12 Real Stories That Still Torment People to This Day

In our quest to understand unexplainable situations from our past, there are some memories that just leave us terrified. The Internet is where folks share their creepy and strange experiences that really freak them out. The stories here might sound like something from a thriller book, but they’re true events, according to regular people who share them.

• When I was a kid, I woke up in the middle of the night to my bed shaking. Normally, that would scare me, but instead, I was just kind of annoyed. I rolled over and muttered, “Stop it.”
  The shaking stopped immediately. But what happened next is what left me petrified: a deep male voice right beside me calmly said, “Sorry.” I’m pretty sure my childhood house was haunted. © NinaLaPirat / Reddit

• I was about 12 years old, watching my little brother while my parents were out at work. I went to get something from the garage, and I heard a whisper that said, “Come here.” I freaked out and grabbed my brother, rushing upstairs to our room to call my neighbor. We checked the house, and there was nothing. Eventually, I realized I was being foolish, although the memory still creeps me out to this day. © RizKoale / Reddit

• I was probably 6 or 7. I had one of those old school day beds with the shiny golden knobs on the ends. My cats were with my mom, who was in the hallway on the phone with my dad overseas.
  Lying in my bed, I looked at my reflection in the bed knob. I had a night light, so I could just barely see. As I gazed into the reflection, behind me, I saw a figure climb up over the end of the bed. I watched the figure reach out toward my ankle and open its hand as if to grab me.
  At that moment, I turned to look, and there was nothing there. Thoroughly freaked out, I jumped out of bed, flipped on the lights, and started to search my bedroom. Nothing. I went out to the hallway, and there were the cats with my mom. I slept in my mom’s bed for the next two weeks until my dad got back. I still won’t look into mirrors at night and prefer a nightlight to this day. © chefstinky / Reddit

• When I was 14, I would wake up in the middle of the night and feel my dad’s presence in my room. I could even kind of see him in that way you see ghosts, blurry and out of the corner of your eye.
  The thing is, my dad wasn’t dead and is still very much alive. Every time it happened, I would hear him say, “I’m leaving,” and then the sound of the fence closing and a car speeding away. This happened about 3 times between October and December 2000. My dad did leave us in February 2001.
  It stopped about a week before he told us he was leaving. © ScifiGirl1986 / Reddit

• I’ve had a bunch of encounters, some with what look like ghosts and others that seem like they could be from another world. The scariest thing that ever happened to me occurred around 2 am when I was just trying to sleep and browsing through Tumblr.
  I saw a shady-looking arm try to grab my leg. When I went to the edge of the bed to see what it was, my vision became blurry. At that moment, I just said, “Forget that, I don’t wanna see what that was.” Whatever it was, it messed with my sight so it could leave. © Adrnrmo / Reddit

• The night my father-in-law passed away, my husband and I stayed with my mother-in-law so she wouldn’t be alone. The room we stayed in had a rocking chair in the corner, which had been placed there recently. We went to sleep, and at some point, I remember waking up facing the rocking chair and seeing my father-in-law rocking back and forth, just watching us sleep with a sweet smile on his face.
  Then I realized I was still sleeping and dreaming, but I was floating above the bed, watching my father-in-law watch us sleep. It felt like an out-of-body experience, except it was so real, not at all like a dream. I felt completely calm and at peace, too. © twittlez / Reddit

• Nighttime. Sitting in the other room when I heard a familiar clicking sound of the stereo being turned on. I went to the room it was in, and as I stood in the doorway, I watched as it turned itself up rapidly to full blast. It was the type that had the dial you had to twist to turn up and had the digital display of the numbers as you did.
  It happened a few other times. Only at night. Only when no one else was around. I would wait for it to finish. © AeternumNoctem / Reddit

• Right out of high school, I moved in with my sister and grandfather to take care of my grandfather and my sister’s child. My nephew was very attached to my grandpa. After my grandfather died a few months after I moved in, my nephew stopped babbling the same way he did with my grandfather (nephew was 6 months at the time).
  Late at night, my nephew would often leave whatever room he was in and toddle out, babbling like he did at grandpa. He would always then go to the same spot in the front living room, look up at something that wasn’t there, and try to give it toys to play with. One day he turned to me when I went to gather him and said, “Papa bye-bye” and proceeded to wave in the direction he was always talking. He never did it after that. © Colt3792 / Reddit

• I lived downtown in a basement apartment, and they used those window-type blocks to frame the bathroom door, allowing enough light to come through to see by.
  One night, I woke up and noticed my boyfriend standing at the end of the bed near the bathroom door. I propped myself up on my elbows and waited a few seconds. He didn’t move, so I told him to come back to bed and then rolled over to fall back asleep. I promptly sat bolt upright when I realized my boyfriend hadn’t stayed over that night, and I was alone; the figure was gone. © stella_the_diver / Reddit

• I had a fever very often when I was young. The medicines didn’t help. One day, a stranger on the street asked my mom if I was always sick and who was the elderly person following me. My mom was confused as there was no elderly person nearby.
  The stranger pointed into the air and described my deceased paternal grandmother’s appearance, including her hairstyle and the clothes she wore to her grave.
  My dad was from a different town, and my mom would have known if the stranger was a mutual friend. The stranger instructed my dad to call my grandmother to go back.
  My mysterious fevers stopped. © Reddit-Loves-Me / Reddit

• I was at a hotel in Greece, sharing a room with my brother. I was staring at my bedpost when I saw a white light flash across it. Initially, I ignored the light, thinking it was my brother’s phone.
  Then I saw it again. I looked over to my brother’s bed, and it was clear that he was not using his phone. The TV was off, the blinds of our one window were closed, and outside, there was a forest. To this day, I still can’t conceive of where that light came from. © NathanielKampeas / Reddit

• A friend of mine was taking a shower in her dorm room one night. The building where her dorm was located is around 100 years old, and a lot of creepy stuff has happened over the past decades. As my friend is showering, out of nowhere... BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!!
  The door sounded like it was going to break down. While the banging was still going on, my friend jumped out of the shower, ripped open the door to find nothing but her empty room. The door to her dorm was locked too. © Unknown user / Reddit

Stories that unsettle us frequently emerge from our little ones, who recount tales of their supposed “previous lives.” While we can never validate the accuracy of these narratives, they can leave us bewildered or even scared. The stories in this article are bound to make a significant impression, and even altering your perspective.