Let's Share Our True Scary Stories

Thought it might be fun for us to share some of our true scary stories. Anything from creeps on the street to the unexplained. They don’t have to be epic or anything. Just scary experiences we’ve had.

I’ll start. Halloween at age nine, which I believe was in 1988. Small rural community in Atlantic Canada on the coast. You couldn’t see the ocean from here but you’d hear the waves crashing against the rocks. It was dark and cold, of course. I forget which costume I was wearing, but probably a vampire or something similar. Strong winds gusting through the tree limbs.

This was the first time I ever experienced an anxiety spell, and I could not then or now explain how or why it came over me. I remember meeting all my friends at my best friend’s house, we’re all dressed up and excited, and some parents are there. And I felt odd. The room started spinning. It wasn’t quite fatigue or vertigo because I didn’t feel tired or off balance exactly, just beside myself. It was rather like I’d been drugged or had gotten drunk, but I don’t think I drank or ate anything after leaving home that could possibly have been spiked somehow.

And so, I politely apologized to my friends but said I’d go home because I wasn’t feeling well. Told the adults I didn’t need a ride because I was fine. Think I just wanted some fresh air and some time to think. My parents were out driving my sister and her friends around, so I had to go to my grandparents’ house. There was no one around outside, which wasn’t surprising for a small community one reaches through roads which break off from other roads which extend from the highway. No cars or signs of life. But I didn’t have that far to walk, maybe 10 minutes.

The night was atmospheric from occasional streetlights beaming through the fog, and all the tree limbs creaking from the strong winds. Because I was a spiritual and curious kid I was half captivated by the eerie spectacle of the scene around me and half frightened by it. I remember walking slowly, trying to figure out what had bothered me that night. But suddenly there came this burst of singing—a man crying out loudly in wondrous song, thrashing his acoustic guitar in a wild frenzy. I immediately felt I was hearing a dead man sprung up from the ground—whether in ghost or undead form—celebrating a sacred moment of feeling alive again. I was naturally alarmed, standing still for a moment in shock.

But even to a nine year old kid, this seemed like an idea from a horror film. So I looked over the woods it was coming from for a more likely explanation. There was an old church in need of fresh paint, closed and only opened Sunday mornings. There was a little house nearby where a single man lived who was known to drink a lot, but this was from the woods behind the church (the church being next door to his house.) But the lights in his house were also off. Kids had rumored there was a hidden cemetery in the woods behind the old church. These woods were dark, and there was no hint of candlelight to suggest someone had a lantern from which they could see the guitar they were playing. The sound and the very essence of the music was ghostly, eerie, and out of this world.

I told myself this had to be a prank, but who would hide away in the woods in such a small community where no one trick-or-treated but for cars dropping kids off to each individual house? No one would be walking by there. And it seemed almost impossible they could have spotted little me walking on a dimly lit street from the woods behind the church. It just didn’t make sense. But the singing and guitar strumming was loud and very real. I suddenly gasped and bolted up the road beside the trees from which the music was coming. My grandparents’ house was very close by. Running like I did, maybe less than a minute.

Running inside, my grandparents were aghast as I slammed and locked the door, and closed all the curtains. They said they’d never seen me so scared before. To this day, I have no idea what happened that night, or why. An anxiety spell out of nowhere. Then a man singing and playing guitar all alone in the dark woods. I later found out the rumored cemetery wasn’t true. So perhaps it was just a man playing in the dark to scare kids...even if there none to be around that night. Except me, by mere happenstance.

My story happened in the summer of 1993. It was late, about 10PM, and still pretty warm out. Front door was open, and I heard a man crying and saying 'I'm sorry, Jimmy' over and over.
I went to the door, and saw a man sprawled out in the middle of the street. I didn't see any reason he'd be laying there, and as I was trying to figure out what was going on I saw a red dot of light- on my heart! I followed the beam, and saw a man crouched behind a garbage can on the other side of the street- with a rifle pointed straight at me!
I backed away in record speed, and called the police. They informed me they 'had an incident' occurring and I should stay away from the door and windows.
It was resolved without incident, but to this day you DON'T point a laser light at me!

a reply to: nugget1

Wow! Scary moment indeed! Glad you made it out of that okay.

S.E. Asia Viet Nam 98f in the shade with 80+% humidity.

A resupply bird had been shot down while trying to resupply a company just short of a steep ridge line. One of two snakes (Cobras) had been shot up so bad he had to RTB (return to base) while trying to protect the resupply bird that had been shot down.

We had been called to assist the troops on the ridge line who were almost out of ammo and out of smoke to identify their position.

The Army major comes out to my bird, map in hand, while I was sat on the ground with the UH-1D model bird idling.

He gives me a quick rundown and suggest the general location of where the troops were and also suggest which approach I should use to find and resupply the troops.

He left and as we were sitting there getting the rest of the supplies we would be dropping off through the triple canopy jungle when all of a sudden there was an ice cold something that entered the cockpit; it was so cold I got chills to the point of almost shaking. I looked at Bob my right seat copilot and he to was shaking and saying burr.

What that was I have no idea, as cold like that I never experienced before nor after .

We found and resupplied the troops and peeled off that "ridge line of death" at the speed of heat and continued with other missions that day to return back to our base of operations unscathed just after sun down... Myself along with Bob and the rest of my crew could not figure out what had caused the blast of cold we all felt; and to this day I wonder if it was a warning as I did nothing the Major recommended to get the troops resupplied. Mission accomplished, troops happy and we survived.... I do like happy endings even if sometimes stuff makes you wonder......

a reply to: LoneCloudHopper2

I once was on a message board, and my scary short story got deleted, And I got banned. To this day I'm sure something nefarious is going on, and I never shared that story again...

a reply to: LoneCloudHopper2

Walked into a bar on the other side of planet Earth (in SE Asia). Sat down at the bar and ordered a beer. I was by myself. As I took the last sip of the beer the bartender served up another beer. I just figured he was being courteous and had put it on my tab. As I finished that beer, a 3rd beer showed up. I asked the bartender about it, and he said a guy over in the corner of the bar had bought it. Over in a darkened corner of the bar was a booth with a guy sitting in it. He didn't look familiar to me, and I'd only been in-country for 1-2 months so I didn't really know anyone. As I looked to see if I could figure out who he was, he turned and waved me over. It was a friendly wave, so I figured what the heck and went over and sat down in the booth across from the guy.

Now that I could see him up close, I knew I'd never seen this guy before in my life. Seemed kind of strange, but whatever. Maybe he was just a friendly guy. All that changed about 15 seconds later!

I said thanks for the beer, he nodded and then spoke up. In very broken English and a heavy German accent he called me by name. (HUH???) Next he started asking me questions about my wife and family back in the US. He knew my address in Malaysia, and he new my address back in the States. He knew who my sisters were, knew my wife's name and even knew my parents, by name! (WTF, over???) He asked me how my job was going at (insert company). He knew what I did, where I worked and practically everything about me. By this time I was freaked completely out! How the heck did this guy know me, and worse, how did he know so much about me??? This was not normal, not normal at all!! It was chilling actually.

Once I came to my senses, I began to ask him some questions, like how did he know me, etc. He was very evasive. I wasn't sure what exactly was going on, I mean no one on planet Earth knew I was going in this particular bar. It was a spur of the moment thing even to me! The whole experience was making me feel very uneasy.

I made some small talk, and started saying I needed to leave (attempting to make my exit). I wasn't sure if this dude was an assassin, some kind of international espionage guy or what the heck he was, but I was getting out of there pronto. He implored me to stay a couple times, but I was pretty insistent about leaving.

As I got up to leave, he said...Wait! I have something for you!...and he grabbed a new matchbook out of the ashtray, opened it, and wrote a phone number inside. Just a phone number, nothing else. He handed it to me, and said if I ever wanted to talk to give him a call. Talk about what?, I asked. And his reply was only that...I would know when it was time.

I left, and beat feet to my vehicle which was parked in a lot nearby.

Needless to say, I never called the number, and I never saw the guy again either. I was in that part of SE Asia for another 2 straight years, and I never forgot about that experience! In fact, the entire time I always felt like I needed to look over my shoulder to see if that dude was nearby. And, to be completely honest, I'm not entirely sure that some of his colleagues weren't nearby and I just didn't know it.

THAT, was a completely FREAKY experience!! One I will not soon forget. And, I never did find out what the situation was, but whatever it was I'm sure it wasn't good!

a reply to: LoneCloudHopper2

This happened a few years ago in our last apartment. One night after dinner i was reading Bram Stoker's Dracula on my mobile. There was a power cut in our area and so the atmosphere was perfect for reading a horror novel. As i was busy reading lying on my bed, i heard a noise (of someone breathing). The noise seemed to came from beyond the headboard of my bed. There was a small space beyond the headboard where a table and chair was kept. When i got up and checked that area, there was no one. I was the only one in that room and others were busy in other rooms.
I don't know whether it was me hearing things or whether it was the story that had an effect on my mind or maybe there was someone or something in my room. Who knows?