Driving at night can be... quite an adventure. There's no telling who or what we're going to come across on the open road under the midnight moon. Sometimes it's nothing at all, just our imagination, but there are times when something more sinister is afoot. The people in the following stories know that all too well, as they recently shared the details of their most terrifying experience while driving at night.
Content has been edited for clarity.
A Person With A Fake Police Lights Never Means Well
“About midnight we were driving back from a skatepark and stopped to check out another spot that had just been built. We pulled up into this weird parking lot and the only other car was a real junker of a car that was super rusted with the doors falling off and taped up.
Anyway, we got back into the car and got on our way (I was in the passenger’s seat while my friend was driving) and I immediately noticed the car turned on and pulled out behind us. As a joke, I said they were following us, but that’s exactly what ended up happening. It wasn’t that creepy until we got outside the city limits and they turned off all their lights. Then my friend and I looked at each other and my other friend in the back said something along the lines of ‘Bruh, come on, that’s not real, there’s no way.’
They followed us for about 30 minutes and would sometimes cut in front of us and signal for us to pull over, flash fake cop lights in their car, and pull in front then wait in the left turn lane until we passed (all with their lights completely off) then follow us again. My friend driving was pretty freaked out at this point, and we all were just silently on edge thinking we were going to get killed and sold for organs or something like that.
Finally, after avoiding getting pulled over or hit, we got to a curvy part of road we knew well. We floored it super fast lost them after about six turns in, then we took a back way home. We all kinda just went to bed horrified and couldn’t believe that just happened.”
“Like Dogs? I Have A Puppy In My Cab”
“A year or so ago, I was leaving a friend’s house, and had to stop for fuel in between towns heading back to Austin.
Now, I’m going to tell you, as a woman who’s usually alone, I don’t stop for fuel at night anymore unless the station is bustling. Here’s why…
So, I’m getting fuel, back against my car so nobody can sneak up on me. (Yay, paranoia!) And this scraggly-looking guy approaches me, and starts asking me to come in to the truck stop, and get a meal with him.
Nope, not hungry.
He then asks me where my boyfriend is. I lie and say he’s waiting on me. I’m getting super uncomfortable at this point, and decide to stop the fuel pump. He tries once more.
‘You like dogs? I have a puppy in my cab.’
OH NO, THAT’S THE OLDEST TRICK IN THE MURDER BOOK.
I replace the pump handle, excuse myself, DO NOT TURN MY BACK ON HIM, get in my car, and get the heck out of there.
So yeah, no quiet gas stations at night, ladies.”
They Knew There Was A Problem When The Creep Came Back
“I was on I-70 in Colorado going towards Utah, and pulled over at a gas station at 8 pm. Fueling up, I noticed a couple of attractive women pumping gas, on the other side of the pump was the man in his late 40s, just staring at these young women without notice of anything else going on around him. I walked inside to went to grab some food for the next few hours of driving, when I came out, I saw both the younger women’s car and the older man’s truck were gone. I decided to hang out at the gas station for the next hour to catch a little sleep before hitting the road again.
After driving for a few hours (I was speeding heavy) I pulled over at yet another gas station, the young women were there getting gas and eating some food on a picnic table. It looked like they had been there for a while. I didn’t see any sign of the man in the truck, but couldn’t say I was looking very hard for it. Well here is where it got really creepy.
I can’t say I didn’t stare at them a bit, I mean they were good-looking women. As I was watching them leave, I saw in the next parking lot over some headlights turn on and it was the same man as before. He left when the women left once again. Okay, that’s a bit weird, but could just be a coincidence as there weren’t many places to pull over. I left a few minutes later and caught up to them. Now this guy was riding their tail with his high beams on.
I decided to slow down and stay a distance behind the truck. About 10 minutes or so later the women pulled over once again to most likely get this guy off their tail. With a sigh of relief, the truck kept going and I continued on my way. About a mile down the road, the guy just pulled off to the side of the highway, so I pulled off a mile or so down the road again. Sure enough, the women drove by and the guy was still following them. At this point, we were out in the middle of nowhere and too many coincidences had happened. I called the cops to alert them and about 15 minutes the cops pulled the guy over.
I could have just seen too many horror movies that started like this and overreacted, but you never know. Better safe than sorry.”
30 Minutes Or Kidnap
“I was working at a pizza place when I was 16. Had just gotten off work around midnight and decided to unwind after a long day of work and smoke a bowl before I drove home. On the way back to my house, I decided to take a back road, because I preferred staying off more public roads out of fear of getting pulled over. It was dark out, my old beat up rust bucket didn’t have the best lights, and I was high, so I ended up missing my turn. I somewhat knew the area, so I decided to keep going and take a different route home.
Now out this way, the only houses you’ll find belong to ranchers. Nothing but darkness and prairie. Whilst I was driving, I was confused as to where I was and ended up coming upon a bridge, in the distance I saw headlights and what appeared to be a vehicle parked on the side of the road. Against my better judgment, I decided to slow down and see if something was wrong with the person or their car.
As I started to slow down, I had a really unnerving feeling in my gut, and started to get anxious. I was going maybe 5 mph as I slowly drove near the vehicle. Once I got about five feet from it, a man stepped out of the vehicle and made a gesture towards me, I didn’t realize it at first, but he had the hand positioning of holding a weapon. Now I don’t know if I was just high, tripping because I’d been at work all the day, but there was no way I was going to let someone steal my old car or the little money I had on me. I ducked my head down and just sped down the road, going about 60 mph on gravel road trying not to lose traction. I looked in my rear view and noticed he had gotten into his car and was following me.
At that point I felt ready to soil myself and have a panic attack. I just raced forward until it looked like I had lost him. By this time, I was shakey, In the middle of nowhere, my phone was about to die, and I had one bar of reception. I went to my maps to try and find a route home, and realized I was about 40 minutes out of town. I luckily had enough battery life, and cell reception to find my way to a road that I knew, and was able to get home.
Come to find out, the area I had stumbled into was known for human trafficking. Safe to say I was lucky.”
What Did That Cop Say?
“My dad is a long-haul driver and told me this story years ago: He was in Detroit trying to find some factory in the middle of the night and was a bit lost, and ended up having to drive through a really sketchy area (pre GPS and cellphone days). As he was entering the area he gets pulled over by a cop. The cop says to him something to the effect of, ‘You must be lost, even WE don’t go through that area at night.’
My dad being the stubborn guy he is tells the cop he has to get to where he’s going and has already lost enough time trying to get back on course and needs to go through the area. The cop proceeds to tell him not to stop for anything. Tells him to roll through stop signs and red lights, and if anyone steps out in front of his truck top flag him down to ‘turn them into a grease spot on the road, and we’ll deal with it in the morning.’
He made it through without incident but I imagine he was pooping himself the entire time considering a police officer told him that running red lights and vehicular manslaughter were better options than stopping his truck.”
Watch Out For The Wildlife
“I was in rural Maine looking for a lumber mill just before sunset. It took hours to get out there because Maine is riddled with these narrow windy roads that try and get as close as possible to every building in every village from US 1 to Canada. So I pull in just as the last guy is leaving, I ask him were to park and say I’ll see him in the morning. I park my truck in this fairly large gravel parking lot with thick forest right on all sides. There are no visible artificial lights except for my truck and my flashlight. After I get parked I go and sit out in a lawn chair and just enjoy the warm night air and look at the absolutely beautiful night sky. It was a rare treat to enjoy basically no light pollution.
As I’m looking at the stars, like a switch was flipped, what sound like fifty coyotes, sixty feet away, start howling like mad. It is at this point I nope right back into the truck and don’t open the door until sunrise.”
What Was Going On In That Parking Lot?
“This happened when I was trying to make the 19-hour drive from Connecticut to Florida without stopping to sleep. I was on I-95 South just after midnight somewhere in South Carolina, and I was about 100 miles away from running out of gas. I saw a sign that said there was a gas station at the next exit, so I got off.
The exit ramp turned into a four-way intersection, you could turn left or right, or if you went straight you could get right back on the highway. I pulled up to the end of the ramp, looked to the right and there was the gas station. I started heading in that direction but then I saw something that made me slam on my brakes.
I looked at this gas station and I suddenly saw six people, dressed in white shirts and white pants, dancing around the parking lot. It creeped me out. I didn’t think there was anything supernatural about it at the time, but it was really odd that a group of people were dancing in an empty gas station parking lot around midnight. I didn’t hear any music but all six of them were moving like they were in a big mosh pit. Then one of them noticed me. He had been dancing very fluidly right at the front of the gas station, but all of a sudden he stopped, looked right at me for a few seconds, and started walking toward my car really quickly. As he took the first few steps toward us, he seemed to just… snap. I don’t really know how else to explain it, but it looked like the man’s spine completely bent at a 90 degree angle as he lurched into a weird power walk and continued walking right at my car, staying all hunched over like that. I FLOORED it, went straight through the intersection and got right back on the highway.
As I pulled away, my girlfriend and I simultaneously said something like ‘DID YOU SEE THAT!?!?’ Her version of the story was identical to mine, the only difference is that she only saw five gas station dancers whereas I saw six of them. We got gas at the next well-lit rest stop, an ACTUAL truck stop not just some gas station off the side of the road. She’s my wife now, and we have an unofficial wedding vow that we’ll never stop in South Carolina for gas at night again.”
A Baby, On The Road, At Midnight?
“I drove taxi during the night shift and among many crazy and terrifying things, I saw a toddler (2-3-years-old).
It was about 1 am, and I was driving in a very wooded part of our town, just after dropping a customer off, and in the middle of the road was this baby just sitting in the dark. I stopped my cab and turned on my flashers. I proceeded to walk up to the kid, and he just started bawling. I tried to comfort him, but me being in disbelief that a baby with no one around was just sitting there, all I could say was, ‘It’s cool, it’s cool, bro.’
I picked him up, and he started crying frantically (I would, too, if a stranger came and grabbed me). I put him in the passenger seat and looked for the nearest driveway. It ended up being about 100 yards down the street. I pulled up into what I hoped was his house and there were maybe six or seven teenagers drinking in the garage. I couldn’t see from the road because all the houses had long dirt driveways.
When I pulled up, they acted as if I wasn’t even there until I said, ‘Hey, this your kid?’ After a few ‘whats?’ they came over to the cab and said, ‘Aiden? Where did you go?’
Like the baby just goes for midnight strolls. Not a thank you or goodbye or anything, they just took the baby into the house and continued drinking and laughing. As I pulled out, I felt as if I should call the cops or something, but couldn’t bring myself to do it. I’m still scared to this day that I’ll be driving down a dark road and hit a baby.”
The Stuff Of Parents’ Nightmares
“I’ve always walked the night streets, I loved how the night streets looked. Empty, just a hooded me and the sound I make. I would always buy a snack and canned coffee from 7-Elevent and laugh along with the employees that are complete strangers to me.
This one particular time when I was in the seventh grade, I was cycling along the road in the city area, and from afar, saw a bunch of vans with large speakers on the back, blasting. There were many wasted adults sleeping on them, and saw one door of the van swing open, and a slightly-sober woman emerged and stood in the middle of the road, so of course you’d expect me to hit the brakes to not run over her; I didn’t. I just rode past her as she gently stroked my left shoulder and asked if I wanted to ‘have fun,’ but I ignored her, and didn’t even look back.
The creepy part? She was an actual predator, for wanting to touch a 12-year-old kid on a bike. If I joined her, I could’ve been kidnapped or something.”
He Would Have Been Next
“This is my Father’s story, and he wasn’t a long haul trucker but rather a 18-year-old gas station attendant in the late 70s and without a certain Long Haul Trucker I probably wouldn’t be here:
The gas station was 24 hours and my dad was the only one working the night shift (11-7 I think). A guy comes in and just gives him the creeps. Seems sketchy. He was wearing tight jacket/pants and you could tell he had something in his pants under the jacket. It was during the summer and was warm so why is he wearing a jacket to begin with?
A lot of truck drivers used this station as it was the only one open 24 hours for a long stretch of the highway. They also had a big lot where they let truckers park and sleep or take a break.
On this night at this time it was just my dad, sketchy dude, and one trucker in there he kinda knew (as in, came in frequent enough to be conversational) and asked if he’d stay in the station and hang out until sketchy dude left. Well, after ‘looking’ at the stocked shelves for several many minutes while sneaking peaks at my dad behind the counter the sketchy guy eventually looked fed up and got into his blue car and sped off. Cool trucker guy hung out with my dad a little longer until another couple of guys came in to use the booths they had to eat a sandwich.
I should also point out this was pretty middle-of-nowhere rural Southeast United States and the 1970s. CB and landline was it. My dad only had a landline in the store.
So the hours pass and my dad had shaken off the paranoia when all of a sudden this truck driver comes hauling at full speed into the lot, jumps out, and sprints into the store hollering he needs a phone.
Calls 911 to report that he had walked in on a gas station 40 miles back (next closest station) to find the attendant shot and dead. No one else around. And the only other piece of information is that a blue car was speeding out of the lot when the trucker pulled in.
Apparently they eventually apprehend the guy in the blue car, my dad confirms it was sketchy dude from earlier in the night, and they charge him with murder and armed robbery.”
He Won’t Sleep At Deserted Gas Stations After This
“I was stopped at a very small rest area between northern Texas and Oklahoma, so small it had no restroom. I was a truck driver at the time pulling a flatbed. I was the only truck pulled in and I just finished my 11 hours at around 2 am. I stepped out and took a leak and was just creeped out in general because the location and how isolated with such little traffic the area has. I went to bed and about an hour later I feel my trailer shifting weight. Almost like it was rocking.
My first thought was the wind, so I opened the cab window and it was silent with no wind. I sat there for a bit then I felt the trailer lift and drop. I immediately started to think my load was being stolen or maybe my chains and broke and my load was loose so many things ran through my head, so I jumped out of bed and put my shoes on. As I stepped out the back, I reached for the outside spotlight switch.
As I was reaching for it, I heard the fence alongside the road between the rest stop and the railroad next to me. I heard it rattling as of it was compressed and sprang back. At this point I was too freaked out to check it out, so I closed the curtains, crawled In the bunk, and tried to go back to bed.
The next morning when it was light outside, I checked my trailer and everything was the same as I left it the night before.”
What Was That Scream?
“Two years ago, I was going home with my family at around 10 pm. We were in my father’s pick-up truck. Me, being the shady kid I was, forced my dad to allow me to stay at the back portion exposed to the night air. My dad wanted me to stay inside because it was dark out but since I let out a small tantrum, he made me stay out. However, he asked my cousin to stay outside with me.
While driving back, we passed by a section where the curb was significantly higher. When we passed by that section, I saw this ‘girl’ (I’m not actually sure if it was a lady). She was wearing pants and a black and white long sleeve. She sat on the curb with her head faced down and her arms wrapping around her legs. Now I would think it’s weird if she did that in the morning with her friends, but she was alone at 10 pm. I was shaken, but I shrugged it off thinking it was just some edgy teenager. However, when we passed her, I heard this blood-curdling scream coming from her direction. It sounded like multiple people screaming at once and it really caught me off guard. I looked at my cousin calmly and asked her if she heard that, but in the inside, I was so freaked out. I thought no one else heard it but I felt the car go faster after the scream, so I knew the people inside heard it.
When we arrived home, I literally burst with fright about it. My father said it probably came from the car that went by us during the scream. It definitely wasn’t from the car because I heard it from the right side (where the girl was) and the car passed our left. I told them about the girl at our right, but they basically didn’t comment anything at all, like they were ignoring me. I was pretty freaked out and have still no idea where that scream came from.”
Were Those Motorcycles?
“About 10 years ago, a few friends and I decided to drive around the Pine Barrens one night to look for creepy stuff. There’s a road called the Seven Bridges Road, and it leads to a dead end in a marshy like area where you can see the lights of Atlantic City off in the distance. During the day, people go fishing around here, and there’s also a building used by Rutgers University for studies, so it isn’t a completely desolate place.
There’s two or three one lane bridges on this road that you have to wait for a traffic light to be able to cross over before you get to the dead end. As we were crossing over the last bridge, getting ready to approach the dead end, one of my friends joked about what if someone was waiting at the dead end.
When we pulled up to the dead end, we didn’t see anyone or anything, so we turn around and start to wait for the light at the bridge, so we can head back to the Parkway. As we’re waiting two headlights appear behind us, and we realize it’s two motorcycles. As far as I know cops in New Jersey don’t really use motorcycles (or I just don’t see them very often), so I highly doubt it was cops. We start to panic, but wait for the light, and when it finally turns green we get the heck out of there.
The motorcycles followed us down this road, then back out onto the main road, and trailed us all the way to the Parkway before turning off into the woods. (Maybe a total of just under 10 miles from the dead end to the Parkway?)
It was honestly probably two kids on bikes trying to scare people, but at the time it was really creepy. I still go to that road to explore, but I go during the day now.”