Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Break Down The Scariest Thing That's Ever Woken Them Up From A Deep Sleep

People Break Down The Scariest Thing That's Ever Woken Them Up From A Deep Sleep
File:Kiara.JPG - Wikimedia Commons

A deep, sound sleep is vulnerable. You're on your back, your eyes are closed, it's usually dark, and you are--at best--30 seconds away from full and alert consciousness.

Usually, that's fine. Usually, you sleep hours and hours until the light comes again. The morning you expected arrives. You wake gently and take the time you need to return to waking life on your terms, at your pace.


But there's another version of returning to the land of the living. It occurs in one second whether you're interested or not. A sudden noise blasts you out of the slumber zone, you join a world that's still dark, and, inherently, you're faced with a sense urgency or danger. After all, what else would accompany such abruptness.

Thankfully, a brutal awakening ends harmlessly, more often than not. But even that brings a drawback: you have to attempt sleep all over again and feel like an idiot for beings so freaked out.

link229 asked, "What's the scariest thing that's ever woken you up during the middle of the night?"

Some of That Eerie Haunted House Stuff

"Once i woke up because i heard music playing from the kitchen and i thought maybe mum forgot to turn the radio off."

"I went through the dark hallway to the kitchen to turn the radio off but when i was standing in the dark kitchen there was no music playing everything was as quiet as always at 3am."

-- NesWhatElise

A Terrible Coincidence

"The night I watched the movie The Conjuring, I woke up to my bed shaking and all the clothes hanging in my closet rattling like crazy. Took me quite some time to realize it was an earthquake and not the devil come visiting."

"When I was in my final year at high school, I had trouble sleeping at night with my final exams approaching. I think I dozed off for a bit and suddenly woke up to see a person's face staring in through my window grill."

"I was in such a panic I literally couldn't move or scream. Luckily he saw me wake up and escaped."

-- cruxdude

CLOWNS

"My sister had an all white clown doll that hung from the ceiling on a little swing. In the summertime, we slept with our doors and windows open to get the cool air in. When I woke up one night hearing some tapping against her window down the hall. If i sat up in bed and look down the hall, and I could see into the front of her bedroom."

"So I did, and I see this clown swinging back and forth against her window, back lit by the street lamp, but clearly staring directly into my soul like it was all it desired in this world."

"I didn't sleep well that summer."

-- i_f***in_luv_it_mate

Beardad

"When I was a kid, we went camping in the woods. I heard what I thought was a bear outside our pop-up camper and it woke me up. Me and my two brothers were sleeping on one side, with me in the middle, and our parents were sleeping on the other side."

"It was completely dark so I couldn't see a thing. But, I could hear what I thought was a bear snorting around outside. I was scared to death. I couldn't figure out a way to climb over my brothers and cross to the other side to wake up my father, without making noise and alerting the bear to the tasty meal waiting inside."

"So, I just lied there perfectly still for the whole night, waiting for giant claws to rip their way through the canvas."

"As the sun came up and I started to see, I noticed that the lump that was my father in a sleeping bag was rising and falling with the bear's snorting. Turns out my dad's snoring had kept me up all night in absolute fear."

-- ButterDeLaPeanuts

Detective Work

"I woke up with chunks of teeth in my mouth and severe abdominal pain (probably swallowed some tooth). Then, I looked across the room and there was a pool of blood on the opposite side of the room."

"After quickly spitting out the rest of the teeth bits, I went to the bathroom and was shocked to see my ENTIRE face was bleeding, but from a deep cut in my chin and not from my missing tooth."

"I realized that I had sleepwalked, then decided to fall asleep while standing on the other side of the room and did a belly flop straight on the floor, and then somehow after all of that, got up again and WALKED BACK INTO BED and fell asleep for a few more hours."

"I had to get a new tooth from a student doctor that I've never gotten fixed. I also ended supergluing my busted chin together because I couldn't afford stitches."

-- bjorkmorissette

The Stuff of Nightmares

"I had an industrial size rat dying from rat poison come thru a panel in my closet and up into bed with me at 2am." -- BookwyrmsRN

"Well I'm sure we know how this ended." -- daniel06reese

"My story doesn't end with rat cuddles, but when I was in high school, a rat decided to chew on wires coming out of the circuit breaker, which was right by my bedroom. This was a trailer house, so the walls were incredibly thin."

"The noise of it crawling around kept me up all night. Then a few nights later, I could smell it died. Nothing I could do about it, so I got to smell death for two weeks. You just happened to remind me of this." -- Calypsoid

Adult Pouting

"It turned out to be funny. Someone was trying loudly to break into a car just outside my (ground floor) bedroom window that faced a large parking lot in an apartment complex. He was trying to smash the windows and wasn't strong enough, and was yelling a lot."

"I called the police. I heard every word they said when they showed up. It turned out that he was trying to break into his own car, because he was too drunk to find his own keys in his own pocket."

-- Jabberhakke

NOPE

"I had a large camel spider run over my face at about 3 am. That was not a pleasant sensation." -- davehone

"Oh god. Time to burn the house down. Was nice living here." -- ElfPaladins13

"Why do spiders need to be so NASTY. Why can't they just be cute at least. Evolution to make us avoid them really is paying back" -- JustHereToGain

Cops: "Well We Sorted Another One Out!"

"My dog barking because 'cops' were banging on the doors and windows of our airbnb, flashing their lights into each and every room. Called 911 and she told us to not answer the door because she doesn't see cops in our area. YUP" -- CriticalNatural9

"Oh my God I would totally answer the door not thinking anything of it" -- pattyice420

"And like then that was it? They didnt send someone over to check it out the people were just like 'welp no one's gonna answer i guess we can go home now'" -- homiej420

Disproportionate Horror

"A poster falling down from the wall. I'm pretty sure my neighbors heard my scream" -- FireAndFlame55

"Same here, except it was framed artwork that was just above my pillows so I was once clobbered awake by that." -- Jinstor

"The scraping noise it makes when falling down against the wall is awful. It has happened to me a few times until I just took it down." -- Alexjt02

"I had a poster fall o to my head, f***ing panicked thought I was being very gently attacked" -- PM_meyourchickens

Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Donald Trump
Mark Mirko/Connecticut Public via Getty Images

Trump's Commencement Speech Claim That The U.S. Is 'Hot' Right Now Turns Into Hilariously Brutal Self-Own

President Donald Trump's attempt to smear the Biden administration turned into a self-own while he spoke at the commencement ceremony for the U.S. Coast Guard Academy this week.

Trump spoke as several hundred protesters gathered outside Coast Guard Academy campus in New London, Connecticut. During the nearly hour-long address to cadets and their families, he alternated between praising the graduating class of 2026 and revisiting familiar themes about what he described as the country’s recovery after a period of decline.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @tiktoktimmay8's TikTok video
@tiktoktimmay8/TikTok

Dad Brutally Reviews Perfumes During Daughter's Birthday Party At Ulta In Hilarious Viral TikTok

For those who did not know, having a birthday party at Ulta Beauty is now a possibility. Complete with skincare sessions, mini-makeovers, discounts, and goodie bags, it's kind of perfect for teens and tweens who are enthusiastic about makeup and skincare.

But while the birthday party is going on, what is a bored parent to do?

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @dadgummit10's TikTok video
@dadgummit10/TikTok

Guy Goes Viral After Bombing Job Interview With Hilarious Answer To 'What's Your Weakness?'—And Oof

Let's face it: every single one of us has flopped at least one job interview. Whether we knew in the moment that it wasn't going well, or it only hit us later how spectacularly we'd missed the mark, we've all been there.

But at least most of us can say that we didn't freeze up and start spouting facts about our favorite snack.

Keep ReadingShow less
Photographer taking photos of newlyweds
Erstudiostok/Getty Images

Couple's Engagement Photo Goes Viral For Its Unintentional Optical Illusion—And We Can't Stop Laughing

When two people are planning to get married, there are countless details to consider, often to create an incredibly beautiful and aesthetic wedding.

One detail that most couples take very seriously is the photographer who will take the wedding photos and help create an engagement announcement.

Keep ReadingShow less
Redditor imfrom_mars_'s photo of a textbook that includes a ChatGPT prompt
u/imfrom_mars_/Reddit

ChatGPT Response Appears To Make It Into School Textbook—And We're Doomed

Students are being actively discouraged from using ChatGPT and other AI-generation tools, as they are expected to learn their educational concepts and be able to put them into practice. They are also not supposed to use these tools while writing papers or during at-home tests.

Given how expensive grade school and college textbooks are, it is reasonable that educational writers and content professionals should be held to the same standards. Wouldn't it make sense for them to use the knowledge of their field, rather than what's been fed into ChatGPT, to make a textbook a worthwhile purchase for students?

Keep ReadingShow less