These Creepy Subreddits Are Leaving Users on Edge

Reddit is a mysterious place!

There are lots of reasons to visit the popular social media site, Reddit. You can find funny jokes, cute animals, and weird memes, just to name a few. However, there are some subreddits that have been leaving users more disturbed than entertained. Let’s take a look at a few creepy subreddits that are giving their users nightmares.

8. Creepy Subreddits: The Backrooms

The original backrooms post
The Original Backrooms Post

Unlike some creepy subreddits that populate Reddit, The Backrooms doesn’t claim to be grounded in reality. However, that hasn’t stopped tens of thousands of users from posting eerie updates to the bizarre page.

According to the creators of The Backrooms, danger can be lurking if you attempt to pass through a solid object, which they refer to as ‘no-clipping’, at the wrong place or time. You can end up in a terrifying place known as “the backrooms”. Upon entering the backrooms, you will find “nothing but the stink of old moist carpet, the madness of mono-yellow, the endless background noise of fluorescent lights at maximum hum-buzz, and approximately six hundred million square miles of randomly segmented empty rooms to be trapped in”.

The concept plays on the idea of endless, lonely monotony. The same or similar dank monotone room for millions of miles. All alone you wander this bleak, repeated version of reality.

Users who frequent this subreddit share photos of the places they encounter in the backrooms and stories about their attempts to escape from the labyrinth. So far, no one has been lucky enough to find their way out. The moderators of the page insist that the concept of “the backrooms” is fictional. However, browsing through the oddly ominous images and stories of lost Redditors will leave you distinctly uncomfortable and praying that you never find yourself trapped in the terrifying backrooms.

7. Creepy Subreddits: Chip-Chan

Chip-Chan is a creepy subreddit.
Wikimedia

Unlike The Backrooms, some creepy subreddits are harder to categorize as fact or fiction. In the case of Chip-Chan, the possibility that posts are grounded in reality has many users fearing for the safety of a young woman.

Chip-Chan is the name of a mysterious South Korean woman, who has been live-streaming her apartment for the past decade. She has set up several cameras in her living space, where viewers can watch her 24 hours a day. Chip-Chan claims she is being imprisoned by a police officer known only as “P”. She also claims that she has been implanted with tracking devices that prevent her from leaving, control her mind, and make her fall unconscious at any time her captor wishes.

Much of the livestream, up to 12 hours per day, shows the mysterious woman sleeping, often in odd and uncomfortable positions. She appears to be in poor health, often sharing photos of skin rashes and wounds of uncertain origin. Because her alleged captor is a police officer, she has taken to the internet for help.

The Chip-Chan subreddit is devoted to discussions about the mysterious woman. Some believe her story about being a captive. Others think the whole thing is a hoax or art project, or that Chip-Chan is mentally ill. However, until someone is able to locate her, we won’t know for certain.

As of writing this, the livestream has been taken down. Chip-Chan claims that the mysterious ‘P’ hacked her computer and made it unable to livestream. For now she posts to her Naver account here.

6. Creepy Subreddits: Glitch in the Matrix

My ex’s mom passed away & sent us a message on my phone from r/Glitch_in_the_Matrix

Sometimes on creepy subreddits, things happen that seem to defy the rules of reality. One subreddit, Glitch in the Matrix, is devoted to these unexplained occurrences. According to the subreddit’s moderators, the page is devoted to “eye-witness event(s) that cannot be explained with critical thinking”. On the page, users share stories about events in their lives that they are unable to explain.

For example, user maresomnia shares an unsettling backstory about receiving a message on her phone from her ex-boyfriend’s deceased mother. A few days after the death, she was hanging out with some friends, trying to distract herself from her grief. One of her friends was being particularly silly that night, so she took some Snapchat videos. However, when they later viewed the videos, someone else made an appearance.

The poster claims that the video showed a room that looked nothing like where it was shot. Instead, the grainy video appeared to be taken outdoors. Additionally, instead of featuring her friend, the video allegedly showed her ex’s deceased mother. She heard the dead woman say, “I’m okay, baby. I’m okay”. The video ended, and immediately disappeared from the phone. Several witnesses saw the bizarre video, including the user’s ex. No one has any idea where the video could have come from, except from beyond the grave.

5. The Mandela Effect

What would the Social implications of an extremely obvious Mandela Effect be? from r/MandelaEffect

 

Though you may be unfamiliar with the term, you’ve most likely experienced The Mandela Effect: a bizarre phenomenon that Reddit users have devoted an entire page to. The Mandela Effect is defined as a collective memory that is contrary to known facts. The name comes from a particular incident in which numerous people realized they have distinct memories of Nelson Mandela’s death occurring sometime in the 1980s, even though his actual death didn’t occur until 2013. People quickly realized that they had many false memories, and that others shared their mistaken recollections.

Users of this subreddit regularly share their mistaken memories to find out if others have the same recollections. For example, numerous users have discovered that they remembered the popular book series, “The Berenstein Bears,” even though all existing copies of the book show the spelling as “Berenstain”. Other examples include misremembering a basket in the Fruit of the Looms logo, Curious George’s tail, and Darth Vader’s iconic “Luke, I am your father” line.

Perhaps one of the greatest examples of the Mandela Effect, is the collective memory shared by thousands of people that sometime in the 1990’s comedian Sinbad starred as a genie in a film titled Shazaam. In this timeline, the film never existed, however that hasn’t stopped those that insist that the film was actually made. Many who believe that the film is real even claim to be able to remember intricate details about it. From specific scenes, right down to the cover and poster art.

Mandela Effect believers disagree in their explanations of false memories. Some believe that we are living in an alternate timeline in which small changes have been made; false memories are evidence of our move to this timeline. Others believe that the explanation is purely psychological. What do you think?

4. Pictures of Ian Sleeping

Pictures of Ian sleeping at parties #newyear (1/1/17)

There aren’t many creepy subreddits devoted entirely to one person. That makes bizarre pages such as Pictures of Ian Sleeping even eerier.

The title of this subreddit sums it up. The entire page is devoted to both public and private images of a man named Ian sleeping. His identity has never been discovered, but for several years, more and more pictures of him deep in sleep have appeared on the subreddit. The page is restricted, so only certain users can post pictures. This was done to combat a slew of photos of “false Ians” being shared to the page.

It’s unclear if Ian is aware of the thousands of Redditors who regularly view photos of him sleeping. However, the prospect has left many users unnerved.

3. No Sleep

No Sleep is a creepy subreddit

Like The Backrooms, the Reddit page known as No Sleep claims to be entirely fictional. However, that hasn’t stopped its user from losing sleep after browsing the page’s posts.

No Sleep is a place for writers to share their creepiest horror stories. However, the subreddit has a twist; any story posted on the page has to be completely realistic. This means that the story has to take place in our world and must include an explanation of how the narrator is able to post the story on the internet. Often, the stories come in multiple parts, allowing users to return over multiple days to receive updates on whatever terrifying situations the authors have gotten themselves into. To add even more depth and mystery, all comments and replies to the stories must act as if the story is really happening.

The stories vary in subject matter, ranging from creepy supernatural sugar daddies to internet games that take you to a bizarre parallel universe and apartment buildings with a set of terrifying rules meant to protect you from the building’s slew of horrifying creatures. Because of the rule about realism, each story posted to the subreddit makes readers question whether the authors are really living through the events that they narrate. If you’re looking for nightmare fuel, No Sleep is the place to be.

Interestingly, Netflix has recently bought the rights to one of the stories posted on No Sleep titled ‘My Wife and I Bought a Ranch’. It was posted to the subreddit over a series of six installments. It will be fascinating to see how Netflix brings the concept to life.

2. Three Kings

[Recipe] Three Kings Ritual from r/threekings

 

Many creepy subreddits highlight experiences with the supernatural. However, not many give users specific instructions for intentionally creating paranormal events of their very own.

Three Kings is a subreddit devoted to paranormal rituals and recipes. Users can share various rituals as well as stories about the results of their supernatural experiments. Rituals that have been discussed on the page include the Man in the Fields ritual, which promises to bring out a ghostly voice; Red Door Yellow Door, which allows you to explore another plane using your mind; and The Elevator Game, which will reveal strange supernatural entities.

The subreddit is named after the Three Kings ritual. The ritual describes a method for summoning two entities: the Queen, who is good, and the Fool, who is bad. However, it is up to you to determine which is which. The ritual allows you to get in touch with your subconscious to receive answers to deep spiritual questions. The ritual is said to be very dangerous, especially if performed improperly. The subreddit is full of stories about rituals gone wrong. Don’t take the rules lightly…

1. Subreddit Simulator

Subreddit Simulator is a creepy subreddit

Among the creepy subreddits that populate Reddit, there are none that are quite as unusual as Subreddit Simulator. This page is unique in that no actual Reddit users are able to post or comment on the page. Its content is created by bots tied to other subreddits.

The page works using markov chains similar to predictive text. The bots use information from actual Reddit posts to create unique content for Subreddit Simulator once every hour. Every three minutes, other bots use information from Reddit comments to create unique comments on the posts.

The posts are often nonsensical and bizarre. Users are left to wonder what strange information was used to create them. Because actual Reddit users are forbidden from interacting with the subreddit, no one is able to share their thoughts on the posts. Instead, users are left to stew in their own imaginations, fearing the day when bots take over everything.