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People Share The Strangest Things That Have Happen To Them That Remain Unexplained

People Share The Strangest Things That Have Happen To Them That Remain Unexplained

People Share The Strangest Things That Have Happen To Them That Remain Unexplained

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When you think of "the unexplained" you probably imagine some strange supernatural major event like ghosts or an alien abduction or something. The unexplained doesn't have to be quite THAT fantastical, though. Some of us have had tons of mundane moments we couldn't explain throughout our lives. One Reddit user asked:

What strange thing have you witnessed/experienced that you cannot explain?

The responses were pretty interesting! It was really fun to see the sorts of things that stick with people. Some are a bit scary, some kind of funny, all remain unexplained so far.

Red Curls

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My GF was telling me about working with her new coworker (said nothing about her appearance) and all of a sudden I got a flash of intuition and it was as if I had seen her coworker in my mind's eye.

I interrupted her and asked "does she have curly red hair?" and it turned out she did!

It's pretty minor and it could mean nothing but it was just a powerful flash of insight that has always stuck with me, especially for being such a completely useless piece of information for me.

Drop In Temperature

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I was sitting in my college dorm room once when the temperature suddenly started dropping like crazy. I turned the heat up as high as it would go but it just kept getting colder. I took out my winter clothes and started putting them on. This was like in late September/early October in New York so it wasn't cold outside at all.

I was just about to go ask for maintenance when my roommate got back from hockey practice and asked why there were so many police cars and ambulances outside. I had no idea. Later that night, we were informed a girl who lived in the dorms had died. Everyone who I've told about this says that I felt her death. I was in that same room for 3 years and that was the only time I ever had problems with the temperature.

Extra Street Lights

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One time, as I was driving home from work, I turned onto the street where I live on and noticed what seemed to be more street lights than I remember being there.

I didn't think much of it at all at first, but something in me made me do a double take. I notice that the three "additional streetlights" are not street lights at all, but lights lined up perfectly in the sky in the distance.

Literally, as soon as I notice this, the lights in the sky beginning moving slowly and getting closer together. Eventually, they were close enough and formed a triangle.

Mind you, at this point I have managed to park my car in my driveway and I'm standing there staring at them. My parents, who are fairly religious, tend not to believe in aliens, UFO's or anything of the sort, so I decided to run inside and get them so they can see this for themselves.

We go back outside, the lights are still hovering, moving slowing in a triangle. No sound is being made by them. They do this for a few more seconds and all of a sudden, one of them speeds off super quickly. When I say quick, I mean quick.

The remaining two continue moving slowly in the sky for a few more seconds then they literally just vanish. Poof, the lights were just gone.

I'm not saying it was aliens, but yeah, those really were unidentified flying objects. To this day, we have no idea what they might possibly be.

Driving Off Into The Woods

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A few years ago me and a bunch of friends were on a cabin trip at my friend's parents' cabin. It was in the middle of nowhere and it was late, so the road was pitch black. We were split up into two cars, and I was driving behind the person who knew where we were going.

At some point, my friend just starts speeding up, annoying fast. I start bitching that I'm barely able to keep up. Suddenly, she takes a sharp turn down into a wooded area with only a vague trail. I try to follow, but I'm desperately trying to avoid the massive potholes in my tiny-not-fit-for-off-roading car. Meanwhile, the car in front of me is gliding down the path seemingly no problem. I flash my lights for them to slow down, but nothing. I'm pissed at this point, and am cursing my friend's name while my passengers sit in silent terror.

We finally make it down to a real road, but my friend's car is nowhere to be seen. It was like it vanished out of thin air. Again, the area is pitch black, so if there was any source light we would be able to see it.

We're lost as hell and try to call, but we don't have a cell signal. We drive for about 10 minutes before we reach them, find them, and are finally guided to the cabin.

I mention to my friend about how annoyed I am that she took a dangerous off road path without warning us and then just disappeared. She then gets a really weird look on her face and says, "What are you talking about? You guys were right behind me and then suddenly you just turned off into the woods. We had no idea where you went, we were really worried." Apparently, she had been on the road the whole time.

No one knows who the truck was, where they came from, or where they went. Everyone in both cars never saw a car pull out between us or saw us get broken up. The three people in my car a confident that the truck we saw lead us down the woods was my friend's car. Everyone else in the other car assured us they were on the road the whole time.

To this day, none of us know where that car came from or how they snuck in between two cars without 6 people realizing it.

The Mud Dream

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I had a dream when I was a teenager.

We lived on the hillside overlooking the city. I was standing on our terrace just watching the world die. Water covered most of the city. What wasn't drowned was burning, pillars of smoke covered the horizon. But oddly enough it was serene. You couldn't hear screaming or choas, just tinders snapping like a campfire along the shore. It smelled like the sea too.

Then I looked to my right, and there was my dad. To his right, was my paternal grandmother. They both just smiled a sad smile which made me realize that I couldn't move. We were stuck standing in mud.

I woke up after that.

After breakfast, I didn't say anything until my dad and I were the only ones left at the table. I asked him if he had a dream last night. He described the exact same thing and he said he saw me too.

Later on that day, my dad, who had checked in with my grandmother, said that she had the exact same dream.

Ghost Legos

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Ghost legos.

I was a kid playing with legos and noticed a few were in the bucket that didn't look like mine/ the plastic was faded/ older/ definitely of a different generation. I would build spaceships all day then when I went to bed and woke up there'd be holes in the spaceships where the old bricks would be. Being a seven year old my biggest concern was all the air getting out and my crew suffocating before they went to battle so I'd quickly pull them apart and put new bricks in where the old ones were but now that I think about it that always stuck with me as odd.

Silent Triangle

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I lived in Roswell, NM for years. I'm not the only person who saw this, my (now ex) husband, a friend of ours, and other people who were outside at the time saw this (the first time).

I do NOT think it was a UFO (and you damn well know what I mean, Mr. and Mrs. Pedantic). I think it was military. After all, there are many air force bases in NM.

So it's around 10 or 11 pm, and we're outside at a bar. Not drunk, in fact my husband and our friend hadn't had anything but soda. I think I'd had one margarita at this point.

There is a black, triangular object moving across the sky overhead. No lights. No sound. It looked huge, but of course, the size of objects in the sky can be deceiving. The only reason we could see it, was because it blocked out the stars. We're all just like... wtf.

It flies off, we go inside, and are like... yep, that just happened. We file that in our mental "weird s*** in the sky" bin. (I've seen other things too, but my memory isn't as clear on them as it's been many, many years now, but I can write that in a separate reply maybe.)

A few years later, my husband is outside our house, watering the lawn. It's around 9/10 pm. He yells at me to come outside. The same object is in the sky again. We just stared. Neither of us had a smartphone yet, heck I'm not even sure we owned a digital camera at the time.

If other patrons at the bar hadn't seen whatever that was, I'd have been like "yeah, right." And then for us to see it twice? The lack of sound is really the part that gets me. No sound before, during, or after it passed overhead.

The Dog Knew

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A few years ago, shortly after adopting my dog, my then gf and I were getting ready to go out for food (or whatever it was). Right as we are getting ready to go out the door our dog starts FREAKING out.

He's losing his mind whining, jumping at us, biting at our arms, and trying to pull us to the living room. We take a few extra seconds, calm him down, say goodbye and head out - we had a train to catch. Took all of 30-60 seconds.

As we were approaching the bus stop, about 30 seconds away from the stop, a BMW comes barreling around the corner and jumps the curb exactly where we would have been standing. Had we left when we originally wanted we would have been standing there, we never would have seen it coming.

To this day I'm convinced my dog knew, and he delayed us for that reason. He's never had an outburst like that since.

"If You Believe In That"

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Me and my dad both witnessed a white figure fly across our backyard in 1999. It didn't have arms or legs or a face, it was basically like a sheet and it flew across the yard at superhuman speed. When we saw it we both looked at each other and tried to make sense of it. We still talk about it today. I don't believe in ghosts, but I can't explain what this was. Looked like a ghost if you believe in that.

Caught By An Angel

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Believe it or not, a LOT of people had this experience, so here are a few stories:

Once, as a teenager, I tripped at the top of the stairs. I was worried because I knew landing would hurt and because my pup was at the bottom and I was headed right for her. Anyhow, when I landed, it was like I fell on top of an air bubble. I didn't even touch my pup and she remained sleeping. No idea how neither of us were hurt.

I sincerely almost dropped a newborn on her head, but it felt like something lifted her back into my arms. It was such a close call I'm getting nauseous just thinking about it.

Once fell head first down my basement steps from the top towards concrete floor. The thought that went through my head was: "wow. I really let my parents down. This is such a stupid way to die." Then, all of the sudden, someone catches my arms while I'm falling and flips me feet first. I'm still here.

My friend's 3 year old son fell out of a high open window on the 2nd floor of her house straight onto the concrete driveway. (about 12-14 feet high) She had no idea until he knocked on the front door. He had a couple scraped knees but no other injuries. We were baffled, but realized the only way he got outside was by actually falling out of that window, which was open and had a large ripped screen. I was at her house and we were totally freaked out but he was completely fine. Our families went to religious Christmas program that winter, which was about 8 months after the incident and there had been no talk of his accident in months. An actor playing an angel was on stage and my friends son tugged on her arm and very loudly said, "Mommy, mommy, that looks like who caught me when I fell out of the window".

Police And Fire Department

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I'm a police officer. One night we get a call about some banging noises in the wall of the bathroom in an apartment building. The banging has been going on for a few hours and it's reported to sound like someone banging on the other side of the wall. The people who live in this unit are a husband and wife and their young son, maybe 10 years old or so.

A couple of us attend this call and when we get there, we hear the banging. Its not continuous, but it happens in 4 or 5s, every few minutes or so. It sounded like how it was reported, like someone banging their fist against the wall. It's extremely loud and forceful; I can't remember for sure, but I think it made the mirror in the bathroom fall off. It was definitely making the items on the bathroom shelf shake.

We go out and knock on the door of the apartment next door, next to where the bathroom would be. Dude answers and lets us in. Can hear the banging still, but not nearly as loud. It's clearly nobody in that unit banging on the wall.

We can't figure it out. We entertained thoughts of an animal or something being stuck in the wall, but then how did it get there? Plus the forcefulness of the banging didn't add up to an animal. A person stuck in the wall? Nope. We call the fire department.

By this time, mostly everybody on the whole floor is out in the hall, seeing what the hell is going on. Of course everyone is joking that it's a ghost. The people who live in the unit say they've heard the banging before, but not to this extent. It's never gone on as long or been as loud or forceful.

As a joke, someone shouts out "if you want us to leave, knock 3 times!" Right away, there are 3 sharp bangs. Not even joking. Everybody is freaked out by this point.

I'm walking around the unit, just seeing if anything else is out of the ordinary. I see a laundry basket on the bed of one of the bedrooms, which shares a wall with the bath. A few of the bangs are so forceful, they made the basket on the bed shake.

The kid says the banging is more frequent when he is near the bathroom.

So the firemen arrive. They think it's a big joke, but when they hear the banging and it can't be explained, they are puzzled as well. I can't remember why, but it was determined that the sound wasn't originating from the pipes or anything else in the wall. The firemen decide to cut a small hole in the wall.

Honestly, I don't even want to be there for when they do that. I've never believed in ghosts or demons or anything or that sort, but I was actually scared about what may be in the wall.

So they cut a small hole in the wall. What do they find? Absolutely nothing. Nothing is in there. It's hollow. They shined a light in there and tried to shove their phone in there to take photos, but nothing was seen. The only weird thing was that when they used a heat sensor, one part of the wall was hotter than the rest.

The banging basically died down at this point. We told the occupants to call us if it started up again, but it never did, or at least they never called us again.

On a follow-up a few days later, they said they called a medium or someone of that sort and while they were doing their thing, the banging happened again, very intensely, but just for a few minutes.

Last I heard the occupants moved out and we haven't heard anything since.

I have no good explanation for this and neither does anyone else. Maybe it's not ghosts, I don't know, but I'm of the opinion it's something supernatural and this is what made me a believer.

Rod Through The Head

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Like other people I occasionally have very prophetic dreams. They always are about something tragic but I'll describe my most vivid one.

About 5 years ago I had a dream I was in a horrible 3 car accident with my then-gf and my younger brother. The car was totaled, there was smoke, my gf and my brother went to the hospital and I thought I died because I was pierced through the head with some sort of rod.

Fast forward 2 years later, and my brother and I get a ride from girlfriend to go to a graduation party for a mutual friend. Gf pulls out into an intersection. I immediately recognize everything from the dream and I flinch to the left. Everything goes black for me for a few seconds after that, but when I regain consciousness I look around and see the exact same scene as in my dream except I lived. The car we were in was totaled. There was smoke from the other two cars involved and a rod that went through the windshield about 6 inches to the right of my head.

It was the most intense moment of my life. Since then I have always kept track of my dreams and paid very close attention to them.

The Dolphin Show

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On a boat, trolling for yellowtail amidst a school of dolphin about 4 miles off San Diego (dolphin are too smart to take lures, aren't shy near small boats, and feed on the same bait schools as yellowtail and tuna, so it's strategic to follow them). As if cued, all ~50-75 dolphins simultaneously stopped jumping and disappeared into the depths for about 30 seconds. Immediate, unnerving quiet. With great fanfare, they all suddenly burst out of the water in a near-perfect row about a football field wide, and for a while, synchronized jumps ahead of our boat. Then they were gone. Showing off for my dad and I? Normal behavior? Who knows, but it was awesome.

Grave Marker

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My friend and I used to love to go and hang out in one of the local cemeteries. I guess because we were just weird. This was an older cemetery and was no longer used so it didn't have any new graves in it.

One day while we were hanging out and just wandering around we stumbled upon a new looking grave marker. It stuck out like crazy because all of the other markers were old and gray and crumbling. On some of them you could barely make out the names. This marker was much newer and the name and dates was clearly visible. It was also a rather neat red marble color which was really different from all of the others.

We didn't think much of it and just continued our trip through the cemetery. We sat down under this big tree in the middle and talked and laughed and did other stupid kid things. After an hour or so we decided it was time to leave. We crossed right by where the new grave marker had been and it was gone. We both kind of freaked out a little bit and searched the whole graveyard looking for the brand new marker and it wasn't there.

We checked for it several more times on different visits and never found it again. It was just weird and some thing neither of us could ever explain.

Did You See That?

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Out walking around the neighborhood late at night with a friend one night, we would occasionally look up to the sky in awe of the stars. I saw a fast moving light like a meteor, but slower, although much faster than an airplane. Then, it made 2 sharp 90° turns. First to the right, then to the left and disappeared. My friend and I both stopped and said "did you see that?" to eachother. This was in the late 80s and I can still picture it like it was yesterday.

Crows Are Smart

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I came out of a store one day and turned the corner to see a crow trying to read a paper-back novel on a park bench. He was perched on the bench, turning pages with his beak. When he noticed me staring, he hopped away like I caught him red-handed, and took flight a moment later. Ended up getting a tattoo of a crow reading a book because the incident left such an impression on me. No one really seems to believe me, but dude, corvids are smart. I figure it was either imitating a person, or trying to harvest the pages for a nest, but either way, strange experience.

The Understanding

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I woke up with sleep paralysis with the understanding my uncle died. I get a phone call around 4 AM from my mom to tell me my uncle is on his death bed and that I should swing by in the morning.

Pretty sure it was just his body on the bed, breathing on automatic and that he left hours back.

Fairy?

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When I was about 12 I was playing outside on a really windy day and a blue flying thing the size of a water bottle zoomed into my yard and got caught in some spider web in a bush. It's wings were clear, so it wasn't a bird but the thing was huge and weird if it was a bug. I lived in the Mojave desert at the time if anyone can think of something it could have been. It freaked the f^ck out tangled in the web and branches. It was thrashing so fast I couldn't get a good look at it and I just kept staring at it in disbelief cause I couldn't stop thinking:

"That's a fairy."

I go over and try to detach it from the web and it breaks free. At the speed of f*** you it was gone again. Maybe a huge cicada? Probably fairy.

Uncle David's Goodbye

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Years ago my dad's uncle passed away. Years before that, said uncle got my parents a fancy bottle of tequila from Mexico and it's been on the front room display shelf with a bunch of other dust covered sculptures and glass work for at least 12 years. It's out of reach and untouched (no one in my immediate family drinks). On the day of his passing, I'm in the front room reading and my dads doing his taxes. we get a phone call with the bad news. My dad continues his taxes while letting me know his uncle passed in a few short words. Not 30 seconds later and the tequila bottle his uncle got my parents starts playing music. This is odd to me because I thought it was just a bottle so I ask. "Do we have a music box?" My Dad continues his taxes and tells me the bottle has a music box built in, and that was the only reason he kept it. I clarify "Did you wind it recently?" And he just keeps filing and says "nope" and I was ready to leave it at that but he says still all casually occupied:

**"I imagine uncle David wanted to say goodbye one last time." **

That is the only time it has made a noise as long as I've been alive. Of all days and times. I never knew what to make of it. It just made me uncomfortable

Friendlink

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I had a friend in high school who I stopped speaking to when she transferred in grade 10. Two years later, I have a dream that I visited her new school and sat at the back of her math class with her. In the dream her teacher was tall, brunette with curly hair, and wearing glasses.

The next day I get a message on Facebook from said friend, which is completely out of blue because we hadn't spoken in months. She asks me how I'm doing and I tell her about my dream.

She freaks out and tells me that she sits at the back of her math class, and her teacher fit the description I gave her from my dream perfectly.

H/T: Reddit

Homeowners Break Down The Weirdest Things The Previous Owners Left Behind

Reddit user Oblivious_Dude14 asked: 'People who bought a house. What is the weirdest thing you have found left by the previous owner?'

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.

test tubes
Talha Hassan on Unsplash

The saying "it's not brain surgery" hasn't meant the same thing to me ever since Ben Carson took his place on the national stage.

The saying "it's not rocket science" doesn't hit the same with me ever since one of my life-long friends became a rocket scientist.

I don't know Ben Carson—just his many public blunders—but in the case of my friend, he's an absolutely brilliant guy.

However I often wonder how my friend managed to survive this long and apparently this isn't an unusual phenomenon.

But more about my friend later at the end of this article.

Keep reading... Show less
person holding black remote control
Erik Mclean on Unsplash

Back in the 1980s the threat of nuclear war was pervasive in daily life.

That fear and paranoia made the TV films Threads and The Day After particularly effective. People were genuinely terrified or traumatized.

Both told the story of an atomic apocalypse, with Threads set in the UK and The Day After in the United States. I wasn’t familiar with Threads until about 5 years ago, but The Day After was a TV event everyone seemed to be talking about in the USA.

But fear inducing isn't quite the same as creepy.

For creepy, you need something like The Twilight Zone, Creepshow or Night Gallery.

Keep reading... Show less

Content warning: abuse and suicide.

There is a level of devastation caused by being cheated on by a partner, especially if it's someone you trusted and have been with for a long time that people who haven't experienced it can't understand.

I've been lucky in that I've never been cheated on myself, but I've had friends who have gone through it. My college roommate told me it was the worst pain she's ever been in when she found out her boyfriend cheated on her, and she couldn't imagine anything worse.

It was indeed horrible. My confident, strong roommate was crying all the time and wondering why she wasn't good enough to keep her boyfriend's interest, even though that had nothing to with it.

Redditors agree that being cheated on is painful, but also are prepared to share things they think are emotionally more painful.

It all started when Redditor Darkterrariafort asked:

"What is something more emotionally painful than getting cheated on?"

Medical Helplessness

"Watching your most precious person die a painful and scary death and knowing there’s nothing you can do about it. F**k cancer."

– coastalliving40

"This. I watched my husband starve to death from gastroesophageal cancer."

"It was like watching a nightmare repeat of my dad all over again. 😞"

– NedsAtomicDB

Mama Who Bore Me

"Death of your child."

– NBA_Fan_76

"I truly cannot imagine a deeper pain."

– theawkwardmermaid

"Your child being serious injured by your ex, and custody court keeps forcing the kid into contact with their abuser."

"You spend years of your life dealing with court homework where you recount every excruciating detail of your own abuse at the hands of this person, in addition to the crimes against your child."

"It costs you about $100,000 in legal fees, and you still aren't able to protect your child. It keeps going on indefinitely, and perversely, your ex tries to send you to jail because the child runs away from them."

– JadeGrapes

"Being responsible for your childs death directly."

– Kanulie

"My father passed very suddenly and unexpectedly two summers ago. It was the deepest, unimaginable despair that it was almost like a dream. Being walked to the little room at the hospital where they let you know he didn’t make it on the ambulance ride was surreal and up to that point the worst moment in my life."

"One month after he passed, I was in a four wheeler accident with my then three year old. And we were alone as my husband was out of town. I wasn’t being negligent- it was just a terrible, terrible accident. But, in the chaos of being thrown off and being in complete shock, I thought the four wheeler was pinning her down. I was screaming at the top of my lungs and crying and trying everything I could to lift it up. Remaining calm simply wasn’t a possibility when you think you’re killing your own child."

"She wasn’t pinned-and actually didn’t have a scratch on her. EMT checked her out and I went to the hospital because I had ripped the top part of my thigh off trying to lift the ATV."

"The whole thing was eye-opening in the worst way possible. Because, I could never, ever, ever, ever imagine losing my daughter- especially to my own fault. What if she had been hurt or died that day? I would be living in my own constant hell. I didn’t think there could be worst pain that when I lost my dad, but now I know there is. Just the thought alone of losing my daughter brings tears to my eyes."

"Life is really rough sometimes. But it gets better."

– BoredMillennialMommy

Going Down

"Seeing a loved one go on a downward spiral and you can do nothing to stop it."

– New_me_old_self

"Extension of your comment: Seeing a close one(wronged by their protectors) going down the spiral."

"You tried to help them a lot but they dragged you down with them and left you not just empty but drained."

– Sullen_Wretch

So Hard

"Suicide bereavement."

"I lost my best friend in 2022. Found him. Everyday is a struggle to not be in my grief."

"I’d take 100 heartbreaks, 100 nights of going to bed hungry, and 100 punches right to the face just to have him back."

– KatastropheKraut

"It does. I got wasted and said far too much about myself once. One of my friends verbally smacked the f**k out of me, got me to see that people do care about me and that my relationships aren't all just superficial, really just hit my sorry a** over and over again with the idea that I'm deserving of love not because other people get something out of being with me but because I am a human being, and it slowly does get better."

"It stopped me, I was going to kill myself in two months on new year's."

"When I can't live for myself, I live for other people, even when I start doubting other people actually like me, I still don't do it or hurt myself at all, because there's always, no matter what I feel in the moment, a chance that they do truly just care about me."

"If I end myself now then I give so many other people survivor's guilt, I leave all the people I care about wondering for the rest of their lives how it all could've been different if they had just tried a little bit harder to help me. I won't elaborate now but I feel a similar sort of regret when it comes to a number of aspects of my own life. I could never leave someone with something so unfathomably more painful than that."

– pissandsh*tlord

Sounds Awful

"Mental instability. It's cruel because it's your own mind killing you, you can't run or hide and it's long-winded. I couldn't say a single event has been more emotionally stressful than what's happening."

– Country-Road--

"It’s like you’re dead in your twenties but haven’t been buried til you’re 65."

– Gmr33

Tragedy You Never Get Over

"Having your mother pass away in your arms."

– Repulsive_Cricket923

"Something similar happened to me when i was 4. My parents sent me over to get babysat by my grandmother and she sat on a chair and passed as i was sitting on the floor playing with my toys. I only thought she was sleeping at the time, but later learned the truth as i never saw her again."

– Lucidnuts

Just Done

"As far as relationships go, being abandoned by your former partner is pretty damn painful."

– heyitsvonage

"Mine did this to me after 2.5 years and it was f**king devastating, it took years to get over. He acted as though everything was fine, I was his everything, we were actively planning how we would elope after I finished my degree that term, and BOOM NO DO-OVERS YA DONE."

"It was immediately what came to my mind when I saw this post."

– paprikashi

My Work

"When someone steals your research, hands it in first, gets the high distinction, then everything you submit is plagiarizing that a**hat."

– StaunchMeerkat

"This is two steps worse than, "hey can you put my name on your paper too.""

– karmagod13000

Rather Be Cheated On

"When the person stays with you but they secretly still yearn for that other person (even if no cheating occurs)."

– Deleted User

I actually didn't think there was anything worse than being cheated on after watching my friends go through it.

I stand corrected.

Do you have any stories to share? Let us know in the comments below.

If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.

To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/