One of the worst feelings in the world is when you experience some inexplicably creepy. While that’s bad enough, encountering something scary when you’re alone only makes it worse. These people share the strangest things they encountered when no one else was around.
#1 What Does the Fox Say?
I was walking home one night when I was at university and heard what sounded like a female scream. I was absolutely petrified. I made a cursory glance to see if I could easily see what was going on, but when I couldn't see anyone, I sprinted home. It was only months later that I saw a video online and realized what it was — it was a fox. Their screams are horrifying.
#2 Really Messed Up
It was about 9:00 p.m. and I was returning from practice. I would say I'm a pretty paranoid guy and usually overthink stuff. As I was walking down the road, I had this terrible gut feeling, like my heart dropped. I immediately felt like I should look behind me. I turned around and saw a man (pretty muscular, around his mid-30s) staring at me. I froze and suddenly the same gut feeling returned.
I don't know why, but I had that urge to scream. The guy actually took off running, probably because he thought I was calling for help. When I got home, I told my parents (I was 14 at the time) and we called the police. A few days later, a police officer knocked on our door and started asking me some questions.
He had a picture of the guy from that night. I could tell it was him due to him being bald and from his muscular body. It turns out they had already caught the guy and just wanted to confirm if it was him. I later found out this guy had been guilty for a series of gruesome things. He was just a really messed up guy.
#3 What’s That Noise?
The scariest thing that ever happened to me, at least in recent memory, was this one time at night. I always heard my mother coughing downstairs. One weekend, my parents and my brother decided to go on a trip together, which meant that I was home by myself. And I heard the coughing. So, it was definitely not my mom.
#4 Something Out the Window
Me and my mom saw someone — or something — watching us sleep. I was about five and my mom was putting me to sleep. I fell asleep and when I woke up in the middle of the night, I saw a dark figure. It looked like a man standing in front of the window. I woke my mom up, almost about to cry, and I was hoping it was just a tree or something because we were on the second floor of the house.
But when she woke up, she also saw what happened and told me to stay put. She quickly ran to the living room because we had guests over and everyone was still up. She told everyone what happened and for three hours, everyone searched around the house. What I didn't tell her was that when she left, the window started to rattle as if someone was trying to open it. I was scared and never slept on my own in that room until I was eight.
#5 Messing With Grandma
Once, my grandma was out of town to visit my uncle who lives in another state. I was watering her plants, feeding her dog, checking her mail, all that stuff. I went inside and her TV was turned on. So, I turned it off. I then went into a different part of the house to water the plants she kept in a den-like area.
Afterward, I walked back through the living room and the TV was on again, this time the golf network. My grandpa loved napping to golf, like every other 60-something on the planet. Again, I turned it off and went about my business. I came back a few days later to repeat this routine and some of her figurines had been turned around. He’d sometimes do this because it annoyed my grandma. Probably not creepy, but it makes me chuckle.
#6 Alone Time
When I was a kid, I used to spend a lot of time alone in my basement. We had a TV down there, so I was down there pretty late most nights in the summer. One night, I swear I heard rustling from behind me, but when I turned around, there was nothing there. I felt a really sharp breath on the back of my neck (hard enough to blow my hair). I took off up the steps, leaving everything on downstairs. I grabbed my mom and we went back downstairs to check it out. Everything was turned off. I didn’t hang out downstairs anymore.
#7 Missing Time
It was my parents' basement when I was visiting home during university. I thought it was haunted. Stuff would vanish or seem to move on its own. Sometimes I'd hear footsteps upstairs when no one was home and investigate when I was indeed alone. Then I started literally "missing time" and finding myself in different places down in the basement. There were other things. Turned out, there was a carbon monoxide leak. I was lucky I wasn't there for extended periods and it was the fall, so the windows were open.
#8 Face Recognition
I was just playing my Xbox when I noticed at the corner of my eye that my laptop on the other side of the room had turned the face recognition on. It was on even though I was nowhere near it and not in its camera view. Also, it was in the same exact position for about an hour without doing anything. I nearly soiled my pants at the time.
#9 Come Knocking
This was years ago, at my parents' house. They were out of town for the weekend, so being a coward, I had the doors locked early, blinds shut and lights on in several rooms. However, there was a banging on my front door, then a minute or so later, something knocking on my window. It was my loser friend trying to scare me while his wife waited in the car.
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#10 Man in the Mirror
I was home alone, watching TV in the family room. It's a dark and windy night, and I thought I heard something thumping outside the patio doors. I figured it was something to do with the wind, so I ignored it. The thumping continued and suddenly I realized that it sounded like somebody walking on the back patio.
The curtains were closed across the patio door, so I got up, walked over, and threw the curtains open. There was a guy standing right on the other side of the glass, looking in. I jumped back, terrified, my heart racing. The guy also jumped back since he was as scared as I was… that is because he was my reflection.
#11 Valentine’s Day Roses
My mom works night shifts, so I was home a lot often. I went downstairs to make some dinner and take it back to my room, but before leaving the kitchen, I locked the back door. I went upstairs and then I heard this awful bang and scrape noise. I was so scared but I still went to check what it was. I opened the back door and I saw three bouquets of roses. I called my mom crying about it. She said a guy friend came by and wanted to give it to us (mom, sister, me) for Valentine’s Day. I told her about how the door was suddenly unlocked and she said that he didn’t have a key.
#12 Purple Stars
When I was around 12, I was in my bedroom. It was late and the lights were off. I can't remember if I had woken up or if I was just kind of laying there. But, I happened to open my eyes and leaning against the end of my weight bench was this shadowy figure. It had no features, but it had a "human" shape and basically looked like a shadow and purple stars. I didn't know what I was looking at, but it waved at me. I don't remember anything else.
#13 Pass That Car
I had just started driving on my own. I was pretty cautious and hated passing cars. I was about a mile from a highway exit and was already in the far right lane, when a voice from nowhere said, “Why don’t you pass that car?” It was a Ford Expedition rowing a small UHaul. I figured I could easily pass it and so I did. As I pulled back into the lane in front of him, I watched the trailer come unhitched and bounce down the highway right where I would have been driving.
#14 In the Yard
A friend of mine was once standing in my yard at 4:00 a.m. or so. I was up doing homework, which is how I caught him standing there. The next day he confessed he had simply been riding through the neighborhood and saw me, so he tried to catch my attention to wave at me. He’s a super nice guy and it hasn't happened since.
#15 From My Peripheral
It was night and I had to go to the bathroom. I ran to the bathroom, but I felt the whole room having a weird vibe and it was cold (being winter and the heater was on). So, I went to the bathroom and didn’t close the door because I had to go so bad. Three minutes in, I was on my phone until I got a vibe that someone was watching me.
From my peripheral vision, I swear I saw something run across the other room. I thought it was something else, but I looked to the door again and saw a shadow moving. I wiped, locked the door and went to sleep in the tub with the lights on. I got more scared when I woke up from a loud banging noise, but it was my dad.
#16 Hospital Visitor
I was at the hospital visiting a friend for a few hours and decided to go home. As I was walking to the train station, I didn't seem to notice anyone. I was alone at night on an empty street with no one in sight. I came across a traffic light and decided to wait, although no one was even driving at the time. I don't know why I didn't just walk to the other side.
In any case, I was too distracted by my phone when I suddenly got this gut feeling to look left. There was a man walking towards me, but I didn't think anything of it. The man was then standing a few feet from me and I could visibly see him. He was wearing ripped, dirty clothes and had greasy long hair. But what creeped me the most was his smile. He was looking at me constantly with that creepy smile and then he started talking to me in a different language.
I didn't know what to do or say, so I just stood there. He got angry and started yelling. Of course, I was really creeped out and started walking to the train station. I looked behind me and the man was running at me with a piece of glass. So, I started running and luckily a train was stopping, so I quickly hopped in. The man was, for some reason, not trying to come in and stood in front of the doors. He looked at me with the same creepy smile. I was relieved and petrified and that was that.
#17 To the Bathroom
I was approximately nine years old at the time and was making a trip to the bathroom. I turned back and called my father, but then there was nothing left. It was the scariest night of my life. That’s not to count the amounts of sleep paralysis that continue scaring me with strange figures when I’m blocked in bed.
#18 Stop Right There
We have foxes roaming freely in our neighborhood; they sound like possessed cats to me. One time, I was walking home at night and one of them started sneaking up from behind. I stopped, turned around, it still came at me. That's when I, in the lowest and most low-key threatening voice I could muster, directly talked to the fox. I don't remember what exactly I said, something like, "Stop following me right now you little rascal.” And it actually stopped, looked at me slyly and walked away.
#19 Fourth-Floor Apartment
A few years ago now, I lived in an apartment on the fourth floor. This was back in the late 1990s and I was maybe 10 years old. I remember that it was the afternoon, but I was always scared to be home alone for some reason. That day, I was sitting in the living room and I heard a loud “psst” right next to my ear.
#20 You Should Run
When I was around 10, I came back home after school and started doing my homework. Suddenly, the TV turned on. I went and turned it off. A few minutes later it turned on again. I was starting to get freaked out, so I called my mom. She said, "There's a ghost in the house, leave!" I was 10, so my heart stopped and I almost cried. Then she started laughing, told me not to worry and that my dad will check it out once he gets home. Turned out to be some sort of automatic thing that would turn on the TV.
#21 Morning Jog
I'm a female and I do my morning jog around my neighborhood at 3:00 a.m. because the rest of the day I'm in school and at work. One morning, I was jogging back to my house to get ready for school. I was at the end of my street where there’s a mini forest and no street lights. All of a sudden, I heard heavy footsteps behind me.
All that time I had been cruising along, just enjoying the cold air and the silence. when I heard that, I thought, "Not today!" and took off as fast as I could toward the lit part of my street. When I felt I had run far enough, I shone my flashlight back to see if anything was there. I didn't see anything. Needless to say, it took me an extra hour and a half the next morning to convince myself to go jogging.
#22 Biggest Chills of Life
I was out in the country late at night, taking some long exposure photographs of the Hale-Bopp comet as it approached the sun. I had driven out of town and just picked a dark, empty farmers field to set up. It was nice and dark. I was out there for a couple of hours when I got this massive feeling of "I need to leave now." I packed up my camera, tripod and lawn chair, threw it all in my trunk, and started the car. When the lights of the car came on, I saw the wolf that was sitting 20 feet from where I was positioned, just sitting there, staring at me! I've never gotten bigger chills in my life.
#23 Down the Stairs
I was watching TV with my sister when we heard what sounded like footsteps coming down the stairs. We both turned around and saw some kind of shadow figure (looked like a shadow man) walk down the stairs, out of the front entrance and disappear. It was scary as heck, especially because we both saw this weird figure.
Recently, we were having dinner as a family and we got to talking about ghosts. My dad jokingly asked if we'd ever encountered any, so my sister and I confirmed that we did in the house. My mom then asked, “Is it the shadow figure? I've seen it too, seems pretty harmless.” My mom is a good Catholic girl and it definitely spooked us because we had never told them.
#24 Nature Trail
I frequent nature trails with my dog. The one I went to when this happened, there was a sign-in sheet where you could write down your name and the date you were there. There’s then a spot to write down what time you left. Anyway, on the way back to my car, my dog started going absolutely nuts - growling, teeth bared, whole shebang. I never saw him like that before then or since.
I turned around and this guy, who looked at least 40, was standing there. We were probably 20 feet from the parking lot. I went to apologize for my pupper's behavior and the guy just stared at me without saying a word. I continued walking to my car and went to sign out on the sheet. My name had been erased. I don’t know what the dude’s intentions were and I think maybe he didn't know there was an 85-pound pitbull with me. But, I'm pretty sure they weren't good. I also found it odd my car was the only one in the parking lot.
#25 Wrong Turn
I stopped at the grocery store after going to a doctor’s appointment on a different side of town. Coming out of the store, I turned the wrong way to get where I needed to be. I ended up having to make three right turns in a row. The strange thing was the car behind me did the same. If it hadn’t been for my wrong turn, I never would have noticed he was following me.
I started to drive home, which was about a 15-20 minute drive. He followed me the whole way! I didn’t want to go home with him behind, so I drove to a police station. I pulled into the station and the guy pulled in behind me! Suddenly it must have dawned on him where we were because he tore out of there. All I can say is thank God I made that wrong turn or I might not have even noticed him. Who knows what he had in mind?
#26 Go See Your Mother
I was alone in an old folks’ home laundry room during break time. Since everyone had gone out to catch fresh air, I decided to lay down on one of the big tables they use to fold all the laundry. I guess I had fallen asleep and was abruptly awoken by my stepdad’s voice telling me to wake up. Naturally, I snapped into an upright position and checked my phone to see that I had received a message from my mom informing me that my stepdad had just passed away. I’m not a big believer in the supernatural but I 100% believe that it was his voice telling me to wake up so I could be there for my mom.
#27 Make the Call
Our next-door neighbor came by the house one day and asked me to call the police. He and his wife were having a fight. He then told me not to call the police. So, I didn't. A few weeks later, I asked the neighbor if everything at home was okay at home and he acted like he didn't know what I was talking about.
#28 Back of the House
A fox scared the daylights out of me one night. My room is in the back of the house with the window pointing to a hillside. Coyotes, foxes, snakes and all kinds of critters live out there. I heard this terrifying scream coming from outside and I had to sleep in the living room that night. I found the fox the next day.
#29 Voice Behind Me
After school one day, I was about to cross a road to go home but that road is known for idiots always speeding. I checked both sides before I started running to cross it and when I was in the middle of the road, I heard someone call my name from behind, which, for some reason, made me stop. At that very moment, a white car sped past me exactly where I would’ve been.
I was petrified and looked behind me, but there was no sign of human activity. When I arrived home, I told my mom but that was pretty much the end of it. I should maybe say that the voices seemed faint as if the “person” was far behind me and it sounded like my mom’s voice, who as I said, was in the house. That experience still sticks with me years later.
#30 Late-Night Ice Cream
This happened a long time ago, during World of Warcraft days. It was a weekend and I was pulling an all-nighter. I stepped out onto my balcony to have a smoke. The balcony was in a little alcove, so nobody could tell I was there. It was the fourth floor, high enough that people on the ground didn't see. It was also 3:30 a.m. I was sitting in my deck chair zoning out when I heard the faint tinkle of… the ice cream man.
The most rusted, beat up, jacked ice cream truck I have ever seen slowly cruised down the residential blocks. My balcony had a great view of the surrounding neighborhood and I watched for maybe 15 minutes as this guy methodically went up and down the streets. In the humid stillness of the summer night, it was creepy. At his closest point to me, I could see one huge, hairy Popeye-style forearm sticking out the window. The guy had to be a huge monster. I stayed very still then quietly went inside and shut all the curtains. I also made sure the doors were locked.
#31 Most Inconvenient Time
One time, I was going into my dad's house. He has his garden with a fence surrounding it and an alarm system, which basically detects movement in the house. I was opening the gate to his garden when I heard the alarm go off, saying there was movement in the basement. The basement is connected to the garden since there's a little space to park a car downstairs. I heard the whole alarm system saying "Alarm movement basement" from all the way outside and I completely panicked since there was no one in the house. It was late and I had to turn off the alarm, meaning I had to enter the house. Nothing happened, nobody was there and the alarm just decided to detect movement at the most inconvenient time.
#32 Just Checking In
My grandparents had a spare bedroom in their basement and I set up a bunch of video game systems down there when I was 13. One day, I was alone playing in my boxers when I saw a human-shaped shadow on the wall. It was the new neighbor’s daughter just looking in. When I turned around, she ran away. Later that night, she looked in again using a flashlight. Weirdest girl ever.
#33 Very Cold Hand
I was around 16 and totally asleep on my bunk bed with my arm above my head. I felt something with a very cold hand grab my wrist and pull. I almost wet myself. I shot up, almost fell off my bed and started panic crying. It took me about 10 minutes to get off my bed to check things out. I knew there was "nobody" there because I saw and felt a lot in the house I was in at that time. That house was dodgy. Thankfully, I only lived there for about two years.
#34 Out of Thin Air
I was happy to have the house to myself for maybe an hour. On one of my trips to the kitchen, when walking back to my bedroom, I saw a black doll on my mother's bed. We do not have dolls in this house and this one was just materialized on her bed. It didn’t look particularly creepy, but you know, where did it come from? I did not investigate further. I just made a cross sign and turned the corner to enter my bedroom. I looked into it and apparently, voodoo dolls are only used for evil in movies. I don’t know what to make of this.
#35 Bright Light
I was about 11 years old and was startled awake for no discernable reason. I just woke up feeling very on edge with a racing heart. I know this sounds nuts but I looked over near my doorway and saw an actual alien standing there. It was the stereotypical tall, slim grey alien with huge dark eyes. Naturally, my entire body froze in fear and I stared right at it for probably only five seconds. But, it felt like an eternity.
I knew I wanted out of that room, but to leave I would have to run past the alien, which I did. I went into my mom's bed. I remember a blindingly bright light was streaming in through her window blinds but I was too scared to look out and see what it was. The window faced towards our backyard, so it couldn't have been car headlights. Eventually, I fell asleep and woke up in my mom's bed, so at the very least I know I did change locations in the night. Definitely the creepiest thing that's happened to me, alone or otherwise.
#36 Shadowy Reflection
Our garage had these huge windows at the back that looked out into our backyard. One night, I had to go to the garage for a drink out of the fridge we kept in there. I saw someone out of the corner of my eye, seemingly walking through my backyard. It scared the heck out of me and I jumped. It was when I jumped that I realized what I was seeing was just a shadowy reflection of myself. No one walked through my backyard at all. I felt very silly.
#37 Middle of the Country
I was driving with my dad and was in the middle of the country. We were approaching an intersection about a 1/4 mile up the road. It was approaching dusk and still plenty of light to see. We saw a large, greyish cloud appear out of thin air on the left side of the intersection and slowly cross the road in front of us. It then disappeared into thin air after crossing the road. It was so clear to us that my dad pretty much slammed on the brakes. We looked at each other and said, "Did you just see?" It's something I've never experienced before and haven't since.
#38 Escaped Something Horrible
I got off the bus one night coming home from work. A guy also got off at my stop, but I didn’t think much of it, and started walking to my apartment. I heard footsteps behind me and realized that guy was still walking behind me. As I was getting closer to my building, the steps sounded faster. I started to panic because I didn’t have a cell phone or any way to call for help. I noticed another man walking on the opposite side of the street, and he started crossing towards me as well.
At that moment, I got to my yard, jogged up to the door and threw it open. As I did, I heard the one behind me say, “Hey wait...” as I slammed the door shut and locked it. There was a window in the door and we locked eyes, he was standing in the middle of the yard just staring at me. He turned and said something to the guy that had been on the other side of the road that I couldn’t hear. They then walked off together. I was kind of stunned as to what just happened. I had a heavy, nauseous feeling in my stomach, like I’d just barely escaped something horrible. After that, I always had my boyfriend meet me at the bus stop and walk me home.
#39 Trying to Sleep
When I was really young, I used to wake up to a figure of a man walking up and down my room, in front of the door. There was more or less no escape for me! It normally happened at about 2:00 a.m. I’d literally just have to go under the covers and go back to sleep! Well, a few years ago my mom admitted that the man living there before ended his life. Good times.
#40 School Bathroom
Middle school bathrooms. I was just in the stall, about to use the bathroom, when suddenly someone turned the lights off. I was terrified of the dark, so I grabbed the handle and made a run for it. Then I saw a face with a mask on it. It was just floating, staring at me. I put my jacket over my ears, shut my eyes, and screamed… just screaming for two minutes. I believe someone heard me and told a teacher. I had to tell the staff what happened. I was called to go home, and yeah, you get the rest. I’m still terrified whenever I think of it.
#41 Under the Covers
I was at home, at night. I was in bed and I heard this sort of yowling from downstairs. So, I check the time and it was around 2:00 a.m. It kept going, so I thought, "Oh, it's just the cat, whatever." But, it still sounded kind of creepy, so I turned over and pulled the blanket over my head. There was this sort of weight on the blanket preventing me from pulling it easily, though. I reached over and felt my cat, asleep. The noise downstairs was still there. I freaked out, grabbed my cat, pulled him under the covers with me, and stayed awake for about 20 minutes until the noise stopped. I never figured out what it was.
#42 Learning to Ignore It
When I was a teenager and still living with my parents I would constantly stay up later then them playing video games. My game room just had a set of curtains acting as the door between the room and hallway. You could usually see in the small gap between the curtains. I would repeatedly see shadows and movement through that gap and have the curtains move as if someone walked past. Eventually, I just learned to ignore it.
#43 Second Name
I was in the kitchen at night and all lights were on except the ones from the outside. I was getting some water when I heard someone saying my name. I looked to my left and only saw the windowed backyard door. I wasn't scared at all, I thought that It was just my imagination. Then I heard the voice calling my name… again. "The thing" said my second name too, something not everyone knows. Then I was scared. I was shocked and silent and the voice started laughing, laughing like he was making fun of me. I ran upstairs and stayed in my room.
#44 Trying to Get In
I was up late playing games when I thought I heard something. I'm an anxious person, so I hoped it was just my nerves. I heard it again, at which point I took my headphones off so I could hear more clearly. After distinctly hearing the sound a third time, I grabbed my dog, shut off the lights, and hid in my room.
I was ready to call 911 and go out my bedroom window, but I didn't hear anything else after that. The next morning, I went around the house trying to figure out what the noise was. When I pulled on the (locked) front door, it produced the same loud rattling sound as I had heard the night before. It really freaked me out that someone must have been trying to get into my house at night.
#45 Cleaning Job
I used to clean rented business buildings. One building had a dentist's office, a donation center and a lawyer's office. I cleaned them all ending with the lawyer's office and as I was wiping down the desk, I accidentally bumped into a stack of papers and they toppled over. I started cleaning them up and a man entered the office (this was at 2:00 a.m., but I assumed he was the lawyer or assistant).
I apologized to him, but he said nothing, just stood there. I felt uncomfortable with the whole situation and left the building to go to my car. This guy followed me to my car and proceeded to follow me in his own car everywhere I went for like 15 minutes. I finally pulled into a police station and he drove off.
#46 Breaking the Ice
I knew when my grandparents passed away. In both cases, I was alone and the day was normal otherwise. First my paternal grandfather, then my maternal grandmother some months later. Saved me some awkwardness because I could just break the ice with "gram's gone." I'm sure it was just me subconsciously sensing that my family had been out for a longer time than usual or something. Still, creepy.
#47 Uneasy Air
One night after work, I went to make dinner and the air in my house just felt uneasy. The pets were acting strange, too. They were sprinting down rooms coming to stops and sprinting back. I heard some creaks upstairs but just thought it was my old house. Apparently, my cats could hear it because their heads would follow the sounds.
I decided to almost run up to my room, which was also upstairs. However, when I grabbed the railing of the staircase, my dog bolted from the couch and started barking at me. It was almost in a protective manner. I legit ran as fast as I could to my room and punched the air in front of me. I then locked my door.
#48 Ticking Keys
One summer when I was about 12, I woke up around noon and went into the kitchen to get breakfast. I could hear my mom typing on her computer (she types fast and the walls were thin, so I could hear her from several rooms away). I started playing on my computer and an hour later, my mom came home. Turns out, I had been home alone since 9:00 a.m.
#49 Misty Route
I used to work for a doctor right after I finished my MBA. Every day it would get really late coming home after work. One night while going home, it had just finished raining and the route was misty. I was riding my motorcycle and the road was deserted. Suddenly I saw a toddler around two standing in the middle of the road a few metres ahead.
I got really scared and felt as if my heart completely stopped. Then I looked again and it was a random dog sitting in the middle of the road. We have a local breed, which has a yellowish coat and I saw only the front leg. However, the chest of the dog resembled a standing baby. The entire incident was actually quite scary.
#50 Auditory Hallucinations
Sometimes I have audio hallucinations, like, TV announcer reading news aloud, but there’s no TV. Also, if I think of any screamer I've seen in my life - I just unintentionally imagine it right opposite to me, standing with that terrible face and smiling. The more I think of it, the more realistic they get. I mean, if I won't fix it, like sing aloud, run or just move - they will be so realistic that my heart beats faster and I really see them. I guess it's something wrong with my mental health.
