3 Downright Terrifying True Road Trip Horror Stories

ever since i was much younger every summer i would make the same six hour road trip to a cabin on a lake that one of my uncles owned somewhere during my childhood it became tradition for basically every one of my mom's son in the family to go up there as a sort of mini-vacation together it was fun i never really disliked it i would get to spend a lot of time with my cousins some of which i was really close with really the only part i didn't like was the drive to get up there like

i said it took six hours which might not seem like a lot but when you're making the drive all by yourself with nothing to keep your mind busy i don't care who you are those six hours feel like forever anyway this whole story takes place when i was making the annual drive up to my uncle's cabin i usually try to take the trip in the day but this year i of course had just gotten off of a long shift and was expected to be at the cabin the next morning this forced me to take the

drive through the night something i wasn't exactly excited for the highway i'd be on for most of the drive saw almost no activity during the day let alone the night and it went through a deep forest filled with densely packed trees believe it or not i would usually go in the whole drive without stopping but this time i didn't have a choice i was near halfway through the drive when i realized my gas gauge was on empty this irritated me i'd let my brother borrow my car while i was at work and he had told

me he filled it up so he either forgot or was straight up lying to me i began paying attention to the exit signs looking for a gas station from the looks of it i wasn't going to make it much further i didn't really have the luxury of picking and choosing which gas station to stop at so i was just planning on stopping at the first one i saw no matter what fast forward a few minutes and finally i saw a sign for a gas station off the next exit though it wasn't an official road sign

it was literally a picket sign stuck into the ground with the words gas station next exit spray painting on it was a little sketchy but i mean people do the same thing with like fruit stands on the highways so i ignored the oddity of it i pulled off the next exit but i didn't see anything right away i kept going far enough to where the road went from smooth pavement to dirt still surrounded on both sides by trees eventually illuminated by my headlights i could make out a gas station building on the right side of

the road but i quickly realized the place looked 100 abandoned like as if it hadn't been open for years the gas pumps had all been taken out most of the windows of the building were shattered and the roof was caving in on itself there was no way i could get any gas here i looked at my gas gauge and realized i most likely would not have been able to make it more than a mile i pretty much had given up at that point i called aaa gave them my location to the best of my ability

turned off my car and stayed put i wasn't expecting them to be quick i mean i was basically in the middle of nowhere all i could do was sit and wait so that's what i did this went on for 30 minutes my eyes were just now finally starting to truly adjust to the darkness i was in i found myself just staring at the abandoned gas station building from inside my car and i don't know if my eyes were playing tricks on me or what but i swear i could see movement inside the building i started

to panic a bit knowing that i wouldn't be able to get far should there actually be some sort of threat nearby i kept my eyes on the building hoping to prove myself wrong that's when a distant voice yelled out in a whisper tone hey buddy come over here i had my windows open just to crack because of the heat so i was able to hear it perfectly my eyes instantly shot to where the voice came from there was a figure just standing near the left side of the building i was frozen with my heart pounding

in my ears after a couple seconds the figure started walking towards my car but again i was frozen and i didn't and felt like couldn't do anything when he got close enough to my passenger side window he whispered inside hey are you looking for some gas i could now just barely see the guy he was wearing winter clothes the dude looked homeless i hesitantly responded saying um yeah the guy went on to explain how he had a container inside that he was willing to give me free of charge all i had to do was get

out and follow him after a few seconds i simply responded saying no i didn't know what else to say there was no way i was getting out of the safety of my locked car to walk inside an abandoned building with this guy the dude had no reaction if he had a smile before it was now gone he was just standing there stiff and had this kind of empty but somewhat frustrated expression this had to have gone on for a full minute i didn't really want to say anything to the guy that's when i heard the

most relieving sound i could have heard in that moment gravel crunching under the tires of the approaching aaa truck the guy's head instantly shot in the truck's direction followed by him sprinting back towards the building and into the forest as he did this i saw what has to be the most unsettling sign i've ever laid witness to when had to have been at least eight other figures stood up from hiding behind a set of bushes just in front of the building and also started running into the forest these were people that i would no doubt

have come into contact with had i agreed to this supposed free container of gas a few seconds went by when the man in the triple a truck walked up to my window with a confused expression on his face the guy was big i guess at least six foot five 250 pounds he asked me if i called him out the gas i said yes and he then asked me who all those people were that just ran into the forest i went on to explain the whole situation and just how creepy it was hearing it he offered

to call the nearest town sheriff's department which we ended up doing but he filled up my car and i was off before they showed up however the next day i would be informed that nobody was ever found this night has haunted me ever since the man i talked to was obviously trying to lure me into some sort of trap what that was though i don't know but i mean you have to consider i was on an empty dirt road in the forest and miles away from any town house you name it it was anything but

good i also just don't understand why there were so many people involved what i do know though is how thankful i am for the aaa trucks showing up when it did had that not occurred and who knows what would have happened this all took place a few years ago it was sometime in july and i decided to go on an impromptu solo road trip for a day i'm fairly into sightseeing and there were a couple somewhat nearby places i still wanted to cross off my bucket list before i had to go back to college in

august the plan was to wake up early to start the road trip then see a few different places during the day and finally start the trip back home sometime around 9pm or so i figured this way i could maximize my time without having to pay for a hotel or anything the trip there was fine it was the trip back that was a different story i ended up leaving around 10 p.m apple maps estimated would take about four and a half hours to get back home i had done about half that when i was starting to

get tired like to the point where it was becoming dangerous to drive i told myself the next red stop i saw i'd stop and take an hour nap before continuing that way i could still get home at a somewhat decent time so i did just that i saw a rest stop and pulled into the parking lot the first thing i noticed was the lack of cars the place was completely empty and had it not been for some lights on i would have thought the place was abandoned but i guess this made sense i mean it

was really late anyway i'd lean back my seat and set an alarm to go off in an hour fast forward to when it did go off and i realized i'd have to go inside as i now had to use the bathroom i started walking to the building when i got inside i found the bathrooms and opened one of the stalls i was in there for not even 30 seconds when i could suddenly hear someone talking outside the bathrooms and in the hallway this shocked me as i didn't even hear the main door open and my

car was the only one in the parking lot just a minute ago i didn't see how anyone could have been in here that's when the bathroom door opened i was a bit on edge but i realized it was most likely just another regular person that i somehow didn't notice i was ready to leave when slight knocks on the stall door i awkwardly responded with uh someone's in here no response it was complete silence i was a bit more on edge now so i decided to stand the stall until he left that's when i noticed an

eye looking through the crack in the stall's door as we made eye contact the guy started screaming and relentlessly beating his head against the door thinking quick i used my whole body to bash into the door bursting it open and knocking the guy off his feet i proceeded to run as fast as i could out of the bathroom and outside towards my car i was about halfway when i heard the main door burst open behind me this guy was chasing me finally i got to my car and started backing up but the guy caught up

to me and managed to slam his body into my car as i sped off i looked into my rear-view mirror and as i got further away i saw the guy get up like it was nothing and just stand there looking in my direction i was beyond shaken up i couldn't process what had just happened i honestly didn't know what to think you always hear about crazy stories like this but never once think it'll actually happen to you i probably went a good 30 over the speed limit the rest of the way home needless to say

i wouldn't be falling asleep driving i was now completely filled with adrenaline i still have no idea who that guy was where he even came from or what his problem was though if i had to guess i would say i was probably some homeless guy who just wasn't right in the head but then again one homeless person would be all the way out in practically the middle of nowhere next to the highway it didn't make sense all i know is i've never stopped at a rest stop since and i plan to keep it that way

every year we're on the holiday season my extended family would get together and collectively chip in to rent out a nice house to spend the holidays together there were actually a lot of us that would join in and i was no exception i always looked forward to it this year everyone decided to rent out a house in arizona i would be going straight from college so i'd be driving alone typically i not to fly but i wanted to have a car down there as renting them over long periods of time can get pretty expensive the

trip would be around 8 hours with most of it being on a stretch of freeway in the middle of the desert when i was about five hours in it had gotten completely dark outside literally all you could see was what was directly in front of your headlights it was a bit eerie yet relaxing at the same time it's hard to explain you just kind of have to do it yourself to understand what i'm talking about anyway got to around an hour later and i began to notice this car that had been behind me for a

few hours now when you're on the only stretch of road in the middle of the desert usually you don't bat an eye to a car following you for hours on end it's not that far off to assume they're just going to the same city but this time felt different i had started to notice the car getting closer and closer to my bumper like literally what had to have been an inch away before abruptly backing off just to do the same thing over again this would go on for a while and the more it did the

more uneasy i felt i mean it was genuinely starting to scare me if this guy was really just wanting to go faster he could have passed me hours ago this went on for even longer when up ahead i actually saw a police car parked on the side of the road i contemplated stopping a part of me felt like i was just being paranoid about the whole situation but ultimately i decided i would stop anyway i pulled up next to the officer and he asked what i needed i told him everything that had happened i also

told him how he might have just been being paranoid but surprisingly he took my claims very seriously he went on to explain how it's actually not uncommon for unsuspecting drivers to be targeted and have their cars stolen on these empty highways he then offered to follow me as i guess a way to make me feel safer i would of course accept his offer so off we went this went on for a few minutes before disturbingly i could start to make out the car that had been following me now up ahead in front of me and

waiting on the side of the road right as it saw the police officer following me it booked it in the other direction and not long after the police car went from following me to turning around and chasing the vehicle with its lights and siren on i was once again alone the police officer's suspicions were correct why else would the car just been waiting for me and a better question why would it have run from the police this whole thought still haunts me to this day i still have no idea whether the car was caught or

if it got away i never got the cop's name but whoever he was i'm extremely grateful for him i still think about what could have happened had i not stopped to talk to him