Yikes! 15 Scary Ghost Stories From Reddit To Keep You Up at Night

Kelsey Kryger

August 8, 2023 at 5:59 AM·13 min read

Do you believe in ghosts? If you don't consider yourself a believer in the paranormal, these scary ghost stories from Reddit might change your mind. Ghosts—the spooky beings that send shivers down our spines—have long been a subject of both fascination and fear. We scoured the bone-chilling corners of Reddit to deliver you scary stories sure to keep you awake at night.

These Redditors recount inexplicable ghost encounters that have haunted them long after the events took place. From abandoned houses, questionable figures in the night and creepy hotel rooms, each Reddit tale offers an outsider's glimpse into the paranormal world beyond our comprehension. Are you questioning the veil that separates the living from the dead? It may be thinner than you think.

These firsthand accounts of the paranormal will challenge your ghostly skepticism and leave you questioning the existence of the beyond. We're not in an episode of Scooby-Doo anymore! Buckle up for 15 of the scariest ghost stories you'll ever hear.

15 Scary Ghost Stories from Reddit

Hurricane Katrina Volunteer Recounts

u/AngelFox1 has a medical background that they rarely use, but decided to put it to good use to volunteer in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. They were assigned to find houses with dead bodies in them once the water started to recede. One particular house was fairly run-down and immediately unnerved the original poster. Upon entering the house, they found macabre decorations and possible evidence of Voodoo practices. The poster and their partner found an old lady's remains, chained to a beam by the wrists. Her face still looked as though she was alive when suddenly, the two partners heard a loud cackling noise. They quickly exited. Read the full post on Reddit.

The Abandoned House in Kentucky

In the remote woods of Kentucky, u/Express_Cancel5238 decides to explore an old abandoned house with a mysterious history. As they approach the house, they hear their name called by a beautiful female voice, but no one is in sight. Still, they proceed inside. Once they reach upstairs, they feel a cold breath on their neck and a hand on their shoulder, followed by the sound of running footsteps and a little girl's laughter. Terrified, they sprint back to their home, but the eerie occurrences continue with strange encounters and silence in the woods. The original poster has been back in the house since but has never had an experience like they did that night. Read the full post on Reddit.

The Spooky Forest

u/Wispified's family moved into a house in a dense forest and immediately begin experiencing strange things. Their dogs are terrified of the woods, strange noises and shadows haunt the backyard after dark and they hear a knocking at the door with no one present. The family installs a security camera to try to capture whatever it was out there.

They continued to hear the knocking at the door, tapping sounds on the windows, and voices of other family members coming from the forest. The original poster's brother experienced night terrors and sleepwalking. One night, he woke up standing at the fence, looking into the spooky forest. The family reached their breaking point when they woke up one morning to find their back door wide open. The security footage showed the door had swung open on its own, and the family moved out soon thereafter. Read the full post on Reddit.

The Little Girl That Loved Death

The original poster has deleted their account, but they shared this story in a thread on r/AskReddit. They worked in a small, family-run nursing home for six years as a nurse aide. It was an orphanage before it became a nursing home, and before being shut down, the orphanage had a history of severe abuse and neglect. When residents get close to death, they always see a little girl. Once, the original poster was passing dinner trays and saw that one of their patients had his back turned and was talking and laughing in the corner. The poster knocked and asked him who he was talking to and he chucked and said, “This little girl came into my room, she was scared." Three days later, he passed away. About six months later, another patient was screaming about a little girl grabbing his feet and that she needed to leave him alone. He died that night. Read the full post on Reddit.

A Terrifying Experience in Iraq

u/filmguerilla was a sergeant in the U.S. Army and ETS'ing from the military when President Bush ordered more troops into Iraq in 2003. He shortly after took an offer that required him to deploy to Iraq. While in Iraq, one night, the poster's military convoy had a vehicle break down near Camp Babylon. Some of the men noticed a strange glowing ball of light moving towards a set of ruins. At first, they thought it was someone holding a flashlight. As they investigated, they would hear haunting wails of agony and lonely screams. Later, one of the fellow contractors reveals that he saw a tall, black figure watching them, causing him to feel an overwhelming sense of despair, thinking they were all going to die. Read the full post on Reddit.

Creepy Old Hotels and Their Ghosts

u/NotLifeLike worked the graveyard shift in an old boutique hotel. It was only him and the front desk lady, and they didn't have much to do at night. So, he would sit in the lounge and watch movies on his laptop. One night while watching a movie, he looked up towards the front desk and saw a little boy in an old newsboy's outfit from the early 1900s staring at him. At first, he thought, "Oops, I didn't hear the elevator open, must be a family checking out." He set his laptop down and got up to walk into the lobby, but once he walked around the corner there was no one in there. He radioed the front desk lady and asked if she saw anyone on camera, to which she replied, "No." Read the full post on Reddit.

Night Shift No More

u/Badmamajama080818 worked as a PSW on the night shift at a long-term care home. One night, they had a resident's bell ring at 2:59 a.m. After asking what the resident needed, she proceeded to yell that there was a man in her bathroom and they needed to get him out. At first, they thought it was another resident that had accidentally wandered into the room. But the resident said the man was a figure with no face. u/Badmamajama080818 went back to charting when shortly after, there was another call bell ring from the opposite side of the floor. This resident responded with, “There’s a creepy man in my room with no face, you need to get him out." Read the full post on Reddit.

The Haunting Night Ride

One night, while checking on the herd at his family's ranch, u/HKOPapaKalash69 encounters an eerie and unsettling presence lurking in the shadows. Initially dismissing the rustling as coyotes or squirrels, the noises persist and become more unnerving. As he investigates, the rustling seems to follow him and his horse, leaving a sense of being tracked. To scare off the presence, he shoots his gun—but it only briefly stops the noises. Later, they see a mysterious black silhouette of a horse running through the forest, leaving them anxious about a potentially lost horse. Their fear escalates when they encounter a human-like figure with a flat-brim hat and chaps. Terrified, they ride back in a hurry to safety and confide in their grandpa about the chilling experience, finding comfort in the shared knowledge of paranormal experiences at their family ranch. Read the full post on Reddit.

The Unrest Stop

u/Able-Ad-8532 was driving across the country with their mom and sister when they were 16 and their sister was 20. It was late, but the three were alert. They were driving along an interstate and needed gas and a bathroom break, so they stopped at the only rest stop in 200 miles. There was a van full of teenagers on a road trip at the gas station, as well as a small grey car parked at the pump in front of them with two young men standing still outside of it. Immediately, everything felt strange to them for the first time in their whole trip.

The mom and sister went inside while u/Able-Ad-8532 stayed in the car. Watching the car in front of them, the two men had not moved a muscle. When the mom and sister ran back to the car, the two men slowly turned to look at them while not moving or pivoting the rest of their bodies and they all saw dark, empty eyes. Not black, not reflecting any light at all, just a void. After speeding out of there, they could not locate the gas station on Google or any map. Upon asking locals about it, they are matched with confused looks as they assert there is no rest stop. Read the full post on Reddit.

Devil in the ICU

u/Competitive-Ad-8646's mom used to work the night shift at a hospital before she retired. Years ago during one of her shifts, she had an elderly patient that was in the ICU getting ready to pass. Oftentimes, the poster's mom would sit and visit with her patients during her downtime. The woman was crying, so Mom held her hand and asked what was wrong. While still crying, the woman said that he was here for her. She said that he was evil when he was alive, and he's still just as evil now. Confused, the poster's mom asked if the lady was talking about her husband. The woman told the mother that her dead husband made her life a living hell and now, on her deathbed had been in her room for days tormenting her and that he was there to take her. She said he had been standing in the corner of the room since she was admitted into the ICU. Read the full post on Reddit.

Don't Mess with the Ouija Board

When u/its_moiii was 15, the movie Paranormal Activity was released. The poster and a friend decided to try out a Ouija Board. They spoke to a man named Frank who would say dark and creepy things. But the poster and friend thought it was the opposite messing with the other. A few weeks later while u/its_moiii was sleeping in bed, they had a teddy bear from the above shelf fall onto their head and when they woke up, they looked directly in the mirror to see a girl brushing her hair in front of their dresser. The poster rubbed their eyes numerous times but instead of the female figure disappearing, she became more clear. They hid under the covers until they were brave enough to come out and check when she was finally gone. Read the full post on Reddit.

The Trip to the Slaughter House

In the late 1980s, u/wolf_dream's family relocates to a remote and ramshackle farmhouse in southern Ohio when unsettling incidents start to unfold. First, the poster had an unusual aversion to the house and kept calling it a "mean" and "scary" house. Weeks later, they discover a locked room on the second floor that was rumored to be heavily impacted by a fire. Next, their family dog discovers u/wolf_dream in the middle of a duck pond. This is when the poster's mother begins to feel unsettled.

Again, some weeks later, their family dog is frantically barking upstairs and the mother discovers that the poster is missing from his crib. The dog leads her to a line of trees on their neighbor's property when she discovers a hidden slaughter yard. Among the butchered cattle, she sees our poster in the middle of the scene of death. When asked how he got there, u/wolf_dream simply responded that "the children" took him there. Read the full post on Reddit.

The Man in Her Daughter's Corner

u/Mixtus and her family went on a sabbatical in another country, and her four-year-old daughter talks a lot about returning to their old house. u/Mixtus recalls her daughter requesting if she can sleep in her room when they get back. The poster, AKA "mom," replies that they can have sleepovers sometimes but she has to sleep in her room. Her daughter replies, “But that guy, remember, I wake up at night because he’s there with me.” The poster has no idea what she's talking about, and her daughter goes on to describe that he sits in the corner. He's all black, doesn't speak—only sits, and has no eyes. Read the full post on Reddit.

A Farewell from Grandma Ghost

When u/Mrs_Night_Terror was 15, her grandmother died and she took her death pretty hard. Her grandmother died on the toilet, and to make light of the situation the poster would joke that she went out like Elvis. A few days after she died, the poster was on the toilet when the bathroom lights turned off. Not a burned bulb. Something physically flipped the switch. As she sat there, she saw a faint blue light look as though it shot out the window. When she walked out of the bathroom, her five-year-old sister looked at her and said, “Grandma was just at the end of the bed, she told me to tell you she said hi and she is sorry for turning off the lights.” Read the full post on Reddit.

When Your First House Is Haunted

The original poster has since deleted their account but posted their experience on r/GhostStories. In 2003, the original poster bought their first house, only to discover that it was rumored to be haunted by the ghost of its previous owner. After talking to others in the town, they learned that the previous owner had committed suicide in the house after receiving a devastating HIV diagnosis and being disowned by his mother. The original poster began to experience paranormal activities that they would awaken to, like the sound of cereal being poured into a bowl and sobbing in the kitchen. Read the full post on Reddit.

Next: We've Got Chills! 15 Classic Halloween Monsters and Where They Come From

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