"that was a fairy."

Did not see anything, but every time I tell this story people say "that was a fairy." This is the one and only inexplicable moment of my life.

About 10 years ago I got home from school and threw my car keys on a leather ottoman in my man cave. Every day when I came home I would do this; throw keys on ottoman, turn around and go to the bathroom. When I returned from the bathroom, even though I saw my keys land on the ottoman, keys were gone. I was home alone. Maybe in the bathroom for 30-45 seconds. Looked all around the floor, no keys. Checked under the ottoman and couch, no keys. Lifted the ottoman OFF THE GROUND AND SHOOK IT OVER MY HEAD. No keys.

At this point I convinced myself I imagined throwing my keys and I had for some reason put them on the bathroom counter. No keys in the bathroom. Turn back around... AND THE FREAKING KEYS ARE SITTING RIGHT ON THE OTTOMAN. There's no way. Recalling this incident gives me chills and it is the only thing in my life that convinces me of the existence of the paranormal.

Delicious_Debauchery

In the Attic

So when I was a kid I got a huge kick out of hiding in various spots around our house and then going out and scaring my mom or my sister whenever they would walk past.

The challenge was finding new spots that they wouldn't see coming, but that I knew they would be at. I wanted to get a good scare, but I didn't want to have to wait an eternity for someone to come by.

This only happened once and it still scares me when I think about it. I had picked a spot in our attic on this day. I knew my mom would be coming up there because she was going to get out props for a church play that we kept up there. So I set up behind a stack of boxes and waited.

About five or six minutes in I heard someone very faintly say, "hmmm", as if me being there was interesting and maybe unexpected. The sound came from almost directly behind me and I immediately froze.

Then I felt breath on the back of my neck. Now I was raised on a farm and the number one rule when encountering something that you assume you have no control over (coyotes, lynx, snakes, and the occasional irritable cow) is to not make any sudden movements. Then you slowly remove yourself from the situation and create distance without provoking whatever you are faced with.

So I sat there for about 20 seconds. Stock still, absolutely terrified. After that I slowly stood up and started to move away. I wasn't about to turn and look behind me. I got two steps and a hand clamped down on my right shoulder.

I screamed wrenched away and ran until I was out of the house. Once outside my mom and my sister came running to see why I was screaming. They had been outside with our dogs the whole time. My dad was at our other property almost ten miles away.

Sure I could've imagined it. It never happened again. Nobody believed me then. My mom and dad both made multiple trips to the attic to show me nothing was up there. I don't know what it was, but it was something.

cringeemoji

Tall and Majestic

My daughter and I regularly and reliably saw a "hide behind" from my kitchen window.

This eventually lead to us learning the truth about this midwestern mythical creature.

What we saw was 7-8 feet tall, bipedal, spindly legs, gaunt with protruding rib cage, no horns or protruding ears.

It/they would lean out from behind a tree in the forest behind our house. If you moved about, it would pop back behind the tree.

We never saw more than one at a time, but their seemed to be more than one, as height varied.

We sometimes saw it multiple times a day, the behavior was always the same. It seemed wary of us, but if we stayed out of sight, it would lean out into view for a few seconds at a time.

When we sent the dog out, it would run off into the forest after it, but never chased it into view, so that told us nothing. I viewed it through a rifle scope, and got a good long Look at it silhouetted against the snow behind the trees, it was really creepy, like a Slenderman or something, I could determine height by going out and measuring the trees we saw it next to. I of course did not shoot it, since you should not shoot what you cannot identify, and the only large bipeds hereabouts are people, though nothing human is that tall, or narrow.

We knew the local legends, and this matched the description and behavior.

We dug out our trail camera, but solved the mystery before we got a chance to set it up.

Sorry to disappoint folks, but we solved the mystery, as I'm sure many have before us.

As winter sets in the deer like to stand on their hind legs to eat the tips of pine tree branches. They are totes scared of people, and will always do it behind trees. But every so often one that is sick, starving, had twins or gave birth too late in the season, will be desperate... The desperate ones will lean out to get the untouched branches in view of the house, but if they sense movement, they duck away.

A large deer with corvid wasting disease, standing on its hind legs is a bizarre, 8+ foot tall, skeletal looking thing, with a protruding ribs and sunken in gut.

PAPR_boy

Hippy Dippy Stuff

My boyfriend told me this story, and he's someone that normally wouldn't believe in this stuff or other 'hippy sh*t' but he says when he was a kid living in England.

He was in his room doing homework and this little creature walked into his room, like a gnome he described it, and they just stared at each other for a minute and he got up out of his chair to go up to it but it ran away and disappeared into a wall. He ran off and told his mum and she just laughed it off as you would, thought he was imagining it. But a few days later she was over her friends house having coffee and she told her friend the story for a bit of a laugh but then her friend turned to her and said 'Billy (her son) sees gnomes too!'

Sweet_Cheesecake1248

The Maine Sky

Do UFOs count? I'm not convinced it was a UFO, I'm one of those "there's probably a reasonable explanation" sorta guy when it comes to the paranormal, so I'm like 80% sure I was mistaken/my brain was just short circuiting. Anyway, I was walking down the street one night and it was clear skies. I live in Maine so the stars are out if it isn't cloudy: minimal light pollution. I look up at the sky and there is what looked like a star just chillin' (you know, like stars do).

This thing was stationary for about a second or two when I looked up. All of a sudden it just goes from being stationary to just taking off across the sky. It was fast, too. Just looked like a normal bright star that just decided to zip off somewhere else. I believe in extra terrestrial life. Not necessarily "little green men" type, but some sort of life form has to exist somewhere else. After all: we exist. Never got why some people think would it be unthinkable for some form of intelligent life to exist when we're intelligent, sentient life living here on earth.

As I said, I'm sure it was just a trick of the mind: perhaps it was a meteor or satellite that just appeared stationary when my eyes met it. Either way I was taken aback by it. That's the closest I've ever come to seeing something paranormal with my own eyes.

TheVoiceOfRiesen

When at Dunde's...

My friend had Dunde's at her house. I saw just a glimpse once.

There were all sorts of weird experiences but it was like 10 years ago so I don't remember everything.

There were tiny bites taken out of fruit.

It once threw a ball at us down the stairs when no one was upstairs.

Stuff moved/tampered with in rooms no one had been in when we were all together in the house.

One time her son left the house (her dad was at home with him) and he said the Dunde told him to go to the park (a big part of the myth is them trying to lure children away, also not exact words).

I saw it once just for a split second it was an all black gnome.

I don't tell any IRL people about it because it sounds crazy but its got a lot of folklore and sightings in Hispanic culture.

gettingcrunkontea

Sara J's

I was eating at a restaurant called Sara J's in Garden City, SC. There's an outside patio that looks out over a little inlet. While I was eating I saw something that looked like a submarines periscope, but with an eye on the top come out of the water. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, and tried to get everyone to look, but being 12 no one took me seriously and when I looked back it was gone. To this day I have no idea what I saw, but I am 100% certain that I did not imagine it.

Yosemite_Yam

My Cousin's Joke

I am sure I saw a ghost in my grandma's house when I was around 12.

I was helping my cousins clean out a room my grandparents were going to turn into a guest room and when my cousins left the room, I saw a man in the corner of the room. I don't remember being scared of him but when my cousins came back in and I asked who the man was they were confused. They probably just thought I was playing a joke on them but I was sure I saw the man. I never told my parents or my grandparents about it and I never saw the man again.

Corvus4

On the Ocean

While up in the San Juans in Washington state off of Orca Island I was drifting in a rowboat when a head and long slender neck rose up out of the water maybe 8-10 from the boat.

My initial reaction was 'is that an eel?' It had a face similar to a moray eel and a dark greenish skin but with red eyes. It rose several feet out of the water, paused and then opened and closed its mouth a few times like it was coming up for air.

The moment I shifted in the boat to try and get a better look at it, it was like it was suddenly aware I was there and slid back under the water.

I've spent a lot of time on the ocean and have never seen anything else remotely like it.

ConflictDonuts

Once in Alberta...

I saw a small ape like thing on a branch, it walked towards me, then turned and walked away.

This was in the middle of Alberta. We stared at each other, and it sort of smiled at me.

This really happened. And I was there for legit scientific research purposes (not Big Foot) and you would generally trust me based on reputation.

I have told many people over the years and am not ashamed about the story. I have never figured out what kind of animal it was or if the thing escaped from a private owner. It did look thin with thinning hair.

Hybernaculum