Like those moments when something so bizarre happens that for a split second, you wonder if you’ve entered a parallel universe. Maybe you bumped into someone you haven’t seen in years in the most random place and you just thought of them!
I’d love to hear your weirdest “did that really just happen?” stories!
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I moved into an old condo that was probably 80 years old and considered historic property. The first year I lived there I swear there was a weird paranormal presence that would attack me in my sleep. It would feel like something was holding me down and trying to smother me. I couldn’t scream or fight and it would feel like I just wanted to wake up and couldn’t. It was terrifying and I started thinking I was losing it for a second.
My rational mind thought it was maybe some kind of sleep paralysis or vivid nightmare but I only experienced it in my house and specifically in my bedroom and the ceiling lights would start flickering and even though I was “sleeping” technically I could see that happening and feel a negative energy. I know it sounds totally bat shit but it happened.
I ended up doing googling to see what it was and ultimately decided to perform a spiritual ritual and cleansing in the space which thankfully worked but it was by far one of the strangest things I’ve ever personally experienced.
Omg, yes! One time, I bumped into an old friend I hadn’t seen in years, in a random city while traveling like literally just thought about them the night before! I was so shook I almost asked them if we were in a parallel universe 😂 Just those weird, “wait, what?” moments that make you stop and question everything!
My 1st, 2nd and 3rd (ex)girlfriends all had their next boyfriend die.
First time, guy was riding their bike w/o a helmet and hit their head off a curb when a car turned right.
Second time, guy walked himself into a river.
Third time, guy was shot in the chest over a dispute at the park.
I stayed single for 7 years because I thought I was cursed, but after 2 relationships, no deaths!
Honestly “The Dress” situation had me questioning reality because it was clearly white and gold. Then suddenly… it was black and blue. It was upsetting.
My university roommate graduated and moved back home across the country. Ever since, I’ve realized how much I struggle with being alone—I might even have a touch of separation anxiety, because I really don’t enjoy spending time by myself.
That summer, a friend moved in temporarily, and we got to know each other really well. He was born in the Netherlands to a Dutch mother, and his father—originally from England—passed away in a tragic accident when he was just a toddler. After that, his mom moved him and his sisters to Toronto. At the time, I didn’t think much of it. Everyone carries a backstory, and not everyone stays rooted in the same town for decades like my parents.
Fast forward six months: I lost my job and ended up dropping out of university. I moved back home, and—somehow—met my husband on Reddit of all places. He lived 3,000 miles away in England.
Here’s the twist: turns out, my father-in-law used to work with my friend’s dad. They were best mates back in the day.
It still blows my mind. Sometimes I think those cheesy romance novels might be onto something after all.
I was once asleep and woke up with this strange feeling, like my back was being ‘unplugged’, I don’t know how else to describe it. It felt like something with octopus-like arms detaching from me vertically, one point at a time. My first thought was, ‘Are we in a simulation? Was I just brought back here or something?’ The weird part is, I don’t usually think about or watch anything related to that kind of stuff, so I don’t think it was triggered by anything I experienced the day before. Still, I shook it off pretty quickly, knowing that sleep-related hallucinations are a real thing.
My 2002 MINI Cooper was a first-year production, and so they were known to be squirrelly. For the 8 years I had it, it would break down anytime it was within eyesight of me driving another car. It got to the point where there were repeat witnesses and even my mechanic witnessed it. One time it had a slow leak for awhile, and I finally got it to the same mechanic. He came right out and said “it’s the radiator.” I said, “how did you find it so fast?” He showed me a large puddle. The car held out to make it to the mechanic and then let go. I miss that car. It was like owning Herbie.
I drove a friend-of-a-friend to a church event thing that they wanted to attend and didn’t have transportation to.
After an inexplicable chain of events, possibly related to me being both sheltered and overly optimistic about the world at the time, by midnight we were eating pancakes with a guy who claimed to be a pastor and a healer. Guy says he’s gonna prophesy over this friend of mine and then heal his brain. Starts speaking jibberish while holding the dude’s head. Dude doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do so he starts speaking jibberish too. I wanted to nope out so bad but I was young and not assertive. I mean we eventually got outta there. But…it was weird man. I still think about that and wish I could go back in time and kick myself to say no to the whole thing. The event, going for pancakes, all of it. It was all a mess. I didn’t think things like that happened in real life.
I stalked, or was stalked by, a woman for about 10 years. But neither of us knew.
She was from Connecticut and I from Tennessee but we lived less than a mile apart in Knoxville Tennessee in 1999. And we often frequented some of the same clubs and art shows. I was casual friends with her best friend.
She graduated and moved to DC.
I moved to DC a few years later.
In DC, I was friends with her one coworker who was my sister’s neighbor. Another coworker was my friend from college in North Carolina’s brother. And so I’d also met him a few times.
We both, in different years, moved just outside DC to a small city called Takoma Park. I had actually moved there as randomly as you could get due to the fact they had a music store I bought repair parts at one time and loved the restaurant next door.
The week before we first met, she was supposed to be at a dinner I was at with a different mutual friend from Tennessee but got tied up at work.
When we met online, she proposed we go to her favorite Indian restaurant, incidentally, also my favorite Indian restaurant.
We realized on the third date we lived on the same block.
There are actually a few more close calls but you get the picture.
That is the backstory, but the ‘questioning reality’ part is this:
I had the most acute sense, after talking to her an hour on our first date, of how much I had missed her. I didn’t feel like love at first sight. I felt like we’d been together for years but had had to be apart for months.
Married since 2011. Kid dog and all that.
One out of a few: Some years ago, I was taking care of my very obese, severely bi-polar, schizophrenic, & diabetic mom (spent most of my 20s being her caregiver). She’d gotten to where she was often a screaming banshee, so no one wanted anything to do with her any more; & as my life completely revolved around her, I’d become isolated & burned out.
My birthday came up. No cards, no calls… I went out back for some respite & began reminiscing about past birthdays & reflecting on how id always felt embarrassed of getting attention on them, anyway, & how i needed to stop with the self-pity & count my blessings.
Anyway, I’d been slowly traversing the backyard, lost in thought, & decided wander around to the front yard. As soon as I turned a corner at the side of the house, I just see something large & metallic descending rapidly upon me from above the gate. Instinctively, I put my hands up & ducked my head but it still made contact. No injurious bonk, though. It was a great big, really pretty “Happy Birthday” balloon.
Though I was stunned, I quickly managed to grab the string before the balloon could get away; & then I just stood there—watching the “gift from above” bobbing cheerfully in its spring-colors on the wintry breeze, & marveling at the incredible timing of it all.
Such an insignificant item, in of itself, but it really brought me some comfort that day, as well as long after it had deflated & sat folded up in a keepsake chest.
When my boy was a toddler and still in his pushchair. I walked him through a local graveyard. We were happily chatting when he asked ‘why is that baby crying is it because she doesn’t have a mummy and daddy?’
I looked where he was pointing…you can guess the rest.
I lost my first son and my grandma fairly close together. My middle child knows about his big brother and he’s seen pictures of grandma multiple times.
He was in his room talking to the void and came out to where I was in the living room with little sister asleep on my lap. He said I miss you I love you I’ll see you soon. I asked him who were you talking to?? He said my grandma and RoRo. I asked him what grandma looked like and he described my grandma perfectly.
I siebt some time really questioning things at that point. He has never met that grandma, just pictures. So it was strange to hear he talked to her.
I decided ‘spur of the moment’ to pop into the library in the city centre. I wanted a specific genre of book about wine pairing (I was a waitress at the time and wanted to sound like I knew my stuff about wine/food) I was going through town, so thought, “Why not?”
Anyway, I walk in, and there’s a bunch of help desks. A few were empty, so I walked over to one without much thought. Asked the dude to see if they had any books on my chosen topic. As he’s typing away, I looked down at the desk, and there was a picture of a baby. It was me, I was sure of it. I asked him where the picture came from, and he looked clueless. I said that I thought it was me, and because my mam had 6 kids, she’d write our names on the back of our baby photos. I told him my name, and he turned it over. Sure enough, there was my name. The guy had no clue how it got there. Nor did I. I had no coat or bag, and I definitely wasn’t carrying baby photos of myself around. Spooks me to this day.
Approximately 10yrs ago, my mom gave me a ring that belonged to my great great grandmother that not only had great sentimental value, but was quite a costly ring. My mom had warned me to be very careful with this ring as it was irreplaceable.
A couple years later, I go on vacation to Aruba & decided to take the ring. Why oh why? My gggrandmother obviously had tiny fingers b/c it only fit on my pinky , however, I felt when I was swimming in the ocean that it might slip off & so I took it off & put it in the hotel room. Long story short, although I was extra careful, it somehow got left in the bed linens when I was packing up on the last day & left behind. Despite my best efforts of calling the hotel etc I never got the ring back. I was heart broken, stomach sick, ashamed, you name it. I couldn’t bring myself to tell my mom the truth about the ring. Just couldn’t. Every now & then I would think about it & get a sick pit in my stomach & the guilt & shame would hit me. I just knew that telling her would break her heart. I often wondered what happened to the ring though.
My mom passed away a few years ago,(I had purchased a beautiful necklace for her on one of my trips & decided to wear it to her funeral as it was very special to her.) I went looking through my house & couldn’t find it anywhere! I was in such a panic! I asked my mom to help me find it. Finally, I did! But here is the kicker, there was a ring box with it & when I opened it, a ring of my mother’s was on it & so was the ring I lost!! I was speechless, staggered. I still am. I have no clue to this day how that ring made its way back to me. There is no explanation.
well, it made me question reality for just a few seconds, but very, very intensely. I was washing dishes and a fork slipped. I automatically assume there’s nothing else for it to do but fall, so I tense up a little, waiting for the sound. no sound. no sound means it didn’t fall, there’s no material on the ground that would justify the absence of sound.
i look down and it got caught in the thin space between the counter and the rod holding a small curtain.
those few seconds really had me thinking I was going to see the damn fork levitating. it made think a lot afterwards about how clearly and quickly we “wait for” the laws of physics to take place.
This may sound dumb, but the story is true.
I was watching a YouTube video that had “Riptide” by Vance Joy playing in the background of it. As I heard it, I nearly sobbed and seriously thought I was somewhere else, like a parallel universe.
The reason? Immense nostalgia. When I was little, my sister used to have a playlist and just a bunch of songs she’d play when we were together doing yard work or car work or cleaning for our father. It was just so shocking to be reminded of those times in a way I’ve never experienced.
Now, I’ve recognized probably over 20 songs throughout the years that give me a similar feeling. Actually, I just heard another one less than an hour ago! – Budapest.
My husband of 35 years died on Halloween last year. I have been having a very, very rough time lately.. trying to finish paperwork and giving away things he wanted to give to certain people. He didn’t have a will, and everything was extra complicated because of it.
Two days ago, I was at the courthouse (for the 5th time in so many days), and the security person was in a foul mood and decided to take it out on me. I wasn’t following his instructions the way he wanted, and he threatened me with arrest if I didn’t do what he said.
I was trying, but he was making opposing commands. ” Go back through the scanner… NO, I said, Come back through the scanner!!”
Then he ripped my bag apart and found my very heavy keychain, and told me it was a weapon. He pulled me out of the line and called the officer over to place me under arrest.
Thankfully, the officer was a very kind person. He sat with me until I calmed down and walked me to the area I needed to be in.
I went to the law library to print off the forms I needed and got setup on a computer… suddenly I heard my husbands voice as plain as if he was right behind me. ” it’s going to be OK, this is the last time”.
There was no one else in the library.. not even the clerk.. True to his word, it was the last time I had to go back.
Seeing the same spirit as a friend in her apartment in high school. We had spent the night getting high, and I woke up in the morning seeing this strange light being by the door. Told my friend about it. She told me she had seen it too.
I saw an unquestionably mentally unwell woman berate somebody(while looking at the window pointing her finger) for spoiling everything and so on. It was both scary, distressing and very saddening. I reflected a bit on what it was like to live like that, what it was like for her closed ones and also gained even more appreciation and respect for nurses who work with people who unfortunately had the same fate as her, because oh, God, I can’t imagine working this. It was very scary weird, heartbroken, but also strangely edifying.
de ja vu.
Oh my god this happened a few days ago!
So I (F26, mind you) was walking to work and I stopped to look at something on the bottom of my shoe. When I stepped to the side the guy that was walking behind me passed me and kept going on his way, which normally wouldn’t be that big of a deal except he was wearing the exact same outfit as me, just in different colors!
I was wearing:
He was wearing:
It caught me so off guard that I just stood there for a few seconds staring at the back of his head as he walked away. I know it doesn’t sound that crazy, but what are the odds that we—two opposite gendered people—decided to wear the exact same articles of clothing that day? And that we walked past each other!
The craziest part to me is that he didn’t even say anything, it was just like a regular ole Tuesday for him. That is what made me feel like I was in the matrix, lol.
Years ago I’m walking into the video rental store – a place called ‘Moovies’ that was cow themed and used the color purple a lot. (Ha!! This sounds absurd, I know) I’m walking past cars in the lot and one starts moving. It rolls backward several feet and then jerks forward back to original position. It does this back and forth movement several times and I’m dumbfounded. There’s no engine sounds. Nothing to reveal the car is powered on. I begin to wonder if someone’s playing a prank on me and refuse to let them get away with it, so I turn and walk away and enter the store. The car was still moving in its parking spot when I walked away.
The whole scene confused me greatly and I’ve never understood it. After – I thought perhaps the car had a remote starter that was activated but the car made zero sound. I even wondered if someone might have been kidnapped in the trunk and had something to do with the car’s movement but that made no sense.
Cancer
When I was in first grade, I saw my teacher at Disney (Epcot specifically) while we were there for the holiday break. Being like 6-7, this absolutely broke my brain. I had never seen my teacher outside of school, now we’re in a completely different state, in one of many theme parks, which are filled with thousand people and we happened to run into each other.
My older brother was murdered in Idaho in November of 2023, and almost exactly a year later my oldest brother was shot 14 times in Ohio in November 2024, he made it but it was close. I fucking hate November.
I was in Gatlinburg Tennessee for my brother’s wedding. We were all sitting on the porch of the hotel room and its about 2 ft from the sidewalk on main Street.
We started talking about square dancing, because it’s Gatlinburg Tennessee after all. I said my aunt and uncle on my Dad’s side ( me and brother have different dads) are square dancers. Right at that moment I see my aunt and uncle walking in front of us in full square dancing costumes.
All of us are from different parts of Kentucky, and just happened to be in Gatlinburg at the same time in the same location for two very different reasons. Neither of us knew the other was there until then. The fact that we had just talked about them and to look up and there they are was definitely weird. Nice, but weird.
They came to the wedding.
Perhaps not the *most* random, but probably the most relevant to your question:
My first best friend was a boy named Matt. We were attached at the hip from the ages of about 3-11 (I was fully convinced we were going to grow up and get married), and then his mom moved them to a different city. This was far before cellphones or the internet, so staying in touch, especially as kids, was difficult. At first, we would have phone calls a few times a month, write a Christmas letter, and the occasional visit when they would come back to town to visit relatives, but we eventually lost contact entirely. Fast forward 25 or so years, I was having coffee with a friend of mine, and somehow the topic of childhood friends came up. I told her all about Matt, who I honestly had not thought of, except in passing, for years. That night, I was flooded with memories of him, and scoured the internet trying to find him. I came up with very little, which only made me wonder more what he had been up to all those years.
A few days later, my boss asked if I would be willing to train a work experience placement she felt good about, and I agreed. The girl came in the next day, I showed her around and told her she would be shadowing me for a few days. During a slow period, we got to chatting, and I found out she was from the town Matt had moved away to all those years ago and commented something like “huh, that’s funny! I know a man from your town with the same last name as you, he was my first best friend!” – he was her dad. I was training Matt’s daughter, in not only a different city, but a different province entirely. Days after I had spent a full night wondering what had become of him, the answer was sitting right beside me.
In 1984, my family moved from NY to MD. We moved into a duplex and met our neighbors on the other side of the same building, who had moved in the year before. We asked them where the moved from. They came from the SAME street in the SAME city we had just moved from.
Every so often I’ll meet someone that feels “important”. They usually end up being pivotal to my life in some way, often unexpectedly.
We usually end up eventually, somehow, finding our ways to each other’s hearts. It’s become a worrying pattern when a relationship isn’t going well and suddenly I find myself at a new job and out of all the people… one of them stands out.
It’s like chaos brings me to who I need or what I need when I need it. Through random chance butterfly effect leaps, I find myself in a much wider world than I’ve started.
If I submit to it, if I’m grateful for the winds of chance… things go better than well for me.
If I think I can control it, if I think I deserve it… I find myself holding an empty bag, with little else to show for my efforts.
I often find myself having to feel humble or I find myself being humbled, or rather being made to understand why it’s important to have humility. It’s very strange and I take it to be indicative of necessary lessons I might need to undergo for reasons that are beyond my access at this time.