13 Parents Who Discovered Disturbing Secrets on Their Nanny Cams

Parents install nanny cams for peace of mind — just a quick way to peek in and know their little ones are safe. But sometimes, those tiny cameras capture moments that are anything but ordinary. From hilarious surprises to heart-stopping scares, here are real stories from parents who hit “play” and found themselves in the middle of the most bizarre scenes.

• My buddy has a camera that sits on his doorstep. It has a motion sensor and every time it detects someone or something on the porch, it snaps a photo and sends it to his phone.
  It’s a Sunday morning, and for once, his two-year-old isn’t shouting into his bedroom to get him out of his crib. Ah, yes. A rare morning to lay in bed. His phone goes off.
  A photo of a little red-headed boy reaching out of the front door to grab a package appears. And that’s how he discovered that his son could get out of the crib. © Kalae / Reddit

• The baby monitor buzzed, so I checked the video. My toddler was sitting up, whispering and giggling like he was talking to someone. I leaned closer to the screen, horrified and saw how another small voice was answering back. Turned out he had found the walkie-talkies we’d bought him for Christmas and was chatting with his sister down the hall.

• Back when mom worked at Hewlett Packard, one of her coworkers used a nanny cam for all three of her babies. But on baby number 3, the older two found out about it and started doing things like dancing or jumping around and making funny faces in front of it, or doing things like lining up the toys to face the camera. © CrazyCoKids / Reddit

• My old roommate has two kids of his own. The older kid (3) deactivates the baby monitor cam when he and his sister want to do something they’ll get in trouble for. Kid even waves bye to the camera before he pulls the plug. © Flynn_lives / Reddit

• I was housesitting for my sister and keeping an eye on her infant. I put the baby down for a nap and went to the kitchen. The monitor lit up — soft singing came through. I walked back, thinking maybe a toy had been left on. On the screen, I saw someone stroking the baby’s hair. I ran upstairs. The room was empty.

• Our crib was under a window (shut and locked, don’t worry). Every few days or so, a hawk or some other kind of large bird would land on the outside of the window. The bird and my daughter would sit there for a good 10 minutes, bobbing their heads at one another. It was adorable, despite the fact the bird probably wanted to eat her. © __Iniquity__ / Reddit

• Using a baby monitor to care for aging parent. My sister comes in and tries to convince my dad to cut me out of the will and give everything to her. © TooPrettyForJail / Reddit

• I glanced at the monitor and my heart stopped — the crib was empty. I bolted upstairs, convinced someone had taken my daughter. She was there, curled up in the corner, just out of the camera’s view. I laughed in relief... until I reviewed the footage later and saw the closet door swinging shut right before she disappeared from the feed.

• Buddy of mine had a kid at the beginning of last year, and discovered that both his cat and his beagle would climb into the crib with the baby occasionally during naps, cute right? Both animals made it a habit to climb in, kick/push the baby to the very side of the crib, and curl up in the middle completely alone, you’d catch them glaring at the kid if he started to roll back over and invade their space. © crushing2013 / Reddit

• My cousin has a video baby monitor that connects over Wi-Fi. Her husband travels a lot and likes to check on the baby at weird hours without having to wake his wife, so he can just log on. It also has a microphone feature so he can talk to his daughter. She is two now, but was about 18 months old when this happened.
  She was inconsolable one night and my cousin kept having to go soothe her back to sleep. On the third or fourth time entering her room, she heard a man’s voice, not her husband, talking to her crying baby. She changed the password and sent out a warning to other parents to change their passwords. Scary stuff. © sheilador / Reddit

• Around 2 a.m., the monitor came to life with a faint murmur. Confused, we leaned closer — and froze when we realized it was our nanny whispering in the dark nursery. We replayed the audio, fear creeping in, until the message was unmistakable: “If you sleep all night, I’ll buy you a cookie tomorrow.” The delivery sent shivers down our spine — but the baby slept.

• I look at the baby monitor and see a ghost. I do a double take; yep, it’s really real and on the monitor hovering and swirling around my infant son. My brain jumps, what do I do?
  Should I go grab my son? This can’t be real. Maybe the ghost is harmless. Should I get my camera? No one will believe it. I don’t believe it.
  Is the ghost going to hurt the baby? I can’t believe this is happening. Will the ghost hurt the baby if I interrupt? Think logically. It’s not a ghost. It’s not a glitch. It’s definitely in the room, hovering over the baby.
  Think. Breath. Calm. Think. Oh, it’s the camera light reflecting off the vapor from the humidifier we installed this morning. LOL. Ghosts, I knew I didn’t believe in those. © ecafyelims / Reddit

• Just me. I went into his room to get him and said, ’Daddy’s here, don’t cry.’ I went with him back to my room and heard my monitor say, ’Here, don’t cry.’ Since my voice sounded so alien to me, I freaked out and watched in horror as a tall man grabbed my baby and walked out.
  It really probably took 1 second to realize I was holding him, and it was me in the video, but I went through 10 years of gray hair in that second. © ClassicCarLife / Reddit

Whether it’s funny, unsettling, or downright chilling, these clips remind us that the quietest homes can hide the darkest secrets — and sometimes the most shocking twists come when the screen goes black at the ending.