REAL Reddit Horror Stories That Will Keep You Awake | Audio Horror Story

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Terrifying Encounter on Route 447 – She Wasn’t Alive

Last night my boyfriend and I were driving through the backroads of rural Pennsylvania. It was Route 447 near Stroudsburg. There was nothing around for miles. No houses. No lights. Just darkness in every direction. The kind of darkness that eats your headlights whole. It felt like we were the only people left in the world. The road twisted and turned like it was built just to make you nervous. Trees crowded the edges of the pavement like they were watching. Animals kept darting out from the shadows. We saw deer. A fox ran across so fast I barely had time to react. Rabbits just froze in place as our lights swept past them. It felt like we were driving through the night shift of the forest. Like the whole world was sleeping except for us and whatever was hiding in the woods. Because of all the movement on the road, I kept my high beams on. We weren’t in a hurry. I drove slowly just to be safe. Then we saw headlights in the distance. A car was coming toward us. As it got closer it started flashing its high beams at us again and again.

At first I thought I was blinding the driver. I turned off my brights and figured that would be the end of it. But the flashing didn’t stop. They just kept hitting us with their lights. Flash. Flash. Flash. It went from helpful to weird really fast. I got annoyed. I told my boyfriend the driver must be trying to be a hero or something. I ignored it. Just kept going. The road dipped and the trees closed in even more. Then we reached this old narrow bridge. It looked ancient. No lights. No guardrails worth trusting. Just shadows and black water underneath. And that’s where we saw it. There was something in the middle of the road. At first I thought it was just some garbage or maybe a trash can tipped over. But as we got closer and I flicked my high beams back on I realized it wasn’t trash. It wasn’t debris. It was a person.

A woman.

She was sitting right in the center of the bridge. Legs crossed. Perfectly still. Her skin looked wrong. It was pale but not just pale. It looked like it was sliding off her bones. Like she had been out there too long. Her mouth hung open like she had forgotten how to close it. Her eyes were black and glassy. Not blinking. Not moving. Just staring straight ahead. She didn’t flinch when the lights hit her. She didn’t react at all. Then I saw the man. He was sitting on the guardrail behind her. Like he had been waiting. Same look. Same sick skin. Same dead eyes. He didn’t move either. Just watched her. And for the first time that night I felt real fear. Not just discomfort. Not just nerves. Fear. Something about the way they looked didn’t feel real. It didn’t feel right. My instincts screamed at me to go. That this wasn’t just two people acting strange. This was something worse. Something dangerous.

I slowed down but didn’t stop. I kept my foot ready on the gas. My boyfriend didn’t say anything at first. He was just staring. Then he whispered that we shouldn’t stop. Not even for a second. A hundred thoughts exploded in my head. What if it was a trap. What if the woman was bait and the man had a weapon. What if they wanted us to stop so they could rob us. Or worse. What if they weren’t even really human. I didn’t want to wait to find out. I swerved slightly to avoid her. My hands were shaking. My chest felt like it was going to split open. As we passed them the man on the guardrail shifted. Not a lot. Just enough to let us through. That tiny movement made my stomach twist. I didn’t stop. I didn’t slow down. I just kept driving. We didn’t speak for miles. The silence was heavier than the night outside. My boyfriend finally said something about how her face didn’t look normal. I said nothing. I couldn’t get the image out of my head.

Her face was something from a horror movie. Not the kind with jump scares or masked killers. The kind that stays with you. The kind that feels like it came from another place. Another world. It reminded me of old films where possession or sickness took over the body. Her skin looked wrong. Her eyes looked hollow. She looked like a ghost or a warning or something pretending to be human and not doing a very good job at it. Even now I can still see her. I keep wondering what they were doing there. Sitting in the middle of a pitch dark bridge in the middle of nowhere. Why were they just watching. Why didn’t they move. Why didn’t they try to wave us down or ask for help. Why was her mouth open like that. Why did the man just sit and stare like he’d done it a hundred times before.

I don’t have answers. I don’t think I ever will. All I know is that it didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel human. It felt like we saw something we weren’t supposed to. Something that doesn’t make sense in the real world. Something that didn’t belong on a quiet backroad in Pennsylvania. And whatever it was. I hope we never see it again.

Sleep Paralysis Turned Real – She Was Holding My Foot

Hi. So this is the first time I am sharing something like this and I still don’t know how to explain what happened. I swear this really happened to me and it still makes my skin crawl when I think about it. It was both a dream and not a dream and if you’ve ever had sleep paralysis then maybe you’ll understand what I mean by that. From a young age I’ve had sleep paralysis. It didn’t happen all the time but often enough that I got used to it. At first I used to panic but after a while I started telling myself that it was normal and it would pass. I also knew that sometimes when you’re in that state you can see or feel things that aren’t real. At least that’s what people say. I used to get weird dreams sometimes during it but not always scary. More like strange or unsettling. But this one night it was different.

That night I remember going to bed like normal. I wasn’t anxious or anything. I just lay down and eventually drifted off. The next thing I know I am standing in this huge white hall. It looked like a conference room or a government building or something. I was standing on a stage and in front of me were rows of people. They looked like journalists. All of them had microphones and cameras and notepads. They were just standing there waiting for me to speak I guess. Then I heard this sound. It was low and deep and it made my stomach twist. It was like a buzzing but it didn’t sound like any machine or phone or anything like that. I can’t really explain it but it made the hair on my arms stand up. And as soon as that noise started all the people in the hall disappeared. Just gone. Every single one. The room was still there and I was still standing on the stage but now there was only one person left.

There was a woman standing right where the front row had been. She was holding a mic and she was really pretty. Like stunning. Her skin was glowing and she had long black hair and a perfect smile. But something about her didn’t feel right. Then she smiled again but wider this time and suddenly everything changed. Her smile stretched too far. Way too far. And then I saw her teeth. Not normal teeth. Long sharp fangs like something out of a vampire movie. Her skin started to change too. It wasn’t glowing anymore. It looked pale and dry and sick like it was trying to peel off her bones. Her eyes were still locked on me and she let out this laugh that didn’t sound human.

Then she threw the mic on the ground and her body bent backward like her bones had turned to rubber. She leaped straight up into the air and landed against the wall across from me. She didn’t fall. She stuck to the wall like a spider. Her arms and legs were bent the wrong way and she started crawling up the wall and across the ceiling. She was laughing the whole time and her smile never went away. Every time she moved her limbs cracked like branches snapping in the cold. In just a few seconds she had crawled from the far wall to the ceiling above me and then dropped down in front of me. She was just standing there. Inches from my face. That same wide smile. Those same sharp fangs. And then everything went black.

I thought I had woken up. I opened my eyes and I could see my room. It was dark but my night light was on. I tried to move but I couldn’t. My body was frozen. My arms and legs wouldn’t respond. My mouth wouldn’t open. I knew exactly what this was. Sleep paralysis. I had been through it before. I told myself to stay calm. That it would pass like it always does. Then I looked up. I don’t know why I looked but I did. And I wish I hadn’t. She was there. The same woman from the dream. Standing at the foot of my bed. That smile still stretched across her face. Her eyes locked onto mine. I couldn’t look away. I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t even blink.

She wasn’t just standing there. She was holding my foot with both hands. Her fingers were cold and thin and I could feel the pressure. Not imagine it. Not dream it. I felt her touching me. My foot was pinned under her grip. That’s when I knew this wasn’t just some shadow I was seeing. She was real. At least in that moment it felt real. Too real. She stared at me like she was waiting for something. And then she started lowering her face. Slowly. Closer and closer to my foot. I saw her fangs again and I knew what she was going to do. I tried with everything in me to move. To scream. To jerk my leg away. Nothing worked. My body was still frozen. I could feel my heartbeat in my ears. I could feel sweat on my forehead. But I could not stop what was happening. Then she bit me. Hard. I felt it.

It stung like a bee sting but deeper. It was sharp and hot and real. I wanted to cry out but I couldn’t. She held on for a few seconds and then she let go. And then she was gone. Just like that. No fading. No vanishing light. One second she was there. The next she wasn’t. A second later I shot up in bed. I could move again. My whole body was trembling. I grabbed my leg and checked my foot. There were no marks. No bruises. Nothing. But the pain was still there. Like the bite was still fresh. I sat there for a long time. Just breathing. Trying to convince myself it was a dream. But I knew it wasn’t. At least not fully. I had experienced sleep paralysis before. But this wasn’t like the other times. This felt personal. Like something had actually touched me. Like something had come from the dream with me.

I didn’t sleep the rest of that night. I didn’t even lie down. I just stayed sitting up in bed watching the foot of my bed like she was going to come back. She didn’t. But the feeling she left did. It’s been a long time since that night but I still remember every second of it. Every detail. Her face. Her smile. That sound before it all started. The pain in my foot. It all plays back like a video that my brain refuses to delete. People say sleep paralysis is just the brain waking up before the body and that what you see and feel is just your imagination. I believed that once. But after that night I’m not so sure anymore. If that was all in my head then why did it feel so real. Why did it hurt. Why could I feel her hands. Her bite.

I’ve had sleep paralysis again since then but never like that. Never that vivid. Never that painful. I hope it never happens again. But sometimes I still think about her. The woman in the white hall. The smile. The way she stuck to the wall and moved like she had no bones. And I wonder. What if it wasn’t all in my head. What if something was really there. What if she’s waiting.

I Dreamed of a Man in My Room… Then He Was Really There

Lucid dreaming is something I’ve always been able to do. For as long as I can remember I could tell when I was dreaming and I could change the dream however I liked. Most people have experienced at least one lucid dream in their life. Some say you can learn how to do it but I never had to. It just happened for me and most of the time it was actually kind of fun. I could fly if I wanted or walk through walls or argue with the dream itself and shift whatever scene was happening. I had both fun and strange experiences in my dreams but nothing ever truly scared me. Until I stopped dreaming three years ago. The last few lucid dreams I had were nothing like the ones before. They weren’t adventurous or magical or playful. They were quiet and still and too close to real life. That first night I remember clearly. It was a Sunday. My wife Katie and I had gone to bed like usual. The room was dark and calm and the only sounds were the rumble of the trains in the distance and the cheap fan on her side of the bed that she insisted on for white noise. I fell asleep thinking about random things like lunch orders and emails and barely even noticed when the dream started.

In the dream I was lying in the same bed just like in real life. The blinds were drawn. The air felt heavy but peaceful. It was almost impossible to tell that I was asleep. That’s how real it all felt. At first I was calm. My mind drifted and I thought I might just be awake. Then Katie reached her arm back and tapped my hip like she was waking me up. Her voice was soft and sleepy and she said it was time to wake up. I mumbled something like I already was awake and didn’t bother to move or open my eyes. But then something happened. Katie rolled over to face me. Her hand slid up to my hair and she gripped it. Not in a playful or gentle way. It was rough and strange. Then she spoke again but this time it wasn’t her voice. It was a man’s voice and it said no you’re not. That’s when I woke up.

I sat up in bed and everything was exactly how it had been in the dream. The fan was humming. The trains were rolling by. Katie was next to me asleep on her side. I could feel the sweat on my back and hear the distant buzz of the streetlamp outside. I knew without a doubt that I was awake this time. I wasn’t confused. I wasn’t unsure. I was definitely back in the real world. The next morning over breakfast I told Katie about the dream. She laughed and said that was creepy as hell. I laughed too because it felt safe to laugh. It felt like just another weird dream. One of those unsettling ones that don’t make any real sense. I’ve always had nightmares with doppelgangers and odd versions of Katie standing in dark hallways or staring at me from the stairs so this just felt like more of the same strange content my brain liked to play with. But then came Monday night. And that changed things.

I fell asleep and again I was dreaming of our bedroom. It was identical to the real thing. The bed. The fan. The trains. Katie next to me sleeping quietly. I thought maybe I wasn’t dreaming at all. It felt that real. But then Katie spoke. She said there was a man in the room. Her voice was soft and quiet like she wasn’t scared but was simply saying a fact. I didn’t move. I couldn’t. My body felt like it was made of stone. I asked what she meant and she said again that there was a man standing in the room near the corner by the fan. I felt a wave of fear rush through me. I knew I must be dreaming. I always knew. But this time I didn’t feel like I could control it. I couldn’t even look over to see what was there. I felt trapped in the bed and my heart was pounding. I told myself to wake up. I kept thinking about how nothing was actually there. But then I lost consciousness again and the next time I opened my eyes was to my morning alarm.

That day I didn’t tell Katie about the dream. I don’t know why. Maybe I felt embarrassed. Maybe I didn’t want to admit that it scared me more than I thought it should have. I kept trying to convince myself it was just a dream. Nothing more. But just to be safe I walked through the house while Katie was out. I checked all the doors. All the windows. I made sure everything was still locked and undisturbed. Everything looked normal. The only thing that stood out was the spare key we kept under the mat near the back door. It was still there but I stared at it for a long time. Just staring at the shape of it and wondering what I’d do if one day it wasn’t. Eventually I left it where it was and walked back inside. Tuesday night was the last time I lucid dreamed.

The dream started the same way. The bedroom. The bed. The fan. The trains. Everything as it should be. Katie next to me. The room dark but safe. Or at least it felt that way for the first few seconds. Then I spoke without even realizing I was going to. I asked if he was here. Katie said yes. Her voice was a little more tense this time. She said he was standing in the room right now. She said the cats were hiding because they didn’t know who he was. She said he was standing in the corner by the fan watching us. I felt like my body was full of ice. I couldn’t move again. Couldn’t even breathe properly. She said it so calmly that it made everything worse. Then she said he was going to kill me. Or maybe kill us. I whispered that I was dreaming and she told me to wake up. I did.

This time I really woke up. I was drenched in sweat and my heart was racing. I could hear the fan and the trains and I could feel every muscle in my body aching like I had been tense for hours. I was facing the bedroom door and I knew without question that I was finally awake. But I had to look. I didn’t want to. But I had to. I turned toward the corner of the room where the fan was buzzing and clicking softly and I saw him. There was a man standing in the corner. A solid figure. Not a shadow. Not a trick of the light. A man. I couldn’t see his face. I couldn’t tell what he was wearing. The room was too dark and he was standing so still. But I knew he was there. I knew I was not dreaming. My skin crawled. My hair stood on end. My body screamed at me to do something. So I screamed.

I screamed so loud that my voice cracked and I couldn’t stop. Katie woke up next to me in a panic and she screamed too. The dogs in the neighborhood barked and porch lights came on up and down the street and the man ran. He turned and ran out of the house and disappeared into the night. The police came. The neighbors were already banging on the door before we could even pick up the phone. But by then it was too late. He was gone. No footprints. No signs of forced entry. Nothing stolen. But the back door was unlocked and when I went to check the key under the mat it was gone. That was the last time I lucid dreamed. I don’t know what to believe anymore. Maybe it was all coincidence. Maybe I created something in my dream that came true in real life. Or maybe I saw something I wasn’t meant to see and my mind tried to warn me in the only way it knew how. Either way I don’t sleep like I used to. I don’t dream like I used to. And I never leave a key under the mat.