Why watch horror movies if life can provide you with ample amounts of it?
Being disconnected from the pathos and ethos and all of the other -thoses of fiction takes away the main thing that makes horror... well, horror. And that is the sense of impending doom.
Nothing really gets the blood flowing and the adrenaline pumping quite like understanding just how thin the line between life and anything that is even remotely the opposite of it in a horror scenario really is.
Folks on Reddit have been sharing stories of true horror, one where their own or someone else's livelihood depended on it. Keep scrolling to experience true horror.
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#1
I had a scene straight outta horror movie play out for me a couple years ago. I was sitting out back with my friend when I see my neighbor in his house, we meet eyes, I wave, he waves, only one problem - that wasn't my neighbor - I tell my friend we gotta go inside, NOW. We turn the lights off and lock the doors, then I shoot my neighbor a text asking if he has any guests, he says no, so I call the cops, my neighbor calls as well.Guy was still there when the cops arrived. Apparently he was dumb enough to think I didn't recognize he wasn't my neighbor.
Image credits: Playingpokerwithgod
#2
One random night in middle school I woke up and had the odd feeling that something or someone was present in the house and coming towards my room. I was scared so I closed my eyes to pretend to be asleep. I could faintly hear something come in my room and it felt like someone was standing over me, looking to make sure I was asleep. I laid on my back, eyes shut, until the feeling passed, and ended up falling asleep.I woke up in the morning to find out that our house was robbed.
Image credits: ThatOtherOtherGuy3
#3
My boyfriend in college sat bolt upright in his sleep and said “don’t look, if you make eye contact with it, it will [end] us both.” Then he fell back down, still asleep. Damn near peed myself.
Image credits: Physical_Stress_5683
#4
Used to have a job inspecting bank owned foreclosed homes. I had a house in East Cleveland, OH to inspect that was a huge old mansion but completely abandoned for years and utterly trashed. I had to inspect and photograph every room, looking for any damage. Basically the entire house was damaged, holes punched in walls, trash everywhere, mold, used needles, feces etc.So I get to the basement which was mostly unfinished, and there is one door all the way at the other end. I swear I hear music playing. I open the door and there’s a perfectly preserved office with high end stained wood judges paneling on the walls, a plaster ceiling, and fancy old carpeting all in perfect condition. In the center of the room is a huge old bankers style desk with a huge leather office chair behind it. On the desk is an old fashioned radio from probably the 1950s or so and it is playing some AM radio station with big band music on. There’s the radio playing and a lamp turned on in the room, and as far as I knew the house was supposed to not have power turned on.
I got this overwhelming sense that I shouldn’t be there, was sufficiently creeped out and left. To this day that whole situation just weirds me out.
Image credits: Itsnotajeepthing
#5
When i was about 12 I was sleeping on my trampoline with a friend and we heard the bushes move behind us and flashed our flashlight to the bushes and a mountain lion was laying there stalking us, I have never ran so fast in my life.
Image credits: Fortherecord87
#6
When I was serving my time as an engineer in the merchant navy we used to have to clean out what are called "sea chests"; they're basically big filters for sea water that we would pump in to use as coolant and if the pumps were on when we were dock side we'd find all sorts of things like bottles, fish, crabs etc.One day we opened up the chest, pulled out the filter and immediately saw this gold shiny thing which turned out to be a rolex watch. Usually we'd just dump out the filter but with the mitigating circumstances we went through it thoroughly and found a piece of a shirt with cufflink still attached and last but not least a nicely rotted finger.
The police ended up closing off the dock and dredging it but never found anything on the end.
Image credits: MarkyBhoy101
#7
When I was probably 15 I went kayaking with some friends. We came across what looked like a log in the water. There were some people on shore that were waving us over saying someone was probably trapped under the canoe.They used one of our kayaks to go out and look. There was a kid only a few years older then us that had gotten wrapped up in some rope when the canoe turned over. He didn’t make it. They found his dad a few days later. Also didn’t make it.
That image I will never get out of my mind.
Image credits: kitkatrampage
#8
When my daughter was 5 years old. She woke up crying and as I was carrying her out of her room she said mammy dont touch the lady she at the door but can you give her some bread she is very hungry. Found out later the house were built on ground that used as mass grave to bury people that died in the Irish famine.
Image credits: sheeba10
#9
I grew up somewhere very rural - no streetlights and far away from any town with them. At night it was DARK. My bedroom door also never closed properly - you could latch it but it would pop open if you pushed the door lightly.One night I woke up suddenly, without knowing why. As my mind tried to make sense of things I looked to my left, towards the bedroom door - I could see the outline of a figure. In the tiny amount of predawn light I could just see a white shape, long dark hair hanging down and sunken eyes. I could also hear it breathing.
After a few seconds of absolute mind bending horror, where I literally felt every hair stand on end it took a step into my room, out of the dark hallway. The hallway had no windows, so my room was slightly lighter. The change of the light also changed the face slightly - I could see it more clearly.
I saw that it was in fact my mother's face and she was sleep walking. She very occasionally did - and also had a lot of other sleep problems, including very vivid nightmares.
She quickly left and went back to bed - fortunately for my own sanity I never saw her sleepwalk again.
Image credits: mordenty
#10
Well dressed 50 something business dude on a quiet Chicago L train reading a Wall Street Journal. Pretty woman with long curly hair dozing in the seat in front of him, her hair dangling behind the seat. The guy is rubbing and playing with her hair while reading his paper so I figure she's his wife or girlfriend who just wanted some space to nap. He is now intently rubbing and fondling her hair and not reading anymore. Suddenly she snaps awake and pulls in her hair like a bug was in it or something. She gets off at the next stop, he continues reading. They didn't know each other at all.
Image credits: mtzuker
#11
Was working in a restaurant. Nice place.That night we held a charity dinner for a "youth in need" type of house.
The guy representing the house, a worker there, was such a nice and kind man. Every teen there was only saying nice thing of him. A good soul, that was giving every thing he could for these teens.
At one point they gave a big cheque for the charity. I must guess an ammount they rarely received.
Well under the excitement, that poor man had a cardiac arrest. Dropped there on the stage, cheque in hand.
He could'nt be brought back. He died.
Seeing this was already bad enough, but the kids every where in the restaurant screaming and crying for hours after.... haunting.
Image credits: Agronut
#12
I once saw an old guy follow a young girl on the street and clearly staring at her butt, so as anyone would, I clear my throat real hard, the girl looked behind her and the guy noticed he'd been seen and went away
Image credits: HlTLERS_HIDDEN_CHILD
#13
I was hiking a little outside of Vancouver in a densely wooded area known to have many cougars (mountain lions). I had my dog with me, who was a huge, tall thing, part Irish wolfhound and fiercely loyal. We had been hiking for about an hour and were far enough back by then that we hadn't seen anyone else in quite some time. I stopped at a log to take a short break. We'd been sitting there for about 5 minutes when my dog goes stiff, hackles up, and starts growling while staring into the dense brush. I stare into the woods, but can't see anything at all. It's gone quite though, that kind of eerie silence the forest takes on sometimes. The dog is still growling, looking at a spot about 6 feet off the ground. I decide it's time to get out of there and take up a quick pace back the way we came. The dog lets me get a bit ahead, then stops growling and follows me. He's anxious though and keeps stopping to check behind us. We get about 15 minutes down the path when the dog stops again, facing the woods along the path, and barks a sharp 3 or 4 times, then resumes growling intensely. I keep moving and he sort of stiff legged walks a few steps, stops and growls, catches up to me, walks a few more steps growling, etc. He occasionally barks. I can not for the life of me see anything in the woods. No movement, no animals, nothing.The whole hike back goes like that. I never see a thing. Once we reached a bridge, and more people, my dog finally relaxes and stops growling/barking, but he's still keen to get out of there.
I've always assumed it was a cougar stalking us, we never went back there.
Image credits: flippantcedar
#14
I set a mousetrap in a cupboard in my house and caught a mouse. Next to the mouse was a tiny mouse-sized pair of elastic-waisted trousers. The trousers were not there when I set the trap.The only person who could have put the trousers there was my wife, but I am convinced she didn't. Not only was she unaware that I'd set a trap there, but she was genuinely upset and disturbed when I told her about the trousers.
The best explanation I have is that they're doll's trousers that had become lodged in pipework in the cupboard decades earlier and, became dislodged when the trap sprang and happened to fall right next to it. It's not very believable, but it's the best I've got.
Image credits: prolixia
#15
Before cell phones, I accidentally dialed the wrong number, but got the person I was trying to call at that wrong number. She was at her uncles house, he picked up the phone, I asked for her and he sounded confused as he handed her the phone.
Image credits: banditk77
#16
My 70 year old father married a 20 year old
Image credits: boomba58-
#17
You know how your parents always warned about guys asking for directions, and you never thought it would happen to you so you of course said "Yeah, i'll never get in," and just don't think about it?Well, it happened to me once. I was 15 and taking a walk through my (relatively safe) neighborhood when a guy in an old truck pulls up and asks for directions. I pointed him to the next street over, and he asked me to get in the car with him. Luckily I was right by my backyard, so I cut through the bushes and beelined it inside. Called my dad to make sure he was coming home and I wouldn't be alone for long.
Never saw the man again, but it was incredibly creepy, and it was a while before I took walks alone after that.
Image credits: I_Ace_English
#18
Delivering parcels to a Scientology building in the UK.Usual receptionist wasn't there so wandered a bit to find someone to sign for it.
Found a room full of people robotically typing into computers, all identically clothed with identical hairstyles. Not one of them even made eye-contact, let alone react to me opening the door...
Was horror-film levels of creepy.
Image credits: fail_quail
#19
I had a friend in college whose mother had a lot of mental health problems. She periodically did things like try to crash the car when they were all inside.One night I was sleeping over at my friend's house and she told me to lock the bedroom door so her mom couldn't come in because sometimes she did that. Well, I forgot to lock the door and woke up in the middle of the night to see her mom standing there in the doorway with a knife.
It was a total Michael Myers-esque moment. She stood there staring at me, didn't say a word, didn't move. The knife was just in her hand, which was hanging down by her side. I stared back at her, waiting to see if she was going to do anything. She didn't. I got bored and eventually went back to sleep.
The next morning, I was like "hey so your mom was lurking in my doorway last night with a knife for a while" and she was like "omg wtf you should have called for me."
#20
I went snorkeling in Jamaica. The thing is, I can’t see well without glasses or contacts. I brought one pair of contacts with me, so I didn’t want to wear them with my goggles, and I definitely didn’t want to wear my glasses in case I lost them at sea. So there I was snorkeling with blurry vision. I start to see these little clear blobs sporadically , but thought it was my eyes playing tricks on me. As I’m swimming I see more and more of these clear blobs. I get this panic feeling and gently start pushing the water away from me to swim back to the boat. I’m halfway to the boat and there are hundreds if not thousands of these clear blobs around me. I get to the boat, and as I get in, everyone who’s left in the water starts getting stung by jellyfish. I then realize, I JUST SWAM THROUGH A SCHOOL OF JELLYFISH!
Image credits: bzsbal
#21
I was in a restaurant years ago on lunch break. At the time I was a very thin 25 year old woman. There was this big creepy guy sitting there who would NOT stop staring at me from the moment I walked in the door. I mean just open face staring without blinking for the entire 15 minutes I was eating several seats away. I asked for a box and left early to get away from him. As I walked out he said, "You shouldn't be out alone. Someone's going to grab you and steal you away." 100% convinced creepazoid had someone locked up in his basement.
Image credits: xain_the_idiot
#22
At dinner one night. And there was this grey haired old man, and an obviously much younger girl, id say 19. Holding hands and being all new couple? Usually i dont care, people will people. And then my server came by and saw what I was looking at.“I went to school with her, hes our old gym teacher. When we graduated last year he seemed overly friendly, I mean hes like 60. But whatever. Apparently he left his wife for her. I know, weird right?”
I dont care much about age gaps but that was creepy af to me.
#23
Was traveling with my Sister one night and we had to stop at a red light.Some guy staggered onto the pedestrian crossing and when he walked into our headlights he just froze and turned his head like a zombie.
Then actually started to stagger towards the car.
My Sister freaked out and put the car in reverse to steer around the dude but he actually kind lurched/lunged at the car again to get in the way again.
We ended up reversing half a block to duck into a side street, going the long way around.
The guy was probably stoned to the gills or drunk. Maybe both. But it was still creepy as f**k.
Image credits: Derai-Leaf
#24
We had a neighbor who moved out and came back a year later for a visit. He brought with him his two kids and Asian woman he claimed was his wife. He claimed it was the same wife he used to have & and that she just lost weight & had a makeover. But we remember the wife as a really tiny woman 5'1 or so with wavy bob hair, this new one was about 5'6 with long straight black hair, looked younger too. Even she took off her sandals and I saw even without sandals she was about 5'6. While on vacation he told the neighbor of his vacation home that his wife died of a brain tumor. I began to wonder where his wife really was. I think he really just sent her back to her Asian home country. But it was creepy to see him trying to pass off the new one as his wife.
Image credits: bIamegame
#25
I used to work with a lady that was involved in a rehab program, which allows her to go out for a certain time. She couldn’t drive or have her own cell phone, so she has a designated driver that would pick up/drop off at specific time. Apparently her driver is a weirdo/groomer, bc he wouldn’t stop bothering her and has offered her money for sex. (I didn’t know this until drama happened and she vented to me)One day when I was at work, this old guy came inside desperately wanting to see her, she goes hiding and tells me to tell the guy to leave. Which I did, then he tries to brute force his way but fails miserably, then he leaves a message on a napkin for her and left. I did read the message and I clearly remember it “I need an answer now, I’m offering you $1500 to run away with me”. I gave it to her, she didn’t read it. A few days later, the girl quits without notice.
Oh the creepy part, he would show up around 10am at the restaurant looking for her and I keep warning the guy to leave. He eventually stopped after a few weeks.
Edit: I honestly didn’t believe this would blow up, and I mentioned the guy being the groomer, I wanna add she’s not the only victim. Apparently there was one more girl who is a minor and she was facing the same issue as the girl(the girl venting to me or co worker). I don’t know anything about this minor and I wanted to clarify on why I called him a groomer.
Image credits: HotQuietFart
#26
This guy followed me home. Said he saw me there often and named a few local spots I go to sometimes as places he sees me.
Image credits: ewqdsacxziopjklbnm
#27
I work in an old hospital late at night, and noticed the elevator doors open behind me. I then heard the clip clop of hard soled shoes take a few steps out my way. When I turned around, no one was there. A linen cart sat across the hallway, so I thought this person was hiding behind it. I knelt down and looked underneath it only to see two shiny, old fashioned pointy nurses shoes pointed my way. I eased my way around the cart to scare the person who was trying to scare me, but no one was there. I looked down and could no longer see what I thought were shoes.#28
About 25 years ago, a few days after my cousin's wedding, a large group of us decided to go out drinking one night in Portland, ME. We decided to walk from my aunt's house to the bar and back so no one would be driving. On the way back from the bar, we cut down a dark residential street, and there was a large guy just standing there holding a hammer. It's like 2am, and there is this large guy just standing in the street holding a hammer. A few of us asked what he was doing as we walked by, but he just stood there watching us as we walked down the street. The guy never said a word. Luckily, there were 12 of us in the group because who knows what this guy was up to. He gave off some creepy Jason Voorhees vibes that's for sure.
Image credits: HumpieDouglas
#29
Was working by myself on a huge mine site and my machine ran out of fuel. No other machine or person working within at least 5 kms. Anyways, after about four hours of twiddling my thumbs waiting i jumped out to stretch my legs. It was mid summer so I was hoping for a breeze, but anyways all of a sudden it got cold and I got a whiff of cigarette as if someone took a lungful of full strength and blew it right in my face, to the point that I coughed.Didn't leave the machine again until the fuel truck turned up.
Image credits: delta__bravo_
#30
I was 13 and an avid skater. Always exploring different areas for a spot. I skated about 25 minutes to this massive Catholic school called Saint Mary's. Easily 100+ acres if not more with on-campus housing. I find a little tucked away corner with a curb and start messing around to see if I could get it to grind. I look up and see a nun with a pale grey face. Unmoving in a completely pitch black room, at first, I thought she would say something or make a motion to tell me to get lost. Nope, I just stood there. Motionless, it was a warm day, but I got a chill, and it seemed like time froze. I know it sounds cliche, spooked by a nun. But this school has existed since 1859. Who knows what has occurred in that building.
Image credits: whitewinewyatt
#31
some guy said he’s gonna carve my name on his thigh, in the middle of school, in front of the whole class.i had never met this man in my life either.
Image credits: I_exist_becuase_yes_
#32
I visited Aokigahara, the notorious “[self-harm] forest” in Japan. I didn’t see any bodies or anything, but I did come across quite a few traces that people had left behind: Articles of old, rotting clothing hanging from trees, a wallet full of cards, empty bottles of medication, razor blades, a small campfire and thermos. It was apparent that all of it had been there for quite a long time, too.
Image credits: VinnyinJP
#33
When I was in my early twenties I was walking my dog then he suddenly got unnerved. When I looked ahead there was another dog, but I've never seen anything like this. It was about the same size as a German shepherd, but I've never seen a dog like this the thing looked weird it's hair was a sort of steel grey. Also normally even if the dog is huge my old dog used to always try be friendly but this thing just gave him a bad vibe. I immediately backed out and called the sspca but they found nothing and no one apart from one or two friends believed me#34
I was in High School, about 15 and I was hanging out with my best friend. We decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood, doing nothing in particular but walking and shooting the breeze about whatever was on our minds.
I grew up down the street from a cemetery, and until I was nearing High School age that place creeped me out. It didn’t help that someone, and this must have taken considerable effort, attached a bull’s skull to the front of an old tree and it always seemed to stare down at everything that went past like a morbid gatekeeper.
As we were walking past, we saw someone on the far side of the cemetery near the tree line of the woods walking in the same direction carrying a bag. To this day I have no idea what he was doing, and I’m glad we didn’t stick around to find out.
***
The second one, at the moment it happened, had me absolutely terrified to the point where I couldn’t move.
I was on a camping trip with my brother, his wife, my nephews, and one of my cousins. We had a blast as always. I’d brought along my boombox radio/cassette player and a few of my best tapes. My cousin brought along one of his and introduced me to Ozzy.
Day turned to night, and it was finally time to go to sleep. Me, my cousin, and the older of my nephews were in one tent. My brother, his wife, and my toddler nephew in the other one close by.
It was the middle of the night, near pitch black with only moonlight for anyone to see anything. My nephew heard a noise and sat upright with a “what was that?”
I opened my eyes, but didn’t feel like getting up and was about to just roll over and go back to sleep. Then I saw a sight that had me frozen with fear.
My cousin’s blanket shifted and I *swear* I saw him sit upright, without a head. I wanted to scream, but couldn’t even move my mouth. My heart was racing in my chest, and I thought I was going to have to fight for my life against this headless thing that sat there talking to my nephew.
My nephew of course, talked right back to it, I could see his outline perfectly. He was younger than me, why wasn’t he freaking out?
Then I saw the outline shift again, and it flattened. My rational mind took over and told me “Hey stupid, you were just terrified of your cousin’s knee bent under the blanket. You can’t see anything remember? Now stop imagining things and go to sleep.”
I wanted to smack myself for being an idiot, but I went back to sleep and never told anyone.
Image credits: Storyteller678
#35
I was hitchhiking in California on my way to black bear hippie commune and somewhere before forks of salmon in dense wooded area I was camped up for the night and heard noises from the woods near me and about 15-20 yards from me I saw what looked like a child sized owl wearing boots or high top shoes on watching me from next to a big tree.I stared at it for a few minutes with my light, stuck like a deer in the head lights but I was terrified and quickly got in my tent, grabbed my pistol and tried to sleep but noises in the forrest kept me awake for most of the night. Got maybe 2 hours of sleep then when daylight came I got out of there as fast as I could walk until I got picked up again. I'll never forget the feeling of dread and like I was going to be attacked at any moment that whole night.
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