11 Childhood Moments That Feel Straight Out of a Horror Movie

Childhood memories should be filled with laughter and joy, but for some, they feel like they belong in a horror movie. Are they just vivid memories—or something more sinister? Read on to find out!

• When I was six, our backyard ended in a patch of woods. Every day, I’d sit by the window and wave to a man who stood by the trees. One day, I told my mom he was behind the fence. She came back visibly shaken.
  Years later, I overheard my dad telling a neighbor that there had been signs of someone who had been sleeping in the woods behind our house. Police found an old blanket and a torn photo of me taped to the back of a tree.

• 10-year-old me. A new family had recently moved in. We became friends with the girl in the family, who began telling us that her house was haunted. We were intrigued.
  One day, playing in the yard with her, a disheveled-looking man comes running out the front door, followed by the family. He proceeded to run, full speed, into the woods with the dad yelling at him. Come to find out, the dude had been living in their attic and had been keeping it locked from the inside. The dad finally pried it open, a chase ensuing.
  TO THIS DAY, I check under, inside, above, behind, and outside of every house I have ever lived in and regularly clear corners when I get home. © Unknown author / Reddit

• When I was 9 or 10, I was lying in my bed, which was next to my (open) window. I was about to fall asleep when I heard inconsistent footsteps, like someone had a limp. I thought it was my dad, as he had a tendency to get up at night, and he also had a limp from a football injury, so I brushed it off.
  When I heard it again, I started to wonder what it was, and when it got closer to my window and stopped, I freaked out and slipped under my blankets. After maybe 5–6 minutes, the noise moved away from my window, but it kept going on for an hour or two.
  The next morning, I asked my parents if they had gone for a walk last night. Neither of them did. When I told them what happened, they shot each other a terrified look and told me to keep my window locked from then on. © Unknown author / Reddit

• I was 9 years old. I lived in a small town far from the city, where we all knew each other. Summer was cold, rainy, and windy.
  It was a rainy day, and I was in my bed until I heard a loud noise coming from outside. It was like a firework. I went out to check and noticed that on the glass was written, “Run, watch out for her.” I thought it was a joke from a friend or something, but when I came out, I heard a loud scream coming from my parents’ room.
  I went as fast as I could, but they were just sleeping. I woke them up scared and told them what happened. My mother went with me to look at the letters on the glass. When we went, the glass was just badly fogged up and there was nothing written on it.
  My mother thought it was a dream, but I swear I heard that strange sound and saw that sentence written on it. My mother started to become more distant until one day she left the house.
  Only a few months ago, I was informed that my mother was in an asylum and had committed several crimes. It was the most surreal thing that ever happened to me. © RevolutionaryEvent79 / Reddit

• Lying in bed one night, it’s pitch black apart from the light creeping under the door from the landing. My mom was actually with me in the same room, as we had only just moved in, and she was sleeping on the floor.
  I look up, and the door slowly creaks open, and slowly an oldish woman peers around the door, looks at me, and goes away. I just thought I was in a nightmare and turned around real fast and went under the covers, hoping I would wake up.
  Then I will never forget my mom whispering to me, “Did you just see someone peer round the door?” Safe to say, we didn’t sleep a wink that night. © PM-ME-YOUR-POEM / Reddit

• One day, I was walking home from school, and the walk was about a mile long on a main road. I had my headphones in at the time, and while I was walking, I saw a little white cat. So I took out my headphones to try to say hi to the cat, only for it to run off.
  I was lucky for that cat, because after I took the headphones out, I saw a huge tree fall down right where I would have been if I hadn’t stopped.

• There was a garden next to a footpath that some kids used to ride over to take a shortcut. The path was narrow with thick thorn bushes on each side, very secluded.
  One day, I lost my balance and crashed into the garden on my BMX (was around 8 years old at the time) by accident. I got up, got back on my bike, and went down the footpath. Halfway down, a man started coming towards me, shouting with his arms stretched out, blocking any way past, behind him, his wife came doing the same thing.
  They wouldn’t let me go for 10 or so minutes; for the first 2 minutes, they made me repeat my name over and over, then they just stood there at my front and back wheel looking down on me for like ages. I could feel their breath on my face and neck.
  Suddenly, the bloke snapped out of the glare and told me, “You better go, now.” As he stared at the floor, I rode out of there as fast as I could. They probably had had enough of the local kids using their front garden as a cut-through. But they were super weird.
  Later on, they put up a 7-foot fence all around their property. They moved shortly afterward. When they left, their neighbors told us they never seemed right. © panda_enjoi / Reddit

• My sister and I were pranking each other for, like, a week straight. Well, we agreed to stop since my birthday was in two days.
  I just turned 11, and later that night, I heard my closet door open. Oh, so my sister wants to prank me on my special day, eh? I’ll show her, I thought.
  So I know she snuck in and forgot my door squeaks. So I had an idea: I would get up and push her! Hahahaha, I’m a genius kiddo.
  So I slowly get up and she steps out of the closet. Wasn’t my sister, because my sister doesn’t have long black hair and scars on her face and isn’t as tall as a grown woman. I wanted to scream, but instead, I just froze and silently started whimpering and crying.
  She puts her finger up to her lips, lets out a “shhh,” opens my window, crawls out, and slowly closes my window, never to be seen again. At first, I thought it was a ghost. Now I’m convinced it was a mad person or something. © PM_ME_FOR_SMALLTALK / Reddit

• I’ve always had nightmares, but when I was very young, I had the same recurring one. I would be at my grandmother’s house. It would be dark and cold. I would slowly walk to a hallway.
  I would then feel frozen and be approached by a tall man in all black. I could never see his face, but I knew he was looking at me. I would be stuck in the dream, with the feeling that I couldn’t breathe or escape.
  When I finally told my mom, after months of this happening, she burst into tears and told me she had had the same dream, in the exact same spot, in my grandmother’s home, since she was a child.
  Even weirder, she told her mother she was having the dream when she was a child, and my grandmother was having the dream before her. I haven’t had the dream in years; I’m 26 now. But I’m still afraid of that house and feel sick when I think about it. © 1996smh / Reddit

• One time when I was around 9 or so, we had guests over at our house for a few days, and since I had the largest room, they stayed in mine, which meant I had to sleep in my younger sister’s, who was 4 at the time.
  Well, on the 2nd night of me sleeping in the room, I slept on the mattress on the floor, and she was on the bed, and at around 2 in the morning, I was woken up by the sound of muttering. I got up and looked over at my sister, who was facing my direction but with her eyes closed (I didn’t notice they were closed at the time). So I just stared back at her.
  This is where it starts to get creepy. She then started to cry out of nowhere and say, “Help me” over and over again, so I panicked and went over to her and laid her down. She then started repeating in a kind of angry tone I had never heard her use, saying, “Turn off the fan,” which was next to her.
  She then ended up sitting up again, turned it back on, and started crying again, so I got into the bed and hugged her till she stopped. The next morning, I asked my mom if my sister ever talks in her sleep, and she said no. So it was a strange experience, and I struggled to sleep the next few days. © mi_amor_tf / Reddit

• I remember one time, when I was around 3-4-ish, I woke up in an elderly couple’s car. When I asked where they were taking me, they said they were taking me to their house, and they were a friend of my mom. After we got to their house, they fed me oatmeal, as a picky 3-year-old, I refused to eat it.
  Next thing I know, they’re both screaming at me to eat it. The next thing I remember is my mom picking me up. Whenever I ask her about this, she always changes the subject to avoid it. © Aggravating_Long_948 / Reddit

As if these chilling childhood experiences weren’t enough, one of our readers faced a real-life horror story when her estranged mother reappeared, asking to move in while terminally ill. Despite her refusal, the situation took an unexpected turn, spiraling out of control until even the police became involved.