Silence is heavier and interruptions seem more sudden, and louder.
Unexpected creaks around the house and shadows in the periphery all seem gravely dangerous. The stakes are simply higher when no backup exists.
In those circumstances, even the most trivial occurrences feel like the end of the world, or at least the end of your life.
Sometimes, though, legitimately horrifying things go down when your home alone and defenseless.
joeym2009 asked, "What is the scariest thing to happen to you when you've been home alone?"
A Horrifying Tator Blast
"I was home alone at my dad's while he was working nights, making my dinner and everything. I was probably about 14 or 15 at the time."
"I was watching TV while my potatoes were cooking when I head something slam into the front door. I grab my pocket knife and check it out, nothing."
"About 10 minutes later I hear another bang on the front door, repeat and still nothing. Really freaked me out cause we'd had a few houses get broken into on my street."
"Turns out I didn't put enough holes into my baked potatoes and they exploded in the oven."
It’s All Fun and Games U tim Someone Knicks an Artery
"I was probably 9 years old, my sister was 6. We had a babysitter who was 12, so alone in the sense that no adults were around."
"Jackass that I was, I squirted bug spray on my sister and she chased me in retaliation. I ran through some French glass doors to get away from her. She went for the knob and missed. Her arm went through one of the glass panes."
"She cut herself so deep, you could see muscle, tendons, and bone. It looked like a shi**ily cut piece of raw meat, since that's basically what it was. The babysitter held a piece of cloth on my sister's arm until my mom came home (called her right away) and took my sister to the ER."
"Got 60 stitches out of it."
Some Spooky Fowl
"I was watching some sort of ghost TV show about demons or something in my basement, home alone when I was probably 14 or 15..."
"A fu**ing turkey walked up to the sliding door and started tapping on the glass. I noped the f*ck out of that basement so fast. I don't think I ever watched that show again either."
-- Evani33
Not What it Looks Like
"When I was younger my mom left me and my little brother home alone while she ran to the store."
"Mom leaves and me and my brother are watching TV in the living room and we see a bunch of smoke from the big bay window facing the front yard shortly after she leaves. We look, and a car has crashed into the ditch that is next to our driveway."
"My mom rounds the corner of the side road to pull onto [our road] and sees a ton of cop cars in out driveway and shutting down the road, 2 fire trucks, at least 2 ambulances, and, as any mom seeing this, freaks out."
"They allow her to park in the neighbor's driveway since ours is currently occupied. And we see her sprinting across the yards. The cops intercept her, she sees that me and my brother are okay and is able to calm down enough to talk to the cops."
Bringing in the Big Guns (Dad)
"I was 15 and I used to baby sit for my neighbors down the block. They had a really nice house, 3 floors with a built-in garage under the house, that connected to the basement."
"They also had the type of security system where anytime a door opens you heard 'beep beep beep.' After the parents left one night I was putting the kids to bed and I heard the "beep beep beep.' "
"I yelled out, thinking it was the parents coming back for something but no one answered. I was freaked out so I called my Dad and asked him to come by since he was only a few houses away."
"When he arrived, he told me to stay in the kitchen while he checked the house but before he could, we heard the 'beep beep beep' again and then the garage door opened - when we ran to the window to see if the parents were pulling into the driveway, they weren't."
"Instead someone in a hoodie was running out of the garage door and into the woods behind the house."
-- [deleted]
Not Creepy, Just Real and Intense
"Just me and my mom. She got drunk and fell down the stairs. She knocked herself out cold and I had to administer CPR while the paramedics came."
"She has no recollection of this incident, denies it, and no one else in my family can relate to how scary it is seeing someone almost die and having their life in your hands."
"I don't know how first responders do it."
-- miaomiao1025
“Helped Him”
"It was a hot summer and my parents went to a wedding. I had a project to do and it was like 1am and silent until a random drunk dude crawled in through my window with a bottle and blush face."
"I was 20ft away at my desk from the window and we both just stared at each other. He was flustered and said 'oh sorry there kid wrong house' and attempts to leave the way he came."
"He was drunk n dizzy so I helped him by pushing him out the window. I thoroughly shut it and stared at it for 2 hours until my parents came home."
-- Shardeel
Can’t Blame Him. Gotta Close a Sale.
"Once while I was home alone, I had been warned not to answer the door, for anyone, or I might get taken away."
"One sales guy had been banging on the door repeatedly for the last 6 minutes. I guess I hadn't muted the TV fast enough. He screamed, 'I know you're home alone in there!' I about died."
Solo Emergencies
"I started choking on a clump of Mike/Ikes. Only survived because I tripped and fell on the couch in such a way that it dislodged the candy. I was nearly killed then saved by being a klutz." -- RQ-0430
"Got a hot dog stuck in my throat. I chopped myself in the Adam's Apple and it flew out." -- deadheadjim
In the Deep End
"I was actually at a friends house when her parents weren't home. We were maybe 10. It was her, my sister, her sisters and me. We decided to go swimming."
"There had been a rash of burglaries lately but mostly garages being broke into. Anyway, we were in the pool when we noticed the kitchen light turn on (it was evening)."
"We assumed her parents so looked in the window to do something stupid to get their attention when we realized we do not know the individual in the house."
"We hid behind the wall of the pool (above ground) terrified until her parents finally came home. It appeared as though he got spooked as he only ransacked the kitchen and left the garage door wide open when fleeing."
-- atjmoulder
Covering It’s Eyes, At Least
"For me, I was 12 years old and my dad was at his girlfriend's house. I went into my room to take a shower. I always put a chair under the door handle in my room because it didn't have a lock."
"My Grandma loved giving me porcelain dolls and she decorated my room with shelves that had porcelain dolls on them. All of the dolls were on their shelves before I got into the shower. When I exited my bathroom, one of the porcelain dolls was 10 feet across the room, face down on the ground."
Retroactive Horror
"The scariest thing that happened to me I didn't know actually happened until the following day."
"One day our friend came over and called me to let him in our building in a hurry. Turns out this guy had been crouched by my car in the parking lot and had approached our friend and closed in on him."
"Upstairs I noticed that the guy had left a green bundle near my car and assumed he would be back for it."
"Turns out the guy had escaped from county the night before with two other guys. He was in jail for assault with a deadly weapon and repeated domestic violence offenses."
"He had climbed the fence in the yard behind our building where our landlord kept his camper, broken into the camper, and stayed there the night before."
"I had been alone the night before and had taken my dog down to the yard to go to the bathroom. I noticed that the barbed wire on the top of the fence had fallen down, and my dog was nervous. But I brushed it off. The guy had been in the camper watching me the whole time and I never knew it."
-- lunazeus
2 Hours, An Eternity
"I was a young kid home alone and my mom called the phone and said a tornado was coming and I had to go shelter in the basement...The basement was incredibly creepy, especially as a child. I NEVER went down there on my own."
"So little old me grabs my toy lantern to descend into the basement all alone with rain hitting the windows, with only the flicker of my toy lamp to light up my surroundings while I make my way to the boiler room and shelter in place until someone comes to get me...."
"Imagine that, just sitting there in the darkness listening to all of the sounds for something like two hours. F*cking freaky."
This is How it Begins
"Early teen years. Power went out while I was taking a shower late at night. I got out of the shower already freaked out and looked outside through the window. My house was the only one without power."
"Stupid teenage brain: this is clearly an attempt on my life"
"Reality: house had a weird problem where the power would cut out if the water heater and air conditioner happened to turn on the same time."
-- OMG_STAAAHHP
Block Reaffirmed!
"This just happened last week, I woke up to someone in my house, walking up the stairs to my bedroom. It was about 1 pm and I work third shift, so I was sleeping."
"In my haste, I didn't grab my bat. I whip open my door and it's my ex best friend, whom I've blocked on every social media site... she starts yelling at me for not responding to her and how she misses me..."
We're on TV!
"Police were chasing a guy and he ran into into our backyard and over the fence to another house. It felt like the helicopter was going to land on the house." -- JahLife68
"This happened inherent I was like 4 or 5 except he ran straight through our apartment." -- PC_nodnarb
With No Knowledge of Science That Must've Been Downright Biblical
"First time I was ever home alone an earthquake hit and being a 10 year old who had never experienced an earthquake I had no idea what was happening and lost my sh*t."
-- garrett77
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