“My friend was superstitious about that whole 3am being witch’s hour, but I didn’t really think much of it. We get about a quarter of the way down [the road] when we reach the darkest part where there weren’t any houses or lights, […] [and] all of a sudden our flashlights start flickering at the same time. I dismissed this as my batteries being low, or my bulb somehow starting to burn out. After a while of flickering and me trying to keep it on, they both completely shut off as we were riding. I look at my phone to see what time it was, 3:00 am. We both kinda freak out, so we stop, and I start banging my light against my thigh hoping it would come back on. When I realize it’s not working, I quit.
"We venture on for a couple more mins, and we get to the top of this steep-ish hill. When we go down it, I could hear something off to my right. […] I look but don’t see anything, just hear something running beside us.
"At this point, I start to freak out and try to skate faster, but it was no use. Whatever this was, it was fast enough to stay at a pace of at least 15 miles an hour. I finally got enough balls to stop once we got to the bottom of the hill and slowed down a bit. I pull out my flashlight to see if it would work – it did.
"As I turn it on, something grabs my foot, and I shine the flashlight down at my feet, but nothing was there. Then, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, and I moved the light towards it. It kept moving out of my light. I freaked out and started trying to look at it, and I finally get part of it in my light.
"It was just a black silhouette of a really small child. I didn’t tell my friend that I had seen it. I just said I felt something grab my foot. We have no other problems that night, but when we get back to my house, he tells me that he saw a little child on the side of the road that was sitting and crying...”
– MrFisterthetwister
“One evening on our way back to my grandparents, who lived in Ciudad Hidalgo, my grandfather was driving, and he loved taking Mil Cumbres. […] Not a lot of people used that road anymore so it was kind of desolate with the exception of passing one or two little towns.
"It was dusk soon so that meant that being on such a desolate road in the mountains, we would be in complete darkness on the road with not many other cars on the same stretch of road. It took 2 hours to get to the town on that road, so maybe 45 mins into the drive, it had already gotten really dark and as we were driving my grandfather started slowing down. I was sitting in the back seat because my grandmother was in the front with my grandfather so I kind of stood over the front chairs to see why he was slowing down.
"That's when I saw a huge tree log blocking the road. My grandfather came to a stop and immediately started going in reverse to turn around and get out of there immediately. After we turned, my grandfather stepped on the gas pedal, and I was sort of thrown back into the back seat. I immediately turned around to see if I could anything and as we were speeding away. I could see men, very dimly since the light from the tail lights from the car were starting to get dimmer and dimmer, coming from out of the adjacent trees next to tree log on the road with flashlights and guns.
"We were about to get robbed and thanks to my grandfather's quick thinking and taking action immediately, we avoided it. That was the last time I was ever on that road.”
– Hex_Code_Glitter
“I was on i70 in Colorado going towards Utah, pulled over at a gas station at 8 pm. Fueling up, I noticed a couple of attractive women pumping gas, on the other side of the pump was the man in his late 40s, just staring at these young women without notice of anything else going on around him. I walk inside […] [and] when I come out, I see both the younger women's car and the older man's truck are gone.
“After driving for a few hours, I pull over at yet another gas station, the young women are there getting gas and eating some food on a picnic table. Looked like they had been there for a while. I didn't see any sign of the man in the truck but can't say I was looking very hard for it. Well here is where it got creepy as hell...
"As I am watching them leave, I see in the next parking lot over some headlights turn on, and it's the same man as before.... He leaves when the women leave once again. Okay, that's a bit weird but could just be a coincidence as there weren't many places to pull over. I leave a few minutes later and catch up to them...now this guy is riding their a*s with his high beams on.
"I decided to slow down and stay a distance behind the truck. 10 minutes or so later the women pull over once again to most likely get this guy off their a*s... With a sigh of relief, the truck keeps going and I continue on my way. About 1 mile down the road the guy just pulls off to the side of the highway.... So, I pull off a mile or so down the road again. Sure enough, the women drive by and the guy is still following them. At this point, we are out in the middle of nowhere and too many coincidences have happened. I called the cops to alert them and about 15 minutes the cops pulled the guy over.”
– Land_As_Exile
“I used to deliver pizza and often had deliveries right at midnight when we closed. One time, late at night, I'm driving back to the store through a small neighborhood. Up ahead I see something. It's perfectly spherical bright/shiny...thing, just hovering about 6 feet off the ground. Not moving at all.
"I pull up very slowly. Still doesn't move. Still can't comprehend what I'm looking at. Just this shiny hovering orb in the road at midnight.
“So, I hop out of the car, and slowly walk up to it. I'm right in front of it and still can't understand what I'm seeing. I reach out and touch it. It's a balloon. One of those foil birthday balloons with the streetlights shining on it making it look weird out of context in the middle of the night on an empty road.”
– warmyourbeans
“A lot of people that drive for a living or have done balls-to-the-wall cross country drives can tell you about the running shadows. First time I saw ‘em, I was on the tail-end of 12 straight hours of driving. I was driving through the middle of nowhere in the desert at night. Very little light from the sky, no man-made lights even on the horizon. Just the pitiful cone from my truck's headlamp, and being in the middle of the desert, it pretty much only lights up the road ahead. Nothing above ground level to catch the light.
"As I'm barreling along, I start to see shadowy figures running alongside my truck out of the corners of my eyes, on two legs and four. […] So, I've got my eyes glued to the road, refusing to let them flicker off to the side. I rolled my windows up and cranked up the volume on my radio. Drove like that for probably an hour and a half until they slowly petered out roughly 15 minutes outside of a little one-light town.
"I've had people try to carjack me, people try to rob me after I pull over to render aid, people jump out at me on twisty mountain roads, you name it. But nothing matching that level of fear the first time I saw them. Felt like my spine was rippling like a ribbon in a wind trying to jump clear out of my back and hide under the seat.”
– Pronto295
“After dropping me off at my house around 2 am, my friend calls me and tells me to lock my doors. He said he saw a man standing in the middle of the road, and as he passed him, the man kept staring through him. Not at him really, but like there was something behind him in his back seat. He also said he could barely make out anything about the man other than his large eyes and trench coat.
"What really terrified me is that this happened on a street that only my family lives on, and no one would have been out that night. Also, we're a solid mile and a half from the nearest neighbor. Freaked me the hell out.”
– TheCourtPeach
“I lived in the boonies of Wisconsin, at the time. A good 5km outside of town. […] Encountering deer was not uncommon out there, so I was going slow. When what appeared before me, to my tired eyes, was a monster.
"It had a huge, round body. This crazy long neck, a pointy head, and only 2 legs. Right in the middle of the road. Scared the ever-loving f*ck out of me in that state.
"Thankfully, it stood there for a second. Brain re-engaged. It's an ostrich. What is an ostrich doing wandering around in Central Wisconsin?!?
"I looked at it, it looked at me. I blinked. Nope, still there. Pretty sure it's real. Finally, it trundled off into the forest. […] I grabbed my cellphone and called the tiny little police station in town (non-emergency number).
"‘So... I'm really tired, so please laugh at me and tell me to go home and sleep and ignore the call... but I'm pretty sure I just saw an ostrich on Highway xx just outside town.’
"She started laughing hysterically, then assured me that:
- No, I'm not hallucinating.
- There's an ostrich and emu farm on the other side of town, guy raises them for the kitch [sic] places in town for meat.
- Some drunk driver went up, over the berm, through the fence, and through most of the barn.
- There are still 4 animals, including the one I just spotted, unaccounted for.”
– SilentDis
“I dropped my GF off the night we saw The Mothman Prophecies. It wasn't a super scary movie, but it had some scares. I take the interstate home. On the way, there is a curve where there aren't any lights. Just a dark stretch of interstate.
"As I came around the bend, there was a guy in a black trench coat walking along the side of the road. As it was about 3 am, I guess I startled him. So, when my headlights hit him, he whipped around, and I swear he stared me right in the eyes.
"My heart jumped into my throat.”
– CryoClone
“I was a very young woman driving home after clubbing, about 2 am through Hollywood. I was pulling up to a stop sign on Cahuenga, about 3 blocks from Hollywood Blvd, when a bunch of guys begin to casually stroll onto the crosswalk, coming from both sides.
I hit the gas and ran the stop sign without even thinking. They cursed and ran after me, but those boys were ready to jack me. My instincts took over before I even realized what was happening.”
– Peppa_D
“Was driving from Atlanta, GA to Lexington, SC with my GF to visit my parents. At around 3 am or so, […] in the distance I can make out what looks like a hitchhiker, or what I think is one, but can't really tell due to such low light. As I get closer, I start to notice other things, like how the person is kinda thin and tall and completely, for the most part, apparently brown. I'm right up on this thing now, and at about 20 feet, it turns around and locks eyes with me as I pass by.
"This was no person. And it is the most terrifying thing I have ever seen in my life.
"It was a deer, or I tell myself it was.
"I have seen deer stand on their hind legs to fight, but they still have deer posture when they do. Not only that, but I was watching this thing walk for about 30 seconds from first seeing it in the distance to passing it.
"The posture it had was human. Standard biped stance. Arms back, chin down.
"But the worst part was the eyes, or lack thereof. In their place were two large black pits, almost black-hole-ish. I'll never forget the stare down it gave me.
"The instant I passed it I had the only panic attack I've ever had in my life. […] Every once in a blue moon I will dream about it and wake up crying or in a cold sweat. […] I know what I saw, and I know it will haunt me for the rest of my life.”
– Binary_Omlet
“Sitting outside [a house] is this little girl in her pj's. She's watching me with this blank look on her face. […] I'm studying to be a teacher, so I've got a soft spot for kids. I walk towards her a little and ask if she's okay.
"‘Mummy's angry,’ She replied, then she grinned at me and her eyes went all crazy like. The mother came out then, the Dad following, and I kept walking when the little girl was brought back in. The Dad left in a car whilst the Mum went in with the kid.
"The little girl's eyes really freaked me out, still do.”
– Don’t_Call_Me_Cute
“Walking down the main street, I cross a road, [and] something was glittering on a driveway. I take another step forward to see better, and I kid you not, I could just make out the silhouette of a bear. The sheer size of that beast wasn't fun at all.
"I could see that it was watching me, it started taking steps towards my direction. I turn my head and I keep walking making as little noise as possible. It wasn't nice, 2/10, too exciting for me.”
– yeeterino_boi
“Someone following me. Back when I had first graduated from college, I moved back home to North Carolina, and I got a little apartment near the town center. We had a category 1 hurricane hit, and I still had to work.
"My parking lot had debris that was blocking my car in, so I figured I'd just walk to work seeing as the worst of the storm had passed. But the pole lights were down […] so I was walking home in near pitch darkness.
"I could hear footfalls behind me, but I knew that if I reacted, I might risk elevating the situation unsafely, so I got my knife out but kept my pace even and calm. The police station was only half a mile up the road, and I figured I could panic when safety was at my fingertips. It worked. The person following me obviously didn't want me to panic and start screaming, which would attract attention. So, he kept his distance, and when I ran to the police station, I watched as he turned and ran away.”
– carmelacorleone
“I went for a walk alone one night at 12 am. […] I was walking along a path that ran parallel to the beach and was taking in the views. I sat down on a bench and was minding my own business when an elderly couple came into view.
"As they walked towards me, I noticed that they were dressed as if they were from a different time period. My first thought was that the man was dressed like Abraham Lincoln, and the woman looked...Amish? They really looked like time-travellers.
"Eventually, they reached me and suddenly came to a halt a few feet away. The woman looked at me and said, ‘...hello...’, in the most creepy [sic] way I’ve ever heard, then they turned and walked away. I was a bit spooked by this point, so started to leave. As I looked up, I saw them SPEED-WALKING towards me. They had walking sticks but were somehow speeding towards me. I noped the f*ck out and practically ran home. […] I still have no idea who those people were.”
–smurfieone
“Last summer my friend and I were hanging out in a park late at night, around 11:30. […] She got quiet all of a sudden, and I look over to where she was looking, and some really odd-looking man was standing on the road about 10 feet from the park. My friend said he'd been standing there for over 10 minutes, but not doing anything. I was getting sketched out, so I started to get up. That's when [he] started SPRINTING towards us.
"We both screamed and bolted. I was fumbling with my pocket knife while he literally chases us down the street. We eventually got back to my house, making sure he wasn't there to see where I lived. Locked the doors and cried a little. I can still picture what he looked like under the street light. Was like a f*cking horror movie.”
– iamcece
“A few years ago, my ex-boyfriend and I were sitting in a park mucking about. It was almost midnight on a Saturday night, and we see a figure walking along the road adjacent to the park coming toward us.
"Now we were thinking it was just someone walking home, no need for worry etc etc, but we noticed it was a man, and he was carrying something that looked like an umbrella?
"We were only slightly unnerved, but as he gets approaches what is in his hand GLINTS under the streetlight.
"It's a MACHETE.
"Boyfriend and I froze looked at each other in absolute fear. We were in a dark corner of the park so silently decide to remain still and hope he didn’t see us. Man proceeds to walk right past us, entirely expressionless but gripping this sword-like machete upright.”
– astridthestrange
“Some friends and I (5 of us) were driving around some rural roads waiting for a friend to arrive at his girlfriend's house. We were just kind of wasting time, cruising down some dirt roads around 20 miles an hour, talking. My friend who is driving slams on his brakes and I, in the passenger seat, looked up and there was this thing.
"I had never seen anything like it before. We stopped the car and watched as this thing, which didn't have a perceivable head, move slowly across the road about 15 ft in front of us. It was creepy, to say the least. It was approximately 4 ft tall, and we could see its joints moving as it walked slowly with a gait similar to a giraffe. It had very skinny, long legs. Its body was about 1.5 ft round. If it had hair it was pretty short, but the thing was brown.
"We were all screaming, "what the f*ck is that?!" We could not see any perceivable head, and it was walking perpendicular to us. We watched as it slowly walked through these people's yard and behind their house. Needless to say, we were freaking out about it. When we got to my friend’s house, we all drew pictures of it separately and showed each other at the same time when we were done to verify that we all saw what we saw.”
– Kevlaru
“I was driving from New Hampshire to Colorado Springs, Colorado. We had to go through Kansas and never heard of a ‘supercell,’ but apparently those beautiful clouds turn into swirly death traps called tornadoes. Well as night hit and the strongest [of the storm] became difficult to drive through, we slowed down because it was hard to see through the down pouring rain.
"Well lucky me looked outside to my left into a field, and in between lightning flashes, a tornado was swirling in motion about a mile away from us. I've never sh*t myself so fast and hard before. I tell you I will never go back to Kansas in a Subaru outback. If I go back, it's gonna be in a tank.”
– Cheese_is_life93
“I worked at a coffee shop and had the opening shift starting at 4 am. Would walk to work (no driver's license.) Left at about 3:30. Walking down the street all alone. Not a soul in sight.
"Look up ahead, about 100 yards, and walking towards me was a fully dark figure. No features. Man-sized with arms out in a t-pose-like stance or held out for an embrace. Moved like a mirage. Just kept walking towards me. As I got closer, he never seemed to move and then dissolved. Was just gone.
"I crossed the street as I was already close to my job. It freaked me out and I stopped working the opening shift shortly after.”
– Macaroni-Brony95
“I was camping one weekend with some friends and decided to take a walk. So, I was walking down the road next to the campgrounds when a huge black shape ran across the field to my left, then stopped for a second, then started coming at me. And being somewhat sensible, I ran until I was back at our campsite and told my friends what I saw. They thought I was lying until we heard something in the woods behind us. We shined a flashlight over, and all we saw was a giant black shape and two huge eyes staring at us.
"Needless to say, we booked it out of there in no time. We went back in the morning but there was nothing, not even any tracks. However, later that week on the news there was a report of a similar figure seen at the town less than a mile away from where we were camping.”
– General_Lumos
