The mind is a fantastic yet strange and mysterious part of the body. It holds so many secrets, especially from our pasts. How many of us dream and relive flashes that seem like they could be memories? But we convince ourselves they're just our wild imagination. That is of course until we whisper about the murky thought one day for a laugh, only to discover it's an old reality from the past that actually is haunting us a bit. Our parents and loved ones know the tales we try to block out... just ask. It'll make for a fun quarantine Halloween.
Redditor u/justaguyulove wanted to hear about all the memories from childhood that needed some extra explaining when they asked everyone to divulge.... [SERIOUS] What was your creepy, unexplainable story as a child that was confirmed by your parents to have happened?In the Sky
One time my brother, his friend, and I saw lights in the sky that darted around like UFOs. We went to get my mom and she was totally nonchalant about it. "Yep, those are UFOs" she said, and went back in the house. Her response was so subdued that we figured she was humoring us and they weren't actually UFOs. Years later I asked her about it and she said she had to force herself to act calmly because she was terrified.
The Steps Unknown....
In the house I grew up in every night at around midnight these big loud footsteps would go stomping up and down the hallway a few times, I'd often think it was my dad getting up in the night so sometimes I would stick my head out in the hall to see him but there was no one there and I'd hear him snoring in his room. This isn't a particularly creepy story but it's just strange that everyone confirms they heard these footsteps and no one was ever that bothered by it, it's like it happened for as long as we could remember so we just accepted it.
Ghosts 'R Us....
I saw a couple ghosts when I was a kid and I never told anyone because I knew they wouldn't believe me. Years and years later when we were moving out we were telling stories about stuff we'd done growing up etc. Turned out everyone had seen things, almost the exact same things, but also never said anything cause they figured no one would believe it!
The Figures
spooky ghost GIFGiphyWhen my family went to the Georgian mountain region, we rented a cottage.
2 bedrooms, so my brother and I took one and our dad took the other with his gf. I woke up in the middle of the night to three figures in the room, all standing in various places, none of which were visible from the entrance of the room. I woke my brother up and we screamed for our dad, but when he came into the room, he refused to look at the figures and just told us to hide under the covers. Wasn't exactly confirmed, but his refusal to look where they were standing after begging him was telling. Crap still scares my brother and I.
"Wow that was fast"
Not necessarily creepy, but when I was around 11 or so, my mom and I were going about 40 miles outside of town for a typical orthodontist appointment.The trip typically took about 35 mins give or take a few for traffic, however this one time I kinda zoned out while being driven and upon arriving we remarked "Wow that was fast." We were earlier for my appointment than usual despite leaving at a consistent time for each appointment.
Upon looking at our vehicle's clock (and confirming with a watch my mom had on) it had mysteriously taken us only 10 mins to drive to drive the usual 35 minute distance. We have no recollection of anything happening during those 10 mins, and it never happened again, but it left us with a very weird feeling. We still wonder what we drove through to this day.
by the seaside....
In Mom's seaside hometown, there was an offshore decommissioned lighthouse.
Even though utilities to it had long been shut off and the lighthouse was locked, it would randomly light up - clearly visible in all directions.
No one could explain it. It happened so infrequently and at odd hours of the night that by the time officials examined the structure, there were no signs of activity.
To this day, as I've mentioned here once before, the lighthouse remains mysterious and a bit creepy.
Find the earring....
About 5 years ago my parents were sitting out on the back porch on a summer night. Out of the corner of her eye my mom saw a person-sized white translucent figure float by a tree. She asked my dad if he saw it too and he said yes. He is a tough guy but he was really freaked out and so was she so they both went inside. The next morning my mom was walking by the tree where they saw the figure and she noticed a very old looking earring sitting on top of the dirt.
She doesn't wear earrings and it wasn't the kind of earring I would wear. It looked like it belonged to an old lady and it was just dropped there. My mom brought it inside and put it in her jewelry box. The next day it was sitting in the middle of the basement floor. From then on I started hearing footsteps and whispering in my room at least once a week until I moved out.
Red Light Special
animation domination fox GIFGiphyI'm a parent of toddlers and kids now, and I have a creepy story from last year.
We were driving with my then three year old son in the car, and stopped at a red light next to a cemetery. Out of nowhere, my son looked over at the cemetery and said "There are people laying down there, and they can't get up."
My wife asked my son what he was talking about and he pointed to the cemetery and said "All of the people laying down in the park are stuck."
My wife and I just looked at each other in silence completely freaked out. At this point in our son's life, there had been no deaths in the family and we had never discussed death with him.
I'm still creeped out when I think about it.
Bye Love
So I don't actually remember this but my mom told me about it. My grandfather died when I was a year old. Prior to his death, he loved to play with me and would make me laugh in this very specific way. The night he died, my mom heard me making noise. So she goes in assuming I'm crying but I'm not. I'm staring at the ceiling, laughing hysterically just like my grandfather used to make me laugh. She's still convinced he came to say goodbye to me.
The Menu is a No
Not Safe For Work No GIFGiphyKind of the opposite but I distinctly remember sitting in the front seat of a van with one of my mother's acquaintances whilst she went to collect something. The guy told me in detail about cutting up, cooking and eating humans (he said palms were a delicacy you could fry up like bacon). Only occurred to me as an adult that he was probably lying.
Sad Now.
When I was young, I apparently had a few odd interactions with animals. I would know a person had animals before we went in the house, they tended to come over to me before my parents, mostly just little things that were probably explainable by me a fairly observant little kid.
The one that sticks out to my parents though (telling it the way they do) is we went to a new car garage to have them work on our car. As we pull up, the owner has a big old black lab laying in the middle of the lobby.
The guy informs us the dog is comfortable with people, we can pet him if we want. I shake my head and say "He sad though." Dad looks at me asks why I think that. I reply "He lost his ball, he sad now." Dad said the owner went pale, stared at me for a minute, and then looked at dad said "He's had a favorite ball for ten years that just went down the sewage drain yesterday and I couldn't get it back out."
Back in Rhode Island....
My grandmother was a real estate agent in Rhode Island. I was staying with her one summer and she had to take me along to see a potential listing. It was a very strange house because it was circular. All the rooms went along the outside and connected to each other and there was a center part with a little garden and open to the sky.
She went up to the second story and I stayed downstairs because I wanted to walk around the loop one time. The problem started when I had walked a full loop and I didn't see the stairs. I thought I must be confused so I kept going to the next room and still couldn't find them. I started to panic so I began running around the house as fast as possible checking every room for stairs and there wasn't any. Finally, I sat down by the front door and started crying.
A little while later my grandmother ran into the entryway room looking just as panicked as I had been and asking where I was hiding and why I was hiding and and not answering her calling out to me. I never heard her calling out to me at all. Actually, the house seemed so still and quiet while I was sitting there that I was sure she had forgotten and left me there. We went home and didn't talk about it really.
Like 15 years later I brought it up to my mom and asked if she knew anything or was this a crazy childhood nightmare I'm remembering?
She told me she remembered it clearly because my grandmother had called her and was absolutely spooked because she couldn't explain what had happened and she thought she lost me or I had been taken by someone while she was distracted. She had apparently been looking for me for awhile.
I still don't understand what happened really because the house wasn't even large or confusing to navigate. I still get chills when I think about it.
Grammy Flo....
Old Lady Dancing GIF by MattielGiphyWhen I was 3 years old my grandmother died. She lived in our house with us and we were VERY close, she had told my mom many times that she would do her best to make her passing easy on me since I was so young.
The night that she died, my mom was laying in bed with her and heard her take her last breath. My mom laid there and cried for about 30 minutes before coming into my room to check on me. It was about 5am and there was no reason for me to be awake, but I was sitting in up in my crib playing and when my mom asked why I was awake I said:
"Grandma Flo just came in to give me a kiss goodbye!"
Burn it Down!
At my parent's house I used to hear my mom calling out to me when she didn't, and she confirmed she'd hear me call out to her when I didn't. That was a common occurrence.
Also, whenever I'd be alone for a little while if my mom was late from work or at the grocery store, I'd usually be in the main living room playing n64. I would often times hear loud banging sounds from upstairs as if a heavy piece of furniture tipped over.
I'd go check and nothing was out of place. Both my mother and grandmother have confirmed similar experiences when they're alone in he house.
There was also the time I was downstairs on my laptop, everyone else was in bed, it was after midnight and I didn't realize just how dark everything had gotten without the lights on. I'm zoned out when I begin to hear what sounds like a murmuring from behind me. Like the low rumble you'd hear at a gathering when people are talking and you can't make out conversation.
The hairs on my neck immediately stood up and my body locked up from fear. Tears ran down my face from the physical reaction my body was having. I refused to acknowledge it and kept staring at my laptop screen in silence. It took forever for my body to go back to normal. Some time later I told my mother what happened and it freaked her out because she said she's heard the murmuring as well.
I've always hated that house.
Not so Purrrrfect....
I was in 7th grade when my parents bought their first computer, so not super young. We had a small ranch, so my dad built a corner desk in the basement in one of the finished off rooms since there was no room anywhere else. House was built by my dad in the mid 80s; no one had lived there before us.
When my mom would get home from work, we'd hear her set down her keys on the counter and walk across the kitchen floor in her heels. It was a frequent occurrence for my brother or I to be on the computer (happened to each of us quite a bit), and hear sounds of my mom putting her keys on the counter and walking across the kitchen floor, same as when she gets home from work. In going upstairs to check to see if my mom was home, she wouldn't be home.
We would tell my mom when it happened, and it happened enough where we tried to figure it out by checking the time we'd hear it. A few times, she said she'd been thinking about work at that time and happened to look at the clock.
We tried to figure it out and have no idea to this day why it would continuously happen. A few times my mom mentioned she'd be on the computer and hear someone upstairs, and no one would be home. My dad didn't allow pets in the house either, so it wasn't just a cat being a jerk.
You are my Sunshine.....
i love you sun GIF by Chippy the dogGiphyWhen I was little (probably about 5) my great grandmother passed away from cancer. We were very close. She watched me nearly everyday and would sing to me before my naps.
You are my Sunshine in particular. It was a few days after she died and I can instinctively remember waking up to someone stroking my hair and singing You are my Sunshine. At first, I thought it was my mom, but it was unlike her to do something like that. I turned and found no one there. I even remember getting up and checking my parents room to find they were both asleep. Both my parents kind of just nonchalantly dismiss it, but I swear it was her saying goodbye to me.
The Zoo Story....
Not so much creepy as unexplainable. I have a memory of standing in my grandmother's suburban backyard with my cousin (we were maybe 3-4 yrs old) watching a line of penguins in a neighboring yard climb up a pool slide and slide down into a pool, one by one. They would swim to the stairs, waddle out of the pool and around the pool back to the slide stairs and wait in line to go down the slide again. I never mentioned the memory and assumed, because it was so implausible, that I dreamt it up or remembered wrong.
A couple decades later, I visited my grandmother and this same cousin was also visiting. We were sitting at my grandma's kitchen table which looked out at her backyard. There was a lull in the conversation, and we were all looking out the window. It made me think of the whole penguin memory, so I brought it up. My cousin's eyes widened and she said she had the same memory, but, like me, thought it was a dream. My grandma chuckled and said, "Well, the neighbor that used to live there did work for the zoo..."
Not exactly a confirmation, but... did that really happen?! Even if he did work for the zoo...you can't just bring a dozen penguins home, can you?!?
Shift Work...
When I was a kid my mom used to work at a small grocery store and she went there before breakfast to get fresh bakery goods when she had the afternoon shift. Then she used to wake me up for school, and ask how I slept, and I used to tell her what dream I had that night (if any). One morning I told her I dreamed, that two guys broke in to the store and they left a red screwdriver on the floor. My mom was shocked, because there really was a break in that night, that is why she couldn't buy stuff for breakfast that morning, but couldn't talk with police or colleagues at the time to get more details.
I then went to school, my mom did the afternoon shift and on the evening, when she came home, she told me that the police really did found a screwdriver on the scene, which belonged to the burglar(s). This all happened in Europe, a small town around the early 90s, no CCTV and the burglar(s) never got caught, but this was still a very strange experience. My mom made me fill out a lottery ticket the next day, lol, but never won with it and never had such dreams since then.
"premonitions"
My mom said that I used to have "premonitions" when I was little, under the age of 10.
My great-aunt and great-uncle were like grandparents to me and used to come visit in the summer from Mexico (to the US).
I would miss them terribly then they would go. One year when they were leaving, I cried and cried.
My mom said "Don't worry! They'll be back next year."
I remember sobbing and throwing a small child fit.
Apparently I said to my mom "No you don't understand! Tío (great-uncle) is NEVER coming back!"
And she kept trying to reassure me they'd be back next year.
I kept repeating "He's never coming back!" (I didn't say anything about my great-aunt)
Sure enough, he passed away and never came back within a few weeks or months.
My mom said it was really creepy and I also predicted my great-aunt passing as well.
The Last Call...
kate mckinnon omg GIF by Saturday Night LiveGiphyMy Granny died when I was little. I don't even remember her.
My Aunt and Mom always told me this story. I was at my house when I was little, I think about 4. The phone rang and I answered it. They got on to me for answering the phone. I told them it was my Granny calling to see if I was ok. I told her yes and hung up. She had recently passed away. They said they were a little creeped out by it, but insisted it really happened.
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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.