All of us have had an interaction with someone that just kind of didn't sit well later. Maybe we couldn't quite put our finger on why, or maybe we absolutely knew right away - but without a doubt all of us know what it is to just feel creeped out.
So let's talk about it. One Reddit user asked:
What are some creepy encounters you've had?
And yeah we've got everything here from near-miss kidnappings to what might be aliens, maybe the CIA, we're not sure. There was at least one entry that made us go "oh uh-UH no thank you!" out loud. Like you can just politely decline being stalked.
Proceed with caution, fam. Things are about to get a little unnerving.
Sleep
I brought up this question to my mom just now. She says when I was young and we lived in an apartment (just us) she woke up in the middle of the night while it was pouring rain because she heard a loud noise.
She went to the front door and looked through the peephole to see if she could see what made the noise. There was a person standing there, facing the door, hood over their head, repeating over and over again "just go to sleep...just go to sleep...just go to sleep."
I never really knew about this until recently. I asked her this morning what she did: She said she slowly backed away from the door because she didn't want them to hear her (they were basically up against the door facing it)- then in her words "remained vigilant" but she didn't call the police.
Our neighborhood had a fair number of homeless people. I think she would have called the cops if he tried anything else. Besides being creepy and terrifying my mom.
Borrow Your Phone
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I was walking in the parking lot of the mall with my ex-girlfriend and it was 7pm but it was already dark out. I forgot something in the car and we were only about 30 feet from the side entrance of the mall so I told her I'd meet her inside. As I'm walking back to the car, I hear two guys come up from out of nowhere and ask her if they can borrow her phone.
Something didn't feel right so I rushed back over to her and grabbed her hand so we could head into the mall. Sure enough about two weeks later, I saw those same two guys on a local news channel because they were arrested for attempted kidnapping of two young women.
In The Background
I've had the same creepy older man pop up in the background of 5 different pictures that were all taken at different places on different days over the course of a few years when I was a child. I didn't notice him until I started putting together a scrapbook for my mom about six years after the first pic.
I'm pretty sure he was stalking me, cause it's not like he'd just be walking by in the pic. No, he'd be standing in the background looking at the camera. I understand it happening once or twice could be a coincidence, but 5 times is way too many for it to have been chance.
The police were shown the film scans/double copies, because stalking a ten year old child is creepy and so illegal - but because so many years had passed & the quality of disposable cameras weren't the best you couldn't really make out who a person was when they were lurking in the background.
I've since caught him once or twice while out & about, so I know he's real. However, I never noticed the pictures until I was putting together that scrapbook for my mom and had the horrifying realization sink in as I was going through bins and bins of images.
Needless to say those 5 photos were burned after the police reviewed them.
Walking Alone
The creepiest thing is to walk alone as a young girl. I remember a car with 2 grown men in it asking if I wanted a ride. I was 12. I told them I lived right across the street. I did not. They kept following me and I walked up some random person's driveway and hide on the side of their house making sure not to move because they had motion sensors. Idk why I didn't knock and as for help. I guess I was afraid of what would happen if they didn't answer. They stayed down the street for like 15 mins waiting for me to come back out.
House Stock
Creepiest encounter, by far, in my long nursing career was my patient that whipped out a stack of Polaroid photos of women bound and gagged; some bruised and bleeding, all half naked.
He proudly told me about being in a motorcycle gang and all these women were "house stock",
I was a young nurse but knew not to give him the satisfaction of my disgust. I just gave him his meds and walked out of the room. His toothless cackle still makes me sick when I have the random nursing nightmare of all the sh!t I've seen.
A Black Thing
This was around 5 to 7 years ago.
My cousin's family from the city came for a sleepover at our house in the countryside. Me and my family live in a village that is "suburban-like" is surrounded by forests and wild vegetation.
We finished having dinner and I invited my younger cousin for a walk outside. This was only around 8pm. Near the end of our little stroll around the village, I looked up at the sky only to be greeted by thick clouds hanging weirdly low in the sky and blocking out the stars.
That's when I noticed something else strange.
Hovering lower than the already-too-low clouds was this black... thing. No, it wasn't a hole in the clouds revealing the night sky above it. It was very noticeably a T H I N G.
It was like the size of a fighter jet, but solid black. It wasn't moving at all just hovering. It only caught my attention when I looked up because I couldn't hear anything.
It didn't make a sound at all. Like zero.
The weirdest part was that it seemed to know that people on the ground could see it. so it made itself hard to see by constantly changing so you couldn't quite make out what it really was.
Sounds strange I know.
What I mean is that when you look at it head on it's like it's trying to change its shape subtly so your brain has a hard time understanding the nature of the object. But when you have the object in your periphery, it's as still as an image. It's like it doesn't want your eyes to focus on it.
I called the attention of my cousin to the blackest "object" I've ever seen and he can't understand it either. Like when you see something in the sky like a plane or a bird you understand it. Your brain recognizes it even if you just glanced at the thing. But this, stare at it for as long as you like, it doesn't want you to figure it out.
It was just... black.
- oapecnal
A Very Oblivious Kid
I was nearly kidnapped in Mazatlan when I was 11. My dad walked up at the last second, grabbed me and screamed at the two women escorting me away. I had no idea what was happening, or that I was even in danger. I was a very oblivious kid. Very close call.
I shudder when I think about what may have happened to me.
I Lied
I was seeing a girl for a bit. She was into supernatural stuff; believed her dead brother was watching over her etc. One night as we were falling asleep, she sat up a bit panicked and said she'd seen the figure of a man in the hallway. I said I didn't see anything.
I lied.
3AM On A Dark Path
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Snowing night about 2 years ago. Was going for a walk around 3 AM because I couldn't sleep.
I was walking on a narrow pathway in a pretty rural area, it was the middle of the night so it was absolutely pitch black; I could see absolutely nothing but kept walking straight.
I reached an area of the pathway where a small light in the distance lit up the path a little more so I could see my direction better. That's when I saw something obstructing my pathway.
There was some sort of object in the direction I was walking, a pretty tall object; looked like a sign or something? So I kept walking. As I got closer, I started making out more about this "object" and I realized it was actually the silhouette of someone standing there.
There was literally a person standing in my way at 3AM on a dark path.
I probably stood there, completely frozen for a few seconds. Trying hard to process what I was seeing, and what the fck to do. The figure I was seeing didn't move either.
Noooope I turned the hell around and walked straight the way I came, no hesitation.
The Kids Were Oblivious
Went shopping with my kids. My 8 and 9 yr old girls had a milkshake, so they waited outside a clothes shop for me so they didn't accidentally spill on anything.
A guy sitting across the way immediately started smiling at my daughter like a creep. He was staring at her with a horrible smile. She is very pretty and tall with long brown hair. Her sister is equally as pretty, but is shorter and had cut her hair very short so she looked like a boy from this guy's distance.
I told myself not to be paranoid but after going back and forth from the shop I brought them in with me. I walked in front of my girls I tried making eye contact with the creepy guy but he kept staring at my daughter.
By the time we left the store he was gone but I felt so paranoid decided just to go to a book store right by the bus stop. I let my kids go to the kids section and followed them down. I normally feel safe enough to leave them together and go upstairs to 2nd hand part of the store, but that day was different.
After a few minutes I start to feel very uncomfortable and tell kids it's time to go. Turn around and creepy guy is stood between two aisles with a kids book in his hands just staring at my daughter.
I grabbed kids and got a cab home instead of taking the bus. I don't know if he followed us or if it was just a coincidence, but was definitely a warning sign to always keep my eyes on my kids.
Thankfully kids were oblivious.
Good Dog
My dog found a guy trapped in the bushes at our house.
We check when he signals because sometimes it is important (like he flipped out when there was an escaped bull nearby) but usually it's one of the neighborhood cats or a groundhog.
This time NOPE. Random dude. Rather polite, but not particularly coherent.
A Bony Figure
Oh my gosh, one time while staying in rural Devon, I left the house in the middle of the night to let my dog out (no garden) and walked to my left where there was a patch of grass. Between me and the patch of grass were cars which I normally walked between to get to the grass. Pretty straightforward.
As I nonchalantly walked between two cars, my dog (a chill dude) was growling and seemed hesitant. I kind of just ignored him, which was dumb.
As I got between the cars, I realised there was this kinda bony figure there, crouching, between the cars tearing into something with their teeth. Reminded me of how a zombie in the walking dead eats something.
They were just crouching. In pitch darkness at like midnight, in the shadow of those two cars. I practically had to squeeze past him and he didn't even look up or acknowledge me. He was just completely engrossed in frantically eating (?) the bag.
I completely blanked out, I made it to the grass and was just panicking about how to get back to my door without passing this guy again. In the end I just legged it past him, practically hysterical with fear!
I always wonder what the FUCK that guy was, he definitely couldn't have been homeless because this is a small rural village there are no homeless people. I've never even come across a creepy person there it's all very safe, doesnt seem to be any drug problems I don't know.
It was almost inhuman in the way it moved and stuff. I have never in my life felt fear like I felt, my god. Was terrified to walk my dog at night ever since. Gives me shivers to even think about.
The Deer Carcass
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This was about almost exactly year ago. I was jogging in the nature trails of a park near where I live. I was a senior in HS at the time and had been running in these trails for cross country for almost five years and nothing out of the ordinary had ever happened so I felt very comfortable alone in those woods. I find running to be an incredibly meditative sport so I try to find places away from people, and that day I had the wonderful idea to go to the park at night so I could run completely alone.
I got to the park around 2am and got the chills as I was locking my bike in the gravel parking lot. I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I've never been particularly fond of the dark, even in the comfort of my own house. At that, I told myself I was just being stupid and that I'd calm down once I started my run.
Keep in mind two things before I go over what happened:
- There is a small stream that runs in a little valley sort of thing along the left side of the trail loop
- I have never seen deer or really any animal bigger than a squirrel in this park; It's not a very large park and it's surrounded by suburban neighborhoods.
So for this run I decided to do three loops of the trail, about 6 miles. I finished the first loop and confirmed that there was nobody around, so I decided to put my earbuds in. Bad idea.
The trail passes through the parking lot as you finish a loop, and as I finished my second loop, I noticed a pair of footsteps wearing vans had stepped through the line my bike made in the gravel (there's a light at the entrance which let me see this). It took me a couple seconds to realize that this meant I wasn't alone anymore.
About a third of the way through the last loop I noticed a dark shadow up ahead in the stream to the left. As I got closer I realized it was a grown man on his knees, hands behind his back, face buried in the gut of a fcking deer on the ground in front of him.
He looked up at me as I passed him, sprinting at this point. I was terrified. It was pretty dark but my eyes were adjusted enough to see that his face was dripping, with blood I assume. To say I was terrified out of my mind is an understatement. I sprinted as fast as I could, taking a shortcut through the center of the park so I could get to my bike faster.
If I didn't have my earbuds in I would've heard him chasing me before I looked back. I did not hear him.
I think that's the scariest thing I've ever seen, ever. Looking back over my shoulder to see a grown man chasing me through the woods in the middle of the night, fcking dripping with blood. Thank god I was in good shape and could outrun the guy.
I fumbled with my bike lock and it felt like it took forever to unlock it. I kept looking back at where the trail meets the lot, knowing that this guy would come bursting out any second.
I unlocked my bike, charged home as fast as possible, and called the police. They checked out the scene in the morning and found the deer and the imprints of his knees in the mud of the stream but the guy was gone.
I still have trouble falling asleep at night. I never went back to those trails either. It's really a shame, they were great trails. Really beautiful.
Every now and then, a friend of ours might say something, or we might overhear a complete stranger say something that makes us stop in our tracks.
More often than not, what we can't believe we just heard is something so ridiculous, we can't help but put the person who said it in their place.
Other times, however, what we just heard might have stunned us silent because of how shockingly clever it was.
Resulting in our not wanting to scold or yell at someone, but rather give them a handshake.
Redditor SubmergingOriginal was curious to hear the sharpest and wittiest things they've ever heard, from friends and strangers alike, leading them to ask:
"Enough with the dumbest; what is the wittiest thing you've ever heard someone say?"
Don't Give Me So Much Credit...
'I was on a team at work that was on a project working insane overtime."
"One night after an 80-90 hour week, we were all sitting around the table trying to finish up so we could go home."
"Around 11, my buddy's wife called, dubious about the hours he'd been keeping."
"We heard her through the line - 'are you cheating on me?'"
"Exasperated, he looked at our boss, then replied 'honey, if I was cheating on you, I would have been home by now'."- lionbatcher
Eternal Optimism...
"Asked a blind guy if he'd been blind his whole life."
"He said 'Not yet'."- Feeling_Mode_6465
Free time Isn't The Only Thing He Has On His Hands...
"My brother got a vasectomy and when the doctor was releasing him and giving him instructions (with the nurse listening in), one of the orders was to 'come back and have a follow-up appointment after you’ve ejaculated 30 times'.”
"Without missing a beat my brother asked 'what time do you open tomorrow?'”
"The nurse couldn’t keep it together after hearing that."- UtahUtopia
Awkward Season 8 GIF by The Office
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Double Whammy!
"My pal uses the phrase 'he doesn’t look strong enough to carry information' and it cracks me up every time."
"Calling someone stupid and weak in one fell swoop."- JennyW93
Can't Hide Your DNA...
'Whenever I jokingly insult my mum, she says 'that must be where you get it from'."
"She cracked the code."
"I can never offend her without offending myself."- JennyW93
Self-Sufficient!
"My brother was a line cook at a New Orleans restaurant."
"My mom was in town, staying at a fancy hotel, and he stopped by after work, still wearing his kitchen whites."
"He was reading a newspaper in the lobby waiting for her to come down when the shocked lobby manager sputtered at him, 'MAY I HELP YOU!?!?'
"He answered, 'thanks, but I know how to read',” and went back to his paper."- jobrody
Morph Current Affairs GIF by Aardman Animations
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A Miracle!
"My brother-in-law’s comment."
"The entire family went out for my mother’s 80th birthday and after the meal we all went to a local park, largely occupied by the elderly, to rest."
"My mother needed crutches at this point, and they were resting against her bench."
"My 10-year-old niece, who looked like every starving waif image from Dickens, grabbed the crutches and started hobbling round the park."
"All the OAPs were following her progress with looks of pity until my brother ran up behind her, and kicked away the crutches."
"There was an audible gasp from round the park and then my niece picked the crutches back up and started chasing my brother, clearly intending to hit him."
"In the confused silence my brother-in-law’s voice rang out 'Praise be! She can walk again!'"
"We still think this was the highlight of the birthday celebrations."- DdraigGwyn
Still Legal, Whichever Way You Cut It...
"I picked up my pleasantly tipsy boyfriend from a nightclub."
"We were stopped by the Police for a random breath test."
"They asked me my age, and I said, 33."
"My bf blurted out '33? You told me you were 22'."
"Police just laughed and let me go."- Aggravating-Corgi379
Music Video Police GIF by Andrew W. K.
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A Bit Too On The Nose?
"Business law class in college years ago, talking about the issues that black Americans had before the Civil Rights."
"Amendment, trying to travel through the south with the discrimination so rampant, trying to find restaurants to serve them and decent lodgings."
"My instructor was posing a hypothetical: 'So you pull up out front of this place, you're exhausted from driving for hours, and you see the sign out front says 'Ku Klux Klan Motel'."
"'What would you expect to find there?'"
"Without missing a beat, from the back of the room came this gem: "'Extra sheets in every room?'"- NedsAtomicDB
Not Yet, Anyway...
"I was working with my friend and his dad."
"My friend (26) heard an ice cream truck near where we were working."
"He asked his dad if he could have a couple dollars."
"His dad asked, 'what for?'"
"My friend told his dad that there was an ice cream truck in the neighborhood, and that they were playing music."
"My friends dad told him "'They don't charge anything to listen to the music'."- tatersalad1234567890
Words Escape You In The Literal "Heat" Of The Moment...
"A friend of mine is a teacher and her husband is known for his wit."
"She told this story to him:"
"One day at school a kid took the hall pass and returned reeking like smoke."
"She asked the kid if he’d been smoking and he denied it over and over."
"She was about to send him to the office when she noticed smoke coming from somewhere."
"She told the kid and he realized that he didn’t put his cig out completely and it was burning in his pants pocket."
"The kid noticed and frantically tried to put it out and someone finally poured water on it."
"Her husband sat listening to this with a weird look on his face."
"She asked him what was wrong."
“'What’s wrong???'"
"'This was probably the only chance you’ll have in your life to say literally, ‘liar,liar, pants on fire’ and you missed your chance'."- Luder714
On Fire No GIF by PEEKASSO
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Amazing What You Might Say A Few Drinks In...
"When I went to a renaissance faire once, I went to a beer tent and ordered a Newcastle Brown Ale (seemed the most fitting for the surroundings)."
"The beer wench, without skipping a beat, said, 'Everyone wants a Newcastle - no one wants to remodel!'"- jayhof52
Read The Room People!
"My dad wiped out when skiing down a mountain and lost a ski."
"After a few minutes of hunting for it, he gives up, slings the one remaining ski over a shoulder and starts walking down the mountain in his ski boots."
"About half-way down, another skier stops and goes 'Gee! Did you lose a ski?'"
"My dad instantly replied 'No, I was out for a walk and found one!'"- PeterJoAl
There's a reason your mother always told you to "use your words".
As clever remarks can have a much more lasting effect on people than a push or shove.