I like to call them "mundane mysteries" - the stuff that probably has an explanation, isn't anything too unusual like being abducted by aliens or sharing a McShake with Bigfoot because the ice cream machine was actually working.
One Reddit user asked:
What's something unexplainable that you've experienced?
And yeah ... mundane mysteries, fam. Just because there weren't any aliens, cryptids, or a working ice cream machine involved doesn't mke these moments any less mysterious.
Keep your eyes peeled for one where Reddit users suggested a potential explanation - I'm honestly not sure if the idea that all that could be caused by something so simple makes it better or worse.
Tap, Tap, Tap
I was stopped for the night at a truck stop in the desert, 60 miles east of El Paso,TX. This truck stop only has lights around the store and fuel pumps, the truck parking area is only lit by any headlights that are left on. I get to bed at about 2200 thinking it'll be a nice quiet night.
At around 0230 I wake up to a tapping on my truck like someone was trying to wake me up. I ignore it and try to go back to sleep, but the tapping gets louder and louder and eventually turns into the sound similar to someone beating their hand on my door and cab.
I get out of bed and open the curtains to the side I heard the sound coming from and there was nothing there. I open the curtains on the other side, and nothing there either. There was no trucks on either side of me. So I throw my shoes on, grab my machete and flashlight and go outside to see what the hell was going on.
There was nothing, no foot prints, no paw prints, absolutely nothing there.
I get back in my truck and turn on my side markers, so I'm somewhat illuminated. Close the doors, lock them, and run my seat belts through the door handle and buckle them in, to add essentially another lock to both doors.
I go back to bed, and wake up at 0630. The sun is starting to come out, so I go inside for some coffee, and breakfast before heading out. Other truck drivers were in there, and experienced the same thing i did that night. With no answers as to what it was, I finish my breakfast and nope the f*ck outta there.
Sh*t gets crazy at night in the desert.
Black Cat
When I was around 9 years old I found two plush toys that looked like black cats. They were 2nd hand and were the only two in the shop. I am a cat freak and adored them. But so did my younger siblings (twins).
My mum just gave them to my siblings, and told me to stop whining. I was livid. I had bought them for my self with change I had busked for. So unfair. Then, out of nowhere a third cat appeared. Exact match.
My and my older sister even went back to the shop and the owner just thought we were crazy. There definitely never was a third cat.
To this day, I have no idea how that happened.
My mum isn't the thoughtful kind and she kind of always acted like a d!ck when I was upset, so I am 100% sure she didn't try and get one for me to cheer me up or whatever.
I just think that some guardian angel got me the cat. Or well, I want to believe :)
The Uniform Policy
engaged brown sugar GIFGiphyA few weeks before my grandad died in April, I started wearing 2 rings I had inherited from a family member on a chain around my neck. I've had them for years and always wear them when I feel like I need a bit of luck or support. Makes me feel as if someone is looking out for me even though I don't really believe in the afterlife or the supernatural.
I knew he was sick so I'd not long started wearing them again, only I'd had to put them on a chain this time because the uniform policy in work meant I couldn't wear them as I usually did on my finger. The clasp on the chain can be quite stiff to open, so I'd just throw it over my head with the rings attached because it's long enough to not have to open, so the rings and the chain had been together for a few weeks at this point without me ever opening the clasp, because there was no need.
So I was in work with another colleague about 2 feet away from me. I had the rings tucked well down my shirt (hanging right around heart level), my uniform zipped up over them, a plastic apron and my gloves on (I'm a nurse). I was busy doing something so my hands weren't anywhere near the rings, and I wasn't even thinking about them. There wasn't any way I could've touched them or got them caught on anything.
Then I felt something cold touch my stomach and the next thing I knew one of the rings had dropped onto the floor. I was confused at how it'd happened and thought maybe the chain had broken (even though it's quite sturdy) and didn't want to lose it, so I took my apron and gloves off and pulled the chain out of my shirt.
The chain was intact and still clasped tightly together. And the other ring was still on it. So somehow, one ring had come cleanly off the chain without the other one falling off, and with the chain still clasped together.
My colleague was just staring at me like WTF, and I'm not really a believer in the supernatural, like I said, so I just cracked a joke saying "I hope that wasn't a sign or someone trying to tell me something!" and laughed it off.
Not 5 mins later I got the call to say my grandad had deteriorated and I needed to come home. I left work that day to care for him and 2 weeks later he died.
I know there's got to be an explanation for it, but part of me doesn't want to know it because the mystery makes me feel like maybe I was actually being looked out for.
I wear the rings on my finger now because I can't shake the feeling that there was something more to that little mystery than the logical side of my brain wants to believe. And f*ck the uniform policy. If anyone calls me out on it I'll tell them a ghost told me to wear them.
The Rattlesnake Prophecy
I was 9 years old and I had a dream that I got home from a friends house, and as I opened the side door, out of the corner of my eye I see a grey rat scamper along the side of my house. Dream me stands there a second just watching it. Then I look down and a rattlesnake was right next to my leg.
Of course I panic and step back, but the snake strikes and bites my leg. I scream and roll around and my leg BURNS, even in the dream it burned. My father comes out and sees me on the ground and I tell him I was bit by a rattlesnake. He rushes me to the hospital.
Time gets real malleable. I don't remember traveling to the hospital or checking in, but I end up on a bed and very distinctly remember getting a couple doses of anti-venom but it is too late. I die, and I see my mother crying while holding my hand. I watch for a few minutes, then I wake up.
Weird nightmare, right? But nothing to freak about.
So I go about my day, play with my friends, and whatnot. When I was walking home that evening, I just randomly though about my dream, so I stopped a bit away from the door and actually looked around where the snake was in the dream.
Motherf*cker was EXACTLY where I dreamt he was and basically staring at me! It never does rattle. Then a f*cking rat goes darting down the side of my house, just like in the dream. I change course and go to the front door instead. I tell my dad about the snake, he goes out and kills it with a shovel.
I haven't had another dream THAT vivid of the future since. Sh!t still freaks me out though.
McBicycle In The Sky
One time me, my brother and mom were in a McDonalds drive thru getting McFlurrys, and my brother pointed to the sky through the car windshield.
There was a bike in the sky with a man just riding on it, it had balloons floating above it like in Up. All three of us saw it, it wasn't imaginary, although my brother forgot this happened (he was pretty young at the time), me and my mom have not forgot.
Bill
When I was 9 or 10, we had a big family reunion at my great aunt's big Victorian house that her family grew up in, which she inherited. I got bored though because there weren't other kids there my age, so I went exploring through the house and found a check writing machine in the upstairs office or library kind of room. I remember the machine was black and gold and had lots of little levers where you'd select the individual numbers then pull down on another lever to stamp the check. I'd put in pieces of paper that were on the desk and look at the numbers stamped on it.
I was playing with that when I very clearly heard another kid in the hallway say "you're not supposed to play with guns, Bill."
My name wasn't Bill, and I wasn't playing with guns. I remember saying "I'm not." Then some moments passed and I got curious about another kid maybe my age being there, so I hopped up and looked into the hallway to find him, but there was nobody there. And nobody around my age downstairs or outside where everybody else was either. I figured at the time it was maybe some neighbor kid who ran out.
I didn't really think about it again until I was 18 or 19 and my mother told me her father (Grandpa Bill, my great aunt's brother who grew up there too) had accidentally shot his friend in that house when he was a kid, when playing with his father's pistol. Then when I was in my 40's, I was driving my great Aunt somewhere (now in her 90's), and I asked where in the house Bill had that accident, and she said in that upstairs office.
I'm not religious, but that just seems too specific. Maybe it's a wild coincidence. I still can't explain it all these years later, and it's the only thing that keeps bugging me in my life.
- kabekew
She Has My Face
I was on public transit one time, and saw someone that was just about the same height as me and looked to have my body type. I just shrugged it off in the moment. As a taller girl with a slightly bigger frame, it's not that rare.
The only seat available was the one directly across from her, so I sat down and put my headphones in. I tend to people watch while I ride to school, so I started to do exactly that. I took a closer look at the girl in front of me, same shade, cut and color hair.
Huh. Weird.
Her head is down so I can't see her face, but when the bell dings to tell that it's the next stop, she looks up. Oh. My. Lord. She has my face!
She looks up at me and blinks twice. Same color eyes. I have very odd eyes, so brown they look black. Her eyes are so brown they look black. She stands up and walks off the bus. I turn to see her go, sure my eyes are playing tricks on me.
Aaand she's gone. it's like she walked off the bus and just fell into a worm hole. I look at the spot we stopped. No girl there. I was creeped out for the entire week.
Swearing Is A Sin
old lady wtf GIFGiphyMy grandmother was a deeply religious person. Catholic, so she had the fear of God in her. She was nearing the end of her life and was terrified of going to hell. So terrified, she'd have fits of anxiety where she'd cry and pray and shake. I told her of course she'd make it to heaven, God loves her (I'm not religious at all and absolutely abhor the Catholic faith, but for her sake I thought the sentiment would be nice).
She refused to believe me.
But I remembered my mom telling me about a story where this dying woman who told her son she would send him a sign in the form of phrase when she made it to heaven. And when she died, the son eventually got the sign. So I made a deal with grandma: when she made it to heaven, she would send me a sign with the phrase "hot damn, she was right!" Of course she absolutely refused, saying "I can't swear! Swearing is a sin!"
Well, grandma died. I don't know if she ever became less terrified, or if she found peace in her final moments, but she left many heavy hearts behind.
Weeks later, I was walking into a restaurant, and on the door there was a promotional ad for something unsubstantial, and it read "hot darn, she was right!"
I'm Not Checking
Recently, I was on the couch watching something and I heard a crash from my washer and dryer room. My cat also shot up and looked in the direction of the door. It sounded like a broom fell over, or maybe one of the plastic tubs. Freaked me out as I already don't really like that room in the first place, plus it was very late at night and I live alone. Also because of the pull string door that leads to the creepy ass attic.
Decided I was not going to be like every idiot in a horror movie and investigate what the noise was. I literally sat there on my couch for hours.
The next day, I decided I had enough courage to take a peak and literally saw nothing touched. Both brooms were still propped up against the wall. All the plastic tubs were sitting perfectly. I have no idea what that noise was and I don't really care to find out.
Joshua
As a kid, I had an imaginary friend who I would play with a lot. I had few "real" friends but I was also more of an outcast in daycare and kindergarten so sometimes, that imaginary friend was all I had.
My mother said I'd always describe him as very similar looking. When I was around pre-school age, my mother said we needed to talk about my friend and I said that I'm fine with keeping Joshua around because I was scared of starting school alone.
Her face just froze in shock and she never brought it up again. I didn't realize why until my grandma explained years later that I had a twin brother who didn't make it and my parents were planning on naming him Joshua.
The only logical explanation I have is that I picked it up when I was very little but my grandma said that my parents literally never talked about it because they didn't cope well with the loss at all. It's still very strange.
Say Thank You
About 9 years ago, I was searching our file cabinet for a document I needed. I had piles of papers all over the bed, searched for an hour, meticulously. Could not find it.
Suddenly, the tv across the room (which is NOT on) makes a clicking noise. I stop what I'm doing, look up and over at the tv. I see nothing out of the ordinary, so I turn back to the pile of papers....and the document I had been searching for is right on top, like it was placed there.
I looked up, said thank you, and put away the papers I didn't need.
The Bathroom Was Breathing
When I was 10-ish my mother, sister and I moved into an apartment. Two bed two bath, but from the start I couldn't handle using the bathroom in the room my sister and I shared. Something just felt wrong in there, like the bathroom was breathing and I was being watched, so I used my mom's. Eventually my sister refused to sleep in our room at all and moved her mattress into the living room.
I got sick a lot during the year we lived there. At night I sometimes woke to the sound of footsteps approaching my bed from the bathroom, and when I would sit up to look the sound always stopped. I begged my sister and her friends to keep the bathroom door closed after coming in to use it, but they'd often forget and I'd wake late at night to a black hole of an open door and that breathing sensation.
Eventually my sister's boyfriend, who often spent the night, told her he sometimes saw shadows looming over my bed at night. My religious grandma visited once, stepped into my room and started speaking tongues. I don't know, it all sounds superstitious and hoaky, but that place messed with me until we moved.
Speaking in tongues aside, this sounds like carbon monoxide poisoning.
Or mold. That sh*t can be psychoactive. Breathing in mold to the point of hallucinating takes time, like sleeping in a room next to mold.
100% there was a carbon monoxide/gas leak/mold issue in that room.
This has some information about what mold can do. Nothing about hallucinations or tongues.. But this source says it can make you hallucinate. Given the bathroom was the creepy room, water damage would be more likely, therefore mold growth isn't out of the question.
- mute-owl
Psst
I stay up late at night very often..usually I just chill, draw and listen to music, etc.
One night I decided to do dishes to make cleaning up eaiser for mum and halfway through, somebody whispered "PSSST!!" in my ear.
I felt my hair fcking move when it happened. I noped out of the kitchen and wouldn't go in it by myself for along time.
Haunted Housekeeping
I was 12 got into a fight with my mom and her, my sister and my grandmother all left for the store. The living room was a mess and my mom said if I didn't clean it by the time she got back I was getting punished.
Being stubborn I waited until I heard the front door close and left my room to watch TV. No one else was in the house besides me and I wasn't going to clean. I got bored and locked myself back in my room.
I can hear dishes clanking together and or falling onto each other in the drying rack. I heard the front door unlock and was terrified of the beating I was about to receive but my mom came in knocked on my door and gave me a hug and thanked me for cleaning up. I never did I don't know who did.
We had a 3 bedroom apartment everyone who was there left with my mom leaving me completely alone. I don't know who cleaned up, but they saved me from a beating!
- 11220611
Ghost Spiders
I have a friend who is a witch and psychic, the real deal. Not a lot of 'power' but what is there is legitimate and I've seen a few things from her. I'm an agnostic of the supernatural but it's usually something fun to witness. Not this time.
We're having dinner at a little hole in the wall restaurant next to a hospice charity drop off center. In the middle of our conversation something grabs her shoulder HARD, pulls her sideways in the booth. She turns white, gets this big fake smile on over her poorly masked freak out.
I'm like WTF was that?
She says they really want to be acknowledged and they know she knows they're there.
I know she's seen stuff before, but was always excited by the experience. Not this time.
I asked "Did you know about the hospice shop next door?"
She's says we need to leave. Now.
I look at her shoulder and finger-shaped welts are rising up like if someone strong grabbed her. I saw it happen and there was nothing that could have done that. We noped the fck outta there like there were ghost spiders.
McLight Show
While driving home from McDonald's at 2 am with my girlfriend, we were driving down the freeway when I experienced a blinding green light. We weren't near any light sources or near any homes if it was some kind of laser pointer.. we both freaked out in the car.
Later, my girlfriend told me that to her it wasn't a blinding green laser light at all. She saw a giant blue light slowly floating through the car.
The Headphones
When I first started playing video games my mom bought my a used turtle beach headset for me. When I used it I heard this guy talking like he was in a war or something. I can't quite explain it but I have no clue why i was able to hear this guy and it was really scary considering I was only like 8.
- albinodj
A Connection With Death
My mother, brother and I all lives with my very elderly, late stage dementia grandpa. My mom was his caretaker and was certified etc. But when my grandfather died, it was just me and my mom that still lived with him.
I distinctly remember waking up at like 4:30-5am randomly, something I very rarely do. I also felt weird, and felt sad. But I felt like a force leading my eyes towards the window. It felt familiar, like it was my grandpa. But I shrugged it off and went back to bed. I woke up a few hours later for school and my mom came in my room and closed my door and told me that my grandfather had died that morning at the same time I had woken up.
My grandpa who loved us all, but was very old school let me know he was leaving when he died, but also put me back to sleep so I didn't have to deal with his passing in the moment.
Apparently, the ambulance, my uncle, and mom were all there through the night, my mom and uncle grieving and my grandfather made sure I didn't see.
I was in highschool at the time. I've never been able to explain it. Its almost like I have a weird connection with death. A similar experience with my dad's passing happened just a couple years later.
I visited my dad with my cousin, she wanted to come with her because my dad had been dealing with his shortcomings poorly, drinking himself into a stupor more often then not doing so. I visit him, I tell him that after my first year of college I was gonna come back and visit him and that I wanted him to be there when I did. However I knew he was going to die. So when I left his house I texted my brother and told him exactly this
"Hey, I don't think dad is gonna be around much longer, come visit him."
Which is out of character for me. My brother visited him that next morning, also out of character for him, and found him dead in his living room. He had died the previous night. Not more than a few hours after I left his house.
Plus he texted my other brother who was a few hours away at the time and told him and he left immediately to come home and my mom told me that something was wrong with my dad and I knew he had died.
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