Have you ever received a text message that completely stopped you in your tracks? Well, over on Quora, people are discussing the most disturbing texts they’ve ever received. Here’s what they said, including some responses from the Reddit community. Be warned: Some of these are guaranteed to give you goosebumps.
Note: This post contains mention of violence and guns.
1.“About fifteen years ago, my ex-wife and I (we were still together at the time) were sexting each other and having fun with our new phones. One time a message didn’t go through, so she sent it again, and we happily went on about our night…”
“…About three or four months later, we decided to change carriers and wiped the phones three times; everything you could do for it at the time was because we were paranoid about our personal ‘info’ being out there…Anyway, about the months after that, I got a message from her old number. It was one of the old pics of her, and she started freaking out. We called the carrier, but there was no record of the message being sent from the phone during this time; the techs go over and over the phone records, the transmissions, everything. Nothing. The only thing they could think of was that it was like a ghost in the machine type of thing, where it just got lost in some random queue until the machine let it go.”
—J.B.
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2.“A random number texted me saying, ‘I’m outside, open the door,’ late at night when I was home. Turns out they just texted the wrong number, but it freaked me out nonetheless.”
3.“At about 11 p.m., a family friend texts me: ‘Look, I thought I could do it. I can’t. It’s been six months since it happened, and nobody cares anymore. He’s just a kid. I do not want to be involved further; ask someone else.’ About 30 seconds later, ‘Oh, sorry, that was a mistake. I meant to send that to my brother; we’re just messing around.’ I don’t know, man…”
4.“My mom was in the ICU back in the fall. Due to COVID restrictions, I wasn’t able to visit her. I got this text in the middle of the night: ‘Find me, please. Moved me to icu sec floor, i bed. I have o call button. Cant adjust bed, no contact w a himan. please,, please’…”
“I know she was confused from her medications, and ICU delirium is a thing, but I can’t shake the fear that was behind this message. And it’s the last message I have from her. We ended up needing to remove life support a couple of days later.”
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5.“I had been dating a guy who looked good on paper; however, he was not. I broke up with him, and he didn’t take it well. One Saturday evening, I was alone and had gotten out of the shower, ready to enjoy a nice night in front of the television…”
“I checked my phone, and a text read: ‘When you see the red dot, it will be too late.’ I hit the floor and unplugged the table light. It was from the guy, and he had guns. I called 911. The police found him, and he had a gun hidden in his spare tire in the trunk of his car. I was pretty jumpy for a while after that. I should have dumped him sooner. Lesson learned: never make excuses to your friends about a man, and trust your instinct. Get out sooner than later. I’m grateful I didn’t become a statistic.”
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6.“Not technically texts, but voicemails. My mom contacted me and said someone called her looking for my dad. My dad is dead. My mom doesn’t answer the phone unless she knows exactly who is calling, so she got a message and told me about it. She didn’t call them back and asked if I knew anything about it. I said no and moved on. Then they called her now-husband, a man my dad knew very briefly in his teens but hadn’t spoken to in 30 years. He got the same message, asking about my dad, where to find him, and how to reach him…”
“Then they called my grandpa and left the same message. My grandpa didn’t know what it was about. Then this number called me with the same questions. The message said, “We’re looking for [my dad’s full legal name}. This is urgent. If you have any information on him or how we can reach him, please reach out to this number.’ My dad died in 2021. These messages started going around mid-2024. Everyone should know he’s dead by now. But the calls didn’t stop.
They started calling my stepmom, calling people my dad had never met, and people he had almost no connection to whatsoever. Those who did answer told the caller he was dead. Those who don’t answer simply ignore it and block them.
But they still don’t stop. I never called the number back myself. I was too damn terrified to do anything about it, to be honest. Just the number of times they called, the people they called, and how they seemed to know everyone who ever had anything to do with him. Yet, they didn’t know or care that he was dead, and there was no way to reach him. I learned through some research that it was likely debt collectors who either hadn’t gotten the message or were trying to con one of us into taking on his debt. Eventually, the calls stopped, but some part of me is just waiting for them to start calling again.”
7.“Not a text, but a phone call. This story still gives me shivers to this day. I was around 16 at the time, living with my mom and sister in a flat in NYC. It was around 9:40 p.m. when we heard the home phone ring — a call from an unknown number. I picked it up. But on the other line, there was just breathing. Someone was breathing heavily into the phone, and I thought it was a joke (trendy at the time), so I hung up. Minutes later, the phone rang again, and I picked it up. The same breathing went on and on for some minutes. I was (still am) very curious, so I didn’t hang up this time just to see what was going on. I stayed for about maybe 20 minutes with the phone on my ear, just listening, until I heard footsteps and heavy wind along with the breathing…”
“This had already started to freak me out. It was really windy outside that night, but the noise from the phone sounded more like the wind when you’re on top of a mountain or at the top of a high building. A few more minutes passed, and I had been on the call for almost 50 minutes when finally, the breathing said something that I still haven’t forgotten. What sounded like a manly voice came really close to the microphone and whispered: ‘Calling you was on my bucket list.’
I was absolutely petrified and couldn’t even talk. The sound of quick footsteps came from the phone. It sounded like someone running. Then the wind got quicker, I heard a loud crack, and then the call ended. Whoever had called us that night seemed to have jumped off of a tall building, and calling us was on their bucket list. I called 911, and they tracked the call, found its location, and inspected the area. Police never found a body.”
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8.“About 15 years ago, when my child was an infant, I was up at 3:00 a.m. feeding him. I got a text from an unknown number that said, ‘Are you awake?’ I didn’t respond. A few minutes later, they texted again: ‘I know you’re awake feeding your baby.’ Well, that scared the $#!* out of me…”
“…Then my phone rang and I answered it. It was some guy trying to ask me sexual questions. I told him to eff off and hung up. I got up and went into our bedroom, where my husband was sleeping. The phone rang again, and it was the same guy. My husband was awake at that time, so he answered the phone.
The guy immediately hung up and never called or texted back. The very next morning, I went and changed my number. I should add that my husband was in the oil field then and was hardly ever home during the night because he worked nights. I don’t know if this guy knew that and thought my husband wasn’t home. Who knows! It never happened again after that. But I was scared to stay home by myself for a while. I sounded like one of my ex’s voices. I messaged him later and asked about it, but he swore it wasn’t him.”
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9.“A few weeks ago, my boyfriend called me shaken up, saying he had to go make a police report. I asked him what happened, and he told me he had gotten a text from someone who seemed to be a cartel member. They claimed he had skipped out on paying one of their ‘ladies’ (he’s too busy with our business to even stay up and watch late-night TV, much less go anywhere else) and that he needed to pay a few thousand dollars or they would kill him and his family.
“…They had his info and our business address, his dad’s name, his sister’s name, and phone number. Of course, he was freaked out; he had never done anything like that, and when he ignored the messages, they sent pictures of decapitated heads, body parts, etc., and said don’t ignore us. This is what happens when people don’t pay us. They then said they had someone watching him and not to go to the police but to follow their directions.
He said he went to the police department immediately and reported what happened. The officer who took his statement called the number, and someone who spoke Spanish answered and then started threatening and cussing at the police officer. The officer told the caller she had his info (she was just bluffing him), and said to stop threatening my boyfriend. This happens often, and it was a spam text, but it was a crazy experience. Since we’re from the south and the border is not too far, it could’ve been accurate and a mistaken identity. It was so scary and creepy…especially the photos.”
10.“When I was around 16 or 17, I was on a bus in my school sports uniform. I got a text from an unsaved number asking, ‘Are you not cold in those thin clothes?’ (It was a chilly morning). So I looked around inside the bus immediately and got another text that said: ‘Stop looking you’re not going to find me.'”
11.“The father of my children passed away in March years ago. Two months later, I received a text from his phone number that said, ‘Are the kids doing ok?’ His mother had difficulty letting go of her son (as would I) and took over his line without letting me know. I called immediately, heart beating out of my chest, to find out. I still think it was a very strange way to stay attached to him, but we all mourn differently.”
12.“I received this message a couple of weeks ago and freaked when I saw it come in…”
“I was frantic about it for a couple of days and went to the police with the message.
Two days after I went to the police, they turned up at my front door and escorted me to my elderly neighbor’s house. The poor man was so embarrassed, holding out $60 for me and repeatedly saying sorry. He had sent me the message as a thank you but poorly worded it.
I had seen him at the market, and he went through the self-service checkout. He scanned his items and tapped his card, but the transaction failed. He didn’t notice, packed his groceries on his walker, and left the store.
When I went to the same checkout, I noticed that his payment didn’t go through. It was $60, so I paid for it and said nothing to him.
Unbeknownst to me, the security had picked him up outside about not paying, and the girl at the front desk also came and talked to me. I told her I paid because he was my neighbor and not great with technology. Meanwhile, in the security office, they showed my neighbor the footage and said that I had paid his bill for him.
English is not his first language, and technology is not his friend. His message of thanks came across as a little threatening. He has my number in case of an emergency, but I never saved his number on my phone.
We laughed about the incident and I went over and had lunch with him. I slipped the $60 he repaid me back into the teapot. I never expected him to repay me, and I felt so bad about getting police involved.”
Claire H. / Via truescarystories.quora.com
13.“Walking my dog one night through a field behind a hospice, get a text from a number I don’t know. It said, ‘What’s your favorite game?’ I replied by asking, ‘Who is this?’ The next text said, ‘My favorite game is watching you walk your big fluffy dog in the field.’ I just froze there, then I looked all around and started running for the hospice. I knew there would be people inside. Once I got to the back door, I began banging, and I replied, ‘I’m calling the cops.’ Someone let me into the hospice, and I told them the story, and they started calling the cops. The next text I got was from my best friend. She thought it would be funny to play a trick on me with her new work phone number, knowing I was out walking my dog. I still don’t find this funny today.”
14.“This one time, I received a random text from an unknown number while at work. The message read, ‘The microwave isn’t working, can you fix it?’ Now, I usually like messing with people when I get random messages, but I didn’t bother replying this time.”
“I got home that day and tried using my microwave (about a couple of months old) to warm up a hot pocket, but it wasn’t heating up even after two minutes. It was still pretty cold. I tried adding more time, but it still wouldn’t heat up. Weird. I gave up. The next day, I tried again, and it did the same thing, only to return completely to normal the day after. Coincidence, maybe, but I still think about it now and then.”
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15.“It came in after midnight from an unknown number telling me an envelope was left in the mailbox, and they demanded I go get it. Ignored the text message and they made contact again, saying they knew I hadn’t picked it up. I freaked.”
16.“My best friend passed away a couple of years ago; I was devastated beyond belief. To this day, I still text him on Snapchat when I’m feeling down, or I miss him, or just anything. On his birthday, I sat in my kitchen crying. I sent him a Snapchat, and immediately it said opened. I gasped, and it quickly changed to delivered. I’ve never had this happen to me, but it makes me feel like he reads what I write to him.”
Do you have one to add? What is the creepiest text message, email, or voicemail you have ever received? Tell us in the comments or in this anonymous form.
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
