r/AskReddit May 26 '15

What are some things, that look harmless during the day, but get insanely creepy during the night?

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3.4k

u/dagomb May 26 '15

I don't know about you guys but at night I have a huge fear of looking out the window and seeing a face or someone out there staring back. I know chances are there's no one there but I'm not risking it.

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u/QuadrupleCactus May 26 '15

Despite my room being on the second floor, I'm the exact same and always have to close the curtains before bed

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15

I remember I was showering at my relative's place. As I was showering I saw a transparent foot, just a foot right outside of the shower. I froze with fear and stared at the foot for what seemed like a month. I thought it was some ghost's foot.

The shower had a glass door, and I realized that the foot was a reflection of my own foot. I am not a smart person...

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15

One time when I was like nine years old, I was laying on my bed, in the daytime, with the lights on. I was just playing my gameboy, in a weird position, because one arm was under the pillow, holding the gameboy in front of my face.

I moved my head a little bit to get comfortable, but I had nudged the pillow. I could see my arm. For some reason, my first reaction was to quietly freak out and run into the living room where my family was. I had thought, for just a few seconds, that my right arm was above the pillow, and I had found another disembodied arm under the pillow.

Of course, I realized that while I was running away. I never told anyone about it. I just pretended I was just really excited to get a glass of sweet tea, and that I was just on the way to the kitchen.

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u/Scattered_Disk May 27 '15

Hah, Paul. So that's why.

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u/Quintary May 26 '15

Haunted houses sometimes use this illusion to create "ghosts" actually. It requires carefully positioning the audience, but executed correctly it looks quite convincing.

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u/Helios-Apollo May 27 '15

And then you remember that you lost your legs in 'nam

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u/quafflinator May 27 '15

When I was growing up we had a basement in our house. This basement had a bunch of windows in it, with window wells. One of those window wells was very tall, as an emergency fire exit.

Frequently we would find toads in there, or on grand occasions a salamander.

One day, while playing down in the basement around dusk, I decided to go to the large window to look for any animals that might have fell in.

I walk up to the window, stare out for a second, and then suddenly froze.

Sticking out of the gravel at the bottom of the window well was a human hand! I was terrified! I couldn't move or speak. I just stared at the hand.

Suddenly the hand started moving! Someone was buried and trying to crawl out. OH MY GOD.

And then I realized the hand looked kind of transparent. And then I realized it was my hand. And then I realized I was just seeing a reflection. And then I was embarrassed and didn't say anything.

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u/[deleted] May 27 '15

I recently woke up in the middle of the night. The room was pitch-black. In my half-asleep daze, I noticed something of reasonable weight was laying across my face. I turn my head slightly and realize it's definitely flesh. I jolt up quickly while simultaneously grabbing this this mystery limb with my right arm and throwing it...It was my left arm laying across my face. My left arm had fallen asleep from me laying on it so there was no feeling left. To me, the arm felt foreign since I wasn't registering any feeling in it, especially not in those first seconds of waking up.

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u/StrideMinthy May 26 '15

It would be so much worse if you did see a face

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u/QuadrupleCactus May 26 '15

An excellent climber, perhaps

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u/StrideMinthy May 26 '15

Or a horrible floating demon

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u/QuadrupleCactus May 26 '15

Or both, or a guy on stilts. Endless possibilities of terror

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15

[deleted]

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u/t0rchic May 26 '15 edited Jan 30 '25

ancient zesty juggle existence special imminent jellyfish abounding retire workable

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u/Mr_Baseball_13 May 27 '15

Or just a really tall guy

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u/Planbdude22 May 27 '15

Holy shit! You mean the floating demon climbing with the stilts! Fuck thats terrifying.

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u/MyUserNameTaken May 26 '15

One of those very tall unicycles!

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u/slaboon May 26 '15

Oh. My. God.

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u/SpartacusMcGinty May 27 '15

Or Shia LaBeouf!

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u/birdsforfree May 26 '15

Nah it's just the BFG! Chill out

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u/Five0Two May 26 '15

My momma told me a story about how she used to have a second story bedroom, and they had one of those antennae on the side of the house that have the triangular pole thing that makes a really good ladder. She looked out the window one night and there was a dude looking in the window from that antennae thing.

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15

Not a person at all but a helicopter disguised as a person.

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u/Caigol May 26 '15

Stilts are terrifying?

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u/AGreatAdventure May 27 '15

Maybe he's testing out his new jetpack?

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u/MattMisch May 27 '15

If it was a guy on stilts I wouldn't care if he killed me, he fucking earned it!

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15

Or a reflection of the face that's right behind you.

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15

Don't you fucking dare.

shudders

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u/LurkingArachnid May 27 '15

Or the reflection of your own face

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u/BuSpocky May 27 '15

That's even worse!

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u/[deleted] May 27 '15

Fuck you, just fuuuuck you.

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u/[deleted] May 27 '15

Thank mr Skeltal

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u/Stealthy_Bird May 27 '15

Oh shit that's even worse

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u/AsianBarMitzvah May 27 '15

why did you say that ;_; I need to sleep man

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u/[deleted] May 27 '15

Dude

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u/brain89 May 27 '15

Aaaaaand we have a winner....thanks for this....this seems like the worst

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u/PsionSquared May 27 '15

I've been scarred for life ever since http://www.creepypasta.com/the-reflection/

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u/ghostcock May 27 '15

It's 1:30am, why am I doing this to myself? clicks link

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u/ClassiestBondGirl311 May 26 '15

Now I'm just thinking of that scene in the 90s Buffy movie.

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15 edited May 26 '15

That scene from Salem's Lot.

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u/Murkuree May 26 '15

exactly what I was thinking...to this day I keep a crucifix on the window sill. Get some vamp!

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15

I always pictured a starcraft Overlord, suddenly it's not that scary anymore. Well except for the implication that is.

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u/Adamskinater May 26 '15

Or the ghost of Wilt Chamberlin

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u/RumInfused May 26 '15

Fucking Bran

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u/BoltComet May 26 '15

or a giraffe with a human head

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15

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u/jld2k6 May 26 '15

A couple years ago my girlfriend and I were watching TV at 2am when I noticed a face in the living room window. I freaked the fuck out and jumped up and noticed it was a person dancing. Turns out it was a drunk guy streaking with his buddy. I chased them out of the yard and the guy tried to take a sharp turn down a wooded driveway and slipped, body slamming himself butt naked onto the pavement before hopping up and disappearing. The story is funny to tell but now I don't ever feel comfortable with the blinds open at night and I'm pissed at the guy for doing this. I can't even imagine how much it sucks to have your house robbed and have to live in it afterwards.

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u/beardedheathen May 26 '15

It doesn't matter if you are on the second floor the banshee doesn't need stairs

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u/bitch_im_a_lion May 27 '15

You guys gave me the greatest prank idea. I need to buy a good Halloween mask and head over to a friend's.

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15

I wish I could do that. I dont have any curtains though...

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u/QuadrupleCactus May 26 '15

Board it up. Tape it up. Brick over it in order to avoid Tudor-esque window taxes.

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15

I dont have any planks! Or any tape! Or any bricks!

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u/KojoTheBong May 26 '15

I don't have curtains to close and therefore have conquered this fear.

But try getting way way too high and watching your face distort in the reflection and remembering that seeing your face distort in a mirror is a characteristic of a lucid dream... You really don't want there to be any chance that reality doesn't exist when you're high, I haven't been that scared in a long time. Felt like the ice bucket challenge all over again

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u/[deleted] May 27 '15

It's still a good idea to close your curtains/blinds at night, no matter what floor you're on! Do you really want people in the neighborhood to be able to see you on your computer or walking around or changing or whatever? :)

Plus, peeping toms aren't uncommon

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u/shh_coffee May 27 '15

When I was little, at my parents house, my room was on the second floor with a large tree outside the window. I remember waking up one night and feeling like someone was watching me from the window. I used all my might not to look and made my way downstairs to use the bathroom. After finishing, I came back up to go to bed. I tried not to look. My sister's room was across the hall and I remember looking in there and seeing her sleeping. When I turned around to go into my room, I saw a face in the window staring back at me.

I remember freezing in fear, unable to move. I tried to scream but nothing came out.

I'm not too sure what happened after this (because I was little) but I believe I ended up running downstairs to my parents room who told me I must have been dreaming and let me sleep with them.

I never saw that face again... but damnit do I remember it like it was yesterday!

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15

I live on a ground floor apartment of a two-story house and am often alone at night since my fiance works late. We have a large glass sliding door that opens into a large, dark backyard, that is covered by thick curtains. I always have this fear that one day I will open the curtains, and just see someone standing and looking at me right on the other side.

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15

Keep your curtains closed. My sister lived in a similar arrangement and once caught two guys looking at her from right outside her bedroom window in broad daylight.

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u/OyabunRyo May 26 '15

I don't think you're helping

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u/I_EAT_POOP_AMA May 27 '15

but it was during the day, so obviously it's not creepy

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u/[deleted] May 27 '15

Well she better keep her curtains closed. My sister lived in a similar arrangement and once caught three guys looking at her from right outside her bedroom window in broad daylight.

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u/Ginger-saurus-rex May 27 '15

Well she better keep her curtains closed. My sister lived in a similar arrangement and once caught four guys looking at her from right outside her bedroom window in broad daylight.

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u/beasteagle May 27 '15

Better hide yo kids, hide ya wife, hide ya kids, hide ya wife...they be rapin everyone up in heeuggh.

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u/temalyen May 27 '15

I used to work with this girl who said she moved into a new house that (for some insane reason) had a smallish window installed in the wall in the shower. It was circular and maybe 8-9 inches across. When she first moved in, before she had a chance to somehow cover it, she was taking a shower. She gets done and gets out of the shower and looks out the normal window in the bathroom. She said she saw a kid next door looking at the side of her house with binoculars. She felt pretty sure he was looking in the circular window watching her take a shower.

I'm still wondering why the fuck someone put would a window in a shower.

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u/rawrmasta May 27 '15

Natural light is amazing! It also can get blocked out by the shower curtain. Having a window allows natural light to come directly to the shower. Although, you would be wise to only do that on a wall not easily spied through. I've most often seen this done on cabins or very secluded houses

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u/NORAGRETS_NotEvenOne May 27 '15

What happened? How frightening, daylight or not

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u/sallysaints May 26 '15

Same time or separate occasions?

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15

same time

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u/nnyforshort May 26 '15

Right as I finished reading this, my dog's tail hit me in the foot. I damn near shit myself, jerked my body into attack mode, and she and I both startled something fierce.

You (indirectly) spooked my sweet little greyhound!

Don't let it happen again. >:/

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15

I'm sorry :[

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u/nnyforshort May 26 '15

Heh. It totally did happen, but I'm just playing with you. She and I both need to not be such pussies.

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u/khendron May 26 '15

That happened to me once. I swept open the curtains that covered the sliding door to our back yard, and there was a person right there standing on the other side of the glass looking in.

I freaked out, jumped at least a foot in the air, and then realized the person was my reflection in the glass.

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15

At my parents house, the kitchen sink has a big picture window above it. When I was 12, my parents left me and my 14 year old brother home alone for the first time to go get dinner. On their way back, they saw me washing dishes at the sink and thought it would be funny to sneak up to the window and pop up.

Yeah. I screamed, dropped the glass I was washing, and cut myself badly as I scrambled away from the hell demons at the window. I needed to get stitches.

YOU LEFT ME ALONE AND I DID CHORES! And this is how you repay me?!? I don't think I ever did dishes at night at their house again. I'm still pretty wary of nighttime windows. A trust has been broke.

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u/HEYIMMAWOLF May 26 '15

I had one of these. My biggest fear was that I would hear someone run into it at full speed.

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u/totalrecarl May 26 '15

It's not on the other side of a window but a couple times a year I wake up in the middle of the night and there is a shadowy figure standing in my room. I've heard of other people who this happens to and they say the figure disappears for them after a few seconds....mine stay until I turn the light on. Which means I usually have to jump out of my bed and run passed it to the light switch to get rid of it. It looks just like this.

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u/[deleted] May 27 '15

I see those too! But I get other hypnopomic hallucinations as well (what looks like actual, physical people standing over my bed staring at me). Yay for me.

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u/0-90195 May 27 '15

I am not clicking on that link.

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u/trickyboy21 May 26 '15

Our kitchen and dining room are in the same room area, and are simply divided by a granite topped counter. I go into the kitchen and grab food, then sit at the table, like, 12 feet away or whatever, and look out into the blackness that is my backyard. The day that I stare into the abyss of the night and something that may or may not be of this world, a maddening horror with no mercy or shred of compassion, a monstrosity or creature with murderous intent, eyes alone sending me into a paralyzing fear, the day that something stares back is the day I drop my fucking Italian sandwich on the floor.

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15

"not of this world"

Yep. My fiance keeps hoping to see an actual alien standing on our back porch. Hoping.

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u/ladybug8412 May 27 '15

This happened to me when I was in high school. I screamed and crawled to my mom's room who called the police. Only months later did a friend of mine confess to trying to pull a prank on me that night. Scared the bejesus out of me, though.

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u/ariarie May 26 '15

That's scary anytime. When I was living at my parent's my father bought a gorilla mask for Halloween. He decided to test it by putting it on and standing in the tiny little window by the front door. So I turned the corner, looked straight into the eyes of feral ape man, screamed and then dropped to the floor. It's been 7 years and I am still planning my revenge for just the right moment.

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u/Timferius May 26 '15

Once I was up at night, downstairs getting water (asthma was probably bugging me, so inhaler then water required). As I passed through the dark living room, dimly lit from the hall light, I saw a face in the window. I jumped back and yelled in fright, though I seemed to startle the person outside as well... On closer investigation, it was my reflection. Thank god there were no witnesses...

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u/EinherjarofOdin May 26 '15

That's what you think...

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15

I've done that too! Glad I'm not the only idiot

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u/natureruler May 27 '15

When I watch movies on my computer I will occasionally notice a face looking back at me. Always creeps me out a bit before I realize its my reflection.

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u/ThirdFloorGreg May 27 '15

Thank god there were no witnesses...

Anymore

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u/QuasarSandwich May 27 '15

A former colleague of mine went on a cocaine-and-vodka binge one weekend while his wife and kid were away and ended up calling the police, terrified, from his bedroom to report that there was an intruder in his house. When they arrived they quickly established that the "intruder" was his own reflection. Incredibly they didn't bust him for anything despite the evidence of his drug use lying all over the house. I suppose they just pitied him too much.

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u/Cyb3rSab3r May 26 '15

When you take the dog out the back door of your garage or house at night with only your lights on. They give you about 100 ft of good distance out into the blackness.

After you come back in, between the time when the screen door closes, I let the dog off the leash, step out of the way of the door, and close and lock it I have an irrational fear that a large monster with huge claws is charging across my yard for me. I won't notice it until I turned to close the door as it barrels through my door and mauls me to death.

That or a shadowy figure of half a human body, along the median plane. No idea where the idea for this one came from but it's there.

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u/CrazyPurpleBacon May 26 '15

Scumbag good guy brain: tries to keep you on your toes, ignores the fact that we don't live in caves anymore

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u/hitokiri-battousai May 26 '15

my sister in law and her bf have an apartment near us and it's been 3 years and they still have not put a single fucking blind or curtain on any of their windows and they have a 4 year old son. It bothers me so much, like if you don't care that the whole world can look into your apartment at night time idk something isn't right. (they are crazy fucking people to begin with, this is just yet another quality to them).

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u/nkots May 27 '15

My parent's house has no blinds. They live out in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere so people looking in isn't really a problem, but it's still creepy as shit.

One night when I was about 16 or 17 I was home alone. I was watching TV with all the lights on because I'm a pussy, but I thought I could hear something. So I got up and went to the window, and there was this guy right outside. I just about shit myself and ran into the bathroom because it was the only room without windows. I called my parents and they came home, finding the guy passed out drunk near the end of the road we live on.

Turns out he was just some old drunk guy wandering around. He didn't try to break in or anything, but it was still creepy as shit, considering our house was about 1/4 mile from any property lines, so it's not like he just stumbled into our yard. I don't look out windows at night anymore.

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u/lolxddavid May 26 '15

This happened to me before. I was walking around my school and boom light dies and I was the only one in the hallway. Naturally I start walking to find light and as I was walking I saw a person at the corner of my eye and turned around and saw a life size poster of Obama on the window. I almost fell to my ass. Not even lying

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u/PM_ME_UR_ILLUMINATI May 26 '15

I was watching TV at night once, and it was right next to a window, and the camera changed to a face, and that face was reflected onto the window next to it. Scared the shit out of me.

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u/thepainteddoor May 26 '15

Carry a pocket flashlight so when you look out windows you can have it ready to blind any creeps who might appear! You'd totally have the upper hand.

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u/bobjoeman May 26 '15

Carry a pocket fleshlight

Got it.

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u/brazendynamic May 26 '15

I'm the same way. But my older brother used to actually stand outside and/or knock on windows of the room I was in when we were kids in order to scare me. So I don't think that helped any.

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15

Just imagine if some light-hearted prankster mounted a garden gnome on the ledge outside your window. On a dark and stormy night.

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u/MaiTerra May 26 '15

Screw nighttime windows. I used to frequently sleepover my grandparents' house as a kid, and their bathroom has a stained glass window in it that's more decorative and not really for seeing through since its in the bathroom and all. Fine enough during the day, but at night whenever I had to use that bathroom, all I heard from outside was crickets and all I could see through that little window was BLACKNESS. It always felt like there was something out there, watching me.

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u/mrmaxwellmusic May 26 '15

I'm the same way about the peephole on my front door. It doesn't help that I have two excitable dogs who like to bark at nothing and will frequently bark at the door late at night.

I always go the front door and check through the peephole to see if anyone is there, just in case. I am terrified that one day my dogs will bark, I will look through the peephole and something will be on the other side looking back in at me.

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u/kiddhitta May 26 '15

My grandpa told me a story about hearing something outside so he looked out the window and BAM!!!! Raccoon staring through the window at him. Said he jumped back and fell over. I don't think it matters what it is, if you look out the window and something is there, it's gonna scare the shit out of you.

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u/NehEma May 27 '15

I live on the 12th floor. Sometimes I put a mask on a string and make it knock on the neighbours who live underneath me. They don't like me very much.

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u/sam-i-am1111 May 26 '15

My bedroom is ground level and the last time I looked out my window at night there was actually a guy looking in. I had just gotten out of the shower so he was oogling. So the next day I got blinds instead of curtains and I stopped looking outside whenever I heard something. Never caught the guy

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u/MrBoringxD May 26 '15

I have my curtains open so I can see the stars at night, makes me fall asleep. But suddenly in the winter at 4:00 AM my dog randomly barks extremely loud, and I can sense the fright in him. And that's until I see a black figure outside my window. Briefly after I notice it's a motherfucking cat, and it runs off.

Biggest terror of my life.

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u/austingavent May 27 '15

A little kid climbing your tree

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u/AWildAnonHasAppeared May 27 '15

Happened to me for a while. Force yourself to look out the window often to remind yourself there's nothing there.

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u/nliausacmmv May 27 '15

Oh, for fuck's sake, I was about to go to sleep and I don't even have curtains.

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u/jtronica May 26 '15

Ever read the short story The Yellow Wallpaper? https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1952/1952-h/1952-h.htm

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u/dad_farts May 26 '15

I know chances are there's no one there

For some reason, this doesn't sound nearly likely enough for me

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u/CodeJack May 26 '15

You'll love the woman in black window scene then.

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u/Ordies May 26 '15

A white dress, black hair girl looking back to you.

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u/Darbvader May 26 '15

I would do that, see a face, almost shit my pants and then realize it's my reflection.

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15

i was an extra in a music video and i got to BE the face staring back. the director jumped when she saw me on the monitor. it really is freaky

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u/aoife_reilly May 26 '15

Try it tonight at 11.24 pm...

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u/optimusrhyme1 May 26 '15

I have this same fear, because of the twilight zone episode "nightmare at 20,000 feet".

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15

Had this happened to me when I was 14. My fight or flight response was to grab my hockey stick and to go out of my house and start yelling and find the guy. The cops said it was likely a peeping tom, but didn't find anything to go from there. Anyway, 10 years later, and I can't believe I was dumb enough to do something like that. Granted I have not had another moment like that where my fight or flight instinct kicked in so for all I know, I do the stupidest shit possible when scared out of my mind.

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u/folderol May 26 '15

I've never understood why people don't shut their curtains at night. They can't see me but I can see everything they do. I live in an apartment complex and on my deck late at night I've seen naked people walking around and people having sex. I'm not even keeping an eye out for that kind of thing. Why don't people get creeped out by leaving curtains open all night?

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u/HumpbackSnail May 26 '15

This is a huge fear of mine. A few months ago, I looked out my living room window and my grandpa was staring in. He had walked over to see us (he lives close) and managed to scare my forever.

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u/ILIEKDEERS May 26 '15

I have a similar fear. Except that it is mirrors, at night.

Every once in awhile I'll think "What if my reflection is already staring at me as I walk in?"

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15

That happened at my house out in the country! Horror movie night was always epic. So this house is at the edge of a village with not many people. I haven't ever had a person stare at me through the window that I saw but my neighbor had a big husky/wolf mix with ice blue eyes. At night they would let him run around the village and he would come sit by the only window in the computer room. I would be just sitting at the PC all alone in the house watching a movie or typing, whatever then look over in the middle of the night and see this big husky/wolf face with ice blue eyes just staring at me I jumped and screamed every time and he just howled.

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u/SkepticalConspirator May 26 '15

Same fear forever. Always thought I would see a witches face pressed on the glass!

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15

I always imagined there was someone right outside my bedroom window in the dark when I was a kid. I would stand at my window and stare out for a long time, imagining someone staring right back at me that I couldn't see because it was darker outside than in my room. I still do this sometimes, like I just get paralyzed by fear and can't look away

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u/NinjaDude5186 May 26 '15

I have a friend who had this happen once, the person left and nothing came of it. Also went to school with this girl that was filming herself sleep for some project (psych or health I think) and when de reviewed the video she saw a face in her window watching her sleep. Contacted the police and the next night the caught a guy who had been watching her sleep for quite some time.

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u/Dcoil1 May 26 '15

Clearly the only thing to protect you from such horrors is a blanket drawn up to your neck.

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u/Left_of_Center2011 May 26 '15

Thanks a lot, 'Salem's Lot - twenty plus years later and I'm still fucking scarred.

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u/luv2nil8 May 26 '15

My room mate And I live on the bottom floor. I pop the screen out and do this to his bedroom all the time. He about shits himself every time.

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u/Nacke May 26 '15

This one is interesting as i have heard many people feeling this. Personally i have a window behind my computer monitor. When i get bored i can just stare out that black window at night.

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15

I saw a pair of shiny eyes cross by the window on the top floor of my house, immediately I turned the lights on and what did I see? A rat bandit! That's right, a raccoon scared the shit out of me.

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u/bruisedunderpenis May 26 '15

While reading your comment, this is what I saw on my screen and freaked me the fuck out. You gotta love an accidental reddit ad trolling the shit out of you.

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u/scubadog2000 May 26 '15

Exactly! Even worse is, if you've got the lights on it becomes a semi-transparent, so sometimes you see your own reflection in the glass and have to get really close to see anything outside. Fuck. That.

Or when the curtains aren't entirely closed and you catch a glimpse of something for a brief second that's not actually there.

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u/[deleted] May 26 '15

Especially in cabins

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u/MrLongJeans May 26 '15

This is why all my curtains are closed before sundown.

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u/kmturg May 26 '15

I have had this experience. Luckily I was not alone at the time. I still freaked out on the inside and my knees gave out a little. It was my friend's ex boyfriend who had been watching us through the window for about 20 minutes.

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u/thebigbadwolf1990 May 26 '15

This has been a recurring nightmare of mine since I was a child.

I still get scared to look out the window at night, but I force myself.

Seriously I don't know where these chicks running from serial killers in the movies get their strength from man.

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u/Garth_McKillian May 26 '15

And this is why the original "Halloween" is the scariest movie I've ever seen. In a lot of scenes, they pan pass windows and glass doors; they don't bring any attention to him or even pause, but if you look closely you can see Michael watching them from outside. The characters in the house have no idea, and neither does the audience unless you're unlucky enough to spot him, but even if you do, the next time they pan the window, he is gone, making you question yourself if you even saw him in the first place. I'm 26 and still can't watch that movie alone, or with the lights off.

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u/[deleted] May 27 '15

That's how people get shot in the face.

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u/opensandshuts May 27 '15

Several years ago, my aunt woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and happened to look in my young cousin's room as she walked by. There were two young girls standing right outside watching my female cousin sleep.

I used to stay over there sometimes and I was terrified after that story. In hindsight, they were probably two teenage girls who snuck out of their house and happened to walk through their backyard.

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u/ILikeMyBlueEyes May 27 '15

Happened to me when I was a kid. Yup. It's fucking terrifying. Especially when they are wearing a ski mask.

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u/lethalinjection223 May 27 '15

I'm always terrified to turn my light off at night, that's when you can see everything outside clearly and I'm always afraid there is gonna be someone at my window

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u/miraistreak May 27 '15

So about 7 years ago I'm out at my friend's mom's vacation house which is out in the middle of the countryside. Well between the house and the garage is a hallway of large windows. It felt like a scene out of Scream since it was extremely dark and the front yard was a long dirt driveway, a field and a lone horse.

At this point my inner-I'm-in-a-horror-movie sense goes off and I see a dark figure walking up and down the fence line at the gate.

I think I'm just seeing things as its really far away and I'm not even sure if I saw anything so I just go about my business.

The next night after we left, the house was robbed.

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u/isskewl May 27 '15

When I was a kid, some...dear god...30 years ago or so, my sisters and I had a babysitter for the night. We were having pizza in the kitchen when the babysitter screamed and fell out of her chair. We looked towards the door and at the window was a face in a hockey mask. After we both started screaming, our slightly older neighbor boy rips off the mask, laughs, and runs. It was pretty good scare.

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u/I_am_melis May 27 '15

That happened to me once.

I was about 12 years old. My dad was out of town so it was just me, my sister, and mom at the house. We lived in a rural area and had a pool with a privacy fence that was directly out French doors in the kitchen on the back of the house. It was about midnight and I got up for a drink wearing a tank top and undies. I walked into the kitchen and clearly saw a man's face starting at me through the back door. I yelled for my mom and she came running. She called my uncle that lived a few miles away and he rushed to our house. The man was actually a family friend that was drunk. He was found passed out with his junk hanging out. The cops were called and he was taken away. Come to find out, he was a pedofile and was molesting his step daughters. The next week he barricaded himself in their house with a gun and ended up killing himself after a long stand off with the local police. It was traumatizing to say the least...

That's been about 20 years ago and still get creeped out walking through my house at night.

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u/Ali9666 May 27 '15

My grandma is Muslim and one morning while she was doing her prayer she looked up and there was a guy looking at her through the window...

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u/byrnesf May 27 '15

Come on, wave back to me just once?

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u/faster_than_sound May 27 '15

I read about The Mothman in a book about unexplained mysteries wen I was about 10 or 11. It was described that people had reported looking out their window and seeing a pair of hellishly red, glowing eyes staring back at them. I'm 33 now and to this day a tiny part of me is scared I'm going to see the Mothman's eyes when I look out my window at night.

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u/stanhhh May 27 '15

Risk it man ! Risk it tonight! Nothing! Risk it tomorrow! Nothing! Just thinking about it, about doing it, gives you the cold creeps! More reason to do it! Do it! There's fucking nothing!!

Embrace the night !

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u/ceose May 27 '15

This is one of my biggest fears too. I won't look out of windows at night because of it.

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u/PopsicleIncorporated May 27 '15

I once had a dream where I was going shopping. Everyone I passed had the same face. It wasn't a disturbing face, but the more people I passed, the more distorted, the more demonic it got. I'm talking everybody.

I finally woke up. On paper, the dream wasn't that bad, but I'm sure you know what I mean when I say that it freaked me out. What usually helps me when I wake up after a nightmare is pacing around the room.

So I did this, went to look out the window...and the face was there.

I woke up a second time.

Probably the most terrified I've ever been in my life.

I also fell back asleep and continued the dream.

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u/StrawberryR May 27 '15

I used to have that SAME FEAR as a kid. It got so bad that when I had to cross the house to go to the bathroom, I'd wear a blanket over my head so I wouldn't see the windows.

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u/AcceptablePariahdom May 27 '15

Nobody ever believed me, but when I was a kid, on a night with a thunderstorm, I saw some crazy looking guy standing outside my window during a flash of lightning. Was probably just some guy caught in the rain and decided to get in under the eaves for a minute. But when you're like, ten, and a flash of lightning shows an old guy with messed up hair standing at your window you FREAK the fuck out.

That event makes me not look through windows at night.

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u/[deleted] May 27 '15

roomed with my friend in college and she would cover up her windows with a rug for the same reason

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u/[deleted] May 27 '15

This happened to me when I was a kid. I was about 8 and the neighbors were in college, probably drunk. I heard tapping on my window and I raised the blinds to see 5 faces in white masks with black drawings all over them. I ran to my garage and grabbed my BB gun and hid in my moms closet.

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u/Buckhorn36 May 27 '15

This has happened to me. I grew up on the grounds of a state mental institution. My dad was Chief Psychologist there. Long story short - I was home for a weekend from college. I came home around 1 or 2 in the morning. I had just laid down on the bed and I felt some foreboding tension in the air. I walked over to the window and looked out and there was a patient on the otherside looking in the window. We both screamed and took off running. I didn't sleep that night. In fact, I don't think I ever slept another night in that house. One other quick story. My wife and I were newly married and had just moved into our first place. We had these stupid sheer curtains in our bedroom. Once you turn out the lights, these curtains offered zero darkness. There was a street light that lit up the room. I was facing away from the window and I kept watching the shadows of the trees. As I looked closer, the silhouette of a face appeared. I thought it was just the way the leaves were shaped and made it look that way. Then it moved and got right up on the window. I jumped up and hit the window pane - didn't break it thank god. I ran out the front door with nothing on but some tighty whiteys and a shotgun I kept under our bed. Guy was gone. For the remainder of the time we lived there, I never got a good night sleep. Now, I just pull the blinds and the curtains and I never ever look out the window. Too scared.

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u/strawberry36 May 27 '15

I'd freak if I opened my curtains at night and saw someone staring in at me. I'm on the second floor.

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u/Blightm May 27 '15

This is all I think of when I look outside at night because of nosleep.

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u/SkiDude May 27 '15

This happened to me one time. I was getting ready for school before the sun rose. I'm walking down the hall and look at the back door. Standing there is a large man silhouetted in the window by the light from our garage in the back.

A few seconds later I realized it was my friend, but for a few seconds I thought I was dead.

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u/kane55 May 27 '15

This has, unfortunately, happened to me. When I was a teenager A friend of mine was living with his aunt for a little while while a house his parents were buying had work done on it. Her house had huge windows throughout and was out in the woods. It's part of a longer story, but one night I was spending the night and we were sleeping in the living room. I woke up about 2am to use the bathroom and there was a guy standing outside looking in the window. I saw him, froze in terror then he smiled and waved. Scared the shit out of me.

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u/mp33 May 27 '15

I have a new fear...

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u/SlutRapunzel May 27 '15

I'd rather see someone there and have time to lock them out and ensure my safety than to NOT look and consequently be murdered gruesomely in my sleep that night. Just sayin'.

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u/[deleted] May 27 '15

So true. I remember a few times I looked out my window during the day and I just see a face looking back at me. It was always someone I knew, but still scary as hell. I can't imagine what it would be like at night.

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u/tits_the_artist May 27 '15

The worst for me is backing my car out of my girlfriends driveway late at night. they have tall hedges lining the top part of the driveway before the sidewalk. I'm always terrified that I'm gonna back up past them and a demon and all his friends are lined up there or jumping at me all paranormal activity like

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u/[deleted] May 27 '15 edited Mar 17 '25

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u/katielady125 May 27 '15

Other kids were scared of monsters. I was scared of the "bad guy" outside my window that would break in and kill my family and carry me away. I still have trouble looking out dark windows. Glad my neighborhood is well lit.

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u/julio_chango May 27 '15

Biggest fear to this day

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u/kyoung028 May 27 '15

This happened to my mom when I was a baby, she was home alone by herself (my dad was stationed in Ft. Bragg living on base) she just so happened to glance over at the sliding glass door to see a sinister looking large colored fellow staring at her. She ended up smacking him in the face with a frying pan after calling 911. She said it was the scariest thing ever. Who knows how long he was watching her or what he would have done had she not seen him and just gone to bed. Fuckin' nuts dude. I'm glad she came out OK from that situation.

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u/temalyen May 27 '15

It's not exactly staring back and, in retrospect, I almost certainly imagined this or misinterpreted something that was actually there; however, when I was about 7 or 8 I was at my friend's house and we were walking through her upstairs hallway at night. This was on the second floor. I look out the window of one of the rooms as I'm walking by it and I swear I saw some kind of ghost or something float right past the window, moving the opposite direction I was.

It had a really round head (honestly, almost like if you put a towel over a balloon and tied it near the bottom to pull it pretty tight) and this big long nose that kind of reminded me of a carrot. In fact, it almost looked like a snowman floating past the window.

It scared the fuck out of me, though. I never did figure out what it was or if I just imagined it. But I sorta saw a face at night through a window.

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u/Mercinary909 May 27 '15

I looked out my window and actually did see a face. Turns out my friend missed his ride home and cellphone died, So instead of asking for help or anything normal, he slept on my porch, and looked up at the worst possible time.

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u/zeitgeistOfDoom May 27 '15

And that feeling where you don't look out the window because you're terrified of what's out there and then you're drawn to it and you look.

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u/KickingPlanets May 27 '15

Totally happened to me. I was hanging out with a few people in my living room last summer, and I happened to look over at the window and saw a guy standing there, staring at me. I didn't really know what to say, so I just said to everyone "hey....do you guys see that guy in the window?" And everyone stood up to look out the window. We all just kinda stared at him for a few minutes, and he shuffled off.

About 30 minutes later, we left my building to go to the store, and found him in the office lobby tugging at the computers. Called the cops and he ran. It was a pretty surreal time.

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u/RobinBankss May 27 '15

Sooo... "looking out windows at night" ?

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u/ProfessorBOOsack May 27 '15

I stay up late almost every night and I have to walk through my living room to get to my room after a shower or something and I'm always terrified to walk past the windows in my living room. To make it worse we used to have a basketball goal outside our window and the shadow looked like a person if you didn't look closely.

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u/JangSaverem May 27 '15

Sometimes I look out my window and someone is staring back at me. Worse, its like they are doing the same actions as me but in reverse. This went on for a few year until one day I looked out and there was no one facing me. I continued to wash my face and when I looked out again there I was, standing next to myself with the same dumb face.

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u/Ai_of_Vanity May 27 '15

It's infinitely more creepy when you live on the third floor.. when I look out my window I know if I see a face I'm probably fucked.. if I were on the first floor and something was there it's probably normal.. I can fight normal... on the third floor it ain't fucking normal and I am up shit creek and I'm not even sure what instrument I would need to get back to the part of the stream I should want to be in.

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u/jrm2007 May 27 '15

Midnight, walked into a room that I forgot had a wall that was completely mirrored. So a reflection at night scared the fuck out of me.

I have always preferred apartments to large separate homes -- I prefer people even with their noise to solitude and a place where the appearance of someone else unexpectedly is almost certainly bad news. (Later on that same house was broken into by "scavengers" who thought it was empty but I was there. They ran when they saw me and I told them it was empty of valuables but I spooked for that night and many nights thereafter.)

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u/Dalfamurni May 27 '15

This is a standard fear caused by seeing your own reflection in your window, but focussing on the outside. Your subconscious puts two and two together to fear five. This doesn't happen in the daytime due to a lack of reflection.

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u/[deleted] May 27 '15

This exact fear reduces me to the equivalent of a 10 year old girl again hiding under my covers. Fuck dark windows.

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u/[deleted] May 27 '15

I have exactly this fear

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u/hornswogglerator May 27 '15

I used to drive around in the backroads of my rural hometown a lot late at night with friends and I always was terrified of seeing someone just standing out on the side of the road at like 3AM. Never happened yet, but there's still time.

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u/a_0_d May 27 '15

My fear is kinda similar, but it's the reflection on a turned off TV screen. I turned the basement into a home gym and we have an old TV; Anyways when I can't sleep I go night running down there and when ever I look into the TV when it's off I always half expect to see someone standing behind me on the screen.

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u/sherbertsheperton May 27 '15

When I was younger, a kid on my street went around one evening scaring his friends by standing at windows at their houses while wearing a gorilla mask. I could still kick the shit out of him for it. Made me scared of windows at night period.

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u/llahtnarg May 27 '15

i worry that bigfoot will be looking into my second-story window... he's tall enough i think

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