"Life is stranger than fiction," people say. And sometimes, it really is true. Have you ever had an experience so weird you still can't explain it to this day? And what about stories from other people about folks who went through things so crazy they're still stuck in your head many years later?
Can't think of any? We're here to help, then! We've gathered the wildest stories people shared from a thread where one netizen asked: "What is the creepiest real-life story you know that still sends chills down your spine?"
Some people went for morbid stories from their personal lives, others shared wider-known terrifying stories that still give them nightmares. But which ones do you think are the scariest?
#1
There are people who vote to take basic rights away from other people. They vote to take food out of the mouths of hungry children. They vote to give infinite power to evil people. They think that their 4th vacation home is more important than clean water and air. They think that women exist to obey, breed, and serve while keeping their mouths shut. They aid and collude in holocausts. They indoctrinate others to think and vote this way as well. And they do it right out in the open, in front of everybody. They claim they’re following their religion, but I don’t think they actually read that book.
161points
#2
I was 16 at the time and I had barely just got my license. I had a friend in school, a girl who most considered "boy crazy" but to my disappointment she wasn't interested in me. Typical popular good looking girl who was into jocks and I was the nerdiest kid in the class but we were very close and she would tell me all her struggles and then delete the messages. Mostly because the guys she liked were very possessive.
In the dead of night in the winter I got a call from her. This was very unusual. Mostly the calling but also it was a school night and it was very late. She was speaking in a hushed shaking voice and asked me to come pick her up, I knew something was wrong but she had to hang up after giving me the address. This was before gps and I barely knew how to get to school but I printed out a MapQuest route to her boyfriend's house in a different city. She asked me to bring her clothes, specifically shirt underwear and some sweats. I pushed my car out of the driveway and coasted until I was sure my parents couldn't hear it. I got to the house and she came out obviously trying to make as little noise as possible.
She was naked. Makeup smeared from crying. Hair matted.
She got in the car told me to take off and she put the clothes on. I asked her what happened and all she could say without breaking down is she went to her bfs birthday party and woke up like this with no memory. She woke up in the middle of the room with all his friends and him also naked.
I took her home and snuck back into the house 2 hours before I had to get up for school. We never spoke of it again. I didn't think much of it then but 17 years later I have my own kids and a daughter who's the light of my world and I can't tell this story without crying.
She's been married now with kids to a seemingly good guy for a decade. We don't talk anymore but I still check her Facebook from time to time and I hope she's ok now.
In the dead of night in the winter I got a call from her. This was very unusual. Mostly the calling but also it was a school night and it was very late. She was speaking in a hushed shaking voice and asked me to come pick her up, I knew something was wrong but she had to hang up after giving me the address. This was before gps and I barely knew how to get to school but I printed out a MapQuest route to her boyfriend's house in a different city. She asked me to bring her clothes, specifically shirt underwear and some sweats. I pushed my car out of the driveway and coasted until I was sure my parents couldn't hear it. I got to the house and she came out obviously trying to make as little noise as possible.
She was naked. Makeup smeared from crying. Hair matted.
She got in the car told me to take off and she put the clothes on. I asked her what happened and all she could say without breaking down is she went to her bfs birthday party and woke up like this with no memory. She woke up in the middle of the room with all his friends and him also naked.
I took her home and snuck back into the house 2 hours before I had to get up for school. We never spoke of it again. I didn't think much of it then but 17 years later I have my own kids and a daughter who's the light of my world and I can't tell this story without crying.
She's been married now with kids to a seemingly good guy for a decade. We don't talk anymore but I still check her Facebook from time to time and I hope she's ok now.
121points
#3
Was about 7 or 8 years old and went with my family to this man-made lake, family park place in South Georgia. Basically a big, dug out pond that the owner put a bunch of beach sand and palm trees around and charged admission for people to come, park their cars, grill and swim for the day. Also had a big, unsafe-as-hell waterside that kids got hurt on.
So where my family would park was in front of this little island that was a clump of sand about 30 yards off the shore line. I was not the best swimmer but the depth was just above my head, so I could bob up and down and bounce out to this island.
Bouncing out to that little island one day we were there, my foot came down onto what felt like a face, felt what was a nose on my toe. The thing I remember is the feeling of hair flowing between my toes. That feeling of fine hair waving in water. I freaked out and for the longest time just sat on the shore. Was a little kid and did not think of anything about it.
I can still remember the scared parents going around yelling this kid’s name, asking if anyone had seen this little boy. They pulled his body from under the water right in front of that island. I’m 47 now and can still remember the feeling of that hair between my toes.
So where my family would park was in front of this little island that was a clump of sand about 30 yards off the shore line. I was not the best swimmer but the depth was just above my head, so I could bob up and down and bounce out to this island.
Bouncing out to that little island one day we were there, my foot came down onto what felt like a face, felt what was a nose on my toe. The thing I remember is the feeling of hair flowing between my toes. That feeling of fine hair waving in water. I freaked out and for the longest time just sat on the shore. Was a little kid and did not think of anything about it.
I can still remember the scared parents going around yelling this kid’s name, asking if anyone had seen this little boy. They pulled his body from under the water right in front of that island. I’m 47 now and can still remember the feeling of that hair between my toes.
83points
#4
The death of Hisashi Ouchi.
He was working at a nuclear plant and due to shoddy working conditions was involved in a criticality incident.
He was hit with I believe the most radiation any human has ever been hit with without instantly dying.
For 81 days a cabal of the best doctors in the world tried to keep him alive as his body shut down. The descriptions of what he was going through and what was physically happening to him make it clear to me that sometimes saving a life isn't worth it.
It's a tragic story of a young man suffering one of the worst fates possible.
He was working at a nuclear plant and due to shoddy working conditions was involved in a criticality incident.
He was hit with I believe the most radiation any human has ever been hit with without instantly dying.
For 81 days a cabal of the best doctors in the world tried to keep him alive as his body shut down. The descriptions of what he was going through and what was physically happening to him make it clear to me that sometimes saving a life isn't worth it.
It's a tragic story of a young man suffering one of the worst fates possible.
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74points
#5
I don't remember the name of the lake. But it was slowly filling up woth Co2, over decades. And one day, an earthquake happened.. shifting the water just enough to un-dissolve all the co2, and it slowly crept down the mountain, into the village. Creating a wave of invisible, undetectable death. Everyone in the village, animals, humans, birds. Died where they stood. Without even knowing why.
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60points
#6
Supposed to stay the night at our friend's new place on New Years...A little before midnight I suddenly got the wildest gd urge to go home and play WoW in my life and started a fight with my gf over it cause I demanded we leave, I won and we left. The house burned down later that night and our friends didn't make it.
59points
#7
Nutty Putty Cave. I shudder even typing it.
On November 24, 2009, John Edward Jones became trapped upside down in a narrow, unmapped passage of Utah's Nutty Putty Cave. The passage was only 10 by 18 inches wide, making it impossible for him to turn around or back out. A large-scale, multi-agency rescue effort was launched to save him.
Rescuers spent more than 27 hours working in extremely difficult conditions to free Jones. They used a complex system of ropes and pulleys, but a critical anchor point failed during the attempt, causing Jones to fall back into the crevice. Ultimately, the intense physical strain of being inverted and constricted for so long led to cardiac arrest, and he died in the cave.
On November 24, 2009, John Edward Jones became trapped upside down in a narrow, unmapped passage of Utah's Nutty Putty Cave. The passage was only 10 by 18 inches wide, making it impossible for him to turn around or back out. A large-scale, multi-agency rescue effort was launched to save him.
Rescuers spent more than 27 hours working in extremely difficult conditions to free Jones. They used a complex system of ropes and pulleys, but a critical anchor point failed during the attempt, causing Jones to fall back into the crevice. Ultimately, the intense physical strain of being inverted and constricted for so long led to cardiac arrest, and he died in the cave.
49points
#8
The case of Septic Tank Sam.
In 1975, an Alberta couple wanted a pump for their septic tank, and they decided to take the pump from the tank in their old abandoned farm instead of buying a new one. In doing so, they discovered a dead body that was thrown there.
The victim's story is very horrific. He was tortured and sexually mutilated before he was shot, then thrown in the septic tank of an abandoned farm, hoping that the crime would never be discovered.
The victim was identified in 2021, but the m****r is yet to be solved.
In 1975, an Alberta couple wanted a pump for their septic tank, and they decided to take the pump from the tank in their old abandoned farm instead of buying a new one. In doing so, they discovered a dead body that was thrown there.
The victim's story is very horrific. He was tortured and sexually mutilated before he was shot, then thrown in the septic tank of an abandoned farm, hoping that the crime would never be discovered.
The victim was identified in 2021, but the m****r is yet to be solved.
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47points
#9
Hinterkaifeck.
Over a period of days odd things were happening around a farm, including footprints in the snow leading to the farmhouse, but not away from it. The maid quit abruptly, citing strange noises and fearing the place was haunted. Her decision saved her life.
On the first night of the new maid’s job, a man believed to have been hiding in the attic of the house descended into the main quarters and systematically m******d the family in an outbuilding one by one. Several initially survived and had to watch their family members die in front of them. When the bodies were found, one of the youngest girls had pulled out tufts of her own hair as she was dying from the sheer horror of the experience.
The individual then proceeded to live in the house for several days, sleeping in the beds, eating the food, and looking after the animals, before eventually leaving soon before the bodies were discovered. They have never been found.
Over a period of days odd things were happening around a farm, including footprints in the snow leading to the farmhouse, but not away from it. The maid quit abruptly, citing strange noises and fearing the place was haunted. Her decision saved her life.
On the first night of the new maid’s job, a man believed to have been hiding in the attic of the house descended into the main quarters and systematically m******d the family in an outbuilding one by one. Several initially survived and had to watch their family members die in front of them. When the bodies were found, one of the youngest girls had pulled out tufts of her own hair as she was dying from the sheer horror of the experience.
The individual then proceeded to live in the house for several days, sleeping in the beds, eating the food, and looking after the animals, before eventually leaving soon before the bodies were discovered. They have never been found.
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43points
#10
It's only a story for me because I don't remember any of it. But years ago I had episodes of sleep terrors. My family told me that sometimes I screamed so loud that I woke up the neighbors.
Well one day I woke up to my boyfriend at the time screaming at me to wake up while rustling me to the ground. The balcony doors were open and I was halfway out. After we both calmed down a bit he started crying.
From his point of view it was something straight out of a horror movie. He got jolted awake by me jumping up on my feet, silent with a blank expression on my face. Then I started panting. And then I screamed like a banshee. I bolted for the balcony door, opened them and put my leg over the railing, all while still screaming. He cought me in the last second. In his words he never heard anything like this before and hopes he never will again.
It took me years after that to build up courage for living on my own. I'm terrified that one day I will wake up on my way to the ground.
Well one day I woke up to my boyfriend at the time screaming at me to wake up while rustling me to the ground. The balcony doors were open and I was halfway out. After we both calmed down a bit he started crying.
From his point of view it was something straight out of a horror movie. He got jolted awake by me jumping up on my feet, silent with a blank expression on my face. Then I started panting. And then I screamed like a banshee. I bolted for the balcony door, opened them and put my leg over the railing, all while still screaming. He cought me in the last second. In his words he never heard anything like this before and hopes he never will again.
It took me years after that to build up courage for living on my own. I'm terrified that one day I will wake up on my way to the ground.
42points
#11
My school had a mandatory uniform policy, and had a school shop with a changing room in it. The guy who tended the shop was arrested for being a p*****ile, and allegedly had a hidden camera in that changing room.
I usually bought my clothes without trying them on, because male sizes tended to be consistent and as I grew, I'd just +1 to whatever the current size was and it worked. What terrifies me is all the girls I went to class with ever since I was 2, that from early childhood to the beginning of adulthood, changed in that changing room trying new clothes on. How many people that I know ended up on some creep's computer, and even worse, in his twisted mind? The same guy who was so chill when I would buy a pen, or an eraser.
I usually bought my clothes without trying them on, because male sizes tended to be consistent and as I grew, I'd just +1 to whatever the current size was and it worked. What terrifies me is all the girls I went to class with ever since I was 2, that from early childhood to the beginning of adulthood, changed in that changing room trying new clothes on. How many people that I know ended up on some creep's computer, and even worse, in his twisted mind? The same guy who was so chill when I would buy a pen, or an eraser.
40points
#12
Friend of a friend was hiking in Montana. She posed on the side of the trail and had her friend snap a photo. Later that night, when she was looking at the pictures from the hike, she was horrified to notice the large face of a cougar staring into the camera from the woods behind her. It had presumably been stalking them; they never even knew it was there.
38points
#13
There was a dude that used to come into the store I worked in. I was just finishing up senior year in high school. He had to be mid 20s or so. We became buddies over a few months. Chatted about movies and video games a lot. One weekend he asked me to hang out I had a bad feeling about it so I said no and that I was grounded for bad grades. Turns out he k**led someone that weekend.
37points
#14
The Lake Nyos disaster in Cameroon is one of the most terrifying real stories I’ve ever read. In 1986, a cloud of carbon dioxide suddenly erupted from the lake and silently rolled over nearby villages. People were found exactly where they’d been seconds before some in bed, some holding tools, even entire herds of cattle lying where they grazed. Over 1,700 people died in a single night without any warning, no fire, no noise, just… the air itself turned deadly. To me, that’s scarier than any monster.
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35points
#15
Middle-aged woman in North Carolina was haunted by a fleeting memory of seeing her father's face in the farm privy when she was a child. Her father had abandoned the family when she was like 5, and her therapist recommended hypnotic regression as a way to work this out. A few other memories floated up, including coming into the kitchen and seeing her mother ... mopping up blood. Who yelled at her to go back to bed.
Her mom still lived on the family farm, and after a few more details turned up the local sheriff got a warrant to dig where the old privy had stood. Yep, dad was still in there, cut up presumably to fit down the hole.
This was pre-internet but developed in real time in the local paper, and right about when the DA was deciding whether to go forward with the case, the 70-something-year-old mom drove out to the north 40 with a pistol. This is all from memory, love to know if I'm remembering this correctly.
Her mom still lived on the family farm, and after a few more details turned up the local sheriff got a warrant to dig where the old privy had stood. Yep, dad was still in there, cut up presumably to fit down the hole.
This was pre-internet but developed in real time in the local paper, and right about when the DA was deciding whether to go forward with the case, the 70-something-year-old mom drove out to the north 40 with a pistol. This is all from memory, love to know if I'm remembering this correctly.
34points
#16
My mother’s college roommate was a sleepwalker. One night a friend coming home late from a date found her roaming the halls of their dorm and carefully got her back up their room.
As they got her back to bed, they saw the soles of her feet were filthy, as if she’d been walking outside barefoot for hours. Still freaks me out thinking what could have happened to her.
As they got her back to bed, they saw the soles of her feet were filthy, as if she’d been walking outside barefoot for hours. Still freaks me out thinking what could have happened to her.
32points
#17
Two stories:
1. I used to ride my bike to the other side of my neighborhood to play with my buddy Blake. One day I was riding down the hill towards his house and he jumped out from behind a power pole and startled me enough that I lost control of my bike and crashed on the street, leaving my forearms skinned about six inches each. He kind of blamed me, and I didn’t really think anything of it, thinking he was somehow right. Later on he had gotten some firecrackers, M80s and we played with them, blew up a model jet and stuff. He mentioned something about using them to blow up frogs, and I didn’t take him seriously.
He ended up joining the USMC, but didn’t reenlist. I didn’t think much more about him, then one day my mom is reading the paper and asked me what my friend’s name was because (suchinsuch) Blakely (Suchinsuch) was arrested for the m****r of his estranged girlfriend and her unborn child.
He had driven her car off the highway onto a dirt road, slit her throat, and had containers of fuel in the car that he set on fire, to hide the evidence. I don’t remember the particulars of his arrest, but apparently he was walking along the road away from the site when a police officer stopped and questioned him. I don’t know if he confessed then, or under interrogation, but he confessed. He was convicted of double m****r.
•My “good friend” as a kid turned out to be a m******r, and I saw the signs but didn’t know it at the time.
2. I was stationed in Iwakuni, Japan and was the Safety NCO for our unit. I was passing friends with a guy in embarkation and one Thursday we went out drinking as a group.
Saturday, the guy and two buddies decided to rent a canoe and went out into the ocean for some fun. At some point, the boat capsized and the three men were stuck holding onto the overturned craft and decided that the strongest swimmer should try to swim to shore to get help, and the other two were going to stay put, until help arrived. The swimmer got to shore and a second guy had abandoned the canoe and was picked up by fishermen, alive.
My passing friend, didn’t make it. He was found after a manhunt down the coast. He had died of hypothermia. This was maybe May, and I seem to remember the water was in the 60s °F. Since I was the Safety NCO, I had to fill out the paperwork for his death. I learned that even in 70° water, you can die of hypothermia in just a few hours.
This event, (along with unrelated nightmares I had as a child of being in open water with giant shapeless creatures coming to get me, and I would wake up as jaws were closing around me) gave me Thalassophobia, fear of open water.
•So, I had to fill out the incident report for the death of a guy I had been out drinking with just two days prior.
1. I used to ride my bike to the other side of my neighborhood to play with my buddy Blake. One day I was riding down the hill towards his house and he jumped out from behind a power pole and startled me enough that I lost control of my bike and crashed on the street, leaving my forearms skinned about six inches each. He kind of blamed me, and I didn’t really think anything of it, thinking he was somehow right. Later on he had gotten some firecrackers, M80s and we played with them, blew up a model jet and stuff. He mentioned something about using them to blow up frogs, and I didn’t take him seriously.
He ended up joining the USMC, but didn’t reenlist. I didn’t think much more about him, then one day my mom is reading the paper and asked me what my friend’s name was because (suchinsuch) Blakely (Suchinsuch) was arrested for the m****r of his estranged girlfriend and her unborn child.
He had driven her car off the highway onto a dirt road, slit her throat, and had containers of fuel in the car that he set on fire, to hide the evidence. I don’t remember the particulars of his arrest, but apparently he was walking along the road away from the site when a police officer stopped and questioned him. I don’t know if he confessed then, or under interrogation, but he confessed. He was convicted of double m****r.
•My “good friend” as a kid turned out to be a m******r, and I saw the signs but didn’t know it at the time.
2. I was stationed in Iwakuni, Japan and was the Safety NCO for our unit. I was passing friends with a guy in embarkation and one Thursday we went out drinking as a group.
Saturday, the guy and two buddies decided to rent a canoe and went out into the ocean for some fun. At some point, the boat capsized and the three men were stuck holding onto the overturned craft and decided that the strongest swimmer should try to swim to shore to get help, and the other two were going to stay put, until help arrived. The swimmer got to shore and a second guy had abandoned the canoe and was picked up by fishermen, alive.
My passing friend, didn’t make it. He was found after a manhunt down the coast. He had died of hypothermia. This was maybe May, and I seem to remember the water was in the 60s °F. Since I was the Safety NCO, I had to fill out the paperwork for his death. I learned that even in 70° water, you can die of hypothermia in just a few hours.
This event, (along with unrelated nightmares I had as a child of being in open water with giant shapeless creatures coming to get me, and I would wake up as jaws were closing around me) gave me Thalassophobia, fear of open water.
•So, I had to fill out the incident report for the death of a guy I had been out drinking with just two days prior.
31points
#18
A long waist line ago (mid 90s) I was a Countryside Ranger on the west coast and one day I was carrying out a phase one habit survey when I came across a camp set up in remote, unmanaged woods. Tent, stove, kettle, sleeping bag in tent, some cooking equipment, rucksack and a pair of walking boots at the tent entrance with a sock in each boot. The problem was it had been there for years. The tent was ripped and weathered, pots full of pine needles, and moss has covered most of the equipment. The rucksack and a couple items of clothing in it and strangely, a flute. Nothing in the rucksack and anything to ID anyone. We carried out a search of the area with police, dogs, locals and mountain rescue. Weeks later not a thing, nothing, absolutely no trace of anything or anyone. Will never know what happened to that person that felt compelled to leave their camp, and leave their flute behind.
28points
#19
My grandparents are Dutch immigrants in New Zealand, and in the 1970s they had a caravan that they took out camping to a rural part of the North Island for a little family fun camping trip (my mum and siblings would've been 10 or younger at the time).
They were way out in the middle of nowhere near a lake in the rainforest, and after the kids had gone to sleep my grandparents had stayed awake a little while just reading etc, having a cup of tea.
They started hearing strange noises, like footsteps outside and twigs breaking, maybe a hushed voice but thought they were going paranoid. They were getting a bit freaked out at this point, but assumed it was nothing and they'd be safe.
Grandpa told me he couldn't go to sleep, and suddenly heard a definite footstep right outside the caravan door. He peeked out the window of the caravan and it was completely pitch black and no moonlight whatsoever, but he could see the glowing cigarette of what must've been a pretty tall man standing right at the door of the caravan. He could still hear other footsteps too, even though whoever was smoking this cigarette outside the door was standing dead still.
He told me he'd never been so scared in his life, but he had to do something because he had his wife and four little kids sleeping inside the caravan, and so he grabbed his butchers knife (he was a butcher by profession, lord knows why he had it on a family camping trip), opened the door to confront or yell or do whatever he could to scare the people away, but when he opened the door he saw no one and heard no noise. He thought he was going crazy, but he saw the cigarette butt on the ground outside the door, freshly finished. He got into the car straight away (he had everything ready to go luckily cos he'd already planned on beginning driving early the next morning anyways), and drove everyone away and found somewhere else near a town to stay instead.
Story freaks me out everytime I think about it.
They were way out in the middle of nowhere near a lake in the rainforest, and after the kids had gone to sleep my grandparents had stayed awake a little while just reading etc, having a cup of tea.
They started hearing strange noises, like footsteps outside and twigs breaking, maybe a hushed voice but thought they were going paranoid. They were getting a bit freaked out at this point, but assumed it was nothing and they'd be safe.
Grandpa told me he couldn't go to sleep, and suddenly heard a definite footstep right outside the caravan door. He peeked out the window of the caravan and it was completely pitch black and no moonlight whatsoever, but he could see the glowing cigarette of what must've been a pretty tall man standing right at the door of the caravan. He could still hear other footsteps too, even though whoever was smoking this cigarette outside the door was standing dead still.
He told me he'd never been so scared in his life, but he had to do something because he had his wife and four little kids sleeping inside the caravan, and so he grabbed his butchers knife (he was a butcher by profession, lord knows why he had it on a family camping trip), opened the door to confront or yell or do whatever he could to scare the people away, but when he opened the door he saw no one and heard no noise. He thought he was going crazy, but he saw the cigarette butt on the ground outside the door, freshly finished. He got into the car straight away (he had everything ready to go luckily cos he'd already planned on beginning driving early the next morning anyways), and drove everyone away and found somewhere else near a town to stay instead.
Story freaks me out everytime I think about it.
28points
#20
I've had several creepy moments in my life but one I think about a lot isn't as bad as some on this post.
My sister's boyfriend's family were robbed and the part that gets me is the brother of said boyfriend was home. They had turned their attic into a bedroom for him and he was on his computer with his headphones on while people were in his house robbing him. He had no clue until his parents came home and found the house trashed and they started screaming his name. I can't imagine what they felt when they walked in finding their home robbed and knowing their youngest was supposed to be home alone. The sense of relief they must have felt when he was safe and sound.
But since then I've always had a rough time with being home alone. Even now thirty years later as a grown adult sometimes when I can't sleep I get the heebie jeebies and wish I had a dog.
My sister's boyfriend's family were robbed and the part that gets me is the brother of said boyfriend was home. They had turned their attic into a bedroom for him and he was on his computer with his headphones on while people were in his house robbing him. He had no clue until his parents came home and found the house trashed and they started screaming his name. I can't imagine what they felt when they walked in finding their home robbed and knowing their youngest was supposed to be home alone. The sense of relief they must have felt when he was safe and sound.
But since then I've always had a rough time with being home alone. Even now thirty years later as a grown adult sometimes when I can't sleep I get the heebie jeebies and wish I had a dog.
28points