Something Was Wrong

Something Was Wrong is a creepy story about a man who wakes up in the middle of the street and is puzzled when he discovers that everyone is afraid of him. It was based on a short anecdote in the book Try and Stop Me by Bennett Cerf. A version of this story appeared in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

One morning, a man found himself walking along a deserted street in a small town. He had no idea what he was doing there or how he got there in the first place, or where he had been earlier. He didn’t even know what time it was.

He saw a woman walking toward him and stopped her.

“I’m afraid I forgot my watch,” he said with a polite smile. “Can you please tell me the time?”

When the woman saw him, she screamed and ran away. The man was shocked. A few minutes later, he noticed that other people were afraid of him too. Whenever they saw him coming, they flattened themselves against a building, recoiled in horror or ran across the street to stay out of his way.

“There must be something wrong with me,” thought the man. “I’d better go home as soon as possible.”

He hailed a taxi, but when the taxi driver laid eyes on him, he floored the accelerator and sped away.

“This is crazy!” the man said to himself.

He couldn’t figure out what was wrong and had no idea what was going on. All he knew was that he was scared and confused.

“Maybe my wife can come and pick me up,” he thought.

He found a telephone and called home, expecting to hear his wife’s sweet voice. Instead, a strange voice answered.

“Is Mrs. Sullivan there?” he asked.

“I’m sorry, she isn’t,” the voice said. “Her husband died a few days ago in a horrible car crash and she’s attending his funeral.”