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Alleged Alien Abductees Share What They Really Believe Happened To Them

Alleged Alien Abductees Share What They Really Believe Happened To Them

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_The recent blockbuster movie 'A Quiet Place' has stirred some anxiety about a hot topic. The X-Files, Area 51, E.T., Sigourney Weaver... we know what is out there beyond the stars, or do we? Proof that other life forms and galaxies exist is one of the most debated theories in life. So many people are skeptics. They believe Aliens are just about as real as ghosts and those who look for signs of life in the sky are just plain old wackos. _

Redditor _\SpacePistachio _implored for 'abductees' to share their tales by asking **People of Reddit that honestly believe they have been abducted by aliens, what was your experience like? **_Will these stories give us proof? Time will tell. If it is all real let's pray it's more 'Galaxy Quest' and less 'War of the Worlds.' _

WHERE DID THE TIME GO?

I had a year long experience of strange events that I've never been able to explain or have a full memory of.

It started in winter working up north on a project. Our crew was put up in a motel 10 minutes outside of the largest town in the area. I somehow got upgraded to a king size bed with couches, nice room. Our days were long so I used the couches to stack my clothes in piles(Jeans, hoodies, etc).

I had brought my entire desktop computer with me and was in the middle of a massive argument with my ex over Facebook messenger at 1am during the 2nd week up there. At some point I opened my eyes and I was sitting on top of a pile of hoodies on the couch. The time was now 4am.

I rushed over to the computer. At some point after 1am I had stopped typing a sentence midway through. My ex had left a ton of messages throughout the night demanding I answer her back. She also left missed calls and texts on my phone that was still sitting beside the mouse. I figured I had somehow passed out but wasn't sure how I ended up on top of my hoodies on the couch and not just fall into bed. Went to sleep normally for the remaining couple hours before work.

A couple of days later a stranger scenario happened. My routine was we'd finish work, I'd come back to the motel around 9pm, shower, change, and drive into town for late night dinner at Boston Pizza(only restaurant open late other than McDonalds). So this particular night I went through my routine, took a shower, changed, headed for the door. I got to my car and when I turned it on something felt really wrong.

I looked at the time, it was now 2am. I had no idea how I had lost around 4 hours between showering and getting into my car. It felt weird. My whole body felt weird. I felt violated. You feel violated but you have no idea what happened. Not a single memory or explanation. I stayed up all night scared trying to figure out what happened. Why was I missing 4 hours, if I had passed out why didn't I wake up on the floor, why did I feel violated, etc.

The rest of the project nothing else happened, but once I got back home things started happening that were just as weird. There's more to my experiences if people want to know(it only lasted for about a year), but those two events were the starting catalysts.

I've never actually figured out what happened but most people I've asked all seem to agree it had to be abduction events. ???????

BEWARE THE WHISPERS...

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Was camping in a campground in North ga with some friends. It was starting to Down pour so everyone left their tents in the woods and decided to rent one of the on site cabins for everyone to sleep in. I decided I'd just sleep in my car because they wanted to stay up late and I was tired from kayaking all day.

I woke up to the rain stopping and it was kind of cold in the car and I had forgotten my sleeping bag in my tent. I checked the cabin to see if there was any room left and the light was on and everyone was fast asleep (3am). I didn't want to squeeze in so I decided to trek my way to my tent in the dark with a small pen light. In order to get to my tent I had to pass by everyone's that they left. Mine was the last one and even then was 50 ft at least from the previous tent before it.

I got in my tent, covered up with my sleeping bag and prepared to catch the last few hours of sleep before sun rise. No more than 10-15 min from me getting in my tent I began to hear light whispers right out side the tent door. They weren't in English and to my recollection indecipherable ( not any language I had heard at all) . Just as the voices started, two orbs appeared together outside the tent. They weren't the same glare as a flashlight would make and both were of two different colors that to the best of my ability had no real distinct color. Just colorful.

The whispers outside the tent began arguing louder between each other, but still in a hush tone. And as the whispers grew louder, the lights began swirling around the tent. Behind me, to the side to the front. Not in the movement that one could make with flashlights and at this point I realized no footsteps could be heard.

I uncovered myself and knelt on the tent floor preparing for the zipper to come undone like in a horror movie and I was flipping through my mind on What option to take. I was the most terrified I had ever been. Fight or flight.The lights swirled faster and the voices grew louder but still breathy and whispery. My mind raced and I was sweating despite the cold. And then, just like that the lights shut off like switch and the whispers stopped and nothing but silence of an empty wood.

I stood there as still as I could and I didn't dare go outside that tent til the sun came up. It was and still is the scariest moment of my life. I hope this makes sense. I've never written it out before. If I need to answer anything I can try in between moments at work. Interesting enough I went to a horror movie premiere recently and there was a scene that had the voices in it and goosebumps ran up my arm. It was identical.

LOOK AWAY FROM THE LIGHT...

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About 20 years ago I was walking home from the shops with my dad and we stopped to watch some really odd lights in the sky.

There were 2 lights, slightly bigger than the stars zooming around and orbiting each other, making figure-8s etc. And then they stopped moving, got bigger and bigger until bright light filled the sky and then they were gone, we carried on our journey home. We hadn't stopped for more than 5 mins. The whole journey should have been 20 mins.

When we got home, my mum was freaking out, we had been gone for 65 mins, our watches were both still working but were 45 mins behind every clock in the house. She had neighbors/friends bout looking for us. I don't know what happened to us or what we saw, maybe nothing.

DON'T MOVE A MUSCLE!

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Oh boy. Here we go. This is going to be long and very hard to explain, and to clarify, I didn't think I was abducted, but my friend did.

So I was about fifteen. Every night, a guy I'll call Jay and I would sneak out at about midnight and go back home around four to five in the morning, before our parents would wake up for work.On one particular night, we had just snuck out and it was about 1am. We headed to my backyard, laid on the trampoline, and stared at the stars and talked, like we always did.

Now, if you're in a room right now, and you look around, you'll see the definite four corners where your ceiling and walls meet. You can see how.. square? they turn. Edge of wall, sharp turn, second wall, same with your ceiling. You can see each individual flat surface.

The sky did that. It went from staring at the stars to looking like a cube of sky. From the southeast corner of the sky came this giant UFO. I mean huge. As if it took up a quarter of the entire sky. We both stared at it in dead silence. It didn't make any noise, even as it moved. And while it"spun," it was only hovering straight. The spinning didn't move it like you imagine a frisbee doing. The sides just turned while it moved.

I guess what it looked like doesn't matter. But Jay and I had our eyes deadset on it. We didn't say a word. We didn't point to show the other person. As it began coming toward us, we both flipped over.

Again, no hints, no talking, no eye contact. In total sync, we flipped onto our stomachs and stayed as flat and quiet as we could. Now ducking from something sounds totally normal, and instinct, but that's not what this was. It was literally almost like telepathy. I can remember us having a mental conversation of"Stay flat and it won't see us. Don't. Move."

We watch it make a weird, angled "C," shape across the sky. And although it felt totally in slow motion, it could have only been a few minutes because I think both of us held our breath the entire time.

Now for the weirdest part, as soon as it was out of sight, boom, daybreak. We had literally just gotten to the yard, and I know it was 1:15am, because I checked. But the minute we felt_"released," _from laying flat, it was very bright. Like 7:30/8:00am bright. I don't remember talking to him at all afterwards, other than making eye contact, and then making a break for our homes before our parents noticed we weren't there.

A few weeks, even months maybe, I'm talking to my brothers girlfriend about what happened. Apparently she's real into that, but also completely terrified. She said the fact that it felt like a few minutes but then it was suddenly six/seven hours later truly, 100% makes her think we were abducted. She was serious.I made a joke about how I should go to hypnotherapy to "unblock the memories," and she deadpans, and says "Don't. People who were abducted are traumatized by what happened to them. They even get PTSD."

The next day she texted me about how she couldn't sleep. I think abduction is a little bit of a stretch, and she watched too many Discovery Channel documentaries, but.. the weird loss of time still irks me. I do know what we saw was 100% real. Aliens? I dunno. Abduction? I dunno.

SHOULD I BE SEEING BLUE?

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I was home alone in this little house I lived in in the middle of nowhere. It was probably around 2 AM and I was just listening to music enjoying having the place to myself for a change, when all of a sudden my dogs started going CRAZY. Normally, when someone pulls in the driveway or comes up to the backdoor, they go to the door they heard the noise beyond and peek through the blinds to see who it is, but this night they are running all around the house from door to door barking louder than they ever do.

When I stood up to go see what the hell they were on about, I noticed that the whole house seemed to be lit up with a deep blue light. Turning into the living room, it became obvious that it was emanating in from each window. I put on my shoes to go outside and see who was out there, but by the time I got out there the light had faded away. There was no sound of a car engine or really anything, and where I lived you could hear a car coming from a mile away.

I felt a chill run down my spine but I had the weirdest sense of fight or flight where neither option seemed viable, like I was frozen to the spot. I wanted to turn around and get back inside, and then...I just was. Right back in the chair I was listening to music in. As if I just blinked and there I was.

Don't really like telling people about it because it skeeves me out so bad.

ALIENS OR THE EXORCIST?

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About a year ago I was chatting with a friend about creepy, seemingly supernatural experiences we had had as children. I chalked mine up to over active imagination, and just seeing things that weren't there. As I went into detail, her eyes kept getting wide, and she started pulling things up on her phone about aliens. After she showed me some drawing, and other things, I admitted to her that I'm absolutely terrified of aliens. I'm going to tell y'all these stories of mine, and I would genuinely appreciate feedback. Was she just f-ing with me? Or do these sound like alien encounters to anyone else?

Between the ages of 5 and 10, I lost time a lot. One of the more notable times that I clearly remember being confused, was when I was laying on the floor watching tv. It was about 6pm, and I looked out the window. It was still bright outside, and then I blinked. When I opened my eyes again it was 3am, the tv was off and I was sitting on the sofa. That sort of thing happened a lot for a few years.

Then there were the things I would see. I never had curtains or blinds on my bedroom windows. I was also, absolutely terrified of Windows and I still am. Most nights, before falling asleep, I would see head shapes outside. Not peaking up from the bottom of the window, but either from the side, or looking in from the top of the window, like it was upside down with a cocked head looking in. I had a second floor bedroom, so I thought it was impossible for something to be looking in, so I would just cover my head and try to sleep. Most of the time I ended up sneaking into my parents or my brothers bedroom at night because of it, but, I would see the shapes in their windows as well. But at least I felt safer because I wasn't alone.

Then, when I was closer to 10, I basically slept in my brothers room every night. We had moved into a new house, and his room was in the basement. It wasn't really a room, but it had one wall, then a big, open side that was separated from the rest of the basement with a long curtain. I had pretty bad insomnia by that point, and I didn't typically fall asleep until 3-4 in the morning. I was laying on the floor in my sleeping bag, watching Harvy birdman, and the curtain started to move. I looked over to see a hand, reaching through the bottom of the curtain. It was somewhat skeletal looking, with long fingers, and very pronounced bone structure. The wrist it was attached to was also very thin, and had no hair. I sat up and screamed, and when I did the hand froze, and then quickly went back under the curtain. I then heard something running up the stairs, but I didn't hear a door open or close. I curled up on the foot of my brothers bed, and stayed awake until morning.

That was the last thing I remember happening. I still lost time off and on until I was about 16. Aliens FREAK me out, always have, always will. I can't watch alien movies, or read stories, without getting extremely uncomfortable. I've never done my own research, and I avoid anything about the subject if I can. But I am truly curious if anyone else thinks the same thing my friend does.

I HATE BARNS!!

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I live in a pretty secluded part of Washington state. I was in my late teens and my parents had gone to Seattle for something, so I was put in charge of the property. I was closing everything up (i.e. the barn we own and some other small utility buildings) when I look up and see three reddish-orange lights in a triangular formation. They were just floating there, as if they were magnified stars. So magnified, in fact, that everything was slightly illuminated by their warm hue. I'm mesmerized, standing there, and suddenly lose my sense of balance, as if the ground in front of me has begun rising, and I pass out. Next thing I know I'm on the ground in the barn I had locked up (according to my watch) half an hour before. Needless to say, I was petrified. I scurried to the house with my tail between my legs scared and confused. I slept not at all that night and any sense of security I had was gone. Even though I was locked safely in my house, I felt hopelessly exposed.

In hindsight, I think it's possible I was light-headed, opened the barn door and fell down, but it still shakes me up thinking about it.

NOW THAT IS 'STRANGER THINGS' TERRITORY...

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In 2005. I was living out in the boonies with my mom, I was 15 years old. I had been talking with this girl on and off for weeks and I was on the phone with her, it was just before dark when this chick was telling me that if I come over to her house she will sneak outside to hang out with me as soon as her parents go to bed. Luckily she only lived like 2 miles away and I had a bike. Horny teenage me didn't take long to decide right then and there I was gonna make that trip. Luckily my mom always went to bed super early as well.

She texts me sometime after 10pm that her parents went to bed. It's on. I leave for her house.

As I'm riding my bike down these dark country roads I see almost exactly what you described you saw. Orange glowy lights in a triangular formation. They were just hanging there still. I stopped for a second to get a better look because there were some trees obstructing my view and they started looking bigger the more I looked at them. I started to feel this really weird sensation that I can only describe as similar to vertigo. I completely black out.

I wake up and I'm still on the side of the road but not where I was before. I got super confused and couldn't quite figure out where I was for a minute. I pull out my phone to look at the time. It's dead. My bike is nowhere to be found. I start heading down the road in what I thought was the direction I came and suddenly realized where I was. I was in the opposite direction of my house from where I started. Like, I was on the same road, just on the other end of it. I turn around when I realize this and run home. I get home and plug in my phone. It's like 2am and I have a bunch of missed calls and texts from that chick asking where I'm at.

The next day I call that girl and I tell her what happened. She sounds skeptical. I ask her what time she called me the first time last night after I left. She said she called me at around 11:00 and it wouldn't go through. I left sometime after 10.. I know my phone was at nearly full battery because it was on the charger before I left the house. I do find my bike later that day in the same place I remember stopping. It was just laying there on the side of the road. I remember having really crazy dreams and a bad headache for a couple weeks after this happened. You know, after the first couple weeks I never really had dreams much anymore. Still don't. Not sure if it's related at all though.

I can't say for sure it was aliens or abduction or whatever but I'll be honest. I'm not normally an anxious guy, but being outside alone at night has creeped me the heck out ever since. Staring into the night sky gives me anxiety when I'm by myself now. I'm not even sure I want to know what happened.

THAT'LL MAKE ANYONE NAUSEOUS...

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Might be too late, and I'm not sure I believe this to be what happened anymore, but I certainly believed it as a kid. When I was about seven, my parents and I briefly lived in an apartment in Chicago next door to my dad's old house. For whatever reason, on this night we all slept on the living room floor, me inbetween my parents. Sometime in the middle of the night I woke up and was entranced by an orange glow out one of the windows (we were on the second floor). I wandered the five or ten feet over to it and looked out to see what I believed to be the house next door completely gone, and a spacecraft in its place over an empty lot. I remember just standing there staring at it in disbelief, feeling as though I couldn't move an inch. And it must have felt like I was there for ages, and then bam I woke up, back between my parents. So it was a dream...

You'd think, except immediately after waking up I rolled over and puked my brains out. I wasn't sick and I don't throw up unless there's a serious stomach virus going on, so it was for an undetermined reason. I won't sit here and claim I was actually abducted, as I got older I started to rationalize that I was probably just scared shitless by the dream, but I always do kind of wonder...

AS LEAST YOU WEREN'T ALONE...

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Not entirely sure if we were abducted, but my wife (who was a non believer) and I both have missing time. We were having sex on our bed when we suddenly both came to, and were in totally different places in the room. Not sure how much time had past, but she looked at me and said "what the hell just happened?" I said I wasn't sure. Neither of us were scared, and we were both incredibly tired. We decided we would just go to bed and talk about it in the morning.

I looked up instances of missing time and a lot of them said the same thing. When they came to they were just very tired, knew something was totally weird, but just wanted to go to sleep.

TELL NO ONE...

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Was at a friend's cabin one night with 5-6 friends. was late at night and we where all hypnotized for about 15-20 mins looking at these 3 dancing lights above the hill across the lake. Then a shooting star went across the sky and it lit everything up almost as bright as day. we all ran into the cabin. when looking back at it I get a strange feeling thinking of how we don't have much memories to recollect after we went inside. Deciding to just fall asleep right away instead of talking about what we just saw. some of my friends old friends get upset if I bring up what we saw let alone our actions after.

I can't say I believe me or any of my friends where abducted. What I know is the details I mentioned. After seeing those lights I did lots of research on ufos and stuff for the next few years. I did not think about being abducted then either lol. Do I find it strange we all went to sleep quickly after we went inside yes I do, however there wasn't any overwhelming evidence that we got abducted. could it have happened tho? I have no idea, all I know is seeing those lights was an amazing experience. it really opened my eyes and mind to a much larger world then I saw before.

FIRE IN THE SKY.

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No joke my grandparents and one of their parents back in the 60's or 70's were fishing on the Georgia Bay in Canada while they were on this island when they saw this giant or orange glowing ball about the size of a large two story house come from around a bend in the lake and it went silently past them and was really close apparently. My grandpa said it looked like the inside of it was on fire but it was just the surface moving around in a weird way. After it went past them it stopped dead in its tracks and went back the same way it came and vanished around the bend of the lake. He looks concerned every time it's brought up and said it was the most terrifying feeling he's ever had. His dad was on the other side of the island and came scooting up in the boat about 5 minutes later and told them they were leaving because he saw it too. There is definitely something up with these orange orbs and reading these stories actually made me almost tear up a little because everything my grandpa has said is being seen by others and talked about.

FROZEN...

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So, full disclosure, I don't know if I was abducted. I don't honestly believe that I was abducted. I just know that if what I had was a nightmare, it was such a nightmare that I still remember it to this day in nearly full clarity.

I was about 4 or 5 years old and my father was working nightshift. My mother was watching football in our living room and I went to sleep on some chairs near the entertainment center; I don't recall how or why, just that I conked out in that spot. I "woke up" (quotes because I don't actually know if I was awake or dreaming) some undetermined time later. The lights were still on, but the TV was off and the house was unnaturally quiet, like the sound was getting sucked up. I looked at the TV first, then turned my head left and saw my mother floating about a foot off the ground with her eyes glowing orange and her mouth hanging open.

Naturally, I panicked. I didn't know where I was going or what I planned to do, just that I had to get out of that room. So I bolted for the hallway that lead to the bedrooms and found myself unable to move. Something walked out of my bedroom in the back. It couldn't have been much bigger than me as a child, but I remember it was brown and leathery-looking with arms that were too long for a human. The eyes were red and flashed like bike reflectors. I didn't even know what E.T. was much less seen the movie at this point in my life, for the record (needless to say, after this being burned into my memory, I did not find the movie endearing).

I couldn't move. I couldn't even scream even though I was trying. All I could do was stand there while the thing hesitated at the end of the hallway. Then it screamed like a bird with something stuck in its throat and waddle-ran straight for me. I woke up on the chairs again screaming and crying until I couldn't anymore from exhaustion. My mother didn't/doesn't remember any of it.

After that I was pretty well spooked by any feasible account of alien abduction or UFOs in general. Several episodes of feeling like I was getting jerked leg-first out of my bed all the way into my teenage years. Thankfully, nothing like what I remembered from before though.

"ADULT THINGS" ARE ALWAYS TROUBLE!

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I was about 8 or 9 and my mom tells me we are going on a day trip to meet her high school friend. Cool. I grab my game boy advance because I know my moms friend has kids my age and wanted to show them up in the racing game I had. I over heard this from my mom talking with her friend at her house (they told me to leave the room because they needed to talk about"adult things"). Little, innocent, curious me wonders what exactly are "adult things" that I can't hear? Were they gonna throw some new juicy cuss words out? Well.... Moms friend had a little girl who would sleep walk at night. Started when they moved into their new house (Northern California). It was a suburban area but not too suburban (new neighborhood with a lot of empty homes and forest patches in between each community). She was about 4 years old and they found her one night in the backyard just sitting there. After that incident they decide they need to lock her in her room at night and bar up her windows so that she doesn't end up in the woods nearby or anywhere besides her room really. THE STORY moms friend and husband wake up to a loud boom on the side of the house in the middle of the next night. Felt like something hit the house because everything shook. They check on their boys, they're good. They didn't hear anything and go back to sleep. They check on their daughter, unlock the door and realize she isn't in her room. They start to freak out, then hear a knock at the door. They open it. It's the effin sleep walking 4 year old daughter. They ask her where she's been and she said with the men and points down the street. Pissed off dad sees 2 guys in coats walking down the street. He yells at them and starts sprinting at them. Moms friend said coat guys didn't react at all. Coat guys turn the corner, dad turns the corner and they're gone. Mom and dad check the lock and windows. No tampering. They notify the police who pretty much say there's not much they can do but will keep an eye out. Effin sleep walking 4 year old daughter is fine. Isn't scared at all. Just tired and goes back to bed. After that my mom didn't understand why I was scared as hell that night (she believes she was abducted but refuses to tell me what happened. Even my dad tells me that he can't tell me the story. Says it's for my mom to share if she wants it shared). But over hearing this when I wasn't supposed to hear it had me tripped out as a kid.

Watched The 4th Kind later in life and was scared of that movie too. Friends all laughed at me saying it was stupid but they didn't know about my moms friends story.

NEVER LOOK STRAIGHT INTO THEIR EYES.

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When I was 10 I looked out my window, as I always did before bed to make sure nothing is outside since my window faced the street, and suddenly, I started hearing a massive mechanical hum and the light outside became bright like a spotlight was on the home.

I then locked eyes with a grey head, freaked the f--- out, jumped in my bed and pulled the covers up close and stared at the window waiting to die and wondering what is going on. I saw the grey figure pacing in front of my window, stopping to stare through the bent corner in my blinds with its black eyes.

I remember it very vividly from the sound to the sensations. It was like a vibrating at a high frequency. I couldn't muster the courage to call for my parents, or even yell. Not like i would hear my own voice anyway. Another one showed up on the other side of the window just staring while the first continued pacing. Just as i was gathering the courage to run, everything stopped.

Next thing i knew, it was a few hours later, everything was dark ane night again. I never told anybody till no, but since your experience was so similar i figured id chime in.

DAZED & CONFUSED...

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I'm not sure if I'd say I was _"abducted" _but what happened was really weird.

Was laying on my couch with a blanket over me and I look at the clock and it says like 11:23 AM or something. Suddenly a white flash happens and it's 12:40 PM. It happens again three more times and by the time I could comprehend what was going on it was like 5:30 PM. Every time it would happen there would be like 15 minutes of confusion and trying to move. I was stuck in a dreamlike state until it stopped happening.

A BLACK HOLE IS NEVER A GOOD SIGN...

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I witnessed something pretty unexplainable.

My ex and I were driving out of my suburban neighborhood super late one night on the way to go eat Waffle House or something. As we're nearing the exit to my neighborhood I look up into the sky and we both notice these three really strange orange lights in a triangle formation. We then stopped the car in the middle of the road to figure out wtf we're looking at. These lights didn't have the quality of lights you see emitting from a plane or a star. When you look at stars, they are so far away that they almost seem 2D. But these lights FELT 3D some how. These lights were much bigger and seemed closer? Like high enough into the sky to be well above the trees but not above the clouds. And they were just floating there not moving up, down, left, or right but eerily still. I really don't know how to explain how still these things were but it was unnatural and I know that sounds stupid but that's how it felt when I saw them and I wish I could explain it better.

But when I saw this, I was both mesmerized and sort of in shock. I've always been a UFO enthusiast and I've always wanted to see something bizarre like this and finally it was happening. I couldn't take my eyes off of what I was looking at and... I feel like I didn't for like an hour? I really don't know how much time passed but it really did feel like an unnatural amount of time.

Finally, these globes of light just abruptly dissolved away. Kind of like they were sucked into a black hole or something. We break our gaze and look at each other and my ex asks me if i just saw what she saw. And yeah, we couldn't come up with an explanation at all. To this day, no one believes me and I don't care. I saw what I saw and I'm now fully confident we're not alone.

GET IT ON CAMERA!!!

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When I was twelve, I was playing RuneScape on the computer while my mom and stepdad were out for the night. This was special for me, as I always had to get off the computer when they went to bed. I remember seeing a light through out thin, white curtains and thinking that they had come home when they were supposed to be gone all night. I went outside and our driveway was empty. Turned out the light was coming from a huge, black triangle with three points of light that was hanging in the sky right above my house. I went inside to grab my parents' digital camera, but by the time I got back outside it wasn't there. I know that night happened, but has felt like a dream since the day after. Made me believe.

WE'RE WALKING SCIENCE PROJECTS...

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Ok, so on March 24, 2015 I walked out of my backyard, around 11pm and I live in boring Oregon. So honestly where I lived it was isolated. I felt like many times there is supposed to be something waiting for me in the backwoods everyday. I felt like somebody wanted me to go in the woods and kept sending signals. Wether it was random sounds at night or small glares of light. I kept questioning what the heck could it be that is so obnoxious. I always go there during the day and there is nothing, but branches and trees. So 11:25 I wanted to yell into the woods and asked to stop messing around but it was difficult to. I was honestly frozen and i felt paralyzed, I tried to scream for help but no words. I kept walking towards the woods and I felt something grabbed me by the arm, and shoved me through the woods. Then I woke up and I thought it was a dream, I went outside of course and went where I was shoved and for the first time in my life i see branches broken and all the leafs on the ground were swept away from each other. I left around that month, and the house is still on sale at century 21, and I plan to go see it this summer and set up a paranormal crew and wait out at night. I honestly thing aliens took me and put me back to bed as an experiment.

Products That Customers Don't Realize Have A Really High Mark Up

Reddit user petrastales asked: 'What product unbeknownst to most people has the highest mark up?'

When I was in high school, my friends and I went to a pizza place after school nearly every day. In addition to a slice of pizza, we would each buy a soda. The place offered free refills (this was back when not all places did this), and we thought it was really cool. However, I used to wonder why they would do this. Wouldn't it be more profitable to them if they forced us to buy a second drink?

Four years later, I began working in a restaurant and learned that more often than not, the cups we gave out for soda cost more than the syrup that went in the drink. The restaurant offered us free food on days we worked, but we couldn't get drinks for free unless we brought our own cups.

This was shocking to me and put free refills into a whole new perspective. We could sell the soda for more than it cost to make, but no one would buy a soda if we tried to sell it for more than the cup cost. It would cost us less to allow customers to refill the same cup for free than it would be to give or even sell them another cup because it would cost the business a lot to replace each cup.

Soda cups aren't the only things that have a high mark up price, and they're not the only products people were surprised to find had a high mark up. Redditors know of lots of products that they were surprised to find out has a high mark up and are ready to share.

It all started when Redditor petrastales asked:

"What product unbeknownst to most people has the highest mark up?"

​Equality Doesn't Exist

"Back in the early 2000’s I was managing a restaurant - garlic bread was selling for 3.95 and cost 0.07 to make. Not all food items are equal when it comes to margins!"

– leyland_gaunt

"I came here specifically to mention pizza. The profit margins on pizza are nuts, you have to suck at making it to not stay open."

– DreadedChalupacabra

"Yeah, it drives me nuts when you can request add-ons, but it's like $3 for a few pieces of camembert, or $2 for some chopped tomato, when it probably cost $5 for an entire 1kg bag of tomatoes."

– Writerhowell

How Cheesy

"Yeah and like 1.50 of that pizza was the cheese."

"Cheese is the most expensive part of a pizza assuming youre not doing some weird specialty stuff."

– Doomstik

"Can confirm. Worked at a pizza place. An incompetent employee was supposed to fluff a box of cheese but dropped it on the ground by accident. the owner was there. I swear I saw him shed a tear because that box was $120 of pure uncut shredded mozzarella and that was supposed to become like $1,000 in pizzas."

– PM_Sexy_Catgirls_Meo

That's Nuts!

"Yeah I worked at a place that did charcuterie, I apologized to the chef for munching out on the fancy olives all night. He said he didn't give a damn, as long as it kept my hands off the roasted cashews. Big jar of olives was like 15 bucks, the equivalent of cashews was like 200 bucks."

– hudson27

Bamboozled

"Reminds me of the never-ending pasta at Olive Garden. Pasta is dirt cheap and incredibly filling. The chances of you eating enough that it's actually a good deal for you is very slim."

– IBJON

"When I was working at a chain pizza restaurant, the storage manager wanted to get pasta on the menu, because of the profit margins. It's crazy because it cost us $2.10 to make a 17 inch pizza, and we sold them for $14."

– fukreddit73264

Not Worth It

"Flavored seltzers at a brewery. The beer costs 10x as much to make, but they charge almost the same at the tap."

– LocoCracka

"I have a buddy who made seltzers at a brewery in the Bay Area. Some malt liquor, very little flavoring, and a ton of soda water."

"Couldn’t make a cheaper adult beverage if you tried."

– Ikarus_Zer0

Ma, I Can't See!

"Glasses."

"Luxottica owns most major eye wear stores, costs them a few dollars to make and you pay hundreds for them."

– godnrop

"My cousin taught English in China after college in the early 2000s, apparently they had machines in malls where you could look into a pair of holes, do a vision test, get a prescription, and have a pair of glasses automatically ground for you in like 2 minutes for about $5, and the only reason we don't have that in the US is regulations."

"I travel to China frequently for work. I just take the USA prescription for family and friends and they have them made in about an hour or less. Family and friends give me an idea of frames they like and they pop the prescription lenses in. I pay about USD40 for the top-grade lens material that is antifog and anti-scratch."

i3f8j

"I don’t really object to paying $50 for an eye exam, I object to paying $300 for a pair of frames. There’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to take the prescription the optometrist gives you, enter the numbers into the machine, and get the same $5 glasses."

river4823

​Message Received

"Back in the day, text messaging."

– alien109

"That's why I left T-Mobile in 2005. They were charging me for incoming texts but offered no way for me to block them. So basically, someone else had control of my bill."

– CGYOMH

"I remember being young, spending the $20 I worked so hard for so I could get minutes, only for a friend with unlimited minutes to spam me with a few texts and take it all away. What an upsetting time."

– Boopcheese

Ice Ice Baby

"Soft drinks in pubs. Especially the ones from “the tap”. Costs pennies and they charge £3 for a pint of it. Probably the biggest earner in a pub."

– lucky_1979

"Especially when they just cram a glass with ice and then lightly moisten it with the actual drink you ordered."

– jamesmowry

"My work just came out with a policy that we need to completely fill the glass with ice because it "keeps the drink colder for longer".. eyeroll."

– metalbridgebuilder

"The nuts and bolts section at your local big box hardware store is the highest markup isle. 500% or more. If you need more than a few bolts, go shopping at a proper hardware supplier."

– SatanLifeProTips

"Whenever I go through one of these aisles and look at the price for a single bolt or screw, I look at the overall assortment and think: There must be tens of thousands of dollars just for the shelf-price of fasteners I see right here in this aisle alone."

"The markup is crazy, but why do I want to buy a box of 100 screws if I only need two?"

– lemming_follower

Second To One

"The second-cheapest bottle of wine on the menu."

– slocki

"In order to not look cheap, many people will buy the 2nd cheapest item on the menu."

– AprilsMostAmazing

"Wine in restaurants in general. The markup on wine is wild. My boss used to get whatever was “on sale” from the distributor and usually pay $3-4 a bottle and sell it at $10 a glass."

– she_shoots

Pour Some Sugar On Me

"Candy floss / cotton candy. £4.99 for legitimately 10p worth of sugar."

– Tylervdub

"I used to work food service at an amusement park for a summer job."

"A manager told us that the cost of making a bag of cotton candy, including ingredients, labor, etc., was 19 cents...we sold it for $3."

– etm105

Look, Don't Drive

"Those button batteries in store."

"They know you need one asap cause your car won’t unlock so you are stuck."

"Wait 1 day and you can get a dozen from Amazon for same price."

– kindrudekid

Medical Supplies

"As a Diabetic I'm pretty sure it's Insulin."

– PraiseThePun81

"Can’t believe I had to scroll so far to find this."

"I spend over $13k annually on ‘good’ insurance that doesn’t cover half of the things I need as a diabetic. I spend half that again on the insulin and supplies. It’s a racket."

– Nosce_Temet

H2O

"Water."

– ganic-Lie4759

"Bottled water is so highly marked up as to qualify as a scam."

"At no extra cost aside from the bottle (I don’t have a water meter) my water is completely free. It tastes as good or better than bottled."

– 6033624

I didn't know about any of this!

I can hear my wallet crying.

Black and white photo of a teacher pointing his finger toward an unseen student
Photo by Immo Wegmann

Teachers are meant to impart knowledge to the next generation, but they have to get the kids to pay attention first.

Not an easy task.

So many, too many schools are plagued by kids who have no self-control.

Teachers end up playing referee, counselor, and parent in addition to their teaching role.

All of those additional hats don't come with any additional pay.

It's no wonder we're in a teacher shortage.

Redditor _Planet_Mars_ wanted the teachers out there to share some rough student stories, so they asked:

"Teachers, what is the worst thing you've seen a student do?"

I once saw a kid drive their car into the school office.

They were drunk.

Thankfully no one was injured.

POP!

"The was a loud pop and a flash in the back corner of the classroom. I asked the student sitting there what happened. She said it was firecrackers. I sent her to the office. While she was still in the office, I realized the electrical outlets in the room didn’t work. At that point, another student fessed up that the student sent to the office had put a pair of scissors in the outlet. I’m not sure why that student thought it was better to lie and claim she was doing fireworks inside the school?"

mynamelessname

Pain

"When I was teaching preschool, I had a little girl, between 3-4, walk up to another girl who was sitting on the rug reading a book, grab her by the hair and slam her head into the wall. They hadn’t been interacting in any way prior. When I asked her why she did it, she said she 'wanted her to know it hurts.'"

No-Doubt-8748

That Kid

"A different type of bad than most of these."

"I was a teacher at a poor inner-city school. I had a lot of wonderful students but some difficult ones. One was the worst — bright but was always sleeping through class and acting up and never doing homework. I lived about 30 minutes away. One night, I stopped by the local Wawa after a night out with friends. Was at least 11:30 pm and I was already dreading the early morning drive to school. And who should be checking me out but my own 'problem' student."

"He was working late to make money for his family and then getting home at 1:00 am or later before heading into school on 4-5 hours of sleep. He was a smart kid. Really smart. I hope things worked out for him but I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if he’d been allowed to have a childhood and focus on his education."

Low_Cartographer2944

Blame the Heat

Sweating James Mcavoy GIF Giphy

"It gets very hot here in the warmer months and so the school put out those big containers for water for everyone. Well, one student was caught peeing into a bag and dumping it into the containers."

huzzahserrah

Some kids really need some deeper therapy.

Peeing in bags? Seriously?!

From Beneath

"My wife is an elementary teacher and has a kid this year that likes to slip under their desk and lick toes (we live in a warm state) and they all think he will grow up to be a creeper."

CherryManhattan

BOOM

"This was the worst thing I know of that happened at my high school."

"Someone brought a blasting cap to school (OK, that's a bit dumb), and flushed it down the toilet (that's REALLY dumb). Then told a teacher about it, because maybe it wasn't such a good idea (their best idea that day, really)."

"Wound up with that restroom being taken out of service while the fire department x-rayed the plumbing to find and remove the (admittedly tiny) explosive. Took several weeks before it was back in service."

gogstars

Sad

"My favorite teacher in high school was a very kind a lenient man. Do your work, be respectful, and follow the major school rules and you and him would be cool. The one thing that would seem minor, but that he was very strict about was taking any medication in any way shape, or form in his classroom."

"One day, I needed to take some Advil for cramps and asked to take it. He said I needed to go to the nurse for permission. I ended up asking him why he was so strict about it. it turns out, he had a student pass out in class one day at his former school. He tried to wake her up and called the nurse, but she wouldn't wake up. They called 911 and by the time they got there, she had died of an OD on narcotics she took in the bathroom that she had hidden in a Tylenol bottle. I don't know how he went back to teaching after that."

musical-nerd24601

Painful

Moving Season 2 GIF by Paramount+ Giphy

"Saw a 4-year-old purposely push a piece of furniture over onto another 4-year-old at preschool. It actually really hurt the other kid, and her parents took the school to court."

MPD1987

Kids are brutal.

No wonder people home school.

Baby on back in their crib
Photo by Alex Bodini on Unsplash

Some haters will disagree, but parenting is hard. Every parent is going to experience their journey differently from the next parent, and it stands to reason that they're going to make some differing decisions, too.

But some decisions are made based on facts while others are made based on old wives' tales and myths, some of which have long since been debunked.

Because that's how Grandma did it and how Mom did it, some of these myths are trying their best to stand the test of time!

Redditor BITE_AU_CHOCOLAT asked:

"What's a disproven parenting myth that way too many people still believe?"

Allergy Prevention

"To prevent allergies, avoid giving your child these foods until they are much older…"

"It has been proven over and over again that exposing your child to traditionally allergy-prone foods in very small amounts when they are younger drastically reduces allergy potential. Even to the point of doing so in utero."

- UsesCommonSense

Instant Maturity

"Having a kid will cause someone to step up or straighten out or grow up or mature, etc."

- Exploding_Muffin

"I have a family member that tried this. He and his girlfriend were addicts. They specifically decided that they should try to get pregnant as motivation to stop doing drugs. It didn't work."

- HoopOnPoop

Nonverbal, Not Deaf

"That nonverbal kids don’t understand what you say. This one is common in the autism community."

- Kwyjibo68

"I work in dementia care. Lord knows this isn’t the truth for either population."

"A lady I took care of several years ago was thought to be nonverbal and beyond the ability to understand speech. We were changing her one night, and she looked at me and said, 'When does school start back?'"

"Clear as a bell. I was in college at the time."

- bookishkelly1005

No Spoiled Newborns

"You can not spoil a newborn. Their brain is still quite underdeveloped, and actually, by refusing to answer their calls, you can give them self-regulation issues as they develop without that safety in processing new stimuli."

"Edited to Add: I said newborn because I meant newborns. Not babies that need to be practicing lifting their head, etc. There are people who start fussing at parents about this as soon as they bring their newborn home, forgetting that this baby is experiencing everything BRAND NEW, and needs a safety system."

"And also I did raise two humans, and I very much remember being a new mom."

- TinyGreenTurtles

The Power of Multilingualism

"That a child shouldn’t be exposed to a second (or third) language until having mastered their native language. I’ve heard this so many times from people who have no idea about multilingualism."

- lrbdad626

"My sister's first language is English, and her husband's is Spanish. They're both bilingual and speak both languages in their household."

"My sister remembers her daughter noticing when they switched between languages when she was well under a year old. She'd be watching them intently and do a little startle when they switched. Kids' receptive language develops earlier than a lot of people realize."

- dorky2

Dads Are Parents, Too

"Dads are more than babysitters."

"It's been 20+ years since I was a single father, but the attitudes towards men and parenthood haven't changed as much as they should have."

"Don't ask a dad if he is giving mom a break today. Don't assume dad doesn't know how to settle down their child. Don't stare at Dad at the park when Dad is there with his kid(s). And for god's sake, can businesses install a change table in the men's washroom!"

- keiths31

"Oh yeah, this p**ses me off to no end. And no matter how many times we tell the school not to, they will ONLY call my wife if there is some issue during the day. She is 100% unavailable during the day, while I WFH (work from home) and can come deal with anything at a moment's notice."

"Once, my poor kid sat in the infirmary for two hours because they were waiting for mom to return their call. Finally, she herself piped up and said, 'Can you try calling my dad instead?' and I was there five minutes later. You would think they would eventually learn but nope... still happens to this day."

- dcmcderm

Why Is Comfort So Taboo?

"Picking up your baby too much will spoil them. For f**k's sake… pick up a crying child and meet their needs. Sometimes it's just a need for comfort and bonding with their caretaker."

- laurenderson

Disturbing Gender Norms

"Daughters are nightmares and sons are so easy to raise."

"The really disturbing part is women seem to believe this more than men."

- lilymunsterisaqueen

Best Practices, Who?

"That there is anything even remotely approaching a consensus on best practices when it comes to raising a child. I've only been a parent for five months and the sheer volume of confident, authoritative, and completely contradictory advice I've received has been staggering."

"As best as I can tell, just work on keeping them healthy, secure, and loved, and try to muddle your way through as best you can on rest."

- liebkartoffel

Don't Let Regret Run the Show

"I'm an older parent. In my opinion, a lot of who the kids grow up to become is simply them. For the kids who turn out well or don't, people will look back and think, 'If I had only done this more often!' and pass it off as advice."

"Parents shouldn't beat themselves up. Don't traumatize the kids. Don't spoil them. Support them in their interests. Outside of that, just let them become who they will become and enjoy the ride. It's a shorter run than you think at the time."

"At some point, we as a society may find that electronics are bad, something in our food is a problem, lack of interaction is an issue, etc. but as an individual parent, it's really hard to swim against the stream. It's fine to research and take reasonable steps to avoid this but I see too many young parents totally overwhelmed with advice and data."

- fish1900

Breaking the Cycle

"That all parents, specifically mothers, have an instinct that will kick in eventually and your child will be your world."

"Mine told me from a very early age that I wasn't the kid she'd wanted, I was ugly, fat, whatever. I finally ended things completely this year when she told me she's always hated me and never wanted me. I needed the closure."

"She made my life h**l, especially since she had two kids after me that she loves."

"My daughter hasn't ever been shouted at (by that, I mean raising my voice), hurt, or made to feel like less than the wonderful person she is. I suppose I can thank my mother for showing me how not to be."

- earthtomanda

Not the Same AT ALL

​"That love, respect, and fear are the same thing. They're f**king not."

- LaliMaia

"'Is it better to be loved or feared?"

"'I want my kids to be afraid of how much they love me.' from Michael Scott's School of Parenting (on 'The Office')."

- Millerisabast**dMan

Not In Debt

"This destructive myth that we are OWED respect and love from our kids. NOPE!"

"They are attached to us, yes, but love and respect are earned. Fear is not respect; guilt is not love; we chose to have kids, they had no say in the matter. It is incumbent upon us to reach them by mirroring the behaviors we value."

- I_wear_foxgloves

"This goes hand in hand with some parents thinking their kids owe them anything in return for meeting their basic needs. You see this especially when children become adults."

"Parents telling their adult children, 'You owe me X because I fed you and gave you a roof over your head.' It’s utter bulls**t. Your child never signed a contract saying that in order to be born, they owe you something in the future."

"Keeping a child safe, providing food and water, a roof over their head, etc… those are basic needs that your child deserves. If you aren’t prepared to provide those things, don’t become a parent. Your kids don’t owe you anything, not as children and not as adults. Respect is earned and not bought. A child’s relationship with their parent(s) is not transactional."

- CatmoCatmo

Public vs. Private

"That you can tell if a stranger is a good parent by how their kid behaves in a random instance you happen to observe."

- JuniorPomegranate9

Resilience as an Excuse

"Kids are resilient and will get over stuff without it correctly being addressed."

"No, we remember everything In our tiny and impressionable brains."

- Pleasant_Tooth_2488

The misconceptions presented here are truly heartbreaking in some cases and mind-boggling in others.

It's hard to unlearn behaviors and what we thought were facts, yes, but if we want to be better people, and better parents, we absolutely have to figure out how to do it.

Old torquoise radio box
Milivoj Kuhar/Unsplash

Buying a home is a daunting task, but it comes with the comfort of finally having a place to call your own after the lengthy process of purchasing.

One of the things new homeowners look forward to is renovating certain areas of their newly acquired domicile.

However, embarking on this next phase of making a home their own can come with some surprises.

For example, doing a gut reno in the basement or tearing down a non-load-bearing wall can unearth unusual relics left from the previous homeowner.

These discoveries can either be treasures, or something very unpleasant.

Curious to hear from new homeonwers, Redditor Oblivious_Dude14 asked:

"People who bought a house. What is the weirdest thing you have found left by the previous owner?"

These will spark curiosity about former occupants.

Hidden Message

"First time I took a hot shower in our new home. The steam covered the mirror, only to reveal the phrase 'HELLO, I SEE YOU' in large finger drawn writing."

"It freaked me out for a second, but made me laugh soon after that."

"It was such an inconspicuous yet obvious thing to leave for the new homeowner (me)."

– Individual-Common-89

A Special Request

"It's not really weird but I think it's kind of a nice story."

"One of the kids' rooms has a shelf going all around the top edge, and when my kid was putting stuff up there they found a letter from the previous kid. The letter welcomed them to the room etc and asked them to take special care of a rose bush in the front yard that was their special rose bush. My kid thought it was really cool to have that connection with the previous kid."

– catsaway9

Instructions

"Not really weird but they left a typed out and printed note about the house and how to take care of it. Detailing all the plant life in the backyard and how to prep for the winter. Described how to take care of the hot tub and gave random tid bits about the electrical."

"They were good people lol."

– pet_zulrah

Theses secret chambers piqued Redditors' curiosity.

Secret Dwelling

"Not my house, but the school my friend worked at."

"A pipe had leaked and ruined a wall in the building, one of the oldest schools in the city. It was a beautiful property. Anyways the pipe leaked so they pulled down the ruined wall and behind the wall found a door."

"A fully furnished apartment was there. Had a coal burning stove to heat it. Early 1900s appliances and decor. It was for the caretaker of the school."

– Used-Stress

Antique Showroom

"My ex-wife's family knocked down a wall in a 400-year-old house in Cornwall, and found a perfectly intact bedroom from the 1800s, still with all the personal effects where they had been left."

"Nobody knows why it was boarded up, or why things weren't taken out of it."

"Oh, and that house always appears in the guides for the most haunted locations in Cornwall, if you believe that kind of stuff."

– ledow

A Medieval Theme

"A basement room that was fully decked out as a 'dungeon.' Faux stone walls, a stocks (like where you lock your head and hands in ala ye olde England), candle scones on the walls, a metal-barred cage in the corner from floor to ceiling. Oh and the closet had a load of toys, some normal, some....not so typical."

– DisIsDaeWae

These Redditors got a glimpse into past lives.

Family Treasure

"Before I met her, my wife got a call from someone she worked with saying they'd just bought an old house and in the city, and in it was a steamer trunk with her family name (not a common one) carved into the woodwork on one end."

"As it turns out, it was the trunk that her great grandfather used when he came over from Germany, and it made the trip to my wife's hometown when he met her great grandmother on a visit, and subsequently moved to her city to marry her. We now have it and it's full of family portraits and albums."

– LateralThinkerer

Vintage Trickster

"My first house purchase in 2005 - bought an old farmhouse that was built in 1923. The basement was FILLED with crap - we told them they needed to clean it all out before closing, but they didn't do it. The realtor asked if we wanted to postpone closing, and we decided no - some of the stuff looked interesting enough. Maybe it will be worthwhile to go through."

"Most of it was just junk. Then, about half way through (we were working our way from one end of the basement to the other, because you could barely walk through), I went to pick up what I thought was a small box, only to quickly realize it weighed at least 75 pounds. Upon further inspection, it wasn't a box, but a wooden square, 4' wide and about 12'x12', with two thin masonite plywood covers on each side. On one edge were two bolts with wires coming off that had been cut."

"Very strange - had no idea what it was, but thought it was interesting. So I put it aside and we kept going. At the very back of the basement once we cleared everything else out, was a rickety gray cabinet, built into the house. Inside, were numerous strange small tools, vials of mercury, vials of a strange powder, and thousands - literally thousands - of dice blanks. Some actual dice, but mostly blanks without the dots. they were all in little boxes labeled 'dice blanks'. Also very strange..."

"Not too long after that, I met a guy and upon learning my address, he said 'can I come over?My best friend grew up in that house'. He came by, and proceeded to tell me stories for an hour and a half about his childhood best friends eccentric father: Someone who was a part of the 'Dixieland Mafia' in the 60s and 70s, and who made a living traveling around the US as a traveling gambler. The enormously heavy box was an electro-magnet. And the dice blanks were for him to make his own loaded dice with a little bit of metal powder under the inlaid dot, so he could set up his own table with the the electromagnet underneath, and turn it on when he wanted to persuade the dice. He told me many other stories, including that there was 'no doubt in his mind that he had killed someone'. Pretty fascinating."

– GIjokinaround

A Soldier's Story

"A diary of an American soldier in WW-II, South Pacific Theater. Found it above a door when remodeling 20+ years ago. My wife and I tried everything we could think of to find a descendant, but to no avail."

"UPDATE: I just posted photos of it with the person's ID info on r/WorldWar2."

"Last Update: Thanks to all the help from this community, and those at r/worldwar2, this diary is now in the hands of its writer's son who came to my office this morning to retrieve it. I am so thrilled to have been able to facilitate this!"

– Factsaretheonlytruth

These folks really hit the jackpot.

Forgotten Stash

"$1200 in cash above the door on the inside the closet. I found it while painting."

– whymetoo

They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To

"A glass bowl. It was kind of pretty, with horizontal blue stripes."

"We kept fruit in it. We thought about dropping it off at the local charity shop, but never got around to it."

"Then one day I was at an antique fair and I saw for sale glass bowls that looked almost identical to ours. I went home to get my bowl and brought it to be assessed."

"Turns out it was a vintage Orrefors crystal bowl. The assessor valued it at around $800."

"We no longer keep fruit in it."

– khendron

When my great aunt passed away, our family went over to her and her husband's home in Pomona, CA to clear it out in preparation to sell.

They emigrated from Japan in the late 1930s and brought with them many decorative figurines, sculptures, and wooden carvings from the homeland.

One of the pieces was a kabuki doll on a wooden base. As we were placing the item in a box, a tiny envelope that had been taped underneath the doll's base came loose.

I opened it and found what looked like instructions for something. I kick myself to this day that I didn't keep the letter and never bothered asking my parents what the note said as we were frantically trying to empty the house.

But man, my imagination ran wild. Was it a treasure map? Who knows. I still wonder to this day what the note said and tossing it aside remains one of my life's greatest regrets.