Police Officers Describe What Happened When Calls They Responded To Turned Paranormal

Being a police officer can be a pretty scary job at times. Officers just never know what you're going to run into, so they're always on high alert.
But do they ever expect to run into the paranormal?
No, not really. Until it happens, of course, as we learned after Redditor Boert9 asked the online community: "Law Enforcement of Reddit, what was the most scary/paranormal call you have responded to?"
Warning: Some sensitive reading material ahead.
"Once we arrived..."
I am a police officer working on an emergency response team on a busy London borough. We took a call to a suspected domestic incident in a block of flats. The informant said that she could hear screaming and sounds of disturbance coming from the flat above her own.
Once we arrived my colleague and I knocked on the door of the flat the informant said the noise was coming from. I had heard nothing on my way up and certainly couldn't hear any disturbance coming from the address. To be honest I heard nothing at all. After knocking twice we had no response. My colleague left me to go downstairs and speak directly to the informant.
I stayed by the door. I knocked again and after some time it was answered by an elderly woman. She had clearly been asleep and was alarmed to see me standing outside. I told her that someone had called saying that they could hear a disturbance coming from within her address. I asked her if there was anyone else inside with her. She looked bemused and told me that she lived alone and had been sleeping. I asked her if I could come in to satisfy myself that no one else was there.
She invited me in and I walked into what was a small 2 bedroom flat. The flat was in darkness apart from her hall light and her bedside lamp. I began searching through the flat. As I approached the final door (the living room) my colleague called me up on the radio. He told me that he was on his way and asked if I was okay. I told him everything was fine wondering why he sounded so flustered. He told me that he was with the informant and could also hear screaming and loud thuds coming from the flat I was in.
I told him that he must be mistaken as I was almost done searching the flat and that I had heard nothing whatsoever. I have to admit a feeling of unease as I opened the final door. Like all the other rooms it was in darkness but was freezing cold. My breath misted immediately. There was no one in the room and no signs of disturbance. No window was open. I called my colleague and asked him to listen out for my footfall. He said he could hear my feet as I stamped them but said that the screaming had stopped. This coincided with me opening the door. I left shortly after apologising to the elderly woman for waking her.
I have no rational explanation for this at all. My colleague and I left feeling very creeped out.
Late evening maybe a decade ago, I ended up running silent to a call with additional units in tow. The caller reported hearing "footsteps" on her second floor when she was in the kitchen. She lived alone, middle aged, divorced, no kids, and had no expected company. She is outside across the street when we arrive, obviously unnerved and being calmed by her neighbor.
Other units showed up almost as I did and set up a perimeter at the corners of the property. We talk with her, get permission to enter, so we decide we'll announce ourselves and clear the house. Three of us stack up on the front door, announce and make entry while the other officers are viewing the windows from a distance under concealment. She was in the midst of making a really late dinner so the house smells really good. I remember how good it smelled. Anyway, we clear the ground level and make our way to the stairs when we hear it.
Obviously footsteps on the wood floors above us. Not a panicky "oh shit I'm caught footsteps" and running to hide or escape, no, these were calm, methodic and almost pace like. We announce ourselves again and no response, except the pacing just starts to sorta fade away. Quietly I make my way up the steps, adrenaline pumping, and concentrating on pieing the corner at the top. I stop a few stairs shy of the corner, breathe, and proceed up.
"The hallway..."
The hallway at the top was pitch black and after successfully clearing the top/ corner we make our way down the hallway clearing rooms. Nothing. Nobody. Not even a critter. Not that any critter would ever make what I describe as human footsteps on hardwood. After the initial search, a few of the other officers involved also checked every nook and cranny, bed, closet, rack, hell, even the washer, dryer, appliances and cupboards were thoroughly searched. Nothing was out of order. Nobody was hiding anywhere.
Eventually we invite the lady back into her residence and reassure her that there was nobody in there and we equated her noise to maybe wood shrinkage or expansion in the home.
None of the officers outside and after our initial search had seen anybody leave the top or bottom floors or windows. The house had no indications that anybody tried to force open a window or door.
I stayed behind for about 30 minutes once the other officers cleared the call and waited while her friend showed up to stay the night with her. I went over basic security measures with her and double checked all her windows and doors were not compromised. She fed me well done lasagna as I waited, and to this day, I'm convinced that I interacted with another dimension of life that day.
"Anyways, I approached Lucy..."
About 4 years ago, a lady who I'll call Lucy, called our non-emergency line and said she locked herself out of her house. I responded to take the report in case FD needed to force entry.
I arrived first and immediately noticed a burning candle and some "jesusy" statues in the upstairs window. The light in this room was also on. I can't explain it, but it seemed a bit odd to me.
Anyways, I approached Lucy who appeared to be about 65 years old, and asked what happened. She said she walked to her car to get groceries for her and her mother but forgot her keys inside and the door had locked behind her. I asked if her mother was home and Lucy replied in the affirmative. Lucy went on to say she technically lived alone because her mom died 6 years prior but she still "lives" with her in the bedroom with the lit candle and makes her presence known by turning on/off lights, opening/closing doors, and turning on the bathroom faucet.
I then walked the perimeter of the home and found an unlocked window into the kitchen. Since Lucy never actually left home and knew no one else was inside, I radioed dispatch and climbed in through the window with her consent.
As my boot touched the kitchen floor, I heard an audible click. At the same time, the lights in the stairway and upstairs hallway to my left turned off. I quickly walked to the rear sliding door to my right and advised Lucy what had happened. Lucy laughed and said that was just her mom saying hello. I told Lucy that although I genuinely believe what she told me was true, I still had to do my due diligence and ensure no one else was inside. I radioed for a back and within minutes my buddy arrived. The first thing he asked about was the lit candle in the window.
While clearing the upstairs, we came upon the room where the candle was and immediately noticed it was blown out. There were no open windows, fans, vents, or other obvious source that could've extinguished the flame. We just looked at each other with a bit of unease and went back downstairs to leave. click the upstairs lights turned off behind us. We talked to Lucy for another 5 minutes and suggested getting a battery operated candle just to be safe....
Well Lucy clearly thought "f--- the police" because to this day, that candle burns in the open window most nights when I drive by. And every now and then I'll stop and talk to Lucy to see how she and her mother are doing.
"Early in my career..."
Early in my career, the elevators in the older section of CIA Headquarters (known as the Original Headquarters Building or OHB) were known to have quirks (I think they still do). Occasionally, the elevator would stop and the doors would open at a floor with no one there, and no one on the elevator had requested that floor.
I heard second-hand that the "thing to do" when that happened was to say "Good day, Mr. Director," because it was assumed that the doors opened for the ghost of Allen Dulles. OHB was his project, as many know, but he never was able to move into his office, having been replaced as CIA Director just before it was ready.
"I've been in law enforcement..."
I've been in law enforcement for several years now. I serve a small, rural town. During the summer of 2015, I had one of my most unsettling experiences.
That evening my partner and I were called to investigate a potential trespasser on some residential property out in the sticks. A young girl, about fifteen or sixteen years old, had called 911 and reported that a person wearing a clown costume was loitering around her backyard. I'll refer to her as Sara. She was extremely frightened when we arrived. Her mother had to work late that night, so Sara was home alone.
She explained that a tall person in a clown costume had repeatedly emerged from the woods in her backyard. She first saw him when she went to let her dog out. He was peering at her from behind a tree, beckoning her to come over. "I could hear him laughing," she said. She ran inside with her pet, locked the door, and immediately called 911. She watched from a window as the clown reappeared several times from the woods, exhibiting erratic behavior.
She described the clown's appearance as "really scary," not at all like the silly, colorful characters typically seen. He had a quintessential red nose, but wore a dark-colored jumpsuit. She thought his face was painted white with dark shapes around his eyes. No hair or head accessories, according to her.
After investigating inside the home, we checked the perimeter of the house. My partner stayed behind to monitor the doors while I approached the tree line. No sooner than I shined my flash light into the woods that I heard the sounds of snapping tree limbs, as if someone was walking through the forest about twenty yards away. I called out, announcing myself as a police officer—no response, no more sounds.
Not sure what we were dealing with, we did not venture into the woods. It was the middle of the night with limited visibility. I focused my attention on investigating the property for anything suspicious while my partner patrolled around the house. Nothing of interest was found.
Over the next couple of months, our department received several more calls about clown sightings. Not only did these sightings occur within a five mile radius of each other, but all of them were reported by young people. Because it's a small community, we initially thought this was all some kind of prank/hoax orchestrated by a bunch of bored kids. These kids, however, seemed genuinely frightened upon investigation and their descriptions were consistent. We really didn't know what to think.
No one or nothing was ever found in these cases, with the exception of one. Around sunset one evening, we received a phone call from an elderly woman I'll call Helen. She was a sweet lady who played the organ at a church in town. Although she was devoutly religious, like the kind of person who'd quote scripture in the middle of a conversation, she meant well.
Anyways, Helen called and said that her grandson (whom she was raising) saw a clown in their yard. She was concerned and wanted the police to investigate. Her grandson was only five and getting details out of him proved difficult. In a rather matter-of-fact kind of way, Helen said, "Officer, those clowns are devil worshippers. I know it because right after my grandson saw that clown, my mother's nutcracker—that one right there on top of the fireplace—fell and broke. I've been praying hard ever since." Sure enough, her nutcracker was broken into two pieces. I did an internal eye roll and redirected the conversation.
"Let me walk outside and check things out," I said. Helen followed behind me as we walked out the backdoor. Everything was still and quiet. I asked if there were any places on the property where someone could hide. She said there was an old, overgrown shed about a hundred yards behind her house. I radioed in for support, and another officer arrived soon after.
Thankfully it was a lightly wooded area so the shed was easy enough to find. It was quite dilapidated and half falling down. The door was slightly ajar. We called out but there wasn't a response. We had flash lights in our left hands and our right hands on our weapons. The door creaked open and slowly we walked in. There was no one inside.
Besides old, rusty farm equipment, we noticed a couple of strange items scattered around the floor. The first thing we saw was a brass cow figurine. Second, we found a bible with burn marks all over it. We later learned the entire book of Leviticus had been torn out.
Helen adamantly swore she had no idea who the items belonged to or why they were in that shed. The whole thing was very overwhelming for her. We brought the items to the station but nothing ever surfaced. That was the last clown sighting. Maybe it was a series of pranks, an odd fad that came and went. Whatever the case, it all sticks out to me as something incredibly strange. I always feel uneasy whenever I think about those events.
"A few weeks ago..."
A few weeks ago I'd gotten dispatched to a 911 call that involved a female frantically screaming at the dispatcher "she's going to kill me, she's going to kill me! Come quick I'm at [address of where she was at]!"
Naturally, every unit within range of my sector and myself had radioed in a response and we were all hauling ass to get there. Once we got there we discovered the house was abandoned for some years now and so we set a cordon around with officers watching all exits, as my shift partner, myself and a female officer announced ourselves and made entry into the residence.
We cleared all of the first floor and proceeded to the second and as soon as we got to the top of the stairs a slight movement spooked us and me and my partner immediately raised our weapons into a room where there was only a noose. Both he and I thought we saw a body on it at first glance, there was nothing there. We cleared the rest of the second floor and took a closer look at the noose, some dried up blood and what i think was peeled off skin on it from an earlier suicide that occurred over a dozen years ago, we thought it might've been recent, but we didn't know at the time.
Anyways, immediately after we cleared the house we determined that it was way too dead, for lack of a better word, to have been used recently however we called in some detectives. But before we all stepped out, we all agreed we didn't see what just happened. Reason why is my Service has a policy on what could be constituted as "paranormal instances", where the second something like that happens you are immediately suspended from duty, and give in your badge, your gun, your duty belt and your vest. Before being taken on the spot to a psychiatrist/psychologist, for a full comprehensive evaluation. Needless to say I immediately called my supervisor at the end of shift and told him about it and did the right thing by going in for evaluation. Something to be said about integrity.
I've driven past that house multiple times in the past weeks and I've always sunk deeper into my seat as I've driven past. Something about it, it's like you could actually feel there was something off about it. City seems to agree with me, as of 3 days ago the house is the #1 demolition priority in my sector and will be down by the end of the month. I'm just not happy that I'm going to have to go back inside next week to collect anything that might be of interest to both the city and my superiors. Luckily I won't be going in alone.
Also, the female who called in the 911 call was charged for Public Mischief under the pretext of misuse of 911 and misleading Peace Officers.
"It's probably drug related..."
Not really scary, but possibly paranormal, and a case I was never able to solve.
Three years ago, I was called in to an investigation of a burglary in a cemetery. When the forensics guys and I finally went out there (it was a slow morning), none of the responding deputies had actually gone inside yet. Four deputies and a sergeant were busy "securing the scene" from the outside, because it was still dark out and they didn't want to go into the dark mausoleum that had been broken into. Apparently they felt much safer with us overweight non-sworn employees around, so we went inside together.
The exterior door to the mausoleum had been forced open, and we started looking around for signs of anything stolen or vandalized. Eventually we did find that one of the grave sites in the mausoleum, almost 15 feet off the ground, had the cement plaque shattered and the coffin was pulled out and left sprawling on the floor. All contents of the coffin were missing, which including the cremated remains of three people, the last one who died in 2004. A person would have had to bring their own ladder to pull this out, or been at least 12-13 feet tall.
According to the forensics guy, it looked like the plaque for the coffin had been shattered from the inside, due to water damage. Still, it seems oddly coincidental that a plaque would simultaneously break on the night of a break-in to the mausoleum. It hadn't been accessed since 2004, so almost twelve years prior. The people in the grave site had a single living relative. I called them, exchanged pleasantries, and then when I asked about the mausoleum they said "No habla English" and hung up.
It's probably drug related, somehow, but this is the exactly the kind of thing that would happen at the start of a vampire or zombie apocalypse movie.
"When you step inside..."
There is this abandoned day care that we have to patrol...VERY spooky. Temperature is different in each room. Sounds can be heard. Toys found in the roof panels...sometimes those toys are seen moved from the roof to the floor in the rooms. Some rooms have more pressure than others like being at the bottom of a swimming pool. When you step inside all you want to do is leave..some said a child died at that daycare...
"I have no rational explanation..."
I am a police officer working on an emergency response team on a busy London borough. We took a call to a suspected domestic incident in a block of flats. The informant said that she could hear screaming and sounds of disturbance coming from the flat above her own.
Once we arrived my colleague and I knocked on the door of the flat the informant said the noise was coming from. I had heard nothing on my way up and certainly couldn't hear any disturbance coming from the address. To be honest I heard nothing at all. After knocking twice we had no response. My colleague left me to go downstairs and speak directly to the informant.
I stayed by the door. I knocked again and after some time it was answered by an elderly woman. She had clearly been asleep and was alarmed to see me standing outside. I told her that someone had called saying that they could hear a disturbance coming from within her address. I asked her if there was anyone else inside with her. She looked bemused and told me that she lived alone and had been sleeping. I asked her if I could come in to satisfy myself that no one else was there.
She invited me in and I walked into what was a small 2 bedroom flat. The flat was in darkness apart from her hall light and her bedside lamp. I began searching through the flat. As I approached the final door (the living room) my colleague called me up on the radio. He told me that he was on his way and asked if I was okay. I told him everything was fine wondering why he sounded so flustered. He told me that he was with the informant and could also hear screaming and loud thuds coming from the flat I was in.
I told him that he must be mistaken as I was almost done searching the flat and that I had heard nothing whatsoever. I have to admit a feeling of unease as I opened the final door. Like all the other rooms it was in darkness but was freezing cold. My breath misted immediately. There was no one in the room and no signs of disturbance. No window was open. I called my colleague and asked him to listen out for my footfall. He said he could hear my feet as I stamped them but said that the screaming had stopped. This coincided with me opening the door. I left shortly after apologising to the elderly woman for waking her.
I have no rational explanation for this at all. My colleague and I left feeling very creeped out.
Be it to a foreign country on the other side of the world, or merely a town a few miles north or south of you, there is always a slightly uneasy feeling of being in a new place.
Sometimes, however, you don't only suffer from homesickness upon arriving, but find yourself genuinely scared.
Perhaps you don't find yourself particularly welcome by the residents, or there are no people to be seen for miles around.
Either way, there are places all over the world where not long after arriving, the only thing on the minds of visitors was to get out of there as fast as they could.
Redditor 8-tentacles was curious to learn the places fellow Reddit users would never set foot in again under any circumstances, leading them to ask:
"What’s the scariest town/city you’ve been to, and why?"
Gabbs, Nevada.
"I ended up driving through this tiny town in the middle of Nevada that I assume used to be a mining town."
"It looked like a steady paycheck hadn't been seen in this town for 20 years, the houses were all dilapidated, and the locals looked just as worn out."
"Bullet holes and burn marks could be seen on pretty much every building."
"The only reason I drove through the town instead of just sticking to the main road was to top up on gas, but I couldn't find anything, not even a small convenience store."
"It must've been hell for those folks considering the closest town with an actual store and gas was around 70 miles away."
"I took a look via Google Earth, at some of the towns people mentioned and I found it!"
"Gabbs, NV."
'Definitely not a place I'd want to go back to."
Harvey, Illinois
"Everyone talks about Gary, IN, but there is a town over the border in Illinois called Harvey, IL."
"I can't put my finger on exactly what makes it worse, but being there felt like I was on the moon."- theredditforwork
El Alto, Bolivia
"El Alto Bolivia."
"This was 15 years ago at least."
"It's above the habitable zone, and locals were openly fighting in the streets."
"Good times."- ooo-ooo-oooyea
Somewhere in New Mexico...
"I stopped at some gas station out in the middle of where-the-f*ck, New Mexico, only to pee."
"Parking lot not even completely paved.'
"My SO stayed behind in the car, and our son, so I have no corroborating witnesses, but this was the weirdest f*cking place of business I ever stepped into."
"Some David Lynch level sh*t."
"First of all, this place was huge for no obvious reason."
"As far as I know, there wasn't a town nearby."
"I mean, it was isolated out in the desert."
"When I entered, there was a store in there, like a convenience store."
"I passed through that, and entered a hallway."
"There was a restaurant in there, completely empty."
"I follow the signs to the restroom, and go down this hall."
"It already feels a little creepy to me, and horrifyingly enough, I am navigating to the bathroom by the sound of someone who seems to be puking violently far off down the corridor."
"I could hear this sound echoing down this crazy hallway."
"The hallway has a bend in it, and I'm starting to wonder how f*cking big is this place?"
"I turn the corner, and there is one of those claw grabby machines where you try to pick up stuffed animals and other cheap sh*t, standing in the hall."
"A group of young boys are there, crowded around the machine."
"When I come around the corner, they all look up at me wordlessly, with no trace of joy or excitement or pleasure."
"They just play the game with inscrutable faces, silently, like cats surrounding a mouse."
"The hall continues, and so do I."
"Another corner."
"Where the g*ddamned f*ck is the toilet.'
"This hallway is disturbingly long and I've been driving for two and a half days."
"I like my bathrooms simple and direct."
"This does not seem to be either of those things."
"I finally locate the can way the hell down there around another unnecessary corner, and upon entering, I can no longer hear whoever was retching and choking."
"It is now silent, but for the stench so bad it was nearly foggy in there."
"Somebody's feet under the sh*tter door."
"I pee."
"I get out quick."
"Walk past those seemingly soulless and bored boys."
" Why the hell is this hallway even here?"
"There are no doors, no other businesses, these kids are creeping me out in the sinister way they stare blankly at me as I pass."
"I am at a loss to even explain why those kids are here, this place is isolated AF, the hall has too many dark corners and bends in it with no apparent logic."
"It feels like an anxiety dream, it feels like reality itself is being manipulated like the little crane arm claw the one boy is guiding."
"It feels like I want to get out of here, get back outside, get in the car and put this whole place in my rearview mirror."
"So I do."
"I get in the car."
"'Do you feel better now?'"
"'No. Actually I don't'."
"'You shoulda seen this place'."- Alternative-Amoeba20
Johannesburg
"Johannesburg, I grew up in a pretty rough city and would say it doesn’t compare to there, you can feel how tense the air is and you really need to pay attention to everything at all times."- Much_Committee_9355
Gary, Indiana
"Gary, Indiana."
"No, it's not a story of how dangerous it is, or how cops tell you to run red lights ."
"That happens, but it's mostly myths that get perpetuated by people who never visited."
"Gary is just desolate."
"It's almost post apocalyptic."
"Nature has overtaken many areas, and many of the 'vacant' houses you see are actually lived in by homeless people."
"What makes it scary isn't that it has dangerous people, it's that it can be incredibly quiet for a populous city."
"The few times I've had to go through Gary or IN Gary for something, I've always seen something that has frightened me."
"Like people staring at me through half boarded windows, people crawling out of bushes to ask for money, or people just straight up walking in front of your car trying to get you to slow down or stop."
"It's one of the few places in America that actually feels heavy to be in."
"I swear TV shows and movies are missing out on some of the easiest post apocalyptic scenery that they have ever had."- NewAccount971
Decatur, Illinois
"Decatur Illinois."
"My mom and most of her family is from there and the town is just so damn sketchy."
"People being shot the next street over seems like a daily thing."
"My crazy Great Grandma lived in a 4 story house by herself , house had been in the family for a while, and she never locked the doors, just slept with a 9mm next to her bed."- SidtheGoat87
It's sad to hear about these places, and the hard times they've fallen under.
One hopes they might find a way to bounce back one day, and make people excited to visit, rather than avoid them at all costs.
Listen ... we're just gonna be totally honest with you.
The answer is "not much" IF loved ones can come too.
Reddit user benharper09 asked
"Americans of Reddit: What would it take for you to consider moving to Europe to live and work there?"
We don't know if this Reddit user is, like, gathering market data or just really wants to know why Americans don't leave - but here's what Reddit had to say.
Whole Squad Comes With
"My wife and I have discussed moving out of the States, but family keeps us rooted. Maybe when the parents have passed."
- JroyBbop
"I used to live in Louisiana and it’s a damn nightmare there but when me and my wife found out we were pregnant in 2020 I decided that by 2022 I wouldn’t be in Louisiana anymore raising my child and we let all our family know. There’s still FaceTime and social media and mailing gifts and all that."
"If they want to see him or us in person then they can travel here but I wasn’t staying in hell so he can be near his family. It’ll be better for him to be somewhere that’s not as damn horrible. I literally had fear for my life from about age 10-33 when I moved. Nothing was gonna make me stay and raise my kid with that same fear."
- PaulblankPF
"This is a big one. Our entire support system is either here in town or within 2 hours away."
- WizardofAud
A Job
"Um, job opportunities? Europe doesn't let you just up and live there if you want to."
- zugabdu
"Here in Austria we are currently looking for a large number of people willing to work. Austria has around 150.000 job openings that cannot be filled because there aren't enough people."
- benharper09
"I doubt Americans will fill many, particularly with professional jobs requiring a college degree, as salaries tend to be far high over here."
"There are obviously a few exceptions, but as a general rule I don’t see it happening."
- monkey3man
"There are pretty significant differences in cost of living too though, as many European countries have healthcare, childcare, you can actually live in many European cities without owning a car which as I understand it is realistically impossible in the US. Looking at salary v. salary is too simplistic to really compare the buying power you're left with after taxes."
- Randyboob
Are We Even Wanted?
"Do they even want us?"
- Infinite-Hearing-738
"Not if you are old without money. Or young without skills."
- RedditRage
"Yeah. We do. I would welcome Americans with open arms. Though I understand it's hard for most Americans to move to Europe."
- Mrbananacompany
"I mean maybe you personally be okay with Americans moving to your country but your immigration laws are not so amenable."
"It's not that Americans don't consider or want to move to Europe as this question implies, we want to but it's not easy to do legally."
- Infinite-Hearing-738
"We are strongly considering making the move. My biggest concern is the language barrier. I know some people may speak English as a second language but I wouldn’t want to presume."
- GeoffAO2
Pros Over Cons
"Consider yes. Actually moving to one of the many countries with their pros, cons, and immigration policies is a whole other matter. This kind of thing works best for people who are very young, very rich, or have an employer involved."
"Not Europe, but I looked into Canada for a while and the pros and cons ended up convincing me it wasn't worth it for my family."
- Bobanderrs
"For the last few years this has been an annual discussion my wife and I have. The pros just don’t outweigh the cons yet. Burning a huge amount of money to move away from family and friends to be an outsider in a place where seasonal depression would crush me and cold weather issues would be detrimental to my wife’s health issue along with a lower paying job with fewer prospects for advancement in a place where the cost of living is so much more expensive…it always seems like a good idea until we list out all these things."
"That and Canada seems to be experiencing the same issues the US is - albeit on a much quieter level (which to some degree is often more concerning. Trucker convey tried to happen here and it got egged out of existence with them all fleeing. In Canada everyone stood around and just let it exist. For days. And days.) - which make me realize I might be better off staying put. It also seems wrong for me to be the one to up and move when I am white, straight, and in a decent financial position. My vote, my voice, my donations all make a difference for marginal groups that are fighting. We have a lot of friends in the LGBTQ community and being the ones that got to leave would just kind of haunt me."
- zerobeat
Language Barrier
"Aside from everything everyone has said is language. I took Spanish for 6 years and maybe understand 10%. I took German for a year and can say hello. I did duelingo polish everyday for six months and got nowhere."
"I've accepted its damn near impossible for me to learn a language. I could sell my house to have the money. I could leave my family. But job stability and language...those are my 2 big problems."
- Scarlett-Amber9517
"This is the big one for me. You could go to Germany, Denmark, Norway as a tourist and just speak English. But working a day-to-day job, going to the supermarket and all that, you really need to speak the language to be productive, no matter how patient your co-workers are. (I’m a software engineer)"
- AaronDNewman
"I will say, being in the country helps immensely. I can't imagine trying to learn a language while sitting in the US."
- AKdriving
Once You Understand, It Makes It Hard
"My family are immigrants to the US so know how hard it is to start somewhere new. Also a lot of my family is in the US and I don’t want to miss my nieces and nephews growing up"
- Positpostit
"I am a UK person living in America (have been here ages) - I know my wife and children dont like the way america is shifting, and through citizenship of me and my children I could easily get everyone legally into the UK."
"But... would my (college age) kids want to go there? Would we be able to make friends as near-retirees? Would the (inferior) material standard of living be too much of an adjustment and we would be shivering through the winter wondering what we did?"
"The favorable exchange rate makes it tempting too... but the reality is I think there would be some big personal drawbacks for my family"
- GoodAndBluts
Guarantee Safety
"Being able to guarantee my safety as a practicing Jew."
"I love Europe, have loved my time in Europe, but the track record on that score .....is not great."
- firerosearien
"I feel the same way as a black woman. I'm used to and can often reconize/avoid most of the racism in the US. But it's an entirely different beast in other countries. At my age, I don't think I have it in me to navigate those complexities."
- OG_PunchyPunch
"I can understand this. The problem about saying “moving to Europe” is that Europe has so many different cultures and attitudes depending on where you go."
"Here in the UK, racism certainly still exists but as a mixed race person, I’ve only experienced racism towards myself a handful of times and I personally believe the UK has some really good attitudes to race, especially in London probably the most diverse place in the world"
- HoodedArcher64
Money
"Uhh money."
- [Reddit]
"And help with the paperwork and whatnot. It’s not easy to immigrate to Europe, they’re not really interested in you just arriving."
- TheBimpo
"It can be expensive, long and frustrating but I just did this with a big family and pets about a year ago."
"Particularly thankful today to be "somewhere else" with my teens and twenties daughters."
"All the help you need is on Reddit. Lots of helpful people and resources."
- 50MillionChickens
"You start at the beginning, and learn learn learn. Just like any other thing you want to know. People figure it all out every day, and I am confident you could, too!"
- redditshy
Marketable Skill Or Marriage
"I have no marketable skills that eu countries want. And most don’t accept a lot of what I can do for a work visa. So my best bet to immigrate is marriage."
- Herodotus_9
"Same. No one in Europe wants me, so the answer to OP's question is, "it would take any counry in the EU wanting me."
- wakattawakaranai
"Came here to say this. From the research I've done, the desirable skills for most countries are stem/healthcare/etc. and while it makes sense why that is, not everyone can just up and make a career change to one of those fields."
"That can be expensive or daunting even if you're just doing it to change jobs and stay in the US."
- ingb96
"This. If it was easy/possible for most Americans to move to Europe a lot more of us would be leaving. Even if you ignore the legal hurdles, more than half of Americans can’t afford a $1000 emergency (the most relevant statistic I could find), and probably couldn’t afford to move states let alone continents."
- H_Mc
"I'm married to an eu citizen. My kids are eu citizens. But I still can't get residency until I'm at least conversationally fluent in the language."
-okayyeahsurewhy
AS Long As There Is No Dragons
"The castles look nice, but the threat if dragons keep me away."
- NeverLickATazer
"That's not much of a problem in Europe, my hometown only got destroyed 5 times by a dragon in 30 years."
- ohara1250
"Did the smith and the cobbler survive the dragon strike? Or did the plague do them in?"
- jojowhitesox
"So you have 'dragon season' like we have Hurricane season and Tornado season. Got it."
- Gr8NonSequitur
"We have sorted that problem in Wales and advertise the fact on our flag."
- mileswilliams
"The dragons you see coming. It's the rats that get you"
- benharper09
You've seen what Reddit has to say, so now it's your turn at the mic.
Americans, what would it take for YOU to head across the pond to live in Europe?
Men have this reputation for being simple, straightforward creatures.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Humans in general are not simple, straightforward creatures, but men are just ... baffling.
At least as far as the women of Reddit are concerned.
Reddit user Theunknowndud asked:
"Women, what do you find the most confusing about men?"
These fine femmes saw an opportunity to vent and ask questions and they absolutely ran with it.
Here's what they most wanted to know about.
Not Going To The Doctor
"Why some men don’t go to the doctor or dentist, unless someone else makes the appointment for them."
- macaronsforeveryone
"Because if someone else makes appointment for me I feel obligated to go. But I don't care about myself enough to make the appointment myself and I just learn to live with whatever the problem is."
- cow042
"It's like reading my own mind."
- thehandinyourpants
"I go because I'm told it is medically necessary by my wife. Otherwise I've been conditioned to determine whether it is financially necessary. In other words, if I'm not missing work because of it, it isn't necessary."
"I can't speak for everyone, but that is what I grew up with and I can't just "break" it, so I really do rely on my wife to force the issue, otherwise the cost factor pretty much overrules everything."
- Hickersonia
"I hate making appointments unless absolutely necessary. I don’t feel like going to a doctor is a necessity unless I’m not feeling well (I know I’m an idiot). As far as the dentist goes my wife made the appointment once and ever since then the receptionist makes my next appointment."
- rickfrompg
Mess? Where?
"You can be completely oblivious to any mess in the house but can spot a wall has been brush painted in the wrong direction from 20ft away."
- babygem84
"Wall is permanent mess is temporary"
- stealth941
"I am a man. I don't know anything about painting so don't spot stuff like that but every time I visit someone I spot how they set up their router/WiFi and see why they might have problems with their WiFi connection as they just hide their stuff away instead of putting the box in a way the waves flow unobstructed. I work in IT."
"English is not my first language and I'm kinda tired but hope what I wrote makes sense."
- TheGreatPinkUnicorn
"I learned some guys are like this because they were never raised to clean up after themselves. Their moms or caretakers always did the tidying for them, so they never learned to “see” mess and do anything about it."
"Compare this to something like wall painting which can be something that they spend a lot of time perfecting."
- estate_agent
Breath, I Forgot To Breathe
"I'm a man. But something that confused my wife is when I suddenly take a deep breath for no reason. She's like 'are you ok? You sure? Anything you need to talk about? What's going on?' And I just say 'nah I'm fine, think I just forgot to breathe and catching up'."
"To be honest, I feel really blessed that I have someone who cares enough to ask if I'm OK. But yeh, seriously just forgot to breathe 😀"
- Zenith2012
"Dude it's so fukin true that i was taking a deep breath as i was reading ur comment."
- mohaamedwaleedd
"Are you ok? Anything you need to talk about?"
- 1j2o3r4g5e
Can't Remember.
"My wife's biggest gripe is that I will spend time hiking / drinking / driving / whatever with friends I haven't seen in months, and when I get home I will have absolutely nothing to report back despite having talked solidly with them for six hours."
"My wife on the other hand will casually pass a friend in the street and within ten minutes knows what theyve done every day since they last spoke, the health and financial status of them and all other friends and relatives, and a forward facing calendar for the next three months."
- gazhole
"It’s funny though. All the bullsh*t we talk about as guys slowly leaks a bunch of personal information over time. You can tell that one guy isn’t happy with his relationship, one guy is broke, one guy hates his job, one guy has a medical issue. You know all of this without really talking about it just because you spend quality time with them. Yet even we can’t recount it directly, we just know it in the moment when we are with the boys."
- Old-Figure922
"Damn you really hit the nail on the head there."
- User Deleted
Going Into Screensaver Mode
"I’ve learned a lot being married to my husband, but there’s one thing I fail to understand in general. Why do you guys like to stare out the window so often? It’s usually just going up to a window or looking out the front door, and you fall into a trance. What’s up with that?"
- Foops69
"I actually do this a lot."
"Also when I’m in the shower I will just stand and think."
"I’m usually thinking how to solve a problem that will probably never occur."
- [Reddit]
"Lol. I love it. It’s particularly amusing to me when I’ll realize the room has fallen silent and I look up and he’s just there. Staring. My dad did it too."
- Foops69
"It's a way to trick your brain to go idle long enough to enter screensaver."
- anaximander19
"Brain defragmentation"
- undefinite_resonance
Power Saving mode
"My gf is still baffled at the fact that I can just turn off my brain and not think of anything"
- ButtDealer
"There's a science museum where I live and there's a game you can play that uses brain waves. Basically it has a ball in the middle of the table that moves based on who has the least amount of brain activity at the time. And you want the ball to move away from you."
"You put on a head piece and when both players are ready, they touch the two pads on the table with you hands. I'm currently undefeated at a record of 14-0. Idk if I'm dumb or if I just shut everything off but life support lol"
- Vaporwing
"I found my husband on the couch in a dead silent house whistling tunelessly and playing bongos on his own tummy. When I asked what he's thinking about as he's doing that he says 'You know...nothin'. Like listening to the wind in your mind and sh*t. Everyone does it'."
"No Cowboy, we don't all do that. Y'all have some magic happening. Sounds nice."
- CinnamonBurp
One Of The Worlds Mysteries
"D*cks, the way they work is confusing. Like I’ve been told they only react when seeing or feeling something they like but I’ve also been told it will just decide to pop up randomly though the day with nothing."
- Annaclaire_x
"True, d*cks are doing what they want. Sometimes out of nowhere it just decides to stands up. Also, it can stand up when you're aroused (obviously) or when you're excited to see someone you haven't seen in a long time."
- Artass937
"Can confirm, i got a got a penis and im still confused how it works at times."
- Clayman8
"Fun fact: The penis has pressure sensors, just touching it a bit or squeezing a bit can be enough to trigger an erection."
- MigasEnsopado
"Boners are strange. Morning wood is the result of overstimulation from a dream. We get nervous boners. We get sad boners. We get angry boners."
- Burrito_Loyalist
Forgive And Forget
"I find it confusing how men are so forgiving. It’s one of the things I adore the most about men and find the most baffling. I’m learning now that men will get over things like 40 minutes after they happen and genuinely get frustrated and sad when their girls hold grudges. I’ve found that the people I’ve had falling outs with and was able to rekindle my friendships with were mostly all men."
"I also find it weird how men will fight each other and then be best friends the next day."
- Full_Nebula_4443
"You get angry in the moment but then after you're removed from the situation you gotta let yourself cool off. Once you're thinking clearly you'll realize it wasn't that big a deal and get over it. Usually the start of a fight isn't that big it's the stuff that comes after that escalates it so you just recognize that both of you just human and do and say dumb things when your blood is up. Also I think women tend to plan more and then act and men will just act and plan on the fly so that leads to women believing slights or f**k ups are more intentional whereas men will just think of them as mistakes and forgive them."
- MadForge52
"Coincidentally, just yesterday I was reminiscing on a friend and me getting into a fight. I hit him over the head with a glass bottle and he gave me a really clean two-piece in response."
"I laughed for a few minutes at how inconsequential that fight was after the fact, but how extreme it was looking back on it. We’re still thick as thieves to this day, lol"
- solitarium
"As a guy I feel we are a bit more black and white about forgiveness. I can easily forgive and forget most low-level things given time but I still have some grudges from over 10 years ago. I will likely never forgive them."
"Basically men work like traffic tickets. Small things are forgiven quickly. Bigger things take time. Some things are permanent."
"Some women feel more like an actual criminal record that never gets expunged."
- narderp
"If someone is kind/self-aware/brave enough to apologize after they screw up, then it becomes easy to accept an apology from someone who understands they did something wrong and wishes that they hadn’t. Everyone makes mistakes, especially men, so forgiving and moving on is much more sensible than holding a grudge"
- uriah12g
I Am Okay
"When guys are seriously injured but act like its just a scratch… that they can somehow walk it off. All the guys I know are like this."
- CherryBlossomSunset
"A serious answer is because we don't want to panic and cause an issue"
- Traditional_Bat5572
"This is it right here. As soon as a calm guy starts panicking, everyone is panicking."
- spectra__
"Reminds me of when I accidentally cut a chunk of my finger so deeply that it hung off and you could see white underneath. I was internally freaking out and didn't even want to look at it, but did so I could assess the damage. I calmly asked my partner to bring me some bandages and alcohol and when I turned to look at her, she was pale and her lips were turning blue. She said 'Okay, but I need to sit down for a sec...'."
"I ended up walking all the way to the first aid box on the bottom floor of our apartment building while holding a cup under my finger to catch all the blood. I wasn't gonna try and walk it off, but I absolutely knew I couldn't panic for her and my sake!"
"TLDR: Someone will have to fix it, and panicking makes problems harder to fix."
- Saymynaian
"Exactly. Panicking doesn't help the situation. A clear head and talking to people on how to help solves way more."
- Traditional_Bat5572
They Jiggle Jiggle...
"How their crotch doesn't hurt when they run or go up the stairs. Like, even with underwear, you just have stuff hanging down there. I don't even have a large chest and it hurts to run regardless if I'm wearing a bra or not"
- YourLocalCat-Girl
"I gotta tell you, the penis doesn't weigh much."
"A boob weighs more, and you ladies have two of them."
- ZenEvadoni
"One testicle also hangs lower than the other for the specific purpose of not getting crushed when walking."
- Swreefer1987
"I'm a guy and I didn't know this, lol. Neat."
- NewPokemonFound
"Our stuff is not as heavy as yours, so we don't feel the dangling effect much. Also, sometimes it hurts when we wear very tight/ short undies"
- SKORPIO07
"A couple things: Breasts are considerably larger and heavier than testicles, so they bounce a lot more. I jump up and down a few times when I get out of the shower, so my towel doesn’t have to soak up quite so much water, and I do support my balls while I’m jumping. That was a mistake I made exactly once. But if you’re wearing briefs, and the bouncing isn’t as much, it’s not really an issue."
"You’ve had your breasts since puberty. We’ve had our penis since birth. We had to learn to walk with it. You had a decade to get used to walking a certain way before your build changed dramatically. We’ve had essentially the same hardware our entire lives."
- JesusIsMyZoloft
... at this point I might be more confused than I was going into this article.
We've got mess-blind people, refusal to acknowledge injury as if denial is somehow a healing agent ... and a dude who forgets to breathe.
Help.
Australians Divulge The Most Surprising Things About Their Country That Would Shock Tourists
The land Down Under is one of the most highly anticipated travel destinations for tourists around the world. Australia has fascinating history, beautiful sights, great food, cool wildlife, and some pretty cool people.
But as with any travel destination, there's bound to be a certain degree of culture shock. Have a seat and listen up, because you're in for some surprises.
Australians shared some information with us after Redditor emchmu123 asked the online community,
"Australians of Reddit, what is something that the rest of the world would be surprised or shocked to hear about the country?"
"There are more wild camels..."
"There are more wild camels in Australia than the Middle East."
CoffeeHistorical2094
At some point, the British were just like, what other animals can we introduce to this place? And then they just did it.
"You can drive for 26 hours straight and still be in the same state. It's kinda unsettling, especially those really tiny mining towns that have like a gas station and just flat dryland for as far as you can see."
[deleted]
It's kind of crazy how desolate so much of the country is. You don't just go to the Outback, you prepare to go there.
"In some parts..."
"In some parts of the country you are closer to space than the nearest town."
glenmelonhorst
That's another way to hammer this point home.
"While I was working..."
"While I was working in Whistler people were often shocked to hear we have ski resorts in Australia."
[deleted]
Wow, you guys have everything.
Why do you get all the good stuff?! What about the rest of us?!
"I've never had..."
"I’ve never had shrimp on the barbie - ever!"
atypicalnose
Can you even call yourself Australian at this point? How can we possibly process this information as the ignorant tourists that we are?
"Every spring..."
"Every spring, Magpies take to swooping people who come near their nests. Not a secret really, but I don't know how widely known it is."
statisticus
I love magpies. They are the mascot of chaos and destruction.
"That there are..."
"That there are vast areas of rainforest as well as the better-known desert areas."
imrzzz
And it's beautiful! You forgot to mention that it's incredibly beautiful.
"The last confirmed death..."
"Almost no one here dies to spiders or snakes. The last confirmed death from a spider bite was in 1979."
TheThunderChild
This is exactly the kind of propaganda a deadly Australian spider would spread.
"It was a conservative government..."
"It was a conservative government that introduced gun control laws."
[deleted]
A nice fact to whip out at dinner parties the next time someone says that only liberals are for reform.
"You're supposed to eat Vegemite toast with butter. Not just a thick slather of Vegemite like Nutella."
[deleted]
"You're supposed to eat Vegemite toast..."
Hang on a second!
They've certainly not told us everything, but take heed, fellow traveler, and report back. Australia is a hell of a place and you'll have plenty of stories to tell when you come back!