Working in isolation is often comfortable, but it gets terrifying when you have uninvited guests nearby. For these workers on Reddit who work in isolation, everyday feels like it’s Halloween. Read the experiences of these dauntless employees who once felt they were the main character of some horror flick.
1. Not A Stalker
I work in a high-security building that has a lot of expensive equipment. If you want to get to my office, you have to walk through four doors that require keycard access. It's very quiet and clean. White walls. Nobody is around. Compared to the room’s enormousness, the number of furniture inside is insignificant. Gray floors. An open ceiling, so you can see the ducts. Sounds inside echo.
I was working alone when I noticed that there was a guy in the building. He was wearing the same shirt that the maintenance personnel wears. But it was weird because it was really late at night on a Saturday. He was also wearing jeans even though the maintenance people always wear black pants. He kind of gave me the creeps, so I closed my office door and stayed there. I could hear the echoes from him, walking back and forth for a while. He tried the handle on my office door twice. I heard the beep as he tried to open my office door with a keycard twice.
It turns out that he didn't work there. He is the grown son of one of the workers. He was there walking around the building and trying to steal stuff. But his dad's keycard won't open any offices because it's a handyman card with limited access. Well, handymen have to make appointments and you have to let them in, unlike cleaning people or the techs maintaining the servers who can open any door. He got caught on camera and security checked to see who's card had tried to open the doors. The guy was fined for trespassing. His dad got fired.
sleepytimeghee
2. The Fright Down Under
My major has a computer lab located two stories underground. We call this “The Dungeon.” One night around 2AM, I went down the hall to get some water. As I was filling up my water bottle, the last light at the end of the hall turned on.
These lights use motion sensors, so there was a dark gap between me and this last light way down the hall.
I was a bit creeped out. Then, I saw something move in the darkness between me and that light. I headed back quickly.
Wess_is_Bestin
3. Freaky Hunter
I work at the Discovery Channel Telescope in the middle of the Coconino National Forest. A typical night is usually composed by myself, a telescope operator, and an astronomer. One night during hunting season, there was a curious elk that was wandering around the security fence perimeter. I could hear it bungle over the audio feed from the observation deck. It was crunching around when we went outside. This lasted for about 30 minutes before it wandered off. About an hour later, we heard several gunshots nearby. This is bad because there is no hunting permitted for 1.5 miles around the facility. Signs are posted everywhere. Given that the astronomer that night was taking a long exposure (~2 hours each image), I decided to go walk around the inside perimeter of the security fence.
I had my red LED headlamp on and kept seeing the glistening eyes of the elk all around the facility. Seemed to me like they were wanting to come in to hide from the hunters. Creepy, but not the worst part. I did the same thing about an hour later. I walked in the inner perimeter and looked for the eyes. They were all gone. As I'm about to head back in, I hear someone clear his throat standing at the entrance to the facility. This dude simply asked, "You seen 'dem elk round here. I've been watching 'em come up the hill. Really need some elk." I informed him that I haven't seen them, but he called me a liar and said I was protecting them.
He sat there at the gate until twilight. Then, he wandered off into the woods. I told the forest service about it the next day. They said they have had reports of a man going into people's property and stalking prey, even going as far as hanging out on their porches. We now have infrared cameras outside the observatory and heavy duty security features on the entrances because of that weirdo.
AstroSlip
4. Foreboding Footsteps
My workspace is a former madhouse built by monks. It had been turned into a hospital for personnel who fought during World War II. Lots of spooky history. A huge building with long hallways and a stern 1920s architecture. Brick archways, ugly sculptures of dead monks.
I usually work late – until 3 in the morning – and I am usually the last person to leave the building. One night during winter, I locked my room and went to the exit. All the lights were off, the wind was howling.
Suddenly, I heard the sound of footsteps from a distance. Lots of running footsteps. Then, it was quiet again. I went down a few stairs. There, I saw little red lights blinking on the other side of a long dark hallway just for a moment. Then, they were gone.
I was pretty freaked out at this point, so I walked faster towards the exit. Then, I heard those footsteps again! I turned to one corner, and suddenly, a bunch of kids were screaming in my face. I almost had a heart attack. It turned out the kids were playing laser tag. They borrowed the keys to the building from one of their parents. They had these laser guns with red lights to shoot each other with, and they were chasing each other through the dark building. They thought the building was deserted and almost crapped themselves when this big guy in a trench coat suddenly appeared in front of them.
warumbel
5. Strangers In Your Shower
This is not so much about working in isolation: When I lived in a residence at the school, I would wait until 2 or 3AM to shower because it was the only time when the bathroom was unoccupied.
The building I was living in used to be a psychiatric residence for children, so I was always kind of spooked while walking around at night.
One night, I was showering at 3AM. Very clearly, I saw the shadow of a person reaching towards the middle of the shower curtain. I immediately slid it open, but there was no one there.
Nofoofro
6. Live Prank
I worked overnight as a master control operator during my youth. One night around 3AM, I caught sight of the camera aimed at the back door. There’s someone standing there, wearing a mask from the movie “Scream,” staring at the camera and not moving.
I went to the back door – magnetically sealed and a deadbolt overnight – and looked out the peephole. There’s no one there. I headed back to the control room. Then I saw them walk back into frame, wave at the camera, and then walk away. I called the cops. They found nothing. The camera doesn’t record. It was only live feed.
Phantom_61
7. Pitch Black
I worked as a lab student in Alert, Nunavut. I was there for my second term. The lab I worked at was an atmospheric lab, so it was far from the main base – maybe around 5 km. Around the lab, there were ‘lifelines’ leading to all of our instruments outside. However, on this particular Wednesday – flasking day – it was a little stormy but nothing too serious. Since I was a student, I did all of the outside flasking. Basically I loaded up a sleigh with evacuated flasks and would walk about 300m from the lab. I would open up the flasks and then walk back to the lab. We then would send them south for analysis.
Since we had to ensure that we got the best samples, we always had to walk into the wind. That means no lifeline. It was coming from a different direction every time. On this Wednesday, I had my little headlamp, walked out, and pulled my sleigh into the darkness. It was January then, so it was total darkness.
I was a couple hundred meters out and everything went....dark. I turned around, the lab was gone, the station was gone, our truck was gone. I was alone with only a headlamp and a sleigh of empty glass flasks. I panicked. I have no radio, no phone, and no clue where anything is. The wind was strong enough that I couldn’t even find my tracks. I accepted my fate and just stayed put, my heart racing. This is it. This is how I die.
After the longest two minutes of my life, the power comes back on.
OldGreySweater
8. The Creepiest of Them All
In all my years as a locksmith, I've been in plenty of uncomfortable situations. Domestic disputes, business breakups. I've been in plenty of places someone would tell me was haunted. I would just think they were nuts. Then, I go about doing my job as fast as I can to get away from them. There was only one time in my 20 years did I ever feel like I was in a haunted place. This house was probably built in the 1930s – all brick, directly next to a main road.
Walking into that place, you could feel the air change. With every door open, it felt like air didn't move at all. Usually in my work, slamming doors were a constant. I'm standing at one door, someone else opens a door in the house, and interior doors slam because of the pressure change. Unblocked interior doors did not do that in this place.
From the moment I walked back into that house, I felt like I was being watched. It was silent. Several times, I felt like something was reaching for me. That electric tingle you get watching someone slowly move their hand to your body. I went into overdrive and hauled as fast as I could. Job done. The funny thing was, I had probably passed that place a thousand times. Like I said, it was a heavily traveled main road. It was in an isolated stretch and I hardly noticed it.
I realized this when passing it a few weeks later. Even though it was obviously there and easy to see, I still managed to overlook it. It's like a place that didn't want to be seen. A couple of months later, I got back to the shop and noticed a coworker had been there that day. This guy was a former marine gym rat. He came in later. I asked him what he thought of that house. He made a face like I asked him about his worst memory and said that was the creepiest house he'd ever been in. I just let it go, but I also never went back there.
ZazzlesPoopsInABox
9. Car-Haunting
This happened a few years ago when I was working at a car dealership.Our business had just moved into a new lot down the road. The cars were parked in an open air parking garage. One way in and one way out with one set of stairs right by the entrance. I'm hanging out at the entrance when I heard a car door slam. I found it strange since no cars had driven in, and no one had gone up the stairs. So I started walking up the stairs and heard another door slam shut. I'm thinking, “WTF is happening?!” The next day, I told my coworkers what happened and they all think I'm just delusional.
Fast forward a week later, I had to travel down the road to another dealership to pick up some parts. I had just moved out from where my company had moved in. I walked down to the parts department to take the parts assigned to me. As I'm walking away, the guy behind the counter asks if I've worked the night shift yet at our new place. I told him I had, and he quickly responded with "Be safe, that place is haunted.” I immediately got goosebumps, and proceeded to tell him what I had experienced just a week prior. He said it was normal, so get used to it. Freaked the hell out of me.
SpicyCryptoGuy
10. It Was Empty All Along
I work as a medical personnel, assigned as one-to-one in a hospital. This is to watch the patients to make sure that they do not rip out their tubes. I was working every night, so it’s basically a patient and myself in a dark room.
One night, I was with a patient in a double room. But the other bed was empty, though I couldn’t see the other bed because a curtain divided the beds for privacy.
In the middle of the night, the nurse came in and asked if I needed anything because my call bell light was on.
I then told her that I never pressed the button. What’s shocking is that the bell was from an empty bed. The nurse just said, “Oh, that’s creepy” and just left. I was freaked out the rest of the night!
cracken735
11. Look Under The Table
I used to work as a night janitor at a student union. Skirting tables for events was part of the gig. I was scanning my floor for what needed to be done that night. Then, I went into a room annex. It was a long, thin room with one wall entirely made of glass facing the river.
I approached a skirted table that's against the glad wall and heard a snore. Sounds funny though. I think it's on my radio. I assumed someone fell asleep at work and rolled the talk button on. Standing there for a few seconds trying to figure it out, I realized there's a homeless man sleeping under the table.
His snoring was climbing the glass window and bouncing off from the ceiling. That's why, I couldn't figure out where the sound was coming from.
If you've ever thought you were completely alone, you were only bound to find out that you're within arms distance from another person. Your body becomes one big goosebump. It was freaky.
stapletowny
12. Photography Turns Prey Game
I was photographing waterfalls in a deep basin alone from 6pm-10:30pm. The trail that came in was right up against a rock. It faces straight up over 400 feet high. When I was heading back up, there were bare wet human footprints up the stones of the trail. I got to a spot where I saw muddy footprints leading into the bush.
A few moments later, I heard a blood curdling scream from the same bushes. It sounded like a mountain lion. They are common in the area. I ran faster than I’ve ever ran before. I called the rangers to my mile marker. I’ve checked back since then. No missing persons reports have been filed, nor was anyone’s car in that area that night. Easily one of the scariest experiences I’ve had.
USMC_MissileMan
13. That Elevator Needs Exorcism
I don't really work in isolation – but most nights by the time I leave work, it's pretty late. There are very few people left around. I usually leave by myself. One night, I got into the elevator alone and pressed the button for the ground floor. The elevator stopped at the ground floor, but the doors didn't open. Then, it went to the top floor. It just started going back and forth between the top floor and the ground floor without ever stopping to open the doors.
I clicked the alarm button in the elevator and got on the line with the security. They were sympathetic, but the only solution they could offer was to just keep trying different floors until the elevator stopped. So that's what I did, but I had no luck until I tried the second floor. In my building, the second floor is famous for how creepy it is. The elevator area is the only area that looks "finished,” the rest appears to be under construction yet completely abandoned at the same time.
The elevator area has dark, blood red walls and very dim lighting. This is the only lighting on the entire floor. Even when the elevators aren't going completely haywire, they'll stop on the second floor and open the doors every now and then without any explanation. It has been that way for the last three years I've worked there.
So, it's only fitting that my runaway elevator would finally stop and let me out on this creepy floor. Security told me to just wait there for them to come get me. During that crazy elevator ride, I kept thinking, "This is the scariest thing that has ever happened to me." But I was wrong. Those long agonizing minutes of standing there, alone, on the second floor, squinting into the dark corners of that evil place were the most terrifying moments of my life. The elevators still inexplicably stop on that floor from time to time. I don't believe in anything supernatural, but if I did, I'd say there's something on that floor that wants to get people.
little_bear_
14. So That’s It!
I've been working in my trade for about 20 years. It can be difficult to focus when all the young bucks are asking you questions with blaring terrible music on the side. So I always started working when everyone else leaves for the night.
I also started hearing sounds upstairs like people talking, walking, or opening doors. I dismissed it as my imagination for a few days, but it was too much to ignore.
I started investigating when I would hear things. Never found anything. I even thought I was going crazy. Turns out, one of the guys that lived near the shop made a hole and nested up in the attic to hide from his girlfriend like some kinda dumb version of the Phantom of the Opera.
LeJack37
15. Zack Made Us Quit
I was working once as a security guard for a private firm. I was guarding a small building with only one floor, a fence, a gate and a small garden. There were only five rooms, including the main lobby, an office, and a few other storage rooms as well as a basement.
I was always on duty alone at this place. I was in the lobby one night as always, using my laptop doing nothing, and expecting nothing. I hear a knock at the lobby doors. I head to the door and find no one. Like nothing at all. The gate is shut and locked up tight. I checked around and headed back to the desk. Soon after, I hear the door open from the office behind me. I grabbed my flashlight and my gun and headed to the door. It is open, but no one is inside.
Feeling a little freaked out, I sat back down. Rather than get my laptop, I closed it and put it away. I sat silent in the dark. The only light I saw was from the street. I listened to the rain pouring outside, hitting the glass, doors, and the roof. I hear footsteps and find no one behind me. I heard knocking and stayed put. Finally, I heard breathing right behind me. I got up and did a quick 180-degree turn, expecting to see someone. Nothing! I sat there for hours, terrified, hearing all kinds of noises and sounds. There was even a feeling of someone touching me at one point. When 6AM came, I was out. I quit that job. I talked to my boss about it. He told me I wasn't the first to experience that. He also said that it was probably Zack. I asked who Zack was, he told me he didn't know. That was just what the first guy to quit called it.
Marakath
16. Singing Through Doors
I worked overnight at two different 24-hour residential treatment centers for teens, also known as “poltergeist soups.”
We, the staff and clients, would see and hear things and people during the middle of the night. Almost every night.
I remember when I worked at a drug and alcohol rehab facility. That place used to be a nunnery attached to a church. I used to hear women singing through our speakers. Their song communicated with our doorbell for visiting hours. I could see it through the window of the door from where I would be sitting. There was never anything there.
bananabugs
17. Who’s Amanda?
I worked every night in an adolescent Residential Treatment Center for a short period of time. About a week into the job, I was told about "Amanda." Amanda was a resident from around 10 years ago. She hanged herself in the shower. According to my coworkers, she would sometimes make appearances at night in the form of a whimpering sound. They would usually hear Amada in the supply room. On very rare occasions, she would actually appear in the corner of the hallway near her old room. I blew off the story, thinking they were just messing with the new guy until...
About two months later, I was doing rounds while my shift partner took a smoke break. I was checking if the kids were asleep when I saw a girl sitting in the corner of the hallway with her arms around knees, her face slumped on her knees. Something about her body language told me she was really sad.
I tried to approach her, but heard a noise behind me. I checked and found nothing awry. When I looked back to the corner, the girl was gone. When my coworker returned from his smoke break, I told him what I saw. He said, “Yep, that's Amanda."
WE_Coyote73
18. Sketchy Shadows
I was working for two jobs on Black Friday. After my first job was over around 12AM-6AM, I headed to my other job. It was at a local bead shop in an old house. It was still dark when I got there. We didn’t open until 10, so I went inside to sleep on the futon upstairs for a couple hours.
When I opened the back door, I could see the silhouette of a person standing in the back room. They were about 20 feet away from me. The street light was shining through the window behind them, and I could see it perfectly.
I froze for a couple seconds thinking someone had broken in. I flipped on the light by the door. The silhouette vanished as soon as the light came on. I said, “Oh screw that!” then went to sleep in my car instead.
JennIsFit
19. Screaming Stunt
I used to work overnight as a dispatcher/system monitoring. Most days, we had two people per shift, unless someone was sick or something. Most nights were completely uneventful. Basically, we did nothing for eight hours. One night around 1AM, I heard a scream as if some girl is being murdered. My coworker and I both started checking cameras, but we found nothing. I grabbed my radio and started running through the building to find this girl. I ran down to the first floor before I realized it was coming from the back of the parking lot.
I exited the building, expecting to fight someone with a knife or see a body of a rape victim or some other thing. What I actually found is a girl who’s alone in her car, just screaming and crying. I found out she "just wanted to vent" and "was seriously okay." She thought no one would be in the office park at 1AM. I promptly told her to knock it off as it was absolutely terrifying and to just leave.
It was not really that scary, creepy, or strange at the end, but it was absolutely the worst two minutes of my life when I was trying to find the origin of the scream.
TenebraeSoul
20. Outlandish Rituals
I was working in the villages of Malawi in Africa when I came to one very isolated and remote community. The children stopped going to school because of the witch doctors who were terrorizing them. If they caught the kids, they would take the kids into the cemetery and do crazy things. They also terrorized the widows and other members of the community. When they told me the story, I thought they might be exaggerating a bit. I didn’t ever feel scared when I was in the villages. Since they are cut off from technology, I thought maybe it was just a bit of folklore passed down to create fear.
Then one day, I was sitting on a banana fiber mat with a widow while drinking tea. I couldn’t speak the tribal language, so we just smiled and drank together in silence and peace. All of a sudden, I heard this grunting sound. An electric bolt of fear crept down my body. I can’t even explain how intense this fear was. It’s like I just froze and couldn’t even turn around. I just FELT evil and darkness around me.
These witch doctors surrounded us for a while. They just grunted, hissed, and made animal noises. We didn’t move an inch. We never turned around. They were literally right behind us. All I could think the entire time was I’d feel a spear in my neck any second. After a while, they left and eventually my transportation arrived. A few other Americans in other villages were also picked up along with me. When I got in the car, I couldn’t speak for a while on what had happened. My words and stories don’t do justice to what I felt that day. I never knew darkness like that existed - but it does.
SunsetDreams1111