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You never know what’s going to happen when you leave your house. You might assume that you’re simply going to hop in your car, commute to work, and experience the same boring day you’ve had a thousand times. But life is unpredictable, so surprises can happen at any moment!
Redditors have been sharing stories about the most bizarre and unexpected things they’ve ever witnessed that they still can't explain, so we’ve gathered their most fascinating experiences below. We hope these stories will remind you to always keep your eyes and ears open when you’re out in the world, pandas. And be sure to upvote the replies that you find almost unbelievable!
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#1
I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Burkina Faso and I had been at site for about 6 months. I was walking to market one day when a mangy street dog started stalking me while I walked. Rabies is very prevalent among street dogs, and I started getting worried as this dog would not leave me alone. As it got closer and closer to me I was preparing myself of how I was going to fend off this dog, and the marathon of shots that I would be getting if it bit me. Then, out of nowhere, a goat descends from someones courtyard wall and charges the dog. It hits him squarely in the side and the dog takes off whining. I just stand there in awe and lock eyes with the goat. I give him a little nod of my head, I like to think that he understood my appreciation, and then we both went our separate ways.
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#2
I used to wear this lame Star Trek jacket in college that said "The United Federation of Planets" on the back of it. One night I was waiting on my friends at the front of a Walmart. As I'm waiting and spacing out I hear someone say "Rank?". I snap out of my day-dream and turn to my right. Some seedy looking guy in a hoodie stands right next to me. I asked him "What?". He just replys back "Rank?". It suddenly hit me 'Oh, I guess he's asking about what rank I am in Star-fleet. I think?' I answer back "Uhh, well I'm still in college so I guess I'm still a cadet?" He pauses for a few seconds and says "You'll get there". He just walked away after that. Meanwhile I'm just standing there thinking "What the hell just happened?!"
That was the last time I wore that jacket in public.
Janissary35680 8 hours ago (edited)
Not if he'd handed you a card and said "Call us when you graduate"...
#3
While camping, we saw a kid riding a bike with a long stick tucked into his shirt that was protruding up and hanging over his head. There was a doughnut dangling from a string attached to the end of this stick. The kid was riding and making chomping sounds while trying to get to the doughnut. It was a major what moment.
#4
I go into work around 4:30 AM every morning.
One morning I'm walking to my car, and across the street I see a bunch of cats just sitting in the yard.
I look around a bit, and see a lady, in some Steve Irwin type of getup, flashing a light on peoples houses.
When she was done looking at a house, she would move on to the next.
Once she started going to the next house, the cats calmly stood up, and followed her to the next house.
There had to have been 100 cats total following her around.
They were calmly following her down the road, while she was shining a light up at peoples houses.
Strangest thing I've ever saw.
#5
I was on a cruise to Mexico. My husbandand I were sitting on our balcony drinking wine and enjoying the stars. Out of the sky, a huge ball of fire, way too big to be a shooting star, comes crashing down, landing somewhere in the distance. Out on the ocean it was pitch black save for the stars, and there was no landmark to lend perspective, so I have no idea what it was or how far away it was. The rest of the night I kept waiting for a giant wave to capsize the ship. No one else we talked to saw it.
TLDR giant ball of fire fell out of sky into ocean.
Janissary35680 8 hours ago (edited)
Probably a fireball or bolide. I've seen maybe half a dozen of them at various locations in the course of my life. It never fails to amaze.
#6
Was walking downtown and a random woman on a bench stopped me and said "Cool hat dude! " while making crazy wide eye contact. She then turns and immediately pukes out of nowhere. Then she turns back and continues her eye bulging eye contact as if nothing happened. All I could muster was a "uhhhhh ty".
#7
I was sitting in traffic, not moving, and suddenly a burrito flew in through my window and struck me on the chest.
#8
I was driving down the street in my neighborhood and I saw a cat about to cross the road. I stopped as the cat got halfway across, and the cat stopped as well. We looked at each other. And without even thinking I waved it across like you would do to tell a human pedestrian to go on. It nodded at me, I nodded at it. It crossed, and we both went on about our days. It didn't occur to me until after I got down the road some more that I had just had a completely human type interaction with a random cat.
#9
Standing in line at a convenience store behind a pair of EMT's, a college student and a father in his forties with two kids. I witness in quick succession; the college student nod to the dad, the dad nod the kids, the kids nod to cashier, the cashier nod to the EMT's, followed by them all leaving together through a service exit. I was told to go to the next register.
#10
I worked at my college's bowling alley for four years. One day, we had a Chinese student with a heavy accent come in, get shoes, and start bowling. He would react to every one of his tosses. "Awww gutter ball" up to "STRIKE NUMBER SEVEN!!!" complete with a little dance (yes he kept count of his strikes throughout the night but seemingly paid no attention to his score for each game for those curious). At one point he shouted "I LOVE BOWLING!!!" and one of my coworkers fell out of his chair laughing. He stayed for HOURS and was apparently having the time of his life. I didn't mention but this was also our weekly free pizza night, complete with red pin bowling, which got him even MORE excited. When he was done, he returned his shoes, collected his Student ID, declared "I'll be back tomorrow!" excitedly and left.
We never saw him again. Thus concludes the legend of Super Happy Bowling Guy. We don't know who he was, what happened to him, or why he never returned.
Sara Frazer 9 hours ago
I'm happy for him. It sounds like it was a wholesome time for him. Maybe the only happy and pure story in this list
#11
I ran into a Walmart to grab some quick groceries. In the food aisles a frail looking petite woman was ushering around a hulking young man whom, at a glance, you could tell suffered from some mental or physical disability.
A lady in an electric wheel chair came up upon them and accidentally bumped into the young man. He spun around and immediately went into a fit shouting non verbally and gesturing like he might attack the woman.
The petite woman with him placed a hand on his arm to try to coax him away but he was having none of it. The physically disabled woman then started shouting in a very ghetto flair insults at both of them. Things such as "Ya'll better get your [censored] son outta my face!" The young man then grabbed a bottle of milk off refrigerator shelf next to him and slammed it to the floor making a big, wet, splat.
The milk splattered everywhere really setting off the lady in the wheel chair, she leaned over and grabbed some yogurts off the same shelf and started chucking them at both the boy and I assume his mother. The boy, retaliated with the same. Sometimes throwing more milk or packets of cheese.
This went back and forth a bit and lots of people stopped and gawked, but like myself were too surprised to do anything but watch the events unfold. Eventually the petite woman pulled her son away and the old woman yelled at the crowd for staring at her and we all dispersed. Staff never stepped in.
But then again this was all at Walmart, so I guess its pretty typical and not that great of a story for this thread.
#12
I was taking the 1/9 train in New York years ago, northbound from Columbus Circle, late at night. Down near the other end of the car, a guy rushed onto the train and started jumping up and down on a metal box. There were a decent amount of people on the train, and some started chuckling. Meanwhile, the jumping guy got more and more frustrated. I didn't know why, or what he was doing, until I looked again and saw a roll of paper on top of the box.
It was a cash register. The guy was trying to break it open ON THE TRAIN. Nobody was stopping him because New York.
Nobody said or did anything. At the next stop, the guy picked up the register and ran off the train, looking terribly exasperated, presumably headed up to Central Park to complete his work in the dark.
#13
Cosplay. Not that there's anything wrong with participating in that, but when your in a chem lab and some weeaboo is dressed like some demonic cat dragon thing, it is impossible to get anything done. Also she happened to set her wings on fire and it was hilarious after we got them put out.
#14
I swear I saw a 4th indiana jones movie once. I have no recolection of it having a plot or a story, but I am convinced I saw it.
#15
A man emptying a can of soup into his laundry and chuckling about it the entire time. It looked like mushroom soup. I was cautious so I used the other laundry across town.
#16
In two separate cities in two separate states I have seen homeless people carrying unsheathed katanas over their shoulders while they walk down the street.
#17
Maybe not the weirdest thing I've ever witnessed, but the first thing that comes to mind...
I was cleaning out a little shed with my 60 year old, sweet, angelic grandmother so we could make it into a playhouse. I spotted a bird's nest with 3 baby robins inside it and pointed it out to my grandmother. She asked me to grab a broom (I thought she intended to sweep the floor), and when I brought it to her, she proceeded to knock down the bird nest, sweep the half-alive baby birds out the door and into the cat food dish where they were eaten alive by our farm cats.. I was clearly in shock as I was only 9 years old and she simply shrugged and said, "It must have been God's plan for them!", smiled and continued on nonchalantly.
Edit: Okay guys this makes my grandmother seem like a complete psychopath or something, but she really is an angel who raised all 18 of her children with so much kindness. She is my role model. However, she's also a hard and worn farm girl and her conception of the circle of life is a little strange at times.
#19
So...one morning, at like 6:20, I got on the Orange Line in Boston, and at the next stop, an old man wearing a butterfly costume gets on, holding a boom box. He then puts it down, turns on music, and proceeds to dance to Party Rock Anthem for the entire half an hour I was on the train. It was quite possibly the weirdest thing I've ever seen.
#20
When I was in first grade we were out playing after lunch and this foamy white liquid fell from the sky. It smelled horrible and kept foaming and sizzling. The teachers quickly gathered everyone back into the building.
#21
I was at the beach with friends when a 1970s limo pulls up and parks abruptly. An old man in a track suit hops out (think like 75 years old) and starts jazzercising in the parking lot. I was impressed with his mobility because he was REALLY moving.
#22
I worked at a movie studio in Burnaby where they filmed Stargate SG-1 and on my very first day of work I saw Richard Dean Anderson (MacGyver) down on 1 knee taking a picture of a black lab taking a dump...I found that to be a little odd.
#23
When I was really little probably about 5 I was playing in the backyard alone. I was near a hedge of flowers and plants and I suddenly heard something rustling in the hedge. I looked closer and there was a giant ladybug in the leaves, about the size of a turtle. Looked exactly like a ladybug except it was HUGE.
#24
Was in LA years ago, on a very crowded sidewalk. On the other side of the street was a very tall black guy, on crutches as he had one leg, and he was wearing a bright pink bunny suit.
Wondering what the heck the story was behind that still bugs me to this day.
#25
Some kid was walking his guinea pig on the sidewalk in front of my house with a leash.
#26
Went to get coffee one morning, walking down the street when I saw someone fully dressed up as a Star Wars Stormtrooper riding a unicycle.
#27
Me, my brother, and a friend were camping once when I was maybe 11 or 12 way out on our 100 acre farm in small town Kentucky. I woke up around 1:30 or so in the morning and could faintly hear a piano being played that sounded like it was coming out of the woods about 100 yards for our campsite. There is not a house or building or anything anywhere near that spot on our farm. So naturally I think I'm just hearing things and decide to try to go back to sleep. Then my brother, who was apparently also awake, sits up and asks me if I hear a piano. We made a dash for the house and never camped out there again.
#28
I was in the boyscouts when I was younger, the summer of 97 we were on our way back from a camp out. Our modest troop was in a 15 passenger van with a uhaul tow behind trailer. I was in the middle seat sitting up on my knees talking to the person sitting behind me (my cousin) when all of a sudden he just fell asleep as well as the 2 kids sitting next to him I looked down at the kid sitting next to me and he was also asleep then the van was upside down and I was thrown to the ceiling, it was right side up again and I was slammed back into the seat, and lastly it was upside down again and this time it hit hard. I had glass in my mouth and felt like every bone in my body was broken, but I sat up after a minute and watched someone crawl out through the window so I followed them, when I got out I was in ankle deep water, we had landed in a ditch at the base of a hill that the road was on. I couldn't see the person I had followed out of the wreckage. I climbed the hill (losing my shoe in the process) and stood in 70 mph traffic and 2 cars slammed on their brakes to avoid me, a woman stepped out of the first car and was screaming her head off at me before she realized I was all tore up and there was a van in the ditch then she immediately ran back to her car and pulled out a car-phone. Later at the hospital numerous doctors and nurses asked me to repeat this story over and over and over again I had to tell this story. It wasn't until later that I found out Everyone else was trapped in the van with broken bones and 1 kid died. I was the only person who escaped of my own power and I didn't have a scratch on me. I still don't know who or what it was I followed out of the broken window.
#29
In the Temescal area of Oakland, I was eating pizza on a restaurant patio with 2 guys. They were so busy oogling a lesbian couple that were walking by holding hands that they missed the black dwarf on a unicycle.
#30
Absolute oddest thing that ever happened to me that I think would have been a delusion if I hadn't been with someone at the time.
It was around 1998-1999 I was with a high school group and we were attending a conference of some sort at Portland State University.
Our teacher had split us up into groups of 2 and we were assigned different presentations we were suppose to go see. We got our list of presentations & the time they were being held and sent on our way. Me and my classmate Jacob were to go to the second or third floor to go see a talk on invasive species in Oregon so we looked at the map & found the room we were supposed to go to.
We decided to take the elevator since we were both lazy and wanted to avoid the crowd on the stairs. So we get in the elevator go up to, I forget if it was the second or third floor. I believe the 3rd as I think we started out on the second floor.
Once we got off we were definitely in the same building but everything seemed duller and there was NO ONE anywhere. The entire place looked like it was from the 60's or something. Nothing had been updated and there were entire area's blocked off and taped up and dusty. All the doors leading out of the small area we were at when we got off the elevator were locked and the windows were black. We couldn't tell if there was black paper taped over the windows or not but we couldn't see anything through the windows on the doors. Looking out the windows onto the street we saw cars but no people anywhere. Keep in mind this is in the middle of Portland Oregon so there should be hippies all over the place but not a soul was seen.
I finally found a door that was open and went through but the whole building seemed to be abandoned so I went back to the elevator and met Jacob who hadn't seen anything more than I did.
At the time there was several hundred people at PSU for this conference so the 3rd floor should be buzzing with activity but we saw, nor heard a soul. You couldn't even hear the activity downstairs. Jacob had a very uneasy feeling and I agreed we should probably go back downstairs. So we got back on the elevator and got off on the second floor where we came from (*IIRC*) and we were back, bright lights a bunch of people all over the place. We looked at the map again and found the location for our assigned presentation and it said it was up one floor from where we were. So this time we took the stairs.
We found ourselves right where we had been but everything was shiny and new, updated and looked like new paint. None of the doors were locked and there was people everywhere. Looking outside on to the street the hippies were in full frolic.
I have no idea where Jacob and I went that day on the elevator but it was probably a good thing we came back.
#31
I'm very skeptical and I don't believe in ghosts, but I remember as a kid I thought I could sleep with my eyes open (No flies on this one). I think it was because I was scared of the dark. Anyway I remember seeing a regiment of soldiers march right past my bed, they appeared at the window, ghostly white and pale and marched straight through my wardrobe, I can still remember the wispy trails that left them, their expressions were vacant and somewhat scared. Still have no idea what to think of it.
#32
Some years ago, me and my brother were watching TV, Galileo, a show on German TV. Advertisement break came on and I was about to leave the room during a car ad I knew. I don't remember the brand, it showed a normal car hidden beneath the body of a race car.
Suddenly the picture became grainy, accompanied by white noise audio, while the image morphed to show what looked like a very convincing alien. It had a cone shaped head with no apparent neck, the screen cut off just below what looked like the upper end of a shirt. Its skin was covered with thick greed fur. It slowly turned it's face towards camera, I could see two eyes and a mouth. It then bellowed a few noises to the side and the image morphed back to show the end of the car ad.
My brother confirmed he'd seen it as well, it wasn't part of the original car ad and as far as we could tell it also wasn't part of some viral campaign. We never found any mention of it anywhere.
**Tl;dr:** Alien.
#33
I was home alone and my house phone started ringing, I answered it and it was silent on the other end, I just figured they had hung up just as I answered, so I called the number back. My mobile phone on the other side of the room started ringing, I still don't undersand how it happened but it was freaky.
#34
1970's Chimpanzee on roller skates - grand central station NYC
fully dressed had collar and leash but was holding onto leash with one hand so there was no tension on neck.
accompanied a man with a battered suitcase who was in a rush and walking quickly. chimp was swinging back and forth behind like a waterskier nobody else seemed to notice.
I followed as they made their way to the train to chicago and in doing so passed down a corridor under the vanderbilt hotel where there were pay phones on pillars - at one of these a young woman was leaning in to the enclosure, her bum sticking out.
chimp rolled up on her his hand went out and groped her good.
She jumped, shrieked, spun, ready to do battle and was face to face with chimp who a second later was out of range.
It was kinda a perfect NYC moment, and I suspect she is still telling the story too.
#35
A family in a Toronto airport that only realised upon landing that there are no seals and polar bears here. (But we do have the latter at the zoo.).
#36
I saw a man eating ink cartridges and telling me go get your own than he proceeded to to throw pencils at me.
#37
I saw a chicken at the cemetery one day at first I thought it was a statue until it moved its neck a few minutes after that an old woman in that pink pajamas asked if I saw a chicken anywhere that was it escapes chicken on the loose in a graveyard.
#38
One time, my parents and I were going up to a friend's house. They lived quite far away, so it was a long car ride.
There was a road verge within the outskirts of the city with this group of people on it. These people would've been around 20-35 years old and there were a dozen of them.
If that wasn't unusual enough, these people started dancing around and clucking like chickens! My family and I just looked in confusion and drove off.
Definitely the weirdest thing ever!
#39
My mum and brother and I are sitting in the living room, watching TV. Out of nowhere, this thick black fog, about three feet in the air, maybe three inches thick, spreads across the center of the room. We all stared at it and looked back and forth between each other, confused, and it disappeared maybe twenty seconds later. We all saw it, acknowledged that we all saw the same thing, and that it was bizarre.
About two months prior to this, we were robbed (well, we assume), but they stole my pink Converse low-tops, my mom's gold cross necklace, half of the money in my brother's wallet, and a few of my dad's work shirts (which say his company name on them). It was a bizarre combination of things to realize were missing in the morning.
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