Freaked People Share The Most Horrific Things They've Woken Up To
[rebelmouse-image 18349880 is_animated_gif=Waking up is a struggle. Being forced into a new day from a restless Nirvana can be daunting enough let alone waking up from a restless slumber or a horrifying nightmare to some sort of living torture. Imagine that lawnmower, construction or a one night stand who's name you can't recall.
Redditor _dibella55 asked strangers to divulge... _what is the most horrific thing you ever woke up to?
SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE SENORA!
I was a little kid and had a dream that I was in an earth quake. When I woke up, my room was shaking. Like bed moving across the floor shaking. I ran into my parents' room and woke my mom up. She told me it was just a dream and to go back to bed. I was scared to go back to my room bc if they hadn't felt it, why was my bed bumping across my bedroom floor? It wasn't against the wall when I went back in where it should've been. It was maybe 9" away. I thought I was going insane or there were ghosts. I barely slept.
Next morning Mom apologized bc there had been an earthquake.
NO METH FOR ME!
[rebelmouse-image 18349881 is_animated_gif=My roommate was selling meth, without my knowledge. I woke up to screams of "POLICE SEARCH WARRANT." They threw me off my bed, and then ripped my room apart, but found nothing, because I didn't have anything.
MEOW AWAY...
[rebelmouse-image 18349882 is_animated_gif=A kitten gnawing at my nipple trying to get milk out, while staying at my girlfriend's parents.
Clearly hadn't been away from its mother long enough.
LIFE CAN SUCK...
[rebelmouse-image 18346863 is_animated_gif=Woke up to my family panicking because my dad didn't come home from work the night before. About an hour later a cop came to the door and told us he had died in a car accident. My dad sometimes went out after work with his friends and came home late, so we didn't think anything him being late.
SEE NO EVIL...
[rebelmouse-image 18349883 is_animated_gif=~8 years old: Not being able to open my eyes. Had an infection or something and a bunch of gunk glued my eyelashes together. I thought I was blind.
19 years old: An empty apartment I'd never been to before. Got super drunk for NYE and got a ride to a different party with people I'd met that night. Woke up while they were out eating and remembered nothing. Looked at the pictures hanging around and recognized nobody in them.
HAPPY NEW YEAR...
[rebelmouse-image 18978136 is_animated_gif=The sound of EMS/firefighters running down the hall to rescusitate my stepdad.
I was having a sleepover with two friends, when one of them tapped me awake. I sat up to see down the hall several firefighters. My two friends and I were huddled on my bed, wondering what was going on (we were 13) and they came down with a stretcher with my stepdad on it. My mom was dressed in her rather revealing nightie and no bathrobe. She was so stressed and frightened that she didn't even realize this.
My friends were totally freaked out. Until that moment they did not realize my stepdad was dying of a terminal illness because we didn't talk about it outside the family. Two weeks later, my mom and stepdad were killed in a car accident, day after Xmas.
Sad times, man, sad times.
DON'T HIT!
[rebelmouse-image 18360757 is_animated_gif=I slept wrong on my arm and my hand went to sleep. My t-shirt had scrunched up exposing a lot of skin. I rolled over and a mysterious hand slapped my bare belly. I may have screamed.
IS THIS REAL?
[rebelmouse-image 18978137 is_animated_gif=The stupid emergency alert sound on the radio.
TAKE COVER!!
[rebelmouse-image 18977258 is_animated_gif=Two things: 1. Ambulance lights outside of our house in the middle of the night & my mom waking me up saying, "Hey, we're leaving to the hospital. Your father had a heart attack."
- During a particular hurricane a while back, I was asleep (must've been 3am or so) when my phone's emergency weather alert (super loud) went off with large text saying "Warning! Tornado sighting in your area. Take cover now!"
BE IN THE MOMENT...
[rebelmouse-image 18978138 is_animated_gif=My husband busted through the bedroom door screaming hysterically that his mom was killed at work. I was thoroughly confused and then went into a kind of shock. Drove 80mph half asleep to the site where she was killed and she was STILL THERE. we didn't know. The coroner was just putting her in their vehicle.
We get around the side of the truck to get her things out and I see this HUGE puddle of blood on the ground. I don't think I've ever been so heartbroken. Worst way to wake up by far
She worked at a paving company and one of the things she had to do was dump the trucks at a dump site. The truck she was driving is not a dump truck but similar. The back lifts up and the door swings open and rocks and such fall out. Well, her truck was broken. The latch didn't work correctly and her boss and coworkers knew. She said she didn't want to use the truck and her boss said she had to. Earlier in the day they had to use another piece of equipment to close the door on her truck.
So now to the accident part. She dumps her rocks and gets out of the truck to make sure she's empty and such. Walked around the truck and peaked inside right when the door latch broke. The door latch breaking cause the door to slam down and smash her head between the door and truck. She was killed instantly.
Without going into much more detail, OSHA was involved, the company paid for her entire funeral and burial plot, and now we're suing them.
KEEP RUNNING....
[rebelmouse-image 18346254 is_animated_gif=I was 17 or 18? It was 2am my mom came in my room and turned the light on. I had no idea what was going on. She said to pack a few things we're leaving. I was really confused so I asked her what's going on? Before she could say anything I heard the front door slam upstairs. I heard very heavy footsteps and a very loud crashing sound and then i heard my step dad yell my moms name in the loudest shreik of anger. I looked ar my mom and saw the fear and honestly I felt the same thing. I was frozen and my mom stepped just outside my door. I heard booming footsteps reach the bottom of the stairs. My mom sounded scared and like she was crying and he was saying some awful things I cant remember anymore. I was scared. I just got my school bag and filled it with clothes and left the school stuff. (I was planning on going to school the next day.) The yelling got crazy and i got my stuff. They argued upstairs and i got with my brother who was also scared. My step dad yelled he's driving away and me and mom begged him not to drive (he was drunk af.) He left and i asked where we going? He came back and lashed out that we let him drive drunk. Me and my brother stayed in my room scared. Then mom came said go to bed and it was quiet after that. I got on the net talked with friends and sobbed. Ive never been so scared before that.
COUNT TO 10... OOOPS.. CAN'T!
[rebelmouse-image 18347764 is_animated_gif=One time my mom woke me up to tell me that she was going to the hospital because she cut her finger off. (Lawnmower accident)
Thanks for the reminder!
LIFE LESSONS...
[rebelmouse-image 18346341 is_animated_gif=Waking up in a pool of period blood.I was 8 and I thought I was dying.
YOU GOT ME IN STITCHES...
[rebelmouse-image 18978139 is_animated_gif=Dog bleeding all over the bed. She pulled her outer and inner stiches the day after being fixed.
After emergency surgery, new stitches, Staples, and the cone of shame, she ended up doing great.
BE WOKE!! LITERALLY!!
[rebelmouse-image 18978140 is_animated_gif=Back when I was in college I had a habit of sleeping odd hours because of the weird times I would do my homework in. I would go in around 7 in the morning and then come back around 1/3/5 and promptly pass out on the couch/my bed to take a nap. I got a lot of grief from my mother from napping too much (and I still don't car, so there's that).
At the time of the story I had been feeling under the weather since I went to class, so the nap was well-deserved. I opened the window a crack for fresh air and tucked myself in; my head where I usually put my feet right next to the window, what I did when I was sick.
I remember being in the depths of sleep when there came a tickling at my lips. Unconsciously, I rubbed at it with the back of my hand. Looking back that was easily the WORST mistake I've ever made.
In seconds my mouth was FILLED with the most INHUMANELY NOXIOUS TASTE imaginable. I spit, and GAGGED, jerking out of my blankets and wiping my face off. In the throes of my blind panic I see a tiny shape in the corner of my vision crawling along my blanket. My stomach dropped with horror and recognition. A CHINESE STINKBUG had made its way into my room via my window, and had sprayed INTO MY MOUTH when I touched it as it inched along my lips.
I CONSUMED mouthwash that day like I was a sorority girl doing Spring Break shots in Miami Beach. I scrubbed my teeth and tongue with my toothbrush so hard you would've thought I was trying to clean up a bloody crime scene. The aftertaste lasted for hours and my tongue was practically numb.
To this day I have a hard time blocking out the memory of the taste whenever I see one. People complain about the shitty smell, but the taste is something to be feared...
KILL THE THING!!
[rebelmouse-image 18978141 is_animated_gif=A cockroach on my hand. i almost died of a heart attack that morning.
SOMETIMES IT WORKS OUT...
[rebelmouse-image 18978142 is_animated_gif=My mom waking me up at 3 AM when I was 10 and saying "dad got in a car crash."
My heart sunk.
Luckily he was ok. He was driving home at 1AM when a most likely drunk driver hit him at 90MPH and drove him off the road.
MEOW? OH NO!
[rebelmouse-image 18978143 is_animated_gif=The retching sound of a cat puking near me will always haunt my dreams.
JURASSIC SHADOWS...
[rebelmouse-image 18978144 is_animated_gif=When I was a kid I woke up to the trees and sunrise aligning perfectly to make a perfect shadow of a T Rex on my wall. I don't think I could ever be so scared ever again.
HOLD ON TIGHT DOROTHY!!
[rebelmouse-image 18978145 is_animated_gif=A feeling of a cool draft and my room being unusually cold. I woke up and began thinking why is the house so cold. I screamed in shock as I found the front door to the house blown wide open due to wind from a really bad t-storm that was happening outside. I ran across the cold and wet floor to close it while frantically trying to keep my breaths under control.
It turns out the mechanism that keeps my front door secure was loose due to being improperly screwed and prone to not keeping the door locked when my mom and I thought the opposite.
Everyone has their travel bucket list.
The list of places they absolutely must visit before they die.
There are those, however, who also have a rather different list of destinations.
The places that have no intention to visit.
Be it for safety concerns, language barriers, or simply that there's nothing at these places that calls to them, there are places some wouldn’t dream of spending the time and money to visit.
Redditor TrooperJohn was curious to hear which places were at the very bottom of the list of travel destinations for his fellow Redditors, leading them to ask:
"What is a popular tourist destination you have no interest in visiting?"
Oasis in the desert? No thank you.
"Dubai."
"Why and whats special about it?"
"Its a modern city in a desert."- Maximum_Calendar_791.
"Dubai."
"A fake city with fake people, no human rights, where the world's tallest buildings hide corruption and slavery in their shadows."
"It's like someone decided to take every problem of mankind and concentrate it in one spot."- PayNoNoticeOfMe.
"Dubai one i think it is ugly two I would die in two minutes of me being there I can't stand anything above 40 c°."- BookWormPerson.
One of the seven wonders is one too many for me.
"The pyramids. "
"Too many horror stories of Egypt."- Aemiom.
Landlocked.
"Not really a destination, but taking a cruise."- Shortbus_Playboy.
Mountains aren't really my thing.
"Everest."
"Just why."
"You use a bunch of money to get in there them come down."
"And trash your whole way there. It's literally a corner in the Earth insufferable for humans and we still made a way to go there to trash it."- ACLullaby.
It's in my own backyard... but still not interested.
"I have lived about 15km away from the Burj Khalifa ever since it was made."
"I could not care any less besides the occasional pointing out the 'shiny tall building' to my nieces.- legolosss.
The pictures are enough for me.
"Mount Rushmore."
"Friends who've made the journey to Mount Rushmore mostly say it was no big deal and not worth the effort or expense to travel there."- Back2Bach.
Hustle and Bustle? No thanks.
"Anything busy.'
"Whether it's cities, structures, I don't care."
"I'd rather go to a boring empty quiet place than a place full of people."- TheSmeep.
They're watching us.
"That creepy a** place in Japan with all the realistic dolls."
"No thank you."
Some dream of paying a visit to these places.
Others hope they never have to set foot there, and will choose to leave it to the other millions of tourists.
To each, their own.
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When it comes to electing a leader, the choice is an easy one if a potential candidate shares the same values as yours.
And while a candidate is fit to lead remains to be seen, we rely on our instinct to choose someone with whom we can relate.
But sometimes, our options are limited and we inevitably go with someone who is the lesser of two evils.
Curious to hear from strangers online about a hypothetical, Redditor Cashmeresquid2309 asked:
"Americans of Reddit, would you vote for an openly Atheist presidential candidate? Why or why not?"

Redditors were quick to point out the answer was a no-brainer.
We Already Know The Answer
"Asking Reddit if they'd vote for an atheist..."
"I feel like the answer would be obvious."
– sarahmagoo
Sci-Fi Analogy
"Americans of Reddit, would you vote for a Star Wars fan who heckin loves doggos?"
– WitnessChemical
For The Atheists In The Crowd
"Atheists of atheistville, would you vote for an open atheist?"
– nixcamic
Others weighed in with a range of opinions.
About 45
"What's funny is how many of them would probably say no, even though they voted for Trump and would do so again. Say whatever else you want about him, but I seriously can't understand how anyone could genuinely believe Trump is a Christian. He's so obviously faking it and is undoubtedly the most atheistic president we've ever had or are likely to have for a long time."
"This is a guy who's never even so much as read the Bible or attended church, who told a conservative radio host his favorite Bible verse was 'an eye for an eye', who told evangelical interviewers that he's never asked God for forgiveness because he's never done anything wrong, and who routinely commits all 7 deadly sins (pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth) without remorse."
– empfindsamkeit
From A Different Perspective
"Not an american but interestingly according to this survey on 1006 people from 2007, being atheist was the worst thing you could be as a candidate (of the things asked) with only 45 % of people saying they'd vote for one."
– ilovecatfish
An atheist candidate isn't necessarily a big strike.
Double Negative
"I wouldn’t not vote for someone just because they were atheist."
– HabitualEnthusiast
Credibility First
"This is it. If they’re running on platforms I support with a history to back up those campaign promises, I don’t care if they belong to the church of the flying spaghetti monster. They could literally be a member of the satanic temple and I, an actual practicing Christian, would give less shi*s than a constipated sloth."
"Edit: yes, I realize the Satanic Temple does not actually worship satan. I used it for that purpose. The Church of Satan has some…problematic views and I probably would not vote for someone who literally holds a platform of eugenics."
– Phoenix_of_Asclepius
Some view the role of religion in politics as important.
It Depends
"Religion can be relevant: I would have strong reservations about voting for a Scientologist, even if I agreed with the policies they proposed. I would have strong reservations voting for a member of an apocalyptic cult or, possibly worse, a follower of the (highly heretical) 'prosperity gospel,' which unfortunately includes more and more so-called 'evangelicals' — I didn't vote for George W. Bush, but it's not because he was an evangelical."
"It depends on the role: I'd probably be more flexible with a legislator than an executive (mayor, governor, president), as their character is IMO more important than for a legislator and their policy stances somewhat less important relative to a legislator."
"Satanic temple — well, that's just an organized group of atheists and humanists with an intentionally inflammatory choice of name. They're generally fine people."
– alyssasaccount
A Bad Rap
"The Satanic Temple is an excellent organization that every decent person should be able to respect. A Church of Satan member, not so much."
"There's a huge difference between them!"
– StarsEatArtBooks
And Redditor boganvegan said it best.
"Better an open atheist than a fake Christian."
It all boils down to trustworthiness. Without full transparency, how could anyone put their faith in a candidate who spews nothing but lies?
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Being home alone isn't always the most tranquil thing.
No one is there to help or protect you.
And things that go "bump" in the night... sometimes they do more than bump.
Redditor ag9910 wanted to hear about the times home felt like an unsafe place to be. They asked:
"What is the scariest, strangest, most unexplainable thing that has happened to you while home alone?"
I'm always freaked out when I'm home alone. Lights on. Yeah, my electric bill is high.
Dorothy?
"I dreamed the front door blew open at the exact time the house alarm went off... I hopped up and sure enough, the front door was open. No intruder."
fatowl
I See You
"Not home alone but only one in right side of the house. Went to my mom's bathroom to wash my hands and saw a pair of feet behind the half open door. Laughed and said 'very funny Ma, I see you.' then finished up and left. Bumped into my mother in the kitchen unpacking, nobody else was in the house. I'm glad whatever was behind the door didn't peek out."
SatanWithFur
“It’s Doug!”
"One night I had forgotten to lock my apartment door and woke up in the middle of the night. My bedroom door was about 2 feet from my front door, as you walked into the apartment. First a big dog ran by, then a person. Holy crap I was so scared and I screeched 'Who is it?!?!!'"
"A man said 'It’s Doug!' As I was thinking to myself, who the f**k is Doug, he said 'oh, crap.' He turned around to go back out the front door saying 'Sorry.' I asked 'Didn’t you have a dog with you?' He said 'Oh, yeah. Hey, c’mon!.' He left, his dog ran out after him and I locked my front door."
"Edit: glad you all thought this was funny, because I did too, once my heart quit trying to beat right out of my chest! The next day the girls at work thought I was crazy for not being upset, but eh, done is done. Peace!"
scarletohairy
Confused...
"My sister and I were home alone and we heard someone big running up the stairs. The stairs make lots of noise with slight pressure so when there’s someone big on them you can tell. I went out of my room to check but saw no one anywhere and my sister also came out of her room and she asked if that was me I said no and we both looked around to see if there was anyone but found no one in the whole house. We were confused and called our parents and just waited until they got back and that was that."
JtSudbury04
I See You
"I very clearly saw a guy walk into my room. But when I went after him there was nobody there. I checked in the closet, under my bed, everywhere one could hide in my room."
HighlyOffensive10
This is why home video surveillance is key.
"NO"
"My parents were on a road trip, just left, and I sat down at my desk. I thought 'Weekend alone by myself' and a voice yelled into my right ear 'NO' so loud it hurt."
Th4ab
Wild
"I managed to lock myself out of my house on my birthday during a tornado while trying to bring my cats to the basement for safety. I later found out that the tornado was approximately a couple miles or less from me at that exact time. The sky was green and it got weirdly calm and then I could hear what sounded like a train coming before I found an unlocked window to climb through. Wild times."
SilverGnarwhal
Saturday morning in the 80s...
"I wasn't home alone but I was awake by myself one Saturday morning in the 80s when I was around 7 or so. I believe my mom was the only one home because my dad went to the lake to go fishing that weekend, and I'm not sure where my older brothers were, maybe they went with him, idk."
"Anyways, my mom's sleeping in, and I'm in the living room by myself, watching Saturday morning cartoons and making a fort out of sheets and cushions. Something made me turn around and I saw my dad in his pajamas standing in the hallway entrance with his hands on his hips, looking the mess I was making and shaking his head."
"He then turned around and walked into my room, which was just off the hallway entrance. Dude. I didn't even look, I just booked it to my parents room and woke my mom up. I don't remember what happened after that, this was around 35 years ago. And yes, my dad was fine, nothing had happened to him."
smriversong
Get the Bat...
"I was at home by myself on a call with some friends when all of a sudden my dog begins to bark like crazy, which was odd since it was the middle of the night and he's usually sleep. I go downstairs to check on him and find him barking at our hall closet, terrified I grabbed my bat that I keep in my room just in case and open the door. There was nothing out of usual at first at then I look down and notice a familiar looking object at the bottom of the closet."
"It was my mom's necklace she had lost when I was 9, (i'm 15 now just to put in perspective how long it's been). I showed it to my mom at breakfast and she was just as shocked as I was. I still have no clue how it got there or how my dog knew it was in there, definitely one of the oddest occurrences of my life."
SomeRandomIdiot14
Meow
"Many years ago, I was 14 or so, my first night alone in the house when my parents were out. Lying on the living room floor reading, my cat sleeping next to me."
"Suddenly, cat wakes up, stares intently into the dark corner of the room behind me, hair on end, growls and then bolts out of the room and upstairs. I look behind me and see nothing, but follow cat upstairs and hide under the covers. Freaked me out."
LairdofWingHaven
Thank God for alarms. I hate being home alone.
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The human body is still such a mystery.
How much do we really know?
Not a lot apparently. We're learning more all the time.
And most of it is gross.
Redditor BathNo7713 wanted to discuss the ick factor of anatomy. So they asked:
"What is the most disturbing fact about the human body?"
The body freaks me out. But it's all I've got. So teach me some things.
Minutes...
"The fastest killing virus takes around 4 days to kill you. That would be Ebola. Your immune system can kill you in 15 minutes."
will477
'locked-in'
"If your brainstem (the part of the brain that mediates most motor control for all of the body) is damaged, you can get 'locked-in' syndrome. That means you're fully conscious and aware of your surroundings but unable to move or speak. The only muscles that remain unaffected in most people are the muscles that move they eyes and the eyelids."
"You're essentially trapped within your own body with your only way of communication being blinking or moving your eyes It can be caused by toxins, blockage of the basilar artery which is the main artery of the brainstem, or other brainstem damage."
4oodler
Explosions
"Some people suffer from Exploding Head Syndrome, which causes them to hear a loud bang when they wake up."
ToraMix19
"When I was younger I believe I experienced this a few times. Sounds I heard were: about a million people talking and laughing all at once, a train that irl would've been about a foot away from me based on the volume of the sound, and a door slamming loudly."
aliaisacreature
Pain
"Not sure if this is by design, but I totaled my car once, almost completely uninjured somehow. Then I looked down to my right hand which I remember jabbing into my dashboard at 55mph. Luckily (unluckily?) only my pinky took the blow. But instead of a floppy-udder full of bone-sand, my pinky was 0.5 inches long."
"Broke no bones, but instead perfectly stacked my phalanges, or finger bones, INTO my hand. This is fixed by a muscular Russian murse grabbing your pinky with both hands and pulling very hard. God I wish they gave me more lidocaine."
TelevisionOlympics
Functions
"If you have a surgery where they need to move your organs around they might not function for a day as the body assumes that they are dead."
tonythebutcher13
Move things around? You mean that's not fake when it happens on "Grey's Anatomy?"
"The only reason you are not aware of it is because the ambient noise kind of drowns it out because your ears focus on it. If you go to one of those super-silent rooms that absorb all sorts of sounds, it is a really weird way to reacquaint yourself with your body."
Black_Handkerchief
The Mouth
"Idk about the most disturbing but how bad human teeth are. We’d think it’s our sugary and processed diets these days that cause it, but even Otzi the iceman discovered in Italy was found to have terrible teeth, mouth diseases and cavities. It’s odd that even with the most basic of diets our teeth are so bad."
Dorianisconfused
In the bowels...
"I noticed this after my abdominal surgery. When I turned over in bed my guts seemed to fall from one side to the other. Mentioned to my doc and she confirmed it was my bowels rearranging themselves."
squatter_
"Apparently the doctor just throws your intestines back in there higgeldy-piggeldy because there isn't a correct way to pack them neatly."
LostDesigner9
A Quick Burst
"There are a vast number of ways that your body can malfunction and kill you with little or no warning. An aneurysm can go undetected until it bursts and kills you. Getting hit in the chest just the right way can stop your heart. You can encounter an allergen that never previously provoked an immune response that freaks out your body so badly that you die. You literally just never know if your body will just... die."
Unsolicited_Spiders
The body is such a conundrum. Sexy and gross all at once.
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