Police officers have a hard job and they sometimes have rather frightening experiences while at work.
Here, officers and other professionals share their experiences, inspired by Redditor TerrorBirb who asked today's burning question: Police officers of Reddit, what is the scariest/creepiest thing too happen to you on the job?
"It makes my hair stand up to this day."
Dispatcher here.
Had a woman call in on 911 whispering. Could barley understand anything but I managed to get an address. I kept the line open until the officers got there. Officers get to the house and a male steps out. They asked him why someone dialed into 911. He says must have been an accidental dial and theres no emergency. They obviously find this suspicious so they hang around talking outside to the male and one officer manages to spot a tiny hand stuck out of a small window waving around. They go inside the house and save a female who was beat bad and charged the male with forcible confinement. It makes my hair stand up to this day.
"Was dispatched..."
Police officer here. Was dispatched to hold a scene of a domestic assault where the female was attacked with a metal hook until our forensic team arrived. Was there for approximately three hours in the house by myself. Got a call from a detective assigned to the case to search the house again as the woman's two very young children we're still missing. Found them both dead in the bottom of a closet tied up. I'll never forget this one.
"I responded to a call..."
I responded to a call for a subject shooting a shotgun in his house. When I arrive his mom runs out screaming "He's in his room!!" I have her wait by my car.
Me and another officer enter, I am point man. We make our way to his bedroom and I turn the corner. He is sitting in a chair with a shotgun and looks at me.
He casually greets me, (I had dealt with him before from a past arrest). I attempt to talk to him and try to keep him calm.
After about a minute he just says "Doesn't matter, thanks for trying though." And then shoots himself. Did not survive.
Still haunts me but thanks to therapy and family I have handled as well as I could and I'm still a cop.
"My grandfather..."
My grandfather was a cop for 40+ years. He recently told me a story about getting a call from a neighbor saying they hadn't seen their neighbor, let's call him Bill, for a few days. My grandfather and another cop, John, show up at Bill's house. They knock and knock, but no answer. They check the doors and lo behold, one is unlocked. As they enter the house, my grandfather starts calling out, "Mr. Bill, are you home? Is everything alright?"
This goes on while they search the house. Finally, Officer John goes down the steps to the basement. My grandfather hears him say, "Oh, Mr. Bill, there you are! Is everything alright?" My grandfather goes down the steps to see Bill standing in his basement in his suit, complete with his hat, and one thing that was very, very off.
My grandfather goes, "John, I think Bill is dead."
Dumbfounded, Officer John says, "He's standing right there."
"And you don't see the rope around his neck?"
So, apparently Bill had hung himself with clothing line rope, tied it to a beam in his basement, and kicked away the stool he was standing on. Over the however many days it had been, the rope had "stretched" so much that Bill looked like he was standing in the dark basement.
Out of all the stories I've heard so far, that was the saddest, funniest (because of Officer John's confusion), and darkest story I've heard my grandfather tell.
"This is the call..."
Ex-police officer here. This is the call that made me decide law enforcement wasn't for me. Conducted a no-knock search warrant on a drug house. First officer through the door secures the suspect closest to the door, second officer secures the person second closest to the door, etc. I was the fourth officer in, and of course my suspect ran. I chase him down a hallway, he runs in a room and slams the door. I burst in right after, jump on top of him and get him secured.
Before I cuffed him, he had his hand under the bed. I took him to the living room where the other suspects were being held, go back on the room and look under the bed...double barrel sawed off shotgun. My heart sank. I took a few photos for evidence, and collected the gun. Opened the barrels and found it was loaded with two slugs. I'm not sure he would have shot me had he gotten ahold of it, but it was enough to keep me up for two nights. I resigned 3 weeks later.
"I was working..."
Giphy
I was working an off-duty job at a local theme park. It was an overnight so the park was completely closed with no one around besides the occasional cleaner or painter. I usually just sit in my patrol car on my laptop but when I get sleepy or need to stretch my legs I get out and go for a walk around the empty park. Let me tell you, amusement parks are really creepy when they are empty at night, but I got used to it. On this particular night I was doing my normal walk, on my phone probably on twitter, when I look up and see a lady who appeared to be in her 60's, nonchalantly sitting at a table in one of the restaurants that was closed.
Like just sitting there in the dark. This really confused the hell out of me and she was not dressed like an employee. I tapped on the window and she turned her head and stared straight at me. I asked loudly what she was doing and she just turned her head back away from me and ignored me. I tried to open the door and it was locked. I called on the radio for park security to come over there and confirm if this lady was supposed to be there while I walked back to my car to get the set of keys I kept in there.
As I walk back to the front of the restaurant 2 security guards are walking up at the same time as me. one of them peers in the window and asks "somebody was in here?" I look and the lady is no longer at the table. We get it open and search every crevice of this place and there was not a soul in there. You can say I was a little freaked out. We went back and checked the exterior cameras and nobody entered or exited. To this day this creeps me out and I can't explain it
"I had a dude OD..."
I had a dude OD on heroin while trying to get something from his bedside table. He collapsed into it and choked to death with his head in the top drawer because he couldn't move. The best he could do is kind of hug it.
So in the morning mum comes in and sees him, drags him off and puts him on the floor before calling 000. He is left exactly as he died.
We arrived and he is on his back with all his limbs up like a bug, kind of like a crawling position but on his back. His face and neck was red but his throat had a white line where the drawer was resting to choke him, at a glance it looked like his throat was sliced because of the color difference. It wasn't scary so much, it just looked bizarre and isn't what you expect at 7am.
I don't think I'll ever forget the sound of the undertakers straightening out the rigor mortisey joints.
"Responded..."
Responded to a single vehicle crash out in the county. Found the car, it had left the road, crashed through a fence, rolled at least three times, came to rest right side up. The driver was mangled pretty bad, and actual paramedic says he's deceased, we secure the scene, wait for the coroner. Coroner gets there, declares him dead, starts his investigation/documentation.
About 20 minutes into it, we are all near the coroner van discussing the situation. We are about 20 feet from the victim car. The driver (who hasn't been removed yet) sits up, looks around, and starts the car. We all jumped about five feet straight into the air. Driver survived. Loads of investigation into how two trained pros declared a live man dead.
"I felt bad for both."
This older lady calls because her husband went outside to cut wood and didn't come back for lunch. He was recently diagnosed with a terminal illness. Anyway, we end up locating him in his barn hanging by the neck from a rafter. He tells me to grab his thighs while he cuts the rope.
Once the rope was cut the old guy flopped over my shoulder which forced all the air out of him through his throat and voice box. I can't really describe it but it was like the loudest and longest moan i'd ever heard. I screamed and dropped him. I felt bad for both.
"I worked night shift..."
Not a cop, but a former EMT. I worked night shift, and this was either the night before or night of Halloween. We get a call to BFE for "generalized pain," which is a giant red flag for us because that could range from "I hurt my finger" to "I got shot and I'm dying but I don't want the cops to come." Now, since this is night shift, we get this call about 3 am. So we get there, and it's a creepy old lady who get us to go into the house from the garage. Why? Because she has a tv blocking the front door out of fear of zombies or something showing up to rob her. Weird, right? Well, this garage was pitch black.
We asked her to turn on the light and she wouldn't do it because squirrels chewed up the wires. So my partner and I kind of gave a weird look to each other but didn't think much of it, since we thought it was some Halloween thing. We go inside, and there a single mattress on the floor. No other furniture besides that tv blocking the front door. The patient is the crazy lady's daughter. She's got chronic pain so it's nbd. So, we get her to the truck and something seems off with the crazy lady. So I automatically close the door to the truck, leaving the medic and patient in there, since he's much bigger than me and can handle himself and a patient already strapped to the stretcher.
So I'm outside the truck and crazy old lady is standing there with her arm in a sling that she had just put on. I asked her to leave so I could go to the hospital. She tries to hand me a Diet Coke for her daughter and I refuse. This sets her off. She throws the coke and runs off towards the house, but only a few feet before she turns back around and starts coming at me. I see something in her hand...she had pulled a knife out. My paramedic then opens the door to tell me he's ready to go and it startles the lady enough for me to be like "aight leggo" and off we go to the hospital. I went home and cried. That was the first time I was almost killed on duty. And it was 3 am at Halloween.
"One that just recently happened to me..."
One that just recently happened to me that was pretty creepy, I had an assist with rescue call. Dispatch said the caller came home from the store and found her sister unconscious in her bed. When we got there, you could clearly tell that her sister was deceased. What was creepy is that since rescue came to the house first, they really didn't take a look around until we got there. There were obvious signs of a burglary to the home. Broken window in the back room with the broken glass on the inside of the home. It also looked like she may have been strangled. Rescue took her since she still showed signs of life, but they said it had to of happened within the last hour of them arriving. I felt so bad for her sister that found her.
"Medically retired..."
I was assaulted by a co worker and then assaulted by the chief. I'm a dude.
Medically retired after being assaulted on the job. Both employees still there.
"Back when I was working patrol..."
Giphy
Back when I was working patrol, my partner and I got a welfare check call for an elderly man whose out-of-state family couldn't get in contact with. These are the worst calls, because you know what is behind that door. The family gave us authorization to enter if there was no answer. And there wasn't.
The front door was locked, but we were able to open the garage door and go in through that door. The garage gave us signs of what was to come inside the house. It was filled with junk from floor to ceiling front to back, with just a little walkway to the door to the house. After taking a few steps in to the garage, we knew what we would find. The smell was overwhelming.
So far, there is nothing creepy or scary about this, as this wasn't my first body I found or seen. After making our way through the trash pathways in the living room and kitchen, we made our way to the master bedroom. We found him sitting in a rocking chair in his bedroom. Because decomp had already set in, there were no muscles holding him together. So his upper body was leaning to the right at an almost perfect 90 degrees. It was really creepy to see a body bent that way without having any type of trauma. (He passed from natural causes.)
"Was searching..."
Was searching a house for an intruder and the homeowner forgot to tell me about the mannequin wearing a trench coat in the middle of the basement in the dark. Nearly sh@t myself.
"When I was in my early 20s..."
When I was in my early 20s, I had a neighbor who was a paramedic. I really admired her, and we were good friends for several years. I thought I might also like to be a paramedic, so she suggested that I go on a ride along with her one night. At about 1am, a call came in for a car wreck, and we sped over. A family in a car had been in a pile up between two semis.
"The parents were dead on the scene..."
The parents where dead on the scene, but their teenage daughter was still alive, crushed between the front and back seat of their vehicle, which collapsed into itself like an accordion. She kept calling for her mother. "Mama! Mama!" It was the most horrific thing I've ever experienced. She didn't make it, and I did not become a paramedic.
"They later interviewed the guy..."
Not me but my dad. He's a road officer and about two years ago he was patrolling when he heard an engine revving behind him. By the time he looked up and a guy in a pickup trunk has rear-ended him. He calls it in on his radio, thinking it was just an accidental something when the guy reverses and hits him again. My dad realized it was on purpose and as the guy tries to take off, my dad turns his car into the truck as it goes by. He must have hit something good because it disabled the guys truck. My dad tries to get out but can't move his leg. So he just keeps the guy on point telling him to keep his hands up. The guy starts hitting himself in the face saying "Kill me, kill me. I'm going to kill you." My dad didn't see any weapon and the guy didn't get out of his car, so he just kept him in sight until back up arrived. They arrested the guy and took my dad to the hospital.
When I got to my dad he told me that he was afraid because he couldn't feel or move his leg. He was worried he was never going to walk again. Lucky there was no serious damage and after some physical therapy he was able to get most of the feeling back and can walk.
They later interviewed the guy and he said he had no regrets. He wanted to die and thought he would go out death by cop. He even said something along the lines of killing my dad in the crash to make the other officers angry. So yeah... that's our scariest story.
"Had a call that a woman who lived alone..."
Had a call that a woman who lived alone with her dogs and had not been seen for some time.
Myself and a colleague forced entry to the property and were met by the three dogs in an agitated state. Searched the place and in the living room was a couch with an object sticking up from it. Despite it being daytime and visibility good, I couldn't work out what it was. It looked like an arm sticking vertically up.
Walked around it a couple of times then realised it was the spine of the partially eaten resident. Most of the midsection of the body was gone with just a piece of skin joining the legs to the upper torso. The legs had been dragged over to the head causing the spine to stick up out of the body.
It was horrific but we did our enquiries, the dogs were removed as were the remains. There were no suspicious circumstances so despite the horrific nature of it, it was treated as a sudden death. A cleaning crew was organised.
We had just left when we realised that we had not found the pelvis. We didn't want the cleaning crew to find it so went back and did another search. Still no trace of it, the dogs must have completely consumed the entire pelvis.
"911 dispatcher."
911 dispatcher. Not this last Easter but the one prior when it was on April Fools day, I had just recently gone through a difficult break up with someone I admittedly still love today. I was leaving for work and noticed a note left under the windshield wiper of my Jeep. It read "I'm sorry and I love you." It was from my ex and that really kind of set my tone for the day. Fast forward maybe 45 minutes, it was a relatively slow morning for working in the metro. I believe it was the second call I took that morning of a hysterical woman stating her boyfriend shot himself in the head, it was difficult to get information from her as you could imagine but what made it difficult was that I could hear him making sounds that did not sound human, gagging, gasping for air, difficulty breathing and retching. I remember thinking how this woman just lost someone she loved, she had witness him take his life. I also remember thinking how I never want to lose someone that I love again - not that my break up even holds a light to what she went through. Anyways, he still had a pulse by the time the officers arrived and by the time he reached the hospital. I don't know if he lived or not, I'd imagine he succumbed to his injuries.
"I was called to the scene..."
I'm a CSI.
I was called to the scene of a man who was presumed dead already. He was found in the woods, skin pale and drenched from the rain passing over earlier. He was shot execution style in the back of the head, which was eventually determined to be the cause of death. We had the team block off the area and the nearby road, and then the body was placed on a stretcher to be taken for autopsy. When it was moved, the body moaned softly, and it scared the shit outta me.
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For many childhood memories are overrun by living nightmares.
Yes, children are resilient, but that doesn't mean that the things we see as babes don't follow us forever.
The horrors of the world are no stranger to the young.
Redditor -2sweetcaramel- wanted to see who was willing to share about the worst things we've seen as kids, so they asked:
"What’s the creepiest thing you saw as a kid?"
Serious Danger
"Me and my best friend would explore the drainage tunnels under the Vegas area where we grew up. These were miles long and it was always really cool down there so it was a good way to escape the heat of our scorching hot summers. We went into this one that goes under the Fiesta casino and found a camp with a bunch of homeless people."
"Mind you we are like 11 years old lol. And we just kept going like it was nothing. It wasn’t scary then but when I look back at it we could have been in some serious danger. Our parents had no idea we did this or where we were and we had no cellphones. We could have been kidnapped and never have been found."
oofboof2020
Waiting for Food
"I was at a portillos once when I was 12 and I was waiting with my little brother at a booth while my parents got our food. This guy was standing with his tray kind of watching me then after a couple of minutes he started to walk over really fast not breaking eye contact with me."
"He was 2 feet from the table and my dad came out of nowhere and scared the s**t out of him. He looked so surprised and just said he wanted to see if I’d get scared or not. He left his tray full of food near the door and left. My folks reported him but we never went to that location again since we found a better one closer to home."
nowhereboy1964
Captain Hobo to the Rescue
"When I was a pretty young teen, my friends and I were horsing around in San Francisco and started hanging out to smoke with some homeless guys. Another homeless dude came up and began aggressively trying to shake us down for anything (money, smokes, a ride, drugs- all of it) and wouldn’t take no for an answer."
"We got in over our heads and could tell this guy was now riling the other 2 guys up and they were acting like they wanted to jump us. Some grandfather-looking old homeless man appeared out of nowhere and yelled at us to get the f**k out of here- nice kids like us don’t belong down here at this hour!!"
"Captain Hobo saved our lives that night. My parents sincerely thought we were at a mall all day lol."
FartAttack911
Survival
tsunami GIF
Giphy
"I was 7 and survived the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. Witnessed the wave rise way above the already massive palm trees (approx. 40ft?) and my family and I watched/heard the wave crash into the ground from a rooftop."
faithfulpoo
These Tsunami stories are just tragic.
On the Sand
Scared The Launch GIF by CTV
Giphy
"We were a group of kids who went to swim in a local lake. And there was a dead body on the beach with their hands raised and their legs bent unnaturally that local police just took out of the same lake. I've never put my foot in these waters again."
oyloff
Be Clever
"I was walking to school and I was about 5 or 6 years old and some guy pulled up beside me in his car and asked if I would get in. He also offered me sweets to do so. I said no. The creepy bit was when he calmly said ‘clever boy’ to me, then drove off. I’ve never even told my parents or anyone else about this as it would most likely freak them out."
OstneyPiz
Bad Jokes
"Dad's side of the family pranked me by burying a fake body on our back property and had me dig it up to find valuables. Was only allowed to use a lantern for light. They stuffed old clothes with chicken bones. Sheetrock mud where the head was... Random fake jewelry as the treasures... I was like maybe 10 or 11.. I remember digging up the boot first and started gagging because it became real at that point."
Alegan239
YOU
Who Are You Reaction GIF by MOODMAN
Giphy
"Woke up to find my little brother staring at me in the dark, asking, Are you really you?"
PrettyLola2004
Siblings can really be a bunch of creepers.
No one should talk to others in the dark though.
Not all pet owners have the same relationship with their pets.
While anyone who decides to become a pet owner, or pet parent as some say, love their pets equally, some never ever let them leave their side.
Taking their pet with them to work, running errands, even on vacations.
Many pet parents even allow their pets to share their bed with them when going to sleep.
For others though, this is where a line is finally drawn.
Redditor Piggythelavasurfer was curious to hear whether pet owners allowed their pets to share their bed with them, as well as the reasons why they do/don't, leading them to ask:
"Do you let your pet sleep in your bed? Why/why not?"
The Tiny Issue Of Water...
"Absolutely not."
"I have fish."- Senior-Meal3649
Everyone Gets Lonely Eventually...
"I adopted an eleven year old cat the day before Halloween."
"She has mostly lived in my closet since I got her, and she hasn’t been too interested in coming out."
"Last night, she came out of my closet and jumped up on my bed, and crawled under my covers and curled up by my feet to sleep."
"I was so happy!"- YellowBeastJeep
The Comforting Reminder That You're Not Alone...
"I recently lost my Greyhound but I used to let him sleep on my bed with me."
"The company was nice and he was no trouble to have on my bed."- HoodedMenace3
Hungry Cookie GIF by De Graafschap Dierenartsen
Giphy
What Do You Mean Allow?
"I have no choice."
"She is a cat, cats do whatever they want."- Small_cat1412
"He lets me sleep in my bed."- Poorly-Drawn-Beagle
Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way
"I carry my old boy upstairs to bed every night."- worst_in_show
Hug GIF by The BarkPost
Giphy
Who Needs An Alarm Clock?
"I let my two cats sleep with me."
"They're so full of love and just want cuddles all the time."
"And so do I."
"We've all developed a lil routine."
"Get to bed, oldest sleeps on my feet to keep them warm, youngest lies in my arm while I lie on my side (she the little spoon), then when I snooze my alarm for work in the morning the youngest paws at my face and meeps loudly to wake me up."- GhostofaFlea_
Whose Bed Is It Anyway?
"Yes."
"They're also kind enough to let me squeeze into whatever space they've left for me."
"Although I do get a few dirty looks off them."- Therealkaylor
"I found this tiny kitten screaming her head off under a car."
"Would not come out."
"Got some food and some water in dishes."
"I stood by the tire so she couldn't see my feet."
"She got curious about the food and water and started gobbling it down."
"I thought she would bolt when I squatted down."
"She was too busy eating."
"I grabbed her by the nape of the neck and all four legs went straight out and she tried to scratch me to death."
"I got her in the door and tossed her toward the couch."
"She ricocheted off the couch as if she was a ping pong off a table and I lost sight of her."
"I put out food and water and a sandbox and did not see that kitten for three days."
"On the third day, I came home and she was on my bed pillow."
"I thought she would bolt when I came near, but she didn't."
"I wanted to sleep so I tried to scoot her little butt off my pillow."
"She would not go."
"I put my head down to sleep and that is the way it was from then on."
"She ran the roost."- Logical_Cherry_7588
sleepy kitten GIF
Giphy
Sleeping Is A Prerequisite...
"No, he's a cat and he cannot keep still during the night."
"He walks across the headboard, opens the closet doors, jumps into the windows and rustles the blinds, etc."
"If he would sleep he could stay, but alas, he's a ramblin' man."- Spong_Durnflungle
Saying No Just Isn't An Option...
"'Let'."
"Lol."
"It's a cat's world and I'm happy to be on her good side."- milaren
Felines Only!
"The cat does, the dog doesn't and the horse certainly does not either."- Xcrowzz
Angry Tom And Jerry GIF by Boomerang Official
Giphy
Is That My Hair On That Pillow?
"My dog is perfect."
"She comes up, cuddles til we start to fall asleep, then gets down to sleep on her bed so she doesn't get too hot."
"Jumps back up in the early morning for wake up cuddles."
"The hair everywhere is the only downside but she is so cozy, what can you do."- HoodieWinchester
It is easy to understand how some people are able to fall asleep more easily knowing their friend and protector is there, in bed, with them.
Though we can't blame others who don't want to run the risk of being scratched or bitten in the middle of the night either...