33 People Share Their ‘No Sleep’ Stories That You Should Never Read Before Bed

24. My imaginary friend turned out to be my dead sister

I still have fresh memories of this.

When I was very young, about three or four, I remember having a friend named Alli.

Alli lived with me and I would play hide and seek with her in the back yard. Alli was a year older than me. Alli loved my mom but wouldn’t stay long enough to meet her.

My mom didn’t believe I had a friend named Alli, I kept telling her, and my mom first got a very white face and told me stop, and Alli isn’t real.

Well one night Alli told me she had to leave, so she did. Never heard from her again.

Fast forward to when I was 16, and mom told me that before I was born I had a sister named Alli, and she had passed away due to complications(idr what the problem was, something about her lungs I think).

My mom tells me that it was probably all a coincidence since a divorce was going on during that time and I wanted a friend.

But I still remember everything about Alli, and I refuse to believe it was all pretend.

25. I heard a criminal’s footsteps after he broke in

I lived in an apartment a few years ago. 4 units upstairs, 4 units downstairs. I lived upstairs, and the apartment below me was vacant. I kept hearing footsteps through the apartment, and I knew I shouldn’t have. Nobody was downstairs. I asked someone to come over and listen, just to see if I was crazy. Maybe I’m just hearing other apartments since it’s empty downstairs, and everything is echoing.

Wrong. I kept hearing the footsteps. This went on for a solid hour. Finally I called the landlord and the police. Apparently someone had broken in through the windows downstairs, and was walking back and forth through the apartment with a knife. Fucking horrifying.

26. There was a swamp creature by our cottage

My dad and I both feel that there is something outside the gates at my cottage. I don’t really know how to describe it, it just feels like there’s some incredibly evil entity just outside the gates, when you go near there at night. It’s sort of similar to the feeling you get when someone is staring at you but less human (if that makes any sense), as well as an intense wave of fear.

Anyway, one night about 3 years ago we were having a bonfire with a bunch of the family (I’m fairly sure it was Thanksgiving weekend), and the topic naturally turns to ghost stories. After a few stories, my cousin mentions that he always gets creeped out walking near the cottage gate at night and he described the feeling as like being watched, coupled with intense fear.

Of course, we three idiots decide to go over there to check it out. I should mention that both my dad and cousin had had a few drinks. They weren’t falling over themselves drunk, though. I was completely sober.

So we get to the gate, and we all feel a bit creeped out. Of course we do, we were just hyping up this creepy swamp creature. Therefore, to really test this out, we decide to go out on to the road and walk down the hill towards the swamp. My dad and cousin were talking shit and basically daring whatever it was to prove it exists. I’m just hoping nothing happens and we can just go back to the warm bonfire.

All of a sudden, my dad is upside down, then he’s on the ground. It looked like he was picked up by his ankles, and turned upside down before being dropped. There is no way it could have happened like it did if he had simply slipped down hill. He’s a pretty big guy, and not super nimble.

So we helped my dad back up and basically sprinted back to the fire. My dad had a big scrape on his face, and no one believed our story. I wouldn’t have either, if I hadn’t actually seen it.

Holly is the author of Severe(d): A Creepy Poetry Collection.

Keep up with Holly on Instagram, Twitter and Amazon

More From Thought Catalog