Fear isn’t always born from ghost stories or haunted mansions. Sometimes, the most unsettling people hide behind a warm smile or a calm demeanour. They could be the ones whose unpredictable actions leave you walking on eggshells or whose presence sends an inexplicable chill down your spine.
This very notion led a Reddit user to ask the thought-provoking question, “Who is the scariest person you know IRL?”
It’s a fascinating dive into the complexities of human behaviour and the subtle, often hidden traits that elicit genuine fear. Is it the diminutive grandmother with a warm but stern demeanour? The enigmatic neighbour who seems too secretive for comfort? Or perhaps a family member who gives everyone the heebie jeebies?
These bone-chilling responses reveal that sometimes, the most terrifying figures aren’t in horror movies; they’re right here, among us, in the real world.
#1. Murder He Wrote
I was a writing tutor in college and there was this tiny senior Vietnamese man named Nhatnam who would come to me for help with his English 101 writing assignments. Super nice, quiet man, miltantly polite and humble.
They got a prompt along the lines of “Write about a memory you’ll never forget” He handed me his essay to check over, and it was a 4-page description of how he used to crawl through tunnels and stab people. He described coating himself in mud so thick he would blend into the walls. One story involved him silently moving through a room of sleeping soldiers and killing each one. His writing was new English speaker matter-of-fact descriptions of what killing people with a knife is like. Like, ” On Thursday, I killed three at the entrance, then the doctor and his patient, then the 4 youngsters in the big room, then I killed the radioman. They were eating, so I had some rice and fish, and then I killed the two men at the back entrance. Then I left and rode my motorcycle to my mom’s house, and we played cards.”
Meet the Meat via Reddit
#2. This Geek’s Kink
A guy who was in my friend group in high school. We were kinda the weird geeky kids, but this guy was on a totally different level. He would go cruising around and look for the little roadside memorials that people around here will put up when a loved one is killed in a car crash. Generally, they consist of photos, stuffed animals, saint candles, and maybe something seasonal for a holiday.
This guy would check out the photos to see if the victim was a cute girl, and if so, he would steal the photo and add it to his collection. He had a dozen or so that he kept in his wallet as your grandma carries around to show her friends. He knew all of these dead girls’ names and personal details from obituaries, yearbooks, and whatever he could find. He would talk about these girls like they were his girlfriends: “I met this new girl named Jenny; we’re going to get together this weekend.”
Sometimes, he took the stuffed animals from the memorials as well, but only if he thought they had actually belonged to the girls. How could he tell, you ask? He would smell them. I still wonder how many young girls he’s had chained up in a basement somewhere.
Embarrassed-Safe6184 via Reddit
#3. A Freudian Affair
My ex-fiancé’s son. When he was 8, he would plan brutal ways to kill his father and then tell him about it in graphic detail when he was told no. He tried to take my son’s head off with a shovel when my son told him no once, but we caught him at the last second. I refused to see him or have my kids around him after that. It all came out on a weekend visit.
That kid is a psychopath. His father was in total denial.
Just-why-2715 via Reddit
#4. A Heroine For All Ages
My grandma. She was part of the Croatian resistance during WW2 and would lure soldiers into the woods for them to be ambushed and murdered. She helped burn down a barn full of Nazis. She eventually fled to Tangiers, where she stabbed a guy to death who tried to rape her. She then eventually earned enough money to make it to America, where she settled in Northern Minnesota. Again someone tried to rape her on her walk home after work, and she bit so hard on his lower lip and pulled that it basically peeled the skin down to his chin.
I’ve seen her scare away wolves and bears with cooking pans. She smoked a pack and drank a pint of brandy a day until she died. She was just some tiny old lady, but she scared the hell out of me.
Kolipe via Reddit
#5. Woah…That’s Messed Up
My ex. He would get angry in the morning, go to work, have dinner together, visit the neighbors, put the children to bed and then throw me down a flight of stairs for the fight we had in the morning. I wouldn’t have noticed a thing all day…
StaplePriz via Reddit
#6. Your Cue to Leave
I was in a bad bar fight in Everett, Washington, when a guy walked out to his truck. Reached into the back of the truck, pulled out an axe handle and walked back to the bar. He held out the axe handle and broke it in half while saying “I’ll finish this.”
I left.
yegDaveju via Reddit
#7. The Terror of Casual Murder
I once had a job at a company that employed a murderer as a security guard, obviously before he was known to be a murderer. He seemed like a fairly nice but rather moody young man.
While I was working there, a child in the broader community disappeared from her home one evening, and it was all over the news by the next morning. I got into work, and there he was at his post, grinning silently, while his colleague explained that the missing girl was from his neighbourhood and that he had stayed up late assisting police and neighbours in the search. Unfortunately, they had found no sign of the girl, and she remained missing for more than a year.
I’m sure by now you have figured out that this young security guard was the one who took that poor child and killed her, and what’s more, he stashed her body in cold storage on the premises of my workplace. This gruesome fact was revealed some years after he left his job when he casually confessed the crime to his girlfriend.
It was later discovered that he had also killed an older woman at least a year before he was hired at my company. As a security guard.
He wasn’t scary in his manner, ever. That’s what makes my memory of him so scary now.
Rescue2024 via Reddit
#8. When Dad Is a Monster
My father. He died 2 years ago, but the man was a monster. The only emotion he seemed to feel was rage, I wouldn’t even call it anger it was so extreme. I’ve felt safer handling venomous snakes he was that bad!
Ulfgeirr88 via Reddit
#9. Maybe Don’t Be Too Helpful
My Aunt. She lost a leg in an accident and is
confinedin a chair. One time, a guy gave her a little push up a ramp to help her out. I can understand why she would not like this, but she was so angry she berated him, then jumped out of her chair and bit him on the leg. She terrifies me.Notade50 via Reddit
#10. One Wonders If He Got Caught
My best friend’s dad. He was the kind of guy who would stop to kill kittens while driving his kids to school. Used to take long “hunting trips” in the Pacific Northwest every other month. I keep trying to convince her to do a DNA test and upload it because I’m dead certain his DNA is in a cold case evidence locker somewhere.
PurpleHoulihan via Reddit
#11. So You Think You Can Kill!
One of my friends. He tried to kill his mom’s new husband (shot him 6 times). That case got dropped. He was in prison for about 2 years, gets out and is somewhat responsible for a year. Gets shot. He gets out of the hospital and tries to kill the brother of the guy who shot him so he can go back to jail and get the guy who shot him while he’s in there. He gives ZEROOO f**ks.
AntNo5255 via Reddit
#12. What Was He Trying To Hide?
My uncle. Apparently, when my mom was like 19 and he was 21, my grandma was planning to sell their cottage. My uncle heard about it by accident. He suggested everyone go out for lunch that day, and at the last minute, decided not to go, saying he felt sick. My mom and grandparents went out for lunch… when they got back, the entire cottage was burnt to the ground. As in, like nothing was left. Cops and firefighters got called. No one was charged, and the accident was deemed a freak accident.
Later my uncle was smoking on the hill and was laughing, watching the smoke. My mom asked him what was so funny and he pointed at the cottage and implied that he started the fire. He was laughing because it wasn’t worth anything anymore.
We don’t speak to him anymore for obvious reasons.
prettyxxreckless via Reddit
#13. Hide Your Cats
My father’s ex’s son. He was a psychopath… he wanted to skin my cat!
MarsMagicalFeet via Reddit
#14. Wait, What Do You Mean?
My buddy’s dad. One time, he was drunk and hanging out with us; this was like 20 years ago. He was talking about Vietnam and how he got so used to killing people that it was hard to stop when he got back.
TrumpDidNoDrugs via Reddit
#15. Fun, As Long As Everyone Takes Their Medicine
I work at a top security mental hospital. I know a few ex-cult leaders, killers, cannibals, and a lot of interesting people. One of the most dangerous guys we have is on one-to-one with a pna. (A nurse’s assistant) One-to-one means that he can never be unsupervised. He gets in fights and always has a fresh injury. For a while he wore this weird kind of helmet that I think was protecting a head wound. He’s actually not such a bad guy. He’s silly and likes to joke around. He just needs his medicine and extra help. I get a fist bump from him whenever we meet.
Top-Block-5938 via Reddit
