It's tough believe that there is life living in an ether that surrounds us. I mean... ghosts? Spirits? Demons, floating about us?
Sounds like fun on paper, for a movie script, but for real life, I don't know. But strange occurrences do abound, and often a simple explanation just doesn't suffice.
If skeptics have been haunted, it just all leads to more questions and no answers.
Hoping to connect with other unsure "non-believers" Redditor u/LordMaboy asked to hear about:
"What is the most creepiest thing you saw even though you are very sceptical about paranormal things?"
I have to admit there have been a few instances in life when I've been... spooked. But then right away I think, "Is it just my mind? Is it the light hitting that corner at that certain angle in just a certain way? Is that last episode of Law & Order: SVU, I told myself not to watch before bed?" So many questions.
25 Years Later
shaking the exorcist GIF
Giphy
"A handful of times, I would feel the corner of the bed lower as if someone sat down on it. Whenever it happened, I would refuse to turn over and just face the wall until I fell asleep."
"That was over 25 years ago."
What my Cousins Saw
"This happened back when we were like in 3rd grade."
"It was around 7pm right when the sun was almost set. My cousins swore that one of my grandma's friends was in their backyard, knocking on the window in their room and trying to talk to them"
"Although not entirely strange for her to be back there (she regularly helped my grandma with her garden), at this point she had been reported missing and nobody even knew where she was."
"It was only later that we learned she was already dead sometime that morning. She had been stabbed several times and her body found in a dumpster nearby."
"I don't know who the heck my cousins saw that night."
'Omg you saw it too?!'
"The girl I was babysitting one night came running out of her room crying. Saying something was walking by her window."
"Now I get a lot of creepy stories and things from the kids I babysit. They have crazy imagination. So I go check not really thinking anything."
"Something runs by the window as I'm checking it out. A distinctly humanoid figure. At this point, I needed a diaper as much as the little girl I was babysitting. So I text the parents asking about it. And no sh!t this is the response I get."
'Omg you saw it too?!'"
"Yeah I cried. Called the cops too. They came by and said they didn't see anything around."
"The thing is. The parents had called the cops several times before too for the same reason. One of the freakiest times I've ever babysat."
The Dog Knows
"My parents have a long hallway that runs down the entire length of their house, a big bungalow. Bedrooms at the end, bathrooms in the middle with the lounge off to the side etc, but if you're sat in the kitchen you can just about make out the end of the corridor, as it has a slight slant or kink in it like a chicane on a track."
"Anyway, my nephew is like 1 years old at this point being fed in his high chair, he's banging and giggling and blah blah blah. Then suddenly he and our dog look down the hallway and are just staring at it. Our dog has her ears up and just stood in the kitchen doorway looking down the corridor, then dips her head and gets lower down like she's stalking or something."
"Nephew is still staring. Not a sound, just looking and not moving."
"Then they both just... stopped and went back to normal again. Dog trots over to me and gets a scratching from me and goes and gets her ball."
"Such a weird experience, freaked out my sister and my mum as well as they were there feeding my nephew. I went down the corridor with a knife in hand as we were the only ones there. Nothing. No open windows or anything that could have caused a noise or anything."
In the Bunks
Let Me In Conan Obrien GIF by Team Coco
Giphy
"Was working as an EMT in a rural small town for a few years. Was up late after a run finishing my report when I started hearing someone come down some wooden stairs in the bay about 40 ft from me."
"The stairs go up to a training room and it's just me and my partner there. I go look, nothing there. I go sit back down and try to finish the report. Sound gets loud and fast down the stairs so I just get up and start walking out when the plug in for the ambulance just shoots out and crashes against the wall. Decided to finish my reports in the bunk rooms."
Ok, so far all of this sounds like it's coming from the mind of Stephen King; or worse, Wes Craven. I enjoy their work immensely, but I do not want to live in their brains. And why do dogs always know?
Redrum
The Shining GIF by Top 100 Movie Quotes of All Time
Giphy
"Had a room in our hotel where a murder occurred, got multiple complaints that the sheets have blood stains and the lights won't turn on from different guests every couple weeks."
"Whenever we'd check the room, no issues."
"One time after moving the guests, got a noise complaint that there was screaming coming from the room. Check the room, empty. Listened to the neighbours rooms and didn't note any noise either."
"We had never publicly release that the murder occurred in that room, and nobody but staff knew. I'm skeptical but creeped me out."
Don't Look Back
"My aunt has a story of her and her siblings sharing the same experience while in three separate rooms."
"My aunt and I were driving in the town she went to school in. We drove past a house and I remarked how bad it looked. She replied "it is worse inside. That place is haunted". I had never heard my aunt talk of anything paranormal and I haven't since."
"The story goes that the three of them rented out some sketchy house while going to school. Apparently, strange things would happen that made them feel uncomfortable but never anything crazy."
"They would all notice on a few occasions they would wake up in the night with the blankets off and at the foot of the bed. Nothing strange, people kick of blankets when they get too hot all the time."
"One night, my aunt recounts that she had a dream she was falling and needed to grab onto something to save herself. She suddenly realized that she wasn't dreaming and she was being pulled by her ankles out of her bed. She grabbed the rails of the headboard and after a few horrifying moments she gets the strength to scream."
"AT THE SAME TIME she hears screams from her siblings rooms."
"Just as soon as it started, the feeling ended and she ran to check on them. They all had the same feeling of being pulled out of their bed."
"Needless to say they moved out and didn't look back."
The Boots Made for Creaking
"I didn't see anything but in my old house I would be laying in bed watching tv at 2/3 am and could distinctly hear someone wearing heavy boots walk from the bathroom to the kitchen... they would do it four or five times then it would stop. At first I thought it was my mom or my grandma (I lived with both) and I would go check to see what they were doing up so late but no one was ever there."
"One day at dinner I brought it up to them and my grandma had told me she had heard the same footsteps since she first moved in. I'm pretty skeptical, the house was old and creaky it could have been anything but it sounded just like human footsteps and I can't explain the repetition... usually in a creaky house you'll hear one or to sounds then it goes away so."
The "L" Area
"I worked in the memory care unit of a nursing home facility. I was 2-10:30pm and from 8-10:30pm I would be the only employee in the unit. All of our residents were in their rooms either sleeping or watching tv around 9:30pm."
"Our unit was an L shape with a living room/dining room in the bend of the L. ANYWAYS, one night around 9:45, I was just walking from one end of the unit to the other."
"We had quite a few empty rooms at the time and we always kept their doors closed but not locked. I walked past some empty rooms, turned around at the end of the unit and as I passed back past the empty rooms one of the doors was wide open."
"I turned on the lights and looked through the entire room (they weren't very big), but there was nothing to find. There was no way any of my residents could've gotten up and opened a door and gotten back to bed without my noticing."
"I shut the door and checked that it was truly firmly closed. I sat in the living room area the rest of the shift just staring down the hallway terrified."
"Of course, I had been warned that weird things happen in nursing homes because there's bound to be lots of death. But I never talked to anyone who had a negative experience, they said it was more things that felt like a resident who passed getting confused and going back to their old room or favorite areas."
Who She Is?
The Ring Movie GIF by Arrow Video
Giphy
"It was a Saturday, I was taking a nap, in my dreams a girl with a white dress came to me, got near my ear, and started screaming."
"I instantly woke up, and i heard the door ringing, it was a friend that came over, the moment he comes in he asks if I'm with a girl at home, I was like why are you asking, he said that he ringed the bell and a girl answered, he asked if i was home, and she said "yes, he's sleeping, ill wake him up, just a second." I was freakin' traumatized."
Yeah, no. I'm not cool with this. I also don't believe it all. Maybe that is the root of this line of thought. Maybe we're all just trapped by the unknown of it. Without proof it's not real... there is no proof that it isn't real. God I'm deep.
Of course, most of the time, it was “just a phase". And looking back, those phases are regrettable, to say the least. Here are some prime examples of that.
SirGergoyFriendman asked:
What was your biggest/most regrettable "It's not a phase, mom. It's my life." that, in fact, turned out to be just a phase and not your life?
The enthusiasm of a young person can lead to some unexpected changes that parents are just not ready for.
Hi, Wheeljack!
I was VERY into The Transformers when I was a wee lad in the 1980s. One day, I decided to change my name to the name of my favorite Autobot. My name was lame, and I wanted an awesome Transformer name. And I was VERY insistent that my parents only call me by my new name. Calling me by my 'old' name would cause a big fat tantrum on my part.
So for the better part of a week, my poor parents had to call me Wheeljack.
Very 2008.
Ariana Grande Shrug GIFGiphyMy cat-ear phase. I wore cat ears every single day. Everywhere. I had like 20 pairs of them. Now everyone thinks I'm a furry.
I find that very cute and wouldn't have thought you'd be furry. Even if you'd had cat mittens. I think my suspicions would have started if you moved a bit like a cat, displayed catlike grooming habits or got a cat mask.
Not gonna lie, that car sounds cool.
I went to a car show once as a teen, and the only newer car there was some chick's PT cruiser. It was hot glittery pink, and at the time I was obsessed. I insisted that one day I would have a hot pink car, with pink seats, pink dash, pink carpets, etc. I was pretty heavily goth at the time, so my parents just rolled their eyes.
These phases can often lead to some very strange fashion choices.
That’s commitment.
When I was a teenager (early 00s), I was waiting for my mother to pick me up and was wearing one of those sh!tty sports wristwatches. It was itching me so I took it off for a second, but then she arrived and because I was struggling to get it back on my wrist, I looped it around the equally sh!tty chain I had around my neck in a rush to get out the door.
My mom asked me about it in the car, and I told her this was my new style and I planned to wear it like that every day. She rolled her eyes.
I wore that watch on a chain around my neck every single day for 3 years or so. There are even professional family photos where I'm wearing it because I refused to take it off.
One day, the chain broke and I lost the watch. I was in high school at that point anyway and it was a major lady repellent, so... phase over.
Not everyone can be Eminem.
slim shady eminem GIFGiphyBaggy pants, being a rapper someday and being a professional skater.
When I was about 14 and Eminem was starting to blow up I bought myself a keyboard with a synthesizer. It cost like $200 which was all the money I had saved up. It finally came (this was way before amazon prime and such) and I tried rapping.
My sister told me "you're effing horrible" and I gave up right then and there.
This should be a sin.
I used to button the top buttons of polo shirts.
I must say, this is probably the worst one I've read.
Looking back at our regrettable choices, all we can do is cringe.
An optimistic look at bad tattoos.
check me out season 3 GIF by PortlandiaGiphyBeing a tattooer. Regrettable because of those poor people who have my awful doodles on their bodies.
Take heart! My favorite tattoo is the one I drunkenly got my buddy to do in his living room one year during March Madness! It's dumb and frankly mediocre? But such a good story and has such good associations I smile every time I see it.
RIP Fredro’s.
My friend and I decided we were going to open a bar in Jamaica with exotic snakes in glass cages in the walls at each booth. We convinced ourselves it would be amazing for at least two years in college. It was going to be called Fredro's.
My entire family made fun of me for it. Once we got out of college, we realized it was not feasible and joined the office grind. We're also two white guys with no ties to Jamaica.
Talk about cringey.
I wore a top hat with an anime pin on it for around a year. Met one of my current best friends while wearing it, idk how he could bear to speak to me after that.
My weirdest phase was probably when I insisted on wearing knee-high rainbow socks to school every day. But honestly, I don't regret it. I rocked those socks, and I wish I still have a pair.
To all the people out there cringing over their past selves, remember that you were just a kid, and to be easy on yourselves. After all, we've all been there
Yet, too often, manufacturers who oversell their products fail to deliver what is promised and are inevitably left with angry customers who want their money back.
Whether the merchandise was defective or ridiculously overpriced, strangers online shared some of their worst purchases when Redditor BooksMcGee asked:
"What is the worst product you ever paid money for?"
Short Life Span
"This NERF gun that's supposed to shoot tennis balls for your dog. I bought it cause I thought you could load 3 at a time and shoot them far, but it's just one and it's super loud and the gun broke after like 4 shots (reading reviews later, this was a common issue)."
Lame Pets
"There were these toys called squiggles when I was a kid and the commercials made it seem like the toy was alive. It looked like you would get this crazy little fuzzy worms as pets that would follow you around an so sick tricks and listen to your every command. It was really just a piece of fluffy string tied to another piece of string with googly eyes on it. People may say that it was supposed to be a magic trick but they should also explain that to a 5 year old who really wanted a pet."
Card Value
"Not their fault, but I paid $70 for a Yugioh card hours before it was limited to one copy. Probably dropped to $20 by the end of the day."
These purchases were bad for your bum.
"A bicycle that literally fell apart before I made it out of the parking lot."
Not Worth Sitting On
"Joybird brand couch. Was so terrible, we returned it. Still hard to believe, we returned a freaking couch."
Going Nowhere Fast
"A 2000 VW Beetle (used)."
"Biggest piece of sh*t that literally had to have just about everything replaced before 100k miles and would still break down every time you left the driveway to the point where the tow-truck driver knew us on a first-name basis."
Expensive Lemon
"An Oldsmobile Achieva from one of those buy here pay here places. I should have known better, but I was young and thought I was getting a good deal. I had the thing for about 5 months, I drove it for maybe 3 weeks. The rest of the time it was either in the shop, or in my driveway waiting until pay day so I could afford to fix whatever broke on it this week. Eventually told the dealer just take it, I'm not paying for it any more. He said nope, and I will make sure your credit is ruined. I said well you sold me a lemon, do you really want to go this route? He came and took it. Never reported anything to credit. I heard he got sued by several other people who sold sh**ty cars too and eventually went out of business."
"Always amazes me when I see them driving around still, I can only assume there's enthusiasts who just love repairing horribly designed cars."
– zerbey
These Redditors were not convinced what they ingested was edible.
Bad Cereal
"A box of plain Cheerios. Thought they were honey nut, poured a bowl, was very disappointed."
"If I wanted to taste cardboard, I'd just eat the box."
– gor8884
Space Pizza
"A burnt frozen pizza at the air and space museum cafe in DC. I Don't wish that experience on anyone. There are some amazing restaurants in DC, don't settle."
– Alseids
The following electronics just gave off a bad charge.
"Asus Transformer Pad TF700"
"This was one of those early 'high end' Android tablets that was grossly underpowered, and it showed. Thing was slow as sh!t in no time flat. Rookie mistake investing into shiny new tech while they were still working all the bugs out. Think I paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $350-400 for it..."
– Luke5119
Bad Apple
"macbook pro 2018 13" touchbar. 2 years old and dead (battery). they're asking $300-$400 to change the battery. malfunctioning keyboard with double presses and missing presses. that's a lot of money for bad design."
Chilly Reception
"Past winter my old room heater broke down and I had to buy a new one. Went to a store nearby and somehow got convinced to buy a very costly heating device.. It's also my fault, since there were some sligthly cheaper options around, but nope. I wanted the expensive one thinking it will make my small room a volcano with little to no effort/cost (that's also what the seller told me). Long story short the device wasn't doing ANYTHING. No significant temperature changes, too much space, a weird noise, and was doubling my previous device in utility cost. I still gloom over those 80 euros.."
Some of my disappointing purchases was clothing, but only because I purchased them online. Unless they are a brand I'm familiar with, I'm usually fine with buying new jeans off of their websites.
But when it comes to graphic tees only available on specialty shops, an M-size shirt is not necessarily the same size as those found in other reputable stores.
I bought a medium sized T-shirt from a boutique store online because I loved the look of the design. But when it arrived, the supposed medium fit me like an XL.
At least I gained a fierce cleaning rag from this impulsive purchase.