10 Shocking Stories You Won’t Believe Happened to Real People

We’ve all probably encountered at least one moment that defies explanation. Some chalk it up to a glitch in the matrix, while others lean toward a more paranormal explanation. Whatever the cause, there’s one thing we can all agree on: these eerie experiences send a chill straight down your spine.

1.

This happened about six months ago, and it still creeps me out whenever I think about it.
It was close to midnight. I live alone in a small house with a basement, and I was sitting on the couch, scrolling through my phone before heading to bed. The night was quiet, perfectly normal—until my Alexa lit up.
I hadn’t said anything. My hands weren’t even near it. Still, in that flat, robotic voice, it said:
“Check the basement.”
I don’t know if you’ve ever had one of those moments where the silence after something creepy feels louder than any sound, but that’s exactly how it felt. For some reason I found myself getting up anyway, like I had to prove to myself it was just some random glitch.
I walked to the basement door and opened it. The light was on down there, casting that faint yellow glow up the stairwell. Taking a breath, I started down.
The second my foot hit the third step, every light in the house went out. Total blackness. It lasted maybe three seconds at most, but that was enough. My foot slipped, and I landed hard on my behind, jolting pain all the way up my spine. Not a tumble, not head over heels, just one of those ugly, awkward falls that leaves you bruised and shaken.
As soon as the lights flicked back on, I scrambled up, bolted straight out of the house, and didn’t stop running until I was at a friend’s place. I stayed there that night, shaking and sore, but too scared to even think about going home.
Later, I had a technician check the wiring in the house. They didn’t find a single fault. Everything worked fine, and the lights weren’t even connected to Alexa in any way. There was no reason for what had happened. I can’t help but tremble every time I have to go to the basement.

2.

When I was 8 years old, I was playing in my room when I heard a closet door open in another room. I thought I was alone upstairs so I went and check who was there.

And when I walked into the room, I saw a little boy (younger than I was at that time) standing in the middle of the room. I shouted at him, “Hey! You!” but there was no movement. I ran downstairs and my mom (who heard me yell) came upstairs with me, but there was nobody in the room. © Th3_Accountant / Reddit

3.

So I was sleeping. And in the middle of the dream a character of my dream who was doing something turned her head, looked at me very seriously and said, “There’s someone in your apartment, wake up.”

I nearly had a heart attack, and my apartment was empty. © Jahonay / Reddit

4.

At 6, I stayed at my grandfather’s for my birthday in an isolated house. Suddenly, a thud came from the window. I saw a pale man in a clown suit. I thought it was my grandfather, joking.

Years later, I mentioned it to my grandfather as a fun joke. To my shock, he went pale and said, “I never dressed up as a clown that night. Must’ve been your imagination.”

5.

My husband is a painter. He has been working on a house where the owner mainly lives overseas so it is vacant for most of the year. This is the first house in 20 years of painting that he feels “weird” in. He feels like he is being watched. Also, the doorbell (which is a gong I guess) often goes off by itself.

There is never anyone at the door and the house is set back in the woods quite a ways so it’s not kids or something. He said he hates working there and can’t wait to be done with it. © lokeilou / Reddit

6.

Was sleeping one night in my room by myself a couple years back at my grandma’s house when suddenly I was awoken by being drenched in water. I knew no one was home since they had all went camping while I stayed home to play video games.

I noticed the empty water bottle with no cap next to my game setup about 10ft away. I turned all the lights on and didn’t sleep after that. © projent / Reddit

7.

When I was a young child, I had the same dream every night for years about drowning when a huge wave swept over me and I sank to the bottom.

Years later, I had a temp job delivering mail one summer during college. I saw this old lady sitting on a front porch waiting for me. When I got up there she looked at me and said in a foreign accent, “You drowned when Oceania sank beneath the waves.” Freaked me out. © nope**** / Reddit

8.

In the 60s, my grandmother was mopping her floors late in the evening after putting her kids to bed. She has a window over her kitchen sink. As she was rinsing out her mop, she looked up and there was a person wearing a cheap plastic rabbit mask staring into her dark kitchen window.

She screamed and called the police. They never caught the person. Even stranger is that the way their house is on a hill makes the window too tall for the average person to look into without standing on something. © lokeilou / Reddit

9.

I used to wake up in the middle of the night, almost every night, as a kid. Usually never an issue, just watched adult swim till I passed back out.

One of these nights I saw a bright yellow ball of light drift up and down the hallway. It was really bright but didn’t seem to illuminate the hallway at all, which made me immediately terrified for some reason. I put the blanket over my head and cried until I fell back asleep and never saw it again. © fountainof***** / Reddit

10.

I was alone in a taxi at 1 a.m., and the driver kept looking at me through his mirror. At some point, he smiled and said, “If you’re uncomfortable, miss, you can order another ride. I don’t mind.” I ignored him and stayed silent.
But then I froze when I suddenly remembered why he looked so familiar. This guy was a convicted robber—I had seen his face all over the news. I remembered he was wanted for robbing several banks. I really panicked inside but tried not to show him any fear.
As the ride continued, another memory surfaced, and my blood ran cold. The man on the news hadn’t been arrested because he was found dead. But here he was, driving the car. It had to be him—I was sure of it. My hands trembled as I tried to make sense of what was happening.
He then suddenly stopped the car and started staring at me. I thought this was my end, but then I realized I had arrived at my destination. I quickly gave him my money and left.
The first thing I did was search his name online. It was him—there was no mistake. He even had the same tattoos. But the news reports were clear: he’d died a year ago. Even now, I shiver every time I think about that night.

Here you can read 12 true stories that prove one good deed can start a chain reaction.