***
In my old job, I used to cycle home from work along the country backroads just before midnight. There were no streetlights along those roads and I hated cycling on the main road because I was anxious about being in the way of traffic. I had an LED light that was fixed to the front of my bike, though. Anyway, I was on my way back home from work one night, and after turning a corner, my light shone on someone who was sitting with their legs crossed in the middle of the road.
The guy was just sitting there in complete silence and darkness by himself. I pulled on the brakes and stopped in front of him and asked if he was alright. He just looked at me and said that he trying to get to a location that was approximately 20 miles or so from where we currently were. I told him that, and he said that he knew and that he was waiting for someone else. Then he got up and walked off into one of the nearby fields without saying anything.
I had another encounter with this same person a week later in the exact same spot. It honestly gave me the freaking creeps… especially when he said that he’d found who he was looking for. Turns out the guy was waiting for a specific car to drive that way. The owner of said car was someone he loved (but was with someone else), and he was planning to kidnap her. I found this out when I saw his face in one of the local newspapers not long after this incident. He’d been arrested for sexual assault and attempted murder.
***
My wife was stationed in Hawaii when they had the false incoming missile warning. I was not. She called me and we basically said our goodbyes. Then she lost phone service. I thought that was it. She called me back only a few seconds later, but it seemed like an eternity.
***
Probably the aftermath of a grand mal/tonic-clonic seizure in which I fractured a vertebra. I woke up on the ground with two strangers over me while I was in the worst pain I had ever experienced and I didn’t know where I was or who these people were (turned out to be EMTs) or why I was in too much pain to move. They kept asking really simple questions and I just didn’t know the answers which freaked me out more. It was May and they asked what month it was. I thought really hard and didn’t know and I looked outside and thought it looked like August and gave that as my guess. They asked where I was. I didn’t know that either; it turned out to be my living room.
My girlfriend was also right there, having called the ambulance. They asked me my girlfriend’s name. I said I didn’t have a girlfriend. This was a very different form of negative emotion, I feel so guilty about that even though there was nothing I could have done about it. I also feel guilty about having had a seizure in front of her because it scared the shit out of her.
***
One day me and a friend were playing in the woods. We spent a good 3-4 hours there because it was sunny and a day before Christmas Eve
I realized I forgot something there the next day. It’s now Christmas Eve, and it snowed a whole inch over night. As I’m walking to the spot where we were. I noticed that someone set up (in a previously trashed area that someone probably camped in) 5 expensive foldable chairs in a semi circle with a ladder and a noose in the middle.
I bolted out of there because if someone is crazy enough to set that up in the middle of the night when it’s snowing on Christmas Eve, then they might have still been there waiting for someone
***
I once had my foot cut off in a car accident. The doctor reattached it. Lots of nerve damage. I fall down occasionally. Most of the time I don’t. I worry that at some point in my life it will be amputated. I fear the concept of ruining my body.
***
I was 21 working the overnight shift at a 24 hour pharmacy when a guy ran in with a ski mask and gun and robbed the store. He made me get on the ground and took my coworker to all the registers and empty them in to bag, then ran out and jumped into a getaway car and drove off. Still had to finish my shift after that, too.
He and his accomplices were arrested a couple weeks later and he did six years in prison for armed robbery. I got a notification in the mail from the state when he was released. Gee, thanks.
***
I got a call from a unsolicited number. I answered and it was a guy saying he was going to come to my dorm room and kill me. He then went into graphic detail about how he would do it, he went on about it for like 5 minutes before i finally hung up. He then called again, and i didn’t answer but he left a voicemail. I called the police, and it was a person out in Vegas. They said it was a prank… So many questions still. How did they know my name? How did they know i was in a dorm? I was super on edge for the remainder of that semester.
***
Growing up I had a bad relationship with my 3 older sisters, but particularly the one closest in age to me. There isn’t one moment in particular but a series of them.
When my parents would go off on dates there were too many times where my sister ended up chasing me with a knife and she wasn’t just playing around. She meant real harm. We would spend 15 minutes on opposite sides of the table running around it, trying to prevent my sister getting close enough to stab me ,all the while trying to get to the phone so I could call my parents. Then try to get to the bathroom because it was the only room with a lock on the door. She would then sometimes threaten to come into my room and kill me in my sleep. I would pile laundry baskets and dishes near my door when I went to bed at night so the noise would wake me if she tried to get in.
My sister would get in trouble sometimes but usually it was chalked up to normal sibling rivalry. And I was gaslighted by my parents into thinking it WAS normal.
***
Amphetamine induced psychosis. I spent a period of time addicted to crystal meth, and the psychosis one goes through after having not slept for days at a time is scary.
You see “shadow people.” You believe everyone is out to get you. Every conversation out of your earshot is about you. Your delusions become very real. At one point I though there were leprechauns that were out to kill me. I saw the leprechauns. I heard them whispering and plotting against me. It’s insane. I’m so glad that’s in the past!
***
When I was in high school about ten years ago I was home alone while my mom went to pick up my brother and before my mom left she told me to bring the dogs in. Now we had two beagles: one that was friendly but barked loud and an older one that we had gotten from the shelter was extremely protective and was not afraid to show his teeth. I ignored her and left them outside for a bit.
I was in the back part of the house and was on the computer when I heard a noise. I walked to our front room and saw a young guy near the front door who knocked. I stood slightly out of sight and saw him walk near our window and then back to the door and knocked again but also tried the door.
Immediately, my blood went cold and I rushed to the back door and quietly yelled for the dogs to come in. They ran in and I herded them to the front room and I heard the mailbox slot open. Right away my older beagle got on the defensive and growled the “I’m gonna fucking bite you” growl while the other one barked. I got my phone and called my mom and begged her to come back home which she did with my brother. They looked around and saw no other signs of entry. I triple check every door now and even though those two dogs have passed away, I keep our current dog near me when home alone.
***
Got caught in a riptide 200 yards of shore with all of my family, including my at the time 6 year old little sister. We all made it out fine except my dad. He was so exhausted from carrying my sister that he was barely able to stay afloat, they had to send a rescue crew to get him. We all made it out alive, thank God.
***
I’ve actually never told this story before but when I was about seven I was lured into a shed by a person who had in the past sexually assaulted me. I guess they were afraid I was going to tell so they tied my long shirt sleeves behind my back and slowly covered my nose and mouth with duct tape and left me laying there. It was like falling down a long tunnel. I had left my mouth open slightly so I started pushing with my tongue to break the seal around my mouth as I worked my hands free. I managed to get out and I was so scared I never told anyone. it’s honestly the only time I remember fearing for my life.
***
Since about a year and a half ago, I’ve been treated for schizophrenia. I don’t have a lot of hallucinations besides some voices as I’m going to sleep, and my delusions weren’t paranoid delusions, but more grandiose and religious. Anyway, I was treated after I designed and built a miniature guillotine out of 3D printed parts and a box cutter blade and used it to cut my tongue off. I actually only managed to cut it about half off, so they reattached it and I can speak and eat fine now. But it took me months to plan this and build the device, and every morning as I woke up and I struggled to pull my dreams apart from reality, I had to realize over and over again that the horror hidden in my desk a few feet away was not a dream, but something very real that was going to hurt me very bad. Every morning that my mom came to wake me up, I hoped she would somehow see it and help me. But I couldn’t get my thoughts together until I was awake, and when I was awake it wouldn’t scare me anymore. So I never cried for help.
***
When I was younger, my brother was driving me home, at night, from a 4H model railroading meeting. This was February in Indiana and we were driving on country roads to get home. We came to a stop sign and when my brother touched the brakes to slow down the SUV we were in went sideways on black ice. In an attempt to save it he over corrected and we ended up in this slow angled decent into a drainage ditch.
When the drivers side tire went into the icy black water of the ditch, the truck slowly lurched onto the drivers side and then upside down into the water. Black freezing deck began rushing into the truck and I nearly lost my mind. My brother put his hand on the ceiling and released his belt, and I tried to do the same, but being 5 years younger and in near panic I couldn’t get my buckle undone, so I had to use both hands and fell into a clump on the floor.
We clambered to the back of the vehicle and my brother began kicking the side window to no avail. At this point I had enough wherewithal to find a pair of my dad’s needle nose pliers and shatter the rear windshield so we could climb out.
The water was only like 2 feet deep, but I didn’t know that while I was upside down and water began rushing in through the door seals. I cut the crap out of my hand shattering the rear window.
The most important thing that happened that frigid night was a douche bag in a camaro blew right past us while we were standing next to the road and then a couple in a minivan pulled up to the stop sign a minute later and drove us all the way home. Like 30 minutes out of their way. I still stop anytime I see someone in need because of them.
***
Watching the news and seeing an old coworker on the evening news. He had been convicted of murder by bludgeoning and realizing he used to work with me on early shifts to “keep me safe”
***
I consider myself a rational person. Of course, most people would believe that of themselves, however objective they try to be. This is something that happened to me and a friend around eighteen years ago.
I was hanging out with him and his cousin in his new house. This was a somewhat busy area near to a major commercial center. At around 9 pm we decided to take a walk to a convenience store for food. His cousin decided to stay at the house. It took us 30 minutes to get to the store. There was a fair amount of vehicular and pedestrian traffic. On the way back we both started getting this really weird feeling. It’s hard to describe now but both of our experiences matched up when discussing it later on. It felt like the air was much lighter. Thinner. The street seemed odd somehow. Out of place. All of a sudden there were no cars or people around. Everything went dead silent. This continued for a few minutes and we both started walking faster.
What freaks me out to this day and what I could never explain is this: Both our watches stopped working. My digital and his analog. His watch stopped at 9:41 pm. He was later able to get it fixed… mine was dead for good. When we got back to the house, it was minutes to 11 and his cousin was freaking out. We were gone for an hour longer than we were meant to. There was no way we could have taken that long to get back. If anything, we walked faster than we did getting to the store. It’s something I usually don’t like thinking or talking about. Neither does my friend for that matter.
***
Having a dream my grandfather shot himself and about a month later actually hearing him shoot himself.
***
When I was a teenager my mother in a bipolar frenzy slammed on the gas while screaming at the top of her lungs in the center divider between the lanes with a foot of snow. I watched the dial turn from 30 to 100 mph in a matter of seconds and really thought she was going to drive into oncoming and kill us both that day.
***
It wasn’t scary at the time per se, but it was definitely a “oh shit, that could’ve gone bad” moment.
I was in college, and one of the buildings opened up out onto a second-floor patio that then went down some outdoor steps. It was my usual route out of the building, because no one took it, and after a day of class, I really just wanted to leave.
Anyway, one day, I step outside and look down onto the lawn that the patio looks out over.
And there’s a guy down on his hands and knees on the lawn just absolutely screaming and stabbing the ground over and over again with a knife. I’m watching this, and, for the life of me, I’ll never understand why, but multiple students were forming a circle around him and just watching and/or taking photos.
It was clear the guy had lost it, at least temporarily, and he was a definite danger. The campus police showed up and immediately called the city police. They had to do crowd control to get to the guy in the first place, and then it took four or five of them to bring him down and disarm him.
***
I used to do some urban exploring but not so much any more. Probably the freakiest experience Ive had was when I was at an abandoned factory with a friend in a rougher part of town. We had been through most of the building at that point and not run into anybody. Ive only ever occasionally bumped into other explorers and thats it.
As we were about to leave, we heard a loud clang hitting the concrete from somewhere behind us and the sounds of footsteps taking off deeper into the building towards a distant exit. Since the footsteps had moved away and I was with my friend, I hurried over to see what made the noise. I discovered a rusty crowbar laying on the floor which I hadn’t seen when we had been in that area earlier.
My guess was someone was planning on robbing us or attacking us but had mistakenly dropped the crowbar and they took off. I had wondered if they had been following us around and how long theyd been doing so, waiting for the perfect opportunity to ambush us. Whether or not they were planning on doing something, someone with a rusty crowbar in an abandoned building in a bad part of town isnt exactly a good sign. Of course, we got the fuck out of there because we were convinced that whoever had just bolted might be trying to get more people to go wait at the exits for us to come out. Sure that was more paranoia than anything. But until we were safely away from that building and back in the car, I was pretty shook up.
***
Me and 5 other people saw a monster while we were out camping. We were walking through a trail to get to the campsite and we noticed a tall dark tree sized something kinda swaying back and forth about 50yds from us. We all turned around and ran immediately. Worst part is none of our parents believed us at the time. They didn’t even question why we came home the first day into what was supposed to be a 5 day camping trip
***
At about this time last year, I found myself standing on top of a bridge, ready to jump. Looking back now, I was terrified of the constant barrage of intrusive voices in my head, and of the person I had become because of these horrendous, uncontrollable thoughts, but at the moment i just felt as if there was nothing left for me. After having a moment of clarity standing there, I broke down and, for the first time, realized how afraid I was of myself and my thoughts.
I know to the average person this is not as scary as most of the other stories here, but I have been held at gunpoint, almost drowned, among other things, and, for me, this was 100 times scarier than anything else.
***
Midnight It’s dark out. Home alone. No pets. Mom out of state so I locked the doors. Back deck door was open. The deck overlooked a cliff, essentially, so there’s no way anyone could have come inside that way.
I was watching T.V. all night, sitting on the couch downstairs. I went upstairs for some reason but I was up their for a little while. All the lights were off and the T.V stayed running. Again, I was home alone,
When I walked downstairs some lights were on and the kitchen cabinets were open. I swear the T.V. Sounded louder than before I thought my mom came home or something but her car wasn’t in the garage
At this point I was a little freaked out so I called her but she didn’t answer. She was probably asleep already in Boston. I walked around the corner to see if the front door was open and IT WAS.
I was spooked but then the GARAGE STARTED OPENING. No car came and I waited for a little to see, but no one came.
I was sitting in the kitchen.facing a closet that had jackets that looked like people so I kept freaking myself out.
After a bit I jumped in my seat from fear that someone was in the house and sprinted upstairs to my moms room.
I literally did not sleep that night or next night. Looking back I feel like it was fucking ghosts because nothing happened after that. No sounds or anything.
To my knowledge it wasn’t robbery. I was ten. This is the reason I’m afraid of the dark.
***
Delirium and hallucinations caused by an intense fever. I was at the beach and probably about 16 at the time. I ate a fuck ton of shrimps ans caught a viral infection. It was me and both my parents in a hotel, but it qas late at night and they were both asleep. I silently walked to the bathroom and locked myself in there. After about 2 hours or so of diarrhea and vomiting, I was severely dehydrated and started firmly believing someone was coming adter me to torture me. I have no idea why this specific thing came into my mind, but I couldn’t think of anything besides “I’m gonna be murdered today”. I panicked hard and started hearing things, like someone outside my room shouting and looking for me. I left the bathroom and decided I was gonna kill myself, so I looked for a knife. Thankfully, there were no knives since it was a hotel room, so I went to the window to jump off. My mother woke up and I collapsed before I could reach the window, then they took me to a hospital and I recovered. I remember it all very clearly and I’ve never felt such fear in my entire life.
***
I was raped when I was eight. The guy smiled the entire time. He didn’t say a thing, he just smiled.
***
Some parts were scary at the time, the entire thing is kinda scary in hindsight.
I had a semester in college that broke down who I was as a human being. I have Major Depressive Disorder (that, along with other diagnoses in remission), and this semester was the most emotionally challenging thing I have ever experienced. On top of that, I was still trying new meds.
Essentially, it induced psychosis and amped up my eating disorder tenfold.
I was seeing bugs and feeling them on my body (ears, mostly), and I thought my room and electronics were bugged, so I spent a lot of time covering up holes, putting tape over my cameras, moving my room around to cover outlets and stuff, hiding from my window. Meanwhile, I went three weeks straight without eating, a few more with heavily restricting.
That was pretty rough.
Anyway, im on better meds now lol
***
Watching my mother go from healthy as a horse to paralyzed and dying from ALS in just a few years and knowing that no one can do anything about it.
***
Many years ago, when I started my career as a nurse, it was common to see large multi dose vials of potassium chloride in med rooms and nurses stations so nurses could mix potassium IV bags. I worked obstetrics, and we had a floor full new moms and babies. It was common for us to clamp off the mom’s IV after delivery and flush it with normal saline once a shift, just in case we needed to use the IV again. There was even a little indentation on the drug cart specifically to hold the vial of normal saline. These large multi dose vials had a blue label. So did the potassium chloride. One of my coworkers left the potassium in the saline spot. At a glance they were identical. I was going to flush the IVs of three patients, so I grabbed three syringes and filled them with what I thought was normal saline. I got about ten feet down the hall when I literally heard a voice say “Stop, go look what you did.” I had never heard a disembodied voice (and haven’t heard another) so I went back to the cart, picked up the vial, and discovered that I’d come close, very close, to killing someone. Straight IV potassium can stop a heart. I threw the syringes in the sharps container and went in the bathroom and cried for a while, and that started my extreme OCD when it comes to giving meds. Check, then check again at least twice more.
Shortly after this happened, you could no longer find multi dose potassium in med rooms. If we needed to give potassium it came premixed. I’m assuming some nurse somewhere made the mistake I nearly did. I was very young, but it made an impression on me that never left. And any time I’ve trained nursing students I’ve told the story to them, in hopes they would learn from my mistake. I’ve never felt like that ever. Pounding heart, sweat, terror at what could have happened. It’s another reason I care so much about proper nurse to patient ratios and too much overtime. Tired nurses make more mistakes. I’d also like to talk with the manufacturer that decided that something potentially deadly and something totally benign should look close to identical.
***
Not me, but my coworker. She was showering on the morning of September 11, 2001 and missed a phone call from her ex-husband. He left a message:
“I know we need to get together and tie up the last few details of our divorce settlement, but I’m in New York today and I’m about to walk into The World Trade Center for a meeting. I’ll call you as soon as I’m back in town.”
When the first plane hit, she went into full panic mode and spent all day trying to call and check on him. Of course, all the phone lines were jammed up and it was the next day before she was able to get a call through. He had gone into WTC for his meeting, but the man with whom he was supposed to meet was out sick, so he was out well before that attack started.
***
Waking up on the side of the road and looking over to see firemen using the jaws of life on a mangled piece if metal that was my dad’s car. He was driving, I was 7. Life was never the same after that.
