Urban legends are one thing – a fun shiver down your spine around a campfire. But what happens when the boogeyman isn’t a myth? What if the bump in the night is real? We’ve gathered ten absolutely terrifying real-life stories that unbelievably made the news. These aren’t campfire tales; they’re chilling accounts of people who discovered they weren’t alone in the most frightening ways possible. Prepare yourself, because reality can be far scarier than fiction.
10. The Unwanted Guest Under the Bed
Imagine reaching under your bed, expecting to find your furry cat, but instead, your hand touches human skin. That’s exactly what happened to a 61-year-old woman in Palm Springs, Florida, back in 2015. She was looking for her cats when she made the terrifying discovery.
Panicked, she called 911. The intruder, a 25-year-old man named Christian Vatovec, crawled out from under her bed and ran out the back door. Police caught him nearby with a camera and a gold ankle bracelet. It turned out a neighbor had already called the cops after seeing him trying doors in the neighborhood. Vatovec faced charges for theft, burglary, and resisting arrest. Talk about a nightmare scenario!
9. The Closet Visitor Who Wasn’t a Ghost
A group of college students at the University of North Carolina in 2019 thought their apartment was haunted. Clothes would disappear, and strange handprints appeared on the bathroom wall. One student, Maddie, came home one Saturday and heard noises from her closet. Hoping it was just a raccoon, she bravely asked, “Who’s there?”
To her shock, a man’s voice replied, “Oh, my name is Drew.” When she opened the closet, she found a 30-year-old man, Andrew Clyde Swofford, hiding inside and even wearing some of her clothes. Her boyfriend quickly arrived and got him out. Police couldn’t figure out how Swofford got in, as there was no forced entry. He was arrested for breaking and entering. So much for a friendly ghost!
8. The Uninvited Houseguest in a New Home
Buying your first home should be exciting. But for Timothy Smith and his fiancé in Gresham in 2019, it turned into a horror show. They arrived at their new house to find strange items on their car – a laptop, cider, and knives. Inside, things got weirder: a strange vape pen, holes in walls, and someone else’s clothes in the bathroom.
The creepiest discovery? A cat in a crawl space wearing clothes belonging to one of their Chihuahuas! After calling 911, police found a man, Ryan Bishop, wearing the fiancé’s onesie. He had broken through walls, eaten their food, used their things, and played their video games. He’d made himself quite at home, just not in his *own* home.
7. The Ankle Grabber with a “Visual” Fetish
In June 2016, a Nebraska woman was about to get into her car when a hand shot out from underneath and grabbed her ankle. Imagine the shock! The man then rolled out and ran away. She recognized him from a similar incident earlier that month.
The man, Jesse M. Johnson, had a history of this bizarre behavior. He’d been jailed for a similar act outside a Walmart and fined for an incident at a TJ Maxx. He told lawyers he needed help for his “weird addiction.” His probation was later revoked when kids saw him crawling under another car. His excuse for hiding under vehicles? He claimed it was “simply for the visual.” Chillingly strange.
6. The Hotel Room with a Secret Passage
Victoria Rothe was on a work trip when her hotel stay became a nightmare. She opened her room door to find a woman in her bathroom. At first, she thought it was housekeeping, but then saw the woman holding her clothes. The intruder tried to push past with a bag. Rothe checked the bag, found nothing of hers, and let the woman go.
Later, she realized her medicine was missing, and the room was ransacked. Police found drywall in the sink but no forced entry. On a hunch, Rothe moved the bathroom mirror. Behind it? A huge hole containing a pillow, blankets, and clothes! It turned out the hotel had covered up holes left from renovations with mirrors, giving someone access to multiple rooms. You’ll never look at a hotel mirror the same way.
5. The Mayor’s Unsettling Cellar Discovery
In April 2020, Bruce Wilkerson, the mayor of Bowling Green, Kentucky, was renovating a home he owned. He started hearing noises and smelling cigarette smoke. When he went to the cellar, he found what looked like blood on the door and a bag with women’s leggings.
Later, when the electricity went out, he suspected someone flipped the breaker. He returned to the cellar and found a young woman cowering there. She claimed she was “hiding from someone” before running off. The mayor called the police, concerned about how long she’d been there. He also wanted to share the story publicly to avoid rumors that he had “a lady locked up in my cellar.” What a strange and unsettling find!
4. The Stalker Who Watched from the Closet
In November 2018, a 20-year-old Denver woman was attacked in her bedroom. Luckily, she fought off her attacker, Jason Cameron Stiles, who then fled. Police arrested the 30-year-old Stiles shortly after, finding a knife and latex gloves on him. His gun was found outside her home.
During the investigation, Stiles admitted to something even more terrifying. He had broken into her home multiple times before the attack. He took photos of her journal and possessions. Worse, he would hide in her closet, watching her undress, brush her teeth, and sleep. It’s believed he stalked her for over a year. Stiles was sentenced to 16 years in prison for his horrifying crimes.
3. The Boy Who Knew Someone Was in the Walls
Horror author Grady Hendrix shared a chilling childhood story from 1981. As a nine-year-old, he often snuck downstairs for midnight snacks. One night, he heard a fork scrape against the counter and saw the silhouette of a man eating in the dark kitchen. He alerted his parents, but the man was gone, and they dismissed it as an overactive imagination fueled by horror comics.
Hendrix knew something was wrong. He noticed items in the kitchen moving overnight. Then one day, he saw eyes staring at him from the air conditioning vent above his bed. His parents searched but found nothing. The terrifying truth was revealed when maggots fell from the vent onto his bed. Inside the vent, they found the body of the man Hendrix had seen. He had been living there, watching the boy, and had died inside the vent. His identity was never confirmed.
2. The Stalker Hiding Under the Bed
Between late 2019 and early 2020, Hamza Bouslamti, 23, waged a “campaign of harassment” against a woman in Plymouth, UK. He hacked her social media, posted fake messages as her, and even faked an overdose to try and contact her. His stalking took an even more terrifying turn.
One night, the woman stumbled upon Bouslamti hiding under her bed. Thankfully, he didn’t harm her, and she called the police. He pleaded guilty to stalking her for a month. He received a community service sentence and a five-year restraining order. Finding your stalker under your bed is the stuff of nightmares.
1. The Man Who Lived Secretly in a Child’s Room
In a deeply disturbing case from 2019-2020, 21-year-old Zacharias Adrian Cavasos met a 12-year-old girl on social media. He then traveled from Washington to her home on the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon. He convinced the young girl to let him into her home, and he began living in her bedroom without her grandfather’s knowledge.
The grandfather eventually saw Cavasos in February 2020 and chased him away. But Cavasos snuck back in almost immediately, hiding under her bed and in her closet until March 11, when the grandfather found him again and called the police. Cavasos later admitted to authorities that he had abused the girl multiple times while secretly living in her room. A truly chilling and predatory crime.
These ten stories are stark reminders that sometimes the most terrifying monsters are real people, and the safest places can hide unseen dangers. From intruders under beds and in closets to secret passages in hotels and hidden occupants in homes, these accounts push the boundaries of what we think is possible. They serve as chilling proof that vigilance and awareness are more important than ever. While these events are thankfully rare, they certainly make you think twice about strange noises or that feeling of being watched.
What did you think of these terrifying true stories? Do you have any chilling encounters to share? Leave your comment below and let’s discuss!
