Some people will swear they've come face to face with a Tinkerbell, and they'll swear that were also stone-cold sober. The ethereal and mythical are all around us. Now whether or not they are tangible or merely our imaginations run amok, maybe we'll never know. But some say they may have proof.
Redditor u/fukasetrash wanted to see who has had an audience with "creatures" many of us have only read about by asking.... [serious] People of reddit who claim to have seen a mythical creature, such as faires, elves, gnomes, etc, what is your story?"that was a fairy."
skeleton GIF by KiszkiloszkiGiphyDid 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.
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.
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.
Hippy Dippy Stuff
hello GIF by Sherlock GnomesGiphyMy 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!'
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.
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.
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.
My Cousin's Joke
Reaction GIF by moodmanGiphyI 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.
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.
Once in Alberta...
Party Kids GIF by Kochstrasse™GiphyI 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.
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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.
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.