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Skeptics Describe Their Creepiest Paranormal Experiences

This isn't happening. Is it?

Skeptics Describe Their Creepiest Paranormal Experiences
Image by Amber Avalona from Pixabay

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 GIFGiphy

"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."

- Kellner21

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."

- ObiMemeKenobi

'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."

- cleaning-meaning

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."

- Dynasty2201

In the Bunks

Let Me In Conan Obrien GIF by Team CocoGiphy

"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."

- Drake9214

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 TimeGiphy

"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."

- Backshot14

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."

- Great_Big__

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."

- Adventurous_Egg_6321

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."

- Voiceisaweapon

Who She Is?

The Ring Movie GIF by Arrow VideoGiphy

"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."

- fantik223

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.

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.