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Spooked People Share Their Most Unexplainable Experiences With The Paranormal

Spooked People Share Their Most Unexplainable Experiences With The Paranormal

There's no such thing. Right...?

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Well, maybe, but, maybe not, too. The world is full of unexplained things, and the paranormal--a subject of great controversy--is so impossible to prove, aside from word of mouth stories. Even skeptics have had their fill.

Redditor u/MegaMango000 asked: Redditors who don't believe in the paranormal, what's the scariest experience you've had that you still can't rationally explain? Serious Replies Only.

Here were some of the spookiest stories.

Poltergeist

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I had a lot of weird things happen at my parents house growing up, but I still consider myself skeptical of anything paranormal.

The master bedroom has a walk-in closet where the light would constantly come on by itself, especially when I was home alone. The dogs were also weirdly obsessed with the closet. One would sit in there for hours, and the other would always stand and growl and bark. Even years after I moved out, my mom still has this happen on the regular.

The freakiest time was when I was 15 and my parents were out for the evening at a work party. I was in my room playing a computer game and listening to music. Suddenly I got a really uncomfortable feeling like someone was behind me. I turned around, and there was a black shadowy figure in the middle of the room. As soon as I saw it, it moved towards me and I could literally feel it move through me. I noped the f out of the house and sat outside until my parents came home.

The most recent time was after I moved out and was at my parents to do some laundry. As I was loading the dryer, I clearly saw somebody walk by the laundry room door and into the furnace room. I assumed it was my dad, but it turned out they were both upstairs at the time.

My mom is also a complete skeptic, but she almost wanted to come stay with me one time because she swears she saw a dark figure crawl across the kitchen floor. She also says she's seen the chandelier swinging one time during the night.

I've never had anything weird happen to me anywhere else but that house, so it's kind of freaky. I'm really not sure what to think.

Poor Puppies

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Stayed with a friend for a couple months post divorce. He had an old farm house and I bunked in the top floor room. One night as I had just gone to bed I heard creaking on the floor just in front of my bed. After a couple seconds, I rolled over and just ignored it.

After a few minutes, I hear it again. I roll over and sit up. I see what looks like a blur (mist perhaps, who knows) pass by the end of the bed. At this point I'm more confused than anything.

Suddenly, I hear what sounds like light footsteps on the stairs - about 7 in total. A small creak, possibly the door opening to the downstairs and then the dogs go ballistic. I run downstairs and now we are all awake. The dogs are focused on the stairway and bark like mad for about 3 minutes.

No real explanation, but after telling my buddy and his wife what I heard we were all creeped out for a few days. I stayed there for a few weeks and nothing else ever happened.

WTF

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I was laying in my bed sleeping one night and I woke up feeling uncomfortable. My daughter has health issues and years of worry about her condition caused us to be light sleepers. When I woke up this night I watched a white figure come down the hall from my daughters room and go by my door. At the same time my dog slid off of the bed (he didn't get up just slid) and followed the white figure.

I was freaked out so I got up and followed the dog to our front door. The dog was facing the door looking out the glass in the door down the street. The moon was lighting up his face and I noticed his eyes were completely shut. I put my hand on his neck and he jumped... He was 100% asleep.

I checked my daughters room and she was happily sleeping and in good health. I've often wondered what visited and how often its visited our home. Ive also wondered if I've ever been the one staring out the front door instead of the dog completely asleep...

NOPE

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1. On my first nursing job, I would work in a unit that served as an overflow, and that unit would close if the census was low (less patients in the hospital). The hospital was only a few years old, but there were strange things happening like the TV turning on its own in a room where one patient died and patient doors closing. I always joked that sun-downing in a hospital could might as well be someone being possesed.

2. Two of our coworkers has the bright idea of going upstairs to that unit, turning on phone video, and asking aloud to the spirits to show themselves. I didn't join them since I was busy. But to their disappointment, nothing came of it and even the possessed TV did not turn on. But later, when they reviewed the video, they turned up the volume on their phone. They started to hear audible whispers and that freaked them out.

3. Not my story but a veteran coworker. She got consent from family for a patient for a surgery who was paranoid "I'm going to die...I'm going to die...I know I am, you bring me there I die." The patient didn't have any significant medical problems, no red flags with anesthesia history, and the surgery was a simple ex-laprascopic gallbladder removal.

The dude died on the table.

Can't Explain

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Repost, not really scary just a portion of it I can't explain:

So, this was about 13 years ago. My wife and I moved into our brand new condo in July of 05. We were new to the area, and knew no one besides my dad. Fast forward to April 07. We had some "weird" things, such as the tv turning on in the middle of the night and a few glasses shattered on their own when no one was in the room. Strange... but we just explained it as new construction/wiring and perhaps the glasses were weakened by the move/age.

We joke about it, and eventually I'm due to drive back to Chicago to do my oral defense for my Masters Degree. I take showers daily, as does my wife. Don't remember the actual dates, but lets say Monday my wife and I take our showers, no worries. Tuesday, I take a shower and get out. Our bathroom has a full wall mirror over the dual sinks. In the steam, at the VERY VERY top is written, "Chicago". I'm like, "Uh... that's odd." Call to my wife and ask her, "Why did you write that?" She is just waking up and comes in, is confuse and starts to get mad at me cause SHE didn't write it. I quickly write in the steam below it without thinking... as does she. The writing doesn't match either of us. Plus, it is written at the TOP of the mirror. We have ten foot ceilings. Both of us would have had to have gotten on the counter and stood to reach it.

I run through the condo (its not very big) everything is locked. We had no people over inbetween the daily showers, and hadn't had anyone over in weeks (still didn't know many people here). My wife is not a prankster, she has never pranked me in in the two decades I've known her.

The kicker, the next night I had an incredibly realistic dream of my grandma who passed in 05. She was on my bed, rested her hand on my leg and said, "Don't worry Hyperion, that b-stard is gone." Nothing weird happened after that. I can explain away everything except that writing though.

Wormhole

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When I was in middle school, I had just come into my classroom and sat down in my desk that was directly across from the door, so I could see out in the hall. I had looked up and saw a black circle, or I guess a circular void (pitch black, no shadow or anything) perfectly centered out of the doorway. A really rough estimate, it was maybe two-three feet tall and wide?

And I do wear glasses, so you'd think it was vision spots right? But a kid out in the hall passed in FRONT of it so that freaked me out and I really don't know what it was. It was only there a few more seconds after that.

The Drink

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When I was about 9/10 years old I was with my friend and we went to my house to get something to drink. We got the drink and we heard something weird coming from upstairs even though there was nobody in the house but us (I had just opened the front door with the key myself and the door was locked).

So we went upstairs and directly on the left there is a door to the bathroom which is about where the noise seemed to be coming from. I looked at the door and realized the little marker that says if it's closed or opened was about 3/4 red and 1/4 white (so it was almost fully locked from inside). When we approached the door to knock on it since nobody was answering our calls to ask who was inside (it's about 3 meters from the end of the stairs) all of the sudden with some noise of force (it was not an easy lock to unlock, but required some power) the thing just popped to fully white like someone turned the lock fully open again from inside the bathroom.

The quickness and force of the movement caused me and my friend to both run out of the house to his house and when we told his mom about this experience she went with us to see what was up.

When we got back, there was nobody in the house nor was there anything missing in the house and there were no windows opened for someone to get away that was in there before. The strangest thing about it all to me was that there was just no way someone could have gotten in and out without a key, and the only people with keys were all away at work.

I still don't understand what happened to this day, but I'm convinced there was someone in that bathroom that day.

A Car, A Car

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I was alone in my house. When I was just about to open a door leading downstairs to my basement I heard what I swear was a person running up the stairs towards the door very quickly. Can't recall if I opened it or not but I was certainly the only person home. I noped out to my buddies place. I'm sure it was actually just something stupid but at the time I was scared af

I Do Believe In Spooks

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My ex and I were the last ones to move out of his house, so it was large and empty, no furniture, very creepy. We lived in his room in the basement. In my time living there I heard alot of unexplained minor things. I used to hear footsteps upstairs, like his dad had gotten home in his work boots and was walking around, but id go upstairs, and he wasn't home yet. In the basement, there was a door to the unfinished half of it (next to his room) and I would go out in the hall and it would be open, after we had already closed it. He had told me also, he used to hear voices and footsteps when no one was home.

This one particular time is the point where we were living there alone before moving out. I was alone, and was upstairs in the empty living room, broad daylight, midmorning. I had the laundry I was bringing to my parents house to do, and had stopped upstairs to say bye to the cat. While I was petting the cat, someone laughed. Clearly laughed out loud like they were right behind me. The cat all of a sudden bolts and runs into an empty run and i follow, looking for anyone at all who could have been there. No one was there. the cat ran again and disappeared into the basement. I grab the laundry and run.

All very minor things, I'm one to believe more if I see it, kind of thing. Those are my only stories to lead me to believe in ghosts or spirits. That story still creeps me out. But I now believe more in it than I used too.

Sudden Music

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I'm a police officer and I was working a fresh homicide (had occurred within the last hour). We'd checked the house, and it's me, 2 other patrol officers and a homicide detective standing there talking and waiting for the medical examiner. All of a sudden the stereo kicks on, playing a song I don't know the name of, but sounded like something you'd hear at a funeral. None of us were near the stereo or had the remote (it took us like 5 minutes to figure out how to turn it off).

Was very eerie to me.

Awww

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My dad died when I was 5. Was raised by my mom and I have a twin brother who I'm really close to but we aren't inseparable. I was on my second year of college bombing all my classes, had not seen family or friends in months and one of my best friends died a month earlier. Not trying to complain but it was a hard time in my life. Anyways I'm alone in my dorm on my bed trying to to homework while I'm panicking about my future. All of a sudden my blanket moves up my bed and around me while i was all alone, I hear a mans voice say "your going to be ok"

Aliens

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I was in bed one night and for no reason at all I woke up.... heard scratching going on above my head and then every single electronic in my room turned on at once.... I'm talking TV, computer, monitors, xbox, laptop.... I summed the scratching up to mice... but I still cant explain the second part....

Weeeeeeird

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Not scary exactly, but pretty weird.

My coworkers disappeared for two or three minutes one day. This was about 10 years ago, about a month/six weeks or so after I started my first office job. The company was in the top two floors of an office building, and I think the set up was a bit jury-rigged somehow because the only way up to the top floor was through the fire escape - the lifts didn't go that high. We had to keep the top fire escape door permanently open because you couldn't open it from the inside - I've got no idea how you were supposed to get up there originally.

It was the last day in that office before the company moved to a new building and we were packing our things up; boxing files and labelling computers and all that. My boss, who had a major sweet-tooth, got peckish and asked me to get some lollies from the 7-11 that was at street level in the building next door. I went down, bought something and took the lift back up. The lights were out.

I went to my office - we were on the lower floor - and it was padlocked shut. The other office on that floor, which had a glass door, was dark and empty. I knocked on the padlocked door, and when there was no answer, I went to the fire escape to check the upper level. The door was closed. I couldn't get right back to my floor, that door had closed behind me, so I walked back down to the ground floor and took the lift back up. Everything was back to normal. The lights were on, doors were open, there were people. I mentioned what had happened and no one knew what I was talking about. I thought it might have been a practical joke for a little while, but no-one ever said anything about it.

Brother//Uncle

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The first one happened when I was about 7 years old. I had my own bedroom and always slept with the door open. One night as I was laying in bed, on my side, facing the door, I saw my little brother (who would have been 2 at the time) run by my bedroom door wearing those old 90's LA Gear light up sandals (If you grew up in the 90's you know the ones, with the red lights that blink on the back heel area when you take a step). I sat up at bit when I heard/saw this as I could hear the distinctive crumple sound of a diaper being ran in and saw the lights clearly. I whispered his name and asked what he was doing. I saw him come back to my door way, sandals lighting up, and then stop at my doorway looking at me. At that point I could tell something was off, I could not make out any features on him but I chalked it up to being dark and he ran back down the hall and I went to sleep.

The next morning, I went to my Mom and asked why my brother was up running around last night. She told me that he wasn't, I said that I saw him and he even had on those sandals that light up. She looked at me funny and said, "Your brother slept in our bed all night last night, and I threw away those sandals over a month ago....

The second one, I was about 9 years old.

Our front room was a wide open space with a couch on the left wall, a couch towards the back of the room and a bay window you are able to sit in at the front. A family friend named Tom came over to stay with us. He was going to sleep on the couch in the front room, and me, wanting to hang out with my older cool "uncle" Tom (who was about 20 years older than me) asked if I could sleep on the other couch as a kind of slumber party. He of course said yes and my parents could care less.

We go to sleep and in the front room through the blinds on the bay window you could see some light filtering in from the street light outside. I woke up at some point and was by default staring at the bay window and I saw Tom casually sitting on the bay window looking out towards the street. I whispered his name, he slowly turned his head to look at me, and then slowly moved back to looking out the window. I looked at the couch and did not see him there, so I got up and walked towards him asking what he was doing. As I got closer and closer, he became more and more translucent until I got right up to him and reached out to touch him and my hand went through thin air... he was gone. I looked at the couch and he was there sound asleep.

It wasn't sleep paralysis because I was wide awake in both situations but I have no explanation for what it might have been.

Hands

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When I was still a kid I stayed with my cousin at my grandma's house, it's a very old ryad in Morocco (like 400ys+ old). My grandma left us alone and went to visit a friend of hers and she was the only one with the keys. As I was playing with my cousin we heard heavy banging on the door, we went running to the door and checked who it was but there was noone outside, so we went back playing in a room till we heard a very loud bang on the window overlooking the interior patio, and there was a huge man's hand on it, we got out of the room running to the patio but noone was there. We went hiding in another room for like 2hours super scared till my grandma came back. We told everyone the story and noone ever believed us.

A Song

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Once, i was laying in my bed and was about to sleep while listening on my ipod the song : hell awaits from Slayer for the first time. So there is a 1 minute intro to the song where the phrase "join us" is repeated backwards. When the intro was over there was the sudden drums. Right then i saw the door right against my bed turn into white as if striken by lightning. My 15yo self almost s--t my pants and straight up ran to my mom in the kitchen. My guess is that it was a near-sleep hallucination triggered by the sudden drum beat. Never heard this song again, neither am i planning to!

Mystery

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I was about 6 years old, playing with some toy soldiers out front of my house. I turned my head to the left (towards the house) and vaguely saw some man watching me. As soon as he saw that I had seen him, he looked like he quickly jolted back behind the house. I got up and followed and... he was gone. But there was no where for him to go from where he ran. He just vanished.

Strange Figures

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As a teenager I would babysit for my cousin, let's call her A. I was about 16 at the time. Her and her husband had just moved into this large house and had a newborn daughter. I never liked the vibe of that house but just thought I was being irrational. One morning I'm alone with the baby and I hear someone going down the stairs, a bang, and some murmuring, I tell myself the house is new and it's just settling and maybe the TV is on. I pick up the infant and make my way downstairs. Once you get to the bottom of the stairs it opens up to a large living room to the left with a TV on the floor, to the right is the kitchen area. I go to the kitchen to make a bottle and it feels like someone is watching me, I shake it off but start packing up a diaper bag just in case. Not 2 minutes later I hear the TV turn on, volume all the way up, to static white noise.. I. Flip. My. Sh-t! I run to the living room and turn it off. I call one of my cousins who lives near by to come get me, let's call her S, as I'm talking to S on the phone the TV turns on again. I waited for her outside after that. Later that night my cousin S, another cousin who is the sister to A, and I go back to A's house to drop off the baby and get my stuff I left there. We ring the door bell no answer. We hear them running up and down the stairs, we saw someone look at us through the window, and we can hear them talking and laughing. We have no clue what game they're playing so we ring the door bell again and start yelling at them, they're laughing at us now. All 3 of us are getting irritated and start to leave, as we get in the car, here comes A and her husband coming up the street in their car... We have no clue what the hell happened that night, I don't believe in the paranormal but I have no explanation for that.

Static

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We have an office next to our living room. One night, my wife gets up in the middle of the night and the TV in the office was turned on. Nobody had been in the office for a few days.

Two days later, I get up for work really early, 6am, and I'm in the living room putting on my shoes. I notice the TV is on again. When I walked in the office to unplug the TV, I got chills worse than I've ever had in my life.

I can explain the chills as my active imagination, but the TV turning itself on, twice, still creeps me out.

OKC Creeps

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This is really confusing and still confuses me to this day. But as i remember it, I was in kindergarten and me and my family were living in an apartment in oklahoma city. It was in the middle of the day which is what still trips me out but my mom had went out grocery shopping and had been out for about over an hour while me and my dad were at home so we had been expecting her already. We both CLEARLY hear the door being unlocked, OPENED, and keys being set on the table. Almost like a routine for whenever my parents would get home. I exclaimed "mommy's home!" while both me and my father leave the room and go into the living room. No one is there. Me and my dad are both confused and search around then as my dad calls my mom to ask where she's at, she unlocks the front door and comes in like nothing happened. We asked her if she had already been inside and went to the car or something and she said she literally just arrived for the first time. It was a really small apartment so it was pretty clear we both had obviously heard something from inside the apartment just only 15 steps away. The weirdest part to me which my dad doesn't seem to find significance in because he was the "aware adult" but that I VIVIDLY remember that happening at one apartment while my dad says he clearly remembered that happening at the apartment we had lived in previously. I was old enough to distinguish the names of the apartments and we've talked about it to clear any confusion but it's just odd to me that we both have the exact same story with exact details but remember it as two different places

Infamous Internet Rumors That Ended Up Being True

Reddit user strakerak asked: 'What started out as an internet rumor that ended up being infamously true?'

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Photo by Ludovic Toinel on Unsplash

In 2017, I returned to my office after my lunch break to hear my supervisors discussing Tom Petty. This seemed like a random topic to me until one of my supervisors told me Tom Petty had passed away. He was a huge fan of Petty and spent the next hour or so combing through the internet to get more information.

He came back into the room my other supervisor and I were working in and announced that Tom Petty wasn't dead after all. News outlets had jumped the gun to announce his death, but he was actually still alive.

The next day, I came in to find out that Tom Petty was dead; the news may have been premature, but true.

This is a classic example of the rumor being started on the internet. Sometimes, like with the news of Tom Petty's death, the rumor can run wild and appear everywhere. Other times, the rumor can be seen by just a few people and dismissed. However, a lot of times, these rumors turn out to be true.

Redditors know a lot of internet rumors that turned out to be true, and are eager to share.

It all started when Redditor strakerak asked:

"What started out as an internet rumor that ended up being infamously true?"

The King Of Pop

"Michael Jackson writing the music for Sonic 3."

"He actually did, but was never credited on the game because it would breach his contract with his record label."

– -WigglyLine-

"He did the same when he appeared on The Simpsons. He appeared under a pseudonym, and the Producers said it was an impersonator."

"Only years later they confirmed it really was Michael."

"His singing voice was actually done by an impersonator, though."

– given2fly_

The Truth Comes Out

"In 1998, US Men’s National Team captain John Harkes was shockingly cut from the team right before the World Cup. The coach claimed it was because Harkes wouldn’t fit into his new preferred formation, but rumors flew on the early internet that it was actually because he had slept with his teammate Eric Wynalda’s wife. The rumor was so well-known in soccer circles that Harkes expressly denied it in his autobiography the next year."

"Fast forward 12 years to 2010 and Wynalda admits it’s true. The coach then came out and admitted it was why he dropped Harkes, but that he’d planned to keep the secret as long as Wynalda did."

– guyfromsoccer

Video Evidence

"The Tim Burton Hansel and Gretel that aired once on halloween in the 80's."

"I heard for years that it was fake but I knew it was real because my dad recorded everything in the 80s and he recorded that. We let a good friend of ours borrow it and switch it over from VHS to DVD and soon after that it made its way on to the internet , and there it is now. I know it's our copy because the tracking in the beginning is screwed up. Still have the VHS."

– Frozenthickness

"There was a similar story with a Nickelodeon movie called Cry Baby Lane. It was supposed to be so scary that Nickelodeon got complaints and denied its existence for years. Someone uploaded a taped copy to youtube about a decade ago."

– PattiAllen

The Movie Business

"That North Korea hacked Sony Pictures because of The Interview movie."

"I worked in the movie business at the time and the account managers at Sony all basically needed to get new identities as all of their personal information got leaked online."

OldMastodon5363

"My partner worked on that movie and the production bought all the crew 1 year of an identity theft tracking service."

CMV_Viremia

Keep Away From The Ears Of Kids

"Some banned episodes or scenes of cartoons."

"For example, I remember there was a Dexter’s Lab cartoon where he clones evil versions of DeDe and himself and they swear like every other word (censored of course), and people debated whether it even existed cause they only aired it like once. Now it’s pretty accessible online."

– Spledidlife

Yes, It's True

"Echelon, a massive electronic espionage system by the US and allies to intercept all electronic messages, especially emails."

"In the mid-nineties it was a topic on conspiracy BBS boards. A lot of people in my bubble at the time (mainly uni students in Europe) were including fake threats to the US in the their email signatures as a way to "protest" and "fill the system with false alarms" (obviously useless)."

"Then, in 1999-2000 came out to be true and a lot of security service agencies from UK and other US allies started to admit they were part of the espionage network."

– latflickr

How The Mighty Fell

"John Edward’s love child."

– ACam574

"A reminder that he was cheating on his wife while she was hospitalized for cancer treatment."

– Fanclock314

Ugh...

"Carrie Fisher's heart attack. Some a**hole who was on the same flight was livetweeting the whole medical emergency and justified it by insisting she was just making sure the family was informed."

– everylastlight

It Actually Happened

"Every year around her birthday there was a rumor that Betty White died. When I heard she died, I scoffed, saying that dumb rumor is back.... then saw it on the news. I was in shock."

– Known-Committee8679

"The fact that Betty died literally right before she turned 100 is such a Betty White way to go out."

– Paganigsegg

Big Actor, Small Roles

"I distinctly remember some rumors about the reason why Bruce Willis was taking so many roles in sh*tty movies before it was announced he has dementia."

– KampferMann

"RedLetterMedia did a deep dive on his recent movie activity to try and work out why exactly he was taking part in basically scam-movies. They noticed he had an earpiece in one of the scenes and joked that the director was feeding him lines. I remember they even disclaimed over the rumours at the time, and possible made a follow-up vid when it was revealed to the public."

– CardinalCreepia

What To Do Next?

"That the writer of LOST were making it up as they went."

"Turned out to be absolutely true."

– homarjr

That last one was kind of obvious!

Do you have any to add? Let us know in the comment below.

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Photo by Jay Lamm on Unsplash

Whether you're naturally interested in fun facts and trivia or not, it's always nice to know a few that you can pull out of your pocket at a moment's notice as a nice conversation starter.

But there are some fun facts out there that are so weird, people become more preoccupied with how the teller found out that information rather than the information itself.

Redditor Dry_Bus_935 asked:

"What is your 'don't ask me how I know' random fact?"

Nuclear Fail Safe

"You have quite a lot of time, certainly more than ten seconds, to turn back on the main pumps of a nuclear reactor once you have accidentally turned them off."

- egorf

"I'm not surprised. The amount of fail safes, redundancies, and emergency scenario planning for nuclear power plants is insane."

"I toured a nuclear plant and wrote my high school senior thesis on the plans put in place to ensure the Fukushima disaster would not happen at that plant."

"I'm sure the secondary pumps are plenty capable of handling the reactor until the main pumps are repaired or just turned back on."

- Borderlandsman

Happy Cat

"If your cat chews on fresh eucalyptus, they might start hallucinating and fall over repeatedly, leading to a $400 emergency vet bill just to be told she’s just kinda high."

- oddidealstronghold

"And, that's part of why koalas love it. Little stoners."

- littlebluefoxy

Archaeology: Do Not Lick

"Old human bones are very porous, so if you lick them, they’ll stick to your tongue."

- clanculcarius

Sharing is Caring

"A pigeon will only eat a Starburst if you chew it up a little bit first. Just to clarify: chew the Starburst, not the pigeon."

- OhTheHueManatee

"Instructions unclear. Pigeon unhappy."

- Wild-Lychee-3312

Intriguing Anatomy

"Everyone is here with the creepy crime stuff, and I'm just like, 'A soft fur rat has 22 nipples.'"

- horroscoblue

"Okay, so either they have really small nipples, their nipples overlap, or they have nipples in places where there shouldn't be nipples."

"(I've never written the word 'nipples' so many times in a singular sentence before.)"

- GdeGraaf

'Don't Ask Me,' Indeed!

"Turmeric can be used as clothes dye. It is capable of permanently dyeing cotton cloth even after it has passed through the digestive tract of an adult male."

- SlefeMcDichael

"You s**t your pants, didn't you?"

- PMmecrossstitch

"I'd prefer not to answer that question."

- SlefeMcDichael

High-Risk Survival Skills

"If you ever trying to survive in the Arctic, don’t eat polar bear liver. It is so high in vitamin A, it will kill you."

- WrongWayCorrigan-361

"It's also surrounded by a lethal amount of angry polar bear."

- horanc2

Real-Life Spies

"TV shows and movies go out of their way to make military/intelligence officers look bada**."

"But real-life 'spies,' by design and training, are boring. They have regular houses and standard second-hand cars, they dress down, and they have vague, boring job titles (accounts receivable) as cover, and they do not draw attention to themselves. Most come from specialized academia."

- Ok_Worth_1093

Haunting Reality

"Your muscles can keep twitching for several hours after you die."

- JustDave62

"Also, beards can appear to grow. This is however not because the beard itself grows but because the skin shrinks."

- RRautamaa

"I worked at a morgue for over eight years. If you grasp the hand of a dead body to move the arm, the hand will grasp back, but that's just muscles and tendons reacting to the tension."

- goneferalinid

The Sneakiness of Drowning

"When a drowning victim is revived, get them to a hospital as soon as possible. Drowning is the leading cause of death of kids from the age of one to seven and is ruled as accidental drowning when it comes to secondary drowning or dry drowning."

"Basically, your lungs are full of water despite being revived. Your lungs will absorb the liquid, but not before your body acidifies from high levels of carbon dioxide. The only chance to survive is to have the lungs pumped with oxygen via CPAP machine and time."

"Also, drowning is extremely quiet. You don’t hear the victim go under. And if you see flailing, do not attempt to save the victim otherwise you’ll become another drowning victim. Throw them a lifeline and hope their amygdala realizes that a rope or something is floating near them and grabs on it."

- Dfiggsmeister

Not Everyone's Favorite Chocolate

"Hershey’s chocolate has the strong smell of vomit or feces to some people (me), and that’s because they use butyric acid as a preservative. Butyric acid is the compound that makes vomit smell so bad."

"Edit: Digging further into it, there are some claims that they may not be “adding” the butyric acid, but rather it is occurring from essentially spoiling the milk in their milk chocolate. Either way, the butyric acid and putrid smell remains a part of their product."

- hefewiseman1

"That explains the weird aftertaste I always get! I don’t smell it but their chocolate always has this super unpleasant sharp/acidic aftertaste that I find repulsive. I assume this is why!!"

- PomegranateNo975

Do Not Lick the Asbestos

"Asbestos tastes like chalk. And if you lick it, it has the texture of extremely gritty sandpaper. Which is actually the feeling of microscopic asbestos needles piercing your flesh!"

- TooYoungToBeThisOld1

Mapping Out the War

"Beginning in 1911 in anticipation of the outbreak of WW1 in 1914, two statesmen, one from England and one from France, began visiting locations in France that they believed would be the settings for a number of major battles that would occur during the great war."

"Long bike rides through these future battle zones in the countryside and weeks spent building a foundation for a French-Anglo codebook that would later prove important in helping win the war."

- fjordperfect123

Avoiding Lawsuits > Protecting Patients

"Doctors, or surgeons more specifically, that make too many mistakes during surgery, ie, leaving instruments in patients, frequently gets ‘quietly traded’ to other hospitals where they continue their path of destruction with the patients not being aware of their past record. Hospitals tend to keep quiet about the matter to avoid lawsuits."

- Kittytigris

Bonus Points: Do This While Having Lunch in Your Car

"If you overfill a fast food gravy cup and then put a lid on, it will create a pressurized gravy stream that sprays all over your face and uniform while your coworker looks on in horror."

- thechaosjester776

This subReddit thread was so a roller-coaster of random facts, we've surely all walked away learning something.

But the biggest takeaway might just be: Maybe don't lick so many things.

Shocked woman covering her mouth
vaitheeswaran Nataraj/Unsplash

When we're intoxicated, or even the slightest bit tipsy from having a little too much to drink, our immediate perspective on things is hazy.

But there's nothing like a bit of alarming news or a jarring incident to snap us out of the fog and focus on the moment.

Sometimes alcohol isn't always to blame for our impairment.

It can be a state of mind, like a perpetual numbness from being complacent in life, and all it takes is one shocking moment to rattle us back to our senses.

Curious to hear from strangers online about this type of scenario, Redditor Known_Challenge_7150 asked:

"What’s one thing that sobered you up real quick?"

These individuals were witness to shocking events that sobered them up right quick.

Bleeding Out

"Got out of a taxi and found a naked man profusely bleeding from his head crawling up the driveway in my condo. Called him an ambulance completely forgot I was absolutely wasted until 45 minutes later when I'd helped him translate and in to an amublance and stepped in my front door."

"Later a few days later learned he'd slipped in the tub and literally crawled out for help. Poor dude. He was fine but I genuinely thought he was going to die there."

– DongLaiCha

Tragic News

"At a bachelor party and we got a phone call that the groom’s father had suddenly passed."

– accountnameredacted

Bottom Of The Barrel

"I went to visit my parents back in July. I was homeless and deep into fentanyl addiction so I lost a lot of weight. My folks could see it. They knew something was up. Anyway, I spent the night and I was getting ready to leave in the morning and I looked at myself in the mirror for a good long time. I finally had enough and told them everything. They took me to detox, from there I went to rehab. Graduated in August and been living with them ever since then. I have 160 days clean and sober."

– Crotch-Monster

A reality check can be enough for some people to snap out of it.

Like Father, Like Son

"Was driving a drunk friend home, he had been on a bender again and was smart enough to call me for a lift rather than try and drive. As I helped in to his house his mother came down the stairs and said 'your as drunk as your father' and went back upstairs. I haven't seen him drunk since then, he still drinks but the thought of turning into his dad scared him out of hard drinking."

– psycospaz

Busted

"Flashing blue lights."

– FiddleOfGold

"This sobered me up just thinking about it."

– redmaple_syrup

Losing Sight

"Woke up to no sight in one eye. I had cataract surgery so just thought one of the lenses had slipped and it was an easy fix. Eye doc says nope, you had a stroke. I loved soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and salty food, which caused high blood pressure, which caused retina damage. Over six months was able to get most of my eyesight back with medication, and all back within a year. Trying to navigate life with one eye was very sobering. Started taking HBP much more seriously."

– MissHibernia

Quitting The Bottle

"Looked up someone I went to highschool with who was an awesome guy. Found out he had been dead for 3 years from alcoholism, at age 33. I made an overnight change. I hadn't started drinking that night yet, 10 months ago. Haven't touched it again since."

– omgtater

These disturbing moments were enough for Redditors to immediately come to their senses.

Unplanned House Guests

"Me and a buddy Woke up in someone’s living room, realized neither one of us knew the people, they were just nice and let 2 drunk guys sleep on their living room floor. We didn’t even say goodbye."

– Oneinsevenbillion75

Serious Health Warning

"Elevated liver enzymes."

"And the knowledge that this sh** was gonna kill me and I just couldn't orphan my family over it."

"So I opted for recovery, instead."

"Clean and sober since June 5, 2009."

– Far_Meal8674

The Joyride

"Grew up in a rural area. The little town hosted dances at the hockey arena, everyone (adults and kids) went and they overserved everyone, regardless of age. I was maybe 16 or 17 and was absolutely sh*tfaced, and jumped in the back of someone's truck with about 8 other people to go back to someone's cottage for after dance drinking. The driver (still don't know who it was) started racing one of his buddies and we whipped around small dirt roads, flying around blind corners on the wrong side of the road, going god knows how fast. It was basically a disaster waiting to happen. It was crazy scary and I was sober and thankful to be alive when we finally arrived."

– foxfood9116

The human psyche is a fascinating thing, isn't it?

How we can automatically focus on something urgent at a crucial time, even after getting buzzed from drinking too much alcohol.

But as we're in the thick of the holidays, it's a good reminder to drink responsibly and stay off the roads if you drive to your celebratory destination.

Cheers. Stay safe. And happy holidays.

Woman holding multiple shopping bags
Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

We've all complained or vented about something in our lives which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't exactly a problem, or is very easily solved.

Then there are those who complain about things that others almost hope will happen to them at some point in their lives.

These are known as "first world problems", as they are problems that pretty much only the world's one percent faces.

From having to fly business class instead of first class, or being served Roederer instead of Dom Pérignon, these complaints are often met with amusement, bewilderment, or even anger.

Redditor jennimackenzie was curious to hear the most absurd "first world problems" anyone ever complained about, leading them to ask:

"What’s the most ridiculous 'first world problem' you’ve seen people get worked up over?"

"Tale As Old As Time..."

"I once knew a mom who was legitimately devastated, to the point of tears/grief, because a doctor predicted her 8 year old daughter's final height to be around 5'2","

"Which wasn't tall enough to get cast as Belle at Disney World."

"That was the child's (and her mother's) only dream in life, apparently."

"Didn't appreciate my suggestion that she could be Minnie or Mickey."

"Lol!"

"Only a face character would do!"- TravelLovingMom

"Must Be Funny, In A Rich Man's World..."

"My boss from about a decade ago was this insanely rich dude who always went to the bank to get fresh and crisp currency."

"He'd call the bank in advance to make sure they had some on hand."

"I think he was a germaphobe."

"He had a trash can that he'd throw $1 and $5 bills in that he thought was 'dirty' and regularly just donated it vs spending it."

"I asked him why he did this and he said it was too much trouble and asked if I wanted it."

"I said f*ck yeah dumped it into my bag and when I got home it was close to $400 in singles and fives.

"Another time, he wanted to upgrade all the computers in his studio, so we went to a store and bought 10 PCs."

"They all had $150 mail in rebates and he wasn't bothered to go through the trouble of mailing them in."

"3 weeks later I received $1500 after spending a whole afternoon filling out all those goddamn forms."- azninvasion2000

Money Burn GIF by nog Giphy

Who Wore It Better?

"When I was about 19 years old, I was at my boyfriends family BBQ."

"I was wearing this pretty floral sundress."

"His cousins girlfriend showed up in the same dress and she was SO mad that she went and changed."

"I will never understand being upset when someone is wearing the same thing as you.'

"Did you really think that your shirt you bought off the rack is going to be unique to you?"

"No."- mertsey627

Seeing Red! Or Blue In This Case...

"The blue of the balloons wasn't quite the same as the bridesmaid's sashes."

"Years ago my wife and I attended a wedding."

"It was very low key."

"The dinner was in the dining hall at the university where the couple met, cinder block walls and all."

"It was a Baptist wedding - no booze and very serious."

"The dark blue balloons attempting to liven up the hall were a slightly darker shade of blue than the sashes on the bridesmaid's dresses."

"The bride lost here sh*t and absolutely raved for nearly an hour."

"I can't remember how they finally managed to talk her down."- mechant_papa

south park wedding GIF Giphy

See You In Court!

"Rich neighbors who end up in expensive court battles because they disagree about where a tree can be planted or whether the color of a fence fits in with the street’s 'amenity'."

'These disputes get really heated and rack up huge lawyers’ bills."

"The most pathetic part is after the judgement when they are arguing about who should pay the other party’s costs."

"Lots of affidavits filed citing the 'emotional distress' they had to endure, or painting themselves as brave warriors who were forced to take a stand to fight for 'justice'."

"Also lots of pompous litigants insisting that the judge refer to them by their 'Dr' title."

"An absolutely insane dumpster fire of entitled rich people problems."- ElectrocRaisin

It's Always People With Money Who Don't Want To Pay!

"I work in a public library."

"People will get so so mad if they have to be put on a wait list for a book."

"A popular book that just came out."

"Ok our services are not only free but so are the books."

"You’re welcome, a**holes."- Switchbladekitten

A Warm Butt Is A Happy Butt!

"My own."

"We have a bidet toilet seat (Fabulous! Everyone should have one!) and not only does it wash your bum and blow dry it, but the seat's heated!"

"It's shocking how much a heated toilet seat makes the whole process more agreeable."

"Except: We had a power outage and I went to use the toilet and the seat was cold!"

"Unacceptable!"

"This shall not stand!"

"I was really upset because it didn't feel good."

"Then I stopped and thought: This is the most first-world problem anyone's ever had."

"I was really pissed because my heiny was tepid."

"I got over it."- DeathGrover

homer simpson episode 23 GIF Giphy

Holy Matrimony!

"Weddings are a gold mine for this question."

"People get so hyped up over their 'most important day of their life'."

"They'll destroy friendships, go into debt, and have crazy expectations."

"It's not always the couple who go crazy, either."

"Sometimes, it's the parents or another family member who feels entitled to control the wedding."

"It's just a party."

"Be considerate of guests, have plenty of food and drinks, and enjoy it."- magicrowantree

When Fast Food Isn't Fast Enough...

"Having to pull off to the side to wait for a drive-thru order to be brought out to you because your food isn't ready and there's a line building up behind you."- demanbmore

In Case You Don't Think Customer Service Employees Are Undervalued...

"I was working the return desk at a Target next to a military base so I have so many stories."

"One of my favorites was a lady who had her baby shower before revealing the gender and was livid that she had received floral newborn diapers when she’s having a boy."

"It was a huge box of super expensive, all organic diapers, that we didn’t carry and therefore could not return."

"I cannot accurately express her fury and disgust."

"How dare either suggest her boy could wear feminine diapers."

"I suggested she donate them if she didn’t want to use them and she instead threw away the entire box."

"When she left we pulled it out and threw it in our donate bin."

"There have also been multiple times where mom’s order massive toys and when we bring them out to the car they get furious that they aren’t wrapped."

"We don’t offer wrapping services."

"Here’s the thing, if you don’t want your kids to see the toys you got them for Christmas or their bit to day DON'T BRING THE CHILD WHEN YOU PICK IT UP."

'I’ve had multiple women scream and curse me out that I had ruined their kids Christmas by bringing the toys they ordered out to the car like they requested."- clever-mermaid-mae

Customer Service Waiting GIF by Juno Calypso Giphy

Happiest Place On Earth!

"I used to work for Disney."

"That in itself should tell you everything."

"However for fun I'll give you two specific stories one form our tech department and one from my wife who worked bookings."

"I specifically worked for their call center to help with technical issues with magic band and the website."

"Suddenly got worse huh?"

"A right of passage call everyone has at least one story of is the 'Dome call'."

"Basically there is a subset of Disney Guest (TM) that believes if it rains at Walt Disney world there is someone that will push a button to encapsulate the whole of Disney property in a dome to keep out the rain."

"I'm not kidding."

"If this button is not pushed they call our tech department to angrily ask why."

"My wife worked booking."

"Pretty much everything including Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique and Pirate's league."

"These two things did roughly the same thing difference being price and theme."

"BBB was expensive did more and was focused on princesses, pirates league did a bit less and focused on mermaids and pirates."

"Lady called up my wife, and got pissed about BBB being booked up (It goes FAAAAST)."

"Karen: 'Im going to give the phone to my daughter and I want you to tell her how you are ruining her vacation by not letting her do BBB'."

"Wife proceeds to explain how pirate's league is so much cooler and how she can be a mermaid or pirate and basically gets the kid to start demanding to their parents about how they want to be a mermaid instead of a princess."- trollsong

Disney World GIF Giphy

The horror!

Being booked into a junior suite at Disney World instead of an executive suite!

It's almost as bad as having no money for groceries, or no food to feed you children...

Said absolutely no one.