The world tends to look a lot differently to us when we’re kids. For whatever reason, our minds tend to wander and are generally a lot more unusual when we’re little and we have plenty of time to sit and think. With that mental freedom comes a greater sense of imagination and an open-mindedness that we may sometimes diminish when we get older. To put this in more explicit terms, it often means that little kids are hearing or seeing things that the rest of us can’t see—but we’ll leave the conclusions you draw from that up to you! Regardless, it can lead to some spooky incidents for parents. With no further ado, here are 30 examples of the spookiest, most unusual things that little kids have said.
1. Where would you learn something like this?
We’ve all heard people say that the subconscious mind is pretty powerful, but have you ever heard of someone learning an entirely new language? As it turns out, that’s exactly what happened to one three-year-old boy—and his mom saw it all. We’ve heard of accidentally learning snippets of a language and reproducing them in a dream, but how do you explain away something like this?
2. Well, that’s a little bit unusual…
If you or anyone you know has had a serious brain injury, you know just how strange the effects can be during and even after recovery. Although our altered perceptions could be just some kind of glitch in our brain chemistry, it’s tempting to think that they could also be giving us insight into the world around us. For an example of this, just consider what this little girl had to say about the smell of rain.
3. Nothing like seeing spirits at a graveyard.
Unless we have to go to one, most of us try to avoid going to graveyards as much as possible. Although it’s pretty well-known that the thought of being dead (or any reminders of that thought) are usually unpleasant, there’s also the chance that people could be alive beyond the grave. Stories like the one with this little girl only strengthen those arguments…
4. Maybe past lives are realer than we thought.
Though you’ve probably heard plenty of people talk about past lives before, there’s still nothing out there to prove that they actually exist. If you ask us, it’s more than likely that we don’t have any past lives—but then again, there’s something about this story that is a little strange.
5. Ok, now this one is just funny.
Going to the middle of a forest and walking around can be an unsettling experience for anybody. It’s where wild animals live and it can come to feel like it has a kind of spirit of its own. Sometimes, it helps when somebody says something to cut the tension… at least, we hope that’s what the boy in this story was doing!
6. How do you explain this one?
The inner life of a child is a pretty mysterious. They can often see things and make connections that others wouldn’t make, or imagine relationships that others wouldn’t imagine. On the other hand, they may also have their own actual private lives with people we don’t know about… and when you show up at their doorstep, it’s even weirder.
7. How is that even possible?
If it wasn’t clear by now, some kids seem to be borderline psychic at times. If you don’t believe us, just consider this particularly cryptic message heard at a pediatrist’s office. Having an active imagination is one thing but this is a huge coincidence if there isn’t some deeper meaning behind it.
8. Nighttime visits aren’t always welcome.
Anyone who loses a family member knows just how devastating the feeling can be. Still, people often report having a feeling that their loved ones are still around somehow, or that they never really left. As a case in point, just consider this story about a woman who may or may not have been visited by her dead brother as a child.
9. Sometimes it’s just a generalized sixth sense situation.
When someone is pregnant, there are usually some obvious signs of how far along they are. Still, in the earliest stages, sometimes the woman carrying the baby doesn’t even know if she’s pregnant or not. As it turns out, some of us must give off some kind of energy that others can pick up on—at least, some perceptive little kids can.
10. And sometimes these kinds of insights bring us good news.
Waiting to hear back about a family member’s health is never a fun thing. In some cases, we may even consider a family member’s health beyond fixing and only expect the worse news. Cases like those make stories like this one all the more strange. Again, just another instance of someone having a strange sixth sense?
11. Encounters from the beyond can sometimes be very sweet as well.
In a lot of these cases, there’s a feeling that the unusual experience can be excused away somehow by some normal explanation. In stories like this one, it’s a lot harder to justify how a child would know something like this unless they were somehow aware of something we weren’t. We’ll leave the conclusions up to you.
12. If the last one didn’t convince you, what about this one?
We don’t want to belabor the point too much, but there’s something uncanny when children seem to have information about dead relatives that they couldn’t have information about. There’s always the chance that they heard some information somewhere else and then their imagination ran wild, but it seems a little hard to believe. What do you think?
13. Imaginary friend or ghost sighting?
Imaginary friends are a pretty normal part of childhood, but they’re still somewhat mysterious when looked at from an adult perspective. Though we didn’t all have them, everybody probably knows someone who did. Still, sometimes the friend is less of a friend and more of an… apparition. In the case of this story, we’ll let you decide if this was all in her imagination or not.
14. Ok, now this one is just upsetting.
Seeing one apparition is one thing, but what if your child sees an entire group of them all the time? We hope you never have to go through that experience yourself, but this mother did. Maybe this is all just a weird joke, but if not, consider us thoroughly creeped out.
15. Pretty hard to explain this one away.
We get having a sixth sense about certain things or just having a hunch about how something is going to go. Still, it’s a different thing entirely to make several different, specific predictions about what babies your mom is going to have and when they’re going to arrive! We wish we had this strong of a sense of the future sometimes.
16. Nothing unusual about this one—just standard creepiness.
When we’re young, we’re often testing the waters about how we can behave. We learn what’s acceptable by experimenting with our social behavior. Sometimes the people around us think it’s ok, other times they don’t. We’re going to say that’s exactly what was happening in this creepy situation below.
17. Once again, this is more than a little bit strange.
If you have a child who claims to see dead relatives, you’re either going to take comfort in it or be terrified by it. When it comes to seeing things or people who aren’t there, we’re going to say that we generally lean towards being freaked out—but you can make your own decisions.
18. We wouldn’t be able to sleep either.
No matter how old you are, there’s always still a chance to freak yourself out when you’re trying to go to sleep. If you’ve ever had sleep paralysis or woken up from a particularly bad nightmare, you know what we’re talking about. Still, little kids seem to have more intense versions of this than we do. Like we said: we probably wouldn’t have taken a nap either.
19. Ok, this one is pretty funny.
Have you ever had your eye on someone who had a boyfriend or girlfriend? If so, you know the jealousy and the other painful emotions that sometimes accompany an unrequited crush. When you’re really little, it’s not unusual to say that you want to date or marry your one of your parents—and sometimes you have to do some pretty extreme things to make that happen, as it turns out.
20. This could be a coincidence but it’s still pretty strange.
Sometimes there’s an unconscious thing that happens where a group of people pick up on the same idea “in the air,” so to speak. This kind of thing can happen when someone comes up with a scientific breakthrough in one part of the world at the same time somebody else does. In this case, it’s a little darker of a discovery than that… but what do you think?
21. This is a big “no thanks” from us.
One imaginary friend is enough to deal with. After all, it can get some getting used to that your child has a friend who you can’t see or hear. Still, when you’re getting ready to go and your child is inviting a whole group of invisible people to come with you, that’s where we have to draw the line.
22. Of all the ones on this list, this one might be the most disturbing.
As we’ve said already, there are plenty of ways to explain a lot of the things on this list by saying that children just have overactive imaginations. You could say that about this and maybe you’d be right. Still, how freaked out would you be if somebody snuck in your room and whispered in your ear like this?
23. This is definitely a little strange.
Everyone has their own ideas about what happens when we die (and by extension, what happens to us after we die). Still, these ideas are not necessarily intuitive to us when we’re young. All we know is that we’re alive now, not what might come after. On the other hand, sometimes our children have uncanny insights into what an afterlife might mean…
24. In a way, this one is kind of cute.
The idea that babies might have some kind of choice about which family they want to join isn’t a completely new one. Still, it is new to consider that all of those babies are five years old hanging out together in heaven! We’re not sure if we completely believe this, but it’s still nice to think about.
25. We weren’t prepared to hear so many stories about reincarnation…
One of the world’s most popular theories about the afterlife is that our spirits or souls somehow get reincarnated in new bodies. Another popular theory along those lines is that reincarnated souls actually stay within families as well. If you believe that, consider this story as evidence.
26. Ok, we’re terrified now.
Sometimes our kids don’t have to be doing anything supernatural to freak us out. In some cases, it’s just that they are particularly attached to us and have a strange way of expressing that. We’re sure this little girl didn’t mean any harm by this… still, it’s more than a little bit unsettling.
27. It’s never pleasant to feel like your child is somehow in danger.
Even if we can’t feel or see the things that our kids are threatened by, we still want to respond to those threats when they arise. As we’ve said, we can all get pretty used to kids having imaginary friends and seeing things—it only really becomes a problem when they’re disturbed by the things they’re seeing. If you ask us, we would’ve done the same thing.
As we’ve said already, being a kid means testing the limits of our social interactions all the time. Sometimes, that includes thinking some dark, weird thoughts and actually saying them out loud. And that sometimes means hearing our kids say they would chop us up. Ok, then.
29. Well this is upsettingly specific.
When you’re four years old, you probably don’t know much about American history. Your knowledge of the Civil War is probably pretty limited, no matter how precocious you may be. With that being the case, it’s pretty alarming when your kid tells you that you’re a reincarnated Union soldier. We’re not sure how to take this one.
30. The human mind is a fascinating thing.
By this point, we’ve covered plenty of stories about kids and others suddenly being able to speak a language they’ve had no exposure to. There may even be some strange scientific explanation for some of these stories (though we don’t know them). Still, it raises a lot of questions about our own consciousness and about the consciousness that we may all share.
31. So, when did you turn on, exactly?
Reddit user OncerGirl had an odd feeling that she didn’t exist at one point of her life. “Apparently, I told my mom that there was a specific moment that I ‘turned on’ and my life continued from there. I said I remembered being confused at first…”
This one is short and…well, not so sweet. Reddit user Bcnlennontomato told their daughter, “Good night, baby.” The sweet little girl replied, “See you in your nightmares.” If there was any way to make sure that happened, that’s probably it!
33. This kid actually prepared the graves.
It’s not enough that this kid was saying creepy things. After saying, 7“All grownups are going to die. We’ve dug pits where we are going to put you.” True to her word, she’d prepared some graves in the sandbox.
34. Oh great, this one comes with a picture.
If there’s anything creepier than a kid saying something eerie, it’s them actually representing it. This is a self-portrait one Reddit user’s child did …. They mention their wife is in therapy now.
35. Does the aunt remember that, too?
One Reddit user heard their 4-year-old cousin’s creepy answer after being asked what her earliest memory was. Her response? “Eating your face.”
“I love nightmares, I have them every night. They are my friends now,” said a 7-year-old who isn’t afraid of the monsters under the bed! Apparently, she doesn’t mind watching scary movies.
37. How to break some big news…
One Reddit user was chatting with a little boy at the daycare where they work and mentioned his mother. “Well, I can’t, because Mommy’s underground, so I can’t,” said the boy. It’s creepy, sad, and awkward all at the same time.
38. Please go back to bed.
A 3-year-old little boy got out of bed at almost midnight to say some pretty creepy stuff. What news did he have to share? “No more planets around the sun. The sun is going, all the planets are going. No more people on the planets.”
39. At least this one is funny.
This 5-year-old little girl needs to work on her love letters a little bit. Telling the boy, you’ve got a crush on that you’re going to track him down might not be the best opening line. When she gets older, she’ll find openers that are a little less …threatening?
40. Imagine turning around to see this.
It’s enough to make any parent almost soil themselves from terror. Turning around to see a silent figure in a mask beside you? I would have already been out the door. That child is lucky he didn’t get attacked!
41. How to ruin oranges for life.
A first grader watched his teacher peel an orange with a fruit peeler, then asked, “Can that peel someone’s skin off?” Talk about someone no longer wanting to eat oranges.
42. Maybe you need to make new friends.
One Reddit user says that when they were a child, their imaginary friend was a floating horse head with glowing red eyes. Hopefully, that changed once they started school.
43. At least the kid understood the assignment.
In the worst possible answer to this assignment, one child revealed their secret interest in arson. It may be time for a parent-teacher conference. A really, really awkward parent-teacher conference. And maybe a call to the police.
44. The nanny is not down with this plan.
This poor nanny had her hair pulled out for months by her 4-year-old charge. Here’s the worst part: the kiddo actually had a plan: “So part of you is always with me.”
45. How to ruin Christmas for everyone.
In a Christmas store, everyone was happily preparing for the holiday, when a 5-year-old boy asked, “Did you know Santa used to be evil?” No, we didn’t know that.
46. Maybe look both ways before you cross, Mom.
A 2-year-old started talking often about her mother being hit by a car to the point where it started to worry her parents. When her mother asked her when it happened, the little girl said, “Soon.”
47. Let’s use sunblock from now on.
One father was putting cream on his sunburn when his 5-year-old daughter came in and asked if she could peel his skin off. Why? To add to her skin collection.
48. Well, that’s quite the bombshell.
One Reddit user says that he looks kind of scary with a mohawk and a beard but he is very friendly — not at all scary in his manner. But the child of a family friend seemed to have another idea. One day after knowing the poster for a long time, he suddenly said, “I know you’re really a monster.”
49. It’s just a nosebleed!
One 3-year-old girl got creepy after experiencing her first nosebleed. She asked her nanny, “Do you see it? You see the blood running down the stairs?”
One nanny got a double dose of creepy when her two kids informed her that their father was going to kill them and put them under the snow. He was making them hot chocolate.
51. No, that’s not better.
One babysitter had to redirect their kid several times during a game of pretend. First, she wanted to pretend that she was being eaten by a bear. Then, she pretended to suck her thumb while she walked through the forest. “It’s not really my thumb – it’s the dead girl’s thumb from before.”
52. What would they do if they didn’t like you?
One 4-year-old girl asked her mother why aliens climbed on their car at night. When her mom asked her when that happened, she responded: “At night…they like us.” Then her mother asked where else she had seen them. “On our roof.”
53. Way to ruin a cuddle session.
A sweet 3-year-old boy was cuddling with his grandmother. Then he took her face in both hands and told her that she was old and she would die soon. The kicker? He gave a glance at the clock, too.
54. There’s not a baby on the way…
One preschool teacher noticed a little girl who was obsessed with bellies and assumed her mother was pregnant. But, the little girl told her no, they weren’t expecting a new baby at home. She pointed to her own stomach and said, “I keep my sister in here! But I don’t like to let her out.”
One babysitter had a creepy experience with the little girl they were watching. On finding out that their car was parked across the street, she instructed them to go to the car without checking to see if there was any oncoming traffic. Why? “I want to see someone die.”
Share Your Experiences
As you can see, there’s a lot more going on in a child’s mind than we may realize. The imagination and the subconscious are still parts of human life that we know very little about. We can all feel their effects, but we may not be able to see or explain their mechanisms very well. In some sense, children can give us some insight into a side of reality that we don’t often examine. What do you think about these stories? Do you have any of your own experiences like this? Let us know in the comments below.
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