41 Creepy, Spooky And Bizarre Things People Found In Seemingly Normal Homes
Nothing compares to the thrill of moving into your dream house. The joy you feel when you walk around the place trying to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the beautiful surroundings — it knows no bounds. It’s also quite fun to find the little things left behind by previous homeowners, whether by accident or on purpose... Unless they look anything but ordinary and make you feel like you're living in a scene of an old horror movie.
See, some dwellings seem to be treasure troves of the weird, the creepy, and the bizarre. In a couple of 'Ask Reddit' threads, users have opened up about the creepiest and scariest things they’ve ever found in seemingly ordinary houses, either their own or someone else’s.
From eerie-looking porcelain dolls to spine-chilling photographs and even embalmed animal fetuses, these stories really make you wonder about the darker side of life. We’ve wrapped up a terrifyingly uneasy collection of responses for you to read through right below. So continue scrolling, but proceed with caution! Some of them are bound to make you feel chilly. Be sure to upvote your favorite entries and share your own similar experiences with us in the comments.
Psst! If you’re keen on witnessing a whole new level of creepy, check out our earlier post about the scariest things that happened in someone else’s home right here.
#1
A headstone in the basement - and it had my name on it. Turns out my grandpa kept the stone of my great grandpa. We share the same name
Image credits: Cosmic_Surgery
#2
When my husband and I were house hunting, we stopped by one house that was actually quite nice. While we were checking out the basement, my husband noticed a narrow hallway. Thinking that some mechanical stuff might be down there we followed the tiny passageway. At the end was a bunker like room, with a single lightbulb on a string and giant Children’s drawings on the wall.We did not make an offer.
Image credits: knuchie
#3
Go home with this girl and she's showing me around her place. On a shelf she shows off her large collection of jars with embalmed animal fetuses - mainly monkeysShe worked in a staff canteen and had no university degree in an associated field. I still have no idea why she had them or where she got them from. Frankly, I was too scared to ask
Image credits: anon
#4
my wife's parents basementat the foot of the stairs was a pool table.
my wife (was my girlfriend at the time) and I went down to shoot some pool. as we got to the bottom step we saw 3 pool balls rolling around on the table. no one else was down there.
Image credits: Wrong_Answer_Willie
#5
My mom bought her house 12 years ago, but last year, my brother kicked the front door down. The door had a giant metal lock on it (it didn't work, we just used the deadbolt but kept the lock on because the house was built in 1795 and looked cool), [but] the lock broke off and a bunch of little papers and cards fell out of it. Among them were CIA ID badges, business cards that had to do with cryptography, and other things that had to do with the CIA.A few days later, I thought I would look through the house in search of more CIA stuff and stumbled upon a WWII round under one of the floorboards in the attic.
Image credits: klydefr0gg
#6
My stepbrother had a basement that was full of gigantic spiders. And I mean huge spiders of all kinds. Wolf spiders near the floor, black widows in the corners, and giant spindly ones near the ceiling. It’s terrifying.
Image credits: FlaxinWaxin
#7
When I was about 8, my parents left a bag of potatoes in one of our basement closets (one with the sump pump and water equipment, so it was humid) for several months. Everybody forgot about it until my younger brother randomly opened the door one day and freaked out, thinking it was some kind of alien creature. The potatoes had grown into a tentacle-like mass in the months they were forgotten.
Image credits: adrianmakedonski
#8
a tarantula. We don't live in a place where they are normally, and none of us had one for a pet. After screaming our heads off, mom sucked it up in her vacuum. I still remember the kathunk it made
Image credits: puhtreezy
#9
My great aunt's basement is terrifying. The ceilings are low and it has a dirt floor. Her daughters painted Elmo on the wall and made hand prints in red paint back in the 70s, and it's all chipped and peeling now like something out of a horror movie.One time when I slept over night there, I went into the basement to scare myself. I got this really bad vibe--like a stomach churning, skin crawling feeling that I had to get out. I ran upstairs and hid in bed.
Image credits: anon
#10
I found my old 3DS I completely forgot I owned, I was excited to go through games and stuff, I noticed I had some photos on it and thought it would be a cool blast from the past.I've never felt so unsafe when I saw the selfies of this girl I've never met before in my life and me asleep next to her.
Image credits: jackscockrocks
#11
Years ago when my familly moved home, we had to clean the basement (the access was outside the building and the door was old and a bit broken)First, the smell was just disgusting. After cleaning for a few hours, we eventually found dead cats, litterally rotten and full of worms. Like they came there to die during winter coz it was a bit warmer than outside, or something ...
Scary is not the word to define the feeling, but that was definitly unexpected.
Image credits: anon
#12
I used to do social service at a hospital here in Mexico as part of my computer science degree requirements. Most of the time we were doing little tasks like cleaning computers or checking the internet, the boring jobs the actual workers didn't want to do. One day the manager wants us to change the cables located at the basement so me and two other students went down the basement with ladders to remove and replace all the old ethernet cable. Now the thing about hospitals in Mexico is that as long as the infrastructure works its the same decade after decade, no renovations and it shows. The basement while well lit and clean was really old. So we were assigned a different hall and started with the job. About 2 hours into it one of the students came running looking mortified and asked me what's wrong. I just looked confused and asked him what he meant and he said he heard a man yelling for help and though I had had an accident. We checked with the other student and she said that she didn't heard anything. We just finished the job and later we told the manager. He just said "Oh you met the basement ghost".
Image credits: GustavoAlex7789
#13
I'm not sure it's creepy, but definitely startling. We bought a new house and shortly after we moved in we heard a strange noise downstairs. I went to investigate and it was coming from a little old door where a coal stove used to be installed. Nervously, I opened the door and a small bird flew out. After getting him back to the outdoors, I reached back in the hole behind the door and discovered bird and squirrel skeletons. How the previous owners did not smell it, I have no idea. Apparently, the little guys would fall down the chimney and get stuck with no way to return. We installed a chimney cap after this discovery. No more animal deaths on my watch.
Image credits: Taurusteacups
#14
When I was younger, we had a family friend who collected ancient Chinese artifacts / antiques. They had a room in their finished basement where they kept all of the items on display. Their prized possession was some sort of gold burial shroud from a king or emperor (supposedly). That room was always colder and creeper than the rest of the basement. You always felt like someone was behind you, a little too close. Watching you from the corners. I always thought I saw shadow figures just at the edge of my peripheral vision.
Image credits: Empz
#15
I got called out on a job to clean out a hoarders house. The basement looked like it was an insane asylum that a serial killer moved into. Animal skins hanging from the ceiling, old style sewing machines, newspapers covering up windows and clippings of certain people, glass jars filled with...something, stacks of wet mattresses, old style bed frames,few rats, mold.
Image credits: anon
#16
I bought a very old house. The prior owner was born in and died in the house at age 97. He had been in bad health and rather senile before he died so my house was in bad shape and very dirty. One day I was in the small, strange, poorly lit shelf basement cleaning up. I was in a dark corner looking at some stuff and trying to decide what to do with it when I glanced up and saw a brown curved thing hanging from the joists. It was about 4 feet by 4 feet and a foot thick or more. My first thought was that it was a pod like in “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” I got a flashlight and and took a close look and realized it was much worse. . . . it was the biggest wasp nest I had or have ever seen. I ran out and tried to figure out what to do. After some thought I realized I had not seen wasps in the basement or the house so it was most likely empty. So l cautiously and carefully removed it with as little destruction as possible. The outside was a beautiful, fragile paper like structure with a marbeled patten. I was able to save a piece that was about 12 x 18 x 10. I still have it hanging in my studio.
Image credits: iggycat
#17
My parents bought a home that used to be a funeral parlor almost 100 years ago. Dad had never questioned why there was a second bulkhead that went nowhere and when there was a bust pipe they finally had to cut it openInside we found a small walled off room that had hundreds of old bottles, odd equipment, chemicals/perfumed salts, stained glass windows from the original building and a few old ledgers + accounting books. Parents had no use for it and a local antique shop owner/town historian happily took it when offered.
We had received some cool old copies of photos of how the house originally looked a few years later
Image credits: KnittyViki
#18
This doll no one knows who it belongs to. It’s a porcelain doll, with a red dress on it. No one knows where it came from, or where it’s been. It’s just around. And continues to pop around the house and people claim someone is putting the doll places, but nah. No one wants to touch that creepy thing.
Image credits: OccupyMyTimePls
#19
We have this side room next to some stairs. While we were moving stuff into the room, we noticed a piece of drywall was coming off the wall, so we took it off. Behind it and under the stairs were some very old toys. Most likely from the '50s.In the same house about a year later, we paid a company to come put new insulation in the attic. When he was done, he told me we had a portion of our attic sealed off, so we busted through [and] found a super-old sewing table and about 15 boxes of pinecones.
Image credits: R12356
#20
I was at a high school party once, and [I was] down in the cellar having drinks, and I saw the claw [from Toy Story] hidden behind some boxes.
Image credits: MasterGeekBox
#21
Sister and I went downstairs to try and find my softball bag so we could play catch in the backyard. I bent down to lift up a blanket and there were hundreds of baby spiders crawling on the underside of the blacket
Image credits: anon
#22
It's actually quite harmless but: My Grandma shared a place with my Uncle's family (they basically built a house with a small flat integrated on one side of the house, the basement was connected). Me, being like 5 years old, trying to find my cousin's TV room (we always played N64 back then) open the wrong door - it's really dark and all I see is like a pyramid of dolls. My Grandma's puppet collection.I never noped out of a room that quickly.
Image credits: Nerex7
#23
Not my story, but my mom was playing with her sister and decided to scare her. They had big rubber insects, my mom had a grasshopper and my aunt had a fly, but my mom could not remember what her sister had. So when she saw a giant spider, like paper plate sized, she went to grab it, but it's leg moved,so of course my mom and my aunt freaked out.
Image credits: LunaLovegood05
#24
I didn't really think much of it at the time, but my friend's basement flooded during a sleepover. We noticed it happening and decided to wade through it because "this is totally better than a pool" ....We could have literally gotten shocked because her dad had all this mechanical and electrical equipment down there. Nevermind the tetanus hazards. Our nine year old brains freaked out because the washer, dryer, or something around it was making horrible noises and we ran out of there screaming and were admonished by her parents. Thinking back on it is even more creepy because Pennywise could have totally been lurking.
Image credits: SamusOfTheStars
#25
This happened a few years ago.Back Story:
The house I live in and grew up in was built back in early 1900's. It's still a nice house, and we've renovated it over the years and I doubt we would ever sell the home, since the lot size is huge compared to newer homes on the market in my city.
A few years ago, my mom got a settlement payout from an accident which resulted in her breaking her leg. She won a good amount of money from the case, and she and my father decided to put most of that money into renovating the house. We started by renovating the upstairs bathroom, and converting the tub into a standing shower, replacing the lights for LED lights for energy savings, ect.
After the upstairs bathroom was renovated, my parents decided to put a bathroom downstairs (where I currently reside) so that I can have my own space, since I live on disability and my parents are getting older, so helping them out with certain things is needed sometimes.
Well when they started Demo on the laundry room (now the bath/laundry room) They took down a wall and behind it was a set of CHILD SIZED CRUTCHES. I'm not even s******g you. They were very old, wooden, and they looked to be from the 1930's or 1940's. The demo team brought them up to my father to look at. My father had no clue who used those crutches prior.
I instantly got the chills when I saw them, because they were for a 6-8 year old child. I remember them sitting there for a few days till I told my father to either trash them, or toss them into the fire pit because they creeped me out so much.
Image credits: MoistVaJanice
#26
I dont believe in ghosts, but i lived in a home woth a few roommates who would claim the house was, indeed, haunted.New guy/low man on totem pole got the basement, and ill admit there was a weird "energy" to it. There was always a feeling of being watched.
So ive got a ton of stories about that house, like the time we were partying in the living room and like 10 people all heard something stomp up the basement stairs, slam open the basement door, and stomp angrily across yhe kitchen floor, but stop just before being visable. When we got our nut up to peek around the corner, the basement door had indeed been slammed open.
But the best was me, alone, asleep in the basement. We all know that "eyes on you" feeling, and it was so strong i woke up, flat on my back (which is weird because im a stomach/side sleeper) and watched a face press through the wood floor above my face and stare at me. I finally just rolled over and went back to sleep.
#27
I think I saw a weird looking figure in my friends basement . It was wearing something old fashioned , and has no face at all . When I turned on the lights , it's just a mannequin . But it did scared me and my friend
Image credits: RicardoWithMilos
#28
This actually happened last night.I woke up and saw my dog scratching himself on the floor next to my bed. I called his name and told him to get on the bed, but he just sat there scratching. I called out to him again and again, however he just sat there scratching his head furiously. I used a sterner voice, hoping to get his attention. Suddenly my dog walked out from under the bed and sat in front of the Scratching Dog. He was completely oblivious to his doppelganger. I just laid there frozen, staring at my dog and what could only be explained as the creature from The Thing. What felt like minutes pass and then, suddenly, the Scratching Dog just f*****g vanishes.
That's when I remembered all the caffeine I drank in the evening and how it triggers my sleep related hallucinations. I called to my (hopefully) real dog and he hopped up on the bed and laid next to me. I struggled to fall back asleep, thankful I didn't have a full-blown episode of sleep paralysis.
Image credits: BatSquirrel
#29
My buddies old house was haunted and we would always hear foot steps, freaking floors, see a black figure around the house.(I didn't) One night we are all over and my friend who lives in the house dares someone to go into the basement. Me being the only one who didn't see s**t. Was fully willing to go to the basement. I got down there and waited for about 2 min. Then when I'm about to get out of the basement and see a shadow in the corner of my left eye. I snap to my left and see a large dark figure. Like not black. It seemed devoid of anything or any presence other then the cold that came over my body. As soon as i saw it my hairs jumped to a stand on my neck And froze. Just.... staring at it. The feeling was surreal. I can't put it into words at all. Then the feeling took a steep feeling into bloodlust. The way I feel it is that my heart pumps super fast and my body goes really warm. And everything just screams danger in my head. So I turn to my right and run towards the stairs. I look for half a second back at it for me to only see it just feet away. That's when everything in my body went wild and I just jumped up the stairs and ran for it up to the first floor where everyone is. Where I drop behind the arm chair staring at the stairs. While everyone's asking me what's wrong. Then finally everyone looks as I point to see the thing on the stairs towards the basement and we booked it towards the balcony with a siding door. We got out and we jumped over it landing Into his back yard. We looked up expecting to see if standing there but nothing.... nothing was there.
Image credits: CamoCoveSNIPER
#30
My friends and I broke into an abandoned "haunted house" when we were kids. It was in typical abandoned haunted house condition, some old furnature and other household junk. When we went down to the basement there was no light bulbs, so there was only natural daylight from the small windows - dark, but we could still see around. We didn't search very long because a piano that we couldn't see started playing. We ran out of the house, and though I didn't see it, a couple friends saw someone in the upstairs window as we ran back into the woods.As I typed this out for the first time ever, I'm wondering if the house wasn't even abandoned and someone living there decided to f**k with us instead of getting mad. Regardless I was spooked for days.
Image credits: Speechisanexperiment
#31
Friend's new house had a large basement. On one side, there was a really narrow doorway in the concrete that led to a small room, unfinished that was only large enough for maybe 4 people crammed in standing. The whole basement itself just felt super ominous, anyways. They said there had been a flood and the finishing had been torn out, to reveal it.
Image credits: DiligentDaughter
#32
When I was around six my family lived in a house with a big basement, split into two main sections. One of the sections wrapped around the other in kind of an L-shape. The bigger part of that section was pretty cool and held toys and other random stuff.There wasn't any lighting in the smaller section, and whoever lived there before us had left a large mirror all the way at the end of it. It was big and heavy so my parents never bothered removing it. It scared the s**t out of me every time I saw it because it was too dark to see anything besides my own faint, moving reflection.