More than forty years ago, the first major rule was announced for anyone encountering something strange in their neighborhood. Yes, right, who you gonna call? Ghostbusters! But seriously, there are still plenty of situations in our lives where no rational explanation actually works.
We know for sure that ghosts and ghouls, poltergeists and brownies don’t exist – but still, that creepy feeling sticks around somewhere deep inside when, say, we hear a weird noise from the dark kitchen while home alone at night. Alright, now dive into this collection of strange stories, brought to you by Bored Panda!
More info: Reddit
#1
My dad was always really good at finding 4 leaf clovers. He would find a couple any time he looked and give them to me as a kid. I could never find them on my own.
The day after he was gone, it was suspiciously warm. I was in the front yard and decided to look for one. Every time I bent down I found another one. I started bagging them and had at least 20 by the time I stopped. I had never found a clover in my life before then. Now occasionally I will look for them still and usually find one right where I look. I wish I still had that bag of clovers he left me.
Image source: Dead4CEREALZ, Nichika Sakurai
#2
Once found a perfectly intact large cheez puff in the middle of my living room floor. I lived alone and do not even like cheesy puffs. Nobody else had keys to my place other than the landlady. .
Image source: ghostprawn, freepik
#3
My first day in Omaha I saw a naked lady walking down the street in the freezing cold.
Image source: anon, Moritz Lüdtke
If you hit up the internet, you’ll find tons of threads where folks share their strangest – and sometimes downright creepiest – tales. Where literally nothing hinted at a mystical experience, but somehow, against all odds, something totally inexplicable went down. Strange and funny, creepy and touching – we’ve probably all experienced this at least once.
About twenty years ago, Gallup asked Americans if they believed in the paranormal – and around 75% said yes. Today, I think the percentage would be even higher. This is at least because, in an era of global turbulence, humanity is more prone to magical thinking than rational thinking.
The cool thing about magical thinking? It gives us simple answers to any question. Take the dragons from Game of Thrones, for example – try to figure out a scientific way they fly or how their flames don’t singe their throats. I bet even physicists and biologists would be stumped. But magical thinking just says, ‘It’s magic!’ and calls it a day.
#4
This is so stupid but it bothers me to this day.
I was doing math homework in college with my calculator on my bed. My room door was closed and none of my roommates were home. I could not have been doing the math without a calculator so I know it was there. I went to use the restroom that was in my room and I could see the bed from the restroom so I know nobody came into my room. When I got back on the bed the calculator was gone. I looked everywhere for it and couldn’t find it so I figured it fell somewhere weird, but there really wasn’t anywhere for it to fall.
When I was moving out I tried to find it because it bothered me. I have OCD and never lose anything. I never found it and have since still never seen it again. Very low stakes but it literally just vanished.
Image source: happyhamburgular, Joachim Schnürle
#5
I lived a partial lifetime in a dream recently. It was years long, I had a family and a different job and friends. And it was years long. I slept and woke up and dreamed and lived, and then I woke up years later here in this world.
No words to decently explain how it was. I just lived a life not in this reality. I miss home,.
Image source: Long_Implement_2142, Getty Images
#6
No one ever believes me, but here goes. When I was in college I shared a room with a friend of mine from high school. One night I was sleeping and had a dream where he and I were on this huge pile of garbage, searching for something. We were both digging in the trash. Then I woke up. I got up and went to the bathroom. When I climbed back in bed my roommate kind of stirred and mumbled, “I found it. It’s over here.” And then rolled over and went quiet again. The next morning he didn’t remember any of it. I didn’t dream getting out of bed, I didn’t dream his response.
Image source: Spodson, Getty Images
If someone’s already into mystical explanations, they’re more likely to chalk up any weird situation to something paranormal. For example, Dr. Chris French, head of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit at London’s Goldsmiths University, points out three main reasons people have “visions” in this BBC article.
First, a tendency to see things mystically; second, the setting (like being alone in a creepy abandoned house at night); and third, a knack for hallucinations or dreamlike states. According to the article, these “strange” feelings are very real for lots of people – but they usually come from a mix of psychology and physics.
#7
One day I woke up and felt like everything in the entire world had been adjusted 90°.
Even though my bed was in the same place in the house, and the house was the same place in the neighborhood and the neighborhood in the same place in the city, my consciousness was aware that everything was at a 90° angle to where it should’ve been.
That lasted about three days and then I woke up and was like “cool, everything went back to where it was supposed to be.”.
Image source: TheeVillageCrazyLady, Getty Images
#8
My oldest memory is being at a wedding. Yet my dad claimed I never been to a wedding as toddler/child.
Image source: Intrepid_Fig_3071, Jenish Ghaadiya
#9
Back around 2006ish, some friends and I went to a matinee movie in Jacksonville, FL. We come out of the movie into the super bright afternoon Florida sun, and there is a guy yelling for help who is chasing an ostrich around the parking lot.
We jump in and help him. He is trying to get this ostrich into the back of a van thing. We even got other people to help us.
The cops show up for some reason. I dunno, a bunch of people chasing an ostrich in a parking lot is unusual or something. The guy we were “helping” is nowhere to be found all of the sudden. At some point, a guy in a cow costume joined us, by the way.
Eventually, the ostrich is captured(by legit animal control) and taken away. We find out the van was just another patron at the movies who had no clue about anything and has just left his van unlocked.
The cops questioned us a bit, but we were clueless and had no answers, so we all just left eventually.
Where did the ostrich come from? I do not know. Why was the guy trying to put it in someone’s van? I do not know. Why does Tarzan not have a beard? I do not know.
Image source: Coblish, Simon Infanger
This article on The Conversation digs into what might cause these weird sensations, like weak electromagnetic fields or low-frequency sounds messing with our brains. In fact, physics knows a lot of very real things that can significantly distort our perception of reality.
There are also “biochemical” causes – things like carbon monoxide, pesticides, formaldehyde, and even fungi can mess with our minds and cause hallucinations. Funny enough, these fungi often hang out in stuffy, abandoned places – which, yep, includes most “haunted” houses.
#10
I bought a jvc flat screen tv from Microcenter about 15 years ago. We moved states, and it came with us. It was in our front room. The TV in our backroom went out and had to be replaced. We went tv shopping and I found a jvc that matched the one in the front. Got a salesperson to grab one from the back. Here is the weird part. Once they left, I got light-headed and tunnel vision and almost passed out. Leaned against a shelf and collected myself. Around that time, the salesperson came out. He was bringing out an LG TV. I asked about. It was the same specs and price, and the salesperson thought it was the tv I asked for. No worries, I’ll take it. Get home, and while setting it up, i needed a cable from the other tv to test something. I say something along the lines of “I’m not sure it will work because of the different brands.” My wife says that the tv in the front is an LG and should be fine. I argued it was a jvc. Go to the front, and it’s an LG. Per my family, it has always been an LG.
Image source: ashton8177, Gavin Phillips
#11
When I was a kid my dog left us. Naturally I was devastated, crushed, heartbroken and feeling all the emotions. I didn’t grow up particularly religious, we said grace and nighttime prayers but not much else, but I remember praying for a sign that my dog was ok wherever he was now. Moments later I found a yellow bow in my bed. He wore bows sometimes, after a grooming (he was a shih tzu) but he hadn’t had long enough hair to wear bows in years so it was strange to find randomly in my bed. I took it as a sign & kept it for as long as I could remember.
Edit: missed a word.
Image source: smashier, Nikolay Tchaouchev
#12
I mean, I guess it’s explainable (kinda, though why it happens is still a scientific mystery) but I once saw ball lightning come out of my old black and white TV, float down the hall, hover there for about a minute, and then just disappear.
Image source: KnittedParsnip, PJ Gal-Szabo
Lots of experiments where volunteers wore helmets that gave off weak electromagnetic pulses also showed the “feeling like someone’s in the room,” according to this Smithsonian Mag article. Researchers even checked out some famous haunted spots, like Hampton Court Palace in the UK, and found some unusual electromagnetic fields there, too.
But magical thinking always finds a way to use scientific research to its advantage. For example, we can always say that scientists have experimentally proven the existence of ghosts through electromagnetic radiation, and now try to disprove it! The main thing for many people is just to believe in the supernatural, and faith is actually much more stable than knowledge.
#13
Riedel wine glasses. I watched a salesmen open a bottle of Kendall Jackson Chardonnay, pour equal amounts into one O’Charley’s basic bar wine glass and into the other a Riedel Chardonnay glass and I tasted both. Completely different wine from one glass to the other. It was like a Magic trick.
Image source: CrowPowerful, HourLong6580
#14
When I was about five years old I was at my grandma’s house and we were about to visit her friend who lived right behind my grandma’s apartment. I was walking right behind my grandma when I saw a huge wolf-like dog crossing our path. I immediately froze because I was incredibly fearful of dogs back then, My grandma kept trying to tug me, but I told her there was a dog in front of us. My granny kept trying to convince me that there was nothing there, but I insisted that there was. Eventually, the dog passed and I continued walking.
Later that night my grandma got a call that her nephew had passed. I was very close to him and was saddened by his passing. The next day we went back to my grandma’s friend’s house and she told her about the passing. The friend told my grandma that she had seen the dog hanging out on the back porch the night before and that it was an omen. She didn’t tell my grandmother because she didn’t want to spook her. Still not sure how or why I saw the dog, but yeah. I always think about that.
Image source: cruelazure, wirestock
#15
I gained a few hours one day.
I live in the country and have to take my garbage to a dump. The dump is open Wednesday from 130pm to 530pm and Saturday from 9am to 4pm.
I had a Wednesday off so I decided I’d take the garbage that day. I took the garbage, dumped it, and chatted with the guy who works there. When I left, I felt very strange. Lightheaded. I pulled over to the side of the road and took a deep breath.
When I went to turn my car radio down / off, I noticed the time said 11am. I thought that was weird so I looked at my phone. Also 11am. I made a U-turn and went back to the dump. I was still on the same road as the dump, just about half a mile away.
The gate was closed and locked. It wasn’t open yet.
I went back on Saturday and chatted with the guy who worked there about Wednesday and he said he opened at his regular time but didn’t see me. I asked about our conversation (he chats about DIY stuff using scraps from the dump) and he said he isn’t doing anything DIY right now and that he didn’t see me Wednesday.
Image source: danetrain05, frimufilms
Either way, some of these stories are pretty tough to explain with just logic. So, we’ve done our job – we’ve provided you with scientific arguments, and whether you believe them or not is up to you.
And now, please feel free to read all these nearly three dozen stories, and maybe add your own about the weirdest, most unexplained experience you’ve ever had, in the comments below.
#16
This past Friday, I was shopping in my local outdoor market and saw, gliding down the hill, a man sitting in a beige loveseat balanced on top of a skateboard, holding an orange tabby over his left shoulder and with a green parakeet perched on his right shoulder. He was sitting there cool as anything occasionally leaning or reaching out of foot to adjust the skateboard. I lost sight of him as he passed a bus. Yeah.
#17
I’m Indian, and when I was about 1 year old, my family held a Kar Vidhi (also known as Mundan Vidhi), a Hindu ceremony where a baby’s first hair is shaved. Nothing unusual so far.
But here’s where it gets strange—when I was around 10 years old, I had a dream in which I saw my Kar Vidhi as if I were an outsider watching it happen. I told my mom about the dream and described everything in detail: the color of the clothes I was wearing, exactly where I was sitting, who was present, and even small details about the setup.
This wasn’t some grand event with a photographer so there were no photos or videos taken—it happened over 30 years ago and nobody had mobile phones back then. Yet I somehow saw the entire ceremony accurately, even though I was just a baby when it happened.
Image source: Adept-Finger-6864, nehanikspix
#18
For context, we have specific family friends we’re relatively close with.
my family and i were going fishing, it was meant to be a trip just for us. in the car, i had a random feeling that those specific family friends would be there, don’t know why. we arrived at the site, and they were, in fact, there with another family we didn’t know! we spent the day together.
on the way home, my sister said “i kinda knew this would happen.” so did i! we both felt as if the family friends would be there for some reason, although there was no concrete evidence to back it up. everyone probably forgot by now, but it’s something i still think about sometimes.
Image source: trishys, prostooleh
#19
Me and a Group of kids heard a voice calling for help in an empty cellar.
Image source: PsychologicalFinish, freepik
#20
Traveling through the desert with my family as a kid. It was nighttime and I was staring out the window up into the sky and a bright star caught my eye. I stared at it for what seemed to be like 30 seconds then it zipped left, then zipped upward, then shot off and disappeared. Not saying it was aliens, but it definitely was unexplainable and odd.
Image source: samceefoo, unaihuiziphotography
#21
I knew this little kid years ago who had this uncanny ability to start talking about someone, and then they would just show up. One time he brought up a relative no one had heard from in years, and then they dropped by for a visit a day or two later. Another time, he reportedly guessed the first name of a new teacher starting at his school before anything was said about her, and it wasn’t a common name.
But the weirdest one was when he described feeling like someone “really really important” was going to swing by. The next day, his dad’s company’s vice-CEO dropped by to personally deliver a surprise recognition bonus, something his dad was apparently not expecting at all. This was enough for people to start speculating on the kid being psychic or having some sort of prophetic gift, and I still can’t explain how he got everything right every single time.
Image source: TheshizAlt, freepik
#22
A few years ago I was outside my building having a late night/very early morning smoke, and I heard a “meow”.
I saw the source of the sound;it was a cat under some stairs. Nothing odd there.
Then I realized what I was hearing wasn’t the meowing sound a cat makes but *a human voice saying the word “meow”.*
Time to go back inside, now.
Image source: ordinaryhorse, tomasrobertson
#23
Two of my family members were lost in a fire right before my tenth birthday in February, the next year for about a week around the anniversary of their death our smoke alarms kept going off. Almost all of them bought the year before cause family lost in a fire will do that to you, sometimes it was the same ones sometimes it was different ones and it kept happening even after changing batteries and switching out a couple of them with new ones. Now every once in a while in February multiple will go off still and I have PTSD attacks every time I hear smoke alarms.
Image source: DisembodiedTraveler, rcphotostock
#24
I was 16 and out pretty late when a guy tried to grab my arm into his car, this dog shows up out of nowhere and scares him off. Then walks me the 10 minutes to my door and just disappears once I’m home.
Image source: OptimalConfection824, freepik
#25
Nothing major as such, but strange all the same. My fiancé and I were on the bus (UK about 9 years ago)
The bus was pretty full and when we got to a standard bus stop (a shopping centre/precinct where the bus had to stop due to it’s location) and it can’t have been more than 10 seconds, but NOBODY got off. My partner and I looked at each other, wondering why, because this stop always had people boarding/alighting) and he asked loudly “Is anyone getting off?”… To which about 75% of the passengers looked at where we were and realised they needed to get off the bus!
Image source: emmylouhowareyou, richie0703
#26
Visiting a friend’s cousin in a trailer park in the middle of nowhere in the Florida everglades about 20 years ago. Three bright lights appeared in the sky, spaced well enough apart to be separate objects. They just hovered there for a while then disappeared.
Image source: Crazytalkbob, jcomp
#27
During high school I went out to a bush party with a bunch of close friends and my girlfriend.
We did all collectively did a shot and had a beer, were chatting and such. It came time to scrounge for some more firewood so a bunch of us guys went into the woods to collect branches.
Which is when we found a handmade wooden swing attached to a tree maybe 30/40 ft away from our party.
After getting the fire going again I went back to the swing-tree and decided to climb it. Sat down in a branch, I blink and the next thing I know
The fires dim and my friends are packing up. My girlfriend’s calling my name and I call out. She asks where I’ve been and I gesture to the tree.
Her story goes she ended up doing shots with a different friend cause she couldn’t find me. She says maybe three hours passed.
I don’t remember any of it. I wasn’t even that drunk.
From my perspective I climbed the tree, and lost three hours of time.
Image source: Rangonr, Anton Dios
#28
One morning my grandma was cooking breakfast, wearing red plaid flannel pajamas. I saw the sleeve catch fire and travel up her arm in a ring, and dissipate at her shoulder in less than a second. She never even noticed it, completely unharmed. .
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