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Urban Explorers Share Their Creepiest 'We Are NOT Alone' Experiences

Teenagers living in small towns without a ton to do all share one distinct quality: they love abandoned buildings.

16-year-old punks also carry another key trait. They are bold as hell. Combine those two and scary things will come their way.


Now, those same teenagers have become slightly more fearful adults, and can look back on those experiences from behind the comfort of their computer, understanding how dumb and risky they were.

But the adolescent feeling of assumed invincibility sure makes for some good stories.

u/Halyndon asked, "Urban Explorers: What is the creepiest 'We're not alone' experience(s) you've had?"

Thanks for Cleaning the Place Up

So there's a moderately well-known abandoned mental hospital close to my town, a few months back a few friends and I went to explore a bit.

We found this setup of a few folding chairs and a couple of old mattresses with blankets and whatever else you'd imagine on them. We chilled there for about 10 minutes and then went on with our adventure upwards.

When we were coming back down we passed through the room and all the chairs were folded up and neatly stacked against the wall and the beds were made.

u/SouthNCE

Those Eyes

The area I'm currently in is a touristy beach place so being winter it's completely devoid of life, there's a lot of apartments/hotels around that are just shells, no windows or doors.

I was walking past one such building when I felt like I was being watched, I looked up and around but I couldn't hear or see anything.

Suddenly every single dog around just went crazy barking, like dead silence to deafening barking in a second. Made me jump 10ft, looked up and on the 3rd floor of a apartment that got no windows or doors put in yet is a single dog just staring at me.

u/Almighty-Twuntwaffle

Doesn't Have to be Supernatural 

So I take a lot of time lapses of nature and stuff. I found a lake that seemed like a cool spot to shoot and set up.

About 20 minutes in I hear a noise and sure enough a drone is right above me just hovering. It freaked me out so I booked it out of there.

u/KrakenWarg

A Whole Grain Nightmare

There's an old flour mill on Harbor Island, in Seattle. It's been abandoned and locked up for awhile.

Inside this flour mill we're working our through some of the regular block areas, and our buddy swears he heard something. We all stop dead in our tracks, lights pointed down, just listening.

Then I start to hear it, it was shuffling, with the sound of somebody dragging something across concrete.

One of my other friends, looking back down the factory area we came through gets startled and yells "F*CK" at the sound of stepping on a water bottle. We immediately heard the most chilling, deep, scream.

u/Thatsaclevername

Hell of a Way to Teach a Lesson

My house has a double door / split door, so the top can open independently of the bottom. I often leave the top open when the weather's nice.

It's nighttime, I'm reading, and the door's more or less directly in front of me.

Then my eyes or brain recognizes it: the outline of a hoodie, drawstrings, hood up. In that instant I am frozen and my heart is pounding--someone is literally standing right there, hood up, holding my door open.

I can't see his face, but he sees me noticing because he says, "You should keep your doors locked." MOTHERFU**ING WHAT?

u/omi_palone

In Their Sights

I explored part of an old Nike or Atlas missile site one night with a few friends. As we were leaving, someone started shining a laser pointer at us from the woods.

I still wonder if it was just a laser pointer and not a laser sight instead.

u/EpicMeatSpin

Only Minutes Ago

There was a decommissioned Naval Base in the town I grew up in. We used to sneak into the old barracks and one time i turned the corner into the hallway and found a lit cigarette on the ground.

There was nobody around from what I could see or hear. We noped the f*ck out pretty shortly after that.

u/drbdrbdr

Maybe Time to Cut Your Losses

My friends and I explored an abandoned psych hospital in Suffolk County, Long Island. After checking out the building with the cafeteria and bowling alley, we decided to leave by exiting through the patient room window that we entered in.

I realized I had left my flashlight back in an adjacent patient room.

When I went to the other patient room to retrieve it, I noticed that the door was closed and a light flicker was occurring on the other side of it.

u/nidenikolev

"Guys I'm No Detective But We Are Screwed"

I was exploring an abandoned rehab near my house with two of my friends and it had just freshly snowed, literally while we were exploring.

I was approaching one building there when I looked down and saw a very large set of obviously men's footprints in the snow, heading into the building.

We never saw anyone but I haven't been back since, it creeped me out far too much.

u/drunkdino973

Bad Time for Cults

When I was in high school, my girlfriend live in Topanga Canyon. One night I was leaving her house and I had to walk down the "road" to get to my car.

I get to my car and get in, it's pitch black. I sit there for a moment and before I turn my car on, I hear a noise. I switch on my headlights and drive the rest of the way down the hill.

That's when I saw them. As I turned onto a wider road, I see two people with black cloths draped over their entire bodies, no shoes, walking slowly down the road in the direction I'm driving. The cloths must have been velvet or similar, because they were pitch black even as my headlights passed across.

u/Arconyx

Just a Couple Nerds With Their Wires

I was on the other end of this.

There was an abandoned nunnery on the coast behind a suburban development, a very creepy but beautiful place. It had an entirely stone chapel, and any sound you made inside had true reverb- an echo a second long almost.

I brought a friend in to make some recordings in the dead of night, as we're leaving a group of laughing neighborhood kids came in on us crouched in the dark over a bunch of electronics. They ran faster than I've seen anyone run before.

horribleflesheater

At Least He Grooms

My friends and I were exploring an abandoned restaurant in this beach town one winter night.

We wander into this room off one of the hallways, and shine our flashlight in the corner, and we see an unmade bed / cot, with all of the trappings of someone currently living there (a safety razor next to the mirror, random other belongings).

eye_booger

It's Always a Cat

I was at an abandoned medical school in a pretty bad city with my friend.

We were then in this room and heard a louder noise and look over to see a cat just chillin'. We assumed it was a stray and wanted to get it help, so we agreed that if it followed us out we'll take it somewhere or to someone who will care for it. ‬

Then this like 6ft+ dude walked out and yelled at me "Yall f*ckin wit my cat?"

ihavetwoarms

Gotta Occupy Yourself SOMEHOW When You're Alone in 40 Acres

There's this building in my city that has been abandoned for over a decade. The building itself covers over 40 acres so it's pretty well know by explorers.

We come across this section of the building that was a large outdoor amphitheater. We walked down to the center and went up to the boarded up windows, and ever so faintly on the other side of the wood you could hear someone talking.. to themselves...

suh_dewd

Guy Was Just Tryin' to Sleep

I spent 2004-2009 living in a dilapidated warehouse that had a space over it converted into an apartment.

A buddy of mine and I were discussing how the place smelled and was haunted when something shattered on the wall near us.

We were seriously startled and contemplating what it could have been when when someone shouts "Shut the f*ck up!" and there's a homeless man throwing what I assume is a second bottle at us from across the space.

official_fox_news

Not That Creepy, But Certainly Illegal

I decided to climb a tree with a friend in the middle of a large college campus at 2am. Then a car pulled up and parked nearly right below us.

One guy gets out. Driver stays put with the engine running. 5 minutes pass.

A whistle comes from behind a nearby building. And one is returned from the guy below us.

A few minutes later someone walks up. There's a short exchange, we can hear and see everything. The guy walks away and the car leaves.

Technically those guys should have felt "not alone", but instead we did for weeks.

SonofBenson

A Friendly Ghost

Definitely not urban, and more sweet than scary. I was once camping in the desert, at least 30 miles in every direction from any human settlements.

When I woke up, there was a full, cold, 5-gallon jug of water outside my tent.

LowCalPal

People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.