If you haven't already heard of ghosting, it’s essentially when the person you’re seeing suddenly stops responding to any means of communication. So we asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to share their ghosting horror stories with us.
And the results were PRETTY heartbreaking.
1. The ghost who literally went to jail:
"I started seeing this guy who was from Hong Kong but living in New York for college. I told my mom that that was the guy I was going to marry one day – that's how much he had me wrapped up. He said he wanted to be with me and that he would move to Nashville with me when he was done with school. Well a year later, I decided to go visit Nashville and he drove down from Buffalo (6 hours) to see me at my house for a few hours before I left. Things seemed perfect.
I got to Nashville and spoke to him that night. The next day, he deleted me off Facebook and completely stopped answering my calls/texts. For years I never knew what happened to him or us. I found out a year ago that he got arrested for burglary with a deadly weapon and he was in jail. Thank God I didn't end up with him!"
—Bree Manning, Facebook
2. The ghost who went to college and disappeared:
"The dude was a couple years older than me. When I was a junior in high school, he was in his sophomore year of college. We dated for almost a year and then he 'had' to transfer schools. He proposed to me before he left the state, and I happily said yes. We agreed it would be better to get married after I graduated high school. We intended to do the long distance thing and marry in a year or so. After he left for school, I never heard from him again. Every phone number I had for him, including his cell and his MOM'S cellphone, was disconnected the day after I last saw him. His AIM profile was never again signed into. My emails never answered. I called the school, but it's not like they could tell me anything. So yeah, I was dumbfounded. Six months later, I finally got in touch with his cousin who informed me that he did move, and was dating a skinny blonde named Liz."
—Madonna Kilpatrick, Facebook
3. The ghost who went on vacation and never came back:
"One of my exes went to visit a 'friend' in Virginia, who was also a woman. I tried calling him while he was there, but he never answered. The day he was supposed to come back, I called his roommate who promptly told me that he had moved down there and wasn't coming back."
—Marjorie Z Marino, Facebook
4. The ghost who faked a death to get out of dating:
"Freshman year of college I met a guy at a party who was really sweet, and lived about an hour north of my college town. We started hanging out and having a great time. Winter break, I was staying with a friend up near his house. We went out one night on our normal date, had a blast, and made plans to get lunch the next day. He said he'd pick me up at noon. Next day rolls around, and I call him to make sure he's coming. Nothing. Texted him, nothing. He never responded! I was extremely pissed off, since we had been dating for a few months and everything was fine. He deleted me off of Facebook and everything, so I just gave up. Four months later he texts me out of the blue saying he's sorry that he ghosted on me, but his mom died that day we were supposed to get lunch. I felt really bad so I gave him another chance. Turns out, HIS MOM NEVER DIED. He just made that up as an excuse. I never talked to him again after I found out."
–Submitted by SassMaster
5. The ghost who couldn't handle their partner's dental care:
"Once I was hanging out with a group of friends I recently met in college. At the end of the night a friend of mine came back to my room with me. Things got heated, but as I was lying there naked the guy looks straight into my eyes and says, 'where's my retainer?' He started panicking and scanning the room. I kindly asked him to leave.
In order to avoid ever being in that situation/awkwardly speaking about that situation with this guy again, I ghosted. Ghosting was probably the most polite thing to do…"
–Submitted by frankieu2
6. The ghost who graduated from the friendship:
"My best friend in college stopped talking to me a few weeks after we graduated. She didn't even show up to graduation. I called her many times with no calls back and no explanation. She called me four years later to tell me she had a daughter and she thought I ought to know. We're back in communication now but I don't think I will ever fully trust her again. And she never explained why she just stopped talking to me. I still have no clue."
–Submitted by kateb48dd6b06e
7. The ghost who left a 16-year marriage:
"After being with my husband of 16 years, I thought we had a solid relationship. One Saturday he decided to go visit with a couple of friends for a few hours. Since we only had one car, I drove him over. During the drive we discussed going swimming later that day. After dropping him off, I went shopping for a bathing suit for him, made a couple other stops, then went home to wait for his call. IT NEVER CAME! I couldn't find him, he wouldn't answer his phone… He disappeared! After a week of not knowing where he was, I finally got a call through by tricking him into thinking I was someone else calling. This all happened 2 years ago. We never actually sat down and discussed our relationship and he never officially told me he was leaving, or why. Meanwhile, I moved to Florida from Pennsylvania to start over and honestly, my life is better than ever!"
–Submitted by amylee
8. The ghost who made Monday worse than it already is:
"It was a Monday, we had been dating for about six months, and he said he'd call me after work. That was five years ago…"
–Submitted by sarahh45db41b6e
9. The ghost who had a secret girlfriend:
"I met a guy right before he deployed to Afghanistan, and we got a little hot and heavy before he left, because I thought, "Why the hell not? You'll never see him again." We talked almost every day while he was gone, made plans for when he came back — I got attached. Then when he was supposed to be back (after telling me every day for a month how much time was left on his countdown to be home), he suddenly stopped speaking to me, and I didn't understand it until I got a text from his girlfriend."
–Submitted by kathleencg
10. The ghost who broke off the engagement:
"I talked to this guy from Colorado for around 10 months and we decided to meet in person when my friend went to Colorado to visit her boyfriend. We talked every night on the phone, falling asleep on the phone with one another. We Skyped all the time and he even met my mother over Skype.
He even sent me a video of him 'buying my promise ring' but he wasn't going to give it to me until he met my mother in person and asked her permission for my hand. I talked to him the week before I was set to visit with my friend. Everything seemed perfect. He wished me a good day and said he loved me like always. Then, that was it. Not a word from him again. He deleted and blocked me on Skout, Facebook, Snapchat, Kik, and apparently blocked my phone number. I even sent him letters and they said return to sender. Later, I found his brand new profile page on Facebook. When I tried to send him a message, he immediately blocked me. I still have no idea what happened or what went on."
–Submitted by malloreykristinev
11. The pool-playing, heart-breaking ghost:
"I was casually dating this guy for a few weeks, and we normally played pool together on Monday nights. The day before we were going to meet, I texted him to make sure that we were still on, and he said yes. So, I went to the pool hall the next day. I texted him to make sure he knew I was late, and he never answered. I got there, he wasn't there. I waited for an hour, calling him every fifteen minutes, worried that he got into a car accident. I ended up going home and getting burgers with my friend. He never answered any of my messages, until I found out from a mutual friend that instead of going to play pool with me, he moved TO FLORIDA. When I confronted him about it, he said he mixed me up with his other friend (also named Rachel) and went to see her instead."
–Rachel Schiff, Facebook
12. The ghost who left the country:
"I was dating a guy in college for a few months. All of a sudden, he stopped responding to my texts. I never saw him around campus anymore, and none of his friends knew what happened to him. Turned out he had packed up one night, dropped out of school, and moved to Switzerland. It was such a weird experience."
–Submitted by cmall
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.