30 People Shared Shockingly Terrifying Things They’ve Experienced That Still Keep Them Up At Night
We’re all drawn to sharing scary stories, especially when we’re kids huddled around a campfire or friends gathered at a sleepover. All you need is a flashlight illuminating your face, commitment to using character voices, and you can tell the most frightening story a child has ever heard. Even adults love ingesting their fair share of horror films and novels. But the thing about scary stories is that they’re way more terrifying when they’re true. It’s all fun and games until we realize that these disturbing and spine-chilling tales could actually happen to us too…
But if you’re in the mood to be freaked out, you’re in for a treat! Because, recently, Reddit users have been opening up about the scariest moments in their lives, and we’ve gathered some of the most upsetting and haunting stories down below. I’ll warn you right now, pandas, some of these stories are a lot to take in, so if horror movies keep you from sleeping at night, this might not be the best list for you. But if you're hungry for some horrifying tales, be sure to upvote all of the accounts you find most frightening. Then, if you’re interested in reading even more unsettling stories from Bored Panda, check out this creepy article next!
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It was the night that I (17f) was escaping to Europe from Turkey (at the time I was 15). I wouldn't call it a moment because it was a whole night. A few things happened so I'm gonna write them down here.
- The first one was actually in daylight. The driver was taking the group that I am escaping with to the border. And out of 5 people, at least 3 of them were wanted by the police (we weren't criminals, don't worry. Government is led by a dictator so anything you do that they don't like is a crime.) So as you can guess, we weren't supposed to get pulled aside by the police to check IDs. But there was a control thing on the highway and they were almost gonna stop us. We got lucky and the police pulled the truck in front of us and we were let through. I was so scared that I hold my mom's hand and didn't let go until we passed them. After I let go, her hand was white as paper.
- The second one is when we were out of the car and running to the border with two smugglers leading us. They were stopping us to lie on the ground every 30 seconds just in case there are soldiers. But one time they stopped us and we lay on the ground for almost 30 minutes. The smugglers were gone and all we can see was the starry sky. We didn't move, breathe when necessary, and didn't say a thing for 30 minutes. It was quite scary.
- And this one happened in Greece. We were in Greece for about 10 minutes before the soldiers found us. The smugglers told us to leave our bags on the ground and put our hands up if we ever see a Greek soldier. I am not an idiot but after some emotional breakdown on the way there and seeing the soldiers with guns. I started crying and made up all those weird scenarios where they execute us by a firing squad lmao. I know where it doesn't sound like a really scary thing but it is quite hard to explain the atmosphere. You have to live it to understand it.
- The next one is not related to that night. I am not gonna say which country but it was after coming to Europe. When you immigrate to a country, they put you in a tent where you stay for 7 days to one month. And there are all kinds of people in those tents. It is not a normal tent. It's a place of about 200 square meters full of bunks. You stay with 100 people and if you get raped, you can't prove it bc there are no cameras and no one cares. And I was almost gonna get raped at least 5-6 times. Grown-up men are just looking for a chance to come near you and talk to you, looking for a time when you are alone. This one time I was carrying some stuff for my mother so I was a bit left behind. Three men just surrounded me and start asking my name, and my phone number, and at the same time, they were coming close to me, trying to touch my body and so on. When almost one of them grabbed my arm my guy friend run to us calling to me. And I couldn't sleep for the next 3 days we were there because I was in the same tent as those men.
I am sorry I wrote too long. I am just afraid of a lot of stuff. Also apologies for the possible grammar mistakes and vocabulary.
I feel for all the people in this list, and am sorry for their experiences, but THIS one might be a really important story to tell people who are ignorant about how it feels to be a refugee, and what refugees are or have experienced during their escape from war, prosecution etc.
I walked in on my dad, looking like he was dead (eyes open, but lifeless) He was suffering a full cardiac arrest. I called 911 and gave him chest compressions for 10 minutes until EMTs arrived. When they got there they told me his heart and lungs had stopped (full cardiac arrest) and they were struggling getting a pulse. I thought no way this is it and he did end up getting a pulse, being transported to the hospital and having his heart operated on. He survived!
I was 13 when I came out as a lesbian to my dad, and he threw me against the wall and strangled me till I passed out, saying that I was a wicked girl who would go to hell for such a sinful choice. The only reason he didn’t kill me was because my brother intervened.
My friend (B) lived down the street from me growing up. Once when she and her mom and brother were out of town her dad called my house and asked my dad if I could come over and take a look at a gift he bought my friend to see if she would like it. I went down and he told me he was in love with me and couldn’t stop thinking of me since I got new glasses. He said vulgar sexual things about oral sex and other s**t I can’t even remember at this point. I went into a panicked state and tricked him into letting me get out of there because at the time I was a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan and I thought “what would Buffy do” literally like those Jesus bracelets lol. I had no idea what to do so I called my other friend (C), who was at a different friends (J) house. I asked C to tell J’s mom what happened because I didn’t know what else to do and telling my parents at the time was out of the question. C comes back to the phone and says “she didn’t believe you” and it was scarier than the event itself in some ways.
I was 12.
During one of my psychotic episodes, the voices were telling me that if I didn't jump off a bridge, all my neighbours would be [unalived]. So I jumped lol.
Broke both of legs and surprisingly nothing fatal. So when I woke up, I was heavily sedated but was telling myself " OMG Now I won't be able to walk". Schizophrenia and paraplegia?? This scared me so much, I cried for days, wishing I had died, until they told me that I was going to walk.
At least, I am a physically healthy paranoid schizophrenic hahaha
When a guy was following me home at night, we were the only ones on the street, and he whispered ' I can smell your fear' behind me
Hiking in Oregon and a grizzly bear stood up from behind a bush ten feet in front of me. Thought for sure I was lunch but he got this disgusted look on his face like "ugh, a fkn *human*" and turned around and walked away. I was shaking in my boots.
When I went into preterm labor at 25 weeks. Same night she was born but wasn't making any sound. She was floppy and not breathing. So grateful to our team who breathed for her. She's delayed some but she's now 20 months and thriving.
What was a horror story turned into a dream!! I'm so glad they were to keep her going.She's blessed having parent(s) to be there for her day in and day out. My son was born with a liver disease called Biliary Atresia. It was nothing but hospital, doctor's and tests.They can't give how long he has. They can't go into the liver to see what is or isn't working. So they did a Kasai procedure and we prayed. He had his double hernia surgery at 6wks. and his Kasai procdure at 8wks. So the only cure is a liver transplant and he may need it between late teens or early 20's. He just turned 20 Jan. 3rd.Now I'm getting petrified that he'll have to have one in the next 3 or4 yrs.For now he's healthy and not the list for a transplant. I'm happy to hear your little girl is doing well. I wish all the best!
When I was 8, I came home from school and my mom had a bag packed. She said we had to go then and I couldn’t take anything with us. I had a 2 year old brother who was nowhere to be found, and I remember screaming at my mother, demanding to know where he was (because he was all had in the whole world) and she told me he was kidnapped by his father and she didn’t know where he was.
His dad saw that my mom called the FBI from the phone bill of all places (and this is all too long of a story to go into), flipped out, and took my brother. Years before my brother was born, my mom and I were also in federal witness protection.
My brother was found safe a couple of days later.
The kidnapping caused a whole ripple of events that ended in a FBI car chase and my stepdad going to prison for 8 years.
Feeling myself dying from Covid pneumonia in March of 2021. The moment my lungs stopped for the first time was the most terrifying moment of my life. I just remember my chest going completely still and internally screaming at them to move while my nurse called a code and started yelling for respiratory. She kept telling me to hold on, just hold on, and I saw the respiratory tech running into the room. I passed out from lack of oxygen right as she slammed the bag on my face. I woke up God-knows-how-long after that on bipap, but it just couldn't keep my oxygen up. It would drop, I would pass out, my lungs would stop, and we would just repeat the process for several hours before they finally moved me to the ICU and told me that my only shot at survival was a ventilator. I agreed. I was on it for 15 days and awake for a lot of that, which was another terrifying experience. If you want more details, you can find them in my history from last year. I don't feel like getting into them now.
Hit black ice on an exit. My Sis in the car with me, I was driving. IDK how many 360's we did. Ended up not hitting anything and stopped inches from a light pole. How we both didn't p**s our pants is beyond me. We were in our teens. It was the worst carnival ride ever.
Many years ago I was in a traffic accident where I ricocheted from one side of the road to the other only coming to a full stop when a lamp post stopped the momentum. For months it was under consideration whether or not I was liable for the cost of the lamp post. I think if was around £150 in the 1990s.
I was on a rollercoaster, and the safety bar hadn't been secured properly by the attendant. As we climbed the hill, I was struggling to get it to fasten. I managed it before I got to the top, obviously, or I probably wouldn't be writing this.
Son and I were ran over after he exited his school bus. I had to stumble and crawl to him because he flew a lot farther than I did. I thought he was dead, all while trying to get a grip on myself to not pass out, call 911, and stop crying. There was a bus full of children screaming. The bus driver too. 911 couldn't understand me because I could barely speak. They separated us once fire fighters and emt showed. I was treated like garbage because even with injuries they assumed I allowed this to happen to my child. Brought to the hospital in separate ambulances. Wouldn't give me an update for 8 hours on how he was as they were fighting to save his life, all while throwing me in a hallway naked under a sheet crying in pain and worry about my son being alive or not.
If I had not grabbed him in the split second that I did, to take all impact from the car, he'd be dead. He's perfectly healthy. Scarring, missing teeth, and a tbi. But that kid is alive. I'm not sure how he is so lucky. But I'm thankful every single day.
This just happened last December.
Dang! People can be sh*t sometimes for assuming tragedies are self-inflicted... But a parent's love knows no limits, even when faced with an oncoming car.
I still don't know if they dropped me (unintentionally) or pushed me (intentionally), trauma brain seems pretty intent on keeping those details locked down. But my Gr. 10 classmates holding me out the window to our science class after my attempt to fight back went wrong. And then falling the three stories and somehow landing in the industrial recycling bin that was chock full with end-of-year shredding. Every time I moved I kept expecting to finally hit concrete. Took a bit to pull myself out of the bin, walked to the local pizza hangout across the street in quite the daze.
When I saw someone try and jump off a bridge, only to be talked down as i was driving past and then change their mind and jump at exactly the moment I passed. One moment they were there and then I looked in the side mirror, they fell and were just gone.
And there was nothing I could do about it.
Please know that sometimes, you can't save them all no matter how hard you try. And you tried, but it seems they had already made up their mind even after you did. Be blessed and at peace with yourself, the Powers-That-Be know that you did what you could.
My son was born with complications. They took him away to resuscitate him. I didn't know if he was alive or dead for 45 minutes. Then the doctor brought him back to the room, and he was OK.
My second baby had complications after birth, he cried but his skin started turning blue. Thw lungs didn't open as they should. We didn't know if he will live for 2-3 days. After that the doctors said he will probably live, but he will have some brain issues, because of the time there was no oxygen in the blood. Thank God today he is almost 4 years old, completely fine and very smart kid.
I was beaten up by a gang of youth on a bus. I was in hospital for 6 months. I still have headaches from it. I wish they had [taken my life] because the mental scar on my life has been enormous. I could not go out for years. Kept myself to myself. Even now when I have to go out I still get anxious and sometimes it overwhelms me so much I can’t. I only go out for hospital appointments and the odd meal (When I can) I never make eye contact with people I struggle with just the simplest of conversations. Even with my cancer doctor I find it difficult and breakdown.
Please talk to d sad one one about ALL of these feelings!! It’s too much for you to carry❤️
Losing my eye sight and the doctors not knowing how to save it was tough. Thankfully they saved a bit. That experience has made me see things in a different way. Yeah I know, pun intended 😂
Seeing my dad collapsed on the floor and my mom panicking and crying trying to call an ambulance. Then seeing him die (he was clinically dead for just over a minute) there on the floor and be revived by the EMTs and be carted off to the hospital. He later died a second time and could not be brought back. I was 12 and I’m the one who called all the family members while waiting for the ambulance. I’m the one who had to tell my grandma her son might die.
When my moms brain aneurysm ruptured and she pretty much bled out (internally) on our bathroom floor and it took The ambulance an hour to get there. Me and my grandmother both pretty much watched her die before our eyes and being unable to help other than doing cpr when she stopped breathing
Is it appropriate to comment on how the ambulance looks like it's crying too 😭
I have schizophrenia, so there are multiple contenders, but the worst was when I had a poster of Stephen Kings IT on my wall. Hallucinated it crawling out of the poster and trying to attack me. Don't recommend, 0/10 experience
Growing up our house was at the end of a mile long dirt road and had been broken into twice so we got a male and female Dobermans. The female immediately bonded with me the male hated everybody but me and dad. He stayed chained up outside and she was free to roam outside. One day when we returned home from the grocery store I went to do my chores and one of them was feeding the male aka Satan. He was asleep and when I went to pet him he jumped me and had me pinned down. He chewed up my left leg my side and my cheek. If it wasn’t for the female aka Goldie I would have been dead. To this day I can still see the look in his eyes. I raise Dobermans now and I’ve never let a fear hold me back, life is too short
Incredible story, especially how you didn't let what happened prevent you from raising Dobermans now. So many of the stories here do not have the same outcome and want to make it clear your accomplishment does not diminish their story or the other way round x
Had a couple of them that I couldn't decide between:
First one: Driving fast on a rural road, two lanes & hilly. I pop over a hill and there's a car stopped in the lane just ahead, and another car coming from the other direction. No way to stop in time and no open lane. Everything went slow motion in my head, and I whipped my car onto the tiny gravel shoulder with inches to spare and got around without losing control. My friends in the car were all screaming.
Second one: Just got out of surgery for my neck and was pretty much immobilized. They told me if I felt any pain to click the button for the morphine drip taped to my hand, and that it self limits to every 15 minutes. I'm in pain and click it. No relief. This goes on for a while and the pain gets worse and worse. The young attendant finally starts paying attention and says "Oh. We left the clip on the drip line" and pulls it off. I knew I'd clicked that button a few times so there was probably a lot in the line. My last memory was the older nurse in the room yelling "Nooooo!" and lunging towards me.
Hemorrhage during a miscarriage. (13 weeks.)
Had been to my 12 week scan late to discover the heartbeat recently stopped, according to measurement. Was given pills to expedite the process and expel tissue.
I took them and nothing really happened aside from a ton of pain for nearly two days.
I was sitting down while my husband made some dinner for us and suddenly I felt something *large* make it’s way down. I went to the bathroom and it’s like I was pissing blood. Constant pouring. I didn’t want to ruin my clothes or bleed on the floor, so I ran the shower.
I was standing in the shower with the water running and it just wouldn’t stop. My husband came in, he was horrified. The last thing I remember saying is that I shouldn’t be bleeding like this and that something was wrong. Passed out. Luckily my husband was within arms reach so I didn’t fall.
I woke up in an ambulance and had to have two blood transfusions + emergency surgery. I remember feeling intense panic while also feeling… light? Like I was made of air. I have never seen that much blood in my life. I want to try again for a child one day but I’m terrified something like that will happen again.
TRIGGER WARNING: Death
Husband died 3 years ago this month of a rare disease, cjd. I was laying next to him as he gasped and took his last breath. Within seconds his skin grew cold and I watched his fingernails turn blue. Suddenly he looked like a complete different being and in my state of mind, I convinced myself that in the time I’d been in the bathroom 15 minutes earlier, they’d switched him with someone else, and that my husband was really alive somewhere else. I’d been present when my grandmother, dad, and mom died but this was the first time someone changed so drastically that I couldn’t recognize them. I was in denial for weeks thinking he really wasn’t gone. To this day, I sometimes think he’s out there and maybe he’ll come home when he’s able to. I wonder if I have ptsd because sometimes the image is something I can’t escape.
Was working on a lobster boat and as the traps were going off the back my foot got caught in the lines and I was quickly dragged towards the water. As I got towards the edge of the deck I managed to grab the railing and a split second later my boot popped off and I was free.
If my boot didn't come off I would have probably been dragged to the bottom of the ocean and never been found, crab food for sure. My life flashed before my eyes and I have never been more scared. The drink I had when got back to land was the best I've ever tasted and I didn't work at sea for much longer after that.
I ran out of oxygen while scuba diving. I was 70 feet underwater and had a faulty oxygen gauge on my regulator that said I had plenty of pressure. And all of a sudden I couldn't breathe.
Diagnosis of bladder cancer, the best day of my life was six months later when the urologist reported that I was completely clean
Car accident. It was flying, fully airborne, sideways, heading towards other cars. I had a moment of “we’ll be right back” and didn’t really black out, just stopped perceiving, and snapped back the moment the car’s motion stopped. I was unscathed.
It’s also one of my lowest points. All because I was angry at a woman who s**t all over me and mistreated me, I angrily made a driving mistake and nearly [unalived] myself and a few friends who were also in the car. I did drive again, but I don’t take any safety for granted now. And I don’t let my anger take control anymore.
Finally, I’ll say this: if a significant other mistreats you and shows no consternation or guilt, remember that more than their apology later. Abusive relationships are not ok, and the only correct answer is to walk away from the abusers. It is not our job to fix them, and we are the last one who ever could, were it possible.
Mountain lion screamed at me while i was out photographing at night by myself 15 days ago
But maybe just recency bias cuz i get scared a lot
No, this is legit. I've heard a puma scream. If that doesn't scare someone, they lack the fear response. Of course, my late gramps helpfully said, "It's the one you don't hear"...
Fell on a horseshoe stake... a rebar rod. Collapsed both lungs, ripped one, tore my doaphragm open. Had to crawl 2k feet with no lungs for help as I was losing oxygen, whole body felt like when your foot is asleep.... friends drove me a hospital that ambulanced me to the bettwe hospital, life support, metal plate on comminuted rib. I had tension pmuemothorax so my heart was pushed to wrong side of my chest cavity & my trachea was at a 30 degree angle, veering way off from the pressure. They had to pop holes between my ribs and suction my lungs back open. I was a capri sun for a moment
Ex wife when she drank a fifth of vodka in one day, then barged into the room while I was sleeping (I have to work the next day) flipped all the lights on and stood there for 10 minutes occasionally yelling “HELLO!” at me… then she walk into the bathroom and (unbeknownst to me at the moment) downed half a bottle of ambien, and came to bed and said “just know that I always loved you.”
The hair on the back of my neck stood straight up. I got up to discover the pills, and immediately called 911. When the paramedics came in, the two dogs we had laid on her and started howling. To this day, I can still hear the dogs howling and that thought alone can put me in a bad place for a few days.
She woke up two days later in the hospital. Yes, I stood by her for a few more years, but that night left a mark on the relationship.
I am so SO sorry this happened to you :-/ And of course it did! You might forgive (and forgiveness is difficult when dealing with addicts/mental disease) - but even if you are able to forgive, you and especially your body will never forget it. It will just always be there. Hugs.
I had been pulling all nighters on adderall, while on vacation with my in-laws, to finish a late school project. Fun vacation activities by day, writing my paper by night hoping not to fail my class. About five days in, I started seeing spiders all over every wall. I knew they weren’t real so I kept going. But when I saw the man looking in the window, I wasn’t sure. I was terrified.
He wasn’t real, I hallucinated a burglar. I finished the paper and at that point I had an honest conversation with my dean about ADHD accommodations. She was very understanding and I passed the class.
Was roofied and woke up in a briar patch on the side of the road around 10pm. Still couldn't see or think straight so wandered into the road (no sidewalk and lots of turns and trees) looking for an Uber (my phone was dead so this wasn't possible). I remember seeing a bunch of headlights and got dizzy so I sat in the grass next to the street. Somebody pulled over after driving past me wandering around in the road shoeless and cut up from the thorns. He scolded me for walking in the street and I was somehow able to tell him my address and get home safely.
I didn't realize until the next morning what had happened:
A friend (25F) and I (26F) got roofied by a bartender, and, after this single drink, we blacked out at about the same time and (maybe fortunately) got split up. I tried to walk the 3 miles on a windy 50 mph, poorly lit, hwy that didn't have a sidewalk. She ended up at the local police station and got arrested after trying to get into a parked police vehicle. She worked at a collections lab and ran bloodwork after being released early the next morning and found traces of an OTC sleep med neither of us had heard of that apparently interacts horribly with alcohol. I was bruised to hell and cut up and went in for a tetanus shot. Thanks to my phone records and my fitbit activity tracking I only had about 10 minutes unaccounted for and feel confident we weren't assaulted after being drugged, but it still keeps me up at night thinking about how easily I could've been hit and killed by a car wandering around on that hwy, bitten by a venomous snake in that briarpatch, severely struck my head in the trees on the side of that hill, had an OD bc of that drug and its alcohol- interaction, or been raped. Stopped going out for awhile after that and the bar closed a few months later.
I was kidnapped in South Africa on a holiday park in Margate when I was 6/7 - taken to a hut nearby full of people who sat me on a hospital bed whilst a few others sharpened knives and spoke Zulu , it was chaos . My mum and security burst in and grabbed me , we had only been there a few hours and were staying for the week with relatives but needless to say the car was packed and we left about 30 mins later. Didn’t ever think much of it back then but it’s a bold memory that’s always stayed with me and just like wtf would have happened if I wasn’t found.
Apparently according to my mum , when she came out looking for me after I didn’t come back ( I had gone to the sweet shop on the holiday park ) a woman told
Her I was taken and pointed I the direction she walked me off in and they managed to trace it that way
I hope those b*st*rds got trampled by elephants eventually!!! Smh...
I went ice skating with my cousins on a frozen lake when I was maybe seven or eight years old, and I fell through the ice. I don’t remember anything except how cold it was. Funny thing was, my family seemed to be blaming me for breaking the ice. They were all like “We’ve skated on that lake for years, and nobody’s even come close to falling in!”
Four children were killed just before Christmas by playing on a frozen lake in the UK. It's thought that one or two got into difficulty and the others tried to save them.
Two years ago my town was hit by a massive earthquake. At that moment I was standing in the doorway, talking to my father. First came the noise, then light shaking, then everything swung, tossing us and breaking everything that wasn't nailed to the floor. My father managed to get himself to the doorway and I remember hugging him tightly. I was 100% sure that was the moment we were all gonna die and this feeling haunts me to this day. I watched as room litteraly bent with every toss for like 30 seconds, then it all stopped. We ran out as fast as we could, happy to still be alive. Everybody else did the same. There was just utter chaos, hurt, fear, confusion and everything in between. There was no signal so you could't reach anyone to hear if people you cared about were still alive. This was in the middle of the lock down but government lifted the restrictions after the event so people could travel to find a place to sleep that evening.
Whole region was decimated by the earthquake and still hasn't recovered. Our building broke in half that day and was declared unusable. After that, I haven't slept properly for about 8 months, waking up all the time by nightmares of me and/or my family getting killed by a colapsing building. Even though I lived through bombings in the war and cancer diagnosis, I find this event to be the scariest moment in my life by far. Maybe because there was just no warning, it just happened and left everyone's life in ruin in a matter of seconds. I don't think I fully recovered mentaly just yet but it's getting better each day, one step at a time.
C**p, this just reminded me about my 1st ever earthquake experience, i was home, everything normal, then i hear a frikking loud noise like if a shelf of glaces and plates had fallen, 1st reaction was " s**t upstairs kids just f****d their nom's chinaware " na... the noise was coming from my own shelves, only noticed that when i looked at my Window and Saw it vibrate like crazy, only then i felt the floor " tremble ", it only took a few seconds, any was only a 4.3 i believe, but scared the s**t out of me....
I was about 100m out in the water with two other people and great white swam past us.
His name must've been Bruce. I hope you were in a boat though? Being that far out just swimming is stupid
When I went into preterm labor and was admitted to the hospital at 23 weeks pregnant. He was still born very premature, but a 23 weeker has a 25% chance of survival, which was made clear to me. It was also made clear that the state of labor I came in was not promising in prolonging the pregnancy. I thought I was going to lose him. I was so afraid, and I cried, cried, cried, and cried. I made it to 26 weeks and 5 days, and while I was still terrified, the odds for a 26 weeker with modern medicine are incredible, and I have a niece who was born at 27 weeks and she's a healthy 13 year old girl, so I just felt so confident he would be okay. And now he's home with us and developing at a normal rate. But that day I was admitted was the absolute worst day of my life, and I will never forget the terror of it all. I'll never forget the NICU doctor coming up and telling me his odds if he were born that night, and the obvious bias she had that if he were born, I shouldn't try to save him. I am so blessed that it never came down to that, and it was never a decision that I had to make. No NICU would argue against saving a 26 weeker, while the gestational age of viability is 24 weeks.
Riding out a hurricane in a fishing boat in Alaska was scary
I got into a fight with two criminals armed with knives. They were trying to rob a lady with a baby, not only that but they were really violent about it, they were slamming her against the wall, her baby was crying his little lungs out on the stroller.
I tried to just keep walking, but the crying of the baby and the yelling of his mother made my blood boil, i was overtook by a blind rage and before i knew it i was already swinging at the robbers.
It was only than that i noticed, they both had knives.
I had cuts on my arms that only stopped on the bones, i got stabbed on my lower abdomen, i got a knife stabbing THROUGH my right hand, some minor cuts on my legs and face. I legitimately thought I was going to die.
My mom was in another country with 8 hours difference being treated with chemotherapy and everything's was going fine.
I wake up and see a lot of missed calls from my brother while I was sleeping, and then I open an audio from my grandma who was with my mom telling "___ is dead". Just those three words.
My heart went to my feet.
I've never been the same and I feel like I never will get over this. I was too sheltered and only had her, now I'm alone and helpless and I feel a similar fear thinking about the future because I don't know how I will support myself.
My condolences T_T May the Powers-That-Be help you find your footing and bring back a sense of security into your life
I used to live near a large open stormwater drain with no fencing around it.
Three drunk guys drove their car straight into it.
I went out and found the driver trying to get his friends foot out of the windshield. On the field on other side of the drain I saw the third passenger who was covered in blood. I asked if they were ok and my neighbor called the ambulance/police.
The blood covered friend passed out and was twitching so I ran to the car, grabbed a towel from the back seat and ran to help him.
I found a large, deep cut on the back of his neck/head.
I rolled him to his back and used the weight of his head to put pressure on the wound. I was talking to him, trying to keep him awake and he went into shock, twitching and unresponsive. This was the moment I thought a man died in my hands. I was able to wake him and the ambulance took over from there. That was the most harrowing moment of my life.
When my son was diagnosed with non verbal autism. He is a wonderful child but it hurts not being able to communicate normally with him.
Don't worry, just adapt and communicate in other ways. You'll do great!
A very long story that I will condense into a sentence..a few years back I was trapped in a mentally unwell man's house, it ended with a kitchen knife against my throat.
Seeing things about kidnapping, dying family members, and car crashes make me feel like mines are stupid but anyway. I chocked on a fruit string thing and almost died
I went backpacking with my 8year old son when I became so sick overnight I was incapacitated. I sent my son alone down the trail in the wilderness to find help. I laid on the ground contemplating the possibility of death. My brave son found someone and I was helped in the end. I've never been that close to death before.
My second-born delivered with a tight cord around the neck. Midwife had to cut the cord to allow him to deliver (so tight she couldn’t stop it over his head). His entire face was a dusky purple, like someone had hit him with a grape pie. He was limp and unresponsive. Didn’t cry for a solid 5 minutes. The NICU team was called, and the minute they walked in, he started screaming. He is now almost 16 and just fine, but we thought we might lose him that night.
I was at a rock gym. I had climbed to the top of the wall, 30 feet.
I sat back in my harness to let the belay begin and I heard a snap. Something broke and I fell.
I realized I was falling and thought, this is it.
Then I had the idea that I should try to land on my feet- figured broken legs are better than death.
I landed on my feet and rolled, bounced, and landed on my back.
I was taken to the hospital and while I was in a lot of pain- its a f*****g miracle I had not a single broken bone.
I went home that night and was very sore and in pain for about a week.
My wife was recently very late coming back from a doctor's appointment to discuss the results of blood work she had done after feeling extremely fatigued for several months (among other symptoms). We have a 2 year old and I started to panic at the thought of losing my partner, raising our son by myself. Then I started thinking of how I was going to explain this all to him.
She was fine, she went shopping and had her phone on DND. Still one of the worst hours of my life, and I've been shot.
My wife and I were in the hospital for a few days after giving birth to our baby girl due to complications with her C-Section incision. I slept in a terrible pull-out chair couch thing every night watching over my tiny little girl as my wife was in and out of consciousness. She was breastfeeding during this time but otherwise slept a great deal. Day 3, my little girl vomits blood all over me out of nowhere. I'm tired, near delirious, and now panicking. She's rushed out of our room to the NICU, and for three hours we don't know what will happen. Dread and horror were all I felt. I just had this wonderful light enter my life and now feared something would take it away.
Turns out my wife chafed during breastfeeding enough to add some blood to the milk and all was perfectly fine, but I still remember that day.
Driving down a back road to home one afternoon. I had my window rolled down, arm hanging out, enjoying the sunny day. I'm about a half mile from where I lived in the country. A red, faded dually comes around the corner, heading the opposite direction. I wasn't paying it much attention.
When we went to pass each other, I heard the gunshot. Whoever it was pulled the trigger right in my face, luckily missed my face and my truck. One shot. I couldn't hear out of that ear for a solid half hour, and the ringing was intense. I was more hyped than scared because of all the adrenaline. I never found out who shot at me.
That's insane 😳. I hope that piece of garbage gets caught doing something and put away for a long time. They don't deserve to be around people.
when I was in the Army, deployed in Iraq. I hit a really low point and put the barrel of my rifle in my mouth, pulled the trigger. It misfired. Terrifies me sometimes thinking about it but most of the time I just wish it hadn't.
Please, please, please ask for professional help. Losing someone to suicide hurts everyone so much, and affects generations. Someone may think, "I will do what Uncle Jimmy did" as a way to deal with their problems. I wish I could hold my son and tell him how much he is loved, but he is gone.
I had an online friend for like 7 years and then I finally went to meet them (I lived in California and he lived in Massachusetts) I was 19 at the time and he said I could just stay with him for the week I was staying there. His idea. He stood me up at the airport and I was blocked on everything. In Massachusetts you have to be 21 to check into any motel or hotel. So I couldn’t even get a room for myself.
When I had a staff infection on my spine and neck. Why? Because I was already losing my ability to walk. Hell I was even losing my ability to write. Doctors said one more week and I'd have either died or lost my ability to move
When I was 17 years old I contracted a staph infection under my arm from a disposable razor. I swear at one point I thought I was going to die. It ended up going into one of my milk ducts and there was nothing I could do to convince the ER doc that I did not just give birth, as according to him, it's the only way a duct can get infected. Dumbest fecking doctor I've ever met, I swear!
Within my first year of driving, I picked my older sister up from a party that my BILs family was having so she could go study for an exam she had. The party was in the middle of nowhere so there were only backroads to and from it. On the way to her house, we got to an intersection and I was going 45-50mph and didn't see the stop sign so I ran through it and an 18 wheeler was coming at 60mph. Luckily for both of us, there was just barely enough time for us to get across but afterwards I had to pull over and breathe for a few minutes so I wouldn't have a panic attack.
Fell on my bike shortly after turning 20, knocked out 2 teeths and broke one, looked like Scarface from Batman for a week.
Don't remember falling and was knocked out for a couple of minutes, couldn't move, talk or see anything.
The worst part was while 4 people panic talking around me while I was laying on my back and drowning in my own blood without being able to do anything, while waiting for the ambulance, which felt like hours.
6 years later, I'm left with a "villain" scar across my left eye and 2 ceramic teeth, thankful that's it.
The scariest moment of my life is when I was walking home from work at night when I was 18, a man with all black was under the street lights with his hood up. As I was walking he spotted me and then he crossed the street just to follow me. I wasn't far from my house at all but I ran all the way home and he started running after me and as soon as I got back home, I locked the door. That creep was standing across the street and just looking at my front door almost all night.
When I was 16 I was sleeping in my living room and slept walked into the hallway and into the bathroom. I remember walking like a puppet in the hallway but that's all. Apparently I walked into the bathroom and filled the tub with cold water. I woke up submerged in the tub with my clothes on. with one nostril out of the water. I was scared sh**less and it was like 3 am so my family was asleep. I just laid there for 5 min thinking what the f**k is going on.
I woke up underwater in a kayak after getting knocked out by my own paddle. it took me a second to realize that a) I was underwater and b) it was very big, dangerous water in the next section.
made it out w/a head wound and a folded in half boat.
I was about 10 and me and a friend came across a truck load of sand. It was yellow sand which is unique to the W. Australia region and is a mixture of limestone and clay. It holds up well when left for a while. So being a kid I started digging and before I knew it I had created a tunnel that was an engineering marvel. As I reached further in trying to poke through the other side. The whole thing came down on me and it was suffocating and heavy. I used every strength of my being to raise myself up and not be suffocated. My friend luckily was there to dig away the sand and pull me out and my adrenaline was in full fight mode to free myself.
Lesson learnt!
When a poster hanging above my bed fell on me in the middle of the night. Thought I was being attacked.
Got stopped three times on one night by a Mexican drug cartel while I was driving through the middle of nowhere in a pitch black midnight.
I was swimming in this public, pretty calm river. It's pretty chill but there is this one part where it gets really deep and it flows really fast.
I was maybe 8 at this point and I was floating along when some kids in a big floaty bumped Into me and sent me into this bit.
Now I am not that good a swimmer. So as you can probably guess I started panicking (never a good idea.) And started to struggle. Luckily for me my mum tried out for the Olympic swimming trials (she has a whole box of medals in her basement and it's here only bragging point.) I still count my lucky stars because of this fact to this day.
She dived into the water immediately and saved me. Another guy was swimming towards me as well and as he pointed out just before we got out the water. My mums boob had popped out. Lol
Getting shocked by 240v during a a/c install when my helper accidentally left power on…
At an international airport, sending Eldest off to bootcamp; Youngest two and I were allowed to escort him through security and all the way to his gate. On the way back to the USO lounge where the Middle Son and SO were waiting, daughter had to go to the restroom, so stood and watched Youngest Son (10) get buzzed into the lounge before walking into the restroom with daughter. When we got to the lounge ourselves about 10 minutes later, I found MS and SO in totally different area of the lounge from where we'd left them, and YS was No where in sight. They hadn't seen him at all!! The next half an hour was the most terrifying of my entire life!! I have never been so scared. The USO desk guy remembered buzzing him in, but didn't remember seeing him afterward. We got airport security involved immediately, looked everywhere we could think of...they had just started looking through camera footage when Middle Son had an idea - he went out to the parking lot and checked the car.
Apparently, when YS went into the lounge and didn't see his dad and brother, he had No Clue where they could possibly have gone. He knew that once his sister and I came out of the bathroom, we were supposed to collect everyone else and then go to the car. So, he figured that if he was at the car, we couldn't leave without him & he knew that the rear passenger door autolock doesn't work, and he knew for a fact that he hadn't locked it manually when he got out. So there he was.
When they radioed that he'd been found, I damn near passed out with relief. Got wobbly and had to sit down.
I was in middle school and at my friends house, both of her parents were Deaf. We heard frantic yelling from her mom and lights flashing (a signal they used in their home) and ran in to see blood EVERYWHERE, her dad was projectile vomiting blood everywhere, my friend started screaming, she called 9-1-1, I called my mom. She came to pick me up after my friend jumped in the ambulance with her dad. Terrifying and overwhelming.
I gave birth to our son. After an hour the placenta still wouldn’t budge and I was bleeding out so I was wheeled off to the OR. I’ll never forget looking back and seeing my husband standing there with our munchkin and the scared look on his face. The operation went well, but the epidural they gave me for it (the birth itself was unmedicated) went up too high and I did not feel good. Cold, tired and all I wanted was to go to sleep. But that scared me so much because what if I didn’t wake up? It’s been almost 7 years but the memories are strong.
2 years ago I caught Covid and was 2 breaths per minute away from ending up in hospital or worse. Same feeling. What if…?
I was beaten so bad as a child that while there are moments where I had a jump scare, I just kinda shirk it off whatever it is. I'm probably gonna have to go with almost being mauled by momma bear, though.
I had a random panic attack on a rollercoaster. It was at the end so we were coming back into the terminal and i realized I couldn't breathe
I'm absolutely terrified of flying, so being stuck on a long haul flight with what I considered to be terrible turbulence wasn't exactly fun. I was in an absolute state of panic and was certain we'd crash and die. I've avoided flying ever since and when I have to in the future, I'll make sure to get whatever prescription that knocks me out completely. If I still know who, where and why I am when I'm boarding, I'm not getting on that plane.
Driving to work one morning and went to hit my brakes and NOTHING!! My master cylinder was broken and I had barely any brakes. Luckily it was a holiday and there weren’t many cars on the road so I didn’t hit anyone. Funny how the driving lessons I took 20 years before kicked in and I remembered what I had to do to stop. The worst part was because it was a holiday I couldn’t get the car fixed so I was stuck at home during a 112*F weekend and no AC.
I got a fever when I was a kid and fell asleep on the living room couch. I woke up unable to move or talk and I could barely move my eyes. My mom was busy talking to a neighbor and making dinner. I was trapped for hours in my sleeping position until my mom called for me. My mom found it odd that I was not moving or responding but my eyes were open. She carried me to the car and we went to the ER where I slowly regained movement.
Having a cricket ball smash me in the face woke up in the back of an ambulance hooked up to everything because they thought I had a cracked skull. When I woke up all I saw was white then a blurry face leaning over me and my ears were ringing like mad, felt like I was in a horror film
I had a hypertension attack while swimming in a lake ~200 yards from shore; my blood pressure spiked so high that it pushed bodily fluids into my lungs and I could hardly breathe. Do not recommend.
Mine was driving my mom to the emergency room and not knowing that she was having a heart attack and she didn't want me to call 911. My dad had a freak accident and his big toe was accidentally cut off with the lawn mower that my nephew was riding. When my dad couldn't walk (2 years ago) and had to call 911 and take him to the emergency room. Both of my parents is doing well now.
gotta be honest, even after reading it multiple times, I do not understand which information has context and which doesn't in this post.
After getting my wisdom teeth out I had a really hard time coming out of anesthesia. I was mentally aware but because of a breathing condition I have and the doctors not giving me enough oxygen afterwards I fought mentally to wake myself up for about an hour. I was in a state in-between sleeping and awake.
I choked on steak during the first covid lockdown, like lodged in my windpipe choking, I couldn't get it out, wife called 911 as I ran outside for help from neighbors and it dislodged into my esophagus instead so I could breath again but if I drank water it sat on top of the steak and basically would drown me, paramedics said they cant dislodge it as it's in the esophagus now and it should move down eventually (it did) and if not then I'd need to go to hospital, and now I'm terrified of this deadly disease having like 4 paramedics in my home this was the start of lockdowns when we didn't have as much information besides "you drop dead".
Fell asleep driving once after a long shift around 3 am. Spun out in an icy bridge and lost count of how many times my truck turned before hitting the concrete bridge sidewall. Could see the water in slow motion but fortunately the concrete was very sturdy and held.
I was maybe like 6 years old. I’m in the bathtub, playing with toys. I heard my dad and my stepmom fighting. It was normal because they did it almost everytime I was there (I lived with my mom but I was with my father at the weekends). Until she screamed: “Put that knife down!”. I don’t know what happened after. They broke up a few years(!) after luckily.
Another scary moment: My first ever panic attack.
No further info from OP. I'm guessing that both parties were okay on that occasion or they probably would have remembered that they weren't. I definitely couldn't sleep with someone in the same bed after being threatened with a knife by them but I do understand that a mind of a victim could be in any number of scenarios where they just didn't feel they could leave at the time. I'm glad they were able to part later and hopefully both have gotten some mental health care.
I’m not gonna tell the full story, but I once misheard the question “Do you know your sisters did?” as “Do you know your sister’s dead?” and that was the worst 5 seconds of my life.
Got into a motorcycle accident doing 75mph that was so scary I had night mares about it.
Also when I first moved out, was I sleep in my bedroom and one of the oars on my ceiling fan ripped off and slammed into the door. I woke up freaking the f**k out
I unfortunately witnessed the death of a man and very severe injury of his wife as he crashed their motorcycle into the guardrail on the interstate at 75mph. I did everything that I could for her until life flight was overhead to pick her up and the paramedics arrived. They had just passed us when it happened and my ex-husband blocked the interstate with his truck. It was a nightmare that I relived every night for months. I don't know if she made it or not, she was in bad condition. It was a horrible day.
Someone I loved had a surgery with only a 50% chance of survival and I couldn’t be there.
My 20 year old sister is 5 months pregnant and she fell trying to run away from the fireworks and I saw her fall. And damn if I didn't almost have a heart attack
Luckily she didn't fall on her stomach. Probably isn't my scariest moment in life but it just happened like a few minutes ago so I'm still in shock
Did an amateur MMA fight. Got in there never having felt like someone wanted to murder me before - those vibes are real. Just about every fiber of my being was like this isn't a game anymore, just get out of the ring, but then the bell goes off. I choked him out in the first round but damn that was terrifying.
I was in shop class and working on a truck's A/C. All the hoist's were taken so I'm in a flat bay, but it's fine, I'm small and fit under the truck on my creeper. I didn't realize the line cracked and was leaking R-12 in my face, until I take a breath. My lungs fill, but there's no oxygen. So I take another breath and another. At this point black spots are dancing in front of my eyes and I still have to wiggle out from under the the truck. I can't yell, I can barely get a whisper out, even if i could, the shop is loud. As I'm struggling to get out, someone grabs my feet and yanks me out. The instructor noticed me thrashing and pulled me out. It still took a full minute before I could get oxygen to my lungs. Fortunately the EMT class (faster than an ambulance) was nearby and they had O2. I've been hit by a car and died for five minutes, but this was by far scarier because I was aware the whole time.
A scary experience I remember from when I was around 10 yrs old: My father (who had a lot of anger issues), was robbed at gunpoint. A few days later, a very polite, older (shabbily dressed) man showed up at our door---he said he found my father's driver's license and brought it to return to us.My mom and I were the only ones home at the time--he wasn't at all threatening and seemed genuine so my mom gave him some money as a reward he was grateful and left. When my father was told about it, he had a fit (major anger management issues), got his unlicensed gun to go after this guy he now decided was the mugger (even though his description was of a much young man). He dragged me along, driving in very sketchy areas to "identify" the guy who came to the door. My mom didn't know about this until after we got home (and was livid at his disregard for my safety---I was about 9 or 10 at the time). I'll tell ya, I wouldn't have pointed him out to my father in a million years---even if I had thhe was the mugger (which I didn't). (When we were a little older my mom left him with me and my siblings in tow.)
"You don't sound bad. Go to the ER if it get worse" An urgent care nurse told me after checking my lungs with a stethoscope over a heavy woolen after I went there an April 2020 after having a cold (Covid I presume..had all the symptoms) that was getting worse and getting harder to breathe. After that I literally had nightmares that someone was choking me..once I started to black out on my dream..only to wake up gasping for air. I finally did get better...in all...it took eight month for the worse to pass.
I was in shop class and working on a truck's A/C. All the hoist's were taken so I'm in a flat bay, but it's fine, I'm small and fit under the truck on my creeper. I didn't realize the line cracked and was leaking R-12 in my face, until I take a breath. My lungs fill, but there's no oxygen. So I take another breath and another. At this point black spots are dancing in front of my eyes and I still have to wiggle out from under the the truck. I can't yell, I can barely get a whisper out, even if i could, the shop is loud. As I'm struggling to get out, someone grabs my feet and yanks me out. The instructor noticed me thrashing and pulled me out. It still took a full minute before I could get oxygen to my lungs. Fortunately the EMT class (faster than an ambulance) was nearby and they had O2. I've been hit by a car and died for five minutes, but this was by far scarier because I was aware the whole time.
A scary experience I remember from when I was around 10 yrs old: My father (who had a lot of anger issues), was robbed at gunpoint. A few days later, a very polite, older (shabbily dressed) man showed up at our door---he said he found my father's driver's license and brought it to return to us.My mom and I were the only ones home at the time--he wasn't at all threatening and seemed genuine so my mom gave him some money as a reward he was grateful and left. When my father was told about it, he had a fit (major anger management issues), got his unlicensed gun to go after this guy he now decided was the mugger (even though his description was of a much young man). He dragged me along, driving in very sketchy areas to "identify" the guy who came to the door. My mom didn't know about this until after we got home (and was livid at his disregard for my safety---I was about 9 or 10 at the time). I'll tell ya, I wouldn't have pointed him out to my father in a million years---even if I had thhe was the mugger (which I didn't). (When we were a little older my mom left him with me and my siblings in tow.)
"You don't sound bad. Go to the ER if it get worse" An urgent care nurse told me after checking my lungs with a stethoscope over a heavy woolen after I went there an April 2020 after having a cold (Covid I presume..had all the symptoms) that was getting worse and getting harder to breathe. After that I literally had nightmares that someone was choking me..once I started to black out on my dream..only to wake up gasping for air. I finally did get better...in all...it took eight month for the worse to pass.
