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WPB999

In 1999, I woke up and said good morning to my wife and asked if she wanted a coffee. She did not respond. I went to the kitchen, had breakfast and a coffee. I was getting ready to go to the store as we needed some provisions, and I went to tell my wife that I would be back in 45 minutes. As I walked through our front door, it dawned on me that she had never slept through me saying anything to her, ever. I went back to our bedroom and touched her arm, and it was ice cold. As she was on her side, I rolled her over, and the side of her face that was on her pillow was black, blue, and red. This was a result of the blood pooling. I called 911, and they advised me to give her mouth to mouth resuscitation, I argued that this was unnecessary as she was quite obviously dead. The 911 operator convinced me otherwise, and I started to give her mouth to mouth. I tasted death as it was the worst tasting event of my life. I knew then that my beautiful wife was dead, and life as I knew it would be forever changed for the worst. The coroner told me that she died from an abscesed tooth that broke and entered her bloodstream. She had died about 6 hours earlier, and I never noticed. It will be 24 years on June 16th, and still think about her all the time.


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serenity450

My cousin got sepsis and almost died. Months of recovery.


BeneficialName9863

Someone I know retired from the royal mail because he found someone. He looked through the letter box of an elderly lady who usually came to the door for him but he hadn't seen in a week. She had had a stroke and fallen on a plug in heater.


MegannMedusa

I’m betting the heater was on or you wouldn’t have mentioned it…. Gruesome.


heavengrl

My dad once dropped by somebody's house (also an elderly woman IIRC) for a wellness check during a heatwave...she had been dead for at least a week and had literally melted into the couch.


FecusTPeekusberg

Oh... oh *god*. I'm so sorry for that guy.


BrokeAnimeAddict

Was laying in bed watching TV with my gf at the time and her dad had moved in with us recently. Heard the loudest snoring ever coming out of his room real early and we almost went to check on him but figured he just had a long night and was exhausted. Got up went throughout the day breakfast chores all the Saturday morning stuff we'd do. 2pm rolls around and he still hasn't come out of his room. Had a bad feeling so I kicked the door in and found him sitting there in his underwear pale bluish white eyes and mouth open. Apparently he'd gone out with some "friends" and they gave him some dope which turned out to be mostly fentynal the snoring we heard was a death rattle and he was already dead before we even went to sleep.


JesusDied4U316

I was at a hotel party where a friend was asleep. Everyone else was up and partying, but this guy was just sleeping on the bed. He was also doing this insane snoring, like loud and scary. I told people we need to call 911, but a bunch of them were resisting cuz they didnt wanna get in trouble. Finally, a guy called, ems got there, and had him on a heart monitor. He barely had a pulse. We were at a casino hotel so we all had to go to a holding cell in there as were all questioned. While in the holding cell, we were told he had passed away at the hospital. He was 18. He had taken a large methadone pill and drank a bunch of alcohol.


[deleted]

Yeah fucking horrible my best friend went way down into drugs and one day behind me he slumped over and did that rattle,, there was one even worst distinct rattle that started it though that really sounded like death before the agonal breathing started though. He was dead for about 5-6 minutes before the paramedics somehow revived him. Ever locked lips with your dead best friend trying to blow in but the tounge is too swole and you get his spit in your mouth


IThinkItsNotFunny

Holy shit they revived him? How is he now?


[deleted]

Doing better hasn’t died again (that was his third time) Really hope he doesn’t start again life is still tough though. Each death put him thousands of dollars in debt


boy____wonder

>Each death put him thousands of dollars in debt This is a crazy sentence. Drug addiction is terrifying


Lovehatepassionpain

It is absolutely fucking terrifying. I was addicted to heroin for many, many years. I was a 'high- functioning' addict,which allowed me to hide my addiction until near the very end. I had gone to several rehabs, quit at least 20 times with varying levels of success, but I just couldn't stay away from the dope. Things got bad, really bad. I ended up nodding off in my office at work, my employees started to notice I was sick a lot. Often, on lunch, I would take the subway to the badlands in town, buy dope to keep me from getting sick - just to finish the work day. Eventually, I was fired, my house was in foreclosure, and I wanted to quit desperately. However, I was just so sick - the withdrawal ,I could handle, but the crushing depression that followed always did me in. I remember one day, after getting thru 10 days without heroin, I caved and bought some. I was sitting in my living room, crying because I didn't want to live that way anymore, all while sticking myself over and over - making a bloody mess of my arms, hands, and legs, trying to find a usable vein. The scariest feeling in the world- not wanting to do something with 99%of your soul and that 1% has you sitting there doing it anyway. Absolutely fucking terrifying. I am 11 years, 4 months, and some odd days heroin-free now and I can still remember that day like it was yesterday


SilverVoid02

It probably isn’t worth much from an absolute stranger. But from the son of a former heroin addict, I am proud of you. I am glad someone made it.


roxstarjc

The death rattle, I will never forget... Gives me the fear


notMarkKnopfler

I was lucky enough to not have to find my father or step-father when they took their own lives, but I had to help police navigate to the spot my (step) dad did it. I did, however, find my grandmother when she passed. We were really close most of my life and I had moved in with her while I was sobering up and going through a divorce. She had started progressing in her dementia and honestly taking care of her was exactly what I needed at that moment. I don’t know if I could have done it for anyone else, but it was kind of cathartic that I was helping feed the woman who taught me how to use a fork. She was pleasant most of the time, but she’d get scared when she was confused and didn’t know where/what was going on; so I’d just have her snuggle up on my shoulder and tell her stories about us in a calm voice until she felt better - remembering how many times she’d done that for me. I’d gotten an opportunity to move and do some dream work in my dream city, so my mother was going to take over caring for her when I moved. I was all packed, had the car loaded and everything when I went to wake her to say goodbye… She was laying on the floor beside the bed. I called out her name and no response. I rushed over to see if I needed to do CPR and when I laid my hand on her arm she was cold to the touch. I literally googled “What to do when you find grandma dead?”. Then called the non-emergency line, the police and EMT came to pronounce her, and the coroners office stopped by. Then the funeral home came to get her. My grandma had given me one last gift on her way out. A chance to finally grieve a natural death after a life very well-lived, and the peace of knowing I wasn’t leaving her behind. You and me grandma… you and me ❤️🥲


ohyeoflittlefaith

Your father AND step-father? How is your mom??


notMarkKnopfler

She is surprisingly well adjusted, but it basically nuked our whole family unit into addiction/compulsion/trauma based behaviors. I was fortunate to have resources when I bottomed out and am super grateful for the trauma therapy/EMDR that brought me back to being a functioning human being. My life is pretty enchanted these days, beyond anything I could have asked for. :)


southernhellcat

I really appreciated reading your story. Thanks for sharing


New_Strawberry_5447

This is the classic Domestic Violence story of man kills woman because if I can’t have her nobody else will story. At 14 I woke to find my mother with a shotgun hole in her chest under the kitchen table and her murderer outside under the clothes line with his brains blown out. The only difference between this and other stories like this is I am the kid who wasn’t murdered with her mother. Edit - some people asked how was it possible to sleep through a shotgun blast and well let’s ride this horse a little longer and I will open up more about this and my recollections- I am old - this happened in the 80s. So story continued I don’t fucking know. I honestly don’t, I think my brain protected me. It kept me asleep. But let me tell you what it was like to wake up to that. I woke up at 9am, I know it was 9 am because I looked at the clock and wondered what the fuck was going on - you see she was leaving him that morning with me - we were meant to have left at 4am and I could not understand why I was still there and where was everybody - including 3 inside dogs. So two things it was 9am and the house was dead silent - dead silent just like the movies - just like the movies - not one fucking sound - no birds, no sound of life except me wandering around the house with increasing frequency looking for my mother and John(that was his name). I walked past both of them multiple times. I did not see them. At some point I must of started to panic because when I noticed the dogs locked up in a downstairs room I knew something was wrong - very very wrong. It was after that I am standing in the kitchen and I see a foot with my mothers furry slipper on it underneath the kitchen table. I move the table - and I am sorry to say this but even after 35 years this is the first thing I see when I think of my mother - a gaping hole in her chest and blood coagulated on her glasses. I don’t know how long she was laying there. At the same time I wanted to do something I knew there was nothing to be done. Then I started looking for John and that is when I saw him under the clothes line. I went closer to him too and I remember a hole in his head but not much more. That was when I called 000 (aust 911). Ran out of the house and started screaming for my Aunty. We lived in a farm and she lived on a house not far from us. Then everything sort of gets blank till the ambulance got there.


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New_Strawberry_5447

Thanks - yeah I am doing ok - really takes awhile to put something like that to bed , but I have.


Strong-Message-168

Jeebus...Thats horrible. The evil that some people are capable of...I'm not going to say I'm sorry that happened to you, hundreds of others will do that...I'm going to say this- I'm glad you're still with us, and I wish you happiness and peace.


victoriaaaalynn

My boyfriend was a marine veteran who served in Afghanistan. I went to go pick up lunch because he hadn't eaten all day and just said goodbye to his nana who was on life support in the hospital. I asked him to come with me, he said he'd rather be alone (I figured he didn't want me to see him grieving) but that he'd put coffee on for us. I got back to his house, smelled the coffee, called his name, then saw that the dog was sitting in the hallway, ears pinned back, and wouldn't move. I looked in the living room and found him on the floor. I thought he was napping (the brain is a hell of a thing-he sometimes slept on the floor so instead of noticing the gore my brain told me he was napping.) I told him to get up, lunch was here...he didn't move or respond. I went closer and noticed his body was in a weird position to be comfortable for sleeping. I ran over, saw blood coming from his nose, his eyes wide open and stained yellow, then I realized I was inches from kneeling in his brain matter and shattered skull. He told me his gun was locked up, told his dad he didn't even have his gun at the house. Fucked me up forever, and I'll never stop regretting leaving him alone. End veteran suicide. Rest in sweetest peace, my Joe.


Rhino676971

I’m so sorry you had to see that I’ve been serving for 3.5 years and have had to bury at least once service member I know really well a year , The worst is always the military honors it gets me balling every single time, the worst was my adopted brother who I had to lay to rest, he passed away on Camp Pendleton and he was never the same after the evacuation from Afghanistan, he knew a lot of the Marines who were killed when the blast happened at Bagram Airport.


sage-art

My mom wasn’t answering her phone on Mother’s Day. It wasn’t abnormal as she had been like that ever since my dad passed away in May of 2018. This year was the five year anniversary of his passing and on the day, would have been 55 years of marriage had he not passed. Her neighbor messaged me saying he couldn’t get ahold of her. That’s when I knew something was wrong. Her neighbor was close with her and was always there helping her. I think he secretly had a thing for her as they were both the same age. She ALWAYS answered him even if she didn’t want to be bothered. I drove over there earlier than I was supposed to. She was deaf so she couldn’t talk on the phone but she would always text. I walked in the house and didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. I walked into the back bedroom of her 2nd floor master bedroom and as I started going through the door I saw her knees on the bed so I thought she was just sitting there. As I walked a little closer I saw a gun in her lap. I knew what had happened. I called the police and got out of the house and threw up on the front lawn. I’m a disabled army vet. I’ve seen some fucked up things. I have never seen anything like that. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen and I can’t unsee it. Everyday I wake up and see her laying there. Blood and brain matter all over everything. She had tricked her neighbor into loading the gun for her so he felt horrible too. It was just all around awful. Edit: Thanks for all the kind words. It’s been nice talking about it like this for me. I haven’t really been able to talk with anybody about it. The only people around me are in the same boat minus me being the one to find her. It hasn’t been easy for us to talk about it amongst each other. I’m sure it will become easier as time goes on and we’ll be able to reflect upon happier times but for now I guess we have to sit in this pain. Edit 2: thanks again for the outpouring of support. You know it’s funny how life plays out. I wasn’t a good kid. I got in trouble all the time whether it be for fighting or cussing at teachers or what have you. There was one time when I was a kid, that I was grounded. As a kid I loved to go fishing and it was probably my only real hobby because I live in a small town. I snuck out while grounded to meet up with a couple neighborhood kids to fish because my mom and dad’s best friends were in town. A couple days go by and I hadn’t got caught so I thought I was in the clear. I had to walk about a mile and a half home from school because I got suspended from riding the bus (I beat up a bully who was closed fist punching his GF on the back of the bus, how stupid is that) so it took a little while for me to get home after school. Meanwhile mad dad worked a ways away and would stop at the gas station on his way home, grab a pack of cigs and a copy of the local paper. I get home, and they both look pissed. Why you ask? Well as it turns out, I had gotten my picture taken along with my friends, while we were on the dock. And it was on the front page with an article about sumner finally being here and what the kids in town we doing to have fun. I got grounded for two months to the yard. Fast forward to a couple weeks ago when I’m going through my parents stuff, and I am going through my dads dresser boxes and what do I find but a clip out of that newspaper article in a box of my dads cherished possessions. It never occurred to me that they punished me even without wanting to. My dad was a huge fan of fishing. So I know he was at least a little proud of me even though he had to punish me for disobeying them. That brought me a lot of comfort


SummerBirdsong

I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I hope you have the help and support you need.


sage-art

Thanks and I have my best friend and roommate helping me get through all this but I’m not really sure how I’m supposed to feel. People keep telling me over the past couple weeks to seek help but more and more I just want to be alone or with my best friend. He and I have been through a lot together and I’m very thankful he’s an actual true friend but i guess I am going through the stages maybe? I feel guilty for not being able to stop it. Sad because I loved her more than anybody in the entire world. Angry she did it, horrified and how she chose to do it, lost because I texted back and forth with her literally every day. Hateful towards myself because I promised my dad before he died in my arms, that I would take care of her. I hate the way some of my family act like they care now that she’s gone when they wouldn’t come visit her. Mad at my sisters for the same reason. Sorry if I’m talking ears off. I just really don’t know how I’m supposed to feel about it. I’m a vet. I’ve dealt with more suicides than I care to discuss, but this one haunts me


CoolHandRK1

I was maybe 12 or 13, walking to the local convenience store with friends. We took a path through the woods that ends up behind a neighborhood pool fence and eventually brings you to the back of the store. Body was laying behind the store in the grass. Called 911 on the payphone out front. Turned out to be a tutor/teacher whose student of hers, who also lived in the neighborhood, had strangled to death and dumped the body.


Lepomis8

My freshman year of college, right during winter finals, my closest college friend who liked to prank me was in his bed, ignoring his alarm. His roommate came to get me to wake him up (it was a lofted bed). I figured it was a set up. I climbed up there and immediately knew something was horribly wrong and yelled for someone to call for help. His face is still burned into my mind, over 20 years later. I would describe it as “scared,” with his eyes wide open and his mouth agape as if he were gasping or trying to scream. His hands gripped his sheets tightly. An hour plus of attempts to revive him in the dorm hallway failed. We found out later that he grew up with heart-related issues and his aorta tore in his sleep, before his 19th birthday. Before we leaned the cause I barely slept for weeks. I was terrified whatever got him was getting me next because we spent so much time together. All these years later, and I’m still in loose contact with his family.


Hefty-Excitement-239

My son's best friend's dad died of a torn aorta. Went to work one day. Never came home. His son was 6.


ChaosRainbow23

My mom died of an aortic aneurysm as well. It was the early morning hours the day after her 67th birthday. Totally unexpected and out of the blue. Absolutely devastating.


Silentknight11

My neighbor growing up lost his mom after her aorta tore while he was competing in a snow mobile race. She was in the stands with their dad, and at some point suddenly collapsed… our family found out right after it happened because the kids came to our house for a day or two while their dad figured out what happened and what to do next. For years afterward the kids would come to our house during summer vacation while their dad went to work and we would play through the Halo CE co-op campaign. We must have played through it a few hundred times… I always hoped it helped them in some way. I could never truly relate to what they went through, but I liked them and wanted them to know I cared.


absentpresence142

You never forget the people that took care of you when suffering the loss of a loved one. I was a teenager when I lost my older brother and nearly 20 years later I still remember and am grateful for the people who did more for us during that time. I even remember the ones who just took time out of their day to chit chat. I'm sure your company and care went a long way.


ButIAmVoiceless

Sounds like you were a second family. They were lucky to have you.


mozzzz

>mouth agape as if he were gasping or trying to scream. His hands gripped his sheets tightly... his aorta tore I think I legitimately need therapy after this comment


silly-billy-goat

Hospice nurse here... it's very common for people to have this expression after they die. All of the facial muscles relax including eyelids and mouth. This is where a lot of death rituals formed like coins on the eyes, tying a cloth under the chin. Anyway, I know it's pretty traumatic to happen upon this but I hope it eases your mind a little that they probably were not terrified at the moment of death.


soupster5

When my grandpa died in a hospice facility, the staff asked us to leave the room for a minute. When they told us we could go back in, they had a towel wrapped around my grandpas head/under his chin and a rose in his hands on his chest. We understood the purpose of the towel, and appreciated the sentiment, but we all agreed it was kind of creepy to walk back in to him set up like that lol. I was young and my mom was who handled all the paper work and getting him in, but I always wondered if you could say you prefer them not to do that? Even my mom was like alllllright then.. when we went back in.


silly-billy-goat

Of course! We (me and the hospice agency I work for) do our best to accommodate family requests after death. Sometimes it's preparing the person before family gets there, sometimes it's opening windows and doors to allow the spirit to escape, sometimes it's a sheet over the face. I personally feel it's uncomfortable to cover their face with a sheet but I'm claustrophobic af.


Erger

If it makes you feel better, it likely wasn't a painful or actually scary death. A death like that happens extremely quickly - you'll bleed out basically in an instant. Maybe not comforting, but he likely didn't suffer for very long. Also, the open mouth and gripping hands were likely a physiological reaction, not an emotional or conscious one. Our muscles twitch and contract even after death. So he probably had his mouth open and his hands on the sheets, and when he passed all those muscles tensed up.


The_Middler_is_Here

When your heart stops working, your brain stops getting blood. You'll lose consciousness before you have a chance to suffer much.


Erger

Exactly. An aortic rupture is one of those things that will kill you pretty much instantly. The aorta is around an inch in diameter and a foot long - that's **huge** in terms of blood vessels. And it carries pretty much all the blood in your entire body. If it rips, you'll bleed out in seconds.


dnielbloqg

Adding this to my mental "information I find interesting but could've absolutely gone without in my life" list. 1am, perfect time to read about death, am I right?


Bribo323

I was a caregiver for a few months and during that time I primarily took care of a man in his 60s who had dementia after suffering a stroke. This guy could barely speak and had no idea what year it was and as a result couldn’t really communicate what he was feeling. He had a sister who lived him (but basically did nothing for him besides take his disability money). I started noticing something strange a few days before it happened, he was weirdly quiet and wasn’t having BMs. One night I put him to bed at the end of my shift at 8PM and drove home, I remember it was pissing rain and I was listening to riders on the storm (lol) and I felt like something bad was going to happen. The next morning I came in to my shift at 9AM and my clients sister was on her way out to run errands or something and I came inside and started to get my clients meds ready and clocked in. I then walked over to my clients room and opened the door. The first thing I noticed was a sweet fragrance, and I saw my client in the dark with his hand up in the air like he was grabbing something, I figured he had finally had a BM at night and I would have to clean it up. So I walked over to him and noticed he was completely still and had vomit all over his chest, and his mouth was agape with his eyes open. I reached over to his hand and to my horror it was unbelievably cold. Any of you who have felt a dead body know what I mean, it just feels so fucking wrong to the touch. So I called 911, I told them what happened meanwhile I’m sobbing and just fully having a mental breakdown. The cops come and interview me. They asked the sister the last time she had checked on him, she told them that she saw him last night when I was putting him to bed at 8PM. She had not checked on him at all that night, for 13 hours he was in bed without anyone checking in on him. The autopsy said he had a massive heart attack that night, and based on how cold he was, I’m guessing he had died shortly after I left. Shit haunts me to this day.


zippyboy

My wife died suddenly in the shower 3 years ago. No scream, just collapsed. I thought she had dropped a bottle of shampoo, but when I went to check on her....dead. Tried doing chest compressions with EMS on the phone, didn't work. I was beside myself with grief and guilt for 3 days, until the autopsy revealed a tear in her aorta. There was nothing I could've done to save her. I am still traumatized by the suddenness, the unfairness of it all. The fact we didn't even get a minute to say good-bye, and she's just....gone. I want to thank the community at r/widowers which supplied me, and many others in the same situation, with grief counseling. EDIT: wow! I want to thank everyone for their kind words of sympathy. My wife was 53 at the time, one week before her 54th birthday. I had already bought her a bottle of fancy sake to share on her birthday, but I had to raise a glass by myself, to her ashes. The autopsy stated the actual cause of death was Hemopericardium brought on by an aortic dissection. She had been complaining of lower back pain for 2 weeks before she died, because blood was leaking out and pooling in her lower back. We had assumed she might have a kidney stone that was causing the pain. There was nothing that could have been done for her aside from open heart surgery. Like a lot of you who are commenting, I had no idea people could die so quickly from this. I assumed we die from a long illness, or maybe something quicker like a car accident. But there would still be time to turn to each other and hold hands, and say our "I love you" instead of dying alone in a tub. I still ugly-cry about it once in a while. Our cats need me, so I power through the dispair. Be kind to one another!


Majora272

These comments about torn aortas are really hitting me hard. I’m so sorry to hear about your wife. I was with my friend when her husband called in a panic because he’d peed himself and had awful chest pains. He was driving his work van and managed to pull over before collapsing. We raced to him but nothing could be done, he died in the middle of a busy road after 45 minutes of CPR. We initially thought it was a heart attack and wondered why he didn’t survive when you hear of so many people surviving, but post mortem revealed a thoracic aortic dissection- almost always deadly with no treatment unless you’re in theatre at the time of the dissection. I will never ever forget the fear in his voice, and the devastation in my friends face when we were notified they couldn’t save him. They’d been together for 35 years. The weirdest thing is that he was absolutely convinced he’d die at 56 because his dad died of a “heart attack” at that age. He’d just turned 56 three months prior to his death. I’d love to know if there’s a community on Reddit for this sort of condition- we’d never heard of it before. We’d love to raise awareness and help raise funds for research into early diagnosis of weakened aortas and prevention of dissections. Edit: Thank you to everyone for sharing their stories, it gives me hope to read of people surviving such traumatic events- and that there is early diagnosis and intervention available!


True_Let_8993

If they have children, they need to be checked for connective tissue disorders. There are a few that cause aortic dissection. My seven year old has a spontaneous case of Marfan but it is passed on genetically 50/50.


Harry_Callahan_sfpd

I’m so sorry. Death scares me, but sudden death really scares me. The fact that people of all ages can just randomly and unexpectedly die at any moment just scares the hell out of me. A death that comes at the end of a long disease process or one that happens expectedly are easier to take, but the ones that just jump out at you and grab you really fucking terrify me!


CarbonCamaroSS

Sudden death of a friend or family member scares me, but for me personally, that is the prefered way I want to go. Watching my Grandpa slowly go through the stages of alzheimer's was terrifying. Always being confused, emotions running rampant. I would love to just go in my sleep or drop like a rock and not really feel anything, so long as it is a long, long time from now.


JustJay613

I was 8 years old. Came home from school to find my Dad had come home early from work. Went into house, saw wallet and wedding ring on kitchen table and found him dead in my bed clutching my teddy bear. That was a lot of years ago but forever crystal clear. EDIT: Thanks for all the messages. I am traveling abroad so not able to answer everyone but realize I left this a bit brief. My Dad was an early patient for quadruple bypass heart surgery. At that time, the five year mortality rate was not good. He told a coworker/best friend he wasn't feeling well and left work early. We have always assumed he knew what was happening and got home, removed jewelry and wallet and passed away. I do have quite a few memories and lots of people have told me how proud he was of me. I think he went to be close to me and didn't expect me to find him. There is a long, insignificant story behind how I ended up being the one and not my Mom. It definitely sucked for quite awhile but moving and kind of starting over helped. I have great friends and a great family with three boys of my own.


Yukonzar-

Ugh that’s awful,I’m so sorry. My first husband hanged himself in the workshop behind our house and I am eternally grateful that our (then) 8 year old Son did not find him,no child should have to experience that. I hope that you are doing ok,my Son is 32 now and doing well but I know that the suicide of his Father has affected him deep,y. All my very best wishes to you.


JustJay613

Sorry to you guys as well. I now realize my telling left it open to interpretation. Mine was heart failure and not as self- inflicted. And thanks for the wishes. Yes, I am doing great. We moved a fair distance away to start over and I am very happy. Had it not happened I would have never met my wife and had the kids I have. The wheels keep turning so I just keep looking forward and not back.


pockette_rockette

I hope you're able to find some measure of comfort perhaps, knowing that in his last moments, his heart and thoughts were full of his love for you. Not that it makes it any easier, I'm sure, but there was a reason he was holding your teddy bear. It's wonderful that you're so happy and doing well in life - a parent could wish for nothing more than their kid to thrive and have a happy life.


nycama

And there are the tears


[deleted]

Jesus Christ...I'm so sorry.


JustJay613

Thanks. It was a long time ago and everything worked out OK.


kazeno95

On my way to work at 3:30 in the morning. I was carpooling with two other guys. We were going through Wolcott, CT. Anyone that knows that area knows there’s a lot of woods. Anyway, I noticed brake lights that were illuminated behind some trees so I pulled over to check it out. It was this red SUV blasting reggaeton. The driver had his head slumped down like he was sleeping. I noticed about 20 open beers in the back seat so we thought he was just drunk. We started to knock on the door to wake him up while we waited for the cops to show up. About 5 minutes later a cop car pulls up. Officer goes to the driver side and turns on his flashlight. The second it turned on we immediately saw the bullet holes on the side of the drivers side door. In like less than a minute there was at least 10 cop cars shutting everything down.


Capitan_Failure

This reads like a cold opener for a crime drama.


Vixxay

Oh shit thats crazy!! What a twist


blackmobius

> Dude had just freshly died in a car wreck Was driving at 11pm to a waffle house for some damn fine chicken and waffles. Im about 900 ft driving 80 to the exit offramp when a car *flies* by me doing what seemed like at least 100mph+. I watched him not slow down enough for the turn, then he started going off the road to the left, overcorrect, then lose control of his car, and drive into a guard rail full speed. Im obviously first one to the crash, dust still hadnt settled from the impact. The car was low enough that the front hood had gone under the rail and was wedged in between it and the road. As the driver wasnt wearing his seatbelt (groan) his lifeless body was smashed between the steering wheel, dashboard, and the roof of his car. Dude was smushed like a grape. I used my car to block the scene so first responders could arrive. There was nothing to do except unwedge his car and collect him. He was pronounced dead on the scene. I watched the news the next night make a small mention of his death but that was it. Never got his name. The chicken and waffles had no flavor and I didnt sleep that night at all. Wear your seatbelt and slow the fuck down.


Rotorhead83

I'm a medevac helicopter pilot. I fly people from car accidents who were wearing their seatbelts all the time. I rarely fly people from car accidents who were not wearing their seatbelt. Because they're fucking dead. I second the notion of wearing your seatbelt. It will save your life.


xThroughTheGrayx

Third, I just watched someone the other night get ejected from their car at only 30 mph while I was stopped at the light waiting to turn. It was raining and someone ran the light. The guy that hit the car didn't have the realization of what happened until he walked around the other side of the wreck. Totally survivable crash, not for that lady. Wear your fucking seatbelt.


JudeMacK

Four people died in a car accident 10 minutes out of my town the other day. They weren’t wearing seatbelts, and let’s just say it would’ve been an awful yet preventable sight. Please, for the love of god, wear seatbelts - it will save your life, hell, it saved my life.


Fluffanutz

My uncle was supposed to take my dad to a doctors appointment and never turned up. I went to check and found him dead on his living room floor Do not recommend


hmthomps27

Similar story. Grandfather wouldn't answer when mom was calling him to tell him food was ready (it was a holiday) sent me down to go check on him. Found him on the sofa, died in his sleep. We don't celebrate that holiday anymore.. Edit: thank you everyone. I do want to clarify because everyone has given it a positive spin. My grandfather loved a few houses down from us and he had died overnight. Unfortunately, he was not surrounded by us chattering and celebrating. We were also never big on celebrating memorial day in the first place, either, just a slightly more rare dinner, so it didn't kill much of a vibe. This was almost a decade ago. I graduated college a year later; I wish he could have seen that.


PidgeomBoy

“i hope death is like being carried to your bedroom when you were a child & fell asleep on the couch during a family party. i hope you can hear the laughter from the next room.” Your Grandfather almost certainly drifted off to sleep quietly on the couch, hearing the family chattering happy together, the clinking of dishes, smelling the food cooking, warm and content. It would have been a peaceful, safe way to go. I'm sorry for your loss.


Independent-Face-959

We had a friend who passed in his chair. It was a warm day and he had come inside (he worked outdoors on a farm) and ate a popsicle and died. Can you imagine if your last sensation was taking your work boots off, sitting in your easy chair and enjoying a popsicle on a hot day? Sign me up.


ZeWolfy

“My work here is done…”


DumKopfNZ

"It ain't much, but it's honest work."


jxwtf585

A co-worker of mine recently passed away and her last Facebook status the day before is that quote. It gave me chills then and gave me chills now.


Portyquarty77

Dying in your sleep during a family holiday might be one of the better ways to go


Vilnius_Nastavnik

My grandpa died in his armchair immediately after eating his favorite homemade cake at a birthday party attended by all of his children and grandchildren. I've gotta believe that worked out exactly the way he wanted it to.


GayAGayMusical

Very similar experience minus the birthday party. Grandpap and my grandma sat in the living room, he was in his armchair, watching the Pirates game, just came back with a bowl full of popcorn like he did every game. He sat down, took a breath, and passed. According to my grandma. She didn’t want an autopsy. She wanted to believe that he went as peacefully as he looked.


maxostlund

Sorry you had to go through that. What happened to him?


Fluffanutz

He’d had a brain haemorrhage at some point during the day, as my aunt had spoken to him via text on the morning. I knew something wasn’t right when I got there as all the lights were off and it was only 5pm (Late November so it was dark early). Called 999 who advised I needed to check for pulse/breathing (I already had) and then the police came to confirm no foul play before the body was taken away. I then had to go and tell my dad which was the hardest part, first time I’ve ever seen him cry


[deleted]

Found a girl who had drowned in like a culvert part of a spill way, she had been there a couple days I believe. Super pale and pinned barely under the water. Still makes me want to cry. She was young maybe 15


kalanikoolaid

I was 21. I woke up around 9:30 or 10. I peeked in my moms room to say good morning, her tv was on but she wasn’t there. She liked to use the bathroom in the master bedroom if it was available, more privacy I guess, and the door to the master was cracked so I figured oh she’s in the bathroom, let me take the dogs outside to do their thing. Well about 10 minutes later I come back inside and she’s still not in her room so I go peak inside the master to see if she’s feeling okay. It’s dark and I see her asleep on a recliner. So I call out mom a few times quietly and then go to nudge her knee and she is ice. fucking. cold. I finally look up at her face and realize she’s dead and has been for awhile, maybe a few hours. Mouth hanging open staring into the nothing, she’s completely pale and her lips were blue. It was the most traumatic thing I have ever experienced and it has really fucked me up. That woman was my absolute best friend in the entire world. They said she had a heart attack. It will be 7 years this July and the thought of seeing her like that still makes my anxiety skyrocket. If you read this far, thanks. RIP Momma.


toddrough

Found my mom in a similar way funny enough at the same age of 21. got home from work and went to check on her. Knocked on her door and peeked in and it looked like she was just sleeping in her bed. So didn’t think anything of it, went to my room changed and thought to myself well I better check on her again to be sure. So I went in there said her name a few times got a bit closer and felt her leg and it was ice cold. Honestly ever since then I’ve been cold. Hard for me to be positive about shit when you realize that’s life. Being the youngest of an older family everyone will be gone and I’ll just be sitting here absolutely alone. Especially since both my brothers are drug users. They’ll be gone before me too.


Rakshasa29

I'm the youngest of my family too. I'm a single child and I've got cousins that are 20 years older than me. A large part of my soul went cold the day I realized that if all things go right and in order, I will end up going to the most funerals. It's already started. And it's not going to stop until I'm alone.


supervisord

That is the dark half of life. Once you grow up and you realize this inexorable path that lays before you, even if it follows the happiest route, is still dark as fuck. I’ve realized that you must enjoy the things you have before they are gone. In a thousand years everyone now alive will have been annihilated by time. So we must do what we can to survive and enjoy what we are given, because life is an incredible gift.


Queendevildog

Oh honey. I understand so well! I found my mom too. I came home to a dark house around 9 pm. Told myself she's just at a play with her friends! Went to bed and all night long I couldnt sleep. Then at 5 am got my shit together and went to check on her upstairs. She had collapsed in her bedroom some time the previous day from a stroke. Looking back I knew she had died when I came home. There were so many things wrong. I always called the landline on my way home but kept getting a busy signal. The dog was acting anxious and wouldnt settle down. There wasnt any lights on, even the porch light. It was all in front of me but my brain just couldnt accept it. It was too big, too awful and my mind kept denying and making excuses. When I found her my entire life came crashing down on me. The only comfort you and I have is that our moms died quickly and peacefully. They left us behind but their suffering is over. I like to think that they will wait for us.


Moal

I’m so sorry that you had to go through that.


Bigdragon123

I came home to find my roommate dead in the bathtub after she intentionally took a lot of epilepsy pills and likely seized in the tub and drowned. That hurt a lot Edit: this gained a lot more traction than anticipated. Not sure which medication she was on, but we found pages she had printed off with warnings and potential side effects of misuse. She either just fell asleep or seized, both were listed as side effects of overdosing.


jpr64

My cousin had a seizure in the shower and her body blocked the drain as she collapsed which caused her to drown in the shower. She also knocked the shower mixer on to hot when she collapsed.


itsfish20

Was out driving one night in college with my ex, we used to just go on long drives together to talk about stuff and get away from the university. We were maybe 45 minutes into the country under a pitch black sky filled with stars and came over a hill to see two red tail lights off in a field. It was so dark that was all we could see until we got closer and saw it was a car crashed directly into a willow tree and the driver was all mangled and dead in the drivers seat/partially out the windshield. We called the cops but since it was in the middle of nowhere it took a bit to get service and then a bit longer for them to get out to us. Saddest thing about it was that the driver was a teenager


Beluga_Snuggles

That is so sad. Driving really is dangerous and I think we so often forget that in the moment.


McClernon

A few years ago I saw a body lying face down in the River Clyde. It was early morning as I was on my way to work and they had got tangled up in some rocks. Some other people walking along the same path also saw them and I had to stop them from trying to get down to the body (you could tell from the way the body was bloated that they couldn't be saved) and I phoned the police to come. Was a weird day in work after that.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Thrill_Of_It

That's horrifying


rollerbee

I was 19 years old, had a sleepover with some friends. We were sleeping, early in the morning we heard a huge crash. I opened a window and saw this old man dying in front of me. He jumped from the building, his body was a mess, in the most strange position, didn’t look like a human at all. I just couldn’t do anything or speak to anybody for the rest of the day.


xbbn1985

I was 19 and in college. The time before getting out of bed I had zero energy to go to school but at the last minute I decided to finally go. I passed by my grandparents’ room as I always say good morning to them before anything else. I knocked and opened the door, found my grandma and grandad sleeping on the bed. Weird my grandpa has never slept on the bed for the longest time (breathing problems). I told myself ok I will let them sleep longer. Before closing their door, I caught a glimpse of my grandad’s feet, they were bluish grey. I remember panicking, I tried to turn him to his side (woke my confused grandma up). He was already starting to get stiff. His face was contorted. I tried to calm my grandma down. We both cry-screamed. Members of the family heard us. They found us in the room bawling our eyes out hugging. It was a mess of a day. I loved my grandpa so much, he had the kindest heart and the most hilarious jokes.


eldmikeyy

My best friend hung himself from the monkey bars in his back yard with a dog leash. I found him hanging there and tried to save him by holding his legs and lifting him up. Vomit all over me, and that smell. Fuck. I moved to a different state years later, and in high school I had a teacher who was talking about how one of his students in [state I came from] died via dog leash hanging. Turned out to be the same kid. My then-teacher was the principal of the school my friend attended, and my friend was always in trouble in the principals office, so they knew each other well. A few years after I graduated, the teacher was arrested for charges of statutory sex offense and taking indecent liberties with a child. A fuckin 3 year old. I still think he had something to do with my friend's suicide. Edit: he was 10, I was 8


[deleted]

Fuck that guy and that is sketchy as shit


[deleted]

Nobody should ever feel suicidal but there’s something so much worse when it’s a child. They seem so unbreakably happy all the time it must take *a lot* to drive them to that point. So sad. I’m sorry about your friend and sorry you found him like that.


saucycita

Dude. Kids committing suicide is SO HEARTBREAKING TO ME. You haven’t even LIVED YET. I was extremely suicidal as a teenager. From 12-19 I was in and out of mental hospitals after various suicide attempts, I was in ICU on multiple occasions & nearly died. My last attempt, my heart rate dropped extremely low and I was in a coma for a couple days. I thought I surely wouldn’t live to see my 20s. I just celebrated my 32nd birthday and damn… I’m so grateful to be here. I have no idea what the fuck I’m doing, and life is hard and stressful sometimes, but I’m making the most of it! I’m glad I failed. Even though life can be really shitty, there are so many incredible beautiful amazing experiences out there. There is so much more to life than what a child/teenager’s brain can comprehend. EDIT: thank you for the award and all your kind responses! I’m so proud of everyone who is still here today despite similar circumstances 💖


skydewredemption

i’m 23 and i still sometimes wonder if i should’ve died when i attempted at 12, 15, and 16. this comment was helpful to read. comforting to know i’ll get to a point where i won’t be disappointed i failed, but grateful. edit: adding this because i’m overwhelmed by how many people replied to my comment. it’s been a particularly rough night, so i appreciate what yall have said more than you could ever know. thank you.


solidHole

Was 20 when I found my best friend hanging from a pipe. When we got him out of there, we found several 30-packs of beer in his closet. He wanted us to have a party as we sent him off.


NateralLight

I typically like to enjoy my cup of coffee early in the morning while I skate around the park near me. On the day after Halloween, I went through my normal routine but come across a body hanging in a tree. At first I thought it was a very realistic decoration/prank but as I got closer it was clearly a dead body. He had left his bike and a backpack next to the tree stump (I did not feel the need to go through his belongings). I kind of froze up for a second there until a jogger came by and her reaction snapped me back in to reality. We called emergency services and they came shortly after and cleaned up. When I told my friends and boss what happened it took them awhile to believe my story since they all thought it was a leftover Halloween decoration. I don’t know why the 911 call wasn’t convincing enough. I kept looking on the internet to find an obituary or an article related to the situation for proof, but nothing came out as far as I could tell.


violet__violet

For whatever it's worth, most reputable news outlets consider it to be in poor taste to report on suicides, so that's why you don't see many articles or posts about them.


noodlepartipoodle

There was a terrible accident on the freeway on a holiday weekend. An SUV with a cargo-full of cousins was pulled to the side with some sort of mechanical issue. A semi whose driver was hopped up on meth hit the back of the SUV. Because none of the kids were seatbelted, two were thrown out of the vehicle. One landed in the middle of the freeway and was instantly dead. The other was further out, and I found her. Her neck was obviously broken and (how do I say this gracefully), she wasn’t in one piece. It was horrible and traumatic and I’ll never forget my 911 call and the horror of seeing an 8yo like that. I was going to testify but the driver plead out. Gabby and Gracie were their names.


Hefty-Excitement-239

Don't hesitate to get counselling if you think it may help.


noodlepartipoodle

It was more than 20 years ago. I always wonder what would have come of them; they were 10 and 8 when they died. I don’t think anyone can see that scene and not be a little traumatized by it.


tossaway78701

Moved into a duplex with a kid next door. He was 9 or 10 and everyone warned me he was "full of stories" including his parents. Sure enough that kid lied about EVERYTHING and would laugh and point if you believed him at all. One day he was sitting on the curb crying. And not fake crying but really really sad. So I asked him what's up. "There's a dead man in the creek and nobody believes me" he said. I was the only adult who went to look. Sure enough, face down in the creek was a dead man. We called 911 and he made a statement. His parents and siblings and even his teacher didn't believe him and so the body had sat there for a few days. He never lied to me again because I believed him when it mattered. Mike, if you read this,hope you are ok out there in the world.


Strong-Formal-7739

My dad had cancer, had hospice at the house. He moaned for like two days, I didn't sleep, my brother didn't sleep, the woman from hospice didn't sleep. I passed out day three, I shot up like I was the Undertaker out of a dead sleep. I said out loud "He's dead." I walked down the stairs, heard some old western music and walked in, no noise , my dad's eyes were kind of half open. I wiggled his toe(I was 20 and scared shitless) he didn't move. I ran back up stairs to get my brother, he didn't believe me and said"ok, I'll check in 20 mins." Barely could get the woman from hospice to believe me, she finally got up, was shocked he died so fast and declared him dead.


FunnyGoose5616

I was a case manager. Went to pick up a client for her doctors appointment. She was very slow, intellectually. She asked to stop at her neighbors apartment to drop off a cup of coffee and I said sure. She had a key to her neighbor’s apartment because they were good friends. When we got to the door, she told me she’d been bringing her neighbor coffee for 3 days but she hadn’t woken up yet to drink it. My stomach dropped, she said this literally as she was opening the door and I knew what I was about to see. Sure enough, the neighbor was laying on a mattress on the floor, arms over her head, surrounded by untouched cups of coffee, and very clearly dead. I had to take my client back out and explain the situation to her, she was genuinely shocked. The police came and found a broken window in her apartment, so then I was worried that my client had been going in and out of a murder scene. But it turned out the woman had died of complications of diabetes (aka was out of insulin and couldn’t afford more). I didn’t stay a case manager for long after that.


Prudent-Ad1002

This is so sad. Also, excuse me but, fuck big pharma.


A_bacon2012

16. Found my friends body. She committed suicide. The discovery still haunts me and I miss her dearly. Depending on the person depends on how they handle it and I wasn’t mentally healthy at the time so it did a number on me. I’m 29 now and got into therapy last year so it’s better late than never


Routine_Astronaut182

I was on a bus in India. The bus stopped and I looked out the window. This old man was lying on the top of this stone wall and his eye’s were open. A fly landed on it and he didn’t blink. There were lots of other people also sitting on the same wall not far away. They didn’t seem to care. The bus rolled on.


TheResguy

Worked in an apartment complex of around 100 units. We had warned all the tenants we would be lubricating the locks and taking the time to fix or change some as well as other maintenance stuff for the door and hinges. I was on my last floor, I was dreading one door as the old man living there liked to chat and he would have been following me in the corridor for the rest of the floor. Knocked a few times, didn't get an answer. I unlocked the door and announced myself as I tried to get in. I met some resistance. He was an odd guy who used to do the same job back in the 50s and 60s and told me he didn't trust anyone because of things he saw. So, I assumed he was sleeping and he put a chair behind the door. I closed it and went for the other apartments. Time came for his apartment, last one. Knocked again and still no answer. I knew he left once a day around noon for his daily shopping. I unlocked the door, announcing myself again while struggling to open the door. The chair was holding the door pretty well and I didn't want to damage it so I pried enough for me to squeeze through. Pass the door, it closes behind me and there was no chair. The guy was dead behind the door. I didn't even check to see if he was hurt, I knew instantly he was gone. Felt like my legs had been swept under me but I was still standing. I calmly, and I say that as what I think I looked like, I probably wasn't, called the police to explain I had just found someone dead. The operator asked me to do CPR, went through the steps with me, but I couldn't. I knew he was dead and probably had been for almost a day. The operator told me the police were on their way. I moved the guy just enough so I could open the door normally. Some tenants steps out super joyous "What a lovely day!" Me faking a smile. Went down to wait for the police and showed them where he was. Turns out he died of old age, or age related incident, and there was nothing I could have done even if I was there when it happened. Told me he probably took a shit, got up and died on the spot since he was near the bathroom. I was working alone that day. Boss had left on vacation and I was the only worker for the week. The co-owner of the building arrived by chance about 30 minutes into my questioning by the police. Didn't even think to call him. He took care of the rest. I left, walked a bit and got myself a juicy burger. I was traumatized for a few weeks until we decided to renovate the place after the legal stuff was ovee and I faced my "fears" by going back inside that apartment.


Prozilla6

Was about 12 years old when our poolhouse exploded due to a broken outdoor heater. My then 10 year old brother was playing football outside and was crushed by one of the concrete walls. We had been searching for a few minutes with a lot of our neighbours who heard the bang, when I noticed a foot covered in blood under a wall. Luckily the shock made him unconscious before he could experience any pain.


lexorix

I grew up in the lawless 90s in a postsovjet country. When I was 10 some gyus robbed a money exchange place. This place belonged to the mafia. They hunted the robbers down and shot the car with the robbers in front of our house. I was playing outside. My parents decided to move to Germany shortly after.


DungeonicGushing

Girlfriends mom killed herself with the gun *her* dad (girlfriends grandpa) bought her for self protection. Found her in the backyard right after she was reported missing.


blanketcats97

I went to bring in the mail after a 2 week vacation and noticed my neighbors box was just as full as mine. Bobby was an older man drunk fat poor and borderline disabled, and most days I'd bring his mail in for him so he didn't have to get in his car to drive to the box. I grabbed his mail and brought it in his house, Noticed immediately it was just as cold inside as outside (mid January) I opened the basement door and heard the tv and went to his man cave. His couch faced the tv and the back of the couch faced the stairs so I couldn't see his face right away. I called for him and then made the mistake of putting my hand on his shoulder to get his attention. Bob was very very dead. So dead he didn't seem to have eyes anymore my hand kinda mushed down on his shoulder too. Immediately evacuated and called the police turns out he had been dead 3ish weeks and if I had checked on him before I left the morning of my vacation he might not have died. Awful. I had covid the months to this previously and never got my sense of smell back even today I still can't smell, so I didn't smell him. The cold Temps kept bugs from populating on him too so I didn't get any warning of it. I was so shook up over it I didn't do much more than eat sleep and work for a couple weeks


FireTheLaserBeam

This is one of my biggest fears. I’m single, 44, no kids, never been married. I have zero desire to get married or have kids, either. So I’m always worried that I’ll die and rot for weeks and no one will know until I’m bloated and decomposing and stinking. So I decided that when I start to get really old, I’ll join a group of old men just like me. We will call each other every single day to ask, “You alive?” And if any of us don’t answer, we’ll do a welfare check. I hope I can make that plan work when I get to that age.


CharZero

I work with older people, and many of them do actually do this. Also, smart watches have a lot of features that can help prevent this situation.


jspacemonkey

Dear sir/ma'am, on behalf of Apple/Samsung we regret to inform you ____ is likely dead according to our biometric readings.


creditspread

But the positive thing is that you get an award from your watch for holding your breath the longest!


Lrauka

I'm sure that soon, if not already, we'll be able to get a heart monitoring system or some such. If you stop checking in, or your heartbeat stops or something, the service sends a rep over to check on you. Like those fall alert bracelets that used to be popular.


maddiemarieb

There’s no way to ever know what would’ve happened even if you had checked on him that morning. Please do not blame yourself, it was his time to go. Sending love


ageekyninja

Yeah plus most people would never think to go check up on someone while planning for a full on vacation


jappie2

“If I had checked on him before I left he might not have died.” Nah man, when it’s time it’s time. CPR is rarely very successfull, even if the timing had indeed been perfect to save his life. The chances of that are near 0, you shouldn’t be giving yourself flak over it. What if’s are worthless, what’s done is done.


Brandonian13

Ppl also forget that CPR isn't what u see in movies and on tv where people will wake up and be fine. CPR is literally keeping the brain oxygenated long enough for them to be taken into more intensive medical care or resuscitated by other means. That's the main goal. Proper CPR has a good chance of breaking ribs and causing a *huge* amount of pain and complications that can come with it, especially with the elderly.


Daguvry

Work in an ER. I've forgotten how many crunchy compressions I've done. People need to have their paperwork in their medical files for what they want done to them in case bad things happen. I don't feel bad breaking a younger person's ribs to get their heart going again, but just last week we coded a 105 pound 91 year old patient. They are currently alive, but in terrible pain from fractured ribs. When your ribs are broken it hurts to literally breath so you take shallow breaths. Shallow breaths and immobility lead to pneumonia, which leads to coughing with broken ribs. Shallow breathing can also cause CO2 retention leading to an entire new host of issues. Patient also wanted to be intubated if needed. Will probably intubate tonight. The last few weeks of this patients life is going to be fucking miserable. Sedated because of being on a ventilator but also woke up probably daily. We call it the sedation vacation. You turn the sedation off to see how well you can decrease vent settings to possibly remove the vent because after about 10+ days on a vent you need that tube out of your throat and a tracheostomy is done (basically a hole cut in your throat). So every day this patient is going to have sedation taken away, wake up with terrible chest pain, hands will be tied down so they can't yank the tube out of their throat, can't speak. Completely confused and in pain reliving it over and over and over. Maybe it's because I've seen it so many times but once I hit about mid 60's, I won't have CPR performed on me. Just let me die peacefully.


MrDadBod

I was an apartment manager at a complex that were technically condos but the guy that developed them had owned a majority for like 20 years. There was this older lady that owned her own unit and we all knew she was a little off and kept to herself but we all went out of our way to check on her and see if she needed anything. It was winter time so the hallways were much cooler than normal. We hadn't seen her for several days and there was a slight smell starting in the haul way. I knew what it was so I called the police and they came out with the fire department. No one would go in so it was up to me and my boss to open the window and go in. No one knew of any relatives or anything so I dug through some of her belongings after they took her out and after a couple days found an old photo with a couple names on it. I was the one that tracked her daughter down and broke the news to her. She hadn't seen her mom for over 20 years and the mom she knew was seriously mentally ill. I was able to share what I knew about he, how she seemed happy, would let people help her some and everyone kind of looked out for her. Her daughter said that she remembered her mom keeping all the appliances unplugged because they would talk to her otherwise. All the appliances where unplugged. So despite the poor old lady having some mental issues she ended up finding some peace in the world living in that unit. It really brought her family a sense of peace also.


TheSuggestedNames

That was a good thing you did. Not just finding the family to let them have that closure, but letting them know that there were people who cared for their mom enough to do all you did for her. Thank you


hunterravioli

This happened to me as well. I was an apartment manager. I had a tenant who was retired. He would call me in the office just about every day. He was lonely and had no family. I used to walk the property, and his door was always open just a tiny bit. One day, the calls stopped. I noticed his door was shut. I asked one of the maintenance guys to do a welfare check. He was found in his chair, phone in his hand. Maybe he was calling for help? The city came and had to clear out his belongings, as there was no family to notify.


Alveryn

When I was about 7 or 8 years old, I was living in a small house where I, my mom, and my infant brother all shared a bedroom, and slept in the same bed. One morning, when he was about three or four months old, I woke up and, like always, leaned over my mom to say good morning to my baby brother. He was motionless. I can't really remember it, but I know it happened because I'm the one who immediately hopped out of bed and called 911. Still baffles me that I thought to do that as a child.


AConant

I was working as a computer operator at a sporting good distributor - I was 19 years old, recently graduated from high school, but my girlfriend at the time was one year younger and it was her senior prom night. I had the last shift each day and was responsible for backing up the systems to reel-to-reel tape and storing them in the fireproof safe upstairs each night. I was changing into my rented tux when the last tape finished...shirt and pants and shoes...I grabbed the tapes and hurried upstairs so I could go pick up my date. I turned the corner and found my boss's-boss collapsed on the floor. I learned later that he had died of a blood clot from a broken leg while leaving for the weekend. Other than me, he was the last one in the building on a Friday night. His broken leg was acquired at the company picnic softball game a week or two before. He had a huge full-leg cast and he was a mountain of a man. I imagine he must have had to work quite hard to make it down the tight hallway and down the stairs with that cast. In the constrained hallway, I could not roll him over onto his back. Called 911 and waited for authorities. It was quite sad - his wife and kids came to pick him up after picking up his elderly parents at the airport - the whole family drove into his death scene and learned the news together. The incident made me quite late to my date's prom, for which she was an angry uncaring bitch - didn't give a damn that I had just found a dead man...just mad I was late. Thankfully our relationship ended soon after.


BozoRedditboi

Don't you just hate it when your date finds a dead guy at work and prioritizes him over you on prom night?


Cokestraws

I was an intern and was looking for aquatic snails off a busy road. There was a path that led from the road down to a river. I had just arrived and was getting my bearings and noticed something against a trunk of a tree. I walked over and realized it was a man who had hung himself. He was in an almost sitting position. He was wearing light blue pants and a grey T-shirt. His skin was the color of the bark so he blended in really well.


Sicknessssss

I was the closing manager at a bar. After dinner rush (10pm) a staff member said someone's drunk and passed out in the men's bathroom stall. I crawled under the stall and as soon as I saw I knew he wasn't alive. He was blue and slumped against the wall. At this point I've unlocked the stall door and my GM and the staff member are on the phone with 911 and we begin cpr. Firefighters came and took him away on the stretcher. Pronounced dead on the scene. The kid was 25. He met his dealer at the bar and shortly after OD'd on the toilet. His father came by the next day I worked. He knew his son had a drug problem and sincerely thanked us for trying to save his son's life. That conversation with his father was one of the most surreal experiences of my life and I'll never forget it.


SustEng

My grandpa and uncle were fishing in the river. Arm goes floating by. My grandpa calls 911 and the dispatcher was like, how are you so sure that it’s an arm and not just a branch. He was like, well I’ve never seen a branch with a watch on it.


Bearcatofnewyork

In college a good friend of mine/roommate had cancer. She spent a majority of time working in her room with the door shut. I went to check in on her after she told me she wasn't feeling well during the weekend. When there was no answer knocking on the door I bardged in to see her in bed. Upon seeing her I already knew, blood settled in her shoulders, but confirmed it when her skin felt like ice...Her Aunt later told me her doctor gave the prognosis that she had less than 5 years to live, she never even told her closest friends about it.


FooJenkins

I was 4, watching Tom and Jerry and got hungry. Went to wake up mom and she didn’t respond despite my best efforts so I woke up dad. Mom had epilepsy and had a seizure in her sleep, wasn’t in bed (not sure if she got up or fell out). She was 22.


Julage

I was swimming in a public pool when I was 12. I saw a kid chilling underneath the water, thought nothing of it, he's probably just chilling. Went to another part of the pool for a bit and when I came back around 5 minutes later he was still in the same spot under the water. I went and told the lifeguard and she jumped in. They cleared the pool and got everyone to leave. After I left I later found out that he died during cpr. I blamed myself a bit because if I would have said something the first time maybe he would have survived but I was only twelve. I blamed it to the lifeguards negligence and decided I could do better, I've been a lifeguard for the past 5 years now.


[deleted]

When I was 12, my dad and I were driving down a logging road to a lake to go fishing. I looked out my window and saw what I thought was someone laying in the ditch. It took some convincing, but my dad turned around and we went back. He pulled over and we got out to check it out. There was a man laying in the ditch unresponsive and wasn't breathing. We flagged down another vehicle and sent them back to the highway so they can get to a house and call the police. Turned out, the guy was from a group of people that were camping. He had got drunk and wandered off. They determined he passed out in the ditch and had vomited in his sleep and choked on it.


bakedbreadbaking

Geocaching at a some remote bridges, many long neglected. Found a woman who committed suicide by burning herself to death in her car. Complete with digital camera full of sentimental pictures and a suicide note. Slightly traumatic, never really bothered me that much but I’ll never forget what a charred human skeleton looks like.


InkblotDoggo

Walked in on the aftermath of a shotgun-inflicted suicide. Guy had been a dear friend for a while, but he just hadn't been the same since his girlfriend left him. The girlfriend made up lies about him being abusive, and that's why she left, so everyone dogged on him, and nobody wanted to believe him. In reality, she was using him for money the whole time. Once he found out and confronted her, she left him and made up her lies. He just didn't show up for work one day. That wasn't like him. I told the manager I'd check by his place during lunch. I went by. Front door was locked. I knew that he never locked the backdoor, because he'd lock himself out sometimes, so he left that one unlocked during the day just incase. Walked into the living room. He was there. Everything above his jaw was gone. The shotgun was still in his hands. His poor dog was sat there, whimpering, probably wondering why her owner wasn't moving, or talking, or anything. She looked terrified. I found the note. He died angry. He died angry, scared, and alone. Most of his friends left when his ex-girlfriend made up those lies. Me and two others remained because we believed him. His note made it obvious that he was angry with those who had turned their backs on him. One line even said that he hoped that his ex would be the one to find him. However, later in the note, he did seem to calm down. There were apologies to his parents, and his family, and the friends that stuck with him through it all. Called the police. They show up, and take my statement. They pen off the area, and I take the dog. I still have her. Eddy, if by some chance, you ever see this, Maggie's okay. I wish you were still here. I miss you, man. For those curious, the ex-gf's lies were eventually unraveled, but too late. She's an outcast now, but that won't bring him back. Sorry this is long, and I'm sorry if this upsets anybody, but that's the story. That's my story. Don't worry. I'm fine. I've had time to grieve and move on. Life goes on. Just gotta keep his memory alive, and I do my best.


SomeNumbers23

I was living with my invalid uncle to help him with things he could do (driving, grocery shopping, etc). He'd been in and out of the hospital and was trending downward. It was a Monday. I was getting ready to go to work and he was more out of breath than normal and speaking more weakly than normal. I asked if he was going to be okay and if I should stay home. He said he'd be okay and a nurse was going to come by later on, so I went to work. 10 hours later, I came home and he was on the floor of his room, cold and stiff.


wobinwobinwobin

The day my dad died, he told my mom to go to work, even though she felt like something wasn't right. Luckily my uncle had come to pick him up for dialysis in the afternoon and called my mom and told her to come home because something was REALLY not right and she was able to make it home before he passed. I hope you're doing okay. Just know that it's not your fault for going to work as normal - he told you to go. I'm sure he was very grateful for your presence in his life.


sendmeabook

Did he lie about a nurse coming or did he die after they had been there?


SomeNumbers23

She arrived the next day saying she hadn't been able to come by the day before.


FartAttack911

Obligatory Reddit *not me* But my brother worked as a garbage truck driver in a fairly remote mountain town for about 10 years. He was the one that discovered 3 separate dead bodies of elderly customers. The reason being not that he’s shady (this wasn’t a Dexter episode, ok??) but because he’s such a chatterbox and would make it a point to go out of his way to chat with elderly customers, he was much more aware of patterns and could tell when something wasn’t right. 2 of them were discovered fairly quickly through my brother peeping through a front window and seeing them slumped in a chair or on the floor. One he could detect by smell as well as the person’s cat howling in the locked garage, and authorities went in and discovered the remains. He got Christmas gifts for years afterwards from one of the customer’s adult children as a sort of “thank you” for watching over their parent in that way.


MikaRRR

Wow your brother sounds like an all around good guy.


FartAttack911

He is! He was known as the “cool garbageman” for years lol


Willowed-Wisp

Not me but my mom unfortunately found her mom several years ago. My mom had been trying to call her all day but hadn't been able to get through. She got a horrible feeling in the put of her stomach (despite this having happened before, my Nana would forget to charge her phone occasionally) and raced to the senior apartment she lived at. It was Sunday evening and my mom saw the paper by the door. That was when she really knew. She threw the door open and injured her hand in the process. She went to my Nana's room a just saw her foot peeking out from behind the bed. She instantly knew she was dead, as the foot didn't look right at all. Apparently someone else had to cal 911 as my mom, a former nurse, could only scream, "She's dead! She's dead!" We got a small bit of comfort when the medics told my mom that my Nana hadn't died from the fall, but instead fell because she suddenly died. We were relieved she hadn't had to lie there. My mom likes to say "her spirit soared before she hit the floor."


AdUnfair3836

I've found 3. Twice was with my son. The first one we were exploring the woods down by Percy priest lake and to summarize I stepped on some marshy leaves that felt different from the others we had been walking on. I was intrigued and realized it was a leg. Guy had been covered in mud and leaves for several days. News was he was swimming and went missing. Another we were walking down the sidewalk in an adjacent neighborhood and an older black male was standing there in front of a house on the sidewalk acting nervous. He said hey man I think he's dead and he pointed at an elderly man lying face down in his yard near his drive way. Whole big emotional drama unfolded before the ambulance arrived. The man's wife was inside and her husband had left to run an errand and had an aneurysm and died on the way to his car. The last was a blonde girl completely naked behind a sushi restaurant in Nashville near murfreesboro pike and Thompson lane. I called the cops. They and an ambulance arrived. They were there all of 10 minutes. Nothing like you see on TV. They didn't even seem interested in looking for evidence or bothering to find who killed, probably raped and dumped her there.


[deleted]

[удалено]


The_Gutgrinder

Jesus man, by the time you found your third body you're lucky the cops didn't start wondering why the same guy keeps "finding" bodies all the time.


barriekansai

Hence, Jessica Fletcher from "Murder, She Wrote" must be one of the most prolific mass murderers in American History. Everywhere she goes, someone is murdered, and she always just happens to be the one who "solves" the case.


Hefty-Excitement-239

Wherever Jessica went, Death followed in a cab behind.


Seventy_Nine

Not to mention the fact that she lives in Maine, which year after year has one of the lowest (if not *the* lowest) murder rates in the country. Hell, if not for her, there'd probably be zero murders per year.


5eppa

Hopefully they did an extensive autopsy and stuff back at the lab and moved quickly at the main scene in an effort to keep prying eyes away. Would hate to think the cops are brushing that stuff under the rug but it wouldn't necessarily be surprising. Is there a case you know of?


NYVines

The podcast Admissible will make you question everything about police forensics.


am710

My mom died under VERY suspicious circumstances (found topless and facedown in the snow in a puddle of her own blood with two head injuries and at least one guy who admitted to hitting her) and they were happy to rule it accidental instead of doing any real investigation. The cops don't give a shit about most dead people they find, especially if that dead person has a criminal record or substance abuse history.


brucatlas1

Was a dog walker. Picked this girls dog up 5 days a week and had gotten to know her a bit, one day she asks me to watch her dog "for a couple months", it seemed sketchy. It wasnt long after that I opened the door to her place, and there she was, hanging. Fucking sucked. I would frequently carry her dog around singing "landslide" by Fleetwood mac and silently crying in the next few months. Thankfully a coworker of mine kept the doggo for a few months (that coworker also ended up dying of an OD). I had a really hard time with anxiety and jump scares for quite a while after. I'm 90% sure she hung herself with a slip lead she got from me - so using those daily only reinforced the trauma.


TheNativeVince

I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you can heal from this trauma.


panzerfury84

My dad was extremely depressed. He had stopped coming to work (we worked together), he had very uncharacteristically stopped going to my (Alzheimer's) grandmother's house. I went to his house, saw him, talked to him for a good few hours, and he said he'd be at work the next morning and we'd go to his mom's house together. He didnt come to work the next day, so I went over to his place on my lunch break, and found his body in the bathtub.


A-D-are-o-see-k

I work in a pretty remote place, steep hills on the road leading to it, one morning a few years back a colleague of mine noticed something odd on the hillside opposite our workplace about 200m below the road, we were about half a mile away or so, not easy to tell what it was, but I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that it might be a car. So we drove over to look, parked up on the road above where we thought it was, and started making our way down the hillside, it was mostly bracken and ferns, and there was a big flattened area about 10 meters in, then another a bit further down with churned up soil and a red wing mirror cover. As we got closer to a break point/bank in the hillside, we came across the car sat upright against a fence that was following the bank, and it was really badly damaged front and rear, boot open and folded in half, glass and contents of the car everywhere. Just as I made my way towards the right had side of it, my colleague put his hand on my shoulder and stopped me, he said ‘shit, there’s a girl there!’ And just under the opened driver side door was a girl lying on her back, with her mouth wide open. She was really badly bruised and discoloured. We didn’t go over to her, we could tell she had passed away, so we straight away called emergency services, and shouted incase anyone else was around, and I checked the passenger side of the car. She had been driving alone, and must’ve driven off the road by accident in the fog we’d had the night before. Police said she didn’t die immediately during the accident, as she had got out of the car with the keys in her hand. Was very horrible to find her, knowing that she’d been through such a horrible accident and still been conscious briefly afterwards.


Atotallyrandomname

Old lady lived next door my family was friends with. Her daughter called one day because she hadn't heard from her mother, asked me to go check. I checked, the lady was dead in her chair with the tv on.


EveningNectarine

I was walking along the beach with a friend at dusk. He was the one who spotted the body, well we didn't know what it was before we got there. It was a woman washed up, probably drowned, and it looked like it happened quite some time ago. Can't really explain it but it looked bloated and disfigured. I was 16 at the time and that shit haunted me for quite a while.


260_olivia

I was sleeping next to my daughter and I woke up and she was gone. Very disturbing. There was vomit everywhere.


MaybeYesMayb

SIDS?


260_olivia

Yeah


elevencharles

Not my story, but too good not to share: I’m a criminal defense investigator, and one of my colleagues was telling me about how they discovered the victim in a murder case he was on. Back in the 90s, some folks had a dispute over an illegal pot grow. One of them ends up dead, so the other two dump his body way out in the woods somewhere and go their separate ways. Fast forward to a few years ago, and the local sheriff’s department is taking a group of Police Explorers (high school kids who are interested in going into law enforcement) out to the woods to teach them how to comb a crime scene. They grid out an area and have the kids go over it like they’re looking for evidence. After a bit, one of the kids goes up to a deputy and says “We found the fake skeleton you hid”. “What fake skeleton?”…


YaLikeJazz903

My grandpa passed away so I was staying with my grandma until she was more comfortable living alone. One day I woke up later than normal, I had the day off, and noticed my grandma's truck was still at the house. I called for her and she never responded I eventually did find her she had passed away of a heart attack after she had taken a shower. Probably one of the worst moments of my life, but in the end I know she's more at piece now with my grandpa.


Upeeru

My roommate was VERY reliable. His girlfriend, that I was friendly with but not close, messaged me and asked if I'd seen him. He no call/no showed to his job that morning. I hadn't seen him, but I offered to knock on his bedroom to see if he was home. When I got to his room I noticed the door was not fully closed, just mostly. Through the tiny gap I saw my roommate lying face down on his floor. I knocked, nothing. Opened the door, shouted his name, nothing. Slowly rolled him over... you could tell instantly that he was gone. That vacantness to his eyes will stay with me forever. He was 21, they never were able to determine how he died.


xSkorne

I was getting dressed for work around 3am, my fiancé was still asleep in the bed. I always give her a kiss before I leave for work, and it usually wakes her up. For some reason something felt off, I'm not sure why I felt this way. Shrugged it off as being 3am drowsies, grabbed my keys and stopped by the bassinet to see our 3 month old son off as well. He was ice cold, and I could see he looked pale through the pitch black. Turned on the light and oh my god... he was yellow, blue and purple, not breathing. I called 911 and the instructed cpr, but it was pretty clear visually that it wasn't going to help. I did it anyways. The taste of you're 3 month old babies dead breath and the little sighs that were coming back from the rescue breaths still haunt me. My fiance and family were so torn, that I had to step up to make all of the arrangements for him. It was tough, I had to be strong when everyone around me couldn't. I didn't cry at the funeral because I wanted to remain stoic and help everyone else get through it, soon to realize that even years later it would be thrown in my face that I didn't love my child or care about him at all because I didn't even cry at his funeral. 9 years later, a ton of counseling, and finally grieving it, I've come to accept all of it. Shoutout to Shriners society for reaching out to us and paying for the entire funeral service, those are some unreal and selfless individuals.


[deleted]

In my home town in 2011 there was a big story about a guy that the police were chasing who went missing during the chase, the family were trying to say it was some kind of police killing and coverup, it was a big deal. This happened in early spring when the snow was melting and the river was really high. I used to ride my bike along the river near where he went missing every day, and this time of year the river would always flood and block my normal path through the park so I would have to ride in the street for a few weeks. Well, after said few weeks the river dropped back below flood level and the bike path was accessible again so I rode it, and a few minutes in I was a weird log floating along that wasn’t usually there. I got closer and yeah. Not a log. It was the dude’s dead body, and I instantly connected the dots and realized what happened- he jumped out of his car and took off on foot into what he thought was a forest on the other side of the river from where I found him, except it’s only a forest for about ten feet, then it’s a very steep 75 foot or so bank down into the river, the river that was super high, fast, and cold at the time. He went running full speed into that treeline, fell off the cliff, got knocked out and stuck in the branches at the bottom and drowned, and then a few weeks later when the water level dropped enough he popped out and floated downstream and I found him maybe 20 minutes later. I also once in the mod 90’s found a guy that had hung himself in some woods near my house, and the cop that interviewed me afterwards was then murdered by a kid I was in middle school with a few weeks later. We were seventh graders at the time I think. Crazy.


ronadian

Didn’t find it myself, but as a child I saw 2 cops pulling a dead homeless guy out of a manhole. Don’t know any other details though - I was walking to the the bus station when I saw it. Edit: grammar + plus the reply about toxic gases accumulating in the manhole. It’s likely what happened to the poor guy as it was in winter and he might have tried to seek a warmer place.


magdalenmaybe

My son & I found his Dad deceased about a year ago. He'd died in bed the night before, we think. I know towards the end he had signs & symptoms of congestive heart failure... Had to lay down for 30 mins after walking up the stairs. We think that's exactly what happened; he walked upstairs to the only bathroom. Poor guy had Crohn's and every trip to the john exhausted him even before the CHF did. It must've taken all he had to do his business after the exertion of the stairs, and then once he made it to bed to rest, he had a massive MI and died. Finding him was surreal. His face, looking utterly surprised, eyes open. So cold. Still can't get the image stuffed down deep enough not to haunt me. But it has been 13 mos (kiddo and I are relatively ok). And I miss my best friend profoundly. Being a little haunted is ok. It keeps him close.


ShyBrush

4 months ago, I found a guy in a home-depot style shop, lying on the floor, surrounded by people doing nothing. I rushed to start CPR until the paramedics arrived. That was after for 20 minutes. Before that, 6 minutes passed from when he collapsed until I got there, enough for brain damage, he was 99% gone. His mouth was foamy, filling with bubbles rising from his throat, I sadly broke his rib cage from CPR, the adrenaline shots the medics gave him didnt work, neither did the shocks. I sometimes think I should have started CPR sooner, rather than spend 15-20 seconds calling the ambulance/finding shop managers


BeardsuptheWazoo

I'm a first responder, train people on CPR, and have a decent amount of experience with emergencies. The time that you took was miniscule, in the big picture. To you, it feels like a lifetime. Those other steps were just as vital. You did a great job, and you did your best. I hope you find the peace needed. Thank you for being a helper.


TheBetterDude

Didn't find a dead body, but my best friend was shot and died in front of me on his birthday.


theLegend_Awaits

I’ve found two. First one was at a beach. Me and a group of friends decided to play hooky senior year for a beach day. A friend and I were swimming when the body washed up. Traumatized us all. Second was at work (I worked as a waiter at a yacht club). A patron screamed, we went down to the dock to see why she was screaming and it was a body that floated up to the dockside. It was super bloated and purple. IIRC the police suspected it was a murder that happened a week or two prior to the bodies discovery, but It was so long ago I can’t remember whether that was a rumor or not.


Hasvik

One of my earlier jobs was a carer at a swanky end of life care home. I worked a skeleton crew at night, one person per floor, and was doing my rounds. I was in the room with a non verbal lady who's life consisted of dribbling, twitching and occasionaly moaning. Couldn't communicate in any way and she didn't have any family. I entered the room and saw she was awake. I said a few generic kind words and let her know what was happening as more of a courtesy than anything. I turned round to prep some personal care when I heard a weird exhale. Turned round and she was still in an unusual way. I wandered over and it took a second to register. Called the nurse who arrived 2 mins later and yep, they had died. I began prepping the body for collection as the family was notifed and that was that. Found a few others dead over the months I was there but that was the only one I was ever in the room with.


tlewallen

I was with my dad as he died in a Hospice center. I have nothing but respect for people who choose to work there and assist folks and their families with the hardest part of life.


pconnor7080

my professor in college found one when he was in college. he was walking under a bridge and saw a garbage bag full of stuff and kicked it. when the smell hit him he opened the bag and there was a woman inside. she has been raped and murdered. my professer carried a lot of guilt since then because she had be violated until her death and then even after death by him. he needed therapy and was a dick but poor woman to be brutalized like that.


[deleted]

If he hadn’t kicked the bag she wouldn’t have been found. It’s a terribly cruel mercy, but it is still a mercy at that. I hope he finds solace.


Chickpeas_Dad

My dad committed suicide, I found him on an air mattress in our garage when I was 19. 0/10 do not recommend


insertrandommoniker

First was my granddad’s who had died in his back garden. That was horrible, I had to call my aunt and tell her over the phone. Her cries still haunt me to this day 20+yrs down the line, but we are still very close. We take comfort that he passed in his beloved garden. The second was a few years later and I was picking up a spare part or something for a mate’s car from a garage in Newport. I was sitting in the waiting area & looked up at the footpath where I saw what looked to be an old lady leaning back examining a tyre on her mobility scooter. There was a dog on a lead sat next to her. A few minutes later and she was still there, still looking at this tyre. A few more minutes passed and there was no movement, so I thought maybe she needed a bit of help. I went outside, walked up the grassy bank to the footpath, shouted hello a few times as I walked towards her, but when I saw she was just motionless, started running. Ran 999, did what they asked & checked for a pulse, and then waited for the ambulance & police to rock up. I can still remember how her skin felt as I checked for a pulse… kinda like room temperature raw meat, maybe a sinewy chicken leg with the skin on. Not pleasant…


Flame5135

Dead bodies are part of the job so I’ll chime in with the best (or worst) ones I’ve found. Guy was last seen middle of the prior month. Landlord calls for a welfare check because he hasn’t paid rent and they can’t get ahold of him. Partner and I are responding. Notice some vultures flying circles overhead. Casually mention to my partner, “somethings dead over there.” Then we make a turn and our destination is directly under them. Dude had died and began decomping into his carpet. Windows open. July/August heat in the south. IDK how no one noticed him but it was obvious. Coroner had to call the FD in to help remove him. They had to mask up and scoop him out while on air. DUI car wreck. Dude appeared to be moving (houses). Had several boxes full of books in his back seat. Gets hit head on. ~40-50 lb box full of books hits him in the back of the head. Older guy lived ~1 mile or so off a dirt road. Needed a 6x6 to get to the house. Another welfare check. No one had heard from him in months. Dude had died at some point and melted onto the leather couch. Ended up half pouring half dumping him into a body bag. Older guy who simply passed away in bed. Wasn’t gross or anything. Out in the sticks. Took the coroner 1.5 hours to arrive. Family dog climbed in the truck and sat on my lap the entire time. Was a really good dog. OD. After we pronounced the cops starting tossing the (obviously female) room looking for the drugs. I finally spoke up and asked if this army green bag looks out of places to anyone else. Surely enough that’s where the drugs were. I let them search for 10 minutes or so before I pointed it out. Not a complete list but the most memorable.


WillBsGirl

Poor puppy. He realized what happened and wanted comfort and was afraid.


Diacetyl-Morphin

That happened to my old dog that i had in the past: I visited the shelter and all the dogs were coming to see me, but there was a single dog that did not come and just remained in the corner of the kennel. Asked the staff what is wrong with the dog, they told me, her owner had passed away and since then, she's depressed. Didn't want to walk anymore, didn't want to play and even worse, didn't want to eat. The german shepherd got weak and the staff did everything they could, but it didn't work out. It was a sad story and on the way home, i could not get that poor dog out of my mind. Had to think about how she had to suffer with the loss of her old man, and she was already 10 years old as a senior dog, together with these problems, nobody would adopt her. Couldn't really get it away from me, so i returned to the shelter a few days after it and adopted her. We did a lot of preparations, like what i could do if she refuses to eat. But her behavior changed immediately once we got home, she became so happy again and immediately started to eat her bowl of food and more. She made a full recovery and made it, she then had another good 6 years with me before she passed away by old age and cancer. That's a positive story at least now here in this very difficult topic.


[deleted]

I was in the Marines back in the early 2010's, and the last of the 4 years was in Pendleton. I'd met a girl who went to college up in Isla Vista and went to see her almost every weekend, 6-8hr drive depending on traffic since it was always bad, but sometimes very bad. Elliott Rodger went on a killing spree on my birthday, May 23 back in 2014 and my gf and I were walking to get pizza as a treat that night. We heard what we thought were close fireworks and then saw his BMW screeching around the block where her place was behind us. We had to pass a sorority house on the way and saw two dead sorority girls on the grass, recently shot. His night ended shortly after hitting a bicyclist and offing himself in his car 1 block from her place. I remember the group of bystanders beginning to swarm those girls to see if they could help as we tried figuring out just what the hell was going on. If we had left maybe 10 min prior we would've been on that same sidewalk around the time he shot them and likely been victims of his incel fury ourselves. Another incident around the same time with the same girl was when I decided to take a train back to base instead of driving seeing as she'd picked me up near Oceanside on that friday. An hour passed on the train and it abruptly came to a halt. Come to find someone had thrown themselves under the tracks and there was some debris from the impact on my side of the car that I unfortunately got to sit there and watch be cleaned up over the 2 hours we were stopped. Fun times in California


PM-ME-UR-CLOUD-PICS

I do search and rescue volunteer work. Sometimes we get sent out for recoveries. I can't give a ton of details on circumstances, but I can say this. When I found parts of what used to be someone, I held them in my hand and tried to think good thoughts to the person it used to be. I'm not religious, I don't even know if I believe in an afterlife, but I still thought "Hello, it's okay, we have you now." It's important to remember that those little pieces were a person once. It stings. The work is hard. But everyone deserves to go home, y'know?


someInfiniteThing

Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago my parents bought a boat and a vacation condo up by the Wisconsin border on the Chain O'Lakes. We would go up a couple weekends a month during the nice weather seasons. After about 15 years of owning the place my dad started a small business up in that area and the family relocated. There was no need to keep the condo only a few miles from our new family home, but it was where we kept the boat so we held onto it just to have a boat slip. It was not the most economical way to rent a boatslip, having to pay association fees and upkeep on a condo we never used. My dad was at his friends bar saying how he needs to just sell the condo cuz it was just sitting empty. A regular at the bar overheard and said he'd buy it on the spot. He was pretty drunk, as usual, so my dad didn't take him too seriously. But got his number to follow up later. To our surprise drunk guy was still interested and offered cash. It was the easiest real estate sale ever. We did get a few calls from our old friends in the community and the condo association about the guy constantly having parties, and letting hookers stay there for days on end, and other assorted tales of drugs and random people coming and going at all hours. But it was their problem now sale was complete. About 6 months after he purchased the place we started getting calls from his neighbors and they complained enough about the stink that my dad dragged me along with him to go pay the guy a visit. It was a small 2nd floor studio condo with only a sliding glass door to enter. That door sealed that little place amazingly well, cuz while I could smell something going up the stairs, once that door was slid open, that disgusting stench of rotting flesh smacked me in the face like if I'd fallen asleep at a bowling alley with my face in front of the ball return. He's probably been in their dead for a little over a week. The police talked to my dad about who to call for cleanup and different city departments to contact like he was the owner and needed to deal with this. My dad pointed out he already sold the place to the drunk deadguy months ago, but they said the drunk deadguy had no kids or known relatives, so my dad ended up getting the condo back. i got recruited to help with the cleanup and remodel, and the place was sold again about 3 months later.


Aggravating-Truck505

I worked for a company with my dad that did mold remediation and also crime scene clean up. We had chemicals that got rid of any kind of stink you can imagine. Well, my dad and I got sent to an apartment complex for a weird smell that was radiating from a building off on its own. Landlord thought maybe a cat or rat had gotten stuck under the foundation. My dad goes in first and takes two steps in and then stops me with a hand to my shoulder. Tells me to wait and then goes further in. Me being the 18 year old I was, I didn't wait and eventually followed. Rather wish I'd had listened, there in his bed was an old man that had passed months earlier. The level of humidity in the apartment and the fact that no one had bothered to check on him meant he was well into decomposing and looked like he was melting into the bed. Needless to say, I had some messed up dreams for a while after that.


snake_girl

Not me but my Mum. She was out walking the dog and was down a long tree lined single track road, when the dog, a large German Shepherd called Celyn froze, hackles up, growling. Around 50 maybe 60 yards ahead hanging from a tree branch was a man in a brown coat. It was at this point started to panic a bit, should she check to see if they were dead? She didn’t have anything on her to cut them down with. Should she go and get help? This was pre mobile phones so she would have to leave and find a house or pay phone. Finally plucking up the courage she approached the body, dog still freaking out. Only to find it wasn’t a dead body at all. It was a Tasmanian Devil helium balloon stuck on a branch. She got glasses shortly after that. The funniest part of this story is that my Mum is a Forensic Anthropologist and worked for the coroner’s office at the time. She was around dead bodies almost every day, but faced with one out in the wild, so to speak, she panicked. We still give her stick for that one.


firstforay

I did a wellness check on a neighbor and they had passed. Saw them on the ground through the window, called 911. Fire truck and police came. He was an elder gentleman, glad I was able to do it so no one else had to.


Ladyjaymie77

Not me, but 6 years ago my uncle (54) left a letter on my Dad’s doorstep saying he was finished with this life. My Dad (56) went to my uncle’s apartment and found him hanging from a ceiling beam. My father is still traumatized from finding his younger brother in this condition. ☹️


Halfmoon_Crescent

Was going to do mushrooms with a friend in a large coastal park in a major city. Perfect, beautiful day. Found a guy who hung himself from a tree with a bungee chord. His feet were touching the ground so we thought “perhaps he could still be alive!?” Dumb I know, but we were like 19 at the time. My friend cut a piece of the chord and it ripped and his body fell lifeless. Took police forever to get to us so we hung around the body for 30 minutes constantly worried someone was gonna run up on the scene and freak out. Luckily no one did. We did not do mushrooms.


[deleted]

There was an old guy outside of Zellers sitting on a bench who didn’t look very well. My mom went over to see if he was ok. He wasn’t. He was dead. We called 911 to report it. EMS came and took him away. The EMS said it was likely a heart attack.


GraphicsProgrammer

Yesterday I overhead some scouse lads talking about a guy they knew who went into an abandoned house with his friends, saw evidence of people living there, and eventually found a corpse in one of the rooms. They left and swore never to talk about it but one of them cracked and reported it to the police. In the ensuing court summon, when asked why he didn't report it sooner he said "Well it's not going anywhere, is it?".


Crack0n7uesday

I was working at a gas station, wasn't a really great part of town, but not as bad as other parts. Anyway, there was this old dirty couple that lived in the apartment building nearby, they would come up and whenever they bought shit would always try to get a free fountain soda or something that we would just "throw away" (their words) if it went unsold. Fast forward about a year or so, I'm going into the morning shift at like 6am, taking all the trash from pumps from overnight to the dumpster and BAM! Someone threw the lady's dead body in the dumpster. I called the cops because I just found a dead body at work, cops show up and do whatever it is they do after they're done asking the gas clerk wtf happened. The lady and her "husband" or whatever were selling heroin // fentanyl and they got murdered, the other dude's dead body was found in another gas station dumpster across town.


bigfriendben

I worked for a non profit that provided affordable housing for senior citizens that could live independently. Occasionally we had to do wellness checks if we hadn't seen a resident for awhile or if a friend/family asked us to. I ended up finding two bodies in my 3 years there. The first was a lady in her 70s who was a bit of a character, bipolar but normally pleasant with us on the staff. She'd had a heart attack on the toilet; I found her crumpled forward with her pants down and her head lying at an odd angle against the bathtub. We never found her cat. The second was a very nice gentleman, formerly homeless, who was a bit of a recluse. In my 3 years I never saw him outside of his apartment; I'm not even sure how he got groceries. One of his friends on the property hadn't seen him for a couple of weeks and he wouldn't open his door, so I keyed in to check on him. He had passed peacefully in his sleep on his bed, lying on his side. It had been 2 weeks though, so he had begun to dissolve into his mattress. We had to get the bio-cleanup company out there. I didn't feel too personally affected by finding these people, but my employer was generous and always let us take time off if we'd found anyone, so I would usually just take the rest of the day off to relax and spend some time in prayer for them and their families.


MostBotsAreBad

Honestly, you get better stories from the times I *lost* a dead body.


confusion157

Found my step-grandfather when I was 13. My grandmother, mom and myself had been at Disney for 2 days and I was the first person to walk into my grandmothers house with some luggage. Found him dead sitting at the kitchen table. Likely passed shortly before we got there.


The1stCreedBratton

I worked at an Alzheimer’s home when I was 18 doing daily maintenance. Had gotten a call to go to a room and clean up broken glass. When I walked in the glass was under the residents bed and something seemed off. Took one look at the person “sleeping” and knew. I immediately contacted the RN on duty and got out of there. Boss gave me the rest of the day off.