It's spooky season, which means--lights off, jack-o-lanterns, scary movies, candy corn...wait, is that a knock on my door?
Have you ever been terrified while at home alone, and convinced yourself you're hearing an intruder, or a scary animal? Have you ever been right? Our greatest fears are that we are isolated in our homes, alone, and something happens. Will we be equipped to deal with it?
u/5cones asked:
What was your scariest experience home alone?
Here were some of those stories.
Urban Legends Do Come True
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About 10 years ago my husband was gone overnight and I got an automated phone call sometime in the evening, after dark, from the county sheriffs department saying 2 inmates had escaped from the local juvenile detention facility. I live in a very rural area and this facility is only a few miles away, also in a rural area. And? The two escapees were NOT juveniles, for some reason, and they were armed.
They had somehow overcome the officer and gotten his weapon. So there are helicopters circling the area for HOURS. I was on the computer (before I had a cell phone) all night messaging my local friends and trying to find updates. All the while the helicopters were still circling within a mile of my house. Bottom line - I turned on all the lights, barricaded the doors and sat up all night. I finally went to sleep when the sun came up. Most scared I've ever been.
Ended Up Working Out In My Favor
I lived in an apartment by myself right after highschool when I was about 19 years old. I had lived there for about a whole month when something truly horrifying happened. My front door was locked, top and bottom locks. I'm sitting in my living room watching TV when all of a sudden I hear keys going into my door locks and I see the locks physically start to turn. My body froze completely and my heart sunk into my chest. I did not have maintenance or anything else planned, nobody to come by and visit, etc.
The door swings open and I see an older asian man with bags of clothes and a few boxes. He immediately started screaming at me in a language I did not understand.
He began repeatedly hitting me and he dragged me out of the apartment. He had me in a chokehold and finally my upstairs neighbor came down and pulled him off me. We called the police and long story short; By some bizarre mistake at the leasing office, they gave this man a key to my apartment and told him it was his.
He purchased it before moving here and had only seen pictures of an empty unit. He assumed I was some sort of squatter, in his unit. I was young and poor, I had a tv, a chair, and an inflatable mattress. I had almost no possessions at all, so I could see how he might've thought that I was there illegally.
He was actually meant to get unit 54 (empty) when I was in 56 (right next door). I was able to press charges on the man and also sued the apartment complex for them allowing a stranger to have a key to my door, which ended violently. He did not move in next door after the incident, and I actually stayed there an entire year rent free. Was able to save some money and bought everything I needed as an adult. I also bought a pistol for my own protection shortly after.
To Oz!
I was home alone around 12 years of age, my dad was gone often, on dates to "heal from the divorce" which he caused by cheating. I remember being outside in the driveway looking up in the sky, the air was warm but calm. Ive never seen a sky look green, then i watched the clouds start to turn in a circle. I hauled ass inside, and shortly after a tornado formed and stuck down very close to the house. I remember the familiar freight train sound. Thankfully it was short lived and an F1.
That's MY Tree
Lightning bolt hit the tree 10 feet out my window, as I was watching the storm from my bed. I was home alone, maybe 13 years old. It was the loudest sound I ever heard, and I admit, I went from loving lightning to being afraid of it (buy only when its close). The same tree got hit 2 more times in the following 10 years, also when I was home alone.
Narrowly Avoided
Used to work in one of the older buildings on my campus. Former dorm turned office building. I was working on December 23, so NOBODY was there (Lights were off, doors were all locked, etc.)
Once i turned our hall lights and set up in my office with my dog, I went to sit at my desk and set up the computer. Right after sitting down, I heard footsteps down the hall, but didn't think much of it. They started to get closer to my door so I looked over at my door to obviously see nothing. I listened as the footsteps went all the way down my hallway (And passed my office). Once they passed my office, I walked into the hall only for the door at the end of the hallway to open and slam shut as i watched.
I flipped.
Puppy Escaped
OMFG I THOUGHT I WOULD NEVER GET TO SHARE THIS. This happened when I was eleven. My parents went on a date night and it was just me (and the dog). There's a knock on the door. I peer out the window and see an unfamiliar man. I panic and run to the basement. I call my mum and panic. I hear the knock again. She tells me to calm down.
As I walk back up he has a cute little dog. Btw I'm still on the phone. I panic because i think that he is trying to lure me out. This is how it went
Me : mom he has a puppy! What do I do?!
Mom : ignore him and make sure all the doors are locked
Me : wait...
Mom : what... WHAT IS IT ANSWER ME!
Me : mom the dog looks like our puppy's name
Mom : (confused sounds)
Me : Omg it IS our dog!
Turns out our dog got out the open back door and ran after my parents car. Our neighbor who I didnt recognized because we just moved found her running, saw her collar, noticed the adress was next to his house, and brought her to me.
All Was Well
While I was at my grandma's house, she left to go to the grocery store, so I was at her house alone, playing my Wii. While playing, I hear noises coming from upstairs that sound like footsteps. I get really worried, so I walk outside for a minute or two to calm down, then walk back inside. A few minutes later, I hear more noises, and this time the noises are coming closer to the living room door. All of a sudden I see a person walking, and I let out a loud noise.
Turns out the noises I heard were my grandma. She had never actually went to the store; I had misheard what she told me.
Watchful Eyes
It was my first time being alone for an undetermined time, I was maybe 16 or 17. My mom had to take my dad to a doctor in Alabama and took my sister with me. I had no idea how long they were going to be gone, so I'm sitting in the hall on the computer and our dog starts barking. Not like "Hey, squirrel, it's a squirrel!" but deep, angry barking. "Something is in my yard and it should not be here" barking.
I had the phone in my hand and went to check out the window looking towards where the dog was, plus to make absolutely sure the back door was locked. It was a box turtle. I had never heard this dog bark like this before, was pretty sure I was going to find a burglar or worse outside the door, and it was a freaking box turtle trying to get across the yard while the dog barked and snapped at it. I went outside and helped the turtle to the far end of the yard away from the dog, but he definitely earned some pats and treats for being that watchful over the house.
This Isn't Somebody I Know
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I lived in a basement apartment that had 3 windows and one of them was in our living room (left side of house).
Some guy, who I have no idea who it was, walked up to the living room window (had to walk around a big bush mind you) and started waving and saying hi.
Then they went all the way to the other side of the house where my basement door was and started knocking on it saying, "Let me in".
I was just trying to play guitar hero. Still to this day not sure if he was drunk trying to get to my upstairs neighbors house. Called the cops and he left before they could catch him.
An Important Thing About Myself
My SO works nights and wasn't home. I came home from a long night of gallery-hopping with no dinner, lots of wine and didn't eat enough food while I was out. Suddenly had a really strong blood-sugar attack and ended up on the floor being barely able to move. Super sweaty and cold all over. Felt like fainting only my heart hurt really bad and my whole body felt odd.
I couldn't even move get to the phone to call 911. About 20 minutes later, I finally was able to get to the fridge by crawling and got some OJ into me and a couple of bites of an old pie that was there. That got me strong enough to make a meal and get things back in order. Found out later that my whole system was out of wack and I have to have food about every 2 - 3 hours or it happens again. Hypoglycemia.
When Hinges Creak In Doorless Chambers
It was a short time ago.
As context: I'm 21, was 20 at the time, but I still live with my mother. So I was playing some ArmA III with a friend through Discord, completely alone, and I swear I hared the window in my corridor open (I live on a third floor). It felt so real, that I actually reached for my airsoft gun in case it was a burglar so I could scare him off, but everything was in its place. Was weird and that's the scariest I can remember.
Nape Of Your Neck
This was about a year or 2 ago but I felt a small breeze on my back while gaming and no one was home. I turn around and nothing. My door is closed, I don't have any windows in my room, my fan is off and the aircon wasn't functional at the time. Then I heard a thump coming from my mums room then extremely light footsteps slowly traveling but stepping fast. It reaches my door so I grab my weights (but made them light so it's heavy enough to be lethal but light enough to swing around) I open the door and it was my cat so I put 2 and 2 together and assumed that he jumped off my mums bed and wanted scratches. But it still doesn't explain the breeze...
A Ghost Or Just A Child's Mind?
When I was a kid I would always sleep with a closet light on because I was afraid of the dark. I remember that I used to see black shadows fly a cross my room when I was supposed to be sleeping which were too fast to see clearly, however one night when I was around 11 I remember waking up in the middle of the night and seeing the shadow of a man standing directly in front of my bed.
Now the part that still confused me and freaks me out is the fact that it was standing DIRECTLY infront of the closet door. It was blocking the light. I hid underneath my covers for the longest 5 minutes of my life but when I gained enough courage to look back up it was gone, sort of manifested. My grandfather died a few years prior but I don't like to jump to conclusions.
Yeahhhh We Had To Move
My sibs and I (ages 8-12) were upstairs when we heard loud knocking and a loud bang. We went downstairs and saw our front door was wide open despite having multiple locks from the inside engaged. Weird that our parents always left thru the garage so the additional locks inside wont be open. But when we saw the door all the locks were open.
And these were the locks that you have to lift and slide over to open. Idk if we just forgot or if something is in that house but safe to say we no longer live there. This house was new when we got it but I always felt something was there.
A Phantom Sob
Once when i was home alone doing homework i was listening to music. When i took a brake to relax a bit i heard a low level noise from downstairs. When i decided to get up and check, in the hallway i could hear the sound of crying but it was that crying of a woman trying not to be heard. I was so afraid that i had to take a moment before asking "Who's There?" And by then it had stopped. Till today my mom says she has no idea what it could have been.
Get Off My Lawn!!!!
Owner of a house very near mine was planning to demolish it and build townhouses on the land. He allowed some young people to hold a party there, which went viral. There were hundreds of people there.
The police had to get involved, ended up with full riot squad turning out and herding hundreds of people away from the property up the street. I lived alone and got scared when I heard people trying to get on to my property (I have a high, gated, fence at the front of my property).
Loads of news crews the next day!
Soccer Strikes
I've been scared of storms since I was a kid. Like a full on had to go to therapy phobia. It was mostly better when I got older, I just get really on edge. Then I was 18 and driving home from soccer practice that was cut short by a storm and a tree across the intersection from me got hit by lighting and it was terrifying.
Killer Shrews
Alone at night watching a B & W horror movie called Killer Shrews -- huge dog like creatures with 4 inch teeth menacing people trapped in a compound on a tropical island. For some reason a pile of books fell heavily to the floor in a nearby closet. If I could have jumped out of my skin.
Deep Breaths
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I was pretty young, and it was about 1 AM. My cat came in, and immediately hissed at something across the room. Then, my cat ran away. I then felt something like a human walking across the floor, and stopped at the end of my bed. The I just heard breathing, for about an hour. I then decided to get enough courage to look up, and I did. Nobody was there, but I still heard breathing. Checked under my bed, nothing.
Checked my closet, nothing. Checked my bathroom, nothing. I then went to bed, not knowing what to do. I probably just hallucinated, but it felt pretty real. I don't suffer from anything, and that was the only time I hallucinated, unless my dog just came in, and breathed like a human.
Cookies....
When I was about thirteen, I had the house to myself. I pulled out some Oreo cookies just before I went into the bathroom and, when I came back five minutes later, they were gone. I never found the cookies.
Staying Calm
I've never taken a prescription before, but finally got some antidepressants in Feb.
I didn't know I was supposed to eat food with my medicine for the first couple weeks, and the first day I took it, I nearly passed out.
My dad was at work, and I'm not supposed to call him unless it's his lunch break. But I called him anyways. He told me to eat some crackers and lie down. I felt better. Dads make everything better.
Just StaringÂ
Wasn't home alone, exactly, but everyone else was asleep so I hope it still counts.
I was pretty young, I'm assuming I was around seven or eight, and I just got back from the bathroom. I had one of those canopy-beds, and as I got in bed and looked in the direction of my door, I swear to God, I see this kid staring at me.
Straight up staring. For like five seconds, we stare directly at each-other and then it looks like she ducked down and hid behind the end of my bed.
So, at first I thought - for some reason - that my sister had snuck into my room to scare me. So I whisper her name and look behind the bed where the kid had hid.
Nobody was there.
To this day, I have no idea what I saw. I'm usually very skeptical about ghosts and stuff, but something about the whole experience rubbed me the wrong way.
The Shake Up
I was 14. my mom and twin were out of state, and early that morning (4 am) my dad left to go to Italy for work. my Gram was supposed to come pick me up that evening--I'd convinced my family I was grown enough that I could be on my own for a few hours, didn't need to spend the night before at grams.
4:30, my cat wakes me up, which was strange, she was usually happy to just cuddle on my feet. and my brain says " hey, animals know when a quake is coming..." and I roll off the bed and cover my head.
I lived in California.
so the house shakes, and shakes and the ceiling just comes down, slamming into my bed and the bookshelf near my headboard. glass breaking, I can just hear things crashing. my cat stayed cuddled up with me in this little sheltered pocket. I was terrified.
Called my gram as soon as the sun was up.
Walking About
Lived with my aunt for a year and she would leave for business all the time. I swear her house is haunted and only did things when I was alone. A couple of times I'd go to sleep with my door open and wake up to it closed. Seen a girl in white walk into rooms. Front door would unlock itself and door would open. Bags of chips would be thrown from a box on top of the fridge. Would scare the crap out of me.
My Sister's Car
I was about 11 and staying home alone while my mom and my older sister was out running errands. I was sitting in my living room watching tv when I heard two men arguing. It sounded like it was coming from my basement. My cat even woke up and started acting disturbed by the yelling. I freaked out. This was before cell phones. In my mind the best thing to do was go hide in my sister's car that was in the driveway until my family returned home.
After about of an hour laying in the backseat of my sister's car my family came home. I told them what happened and they called the cops. There was no sign of break in and no men in the house. They just thought I must have imagined it. To this day I will never forget the screaming and the look on my old cats face. I know I didn't imagine it.
Run
My best friend, her husband and I decided to get an apartment. It was a nice place, we all got on really well. It worked out great.
After about a month we'd notice food missing, that no one would own up to, but whatever we all brushed it off. My roommate's cats had a tendency to destroy the blinds on the windows, so it had a nice section missing out of the window that looked out from our living room to our front steps.
I was home alone, around midnight on a Wednesday. I was up late working on stuff for school in the living room. I'd been hearing weird noises all night, but brushed it off as the thin walls.
After awhile, I heard a noise out on the steps and looked over to see a mans face peering through the gaps in our front window.
As calmly as I could, I got up and locked myself in the bathroom. I called the police and then my roommates telling them they needed to come home.
After some investigating, we found evidence that there was someone living in our attic, which had outside roof access (with a broken lock).
We moved out of that apartment within a week.
The Patient
Something that happened about five years ago. My MIL who is a pediatric nurse had stopped by for a visit one evening and told us about a patient she had been treating that passed away that evening. Sometime after she left, I was doing something in the living room when something at the top of my stairs caught my eye. When I looked up, I saw what appeared to be a small shadow figure dart across the entryway to the second floor. Kind of like it got spooked and was darting out of the way to hide.
I wrote it off as my eyes playing tricks on me, but it did seem a little weird and my mind immediately went to the child my MIL told us about.
Dorothy Gale
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Tornado came through the neighborhood. Took off part of the roof. We didn't have a basement. Could only sit in a doorway in the middle of the house and watch.
Within the Fire
I was almost 15. I lit a candle... my mom doesn't like vanilla scent. So I would light it when she wasn't home. I'd done it many times before.
I still don't know how this happened... I went into the next room for a minute at most... and I came back to the curtain on fire. And I froze. I can't say how long I just stood there. I snapped out of it and called 911.
I frantically look for boots because it snowed that morning. And I grabbed the 1st coat I saw. I remember standing outside watching the fire trucks pull up. Next thing I remember is that I was in a kitchen I'd never seen before. It took me awhile to realize I was across the street. I have no idea how I got there.
We lost everything in the fire. I went into therapy because I kinda started to shut down... and sleep was hard. Legit nightmares and waking up extremely panicked.
I'm 30 now. I have dreams about it once in awhile. Especially walking back into the apartment where it happened. It was fixed and remolded. And I pass it a few times a month... I've wanted to just knock on the door and asked if I could walk around and see it ... because my last time inside was seeing everything thing burned... and the smell... something that stays with you.
While the fire it's self was scary & traumatic... it's the fact most of that day and a day or 2 afterwards... I can't remember most of it.
2012
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Remember back when people thought the world was going to end or some crap back in 2012? Well me and my siblings were home alone when the power went out. My parents came home to a group of children huddled around the table playing clue, by candlelight, during a power outage, on the day the world was supposed to end.
Not the Wind
Not sure if this qualifies as I wasn't all that scared. Was visiting my in-laws and dozing in the basement bedroom while everyone else was in church. Not really a church-goer, they're cool with that. Started reading a book when I noticed someone was tinkering on the old piano upstairs in the living room. Odd, I hadn't heard anyone come home and it was a small house, hard for anyone to have gotten in without me hearing.
But obviously they did, so I went upstairs as the person on the piano tried a weak cord or two, but then stopped when I got close. There was nobody home. Door was locked, and the piano was closed. Huh.
Told my wife when she got home and she smiled at me sympathetically. Must have been a neighbor or something. Nope it was definitely coming from upstairs, no question, and it wasn't a mouse or something as it wasn't just random notes. Odd.
Next morning my wife and I are lying in the same bed while my very-catholic in-laws are again at morning mass. We're reading and then ... the piano again. Definitely from inside the house and not random notes again. We look at each other with raised eyebrows and listen for a bit. "I think we can rule out the wind", I say. We go upstairs to check, again door locked and piano closed. Still wasn't all that alarmed but it was pretty strange.
Meth Days
My husband was working nights and I was home alone with my children in a small town. Someone started banging on my door at 2 a.m. Everyone knew everyone, and my father-in-law lived next door, so I just opened it in a sleepy state.
A man I've never met tried to walk into my house. I got the door closed just enough to block him. He had blood running down his face. For a moment, our eyes were within inches of each other. It was terrifying.
After a struggle, I got the door closed. And he started yelling at me. He said he wanted to use my phone because someone hit him. I yelled through the door that I'd call 911 but he had to stay outside. When I dialed, he bolted off the porch.
The next morning, I took my daughter to the bus stop and while waiting in the car, this same guy jumps out of the bushes and onto my car-cussing me out and trying to get in. Pure panic!
Turns out... he was on meth. The cops came and got him.
The Walk Home
I used to walk home alone at night from work. Part of the path was this old wooden bridge that I had to cross over. At just the right angle and light level I could clearly see a ghost standing on the bridge looking at me. Looked kind of like the grim reaper without the scythe. It would quickly disappear once the angle changed. It was interesting because if you look at the scene in isolation there's not really anything there that resembles what I was seeing. But the brain is good at pattern matching. Give it certain inputs though and things go haywire.
Untaglements
I remember I was alone in my house. I lived in rural Texas, and we had a shooting not long ago at that time. So I was pretty scared being alone, especially at night. I had a tangled pair of friendship necklaces that I meant to give to my friend. They were tangled PRETTY BAD. So, to calm myself down, I started untangling them.
A minute or two later my phone in another room rang. I went there and it was an unknown number. I didn't pick it up and went back to the room with the tangled necklaces.
But they weren't tangled anymore. They were perfectly straight and completely separate. Never figured out how that happened. Didn't sleep that night, either.
Off the Meds
I wasn't totally alone so not sure if this counts. I was with my older sister alone at home.
My mom called us and told us our grandmother had gone off her meds. They were told she took the car and was heading to us. Granted we lived three states away.
My mom told us to lock all the windows and doors and her and my dad where heading home as fast possible.
My sister and I did just that. We sat up in my sister room. We heard a noise of the door and went down stairs expecting our parents.
My grandmother got inside the house. She had a deck of cards and asked to play go fish with us. My sister locked me in my parents bed room and played go fish with grandma.
My parents made it home and grandpa made the next flight out to drive her home.
Yay mental illness!
Bad Vibe
One time late at night I was vibing until I saw my reflection in my glass door and thought someone was watching me.
HER
In the house that I'm in: in November this young woman knocked at our door. I recognized her from 3 years prior because she does this like clockwork every three years. She had her sleeves pulled up and all her arms were bleeding. She had cut all the way up her arms. She was demanding that her ex-boyfriend let her see her kid (he won custody). She was very drunk and drugged and bleeding everywhere.
The neighbors all came around and explained she was on meth and because she isn't sober she can't see her kid. I had to keep pressure on her wounds until an ambulance and police arrived. Her parents had driven down at this point and I could just see the disappointment in her mum's eyes. Her dad apologized profusely for her. I was just hoping she would get help tbh. I hope in time she will get better.
Be Back Soon
This thing still scares me. I was 10 at the time, and my mom and step-dad said "We'll be back in an hour." They took 9 hours. They never told us what went on. Also not responsible to leave a 10 year old home alone with their 12 year old sister.
Mickey?
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In my old home I was hearing movement in the walls. Like it sounded like small do it steps and it got so bad I had nightmares over the sound. Low & Behold it was a mouse in the walls... scarred me for life.
Creaks and Footsteps
This happened back in 2007 when I was 15. As I was doing homework on my computer, I felt someone blowing their breath on the back of my neck. It started off slow, then it was like a loud woosh, as if someone was trying to scare me. When I looked back, nobody was there. Since I was in my bedroom, nobody was behind me because I would've heard creaking footsteps. The window was on the other side of the room, so it can't be the wind from outside.
Forget It
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I heard something in my mothers room and was about to go in and check, until I realized i was home alone, so I thought 'forget that crap' and went downstairs and called my mom she came home and checked there was nothing in there, i sh!t you not redditors i had a knife under my covers, armed and ready.
The Neighbor
When my neighbor broke Into our house repeatedly, everytime our parents were gone, he would stand in the bush with a sharpened star picket and throw rocks at the house, he shot a crossbow bolt above my dad's head and my dad bashed the crap out of him, but the scariest time was he snuck in whilst no one was home but me and my younger brothers. He was walking into our bedroom about to get close to where we was sleeping and the alarm on the fridge started going off because one of my brother's left the fridge open, he then ran out of the house.
Late one Night
Sitting in my kitchen late one night watching a movie. I was sitting in a chair that has its back to a window. I was watching a movie when I randomly heard this tapping on the window behind me. Almost like someone was tapping their nails on the window. I freaked out and turned around not knowing what to expect.
here i saw our next door neighbor grinning at me. She was looking for my parents. So instead of knocking on the front door or ringing the doorbell she decided to go into our back yard and then to the window in the back where she found me sitting watching a movie, and then decided to give me a mini heart attack.
Grandma? Is that you?
Was home alone for a few days when i was 15, parents visited relatives while I didn't want to go. And my grandparents, who lived in the apartment beneath and besides us (they where separated by a door but it was basically one big house separated into an apartment, and the house of my grandma and grandpa) left for the same reason. It was about 2 days of being home alone and I was upstairs watching tv, when I suddenly heard something downstairs. It sounded exactly like the door, which separated our apartment from the house, was opened up and I was scared as hell. I ran Into my room and got a knife (As if a knife would help in that scenario) and looked through the rooms.
There was nobody. After being paranoid looking through every room in the house I heard the front door closing. Ran downstairs and saw nothing. As I found out a few years later, It was my Great-grandma looking for my Grandma because she just felt like seeing her. She lived nearby and her Alzheimers didn't help her remembering that they drove away for a few days.
Birds Flying
Not alone but everyone was asleep. When I was a kid of around 8 or 9 I had a small Hot Wheels metal trash can by my bed, a small single bed. Woke up one night from metal scratching noises, like claws scratching across metal, sounded exactly like it was coming from my trash can. I was petrified and couldn't move, sound just kept getting more and more intense, not louder, just more frequent. After lying there for what seemed like forever, I was finally able to scream out for my dad. He came into the room and turned the lights on, he looked in trash can and nothing there and made me look.
He says that I'm imagining things and to relax and go back to sleep, just as he's leaving the room and turning out the lights, he hears the noise! Ends up that the screen cover over the little chimney for our electric furnace had come loose on the roof and a bird had gotten into the furnace, which was right behind the wall next to my bed. Lucky for the bird that it was summer and not winter. Only time I have been petrified to the point I couldn't move.
Everyone hates Eddington
I was staying at my parents house, they had gone out, it was after midnight and stormy as hell outside. I was feeling a little uncomfortable in a house that was slightly unfamiliar with the storm and the lateness.
I thought I heard a voice but tried to deny it. A bit later I heard as clear as anything a voice saying "bye bye!" And this musical tune.
It was Eddington. The alphabet caterpillar that my dad bought 18 grandchildren ago and that we all hate because he just will not die. Eddington was speaking from the toy cupboard.
Eddington is only supposed to talk when someone pushes one of his many legs. I do not believe in ghosts but fully expected to open the toy cupboard to find some ghost child playing with Eddington. Eddington was switched on. I switched him the hell off and huddled on the couch 'til my parents came home.
Everyone hates Eddington but I treat that dude with respect. I don't trust that grinning purple creep.
The Look in his Eyes
I was 19 still living at my moms house, she was out for the night with friends, around midnight someone knocked at my back door and my dog started barking like crazy. I then heard my neighbor I've known for years, he was calling for my mom so I opened the door & told him she was gone & if everything was alright. He had a bat in his hand which I did not see before opening the door. He then began to tell me he had locked someone in his closet and they wouldn't stop screaming & it was driving him crazy & that he needed me to come look.
His eyes were glazed over a bit I remember, & I was totally freaked out. Long story short, I got him to leave & I called my mom. Few weeks later when everything settled down we were told by his mom that he has schizophrenia that was apparently getting worse over the years. I've since moved away & It's been almost 6 years since I've seen him or his family.
Montauk
My dad said, "I had a beach house in a very isolated spot of Montauk, and I had just seen the Blair Witch Project with a group of friends. They dropped me off at the dark, relatively isolated, unlighted house. I walked up onto the porch to find a cairn of stones, just like the one from the movie."
The Weight of Zues
I had gotten myself tense with scary videos when the sun was going down. My parents then texted me if I wanted to go eat something with them, so I said ok. I was already pretty freaked out because I kept imagining noises around the house. I was walking down the hall from my room towards the front door when my backpack fell from my bed and hit the floor. It was a heavy backpack, with 5 full binders and other assorted school crap, easily weighed 30+ pounds.
It slammed like the fist of Zeus onto my floor, making me give an audible yelp and bolt through the front door, not even to fully pull on the screen door handle before shoving it with all my weight. I ran full speed into my parent's van and had to take a couple seconds to recollect myself.
Take it from me, and don't leave items on the edge of surfaces.
The Jumper
Had been to see an alien horror movie. Stopped at grocery store on the way home to my apt. Parked in a dark area and carried in some bags. Came back out for more bags. When I pulled the door handle a cat jumped out of my car thru the open sunroof. Aaaaahhhh.
I'm Moving
haunted black and white GIF
Giphy
My house is actually haunted. Once, all the cupboards were being slammed. Like all 6. No joke, I pooped myself.
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What could possibly go wrong?
It turns out there are so many variables that can contribute to making the bride and groom's celebration a major matrimonial miss.
Curious to hear examples of weddings gone wrong, Redditor lolf**kno asked:
"Those who have been to a ruined wedding, what happened?"
Dramatic brawls and speeches plagued these weddings.
Catty Attendees And Booze
"Very beautiful wedding in a huge barn at this apple orchard. They must have spent a ton of money on the decorations and catering because it looked like something out of a magazine. The ceremony was great, the flower girl did her thing, the vows got everyone choked up. Everything seemed to be going well. Not even 15 minutes into the reception the mothers of the bride and groom getting into a full out brawl, hair pulling, red wine being thrown. Their sons jump in to defend their honor, chairs start being throw, tables are flipped, parents are grabbing children and running for their lives."
"​The bride and groom are horrified and leave immediately and head back their honeymoon suite. My fiancé and I left after this as well but we heard from some other friends that most people ended up staying and getting wasted at the open bar on the bride and groom's dime. Apparently, the fight started because one of the groom's sister complimented the bride's grandmother's dress. The bride's mom thought she was being sarcastic and called her a b*tch, then the drama ensued. Mind you they had all been pregaming the wedding pretty hard."
– AdmiralWackbar
Playing For The Drunk Uncle
"I played a wedding where as we started playing the set, everyone ran outside and nobody was to be seen for the rest of the night."
"I originally assumed it was because nobody liked us but the bride came in afterwards and said there was a huge fight involving multiple members of both families and everyone basically went home upset, injured or in a police van."
"We couldn't stop playing since we were payed and it was our job, and the only person watching was the drunk uncle dancing on his own asking for requests we didn't know."
– TornApartByLisa
Maid Of Honor Speech Goes Off The Rails
"Was a guest of friend of the bride, did not know anyone attending. Very expensive over the top place, several hundred guests of this very Italian wedding. Maid of honor grabs mic at the cocktail hour begins her speech, rambling, drunk. Quickly devolves to stating the recently deceased mother of the bride was against this wedding and that's basically what killed her. Plus Vinny will never give up sex workers. She is tackled by several people and dragged away."
"The happy couple is separated and divorced within a year."
– Rocky1268
This is what happens when bad luck crashes weddings.
Tumbling Into The Sunset
"I work at a golf course with a lot of history behind it. We do wedding venues inside the clubhouse and the actual ceremony is held outside by the historic water fountain and large pond."
"First problem was the weather. I live in the high desert and it was very warm. A solid 90 degrees that day and it was also pretty windy. So everyone's outside, no umbrellas, no ezups."
"The next problem, and probably the worst, was the golf cart incident. The bride and groom wanted to 'ride into the sunset' on one of our golf carts. Drive around a little bit on the golf course. To be fair, it is beautiful on the course during sunset. However the cart had somehow gotten a nail in the tire, tire went flat, battery on the cart went crazy and the cart ended up freaking out. It came to an complete stop from 15mph to zero. The wheels and mechanisms locked up, almost seizing. Both the bride and groom (fairly overweight mind you) both fell out and rolled over a few times. They were totally okay, just a few bruises and perhaps a bruised ego or two. So retrieving that cart was fun."
"And last but not least, the power inside the clubhouse went out to do the high winds. There was no after party available. Only the cake was cut, hardly any food was given out. Yeah, not a great day to cover for someone on your day off."
– Itsallover_
Foggy Memory
"I was not born yet, but my parents rented the observation deck on the Hancock building in Boston for their reception. Tallest building in the city, beautiful view. My dad pored over historic weather charts to figure out what day was statistically most likely to be nice out. Day of the wedding comes and of course, thick fog unlike anything they'd ever seen before. Couldn't see a thing out the windows of the room they had picked specifically for the view."
"Worked out well though, they were happily married for nearly 30 years before cancer took my dad's life a few years ago."
"There's one other funny anecdote from that wedding: The wedding was held in Kings Chapel, which is an incredibly historic church here in downtown Boston that's somewhat of a major tourist attraction. To close that on a weekend afternoon for a wedding, it turns out, was not very expensive. The tourists waiting outside to see the church didn't know that, though, and someone started the rumor that my parents were incredibly wealthy, maybe even Kennedys. As a result, there were tons of people taking photos of them when they left the ceremony. Not sure if any of them ever figured out that my parents were most certainly not rich or famous."
– mimicthefrench
Morbid Surprise
"I was best man at my sister in laws wedding (stepped in for the brother of the groom, that's another story entirely)."
"For a whole year of planning all the bride (SIL) wanted was a dove release while they said handwritten vows to each other. Very small, non denominational (most of the family are atheist anyway) wedding."
"Day arrives (early summer) and something is off with the bird handlers. They show up a bit late and are sourcing help from the wedding party to get everything in line. When the time comes to say their vows I help the handler carry the chest with the doves in it over to what is to be the altar where the bride and groom are standing."
"Vows are just about wrapping up and the handler gives ME the signal to open the chest. I open it and see 20-30 DEAD DOVES IN THE CRATE!!!! I immediately close it to try and limit who knows what happened. Too late. The look of horror on the bride's was all that was needed. We spent the next few hours trying to cheer everyone up but by the end of the reception the entire wedding party had organized and filed animal cruelty complaints on the handler. It was all anyone could focus on."
Tragic losses unfortunately befell leading up to or at a couple's nuptials.
The Wedding Guest Who Left Too Soon
"When I was 6 or 7 I went to a cousin's wedding. Everything was fabulous for little me, so much sugar everywhere, basically heaven. The reception was in a big community center that was reserved for the occasion. Went to the girls' bathroom, passing by the men's room to see my uncle on the floor. Went back to the main room to tell my dad my uncle was looking weird. Well, uncle had a stroke and had died."
"The bride spent the rest of the afternoon crying, and everyone except close family left."
"Bright side is the mariage is still going strong 20 years later, despite what happened that day."
– DecadentOrange
A Terminal Diagnosis
"Leading up to my friends wedding his father had been battling cancer after a terminal diagnosis. And it was touch and go whether he would be well enough to attend the wedding, in the end he was too unwell to attend despite wishing that he could."
"Just as we got to the wedding reception my friend was informed that his father had just passed away. It was devastating."
– boatson25
Wedding Crashers
"Happened to my classmate. He is successful middle level manager, divorced, about 35yo or so. Found a girl of his dreams but from a provincial poor town. The girl insisted to have the wedding in her town to show off her 'success.' The wedding is crashed by her old friends including male friends who are not that sophisticated and have some tense feelings towards the successful groom from the city. Somebody starts a fight in the middle of wedding, groom is trying to stop it and got stabbed in the back. Died right there. And he was my classmate."
– anarchyinuk
​An Unfortunate Trespassing
"The wedding was at a state park that's famous for its giant gorge/waterfall. I don't know whose idea this was, but someone suggested a photo overlooking this gorge and everybody was game. The wedding party went around a stone security barrier and the maid of honor literally fell off the cliff to her death. It was like 500+ feet."
– SingzJazz
With a lot riding on a wedding to go off without a hitch, the mounting pressure is one where something is surely to buckle.
And because wedding guests are usually inebriated and high on the buzz of celebration, they throw caution to the wind and make some choices they wouldn't make under normal circumstances.
People's ill-advised actions can have regretful consequences, but no one expects death to be an outcome.
Fortunately, the weddings I've attended or heard about from friends were not as catastrophic as the anecdotes mentioned above.
While the Redditors' stories are sorrowful, it gives me a sense of relief these devastating examples are rare occurrences.
Have we met? That is an actual question I asked a gift giver once. (Who shall rename nameless) Football tickets. FOOTBALL TICKETS?! Who? What? I can't.
Looks Familiar
Broad City Wow GIF by Comedy CentralGiphy"My own scarf. Yes, that's right, my mother went into my room took my only scarf, wrapped it and gave it to me like it was a new scarf."
Devastation!
"Thought I was getting a bike for my 15th birthday but my foster parents announced that they were sending me to a group home after living with them for 11 years. Devastation! That place was a wake up call. More independence then at my foster home but those kids had it really really bad, 12 year old heroine addicts, abuse... what the entire hell! I hurried up, graduated from high school at 16 and got the hell out of that place. I turned out ok, work in the legal field, live in Las Vegas. I did forgive my foster parents before they died."
The Forgotten One
"My brother and I worked for a farmer one summer, and he paid us with a used car. At the end of the next year, my brother graduated high school, so my parents paid me out for my half of the car, and that was his graduation gift. I gave them all a big discount compared to what it was worth. So like $500 for my share of a $2500 car."
"2 years later, and I needed $50 for some graduation fees, so I borrowed it from my mom until I could get to the bank. (Before mobile banking and ATMs everywhere.) Later, when my mom is telling me they invited all their friends over for a 'graduation' party, I asked if they had gotten a gift for me. "Well I gave you fifty bucks."
"I paid it back the next day, and she didn't blink. The 'graduation party' was just my parents friends, who said congratulations to me, but it wasn't really for me. A few years later, my little sister graduated, she got a car. They bought a used car for her, and our other little sister got the same when she graduated. My parents are mostly nice, and I never felt like they singled me out at birthdays or anything. Just my graduation seemed like I turned invisible."
Office Party Fail
"HR complaint from two subordinates fighting over how to throw me a surprise birthday party."
- BBoySlim
"I've never worked in an office environment, but the stories I've heard of people being required to buy a cake for the whole office and to celebrate their birthday with their coworkers would be enough to keep me in blue collar work for life, were it not for the fact that I love being active and working with my hands and could never sit at a desk all day anyway."
Basics
law school finals GIFGiphy"My Asian mom's gift was "no extra Kumon homework after school homework" so my birthday gift was that I didn't get extra homework from her."
Regifting is trash behavior. Do better. I'd rather you just say I forgot. Or... I just don't care for that much. But regifting? No.
season 4 lint roller GIF by Veep HBOUnlucky 13
"Stomach flu and my first ever period, at the same time. I think it was my 13th birthday."
- kelpself
"Omg, exact same story for me. It was my 13th birthday and my family took us kids to visit our relatives in Subsaharan Africa for the first time. I was sick, jetlagged, overheated and riding down a bumpy road in a Jeep driven by my dad in the complete darkness. We had just eaten at a restaurant where I found a giant scarab beetle in the bottom of my soup bowl. I have flashbacks to this day."
Lazy Thoughts...
"My grandparents have been gifting me (and my brother) the same set of three vice grips for almost 10 years. Collectively we have 60 vice grips. I don't know if they bought a pallet of them, or where they are coming from. GET A GRIP GRANDMA!"
"I had a friend who's father was famous for doing Christmas shopping at the last minute. One year she complained that she went downstairs on Christmas morning and found, sticking out of her stocking, a spatula. Her birthday was a few days after telling that story, so myself and her friends all decided to get together and get her spatulas for her birthday, as a gag gift."
"Well, when it was our birthdays she retaliated. Which lead to a counter-offensive. And soon a new tradition was formed. And guys, I have so many spatulas now. Everything from dollar store cheap plastic, to hand-carved spatulas, a golden spatula, and even a replica of the famous Malaysian fighting spatula."
"I've got seasonal spatulas. As in, today it's time to pack away the Christmas spatulas and bring out the heart-shaped Valentine's day ones, followed by the bunny-shaped Easter ones. We've also been passing around this clip from the Weird Al Yankovic movie UHF. "Spatula City, we sell spatulas, and that's all!"
Their ultimate whack-a-doo move...
"A pair of homemade custom pajamas. Only problem was that they weren't made yet. It was just the fabric and a promise to make them for me. I had to give the fabric back and I never got the pajamas."
"Holy cow my parents do crap like this. It's so freaking weird. Their ultimate whack-a-doo move was to give my wife and I a few acres of their property."
"Nothing legal just at our wedding they gave us a card that basically said 'have some land.' When the dust settled I asked what they thought we would do with it, they said build a home. I said ok, gonna need legal ownership for like building a house. They said sure we will get right on that. Then they decide to sell out and retire and never mentioned our wedding 'gift' again."
Gross...
Disgusted Steve Carell GIFGiphy"My grandma got me a hairbrush with a plastic horse head handle. The horse head was all chipped up and there was hair in the brush."
Bummer...
"My Godfather sent me a Birthday card each year which said, he paid 100 bucks to a bank account which I was supposed to get, when 16yo. He then got into alcohol, used all the money and died."
Oh for God sake, why even bother giving anything at all? Lint rollers, used brushes, homemade pjs... y'all ever hear of a gift card? Just put five bucks on it and call it a day. You can't hide cheap, so stop trying.
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I definitely wouldn't turn down an excursion to AREA 51. I'd like to poke around and get a sense of the place. I've never personally been up close and face to face with a "non-Earther." Not sure I'd like to be...
TV Truth
x files monkey pee GIF by The X-FilesGiphy"UFOs/Aliens are a cover for all of the secret projects that the government is working on. Actually stole that from the X files."
Birth
"How human birth parallels alien abductions:
- Babies are taken from their home (womb)
- They still developing sight, so they see bright lights and grey figures.
- They hear an "alien" language they don't understand.
- They suddenly feel cold after leaving their womb.
- They are in a surgery room being poked with tons of instruments.
Long story short: some people suggest that abductions are just people who had memories of their birth."
In the Mind
"I just don't think anyone will ever see this. But I think that UFO's are the projection of our unconscious collective mind. Everything that exists in reality, also exists, in our immaterial mind. Is it possible that the insides of our mind are also just one drop in the ocean of consciousness... and together we create the material reality were in, simply by experiencing it in a real way, inside-out through our senses."
Flyover...
"My father was an aircraft mechanic and fabricator for test and spy aircraft for the USAF. He spent 75-85 working with test aircraft. He said that when they were going to do a test, that could possibly be seen by the public, they would make a betting pool on how many UFO reports local authorities and flight towers received."
Under the Sea
sci-fi ufo GIFGiphy"I like the idea that some UFOs aren't machines. Instead they are some sort of Upper-Atmosphere Jellyfish. I found the issue of Fortean Times that had this article. Here's the cover: http://ft.gjovaag.com/q/images/a/ae/FT291.jpg"
- BigD1970
Interesting. There are some ideas we can look into. None of it proof, but possibilities. There are certainly plenty of future film ideas.
Like 2012...
"We are like that un contacted tribe and everyone agrees not to bother us."
"I've heard it explained from a channel (idk if you know what channeling is) kinda like this. First of all, we as a species tend to freak out, shoot first and ask questions later. Most humans would have a literal psychotic break. You have to believe in vibrational energy as it relates to our consciousness."
"The aliens (certain ones) are at such a higher level that it would be jarring for us to come in close contact with. We are slowly getting there but it's a process. Like 2012, end of the Mayan calendar, wasn't the end of the world it was the end of an energy cycle that we as the human race had never made it past before."
"Previous civilizations have been destroyed or destroyed themselves before they got this far. We passed a point where we are very unlike to destroy ourselves anymore. This doesn't mean we won't see some real bad hardships yet but we will keep progressing."
- falecf4
"train your eyes"
Dancing GIFGiphy"I was a firm believer in t em when I was in high school and kept googling theories and info in my spare time and during my study halls. They said their bodies were so lightweight or something that the reason why you can't see the evidence is that they disintegrate before hitting the ground."
"And then LOL it was so funny, some people would swear you could "train your eyes" to see rods... HhhahAHAHAHA. Like there were these experts. Video showed him walking around with a serious face, then pointing. And he's like, "that was one just there." "You can't see them, you have to be used to them... like me."
"I've spent many years immersed into hunting them finding them. That's why I can see them." And then one day China, who loves occult stuff, had like a lab that set up a nighttime camera to capture footage of rods at night... then realized they were normal bugs at overexposure. lol"
Lurking
"The Dark Forest theory. Basically the theory that the reason we haven't made contact is because all the other civilized life in the universe/galaxy knows not to broadcast their location. They've learned that there's something awful or predatory lurking in the dark forest of our galaxy, and that it's better if they keep to themselves."
Unknowns...
"That the universe is so vast that we haven't been discovered yet."
- neoastic
"This makes sense to me because traversing the distance to or from even our our stellar neighbors would require technology that is not known to us now or likely to be known by us anytime soon if it's even possible at all. To assume without evidence that aliens could possess this technology and have visited us does not meet my skeptical standards."
- KZED73
Back and Forth
back to the future great scott GIFGiphy"Time travel exists, and UFO sightings are actually future humans coming back to our time. That is why they are so discreet, and never openly make contact."
I hope time travel exists. Now that I'm onboard for. If aliens do exist... just come on out guys. We could probably use your help.
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