Not everyone relies on horror movies to feel fear; some have encountered eerie events in their own lives.

And while some of these incidents can be explained, others provoke people to question and cast doubt on what is genuinely true.

Below, a few brave souls have shared their unusual stories online, and they are guaranteed to give you goosebumps.

• Grandma died. We stayed at her house. I slept alone in my uncle’s old bedroom. I played games on my phone until the sleepiness kicks in. I woke up at 3am. I go to the bathroom, which is located in a dark corridor that leads to the garage, first having to pass the large family and TV room, past grandpa’s old study room, the dining room and the kitchen. In front of the door to the garage is the old maid room, now uninhabited. As I do my business, I hear humming. Fom the old maid’s room. It sounded familiar, somewhat. I’m creeped out, so i quickly finish my business and embark towards my room. But something stops me dead in my tracks as the humming grew louder. It wasn’t coming from the maid room. No, it was coming from the TV room. It was actually… Grandma! She turned to the guest room and… She’s gone. The last time I slept on one bed with my mom was when I was eight. On that night, I snuck into her bed and stayed awake until morning. © Lim Hikaruzen / Quora
• One time when I was a kid, I dreamed that me and some friends were playing spies, hiding from random people. In the dream, I ran past my friend who was holding a Pokémon deck book. He asked me if I wanted to play, but I said, “No, I’m on a secret mission.” The next day, the exact same thing happened, in the same place, same people, and I didn’t know what to think. It’s just weird. © Kayleb Patel / Quora

• This happened during my teenage years. We were all sleeping in one room because the fan was working in that room only. While I was sleeping, I suddenly woke up and saw someone sitting in the chair on the corner of the room. I thought that I was dreaming and I fell asleep again. Then the next morning, my brother and I were brushing our teeth, and he told me that he dreamt about someone sitting in that chair.
  I totally freaked out but I didn’t tell him about what I saw. I din’t want to frighten him. © Ryōiki Tenkai / Quora
• I was 12 years old walking less than two blocks home. I was new to town. A man stopped his car and got out, walking towards me. I took off running towards the house he was parked in front of. There was just a glass door. I opened it screaming, “Hi mom! Hi dad! I’m home!” I had no idea if it belonged to the man who was following me, but I didn’t want him to be able to follow me home, so I took a chance. I weaved my way through the house to the back door and ran through it, hurdling over shrubs until I got to another street. From there, I didn’t hear anyone behind me. I ran fast while afraid to look back. I made it home and locked the doors. © Jennifer Nicholson / Quora
• A group of friends from my college went on a bike trip in an area full of forests. My friend was sitting behind while his roommate was driving. Others were very ahead of them, and they were the only ones on the road left behind. My friend noticed that one particular tree was following them. It was very unusual because usually trees appear to move in backward direction. But he was sure that this tree was following them. He didn’t want his partner to freak out so he didn’t say anything. After a while, they saw the rest of their friends waiting for them on the road to join. Later, he told his partner what he saw. His partner froze and stared back at him saying that he had also seen that tree. Both were terrified. © Amrapali Bhalerao / Quora

• Once when I was little, my mom started to tell me a bedside story about a ghost. I asked her, “Mother, what is a ghost?” She answered, “A ghost is something that can take the form of anyone: me, you or just anybody.” Half an hour later, I heard a knock on the door. My mom said, “Will you go and see who it is?” I replied, “Mom, I am afraid, what if it’s a ghost?” My mother smiled and said that’s ok, and went to the door opened it and came back.” When I asked her who it was, she answered angrily, “Why didn’t you open the door? I’ve been knocking on it for so long, and by the way who were you you talking to inside?” I was left speechless. © Unknown User / Quora
• I went to nursing school as a married adult with children. As I was driving home after an evening class midterm, I began to slow down as I was coming near an intersection on a rarely used road. I noticed two moving lights in the sky to my right. Approximately 300’ above. These lights slowly traveled and came to a stop about 150’ above, in the front of my car. Three more lights came and lined up with the other two, one by one.
  I stopped the car, locked the doors to watch the show. I could not tell if they were blinking lights, or if they were rotating, as on a round object spinning. These lights were hovering and silent. Then, one by one they took off at a speed I have never seen, each following the other.When they left, I started the car, not remembering turning it off, and noticed the doors were unlocked. I attributed that to a poor attention span, not remembering. I arrived home a few minutes later. I thought my husband would be happy to see me home, as I left the college quite early, but he was quite troubled and wondered why I was almost 3 hours late.
  I have absolutely no memory of the missing time. © Janet Ridgeway / Quora

• Late one night, I was in bed reading. My husband slept peacefully beside me. My open bedroom window was an arm’s length away from my left side. Suddenly, the curtain twitched, but not in the way a breeze would stir them. I lowered my book, then lay very still, watching as the curtain was pulled aside. A man’s head and shoulders came into view. I jumped out of bed in alarm, asking, “What do you want?” He replied that he was looking for food. I told him to wait there, I would get him some. Like an idiot, I actually went to the kitchen and got something to eat. Naturally, when I returned, he had fled the scene. Only then did reality set in. He was a burglar looking to gain entry to our home. My husband slept through it all. © Cindy Ferguson / Quora
• One night I stayed up really late reading a Stephen King novel. The foot of my bed faced a large wall mirror and the window was above my headboard. I heard a noise and looked up and I saw a face staring in what I thought was my window behind me! It was my own reflection in the mirror! It scared me so bad I fainted.I never did finish that book. © Patricia Marie / Quora
• My mom had just steam cleaned our carpet and she was working from the hall backwards into the living room. I was sitting in the kitchen not daring to step on the wet carpet. Anyway, as she’s backing down the hallway, she looks at me, looks at the carpet, looks at me again, and tells me we’re leaving. Two baby footprints had made their way from her bedroom down the hall, towards her, accompanied with one big footprint every other step.We raced out in terror. © Chyenne Muhlestein / Quora

• When I was 20, I went on a date with a very beautiful girl with long dark black hair. I was driving my car and we had gone out to eat and a movie. When we drove back to her apartment, we sat out talking in the car for hours. About two hours into our conversation, the hair on the back of my neck stood up and I got goosebumps. When I looked over at her, she suddenly looked very old with grey hair and a wrinkled face. I freaked out and jumped out of the car when she asked me what the matter was. The only thing I could think of to answer was that she suddenly looked old. She began laughing and she gradually transformed back into her youthful appearance. She then told me that what I saw was her grandmother checking up on her to make sure she was safe. © Steve Haltiwanger / Quora
• When I was 6, my mom bought a house. It was a brand new house in a new subdivision. My mom and grandmother fixed a room for me and I loved it, until I started seeing shadows of people walking outside my window at night then they would appear in my room. It was just their heads floating around laughing and pointing at me. They were dressed in very old fashion clothes. After a while they would dissappear. But this went on everynight.One day, while jumping of a chair and playing, something went into my foot. My mother took me to the ER and after a lot of pain they pulled out a very old sewing needle. My foot was bandaged so I couldn’t walk well. That night I laid in bed waiting for the people but instead I looked down and there were ghostly green snakes crawling all over me and my bed.
  I laid still trying not to move, but a nerve in my arm jumped and one of the snakes bit me. The next morning that spot was sore…I left that house for good and went back to live with my dad. © Tammy Read / Quora

People who have encountered mysterious events often opt to share their experiences on the internet in the hopes of finding answers to their personal enigmas from the online community.

Presented here are 9 true stories of such occurrences.

source: brightside