
Though policing has been a hot subject of debate over the past year, it's important to remember that many officers are still working, often dealing with humanity at their lowest points.
WARNING: Stories of abuse and self-harm.
Reddit user, u/blairetaylor09, wanted to know what spooked the men and women in blue when they asked:
Cops of reddit, what has been the creepiest call of your career?
Some calls, while seemingly straightforward, can take a turn for the macabre.
Aliens?
"Got a call about a man that beat his wife and took off with the kids. We found his car 2 hours later parked in the desert. Empty. No one to be found. We conducted a search that lasted 3 days. They have completely disappeared. This was 10 years ago and still none of them have been found"
Unsure How To Take A Load Off
"Wife was a cop for a while and told me of a really odd story about a guy that decided to walk into the station one day - but wouldn't sit down. He acted real out of place but didn't know what to do, so he asked to speak with someone about domestic abuse. The standard procedure was to check him out so they noticed he had cuts and bruises on his wrists and arms. Again, the guy wouldn't sit down and was on the verge of tears.
After asking if he wanted the Chaplin or maybe see a doc about what happened, he finally told someone the story, he got himself a really nice Russian wife, but she didn't like how little money he was giving her, so her answer to that was to tie him up and ugh, do things to his lower half (hence the no sitting). Apparently, he managed to escape but didn't know what to do because she was technically illegal in the first place."
You wouldn't think humanity is capable of some of the things they do.
You would be wrong.
Just All The Parts Missing
"My former coworker responded to a call where a guy killed is own girlfriend then stabbed himself in the throat about a dozen times and then cut his own hand off with a mitre saw in a failed suicide attempt. He then called 911 and asked for help and my coworker who was called to check it out showed up and sees this guy missing a hand/arm and stabbed in the throat asking for help. The guy survived and is now in prison. You can read the story here"
The Stench Is Prominent
"my step dad used to be a police officer the scariest call he ever gotten was that a man was eating rotten animal eyeballs and that the stench of them had filled the neighbourhood"
Emotionally Deflating Situations
"Most of the calls those who are in law enforcement, or, were in law enforcement in the past (I'm former law enforcement) repond to aren't "creepy", but, just sad. Some involve fatalities, missing persons, etc. Mine was a call responding to possible drug use."
"I respond with a backup unit. Find numerous individuals in the residence. Find evidence of drug use (paraphenalia, residue, etc)."
"What made it sad was that some of the individuals were just young girls (age was anywhere from late teens to early 20's) that had gotten pulled into the drug usage, gotten addicted, were being exploited due to their addiction, etc."
"I remember looking at these young women, thinking of how their entire life had been derailed, not to mention the exploitation, due to getting addicted to drugs... and just how sad the realization made me."
The biggest takeaway from a lot of these tales is you may not get a good night's sleep for years after encountering someone dying in front of you.
Things Change On The Fly
"Not overly creepy, but almost every call I have been on, it always seems to turn out to be way different then what is dispatch to us. Things get weird fast."
"I can give some examples. Call text states the mother is calling about her son and daughter fighting. We show up, and she has stabbed him in the chest with a carving fork which has collapsed his lung."
"Call text states EMS is hearing an argument come from a nearby apartment and needs PD to respond. I get there and hear glass shatter, screaming, and "no no no!!! Don't do it! Don't do it!!!" I force entry, and I see a 350lb dude running toward his balcony screaming "I can't breathe, I can't breathe, I need air, just let me jump" with his tiny 100lb girlfriend pulling on his t shirt. She is screaming bloody murder. So I grab him and take him to the ground, which was hard due to his size.
He keeps saying he can't breathe. I sit him up and put his hands on his head. I get EMS there and he says his name and keeps talking about being unable to breathe. He gets loaded up and taken to the ambulance. The second he touches the back of the ambulance, his ears, eyes, and nose start bleeding and he just dies. So I went to a disturbance call by EMS, and it turned into a dude dying."
Where's The Baby?
"This is one of the reasons my dad only lasted a year in the highway Patrol."
"He was dispatched to a single car accident on a very rural highway in a remote area. Found two women in the car, one about 60 the other late 20s. Turns out they were mother and daughter. Both were unconscious and had to be transported to the hospital. Dad took some photos, made some diagrams, whatever they did back then (mid 1970s). Went to the hospital to see if he could get a witness statement from either woman. Mom was dead, daughter in a coma, but there was a relative there so dad went to talk to her. First words out of her mouth, "but where's the baby?" Turns out the daughter was also a mother and nobody knew where the baby went. This was before car seats were common, so there was a real possibility the child could have been ejected from the car."
"So dad and a couple local cops and a couple firefighters went back to the scene at 2 in the morning to beat through the trees and wheat fields in search of a (probably dead) infant. And wondering what would be worse, to find it or not."
"They later found out the baby was with a babysitter, but dad had nightmares about that night for years."
Life Leaving The Eyes
"I've been a Police Officer for 7 years in two different agencies in Los Angeles County. Countless stories to share. But I'll start with this one…"
"Around 3am, my partner and I heard gun shots go off 1-2 blocks away. We were on scene in less than a minute. We located a young man that had been shot on the sidewalk outside of his hotel. I believe the bullet had entered through the back of his neck and exited through his mouth."
"He was flailing around on the sidewalk in the same manner a fish out of water would. My partner and I asked him several questions (Who did this? Where are you hit?) But every time he opened his mouth to reply, blood gushed/spewed out. The blood was thicker than I would have anticipated."
"Normally, there are lots of ways to assist a gun shot victim (packing the wound, applying pressure, applying a tourniquet, etc.) But there was zero I could do to assist this poor man as he flailed around in agony and reached out to us for help. In retrospect, it was the powerlessness of the moment that I believe made this event so haunting… I kept telling him it was going to be ok, but I knew it wasn't."
"I've seen countless dead bodies during my career. Many of them were people who died in truly grotesque ways. But a lifeless body almost seems like a movie prop. After a while, they become like any other inanimate object. It's not that creepy."
"But watching someone suffer and die, while being helpless to do anything to stop it… I'm not sure if this meets creepy criteria, but it is easily the most haunting thing I have witness in my life."
"Ps. To make matters worse, this young man was killed for simply crossing the street. A car full of gang members almost struck him while driving recklessly. He yelled at their car. Video surveillance shows them circling the block and killing him for it."
"The hotel had a large glass front door entrance. I remember his mother came down stairs after we had the crime scene taped off. She pounded on the glass door and screamed in agony when she saw her son's lifeless body. Very surreal like. He was visiting LA w/ family for his sister's college graduation."
"This is just too sad and horrifying"
"I agree… It helps me to talk about these things w/ people not in law enforcement. The conversations help remind me that these things are not normal."
"There is a tendency in law enforcement to stuff these types of events away. Not speak of them, or avoid thinking about them. But they will eventually come to surface (often in the form of self-destructive behavior like alcoholism, infidelity, suicide, etc)."
"I recently read a book called "Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement". It said that in the 1990's, an average of 69 officers died a year from being attacked/responding to felony crimes. But 300 officers a year died as the result of suicide during that same time period."
Policing is a difficult job. That's never been the argument. The argument has been if we're going to ask people to handle situations like this, then the right kind of people need to be the ones to handle them. People mentally strong enough, with the right kind of therapeutic support, designated to solve these types of situations.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
Everyone has their travel bucket list.
The list of places they absolutely must visit before they die.
There are those, however, who also have a rather different list of destinations.
The places that have no intention to visit.
Be it for safety concerns, language barriers, or simply that there's nothing at these places that calls to them, there are places some wouldn’t dream of spending the time and money to visit.
Redditor TrooperJohn was curious to hear which places were at the very bottom of the list of travel destinations for his fellow Redditors, leading them to ask:
"What is a popular tourist destination you have no interest in visiting?"
Oasis in the desert? No thank you.
"Dubai."
"Why and whats special about it?"
"Its a modern city in a desert."- Maximum_Calendar_791.
"Dubai."
"A fake city with fake people, no human rights, where the world's tallest buildings hide corruption and slavery in their shadows."
"It's like someone decided to take every problem of mankind and concentrate it in one spot."- PayNoNoticeOfMe.
"Dubai one i think it is ugly two I would die in two minutes of me being there I can't stand anything above 40 c°."- BookWormPerson.
One of the seven wonders is one too many for me.
"The pyramids. "
"Too many horror stories of Egypt."- Aemiom.
Landlocked.
"Not really a destination, but taking a cruise."- Shortbus_Playboy.
Mountains aren't really my thing.
"Everest."
"Just why."
"You use a bunch of money to get in there them come down."
"And trash your whole way there. It's literally a corner in the Earth insufferable for humans and we still made a way to go there to trash it."- ACLullaby.
It's in my own backyard... but still not interested.
"I have lived about 15km away from the Burj Khalifa ever since it was made."
"I could not care any less besides the occasional pointing out the 'shiny tall building' to my nieces.- legolosss.
The pictures are enough for me.
"Mount Rushmore."
"Friends who've made the journey to Mount Rushmore mostly say it was no big deal and not worth the effort or expense to travel there."- Back2Bach.
Hustle and Bustle? No thanks.
"Anything busy.'
"Whether it's cities, structures, I don't care."
"I'd rather go to a boring empty quiet place than a place full of people."- TheSmeep.
They're watching us.
"That creepy a** place in Japan with all the realistic dolls."
"No thank you."
Some dream of paying a visit to these places.
Others hope they never have to set foot there, and will choose to leave it to the other millions of tourists.
To each, their own.
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When it comes to electing a leader, the choice is an easy one if a potential candidate shares the same values as yours.
And while a candidate is fit to lead remains to be seen, we rely on our instinct to choose someone with whom we can relate.
But sometimes, our options are limited and we inevitably go with someone who is the lesser of two evils.
Curious to hear from strangers online about a hypothetical, Redditor Cashmeresquid2309 asked:
"Americans of Reddit, would you vote for an openly Atheist presidential candidate? Why or why not?"

Redditors were quick to point out the answer was a no-brainer.
We Already Know The Answer
"Asking Reddit if they'd vote for an atheist..."
"I feel like the answer would be obvious."
– sarahmagoo
Sci-Fi Analogy
"Americans of Reddit, would you vote for a Star Wars fan who heckin loves doggos?"
– WitnessChemical
For The Atheists In The Crowd
"Atheists of atheistville, would you vote for an open atheist?"
– nixcamic
Others weighed in with a range of opinions.
About 45
"What's funny is how many of them would probably say no, even though they voted for Trump and would do so again. Say whatever else you want about him, but I seriously can't understand how anyone could genuinely believe Trump is a Christian. He's so obviously faking it and is undoubtedly the most atheistic president we've ever had or are likely to have for a long time."
"This is a guy who's never even so much as read the Bible or attended church, who told a conservative radio host his favorite Bible verse was 'an eye for an eye', who told evangelical interviewers that he's never asked God for forgiveness because he's never done anything wrong, and who routinely commits all 7 deadly sins (pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth) without remorse."
– empfindsamkeit
From A Different Perspective
"Not an american but interestingly according to this survey on 1006 people from 2007, being atheist was the worst thing you could be as a candidate (of the things asked) with only 45 % of people saying they'd vote for one."
– ilovecatfish
An atheist candidate isn't necessarily a big strike.
Double Negative
"I wouldn’t not vote for someone just because they were atheist."
– HabitualEnthusiast
Credibility First
"This is it. If they’re running on platforms I support with a history to back up those campaign promises, I don’t care if they belong to the church of the flying spaghetti monster. They could literally be a member of the satanic temple and I, an actual practicing Christian, would give less shi*s than a constipated sloth."
"Edit: yes, I realize the Satanic Temple does not actually worship satan. I used it for that purpose. The Church of Satan has some…problematic views and I probably would not vote for someone who literally holds a platform of eugenics."
– Phoenix_of_Asclepius
Some view the role of religion in politics as important.
It Depends
"Religion can be relevant: I would have strong reservations about voting for a Scientologist, even if I agreed with the policies they proposed. I would have strong reservations voting for a member of an apocalyptic cult or, possibly worse, a follower of the (highly heretical) 'prosperity gospel,' which unfortunately includes more and more so-called 'evangelicals' — I didn't vote for George W. Bush, but it's not because he was an evangelical."
"It depends on the role: I'd probably be more flexible with a legislator than an executive (mayor, governor, president), as their character is IMO more important than for a legislator and their policy stances somewhat less important relative to a legislator."
"Satanic temple — well, that's just an organized group of atheists and humanists with an intentionally inflammatory choice of name. They're generally fine people."
– alyssasaccount
A Bad Rap
"The Satanic Temple is an excellent organization that every decent person should be able to respect. A Church of Satan member, not so much."
"There's a huge difference between them!"
– StarsEatArtBooks
And Redditor boganvegan said it best.
"Better an open atheist than a fake Christian."
It all boils down to trustworthiness. Without full transparency, how could anyone put their faith in a candidate who spews nothing but lies?
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Being home alone isn't always the most tranquil thing.
No one is there to help or protect you.
And things that go "bump" in the night... sometimes they do more than bump.
Redditor ag9910 wanted to hear about the times home felt like an unsafe place to be. They asked:
"What is the scariest, strangest, most unexplainable thing that has happened to you while home alone?"
I'm always freaked out when I'm home alone. Lights on. Yeah, my electric bill is high.
Dorothy?
"I dreamed the front door blew open at the exact time the house alarm went off... I hopped up and sure enough, the front door was open. No intruder."
fatowl
I See You
"Not home alone but only one in right side of the house. Went to my mom's bathroom to wash my hands and saw a pair of feet behind the half open door. Laughed and said 'very funny Ma, I see you.' then finished up and left. Bumped into my mother in the kitchen unpacking, nobody else was in the house. I'm glad whatever was behind the door didn't peek out."
SatanWithFur
“It’s Doug!”
"One night I had forgotten to lock my apartment door and woke up in the middle of the night. My bedroom door was about 2 feet from my front door, as you walked into the apartment. First a big dog ran by, then a person. Holy crap I was so scared and I screeched 'Who is it?!?!!'"
"A man said 'It’s Doug!' As I was thinking to myself, who the f**k is Doug, he said 'oh, crap.' He turned around to go back out the front door saying 'Sorry.' I asked 'Didn’t you have a dog with you?' He said 'Oh, yeah. Hey, c’mon!.' He left, his dog ran out after him and I locked my front door."
"Edit: glad you all thought this was funny, because I did too, once my heart quit trying to beat right out of my chest! The next day the girls at work thought I was crazy for not being upset, but eh, done is done. Peace!"
scarletohairy
Confused...
"My sister and I were home alone and we heard someone big running up the stairs. The stairs make lots of noise with slight pressure so when there’s someone big on them you can tell. I went out of my room to check but saw no one anywhere and my sister also came out of her room and she asked if that was me I said no and we both looked around to see if there was anyone but found no one in the whole house. We were confused and called our parents and just waited until they got back and that was that."
JtSudbury04
I See You
"I very clearly saw a guy walk into my room. But when I went after him there was nobody there. I checked in the closet, under my bed, everywhere one could hide in my room."
HighlyOffensive10
This is why home video surveillance is key.
"NO"
"My parents were on a road trip, just left, and I sat down at my desk. I thought 'Weekend alone by myself' and a voice yelled into my right ear 'NO' so loud it hurt."
Th4ab
Wild
"I managed to lock myself out of my house on my birthday during a tornado while trying to bring my cats to the basement for safety. I later found out that the tornado was approximately a couple miles or less from me at that exact time. The sky was green and it got weirdly calm and then I could hear what sounded like a train coming before I found an unlocked window to climb through. Wild times."
SilverGnarwhal
Saturday morning in the 80s...
"I wasn't home alone but I was awake by myself one Saturday morning in the 80s when I was around 7 or so. I believe my mom was the only one home because my dad went to the lake to go fishing that weekend, and I'm not sure where my older brothers were, maybe they went with him, idk."
"Anyways, my mom's sleeping in, and I'm in the living room by myself, watching Saturday morning cartoons and making a fort out of sheets and cushions. Something made me turn around and I saw my dad in his pajamas standing in the hallway entrance with his hands on his hips, looking the mess I was making and shaking his head."
"He then turned around and walked into my room, which was just off the hallway entrance. Dude. I didn't even look, I just booked it to my parents room and woke my mom up. I don't remember what happened after that, this was around 35 years ago. And yes, my dad was fine, nothing had happened to him."
smriversong
Get the Bat...
"I was at home by myself on a call with some friends when all of a sudden my dog begins to bark like crazy, which was odd since it was the middle of the night and he's usually sleep. I go downstairs to check on him and find him barking at our hall closet, terrified I grabbed my bat that I keep in my room just in case and open the door. There was nothing out of usual at first at then I look down and notice a familiar looking object at the bottom of the closet."
"It was my mom's necklace she had lost when I was 9, (i'm 15 now just to put in perspective how long it's been). I showed it to my mom at breakfast and she was just as shocked as I was. I still have no clue how it got there or how my dog knew it was in there, definitely one of the oddest occurrences of my life."
SomeRandomIdiot14
Meow
"Many years ago, I was 14 or so, my first night alone in the house when my parents were out. Lying on the living room floor reading, my cat sleeping next to me."
"Suddenly, cat wakes up, stares intently into the dark corner of the room behind me, hair on end, growls and then bolts out of the room and upstairs. I look behind me and see nothing, but follow cat upstairs and hide under the covers. Freaked me out."
LairdofWingHaven
Thank God for alarms. I hate being home alone.
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The human body is still such a mystery.
How much do we really know?
Not a lot apparently. We're learning more all the time.
And most of it is gross.
Redditor BathNo7713 wanted to discuss the ick factor of anatomy. So they asked:
"What is the most disturbing fact about the human body?"
The body freaks me out. But it's all I've got. So teach me some things.
Minutes...
"The fastest killing virus takes around 4 days to kill you. That would be Ebola. Your immune system can kill you in 15 minutes."
will477
'locked-in'
"If your brainstem (the part of the brain that mediates most motor control for all of the body) is damaged, you can get 'locked-in' syndrome. That means you're fully conscious and aware of your surroundings but unable to move or speak. The only muscles that remain unaffected in most people are the muscles that move they eyes and the eyelids."
"You're essentially trapped within your own body with your only way of communication being blinking or moving your eyes It can be caused by toxins, blockage of the basilar artery which is the main artery of the brainstem, or other brainstem damage."
4oodler
Explosions
"Some people suffer from Exploding Head Syndrome, which causes them to hear a loud bang when they wake up."
ToraMix19
"When I was younger I believe I experienced this a few times. Sounds I heard were: about a million people talking and laughing all at once, a train that irl would've been about a foot away from me based on the volume of the sound, and a door slamming loudly."
aliaisacreature
Pain
"Not sure if this is by design, but I totaled my car once, almost completely uninjured somehow. Then I looked down to my right hand which I remember jabbing into my dashboard at 55mph. Luckily (unluckily?) only my pinky took the blow. But instead of a floppy-udder full of bone-sand, my pinky was 0.5 inches long."
"Broke no bones, but instead perfectly stacked my phalanges, or finger bones, INTO my hand. This is fixed by a muscular Russian murse grabbing your pinky with both hands and pulling very hard. God I wish they gave me more lidocaine."
TelevisionOlympics
Functions
"If you have a surgery where they need to move your organs around they might not function for a day as the body assumes that they are dead."
tonythebutcher13
Move things around? You mean that's not fake when it happens on "Grey's Anatomy?"
"The only reason you are not aware of it is because the ambient noise kind of drowns it out because your ears focus on it. If you go to one of those super-silent rooms that absorb all sorts of sounds, it is a really weird way to reacquaint yourself with your body."
Black_Handkerchief
The Mouth
"Idk about the most disturbing but how bad human teeth are. We’d think it’s our sugary and processed diets these days that cause it, but even Otzi the iceman discovered in Italy was found to have terrible teeth, mouth diseases and cavities. It’s odd that even with the most basic of diets our teeth are so bad."
Dorianisconfused
In the bowels...
"I noticed this after my abdominal surgery. When I turned over in bed my guts seemed to fall from one side to the other. Mentioned to my doc and she confirmed it was my bowels rearranging themselves."
squatter_
"Apparently the doctor just throws your intestines back in there higgeldy-piggeldy because there isn't a correct way to pack them neatly."
LostDesigner9
A Quick Burst
"There are a vast number of ways that your body can malfunction and kill you with little or no warning. An aneurysm can go undetected until it bursts and kills you. Getting hit in the chest just the right way can stop your heart. You can encounter an allergen that never previously provoked an immune response that freaks out your body so badly that you die. You literally just never know if your body will just... die."
Unsolicited_Spiders
The body is such a conundrum. Sexy and gross all at once.
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