People Describe The Absolute Creepiest Thing They've Ever Experienced

Creepy experiences? This writer has one. I used to get terrible nightmares. Not sure why, probably reading too many mystery and horror novels. This also didn't help my vivid imagination. My dreams were often extremely real, like being trapped in a movie.
One night in my young adult years I stayed the night over to my moms house. She liked Victorian style items and dolls especially. Well this one creepy porcelain-faced doll she usually had sitting on the top of the couch. Not a big deal. Except I slept on the couch that night…
I had a horrible vivid nightmare that night where some "The Ring" style creepy young lady was holding me underwater with her face against mine saying "I'm going to eat your soul". I must have thrashed hard in my sleep because I woke up and the HECKIN DEMON DOLL had fallen onto my face eye to eye with me.
When I say freaked out! To this day I do not want to be in the same room as that doll.
One Redditor asked a serious question wanting to know real-life instances where people were uneasy.
OnlyAnAverageUser asked:
"What's the creepiest thing that you've witnessed or experienced?
The accounts shared might just keep you up at night…
“A couple years ago I was on a ferry leaving a small island off the coast of RI, about an hour long ride in total. It was a cloudy day with some fog but as soon as the ferry departed to take us back the the fog intensified to where we could only see about 50 - 75 yards in front of us."
“I went down to the stern with my dad, we had got some cigars on our trip and the only area where smoking was allowed was down around by the propellers. So we're standing around smoking our cigars, drinkin a beer when we see a guy riding a jet ski in the wake of the ferry."
“Me and my dad both looked at each other in disbelief - why someone would EVER ride a jet ski through open ocean on a day with heavy fog is beyond me. We're watching him dodge through our wake, hitting waves and catching some air, weave in between some of the heavier swells…then all of a sudden he hits a wake at an awkward angle and immediately the jet ski goes one way and he goes another, both disappearing almost instantly into the fog."
“We ran up to go get someone from the crew but apparently they had been watching the guy as well, so as soon as he lost control the crew alerted the captain. The ferry laid on its horn and did a complete 180 turn in order to look for this missing jet skier."
“The fog was still thick but the boat turned around about 1 minute after he fell…we searched for about a half an hour with no sign of either the jet ski or the unfortunate man who was riding it. Eventually the captain announced that we had to go back and the coast guard would continue the search.”
“We made it back to shore and for the next few days/weeks I was constantly checking the local news for anything related to this story however there was nothing…it still keeps me up wondering about the man on the jet ski.”
“Just imaging the horror of being 5 miles from either shore, the panic of trying to look for the jet ski while you're in 3 foot swells, knowing that if you do not find it immediately the current will take it and you are stranded in the middle of the open ocean.”
“But even if you did get lucky and find that jet ski the fog is so thick how would you even know that you're heading in the right direction? You could get back on a ride off into the Atlantic until the jet ski ran out of gas…the open ocean is beautiful but unforgiving and I just hope this guy didn't experience anything like the scenarios I can't stop imagining." odfr
Thank God for their diligent Grandpa…
“When I was about 6 years old, I was at my grandparents house for the weekend. They had a massive garden that I would play in for hours at a time. One day I was out there, out of view of my grandparents and a man climbed over the fence and crouched down behind some planters and was staring at me.”
“I was frozen; because he could see me and he knew I could see him and he just stared at me whilst crouching. He looked scruffy and unhinged and he was scratching his arms. He kissed towards me a few times too and was mumbling to himself.”
“My Grandpa happened to come over, saw me stood there like a statue and then saw the man. He jumped cos it caught him off guard but to my amazement he just sprinted towards the man and tackled him down to the ground. I screamed and my grandma ran outside, and ran back in to call the police.”
“The whole time he was looking at me, literally wouldn't stop staring at me to the point where my grandpa was getting very angry and looked like he was close to choking him or something. The police came super quick and that was that. I'm 30 and it still creeps me the f**k out” kicksjoysharkness
A different type of Spidey-sense…
“I worked with woman, who was severely frightened of dogs. She could tell if a dog was around before she could see them. It wasn't super obvious, but once you looked for it you could see it. She would turn around, and stare. A second, or three, a dog would appear.”
“This was all the time. I would see here do that looking, then a dog would be there. Funny dogs didn't like her either. They would be walking along, then freeze when when they seen her. She was twenty two at the time. The dogs always left.” Jmonroe_tenn
We would have done the same.
“Went hiking up the woods on a highly trafficked trail, but due to being end of winter there was still some snow towards the end that didn't get used much. Being a strong hiker and having my husky, I figured we'd plow through anyways to reach the peak overlook and head down after that."
“As we were approaching the big bend to the view point, my dog started to stop and trying to turn around. I kept going a little bit, but she kept resisting and her hackles when up."
“ As soon as that happened my heart dropped and I started to get freaked out and as soon as I turned around to walk the other way my dog growled and started to run the way we came, and you bet I followed. Not sure what was out there, or if she,(being the weirdo she is), just wanted to turn around, but I haven't been that scared in a long time, and I hike with my pistol." mrdrjrl
A midnight intruder or a ghostly surprise?
“Mine is actually super funny but at the time it scared the sh*t out of me. I was working as a live-in companion for an elderly woman, helping with her errands and some medical needs. Mostly she just shouldn't be living alone but she refused to go into a nursing home so her kids paid me to spend a few hours with her at night keeping her company and then sleeping in the guest bedroom and being there when she woke."
“Easy job. Hurricane Matthew hits us and the power goes out. I get up to pee, the hallway is pitch-black, lightening is flashing, I'm trying not to let my irrational mind flare up. I'm about halfway down the hallway when I hear a female voice talking very fast just down the hall at the darkest end."
“I scream and run into the bathroom and lock the door. I don't know what I was thinking because a lock isn't going to keep a ghost out and if it were an intruder then they'd know I was awake and where I was and that I knew they were there. Either way, I was convinced locking myself in the bathroom was the smartest thing to do."
“First thing I do after I lock the door is pee because I practically wet myself when the voice started. And then I called the name of the old lady but she didn't answer because she's hard of hearing. So, I was basically all alone with either a ghost or a fast-talking lady robber and locked in the damn bathroom."
“I must have stayed in the bathroom for half an hour waiting for something to happen, hearing nothing outside but the sound of wind and thunder and rain. I was convinced there was something or someone standing on the other side of the door waiting to strike. I was also so sleepy and just wanted to go back to bed."
The spooky saga continued…
“The old lady never had guests because her kids all lived within a few miles of her house so the bathroom didn't have anything decorative, just a ceramic soap dispenser so I picked it up and braced it as a bludgeon and opened the door. I ran as fast as I could back to my room and shut myself in, clutching the soap dispenser and waiting for whoever had been talking to come and get me."
“Ten minutes later I hear the creak of a door down the hall and the sound of shuffling footsteps getting closer and I just prepared myself to hurtle that damn soap dispenser at whatever dared come into my room. The knob turns, the door starts to creep open, a strange yellow light flooding in. I screamed like the little b*tch I was and started begging not to die."
“It was the old lady with a flash light. She'd woken up to pee and noticed the power was off so she wanted to check on me and make sure I was okay. We both just collapsed on the bed laughing our @sses off. When we'd calmed down I told her I'd been terrified for the last hour because I heard a woman talking somewhere near her bedroom right after the power went off."
“The old lady started laughing again and told me that was her LifeAlert Home Security System letting her know the power had gone off and if she needed assistance to use her Alert necklace to summon police, fire, or medical. And, I was going to kill it with a soap dispenser in the shape of a f**king fish." carmelacorleone
These Actors Seemed Miscast But Absolutely Nailed The Role | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
The Actors Who Seemed Miscast But Absolutely Nailed The RoleFew people bought into the idea of Bryan Cranston in the role of Walter White before Breaking Bad...Laughter from the dead…
“2am very distinctly could hear my grandad (86) and mum (48) who have both passed away in 2019 laughing happily from the front room and talking, I couldn't afford to have them buried so their urns are both in the front room. I am not the only one to feel activity since I brought urns home."
“Don't get me wrong it is nice to think of them pain-free together again and happy and hearing them was nice but at 2am in the dark going to the toilet it did make me jump." CursedFamilyTree
Grandmother came to them in a dream…
“Sleepwalking - sort of. One night I had a very vivid dream about my grandmother. I cannot remember all the details (I was 10), but the lasting image I have is of her sitting in ‘her’ chair in our living room, with her favourite cup of tea and a digestive biscuit.”
“She only spoke to say ‘Don't worry George. All is well’. I woke up crying and was found by mum standing in the living room, alone, having sleepwalked there I guess.”
“Needless to say, next morning during breakfast mum received the obvious phone call and whilst talking on the phone I just blurted out ‘It's okay mum, Grandma's happy’. She had died in the night of course.”
“You hear stories like this a lot, so they've become a bit of a tired old cliché - but I experienced it personally and it makes me wonder just how such cliché's come about in the first place!” VorlonKing
The creepiest part is that any point someone could have said something!
“Former hotel maid here. Worked at kind of mid nice place in the northeast. In summertime, all tourists and families on vacation, kids playing in pool, happy fun times. In winter, mostly business men on conferences, and women who um, provide them companionship. Sometimes a sex worker would have her own room rented and would work out of it.. we always put them at the end of a hall near exits so we didn't have to see their clients come through the lobby."
“As long as they were discreet and stripped their own sheets none of us staff had a problem with it. One winter there is a girl working out of the floor above me. I see her a few times. She's petite and quiet, probably 30ish, sad looking thing really. A few days into her stay I hear her in the stairwell crying and blubbering something like 'I don't have it, he never gave it to me, no I don't have it!'"
“So I popped my head over the stairwell and say 'hon are you okay, do you need to be let into your room?' She says no and she's sorry, goes outside through the exit. I continue on my cleaning. There was a family staying on my floor, mom and three teenagers, and I was refreshing the linens for them a day or so later."
“The mom is sobbing and wiping her face when I come in. 'I can't stop thinking about that poor girl up there! They worked her over so bad..' apparently she saw the girl that morning and her face was all beaten up and swollen. Broke this sweet momma's heart. I hugged her and I promised to try to leave that girl some numbers for DV resources or something and encourage her to call the cops."
“I didn't see her again though. Few days after that I finished up my floor early and went up to make a few beds for the maid on upper floor. The girls room was a check out, the maid had already been through and gathered the trash and pulled the sheets. But holy f**k, the whole room smiled strongly of bleach. We didn't use bleach, wasn't on our carts at all. But I see three gallons of off-brand bleach sitting with the trash collection."
"The bathroom is streaky with the stuff, and the mattress is wet. The whole mattress. That's sketchy as sh*t and I said as much to the maid I was helping, who just shrugged. She was kinda sketchy herself and definitely wouldn't report anything that would have her talking to management or the police. But I couldn't let it go."
"I asked the front desk when the girl left and they looked up the time. It was super easy to access the security video from the computers so we looked at the lobby video. A woman in a hoodie, sunglasses, and a big rolling suit case. Just judging her height from the counter she stood at, I don't think it was the sex worker. Too tall, and body too wide even in a hoodie. I have no proof of this but I'm literally convinced they chopped that girl up in the room, cleaned with bleach, and put her in that ridiculously huge suitcase." - user deleted
“We both said a quiet prayer on our own and it stopped."
“A couple years ago when my wife and I had just started dating, I got her a vinyl album of one of her favorite artists for her birthday and we listened to it on her record player that used to belong to her grandmother that passed away a few years prior to us meeting."
“A couple nights later my at the time girlfriend(now wife) woke up and said that she could hear music. I couldn't hear anything but just brushed it off and said it's probably just somebody out in their car playing their music really loud or something like that, but she said that it was coming from the living room and it sounded like country music. I tried as hard as I could but I couldn't hear any music and I started to feel like I was in a horror movie where the wife always hears and sees stuff but the husband doesn't."
“We walked out to the living room and she said that now it sounded like the music is coming from the bedroom and I was really starting to get scared at this point. We go back in the bedroom and then I could faintly hear music playing and I told her I could hear it too and we both we were so scared about wtf was going on. We both said a quiet prayer on our own and it stopped."
“Sometime after this we looked at the record player that belonged to her grandmother, it was a multifunctional one that played records; cd's; radio; and auxiliary, and we opened the CD player and there was a country music CD in there, I can't remember what singer it was though. The weird thing is, is that the record player was off and we had it on the record player mode so it wouldn't have been playing the CD anyway. We're still not sure what exactly happened but we think maybe it was her grandmother trying to say hello. Either way we have not used the record player since then." BlueShoe15
Nothing to see here…
“I know this is late and will get buried but when I was 8 my parents rented a cabin in the woods. On one of the days, I and my brother are playing a game or something in the rain. At one point in the game, my brother points towards what appears to be a figure dragging a bag through the woods. As we're watching this, he turns and looks. We don't break eye contact for a good 30 seconds. He continues dragging the bag."
“After we can't see him anymore, we both ran back into the cabin. We were both too young to understand. I realized what it was a couple of years later. This was 11 years ago. I asked my brother when I was writing this and he doesn't even remember. I try not to think about it cause it creeps me the f**k out and I wish I realized what was happening back then" Wild-Ad-3471
“Creepy but also funny. Thought it might make you all laugh. My BF at the time (now husband) and I had not long moved in together and been burgled we were staying in the rented house still till we could move back in with my folks (stayed one night, as the landlord said they'd fix the door that day but didn't and we ended up with a piece of ply over the door screwed into a post )."
“He wakes me up in the middle of the night ashen faceted telling me I was "writhing on the bed yelling that someone was in the house". He goes on to explain "you didn't sound like you". I have no recollection, shrug it off as him having a bad dream. Move back into my folks house with my OH and I wake up to the bath taps running and a pillow in the bath about a month later - Weird but I shrug it off as some sort of drunken thing as my OH had been to a stag do that night and returned home after I fell asleep."
“A few months after that my mum wakes up to the gas hob on and a pan of water boiling on it. (She didn't tell me this till later).She starts locking the doors at night again, something she didn't do for a while - "just in case". Nothing else happens for about four years.“
“We buy our own place and move in. OH wakes up to me kneeling by the side of the bed shaking from side to side with my hands clasped in front of me on the bed as if I am praying. He asks me what I'm doing. In a deep gravelly voice I reply "spinning". So he tells me to "Go back to sleep spinning is finished"."
“I climb back into bed and start talking gibberish. He grabs his phone a tries to record me as he knows I won't believe him. My eyes snap open and snap at him "Don't record me!" He stops, rolls over and tries to sleep all with me still staring until I star snoring about 5 mins later."
“Here's the thing, up until the last one I never recalled even dreaming and so never believed him. He tells me what happened and shows me the brief video and my mum who's round for tea wets herself laughing. Apparently I used to sleep walk when I was little but it stopped when I was about 10."
“I've always talked in my sleep and it's "always been a little demonic sounding, which is why the kids at school stopped inviting me to sleep overs" - cheers. The thing is, I remember my dream from that night, I dreamt I was at the gym doing a spin class and that had to leave to do the round ball balance things (you can tell I'm not a guy goer) as in my dream the press were following me!"
“After that I told some.old friends, who laughed and said "we thought you knew, you slept walked a couple of times at uni". So yeah, creepy demonic style sleep walking is my thing." cpb21
No one wants to be next to the haunted room…
“I used to live in a house that I am 100% sure was haunted. All the creepy things that happened in that house were centered around the guest bedroom. Can you guess who's room it was right next to?"
“One night (I think I was 13 or 14 when this happened), I was awoken in the middle of the night to a sound I couldn't entirely discern the origin of. It took me a moment of waking up to realize it was the sound of a small child crying. And it was coming from the guest bedroom."
“It went on for a few minutes before I just couldn't stay awake any longer and just passed out. Nobody believes me when I say that this house was haunted, but I knew what I heard. And this wasn't the only incident either."Faulty_Cyanide
Not an ok choice…
“When I was in first grade (I'm 27 now), for some reason the teacher put on… like a documentary or something. I don't know why she would have done this, but I distinctly remember it was about some tribe of people, I can't remember where."
“All I can remember is the scene that really haunted me. A woman in the tribe had cheated on her husband, and was sentenced her to death for it. I can specifically remember they wrapped a rope around her neck & pulled on both sides until she died, and then lowered her body into the ground in a sh*tty wooden box."
“Every time I bring it up I'm told that "there's no way a teacher in the first grade would've shown something like that to you" and that I'm "probably misremembering things." And maybe they're right, I mean, why would a first grade teacher show her students something like that? But… I remember it so clearly. So vividly. They choked that poor woman to death on camera." PineappleLubricant
Who’s voice was it?
“While I was in the shower talking to myself, I said something along the lines of "who would even break into my house?". Then I heard a voice saying "hello". And that made me freak out. Once I was out of the shower I went to every room were I thought I heard the voice from. But I found nothing, I didn't think of the voice I heard the voice. So that is my creepy experience with a voice."MainStaffMan
A barn poltergeist perhaps?
“Was helping my grandpa throw some small square bales as a 10 year old the stack shifted and it fell with me I fell between the bale spikes on the bed of the truck and was pinned for about 5 minutes while he dug me out it fell perfect where I wasn't crushed suffocated or impelled. That was the first time I ever actually saw my grandpa in a sheer panic it was creepy it was like the barn pushed the bales I always had an eerie feeling in that barn after that few years later it burned to the ground we never could figure out how it fell in the way it did." j-twoxd
How about you? What's the creepiest thing you've ever experienced. Let us know in the comments.
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Be it to a foreign country on the other side of the world, or merely a town a few miles north or south of you, there is always a slightly uneasy feeling of being in a new place.
Sometimes, however, you don't only suffer from homesickness upon arriving, but find yourself genuinely scared.
Perhaps you don't find yourself particularly welcome by the residents, or there are no people to be seen for miles around.
Either way, there are places all over the world where not long after arriving, the only thing on the minds of visitors was to get out of there as fast as they could.
Redditor 8-tentacles was curious to learn the places fellow Reddit users would never set foot in again under any circumstances, leading them to ask:
"What’s the scariest town/city you’ve been to, and why?"
Gabbs, Nevada.
"I ended up driving through this tiny town in the middle of Nevada that I assume used to be a mining town."
"It looked like a steady paycheck hadn't been seen in this town for 20 years, the houses were all dilapidated, and the locals looked just as worn out."
"Bullet holes and burn marks could be seen on pretty much every building."
"The only reason I drove through the town instead of just sticking to the main road was to top up on gas, but I couldn't find anything, not even a small convenience store."
"It must've been hell for those folks considering the closest town with an actual store and gas was around 70 miles away."
"I took a look via Google Earth, at some of the towns people mentioned and I found it!"
"Gabbs, NV."
'Definitely not a place I'd want to go back to."
Harvey, Illinois
"Everyone talks about Gary, IN, but there is a town over the border in Illinois called Harvey, IL."
"I can't put my finger on exactly what makes it worse, but being there felt like I was on the moon."- theredditforwork
El Alto, Bolivia
"El Alto Bolivia."
"This was 15 years ago at least."
"It's above the habitable zone, and locals were openly fighting in the streets."
"Good times."- ooo-ooo-oooyea
Somewhere in New Mexico...
"I stopped at some gas station out in the middle of where-the-f*ck, New Mexico, only to pee."
"Parking lot not even completely paved.'
"My SO stayed behind in the car, and our son, so I have no corroborating witnesses, but this was the weirdest f*cking place of business I ever stepped into."
"Some David Lynch level sh*t."
"First of all, this place was huge for no obvious reason."
"As far as I know, there wasn't a town nearby."
"I mean, it was isolated out in the desert."
"When I entered, there was a store in there, like a convenience store."
"I passed through that, and entered a hallway."
"There was a restaurant in there, completely empty."
"I follow the signs to the restroom, and go down this hall."
"It already feels a little creepy to me, and horrifyingly enough, I am navigating to the bathroom by the sound of someone who seems to be puking violently far off down the corridor."
"I could hear this sound echoing down this crazy hallway."
"The hallway has a bend in it, and I'm starting to wonder how f*cking big is this place?"
"I turn the corner, and there is one of those claw grabby machines where you try to pick up stuffed animals and other cheap sh*t, standing in the hall."
"A group of young boys are there, crowded around the machine."
"When I come around the corner, they all look up at me wordlessly, with no trace of joy or excitement or pleasure."
"They just play the game with inscrutable faces, silently, like cats surrounding a mouse."
"The hall continues, and so do I."
"Another corner."
"Where the g*ddamned f*ck is the toilet.'
"This hallway is disturbingly long and I've been driving for two and a half days."
"I like my bathrooms simple and direct."
"This does not seem to be either of those things."
"I finally locate the can way the hell down there around another unnecessary corner, and upon entering, I can no longer hear whoever was retching and choking."
"It is now silent, but for the stench so bad it was nearly foggy in there."
"Somebody's feet under the sh*tter door."
"I pee."
"I get out quick."
"Walk past those seemingly soulless and bored boys."
" Why the hell is this hallway even here?"
"There are no doors, no other businesses, these kids are creeping me out in the sinister way they stare blankly at me as I pass."
"I am at a loss to even explain why those kids are here, this place is isolated AF, the hall has too many dark corners and bends in it with no apparent logic."
"It feels like an anxiety dream, it feels like reality itself is being manipulated like the little crane arm claw the one boy is guiding."
"It feels like I want to get out of here, get back outside, get in the car and put this whole place in my rearview mirror."
"So I do."
"I get in the car."
"'Do you feel better now?'"
"'No. Actually I don't'."
"'You shoulda seen this place'."- Alternative-Amoeba20
Johannesburg
"Johannesburg, I grew up in a pretty rough city and would say it doesn’t compare to there, you can feel how tense the air is and you really need to pay attention to everything at all times."- Much_Committee_9355
Gary, Indiana
"Gary, Indiana."
"No, it's not a story of how dangerous it is, or how cops tell you to run red lights ."
"That happens, but it's mostly myths that get perpetuated by people who never visited."
"Gary is just desolate."
"It's almost post apocalyptic."
"Nature has overtaken many areas, and many of the 'vacant' houses you see are actually lived in by homeless people."
"What makes it scary isn't that it has dangerous people, it's that it can be incredibly quiet for a populous city."
"The few times I've had to go through Gary or IN Gary for something, I've always seen something that has frightened me."
"Like people staring at me through half boarded windows, people crawling out of bushes to ask for money, or people just straight up walking in front of your car trying to get you to slow down or stop."
"It's one of the few places in America that actually feels heavy to be in."
"I swear TV shows and movies are missing out on some of the easiest post apocalyptic scenery that they have ever had."- NewAccount971
Decatur, Illinois
"Decatur Illinois."
"My mom and most of her family is from there and the town is just so damn sketchy."
"People being shot the next street over seems like a daily thing."
"My crazy Great Grandma lived in a 4 story house by herself , house had been in the family for a while, and she never locked the doors, just slept with a 9mm next to her bed."- SidtheGoat87
It's sad to hear about these places, and the hard times they've fallen under.
One hopes they might find a way to bounce back one day, and make people excited to visit, rather than avoid them at all costs.
Listen ... we're just gonna be totally honest with you.
The answer is "not much" IF loved ones can come too.
Reddit user benharper09 asked
"Americans of Reddit: What would it take for you to consider moving to Europe to live and work there?"
We don't know if this Reddit user is, like, gathering market data or just really wants to know why Americans don't leave - but here's what Reddit had to say.
Whole Squad Comes With
"My wife and I have discussed moving out of the States, but family keeps us rooted. Maybe when the parents have passed."
- JroyBbop
"I used to live in Louisiana and it’s a damn nightmare there but when me and my wife found out we were pregnant in 2020 I decided that by 2022 I wouldn’t be in Louisiana anymore raising my child and we let all our family know. There’s still FaceTime and social media and mailing gifts and all that."
"If they want to see him or us in person then they can travel here but I wasn’t staying in hell so he can be near his family. It’ll be better for him to be somewhere that’s not as damn horrible. I literally had fear for my life from about age 10-33 when I moved. Nothing was gonna make me stay and raise my kid with that same fear."
- PaulblankPF
"This is a big one. Our entire support system is either here in town or within 2 hours away."
- WizardofAud
A Job
"Um, job opportunities? Europe doesn't let you just up and live there if you want to."
- zugabdu
"Here in Austria we are currently looking for a large number of people willing to work. Austria has around 150.000 job openings that cannot be filled because there aren't enough people."
- benharper09
"I doubt Americans will fill many, particularly with professional jobs requiring a college degree, as salaries tend to be far high over here."
"There are obviously a few exceptions, but as a general rule I don’t see it happening."
- monkey3man
"There are pretty significant differences in cost of living too though, as many European countries have healthcare, childcare, you can actually live in many European cities without owning a car which as I understand it is realistically impossible in the US. Looking at salary v. salary is too simplistic to really compare the buying power you're left with after taxes."
- Randyboob
Are We Even Wanted?
"Do they even want us?"
- Infinite-Hearing-738
"Not if you are old without money. Or young without skills."
- RedditRage
"Yeah. We do. I would welcome Americans with open arms. Though I understand it's hard for most Americans to move to Europe."
- Mrbananacompany
"I mean maybe you personally be okay with Americans moving to your country but your immigration laws are not so amenable."
"It's not that Americans don't consider or want to move to Europe as this question implies, we want to but it's not easy to do legally."
- Infinite-Hearing-738
"We are strongly considering making the move. My biggest concern is the language barrier. I know some people may speak English as a second language but I wouldn’t want to presume."
- GeoffAO2
Pros Over Cons
"Consider yes. Actually moving to one of the many countries with their pros, cons, and immigration policies is a whole other matter. This kind of thing works best for people who are very young, very rich, or have an employer involved."
"Not Europe, but I looked into Canada for a while and the pros and cons ended up convincing me it wasn't worth it for my family."
- Bobanderrs
"For the last few years this has been an annual discussion my wife and I have. The pros just don’t outweigh the cons yet. Burning a huge amount of money to move away from family and friends to be an outsider in a place where seasonal depression would crush me and cold weather issues would be detrimental to my wife’s health issue along with a lower paying job with fewer prospects for advancement in a place where the cost of living is so much more expensive…it always seems like a good idea until we list out all these things."
"That and Canada seems to be experiencing the same issues the US is - albeit on a much quieter level (which to some degree is often more concerning. Trucker convey tried to happen here and it got egged out of existence with them all fleeing. In Canada everyone stood around and just let it exist. For days. And days.) - which make me realize I might be better off staying put. It also seems wrong for me to be the one to up and move when I am white, straight, and in a decent financial position. My vote, my voice, my donations all make a difference for marginal groups that are fighting. We have a lot of friends in the LGBTQ community and being the ones that got to leave would just kind of haunt me."
- zerobeat
Language Barrier
"Aside from everything everyone has said is language. I took Spanish for 6 years and maybe understand 10%. I took German for a year and can say hello. I did duelingo polish everyday for six months and got nowhere."
"I've accepted its damn near impossible for me to learn a language. I could sell my house to have the money. I could leave my family. But job stability and language...those are my 2 big problems."
- Scarlett-Amber9517
"This is the big one for me. You could go to Germany, Denmark, Norway as a tourist and just speak English. But working a day-to-day job, going to the supermarket and all that, you really need to speak the language to be productive, no matter how patient your co-workers are. (I’m a software engineer)"
- AaronDNewman
"I will say, being in the country helps immensely. I can't imagine trying to learn a language while sitting in the US."
- AKdriving
Once You Understand, It Makes It Hard
"My family are immigrants to the US so know how hard it is to start somewhere new. Also a lot of my family is in the US and I don’t want to miss my nieces and nephews growing up"
- Positpostit
"I am a UK person living in America (have been here ages) - I know my wife and children dont like the way america is shifting, and through citizenship of me and my children I could easily get everyone legally into the UK."
"But... would my (college age) kids want to go there? Would we be able to make friends as near-retirees? Would the (inferior) material standard of living be too much of an adjustment and we would be shivering through the winter wondering what we did?"
"The favorable exchange rate makes it tempting too... but the reality is I think there would be some big personal drawbacks for my family"
- GoodAndBluts
Guarantee Safety
"Being able to guarantee my safety as a practicing Jew."
"I love Europe, have loved my time in Europe, but the track record on that score .....is not great."
- firerosearien
"I feel the same way as a black woman. I'm used to and can often reconize/avoid most of the racism in the US. But it's an entirely different beast in other countries. At my age, I don't think I have it in me to navigate those complexities."
- OG_PunchyPunch
"I can understand this. The problem about saying “moving to Europe” is that Europe has so many different cultures and attitudes depending on where you go."
"Here in the UK, racism certainly still exists but as a mixed race person, I’ve only experienced racism towards myself a handful of times and I personally believe the UK has some really good attitudes to race, especially in London probably the most diverse place in the world"
- HoodedArcher64
Money
"Uhh money."
- [Reddit]
"And help with the paperwork and whatnot. It’s not easy to immigrate to Europe, they’re not really interested in you just arriving."
- TheBimpo
"It can be expensive, long and frustrating but I just did this with a big family and pets about a year ago."
"Particularly thankful today to be "somewhere else" with my teens and twenties daughters."
"All the help you need is on Reddit. Lots of helpful people and resources."
- 50MillionChickens
"You start at the beginning, and learn learn learn. Just like any other thing you want to know. People figure it all out every day, and I am confident you could, too!"
- redditshy
Marketable Skill Or Marriage
"I have no marketable skills that eu countries want. And most don’t accept a lot of what I can do for a work visa. So my best bet to immigrate is marriage."
- Herodotus_9
"Same. No one in Europe wants me, so the answer to OP's question is, "it would take any counry in the EU wanting me."
- wakattawakaranai
"Came here to say this. From the research I've done, the desirable skills for most countries are stem/healthcare/etc. and while it makes sense why that is, not everyone can just up and make a career change to one of those fields."
"That can be expensive or daunting even if you're just doing it to change jobs and stay in the US."
- ingb96
"This. If it was easy/possible for most Americans to move to Europe a lot more of us would be leaving. Even if you ignore the legal hurdles, more than half of Americans can’t afford a $1000 emergency (the most relevant statistic I could find), and probably couldn’t afford to move states let alone continents."
- H_Mc
"I'm married to an eu citizen. My kids are eu citizens. But I still can't get residency until I'm at least conversationally fluent in the language."
-okayyeahsurewhy
AS Long As There Is No Dragons
"The castles look nice, but the threat if dragons keep me away."
- NeverLickATazer
"That's not much of a problem in Europe, my hometown only got destroyed 5 times by a dragon in 30 years."
- ohara1250
"Did the smith and the cobbler survive the dragon strike? Or did the plague do them in?"
- jojowhitesox
"So you have 'dragon season' like we have Hurricane season and Tornado season. Got it."
- Gr8NonSequitur
"We have sorted that problem in Wales and advertise the fact on our flag."
- mileswilliams
"The dragons you see coming. It's the rats that get you"
- benharper09
You've seen what Reddit has to say, so now it's your turn at the mic.
Americans, what would it take for YOU to head across the pond to live in Europe?
Men have this reputation for being simple, straightforward creatures.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Humans in general are not simple, straightforward creatures, but men are just ... baffling.
At least as far as the women of Reddit are concerned.
Reddit user Theunknowndud asked:
"Women, what do you find the most confusing about men?"
These fine femmes saw an opportunity to vent and ask questions and they absolutely ran with it.
Here's what they most wanted to know about.
Not Going To The Doctor
"Why some men don’t go to the doctor or dentist, unless someone else makes the appointment for them."
- macaronsforeveryone
"Because if someone else makes appointment for me I feel obligated to go. But I don't care about myself enough to make the appointment myself and I just learn to live with whatever the problem is."
- cow042
"It's like reading my own mind."
- thehandinyourpants
"I go because I'm told it is medically necessary by my wife. Otherwise I've been conditioned to determine whether it is financially necessary. In other words, if I'm not missing work because of it, it isn't necessary."
"I can't speak for everyone, but that is what I grew up with and I can't just "break" it, so I really do rely on my wife to force the issue, otherwise the cost factor pretty much overrules everything."
- Hickersonia
"I hate making appointments unless absolutely necessary. I don’t feel like going to a doctor is a necessity unless I’m not feeling well (I know I’m an idiot). As far as the dentist goes my wife made the appointment once and ever since then the receptionist makes my next appointment."
- rickfrompg
Mess? Where?
"You can be completely oblivious to any mess in the house but can spot a wall has been brush painted in the wrong direction from 20ft away."
- babygem84
"Wall is permanent mess is temporary"
- stealth941
"I am a man. I don't know anything about painting so don't spot stuff like that but every time I visit someone I spot how they set up their router/WiFi and see why they might have problems with their WiFi connection as they just hide their stuff away instead of putting the box in a way the waves flow unobstructed. I work in IT."
"English is not my first language and I'm kinda tired but hope what I wrote makes sense."
- TheGreatPinkUnicorn
"I learned some guys are like this because they were never raised to clean up after themselves. Their moms or caretakers always did the tidying for them, so they never learned to “see” mess and do anything about it."
"Compare this to something like wall painting which can be something that they spend a lot of time perfecting."
- estate_agent
Breath, I Forgot To Breathe
"I'm a man. But something that confused my wife is when I suddenly take a deep breath for no reason. She's like 'are you ok? You sure? Anything you need to talk about? What's going on?' And I just say 'nah I'm fine, think I just forgot to breathe and catching up'."
"To be honest, I feel really blessed that I have someone who cares enough to ask if I'm OK. But yeh, seriously just forgot to breathe 😀"
- Zenith2012
"Dude it's so fukin true that i was taking a deep breath as i was reading ur comment."
- mohaamedwaleedd
"Are you ok? Anything you need to talk about?"
- 1j2o3r4g5e
Can't Remember.
"My wife's biggest gripe is that I will spend time hiking / drinking / driving / whatever with friends I haven't seen in months, and when I get home I will have absolutely nothing to report back despite having talked solidly with them for six hours."
"My wife on the other hand will casually pass a friend in the street and within ten minutes knows what theyve done every day since they last spoke, the health and financial status of them and all other friends and relatives, and a forward facing calendar for the next three months."
- gazhole
"It’s funny though. All the bullsh*t we talk about as guys slowly leaks a bunch of personal information over time. You can tell that one guy isn’t happy with his relationship, one guy is broke, one guy hates his job, one guy has a medical issue. You know all of this without really talking about it just because you spend quality time with them. Yet even we can’t recount it directly, we just know it in the moment when we are with the boys."
- Old-Figure922
"Damn you really hit the nail on the head there."
- User Deleted
Going Into Screensaver Mode
"I’ve learned a lot being married to my husband, but there’s one thing I fail to understand in general. Why do you guys like to stare out the window so often? It’s usually just going up to a window or looking out the front door, and you fall into a trance. What’s up with that?"
- Foops69
"I actually do this a lot."
"Also when I’m in the shower I will just stand and think."
"I’m usually thinking how to solve a problem that will probably never occur."
- [Reddit]
"Lol. I love it. It’s particularly amusing to me when I’ll realize the room has fallen silent and I look up and he’s just there. Staring. My dad did it too."
- Foops69
"It's a way to trick your brain to go idle long enough to enter screensaver."
- anaximander19
"Brain defragmentation"
- undefinite_resonance
Power Saving mode
"My gf is still baffled at the fact that I can just turn off my brain and not think of anything"
- ButtDealer
"There's a science museum where I live and there's a game you can play that uses brain waves. Basically it has a ball in the middle of the table that moves based on who has the least amount of brain activity at the time. And you want the ball to move away from you."
"You put on a head piece and when both players are ready, they touch the two pads on the table with you hands. I'm currently undefeated at a record of 14-0. Idk if I'm dumb or if I just shut everything off but life support lol"
- Vaporwing
"I found my husband on the couch in a dead silent house whistling tunelessly and playing bongos on his own tummy. When I asked what he's thinking about as he's doing that he says 'You know...nothin'. Like listening to the wind in your mind and sh*t. Everyone does it'."
"No Cowboy, we don't all do that. Y'all have some magic happening. Sounds nice."
- CinnamonBurp
One Of The Worlds Mysteries
"D*cks, the way they work is confusing. Like I’ve been told they only react when seeing or feeling something they like but I’ve also been told it will just decide to pop up randomly though the day with nothing."
- Annaclaire_x
"True, d*cks are doing what they want. Sometimes out of nowhere it just decides to stands up. Also, it can stand up when you're aroused (obviously) or when you're excited to see someone you haven't seen in a long time."
- Artass937
"Can confirm, i got a got a penis and im still confused how it works at times."
- Clayman8
"Fun fact: The penis has pressure sensors, just touching it a bit or squeezing a bit can be enough to trigger an erection."
- MigasEnsopado
"Boners are strange. Morning wood is the result of overstimulation from a dream. We get nervous boners. We get sad boners. We get angry boners."
- Burrito_Loyalist
Forgive And Forget
"I find it confusing how men are so forgiving. It’s one of the things I adore the most about men and find the most baffling. I’m learning now that men will get over things like 40 minutes after they happen and genuinely get frustrated and sad when their girls hold grudges. I’ve found that the people I’ve had falling outs with and was able to rekindle my friendships with were mostly all men."
"I also find it weird how men will fight each other and then be best friends the next day."
- Full_Nebula_4443
"You get angry in the moment but then after you're removed from the situation you gotta let yourself cool off. Once you're thinking clearly you'll realize it wasn't that big a deal and get over it. Usually the start of a fight isn't that big it's the stuff that comes after that escalates it so you just recognize that both of you just human and do and say dumb things when your blood is up. Also I think women tend to plan more and then act and men will just act and plan on the fly so that leads to women believing slights or f**k ups are more intentional whereas men will just think of them as mistakes and forgive them."
- MadForge52
"Coincidentally, just yesterday I was reminiscing on a friend and me getting into a fight. I hit him over the head with a glass bottle and he gave me a really clean two-piece in response."
"I laughed for a few minutes at how inconsequential that fight was after the fact, but how extreme it was looking back on it. We’re still thick as thieves to this day, lol"
- solitarium
"As a guy I feel we are a bit more black and white about forgiveness. I can easily forgive and forget most low-level things given time but I still have some grudges from over 10 years ago. I will likely never forgive them."
"Basically men work like traffic tickets. Small things are forgiven quickly. Bigger things take time. Some things are permanent."
"Some women feel more like an actual criminal record that never gets expunged."
- narderp
"If someone is kind/self-aware/brave enough to apologize after they screw up, then it becomes easy to accept an apology from someone who understands they did something wrong and wishes that they hadn’t. Everyone makes mistakes, especially men, so forgiving and moving on is much more sensible than holding a grudge"
- uriah12g
I Am Okay
"When guys are seriously injured but act like its just a scratch… that they can somehow walk it off. All the guys I know are like this."
- CherryBlossomSunset
"A serious answer is because we don't want to panic and cause an issue"
- Traditional_Bat5572
"This is it right here. As soon as a calm guy starts panicking, everyone is panicking."
- spectra__
"Reminds me of when I accidentally cut a chunk of my finger so deeply that it hung off and you could see white underneath. I was internally freaking out and didn't even want to look at it, but did so I could assess the damage. I calmly asked my partner to bring me some bandages and alcohol and when I turned to look at her, she was pale and her lips were turning blue. She said 'Okay, but I need to sit down for a sec...'."
"I ended up walking all the way to the first aid box on the bottom floor of our apartment building while holding a cup under my finger to catch all the blood. I wasn't gonna try and walk it off, but I absolutely knew I couldn't panic for her and my sake!"
"TLDR: Someone will have to fix it, and panicking makes problems harder to fix."
- Saymynaian
"Exactly. Panicking doesn't help the situation. A clear head and talking to people on how to help solves way more."
- Traditional_Bat5572
They Jiggle Jiggle...
"How their crotch doesn't hurt when they run or go up the stairs. Like, even with underwear, you just have stuff hanging down there. I don't even have a large chest and it hurts to run regardless if I'm wearing a bra or not"
- YourLocalCat-Girl
"I gotta tell you, the penis doesn't weigh much."
"A boob weighs more, and you ladies have two of them."
- ZenEvadoni
"One testicle also hangs lower than the other for the specific purpose of not getting crushed when walking."
- Swreefer1987
"I'm a guy and I didn't know this, lol. Neat."
- NewPokemonFound
"Our stuff is not as heavy as yours, so we don't feel the dangling effect much. Also, sometimes it hurts when we wear very tight/ short undies"
- SKORPIO07
"A couple things: Breasts are considerably larger and heavier than testicles, so they bounce a lot more. I jump up and down a few times when I get out of the shower, so my towel doesn’t have to soak up quite so much water, and I do support my balls while I’m jumping. That was a mistake I made exactly once. But if you’re wearing briefs, and the bouncing isn’t as much, it’s not really an issue."
"You’ve had your breasts since puberty. We’ve had our penis since birth. We had to learn to walk with it. You had a decade to get used to walking a certain way before your build changed dramatically. We’ve had essentially the same hardware our entire lives."
- JesusIsMyZoloft
... at this point I might be more confused than I was going into this article.
We've got mess-blind people, refusal to acknowledge injury as if denial is somehow a healing agent ... and a dude who forgets to breathe.
Help.
Australians Divulge The Most Surprising Things About Their Country That Would Shock Tourists
The land Down Under is one of the most highly anticipated travel destinations for tourists around the world. Australia has fascinating history, beautiful sights, great food, cool wildlife, and some pretty cool people.
But as with any travel destination, there's bound to be a certain degree of culture shock. Have a seat and listen up, because you're in for some surprises.
Australians shared some information with us after Redditor emchmu123 asked the online community,
"Australians of Reddit, what is something that the rest of the world would be surprised or shocked to hear about the country?"
"There are more wild camels..."
"There are more wild camels in Australia than the Middle East."
CoffeeHistorical2094
At some point, the British were just like, what other animals can we introduce to this place? And then they just did it.
"You can drive for 26 hours straight and still be in the same state. It's kinda unsettling, especially those really tiny mining towns that have like a gas station and just flat dryland for as far as you can see."
[deleted]
It's kind of crazy how desolate so much of the country is. You don't just go to the Outback, you prepare to go there.
"In some parts..."
"In some parts of the country you are closer to space than the nearest town."
glenmelonhorst
That's another way to hammer this point home.
"While I was working..."
"While I was working in Whistler people were often shocked to hear we have ski resorts in Australia."
[deleted]
Wow, you guys have everything.
Why do you get all the good stuff?! What about the rest of us?!
"I've never had..."
"I’ve never had shrimp on the barbie - ever!"
atypicalnose
Can you even call yourself Australian at this point? How can we possibly process this information as the ignorant tourists that we are?
"Every spring..."
"Every spring, Magpies take to swooping people who come near their nests. Not a secret really, but I don't know how widely known it is."
statisticus
I love magpies. They are the mascot of chaos and destruction.
"That there are..."
"That there are vast areas of rainforest as well as the better-known desert areas."
imrzzz
And it's beautiful! You forgot to mention that it's incredibly beautiful.
"The last confirmed death..."
"Almost no one here dies to spiders or snakes. The last confirmed death from a spider bite was in 1979."
TheThunderChild
This is exactly the kind of propaganda a deadly Australian spider would spread.
"It was a conservative government..."
"It was a conservative government that introduced gun control laws."
[deleted]
A nice fact to whip out at dinner parties the next time someone says that only liberals are for reform.
"You're supposed to eat Vegemite toast with butter. Not just a thick slather of Vegemite like Nutella."
[deleted]
"You're supposed to eat Vegemite toast..."
Hang on a second!
They've certainly not told us everything, but take heed, fellow traveler, and report back. Australia is a hell of a place and you'll have plenty of stories to tell when you come back!