20 train operators share the creepiest things they've seen on the railroad tracks.

Any fan of The Rocky and Bullwinkle series has images of the evil Snidely Whiplash tying victims to train tracks etched into your brain. Even if you're not a fan of that specific cartoon drama, the trope of angsty teens smoking cigarettes on train tracks is firmly embedded into the canon.

While many of us have wandered onto tracks (or near them) at one point in our life, no one knows the going-ons of train routes better than the conductors themselves. Unfortunately for many of them, the horrific images of death via train track aren't completely limited to fiction.

In a popular Reddit thread, train operators shared the strangest things they've seen on the train tracks, and it ranges from murder scenes to unexpected animal encounters.

1. generictimemachine was face to face with a mountain lion.

I’m an engineer now but as a conductor I was walking my train one midnight lacing air hoses getting the cars (freight) ready to pull. I noticed what I thought was a dog or coyote about 100 yards away. No big deal, I have a big aluminum and steel stick with a hook for cranking brakes without having to climb onto the cars. Then I notice it kind of tracing along pacing me, I could see the glow of its eyes watching me. Later as we’re ready to depart I’m out in front of the engine opening the track switch to get on to the main line.