Some jobs require employees to work in unique locations outside of the typical office job.
While unconventional job locations provide an environment that prevents fatigue experienced by others who constantly work under fluorescent lighting, working in remote locations can experience unsettling feelings while on the clock.
Curious to explore examples of this, Redditor shafaatkhan007 asked:
“Redditors who work at remote places like forest officers, oil rig workers, etc, what creepy things have you noticed while at work?”
A Bloody Discovery
“I worked at a public forest. One day we had someone report a dead animal on the side of one of our trails. A few of us from the front desk hiked out to see what it was. It looked like a giant peice of…liver maybe? Just a pile of smooth red meat…no blood around.”
“And it was wrapped up in a t shirt, with some coins scattered around it. We called our rangers to go check it out, and one of them was pretty sure it was a placenta.”
“The weird part is, you have to check in thru a front desk. So someone either snuck a placenta/liver in or gave live birth/removed an organ on our trails. We never got an answer on what the pile of meat was, how it got there, or why.” – WhiteOwlz
The Body
“I do a lot of stream work so I spend time out in pretty rural areas walking streams and rivers. Once my coworker and I were working in a more urban environment and came across what we initially thought was a body – which of course triggered ‘Oh sh*t!!’ from us – but it ended up being a firefighter’s dummy that had fallen down a hill. We felt pretty dumb.”
“Other notable things include a small grave in the middle of nowhere for someone’s dog (pretty sad), and a stuffed rabbit with shotgun shells placed where its eyes should be, a mannequin very purposely placed in a chair in the middle of the woods, and lots of little random alters.”
“I also did work in Myrtle Beach (what a hell hole) and accidentally walked into an inhabited homeless camp. I was peering into a stormwater grate when I looked up and saw a homeless person standing in his shelter staring at us and saying nothing. I felt like I was trespassing so we quietly left.” – RegularTeacher2
Suspicious Sound
“I used to work in a ship and we’re usually gone 3 to 10 months at a time. I worked night shift so this meant I would sleep in the sleeping quarters during day time with either just me or a handfull of other crew members where usually there’d be 20 to 30 of us in there.”
“It wasn’t so bad. Actually I really liked because it’s a lot more peaceful sleelimg during the day. You don’t hear anybody else snoring or someones footsteps because they have to piss or something like that.”
“All you can hear is the light creak of the walls and the floors of the ship and all you can feel is the sway of it on the ocean. A bit haunting and creepy of you really think about it but I like it.”
“All that ended when there was a short period of time was literally only 2 of us in there or at least that’s what I thought. I started hearing light taps across the room. At first they were light taps. Then it would get a bit faster. Sometimes it’ll get a bit louder. I’d ignore it if it wasn’t so utterly annoying.”
“I look at where the other guys is sleeping and he seems to be fast asleep accompanied by his light snoring. 2nd day, there it goes again. I tried to follow the sound but for some reason it bounced around the room like an echo.”
“Eventually it comes to an abrupt halt. So I try to sleep it off. During work at night I tried to ask my mate about it but he said he was too tired to even notice. I guess I’m alone on this pursuit.
“3rd day I take my pursuit one step futher by not sleeping right away. I’d be fully awake when it starts so I’ll have a better chance of discovering the source. There it goes again. This time I go from one empty rack to the next until finally it was loud as f’k, tapping in progress.”
“My heart was thumping like a jackhammer. I pulled the curtain to the side. There laid the biggest dude I’ve ever seen on the ship holding his d*ck mid stroke. You have no idea the speech I prepared for this guy, in my head, for keeping me up for several days but at that exact moment I had no idea what to say.”
“Of course I gave out a small yalp which didn’t help the situation. I never thought I’d be locking eyes with another dude while he’s gripping his dong when I began this honorable pursuit.”
“With the current situation I mustered my best attempt at displaying my annoyance. It somehow came out as an apology followed by ‘I keep hearing tapping noises.’ He hadn’t said anything yet but at that exact moment, I realized that his elbow that which belong to the fapping arm is resting right on the wall probably banging on it over and over and over.”
“I didn’t wait for a reply. I nodded my head, kind of rolled my eye and walked away. It will never be easy trying to avoid a big guy like him everyday in the same sleeping quarters.” – Chevrons21
Isolation Fears
“I work on North sea oil rigs on an ad-hoc basis (off the coast of Scotland).”
“Wouldn’t say anything was particularly paranormal creepy but it can be very unsettling/weird place.”
“Fog can come rolling in out of nowhere and other rigs you can see off the sides can disappear in front of your eyes. Sometimes you can’t see the walkways 6ft in front of you or if you’re walking over grating you can’t see the sea below your feet (about 60m down from feck to sea) but you can hear it, all be it muffled. The fog can roll in over the course of a few minutes too so a perfectly clear day becomes pea soup.”
“You can also feel the rig moving/swaying on high winds /rough seas. Even though it’s a fixed leg Platform. Very unnerving to feel your office swaying when it shouldn’t be.”
“My last trip was my first ever Nightshift and I found it particularly unsettling as you’ve got the background noise of the plant but I walked around the whole rig without seeing another living soul for the whole shift (usually there are about 130 people on board although smaller rigs have smaller headcounts) .”
“Usually once a trip im hit by this awareness that you are just very isolated and in the middle of no where (most rigs I’ve worked on are an hour’s chopper ride from land). So if things go wrong it can escalate very quickly.” – sootsprite13
While many may scoff at the prospect of sharing a crowded space with other coworkers, it could be better than the alternative.
Constantly working in isolation with no one to distract you can be nerve-wracking over time and your imagination can wind up playing some cruel tricks.