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People Break Down The Most Terrifying Thing They've Ever Experienced While Home Alone

Have you ever had the feeling that you're being watched? That's a scary feeling, isn't it? It's also the last feeling you'd want to experience if you're at home alone. Nightmare fuel, right?

Redditor Joobanjooban asked the online community, "

What is the most terrifying thing you've ever experienced while home alone?"

"At this point..."

A couple years back I woke up at 3am to see someone walk past my bedroom door, I called out in my just woken up, not thinking haze thinking maybe my boyfriend had come over while I was sleeping but got no response so knew it wasn't him.

Got out of bed, stupidly forgetting to take my phone or any kind of defensive item with me and went into the front room where the light was on to be met with a random guy staring at one of the walls, I asked him who he was and got no answer.

At this point I'd actually woken up enough to realise I could really be in trouble so ran back to the bedroom, grabbed my phone and ran outside on the phone to the police who showed up within a few minutes. Turns out the guy was mentally ill and to this day neither myself or the police know how he got in.

strebork

"I moved into our house..."

I moved into our house a month before my husband did and I was painting our guest room with the windows wide open. I was busy painting, listening to music when I realized it had gotten dark outside. I heard the leaves crunching outside but didn't think anything of it because we have a lot of neighbors who walk their dogs. When I went to close the windows I saw a man standing in my backyard under the tree maybe 5 feet from our back door staring up at me. I fell to the floor and realized the back glass door was probably open and nothing but the screen stopping him when he could have easily just walked into my house. Crawled to my phone and called my husband who then called 911 while rushing home to me. We have a 6 ft tall fence around our yard, this person hopped it to watch me. I couldn't sleep right at night for months.

tankincolor

"Someone..."

Someone attempting to break in. I have a 75lb boxer and have never seen anyone run as fast as that man did.

MineKing822

"It was in a very nice neighborhood..."

When I was 19 in my first apartment I had someone knock at the door. I looked through the peep hole and saw this burley, heavy set man who abruptly started screaming to let him in. He was screaming things like he was going to beat me, and kick the door down if I didn't open. I called the cops and as soon as someone got on the phone he started body slamming my door to break in. I was freaking out and crying as they quickly had 5 cops show up within 5+ minutes. As soon as he heard the sirens he quickly walked away and they met him at the bottom of the stairs. Apparently he was after the previous renter but was extremely intoxicated. They arrested him and thankfully he never came back. I ended up breaking my lease and moving out 3 months later.

It was in a very nice neighborhood but it quickly made me wish I was back home with family instead of being on the other side of the United States.

hic-ec-nunt

"My friends thought this was hilarious..."

This happened to me a couple of years ago. I have also lived on my own a long time so do not get sacred easily!

I had just finished reading in bed and I turned my lamp off and settled down to go to sleep and hugged my cat up close to me. This would be about 1:30 in the morning. I closed my eyes and I head a voice say "Meow" like imitating a cat! My window was open so I though it was just someone being weird outside.

I opened my eyes and in the middle of my bedroom was a small boy wearing a red jumper waving his arm above his head. I leapt up like a god damn ninja and put the light on. and my heart was going mad. Now, nothing paranormal has happened in this house, ever in the entire time I have lived here. I spent the whole night totally freaked out, only getting a bit of sleep when it started to get light outside.

My friends thought this was hilarious when I told them. I was saying there is no way I am living in a haunted house and started googling cleansing, excorsists and whatnot! The next few nights other weird stuff started happening. I started sleeping with the t.v on and as soon as I tried to get any sleep, I would hear freaky voices coming from it, or I would notice shadows dip by the side of my bed. It was dreadful! I actually resorted to saying out loud " I'm really tired, so if you could not haunt me for one night I would be really grateful!".

I had never really believed in any of this sort of stuff before, so it was like an entire paradigm shift for me. Anyway, I was going on about this to my friends at work, and one of them asked if I was on drugs. Well, funnily enough I had just started taking this new tablet Montelukast for my asthma. When I got home, read the side effects, a rare one being hallucinations! Stopped taking them, no more hauntings!

DismalPomegranate

"One evening..."

One evening an explosion at a petrochemical plant (located a mile from my house) blew out the double window in my living room while I was in the room. I definitely thought we were being bombed until I remembered where I live.

I had just let my dog out to the backyard and he was completely traumatized. For the following two months I had to carry him outside and sit in the grass with pieces of chicken just so he would potty.

fireflyfly3

I was living alone after my ex-husband moved out and the creepy guy across the street who was 20 years older and enjoyed drugs kept trying to date me. He would harass me when I left my house or arrived home and would threaten to rape me.

I had just started dating my current bf and he helped hang up motion detecting lights outside, I started carrying pepper spray and leaving the alarm on whenever I was home. My bf and I also agreed that if I didn't text him for a certain period of time and he couldn't get ahold of me that he'd go to my house and check on things. I also cc'ed him on my work calendar just in case.

It got so scary that my bf actually moved in a lot sooner than we planned because I felt so unsafe. After creepy guy watched my bf move in and saw him puttering around with project cars in the driveway he stopped harassing me and moved away a few months later. I've never felt so unsafe in my own home, wondering if the outside lights were on because of the neighbors cat or because creepy guy was trying to break in.

Schnauzerbutt

"The whole place..."

Somebody tried to break into the house while I was by myself.

The whole place was quiet and dark at nighttime. I walked past the front door to go upstairs for bed, and the handle suddenly started jerking around like The Hulk was trying to get in. Then whoever it was started to either kick or shoulder the door, and it was making the whole frame jiggle. I completely froze and my mind went blank. Just standing there like an idiot and staring.

My dog bolted down the stairs like it was her time to shine, scrambled on the tile, and let loose the most vicious barks I've ever heard. Whoever it was left. She was a very good girl. I miss her.

sleepytimeghee

"One afternoon..."

One afternoon someone knocked at my back door. I thought it was the guy coming to read our meter, so I opened the door. Next thing I know, two huge guys pushed into the house, and one of them threw me up against the wall. Then they shoved me down on the couch. They told me they were Hell's Angels, and they were pissed because my bf was selling too much drugs, cutting into their profits. They kept calling me by my nextdoor neighbor's name. We had suspected they were selling drugs. All of the people stopping by for less than 5min made it pretty obvious. I just kept telling them I wasn't her. One of them searched the house, while the other kept me pinned to the couch.

They started to realize they were in the wrong house, because they couldn't find anything where they were told it was. My neighbor's house is a single floor, with a basement. My house is a 4 level, back split. Then I showed them my mail, because it showed my name, and they knew they fu*ked up.

They robbed me of my cash, and left. I now have locks on my screen doors.

MorgainandAlon

"Yesterday..."

Yesterday I was home alone because my family was paddleboarding when the fire alarm went off. There was no smoke, and it stopped a minute later, but God it scared me.

ThePinkTeenager

"I really feel like it did happen..."

I'm still not sure if this actually happened or not, but at the time and for awhile thereafter I swore that it did.

My husband(bf at the time) and I had just moved in together, into a two bedroom apartment that we still live in 10 years later. We both worked in food service, he was a general manager and I was a shift lead at different stores of the same type.

One night, he had to close and so when I got home and went to bed I was by myself. I'd been asleep for an hour or so and I was woken out of a dead sleep by my blankets being ripped off the bed. I was always told that if I ever felt scared or in danger from something evil that I should say "Devil begone!" Or "Get thee behind me Satan!" (I was raised in a very religious family).

So that's what I did. I'm not sure what the neighbors thought was going on with me shouting at the devil lol. I grabbed my sheet and had it pulled over my head and it felt like the whole bed was shaking. So I yelled until it stopped and then I hopped up and turned on every light in the apartment down to the empty bedroom. I ended up at my husband's restaurant sitting on the back table with him trying not to laugh at me while also trying to comfort me cause I was freaked the f*** out.

I really feel like it did happen but it only happened that once. Years later he tells me he had an episode of sleep paralysis shortly after and felt that there was something in the room, but he didn't tell me because he didn't want to scare me more. I had a friend that was sensitive to things of that nature and she said she didn't feel anything. I'm just glad it never happened again.

boogerpeanut

"As far as I know..."

I wouldn't count this as immediately terrifying, more of a "holy s***" when it all came together. So me and my brother woke up like a normal day and realised we were home alone. I casually went over to my parents window to look out the front and there was police tape covering our drive way. Confused I immediately called my parents and explained what we saw, they were just as confused and said they left around two hours ago to go shopping.

They immediately drove home and spoke to the policeman outside to ask why our house was taped up when their 2 kids were indoors. He said that he banged on our door multiple times but no one answered (what can I say, I'm a deep sleeper).

As it turns out, it was all to do with our neighbour who's house was joined to ours. At around 7am a car had pulled up and about 5 men with weapons of some kind (like bats, crowbars etc.) went into our neighbour's home. Around five mins later he ran out of their back door and over our fence, then through our back gate. There was a blood trail all through our garden which was why it was taped up. We had forensic people round to take samples but it was a really strange thing to see as a kid, like our back gate was just stained with blood all over.

As far as I know the neighbor suffered a bad head injury but made a full recovery. Never found out the exact reason he was beaten up but my dad said it had something to do with drugs (I was young so he never told me the full story). They 'moved out' about a year later after the wife 'accidentally' flooded the whole place which really pissed off my dad as some of the damage made its way to our house. It was obvious she had done this intentionally for many reasons but im just glad they got the hell out when they did.

UnderCovrH

"I live alone with my two cats..."

I live alone with my two cats so I'm pretty much always home alone. Well one time about a year and a half ago I heard a crash and I thought it was one of my cats messing around. He's young and energetic and sometimes bangs into things, but it was a louder crash than usual so I went to look. But I still thought it was my cat. Instead, it was a man who had BROKEN into my apartment! I yelled at him as I backed up, ready to grab a can of bug spray I'd left on the table and nail him in the eyes if he came anywhere near me. Luckily he decided to take off. After that I bought an alarm! The cops never did catch the guy.

unicorn92243

"My adrenaline just shot up!"

Home alone. Wife out of town on business trip. It was 2-3 weeks after my birthday. The Helium birthday balloon had lost a lot of its content, but still floating. About 5 feet off the ground. I'm in kitchen at night. Freaking balloon follows the house trade winds (!) and floats around the corner. In a nano second, my brain sees a 'head figure' about 5-6 feet high and I think it's an intruder. My adrenaline just shot up! Quickly realized it was the balloon, but my man card was revoked.

safetyguy123456

"The police never caught them."

I was 20 years old and in college. I had recently had shoulder surgery so my arm was in a sling. I came home home from a friend's house around 11:00pm to find 2 guys in my living room. They were in their 20s. At the time I had 2 roommates but they were out of town. 1 of the 2 guys said they were waiting for my roommate to return. I thought it was odd because my roommate was supposedly out of state.

I started to ask questions and they got nervous. They started moving towards the door. I couldn't do anything because of my shoulder. 1 of the guys grabbed and started to choke me out from behind. I was able to back him into the wall and get free. The other intruder talked sense into his friend that choked me and they left in a hurry. I called 911. It turns out these 2 knew my roommate and knew he was out of town. They were there to steal whatever they could find. They ended up with $200. The police never caught them. But fortunately, we tracked them down a month later and got our revenge.

Gman978

"I talked to my landlord..."

I had just moved from LA to a cute house in Palm Desert in one of the few non-gated communities. I get a knock at my door at around 2:00 am. I look out the peephole, but can't really see anything because the house didn't have proper porch light. I crack the front door, a scary looking man is there, asked if so and so was there (I can't recall the name). He's looking confused, and looking at his phone. I tell him he has the wrong address, he seems flustered and pissed, and leaves.

This happened again on 2 more separate occasions, and I was unnerved. I did some research, and learned there had been a drug-related murder at the house across the street just a month before I moved in.

I talked to may landlord, and we agree to take some measures - she installed a bright motion-sensor porch light and a security screen door, and I purchased a ring doorbell. It helped, but weird things kept happening. This place was on a golf course, and I felt terribly exposed and unsafe the 2 years I lived there.

CCGreenie

"I didn't get much sleep..."

Friday, October 30, 2009. I wasn't alone, and it just may have saved my life. It had been a long, exhausting week for me and my boyfriend. He came over after work, and at one point left to get his iPad. He didn't relock the front door when he came back in.

We ate dinner, chilled in front of the TV, and then decided to flatten out the futon couch and go to sleep. We were both really beat, and both fell into a deep, deep sleep.

Something woke me up. I was super groggy. I looked to my right, there was someone crawling on the floor about 12 inches away from me. The only words my foggy brain could muster was "What the f***?!", which I kept saying over and over, louder and louder as I realized that it wasn't my boyfriend crawling on the floor, but some random stranger. He just froze right next to me. I have no idea if he was there to rob me, hurt me, or ... worse.

My boyfriend woke up hearing my escalating WTFs, and rose up, larger than life, yelling WHAT THE F*** over and over. This seemed to surprise the dude crawling on the floor (I think he thought I was alone). Stranger dude jumped up, did a 180, and bolted out the front door. BF ran after him, but only to the door, where he stopped, turned around, looked at me, and said, "What was that?". I explained it was a strange man. BF went out front door, looked all around, but couldn't find him. It's a pretty easy neighborhood to disappear in.

I didn't get much sleep for some time after that. Like months. But I guarantee you I always double checked the lock on the front door after that. And as with every part of my relationship with BF, I was pissed he'd left the door unlocked, and grateful that he may have saved my life. Ah, Ben, always such a mixed bag.

CCGreenie

"I'm 12..."

My 18 year old brother pounding on my bedroom window, then trying to smash my front door with a sledgehammer yesterday. I'm 12 and my mom doesn't want him here because he stole $30,000 total from me, mom, dad, and my grandparents in the last 4 months alone. So naturally he tried to break in to steal more. I painted my airsoft gun to look like a real gun and told him to f*** off. He was arrested yesterday for theft and battery.

Ollythecatto

Well one morning at 6am my dog was barking continuously, now this dog doesn't bark unless there's a person; at first I told her to shut up but after she kept going I realized, someone broke into the f****** house.

So you know how people have the fight and flight response? Well I instantly chose fight so I grabbed a knife that I used to have in my room (I was very disorganized so I used to leave knives forks and spoons everywhere) and basically started yelling that I was gonna find him and kill him.

Now I was royally pissed off and my voice when I scream and I'm angry is deep. I knew where the guy was hiding after a few minutes of me looking around the first floor of my house it was one of the homeless people that rummage through the trash containers.

It was the first floor and he jumped out of the window he got in from but not before I tried to stab him. I missed tho.

I let him run away and didn't see the bastard in my neighborhood afterwards. I called my family even angrier than one of them left the f****** door open and they had the audacity to claim I left the door open.

They installed metal bars in the window and got angry with me when I said I wanted a gun they asked me why would I ever need a gun, and I just said the same reason they're putting the metal bars up.

I didn't get my gun (couldn't get it myself either, I'm not from the US so guns are hard to get), the whole experience was terrifying but it was more angering for me than terrifying but still terrifying nonetheless.

Abdelg20

"I was up a ladder..."

I was up a ladder, changing a lightbulb. One of those kinds that screw directly into the ceiling.

There must have been a nest some point in the roof space because I got absolutely showered with dead wasps. I am terrified of wasps. It was horrendous. In my hair, my clothes, all over. I didn't fall off the ladder, but almost did and if I had I might have been seriously injured with no one around to help.

Chtonicfemme

"This was about two months ago..."

At around 5 am my dog woke me up to go outside. In the house we have to go through the garage to get to the backyard. As I open the kitchen door that leads into the garage, the loudest noise I've ever heard happens. It's like a loud slam/ crunching noise and immediatly my 85 lb lab mix starts growling. My car was in the garage so I couldn't see into the garage and thought someone was opening the huge mechanical garage door it was so loud. I slammed the door shut expecting to feel someone push it back on me and I lock it and run back to my room screaming bloody murder.

I look later and the big plastic dog food container that we keep right by the door was knocked over and spilled everywhere.

Turns out my cat was in the garage rafters and when I opened the door he must have fell and hit the container making the super loud scary noise. Later I found him hiding under the car scared to death.

This was about 2 months ago and my dog growls everytime I open the door to the garage first thing in the morning with her hair puffed up, cat gets spooked by any sudden movement or noises now. And it took me a few weeks to not be scared when opening that door.

peygiraffe

"I wake up in the middle of the night..."

Acapulco, MEX 2017

My parents and my brother and I were staying at my grandmas house in Mexico. Keep in mind, they live in the highest areas of the city, where there's a lot of trees and hills (that's also where a lot of decapitations happen). So I never feel safe but my mothers family is used to it.

One night I am placed to sleep in the second floor in a king sized bed with three of my cousins and my aunt. The second floor doesn't not have a complete roof, so only the room where we are in has one, the rest is open.

I wake up in the middle of the night and ready to piss when I hear all the noises from the outside. The palm trees swaying back and forth. The birds. And the cats screaming as they mate. I am terrified and what makes it worse is seeing something moving at the edges of the bed. It seems like the top of the head of someone really short. I couldn't see anything else but it seemed like they were running around the bed.

I couldn't sit or stand up. I had complete fear and I tried to wake up my cousins but they were heavy sleepers. Stayed up all night. IVE NEVER FELT SO ALONE IN MY LIFE.

I told everyone in the morning what I experienced and they said that I got a visit from the chaneques. There's these creatures they consistently talk about called caneques that are very short people with very sharp teeth that take in many forms and steal people away. I always thought they were BS stories to keep us from doing certain things but now I believe that that might be true. As they all have their own story about encountering them.

FeetLover9801

"I ended up running back upstairs..."

One day, while my family's house was for sale, I glanced down into the backyard and saw a guy walking through it. This wasn't immediately alarming because we lived near a golf course and our backyard wasn't fenced, so we often had golfers walking or driving through our yard. Something about it made me a bit uneasy, though, so I checked to see if there was a car parked outside/down the street... nothing.

I didn't see him for several minutes, so I went back to business as usual and went to the kitchen to make a coffee. As I left the kitchen, I saw him out of the corner of my eye standing next to my garage and this time it was enough to really scare me. As I mentioned, the house was for sale, and our lockbox was on a door that entered into our garage... which was exactly where he was standing. Fiddling with something I couldn't see. So obviously, my mind jumps to "he's trying to break in." House for sale, middle of the day, lockbox on a door, it seemed plausible.

I ended up running back upstairs, because pretty much everywhere downstairs and all of the house exit points were within view of where he was standing, so it seemed dumb to try and run or stay downstairs. I called my mom, who informed me that it was probably the guy there to check some meter, which was placed right next to that door. I guess he couldn't find it at first, which is why he was walking through the backyard. I monitored him for the next 10 minutes as he finished his job, walked back down our culdesac, and was eventually picked back up by this industrial truck that had apparently just dropped him off. Thankfully, he was just there doing his job but he thoroughly freaked me out in the process.

KristenMcFly

"In hindsight..."

I was only about 13 years old when my parents left me home alone overnight for the first time. As to be expected from a 13 year old who was home alone, I planned on staying up all night and nothing was gonna stop me.

It's only around 2am that I hear some rustling in my backyard. I first jumped to worst case scenario, but then decided that it was most likely just a rabbit or something and decided to leave it. It was a few minutes later that I heard a different sound, and realized how unlikely it was that a rabbit was fiddling with the lock on my back door. I go look out my parents' bedroom window, and low and behold there's a random dude out there down on his knees working on our lock. Now I'll give him credit, he was actually being pretty quiet. I was only able to hear him for a short while Netflix was buffering.

I was absolutely terrified for a brief moment, but being a stereotypical 13 year old boy I wasn't nearly as cautious as I should've been. Anyways, I decided channel my inner Kevin McCallister and fight. Of course I wasn't that reckless though, you see, at the time we had 2 massive ~90lb German Shepherds. And this guy was definitely not on the larger side, I guesstimate about 5'7"ish, and not very beefy. Not to mention these shepherds were trained, and when I told them to be quiet they became super stealth.

After waiting on this guy for a good 20 minutes (yeah I was as disappointed as you are) the door finally creeks open. Never seen anyone sprint so fast in my life, and I would pay good cash to have a video of that guy running for his life, with the 2 beasts in hot pursuit.

In hindsight, there were probably a million better ways to deal with that situation. But I'm also happy I didn't choose any of those, because I had never laughed to hard in my entire life. And I guarantee that guy was never gonna set foot on our property again. No regrets.

BadBoyHaloJr

"The kicker to the story..."

Sunday, November 17, 1991. Approximately 11:30 pm PST. Living alone in San Bernardino, CA. 24 years old. First year as secondary math teacher in San Bernardino. About 3.5 months into living on my own in my first apartment.

I am returning to my apartment from a weekend trip back east to visit my college friends. I have just returned to my apartment complex from the airport. I back my car into the assigned parking space underneath a community carport, upon which I begin to unload the contents of the car into my second floor apartment. I grab as much as I can from the car and make my way up the stairs, unlock the door and drop the items just inside the apartment. In my haste to unload the car, I leave the rear door open on the driver's side. I run back down the stairs to the car, lean in and grab a small gift my friend's parents had given me. As I back out of the rear of the car... I turn around and there is a young male standing directly in front of me.

I jump, proclaiming to him "Jesus Christ dude, you scared the s*** out of me". He looks at me and says, "Give me all of your money". I look at him for a few seconds (seemed like minutes), glance down and see a handgun in his right hand, which he has along the side of his body, resting against his upper calf. I remember letting out a sound, but don't remember whether it was words or just a gasp. He says to me again, "Give me all your motherf****** money". I stand there frozen, unable to move. He reaches with his left hand across to my front left hand pocket, which was empty, then into my front right side pocket and takes out a money clip (given to me by my oldest brother at his wedding to his first wife).

He looks at me and says "Get the f*** out of here and don't turn around or I'll shoot your @ss." I run from the car (and the mugger), up the stairs, which seemed like an eternity in retrospect because I thought he was going to shoot me in the back as I was running away into my apartment). I ran inside, locked the door, ran into the kitchen and cowered on the floor between the refrigerator and the opposing cabinet. I found the phone, called the police and waited.

The little I remember after that was what seemed like the entire San Bernardino Police Department out in full force, helicopter included, looking for the mugger. I also remember calling my sister back east at approximately 4 am for her, scared to death.

They never did find the guy. I was so traumatized, I was unable to leave my apartment after dark for nearly six months. It took me almost a year to again feel comfortable leaving my apartment at any time of the day. Each time I walked to my car, my head was on a swivel and I was like a scared rabbit darting my eyes every which way looking for danger.

The kicker to the story (because every great story has to have a kicker)... I had approximately $12,000 in betting slips, from Las Vegas casinos (which I flew to before I made my way back east that weekend), located in my wallet, which was in my back left pocket/ Fortunately, for me and the friends for whom I placed their sports wagers, he never bothered to check my back left pocket. In all, he probably got away with about $80-100 in cash... and my brother's inexpensive money clip gift.

pokrplayr

"A few years later..."

I lived in an apartment on the second story of a 2-story apartment building near my college campus. I lived there for 7 years without any other incidents, but one night I awoke in the wee hours of the morning to someone beating on my door. It sounded like several people or one very angry person. They were beating so hard it sounded like they wanted to break it down. I tried to sneak up to the peep hole but they heard me and the pounding stopped. When I tried to look out I couldn't see anything because whoever it was had their hand over the peep hole. I waited a minute and looked again and didn't see anyone. Nothing else happened that night.

A few years later I got married and my wife and I lived in a small townhouse apartment just across the street from where I used to live. The worst night was when our door was repeatedly beaten upon, not unlike the first story, throughout the night. We also heard shouts and fighting in the streets outside.

At some point a crying woman started banging on the door demanding to be let inside. I felt bad not looking but I've heard it's a favorite tactic to lure people out. Had it just been me I might've risked it, but I had my wife and infant son inside with me, so no go. My wife and I just huddled in our bedroom with our son and prayed whatever was going on outside would go away, and eventually it did. We saw other crazy stuff and fights over drugs outside too on other nights. That place got worse and worse until we decided to move whatever the cost for the sake of our little ones.

Oh and if you're wondering why we didn't call the police - we did - many times - and they just never really came by - or came by hours later when it had calmed down. I talked to a police sergeant at church about it and he told me that entire area was full of crime and drugs and the police are swamped with calls for that place. He says they do the best they can but his advice was just to move out. So we did.

Baptor

"I can hear someone..."

I almost did this to someone else.

Saw a loose dog on the street, so I went out to grab it, check its collar, and take it home. Well, it didn't like me so it f***ed off up the street and into someone's house. I'm like... okay, hopefully that's the dog's house and it's not going on an adventure, because my dog did that once, so I knock on the door.

I can hear someone vacuuming inside, and they don't answer. They probably can't hear me over the vacuum so I step in to say "hey, just want to make sure this is your dog?"

Well, they're in the hallway, still vacuuming, back to me. I say, "Hey" and they don't notice.

Dog is lying on a bed next to the door.

I decide, you know what, this is probably the dog's house, I think I'll go before that lady turns around and gets the fright of her life.

Just imagine turning around and someone's pointing at your dog, in your own house, "hey is this your dog?"

Echospite

"I had a huge porcelain doll collection..."

I grew up in a haunted house. Enough stuff consistently happened where we all just accepted it. I had this game called Shiver Me Timbers that was battery operated. It was a skeleton pirate who would shake if you triggered him while trying to remove something from him and had an on/off switch. One night I woke up in a panic because I could hear this crazy noise coming from my closet (I had my own room and my parents would not come in if I was scared). Open up the closet and realize Shiver My Timbers is moving in its box even though it was switched off. Scared the piss out of me. It happened again another night and so I took out the batteries. I swear to god, that thing did it again without the batteries and at that point I decided to no longer keep the game in my closet.

One day me and my little brother are home alone waiting for my dad to return from the store where he went to get supplies. Before he left he had been working in our attic. We hear someone go up the attic stairs not long after he left and think he is back. So my stupid ass goes out to the hall and walks halfway up the attic stairs before realizing my dad's not there. I tear down the stairs, quickly glance out the window (no car) and run back in the bedroom with my brother and lock the door. My dad returns like ten minutes later and we tell him what happened. None of us could figure out what we heard, but we knew we heard someone go up the attic stairs because it was a very distinct scrapey sound due to the old hard linoleum on them. Super scary.

I had a huge porcelain doll collection in my bedroom-like 30 dolls. One of my dolls was kept downstairs because I ran out of room and she was also battery operated and would move around (swing back and forth). This freaking doll wound start moving around on her own even though we kept her off all of the time. It got to the point where we just stopped caring if we noticed. We figured it was just part of the fun of living in our house, but stuff always seemed to happen when we were alone (either the only person in the house at the time or alone in a room).

smcivor1982

"For the record..."

I've had some creepy stuff happen to me. I've only had two incidences. First time something creepy happened was, I was in my room with the window open at night, and I hear a really sharp whisper saying "Sam!" (my name). I immediately got a flashlight and pointed it out my window. Nothing and no one. I should've been able to see if someone was there bc of the shape of my house and the angle I have.

Second time, in the same year, I was sleeping and I woke up in the middle of the night to get some water and use the bathroom. Then I hear someone/thing whistling. It wasn't random tho, it was like a perfect "do re do re do re." (as in do re mi fa so...etc.) Understand, I've been around music my whole life. Dad plays 5 instruments, mom's a music major and I myself play the violin and viola. I'm not a music genius or prodigy, but the without a doubt, the whistle was a perfectly repeated pitch.

For the record, I have never experienced things like sleep paralysis or anything.

248sam

"He then walked up..."

In 1994 at 4:34 am, I heard the door to our bedroom open. I thought it was my husband but I could hear him lightly snoring next to me. There was a street light that cast a slightly dim light into the window in our bedroom and I could make out a short man with balding hair and he absolutely reeked of stale cigarette smoke. He was going through the items on my husband's chest of drawers. My husband moved slightly and the man just crouched down at the foot of our bed.

He then walked up beside me and I was afraid he could hear my heart beating loud and fast. I was terrified more than I had ever been afraid of in my life. I was afraid he was going to hurt or kill us. He started feeling around on my nightstand as I watched through slightly opened eyes.

He then went out of our bedroom and shut the bedroom door behind him. I rolled over towards my husband and put my hand on his mouth to wake him. If he was awakened before his normal time he would cuss at me so I knew I couldn't have that. I told him a man came into our bedroom and just walked out. My husband was a reserve police officer but his gun was in our office locked in his gun cabinet.

I had always placed my handbag on the post of our stairs. He took that. I had left my less than a half pack of cigarettes and lighter on our kitchen island and he took those.

My husband looked for something he could hit the man with and found the tripod for our camera while I called 911.

Our living room had a large window overlooking the street and apparently the man saw the police car pull up with their lights flashing and went out the back patio door that he previously pried open into the dark. The officers looked around the house before coming in the house to talk to us.

That same man had broken into another house before ours and walked past the owner in the hallway where the owner was going to the restroom and casually walked out of the house.

Here's the real scary part. On the outskirts of our town was a state prison. When the inmates were released they stayed at a small motel a few blocks from us until their rides could come to town to pick them up the next day. The officers were telling us, the motel had a contract with the prison system to give them a safe place to stay before leaving town. They felt confident this man was a recent release from the prison.

He didn't offer to hurt us but he could have if we had got up out of bed while he was in the bedroom. The police never found him but I don't think they really tried either.

If he had bothered to turn the light on in the kitchen he would have seen two full cartons of cigarettes on the same island that my husband had purchased the evening before.

My purse only had a penny in it and I didn't have any credit cards in it. Our insurance company paid for our new patio door with a better lock so it wouldn't be so easy to open.

sharonanneriley

"I go around kicking piles of clothes..."

I knew I had one, and it finally just hit me.

A childhood friend of mine asked if I could look over their family dog at his parents place who had just moved to a new home. They were going on vacation and needed someone quickly and I happily obliged. When I arrived, the house is mostly furnished, well lived in, and empty of beings, except for the beautiful cocker spaniel named Bailey I was responsible for.

One piece of nostalgia I must share is that they had a super nice, massive TV complete with surround sound in the living room where I decided to setup my PC and played a bunch of Final Fantasy XIV on.

Anyway, since the guest bedroom was incomplete, they insisted I sleep in the master bedroom. This was definitely hard for me to do, even with their permission and sincerity. A part of me felt like it would be disrespectful to sleep in their bed, so I didn't. I slept on the equally comfortable couch. The first night at a new place is always strange, getting used to different sounds and what not. I've always found it fascinating small sounds can seem much louder at night, like creaks and such. So the first night, I felt like I heard so much more than I normally do at my own home. I ignored it and tried to get some sleep. The 2nd night, same thing, just so many random noises all over the house.

By the 3rd night, I've had enough. I'm just gonna sleep in the master bedroom, turn on the fan and get some quality sleep. I know now, I should've just stayed on the couch.

The majority of the house has hardwood, but the master bedroom is carpeted. It's about 1 AM and I'm in that state where I'm mostly asleep but still slightly conscious and I'm a stomach sleeper. Then I heard a brand new sound (compared to the recent nights) but unmistakably familiar. The same sound you make when you're trying to walk on carpet as silent as you can. My eyes shot wide open and I'm now fully focusing on the where I heard the sound. The sound came from exactly where the door is to enter the room which is behind me. Then I heard a second shuffling of a foot against carpet, then a third that seemed to going to the left side of the bed and getting closer (I'm on the right). I'm in total, frozen fear trying to think of how to get out my vulnerable position. I just SNEEZE. Quick and loud, and try to recover by making incoherent mumblings of a sleepy human.

I reshuffle my head to face to the left. The only thing giving away that I'm completely awake are my wide open eyes looking for anything to see in this pitch dark room. It's been a while and I should have a view of whatever was in here. I start thinking, maybe I left the door open and Bailey came in. I haven't heard anything in the last few minutes and as my eyes adjust to the darkness, I see something that made my skin crawl, even now as I'm reliving the experience. Someone is staring back at me. They are curled up in the corner between the left night stand and the wall. I can still remember they looked relatively thin, had a beard and was wearing dark clothing.

At this point, I'm not sure they know if I'm awake or not. So I make quick, short movements to see if I can startle them. In hindsight, this was probably a horrible idea, but I get no reaction from them. I slowly start sliding towards the right of the bed and inching out of the covers in a way that's feels like restlessness. I'm finally out and I think to myself...GO! I grab my glasses off the right nightstand and bolt towards the door and hit the light. There's nobody here. I open the front door and look outside... nothing but Bailey looking startled. I turn back into the room, still nothing, but there's a door to the closet next to the left nightstand, closed. I turn the knob and kicked the door away from me and back away. Just darkness and can only make out piles of clothes everywhere and hanging on the racks. I hit the light switch. They could be hiding anywhere and here...and worst of all...there's another door that is slightly open on the other side. WTF, I've never ever seen another door for a closet before, especially one that I find out leads to the hallway to the other side of the house.

I go around kicking piles of clothes and thicker sections of hung clothing. Nothing, I open the door that was slightly ajar, and it's just an empty hallway. I full sprint to front door... Nothing. That's all I can remember and went back to the couch the rest of my time there and only getting sleep during the daytime.

ChasmofCzar


People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

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

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

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

– Practical_Eye_3600

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

– bikergirlr7

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

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

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

– KingBooRadley

Remember

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

– AquamarineCheetah

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

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

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

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

– OhhGoood

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

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

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

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

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

– RandomSharinganUser

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

– Kolkeia

If Only

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

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

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

– drummerskillit

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

– Isitjustmedownhere

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

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

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

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

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

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

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

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

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

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

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

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

– We-R-Doomed

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

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

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

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

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

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

– LesPaltaX

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

– MoonlightKayla

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

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

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

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

PeachesnPain

Recovery

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

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

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

good_golly99

Take Me Back

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

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

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

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

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

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

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

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

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

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

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

Hannah_LL7

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

huntokarrr

The Fog

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

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

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

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

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

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

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

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

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

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

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

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

– r7ndom

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

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

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

– dee-fondy

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

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

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

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

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

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

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

– KatMagic1977

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

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

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

– WaySavvyD

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

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

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

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

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

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

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

– LiZZygsu

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

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

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

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

– Princess-Pancake-97

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

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

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

– snic2030

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

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

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

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

– dma1965

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

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

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