10+ People Who Felt Absolute Terror While Home Alone

In the quiet moments when people are alone at home, some go through really terrifying situations. From strange sounds to creepy encounters, these frightening experiences can make the fear of the unknown even scarier. To feel better or make sense of it, many share their chilling stories online.

• I was home alone one night while my wife and son were visiting my mother-in-law. I walked back to our bedroom to see someone rummaging through my son’s room on the video baby monitor. Immediately grabbed something to defend myself with and yelled to the otherside of the house, “COME OUT SLOWLY!”, over and over while gradually making my way back to his room. Got there flipped on the light and ... nothing. Searched the whole house pumped full of adrenaline. Finally satisfied I was alone I went back to my room and THE GUY WAS BACK in the room. I took a closer look and I am ashamed to say I was looking at myself. The camera is a live feed on our wi-fi and it was streaming on a huge delay. I have never known it to do that and it has not done it since. © Merv_86 / Reddit

• I work from home, so I’m home alone a lot. One day I was working, and out of the corner of my eye I noticed some movement in my backyard. There was a man jumping over my fence into my backyard. Panicked, I call my then boyfriend and tell him what is happening. While I’m on the phone with him, I get a knock at my front door. It’s a woman from the cable company informing me that technicians will need access to my backyard. I tell her someone just jumped over my fence so I think they’re already there. Way to give me a scare. © stayawayfrommeinfj / Reddit

• I lit two long taper candles for some ambiance while I was playing guitar late at night. I was facing the other direction looking out the window while playing, and shortly later turned around and went back towards the candles and discovered one of them was completely gone. The stand was still there, but no melted wax, just a bare candle holder and the other one was still lit and no shorter than it was when I lit them. It was almost 3am and I was so terrified that I got in my car and left and drove to my dad’s house. © Unknown user / Reddit

• Somebody tried to break into the house while I was by myself. The whole place was quiet and dark at nighttime. I walked past the front door to go upstairs for bed, and the handle suddenly started jerking around like The Hulk was trying to get in. Then whoever it was started to either kick or shoulder the door, and it was making the whole frame jiggle. I completely froze and my mind went blank. Just standing there like an idiot and staring. My dog bolted down the stairs like it was her time to shine, scrambled on the tile, and let loose the most vicious barks I’ve ever heard. Whoever it was left. She was a very good girl. I miss her. © sleepytimeghee / Reddit

• You know those tongs in the kitchen that have a spring but a latch to keep them together? I had a pair of those and I put the latch on and put them down on the counter. I went away for a bit and came back and then they jumped off the counter at me. Biggest jump scare of my life. The latch had come undone and they sprung open. But in the millisecond when inanimate objects suddenly come to life and jump at you you don’t realise this and totally freak out. © cyanophage / Reddit

• I was asleep at home alone. When I turned over in bed, I casually opened my eyes a little whilst turning and they were shut again just as quickly. In that split second, I could have sworn I had seen a man stood at the bottom of my bed. I laid still. Awake with my eyes closed. Trying not to act like I was awake and trying to listen for any sound in the room of someone breathing or moving. Couldn’t hear anything. I was too scared to open my eyes and look, consoled myself that there wasn’t any way someone could have gotten in without me hearing a window smash and fell back asleep. When I got up in the morning though, the front door was open. They didn’t take anything and left no signs of being there. Was still very very creepy though. © tinknickers / Reddit

• A few years back I was home alone during a power storm. I went into the bathroom to poop and at the exact time I was doing so I sneezed. Then, the power went out as well. The house was pitch black and I literally thought I had made myself blind. I couldn’t see my hands so in a panic I was yelling, “nooooo this cannot be true.” I was in a panic feeling for the toilet paper to wipe and flush. After completing the task I just sat on the toilet trying to figure out how to tell everyone I know that I literally made myself blind by sneezing while pooping. After about 2 minutes of complete darkness and dread and panic lightning struck outside and lit up my hallway. Best feeling ever. © JimiR74 / Reddit

• I was chilling on the couch, doing whatever, when suddenly a “really heavy person” starts sprinting in our attic. Sounded like steel-toed boots and everything. I’m a really small woman, so I immediately freaked out, thinking there’s a gigantic man stomping around my home. Then the screaming starts. Literal screaming, like something from The Exorcist, and there’s MULTIPLE voices. I sneaked outside and cried, extremely shaken, and called the cops. Guess what’s in my attic? Not a big man, no. Raccoons. Also, the raccoons were mating. That’s what the screaming came from. I bawled to the cops about mating raccoons. © Unknown user / Reddit

• I had a choking scare when I was like 11 and I was home alone and watching TV while eating Skittles. I liked to put a bunch in my mouth and make like a Skittle ball that I would chew on. Something on the show I was watching made me laugh and I swallowed the ball and it got lodged in my throat. I then experienced a few seconds of sheer terror because I realized that there was nobody here to help me at all and I was probably gonna die. Then I remembered some cartoon or something where someone jammed their stomach on a chair and got something unstuck from their throat. So, I lunged at the corner of the recliner as hard as I could with my stomach and it actually worked and popped the small ball out. It was super lucky because I really had no idea what I was doing, but one of the worst feelings I have ever experienced. Definitely never ate Skittles that way again after that. © -eDgAR- / Reddit

• My mum once shouted my name when I was home alone. She was in another country, it was midnight, and I live in a 7-bedroom house. © dazedan_confused / Reddit

• I was babysitting a kid who had a video monitor and was told that she wouldn’t wake up while the parents were out, and if she did to call them right away. I was watching TV with the monitor set off to the side to keep an eye on her and right around 11, the camera’s view shifted a few inches. It then began to slightly jiggle like someone was messing with it. I was squinting at it trying to decide what I was actually seeing, and I kid you not, the whole screen burst to static for a few seconds, and the kid started WAILING. She stood up and was screaming in her crib just like one of the kids from The Sims. When she didn’t fall back asleep after a few minutes I called her mom and she said “okay, we’re on our way home anyway. We think she has nightmares sometimes, it’s fine.” Never again. © BrokeWABunny / Reddit

If you haven’t had enough of scary home alone stories, then worry not. More people recalled their own creepy situations and we compiled them here.