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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/TheTimothyHimself on 2026-05-31 03:33:38+00:00.

I wasn’t sure how to start this, but I think it’s important to mention that I’ve never told anyone this story before. It’s been driving me crazy, because I’ve had to bottle it up for years, even though it’s damn near impossible not to talk about. Even the only other person who was there with me when this happened is a no go. She refuses to acknowledge it in any way.

See, about two years ago, my then girlfriend and I were cruising down some backroads on our way home from vacation. We were driving from Tennessee back to Indiana. It was late as hell and as you can imagine, we were both pretty tired. I was constantly fighting the urge to fall asleep right then and there at the wheel. This, along with my burning urge to get home as soon as possible, made for the deadly combination of a barely lucid man barreling about 90 miles per hour down a dimly lit road.

Needless to say, I wasn’t the most cautious driver that night. And as we came quickly upon a sharp right turn, it was virtually impossible to stop in time before I ran him over.

Him. It*.* Whatever the hell that thing was.

It came out of nowhere. Or more likely, it had been standing there for some time before my drowsy ass plowed right through it. I thought I hit a deer. My ex, who was already deep in sleep, was jolted awake by the impact. Both of us were now very much alert right then. I was genuinely scared of getting out of the car and seeing the damage. But my girlfriend, much to both of our regret, egged me on to go check up whatever we hit together.

As soon as we stepped out, strange things were already happening. There wasn’t a single scratch on the front of the car. I was expecting a pretty bad dent in the front bumper, but it looked untouched. As if we hadn't hit anything at all. This, despite the fact that when my girl and I went back to see what we had run over, the form of an adult man lay at our feet.

My girl started to cry, and I felt like I was going to puke. No normal person wants to be responsible for someone’s death, especially over something as stupid as nearly falling asleep at the wheel. The worst part was that both of us had talked about resting one more night at the hotel we were staying at before hitting the road, but we were both so ready to head home that we checked out. Out of sheer guilt and panic, I got closer to the thing. I don’t know what I was even trying to accomplish. If it was a person, there was no way they would still be breathing, but maybe I secretly hoped they were okay. I kneeled down right next to it, and that’s when I finally noticed what was wrong with it.

Keep in mind, all that was lighting this thing were my rear lights, and it was a good distance behind my vehicle. Like I said, I was going fast. But even standing a couple feet away from it in near pitch-black darkness, my brain could just tell something was off. It wasn’t just that this guy looked like he had a broken bone or two, no; his whole body was crumpled up and nearly flat against the ground. And kneeling right by his side, I saw why:

The thing was deflated.

I looked behind me. My girl was no longer crying, but rather shared the same look of bewilderment and confusion that was undoubtedly plastered all over my face. It was deflated. I thought I hit a deer, man. Turns out I had hit a person shaped inflatable. A life-sized, person shaped inflatable, that had been standing upright in the middle of the road.

There was just no way. A part of me thought I was dreaming. Hell, a part of me still thinks we were both just so tired that we were seeing things. But I know this wasn’t a dream. You know when you’re awake, even when you’d rather be asleep. This was as real as the words you’re reading right now.

I got up real close to the thing. Real close. I wanted to know what it was. At first, I couldn’t really make out any discernible features in the dark. But once I got up in its face, I could see in the dim red light that the only features on its entire body were two blue, painted-on eyes. Eyes which stared back up at me as I looked down in horror. The only other thing I could really even mention was that the skin of this balloon boy was a sickly kind of yellow.

I got up and ran back inside the car. My girl had already locked herself in after seeing what it really was, and I nearly tore the car door off before she opened it for me. I’m still really pissed about her locking me out. But anyways, I drove us off as fast as we could from that bizarre scene. We had both seen enough.

We would eventually break up a year later for unrelated reasons. We kind of mutually agreed never to bring this up ever again, although towards the end of our relationship I definitely tried to get her to talk about it. Especially because she didn’t see what it did after we left. That part was especially hard to keep to myself.

I know what I saw. I don’t like what I saw, but I know it was real. I swear that as we were leaving it behind, I could see the thing inflate itself, get up, and walk off in the rear view mirror.

There are things in this world that defy explanation. Things that spit in the face of all logic and reason, and seemingly exist just to keep us up at night. You hear stories of strange and otherworldly encounters all the time. I used to laugh at those stories. I don’t anymore.

I know I sound crazy. I don’t really care if I do. Just feels nice to get this off my chest.