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Children are amazing. They are so smart, creative, curious and brave, and we should never underestimate them. When our kids speak to us, they deserve our full attention. Just like adults, what they say is important to them, and they don’t want to be brushed aside. Once they say something extremely creepy, however, I think adults get a free pass to say, “Nope. You’re on your own kid!”
As adorable as children can be, they also have the capacity to be extremely frightening. There’s a reason why so many horror movies are centered around little ones turning demonic, ghost children haunting homes and kids experiencing paranormal activity before their parents do... So to bring attention to the terrifying nature of kids, one curious Reddit user asked parents to share the most unsettling things their children have said before, and they did not disappoint.
From seeing frightening imaginary friends to telling adults when they’re going to die, we’ve gathered the spookiest stories down below for all of you pandas to read, as well as an interview we were lucky enough to receive from clinical psychologist Dr. Amy Marschall, Psy.D. Be sure to upvote the responses that make you hesitant to ever have kids, and if you are a parent, feel free to share any scary things you’ve ever heard your kids say in the comments. Then if you’re looking for another Bored Panda article that will convince you how terrifying children can be, you can read some disturbing imaginary friend stories right here.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
my 6 year old daughter came downstairs from her bedroom and said "Dad, i think Kacey is dead", that's my 3 year old daughter. Of course i ran up to make sure Kacey was ok, at which time my oldest daughter raided the cookie jar.
Children can be confusing. One moment they can be saying the cutest and sweetest things you've ever heard, then like a flip has been switched, they can begin telling spooky stories that sound like they've been talking to a ghost. So to gain some insight on this topic, we reached out to clinical psychologist Dr. Amy Marschall, Psy.D, to hear why kids often say things that adults consider so creepy. "Kids are still learning to communicate, so they sometimes say things in ways that aren't typical for adults," Dr. Marschall told Bored Panda. "They might phrase something in an unusual way because they aren't sure how to articulate their experience, or they might lack the impulse control or 'filter' to choose not to say certain things or share a thought."
"Kids are also highly imaginative and might have ideas that seem odd or creepy to adults, when it's just an idea in their head," Dr. Marschall explained. "Very young children are still learning the difference between reality and imagination as well, so they might share an 'experience' that was actually a dream or something they saw in a video."
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#2
My sons were about 2 and 4 when their pet goldfish died. I attempted to use the situation as an opportunity to discuss death and mortality. After I finished my explanation, my four year looked up at me with his big, blue eyes and asked, "Mommy, someday, will you die?" My heart filled with love and a little sadness, knowing this was one of those pivotal moments when the first bit of childhood innocence was lost,and I told him yes, someday, mommy will die.
"Good," he said with a totally deadpan expression, and walked out of the room.
Later when we were about to flush the fish, he asked if we could eat him instead. I said no, we don't eat pets because we love them, and he said, "When you die, I'm going to eat you."
#3
My daughter was 4 years old. One morning I heard her door open and shut. That usually meant that she would be coming to our room to lay down with us. She never came in, but shortly after I heard her voice. Hoping she would go back to sleep I let her be for a bit. Then I heard the door open and shut again. This time I decided to go into her room and see why she kept getting out of bed.
I walked in and she had her eyes closed.
"Sweetie?"
"Yes, daddy."
"Why did you get out of bed?"
"I didn't, I was trying to sleep but he wouldn't leave me alone. He kept talking to me and asking me questions."
"He? Who is he?"
"The little boy that was in my room."
"Umm, sweetie that was just a dream. There is no boy in your room."
"I know that. He just left."
"Ok, well what was the little boy doing?"
"He was hanging from the fan and asking me a bunch of questions."
"How was he hanging from the fan? With his arms?"
"No, with a rope."
Scariest f*****g moment of my life. I asked her about it about a year later and she said she doesn't remember.
We also asked Dr. Marschall if parents should be concerned if their children begin saying things they find frightening or creepy. "If you're concerned about things your child is talking about, there is no minimum threshold to ask for help," she told Bored Panda. "You can always ask their pediatrician for a referral to a therapist or use a directory to find someone in your area who specializes in child mental health. Especially if the things your child is saying suggest a drastic, sudden change in behavior, it can always be worth offering more support."
#4
When I was three I went missing for a few hours while my dad was hanging Christmas lights outside (we had a bunch of woods and trails behind our house). Fast forward a few hours I come out of the woods and walk down the road to my house telling my parents a man told me to go home. When I described him to my mom she broke down crying because it was an exact description of her father. He died almost 10 years before I was born.
#5
I have a good one: When my oldest brother was 3 or 4, he fell into my cousins' pool. The pool didn't have a ladder and was several inches to reach to get out, no way for a 3 year-old that has ever swam in his life to escape. Well, while all the adults were talking they hear him screaming and splashing, and then silence. When they ran to get him, he was standing right next to the pool and he was soaking wet. When they asked him what happened, he said, "I fell in the pool and couldn't get out, then a shiny man pulled me out."
That one will always give me shivers.
We also asked Dr. Marschall if kids tend to share these creepy things on purpose to try to freak adults out. "It is possible!" she says. "I hate the term 'attention-seeking', but again, when you don't know how to communicate, you might try to get needs met in different ways. A child who feels like they want their parent's full attention or want to connect with them in that moment might say or do something that they know will get their focus. They aren't trying to be manipulative or deceptive, but they don't understand how to say, 'I'd like to connect with you right now'."
If you'd like to gain more insight from Dr. Amy Marschall, be sure to visit her website, Resiliency Mental Health, right here.
#6
While Playing classroom with my three year old brother he made an off handed comment about being in my mothers belly twice. I was amused and said oh really. He proceeded to tell me in amazing detail being inside our mother. He told me about it being warm and that he liked it but he always felt sick. One day he got so sick that "they" came and told him he had to leave. He didnt want to so they promised him he would get to came back again and back to our mom. So he left and they let him come back again and this time he didnt feel sick. I lost my mind and started screaming for my mother. He told her the same story then after she stopped crying we were not allowed to talk about it. I was ten and I was old enough to remember that she had a miscarriage almost 1 year before my brother was born.. Side note im not religious but my brother always kinda makes me wonder.
#7
In the 80's I babysat a kid who was 11 (I was 17). He was pissed because I wouldn't let him go play with his friends due to the fact he was already grounded. He went down to the basement grabbed a bunch circular saw blades and started throwing them at me like Frisbees. He cut me up pretty bad. I lost it however. I duck taped him to a chair. Called his dad. Told him what transpired and said he has 3 minutes to get home before I left. His dad was there in 2. I was shaking like crazy. The child was still screaming he was going to kill me when his dad came in the door. I never babysat for him again and told him the child needs to be in an institution before he hurts someone.
If you have kids of your own, the stories on this list might come as no surprise to you. Your little ones might be freaking you out on the regular! But if you don't have children, we hope this list does not deter you from having any. (I won't blame you if it does though...) Keep upvoting the stories that you find particularly creepy, and feel free to share any disturbing things you've heard children say in the comments below. Then, if you'd like to check out another Bored Panda article featuring unsettling things children have talked about, you can find an article on the creepiest imaginary friends right here.
#8
My two year old said there is a fairy in his room. He points to the corner with the aircon. He says it most nights. One day I was showing him some old family photos. I show him one of my mother and he points to it and says 'fairy fairy bedroom'. The photo was of my mum as a girl. She died 4 years ago.
#9
My 3 year old daughter stood next to her new born brother and looked at him for a while then turned and looked at me and said, "Daddy it's a monster... we should bury it."
#10
When I was a waitress, I watched a little girl (4ish) stab her plastic fork into her sandwich repeatedly, saying "die die die die die die". When I asked her what she was doing (her mom was in the bathroom for a minute), she replied with a straight face, "I like to kill things, but mom says I shouldn't. So I picked the ham because it can't scream."
#11
My dad watched his mother die of a ruptured gal bladder when he was twelve and still remembers vividly. My sister, one day, randomly gets up almost an hour after she's gone to bed and goes up to him. The conversation went like this:
Sister: Daddy, your mommy died in a red sweater, jeans, sneakers and with her hair in a ponytail, right? And her hair was blonde?
Dad: *Drops book he's reading and stares, wide-eyed, and then says* Yes...
Sister: What color were her eyes?
Dad: Blue... why?
Sister: Oh, she doesn't have them anymore, just empty sockets. I was curious.
And she goes right back to bed.
#12
My ex and I took our kids over to my dad's house and we were up stairs in one of the empty rooms playing. The closet door opened a little bit on its own and my three year old jumped up, ran over to it and said "it's grandma". My mother died before he was even conceived.
#13
Getting my two and a half year old daughter out of the bath one night, my wife and I were briefing her on how important it was she kept her privates clean. She casually replied "Oh, nobody 'scroofs' me there. They tried one night. They kicked the door in and tried but I fought back. I died and now I'm here." She said this like it was nothing. My wife and I were catatonic.
#14
When I was in Kindergarden I had best friend named Rider. We were friends all through School. He died in a horrific car accident at the end of the year. My mother asked me why I haven't gone in my room for a couple of days. I said "Because Rider is playing with my toys." This was a month after he died.
#15
I was putting my daughter to bed one night when she was around two. She said, "Mommy, who's that?" "Who's what?" I asked.
"Those people talking to me. In my closet. Who is that?"
I just about s**t myself.
#16
"Daddy, I'm going to kick you in the eyeballs and drink your blood", my daughter aged 3. I'm thinking of building myself a panic room.
#17
Once I was taking a nap on the couch. I was waking up, and just as I'm opening my eyes, I see my 2yo son walking toward me with a serious look on his face. He leans in close and whispers, "It Happened." He then leaves without another word.
FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, WHAT HAPPENED??
#18
My daughter had some imaginary friends for a couple years named Dodo, Ghana & The Evil. They just sort of appeared out of nowhere when she was about 2.5 years old. It started with Dodo and Ghana, then a few months later (she was about 3 at this point) she came up to me and told me with a creepily expressionless face: "The Evil is coming over today" and just walked away.
Turns out, The Evil was actually a pretty nice imaginary friend, she just had an unfortunate name.
#19
When I was about 4 my mother walked into my room in the middle of the night and found me passing a ball against the wall. She asked what I was doing, I replied with "I'm playing with James and Sarah." Turns out those were the names of my dead siblings.
#20
This is a hugely popular thread so it'll get buried but here goes. My wife died just about a month after my sons fourth birthday unexpectedly. A couple of weeks later he really had said much about it so as I'm putting him to bed one night I ask him if he misses mommy.
He looks me dead in the eye and says "no". Obviously this startles me, and I'm lost for words. Once I finally find rational thought again I proceed to ask him why he said no? He says "mommy is ok. She's happy". Now I'm freaking out. Why is my son saying this? His mom just died?! I the. Ask him what he means by it?
Heres where it gets really freaky to me. He answers me with this "mommy said she is happy", "she said I shouldn't be sad". My late wife had some "issues" and the autopsy hadn't come back yet. We at this time had no idea what she died from - I just found her one morning face down one morning in my living room. Ok back to the story. So when my son tells me this i start to freak the f**k out. Did she goodbye to him??? Was it suicide??
I then proceed to ask him if mommy told him this. He goes "yes". Ok. Now my heart sinks, I get pissed at her, I feel even more horrible for him, and a million other emoticons at once. I ask him "when did mommy tell you this?". He says "at night". "when i sleep she comes and visits me. We talk and she told me not to be sad. She said she's happy where she's at and she watches me when im awake and she will protect me".
Onions and shock.. Right then. I've had 2 years to process this now and it amazes me that a four year old has such amazingly healthy coping skills.
Tl/dr: mom of a four yr old dies tells dad that mom visits him when he sleeps and tells son not to be sad.
#21
"So I shouldn't throw him in the fire?"
3 year old daughter holding her baby brother for the first time.
#22
My kid was in the bathtub one night with the bathroom door open and I was puttering around in the next room. She called out and said "hey mommy, who was that blue guy who just walked down the hall?" She said he was tall and thin and featureless like "the shape of those men on the bathroom door like at a restaurant". Creeped me out!
#23
I was the kid, my mom told me this story once I was older.
My great grandfather died, and because I was so young no one told me.
My mom took me to his grave a few weeks after it happened, and let me play amongst the gravestones while she lay flowers.
As we were leaving, I stopped and asked "why is great grandpa sitting in the tree?" I then pointed to what appeared to my mom as an empty tree, and waved.
The tree was planted so the branches hung right above where he was buried.
TL; DR: Pointed out my great grandfather to my mother without knowing he had died.
#24
My 3 year old was laying on my chest a few weeks ago and she said "I can hear your heart, Mommy. It was much louder when I was inside there with the poops that didn't come out yet".
#25
I was tucking in my two year old. He said "Good bye dad." I said, "No, we say good night." He said "I know. But this time it's good bye."
Had to check on him a few times to make sure he was still there.
#26
My daughter said to me that there is a woman who watches her watch movies in her room and sleeps on the ceiling above her bed when she sleeps. she also says it does not like me and wants to eat my heart. my kid watches Elmo and f**king dinosaur train. where in the hell did she get this from?
#27
I don't have kids but apparently this happened when I was about four.
I shared a room with my older sister and we had huge closets in our bedroom that were about 6 foot tall. My mother would wake up in the middle of the night to hear me crying and she'd come in to investigate what was wrong. She then would find me sitting on top of the 6' closest, cross-legged and rocking back and forth while crying about; "The big scary man put me up here".
Since my mother was tired from it being the middle of the night and being heavily pregnant she didn't really think about HOW I got up on the closet, but would put me back into bed and comfort me until I fell asleep again.
But then my grandmother came to stay with us a few nights and she told my mother that she woke up in the middle of the night because it got suddenly cold and her bedroom door handle was turning. The door opened but no one was there and then the bathroom door opposite her door opened on its own. She stared out the door for a few minutes not moving because she was in shock and frightened, but then heard me start crying.
My mother walked by her room to get to me and of course I was crying about the man putting me up there. My grandmother told my mum what she experienced and my sister slept with my Gran and I slept with mum for the next couple of weeks after that. It stopped once my brother was born, and to this day I have no idea what really happened.
#28
My daughter (she's only 3) had a cat (Lexi) and it died a few months ago. One morning I noticed a small scratch on her hand and I asked her where it came from, she said in the most deadly serious face that I have ever seen a three year old pull; "I saw Lexi last night and he scratched me in the dark and then he flew away." I was so creeped out I couldn't sleep that night in case a killer cat came and cut me up while I was sleeping.
#29
My son when he was about 2... he had a weird fear of being abandoned, which there never was an incident of him getting lost or any type thing. He asked my wife if we have ever forgotten him anywhere, which she replied no. He responds "oh that's right, it happened when you were small and I was big"
#30
When I was a toddler, my maternal grandparents lived a few blocks away in an older 2-story house with an unfinished basement and a walkable storage attic.
I was scared sh**less of the basement and typically wouldn't go down without an adult. The furnace and the central vac were down there and the noises they made scared me. The attic on the other hand was my playground. All the old toys and abandoned family stuff was up there.
My whole family; parents, grandparents, aunts and uncle, all talk about the multiple times that I would ask to go upstairs to play with grandpa George, or come down saying I had been playing with him.
Thing is, there's no-one in my family that I've known named George...
What do you think ?
Sanchi 2 years ago
You know, if you are just going to say “this is fake” on the posts then stop reading this.
Stardust she/her 2 years ago
My mom said that when I was 2, I apparently said that I used to live in the stars and wanted to come down to be born but nobody were taking me untill my parents allowed me to. Not creepy, just wierd in my opinion
Silly Rabbit 2 years ago
When my son P was 7, my grandfather died in March. He and P were very close and hung out together often since my son was born. That Christmas, we were having dinner at my mother's house and my grandmother asked P to go next door to her house to get some butter. P walked out the kitchen door onto the enclosed back deck to get to my grandmother's house but he quickly came back in, pale as anything. I got up and went to him to ask what's wrong, and in a whisper told me that PapPap was on the deck smoking his pipe. I said, Pap died in March remember. He goes, yeah but he's out there and I'm scared. I said I'd walk him over and as soon as I stepped onto to deck, I could smell the five brothers tobacco he always smoked. Maybe it was residual, but that wasn't the only time my grandfather visited, just the first.
Got Myself 4 Pandas 2 years ago
Not really something I said, not for years anyway, but I went to New Zealand when i was 10 for two months with my grandad after my Gran died. One day something bad happened, I kept it to myself because that's what good girls do, they don't cause trouble. That same night I woke up (on a top bunk) to my Gran sitting rubbing my feet saying I'll be ok, to this day I still don't know if it was the most vivid dream I've ever had or it actually happened. I was a little girl who was very sad and literally on the other side of the world with no one to comfort me, it makes sense it was a dream - but of all the people I could summon up in my unconscious I just find it hard to believe it would be her. There's just something about it that's always left me wondering. I'm still skeptic about the whole paranormal stuff but I do wonder...I'm mostly convinced our brains are just super complex and young minds fill in gaps with imagination - sometimes people hear what they want to out of it
ThatBiBookLover 2 years ago
For context, my mum gives music classes for kids aged 4-8 at home. She occasionally takes group classes. There was this one girl who seemed a little… off. She kept on glancing at me during classes (I sat on the couch chilling). At one point, all the kids played with my sisters kitchen set (which has a plastic knife included. The girl procceeds to come to me, tried to slit my throat with it, and when I blocked her after she tried it AGAIN laughed and tried to slit my arm instead. I was freaked.
simply.Taz 2 years ago
DAMN! She shouldn't be allowed to participate in the group classes! This girl could potentially seriously harm another child! Her parents truly need to have her, and her frightening behavior, professionally assessed! smh
Load More Replies...
Evelyn Haskins 2 years ago
None of this is very surprising to me, because our brains can do weird things, and sometimes a "forgotten" memory can cause flash backs. I used to see weird things when trying to sleep as a child: every thing would be huge, or far away, or covered with mud. or I'd be perched on top of the door looking down. But I knew it wasn’t real. This is NOT abnormal. I do have Asperger's but no longer 'see' things. https://www.verywellhealth.com/what-causes-sleep-related-hallucinations-3014744
Willow2 2 years ago
I'm assuming most people don't believe most of these, but as someone said, it's like a movie, it's fun even if it's not real. You pointing out the obvious on every post is ruining the fun.
Load More Replies... Sanchi 2 years ago
You know, if you are just going to say “this is fake” on the posts then stop reading this.
Stardust she/her 2 years ago
My mom said that when I was 2, I apparently said that I used to live in the stars and wanted to come down to be born but nobody were taking me untill my parents allowed me to. Not creepy, just wierd in my opinion
Silly Rabbit 2 years ago
When my son P was 7, my grandfather died in March. He and P were very close and hung out together often since my son was born. That Christmas, we were having dinner at my mother's house and my grandmother asked P to go next door to her house to get some butter. P walked out the kitchen door onto the enclosed back deck to get to my grandmother's house but he quickly came back in, pale as anything. I got up and went to him to ask what's wrong, and in a whisper told me that PapPap was on the deck smoking his pipe. I said, Pap died in March remember. He goes, yeah but he's out there and I'm scared. I said I'd walk him over and as soon as I stepped onto to deck, I could smell the five brothers tobacco he always smoked. Maybe it was residual, but that wasn't the only time my grandfather visited, just the first.
Got Myself 4 Pandas 2 years ago
Not really something I said, not for years anyway, but I went to New Zealand when i was 10 for two months with my grandad after my Gran died. One day something bad happened, I kept it to myself because that's what good girls do, they don't cause trouble. That same night I woke up (on a top bunk) to my Gran sitting rubbing my feet saying I'll be ok, to this day I still don't know if it was the most vivid dream I've ever had or it actually happened. I was a little girl who was very sad and literally on the other side of the world with no one to comfort me, it makes sense it was a dream - but of all the people I could summon up in my unconscious I just find it hard to believe it would be her. There's just something about it that's always left me wondering. I'm still skeptic about the whole paranormal stuff but I do wonder...I'm mostly convinced our brains are just super complex and young minds fill in gaps with imagination - sometimes people hear what they want to out of it
ThatBiBookLover 2 years ago
For context, my mum gives music classes for kids aged 4-8 at home. She occasionally takes group classes. There was this one girl who seemed a little… off. She kept on glancing at me during classes (I sat on the couch chilling). At one point, all the kids played with my sisters kitchen set (which has a plastic knife included. The girl procceeds to come to me, tried to slit my throat with it, and when I blocked her after she tried it AGAIN laughed and tried to slit my arm instead. I was freaked.
simply.Taz 2 years ago
DAMN! She shouldn't be allowed to participate in the group classes! This girl could potentially seriously harm another child! Her parents truly need to have her, and her frightening behavior, professionally assessed! smh
Load More Replies... Evelyn Haskins 2 years ago
None of this is very surprising to me, because our brains can do weird things, and sometimes a "forgotten" memory can cause flash backs. I used to see weird things when trying to sleep as a child: every thing would be huge, or far away, or covered with mud. or I'd be perched on top of the door looking down. But I knew it wasn’t real. This is NOT abnormal. I do have Asperger's but no longer 'see' things. https://www.verywellhealth.com/what-causes-sleep-related-hallucinations-3014744
Willow2 2 years ago
I'm assuming most people don't believe most of these, but as someone said, it's like a movie, it's fun even if it's not real. You pointing out the obvious on every post is ruining the fun.
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