16 Stories That Prove the Night Has Its Own Strange Magic

There are words after which something ordinary rarely happens. And they are: “I woke up in the middle of the night...” Hundreds of stories start with these words, from mystical to incredibly funny. Some people hear strange conversations, some get scared of their own shadow, and others go to get a drink of water and stumble into an incredible adventure. We put together the most amusing stories — the kind that can be retold for years like a joke.

• I make custom desserts to order. Recently, a girl ordered a cake for her boyfriend’s birthday. We spent a good hour deciding on the filling and decoration. It turned out expensive. But she, without bargaining, sent over the full amount. I bought everything needed and got to work. The cake was complicated, with lots of details, and it took a lot of effort. Especially the swirly lettering: “I love you, Roman!” I finished, went to bed. But I couldn’t calm down — it felt like something was off. And then it hit me in the middle of the night — I ran to read our messages, and sure enough, her boyfriend’s name was Ray, where did I get Roman from? I spent the rest of the night redoing the inscription, barely made it in time.
• When our son was 1 year old, a friend gave him an electric play desk, he could push buttons and do this and that and it would make ringing and beeping noises, and talk to him, “Hi! Are you my friend? Let’s play!” He loved it and played with it all day, we had to take it away and put it in our bedroom so he would go to bed. In the middle of the night this perky voice suddenly screams out, “Do you want to play?” also waking him up. © ThaneOfCawdorrr / Reddit

• I once woke up because someone was stepping on me. At first, I didn’t pay much attention to it because I wanted to sleep more than wake up, but the loud, drawn-out, piercing sounds made me lift my head. It was my cheeky cat, who for some reason decided to wake me up in the middle of the night. I realized he wanted to lead me somewhere. I had to follow. Do you know where he led me? To his litter box! He showed me he did his business, “boasting.” I’m sure if he could speak, he’d say, “Look. I did it!” © Not everyone will understand / VK
• I woke up, quickly got ready to head to the university. I’m standing at the bus stop, realizing: why do I need a bus? I have a car! I went back to the yard, got in the car, and thought: what university? I need to go to work! What am I doing in the car at 2 a.m.? I’m almost 40 years old, I dropped out of university 20 years ago! Ugh, I had another dream about a university exam. And it felt so real! © Ward No. 6 / VK
• I woke up very early one morning because I thought that I had heard the doorbell ring. I looked at the clock and it was exactly 3 a.m. I really did not want to go downstairs to check the front door so I listened for a little while, thinking that if someone was at the door, they’d ring or knock again. Nothing happened so I drifted off to sleep again. When we were up in the morning having breakfast, I told my partner and kids about waking up at precisely 3 a.m. thinking the doorbell had rang. We had a chuckle about it and that was that. Later in the day I remembered this again and decided to check the security footage of the front door, just to humor myself. At precisely the 3 a.m. mark, a fox walked up to the front door, stood there for a few seconds, and then walked out of view again. © dr_stevious / Reddit

• One weekend night, I was up late watching a series. Around 3 a.m., I remembered it was my friend’s birthday. Knowing that my friend has a sense of humor and wouldn’t be offended, I decided to call him right away to congratulate him. I called, but he didn’t answer. I thought, well, okay. The next night, as I’m sleeping, the phone rings exactly at 3 a.m. I pick up, and my friend asks, “Why did you call?” © klayan / Pikabu
• My friends asked me to keep their cat while they were on vacation. I agreed, but only after confirming that the cat wouldn’t make a mess or disturb me. My friends assured me that it’s the calmest cat in the world, sleeping almost all day. After a week living with the cat, I can authoritatively state — it does sleep most of the day. But when it’s not sleeping, it manages to wake me up. It hunted a curtain so vigorously that it brought it down with the rod, which landed on my head. It happened at 3 a.m. The next day at 5 a.m., the cat came, said “Meow” right into my ear, and left. Every day he makes a new antic that disturbs my sleep. And my friends, on their vacation, are barely in touch. Maybe they’re catching up on sleep while the cat’s away. © Ne vse poimut / VK
• I woke up in the middle of the night from a tickle. I thought it was a hair. But no. It was a spider. No, a huge spider! Crawling across my face! Ahhh! My scream must have chilled the blood of all the neighbors. I stood in the hallway for half an hour while my sleepy husband was catching it. And the next day, my husband presented me with an iguana. Within a couple of weeks, our apartment was fully cleared of all 6-legged creatures. My very own reptilian bodyguard. © Overheard Among Girls / VK

• As a child, I watched my grandfather and was amazed at his ability to fall asleep in unusual places. He could nod off in a chair for a couple of hours, fall asleep outside right in the gazebo, and sometimes when he came home from work, he could pass out right at the table. Back then, it amazed me, but now I’m 25, I work every day, and I get very tired. Yesterday, I came home from work, was very tired, thought I’d wash up, have dinner, and hit the sack. My dog met me, I sat down right next to her pillow to pet her for a couple of minutes, but ended up passing out right there. I woke up in the middle of the night in my work clothes, sleeping on the dog’s pillow, while she had gone to sleep on my bed. © Palata 6 / VK
• When my son was about 3 years old, he came to me in the middle of the night to wake me and asked if he could sleep with me because he was scared to sleep alone. Of course, I moved over and, hugging him, fell asleep. After a while, he woke me up again and said, “Mom, can I go back to my bed to sleep because you snore so loud that I get even more scared.” © ***Bear / Pikabu
• My husband and I woke up at 4 a.m. to what sounded like banging and rummaging around downstairs in our living room. We have no pets and both kids were completely zonked out. He grabbed the baseball bat that he keeps by his side of the bed and walked down the stairs. I had 911 up on my phone and was going to hit call if anything happened. He walked into the living room and saw it. It was the fricking knock-off Roomba vacuum cleaner I’d given to him for his birthday the day before. It turned on for some reason and was just cleaning our floors. © Animateddollface / Reddit

• Woke up to shouting from the yard. I decided to peek out to see who was having such a heated argument. There were 2 elderly ladies. One was shouting, “Don’t touch him, he’s mine!” The other one replied, “He spent the night at my place, ate my food, slept in my bed!” I thought, wow, these grandmas are killing it! Then I looked closer, and between them there was a big, well-groomed cat. So, that’s what all the fuss was about.
• I stayed over at a girl’s place for the first time. In the middle of the night, I decided to go to the kitchen. I walk in, open the fridge, grab a pot, and suddenly hear a raspy voice from somewhere behind me: “Hey! What are you munching on here?” I turn around and see a huge parrot in the cage, repeating, “Munching, munching.” The girl is standing in the hallway, laughing. Apparently, life with her will be funny. © Overheard / Ideer

• Recently, I woke up in the middle of the night laughing, it was such a funny dream. While I went to the bathroom, I replayed it in my head not to forget. I got back into bed and, giggling, remembered it in every little detail. I then decided that I must write it down in the morning because you could easily make a movie or write a book out of a dream like this. I fell asleep snickering, as it was really hilarious. On the way to work in the morning, I remembered the dream, here it is: “A man is standing by the stream in the city park, crying. Girls approach him and ask what happened, and he offers them to drink some water. He planned it all just to flirt with them.” That’s it. © teri888 / Pikabu
• I hadn’t slept for 2 days. First, my 4-year-old had a fever, then I had to send my husband on a business trip at night as the train was early in the morning. While we were playing with the child on the floor in the living room, I passed out. I don’t even remember how it happened. When I woke up, I was still lying on the rug in the living room, covered with a blanket and socks on my feet, while my son was building with blocks and eating a banana. Apparently, I slept like that for an hour and a half. My son said he knew how tired I was, so he didn’t wake me. He even covered me and put on socks so I wouldn’t get cold. I truly have a golden child. © Not everyone will understand / VK
• Voices in my living room. At first, I just knew I’d heard a noise, and then I heard voices. My heart went straight through the bottoms of my feet. I got up and went to my bedroom door, meaning to go out and investigate, before I recognized voices. Then I realized there was light in the living room. And then I heard, distinctly, Stan’s voice say, “No, grandpa, I’m not going to kill you!” My cats stepped on the remote. South Park was playing on my TV. I hide the remote before bed now. And that episode is embedded in my brain. © cianne_marie / Reddit

And here are mystery stories that sound like a plot for a bestseller.