Aliens, love, tie dye... it's all beyond comprehension and definition. We all have come face to face with moments in life when we're not sure if we're experiencing déjà vu or we're still asleep. Sometimes we're reliving moments or seeing double of people and sometimes, it's just ghosts. The abnormal has very much become a normal part of the human experience. It kind of always was, now we just have to explain it.
Redditor u/queenofbras wanted to discuss the times we've all been left aghast without words to string together by asking.... What was the strangest moment in your life that you still can't explain upto this day?
twin GIFWe passed each other going super-slow, and made eye contact. We both started laughing, and then continued on. My wife was sitting in the passenger seat, and saw him as well. It was super weird, and really fun for whatever reason. We still talk about it 10 years later. I regret not stopping and finding the guy to take a photo together.
Isaac
My friends and I used to hang out at this coffeeshop almost every single night for years. There were six of us. One summer, this guy "Isaac" started showing up every night. He was around our age and was from out of state, staying with his grandparents for the summer. He became part of our group, playing board games with us, talking till like 2 am. He would walk to the coffeeshop and I'd give him a ride back to his grandparent's house at the end of the night. At the end of the summer, he went back home and we never heard from him again (this was pre social media).
Maybe about five years later, after our group had mostly grown apart and we were reuniting while everyone was in town for a holiday, we were sitting at our coffeeshop, reminiscing. I brought up Isaac ("I wonder what happened to him") and nobody knew who I was talking about. I even have a photo of him, which I eventually found and emailed everyone, but nobody recognized him. It's now been over a decade and still nobody remembers Isaac but me.
Off to McDonalds....
This one time when I was little my dad woke me up at like 2am and he said "get ready, we're going to McDonalds". . . . I was soooo freaking confused and kept asking why, but he wouldn't answer anything besides, "because" or "to have fun", the rest of my family (2 brothers, sister, and mom) didn't come with and IIRC they were still asleep when we left.
The play place was closed, and we just kinda sat there for an hour or so eating, then went back home. To this day, I still have NO idea why he frantically needed me out of the house and he swears he doesn't remember that happening, but the whole thing was SO weird that I kept the toy that I got from the happy meal to remember it by, that I still have it to this day....
BECAUSE it's my only proof of this weird freaking night that my dad (almost scarily) hurried me to McDonalds at 2am.
I have 2 thoughts, my sister crapped the bed and they were worried I'd make fun of her??? Maybe they somehow noticed like rats or something in my room??? But were worried I wouldn't be able to sleep if I knew that there were rats and they needed an hour or so to get it out???
Either way, very strange night that my dad refuses to tell me the truth about, which only makes me think it's something much worse??? Like. I'm 23 now, if he said "yeah ur sister pooped the bed and we didn't want you to know" I'd have been like cool cool cool nice good thinking lol, but he REFUSES to believe that it happened? WHAT HAPPENED?!
Ho-Ho-Ho Vancouver
santa claus GIFGiphyI saw Santa driving one day and I was so giddy from it my husband thought I was crazy for being so happy.
It was like October or something and this guy was dressed up in a good quality suit and he had a real beard and everything. It was amazing.
You know what... I live in Vancouver, Canada. I bet you be was filming something in the area.
I'm Done
I was at work several years ago, and a coworker (S) had a massive seizure. (He later told us he had never had one before.) Everyone started freaking out, and a man came over and gently held S down because he was in danger of slamming into a desk. When the seizure passed, the man stood up and said "Ambulance should be here soon, so my work is done" and left.
The weird thing? Nobody had ANY idea who that guy was. We were all so concerned about S that we didn't really register that the guy was a stranger until S was taken to the hospital. We were in a building that required a keycard to enter, and it was closed to the general public. There were only 12 of us in that office, and he wasn't one of us.
So who the hell WAS he?
Take the Fire
I spent a night a bit drunk with some friends sketching and sharing new ideas for an art project we were working on. We talked a lot about using a fire extinguisher filled with paint for a background effect on huge canvas or a full room, but were wondering where we could get one for cheap and if it would work as we expected. Around 5 am I leave my friends apartment to take the first subway home and I kid you not, two streets further on my way and in the middle of the sidewalk there is a freaking (empty) fire extinguisher.
Took it home. It was such a strange coincidence, since i never stumbled upon an empty fire extinguisher in the street at any other point in my life. I was pretty sure I dreamt about it when I woke up later, but nope, it was still in the corner of my bedroom!
mama.....
When I was 7 or 8, I used to spend Friday nights at my grandma's house. And she spoiled the crap out of me, so I loved it. One night, though, I suddenly had a strange urge to call my mom. I dialed my phone number - I mean I knew my own number right? A woman answered, and I suddenly blurted out "mom come and get me". I have no idea why, to this day, that came out of my mouth.
Like I said I loved it there, and up until that moment had no thoughts of being picked up. Anyways, the person on the other end starts to sound panicky and says,"where are you??!" It hits me that this isn't my mom, so I just hang up, and go back to watching tv. So weird, and while it seems so minor it's stuck with me for 30+ years.
Papa can you hear me?
fathers day dad GIFGiphyI was t-boned in an intersection. Not a very serious accident, mostly just shaken up.
I was out of state at college at the time. Minutes after the accident, my cell phone rang and it was my dad. He said all the sudden he was consumed with an overwhelming urge to call me, and was everything ok?
I told him I was in an accident. He has passed away since but he and I always had a very strong connection. I wish he would call me now, but then I guess it would be the strangest moment.
"oh, girls, she's here"
When I worked in hospice I took care of a sweet man who saw his wife before he died. She had been dead for 5 years.
He was wheelchair bound, but the night he died, he was up and walking. He kept insisting his wife was coming to get him. When the nurse and I got him settled into his room for the umpteenth time, he looked at the empty doorway, and said: "oh, girls, she's here" and then he went unresponsive and died about an hour later.
The Dream
jimmy fallon dreaming GIF by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy FallonGiphyI had a dream once and within the next month, everything from that dream happened in real life.
For example, in the dream my wife rearranged our room which is weird because she hates rearranging stuff and then the next week she arranged it exactly like dream. In the dream i also got promoted and then less than a week later i did in real life.
The Transfer
It's probably just poor memory but in primary school apparently we had a new girl who was in our class for half a year before transferring to another school. A few years later in middle school, my close friend (she knew the girl outside of school) brought her up and none of us from the same primary school could remember her at all. Eventually she did convince us that the girl exists and I do have a vague recollection of someone transferring to our class for only half a year, but I couldn't remember having any form of interaction with her before.
joy farm GIFWas leaving the stable and driving around on these curvy roads leading past several farms. All of a sudden, I had this sudden urge to go back to the stable and get a lead rope (basically a thick rope with a bull snap on one end that you clip to a horse's halter to... um lead them around). I ignored it, continued driving, came around the corner, and there was a freaking massive cow in the middle of the road. I just sat there in my car and laughed like really universe? Ended up waiting for the cow to finish being stupid in the middle of the road and wander off before I could get past it.
Doubles
I had a few weeks of pregnancy symptoms, id been pregnant before and it was exactly the Same. So i took some tests and did them daily until eventually i got weird faint lines. One night i had to stay awake next to my open window all night with headache and nausea. I knew at this point I was certainly pregnant and i was about to get a positive test soon.
So i tried that morning and it came up very faint. I asked my twin was she unwell lately or anything and she was like yeah i was up feeling ill all last night why? I said well I've been feeling sick a lot lately, she said "me too" and sent me a pregnancy scan telling me its early so not to tell anyone..... I had my period a couple of days after.
Looks Fine
I was in a car with my grandparents on our way back home from a road trip...
I was casually watching random cars go by on the opposite side of the highway and whatnot (no iPads or anything in 93) and then suddenly in my peripherals, I saw something that caught my attention....
It was an RV/mobile home and it was literally ROLLING over and over sideways.... It must have rolled 2 or 3 times and then came to a stop, upright, on its 4 wheels...
I kinda gasped and tried to describe what I saw to my grandfather but they didn't really pay much attention to me. I remember my grandmother looking back through the back window and saying "it looks fine"... I guess they didn't believe me.
They didn't even slow down..I have no idea how it happened, what happened to the people or anything. I think about it every few months.
Vacation Daze
I told work I had to go out of town for a week for a family member's (my grandmother's cousin in Texas) funeral. Completely fictitious. ... in reality I just wanted time off to hang out at the luxury home my friend was house sitting, hot tub, full bar, etc.
The day my "vacation" started, I got a call that my grandmother's cousin passed away and they were going out of town for the funeral and expected me to go with them.
Photobomb
george costanza photobomb GIFGiphyMy Mom was looking at an old photo album and talking about a party that she organized for her coworkers more than 25 years ago. She said that it was nice of me to have help her there setting up the tables etc...
I have zero recollection of that party, nothing, so I thought she was joking. Then she showed me the pictures and I'm there!!! Wtf! It's not like I was a kid. I was maybe 19 or 20.
When in a Mazda....
Friends and I in my crappy Mazda smoking weed in the ally behind my gfs house. Neighbor walks out and starts punching an electric pole until his hands look like hamburger meat and there is blood soaking his white shirt. He calmly walks back into his house. We uncalmly get the hell out of there.
Take Care
When I was in my teens, my dad relapsed into his drug and alcohol addiction again. It was the last straw for my mom and I, and we took off in the car at night to go for a drive and get out of the house. We were both angrier than we'd ever been.
As we drove down the street, each streetlight we passed popped and went dark, for at least three blocks. At the time it really felt like our anger was so destructive that it was affecting the world around us.
My mom and I still talk about that night and wonder wtf was going on with those lights.
Edit: since I've never gotten so many upvotes before, I'll take this opportunity to hijack my own comment and advise everyone to treat your bodies kindly. My dad ended up dying at 55, alone in rehab, after lying down for a nap. He didn't feel well and nobody took him seriously because he was a junkie in rehab. His heart gave out after years of abusing it. He was extremely flawed, but nobody deserves to die alone and ignored.
Take care of yourselves while you can.
The Light Show
Ok, this happened at my grandma's house. I was lying awake on the couch in the middle of the night, when this kaleidoscope of colors and lights appeared on the ceiling and began moving around the walls. I silently watched it until it disappeared and went to sleep. I shared the living room with my sister, and my grandma slept in a chair to keep us company. Since it was dark and I hadn't heard anything, I assumed I was the only one still awake to see it.
The next morning at the breakfast table, my grandma brought up the "light show" she had seen the night before and didn't seem to know what it was.
She described what I'd seen perfectly.
After she left the table, my dad and aunt both seemed very concerned that she might be losing her mind. In my little kid brain I thought if I told them I'd seen it too they might think the same about me, so I kept quiet about it.
If it hadn't been for the fact she'd seen it too, I would've chalked it up to a number of things. But I honestly don't know what to make of it.
The Arrangement
meeting startup GIF by chuber channelGiphyWhen i was 9 i was told to clean my room and we would go to the local video store to rent a video game for the weekend.
I clean my room, my mom approves of the cleaning job, we go to the store and i get my game. Whole trip lasts 20 minutes tops. Get back and all my toys are spread out across the floor in neatly organized lines, very deliberate looking. No one else was in the house. Nothing missing. Just this strange toy issue. My guess is it was a friend of mine either screwing with me or looking for something of theirs but no one ever confessed.
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Reddit user FunChemical3182 asked:
"What is the weirdest animal fact you know?"
Like Perry
"Platypus glow blueish green under ultraviolet light."
"They also don’t have nipples, they just exude milk from glands under the skin and the baby’s lap it up."
~ WakingOwl1
"They have electrolocation in their bills that lets them detect their food under water."
~ DrPlatypus1
"And they lay eggs."
"The more I find out about them the more I understand why people first thought they were fake."
~ Reidroshdy
"After seeing all these platypus facts I am convinced these things are aliens that have been abandoned on Earth."
~ SeattleOne206
Kapow!
"Mantis Shrimp have 16 different sets of cones. Rods and cones are in your eyes. Cones see color, rods see light and motion."
"Dogs have 2 sets of cones—green and blue. Humans have 3 sets of cones—green, blue and red."
"Mantis Shrimp are seeing colors we can't comprehend and explains why they're very colorful."
"That’s not even the strangest thing about them."
"They can also punch as fast as a .22 bullet which cause a cavitation bubble which boils the water around them at temperatures of several thousand Kelvins."
~ RigzDigz
GiphyTerrible Twos
"Cats have the mental capacity of a 2-year-old which makes a lot of sense."
~ Alive_Ad823
Cats Dragging GIFGiphyLike Tinder
"When a female sloth wants a mate she'll hang onto a tree branch and just scream."
~ Remarkable_Sink2542
GiphyGood Thing They're So Small
"Dragonflies are the most successful predators on Earth."
"When lions choose prey they have like a 10% chance of catching it."
"African painted dogs—who hunt in packs—have the highest kill rate of any mammal, successfully catching 51% of their prey."
"When a dragonfly locks onto a target, it has a 99.9% success rate!"
~ PurpleInevitable2103
GiphyOn A Swivel
"Owls have really long necks, but it's hard to notice that because their feathers are so fluffy."
~ ergonaut
GiphyWhat About Cousin It?
"Sea otters are the most densely furred animal with 600,000 to 1,000,000 hair follicles per square inch."
"Dogs have about 15,000 per square inch, humans on average are between 800 to 1,290 hairs per square inch."
~ atom1129
Giphy
Sucker Punchers
"Octopus punch other fish for no reason—so, for fun."
~ Samanthalynn8915
"There's a direct correlation between species' intelligence and dickish behavior."
~ TheDesktopNinja
Looks Are Deceiving
"Polar bear fur isn't white—it's translucent (for most frequencies of light). And they have black skin underneath."
"So polar bear fur lets all the light through to their black skin to warm them—except for a few visible frequencies to keep them camouflaged as white."
~ seedanrun
GiphyWho's Going To Attack One‽‽
"Honey badgers can turn their a**holes inside out and use the smell to deter attackers."
"Not sure what exactly has the guts to attack a honey badger, but if they have the courage to do so, the badger sure as hell isn’t gonna make it easy."
~ nonexistantauthor
GiphyBig Momma
"The Blanket Octopus exhibits the highest degree of sexual dimorphism known."
"Females: About 6 feet across."
"Males: About one inch."
~ Fabulous-Pause4154
High Times
"Dolphins will intentionally use puffer fish to get high."
~ altkaldra
"They upset blowfish so they inflate, and therefore emit poison. It gets the dolphins high. Then they pass it around, literally."
~ smack4u
"Not just the dolphins. I recently saw a video about 10 animals that like to get high. Very interesting."
~ s137leo__
"Lemurs do that with giant centipedes/millipedes too."
~ chubbyknuckles420
Fabrizio Frigeni on Unsplash
Better Than Bike Helmets
"Woodpeckers' tongues wrap around their brains to cushion them from the vibrations of slamming their face into trees all day."
~ we_made_yewww
"Their tongues also have barbs to grab bugs out of the holes."
"Their brains have additional cushioning because, you know, they spend their days smashing their face as hard as possible into trees."
~ RhynoD
Detachable Organs
"Argonauts [paper nautili] are small octopuses that are too lazy to have intercourse."
"They detach their penises and toss them into the open sea to mate with female argonauts."
"The detachable 'd*ck' is a tiny tentacle, complete with suckers and sperm, that develops in a cavity under the eye of a male argonaut [paper nautilus]."
"When it's time to mate, the tentacle explodes out of the cavity, instantly killing the male argonaut. The tentacle then swims towards a female argonaut to insert itself."
"Sexy, huh?"
~ Schwarzes__Loch
What's your favorite weird animal fact?
Tough guys put on a facade that indicates to others that they always know what's going on.
But their confidence doesn't always match their intellect, which is probably why they cover their insecurities by walking around and trying to show everyone who's really the boss.
If that's the case, they should keep their mouths shut because not everything that comes out of their mouth needs to be heard.
Yet, it can be amusing to everyone else.
Curious to hear examples of these, Redditor PrototypeShadowBlitz asked:
"Reddit, what is the stupidest thing you've heard from the 'alpha male' community?"
You might find these guys at a bar.
The Dude Must Be Hungry
"Had a run in once with a group of young lads about something in a bar and one of them said we are top of the food chain bro and you will be the prey."
– insertitherenow
"'Whatever, mall ninja" -proper response."
– TheEighthLord
If The Shoe Fits
"That they were an alpha male."
– I_Have_A_Name37654
"The use of 'Alpha Male,' unironically is every indication that you're dealing with a child's understanding of manhood."
– 88Dubs
Brat Pack
"Me and my bros are all alpha males."
– SonOfDadOfSam
"I was skiing one time and rode the lift with a guy that said, 'I don't feel no pain. I live with 5 roommates and none of us feel any pain.' Okay, bud. That's a really interesting coincidence."
– NicPizzaLatte
They sure thrive on making sexist comments.
Contagious Femininity
"A coworker said, 'I don't spend too much time with my girlfriend because I'll become too feminine.'"
– Lazy_Natural6154
"FELLAS IS IT GAY?!"
– aliebabadegrote
Sexist Categorization
"I have been called a beta for saying that my wife makes more money than I do. She works in a more lucrative field and is more educated than I am, so it makes perfect sense that she makes more than I do."
"So I came back, and this post has really blown up. There's just a few things I want to clarify."
"1- I have only ever been called a beta online."
"2- I work full-time in project management. I have a master's degree. I have a 6 figure salary."
"3- My wife has a PhD and works in finance. She also has a 6 figure salary, it's just a higher salary than my own."
"4- I'm sorry to anyone who might feel as though my original post misled them."
– ExaminationDouble240
It's Teamwork
"A real man would be proud of his wife for achieving success, and not fall for that sort of insecure bullsh*t."
"It's not a contest, that's the real joke here. Good on you for seeing the big picture."
– Mrbeardoesthethings
Do these roles about parenting sound familiar?
Childish Things Are Too Girly
"Real men don't take their kids trick or treating is one that I heard recently."
– constructionguy89
"Related. Guys who brag about not changing diapers, not playing 'girly' games, etc. Essentially guys who brag that their only contribution to fatherhood is money and masculine things like fishing or football. Even then some of them brag about not paying a lot of child support to prove they didn't let the system take advantage of them."
"I can't imagine a life so empty my only accomplishment worth bragging about was being a terrible parent."
– Green7000
This Woman's Work
"I was told that taking care of my kids is woman's work. Apparently it's concerning that I try to spend so much of my free time with them. Oddly enough the meatheads at my grappling club think it's sweet I occasionally have my daughters' hair clips on and nails painted."
– MrFunktasticc
People discussed rules in the bedroom.
Never Submissive
"That a man is turned off when their wife/girlfriend seduces them, because if she wants sex and shows it she is a sl*t, also making the man the submissive one…"
– kamalaophelia
Stifling Emotions
"Not the whole community, but was cuddling with a guy once and could tell he was trying not to get emotional over something that was bothering him. He said, quite literally, 'it's not alpha male behaviour.' I told him that I liked that he showed emotions sometimes, and he looked disgusted by the fact that I pointed it out."
– LambLifts
In high school, a classmate who was on the football team said I was a "sissy" for listening to classical music.
The other classmates laughed at me, which was hardly surprising since all of the guys on our unbeatable football team were considered stars on campus.
This kind of mockery was a typical day for me.
I can laugh at their idiotic comments now but back then, I don't know why I ever let them get under my skin.
We've all done things, or in some cases, regularly do things that others might consider weird.
Even so, we often feel no shame or embarrassment and embrace how unusual these habits are, and take our friends teasing or laughing at us for doing so in stride.
Sometimes, however, we might not like to advertise some of our unusual habits or actions and make every effort to keep them a well-guarded secret.
As raised eyebrows are much easier to take than blatant judgment from friends and peers.
Redditor Key_Nectarine_1969 was curious to hear all the weird things people have done which they still keep under lock and key, leading them to ask:
"What’s the weirdest thing you’ve done that you could only tell people anonymously?"
The Devil [Dogs] Is In The Detail...
"All throughout middle school, there was someone who tucked unwrapped Hostess Devil Dogs into the toilet paper dispensers in the bathrooms, so that when you pulled some toilet paper out, the devil dog would fall out into your hand."
"We had to have an assembly about it."
"That person... Was me."- bejeweled_sky
Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time
"Was drunk at an escape room with coworkers."
"It was an extreme one where you are handcuffed the entire time."
"I decided in my drunken state that it would be bada** to dislocated my thumb and slip off the cuffs like the movies."
"It wasn't."
"We got kicked out, my coworkers were weirded out and I had to go to the hospital."
"I quit a few weeks later."
"White collar wasn't for me."- Grotesque-penguin
The Bread Of Heaven
"Stole over 1,000 wafers from church because I really liked the communion wafers & didn’t know where else to get them."
"I felt really blessed & cursed for a long time."- hALLIEcinate
catholic the exorcist GIFGiphyRetracing Steps...
"Once I got off the subway in NYC and I was super early for an appointment."
"So I picked a random guy and just followed him on foot for like 30 minutes, pretending I was like a private detective or something."
"Always kept about a half block behind."
"He turned this way and that, and eventually went into a building I had lived in 9 years earlier."
"It was weird, and so was I."- OKsurewhynotyep
Hygeine Be Damned...
"I found a dead rat in a field when i was younger and kissed it bc I wanted to say goodbye."- qeleia
exercise push up GIFGiphyBad Decisions Have A Way Of Getting Back To You...
"We got super drunk and ate a ton of spicy food in New Orleans."
"Back at the B&B, the food started to come out the back side."
"I was sitting on the toilet sh*tting bricks of fire."
"At that moment, the booze decided to hang a u-turn."
"The trash can was out of reach and I couldn't risk standing up from the toilet for even 5 seconds."
"The closest receptacle was the bathtub."
"I managed to turn in such a way that I could keep shi*ting in the toilet while projectile vomiting into the tub."
"Both ended up clogged, and there was no plunger."
"I had to call the owner to explain that I had destroyed both their toilet and their tub simultaneously."- HoopOnPoop
Things Best Left To Professionals...
"My partner is weirdly prone to cysts."
"I had to drain a 3 inch cyst on her back (thankfully she had a dr's appt the next week), then multiple other little cysts on her legs and chest."
"I never told her to her face but that first giant cyst literally haunted me, the amount of pus and blood I saw....good heavens."- SleepyBiologist
uruguay spot GIF by sargentoPezGiphyAt Least A Lesson Was Learned...
"When I was walking to school one morning, I saw a kid (7-8 yo?) kicking a dog."
"I ran over & kicked the kid and asked him how it felt."
"He ran off and no one saw."
"Still not sorry."- sneezyailurophile
All Creatures Deserve Love
"I was extremely socially isolated as a child and tried to make friends with the coyotes who lived in the woods by our home."
'I caught one in a snare and fed and kept her."
"I wanted a friend."- letthetreeburn
That's What Friends Are For...
"My wife and her best friend pick me up from a frat party black out drunk."
"Then they helped me take a sh*t on the toilet, wiped my a** and then gave me a shower and put me to bed naked."
"Don’t remember any of it."- nc3100
Party Love GIF by Chris CiminoGiphyNot The Right Kind Of Manure...
"One time I went outside at like 2AM and put the garden hose nozzle into my butthole and sprayed some water into it, then farted it out onto the lawn."
"Basically gave myself an enema with a garden hose."
"I did this because I was bored."
"My neighbour saw me and told my dad (lived at home at the time)."- WaspsInMyGoatse
A Little Fantasy Now And Then...
"When I was younger I joined an international dating site that I figured was a scam."
"Put a black square as my picture and gave myself a fake name, and then looked through their users."
"And after about 10 minutes I had like a 100 messages."
"Most of them were messages telling me how handsome I was or how these women fell in love with me at first site."
"Now I knew it was a scam but when ever I felt down or got rejected for a while I would pop back on the site and read a few messages."
'Yeah it’s kinda cringy and probably pathetic but it made me feel better."
"I would just turn off that logical part of my brain that knew it was a scam for awhile and just pretend I was this popular and desirable guy."
"And it honestly got me through the day sometimes."- Demonking3343
dating app GIFGiphyIf anyone says they've never done anything they're ashamed, or at the very least less-than-proud of, in all likelihood, they are lying.
Or, more likely, they understandably want to pretend that it never happened.
Which might be a little easier than harboring a secret.