12 People Who Faced a Truly Disturbing Reality

For certain people, the eerie sensation that horror movies or chilling novels evoke isn’t necessary; they’ve encountered disturbing events in real life. While some of these unsettling memories can be explained logically, others defy conventional understanding, testing the boundaries of what we perceive as real. Today, we bring you a collection of true stories that will undoubtedly leave you in a state of bewilderment.

• My fiancé was tense and avoiding driving me home. He finally relented after I insisted. As I got into his car, there was this really foul and putrid smell. When he stopped at the gas station, I got out and threw up when I noticed slimy green liquid leaking from the trunk.
  Petrified, I later discovered there were cases of rotten broccoli in there. In fact, my boyfriend’s dad sells vegetables at the market, and some time ago, he had borrowed his car and forgotten the vegetables there. With the heat, they turned mushy and decomposed, starting to leak and stink.
  He was so embarrassed when he discovered it that same day and was planning to get the car cleaned, which is why he avoided taking me home.

• At 3:00 AM, I noticed someone walking in the hallway toward my bedroom. My bedroom door was open, and I saw the shadow through the gap in the door. Terrified, I watched as they quietly walked into my bedroom.
  But as they entered, I realized it was just a birthday balloon that had been on the ceiling for three months prior. It was deflated enough to hover and was slowly moving into my bedroom due to the airflow from my fan. © RollerDerby88 / Reddit

• When I was younger, probably around 14 years old, I was playing hide and seek with my little brother, who was about 4 years old at the time. I was hiding, and he was taking quite a while to find me. I had chosen to hide in his room, which was right next to mine.
  Suddenly, he comes running into his room, where I’m hiding, and goes straight to my hiding spot. Surprised, I asked him, ’’How did you know where I was?’’ He responded, ’’The man in your mirror told me where you were hiding.’’ © emersonc1998 / Reddit

• While wild camping in the middle of a dense forest, I was abruptly awakened around 2 am by the sound of a girl crying not too far away. Unsure of what to do, I waited anxiously. She continued crying for about 15 minutes, then I heard a guy say, “Oh, come on now, let’s go home.” After that, there was silence. It really scared me. © Unknown author / Reddit

• I was going to the bathroom, everything’s normal, I’m just on my phone, then I look over to the door and there’s a spider. It’s not big, but it’s not small, just a normal spider. But I have arachnophobia.
  And my parents aren’t coming home for at least half an hour. I didn’t move that entire time, I just sat there staring at it and crying. Luckily, I didn’t die. © thebuzzhut / Reddit

• My parents’ house is over a hundred years old. When I was in high school, I would get friends together, and we would hang out and “ghost hunt.” Usually, nothing ever happened, but one night, we were there by ourselves.
  No lights on, no TV on, dead quiet. We left a digital camera in the hallway, recording for sound. When we played back the recording, we could clearly hear someone talking. We still have no idea what it was, but that house has always felt off. © blandersblenders1 / Reddit

• One night a couple of years ago, I was in bed with my cat asleep at my feet. I was on my phone browsing Reddit when out of nowhere, he woke up, stood up, and turned to the doorway (which was closed). Then he arched his back and started hissing and growling, that creepy low-pitched meow cats do.
  He was staring at the doorway, at eye level if a person were standing there. He did that for a couple of minutes, then he just suddenly stopped and went back to sleep next to me as if nothing had happened. I was freaked out and couldn’t sleep for the rest of the night. © xyz66 / Reddit

• I was 15 years old, home alone, when I very clearly heard the sound of a child laughing and running on a hard-surfaced floor throughout the house.
  A one-story house, all floors, including the kitchen area, were carpeted. © charrarenottrout / Reddit

• When I was 15, my parents went away for a weekend. I had gone to sleep but was woken up by strange noises of voices. I came downstairs to find the TV on static with the volume at maximum, a radio tuned to a late-night talk show, the oven manually turned on, and the fridge open. All doors and windows were locked, yet I still can’t explain it. I didn’t sleep a wink all night. © zealousmemelord / Reddit

• I was camping in northern Michigan with a few friends. We set up some tents by a river branch down there. Probably 2 hours or so before sunset, everything goes quiet except for the river for around 30 odd seconds.
  During that time, I could hear whistling a way off across the river. It was the tensest moment of my life. It’s hard to describe why it affected me so much, but my mates and I never went back that way. © LosParanoia / Reddit

• I worked as a receptionist between 2013 and 2015 in a hotel whose owner would close it during the low season, but always kept me there to keep an eye on the place. For some reason, in the middle of the room area, there was an indoor garden with some trees.
  One night when I got there, I heard a noise from that area and went there without turning the lights on. The small trees were shaking as if someone was playing on them. I got close to the branches and they kept moving. I stood there for a while and saw nobody but me. I ended up ignoring it and went to the reception.
  There were also some other weird episodes in the same hotel. © W**zitec / Reddit

• I was driving home on a dark, country road when two cars suddenly turned their lights on, blocking the road ahead. I stopped a ways away, noticing two guys standing in the lights. I quickly flipped my car around and sped off towards the police station. As I drove, I realized that someone was following me with their lights off. © Unknown author / Reddit

Similar to fear, disgust is a feeling we instinctively recoil from. In this article, you’ll find a series of profoundly cringeworthy scenarios that expertly combine the sensations of unease and revulsion.