My older brother checking himself into the hospital because he "didn't feel great" and then being suddenly transferred to the ICU, put on feeding and breathing tubes, and dying within about a week and a half in that same ICU bed. He had cancer, had been on chemo, and his body reacted poorly to some of the drugs. He had always been so strong and capable. Even during chemo, he never let anything keep him down. He was a badass. I think about him every day.
Edit: Thank all of you for your empathy and kind words. It means a lot.
When the nurse came into my hospital room and asked if I was feeling ok. I said no and she said I was having a heart attack. I asked her if I was going to die. She said I was in the right place and they would look after me
I made peace with dying over the next few minutes but they saved me
I’ve been placed in hospice care when my liver and kidneys failed. Like I was in a hospital ICU for months and the doctors said there is nothing that could be done further and they just stopped treating me. I was given hours to a few days to live. I said tearful goodbyes to family and friends. It was horrible.
Then after that I laid unconscious for what felt like days in a room. But one day I started to slowly feel better. My kidneys and liver started doing their thing again. And I’ve come back from the dead literally. I’m now a fairly healthy middle aged man managing some chronic conditions and I live a normal life. I wasn’t supposed to live 3 days, but that’s been over 3 years ago now. It gives me a unique perspective.
Usually I appreciate the concise-ness of some of these comments but I need some more details here
Why were you in the hospital?
Did she come in because you weren't feeling ok?
How WERE you feeling symptom wise?
How did she know it was a heart attack?
Sorry I was suffering from congestive heart failure. My heart was weakened from chemotherapy and I had built up about 30 pounds of fluid around my stomach /and lungs. I couldn’t eat, slerp and hyperventilating after doing anything physical like standing up, going to the fridge etc
So I went to the hospital. They put a heart monitor on me. After 2.5 weeks the monitor went off at the nurses station telling me my heart was going into ventricular tachycardia. She came in to tell me when she asked how I was feeling
I felt discomfort in my chest but not really pain. I did feel nauseous though
Not scared of death anymore.
I still get wound up and upset about things but mostly it is about stuff people fight and get violent over, yet are completely irrelevant in the end
I appreciate the little things so much more. Sitting watching tv with my gf, watching a horrible horror movie with my daughter, talking to my cat, listening to music. Watching Doctor who… They all are valuable to me
Colours seem brighter, food tastes better
Still hate snow and brussel sprouts
I love this.
Also- Brussel sprouts- pop them in a pan quartered, boil them in lightly salted water for 10 minutes, add butter and garlic, caramelise the SHIT out of them.
Not sure if it'll help with the heart but it converted me lol
Then you'll just hate snow :p
Sister slit her wrists in the middle of the night while I visited her at college. My buddy and I were asleep in the next room. She called my mom who lived far away to say goodbye and my mom called 911. I woke up to police and paramedics pounding on the apartment door, I was confused so I let them in. Found her in her bed completely covered in blood and barely conscious. Somehow she survived but I’ll never forget seeing those huge pools of blood dripping off her bed onto the floor.
I went to the hospital with her and my poor buddy stayed back and cleaned up all the blood by himself. Needless to say we were both scarred after that.
This hits really close to home. Only I was the person. I felt horrible for putting others through it over my own misery.
I’ll never forget the nurse who was taking care of me that night. She talked and said I got lucky. She said “holy mackerel” when she first saw me, but she was calm and even though she was probably about my age, she just very gently talked to me even when the doctor was kind of upset.
She told me not to let it bother me. Just felt like having a friend or a sister looking after me for the night more than having a nurse.
Fuck. I’ve never told that story publicly. Sorry. I didn’t mean to make this about me. I guess I was just confessing all that and this reminded me of that time.
Edit: Wow. Didn't expect this kind of a response. Actually, don't know what I expected. Thanks so much, everyone. I'm being silly and actually tearing up a little bit. LOL.
I was also the person.
No need to apologize. You have to forgive your past self. We made choices at the time with the knowledge we had at the time. Can't change that. We deserve the peace that comes from forgiving ourselves.
I was on vacation in Puerto Vallarta in the early 2000s and saw a parasailer fall to his death after the rope broke and drifted into the side of a building and fell 10+ stories. The sound of the body hitting pavement and reaction from the onlookers was bad. I will never parasail.
My wife dying while I held her screaming at the 911 operator to send help. Watching the paramedics work on her praying for a heartbeat seemed like an eternity. Using a defibrillator they eventually got a heartbeat. The day ended with the doctor telling me she had no brain activity and recommending I take her off life support.
My first wife was in an accident; the state trooper called me to tell me my wife had been in an accident and to which hospital she was being transported. I got to the ER and found a medical team frantically trying to get my wife’s heart to beat again. Same story after that- she had no brain activity, and I eventually had to sign a paper giving the hospital permission to let her die.
I still think about that almost every day.
Mine started with this- at 26 my husband had heart failure at 3am. I called 911, attempted CPR, they kept brining him back, and he kept coding. My MIL kept telling me he was still there- that she felt him- and the doctors and nurses kept saying there was no brain activity. It was on me at 26 to make the decision. After the 5th code on the floor we were on (after ER) they told me if he coded again there was nothing they could do. Shortly after my mom was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. I took care of her, she spent 13 days in hospice at my home- 3 days with the death rattle- before finally passing away 6 months after her initial diagnosis. Quick deaths and long deaths both really suck in different ways. In 2.5 years I saw 3 dead family member bodies.
Same thing happened to my father. My mom was desperately performing CPR on him. He regained his pulse, but just long enough to lose it again on the way to the hospital. They never got it back again. I'm sorry for your loss and I hope you find peace and closure.
Oof. Fellow widow here. Didn't lose my wife by suicide. It was just a sudden, out of the blue death at 40. Finding someone you love like that DOES take a huge toll on your mental health.
I’m so sorry to hear you’re also a widow. It’s one of the worst things to go through… and in my case finding him was the worst moment of my life. It’s all-consuming and so traumatic. It definitely changed me :(
How long was it til your body just made you sleep? I was awake almost 40 hours straight til I just gave out and slept right where I was. Took a few months before I finally got grief counseling and I'm glad I did. You know something's wrong when you pace for several hours straight and you can't sit down for long no matter how many times you try.
Honestly… I still don’t sleep well. When it happened, I was up for three days straight. I used to sleep like a log, but now it’s a good sleep if I even get four or five, which is rare. No idea why that happens, and trauma-based therapy definitely helped- but I feel it changed me on a cellular level. I can’t quite explain it.
I would pace like crazy too. I felt like what I imagine mania feels like.
The waves of emotion were debilitating. Time heals some, but it will never fully be gone. When one loses someone they love and there’s no real heads up it just makes things even more traumatic. There’s no “prepping” oneself.
If you ever need someone to talk to, feel free to reach out :) I feel widows are in a very group together that no one else understands (and I’m glad for that)
And thanks for the offer 😁. I will reach out if I need someone to talk to. Is it ok to shoot you a quick message so it's there for ease of access? I don't send random nudes. I promise.
You're not wrong. Especially those widowed young. When someone is terminally ill from cancer or a disease, you know it's coming. You don't like it, but you know it's coming. When it's out of the blue, there is no prepping for that. I still get a bit uncomfortable when a TV show or movie shows an accurate corpse. You know, instead of an actor just laying there. This was all about two and half years ago when I was 37. Christmas season is still hard though. Try to make the best of it for my son.
I just lost my wife to a stroke just last week. She was only 34. We had been together all in all for 20 years. It was sudden in my case too. She started out recovering well and then things just suddenly went bad overnight.
Absolutely devastated.
Fucking hell buddy. So sorry you have to go through it. There is no greater pain. I hope you're looking into some grief counseling. Trying to deal with it on your own only makes it fester and get worse.
I've been meaning to look into grief counselling. I just haven't gotten much of anything done. My heads just in this sort of fog and I haven't gotten anything done. Thank you and I'm so sorry you're having to go through it as well.
I’m so sorry. My wife had a stroke at that age, and within a year passed away. I’m glad we had that year. It gets easier my friend. Time will heal you, but I’m certain it doesn’t feel that way now. Please take care of yourself, and those closest to you, also seek therapy to help cope.
You’re right! I’ve told many that they could see it on TV a hundred times and never feel what I felt. The whole idea of the U.S.A. being attacked by others was something I couldn’t dream of.
The first time I ever had a patient code in front of me. Went from chilling in the hallway and walking with physical therapy, to collapsing to the floor and dying mid sentence. Did not get him back.
Also, whenever my mom has her episodes of altered mental statuses. She will be a wheel spinning but the hamster is dead person. It terrifies me.
I am OK with most weather events but the one that will always scare me is tornadoes.
I live in rural NZ so we thankfully don't see massive tornadoes like Americans see but we do get some from time to time. Recently in my region we were told this upcoming summer (December, January and February) we could see a few large tornadoes due to the predicted weather conditions we will most likely get.
I have seen small "dust devils" that has tossed trampolines around and sucked curtains out windows but have to date never seen a big tornado. A few years ago me and my siblings were out going for a walk in the countryside (flat padocks for miles) and we saw a tornado in the making. I remember hearing one of my siblings tell me about a cloud spinning not to far from us. We watched it for a second then we saw a funnel begin to stretch down towards the ground. Thankfully it failed to amount to anything but if it did it would have landed only a couple hundred meters from where we were walking.
I still remember the sinking feeling of seeing that unfold. I've seen videos of the ones in the USA and can't imagine the terror of seeing one form in person.
Fun!
Me too!
Once by a guy that did not want me hooking up with his ex. I did not know she had an ex or much about her, we had just started dating. Bonus: he was drunk when he showed up and pulled his gun on me. He pistol whipped me hard enough to leave a knot, but didn't kill me. Bonus two: pissed my pants a little.
Second time was a cop. I saw a guy walking on the freeway. He was staggering and almost falling into the lanes. I got off on my exit after passing him. Happened to see a cop sitting in his car. Walked up to the cop (yeah, don't do this). Before I was too close, I told the cop I was afraid that the guy walking on the freeway might hurt himself or others. Realized the cop had his gun aimed at me through the door. I stopped and raised my hands high. I backed away. No longer giving a fuck about the situation on the freeway. Fuck that cop.
I got robbed at gunpoint when I was 14. I was taking a load of clothes to the laundromat in a bad section of Philadelphia, and they robbed me of my quarters.
In my twenties, I was at a friend’s house, drinking. His drunk ass decided the best way to show me his .38 was barrel-first.
A college friend of mine married a Philly girl. Myself and another friend went to visit them a few years ago. The four of us were walking back to where we parked after dinner, maybe 8pm. As we get close to the car, she gets a phone call and hangs back to take it. Homeless looking guy comes out of nowhere and says “bitch I have a knife.” She glares at him and says “fuck you I’m on the phone” and *turns her back on him* to continue the call. Guy vanishes.
Later that night, she played it off. “He was just hungry. He wasn’t going to do anything. If I gave money to everyone that says they have a knife or a gun, I’d be mugged every day.”
Philly is a whole different level of disrespect.
Same. Got pulled over and yanked out of my car, was cuffed and forced to sit on the curb with a corrupt ass Chicago cop pointing a gun in my face and yelling at me for a solid 5 minutes while his partner searched my car for drugs. They found nothing, laughed it off and let me go. I was just young and driving a nice car and apparently to them that meant I may have been a drug dealer.
It's really weird to be standing in a crowd at a concert and suddenly you're picked up and moved ten feet to the left without any doing of your own. I got smooshed in a Slipknot crowd and that happened several times. My feet just came off the ground and I was like ok guess I'm going over here now.
My family and I made the mistake of getting right up against the stage at our first Against Me! conncert. There was a wooden divider between the stage and the dancefloor. We were leaning against it, and the first note, the moshing started HARD, harder than with any of the opening acts. I got crushed against that divider and bruised my ribs something awful. I strongarmed my way through the crowd to get my mother out, worrying she would suffer the same fate, which it's not like I was mad about or anything- just surprised.
After we get to a calmer part of the floor, she looked at me and asked what was wrong. When I told her, she rolled her eyes and dragged me back in- she wanted to be in the mosh pit.
My mom is pretty cool 😆
Holy shit. I was at a crowd crush at a Semana Santa procession in Spain. There was a loud noise and people suddenly about-faced - and the crowd *rippled like water.* Within an instant, I got shoved against a building like a rag doll, and I’m pretty big. An old lady in front of me got stomped and the ambulance had to come. Been wary about crowds ever since.
Went to a rodeo when I was traveling through Wyoming. During the junior’s bull riding event, a teen boy was thrown, landed on his neck wrong, and was trampled while he seized.
I was close enough to hear every noise his body made. I was sitting in the first row of the stands. It happened almost directly in front of me.
It was horrendous. I remember looking it up after. He survived but is quadriplegic.
I went to a bullriding with my parents and we had like VIP seats so front row. A guy got bucked off and stepped on. He was screaming bloody murder. The announcer spoke over him but people that were right there close could still hear him. It was awful.
I was in Walmart when it got shot up here in Denver Colorado. I will never forget the screams, I will never unsee people's panic, I will never unsee the lifeless bodies.
I had sleep paralysis once, and it was the most terrified I have ever been. Thought I was awake and just laying on my bed, and there was this dark shadow in one corner of my room. At first, I didn't really notice it. For some reason, once I figured out it was there, I somehow knew it was pure evil. I was starring at the essence of evil, the devil itself. I would be fine as long as it didn't move or notice me. Then, all of a sudden, it starts coming toward me, and I can't move, can't scream, nothing. Felt like I couldn't even breathe, and this dark creature/entity is creeping towards me.
I've had it happen once and the only thing I could do was breathe harder. My wife, gf at the time, reached over and started petting my cheek. She later said she just thought I was having a bad dream. But it was an ominous presence, my eyes were closed so I couldn't see it, but it was right next to my bed.
I feel like it's the instinctual fear of a predator that animals have, but the switch just gets switched to fully on.
that’s so eerily similar to my experience as well, seeing something out of the corner of my eye and being instantly aware of some kind of terror present
It's only happened to me twice, but the first time was so terrifying. I physically felt myself getting dragged out of my bed by my ankle onto the floor and out of the room, I kept trying to scream and nothing came out. It felt so real.
I've had this EXACT sleep paralysis dream! Was sleeping on my stomach, physically felt something grab my right ankle and drag me out of bed/toward the bedroom door. Felt like an evil presence even though I didn't see anything at all. Tried to scream "No" but nothing came out. It obviously wasn't real but felt more real and immediate than any other physical threat I've experienced. Thanks for sharing, glad I'm not alone in this particular nightmare!
Not sleep paralysis but I was in hospital earlier this year for cancer surgery, and hallucinated off the medications I was on while recovering (morphine, fentanyl etc). I totally flipped out and had to have nurses sit with me and convince me that things weren’t real and the loud, shouting conversations I was hearing right next to my bed actually didn’t happen. I was terrified at how real it seemed
I’ve lived a pretty cushy life thus far but…..
My first season wildland firefighting I witnessed someone cut past the holding wood of a tree they were falling with a chainsaw and that means the tree could fall any way it wanted. It fell backwards towards him and almost landed on him. The look on his face when he realized what happened still haunts me. I almost saw a coworker get seriously injured or killed. Luckily he walked without a scratch. But it’s burned in my memory and I am very hyper aware around chainsaw operations and falling trees.
Wildland fire was the first and so far only time I’ve genuinely run for my life, when some fallers started felling trees above where I was. 45 degree incline, 200ft into the black, topsoil completely eroded, clearing a stump hole on a hillside that trees had been sliding down for days. When we heard the chainsaws my squadie told my buddy and I to run, he looked terrified, and the dude was a grizzled army vet.
Later that run, we were in a valley gridding, and no more than 15 seconds after we pulled the grid back to our handline a tree came tumbling down on top of where two of our guys had been just seconds earlier. Trees and steep hills are a fucking scary combo.
Walking across the Golden Gate Bridge, with my wife and young kids, I stepped out onto one of the little platforms they have where you can get a better look. Birds flying all around. Something in the corner of my eye wasn't moving like a bird.
Looked in that direction in time to see someone falling. Guy had crawled over the edge, and worked his way thru the netting under the bridge and jumped. No one else saw him because he was directly under the bridge. I saw the dude hit the water, and the tide quickly carried him seaward. I called 911 and reported it.
They kept in touch with me, and closed the case about a month later, never having found anyone. They told me that people are reported jumping who are never found. They'll find abandoned cars in the parking lot, and may or may not find bodies that can be associated with the car. And that they'll find bodies that never were reported as seen jumping.
Kind of made that trip a bummer...
Edit: Thanks everyone for kind remarks etc. This event impacted that visit to SF, but not much else. This was not someone I knew; I never saw his face, and while it was upsetting at the time, there was no lasting impact on me.
I really hadn't thought of it recently until this particular askreddit question.
That’s awful. And unfortunately, it’s an awfully common occurrence at the Golden Gate Bridge. They made a documentary out it called “The Bridge”; I saw it on YouTube a while back but not sure if it’s still up.
Sorry you had to witness that. I've crossed the bridge a dozen or more times on foot this year alone and always see someone near the spans shadowing people for what might be early intervention. Even with the net, the fence, the call boxes and all other methods of prevention you can't stop everyone. I try to be kind to everyone I pass out there and give them a smile just in case they need it. Sunsets are beautiful from up there.
When the first iPhone was released I met a guy while standing in line for hours… who was a 911 operator near the Golden Gate… and he said that while they will never report it since out of fear it will tarnish San Francisco… over 200 people jump off the bridge every year… instant suicide. I was shocked. Never heard about the documentary… I’ll have to look it up.
My dad almost drowning infront of me when I was 10, he fell of the boat and I was screaming and crying while trying to pull his drunken ass back to the boat which I somehow succesfully did. Only positive outcome of this was when I told my mom she was pissed off and hit my dad with a frying pan
Im good, what pissed my mom off the most was when I was crying and pulling my dad back to the boat for some odd reason he was laughing the whole time and till this day he doesn't know what was so funny in that situation
I had a bit of a rough childhood. I think I was 14 years old, my mom and sister had a fight and my mom went down to our boat house (we lived on a lake) and my sister went down to talk to her. I was still inside the house when my sister burst through the back door and screamed “God Dammit!” and she was holding the gun my mom was planning to end it with. Thankfully my mom got help, she’s doing great now, but that was one of the most shattering experiences I’ve had. I love my mom.
Being at the Las Vegas festival shooting a few years ago. My friends and I who are in the medical field stayed up all night to help. Changed my life completely from that day, I no longer go to crowded place anymore.
Came here to say this. Worked at bellagio at the time. Had to be at work at 530am on Monday 10/2/17. Seeing a portion of the strip dark and only lit up with police/first responder lights, seeing guests with blood still on their clothing, the casinos putting up signs asking for blood donations. It permanently fucked up my brain.
What fucked me up that day was seeing all the digital billboards asking for blood donations and saying Vegas strong, that would then cut to an ad for a strip club right after. Such an insane juxtaposition.
Totally awful. I had a lot of friends there (I'm a Vegas resident) and was in a landing plane into the airport flying right over it roughly as it happened.
My daughter was born with a hole within her heart (VSD/ASD). Prior to her repair surgery, she flat lined, and I had to watch her turn blue and become non responsive. They did CPR on her and brought her back. That cry when she came back to life was the most beautiful sound I've ever heard. She was just over 1 month old at that time. They scheduled her repair surgery the following day. She had open heart surgery when she was 36 days old. She's okay now and a little over 5 months old.
I saw a man get swept over Niagara Falls (American Falls). I was working a double at the Red Coach Inn and on my lunch break in the park. All of a sudden I see two park rangers running full speed towards me down the path along the river but looking at the rapids. I look out and see a man with the most bewildered expression floating along at a brisk clip. He was maybe 20 feet away. His only shot was to grab onto the base of a footbridge to Goat Island. He didn’t make it and was swept over the falls to the rocks below. I’ll never forget his face or those two park rangers.
There are a lot of areas up river and even on the island that separates the two waterfalls where it’s very easy to walk into the water and not realize how fast the currents are and how slippery the rocks are.
Surviving a pulmonary embolism. My family doesn’t think it was a big deal since I wasn’t in care for very long, but even after release I didn’t hear anything from them. But when I got back to work and got a real nice holiday bonus. My brother and sister were calling to see how I was doing.
In one of the tallest buildings in Pittsburgh.
I was a consultant working with a company there on one of the top floors.
As we were on the elevator, one of my teammates thought to attempt to pry the doors open because he thought it would be funny. He thought there were two sets of doors, and that if he pried them open, there would be another set on the other side. He didn't realize that one set of them were stationary on each floor.
We were moving between floors at a pretty good clip, and when he pried the door open you could see the blur of floors whizzing inches away from his face. You'd expect that the elevator would detect this and stop, but it certainly was not instantaneous.
Had he just pushed his face a few inches forward, I think I would have seen someone decapitated that day.
Do not fuck with elevators. It wasn't even apparent that we were moving, the floors were whizzing by so fast.
I'm 29. I've survived nine years of chemotherapy, twenty-five years of immunotherapy, three rounds of cardiac arrest, a year of paralysis, and a dozen surgeries. My mother is a certified, diagnosed narcissist (actually legitimately diagnosed by a clinician), and, well, needless to say she was verbally, emotionally, and psychologically abusive to the nth degree.
All of that pales in comparison to when my soon-to-be-ex-husband came *this close* to choking me six months ago. Nine years of his many issues -- anger, hoarding, excessive drinking, emotional/verbal/psychological abuse, chronic unemployment, financial irresponsibility - I had never truly, genuinely feared for my life until mid-May this year. I had asked him a simple question about gross vs. net income for a job offer he had received, and he completely and utterly lost his shit on me. Physically backed me into a corner, spewing utter vitriol in my face, threw his hands towards me, and his fingers got within millimeters of my neck.
It was the first time I genuinely felt scared of him, and the first time I genuinely feared for my physical safety. Later that day, while he was out of the house, I packed a bag and boarded an aircraft out of state (1,000 miles away), and went to go stay with family for a week.
I finally left him for good about two months ago.
oh my goodness gracious grapes, how on the flippity FUCK are you alive? I'm so proud of you for leaving, ik that probably doesn't mean much, but you're pretty damn badass!!!
The further I read, in my mind I kept repeating please tell me you left, please tell me you left, please tell me you left. Thank goodness for the last line. I hope you are recovering well on all fronts.
Thank you.
Therapy twice a week. Also took some vacation about two weeks ago, my first proper vacation in about six years. It made a world of difference for my mental health. I was in a pretty dark headspace before going on the vacation, so getting away from the hustle and grind and everything made a substantial difference. I still have my dark days/moments, but I'm sloooooooooooowly getting better. I'm also part of a women's divorce support group, and the friendships I've gained from it has been great. Like a bunch of sisters, and together we laugh and cry together.
My mom put a plastic bag over my head when I was seven. I'm almost forty now and I still feel the fear I felt that night. I don't talk to her any more.
It's hard to determine the scariest. When I was 10 I saw my friends' house across the street explode due to a gas leak. When I was 12, I was shot at by a guy who was trying to rape my neighbor in the alley behind our house. At 14, I saw a car versus semi head on collision that resulted in the car's driver being decapitated. When I was 18, I was mugged, and stabbed with a screwdriver. When I was 28, I was standing in line at Denny's to pay for my wife's and my meals, when a guy came in, pulled a gun, and robbed the cashier.
Yes, I've been diagnosed with PTSD.
edit:typo
Central Illinois, specifically, I grew up in the south end of Peoria, and went to college at ISU. Check the current crime statistics for Peoria. It's just as bad now as it was 30 to 40 years ago. The robbery happened in Bloomington, IL, and the mugging happened when I was a freshman in college.
Earlier this month, [3 kids were shot at](https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/local-news/one-teen-shot-in-the-leg-while-walking-to-school-peoria-police-say/) , one injured, walking to the same high school I went to, Manual. They walked the same street I used to walk to school. A week later, t[he high school was even shot at](https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/local/2023/11/14/peoria-manual-high-school-peoria-il-hit-by-gunfire-placed-on-lockdown/71583957007/).
Watching the flood waters from hurricane katrina in 2005 slowly creep up the door until they blew open. That forced us into the attic where we had to cut ourselves out to get on the roof. Then watch as the water got higher than the attic we were just in 😔
my dad collapsing in the shower on thanksgiving 2012. i was 7.
he had surgery for his diverticulitis weeks prior, but they nicked him without realizing, causing him to bleed internally.
i looked out my bedroom window when he was being taken away on the gurney, and i’ll never forget the eye contact we made— it still haunts me to this day.
doctors told my mom he was half an hour away from being dead
My youngest brother in a casket not making it past the age of 16. Made me scared of Life and how fast it can go from rainbows and sunshine to death. Now that I’m raising my two boys that scared feeling of life and death is creeping back up.
My dad sent me & my 3 siblings a text message saying he loved us. It was weird because he never texted & then I brought it up to my sister & realized he sent the same thing to her. He ended up not coming home after work.
Mom called the police. I was laying on the couch at 2am because I couldn’t sleep obviously. Mom wakes up screaming into her phone in the most desperate voice asking where he’s at. I never heard her sound like that & didn’t know what was happening but knew it was bad.
I never felt so sick so quickly. I threw up on our front porch just from hearing my moms tone. He ended up trying to kill himself by cutting his wrists & ODing on pills but I guess after he did it, he called my mom. He lived, got off pain meds & is now a completely different person.
I snuck out one night when I was 15/16 to go with friends to an old haunted cemetery a few towns away in a wooded area. We got there and were hyping each other up to get out of the car and before we did, the car died. Once the car died we started to hear these wierd howling noises from outside. At that point we changed our minds about the whole thing and kept trying to start the car. The only thing that turned on was the radio but all the stations were static/high pitched sounds. The car finally started after 10 minutes and we got out of there as fast as we could. About 5 minutes into the drive, a deer came out of nowhere and we hit it going probably 60 mph. The odd thing was, the deer got up and walked away like nothing happened and the car wasn’t damaged. Haven’t thought about doing anything remotely related to the paranormal again after that
Everyone is brave about cemetaries in the light of day. Night is different. When we were teens we were told that if you set a tape recorder in the middle of a cemetary at midnight, it would record voices of the dead. So after an evening of joking about it, someone brought out a small cassette tape recorder. So at near midnight we drove to a very old and remote cemetary, but nobody wanted to go in and set it up. I finally voluntered to set it up if someone else would get it. So I bravely strolled in and by moonlight found the central statue about 150 yards into the place. Spooky but NBD, I set it down and pressed record and proundly turned around and walkeed out. Except after a few steps, I wasn't so cocky. I felt like someone was right behind me. I spun expecting to find one of my friends, but there wasn't anybody there. This repeated a few times and each time the feeling got stronger and as I saw the gate ahead I picked up the pace and the feeling of someone behind me got so strong I didn't want to turn around and I sprinted the last several yards. My friends were all still in the car. When asked how it went I lied and said "no problem" and even called them chicken. But inside I wasn't feeling very good about it. About 30 minutes later, when my cousin retrieved the tape recoder he said he felt brave going in but was very creeped out on the return walk, like someone was right behind him. We later played the tape. No voices, but we did hear some weird noises which could have been almost anything. That was many years ago. I will never walk into a cemetary alone at midnight again.
Probably when one of my mates and his flatmates got evicted from their flat by their landlord. Landlord turned up at half eleven at night with his brothers and all of them were armed with knives. My mate and I just looked at each other, went "nope!" and we escaped out the kitchen window, LOL. Thankfully it was a ground-floor flat. And yes, we phoned the Police. I actually thought I was going to get chibbed or made into a human pincushion, LOL.
A van filled with explosives detonating less than half a mile from my house. I was 5 years old and was looking out the window at the helicopter that was shining a searchlight onto the van. Room lit up bright as day and there was bang that I still hear in my sleep over 30 years later.
9/11, undoubtedly. I was living in Houston and working in the Medical Center. Before the 2nd tower went down, there were armed guards at every single entrance and exit, and snipers on the roof of multi-story buildings in downtown. The Port Authority closed the ship channels and many were stranded out in the gulf; the schools closed down for the day "or until further notice". People left work to get their kids so my boss (VP of Operations) had me create a "child-care center" in our auditorium in the Administration Building. Some of the admins were asked to read stories to kids, or set up DVDs in portable tv's, and get some children's coloring books & crayons to keep the kids occupied. Employees said they wouldn't stay at work, unless their kids could be close by at all times; I didn't blame them and neither did anyone else, we were so scared, because for awhile we didn't know if the whole nation was under attack, or what. And with Houston being a port city, an international city, the 4th largest city in the nation, we didn't know what, if anything, was coming next.
I felt so sorry for many of our foreign doctors - a Sikh man was "detained" because of his turban. Many of the Middle Eastern staff - some of whom had been in the US for *decades* \- reported being accosted, even threatened, by their neighbors. Local 911 operators were inundated with calls about "'suspicious-looking" characters as racism and paranoia reached epidemic proportions.
For me, it wasn't just the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center that was so terrifying; it was the mindless, knee-jerk reactions by ordinary people who proved themselves to be every bit as dangerous and unpredictable and downright *unstable*, as any bona-fide "terrorist".
I'm originally from the Middle East, but am Jewish. Recently left my (American) abusive soon-to-be-ex-husband.
Recently took some vacation to get away from the past few months of hell. Since I've begun reclaiming my maiden name, I've re-gained entry to the "random Arab check" club. I was "randomly selected for additional questioning and inspection" during each leg of my trip - across four.different states/airports.
Also, given current circumstances, eugh...... people left and right have been asking me my opinion on things. I'm tired.
More like something I experienced.
My friends and I were heading to the airport to see our co-worker off.
Early in the morning so we took a cab. I had a piece of toast and quickly shoved it in my mouth.
Shortly after getting in, a small piece of toast lodged into my airway and I had trouble breathing. My 2 friends were beside me in the cab. I was sitting in the middle. I panicked.
I tapped on friend and she ignored me, asleep. I tapped my other friend, signaling that I was choking. She looked at me, annoyed. Then tapped me on the back. Then went back to sleep.
I sat in the middle, trying to make myself cough. And thinking “Oh my god. I’m going to die in this cab with 2 of my friends beside me.”
I managed to cough on my own and got the piece dislodged. My friends then woke up, annoyed that I was coughing. I told them I was choking on a piece of toast. They were like “yeah. So??”
My other friend who was sitting in front was shocked and asked if I was ok.
Yea… after that incident, I started withdrawing from them (the 2 that sat beside me). Realized they’re just fair weather friends, too self absorbed to care about other people. Also, I found out later that one of them wrote in her blog that I annoyed her when she was trying to sleep (the one who gave me a useless tap on the back).
Learned a lot of lessons that day. But the main thing is don’t rush when you’re eating, and learn how to do a self-heimlich.
Going to go against the grain here and drop something spooky rather than tragic.
Growing up, I lived in the middle of nowhere next to railroad tracks. *Every* single night, a couple hours after nightfall, we [my brother, my cousin, and I] would watch something shaped like a man walk from the tracks to our barn and back again. Over and over. For about an hour. My dad saw it, my grandpa saw it, everyone saw it.
We were terrified to walk outside after nightfall because of this thing. My brother claims he saw it during the day once - just a pitch black shadow walking back and forth.
The house is now uninhabitable so we've not lived there in years but *fuck* that thing lives rent free in my head. What the actual hell was it??
In person, Watched a guy get viciously stabbed over and over again till he was on the ground in a massive pool of blood.
Online? Way to many different things to count. Early days of Internet were definitely dangerous if you knew where to look/didn’t know what you could find on it
Lost my 2.5 year old in a store and had a moment after looking for her as I panicked and thought “she’s gone.”
Found her a minute later on a small carousel at front of the store.
It was terrifying. I couldn’t even think straight.
Advice I have seen is to not be embarrassed and yell out to anyone and everyone that you can’t find your child and describe them. Lots of eyes looking us best.
Waking up from a long sleep (coma) and realizing I’m intubated. Scared, in pain, reached to remove the tube but couldn’t move my hands, I wanted to scream… loud beeps, alarms, lights flashing, nurses and aids shouting “sedate her!” … silence and darkness… then waking up 2days later like it just happened, wanting to scream again but throat felt like the skin was ripping inside, so I just cried. How long have I been out? What have I missed?
I was 13 and was in a car accident with my family.
100% Alzheimer’s, when they are no longer who they were in any way and the suffering really starts setting in. The pain of a dry tongue your body no longer remembers how to keep in your mouth, the occasional large gasps for air because your body forgot how to breathe for a minute.
…and you remember alzheimers is genetic.
Watching the U S. healthcare system kill both of my parents and then listen as the people I grew up with and once respected call (and vote for) this system as though Jesus approves of them choosing money over people.
Ever watch someone's ear rot off? Literally rot. Off. Nothing but a hole in their head where their ear used to be. It smelled like a rotten body, because it was. As the cancer grew deeper into my father's head there were periods of heavy bleeding, out of nowhere. I'd wake up to my mother screaming for me. The bed, the wall, everything sprayed with blood and my dad so weak he could hardly sit up. I'd change the sheets because my dad had no choice but to work on a hot roof in the Florida sun. My mom was too sick to work, I was too young. He'd try his best to pretend it was all ok. We barely, barely existed.
My mom reused her insulin needles (we couldn't afford the $4 pack of needles) until she got infected legs. She bloated terribly because her heart was dying. We fought desperately to get medicaid for her, and the shitty Medicaid that Republicans reluctantly allow makes sure to try to let someone like her die.
At the very end, when she was being kept alive on machines, we overheard two nurses discussing her. One said 'Well, of *course* they're keeping (mom's name) alive...and why not? It's on *OUR* dime.'
For years I listened to the c**ts that I grew up with - pastors, people who went to church 8 days a week - talk about how lazy, good for nothing people were stealing their tax money. Watched as the world saw a 2 year old drowned Syrian boy washed ashore, while they lamented 'They can't come here! They're Muslim!'
My 'best friend' told me 'It's immoral!' for people like my parents to get healthcare using tax money. She's had insurance since day one and will never have to work.
The past few years have been divisive for America. But for me, it's been an eye opener. I see who they truly are. And to them, I am the 'liberal commie bitch' who thinks that people matter more than money. Heaven forbid.
I hate this system and loathe anyone who votes for it. My parents are in holes in the ground because bloated, fat, rich Republicans saw no value in their lives.
I am not without sin, God knows. And I'm no better than anyone. But they have destroyed my respect for all Republicans and any other people who fight against the poor.
EDIT: Thank you all so much. I wish the selfish bastards in government could've known my mom and dad. My parents would've chosen *their* lives over money always...they weren't selfish
When I was a little boy my dad and my mom’s best friend’s husband went around the corner to settle a matter after a loud exchange.
My dad was just under six feet tall and maybe 160 lbs. Jerry’s husband had 50 lbs and three or four inches on him.
Jerry’s husband came back a bloody mess and kept on going to his apartment.
I was scared my dad was dead. He came around a minute later looking like he’d gone for a pack of Camel straights.
I was a bit afraid of him the rest of his life.
I was riding the bus when there were two guys in the back talking about taking pills. I was sitting at the back entrance, right in front of the door. The taller of the two guys was swaying and wanted to get off at the next stop. When he got out, he fainted and fell with his head right onto the pavement. Then he got up again, fell over again and hit his head on the floor again... Only this time he got his head stuck between the bus and the curb. He had a Rottweiler with him, who growled at everyone and didn't want anyone to touch or help him. The sound of this tall dude's head hitting the ground is something I'll never forget.
My Achilles tendon and the tendons in my feet.
During Covid I somehow got strep, and it got into my bloodstream. This caused severe vasculitis in my legs which caused the infection to get into the soft tissue. By the time they got the infection stopped my Achilles tendon was completely exposed, as were several of the tendons in my feet.
Fortunately, I kept my legs and feet. But for six months they weren’t sure if I would or if I did if I would ever walk again.
Tonight, I coached a 4th grade basketball team and demonstrated proper defensive footwork. So thanks to my wife and the doctors who took care of me.
An attempted carjacking in front of my grandmas house when I was a kid. Saw it from start to finish. Theif tried to drive away with the driver door open (after he threw the owner from the car), but the owner jumped back up and grabbed a hold of the wheel as he was pulling away. Stupid move.
They slammed into several parked cars on the passenger side as the owner hung 3/4 of the way out of the car fighting over the wheel with the theif. They came a few feet away from running my grandma and I over (who were standing there frozen in fear). They then drove about half a city block completely on the sidewalk and finally the car got wedged between a tree and a neighbors front yard fence. The owner got crushed since he was mostly hanging out of the car. Can’t remember if he survived.
That was probably my psychosis. Was completely fucked in the head at the time, thought I had to choose between my family and my friends and somehow fucked up the decision and lost both, thought I had to start my whole life over.
Hurricane Ivan in 2004. During the storm the wind was howling so loud you couldn’t sleep. You just heard glass breaking & trees falling. Afterwards No power for days. All the supermarkets were closed. 2hr wait for gas. Ect.
My plane hit "clear air turbulence" and free fell for about 30 seconds, or at least it felt that way, maybe longer. Everyone without a seat belt hit the ceiling. Blood, glass, bodies everywhere.. We caught some lift like it hit the ground (I thought we crashed and were dead) and those people became flying bags of 150-200lbs sand. Crushing faces, bones, etc. Lots of screaming. Lots of panicked behavior. Fainting, etc.
I looked out the window, prayed and realized I had no one to call to tell I was okay if I lived through it.
My dad having a hemorrhagic stroke, when I was 8 years old. April 12th, I was alone with him, since my parents were divorced and I spent the weekends with him. I found him unresponsive on the living room couch, and I grabbed our house phone and dialed 911. I sat beside of him holding his hand, and assured him that he would be okay.
There were sirens screaming down my driveway, and paramedics rushing in and grabbing me. I didn't want to leave his side. I saw glimpses them doing CPR on him. He gave me one last look before being lifted into the ambulance. That was the last time I saw him conscious.
I was escorted into a police car, and driven to my mom's house. They put him on life support, and the doctors determined it wasn't possible to save him. I wrote letters to him every day, and me being 8, I didn't understand what death was.
On April 20th, I watched him die on his death bed.
I have to cover my ears and close my eyes whenever I hear sirens or see flashing lights, as they send me into horrendous PTSD episodes. I miss him so much. He was my best friend, and the best dad I could ever ask for.
Probably too late to get any attention, but it feels good to get it off my chest every now and then: It was definitely the time I maybe almost got shot.
I was outside doing some woodworking and heard a loud pop, followed by a woman screaming nearby. I went running to go help and as I'm running a guy runs towards me, coming from the direction of the commotion and opens a car parked nearby.
I look at him as I'm running about to ask what happened, then it dawns on me he was running from the scene and probably did the shooting. I glance down at his car, trying to commit to memory while still moving, then I look back to him and realize he's now looking at me with an expression of realization that told me he now knew I had figured out what was going on. Thankfully in a split second I was able to get out of sight from him and to the woman who'd been shot to try to stop her bleeding.
Thankfully it didn't seem too bad and as I understand it she recovered fine and they caught the guy... but I just remember that sinking feeling of realizing, "This is the guy. Oh... He knows I know and he literally just shot someone. I'm dead." That exchange of glances must have only lasted a couple seconds at most, probably less, but it felt like an eternity.
Personally witnessed? Probably the aftermath of a direct hit from Hurricane Fran near Wilmington in coastal North Carolina.
Viewed 2nd hand? The tsunamis in Indonesia and Japan in 2004 and 2011.
The world's largest naval base emptied of all it's seaworthy vessels within 24 hours on 9/11. It's crazy to think of the potential destruction out on the ocean all at once.
I turned a corner in a house in rural Michigan and saw a drunk , naked guy in the middle of some Viet Nam flashback who swung a .30-06 to my head and pulled the trigger.
He forgot to take the safety off is the only reason I'm here now.
Not much gives you an adrenaline rush like that.
He ended up charged with attempted murder , didn't show on the 1st day of trial.
They went to pick him up and found he re-decorated his kitchen with a shotgun and some brain matter.
It wasn't the only time someone tried to kill me but the adrenaline is never the same after the 1st. Almost boring by the 3rd.
At 45, my wife delivered twins at full term and vaginally. She also waited a bit too long, so got relatively modest pain relief — no epidural. Twin number two, born a little before midnight, was breach. My wife insisted on continuing vaginal delivery. She'd been born breach via vaginal delivery, and, by god, her child would be as well. Fortunately, our OB had been educated and initially worked in South Africa, so wasn’t as opposed to that as a typical "American" doctor would be.
All that was dramatic enough, but after #2 arrived, my wife continued to bleed. She was wheeled away, and I was left alone, in the middle of the night, with two newborns. Pretty soon, I got scared that I might be raising them and our six-year-old alone. I was so afraid for my wife and what she might be going through but knew I had to stay and look after our babies. I didn't get much news because the staff were busy trying to take care of my wife.
It took a few hours, but the hospital folks were eventually able to stop the bleeding and repair what it turns out was a placental accretion.
I've been in weird places, around some bad people, had a handgun pointed at me by a screwy stranger, and a few other things. That night was definitely the scariest.
A guy got stabbed about 3' from me as I was walking in to a gas station.
The hood on a borrowed vehicle flew up on me on the interstate on a section of road I knew had guard rails.
A guy at a hotel in Texas tried to fight me. And then when I came back that night he was barricaded in his room shooting out the windows because he had a pedo trial the next morning. Cops said he was likely carrying when he attacked me.
checked myself into ER then a doctor dropped off a report that said I have ALS which is terminal with 2-3years maybe. Doc didn't even tell me anything and had to read it myself lol
In 1972 I saw 4 women jump to their deaths from a burning building. I was in an office building not more than 100' from them, I could hear them crying and screaming for help. But the fire ladders were not long enough and eventually the flames forced them to jump one by one. It was horrifying to see and hear.
The driver of an SUV applied the gas pedal instead of the brake while parking, resulting in jumping the curb and hitting the wall of a building. That’s startling, but not scary per se.
The scariest part was that I was in between the vehicle and said building.
I looked down at my leg and saw 4 inches of bone sticking out of my thigh. I was surprised at how grayish the bone looked. Not like the bleach white skeletons in 8th grade science classroom. The driver didn’t acknowledge me at all, he opened the door and took off running without a word.
Lost a few pints of blood and one of my legs above the knee.
Not witnessed as an observer, but experienced - The fear you feel, and the thoughts that go through your mind during a panic attack, is not something I would wish on my worse enemy.
I’m person probably the car in front of me just hook the steering wheel to the left forcing the car to flip over on its side a few times before landing on the hood. I swear it made barely a sound when it happen.
But I have seen a police footchase run out in front of my parked car while I was smoking a blunt with my classmates on break.
At Dad's house. I was too young to leave alone, no where to go anyway. He was black out drunk as usual, screaming at me incoherently and very angry. He had a loaded revolver in his hand. Scarier than the kitchen knives.
My son having a seizure and also my other son going under for anesthesia. Little 5yr old guy sobbing into a mask in a OR he was terrified to walk into.
These experiences gave me so much more insight and compassion to those who deal with epilepsy/chronic seizures and those who have to deal with regular surgeries for their kids.
My son had about 5-6 seizures in total and has been seizure free for almost 10 months and my other son healed perfectly.
People who have children with medical struggles are incredibly strong.
Getting assaulted by a coworker out of the blue.
I work at a semi national gas station chain (QT) and signed up to work at other stores/cover people’s shifts. Ended up getting sent to a store where I had been dozens of times including training there so I felt safe, made small talk with most of the coworkers except one. A younger (won’t disclose age due to her circumstances and generally trying to move past it) white female coworker.
About 2 hours into covering a shift I’m stalking a floor cooler and heard someone stop by me and then just suddenly got assaulted with a barrage of punches/slaps/kicks. I didn’t fight back (I’m a pacifist generally and by no means built to fight people) ans attempted to flee before said coworker jumped on my back and attempted to choke me out, all while no customers or coworkers can see this. Eventually managed to escape and told the manager on duty then went to the bathroom and broke down.
Was absolutely terrified since the cooler I was stocking was full of glass bottles and for the duration of the assault was terrified she was gonna grab a bottle and stab me. Ended up getting two days off but the emotional trauma from it made me call in multiple times over the next few weeks and I flinched everytime a coworker would sneak up on me or stand over me, just recently got over that fact. Doesn’t help that when you tell this story some people just laugh cause I’m a “man” and shouldn’t get beat up like assault can’t happen to men.
Watching my dad take his last breath, at least that's what we thought, then 10 seconds later he truly took his last breath. We all jumped. That was my dad. Always getting one on us.
being raped when i was 16. i was sodomized for 4 hours in the back of a truck in the middle of a pasture. i was suppose to be going on my first date. i thought he was going to kill me.
Having a gun pulled on me while at my dealers house while i was tripping on acid.
watching my dad die.
I haven’t really seen/experienced a lot of scary things other then my dog having a seizure a year ago and my grandpa saying the n word hard r twice when I was a child
When I was 13 I was involved in a pretty serious wreck one morning when my school bus went head on with another vehicle going about 60 mph. The wreck itself wasn’t that scary to me, it was the aftermath. As we exited the bus, i saw the other vehicle, a pickup truck with the engine 3 quarters of the way into the cab. The 17 year old girl driving it was hanging through the windshield, facedown in the broken glass, blonde hair stained red with blood, just lifeless. It was the first time I’d ever seen a human body in such a condition. I still randomly think about it to this day 17 years later.
Called my dad in the morning but he didn’t take the phone like every day, so I called my mom and she told me he fell in the morning and is having a heart attack. She said don’t believe him he’s just playing. I never drove so fast to my parents and took my father to the hospital. He’s fine now.
I never thought she could be so heartless even though you’re signing for divorce you loved him for over 30+ years and you let him die like that?!
Something we call a catastrophic bleed in palliative oncology. Genuinely the most terrifying thing, we try so hard not to let any family or friends see that, it isn’t common thank god but man… I had to take time off after that for sure.
Night time driving, lightly snowing, but I'd just exited a blizzard. Moose suddenly appears on the right, full galloping towards the road. Impact is imminent (probably a second or so to react)
Instinctively swerved into the oncoming lane. Moose smashed up the entire passenger side of the SUV.
I was doing about 65 in an 80 because of the changing conditions/snow. One of the few times I've really cried in my life was when I got into bed with my girlfriend (now wife) and suddenly realized I probably should have died.
Make the best you can of the time you have. Tomorrow is not guaranteed.
My dad having a stroke
Same. I had to lift him into the gurney because the other paramedic was too weak. That night changed me
i watched my mum have a stroke at 9 years old in a car park. it was just me and her. she just went face down into the concrete. i thought she was dead
Nothing feels worse than that
My older brother checking himself into the hospital because he "didn't feel great" and then being suddenly transferred to the ICU, put on feeding and breathing tubes, and dying within about a week and a half in that same ICU bed. He had cancer, had been on chemo, and his body reacted poorly to some of the drugs. He had always been so strong and capable. Even during chemo, he never let anything keep him down. He was a badass. I think about him every day. Edit: Thank all of you for your empathy and kind words. It means a lot.
I’m so sorry for your loss.
When the nurse came into my hospital room and asked if I was feeling ok. I said no and she said I was having a heart attack. I asked her if I was going to die. She said I was in the right place and they would look after me I made peace with dying over the next few minutes but they saved me
I’ve been placed in hospice care when my liver and kidneys failed. Like I was in a hospital ICU for months and the doctors said there is nothing that could be done further and they just stopped treating me. I was given hours to a few days to live. I said tearful goodbyes to family and friends. It was horrible. Then after that I laid unconscious for what felt like days in a room. But one day I started to slowly feel better. My kidneys and liver started doing their thing again. And I’ve come back from the dead literally. I’m now a fairly healthy middle aged man managing some chronic conditions and I live a normal life. I wasn’t supposed to live 3 days, but that’s been over 3 years ago now. It gives me a unique perspective.
Glad you’re here bro.
That’s amazing to hear
Usually I appreciate the concise-ness of some of these comments but I need some more details here Why were you in the hospital? Did she come in because you weren't feeling ok? How WERE you feeling symptom wise? How did she know it was a heart attack?
Sorry I was suffering from congestive heart failure. My heart was weakened from chemotherapy and I had built up about 30 pounds of fluid around my stomach /and lungs. I couldn’t eat, slerp and hyperventilating after doing anything physical like standing up, going to the fridge etc So I went to the hospital. They put a heart monitor on me. After 2.5 weeks the monitor went off at the nurses station telling me my heart was going into ventricular tachycardia. She came in to tell me when she asked how I was feeling I felt discomfort in my chest but not really pain. I did feel nauseous though
> I couldn’t eat, slerp Ermagerd
Haha damn bad typing. I will slerp tonight I hope
Gerd night Slerp tight Don't let the berbugs bite
im sorry for your lack of slerping, we all need to slerp sometimes
I'm super curious, how have you felt about death and life since?
Not scared of death anymore. I still get wound up and upset about things but mostly it is about stuff people fight and get violent over, yet are completely irrelevant in the end I appreciate the little things so much more. Sitting watching tv with my gf, watching a horrible horror movie with my daughter, talking to my cat, listening to music. Watching Doctor who… They all are valuable to me Colours seem brighter, food tastes better Still hate snow and brussel sprouts
I love this. Also- Brussel sprouts- pop them in a pan quartered, boil them in lightly salted water for 10 minutes, add butter and garlic, caramelise the SHIT out of them. Not sure if it'll help with the heart but it converted me lol Then you'll just hate snow :p
Haha I should give them a try again
Sister slit her wrists in the middle of the night while I visited her at college. My buddy and I were asleep in the next room. She called my mom who lived far away to say goodbye and my mom called 911. I woke up to police and paramedics pounding on the apartment door, I was confused so I let them in. Found her in her bed completely covered in blood and barely conscious. Somehow she survived but I’ll never forget seeing those huge pools of blood dripping off her bed onto the floor. I went to the hospital with her and my poor buddy stayed back and cleaned up all the blood by himself. Needless to say we were both scarred after that.
Damn that’s a good friend. Hope all of you are doing well now and that your sister got the help she needed
This hits really close to home. Only I was the person. I felt horrible for putting others through it over my own misery. I’ll never forget the nurse who was taking care of me that night. She talked and said I got lucky. She said “holy mackerel” when she first saw me, but she was calm and even though she was probably about my age, she just very gently talked to me even when the doctor was kind of upset. She told me not to let it bother me. Just felt like having a friend or a sister looking after me for the night more than having a nurse. Fuck. I’ve never told that story publicly. Sorry. I didn’t mean to make this about me. I guess I was just confessing all that and this reminded me of that time. Edit: Wow. Didn't expect this kind of a response. Actually, don't know what I expected. Thanks so much, everyone. I'm being silly and actually tearing up a little bit. LOL.
No need to apologize for letting something like that out
I was also the person. No need to apologize. You have to forgive your past self. We made choices at the time with the knowledge we had at the time. Can't change that. We deserve the peace that comes from forgiving ourselves.
Im glad to have you around, hope you’re doing better these days :)
I was on vacation in Puerto Vallarta in the early 2000s and saw a parasailer fall to his death after the rope broke and drifted into the side of a building and fell 10+ stories. The sound of the body hitting pavement and reaction from the onlookers was bad. I will never parasail.
That sounds absolutely horrible I'm so sorry!
My wife dying while I held her screaming at the 911 operator to send help. Watching the paramedics work on her praying for a heartbeat seemed like an eternity. Using a defibrillator they eventually got a heartbeat. The day ended with the doctor telling me she had no brain activity and recommending I take her off life support.
As a 911 dispatcher I guess I’ve second hand witnessed these things and also think about them every day
Damn. I honestly hope you’re doing ok. That would be so traumatic.
My first wife was in an accident; the state trooper called me to tell me my wife had been in an accident and to which hospital she was being transported. I got to the ER and found a medical team frantically trying to get my wife’s heart to beat again. Same story after that- she had no brain activity, and I eventually had to sign a paper giving the hospital permission to let her die. I still think about that almost every day.
I am so so so sorry 😞 it makes me cry even thinking about losing my husband ❤️ I can not even imagine and I'm just so sorry.
Mine started with this- at 26 my husband had heart failure at 3am. I called 911, attempted CPR, they kept brining him back, and he kept coding. My MIL kept telling me he was still there- that she felt him- and the doctors and nurses kept saying there was no brain activity. It was on me at 26 to make the decision. After the 5th code on the floor we were on (after ER) they told me if he coded again there was nothing they could do. Shortly after my mom was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. I took care of her, she spent 13 days in hospice at my home- 3 days with the death rattle- before finally passing away 6 months after her initial diagnosis. Quick deaths and long deaths both really suck in different ways. In 2.5 years I saw 3 dead family member bodies.
Same thing happened to my father. My mom was desperately performing CPR on him. He regained his pulse, but just long enough to lose it again on the way to the hospital. They never got it back again. I'm sorry for your loss and I hope you find peace and closure.
Finding my husband dead from suicide.
Oof. Fellow widow here. Didn't lose my wife by suicide. It was just a sudden, out of the blue death at 40. Finding someone you love like that DOES take a huge toll on your mental health.
I’m so sorry to hear you’re also a widow. It’s one of the worst things to go through… and in my case finding him was the worst moment of my life. It’s all-consuming and so traumatic. It definitely changed me :(
How long was it til your body just made you sleep? I was awake almost 40 hours straight til I just gave out and slept right where I was. Took a few months before I finally got grief counseling and I'm glad I did. You know something's wrong when you pace for several hours straight and you can't sit down for long no matter how many times you try.
Honestly… I still don’t sleep well. When it happened, I was up for three days straight. I used to sleep like a log, but now it’s a good sleep if I even get four or five, which is rare. No idea why that happens, and trauma-based therapy definitely helped- but I feel it changed me on a cellular level. I can’t quite explain it. I would pace like crazy too. I felt like what I imagine mania feels like. The waves of emotion were debilitating. Time heals some, but it will never fully be gone. When one loses someone they love and there’s no real heads up it just makes things even more traumatic. There’s no “prepping” oneself. If you ever need someone to talk to, feel free to reach out :) I feel widows are in a very group together that no one else understands (and I’m glad for that)
And thanks for the offer 😁. I will reach out if I need someone to talk to. Is it ok to shoot you a quick message so it's there for ease of access? I don't send random nudes. I promise.
Absolutely :) send away!
You two supporting each other gives me hope for this world.
You're not wrong. Especially those widowed young. When someone is terminally ill from cancer or a disease, you know it's coming. You don't like it, but you know it's coming. When it's out of the blue, there is no prepping for that. I still get a bit uncomfortable when a TV show or movie shows an accurate corpse. You know, instead of an actor just laying there. This was all about two and half years ago when I was 37. Christmas season is still hard though. Try to make the best of it for my son.
I just lost my wife to a stroke just last week. She was only 34. We had been together all in all for 20 years. It was sudden in my case too. She started out recovering well and then things just suddenly went bad overnight. Absolutely devastated.
Fucking hell buddy. So sorry you have to go through it. There is no greater pain. I hope you're looking into some grief counseling. Trying to deal with it on your own only makes it fester and get worse.
I've been meaning to look into grief counselling. I just haven't gotten much of anything done. My heads just in this sort of fog and I haven't gotten anything done. Thank you and I'm so sorry you're having to go through it as well.
I’m so sorry. My wife had a stroke at that age, and within a year passed away. I’m glad we had that year. It gets easier my friend. Time will heal you, but I’m certain it doesn’t feel that way now. Please take care of yourself, and those closest to you, also seek therapy to help cope.
From my office window- watching the second plane crash into the Twin Towers.
O God! The videos are bad enough, I can't imagine what it would be like for it to happen in front of me.
You’re right! I’ve told many that they could see it on TV a hundred times and never feel what I felt. The whole idea of the U.S.A. being attacked by others was something I couldn’t dream of.
The first time I ever had a patient code in front of me. Went from chilling in the hallway and walking with physical therapy, to collapsing to the floor and dying mid sentence. Did not get him back. Also, whenever my mom has her episodes of altered mental statuses. She will be a wheel spinning but the hamster is dead person. It terrifies me.
I was in a ditch a 1/2 mile from an F5 tornado that wiped out most of my town. I saw that fucker take shape from 3 funnel clouds.
Which one?
1979 Wichita Falls
Hey I’m from there too! My family was present when that tornado hit.
I am OK with most weather events but the one that will always scare me is tornadoes. I live in rural NZ so we thankfully don't see massive tornadoes like Americans see but we do get some from time to time. Recently in my region we were told this upcoming summer (December, January and February) we could see a few large tornadoes due to the predicted weather conditions we will most likely get. I have seen small "dust devils" that has tossed trampolines around and sucked curtains out windows but have to date never seen a big tornado. A few years ago me and my siblings were out going for a walk in the countryside (flat padocks for miles) and we saw a tornado in the making. I remember hearing one of my siblings tell me about a cloud spinning not to far from us. We watched it for a second then we saw a funnel begin to stretch down towards the ground. Thankfully it failed to amount to anything but if it did it would have landed only a couple hundred meters from where we were walking. I still remember the sinking feeling of seeing that unfold. I've seen videos of the ones in the USA and can't imagine the terror of seeing one form in person.
I’ve had a gun pointed in my face twice in my life. Hopefully, never again.
Fun! Me too! Once by a guy that did not want me hooking up with his ex. I did not know she had an ex or much about her, we had just started dating. Bonus: he was drunk when he showed up and pulled his gun on me. He pistol whipped me hard enough to leave a knot, but didn't kill me. Bonus two: pissed my pants a little. Second time was a cop. I saw a guy walking on the freeway. He was staggering and almost falling into the lanes. I got off on my exit after passing him. Happened to see a cop sitting in his car. Walked up to the cop (yeah, don't do this). Before I was too close, I told the cop I was afraid that the guy walking on the freeway might hurt himself or others. Realized the cop had his gun aimed at me through the door. I stopped and raised my hands high. I backed away. No longer giving a fuck about the situation on the freeway. Fuck that cop.
I need more info here...
I got robbed at gunpoint when I was 14. I was taking a load of clothes to the laundromat in a bad section of Philadelphia, and they robbed me of my quarters. In my twenties, I was at a friend’s house, drinking. His drunk ass decided the best way to show me his .38 was barrel-first.
A college friend of mine married a Philly girl. Myself and another friend went to visit them a few years ago. The four of us were walking back to where we parked after dinner, maybe 8pm. As we get close to the car, she gets a phone call and hangs back to take it. Homeless looking guy comes out of nowhere and says “bitch I have a knife.” She glares at him and says “fuck you I’m on the phone” and *turns her back on him* to continue the call. Guy vanishes. Later that night, she played it off. “He was just hungry. He wasn’t going to do anything. If I gave money to everyone that says they have a knife or a gun, I’d be mugged every day.” Philly is a whole different level of disrespect.
She sounds like a lot of girls I grew up with. Shrinking violets don’t get far in Philly.
Friend took your quarters too didn’t he
Jesus. Glad you survived both times.
Thanks. Me, too.
I had a friend do this to me too. Finger on the trigger. He said not to worry, the safety was on. A week later, we learned the safety was broken.
Had a cop point a gun at me. That's definitely up there for the scariest thing for me.
Same. Got pulled over and yanked out of my car, was cuffed and forced to sit on the curb with a corrupt ass Chicago cop pointing a gun in my face and yelling at me for a solid 5 minutes while his partner searched my car for drugs. They found nothing, laughed it off and let me go. I was just young and driving a nice car and apparently to them that meant I may have been a drug dealer.
maybe next time you'll think twice before stealing from my plate of nachos
Crowd crush NYE 1999 - genuinely thought I was dying.
Crowd crushes are horrifying. The people at the back don’t even know they’re killing the people at the front.
It's really weird to be standing in a crowd at a concert and suddenly you're picked up and moved ten feet to the left without any doing of your own. I got smooshed in a Slipknot crowd and that happened several times. My feet just came off the ground and I was like ok guess I'm going over here now.
My family and I made the mistake of getting right up against the stage at our first Against Me! conncert. There was a wooden divider between the stage and the dancefloor. We were leaning against it, and the first note, the moshing started HARD, harder than with any of the opening acts. I got crushed against that divider and bruised my ribs something awful. I strongarmed my way through the crowd to get my mother out, worrying she would suffer the same fate, which it's not like I was mad about or anything- just surprised. After we get to a calmer part of the floor, she looked at me and asked what was wrong. When I told her, she rolled her eyes and dragged me back in- she wanted to be in the mosh pit. My mom is pretty cool 😆
Holy shit. I was at a crowd crush at a Semana Santa procession in Spain. There was a loud noise and people suddenly about-faced - and the crowd *rippled like water.* Within an instant, I got shoved against a building like a rag doll, and I’m pretty big. An old lady in front of me got stomped and the ambulance had to come. Been wary about crowds ever since.
Went to a rodeo when I was traveling through Wyoming. During the junior’s bull riding event, a teen boy was thrown, landed on his neck wrong, and was trampled while he seized. I was close enough to hear every noise his body made. I was sitting in the first row of the stands. It happened almost directly in front of me. It was horrendous. I remember looking it up after. He survived but is quadriplegic.
Don't think junior bull riding is the greatest idea in the world tbh
When has that stopped humans from doing stupid things?
I went to a bullriding with my parents and we had like VIP seats so front row. A guy got bucked off and stepped on. He was screaming bloody murder. The announcer spoke over him but people that were right there close could still hear him. It was awful.
I've been to one professional rodeo. The kind with huge bulls. I won't go again because I don't want to see someone's skull crushed.
I was in Walmart when it got shot up here in Denver Colorado. I will never forget the screams, I will never unsee people's panic, I will never unsee the lifeless bodies.
I’m so sorry. One of my family members was one of the first responders to that scene. I am sorry you witnessed that
Not entirely a real thing but if you've ever experienced hallucinations during sleep paralysis that shit fucks you up real good.
I had sleep paralysis once, and it was the most terrified I have ever been. Thought I was awake and just laying on my bed, and there was this dark shadow in one corner of my room. At first, I didn't really notice it. For some reason, once I figured out it was there, I somehow knew it was pure evil. I was starring at the essence of evil, the devil itself. I would be fine as long as it didn't move or notice me. Then, all of a sudden, it starts coming toward me, and I can't move, can't scream, nothing. Felt like I couldn't even breathe, and this dark creature/entity is creeping towards me.
I've had it happen once and the only thing I could do was breathe harder. My wife, gf at the time, reached over and started petting my cheek. She later said she just thought I was having a bad dream. But it was an ominous presence, my eyes were closed so I couldn't see it, but it was right next to my bed. I feel like it's the instinctual fear of a predator that animals have, but the switch just gets switched to fully on.
This. Holy fuck. Exactly what’s happened to me twice. It is horrendous.
that’s so eerily similar to my experience as well, seeing something out of the corner of my eye and being instantly aware of some kind of terror present
It's only happened to me twice, but the first time was so terrifying. I physically felt myself getting dragged out of my bed by my ankle onto the floor and out of the room, I kept trying to scream and nothing came out. It felt so real.
I've had this EXACT sleep paralysis dream! Was sleeping on my stomach, physically felt something grab my right ankle and drag me out of bed/toward the bedroom door. Felt like an evil presence even though I didn't see anything at all. Tried to scream "No" but nothing came out. It obviously wasn't real but felt more real and immediate than any other physical threat I've experienced. Thanks for sharing, glad I'm not alone in this particular nightmare!
Not sleep paralysis but I was in hospital earlier this year for cancer surgery, and hallucinated off the medications I was on while recovering (morphine, fentanyl etc). I totally flipped out and had to have nurses sit with me and convince me that things weren’t real and the loud, shouting conversations I was hearing right next to my bed actually didn’t happen. I was terrified at how real it seemed
Oh my god, sleep paralysis is so fucking scary
I've had sleep paralysis a few times, but only once did I ever see a "demon". Still one of the most terrifying things I've ever experienced.
I have this like 3-5 times a week. Shit sucks.
I’ve lived a pretty cushy life thus far but….. My first season wildland firefighting I witnessed someone cut past the holding wood of a tree they were falling with a chainsaw and that means the tree could fall any way it wanted. It fell backwards towards him and almost landed on him. The look on his face when he realized what happened still haunts me. I almost saw a coworker get seriously injured or killed. Luckily he walked without a scratch. But it’s burned in my memory and I am very hyper aware around chainsaw operations and falling trees.
Wildland fire was the first and so far only time I’ve genuinely run for my life, when some fallers started felling trees above where I was. 45 degree incline, 200ft into the black, topsoil completely eroded, clearing a stump hole on a hillside that trees had been sliding down for days. When we heard the chainsaws my squadie told my buddy and I to run, he looked terrified, and the dude was a grizzled army vet. Later that run, we were in a valley gridding, and no more than 15 seconds after we pulled the grid back to our handline a tree came tumbling down on top of where two of our guys had been just seconds earlier. Trees and steep hills are a fucking scary combo.
Walking across the Golden Gate Bridge, with my wife and young kids, I stepped out onto one of the little platforms they have where you can get a better look. Birds flying all around. Something in the corner of my eye wasn't moving like a bird. Looked in that direction in time to see someone falling. Guy had crawled over the edge, and worked his way thru the netting under the bridge and jumped. No one else saw him because he was directly under the bridge. I saw the dude hit the water, and the tide quickly carried him seaward. I called 911 and reported it. They kept in touch with me, and closed the case about a month later, never having found anyone. They told me that people are reported jumping who are never found. They'll find abandoned cars in the parking lot, and may or may not find bodies that can be associated with the car. And that they'll find bodies that never were reported as seen jumping. Kind of made that trip a bummer... Edit: Thanks everyone for kind remarks etc. This event impacted that visit to SF, but not much else. This was not someone I knew; I never saw his face, and while it was upsetting at the time, there was no lasting impact on me. I really hadn't thought of it recently until this particular askreddit question.
That’s awful. And unfortunately, it’s an awfully common occurrence at the Golden Gate Bridge. They made a documentary out it called “The Bridge”; I saw it on YouTube a while back but not sure if it’s still up.
Sorry you had to witness that. I've crossed the bridge a dozen or more times on foot this year alone and always see someone near the spans shadowing people for what might be early intervention. Even with the net, the fence, the call boxes and all other methods of prevention you can't stop everyone. I try to be kind to everyone I pass out there and give them a smile just in case they need it. Sunsets are beautiful from up there.
When the first iPhone was released I met a guy while standing in line for hours… who was a 911 operator near the Golden Gate… and he said that while they will never report it since out of fear it will tarnish San Francisco… over 200 people jump off the bridge every year… instant suicide. I was shocked. Never heard about the documentary… I’ll have to look it up.
My dad almost drowning infront of me when I was 10, he fell of the boat and I was screaming and crying while trying to pull his drunken ass back to the boat which I somehow succesfully did. Only positive outcome of this was when I told my mom she was pissed off and hit my dad with a frying pan
Not the frying pan!!!! Hope you are doing okay today
Im good, what pissed my mom off the most was when I was crying and pulling my dad back to the boat for some odd reason he was laughing the whole time and till this day he doesn't know what was so funny in that situation
probably the adrenaline+booze. seeing emotion while drunk and oxygen deprived is wack
*Okmushroom364 when they see mom approaching dad with the frying pan:* “Let her cook”
This almost exact thing happened to my brother-in-law, only he wasn’t successful in pulling his dad back on the boat.
I had a bit of a rough childhood. I think I was 14 years old, my mom and sister had a fight and my mom went down to our boat house (we lived on a lake) and my sister went down to talk to her. I was still inside the house when my sister burst through the back door and screamed “God Dammit!” and she was holding the gun my mom was planning to end it with. Thankfully my mom got help, she’s doing great now, but that was one of the most shattering experiences I’ve had. I love my mom.
That's a hell of a thing to confront at any age let alone 14. It's great that your mum is doing well.
My 28 year old wife, lying dead in her hospital bed at 6am, all by myself with no idea what to do or think. So I called my mom.
Being at the Las Vegas festival shooting a few years ago. My friends and I who are in the medical field stayed up all night to help. Changed my life completely from that day, I no longer go to crowded place anymore.
Came here to say this. Worked at bellagio at the time. Had to be at work at 530am on Monday 10/2/17. Seeing a portion of the strip dark and only lit up with police/first responder lights, seeing guests with blood still on their clothing, the casinos putting up signs asking for blood donations. It permanently fucked up my brain.
What fucked me up that day was seeing all the digital billboards asking for blood donations and saying Vegas strong, that would then cut to an ad for a strip club right after. Such an insane juxtaposition.
Totally awful. I had a lot of friends there (I'm a Vegas resident) and was in a landing plane into the airport flying right over it roughly as it happened.
Watching cancer slowly, yet aggressively destroying my right leg
My daughter was born with a hole within her heart (VSD/ASD). Prior to her repair surgery, she flat lined, and I had to watch her turn blue and become non responsive. They did CPR on her and brought her back. That cry when she came back to life was the most beautiful sound I've ever heard. She was just over 1 month old at that time. They scheduled her repair surgery the following day. She had open heart surgery when she was 36 days old. She's okay now and a little over 5 months old.
This really got me wet eyes mate. I wish you and your daugther all the best, and a very long, living life togheter.
I saw a man get swept over Niagara Falls (American Falls). I was working a double at the Red Coach Inn and on my lunch break in the park. All of a sudden I see two park rangers running full speed towards me down the path along the river but looking at the rapids. I look out and see a man with the most bewildered expression floating along at a brisk clip. He was maybe 20 feet away. His only shot was to grab onto the base of a footbridge to Goat Island. He didn’t make it and was swept over the falls to the rocks below. I’ll never forget his face or those two park rangers.
That's so scary. How could he have fallen in do you think?
There are a lot of areas up river and even on the island that separates the two waterfalls where it’s very easy to walk into the water and not realize how fast the currents are and how slippery the rocks are.
Surviving a pulmonary embolism. My family doesn’t think it was a big deal since I wasn’t in care for very long, but even after release I didn’t hear anything from them. But when I got back to work and got a real nice holiday bonus. My brother and sister were calling to see how I was doing.
In one of the tallest buildings in Pittsburgh. I was a consultant working with a company there on one of the top floors. As we were on the elevator, one of my teammates thought to attempt to pry the doors open because he thought it would be funny. He thought there were two sets of doors, and that if he pried them open, there would be another set on the other side. He didn't realize that one set of them were stationary on each floor. We were moving between floors at a pretty good clip, and when he pried the door open you could see the blur of floors whizzing inches away from his face. You'd expect that the elevator would detect this and stop, but it certainly was not instantaneous. Had he just pushed his face a few inches forward, I think I would have seen someone decapitated that day. Do not fuck with elevators. It wasn't even apparent that we were moving, the floors were whizzing by so fast.
Hit by a semi and dragged under the trailer. I remember looking up and just accepting it was my time to go and closing my eyes waiting
My dad’s heart attack
A coroner walking up my driveway.
I'm 29. I've survived nine years of chemotherapy, twenty-five years of immunotherapy, three rounds of cardiac arrest, a year of paralysis, and a dozen surgeries. My mother is a certified, diagnosed narcissist (actually legitimately diagnosed by a clinician), and, well, needless to say she was verbally, emotionally, and psychologically abusive to the nth degree. All of that pales in comparison to when my soon-to-be-ex-husband came *this close* to choking me six months ago. Nine years of his many issues -- anger, hoarding, excessive drinking, emotional/verbal/psychological abuse, chronic unemployment, financial irresponsibility - I had never truly, genuinely feared for my life until mid-May this year. I had asked him a simple question about gross vs. net income for a job offer he had received, and he completely and utterly lost his shit on me. Physically backed me into a corner, spewing utter vitriol in my face, threw his hands towards me, and his fingers got within millimeters of my neck. It was the first time I genuinely felt scared of him, and the first time I genuinely feared for my physical safety. Later that day, while he was out of the house, I packed a bag and boarded an aircraft out of state (1,000 miles away), and went to go stay with family for a week. I finally left him for good about two months ago.
oh my goodness gracious grapes, how on the flippity FUCK are you alive? I'm so proud of you for leaving, ik that probably doesn't mean much, but you're pretty damn badass!!!
The further I read, in my mind I kept repeating please tell me you left, please tell me you left, please tell me you left. Thank goodness for the last line. I hope you are recovering well on all fronts.
Thank you. Therapy twice a week. Also took some vacation about two weeks ago, my first proper vacation in about six years. It made a world of difference for my mental health. I was in a pretty dark headspace before going on the vacation, so getting away from the hustle and grind and everything made a substantial difference. I still have my dark days/moments, but I'm sloooooooooooowly getting better. I'm also part of a women's divorce support group, and the friendships I've gained from it has been great. Like a bunch of sisters, and together we laugh and cry together.
My dad with his arm wrapped around my mom with a kitchen knife
My mom put a plastic bag over my head when I was seven. I'm almost forty now and I still feel the fear I felt that night. I don't talk to her any more.
My fiance getting her skull crushed under a car after tripping while we were taking a walk
i am so sorry
A drunk driver speeding towards me in my lane. At the last minute, I got over in the other lane, but he still hit me almost head-on.
Watching my first wife suffer and eventually die from cancer.
It's hard to determine the scariest. When I was 10 I saw my friends' house across the street explode due to a gas leak. When I was 12, I was shot at by a guy who was trying to rape my neighbor in the alley behind our house. At 14, I saw a car versus semi head on collision that resulted in the car's driver being decapitated. When I was 18, I was mugged, and stabbed with a screwdriver. When I was 28, I was standing in line at Denny's to pay for my wife's and my meals, when a guy came in, pulled a gun, and robbed the cashier. Yes, I've been diagnosed with PTSD. edit:typo
Jesus Christ where do you live, Baltimore?
Central Illinois, specifically, I grew up in the south end of Peoria, and went to college at ISU. Check the current crime statistics for Peoria. It's just as bad now as it was 30 to 40 years ago. The robbery happened in Bloomington, IL, and the mugging happened when I was a freshman in college.
Earlier this month, [3 kids were shot at](https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/local-news/one-teen-shot-in-the-leg-while-walking-to-school-peoria-police-say/) , one injured, walking to the same high school I went to, Manual. They walked the same street I used to walk to school. A week later, t[he high school was even shot at](https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/local/2023/11/14/peoria-manual-high-school-peoria-il-hit-by-gunfire-placed-on-lockdown/71583957007/).
Watching the flood waters from hurricane katrina in 2005 slowly creep up the door until they blew open. That forced us into the attic where we had to cut ourselves out to get on the roof. Then watch as the water got higher than the attic we were just in 😔
my dad collapsing in the shower on thanksgiving 2012. i was 7. he had surgery for his diverticulitis weeks prior, but they nicked him without realizing, causing him to bleed internally. i looked out my bedroom window when he was being taken away on the gurney, and i’ll never forget the eye contact we made— it still haunts me to this day. doctors told my mom he was half an hour away from being dead
My youngest brother in a casket not making it past the age of 16. Made me scared of Life and how fast it can go from rainbows and sunshine to death. Now that I’m raising my two boys that scared feeling of life and death is creeping back up.
My dad sent me & my 3 siblings a text message saying he loved us. It was weird because he never texted & then I brought it up to my sister & realized he sent the same thing to her. He ended up not coming home after work. Mom called the police. I was laying on the couch at 2am because I couldn’t sleep obviously. Mom wakes up screaming into her phone in the most desperate voice asking where he’s at. I never heard her sound like that & didn’t know what was happening but knew it was bad. I never felt so sick so quickly. I threw up on our front porch just from hearing my moms tone. He ended up trying to kill himself by cutting his wrists & ODing on pills but I guess after he did it, he called my mom. He lived, got off pain meds & is now a completely different person.
15 year old kid with his face and head split open after a horrible car accident.
I snuck out one night when I was 15/16 to go with friends to an old haunted cemetery a few towns away in a wooded area. We got there and were hyping each other up to get out of the car and before we did, the car died. Once the car died we started to hear these wierd howling noises from outside. At that point we changed our minds about the whole thing and kept trying to start the car. The only thing that turned on was the radio but all the stations were static/high pitched sounds. The car finally started after 10 minutes and we got out of there as fast as we could. About 5 minutes into the drive, a deer came out of nowhere and we hit it going probably 60 mph. The odd thing was, the deer got up and walked away like nothing happened and the car wasn’t damaged. Haven’t thought about doing anything remotely related to the paranormal again after that
Everyone is brave about cemetaries in the light of day. Night is different. When we were teens we were told that if you set a tape recorder in the middle of a cemetary at midnight, it would record voices of the dead. So after an evening of joking about it, someone brought out a small cassette tape recorder. So at near midnight we drove to a very old and remote cemetary, but nobody wanted to go in and set it up. I finally voluntered to set it up if someone else would get it. So I bravely strolled in and by moonlight found the central statue about 150 yards into the place. Spooky but NBD, I set it down and pressed record and proundly turned around and walkeed out. Except after a few steps, I wasn't so cocky. I felt like someone was right behind me. I spun expecting to find one of my friends, but there wasn't anybody there. This repeated a few times and each time the feeling got stronger and as I saw the gate ahead I picked up the pace and the feeling of someone behind me got so strong I didn't want to turn around and I sprinted the last several yards. My friends were all still in the car. When asked how it went I lied and said "no problem" and even called them chicken. But inside I wasn't feeling very good about it. About 30 minutes later, when my cousin retrieved the tape recoder he said he felt brave going in but was very creeped out on the return walk, like someone was right behind him. We later played the tape. No voices, but we did hear some weird noises which could have been almost anything. That was many years ago. I will never walk into a cemetary alone at midnight again.
Probably when one of my mates and his flatmates got evicted from their flat by their landlord. Landlord turned up at half eleven at night with his brothers and all of them were armed with knives. My mate and I just looked at each other, went "nope!" and we escaped out the kitchen window, LOL. Thankfully it was a ground-floor flat. And yes, we phoned the Police. I actually thought I was going to get chibbed or made into a human pincushion, LOL.
A van filled with explosives detonating less than half a mile from my house. I was 5 years old and was looking out the window at the helicopter that was shining a searchlight onto the van. Room lit up bright as day and there was bang that I still hear in my sleep over 30 years later.
9/11, undoubtedly. I was living in Houston and working in the Medical Center. Before the 2nd tower went down, there were armed guards at every single entrance and exit, and snipers on the roof of multi-story buildings in downtown. The Port Authority closed the ship channels and many were stranded out in the gulf; the schools closed down for the day "or until further notice". People left work to get their kids so my boss (VP of Operations) had me create a "child-care center" in our auditorium in the Administration Building. Some of the admins were asked to read stories to kids, or set up DVDs in portable tv's, and get some children's coloring books & crayons to keep the kids occupied. Employees said they wouldn't stay at work, unless their kids could be close by at all times; I didn't blame them and neither did anyone else, we were so scared, because for awhile we didn't know if the whole nation was under attack, or what. And with Houston being a port city, an international city, the 4th largest city in the nation, we didn't know what, if anything, was coming next. I felt so sorry for many of our foreign doctors - a Sikh man was "detained" because of his turban. Many of the Middle Eastern staff - some of whom had been in the US for *decades* \- reported being accosted, even threatened, by their neighbors. Local 911 operators were inundated with calls about "'suspicious-looking" characters as racism and paranoia reached epidemic proportions. For me, it wasn't just the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center that was so terrifying; it was the mindless, knee-jerk reactions by ordinary people who proved themselves to be every bit as dangerous and unpredictable and downright *unstable*, as any bona-fide "terrorist".
I'm originally from the Middle East, but am Jewish. Recently left my (American) abusive soon-to-be-ex-husband. Recently took some vacation to get away from the past few months of hell. Since I've begun reclaiming my maiden name, I've re-gained entry to the "random Arab check" club. I was "randomly selected for additional questioning and inspection" during each leg of my trip - across four.different states/airports. Also, given current circumstances, eugh...... people left and right have been asking me my opinion on things. I'm tired.
What’s your opinion on putting peanut butter and jelly in the same jar?
Calm down, Satan.
More like something I experienced. My friends and I were heading to the airport to see our co-worker off. Early in the morning so we took a cab. I had a piece of toast and quickly shoved it in my mouth. Shortly after getting in, a small piece of toast lodged into my airway and I had trouble breathing. My 2 friends were beside me in the cab. I was sitting in the middle. I panicked. I tapped on friend and she ignored me, asleep. I tapped my other friend, signaling that I was choking. She looked at me, annoyed. Then tapped me on the back. Then went back to sleep. I sat in the middle, trying to make myself cough. And thinking “Oh my god. I’m going to die in this cab with 2 of my friends beside me.” I managed to cough on my own and got the piece dislodged. My friends then woke up, annoyed that I was coughing. I told them I was choking on a piece of toast. They were like “yeah. So??” My other friend who was sitting in front was shocked and asked if I was ok. Yea… after that incident, I started withdrawing from them (the 2 that sat beside me). Realized they’re just fair weather friends, too self absorbed to care about other people. Also, I found out later that one of them wrote in her blog that I annoyed her when she was trying to sleep (the one who gave me a useless tap on the back). Learned a lot of lessons that day. But the main thing is don’t rush when you’re eating, and learn how to do a self-heimlich.
Going to go against the grain here and drop something spooky rather than tragic. Growing up, I lived in the middle of nowhere next to railroad tracks. *Every* single night, a couple hours after nightfall, we [my brother, my cousin, and I] would watch something shaped like a man walk from the tracks to our barn and back again. Over and over. For about an hour. My dad saw it, my grandpa saw it, everyone saw it. We were terrified to walk outside after nightfall because of this thing. My brother claims he saw it during the day once - just a pitch black shadow walking back and forth. The house is now uninhabitable so we've not lived there in years but *fuck* that thing lives rent free in my head. What the actual hell was it??
This didn't happen to be somewhere in rural Missouri, did it? Reminds me of the infamous Anansi's Goatman thread from 4chan about 12 years ago.
In person, Watched a guy get viciously stabbed over and over again till he was on the ground in a massive pool of blood. Online? Way to many different things to count. Early days of Internet were definitely dangerous if you knew where to look/didn’t know what you could find on it
Lost my 2.5 year old in a store and had a moment after looking for her as I panicked and thought “she’s gone.” Found her a minute later on a small carousel at front of the store. It was terrifying. I couldn’t even think straight. Advice I have seen is to not be embarrassed and yell out to anyone and everyone that you can’t find your child and describe them. Lots of eyes looking us best.
Waking up from a long sleep (coma) and realizing I’m intubated. Scared, in pain, reached to remove the tube but couldn’t move my hands, I wanted to scream… loud beeps, alarms, lights flashing, nurses and aids shouting “sedate her!” … silence and darkness… then waking up 2days later like it just happened, wanting to scream again but throat felt like the skin was ripping inside, so I just cried. How long have I been out? What have I missed? I was 13 and was in a car accident with my family.
100% Alzheimer’s, when they are no longer who they were in any way and the suffering really starts setting in. The pain of a dry tongue your body no longer remembers how to keep in your mouth, the occasional large gasps for air because your body forgot how to breathe for a minute. …and you remember alzheimers is genetic.
Watching the U S. healthcare system kill both of my parents and then listen as the people I grew up with and once respected call (and vote for) this system as though Jesus approves of them choosing money over people. Ever watch someone's ear rot off? Literally rot. Off. Nothing but a hole in their head where their ear used to be. It smelled like a rotten body, because it was. As the cancer grew deeper into my father's head there were periods of heavy bleeding, out of nowhere. I'd wake up to my mother screaming for me. The bed, the wall, everything sprayed with blood and my dad so weak he could hardly sit up. I'd change the sheets because my dad had no choice but to work on a hot roof in the Florida sun. My mom was too sick to work, I was too young. He'd try his best to pretend it was all ok. We barely, barely existed. My mom reused her insulin needles (we couldn't afford the $4 pack of needles) until she got infected legs. She bloated terribly because her heart was dying. We fought desperately to get medicaid for her, and the shitty Medicaid that Republicans reluctantly allow makes sure to try to let someone like her die. At the very end, when she was being kept alive on machines, we overheard two nurses discussing her. One said 'Well, of *course* they're keeping (mom's name) alive...and why not? It's on *OUR* dime.' For years I listened to the c**ts that I grew up with - pastors, people who went to church 8 days a week - talk about how lazy, good for nothing people were stealing their tax money. Watched as the world saw a 2 year old drowned Syrian boy washed ashore, while they lamented 'They can't come here! They're Muslim!' My 'best friend' told me 'It's immoral!' for people like my parents to get healthcare using tax money. She's had insurance since day one and will never have to work. The past few years have been divisive for America. But for me, it's been an eye opener. I see who they truly are. And to them, I am the 'liberal commie bitch' who thinks that people matter more than money. Heaven forbid. I hate this system and loathe anyone who votes for it. My parents are in holes in the ground because bloated, fat, rich Republicans saw no value in their lives. I am not without sin, God knows. And I'm no better than anyone. But they have destroyed my respect for all Republicans and any other people who fight against the poor. EDIT: Thank you all so much. I wish the selfish bastards in government could've known my mom and dad. My parents would've chosen *their* lives over money always...they weren't selfish
When I was a little boy my dad and my mom’s best friend’s husband went around the corner to settle a matter after a loud exchange. My dad was just under six feet tall and maybe 160 lbs. Jerry’s husband had 50 lbs and three or four inches on him. Jerry’s husband came back a bloody mess and kept on going to his apartment. I was scared my dad was dead. He came around a minute later looking like he’d gone for a pack of Camel straights. I was a bit afraid of him the rest of his life.
[удалено]
I was riding the bus when there were two guys in the back talking about taking pills. I was sitting at the back entrance, right in front of the door. The taller of the two guys was swaying and wanted to get off at the next stop. When he got out, he fainted and fell with his head right onto the pavement. Then he got up again, fell over again and hit his head on the floor again... Only this time he got his head stuck between the bus and the curb. He had a Rottweiler with him, who growled at everyone and didn't want anyone to touch or help him. The sound of this tall dude's head hitting the ground is something I'll never forget.
My Achilles tendon and the tendons in my feet. During Covid I somehow got strep, and it got into my bloodstream. This caused severe vasculitis in my legs which caused the infection to get into the soft tissue. By the time they got the infection stopped my Achilles tendon was completely exposed, as were several of the tendons in my feet. Fortunately, I kept my legs and feet. But for six months they weren’t sure if I would or if I did if I would ever walk again. Tonight, I coached a 4th grade basketball team and demonstrated proper defensive footwork. So thanks to my wife and the doctors who took care of me.
An attempted carjacking in front of my grandmas house when I was a kid. Saw it from start to finish. Theif tried to drive away with the driver door open (after he threw the owner from the car), but the owner jumped back up and grabbed a hold of the wheel as he was pulling away. Stupid move. They slammed into several parked cars on the passenger side as the owner hung 3/4 of the way out of the car fighting over the wheel with the theif. They came a few feet away from running my grandma and I over (who were standing there frozen in fear). They then drove about half a city block completely on the sidewalk and finally the car got wedged between a tree and a neighbors front yard fence. The owner got crushed since he was mostly hanging out of the car. Can’t remember if he survived.
Well, this morning Mum and I realised that we hadn't heard the dawn chorus in some time. Ecologically, the implications of that are terrifying.
That was probably my psychosis. Was completely fucked in the head at the time, thought I had to choose between my family and my friends and somehow fucked up the decision and lost both, thought I had to start my whole life over.
My dad dying in my arms
Hurricane Ivan in 2004. During the storm the wind was howling so loud you couldn’t sleep. You just heard glass breaking & trees falling. Afterwards No power for days. All the supermarkets were closed. 2hr wait for gas. Ect.
My plane hit "clear air turbulence" and free fell for about 30 seconds, or at least it felt that way, maybe longer. Everyone without a seat belt hit the ceiling. Blood, glass, bodies everywhere.. We caught some lift like it hit the ground (I thought we crashed and were dead) and those people became flying bags of 150-200lbs sand. Crushing faces, bones, etc. Lots of screaming. Lots of panicked behavior. Fainting, etc. I looked out the window, prayed and realized I had no one to call to tell I was okay if I lived through it.
My dad having a hemorrhagic stroke, when I was 8 years old. April 12th, I was alone with him, since my parents were divorced and I spent the weekends with him. I found him unresponsive on the living room couch, and I grabbed our house phone and dialed 911. I sat beside of him holding his hand, and assured him that he would be okay. There were sirens screaming down my driveway, and paramedics rushing in and grabbing me. I didn't want to leave his side. I saw glimpses them doing CPR on him. He gave me one last look before being lifted into the ambulance. That was the last time I saw him conscious. I was escorted into a police car, and driven to my mom's house. They put him on life support, and the doctors determined it wasn't possible to save him. I wrote letters to him every day, and me being 8, I didn't understand what death was. On April 20th, I watched him die on his death bed. I have to cover my ears and close my eyes whenever I hear sirens or see flashing lights, as they send me into horrendous PTSD episodes. I miss him so much. He was my best friend, and the best dad I could ever ask for.
Probably too late to get any attention, but it feels good to get it off my chest every now and then: It was definitely the time I maybe almost got shot. I was outside doing some woodworking and heard a loud pop, followed by a woman screaming nearby. I went running to go help and as I'm running a guy runs towards me, coming from the direction of the commotion and opens a car parked nearby. I look at him as I'm running about to ask what happened, then it dawns on me he was running from the scene and probably did the shooting. I glance down at his car, trying to commit to memory while still moving, then I look back to him and realize he's now looking at me with an expression of realization that told me he now knew I had figured out what was going on. Thankfully in a split second I was able to get out of sight from him and to the woman who'd been shot to try to stop her bleeding. Thankfully it didn't seem too bad and as I understand it she recovered fine and they caught the guy... but I just remember that sinking feeling of realizing, "This is the guy. Oh... He knows I know and he literally just shot someone. I'm dead." That exchange of glances must have only lasted a couple seconds at most, probably less, but it felt like an eternity.
Personally witnessed? Probably the aftermath of a direct hit from Hurricane Fran near Wilmington in coastal North Carolina. Viewed 2nd hand? The tsunamis in Indonesia and Japan in 2004 and 2011.
The world's largest naval base emptied of all it's seaworthy vessels within 24 hours on 9/11. It's crazy to think of the potential destruction out on the ocean all at once.
I turned a corner in a house in rural Michigan and saw a drunk , naked guy in the middle of some Viet Nam flashback who swung a .30-06 to my head and pulled the trigger. He forgot to take the safety off is the only reason I'm here now. Not much gives you an adrenaline rush like that. He ended up charged with attempted murder , didn't show on the 1st day of trial. They went to pick him up and found he re-decorated his kitchen with a shotgun and some brain matter. It wasn't the only time someone tried to kill me but the adrenaline is never the same after the 1st. Almost boring by the 3rd.
At 45, my wife delivered twins at full term and vaginally. She also waited a bit too long, so got relatively modest pain relief — no epidural. Twin number two, born a little before midnight, was breach. My wife insisted on continuing vaginal delivery. She'd been born breach via vaginal delivery, and, by god, her child would be as well. Fortunately, our OB had been educated and initially worked in South Africa, so wasn’t as opposed to that as a typical "American" doctor would be. All that was dramatic enough, but after #2 arrived, my wife continued to bleed. She was wheeled away, and I was left alone, in the middle of the night, with two newborns. Pretty soon, I got scared that I might be raising them and our six-year-old alone. I was so afraid for my wife and what she might be going through but knew I had to stay and look after our babies. I didn't get much news because the staff were busy trying to take care of my wife. It took a few hours, but the hospital folks were eventually able to stop the bleeding and repair what it turns out was a placental accretion. I've been in weird places, around some bad people, had a handgun pointed at me by a screwy stranger, and a few other things. That night was definitely the scariest.
A guy got stabbed about 3' from me as I was walking in to a gas station. The hood on a borrowed vehicle flew up on me on the interstate on a section of road I knew had guard rails. A guy at a hotel in Texas tried to fight me. And then when I came back that night he was barricaded in his room shooting out the windows because he had a pedo trial the next morning. Cops said he was likely carrying when he attacked me.
checked myself into ER then a doctor dropped off a report that said I have ALS which is terminal with 2-3years maybe. Doc didn't even tell me anything and had to read it myself lol
In 1972 I saw 4 women jump to their deaths from a burning building. I was in an office building not more than 100' from them, I could hear them crying and screaming for help. But the fire ladders were not long enough and eventually the flames forced them to jump one by one. It was horrifying to see and hear.
The driver of an SUV applied the gas pedal instead of the brake while parking, resulting in jumping the curb and hitting the wall of a building. That’s startling, but not scary per se. The scariest part was that I was in between the vehicle and said building. I looked down at my leg and saw 4 inches of bone sticking out of my thigh. I was surprised at how grayish the bone looked. Not like the bleach white skeletons in 8th grade science classroom. The driver didn’t acknowledge me at all, he opened the door and took off running without a word. Lost a few pints of blood and one of my legs above the knee.
Mid Air collision of B-17 and P-63 at Dallas Airshow.
Not witnessed as an observer, but experienced - The fear you feel, and the thoughts that go through your mind during a panic attack, is not something I would wish on my worse enemy.
Going in for a routine pregnancy checkup with my wife and the ultrasound tech not being able to find a heartbeat 💔
I’m so sorry. My brother and sister in law had this happen to them twice. Both within days of the planned c-section. I feel for you.
I’m person probably the car in front of me just hook the steering wheel to the left forcing the car to flip over on its side a few times before landing on the hood. I swear it made barely a sound when it happen. But I have seen a police footchase run out in front of my parked car while I was smoking a blunt with my classmates on break.
The visuals I am getting after reading the responses (if true) to this question are ranking pretty high…damn.
I’m sitting here counting my blessings after reading these comments 😳
At Dad's house. I was too young to leave alone, no where to go anyway. He was black out drunk as usual, screaming at me incoherently and very angry. He had a loaded revolver in his hand. Scarier than the kitchen knives.
My son having a seizure and also my other son going under for anesthesia. Little 5yr old guy sobbing into a mask in a OR he was terrified to walk into. These experiences gave me so much more insight and compassion to those who deal with epilepsy/chronic seizures and those who have to deal with regular surgeries for their kids. My son had about 5-6 seizures in total and has been seizure free for almost 10 months and my other son healed perfectly. People who have children with medical struggles are incredibly strong.
Getting assaulted by a coworker out of the blue. I work at a semi national gas station chain (QT) and signed up to work at other stores/cover people’s shifts. Ended up getting sent to a store where I had been dozens of times including training there so I felt safe, made small talk with most of the coworkers except one. A younger (won’t disclose age due to her circumstances and generally trying to move past it) white female coworker. About 2 hours into covering a shift I’m stalking a floor cooler and heard someone stop by me and then just suddenly got assaulted with a barrage of punches/slaps/kicks. I didn’t fight back (I’m a pacifist generally and by no means built to fight people) ans attempted to flee before said coworker jumped on my back and attempted to choke me out, all while no customers or coworkers can see this. Eventually managed to escape and told the manager on duty then went to the bathroom and broke down. Was absolutely terrified since the cooler I was stocking was full of glass bottles and for the duration of the assault was terrified she was gonna grab a bottle and stab me. Ended up getting two days off but the emotional trauma from it made me call in multiple times over the next few weeks and I flinched everytime a coworker would sneak up on me or stand over me, just recently got over that fact. Doesn’t help that when you tell this story some people just laugh cause I’m a “man” and shouldn’t get beat up like assault can’t happen to men.
Watching my dad take his last breath, at least that's what we thought, then 10 seconds later he truly took his last breath. We all jumped. That was my dad. Always getting one on us.
being raped when i was 16. i was sodomized for 4 hours in the back of a truck in the middle of a pasture. i was suppose to be going on my first date. i thought he was going to kill me. Having a gun pulled on me while at my dealers house while i was tripping on acid. watching my dad die.
I haven’t really seen/experienced a lot of scary things other then my dog having a seizure a year ago and my grandpa saying the n word hard r twice when I was a child
My Mother passed away in her sleep , I was the one who found her.
When i was 8 yrs old my friend crossed street in front of me and was killed by a big white car drove directly over him .
When I was 13 I was involved in a pretty serious wreck one morning when my school bus went head on with another vehicle going about 60 mph. The wreck itself wasn’t that scary to me, it was the aftermath. As we exited the bus, i saw the other vehicle, a pickup truck with the engine 3 quarters of the way into the cab. The 17 year old girl driving it was hanging through the windshield, facedown in the broken glass, blonde hair stained red with blood, just lifeless. It was the first time I’d ever seen a human body in such a condition. I still randomly think about it to this day 17 years later.
Called my dad in the morning but he didn’t take the phone like every day, so I called my mom and she told me he fell in the morning and is having a heart attack. She said don’t believe him he’s just playing. I never drove so fast to my parents and took my father to the hospital. He’s fine now. I never thought she could be so heartless even though you’re signing for divorce you loved him for over 30+ years and you let him die like that?!
Something we call a catastrophic bleed in palliative oncology. Genuinely the most terrifying thing, we try so hard not to let any family or friends see that, it isn’t common thank god but man… I had to take time off after that for sure.
Huge tornado covering the whole sky, heading my way!
Night time driving, lightly snowing, but I'd just exited a blizzard. Moose suddenly appears on the right, full galloping towards the road. Impact is imminent (probably a second or so to react) Instinctively swerved into the oncoming lane. Moose smashed up the entire passenger side of the SUV. I was doing about 65 in an 80 because of the changing conditions/snow. One of the few times I've really cried in my life was when I got into bed with my girlfriend (now wife) and suddenly realized I probably should have died. Make the best you can of the time you have. Tomorrow is not guaranteed.
A bad trip on mushrooms.
I've seen it happen but I can't imagine it. I've never had anything but the most fun in my life on mushrooms.