facebook pixel


September 24, 2019 | Henry Gomes

Horrified People Share The Creepiest Thing They Have Ever Seen


We can all remember a super creepy experience. They are the terrifying and bewildering moments that shook us to our core and will haunt us for the rest of our days. These Redditors share the creepiest things they have ever seen. Some of these experiences are not for the faint of heart. Tread carefully!


1. Seriously Disturbing

I was on a camping trip with some friends of mine and we found like seven or eight chipmunks and squirrels all in a pile. They were all dead, without arms or legs.

Juiciest Gossip factsShutterstock

2. So Much for Taking Up Running Again

I felt like running at night one time last year, because the park near where I live gets all pretty with the lights on in the dark. So, about five minutes into the exercise, I feel the need to adjust my shoes, because I forgot to wear a longer sock and they were hurting my ankle. I look up and I see this dark silhouette running towards me at full speed, wearing a hoodie, about 50 meters away.

I was on the left side of the street and he was on the right so it was clear he was running towards me. I legit almost crapped my pants and felt an adrenaline surge. I thought about fighting him if he got any closer, but in a blink of an eye, the person trips, falls face planted on the ground—and starts crawling in my freaking direction again! Screw that, dude is committed, I'm leaving!

Mistaken Identity FactsWikimedia Commons, bigwavephoto

3. Strange Carvings

There's a section of Joshua Tree National Park called Samuelson's Rocks where an old Swedish prospector who lost his mind used to live. He carved all sorts of crazy sayings into the rocks. During the day they look pretty neat. At night in a lightning storm, they look like something of Lovecraft.

Paranormal FactsShutterstock

4. Wait, This is Actually A Thing?!

I work as an autopsy technician. It’s pretty regular happening, and doesn’t really phase me now, but the first time I heard remains exhale and moan was pretty creepy.

Happy Couples factsShutterstock

5. Circle of Death

I was driving through rural parts of Missouri with a buddy. We drove down a single lane road that had no exit. At the end of the road, there was a group of deer carcasses laid in a perfect circle. I'd say there were at least 10 of them. Suffice to say, we bolted out of there real quick!

What Is My Life FactsShutterstock

6. Just the Kitty, But Still Creepy

It's 2 AM. We're in a tent in the woods in Maine. I'm about eight years old. I said, “Mom, there's something creeping around outside the tent!” She said, “Pfft, you're dreaming, go back to bed...” I insisted, “Mom, there really is something out there!” She replied, “No. There isn't.” Just then, something WHAPS on the side of the tent, hard enough to shake the whole thing.

And my mother—who is entirely too goddamned tired to deal with this crap—sits bolt upright and WHAPS right back in the same spot. And from outside the tent, we hear: “Meow...”

Random FactsPixabay

7. An Unexplained Mystery

It was in the hills of West Virginia. We found a deer with its hind end chewed up. Few feet away, there was a coyote with its hind end chewed up, then another few feet away we saw a fox with its hind up also mangled. Nothing else was there, no bullet holes or signs of an arrow or anything else. Couldn't find any tracks from other people or animals.

It was pretty creepy.

Creepiest Thing They Have Ever Seen FactsFlickr,Daniel Drexler

8. An Unidentified Predator

I was pretty sure I was going to be the nameless victim at the start of a horror movie to show how dangerous the monster is. Basically, my dad and I were walking through the woods when we came across a young moose leg lying on the ground. It looked like it had been violently torn off with no sign of the rest of the moose anywhere.

It was fresh with blood still on the wound probably no more than a couple of hours old. My dad is a pretty skilled hunter so he handed me his ax that he was carrying and told me to watch for wolves while he started looking for tracks. After a little bit, he came back saying, “That’s weird, normally if it was wolves you’d be able to find paw prints but I can’t see any. Also no bear prints so I have no idea what killed this.”

And so I’m like, “You didn’t find any tracks at all?” And his very reassuring response was, “Well I did find what appears to be the mama moose tracks headed this way,” showing me the tracks, “you can see how her stride is a lot longer here, whatever killed her baby she didn’t want to fight it she just took off running.”

He then pulls out his bear spray and holds it at the ready as we kept walking deeper into the woods with the un-named non-track leaving predator armed with bear spray and an ax.

Narrowly Avoided Disaster factsPixabay

9. No Way to Weasel Out of This One

Not sure how creepy this is, but I was on a week-long camping trip with some friends and I woke up with a weasel sitting on my chest looking at me. I never knew I could scream that loud.

Creepiest Thing They Have Ever Seen FactsWikimedia Commons

10. People Go Through Weird Phases in College

I am a night owl, so I used to stay up late working or just messing around at the computer lab on my university campus. It was open until 2 AM. I was walking home and there were about four to six people covered in burlap robes and giant hoods, sitting cross-legged on the quad. The next morning, those people were still there.

It turns out that it was part of a chicken wire and burlap art piece.

Animals’ Biggest Power Moves FactsShutterstock

11. Stumbling On a Ghost Town

A little over 18 years ago, I had just gotten out of the military. I drove all the way from Louisiana to my hometown in Montana, without incident. I spent a few days at home and then got back on the road because my new home destination was Boise, Idaho. It was February so instead of going straight down the length of the state I cut across the panhandle of Idaho into Washington.

The highway going straight down through the state is really twisty and very dangerous in the winter when the roads are icy or covered in snow. So I crossed the state line into Washington. It was a Sunday and it was quite early in the morning. There was quite a bit of fog in the air. I had been driving for a while and I really had to use the bathroom.

Now given how I was out in the middle of nowhere I would normally just pull over on the side and took a whizz but since it was so foggy and hard to see I thought it safer to just wait until I hit the next small town. So I drove for maybe five more miles and I started seeing signs for a town. I can't remember for the life of me the name of the town but I think it was Linden or Linder something like that.

It was on I-90 going into the Spokane Valley. So I head towards the sign, which was a right, turn off the interstate and it’s a short drive up this road, and I reached the town. It was small but I thought nothing of it since I was from a small town in Montana. Now here is where things get odd. There was not a single person to be found.

There were cars and business but not a single person to be found no one walking the street no logging trucks driving everything was just as still as the air. I stopped at a gas station. It was one of those all-in-one places that did car repair, tires, etc., but no one was at the counter. I thought well, maybe it's just really early.

So I went around to the side to see if the bathroom was locked and it was. As I made my way back around to the front of the building saw a delivery truck it was a Coke Classic truck. It wasn't moving, but its headlights were on, the hazard lights were on, and the passenger and driver side doors were open just sitting there in the middle of the street.

Yes, I was getting a bad vibe so I got back in my car and went back the way I came I got back to I-90 and thought again about just relieving myself on the side of the road, but honestly, I was too afraid. I continued driving until I hit Spokane honestly I was more than a bit freaked out and had completely forgotten I had to pee.

I didn’t see or hear anything particularly creepy, but the stillness in the air and the complete lack of life human or animal was just terrifying and unsettling. I looked on the map to where I was once I got to Spokane which was a Rand McNally's map (because GPS on phones was just not a thing yet) and I could not find it at all on the map.

Even as I was writing this I looked at Google maps and nothing by the name Linden or Linder or otherwise is on the map. I still to this day will never forget that feeling of just freaky displacement I felt there. When I got to Boise I told my friend about it and he thought I was just trying to rip off Silent Hill or Resident Evil and honestly, I can't blame people for saying that.

At the same time, that was the reason I wouldn’t piss on the side of the road. I kept recalling the part in RE 1 where the hikers were killed by the dogs. If you know of a town on Highway 2 between Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and Spokane, Washington, let me know. If you are from there, I mean no offense, but your town is super creepy.

Randoms Acts of Kindness factsShutterstock

12. When The Hunters Become the Hunted

When I was younger, I went elk hunting with my uncle and some of his friends and had an experience I'll never forget. One of the days I went on a hunt with his buddy Tyler. Tyler got an elk down about 30 minutes before dark. We got over to it and as we were cleaning it, we started hearing wolves howl in the distance, slowly getting closer.

Every minute that passed, the smell of death got thicker, the sky got darker, and the wolves got closer. It turned dark. All I could see was what was directly in the beam of my mini Maglite and Tyler's hat bill light, as he worked on the elk as fast as he could while I kept a watch on the wolves. We were surrounded. I don't know how many there were.

It felt like dozens, but it was probably only a few. I could hear them running circles around us and yelping back and forth at each other. Occasionally I got sight of them in the light and then they’d disappear. Every once in a while, one would get brave and dart in within a few feet of us, to try snagging a piece of the elk.

Finally, the elk was cleaned and we had a “scent circle” around the carcass to keep it somewhat safe. Now, all that was left was a three-mile hike back to camp, completely covered in blood and being trailed by wolves. By far the most horrifying experience of my life.

Hunters in the Woods factsPixabay

13. The Terror of Cowlitz River

I was camping with my dad, sister, and a few buddies near the Cowlitz River in Washington state. This was in the early 90s. Something was throwing rocks and sticks into our camp. We shined a flashlight out and caught a reflection of eyes and a silhouette. The silhouette was very tall. It kept throwing stuff in our camp randomly for about 15 minutes.

We just stoked the fire really high. In the morning I woke up to heavy footsteps in our camp and something reeked. It woke up my dad and he shook the tent and yelled. Whatever it was, it ran off.

Creepiest Thing They Have Ever Seen FactsPxHere

14. A Traumatizing Find

When I was really young, we were on a family trip and my older brother and I took a ride on a boat. I remember my mom telling us to avoid the “big floating thing.” She thought it was a buoy to signal a dangerous rock underwater or something. Being kids, of course we went straight there to explore it. It turned out that it was not a buoy.

It was the body of a tourist that had gone missing a week before, as the police informed us a few days later. Creepy thing is, he was one of a group of people that had disappeared together. If I remember correctly, the remaining group members were never found.

Disturbing True Story FactsShutterstock

15. Naked and Afraid

My girlfriend and I were hiking along some abandoned railroad tracks and we get to a small bridge going over a little creek. I’m about to go explore under the bridge when she points something out. I look over and in the woods across from us I see a guy. I’m like whatever and keep headed down to the creek area, and then the guy stands up and he’s naked.

We immediately backtrack to get away from there and once were like one minute down the trail I look back and this naked dude is just standing in the middle of the trail watching us walk away.

Cults FactsShutterstock

16. A Random Boulder

In a patch of trees off of a field near where I keep my horse there’s one of those big oil drums sealed up with a very heavy boulder on top. The only way it could have got there is being placed by a tractor or some sort of heavy lifting equipment. My partner and I tried to push it off but no luck. I don’t know why but it creeps me out every time I see it.

I regularly walk my dogs past it to see if they show any interest but honestly after watching them look for a toy that was in clearly in my lap I’m not sure I have much faith in them anymore.

Creepiest Thing They Have Ever Seen FactsWikipedia

17. The Curious Case of the Mountain People

I went on a mountain hike in Transylvania with a group of friends from school, and way up, after maybe 12–14 km of trekking, we came across a house in the middle of nowhere. It had a barn, with a few animals, a couple of cows, chickens, etc. As we get closer, we saw a few people, a guy and five or six women. We weren’t sure if there was more of them inside.

The dude came to greet us. We had a hard time understanding what he was saying. They lived without electricity, gas, or any modern convenience. This was in the early 90s, so there was no Internet or mobile phones to worry about. Well, at least for most people. Anyway, they all looked weird and we could barely understand each other.

They asked us who the president was, and if we want some milk. They looked at our clothes and shoes weirdly, curious, as if it had been a while since the last time they had human contact. Or maybe there were more crazies around those parts. Not sure to this day what was going on. It's not typical in the region, so we kind of freaked out, especially because the dude looked a bit disturbed, and we were too young.

We were looking around to see if there was more of them, paranoia was getting to us, thinking there must be a village nearby. What was also weird was that all the women kept their distance, and never got close to us. Like he was guarding them or checking us out, if it's safe for them. One of my friends kept saying we don't want their milk, and we need to go, 'cause it's getting dark.

We walked calmly for a while, then when we thought we're out of their sight, bolted like crazy out of there. Needless to say, we camped after a few hours, and we always had one person awake to keep watch. We told people that were living in the villages near that area, about the “mountain people,” and they didn't believe us. They said nobody lives up in the mountains.

Creepiest Thing They Have Ever Seen FactsGetty Images

18. UFO? A Drone? What Could It Be?

I was a cook onboard several National Oceanic Atmospheric and Administration (NOAA) research ships. Up in the Bering Sea, I saw what appeared to be a massive, black, triangular-shaped craft dive under the water. I viewed it from a distance of maybe two nautical miles.

urban legends experienceShutterstock

19. Getting “Schooled” By Some Sardines

I was delivering a sailboat from San Diego to Morro Bay, California, roughly 25 miles offshore and alone. At around one AM, about 36 hours into the trip, I saw a bright glowing blue orb around 30 feet in diameter just below the surface at my 1 o'clock. It was a moonless night, which made the blurry sphere contrast well against the seemingly black water around it.

My first thought was, “Oh crap,” a fast-attack submarine is surfacing, which was not uncommon in that area! I started desperately looking for a yellow flare in the water—the maritime warning for a soon-to-be-surfacing sub—but couldn't find one. It fluctuated in size and moved very slowly so I quickly ditched the submarine theory.

After some time, I ended up idling and put the boat into irons to just watch it for a while. When it finally broke the surface in a large, bright, and loud boil, I realized what I had been watching. Turns out it was a large school of sardines swimming together agitating the bioluminescence that happened to be present that night.

It still stands out as one of the most bizarre experiences I've had on the water and I will never forget it!

Creepiest Thing They Have Ever Seen FactsPeakpx

20. Using Your Head

I was walking with family when I was little and we came across a sheep’s head. No body, or blood, just a severed sheep’s head on the path. It was the first time I noticed sheep eyes have slit pupils and I think my first contact with something so gruesome.

Medical Practices factsPixabay

21. Bad Things Always Happen at Make-Out Point

I was walking on the beach with my boyfriend. We had walked to a giant rocky cliff to make out. Somebody was just gazing at the ocean, crying and shaking. Mind you, this is in the early evening, like around 7:30 pm. We asked him if he was okay, and he apologized and practically ran back down the cliff—away from the dangerous areas.

My boyfriend and I watched him until he reached the public area and decided to call it a night. I’m pretty sure he was going to jump.

Creepiest Thing They Have Ever Seen FactsPxHere

22. The Tale of the Vanishing Boy and Dog

My friend and I were chilling in the woods one day back in high school and see a dog walking by, later followed by this kid. He looked troubled so we asked if he needed help. He obliged, telling us he was dog-sitting for his friend and the dog got loose. So we spent a good hour following this dog and kid around, going deeper and deeper into the woods.

Eventually I finally got the dog to come to me, but it wasn't wearing a collar so I wasn't able to get a hold. My friend and I look away for just few seconds do discuss strategy, and when we turn back around the boy and the dog are both gone. It was like they completely vanished. Keep in mind it was autumn so any footsteps could be heard from quite afar.

But it was just silent. Not a single trace of them anywhere. Still don't really know what happened. Maybe they ran away really quick? Who knows? It was definitely enough to creep us out though.

Creepiest Thing They Have Ever Seen FactsPexels

 

23. A Not-So Itsy, Bitsy Spider

This took place in the Australian bush around 10 or 11 at night. I was 17, leading a staggered column of about 60 cadets to our detachment campsite. Due to light discipline rules, only myself at the very front of the group and the other flight commander at the rear had torches on. This was so that any vehicles coming along the trail could see us and so that most of the cadets could maintain their night vision—we were camouflaged up and thus difficult to see at night.

As we walked along I periodically looked to my sides, and kept seeing what looked like dewdrops on the ground. Almost like tiny blue gems glinting in my flashlight either side of the road. I had to maintain my position in the formation, so I couldn't get a good look at what they were. However, after a while we stopped for a very brief break, and I took the opportunity to have a closer look.

Walking over to the side of the trail I spotted a small cluster of the “diamonds” and focused my head torch on them. Rather than seeing diamonds or dewdrops or anything remotely pleasant, I instead saw a group of about five large spiders just crouching in the leaf litter and staring at me. They looked like huntsman spiders, which are about the size of an adult’s hand.

As I turned and swept my head around, I realized that there were thousands of the things. They were all over the ground, some on the trunks of trees, and everywhere around me; all glaring at the light affixed to my head. I had a very brisk walk back to the formation, and attempted to play it cool, all the while screaming in my head.

Being a massive arachnophobe, I have no freaking clue how I managed to set up a tent and spend the next week in that cursed forest.

 

Creepiest Thing They Have Ever Seen FactsWikimedia Commons

24. I’ll Never Look at a Kebab the Same Way Again

In order to get back home from a popular kebab restaurant, I need to walk a short path through the woods. Along the way, there is an extremely old abandoned partially collapsed chapel and occasionally I'll stand there for a few seconds admiring it. It's quite beautiful in its own way. One day during the winter season, I decided to rest there for a minute so I placed my kebab on the bench right next to the chapel and just stood there taking in the scenery.

It was already rather dark and the woods were almost completely silent but right as I was about to continue my walk I heard footsteps rapidly getting louder. It was a child running towards me and as soon as it realized I was there it started to repeatedly scream, “Run, he’s coming” or variations of that same sentiment. I was a bit perplexed by the situation so I watched the child run past me without moving an inch myself.

It didn't take another second for a much more weighty pair of footsteps to appear. I could make out a silhouette in the distance, which seemed to be their origin and at that exact point in time, I got really scared. As opposed to running, I decided to hide in the chapel next to the altar and after tripping over an old broken chapel bench I reached my hiding place.

The footsteps got louder and louder but right as they approached the vicinity of the chapel they suddenly went silent. About 15 seconds of complete quietness had passed just for the words “Oi! You freakin’ idiot left your kebab on the bench” to break the silence. Turns out it was a resident of the very same street I inhabit.

His nephew was visiting and he wanted to race him to the kebab stand.

Creepiest Thing They Have Ever Seen FactsOpenphoto

25. This is Why You Don’t Hike at Midnight

I was in a large wooded area not far from my boyfriend’s home. I was with him, hanging out nearly at midnight. We had gone in pretty deep and it required a good amount of climbing. The closest path was maybe 5–7 minutes climbing down, so it was highly unlikely someone could be at that spot, that time of the night, besides us.

As we were kissing, he thought he saw a shadow move about 20 or 25 feet to the left of us, climbing upward, but it stopped suddenly when my boyfriend looked at it. He told me to be wary, and that exact moment we saw a dark figure climbing a little up but diagonally, like whatever it was was attempting to go directly above where we were.

We didn't move and watch him till he closed the horizontal gap and was directly above us maybe 15 feet of steep downhill thick forest. Then he began to come towards us. Without skipping a beat, my boyfriend grabbed my hand and we almost ran downhill towards the path. We made it in less than two minutes while still holding hands and listening to the man running behind us.

We ran as fast as we could down the path and out of the forest where there was a cafe and some basketball and tennis courts next to the wooded hill, and of course, people. After we realized we came really close to be mugged or worse, we vowed never to go there at night again.

Creepiest Thing They Have Ever Seen FactsPexels

 

26. Cougar on the Prowl

I was a Boy Scout, camping with my group of older buddies and an adult leader in Yellowstone. We had been backpacking for two days and stopped in a beautiful little clearing at the bottom of some huge tree covered hills. The sun started to set, we made a fire, and I began to climb up into the trees to dig a hole and fill it back up. You know what I mean.

As I squat there, basking in the moonlight and appreciating the glow of fire among the trees, I looked up to a ridgeline a few hundred yards away, where the moon was rising, and I kid you not I saw a DAMN big cougar crest the hill, just watching our fire. It was likely no danger to me, but seeing that outline, that unmistakable shoulder crawl they do, was haunting.

I watched it sit there for a good 15 minutes until I was called back by my worried buds. I pointed the cat out to them when I got done because it was still just watching us. It was crazy.

Late Night Hikers FactsFlickr

27. Stranger Danger

My boyfriend and I were backpacking through rural Tasmania a few years ago. While on a bus, we were discussing our plans for the ensuing two weeks. The girl in the seat in front turned around and offers us a place to stay in her town. We declined as we were headed elsewhere first, but she gave us her mobile number and said that she and her partner would love to have us.

A few days later, we decided to take them up on their offer. We called her, and she said they're happy to host us. So far, so good. They met us at the train station and immediately something felt off. It's really difficult to explain, but it was that primal, ineffable feeling in your guts that tells you that something isn't right. We ignored our guts and followed them.

They lead us straight out of town. We ask them where we're going and they say that they live on the outskirts. This town is creepy as hell. It's an old mining town that has been largely abandoned, and as we walk the 15-odd minutes to their home the houses get crummier, with boarded-up windows, overgrown gardens and no people in sight.

Eventually we reached the house at the very end of the town. It's their house. We went in. The set up in the middle of the living room was a single mattress with just a sheet hanging around it. They showed us around the house except for one door, which stayed closed. When I asked what was behind it, they pretended not to hear me.

Our room has a made bed, a chest of drawers, and looks like a normal room. It seemed weird that they slept on mattresses in the living room when had have a guest room. We went back into the living room and looked around. Knives. A lot of knives. My boyfriend asked if they went hunting a lot. They said no. The partner handed one of the knives to my boyfriend and asked him to open it.

It was a massive bowie knife, with what looked like blood staining around the edges of the blade. My boyfriend laughed awkwardly and set it down. They also had a tattoo gun “for practice.” My boyfriend asked if they have any tattoos. They said no. There was a small axe at the door. I asked if they collect wood. They said no. Suddenly the guy said he wanted to go to the shops.

We agreed quickly because, we were creeped out and wanted to get back into the town. The four of us left and they started walking in the opposite direction of the town. I said that the town was back the other way. The guy said his way would be more interesting because it goes up through the trees. He said that they had never been up the mountain before but he knew the area and it would take the same amount of time.

I told my boyfriend that I was freaking out but he thought it was ok. We followed them into the trees. The path goes up the mountain. We were going in the total opposite direction of the town. The girl turned around to her partner and whispered, “So, where was the place again?” My boyfriend and I froze. I said I wanted to take the road back to town and start walking.

When the four of us arrived in the one shop in town, no one recognized the couple. And this is a really small town. We made an excuse that we want to go look at sights and that we'll catch up with them later, and instead book a hotel room and freak out. I did some snooping on the area. Their house had an extra room—behind the mystery door—and a basement.

The path that we were taking led straight out of town and up the mountain. There was no way it could loop back into town. So yeah, pretty sure we narrowly avoided being harmed. Or maybe they were just massive weirdos. To be honest, the creepiest thing was the fact that there was no drug paraphernalia at all—the state of the house and the weird behavior would have been understandable if they were intoxicated, but that wasn't the case.

How To Tell If Someone Is LyingUnsplash

28. Sounds Like a Horror Movie

It was in Auburn, Alabama in 2008. It was Halloween and we were looking for haunted houses. I can’t remember what the website was like or if there even was one, but it was like 45 minutes away. I know that it wasn’t like a big attraction and we figured it was on someone’s land and would be like a local deal. We drove out there at like 10 pm.

This was before we had smartphones and GPS so we had printed MapQuest directions. We ended up going down a pretty country road for a while with no street lights, then turned down a legit dirt road that went through the woods. It was pitch black. We went down it for like 10 minutes and finally saw an old house with a sign by the driveway that was handwritten and said “Haunted House.”

No other cars or lights or people anywhere. We pulled in the driveway and sat there for a second like, “Alright, this is messed up, we should leave.” All of a sudden an old pickup truck turned on about 15 feet in front of us facing us, lights shining right in our faces. It started driving towards us down their own driveway. We backed out and peeled out.

It followed us, like almost bumping our rear end. Right on our tail down this pitch black dirt road in the middle of the Alabama woods. We were flipping out. It was Texas Chainsaw Massacre/The Hills Have Eyes stuff. He stayed on our tail blinding us and almost bumping us all the way back home until we got off our exit and he finally let us go.

We had no idea who was driving. I always think what would have happened if we got out of the car when we were in that driveway.

Dumbest Things They’ve Ever Done factsPixabay

29. Don’t Send Your Kids to Camp!

During a YMCA summer camp about 20 years ago, we were camping in tents in a forested area. It was the middle of summer, so it stayed bright until around 10 pm before it was fully dark. So we went on a night walk with the group and were about halfway into the forest when we noticed someone definitely not belonging to our group following us.

Suddenly, the camp leaders rushed us back to camp and put us into our tents for the night, with one leader staying up to watch us. Cue halfway through the night, and I woke up having to pee like a madman. I got out of the tent to walk to the bathroom and saw the leader supposed to watch us asleep in his chair by the campfire.

I looked around and saw that the guy following us earlier has opened up and is peeking into one of the tents, while fumbling in a bag he has next to him. Screamed louder then I ever screamed in my life. The leaders wake up, jump the guy and hold him till the police arrive. Turns out he had a Taser, blindfold, rope and several knives in his bag.

H.P. Lovecraft factsShutterstock

30. Return of the Yellow King

I was hiking in northern Quebec, doing some exploration work for geologists. The thing about northern Quebec is that it has forests, mountains, hills. Pretty much all green, black and grey.

Except that in the middle of a forest we hiked through, we found this strange all yellow patch of grass in a perfect circle. About the diameter of a medium-sized house.

It was almost perfectly flat too. It caught us off guard.

Creepiest Thing They Have Ever Seen FactsFlickr,Dr Mary Gillham

31. Dogs Detect Danger Better than Us

When I was a kid, my brother and I used to go explore this big swamp behind our neighborhood. It was probably 20 acres and somewhere towards the far end used to be a drive-in movie theater that was retired in the 1970s. There was a bunch of rotting old cars from the 40s and 50s that got abandoned, pristine vintage Coke bottles buried in the mud, old money, etc.

So, it was a goldmine for treasure. Our dad made us take a beagle with us, since there were wildcats, feral dogs, and coyotes back there. Growing up with hunting beagles, we were obviously accustomed to baying, so we never paid much attention when he'd start screaming since it was usually just him smelling a rabbit or something.

But one evening it was a different racket, this one wasn't the normal high-pitched scream and howling noises. He was letting out deep rumbling growls and barking aggressively. We followed the noises and found him barking at an old, mostly decayed car. Without taking his eyes off the car, he repositioned himself between us and the car with his head lowered and his hackles raised, almost like he was trying to protect us.

He stood there growling for a couple of seconds and then started snarling and rapidly snapping at the air like he was trying to grab someone's legs, but nothing was there. My brother and I immediately hightailed it home and he came back on his own a little later. We still have absolutely no idea what happened, it wasn't odd for him to be protective of us, that's why we always took him.

He was very attached to us and would stand up to predators if we ever encountered one. But he'd seen those cars countless times before and was never phased by them. Whatever he was seeing, he absolutely hated it and wanted to kill it before it got to us. And it wasn't an animal because anyone who has ever had a hunting dog can tell you there's a distinct difference between the noises when confronting a wild animal and aggression noises.

Creepiest Thing They Have Ever Seen FactsNeedpix

32. Walking Into a Trap

A friend and I were walking around an abandoned barn in the woods, which, on its own is weird. But anyway, I stepped on a plank of wood with a nail in it, but my boot kept it from penetrating deep enough to enter my foot. Then, I noticed something off. It was about 20 yards from the barn, and filled with nails, like someone purposely did that, and covered it with leaves.

And there were a few more leading up to it. We did a 180 and got out of dodge.

Online Friends FactsShutterstock

33. Spotting a Leopard

I was working in a forest in East Africa for a while. It was getting seriously dark and we were hiking back to the car. The wind was quite strong but you could still hear some ruffling in the leaves and as I turned around, I saw something quite big in the shrubs. It was a freaking leopard! I shrieked and some guy from the group shot into the air to scare the animal away.

I am glad he didn't shoot the animal but was still glad when the animal bolted out of there.

LeopardGetty Images

34. An Eerie Resting Place

While hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail, I was ready to quit for the night when I saw a clear spot with no pine cones or sticks to remove. It was the perfect spot for sleeping. I assumed someone had cleared it before me, but when I stepped on the spot, the earth sank like it had just been put there. I slept on the spot but thought about it all night.

The next morning it became clear that someone had dug up that spot and then covered it. I think I slept on someone's recent grave!

Death FactsPexels

35. Who’s Behind the Bags of Bones?

I was walking my dog through the woods and she'd find the odd bone, thought nothing of it, but then she ran towards a huge black sack and was going nuts for it, I open the bag and it's filled with bones. Sure it was weird, but I'm still like it must be hunters around or something. But then I walk a bit further and start seeing more and more bags, then a huge cluster of them, at least 20 of them, all filled with bones.

I decided my dog had a long enough walk after seeing that.

Creepiest Things Kids Have Ever Said or Done FactsShutterstock

36. The Bizarre Case of the Crooked Forest

In Poland, we have a place called the Crooked Forest. Basically a pine forest, in which every tree is naturally bent in shape of C in the lower part, then grows upwards normally. Every single tree is bent in North direction. It is quite creepy when you just stand in the middle and you see all these weirdly bent trees around you.

Creepiest Thing They Have Ever Seen FactsPixabay

37. The Odd Things You Come Across in the Woods

Okay, so one time back when I was like 11 years old, my friend and I were walking through the woods because he said he had something he wanted to show me. We walked down the path for a good twenty minutes until he suddenly started walking through some closely planted thin trees. Despite my confusion, I followed him until he suddenly stopped in a clearing.

There was a round mud hut in front of us, he told me he was too scared to go inside so I did instead. The floor was lower down then the floor itself and there was a little fire put in the center, it was surrounded by a DIY wooden bench. Although that was odd in itself, the real showstopper was the walls: every inch or the mud walls were covered in animal skulls held up by wire.

These skulls would range in size from a small sparrow skull to a deer skull. To be fair, it was a pretty neat sight. Outside of the hut was another small bench, which had the phrase “Where heaven and earth meet” carved into it. Cut to January of this year, and me and my mom tried to find the weird voodoo hut again in the woods.

While we did come across the hut it had sadly been demolished and all but a few of the skulls had been taken. It just kind of looked like someone had jumped on top of it after stealing all of the skulls for what I can only imagine to be some vulture culture collection. It’s kind of sad it had to go but I still remember like it was yesterday.

Creepiest Thing They Have Ever Seen FactsFlickr,Ken Lund

38. A Terrible Sight, An Honorable Deed

I was driving home after an extremely late night at work, I lived in the middle of nowhere, about a mile before I got there a woman covered in blood jumped out of the woods into the middle of the road screaming. I panicked and went around her, then slammed on the brakes to help. Her boyfriend had beaten her and was currently chasing after her in the woods.

I got her in my car and called the police, they met us at the hospital because I told them there was no way I was waiting on the side of the road when he was coming.

On The Road At Night FactsPixabay

39. A Gruesome Discovery

I'd been at soccer practice with a few of my cousins when I was about 10 years old. We decided to take a walk before our parents picked us up, so we went along the canal towpath. My cousin looked down in the canal and saw a really nice jacket floating along, and being a weird scavenger person, he decided to reach in to fish it out.

Well, the jacket turned over. And so did the man wearing it. He also had no face left. Not going to lie, that was rough sight.

Paranormal FactsShutterstock

40. Summer Camp is the Worst

When I was about seven or eight, my parents sent me to a local summer camp that they would pick me up from in the afternoons. I never really liked it because the kids were mean, everything was either broken or not clean, and the counsellors obviously didn't care. I remember the girl's changing room had a door that led out to the woods, but the doorknob was gone so it was unlocked all the time and you could see into it.

This was primarily where the girls changed into their bathing suits, and there was usually someone blocking the view through the peephole while we changed so the boys couldn't look in. Well, one day I'm changing alone and someone wasn't blocking the door. I look over and see an eye peeping in through the hole watching me change.

I pull the rest of my clothes back on quickly and run out to tell my twin brother. I tell my dad that I don't want to go back to that camp anymore and he begrudgingly takes us out of the camp pretty soon after because he knew how much we hated it. Years later, the camp has been closed down for many many years and I'm asking my dad about it.

He gets really grim and tells me it shut down because of an assault in the woods right behind the girl's bathroom a few weeks after I had told him about someone watching me change.

Introverts Avoid Human Interaction factsShutterstock

41. Basement of Horrors

I used to work in low-income home weatherization, basically giving free stuff away to help lower electricity and gas bills and make the home more comfortable to people who really needed it. One step in qualifying a home is testing combustion appliances to make sure they’re not emitting carbon monoxide into the living space, because if they are and we seal up the house we could kill the whole family.

During a pre-inspection of a home on the outskirts of the city, I ask to see the owner’s water heater. He tells me that it’s in the basement, which is fairly normal, and I tell him I have to inspect it before work can start. So, he goes into the kitchen and starts moving the refrigerator. Turns out the entry into the basement is underneath carpeting beneath the fridge.

I should note that I went and did thousands of homes over the years, and had never seen such a thing. But, whatever, needs to be done regardless and so I pull out my flashlight and shine it down the stairs, to check out the layout but really to look for black widow spiders. At this point, I notice a dead cat, mostly down to a skeleton.

Not my favorite sight, but really common in crawlspaces and basements. I take a few steps down the stairs and continue my spider check, and notice another couple of small animal skeletons. At this point, I start to worry about gas, or poisons, or something equally dangerous having been responsible for the skeletons. I start looking closer.

There are animal skeletons everywhere, at least ten on a cursory look. Some of them are so degraded I can’t determine what they used to be. I also happen to notice that this guy is waiting at the entrance a little too quietly, with his hand on the door. Something clicks in my brain and I get this immense sense of danger.

I’m about four steps from the door being clear to close, I have no partner on the job with me, there’s death all around me, and I realize just how hidden the entrance to the basement really was. I noped the hell outta there, told the guy I needed extra tools and would be back, and marked the job as non-feasible for health and safety as I was driving away.

I have no idea if I was actually in any danger, it could have been completely innocent; but I still remember the adrenaline rush and sense of doom, and sometimes you just don’t take chances.

Shouldn’t Have Done That FactsShutterstock

42. A Creepy Story Has a Twist Ending

This was quite a few years ago now. My friend and I had this really cool spot to hang out, in the woods. You had to walk in the middle of a creek for a kilometer and duck through sharp bushes and thistles. The hike was well rewarding though. The spot was about half an acre big, it was pure green grass on an incline with beautiful clear water ponds everywhere.

There was tons of wildlife and butterflies lived there. My friend Levi and I were walking along the river on the way to the spot. It was in the middle of a valley and nobody else ever went down there. Suddenly, Levi stopped moving and ducked into a bush, I did the same because I thought there must have been a large animal somewhere.

I saw him staring up the hill and so I looked up to. There were two people standing at the top of the hill heaving back and forth a lifeless body. We watched as they threw the lifeless corpse down the hill as it bounced off the trees and eventually got stuck on a tree at the bottom. Then they took off. Levi and I were terrified and I was shaking so badly I couldn't speak.

So we decided to verify that it was a real body. Levi got about four feet away before screaming, “IT HAS NOSTRILS!! IT’S REAL!! RUN!!!” So, of course, we take off running, and I glance back to see the two people run back to the top of the hill. Levi and I ran two kilometers through thick brush and trees to get away from them.

The next day we were with his parents driving to town. And we saw like 10 fire trucks at the school closest to the forest. Terrified, we told his parents, balling our eyes out worried that we were going to get hurt. His mom started laughing at us and said, “They are training for search and rescue, that was a dummy that the firemen had to find.”

I never slept as well as I did that night.

Teacher Confiscated FactsShutterstock

Sources: Reddit,


More from Factinate

Featured Article

My mom never told me how her best friend died. Years later, I was using her phone when I made an utterly chilling discovery.

Dark Family Secrets

Dark Family Secrets Exposed

Nothing stays hidden forever—and these dark family secrets are proof that when the truth comes out, it can range from devastating to utterly chilling.
April 8, 2020 Samantha Henman

Featured Article

Madame de Pompadour was the alluring chief mistress of King Louis XV, but few people know her dark history—or the chilling secret shared by her and Louis.

Madame de Pompadour Facts

Entrancing Facts About Madame de Pompadour, France's Most Powerful Mistress

Madame de Pompadour was the alluring chief mistress of King Louis XV, but few people know her dark history—or the chilling secret shared by her and Louis.
December 7, 2018 Kyle Climans

More from Factinate

Featured Article

I tried to get my ex-wife served with divorce papers. I knew that she was going to take it badly, but I had no idea about the insane lengths she would go to just to get revenge and mess with my life.

These People Got Genius Revenges

When someone really pushes our buttons, we'd like to think that we'd hold our head high and turn the other cheek, but revenge is so, so sweet.
April 22, 2020 Scott Mazza

Featured Article

Catherine of Aragon is now infamous as King Henry VIII’s rejected queen—but few people know her even darker history.

Catherine of Aragon Facts

Tragic Facts About Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s First Wife

Catherine of Aragon is now infamous as King Henry VIII’s rejected queen—but very few people know her even darker history.
June 7, 2018 Christine Tran



Dear reader,


Want to tell us to write facts on a topic? We’re always looking for your input! Please reach out to us to let us know what you’re interested in reading. Your suggestions can be as general or specific as you like, from “Life” to “Compact Cars and Trucks” to “A Subspecies of Capybara Called Hydrochoerus Isthmius.” We’ll get our writers on it because we want to create articles on the topics you’re interested in. Please submit feedback to contribute@factinate.com. Thanks for your time!


Do you question the accuracy of a fact you just read? At Factinate, we’re dedicated to getting things right. Our credibility is the turbo-charged engine of our success. We want our readers to trust us. Our editors are instructed to fact check thoroughly, including finding at least three references for each fact. However, despite our best efforts, we sometimes miss the mark. When we do, we depend on our loyal, helpful readers to point out how we can do better. Please let us know if a fact we’ve published is inaccurate (or even if you just suspect it’s inaccurate) by reaching out to us at contribute@factinate.com. Thanks for your help!


Warmest regards,



The Factinate team




Want to learn something new every day?

Join thousands of others and start your morning with our Fact Of The Day newsletter.

Thank you!

Error, please try again.