I try not to dwell on it too much, but we live in a world that is full of danger.
You never know what’s around the next corner and you gotta keep your eyes and your ears peeled when you’re out and about: especially when you’re out walking after dark.
Folks on AskReddit talked about the scariest things they’ve seen while walking at night.
Prepare to get creeped out…
1. Afraid of the dark.
“I’ve never been afraid of the dark.
Grew up in the countryside, where the nearest streetlight was 10 miles away, so I’m comfortable in dark places, so much so that I often take my dog for a walk at around midnight just because I like the peace and quiet of the night. I live in a city now so something about the dark is just soothing to me.
That being said, one of the scariest things I’ve ever experienced, I genuinely have no explanation for. Living in a city I used to drive out 20-30 miles into the country to do some astrophotography. As I’m driving out one night I see this guy walking at the side of the road with no lights, reflectors and a big backpack.
Didn’t think much of it other than it being a little odd. 5 miles later, I see the same guy walking again. I haven’t changed directions, turned, and I’ve been doing ~50mph. As I drove past he looked and waved at me. I was pretty spooked but I drove on. I must be imagining things. It can’t be the same guy.
I get to my field in the middle of nowhere, park up and get the camera out, and turn off all the lights so my eyes adjust to the dark. All is going well, and for 30 minutes I’m content, and starting to relax.
Suddenly I hear a rustling near the hedge by the road. Crunching leaves, grass being kicked. It was footsteps. I immediately get a feeling of dread, like I’m in severe danger and something bad was going to happen. I grab my camera, toss it in the car, get in, lock the doors and turn on the headlights. When I turn out of the field. I pass where I heard the noise and saw fresh footprints in the mud but no sign of anyone.
I race back home, driving double the speed limit, constantly checking my mirrors for anyone. I park up around the corner and wait in the car with the lights off for 30 minutes, watching. Nothing shows up, I get home, lock all the doors and sleep with a knife under my pillow that night.
I honestly don’t know what really happened that night but part of me knows that creepy guy I passed on the road twice was in that field.”
2. Whoa!
“Many years ago my boyfriend and I decided to take a late night walk around his generally-safe neighborhood.
We got a few steps past the driveway when a shirtless guy came running over with a hammer in one hand, and a machete in the other. My boyfriend stayed super calm and asked the man what was going on.
Apparently, some man had just broken into his apartment and tried to kidnap his young daughter, so he was chasing him down to either shatter his fingers with the hammer or chop off his hands entirely with the machete, and he thought my boyfriend was possibly this man.
My boyfriend gave me his car keys and told me to take myself home (we lived apart at the time) so I went and got his car and by the time I was backing out of the driveway, the man was screaming at my boyfriend, who was just standing there calmly with his hands in the air.
I drove a block away so the man wouldn’t see me, rolled the windows down to try to hear what was happening, and called the cops. The machete man ended up running off and I don’t know if they ever got him. My boyfriend was fine though, thank god.”
3. Out for a stroll.
“A couple years ago, I was at the start of a typical weekday night stroll. I was living in an apartment complex in Florida at the time, so it was the only opportune time to do so, without being completely drenched.
The exact moment I was crossing the sidewalk adjacent to the entrance of said complex, I witnessed a middle aged dude punch his wife/significant other in her face, in full view of me, and another passerby.
The passerby called the cops, the dude was arrested. It wasn’t a scary situation to my own well being, but I did find the situation chilling for one, how nonchalant the guy was in a**aulting his wife/SO in public, and two, how both the abuser/SO were pleading for the cops not to be called.
It was domestic a**se so normalized, it happened in full public, without any second thought/rationale.”
4. RUN.
“Over 25 years ago, I was walking in a park at night. It was pitch black in this park, no lighting, other than the moon & the stars on a beautiful autumn night.
I couldn’t see very well, but I knew the area, & was walking along the road, which ran parallel to a small river. The moonlight would bounce of the water, & all you would hear is the trickle from the slow running river & slight breeze in the trees. I loved those walks.
That was until the one night, in the d**d silence & pitch black, I distinctly hear a mans voice out of the woods say very clearly: “Young girls shouldn’t go walking alone in the woods at night.”
I FROZE. I looked in the direction of the voice & couldn’t see a d**n thing. I RAN HOME. That was the last evening walk I took in that park.”
5. Footprints.
“I live out in the country, more woods and fields around me than houses. There are several dirt paths through the woods that farmers use for their tractors and all during the day.
I like to run on these paths because it’s usually quiet and no traffic unlike the road. During the hottest part of the summer I run at night because it’s cooler outside.
So one night, it had rained during the day, so all the tracks on the path were gone. I was out running around midnight. I had an uneasy feeling but didn’t see anything.
But then I circled around and on my 2nd pass down a particular way, I saw my footprints, but then I saw another set of prints, bigger than mine, that hadn’t been there before. Then I saw they made the turn the same way I had earlier.
I cut it short that night, never saw anyone, but still.”
6. The rough side of town.
“As someone who used to… make sure trains had an adequate coating of paint, I spent a good amount of time walking around the rougher sides of town at night.
Worst thing I ever saw was in Seattle, was walking down the street under an overpass in an industrial district and a homeless woman asked if I could buy her a beer since she didn’t have an ID. Bought her a 40, talked to her about her daughters, watched her smoke m**h, all in about 2 minutes.
She started reading to me from a lightly singed Bible, about the devil specifically at which point I was looking for a quick and polite exit (who doesn’t when someone whips out the Bible?)
At which point 3 men rode by with a gallon jug, and doused her tent in something, maybe gasoline, perhaps turpentine or kerosene, really didn’t stick around to find out. Lit her tent on fire.
She ran into the burning tent. I’ll never forget watching her run out screaming and crying, holding a duffel bag, her white coat completely engulfed in flames.
I took off running (guys on bikes didn’t look thrilled to see me), called SPD, but they didn’t seem to care much after I told them what part of SODO I saw it happen in. Hid amongst the trains for a few hours after that.”
7. Hollywood.
“I (33f) don’t personally feel particularly unsafe walking alone at night which is helpful because the first two years I lived in Los Angeles, I worked late and didn’t have a car so I had to rely on public transportation.
The first month I lived in Hollywood, I was getting off the last Red Line train at Hollywood/Highland at like 2 am and saw a guy who’d just been sta**ed bleeding out on the sidewalk in front of the Forever 21 near the corner.
The blood was running down the stars on the sidewalk toward the street and a cop was just standing there all nonchalant as this dude cried into the lap of someone trying to comfort him. I wish I knew what happened to him, but when I tried looking it up, there were no reports of anything and they’d just hosed off the sidewalk in the night for the morning tourists. It’s like it never happened.
Another time, while walking home down Highland toward Santa Monica Blvd, I saw a guy pull a g** on one of the hookers that hung around the area and he ran away when he saw me watching. That hooker always said hi to me after that whenever I’d see her on my night walks home.
Hollywood at night is a different city.”
8. Yikes.
“There was a park deep in a heavily wooded forest up in the Sierra Nevada mountains where I grew up.
This is on the outskirts of a small town of 5,000 people. The park was crazy dark at night because the trees block the night sky completely and Zero electric lights in the park.
I took a girl there one night to go swing on these massive swings at the far side of the park. We parked the car at the long perimeter fence at the one opening in the chain to get in. We felt our way past the trees and stumbled on the uneven grass.
There were lots of old growth roots to trip on and it was pretty hilarious to try and find the swings with our single tiny flip phone light. We finally found them and had been swinging as high as we could and laughing in the dark when all of a sudden we heard the voice of a man in the distance behind us. Deep in the brush. He was yelling something.
We immediately went silent – still swinging fast back and forth too high to jump and too startled to try and kick the ground to make too much noise and draw attention. The sound of the man thrashing toward us in the brush in a the distance got closer and close in just a few moments when we finally realized what he was yelling: “I’LL. F**KING. K**L. YOU.”
You know when someone says something and you know that they mean it? Like on an instinctive level? We both knew he meant it.
So without saying anything we both bailed out of the swings. In the dark. Hit the ground hard and knocked the wind out of us. We grabbed hands and ran in the dark in a random direction – Tripping, hitting trees etc. all the while the man was still v**lently yelling and coming our way behind us in the dark.
Before we knew it we ran face first into the chain fence at the edge of the park and began to quickly feel along it to the right for a time until we found the opening in the fence. Jumping in the car. Turning the key. The headlights flipped on automatically just in time to reveal a furious wild eyed man run full speed through the fence and literally slam his hands on the hood of the car screaming!
Already in reverse we hit the gas and sped backward up the country road leaving the man standing there loosing his mind.”
9. Tragedy.
“Found a guy who hanged himself in a park.
Called 911 and answered some questions.
It was a long night.”
10. Scary.
“Almost 100% sure I witnessed a kidnapping. I was going to get my mail late at night while living in an apartment complex and on the way back I noticed a woman in her pajamas surrounded by a few men right by a car.
There was an argument and looked like they forced her in the car and drove off, I found her slipper nearby on the grass.
I of course called the police and they came and I let them know what I saw but I never found out what actually happened.”
11. Time to go home.
“Was up on a hill in the countryside at midnight when a man with a rifle came out of nowhere, ran right past me, and wasn’t seen again.
I went home shortly after that.”
12. In the woods.
“Was out for a late walk in the rain, always enjoy it because it’s peaceful, smells great, quiet and never see anyone.
Walked off this trail back into the road and saw a big pile of garbage under a tarp at the end of the cul de sac the trail ends in, got a creepy chill like “that could be a d**d body or something and I’d never know” just got a weird feeling that snapped me out of my calm walk.
Picked up the pace. About 500 yds away parked car with a guy sitting there, in the dark, in the rain, like 11pmish car off, just sitting there. Got super creeped out at this point and changed my route back to the main road and hurried home.
Turns out it was a d**d body someone had dumped under that tarp, was under there for 4 days before someone investigated it. The guy in the car turned out to be just a random dude, guy lives there and totally unrelated to the body.
Still, took a few months off from my late night walks alone in the woods.”
13. Weird.
“There was one night where a car stopped up the road, a girl got out, yelled for help, then got back in and they drove off.
I have no idea of it was serious or not, considering she got right back in the car…”
14. Jeez…
“During winter in a rural no cell service kind of area. Completely dark, no street lights nor anyone in sight. Temperatures were around 20 and it was snowing.
I was walking my dog with a flashlight. Then I heard someone start screaming bloody murder. Flight or fight kicked in; it truly sounded like someone was being stabbed to death for what seemed like forever.
I chose to find out what the hell was going on.
What I found instead was beyond anything I expected. He was a 5 year old boy wandering down the road all alone. All he was wearing were light flannel pants and a thin t-shirt. No shoes or hat. And screaming so loudly it echoed through the hills.
I dropped my dogs leash and walked up to him slowly; gently and repeatedly telling him that I’m a mom and that he’s going to be ok.
I wrapped him into my arms and carried him to a neighbors home to warm him by the fire and call for help.”
15. Close call.
“I almost got kidnapped near a train station. Some dude drove up to me hella quick and insisted that I was some “missing Canadian child” and that he’d “take me home”.
Coincidentally, a motorcycle cop happened to drive by, and immediately pulled over after I waved him down. He approached the guy in the car very aggressively and told him off.
The cop didn’t arrest the guy or anything (the guy apparently told the cop the same “I thought he was a missing child” story), but he did walk me over to the train station and stayed with me until the train actually arrived.”
16. Intuition.
“One time I turned around to see what was behind me just out of intuition, and I saw someone step behind a tree rather quickly and try to hide from me.
I stood there for a second to confirm this, then I speed-walked home.
F**king creepy.”
17. Creeped out.
“Walking home from a late night gym session.
A white van drove past by me and slowly took a right turn in front of me. A couple minutes later I reach the turn and see the van stopped at the exit of a parking lot. It’s facing back my way. It’s about 4 am and nothing else is going on and I’m creeped out.
The van starts coasting forward slowly after I make the turn and I sprint across the street to a gas station and into this small d**d end water/air pump station and press my body against an area of the wall that the van can’t quite see me.
It literally pulls into the air/water station and stops. I hear the engine running right f**king next to me but they never get out of the van. I just stand there pressed against the wall until they pull out and drive around the gas station into the lot on the opposite side of the wall. I hear the van lingering for some time before it goes silent.
Still I wait a while longer before I leave and run the rest of the way home.”
18. A good scare.
“I’m an overnight security guard. One night I was watching cameras and saw someone underneath a grass tarp where some landscaping was taking place on our property.
I was guessing this person had probably tried to stash something before they went into detox which is next door to our property.
I get over to the tarp and don’t see the guy anywhere. So I start walking over the tarp and lifting it to look for any stashed items.
Well I ended up stepping on the poor homeless guy, scared the s**t out of me. He was cool though and we fist bumped and he went on his way.”
19. Strange…
“I worked night shift for 7 years.
One night a young, thin blonde woman was walking down the street at 2 am with no pants or underwear on and a button up shirt open. I tried to ask if she needed help and she just stared forward, slowly walking staring forward.
I called the police and they came and stood in front of her and she slowly walked into the cops hand and stopped. I didn’t stay and went back to work. I still think a out her and what the f**k was going on. I tell myself it was sleep walking on Ambien or something, and that she wasn’t just assaulted and in complete shock. I’ll never know.
But she was very pretty, and seemed well groomed. Was very strange.”
20. The truck.
“One time I was walking around my relatively safe neighborhood with two of my friends after midnight (we were probably 16 at the time). This loud red truck speeds by us, which is normal for the road we were on.
Then a few minutes later the same red truck drives by the opposite way going much slower. Again just a couple of minutes later he drives by but this time stops a hundred or so feet away from us and just sits there.
Realizing that this is not normal we booked it through the yard to the next street over. For the next 20 or so minutes we see this truck creeping up and down the neighborhood while we hid behind some bushes and when we finally thought he was gone, we booked it to my house.
He turned the corner onto my road just as we were about to open my front door.”
21. OMG.
“D**d body on the side of the street with a sign around its neck saying “I’m a cell phone thief, don’t be like me.”
This was maybe 20 years ago in Manila, Philippines.”
22. That’s odd…
“Grew up in Japan, not too small / not too big city.
Worked a job that had me coming home daily at 2 – 4ish AM daily. I preferred to walk the backstreet that paralleled the main street home because it felt more cozy and peaceful. Nothing of note happened until one day…
I turn the corner onto the side street and about halfway down there was a young woman. She wasn’t doing anything, just staring at the sky. Staring straight up, STRAIGHT up, neck at a 90 degree angle, mouth slightly agape, long black hair hanging. I hesitated but decided that, since nothing weird has ever happened here before, it’d be fine, so I went to walk by.
I get up next to her, it’s a narrow road so not a lot of room to maneuver, and pause to look at her. She hasn’t moved or reacted to me, she’s just staring away. So I fight my instincts and ask her if she’s okay. She doesn’t react. I look up to see if she’s looking at something but there’s nothing there. So now I’m thinking there’s something medical going on, so I reach out and touch her on the shoulder.
She jolts and and looks at me like she’s just noticed me. I ask if she’s okay and she just stammers and says sorry before hustling down the street the same way I was headed. I decided to smoke a c**arette to let some distance get between me and her, but towards the end of the street, she stops and stares at the sky again. Doesn’t move for the whole five minutes it takes for me to finish my cig.
I walked down the main street for the next couple nights.”
23. What’s that sound?
“I worked night shift on Kadena AB on Okinawa, Japan.
I started walking to work because I didnt have a car. I really enjoyed the walks. It was a good way to wind down after work as the nights were cool and quiet and I could listen to my music without worrying about anyone else around.
One night while walking home I heard some rustling in the jungle of trees on the way home. Next thing I know all of the lights went black and all I heard/felt was a loud wooooosh coming right at my head. I screamed like a little girl, ran, and dropped my ipod (it broke).
Once I made it past the trees I realized it was one of the giant bats that lived on Okinawa. It scared the ever living s**t out of me.”
Now we want to hear your creepy stories!
Please share them with us in the comments.
Thanks a million!
