17 Stories That Won’t Let You Stop Reading Until You Get to the Ending

People nowadays prefer to binge-watch and finish a series right away, rather than take their time watching the show. According to a psychiatrist, we are more likely to binge-watch when we are drawn to the plot and when we get attached to the characters. The same logic applies to real-life accounts as well. Sometimes, we come across engaging stories shared by real people, and our minds refuse to rest until our questions are answered, and we know how their tales end.

So be ready to go on a “binge-read,” Bright Side prepared 17 mysterious (and true-to-life) stories, with plots that will keep you at the edge of your seat until you finally reach the narrative’s ending.

• I had a bunch of old furniture in my room. My bed was made in the twenties and my dresser was made in the fifties. My mother knew this little girl who would visit us during the weekend. We got her a small toy that was like a cash register, and it made this jingle when you pressed the scanner. When she got older, she outgrew the toy, and it was eventually pushed under my bed and forgotten. Whenever I slammed onto my bed, that jingle came on. Eventually, I forgot about it and I believe the batteries died.
  Fast-forward to many years later, I cleaned out my room after ordering some furniture. I eventually got to that cash register toy and tried it out... it didn’t work. I threw it in the trash bag, took it outside, and threw it away into the bin. Then the jingle rang from within the bin. Freaked me out a bit, but maybe the button was pressed, and the batteries gave their last charge. A couple of days before my furniture arrived, I decided, “One last body slam onto the old bed to give it a proper farewell.” I went airborne and landed on the bed with all my weight and velocity. Then the jingle rings. I stopped jumping on any beds since. — © cbarnes15 / Reddit

• I was alone upstairs in a house, 2-3 years ago. My elder sister arrived, bearing our little sister. I was probably too lazy to fetch something, so I called her from across the room. Before exiting the room, she walked up to the mirror and stood still without responding to me. I followed her out of the room as she went at a slow pace. But suddenly, she was nowhere to be found. I dashed downstairs and found out that my elder sister was showering. And my younger sister was downstairs too, playing with her toys. — © SaudiPhilippines / Reddit

• When I was 5, I received 2 porcelain princess dolls — Cinderella and Snow White. I was told that they were thrifted pieces, which made me feel even luckier having them. But that changed over time. Weird things went on in my home, there were weird tapping noises at night, and I felt very anxious randomly. At the age of 10, those dolls were still in mint condition. But going near them made me feel sick.
  At 12 years old, we moved to our new home. I went to my room to chill out, and as soon as I walked through that door, Cinderella whipped her head in my direction. My heart sank. I froze before I ran away. I know what I saw that day, that doll moved. When I went back to that room, her head was still facing the doorway. I knew “I would NOT survive this horror movie,” and threw them both out in secret as soon as I could. The negative energy was repelled after that. — © unlessitsillegal / Reddit

• One summer day, I decided to wear my hair down. Long hair should be worn in a bun, as per work requirements. But for some reason, I decided to do my hair at work that day. I got on my bike and reached a stoplight. It turned green and just as I was pushing down on my pedal, there was a gust of wind from behind. My hair almost wrapped itself around my face. I couldn’t see anything, so I put my foot back on the ground and started wiping the hair out of my face.
  Right at that moment, a minivan sped by. I was scared. I looked up and saw a bright blue sky, there was also no wind, not even a soft breeze. What a coincidence that at just the right time, there was a strong wind that only lasted seconds, and it was from behind, and that I wore my hair down that day. — © Beautiful-Spicy / Reddit

• One day, I was sitting in the back room of my house, and I was on my laptop. My older brother was upstairs taking a shower. All of a sudden, I hear my mom open the front door and say something like, “Hello, I’m home,” like she usually does. My brother hears this too and goes down the stairs to say, “Hi.” I hear this and come over, and soon I realize that our mom is not home. She never got home. We both heard the same thing, but it was all in our heads. This spooked us, and we told our mom when she got home. We all agreed that it was the weirdest thing, especially because 2 people heard it, not one. — © ViscousFluid / Reddit

• When I was about 11, I was home alone at night. I was walking from the kitchen to the stairway to head upstairs, and along the way, I had to pass the front door, which had windows on either side of it. As I was about to climb the stairs, there was a violent pounding on the front door (which was locked). I turned around to see a man outside, pounding very forcefully and angrily on the door. He was wearing a black ski mask.
  To this day, I honestly cannot explain my behavior, but I just looked at him for a moment, and he looked at me, and then I slowly walked up the stairs as though nothing had happened. I didn’t feel scared, just indifferent, like I knew nothing would come of it. The pounding stopped shortly after, and I never even told my parents about this when they got home. — © inkyfang / Reddit

• I was in a marketplace of a foreign country, where the majority of foreigners do not speak the local language (but I do). As I walked through, I noticed this old man staring at me in the weirdest way, and I found myself having to confront him. He spoke to me in the local language (I have no idea how he knew that I spoke it as a foreigner) and told me my nationality and the exact city I was from. I said okay, that’s a lucky guess.
  However, when he told me which neighborhood I’m from, that’s when my heart started to sink. He was also able to tell me about a landmark right next to my house. Then he handed me 3 small wicked eye beads and told me it was a gift from him. I tried to offer to pay for them, but he very firmly refused and swiftly walked away. — © fire-hydrant-** / Reddit

• We stayed at an aunt’s supposedly haunted pub. My dad was sitting outside for a cup of coffee with my uncle. They were chatting when they looked up to my dad’s room and saw my mother, who was waving at them. What they saw in the background was the chandelier swinging around, as if someone was swinging from it. When my mom came down from the room, she said she never saw it move. — © pickin*** / Reddit

• I would take the metro from work at night and cut through a park on my way back to my apartment. One night, I was walking through the park, like usual. Usually, I’m the only one there, or there’s another commuter walking home with me. This time, a guy walks out of the shadows and walks about 15 meters behind me. I figured he had just gone to piss in the bushes. So I’m walking along, and I realize this guy is now about 5 meters behind me. He’s matching my pace. I go to cross the street a couple of blocks away, and when I turn to see if there’s a car coming, I see he’s even closer to me. He crosses with me and starts walking faster to keep up as I speed up my pace. He’s definitely following me.
  So as I’m nearing my apartment, I’m realizing I don’t want this guy to know where I live. So I stop, pull out my knife, and turn around. We make eye contact. Neither of us says a word. He doesn’t look scared, but he looks surprised. I turn back around and keep walking. He turns left at the very next intersection. To this day, I don’t know if I saved myself from a mugger, or if I just scared some random poor guy. — © mm1029 / Reddit

• I was an editor and stayed overnight to finish work. I’m on the second floor of a 30-story building. Half of the floor is editing suites, and the rest is rented out to various businesses, including an office of a psychiatrist. At around 3:00 a.m., I hear the elevator bing down the hallway. I KNEW that the entire building (except for the nineteenth floor) was empty. There wasn’t even anyone at the front desk — you had to swipe in with a key card at 2 doors in the lobby. I slide the door quietly and stick my head out of the office. Nothing. I lock the door, put my giant headphones on and get back to work.
  At some point, I must have fallen asleep because at around 5:30 a.m., loud knocking woke me up. I open the door and see the building manager and a cop. I walk out into the hallway and see more cops. They ask if I saw or heard anything, and I say no. The manager told me that someone broke into the building, somehow bypassing the 2 doors downstairs that required a key card, broke into the psychiatrist’s office, and stole files on 3 patients. I ended up leaving that place several months later. — © imarrangingmatches / Reddit

• When I was about 19, I worked in a bar. Several of the customers would ask me how I was always there when I also worked at the casino. I always told them: No, I don’t work at the casino, that’s someone else. A few people didn’t believe me, but I didn’t press the issue because I honestly felt annoyed at the idea that someone looked exactly like me. A few years later, someone sent me someone’s Instagram. It was definitely the guy. Not only did he look like me, it was me. But he was wearing things I didn’t own, doing things I hadn’t done. It felt violating. At the time, I was in a gay relationship with a slightly older guy... and, of course, so was he. His boyfriend looked very similar to mine, but not identical in the way I was to my imposter. — © raignermontag / Reddit

• My friend (let’s call her Annie) recently moved to New York for a new job and was able to find an apartment that was surprisingly affordable. One day, I got a call from her, and she sounded terrified. She was shaken by what was happening in her apartment (weird sounds, cold temperature in the dead of summer, things getting misplaced, etc.). Her apartment is directly in front of the elevator, which in some beliefs, is bad for the energy of her place. I was concerned and told her to sleep over at a friend’s for a few days and to hang an 8-sided charm above her door.
  A few days later, I got a call from her, crying hysterically. She had done what I prescribed, but when she walked back into her apartment, the charm had been placed squarely in the middle of the room and was smashed neatly into pieces. A couple of her plates were also smashed in the kitchen. Being a smart woman, she picked up her stuff and moved out that very day. Since then, nothing else has happened to her. — © michellemustudy / Reddit

• A few years ago, I went with some friends to pick up beverages for a birthday party. We were walking along a usually busy main road, but it was really late. On the way back, I just had this feeling of being followed, you know, when you keep turning around. I kept hearing footsteps and the bushes on the side of the road kept moving. My friend heard it too, and then this guy just steps out of the bushes behind us with a full-on meat cleaver in his hands. I genuinely thought we were screwed, my heart has never raced so fast. He was waving this huge cleaver in our faces, and asking if we had been robbing houses, and getting more and more irate. We said no, and then he just calmly started telling us about how his ex-wife’s house was broken into, and just walked away. It was the weirdest thing, and we have never run so fast! — © SeaworthinessNo3132 / Reddit

• I was studying late at the library, until maybe 2 a.m., and was walking home on Friday the thirteenth. To get to my apartment, I have to get to a road that passes under the railway. As I turn, the streetlight above me goes out. Then the next streetlight goes out while I’m under it, too. Then the next. As I reach the middle of the block, all of the streetlights in front of me go out. But the first one turns back on.
  Drawn by the light, I turn around and look. Standing directly under the light is a figure, wearing a hoodie and dark pants. Behind me, the streetlight on the other end of the block turns on, and I turn to glance at the light. The figure is now standing there, about 500 yards from the first streetlight. Now I’m pretty freaked out. The figure slowly looks up, and the hood looks empty. I try to say “Hello!” but the figure turns and walks into the woody area. I can see the hoodie for a little while, then it’s gone. All of the streetlights on the block (about 10) turn back on all at once. I ran home. — © thereprbate / Reddit

• When I was 4 or 5 years old, I always insisted on waiting for my mom in front of the building we lived in, which was located near a factory. My nanny always held my hand tightly to prevent me from running toward the street, since the factory always had trucks coming and going. That day, she got distracted talking to a neighbor, and apparently, I saw my mom across the street and decided to run towards her...as a truck was approaching.
  I let go of the nanny’s hand and ran, and my mother said she closed her eyes and screamed because a truck was so close by that there was no way someone could save me. When she opened her eyes, I was standing next to her, confused as to why she was crying and shaking. The truck driver got out, screaming and looking for me under the truck because he was certain he had hit me. My mom asked me what happened, and I simply said, “A lady helped me cross the street,” and I pointed to that said lady, but there was no one there. — © throwaway418603 / Reddit

Do you also have a personal story with heart-thumping twists and turns? Share them in the comments below.