Most of the time, being home by yourself is great. You can watch your favorite weird niche TikToks at full volume or perform one-person Broadway musicals to your heart's content.
However, after a while, things may start to feel a little...creepy, especially after the sun goes down.
If you're paranoid when you're home alone, you're not the only one. This week, Reddit user u/ThePastelShadow asked, "What is the the scariest thing that you have ever encountered while home alone?"
Here are some of the ~creepiest~ responses.
1."I was in the shower when I heard the door to my apartment being unlocked. My husband wasn't due back for several hours."
2."I was taking a nap in my apartment under blankets in my bed when I heard the door open. Thinking it was my husband, I ignored it, but about five minutes later, I heard several female voices."
3."I was 19, living in an unfinished basement in a bad part of town. It was summertime, and I had no AC, so in my closet, there was this massive window that I had open. I worked third shift as a line cook, so I returned back to my place around 3 a.m. and started making some dinner. I heard a noise come out from the window."
4."I was woken from a deep sleep by the most horrifying high pitched howling noise. We lived deep in a wooded area, and I was familiar with sounds like foxes barking or even fisher cats screaming, but this was eerie and didn't sound like an animal."
5."I was maybe 11 or 12 and was home alone one winter day. The desktop computer I was using shared a wall with our (unheated) garage. The house was so quiet you could hear a pin drop."
6."The first night alone at my new house, a dude tried scouting around my home looking for a way in."
7."My husband was out of town, so I had gone over to a friend's house for dinner. I got home a little after 10 p.m., pulled into the garage, and stepped out to grab my purse. I turned to head into the house, and standing halfway down my driveway was a strange man I had never seen before."
8."I was babysitting for a family I was unfamiliar with. The kids went to bed, and I started to hear speaking from another room."
9."I was probably about 12, newly allowed to be home alone for a couple hours over the summer. A man was walking through my fenced-in backyard, and he walked right onto my deck to the back window."
10."I was babysitting my little sister. We were both watching television. All of a sudden, I heard gun shots and bullets ricocheting from the window security bars."
11."I was home alone since my husband was away on deployment. One night as I was falling asleep, both my dog and I heard someone on the porch walking around. My dog flipped out, and I decided to go downstairs."
12."I was 11 and home alone. I got out of the shower to discover my house had been broken into."
13."We had just moved into our brand new home, and my husband went out to pick up dinner. I was just setting up our TV when all of a sudden a man came down the stairs."
14."I was in the midst of a lot of writing. I was trying to write a book — it was a whole thing. I was in the ZONE — both from writing and the weed. It was probably half past midnight, and I was pounding away on my work, totally engrossed. Then there's a knock on the door, and it's what I'd call the 'cop knock' — really loud and abrupt."
15."Our garter snakes had gotten out of their cage. We searched everywhere but couldn't find them. Finally my husband went to bed, and I stayed up watching TV for a while."
16."I moved into a house at the beginning of last year and decided I wanted to get a security system. I got one that included cameras, door and window sensors, motion detectors, etc. On my third night in the house, at about 2:30-3:00 a.m., the alarm started blaring, and I remember jumping out of the bed in a panic."
17."I was babysitting for a family that lived in my neighborhood, and I was probably about 13/14. As I was getting the two little boys ready for bed, there was a knock at the door."
18."One summer after all my roommates went back home, I was living alone in a college apartment complex. One night, I decided to go to the bars and then Uber home. I stepped out of the Uber and started walking up the stairs to my apartment when two men came down at the same time."
19."I was at a friend's house watching her cats, and suddenly someone stood on the balcony, right when I walked down the hallway. "
20."When I was like 11 years old, I was home alone one day during the summer, just watching TV while eating Skittles. I liked to put a bunch in my mouth and make like a Skittle ball that I would chew on. Something on the show I was watching made me laugh and I swallowed the ball, which got lodged in my throat."
21."I was in the shower when I heard loud banging outside. Panicked, I shut off my shower and tried to figure out what to do."
22."My house is on a high street, so it’s not unusual to have a lot of people passing and activity going on. Earlier that day, I had answered the front door for a delivery, unlocking it to do so, then got on with whatever I was doing after that. Much later in the day as it was getting dark, I was upstairs in my bed watching Netflix when I heard the front door open."
23."I was home alone at my dad's rural farm, washing dishes in my pajamas, and all of a sudden I noticed that a semi has pulled into the road leading up to the house."
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
