Kids say the darndest things. They also say—and sometimes do—the creepiest things. These Redditor parents all thought they’d been blessed with a bundle of joy, but there were moments where their little angels seemed like they were channeling ghosts. Take a peek at these supernatural tales from the crib—if you dare.
1. Blue Lady’s Hands
woman with blue hair looking at her left sidePhoto by Dynamic Wang on UnsplashWhen my daughter was about three or four, she started talking about "the blue lady". My wife and I asked her who she was. Her reply creeped me the heck out. We were told: "I don't know, but she wants her hands back".
This gave us chills like you would not believe. This went on for a few weeks. The story never changed and it was always the blue lady needs her hands.
We were seconds away from getting a priest or a witch in to bless the house. One morning, I'm watching television, and there is a woman in a blue US Post Office uniform saying "thanks to this hand cream, I got my hands back!" My daughter comes running into the room screaming: "That's the blue lady! I love her!"
2. No, We Most Definitely Do Not
boy in blue dress shirt and brown pants standing on green grass field during daytimePhoto by Marina Abrosimova on UnsplashWhen I was pregnant with my second child, we did the usual hemming and hawing about when to tell my son that he was going to get a new baby brother or sister. Finally, we sat him down to give him the news, not sure about how he would react.
The little guy stopped and grabbed my stomach intently. He thought for a moment and then said “and we don’t stab the baby with knives?” Correct, child, we do not.
3. Past Life
blue and black labeled boxPhoto by Adam Mills on UnsplashWhen my nephew was about three years old, I was showing him a Sonic the Hedgehog game. He suddenly said to me: "I've played that before, with my old Grandad". This was weird for two reasons. I knew he hadn’t played the game before, and because he had no “old Grandad”.
His mom took me aside and explained that he regularly talks about his "old life", and she'd pieced this much together from him. My nephew believes that he died when he was 13 years old and that his previous family was very sad.
This family had lots of brothers and sisters, and they all lived in a flat with his old mommy and daddy who were very nice, but didn't have many teeth. He believes that he picked my brother and sister-in-law to be his new mommy and daddy.
He was very consistent and very persistent that his old mommy and daddy were good people. It was pretty weird. I’m not sure if he still talks about them now he's started school.
4. Only Near Cemeteries
grayscale photography of cemeteryPhoto by Wendy Scofield on UnsplashWhen my daughter was young, we’d be riding in the car and she’d randomly say: “My sisters are here!” Then she’d animatedly whisper to the empty seat beside her.
She was very lighthearted about the whole thing. She spoke of "Ira" and other sisters whose names she didn’t know. She was always happy to see them. Being an only child, imaginary friends weren’t a concern to me. There was something else that was more worrisome. She only mentioned them when we were near cemeteries.
It was one of those creepy things you’d try to explain away. She’d say it, and I’d look around, relieved to see no headstones in sight, only to find a small family plot buried in the brush along the roadside a few moments later.
Once it happened on vacation. She said it at the base of a hill. As we crested the hill, there was a cemetery on the other side. I have no clue why, and she never mentioned the cemeteries or ever acknowledged them.
It happened frequently, and I would just shrug it off. Eventually, when she got older, it stopped. She’s a teen now and says when she thinks of it, it’s like a dark room full of different girls with the light only shining on the girl she knew as Ira in the forefront.
I googled the girl name Ira. It means “watchful” in Hebrew.
5. Be Mine?
girl with paint of bodyPhoto by Senjuti Kundu on UnsplashWhen my daughter was around five years old, she discovered the concept of wills and inheritance. I think she probably got it from the Aristocats movie, if I recall. Anyway, after seeing the film she went through a phase of asking if various items of mine—usually sparkly stuff like jewelry—would be hers one day after I had gone. Where did she think I was going?
6. Billy Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
woman in white t-shirt holding brown bear plush toyPhoto by Sigmund on UnsplashI had a friend who lived in a very old house—I think built in the 1750s—who had an imaginary friend named Billy for a few weeks when she was little. She would play dolls and pretend in her room with him, and her parents didn’t think anything of it.
One day, they noticed she was being pretty quiet, so they went to her room and checked in on her. The sight scared them deeply. She was just sitting on the ground staring at a blank part of the wall. There were no pictures or anything to look at.
They asked her what she was doing, and she said: “playing with Billy”. Okay, yes they thought this was a bit odd, but then just decided that kids were weird, and it was probably fine. After that day, though, she never played with Billy again...
A few years later, her parents had to cut the drywall in her room for some reason. They found something very eerie. The workers found the name “Billy” scratched into the beam inside the wall.
Of course her parents were surprised and looked into it further. Apparently there was a little boy named Billy who died on the property sometime in the late 1800s. My friend has no memory of playing with Billy. Her mom told us this story when we were older.
7. Here “Him” Comes
person sitting near bonfire surrounded by treesPhoto by Jonathan Forage on UnsplashMy cousin has a thing where his eyes don't adjust in the light or dark, so he was able to see clearly in the dark when all we saw was pitch black. We're out camping as we do in the summertime and sitting around a fire.
The fire was making it worse so we couldn't see very far at all. We were basically surrounded by darkness. Out of nowhere my cousin says—in quite a creepy voice—"Here him comes".
We all started freaking out, asking who? He just kept saying "Here him comes". Out of nowhere a fox emerged from the dark and just walked up to a crowd of people and a fire. Weird thing for a fox to do.
8. Grandma Did It
girl covering her face with both handsPhoto by Caleb Woods on UnsplashWhen my daughter was learning her ABCs, one morning at breakfast she sang all the way through for the first time. We congratulated her and asked if she'd been practicing at day care.
She told us no, but that “mommy's mommy taught me when I was in bed". Mommy's mommy would be her grandmother...who we’d buried three years earlier.
9. He Understood Perfectly
boy swims in body of waterPhoto by Jyotirmoy Gupta on UnsplashI grew up in a very large family, and once all my siblings and I went to a park that had a little pond the kids could swim in. I was sitting on the shore with some of my siblings, and we all noticed that our youngest brother was flailing around with his head under the water.
The oldest of us was just standing there pointing and laughing at him. We all, of course, jumped up and grabbed the struggling kid up. He coughed up a bit of water and was shaken up but was otherwise fine.
We asked the oldest if he understood what could have happened to his sibling if he stayed underwater too long. His response still sends chills up my spine. “Yeah, he would have drowned”. None of us knew how to respond to that.
10. I Saw You In The Window
window curtain open widePhoto by Rob Wingate on UnsplashMy daughter, who was four at the time, was playing in the backyard one day and I quickly went inside to do something in the kitchen on our first floor. I did not go upstairs to the bedrooms at all.
After a minute or so I came back out. She said "mommy why were you in my room? I saw you look out the window at me!" This freaked me out considerably because we were definitely the only people home at the time.
I told her that I didn't go upstairs. She got upset and insisted she saw me look out her window from the upper floor. With great hesitation, I went upstairs to look around. I was beyond scared, but nobody was in my house—ghost or otherwise.
11. Let It Go
person wearing skeleton costumePhoto by 🇸🇮 Janko Ferlič on UnsplashWhen my kid was about three years old, he woke me up in the middle of the night. My son was standing in the dark with a black blanket draped over his head looking a little like a tiny Sith Lord. To make matters worse, he was whispering the words to the song from Frozen.
“Let it go” he whispered, “let it go". I can't tell you how creepy that was and how long it took me to fall back asleep.
12. She Feeds Them Brains
person hugging treePhoto by Simon Wijers on UnsplashMy youngest daughter was about four, and we were sitting on the couch watching PBSkids. She reached over and paused the TV. Then she looked at me and affectionately said, "Mommy, when you turn into a zombie, I will have to lock you in a room and keep you there. I promise to feed you brains every day but you can't have my brains".
I was shocked but also curious. I asked her how she plans to get brains to feed zombie mommy and she says, "Well, I will have to kill a lot of people, but I'm sure I will get used to it". There was much conversation after that.
What stayed with me was that it was not “if” I became a zombie but “when”. She was very sure I would. When I asked about where her dad and sister would be, she said they would be gone: likely the first people she fed to me. But I wouldn't know it, because all I cared about were brains.
I wondered for a long while how my four-year-old landed on thoughts of zombies. My oldest finally filled me in on how it had likely happened. The last time my dad had babysat, he got tired and fell asleep on them. Apparently, my youngest started scrolling through channels until she found some zombie movie. Come on, Dad!
13. We Gave Him Goosebumps
red text paintPhoto by Olu Famule on UnsplashMy son went through a phase when he was about six years old where he would write, “Help me! Let me out!” on everything. It was on all his drawings, and he’d write it outside on the side of the house for the neighbors to see.
Then he started writing “Help me!” backwards, like some redrum thing like in the movie The Shining. It turns out he was really into that horror series Goosebumps, which was a series of books and TV shows for children.
In one of the episodes, there was a girl who was trapped in a mirror writing: “help me”. To the people looking into the mirror “help me” was backwards. So, this mystery was solved. My kid is just a bit theatrical.
14. His Name Was Cody
brown and black wolf in close up photographyPhoto by Chris Ensminger on UnsplashMy nephew kept taking food from his house and said he was bringing it to a friend named Cody. We all thought Cody was a kid from school, because he had a classmate named Cody that he would go hang out with. Nope, it was much worse. I followed him to Cody’s house, which ended up being a cave just out of town.
And Cody was no friend, he was a wolf. Lucky for us—but not for the poor animal—Cody was deceased. The body lay there surrounded by all sorts of wrappers from snacks. My nephew told me it was sleeping.
I don’t actually know if he thought it was alive or not to be honest. He didn’t talk to me for a few weeks because I told his mother. He claims he doesn’t remember it if I ask him about it now. This was like seven or eight years ago.
15. From Up There
shallow focus photo of toddler walking near riverPhoto by Daiga Ellaby on UnsplashI was pregnant, expecting my second child and my first-born was then only about two years old. She had some speech delays and, because of this, her sentences usually only contained a maximum of about two or three words.
Anyhow, one day I was making dinner and my daughter was in the kitchen with me. It was a pretty typical day. Then my daughter suddenly looks at me, points up with her finger, and states calmly and matter of factly and in a perfect sentence: "I used to watch you from up there".
I had no words for her, I simply turned around and stared at her. She smiled and ran off to play. Now I wish I would've asked her more about what she meant by that.
16. I’m Right Where I’m Supposed To Be
woman holding spirit of adoption blocksPhoto by Annika Marek-Barta on UnsplashI knew this lady who had lost a child shortly after childbirth. A few years later, she decided to adopt a baby from a young teen mother. One day, her adopted daughter looked at her very seriously and said that she was always supposed to be her mother, and that she tried to come to her once before but now she’s back with her where she was supposed to be.
The girl was about five when she said this and had no idea about the baby her adoptive mother had lost.
17. Angry, Red Eyes
red and black LED lightPhoto by Dasha Yukhymyuk on UnsplashMy son was almost three years old when he called me to his room about five minutes after he was put to bed. I asked him what's wrong, and he replied: "I'm scared". So, I asked him what he was afraid of. Oh my God, his reply.
He said: "I'm scared of the old lady with the angry, red eyes!" It kind of scared me but I figured he’d seen something on TV or his iPad. I wanted to comfort him, so I bent over his baby bed in the corner and asked him where he'd seen this old lady with the angry, red eyes.
He said: "She's standing right behind you”. I froze and turned about slowly. Luckily there was nothing or nobody there. I kissed him goodnight and left him, but left the door halfway open.
18. I Got Picked Up
person behind fog glassPhoto by Stefano Pollio on UnsplashWhen my kid was around two, she told me one morning: "Mommy, the ghost picked me up last night". I was like, “What?” I was surprised because I'd never talked to her about ghosts or used the word ghost or anything along those lines.
I figured it was something she could've easily picked up at daycare or from a kids show or something. A few years later, when she was around five I guess, she was like: "Mommy, do you remember how I used to cry at night?"
It was true, she had been a terrible sleeper and would wake up over four times a night and cry until we came to get her. She said "It's because the ghost used to come into my room and pick me up at night".
For her to remember that years later made me think there was some truth to what she said.
19. His Name Was Joshua
girl leaning on floral wallPhoto by Jeremy McKnight on UnsplashOne day when I was shopping with my family, my little sister said that her imaginary friend told her that a burglar was in our house. We all laughed and humored her. We got home and started unloading the trunk. Then the nightmare began. To our shock and horror, a man ran out the back door of the house.
When we got over the surprise, my mom asked my sister when her imaginary friend had told her. My sister said that he'd come all the way to the grocery store and told her. She also said that the peanut brittle she got was for him.
My sister didn't eat peanut brittle before or since. She also said that her imaginary friend’s name was Joshua. This is not the only thing Joshua told my sister. We didn’t encourage her belief in Joshua, but we also didn't argue with her.
We had a dog that, incidentally, my sister hated. One day the dog broke out of a window and ran off. My sister woke up the next morning and told us she knew exactly where the dog was.
She got into the car with my dad and told him where to drive. Sure enough they found the dog lying in the street. It had been hit by a car. My sister said that Joshua had told her where the dog was and that his eye was hurt.
When they found it, the poor dog was stunned and had a broken paw. The impact had also hurt is eye. Because of my sister and Joshua, the dog lived another five years. Once in a while my sister will still speak about Joshua as if he was a person we all knew from our childhood.
20. Out There In The Dark
rectangular 6-pane window on brown wooden wall at nighttimePhoto by Edward Polo on UnsplashMy two-year-old is sitting down at the table for dinner. It's dark outside. He looks outside and says "What is that?" He doesn't know how to say "who" yet. When meeting new people he says "What is that?"
My wife and I look outside and don't see anything. It's dark. We look back at him. He's staring into the darkness. We figure, he's a kid, his eyes are new, maybe he sees better than us. We freak out. Is there someone outside in a dark outfit and we can't make it out, and he can?
I grab a flashlight and go outside, looking for the trespasser. There is nothing. I come back in, he makes the same comment. I sit next to him and look in the direction he is. Like over 200 feet away, on another house, there is a small LED American flag that is turned on. It's barely a foot wide.
I ask him if what he's looking at red and blue?" He says it is. "That's a flag, buddy".
21. It’s On Your Side
woman in white top wearing eyeglassesPhoto by RepentAnd SeekChristJesus on UnsplashOne night, my partner’s grandmother was babysitting her four-year-old grandson. After she had put the kid to bed, she fell asleep on the couch in the living room.
Now, this was one of those wrap-around couches with a high back, so someone who is the height of a four-year-old can’t really be seen coming down the hallway by someone laying on the couch.
Well, around one in the morning, grandma was woken up by a small child’s voice slowly singing “Nationwide is on your side, Nationwide is on your side” from somewhere in the dark behind her. Well it was the little kid.
As it turned out, the kid was really into commercial jingles. This scared grandmother silly. Thanks, Brad Paisley!
22. They Were Safer At McDonald’s
File:McDonald's PlayPlace Bloomfield CT (14454762068).jpg ...commons.wikimedia.org
When I was about seven months pregnant with my third kid, my husband and I put our two kids in the van—along with everything we could fit—and drove from the East Coast to the West Coast to start a new job.
The kids were one and three years old. During the trip, we stopped fairly often for pee breaks for me and to let the kids run around. On the third day, they were especially worked up, so we stopped at a park somewhere in New Mexico or Arizona or that area.
We sat down and let them play on the playground, as we had a little picnic. The three-year-old was having a blast, but something was wrong. I noticed he kept talking to himself, laughing at his own jokes and being generally weird.
When he came over to eat, I asked him what was up, and he said he was playing with Tony. Of course, I asked who Tony was, and he said it was his new friend. Then he started laughing because Tony was next to him telling him something silly.
It wasn't the first imaginary friend he had had, but for some reason this one was creeping me out. Even though I was a little nervous, I just told him to eat up, and he could play a bit more before we left.
When it was time to go, he was more upset than usual, telling me that Tony didn't want him to go. Tony wanted him to stay with him. It gets weirder. Tony said he could stay forever. I was, honest to God, just shivering at this point because I was dealing with pregnancy hormones and for whatever reason this was just freaking me out.
So, I picked my son up, and carried him screaming to the car. My husband had taken our 18-month-old, and we got them both in their seats. I realized I had left my purse behind, so I went to get it. Hand on my heart the next part is true, though I understand if you think I am lying or exaggerating.
As I turned around to head back to the car, I saw a plaque next to the entrance to the park, right under the sign. I had this sudden and weird feeling I should read this plaque. It turned out to be a memorial dedication to a seven-year-old boy who had been hit by a car while biking home from the park in the 1980s.
The child didn’t survive the crash, and his name was Anthony. We got in the car and left as fast as possible. After that, we only stopped at McDonald's play places for the rest of our trip.
23. The Gentlemen Are Coming
greyscale photography of skeletonPhoto by Mathew Schwartz on UnsplashWhen my cousin was a kid, every Halloween he would freak out in the same way. He’d randomly scream out: “Gentlemen are coming to get me”. “The gentlemen are scary!!!” “They’re all bones!!! They don’t have skin!” This went on for about three years, every Halloween.
My aunt and uncle rightfully were confused and freaked out. Then, one day they’re in a store and my cousin starts screaming about the gentlemen. It all became clear. It turns out, he was afraid of skeleton decorations.
For some reason, he thought the skeletons were called gentlemen. Apparently, at some point in his life, he’d seen one of the old black and white cartoons of dancing skeletons with top hats.
24. It’s Watching You
right human handPhoto by Cherry Laithang on UnsplashMy son was around four years old and I was driving him to daycare. I remember he was uncharacteristically grouchy. He said he didn’t want to go—which was very weird. After around the third time, I explained that mommy had to go to work, he got really quiet.
Then, his tiny voice piped up from the backseat: “The darkness is watching you. In the night they’ll come for you”. He never explained it. I slept with the hallway light on for weeks after that.
25. He Took A Trip
medication pillsPhoto by Hal Gatewood on UnsplashMy teenage son barged into my room at three am yelling at the dogs and saying they puked all over his mom’s office. Half awake I shot out of bed and rushed in...to find everything as it should be.
I thought maybe he had a bad dream and was in a half awake state too. He then started ranting about how they must have eaten it and cleaned it up. By this time I was wide awake but not clear on what was going on.
Then the weird stuff kicked into high gear. He started whispering and telling me to be quiet because his cousin was hiding in his closet listening to our conversation. I was freaking out thinking my son had lost his mind and had a serious mental breakdown and separation from reality
It turned out the guy had intentionally taken 10 Dramamine. Why did he do it? Because he read online that they will make you hallucinate. Well, I guess he was right, but it wasn’t happy dancing forest elves. It was angry dogs and nosy laundry monster cousins hiding in your closet at three am hallucinations.
26. From Another World
Mars on a black backgroundPhoto by NASA on UnsplashWhen my daughter was around seven or eight, she used to always insist that she had lived on Mars. This was, apparently, before she was brought to earth to be born. She's 12 now and still brings it up occasionally.
It's funny because she's so casual about it when she mentions it. To this day, I can't tell if she has a really good imagination or if she really believes it.
27. She Read Me
round wooden cafeteria tables and chairs inside roomPhoto by Nikola Jovanovic on UnsplashWhen my daughter was three, we’d gone for a meal at a really old pub-style restaurant. She wanted the toilet, so I took her. The pub had the kind of washroom where it’s a little room on its own.
Now, she was in that phase where they are basically horrible and if you do or say the wrong thing, well…there will be the most almighty tantrum. At that time, her big thing was: no talking while she was on the toilet.
I know, three year olds are so weird. So, I’m standing there silently looking out of this really tiny barred window, while she does her business. It’s a tiny Tudor window, and the first thought that popped into my head was that it would be impossible to get out of if the place was on fire.
Don’t ask why, but that’s just my brain. She shocked me next. Suddenly, I hear her little voice say quietly: “It’s okay Mummy, there won’t be a fire”. Now I know for a fact that I didn’t say anything out loud, she had me that well trained not to speak while she was on the toilet.
Somehow she heard my thoughts. She did it again a couple of times in the next few months, and then has never done it again. It was so bloody weird.
28. He’d Checked Out
boy leaning on black wallPhoto by Luke Pennystan on UnsplashWhen my son was six or seven, he would sleepwalk. This was no biggie. I’d just lead him back to his room and get him comfy in bed. Except one time something strange happened. I led him back to bed, got him all covered up, and said “goodnight Connor”.
He immediately sat straight up like the Exorcist, looked at me all wide eyed—but somehow also blank—and said in a voice straight from the devil: “Connor’s not here right now”.
I never woke him up while he was sleepwalking, but I did that night. He had freaked me right out. It kind of freaks me out a bit still when I think about it. He’s 22 now.
29. It’s My Ball
high angle photo of assorted-color plastic ballsPhoto by Greyson Joralemon on UnsplashWhen one of my daughters was about 18 months old, her cousin—who was not as physically capable as her yet, but the same age—took a ball from her. He was crawling on the floor playing with it, and she came up to him, grabbed him by the front of the neck of his shirt with both of her little hands, lifted him up off the floor, and started screaming at him.
It was the most unsettling thing I've ever seen a toddler do. It cracks me up now, but it was intense to witness in the moment.
30. He Just Faded Away
white textile with red stainPhoto by Crina Parasca on UnsplashSo, my son was probably about four or five years old. I used to wake him up every morning. I go in one morning and he is already awake in bed. His eyes were wide open and the blanket pulled up to his chin. He is completely still and just staring at the corner of his room.
I looked at him, looked at the corner, waited a couple of seconds, and asked him what was wrong. Still looking at the corner, he says, "Somebody crawled on the floor, and up the wall, and looked around. When he looked at me his head did this".
Then he pointed his finger in the air, and just started spinning it in a circle very fast. I put my hand on his back and said, "Let's go get breakfast and watch some cartoons". He looked very freaked out, and I wanted to get his mind off of it.
As he is walking down the hall in front of me, he sort of half whispers out loud: "He just faded away". I didn't let him know it, but I was freaking out inside. He is eight years old now, and I asked him if he remembers it.
He said he does, and that's not all. He said that he saw it another time backward crawling on his ceiling before just fading away again. Freaky.
31. It’s Just Blood
blonde-haitred Barbie doll photoPhoto by Sandra Gabriel on UnsplashWhen I was a kid, my parents had left me to play with Barbies unsupervised for a moment. When they came back, I had drawn all over the dolls with a red marker. It was absolutely everywhere.
Then I calmly turned around and proceeded to explain that: ”it’s just blood”, and that ”an accident happened”.
Now I have absolutely no clue where I picked that up from, but my parents love to remind me of it even almost 30 years after. They were apparently quite creeped out by it.
32. Let Him Sleep
rocking chair on attic near windowPhoto by Dan V on UnsplashMy grandmother and grandfather raised me. To me, they were my parents. My grandmother passed in 2015 and my grandfather passed when my son was five months old. My son was born in 2020. When my son was younger than two, he would stare into the air and giggle, his eyes following something.
I’m talking intense giggling and a real belly laugh. The giggling would keep him up at night when he was trying to go to sleep. Eventually, I just assumed it was my grandparents playing with him, and that he could see them.
My husband was adamantly against this, as he doesn’t believe in ghosts. But to me, the next event proved him wrong. One night when I was alone, I was rocking my son, and he was laughing and looking to the same area of the ceiling. He was following something.
Right out loud, I said: “Let him sleep, Nanny, you can play together tomorrow when he wakes up". Immediately, he stopped laughing, closed his eyes, and fell asleep. I told my husband and he thought I was nuts.
He believed it happened but was convinced it was a coincidence. But the next night my husband and I were playing with my son before bed and my husband offered to rock him to sleep. The same thing was happening, so I quietly walked in and sat beside the rocking chair and watched my son in glee, smiling ear to ear and staring at the ceiling, following something.
I rubbed his head and whispered: “Okay Nanny, let’s let him sleep for the night, he’s had a big day". Again, he immediately closed his eyes and fell asleep. My husband was completely freaked out.
Since then, whenever he did this, we politely asked my grandmother to let him sleep so they could play together in the morning. I’m telling you, it worked every time we asked. If it didn’t work when I asked for my grandma to stop, I told my Papa to let the boy sleep and it would work.
I barely believed in ghosts or spirits or anything before, but I do now. My husband does too.
33. She Misses Her Star
white mountain under starry nightPhoto by Chantal & Ole on UnsplashMy three-year-old daughter came up to me as I was sitting on the couch, reading. She leaned against my knee and heaved a big sigh...sort of an existential despair type sigh. I asked her what the matter was.
Her face was turned into my leg, so I looked down at her curly head. She turned her head up and said, “I'm tired of this planet. I want to go back to the star where I came from".
I picked her up, hugged her close, and said something like, “I know, sweetie...I know”. I never asked her about it again. Several times I sort of alluded to something that would give her an opening, if she wished to talk about it, but she never brought it up again.
34. Over-The-Top Empathy
a baby being examined by a doctor and nursePhoto by CDC on UnsplashChildren getting their injections is always awful. Well, imagine when you have twins. My mother had volunteered to help me out with the task, and off we went to the doctor. We decided that I would hold the one getting the shot, and my mother would hold the other one. Then it happened.
When the doctor jabbed the one in my arms, to our surprise, it was the other one that screamed in pain. The looks between me, mom and the health visitor were incredible.
35. The Omen Was An Omen
The Omen on Vimeovimeo.comOne of my sons, when he was about one, used to carry around our DVDs of both the 1976 and the 2006 movie The Omen. So we went to great pains and hid them apart from each other.
Sure enough, he would search quietly all over the house until he found them. Both of them. And then he’d carry them around again. When we took them away, he cried and threw a fit. It was so creepy.
36. As Easy As C B A
brown wooden blocks with numbersPhoto by Sven Brandsma on UnsplashWhen my son was three years old, he was learning the alphabet pretty quickly. One morning he woke up and flawlessly started saying the alphabet backwards.
I was half asleep and thought, “Wow, that's cool”. Later, after having coffee and waking up a bit, I realized he was never taught to say it backwards. I was in a state of shock thinking how was it possible for a three year old to suddenly think: "let me try it backwards".
37. Just Say No
turned on study lamp beside bedPhoto by Jp Valery on UnsplashI’m not a parent, but I babysit my sister’s daughters regularly. They are 10 months and two years old. The older sister laid down for her nap today, like usual, and was in her room for about 20 minutes.
I was down the hallway in the living room with the little one. I started to hear big sister talking, and she sounded scared. She was crying and sniffling a bit, but not loudly. I walked down the hall and peeked in the door and she was standing in her crib staring across the room, talking quietly.
I opened the door and she started crying loudly and saying, “No! Don’t do that!” While pointing across the room. While comforting her for the next 15 minutes, she would randomly look in other spots of the room, point, and cry.
Finally I said, “Do you want me to tell them no?” And she said yes. So I pointed around random spots in her room and said “No! No! No!” She was able to lay down and go back to sleep after that. I am worried that I have beef with the ghosts in my sister's house now.
38. Planetary Return
a close up of a saturn planet with a black backgroundPhoto by Planet Volumes on UnsplashI was staying over at my sister’s house, and my nine-year-old daughter and I were sharing a room. My daughter was already deeply asleep on the bed and I was laying beside her getting ready to go to bed myself.
I was in that moment where you’re transitioning into sleep, but still awake. Suddenly, I heard her say in a very clear and articulate voice like she was 100% awake: “It is the return of Saturn”.
My eyes shot open, and I turned around and looked at her. She was still soundly asleep, as was everyone else in the house. I’m assuming it was some sort of auditory hallucination or the transition into a dream, but it sure creeped me out.
39. Second Coming Of Second Cousin
girl in white and teal sleeveless dress standing on green grass field during daytimePhoto by Peyman Farmani on UnsplashMy daughter was about two and a half at the time. She’d been saying, “Hi John!” in her room even though there was nobody there. I said, kind of amused, "John who, honey?" She replied: "John G Hanson!" This sent me into shock. This was a cousin of mine, who had taken his own life across the country six years earlier.
This was a second cousin, and he didn’t have a last name she would have known. I asked her where John G Hanson was. She trotted out into the hallway and pointed to the stairs.
Not down the stairs, but straight ahead, if that makes sense. We waved “Hi” to John, and then I swiftly changed the subject.
40. Come See The Lady
woman holding behind curtainPhoto by Steinar Engeland on UnsplashThis was almost 20 years ago. My youngest son was about three I think. I was up late on a Friday or Saturday night watching television while the kids were sleeping. My son came out of his room and said, "Dad, come see the lady in my room".
I was a little freaked out, so I went with him. We got to his room and no one was there. He just says: "She's gone now". I asked where she was or something like that, and he said: "She comes out of the wall".
41. She Hung Out With Her Dolls
brown haired dollPhoto by Michal GADEK on UnsplashWhen my daughter was four or five years old, she used to tie up her doll and hang it from the top bunk bed. You would walk into her room and there it would be—tied up with shoelaces, robe ties or what have you—hanging helplessly.
My wife and I would talk to her and express that it wasn't okay. She would say she understood, but three days go by and that doll is hanging again.
42. A Treasure Trove
Mass Effect 3 - The Citadel | Joshua Livingston | Flickrwww.flickr.com
At about 18 months, my son discovered that if he pressed the buttons on the boxes sitting under the TV all sorts of cool things would happen. Things like lights turning on and trays coming out of them and whirring sounds.
One day I wanted to play Mass Effect 3 and couldn't find the game disc for the life of me, despite knowing I left it in the Xbox. Since I'm not a really organized gamer, I looked in every game box and then looked in several DVD boxes.
No luck. It had vanished. About a month later I was cleaning up my son's toys and realized he had a bunch of stuff under the seat of this little wooden European car we bought him that he rode all around the apartment on.
Inside the compartment was my Mass Effect 3 disc along with all sorts of stuff my wife and I had been looking for for weeks and months. Apparently, he pressed the eject button on the Xbox, saw the disc, realized he could pick it up, did so and then put it with the rest of his "treasure".
43. He Greets The Darkness
boy playing chevrolet camaro toy on floorPhoto by Segun Osunyomi on UnsplashWhile I'm a parent, the creepiest thing I've experienced was while at work at a child care center. I work with infants and we have a sleep room, which is sort of separated from the play area.
The sleep room was dark since we had set it up for nap time while the children ate their lunch. On this day in particular, one of the boys looked into the darkness, smiled, waved and said "hi!".
I looked over to the room and there was definitely nothing there. He was pretty friendly though and would usually smile, wave and say "hi!" to people as they walked past the room.
I asked my co-worker if she would mind putting the kids to sleep that day as she hadn't heard him say this. Yes, I sacrificed my co-worker to the ghost along with the children. They had a good run.
44. A Sixth Sense
grayscale photograph of Jesus Christ statuePhoto by Arturo Rey on UnsplashWhen I was little, I apparently saw people who were deceased all the time. I had come close to dying myself a couple times from food allergies. I had to be resuscitated.
My mom told me she walked me into the hospital one day completely limp, turning blue around the mouth, and screamed "my baby is dying" but the doctors revived me. So, needless to say, the fact that I told her I saw ghosts scared her.
It got freakier when my nephew was stillborn. I wasn't there for the birth, but I apparently told her about how I had played with him in the sky, and that we would leap from mountaintop to mountaintop and other weird things.
I also apparently described him perfectly. Amount of hair, color of hair, and other features. By now my mom was really freaking out. Then, when I was about four years old, I apparently woke up one morning and told my mom how Jesus came to see me the night before.
How we were in a large white room, surrounded by what she believed to be—based on my description—angels. I told her that Jesus came up to me, lifted me onto his lap, and I played with his beard and "dress" while he smiled, laughed and played with me. Then he kissed me on the cheek and told me he loved me.
Yeah, she nearly had a breakdown because she thought he was letting her know he was about to take me. These stories are all backed up by my siblings too. I apparently scared them multiple times with this stuff.
45. From Under The Bed
black and white bed linenPhoto by Zane Lee on UnsplashI have a bedroom that is really dark during the night. As in, I can't see the hand in front of my face. One night I woke up to my daughter right in front of my face whispering: "mommy, mommy". All I could see was just a big shadow when I woke up.
It scared the living daylights out of me. This is something that my sons have done too. But not that close to my face. She also snuck into our room in the middle of the night and grabbed my foot to wake me up.
My childhood fear was realized except it was my own little monster instead of one that lives under the bed.
46. Don’t Go Up The Stairs
a close up of a doll with red hairPhoto by Jonathan Cooper on UnsplashWe were at my best friend’s mom's house last week on Mother's Day. They just bought the house so we were dropping by to give a housewarming gift. My three-year-old daughter was with us, and she looked at a staircase that was gated off going upstairs.
For some reason she asked where it went. My friend's mom said it was the attic. My daughter looked at it for a while longer and walked away. When we were driving home, my daughter said, verbatim: "Mommy, the doll in the attic has monsters in it".
I was confused and asked her to elaborate. She said, "Auntie Mary's doll has lots of monsters in it. It lives in the attic". She wasn't scared or anything, just very matter of fact. Alrighty then. I guess we're not going to visit her ever again.
47. Imagined Trauma
boy in pool smiling during daytimePhoto by Drew Gilliam on UnsplashI went to pick up my son at daycare and the support staff seemed to be very concerned about something. They hemmed and hawed a little, then told me they went swimming that day.
They said they hoped it wasn't distressing for my five-year-old son, but they thought I should know they went swimming. I was confused. I asked them to explain themselves.
They said that when they were telling the kids about pool safety, he volunteered that his little sister had drowned in a pool because somebody jumped in without looking. He was apparently quite convincing.
I had to explain to them that he's never had a sister or any sibling at all. They were flabbergasted. When I asked him why he told this story, he just shrugged. There was no real reason.
I think he was maybe trying to lend more importance to the topic of pool safety with his story. Sometimes you never learn why your kid does something.
48. Meet The Parents
woman in brown dress standing on flower field during daytimePhoto by Mateusz Raczynski on UnsplashFor a few weeks, my daughter started panicking at bed time about the "parents" that would visit her during the night. It escalated to some serious nightmares and terrors, and was also very creepy.
We asked her a lot of questions like: “Are the parents us?" and “Are they your friend's parents?” You never know if shady stuff is going on there. Her answer to these questions, however, was always no. It was just "the parents".
A few weeks later my wife is driving down the road with our daughter, and she freaks out: “Mom, look, it's the parents! That's when we finally figured it out. My wife follows my daughter’s eyes and sees a bunch of scarecrows.
Somehow she thought scarecrows were called "parents" and of course scarecrows are creepy. It was also Halloween so yeah, she was terrified of them.
49. Where’s My Sister?
woman in gray sweater carrying girl in blue denim jacketPhoto by Gabe Pierce on UnsplashOne day when my son was about three, he started asking all kinds of interesting questions about his younger sister. He was then providing details about the way she dresses and her personality.
I kept trying to ask if he meant his cousins or a friend from school, or maybe a character on his favorite TV show, but this only made him more upset. By the time my wife came into the room, he was nearly stamping his feet asking these questions I couldn't answer.
After my wife tried to calm him down and assure him that there was no little sister, he got even more upset and screamed, "Then why does she look just like you?" This caused my wife to run out of the room crying and slam the door to the bedroom behind her. Because there was something he could never know.
Just over a year earlier, my wife had a miscarriage at about nine weeks in. It was an emotional event she still hasn't completely recovered from to this day. I still have no idea to whom my son was referring.
The good news is that this sort of talk ended that day and was never spoken of again. He now has a real little sister. It was a spine-tinglingly creepy conversation I'll never forget.
50. He Just Growled
a church with a pew and flowers on itPhoto by The Good Funeral Guide on UnsplashMy partner and my son both used to drive me to work every day. On the way there, there was a funeral home. Pretty much right away, my son started growling whenever we passed it. He’d just stare at the window and growl like a dog.
He never growled at anything else, so we asked him why he was growling. He just said “You have to growl back at the growlers”.
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.
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.