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Creeped Out Police Officers Admit Their Scariest Real-Life Paranormal Experiences

Creeped Out Police Officers Admit Their Scariest Real-Life Paranormal Experiences

Creeped Out Police Officers Admit Their Scariest Real-Life Paranormal Experiences

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Our police and first responders have enough drama to deal with on a daily basis, who knew they had to deal with the other realm. Ghosts don't care about your profession... they are watching you.

Redditor _PopCultureNerd called out to the police officers of Reddit to ask... Cops and other law enforcement people of Reddit, what were some cases you worked on that made you think (even if for a moment) that something supernatural/paranormal was going on? Maybe read this with the lights on.

THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU.

Was driving along and found a girl just standing in the middle of the road, my initial thoughts was to just to tell her to pay attention but it was clear that while the lights were on, nobody was home. During my whole time with her she never uttered a word, I was left in a weird situation. She had done nothing, clearly needed help but medically nothing seemed wrong. As I am pondering what on earth I should do the girl suddenly starts spinning. Now spinning is not illegal and I'm starting to think this girl is one of those protesters that wind up police (I've dealt with troll station before) so I think crack on, spin to your hearts content. Then she loses her balance and falls whacking her head on the side of the police car! Great. So I call an ambulance but she seems fine. Still not talking but she is looking up at the sky. It's a nice day so fine enjoy the sun. I do some writing and look back at her now bright red face and watering eyes and realize she is trying to damage her retinas by forcing herself to look directly at the sun. That's a new one on me so now I'm holding a book or something above her to shield her eyes... ambulance arrives and we get to hospital and now she has forgotten how to walk. Now I'm 99% sure she is a wind up merchant but I get her a wheelchair. In the wheelchair she strikes up a 'I'm a little teapot pose' and keeps this up for the next hour, zero movement just frozen with her arms out. So I now have 3 potential situations.

1) she is pretending to be frozen in time.

2) she is suffering from a mental health issue.

3) she has been possessed.

By now I'm convinced it's the latter but I section her and leave her with professionals. A week later I call the hospital and they tell me she is still frozen.

WE DO HAVE ANGELS POLICING US.

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Police officer working the desk 1500 - 2300, fire alarm signal goes off many many years ago the police department offered alarm monitoring service, still had 10-12 places that were hard wired and it would require pulling apart a lot of equipment to disconnect the system so we just kept it going. 1st shift dispatch is already punched in so she took it. I'm headed out the door to the fire department when 911 rings from the same address, I answer it. No one in the other end, assumed they barely got to call before passing out, I bolt out the back door, hop in a squad car, radio in the 911 call on channel three that both police/fire can hear and that I'm going directly to the house.

Arrive just as another unit shows up. No signs of smoke...no sign of anything.

Older woman comes walking up the street pushing a wheelchair with an elderly lady (her mother). They live there and just went out for an early evening stroll before dinner. Tell them what we have going on, nobody else lives there and as far as the elderly lady can remember the alarm was disconnected from the house years ago during some renovations. They don't have any alarm system either, just a couple of smoke/fire detectors.

We do a walk around the house, get to the back door off the kitchen and you can clearly see and smell gas.

We turned off the gas at the main, set up some fans to air it out and find a cracked gas line going to the oven. Daughter said she spilled some coffee she was making for their walk and had to move the oven a few inches to clean, probably broke the line pushing the oven back in. Nothing else in the house is disturbed and both phones are on the hook. Fire chief shows up about 15 minutes into the call. He goes over to the two ladies and gives them both a hug, he's nearly in tears.

The elderly lady in the wheelchair, her husband was the fire chief 60+ years ago for our department. The daughter, her husband passed away a few years ago, he was also a member of our department. Never believed in ghosts or spirits but that call made me think maybe people who spend their lives doing good are allowed by some power to look over their loved ones every so often.

FAIRY FOOTPRINTS

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Years ago my uncle told us about a woman who would call the police station just about every night claiming that "fairies or elves" were breaking into her house & stealing her food. As is custom, every time she calls, they send a unit to check on her (my uncle gets it about 2-3 times per week). Every night they stop by her house & reassure her that no one has broken in & calm her down.

One night when he gets to the house she has poured powdered sugar all over the floor to "record their tracks" & my uncle says he literally has to do a double take. All over the floor of her kitchen are these little tracks, tiny like nothing he's seen before. His partner starts taking photos & trying to figure it out. A few other officers come in, as most of them had gotten the call to her house too & want to see it. 10 police officers all completely baffled as to what these weird little prints are...

Turns out a possum had babies & they were sneaking into her kitchen for warmth or food. The prints looked so foreign because most of the time baby possums are carried by their mother not running around. 7 are rounded up & released in a less residential area.

JUST KEEP DRIVING!

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My brother is a deputy and at the time I worked as an EMT for a few small towns in north east Colorado. I frequently went on ride alongs with him while waiting for 9/11 calls to come in. This took place in Amherst Colorado. The town is very small, Amherst has about 50 people, a church, some houses, a grain tower, and a park. It was about 3 am and we were about to call it a night. As we were making our last check on Amherst we noticed movement at the park but couldn't tell exactly what was going on because it was pitch black. We drove up and stopped along side the dirt road, flipped on the spotlight and as we moved the light around the park it finally settled on the back of a young girl (maybe 13) sitting on a swing with her back facing us. We left the spotlight on her, she wasn't moving, she just sat there facing away from us looking down at the ground. Needless to say it was a very creepy situation.

We both looked at each other with that face you would make when something is out of the ordinary. I quickly suggested that we should call her over using the PA system. He agreed. As we looked back over, she was gone. I mean no signs of anyone anywhere. The park was in a wide open area, she couldn't have gotten out of sight in the amount of time that we had our exchange of words. I remember saying, "should we get out and look for her?" Maybe she hid behind one of the park toys or something. My brother just looked at me and said "hell to the no" and drove away. It still creeps me out to this day.

HAIL LAZARUS!

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Cop here.

Partner and I were dispatched to a welfare check. Elderly guy, nobody had seen him in a few days, mail over flowing in mailbox, missed a doctor's appointment, car hasn't moved, etc. We both know we are about to find a body. We arrive on scene and can't get anyone to the door, look through the window and sure enough, we can see his foot on the floor in the living room. My partner is a corporal and pulls rank and makes me go first. Door is unlocked and as soon as we open it we smell a mostly fresh dead body. Almost relieved, we both enter and he tells me to check vitals on dead dude. He is obviously dead, with lividity, dried feces on him and dried saliva around his mouth. So I go to stand over him and see if I can get a pulse at which point he takes a deep breath, rolls over, and asks why we are in his house. At this point we both start screaming as we both run out of the house. We called EMS and they transported him. Said they couldn't get a blood pressure or pulse on him. I think he died a week later in the hospital.

NOTHING GOOD HAPPENS IN "THAT" ROOM!

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The Captain was on the first-due engine company that was dispatched to a residential fire alarm in the middle of the night. Our dispatch protocols require us to send the first-due unit emergency to a fire alarm, while the second due engine and ladder company respond routine. We go to tons of fire alarms and 99% of the time they are caused by a faulty system or burnt food, so we usually don't get too worked up over them.

Anyways, as they approach the neighborhood they see the orange glow in the distance, and when they get on scene they find a ~4,000 square foot house with heavy fire showing on the rear and that had already broken through the roof. The call was then upgraded to a working structure fire and more units were dispatched to assist. The Captain of the first-due stayed on the outside the whole time (he was incident commander until the first battalion chief arrived on scene and took over, and then he assumed the safety role). So, he's on the outside, in radio contact with crews that are inside fighting the fire.

After the bulk of the fire had been extinguished and as operations were winding down, the Captain sees smoke inside a second-story window and asks crews inside to go inside the room on the B/C corner to make sure the fire hadn't spread to the other side of the house. The crews search for a few minutes and radio back, "There's no room there, sir." The Captain is a bit confused, as he is staring at what is clearly a window that is attached to a room of some sort. He relays detailed instructions of where the room should be to the crews inside, and they again advise that they can't find anything.

Incredulous, the Captain asks the Incident Commander for permission to go inside of the structure so he can show the interior crews exactly where the room in question is. His request is granted, and he goes inside, walks up the staircase, and walks towards the corner in question. There's no room there. Just a hallway with a corner. No doorway, no window, no room. Knowing that there has to be something behind the wall, they breach the drywall and crawl through to find a child's bedroom. The bedroom had a dresser, a desk, and a perfectly made bed that looked as if it hadn't been disturbed in years. For whatever reason, the owners of the home decided to wall off the bedroom and leave it just as it was, untouched and unaccessible. The Captain said it was one of the strangest and eeriest things he had seen in a while.

WISH WE ALL HAD AN INVISIBLE SHIELD.

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It's probably too late for this to surface, but this is my dad's story.

He went to a call where a father had gone crazy and decided to shoot his family. He killed his wife and was looking around trying to find his 5 year old son to shoot him. The boy had run outside and was trying to hide on the side of the house behind the trash cans. The father eventually found him and point blank emptied nearly a full magazine at the boy.

When my dad arrived, they found the boy in shock, hiding right where his dad found him, not a wound on his body. There were bullet holes in the side of the house all around the boy. When they finally got to question him about it, they asked him what happened when his dad found him on the side of the yard. The boy replied "the angel was in front of me with a shield, and he saved me. He pushed the gun away from me."

DAMN YOU CHUCKY!!

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Crazy old woman called because she heard someone repeatedly banging on her front door and and garage door. It's after midnight and I get there, and the house is in the middle of the woods with nothing around for miles. I talk to the lady and she insists I check her large shed out back. So I open the shed door and peek in with my flashlight, and the entire shed is filled with creepy large homemade dolls. They're each probably like 2 to 3 feet tall and sitting upright facing the door. The hair on my neck went up for a minute. I didn't truly believe that something supernatural was going on, but dolls are just really creepy.

DADDY'S HOME.

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I am a CNA in a local hospital. One of my patients just had a quad bypass (open heart surgery) and I went into check her vitals. The room was dim and the hall was quiet. I'm looking at her and in the corner of my eye I see something drop from the ceiling out of nowhere. It makes a big clunk sound and I turn to see what it could be. There's nothing there. At that moment my patient looks up at me and say "my dads here." Passes back out... I finish my job and leave. When I would go to that floor again as a floater I would hate to go into that room.

OK. NO MORE YELLOW DRESSES!

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ICU Nurse here.

We had a patient that was dying. No family. Around 3am the guy started crying and asking why the little girl in the yellow dress was in the hospital. We assure him there is no little girl. He cries even more saying yes there is she is at the foot of the bed. Kid you not the man passed in the next few minutes. Myself and my pod partner blame the hallucination on the meds we were giving him to keep him comfortable.

Next night. New patient in the room. She's completely alert and oriented. About 3 am she hits her call light. She wants to know why the little girl in the yellow dress was outside her room. We told her it was just her imagination from being in a strange place. Not 5 minutes later the guy in the next room goes into full cardiac arrest and unfortunately we can't revive him.

Of course we absolutely freak. Two different nights. Two different patients see the same thing. All followed by death.

BEWARE THE SHADOWS!!

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I'm a second generation firefighter. My father spent the latter days of his career as a fire safety director at a massive mental asylum. Our state version of OSHA has to come and do inspections at all facilities. His was no exception so the OSHA inspectors make their way to an abandoned part of the facility that used to house the criminally insane. The absolute worst of the worst. My father left them with keys and a flashlight because the electricity didn't work. The inspectors were radioing back to my father that they kept hearing talking and footsteps which was impossible. Not even squatters could move around because each section is isolated with locked doors to prevent escape. Eventually, the inspectors give up and actually flee without finishing. My dad decides to stick around and check the alarm boxes they didn't. As he is checking one of the alarms, he feels as if someone is watching him from down the hall. As he looks, a shadow forms with a head, shoulders, torso but no legs and just two holes where there should be eyes. My dad noped the hell on out of there.

Since the hospital has shut down, it has been on Ghost Adventures, Ghost Hunters and a myriad of other shows and movies. My dad has been in some of them. Jason from Ghost Hunters called it the scariest place he's ever been.

SCARLET O'HARA IS THAT YOU?

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I work in a pre civil war town that has lots of antebellum homes that survived the war. Ghost hunters have been to the town on several occasions. There is this one antebellum mansion that is more of a museum, that gets alarm calls semi frequently. Every time, the side door to the house is open and the kitchen has all cabinet doors and drawers open. Every. DAMN. time. The care taker says its been happening since she started looking after the place about 30 years ago. We don't clear it without backup.

THIS IS WHY I DON'T WATCH 'THE SIXTH SENSE.'

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My dad used to work as a CO (corrections officer) at a rural prison. He drove perimeter, which just means he made circles around the jail in a truck, checking empty buildings for runaway inmates and just generally being bored for eight hours every night.

One night, my dad is parked on a hill just reading a magazine when he starts to feel a thumping in his body. He described it as the feeling you get when speakers are playing a song with really heavy bass and you can feel the bass in your whole body.

Anyway, he puts the magazine down and checks his rearview, and he sees someone outside the truck. He grabs his pistol and jumps out of the truck, weapon drawn. When he gets outside, he sees a procession of Native Americans walking through the truck (and directly through his seat) only to disappear at the exact spot he was sitting. He said it was clear they were ghosts because many of them appeared injured. This went on for a few seconds, and then whole procession disappeared.

He called the other perimeter guy on his walkie to try to explain, and the other guy almost immediately stopped communicating. Turns out the other guy had seen this happen before, but didn't believe in ghosts, so he wouldn't talk about it.

SOME ROOMS WILL NEVER BE CLEAN AGAIN.

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I worked as a forensic nurse in a lock up unit in the hospital once with state and county inmates. Had one older/demented lady who swore she was being haunted/abused by a demon she would call Tiberius. So many crazy things happened whenever she was there - like we'd go into the room, do normal care, leave and seconds later she'd start screaming bloody murder and we'd run into the room to find her looking like she'd been in a fight with a boxing champ - bloody lip, black eye, markings all over her body - no one ever saw her doing this stuff to herself. Things would get moved around the room by themselves - like at one point she was in protective restraints because the doc thought she was hurting herself, there was no way she could have moved or done anything to herself while in these restraints, but new marks would always appear or her tray/cart would be across the room. The room was secure so there was no way someone else was doing this. You'd ask her questions and she'd just say "it was Tiberius." After she was discharged we always had trouble with that room - if there was going to be a rapid response or code, it happened in that room. One of the guards reporting that lights were going on and off in a room? It was that one.

STAY AWAY FROM THE LIGHT.

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I was dispatched around 3am to attend a house where the caller was concerned that someone had broken into the basement and was still inside. The caller was a very old lady and she lived alone. As far as she could tell, she woke up and noticed that the basement lights were on, and she hadn't been downstairs in years.

My partner and I get to the call and the lady is standing at the front door with her walker anxiously waiting for us to come inside. My partner and I go into the basement and you can tell that no one had been down there for a while because as I walked I kept hitting cobwebs that were dangling from the ceiling. Anyway, everything appeared to be in order, and eventually I found the light switch further into the basement and turn it off. We shut the basement door behind us and clear the main floor too, since she was so adamant that she heard rustling and coughing in the basement (the basement was relatively empty, and I assure you no one was down there).

As we are about to leave she asks if we turned the light off. I said yes, and opened the door to show her, but the light was back on when I did. I kept my composure and asked her if I could turn the lights on/off from upstairs as well. Negative. My partner and I exchanged looks and I went back down to turn the lights off again, and go. We met up after the call and dug a little bit into the history of the house, and it turned out that a year ago on that day we attended to help paramedics because her husband had fallen down those stairs. Not sure if he made it or not but... nope.

HEAR NO EVIL. SEE NO EVIL.

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Cop. Real call. I have been on patrol for several years, and love stuff like this. I had a back up officer with me, who witnessed everything.

Dispatch sent me to a call in a mountain area late one night. Dispatch said the caller reported several people holding a baby above their heads, and chanting, while standing on her property. The call sounded ridiculous and I smirked as dispatch gave the details. I arrived at the proper address after driving about 20 minutes along a mountain road. There is not much else up here, and it was extremely quiet. No one walks around out here, and there arent very many cars driving this late. I walked along a gated driveway, through a light wooded area. I found the callers house, with two dim lights near the front door. The house was surrounded on three sides by heavy woods. I felt a little uneasy, just looking at the house.

I knocked on the front door of the house, while standing on a large patio. I heard something move to my left, which startled me because it was close. It sounded like a person, something big. I looked to the left and used my flashlight to light up the patio....I didnt see anyone.

I continued to knock. I could hear two voices inside the house. I clearly heard a male and a female. This made me feel a little better. I thought I heard someone on the patio, but it must have been someone inside.

The female eventually opened the door. She was terrified, almost crying. She asked me to come inside and to close the door. She led me to the living room, where I saw a very cheap security monitor, almost like a baby monitor camera setup, with audio and video playing. The camera setup only provided live feed. The camera was positioned to view the front door and patio area where I was just standing. The audio was silent as I watched the monitor for a few seconds.

The woman began to explain, when I interrupted, and asked where the male was inside the house (I heard his voice). She looked confused and said she was here alone. I was surprised because I know for a fact I heard a males voice when I knocked. I asked her several times, and initially thought she was lying to me. My partner checked the house and did not find anyone.

The woman said she was reading while sitting on the couch, when she heard something over the security camera. She looked at the display and saw two people on the patio, standing at the front door. She heard knocking at the door and called the police. I looked at the monitor, and although it was low quality, I could see the patio and front door area with decent clarity. As the woman continued to explain, the audio on the monitor went from quiet to extremely loud. We all stop talking. The caller was shaking. I looked at the monitor, but didn't see anyone. Loud audio continued to blast from the speakers. The audio sounded like wind.....but it was not windy that night. I asked the woman "what is that?", and she said she said "its them." I looked at my partner who was nervous.

The woman gives me her cell phone, stating she took pictures of the monitor, showing the two people on her patio. I looked through several low quality pics and didn't see anything. I continue to scroll, and sure enough, I see what looks like two tall figures standing at the door. One of the figures is holding something. The figures looked strange, all dark and featureless, in contrast to the video I saw on the monitor.

I was in disbelief, and thought "oh my god, shes telling the truth."

I continue to scroll and saw one figure holding something up over its head. Another picture showed the item at the base of the door with both figures standing near it. I tried to reason, to explain what could have caused these images.....but it was pretty apparent that there had been two subjects on her patio.

We check outside, walking the property to the tree line. I mention the movement on the patio, and the males voice from inside the house. My partner asks me to stop talking about it.

We finish checking and return to speak with the caller. She says she will be driving into town and staying at a hotel because she is too scared to stay here tonight.

We walk along the driveway back to our cars.....my partner jumps into the patrol car and takes off. I laughed, but I felt really uneasy, standing there in the dark. I leave shortly afterward.

SAME YOUR FAMILY SQUABBLES FOR THE THERAPIST OR YOUR PRIEST.

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My partner and I received a 911 call from an old woman having a dispute with someone. We get to the house and she says she alone. We say who are you having a dispute with? She says, "oh just this spirit in one of my rooms" immediately me and partner look at each other and give the ole "she's elderly, it's prob dementia or something along those line" As we're talking to her, she's explaining how sometimes a "bad" spirit comes around. She states that he's in the back room and (of course) the lights don't work. We try to tell her that spirits probably aren't in her house and we have to get to another 911 call. She insists we check it out. So we do. Now, the house, they way she was speaking about spirits, made me believe something was there. When we got the room and she opened the door, seeing a ghost wouldn't have shocked me. She did say that it's usually in the corner up on the ceiling. Well, that corner was dark and had the freakiest shadow that legitimately was terrifying. My partner and I shine our flashlights on the whole room and Thankfully, nothing was there. We told the lady, nope, your good, nothing going on here. I said to her "if you feel there's a spirit there the NYPD cannot help you, go to a local church religious institution of your choosing and best of luck". We got the HELL outta there.

SOMETIMES YOU JUST HAVE TO SAY.. "WHO CARES... RUN!"

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My dad used to work as a correctional officer at Goulburn jail in Australia, which is probably one of the oldest and hardest prisons there. A story he tells of his time there is one I always remember. He said that the whole place was creepy anyway, not helped by some of the inmates at the time including the notorious Ivan Milat (on which 'wolf creek' is based). Anyway first thing he noticed was that dogs would outright refuse to enter the prison. He said they couldn't get them past the gate no matter how hard they tried. But the creepiest occurrence was one night when they heard the sound of running booted footsteps, everyone was in their cell so they couldn't figure out what was causing it, next thing all the doors of the open and unoccupied cells on the top floor were banged shut, one after the other with loud clangs. Then they see the source of the running noise. Now dad swears this is what he and his colleague (so he has another witness) saw. Apparently they looked up and saw what looked like disembodied hobnail boots run down the aisle right over their heads, banging as they went. Dad decided to stop working in the prison not long after this. Super creepy.

IF ANYTHING IS WET? AND SILENT? BASICALLY IT'S SATAN.

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So my dad (ex London police) tells a story of getting a call to a known trouble makers house. The whole family is outside refusing to go in the house. Apparently Someone/something was upstairs. He just thinks they're making issues. Enters the house, it's a mess. Newspaper all over the floor like they're using it as a rug. Checks the lower floor, nothing. Walks up the stairs and 3/4 of the way up the temperature drops, so much you can see your own breath. The newspaper covering this floor is wet, and he has to check each room with the worst feeling of dread/eyes watching you he's ever had. Nothing is moving, but he says he's never felt such a sense of malice (except for Colin Ireland who he has to be on duty for as he was in the cells, my dad says he's never seen evil in someone's eyes except for him) they nope out of there, as there is nothing for them to do. But my dad, who was on the opposite side of the picket lines in the miners strikes and responded to the Broadwater Farm riots says it's the worst moment of his life, having to walk up those stairs, knowing there was something all around that wanted to harm him.

People Describe The Creepiest Things They Ever Witnessed As A Kid

"Reddit user -2sweetcaramel- asked: 'What’s the creepiest thing you saw as a kid?'"

Four mistreated baby dolls are hung by barb wire
Photo by J Lopez

For many childhood memories are overrun by living nightmares.

Yes, children are resilient, but that doesn't mean that the things we see as babes don't follow us forever.

The horrors of the world are no stranger to the young.

Redditor -2sweetcaramel- wanted to see who was willing to share about the worst things we've seen as kids, so they asked:

"What’s the creepiest thing you saw as a kid?"

Serious Danger

"Me and my best friend would explore the drainage tunnels under the Vegas area where we grew up. These were miles long and it was always really cool down there so it was a good way to escape the heat of our scorching hot summers. We went into this one that goes under the Fiesta casino and found a camp with a bunch of homeless people."

"Mind you we are like 11 years old lol. And we just kept going like it was nothing. It wasn’t scary then but when I look back at it we could have been in some serious danger. Our parents had no idea we did this or where we were and we had no cellphones. We could have been kidnapped and never have been found."

oofboof2020

Waiting for Food

"I was at a portillos once when I was 12 and I was waiting with my little brother at a booth while my parents got our food. This guy was standing with his tray kind of watching me then after a couple of minutes he started to walk over really fast not breaking eye contact with me."

"He was 2 feet from the table and my dad came out of nowhere and scared the s**t out of him. He looked so surprised and just said he wanted to see if I’d get scared or not. He left his tray full of food near the door and left. My folks reported him but we never went to that location again since we found a better one closer to home."

nowhereboy1964

Captain Hobo to the Rescue

"When I was a pretty young teen, my friends and I were horsing around in San Francisco and started hanging out to smoke with some homeless guys. Another homeless dude came up and began aggressively trying to shake us down for anything (money, smokes, a ride, drugs- all of it) and wouldn’t take no for an answer."

"We got in over our heads and could tell this guy was now riling the other 2 guys up and they were acting like they wanted to jump us. Some grandfather-looking old homeless man appeared out of nowhere and yelled at us to get the f**k out of here- nice kids like us don’t belong down here at this hour!!"

"Captain Hobo saved our lives that night. My parents sincerely thought we were at a mall all day lol."

FartAttack911

Survival

tsunami GIF Giphy

"I was 7 and survived the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. Witnessed the wave rise way above the already massive palm trees (approx. 40ft?) and my family and I watched/heard the wave crash into the ground from a rooftop."

faithfulpoo

These Tsunami stories are just tragic.

On the Sand

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"We were a group of kids who went to swim in a local lake. And there was a dead body on the beach with their hands raised and their legs bent unnaturally that local police just took out of the same lake. I've never put my foot in these waters again."

oyloff

Be Clever

"I was walking to school and I was about 5 or 6 years old and some guy pulled up beside me in his car and asked if I would get in. He also offered me sweets to do so. I said no. The creepy bit was when he calmly said ‘clever boy’ to me, then drove off. I’ve never even told my parents or anyone else about this as it would most likely freak them out."

OstneyPiz

Bad Jokes

"Dad's side of the family pranked me by burying a fake body on our back property and had me dig it up to find valuables. Was only allowed to use a lantern for light. They stuffed old clothes with chicken bones. Sheetrock mud where the head was... Random fake jewelry as the treasures... I was like maybe 10 or 11.. I remember digging up the boot first and started gagging because it became real at that point."

Alegan239

YOU

Who Are You Reaction GIF by MOODMAN Giphy

"Woke up to find my little brother staring at me in the dark, asking, Are you really you?"

PrettyLola2004

Siblings can really be a bunch of creepers.

No one should talk to others in the dark though.

Woman stressed at work
Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

When we hear about other people's jobs, we've surely all done that thing where we make assumptions about the work they do and maybe even judge them for having such an easy or unimportant job.

But some jobs are much harder than they look.

Redditor CeleryLover4U asked:

"What's a job or profession that seems easy but is incredibly challenging?"

Customer Service

"Anything customer-facing. The public is dumb and horrendous."

- gwarrior5

"My go-to explanation is, 'Anyone can do it, but few can do it for long.'"

- Conscious_Camel4830

"The further I get in my corporate career, the less I believe I will ever again be capable of working a public-facing job. I don’t know how I did it in the past. I couldn’t handle it in the present."

"I know people are only getting worse about how they treat workers. It is disturbing, embarrassing, and draining for everyone."

- First-Combination-12

High Stakes

"A pharmacist."

"You face the public. Your mistake can literally kill someone."

- VaeSapiens

"Yes, Pharmacist. So many people think their job is essentially the same as any other kind of retail worker and they just prepare prescriptions written by a doctor without having to know anything about them."

"They are very highly trained in, well, pharmacology; and it's not uncommon for a pharmacist to notice things like potentially dangerous drug interactions that the doctor hadn't."

- Worth_University_884

Teaching Woes

"Two nuggets of wisdom from my mentor teacher when I was younger:"

"'Teaching is the easiest job to do poorly and the hardest job to do well,' and 'You get to choose two of the following three: Friends, family, or being a good teacher. You don't have enough time to do all three.'"

"We all know colleagues or remember teachers who were lazy and chose the easy route, but any teacher who is trying to be a good teacher has probably sacrificed their friends and their sleep for little pay and a stressful work environment. There's a reason something like half quit the profession within the first five years."

- bq87

Creativity Is "Easy"

"Some creative professions, such as designers, are often perceived as 'easy' due to their creative nature. However, they may face the constant need to find inspiration, deal with criticism, and meet deadlines."

- rubberduckyis

"EVERYBODY thinks they are a designer, up until the point of having to do the work. But come critique time, mysteriously, EVERYBODY IS A F**KING DESIGNER AGAIN."

"The most important skill to have as a designer is THICK SKIN."

- whitepepper

Care Fatigue Is Real

"Care work."

"I wish it could be taken for granted that no one thinks it's easy. But unfortunately, many people still see it as an unskilled job and have no idea of the many emotional complexities, or of how much empathy, all the time, is needed to form the sorts of relationships with service users that they really need."

- MangoMatiLemonMelon

Physical Labor Generally Wins

"I’m going to say most types of unskilled labor and that’s because there’s such little (visible) reward and such a huge amount of bulls**t. I’ve done customer service, barista, sales, serving, etc; and it was all much harder than my cushy desk job that actually can be considered life or death."

- anachronistika

Their Memory Banks Must Be Wild

"I don't know if I'd call it incredibly challenging, but being one of those old school taxi drivers who know the city like the back of his hand and can literally just drive wherever being told nothing but an address is pretty impressively skilled."

"Not sure if it's still like this, but British cabbies used to be legendary for this. I'm 40 and I don't think most young people appreciate how much the quality of cab service has gone down since the advent of things like Uber."

"Nowadays it's just kind of expected that a rideshare/cab driver doesn't know exactly where you're trying to get and has to rely on GPS directions that they often f up. Back when I was in college, cabbies were complete experts on their city."

"More even than knowing how to get somewhere, they could also give you advice. You could just generally describe a type of bar/club/business you're looking for, and they'll take you right to one that was spot on. Especially in really big cities like NYC."

- Yak-Mak-5000

Professional Cooking

"Being a chef."

- Canadian_bro7

"I would love to meet the person who thinks being a chef is easy! I cook my own food and it’s not only OK to eat but I make a batch of it so I have some for later. So, to make food that is above good and portion it correctly many times a day and do it consistently with minimal wastage (so they make a profit), strikes me as extremely difficult."

- ChuckDeBongo

Team Leading, Oof

"Anything that involves a lot of people skills and socializing. I thought these positions were just the bulls**t of sitting in meetings all day and not a lot of work happening but having to be the one leading those meetings and doing public speaking is taxing in a way I didn’t realize."

- Counterboudd

Not a Pet Sitter At All

"Veterinary Technician."

"Do the job of an RN, anesthesiology tech, dental hygienist, radiology tech, phlebotomist, lab tech, and CNA, but probably don’t make a living wage and have people undervalue your career because you 'play with puppies and kittens all day.'"

- forthegoddessathena

Harder Than It Looks!

"Sometimes, when my brain is fried from thinking and my ego is shot from not fixing the problem, I want to be a garbage man... not a ton of thinking, just put the trash in the truck, and a lot of them have trucks that do it for you!"

"But if the robot either doesn't work or you don't have one on your truck, it smells really bad, the pay isn't what it used to be, you might find a dead body and certainly find dead animal carcasses... and people are id**ts, overfilling their bags, just to have them fall apart before you get to the truck, not putting their trash out and then blaming you, making you come back out."

"Your body probably is sore every day, and you have to take two baths before you can kiss your wife..."

"Ehh, maybe things are not so bad where I am."

- Joebroni1414

Twiddling Thumbs and Listening

"Therapist here. I’ve always said that it’s pretty easy to be an okay therapist—as in, it’s not that hard to listen to people’s problems and say, 'Oh wow, that’s so hard, poor you.'"

"But to be a good therapist? To know when your client is getting stuck in the same patterns, or to notice what your client isn’t saying? To realize that they’re only ever saying how amazing their spouse is, and to think, 'Hmm, nobody’s marriage is perfect, something’s going on there'?"

"To be able to ask questions like, 'Hey, we’ve been talking a lot about your job, but what’s going on with your family?' And then to be able to call them on their s**t, but with kindness and empathy? Balancing that s**t is hard."

"Anybody can have empathy, but knowing when to use empathy and when and how to challenge someone is so much harder. And that’s only one dimension of what makes being a therapist challenging."

- mylovelanguageiswine

Constant Updates

​"For the most part, my job is really easy (marketing tech). But having to constantly stay on top of new platforms, new tech, updates, etc etc is exhausting and overwhelming and I really hate it."

"Also, the constant responsibility to locate and execute opportunities to optimize things and increase value for higher-ups. Nobody in corporate roles can ever just reach a point of being 'good enough.' More and better is always required."

"Just some of the big reasons I’m considering a career change."

- GlizzyMcGuire_

Performing Is Not Easy

"Performing arts and other types of art. People think it’s a cakewalk or 'not a real job,' not realizing the literal lifetime of training, rejection, and perseverance that it takes to reach a professional level and how insanely competitive those spaces are."

- ThrowRA1r3a5

All About Perception

"I suspect everything fits this. Consider that someone whose job is stacking boxes in a warehouse has to know how to lift boxes, how many can be stacked, know if certain ones must be easily accessible, know how to use any equipment that is used to move boxes around."

"Not to mention if some have hazardous or fragile materials inside, if some HAVE to be stacked on the bottom, if a mistake is made and all the boxes have to be restacked, etc."

"But everyone else is like, 'They're just stacking boxes.'"

- DrHugh

It's easy to make assumptions about someone else's work and responsibilities when we haven't lived with performing those tasks ourselves.

This gave us some things to think about, and it certainly reminded us that nothing good comes of making assumptions, especially when it minimizes someone else's experiences.

Left-handed person holding a Sharpie
Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash

Many of us who are right-handed never even think about how the world is designed to cater to us.

It probably doesn't even cross your mind that 10% of the world's population is left-handed.

Because of this, there tends to be a stigma for being left-handed since society tends to associate the left with negative things.

For example, the phrase "two left feet" applies to those who are clumsy and therefore, incapable of dancing.

Curious to hear more about the challenges facing those with the other dominant hand, Redditor johnnyportillo95 asked:

"What’s something left-handed people have to deal with that right-handed people wouldn’t even think about?"

If only manufacturers appealed to an ambidextrous world.

Furniture Obstacle

"Those desks or couch chairs that have a small desk attached. They do make left handed/sided ones but they are few and far between."

– Prussian__Princess

"And they’re only on one side of the lecture hall, and it’s never a good seat. There is ONE front row, lefty desk in the entire room and it’s in the far corner, obscured by an ancient overhead projector."

– earwighoney

Everyday Objects For Everyday People

"as a left-handed person myself, one thing we often deal with is finding left-handed tools or equipment. many everyday objects, like scissors or can openers, are designed with right-handed people in mind, which can make certain tasks a bit more challenging for us lefties. we also have to adapt to a right-handed world when it comes to writing on whiteboards or using certain computer mice."

– J0rdan_24

Dangerous Tools

"The biggest risk is power tools. I taught myself to use all power tools right handed because of risks using them left handed."

"Trivial, I love dry boards but they are super hard to write on."

– diegojones4

It's hard to play when you're born with a physical disadvantage.

Sports Disadvantage

"Allright, Sports when you are young. Every demonstration from PE teachers are right handed. You cant just copy the movements they teach you you need to flip them and your tiny brain struggoes to process it. As well, 98% of the cheap sports equipment the school uses is right handed."

– AjCheeze

No Future In Softball

"I tried to bat right handed for so long in gym class growing up because the gym teacher never asked me what my dominant side was and the thought never occurred to me as a child to mention it! Needless to say I never became a softball star."

– Leftover-Cheese

Find A Glove That Fits

"In softball and baseball we need a specific glove for our right hand that's often impossible to find unless you own one, and we have to bat on the other side of the plate."

– BowlerSea1569

"I was one of two left-handers in a 4-team Little League in the 1980s. Nobody could pitch to me. I got a lot of "hit by pitch" walks out of it."

– Jef_Wheaton

These examples are understandably annoying.

Shocking Observation

"Having right handed people make comments whenever they see us write, like we’re some kind of alien."

– UsefulIdiot85

"'Woah! You're left-handed????'"

"I find myself noticing when someone is a lefty, and sometimes I comment on it, but I try not to. I'm primarily left-handed (im a right handed wroter but do everything else left), and every single time I go to eat with my family, someone says, "Oh hey, give SilverGladiolus22 the left hand spot, they're left-handed," and inevitably someone says, 'Wait, really?' Lol."

– SilverGladiolus22

Can't Admire The Mug

"We never get to look at the cute graphics on coffee mugs while we’re drinking from them."

– vanetti

"I just realized…I always thought the graphics were made so someone else could read them while you drink. Hmmm."

– Bubbly-Anteater7345

"I'm right-handed and I often wondered why the graphics were turned towards the drinker instead of out for others to see."

– Material-Imagination

The Writing On The Wall

"Writing on whiteboards is a nightmare. I have to float my hand, which tires out my arm quickly, and I can't see what I've already written to keep the line straight."

– darkjedi39

"Also as a teacher, it means I'm standing to the left of where I'm writing, so I'm blocking everything I write. I have to frequently finish writing, then step out of the way so people can see, instead of just being able to stand on the right side the whole time."

– dancingbanana123

Immeasurable

"Rulers."

"How the f'k is no one talking about rulers? It's from 30cm to 0 cm to me, or I have to twist my arms to know the measure I want to trace over it."

– fourangers

Just Can't Win

"EVERYTHING. The world has always been based around people being right handed. As a Chef, my knife skills SUCKED until I worked with a Left Handed Chef. Then it all made sense."

"Literally, everything we do must be observed, then flipped around in our heads, then executed. This is why Lefties die sooner, on average, than Righties."

"I had to learn how to be ambidextrous, just to complete basic tasks (sports, driving a manual, using scissors, etc). I am used to it now, and do many things right handed out of necessity, as wall as parents and teachers 'forcing' it upon me."

"But, at least we are not put to death anymore, simply for using the wrong hand (look it up, it happened)."

"Ole Righty, always keeping us down."

– igenus44

The world doesn't need another demographic to feel "othered" for being different.

But if you're right-handed and tend to make assumptions about left-handed people, you may want to observe the following.

Ronald Yeo, PhD, professor of psychology at the University of Texas-Austin told CNN:

"We shouldn’t assume much about people’s personalities or health just because of the hand they write with."
"And we certainly shouldn’t worry about lefties’ chances of success: After all (as of 2015), five of our last seven U.S. presidents have been either left- or mixed-handed."

Word.

Dog lying down on a bed
Photo by Conner Baker on Unsplash

Not all pet owners have the same relationship with their pets.

While anyone who decides to become a pet owner, or pet parent as some say, love their pets equally, some never ever let them leave their side.

Taking their pet with them to work, running errands, even on vacations.

Many pet parents even allow their pets to share their bed with them when going to sleep.

For others though, this is where a line is finally drawn.

Redditor Piggythelavasurfer was curious to hear whether pet owners allowed their pets to share their bed with them, as well as the reasons why they do/don't, leading them to ask:

"Do you let your pet sleep in your bed? Why/why not?"

The Tiny Issue Of Water...

"Absolutely not."

"I have fish."- Senior-Meal3649

Everyone Gets Lonely Eventually...

"I adopted an eleven year old cat the day before Halloween."

"She has mostly lived in my closet since I got her, and she hasn’t been too interested in coming out."

"Last night, she came out of my closet and jumped up on my bed, and crawled under my covers and curled up by my feet to sleep."

"I was so happy!"- YellowBeastJeep

The Comforting Reminder That You're Not Alone...

"I recently lost my Greyhound but I used to let him sleep on my bed with me."

"The company was nice and he was no trouble to have on my bed."- HoodedMenace3

Hungry Cookie GIF by De Graafschap Dierenartsen Giphy

What Do You Mean Allow?

"I have no choice."

"She is a cat, cats do whatever they want."- Small_cat1412

"He lets me sleep in my bed."- Poorly-Drawn-Beagle

Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way

"I carry my old boy upstairs to bed every night."- worst_in_show

Hug GIF by The BarkPost Giphy

Who Needs An Alarm Clock?

"I let my two cats sleep with me."

"They're so full of love and just want cuddles all the time."

"And so do I."

"We've all developed a lil routine."

"Get to bed, oldest sleeps on my feet to keep them warm, youngest lies in my arm while I lie on my side (she the little spoon), then when I snooze my alarm for work in the morning the youngest paws at my face and meeps loudly to wake me up."- GhostofaFlea_

Whose Bed Is It Anyway?

"Yes."

"They're also kind enough to let me squeeze into whatever space they've left for me."

"Although I do get a few dirty looks off them."- Therealkaylor

"I found this tiny kitten screaming her head off under a car."

"Would not come out."

"Got some food and some water in dishes."

"I stood by the tire so she couldn't see my feet."

"She got curious about the food and water and started gobbling it down."

"I thought she would bolt when I squatted down."

"She was too busy eating."

"I grabbed her by the nape of the neck and all four legs went straight out and she tried to scratch me to death."

"I got her in the door and tossed her toward the couch."

"She ricocheted off the couch as if she was a ping pong off a table and I lost sight of her."

"I put out food and water and a sandbox and did not see that kitten for three days."

"On the third day, I came home and she was on my bed pillow."

"I thought she would bolt when I came near, but she didn't."

"I wanted to sleep so I tried to scoot her little butt off my pillow."

"She would not go."

"I put my head down to sleep and that is the way it was from then on."

"She ran the roost."- Logical_Cherry_7588

sleepy kitten GIF Giphy

Sleeping Is A Prerequisite...

"No, he's a cat and he cannot keep still during the night."

"He walks across the headboard, opens the closet doors, jumps into the windows and rustles the blinds, etc."

"If he would sleep he could stay, but alas, he's a ramblin' man."- Spong_Durnflungle

Saying No Just Isn't An Option...

"'Let'."

"Lol."

"It's a cat's world and I'm happy to be on her good side."- milaren

Felines Only!

"The cat does, the dog doesn't and the horse certainly does not either."- Xcrowzz

Angry Tom And Jerry GIF by Boomerang Official Giphy

Is That My Hair On That Pillow?

"My dog is perfect."

"She comes up, cuddles til we start to fall asleep, then gets down to sleep on her bed so she doesn't get too hot."

"Jumps back up in the early morning for wake up cuddles."

"The hair everywhere is the only downside but she is so cozy, what can you do."- HoodieWinchester

It is easy to understand how some people are able to fall asleep more easily knowing their friend and protector is there, in bed, with them.

Though we can't blame others who don't want to run the risk of being scratched or bitten in the middle of the night either...