Top Stories

Horror Movie Fans Reveal How They'd Have Survived Their Favorite Flicks

And I'd survive the sequels as well....

We love horror movies; they get the blood boiling and the heart racing. We're even willing to forgo restful sleep for a good ole fashion jolt. Half the reason we love these films though are because we love to try and figure how we'd best our favorite cinematic forms of evil.

Redditor u/today_okay wanted to know who had the best survival skills from the land of horror by asking.... What horror movie do you think you'd easily survive if you were in it?


Don't Be Stupid!

Giphy

The Strangers. The characters pissed me off the whole time. First of all, DON'T SPLIT UP. Also, TURN ON THE LIGHTS. Then grab the guns, camp out in the middle of the house, and wait for the killers to either leave or come for you, then blow their brains out. sjl1021

Stay Away! 

Ma. Just don't go back to the her house! yaggib

Or just don't trust a middle aged random lady and run away before she finds anything about you out. Ch8T0n

If you've got nine bucks, don't blow it all on pizza. hugeposuer

The Water...

Maybe not easily, but if I were in A Quiet Place, I'd live next to that waterfall. ChillyFireball

I bet there are just a bunch of people living near the Niagara Falls, using it a natural sound dampener to hunt the creatures. LTman86

Go Towards the Light.

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.

Those things are six inches tall! All you need is a golf club or hockey stick, and one of those LED headlamps that last 1,000 hours. NeroJoe

This movie scared the living shit out of me. The old man giving up his teeth, and his maid's teeth, as an offering to get his kid back. Messed. Me. Up. I would be fine sleeping with the lights on but I would totally fall for their trap if they took my kid. Mister_IceBlister

Mother Dear.

Giphy

I think I could survive Psycho, especially after the first scene with the dude (that he's clearly deranged) and a load of money in my car like she had.

However I would probably die in every scenario of the 'Saw' movies. Dewy_Wanna_Go_There

Don't be an Idiot. 

Jeepers Creepers. Idiots decide to investigate someone quite obviously shoving a dead body into a basement, in the middle of nowhere, without calling the police or letting anyone know where they are. AFTER that same creepy
person tried his best to run them off the road. Screw that! Reddit

Take a Brisk Walk. 

The Blob.

It's a slow-moving blob that has to touch you to absorb you.

You know where I'm not? Anywhere within 100 miles of wherever this thing. In my car, and gone.

Military, do your thing. Once you drop it off to stay frozen deep in the Atlantic, let me know, I'm sure there'll be new job openings when I come back home. Dunehound

Jump. 

The Descent.

"Well those are some well prepared young ladies who look to be off spelunking..." as I drive on by. Blink and you miss me! BartenderOU812

Yeah my policy is to never take up any hobbies they specifically ask you about in your life insurance application, so I'm definitely safe from any horror movie featuring spelunking. Also scuba, mountain climbing and hot air ballooning, just in case anyone ever decides to make a horror movie about any of those things. Yellowbug2001

Be Still.

Predator... as long as I don't pick up a weapon it will leave me alone. Greg_the_cactus

Would the Yatuja kill a disabled person? I'm just thinking of a scenario where my asthmatic butt is scrambling on the forest floor because I dropped my dang glasses. The Predator would be standing nearby probs not even doing anything because my audio-processing problems mean I can't even hear it.

Predator: "I'm sorry, but this would be TOO easy." locomocomotives

Wrong Number.

Giphy

A Stranger Calls.

I don't answer calls from numbers I don't know. Demon-Senpai

Checkout Please....

1408.

"Excuse me, that room's haunted..."

"Cool, thanks for the tip."

I immediately seek a separate hotel. Danyawelly

And then some men with sledgehammers come in and destroy your current environment revealing that you never left 1408. stexski

Blair No! 

Blair Witch Project.

We're filming where? Looking for what? Oh ok I'm not coming to that. BinaryBlasphemy

"You're going to spend a weekend in the woods with who? Yeah that guy sucks... all these people suck. This sounds real boring." El_Gran_Redditor

Camping? I'm out. eyeball-beesting

I can't read....

Giphy

Not really horror, but The Mummy. I can't read hieroglyphics, so I'd look at the Book of the Dead, go "neat book!" and walk away, so the Mummy would stay asleep. The_Late_Arthur_Dent

Are you kidding? It's a book that's a genuine artifact with cool spooky stuff written inside and it's made of solid gold.

I'd take that with me in a heartbeat. A part of me would want to keep it, but it would be ruthlessly obliterated by the part that wants to sell it. Still wouldn't be able to read it though, the mummy would be someone else's problem. TheVoteMote

On Dry Land Only! 

Jaws. Stay on land, problem solved.

Edit: Sharknado isn't a counter point. It's a different movie. Unless you can undeniably prove Sharknado and jaws happen in the same universe at the same time I say to you, "nah." MrRipShitUp

I Decline. 

The Invitation. Because I never get invited to anything. cointelpro_shill

That movie was so good. Me and my gf to this day if we are on a weird social situation at someone's house are like are we being invitationed right now. laaerpig

Shoot 1st!

Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It's Texas, I'd just find someone with a gun or a gun store and arm up. cryptidhunter101

This easily, like the guy's walking with a chainsaw, he's slow. Also, you're in Texas, so you have a gun. OwenFollington

Red Balloons....

Giphy

It.

I'm not a child. And knowing that something would grow more powerful the more I fear it would probably cause some sort of reaction where I stop fearing it out of spite. The_Rhine

Boo!!

Scream. I hated parties when I was a teenager and when kids started getting knocked off, I'd have gotten the heck out of town and stayed with my Dad. He has guns! AllElse11

This would be me. I'd be at home studying. Although I did live in the woods in a rural area but if ghostface came after me they would just see a stressed out teenager screaming "I have two quizzes and an exam tomorrow! I don't have time to get murdered!!" Themaskedotaku

The Basics....

Anything that starts with someone touching/opening the thing that isn't supposed to be touched/opened.

I'm a basic rule follower. Movie would start with me reading the sign...and end with me walking away after reading the sign. chefjenga

See I thought I was like that. You know "don't touch the obviously alien and potentially lethal object." Easy. But then I saw this cactus in the desert and the spines looked kinda fleshy and soft so I got curious if it was more furry than spiky, and touched it and it hooked into my finger. SquirrelicideScience

Dead Already.

The Sixth Sense. There's literally 0 life threatening parts in it. All the scary people are already dead. Teetothejay13

Not true. Bruce gets shot in the first ten minutes.

*If anyone gets mad about spoilers, the scene literally happens at the beginning of the movie. Plus, you came into a thread in which spoilers are obviously going to be everywhere. Phoequinox

Rules are Rules. 

Any one that starts with people ignoring a public warning. I'm a stickler for the rules. Rhyye

Add the news reporting "mass disappearances in the neighborhood next to yours."

Or "People found with their faces cut off and their dicks stuck in their ears."

I'm gonna lock my doors, set up a security cam, and have my firearms easily accessible. ToastyMustache

No Camping.

Giphy

Sleepaway Camp movies, just don't go to camp or call home after one murder has been reported. bubbered_boast

The Lazy Way. 

The Purge. Because 99.9% of people would just stay home because they want to live and don't want to kill people. improbable_humanoid

I imagine that if the purge were real, I feel like the real threat would be arson. Fires are easy to cause and burning down houses doesn't necessarily guarantee dead people so it fulfills a destructive urge while giving yourself plausible deniability on whether or not anybody died. GoldFishPony

Samara....

The Ring.

Because I don't own a VCR. Hickspy

Technically Samara adapted to modern tech in the 3rd movie "rings" and honestly I would just stay cool and try to become her friend or something because being so alone must be so hard for her. MendicantBias42

Pinhead. 

Hellraiser.

The cenobites, for being interdimensional torture demons, are fairly easily tricked.

They even say "no more of your tricks, I will tear your soul apart." And then they immediately get tricked again.

Also, I have a strict policy of not fucking with anything that shady vietnamese men with dirty fingernails sell me. Zappy golden puzzlebox? Nope, I'll just play my Vidya, thanks. OttoVonJismarck

Thick Air. 

The Mist. Literally, because all you had to do, was bunker down and not go the fuck outside till the military showed up.

ANd yes I do not know the military is gonna clean their mess up. However I am home almost all the time, that 10% chance I am outside at the time can be negated.

But the book version? No no no, I would definitely be dead 100%. CommonSenseEludesMe

Be a Sandra....

Birdbox. I stay inside all day. Hypnotwiiist

I think Birdbox would be difficult to survive in because of those fools going around making people look. And maybe just one day slipping up, and that's it! eternalrefuge86

Not Real. 

Slenderman

jk he's here now, someone please take care of my cat. carpetghost

Honestly use the enderman tactic from minecraft and hit him with you diamond sword in a small space that he can't reach cuz he's 3 blocks tall. EggronTheGreat

Dawn Down. 

Until Dawn, just don't go to the REALLY far away cabin to get laid.

Boom, easy win. the_quiet_whisper

Also, don't "prank" your friend so much she'll run into the woods to die at the beginning of the game. nermid

Hey Mikey!

Giphy

Halloween. I'm pretty sure I could out run Michael Myers. Do I get to hear the music? That would increase my survival rate 100%. kellywithayy

Sorry to break it to you but somehow you'll inexplicably trip over nothing multiple times just so that good ol' Mike can catch you while moving at a speed that would suggest he's taking a stroll in a museum. 5-dollar-milkshake

REDDIT

People Break Down The First Thing They Do When Entering A Hotel Room

Reddit user BlundeRuss asked: 'What’s the first thing you do when you get into a hotel room?'

red throw pillow on white couch
Photo by reisetopia on Unsplash

My family went on a lot trips when I was young, and we always stayed in hotel rooms. Around the time my brother and I were old enough to stay in a room by ourselves (our parents would stay in another one, usually across the hall), he also became a bit of a germaphobe.

At the time, I actually believed hotels changed the sheets on the beds daily, so when my brother fretted about the cleanliness of the hotels, I reassured him they were fine. He believed me at first, since I was his big sister, but by the time he was 12, he got suspicious.

During one of our trips, he decided to test this by making a mark on his pillow cover with a pen and turning the pillow cover inside out before we left for sightseeing the next morning. When we returned, he turned the pillow cover back, and his mark was still there, proving that the sheets hadn't been changed. He only had to do this one more time, during our next trip, for me to realize this wasn't a one-off.

Ever since, and even now in adulthood, my brother and I always intentionally spill something on our sheets during our first night in order to get clean sheets, at least for the duration of our stay. This, in fact, is the first thing we do.

I'm not the only person who does something a bit quirky like this when they first enter a hotel rooms. Plenty or Redditors have stories about this and are ready to share.

It all started when Redditor BlundeRuss asked:

"What’s the first thing you do when you get into a hotel room?"

​Preparing For Sights

"Go to the balcony to see if it's going to be public nudity or private nudity during my morning coffee."

– hoffarmy

"I love that this doesn’t change your plans, just prepares your mind. Excellence."

– sewahyelah

Show Me The Truth

"Put my bags up on something and check the mattress. I also bought a UV flashlight but after using it at home I’ve decided that bringing it to a hotel would be unnecessary torture. Nothing is clean when you shine the thing on it. And I mean nothing."

– Fatguy73

Temperature Check

"One of my close friends travels a ton for business. She also loves to sleep in a f**king ice box."

"She has found some resource for how to basically jailbreak hotel thermostats. Each hotel thermostat has a specific key sequence that unlocks the lower temps that the hotel normally doesn’t allow guests to set because, you know, money."

– Sp4ceh0rse

"I do this in every hotel."

– jubilee__

Sweet Relief

"Set bags down."

"Look at room for cleanliness."

"Take a dump."

– PuzzledCitron8728

"I showed up early to a hotel after 12 hours straight of driving. Took forever for them to get me in the room (really it was probably only 30 minutes and they were super accommodating)."

"Anyways, I had been feeling the tyrannical gouging of a sh*t demon trying to claw it's way out for about half an hour beforehand. I ran down the hall, opened the door, threw my bag at something, and was kinda hovering over the toilet just in time. Hadn't put cheek to rim yet and my darling baby began his exit."

"It wasn't until after I looked up that I realized neither door was the self-closing kind and you could see all the way in from the hallway."

– coreylahe

"You’ve unlocked a childhood memory. I stayed in a lot of hotels while growing up and I saw someone in your position once, trail of belongings leading to the toilet. So I went and shut the door for him."

– scarfknitter

Disney Magic

"Find the bible and flip through it. When my sister and I were kids, we went to Disney, and I think she asked why is there always a bible in the drawer, waved it by the spine and 20 bucks fell out. So I always check now."

– TyWiggly

"I found $100 that way. 5 crisp 20's,. I was pretty broke at the time too."

– weisblattsnut

Always Check

"First, I look at the area between the mattress and headboard for any signs of bed bugs, then under the sheets. I’ve never encountered them, but I’ve heard so many horror stories that I’m paranoid about them."

– triceraquake

"As someone who worked in hotels, I always double check the door locks and then inspect for bed bugs."

– Chatterbxer

Yikes!

"Look for cameras. I'm a paranoid f**k."

– Gubble_Buppie

"If anyone wants to see an overweight guy in his mid-40s eat pringles in his underwear while reading Stephen King novels, then they have my flabby white blessing."

– oppernaR

"They sell surprisingly easy to use scanners on Amazon. I found a camera in an air bb bedroom alarm clock, threw a towel over it and got the whole stay for free. Some will detect signals but the best way is there’s a looking glass that’s red and it emits a light and you turn off all the lights and look around the room. Any active camera will shine like a cats eyes when you skim over it."

– Vacation_Kinkycouple

The Things We Find

"I check in odd places to see if anyone stashed drugs or money. You would be surprised at all the sh*t I’ve found over the years!"

– Deathbot-420

"We found an axe under the bed once."

– Punkstarbabe

Ick.

"Yank the comforter off the bed and throw it in the corner. they rarely wash those things."

– whatever32657

"I discovered this recently while calling home to say good night to everyone. Dried food stuck to the comforter. Threw that bad boy off the bed."

– DuchessofSquee

"I cleaned an air BnB for a little while and I was so disturbed when they told me they didn't wash the comforter because hotels don't.... Like I guess I get it because they're heavy and they're trying to save water on the washes but yuck dude... Cleaning that air Bnb made me NEVER want to book one because of the sh*t the owners wouldn't LET me clean... I don't think I'd ever survive as a maid for a hotel, I could never travel again lol."

– ModestMeeshka

It's A Process

"Make a condom for the TV remote control. Take the ice bag from the ice bucket and put the remote in it. Now I never have to touch the remote."

– dontknowafunnyname2

"I'm sure disinfectant wipes could do the job."

– Pheobe0228

Check For Monsters...People Monsters

"Make sure no one is hiding under the bed or in the bathroom 😂😅"

– HeadInTheClouds916

"I travel a lot for work…and I’m shocked no one else mentioned this. First I check the closet, under the bed, the bathroom for a hiding serial killer…then check the mattress for bedbugs…"

– pdxmikaela

Today I Learned

"Check for cleanliness and then take pictures Traffickcam."

"Traffickcam is an app where you take specific pictures of your room and then upload them to their database. They use these pictures to check on the location of human trafficking victims."

– slappymasterson

"Take a picture of the room and post it on the Trafickcam app so if the room or similar has been used by human traffickers maybe it will help find someone."

– CatsInTrenchCoat

And thanks to those last two stories, I'm a little scared to stay in another hotel.

Two young girls walk away with their arms around one another
Photo by Andrea Tummons

Small acts of kindness that only a few know about can change the world.

You never know.

One smile can change one person's day.

And that person could carry it on.

So doing it ourselves may be the only answer.Redditor sashayingthru wanted to discuss the ways we know the world is still good, so they asked:

"What small act of kindness were you once shown that you will never forget?"

As someone who has waited on many tables, just tip properly.

You'll go to Heaven.

Strangers

Robin Williams Dancing GIF by 20th Century Fox Home EntertainmentGiphy

"I once walked to a store to buy bags for my vacuum cleaner and I forgot to take my wallet. The shop owner gave me the bags, shook my hand, and told me to bring him to money tomorrow. He put his trust in a total stranger to do the right thing and I did."

Independent-Bike8810

In the Rain

"A man in a full business suit with a briefcase handed me an umbrella in a torrential rain storm and wouldn't take no for an answer. I still had to walk through Times Square to get to the train and I'm sure he got soaked going wherever he was going. A couple of weeks later, I gave the umbrella to a lost girl in my neighborhood when it started to rain and she didn't have one. Felt like the universe wanted it to happen."

"I'll never forget that man though."

im_not_bovvered

Leggo my Lego

"When I was maybe 4 or 5 years old, I made friends with another kid in an airport, and he was playing with a couple glued glued-together Lego cars. Me and that kid played for like an hour with those things and when it was time to go our separate ways and board the plane, the kid insisted I keep one of the cars, and while I insisted he should keep them, he said it was proof that we were friends, and to this day roughly 20 years later, I still have that car packed up with my childhood mementos box."

"That friend of mine was a good kid. Hope he’s doin' well."

givebooks

Don't Cry Tammy

"My husband and I were sitting on our porch holding hands and crying, just feeling overwhelmed because we were waiting to find out whether or not my tumor was cancerous. Our neighbor saw it when he was coming home. About half an hour later he came over with some freshly baked cookies. He didn't even say anything, just smiled, handed them to us, and then went back home."

"Just thinking about that moment has me crying again. From his kindness, not the fear. Tammy the Ti**y Tumor turned out benign!"

Reflection_Secure

Coasting...

Fail Will Ferrell GIF by Paramount PicturesGiphy

"I literally coasted into a gas station out of gas on my motorcycle, then realized I didn't have my wallet. Some lady saw me patting all my pockets and I was upset and offered to fill up my tank. I only let her put $5 in, which on a bike is a lot. But it meant so much to me."

Twours1944

Give people gas as often as possible..

Pay it forward.

Generosity

happy silent film GIF by Charlie ChaplinGiphy

"My realtor took less commission so that I could get my dream home. It was a rare find in a great neighborhood."

SheLight2

Egged Away

"Years ago my car got egged real badly overnight while parked on the driveway of our duplex. We had to go somewhere the next morning so took the wife’s car. Came back hours later and my car was shining like new on the driveway. The neighbor whose name I didn’t even know at that point had washed it for me while we were away."

Ceristimo

Are those still a thing?

"I was in maybe 4th grade and my parents just had my younger sister, so newborn focused. I went to my school lunch, opened my paper bag (are those still a thing?), and unwrapped the foil holding my sandwich. There was nothing inside. It was actually just 2 slices of dry white slice bread and I was sad."

"Literally, my table mates all chipped in various components and made me the most amazing ham and cheese sandwich I’ve ever had. I’ve been chasing that dragon of ham sandwich since but I’m sure it was the response and not the ingredients that I loved."

I_Am_The_Grapevine

Thanks guys...

"19 years old, first apartment, first winter, first winter utility bill. I smiled and told my coworker I'd just pay it, skip lunch, and eat cheap Mac and cheese for dinner. It'll be ok. All that month co-workers accidentally got extra chips from the vending machine. A wife packed an extra sandwich. A box of my favorite crackers would be on my desk when I came in. It was still hard but I didn't starve. Thanks, you guys."

alady12

Just Tears

Big Brother Omg GIF by Global TVGiphy

"I was on the subway, sitting there crying because I had just ended a relationship. I wasn't making any noise, just tears, but the guy sitting next to me gave me some tissues. I'll never forget that."

screamingcupcakes

Some of the best people ride the subway.

Everyone has tissues.

Man holding onto partner's hand
Photo by Seth Reese on Unsplash

Content Warning: Toxic Behavior

As much as we might like to hope otherwise, not all relationships are meant to work out.

Not only are some couples not meant to be, but sometimes there are super valid reasons for a relationship to end beyond simply not being compatible, like toxic behaviors.

But a significant other being toxic will not be obvious upon first meeting them or going on a first date with them. Otherwise, we never would have dated them in the first place.

Redditor BlackenSphinx asked:

"What did your partner say or do that made you realize that they were a toxic person?"

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

"When they kept apologizing for the same thing, then doing it anyway, never changing for the past 10 years."

- crunchy_soupp

"My wife got a quote from a teacher that we've tried to instill in our kids:"

"'Saying sorry means not doing it again.'"

"Obviously, accidents aren't included, but yeah when you hurt someone and apologize, don't do that thing again."

- JollySquatter

A New Kind of Arranged Marriage

"Lots of things, but I think probably the worst and most impactful was when she peed on a stick for her friend while she was pregnant."

"Her friend then convinced her boyfriend to marry her. They were divorced several years later, after what I can only assume was an absolutely awful marriage."

- conspirized

Emotional Abuse

"'Nobody as good looking as me will ever love your personality.'"

- MrNobody26501

"Ugh, that's the kind of s**t I'd think about and let eat me away for YEARS."

- SenorDangerw**k

In Sickness and In Health

"I was at a party with my ex-wife and someone brought out a newspaper with headlines about a local official being in an accident and being paralyzed."

"My ex-wife, without hesitation, said, 'If that happened to my husband, I would be out of here.'"

- nobody333254

"My biggest motivator of leaving an ex was that I couldn’t see him taking care of me if something were to happen to me."

- Puzzleheaded_Elk6243

Children Come First

"This one is minor, but I had an ex who wanted to buy her daughter some new shoes. We were at an outlet mall and they had a BOGO (Buy One, Get One Free) sale."

"She found a cute pair for herself but was having trouble finding a pair for her daughter."

"I love being helpful and found a pair that fit her daughter's personality to a T."

"But she wouldn't buy them because they were $5 more expensive than the pair she was getting for herself."

"Both were combined under $50, and she wasn't hurting for cash. She just refused to spend more on her daughter than on herself out of principle."

- Calm-and-worthy

"This one reallyyyyy irritates me. She sounds like the kind of 'parent' who wouldn't give up a meal to make sure their baby ate if it came down to it."

"As someone who has to make that decision nearly every day... my baby eats, even if I don't. Always."

- DakotaTheAtlas

The Silent Treatment

"We weren't living together, but he randomly cut me off for like a full week. He wouldn't answer my texts or anything. We were long-distance (different colleges halfway across the country) so I couldn't, like, go check on him."

"Anyway, he finally comes back and tells me it was a punishment for not being interesting enough. He liked me because I was an intellectual who would have Deep Conversations (tm) with him and I'd been talking too much about things he didn't find interesting."

"I dumped him shortly after and he acted like it came out of nowhere."

- baby_yaga

Overly Critical

"He criticized everybody. He was mean about his family, his friends, and his colleagues. It seemed very small at first, I knew he was depressed and so was naturally more cynical and had a low view of himself, but he'd laugh and joke with friends on the phone or in person for hours and then the minute they were gone... Awful."

"I rationalized it for too long and then realized it would be the same about me. Then convinced myself it wouldn't be because he always hyped me up... Until I heard it."

"He played the victim so, so well. Scary, really."

- Important_Sprinkles9

Ableism at Its Finest

"I had an ex say. 'What could you possibly be depressed about?'"

"I was an id**t and stayed with her for three more years after that."

- WhatIsAJahBone

Not Over Their Ex

"He slept with his ex frequently for six months... in the house that I bought us... in my childhood bed that I took with me from home... all whilst I was at work."

"He was changing over phones from an old school brick type to an iPhone. He went out to work and his old phone kept buzzing. I saw a very familiar name pop up…"

"He told me that she was crazy and they weren’t in contact as she was obsessed with him (Red flag, I know). There are some things I read that I wish I could erase from my memory."

"When everything was out in the open, she began bullying me online about it."

"We were engaged. as well. Lucky I found out before we got married!"

- MissQII

Different Definitions of "Cheating"

"She cheated on me with a Yankees player because I 'cheated on her first.'"

"How did I cheat? By going to her favorite burger spot without her while she was having sushi with her girlfriends."

"I found out she cheated with three other guys too."

- HawaiianSteak

"Somehow the most venom in this story came from 'a Yankee player,' lol (laughing out loud)."

- SoftcoverWand44

"I'm guessing he's either a Mets or Red Sox fan."

- ScorpionX-123

Gone with the Rose-Colored Glasses

"It wasn't so much what he was saying but the action he did about it."

"He used to tell me all the time that I should get contact lenses because he wanted to see what I looked like without glasses."

"I need glasses full time to see because I have an extremely bad prescription and astigmatism. They're both very high and it's impossible to see without glasses. If I take my glasses off, I can't even find them so I have to make sure I know exactly where I set them."

"One day out of town for a large event we had been planning to attend for over a year, he hid my glasses and acted like he couldn't find them."

"I had NEVER had glasses just disappear. It might take me a while to find them, but if I have someone else around me, it's usually somewhere obvious."

"I figured, 'Oh, that's okay, I have prescription sunglasses on me, as well; I'll just wear sunglasses for the event.' I asked him to pull them out of my bag as they were in a zip glass case, I know for a fact they are in there because I switched them out after arriving at the hotel."

"He pulled out the case and tried to tell me they weren't in there and that I must have dropped them somewhere."

"I begged him to help me search the hotel, I called downstairs, I had staff members helping me search, and I was in the lobby on my hands and knees feeling around trying to find them."

"He was busy getting ready upstairs and told me to just go to the event without them; I'll be fine."

"I absolutely refuse to leave without my glasses. I told him to go have a good time but I'm not leaving the hotel room and going into a crowded strange place in a strange city being unable to see."

"Well suddenly, right before we're about to leave, he pretended he found my glasses and they were just sitting on the bathroom counter the whole time. As if I didn't search every single inch and feel around every inch of that vanity."

"After some crying, he admitted that he hid both of my glasses because he just wanted me to see that it's not so bad and that if I just go without them for a little while my eyes will adjust and I'll be able to see fine."

- ConceptAggravating95

Silence to the Extreme

"I had a girlfriend who got mad at me, and I had no idea why. For three days, she would call, say nothing, and if I hung up, she would call back."

"I turned off my phone, and she'd call my parents or show up at my house (in high school still living with my parents). This went on for three days. I basically didn't sleep."

"I was a senior and still in school, and she had graduated the year before. On the third night, she yelled at me for keeping her up, and it was the end of the fight."

"The next day, I asked what I did. She said nothing she was just angry and wanted to fight."

"It took me going to college and her finding some other poor sap to torture to finally get away from her. I was young and naive, and now know I should have involved a court order and police."

"It was h**l. But from it, I ended up with my now wife, and without that h**l, I would not be where I am today, which is something I would never change."

- FineSL

The Most Controlling of the Controlling

"She yelled at me for wanting to talk to my family after she and my dad had a minor argument. She also blocked my old friends, family, and coworkers in my phone while I slept."

- Arcane_booty_Magic

"Throw the whole girl away."

- BlackenSphinx

"I did that a month ago, and this has been the best month I've had in three years."

- Arcane_booty_Magic

These accounts were terribly eye-opening, and they're a great reminder that a toxic relationship may not be identifiable until it's made glaringly obvious to us.

Fortunately, all of these Redditors were talking about exes, which means that they were able to move beyond these tough situations.

fraud themed artwork
@bastardbot/Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Cognitive dissonance is when one learns new information that challenges a deeply held belief that seems to undercut a favorable self-image, that person may feel motivated to somehow resolve the negative feeling that results—to restore cognitive consonance—by ignoring the challenging source.

This isn't the only response to cognitive dissonance, but it's the one most people are familiar with.

This behavior explains people believing something—or following a leader—despite all the contradictory facts. Outsiders look at the situation and are amazed that their adherents can't see the absurdity of the fraud.

But it's a common occurrence.

Just spend some time watching documentaries about cults and you'll see all the proof you need.

Keep reading...Show less