Answers found on Ask Reddit
1.
I used to work in low income home weatherization, basically giving free shit away to help lower electricity and gas bills and make the home more comfortable to people who really needed it; installing doors and insulation and so forth.
One step in qualifying a home is testing combustion appliances to make sure they’re not emitting carbon monoxide into the living space, because if they are and we seal up the house we could kill the whole family.
During a pre-inspection of a home on the outskirts of the city, I ask to see the owner’s water heater. He tells me that it’s in the basement, which is fairly normal, and I tell him I have to inspect it before work can start. So, he goes into the kitchen and starts moving the refrigerator. Turns out the entry into the basement is underneath carpeting beneath the fridge. I should note that I went and did thousands of homes over the years, and had never seen such a thing.
But, whatever, needs to be done regardless and so I pull out my flashlight and shine it down the stairs, to check out the layout but really to look for black widow spiders because fuck black widows. At this point I notice a dead cat, mostly down to a skeleton. Not my favorite sight but really common in crawlspaces and basements. I take a few steps down the stairs and continue my spider check, and notice another couple of small animal skeletons.
At this point I start to worry about gas, or poisons, or something equally dangerous, and start looking closer. There are animal skeletons everywhere, at least ten on a cursory look. Some of them are so degraded I can’t determine what they used to be. I also happen to notice that this guy is waiting at the entrance a little too quietly, with his hand on the door.
Something clicks in my brain and I get this immense sense of danger. I’m about four steps from the door being clear to close, I have no partner on the job with me, there’s death all around me, and I realize just how hidden the entrance to the basement really was.
I noped the fuck out, told the guy I needed extra tools and would be back, and marked the job as non-feasible for health and safety as I was driving away. I have no idea if I was actually in any danger, it could have been completely innocent; but I still remember the adrenaline rush and sense of doom, and sometimes you just don’t take chances.
2.
My dad and I were walking through the woods when we came across a young moose leg lying on the ground. It looked like it had been violently torn off with no sign of the rest of the moose anywhere. It was fresh with blood still on the wound probably no more than a couple hours old.
My dad is a pretty skilled hunter so he handed me his axe that he was carrying and told me to watch for wolves while he started looking for tracks. After a little bit he came back saying
“That’s weird, normally if it was wolves you’d be able to find paw prints but I can’t see any. Also no bear prints so I have no idea what killed this.”
And so I’m like you didn’t find any tracks at all?
And his very reassuring response was “Well I did find what appears to be the mama moose tracks headed this way” showing me the tracks “you can see how her stride is a lot longer here, whatever killed her baby she didn’t want to fight it she just took off running”
He then pulls out his bear spray and holds it at the ready as we kept walking deeper into the woods with the un-named non-track leaving predator armed with bear spray and an axe.
3.
I’d been at football training with a few of my cousins when I was about 10 years old.
We decided to take a walk before our parents picked us up, so we went along the canal towpath. My cousin looked down in the canal and say a really nice jacket floating along and being a weird scavenger person decided to reach in to fish it out.
Well, the jacket turned over. And so did the man wearing it. He also had no face left.
Not gonna lie, that was rough.
4.
My girlfriend and I were hiking along some abandoned railroad tracks and we get to a small bridge going over a little creek. I’m about to go explore under the bridge when she points something out. I look over and in the woods across from us I see a guy. Im like whatever and keep headed down to the creek area and then the guy stands up and he’s naked. We immediate back track pretty quickly to get away from there and once were like 1 minute down the trail I look back and this naked dude is just standing in the middle of the trail watching us walk away.
5.
I was on a camping trip with some friends of mine and we found like 7 or 8 chipmunks and squirels all in a pile but they were all dead without arms or legs.
6.
When I was about 7 or 8, my parents sent me to a local summer camp that they would pick me up from in the afternoons. I never really liked it because the kids were mean, everything was either broken or not clean, and the counselors obviously didn’t care. I remember the girl’s changing room had a door that lead out to the woods but the doorknob was gone so it was unlocked all the time and you could see into it. This was primarily where the girls changed into their bathing suits and there was usually someone blocking the view while we changed so the boys couldn’t look in. Well, one day I’m changing alone and someone wasn’t blocking the door. I look over and see an eye peeping in through the hole watching me change. I pull the rest of my clothes back on quickly and run out to tell my twin brother. I tell my dad that I don’t want to go back to that camp anymore and he begrudgingly takes us out of the camp pretty soon after because he knew how much we hated it. Years later, the camp has been closed down for many many years and I’m asking my dad about it. He gets really grim and tells me it shut down because a 13 year old boy had raped 7 year old girl in the woods right behind the girl’s bathroom a few weeks after I had told him about someone watching me change.
7.
Found a deer with its hind end ate up, few feet away was a coyote with the hind end ate up, then another few feet away a fox with its hind end ate up. Nothing else was there, no bullet holes or signs of a arrow or anything else. Couldn’t find any tracks from other people or animal. It was pretty creepy. Found in the hills of WV.
8.
I was walking with family when I was little and we came across a sheeps head. No body or blood just a severed sheeps head on the path. It was the first time I noticed sheep’s eyes have slit pupils and I think my first contact with something so gruesome.
9.
I was in a large wooded area near my bf’s home, with him, hanging out nearly at midnight. We had gone in pretty deep and it required a good amount of climbing. The closest path was maybe 5-7 min climbing down so it was highly unlikely someone could be at that spot, that time of the night, besides us.
As we were kissing and stuff he thought he saw a shadow move 20 – 25 feet to the left of us, climbing, but it stopped suddenly when my bf looked at it. He told me to be wary and that exact moment we saw a dark figure climbing a little up but diagonally, like he tried to go directly above where we were.
We didn’t move and watch him till he closed the horizontal gap and was directly above us maybe 15 feet of steep downhill thick forest. Then he began to come towards us.
Without skipping a bit my bf grabbed my hand and we almost ran downhill till the path. We made it in less that two minutes while still holding hands and listening to the man running behind us. We ran as fast as we could down the path and out of the forest where there was a cafe and some basketball and tennis courts next to the wooded hill, and of course, people.
As we realised we came really close to be mugged or worse, we vowed never to go there at night again.
10.
My friend and I were chilling in the woods one day back in highschool and see a dog walking by, later followed by this kid. He looked troubled so we asked if he needed help. He obliged, telling us he was dog sitting for his friend and the dog got loose. So we spent a good hour following this dog and kid around, going deeper and deeper into the woods.
Eventually I finally got the dog to come to me, but it wasn’t wearing a collar so I wasn’t able to get a hold. My friend and I look away for just few seconds do discuss strategy, and when we turn back around the boy and the dog are both gone. It was like they completely vanished. Keep in mind it was Autumn so any footsteps could be heard from quite afar. But it was just silent. Not a single trace of them anywhere. Still don’t really know what happened. Maybe they ran away real quick? Who knows. Was definitely enough to creep us out though.
11.
Walking on the beach with my boyfriend and we had walked to a giant rocky cliff to make out. Somebody was just gazing at the ocean, crying and shaking. Mind you, this is late at night, like around 9:30 p.m. We asked him if he was ok, he apologized and practically ran back down the cliff (away from the dangerous areas). My boyfriend and I watched him until he reached the public area and decided to call it a night. Im pretty sure he was going to jump.
12.
I found a woman’s body floating in a harbor in San Pedro, CA.
13.
In order to get back home from a popular kebab restaurant I need to walk a short path through the woods. Along the way there is an extremely old abandoned partially collapsed chapel and occasionally I’ll stand there for a few seconds admiring it. It’s quite beautiful in its own way. One day during winter season I decided to rest there for a minute so I placed my kebab on the bench right next to the chapel and just stood there taking in the scenery. It was already rather dark and the woods were almost completely silent but right as I was about to continue my walk I heard footsteps rapidly getting louder. It was a child running towards me and as soon as it realized I was there it started to repeatedly scream “Run, he is coming” or variations of that same sentiment. I was a bit perplexed by the situation so I watched the child run past me without moving an inch myself. It didn’t take another second for a much more weighty pair of footsteps to appear. I could make out a silhouette in the distance which seemed to be their origin and at that exact point in time I got really scared. As opposed to running I decided to hide in the chapel next to the altar and after tripping over an old broken chapel bench I reached my hiding place. The footsteps got louder and louder but right as they approached the vicinity of the chapel they suddenly went silent. About 15 seconds of complete quietness had passed just for the words “Oi! You fucking idiot left your kebab on the bench” to break the silence. Turns out it was a resident of the very same street I inhabit, his nephew was visiting and he wanted to race him to the kebab stand.
14.
This was quite a few years ago now.
But me and my friend had this really cool spot to hang out , in the woods.
You had to walk in the middle of a creek for a KM and duck through sharp bushes and Thistles.
The hike was well rewarding though.
The spot was about half an acre big , it was pure green grass on a incline with beautiful clear water ponds everywhere . There was tons of wildlife and the butterflies lived there, so there was always tons of butterflies.
So the story begins on the way to this place
My friend Levi and I were walking along the river on the way to the spot.
It was in the middle of a valley and nobody else ever went down there
Suddenly Levi stopped moving and ducked into a bush, I did the same because I thought there must have been a large animal somewhere .
I saw him staring up the hill and so I looked up to
There was two people standing at the top of the hill heaving back and forth a lifeless body
We watched as they threw the lifeless corpse down the hill as it bounced off the trees and eventually got stuck on a tree at the bottom.
Then they took off
Me and him were terrified and I was shaking so badly I couldn’t speak
So we decided to verify it was a real body
Levi got about 4 feet away before screaming “IT HAS NOSTRILS !! ITS REAL !! RUN!!”
So of course we take off running , and I glance back to see the two people run back to the top of the hill
Me and him ran 2 km through thick brush and trees to get away from them
The next day we were with his parents driving to town . And we saw like 10 firetrucks at the school closest to the forest
Terrified we told his parents , balling our eyes out worried that we were going to get murdered.
His mom started laughing at us and said,
“They are training for search and rescue , that was a dummy that the firemen had to find “
I never slept as good as I did that night…
15.
In Auburn, AL in 2008. It was halloween and we googled haunted houses. I cant remember what the website was like or if there even was one, but it was like 45 min away. I know that it wasnt like a big attraction and we figured it was on someones land and would be like a local deal. We drove out there at like 10pm. This was before iphones and GPS so we had mapquest directions.
We ended up going down a pretty country road for a while with no street lights, then turned down a legit dirt road that went through the woods. Pitch black. Went down it for like 10 minutes and finally saw an old house with a sign by the driveway that was handwritten and said “Haunted House”. No other cars or lights or people anywhere We pulled in the driveway and sat there for a second like “alright this is fucked up, we should leave”.
All of the sudden an old pick up truck turned on about 15 ft in front of us facing us, lights shining right in our faces. It started driving towards us (down their own driveway).We backed out and peeled out. It followed us, like almost bumping our rear end. Right on our tail down this pitch black dirt road in the middle of the Alabama woods. We were flipping our shit. It was texas chainsaw massacre/hills have eyes stuff. He stayed out our tail blinding us and almost bumping us all the way back home until we got off our exit and he finally let us go. No idea who was driving.
I always think what would have happened if we got out of the car when we were in that driveway.
16.
This took place in the Australian bush around 10/11 at night.
I was 17, leading a staggered column of about 60 Cadets to our detachment campsite. Due to light discipline rules, only myself at the very front of the group and the other flight commander at the rear had torches on. This was so that any vehicles coming along the trail could see us and so that most of the cadets could maintain their night vision(we were camouflaged up and thus difficult to see at night).
As we walked along I periodically looked to my sides, and kept seeing what looked like dew drops on the ground. Almost like tiny blue gems glinting in my torch light either side of the road.I had to maintain my position in the formation, so I couldn’t get a good look at what they were.
However, after a while we stopped for a very brief break, and I took the opportunity to have a closer look. Walking over to the side of the trail I spotted a small cluster of the “diamonds” and focused my head torch on them. Rather than seeing diamonds or dew drops or anything remotely pleasant, I instead saw a group of about 5 large spiders just crouching in the leaf litter and staring at me. They looked like huntsmans which are about the size of an adults hand. Sweeping my head around, I realised there were thousands of the things. All over the ground, some on the trunks of trees, and everywhere around me; glaring at the light affixed to my head.
I had a very brisk walk back to the formation and attempted to play it cool while screaming in my head. Being a massive Arachnophobe, I have no fucking clue how I managed to set up a tent and spend the next week in that cursed forest.
17.
I was walking my dog through the woods and she’d find the odd bone, thought nothing of it, but then she ran towards a huge black sack and was going nuts for it, I open the bag and it’s filled with bones.
Kinda fuckin weird but I’m still like okay just be hunters around or something??
But then I walk a bit further and start seeing more and more bags, then a huge cluster of them, at least 20 right there, all filled with bones.
I decided my dog had a long enough walk after seeing that.
18.
My boyfriend and I were backpacking through rural Tasmania a few years ago. While on a bus, we were discussing our plans for the ensuing two weeks. The girl in the seat in front turns around and offers us a place to stay in her town. We declined as we were headed elsewhere first, but she gave us her mobile number and said that she and her partner would love to have us.
A few days later we decide to take them up on their offer. We call her, and she says they’re happy to host us. So far so good.
They meet us at the train station and immediately something feels off. It’s really difficult to explain, but it’s that primal, ineffable feeling in your guts that tells you that something isn’t right. We ignored our guts and followed them.
They lead us straight out of town. We ask them where we’re going and they say that they live on the outskirts. This town is creepy as fuck. It’s an old mining town that has been largely abandoned, and as we walk the 15-odd minutes to their home the houses get shittier, with boarded up windows, overgrown gardens and no people in sight.
Eventually we reach the house at the very end of the town. It’s their house. We go in.
Set up in the middle of the living room is a single mattress with a sheet hanging around it. They show us around the house except for one door which stays closed. When I asked what was behind it they pretended not to hear. Our room has a made bed, chest of drawers and looks like a normal room. It seems weird that they sleep on mattresses in the living room when they have a “guest room”.
We go back into the living room and look around. Knives. A lot of knives. My boyfriend asks if they go hunting? No. The partner hands one of the knives to my boyfriend and asks him to open it. It’s a massive fucking bowie knife with what looks like blood staining around the edges of the blade. My boyfriend laughs awkwardly and sets it down.
They have a tattoo gun – “to practice”. My boyfriend asks if they have any tattoos. No. There’s a small axe at the door. I ask if they collect wood. No.
Suddenly the guy says he wants to go to the shops. We agree quickly because we’re creeped out and want to get back into the town.
The four of us leave and they start walking in the opposite direction to the town. I say that the town is back the other way. The guy says this way would be more interesting because it goes up through the trees. He says that they have never been up the mountain before but he knows the area and it would take the same amount of time.
I tell my boyfriend that I’m freaking out but he thinks it’s ok. We follow them into the trees. The path goes up the mountain. We are going in the total opposite direction of the town.
The girl turns around to her partner and whispers – “so where was the place again?”
My boyfriend and I freeze. I say I want to take the road back to town and start walking.
When the four of us arrive in the one shop in town – no one recognises the couple. And this is a really small town. We make an excuse that we want to go look at sights and that we’ll catch up with them later, and instead book a hotel room and freak out.
I did some snooping on the area. Their house had an extra room (behind the mystery door) and a basement. The path that we were taking led straight out of town and up the mountain. There was no way it could loop back into town.
So yeah pretty sure we narrowly avoided being murdered. Or maybe they were just massive weirdos. Tbh the creepiest thing was the fact that there was no drug paraphernalia at all – the state of the house and the weird behaviour would have been understandable if they were intoxicated but that wasn’t the case.
19.
During a YMCA camp (15-20 years ago, was around 11-13 at the time) we were camping in tents in a forest area. Was middle of summer so stayed light till around 10pm, 11pm till it was fully dark.
So we go on a night walk with the group and are halfway into the forest when we notice someone definitely not belonging to our group following us. Camp leaders rushed us back to camp and put us into our tents with one leader staying up to watch us.
Cue halfway through the night, wake up and have to pee like a madman. Get out of the tent to walk to the bathroom and see the leader supposed to watch as asleep in his chair by the campfire. Look around and see that the guy following us earlier has opened up and is peeking into one of the tents, while fumbling in a bag he has next to him. Screamed louder then I ever screamed in my life.
Leaders wake up, jump the guy and hold him till the police arrive. Turns out he had a tazer, blindfold, rope and several knives in his bag.
20.
When I was a kid, I used to live on a tiny property in the woods. My house was basically built around where stables were once. My room was, back when it was still stables, where the hay was stocked. Before getting to the creepy thing I need to say some other stuff:
– When you were in my room you could sometimes smell hay out of nowhere.- My dog was always refusing to go upstairs because something was scaring the shit out of it there.- You could sometimes hear knocking on doors (they were 3 entrance doors in my house), sometimes all at once.
Now that this have been said, we can go to the fun thing. So my room had a big ass window that gave a big view over the woods and my garden was basically a clearing. Once, I fucking heard a kid giggling from upstairs. I ran there only to find my window open, and something running out in the woods.I spent 2 more years in this house and fucking felt insecure the whole time. 
