10+ Stories That Started Totally Normal—Then Went Completely Off the Rails

We all have a friend who swears they once saw their cat open the refrigerator, or their aunt who believes she talked to a ghost who told her where the car keys were. And if you don’t have that friend... well, it’s probably you. Beginning with a leisurely walk, an innocent visit to the in-laws, or a random nap, this collection of anecdotes from Internet users takes a turn so unexpected you’ll find yourself looking over your shoulder as you read.

• My wife and I had just purchased a new home. After taking possession of the keys, we stopped by to check it out and plan some projects. I noticed that the faucet in the kitchen was dripping. I took it apart to change the washer, but couldn’t get it back together. I was really frustrated and my wife was impatient, so I just left it with all the parts scattered all over the counter. When I returned the next day, the faucet was completely reassembled and didn’t leak anymore. © Kjfitz / Reddit
• I was 2 or 3 years old and I remember going to my grandparents’ house all the time. My grandfather wasn’t a talker. He was quiet. He would stay alone and sit in his chair all day. Unfortunately, my grandmother died when I was 3 or 4 years old, and I don’t remember seeing my grandfather after that. 10 years later, my parents put my grandfather’s chair in the living room. For some reason I said, “Oh, yes, I remember Grandpa sitting in his chair every time we visited him, but he never talked. Why was he so quiet?” My parents stopped and looked at each other in total shock. After a while they said, “What are you talking about? He died before you were born.” © Wrong-Junket5973 / Reddit

• I was alone in the house. An unknown number called me and I could hear the same TV show I was watching. I kept saying hello and my voice was echoing back. I thought it was just one of those broken calls where you hear your microphone feedback, but what happened next scared me. Just before I ended the call, I heard a voice whisper “Goodbye...goodnight.” I stared at the phone, confused about what was happening. Then I said hello again. The static and echo disappeared, all was quiet. Then suddenly... “Hi,” I hung up the phone, turned off the TV and ran to bed. © NoojieWoojie / Reddit
• I went to pick up my friend at the airport around 10 pm. His girlfriend came with me because she wanted to see him as soon as possible. We drove along a dark and lonely road. I had never been there before, but I followed the good old Apple Maps. Eventually we hit a train that was going at our speed, so we couldn’t see down the right side of the car. After a few minutes of this, we came to a train station on our left. A very creepy, very generic horror movie train yard. Nothing crazy yet, except for the fact that it just went on and on and on and on. We probably spent 10 minutes driving 45 mph down a dark back road with a train yard on our left and a train blocking our view on the right. We finally got back to society and picked up my friend at the airport. We told him all about the creepy train yard and train, and we were eager to go back and show him how much it looked like a generic horror movie. We drove back along the same roads, but to everyone’s surprise, it wasn’t there. We never passed a train station. There were no trains on the tracks (now to our left). © JerryVonJingles / Reddit
• I was driving from Arizona to Colorado. I pulled over to the side of the road just outside of Shiprock, New Mexico around midnight to take a nap. An hour later I was awakened by a nightmare of angry faces and bright flashing colors coming at me from all directions. I started my car and turned on my headlights. Ten feet directly in front of me was a coyote and a jackrabbit sitting about five feet apart, just staring at me. I got out of there. Years later I was dating a girl, and when I told her about this, she got very upset and told me never to mention it to her again. © Scuta44 / Reddit

• I was alone in my apartment and decided to take a shower. I locked the door out of habit; it can only be locked and unlocked from the inside. I threw my clean and dirty clothes in two separate piles on the bathroom floor. When I finished showering, my clothes, both dirty and clean, were neatly folded in two separate piles on the floor. The door was still locked. I shower very quickly. This happened within five minutes. I have no explanation and I get goose bumps just thinking about it. This happened about a week ago and nothing like this has happened before or since. © thatdude33 / Reddit
• When I was in college, I used to watch my parents’ house. I’m a bit of a scaredy-cat, so when I went to bed at night, I would lock all the doors to the bedroom. I had the strangest dream where someone opened all the doors and turned on all the lights. I felt very cold and woke up to the sound of my dog barking. When I looked around, I noticed that all the lights in the house were on and all the doors were open and unlocked. My dog continued to bark at nothing in the hallway. I sat in the shower with my dog and a phone the rest of the night, scared to death. © bajashrimpwithmango / Reddit
• On my 12th birthday I was on my way to the bike shop to get a new bike, I was with my dad, his girlfriend and my brother. We were still about 10 minutes away from downtown, so nowhere near the bike shop. Some random, old, creepy looking guy came up to us, looked down at me and said, “Are you buying a bike?” I looked at my dad, confused and kind of scared. We told him we were on our way to buy a bike. Then he started talking about how I HAD to get a helmet and wear it ALL the time! We were a little freaked out, but we just assumed he was a strange man and just forgot about it. A few hours later, I was riding my new bike around the park and I fell off. I didn’t fall very far and I landed on the grass, so it was cool. But as I was getting up to brush myself off, I looked up and he was just standing there looking disappointed and shaking his head. He shook his index finger at me and said, “I told you to wear a helmet.” At that point I just rode home as fast as I could! What is even weirder is that I have since moved about 40-50 miles away and I still see him from time to time. I don’t believe in guardian angels but it just creeps me out. © ThisAverageGuy / Reddit

• One time when I was about 12 years old, my brother, my mother and I were in the garage getting into the car to go to school or somewhere. We raised a guide dog for the blind, and the dog had to go with us wherever we went. As we put the dog in the car, my brother would sing silly little songs or whatever to the dog while petting her, telling her she was a good dog, etc. We were almost ready to go when I heard the phone ringing in the house. I was the only one not in the car, so my mom asked if I could answer it. I ran inside to answer the phone and say hello. It’s my brother on the phone. I could hear my brother on the phone talking to our dog. Now, remember, this was before cell phones were widely available. There was no phone in the car to accidentally dial the house. To this day, I have no idea what was putting his voice into the receiver. © BraneFreeze / Reddit
• A few years ago, I was at a friend’s house helping her clean and organize her room. We were alone in the house, the radio playing softly. I get to the bottom drawer of her dresser. It was filled with random stuff she didn’t know what to do with. Random T-shirts, old birthday cards, too small jeans and the like. I reach to the bottom of the drawer and find an old compact CD player, like a Sony Walkman. You get the idea. We reminisce for a minute and I set it aside. A few minutes later, I notice that there’s music playing other than the radio, so she turns it off to find out where it’s coming from. I lean my ear in closer and hear something coming out of the headphone jack on the CD player. So we plugged in some headphones and listened. A woman was singing. She had a pleasant voice, but it was not a language I could recognize. The instruments also felt strange. Not like normal guitar and drums, but a strange combination of electronic-like sounds. We unplugged the headphones and opened the player. There was no CD inside. No batteries either. © jbalazov / Reddit
• I dreamt one night that I was given a baby to hold and she was beautiful but looked like my sister. When I woke up I cried uncontrollably for this baby and couldn’t calm down for almost 2 hours. Fast forward 6 months and I had a few more of these dreams, mostly the same, but now I knew she had a name, Maria. I told my parents these dreams were just lighthearted, but their faces just shut down. A few hours later they finally told me that before I was born they had a stillborn baby and named her Maria. They asked me what the baby looked like and continued to cry. I never had that dream again. © ells1996 / Reddit

If you’ve ever had something weird happen to you and thought “no one would care,” think again: the Internet is full of people who want to know exactly how weird a Tuesday afternoon can get. And after reading these stories, you’ll probably want to start recording your own craziness, just in case. Hungry for more? Check out this article about people who made a last-minute decision that didn’t seem like a big deal until it completely changed their lives.