25 True Stories That Sound Like They Came Straight From The X-Files

These stories from Ask Reddit could double as X-Files episodes.

A monster from the X-Files
Unsplash / Robert Zunikoff

1. A group of soldiers disappeared from the war without a trace

“My grandfather had been in ww2 and told us about when himself and a few other soldiers had been separated from his unit and we’re trying to get to Normandy, they had gone through a clearing in a wooded area but had to drop when they heard something approaching. They were on their bellies in 3 ft grass when they saw 20 or 30 German soldiers running across the clearing clearly in a state of panic, then they just froze in mid step. He said they resembled statues and that some weren’t even touching the ground, and that there was no noise whatsoever, even the birds had gone silent. After a few seconds came a loud noise like metal scraping on concrete and the frozen soldiers started to become blurry to the point at which they vanished without a trace.

This had been reported by all of the soldiers that were present and all were called to the war office London after their return to the UK where they were pressed on what they saw over the period of a few days, and we’re taken back to the same spot in France shortly after the war had ended. Surprisingly when they got their, there were other men sharing the same accommodation who reported similar occurrences in the exact same area. They were all taken to the woods and had to describe where and how the events took place. My grandad had said that the entire area was guarded heavily and that part of the ground was heavily excavated. The strangest thing of all the other he said, was that there were hundreds of dogs in the area, just milling around for no apparent reason. They returned to the UK with a gag order ordering them never to speak about any of this. He went back to the same spot in france before he died in 1985 and said that the area had been covered with unmarked warehouses and was guarded by an unusually professional security company. He reckoned they were military.

I’ve tried to find out more about this but can’t find any records of it, but I do remember one of the guys who he was with the day, he used to come and visit sometimes and referred to the place as the splintered woods.” — shitstorm_delux

2. My cousin and I both remember a room that doesn’t actually exist

“My cousin and I both remember a room that apparently doesn’t exist.

When we were both around 10, my cousin was having family problems, and my mom invited her to stay with us while it got sorted out. It was pretty fun, kind of like having a temporary sister. We ended up talking about it a few years ago, reminiscing about the weird things we would do together and some of the memories that stood out the most, among them the night we stayed up laughing at my golden retriever, who kept trying to steal my pillow off the bottom bunk when we were trying to get to sleep.

Only problem was, we didn’t have a dog, and I never had a bunk bed. For whatever reason, I’d never considered how little sense the memory made. Thinking maybe she was just going along with the story, I asked her what color the bedframe was. She thought about it for a second and then answered ‘red’. She was right.

According to my mom, we never stayed over at anyone else’s house — and even if we had, I still remember what her friends’ houses looked like. None of them had red bunk beds. I still have no idea what happened.” — justsittinginmycube 

3. We ran over a man — but the car went right through him

“When I was 19 and my best friend was 20 (we are nearly 40 now), we were driving back to my house after visiting someone at work. We were on a somewhat busy road. It was getting dark but wasn’t quite dark yet. There were street lights and business lights everywhere so visabilty was still great. This road was 3 lanes in each direction and there was a concrete median dividing the traffic. I was in the left lane next to the median, and a traffic light was coming up. I saw a man standing in the median a good way before where the cross walk for the light would be. It instantly made me nervous. As soon as I thought that, he stepped out to cross the street. My best friend and I both instantly braced for impact as I slammed on my brakes. We went through him. We didn’t hit him and because there was a car to my right I wasn’t able to swerve out of my lane to avoid hitting the man. I looked in my rear-view and there wasn’t anyone there. I had come to a complete stop and we physically turned around in our seats to see how he had jumped out of the way. There was no one there and no way he could have ran off or hidden anywhere that fast. We both turned toward to each other and almost in sync asked each other ‘did you see that man.’ We both saw the same thing. A man (couldn’t describe his face, but it was a man’s form and both of us remember being confused as to why be was wearing a white robe, and both being terrified that he stepped out in front of us, like he was committing suicide. I had a baby in the back seat. She was about 3 months old. She had been crying during the drive and went silent when we came to a screeching stop which added to the weirdness of it all. We still bring it up occasionally and neither of us can come up with an explanation for what we saw other than something supernatural. Also, we both saw the white cloth fling across the windshield, like he was hitting it. But there was no impact, nothing. It was like he went through the car.” — debbie_downerz

4. My friend pulled a knife on his brother without consciously realizing it

I have a friend who once told me about a time when he was in his teens. He slept in a bunk bed with his brother in the lower bunk.

He said he dreamt a demon wearing the skin of a man threatened to kill his brother. In order to save him, he somehow managed to procure a knife and put the knife to the neck of the demon. The demon tells him, ‘the only way to rid evil is through evil.’ He hesitated and woke up to find he was pressing a butcher knife under the neck of his younger brother.

He was still sleeping, fortunately, but when he awoke, he told the same dream exactly, except he was attacked by his brother in the dream and said the exact same thing, ‘the only way to rid evil is through evil.’

Nothing similar happened after that and it gave him some serious issues that led him to go through psychotherapy for a while.” — eyekwah2

5. I controlled someone through their dream while they slept

“Growing up my brother beat the shit out of me constantly. Like, cut eyes, bloody noses, police called beatings.

One day at the library I was reading a book about some tribe who believed you could go into people’s dreams and cast a sickness on them. So I did all the pre-dream ground work described in the book and that night I went to sleep and had a dream.

In the dream I was at one end of a long road and my brother was at the other end. I lifted my hand and pointed at him, ‘I cast a sickness on you.’

The next day we’re watching TV and he said, ‘I feel like shit.’

‘You have mono.’ I don’t even know why I thought of that, but it was the first thing that came to mind.

‘Fuck you bitch’ was all he said and the conversation was over.

A week later it turns out he DID HAVE MONO.

I was freaked out. I was pretty sure I was a witch and would burn in hell.

To compound matters. I had a friend whose dad was a professor. We’d get stoned with him and he’d always tell me random facts. I’m at his house and he starts telling me about this tribe that went in people’s dreams and cast sickness.

I was paranoid as fuck that people would learn this horrible thing I did.” — Opandemonium 

6. I stole a photograph from a historic house and was haunted for it

“I stole a picture from one of the historic houses in old town San Diego on Halloween for fun with my girlfriend. Picture was painted in the 1800’s. It was Jesus praying in a hallway, upon closer examination there was an alternate black devil looking Jesus hidden I the shadows of the painting. Took it home and put it in the closet.

Randomly on nights I would smell the worst smell in the world and wake up and see what looked like a black smoke cloud. I moved three times and still saw the same shut. Finally my roommate saw the same thing so I knew I wasn’t crazy.

Long story short. I brought the picture back to where I got it and told one of the employees what I did and apologized and she replied ‘don’t worry they always come back to us.'” — cent0kr

7. I had a horrifying interaction with a ghostly presence 

“I’m not quite sure what to classify this as. People I’ve spoken with about this experience have theories that it could be anything from a lucid dream, to the bizarre and supernatural.

My in-laws annually rent a cottage in the summer for the whole family to come together. My wife is from a family of 3 boys and a girl, and most everyone is married with kids. Needless to say the cottages are typically quite large, and even then things get cozy.

That said it was just another night in a new place. The bedroom we had faced the front of the house, and was right above the porch. it was one of those structures where the steep slant of the roof affected the upper rooms, and we were right under the steeple. It’s well after midnight and everyone is settling down for bed. I think my wife had dozed off an hour or so prior (as she usually does), and I was left to my own devices.

I was feeling tired after reading and decided to tuck in for the night. Lights out, book down – good night. Here’s where things that a bit odd.

A handful of hours later, likely in the 3am 4am time slot I woke up with a start. Not entirely unnatural as I fall into either a feather light sleep, or the type of sleep that could survive a Tornado. Across from me, tucked in just under the lowest part of the roof slant is a large man. Now my youngest brother-in-law stands at 6’4” and is a heavy-set dude. At a glance this is who I thought was standing in the room.

I sit up in bed and look at him. Confused I say, ‘Andy, what are you doing in here?’ The longer I look at this person the more I realize it couldn’t possibly be my brother-in-law. Forget the creep factor of if it was him, this would then be a completely different story…

The reasons I concluded that this was not him were as follows:

  1. The angle of the roof appeared to intersect with the upper torso of the figure, yet I somehow felt as if I could perceive the entire figure. It was like looking at a really trippy optical illusion. I could see the full person, but my brain also in some way identified that it was impossible to visualize someone as large as I thought I was seeing, when the only clearance that portion of the room offered was 4 feet max.
  2. The second reason was that the clothing was off, the face was heavily bearded, and…. well shit the face looked like it was decaying. The second I became aware of this I felt a wave of incredible terror wash over me. I swear to whatever God you do or do not believe in that this thing turned toward me in what seemed like slow motion – and then faster than I could perceive it was right next to the bed. I remember nothing more of the night after that.

Want to up the creep factor? Sure why not.

My mother-in-law a true blooded Hungarian, whom I often jest is a gypsy – is sitting across from me having breakfast the next morning. She looks at me and quietly asks, ‘What can you tell me about your visitor last night?’

I had no words. I eventually told her what little I remembered, and she just smiled and nodded. We never spoke of it again.” — Brown_Topher

8. I watched a cube float through the air

“Six years ago, I was hanging out with my siblings in our yard during a clear, sunny day around high noon, and I suddenly caught something moving in the sky out of the corner of my eye. When I turned to get a better look, I couldn’t reconcile what the fuck I was seeing. It was a metal cube just … gliding through the air pretty high up. I proceeded to absolutely lose my shit and my sibs saw it as well before it disappeared behind some trees. We ran to the other side of the trees but it was already gone. Still creeps me out to think about. We did live right next to a military base so… make of that what you will. Thing had all the aerodynamics of a literal brick though.” — TrashPalaceKing

9. I lost an hour’s worth of time during my drive to work

“Let me preface this with my morning routine: Wake up at 4:30 am. Out the Door by 5:15 am. Clock in at work 5:5x am. Never fails unless major traffic incident on the highway. Anyhow, one morning this past August, I am out the door as usual, minimal traffic on the road. Boss calls half way through my commute, ‘Hey, you coming in?’ and I say ‘Yeah, why do you ask?’

Boss: ‘Well its 6:30 am and you usually call if you’re going to be late.’ I look at my dashboard and yup. It’s 6:30am. Somewhere between leaving my door and getting on the road I lost about 1 hour.” — iamgiorgious

10. In WWII, soldiers marched through gunfire without getting injured

“My grandfather had a couple stories of what he was convinced were angels – random dudes in unmarked but not German uniforms walking through machine gun fire and not being hurt, and the time he and his friends found a fully gassed up Jeep full of food after being lost for days, well into previously occupied territory and far from any Allied bases. Like someone had dropped it there for them. (That last one is probably just a weird coincidence but the way he told the story you’d swear it was supernatural.)” — FerengiKnuckles

11. Our Wii flew across the room like it was thrown by something unseen 

“We have a Wii. The sensor bar is on the TV stand directly in front of the TV… as is anyone’s…

We dont have the cord wrapped up or anything it just hangs behind the TV in a jumble.

One night we were watching TV cuddling on the couch, when suddenly, the Wii sensor bar literally flies across the room til it got to the end of its length and fell to the floor.

Like someone had grabbed it and chucked it across the room.

We could find no explanation for this whatsoever. We had a cat and a dog at the time but cat was sleeping in another room, and dog was on the couch with us.

We did have several birthday cards on top of the TV on display and one of them was on the ground, so the only thing I could think was that somehow we missed the card falling and it hit the cord and viola!

I tried for 10 minutes to throw that card as hard as I could at that cord and it didnt even move the bar from its place on the TV stand.

Eventually we just chalked it up to ‘WTF?!’ and moved on, but it was definitely weird.” — InthegrOTTO87

12. We heard a loud, static sound coming from an area without any electronics

“This happened roughly 17-ish years ago at an old apartment during the summer. One night my upstairs bathroom started transmitting some kind of very loud and staticy voices that sounded like it was from a pilot in an airplane or something similar. It was so loud that my neighbor immediately came over and asked if I was hearing something loud like they were. I ask her to come upstairs and listen to this, and ask what they think it is, and she is just as freaked out as I am.

So now we’re both upstairs, listening to this very loud and static filled garbled talk that is seemingly coming from nowhere, since there’s no radio devices, and no TVs upstairs upstairs. We both quickly start looking for what the hell this thing could possibly be and end up finding nothing. We both surmise that it was probably coming from the bathroom power outlets, since that was the only thing in the bathroom besides towels and a few other regular bathroom items.

We’re completely dumbfounded, and didn’t know what was going on, and we did the only thing we could think of and called the electric company. The person on the other end probably thought we were pranking them, but it was dead serious and we tried to figure out what was happening. Then it started getting so loud that it became unbearable to stay up there for more than a minute at a time. The best way I could describe the sound is it sounded like someone amped up a megaphone to the point where you couldn’t understand the voices, and filled it with weird distortion effects.

After an hour the noise stopped completely and it never happened again. To this day I have no clue what it could’ve been or what happened up there. I’ve talked to a few electricians and other random people about this, but they thought I was pulling their leg.” — rooofle

13. I watched my pregnant mother carry my unborn sister

“I saw my mom holding my baby sister in her arms and taking her to bed. Not weird, right? My mom was still pregnant with my sister at that time. I went to kitchen and saw her still in there. Still pregnant. I didn’t even bother going to bedroom to see who just went in there. Just nope. Stay in living room and mind my own business.” — steeltornado

14. I felt something holding down my foot to help me avoid a car crash

“I driving down the highway about 3am when a semi truck pulled alongside me then swerved into my lane running me off the road and down a very steep incline. I remember going over I gunned the engine Why I don’t know), but as I was going downhill I kept telling myself to step on the break. I couldn’t move it was like someone was holding my foot down. Then I heard this voice tell me ok now you can step on the break. Neither my infant daughter nor myself were injured and the only damage to the car was a hole in the oil pan. Both the tow truck and the highway patrol officer was incredulous that I didn’t roll the car. They told me if I had tried to stop any sooner than I did I would have probably killed us both.” — Shelly74053

15. Men swarmed up the stairs and into my bedroom 

“I was sitting at my computer with my door kinda cracked open, enough to where I can see out. My door is right next to my desk so I can see out. I then see like 5 men in suits walk up the stairs and start walking to my room. I should be freaking out but I can’t seem to move my head, then they reach my room and kick the door open all the way, then suddenly I can move my head again. All the men are gone but my door is wide open. Still freaky to think about sometimes.” — SwubTub

16. The ghost of a bull roams the local farms in my town

“In my hometown area there is a ghost story about a large grey bull that roams the local farms and bellows when seen only to vanish into thin air.

When I was a boy in the scouts I heard that story at a meeting and it made my blood run cold and gave a distinct taste of salt in my mouth. One of my earlier memories was being in the bottom of our fields at home and walking back uphill towards our house, I looked up and in front of me was a gigantic greyish-blue bull standing between me and the house. I had never seen it before and we didn’t have cows, so when it bellowed I turned tail and ran down through the field. When I looked back behind me, in a wide open field with nowhere to go, it was gone. My grandmother didn’t believe me of course, but years later she was our den mother, and when that story was being told I looked up at her across the room and she was already looking at me and white as a ghost.” — THE_LURKER__

17. I saw a little boy from the 18th century 

“When I was a freshman in high school I was up early to get ready for school. My brothers slept till 730 but I was dressed by 7:15 or something. Call it me trying wayyy to hard. We live in the middle of no where, on my family farm. My neighbor is my grandma and the other my aunt. Each a good half mile apart.

I was putting on my make up, the sun was up and I was 100% awake. I saw something outside my window. One of the blinds had been tilted so you could see out even with the blinds pulled. I thought it was our cat so I peeked out the blinds to be sure, I was going to pull the blinds open and scare it, but when I peeked out I saw a boy. He had blond hair, wore a white long sleeved shirt like some under shirt from the 18th century and tan pants. I watched him look toward the sun, look left then over his shoulder. At that point I got mad. I thought this kid couldn’t be more than 12 or 13 and here he was trying to peek in on me.

I stomped out side ready to grab this little shit by his ear and find out who he was and what he was doing. I get out side and he’s gone. There’s not many places he could hide but there weren’t any foot prints in the dew covered grass. I started to think about it and the kid wasn’t tall enough to reach the crooked blind and there wasn’t anything for him to stand on. I quickly went around the well house, and tried look for foot prints anywhere but saw no trace of the boy.

I went in the house and back to my room and passed my brothers room and saw they were both still asleep. They both have dark brown almost black hair.

It’s been almost 20 years since that happened but I’ll never forget that kid. I also can’t remember his eyes when I tried to picture them. So in my memory his eyes are black. I do remember how he stood slightly crouched, his clothes, his hair, even how he turned but never his eyes….” — Luci_b

18. Every year, I wake up at the exact moment of my birth

“Every year on my birthday for the first 20 years of my life I woke up at the exact time I was born. 5:56am EST.

When I was stationed in the UK I woke up at 10:56am and thought, “huh, broke the streak…” until I realized I was 5 hours ahead…” — xxkoloblicinxx

19. I spotted red, glowing eyes staring back at me 

“I walked the two miles home from my closing shift at taco bell, the whole time I felt uneasy. When I get home I have a brief moment of relief as I shut and lock the door. I still lived with my folks back then in their split-foyer house, the basement on the front of the house was half underground, while the back is not.

So at the entryway I turn on the basement light for a second, to make sure the floor is clear of my brothers toys, after confirming it was I turned off the light and walked down the stairs.

Sometimes you get that sensation in the corner of your eye, that something’s there, and before you realize what’s going on, your staring something outside the window. I only saw red, glowing red eyes, staring back at me.

I was frozen, it had to’ve been over seven feet tall, then I bolted into my room, got under the covers and stayed there for a few minutes hoping I was just imagining it.

Then the back porch door opened, and my dog who was kenneled right next to the inside door to that same porch starts going apeshit. Thank God for that, I thought, as I heard the porch door open and close again.” — Woodie626

20. I passed out in the middle of digging a grave

“I was digging a grave for a passed-on pet in the woods behind my house. I leaned on my shovel to stop for a break. I saw some kind of animal dart in front of me and leaned forward to look at it closely. It had vanished.

Next thing i knew, I woke up lying on the ground and for some reason didn’t worry about it? I just got up and began digging again. It was a hot summer in the mountains so when I got weak and exhausted a little later I figured I was getting heat exhaustion. so I went back to my mom’s house to cool off. She freaked out because I was covered in blood. I had a big ‘skip mark’ cut on the very top of my scalp like something very sharp had skipped across my head like a skipping stone.

It was in the middle of a property that backs to a big multicounty lake a mile or two back, and on other sides was just dense forest my family owned. No idea what it was.” — aqqalachia

21. We kept hearing sounds coming from the empty apartment upstairs

“We’re all convinced that something is going on in the flat above the one my parents have lived in since 2002. For starters, all of us (me, my siblings, our parents, as well as some of our neighbors) occasionally heard furniture being dragged across the floor when no one was currently living there. Sometimes we’d hear the footfalls of a running child as well. There is also the fact that in the years since we moved there, two different married couples lived there, both divorced within a year. A third couple came the brink of divorce to the point where they stopped living together for a while (she went to her parents’ home I think and he also went to stay somewhere else), apparently in their time away they mended things and, after hearing stories about that flat, decided to move out (no idea if they’re still together as of now). Actually before I moved out in 2009 a couple was remodeling it, apparently spent a ton of money on it but their relationship fell apart and they never got married.” — ayeiamthefantasyguy

22. We kept seeing strange lights outside our window

“Every few weeks my girlfriend or I will catch sight of colorful lights moving past our 3rd story apartment window at night.

I (the scully of the relationship) am convinced it is some trick of the light, with a police car’s flashing lights reflecting off of something and bouncing back to our window.

My girlfriend is certain that someone is flying a drone past our window to spy on us.

I always run out to check as soon as i see the lights, but i never see a drone. The lights look like a drone, but they move too fast and they move through tree branches, so I dont think its a drone.

It’s probably aliens though.” — svenson_26

23. There is a mysterious compound near my house

“Background: There’s a compound near where I grew up that is a (supposedly decommissioned) AT&T Cold War communications center. It sits at the end of a dead-end road isolated from any houses nearby. On the outside it looks like a small, mundane 2-story building. Nothing exciting at all..until you find out the building is actually many stories…deeper. The entire building rests on a bed of springs to absorb shock from explosions and features an underground parking structure adjacent. Over the years there have been theories that it was a missile silo, UFO research center, and something about a dark cloud full of lightening hovering just above it on an otherwise clear day.

The X-Files part: Prior to decommission, you could drive down that road until you almost reached a guard station. I say “almost” because doing so resulted in being engulfed in flood lights with a military-type security team armed with assault rifles demanding you turn around immediately. As far as I know, no one to this day knows what really went on there or what the inside looks like.” — StantonMcBride

24. One of our toys disappeared into thin air

“In high school, my pal bounced a bouncy ball in his room so hard, that we never saw it again. We tore that room up, never found it.” — arikv2

25. I saw a ghost of a car back in the 90s

Ghost car.

I worked the overnight shift at an AM radio station back in the 90s. Saw a car come down the driveway to the parking lot. Went out to see who it was and the car was just gone.

I would have seen if it had turned around or backed out.

Thought I was going nuts until the announcer strolled out of the studio and said, ‘What happened to that car?'” — bornwithatail Thought Catalog Logo Mark

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