<p>u/5cones asked:</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jhe5uy/what_was_your_scariest_experience_home_alone/" target="_blank">What was your scariest experience home alone?</a></p><p>Here were some of those stories.</p>
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Urban Legends Do Come True
<p>About 10 years ago my husband was gone overnight and I got an automated phone call sometime in the evening, after dark, from the county sheriffs department saying 2 inmates had escaped from the local juvenile detention facility. I live in a very rural area and this facility is only a few miles away, also in a rural area. And? The two escapees were NOT juveniles, for some reason, and they were armed. </p><p>They had somehow overcome the officer and gotten his weapon. So there are helicopters circling the area for HOURS. I was on the computer (before I had a cell phone) all night messaging my local friends and trying to find updates. All the while the helicopters were still circling within a mile of my house. Bottom line - I turned on all the lights, barricaded the doors and sat up all night. I finally went to sleep when the sun came up. Most scared I've ever been.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/pwlynch6807/" target="_blank">pwlynch6807</a></p>
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Ended Up Working Out In My Favor
<p>I lived in an apartment by myself right after highschool when I was about 19 years old. I had lived there for about a whole month when something truly horrifying happened. My front door was locked, top and bottom locks. I'm sitting in my living room watching TV when all of a sudden I hear keys going into my door locks and I see the locks physically start to turn. My body froze completely and my heart sunk into my chest. I did not have maintenance or anything else planned, nobody to come by and visit, etc.</p><p>The door swings open and I see an older asian man with bags of clothes and a few boxes. He immediately started screaming at me in a language I did not understand. </p>
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<p>He began repeatedly hitting me and he dragged me out of the apartment. He had me in a chokehold and finally my upstairs neighbor came down and pulled him off me. We called the police and long story short; By some bizarre mistake at the leasing office, they gave this man a key to my apartment and told him it was his.</p><p>He purchased it before moving here and had only seen pictures of an empty unit. He assumed I was some sort of squatter, in his unit. I was young and poor, I had a tv, a chair, and an inflatable mattress. I had almost no possessions at all, so I could see how he might've thought that I was there illegally. He was actually meant to get unit 54 (empty) when I was in 56 (right next door). I was able to press charges on the man and also sued the apartment complex for them allowing a stranger to have a key to my door, which ended violently. He did not move in next door after the incident, and I actually stayed there an entire year rent free. Was able to save some money and bought everything I needed as an adult. I also bought a pistol for my own protection shortly after.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/TheRuneCoon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">TheRuneCoon</a></p>
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To Oz!
<p>I was home alone around 12 years of age, my dad was gone often, on dates to "heal from the divorce" which he caused by cheating. I remember being outside in the driveway looking up in the sky, the air was warm but calm. Ive never seen a sky look green, then i watched the clouds start to turn in a circle. I hauled ass inside, and shortly after a tornado formed and stuck down very close to the house. I remember the familiar freight train sound. Thankfully it was short lived and an F1.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/editedbysam/" target="_blank">editedbysam</a></p>
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That's MY Tree
<p>Lightning bolt hit the tree 10 feet out my window, as I was watching the storm from my bed. I was home alone, maybe 13 years old. It was the loudest sound I ever heard, and I admit, I went from loving lightning to being afraid of it (buy only when its close). The same tree got hit 2 more times in the following 10 years, also when I was home alone.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/AtheneSchmidt/" target="_blank">AtheneSchmidt</a></p>
Narrowly Avoided
<p>Used to work in one of the older buildings on my campus. Former dorm turned office building. I was working on December 23, so NOBODY was there (Lights were off, doors were all locked, etc.)<br></p><p>Once i turned our hall lights and set up in my office with my dog, I went to sit at my desk and set up the computer. Right after sitting down, I heard footsteps down the hall, but didn't think much of it. They started to get closer to my door so I looked over at my door to obviously see nothing. I listened as the footsteps went all the way down my hallway (And passed my office). Once they passed my office, I walked into the hall only for the door at the end of the hallway to open and slam shut as i watched.</p><p>I flipped.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/JKenneth98/" target="_blank">JKenneth98</a></p>
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Puppy Escaped
<p>OMFG I THOUGHT I WOULD NEVER GET TO SHARE THIS. This happened when I was eleven. My parents went on a date night and it was just me (and the dog). There's a knock on the door. I peer out the window and see an unfamiliar man. I panic and run to the basement. I call my mum and panic. I hear the knock again. She tells me to calm down.</p><p>As I walk back up he has a cute little dog. Btw I'm still on the phone. I panic because i think that he is trying to lure me out. This is how it went<br>Me : mom he has a puppy! What do I do?!<br>Mom : ignore him and make sure all the doors are locked<br>Me : wait...<br>Mom : what... WHAT IS IT ANSWER ME!<br>Me : mom the dog looks like our puppy's name<br>Mom : (confused sounds)<br>Me : Omg it IS our dog!<br>Turns out our dog got out the open back door and ran after my parents car. Our neighbor who I didnt recognized because we just moved found her running, saw her collar, noticed the adress was next to his house, and brought her to me.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/TheIllusiveBadger/" target="_blank">TheIllusiveBadger</a></p>
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All Was Well
<p>While I was at my grandma's house, she left to go to the grocery store, so I was at her house alone, playing my Wii. While playing, I hear noises coming from upstairs that sound like footsteps. I get really worried, so I walk outside for a minute or two to calm down, then walk back inside. A few minutes later, I hear more noises, and this time the noises are coming closer to the living room door. All of a sudden I see a person walking, and I let out a loud noise.</p><p>Turns out the noises I heard were my grandma. She had never actually went to the store; I had misheard what she told me.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/elephant35e/" target="_blank">elephant35e</a></p>
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Watchful Eyes
<p>It was my first time being alone for an undetermined time, I was maybe 16 or 17. My mom had to take my dad to a doctor in Alabama and took my sister with me. I had no idea how long they were going to be gone, so I'm sitting in the hall on the computer and our dog starts barking. Not like "Hey, squirrel, it's a squirrel!" but deep, angry barking. "Something is in my yard and it should not be here" barking.</p><p>I had the phone in my hand and went to check out the window looking towards where the dog was, plus to make absolutely sure the back door was locked. It was a box turtle. I had never heard this dog bark like this before, was pretty sure I was going to find a burglar or worse outside the door, and it was a freaking box turtle trying to get across the yard while the dog barked and snapped at it. I went outside and helped the turtle to the far end of the yard away from the dog, but he definitely earned some pats and treats for being that watchful over the house.</p><p><span></span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Konzern/" target="_blank">Konzern</a></p>
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This Isn't Somebody I Know
<p>I lived in a basement apartment that had 3 windows and one of them was in our living room (left side of house).</p><p>Some guy, who I have no idea who it was, walked up to the living room window (had to walk around a big bush mind you) and started waving and saying hi.</p><p>Then they went all the way to the other side of the house where my basement door was and started knocking on it saying, "Let me in".</p><p>I was just trying to play guitar hero. Still to this day not sure if he was drunk trying to get to my upstairs neighbors house. Called the cops and he left before they could catch him.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Nozxx/" target="_blank">Nozxx</a></p>
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An Important Thing About Myself
<p>My SO works nights and wasn't home. I came home from a long night of gallery-hopping with no dinner, lots of wine and didn't eat enough food while I was out. Suddenly had a really strong blood-sugar attack and ended up on the floor being barely able to move. Super sweaty and cold all over. Felt like fainting only my heart hurt really bad and my whole body felt odd. </p><p>I couldn't even move get to the phone to call 911. About 20 minutes later, I finally was able to get to the fridge by crawling and got some OJ into me and a couple of bites of an old pie that was there. That got me strong enough to make a meal and get things back in order. Found out later that my whole system was out of wack and I have to have food about every 2 - 3 hours or it happens again. Hypoglycemia.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/jippyzippylippy/" target="_blank">jippyzippylippy</a></p>
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