Every so often, threads themed around tales of the strange and unusual pop up on AskReddit—and I eat them up every time. Sometimes they ask the reddit community what their favorite creepypastas are; sometimes they ask about local legends they grew up hearing; sometimes they ask for the scariest story you can tell in three sentences or less; but for me, the most interesting variations are always the ones asking for real-life events. While it’s true that an awful lot of the content on reddit is frequently made up, I find these “tell me your freakiest true stories” to be the most riveting, largely because of the very real possibility that they might actually have happened. Also, these sorts of threads tend to repeat themselves less, which is a bonus (there are only so many times you can read the David Bowie variation of the old “Babysitter vs. Clown Statue” story before it ceases to be funny. And given how much I love David Bowie, that’s saying something).
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This past Monday, u/NoImDominican posed the question, “What is the creepiest/strangest thing that has happened to you (or a friend or family member) that creeps you out to this day?” The whole thread is worth checking out, so if you’ve got some time to kill, I suggest you do so; if, however, you’re more interested in getting the “Greatest Hits” version, here are my 12 favorite stories (click ’em to make the images bigger and therefore easier to read):
1. The Cops Who Weren’t There
We all know how this would have played out had it been a movie or something, but it’s anyone’s guess what the situation becomes when it plays out in real life.
2. The Projection
Astral projection, perhaps?
3. The Cigarette Case
I just want to know how the guy got the cigarette case back. I mean, did he sneak into u/sonikaos’ house, riffle through his drawers, and retrieve it, solely so he could sell it all over again? That’s… shall we say, dedication.
4. The Not-So-Empty House
Maybe it was a glitch in the Matrix.
5. The Child Theft Ring
To me, this one is by far the most horrifying story in the thread — mostly because it’s so. Effing. Concrete. When it comes to fiction, I find the things we don’t know or see to be much more frightening than the things we do know or see; in real life, though, knowing something without a doubt is that much scarier. What might have happened had they been home that day… doesn’t bear thinking about.
6. The Ghost Photograph
And here’s the photo:
I’m kind of tempted to say it’s a double exposure or something, but you be the judge.
7. The Premonition
I’ve heard a lot of tales like these over the years. Never having experienced the phenomenon myself, I can’t say whether or not I actually believe in them; however, those who have experienced it usually swear up and down about their story’s veracity. Thoughts?
8. Buried Alive
This? Freaky.
9. The Home Invasion
Weirdly enough, I never worried about my apartment getting broken into when I lived in the city. Now that I live out in the ‘burbs, I feel kind of like I’m in space — that is, no one can hear you scream. This seems like it’s much more of a danger out here, in spite of the fact that the area is supposed to be “safer” than the city.
10. The Opera Lover
This is another commonly reported phenomenon; it’s usually viewed as sort of comforting, as if the departed is letting you know that they’re not gone for good. Let’s be honest, though: It’s kind of creepy, too.
11. The SubGhost
I suppose there are stranger places for a ghost to inhabit than Subway… although not many.
12. The Possession
Yikes.
Got a story of your own? Share it in the comments — I’d love to hear it.
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I’m home alone a lot and I normally see and hear a lot of things I can’t explain. Voices, scratching on the walls, things getting knocked over, etc. Well this is a story about the day I’ll never forget. I was sitting on my couch scrolling through my instagram when all of a sudden my brothers scooter just rolled across the floor. I didn’t think too much about it because I was used to these weird things. I turned back to my phone and heared someone calling my name…my whole entire name. This had never ever happened before. Then I heard a knock on the door. I got up and looked out the peep hole and saw no one. When I turned around, right where I was sitting was the scooter, turned upside down,and the wheels were spinning. I started freaking out and the scooter flew across the room and crashed into the wall. I ran out of the house screaming and went to my neighbors house. They decided to come over and investigate. When we got back everything was back in place . the scooter was put away like it was before it had moved. I never stay home alone anymore, and now my neighbors think I’m crazy.
Well how to start? I got many experiences about dealing with the ghosts. The most unforgettable moments was when I was shooting a short movie for my final assignment. We were taking pictures in the 4th floor in my university. My old university had 4th floors in total, and I always heard a rumour if there are ghosts who occupied that floor at night. I hardly believe that story, since there’s many mashed-up ghost stories out there. But, that night, when we’re taking a break after shooting, the electricity went down in sudden. I thought there were a blackout but no, it’s only happened in the 4th floor. It happened twice during our break time. Then, when I and my friend were in our way to the 2nd floor, there’s sound of someone’s step running hurriedly on the stairs above us, but when we checked it, there’s nobody who used the stairs beside the two of us, I was scared, but my friend brushed it off and proceed to the restroom. My friend’s waiting outside and I went to the restroom, nothing much really happened, until there’s the sound of somebody flushed the toilet beside me, it freaks me out, I thought it’s my friend but she said, she was staying outside this entire time. Lastly, during our shooting inside the storage room, our main actor fell asleep, he slept with his body leaned on the wall, and beside him, there are stacks of unused chairs. We decided to let him rest a bit, but suddenly a loud crash, pierced throughout the room. Turns out, one of the chairs fell down by itself. The scary part is nobody has touched the chair, or even bother to takes one chair from the stacks of the chair since we’re busy with the shooting, and the distance of the chair from the position where our main actor fell asleep is quite far so he wouldn’t have touched the chair. It happened quickly, so nobody really noticed what’s just happened, but it really scares us.
And the second story, was about me, when I was alone in my home. Since my parents always off to work, I often left alone inside the home until they got back. One day, I decided to sleep in noon, I was on my bed, but then when I woke up, I found myself, on the floor in the living room. Somebody had moved my body when I was asleep. But, the most of time when I’m alone, I often encounter strange apparition. The most memorable experience from these kind of things was happened when I was a child. That time, I encountered a woman dressed in white with most of her hair fell down, covering most parts of her face, similar to Sadako from the ring.
But, sometimes, there’s also other anomaly, like someone calling my names, or the sound of a baby crying, strange perfume that doesn’t belong to anyone in my households, the sound of the door knocks, and even sometimes most of our things get lost, then re-appeared again in the same place, we had searched before.
Even so, the hauntings never went become severe to the point it hurt everybody in our house, so, we never bother to call the paranormal, or performing the cleansing rituals… anyways sorry if my english is really bad and most parts of my sentences is hard to understand, because english isn’t my native language, so I kinda having a hard time while writing this story .
Ok so I think my room is haunted because every night when I lay down and close my eyes I hear a weird clicking sound. Then when I look up it stops and there’s nothing there. However, the moment close my eyes again it starts clicking. Also if I go ten minutes without looking around I hear a faint dragging sound. Eventually I tune it out and go to sleep but it’s very annoying. Also I used to keep tissues on the desk by my bed and I would often wake up to find a tissue lying on by bed. Is it a ghost or something else? If anyone knows please tell me.
Thanks