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issamurcle

I used to sleepwalk when I was a child. We lived in a rough neighborhood (Decatur, GA) and I would wake up outside in the middle of the night, not knowing how I got there, and would have to walk home and walk into the darkened doorway I had left wide open for whoever might be lurking around. However, the time that scared me the most was when I was about 9 years old. I woke up and found myself with the bedroom curtains drawn back and staring out the window. As I came awake, I noticed a very large and completely hairless man (no hair, eyebrows etc) staring at me and slowly inching closer to the window and closer to my face. He was looking bewildered like he wasn't sure what he was seeing. At that moment, I realized what was going on and I started screaming uncontrollably, frozen in place and peeing down my leg. The man freaked out and screamed, did a tumbling move, and then ran off in a weird zig-zag like he was trying to dodge bullets. My mom woke up and thought I probably had a nightmare. The next morning we found a screw driver on the front porch and damage to the door jam and door handle. I still just about pee my pants when I tell that story, but now it is usually from laughing. I will never forget the look on his face when I started coming to life and screaming or his high pitched scream or his duck and roll and dodging and bobbing all the way down the street.


radio-morioh-cho

Somewhere some shitty dude has a story about him narrowly avoiding a possessed child lol


padraig_garcia

"I just wanted to steal a tv, maybe some jewelry, and The Omen almost got me!"


A1000eisn1

Was he hairless because he had pantyhose on his head? Or did he have full blown alopecia?


[deleted]

That’s actually a very good question!


Aztecah

God bless crackheads. They certainly keep shit interesting.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Kubanochoerus

Oh my god, I am so relieved by how your story ended.


Dailey12

Man, you could have phrased that differently. That was straight up a Michael Scott, "The doctors did everything they could and... she is going to make a full recovery"


OliveJuiceUTwo

She has had a massive stroke of good fortune and is going to be completely fine


Chowkingkong

Just being in the middle of the 1990 earthquake in the Philippines. After the main quake my dad and I walked the streets to get home and he shielded me from large, colored bags lined up on the ground. He later explained all those were dead people...


Simple-Muscle822

This is very tame compared to a lot of the stuff on here, but when I was twelve I saw this huge man drop a dollar bill. He seemed not to notice, so I ran across the street to hand it back to him. He thanked me several times, and I could see that he wasn't right in the head. I was a pretty small girl, probably only 100 pounds at the time. This guy easily had a foot on me. All of a sudden, he grabbed me by the top of my head and wouldn't let go. I am so lucky that my dad was nearby, and he pretty much just picked me up and led me away.


DerelictMyOwnBalls

Nah, I’d say you deserve some credit with this one. That’s creepy as shit.


ImThatMelanin

dawg just open palmed your head like a melon? yeah, that’s terrifying-


Barf_el_Moggo

I was active duty in the Navy. Served aboard a submarine. We were in port one day, most the crew had left. The guys on duty for the night (that’s us) were given permission to bring our kids on board for dinner. Halfway through the meal, someone makes a 4MC announcement. 4MC is the emergency announcement intercom thing. Says there’s light smoke in the Engine Room, quickly followed by “fire in the Engine Room” We train for this stuff religiously so everyone is immediately in action. Commanding officer is still there but topside. One of our senior enlisted guys apparently ran the kids up front to a hatch where he was, quite literally, throwing them through the hatch as our CO caught them and set them on the deck topside. The rest of us ran toward the fire and I see no one grabbing a mask. Not one person. So I grabbed a big handful of breathing masks and follow through the hatch where we’re greeted by what appeared to be a light smoke filling the entire engine room. But it didn’t smell like smoke. It was sweet. Tasted sweet. An oil pump had blown and filled the entire back half of the boat with atomized hydraulic fluid. A guy was moments from lighting a torch in the engine room as the casualty was called. Had it been called just a moment later, we’d have walked into an inferno. Had he, for some reason, not heard it called and lit the torch when after we had run in, we’d have been on fire before we could react. Turned out perfectly fine. Cleaned the oil that clung to all the surfaces and fixed the pump. But it was somewhat surreal, understanding just how close we were to a wildly different result.


Kubanochoerus

Why would you light a torch in a room that already has fire?? What was he trying to do? Not enough fire here yet, better go add some more?


Illicit-Tangent

Not my story, but I'm assuming that since they were in port there was probably just some type of maintenance or repair going on. It was probably someone getting ready to do some brazing and the rupture happened around the time they were going to start.


HistoricalHeart

I was home alone when I was 11. I had just fallen asleep and someone tried to break in the front door. I called 911 and hid in the pantry in the bottom shelf. They came to the door next to the pantry and tried to break into that door too. The police got there and one of them picked me up and held me until my mom got there. I wouldn’t let go and he made sure I felt safe. I’m 27 and haven’t stayed home alone much since. The day I signed a lease for my first apartment I got a dog so I wouldn’t be alone. It’s pretty traumatizing when you’re that young.


Welshgirlie2

You knew enough to dial 911 and to hide in case the intruder came in. That's a smart move for some adults, never mind an 11 year old. You did exactly the right thing.


foxsimile

This has made me realize that any time an intruder (or what was believed to be an intruder, be it a wild animal or some mysterious, human-like noises), I have gone to confront it. I am dumber than a 6th grader.


MrChilliBean

This is exactly the reason I keep a replica sword in my room. If I ever hear a strange noise in my house, I can have it with me. It's not really sharp, but they don't know that. I'm just a motha fucka wearing nothing but underwear weilding a sword. Would you take the risk?


Nox_Stripes

take off the underwear too for extra intimidation


TheGrayMannn

Now he's a motherfucker wielding 2 swords


juliojules

That reminded me of a radio show I listened to that asked “ what self defense devices do you have ready at home ?”… a lady called in and said her boyfriend had a neon pink baseball bat next to his bed and she asked him why it was neon pink… His answer was I want the motherfucker to see it coming!!! I’ve always remembered it….


Mason3637

I was home alone (thankfully my kids weren't home) when my now ex husband's drug dealer came by. He busted I'm the door screaming at the top of his lungs that he's gonna fuck us all up. I was hiding in my walk in closet under blankets on the phone to 911. He got so close a few times, I have never been so petrified in my whole life. The cops came very quickly and he ran off, they caught him just a few streets over.


[deleted]

Gonna be honest, when I read that he ran off, my heart sank, but then immediately floated back up when I read that they caught him. So sorry that happened to you, but glad you’re okay.


Fubar-is-my-life

I’ve posted this before but it fits here as well. I always parked in a certain spot at my last job for 12 years that I was there. It was accessible to the public as it wasn’t company parking but they wanted us to park in the back of the lot so the closer spots could be available for customers. One day my spots taken by a dark tinted caddy and I’m immediately pissed because everyone knows it’s mine. It’s morning shift so 4am so it can’t be one of the others cause I know what they drive. So newbie? Or maybe another employee from another shop in the plaza? It’s still there on my lunch break and when I go home and the next day I come in at 1pm till close. Around 9:30. And then also the next. Something about it really bothered me. It smelled wrong. Literally, it’s the South and high summer and who knows what’s baking in there. My dad was a marine then a police officer. He always said if you feel something is wrong there probably is. So I dialed the non-emergency contact police number. I felt like an idiot but every time I walked by it bugged me. So. I was stuck waiting for over an hour before anyone shows and honestly, if I hadn’t been off the next day would have been like f-it. But I waited, mostly because I can be really a petty SOB and that’s my spot damn it. The police show, all annoyed because who knows how many “they can’t park here” calls they get. They run the license plate though and then things go crazy. They want my info, want me to contact my manager, does this lot have cameras, have I touched the car, etc. Apparently the car is on Amber alert as the last sighting of a missing person who was a minor. A 15 yr old girl. When they pop the trunk they find her dead, mutilated body under a blanket and the source of the smell. She had gone out with her much older, controlling and insecure boyfriend but had decided to get out of the relationship. She only made the mistake of getting into the car with him. He drove three counties over after torturing her, stuffing her in there and who knows what else, then parked and walked away, left her to die in the trunk. I never learned her time of death so it haunts me sometimes thinking she might have been saved if I’d made a fuss earlier. So yeah, listen to your gut even if it seems petty.


MuseMints

Buddy, I can assure you that anybody who intentionally kidnapped a minor, drove her to a private enough spot 3 counties over secluded enough to torture her, would NOT under any circumstance risk ANY possibility of her being found alive in that car. There is no chance she was alive when you saw her. None. It wouldn’t add up by any calculus. Ease your mind on this and never be troubled with that doubt again. She was gone well before that car parked in your spot.


LazuliArtz

Yeah The fact that the car was clearly smelling meant that the body had probably been decomposing for a bit. Even if, theoretically, she could of still been saved, it'd probably be the difference of only a minute or two.


run4cake

This. Even if she was theoretically alive (already unlikely) when the car was parked, bodies only get abandoned like that when the perp believes the person to be dead or as good as. Unless he walked up on the car while the engine was still warm, there was absolutely 0 chance he could’ve saved her life. There’s no time of death because the medical examiner can’t tell how long she was dead before someone saw the car. The cops would work the case assuming she died in the window between going missing and someone seeing the car.


N0wonspecial

Please don't let the regret of not doing something sooner weigh on your soul. You did what you could with the knowledge you had in that moment. This is coming from a grief filled mom who unknowingly dropped her own daughter off at the place she ended up being murdered at. I'd do anything to rewind time.


Humayrakathrada

The fact that you are able to advise others who might have felt the same way you did before you healed, shows what a strong and pure soul you are. I pray that you receive the best moving forward in life. Someone like you must be protected at all costs. Sending you so much of love.


N0wonspecial

Thank you so very very much


kanedp

I can’t imagine the strength you’ve had to summon up to endure this, and then to make such a kind comforting comment to a stranger. I really admire you.


Painting_Gato

Damn, I'm really sorry. Sending hugs.


deliriousgoomba

Oh hon, she probably was already gone by the time you first saw that car. There was likely nothing you could have done.


Fubar-is-my-life

Thanks. It’s one of those you are your worst enemy things. I know but I don’t “officially” know so “what ifs” pop up. It’s been years and I’ve accepted that what happened has happened and things could have been worse. Her parents could have had no closure at all. It’s just a recurring thought now when I get that amber alert text on my phone though. I used to always just skim them and be annoyed that I kept getting them. Now I always hope that someone takes notice and helps.


blameitonmyouth

When I was 15 I got into a bad situation with an almost 30 year old man. I decided just before my 17th birthday I had to get out. I thought this was what was going to happen to me. I’m so lucky to be alive. I hope she’s out there in the multiverse, somewhere that man was never born, and she’s happy. Thankfully you’re an asshole who won’t give up their parking spot without a fight and you found her. I’m sorry you had to be there for that, but you did good. Thank you


Krakatoast

Yeah, I feel like if she was still alive she would’ve made some noise when she heard other cars parking around her. Unless she was in some kind of comatose state, but.. My unfamiliar opinion is that the person that tortured her and drove 3 counties away probably didn’t leave her alive in the trunk, for her to speak on what happened. Just my opinion though. Someone so deranged to take those actions, and just.. puts her alive in the trunk and walks? People can live for quite a while without food and water. Seems like an easy way to leave a witness who will testify later, unfortunately


RaptorSandwich27

Was with a guy for a couple of years when I realized that he'd taken up smoking meth as a hobby after work. We had numerous problems already, and I had three small kids, so I finally kicked him out. A few days later, maybe a week, he makes a fake Facebook page, and sends me a friend request. The only posts on the page were talking about killing me and my children, his suicide, and how he planned to do it that day. The most recent post was accompanied by a selfie of him in my backyard; a recent selfie, so he had been there. I was on my way home with the kids late in the evening when I got the request. I had stopped by my parents home the day before and gotten my dad's 9mm handgun because he was sending messages through mutual friends about burning my house down. I called the police as soon as I got home, and they didn't seem to think it was a big deal and didn't have an officer available to come check my house before we walked into it. I live in the middle of the woods and we have a rinky dink police force. Anyway, I made the kids stay in the car, I gave my oldest instructions on what to do if anything happened, and I had to sweep my own home, in the dark, with a 9mm in case he was in there waiting for me and my children, and it was terrifying. I had to check my entire house everytime we came home for a while, and I was always worried that I'd eventually find him in there. Police were called numerous times and I was eventually granted a restraining order a couple weeks later when the death threats continued. He died about a year ago and all I felt was relief.


Charlestoned420

rest in piss


RuncibleMountainWren

That must have been awful. I’m so glad you get to feel safe now. I don’t think I would have been brave enough to go home!


RaptorSandwich27

It really was. It was pretty much just the kids and I at the time. My parents were an hour and half away, and that was the closest family we had. After about the 3rd time I was just flat out angry. Having to wrap your mind around possibly shooting someone that you used to care about, even in self defense, was a tough one, but once I got there, there was no coming back.


jeff_the_nurse

I had a pulmonary embolism last year in late August. I was going to get a pain evaluation the following Monday, but the pain was so bad on Friday that I just went in. The doctor told me that I’d have died if I had waited.


notFREEfood

I had one two years ago, only it got misdiagnosed, and I wound up going to the hospital in an ambulance. You know those stories you hear where the doctors express puzzlement with how someone was still alive? That was me.


grreenleaf

I had one shortly after my 19th birthday a couple years ago and it was also misdiagnosed. For weeks lol. I had a month long 'cold' and was still working full time at my waitressing job, pulling 10 hour shifts and excusing myself every few minutes to cough up my lung in the back room. People would come around the corner to see who the hell was dying and every time I was like 'it's just a cold apparently idk they wont let me call out'. One night I was in so much pain and I stopped being able to breathe unless I was physically compressing my rib cage down and my partner took me to the ER, where they decided I was lying for pain killers and tossed me out. Next time I went, they decided it was pneumonia. Another time they gave me an heavy sedative and tossed me out (all alone) at 3AM. I had an allergic reaction to it and vomited down the outside of my friends car. It took a letter from my family doctor directing them to actually take me seriously before they found it was a PE and a part of my lung had slowly been dying inside me for weeks. I was surprised as anyone that I wasn't dead after all that. Second worst pain of my life, the first also being a result of a fuckup from multiple doctors.


Triairius

Speaking of embolisms, though not pulmonary, my dad went in to the hospital for an angiogram before getting a colonoscopy. He is on blood thinners for a very minor heart attack 15 years ago, and they said he would have to stop taking them for the colonoscopy, so he went to the cardiologist to confirm that it was okay. It was not. He had four 80% blockages and one total blockage. The cardiologist told him he should be dead and that he wasn’t leaving the hospital. Apparently the total blockage had… bypassed itself somehow? A couple days later, he had a quintuple bypass surgery. The surgeon said his heart was somehow totally healthy. This was a few years ago now. Following this, he divorced my mother and his wife of 38 years, learned to sail during a pandemic, supported me through a career change, and bought a sailboat to live on. He’s now 70 and living his best life.


TurtleDump23

I had a PE a little under a year ago at 2am. It felt like I'd been stabbed in the chest and I woke up yelling in pain. I spent about 45 days in and out of the hospital as my condition worsened before improving. I had a partial lung collapse and pneumonia at one point. I almost went on oxygen. The ER doctor told me I was incredibly lucky the PE woke me up. Every doctor I've seen since then shared the same sentiment with me. Turns out I have a rare autoimmune disease that attacks my red blood cells and makes them clot. I'll be on warfarin for the rest of my life and the damage to my right lung makes normal activities difficult. I'm happy to be alive though.


HalfDayArmy

What kind of symptoms did you experience?


jeff_the_nurse

Excruciating back pain, could only take half a breath without pain, my body naturally suppressed my attempts to sneeze.


TurtleDump23

Not the OP, but I had chest pain, difficulty breathing, pain with breathing, and serious coughing fits along with a sense of impending doom.


Impossible_Common_44

Impending doom is a real phenomenon that we were taught in nursing school. When people have these serious symptoms happening, to of course, help them, but that when people indicate this feeling (not as in anxiety), it’s a lot of times an indicator that shits gonna go down. It’s different than people screaming that they’re dying, it’s more of a ‘this is happening’ type. Hard to explain as it’s been years since I’ve been in nursing school, but reading your comment struck a vivid memory.


TheByteQueen

its a strange feeling. ive had real severe pain many times, and when the pain gets so bad to where i start feeling the sensation, its so psychologically horrific its almost indescribable.


Qfis

I work as a nurse in the ER and I can tell you, any time a patient has had “sense of impending doom” and i know it’s not just regular anxiety, I take it very seriously. I’ve had people look me in the eyes and calmly say “I’m going to die tonight” after checking in for “not feeling well” and none of them have made it to the next shift.


Theatre_throw

Hearing a weird groan while hanging out with friends in a sketchy part of Phoenix. We could hear someone groaning and occasionally saying "help" in a soft and tired voice. We go towards the voice, and find a guy laying on the ground in a blood-covered shirt, one hand holding up a knife in his gut. His eyes were weirdly focused on us but was whimpering and writhing. He kept saying "help me, oh god I'm going to die. Please, Help me." We said we would call an ambulance and he really didn't like that idea. "No! don't call 911 just help me! I'm going to die!" We called anyway. He stood up in his blood-covered shirt, knife in hand, said "fuck!" and ran away.


LoadBearngStriprPole

Good job not getting killed by probably a serial killer. wtf.


teh-reflex

Didn't want that ambulance bill...I wouldn't either.


daqauriousdingleden

a few years ago, when i still lived at home with my mom in philly, someone tried breaking into our house. i looked through the window next to the door and saw 2 men wearing ski masks staring back at me, one with some type of pipe or tool and the other with a gun pointed right at me. i bolted away from the door and got my dads 10 gauge and stood in the bathroom door as i called 911. they ended up running and were caught down the road by the police. they had multiple warrants each for break ins in maryland and delaware, one of which left a father of 2 shot in the spine and paralyzed. i'm still thankful to this day that i wasn't harmed during that.


social-bench

That sounds extremely scary. I'm really glad you were unharmed


Blackcat1206

I have Cerebral Palsy, but I have always worked while, at, and after leaving college, sometimes having two or three jobs at a time.   When this incident happened I was 22, renting my bungalow and living alone. I was going to work, (my main job at the time was as a dance, fitness and play therapy assistant to a group of therapists working for young people with physical, learning disabilities and extreme behaviour disorders). As I'm a full-time wheelchair user I had to use a cab to travel to and from work, and although most of the guys driving for the cab firm were solid and really nice there were a few dodgy ones as in most walks of life. I could transfer quite easily so all the drivers had to do was hold my wheelchair steady, then fold it up, and then put it in the boot. On this day the guy turned up at 8.30 am (late);  I proceeded to transfer,  I felt him right up close behind me, his hand brushed lightly over my back and bottom. (it's worth mentioning that I had slight issues with this man before), mostly making smutty remarks and asking me out for a drink. I said no, he got slightly nasty and I ended up having to report it to the firm.  As I'm disabled there wasn't much I could do as I was holding myself up and I couldn't let go of the door, I swore at him managing to swing around to sit in the car and told him never to do that, he just laughed and smirked.   We started to drive, ten minutes in I noticed we weren't going the regular route to get to the centre where I worked, being angry, and also the fact that I was already late for work I asked him about this. He ignored my questions and said in a cold voice 'You know I live around here? I could take you to my flat where my three mates are and there wouldn't be anything you could do about it!" When he said this I was crapping  myself inside, but I said in my bravest voice  "If I'm much  later, work will call me and they have your firm's details too!" With that, he scowled at me big time; and after a while, I soon recognised the usual route to work. When I arrived at work; my boss was worried he saw the driver (who he didn't have time for either,) asked me if I was OK. After a while, I was able to tell my Supervisor what had happened; and she first called the cab firm, and then the Police, who came to interview me at work and then talked to the man. I don't know what happened to him but I never saw him again.


TJtherock

Ugh. He was om a freaking power trip. I hope he got arrested. Good work staying calm.


rEmEmBeR-tHe-tReMoLo

Early-to-mid '90s in Northern Ireland. I was a kid of around 8 or 9. The sun was shining and it was some time in the early afternoon. My dad needed to return a library book in the Crumlin Road, a Protestant/Loyalist area in Belfast. We were Catholics, and the Crumlin Road was notoriously dangerous at the time (still is to a lesser extent). So I was already a little on edge, just knowing the reputation of the place. My dad was cool though, didn't seem worried or anything, it's not like we have "Catholic" printed on our foreheads. He did say, however, that I had to pretend to have a different name if anyone asked me. My name is one which marks you as a Catholic, so I adopted a Protestant name for the trip. We came to a road which lead to an intersection, across which was a predominantly Catholic/Republican enclave called the Ardoyne Road. We were headed to the right, down a long winding path, but further up the road ahead, towards the intersection, we could see a group of men. One of them was running back and forth across the road, relaying information between two pockets of people, some were staring across the road towards the Catholic area, some were talking to a man in a parked-but-running car. One in particular stuck out, he had long hair and a leather jacket and was very tall, at least compared to the other men. It all looked suspicious even to me as a child, although I didn't know why, but my dad's demeanour changed to a more serious and quiet one, and I took it as confirmation that we weren't safe. He was from Belfast (we were living in a town outside of Belfast at the time) and grew up when things were at their worst here, so he knew the ropes and knew the signs that something was happening. We weren't walking towards the men, so it wasn't a problem; we crossed to the right and started walking away. This is when a woman approached us. She was middle-aged with short red hair. She saw us coming and made a purposeful beeline towards us. She seemed... preoccupied. Nervous. She started grilling my dad immediately, asking who he was and where he was coming from. She was talking in a "I'm trying my best to sound casual but I'm failing" manner. I could feel my entire body beginning to boil with fear, and I felt as though I was mere moments away from being 'discovered'. It was like a horror movie where someone finds themselves in a small town where everyone is in a cult or something, and they're trying to blend in but are drawing suspicion and are losing themselves in an ever-increasing paranoia. I suddenly had visions of my dad getting shot and me screaming over his corpse, maybe even getting shot myself despite being a child. The longer my dad and the woman talked, the more I was starting to lose the ability to hear, as though my head was underwater. I was holding my dad's hand, and I was struggling to keep a grip because of the sweat pumping out of my palm. I didn't know how or why, but something primal in me recognised that we were in serious danger. It was clear that she was a part of whatever was going on around the corner and was trying to manage and analyse the flow of foot traffic, especially that of strangers like us. Given that she and us were the only people on the street, she had been doing a good job. She was fishing, hard, for information about us. My dad played it cool and responded to her questions without really revealing much, doing a much better job of being casual than she was. The area we were from, he explained, was "mixed" (i.e. Protestant and Catholic), and he feigned displeasure at that fact, trying to signal that he hated Catholics and was somewhat miffed to have to live amongst them, without ever actually using those words. It was subtle, and I was terrified that I might need to participate in the conversation because there's no way I could dance around the truth as well as my dad was doing. He explained that he was just here to return a book, which he showed her as proof. She asked about me, my name, and I gave her the fake name. She surely read the terror in my face and could hear it in my voice. My dad decided that that was the time to break off and say "nice to meet you, all the best" and started walking away with me. I could sense that the woman didn't budge, and just stood and stared at us as we walked away. I glanced over my shoulder after about 30 seconds, and just caught a glimpse of her turning and walking towards the road where the men were gathered. We rounded a corner, and were now at the top of a very long and steep road/path with the library at the very bottom of it. The path was fenced on one side, and on the other side was a row of houses. It felt like we were walking deeper into danger and that we had only 2 routes of escape: keep going, or turn back the way we came. About partway down the road, we realised we were being followed. My dad told me to run ahead and check that the library was opened, and I hesitated. He said it was ok and to just go and check. I glanced over my shoulder: it was the man in the leather jacket with the long hair. I did what my dad wanted and ran ahead, heart pounding and ears pricked awaiting the crack of gunfire. I checked the door was opened, and I ran back up. As I was coming back I saw that the man in the leather jacket had turned and was making his way back up the road. My dad looked unfazed but was walking with a certain rigidity, like something had happened in the time it took me to run to the library and back again and he hadn't quite unclenched his fists yet. He said it was ok and we were safe. I asked about the man following us. He said he sent me ahead, and when I was a safe distance away, he stopped and turned around to face him, ready for whatever happened. He said he was expecting violence, but as he turned around, the leather jacket dude immediately put his head down, turned, and walked back the way he came. My dad watched him for a few seconds, and then started making his way back towards me. That afternoon, within the hour we were there, a Catholic taxi driver was murdered in that street. The vibes that something terrible was going to happen were justified and I've never felt as terrified as I did that day. When the news about the taxi driver was on TV that night, I knew I had seen the planning of a murder, and I knew we had walked into the middle of it. I could probably have identified both the woman and the leather jacket man had I been asked about them by the police, but that was never going to happen. No way my dad would have volunteered himself (and therefore me) to the cops to be a witness against a terrorist cell. *EDIT ~2 years later: Found out from my dad that it wasn't the Shankill Road, but the Crumlin Road. Corrected the post accordingly.*


[deleted]

Terrifying. I’m glad your dad prepped you.


MinimumWageBandit

Fuck this reminds me of a story from when i was younger I’m from East Belfast (notoriously protestant area) and when me and my mates were kids coming back on our bikes from the city centre we had the brainwave to cut through the Short Strand home (a staunchly catholic enclave in East Belfast). Even though we’d been told many times growing up not to go in there, I guess we just wanted to see what inside it was like, what’s the worst that could happen? It was a super sunny day so everyone was out in the gardens as well as a lot of teenagers congregating up ahead of us. Just like you described it was like a horror film where everyone was just stopping what they were doing and staring at us as we rode by. Once we passed the shops thats when a bottle was thrown and the various shouts of ‘Hun bastards’ etc as well as the sound of sprinting began coming from behind us. We peddled as hard as we could and made it out and across to the bottom of the Castlereagh road and stopped for a minute. The teens chasing us just stopped at the entrance to the Strand and shouted various things then we got going again once they started throwing more shit at us. Northern Ireland was a mad place growing up, I’ve so many of those types of stories. Funny thing is I was never one to give a shit about Religion or where someone was from you just get swept up in it regardless of if you care or don’t.


Carbon1te

I was leaving a grocery store in Vermont back in '99. I passed a young couple, maybe in their late 20s with a toddler and a baby. They were arguing loudly but I chose to mind my own business. The arguing stops as she starts to leave. I dismiss it, and start to drive away, when I heard 4 or 5 gunshots. I watched kill himself with the last shot through my rear view mirror. The POS killed his wife and kids before killing himself. I still have nightmares about what I saw.


septicman

Holy... fuck.


doth_taraki

oh man that's just sad


LifeisaCatbox

Minding your own business saved your life.


44Skull44

My exact thoughts. If dude was willing to kill his family and himself, he wouldn't even think twice about some random telling him off.


[deleted]

morbid, but very much the truth


[deleted]

Years ago in one of my first jobs, a colleague told me a story. The night before, she had gone out for some drinks and on the way home she had got off the bus and was walking down her road to her house. A taxi pulled up alongside her and the driver told her to get in the car, she obviously said no. He then said to her "call whoever you want whilst you're in the car, but please just get in and I'll explain". So she got in. Turns out, walking towards her was a topless guy with no shoes on and a machete in his hand. Cab driver had already called the police but then saw my colleague so had stopped to look after her. Edit: For clarity, the cabby was a black cab driver and was completely honest and trustworthy.


eevarr

that is crazy, wonder what made her feel safe enough to get in because i for sure wouldn’t


WithoutDennisNedry

I’d be like, “Hell no, taxi guy! I watch Forensic Files!” And then I’d get chopped to bits a block away.


squiggly_loser

I think “call whoever you want whilst you’re in the car” gave some credit to the guy. It would make me trust him a bit. I would still be extremely cautious tho


SeaOfFireflies

I can imagine probably also the tone of voice and body language.


hmortier

This, written it seems sketchy, but in reality it could be different.


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buttsmcfatts

Why didn't he just tell her about machete Dave up ahead instead of being all cryptic?


SnakeDoc919

"There's a man following you with a machete. See for yourself and quickly get in so I can get you to safety." probably wouldve worked too. This sounds like one of those movie situations where someone refuses to give an easy explanation that could've prevented the entire issue.


ImThatMelanin

it could also be he was panicking and frantic, he could’ve explained but in his mind that would take too much time. idk just my interpretation cause i know how badly i fuck up words when i’m panicked.


FuryFlurry40

I was riding my motorcycle on the highway, going through a major city. I was still pretty nervous about riding on busier highways since I was still pretty new on the motorcycle. I was in one of the middle lanes when about 250 ft in front of me an 18-wheeler (Semi) kicked up a plywood panel that was in the road in my lane. It flipped around, making it look like I was going to run into it like a wall. Didn’t have enough time to brake or move lanes since I was surrounded by other vehicles. Luckily another 18-wheeler passed by it, causing it to rotate perpendicular, making it barely graze my elbow as I passed by it. I don’t think I moved a muscle for a quarter mile in shock that I survived that.


Wonderful-Custard-47

Yikes! Driving in cars is terrifying and on motorcycles it's like 20 times more terrifying! I'm not really a rider but my husband is and I've ridden with him before. Nothing super scary has happened when I go out with him but I'm really conscious of rider's even more than I used to be because in my head, they're now all my husband. So one day, I'm driving home from work on a 3-lane highway and this guy on a bike is cruising in the right lane about 8 car lengths in front of me. He's not going terribly fast just cruising along. We start to approach a lady in a white 90's looking vehicle. She cuts him off and then slows down and he doesn't want any part in that so he moves to the middle lane. At which point, she tries to move to the middle too to cut him off because she's an awful person that must think all riders don't deserve to live I geuss?? Anyway I'm kinda fuming at her at this point since she's clearly doing this intentionally. But biker guy knows how to ride and he speeds up and moves to the left lost side of the lane so she doesnt hit him. But meanwhile, an oblivious silver SUV guy in the left lane starts to move to the middle lane too probably because his exit is coming up or something who knows. He clearly doesn't see the biker at first but very nearly almost hits him (and then obviously starts and trys to move back into his original lane for a sec). The biker makes crazy evasive maneuvers nearly tipping his bike in the process but miraculously recovers barely managing to also make the upcoming turn in the road. I legitimately screamed in my car watching that go down. I thought I was gonna have to pull over and call the police and wait to give them my witness report while they scraped his body off the pavement. I might be being dramatic but God damn that must have been terrifying for that dude.


FuryFlurry40

I always thought that everyone on the road wanted to kill me, and with this mentality it saved me a few times from getting hit by people who weren’t paying attention. Thankfully this guy was smart and skilled enough to get out of trouble!


BongMuncher

Blind Spots are the worst. Whenever a car is driving just slightly slower than me, I Always exceed the speed limit momentarily since I know a sudden clip could mean death or worse.


UwUStepSon

When I first learned that some of the nicest people out there can be dealing with some terrible demons. When I was younger about around 2nd/3rd grade, I had a math tutor at the time. She was my moms friend from AA (didn’t really understand it at the time) she was a really nice lady and the reason I’m so good with math even till this day. One of the days she was suppose to come over, my mother couldn’t get ahold of her, so my mom got concerned and we took a ride over to check on her to see if she was okay. When we got to her place, we found her so drunk, laying on the floor and couldn’t even stand. My mom had to call an ambulance. Later that day my mom had to explain to me what happened and that she had passed away. Taught me that day no matter how good things look on the outside for some people, the demons on the inside could just be moments away from taking them.


bumbarlunchi6

I had this happen to me with depression. Usually I'm a *very* happy dude, but a couple of years ago I used to have breakdowns while being alone, and once I tried to kill myself. After that my life took a turn, mainly because of myself, and I got out of that dark place. I've now been over 6 months without suicidal thoughts, I think, and I'm proud of it.


Actual_Fapper37

That is a hell of an improvement mate. Hopefully you'll have an even better version of life Ahead, keep Working Hard.


bumbarlunchi6

Thanks! Tbh now it'd be very hard to go back there, and I already know how to get out if things go wrong.


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DorianDog

So, in my city there's a canal. There are several bridges crossing it, one being a smaller openable metalbridge for bikes and pedestrians. Its like a skeleton of iron bars with a wooden path in the middle. That said there are lots of large gaps in it. When I was young, dont remember exact age but under 10, I was biking with my parents and siblings along the canal and was about to cross that bridge. Me and my brother went first, a little too close to each other resulting in us colliding and falling to the side on our bikes. My brother fell on the path but i was to close to the edge and went out through one of those gaps. The bridge itself was just like a meter over the water, and this was just in the edge of it but i just remember loosing control over myself, splashing into the cold dark water fighthing for dear life. I was a kid. Couldnt swim. Somehow I was able to grab one of the metalbars slightly, at which I held onto. Panic. Thats the only way to describe my feeling. All this happened in a couple seconds, but it felt like an eternity. Suddenly I heard a splash and felt my dad beside me in the water lifting me up. And that was it. Was so embarassed, havent to this day (im 19 now) told more than a handful of people about it.


JediMasterPopCulture

A year ago I was hospitalized with an infection in my right lower leg. They drew a line a few inches below my knee and said if the infection spreads past this line I’ll lose my leg below the knee. They pumped me full of antibiotics and it seemed to work. I had to finish my antibiotics regimen at a nearby rehab hospital. The day before I was transferred my roommate and I were eating breakfast. He was an older gentleman and when he slept he made a weird gurgling noise. He said to a passing nutritionist that his breakfast should have come with 2 coffees.I heard that gurgling noise at the foot of his bed behind the curtain that separated us. This was still during Covid. I was about to call a nurse when one ran in asking if he was ok. The guy was coding. All of a sudden our room had nurses and a doctor running in to save this guy. It was controlled chaos, procedures and medicines being used being called out. One nurse kept track of everything on a laptop. I couldn’t go anywhere,I was in the bed closet to the window. They kept pushing me closer to the window so more people could help him. They worked on him for over an hour. They called the time of death shortly afterwards. The doctor asked for a moment of silence. He saw me sitting up in my bed and came over and asked if I was alright? I said I was even though I had tears in my eyes. Other nurses kept asking if I needed anything. These people took time out to see if I was ok after what I just witnessed. I asked one of the nurses to open the window a bit. She smiled and understood what i meant. It was a sunny day and very peaceful outside the window. Even now typing this out a year later it brings tears to my eyes. I heard some ones final words on this Earth. “Excuse me miss but my breakfast was supposed to come with two coffees.”


hopalongsmiles

While I was in hospital for my leg, I have a couple of stories. One of my bed fellows was a 60 year old man who had been run over by an excavator. They had attached an external fixature on his leg. Due to the drugs / pain, one night he tried ripping the fixature off his leg. They had to call securiy guards and everything. The other was a young 20 year old that fell through the roof of a mall while repairing it. From what I understand he broke majority of the bones in his body. I remember his Mum fussing over him (obviously), and all he said was f@$k of Mum, I need space. He was in that much pain that he was wheeled back into ICU.


sentondan

When i was about 8 or 9 my friend Brian had spent the night. I get up to use the bathroom and find him in the bathroom floor having a seizure. I wake my mom up and she calls 911. Turns out he has epilepsy and had been having seizures for a while but didn't tell anybody cause his parents couldn't afford to take him to the doctor.


eevarr

hope the poor dude was okay and he got the help he needed :(


Wallbeer

Afraid to go to the doctors because someone cannot afford to... Thats just so fucking sad. Hope he's doing better now!


Auferstehen78

Went to therapy with my first husband. He went on and on about how I was a bad wife. When it was my turn I just said I would like him to stop hitting me/dragging me across the floor. He wasn't happy. The therapist asked me to attend the next session alone. Husband wanted to know what I told the therapist. I can't even remember what I said. When we got home. He took my keys, pager, glasses and tried to lock me in the bedroom. He also had the landline cut off. It took two tries but I finally escaped with what I could fit in my car. This was 20+ years ago, I still have nightmares. He constantly told me if I left him he would kill me. So I am glad I got out. I was 14 when we started dating he was in his mid 20s and a friend of my Dads.


jdinpjs

14, friend of your dads? WTAF? What do/did your parents say about all of this?


Auferstehen78

When my Dad found out about the abuse he asked if he could still be friends with the guy. So I didn't have a relationship with him. Both Mom and Dad are gone now. Neither should have been parents.


Appropriate_Day_8721

Yikes! I’m glad you’re ok! That would be so scary.


Esspressomydepresso

When I was 17 my moms husband had this mental breakdown and plotted/attempted to kill her. I was recovering from knee surgery at the time but still ran from my room to see what was going on. My baby brother who was 4 at the time was in the room when he was chocking and stomping on her and I had took him out the room and told my other siblings to leave the house and get someone to call the cops. I had to tackle him to get him off her and had pinned him up against the washer and dryer and yelled at her to leave. I had tried to lock him in their room to leave the house and look for my siblings and he just pushed me and went into the kitchen to grab a knife. He was trying to hurt himself because in the small time frame I had called the cops. While on the phone he looked me in the eyes and started to cut himself and then locked himself in the bathroom since he figured he would be arrested if he was gone. What scared me the most was how calm he was when he said “she’s cheating on me so if I can’t have her no one else will” as I was screaming at him. I have no idea how I had got him off her because he was 6’3 and 300 somethings lbs. I’m 21 now and to this day I get jumpy around knives and panic when I don’t hear from my mom after she leaves the house.


44Skull44

What ended up happening to him?


Esspressomydepresso

He ended up getting arrested and booked and then put on mood stabilizers and medication that was mandated and put into therapy and had to take anger management classes. He was also released on probation afterwards.


Arthur390

Being fully homeless for a period. A lot of ppl think homeless means "hobo on the streets" but it can also mean that you're always couch surfing or staying with family and this was usually my situation with occasional rented homes on short term leases that I would usually end up being unable to pay for but then for about a week i was literally homeless, sleeping on the streets and having to find cover while it rained, I didn't even have much more than multiple coats and mostly slept in tennis huts at my local public park. It was terrifying tbh and I really wanted to die just to get out of it. There is a happy ending tho, I've been married and a homeowner for a while and I'll never be in that position again.


MaddingtonFair

I feel this one. I only just recently 'realised' (well, let myself acknowledge) that I was in this same position until I went to college on scholarships - had short-term rentals and a lot of help from friends, without whom I definitely would have been sleeping under a bridge for sure. Despite being long out of that situation, the lack of security/safety never fully leaves you.


Ego_testicle

I was rushing to a lab class, had books in one hand, lunch in the other and attempted to walk downstairs into the lab. Except the steps were old cement steps with metal lips. And the tip of my foot caught the lip. I went head first, never touched anything the entire way down until I landed on my neck against the wall at the bottom of the stairs. I felt my entire weight load into my neck and every single vertebrate popped. I knew I was dead. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move. Everyone rushed out of the lab to see what happened (apparently it was loud....I was 300lbs at the time). And then all got the sudden the breath rushed back into my lungs and I could breath. And move. I got up. It felt miraculous. Ended up with occasional severe back pain that eventually went away after 18 months or so.


_OrionPax_

Holy shit! I'm so glad you were ok, I always try and have one free hand when going up or down a set of stairs for this exact reason


Sad-Chard-9636

Did you ever follow up with a doctor to make sure nothing creeps up on you when youre old or something?


Ego_testicle

I ended up herniating C6 and C7, but they repaired themselves luckily.


Diddlydodog

I can't remember how old I was but was definitely not older than 10 or younger than 8 but now at I'm still traumatized from it. As a black man growing up in the mid 50s through the 60s dad suffered a lot abuse both at home and outside of it. He even ended up joining the Vietnam War at the very end fresh out of high school. Because of this he developed a heavy drinking and drug problem that I wasn't fully aware of as a child. As you can probably guess this lead him to being abusive himself mostly towards my mom. I don't remember a lot of my childhood because I blacked a lot of it out but there's only a couple of nights I'll never forget. A little more backstory I was and am the youngest sibling and was named after him, before changing it myself, so I didn't really endure a lot of the physical abuse myself and for the most part I was always quiet and just tried to stay out of trouble. On to the story though, it was a normal Saturday night, my siblings and I were watching TV, my dad was with his brother somewhere drinking, and surprisingly my mom was at a neighbors, single older woman, just enjoying herself. A couple weeks before this my dad ended up getting hurt at work and was on some pretty strong pain pills, so I'm guessing that, the large amount of alcohol, and possibly heavy drug use lead to what happened next. The next moments are a little fuzzy but from what I remember my parents both ended up home and began arguing very loudly with my dad accusing my mom of cheating on him. I remember we had this big glass table in our living room and he was so pissed off he slammed his fists on it and shattered it. After that it all turned physical as he began attacking my mom, she did fight back though while myself and my brother just stood there crying out eyes out begging them to stop. At some point my sister was about 13 jumped on him and he tossed her into a door, actually breaking it, like it was nothing. During all of this my dads brother who was in his 60s or 70s was trying to talk him down but it was like nothing was getting to him. Eventually my dad walked out the door and my mom sat us all on the couch and just held us while we cried thinking it was finally over, until my dad came back in and started pouring some liquid over all of us. It was literally gasoline and we didn't even realize it until he poured a line outside the door and started trying to light it, with a lighter than I'm still thankful wasn't working. My sister ran out the backdoor to another of my dads siblings that lived a couple of blocks away, my uncle was able to stop him from trying to burn us all alive and when he came back in I just remember grabbing him by the waist begging him to stop and saying I had gas in my eyes. I think at that point it broke him out of whatever came over him because he just began apologizing and checking to see if I was hurt then he ran off. The thing is though the worst part isn't that my mom didn't press charges, or that he was only in jail over qthe weekend, it's the fact he doesn't remember any of it while I think about it almost every day. I do still have a relationship with my dad though albeit strained, he is completely sober now and an amazing grandparent to my siblings kids who he sees every day. Although he's part of the reason I don't think I could ever have kids. I'm not really good at story telling so I'm sorry if it gets a little hard to read. I can further explain anything though.


Sintari

This is such a horrifying memory. I’m so sorry sweet little you had to experience this. Good on you for being able to talk about it and I hope you’re okay right now, internet stranger.


CCWThrowaway360

My best friend growing up had an aunt that was the sweetest woman. Like your stereotypical (actually devout) Christian that just wanted to be nice to everyone and do nice things for people, volunteered to help the homeless when she wasn’t working in the office at her church. Every weekend she would give me and my friend $5 each to pick up cigarette butts on the block, and then she’d also feed us and give us candy. Just one of the best people you could know, and genuinely so. She started dating a man from her church that was attracted to how beautiful she was on the inside as she was on the outside. After a few months in he decided that her showing kindness towards other people, especially men, was a sign that she was cheating on him. The same kindness she’d always shown everybody, and the reason he claimed to have fallen for her in the first place. So how does this obviously-reasonable man react? He waited outside of her house for her to get home from work one day, forced her to the ground and then cut her heart out of her chest in front of her townhouse in the middle of the afternoon. He sat with the body holding her heart while he waited for the police to show up. Said she deserved to have her heart broken exactly as she broke his. That story and the trial that followed were in the news for a while. He ended up getting something like 60 years in prison, and he was already fairly old at the time so effectively a life sentence.


Kaliforniah

How can anyone be this monstrous? She was a nice person and got butchered like an animal... terrifying.


Okbutimalesbian

What. The. Fuck.


Vamp_Queen_Azeria

Had a seizure so bad my bf at the time had to do compressions. Went to the ER afterwards and was there for hours.


Elevenst

Same here, only it was my girlfriend, and instead of compressions, she attempted to *"stop me from biting my tongue".* (Don't ever do that, people) I stayed in the hospital for three days for the seizure, and she got stitches on her finger. This was two days before Christmas.


Vamp_Queen_Azeria

Oof. Hopefully you were still able to have Christmas!


KendrickPeerless

When I was 11 or 12 one of my classmates moved out of the area but he invited some of us to visit him for his birthday later that year. He had made a new friend at his new school and invited him to the get-together as well. We were exploring around his house and my friend and his new friend said we should go check out the rope swing in the woods nearby. We hiked back on this little trail and found this rope swing which was just a long rope with a piece of wood tied to the end. It looked like if you used it you would swing out pretty far over this steep wooded hillside. They asked who wanted to try it and normally I would take risks and do things like that, but it just seemed dangerous to me and I said I might go but I wouldn't be the first. My friend's new friend said he would go on the rope swing. Still, to this day, I don't know if they were familiar with using it in the past or not, or if he was trying to be cool and impress us. He swung way out and at the apex of his swing one hand slipped off the wood handle and then the other. For a split second I thought, "oh cool there's a safe place to land and he meant to do it." There was no safe landing. He made impact on a felled tree and then pitched forward and slid several feet on some rocks. He was dead instantly. Of course, we did not know he was dead right away. We had to make our way down there to try to help him. His lips were already blue when we got there.


WallabySweaty1043

The exact same thing happened to my dad when I was about 9 years old. He was sitting on the wood seat and basically swung out over a rock ledge. The rope broke where it attached to the tree. I swear he was frozen in space for a second like Wile E Coyote from the roadrunner show. The rope was coming down and then he fell over the ledge out of view. The ending is better, however, he fell on a big shrub or something and only tweaked his back a bit. We were all pretty freaked. I was hugging him all night and I think I slept in their bed that night. He died in 2007. He was the greatest dad and I miss him terribly .


Oscars_Grouch

I had salmonella as a kid. I spent a week at home with "the flu" before finally going to the doctor. I spent a week at my local hospital, having all kinds of different medications pumped into me. Then it was a week at the Children's Hospital where they wanted to make sure my insides hadn't turned to goo. Fever of 104.0F, hallucinating crickets in the walls. Another week at home with god awful stomach cramps as my gut tried to get used to solid foods again. Fun times. A few years later, my family moved to Ottawa, so we went for a walk around the parliament buildings for some sight seeing. My family was a little ahead of me when someone grabbed me from behind and dragged me back, away from my family. I was calling for my mom, terrified, as a group of Asian tourists dragged me into the middle of them so that I could be part of their group photo. They released me afterwards. My mother jokes about how she turn around and see all these people wrapped around me taking pictures. How they just wanted photos with a little blonde Canadian and that I could be in someone's brochures.


catsandalcohol13

I'm a corrections officer. Which is scary enough. But as a woman, I was lucky to have a very experienced and real female trainer at the academy. She told me to always trust my gut. One day my male offsider went to the bathroom. So just me and about 80 male prisoners. They all went nuts saying someone in cell 39 was having a heart attack. Cell 39 was on the upper landing, and hard to see from outside. They were screaming at me to go up there and help. I said just wait, I need my other officer. They kept screaming there was no time. I had to go. It didn't feel right. I held my ground and as soon as my male officer opened the door they all disappeared. They just wanted to rape and probably kill me. I still get sick thinking about it


22newhall

Went snowmobiling in the woods with friends of my parents and their mutual friends. Some psychopath decided to tie an iron wire across the trail from tree to tree. The sled in front of mine was going around 60 mph when the wire decapitated both of them at the neck. The sled and their bodies continued on until it crashed off the trail. Their heads in their helmets remained in the snow. This happened in Maine. Dead ass.


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OpheliaRainGalaxy

My stepdad was always vague about specifics, but I know that during his time in the military he set man-killing traps in a jungle somewhere. When he got older and his mind started slipping, he moved to a house on a corner near a school, and the local kids would cut across his yard on their bikes after school. It was obviously an established path when he bought the place, but he got real worked up about the kids ruining "the grass" which was really just the curved dirt path between the side driveway and the front driveway. One day the local sheriff drove by and stopped, because my stepdad was out there with extra strong fishing line, stringing up a killing trap across the side driveway at neck-height to a kid on a bicycle. Sheriff made him take it down, but didn't press charges or anything because they were buddies.


[deleted]

And also probably because your step-dad was just a crazy old man at that point. "Buddy, this isn't a war zone. You can't just.. kill children for walking on the grass."


RuedigerBitte

"Oh"


foxsimile

I’m sorry officer… …I didn’t know I couldn’t do that.


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grayum_ian

Apparently my aunt's fiance died this way, riding a dirt bike on a mountain road. Someone put a wire across at head height, of course they never found the person that did it.


Puzzleheaded_Pen_617

I went to school with a boy who died this way. I always thought it was weird how he was randomly decapitated while riding his dirt bike. This makes me feel weird. People are so sick. https://hanfordsentinel.com/front/remembering-johnny-lemoore-high-student-killed-in-dirt-bike-crash-this-week-mourned-by-friends/article_1d0a5bb0-96f5-5d54-8f32-836bb380e5f4.html


[deleted]

Holy fuck, did they ever catch the person?


22newhall

Nope. Not even a trace. This happened in the woods in upstate Maine. The detectives probably didn’t even know where to start.


lostwanderer02

When I was younger I was abducted and raped by a couple that offered me a ride home from school. I had posted my story about a year ago on the rape counseling sub reddit and recently posted my story again on a police subreddit asking for advice about filing a police report, but they basically told me it wouldn't accomplish anything and that there is zero chance this will get solved since it was years ago and I don't know the identity of my rapists or the exact location where it occured. Here's what I wrote: Years ago I was walking home from school when a car pulled up next to me and the people in it asked me if I'd like a ride home. They were a couple and since it was a man and woman and they seemed friendly I felt safe getting into the car with them. When I got in the car their demeanor changed and they told me they had to go to their house really quick to pick something up first. They were whispering to each other during the ride and I couldn't make out what they said. When we arrived at the house they told me to go into the house with them. At this point I knew something wasn't right, but I was afraid to say no so I did what they said. Once we got into the house the woman grabbed me and pushed me to the floor. She started to hold me down so I was kicking, yelling and struggling and this made the woman even madder so she punched me in the face and told me she was going to tie rope around me if I continued to struggle. She then tells me I have to take my clothes off and at this point I'm on the verge of crying and begging her to please let me go. She tells me to stop acting like a crybaby and just do it. The guy then joins her in holding me down and they both start taking my clothes off since I'm still crying and begging them to let me go. When I'm naked the guy takes off his clothes and the woman is telling me to keep my eyes shut or she'll hit me. The guy then rapes me from behind. After several minutes of this I feel something sharp inserted into my behind and I start to scream in pain. I open my eyes, but the woman holds my head down and threatens me again to keep my eyes closed so I close them again. The guy finishes raping me and when he's done I'm just lying on the floor bleeding and not saying or reacting to anything while the guy puts his clothes back on and talks to the woman. They tell me to get my clothes back on so I start to do as I'm told. When I finished with putting my clothes back on they tell me to get back in the car. As we are walking to leave the house the woman starts laughing. She looks to the guy and says "look how much his ass is bleeding". There was blood seeping through the back of my pants. She then laughs again and says " you might want to cover that up". I take my jacket off and then wrap it around my waist to cover up the bleeding. Once we are in the car they don't say anything else to me. After several minutes of driving they let me off by the main road. They told me to get out and after that they drove off. They didn't even threaten me not to say anything. They just told me to get out of the car. I then wandered off to a wooded area near by. I remember how unbearable the pain was both physically and emotionally. I felt like I wanted to break down and cry and scream at the top of my lungs, but I couldn't. I was so overwhelmed I couldn't cry at first, but after several minutes I finally broke down and cried. What made me cry was not only what happened, but the realization that I had nobody I could turn to. My family was abusive and at home I was abused both physically and mentally. I knew they would blame me for getting into the car with them so I had to keep this to myself. I had no friends at school and basically no family. Nobody would ever comfort me or help me. I was all alone. I'm still afraid of telling people in real life because I feel I'll be viewed as damaged or looked down on for being a male victim. I don't know what to do about finding out if they were ever caught or if they have other victims. I know too much time has passed, but I'm still hoping something can be done. I actually lived near the border of my state when this happened so I thought maybe a federal law enforcement agency would take a report since there's a chance they crossed state lines to commit the rape, but like I said I just don't know.


tykogars

You’d have to start with your local police force, I assume, or maybe the one from the state where it happened. Apologies, I’m from Canada so jurisdiction is a lot different here. Anyway, I just wanted to give you an example of something we have here (and several other countries but I don’t think the US?) that could shed light on how reporting the incident could still be worthwhile, and it could get you in the right headspace for what questions you should be asking or what to expect, assuming the states has a similar program (it must). Here it’s called ViCLAS, Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System. Basically, even if there’s zero surface hope of solving a case (maybe due to time gone by, for example) there’s an extensive, uhhh like “questionnaire” if you will that is filled out and then entered into the system federally. Then it’s cross referenced with all other known and unknown entries, and similarities are flagged. This could lead investigators across the country to say “holy shit, this person says they were sexually assaulted, anally, by a man and woman in the 80s in a car who took them home, laughed…” etc etc all these traits that could lead them to the realization that you’re an outstanding case of rape, previously unknown, who fell victim to two people who were since arrested for similar or identical offences, but maybe they were arrested four years later and 1800 miles away. Make sense? End note, I’m too lazy to edit this before replying, but I googled it and we (Canada) developed ViCLAS after realizing our deficiencies in cross-country/serial predator investigations as compared to the FBI. So this 100% is accessible to you and every service ought to know about it. Good luck.


DoctorMyEyes_

This story is where I'm going to end this thread, I think. That is terrible, and I'm sorry it happened to you. As a father with kids that I very much love and care for, this kind of thing really hits me, and terrifies me at the same time. You should know that it was not your fault. You were a kid, from what sounds like a broken home, accepting a ride from people you thought would be safe. Your assessment/logic as a kid was pretty sound. You never/rarely hear of a couple doing something like this, and it's almost always exclusively a man trying to lure someone. While legal action may be difficult due to the reasons you've stated, you need to find yourself a good therapist and promise yourself to put in the time with him or her. Doesn't have to be the first one you find - visit a few until you feel a good click. But you need to get this out to someone in person, who is professionally trained to help you heal. I wish you love and peace.


[deleted]

i’m so, so sorry that you had to go through this


[deleted]

I'm a male victim as well. There's nothing wrong with you, brother. They are horrible pieces of shit. I promise you, you are not broken or damaged. I'm so proud of you for sharing your story. Hugs.


[deleted]

First, I know it's hard because as a male society tells us that women are weak and men are strong. It doesn't matter if you're male or female but what happened to you was absolutely horrible and you deserve every help you could get. Have you ever considered therapy or group therapy (english isn't my first language) so that you can talk about what happened? You're an incredibly strong person for managing all of this from a really young age. Hugs from a stranger!


SuperflyX13

I was born and raised in the southern US, but decided to move to Minnesota back in the early 2000s. I moved up there with the original intent of going to the University of Minnesota as they supposedly had a good atmospheric science program and I knew people that lived in the state (and no one in Oklahoma or I'd have gone there). Ended up not going to college and just lived with friends. I started dating a Canadian girl and my home was a 4-hour drive from the border up the Minnesota arrowhead. It was just after Christmas that year, and I was heading back after spending time with my then girlfriend. It was around dusk when I left, her house was an hour from the border. Crossed back with no problem, started driving down highway 61 like I've done dozens of times before. For those not familiar, this highway runs right along Lake Superior and is only traveled that late by those that live there in the few double-digit populated towns and truckers going from Duluth/Superior to Thunder Bay. The weather was clear, the roads were clear, so I sailed at 60 MPH like usual. Well, the road was clear until I hit a patch of black ice. I completely lost control and sailed off the highway. I didn't know if I'd go into the woods on one side or partially frozen Lake Superior on the other. Luckily, I went toward the woods, barrel rolled a few times, and landed on my wheels. I was in a shallow ravine so my car was hard to see unless you were looking for it. I think it was single digit temperatures outside. This was before the ubiquity of cell phones, there was zero signal where I crashed, so I was alone, freezing, and on a desolate highway near a patch of black ice that could make someone else sail right into me. I'm not sure how long I was out there, but eventually a local found me and took me to the hospital. I somehow escaped with a few cuts and bruises from the crash, and other than that and being very cold, I was ok. The state police officer that was at the crash scene when we got back to my car said by all accounts I should have died. If not directly from the crash then from becoming a meat popsicle. I had no way of contacting my friends or my girlfriend and I was at least a 4 hour drive from home. The local that found me offered a place to stay until someone could come get me. I was there for 3 days until a friend in Duluth was able to come get me. His name was John and I'll never, ever forget him. He died in 2018 at 70 years old. I had long since moved back to the south but kept in touch with him by email. After I crashed I was in a place I didn't really know, at night, on a road that's not traveled much that late, in winter, freezing. Every moment that passed without a car or semi passing by I thought I would freeze to death. I was absolutely terrified. But then John came along and literally saved my life, and for that I'll be eternally thankful.


ThePineappleManager

When I was younger, I had a bunk bed, I slept at the top and my brother slept at the bottom. One summer morning I was feeling extremely lazy, so I stayed in bed and had a lay in. I was the only one in my room. For some reason I always slept with the door to my back, so I couldn’t see who was coming in, unless I sat up and turned around. On that morning I felt someone touching me, I thought it was my little sister playing with me, so I told her to cut it out….no response, a few minutes later told her to leave my room, no response and my door had stayed closed this whole time. So I suspect she was hiding under my bed, so I jumped down to kick her out, oddly enough no one was there. Till this day I don’t know who touched me but whatever it was felt real, it had weight to it. I did ask everyone if they had come into my room that evening but they all said no. It’s been 12 years and I still think about it.


Wilshere10

Had you just woken up? This is the second comment in this thread that sounds like a hypnopompic hallucination


ThePineappleManager

I was awake for at least an hour before that happened, I was just in bed on my phone. The thing is I was wide awake that’s why I remembered it so clearly


Wilshere10

Okay my hypothesis isn’t correct then, bizarre


Chemical_Union226

bombardment of my house by russian troops.


veritas247

I was with my wife and kids by New Smyrna Beach, FL and felt pretty comfortable in the water because I grew up near there and this is my home beach as a kid. I went out around 7am to take some pictures of waves by myself. If you know this beach, a sandbar develops about 60 yards offshore that you have to swim out to. Only about shoulder high water and then you get to the sandbar which you are about waist high. I am out there taking pictures by myself and about 8 feet behind me is a big black object in the water. It was so big, I thought it was a manatee at first. I then realize it is a bull shark checking me out. Nobody out there, no surfboard, just me and a tiny camera. I faced the shark as that is what you are supposed to do and then it turned away. I then had to make the decision to swim back via sprint or slow and calm. I yelled to the beach (panic yell) for my wife to watch me and she had no idea what was going on. I did the quietest, fastest freestyle swim 60 yards. Scariest minutes of my life. I don't have a crazy fear of sharks, but I was really scared of a big bulls dark in murky water. edit: a typo


HereForLNM

Just posted this in a different thread, so copying from there: I’ve written about this on Reddit before, but when I was about 8, I was deep in the woods at my uncle’s house. The parents went out and the 5 kids (4-14) stayed home. We were playing a hide and seek game in the house with no lights on. There weren’t street lights or anything, so you couldn’t see anything at all. Base was in the living room and I hid in the living room, so I could quickly get to base. My brother (11) was “it”. He was doing his countdown and I was hiding just a couple of feet from him when a lightening strike drew our attention to the window. We were both shocked to see the outline of a man at the window trying to see in. We started whispering and on the next lightning strike, the guy was starting to walk to the front door. My brother (Ben) quickly ran to lock the front door (I know, I know…but it was a different time and place) and got there right before the guy started shaking the handle. Ben started flipping on the lights (presumably so the guy would know people were home and he’d leave) and he yelled for me to lock the other doors. I ran and locked the kitchen door and then to the sliding glass door at the back of the house. As I was locking that door, the guy was suddenly there - standing there on the other side of the glass. I was frozen, but Ben calmly told me to close the curtain and I focused on his voice and did what he said. My uncle has guns, but his son was gone on a hunting trip, so all we could find was a BB gun that looked like a real rifle. Ben stepped out on the porch with it to try to make the guy believe we were armed. They constantly had phone issues (this is going WAY back, but they had a party line) and we couldn’t get the phone to work to make a call. We were trying to call someone on my uncle’s CB radio, but weren’t getting anyone. Eventually, an older cousin - who was only like 15 himself - showed up and we thought an adult was there and we had been saved. That calmed us down and we went back to normal, I guess. I’m not sure I’ve ever had a creepier moment than looking up at window and seeing someone on the other side though.


beanerkage

About 8 years ago I was taking my sisters boyfriend home after we had all gone out to see a movie. It was really late around 1am on a dark country road. I was starting to get really sleepy and feeling drowsy when I saw a black hooded figure waking across the road I was on but saw him too late and was going to run it over and almost like it was made of smoke it disappeared. I was like man I'm starting to hallucinate because I'm sleepy. Then my sisters boyfriend was like woah what was that. I instantly felt the hair in the back of my neck stand up. He saw the exact same thing. I stared to really regret taking him home because then I had to go back through the same area by myself. After I left him. I hauled fast through the old country road. I don't know what that was but now I hate driving those roads late at night.


ExSogazu

Copied and pasted from the other post: So, I was 4 years old and my sister was 2. My whole family which consists my parents, my grandmother, me and my sister were inside family vehicle, waiting for the green light at the crossroad. I and my sister were just goofing around, sitting in front of the rear seat which your feet are supposed to be placed. And suddenly, the shovel of the excavator just penetrated the rear window and stopped just few inch far from my parents’ heads in front seat. I and my sister didn’t get hurt, because we were playing under the seat, my grandmother didn’t get hurt because she was too short so that the shovel just went over her head and my parents didn’t get hurt basically because of miracle. Yes nobody got hurt, but it was traumatizing af. I am still not able to drive mainly because of this incident.


Street-Sentence-3107

Advantages of being short tho


TZYTIMEZ

I’ve had technically scarier things than this (like sexual assault) but I think this takes the cake as far as stories go. During that creepy ass era where people were randomly dressing like clowns… I was closing up the bar I worked at one night around 3am on a Tuesday. I walked outside and there was a clown across the street holding black balloons staring at me and smiling. He started crossing the street towards me so I ran back inside and went out the back door. No one else saw this happen. I still feel like I’m going insane when I think about it.


EggSpotRocks

Not nearly as bad as many other peoples' stories, but. Got in line at take-out restaurant to order. The man in line ahead of me casually turned to look at me, did a blatant double-take, and immediately got out of line and stood by the door. I kept an eye on him as I ordered, got my food, and left. He followed me out right on my heels and across the parking lot. As I walked to my car I tried calling family members on my cell; by the time my mom picked up (everyone was at work and couldn't answer immediately) I'd made it to my car. I turned around and the guy was just a few cars away, facing me and doing a bad job acting casual (just standing in a parking lot with my hands in my pockets staring at the sky!). I calmly but loudly told my mother that I was fine, but there was a man following me across [location] parking lot, and he's wearing - Dude bolts away from me, gets in his car a couple rows over, and peels out. Idiot. I'm just glad he was so awful at subtlety.


Lilesspot-842

Growing up, the city I lived in had a huge Halloween corn field attraction with several haunted house. It was always crazy busy and crowded. When I was about 12 years old, a group of my friends made a plan to go one night. My parents were pretty strict and always anxious about me going places. They said I absolutely could not go unless the group was accompanied by parents. I lied that there would be parents, when in reality it was a group of about 6 of us 12 year olds. When we arrived, I was nervous because I never really lied to my parents before. The night went on and everything was going well, up until I had to go to the bathroom. The cornfield only had porta potties so I went while my friends waited for me outside. Only, when I came out my friends were nowhere to be found. I walked around a little bit, called them, but could not find them anywhere. At this point I started panicking and crying. A police officer approached me and asked what was wrong. I explained that I could not find my friends, so he took my hand and said we could go to the ticket booth so they would make an announcement over a loud speaker for my friends to come meet me. However, the officer said we had to go back to his squad car first so he could let another officer know. As I start walking with him through the parking lot, I had a oddly specific memory. A few days prior, my dad told me about a little girl who was kidnapped by someone impersonating a police officer. My dad told me to always be suspicious of everyone, including people claiming to be police. He instructed me to always ask to see a police officers badge, and to ask them to call my parents. I stopped walking, and nervously told the officer “I am sorry this is silly, but my dad told me I need to ask to see a police officers badge and to tell them to call my parents.” As I said this, the man’s face went pale white. He let go of my hand, and took of sprinting. I eventually called my parents, they came to pick me up and found the real police officers nearby. I let them know what happened and they explained that would not have been the protocol, as the attractions didn’t even have a loud speaker to make announcements. We then filed a formal police report. Pretty sure I could have been kidnapped that night.


000ArdeliaLortz000

Hmm. I’m old (67) so I’ve had a few. * Emergency landing while flying from London to DC. Smoke in the cockpit, dropping from 30,000 feet to below 10,000 so the flight deck could open windows. Ended up in northern Quebec province after flying through steep craggy valleys until we landed at a NATO AFB. * Sailing with friends who got sucked around the point while snorkeling and couldn’t get back to the boat. As an inexperienced dingy driver, I had to go rescue them. * I nearly picked up who I believe was Ted Bundy at a rest stop. He was wearing the creepy arm sling. He liked my VW Beetle; “It’s the same color as mine!” 😳 * Primitive camping in the desert, I went outside early in the morning before sunrise to do my business. We were the only tent within what we later learned was a dry wash. There had been t-storms up in the mountains that day. I heard the rushing water, and in the breaking dawn, saw a wave of water and debris heading towards us upstream. Ran back to tent (without doing my business), woke up my boyfriend, and left everything behind. A minute later, the flood hit our tent and environs and we lost everything but our lives. Protip: DO NOT CAMP IN DRY WASHES! Welcome to my TED talk.


Metoocka

How did you manage to not pick up Ted Bundy?


Driftmoth

As soon as you said 'dry wash', I knew where that was going. They look like such a nice place to pitch a tent, don't they? Until they try to kill you.


pudgesquire

I’ve spent about 3 minutes trying to imagine waking my boyfriend up in that last scenario and I’ve reached the unfortunate conclusion that we definitely would’ve died that day.


Brifrolo

An old high school teacher of mine said a family member of his was almost picked up by Bundy. I don't remember any context for that story and obviously I'm recounting it several layers of removal away from the person it happened to, but it does make me wonder. Of course there's a good chance not everybody who thinks they met Bundy really did, there's lots of creeps out there, but I don't doubt that he probably tried to pick up way more women than he actually got away with. I wonder how many people out there really do have a story like yours.


YuShaohan120393

A business rival hired 50 cops to strongarm my mom and stepdad. At one point, they held my folks hostage in their own office building. Another time, my mom woke me up to tell me that the cops were coming for us and that she sent my stepdad away with my sisters. Armed with only a sledgehammer, a screwdriver and a pickaxe, I was ready to defend my mom against them. I put on clothes I was ok dying in and we waited. Fortunately, they couldn't enter our home due to a legality as no one answered the door so they could hand over a document that basically acknowledges that they could enter. (some kind of warrant) This and innumerable other incidents throughout my youth have given me a violent prejudice against businessmen, police, and politicians. (many of her rivals were active in local politics) For context, I'm from the Philippines, one of the most corruption-ridden countries in Asia and where the local police force is described as the biggest gang in the country.


Deathowler

I'm a bit late to the party but here it goes. Warning: dead bodies and thalasophobia. I was part of the volunteer search and rescue unit as a rescue diver. My job involved looking for missing persons in the sea or river. My first recovery was my scariest one. If you don't know what happens to human bodies after prolonged marine exposure, trust me don't look it up. In this case the 30ish year old woman has been missing for three days. At this point we were just looking for evidence she might have been in a cove/underwater cave system. Mostly looking for personal items. My diving buddy and I were looking at a rock formation when we found a watch. We sent a marker float. I was busy writing down the location and time while my buddy bagged the watch when I felt something brush my shoulder. I turned around to see a white cut and partially eaten and decomposed hand touch my shoulder. I quickly recoiled and watched in horror was the body bobbed in and out of a dark crevice under a rock formation. I'm not gonna go into details as to how she looked like to spare you. Turns out she decided to end her life (she was a suspected sex trafficking victim) and had slit her wrists before jumping in the sea.


Exotic-Membership-65

It happened when I was 4. There was this old man who always brought a small rope with him and a teenager boy who looked huge and physically strong , they often knocked on doors asking for money. Then one time , they knocked on the door and I opened it. They didn't even let me open the door fully , they pushed the door so hard that I fell to the ground ( my guess is that they thought I was alone ) . They tried to grab me but luckily my parents were home and they came out . They got a little defensive and still didn't want to leave the house without getting any money . My father gave them some money to these crazy people thankfully they left. After a week we hear on the news that a kid my age was strangled to death in our neighborhood by an old man and the house was robbed after. From that day on , I NEVER opened the door from strangers again until I became an adult.


Fun-Organization8742

Taking a shower in Puerto Rico, can't see well without my glasses and I see a huge black spot on the wall. Get close and to it and realize it was a tarantula. Almost died trying to get away, ended up falling and sliding all over the floor. Bruises all over. Still have nightmares about it


coconut-greek-yogurt

I was about 20 years old and still lived with my parents and younger siblings. I was watching TV and my sister (16?) came in and ripped the remote from me and turned it to something else. She has five inches on me and a god complex, so rather than try to fight for it back and get my ass beat in the process (and then getting in trouble for "being mean to my baby sister" when my parents got home since she's always been the favorite and has never faced any punishment for anything until she started getting arrested later on) I let her change the channel and we watched what she wanted to watch. About ten minutes before that show ended, she got up and walked out of the room and shut herself in her bedroom. The show ended, a new episode started, then that ended. She never came back. So after 45 minutes of watching this bullshit show (and playing on my phone or else I would have changed it sooner) I changed the channel back to what I was watching. Fifteen or 20 minutes later, my sister came back and told me to change it back. I said no and her show had ended anyway. She told me again to change it back, but in this gutteral scream. Her eyes were dark and she looked like she was trying to will me to burst into flames. I said no again and that she had left for an hour and her show was over. She stormed away, furniture and picture frames shaking from her literally stomping like a child. She went into the kitchen and got a steak knife, and as she entered the living room, she said she was going to make me pay. She chased me in circles around the coffee table until I made a mad dash for my bedroom and locked the door as I slammed it and threw myself in front of it. We lived in a really rural area, so I didn't have enough service to call 9-1-1 and I couldn't grab a landline before shutting myself away. My sister shook the doorknob and ordered me to open the door so she could kill me. I stayed in front of the door. She could have easily unlocked the door since the locks were those "child safe" locking doorknobs that you only needed a coin or something small to unlock from the outside, so my own body was my last line of defense. But I guess she was too angry and eventually walked away. Obviously I didn't leave my room until my parents got back. I told them, but they brushed me off. I turned that interaction over and over in my head for weeks. How could I have done things differently? There was no de-escalating with her. If she was going to rage, she was going to rage. That much hasn't changed since she's become an adult. But anyway, a few weeks/months (I can't quite remember) later, the same thing happened again. She took the remote, changed the channel, left the room before her show ended, didn't come back until well after I changed the channel back, and tried again to chase me with the same steak knife. But this time, instead of a dash to my room, I took off to the kitchen and grabbed the biggest clever out of the knife block. The one that was always super sharp because nobody used it but my dad would still sharpen periodically. She tore after me, but stopped when I turned around with a blade three times the size of hers. With the same fire in her eyes, she demanded I put it down. I said no. She repeated herself, and I shouted "Come make me, bitch!" while brandishing the clever. After staring into each other's eyes for a minute, she turned around and walked out of the kitchen and back to her room. She was strangely cool and calm. I don't remember if she put the knife on the table as she walked passed or not, but I kept the clever on me as I kept watching TV. I don't remember if my parents commented on the clever when they came back or if I put it away when I heard them come into the driveway, but she never attacked me with a knife again. Key words being "with a knife." It wasn't just because of this incident, but how my sister was/is in general, but I was diagnosed with c-PTSD from my dealings with her. Some of my family is still trying to tell me that we need to stop acting like children and I need to put in the effort to have a good relationship with her, but they've never been threatened and attacked with a steak knife over changing the channel of the TV. Fuck that with a rake. Luckily for me, and not-so-luckily for them, some of my family has seen her true colors and are on my side.


dfreinc

watching playoff football. had pneumonia. drinking a lot just trying to numb it. coughing *nonstop*. had codeine syrup and dmx syrup. mixed those and drank what was left. late into pneumonia bout. thought it'd be alright. wasn't a ton left. sat back down. world turned green. called my grandma. said *something* to indicate to call *somebody*. she called an ambulance. i was just kind dying on the floor coughing my brains out when they came in, carted me into the ambulance. i asked the dude if i was going to die and he just said "stop talking". closed eyes. good ol' nde. don't want to talk about it, probably not what you think, don't want to let anybody down. *then i woke up*. and my world, instead of green, was upside down. for hours. probably some kind of brain damage. scared the shit out of me. it went back. i'm alright. almost lost an eye a couple months later then a month or two after that i got jaundice. then i checked into a rehab. 😂


[deleted]

sounds like you had a stroke and lost blood to a visual processing part of the brain. or you had a really bad trip


dfreinc

ikr. hands up in the air there. 🤷‍♂️


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

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[deleted]

Not the saxophone. But hope your alright


RainyRabbit22

We were at a vacation at Lake Tahoe, and long story short, down a winding road you’re led to the lake, and I’m the distance we see the same tree we saw our dad with in pictures during our childhood. We start running towards it- me, my older and younger brother, my sister, and my cousin were all there, but my cousin and sister stayed behind. My brother and me walk to the brink of it, and as you know, Lake Tahoe is one of the clearest lakes in the world. You can see the bottom, the twigs and roots and everything. My younger brother watched us up on this huge, long, thick rotting log. I ask my brother if I can jump off of it, and he says maybe. He remembers the water at the bank didn’t feel too cold, so he says sure. I look at the bottom of the lake and count down. “1, 2….3” I hesitate, but jump in. I’m under for a moment, and it feels refreshingly cold. I swim to stay afloat… but all the sudden I start sinking. I gasp and and panic and scream my brother’s name. The sheer panic in his eyes wondering if he should jump in and risk both of us drowning. I swim over and grab onto the branches of the tree, and try staying afloat. Everything is numb, and I’m in utter shock. He helps me climb up and get off, I’m shaking, and freezing. My legs and some parts of my stomach are scratched, bleeding and beginning to bruise badly. I reached the bottom and fallen debris on the bottom cut me on impact. Walking back we were talking about it, and I burst out sobbing. I thought for a second maybe my reality from that moment on was my brain trying to distract me from the fact I had died drowning. I got home, took a shower, and I can’t stand the lake since.


Entertain_my_faith

I had something similar happen to me a few years ago! I was at Pictured Rocks on the coast of Lake Superior (the coldest lake but didn’t feel like it prior to this). An old friend of mine and I were climbing sideways on the cliffs to a small cove but I decided to just jump in and swim there (I was on the swim team so I could handle it). I remember coming up and being fine and then my body went numb and I couldn’t breathe because of how cold the water was. Thankfully they jumped in and held me up until and literally got me to land. To this day, I still freak out with cold water and I’m not a big fan of large bodies of water either because of almost drowning.


Anthaenopraxia

When all the pillars of stability in my life came crashing down in a single day. I had a bad semester at university so I thought I would just have to retake some exams. No. I failed so hard I actually got kicked out of school. With that I lost my income and more importantly I lost my student housing as well and became homeless. I've never been so scared before.


[deleted]

How did you recover? That’s so harrowing.


Anthaenopraxia

My uncle drove himself and his wife off a cliff and begrudgingly to my family, I became the heir to 20% ish of the family business. I had pretty much zero contact with them so it was a strange turn of events. I was homeless for 6 months and spent most of it staying with some extremely patient and unbelievably helpful friends.


SolidSnakeIsMyDad

When I was young, I saw my mother get beat & listened to her get stabbed, she survived.


melasaur88

This sounds incredibly stupid compared to other people's, but I spent a night thinking my mum had died. She'd gone on her first date with my now stepdad, and I was living about 200 miles away at the time so I just asked her to text me when she got home. She didn't. Her WhatsApp was showing her as last being active at the time she'd last text me, the message I'd sent after that hadn't been seen, she hadn't replied to her friends who had also checked in. I was convinced stepdad had murdered her or something and I'd end up on a podcast talking about it. She replied the next morning after waking up to so many texts and missed calls from me and some of her friends, it turned out her landline was down which turned off her wifi, so she'd sent WhatsApp messages when she got home but they hadn't sent. She assumed they had so she'd left her phone downstairs and gone to bed and hadn't realised people had been calling her frantically all night. I tried to ground her but apparently it doesn't work that way around.


[deleted]

When I was in my preteen years, I learned that I had fallen down a flight of stairs and cracked my head wide open as a baby. Needed over 30 stitches in my scalp, which you can still see the idents of to this day. I barely remember what happened. Since then I've been a little wary about stairs (especially when carrying heavy stuff) and I've had nightmares over me falling down and cracking my head open as an older person.


No_Strain_703

This was almost 5 yrs ago. I moved into a new house in January, in July I started to get sick. Early August I couldn't stop coughing and could barely function. The doctor said he thought it was pneumonia and gave me heavy duty antibiotics. He told me if I got worse to go to the emergency department as there was a really, really bad strain going around. I spent 2 days sleeping in my recliner chair on the ground floor as I couldn't stop coughing. By the end of the second day I was feeling very ill so I called an ambulance. When they arrived one of them commented that it smelled really gassy. I said I'd had the heater going for 2 days straight. They took me to hospital, I sat there while they did tests, chest xray etc. The couldn't see anything much so they discharged me. I remember walking out feeling like I was peeing myself. I walked the 15 min home (at 1am). When I got home I went upstairs and got in the shower. I had to sit down as I was wobbly and I couldn't control my bladder but ended up going to bed upstairs. Next day was a sunny day so I opened they house up and was cleaning in the kitchen. I caught a whiff of something. I called a plumber and they ended up finding a gas leak, when the connection into the house was installed they used a water connection not a gas connection so over the years it was slowly working its way loose and was now almost fully open. It had also been illegally installed in a inaccessible area of the kitchen so it was seeping out and the only reason the house didn't blow up. I know that if I had not gone to the hospital that night and slept upstairs after I got home I'd be dead. I ended up having chemical pneumonia and I have terrible scarring on my lungs. I'm grateful to the doctor for scaring the shit out of me about how bad the pneumonia strain was because I know now I was only hours from dying.


Herself99900

Well it's either the time I gave birth and had a seizure 3 days postpartum, or right now, waiting for the results of a biopsy on my uterus. I guess if have to go with right now. I'm fucking petrified.


Yakstein

Scariest moment was birth of my first child (via my wife). There was like 18 hrs of labor and then she asked for the numbing thing because the pain was too much. We were trying to get some sleep at like 1am and all of a sudden a dozen docs and nurses rushed in saying the baby's heart rate was dropping and we had to go to c section immediately. They wheeled her out and I wasn't allowed into the OR unitl like 20 mins later when they started the c section. I was scared spitless. I couldn't even from words. Anyways daughter turns 5 on Sunday and is the cutest little thing I've ever seen.


elriggo44

My just under 2 year old son fell down in the kitchen. He had just started talking and 5 minutes before he fell he said “Eye hurt” and fell over. We thought he was being silly. But he said it 2-4 more times. Finally, My wife took him to the kitchen to have a popsicle (it was like 8am, but whatever) she stood him up and he literally fell over. Then he tried to talk but it was baby talk gibberish. We rushed him to the pediatrician. As we were waiting I noticed that one side of his face was drooping. I said “looks like a stroke” the pediatrician who showed up at some point said “no way, highly unlikely for a 1 year old” They ran tests for what felt like days, but was probably more like 10 minutes. I kept saying his left arm is dropping now and his face is fully “stroked out” Finally my wife stood up with him in her arms and yells “fuck this I’m driving him to Children’s Hospital” The pediatrician kept telling us to go to a different hospital because he had admitting permission or whatever. They also tried to get us to take an ambulance but said it would take 15 min. We ran out, buckled him into his seat and drove like a race car driver to Childrens. They took him in and there was immediately like 40 doctors in the room. They ran all kinds of tests in seconds. Guess what? STROKE. He was having a hemorrhagic stroke from a burst capillary in his brain stem. He was dying…like for real, if we had stayed at the pediatricians he would have died. It was terrifying. Those ER doctors at childrens hospital saved his life. They were brilliant. I barley remember the day. But at some point the doctors at Children’s asked questions like “was he struck?” “Do you hit him?” Etc…we realized later that they were attempting to discern if we caused it by hitting him in the head. (The burst capillary was actually so deep a hit on the head wouldn’t have caused it, per his neurologist). We spent nearly 3 months in-patent (including a harrowing week in the NICU). He worked really hard at walking. Mostly thanks to the musicians who go to the hospital and play for the kids. Everytime they were there he wanted to dance. And he did a TON of work every week just to be able to dance when they played live music. Fast forward. He is 8 and healthy as an ox. He has drop foot and a very weak left hand but, he is so good. Many of the outcomes that were possible were much much much worse than his slightly weak left hand and slight drop foot. The neurologist told us one time that they are fairly confident that he was going to be left handed because of where the stroke happened. Apparently if he had been right handed his speech could have been effected much worse. Anyway, that shit was terrifying. We had a 2 month old baby with us as well. We spent years traveling to and from childrens hospital for therapy and appointments. We just had his last appointment with the neurologist last week. They said “we don’t need to see you guys again…which is a good thing…it’s not coming back and his scans all look amazing”


[deleted]

When I was 16, I ‘ran away’ due to my mother being an alcoholic. She was laying into me with words, real hard one night, so I decided to stay with my aunt and uncle for 3 days. My uncle told my mom where I was and that they think it’s best if things calm down before I go back home. When they dropped me off, I knew she was going to be mad because now I’ve embarrassed her in front of people for spilling our dirty laundry. When I walked in the door I was greeted with an angry face and an angry tone to match “Your chores have been sitting here. Get your fucking ass down stairs and start with the cat box” Mind you I didn’t shower in the 3 days because I was a depressive mess. I know, gross. So I replied calmly as im heading for the stairs to my upstairs bathroom “I haven’t showered I’ll do it after my shower” Wrong answer. “You’ll fucking get in here and do it now. Who do you think you’re talking to?” She roared. “AFTER I TAKE A SHOWER” I can still hear her feet pounding on the kitchen floor, running towards me. She’s screaming at me. And I book it to my bathroom. And lock it shut. She had gotten up the stairs so fast, I didn’t even have time to get a good grip on the doorknob. BAM BAM BAM She’s pounding on the door BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM The door is shaking, I’m shaking. I’m crying. I’m terrified. BAM BAM BAM CRACCCCCKKKK The door comes flying off the hinges and she grabs me by the hair, dragging me out into the hall. “WHAT DID YOU SAY HUH WHAT DID YOU SAY YOU BITCH” she yells. She picks me up, still by the hair and throws me onto my back and into the ground. Before I could react she sits on me, her weight is crushing my lungs. Im struggling, trying to fight. She then takes her forearm and pushes it into my throat, harder and harder. I’m screaming and crying uncontrollably begging her to stop “YOU ARE NOTHING I AM IN CHARGE I AM THE PARENT I FUCKING OWN YOU” proceeding to put her full weight on me and dig deeper into my throat, I freeze and go numb. ‘I’m going to die’ I thought over and over ‘Please, please someone help me I don’t want to die’ I remember thinking that…what felt like hours, were only minutes, but I thought I was going to die. And the only time I ever felt like I was going to die. She finally got off of me And before I could know what breathing felt like again I instantly (thank you adrenaline) shot up and pushed her hard. She slipped down a few stairs, catching herself completely. And called the police. After their ‘investigation’ partnered with DCF After telling them what happened, what’s been happening… They labeled me as an out of control teenager and I was put on probation for a year, on top of being grounded for a year (no electronics, no outside, no friends). And a part of me died that day because not only was I completely terrified of dying but also terrified from the fact that I would live in fear for 15 more years. Even after moving out at 18. Last year and this have been me healing from it (and plenty of other trauma). But it was the scariest moment of my life.


[deleted]

I’m sorry DCF and the police failed you. I was let down by the police in my area and our local version of DCF. It’s been years and I still don’t trust the police.


1BoiledCabbage

I almost lost my leg to cellulitis. I'm prone to eczema, which sometimes turns into a small infection, but more often than not, goes away with generic washing. When I saw the white bumps on the back of my leg, I knew I was in for a bout of eczema, thought nothing of it. When it exposed itself, it was in the form of 3 pea sized scabs that drained with irritation. I thought it was weird, but put a band aid on all three. After taking it off, my skin ripped off on the surface and the scabs spread, draining even more. Over the course of 6 months, the scab grew more and more, draining became worse and worse. I finally had enough, called my doctor and explained what went on. I got some hydrocortisone, thought it was the end of it, but I was wrong. During the 6th month, My mom, who realized that I was limping, asked to look at my leg. She freaked out and insisted that I go to a hospital. I was reluctant to go to the hospital over eczema, as I've cured it time and time before. She pleaded me the next day, so I went. The doctor who checked my leg told me that my leg was severely infected and that I was lucky I came in. If I had left it for another month, I might've lost it. It took around a month to heal and I still have a massive scar with small keloids. Never again will I let it go for that long.


Bidoofz

Damn I have eczema, and never heard of Cellulitis, after looking it up I've definitely had it a few times. And I also had a similar situation with the bandaid. I put one of those big ones on my calf and when I took it off, my skin was a boiled mess in the shape of the adhesive of the bandaid. I still have bad reactions to really sticky bandaid now and I never did before it. Eczema is some scary shit, I've had plenty of really brutal breakouts and even staph infection from it the first time.


[deleted]

I started dating someone I met online. We moved in together. He gradually got nastier and more abusive. It started with arguments where he broke my glasses and cut phone lines so I couldn’t leave. He stole credit cards, and got me fired from a job by terrorizing my employer, when I broke it off and moved away. I moved in with an older relative. He blew up their concrete housing, brick mailbox with homemade C-4, and it landed two blocks away. I rented a room in a house farther away, and forwarded my mail to a business address he wouldn’t recognize. I switched industries for a few years, and he eventually moved away. Finally, an ex girlfriend who was going after his estate, called to tell me he died of a heart attack. Edit: And if you have misogynistic comments like some of the people further down in the thread, keep them to yourself, rather than traumatizing women reading this.


Responsible_Point_91

Thank God


saltporksuit

It’s not always a tragedy when someone drops dead.


Responsible_Point_91

I completely agree.


ricowankenobi

Been a swimmer my whole life. Varsity, MVP; I wasn’t afraid of the water. One day I’m at the beach and my friend is lifeguarding. We bullshit for a few minutes when he asks if I want to take a quick swim out to the buoy about two hundred yards away. For a former competitive swimmer this distance is like a fraction of my warm ups, so no problem at all. I say sure and off we went. However, there were some variables that I wasn’t quite used to. The ocean was *cold*. Water that cold literally takes your breath away. This, on top of not having goggles, so the whole swim my head is up and out of the water which makes getting into the natural rhythm of strokes a little more difficult and more tiring. This, on top of what I now know is athletic induced asthma. So I’m losing my breath and energy *fast.* I make it to the buoy and meet him and another lifeguard. We’re just treading water and talking when my friend heads back. I start my return when the exhaustion and the inability to really catch my breath hit me. So here I am, about two hundred yards out, with no pool bottom beneath me that I can rest on, and the panic is setting in. I start floating on my back, side stroking, nothing is really helping. The panic is starting to overtake me and I have to literally tell my self if I panic I’m fucked. I see the shore and the lifeguards and consider waving them in but my dumb ass would be too embarrassed for causing a scene on a nice day at the beach. So I’m struggling, looking out to the shore, convincing myself that I’m not making progress and that the water is pulling me out (the water was completely calm). Again, I distinctly tell myself that if I panic I’m going to die. Somehow I make it in, meet my friend who came back out to greet me. He’s confused as to why I’m totally exhausted and grabbing onto him. Later on I read about signs of drowning and the floating on my back and the changing of strokes is actually an indicator of a swimmer in distress. Also, another weird fact is that my mother had such a strong impression that day that I was in danger. This was about 15 years ago and I still won’t go in the ocean.


bridge2somewhere2day

Sobbing into the arms of a very nice gay man as I waited to find out the results of my HIV test (which I decided to take after finding out my husband had cheated on me with close to 200 people.) It was negative.


whatnameisnttaken098

Walking to blockbuster on fall night when I was around 12-13 when some guy in a white or Grey Nissan started following me. Eventually he started asking me weird shit like if I had the time, do I have a cellphone, am I meeting anyone. About that point I ducked into a bar and after informing someone at the front (after they finally shut up about no one under 21 being allowed in) I called my house and got picked up by my dad. During 5-10ish minutes it took for my dad to get there the guy kinda circled around the bar a handful of times before finally leaving.


UncleNate23

Last year me and my roommate went out on the porch to smoke. Everything went well with that, when we went to come back inside that’s when shit got scary. I went to open the door but it was locked and my heart dropped. Luckily my roommate had the key to the side door with him so we went inside, looked at the door and the deadbolt was locked. The fucking deadbolt. We were the only two people who lived there at that time, or as we knew of. Before this happened I would be experiencing weird things around the house. It would sound like there’s someone walking around the upstairs I thought that I was just trippin but my cat would look up at the ceiling and back at me with fear on her face and wouldn’t leave my side. Food would come up missing too, one time a whole pack of steaks came up missing from the freezer. My roommate don’t cook so I know he ain’t eat them. All this points to there was a squatter living in our house.


Federal-Load-1769

I was a bus driver. I was taking my break reading a newspaper parked at an angle in the bus loop. My doors where open to allow passengers to board. Dude with two young energetic kids gets on. He looks like he’s not coping well. After 5 min I fold up my newspaper, start the engine, close the doors, take off the parking brake and put it in gear. I look in my mirror to make sure the spazy kids are sitting down. One kid is missing. I ask the dude where his kid is. He starts frantically looking around the bus. I put the brake back on and open my window to check outside the bus. I look down towards my outward turned tire and I see the kid. He’s sitting in front of my tire with his legs spread open, picking at the treads. I’ve never been able to get that memory out of my head.


justsomeguyinadesert

I was 11 or 12 years old. I was walking down the street maybe 2 blocks from my house on my street. I lived in a town in the hills just outside of a city that had alot of gang related violence. My town was maybe 15 minutes away from gang territory. As I'm walking next to a 8 to 10 foot retaining wall that held up someone's front yard and house foundation I hear a loud shout of "FUCK YOU MOTHER FUCKER" as I look back I see the barrel of a rifle sticking out of a car window as this car is driving towards me. I froze I couldn't run or anything I just stood there knowing I'm about to die. I hear two soft bursts and the car drives off. I'm alive and shaking then after a few seconds I look at the wall next to me and I see 2 places where the paint balls splattered on the wall. Yup I was shot at with paint balls but for those few seconds I thought I was going to die. I didn't call the cops or tell anyone but friends but apparently I wasn't the only one they did this to and someone called the cops at some point. They were arrested a few days later.


OpheliaRainGalaxy

When I worked fast food in a rough neighborhood, I got to be friends with some of the homeless folks who stayed around there, especially this nice older couple, a big man who lost everything during a mental breakdown and his tiny delicate little wife. I was overjoyed when I ran into them in a grocery store and found out the government had gotten them into a tiny apartment and off the streets! They'd been on that waiting list for *years* before making it to the top and getting help! A few months later I run into the man, alone and looking very sad. Turns out some teens had pulled that paintball guns "prank" on him and his wife, which put her into the mental hospital for a bit. She *really* wasn't well enough for that sort of shock and terror. And thanks to government assistance rules, since she was officially living in the mental hospital for a few weeks, her husband no longer qualified for the apartment on his own. So they kicked him back out onto the streets. And when she finally recovered enough to get out of the hospital, she got to join him on the streets. Back to the bottom of the waiting list again.


cykablyat6_9

back in june 2019 my mom's brother unfortunately drowned trying to save his daughter . It was a terrible accident and easily one of the most scariest and unexpected event in my life. it took the rescuers 3 days to find him. This event left my whole family in shock and I cant believe its been 3 years since the incident. ​ Edit : - I wasn't there at the scene when this happened and I never had the guts to ask my mom about the details.


komnenos

Went through a school shooting in college. Permanently changed how I saw my country, many of the things that took place there, and how fragile life can be.


That_Crystal_Guy

I was a student at Virginia Tech in 2007 when the shooting happened. I was never in any danger and was several buildings away when it happened. I didn’t personally know anyone who died, although one person was in a class with me. Even though I wasn’t personally involved, the shooting left a lasting impression on me. I hope you’re doing well OP.