Whether it's a random conversation with someone you just met or a person as close to you as a family member, the things they share with you can make quite an impression.
But outside of a hilarious anecdote, it's the disturbing stories shared that can stay with you forever, making you wish you could un-hear them.
Curious to hear examples of these, Redditor lupexox asked:
"What's the most unsettling thing someone has said to you that you can't forget ?"
The Unknown Guest
"My wife once woke me up from a sleep and said 'can you go feed the clown in the closet before he gets angry?' And turned back over and went to sleep."
"My side of the bed faces the closet and it’s dark enough and big/deep enough to hide a clown for sure. She has zero recollection of it."
– brodo87
Confusing Reality
"Unsettling in a different sense than most, but unsettling nonetheless:"
"I was at work one night in the hospital. Pretty unremarkable night. Woke up…in the ER…confused AF. My first words, to a coworker I know works the ER, who was standing there: 'what’re you doin up here?' She lets out a howling cackle, and says 'I’m not up there. You’re down here. You had a seizure. Now you won’t be able to drive for a whole year!!' ”
"And is literally bent over snorting-laughing. I had no seizure history. In that moment it felt like my entire life was a snow globe that got shook up and smashed on the ground. I still think about it sometimes. A reminder that your words (and your affect in general) matter."
– Sea_Welcome_5603
Ominous Prophecy
"My daughter, at about 4 years old, sat bolt upright in bed as I was passing her room one night and said 'Dark forces are coming, mummy' in a completely conversational tone. She then went right back to sleep, leaving me and her father slightly antsy for tthe next few days."
"About a month later I realised it was from a trailer for Ben-10 🫣"
"However, at the age of 19 she does still maintain that there are shadow people in our house who watch us. Which is nice."
– originallovecat
Invisible Company
"Was on FaceTime with my wife because I was on the road. I was sitting alone in my hotel room and she said 'who’s that behind you?' And then the screen went out, the lights went off, and then quickly came back on."
"I couldn’t sleep after that so just got back on the road and as far away from there as I could."
– HippoPebo
Message From Hell
"Someone I knew had just passed the Bar exam to become a lawyer."
"He got home from the exam and checked his voicemails. There was only one. It started with the sound of distant howling wind, then the sound of screaming men and women started, followed by what sounded like the cracking of whips. Continued for about 30 seconds and ended."
"He kind of chucked and said that Satan had called to congratulate him on passing the Bar."
– eaglesong3
Mind Of Its Own
"My mom opened a closet we hadn’t in like 10 years & a Furby opened his eyes and say something about that was a good sleep! 😂"
– EarthsMoon927
"My mom is still afraid to completely empty out her linen closet cause we used to stick those creepy ass things in there when we'd accidentally knock them and they woke up in the middle of the night."
"You'd close the closet door and they'd say 'ahhh it's dark in here.' Probably still one or two furbies in there, 20 something years later, just waiting."
– othercrazycatlady
The following are devastating and heartbreaking examples.
A Parents Dilemma
"I have a special needs daughter. Her condition means she likely won’t live much past 40. She requires full assistance for everything. We have to dress her, bathe her, etc."
"I said to my wife once 'It’s sucks to know that we will probably outlive one of our kids.' And my wife just looks at me and says 'Yeah, but what happens to her if we don’t?' ”
"And the realization that not only will we outlive her, but it’s probably good that we will set in. It’s f'ked either way."
– OldBrokeGrouch
Last Goodbye
"When I was giving birth to our son, immediately after he was born I had a severe hemorrhage and lost 3.6L, over half my blood volume. I was rushed to surgery and clinically died on the operating table but was resuscitated."
"My baby and I were kept in hospital for a week after the birth. He was fine, but the doctors thought I'd possibly had a stroke as well as needing to recover from the birth."
"When we were finally allowed to go home, my fiance (now very much ex) came and picked us up. Then on the drive home he said to me very matter of factly:"
"I don't love you anymore, you mean nothing to me. I accepted that you'd died, and honestly it would have been easier if you'd stayed dead. I look at him (our son); he means everything to me. I look at you, and you mean nothing."
– plantwitch_gem
Sinister Game
"Ran into a friend that I had not seen for quite a while. He said, 'Hey, so wild to see you! The other night [X] and I were hanging out and we played with a Ouija board and the thing spelled out, "my wife's full name] is going home". ' We kind of chuckled and I said that's odd, and parted ways."
"My wife died in an accident a few days later. He and I talked about it once and never mentioned it again."
– WinchelltheMagician
Telling Embrace
"A close friend who never hugged or told anyone that she liked/appreciated them, basically anything remotely sappy, when leaving after hanging out gave me a huge hug and said she loved me."
"She died that night."
"Turns out it was natural causes. She’d had a random medical emergency." – Y0L4ND4
Final Message
"Thanksgiving day 2007, my 15yo son, in hospice care, wakes up. Says tzeide Pinchas, my great grandfather wanted me to know he was proud of me and that he, my son, wanted to go home." "He died 2 hours later. My great grandfather died in KZ Treblinka following the liquidation of Łodz ghetto."
– juupmelech626
Altered State
"Get the hell away from me. You're crazy."
"My father said that to me when he became delirious a few days before he died from cancer. I had to carry him to the couch after he had locked himself in the bathroom. It was the last thing he ever said to me."
"I suffer from mental health problems due to a brain injury. When he said that, I didn't know if it was just the delirium or his true, uncensored opinion of me. I hope the former, but I will never know. I still think of it many years later."
– LucidMarshmellow
Some people are just heartless.
Toxic Boss
"The worst thing ever said to me was said by my employer. I had just laid my mother in the grave on Sunday after a 6-month battle with cancer, and on that next morning, he said, 'You need to get over that mother sh*t and get your mind back on the job.' ”
"I never forgave him for that and quit after being a key employee for over 25 years."
– visibiltyzero
Weight Of Words
"One of the most unsettling things someone said to me was, 'I know exactly where you live.' It made me question my safety and trust in that person. It’s a reminder of how words can carry so much weight!"
– ObscuraBliss_T4
Many of the examples above had supernatural elements to the shared anecdotes. Whether you believe other forces at work or another realm exist in our plane of existence, you can't deny that not everything can be logically explained.
Sometimes, people manifest their thoughts or predictions into existence, and all we can do as listeners is hope for the best.
@diflaversham/Bluesky
@missmajestik/Bluesky
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social