“Narrowly Avoided Being Kidnapped”: 23 Of The Most Disturbing Threads On The Internet

The most disturbing creepy stories are always the ones that are true. Ghosts and monsters might be frightening, but it’s easy for us to simply dismiss them as fake. If you really want to chill someone to their core, tell them a tale about true evil that lives among us…

Reddit users have recently been recalling the most disturbing and heartbreaking threads they’ve ever read online. We’ll warn you right now, pandas, that these stories might not be easy to stomach. But if you’re ready to be spooked and horrified, you’ve come to the right place. Good luck making it through this list, and be sure to upvote the stories that sound like they came straight out of a horror film.

#1

There was one that asked entertainers for children parties about wild stuff from these parties. The amount of children that asked fake Superman, Spider-Man or Fairy Godmother to be taken away from bad parents…

#2

The story of a kid who said “the man is in my room again,” and the parents later found footprints on the inside of the window sill. I still think about that.

#3

I wasn’t the most creepiest but it hit me hard. It was from green text sub. And guy was telling story about his younger brother who [passed away] of cancer. And he remembered how in one instance he was rude to him when his little brother wanted to show him something on Minecraft. Later when his little brother [passed] he opened the game and it was something like “Happy birthday brother” made from blocks in the game. I am almost 30 and have a small brother and it literally made me cry.

To find out how this conversation started in the first place, we reached out to the Reddit user who encouraged others to share their stories, Gajanand_bhatia.

“I asked the question because those creepy late-night Reddit threads always stay in my head longer than they should,” the author told Bored Panda. “And I was curious [about] what stuck with other people too.”

#4

The carbon monoxide poisoning guy. He thought his landlord was breaking in and leaving creepy notes, but it turned out he was writing them himself while hallucinating. Reddit literally saved his life.

#5

The one about people finding hidden cameras in their homes.

#6

I don’t know if “creepy” or just “insane story”: it was about a guy who just up and left his entire life. How 9-11-2001 happened and on that day he just got up and left NYC. His job, friends, possessions. Like completely went dark, moved to another place far away, went by a new name, started a new life.

He went into a ton of detail about everything he left behind and what it was like having a clean break, acknowledged people would be sad and hurt. It’s assumed he died that day, but apparently he just got sick of…everything…and just…disappeared to start life over again.

Not sure creepy. Definitely, mind blowing.

We also asked the author why they believe people are so fascinated by these creepy stories. “I think people love scary stories because they let us feel fear in a safe way. It’s unsettling, but also exciting,” Gajanand_bhatia explained.

Finally, they shared what they thought of the responses to their post. “The replies were a mix of hilarious and genuinely disturbing. Some surprised me because they sounded way too real.”

#7

I came across a post a while back—something like, “Doctors of Reddit: what’s the worst injury or case you’ve ever seen?” In it, someone shared a horrifying story about a one-year-old girl who had her lips numbed at the dentist, then ended up chewing off her entire bottom lip. She required multiple surgeries to repair the damage. Just thinking about it makes my skin crawl…

#8

Woman had her soon to be ex-husband commenting on things she did when he was not at the house. Couldn’t find the cameras. Never updated again. This was 9+ years ago.

#9

The thread where people shared ‘I found hidden cameras in my AirBnB’ made me triple-check my place.

#10

I came across an Askreddit thread I read a while ago asking about the experiences of teens who went through the troubled teen industry. How this industry still exists in 2025 blows my mind.

#11

That subreddit (not tagging it) that’s just AI bots literally responding to AI bots… It’s all just… Posts and threads by bots.

It’s absolutely terrifying.

#12

It was one where some lady said that she was getting attacked by the devil, she said that she would wake up with scratches and bruises every morning and she even posted pictures. (But one day I checked to see if she had posted anything else, but her account was gone, so I never heard anything else about it).

#13

That one where the boyfriend was feeding his girlfriend her ground up pet slugs

#14

Honestly those “people living in your walls” threads still haunt me, i couldn’t sleep after reading them.

#15

Easily the ones where people talk about near-miss encounters with strangers — like someone realizing they narrowly avoided being kidnapped or stalked. Those threads always stick with me way more than the paranormal stuff.

#16

I once saw one of some kid who was convinced his mom was flirting with him.

#17

I remember one about a guy talking about how periodically throughout their life some mysterious figure would be nearby whistling some simple melody. Apparently this was something the person experienced since childhood and even across moves. I think they even had videos and all of them had a figure some distance away whistling the same melody in each video. I think one of the videos was someone in a kayak slowly rowing away while whistling. Unfortunately I don’t remember any other details or know how true any of it was but was certainly a spooky read.

#18

Can’t remember much else, but it’s stuck with me the last year or two: a person on reddit had a cousin or something that would push on the soft spots on babies for fun. Said their family had a high rate of special needs.

#19

The thread where people shared “someone’s been living in my attic” stories still haunts me.

#20

I read this creepy creepy story and I can’t even remember the whole thing, cause I think I blocked it out. I’d be so happy if someone found it.

It was something to do with someone seeing the same car with a license plate following him around everywhere. Eventually I think he met the driver in a bar or something and I think he thought he was an alien. The alien basically said like “I will follow you forever”?

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

#21

The stairs in the woods stories were unsettling.

#22

There was one where a guy found out his neighbour had been living in his attic for months without him knowing. I still think about it when I hear random noises at night.

#23

The one above this was titled “What paranormal activity have you come across?”.