4 Disturbing TRUE Basement Horror Stories

What is discussed, and when

1. 5:00 – 10:00: Halo
2. 15:00 – 20:00: Driver 2

Notable quotes from "4 Disturbing TRUE Basement Horror Stories"

• The evening was completely uneventful. I played Halo for like 6 hours, something I'd ordinarily never get to do. It wasn't until just after midnight where things started getting weird. I was.

  about Halo · at 7:23

• One of my old favorites was Driver 2 on the PS1. For whatever reason, I could never beat the game, and I'd spend countless nights trying to do so. Well, it was one of those nights I was down there playing. I usually didn't like.

  about Driver 2 · at 17:11

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

Products & tech

• Halo — Product · Incidental mention · 2 mentions · first at 7:01
  Mentioned as a video game played by the narrator during an uneventful evening.
• Driver 2 — Product · Incidental mention · 1 mention · first at 17:11
  Mentioned as a video game the narrator played as a child in the basement.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:10 This happened maybe 8 or 9 months after I moved into my first house. I was 24 at the time, fresh out of college with a decent job. All you need to know about the house is that it had a very spacious basement that I mostly used for storage. The previous owners had partitioned it into these separate rooms using plywood and exposed framing. There was the main area at the bottom of the stairs, then a laundry section, then what I think was supposed to be a workshop, and then this weird back room that was mostly just storage. It had kind of a maze-like quality to it. You couldn't see the entire basement from any single vantage point, which I remember thinking was kind of cool when I first toured the place. Anyway, it was a week night. I needed to go downstairs to do laundry, which was the only time I ever really went down there. The basement lights were already on, which I thought was weird, but I didn't dwell on it for

1:03 whatever reason. I'd been down there a few days earlier, so I figured I just forgot to turn them off. The space was dim even with the lights. I hadn't bothered changing the old yellow incandescent that had been there when I moved in. I started walking down the stairs and things escalated so abruptly that I couldn't react quick enough. I made it to the bottom of the stairs and started walking toward the laundry area when I saw movement in my peripheral vision. I turned my head instinctively and locked eyes with a man, a man who was crouching behind one of the folding tables that I had set up near the far corner. It was so unsettling that I almost dropped the basket. My brain refused to register what I was seeing. There was literally a stranger hiding in my basement. I couldn't move. All I could do was stare at this intruder who was now staring back at me. And it was not a pleasant stare. He looked like he had just

1:56 crawled out of a sewer or something. And then he stood up and ran. Not at me though, further into the basement toward the partitioned rooms in the back. That snapped me out of my fear induced haze. And I started moving backwards toward the basement stairs. But I must have wasted too much time because before I could reach the stairs, all the lights in the basement went out. Until that moment, I had never been down there with the lights off. I hadn't anticipated how dark it would be. It was fully pitch black down there. Complete and utter darkness. I mistakenly assumed I knew my own house, so I kept moving toward the stairs. But I must have misjudged something because I tripped and fell to the floor.

2:38 By the time I got up, I was completely disoriented. The chaos and fear of the situation was overwhelming my brain, and I couldn't think. My phone was sitting on the counter upstairs, so it's not like I could just reach in my pocket and turn on the flashlight. I started screaming like a lunatic, thinking that might scare off whoever had broken into my house. But actually, that strategy must have energized them because I started hearing screaming coming from the other side of the basement. It was terrifying. I was screaming into the darkness, trying to seem like I was crazy. And someone on the other side of the room was doing the same exact thing.

3:16 And his screaming was much more intimidating than mine. He legitimately sounded like a murderer. I stopped screaming and he followed suit. I started navigating around the basement purely by touch. I had no other choice and I started hearing movement behind me. He must have been doing the same. The sounds were getting closer. And amidst the horror of everything, I couldn't help but get the sense that he knew my own basement better than I did. I knew I was getting closer to the stairs, but that basement is massive. I started hearing breathing coming from somewhere behind me.

3:52 And I genuinely thought he was going to catch me. After what felt like an eternity, I felt the wooden base of the staircase. I grabbed the railing and started running up the stairs. But before I could even hit the second step, something grabbed my ankle and I lost my grip. My head struck the railing and I fell all the way down to the basement floor. I still couldn't see the guy, but he was dragging me away from the stairs with what genuinely felt like inhuman strength. I kicked and thrashed my legs with all my might and miraculously connected with something. The strike was just strong enough for him to lose his grip and I twisted and twisted until I escaped his grasp. I started running back towards the stairs in the dark and he started screaming again, but I found them before he could catch me. I made it to the top in the dark, burst through the door, and slammed it shut behind me.

4:44 The nightmare was far from over, though. That door doesn't have a lock, so I had no choice but to press my weight against it and hope I was strong enough to keep him out. Just as I suspected, I heard footsteps pounding up the basement stairs mere seconds later, followed by a huge crash against the door. The door swung open for a terrifying second, and it took everything in my power to push it closed. The first impact must have emboldened him because he started repeatingly slamming into the door. I yanked off my socks and pushed against the door, knowing my life depended on it. I have no idea how he didn't make it through, but he eventually gave up. I heard footsteps crashing back down the basement stairs, and I immediately seized the opportunity to grab my phone.

5:28 I ran over to the counter, grabbed it, and ran back to the basement door. With my back pressed against the door again, I called the police. When they finally arrived, that guy was gone. I kind of had a feeling. One of the basement windows had been forced open from the outside, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what happened. There was nothing missing or stolen. So, one of the officers suggested that the intruder was probably using my basement as a place to live or hide. That hadn't crossed my mind, but it was somehow a worse thought than him simply wanting to rob the place. The other reason the police arrived at that theory was that the intruder somehow knew where the light switch was, which wasn't in the most obvious place. It made sense. I ended up moving out about 4 months after the incident. Thinking about this again has confirmed something for me. That guy was fully prepared to kill me that

6:20 night. And if things had played out differently, he just might have. This happened when I was 14. I'm in my 30s now, so we're talking close to 20 years ago at this point. My parents had to drive out of state for a wedding and didn't want to leave me alone despite the fact that I was staying at home alone age. So, the original plan was for my older sister to stay with me for the weekend. She was already in college at the time, but she only lived an hour away. As soon as my parents left, though, she texted me and told me she had some party to go to and wasn't going to come. I didn't really care. I didn't even bother telling my parents about it, partly because I didn't want to stress them out and partly because I didn't want them to find someone else to watch me. It wasn't like the house was in some sketchy area either. It was a typical two-story home in a quiet suburban neighborhood. The place mostly consisted

7:20 of families, too, so I knew I'd be fine. The evening was completely uneventful. I played Halo for like 6 hours, something I'd ordinarily never get to do. It wasn't until just after midnight where things started getting weird. I was still lounging on the couch when I heard this faint tapping sound. The sound came from somewhere in the backyard and I immediately assumed it was something hitting the siding of the house. That's honestly what it sounded like, so I wasn't too concerned. A few minutes later, though, I heard it again.

7:53 The sound was nearly identical, which gave me the impression that it was a tree branch hitting the same spot on the house. But then the tapping migrated like whatever was making it was moving along the side of the house. That's when I knew something was wrong. The sound was far too intentional to not be made by something sentient. I muted the TV and froze. I didn't want to move. I just sat there listening the way anyone would. But now there was just silence. After maybe a minute, I convinced myself that it had just been a scuttling animal or the wind and I turned the TV back on. 20 minutes later, there was a new noise, one that made me a lot more concerned. It was another tapping sound, but this time it sounded like it was coming from below me, from the basement. The living room was directly above the basement, so it had to be coming from there. It was an unfinished basement with a little

8:46 kitchenet in the corner, so it wasn't crazy to imagine a critter rumaging around in there. I muted the TV again, this time getting up off the couch. I was dreading it, but I had to check. I had to at least assure myself that nothing was wrong. The basement had several windows that led directly to the outdoors. So, in all likelihood, the raccoon or stray cat that had been making the first noise was now knocking against one of those windows for whatever reason. I tried to convince myself I wasn't freaking out and walked over to the basement door. I opened it and stood at the top of the stairs, looking down into the darkness. The tapping noise was louder now, happening every few seconds or so. I don't know why I did this, but I called out hello into the nothingness. The tapping stopped immediately. That's when I started feeling really uneasy because if it had just been an animal, it probably

9:37 wouldn't have reacted to my voice like that. If I could just turn on the lights, I'd get a much clearer view of everything. But the light switch was at the bottom of the stairs, and there was a 0% chance I was going down there. So instead, I swung the door closed until it was only open a crack and stuck my hand through. I pointed my phone over to where I knew the window was. Then I closed my eyes and recorded a video with the flash on for a few seconds. Then I immediately shut the door and locked it. I took a deep breath and pulled up the video. It was pretty grainy, but it took me all of one second to realize there was a figure standing underneath one of the windows on the inside of the house.

10:18 I screamed. I couldn't control myself and I ran to my room. I locked the door and immediately called my dad who called the police for me. I was still on the phone with my parents when I started hearing repeated banging on the basement door. That guy was trying to break into the finished part of our house. And then after the fifth or sixth bang or so, there was silence again. And then the police showed up. They searched the basement, but that guy had escaped through the window. The officers were actually nice enough to search our yard, but that guy was long gone. There was a bunch of stuff missing from the basement. Like I said before, it wasn't finished, but that didn't mean my parents left it empty. I can't remember everything that had been stolen, but the scariest thing by far was this. When the police inspected the kitchenet, they found the biggest knife in the rack missing. It was a terrifying

11:10 thought. If it weren't for the video on my phone, I don't think the police would have taken things as seriously as they did. But of course, nothing ever came of it. And this was almost 20 years ago now. I have no idea what happened to that old phone. It's probably buried in a box of junk in my parents house somewhere, if it even still exists. If I ever find it and the thing still turns on, I'll submit the footage.

11:43 This happened when I was 16, four years ago now. I grew up in this big suburban house that my parents bought before I was born. It's one of those places that looks normal from the outside, but has all these weird quirks once you're inside. The biggest quirk by far is the basement. It's easily the largest room in the house. My parents finished it years ago and turned it into this casual hangout space with a sectional couch, a decent TV, and a couple of storage rooms in the back. You'd think a space like that would get a lot of use, but my parents are the type who prefer the living room upstairs. So, basically, the basement is essentially mine. The other thing you need to know about is my cat.

12:21 His name is Rocky, and he's one of those annoyingly friendly cats that constantly needs attention. Because of that, my parents put him in the basement every night before they go to sleep, so he doesn't bother them. Now, here's where things get a little sketchy, and I'm just going to be honest about it, because there's no point in pretending otherwise. The basement has this interior door that connects directly to the garage. It's technically supposed to be a convenience thing for bringing in groceries or whatever, but for me it was a convenience thing for sneaking people in. Anyway, it was a Friday night when this went down. I remember that specifically because I had invited this girl Meline over, which I wouldn't have done on a school night. I also remember assuming Rocky was already down there.

13:02 It wasn't a conscious thought, more so an implied assumption. It was past the time when my parents usually put him down there, so I figured he was asleep somewhere in the back. As per usual, that's why I didn't freak out when I heard a noise from one of the storage rooms. It was this faint rustling sound, like something moving around in the boxes. To be completely honest, I feel like I was justified in keeping my cool because it sounded like the exact sound an energetic cat might make. Meline obviously tensed up a little, but I explained to her that it was just my cat. And then we went back to pretending to watch whatever was on the TV, but the noises kept happening. Not constantly, but every few minutes there'd be another rustle or a soft thud.

13:45 Each time, Meline would give me a worried look, and I'd have to assure her that he was just a very active cat and liked to climb on things, which was true. He did like to climb on things. I was still 100% calm, right up until I heard scratching coming from the door at the top of the basement stairs. The door that led to the main part of the house. I instantly knew what I was hearing. It was Rocky scratching at the door to get into the basement, meaning he wasn't already down there with us, which also meant that whatever noises I'd been hearing for the past half hour were not him. I didn't say anything right away, partly because I didn't want to scare Meline, and partly because I didn't know whether I believed what I was hearing. But before I could react, Meline, who was still sitting right next to me, started screaming like she was being stabbed. I whipped my head around and realized she was pointing behind me

14:38 toward the back of the basement. I turned my head a little further and literally froze in fear. There was a foam football rolling across the floor, clearly having just been thrown out of the storage room. There was someone in there. I didn't see anyone. The back of the basement was too dark, but there was no other explanation. Someone was back there. Someone had been back there the whole time. Without thinking, I grabbed Meline's arm and practically dragged her up the stairs. As soon as we made it up, I slammed the door behind us, careful not to let Rocky down there. Things got really chaotic after that. Meline was crying, which was the first issue, but I was also shaking. Until that moment, I didn't even know I could get that scared. My parents eventually realized what was going on and called the police, who showed up a few minutes later. I stood on the back deck and watched the garage the entire time to make sure the

15:31 intruder didn't slip out from there. Here's where things got weird, though. The police ended up searching the entire basement, including the garage, but didn't find anyone. There were also no signs of forced entry, and all the basement windows were locked from the inside. One of the officers suggested the intruder must have slipped out through the garage before they arrived, but I know that's not possible. I was watching it the entire time. I would have seen them. But after searching the house, there was nothing else that the police could do. Of course, my parents also thought the intruder had slipped away without me realizing it. And I could tell they were upset. My dad especially. But I don't care what they think. I'm 100% certain that no one escaped through the garage. There's only one path from the garage to the outdoors, and I had my eyes on it the entire time. My family never got a

16:20 resolution to all of this, and I still have no explanation for everything that happened. I think every kid is afraid of basements. Let's face it, they're scary places. Even as an adult now who lives alone, I sometimes find myself a little uncomfortable going down to the basement to do laundry at night. At least I feel that way going up the stairs as I leave. But as a kid, I was terrified of the basement in my family house. Ironically, all our video game consoles were down there since it was the only other TV in the house besides the living room and my parents' room. I believe this happened when I was nine because I remember being in elementary school, but one of my last years. On the weekends, I like to stay up playing video games in the basement.

17:11 One of my old favorites was Driver 2 on the PS1. For whatever reason, I could never beat the game, and I'd spend countless nights trying to do so. Well, it was one of those nights I was down there playing. I usually didn't like being up too late because the second my parents went to sleep, I'd be too scared to be down in the basement. Just the idea of my mom or dad watching TV upstairs was enough to make me feel somewhat safe knowing they were a quick run up the stairs away. Similar to my current house today, my old family home had the laundry/ boiler room in the basement. That room terrified me because it was pitch black at all hours of the day due to there being absolutely no windows. Also, weird sounds always came from in there, as to be expected, I guess, since it's a boiler room. There were definitely a handful of times where I stopped my game to listen when I thought I heard an unusual sound come

18:02 from in there, even with the door closed. On this particular night, I did in fact hear an unusual sound, and it started with the sound of the laundry room door creaking open. This obviously was enough to make me pause my game and frighten me. There was an uncomfortable silence in the basement for a second, and it was then followed by what I can only describe as the sound of a woman moaning or groaning in an almost ghostlike way,

18:36 but it sounded like my mom's voice. In fact, I knew it was. I started laughing and I'm sure I said something like, "Nice try, mom." Knowing she was trying to scare me. Which, side note, looking back, even as a kid, I should have realized something was wrong, considering my mom has never been a goofy person that would pull this kind of prank. But I walked over to the laundry room with a little more confidence now. And as I was in front of the open doorway leading into the darkness, the groans had stopped by now. I looked straight into the pitch black room ahead. And as I inched closer, the outline of a person standing in there became visible. "Mom," I said, now with less confidence. When I got just close enough, I made the judgment that it was not my mom.

19:22 I started screaming as I ran up the stairs to the living room, and my horrific judgment was right. There was my mom in the living room with my dad. At this point, they were both already standing up, responding to my screams. I yelled, "There's a woman in the laundry room." And I remember they looked at each other and then both ran down to the basement, slamming the door shut behind them. I sat confused, scared, but slightly relieved knowing my parents were down there. Now, I remember being in the living room for a long time before my mom came upstairs and told me to go to my room and go to sleep. I didn't ask questions and obeyed. I had a hard time falling asleep that night, I'm sure. But I remember the next morning, my parents told me they had one of their friends prank me to scare me, and they treated it like it was one big joke. I don't fully remember how much I believed it or not, but I for sure asked them to

20:11 elaborate on who it was. My mom said it was one of her friends from out of state who was visiting. I didn't question it, but as I got older, the name Debbie was seemingly accidentally dropped by my parents a few times. And whenever I'd ask who Debbie is, they'd have a different response. When I was maybe 14, I thought back one day on this night and decided to do a deep dive. I found a family tree type of website and admittedly stole my dad's credit card from his wallet momentarily to pay for the service, then slipped it back in the wallet. I inputed both my parents' names. Among a few familiar names and a bunch of names I didn't recognize, what instantly stood out was that my mom had a sister named Debbie. So, I Googled Debbie, followed by my mom's maiden name, and up popped an obituary. She was dead. I ran to grab my parents to show them what I found on the screen, and I demanded they explain. I remember their

21:07 shocked and nervous looks on their faces. Still, "Tell him," my dad said to my mom. My mom then dropped the bomb on me that I had a very mentally unstable aunt who harmed a lot of people, and it was for the best that she was always kept away from me growing up. Debbie had allegedly broken into or snuck into the house without my parents knowing. I had so many questions and demanded answers, but there was little more that they would tell me. They swore they had my best interest at heart. Over the years, I'd occasionally bring it up, but they'd always shut it down and tell me to drop it. I never learned what they meant by she harmed a lot of people, but I have some theories. It doesn't really do me any good dwelling on it, though. It makes me kind of nervous to think about it. What else were my parents hiding?

21:55 What happened to Debbie? Why was she in the basement? I wondered a few times if my parents were hiding her down there after she had done something horrible. But that wouldn't make much sense because I don't think they'd let me down there in the basement. Then I guess some questions are better left unanswered.

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "4 Disturbing TRUE Basement Horror Stories"?

In order: 5:00 Halo; 15:00 Driver 2.

What is mentioned in this Mr. Nightmare episode?

2 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Halo, Driver 2. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "4 Disturbing TRUE Basement Horror Stories"?

The episode runs 22 min; the transcript is about 4,244 words in 29 timestamped sections.

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