October 23, 2023 | Byron Fast

These Parents Have Extremely Unsettling Kids


Kids say the darndest things. They also say—and sometimes do—the creepiest things. These parents all thought they’d been blessed with a bundle of joy, but they also experienced moments where their little angels chilled them to the bone.


1. Blue Lady’s Hands

When my daughter was around three or four years old, she started talking about someone she called "the blue lady". Naturally, my wife and I were curious and asked her who this blue lady was. Her answer gave us the creeps: "I don't know, but she wants her hands back". NOPE.

For several weeks, she kept mentioning this "blue lady" with the same story about her needing her hands. It never changed, and honestly, it spooked us out big time. We were seriously considering calling in a priest or even a witch to bless the house.

Then one morning, as I was watching TV, there appeared a woman in a blue US Post Office uniform talking about how a hand cream had helped her recover her hands. At that moment, my daughter burst into the room, screaming excitedly, "That's the blue lady! I love her!"

unsettling kids

2. He’d Checked Out

When my son was around six or seven, he used to sleepwalk. It wasn’t a big deal; I’d just guide him back to his room and tuck him in. But one time, something odd happened. I had just got him back in bed and covered up, saying “goodnight Connor”.

Suddenly, he sat straight up, his eyes wide yet vacant, and in a creepy voice said: “Connor’s not here right now”. I usually never woke him during his sleepwalking episodes, but that night, I did. He had really spooked me. Even thinking about it now gives me the chills. He’s 22 now.

Unsettling KidsFreepik, benzoix

3. Past Life

When my nephew was around three years old, I was introducing him to a Sonic the Hedgehog game. Out of the blue, he said something quite peculiar: "I've played that before, with my old Grandad". This struck me as odd for two reasons. 

Firstly, I knew he had never played the game before, and secondly, he didn't have an "old Grandad". Curious about this, I talked to his mom, who explained that he often spoke about his "old life". She had gathered from his stories that he believed he had a previous existence where he lost his life at the age of 13. 

In this supposed past life, he had a big family with many brothers and sisters, all living in an apartment with kind parents who, interestingly, had few teeth. According to him, he chose my brother and sister-in-law to be his new parents.

He was remarkably consistent and persistent about these stories, insisting that his "old" parents were good people. It was quite strange to hear, and I'm not sure if he continues to talk about them now that he's started school.

Unsettling KidsPexels

4. Only Near Cemeteries

When my daughter was little, we'd be driving in the car, and out of the blue, she'd excitedly exclaim, "My sisters are here!" Then she'd happily chat away, as if she had invisible friends sitting beside her in the empty seat.

I didn't think much of it at first; many kids have imaginary friends. She would talk about her "sisters," including one named Ira, whose names she didn't even know. It was all rather harmless, and I didn't pay it too much attention since she was an only child. But there was one strange thing about these episodes. 

She only mentioned her invisible sisters when we were near cemeteries. It was a bit eerie, and I'd try to dismiss it as mere coincidence. She'd say it, and I'd anxiously scan our surroundings, relieved when I saw no tombstones nearby. Yet, inevitably, we'd stumble upon a small family graveyard hidden in the bushes along the roadside a little later.

Once, it even happened on vacation. She mentioned her "sisters" at the base of a hill, and as we reached the hill's summit, there was a cemetery on the other side. I couldn't explain it, and she never seemed to acknowledge the cemeteries.

This became a somewhat regular occurrence, and I learned to shrug it off. Eventually, as she grew older, she stopped mentioning her invisible sisters. Now that she's a teenager, she sometimes recalls it as if it were a dark room filled with different girls, with only one, whom she knew as Ira, illuminated in the foreground.

I once looked up the name Ira, and it turns out it means "watchful" in Hebrew.

Unsettling KidsPexels

5. Be Mine?

When my daughter was about five, she got introduced to the idea of wills and inheritance. I suspect it might have been from watching the movie The Aristocats, if my memory serves me right. 

Anyhow, after watching the film, she went through this phase of asking if certain things of mine, typically sparkly stuff like jewelry, would become hers one day when I was no longer around. It made me wonder, where did she think I was going?

Unsettling KidsPexels

6. Billy Doesn’t Live Here Anymore

I had a friend who used to live in a really old house from the 1750s. When she was younger, she had an imaginary friend named Billy. They would play together with dolls and pretend in her room, and her parents didn't think much of it. 

One day, her parents noticed that she was being unusually quiet, so they went to check on her in her room. What they saw scared them a lot. She was just sitting on the floor, staring at a blank part of the wall. There was nothing there for her to look at. They asked her what she was doing, and she responded by saying she was playing with Billy. 

Her parents thought this was a little strange, but they figured kids do weird things sometimes, so they didn't worry too much. However, after that day, my friend never played with Billy again... A few years later, my friend's parents had to remove some drywall in her room for some reason. What they found was really creepy. 

The workers discovered the name "Billy" scratched into the beam inside the wall. Naturally, my friend's parents were shocked and decided to look into it more. It turns out that there was indeed a little boy named Billy who passed on the property in the late 1800s. 

Strangely enough, my friend has no memory of ever playing with Billy. Her mom shared this story with us when we were older.

Unsettling KidsPexels

7. Here “Him” Comes

My cousin has this unique ability where his eyes adjust differently to light and darkness. This means he can see quite well in the dark when the rest of us are struggling with pitch-black surroundings. So, one summer, we went camping, like we often do, and gathered around a campfire.

The fire was actually making it harder to see because it cast shadows and limited our vision. We felt like we were surrounded by darkness. Then, out of the blue, my cousin, in a somewhat creepy tone, says, "Here he comes".

Naturally, we all started panicking, asking, "Who's coming?" But my cousin just repeated, "Here him comes". Suddenly, a fox emerged from the darkness and casually strolled up to a group of people gathered around a campfire. It was quite an unusual sight for a fox.

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8. Grandma Did It

When my daughter was learning her ABCs, one morning during breakfast, she surprised us by singing all the way through for the first time. We praised her and asked if she'd been practicing at daycare.

She told us no, but added, "Mommy's mommy taught me when I was in bed". It was a bit eerie because her grandmother had passed three years earlier.

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9. He Understood Perfectly

I come from a pretty big family. One time, all of us siblings went to this park with a little pond where kids could swim. I was chilling on the shore with some of my brothers and sisters when we noticed our youngest brother struggling, his head underwater.

Our oldest brother was just standing there, pointing and laughing. Of course, we all rushed over and pulled the little guy out. He coughed up some water and was a bit shaken but otherwise okay.

We asked the oldest if he realized what could have happened if our brother stayed underwater too long. His response still gives me goosebumps. “Yeah, he would have drowned". We were all speechless, not knowing what to say to that.

Unsettling KidsPxhere

10. I Saw You In The Window

So, my daughter was four years old and playing in the backyard. I went inside for a quick minute to do something in the kitchen on the first floor. I didn’t step foot upstairs at all.

After a little bit, I came back out. She goes, “Mommy, why were you in my room? I saw you looking out the window at me!” This totally spooked me because it was just the two of us at home.

I let her know I didn’t go upstairs. But she became upset, sticking to her story that she saw me at her window from the top floor. Feeling super uneasy, I hesitated but went upstairs to check. I was more than a little scared, but there was nobody in the house—no ghosts or anything.

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11. Let It Go

When my son was around three, he jolted me awake one night. There he stood in the dark, a black blanket over his head, kind of resembling a mini Sith Lord. What made it even spookier? He was softly whispering the lyrics to the song from Frozen.

“Let it go,” he whispered, “let it go". I won't lie, it was super creepy, and it took me forever to drift back to sleep.

Unsettling KidsPexels

12. She Feeds Them Brains

My little one was around four, and we were cozy on the couch watching PBSkids. Suddenly, she paused the TV, looked at me lovingly, and said, "Mommy, when you turn into a zombie, I'll have to lock you in a room. I promise to feed you brains every day, but you can’t have mine".

I was taken aback but intrigued. I asked her how she'd get brains for zombie mommy, and she goes, "Well, I'll have to take out a lot of people, but I'll get used to it". We had quite a chat after that.

What struck me was it wasn’t "if" but "when" I became a zombie. She was certain! When I asked about her dad and sister, she said they’d be gone: likely the first she’d feed to me. But I wouldn't know, as I'd only care about brains.

I puzzled over how my four-year-old got into zombie talk. Eventually, my oldest spilled the beans—during a granddad babysit, he dozed off, and she stumbled upon a zombie movie. Really, Dad!

Unsettling KidsFlickr, 4CamRes MultiMedia

13. We Gave Him Goosebumps

Around six, my son had this phase of writing “Help me! Let me out!” everywhere—drawings, the house side… you name it.

Then he flipped it and started writing “Help me!” backwards, like that redrum thing from The Shining. Turns out, he was hooked on Goosebumps, that children's horror series.

In an episode, a girl trapped in a mirror wrote: “help me," appearing backwards to onlookers. Mystery solved! My kiddo is just quite the dramatist.

Unsettling KidsFlickr, mo640

14. His Name Was Cody

My nephew kept sneaking out food, saying it was for a buddy, Cody. We all thought Cody was a school friend. He did have a classmate named Cody. Nope. It was weirder. I followed him to "Cody’s house," a cave just outside town.

And Cody? Not a friend but a wolf! And, unlucky for the creature (but lucky for us) Cody was no more. There it lay, amidst snack wrappers. My nephew insisted it was sleeping.

To this day, I'm not sure if he thought it was alive. He gave me the silent treatment for weeks after I told his mom. He claims not to remember now, and this was like seven or eight years back.

Unsettling KidsFlickr, greyloch

15. From Up There

I was expecting my second kid, and my first was about two at the time. She was a bit delayed in her speech, typically speaking in two or three-word sentences.

So, one day, I’m making dinner, my daughter’s with me in the kitchen, just a usual day. Out of the blue, she looks at me, points upwards, and says in a clear, full sentence: "I used to watch you from up there".

I was speechless, just turned around and stared at her. She smiled and skipped off to play. I wish I’d asked her more about what she meant.

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16. I’m Right Where I’m Supposed To Be

I once knew a woman who had lost a child shortly after birth. A few years on, she adopted a baby from a young teen mother. One day, this adopted daughter looks up and seriously tells her that she was always meant to be her mom, that she tried once before, but now she’s back where she belongs.

This little girl, about five, had no clue about the baby her adoptive mom had lost.

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17. Angry, Red Eyes

My son was nearly three when he called me into his room, just five minutes after bedtime. I asked what was wrong, and he says: "I'm scared". I asked him why, and his response gave me the chills.

He said: "I’m scared of the old lady with the angry, red eyes!" It startled me, but I thought maybe he’d seen something on TV or his iPad. Wanting to soothe him, I leaned over his bed and asked where he’d seen this old lady.

He goes: "She's standing right behind you". I froze and turned around slowly. Thankfully, there was nothing and no one there. I gave him a goodnight kiss and left, leaving the door slightly ajar.

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18. I Got Picked Up

When my little one was about two, she came up to me one morning and said: "Mommy, a ghost picked me up last night". And I’m thinking, “What?” It surprised me because we’d never talked about ghosts or used that word around her.

I thought maybe she heard it at daycare or from a TV show. A few years later, she’s about five, and she says, "Mommy, remember how I used to cry a lot at night?" Indeed, she wasn’t a great sleeper, waking up and crying multiple times a night until we’d come to her. 

Then she tells me, "It's because a ghost used to come into my room and pick me up". Her remembering that after all these years made me wonder if there was some truth to it.

Unsettling KidsUnsplash, Steinar Engeland

19. His Name Was Joshua

One day, while out shopping with my family, my little sister casually mentioned that her imaginary friend informed her there was a burglar in our house. We all laughed it off and played along. But we were in the shock of a lifetime. When we got home and started unloading the car, we were stunned to see a man dash out of our back door!

Once the shock wore off, my mom questioned my sister about when her imaginary friend had told her this. My sister claimed he'd come to the grocery store to inform her and that the peanut brittle she got was actually for him. Funny thing, she'd never eaten peanut brittle before or after that day. 

She mentioned her imaginary friend’s name was Joshua, and this wasn’t the only insight Joshua shared. Interestingly, my sister wasn’t fond of our dog. But one day, when the dog escaped and went missing, she claimed to know exactly where he was. Following her directions, they indeed found the dog, injured but alive, just as she’d described. 

Thanks to my sister and Joshua, our dog lived another five years. Occasionally, she still mentions Joshua as if he was a real childhood friend.

Unsettling KidsPexels

20. Out There In The Dark

My two-year-old is sitting at the dinner table, and it's dark outside. He peers out and asks, "What is that?" He hasn’t learned to say "who" yet, so he uses "what" for people too.

My wife and I check outside but don’t see anything. He’s still staring intently into the darkness. We start to wonder—he’s a kid, with fresh eyes, maybe he sees something we don’t? A bit alarmed, I wonder if someone’s out there, hidden in the shadows.

Grabbing a flashlight, I head outside to investigate but find nothing. When I come back, he’s still asking about it. Sitting next to him, I follow his gaze and spot a small LED American flag on another house, way in the distance.

I ask him, "Is what you’re looking at red and blue?" He confirms it is. I explain, "That's a flag, buddy".

Unsettling KidsWikimedia Commons

21. It’s On Your Side

One evening, my partner’s grandma was looking after her four-year-old grandson. After tucking him into bed, she dozed off on the living room couch. This couch had a high back, making it tricky to see a little one like him coming down the hallway if you’re lying down on it.

So, around one in the morning, grandma gets startled awake by a child’s voice gently singing “Nationwide is on your side” from somewhere in the shadows behind her. Turns out, it was the little guy!

He had a thing for commercial jingles, which completely freaked grandma out. Thanks for the scare, Brad Paisley!

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22. They Were Safer At McDonald’s

When I was seven months pregnant with my third child, my husband and I, along with our two kids, packed our van with everything we could and set off from the East Coast to the West Coast for a new job opportunity.

Our kids were one and three years old. We made frequent stops for bathroom breaks to let the kids stretch their legs. On the third day, they were particularly restless, so we pulled over at a park in either New Mexico or Arizona.We sat them down on the playground and had a little picnic. 

The three-year-old seemed to be enjoying himself, but something felt off. He was talking to himself, laughing, and just acting out of the ordinary. When he came over to eat, I asked him what was going on, and he mentioned playing with his new friend Tony. He laughed, saying Tony was telling him something funny. 

This wasn’t his first imaginary friend, but something about Tony felt unsettling. Despite my unease, I encouraged him to finish eating and play a bit more before we left. Leaving became a challenge. He was upset, mentioning that Tony wanted him to stay forever. 

I was genuinely creeped out, and with my pregnancy hormones in overdrive, I picked him up, and we headed towards the car, where my husband was securing our younger child. Realizing I had left my purse, I went back and noticed a plaque by the park entrance. Something urged me to read it. 

It was a memorial for a seven-year-old boy named Anthony, who had perished in a car accident in the 1980s while biking home from the park. We hurriedly left and for the remainder of the trip, we only stopped at McDonald’s play places.

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23. The Gentlemen Are Coming

When my cousin was little, every Halloween he would have the same unusual reaction. He’d suddenly shout: “Gentlemen are coming to get me!” “The gentlemen are scary!!!” “They’re all bones!!! They don’t have skin!” This pattern continued for about three years, every Halloween.

Naturally, my aunt and uncle were both puzzled and alarmed. Then, one day while they were in a store, my cousin started yelling about the gentlemen again. Suddenly, everything clicked. As it turns out, he was scared of skeleton decorations.

For some reason, he had associated skeletons with the term gentlemen. It seems like at some point, he’d watched one of those old black and white cartoons featuring dancing skeletons wearing top hats, and the image stuck with him.

Unsettling KidsFlickr, Bennilover

24. It’s Watching You

My son was about four years old, and I was driving him to daycare. I recall he was unusually grumpy that day, expressing that he didn’t want to go, which was quite odd for him. After I explained for the third time that mommy had to go to work, he fell silent.

Then, out of the blue, his little voice came from the backseat: “The darkness is watching you. In the night they’ll come for you”. He never explained what he meant by that. I was so unnerved, I slept with the hallway light on for several weeks afterward.

Unsettling KidsFreepik, wirestock

25. He Took A Trip

My teenage son burst into my room at three in the morning, fussing at the dogs and claiming they had thrown up all over his mom’s office. Still half-asleep, I leaped out of bed and hurried into the office, only to find everything in order.

I wondered if he had had a nightmare and was still in a drowsy, half-awake state. He continued insisting that the dogs must have eaten it and cleaned up the mess. By this time, I was fully awake, though still trying to grasp what was happening. Then, things took a bizarre turn. 

He began whispering and urged me to be quiet, asserting that his cousin was hiding in his closet eavesdropping on our conversation. I was alarmed, thinking my son was experiencing a severe mental breakdown and detachment from reality.

As it turned out, he had deliberately taken 10 Dramamine. Why, you ask? He read online that it could induce hallucinations. Well, I suppose he wasn’t wrong, but instead of whimsical dancing forest elves, he envisioned angry dogs and intrusive “laundry monster” cousins hiding in his closet at three in the morning.

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26. From Another World

When my daughter was about seven or eight, she would constantly claim that she used to live on Mars. According to her, this was before she came to Earth to be born. Now she’s 12 and still mentions it now and then.

What’s amusing is how nonchalant she is when she talks about it. To this day, I’m not sure if she’s just got a vivid imagination or if she genuinely believes it.

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27. She Read Me

When my daughter was three, we went to eat at a really old, pub-style restaurant. She needed to use the bathroom, so I accompanied her. The pub had the sort of washroom that’s a small, separate room. At that time, she was going through a phase where the smallest thing could trigger a major tantrum. 

Her rule back then was: no talking while she was using the toilet. I know, three-year-olds can be so quirky! So, I’m standing there silently, peering out of this tiny barred Tudor window while she does her thing. For some reason, I thought about how it’d be impossible to escape through that window if there were a fire.

Out of nowhere, she startled me. In her little voice, she calmly said, “It’s okay Mummy, there won’t be a fire". I was certain I hadn’t said anything out loud; she had trained me so well not to speak while she was on the toilet. Somehow, she seemed to have heard my thoughts. She did this a couple more times in the following months and then never again. 

It was just so incredibly strange.

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28. It’s My Ball

When my daughter was around 18 months old, her cousin—same age, but not as physically developed—took a ball from her. He was crawling on the floor playing with it, and she walked up to him, gripped the front of his shirt with both her little hands, lifted him off the floor, and started yelling at him.

It was one of the most unsettling things I’ve ever seen a toddler do. Looking back, it makes me laugh, but witnessing it in the moment was pretty intense.

Unsettling KidsFreepik, karlyukav

29. He Just Faded Away

So, my son was around four or five years old. I had this routine of waking him up every morning. One morning, I walk in and he’s already awake, lying in bed, eyes wide open, and the blanket pulled up to his chin. He’s totally still, just staring at a corner of his room. I glanced at him, then at the corner, waited a bit, and asked him what was up. 

Without shifting his gaze from the corner, he says, "Someone crawled on the floor, climbed up the wall, and looked around. When he saw me, his head did this". Then, he pointed his finger in the air and started spinning it around really fast. 

I put my hand on his back and said, "Let's grab some breakfast and watch cartoons". He seemed pretty shaken, and I wanted to distract him. As he’s walking down the hallway ahead of me, he half-whispers: "He just faded away". I kept it cool, but inside, I was pretty rattled. He’s eight now, and I asked him if he remembers that incident.

He said he does and that’s not all. He mentioned seeing it another time, crawling backward on his ceiling, before fading away again. Creepy.

Unsettling KidsPexels

30. It’s Just Blood

When I was little, my parents left me alone for a bit while I played with my Barbies. When they returned, they found I had scribbled all over the dolls with a red marker. I casually turned to them and said, “It’s just blood. There was an accident".

I honestly have no idea where I got that from. But even after almost 30 years, my parents still bring it up. It definitely gave them the creeps back then.

Unsettling KidsFlickr, Kelly Verdeck

31. Let Him Sleep

I was brought up by my grandparents, so they were like my parents. My grandmother passed in 2015 and my grandfather when my son was just five months old, in 2020. When my son was under two, he would often stare into the air, giggling and following something with his eyes, sometimes even keeping him up at night.

He wasn’t just chuckling; it was a full-on belly laugh. Eventually, I started thinking that maybe he could see my grandparents and they were playing with him. My husband, who doesn’t believe in ghosts, was quite skeptical about this. But then, something happened that made me believe it even more. 

One night, while I was alone rocking my son to sleep and he was laughing, I said out loud, “Let him sleep, Nanny, you can play together tomorrow when he wakes up". Instantly, he stopped laughing and fell asleep. I told my husband, who thought it was just a coincidence, but I wasn’t convinced.

The next night, my husband was rocking our son, and the same thing happened. I walked in, whispered for Nanny to let him sleep, and again, our son fell asleep immediately. My husband was stunned. Since then, whenever this happened, we’d ask my grandmother to let him sleep, promising they could play the next day. And believe it or not, it worked every time.

If asking my grandma didn’t work, I’d ask my Papa, and that would do the trick. I wasn’t much of a believer in ghosts or spirits before, but I am now. So is my husband.

Unsettling KidsPexels

32. She Misses Her Star

I was on the couch, reading, when my three-year-old daughter walked up to me. She leaned against my knee and let out a big sigh—it was almost like she was feeling some kind of existential despair. Concerned, I asked her what was wrong. She had her face buried in my leg, so all I could see was her curly little head. 

When she looked up and said, “I'm tired of this planet. I want to go back to the star where I came from," I was pretty taken aback! I just picked her up, hugged her tight, and said, “I know, sweetie...I know". I never really brought it up directly with her again. I tried hinting at it a few times to see if she wanted to talk more about it, but she never did.

Unsettling KidsPexels

33. Over-The-Top Empathy

Taking kids for their shots is always a tough scene, right? Now, double the trouble when you have twins. My mom had offered to lend a hand, so off we went to the doctor’s. We figured I’d hold the twin getting the shot, and my mom would hold the other. Then, something wild happened. 

The moment the doctor gave the jab to the one I was holding, it was actually the other twin who let out a scream! The exchanged glances between me, mom, and the nurse were just priceless.

Unsettling KidsUnsplash, CDC

34. The Omen Was An Omen

One of my kiddos, when he was about one, had this odd habit of carrying around our DVDs of The Omen—both the 1976 and 2006 versions. We tried our best to hide them in different places. But he’d silently search the whole house until he found both. And then, he’d just start carrying them around again. 

If we tried to take them away, he’d burst into tears and throw a tantrum. It was seriously spooky.

Unsettling KidsFlickr, Ivan Radic

35. As Easy As C B A

When my son was three years old, he was picking up the alphabet really fast. One morning, he woke up and completely surprised me by saying the alphabet backwards without any mistakes. I was still half asleep at the time, and I remember thinking, "Wow, that's really neat!"

But it wasn't until later, after I had my coffee and fully woke up, that I realized something amazing. He had never been taught how to say the alphabet backwards. I couldn't believe it. How on earth did a three-year-old come up with the idea to try it backwards? It completely blew my mind.

Unsettling KidsPexels

36. Just Say No

I might not be a parent, but I regularly babysit my sister’s little girls. They’re 10 months and two years old. Today, like any other day, the older sister went down for her nap and had been in her room for about 20 minutes.

I was in the living room with the little one, just down the hallway, when I started hearing the big sister talking. She sounded frightened and was crying and sniffling quietly. I walked down the hall, peeked in the door, and saw her standing in her crib, staring across the room, speaking in a hushed tone.

I opened the door, and she began crying louder, saying, “No! Don’t do that!” while pointing across the room. For the next 15 minutes, as I comforted her, she’d occasionally glance at different parts of the room, point, and cry. Eventually, I asked, “Do you want me to tell them ‘no’?” She nodded yes. 

So, I pointed around the room and firmly said, “No! No! No!” After that, she managed to lie down and fall back to sleep. I’m just slightly worried I might have a squabble with the ghosts in my sister's house now.

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37. Planetary Return

I was at my sister's house, sharing a room with my nine-year-old daughter. She was fast asleep in bed, and I was getting ready to go to sleep myself. In that moment where you're almost asleep but still awake, I suddenly heard my daughter say something very clearly, as if she was fully awake. 

She said, "It is the return of Saturn". I was startled, and I looked at her. She was still deeply asleep, just like everyone else in the house. I think it might have been some weird thing my mind made up or maybe the start of a dream, but it definitely gave me the creeps.

Unsettling KidsPexels

38. Second Coming Of Second Cousin

My little girl was about two and a half years old when this happened. She kept saying, "Hi John!" while in her room, even though no one else was there. A bit amused, I asked, "John who, sweetie?" She responded with, "John G Hanson!" I was stunned. 

This John was actually a cousin of mine who had sadly taken his own life six years earlier, across the country. Now, John was a second cousin, and he had a last name she wouldn’t have known. Intrigued, I asked her where John G Hanson was. 

She walked out into the hallway and pointed straight ahead towards the stairs, not down them, but straight ahead, if you get what I mean. We both waved “Hi” to John, and I quickly shifted the conversation to something else.

Unsettling KidsPexels

39. Come See The Lady

This happened around 20 years ago, when my youngest son was about three years old. I was up late on a weekend night, watching TV while the kids were sleeping. All of a sudden, my son came out of his room and told me to come see the lady in his room. Honestly, it startled me a bit, so I accompanied him to his room. 

But when we got there, there was no one there. He simply said, "She's gone now". Curious, I asked where she went or how he knew about her. He replied, "She comes out of the wall".

Unsettling KidsPexels

40. She Hung Out With Her Dolls

When my daughter was around four or five years old, she had this habit of tying up her doll and hanging it from the top bunk bed in her room. Every time I walked in, I'd see the doll hanging there with shoelaces or robe ties or whatever she could find. It looked kind of helpless, to be honest. 

My wife and I would have conversations with her, trying to explain that it wasn't a nice thing to do. She would nod and say she understood, but then, sure enough, a few days later, I'd walk in and see that doll hanging again.

Unsettling KidsPexels

41. A Treasure Trove

When my son was about 18 months old, he figured out that pressing buttons on the devices under the TV led to some pretty cool stuff—lights flickering, trays sliding out, and interesting noises.

One day, I was itching to play Mass Effect 3, but I couldn’t find the game disc anywhere, even though I was sure I left it in the Xbox. Not being the most organized gamer, I checked every game box and even peeked into several DVD cases. Still, no sign of it. It was as if it had disappeared into thin air.

About a month later, I was tidying up my son's toys and noticed he had stashed a bunch of things under the seat of his little wooden car that he loved riding around the apartment. To my surprise, there it was—my missing Mass Effect 3 disc, along with a variety of other items my wife and I had been searching for, for weeks and months.

 Turns out, he had hit the eject button on the Xbox, spotted the disc, grabbed it, and added it to his collection of "treasures".

Unsettling KidsPexels

42. No, We Most Definitely Do Not

When I was pregnant with my second child, my husband and I were debating when and how to tell our son that he was going to have a new baby brother or sister. After some pondering, we decided it was time to break the news to him, although we weren't entirely sure how he'd take it.

So, we sat him down and shared the news. He looked at my pregnant belly with great focus, paused for a moment, and then came out with, "And we don't hurt the baby with knives?" We assured him that was absolutely correct—no hurting the baby!

Unsettling KidsPexels

43. He Greets The Darkness

As a parent, the weirdest thing happened to me at work in a child care center. I work with infants and we have a separate room for them to sleep in, away from the play area. On this particular day, while the kids were having lunch, the sleep room was dimly lit for nap time. 

Out of nowhere, one of the boys looked into the darkness, smiled, waved, and said "hi!". I turned to look, but there was nothing there. However, this boy was usually very friendly and would often smile, wave, and greet people passing by the room. 

Since my co-worker hadn't heard him say anything, I asked her if she could handle putting the kids to sleep that day. I jokingly mentioned sacrificing her to the "ghost" along with the children. Of course, they were all safe and sound.

Unsettling KidsFlickr, Alpha

44. A Sixth Sense

When I was a kid, I often talked about seeing people who had lost their lives. I'd had some close calls myself due to severe food allergies, even needing to be brought back to life once. My mom vividly recalls rushing me to the hospital when I was barely conscious and turning blue, pleading with the doctors, "my baby is dying".

Thankfully, they saved me. So, when I started mentioning seeing spirits, it understandably spooked her. Things took a weirder turn when my nephew was sadly stillborn. Even though I wasn't present during his birth, I described playing with him "in the sky," jumping from one mountain peak to another. 

Strangely, I described him to the last detail—his hair color, the amount of hair, and other specific features. This unnerved my mom even more. Then, around the age of four, I casually mentioned one morning that Jesus visited me the previous night. 

I described being in a vast white room, surrounded by figures my mom believed were angels based on my descriptions. I told her how Jesus played with me, letting me fiddle with his beard and robes. He ended our playtime with a kiss on my cheek and telling me he loved me. This encounter left my mom anxious, fearing it was some kind of sign.

All these tales weren't just my mom's memories; my siblings confirm them too. I gave them quite a few chills with my stories back then.

Unsettling KidsUnsplash, Jordan Whitt

45. From Under The Bed

My bedroom gets really dark at night, like I can't even see my hand in front of my face. One night, I woke up to my daughter standing right in front of me, whispering "mommy, mommy". It was so dark that all I could see was a big shadow. It totally scared me.My sons have done similar things, but never that close to my face. 

Another time, my daughter sneaked into our room in the middle of the night and grabbed my foot to wake me up. It reminded me of my childhood fear, except this time it was my own little monster instead of the one under the bed.

Unsettling KidsFreepik, cookie_studio

46. Don’t Go Up The Stairs

Last week on Mother's Day, we visited my best friend’s mom's new house to give her a housewarming gift. My three-year-old daughter was with us, and she became curious about a gated-off staircase leading upstairs. She asked where it led, and my friend's mom mentioned it was the attic. 

My daughter studied it for a moment before walking away. On our drive home, she told me: "Mommy, the doll in the attic has monsters in it". I was puzzled and asked her to explain more. She casually remarked, "Auntie Mary's doll has lots of monsters in it. It lives in the attic". She wasn’t frightened, just stating it as a fact. 

Well, that was unexpected. I guess we might think twice about visiting again!

Unsettling KidsFlickr, Gandalf

47. Imagined Trauma

I went to pick up my son from daycare, and I could tell the support staff had something on their minds. After a bit of hesitation, they mentioned that they had gone swimming that day. They hoped it hadn’t been upsetting for my five-year-old, but thought I should know about the swimming. I was puzzled and asked them to clarify.

They explained that while discussing pool safety with the kids, my son shared that his little sister had drowned in a pool because someone jumped in without looking. He seemed very convincing. I had to tell them that he doesn’t have a sister, or any sibling for that matter. They were stunned. 

When I asked him about why he shared such a story, he simply shrugged. There wasn’t a clear reason. I wonder if he was just trying to emphasize the importance of pool safety with his tale. Sometimes, figuring out why kids do certain things can be a real mystery!

Unsettling KidsPexels

48. Meet The Parents

For several weeks, my daughter began getting anxious at bedtime, worrying about "the parents" who she said visited her at night. This led to quite a few nightmares and frights, and it was pretty eerie. We questioned her, asking, "Are 'the parents' us?" and "Are they your friends' parents?" 

We wanted to make sure nothing unsettling was happening. But to all these questions, her answer remained a steadfast no. They were just "the parents". A few weeks into this, my wife was driving with our daughter when suddenly she exclaimed, “Mom, look, it's the parents!” That’s when we finally cracked the code. 

Following our daughter’s gaze, my wife spotted a group of scarecrows. For some reason, our daughter thought scarecrows were called "parents," and sure, scarecrows can be spooky. Given that it was also around Halloween, it made sense why she found them so frightening.

Unsettling KidsPexels

49. Where’s My Sister?

One day, when my son was around three, he began asking a bunch of intriguing questions about a younger sister, describing how she dresses and her personality.

I tried asking if he was talking about his cousins, a school friend, or maybe a character from his favorite TV show, but this just seemed to upset him more. By the time my wife walked in, he was nearly stamping his feet, frustrated with my unanswered questions.

After my wife tried to assure him he didn’t have a little sister, he got even more upset and shouted, "Then why does she look just like you?" This sent my wife running out of the room in tears, slamming the bedroom door behind her. There was something he couldn’t possibly know.

Just over a year before, my wife had suffered a miscarriage at about nine weeks. It was a deeply emotional event she hadn’t fully recovered from. To this day, I still don’t know who my son was talking about. Fortunately, those kinds of conversations stopped that day and were never brought up again. He now has a real little sister. 

But that eerie conversation is something I’ll never forget.

Unsettling KidsPexels

50. He Just Growled

Every day, my partner and son used to give me rides to work. Along our route, we always passed by a funeral home. Interestingly, my son would start growling whenever we went past it. He would fixate on the window and growl, just like a dog. Since he only growled at that particular place, we were curious and asked him why he did it. 

He simply replied, "You have to growl back at the growlers".

Unsettling KidsFlickr, sean dreilinger

51. Cocktail Anyone?

One time, my son, who was about six years old then, went to the bathroom and was taking a bit longer than usual. So, I knocked on the door and checked if everything was alright. He responded a bit too quickly with a "yup!" So, I let him be. Another five minutes passed, and I knocked again, asking if I could come in to make sure he was fine.

When I entered, I saw that he had taken all the empty toilet paper rolls and stuffed some toilet paper into one end of each. So, I asked him, "What are you making?" His answer really surprised me, to be honest. He proudly said, "Molotov cocktails, Dad, obviously".

Unsettling KidsPexels

 

Sources:  1, 2


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