The Worst Ghosts Of All Time, Ranked

Welcome to the Ex Games: a content series about love lost. Whether it's the realization things need to end, the act of rejection, the reality of being single, or the resurrection that is moving on, the Ex Games has every stage of a breakup covered.

And to really bring these stories to life, we've launched the Ex Games podcast, where we delve into the two sides of a break-up story with a new couple each week, and aim to end up somewhere near the truth. Because when it comes to affairs of the heart, everyone plays, but does anyone win? Let's find out.

If every kind of breakup were a different way of being murdered, ghosting would be your body getting chopped up into a million little pieces.

OK, maybe that was a little dramatic. But ghosting is brutal.

The feeling of being left without any closure from someone you trusted — and sometimes even loved — isn't something I would wish upon anyone.

In terms of just how terrible being ghosted can feel, April Masini, a New York-based relationship expert, tells Elite Daily,

Ghosting isn't just rejection. It's demeaning. It basically says, 'You're not important enough for me to call you and tell you it's over.' That's not just a breakup. That's a put-down.

That's why I created my column, "Boom, Ghosted," in which people send me their own personal stories of being ghosted.

I knew I couldn't give people who were ghosted the closure they wanted, but I figured if they could see they weren't alone in this sort of heartbreak, then maybe they'd feel a little bit better.

Since I've started my column, I've heard some of the craziest ghosting stories. Here are the top 10 most insane accounts of people being ghosted, ranked:

10. The Girl Who Was Ghosted By Her Guy After Sending Him A "Happy Birthday" Text

Carrie* met this guy when she was out with her friends for a girls' night.

The two hit it off and were "basically dating" for two months. In her own words, "It was all going great until his birthday came around."

The thing is, Carrie didn't do or say anything weird on his birthday. She literally just sent him a standard "Happy Birthday" text with a few emojis, which seemed to be their inside joke. And the guy responded saying he'd call her later!

But you know what? She literally never heard from him again.

This one irks me for a couple reasons. First of all, they were a little past the casual ghosting phase, as they'd been seeing each other for two months. Second, literally nothing terrible happened to warrant this guy ghosting Carrie.

My only logical explanation is this dude took too many birthday shots and literally fell off the face of the earth.

9. The Girl Who Was Ghosted By The Guy Who Was Freaked Out By Her Period

In this story, Brittany* met a guy on Bumble, and the two immediately hit it off.

They had a magical first kiss on their first date, and by date three, she was ready to go back to his place.

After an episode of their favorite TV show, Black Mirror, things started getting steamy. They started making out, clothes started coming off, but suddenly, she realized she was on her period.

She then pulled away and told him sex probably wasn't on the table for that night. Then, he, in Brittany's words, "FLIPPED OUT."

You guys, this dude literally got mad at her for embarrassing him... you know, when she was on her period.

She thought she was in the clear when he sent her a "you get home ok?" text after she left. He even eventually apologized for being so terrible. But apparently, she wasn't in the clear. Soon after, he ghosted her.

This one is just freaking weird. Who would make someone feel this bad about her period? What was he looking for? A woman who doesn't menstruate?

Good luck, dude.

8. The Girl Who Was Ghosted By Her Guy After Making One Dumb Joke

Marie* wasn't super into this guy she matched with on Bumble. But as time went on, she started catching a few feelings. He was close to his mom, his sisters, and "he [knew] and has seen how much f*ckboys can mess with a girl's head." So she let her guard down and trusted him.

Things were going great for Marie and her guy until he went home for Memorial Day to hang out with his family. When he got back, he seemed pretty distant.

They didn't see each other for a couple of weeks following his trip, and then, by chance, they ran into each other while out. After that, they started texting normally like they used to. She made one inside joke and boom. He was gone.

Honestly, if the relationship between Marie and this guy was just a bit more serious, this story would have been higher on my list. Why, you ask? Well, almost every girl is familiar with stressing over sending a certain risky text to someone she likes.

Your friends tell you, "Stop stressing so much! It's not like he's just going to stop talking to you because you made one dumb joke."

And while the logical part of you agrees with them, there's still an irrational part of you that fears the worst.

For this girl, it was true. She made one dumb joke, and it did result in the guy never speaking to her again. She literally lived every millennial girl's worst nightmare.

7. The Girl Who Was Fat-Shamed On Top Of Being Ghosted

Angelina* matched with a guy on Bumble while she was home for Thanksgiving.

After having a hard time figuring out their respective schedules, they finally made time for a first date the next time she was in town.

Following the first date, she tried to hang out with him one more time, only to be ghosted by the guy.

I really wish this were the end of the story... but it's not. Things got way worse after that.

Angelina went back on Bumble, only to realize the guy had made a new profile — with a new line added to the end of his bio:

Angelina explained, "I know it could have been about someone else, like from his hometown, but the coincidence is a little sketchy to me."

To ghost a girl and then to go on and publicly fat-shame her? I can't even deal with it.

But there is a good part here...

Thankfully, after seeing Angelina's story on "Boom, Ghosted," Bumble actually banned that evil guy from using their app ever again!

6. The Girl Whose College Boyfriend Stole Her Dream Life

Alex* met her boyfriend when he transferred to her university during her senior year of college.

They fell for each other shortly thereafter and wound up dating for three years... until he ghosted her.

Alex had just finished her master's degree, and the two had some big plans together. They were going to move to Montana to start a vegetable farm, and they even knew what house they were going to live in.

The problem is, things got a little complicated when Alex started applying for jobs. Basically, she was offered two jobs: an awesome job in the town they currently lived in and another less-awesome job in the Montana town they were moving to.

Her boyfriend convinced her to take the awesome job, even though it would mean giving up on their dream of moving to Montana. After she accepted, they spent a night breaking in her new place in the area (BOW CHICKA WOW WOW), and the next morning, he was gone.

As if it wasn't already awful enough that her boyfriend of three freaking years ghosted her, she found out eight months later from one of his friends that the whole thing was planned out.

He encouraged her to take the other job, so he could take the job in Montana and live their dream life without her.

He's now living in their dream town, working at the job that was originally offered to Alex, and growing a vegetable garden in a house that looks like the one they were going to move into... with another woman.

5. The Girl Who Was Ghosted By Her Boyfriend The Week After He Said "I Love You"

Jennifer* and Luis* first started dating when Jennifer was in high school.

The two eventually called it quits and moved on with their lives. But about 10 years later, they reconnected when Jennifer moved back to their hometown.

The two fell for each other all over again, and it was only a short while before Luis asked Jennifer to be his girlfriend.

About two weeks after they made it official, the couple had plans for a double date with some other friends. The couple they were meeting kept changing locations, so Jennifer kept texting Luis to keep him in the loop, only to hear nothing back.

Finally, she decided to go to dinner without him. At dinner, one of their mutual friends decided to shoot Luis a text and call him out for going MIA. Luis responded to him, apologizing and admitting he got too drunk with his friends, but he never responded to Jennifer again...

I know some of the other stories on here are more dramatic, but I've got to be honest: This always came across as one of the worst ones to me because it's so incredibly simple.

Nothing crazy happened. It was just that Jennifer trusted Luis, and he completely let her down.

They'd known each other for years. They had mutual friends. And then, he thought it would be appropriate to bail on their plans completely and apologize to their mutual friend, while he continued to ignore her?! Ugh, don't get me started.

4. The Girl Who Was Ghosted By Her Boyfriend Whom She Had Matching Tattoos With

Jennifer* met her now ex-boyfriend while watching a soccer match in Brazil. The couple, both from Colombia, spent the next two years totally in love.

She explained, "He became my friend, my lover, my psychologist… literally everything." And the feeling was mutual, too. Her boyfriend would flood her text inbox with sappy love letters and even recordings of songs he wrote for her.

He even surprised her with a three-month visit when she was getting her bachelor's degree in New York, during which time the two even got matching tattoos.

When they both moved back to Colombia, they started fighting more and more about her boyfriend's lack of ambition until they finally broke up.

However, they eventually got back together, and everything seemed to be fine until he suddenly started acting rude and distant. The last thing Jennifer remembers is him texting her, "You mean nothing to me. You are not my responsibility." And after that, she never heard from him again.

Months after she was ghosted, Jennifer found out the guy was actually a fraud, and the past two years had all been a lie. Apparently, he knew her family had money, and he was stringing her along so he could start a business with them and steal from them.

Honestly, this story was wild. First of all, it was one of our only international submissions, so it was crazy to know that ghosting is a phenomenon that spans the globe.

Second, this story just sounds like a Lifetime movie! I mean, can you imagine realizing the guy you spent the past two years in a relationship with not only ghosted you, but was also trying to steal from you the entire time?!

3. The Guy Who Freaking Ghosted Literally Everyone

This. Freaking. Guy.

I first heard about Nic from his ex-girlfriend Kelly*.

The story was unique right off the bat, as it was the first time anybody had submitted to "Boom, Ghosted" actually wanting the real name and photos of the person who ghosted them to be used.

Basically, the couple had been dating on and off for four years, and throughout those four years, Nic ghosted Kelly three times.

Almost all of those times, he recovered by telling her some lie as to why he disappeared.

The last time he ghosted her was following a trip she took to visit him in Florida. He told her the last day they spent there together was "the best day of his life." And when she got back, he was texting her nonstop about how much he loved and missed her.

Three days later, though, he suddenly blocked her from his phone for no reason, and she never heard from him again.

After this, Kelly decided to Google him, and she found out that her on-and-off boyfriend for the past four years was actually a criminal.

In fact, he left town and ghosted her the first time because he was wanted by the police.

But you know what? That isn't even the worst part. Since this story was published, more and more women have come to me with their own stories of being ghosted by this same exact dude.

2. The Girl Who Was Ghosted By The Boyfriend She Moved To Slovenia For

Wendy* and her boyfriend met on St. Patrick's Day in 2015 and immediately fell in love with each other. She really thought she had found "the one."

But the two hit their first bump in the road when he had to move to Slovenia for work. She was still stuck in the United States getting her master's degree, so the two were forced to make international long distance work.

He was feeling lonely in Slovenia and asked if she would move there to be with him once she finished school. AND SHE DID. For months, they were all the other had in a foreign country.

However, when they finally moved back to the United States, everything changed. Her boyfriend insisted they get some space from each other after spending so much time together while they were in Europe. And she agreed! She just didn't think it meant a breakup.

Unfortunately, she was wrong.

A few days after that conversation, she found out she had a ruptured cyst, which led to a five-day stay in the hospital. Not only did this guy not visit her, but when she returned to their shared apartment, he was completely moved out.

He came back to her a month later apologizing, and Wendy even took him back. The couple then went on a trip to Mexico to get things back on track.

The two were having a great time... until he ghosted her again upon their return.

So, to be clear here, this girl MOVED TO FREAKING SLOVENIA for this guy during his time of need, and in return, he ghosted her when she was in the hospital and again after she forgave him for ghosting her the first time.

Pure evil.

1. The Girl Who Was Ghosted By Her Boyfriend Of Five Years While On Vacation Together For Her Birthday

Raina* had been dating her boyfriend for five years when he ghosted her... on her birthday.

It was the night of her birthday dinner (while they were on vacation in Miami), and they got in a dumb argument about what bar they were meeting at. And before that, they had already gotten into another argument in their room about getting ready.

Raina decided to stay in the room to make a point. (She was upset he had gone to dinner without her.)

Around 2 a.m., her BF came back to the room, grabbed his luggage, and didn't return. She texted and called him multiple times, only to hear nothing.

At 6:30 a.m., he finally sent her one text saying he was leaving her in Miami. But after that, she heard nothing.

Yep, that's right. He left her alone in Miami on her birthday. On top of ghosting her. After five years of dating.

Hands down, this is the number one worst ghost of all time.

What do you guys think of all this? Do you think someone else deserved the number one spot?  Do you connect to any of these stories? Have you had a similar experience? Comment any thoughts or feelings below!

*Names have been changed.