20 Truck Drivers On The Spookiest Thing To Happen To Them In The Middle Of The Night

1. I parked beside a cemetery and was scared half to death

“Pulled over for a break on the way to Melbourne from Sydney at a truck stop. No street lights or anything, pitch black. No other trucks or cars at the stop. I turn off my lights. I switch the truck off. Do the curtains. Lock the truck from both sides. Jump into bed. set my alarm and set my phone above me in the compartment. I was rolling over from side to side for around 5 – 10 mins, I couldn’t get to sleep due to it being prime summer temperatures; reaching around 30 degrees at night. I’m looking up at the ceiling mentally planning out the day ahead, suddenly the passenger side door opens up slightly, cabin light turns on.

What the fuck.

Now, the truck is fairly a late model and in pristine condition so theres no question about door being faulty or anything. I just sat there for what felt like eternity expecting someone to come up and see me sitting there with the solid rod in my hand that we use for tightening belts.

No one came up, nor was there any noise at all. Just quiet, eerie silence.

I grabbed my torch, and jumped down, walked around the truck. No other trucks were around. Nor were there any cars. It was just me and my fully loaded b double. After around 5 – 10 minutes of getting fucked around with, I locked up and went to bed again.

Woke up next morning, yawned, fixed myself up along with the bed. Opened the curtains, and FML there’s a cemetery next to the stop where I parked. Hunger and laziness all escaped upon realization, grabbed keys, fuck putting shoes on, fuck putting pants on, switched truck on and the just got the fuck outta there asap.” — xr8turbo

2. He had no idea how his truck got from one place to the next

“My boyfriend is a truck driver who routinely does midnight runs. Oddly enough I asked him this question myself a few days ago. He told me that one night he getting ready to park in a lot next to a truck stop. He said it looked like there was no lights, no cars, no sign of anyone but he said screw it — he was tired. He woke up the next morning parked on the side of the road with 3 highway patrol vehicles behind him. He was about 15 miles away from the truck stop he parked at. Thing is? He was sleeping in his camper the whole night. He has no idea how he got on the side of the road and logic says someone tried stealing the truck and succeeded. And the police convinced him of this happening as they saw ‘a man in a black jumpsuit’ running away from his truck into a nearby field. Even then, he still feels uneasy about the whole situation. Apparently the doors were still locked from the inside and there was no real sign of anyone trying to break in.” — Straightretaliation

3. An invisible person starting shaking the truck

“My brother was a truck driver in the 90s/early 2000s. He just told me this story a few months ago. He was driving through Pennsylvania on way back to NJ. He pulled over the side of the road behind 2 other trailers. In the early morning, he heard someone bang on his right door, he quickly jumps from the sleeping compartment and grabs his bat. As he looks out the window, there’s no one there but now there’s a bang on the left side. Freaked out he looks out that window and there’s nothing but silence now. He’s trying to figure out wtf is going on, seconds later banging on both doors simultaneously. He said the banging was so loud and heavy the truck was shaking. Both curtains open, he can see there’s no one out there. He quickly jumps in the driver’s seat and starts the truck, he sees the other 2 trucks ahead of him do the same. He said he felt as if they all had experienced the same thing.” — Mpoboy

4. He was robbed while sleeping in the bed of his own truck

“This is actually one I can answer due to my father having been a truck driver for over 30 years. (He is currently in the hospital due to back problems, there might be a connection). Mind you, this story might has happened 5, maybe 20 years ago, and it’s a retelling of a retelling. I might even go back and edit certain parts if I recall something different. But I’ll do my best to summarize.

One night, as my father was trying to catch a few hours of sleep in the bed bed of his truck, before having to (kind of illegally) drive a few more hours, than he was supposed to, due to time constrains and bad traffic all day, he heard little bumps from the outside, like “a racoon trying to get into a metal shed”, so his first thought was simply “It probably was a racoon…” but then things turned a bit creepy.

He started hearing more noises and finally some mumbling from outside. Clearly, no raccoon, but a couple of guys, maybe 2-3. Fully convinced this wasn’t just an animal, my father tried to get up, but simply couldn’t. It was like he was mentally all there, but his muscles weren’t responding. It wasn’t anything like sleep paralysis though. Turns out, those guys put a little rubber tube through the trucks little skylight (which was tilted open slightly, for some fresh air while sleeping) and poured some kind of knockout gas, or something like that, into the trucks cabin. Barely conscious, he could just lay there and watch, as two men entered the cabin, after fiddling around with the lock for a few more minutes. They took all they could find. Both company and private phone, his wallet and even his shoes… Something that I personally find most terrifying: One of the ‘thieves’ was searching everything very thoroughly. He gave my dad a complete patdown. Pockets of pants and shirt, under his pillow. Basically anywhere someone might hide something valuable. Personally, that would’ve freaked me out the most.

And the most interesting part about this story is, that he told me about it, as if it were just a thing you gotta go through, when being a trucker. And this story in particular isn’t too rare out there, he said. He also told me a ton of horror stories from other drivers, but I wanted to keep it in the family for this one. Maybe another day.” — JoeBarge

5. A woman got decapitated by the wheels of his truck

“Like most people here this didn’t happen to me. One of my good friends from middle school had a step-father who was a truck driver for a good amount of time. He was a tough son of a bitch, I never saw him not look like he could kill someone. Except one time, when he told us why he stopped driving trucks. He was on a long trip from somewhere down in Texas to Boise Idaho. By the time he hit the free way close to Boise he had already been up for 24 hours, either way I don’t believe he could have seen this coming. Outside of Boise he was driving, late at night at the fastest legal speed when out of no where he sees someone sit straight up in the middle of the road. He didn’t have enough time to even hit the brakes, not that it would have helped. She was decapitated on the spot. He later found out she was tweaked out. I don’t think even if he wasn’t sleep deprived he would have seen her lying in the road. From what the police could gather, she walked out there, sat down and eventually fell asleep in the road. No one knows who she was, or how she got that far out.” — ThatGrillGuy

6. He woke up to the sound of singing that turned into screaming

“Have a Trucker story from the extended family… An Uncle used to drive a lot and he always came back with the most weirdest stories ever.

While every family member knew his stories there was one story, he told and warned about. Even to me when I was 6 or so. Moral of the story is to never stay during night in the desert alone…

It seems, once he drove to Chile, he had a contract and the way there was ok. (I made the travel myself later in life it’s beautiful). Whenever he was done he usually spent a few bucks on booze, but this time due to a family gathering he wanted to come back as soon as possible. So instead of drinking in some bar, he decided to sleep a bit at the Atacama desert. Well, it’s a desert, and he had parked way outside the road and a few miles before the next village. He sleeps and wakes up on someone singing… He is confused and thinks it’s the radio but the radio is not on. Then the singing stops and it sounds more like a scream of help. That’s when he wants to get out and help, but still he is confused. He said, he started the motor and the lights, to see where and who was there, he also did open the window a bit and yelled asking what happend.

It was nothing, and right then when he decides to get out anyway, he catches a movement in the corner of where the lights end. It looked like a woman but the face was pitch dark.

He freaks out and drives away, Non stop until he reached home.

Whatever he saw or thought he saw, every time he told the story his face went pale. Even my Grandmother commented how he was usually a very jolly guy but whatever happened in the Atacama desert freaked him totally out.” — Hancock_Hime

7. A white car kept following us — and then pointed a gun at us

“Also not a trucker, but have a spooky story. About 3-4 years ago, my dad and I took a 25-hour journey from Southern California to McAllen, Texas (Mexas, as some call it). This was late November. Around 5-6PM (still plenty light outside), this white car that appeared to be fresh off the lot (no numbers on the plate, just the dealership plates) starts pulling in front of us repeatedly, and cutting us off amidst the freeway traffic. The windows were heavily tinted so you couldn’t see who was inside. It was pretty irritating and they continued to do this, so we sped up and eventually lost them. It began growing dark outside, I was tired, and I fell asleep as my dad continued driving. At this point the freeway was empty, we had passed the major cities in Texas. There was nobody else on the road.

I woke up at about 1:30 AM because I could feel our car alternately speeding the FUCK up, and slowing down. I sat up and rubbed eyes and noticed we were alone on the freeway, wait, holy SHIT – was that the SAME white car behind us? I look at my dad who didn’t say a word, but continued driving very seriously. My dads a very confident driver, macho man type guy. We were going up to 110 MPH, this white car would match our speed, then quickly switch lanes and pull right in front of us, over and over again. When we’d slow down, they’d slow down. When we sped up, so did they. This is some pretty scary shit when you’re in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. Obviously I’m panicking (I was 19), like WHATS HAPPENING?? ARE WE GOING TO BE OKAY?? ‘I don’t know what they’re trying to do. It’s like a game of cat and mouse,’ my dad says. I guess this has been going on for at least 30 minutes. So my dad decides to end this once and for all. He starts GUNNING it WAYYYY fast, close to 117-120 MPH until they’re out of sight. Which works. He takes the closest exit, pulls off the road (we went under an underpass), he switches off the lights, kills the engine, takes a gun out of his center console, gets out of his car, and just stands there. My dad is a VERY calm, stoic man (ex-cop) who never shows emotion. I was convinced we were both going to die, or I was going to be brutally kidnapped by the cartel or something.

About two minutes later, slowly, slowly, I hear gravel beneath wheels, my heart FREEZES, and I see the white car, eerily slow, exit the freeway, and turn the corner in the road, towards us. The lights shine directly on us, under the overpass, illuminating my dad, firmly positioned, both hands on his gun, pointed DIRECTLY at them. They just passed us, continued their slow drive down the road, towards the gas station.

We immediately turned the car around, went back to the freeway, BOOKED the hell out of the gas pedal, and never saw them again.” — corgiboat1

8. He came close to hitting a cardboard box filled with kittens

“After reading through a majority of the comments on this thread, my curiosity was peaked and I called my mom up to ask her if my great-grandfather, a trucker during the 60’s, had ever told her a creepy story of being on the road. To my surprise, she said there was one story he told her as a cautionary tale. It’s not about parking overnight somewhere, but I thought it might fit in here just the same.

He said he was driving through somewhere pretty rural- a small town with a few houses here and there. As he was making his way down the road, he saw a large cardboard box tumble down a hill and come to a stop pretty much directly in his path on the road. It was too late for him to brake, but why would he? It’s just a cardboard box, it’s not like it would hurt his truck if he ran over it, so he kept chugging forward.

At nearly the last second, he said something came over him and he immediately swerved to the right to avoid hitting the box. When he looked in his rearview mirror, he saw two little kids scramble out of the box and back up the hill. It’s amazing what little kids in a small town will do for fun.

I still feel sick to my stomach after hearing my mom tell that story.” — Color_Me_Scarlett 

9. He saw a motorcyclist’s head pop off and hurtle through the air

“My dad was a trucker for many years. One time he told me he’d stopped at a mandatory weigh station somewhere at night that was refurbished from an old train station. My dad parked the truck and got out, noticing that someone was walking along the train tracks with a light.

It was really late, so my dad called out and asked if he was okay. The man kept walking. My dad said he had a lantern in his hand. My dad called out again and the man never turned around. He went into the office and told them that some drunk asshole is walking the train tracks and the guy behind the desk nonchalantly says, “Yeah was it this guy?” and points to an old ass picture on the wall. It was a picture of all the rail yard guys from like, over 70 years before. Sure enough, my dad had seen one of the guys in the photo. Apparently a lot of people have seen whatever that was and come in asking questions.

Apart from that story, he has many where he has seen people die, seen bad accidents, and driven past blocked off parts of the road where he can clearly see a white sheet over lots of blood. He told me a story once where he saw a motorcyclist merging onto the freeway get into an accident with a car, and the cyclist’s head just popped right off, helmet and all, and went hurtling through the air.” — ilestledisko

10. A ghost knocked on the door of my truck

“Nothing huge but I once was stopped by a train in calumet city, Il., probably 2 or 3am and it’s a kind of the ghetto area, so I was a little uneasy being there at that time. The company I was delivering to was at a dead end just after the tracks. Of course there wasn’t anyone around, just me. I sat parked for like 5 minutes waiting on the train and all of a sudden I heard loud knocking on my door, like rapidly to get my attention. I have a Day cab so I looked all around the truck through the windows and mirrors, nobody. The road was wide enough that I would have totally seen someone run away after doing it. I’m sure it was something not on this plane and I accept that. I’m sure people had been killed in that area, at some point in the past.” — lamborghinime 

11. Someone murdered an innocent dog in front of me

“Story from my grandpa who was a long haul trucker after the mining boom in Alberta. He drove mostly long haul through the US and has lots of crazy stories.

He pulled up to a truck stop next to another truck. This guy in the other truck had a pit bull that with him and would tie it outside the truck. My Grampa walked by and the pit bull lunged at him, protecting the territory. Meanwhile the sherif or some kind of law enforcement rolls up and walks by the truck and the dog lunges at him too. Grampa gets out of the truck and as soon he does the cop takes his gun out and blows the dogs head off!!!

He said it was one of the most disturbingly things he ever saw.” — Ladyologist 

12. A woman was kidnapped from a rest stop in Arizona

“I’m a female so I get creeped out a ton. I drive at night because I think it’s more peaceful and my husband drives during the day. I avoid rest stops like the plague because they always seem the creepiest. I also listen to Forensic Files on the radio while driving and it fuels my paranoia. One night when I had first started driving I stopped at a rest stop, instead of a well lit truck stop, just to use the bathroom and stretch my legs. I heard on the news a week later that a middle aged woman had been kidnapped from a rest stop in Arizona and they hadn’t found her yet. I had just been in Arizona a few days prior. I may not have been at the same one but it still makes me feel vulnerable. I carry mace everywhere I go now.” — BreathofFreshBiscuit

13. Everything felt a little strange

“I’ve slept in 100s of rest areas, parking lots, state and national forests.

The spookiest times are things you can’t put your finger on. Often in the desert. I was outside of Roswell. The colors of the land and night sky just felt strange. Everything has this purple hue. Gave me chills.” — the_goose_says

14. Someone stopped at a light and shot at another vehicle

“Not a trucker but a driver from the same company that my dad works for was at a stop light/pulling through a 4-way when a car pulled up next to him and shot into the cab of the truck. This truck was pulling a trailer full of fuel. He didn’t know what happened until someone told him he was just shot at. The bullet went through the body but hit the frame of the door at the perfect angle to block it from penetrating the cab.” — Farmerman1379

15. I heard the strangest, spookiest noises

“I slept in my rig on Walton’s Mountain in VA one night… It wasn’t the pitch black darkness that bothered me… It was the sounds coming from it… It wasn’t animal noises… I have no idea what it was… But it creeps me out to this day…” — DrCallow 

16. I watched a man get shot

“Very early in my career (within the first 6 months), I spent the night in Detroit, parked outside of my delivery point waiting for my appointment time. This was a common enough things that lot lizards frequented the area. Guy in the truck next to mine tried to not pay and got shot by the pimp running the girls.” — zombiemann

17. He saw human legs dangling from tree branches

“My Grandad was a truck driver in Korea when he was in the army post WW2. Every night driving down a supply road a certain tree would bang on his roof. He got sick of it so stopped the truck to climb up and cut the hanging branches. He shone the torch up all on his own on a dark road… and it was legs. Traitors were hung there apparently. He only drove the route at night so didn’t see.” — Brummiediv

18. He saw a deadly fuel explosion

“Not me but my Dad saw a fuel plant explosion while driving his truck late in the night/early morning. He said you could feel the heat from the explosion pass through the cab as it happened, the explosion also caused the cab to shake. He was half asleep while driving so I’m sure that woke him up.” — NathanShirls101

19. I took out my knife to hurt them before they murdered me

“Wow, I actually have a relevant story. I’m not a trucker, but I was headed from Salt Lake City Utah to Albuquerque New Mexico late on a Friday evening. When I got to Southern Utah and near the Arizona border, I had gotten tired enough to need to pull over and sleep. I took a County Road off of some highway exit, and was driving down it to pull off so that I could sleep without heaflights interrupting me or getting woken up by a state trooper and being asked to move along. That can be pretty annoying, and as a person who sleeps in his car a fair amount on road trips to get a few hours before pushing on again, it’s just uncomfortable to be woken up.

Anyway, the following happened as I’m driving along this County Road a few miles away from the highway, at about 3 in the morning, and suddenly lights come on right behind me with a vehicle that is very close on my ass. It’s a large Dodge truck with a light bar and four or five hella lights that are shining into my rearview, blinding me. I try to pull over so that they can get around, heart beating and very scared. They pull over behind me. So I take off and try to lose them. But I am in a shity older Saturn sedan, and they are in a pickup truck with 4 wheel drive on a road they are familiar with. It becomes clear that I’m not going to be able to lose them; they’re swerving behind me, they’re trying to pull up beside me, and they’re flicking their lights… this was a very scary experience.

I thought it through and had no idea what road I pulled off of, so calling 911 wouldn’t have helped me since I couldn’t tell them where to show up to help me. Regardless this emergency was happening now and I needed to deal with it. It was a fight or flight situation, and my flight was not working. So, I decided to fight.

I always travel with a small weapon of some kind, and what I had between my driver side door and my seat was a very large hunting knife, so I pulled my e-brake suddenly and slammed to a stop. As soon as my car stopped moving I got out and started running at the truck, terrified but yelling like I was just fucking insane and ready for battle. They were sliding to a stop behind me and actually almost hit my Saturn by the time that I was almost at their truck. They had thrown it in reverse, and were backing up. I could see inside of their truck and it looked like some teenagers on the bench seat. The look of fright on their faces made me more emboldened, and I roared and yelled and cussed as they spun around and took off. It occurred to me after that (while calming down from a really fucking terrifying experience) that they were just kids out having some fun on a weekend night in a rural area. But to me it really felt like I was being attacked and maybe they were going to try to kill me.

I still think back on it with a lot of fear, because it was just a helpless situation, and my only reaction that seemed appropriate was to try to at least hurt them before they killed me. So somewhere out there now 10 years later, are a group of young adults in their mid-twenties to late twenties who have a crazy story about some redneck who turn the tables on them and charge them with a knife while they were just having a little fun.” — BeardsuptheWazoo

20. I drove through the town famous for murdering truck drivers

“Was crossing border through Detroit, got pulled in for inspection. Flashing police lights, mega-phone instructions, police escort. Had a load of ‘Tubes’, I pictured pipes of some kind. Turns out it was a load of old cathode-ray picture tubes for recycling. They give off faint radiation and tripped the sensors. Spent 4 hours in a cinder block room without my phone or passport. Finally released, almost out of hours of service, pulled into the first truck stop I could find. They told me they charged 10 bucks to park there. This is almost unheard of, most truck stops want you there because you’re going to spend money. They explained it was because it was a gated yard with a security guard watching your ass overnight against the rampant crime in the area. Ahh Detroit. Also rolled past Gary, Indiana which is infamous for murdering truck drivers. Glad to be Canada-only now…” — eyesofglass