There aren't many pleasant ways to be woken up in the middle of the night but some are downright awful. Maybe it's a result of too many horror movies but the worst instance for this writer was being woken up by my then 2 1/2-year-old.
Not the cute little wake-up type. But the dead of night with nothing but moonlight through the window, startle you awake as you type. I spotted my toddler standing in the dead center at the foot of my bed--in total silence, perfectly still, a small stream of light illuminating just half her face while she stared me down. Like chin low, eyes squinted, glaring. It felt like one of those haunted children scary movies. Kids are fun...
Redditor A_Jack_Of_Herrons wanted to know what scared others awake. They asked:
“What is the worst thing you've ever woken up to in the middle of the night?"
Terrifying sleep paralysis...
“I've only experienced it once, but it was terrifying. Woke up to pressure on my chest and couldn't move. Opened my eyes and there were three shadowy Asian women sitting on my chest, just grinning. When I tried to scream they reached out and held their hands over my mouth and nose and started pretending to scream at me. Would not recommend.” el_paradidlo
Just a wee bit of arson in the morning...
“My MIL pounding on our door at 2:30 a.m. because a guy who had struck my FIL's parked car several days prior came back in the middle of the night drunk to set the car on fire."
“Was especially fun because he'd apparently tried to do it earlier that night as well but the fire didn't fully catch (we didn't get woken up for that one) so he obviously was prowling around making sure his arson succeeded, and we had to sit around waiting and wondering if he'd come back and try to torch the house or something."
“Luckily they caught him fairly quickly while he was still driving around the neighborhood in his truck. No telling what his next plans were. Scary." isilluminated
“They described the centipede as barbed wire walking across their face."
“I was in Puerto Rico at the time with a group of others. Our sleeping accommodations were on the floor. I woke up to someone saying ‘it bit me, it bit me.’ In my slumber my first thought was ants. I wish it was ants.”
“This person had a centipede crawl across their face while they were sleeping and grabbed it with their hand. The centipede proceeded to wrap around their hand, biting it, and drawing blood. They described the centipede as barbed wire walking across their face.”
“This thing was pushing close to a foot in length and managed to escape before we could do anything about it. They had to be seen by a doctor for the bite and none of us slept on the floor again after that. We just put benches together to at least have a little feeling of safety. I hate centipedes.” 2DucksInABathtub
"dude, we just slept through a tornado."
“Had a friend visit me in college. We went on one of those crazy night out benders and got back to my house around 3:30-4am. Woke up a couple of hours later to my cell phone ringing. My dad was excitedly asking me if we were alright from the storms that had passed through (he lived 170 miles to the west).”
“Confused, I rolled over and looked out my living room window. There was devastation EVERYWHERE. A string of tornadoes had ripped through the island I lived on and trees were down, power lines ripped up, roofs torn off of houses...pretty much the works. It nudged my friend and just said, ‘dude, we just slept through a tornado.’” RevSnakebite
Probably smelled like lunch...
“A black bear sniffing my head through a thin tent wall.” yotanerd
bear GIFGiphyLock your doors people...
“Sleeping over at my boyfriend's place, I'm awake for some reason about 3 am. I hear noises in the living room that I assume are the cats. But it doesn't sound quite right. I hear boyfriend's roommate get up to investigate. A moment later he appears in the doorway saying: There's somebody in the house.”
“It was a homeless guy, probably mentally ill, he'd just walked in the (yes, stupidly unlocked) front door. Just standing in the living room. Boyfriend jumps up and confronts him, guy claims he was just cold and that he knocked first. He definitely did not knock, but anyway he seemed harmless so we gave him a blanket and he left.”
“That door was LOCKED from that point forward. And I still wonder what was really going on there. He was trying to be quiet, and I've never seen a homeless person in that neighborhood, and why our house? I'm just glad nothing happened” ethottly
*GAGS*
“My 2 year old daughter was sleeping with me and I woke up slightly and thought I smelled something ‘off’. Not like poop but what my half-awake mind interpreted as maybe a strong sweaty smell or b.o.. I just figured I needed to wash the sheets.”
“However, once I completely woke and went into the bathroom to shower, I noticed some "chunks" that fell out my hair. Looking closer and going back into my bedroom, I realized that my daughter vomited during the night and we both had slept in the warm pool of it, snuggled up cozily against each other. Really a heart-warming moment. Or something.” SoggerBean
Have kids they said...
“My kid puking right in my face. Like, little dude, you weren't feeling well, so you got out of bed, walked right past the bathroom, and decided to let me know you were sick by puking on my face?” Bubba2475
Nightmare fuel...
“A wolf spider trying to lay eggs in my mouth.” fustigata
Spiders GIF by memecandyGiphy“I just remember one of the paramedics telling me I had a seizure...”
“Woke up inside the back of an ambulance. I had my first grand mal seizure and I apparently made some pretty terrifying sounds and rightfully scared my girlfriend. I just remember one of the paramedics telling me I had a seizure and when she asked me what day it was and my name and I couldn't remember I started crying.“ Ddgraves
Hopefully, none of us have to experience any of these awful wake-up calls, yikes!
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Awkward Pena GIF by Luis Ricardo 
Community Facebook GIF by Social Media Tools 
Angry Good News GIF 
Angry Cry Baby GIF by Maryanne Chisholm - MCArtist 
@adriana.kms/TikTok
@mossmouse/TikTok
@im.key05/TikTok
@biontrtwff101/TikTok
@likebrifr/TikTok
@itsashrashel/TikTok
@ur_not_natalie/TikTok
@rbaileyrobertson/TikTok
@xo.promisenat20/TikTok
@weelittlelandonorris/TikTok
@katiebullit/TikTok
@rube59815/TikTok
u/Fit_Bowl_7313/Reddit
@meteorblades/Bluesky
@bodenkelly/X