Some life events are so surreal, so terrifying, or just plain strange that they seem more like scenes from a novel or a film than actual lived experiences. These are the kinds of stories that, when shared, make you question whether they could possibly be true. Yet, despite how incredible they may seem, these events actually happened. Below are 12+ true stories that are so unbelievable, they could be ripped straight from a fiction book or screenplay.
Story 1: The Laptop Revelation
In the early months of my relationship, everything seemed perfect—until one day, when a simple act of curiosity turned everything upside down. I was at my boyfriend’s house, and after he went to the bathroom, he left his laptop open on the table. With nothing else to do, I absentmindedly glanced at the screen, only to find daily messages between him and a woman. At first, I didn’t think much of it—until I saw who she was.
It was his best friend’s girlfriend.
The realization hit me like a ton of bricks. How could he have been texting someone so close to him, day after day, behind my back? As it turns out, he had been hiding more than just a friendship. The entire foundation of our relationship began to crack in that instant. Though I didn’t confront him immediately, the weight of that secret weighed on me. I spent days in turmoil, wondering if this was a betrayal I could ever recover from.
Story 2: The Wedding Day Secret
I remember it clearly—just three days after our wedding, my wife received a letter that made her visibly pale. She refused to tell me what it was and quickly left the house for a walk. But she forgot her phone. As I waited for her to return, a text came in from someone named “Ben.” He was asking, “When can I drop the kid off?” I was confused. Who was Ben? What kid?
Then the phone rang.
The man on the other end of the line told me that he couldn’t keep the secret any longer. He said my wife needed to tell me about their child. My heart sank as I realized that something was terribly wrong.
When my wife came back, I confronted her. She started crying immediately, explaining that she had been divorced and had a 6-year-old daughter from that marriage. She had kept it hidden from me, worried that I would never accept her or her child, as I had always made it clear I didn’t want kids. She had been waiting for the “right moment” to tell me, but that moment never came.
What hurt the most was the feeling of betrayal, that the beginning of our marriage was built on a major lie—a lie that made me question everything I knew about our relationship.
Story 3: The Forgotten Family
For years, I had been living under the impression that my father had been open and honest with me. But the truth came out in the most unexpected way.
My father has an entire family he refuses to acknowledge. When I was about seven years old, my mother told me about it for the first time. Apparently, my dad’s first wife had cheated on him multiple times. After finding out about the infidelity, my dad forgave her—but she still left him. They had a son together, but my father has had absolutely no contact with them.
I still can’t wrap my head around it. My dad never mentioned his first son once in my entire life. I remember the day my half-brother came to our house looking for my father. After that day, we never heard from him again. It baffles me that my dad would simply walk away from his child, leaving him without even a word of explanation.
Story 4: The Zoom Meeting Incident
It was one of the most embarrassing and soul-crushing moments of my career.
I was working from home during a particularly tough time in my life. Sleep-deprived and emotionally drained, I joined a Zoom meeting with the executive team. I thought my microphone and camera were off. They weren’t.
As the meeting started, I stared at my screen, mentally exhausted, and whispered to myself, “I hate every single one of you.” Then I burst into tears. What I didn’t realize was that my mic and camera were on the entire time. Ten people watched me. No one said a word.
The meeting continued as if nothing had happened. I thought surely someone—anyone—would check in on me afterward. But no. Not even HR followed up. That silence still haunts me. It’s as if no one cared about what I had just shared with the entire room. The emotional toll of that moment is something I’ll never forget.
Story 5: The Stalker on the Train
I was on the train one morning, trying to clear my head after a long week. A woman sat next to me and immediately began talking like we were old friends. She used my name, mentioned my dog, and even talked about my old apartment. I froze. How did she know all of this?
Turns out, she had followed me on social media for years. I had kept my account public, and she had memorized details about my life. She even thought she knew me personally, simply from what I had posted. After that, I immediately locked down my social media accounts. But it still freaks me out—how many other people out there know things about me that I barely remember sharing? It made me realize how easy it is for people to make assumptions about you based on the information you leave behind.
Story 6: The Sociopath Diagnosis
During the midst of my divorce, I found something chilling—my ex’s doctor’s diagnosis labeling him as a sociopath. When I found the document, I didn’t know what to do with it. At the time, he had already threatened me multiple times, and I wasn’t sure if I could keep myself safe.
I kept the diagnosis. I didn’t confront him about it. Instead, I subtly referenced it when he started threatening me again, hoping that it would make him realize I wasn’t going to let him bully me.
It was a strange feeling, knowing that someone so close to me had been diagnosed with something so serious, yet I had to continue living with them. It’s not something you ever think you’ll deal with in your lifetime, but there I was, trying to protect myself while also grappling with the realization of how much I had been deceived.
Story 7: The Accidental Email
I had a moment of complete horror when I accidentally sent a diary entry to my entire department instead of my personal email. It was a raw, vulnerable moment where I had written about how empty I felt, how nothing in life seemed to matter anymore, and how I couldn’t remember the last time I was truly excited about something.
46 people read it.
My manager’s reply was short and impersonal: “Please be more mindful of internal communications.” No one else said anything. But for months afterward, people looked at me differently—like I was already gone. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had been exposed, that they had seen a side of me I never meant for anyone to see.
Story 8: The Secret Family
At the funeral of my good friend of over 20 years, I noticed a group of children I didn’t recognize. When I asked who they were, I was told they were his children. He had told me he had no kids.
As it turns out, he had 10 children—TEN. He had kept it a secret from everyone, including me. I was in shock, not just at the number of children he had, but at the fact that he had never mentioned them.
It made me question how well I really knew him and how many secrets people can keep from the ones they care about. It was a reminder that everyone has a life outside of what we see, and that sometimes, the people we think we know best are the ones with the most hidden stories.
Story 9: The Edited Family Photo
One of the strangest things that happened to me was when I received a framed family photo as a gift from my cousin. It was meant to be from a recent family reunion. I took one look at it and froze—I wasn’t in the picture. I had been standing right next to my cousin when it was taken, but somehow, I had been edited out.
When I confronted them, they said, “We just thought it would be funny.”
It wasn’t funny. It felt like a cruel joke. I didn’t speak to them for six months after that, and even now, I still can’t believe someone would do something like that.
These are just some of the bizarre, unsettling, and mind-boggling stories that feel like they could have been crafted by fiction writers. But they were real—and that’s what makes them so haunting and unforgettable.
Adrian Hawthorne is a celebrated author and dedicated archivist who finds inspiration in the hidden stories of the past. Educated at Oxford, he now works at the National Archives, where preserving history fuels his evocative writing. Balancing archival precision with creative storytelling, Adrian founded the Hawthorne Institute of Literary Arts to mentor emerging writers and honor the timeless art of narrative.