A Reddit user asked:
Who is the scariest person you’ve ever met?
And the question immediately made me think of my oldest kid... which I'm sure we will address later with a qualified professional.
But let me explain...
She was the first thing that came to mind, but my little one is spooky - not scary.
I was going to tell you guys all about how my family calls her "Spooky McPsychicpants" and how she has weirdly predicted lots of pregnancies ... but that's honestly just neat. It's not scary.
These Reddit users have met scary, and it isn't cute. It isn't an adorable kid with a cool little quirk.
It's heartbreaking. It's world changing. It can be the kind of thing you are never the same after.
Or maybe it's just a terribly mundane movie night with an axe murderer.
Read ahead with caution. There are some serious atrocities and triggers touched on here.
The Nice Library Guy
Probably this dude who worked at my local library around the time I was 17-18.
He was my age. I worked with his older brother at the local grocery store when I was 16 and had his dad as a teacher in 5th grade.
He was a nice guy, quiet, helpful. We'd chat whenever I had a research paper for school or a project.
He murdered them both - as well as his brothers girlfriend. He was sent to prison and was shot trying to escape.
Megacharm
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The pastor at a local megachurch goes to a doctor's office I used to work at. The church is basically a cult at this point, and everyone outside of it knows it.
He walked in the door while I was at the front desk, and right away all of my higher faculties just... got hijacked. I don't know how to explain it. In that moment, I wanted to be the most fantastic receptionist he had ever met in his life. I wanted to impress him so badly it hurt.
The second he walked out, I came back to myself like what the hell just happened?
A few months later the same exact thing happened again.
He didn't scare me, at least not as far as I was aware. But I'm open to the possibility that it was a fawning response. I do have a tendency to do that to …a lot of people.
This just felt sort of different; like pheromones in movies or something. I want to stay very far away from that man.
Poor Buck Taylor
When I was really young we were at a rodeo and met Buck Taylor. He was one of the actors who played a bad guy on Tombstone.
I was TERRIFIED of him.
I couldn't understand why my parents were chatting with a murderer.
The actor was a lovely guy, I just wasn't old enough to know movies weren't real yet.
My Brother's Mental Health Monster
Honestly, my brother.
He has severe mental illness that's incredibly unpredictable. Months go by with him seeming fine, and then there's a day that he just completely shifts. Having dealt with it for over a decade now you'd think you'd get used to it, but you don't, you just get smarter about seeing a break coming.
There's no countdown timer though and half the time it doesn't end up being anything, but saying something about it can trigger that break. The reason it's terrifying is because he's almost always around either myself, my mom, or my dad, and it goes from 0-200 in the blink of an eye.
The first violent episode it was just me, we just fought intensely for a while, and then he went around smashing everything he could find until cops came and had to tackle him. People joke about "crazy-strength", but it's no joke.
Since then, he's been stun-gunned, tased, flash banged, and bean-bagged by police. Mostly separate incidents, some multiple times.
He violently threw my mid-60s mom to the ground. He cornered my dad with a knife when he came to check on him at his apartment, which my dad did because someone who knew my brother called him to let him know that he was sitting in a public park in the city repeatedly stabbing a knife into the ground. That fiasco ended with my brother taken down by SWAT.
He's been involuntarily admitted to mental health facilities more than a dozen times, but they have a catch and release policy unless you've got insane money, which neither he nor us do.
I've learned a frightening amount about both our legal system and mental health system throughout these years. There are holes big enough to drive a bus through. He needs help and those around him deserve to be safe.
At this point, my dad has moved out of the country so the only option was for my brother was to move in with my mom or be homeless. She couldn't even begin to entertain the idea of making her son homeless.
After years of never owning a firearm, I do now - and I have a different perspective on why it might be necessary for some people. Some people just love guns; but some people have a legitimate reason for needing one...
Thankfully, for now, he's not a threat to either of us. Our relationships with him seemed to be going better, but then he got it in his head that we were part of a conspiracy that was seeking to kill him. So he went to the police station to report it.
They know both myself and my mom (at this point they've met us several times) so they called EMTs, but that spooked him. So he pulled out a knife and stabbed one of the cops (went through the Kevlar).
Thankfully the cop was okay after some stitches.
Because of that incident, my brother now meets the requirements to be kept in a mental health facility for a while. No idea how long though. And once he's out, he'll be going back to my mom's.
Oh, and the cop my brother stabbed is suing my mom and trying to go after her homeowners insurance. That could very well make them drop her, even if it doesn't go anywhere. She would have an extremely difficult time finding a new company that would cover her based on all of this. So there's that.
This newest episode almost broke my mom but she pushed forward, and I'll never forget the sound in her voice when she told me that she'd received that notice in the mail. It was like it finally broke her.
She's tried her best to help, but there's only so much she can do. The cop involved is close enough to retirement that I have to think he's trying to leverage this to make that date come sooner, but I don't think he realizes what effect that'll have. Or maybe the department is forcing him to go after her?
The system is f*cked, and it breaks my heart to think there's likely one of two outcomes in the future:
Either I'm around when he snaps next and I at least have a chance to defend her (she will never raise a finger against him, even in self-defense)
or
I'm not and I get the worst phone call of my life.
She doesn't even believe he's capable of such a thing because she sees him through rose-colored glasses (he is her son), but his consistent history makes it obvious to anyone else.
He literally tried to kill a cop but I don't think she understands that it very well could have been her. Psychosis overrides the person you know.
The only fitting comparison I've ever been able to make is if you'd had a dog that you loved for years and then all of a sudden, it got rabies. It's just not the same dog anymore. But it can be close to impossible to accept that when you're looking at the dog you've loved for so long.
We'll have to see what they decide in court due to the severity of this incident, but at this point we genuinely have no idea if he'll be out in a few months considering "time served" or if it'll be longer than that. The prosecutor also made the case that he's mentally fit to stand trial, which I think was done to increase any penalties against him, but that carries significant effects.
It means they can't force him to take his meds - which makes things worse the longer he goes without. It also means he'd be placed in gen pop if he's found guilty, which is dangerous both for him and anyone else he's locked in there with.
Either way he will get out eventually. He will go back to my mom's. Then it's just a matter of time until the consistent escalation of this reaches the next level. He's only gotten worse over the years, and I'm terrified of what the next manifestation will be.
- caangus
Escaped Only Because Of His Whims
I met a guy in a Parisian brothel who was 'security' - but in reality was there to pressure customers to buy the overpriced drinks and max out their credit cards on the 'ladies'.
I didn't know it was a brothel and as soon as I saw they were charging $25 for a small glass of beer and the place was full of young women who were all far too interested in my ugly @ss I started to nope out of there.
This intimidating muscular man in a suit, complete with facial scars, held my bicep and pulled me back inside. I told him I wanted to leave and I would call the police if he tried to stop me.
At that point he gave me a look ... and to this day I swear he looked like he was trying to decide whether to kill me or not - and it was a close thing.
He let me go with a face like thunder. I truly believe I was in mortal danger and I escaped only because of this guy's whims. Or perhaps he didn't think he could avoid problems with the police.
One scary mother f*cker. Definitely killed before and would again, in my opinion.
Human Traps
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Maybe 8 years ago now I was working at a local Subway with this really nice kid who always seemed eager to help.
I was watching the news one day and saw that he had gotten arrested for setting up traps for humans up the canyon.
Saturday Dinner
I work in a mental health facility. Every Saturday I watch a movie with a man who killed his step father with an axe.
"Cold blooded killer" right? Some of his family members absolutely hate him.
But he's kind. He loves movies and media. He helps the other guys. He listens....hell the other staff and I sometimes joke that he works there.
"Hey "Bob" you wanna go grab this room check?"
"Yea man I got you lol."
He's an inherently "good" person who committed a horrible crime because he was an undiagnosed schizophrenic. In situations like this all you can do is take it day by day and do your best to help these people.
"Of Course"
The leader who ordered a teenager to shoot into a truck full of girls on their way to school.
It was a big deal locally that these girls were starting school that day.
The man who ordered the attack was completely nonchalant when questioned about it. "Of course I told [teenager] to do this. He wanted his soul saved from evil, so I told him when and how."
"Of course they should die. [the girls] They were on their way to school to be made into whores for America. We had to stop them from being corrupted."
This went on and on. He acted like it was the most commonplace, banal thing he'd ever done.
Like tossing a piece of paper into a trashcan. Or cutting up vegetables. "Of course I cut up the carrots, how else do you put them in stew?"
It was insane. He was terrifying.
Most of the girls survived the attack. Every one of them had horrific injuries, though. Hope they eventually went to school, but I don't know.
Just Because He Could
My ex. Dear God...
Women fawn over him, just like I once did. He is the most masterfully manipulative person I have ever met. An expert at reading people, and a most accomplished gaslighter.
Physically, mentally/emotionally, financially toward relationship partners.
You're either 100% with him or you're his enemy, there is no in between. It's all black and white. A thief and a liar and he actually just thought it was fun to fight people.
He'd just beat the sh*t out of someone because he could.
Impulsive and reckless, a loose cannon. And he was enormous, a giant block of muscle.
Grim
Probably the night I saw the grim reaper.
It was 3am and me and my friend decided to walk to get some fast food. The walk was on a well lit long street, no way on or off for a good long stretch on the way there. It was a very flat road we could see a good distance ahead. There was no one around. No cars, no pedestrians.
All of a sudden we see a guy ahead of us. He came out of nowhere. He was just there. We hadn't seen coming even though we had an insane and clear field of view.
We noticed him when he was about 10 meters away. Way too close. My senses told me to cross the road and avoid this guy, but instead we go quiet and pass him.
He is wearing all black - but not normal looking clothes. Like nothing I've seen before. He looks quite aged and he has a long black beard and a long walking cane that looks like it has a skull on it and its made out of wood, but like crazy wood like a staff or something. He was creepy AF.
After he passed us, I didn't look back right away for fear of our lives, but after a while we turned and looked. He was gone. We should have been able to see him still. There is no way he walked that far in that amount of time.
Every now and then I ask my friend about that night. We can't explain it. I've never been more terrified.
- HazzyP
Dad Was Usually Angry And Scared Us
Growing up my best friend's neighbors were a family with two boys, both younger than us. We didn't hang out with them that much, but would swim in their pool in the summer and their mom would bring us snacks.
She was really nice, but their dad was usually angry and scared us.
Their dad ended up killing their mom in the house, dismembering her body and dumping the parts in different dumpsters around the area.
He only ended up getting 11 years and tried to move near his kids once he was out, their grandparents had adopted them and had to get a court order for their dad to stay away.
The Reason There's No Cutlery
There was this kid at my elementary school who constantly got into fights. He was just outright aggressive.
He stared at people while hunching like an animal about to strike, made himself vomit on people he didn't like, slammed his head into the brick wall on more than one occasion, and stabbed people with the silverware so many times that the school ended up getting rid of metal cutlery entirely in favor of plastic.
A Sociopath Looking For A Place To Happen
I did administrative work at a local residential drug and alcohol treatment facility in my early 20s (I'm 35 now), paper pushing, filing and the like. The scariest dude I've ever met was this guy who was there for alcohol and some kind of narcotic.
I was delivering something urgent and unrelated to his counselor and he just happened to be in her office when I knocked on the door frame (door was open) and he looked straight at me a continued describing how he liked to get f*cked up, mutilate small animals (especially squirrels and cats) and masturbate over their eviscerated remains.
The way he said it was so matter of fact, like how a person describes how they like their coffee, and there was NOTHING behind his eyes. It was like they were dead and glazed over. It was like looking into the face of every serial killer mugshot I've ever seen all at once.
Looking at him was like getting hit with a low voltage electrical current. I dropped the message on the counselor's desk and avoided the hell out of that guy for the rest of his stay.
I still think about him a lot and to this day I hope that man is either dead or in prison because that man was a sociopath looking for a place to happen.
The Really Big Big Show
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When I was bout five I went to see a WWE match.
When it ended, I got the chance to meet The Big Show. While he was really nice to me, it was his shear size that scared me. The Big Show is really big.
The Pigeon Was Just The Beginning
When I was 5, my friend and I found a pigeon that was either sick or injured since it wasn't flying away. My mom has nursed animals back to health before, including a squirrel and a different pigeon.
My neighbor and his friend came out (teenagers) and wondered what we were doing. We told them and they said to wait right there and they will take care of it.
They returned with aluminum baseball bats and just start beating the sh*t out of this unfortunate creature like Glenn from The Walking Dead. My neighbor's friend said "You're welcome" and they just left.
We were horrified and left with a destroyed corpse.
A couple years later, I saw my neighbor's friend in a newspaper article. He killed a girl with an axe on Christmas or New Years eve, I forget. Decapitated her.
That f*cked me up a little bit.
For many childhood memories are overrun by living nightmares.
Yes, children are resilient, but that doesn't mean that the things we see as babes don't follow us forever.
The horrors of the world are no stranger to the young.
Redditor -2sweetcaramel- wanted to see who was willing to share about the worst things we've seen as kids, so they asked:
"What’s the creepiest thing you saw as a kid?"
Serious Danger
"Me and my best friend would explore the drainage tunnels under the Vegas area where we grew up. These were miles long and it was always really cool down there so it was a good way to escape the heat of our scorching hot summers. We went into this one that goes under the Fiesta casino and found a camp with a bunch of homeless people."
"Mind you we are like 11 years old lol. And we just kept going like it was nothing. It wasn’t scary then but when I look back at it we could have been in some serious danger. Our parents had no idea we did this or where we were and we had no cellphones. We could have been kidnapped and never have been found."
oofboof2020
Waiting for Food
"I was at a portillos once when I was 12 and I was waiting with my little brother at a booth while my parents got our food. This guy was standing with his tray kind of watching me then after a couple of minutes he started to walk over really fast not breaking eye contact with me."
"He was 2 feet from the table and my dad came out of nowhere and scared the s**t out of him. He looked so surprised and just said he wanted to see if I’d get scared or not. He left his tray full of food near the door and left. My folks reported him but we never went to that location again since we found a better one closer to home."
nowhereboy1964
Captain Hobo to the Rescue
"When I was a pretty young teen, my friends and I were horsing around in San Francisco and started hanging out to smoke with some homeless guys. Another homeless dude came up and began aggressively trying to shake us down for anything (money, smokes, a ride, drugs- all of it) and wouldn’t take no for an answer."
"We got in over our heads and could tell this guy was now riling the other 2 guys up and they were acting like they wanted to jump us. Some grandfather-looking old homeless man appeared out of nowhere and yelled at us to get the f**k out of here- nice kids like us don’t belong down here at this hour!!"
"Captain Hobo saved our lives that night. My parents sincerely thought we were at a mall all day lol."
FartAttack911
Survival
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"I was 7 and survived the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. Witnessed the wave rise way above the already massive palm trees (approx. 40ft?) and my family and I watched/heard the wave crash into the ground from a rooftop."
faithfulpoo
These Tsunami stories are just tragic.
On the Sand
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"We were a group of kids who went to swim in a local lake. And there was a dead body on the beach with their hands raised and their legs bent unnaturally that local police just took out of the same lake. I've never put my foot in these waters again."
oyloff
Be Clever
"I was walking to school and I was about 5 or 6 years old and some guy pulled up beside me in his car and asked if I would get in. He also offered me sweets to do so. I said no. The creepy bit was when he calmly said ‘clever boy’ to me, then drove off. I’ve never even told my parents or anyone else about this as it would most likely freak them out."
OstneyPiz
Bad Jokes
"Dad's side of the family pranked me by burying a fake body on our back property and had me dig it up to find valuables. Was only allowed to use a lantern for light. They stuffed old clothes with chicken bones. Sheetrock mud where the head was... Random fake jewelry as the treasures... I was like maybe 10 or 11.. I remember digging up the boot first and started gagging because it became real at that point."
Alegan239
YOU
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"Woke up to find my little brother staring at me in the dark, asking, Are you really you?"
PrettyLola2004
Siblings can really be a bunch of creepers.
No one should talk to others in the dark though.
Not all pet owners have the same relationship with their pets.
While anyone who decides to become a pet owner, or pet parent as some say, love their pets equally, some never ever let them leave their side.
Taking their pet with them to work, running errands, even on vacations.
Many pet parents even allow their pets to share their bed with them when going to sleep.
For others though, this is where a line is finally drawn.
Redditor Piggythelavasurfer was curious to hear whether pet owners allowed their pets to share their bed with them, as well as the reasons why they do/don't, leading them to ask:
"Do you let your pet sleep in your bed? Why/why not?"
The Tiny Issue Of Water...
"Absolutely not."
"I have fish."- Senior-Meal3649
Everyone Gets Lonely Eventually...
"I adopted an eleven year old cat the day before Halloween."
"She has mostly lived in my closet since I got her, and she hasn’t been too interested in coming out."
"Last night, she came out of my closet and jumped up on my bed, and crawled under my covers and curled up by my feet to sleep."
"I was so happy!"- YellowBeastJeep
The Comforting Reminder That You're Not Alone...
"I recently lost my Greyhound but I used to let him sleep on my bed with me."
"The company was nice and he was no trouble to have on my bed."- HoodedMenace3
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What Do You Mean Allow?
"I have no choice."
"She is a cat, cats do whatever they want."- Small_cat1412
"He lets me sleep in my bed."- Poorly-Drawn-Beagle
Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way
"I carry my old boy upstairs to bed every night."- worst_in_show
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Who Needs An Alarm Clock?
"I let my two cats sleep with me."
"They're so full of love and just want cuddles all the time."
"And so do I."
"We've all developed a lil routine."
"Get to bed, oldest sleeps on my feet to keep them warm, youngest lies in my arm while I lie on my side (she the little spoon), then when I snooze my alarm for work in the morning the youngest paws at my face and meeps loudly to wake me up."- GhostofaFlea_
Whose Bed Is It Anyway?
"Yes."
"They're also kind enough to let me squeeze into whatever space they've left for me."
"Although I do get a few dirty looks off them."- Therealkaylor
"I found this tiny kitten screaming her head off under a car."
"Would not come out."
"Got some food and some water in dishes."
"I stood by the tire so she couldn't see my feet."
"She got curious about the food and water and started gobbling it down."
"I thought she would bolt when I squatted down."
"She was too busy eating."
"I grabbed her by the nape of the neck and all four legs went straight out and she tried to scratch me to death."
"I got her in the door and tossed her toward the couch."
"She ricocheted off the couch as if she was a ping pong off a table and I lost sight of her."
"I put out food and water and a sandbox and did not see that kitten for three days."
"On the third day, I came home and she was on my bed pillow."
"I thought she would bolt when I came near, but she didn't."
"I wanted to sleep so I tried to scoot her little butt off my pillow."
"She would not go."
"I put my head down to sleep and that is the way it was from then on."
"She ran the roost."- Logical_Cherry_7588
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Sleeping Is A Prerequisite...
"No, he's a cat and he cannot keep still during the night."
"He walks across the headboard, opens the closet doors, jumps into the windows and rustles the blinds, etc."
"If he would sleep he could stay, but alas, he's a ramblin' man."- Spong_Durnflungle
Saying No Just Isn't An Option...
"'Let'."
"Lol."
"It's a cat's world and I'm happy to be on her good side."- milaren
Felines Only!
"The cat does, the dog doesn't and the horse certainly does not either."- Xcrowzz
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Is That My Hair On That Pillow?
"My dog is perfect."
"She comes up, cuddles til we start to fall asleep, then gets down to sleep on her bed so she doesn't get too hot."
"Jumps back up in the early morning for wake up cuddles."
"The hair everywhere is the only downside but she is so cozy, what can you do."- HoodieWinchester
It is easy to understand how some people are able to fall asleep more easily knowing their friend and protector is there, in bed, with them.
Though we can't blame others who don't want to run the risk of being scratched or bitten in the middle of the night either...