Kids are not just hilarious and clever, they also have a talent for chatting with ghosts and concocting spine-chilling tales. It may sound far-fetched but there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that children can see apparitions because their minds aren’t yet restricted by societal norms or life experience.
Regardless of whether you believe it or not, the youngsters on our list below have shared some seriously scary ghost stories that would leave most grown-ups quaking in their boots!
1. The Big Guys
My sister got hit by a drunk driver in April and it totaled her car. She had my 4-year-old nephew and my infant niece with her. When my mom arrived at the hospital, my nephew asked her if he would thank the big guys.
What big guys Kaiden? Grammy, the big guys that were in the car with me when it got loud and scary and they hugged me with their arms and kept me safe. Even the insurance adjuster cannot explain how either child escaped with not a scratch.
2. 95th Birthday
My sister, Hailey, was born exactly two months after our great-grandmother died. One day Hailey woke up and informed us it was her 95th birthday. When we tried to reason with her she started crying, saying that her real name was Irene (my granny’s name), not Hailey. This lasted all day, and the next day she didn’t remember anything.
3. Imaginary Friend
My 4-year-old has an imaginary friend named John. He’s had him for a while, but a few months ago he came to me, completely serious, and said, “Big John said he loves you.” and then walked away. Now he has always referred to him as his Buddy John. For example, ” My buddy John and I….”
My grandfather’s name was John and everyone used to call him Big John. He passed away when I was 6 years old. We lived with him at the time of his passing and he was such a huge part of my life. I have never referred to him as Big John or even John when speaking about him, always just grandpa.
4. Creepy Painting
My family has recently moved to a new home in a new country. It was a well-furnished apartment, and in our bedroom was a painting that looked like hair free-flowing in the air. It wasn’t a pleasant or soothing painting, but I was trying to make peace with it. My son was 2½ years old then.
One day I was settling him down for an afternoon nap in my bedroom, when he said, ‘I don’t wanna sleep in this room.’ I asked him why, and he said, ‘This painting looks at me and tries to talk to me, and I don’t like it.
5. The Dead Baby
My daughter was three, and I was getting her ready for the day. She had been waking up with nightmares almost every night for a month or two. I asked what she wanted for breakfast, and she told me she wanted to share it with the dead baby in her closet.
I thought she meant one of her dolls, but when I pulled them out, she said “no, not a doll, the dead one that sleeps on the closet floor at night.”
6. Right Next To You
Not creepy, but sad. My best friend died and I was trying to get back to my hometown for the funeral. I got overwhelmed with grief and laid my head down on my desk and started crying. My daughter came into the kitchen and asked me what was wrong (she was 8 at the time).
I told her I was so sad because my friend died and I was missing her so much. My kiddo said, “don’t be so sad, mommy, she’s standing right next to you!” I still get goosebumps just thinking about it!
7. The Other Family
My 6-year-old came home from school one day, bursting through the door with tears streaming down her face. ‘I miss my other family,’ she said. ‘What other family?’ I asked, thinking she may have been talking about her grandparents, or other friends or relatives.
‘My alien robot family,’ she explained, continuing to explain that she lived with them in the sky before she came into my tummy. She chose to come down because she was angry with them, and chose our family, but now she missed them and wanted to go back for a visit.
8. You’ll Die At 33
Last year my daughter kept crying and telling me I was going to die at 33 like my dad. I never told her or remember telling anyone while she was around that my dad died when he was 33.
Well… I am 33 years old and I have to say I have been living carefully this year. Hoping to make it until next month when I turn 34.
9. The Nice One
The other week, I was reading my 2-year-old daughter a bedtime story. When we finished, we were talking about been scared of ghosts, monsters, trolls, etc. and she turned to me and said, ‘Daddy, I’m not scared of ghosts.’ I asked, ‘Why’s that?’ to which she replied, ‘Because the one that comes into my room at night and strokes my hair is a nice one.
10. Red-Eyed Man
We were on our way home to Alabama from Texas and my son was in the backseat and he said “Mommy, who’s the man in the backseat with me?” It was just us two. No one else with us (that I could see). I asked him to describe him and he said “he’s just black with red eyes. He’s scaring me.”
So, I pulled over and out his seat in the front with me and he said the man looked like he wanted to eat me when I moved him. So there’s that.
11. I Didn’t Choose This Life
My son always says odd things. Usually they’re funny but this one threw me for a loop.
He is 8. I was telling him how much I love him and thanks for being in my life. He said. I didn’t choose this life. I couldn’t control how it began. But I can control how it ends.
12. An Angel
My youngest now 5 started talking super early; like full sentence talking, everyone was shocked by how well he talked for his age (3 older siblings). So at a year in a half, he would tell me he begged God to let me be his mommy.
He would say things like “I was an angel in heaven” and “I had another mommy but I wanted you”, “I’m so glad God let you be my mommy”. We weren’t super religious at the time and I just hadn’t found a church so it was really random to hear him talk about God, heaven, and Angels especially before my other kids actually learned about religion.
13. The Old Mommy
When my youngest daughter was about 2-3 we were just talking and she said, “I died all by myself” I asked her why she was talking about. She said, “Not when you was my mommy, when I lived with my old mommy. She had brown skin and so did I. The spider bit me and I died all by myself!” She is deathly afraid of spiders still and she is almost 13!!
14. The Strangest Compliment Ever
A little neighbor kid I used to babysit was quietly playing with his toys when, without looking up, he says to me, “You look so different now.” I had to ask him what he meant. “You mean how different I look with makeup?” And he said, “No, a long long time ago. A LONG long time ago.”
He seemed frustrated like he couldn’t find the right words. He then looked up, studied my face, and said, “Well, not that different. You’re still pretty.” It was the strangest compliment I’ve ever received.
15. Skinned Babysitter
I regularly babysit two girls, 3 and 5 years old. Both blonde with huge blue eyes and big smiles, they are the creepiest people I have ever met. Once, after I picked them up from daycare, I tried to get them excited for dinner, seeing as they don’t normally eat that much when I’m there.
I asked them in an overly excited voice, ‘Hey guys, what do you want for dinner?’ The eldest looks at me, runs away, and hides behind a corner; sticking her head out, she whispers, ‘I want a skinned babysitter.
16. “I Can Play With You”
I work at a summer camp and one day I was playing with this kid who was jumping off of things and onto me. I said: “Hey, be careful. If you kill me I can’t play with you anymore.” He looked me dead in the eyes and said: “No, but I can play with you.”
17. A Murderer
My friend’s 7-year-old kid pretended to put me in jail. Our conversation went something like this:
Me: “What did I do? Forget to brush my teeth? Didn’t do my homework?”
Her: “You murdered a 23-year-old woman while she was jogging in the early morning.”
Me: “….”
18. Dead People
Living just in front of a crematorium. My 2-year-old ran into my room and said, “Mommy come meet my new friend Eric in my closet he said he thinks he’s dead!” Turned out a 6-year-old boy had passed away a few days before that.
She’s been obsessed with death and ghosts ever since. Driving down the road a few months ago there were some road workers on the other side near some woods. She says, “Mommy, those men are looking for the dead body in the woods. The bad man killed him.”
Oddly I believed her. Sure enough, someone had been found in those exact woods a few years prior to that. She’s always telling me about dead people and how they died.
19. The Dead Dog
This wasn’t creepy for me but when my daughter was 3 she told me she had played with a dog before in her room. She said the dog was brown, tan, and white. I had to put down my husky 2 weeks before my daughter was born the same exact color. She didn’t know at age 3 that I had had a dog those colors.
20. Well, That Was Disturbing
I was out with my little puppy. A kid of about four years old came up to me, excited to pet her. His dad said, ‘Be gentle’ as the kid was heavily hitting her head, thinking he was stroking her nicely, as kids do.
Then the kid looked at me and said, ‘If I hug it really hard, all its blood and guts will come out everywhere.’ The dad excused them both and left.
21. Possessed
My daughter used to sleepwalk badly. One night I woke up to her standing above me and just staring at me. I said, “Jayla, are you okay?” She started talking in gibberish which sounded a lot like a possessed person from scary movies.
I set up slowly, and said, “What?” Then she spoke jibberish again. I grabbed her hand and led her back to bed, and tucked her in. I didn’t sleep the rest of that night and worried I was going to have a real-life exorcism take place in my home.
22. Right Behind You
I was babysitting my brothers and one of them called me in once I finished getting them a drink and so on my other brother said in a really freaked out way “It’s standing right behind you” I have never in my life felt so scared I ended up making them sleep on the couch until mum came home.
23. Come See The Man
I do in-home daycare and was watching my cousin’s 3 kids along with my usual 3. They all ranged from ages 1-5 years old. At the time, I was living in my grandma’s old house. They were all playing in the kitchen when they screamed and came running to me.
They all kept saying “Come see the man! Come see the man!” So I followed them to the kitchen where they all pointed at the attic and asked if I could see the man.
Completely freaked me out for the next 3 months that I lived there…
24. You Don’t Tell Me No
I upset my, then 3-year-old, daughter. She stood at the foot of my bed, glaring at me, mumbling, “You don’t tell me no, you never tell me no, you will be sorry, you will see”.
I have never been so afraid of my child, or to fall asleep, as I was that night. She and I laugh about it now. (She turned out to be a bright, funny, well-adjusted person. No troubled youth).
25. Satan
Not a parent but I was kinda freaked by this. I was waiting for a bus a few weeks ago and a little girl skipped up to me she was ahead of her mother and she smiled at me so I did the polite thing and smiled back she then looked at me with a dead straight face and said “Satan Says Hi And He Can’t Wait To Meet You In A Few Years” and then she skipped away leaving me shock think I’ll be keeping myself safe as much as I can.
26. Hi Kevin
My youngest brother Kevin died 4 years before my son was born. When my son was about 2, my other brother (Kevin’s twin, Rob) came to visit. When my son saw Rob, his first words were “hi Kevin”. We hadn’t talked about Kevin by name before that.
27. You’re Going To Die
My 3-year-old son and I were walking in a crowded mall. He likes to say “hi” to everyone. He started “hi,” “hi,” “hi,” as people walked by, but out of nowhere he pointed at a man and said: “You’re going to die,” and then he continued with his hellos. Super creepy.
28. Thanks A Lot!
“Mom want some Chapstick?! Its lemon cherry!”
“OK that sounds great!” (It’s January and my kids always have Chapstick and my lips are scorched!)
-smearing it all over my lips it feels so good and ya… it IS lemon cherry!-
“Thanks Anna! You are awesome!”
“You’re welcome mom. I found this one on the bus today!”
29. I Like Them Raw
Before starting first grade, my oldest daughter was talking to me…
“Mommy, I hope my new classroom has a pet that we get to bring home on the weekends, like a cute bunny.”
Enter creepy, aka my youngest. In an entirely serious voice, deadpan face…
“I like mine raw.”
Me…
“A, I hope your new class DOESN’T have any pets.”
30. Fixing The Brother
When my daughter was 3, I let her and her brother who was 5, sleep on a big pallet of blankets in the living room because they had fallen asleep after watching a movie and didn’t want to wake them.
The next morning she said, “Mom, I saw the two ladies come down from the back of the couch and they were working on my brother. She said they were fixing him.”
31. The Lady That Tickles My Feet
This was my cousin a while ago…He was maybe 6? He had been telling his mom that a lady comes in his room and tickles his feet at night. Everyone was like, okaaaaay?
Then one day they were going through old family photos and he came across a photo of his grandmother who had passed away when he was a baby. He pointed to the photo and told his mom, ‘THAT’S the lady that tickles my feet!’ Still spooks me to think about it.
32. Bye, Bye, Babies!
We were walking in the local cemetery (it was originally designed as a park) and my lo [little one] pointed out where the children’s section was by saying, ‘Bye bye babies’. I had not told him those were the children’s graves…
33. Another Set of Parents
My four-year-old daughter insisted one night that she has another set of parents. I told her a couple times that we are her only mommy and daddy and she was getting really frustrated with me.
I asked her what made her think she had another mommy and daddy. She told me they went to the store one day without her and she felt alone and looked for them. She said it was dark and got cold. Then she hugged me and said ‘And now I live with you!’ Among other creepy things, but that’s by far the most WTF one.
34. Past Life
My oldest is named after my father who died before I had my kids. When my oldest was younger he would say ‘remember when I would sing to you when you were a baby?’ And kind of smile like he was remembering a happy memory.
35. Worms
My son made me explain to him in detail what happens after a person dies and how a body decomposes. Now he likes to randomly say ‘worms are gonna eat my body one day!’ and his little sister always gets scared and runs away.
36. Damn It, Disney!
From my four-year-old: ‘If you don’t like somebody, you can just get rid of them with a knife.’ This turned out to stem from his ‘Beauty and the Beast’ obsession.
He stopped saying it once I pointed out that Gaton’s plan didn’t really work since the Beast comes back to life. But now he keeps asking me questions about dying and death. Damn it, Disney!
37. “Are you going to die today?”
My 4yr old daughter asked a restaurant worker ‘Are you going to die today?’ She smiled as she said it, too.
38. Remember That Time?
Picked him up from daycare when he was 3. Driving home, totally quiet, him just staring out the window…He randomly asks, “Hey dad, ‘member that time we died in a fire?”
39. Monster Under The Bed
My 3-year-old daughter was going through the monsters under her bed phase. Lasted for weeks, and it was really wearing on her mom & me.
One night after mom tried to put her to bed, she tagged me in. After 30 minutes, I grew pretty frustrated. In a last-ditch attempt, I promised my daughter that there weren’t any monsters under her bed. She replied, “I know. Now they’re behind you.” After that, I let her sleep with us for a week.
40. On Fire
A kid once sat near a campfire and seemed to be lost in thoughts. I asked what he is thinking about. This 6-year-old said “I wish I was high up in space and the whole world was on fire. That would be beautiful.”
41. Fake Mommy
When my oldest son was about three he asked one night at bedtime. “Mommy I like you better than my fake mommy”. Me “Who’s your fake mommy?” Him “You can’t see her. She tucks me in after you do.”
42. “Yes, Papa”
My three-year-old son said, “Next time I’m a baby, I want to have green eyes.” I asked him if he had been a different baby before being who he currently is, and he squinted his eyes, looked at me like I was an idiot, and said, “Yes, papa.”
43. Fingers Crossed…
I have twin daughters. One day while playing outside, one looked up at the sky and said, “The sky is cracked… and on fire.”
My other daughter looked up and said, “Yes…. the people are screaming.”
Then they went back to playing with dolls. Fingers crossed they’re not predicting the future, everybody!
44. “I Want To Wear It On My Face”
When my daughter was around 4 yrs old, she had a habit of waking me up by getting 4 inches from my face and staring at me until I opened my eyes. Once my eyes opened, she’d say, “Mommy your face is pretty. I want to wear it on my face.”
Ok, Hannibal, let’s get some breakfast.
45. That’s Enough
It’s one in the morning, I’m dead asleep with my wife in the living room reading. All of a sudden the baby monitor is blaring my 16-month-old son’s laughter in my ear, so I jump up, run into his room, and he’s standing in his crib pointing at the corner of the room and giggling hysterically.
I just stared at him for a few seconds before I grabbed him and put him in bed with me.
46. Goodbye
When my special needs son was 10, he had to have a very serious surgery. It was an 8-hour procedure and it was a pretty risky operation. We did not tell him these risks.
Right before they wheeled him into surgery, he hugged me and said “Goodbye. Forever…”. He made it through and his quality of life was dramatically improved by the surgery. Scariest 8 hours of my life though.
47. He Predicts The Future
A few weeks ago I was getting breakfast ready for my 3-year-old when he nonchalantly told me his Grandma fell down the stairs. About an hour later Grandpa calls us to tell us Grandma had fallen down the stairs.
Also last weekend my 3-year-old said my sister was going to visit the next day and guess who showed up for a ‘surprise’ visit…
48. Round And Round
I was asking my 3-year-old if he remembered being born then I asked him if he remembered what happened before he was born (because of Reddit threads like this and the creepy answers they sometimes give).
Without missing a beat or any prompting from me other than the question he goes, “I was in a helicopter that go round and round and round then BOOM into the ground!”
49. Big Dark Scary Man
He went through this phase of being absolutely terrified of going to sleep in his room (I’m sure all kids go through this eventually). I babysat a couple of times during this phase – we basically had to sit beside his bed and help him fall asleep, and he’d usually wake up shortly after you left the room and start crying.
His reason? “The big dark scary man standing in the corner with red eyes doesn’t want me to sleep.”
