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"Life is stranger than fiction," people say. And sometimes, it really is true. Have you ever had an experience so weird you still can't explain it to this day? And what about stories from other people about folks who went through things so crazy they're still stuck in your head many years later?

Can't think of any? We're here to help, then! We've gathered the wildest stories people shared from a thread where one netizen asked: "What is the creepiest real-life story you know that still sends chills down your spine?"

Some people went for morbid stories from their personal lives, others shared wider-known terrifying stories that still give them nightmares. But which ones do you think are the scariest?

#1

Person wearing denim jacket placing paper in white box, representing people sharing scary real-life stories. There are people who vote to take basic rights away from other people. They vote to take food out of the mouths of hungry children. They vote to give infinite power to evil people. They think that their 4th vacation home is more important than clean water and air. They think that women exist to obey, breed, and serve while keeping their mouths shut. They aid and collude in holocausts. They indoctrinate others to think and vote this way as well. And they do it right out in the open, in front of everybody. They claim they’re following their religion, but I don’t think they actually read that book.

Competitive_One_6298 , New Africa/Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

Colleen Glim
Community Member
3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So called “Good Christians” are the biggest hypocrites

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    #2

    Young woman in a purple shirt sitting thoughtfully, reflecting the eerie mood of scary real-life stories people shudder to tell. I was 16 at the time and I had barely just got my license. I had a friend in school, a girl who most considered "boy crazy" but to my disappointment she wasn't interested in me. Typical popular good looking girl who was into jocks and I was the nerdiest kid in the class but we were very close and she would tell me all her struggles and then delete the messages. Mostly because the guys she liked were very possessive.

    In the dead of night in the winter I got a call from her. This was very unusual. Mostly the calling but also it was a school night and it was very late. She was speaking in a hushed shaking voice and asked me to come pick her up, I knew something was wrong but she had to hang up after giving me the address. This was before gps and I barely knew how to get to school but I printed out a MapQuest route to her boyfriend's house in a different city. She asked me to bring her clothes, specifically shirt underwear and some sweats. I pushed my car out of the driveway and coasted until I was sure my parents couldn't hear it. I got to the house and she came out obviously trying to make as little noise as possible.

    She was naked. Makeup smeared from crying. Hair matted.

    She got in the car told me to take off and she put the clothes on. I asked her what happened and all she could say without breaking down is she went to her bfs birthday party and woke up like this with no memory. She woke up in the middle of the room with all his friends and him also naked.

    I took her home and snuck back into the house 2 hours before I had to get up for school. We never spoke of it again. I didn't think much of it then but 17 years later I have my own kids and a daughter who's the light of my world and I can't tell this story without crying.

    She's been married now with kids to a seemingly good guy for a decade. We don't talk anymore but I still check her Facebook from time to time and I hope she's ok now.

    bullhorn143 , Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

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    #3

    Young boy in a green jacket sitting by a lake, looking uneasy, reflecting scary real-life stories people can’t tell. Was about 7 or 8 years old and went with my family to this man-made lake, family park place in South Georgia. Basically a big, dug out pond that the owner put a bunch of beach sand and palm trees around and charged admission for people to come, park their cars, grill and swim for the day. Also had a big, unsafe-as-hell waterside that kids got hurt on.

    So where my family would park was in front of this little island that was a clump of sand about 30 yards off the shore line. I was not the best swimmer but the depth was just above my head, so I could bob up and down and bounce out to this island.

    Bouncing out to that little island one day we were there, my foot came down onto what felt like a face, felt what was a nose on my toe. The thing I remember is the feeling of hair flowing between my toes. That feeling of fine hair waving in water. I freaked out and for the longest time just sat on the shore. Was a little kid and did not think of anything about it.

    I can still remember the scared parents going around yelling this kid’s name, asking if anyone had seen this little boy. They pulled his body from under the water right in front of that island. I’m 47 now and can still remember the feeling of that hair between my toes.

    askeeteronmypeeter , EyeEm/Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

    Colleen Glim
    Community Member
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Always, always watch your children around water

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    #4

    Young man in a dark jacket with a serious expression, representing a scary real-life story that people can’t tell without shuddering. The death of Hisashi Ouchi.

    He was working at a nuclear plant and due to shoddy working conditions was involved in a criticality incident.

    He was hit with I believe the most radiation any human has ever been hit with without instantly dying.

    For 81 days a cabal of the best doctors in the world tried to keep him alive as his body shut down. The descriptions of what he was going through and what was physically happening to him make it clear to me that sometimes saving a life isn't worth it.

    It's a tragic story of a young man suffering one of the worst fates possible.

    lordofmetroids Report

    AnnaB
    Community Member
    Premium
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I saw this documentary. The doctors knew there was no possible chance for survival but the family was insistent that they continue every possible treatment. A horrible, horrible death.

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    #5

    A dark, eerie lake surrounded by hills, evoking a chilling atmosphere for scary real-life stories. I don't remember the name of the lake. But it was slowly filling up woth Co2, over decades. And one day, an earthquake happened.. shifting the water just enough to un-dissolve all the co2, and it slowly crept down the mountain, into the village. Creating a wave of invisible, undetectable death. Everyone in the village, animals, humans, birds. Died where they stood. Without even knowing why.

    regularArmadillo21 , Jack Lockwood Report

    Jack
    Community Member
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Lake Nyos Disaster in Cameroon

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    #6

    Firefighter battling intense flames at night, illustrating one of the scary real-life stories people shudder to tell. Supposed to stay the night at our friend's new place on New Years...A little before midnight I suddenly got the wildest gd urge to go home and play WoW in my life and started a fight with my gf over it cause I demanded we leave, I won and we left. The house burned down later that night and our friends didn't make it.

    smitteh , EyeEm/Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

    #7

    Silhouette of a person trapped headfirst in a narrow rock crevice, illustrating scary real-life stories. Nutty Putty Cave. I shudder even typing it.
    On November 24, 2009, John Edward Jones became trapped upside down in a narrow, unmapped passage of Utah's Nutty Putty Cave. The passage was only 10 by 18 inches wide, making it impossible for him to turn around or back out. A large-scale, multi-agency rescue effort was launched to save him.
    Rescuers spent more than 27 hours working in extremely difficult conditions to free Jones. They used a complex system of ropes and pulleys, but a critical anchor point failed during the attempt, causing Jones to fall back into the crevice. Ultimately, the intense physical strain of being inverted and constricted for so long led to cardiac arrest, and he died in the cave.

    17175RC7 , AM_Ninja Report

    AnnaB
    Community Member
    Premium
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    They put a phone or mic down there, so he was able to say goodbye to his wife.

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    #8

    Close-up of a man with dark hair and beard, smiling slightly while sharing scary real-life stories that cause shuddering. The case of Septic Tank Sam.

    In 1975, an Alberta couple wanted a pump for their septic tank, and they decided to take the pump from the tank in their old abandoned farm instead of buying a new one. In doing so, they discovered a dead body that was thrown there.

    The victim's story is very horrific. He was tortured and sexually mutilated before he was shot, then thrown in the septic tank of an abandoned farm, hoping that the crime would never be discovered.

    The victim was identified in 2021, but the m****r is yet to be solved.

    ForgottenShark , rcmp Report

    Partypants
    Community Member
    3 months ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    He has been identified, and given his name back which is Gordon Edwin Sanderson. Show this man the respect he wasn't shown while he was alive. Edited because initially I didn't know his name but thought it disrespectful to say he was identified only to continue to use that disgusting name for him.

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    #9

    Old black and white photo of a rural farmstead tied to scary real-life stories that people find hard to tell without shuddering. Hinterkaifeck.

    Over a period of days odd things were happening around a farm, including footprints in the snow leading to the farmhouse, but not away from it. The maid quit abruptly, citing strange noises and fearing the place was haunted. Her decision saved her life.

    On the first night of the new maid’s job, a man believed to have been hiding in the attic of the house descended into the main quarters and systematically m******d the family in an outbuilding one by one. Several initially survived and had to watch their family members die in front of them. When the bodies were found, one of the youngest girls had pulled out tufts of her own hair as she was dying from the sheer horror of the experience.

    The individual then proceeded to live in the house for several days, sleeping in the beds, eating the food, and looking after the animals, before eventually leaving soon before the bodies were discovered. They have never been found.

    AliceMorgon , Andreas Biegleder. Report

    Sven Horlemann
    Community Member
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    One of the biggest unsolved criminal cases in Germany: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinterkaifeck_murders

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    #10

    Woman curled up on bed with eyes closed in a dim room, evoking feelings from scary real-life stories without shuddering. It's only a story for me because I don't remember any of it. But years ago I had episodes of sleep terrors. My family told me that sometimes I screamed so loud that I woke up the neighbors.

    Well one day I woke up to my boyfriend at the time screaming at me to wake up while rustling me to the ground. The balcony doors were open and I was halfway out. After we both calmed down a bit he started crying.

    From his point of view it was something straight out of a horror movie. He got jolted awake by me jumping up on my feet, silent with a blank expression on my face. Then I started panting. And then I screamed like a banshee. I bolted for the balcony door, opened them and put my leg over the railing, all while still screaming. He cought me in the last second. In his words he never heard anything like this before and hopes he never will again.

    It took me years after that to build up courage for living on my own. I'm terrified that one day I will wake up on my way to the ground.

    Apart_Caramel_2843 , Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

    Mike F
    Community Member
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It just might be time for some psychological help.

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    #11

    Young woman in black tank top opening a locker, evoking suspense from scary real-life stories about fear and shuddering. My school had a mandatory uniform policy, and had a school shop with a changing room in it. The guy who tended the shop was arrested for being a p*****ile, and allegedly had a hidden camera in that changing room.

    I usually bought my clothes without trying them on, because male sizes tended to be consistent and as I grew, I'd just +1 to whatever the current size was and it worked. What terrifies me is all the girls I went to class with ever since I was 2, that from early childhood to the beginning of adulthood, changed in that changing room trying new clothes on. How many people that I know ended up on some creep's computer, and even worse, in his twisted mind? The same guy who was so chill when I would buy a pen, or an eraser.

    Clemen11 , 1ani2ani467890/Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

    #12

    "Nutty Putty Cave": 35 People Share Stories From Real Life That Have Freaked Them Out The Most Friend of a friend was hiking in Montana. She posed on the side of the trail and had her friend snap a photo. Later that night, when she was looking at the pictures from the hike, she was horrified to notice the large face of a cougar staring into the camera from the woods behind her. It had presumably been stalking them; they never even knew it was there.

    MedicineHatPaint , ArtPhoto_studio/Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

    DC
    Community Member
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    They almost never attack, but only observe.

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    #13

    Young man in a plaid shirt covering his mouth, looking shocked as if reacting to scary real-life stories. There was a dude that used to come into the store I worked in. I was just finishing up senior year in high school. He had to be mid 20s or so. We became buddies over a few months. Chatted about movies and video games a lot. One weekend he asked me to hang out I had a bad feeling about it so I said no and that I was grounded for bad grades. Turns out he k**led someone that weekend.

    MeatyOaker269 , Wavebreak Media/Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

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    #14

    "Nutty Putty Cave": 35 People Share Stories From Real Life That Have Freaked Them Out The Most The Lake Nyos disaster in Cameroon is one of the most terrifying real stories I’ve ever read. In 1986, a cloud of carbon dioxide suddenly erupted from the lake and silently rolled over nearby villages. People were found exactly where they’d been seconds before some in bed, some holding tools, even entire herds of cattle lying where they grazed. Over 1,700 people died in a single night without any warning, no fire, no noise, just… the air itself turned deadly. To me, that’s scarier than any monster.

    sweetiecheeksxo Report

    Sue User
    Community Member
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I am old enough to remember when this happened. It was twice as scary because at the time, no one knew what had happened. Just 1700 people dead with no apparent cause.

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    #15

    Red barn and silo on a green farm under blue sky representing a setting for scary real-life stories. Middle-aged woman in North Carolina was haunted by a fleeting memory of seeing her father's face in the farm privy when she was a child. Her father had abandoned the family when she was like 5, and her therapist recommended hypnotic regression as a way to work this out. A few other memories floated up, including coming into the kitchen and seeing her mother ... mopping up blood. Who yelled at her to go back to bed.

    Her mom still lived on the family farm, and after a few more details turned up the local sheriff got a warrant to dig where the old privy had stood. Yep, dad was still in there, cut up presumably to fit down the hole.

    This was pre-internet but developed in real time in the local paper, and right about when the DA was deciding whether to go forward with the case, the 70-something-year-old mom drove out to the north 40 with a pistol. This is all from memory, love to know if I'm remembering this correctly.

    Kevin_Uxbridge , nick7634/Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

    Mike F
    Community Member
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I wonder how often things like that happened. My mother's grandfather did time and shortly after he was released, he disappeared. Apparently nothing was discussed, but the story was that he "ran off". Years later a body (skeleton actually) was discovered when a farmer was plowing his field. This was the teens so no way to identify the remains. There were rumors, but only that.

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    #16

    Young woman in pajamas sitting up in bed with eyes closed, evoking scary real-life stories and eerie atmosphere. My mother’s college roommate was a sleepwalker. One night a friend coming home late from a date found her roaming the halls of their dorm and carefully got her back up their room.

    As they got her back to bed, they saw the soles of her feet were filthy, as if she’d been walking outside barefoot for hours. Still freaks me out thinking what could have happened to her.

    DerAlliMonster , New Africa/Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

    Sara Frazer
    Community Member
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    My partner will sleepwalk when very stressed. Thankfully it's been a few years since he did so, but the last time he was trying REALLY hard to go out the front door, at around midnight. It was difficult getting him diverted away from the door but I did it . Lol. :p

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    #17

    Young man with intense gaze and disheveled hair, capturing the mood of scary real-life stories. Two stories:

    1. I used to ride my bike to the other side of my neighborhood to play with my buddy Blake. One day I was riding down the hill towards his house and he jumped out from behind a power pole and startled me enough that I lost control of my bike and crashed on the street, leaving my forearms skinned about six inches each. He kind of blamed me, and I didn’t really think anything of it, thinking he was somehow right. Later on he had gotten some firecrackers, M80s and we played with them, blew up a model jet and stuff. He mentioned something about using them to blow up frogs, and I didn’t take him seriously.

    He ended up joining the USMC, but didn’t reenlist. I didn’t think much more about him, then one day my mom is reading the paper and asked me what my friend’s name was because (suchinsuch) Blakely (Suchinsuch) was arrested for the m****r of his estranged girlfriend and her unborn child.

    He had driven her car off the highway onto a dirt road, slit her throat, and had containers of fuel in the car that he set on fire, to hide the evidence. I don’t remember the particulars of his arrest, but apparently he was walking along the road away from the site when a police officer stopped and questioned him. I don’t know if he confessed then, or under interrogation, but he confessed. He was convicted of double m****r.

    •My “good friend” as a kid turned out to be a m******r, and I saw the signs but didn’t know it at the time.

    2. I was stationed in Iwakuni, Japan and was the Safety NCO for our unit. I was passing friends with a guy in embarkation and one Thursday we went out drinking as a group.

    Saturday, the guy and two buddies decided to rent a canoe and went out into the ocean for some fun. At some point, the boat capsized and the three men were stuck holding onto the overturned craft and decided that the strongest swimmer should try to swim to shore to get help, and the other two were going to stay put, until help arrived. The swimmer got to shore and a second guy had abandoned the canoe and was picked up by fishermen, alive.

    My passing friend, didn’t make it. He was found after a manhunt down the coast. He had died of hypothermia. This was maybe May, and I seem to remember the water was in the 60s °F. Since I was the Safety NCO, I had to fill out the paperwork for his death. I learned that even in 70° water, you can die of hypothermia in just a few hours.

    This event, (along with unrelated nightmares I had as a child of being in open water with giant shapeless creatures coming to get me, and I would wake up as jaws were closing around me) gave me Thalassophobia, fear of open water.

    •So, I had to fill out the incident report for the death of a guy I had been out drinking with just two days prior.

    Waaghra , EyeEm/Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

    Mike F
    Community Member
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Two words, life vest. I used to canoe with friends in my 50s and always wore a vest. I got teased, but my middle name should be Rock, that's how well I swim.

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    #18

    Man in a green jacket kneeling in forest, examining ground with rocks, evoking scary real-life stories atmosphere. A long waist line ago (mid 90s) I was a Countryside Ranger on the west coast and one day I was carrying out a phase one habit survey when I came across a camp set up in remote, unmanaged woods. Tent, stove, kettle, sleeping bag in tent, some cooking equipment, rucksack and a pair of walking boots at the tent entrance with a sock in each boot. The problem was it had been there for years. The tent was ripped and weathered, pots full of pine needles, and moss has covered most of the equipment. The rucksack and a couple items of clothing in it and strangely, a flute. Nothing in the rucksack and anything to ID anyone. We carried out a search of the area with police, dogs, locals and mountain rescue. Weeks later not a thing, nothing, absolutely no trace of anything or anyone. Will never know what happened to that person that felt compelled to leave their camp, and leave their flute behind.

    Reservoir_Dogz , Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

    PeepPeep the duck
    Community Member
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I found something like this in Perth years ago, also found my dream camera at the time in there, I handed it too police. They were backpackers, they had long gone home back to the UK and police gave me the camera

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    #19

    A camper parked on a grassy field near a lake with mountains in the background, evoking scary real-life stories. My grandparents are Dutch immigrants in New Zealand, and in the 1970s they had a caravan that they took out camping to a rural part of the North Island for a little family fun camping trip (my mum and siblings would've been 10 or younger at the time).

    They were way out in the middle of nowhere near a lake in the rainforest, and after the kids had gone to sleep my grandparents had stayed awake a little while just reading etc, having a cup of tea.

    They started hearing strange noises, like footsteps outside and twigs breaking, maybe a hushed voice but thought they were going paranoid. They were getting a bit freaked out at this point, but assumed it was nothing and they'd be safe.

    Grandpa told me he couldn't go to sleep, and suddenly heard a definite footstep right outside the caravan door. He peeked out the window of the caravan and it was completely pitch black and no moonlight whatsoever, but he could see the glowing cigarette of what must've been a pretty tall man standing right at the door of the caravan. He could still hear other footsteps too, even though whoever was smoking this cigarette outside the door was standing dead still.

    He told me he'd never been so scared in his life, but he had to do something because he had his wife and four little kids sleeping inside the caravan, and so he grabbed his butchers knife (he was a butcher by profession, lord knows why he had it on a family camping trip), opened the door to confront or yell or do whatever he could to scare the people away, but when he opened the door he saw no one and heard no noise. He thought he was going crazy, but he saw the cigarette butt on the ground outside the door, freshly finished. He got into the car straight away (he had everything ready to go luckily cos he'd already planned on beginning driving early the next morning anyways), and drove everyone away and found somewhere else near a town to stay instead.

    Story freaks me out everytime I think about it.

    PoliteBrick2002 , Andrei Armiagov/Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

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    #20

    Person wearing blue headphones and a patterned shirt, facing a computer screen, experiencing scary real-life stories online. I've had several creepy moments in my life but one I think about a lot isn't as bad as some on this post.
    My sister's boyfriend's family were robbed and the part that gets me is the brother of said boyfriend was home. They had turned their attic into a bedroom for him and he was on his computer with his headphones on while people were in his house robbing him. He had no clue until his parents came home and found the house trashed and they started screaming his name. I can't imagine what they felt when they walked in finding their home robbed and knowing their youngest was supposed to be home alone. The sense of relief they must have felt when he was safe and sound.
    But since then I've always had a rough time with being home alone. Even now thirty years later as a grown adult sometimes when I can't sleep I get the heebie jeebies and wish I had a dog.

    Jenmeme , MinetPhoto/Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

    Laura Mortensen
    Community Member
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Our house was robbed while we were asleep in bed. Fortunately the guy just took some stuff and didn't hurt us or our cat. We didn't realize until my partner got up to go to the bathroom around 4 in the morning.

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    #21

    Old TV showing static and distortion on a floral-covered table in a dark room, evoking scary real-life stories. My aunt woke up in the middle of the night and noticed the red led light on her tv was off. She rolled over in bed and saw the light turn back on. When she woke up the next morning her TV was gone along with a ton of other stuff.

    Willbullock12 , EyeEm/Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

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    #22

    Woman's faint reflection behind curtain in dim light, evoking eerie and scary real-life stories mood. Totally unexplainable and confusing to me to this day. I want to preface this by being very clear that I am not superstitious and I am not someone who is easily frightened and let's my mind play tricks on me.

    15 years old, I was at my Dad's house visiting him for spring break. I was sleeping in my room and woke up to a sound that I can only describe as someone exhaling, very aggressively, and it started far away and got really close and loud. Its like, if someone threw an invisible ball at me and it was the sounds of someone exhaling really hard and when it hit me it was right in my ear very loud and blew my hair to the side.

    Obviously it woke me up, and I looked across the room to see my window curtains blowing violently from the window being open. I thought to myself, "Oh s**t, I thought I closed that."

    I hurried over to the window, as it was still blowing the curtains, and it was loud too. You could hear the wind whistling through the screen. Pushed the curtains aside to close it and all of a sudden everything went quite and still as I realized the window was already closed.

    I sat there and stared at that window for probably 10 minutes trying to understand what tf just happened. Then I walked back over to my bed and laid there all night, literally until the sun came up, trying to figure out what could have caused that. Never was able to come up with anything.

    ChillBro___Baggins , EyeEm/Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

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    #23

    Group of divers in wetsuits preparing for a real-life underwater mission, evoking scary and thrilling stories. The story of the divers who got sucked into the pipe and lived for 4 days in complete darkness and were unable to move. No one attempted a rescue. I believe it was in Russia. Mr. ballin did a video on it.

    conservitiveliberal , divemagazine Report

    Cat
    Community Member
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This was in Trinidad and Tobago. There were 5 divers who were sucked into the pipe due to a problem with the pressure in their diving chamber, causing them and all the equipment in the chamber to be violently sucked into the pipe. They endured a period of being thrown around inside the pipe, with equipment swirling with them, injuring them badly. They did not have their oxygen tanks with them as they had taken them off to work on the pipe, so the oxygen tanks had been part of the equipment that was hitting them on their way down the pipe and was strewn along the pipe. 4 of the men were together, most injured very badly. They had no idea where the fifth man was at this point, but they were in an air pocket, with no way out and no way of knowing how long their air would last. The least injured man volunteered to get help and left the others with a couple of oxygen tanks, taking one for the swim back along the pipe. He almost ran out of air, but luckily found another tank on the way 1/

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    #24

    Woman with red hair screaming with eyes closed, expressing fear and shock in a scary real-life story moment. I did not know this person, but many years ago a girl who was dating my aunt's grandson, got her glove stuck in a meat grinder at her job, in the deli of a grocery store. You can probably guess what happened to her.

    retro_lady , EyeEm/Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

    Adam Zad
    Community Member
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Did you hear the story about the butcher who backed into a meat grinder at work? He got fired for getting a little behind in his work.

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    #25

    Young man in a red shirt reacts with fear and shock while reading scary real-life stories on his smartphone. This happened to me about 10 years ago. My best friend growing up, Steve, had died unexpectedly. We had grown apart but had recently started speaking after many years.

    Steve hated, and I'm using the word hated here, technology. No computer, no cell phone. Nothing but a television with an antenna and a land line for good old Steve. I was away on business when I got word that he had died. Since he never married, and was pretty much a son of a b***h, and had been estranged from his family for about ten years (I saw his sister and brother yesterday), his body was undiscovered for a couple of weeks. That part haunts me to this day.

    Shortly after returning home, I left again for on a trip for a course that was being given in Texas. Sitting in class my phone, on vibrate mode, buzzed. It was Steve. A cold flush swept over me. I was sitting in class so didn't answer. I called later that day, and as expected, there was no answer.

    I'm retired now, but at the time I worked for a satellite telecommunications company. Part of my job was managing back office telecom equipment, so I understood call routing over SS7 networks, and routing tables. If the number was reassigned to someone else, they perhaps misdialed my number, or dialed in a redial code into his old POTS desk set. It creeped me out.

    I don't believe in ghosts, or spirits, or any of that hokum, but the weirdness and randomness of that incident makes me think about rejigging some of my assumptions.

    DecisionFit2116 , Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

    Peeka_Mimi
    Community Member
    Premium
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    My mom called my sister a couple days after my mom died. The phone wasn't even charged and was in my mom's bedroom. My sister answered and it was just static.

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    #26

    Old spooky Victorian house with bare trees and a red barn, evoking scary real-life stories and eerie atmosphere. Ghost story time

    Both my brothers, my mother, and step dad can attest to this experience we all shared as well.

    When I was quite young, around the ages of 6-8 we lived in a very old and creepy 2 story house together with some of my step-dad's friends being roommates because the house was so large. The room I stayed in was on the left at the top of the stairs and had no door, with my brothers both staying in the room across from me. The stairwell itself had a door at the top and bottom that I would close on my way to bed every night because it made me feel a bit safer (anxious little kid). The previous owner of the house, our great uncle Earl, had committed s*****e in the house in my bedroom. Family never told me that until I was older, but it made everything make more sense when I found out he had hung himself above where I slept every night. Starting aound 10-11pm every night, without the door at the bottom of the stairwell opening, we would all hear loud footsteps slowly climb the stairs that wouldnt cease until about 4 in the morning. They would walk up to the top, into my room, and then restart at the bottom. It was absolutely f*****g terrifying and even typing this out evokes that same bone chilling horror that makes me want to tear up and feel like my gut has been punched. Every single night for years of my childhood I'd have heard these steps, my brothers did as well as momma and step dad, and my youngest would say that he'd see people in the house at night which was also f****d. We think he might have been extra sensitive to the spiritual stuff. Out of curiosity one night I opened the top door of the stair well and turned the light on to see who was coming up the stairs, and there was absolutely no one or anything in front of me, and the footsteps had stopped when the light came on. I bolted back into my room, hid under my covers just to hear them begin again at the bottom. It got to the point where my mom would yell "GO TO BED EARL" when he was feeling extra active and reliving his final moments over and over, and crazily enough they would stop when she yelled. As a family we all share this fear and fascination of ghosts and the afterlife having lived in such a place. The house was burned down in a controlled burn to make way for suburbs, and I went to the rubble and grabbed a couple scorched bricks as mementos. I will always and forever believe in ghosts now.

    stopthecrinj , wirestock/Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

    Mike F
    Community Member
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    "Go to bed, Earl", FVCK THAT! I'd have hauling my skinny @ss to the living room and sleep on the couch.

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    #27

    Woman holding baby and looking at phone, capturing a moment related to scary real-life stories and family emotions. Long-story-short... my babysitter k**ed her husband. We were neighbors, and my dad was good friends with her husband.

    Hilarity2War , Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

    BrownEyedGrrl
    Community Member
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    My babysitter's husband m*rdered their 2 little girls and then k*lled himself. She had filed for divorce & he warned her that he was going to do it. She begged & begged the authorities for help. This was in Buford, GA in the 1980s. I haven't been able to find anything about it.

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    #28

    Woman in striped shirt sitting on couch, holding her head in hands, reflecting on scary real-life stories. I worked with a dude who had a criminal record but that wasn’t unusual in and of itself at that job, and I am not generally judgmental about it.

    He lived near me, a few blocks over, and I’d drive him home and he’d walk to his house. We worked late hours (midnights) and sometimes we’d be off around bar call 2-3a, notably when the dope dealers and other criminal types were out in front of the buildings hanging out. Whatever. They didn’t bother my white woman a*s…

    One night he gets out of my car and tells the “doormen” outside my building that “she’s cool” and their demeanor shifted towards me, from neutral/indifferent to friendly.

    I am on my break on night checking FB and see someone was shot to death a few blocks from me. Dude wasn’t at work. I just had a gut feeling. Sure enough, about a month later, they caught my coworker.

    He came to work the night after, didn’t seem off, but claimed a new job and put in his notice, called the GM and quit after that shift. Not unusual in my job at the time, and my GM generally didn’t put up a fight so it didn’t seem strange.

    gogogadgetdumbass , lifestock/Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

    KazzaHazza
    Community Member
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I’ve read this at least 5 times and it still doesn’t make sense.

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    #29

    "Nutty Putty Cave": 35 People Share Stories From Real Life That Have Freaked Them Out The Most I have to search up the details later but I read about a guy who survived his car crashing off a cliff. he was able to climb up the cliff back onto the road and call for help, but when help arrived, he immediately collapsed and was pronounced dead at the scene. it was discovered that his neck was barely hanging on from total decapitation and turning around was all it took to sever it completely. gives me chills that he thought he had survived miraculously for a moment.

    SadPartyPony , EyeEm/Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

    Papa
    Community Member
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Out of all the stories in this article, THIS is the one Mojavedog finds unbelievable?

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    #30

    "Nutty Putty Cave": 35 People Share Stories From Real Life That Have Freaked Them Out The Most I had a friend that went with his mom to stay at his grandma's house. It was old and spooky, but his mom didn't want to go alone so he went with her.

    That night, he was sleeping on the couch, and heard someone walking down the hallway. He thought it was his mom going to the bathroom, so he closed his eyes so that his mom didn't see he was still awake.

    But the footsteps got closer until they were right by couch. He kept his eyes shut tight to keep pretending he was asleep. He actually felt breath on his forehead, like his mom was going to give him a goodnight kiss, but then he felt his mom straighten up and walk away from the couch.

    The next morning, he asked his mom why she had checked on him, but she told him she had been so freaked out by a bad vibe nearby, she had never left her room. He wonders what he would have seen if he had opened his eyes when whatever it was was bending over him.

    A few months later, his grandma died, and they went back to the house to pack up the stuff. When it was daylight, the house was fine. But as soon as the sun went down, it got very eery very quickly. They both decided to stay in a motel rather than sleep in the house.

    WalmartGreder , Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

    FranSinclair
    Community Member
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Oh youre coming to nanas, you're also sleeping out in the living room alone, except with the ghosts im scared of AND you're gonna like it, son!

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    #31

    I believe my dead mother warned me and my grandma that my sister was sneaking out.

    Me and my sister were sleeping at my grandparents house. Young sis, boy crazy over the wrong boy, decides to sneak out the house unbeknownst to anyone.

    To this day I cannot explain this.

    The smoke detector started going off. Like the house was smoking but the house was completely fine; but all the detectors were going off. I jumped up awake and swung my door open, but I didn’t see any fires or smoke or nothing. I walk down the hall to check on my sister, and I see that her bed is empty. I’m panicking, so I run to my grandma’s room and wake her up (she’s already awake because of the smoke detectors) and I’m telling her that I can’t find my sister, she isn’t in the house.

    After a good ten minutes, young sis sneaks (barely) back in the house, and before me or my grandma could start cussing her out, the smoke detectors stopped going off. Just like that. Couldn’t explain how or why.

    Later that night, after she gets her punishment and goes in her room, me and my grandma are talking about the events that happened. She tells me that my mom used to be a strict one when it came to fires. She had a childhood best friend who lost her home in a fire, so she was known as the family firefighter. Made sure we knew where the fire extinguisher was, checking the batteries in the detectors, memorizing our escape route plan (it’s still drilled in my memory). Maybe my mom was in the smoke detector? I dunno, but she was there that night.

    Shuesterrepulsed78 Report

    Mike F
    Community Member
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I could think of lots better places to spend eternity than inside a smoke detector.

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    #32

    "Nutty Putty Cave": 35 People Share Stories From Real Life That Have Freaked Them Out The Most One of my dad's friends had a little brother. They took a trip and the brother went missing, wasn't found for twenty years - when he was found, he was deceased, at the bottom of a well. My dad found out because immediately after the event he was called by the friend in a panic, asking if he could get a higher law enforcement involved or organise offical search parties, as my dad worked near that sorta stuff for awhile. He watched the slow descent of the man's family until the body was found. Had a long, deep philosophical talk with him that night.

    What makes it scarier was how he ended up in the well - it was night when he went missing, and he was tipsy, so the poor guy walked straight in likely enough. Died on impact hopefully, I can't imagine being stuck at the bottom.
    .

    dontwatchthemback , Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

    Paula Smith
    Community Member
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    How awful. So tragic for everyone involved. ☹️

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    #33

    Close-up of a buffalo chewing dry grass, evoking a sense of eerie real-life stories and scary moments. Late 70’s living on small ranch south of San Antonio. Neighbor named Frank asked us for help with his new registered Brahman Bull he had just purchased. We helped him unload the bull , registered name was Cornelius into a holding pen so the cows could get acquainted with the new addition to the herd. The next day Frank asked us if we saw or heard anything unusual during the night. His new Bull Cornelius was dead. All of us went to his back pasture that was next to ours . Cornelius was on his side, no visible cause of death. No blood, only some superficial scratches on neck and hind quarters. Never knew anything in our area that could take down a Brahman Bull. Heard through my Dad that Frank claims to have seen a headless woman in that pasture. The rest of my time living there Frank never went into that pasture after dark. By the way, never saw or heard of Frank drinking. We never saw the woman, with or without a head. Frank made it a point to warn us. Sure creeped us out.

    No_Expression6660 , wirestock/Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

    Stephanie Did It
    Community Member
    3 months ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Nice--picture of a water buffalo to illustrate a story about a Brahma bull.

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    #34

    Young man in white pajamas lying awake in bed at night, looking scared, illustrating scary real-life stories. I was just getting over Covid (the OG version in August 2020, it d**n near k**ed me). I woke up in the middle of the night, and swore I saw someone standing next to my bed. I figured that it was a trick of the light, so I stood up to change perspective.

    He was still there. I saw him SO CLEARLY. He had short hair, and was turned 3/4 of the way away from me. He was wearing a plaid shirt tucked into jeans. Of course, I start screaming and pull the cord on the ceiling fan.

    As soon as the light came on he disappeared. I don’t know if it was a Covid hallucination or what, but I have never experienced anything that real before that wasn’t actually real.

    I later told a neurologist about it because I was worried about possible brain damage and he just looked at me for a long time, then changed the subject.

    I was living in a two hundred year old house at the time, so maybe I saw a ghost, who the hell knows, but it scared the C**P out of me.

    Starchasm , New Africa/Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

    Sara Frazer
    Community Member
    3 months ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Ugh. Partner and I were so, SO careful (him working with high-risk people and having to move bodies by this point) and we got OG, pre-vaccine covid in October-November 2020. There was no fear like that fear. I'm not religious but remember bargaining with whatever power may be to let him live, and if one of us had to go, let it be me. I remember laying on our living room floor, barely able to take breath, thinking "is this the day I go to the hospital and don't return..??" And that was all less than 5 years ago. Don't think I've quite processed it lol. I remember the next year receiving the first covid vaccine; they'd make you sit in the parking lot for 15 minutes after to monitor any possible reactions. I just broke down weeping, thinking of all the people who didn't make it to that point. Anyway, that's a very recent shared trauma y'all 🫠 fúck the people who think it was all fake or ~VaCcInEs CaUsE aUtIsM~

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    #35

    Young boy making a scared face among dense green leaves, evoking scary real-life stories with a shudder. This one still creeps and haunts me to this day. So our school went on a picnic to a resort and it also had a waterpark so we played in it and when it was time to leave I went to the changing room but I just wasn't comfortable changing with hundreds of random wet kids so me and my friends decided to change somewhere else so we went to the boundary of the resort (there were small bushes trees etc and a boundary wall)

    So I was casually changing and i heard someone whisper and laugh so I looked around,there was no one but just my friends then I looked beyond the wall and holy Christ I caught people stalking us... they were literally stalking school kids changing. I screamed loudly and told my friends at first they did not belive me and they threw stones across the wall started swearing etc until one of my friends saw them aswell and noticed that they were recording everything with their phone later a guard came and saw us and started swearing at us from a distance so we all ran away..

    I still think about this incident sometimes and it always scares and confuses me why would someone record little children changing their clothes.

    CaptainxX0 , EyeEm/ Freepik (not the actual photo) Report

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