Proposing to the love of one’s life should be a happy and romantic moment; one that should be remembered forever—but not for these unfortunate Redditors. After much anxiety and planning, their dream proposals not only backfired but also took their souls with them. Others were greeted by downright cringe-worthy embarrassment. Just be thankful that these didn’t happen to you.
1. The Wait
After seven months of dating, I proposed but she said no because it was too soon. I agreed and put the ring in a safety deposit box. I told her that if she changed her mind, it was there for her. I had no idea what to expect—but then, after two weeks, she said yes and we decided to have a long engagement period (two years) so that we could be sure. We've been married for 37 years.
2. Wake Up Call
We had been dating for two years and although we had ups and downs, I, at least, was happy.
After saving money for some time, I bought the ring and spent a day planning how I was going to pop the question. When the time came, I went down on one knee and asked. She flat-out laughed but said yes. I was overjoyed and euphoric. I put the laughter down to nerves or shock perhaps, but who cares? I was getting married!
The next day, since I was the first to get up, I took the dog out for a walk. When I got home, I found her putting the phone down. I asked if she had told anyone about our engagement, as we had agreed that we would be telling people together. She simply said that she had to talk to someone and dismissed it. I joked that it was her lover and she was having an affair. That’s when her face dropped and my heart sank to my ankles.
She then told me, quite plainly and calmly that yes, I had guessed right and that she was off to pack a bag. Three days later, she packed her bags and was gone. It was like she was never there. The witch tore my soul out and wiped her behind with it. To add salt to the wound, she ended up marrying him. That hurt immensely. It caused some depression and a bit of drinking. It seemed totally out of the blue at the time but I always was a poor judge of character when it came to women.
3. You Win
yellow and blue lego blocksPhoto by Freysteinn G. Jonsson on UnsplashMy dad proposed to my mom the night they first met. They "bared their souls to each other" that night—talking for hours uninterrupted. And even though my dad wasn't looking to get married, he just knew. When he asked, she said no. He proposed again. She still said no but accepted another date. This went on almost daily for six months.
One night, my parents played Scrabble against each other for the first time. My mom loves Scrabble. She kicks people behinds up and down the block. This is a woman who takes pride in being well-read enough to serve as a quick reference thesaurus.
After a hard-fought game, she lost for the first time she could remember. My 105-pound 5-foot mother swept the board and pieces off the table, sending them flying across the room. She looked at my dad and said in a fury, "Fine, I'll marry you"! My dad responded, in classic male fashion, "Oh, I need to think about it".
He thought about it, and barely eight months after they met, my parents married in a tiny chapel in Vegas. They celebrated 23 years this year.
that-IB-guy
4. It Takes Balls
It happened at the ball game. He proposed while on the jumbotron. The text of his proposal appeared on the big screen and then it zoomed in on the couple. The scene had everybody cringing...hard.
The girl laughed and then you could see the guy’s dejected face. He started to slump back into his seat and looked as if he was going to cry before the jumbotron cut off. The entire stadium started to boo the heck out of the girl and people started throwing garbage at her. Security had to help her get out.
5. A Whole Lot Of Nothing
My boyfriend and I went for a walk one day. He was visibly nervous but when he finally stopped, he very hesitantly said, "I've been thinking—of the long-term benefits of—marriage—or a marriage-type thing". He said that he had left the ring in the car but would pretend his wallet was the ring box. He got down on one knee and officially proposed. I said yes.
We walked home and he told me not to tell anyone yet. This was the first inkling I had of something being wrong (the aforementioned awkwardness and scatterbrainedness were characteristic of him).
When we got back to our apartment, we ate dinner as usual. He was quieter than normal. After, when we were sitting on the couch, he put his head between his knees and said, "I've made a huge mistake".
We ended the engagement, which lasted only half an hour and broke up. I took a very long drive and returned home three hours later. We talked and agreed to keep dating.
Four months after that, he told me he wanted to break up for good. When I asked him why, he hemmed and hawed awhile before responding, "We went to Target way too much. Also, I didn't love you".
We still haven't talked. We dated for nearly four years before the "proposal". Then he almost immediately vanished without a trace when we broke up.
One day, I had a boyfriend, a fiance, an ex-fiance, and an ex-boyfriend.
6. Would You Like Some Cake With That?
dish on white ceramic platePhoto by Jay Wennington on UnsplashI used to work at a fine dining restaurant and saw a few proposal rejections. The incident that stands out the most was of a guy who had the ring brought out with the dessert and proposed then. The woman seemed shocked and pretty annoyed at the situation and turned him down. One of the servers overheard her say, "You're not even my fourth or fifth choice".
Supposedly they had been on only a few dates and he just randomly proposed.
7. Let Me Think About It
She told me she had to think about the proposal. Two weeks later, she sent an email from Hawaii and rejected me.
8. The Longest Wait
I stayed home for three days. I didn't call her at all. I was only thinking about doing it. I finally went to her house, a little nervous. She thought I was coming over to break up in person, being the polite person she thought I was.
I sat her down and then asked her to marry me. She was shocked and said she had to think about it. It was the longest wait of my life.
Two weeks later, we went on what I thought was our last date. She asked me to ask her again. I did. She said yes.
Forty-one years later, with three kids, and six grandkids, having worked together in a business for 20 years, she’s my winning lottery ticket.
I'm glad she said, "Ask me again".
9. You Crashed My Party
green leaf plant near brown wooden fencePhoto by Michael Jin on UnsplashMy mom and dad were in a car crash. Before my mom went in for X-rays, they first did a pregnancy test and discovered that she was pregnant with me. When my dad found out, he proposed to her on the spot, neck brace and all. She said no, explaining that she didn't want to get married just because she was pregnant. My dad started to cry, explaining that he had plans to propose on Valentine’s Day and already had a ring.
A week later, she accepted and they've been married for 22 years.
10. I Kid You Not
We were in Ruby Tuesday having dinner. After I proposed, I wasn't denied but didn't get a direct “yes” right away. She said, "Wait—No. That's not real".
I had to convince her that I was proposing. It wasn’t my proudest moment, but luckily it all worked out.
11. Message Received
After four weeks of dating, he got down on his knee with a HUGE diamond ring. He made an endless speech along the lines of "When you know you know. Will you marry me"?
Since I barely knew the guy, I flat out said no, followed by "Sorry—are you okay"?
He didn't speak to me for the rest of the night. When he dropped me home, I told my roommate about it. As I was telling her, I got a text from him—yes, a TEXT. It said, "You've broken my heart. I never want to see you again. Goodbye. I love you".
We were both 22 at the time.
12. Awkward Silence
Universal City Walk | Universal Studios Hollywood, Los Angel… | Flickrwww.flickr.com
I saw a guy get turned down at Universal Studios City Walk. Everyone cheered and was happy for them. Then she said no. The silence was deafening. He got up, brushed his knee off and they both walked away quickly
13. Not A Surprising Outcome
I was raised in a traditional Indian home and I am not the least bit traditional myself. My parents thought it would be a good idea to send me to a marriage convention. I decided to go so that I wouldn't have to deal with any unnecessary drama.
When I got there, I went to the first girl I saw and asked her to marry me. But she said no.
14. Just A Dream
I took my girlfriend out to an island in Boston Harbor to propose with a view of the entire city spread before us. She said yes. We then spent the rest of the beautiful day together. When we returned to our warm, bright apartment, my head began to fill with dreams of a shared house, children, and a future.
Three months later, she told me she had fallen in love with her soulmate—a married man she met at her internship. For three months, I tried to make her see my love for her by waking up early every morning to make her breakfast, and having date nights every weekend, and in the end, she still chose him.
15. This Isn’t A Dress Rehearsal
people standing on stage with blue lightsPhoto by Rob Simmons on UnsplashI am an emcee for live-stage events. I have been asked to be part of many proposals, but for some reason, very few go through with it. Only about one out of ten people who plan to do it onstage actually show up at the event. Almost ALL that do, the girl says yes, with crying, applause, and kisses and hugs.
One proposal went badly, and I'll never forget it. It was at a cosplay contest. I recall the guy got on one knee and proposed. The stunned girl said nothing, shook her head, and ran off. Then the guy's costume (a kind of "medieval rogue" or Robin Hood-ish affair) had to stand up from one knee but his boots were too tall for his legs (either that or he stepped on his cape). He pitched to one side and fell over. Then he got up and left.
The audience went silent. I didn't know what to say, so I just went onto the next contestant and pretended like it never happened. Later, at the after party, the judges and the staff were all gossiping about how horribly awkward it all was. One of the judges admitted, "I almost fainted from embarrassment in sympathy".
16. Not My Fairytale Ending
We were together for over eight years and everything seemed fine. We talked about jobs, housing, kids, and having a future together plenty of times. She had shown me rings and we talked about weddings so it felt like it was time to finally propose.
I went and bought a ring, and tried planning some neat trips to take her on for an awesome proposal. Finally, I decided I was just going to do it around New Year's, but right before that, she bailed. The timing was just so perfect for her not to have figured it out. But she somehow knew. I never really got an explanation, just the general, "I love you but I'm not in love with you".
We tried to maintain a friendship for a while after that but it was super hard for me because I was still totally into her. I had to drop off the map entirely for a year or so because we shared the same social circle and I just got so incredibly uncomfortable around her. Not where I expected to be at this point in my life.
17. What An Entrance
I work at international arrivals in an airport and daily, see joyous reunions that are so filled with love, it makes me nauseous. (Can you tell I've been working there for a long time?)
One day, I was sitting in my store minding my own business, when all of a sudden I heard a trombone playing. I've seen people play guitar, ukulele, saxophone, and one time a drum set but I've never heard a trombone in international arrivals
So the song started and I recognized the tune—it was the Imperial March from Star Wars. I was confused as ever and tried to find out where the heck it was coming from. I scanned the crowd when I suddenly saw this girl whose face was beet red. I immediately assumed that she had something to do with whatever the heck was happening, so I kept my eyes on her.
She ended up walking up to the guy who was playing the trombone. When he finished up the song, he passed his trombone to the person next to him (I'm assuming it was his friend), and then got down on one knee. The girl was about 25 feet away from me, so if there were words exchanged, I didn’t hear them. But, what I did see was the guy smiled, then suddenly looking dejected, stood up and walked away from the girl while she just stood there with her face still red like a tomato.
That was super awkward to watch.
18. You Stubborn Brute
man and woman sitting on concrete benchPhoto by Danielle Cerullo on UnsplashMy dad proposed to my mom after they'd been seeing each other for just under two weeks. She laughed and told him he was looney, that it was way too soon. My dad said—and he is very proud of this fact, "Fine. I asked you once. I'm not gonna ask again". My mom thought he was bluffing.
After a year of dating, she started giving him a hard time about not asking her to get married again. He didn’t budge from his original stance and said she missed her chance and that he wasn't going to ask again.
My mom finally broke down and asked him to marry her. She also made sure she ridiculed him thoroughly when she did it, too. She made a big show about asking his father for permission, got down on one knee in public, and got him the gaudiest engagement ring she could find. He said yes and they just celebrated their 30th anniversary.
19. Kick In The Teeth
I was preemptively turned down, 24 hours after I picked the ring up, and 24 hours before the planned proposal. She said she was having doubts and was considering moving to the other side of the country. Eventually, she did do that three months later and ended up marrying some other dude within 18 months.
But the real kick in the teeth? I already had the ring sized—because, make no mistake, we talked about it A LOT before I went ahead and bought the thing. So I couldn't return it. I still have the goddamn thing a year and a half later. I swear if I had the vacation time I'd get together with nine friends and go chuck it into a volcano.
20. That’s A Lot Of Hot Air
It was my mom's birthday and she wanted to go on a hot air balloon ride. These rides are done in groups with other strangers in the basket.
While on the ride, a man proposed to his girlfriend. He got down on one knee, pulled out the ring, and popped the question. How did she respond? Well, she said something like, "You've asked me this three times already. Did you think that taking me up on this balloon would change my answer”?
My mom said that it was pretty awkward for the rest of the balloon ride, so I can imagine that made the experience even worse.
21. Get Me Outta Here
man covering his face with his crew-neck topPhoto by Fares Hamouche on UnsplashIt was pretty packed when we walked down the beach like we normally did. An airplane flies by with a banner saying, "Tiffany, will you marry me? -Tom". Well, my girlfriend just screams, “Yes”! Then hugs me. I was like What the… and stared at the sky not even realizing she had her arms around me. She looks into my eyes and finally figures it out. It was the quietest, longest, most painful walk home of my life. I wish someone would drown or a boat would explode on fire to change the mood.
What a messed up coincidence. It was pretty brutal, but she took it ok.
22. So Unexpected
I used to work in a fast-food restaurant. One day, a regular came in and asked me if I could come into the dining room to talk with him. Since I knew him pretty well from waiting on him for five years, I thought sure. So he asked me to sit in the booth where he then told me how nice and pretty was. He said that I seemed like a person who has an open mind and does not judge. This is when I started to think...something is not right. He then proceeded to ask me to marry him.
He gave me this long story about how he thought I was trustworthy and he had been living in this country for years and it was going to take him a long time to get citizenship. I told him I was flattered but that I had a boyfriend and things were serious. He then tried to proposition me by telling me I could still stay with my boyfriend and he would pay me and buy me presents. Once again, I politely declined him.
He was super bummed and from then on when he came into the restaurant, he would always ask if I had gotten married yet. It started to get annoying. So one day, I started wearing a ring and told him my boyfriend and I tied the knot.
23. Hide But Don’t Seek
I spent Easter with my boyfriend’s cousin. He was probably around 24 at the time. He decided to stash a ring for his girlfriend in an Easter egg and wanted to send her out on an egg hunt.
He spent all morning planning it out and putting people in charge of snapping pictures, popping champagne, etc. When his girlfriend got to the house, he told her she had an Easter egg hunt to go on. Her reaction startled him—she got upset, saying that she was tired and didn't want to "do that garbage". He finally broke down and said, "There's a really special thing in the egg that I know you'll be excited to find". She then said, "If it's a freaking engagement ring, the answer is no".
That was painful to witness.
24. Brutal Misunderstanding
brown and white gift boxPhoto by Annie Spratt on UnsplashA friend gave his 10-year on-again-off-again girlfriend a ring for Christmas. I'm not quite sure how the conversation went when she opened the gift. She did, however, post on Facebook that it was an engagement ring and that they were going to spend the rest of their life together.
The picture and update got hundreds of likes. After calling my friend to congratulate him (he didn't have Facebook), he was confused as to what the congratulations were for. After he learned what his girlfriend had posted on Facebook, it was apparent that he was irritated that she thought it was an engagement ring. He got off the phone with me rather quickly to call her. The picture of the ring and the status update disappeared not soon after.
25. A Weekend To Forget
I used to work at a jewelry store in a small town. I had a kid come in that was roughly 22-24 years old. He came in with his younger brother. The kid was excited but the younger brother was apprehensive and made comments that would hopefully cause the kid to reconsider.
I rang him up for a $1500 ring and told him before the sale that there were no refunds, and that it could only be returned for in-store credit. He didn't blink or hear me and said, "OK"!
That was on a Friday. On Monday, he came back in with a black eye and asked for an exchange for the ring.
I felt horrible for him.
26. No Regrets
I was saving up for a ring. I had planned to propose to my girlfriend but got cheated on the day before I went to buy the ring. I bought a huge bong instead. No regrets.
27. Unexpected Outcome
silver-colored clear gemstone ringPhoto by CHUTTERSNAP on UnsplashI overheard her on the phone saying that she was worried that I was going to propose and that it was time to end it. After the call, she ended it right then and there. I had already bought the ring. When I went back to the shop to return it, I kind of broke down trying to explain why I had to return the ring. It was the lowest moment of my life—but also the greatest. That's because the girl at the counter demanded that she take me out for drinks that night. We had a great time laughing at my whole situation.
Three days later (today), the shop girl left me a message asking if I wanted to take an impromptu trip away with her over New Year's. I’ve been staring at the message all day now.
28. Young Love
I was a young, stupid 21-year-old in love, or what I thought was love. We had been dating for three years. It was a rocky relationship. She was using me to boost her self-esteem and I was too stupid to realize that a relationship shouldn't reduce me to tears every week.
Anyway, we were fighting in a Bank of America parking lot and I was sure she was going to leave me. So, out of desperation, I screamed, "Just bloody marry me! Let's get married"! Well, she agreed and we planned on getting married the following month.
I was pretty excited and convinced myself that I had found my soulmate. I spent a stupid amount of money on an engagement ring and gave it to her that weekend.
We decided to take a bath together. As I was behind her, giving her a shoulder massage, she decided to tell me that, quite plainly, she had cheated on me with three separate guys that month. Without a word, I stood up, stepped out of the tub, and pulled my jeans over my wet legs. I walked out of her house, drove away, and didn't speak to her again—that was six years ago. I'm still a shell of a man because of it.
29. Beyond Heartbroken
I dated a girl for almost two years. She was my best friend. I loved her to bits and we always had fun together.
Last December, I took up a new job that was much higher paying so that I could provide for our future. With the first salary, I bought a diamond engagement ring and on the 12th of January this year, I proposed. She was shocked, but she said, "Let me think about it". I gave her space after that but the answer eventually came to a "No".
I’ve been heartbroken ever since. I haven't been able to date anyone else for almost seven months and think about her a lot. I can't change that too much, I guess.
30. I Proposed To The Devil Itself
cooked meat and French fries in white disposable platePhoto by Meelan Bawjee on UnsplashI was with a girl for just over five years. When we met, she was in a bad place. The guy she was with before I used to hurt her. It was brutal. So it was tough in the beginning because she had major trust and self-esteem issues, depression and she self-harmed. But I went and fell in love with her. I helped her get over a lot of the mental anguish she was going through. I even took her to (and paid for) her therapist every other week. We lived together for four of those years.
On our fifth anniversary, I proposed. I was madly in love with her, and I assumed she was with me. She said yes!
Then, a few months after that, I got off work a bit early. I picked up her favorite fish and chips for dinner and headed home. Little did I know my life would change as soon as I walked through the door.
Long story short, I walked in on her with some other dude in our bed. They didn’t even hear me come into the apartment.
Within two days of that happening, she was gone. All her stuff was out of the apartment. She took half of MY stuff as well, including my cash stash of several thousand dollars, my TV, and a bunch of my kitchen stuff, she kept the ring. But she took my freaking DOG man. Took the dang dog.
I haven't seen or spoken to her since. That was just about three years ago now.
31. Stop It Already
One of my students in the fifth grade has proposed to me three times now. The first time was with a Cheerio. The second time was with a cookie. And the last time was with a piece of tape. I said no, flat out, all three times. Like, okay, cute—whatever. But DANG this kid is annoying.
I'm standing there, trying to teach you how to find the least common multiple so you can order fractions, and you're proposing to me? Finish this problem dude, you're the only one here who can't do this. I'm trying to help you. Flipping listen instead of letting your little 10-year-old mind go to a weird place.
32. Boy, Was He Wrong
I was in the third grade when some dude came into the classroom and proposed to our teacher. She just started crying and left the classroom. We found out that her answer was no. I guess he was hoping that the pressure from being in a classroom with a bunch of kids would pressure her enough to say yes.
33. Shocking Revelation
silver diamond studded ring on white surfacePhoto by Sabrianna on UnsplashI proposed after three years of dating and one year of living together. I was offering her my great-grandmother's wedding ring. She said no. That was Friday night. By Sunday night, after a trip to her parents, she came back and told me that she was into women. That was 22 years ago.
Since then I have been married for 16 years to the next woman I dated. My wife has the wedding ring that I offered to my ex. Her girlfriend has been with her partner for nearly 22 years. I have a daughter and they have a girl and a boy. I love them and they are just the best people ever.
34. That’s Reel Life
My dad proposed to my mom after dating her for a couple of years. She turned him down and they broke up.
After some heart-wrenching months for my dad, my mom's father passed on. My mom needed consoling and called my dad up. They dated for a few more years after that and mutually decided to get married.
Needless to say, I freaked out the first time I watched High Fidelity. That movie is essentially my parents—except my dad doesn't take mixtapes.
35. Persistence Doesn’t Pay Off
One time, I was eating at a high-end restaurant with my girlfriend. We saw some guy two tables down go down on one knee and pop the big question.
I remember just sitting there—amazed. I thought, wow, I’m about to witness something wonderful—something unique—something pivotal in a young man’s life. Nope. The girl declined him.
He stayed on that knee and kept asking why. The girl, who was super embarrassed by now, directed him to get back up—but he started sobbing. Everyone sitting around him started encouraging him, "Get 'em next time, little buddy"! or "Never mind her, champ"!
It was so awkward.
36. You Broke My Heart
snowy mountainPhoto by Daniel Leone on UnsplashI dated my ex from the ages of 14-24. She just broke up with me six months ago.
By the time I was 16, I was sure I wanted to be with her for the rest of my life. I saved money from my part-time job for a few months and got the nicest ring I could afford at Zales. I took her up to Hook Mountain, a place near where I grew up with beautiful views of the Hudson River. I knew she loved me, and I wasn't nervous—but knowing what I know now, should have been.
I don't remember exactly what I said, it's become a blur in my memory. But she was scared as heck by my proposal. She told me she loved me, but she was nowhere near ready to commit to me. I was sad. We left the trail and got some ice cream. I didn't talk much. I returned the ring and never told anyone about it—not my friends, not my family.
We've been broken up for six months now and I still think about her every day. I still love her deeply. I think I probably always will.
37. Not Good Enough
Her family had this tradition: the parents would hide a pickle ornament in the Christmas tree and all the kids would race to see who could find it first. The winner got an extra present. So I asked my girlfriend’s parents and her siblings if I could use this as a way to propose and they thought it was the greatest idea.
When they purposely let her find the ring, she not only said no but insisted I leave. I haven't spoken to her since. Four years and all my love weren’t good enough, I guess!
38. Close Call
I was dating someone for four years. After two years, she had already wanted me to marry her. I was unsure about it until she made it known how much it would mean to her. I had never seen marriage as necessary for a good relationship. It just seemed to be complicated paperwork. But I decided to do it. I bought the ring and kept it for a few weeks to plan how I wanted to give it to her. Then I found out that she cheated on me because I took too long to propose. I wanted nothing to do with the ring after that and threw it in a dumpster.
After four years, she missed marriage by five days. She even found out the day I was going to propose because I had the day off from work to set things up.
39. That Hurts
person in white nike air force 1 highPhoto by LexScope on UnsplashI was dating a girl for a while. We went on a walk one day and I got down on one knee. I took her hand in mine. Tears welled up in her eyes. Then I asked, " Will you—will you wait for me to tie my shoe"?
I’ve never been slapped so hard in my life.
40. Missing You
I had been with my girlfriend for over two years but we had known each other for a couple of years before that. We had talked about marriage. We both agreed that we wanted to get married but wanted to wait for her to finish grad school first.
When she graduated from Purdue, she moved to Penn State at the beginning of September 2012. Her family is old fashioned so I didn't want us to live together before being married. So I stayed in Indiana.
We spoke every day. We managed to see each other a few times when she was in the tri-state area. We both planned for almost a month for me to come out to Penn State and spend a week together. Before the trip, we talked every day and everything seemed fine. I worked extra shifts for a month straight to save money and got her a ring. I know we had talked about waiting, but I wanted to give it to her as a token to show that the distance wasn't too much for me and that I loved her and would continue loving her. After the twelve-hour drive, I finally arrived at her place. We spent a lovely day together and then it was time for bed.
Given that I'm an insomniac, I lay in bed next to her for a while. Eventually, I asked if I could use her netbook to browse the internet until I fell asleep. She said I could, so I turned it on and logged into Windows. Skype's window was flashing. That's when my heart dropped—I saw a conversation with her ex-boyfriend—months of conversations.
He had come out to see her less than two weeks after she moved to Penn State and they had slept together. I woke her up. We argued for a few hours, then I drove home. During our argument, I threw my luggage out the sliding door and into the yard. The pocket that had the ring in it was unzipped. I somehow managed to lose it somewhere in her yard and didn't realize it until I was back in Indiana.
I also had to say goodbye to a dog that I had raised from day one to a year old. I brought her to my ex as my roommate had a sudden issue with dogs.
A bit over a year later, and I still miss that darn dog.
41. Gone But Not Forgotten
After returning home from a Christmas vacation together, I asked her about marriage. She said, "I don't want to marry you. I never wanted to marry you. I will never marry you". This was followed with a thirty-minute speech about missing her single life.
I broke down inside, honestly. I tried to make it work but I realize now I stopped trying after that. Eight months later, she moved out. Three months after that, she begged me to take her back and that she wanted to get married and own a house. I was just too hurt to believe her.
Therapy is helping. But a five-year relationship ended that day. I miss it, but I'm not sure I miss her anymore.
42. My Soulmate
pregnant near doorPhoto by Camylla Battani on UnsplashMy friend's parents met at a bar down the shore. Her dad was crazy about her mom, but it was unrequited. She slept with him anyway. It was just a one-night stand, then she ignored him after that. That is until she found out she was pregnant.
He was over the moon when he found out. She was intent on having the baby. He tried to be with her, but she consistently refused him. He proposed to her several times, ending in eye rolls and exasperated "No!" from her each time.
After nine months, she went into labor and let him come with her into the delivery room. Just her and this guy who had been begging her to marry him. A few hours into labor, the doctors started to notice something was wrong. The baby's heartbeat was slowing rapidly.
The mother started to panic, but the father stayed calm. He stayed with her and communicated information from the doctors. But there was little anyone could do. She delivered a stillborn.
After everything that happened, my friend's mom realized she had found her soulmate. They finally got together and are still married to this day.
43. Worst Timing Ever
My good friend was dating this guy for nearly two years. I could tell that things were getting a bit stale with them. One day when we went out to get lunch, she told me that she was going to break it off with the guy. She seemed far more stressed about hurting him. She started telling me about how she was going to do it and was asking for my advice.
Right as I was in the middle of giving her some input, the guy came in and looked a bit frantic. She must've told him that she was going there to meet me. He mustered up the courage and walked right to our table, completely ignoring me. He got down on one knee and pulled out the ring. He was shaking so much.
I was in awe of the worst timing ever, and my mouth was open in shock. People around me were excited so everyone gathered around the table started cheering. The guy proposed to my friend. She just got up, walked out to her car, and drove off.
I almost perished from second-hand embarrassment. All I remember was gasps and snickering from the people near me and he just sat in her place looking crushed. I didn't know what to say. I feel kinda bad so I just got the check ASAP and gave him a pat on the back.
44. What A Load Of Garbage
I'm a male, and I was in a relationship for some time with a guy. I suspected that he was cheating on me with his ex for some time. While I was away for a few months on a trip to Italy, my best friend sent me pictures of my boyfriend and his ex kissing at a bar. Surprisingly, I remained calm—because I knew exactly how to get my revenge.
The next day, I bought the ring and flew back to the US. After I landed, I proposed to him at the airport gate. He said no and I asked why not. He said it was too early. I showed him the picture of him and his ex and asked, "You sure it isn't because you're a sack of garbage"? I took the ring back and he moved out two weeks later.
45. Perfect Setting For A Letdown
green body of water between green trees during daytimePhoto by Barbara Šipek on UnsplashI dated this girl off and on for 12 years. Most recently, we had been together for six years. We were on a trip together in the Philippines and swimming in this beautiful lagoon. That’s when I decided that it was the perfect setting to propose. I began with, "Hey, baby…" and she must have heard it in my voice because she turned around and said, "Don't do it".
That took the wind out of my sail real quick. She eventually said yes a few months later in Australia.
46. What A Waste
My then-girlfriend proposed to me on the leap day of 1992. I said no—I was too young to know better. We went our separate ways but came together again. We’ve now been married 19 years. The result of saying, “No” was five wasted years!
47. Out Of The Blue
A few years ago, I worked on a cruise ship in the main dining room. You tend to work in the same area with the same five people every night. One such co-worker was a cute Filipino girl who I would constantly flirt with while working. We got along famously.
After a month or so, I was thinking about how I would like to start something a little less playful and a little more serious. As it turns out, she was thinking the same thing! She popped the question one night while we were cleaning up, "Hey, would you marry me"? I laughed and said, "Of course, I will," thinking we were still playing around.
Turns out it was very real. She offered to pay me $3000, which I also turned down.
I've never had a relationship turn so awkward so fast. She barely spoke to me for the rest of our contract. I’d like to think it was because she was heartbroken, not because I wouldn't help her get citizenship. But either way, I felt terrible and kind of amazed that someone proposed to me!
48. Where’s The Romance?
water fountain with lights turned on during night timePhoto by Axel Antas-Bergkvist on UnsplashMy parent's engagement story is the least romantic one I've ever heard. They'd only been dating for five weeks at the time, and my dad, without giving her a ring, asked very casually if she’d marry him. For some reason, she said, “Yes”.
By the way, this didn't go down at a romantic fountain or over a classy dinner it couldn't have been any more opposite. It happened in my dad's truck right before he dropped her off at home after their date. There was no kneeling, no ring, obviously not much thought put into it. And she still said yes. He then called her the next day to say that he'd been thinking about it, and he wanted to take back his proposal.
A few days later, he changed his mind again and proposed for a second time. Even then, she still said yes. I don't know how a couple with such a horrible engagement story has lasted 26 years but they are still what everybody calls "the cutest couple".
49. Say Cheeze!
I flew to Wisconsin from Texas to surprise her for her college graduation. I told her all along that I couldn't make it only to surprise her. I arranged for a friend to get her there and came around the corner at the perfect time. I stupidly hired a photographer to shoot the moment and after—which made it even WORSE.
I got down on one knee and she said yes. We went out to dinner that night and that was when the truth came out. She told me that she had only said yes because of all the people who were there.
Seriously, don't propose in public. That was the worst part. I foolishly stuck around for another year and a half before breaking up.
50. Duped
After I proposed, she told me that she couldn’t marry me because she was engaged. For three years while we were together, she was dating someone else the whole time.
Sometimes, the strangest things happen when we're not paying attention. Thankfully, we have security cameras to catch us up on what we miss out on. From awkward situations at work to creepy occurrences taking place right outside one's front door, these unreal moments captured by security cameras will make you want to install a CCTV system of your own.
1. Staring Contest
A neighbor was walking by, which he does every day, and he realized that cameras were being installed at my place. The next day, on his walk by, he did the most peculiar thing—he stood still and just looked at the camera. I could understand him looking for a few seconds to see how they were wired, what brand they were, and what they might be able to see, etc...
But he just stood there, looking at a single camera for about 14 minutes.
2. A Case Of The Ex
My ex-wife snuck up to my front door and peeked through the window...at 10 pm one night. But what made it extra creepy was that it happened right after the divorce was final. I had already established in my mind that I was no longer going to have anything to do with her, so it startled me to see her. Probably a full four minutes' worth of footage was captured.
She was definitely up to no good, so I ordered three more cameras from Amazon that night.
3. Step Into My Office
white and black corded devicePhoto by Oxa Roxa on UnsplashAt work, the IT guy reviews our restaurant security videos. One day, he called me and told me to open his email with my office door closed. The first part of the video showed the restaurant manager opening up the restaurant after hours (at around 1 am) to let a woman in. Fine, nothing wrong with that. But the next clip made my jaw drop.
They were totally going at it in the manager's office while drinking straight out the bottles from the cabinet. Then, they started arguing and the manager dragged the woman down the stairs, throwing her out of the restaurant. The manager was obviously fired. The woman later claimed the manager had taken advantage of her.
IT turned over unredacted and unedited to the authorities and I don't recall if the charges against the manager were upheld.
4. Guilt Trip
I work surveillance at a casino. Several years ago, when tokens were still used in the casinos, we received a call for a possible token theft. While one of my coworkers was reviewing the coverage we had, we overheard a radio call for a guest outside the exit. I pulled up the coverage to watch the EMTs perform CPR on him and I noticed a spilled bucket of tokens around him. It was not unusual for a guest to take tokens home and bring them back another day.
Well, my coworker completed the review for the theft and said, "Okay, we're looking for a black male wearing a red shirt and black pants." That’s when I put it all together.I took the camera I was using, put it on his monitor, and said, "You mean this guy?" It was the same person. Further review showed that he took the tokens and immediately walked to the exit.
When he was about 20 feet from the exit, one of our security officers exited right behind him, simply to walk outside. He had NO CLUE the man in front of him had just stolen over $100 in tokens. Our only assumption then was that the man thought the officer was coming toward him and had a heart attack.
5. She's Into Self-Serve
A bartender was accused of getting tipsy on the job. I happened to walk into the office while a manager was watching the security footage. You could see the bartender do several shots with customers and by herself. A regular customer was watching her nervously, trying to tell her to stop. Her response was appalling—she just twirled her hair around in the most disrespectful way, then sat at the guy's table where she snuggled against him and kissed him on the neck.
He was not her boyfriend, by the way. Later on, she disappeared outside for like 10 minutes. Oddly enough, she was actually the bar manager and she did make a lot of money. She got fired.
6. Historic Haunts
round wooden cafeteria tables and chairs inside roomPhoto by Nikola Jovanovic on UnsplashI worked in one of the oldest buildings in my college town. It was once a Wild West saloon where two people were documented to have lost their lives in a shootout when the state was still a territory. In the 20s, it served as someone’s house, where the youngest daughter was documented to have died there in childhood. When I got hired on, even the owners talked about it being haunted.
I’ve never truly “seen” a ghost or had an encounter, but something about the building, particularly the office to the back and definitely the dirt basement, did not feel right to me at all. Not malevolent, but always “off.” During my first closing shift after I get promoted to the keyholder, I was helping a new girl who had really taken the whole ghost spiel she got a few days prior to heart.
This particular store ranged from small little treasures that were almost too easy not to shoplift to a few items that cost five times the going rate for tuition at the local college. Naturally, the owners had 15 cameras installed that played on a live feed in the office and in the storefront. I was counting the drawer while she was anxiously watching the security camera, just waiting to see something crazy.
All of a sudden, she let out a bloodcurdling SCREAM. She called me over to the camera feed, and there it was—right on the top of the feed, there was what looked like a figure in a white, boxy nightgown-type dress. We were both terrified, but we couldn’t leave as there was still a bunch of stuff to get done. So we just watched it, stunned as it appeared to sway.
Then, a huge spider obscured the view of the figure...Yup, we were scared to tears by a freaking spider web that the AC blew into view of the camera.
7. Fly On The Wall
I remember closing the store one night. I was alone, which was against policy. I had sent my colleague home so she could catch the train (a customer had taken ages to leave). There were two monitors in the office: one with the security feed and another one that I was closing the last programs on. Out of the corner of my eye, I sensed some movement on one of the cameras pointed at the entrance of the store.
I looked, but there was nothing there. I was super creeped out at that point. It didn't take much to put me on edge since I was alone, and it didn't help that we'd all been joking that the store is haunted. I dismissed the thought when I didn't see anything and continued what I was doing. After finishing, I looked one last time at the security feed and I just about jumped. There was a massive black shadow filling the whole screen!
It turned out to be a stupid fly. It was fine.
8. The Chicken Lady
My stepdad woke up one morning and found a bucket of fried chicken in our driveway. For some reason, he didn’t think it was odd at all. I checked our camera recordings and it ended up being this lady who walked up to my car at like 3 am with a bucket. She was obviously unwell and probably on something. When the camera light turned on, she yelled, "I brought you some chicken and left the bucket on the ground!"
To this day, I wonder what was up with the chicken lady.
9. A Ben And Jerry's Adventure
ben and jerrys chocolate fudge brownie ice creamPhoto by Hybrid Storytellers on UnsplashI went with some friends to a club in a big shopping center. The club was part of the center, but the door to it was outside and you couldn't access the rest of the mall at all during the night. Well, after some table dancing, one of my mates was desperately looking for the toilet. He went through a door. Then another door. Then another one. And somehow, he ended up inside the mall.
Unsure of what to do, he walked around and found an unlocked door which he pushed through. He then found a freezer. Just when he was about to take the leak inside, he opened it and...JACKPOT. Dozens and dozens and dozens of Ben and Jerrys. He immediately attacked the chunky monkeys, brownies, and phish foods, gorging himself until he realized that he was still locked out.
Picking up a stock of ice cream, he kicked a door open and found a girl that worked at the club. Covered in ice cream after eating it all with his hands, he asks her to let him back into the nightclub. She obliged and ice creams were had by all. The whole place was covered in security cameras, and we always wondered what his little Ben and Jerry's adventure must have looked like to anyone who happened to stumble over the tape.
10. Villain Origin Story
This happened about three years ago. I was living on this pretty short street, about 25 houses I’d say. We had recently set up cameras because we were having some really bad issues with this one neighbor. Most people on the street knew each other—we’d all barbecue and party together—and we all collectively hated this family. Their son, whose name I will keep secret, was one nasty guy.
One time, he pulled a knife out and pointed it at me from 20 feet away or so. He's also tried to get his dogs (two big pit bulls) to attack me, and we're pretty sure he was the one who took our quad. He was becoming a serious problem, so we set up the cameras solely because of him. So one night, he snuck out of his house and came over to ours. We had no clue why he was coming to our house, but whatever.
He got about halfway up our lawn, then stopped, noticed the cameras, and did some weird, creepy smile thing where he tilted his head a bit. He ended up leaving and we decided not to do anything because we were moving very shortly anyway. Supposedly, he has also moved, but out of state. I hope to never see that delinquent again.
11. Canine Cunning
One time, my roommates set up a webcam in the living room which was motion activated because we had four dogs in the house. Three of the dogs were pretty average in intelligence, but one of them was too smart for her own good. Upon returning to the apartment that day, we checked the carpet and there was what appeared to be a little chocolate smudge on the carpet. Of course, we checked the video, and the culprit ended up being the smart dog.
She did her business, and right as she was about to walk away, she stopped, turned her head to look directly at the camera, and after a moment of realization, she gobbled up the evidence.
12. Act Of Kindness
cabin in forestPhoto by Daniel Tuttle on UnsplashI caught something on video that ended up being surprisingly heartwarming. I have a brick house and the mailbox is bolted to it. Somehow, one side managed to come loose, so it had been dangling for a couple of weeks. I just didn't have a chance to get to the hardware store. I got home from work one day and it was bolted back properly. I checked to see if there was a note or anything, but nope.
On one hand, I was really grateful; but on the other, I was kind of spooked, wondering if I was totally losing it and if it maybe had never come loose at all. At the time, I did think my house was haunted, so that definitely added to that feeling. A couple of days later, I remembered I have cameras around the perimeter, so I checked them to see if they caught anything.
Turns out, an older guy with a tool belt just casually walked up, fixed my mailbox, and left. He wasn't there for more than three or four minutes. Eventually, I was able to piece together that one of my neighbors was having some roofing work done and this was one of the workers. I guess he had just seen my mailbox dangling for a few days and decided since I wasn't making any moves to fix it, he would.
I hadn't been living there for that long, and it really warmed my heart to know someone would go out of their way to perform a simple good deed for a stranger.
13. From The Top
Bit of backstory—I rent the upper floor of my best friend's house so we see each other quite often. I also use the kitchen and washer and stuff like that. One day, while we were in class, someone broke into the place. Nothing was stolen, but the house was a disaster. So I checked the footage of the camera we had out front...and what I saw chilled me to the bone.
We could see the guy go in, but we didn't see him come out. We called 9-1-1 and the officers checked the entire house. He was nowhere to be found. To add to the strangeness of the situation, we didn't have neighbors, so there was no one we could ask who may have seen what that guy was up to. But eventually, we discovered the dark truth.
Well, it turned out that the guy was hiding...ON THE FREAKING ROOF. He was up there a good week before we realized anything. He is now facing trial.
14. Those Teenagers
It started out being slightly creepy, but it ended up being really funny. I have external cameras with night vision all around my house. My family and I were on vacation several time zones west of our house. One night, right before I was about to go to bed, I got an alert and logged in to see what was going on. I saw a car pull into my driveway and four people get out, acting all sneaky and stealthy.
It was well past midnight at my house, and it didn't look good. I called my wife and kids in to watch it. I was preparing to call the authorities in my hometown. We saw them all sneak away and teepee another neighbor's house with toilet paper. They then ran back to their car in my driveway and sped off. My family and I laughed so hard. It was a highlight of that vacation.
15. Digging For Gold
woman with red lipstick and red lipstickPhoto by engin akyurt on UnsplashThere were many security cameras at my former workplaces, and turns out, a lot of them were actually recording! One night, things were really slow, and after a while, you get numb and forget about all those cameras hanging from the ceiling...So this girl who worked there was walking towards the bathroom, and she stopped in the entryway just past the security gates.
She proceeded to pick a big, long, gooey booger out of her nose and slurp it up. The manager was reviewing the tapes, and instead of chuckling and keeping it to himself, he showed the store manager and whoever else was in the building at the time. So now, who knows how many people have seen her embarrassing moment...
A few days later, there was a bag of candy to share, and the manager commented to the store manager, "She doesn't seem like the kind of girl to eat sweets," all while the girl was standing right there! Sometimes you just zone out, you know? By the way, that girl was me.
16. Nomadland
There was a guy living inside of one of the broken-down cars out by the barn at my parents' house during the winter. We lived about 10 miles out from the closest town, so he was likely a drifter or homeless. We honestly didn’t do anything about it. We just kept in mind that he was there during the nights in case something shady ever went down. I think he really just needed somewhere to sleep that wasn’t outside.
He left and never returned after winter passed. When it had been a few weeks since we saw him on the cameras at night, we went and looked inside of the car—so many empty cans of Beanie Weenies...I hope he managed to find his way onto another area that didn’t turn him away or was able to get himself into a job and a real home.
It was definitely really jarring the first time we came across him. We did some investigating after our dogs went wild in that area a few nights in a row. We thought it was some kind of animal at first, but it ended up being him. We watched for a few nights to make sure he wasn’t trying to come into the house, but he literally would just get in the car, stay through the night, and leave early in the morning.
It became pretty obvious what was happening and we just took the chance that he wasn’t some awful person; simply because he was looking for some means of shelter. Once winter was on its way out, we would play some footage of the night before and that morning, before the sun came up, we didn’t see him. In fact, he didn't end up on the footage for a good few weeks after sporadic checks.
We didn’t want to make him feel bad by looking into the car in case he was anywhere nearby during daylight hours, so we just waited until it was nearly confirmed he had moved on. I think about him a lot, actually—I wish we could have talked with him and listened to some stories he may have had or maybe find out what put him in the position he was in. Maybe get him some warm food in his stomach too.
17. Come And Go
Well, today I caught two random adult men in my backyard measuring the fence or something while I was home alone. As a girl, you could imagine all the scary scenarios that were going through my head. Luckily, they left right when I saw them on the security cameras (I guess they were done measuring the fence) and I told my dad. Turns out, it was just the neighborhood gardeners and they called my dad to let him know they were there.
But no one thought to let me know...Way to give me a heart attack. Then, a few days later, another incident—I caught some random woman also in my backyard, but this time, a creep was trying to look into the windows. I felt like my soul left my body when I saw her. She looked mad and she wasn’t alone. Some guy was waiting in a pick-up truck for her. She left and I never saw her again.
18. Cat Called
selective focus photo of adult big cat familyPhoto by Leah Huyghe on UnsplashMy parents live just outside a town of about 400 people. One morning, they woke up and saw an alert from their motion-activated camera that covers the area outside their bedroom. I should mention that their bedroom has a sliding glass door with a screen that they sometimes leave open on hot nights. When they replayed the camera footage, their jaws dropped.
A cougar walked up and stopped about 10 feet from the sliding glass door. And the worst part is the footage cuts off before the cougar leaves...
19. Office Game
A colleague of mine was just telling me about his previous workplaces when this tale came up. Anyway, their office had a covered walkway running all the way around the floor, so on a quiet shift, they decided to have an office chair rally. The four of them scooted off on their office chairs as fast as they could, down one side of the walkway, around the corner at top speed, then all the way back.
As they headed back, they found a security guard at their desk, arms folded, looking quite grumpy. He started to apologize to the security guard for being silly, and the guard replied: "No worries, I had a fiver on the fat guy."
20. Ambien Daze
One night, at about 3 am, the dogs went crazy. I checked the cameras and there was this guy just sitting on a windowsill beside the front door. He wasn't threatening or trying to break in; he was just sitting and looking around. I called the non-emergency line. They came and determined he was a neighbor. He thought our house was his job site and he was just waiting for the plumbers to finish.
I am not sure if it was a weird Ambien sleepwalk or one of the odd stories about UTIs or CO causing delusions. He got taken for medical evaluation and it appears got the treatment he needed. He ended up moving out a few months later after being in and out of the hospital.
21. Joker Imitation
gray car parked on parking lotPhoto by Bence on UnsplashMy friend saw his brother's ex-best friend set his 30,000-Euro Peugeot classic on fire because his brother took the friend's girl...The creepy thing was that the dude had makeup like the Joker, and he looked directly into the camera before lighting the fire. He was caught the same night and was put behind bars.
22. Creepy Co-Worker
I installed a Ring camera and lock on my gate as couriers and postmen kept leaving it open and my dogs would run down the street. Nothing too out of the ordinary for the first year. I just bought a solar panel for it as I always would forget to charge it, installed it, and let the solar panel charge up the camera from flat to see how much charge it would give the camera.
It worked like a charm and in low amounts of sunlight during the winter mornings, it was more than enough to keep the camera going nonstop. Literally, two days later, I got home from work and my camera was missing. It was ripped off the post and the solar panel was destroyed. I checked the footage and someone had come up and ripped it from the post to put it in their pocket before walking off with it.
However, here's the odd part. The person who took it was an ex-work colleague who looked directly into the camera. Previous footage showed his car driving past the house and parking down the road. I hadn't worked with the guy for over two years and I never told him where I lived. Anyway, now that guy has acharge against him and I've got cameras and floodlights absolutely everywhere around my house.
23. The Glimmer
Our outdoor kitty had cancer and we didn’t have the money to get her help. She wasn’t in pain; just quickly deteriorating. We made up a bed for her outside, gave her food and water, played with her favorite toys, and said our goodbyes. We went off to bed and hoped she would go peacefully. The next morning, we woke up and got her out of bed.
Frantically, we looked for her, until we found her curled up underneath a shelf, cozy and tucked away; but she had passed. My dad had a security camera in the garage, so he looked at her last few moments of living. She got up from her bed, walked around, sat at the door, and mewed for a bit (that part tore me up), then slowly slinked under the shelf. But that’s not the most surprising part.
About two minutes later, we saw a brief glimmer, and what looked like a sheer silk window curtain flowing in front of the camera. Now, I know that it wasn’t an actual spirit or ghost, and it was just vapor and dust, but the fact that I had never seen that before, and how it was timed to coincide with her passing...
24. Peeping Tom
person watching through holePhoto by Dmitry Ratushny on UnsplashBack when we didn't have gates on the driveways, I set up a game camera. I have a whole file called "Weirdos In My Yard." It's mostly random people who look lost. One guy drove into my side yard, sat there in his car for 20 minutes, backed out of the yard, waited, then drove back in...before eventually leaving. That was pretty tame, until the next time when I caught the same guy peeping through the windows.
We decided to upgrade after that. The massive gates across all of our driveways stopped the weirdo creepers, but our new camera system now tells me when anyone so much as slows down on the road by my house.
25. Invasion Of Privacy
In my town, there was a fairly popular restaurant that everyone went to all the time. Everyone loved the place. The owner was this short, adorable, loveable guy that everyone liked. A few years ago, someone noticed something off in the bathroom. Upon investigation, they made a disturbing discovery. They found a camera set up in there.
Apparently, the owner had been videoing people doing their business for years and was even found to be a part of a child trafficking ring on the deep web. Needless to say, our small town was shocked. Everyone used that bathroom at one point or another.
26. Dance When No One's Looking
When we first installed a video security camera, I knew my husband was anxiously awaiting for the motion sensor to trip and start recording, which would then send him an instant notification on his phone. He went out for a drink, so I quickly put together an outrageous costume with a crazy headdress and did an eclectic dance past the camera, complete with a kazoo marching band song.
If only I’d had a camera to view him at the bar as he spewed his drink with laughter!
27. Party For Two
white ceramic sink with faucetPhoto by Buchen WANG on UnsplashI came into the retail store one morning to open it and the lights were already on, along with the radio and the TV. There were empty cans in the bathroom trash and put-out smokes on the floor. I went back to watch the security tapes and I couldn't believe my eyes—the manager had brought a woman in at midnight and they had a party for two in the bathroom.
When they came back out, they had fewer clothes on. Needless to say, the manager didn't have a job by noon that day.
28. Shady Operation
I live alone and I have had some truly weird stuff happen. At my last place, which was a townhouse, I had security cameras set up in my backyard after I noticed the screen pulled off my back window. I also put a padlock on the gate (which I usually didn't do so the landscapers could come in and mow.) One night, I got a notification that there was a motion in the backyard.
I looked at the camera and didn't see anything. Then, I noticed the gate was shaking. I saw a hat appear over the top of the gate and some guy peeking over it. As luck would strangely have it, my boyfriend at the time was on the SWAT team in my city and he had just gotten to my place to spend the night after a SWAT hit. He ran in the back, half-dressed in all his gear, tackled the guy and I called the authorities.
It was my neighbor's boyfriend, who also had a pistol on him. He was high as a kite. They ended up arresting my neighbor, as well as a bunch of people in the house because apparently, the pistol he had was stolen. There were a ton of other stolen dangerous goods and illicit substances in the house.
29. Running Scared
At around 2 am, a woman ran across our front yard and into the little cove that is our porch. She ran right next to the house, past our front window, past the door, and then hugged the wall before running past our garage. It was like she was sticking as close to the building as possible. She looked possibly scared in the video—hard to tell, but her mouth was open a bit.
This was very abnormal since the front door is about 40 to 50 feet away from a sidewalk or road. There was absolutely no reason for anyone to be that close. The only thing we could think of was that a vehicle was following her and she cut across our yard and into the porch area to try and keep out of view. Perhaps she kept on running because our motion-detecting lights had lit up and she didn't want to be seen.
30. Fatal Crossing
two bullet surveillance cameras attached on wallPhoto by Scott Webb on UnsplashWe have cameras installed inside our business because we've had problems with people coming in and stealing. Most of the cameras are only filming inside, but because we have pretty big windows, you can sometimes get a glimpse of the outside. We're located on a pretty busy downtown street in a large city. One day, I finally got to work after painstakingly circling around in my car because many roads surrounding our business were cordoned off by the authorities.
From inside my business, I saw clothes just scattered all over the street, but didn't think much of it. The next day, officers came in and asked if we had cameras that overlooked the streets. Apparently, there had been a very bad accident involving a pedestrian and a car in the early hours the night prior, and there were no witnesses.
The driver of the car was hospitalized due to shock, and the pedestrian had died on the way to the hospital. Our cameras have limited storage space and will overwrite themselves, so we hurriedly removed the cards and started going through them one by one to see if the accident might have been caught on tape. We didn't expect to find anything as the accident happened a bit further down the street.
Plus, it happened at like 3 am while it was still pretty dark out, so we didn't have a very lit-up view of the street. Wrong. We saw, in HD video, a skinny older man get hit right in front of our business and dragged several meters down the street. Prior to the discovery of the footage, many people believed that the driver of the vehicle was probably speeding as is usually the case down this street.
But the pedestrian had actually crossed the street on a red light with his back turned to traffic and he was struck like a brick. Probably the most horrifying thing I ever saw. Apparently, the man was a newcomer that had just gotten a job as a dishwasher at a restaurant and was returning home after his shift.
31. See But Don't Speak
I’m an I.T. Director at a private school. This was so gruesome, I’ll never forget it. Many years ago, there was an issue where someone late at night was going into the computer lab at the school and looking at sensitive videos on a specific computer. We assumed it was a maintenance worker, so they asked me to place a hidden camera to see who it was. I placed the camera and about a week later, the culprit did it again.
Unfortunately, I had to watch the guy do his business. Let me tell you, as a network guy, this is actually the lesser of what I have had to deal with before. I have witnessed worse things like spouses cheating, bosses doing the deed in the office with co-workers, underaged kids with adults, and the list goes on. I feel like a soldier when they are sent overseas. They see crazy things but don’t talk about them.
32. The Godfather Squirrel
One year, we grew giant sunflowers in our backyard. I opened the front door one morning to find a decapitated sunflower head missing its seeds on our front step. The security footage showed a squirrel hopping across our driveway carrying the sunflower head, dragging it up 10 stairs, and then eating every last sunflower seed while sitting in front of our main door. He left it there like some squirrel Godfather parody.
33. Wasting Water
person holding black dslr cameraPhoto by Steve DiMatteo on UnsplashThere is a mentally ill homeless woman living around my neighborhood and she frequently goes into people's yards if their gates are unlocked. She often turns on their outside hoses and leaves them spewing water all over the yard. My family heard about this through a neighborhood website, so we hid our hose in our backyard as a precaution since we had no lock on our gate.
We got up one morning and the back patio and garden were pretty much flooded. We were obviously confused and annoyed, so we checked our security camera footage—we saw that around 2:30 am, the woman had come into our backyard, looking for our hose. She couldn't find it at first, so she started looking under chairs and peering into our windows, getting more intense in her search with each minute that she didn't find it.
It was just strange to see this grown woman so intent and feverish on finding our garden hose in the middle of the night. As a side note, none of us have reported her for fear of her being taken in for trespassing or taken to a hospital, but we do sometimes leave food outside for her, which is rarely eaten.
34. The Beige Tahoe
I had security cameras installed a few years ago after someone attempted to break in through my back door. The door itself is steel, and the doorknob is one of those that has a keypad with an actual keyhole above it in case the keypad quits working. The installers messed up the keyhole and even pulled out the pins, but the door somehow stayed locked.
The cameras were put up for a couple of years. Nothing of interest aside from a fat opossum who liked to hang out by the carport. Then, at about 3 in the morning one night, the camera captured me outside. I was doing my usual nightly things (I'm a total night-owl and will go outside periodically throughout the night to walk around the property).
I headed inside and not even 10 minutes afterward, a beige Tahoe towing an empty trailer showed up. It approached not from the road, but from a field behind the property. The Tahoe stopped right at the back door and two men came out. The driver hid out of sight from the camera. But that’s not the scariest part. The passenger was wielding a big hunting knife, hiding it behind his back, and he knocked at the door.
To make matters worse, they were hiding in the field behind the house. They had to have seen me. They were also probably hiding with their lights and engine off for quite some time as I was outside for almost a full hour. I would've easily noticed the lights or the sounds of a car engine. There was no telling exactly how close they were to me in that field because, at the time, there were no lights near the area.
I also did hear the knocking. No one else in the house did as I was the only one awake at the time. The knocking was quite loud, frantic-sounding, and lasted for at least a couple of minutes. I didn't answer it as I just never answer the door after dark unless I am specifically expecting somebody.. To watch the exact situation unfold on the security cameras the next day was honestly scary, and it really put into perspective exactly how close I was to losing my life.
35. Paranormal Activity
During the first six months of a newly-constructed building, the cameras caught a couple of different things. On one occasion, we'd heard a huge crash; like a bowl of bolts falling. Sometimes, we'd find them sitting thread sides up. The printer tray would also be left open. When we checked the cameras, we didn't find anything suspicious. We were convinced the building was built on some sort of sacred ground or something—there were definitely some paranormal forces at work that were causing those things to happen.
36. Donut Danger
doughnut with toppingsPhoto by Kobby Mendez on UnsplashBack when I managed a donut shop, I saw a guy staring at me and another young girl. He was dressed in dark clothes and a dark hat. When he realized we could see him, he ran off. I locked all the doors and the drive-thru window. Thankfully, it was closing time anyway. My co-worker called her best friend, who was a very large young man on the wrestling team, and he walked us to our cars.
The spot he was standing in was a point of poor visibility from the inside after the sun went down. Our store had a deep porch, and along the window that he was staring through, there was a wall-mounted bar counter. At night, we turned the stools over and put them on the bar, so the chairs were blocking the view of the window. If he hadn't moved suddenly, I might never have noticed him.
Before we left, I decided to review the cameras to see if I could catch him getting into a car. I went back to the moment I noticed him and kept rewinding. That's when I realized a startling truth—he'd been staring at us from the dark of night for three hours.
37. A Street Situation
a car that is sitting in the grassPhoto by Tobias Tullius on UnsplashIt wasn’t MY camera, but my friend's. The camera feed was recording at maybe 2 am. It was dark, but it was a night vision feed or something, so we could clearly see what was happening. Also, my buddy lived on a hill that was right next to a very busy road connecting two different towns. That day, while his family was asleep, a car was speeding down that road really fast.
I, who lived three blocks away, was awake, so I could hear the screeching. I decided to ignore it considering it wasn’t my problem. Then, the next day, there was a giant hole in his fence and the place looked really messed up from what I saw. I visited my friend and he was very shaken up about the incident. He proceeded to show me the weirdest and most insane feed I ever saw...
The cropped clip showed a small backyard and it was facing the once normal fence. Soon, out of NOWHERE, there was the sound of loud screeching of tires, and seconds later, a car came bouncing in as the bus does in The Magic School Bus. It was so weird and frightening because out of nowhere...BOOM. There’s a car in your backyard.
38. Night Intruders
When I was 16, my family's house phone rang at 3 am. I'm a night owl, so I was the only one up and I answered. A lady rang from a security firm saying that the alarm in our business was going off and that the authorities were notified. I went out of the house to look around the corner so I could see up the street. I didn't get too close; maybe a hundred and fifty yards. I thought of getting closer, but I thought it wasn't worth it.
A day or two later, I saw the CCTV footage and I almost choked.There were four absolutely gigantic dudes with a few crowbars. I'm glad I didn't go up because they would have beat me into next week. And that was a long while ago. That's a lot of beating. On the bright side, I got a hundred euros for my heroics...
39. Standing Up To Evil
brown wooden book shelves in libraryPhoto by Shunya Koide on UnsplashI used to work in a public building that included a library. It was in the middle of the city center next to the railway and bus station. One time, there was some boy, maybe around 15 years old, acting strangely in the library for several weeks. The people working there didn't know what was going on with him, but he seemed afraid and unsure of what to do. Then, one day, he mustered up the courage to talk to one of the librarians.
He told him a shocking secret—there was an older guy harassing him in the men's room of the library in one of the toilet cabins. The older dude was also blackmailing him, putting pressure on him not to say anything. Needless to say, the authorities got involved and they happened to catch that guy who was still in another section of the three-story library.
They ended up arresting him, and we went to check the bathroom afterward. It was a grisly scene that I wish I could remove from my mind. The next day, I was sitting in my office and I got a call from my boss. The authorities wanted to have the recordings of the camera that is sitting on a pole outside of the building, filming the front side and entrances.
Apparently, the dude claimed that none of what the boy said was true. So, I checked the footage, and lo and behold—there was the guy entering the library together with the boy. Well, I saved it, put it on a USB stick, and handed it to the officers who later arrived and also watched the footage. I have no idea what happened after, but there was enough evidence.
It's terrifying that stuff like that happens. I applaud that boy for speaking up and ending his nightmare. Not the best days at work, let me tell you.
40. In Plain Sight
While working in a hotel on a popular nightlife street, I saw plenty of weird shenanigans. One night, I went home at around 11 pm, walking alone as usual. I woke up the next day to reports of murder on the same street I was walking home on. It's a few hundred meters long, so it was unclear how close the incident happened to my work, but it was concerning nonetheless. Well, as I got to work, that's when I realized just how close it was.
The authorities were right outside, stretching 10 meters on either side. The hotel bar windows look out directly onto the street below, so that's where the investigators were doing their sweeps. I heard through the grapevine that the night porter heard a commotion and went down to see what was going on. That's when he heard the lads dying screams.
I knew we were going to be getting a visit from some officers, so I thought I'd get details of the time to be able to pass that information on. Lo and behold, the officers turned up looking for CCTV, and I was the only person who actually knew how to work it. So me and two detectives went through the CCTV feed of the areas of importance running on a large screen, and there it was.
Two lads were having a back and forth, and one of them beat the other on the main street, just when people were heading home from bars. The guy who lost the fight was just left on the floor, bleeding out. He was eventually found by other drinkers who had just headed home from a night out. It's horrifying how it just happened in plain sight.
41. Warehouse Wraith
I worked security at a warehouse and installed a small camera near an item that was being stolen regularly. Rather than watch days of video of people working, I would jump 5 to 10 minutes at a time to see if there was a change in that area, or jump an hour at a time to when no one was working, just to cover my bases. If someone bumped into the boxes, even the slight change in position of the box or items would be noticeable.
Now, these boxes were on angled roller racks, so once the front was empty and removed, the one behind would slide down into place. I was skipping along and saw the motion of a different item on the top shelf during a time when no one was working in that area. There was one thing left in the box; I don't remember what it was but think something about the size of a Rubik's cube.
It slid sideways, from one side of the box to the other. To this day, I can't explain how that was possible, because gravity was pulling it down and forward into the front edge of the box, and it was too heavy to be simply blown around. I showed it to my boss and my coworkers—we never came up with a good answer for how it moved.
42. Haunting On The 4th
time lapse photography of sparkler and U.S.A flag letPhoto by Stephanie McCabe on UnsplashThis was so creepy, I still can’t explain it. It happened when I was seven years old. It was the 4th of July and we had fireworks and stuff. When it got late, my aunt said she was staying over. A little side note: my dad had a “bad” problem checking the security cameras in the morning and I was overly fascinated with the paranormal. When I walked into the living room, my dad was already checking the security cameras.
He wanted me to look at the footage as well and when I did, there was this sound of a kid screaming—not like he was about to be killed, but more like a playful scream. It sounded a lot like my little cousin, who we'll call Luke for privacy purposes. We did have a lot of family members over, so we thought that he just snuck off with some of the other kids and was playing.
We didn't think much of it until my aunt was leaving and said she was going without Luke. We asked her, "Where's Luke?" She looked confused and said, " Luke wasn't feeling well, so I left him at home with his dad." Our faces went pale. We showed her the video and she was shocked as well.
When I got older, I did some research on the house and it turns out that a woman had drowned her kid, a four-year-old boy, in the bath on the 4th of July after finding out her husband had passed.
43. Spiritual Stalker
I used to work in a fairly upscale resort and the whole place was covered with CCTV, so in the security control room, you had a pretty good overview of everything. We had guards assigned to patrol the hotel at all times of the night. One guy did his rounds by the pool while the supervisor was watching on the screens. He saw that there was a lady following him, so he radioed the guard and asked who was behind him. The guard’s response was so chilling, it’s unforgettable.
He turned around and on the screen, he appeared to be looking directly at her, but he called back saying, "What lady? It's just me here." The supervisor thought he was just joking around and said, "OK, sure man." About an hour later, the guard reported to the control room and the supervisor asked him again who that lady was.
It soon became obvious that he really had no idea who he was talking about, so they pulled up the footage. It was undeniable that he would have seen the woman. After their radio exchange, he kept walking and the woman followed him. Then, she went a separate way, but she still never showed up on another screen.
I was the front office manager at the time and was asked to investigate which hotel guest that was; however, we couldn't find anyone matching the lady in the video. She just walked into the frame at the pool and walked out of the frame again, seemingly out of thin air and never saw her again. The security guard put in a transfer request the next day.
44. Putting On A Show
One time, I woke up at 3 am to the closing of car doors next to my house. I keep my cameras going on my PC screen, and when I glanced up, I saw someone run past my front camera. I pulled my pants on quickly and heard a slight tap tap tap at my door. I looked at the camera and there was a guy darting out of my camera view again. This happened twice and I was terrified.
I kept thinking I was hearing rustling around my house as well, but am partially deaf, so I wasn't sure. I decided I was going to arm myself and see what was going on. This thing just kept darting past my cameras. I turned to grab my weapon and I heard the tap tap tap again. I opened the front door and stepped out to someone at the corner of my garage. I yelled something along the lines of, "What the heck is your problem?"
Then, I hit the ground. There was lots of screaming, and the marshals came running out from behind every bush, tree, corner of my house. They had a federal warrant to serve on a prior tenant. Everything ended up being fine and they eventually left. My attorney said they were setting up to kick my door, and that no-knock warrants had been getting cases thrown out so they put on a show of knocking for the cameras before they made entry.
Between waking up at 3 am to someone methodically running around my house attempting to avoid cameras, to watching the replay of me stepping out of my door and two marshals launching themselves from behind an overgrown bush onto my back, it was all pretty creepy. I got extremely lucky in many ways that night, but I am really glad I woke up.
I'm not sure what would have happened to my dogs if they had kicked that door. Also, I'm glad I put my weapon in my waistband...Had I yelled at that officer thinking he was a would-be intruder with a weapon in my hand, it wouldn't have ended well for me.
45. Cheaters Never Prosper
topless man standing near windowPhoto by Marcos Paulo Prado on UnsplashMy sister's boyfriend installed a camera in her apartment bedroom because he suspected she was cheating on him. Turns out, she really was and he saw it on his phone at work. His reaction was incredibly disturbing. He busted out, got his pistol, and went charging through town to her place. She fled with Boy #2 and hid in a parking lot nearby. Her boyfriend entered her apartment, turned on the oven burners, and waited with his pistol.
Her sister called the officers, who later arrived and escorted the guy out. SOMEHOW, they don't book him (he was a security guard still in uniform, so maybe they had a "bro" moment). It's my theory that he was probably going to push her face into the stove before blowing the place up. The officers did make him give them her key. It's literally the third time she's cheated on someone.
46. Mischief Managed
My old apartment had incredibly unprofessional repair staff. I'd call them because my AC would be out, and they'd come over while I was at work, rather than at the agreed-upon time while I was home. They'd use my bathroom, poke around through my stuff, type on my keyboard, mess around with my pets, etc. Needless to say, I was pretty livid, so I made it my mission to serve them some sweet justice.
I set up a camera and caught them, then took the footage to the front office. I got a personal call from the owner of the apartment complex to apologize, and almost the entire repair staff got fired.
47. The Lady IS The Tramp
I have cameras in my house for my dogs. They're miniature robots that alert me when they bark and I can send them treats remotely, so they basically function as a security camera. Anyway, we went on a vacation one time and I warned our dog sitter in advance that we have cameras in common areas of the first floor of our home.
One day, during my trip (at 3 am) I reviewed the camera recordings because I got an alert on my phone that my dogs were barking like crazy. I normally wouldn’t creep, but I was concerned that maybe there was a fire, or break-in, or the woman fell, etc. The footage shook me to my core. The dog sitter (a 70-year-old lady) was running around the house, terrorizing my dogs, in underwear only.
I turned the video off right away because I didn’t want to invade her privacy, but I got on a flight the next day and went home. I never asked her to dog sit again.
48. What Did He Say?
white and black dome security cameraPhoto by Bernard Hermant on UnsplashI've got cameras downstairs that cover my living room, kitchen, and front door, as well as one in my second closet where I have two large pistol safes. Maintenance came in to clean and test the smoke detectors. One of them opened the closet and started poking around at the keyboards on my safes. He gave the other guy a startling promise: "I'm gonna figure out this code one day."
The other guy was by my nightstand commenting on the intimate goods I had in my drawer. I simply called the authorities and met them there. The guy by my nightstand was wearing one of my watches. They both went to prison.
49. Just His Luck
During my senior year of high school, one of my friends saw a freshman struggling to get something out of the vending machine. Being the heroic senior that he was, he walked up, pulled the vending machine back a bit, and let it fall back. The entire front glass front shattered at this point. He reached in, picked up the bag of chips, and handed it to the freshman with an absolute poker face.
He knew there was a security camera on the vending machine, so he went straight to the Dean of Students' office and they ended up watching the video. The Dean was usually kind of a jerk, but he wasn't even mad. He just laughed out loud and said, "Haha! You actually gave him what he paid for!"
50. Plot Twist
I installed some security cameras at my place after my neighbor told me they thought they heard someone walking around my yard at night. I scanned through the footage the very next morning and saw a guy come into frame wearing only boxers and laced-up combat boots. He stood by my bedroom window, stared in for about 45 minutes, then walked back out of frame.
I was able to get a pretty good look at his face, and that's when I realized a bone-chilling truth. It was me. I'd been freaking sleepwalking. I have no idea how long it had been going on or where else I'd been that night, and that freaking terrified me. I honestly think I might've preferred seeing an actual intruder.
Redditor irish-springs wanted to hear about which norms in life feel very outdated, so they asked:
"What are some social norms that are pretty f**king weird if you think about it?"
I'm used to odd behaviors.
So I doubt I'll be shocked by this list... well, maybe.
Sorry Bob...
Roses Funeral GIF by Un si grand soleilGiphy"Spending so much for a funeral. Uncle Bob is dead, a $1200 coffin or a $100 coffin is the same for him."
8champi8
"Funerals are just weddings with really muted colors and a few extra sad people."
Oseirus
"Paying tens of thousands of dollars to bury corpses in the f**kin' ground."
ieatsthap***y
"It's even worse: we are not burying in the ground. That would be better. We are paying to embalm corpses so they are preserved for a long time, in wooden/metal boxes, using valuable space."
"Modern embalming techniques can preserve a corpse for a long time. If we were simply burying them in the ground and letting them decompose, it would be way, way better."
IWishIHavent
We Hear You!
"I feel like too many people talk on speakerphone. Do you remember when conversations were private?"
kellykellyculver
"I live in a cul de sac and a neighbor has their phone hooked up to the car Bluetooth. I can hear the phone ringing while calling someone and I can hear the entire conversation from my garage with 2 houses in between us. It's fascinating and I don't think they have any idea how loud it is."
ember3pines
"If someone is having a conversation on speakerphone in my presence, I am now part of the call and will insert myself into it as much as possible."
twilightchickens
No Frills
"The expectation to have a huge wedding."
asj0107
"The expectation to have a wedding at all. They’re overrated IMO."
hiremeplz2017
"My fiancé and I are having a registrar's office wedding, just us, two witnesses, the registrar, and the paperwork. His sister complained we weren't having a proper one and that solidified my position to do it this way. No frills, no drama. We can't decide if we want a reception of any kind."
ElliotFrickinReed
A Creepy Custom
wedding fail GIFGiphy"Garter toss is f**king weird."
coronakiddos
"Yeah, we did not do this at my wedding. Really creepy custom. I don’t need to see my coworkers and my husband’s friends clamoring for something that’s just been around my thigh. And I wanted to keep my bouquet, so I tossed the maid of honor’s bouquet instead."
ZoraksGirlfriend
That garter idea always seemed off to me.
Danger Attire
Black And White Vintage GIF by FilmStruckGiphy"I can’t think of a single reason for ties being the standard for business attire other than it’s a reminder to everyone in the room that you could be easily strangled at any time."
Taxitaxitaxi33
Small Talk
"Asking people how they're doing as a matter of courtesy when you truly don't care and are hoping they just say 'good hbu' in response."
TheMaskedSandwich
"You know, you walk out the door. You see someone that you know, and they ask you how you are, and you just have to say that you're fine when you're not really fine, but you just can't get into it because they would never understand."
shall_always_be_so
"It’s even perfectly acceptable to respond with, 'Hi, how are you?' And have neither person ever actually answer with how they’re doing."
OfficialLindsayLohan
Traditions
"Blowing out candles on a birthday cake."
Lallner
"It never occurred to me to look up the origin until now..."
"For the Ancient Greeks, putting candles on a cake was a special way to pay tribute to the Greek moon goddess, Artemis. They baked round cakes to symbolize the moon. Candles were added to represent the reflected moonlight. Candles on cakes became a popular tradition long ago in Germany, too. For religious reasons, Germans would place a large candle in the center of a cake to symbolize 'the light of life.'"
"Some scholars believe that other meanings have also been attached to the use of candles on cakes. People may have believed that the smoke from the candles carried their wishes and prayers to gods who lived in the skies. Others probably believed the smoke helped to ward off evil spirits. Today, we still put birthday candles on cakes. Many people still hold superstitious beliefs about them, too."
powderp
Wasted Paper
"Cards. I'm just giving Hallmark money in exchange for a piece of paper that someone's going to look at for about 10 seconds and then completely forget about."
TheTurtleOfWar
"Lately I've been making my own handmade cards and they get a lot more love than your average store-bought ones, and I see the ones I make always end up out on my friend's dressers for display over anyone else's."
hellboyyy25
"Hallmark cards are an all-too-common phenomenon of capitalism replacing a genuinely heartfelt gesture with a store-bought, mass-produced one… and in so doing, removing the meaning from it altogether."
bearded_dragon_34
Hard Labor
Working Out Of Office GIF by This GIF Is HauntedGiphy"Working your butt off for 65 years to then live for 10 years."
maybetoomuchrum
There are so many things on this list I never thought about.
We really need some life updates.
I like the idea of working less, for sure. (Or at least not to death!)
