10 Terrifying True Stories to Keep You Awake All Night

Some stories are so disturbing they stay with you long after you’ve heard them. The kind that makes you double-check your locks, listen for strange sounds and question if you’re really alone. These aren’t just urban legends—these are true events, experienced by real people.

• I was in a cheap motel. The room had bedbugs. I was too exhausted to go to the front desk. I just needed to make it until the morning. I slept in the tub. Hours later I heard someone breaking through the window. I had a big knife with me and ran out into the room to find a man halfway through my window. we stared for a while at each other in shock. I think we both were scared. Then he says," Is this your room?" I'm like, "Yes, this is my room, man!" More staring. Then he slowly starts backing out while cursing me for leaving my window unlocked and not expecting him to break in. Unknown author / Reddit
• I was 10 years old walking home from school and an elderly couple driving by stopped and asked me for directions. They were looking for the street I was walking towards, so I pointed them in that direction. Even though my directions were very clear, both were acting confused and asked if I could get in the car and guide them there and then they would drive me home. I told them it was fine, my house was right there (I lied). They were pressuring/guilting me a lot and being TOO nice about wanting to drive me home. It gave me a really weird feeling in my stomach. So I pretended to walk towards a house that wasn't mine and they drove off. ivantoldmeboutdis / Reddit

• There was a telephone pole in our backyard that stood in the middle of our back fence. An electrician was working on it and needed access to our backyard for a couple of days. One of the nights, my best friend was over for a sleepover, and we were in the fort we made in my room. I was facing toward her, away from my bedroom door, and she got startled, screaming. She said she thought for a split second she saw a man’s face peering between the sheets through the entrance to our fort. We both felt really creeped out the rest of the night but just fell asleep eventually.
  The next day or so my family realized that two of our motor scooters we kept in the back were missing, and sometime later my dad recognized the “electrician” on Sacramento’s top 10 wanted. Anthophoba / Reddit
• Working nights at a gas station was quiet until 3 AM. I glanced at the security monitor and froze. A man was outside, staring into the camera, grinning. I walked to the door, but he was gone. A few minutes later, I checked again. He was back. Same spot. Same grin. I locked the doors. He stood there, unmoving, for an hour before finally walking away. I quit a week later.

• I had a stalker in college. Had to move dorm rooms and buildings 4 times in the middle of the night. Friends would help me get to my dorm by pretending we were going to theirs and making sure no one was around when I’d go into mine. He found 2 of the dorms and left notes in my room. It’s been over 11 years and I live in a completely different state but every once in a while, I get the feeling I’m being watched and panic. RavenSkye86 / Reddit
• My mum used to start work at 3 AM and she was up at about 2-2:30 having her coffee, I heard her up and went to see her. She joked that she heard something outside and I, being a bit silly opened the blinds up wide as a joke and there was a guy just standing there staring into the lounge room.
  That was creepy enough as it was, but what sticks with me is the fact he didn't run or really react for what felt like an eternity. While I ran to get my old man and brother, apparently, he just stood there and then slowly walked off. Unknown author / Reddit

• As a kid, I swore something moved in my closet at night. My parents said it was just the house settling. One night, I woke up to slow breathing coming from inside the closet. Frozen in fear, I stared as the door creaked slightly open. I must have passed out because morning came, and I told my dad. He checked, laughing, until he stopped. My blanket, always folded on the top shelf, was now on the floor, crumpled like someone had been lying on it. We moved a month later.
• I was staying at a friend’s house, scrolling my phone at 2 AM when I heard a tap on the window. Then again, slow and rhythmic. I lifted my phone flashlight, and my heart stopped. A man stood there, staring in at me, completely motionless. I bolted to wake my friend, but by the time we got back, he was gone. The worst part? That window was eight feet off the ground.
• Driving home late, my GPS rerouted me down a dirt road. The trees closed in, and my headlights barely cut through the dark. Then, I saw a house. No lights. No cars. But a woman stood in the yard, facing away. I slowed, debating if I should call out. Then she turned. Her eyes were just empty sockets. My GPS glitched, then calmly said, “Turn around.” I didn’t hesitate.

• I started noticing things around my house were off. The papers on my desk weren’t where I left them, the cabinets, and drawers were slightly open, and sometimes I’d find my shoes moved. At first, I blamed it on my memory. But one day, while cleaning under my bed, I found a notebook I’d never seen before. The handwriting was messy, and as I flipped through it, my stomach dropped. It had detailed notes about my daily routine—when I left for work, when I came back, what I ate, and even when I showered. It was so accurate, that I realized someone had been following me.
  I got out of there as fast as I could. To this day, I double-check my locks every night, and I can’t shake the feeling that someone’s still watching me.

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