12 Stories of Unexpected Events That Are Terrifying

Sometimes when watching a movie with a twisted plot, we skeptically say, «Oh, the scriptwriters overdid it; things like that never happen in real life.» In reality, life can have such unpredictable twists and turns that you couldn’t even make them up on purpose. Moreover, some of these incidents are difficult to explain from a rational point of view.

• My great-grandma and mom were very close but lived overseas from one another my whole life. They talked on the phone every Sunday at 8:00 AM. However, due to a four-minute difference in clocks, Nana always ended up calling at 8:04. Also, the caller ID never showed up.
  Mom called on a Sunday, and Nana died on a Tuesday. The following week, we were sitting at the table eating breakfast, and mom noticed it was 7:50 AM; Nana would have been calling any minute! She got emotional, and I comforted her. Then at 8:04 AM, the phone rings. The caller ID reads «Unknown Caller.»
  We looked at each other like, what is this, some sort of sick joke? She answered — there was nothing but static on the other line, and some garbled voice recording.
  The only decipherable words in it were, «We hope you enjoy your trip to paradise!» (click) The phone cut off.
  Absolutely no explanation for that one. It still baffles me to this day. © smittywrbermanjensen / Reddit
• My aunt fell asleep on her couch one night, and my uncle was asleep upstairs. She woke up around 12 am to a random man staring at her while she slept. He said, «The guy upstairs was sound asleep,» indicating that he came in, saw my aunt on the couch, looked around, observed my uncle asleep upstairs, and then sat there and watched.
  She told him to leave, and luckily, he left. He had entered through the back door. We live in a relatively safe area! © Hungry_Gift2345 / Reddit

• My boyfriend told me that when he was a kid, he used to hear whispers and have conversations in one of the rooms at night. Intrigued, he entered the room out of curiosity, and someone tapped him on the back so hard that he fell unconscious. When he woke up, there was a big mark on his back, resembling a scratch from large paws, and it’s still there today. It’s really creepy. © ruri7218 / Reddit
• My friend was told she’s adopted, that both her parents died in a car crash when she was just a baby, and her uncle adopted her and raised her. Years later, a man messages her on Facebook saying that he’s her half-brother.
  Turns out, the dad lived through the car crash and later remarried. Her adopted parents were lying to her, as they knew all along; the dad just didn’t want to keep her. But the story doesn’t end here.
  Her biological father wanted to meet her. She flies out to meet him, stays with him, meets his wife and her half-siblings. Struggles with the idea of reconnecting with him because she both loathes and loves him. Loathes him for not wanting her and getting a new family, loves him for wanting to make a difference in her life and reconnect.
  She takes the plunge anyway. Six months later, he dies from lung cancer. © Spagattaca / Reddit

• Once, I was taking a shower in the afternoon. My bathroom door was ajar, and as I was soaping myself, I suddenly heard someone whistling a tune of some sort. It wasn’t in the distance but right there in the bathroom with me. I nearly panicked and started yelling, «Get out of here!» not knowing what to expect. I pulled back the shower curtain, fully anticipating a scene from Psycho, but there was nobody there. It was terrifying.
  There was nobody else in my apartment, and there were no vents between my bathroom and other apartments. © naslam74 / Reddit
• I was at a summer camp, and my group was returning to our dorms later in the night, around 5 or so people. As we stumbled up, a man in dark clothes was walking towards our dorm, and we called out to him. I never got a good look at his face, but there weren’t many adults at the camp, and this guy was one of them.
  He started off into a dead sprint and disappeared into a large shrub of bushes. My buddy and I ran after him, thinking he was a fellow camper. We rushed into the bushes about 5 seconds later at most, and... nothing. He disappeared.
  The closest building was not accessible from the back where he went towards, and there was only a smaller bathroom. The area behind it was woodland, and it was completely illuminated. Running through woods makes a lot of noise as well.
  He completely vanished. There was no way we wouldn’t have spotted him in some fashion. Everyone was weirded out. Still can’t explain it at all. © Arsalanred / Reddit

• A friend invited me over to his house one night. We were hanging out in his backyard after the sun had gone down; it was almost pitch black out. His house is built right next to an elementary school and shares an adjoining fence with the school’s playground. It’s not a solid fence, but one of those bar-type fences.
  I’m over by the fencing, looking in the direction of the school’s playground, considering hopping the fence to go explore it while I’m on the phone. I glance up from my phone and notice a reflection. I can see a silhouette standing there in the dark with a phone out. It takes me a few moments to realize that it’s not my reflection, but rather there’s someone on the other side of the fence looking at me.
  I try to call my friend over, but he’s distracted at the moment. The shadow person closes their phone and then proceeds to walk off into the pitch-black playground and disappears. © TheGlobalConspiracy / Reddit
• Back when I was about to start high school, the whole family got together at my grandmother’s house for an impromptu get-together. As I left with my mother, I asked, «Is grandma going to be alone tonight?» My mother confirmed my guess. When asked why, I said, «I don’t know, it just rubs me the wrong way.»
  That night, my grandmother had a massive stroke. She lived, but she wasn’t the same. My parents and I ended up taking care of her for the last year of her life. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had called up there once we got home. © crazedmikey / Reddit

• My boyfriend went camping with friends once. As his friends went to bed one by one, he became the last one at the fire. He said he got the distinct feeling that someone was watching him, which struck him as odd since he’s an avid camper and not easily unnerved. Despite this, the unease prompted him to put out the fire and sleep in his car with the doors locked.
  He fell asleep, and in the middle of the night, a loud noise woke him up. Uncertain of its origin, as he had been sleeping and didn’t hear anything else, he stayed in the car in the pitch-black darkness. The next morning, he woke up to a startling discovery — a big handprint on his passenger side window, as if someone had smacked the glass. His friends insisted it wasn’t them, and I believe them; they’re not the type to prank each other like that. It still freaks me out, and I think about it sometimes when I camp now. © limpbisquick123 / Reddit
• My friend comes home to her apartment from running errands around 1 pm. Being in med school at the time, she pretty much parked herself at the kitchen table and studied for the next 5–6 hours. As she’s sitting there, she looks up to see a dude casually stroll out of her bedroom. With no other entrances, and her sitting by the front door, he’s been there the entire time she has been home.
  He pauses at the doorway to her kitchen, between her and the door. She basically froze. Then, her phone rang and kind of startled both of them. She ran to get the phone; he ran out the door. She moved and got an enormous dog. © GrumpyDietitian / 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 suddenly 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
• When my mom was little, my grandma, mom, and aunt lived in an old house in Seattle. The house had a basement that they had converted into a playroom. One day, when my mom was 5 and her sister 3, my grandma was upstairs in the kitchen cooking dinner, and she heard them screaming down in the basement. She ran down there and asked them what happened.
  Both of them were in great distress, saying something about «a man» being down there with them and pointing into a corner.
  My grandma couldn’t get any other details out of them. She thoroughly searched the basement and found nothing out of the ordinary. It was also only accessible from the stairs connected to the rest of the house, and my grandma would’ve noticed a man entering/leaving the basement. After that, my mom and aunt refused to play down there.
  My grandma never did find out what really happened, and neither my mom nor aunt remember it. © bellagoth / Reddit

It’s amazing how such cases are not uncommon at all. Here are a few more people whose lives took unexpected turns.