I've always enjoyed jobs sans creepy side effects.
Work can be hard enough.
Besides, I've waited too many tables to deal with anymore drama.
Isolated jobs are always spotlighted on true crime shows.
Give me some light and an annoying group of tourists.
Or shall we say... witnesses.
Redditor shafaatkhan007 wanted to hear about all the scary moments that have occurred:
"Redditors who work at remote places like forest officers, oil rig workers, etc, what creepy things have you noticed while at work?"
I don't even camp. No forest for me.
WARNING... Some of this thread is not for the faint of heart.
Big Cypress
gaboon viper earth GIFGiphy"I used to work out in the woods in Florida a lot. Creepiest thing would be this day we were working near Big Cypress, tromping thru the brush all day."
"At the end of the day my coworker and I do a quick drive thru of some of the property and realize the place was absolutely infested with water moccasins. We had been unknowingly essentially walking around a giant water moccasin pit all day. That one kinda f**ked me up."
A_sweet_boy
Liver maybe?
"I worked at a public forest. One day we had someone report a dead animal on the side of one of our trails. A few of us from the front desk hiked out to see what it was. It looked like a giant peice of... liver maybe? Just a pile of smooth red meat...no blood around. And it was wrapped up in a t shirt, with some coins scattered around it."
"We called our rangers to go check it out, and one of them was pretty sure it was a placenta. The weird part is, you have to check in thru a front desk. So someone either snuck a placenta/liver in or gave live birth/removed an organ on our trails. We never got an answer on what the pile of meat was, how it got there, or why."
WhiteOwlz
We felt pretty dumb...
"I do a lot of stream work so I spend time out in pretty rural areas walking streams and rivers. Once my coworker and I were working in a more urban environment and came across what we initially thought was a body - which of course triggered 'Oh sh*t!!' from us - but it ended up being a firefighter's dummy that had fallen down a hill. We felt pretty dumb."
"Other notable things include a small grave in the middle of nowhere for someone's dog (pretty sad), and a stuffed rabbit with shotgun shells placed where its eyes should be, a mannequin very purposely placed in a chair in the middle of the woods, and lots of little random alters."
"I also did work in Myrtle Beach (what a hell hole) and accidentally walked into an inhabited homeless camp. I was peering into a stormwater grate when I looked up and saw a homeless person standing in his shelter staring at us and saying nothing. I felt like I was trespassing so we quietly left."
RegularTeacher2
Built in China...
"On our drill ship that was built in China, we noticed on the drawings there was a room. We went to look at it and couldn't find an entrance but the spacing was obvious there was an extra room. It might not sound so creepy unless you've been in these shipyards where two things are known to happen: stowaways, although I doubt it in this case, but also hundreds of workers at any given time following orders blindly."
"So we confirmed that the room had all six sides, yet not a single weld on the outside. There is only one way this could've happened and I'm sure you're starting to get it now. They must have welded from the inside for this room and then realized they had no way out upon completion if the gasses didn't kill them first."
"Its' extremely heavy around that room. People say they hear things. I have definitely. This isn't some old ship either. I rode this ship from China to Amsterdam after completion and then the maiden voyage to America. I guess it happens quick."
JohnMayerCd
Scream
Scream GIF by OriginalsGiphy"I've been fishing out in the gulf of Mexico where they have some oil rigs. This rig wasn't being used (from what we knew) so we would get pretty close to it to fish for red snapper."
"While we were out there, we could have sworn we heard screams of a woman over and over. It was some crap but the explanation was the wind making the noises as it blew through the rig. Well, that's what we were told but it totally creeped us the f**k out."
Those oil rigs are dangerous. I couldn't handle that.
The Escort
polar bear penguin GIFGiphy"I work as a polar bear guard. As in, I escort people across tundra and mountains and protect them from polar bears. I once saw a snowman totem with reindeer antlers coming out of his head. It was deformed, full of bullet holes and rather creepy."
Jalsavrah
Cascades
"My mom used to live in a small town in the cascade mountains and worked as a forest ranger. The creepiest thing that happened was when the oldest male ranger kept hitting on her and trying to get her to come home with him, not very out of the ordinary, but many years later after she’d left the town she found out he had been convicted of manslaughter and had killed a young female ranger right before she got hired. She would have probably been his next target."
Keira-k-is-gay
Catfish
"Some friends and I were fishing a small pond just after dark for catfish. We started to hear sounds coming off the water like someone throwing softball sized rocks, but they were coming from all over the pond. We thought someone was messing with us and we called out a few times for them to stop, but we eventually got freaked out and left."
"Cut to a few years later, I’m fishing a different pond and hear the same sound. Turns out it was a beaver slapping it’s tail on the water to drive me from it’s territory. When beavers become problems in rivers, they relocate them to ponds in town."
solidgoldberg
When in the Gulf
"I used to work in the Gulf of Mexico on oil rigs for years, and it may not exactly be creepy, but I found it really unsettling. In deep, open water, the water itself is really clear, so everyone can plainly see all the tuna and barracudas hanging around the rig waiting for the onboard cook to throw off whatever food waste he needs to. Every once in a while a huge great white shark would swim up from underneath and snatch a tuna and it really took like less than a second. They're really scary."
DONOTENGAGEWITHME
Being Watched
Wait Goodbye GIF by Silicon ValleyGiphy"I work off a secluded/Wooded area here in Texas."
"Every now and again when I finish with a job site, I’ll pop into the head office. It’s the creepiest feeling at night, mostly no light and I’ve seen a bobcat a couple of times. The kicker is... the walls are all glass, so when I have the light on inside... I know I’m being watched by someone or something."
Am_I_Outside
Still Shook
"I work for a power company restoring power after a storm. Was working when a lady came up complaining that her power went out. We explained to her thats why we were there and she should have power back soon. She said, 'oh good, my son went down in the basement and now I can't find him.' I went with her with a flashlight down the road to a run down house that was partially caved in. She walked inside and I went to follow."
"As soon as I walked into the door she disappeared from my sight and I called for her multiple times. No one responded so I ran back to our work truck to call for help. A man that was living on her street called to me asking whats wrong and I told him the situation. He looked at me with a cold stare and said a mom and her son died in that house 4 years ago. I'm still shook to this day."
YouFulfillMyMemes
ZAMBONI
"Used to be a supervisor for a janitorial company and a couple times a week I had to go to a middle school and clean their hallway floors and gymnasium with a zamboni type vehicle that mopped and scrubbed the floor. When I was there I had the whole school to myself. Used to get finished quickly and go to the library and read while eating my dinner."
"Well, one morning after being there, I get a call from school security and they want me to come in. When I get there I see a police car too. Uh oh, I think. They ask me a few questions like 'did you notice anything out of the ordinary or strange while you were here last night?' No, I hadn’t (usually have headphones in)."
"Security then shows me camera footage of someone breaking into one of the classrooms WHILE I WAS RIDING THE ZAMBONI not far away. I was there for another two hours. Nothing was stolen. But the worst part was they didn’t have footage of the person leaving, they didn’t go out the way they came in, and police had to sweep the entire school. Never did find out what happened with that one."
TheDaveHimself
uphill on a fairway...
"My oldest brother used to work the overnight sprinklers on a golf course. He took me out one time just for fun and as we were driving uphill on a fairway, a figure of a lady appeared in the headlights at the top of the hill. My brother steered a little to the left of her and kept driving right on by. I stared right into her eyes as we drove by and she stared back. Her eyes glowed like a cat in the night."
"As soon as we were out of voice range I asked my brother 'What the hell was that?!' He calmly responded, 'Yea, she lives on the golf course and likes to terrorize the workers from time to time. I usually see her out here once a week.'"
"Alright. Cool. Coolcoolcool."
ArtshowSkittles
Passages
Surprised Night Time GIFGiphy"I work on large ships. If you get a clear view of a hall or passage that runs the whole length, you can actually see the whole ship warp and twist with the sea. If the passage isn’t very well lit it can look like a scene from a horror movie."
DannyR2078
ALICE
"I’m not sure this counts but I’m a teacher at an urban public school and was at work late grading and getting ready for the next day. Time had kind of flown by and before I knew it, it was 7pm. I start packing up to leave in a building that is, in theory, locked and empty besides me, when our ALICE alarm goes off, indicating an armed intruder in the building. I am 1. Alone 2. Young 3. Freaked AF because I am absolutely not ready to fight a gunman over my lesson plans."
"I book it out of the school and dive into my car, hearing the alarm blaring the entire time. I peel out the parking lot, and can see in my rear view the alarm lights still flashing and debate never going back, cause f**k that lmao. Turns out they were doing 'routine maintenance' and didn’t send out an email to the teachers."
msdoublenegative
The Head
"My parents live pretty far back in the country and have 1 neighboring house."
"The neighbors would let their Basset Hound outside for about 10 minutes to use the bathroom every morning."
"One morning they let him out, and he didn’t come back inside."
"After a couple minutes they walked out to his favorite bathroom spot, and found... his head."
"Judging from the tracks, a mountain lion had ambushed him and apparently torn his head off before carrying the body away."
"What I thought was the creepiest part was that the family hadn’t heard a sound."
schoonerw
The Rollout
Horror Reaction GIF by SpongeBob SquarePantsGiphy"I worked at a state park for a few years, one day a coworker was doing trail maintenance and a human skull rolled out of the woods onto the trail in front of him. Turns out it was a man who had been on the run from the police and was living in our woods. Evidently it was a good hiding place because they hadn’t found him until then."
ylilk
20 Years Ago...
"We have a PTO pump spot that comes out of a canal for our rice fields. When I was like 12 years old my uncle found two bodies dumped in the little sump area where our pump sat. Both of the ladies that were dumped there had the same tattoos so they think it was gang related but it was 45 minutes away from where that 'gang' operated. I still look in the hole every time I go by there and that was 20 years ago."
TxJoker88
Rituals
"In my brief stint as a rural health nurse, I was quite unnerved by how many of the families I worked with still practiced ritual animal sacrifice, even though on paper they identify as Catholic."
Lorac1134
Don't work in the quiet places.
Or at least be near cell reception.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.