The pure honesty and naivety of a child are often endearing. However, truthfulness and candor have a dark side, and coming from an innocent mind can make them all the more eerie.
Recently, someone on Reddit asked: “What’s the creepiest thing you have ever heard a child say?” The answers were shocking at best, as these kids spoke about past lives, “basement people,” paranormal apparitions, and death premonitions.
If you’re a fan of chilling stories, this one’s for you. Prepare yourself for a few moments of goosebumps as you scroll through.
#1
My niece was talking to her imaginary friends in the back of the car. She said it was a boy and girl about her age and they were brother and sister. Then as we came near the end of a road she said this is thier home, can we drop them off here? Myself and my sister were laughing about it until we reached the end of the road and it was a cemetery. She gave a little wave and said goodbye as we passed.
Image credits: Ravenchef
#2
My four year old daughter says that before she was born she was a ghost, and when she was a ghost she would spy on us because she couldn’t wait to be alive and living with us.
Image credits: Chituck
#3
Once my son looked at me and said "oh you're having a baby!" I had just found out I was expecting and hadn't told anyone. I asked him why he said that, and he just shrugged and said "just a feeling".
I miscarried less than a week later and he looked at me randomly and said "oh, no more baby".
The pregnancy, miscarriage etc had never been discussed around or to him. It was so strange.
Image credits: seekingzion0806
#4
My half brother has a very particular name, his father had an older brother who died at a very young age with the same name, (my brother was named after him) when my brother was 3-4yo he looked straight into his dad eyes and said “daddy do you remember when I was older than you and we played together, then I fall asleep and now I’m younger”.
Image credits: jcbastida117
#5
"I'm not scared of the thing under my bed. The thing under the bed is my friend."
On further questioning, the thing under his bed was our border collie, who sometimes naps there.
Image credits: goffstock
#6
Not sure if this counts but when I was 8 I had a new babysitter ( she was a teenager ) and right after my parents left she asked me in this pleasant tone “Alright Unicorn_puppy, where’s the stuff your daddy drinks before he hits your mommy?”
I come from a stable household with two parents that had a good marriage I was confused and said “I don’t know! My dad doesn’t hit my mom” and she fell kinda silent, the rest of the night till my parents got back she was awkwardly quiet and I never saw her again. It’s only recently I remembered this and the realization of what was going on in her life came to me, I feel bad that I took my stable childhood and having two loving parents in my life for granted.
Image credits: Unicorn_Puppy
#7
Unsure if this counts, but here we go haha. When I was 4 I had an imaginary friend, his name was Billy. Sometimes his friend was with him, her name was Lady. Billy went with me everywhere, he had a spot at the table, he was on the swing next to me at the park, slept on the top bunk etc. I was really afraid of milk tankers and would shake and cry whenever I saw one. When I saw an ambulance Id say "Mum Billy died in there" Anyway we moved to a small town to be closer to my grandparents and Mum started doing ancestry, she found an uncle named Billy who died in an ambulance after colliding with a milk tanker. His wife was with him, cant remember her name but her nickname was Lady. Also 2 of their 3 kids were in the car, unfortunately no-one survived. Turns out the small town we just moved to was the town it happened just out of and they died about 15 years before I was born.
Image credits: VisualImagination891
#8
My second daughter always insisted she had an “imaginary friend”. I would hear her genuinely having full conversations. She told me one day as we’re standing in the kitchen that her “friend” was upstairs in her bedroom. Immediately heard small footsteps in the bedroom above us. She said “see?” No one else was home.
Image credits: Vivid-Soup-5636
#9
My little sister used to say “Sometimes at night a man comes into my room and tries to eat me” she would wake up in cold sweats and sleep in my room almost every night. it got so bad we had to take her to a therapist. turns out our step dad used to come in her room at night and touch her. im not sure if this counts as creepy but it was scary to me. she’s currently in trauma therapy and my stepfather is no longer in the picture.
Image credits: kawaiiartist12
#10
When my niece was about 3 she told her mum that she liked her much better than her other mummy because her other mummy was mean... "and one day she held my head under the water for too long..."
Same niece, aged around 6, told me that her creepily named dolls were made of blood and bones and mud but watch out! Don't let them touch you! Because they'll turn you into a doll! I turn away from the dolls and she says to something behind me, "No Ethel, I told you, do not touch her!"
She's the best.
Image credits: Regular-Message9591
#11
My nephew told me the basement people want my skin.
Image credits: pg67awx
#12
"I'm starting to forget the names of the people who live in my head"
No context. Right in the middle of clean-up time.
Image credits: PatentedOtter
#13
We had just moved into an old farm house when one night my 3 year old at the time pointed at the glass door and asked why the "other mummy" was there. I looked and couldn't see anything and asked what she looked like?
my 3 year old proceeded to explain that the other mummy was dirty and muddy and had blue lips and blonde hair.
I kind of froze because we were home alone together. I was like, "Oh okay, that's interesting," and he says "yes she lives under the ground. She said she had a good boy like me once, "
It made my stomach drop, and I took him to my room and locked the door, haha.
Image credits: Lanky-Armadillo-2979
#14
My cousin's youngest was around 5 hanging out with me one Thanksgiving awhile back. He was drawing with crayons, and I asked him if he could draw me his favorite animal.
Kiddo looked at me and thought for a sec, then just started drawing giant black circles on the paper. Like "The Ring"-style circles. I was surprised and said "Wow! Uh, what kind of animal is that?"
This kid looks at me and non-chalantly says "The dark of nowhere."
I kind of stumbled because I wasn't sure what to say to that, and while I stuttered, his older brother (7) helpfully jumped in: "Oh, don't worry, the dark of nowhere is just like, a man, who's like a shadow." VERY COOL, THANKS BUD, THAT HELPS A LOT.
I realize this sounds contrived and made up, but it happened exactly this way. It will probably make more sense when I explain that their mother is a horror movie FANATIC and the kids have been exposed to creepy stuff since birth, so this wasn't actually that surprising, just caught me off guard.
Image credits: calliope720
#15
I lived in my parents house with my daughter until she was about three. their house is so f*****g haunted and whatever haunted it started focusing all of it's energy on my daughter.
one night she was in her room sleeping and I was in mine laying in bed dozing off.
I hear her talking through the baby monitor and I sit and listen for a minute trying to hear what she was saying. then all of a sudden all I could hear through the baby monitor was static so I jump up and run into her room to check on her.
she's standing up in her crib pointing at the ceiling. I ask her who she was talking to?
she says
"he gone now."
nope nope nope.
then when we lived in another house that our great aunt had died in like.....5 months prior.
I couldn't find my keys and I asked her if she had seen them. she said yes. I said oh great can I have them? she says "he told me not to tell you." I ask her who he is? she said "the upside down man. he doesn't like you" and never would elaborate.
I would always hear her talking to "someone" in her room and it always freaked me out lol. especially when she was itty bitty. like having full fledged conversations with someone.
Image credits: Interesting_Sock9142
#16
My son tells me stories of "scary uncle Michael" in his bedroom at night. He says he's a grey man that looks like his uncle and he climbs on walls and calls out to him and one night he tried to eat him.
Yep, nightmare fuel.
Image credits: AmeliaSwannx
#17
My brother's friend was a teacher in a very rural Australian school and her class were all indigenous kids ( Aboriginal). When the lunch Bell rang the kids would fight to go play on the oval. One day the lunch bell went off and all the kids just sat there. She asked " aren't you going out on the oval to play"? One of the kids replied" no miss the tall men are there" she looked and didn't see anything and said so. One of the other kids said " she can't see them, she's a white fella". And they wouldn't go outside.
#18
My nephew while chatting to my Grandmother about Christmas, pipes up 'you'll be dead then', when she was talking about Christmas.
She died on 20th December. She wasn't even sick at the time!
He was three at the time and doesn't remember saying it.
Image credits: SnrInfant
#19
My little cousin once said he has a friend named "mr. bones" who lives in the closet... like bro that’s terrifying.
Image credits: omssweetie
#20
"I used to be a policeman, but then I died. I was trying to stop a burglary and the burglars were really rough with me. They were really rough with me, and then I died."
This was a four year old I used to babysit.
Image credits: RiskyMama
#21
We were at a family gathering and my then 4 year old daughter did not want to leave. She kept repeating, “but it’s the last time we will all be together!” (as we had to literally football carry her out while wrangling our other kids).
We were at a beloved Aunts home, who suddenly passed two weeks later. It was indeed the last time we were “all” together. What I wouldn’t give to have listened to my daughter in that moment and stayed longer at my Aunt’s house.
Image credits: Riding4Biden
#22
My two year old saw me organizing my basketball cards. He tottered over and said “when I was big, I used to buy those for you.”
My dad bought me those cards, 25 years ago, shortly before he passed away.
Image credits: firstbreathOOC
#23
“Mommy! You’re in a bubble and floating awaayyyy!”
I was already dealing with postpartum depression. When my 2yo said this to me over and over again for weeks I started to think I was going insane.
Image credits: virginialikesyou
#24
"Go back to sleep, there isn't anything under your bed".
"Hes behind you now".
Still haven't gotten over that one and shiver at the memory.
Image credits: Blossom_Bees
#25
“Mommy can we sleep with the tv on? I don’t want the big people to watch us sleep again”, the night before I had a terrible nightmare that aliens were watching us sleep. It was almost like an out of body experience because I could see us in bed and my bedroom exactly how I left it that night. At first I didn’t think anything of it, until she said that and then I realized maybe it wasn’t a dream. She was only 2 at the time.
Image credits: lusciouslashess
#26
My daughter (at the time around 3) was in bed. She giggled, then asked if I had tickled her feet.
No. No I hadn't.
Image credits: UPnorthCamping
#27
At the time, I was a single mom with 1 kid. We had just moved into this surprisingly cheap rental house. The third night there my 4yo daughter tells me her sister was very mad at us (again, she was an only child at that point).
Two nights later, she comes running into my bedroom crying because her 'sister' was giggling in a really scary way.
I let her sleep with me, but the next morning when we went into her so she could change, she asks me if it's normal for there to be so much blood on the walls.
I packed or stuff in the car and moved out on our sixth day there.
I had no one else to turn to except my brother, who at the time, we had a very poor relationship, but I called and asked for help.
He was very surprised when he found out it wasn't just a relapse, and so offered to go back a couple of days later with a friend and get the rest of our stuff. He said the landlord was upset we moved so quickly, but that he'd been having problems keeping tenets for more than a couple of months at a time.
His friend told me he offered the landlord to come back in a few nights and burn the place to the ground.
#28
I told my mother when I was about 3 that I didn't like the lady in the basement, or that she kept trying to make me "put my hand in the wall." She asked what lady and I said from the picture and took her to the basement. Hidden away in a closet were a bunch of old photos and a weird, painted portrait, really old fashioned.
The woman was the previous owner of the house, which was not owned by her brother, our landlord. She had died in the basement while trying to do laundry, as she was advanced in age and stubborn about getting help in spite of her bad health. The portrait was apparently some family tradition, the brother had one, too, and so did his parents. A lot of her things were still in the house we were renting.
After we found the portrait, I took her to a wall and told her the hole was there. My mom moved some boxes out of the way and, sure enough, there was a hole about the size of a child's fist on the ground being covered. I still remember showing her the hole, vaguely. I also remember seeing the woman wandering around down there, in a sort of dreamlike memory kind of way. Super tiny woman, face kind of obscured by wrinkles in a way that is hard to explain because in retrospect it didn't look natural but to a kid, she just had a weird face. And wearing a white nightgown with little flowers on it.
Anyway, my mom had always been creeped out by the basement, but I played down there. I wasn't allowed to play down there anymore.
Growing up, I remembered the lady and the hole, but nothing else. And she never discussed it again. We lived there the rest of the year, then moved as soon as we could (my dad didn't believe in any of it). But it wasn't until I brought up the old lady when we were talking about the house, at 16, that my mom filled in the blanks. Which was crazy to me, because in my mind I thought the old lady who owned the house would just come over in her nightgown, and that she was just kind of a b***h about the wall hole.
She really, really wanted me to reach in there.
#29
My friend's daughter (age 6) said to her little brother (4) "I want to peel your face like an orange...".
Image credits: duckamuk
#30
Meeting my niece for the first time.
While staring me out and trying with all her 6yr old might to break my finger in half. Clenching and wrenching, and screaming like a weightlifter possessed.
She suddenly stopped, unblinking and said "I promise there's a good person trapped inside of me"
Glad to report that she did not turn out to be a psychopath...but in the back of my head I always think "not a psychopath YET".
Image credits: Quickhurryupslowdown
#31
I moved from Maine to Texas to live with my brother who was in the Air Force. Mind you we have no family or friends in Texas so I didn’t know a single soul. While working at Walmart in Ft Worth I had an unknown child come up to me and say “I know you” to which I said “must be a mistake I’m not from here”. The kid then said he remembered seeing me eating at a unique local restaurant from my hometown in Maine last year.
It was such a weird experience. I still never figured out who he was. Must have been like 11-12 years old.
Image credits: stevieZzZ
#32
A 6 year old I worked with (about 6 months ago) said “it’s Corrie! Hi Corrie!” To an empty corner. Corrie is my grandmas name. She died in 2020. I pulled up a picture of her and asked who it was and he said “her name is Corrie”.
#33
My son was around 3 at the time. Kept refusing to go downstairs as that's where Angel Man was, and angle Man wanted to hurt the family.
#34
A client's 5 year old asked me how old I was. I said "actually, my birthday is next week. I'm going to be 34." she looked at me with an absolutely blank face and dead pan said "oh wow, another year. maybe".
#35
While changing my daughter in front of the open closet door. She kept looking around me and laughing. I asked her what was so funny. She said, "the man." To which I replied, "what man?" She then pointed at the closet and said, "the man with the snake neck." I turn around and nothing was there. I'm afraid to look into the history of my house to see if anyone hung themselves in the closet. At least she wasn't scared.
#36
My daughter has offered me what she called "die tea" and "night night shots". She was probably around 3?
#37
My niece had never met my Dad, her Grandad, as he had passed away the year before she was born.
When she was 3 years old, she pointed at the corner that his walking stick used to sit in, waved and said 'Hiya Grandad' with the biggest smile on her face.
It was the creepiest and sweetest thing I had ever seen!
#38
My little cousin, at about three years old, looked at us all at the family gathering and said, “you know, I went down with the ship.” Then he switched back to three year old English and started playing.
#39
'I don't like it here, Mommy...I want to go back to the planet I came from.' (my 3 yr old says to me, with a big sigh).
Image credits: Spirit50Lake
#40
Friend used to babysit this kid who would aggressively rock on the rocking horse while staring at her saying "I hate you. I hate you". .
Image credits: fishfishbirdbirdcat
#41
My then 3 year old had a few gems:
Him: I was so mad at you, I was gonna destroy you. Me: yeah, how so? Him: I was gonna throw you in a volcano. Me: why didn’t you? Him: I don’t know where a volcano is. Me: so we good? Him: for now…
The other one:
Him: to bad the babysitter died. Me: no she didn’t bud, she’s just not here today. Him: or she’s in the freezer(while staring at the freezer) Me: you’re pretty creepy sometimes bud Him: just smiles.
#42
When we are about to sleep. my cousin told me to tell the tall black man standing on our door to leave. But we are the only person in that room, we hurriedly left that room and slept to where our other cousins was.
#43
Not me, but when my brother was little, my mum was cooking in the kitchen and he was with her. Suddenly my brother asked "Mum, why is that boy crying in the corner?" My mum looked over but there was no one there.
#44
A five year old once said to me with a great deal of sympathy, "A long time ago, I used to be just like you.".
#45
I babysat a kiddo who was probably 3 or 4, and at the park she collected a dozen or more rollie pollies/pill bugs and put them in a cup. She collected some leaves to feed them. Pretended to take care of them.
Then when it was time to leave, I said let’s put them back so they can go home and we can go home too, and she turns and goes “Nope, we need to k*ll them” and immediately dumps and starts stomping all of them.
Most were dead before I could try to stop her—totally out of character for her. Never quite looked at her the same after that.
#46
When my daughter was 4 we were walking past a restaurant, and a man was standing in front smoking, and she stopped, turned to him and said "You're going to die", in a totally flat voice, turn just kept waking.
#47
"There's a man outside the window"
We're on the 14th floor.
#48
When I was around 20 or 21, I would often go to my friend Stephanie's house. Her little sister Katie (about 6 y/o or so) would often be playing in the other room. One day, I went over, and Katie was playing with one of her Barbie dolls. Stephanie and I started playing Dr. Mario, which was a household staple at her place. Her mom was SUPER good at it. After a few minutes, Katie came over to us and asked if we were going to play for much longer because she wanted me to play with her. Steph told her that we'd be playing for a while.
Katie looked at me and said, "Let me know when you're done because she's just going to stare at you until you come play with us."
Steph and I were like, "WHAT?! WHO???" Katie walked away and said, "Just hurry up and play with me."
To this day, Katie insists that she has no idea what we're talking about, but we know what we heard. Still gives me chills.
#49
My little cousin told me he's been playing with an imaginary friend named mr. whisp who likes to watch people sleep... like wtf right.
#50
"Mommy, before I came to live with you, was it always this dark?".
#51
When I was a toddler my family said anytime they would hold me in their arms I would start whispering in their ear "behind you" My mom thought it was funny but it scared the s**t out of my siblings and aunt.
#52
When I was a teenager I used to babysit a foster kid for a local family. She had sadly experienced severe abuse & neglect at the hands of her biological parents (she was extremely traumatised). After she would fall asleep I'd have to be on "alert" most of the night as she suffered from sleepwalking and night terrors that I now believe were a form of post-traumatic flashback.
Some of the things she would say as she walked around the house in the dark were pretty terrifying. I never knew what to expect.
#53
My little cousin used to talk about the old man in his closet. My aunt was afraid to research the history of her house for a while (it was built in the mid 90s, and no one died there as far as she knew). Eventually, my cousin stopped talking about the old man in his closet, so my aunt finally looked into the history of the house and found that nothing happened there.
Still, she has no idea where he got that from.
#54
My daughter used to stare out the window and wave as if someone was out there waving back. I asked her once who she was waving to, and she said "the werewolf!" and I asked her where it was and she said "right there!" pointing at an empty spot in the front yard.
#55
I was playing Minecraft with my nephew who is around 8, and he chanted “MUR-DER! MUR-DER! MUR-DER! MUR-DER!…” He also wanted to suffocate my character inside a vertical tube he was going to fill with gravel.
