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46 Homeless People Share The Most Horrifying Experiences They Had To Go Through
If you have a warm bed to sleep in every single night and a home where you feel safe, you have more to be thankful for than over 770,000 people in the United States. Homelessness is a serious issue all over the world, but many people who have never experienced it don’t want to talk about it, because they don’t think they can relate to it.
But the truth is, anyone can experience homelessness. Losing your job, getting saddled with exorbitant medical bills, or losing a loved one can turn your life upside down in an instant. So nobody should turn a blind eye to people who ended up on the streets. And to provide a glimpse into what their experience is really like, formerly unhoused Redditors have been opening up about the scariest and creepiest things they’ve experienced. Below, you'll find their most powerful stories.
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#1
I was only homeless for a short stint but hands down the hardest thing was the constant fear my dog would get taken from me or that he would be hurt. I have a small white dog who weighs a little under 10 lbs and I was always terrified someone would try to take him, either homeless people or people who thought they deserved him more than my homeless self.
Thankfully I had a bad car at the time so I had a place to sleep. At night Id do my best to park at 24 hour gyms or with a "for sale" sign in the windshield because I was less likely to be asked to move along that way.
I was working part time and my friend worked with animals so quite often she would bring my dog to work with her since it was allowed. Other days I spent what little money I had on doggy daycare groupons.
We made it through and my dog is still mine, as soon as I had money in the bank I took him to a vet and got him all taken care of and I am typing this from my very own bed with him next to me.
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#2
Everyone is gonna try to steal from you so watch your stuff. Keep your mouth shut and find a good place that is desolated from nocturnal animals and jerks.
#3
The thought that someone would find your camp and ruin your stuff was a real concern. Also just finding some here to sleep that is secure. One morning, early, I was sleeping in an abandoned warehouse up a set of stairs nearly in the rafters and was woken by 4 raccoons like 4 feet from me eating my bag. Having to poop in the middle of the night is also awful.
Being homeless is only scary for a couple of days. There's depression and boredom that are your real enemies. Your body and mind go into a sort of hyper survival mode and there is no room for fear.
#4
As a girl, the constant harassment and threats. (I was always in the hood when I was homeless.) Guys blocking your way to leave with their trucks to ask you for horrible things for $15 and if you say no they drive in front of you even more if you try to leave. Just knock his side mirror off and run.
#5
Bugs. I used to sleep behind dumpsters, and the fear of roaches crawling on me in my sleep was enough to make sure I only slept 2-3 hours. Made me try to find hospital bathrooms and just lock the door for 5-6 hours.
#6
How little you matter to anyone.
There are two kinds of people I learned to avoid very quickly- groups of young men/teenagers, and fellow homeless men. If someone's gonna mess with you, they'll fall in one of these groups, and people may watch disapprovingly, but they won't do anything to help you.
It's less important to most people that you be somewhere safe or with a bit of shelter from the weather, than it is that you be where they don't have to see you. Most of your interactions with people such as the police, who in normal life you consider to be concerned primarily with your safety, when you're homeless are more about making you less inconvenient to others.
#7
Spent 2007-2012 homeless. Most of that was my teenage years spent with my father (also homeless). The scariest thing is spending the evening in some homeless shelters, or out of them in this case. I was in one in Portland, Maine. My dad was assigned a "spot" to sleep on the floor because they were overcrowd that day. They didn't have a spot for me so I slept across the street in the garden of the local Catholic church since the priests don't kick people out. It was a popular place to sleep when the shelter was "over booked". I remember sleeping in the grass near a couple whom I overheard talking about robbing me for well over 20 minutes. I didn't let go of my knife all night.
The most surreal moment was a short stint in 2010. When I walked into the 400 square foot studio apartment my dad had finally been able to afford for a short while and asking him,
"This is all ours?"
We lived like kings that few months.
#8
I had really bad PTSD after Vietnam, and I spent about 4 years basically homeless. When I was in the rough the thing that got to me the most was the total lack of any kind of privacy. I looked for places to hide, but I never felt really safe. The constant vulnerability just seemed to build and build it was really hard to maintain like any kind of normal human.
#9
I moved out at 15 and lived near Muskegon, Michigan. Tried to avoid it, but that's where possible jobs and rides were so I went there to better myself.
Was homeless for about a year and just couch surfed, stayed with random people or just slept in abandoned buildings or parks.
Scariest part was knowing that once the sun started going down, I HAD to lay low and find a place to crash for the night. Walking the streets of Muskegon after dark is awful. Especially when you're young. People tried to rob me, take advantage of me, sell me illegal things (which I took) then follow my whereabouts, chase me just for fun. It was awful.
I wouldn't even have anything on me except my clothes and someone would come up with a weapon and tell me to give them everything I had. One time when I couldn't give a guy anything, he beat the life out of me just for fun and cut my arm up bad. Worst time of my life.
#10
I hate the dark. It's stupid I know but I always felt like something was coming for me. I always had to find a corner and hide from the other homeless. I don't know if I *had* to hide but I was very young and I'm a girl and I'd had my head filled with how every unsupervised girl got attacked repeatedly. I thought I would literally be attacked to death if anyone found me. On the upshot I RULE at hide and seek. And I can almost sleep well outside of a corner.
#11
I made a separate account because I don't want this associated with my regular one since I got my life back together.
I used to sell "services" to random guys which helped me get out of being homeless after a few months. I'm not gay but I was desperate to get out of my predicament and did what I had too. I'm a pretty feminine looking man when I had long hair and that attracted a lot of old men, lonely men, just randoms.
Never really had problems with other homeless people because I stayed in a local city shelter at night and had to leave during day time. Hanging around convenient stores and parking lots where they have game rooms (slot machine rooms) is where I got most of my clients.
Most of them were chill. Get what they want and leave. Some were crazy. One guy in particular wanted me to stay at his place overnight and spend the next day with him for a $1000. I decided cool and we went to his house. The guy had what I can describe is like a horrible dungeon in his garage. He had some type of black filament with egg cartons all over the walls and inappropriate type stuff laying around.
I decided it wasn't a good idea and said I changed my mind but he wouldn't let me leave. We were yelling back and forth and he punched me in the collar bone. It didn't hurt probably because of adrenaline. I used to do kyokushin Karate as a kid/teenager so after he hit me, I kicked him as hard as I could in the balls and kneed him in the temple and ran out the house. I ran from block to block hiding becuase I was afraid he would try to kidnap me or call the cops. I never saw the guy again even after going back to the spots I always hang out at. I eventually made enough money to get an apartment and eventually a logistics job for a supply chain.
#12
The hopelessness and pressure of knowing the longer you spend homeless, the harder it is to get out of it.
At least that's what I got from the people I talked to. I was homeless for a summer but really I was just a kid having an adventure and I didn't feel good at home. Talking to people whose parents were homeless and had no life skills, or those with bad habits who had no support to help them kick it and get back on track, or people who no longer knew how to even begin to find a job scared the hell out of me. I realized that a couple years of that and you would have to work super hard to get out of it. I was never a super hard worker.
#13
All the people who assume you'll have intimacy with them for money. I was a young man at the time and I would get propositioned daily, mostly by creepy old men. The scariest bit would probably have been knowing that someone could end you and no one would really know/care.
#14
Winter.
Gingersnap In Iowa 3 hours ago
I have a very dear cousin who was homeless. He told me about being able to sleep in the parking garages downtown bcuz they were heated but you had to be out at 5 am. Over the New Year Eve the parking garages were closed so I asked him to come stay with me. A huge winter storm came through and I asked him to stay longer. He kept saying he needed to get going and I said why? And he lived with me for the next 20 years before going back home to care for his aging parents. Can honestly say we had the best time together.
#15
My mom kicked me out in January 2016, in the midst of my first year of law school. I was forced to sleep in my car for five months. I had no job when she kicked me out because I was a full-time law student and I was supposed to be able to live off of the tuition refund they give us every year for living expenses, especially since I put down that I was living at home on my FAFSA. I got a day job so I could afford to feed myself and pay my bills, but I started slipping in school. I went from doing amazing to barely understanding any of my course materials. Pretty soon, my professors caught on to the fact that I was sleeping in my car and the Dean ultimately asked me to withdraw temporarily until I could stabilize my situation.
The scariest part was having to sleep in public parking lots with my car in a dangerous city. My school is in the heart of a city that was once known as one of the most dangerous cities for violent crimes in America, but I always had to try to sleep close by to avoid being late to class (classes were at like 7 AM, it was awful). I have heard horror stories from friends. A friend of mine fell asleep in his car after a long night at the library, thinking it would be safer to rest before driving home. He ended up waking up to a guy banging on the window with a gun. He was carjacked and shot in the leg twice. I was always terrified that this would happen to me. There are a ton of other homeless people and substance dependents, psychopaths, etc. just roaming the streets of this city.
Once I temporarily withdrew from school to figure things out, I started sleeping in areas that I knew were safer, since I didn't have to commit to making school work while being homeless anymore.
Another scary thing about being out in the streets is the police. I was literally pulled from my vehicle, tested for alcohol and substances, handcuffed and thrown into the back of a patrol car, and had my entire car torn apart with searches NINE TIMES IN FIVE MONTHS just because I was sleeping in my car and the cops had a quota to meet. I refused to have my car searched every time and demanded probable cause. Sometimes the cops were legit like "It's just kinda weird that you look presentable but you're sleeping in your Dodge Charger claiming to be homeless. Are you under the influence?" WHICH I UNDERSTOOD. Okay, cool. I'll comply to prove my innocence. But then there were a few times where the officers would claim some stupid stuff like "This place (that you know for a fact isn't connected with any break-ins whatsoever) is known for break-ins. The fact that you're out here is suspicious." I was always afraid a cop would use his authority and arrest me and take my car - which was also my home at the time.
EDIT: My mom kicked me out after we argued and I stood up for myself instead of letting her belittle me in front of my siblings. I'm happy to report that everything is wonderful for me now! I'm back in law school and have a great job that pays the bills and works around my school schedule. I currently go half on rent at a beautiful apartment with my boyfriend. As for my mom and I, we are on great terms! I visit her and my siblings frequently and still do stuff with them. I secretly hope she's ashamed of herself for what she did to me, but I'm not holding any grudges. I know it sounds cliche, but this experience has only made me strong AF.
#16
When your sleeping under a fire escape in downtown Chicago with all your possessions next to you in an alley.
Wasn't really sleep just a half-nightmare of waking up next to a thief or attacker.
EDIT: also as another commentator said "how little you matter"
You'd think if you were homeless and hungry on the street your gonna be saved by some stranger? Or you think people will know about your situation and show sympathy. Nothing unusual you're just another person walking to wherever you gotta go.
Where are you going? You don't even know yourself.
Your just another human being except you don't have a place to put your tired body at night or somewhere to make your only meal of the day. How do you even go to a job interview when you shower at a gym and sleep on the side of the railroad tracks if a friend "can't" take you in. I had to do it I wanted to do it and I wasn't special from anybody else. Got myself clean, ironed my best one of two shirts and pair of khakis I had in my backpack for a week cleaned my shoes with my fingers and went to the office.
#18
I was homeless short term (about two months?) and was fortunate enough to have a vehicle and a minimum wage job, so my experience wasn't nearly as bad as some. The scariest part for me was being an 18 year old who didn't know her way around too well and trying to find a semi safe place to park for the night. I'd wake up every few hours to go move my car to another place to try to avoid suspicious vehicle reports. The scariest moment was about 2:00am in a Lowe's parking lot. I woke up to someone parked in front of me with their brights shining right into my windshield. I didn't know what to do, so I just huddled further down and pulled a blanket over my head and hoped for the best. Thankfully nothing came of it. Since then I've realized that a lot of the places I stayed were in really bad areas. I'm extremely lucky nothing happened to me. I'd say next to that the scariest part was trying to stay clean enough to work/go to school. I was always fearful someone would come into one of the public restrooms while I was washing my hair in the sink. It happened once - I was cornered by a couple of women who came in and wanted to know why I was washing my hair, if I was alone, etc.. I had to literally duck between them to get out. Ran like mad with my head full of hand soap. I don't know if they were well intentioned or not, but it was terrifying. Not good times.
#19
Finding a safe place to sleep. As a kid and a girl, I just didn't feel safe sleeping at night time. Ended up staying awake at nights wandering around in well lit places, finding places to sleep during the day. Either at school, hospital ER rooms or parks/beaches with a lot of people.
#20
I go back and forth on if I was homeless or not. When I got out of the military, I had no family to go back to. I crashed at friends houses, and turned wherever I went into a substance party. After, I felt I wore out my welcome, I'd rotate to another friend's house. I was living off my deployment money. The worse thing for me was the lack of hope and safety.
#21
Long story short I was living in a house, and was kicked out by the "landlord" with no notice. The scariest part about being homeless for me was having to give up my dog. He was my best friend, first pet, and only means of mental comfort. On top of it all, I had to give the shelter my last $100 as an "abandonment fee" because I wanted him to have a chance at finding a new home rather than dumping him off in the wild. I cried like a baby in front of everyone.
#22
Scariest thing for me was how hungry I was... don't know if that makes sense, but when you're really hungry you start to lose your mind and that was terrifying to me. I'll never forget trying to steal fruit from the stands in Brooklyn at 4am just so I can eat. Messed up.
#23
I think the scariest part is just the way you are viewed by society and family. this is a situation you created and must shoulder all the blame for. empathy is hard to come by. i was kicked out of my house for being gay when i was 16 and got a special legal emancipation. i initially shared a 2 bedroom apartment with 9 other people. the girl who lived there let the lease expire and everyone got kicked out. this was right when rave/club culture were hitting critical mass so i managed to **PLUR** my way into lots of sofa hopping. worse case scenario i would stay up all night and just sleep on the beach during the day. eventually i squatted with two other people out of one room and one bathroom in an abandoned and dilapidated house. we managed to get utilities turned on (even cable!) and that worked out for about 5 months. we came home one day to cop cars and all our stuff out on the street. there were substances in the house but the cops didn't arrest anyone and let us call people to help us move our stuff. shortly after i met someone and moved in with them and that finally ended about two years of unstable housing/homelessness.
#24
No real safe place. When you have no home, you have no where to hide or run to when you're in trouble.
I lived in a mix of cars, a van, and on the streets themselves for around a year in my teens. One night when I was sleeping in the back of my van (which had a broken door so it couldn't lock) one of the other street workers ripped open my door and started threatening me and demanding I give her the money I'd made that night. I said I hadn't worked that night so had no money (I can't remember if this was a lie or not) and that got her to go away long enough for me to leave my van unnoticed.
But then... there was no where to go. It was the middle of the night, there was someone who wanted to beat me up (she'd already given me a smack and taken money off me before 'cause I'm not a fighter at all and she was much bigger and tougher) and rob me, and there was no one who cared or could help. It's a pretty tough thing to deal with. You really feel alone, completely separate from society, like you're not on the same level as other people.
I eventually ended up finding a 24hour internet cafe and the workers let me hang out in there all night.
And the next day, I still had to go back to my van.
#25
Once you're homeless you are no longer a person. People do not pay attention to you and treat you as if you don't exist. If you smile at someone they look away. It's the worst feeling.
#26
I have lived in Barcelona spain on the streets for quite some time. The creepiest part in my opinión is how fast you accept your homelessnes and how fast you get used to it. You learn to be homeless, you learn to survive by your own.
I remember the moment I got inside my sleepingbag and felt embraced and confortable. I had forgotten what it was to have a bed and sheets. But your brain keeps you on survival mode and you just adjust. After little more then a month, you become so used to it that you stop looking for ways to get out of there.
#27
You can be in the process of dieing. Breathing your last breaths on your cardboard *mattress* and no one will notice as they walk right on by you.
I saw that happen to an older gentleman who was also homeless.
The scariest and most depressing thing in the world is being ignored when you need it most. Having people shy away from you when your trying to ask for help.
And you know they have their reasons. There are fakers out there and those who prey on generosity. But there are also those who's luck has run out and the *only way out* is for someone else to stick their neck out for them.
To this day every bone in my body aches when I see someone homeless. But you can't help them all.
You don't always have cash on you. You don't always have food on you. And by time you are back with something they are gone with no sign of which way they went.
So, not only are you invisible to most, but the portion that does see you has to see you when they can help you because they might only see you once.
#28
My brief stint as a homeless person wasn't as dramatic as many others here, but I wanted to share anyway.
I was homeless while I was in college for about 2 months. I thought I had secured a sublet for an apartment and it fell through last minute and I couldn't find anything else I could afford. My family was pretty far away but I had a car to live out of. I was working full time and was a full time student. I stayed pretty busy so it wasn't too horrible. I could shower at the gym on campus and workout there and I worked as a manager of a fast food restaurant so I got one free meal a day to eat.
The scariest thing for me was the night/dark. I had to park in an area where I wouldn't get ticketed and tried to find one where my vehicle would be kind of inconspicuous. The best place I found was this lot down by the river that runs through my city. There are always a few cars there. I would lock my doors and lower the seats down in my car (a small compact car) and sleep half in the trunk half in the back seat. Sometimes I would hear people talking as they walked by, I would always brace myself and make sure there wasn't any glow visible from my cellphone to draw attention to me. I'm a short, small-framed, slightly better than average looking woman. If someone wanted to do something to hurt me or attacked me they probably could have.
#29
The time when a guy offered me $100 to help him out with some "chores". I was sitting outside a local food shelf and he wanted me to get in his car. I politely declined. He followed me for 4 blocks yelling obscenities out of his window, saying I was an idiot for not taking the money. The scary part is that it was 3pm on the main street, and not one person intervened or would even look in our direction. I was 20. He was maybe 50.
Finding an old friend of my brother who was also homeless. He had a good dry spot under the bridge, and a dog, and I was exhausted from half-sleeping alone in doorways. It seemed safe. He seemed to understand. He tried to attack me in the middle of the night. I ran off and then walked around until it was light, I was so tired I was seeing spots. Finally crashed on the beach around 7am.
By the way, if you add powdered milk to the free shelter coffee, it turns gray.
#30
Overpasses at the top are good places to sleep. Get some earplugs, take a blanket and roll it up long ways and put it against your side as a barrier to stop you from rolling off. When i was homeless there was one in between the job i had and the truck stop. Truckers get free showers with fuel ups, and id tell them "Im not asking for money, i just got this job im stuck on the street I need a shower for work so i can get off the street. If you have an extra shower credit it would really help me out, because i cant afford to pay for it and i cant lose this job" they will generally help out.
#31
I was fifteen on the streets for 6 months. Slept under a bridge I guess to add to the stereotype. Scariest thing was feeling like that was my peak in life. I honestly thought that was it. I'm thirty now, have 4 kids, a nice house, and a beautiful wife. life is good.
#32
I was homeless as a teenager and I got constant harassment from the police, but never once did a cop ask why a 16 year old was sleeping in the stairwell, park, or abandoned building. They would take my ID, ask a bunch of questions about graffiti and vandalism and then tell me to get lost. I was happy to be let go, but looking back as a father, what the hell were they thinking?
#33
Stealing. People will steal when you have literally nothing. I was homeless for a while in middle school, sleeping behind Walmart. someone stole my text books. An 8th grade biology textbook. W h y
also, we slept by a riverbank during summer in a tent. I was always scared the river would rise and drown us in our tent but I'm not sure that was ever realistic.
Sally Moen 2 hours ago
There was bad floods last month in my area, and one of the worst places underwater was this bridge that a lot of homeless people sleep. I was worried about them for a long time
#34
A little while ago I was mentally ill in a bout of substance dependance and I ended up on the streets of Brooklyn. The scariest thing to me was how quickly I lost hope and how quickly I became invisible. Suddenly I could easily see how a perfectly normal person could make one wrong move in life and end up homeless for years if not decades. Luckily for me I caught a break, ended up in a psych ward after a short time homeless and had a few contacts to get me home to New England.
#35
Maybe this is from a teen's standpoint, but I was so envious of kids my age with their families. You see people Christmas shopping, or having a picnic and you just want to be included so badly. I want my parents drop me off at college or go shopping for clothes together. You are still very much a child in your head and long for things from your youth, but there is a paradox because you have to make some very fast adult decisions. I would see a daughter dressed to the nines for a night out with her family and want to be in her place more than anything in the world.
#36
I backpacked across US for a year and ran out of funds towards the end. Luckily I had a goal to reach so I didnt lose too much focus but I remember a week where I dumpster dove next to giant rats.
#37
The scariest part was that after paying into the system for well over 16 years, I was suddenly disabled. It takes 2 years/a rejection and an appeal to receive disability. The waiting list for housing assistance is up to 2 years. And shelters only let you stay for a max of 2 weeks. So me and my 2 yo daughter were in a shelter about to get kicked out when luckily my parents let us move into an old house on their property (which would have been condemned if it had been inspected, but still better than nothing).
This probably wasn't the type of story you were looking for, but it's pretty scary how nonexistent the social safety net is in the US, and people just want to keep whittling away at it. You never think something like this will happen to you...until it does.
#38
-crows at night make the same noise as the predator stalking its prey in the movie (that "crackly sound)
-you can't sleep for too long for a number of reasons. 1. if it's on concrete and you stay still too long, you get bruises 2.longer time asleep = more risk of someone finding you who isn't going to be nice. 3.risk of hypothermia if you stay too cold too long.
-health is constantly being taxed, infection is a much bigger risk. Infection will mess you up.
-Usually, if someone wants to end or kidnap you, you won't be in a position for people to know about it, a scary thought is that you could disappear and die before anyone even knows you're in trouble. Though that can certainly happen in all walks of life and scenarios though.
#39
I was homeless and crashing in a single berth caravan in Enfield during the good Friday storm of 1994. If it wasn't for the shed wall next to the caravan it would have rolled. The caravan kept rocking over and banging the shed wall all night.
#40
One that comes to mind is the pain of carrying your life with you everywhere you go.
My experience is not the "regular" homeless experience as I quickly got the chance to live in a shelter for the homeless.
I was also lucky to have a suitcase to carry my stuff around, but imagine how heavy and tiring it is to constantly have to carry *every single thing you own* all day, everyday. And the terror of being robbed of it was crushing. It also makes everything much slower and more difficult ; imagine having to walk back and forth to many administrations, to the charity to eat, then to a place to sleep, while carrying what amounts to a dead horse. It sucks the life out of you.
#41
Once whilst it was raining heavily I took shelter under an entrance to a market and it was a decent sized area. It's now about 11pm, I decide to try and get a kip in me and lay down.
It's student night so it's quite loud but I soon dozed off.
I was woken up by the sound of a lady no less than 10 feet away from me squatting just flat out taking a wee. Her friends just being drunk. I don't think she/they ever noticed me. I just kinda froze. Had that "Their vision is based on movement" stuff go through my head.
#42
Honestly, the thing i was most scared of were the police..
i met people from all different walks of life while living on the streets.. (literally sleeping outside most of the time) .. and no one had the predatory nature of the police i came into contact with.
#43
My mom's always had a ton of health issues that cause her to not be able to work, and because of that we had basically no money and got kicked out of our apartment, ended up living with her boyfriend. One day I just came home from school (third grade, it wasn't like I was a teenager) and all our things were packed up and we had to leave with no warning at all, I was just a kid so I had no idea what was going on. I also, around that time, had started to develop anxiety (which was one of my mom's many health issues, I've inherited most of them, thank goodness right) and that messed me up bad. Everything everywhere was terrifying, not only because I was a homeless third grade kid but also because I was a homeless third grade kid who had anxiety, and it sucked a*s because *my mom did too*, so seeing her be so nervous while reassuring me didn't help. We were homeless for a little over a year, luckily only spent about a month outside and in and out of cockroach infested motels, because we had some family to go to.
#44
The thing about being homeless is it teaches you to be thankful for everything you have. It really makes you appreciate a hot shower when you are dirty a warm bed to sleep in at night a place to go when it raining or snowing outside. I have only been off the streets for. A year and a half and the best part about it is I know how to live on very minimal I love the life lessons i learned from being homeless it's more then most people have.
#45
Watching my parents cry. They were always that strong, reliable Force that were like superheroes to me, but to see them cry because they were hungry, tired, stressed, dirty... All to try and make sure I got to school and had semi-clean clothes and had a bit of food in my stomach.
That scared me to finally see them both cry one night in our car we were sleeping in.
#46
The scariest part was being approached by strangers. I didn't know what they wanted and would panic. Usually they were seeing if I was alive/okay/lost.
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