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People Describe The Creepiest Thing They've Ever Experienced That They Can't Explain

Some things just cannot be explained. Some things aren't meant to be believed. And a lot of these things can be creepy as f*ck. Here are some of the creepiest stories about the inexplicable, sure to get under your skin.

u/AestheticKing asked: What's the creepiest thing you've experienced that is completely true but you can't rationally explain?



Someone's looking out for you.

One night in my apartment I was dead asleep (probably in the middle of a REM cycle) when all of a sudden I woke up. It almost felt like something woke me up. Immediately I felt this insane urge to get out of bed. Like in my head I just thought "I need to get out of bed right now".

I followed this strange thought and nearly three seconds later a huge centipede fell from my ceiling onto my pillow, exactly where my face would have been if I hadn't moved.

Dawny-Devito

2:56

Giphy

I posted this once a while ago but here's my story:

Years ago when I was a teenager, I sat up at 2:56 AM (by the bedside clock), still fast asleep, and screamed at the top of my lungs. This was not normal behavior for me, so everyone in the house at the time came running to see was wrong. They had to physically shake me to wake me up. When I was finally conscious, I had no recollection of screaming or why I did so. After a bit of fuss everyone went back to bed.

The next morning, my best friend who lived up the street, walked over as she usually did, to ride to school with us in the morning. Sitting at the table, she yawned and said she was tired because she'd had a nightmare the night before. In her dream she, my sister and I were sitting in a car downtown when shots rang out and a man covered in blood ran out in the street. She woke up at 2:56 AM (by her bedside clock) when, in her dream, I screamed.

I freaked out because of what happened the night before, but it gets weirder.

Later that day, my older sister (the third person in the car in my friend's dream, who knew nothing about the screaming incident or the dream) was downtown outside of the courthouse building where she worked. Shots rang out and a man with a gun ran into the street. He was a jealous ex, who had gone into the hair salon where his former girlfriend and her current boyfriend worked, killed her, and critically wounded the new boyfriend.

As he ran into the street at 2:56 PM (by the courthouse clock) he pulled out a knife and stabbed himself in the throat, covering himself in blood and killing himself, directly in front of my sister.

...and my sister screamed.

anoem

Stalker.

On my morning commute to university, I noticed the same car behind me every day for about a week. I tried to brush it off but paranoia began to set in. I would abruptly change lanes, take a different route to school, or drive slow enough for traffic to go around me... still the sedan was in my rear view mirror.

The following morning, I simply pulled into a Walmart parking lot and sat in my car for 20 minutes. The vehicle following me did the same. Then I slowly drove my car towards the parked sedan to get a look at the driver or license plate. The car peeled out and drove off. I never saw it again.

I tried to tell the story to friends/family but it definitely makes me sound crazy. It's been several years since and I still have no idea what they would've been after.

Ideal-cactus8

Chris and Ben.

I was super young when this happened so the details for me are fuzzy but I've heard this several times from my mom and my grandmother.

When I was little (around 4-5) we were living in my grandparents house. Now weird things have always happened in that house dating all the way back to when my mom was a child so this was just another thing in a looooong history of strange occurrences.

When we lived there I had two imaginary friends named Chris and Ben. I only have vague memories of Chris because he was very mean to me. The way my mom tells it I would clear paths for them, leave space for them at the dinner table, and generally only interact with them. This started to worry my grandparents because they are VERY religious and demons are a thing I guess. My mom started to worry when one day I started screaming telling her that Chris was attacking me while trying to hit at my back.

My mom and grandparents decided they needed to clean out the house because they were convinced something evil was in the house but they didn't tell me they were going to do it. After they cleaned the house out I approached my mom and asked her why Chris and Ben were sitting next to the dumpster.

Anyway, that's how my family became convinced that evil spirits latched onto me as a child.

Confused-Gay-Ghost

That's spooky.

Giphy

I had driven to university with one of two sets of car keys for my car. After a long day of classes, I returned to my vehicle to find my keys were no longer in my pocket. I went back and searched all the classrooms I'd been in that day to no avail, and had no luck with the lost and found.

I bit the bullet and called my parents. They drove over with my spare key, and I hopped in and drove home. When I walked into my bedroom, there they were. My origins set of keys, sitting squarely in the middle of the floor.

No idea how that could have happened.

IWasEatingThoseBeans

Creep magnet.

I am a magnet for weird things but the absolute creepiest was when I was home alone at maybe 17 or 18 I heard a baby crying in the garage/storage room. It was unmistakably a baby. My neighbors didn't have a baby, there was nothing in the house that could have accidentally gone off to make that noise. I got up to check what it was and got this absolute bone chilling fear and noped straight out of my house for a good 3 hours until I knew someone else would be home. That room always gave me the creeps growing up.

This and the time my friends and I all had the same nightmare after seeing something supernatural on Highway 1 but I already posted about that.

00dlez0fN00dlez

Poor kitty.

I moved home for about a year when I took a new job. I was convinced my dad's house was either haunted, or someone was living in the attic and/or basement.

I would hear this almost howling noise. Like a cat that was afraid, but wanted to be found. One day it was really loud, and it was multiple howls, and I was paralyzed with fear. The vent in my room connected to the one directly below me in the basement. I called my dad and could barely talk and said there was an "animal or something" in the basement. He immediately came home (he was just a few blocks away).

I heard him go into his room (presumably to grab a gun) and then went and looked around in the rooms downstairs. Never found anything. But there was something there. I swear that noise was coming through the vents. The vent was inches from my bed, and that seemed to be the source of the noise.

Above my room was the attic. I would occasionally hear what sounded like footsteps running across the attic. It sounded like a small animal, or multiple small animals. But sometimes there were other odd noises from the attic. It was too loud to be from the roof. It was right above my head.

My dad frequently left the door to the garage unlocked (but the door to get in the house from the garage was always locked). But he left a ladder in the garage going up to the attic...

Anyway I was really paranoid during the year I lived there. Maybe these things have rational explanations, but no explanation helped me sleep better at night.

LegendaryDeathclaw12

Angry room.

Giphy

Several years ago, we lived in a rental house that had a sketchy ass history. We lived there about 4 years, and I never encountered anything weird until probably the last year or so that we lived there.

I had just gotten off work and was headed by the house to grab my bookbag for a class I had that night. My then husband had not gotten home from work yet, so no one had been in the house since we all left that morning.

Our front door opened into the living room, and my bedroom door was immediately to the right. We had a computer desk in the far left corner of the room.

Immediately upon entering, I smelled the most awful stench of rotten eggs and simultaneously noticed that the computer chair was turned towards the front door. The computer screen was lit up instead of in sleep mode like it should have been as if someone had been at the computer using it and turned around to face me when I came in.

The entire room just felt so...angry. There is really no way to describe it. I yanked my bookbag off my bedroom doorknob and hauled ass out of there. I knew my husband would be arriving in a bit, so I waited a few minutes and called him while I was driving to school. He said he didn't smell anything in the house and no clue what I was talking about.

There were some other minor creepy things that happened in that house but that moment scared me the most. We stayed there about 6 more months until the house burnt down while I was at work.

vodkamakesmepuke

Footsteps.

Idk if this is worth to share, but here it is..

Back when I was young like 7 or 8, I'm sleeping beside my mom on a mattress on the floor in the living room because we don't have a place to sleep on at my grandma's house.

I once woke up maybe at 2 or 3AM, I heard someone playing with the spoon and forks in the kitchen, just imagine the noise it makes. I am awake but I didn't tried to open my eyes because I was scared. I tried waking up my mom, shaking her, obviously I never tried to open my eyes lol. But she still doesn't wake up. I lost hope so I began to go back to sleep and think of it that it's somehow a rat got stuck in the utensils lol.


I waited till the noise disappear. After a few seconds it disappeared, I thought I can now sleep comfortably. But then, I heard foot steps walking barefoot on the tiles back and forth.

I made myself brave, and open my eyes. I got shocked on what I saw, there's no one there. But the foot steps never disappeared. I kept waking up my mom, and shake her to wake up, and she suddenly woke up that easy, unlike the first time. All of the noise suddenly disappeared. And I look like a crazy person. As of now, nobody still believed me on what I experienced.

People kept telling me why I didn't wake up anyone in the house, but my mom didn't even feel me waking her up.

JoshVs191

Seems like The Twilight Zone.

Some friends and I decided to go on a hike. After 45 minutes, we'd seen some interesting things. An info sign about a cool local plant, a section where the path was she straight you should see the horizon flanked by trees, a little bench overlooking a lake...

But at the end of the 45 minutes, it started to rain, and we decided to head back earlier than planned. The walk back to the car took 15 minutes, our friend was timing it the entire way. The path had no branches, and yet we didn't pass the bench or the lake at all on the way back.

We all felt really weird about that.

IWasEatingThoseBeans

People Break Down How They Realized Their True Sexual Orientation

Reddit user TheGreek1 asked: 'What made you realize your true sexual orientation?'

Group hug with people holding rainbow flags
Janosch Lino/Unsplash

Everyone has a different journey on their road to self-discovery.

Especially when it comes to their sexual identity, many young adults struggle with not fitting in and wondering where they belong in social situations.

It's common for many of these individuals to be ashamed and suppress their identity for fear of being judged or ridiculed, while others have a support system at home or among close friends.

Curious to hear how people arrived at their moments of self-discovery, Redditor TheGreek1asked:

"What made you realize your true sexual orientation?"

Exposure to media helped these Redditors with their epiphany.

The Guy On TV

"So one day I saw a tv show, and there was a gay guy in some part of it, so I thought to myself, am I gay? And I came to the conclusion that I am in fact, straight."

– ShapeShiftingBruh

"Same! Or you may see a good looking guy but it doesn’t feel the same way as seeing a good looking woman. I hope that makes sense."

– gomeazy

Erotic Magazine

"I stumbled upon a stack of old playboys when I was 7 actually. I was very very intrigued. Before that I thought boys and girls both had penises lmaoo."

– 335i_lyfe

'Cuz Ya Gotta Have Faith

"I’m dating myself here but George Michael’s video for 'Faith.' At the beginning there is a hot girl in high heels leaning against a jukebox on one side and he’s on the other side. My eyes went to him. I thought, maybe I just want some jeans like that. Naw. I wanted what was IN the jeans."

– shakycam3

Some experimented to determine their sexuality.

Trying Oral

"Honestly? I had some doubts at first. So I let a guy go down on me during a 3some with his girlfriend. He was a freshman psychology student and had just learned about Kinsey and was making a big long speech about how sexuality is a spectrum, and nobody is truly 100% straight, and you know what? It was kind of compelling. So there I am, getting what was probably the third blowjob of my life, and I just can't stay hard. This dude was motivated, and no matter what he did... I think I was every bit as surprised as he was."

– porn0please

Best Buddy Hook-Up

"Same here. I thought, 'let’s try men, see how it goes!' Found myself hooking up with a close male friend who is, by all means, a f'kin smoke show."

"It was a safe space. I felt comfortable. And I learned - at most I’m a Kinsey 1 maybe. Maybe a Kinsey 0.5."

"If I die without ever being with another man, all good."

– astoneworthskipping

Those who were acquainted with or related to these Redditors tried to convince them of their sexuality.

Recognizing Beauty, Not Acting On It

"My sister in law was trying to convince me I was 'bisexual with a preference for men.' She wouldn’t let it go, all because I can appreciate when a woman is beautiful. I told her that I can see when a woman is beautiful, but it doesn’t mean I’m attracted to them."

Saint_Galahad

Little Closeted

"My best friend in high school was a lesbian, and was always trying to convince me that I was bi. I was like, 'lol no, I'm straight af.' Well, one night with my guy of many years, we were opening up about our kinks and- I don't know, I guess I just finally felt safe enough- but I realized I'd always kept a door closed inside of me where I knew I was also attracted to women."

"I've had way too many bad experiences in the past with female friends (who I think were actually crushes) to actually ever think about dating a woman, but I'm definitely also sexually attracted to them."

– Dizzy_Duck5436

Impressions made from a certain age can't be forgotten.

Kindergarten Crush

"When I went to kindergarten round-up when i was 5, I remember seeing two very pretty girls and thinking I would like to kiss them. To be honest, 35 years later those two women are still very pretty and I would still like very much like to kiss them."

– 2aboveaverage

The Handsy Child

"I remember falling in love with my first grade teacher. Ms. Florence. It has always been ladies for me. I read these modern discussions where people are debating sexuality, and it just doesn’t compute. My Grandpa told stories about me putting my hands down women’s shirts at age two/three."

– momentum_1999

My elementary teacher's assistant was a high school student named Randy.

He was the first guy I couldn't take my eyes off of.

He was a redhead, had freckles, and stunning green eyes that looked deep back into mine whenever I pretended I had a question for him but fumbled with my attempt at small talk.

I recognized him as a beautiful man but I didn't understand why I gravitated toward him as I was years from having any kind of sexual comprehension or awakening as a ten-year-old.

But I know for certain that was when I realized I was "different" when I pined for him and wanted to be near him every time I went to school.

I wonder what Randy is up to now?

Do you sometimes think about the people from your past you've had crushes on?

CW: Death and miscarriages.

It's always sad when a couple doesn't make it all the way.

Especially when a promise was made.

Isn't that what an engagement is?

A very expensive promise.

Diamonds ain't cheap.

Redditor mimi_nivi wanted to hear about the reasons why finally getting to "I DO" was impossible, so they asked:

"People who were engaged at one point but never got married, what happened?"

I've never been engaged.

And I thank God everyday.

My laundry list of exes is full of stains.

Not in Bed?

Season 5 What GIF by The OfficeGiphy

"Came home for lunch one day to surprise her. Surprise was on me as she was in the middle of doing her co-worker on my couch. I loved that couch."

Siguldg

3 Months Before

"He wasn't participating in the wedding planning at all and I realized he didn't actually want to get married. There was a lot of pressure from his family and admittedly, me as well. I just wanted a family and to be married and hadn't really paid attention to his reluctance up until that point."

"It was 3 months before the wedding and I sat down and reviewed our relationship. We were incompatible at several crucial points, even though we loved each other a lot. So I called off the wedding and ended it and while we were both sad, we were also relieved."

"This was more than a decade ago and whenever we run into each other we catch up and there are no hard feelings at all. He's married and a father now and I couldn't be happier for him."

Midnight_Muse

Back in 2012

"She died due to seizures. 3 am: she was home alone. She woke up and had a seizure and unfortunately hit her head against a wall… 7 am: she was supposed to show up at her parent's house to drop off the dog before work. She didn’t. 9 a.m.: her parents went to check on her, the dog was fine, but she was unresponsive. 9:30 am she was declared deceased at the scene. 10 am: I was at work and I got a call from her father… I lost it right there. It was back in 2012 but still, I’m not over it yet."

Fragrant-Snake

Cruel

"We had like 6 miscarriages."

"At the end of the relationship, he said something to me like 'It’s just so hard… I look at your face and I feel like I SEE nothing but 6 dead babies.'"

"Can’t really come back from that one. I mean some people can. We couldn’t."

"It’s crazy in hindsight but everything just kind of worked out. I have two beautiful daughters and a stepdaughter I love and a great life!"

relentpersist

Whoops

"Turns out she liked vagina as much as I did."

wayneo88

Sometimes too many of the same interests are NOT a good thing.

Lesson learned.

Thank You

Preach Amy Poehler GIF by SistersGiphy

"He cheated before we got married and I found out. I thank the stars every f**king day I didn’t marry him."

fatfemmebish

Old Friends

"She started hanging out with an old group of high school friends and just changed. She became extremely nasty over wedding plans, telling me we had to have the exact same number of guests on both sides. If I had one more guest than she did, she made me remove someone from my side. I knew if I moved forward it would have ended in divorce, so I just ended it before it got to that."

Wastoponcene

True Colors

"The longer we lived together leading up to the wedding, the more he showed his true colors. One day while I was cooking dinner for us he started screaming at me, like an inch from my face, and called me a (see you next Tuesday.) Something about it snapped some sense into me. I walked out and never went back."

gamergirl007

Technicalities

"We’re still technically engaged, but we never wanted a wedding. We met way late in life (I’m 50, she’s in her mid-40s), no kids, and if we get legally married the gov’t f**ks with her disability assistance so she is my spouse, my partner, and my soul mate. But we don’t feel the need to get married. But I do have a living will just in case. We will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary early next year."

lovedontfalter

Holy Mary

like a virgin madonna GIFGiphy

"The Holy Spirit came to him in a dream and told him that he couldn’t marry me because I wasn’t a virgin."

hitlersd**k69420

Well, sometimes it's just not meant to work out.

And that sounds like a blessing.

woman taking photo of high-rise building

Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash

As a child, my family traveled extensively throughout the United States. Both of my parents loved to travel.

I went to 48 of 50 states—just Alaska and Hawaii left—as well as parts of Mexico and Canada with my parents. As an adult, a job I had for 13 years required travel, sometimes for a month or more.

Through that job I made it to Germany and Japan.

Needless to say I've seen my share of tourist attractions and tourist traps. But I'm a sucker for kitsch.

So while I love going to Wall Drug every time I'm headed west on Interstate 90 in South Dakota, others might say to skip it.

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Man thinking hard
Photo by jose aljovin on Unsplash

We've all heard our fair share of conspiracy theories, and whether or not we truly believe them, we can agree that they're fun to think about.

But there are some that are more sinister than others, and some that are far too applicable to simply ignore.

Redditor Specific_Shop_3975 asked:

"What's a conspiracy with the most evidence to back it up?"

The Sinking of RMS Lusitania

"The British government deliberately put the RMS Lusitania in harm's way to get her sunk to bring the USA into WW1. The fact the records have been resealed for another 100 years adds credence to this conspiracy."

- Blackmore_Vale

"Dude, it's not even a conspiracy theory. The German consulate took out a two-page ad in the New York Times telling people to not board because they were going to sink it."

"Also at the time Britain didn't have an option but to sell the ship because it was carrying so many munitions that they desperately needed. This isn't a conspiracy theory; it's just plain fact."

"Both governments knew the risks and they needed it to galvanize support."

- hagantic42

Not So Sweet Candy Stores

"In the UK, there was a recent boom in American sweet shops that sold grossly overpriced import candy. They were suddenly everywhere after the pandemic, they didn’t sell much, but they were everywhere."

"Someone on TikTok theorized that they were all money laundering fronts, so people started filming in the shops laughing at the prices, and staff always seemed to get really angry about it."

"Then it was announced last year that there was an HMRC (UK’s tax wing of government) investigation started because the theory held water, and suddenly they all shut down."

"The one in Leeds Centre near Trinity currently has a notice of abandonment in the window and you can see the shelves are still stocked: the owners just ran off and left it."

"Sounds like another successful case for the TikTok detectives."

- fearthe0cean

What's Behind the Price of a Piece of Art

"Modern art is just money laundering."

"Nobody pays 2.2 million for a blank canvas."

- Poultry_Master123

"The brilliance of modern art money laundering can't be understated."

"Alfred wants to pay Brad $100k for a bribe."

"Brad wants this money to be 'clean' to avoid authorities looking into him."

"Brad 'sells' a worthless modern art piece for $100k."

"Alfred has now successfully transferred the bribe to Alfred. However, Brad is now in possession of a painting that the 'market' says is worth $100k. Down the line, Alfred might be able to sell this now 'valuable' piece of art to a third party for $50k, $100k, or potentially at a profit!"

"It can get even more complex when the artist is basically a part of the money laundering ring. This makes it so that Brad can fictionally increase the cost of buying the art from the artist in the first place in order to make the money laundering less obvious."

- Zigxy

Why So Many Options?

"There is something fishy going on at Mattress Firm. How can they stay in business with a store in practically every plaza when the average person buys a new mattress every decade or so?"

- PWcrash

Quite the Distraction

"Might not be a 'conspiracy theory' per se. But I believe that the government works hard to cover up their own incompetence."

"Part of that is manufacturing insane conspiracy theories as a way to make anyone who asks questions look crazy. Or at least to serve as a distraction."

- ButtFarquad66

A Conspiracy Is a Conspiracy

"The meta-conspiracy to convince dumb people that the word 'conspiracy' means 'a crazy person’s imagination.'"

"Conspiracies happen every day. There’s a global conspiracy of adults to convince kids Santa is real. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s a conspiracy."

"Somewhere along the line, the word got hijacked and it immediately discredits whoever says it. It’s practically a trap to use the word, so you have to dance around it if you want to describe people planning things in secret."

- Bob_the_peasant

Widely Discredited

"The government deliberately leaked false information to UFO investigators to discredit them because they were getting too close to the truth."

"(The truth being that Area 51 was a testing grounds for spy planes and stealth aircraft and was attracting too much attention for a secret weapons facility.)"

- 4thofeleven

"I think the government does this with conspiracy theories across the board. Promoting outlandish tinfoil hat-type theories helps discredit the ones that are actually real."

- QUINNFLORE

Another Money Laundering Front

"Benetton is a front for Italian mob money laundering."

"Probably wasn't at first back in the 80s but now... decent-sized stores in expensive real estate all over Europe, never anyone in the stores, never seen anyone wearing the clothes, don't know anyone that's bought anything from them, ever, and neither do those people."

- Bannedin_3_2_1

"I shop there all the time, in both Italy and Switzerland. It’s the highest quality for the most reasonable price that I can regularly find in Europe. I’m never the only one in there or checking out, either."

- AdultDisneyWoman

"Sounds like something a money launderer would say."

- kjm16216

Residential Monopoly

"Blackrock and Vanguard are buying up all the residential property they can in order to get the majority of Americans renting from them. Estimates say by 2030 they will own 60% of residential property."

- smartsapants

"I so wish we could all stop fighting about dumb sh*t for just a few weeks so both sides of the country could pass a law that bans any corporation or non-US citizen from owning residential property(with some provisions to account for things like bank loans obviously)."

"This would have such a massive effect on quality of life going into the future. Of course, it won’t happen."

- ternic69

People of Influence Parties

"The Bilderberg group. Every year in summer, they meet, and people keep track of who is there. Guest lists every year. Top politicians, royalty, corporate owners. Extreme security. No protocols."

"There is confirmation from a variety of these people that they were there."

"So, what do they talk about? Are they coordinated somehow after each meeting? How much influence do they have?"

"Well, given the extreme security, it's difficult to say. I am sure it's nothing, though. Why would those groups of people want to influence the world to suit their agendas, right?"

"Also note, anyone discussing this gets called a tin foil hat, or paranoid, or a conspiracy theorist who probably also believes in antivaxx reptilian....."

- Common-Wish-2227

Secret Climate Change

"The petroleum companies knew burning fossil fuels would lead to global climate change but hid the evidence of their own funded studies and did nothing to curb consumption, instead funded groups opposed to renewable, non-greenhouse gas generating energy to maximize shareholder value."

- 85_Draken

The Travels of Elvis Presley

"Elvis didn’t die in 1977. He was working with the government (DEA OR CIA? I can’t remember?). When he was compromised they had to fake his death."

"He actually moved to Argentina and lived the rest of his life down there."

"There were a lot of sightings. My favorite is when one of his house workers reported someone that looked just like him lying out by the pool at his own house the day after he died."

"It’s a fun theory that is pretty convincing the more you look into it."

- Affectionate-Win-788

Conspiracies All the Way Down

"People believe all the governments in the world have collaborated on keeping the shape of the Earth and our inability to visit the Moon a secret..."

- draculamilktoast

"But what about the turtle we are sitting on?"

- KAG25

"More importantly, what about the turtle THAT turtle is sitting on?"

- Hym3n

Intentionally Divisive

"That our governments are turning us all against each other to distract us from the blatant wealth manipulation, corrupt practices, nepotism, cronyism, among hundreds of other big issue things. Their plans working a treat and the people as a whole can't see what's happening and start working together against it."

"We are losing our privacy, our rights, and our sense of connection with one another. We drift away while they get more and more powerful. People hand away their rights like they're going to get them back and never question it when it's not."

"Our planet had to deal with another of the world power's attempts at control and that's the pandemic or should I say the reaction to it. I was always a believer it happened naturally but as time goes on it becomes more apparent it wasn't."

"We are bodies hanging from the roof being bled dry slowly but if this keeps up we aren't just f**ked like a world war or nuclear war, if we don't do anything we will lose whatever control we have and we will never get it back."

- Magic_Kushroom

From interesting and wowing to deeply troubling, there's truly no shortage of conspiracies and conspiracy theories out there for people to puzzle over and research.

The most troubling thing about them, honestly, has to be the stigma surrounding a person's interest in them. As soon as someone expresses interest in one of these theories, others are quick to discredit them.