10 Deep Sea Divers Share Their Creepiest Underwater Discoveries

Imagine diving into the dark depths of the ocean. It’s quiet. Almost too quiet. Above you, the world feels like a distant dream. The sea is huge, mysterious, and filled with secrets we’re just starting to uncover.

From wrecked ships to strange statues, and creatures that seem unreal, these 10 deep-sea divers are about to share their creepiest finds. Trust us, after you read this, you’ll never look at the ocean the same way again.

1. Unexpected find in a small lake

I used to teach canoeing lessons to Boy Scout troops at a local neighborhood lake. Super small lake that’s not very deep, but the bottom was thick with vegetation. The water was “dark” so you couldn’t see your hands in front of you for more than like 5 inches under the surface.

There was a small clubhouse, an open pavilion, and a playground all on the property. When [I was] doing lifeguard work in the water during a swim test, my sunglasses fell off my head. I dove down to find them, and I found a sunken, entangled hospital gurney at the bottom of the lake.

It took a few people to untangle it, but how it got there was beyond me. Clearly it had been under the water for years... © Unknown author / Reddit

2. The mystery of the rusted freezer

I’ve been on a lot of dives, but the weirdest thing we ever found was a huge deep freezer, tightly wrapped with an industrial chain and five cinder blocks. It was so rusted, and looked
like it hadn’t been touched in over 30 years—probably longer. This was about 90 feet down, just off Vancouver Island, Canada.

It definitely freaked me and the other divers out. We logged the GPS and depth coordinates and contacted the local police. One of the divers had friends in the force, so later they told us what was inside: 10 porcelain dolls... © count_dynamo / Reddit

3. The creepy discovery of urns in the water

I don’t dive often, but one time, a few friends and I went to a lake to search for lost items. I had found an ammo box, so I was pulling that up. I glanced over at the dock and saw one of my friends holding what looked like a small cloth bag. I didn’t think much of it and kept diving.

Later, we found out it was a bag full of small urns, all with the same name on them. Needless to say, it really freaked us out. We figured whoever left them there wanted them to stay, so we just put them back and left right away. © K1ngNightmare47 / Reddit

4. A collision with a massive sea creature

When I was a kid, we used to visit this spot during summer holidays. It had some beautiful beaches, and there was an estuary with a wide river mouth. One summer, there was a “king tide,” which drained so much water from the river that you could snorkel across from one side of the river mouth to the other.

One day, I decided to snorkel across from one beach to the other. Halfway through, the water was so shallow—only about half a meter deep—that I was just swimming along the surface, looking down through my mask and snorkel. Suddenly, a HUGE stingray passed right under me.

This thing was easily 2 meters across, covered in white scars, and it was missing its tail. I just froze. My heart nearly stopped. If I had exhaled, I would’ve dropped low enough to land right on top of it. It was that close. I wasn’t in any danger, but seeing such a massive creature out of nowhere, that close, was terrifying. © Captain-Crowbar / Reddit

5. The moving skeleton underwater

I took a scuba tour to explore an old ship. Falling behind the instructor, I took a wrong turn. That’s when I saw it—a skeleton, sitting as a person. As I inched closer, my blood ran cold. The skeleton slowly turned its head towards me and fell right on top of me.

The instructor told me later it was a prop they put up to add mystery to the tour. He said that probably an underwater current made the skeleton move. But honestly, I still get goosebumps thinking about it. To me, it felt like he was alive right then, and I couldn’t feel any current at all.

6. Finding cemeteries beneath man-made lakes

You can dive in man-made lakes and check out what’s left of old flooded homes and communities. It’s pretty dark and spooky down there no matter what, especially when you think of all the big fish swimming around that are barely silhouettes until they’re close.

My buddy likes to dive in lakes. He said the creepiest thing, by far, is finding cemeteries 100 feet or more beneath the water in the dark, eerie quiet. © UrethraFrankIin / Reddit

7. Pulling up a sheep skull from a river

I dropped my goggles and was trying to reach down in the river and grab it, but I pulled out a sheep skull by its sockets. Wasn’t as creepy in hindsight, but 10-year-old me was scared. © Unknown author / Reddit

8. A diver’s experience with a bizarre noise

I’m a commercial diver, and I was once working on a job cleaning a potable water reservoir. I’d been in other reservoirs before, but this one was massive—about 40×80 meters. To get in, you had to open a hatch in the ground and climb down a ladder. Since the whole reservoir was underground, the hatch was in a corner, which meant when you were in the far corner, it was completely pitch black. You just had to hope your light didn’t go out.

I was about halfway through a three-hour dive when my torch started to dim. I watched the beam shrink until it cut out completely. Normally, losing light isn’t a huge deal, since you can follow your umbilical line back to the hatch. But just as I started walking back, I heard this loud banging noise coming from somewhere in the reservoir. I was the only diver in there, so I was both confused and absolutely terrified. I bolted back to the hatch as fast as I could.

I eventually got my torch changed and went back in for another hour, but I didn’t hear the noise again. I still have no idea what it was, but the combination of losing my light and hearing that banging definitely gave me a scare. © Digestivesrule / Reddit

9. The cold rush of fear from an unexpected visitor

I once went diving in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, where it’s pretty common to see sharks.

We were diving and quite far from the shore when we spotted this cool-looking structure beneath us. We swam over to check it out, and then, out of nowhere, I started getting this freezing cold feeling running through my body. That’s when a shark appeared. No joke—I was so terrified, I almost had a heart attack from the fear. © chaantayx / Reddit

10. The thrill of fish following you in the dark

I’ve taken some friends on a night dive before, and they were joking about this exact kind of paranoia before getting in the water. Honestly, it probably didn’t help, but I told them they shouldn’t see it as paranoia—it’s a 100% guarantee that something like this will happen, and you just have to accept it.

Every night dive I’ve done, there’s always some fish that like to follow you around. One time, I even had a nurse shark, about 6–7 feet long, just cruise behind me for the whole dive, probably just curious about the light. The best part of night diving? The constant feeling of discovery in the dark—it’s what makes it so exciting. © JeanClaudeSegal / Reddit

We had a perfect marriage for 12 years until I decided to do some spring cleaning and revealed my husband’s secret life. I started sorting through dusty boxes in the garage that had been there for years. While going through them, I opened one without thinking.
Inside was a heart-shaped candy box. But what truly froze me was what I found inside. My heart sank when I saw a note: ’Thanks for sharing your husband with me... Click here to read the full story!