Most of us enjoy curling up in bed with a blanket while scrolling through the internet. Yet, some stories we stumble upon can send shivers down our spine. We’ve come across a few of these, and they aren’t just made-up stories, they are actually real-life accounts experienced by ordinary people.
1. Hungry student.
My friend Minji worked as an English tutor in South Korea. Once, she was tutoring a high school boy. They were up studying pretty late, and the buses stopped running. The boy asked if he could sleep on the floor and get the first bus the next morning. Minji was very reluctant, but eventually she relented.
At maybe 2 am, the boy wakes her up and says, «I’m really hungry. Let’s go get some food». Minji looks up at him in disbelief, «Food? Now? It’s 2 am, go back to bed.» The student insists, «No, I’m so hungry, let’s eat something now.» She tells him that there’s some ramen in the kitchen, but he wants to go to a 24-hour place just down the road.
Eventually, the boy gets Minji to come with him to the restaurant. As soon as they’re on the street, the boy turns to Minji, and says, «I’m not hungry. I woke up in the middle of the night, and looked under your bed. There’s a man sleeping there.»
They call the police, and discover that a homeless man had been living in Minji’s apartment, sleeping under her bed, for over 2 months. The boy only saw him because he was lying on her floor, so had a clear view under the bed. The police arrested the man, and thankfully there were no other issues, but that’s by far the creepiest thing that’s ever happened to anyone I know.
2. Don’t pick up calls from unknown numbers.
A few years ago, my brother would get a call on his cellphone around 2:00–3:00 A.M. every night. He would answer and it was this weird noise. Like static mixed with screams. He changed his cell number after a month of this and it stopped.
Then after a week or so it began again. The exact same noise. Exact same time. Finally, one day he decided to dial back the call. It was an old man that had no clue what he was talking about. Still, the calls persisted. If he didn’t answer, it would call a few more times. No messages were left.
He decided to end his contract with his phone company, switched to a new one, and then got a new number. The screaming static calls continued after a short delay. By this time, he was terrified every night. Unsure why this was happening, he dialed back the number again and got a different person.
Around this time he lost his job and his phone. The calls stopped. His phone was disconnected now. One day, my mom asks me to listen to this weird message she got on our home phone. It was the static screaming. We showed my brother and he was freaking out. He dialed the number again, and it said the number was disconnected this time. Never heard from it again after that.
3. Kids can see more than we do.
My wife’s mother passed away in 2003. Family and friends gathered at her house for a final celebration of her life. The gathering went late into the evening. My son, 3 at the time, needed to go to bed.
I walked with him up the stairs to where he’d sleep. The room that my mother-in-law passed away in was upstairs, and straight down the hallway as you reached the top of the landing. My son and I walked upstairs together. We nearly reached the top of the stairs, my son stopped and wouldn’t move. He was staring straight down the hall.
I looked at him, then down the hall to an open doorway to a completely dark bedroom. He just stared, and wouldn’t move any further. I asked him, «Buddy, are you OK?» His response was, «Daddy. The light scares me.» I looked again down the hallway, where he was staring into darkness. «Buddy, you see a light?» «Yes daddy. It scares me.»
I promptly picked him up and went back downstairs. The hairs still stand on the back of my neck when I think of it.
4. We’re never alone.
A few years ago, I went to a Christmas party. My housemates went home earlier, while I decided to stay with a few other friends. I got home around 3 am. I was outside a couple of minutes when I see the light go on in the kitchen, my housemate comes out and look at me out the back, I wave. He just gets a glass of water and goes to bed.
The next morning, we’re re-hashing the previous night when he says, «Who came back from the party with you last night?» I give him a sideways look and reply, «No one dude, I was alone». He insists, «Nah, there was someone out there with you, behind you on the porch, when you were looking inside waving. I didn’t come out cause I thought it was some random friend from the Christmas party I didn’t know, couldn’t be bothered making introductions.»
To this day he stands by this version of events, whoever it was must have been standing close behind me the whole time, I saw no one and heard nothing.
5. Ghosts can be kind too!
I was stuck in a bathroom in a creepy house my family was staying at. I was home alone. You had to force the door into the jam to get it to close and latch, only to find out that the knob didn’t work the latch. I heard the side door slam shut downstairs. I thought my dad was home.
I called to him, «Dad! I’m stuck in the bathroom!» I heard him walking on the hardwood. Through the kitchen, down the hall, stopped at the bottom of the stairs. «Dad! I’m locked in!» I yelled. I immediately heard him run up the stairs and stop at the top. Once more, I exclaimed, «I’m locked in the bathroom!» 4 more steps to the other side of the door. «Dad?!»
BOOOOOOOOOOM
The door swung open and slammed into the wall. I stepped into the hall and looked around. Nobody was there. Nobody at all. I politely said, «Thank you!» and went straight to bed.
6. Sleeping with the lights on might be a good idea.
I was texting my girlfriend, playing a game, and I heard rustling outside my window (keep in mind I live in the basement). I don’t have any curtains, and I turned off my iPod.
I could see someone actually staring at me. This went on for about 10 minutes. I texted my little sister to get the bat, and turn on the lights upstairs. After he saw the lights, he ran off.
7. There was something in the furnace vents.
I was at a friend’s house, we were in the basement watching TV, when his mom’s boyfriend comes down the stairs and tells us to keep it down. We looked at each other, confused because we were just watching TV, and it wasn’t on high volume. We said we weren’t being loud, and he said, «You aren’t yelling?» and we shook our heads.
He just sort of does the «huh» look and tells us he and my friend’s mom had heard someone screaming coming up from the furnace vents, so he thought it was coming from the basement where the furnace is. We didn’t hear anything and were like 15 feet away from the furnace.
8. Dogs can sense something that we can’t.
I was sitting in my room on the second floor. Little bro is downstairs watching TV, the dog is in the hallway outside my door sleeping. Our dog starts barking, clacking nails, howling. I get up to see what’s up, and I hear, «Aw, that’s a good girl» in a male voice. It didn’t sound like little bro, so I go, «Oh, you’re home early!» thinking it is my dad’s friend/our roomie as I open the door.
Soon as I’m out there, there’s no one but the dog wagging her tail, staring at the empty end of the hallway. Little bro comes upstairs to yell at me for getting the dog riled up, said he heard the same voice, thinking it was me or our roommate.
9. An uninvited visitor.
I was home alone at nighttime. I was watching TV in the living room when I heard the doorbell ring. Whenever I hear the doorbell ring, especially, when I’m home alone, I’m cautious to answer it. I walk up to the peephole without turning on the porch light (so they don’t know if anyone is actually home or not) and look through. It’s really dark, but I can see a small figure doing a dancing-like motion. Think of a person moving their arms like wings gracefully.
It was dark outside, but this figure was more opaque, so I could see this going on. After a few seconds, I stopped looking through the peephole. I regained some courage and looked back through and whatever it was, it was gone.
10. Listen carefully.
A friend and I used to run after school, and we enjoyed doing trails where possible. There was one in particular, above a park, that went up a steep dirt hill onto a ridge that overlooked a nearby valley. It was a beautiful area to run, but a little secluded.
We were running and stopped to walk, when we heard something. I don’t know what it was, but when we heard it, we just froze. It was the most unnatural sound I’ve heard in my entire life. It was something, but whatever it was sounded so wrong.
Dealing with your in-laws can be a real rollercoaster of emotions too. Imagine picking what you think is a thoughtful gift, only for it to backfire. That’s the story of one of our readers. She never saw it coming when her MIL stole her credit card, and the reason why is mind-blowing.