Ghosted Stories That Are Scarier than Actual Ghosts

Zombies and ghouls have nothing on the horror of dating in the mortal world, because ghosting is a real-life nightmare. Just when you thought you were cosplaying Moaning Myrtle you ended up with Casper the not so friendly scumbro, and he disappeared without trace. You’ve been left on dead and to this day, you’re still haunted by the text he sent asking you to meet his parents. But you’re not alone. This isn’t paranormal activity. We’ve all been there, and we’re here to commiserate. From military-related defection to a grid post that makes you question reality, here are IRL ghost stories that will keep you up at night.

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Model Behavior

For a while, I distantly admired a model/photographer who runs in the same circles as I do. We’d never met, but had lots of mutual friends and I was hoping for an introduction. We matched on Tinder and started talking a bit, and even though he didn’t say anything particular to scare me away, he made me nervous and I stopped responding. A few months later I saw him on Raya. We matched again and I decided to give him another shot. We made plans to meet up that week but I got freaked out, again for no apparent reason, and I bailed at the last minute. A few weeks after I ditched our date, an account I follow posted a list of people in the fashion and modeling industries who had been accused of sexual misconduct via anonymous submissions. Some people on the list had asterisks next to their names to indicate that they’d been submitted three or more times. His name was on the list with an asterisk. My instinct had me covered. TRUST 👏🏻 YOUR 👏🏻 GUT 👏🏻 LADIES 👏🏻

—Devon

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L.A. Times

Once upon a time….. I’d moved to LA and got caught up with a boy, totally head over heels (or so I’d thought). Things were moving really fast and after just two months we were looking at apartments together. In the middle of our apartment hunt (right as we were about to sign the new lease) I came back to NYC to visit my friends and realized I had a love stronger than what I’d felt for him; My favorite city, and all of the friends I’d left behind! (for a cozy Mediterranean climate, good sex, and 99 cent avocados none the less).
Once back I finally felt at home after feeling foreign for upwards of 4 months. There was an overwhelming sense of guilt I’d felt when the thought of not going back to my 99 cent avocados, I mean boyfriend, crossed my mind. I was young and dumb with a lack of interpersonal skills, so it was a pretty easy decision to ghost my serious boyfriend and come back to where I felt myself. After his 200 calls and my unquestionably revived spirit, we didn’t speak for over a year after that. I lost half of my wardrobe in the mix of things, but it was totally worth it.

—Cody

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Military Defect

I was ghosted by my fiancé when he joined the military. When I was 18 I had been dating a guy for about 3 years when he joined the military. First of all I was upset because your girl likes attention but I’m a supportive girlfriend so I went with it. He was concerned about the distance, me being naive was like, “we’ll be fine!” I could tell he wanted things to be more “set in stone” which came to no surprise when he proposed two weeks before leaving. I said yes because I was “so in love.” I felt very good about things when he left for training.

Then he never called. He never once sent me a letter. I waited two months, trying to be understanding and didn’t hear a single thing. I kept in contact with his mom who kept saying she hadn’t heard anything. Then she posted on Facebook about getting her fourth phone call from him? I confronted her and she refused to give me his mailing address and said “it was for the best.” My little 18 year old heart couldn’t take it but now I know she was correct.

I think he’s married now and still in the military, I don’t really give him much thought. I’m in a relationship and don’t plan on being married young. I’m glad he ghosted me.

—Madi

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Moving On

In October 2014 I was ghosted just in time for Halloween! My boyfriend and I were dating long distance for two years until he finally decided to move in with me in VA from FL. He moved in July and I admit, it was a rocky patch but I had NO IDEA what was to come! Fast forward to the fateful October when we had a fight after seeing a couples counselor. I was frustrated and he was giving me the silent treatment but I didn’t think anything more of it. When we left the counselor’s office on a Wednesday, we made a follow up appointment for the next week. Well we didn’t need it! On Saturday, I was leaving for work and before I left, he called me over to him to kiss him and then he said “I love you”. I laughed and said I loved you too and I will see you later. He said yes and even talked about dinner. Well guess what? When I came home from work, he was gone. I mean completely gone! This dude had packed up ALL his stuff and moved out while I was at work! I went into shock and tried to call him but he had me blocked on his phone and across all social media. Apparently he thought it out! I was in serious shock and trauma for a long while until I met my new beau and now fiance! U know the funny part of it? The ex contacted me six months later, to say hello and check in! I asked him why he did what he did and his answer was that he isn’t cut out for relationships! How crazy is he?! Guess I dodged a bullet!

—Alexandra B.

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Happily Never After

It’s my junior year of college, I agree to go to dinner with a guy who I shared mutual friends with, but had never met in real life. What was meant to be a friendly hang quickly turned into something more – our chemistry was explosive. We stayed up all night talking about everything from the music we liked to our deepest fears. I went home thinking I had met my soulmate.

We had been dating for two months when he asked me to road trip with him to LA to visit his brother. We had become deeply involved by this point, so meeting his brother felt like a natural step in our relationship. We agreed to leave bright and early on a Friday morning in order to avoid traffic – I could hardly sleep on Thursday night I was so excited!

Friday morning at 5:30 am, I wait on my stoop for him to pick me up. He’d promised coffee and donuts for our ride, which I couldn’t wait to dig in to. An hour later, he still hasn’t picked me up. Maybe he slept through his alarm? Another hour rolls by and I haven’t heard a peep. Irritated as hell, I decide to go back to bed, expecting to wake up to a flurry of apology texts and missed calls. When I groggily check my phone a few hours later, there’s nothing.

Flash forward to Monday afternoon – haven’t heard from him all weekend. I’d left a few voicemails, but this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach tells me this was a deliberate move. I scroll through Instagram as a means of distracting myself and freeze – he posted a picture of him at Disneyland kissing another girl. The caption? “Happily Ever After.”

I never heard from him again, but found out through our mutual friends that he got married to that girl less than a year later. Wish I could say that makes me feel better but honestly? It doesn’t.

—Courtney

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Ghosted IRL

“I don’t have a dating ghost story. Just a real life ghost one.”

—Christian