Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
Some people almost had near-death situations! Share your stories!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
I don't have a near-death story, but both my father and his father do:
Around the 1960s, my grandfather was catching a ride with a friend of his, and they were nearing a railroad crossing. However, as this was in the olden days, they didn't have a good warning system when trains approached, and there were a lot of trees around the track. My grandfather's friend was driving a little too fast and not paying much attention, and he didn't notice the train approaching. Just as they went onto the railroad crossing, a train hit their car. My grandfather's friend died on impact, while he sustained some cuts to his head and got a concussion.
Around the 1980s, my dad went to the local dam to swim with some friends and family. It should be noted that my dad wasn't good at swimming since he never really had access to a pool. When my dad and his cousin swam towards the deeper part of the lake, his cousin started to panic, and he grabbed my dad. They both struggled, and eventually, my dad went under. He says that the last thing he remembers is bubbles coming out of his mouth and rising to the surface. Then, the next thing my dad knew, he was on the river bank on his hands and knees, with an Indian man standing by him. He found out that this guy saw everything and dove in to save him. The most impressive part? This was during Apartheid in South Africa and this Indian man chose to save the life of this white boy without thinking twice. From that day forward, my dad chose to stop supporting his parents' racist beliefs.
Final score:
36points
Huddo's sister 1 year ago
I remember taking my sister to float down the river when she was about 8. She wasn't a great swimmer but I thought if we held hands we could both float easily, the river wasn't running too fast and our cousins had done it many times. When we got in, she freaked out and grabbed onto me. We weren't in the middle of the river, but it was higher than I could stand up in. My sister ended up on my back, with her arms around my neck, pushing me down because she was terrified. Thankfully I managed to grab onto a branch that was sticking out of the water, but for a couple of minutes I thought I was going to drown (so did she). The branch wasn't close enough to the bank to get straight onto land from, so I spent about 10 minutes trying to convince my sister to let go of it and swim/walk to the bank (I was able to stand and wade across but she was too scared to move).
RELATED:
#2
Sailing with friends on a huge ship for a weekend. Someone made a mistake with the ropes and the gaff came down and swiped the deck. My husband grabbed me and yanked me away just a split second before my head was crushed to bits.
Final score:
23points
#3
On the night before my 19th birthday I had a hemorragic stroke out of nowhere. It meant being 1 full month in the hospital, including a whole week in coma in an ICU. I woke up with severe memory loss and the left side of my body completely paralyzed. After 3 weeks I could move normally, but I still don't remember many things of that whole year. I still have a few insignificant memory issues, but nothing serious, luckily.
Final score:
22points
mutedtempest 1 year ago
I'm so glad it wasn't more serious and that you came out of it relatively okay! Life really can change in a millisecond. Glad you're a survivor! ❤️
#4
About 2 weeks ago, I went to a guys apartment to interview him for a documentary I'm working on. As I was setting up the lights, his roommate came home. In the worst case of "what a coincidence" I've experienced, it turned out the roommate was a member of a far-right militant organization that I had outed in a previous doc. My current doc has nothing to do with politics at all. Which made it even weirder.
The guy recognized me from the protests I cover as a First Amendment Auditor and told me I had 5 minutes to leave before he was going to kill me. He counted down while I packed up all my camera gear. "You got 2 minutes...then I'm locking that door and you're going to die."
Got all my stuff and walked out. So that was fun.
Final score:
21points
#5
Me & my best friend almost died because of severe teenager idiocy. Still can’t be believe we did this.
After a night of drinking & smoking (not cigarettes), we ended up on the roof of the 5 storey house she lived in. It started to rain and we noticed the roof, made of some soft black material, became partially slippery. Instead of leaving the roof, as we should have, we decided to full-body-slide on the flattest part of the roof - several times!!
One time we got too close and my friend started to slide onto the steep part of the roof. I held on to her hand and almost fell with her. A tiny metal pipe I managed to grab saved our lives. Thinking about this still makes me sick. Today I am the most boring person alive.
Final score:
21points
#6
I almost died on a rollercoaster called Candymonium in Hershey Park. I forgot to wear my seatbelt, but at least I held onto the handles that were on the ride. The rollercoaster Candymonium WAS THE TALLEST ROLLERCOASTER IN HERSHEY PARK. I think. Plus, my friend's long hair (she was next to me) hit my face repeatedly lol.
Final score:
19points
#7
I'm type 1 diabetic and growing up in the US I remember plenty of low blood sugar episodes that led to ambulance visits. Yet my near death experience from the diabetes happened when I was living in Ireland - I'd just finished my master's thesis and was watching a movie with my roommates in our on-campus apartment. I remember vague images of the TV screen but nothing aside from that until I woke up in the back of an ambulance. One of my roommates rode to the hospital with me and told me later that my heart stopped a couple times in the rig as well as when the paramedics were treating me in the apartment. I was fine after a sugar IV and some food but that was definitely a bad one. Do not recommend 😂
Final score:
19points
#8
Happened on Tuesday. I'll set some context.
I was doing the recycling, which involves me having to go down to the basement of my apartment complex, and I live on the first floor (I know, I'm lazy, lol).
Normally, I'd take the elevator just because I'd carry overflowing bags worth of recycling. One of the elevators was in service, and the other was going up. I said "Screw it, I'll take the stairs".
Nearly tripped down the flight of stairs before I could get down the first step. Luckily, I managed to just grab the rail before I fell face first down the stairs... though the clean up of scattered recycling was a little annoying.
Final score:
16points
Pancake_Pansexual_Panda 1 year ago
One time, me, my sister, and my mom were in an elevator and suddenly it started shaking but then it stopped. My mom screamed so loudly.
#9
In April of 1987 Central Ohio was hit with a freak snowstorm. I was a student at The Ohio State University at the time. Some friends had come to visit from Ohio University in Athens before the storm set in. The trip from Columbus to Athens normally takes about 45 minutes to an hour. One of the people who came to visit was actually from another school, but had gone to Athens for a track meet. The meet was cancelled, so she came to Ohio State with the others for a visit. This woman had to be back to Athens by 4:00 the next day to get her team bus back to her school. The people she came with weren't comfortable taking her because the storm was coming in, so I volunteered (It's a fraternity/sorority connection thing, but I really felt obliged to make sure she got back in time.) Things were fine on the way there, but as I was coming back the storm hit with a vengeance. Two to three feet of snow fell in a couple of hours with high winds and drifts. A snow emergency was declared and all roads were closed. That meant that there were no plows working and no police or state patrol officers on the roads. I'm trying to drive through a rural area, virtually snow blind in a tiny little 4-cylindar car (1974 Mazda GLC). The inevitable happened - a wind gust caught me and I slid into a ditch. This was of course in the days before cell phones. Being stuck in that ditch, with no way to call for help, in a freezing blizzard; I just knew that I was going to die there. I sat there crying for about an hour and it was getting very cold. Fortunately, this was a very rural area of South Central Ohio. A local guy in a pickup truck happened to be driving on that road. He had a winch on his truck and was able to pull my tiny little car out of that ditch. There was no damage to my car and I was able to limp it home. A trip that was supposed to take only 45 minutes took me almost 6 hours.
Side Note: You might be wondering why I didn't just stay there in Athens and go back the next day. One of the women who had come to OSU that weekend was my girlfriend at the time and she was staying (illegally) in my dorm room. If she had been discovered, I could have lost my job as a Resident Advisor, so I had to get back to make sure she was ok. When I walked back into my room that night, after my near-death ordeal, her first words to me were, "Where the Hell have you been?" She was pissed off that I was late. She didn't ask what happened, or if I was ok. She was just mad that I kept her waiting. She became my EX-girlfriend right then and there.
Final score:
16points
#10
1. There was a booming here in Finland in a shopping center in 2002. I was there with my grandparents and we left an hour before it all happened.
2. In 2012 I was 18 years young and went to a bar with some friends. One got really drunk so we had to leave and on the way home there was loads of policemen, ambulances and firetrucks coming towards us. Found out the next day that we had left a bar that had a shooting in a few minutes later.
Final score:
15points
#11
I almost got attacked by a female black bear with cubs because a bunch of people were getting too close and she was getting angry. I also got charged by a moose and had to hide behind a rock on the edge of a cliff. Later I jumped into the splash pool at the bottom of a waterfall and had to fight the current.
Final score:
15points
#12
I was driving my brother's truck to help a friend move. Their house was on the top of a valley and the road home was in the valley. The road in the valley did not have stop signs, but the hill sides did. I was at the top of the steep hill when the brakes failed on my brother's truck. I had no way to stop and knew I would be flying through that intersection at full speed with no way to warn cross traffic as, of course, his horn didn't work. I debated several times on slamming it into a tree, but in the end was lucky enough to sneak through the intersection right after a car went through. Then came the other side of the valley, I had to wait until the apex of the uphill to slow the truck enough to slide it into park, which despite some clicking (RIP transmission) did stop the truck and prevent it from rolling backward into traffic again. Needless to say, I paid for his tow and bought a truck of my own so I never had to borrow again. 🤣
Final score:
14points
#13
My best friend of 12 years has pretty severe celiac disease (if you don't know, it's a severe allgery to gluten). We went to pizza hut to get pizzas for a Halloween party she was having at her house that night. We asked them multiple times to MAKE SURE it was gluten-free. They said ok several times, seeming a little annoyed. Anyway, we got our pizzas and went to her house to get in costume and let people in. Everybody's walking around, hanging out, and my best friend wanders over to the pizza. She grabbed a slice of what she thought was gluten-free, but the good people at Pizza Hut had NOT made them gluten-free. She walked over to me about two minutes later to say she wasn't feeling well. She then promptly vomited on the floor and passed out. When we were 14, I was trained on what to do in case of this but it was never really clarified what to do at a crowded party. So I started screaming for someone to call my mom, but since it was Halloween, everybody thought it was a joke. Once I drilled it into their heads that this was a real emergency, we got help. I'm glad they finally listened, or that night could have had a very different outcome.
Final score:
13points
#14
My appendix tryed to burst and if not removed it would have killed me
Final score:
13points
Pancake_Pansexual_Panda 1 year ago
I am glad you removed it! I am glad you are here to share your story! Stay strong!
#15
I crashed my old car (without airbags) into a tree. It was a windy day and I somehow lost control, went off the road, back on, back off, and at some point I had a very clear thought in my head, surprisingly without fear: "Well, Birgit M, that's it." The next thing I remember was coming to in my completely destroyed car, in terrible pain and with blood dripping from my head onto my knees. I was very lucky because my car skidded and hit the tree with the door behind the driver's door.
Final score:
13points
TheBlueBitterfly 1 year ago
I hit an icy patch doing about 20, did several donuts across the width of the road, narrowly missing 3 different cars in the opposite lane. I too had the thought "Well, Bitter, this is it" and was pissed I was going to die with someone I seriously hated in the passenger seat. (The car stopped in a huge ditch, promptly broke in half, and all I did was bang my knee on the steering column.)
#16
a few years ago, a student driver(a highschooler) almost ran me over while i was walking to school (i usually take the bus, but due to it being covid at the time, my dad drove me halfway and let me walk the rest.)
It literally stopped like an inch in front of me. i legit thought i was gonna die.
Final score:
13points
#17
I have been pulled out by the rip current and needed to be rescued by lifeguards several times. Once it was twice in one day. Im stupid :C
Final score:
12points
Huddo's sister 1 year ago
I have done the same (though not twice in one day!). I no longer trust myself to actually swim, I stick to paddling :) (I worked out part of the problem is I have to take my glasses off to swim)
#18
I was riding my cargo ebike on a cold day here in Colorado, the remnants of the last snow still clinging to the sidewalks and streets. I was on a stretch of sidewalk that runs adjacent to a busy road with no bike lane. I was approaching a narrow gap in the compacted snow/ice, and I missed by a hair. My bike tires slid out to the right, and I began to fall toward my left, into the street. I used almost every muscle in my body to keep the bike upright, and barely managed to avoid getting hit by the traffic whizzing by. I did not contemplate how close to disaster I had come until later when I recounted the episode to my family. PHEW!
Final score:
10points
#19
Close to 15yrs ago, I had gotten a flu shot. Most of you on here know I'm a type 1 diabetic. Me getting sick is usually 2x worse than the average person. IDK what it was with the shot, but I was rushed to the ER, had 2 IVs in me, my blood sugar levels were in the upper 500 levels (which is VERY bad), and I could barely move. They told me had I waited an hour or so later to come into the hospital, I might not of been made it. I haven't had a flu shot since then.
Final score:
10points
#20
I had appendicitis during the pandemic, but because I also had endometriosis I didn’t seek medical help for ages, thinking it was that. I was in shock when I finally had a video consult with my GP, and when he saw the colour of my skin and heard what my blood pressure was he called an ambulance, and I was in surgery in no time. Pain tolerance can be fatal. I’m glad it wasn’t in my case.
Final score:
10points
Doodles1983 1 year ago
My sisters appendix burst, while on pain meds from an unrelated surgery. Everyone put it down to her op, red herring! She got sepsis and was very ill. Learning what is “normal” for you is essential.
#21
Our ship ( submarine ) was under way when we had a fire break out in an 02 generator. The generator used electricity to separate the oxygen and hydrogen. Electrical fire caused by a short. Luckily the fire was put out in seconds or it may have been a very bad day for us.
Final score:
10points
#22
Not so nice to talk about this, but feel free to google: Dretelj concentration camp. I was born in 1989.
Final score:
9points
Pancake_Pansexual_Panda 1 year ago
I googled it up and oh. My. God. It must be so horrible and painful! I am glad you didn't give up, survived and told us your brave story! You are courageous!
#23
mine was kinda my fault. i was grabbing some bug spray, witch had shears above it, bit i didnt move them. the shears flew into the air and landed right in front of me
Final score:
8points
#24
My Fiance (now ex) took my keys, phone, and wallet leaving me stranded in Palmerston North (New Zealand).
It was late, I was over her s**t, I started walking to my sisters out of town.
She and several other cars kept driving back and forth past me as I walked.
Once I was on the main road in the 100kph zone, I was run down on a bend in the road (Napier Road near Whakarongo School).
Once I came to, I crawled off the Road, the car that hit me was pulled over in front of 577 Napier Road pulling out their shattered windscreen.
I crawled into the ditch, crawled to a house and hid in the garden.
They headed back to where they hit me, but I was gone.
They, and several other cars started driving up and down the road, looking for me.
I crawled through the paddocks to Whakarongo School, went up the line of trees toward the railway line, but was spotted when I went up the steep bank between the back of the school and the railway line.
A white ute drove up and parked by the railway line looking toward the Stoney Creek Road rail crossing, able to watch for anyone walking down the railway line, Stoney Creek Road, or across the paddocks.
I managed to get around them crawling through long grass, depressions in the ground etc.
Got to a creek just south of them, had to crawl up the bank and use the rail bridge to cross the creek. (Cold in winter, very deep, no point escaping to die of hypothermia).
They were halfway between Stoney Creek Road and the rail bridge, so close to me, I was fully exposed to view, but they were looking at the intersection.
I got through paddocks etc. and ended up walking/ limping along Hendersons line. Somewhere around 77 Hendersons Line a sedan drove past me, stopped reversed toward me.
I tried to escape through the paddocks, but was caught, beaten, dragged back to the car, and dumped in the boot.
They were arguing about what to do with me, most of them wanted to throw me off the Ashurst bridge as a staged suacide, but one guy (Darryl Field, aka Hoon I think) was against it in case of an investigation as he lived nearby (behind the Ashurst 4 Square).
He wanted to go to the Fitzherbert bridge in Palmerston North and throw me off there.
As they drove off I got enough pressure on the wire for the boot unlock to open it, and jumped out.
I hid in a blackberry bush in the paddock next to 11 Hazelhurst Line for a few hours.
It started raining, so I went into the garden of 11 Hazelhurst Line and curled up under a bush against some Agapanthus, for as much shelter as I could get.
Once the sun came up, I started walking along Hendersons Line thinking I was headed toward Napier, but it curls around back to Palmerston North.
Turns out my "Fiance" was stringing along Hoon to use him (as well as multiple other guys), was also engaged to Craig Hooper, and was aiming for my life insurance/ house/ assets as the primary beneficiary of my estate.
Unfortunately in my will I specified that half my estate went into a trust for any of my biological children. So at 8 months pregnant she terminated our daughter so she wouldn't have to share the money.
I could (should) have tried knocking on a door and getting someone to call the cops… but I was f****d up, massive blow to the head (a car followed by a multi attacker beating), just trying to hide/ escape/ get to my sisters.
Pretty sure they are worried I'll testify, cause since then I've been stabbed twice, macheted, and run down repeatedly.
They have a bent cop named Constable Daniel Timutimu helping them out too…
The first attack was in 2020, most recent was 13 August 2022.
I live on the run, if I lived permanently in a house Constable Timutimu could pull up my address for them in the police National Intelligence Application.
If there is ever an update to this, I expect it will be a news story on my murder lol
Final score:
8points
#25
joined the army and ended up in Honduras with Oliver North
Final score:
7points
#26
I have like 10 haha. (Not actually that funny) but I’ve almost drowned and like a few other times plus 4 sewer slide attempts. Not gonna go into detail bc there’s too many but feel free to ask abt it
Final score:
7points
#27
I went to a New Years eve party with my (now long ago) boyfriend. We had an argument and I left on my own to go home. I was crossing on a green light where a stopped bus was blocking my view of the street on my right. I paused and leaned forward to check the traffic, just as a pickup truck with a plow on the front ran the red light at high speed. If I hadn't paused, I would have been very messily dead. And my boyfriend would probably have felt pretty bad, the wanker.
Final score:
7points
#28
Okay so this happened when I was little. My mum put me in a pool in a zebra floatie that had the gap in the back and, being the chubby kid I was, I fell through it and I remember being somewhat calm about the whole thing.
I think I was five.
Final score:
6points
#29
I learned that I'm allergic to avocados the first time I had guacamole. My whole mouth burned and it got really hard to breath as my throat swelled shut. I was unconscious and turning blue (according to my friend) by the time the EMTs got to me. To be fair, that is one of the few Mexican restaurants I feel safe eating at, since they are super careful about my food.
Final score:
6points
scotterscotter85 1 year ago
That's how I found out that I was allergic to curry. Same exact scenario.
#30
My dad was in the (USA) Army in France in WWII. He and some buddies were looking for a place to spend the night and came upon a deserted barn . 2 or 3 of the guys went up in the loft to sleep, but my father had a funny feeling about it and went to sleep outside.
In the night, a shell came in and hit the barn. Those guys in the loft never made it out.
Final score:
6points
#31
Tw: assault/ not a near death but I dont know what would happen if I said yes when I was in 4th grade I took the bus. Now i was a lonely kid so I usually just store out the window. Well one day some weird 5th grader talked to me and me being the dumb 4th grader I am I decided to be friends with him. Well a few weeks later I was at the playground with him when he weirdly hugged me and didn’t stop. Ever since then I tried to stay away from him but he kept trying to get me to come to me or something-
Final score:
5points
#32
I almost died because od carbon monoxide poisoning.
Final score:
5points
Dianne Sebens 1 year ago
When my friend and I were 15, we lived three blocks from each other. One day, she was at my house and had to go home; I walked with her halfway. We stood on the corner talking for about 5 minutes and then went our separate ways toward our homes. Neither one of us had walked more than half a block from that corner when a car that was going way too fast came down the road that ran along the corner where we’d been standing. He slammed on his brakes when he saw the stop sign. His car sailed all the way across the street and landed on the roof right where we’d been standing.
#33
When I was little, 2, maybe 3 years old, I was visiting my aunt that lived in a block of flats. Together with my cousin of the same age we decided to climb on the windowsill and look down at little people and little passing cars. Only that the window was open and it was the 9th floor. Luckily a family friend from the block across the street spotted us and managed to alert the grownups (this was early 80s so it took some time). I don’t remember that part, but my cousin’s mum says that as terrified as she was she calmly walked over and grabbed us. If it wasn’t for that neighbours vigilance I might have not been here today.
Final score:
5points
#34
My dad was a royal marine then sbs he fort in the Falklands and Northern Ireland and although he excelled he was traumatised. He had flash backs and when he did he would sometimes not realise who I was for a while.
My parents broke up and I often needed to help him as he was a alcoholic and addict ( due to medication needed for his back when he got blown up)
He forgot who I was for a second and put his hands round my neck he looked almost sleepy and I thought he was hugging me.
He did not squeeze really hard but I felt the power in his hands he was still very strong at 50.
I just calmly kept saying it’s me dad and saying my name.
Then he snapped out of it, and said sorry (my name) I don’t think he even remembered and I was not going to remind him.
My heart felt like it would explode and I really kept thinking how terrible it would be if he killed me and then came to.
He was 100 percent the best dad he could be and I was honoured to know him he was so much more than a solider. And we both loved each other and and were best friends until he passed.
Final score:
5points
#35
I thought I had the flu and a boil on my backside.
Turns out I had cellulitis (an under the skin infection from the boil) that had turned into sepsis. I went to urgent care for the boil and they rushed me to the hospital. I was diagnosed with septic shock and was nearly delirious by the time they put the IV in me. In the hospital with MRSA for 10 days.
I was on antibiotics for months.
I’ll never forget and never take for granted how close I was to death.
Final score:
5points
Hypoxia Smurf 1 year ago (edited)
Two incidents that I recall from my wasted youth: 1) Falling out the open window of a moving car as a toddler, fracturing my skull in interesting ways; and 2) Coasting fast downhill on my bicycle, a big-rig truck nearly squashed me at an intersection. At least I have managed to avoid aircraft crashes. 8-)
#36
the day I almost ended my life due to intrusive thoughts.. every day since has either been good or bad
Final score:
5points
Pancake_Pansexual_Panda 1 year ago
I tried to kill myself because I kept getting bullied in the past but decided not to since I am a coward. I am glad you didn't end your life! There is so much more to explore, good or bad.
#37
I once stayed up all weekend partying and then had a friend call me for a ride so I hopped in the car to go get him and was driving down the interstate when I ran over someone. I slammed on my brakes and jumped out of my car and looked everywhere for the man I had just run over but there was no one on the road. Eerily I noticed no other cars were driving by me on either side of I-20 and so I got back in my car to pull off at the next gas station and calm down and try to figure out my next move since I'd apparently run over a ghost..... As I pulled off at the next off ramp the brakes in my car went out and I had to use the emergency brake to stop my car.
I immediately did a U turn and E braked myself back home since the shadow person I ran over was obviously a warning of a tragedy further up the road that my loss of brakes would have done had I not been given a heads up by that premonition.
So not necessarily my near death experience but it was someone else's.
Final score:
5points
Rosemary Booth 1 year ago (edited)
Wow that gave me shivers! I'm always so fascinated by stories like this! I'm so glad you heeded the warning and prevented a tragedy. Sometimes warnings are a little more subtle, but yours was certainly hard to ignore! Just curious, but have things like that happened to you before, or since?
#38
When I was about five I had inflamed adenoids to the point where I could barely breathe through my nose, every few days I got “sick” and thought I just had a stuffy nose.After a few weeks of this we went to the hospital and I had to gat them removed.Apparently I could have stopped breathing if we didn’t go to the doctor.
Final score:
5points
#39
When I was pregnant with my daughter I didn't know that I was going to have twins. I was 7 months in when I had her. 2 months before I started sleeping anywhere from 18 to 24 hours at a time. I was terrified to sleep afraid I would not wake up. Told my doctor, he did nothing. At 7 months is when I had placenta abruption. My water broke. Got to hospital and was told water broke for baby and they had to break water for the other. Daughter was 2.9 lbs. The other baby did not make it. Had her at 6 am and about 2 am that nite they rushed me to the ICU saying my organs had shut down and my heart was next.
Had my son, went home, three days later passed a blood clot the size of a cantaloupe. Crawled to my car, went to the ER, was told I needed a blood transfusion and sent home without one because I had no medical insurance.
Was a passenger in a truck of man that decided he wanted to @#$ himself. He drove head on until a rock hill at 111 mph.
Was coming home one day, rounded curve, hydroplaned, hit a concrete block at the edge of a bridge. Car flipped in the air end over end to the interstate below. Barely missed actually ending up on the interstate.
I'm pretty sure I'm on this earth for a reason lol
Final score:
5points
#40
I don' know if it counts but when my parents decided they will never have children.
Final score:
4points
#41
Armed and dangerous.
Several years ago I was driving to my office in the city. All the while I was hearing constant news updates that Police were searching for a man in a blue utility vehicle who was suspected of having just murdered his room mate.
Each bulletin ended with the warning that the person was considered armed and dangerous.
I eventually got to the outskirts of the city and was stuck in traffic. Kids on each side of the road waiting for school buses etc. I noticed that up ahead some one had double parked causing the holdup.
As I inched forward I eventually found myself directly behind the double parked vehicle. A blue utility. It suddenly occurred to me that this might be the fugitive. As that thought exploded in my brain the driver got out of the ute carrying a gym bag looked at me but continued over to some shopfronts. The traffic cleared and I was able to pull up at the end of the block and I decided to call the Police hotline in case it was the guy they were looking for.
Later that day I got a call from a Police Inspector who asked to see me. He came to my office and explained that indeed the person I saw was the wanted man and that tragically, after I had spotted him, the fellow had gone into a shop and killed the owner using a shotgun. The victim was his landlord. The killer was eventually tracked down later that day.
I often reflect on that morning and on whether I could have done anything differently.
Final score:
4points
Maggie Marrelli 1 year ago
Probably not. It's not like you could have confronted him without getting yourself or other bystanders hurt. You did the right thing.
#42
Going over a 30ft cliff in Corfu Greece after over compensating a curve on a cobblestone street, and rolling x3, only to face nose up.
Final score:
4points
#43
What with a friend and near his house there was a river with flows in to a waterfall. We walked near the stream and eventally got to a small rock pathway near the waterfall. I walked on to the path and he followed I waited for him and walked past me grabbing my coat for support, he ended up falling dragging me near this waterfall (which was not huge but a sizeable drop with sharp rocks). He managed to get out first as he fell closer to the path and dragged me back. We were cold but lucky.
Final score:
4points
#44
I have a couple (or maybe more than a couple lol)
1. went to the hospital for what I thought was ordinary UTI. I drove my motorcycle then. Only for the doctors to tell me I gotta be scheduled for emergency appendectomy. I thought she was joking at first. I even cracked a joke, saying I didn't even bring my toothbrush or a pair of clean panties. She got mad at me. Told me if I wait until the next day I would die. So I went home, packed an overnight bag, then went back to the hospital. After surgery they showed me my appendix. It was so swollen and ready to burst.
2. I was maybe 8-9 years old. I was never a strong swimmer, still am not. Mom, siblings and I, along with some neighbors, went to the beach. It was a nice day, perfect for swimming. I was in an inflatable ring. Nobody noticed the current was slowly carrying me away from the rest of them. I tried yelling for help but it was windy. I got about half a mile away or so before one of the neighbors noticed and rescued me. Was also the day I got stung by a jellyfish for the very first time.
3: Two of the neighbors dogs bit me. One got me in the buttcheek, the other my belly.
4: I just got married to my husband not even a month when we got into a motorcycle accident bc of some idiot that can't wait for his turn. Crashed into the side of his truck. Closed my eyes before we hit the truck bc in my mind I didn't wanna see how I die. Luckily I escaped with an injured ankle, bumps and bruises on the left side of my body. Husband had a chunk of flesh from his knee torn off. We were lucky considering that when I saw the bike after the accident, one would think there's no way the driver and the passenger could've survived.
These are just some that I can remember right this moment.
Final score:
4points
#45
I have a couple, I suppose.
-A few days ago, I ran really far into the woods to get away from my siblings. I stopped at the very top of a hill that connected to one of the trails we own. I didn't even notice there was a person directly in front of me until he ran away. If he had had bad intentions, that could have been awful.
-When I was seven, me and my sister (who was three at the time) fell off a dune buggy-type thing. My sister was directly in the way when my brother (11) went full-speed reverse. I yanked her out of the way and in doing so I got my knees run over. Not a near-death experience, but even years later I still have knee pain.
-When I was eight I was checking the mail and there was a rattlesnake behind me. I waited until a truck passed but... I didn't look the other way. I was inches from being killed.
-In May (this May) my brother tried to choke me to death. I passed out. I never told my parents.
There are more, but those are at the top of my brain.
Final score:
4points
Pancake_Pansexual_Panda 1 year ago
Your brother tried to choke you to death?! He is horrible! That's horrible, you should tell your parents. Or call the police! I am so sorry you have to go through this!
#47
I was maybe 3 years old. It was a bright, sunny day. The seagulls were screeching and attack local pedestrians, the waves were crashing against the sandy beach. My family just returned from a cruise to Mexico. And it was the worst state in the country: Florida.
I was playing in the waves, when a wave pulled me under, and I almost drowned. Fortunately my dad was watching, and ran in and saved me.
Final score:
3points
Nice Beast Ludo 1 year ago
I've gotten pulled into the undertow before... my face got scraped against the bottom over and over when I was 7... my cousin says I stuck my cast in the air from a broken wrist and it somehow never went under...
#48
I am a geologist. One day I was doing field work. It was about 10 AM on a beautiful summer morning and I was standing at the top of a 100 meter sandstone cliff. I was wearing a yellow and orange baseball cap. The colors attracted a hummingbird, which suddenly hovered right in front of my face. I barely kept my balance by holding out my arms and circling them. If I had fallen, would anyone know the reason?
Final score:
3points
#49
I was almost kidnapped from a Spanish shop when I was a baby. Blonde hair, blue eyes, the Spanish loved me.
I almost drowned in our back garden pool. It was round so, if you all moved in one direction, it caused a whirlpool. Sucked me to the bottom and it took my siblings a long time to notice. Even more poignant as my best childhood friend had drowned on holiday a couple of years before.
Final score:
3points
#50
October 17, 1989, 5:04 PM. I was in an elevator, getting off work in the financial district when the earthquake hit. As it turns out, I wasn't in danger, but none of us knew it at the time.
Final score:
3points
#51
I have a couple, but here's my personal favorite. I was swimming in the ocean with my dad and brother. We didn't realize how far out we had gotten. A storm rolled in, and the waves got BIG. A 8-10ft wave caught us. My dad was able to grab my brother but not me. I got rolled by the wave, hit my head on a rock, and fully thought I was going to die. Came to about a mile down the beach from where we started. Heard my family calling for me in the distance. Overall, I was fine. I just have a fear of waves now!
Final score:
3points
#52
I don't know if it qualifies, but it felt like it at the time (or actually right after, when reality crashed down.) Was working at a convenience store/gas station, small privately owned not a big corporation, was the only obe there closing up at 11. A minute til close snd someone comes in, head down like they're looking at their phone. Nothing out of the ordinary, I almost slways have last minute customers. Next thing I know, he's behind me and there's a knife against my throat. "Empty thr cash register, open the safe!" etc etc. A few seconds of argument because I don't have keys to the safe. Then he's gone. Less than 3 minutes, but I'll always remember the knife and the voice. Had he been more demanding about the safe, or had I fought back, I'd prolly be dead.
Final score:
3points
#53
Got in a car with the wrong person
Final score:
2points
Hypoxia Smurf 1 year ago
In my hitch-hiking youth, I accepted rides from all sorts of people, mostly unknown but some (in)famous, like a rockstar, and a leading politician. As long as they took me in the right direction, they were OK persons.
#55
I almost got kidnapped on vacation.
I remember when I was little, me and my family had gone on vacation. We were walking around the city when my dad thought we should walk down this really creepy road. I didn't think it was a such a great idea, since I knew the city wasn't exactly considered safe and it was going to get dark soon, but I was little and no one listened to me. We walked down the road and back up it because it was starting to get dark and that was a dead end. As we were walking back up, I overheard some people warning a group of tourists about kidnappings that had taken place in the area, and how they should head back to wherever they were staying. Overheard another group of people discussing the same thing. I was not a stupid child, and I started panicking. That's when we reached a part in the road where there was no one but us walking. My dad and brother were being loud in front of me and my mom, so they weren't aware of anything happening. You know when you can just tell when there's someone behind you? That's what happened to me. I could tell that someone had stumbled out of an alleyway and started following us. My mom already had a tight grip on my hand from hearing the kidnapping stuff, but now she was basically cutting off blood flow. I wanted to get a good look at who was following us, so I turned my head to see their face for a split second. There was a guy in a grey hoodie holding something in his hand with huge eyes and a smile that could rival an insane person in the movies, and he was staring directly at me. I could tell he kept staring right at me after I turned my head around. It continued like that for a couple minutes. Then my mom yanked me forward and jogged a little bit to catch up with my dad and brother. At first I wondered why she yanked me, and that's when I realized the guy had reached for me. I felt his hand graze my shirt a little bit before she yanked me. The crazy dude then crossed the street, still staring at me, and continued following us from the other side. Eventually he left once we got to a more crowded area, but I was shaking. I will never forget that moment.
Final score:
2points
Nice Beast Ludo 1 year ago
This is CRAZY. Insane how a child can be that much more aware of their surroundings than an adult
#57
Many. Many almost dying.
***
1: almost chocked to death on peanut butter sandwich, now I have fear of peanut butter
***
2: got ran over by a kid on the blacktop and got a concussion, had to be woken up every three hours to be asked questions about people's names and my adress
Final score:
1point
Flaming Koala From Harvard (Submission author) 1 year ago
I have a podcast called the snake overlord residence here's what I make it on! https://blogs.mtdv.me/Make-a-podcast-for-free-snekpodmaker --' If you enjoy the 'site' upvote this comment
#58
Was put into a medically induced coma on a vent for 3 weeks because of complications during childbirth (both the baby now 6 & I pulled through & are healthy). I had many hallucinations some were so cool others absolutely terrifying. Things going on on the outside do get through. Anyhow I believed I was being held hostage in a home and was tied down so I couldn't escape, I was worried that my baby was going to be harmed; in my "world" I fought hard. At one point I 'opened my eyes & saw the front door close. Still being tied down I thought to myself this is it, I'm going to die here, but at least I won't freeze to death. I then heard loud banging & someone was approaching me I knew that that was it they were about to finish me. They came up to my feet & showed me a picture of my baby. It was so unexpected & it made me so happy. They then raised a sheet I took a breath.' That was were that hallucination stopped. Don't know at what point during the induced time I went through that. I now know that since I was on a vent that I did have to have lite restraints on. There is no doubt in my mind that I really was that close to death.
Final score:
1point
Nice Beast Ludo 1 year ago
Wow.. I was in a coma for 3 days from kidney complications. I thought I fell asleep in the ER and woke up an hour later admitted into a room but really 3 days went by. It felt like a nap and I had no dreams but I almost died several times. They told my husband to come to the hospital in the night because I was about to die and basically to say goodbye
#59
I had a heart attack about 3 years ago. Spent the next month in and out of the hospital. I literally went in to go exercise and end up in the emergency room. Once I passed out between appointments. Once my blood pressure was 60 over nothing. And on the time in question, I was in the waiting room for a doctor's appointment. My heart started racing. Turns out, I had a resting heartbeat of 150 (about double normal). They were literally going to restart my heart when they found it- What caused the heart attack. I had an aortic dissection (a rip in my heart valve). No one had found it for a month after my heart attack. I was flown on flight for life to Mayo in Rochester. I passed out and do not remember everything.
I was in the critical care unit for 2 days when I felt a pain in my chest. I rang for the nurse and woke up 16 hours later with a tube down my throat. They could not do anything because surgery had a less than 1% chance of success. The doctor the next day asked me what I remembered, and I said a pain in my chest. I have never seen a look like that before. Like "we really wanted to help but there was nothing we could do." This is at one of the best heart hospitals in the US. Turns out they called my wife to see if she wanted to see more before I died.
Long story short. I made a recovery. Still not as good as before the incidents. But if you saw me on the street tomorrow, you couldn't tell I could barely walk because my heart told my body I needed oxygen if I went faster than a slow saunter. What I learned. Don't smoke- you have no idea how hard it is to remain calm when you can't breathe. More people care about you than you think. And screw what people think. Speak your mind and live like you are dying- you could be dead tomorrow.
Final score:
1point
What do you think ?
The Doom Song 1 year ago
I almost ran over a 2m long dugite (very venomous snake) on my bike one day. Literally came out of nowhere and I had to swerve to the one side to avoid it. Missed its back end by about 10cm. Got a bit further up the bike path dropped my bike and had a panic attack.
María Hermida 1 year ago
At least half of the prople these stories are good candidates to the Darwin Awards!
The Doom Song 1 year ago
I almost ran over a 2m long dugite (very venomous snake) on my bike one day. Literally came out of nowhere and I had to swerve to the one side to avoid it. Missed its back end by about 10cm. Got a bit further up the bike path dropped my bike and had a panic attack.
María Hermida 1 year ago
At least half of the prople these stories are good candidates to the Darwin Awards!
Related on Bored Panda
