Just about everyone has that one story we all dismiss as false. Whether they’re too fantastic or simply too hard to believe, some tales evoke nothing more than skepticism. A brush with Ted Bundy in a parking lot? Having your mom fight off a home invader? These people swear by the authenticity of their stories.
#1 Attic Squatter
My mom's friend had a small house and lived by herself. She noticed weird things like a batch of soup depleting faster than usual, missing eggs, damp towels in the hamper when she hadn't used any, extra dishes in the dishwasher, etc. This went on for months, but she thought that she was just being forgetful.
One day, she heard some thumping around in her attic and went to investigate. She found some makeshift living quarters. There was a small radio, hot plate, sleeping bag, pillow, food wrappers, etc. She called the cops, who came to keep an eye on the place. They ended up catching a homeless man climbing a tree, trying to sneak into her attic window. He had been doing this almost daily. He would wait for her to go to work, then go downstairs and help himself to food and amenities.
The funny part about this story is they actually got to know each other throughout the ordeal. The guy was actually very respectful; he just happened to be down on his luck. She didn't press charges against him. Instead, she let him move in, helped him get a job, and he lived in the attic until he got back on his feet.
#2 Roadside Visitors
My mom was driving and a guy ran out on the road. She obviously stopped so she couldn’t hit him. It was night time, so it was pretty dark out, and three other men emerged from the forest. All of them were trying to use the door handles of her car to get in. She locked them, luckily, and gassed it to the nearest town. Remember to always lock your car after you start it because if it wasn’t unlocked, who knows what would’ve happened to her.
#3 Nishapur Train Disaster
The Nishapur train disaster is something that reminds me of how tragedy can come at any moment. A train with 51 wagons of sulphur, fertilizer, petrol and cotton wool somehow broke loose and rolled down the track about 20 kilometers until it derailed in the town of Khayyam, Iran. There were no humans on board.
Chemical leaks ensued, however, and authorities tried to extinguish whatever fires broke out. At one point, the whole thing exploded. The whole town of Khayyam was literally demolished, three nearby towns were badly damaged and it was heard 70 kilometers away. The wreckage continued to explode for several days after. An earthquake of 3.6 on the Richter scale was produced.
#4 Pineapples on the Highway
When I was 16, I was in a pretty big accident on our way home from the airport. But, I was buckled in and could get myself out once the firefighters cut my seat belt. It was my first accident and when they asked me if anything hurt, I said my neck did. Bam! They whipped out a neck brace and put me on a backboard. I had to ride for almost half an hour to the hospital my mother wanted and was completely immobile the entire time. It ached so badly, but yeah, paramedics take neck injuries super seriously.
I got to ER, they got me on a bed. The doctor came in and asked, "Can you sit up?" I did so. "She's fine, it's just whiplash." The kicker? My younger sister hadn't complained about any pains, but my mother was (rightfully) paranoid and had her ride along to get checked out. They discovered a hairline fracture on her hip. When the CRV slammed to stop against the concrete divider in the middle, she was sitting on the side of impact. The car was completely totaled.
A lot of things happened that day that I’ll never forget. However, there’s one weird detail that sticks out very clearly in my mind. What I remember most was the highway covered with pineapples thrown out from the trunk. I can't remember anything else from our Hawaii vacation, but I remembered those pineapples.
#5 Breaking Free
A female friend in college disappeared from a party at another university in the city town 25-ish miles north of our school. She had arrived with another friend who I believe had driven. At some point, she split off to play corn hole or something and was later inexplicably gone. Phone calls went to voicemail, police were called, but she was simply missing. About 10 days later she was found by a homeless man who witnessed her crawling up to a bus stop in the city, begging for help.
At the (quite large party) she was led off by a group. At one point, she managed to flee their apartment and fell from the third story into a large hedge. From there, she crawled from the apartment complex to the road and bus stop, where the homeless man saw her and called police. Many cars stopped upon seeing her, making her captives unable to recapture her.
Three men were later arrested for the crime after surveillance cameras allowed police to locate the apartment which she jumped from. She returned to our university almost two years later, graduated, and became a nurse. She was obviously traumatized but somehow moved on with life. It was a terrifying tale none of us ever forgot.
#6 Maximum Security
I work at a maximum-security prison and we have several inmates who are severely mentally ill. The ones that are a danger to themselves wear a Fitbit kind of watch to monitor heart rate. If there’s a change, we rush to their room to stop whatever might be happening. On top of this, we also do visual inspections.
On one round, a coworker was doing cell checks and noticed this particular inmate had facial injuries, but nothing came up on the monitors. So, he called the inmate to ask if they were okay. The inmate had their eyes closed and just kept repeating, "It doesn't hurt." We opened the cell to see the situation and it turned out they were indeed a severe danger to themselves. The inmate’s HR monitor never alerted and the inmate never reacted. Paramedics said the vitals were normal and they were fully responsive.
#7 Trust Your Gut
When my aunt was about 16, she worked at a grocery store and had a boss in his mid-20s. One day, he called the house and begged her to sneak out and hang out with him. She was considering it because it was her boss and she didn’t want to say no. My mom, who is two years younger than her, always gets these incredibly spot-on “gut feelings.” She had one that night and begged my aunt not to go out with him.
Thankfully, she listened to my mom and told him no, which made him really angry. He ended up going out that night and meeting another girl. He took her out to some cliffs, but despite what he did, she somehow lived through it and got him sent to prison. I feel so sorry for that girl and so thankful for my mom and her gut feelings.
#8 A Home’s Gate
There are some really big houses in the woods in my hometown. One of the owners went out with his buddies and realized he forgot the key to the gate when he got home. So, he decided to just climb the gate. While climbing in his state, he slipped and his leg got pierced on the gate. He was hanging there, but too afraid to call for his wife. The reason why was that he was sure she’d open the automatic gate from inside the house and since it slid to the side, it would just seriously injure him if she did.
He was hanging there the entire night until his wife woke up, saw him and called the fire department. My dad (who was one of the firefighters who showed up) said they had to saw off the spike to get him free. It terrifies me to imagine hanging from your own gate all night, not being able to call anyone for help.
#9 Remembering New Delhi
I spent my first 10 years in New Delhi. Back then, we would find victims (mostly women) and it used to be so "normal." It was like, “Oh, look. Another one of those dowry cases where her family didn't pay the husband enough money.” Many years later, I revisited those memories and realized how insane that actually was. I'd totally forgotten about it.
#10 911 Pager
As an "on-call technician" working in the Audio Visual field, my pager would go off all the time. Like most people who used pagers, our clients knew that if you followed up your number with a 911, that would indicate to the technician to call right away. However, although I was always busy, I rarely if ever got 911s.
One afternoon, I was traveling from Orlando to Saint Petersburg. My pager went off with a number I didn’t recognize, followed by the 911. I found the first exit, and pulled into a little truck stop to use the payphone. This took maybe three minutes. I walked in, asked for some change and headed to the wall where there were four payphones to choose from. I popped my quarter in and dialed the number displayed on my pager. It rang.. and rang…. and rang. I thought to myself, “Who would page me with a 911 and not answer their phone?”
It was just about then that I noticed another ringing sound in addition to the one in my ear. Two phones over, another payphone was ringing, but with an incoming call. I hung up and the ringing stopped on the other phone. I walked over, picked up the handset and looked at the phone number printed above the buttons. I looked at the number on my pager, at the number on the phone, and then back again. Except for the 911, they were identical. I kind of lost my breath for a second and then I made my way over to the girl at the counter. I asked if she saw anyone use the payphone. She said I was the only person in the store in the last hour. The whole episode probably took 15 minutes, but man, I was freaked out.
I got about 10 miles down the highway and came upon a disastrous scene. There was a four-car pile-up involving a tractor-trailer hauling a load of steel that had come loose. I pulled over to the side and helped the best I could, but it was all pretty much over once it began. I have no idea why I got that page, but I'm convinced that if I hadn't, I would not be alive today.
#11 Working for U-Haul
I worked for U-Haul when I was 18. It was located in front of a club that was known for being really sketchy. I came in to open one morning and it was common for people to knock on the door hoping to get in early and get their truck. On this day, I heard frantic knocking on the door. I was there alone, so it kind of startled me.
I looked and there was a woman who had clearly gone through some kind of trauma. I called the cops, grabbed one of the moving blankets and went outside to cover her up. She smelled really bad and was a mess. I found out later she was taken from the club that night. It was just a surreal situation to be involved in.
#12 Bed Bugs and Burglaries
I was in a bad motel once. The room had bedbugs, but I was too exhausted to go to the front desk. I just needed to make it until the morning, so I slept in the tub. Hours later, I heard someone break through the window. I ran out into the room to find a man halfway through my window. We stared for a while at each other in shock. I think we both were scared. Then he said, “Is this your room?" I told him yes and there was more staring. Then, he slowly backed out while cursing me for leaving my window unlocked and not expecting him to break in.
#13 Oxygen Levels
A guy once went into a small building and passed away. Later, an investigator showed up and saw the body, called 911 and then suffered the same fate. Paramedics showed up to help them, then also succumbed to the same fate. The reason? Oxygen levels at head height were normal, but the oxygen levels when bent over was basically 0. Bending over in this room led to a tragedy.
#14 Train Tracks
My friend tripped and fell onto the train tracks, landing on the third rail. We kind of stood there in absolute shock because we thought he was gone, but then he said, "Can I move? Will I be electrocuted?" We told him to move instantly and he did. We got him off the tracks and no less than two minutes later, a train went zipping by. I think the third rail turned on seconds after his face came off of it.
#15 Ted Bundy
Carol DaRonch was at a shopping mall in Salt Lake City in 1974 when she was approached by a man claiming to be a police officer. He said that someone had tried to break into her car and asked her to come with him. He then said he would drive her to the police station and she got into his car. However, this guy was not a police officer and he didn’t drive her to the police station. Rather, he pulled into a parking lot. He then cuffed her. Only, he messed up. He meant to cuff both of her wrists, but only managed to cuff one.
She escaped and fought him off. Her kidnapper was Ted Bundy. He went after another woman just four hours later. Her escape also helped identify Bundy and she is part of the reason he was eventually arrested.
#16 Lake Nyos
For me, it’s the Lake Nyos Disaster that comes to mind. If you don’t know, this lake will periodically belch a cloud of invisible carbon dioxide gas that can harm everything within a 16-mile radius. In 1986, over 1700 people and all their livestock passed without even understanding what was happening to them.
#17 Judy Kirby
This is a hometown story that stayed with me. It happened literally right around the corner from where I grew up, maybe a two-minute drive away. Judy Kirby intentionally drove the wrong way on a divided highway. She had been hospitalized for depression, but had also just ended a relationship with her ex-husband's brother. By some reports, she was involved in a crime ring and feared an imminent arrest.
She picked up her sister's son, who was celebrating his 10th birthday that day. She then loaded her three children into the car, supposedly to pick up a gift for the nephew. Instead, she went missing with the carload of kids. A short time later, calls started coming in to 911 about a car going the wrong way down the highway at a high rate of speed. They made it about 90 seconds. She was sentenced to 215 years in prison.
#18 Derelict Van
My friend had this neighbor who was a retired mechanic. They lived on some properties with large front lawns and long driveways. His neighbor had a couple of derelict cars parked up near his garage that he took parts from occasionally. This neighbor of his started hearing noises while sitting in his living room, coming from his front yard. Every time he'd go to the window, there would be nothing there.
So, he assumed it was a raccoon or a coyote or whatever. But, he kept hearing the noise, so he'd go outside to look around. He would find nothing. He'd put out traps and occasionally catch something, yet the noise persisted. Soon, he started claiming that he was hearing voices coming from the front yard, like whispering. He'd go outside and look around the perimeter of his property but would find nothing.
It was persistent, though, so he'd started calling the cops. Every time the cops came and looked around, they, too, would find nothing. So, they told him he needed to stop calling them for this, and perhaps get a security camera or something. This guy thought he was losing his mind. One summer evening, he couldn't sleep, so he went to the back patio. Suddenly, he heard voices coming from the front of his house.
He snuck around to the front and got there just in time to see the doors to his derelict conversion van silently shut. He went inside and called the police to tell them what he saw. The police arrived and approached cold (i.e. without lights or sirens). When they approached the van, the doors swung open and a bunch of people ran out in every direction.
#19 Cameron Bell
When I was in the fourth grade, we had buddy classes with first graders to help teach them how to write and read properly. My buddy was Cameron Bell, a six-year-old blonde boy who was a bit quiet, but loved to draw Angry Birds. One morning, I came to school and my teacher was in tears, a police officer in the room beside her.
We sat down after the bell rang and were told that due to an “unfortunate series of events” Cameron had passed away. I still shake thinking about Cameron and the innocence that was taken. I missed his messy handwriting and Angry Birds drawings. It’s been nine years since the tragedy, and his smile still haunts me.
#20 Truck in the Town
My dad and some friends partied and went for a drive on some back roads. They were going as fast as the truck would go. My dad was slightly less tipsy than the others and eventually demanded they let him get out. They pulled over and he and one other girl got out. They started walking to town while the other three sped off in the opposite direction.
Well, less than a mile up the road from where they got out is an extremely sharp turn, which they missed and hit a tree going pretty close to triple digits. The only survivor was paralyzed before eventually losing his life. This was in the ‘60s, so medical care wasn’t what it is today. When I first got my permit, my dad took me to that corner to explain the importance of safe driving. It gave me goosebumps about how close he was to being in the truck. He said that the dad of the driver got the truck’s remains to be hung up in the town for months after as a warning to all.
#21 Putting Out Fires
One night, I was out with a friend in New Rochelle, NY. We went outside and a car came flying past. The car burned through a red light and started going up this hill that was on a curve. We watched as he veered over the double yellow, and smashed another car coming from the other direction. I ran inside and grabbed the fire extinguisher, then yelled to the bartender to call 911 and say there has been an accident.
My friend, a few other patrons, and I ran to the cars. Now, I used to think this was a fictional trope, but I was pretty tipsy before this happened and I swear it sobered me up instantly. I tried spraying the fire, but it did nothing. All we could do was stand back. The police eventually took statements. I have no clue if that one driver did time, but I left to go back home a day or so later.
#22 Criminal in Canada
In my town in the early ‘90s, there was a notorious criminal who had all of B.C., Canada on watch. My wife’s mother (years before I knew them) had been home alone while her husband was in England for work. She was in her laundry room when a man walked up from her basement, completely scaring her. She freaked out and asked, “What the heck are you doing here?” He said he was friends with her husband and was just coming to see if he was there, apparently he told him he could just walk in. She knew that was obvious malarky.
She was smart enough to tell him that he was just at the store and would be back any minute. He said he would wait outside for him. As soon as he left, she called the police, but he was long gone by the time they got here. Two weeks later, the criminal was caught. His mugshot was put on TV and it was the guy in her house.
#23 Hero Mom
I was around 11 years old and I woke up in the middle of the night to a man in my room. I rolled onto the floor and tried to scream. My mom heard me, came in and fought with the guy. He was at least 6' she was 5'3", but scared him enough with the fighting and screaming that he took off out the window he had come in through. The police never did catch him.
#24 Never Leave the Register
I was working the evening shift at a gas station when a man came in all disoriented. I went to help him out, but he didn’t know where he was. I couldn't see any crashes around so assumed he had fallen or something. Normally, we’re supposed to stay inside the glass-shielded register area whenever anyone is in the store. I, being a nice human being, went to help while calling the police. They got there and checked him out. They took him to the ER and I went back to work. The cops then returned for some coffee a few hours later. They told me the guy was trying to break into a girl's bedroom and was wanted in two other states. I never left the register area at night again.
#25 ‘70s Chicago
In third grade, a guy came to our school and held our class hostage. He was mainly there because his child attended the same school. The administrators convinced him that the kid wasn’t there and to just take one of their cars and leave. After threatening us multiple times, he finally left about 30 minutes later.
The police caught him in Indiana. He was convinced the world was ending and he wanted to spare everyone he loved. The school did worse than nothing, they lied to parents and no assistance was given to either the kids or teachers involved. The gym teacher never came back and every time she would see one of the kids at the store or something, she had a breakdown. Several of us have PTSD, undiagnosed, for decades. We just thought it was normal. In the ‘70s, the Chicago Public School system was more concerned about their jobs and lawsuits, so they covered it up.
#26 Naegleria Fowleri
An acquaintance of mine sent his son to a triathlon camp in Texas. A week later, his son came back from camp. The next day, the son was complaining of a headache. Four days later, he was gone. Healthy, happy, fit 12-year-old one week, gone the next. As it turned out, the lake had Naegleria fowleri, the amoeba.
#27 Deserted Gas Station
My teacher had a super interesting life. She had dark hair and blue eyes (you'll see why this matters in a minute). She told this story every year to the new students in her class. When she was younger, she was driving through Arizona on a two-way road while her boyfriend was following behind her on his motorcycle. For those who don't live in Arizona, certain stretches of it can be quite isolated and deserted. She said that they were on a long drive, but basically they both knew the destination by memory and eventually got separated by a few miles.
A man who was behind her in a Volkswagen beetle kept pulling up beside her into the other lane and motioning at her to pull over. She somewhat ignored him the first few times, but he kept doing it and began getting more frantic each time. She said she believed that he spotted something wrong with her car. So, she saw a parking lot for a deserted gas station and pulled over. Once pulled over, she said that she instantly got an eerie feeling. The man was suspicious and kept telling her that he saw something wrong with her headlight and insisted she get out of the car so he could show her what he meant.
Her boyfriend, who was a few miles behind her, eventually caught up and spotted her car at the sketchy gas station. Right as she was out of the car, her boyfriend began to pull in. As he did that, this man got into his car and sped like his life depended on it. They later were able to identify that the man was Ted Bundy. She said she cannot imagine what would have happened to her if her boyfriend had been even another three miles behind her on the road.
#28 Maroon Handbag
Back in 2006, I was working inside of a multi-storey parking lot. I came down in the elevator from the top floor, where I worked at the time. As I got out of the elevator, there was a woman in her late 40s with greying hair and a maroon handbag. We brushed our shoulders as I got out of the elevator. I apologized, she gave me a very blank look. I walked out to go get some food, not thinking much more than that. Although, when I think about it, the lady appeared to look quite sad.
I returned with my noodles around 20 to 30 minutes later. By the time I got back, the police were everywhere. I knew something had happened to the woman because I recognized her handbag laying on the floor. Gosh, if I had stopped and spoken to her or left for lunch a little later, I may have been able to do something.
#29 Kyle Plush
In terms of really scary, it’s probably stuff that just kind of happens by accident. Like the story of Kyle Plush. He was in a minivan that had one of those back seats you can push to lay flat in the trunk for extra storage space. He went to grab something in the trunk, leaning over the seat, and it tipped backward and pinned him. He called the police twice. The second time he called and gave them a very clear description of the car. But they couldn’t get to him.
#30 Running Sprints
One of my friends had someone following her home, hiding in the bushes so they couldn't be seen. She booked it to her house, got inside, and he was watching the house from the outside. She called the cops. They came along quietly and got the jump on him. When they got his DNA, it turned out that he was linked to a half dozen crimes in the area. She credits her regimen of running sprints to outrunning him that night and firmly believes she would have been next if she couldn't outrun him then.
#31 Missing Student
I remember this poor kid who went missing while I was at Purdue. He was trying to come home to his dorm after a party and either wasn’t able to get into the building or perhaps wanted to bypass the check-in desk since he had been partying. He entered the building through a door to an electrical closet that should have been locked. He was last seen January 13th and was discovered March 19th. I remember talking with friends about theories of what happened when he went missing.
#32 Rescue Mission
During WWII, an American airplane crashed near the Japanese island of Chichijima. There were nine servicemen on board, one of whom was rescued by an American submarine. The other eight were taken in by the Japanese. I don't want to go into all the details, but through some time and events, the Japanese ended up really going in on those servicemen. But, that's not the weird part. The one serviceman who was rescued? That was George H. W. Bush.
#33 Man in the House
My mom didn’t tell me this story for the longest time, I think so she wouldn’t unnecessarily worry me when I was younger. But, my parents split up when I was about four years old. My mom and my sisters stayed in a small townhouse for a few years before moving in with my stepdad. While we were at the townhouse for less than a year, my mom heard something in her room in the middle of the night. When she woke up to go look, there was a man in her room. She audibly gasped and got out of bed either to fight or run to our room — she couldn’t really decide cause she was pumped full of adrenaline. The guy ended up running out of our back door. When the police came, they found signs of forced entry. She never told any of us the full story because we were still sound asleep the entire time, but she ended up explaining it the older we got.
#34 Swimming in Quarries
This 80-year-old dude at my grandfather's church went swimming when he was a kid in an old mining quarry with his cousin. They were both kids, around 7 to 10. Long story short, some kind of air bubble down below the water opened up and took the cousin. He had to walk back home and tell his family. They got a search and rescue down there, but could never find anything.
#35 Planned Crash
My mom’s friend was driving on the highway in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly, a car passing on her left steered in front of her, causing her to brake. This obviously caused her to lose control and crash against a tree. She passed out and sometime later, a group came to her rescue and told her things like, "Don't move," "We're calling an ambulance," "Just hang in there," etc.
She eventually passed out again and about two hours later, someone else came and started helping her again. Eventually, the ambulance and her husband arrived. She told them that some other people had been there before, but the guy that found her said no one was there. When they checked the trunk, everything had been stolen including her computer, camera, etc. She later said that she remembers thinking the car that made her crash had been following her for a while and was driving a little too close.
#36 In the Andes
In 1972, an Uruguayan plane carrying a college rugby team fell in the Andes Mountain Range. Of 50 people, 13 people passed in the crash or in the following hours. By the next day, the survivor count was down to 27. With such little food, the survivors had to resort to rationing how much each person ate. They spent 72 days in a hostile environment and by the end, only 16 survived.
#37 Unnamed Cat
A relative of mine was in college and living in a small off-campus house by herself. At the time, she thought she might have been the victim of a stalker. She had gotten some pretty strange phone calls — no one answering on the other end, a lot of heavy breathing and that sort of thing, among other incidents.
One night, she was home alone in her bedroom studying. It was just her and a cat that she had recently adopted. So recent in fact, that she hadn't even named it yet. The whole time she studied, the cat was acting crazy. It paced the floor, meowed constantly, and sat right in front of her closet, meowing non-stop.
She was really annoyed and finally had enough. So, she got up and went to the closet to open it for the cat, hopefully to shut him up. When she opened it, she startled a man who was sitting in her closet. He pushed her out of the way and bolted out of the house, literally ripping a hole in the screen door as he tore through it.
She called the cops, of course, and gave a description. Since she had a clear look at his face, they found and arrested him. Turned out, he had been stalking her for weeks and broke into her house to wait in her closet until she was asleep. Her testimony put him in prison. The cat saved her.
#38 Getting Photos
One night about two years ago, it was about 9 or 10 at night. Now, I was just sitting in my room playing Xbox with my buddies and I heard a commotion from my family in the doorway to the backyard. I asked my dad and he said there was something in our backyard and my mom was trying to get pictures, but her flash wasn't working. She was right at the fence trying to get pictures when, all of a sudden, the flash went off and lit up the yard. Right in front of my mom was a bear. It stood up on its back legs, just waiting there. By the time the flash was done, my mom was nearly in the house.
#39 Mysterious Man
This happened to a girl I went to high school with. Her parents and little brother left for the weekend to go on some trip, but she had softball practice and couldn't go. She was home alone, sleeping in her bed when she was startled awake by the sound of her bedroom window breaking. She watched as a dark figure slowly crawled into her room through the window.
The figure's eyes weren’t adjusted to the dark, but it turned towards her because it saw something. This mysterious man inched towards her, trying to see what the lump was. He got his face almost right up to hers before he realized it was a person in a bed. His eyes widened and he slowly backed away and crawled out the window.
#40 Ex Turned Friend
An ex-girlfriend of mine had some serious trouble with her dad. All of this happened when she was just shy of 18 years old. He had tried several times to offer her money and was always in her face. However, a few weeks after she turned 18, we packed up her stuff, and I got her out of the house while her dad was at work.
Over the course of the next three years, I stayed in a relationship with her while she lashed out and completely let loose. It ripped the girl's life apart and she lost all inhibition. I stayed so she had a constant to come "home" to. We split up about five years ago, but are now best friends and she's living a great life.
#41 Approached One Night
My dad was at Marquette University in Milwaukee in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. One of his friends was gay. One night, his friend was asked out by an older man, around mid-30s or so. He refused and the guy walked off. A couple of weeks later, he was at my dad’s apartment when he saw the news report on the ongoing Milwaukee crimes. When Jeffrey Dahmer's face was shown, he immediately recognized him as the guy who'd asked him out.
#42 Home Invasion
I was up late playing video games and my ex was asleep after surgery, so gone to the world. The back door was cracked open because the cat was out. I shut the bedroom door to keep the cat out and crawled into bed at 4:30 a.m. At 6:00 a.m., my ex woke up and asked me why I'd left the bedroom door open. She then went into the living room to discover we had been robbed.
We found an empty case in our backyard shed, the intruders had hung out, waiting for me to go to sleep. When they were caught, it turned out they were a pretty nasty group responsible for multiple home invasions. Apparently, they had checked in on us sleeping and decided we weren't worth the trouble. My ex and I are generally light sleepers, only her pain meds and my all-night gaming session saved our lives.
#43 Random Blackout
Once, when I was driving to see a girl during her overnight shift at a local hospital, I experienced a random blackout. The last thing I remember before the incident was driving toward a four-way stop in the middle of a residential area. When I came to, my truck was in park and running with the driver door open in the middle of the intersection. My shoes and socks were off and scattered on the ground next to the driver's side door.
I was in the middle of a woman's yard about 40 feet away. She was screaming at me from her front doorstep, “What is wrong with you?!” She was standing with a child behind her as if I was a threat, which I’m absolutely sure I appeared to be. I apologized fervently and drove straight home after collecting my socks and shoes. I have absolutely no recollection of the events during the blackout, no idea how long it was, and still have no clue as to what caused it or what it actually was.
#44 Marcus Fiesel
This happened to my hometown in Cincinnati. I was young when it happened, so the details are a little hazy, but it’s still in my memory. Basically, this kid named Marcus Fiesel was reported missing after his parents left for a weekend trip. It had the whole community in a stir. I even remember going out with some friends to the local park to try and find him. Well, it turns out that his foster parents were responsible. I was 10 at the time and it hit me pretty hard hearing the truth.
#45 Missing Children
For me, it’s the fact that every single year, thousands of children go missing all over the world. Plus, at most, you can even hear about a few per year in your area. The thing is, no one seems to care. At this point, it’s literally a nuisance to many to have a "have you seen my child" ad pop up on their social media.
#46 College Party
My brother was at a college party that a friend of his was throwing. Everyone was having a good time and left around one in the morning. The hostess went into her room and fell asleep. About an hour later, as she tossed and turned, she said she saw a faint outline of what appeared to be someone standing at the foot of her bed.
As soon as she screamed out, she realized that what she saw was for real. She recognized the outline was truly that of a man as he bolted out the door and ran from the apartment. She told my brother she’s been sleeping with some kind of protection under her bed ever since that day. I can’t say that I blame her.
#47 Out to Eat
Once, a friend of a friend was on a date and came back home with the guy. They ended up talking for a long time. Since they had a great time together, the girl let the guy crash on her living room pull out bed while she went off to sleep upstairs. After about 10-15 minutes, the guy came up to her bedroom, knocked, made a lot of noise and told her that he was very hungry. The friend tried to find something for him in the kitchen, but whatever she suggested, he said no and was adamant that she go out with him.
She got irritated as she didn’t know the guy that well and he was suddenly acting very weird. Just to get him off her back, she agreed to go out. When they finally stepped out in the street, the guy told her that he saw someone hiding behind the curtains in the living room. He wanted her out to make sure they both were safe.
#48 Home Invasion
I live with my mother and it’s just the two of us in a rather large house. One night, I woke up at 3:00 a.m. because I heard someone sobbing outside my room. Of course, I knew something was wrong, but I stayed quiet and kept listening. It was my mother saying, “please go away" very softly and quietly while crying. When I heard male voices, I knew it was a home invasion.
I had to decide within seconds: go outside my room and confront the robbers or escape through the window and ask for help. The latter meant that I had to leave my mother on her own, but I believed I made the right choice by seeking help from my neighbours. As soon as I got out, one of the guys. who was waiting outside with their car, spotted me.
He called his companions and drove off as fast as they could because I already alerted my neighbours and the police. Even though nothing happened to my mom, I still feel terrible and the thought of leaving my mother on her own really haunts me. But I'm certain it would have been worse if I decided to leave my room and confront them.
#49 The English Teacher
In high school during the early '90s, I had an English teacher named Mrs. Ferguson. She was a wonderful person, lovely and always excited to teach. At the end of winter break, we saw on the news that something happened to her. We all went to the funeral, shook hands with her husband and got through it. Not long after, it was discovered that her husband was responsible. All of us had met that guy and had no idea it was him.
#50 You Missed a Spot
I was working in a theater a few months ago and would clean the theaters after movies. I was waiting for people to exit a theater and when I thought everyone left, I went in to clean. I was cleaning row by row and was in the middle when I looked up to see someone still sitting at the top. There weren't any lights at the top row, so I just saw his silhouette. I was creeped out, but kept working my way up there.
I told him the movie was over and he needed to get out. He didn't say anything. I started heading back down to talk to the manager but he said something like, "You forgot to clean up here." I quickly left and told my manager. He and I walked back to the theater and no one was there. I have no idea what that guy was planning, but that was the creepiest thing I've experienced.
