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People Describe The Scariest Thing They've Ever Woken Up To In The Middle Of The Night

People Describe The Scariest Thing They've Ever Woken Up To In The Middle Of The Night

There's nothing more unsettling than waking up in the middle of the night.

Particularly if what woke you up was a loud, unsettling creepy sound.

The only thing that could make the experience more nightmarish is opening your eyes and seeing something that makes you jump out of bed.

Most of the time, what ends up scaring the living daylights out of us is nothing more than a pile of laundry we forgot to put away or a cat's shadow, and find ourselves laughing about it weeks or even days later

Others however, haven't been so lucky, waking up to discover they were actually in legitimate danger.


Redditor SpaceHubYT was eager to hear the most terrifying things people woke up to in the middle of the night, leading them to ask:

"What’s the scariest thing you’ve woken up to in the middle of the night?"

Keeping an extra close eye...hopefully?

"My grandmother just standing there in the dark by my bed, quietly wringing her hands and staring at me."- fryinpaskettimobster

Terrifying no matter when

"My mom saying I needed to get up and go with the cop."- abletable342

An experience no one deserves

"My mom screaming up the stairs 'get out of the house now!!!' and my brother swinging my door open to get us out."

"The house was on fire."- stoneytopaz

One hundred little fingers...

"Centipede crawling on my face."

"I still shiver thinking about when that happened."- Slight_Librarian_399

Bug Insect GIF by AquariumMeGiphy

A lesson well learned?

"A cop walking into my Airbnb at 4am in Tennessee."

"Somehow he had the code and just.. walked in."

"I was sleeping on the couch right near the front door."

"He yelled at me and asked my name and what I was doing there."

"I was dazed and said 'ugh, I’m sleeping here man' and he’s like 'we were called about a B n E at this address'." - Reddit

"And I said 'I dunno man' and he was like 'well, sorry to disturb you'."

"And he walked out."

"Found out later that the call came In from a different address and the cop still had the door code from a previous call that was put in at this building before."

"This is where I learned if someone breaks in to where I’m sleeping In the middle of the night, I ain’t gonna do sh*t."

"My reaction time is about 5 minutes."- ReferHvacGuy

Sharing a midnight snack?

"Cat dropping a giant a** spider on my chest, then giant spider disappearing in my panic."- lady_of_the_lac

attack spider GIFGiphy

One can only imagine...

"My wife sitting straight up out of bed and screaming while pointing down the hallway."

"She talks in her sleep, usually it’s hilarious."

"That time it was not."- BrotherOfTheOrder

Nature's alarm clock

"8.8 Richter scale earthquake at 3am."- sparkdaniel

There's a first time for literally everything.

"Lived in an old building in NYC."

"Had a neighbor across the hall that would seldom have night terrors."

"1st time it happened, it was about 4am and I was pretty sure she was getting murdered from the piercing screaming and loud thumps from her flailing around and the sound of glass breaking."

"I grabbed a meat cleaver and went into the hallway in my underwear to see that everyone else in the building was also awake and poking their heads out into the hallway wondering what to do."

"Me and 2 other neighbors eventually knocked on her door and when she answered she looked pale like a ghost and was dripping in sweat."

"She didn't remember any of it, apologized and explained to us her condition."

"That was some blood curdling sh*t."

"She was very apologetic about it and bought us all six packs of beer for freaking us out."

"Me and the two neighbors that decided to take action were all 100% sure that she was getting murdered at that moment."

"I lived there for 2 years and I think she only had 2 episodes during that time."- azninvasion2000

Always a relief to wake up.

"Had sleep paralysis one time in my life."

"I woke up to a very clear figure slowly moving towards my bed."

"I tried to scream or move but I couldn’t."

"Eventually it made it onto my bed and pressed against my chest with its knees and I could physically feel the pressure."


"It started to choke me and just as I felt like I was about to pass out I woke up."

"Apparently I was positioned like a mummy in a Sarcophagus with my arms crossed with my OWN hands around my neck."

"The more afraid I got the more I squeezed and the more I squeezed the more afraid I got."

"Scared the death out of me and I still remember it vividly."- PriorAgreeable8103

A most unwanted visitor

​"This didn't happen directly to me but I was very close when it happened."

"When kids turn 11-12 years old in our youth movement, they get to sleep in big military like tents during summer camp."

"Usually in the back of a large grass field, away from the main buildings."

"This particular year, we slept on a part military and public terrain where there was a walking path separating the sleeping field and the main building."

"So we saw many hikers, bikers and even a military training passing by during the day."

"One evening our group was sitting outside our tent singing and talking, when we heard a loud bark."

"At first we didn't think much of it because we heard a lot of dogs during the day, but what really spiked our concern was how close and scary it sounded."

"Some doubted whether it really was a dog by the sheer loudness, deepest growl it had."

"We decided tot call it a night, and we all went to bed."

"We were fairly large size group so we slept on either side of the tent, dividing the tent lengthwise with a big walkway in the middle."

"The entrance was at the two ends of the walkway, so 4 kids slept beside it."

"At night we closed up all the gaps with a large tarp."


"The morning after we heard the loud bark, one kid was very quiet at breakfast."

"When we tried to ask what was wrong, they broke down in tears and ran inside the shower facility."

"Later when two camp leaders came back from consoling them, they had a shocked expression and where white as a sheet."

"At night, somebody had pulled off the tarp, undone all the buttons, it was hard to undo them from the outside because you fasten them from the inside, and walked through our tent."

"The kid that was quiet at breakfast, they woke up from the rustling, it was on their side, and watched how somebody walked through the tent, looking at every kid while they were asleep and even stopping and standing in the middle of the walkway for five minutes."

"The kid said they thought it was a camp leader at first but when a dog came in after the person, they knew it wasn't."

"While laying absolutely dead still, they watched as the dog sniffed around and even taking food out of backpacks that were laying at the head of beds."

"After about 10 min, the man and his dog walked out, leaving and not even closing the tarp."

"The kid lay frozen in bed, terrified of moving."

"That morning, when our camp leaders, came to wake us up they saw the removed tarp and open tent."

"They didn't think much of it and thought a kid went to go pee."

"After breakfast our camp leaders sat us down and told us what happened the night before."


"We were all too scared to sleep outside and asked to sleep in the buildings."

"The days after the event, the camp leaders slept with their groups."

"Each night after the event, we heard rustling, howling, low barking and talking."

"Not close by but we heard it."

"Until three days after when a group of little kids came running out of the forest that surrounded the ground, screaming at the top of their lungs."

"They were playing hide and seek and while hiding in an abandoned concrete pipe, they heard a low growl followed by loud barking coming at them."

"We sent all the kids home and came back the next day to clean up."

'After reporting the incidents, the police searched the whole area and found a homeless person that apparently was on the run from police."

'He had multiple sex crime conviction and was know for using his dog as a weapon."

"We were all very shocked when we heard the news."

"The little kid who saw it all didn't join the summer camps anymore, while the camp leaders decided to cancel the three following summer camps."- GroundbreakingTax302

Things are always clearer after having your morning coffee

"Got woken up on a Saturday morning by what looked like Samara from The Ring standing next to my bed."

"Let out a loud scream before the figure went "Yo chill, it's just me'."

"It was my sister telling me breakfast was ready."- Emil_Scalibia

the ring GIFGiphy

Little brothers...

"When me and my younger brother were really little, he had a night terror and was standing in his crib screaming and crying bloody murder."

"He kept screaming about an urchin in the corner of our room, and he seemed mortified."

"I had never seen someone act like that, so I was a bit freaked out."

"Took like an hour to calm him down."- Upset_Toe

Things Aren't Always What They Seem

"When I was little like 8 I was scared of the dark like most kids ."

"But one night I woke up and I saw what I thought was little girl standing next to my bed."

"I recall fainting and in the morning there was a vacuum cleaner next to my bed."

"But I still think it was a girl till this day."- barbiejeepboy

Could have been their stomach?

"Growling at the end of the bed."

"There were no animals or other people in the room."- Loserskwad

Most people prefer teddy bears...

"Okay so I was sleeping and I woke up and rolled over looking for the remote in the blankets."

"I felt what I thought was the remote in the blanket, but when I unfurled the blanket it was actually a flattened opossum carcass."

"I guess it got hit by a car outside and my cat brought it in and put it in bed with me."

"I screamed so loud that my next door neighbor came over."- randcoon

Giphy

Be it over nothing, or something incredibly serious, being woken up at all hours of the morning is never a pleasant experience.

As the place everyone should always feel safest of all, is in the comfort of their own bed.

People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.