"I Know What I Saw": Adults Are Revealing Their Most Haunting Memories As Kids, And It's Beyond Horrifying

Warning: This post contains mentions of murder, violence, and kidnapping attempts.

There's something even more terrifying about experiencing scary moments when you're young and more helpless. I was reminded of this when u/Hugosimpon asked adults on Reddit, "What's the most creepy memory you have from when you were a kid?" Truthfully, the responses gave me chills.

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I had to turn all the lights on in my apartment.

If you’re spooked easily, read with caution, because these are some of the creepiest memories shared that stood out to me:

1."I was playing in these woods near my house where I always went with my cousin. I saw a shoe in the mud and tried to pull it up, but it wouldn’t come easy. I thought maybe there was a stick in it that was more in the mud. Then it 'computed,' and I let go. I got away from it and said, 'Let’s leave.'"

2."My parents worked full time, and my very old grandmother lived with us and took care of me during the day. I was an only child at that time. Throughout the day, Grandmother would take long baths and I'd watch TV until she got out and played with me. One day, she took much longer than usual. I kept calling out to her and got no response. I went to the bathroom door and knocked. She didn't come out, so I went in. She was submerged to her chin. Her body was twisted. Her face was so contorted, and it looked as if she was in agony. Her lips were completely skewed to one side of her face and her eyes were...just blank. I don't remember what happened next."

3."When I was 10 years old, a new family moved into our neighborhood. They were odd, but I became friends with their daughter, and she'd tell me that her house was haunted. I was intrigued, but given their weirdness, I thought nothing of it. One day, I was playing in the yard with her when a disheveled-looking man came running out their front door, followed by her parents. The man proceeded to run full speed into the woods, with her dad yelling at him. That man had been living in their attic and was keeping it locked from the inside. The dad finally pried it open and chased him off."

4."When I was 9 years old, I was lying in my bed, which was next to a window. It was open that night. I was about to fall asleep when I heard inconsistent foot steps outside, as if from someone limping. I thought it was my dad, as he had a tendency to get up at night to have a smoke, and he had a limp from a football injury. I brushed it off, but then I heard it again. I started to wonder what it was, and when it got closer to my window and stopped, I freaked out and slipped under my blankets. After maybe five minutes, the noise would move away from my window and then come back. It went on for over an hour. The next morning, I asked my parents if they went for a walk last night. Neither of them did. When I told them what happened, they shot each other a terrified look and told me to keep my window locked from then on."

5."I had gone to the bathroom in a department store. I sat down on the toilet to poop and just had a weird feeling. I bent down to look through a hole in the divider wall, and I saw an eyeball staring back."

—u/Konebred

6."When I was 10 years old, I went to my local shop, which was about a five-minute walk from my house. Some guy came in while I was looking at the sweets and started talking to me. He offered to buy me sweets and a few fizzy drinks. And being the gluttonous 10-year-old I was, I accepted. He paid around 20 pounds on sweets alone. He somehow knew I had a much younger sister and asked if she liked bonbons. I replied that I didn’t know but she probably couldn’t eat them yet. When he got the drinks, he asked, 'Where do you go to school?' I pretended I didn’t know, but then he said my school. I'd never seen this man in my life. Then he asked where I lived. I lied and said, 'Next to the train station.' Then he said, 'I've seen you walking here before.' My heart dropped."

"I nervously laughed, and once he paid, he asked if I wanted him to walk me home, since it was late. I declined and told him my dad was waiting for me.

"He walked me anyway. I usually walked down a certain street that turned to the train station, but also to my actual street. Before we turned, I said my dad was at the end waiting for me in his car. I ran home. I never told my mom. And I never, ever saw him again, so I assume he didn't live near me."

—u/Aveble

7."I used to swim in the river in our town with my father. Everyone was doing it back then. Once, when I was about 7 years old, we were swimming. When we got out, I'd touched something creepy with my foot and asked my dad to check. He pulled out a dead, bloated guy. I had nightmares for years."

8."I woke up and it felt like someone or something was on top of me stopping me from being able to move or breathe. I could hear heavy breathing, but it wasn't mine. I couldn't move, no matter how hard I tried. I kept trying to say, 'Go away,' but no words could come out. When I was eventually able to move, I relaxed again and felt the pressure again and heard the heavy breathing that wasn't mine. I had to get out of bed after that."

9."I was nearly kidnapped by someone who drove up to my house and tried to entice me to come up to him at his car when I was about 6 years old. I was playing in the yard by myself, and he wanted me to show him on a map where a certain street was. He had his car door open and everything. Thank god I went inside to get my mom to help him, because he was gone when she and I came back."

—u/Suspicious-Elk-3631

10."I was walking with my grandmother at night along a gravel road close to where she lives out in the country. We were heading home to her house when 6-year-old me turned to my grandmother and asked who the lady who ran across the road behind us was. My grandmother turned around and saw nobody, so she asked me to describe the woman. Down to a T, I described a cruel woman who used to live not far away — she'd been dead for 10 years. I didn't live there, so I didn't think much about it, but my grandfather told me my description of the lady I had seen was so on point that my grandmother never walked alone there after dark again."

11."When I was around 3 years old, I fell into a 44-gallon drum filled with water that my little friend and I were looking into. I remember it being a beautiful sunny day and how clear the water looked. Apparently, my friend somehow pulled me out after I fell in, but honestly, I don't know how another 3-year-old could do it. I don't remember anything else about it. I'm not sure where Mom was, and Dad was at work. For years, I had nightmares about rust-colored clouds ballooning up and dark, rusty clouds. It took me 30 years before it clicked that I was dreaming of the rust being stirred up by me as I was trying to get out of that drum."

12."Someone rang once as I was getting out of the shower, so I answered the phone in a towel and a shower cap. The caller started saying disgusting things to me. Then he said he could see me. I froze, until I realized he couldn’t see me because then he’d know how hilarious I looked. So I told him to screw off and hung up. I was 11 years old and frozen in fear for a moment."

—u/zeldasusername

13."I was probably 8 years old at the time. My dad was driving us home and I was in the backseat. We were on the highway, and there were a lot of tractor trailers. My dad went to pass one, but we ended up getting boxed in. And it wasn’t just a 'slow truck slowly passing another truck' thing — it went on long enough that it was clearly on purpose. One truck was purposely going slow in front of us, one blocking the side of us, and our 'open side' was against solid rock as they tried to push us off the road. I remember my dad being freaked out and trying to get the license plates of the trucks to give to the police, whom he couldn’t call at the moment because we were in a cellphone dead zone. I looked up from the book I was reading and made eye contact with one of the drivers — he had a big, white beard and looked straight at me with a sinister smile."

14."I was in kindergarten, and my family and I had just gotten back from Disneyland, so it was pretty late. I remember being in my room, which I shared with my brother, when our dad asked me to go back downstairs to get something from the duffel bag on the table and bring it back upstairs. I went downstairs, and as I reached for the bag, it began to violently move, as if something was trapped inside and desperately trying to get out. I was horrified and ran back upstairs. When I returned without the item, my dad was upset and went down and got it. My mother asked what was wrong, and I told her. She tried to say it was the cat...but the cat was with my brother when I left the room and when I returned. When I said this, she attributed it to me still being half asleep from the car ride home. But I know what I saw."

15."When I was a kid, I was misdiagnosed with cerebral palsy and traditional medicine wasn't helping me, so my parents took me to a 'psychic' — some weird middle-aged guy in a shabby flat who promised to help my condition. I remember him touching my neck and pulling my ears, and it really hurt. I was scared and wanted to go home. I don't remember how it ended, but apparently, after just two or three séances, my dad went to this guy's house and seriously beat him up."

16."My brother was murdered by his girlfriend when they where both drunk and high. I was merely 11 years old. He was about to turn 18. I found him, beaten to death by her. He was coated in blood and cold and looked afraid. I remember hearing his last wheeze of breath. It has obviously stuck with me."

—u/dyinghouseplant

17."I was walking through the woods with a couple of friends, and we came across a clearly abandoned car. It was so deep in the woods, I have no clue how it even got there. We were all kind of creeped out, but I decided to go in for a closer look. Some of the windows were smashed, some were covered in filth and grime. I peeped through a smashed window and saw what was distinctly a human leg. I screamed and ran; we all ran and never went back."

18."When I was in elementary school, we were all out on the playground in the middle of the day during recess. It was bright and sunny, not a cloud in the sky. I was looking across the playground when all of a sudden, there was a 'flash' moment of everyone running inside in unison, and then almost immediately, another flash moment where everybody was gone. Not a single other soul on the playground, and the sky was suddenly very dark and cloudy and stormy. There was a loud crack of thunder that rumbled and echoed for what seemed like minutes. It was clearly later in the day, and I was so confused. I made my way back to the classroom, and it was probably five minutes before the final dismissal bell rang. The teacher was asking me where had I been, and I got in trouble."

19."When I was 8 years old, I was going to the shop near my house, and I was about 15 steps away from the shop when a stranger asked me to shake his hand. I did, and then he pulled me and starting dragging me. I was shocked, so I couldn't say anything, and then another man came asking what was wrong. The guy pulling me said that I was his son and he didn't give me permission to go to the shop and was taking me home. At that point, I bit his hand and he let go of me. I said to him, 'I don't know you!' and ran back to my house."

—u/I_V_Y007

20."I was about 14 years old, and I was home alone while my parents were out visiting some friends. Around 9:30 at night, I suddenly heard some voices downstairs. I knew all the doors were locked and no one besides my parents could get in, so I was afraid people had broken in. It sounded like at least a dozen people were having some sort of dinner party, but I couldn't make out exactly what they were saying. I made it halfway down the stairs and still heard the voices talking. Finally I yelled out, "Hello?" All the voices instantly stopped, and I didn't hear anything again."

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger as a result of domestic violence, call 911. For anonymous, confidential help, you can call the 24/7 National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE) or chat with an advocate via the website.

If you are concerned that a child is experiencing or may be in danger of abuse, you can call or text the National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-2253 (4.A.CHILD); service can be provided in over 140 languages.