I'm often struck by how busy life can be at night when one is just putzing around behind the wheel.
Oh the things one can witness when the sun takes a slumber.
There's something about the solitude of a quiet country road that can get downright creepy.
Redditor Suspicious_Ad7948 wanted to discuss what happens when driving by the moon.
So they asked:
"When driving at night, what is the scariest/most unexplainable thing you've ever seen?"
I have seen it all in all sorts of places. I've been in a car at night in may different states, at many different times. And I wish I had kept a journal. Thankfully I always have a good soundtrack going. Something to help focus on the road and not the abnormalities around it.
Hey Deer
vs hunter GIFGiphyGetting a feeling that I needed to turn my brights on in a dark spot in the middle of town... And there ended up being 4 deer just chilling in the road that I wouldn't have seen until I was much closer.
The "Biker"
About 25 years ago my sister and I were driving on a normally busy road, but it was late at night and was deserted. We could both see something flapping on the road up ahead. I asked her what it was and my sister said she didn't know but that it looked like a black garbage bag. I agreed, it really looked like a bag lying on the road being whipped lightly by the wind.
As we approached it completely changed shape. It went from being quite flat and small to morphing into a fully grown man on a bike. He was just standing there in the middle of the road with his bike. We pulled alongside and asked if he was ok. He nodded but didn't speak. We drove off.
We STILL talk about it because it was the strangest, creepiest thing ever and we both still can't explain what we saw.
Running Red
I was 19 driving home from my then bf house and stopped at a red light on the very edge of town (like city lights behind me but corn fields and shelter belts ahead of me) because it's like 2 in the morning I'm the only one sitting at the red light. I saw something moving in my peripherals and because of my location I thought it was gonna be a deer. I turned my head and locked eyes with a man maybe in his 50s creeping towards my car. When he saw that I saw him he froze and it was then then that I noticed he had a tire iron. I ran the red light and sped out of there.
People Share The 'Dirty Secrets' That Their Bosses Don't Want Customers To Know
There's a lot businesses hope their customers believe, and there are many business practices you wouldn't dare believe. These are some of the secrets Reddit ...Ghost Story
I was driving to work, chatting on the phone with my wife to pass the time (6-8 hour drive out to the base from our home) and ahead of me was somebody riding a motorcycle. The road we were on was generally straight (Mojave desert) but had some unpredictable curves because of the road loosely following a broad wash/lake bed (like we've discussed, Mojave's desert.) the person ahead of me was going between 70-90 MPH and seemed generally familiar With the road. But, then they just sailed straight over the edge of a 45 mph curve going about 80.
I made some reactive, disgusted sound, and hung up with my wife. I immediately pulled over, called 911 and put them in my pocket, got my trauma kit, and put on gloves. I was talking to the dispatcher and explaining what had happened when I step over the bank and see, to my surprise, not a crumpled body in the sage. But a young guy, mid twenties. Picking himself up off the ground about 75 feet ahead of me and 15 feet below.
He'd been launched from the motorcycle which was in terrible shape about 30 feet from him. I told him to stay still and went through a quick evaluation. He was basically fine, but super rattled (ended up Having a broken collar bone and a mild Concussion).
Anyway, it's not a ghost story. But I was absolutely certain I'd just seen a person die. And was completely shocked to find him in fine form if a little shaken up.
That Car...
little red corvette GIF by PrinceGiphyWhen I was 16 I had a junky convertible 1989 Capri. I loved that car. One night I was driving the backroads home out in the middle of nowhere Missouri. Top down, enjoying the night air.
I dove under some low hanging trees and heard a weird SLAP noise from the backseat. Turned around to see a huge black snake frantically slithering towards the safety of under my seat. I nearly wrecked. I hate snakes and even though this rat snake was 100% harmless I was panicked. Pulled over screaming and called my dad to come de-snake my car. I never road with the top down in the country again.
That's the worst part about driving in general, accidents and mayhem. It seems to be more prevalent at night. Sadly, the nighttime is when everyone seems to love to chance their odds with driving and imbibing. Not smart kids.
Night Shift
Working Work From Home GIF by Bare Tree MediaGiphyI was working a night shift and rode a moped to work, the headlight was fairly dim but on the way home I saw what I can only describe as what looked like...
black pants, floating slowly just overhead but making a walking motion as they passed, I got a good look and I still cant make heads or tails of what it actually was and I sure wasn't going back to double check.
Thirty Years On
I once saw something late at night in the headlights on a dark country road which was sandy coloured, about the size of a small cat with about twenty feet of tail following it, running really quickly, real wtf stuff.
some thirty years pass, and then I find out on reddit what it was.
Someone posted a video of a pale rat with lots of smaller rats all holding onto each others tails and running like that.
"BIKES"
My mom told me this story. She was in the car with my sister who was driving and they were on their way back from some event. The street lights on this particular stretch of road weren't working very well and it was difficult to see. My sister is chatting away and my mom is watching the road when all of a sudden she sees in front of the car a bike rack, complete with bikes on it, that looked as if it had just dropped off the back of someone's car and they didn't notice. She screams "BIKES" at the top of her lungs, my sister swerves, over corrects, spins, and then comes to a stop on the other side of the road facing the opposite direction, miraculously avoiding all the cars that were going by.
A few cars stop to make sure they're okay. My sister looks at my mom and asks her how she even saw the bikes because she didn't see them until they were almost about to hit them. My mom said she saw them and it looked like they were illuminated by a gentle blue light, but they looked back and those bikes were just sitting in the darkness. Creepy.
MOOOOOOOOO!!!!
My brother and I were driving down a super remote road late at night many years ago. Wildlife was common so we drove slower than was posted. An accident could be fatal on this road. Anyway, it was a particularly dark night so we had the high beams on and were really concentrating on the journey.
We saw it at the same time. It was impossible to miss.
My brother hit the brakes and we skidded to a stop in front of the biggest freaking cow on earth. We could have driven under it with room to spare. It was massive. And it stared at us without seeming to see us. The vibe was so creepy. Other cows were around but they were regular sized. This guy was the king of all bovine.
It doesn't seem all that weird when telling the story but something was just off with this creature. It didn't seem quite... natural.
Just Gone...
Scared Horror GIF by SpongeBob SquarePantsGiphyMy mom tells this story about when she was young and her mom was driving home from shopping.
The car they were in broke down, and in the car behind them a guy gets out and offers to help and fix it there at the side of the road. Thing is, after they were done fixing the car (I think she says they ran out of oil or something like that) the guy, and his car, just disappeared. Gone. Nada.
Didn't see him get in the car and leave, just one moment he and his car where there, and then next they were gone. While the story isn't particularly scary, but my grandmother was petrified, and they drove quietly all the way home.
Road Monster
I haven't seen any comments mention it yet but I fully expect someone will.
If you see a deer on the road that... isn't quite right... in some way or another, it's probably chronic wasting disease. It's a form of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (prion disease) that often presents in ways like the deer is rotting while still alive.
This can mean a lot of things, like deer with weird postures, pieces falling off of them, etc. so in the dark at night it can look really freaky. Like a monster that is trying to look like a deer but didn't quite get it down.
I've heard several "I saw a monster on the side of this mountain road one night" stories that were almost certainly a deer with progressed chronic wasting disease. It's very sad but also quite fascinating, if it wouldn't gross you out to read about.
Coming at You Fast
Huge truck with no lights and all reflectors covered with mud, stalled in a shadowed patch of darkness totally blocking the right lane of a lonely country highway with no shoulders.
A wall of invisible steel waiting to kill some less observant motorist.
In Florida those invisible things are usually moving at ~45mph coming toward you because the old dumb fools in Florida don't know how to use headlights at 10pm. I wish I was making this up. But it's happened on at least 5 occasions in half as many months.
The Beast
A friend and I were driving down some gravel roads one night, aimlessly turning and trying to get lost and find our way back home out of boredom.
So we're driving down a long stretch and it's pitch black out, no houses or lights nearby just the gravel and fields around us. Suddenly I see a large, black mass running next to the car and keeping up with us. I scream and point, my friend screams and slams on the brakes.
We're both in sheer panic mode as this thing stops and turns around to run back at the car. I thought this was the end. Some paranormal creature was about to kill us... annnnd it was just a big, black, wild dog.
The relief and laughter that followed felt so good after being so freaking scared. The dog was huge to be fair but it keeping up with the car while we drove is what had me thinking it wasn't some normal animal we see out here.
Hoofed!
deer popcorn GIFGiphyI used to date this girl who lived in a house in the middle of the woods and her driveway was like a mile long single car road.
I was driving up it around midnight to go home and my drivers side window exploded and showered me with glass.
Turns out a deer had rammed into the driver side of my car. Completely destroyed that side and I had to get out of the passenger's side. I never even saw the deer, I assume it ran away but there was a perfect hoof print in one of the doors.
The Spot
I live on a backroad in the country, so when I need to head to town, I almost always end up having to pass by an Amish carriage. It's a common occurrence, and they're usually friendly and pull as much to the side as they can to let cars pass them by, but this one was going unbelievably slow.
So I came up behind them, checked to make sure it was clear, passed by, and I very vividly remember looking at them as I passed in my rear view, looking ahead to the road, and then looking back in my rear view to see that nothing was there. No horse, no carriage, no roads to turn on nor hills to cut off my sight. One second they were there, the next they just weren't.
Not sure if I'm going insane or if this belongs in a spooky subreddit, but I'm still a little creeped out by it everytime I drive by that spot.
Bullseye
Many years ago, my uncle was driving home from a night shift very early in the morning (it was still dark out). His driver's window shattered - except his was from being shot at. Some guy he fired waited on the side of the highway to shoot him on the way home.
Sleepwalker
I had just gotten back to the high school after a state dance competition. It was 2am and I'd been up since 4 that morning, so I was extremely tired. I only had to drive 7 miles from the school to my house, and it was a very rural area, so I figured I'd be fine, but I was exhausted. About 1 mile in, I started to see shadowy people walking on highway.
Scared the crap out of me.
The next thing I remember is waking up in my bed that morning. I went outside and found my car in the driveway, turned off but still in drive, with the keys in the ignition. I still don't know exactly how I got home. That said, I am known for sleepwalking. Yikes!
Midnight Dancer
It was in the dead of the winter and in the middle of night a girl was dancing around on the highway. I almost hit her because it was snowing but I managed swerve. So I got worried and turned around on the next ramp and when driving back she had just disappeared. I was probably just sleep deprived but it felt so real.
Cliffhanger
cary grant cliffhanger GIF by Warner ArchiveGiphyA driver drove past me by my right side. I was driving in a single lane street next to a cliff on my right and a mountain (no road) to the left. I slammed my brakes and let it sit for some minutes before driving again.
To this day I'm not sure of what I saw.
Then I looked up.
This happened to me when I was 20 years old and my car was about a year and a half old. I was driving home from work at about midnight, coming through residential streets. The boulevard that I was on was four lanes with a cement divider that had plants in it along the way. I was halfway through an intersection, and my car stalled. My foot was on the gas, and suddenly the car was dead. Luckily, they were no other cars that I could see, so I brought my car to a stop, put it in park, and started it up with no problems.
Then I looked up.
Coming straight at me we're headlights. Someone had turned from a side street and instead of going across the median to turn left going down the correct side of the street, they had turned left into my lane thinking it was only a 2 Lane Road.
Had my car not stalled when it did, I would've plowed head first into that car. In the five years that I own that car, it never stalled again.
What have we learned? Don't drink and drive. Never talk to strangers by the roadside. Always be prepared. And always have a soundtrack to steady your nerves.
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