really uncomfortable feeling so I said, "Sorry, I need to get to training." and rushed away. I memorized what he said then called my (hispanic) friend and asked what it meant.

She said, "It means, "s**t, too old."

Bro, I've never been so terrified in my f*****g life. Even now, almost nine years later, if some random stranger asks for directions while I'm out I give the quickest answer I can then f**k off. I don't f**k with random people outside anymore

When I was in elementary school (probably 8 or 9), we were all on the playground. Probably like 100 kids throughout all the outdoor areas of the playground, teachers, etc. basketball court, jungle gym, random field areas, etc. middle of the day at recess. Bright and sunny and not a cloud in the sky.

I was looking across the playground and all of the sudden there was one “flash” where everyone was running inside in unison, and then almost immediately, another flash where everybody was f*****g GONE, not a single other soul on the playground, and the sky was suddenly very dark and cloudy and stormy, and at the second “flash” there was an extremely loud crack of Thunder that rumbled and echoed for what seemed like minutes. It was clearly later in the day and I was so f*****g confused.

I made my way back to the classroom and it was probably 5 minutes before the final dismissal bell rang. The teacher was asking me where had I been? And I got in trouble.

I’m guessing I fell asleep or something but holy s**t man. I’ve never experienced anything like that before or since.

I'd legitimately blacked it out, because it was so traumatic, but as an adult, a beloved aunty brought it up for some unfathomable reason, and ever since, I can't forget it.

When I was small, like still in diapers small, my working mother had to hire out babysitting for me while she went to work to earn a living. Sometimes, my grandmother would pick me up from said babysitter's and take me home where we all three lived. This day, my grandmother noticed that I was sullen and more taciturn than usual. I now know I was autistic, but rural Indiana in the 70s, no one knew what autism was. She reached across the bench seat in the car to try to touch me and I recoiled. When she got me home, she checked me up and found bruising all up under my diaper. Like serious bruising. Sexual assault bruising. She took me to the same hospital where I was born, and I guess my mom met us there. I don't remember any of the exam, or the abuse itself. I just remember the "babysitter's boyfriend" as the culprit. It was later discovered that he was A.W.O.L. from the Army (this was after Vietnam), and eventually disappeared from the area altogether.

I remember taking college classes and learning that in our lifetimes, 20% of women will have experienced at least one sexual assault. I wondered why that statistic bothered me so damn much. Now, I know, it's because I didn't make it out out diapers before mine.

When I was a kid, I was misdiagnosed with cerebral palsy, and my parents took me to the "psychic" - some weird middle aged guy in a shabby flat who promised to help my condition. I remember him touching my neck and pulling my ears, and it really hurt, I was scared and wanted go home. I don't remember how it ended, but apparently after just two or three seances my dad went to this guy's house and seriously beat him up.

When I was 9 or 10 I was laying in my bed wish was next to my (open) window, I was about to fall asleep when I heard inconsistent foot steps like someone had a limp, I thought it was my dad as he had a tendency to to get up at night and have a smoke and he also had a limp from a football injury so I brushed it off when I heard it again I started to wonder what it was and when it got closer to my window and stopped I freaked out and slipped under my blankets after maybe 5/6 minutes the noise moved away from my window it kept going on for an hour or two. The next morning I asked my parents if they went for a walk last night neither of them did, when I told them what happened they shot each-other a terrified look and told me to keep my window locked from then on

Someone rang once as I was getting out of the shower and so I answered the phone in a towel and a shower cap. The caller started saying disgusting things to me. I froze until he said he could see me and I realised he couldn’t see me because then he’d know how hilarious I looked so I told him to f**k off and hung up

But man I was frozen in fear for a while there. I think I was 11

My dad and I (probably 8 at the time - too big for a booster seat, too small for the front seat so I was still in the back) were driving home from something. It was a two-lanes-each-way divided highway and there were a lot of tractor trailers. My dad went to pass one, but we ended up getting boxed in. And it wasn’t just a slow-truck-slowly-passing-another-truck thing, it went on long enough that it was clearly on purpose. So here we are, one truck purposely going slow in front of us, one blocking the side of us, and our “open side” was against solid rock as they tried to push us off the road. I remember my dad being freaked out and trying to get the license plates of the trucks to give to the police, who he couldn’t call at the moment because we were in a cell phone dead zone. I looked up from the book I was reading and made eye contact with one of the drivers - he had a big white beard and looked straight at me with sinister smile that, had I not already stopped believing in Santa Claus, would’ve made me scared of Christmas.

Eventually we got to a town and were able to get into a parking lot, where my dad called the police. We waited ten minutes or so to get distance from the trucks, then got back on the road and thankfully didn’t cross them again.

I remember about a few DAYS ago, I was being the average 14 year old. Listening to songs and playing video games. When I heard a set of footsteps in my kitchen. It was 3:00 AM and everyone was asleep. I didn't hear a door open or anything. I just heard footsteps. I open my door look left and right. Then I decide that I'm being stupid, and get some food. But then I heard footsteps going down the stairs. So I rush to my front windows look outside, and I see someone running away from my house.
Literally the scariest s**t

A man yanked me off a swing in a play park (my Dad had taken my brother to pee). Luckily my dog reacted, snapping her lead she barked and snapped at him, he bolted.

I was walking through the woods with a couple of friends and we came across a clearly abandoned car, I have no clue how it even got there, it was deep in the woods. We were all kinda creeped out, but I decided to go in for a closer look. Some of the windows were smashed, some were covered in filth & grime. I peeped through a smashed window and saw what was distinctly a human leg. I screamed and ran, we all ran and never went back.

I never told anyone, but I still think about it all the time.

I woke up and it felt like someone or something was on top of me stopping me from being able to move or breathe. i could hear heavy breathing but it wasn't mine. on top of this, i could not move how hard i tried. i kept trying to say 'go away' but no words could come out. when i eventually was able to move i relaxed again and felt the pressure again and heard the heavy breathing that wasnt mine. i had to get out of bed after that. still to this day i remember it clearly. sleep paralysis is something else. whats more is later that day i was walking to school and i see a man covered in blood on the pavement. needless to say that day was the creepiest day ive ever experienced.

I only vaguely remember this but my family remember it well

I was very small, maybe about 4/5 and I lived with my mum and my Nan. My nan rushed out of the house one day and came back a few hours later.

I was sat on the stairs when she came in and I could see my auntie Rita behind her waving at me but she wasn’t speaking. I asked nan why Rita was with her..

She had gone to the hospital. Rita had died an hour previously. Still gives me the heeby jeebies to this day

Had a regular babysitter that I still know and despise until this day for shady behavior, when I was small (no idea when because of how small I was but I think under 5y/o?) he used to grip me by the sides of my head and swing me around until I was crying so hard he would slap me "for being upset."

At 16 I found out I had a brain injury most people are BORN with that had no logical explanation.

I went though years of extensive therapy and ended up remembering a lot of horrible stuff, including that. Made the connection, talked to my neurologist who had been trying to solve my migraines for almost a decade at that point, and it was too late to fix it with surgery. So, now I have a brain injury that could kill me with no notice for no f*****g reason.

Thanks, Anthony.

ETA; I experienced a lot of abuse that was ignored or accepted at the time by my mom. I was unable to remember a lot of my life before this particular immersion therapy.

(We are gonna name the friend nick.)

I was about 5 or 6. And I was in my room dead asleep and I heard something being pushed off my tv stand and I sat up and saw my brother's friend which was my friend. But he looked f****d up. Not drunk. Well a little. But his left side of his head was bashed in and his face was a bloody cut up mess. His clothes were ripped and dirty with dirt and blood and his right arm looked broken because it was bent at his elbow and his forearm. I said "Nick? It's bed time I need to sleep!" (He was always a trickster so I thought he was planting a prank.) But he managed a smile. I vividly remember his words and his voice sounded like he was near sobbing "You aren't going to see me anymore. Tell your family I said hi, please?" And I nodded and he just stared at me for a minute. "Go back to bed. Goodnight *my name*" And I said goodnight and rolled over and just assumed he left. The next morning my dad sat me on the kitchen counter and told me Nick had died in a car crash.

The car crash was not his fault though if you were wondering. Him and his two "friends" were at a party with other people up in the mountains at a camp site. They had a truck where the back seats were turned to face eachother. They put blacked out him in the back and started to drive down the road which had a cliff off to one side. They drove the truck off and they ditched. Truck rolled and crushed him. They dragged his body out a good 50 yards into the woods and left him there.

I was 9 years old. I lived in a small town far from the city, where we all knew each other. Summer was cold, rainy and windy. It was a rainy day and I was in my bed, until I heard a loud noise coming from outside. It was like a gunshot or a firework. I went out to check and noticed that on the glass was written "run, watch out for her" I thought it was a joke from a friend or smthng, but when I came out I heard a loud scream coming from my parents' room. I went as fast as I could, but they were just sleeping. I woke them up scared and told them what happened. My mother went with me to look at the letters on the glass, while my father went to get his gun. When we went, the glass was just badly fogged up and there was nothing written on it. My mother thought it was a dream, but I swear I heard that strange sound and saw that sentence written on it. My mother started to become more distant, until one day she left the house. Only a few months ago I was informed that my mother was in an asylum and had committed several crimes. It was the most surreal thing that ever happened to me.

(I used translator, sorry if the english is bad, and this is a true story just its very sumed up)

The park down the street my mom took us to play and walk the dogs....it was large with some very isolated areas that became the woods once you took certain paths. We lived in a bad neighborhood but I didn't really understand that. Lots of creepy s**t went down there but we never stopped going and generally went almost daily.

Some examples....

A certain isolated section was a hangout for paint sniffers. They would lay in tall grass and get high so you couldn't see them unless you were basically on top of them. They were sketchy, disheveled, high as f**k and usual had metallic paint on their hands and faces. Hearing spray paint cans rattle still gives me chills.

There was what looked like a kids stick fort but was clearly where a homeless person was living... Obviously homeless people aren't inherently creepy but my mom let us play in it amoung their things. That was irresponsible, potentially dangerous and rude. We never saw the person or people living there somehow. But I wonder if they saw us?

We came across several sort of traps on the paths to the fort though. Metal wires strung across the path fastened to branches at neck height....sharp sticks stuck up in the ground... Stuff like that.

This was in the Midwest and there was a lake right there too, so when it iced over during the winter we walked on it but my mom also let us walk on it when it started to thaw. I remember walking on it seeing the water bubble and move underneath and feeling how soft the thawing ice felt. I was nervous but I didn't fully know better or how incredibly dangerous this was.

One year there was a serial killer operating in the area and the secluded woodsy place was where he was burning and dumping the bodies of his victims. We still went there all the time.

Looking back I low-key wonder if my mom was like trying to kill us. Like not really but kind of. She was in a terribly abusive relationship and when I think about her life then she must have been really unhappy. Aside from what I'm describing here she was a great mom who was incredibly loving and responsible but this all makes me absolutely cringe and get goosebumps when I think back on it.

When I was about 9 or 10, there was a child abductor and murder that was in the local news. Both of my parents were local police officers, my dad was working on the case, I think. My parents talked about it a lot in passing. One thing they specifically talked about was the white van with a circular window on the side of the van.
Well during that time, I was in a knee brace due to recurrent knee dislocations. However I was an active child, so I didn’t let it keep me from going out anywhere. Well one day I decided to go with my sisters and their friends to collect paper money for our paper route. Well as we were walking, me limping, a white van with the circular window passed by our group. The first time we didn’t think of it because we lived on a main road. After the 3rd time seeing it, we all got a little scared. My sisters and their friends were saying how they can just make a run for it, they’ll be fine. At that point, I started sobbing cause I knew I wouldn’t get away cause of my knee. My sisters ended up walking me home and told me to lock the door, then they left me by myself.
I remember spending the next couple hours avoiding windows and doors, in case the van saw where I lived. It was pretty terrifying as a child. When I think about it now, I wonder how much my sisters might have exaggerated what they saw in order to scare me, so they wouldn’t have me tagging along.

This story is not paranormal, but still freaked me out.

When I was 4 or 5, my parents would take me to my grandpas house every weekday so I wouldn’t be home alone. My grandma had work, but she would come pick me up around the time my sister got out of school so we could both go home. My sister wasn’t feeling well one day, so we both went to my grandparents house. Everything was normal for a few hours, he made us breakfast and turned on cartoons for us. My sister wanted to watch something else so she turned around to him and asked him to put on her favorite show. He didn’t respond. He had a weird look on his face, like he was spaced out but angry at us at the same time. He clearly wasn’t himself. It was only a bit unsettling, so my sister asked him again. He started making groaning sounds, like he wasn’t fully aware of what was happening. My sister got up and dragged me down the hall. We had to pass by his chair and when we did he grabbed my arm. It wasnt like a playful thing, he was holding on tight. It hurt really bad so I tried to get away. I eventually did and we continued running down the hall. We got into the bathroom and my sister said he was playing a game. She said he was a zombie and we need to find a cure for him while staying hidden. We stayed in the bathroom for ten minutes and then we tip toed back. He was totally normal when we got back and it seemed like he had no memory of what just happened.
This happened again when I was alone with him. I didn’t know how to use a phone because I was so little, so I just grabbed his flip phone and hid behind his chair. I tried to call someone but I obviously couldn’t. I had to sit behind his chair while listening to him make that scary groaning sound. My grandma eventually came home and he was just suddenly normal again.

My family says he has a sickness. They call it a seizure, but I’ve tried looking for a seizure that has similar symptoms to the way he acts when he has them, but I’ve had no luck. Looking back, it probably isn’t that scary, but it has stuck with me for a long time.

Being in the bath with my disgusting stepdad and my mum and my brother. All in one bubble bath. I must’ve been about 3 and I distinctly recall not liking it, feeling weird and not wanting to be naked around the stepdad. My mum maintains that this “didn’t happen” … but it did.

I was riding bikes with two friends on a road that cars rarely drove on. We were all boys and about 13 years old.

An old guy in a van slows down next to us and says in a slow voice, "hey, I know your parents wouldn't want you to accept money from strangers... But it's ok this time." He had some cash in his hand and showed it to us.

We declined a noped the f**k outta there