12 Eerie Stories That Defied All Expectations

Life carries a mysterious twist that renders it unpredictable and full of surprises precisely when we least expect them. Despite the discomfort and occasional eeriness associated with these events, they leave a lasting impact, contributing to our growth as stronger and more mature people. The stories in this compilation are sure to astonish even the most resilient among us.

• My friend was told she’s adopted, that both her parents died in a car crash when she was just a baby, and her uncle adopted her and raised her. Years later, a man messages her on Facebook saying that he’s her half-brother.
  Turns out, the dad lived through the car crash and later remarried. Her adopted parents were lying to her, as they knew all along; the dad just didn’t want to keep her. But the story doesn’t end here.
  Her biological father wanted to meet her. She flies out to meet him, stays with him, meets his wife and her half-siblings. Struggles with the idea of reconnecting with him because she both loathes and loves him. Loathes him for not wanting her and getting a new family, loves him for wanting to make a difference in her life and reconnect.
  She takes the plunge anyway. Six months later, he dies from lung cancer. © Spagattaca / Reddit

• My aunt fell asleep on her couch one night, and my uncle was asleep upstairs. She woke up around 12 am to a random man staring at her while she slept. He said, “The guy upstairs was sound asleep,” indicating that he came in, saw my aunt on the couch, looked around, observed my uncle asleep upstairs, and then sat there and watched.
  She told him to leave, and luckily, he left. He had entered through the back door. We live in a relatively safe area! © Hungry_Gift2345 / Reddit

• I was around 10 years old. I was at school, but my mum told me she was thinking of taking me to the doctor in the afternoon for a recurring eye issue.
  During lunchtime, I was in the dining hall when the office woman told me there was a taxi outside for me, and I needed to go. I assumed my mum had booked it for me, as she can’t drive. I cleared up my stuff and got my bag.
  Just about to leave, I remembered my jacket was in my classroom. I rushed to get it and headed out for the taxi. The office woman told me I was too late, and the taxi had gone without me. I went back to class, panicking that my mum would be angry at me.
  School finished, and my mum was waiting for me at the gates. I burst into tears, apologizing for missing the taxi and thinking I was in big trouble. She never ordered a taxi and had no clue what I was talking about. She ended up not making the doctor appointment.
  No one ever found out who ordered the taxi or who the driver was. My mum doesn’t like to think about what would have happened if I hadn’t forgotten my jacket and got into that taxi. © funkster80 / Reddit

• I was at a summer camp, and my group was returning to our dorms later in the night, around 5 or so people. As we stumbled up, a man in dark clothes was walking towards our dorm, and we called out to him. I never got a good look at his face, but there weren’t many adults at the camp, and this guy was one of them.
  He started off into a dead sprint and disappeared into a large shrub of bushes. My buddy and I ran after him, thinking he was a fellow camper. We rushed into the bushes about 5 seconds later at most, and... nothing. He disappeared.
  The closest building was not accessible from the back where he went towards, and there was only a smaller bathroom. The area behind it was woodland, and it was completely illuminated. Running through woods makes a lot of noise as well.
  He completely vanished. There was no way we wouldn’t have spotted him in some fashion. Everyone was weirded out. Still can’t explain it at all. © Arsalanred / Reddit

• I do real estate photography. One day, I was alone, taking pictures of an empty house. I had this really uncomfortable feeling that I wasn’t alone. I had already checked the whole house before I started taking photos, but I kept getting the feeling that someone else was there. The feeling was so strong that I had goosebumps and felt sick and nauseous.
  I felt like a little kid scared of the dark. As I finished shooting the last room in the house, this feeling that someone was with me was so overwhelming that I pretty much sprinted out of the house when I took the last photo. I felt better when I got outside, but I still had an uneasy feeling.
  The realtor and her husband ended up pulling into the driveway as I was finishing photos of the front of the house. They both went into the house to prep it for a showing. I then noticed them both out of the corner of my eye through a back window, but there was a third person with them. I was confused because they came alone, without anyone else.
  Later, I discovered that the house cleaner wasn’t finished before I pulled up and came in. She saw a large guy with tattoos come into the house and panicked, so she jumped into the kitchen pantry and hid. By the time she realized I was the photographer, it was too late for her to come out without it being awkward, so she stayed in the pantry the whole time.
  I’m not sure if maybe I saw her out of the corner of my eye when walking past, or if maybe I smelled her perfume, heard her breathing and didn’t realize it, but my subconscious was screaming at me that someone was there. It was the most uncomfortable I’ve ever been inside a house like that before and made for a funny story after. © oppapi***/ Reddit

• My boyfriend told me that when he was a kid, he used to hear whispers and have conversations in one of the rooms at night. Intrigued, he entered the room out of curiosity, and someone tapped him on the back so hard that he fell unconscious. When he woke up, there was a big mark on his back, resembling a scratch from large paws, and it’s still there today. It’s really creepy. © ruri7218 / Reddit

• A friend invited me over to his house one night. We were hanging out in his backyard after the sun had gone down; it was almost pitch black out. His house is built right next to an elementary school and shares an adjoining fence with the school’s playground. It’s not a solid fence, but one of those bar-type fences.
  I’m over by the fencing, looking in the direction of the school’s playground, considering hopping the fence to go explore it while I’m on the phone. I glance up from my phone and notice a reflection. I can see a silhouette standing there in the dark with a phone out. It takes me a few moments to realize that it’s not my reflection, but rather there’s someone on the other side of the fence looking at me.
  I try to call my friend over, but he’s distracted at the moment. The shadow person closes their phone and then proceeds to walk off into the pitch-black playground and disappears. © TheGlobalConspiracy / Reddit

• Once, I was taking a shower in the afternoon. My bathroom door was ajar, and as I was soaping myself, I suddenly heard someone whistling a tune of some sort. It wasn’t in the distance but right there in the bathroom with me. I nearly panicked and started yelling, “Get out of here!” not knowing what to expect. I pulled back the shower curtain, fully anticipating a scene from Psycho, but there was nobody there. It was terrifying.
  There was nobody else in my apartment, and there were no vents between my bathroom and other apartments. © naslam74 / Reddit

• My friend comes home to her apartment from running errands around 1 pm. Being in med school at the time, she pretty much parked herself at the kitchen table and studied for the next 5–6 hours. As she’s sitting there, she looks up to see a dude casually stroll out of her bedroom. With no other entrances, and her sitting by the front door, he’s been there the entire time she has been home.
  He pauses at the doorway to her kitchen, between her and the door. She basically froze. Then, her phone rang and kind of startled both of them. She ran to get the phone; he ran out the door. She moved and got an enormous dog. © GrumpyDietitian / Reddit

• Back when I was about to start high school, the whole family got together at my grandmother’s house for an impromptu get-together. As I left with my mother, I asked, “Is grandma going to be alone tonight?” My mother confirmed my guess. When asked why, I said, “I don’t know, it just rubs me the wrong way.”
  That night, my grandmother had a massive stroke. She lived, but she wasn’t the same. My parents and I ended up taking care of her for the last year of her life. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had called up there once we got home. © crazedmikey / Reddit

• When my mom was little, my grandma, mom, and aunt lived in an old house in Seattle. The house had a basement that they had converted into a playroom. One day, when my mom was 5 and her sister 3, my grandma was upstairs in the kitchen cooking dinner, and she heard them screaming down in the basement. She ran down there and asked them what happened.
  Both of them were in great distress, saying something about “a man” being down there with them and pointing into a corner.
  My grandma couldn’t get any other details out of them. She thoroughly searched the basement and found nothing out of the ordinary. It was also only accessible from the stairs connected to the rest of the house, and my grandma would’ve noticed a man entering/leaving the basement. After that, my mom and aunt refused to play down there.
  My grandma never did find out what really happened, and neither my mom nor aunt remember it. © bellagoth / Reddit

• My boyfriend went camping with friends once. As his friends went to bed one by one, he became the last one at the fire. He said he got the distinct feeling that someone was watching him, which struck him as odd since he’s an avid camper and not easily unnerved. Despite this, the unease prompted him to put out the fire and sleep in his car with the doors locked.
  He fell asleep, and in the middle of the night, a loud noise woke him up. Uncertain of its origin, as he had been sleeping and didn’t hear anything else, he stayed in the car in the pitch-black darkness. The next morning, he woke up to a startling discovery — a big handprint on his passenger side window, as if someone had smacked the glass. His friends insisted it wasn’t them, and I believe them; they’re not the type to prank each other like that. It still freaks me out, and I think about it sometimes when I camp now. © limpbisquick123 / Reddit

Despite our aversion to unpleasant emotions, we all encounter uncomfortable situations from time to time. Discovering a disconcerting secret about a family member or a loved one can be one of the most challenging things to confront, and the people in this article have firsthand experience with this difficulty.