Some stories are so creepy they stay with you forever. One night, a woman was alone with her kids when a mentally unstable neighbor broke into their home, smiled at her, and just stood there until family arrived to take her away. Another family had a neighbor who mysteriously replaced his wife with a completely different woman and tried to convince everyone she was the same person — while rumors spread that his real wife had died under strange circumstances.

Creepy encounters aren’t always explainable. A night-shift worker saw someone staring at him through a window, but when he ran outside, no one was there. In another chilling story, two siblings saw a clown standing on their neighbor’s patio, who smiled and beckoned to them before vanishing. Even stranger, a man’s guitar repeatedly fell over on the anniversary of his father’s death, as though his dad was there in spirit.

Sometimes, the terror is personal. One woman’s husband left for a work trip, only for a stranger to arrive days later revealing he had been living under a false identity for years as part of a secret mission. He vanished forever, leaving her heartbroken and questioning everything. In another case, two siblings heard their mother’s voice calling them — only to realize she hadn’t come home yet.

Other moments defy reason. A hospital worker saw old-fashioned nurse’s shoes under a cart, but when he looked, no one was there. A middle schooler felt someone standing over them at night, only to wake up and find their house had been robbed. These stories remind us how thin the line between reality and the unknown can be.