15 Stories of Terrifying Things That Happened To People While They Were Home Alone

On July 16, Reddit user u/Joobanbooban asked fellow Redditors who are part of the r/AskReddit Community, “What is the most terrifying thing you’ve ever experienced while home alone?”

In an instant, the Reddit thread went quickly viral and as of July 26, has over 15,600 comments. While I’m pretty almost every single one of us have various recollections of scary things that happened while we were home alone, all of these stories listed here (and ones from the Reddit thread that didn’t make the cut for this article) will have you feeling scared or ass if you are in a horror movie. There are also a few Home Alone Stories featured on here that might even give you a laugh.

Now, without further adieu, let’s take a look down below and read the following 15 Stories Depicting Moments Where People Realized “This Person Is On Another Level of Stupid”:

1. Home Alone Story #1 – The Burglar Came In While This Person Was Making a Midnight Quesadilla:

“When I was young, I came home from a party in the middle of the night, when my dad were out of town. I started making a midnight quesadilla when I heard someone cough in the basement. I yelled and ran outside, and they took off through the back yard.

Come to find out, my dad’s ex gfs daughter stole her key to our house and came to rob us. She was busted a couple years later doing this to her SIL.”

–Redditor BasicSpeech

One of the questions I want to ask is how were those midnight quesadillas?

2. Home Alone Story #2 – The Tragic Event Involving The Cleaning Lady:

“The cleaning lady tried to commit suicide in our bathroom. She died four days later.”

–Redditor Crooked_cook420

3. Home Alone Story #3 – A Drunk Woman Launched A Hammer Through This Person’s Window:

“When I was like 14, I was home alone one night around 10pm stood in my kitchen making some cereal. It’s dark outside and then all of a sudden the loudest sound. Some drunk woman literally launched a hammer through my kitchen window. Was so loud and glass was everywhere. I followed her down the street whilst calling the police. Pretty strange.

(Edit for everyone asking why I followed) – So the reason I actually followed her was because you could see really clearly through the smashed window as it was now wide open. She looked like a very fragile little old crackhead lady that could barely walk or see straight and she started stumbling away mumbling some shit once she had done it. Plus I didn’t really know how the fuck I was gunna explain this shit to my parents if I didn’t have a solid answer haha. But yes, it was a very distressed walk whilst following her. Definitely an action caused by adrenaline too.”

–Redditor Bobbiejo29

4. Home Alone Story #4 – The Explosion At The Petrochemical Plant Near This Person’s House:

“One evening an explosion at a petrochemical plant (located a mile from my house) blew out the double window in my living room while I was in the room. I definitely thought we were being bombed until I remembered where I live.

I had just let my dog out to the backyard and he was completely traumatized. For the following two months I had to carry him outside and sit in the grass with pieces of chicken just so he would potty.

Edit to add: My house is currently for sale for unrelated reasons!”

–Redditor Fireflyfly3

5. Home Alone Story #5 – The Creepy and Fat Naked Man:

“This happened just a few hours ago and then I was laughing about it just from the absurdity of the situation but now I’m a bit creeped out. I live in the outskirts of a small rural town with low crime. My neighbors are hoarders and their junk clutters their yard. It’s storming pretty severely with rain wind crazy lightning ECT. Enter morbidly obese naked man. Just walking in the street, peering at the junk hoard, looks in the neighbors window…starts going through their wet soggy junk. Notices my house and goes behind our tree trying to peek in the window of my room. Must’ve seen my light on because off he goes to the tune of thunder down the road peeping in other windows. What the actual f***?”

–Redditor SternSiegel

6. Home Alone Story #6 – The One Involving Jehovah Witnesses:

“Two Jehovah witnesses just walked into my bungalow and started being aggressive and pushy about their beliefs. I think they thought that because I was young and used a wheelchair i would be an easy target. They only left when I threatened to call the police.”

–Redditor Blackcat1206

7. Home Alone Story #7 – The One With The Sex Offender:

“I was a teenager who was home alone during the day because I was sick, and the neighborhood sex offender (who I’m still wondering how in the fuck he moved around KIDS. We lived in a town of about 50 so…) started knocking on my door, tried to OPEN the fucking door, and went around to all of our doors trying to open them to get in. Freaky as f***.

My Dad taught me how to use his handgun in case he ever tried that shit again.”

–Redditor SkywardSoldier

8. Home Alone Story #8 – A Mentally Ill Man Broke Into This Redditor’s Home:

“A couple years back I woke up at 3am to see someone walk past my bedroom door, I called out in my just woken up, not thinking haze thinking maybe my boyfriend had come over while I was sleeping but got no response so knew it wasn’t him.

Got out of bed, stupidly forgetting to take my phone or any kind of defensive item with me and went into the front room where the light was on to be met with a random guy staring at one of the walls, I asked him who he was and got no answer.

At this point I’d actually woken up enough to realise I could really be in trouble so ran back to the bedroom, grabbed my phone and ran outside on the phone to the police who showed up within a few minutes. Turns out the guy was mentally ill and to this day neither myself or the police know how he got in.”

–Redditor Strebork

9. Home Alone Story #9 – The Tongs:

“You know those tongs in the kitchen that have a spring but a latch to keep them together. I had a pair of those and I put the latch on and put them down on the counter. I went away for a bit and came back and then they jumped off the counter at me. Biggest jump scare of my life. The latch had come undone and they sprung open. But in the millisecond when inanimate objects suddenly come to life and jump at you don’t realise this and totally freak out.”

–Redditor Cyanophage

Please note that this Home Alone Story was included in here as something terrifying that someone experienced but had a humorous ending.

10. Home Alone Story #10 – The Intruder Threatened To Break Down The Door Since He Was After The Previous Renter:

“When I was 19 in my first apartment I had someone knock at the door. I looked through the peep hole and saw this burley, heavy set man who abruptly started screaming to let him in. He was screaming things like he was going to beat my ass, and kick the door down if I didn’t open. I called the cops and as soon as someone got on the phone he started body slamming my door to break in. I was freaking out and crying as they quickly had 5 cops show up within 5+ minutes. As soon as he heard the sirens he quickly walked away and they met him at the bottom of the stairs. Apparently he was after the previous renter but was extremely intoxicated. They arrested him and thankfully he never came back. I ended up breaking my lease and moving out 3 months later.

It was in a very nice neighborhood but it quickly made me wish I was back home with family instead of being on the other side of the United States.”

–Redditor Hic-et-nunc-

11. Home Alone Story #11 – The Lady With Free Pizza:

“When I was like 9 my parents were both at work one day and I was chilling at home by myself when the intercom rang (we lived in an apartment block). It was some lady asking if I’ve ordered a pizza. I calmly told her that I didn’t. Then she said, “Oh… Well, do you want a free pizza? Just let me in and I’ll give it to you”.

An Open Letter To My Best Friend Who I Haven’t Seen In Awhile

9 year old me was fucking terrified by this. Not because I found the idea of free pizza particularly scary, but because my dad used to tell me really drastic cautionary tales for why I shouldn’t open the door to strangers (and other stuff). So I was genuinely convinced that the woman wanted to come in so she could murder me.”

–Redditor SciFi_Pie

12. Home Alone Story #12 – When This Person Was Young, She Thought The Robber Was Santa:

“I was home alone on Christmas Eve, my parents had gone out to grab some last minute things. I was about 6 or so, and was just playing with my toys in my room when I heard heavy feet walking around. I remember sneaking out of my room and peaking around the corner to see a large figure with shiny black boots walking around. I thought it was Santa, and I was awake so I panicked internally. I snuck back to my room, put my toys away and then I went to bed. I found out when I was 16 that it wasn’t my parents trying to convince me that Santa was real, and that they had no idea what I was talking about. A guy had broken in to our house, but he thought no one was home and thankfully didn’t look around too much.”

–Redditor Saradsvib

13. Home Alone Story #13 – Who The People Hopping This Person’s Fence Turned Out To Be :

“I work from home, so I’m home alone A LOT. One day I was working, and out of the corner of my eye I noticed some movement in my backyard.

There was a man jumping over my fence into my backyard.

Panicked, I call my then boyfriend now fiancé and tell him what is happening. While I’m on the phone with him, I get a knock at my front door. It’s a woman from Century Link informing me that technicians will need access to my backyard. I tell her someone just jumped over my fence so I think they’re already there.

Way to give me a heart attack, Century Link.”

–Redditor Stayawayfrommeinfj

Please note that this Home Alone Story was included in here as something terrifying that someone experienced but had a humorous ending.

14. Home Alone Story #14 – The Doorbell Ringer:

“When I was about ten years old someone kept ringing the doorbell for like ten minutes. Was f***ing creepy.”

–Redditor Schnabelverstaerker

15. Home Alone Story #15 – The Intruder was a Raccoon:

“My roommates were out of town and my dog started growling in the middle of the night at something at the end of a dark hallway. She never behaved like that so I was genuinely freaked out. Then I started hearing noises coming from my kitchen on the other side of the house. I was fully convinced someone was in there so like any idiot in a movie I got a flashlight and a weapon and went to investigate. As soon as the flashlight hit the kitchen area something freaked out and knocked a bunch of sh** over. I was terrified and then my flashlight hit the culprit. A huge fucking raccoon had snuck through the doggy door and was eating my dogs food in the kitchen. We made eye contact and it immediately fled outside.”

–Redditor Chalexfor