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Bored Panda got in touch with FictionVent who posted the original question and they were kind enough to answer some of our questions. Firstly, we wanted to know why they decided to pose this question to the internet. "Recently I was thinking about my own life experiences, and if I had witnessed anything historic in my 38 years on this planet. But also, some of my favorite comments on Reddit are when someone tells a personal story about seeing something historic. Posing the question in an Ask Reddit post seemed to be a great way to curate a lot of those experiences in one place. I even got to ask some follow-up questions to people who had first-hand accounts of some very historic moments. What a great resource!

We also wanted to know why they though the post went so viral. "The most popular Ask Reddit posts are usually ones that make users think about themselves, but also pique the reader’s interest in hearing what other users have to say. The responses were fascinating, as I got comments from people young and old, all over the world. It was fun and insightful to read, and I was not surprised that the post hit the front page of Ask Reddit," they shared with Bored Panda.

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“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks I was working in New York City ICUs in April 2020. Would not recommend.

Jamf , Amir Arabshahi Report

Final score:

159points

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Corvus 1 year ago

And instead of gratitude, you probably got accused of working for the "deep state" or something along these lines, simply for doing your work.

89points

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks I sat on the roof of our house and watched Mt. St. Helens erupt less than 100 miles away.

stinkykitty71 , Austin Post Report

Final score:

151points

POST

David 1 year ago

It is a stretch to say I "witnessed" it as I didn't have eyes on but I HEARD it 200 miles away and also felt the shock wave shake our house. At first I thought it was heavy / close thunder because who's first thought is, "Welp! I guess a mountain just blew up!" ?

87points

"I myself haven’t witnessed anything TOO historic. I saw Obama speak on the campaign trail in Philadelphia in 2008. I attended what turned out to be the final Beastie Boys concert (even though we didn’t know it at the time.) I live in Maui now, so I was around for the missile alert scare, and recently, I was in Lahaina on the day of the big fire. My takeaway was that most of the time, seeing history in the making just comes down to being in the right (or wrong) place at the right time. It’s not something you can force, and so those experiences end up being rare and in a sense, quite valuable."

Written depictions of history suffer a certain paradox, where, on the one hand, eyewitness records are vital to know what happened, while on the other, research suggests that individual accounts are often incorrect and misleading. The truth is, that our memories are not always accurate, particularly when we are scared, excited, or distracted.

After all, most of us don’t know we are part of a historical event until the significance sinks in later. Research into eyewitness accounts used in criminal cases shows that people constantly get details wrong, misremember, or end up influenced by later events. On a regular day, we don’t necessarily remember what clothes every person on the subway was wearing, for example.

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks I was standing on my front porch watching the launch of the Challenger.

StarChaser_Tyger , NASA Report

Final score:

146points

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Loverboy 1 year ago

The worst part is, there was a decent amount of time where the crew members didn't know anything was wrong.

61points

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks Ran away from the 2004 tsunami. Twice.

oRedDeadDano , David Rydevik Report

Final score:

138points

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Loverboy 1 year ago

Always been one of my biggest fears, that must've been terrifying. My heart goes out to all the families of the 200,000+ dead

60points

CatDaddyWhisper , H.G. Wilshire, U.S. Geological Survey Report

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks October 17th, 1989. I watched the 880 Nimitz freeway collapse during the San Francisco earthquake. The Honda in front of me had the upper deck crush her front-end engine compartment. The mother and her daughter were shaken up but completely fine.

I was driving a convertible Triumph Spitfire, which was scratched up slightly from debris. However, I walked away unscathed. Aside from the fact I pissed my pants, which I didn't notice until much later.

Final score:

136points

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SpaceFrog 1 year ago

I remember seeing this on TV then I was a kid in Colorado and even drawing it afterward. I was so traumatized just seeing it on TV that I was TERRIFIED to move to California that same year and I didn't know I had bridge driving anxiety 30 years later until I clammed up and had anxiety crossing the golden gate. I still will cry if I get stuck on the Bay Bridge. I can't really imagine being on the raised highways and bridges in a massive earthquake even though the images scarred me. Now I'm extremely comfortable with most earthquakes but still picker every time I cross a Bay Area bridge or raised highway 😳

36points

genuinesasksealskin , R. D. Barry Report

It doesn’t help that the events that we might think of as historical tend to be extraordinary, often dangerous or monumental in some way. Excitement, fear, and confusion all have their own way of disrupting what we remember. For example, if a weapon is present in a situation, people tend to focus on it, while ignoring all other details.

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks Terry Fox running during his marathon of hope.

Final score:

124points

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Arthur Waite 1 year ago

I was working in downtown Toronto at that time, and one day, taking a walk after lunch, I passed by the City Hall square, and there were a whole lot of people gathering around. I asked someone what's going on and he said "Some guy's running across Canada for some reason, and he's collecting money." I hung around and there were volunteers passing around buckets and baskets to collect cash. I put in three dollars, all I had with me, and went back to work. After I got home that evening, watching the news, I saw myself in the news donating to someone named Fox. Not a big deal, really, until he got farther west, and more newsworthy.

38points

TheLonelySnail , Jobs For Felons Hub Report

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks I was on the freeway in CA in the 90s when a white ford bronco passed us, and then a whole lotta police cars! I was like 10

Final score:

122points

POST

Doug the Special one 1 year ago

Orange Juice Simpson.

3points

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks The tumbling of the Wall in Germany… along with people selling bits and pieces of it on tables in lobby in front of commissary and px in the following weeks and months. I had picked up a chunk about the size of an oreo and kept it… has blue spray paint on the flat side. Wonder if anyone is buying them now?

SingedPenguin13 , Gavin Stewart Report

Final score:

117points

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Ansgar 1 year ago

As a kid I was on one of the Monday Marches (The original ones, not that sh** happening right now in Germany. Those marches were the start to what happened in Berlin later that year.) with my parents. We walked through the streets of Leipzig with candles, past armed military and police. Later found out they were cleared to fire into the crowd.

39points

This is referred to as “weapons focus,” where the presence of danger, caused by a weapon, draws our attention so that we can better protect ourselves. This comes at the cost of missing most background details, which is fantastic for bank robbers, as an example, but not so much for future historians.

#10

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks Halley's comet, on my way to school in 1986.

Catlenfell , NASA/W. Liller Report

Final score:

115points

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Lauren Bridger 1 year ago

I remember seeing Hale Bopp Comet when I was in elementary school.

20points

hiker201 , United States Department of Energy Report

#11

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks The Three Mile Island nuclear accident. I was a young newspaper reporter (21 years old) standing outside the plant the morning of the accident when the workers evacuated. They refused to say what if anything was wrong. I was the first reporter on the scene, as I had been writing about (the many) previous problems at the plant. The morning started off as a local news story. By lunchtime, it was international news. There obviously were no cell phones. There was a single pay phone in front of the plant’s observation center where we all had to take turns phoning in our stories.

Final score:

109points

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A Nelson 1 year ago

So glad OP is still around to write this and hopefully not having radiation sickness or cancer

42points

#12

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks Not historically significant overall, but for me it was pretty crazy - the Hawaii ‘incoming ballistic missile’ broadcast that later turned out to be accidental. As an Australian tourist on the island it was pretty whack to suddenly get the emergency message to ‘take cover, this is not a drill’ pushed to my phone, and to hear every phone around me getting the same ping.

JoeKrano , Apple Inc Report

Final score:

109points

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JoNo 1 year ago

I was only talking about this a couple of days ago. It would have been freaky crazy in the time between getting the message and being told it was a false alert. I would have been scared!

36points

As bleak as it sounds, the number one cause of wrongful convictions is eyewitnesses getting something wrong. Fortunately, in a manner of speaking, criminal cases tend to have just a handful of witnesses, while historic events have many. By consulting multiple people who were there, historians can actually build a more accurate picture and weed out the details that were, perhaps, added incorrectly.

#13

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks 1964 Good Friday Earthquake 9.2 Richter. Was a boy in Cordova, Alaska at the time.

KitchenLab2536 , U.S. Army Report

Final score:

105points

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Nonna_SoF 1 year ago

Doesn't sound like a very good Friday.

33points

#14

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks I would have to say the LA riots. I lived about two blocks from where it started. I was on my way home from school and saw someone throw a brick through a window. I didn’t even wait. I just started running the whole way home.

Scarlaymama0721 , Mick Taylor Report

Final score:

102points

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Betsy Knox 1 year ago

I was driving down the 110 to get to my father’s wedding reception and witnessed the fires and smoke in downtown LA.

25points

#15

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks Passage of the human rights bill on the Minnesota Senate floor in 1993. One of the first states to codify LGBT equal protection.

LovesRainstorms , Warren LeMay Report

Final score:

100points

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S Mi 1 year ago

I didn't know that. Go Minnesota!

30points

But setting all that aside, it is no doubt a very special feeling to know that you saw something unique and widely discussed with your own eyes. Most things that happen don’t immediately seem as important as they might be in the moment. But some people do recall a distinct feeling in the back of their brains, that what they just saw is special, even as the event is unfolding in front of them.

#16

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks I was at The who concert in Cincinnati where all the people were trampled dead. I was within 6 ft of the pile of people that died

dubawabsdubababy , Jack Klumpe Report

Final score:

99points

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Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 1 year ago

That had to be a horrible thing to see.

46points

#17

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks Took part in Hands Across America with my parents and my sister.

foxylady315 , Buchoamerica Report

Final score:

99points

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Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 1 year ago

I would have liked to participate. I can't remember why I didn't.

10points

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#18

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks I was at the Women's March on Washington with half a million of my closest friends on January 21, 2017.

Also my husband applied for a job in the World Trade Center in June 2001, and we're forever grateful that he did not get the position.

SaintHannah , Peter Kaminski Report

Final score:

92points

POST

CORGI QUEEN 1 year ago

my mom did the 2017 march too!

17points

#19

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks The 1953 testing of the Salk polio vaccine ... I was volunteered for the event by my parents.

Second most: 1968 Democratic Convention Riots

TsuDhoNimh2 , Bryan Alexander Report

Final score:

89points

POST

cadena kuhn 1 year ago

My biology teacher used to brag about his wife being a polio pioneer. He'd say for a biology teacher that's like marrying a rockstar

82points

#20

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks The 1993 World Trade Center bombing. It's mostly forgotten now that the towers are gone, but it was a big deal back then. I remember riding across the Manhattan bridge and looking towards the bay and thinking 'well, it looks okay from here...'

AdWonderful5920 , FBI Report

Final score:

88points

POST

SpaceFrog 1 year ago

Whoa, definitely forgot about this because of the obvious.

28points

Tokiohas12biffles , That's why MMA Report

#21

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks Seven rows back ringside when Tyson chomped Holyfield’s ear off

Final score:

80points

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Paul C. 1 year ago (edited)

I watched Henry Cooper fight Muhammed Ali, Cassius Clay as he was at the time. I was also at the opening game of the 1966 World Cup. England drew 0-0 and they were awful. Also watched Concorde take off on it's maiden commercial flight.

23points

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#22

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks Boston Marathon bombing. I was there and then part of the medical team - the tents at the finish line.

Ive worked in the medical tents for a decade now. The year it was super hot the news came to do a piece about us and used me with a patient as their backdrop - my phone erupted as soon as they aired it!

green_all , Tim Pierce Report

Final score:

79points

POST

Quinn 1 year ago (edited)

I was in a checkout lane where I saw Rolling Stone magazine featuring on the cover a portrait of the surviving bomber (the younger brother), like he was a rock star or something. "Oh, for f**k's sake! What next?" I wondered. "People magazine featuring him as the 'Sexiest Man Alive'... ?!"

15points

Business_Ground_3279 , Touch Of Light Report

#23

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks I was the Command Post Controller that called the Pentagon to inform them of Kim Jong Un's first missile launch (and 6 subsequent launches over the next 5 years).

I was at Post Malone's opening of his personalized Raising Caines restaurant.

I was sitting at the airport gate across the way from the gate boarding MH370 (the Malaysian Airlines that went down), so I watched them board.

I was in Tokyo during the Tohoku Earthquake and Fukushima Nuclear Disaster in 2011.

Final score:

67points

POST

Nonna_SoF 1 year ago

Note: Don't be near this person.

205points

#24

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks I was in the SF Bay Area in 1989 when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit. Fortunately, I was in a park with my mom, so we both just got knocked to the ground and sat down and rode it out, so we weren't in any danger and it wasn't super scary.

yakusokuN8 , CIR Online Report

Final score:

66points

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SpaceFrog 1 year ago

I'm still traumatized by news coverage as a kid living in a no-earthquake state. Now I see Loma Prietta outside my backyard and earthquakes rarely bother me after living on fault zones in Northern CA and now the Bay Area. But I still cannot drive across the Bay Bridge (of most Bay area bridges) without having earthquake anxiety.

22points

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#25

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks Elon Musk has his spaceport in our backyard. We saw the launch of the world's tallest and most powerful rocket... and then it blew up.

ProfessorGigs , Daniel Oberhaus Report

Final score:

65points

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Christos Arvanitis 1 year ago

It's a metaphor about Musk methinks...

46points

#26

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks Space Shuttle Columbia first launch in April 1981

GeneralUrsus721 , NASA Report

Final score:

59points

POST

Jumping Jellyfishes 1 year ago (edited)

My school wouldn't give us the day off for this (big deal because the ending of the Apollo program did a number on the local economy). Said anyone who skipped would get an F for the day. I think there were between 1300 to 1400 students and the name of the school itself was space industry-inspired. It turned out 18 showed up. They allowed them to check out and go home

27points

Red_Blurred , A1C Virgil C. Zurbruegg Report

#27

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks I was a young barely high school student when Marcos was overthrown in the Philippines. I was part of the People’s Power along with my Dad, Mom and brothers. We didn’t feel unsafe but that night after Marcos left the Philippines we learned that the military was close to using force on the people. My Dad was alarmed and was glad we’re finally home safe; not sure why we went as a family but at the time my parents felt being there was important enough. My parents are dead and I know they’re probably turning in their graves when Marcos’ son was recently elected as President of the Philippines.

Final score:

57points

POST

RedCorvette 1 year ago

The Filipinos are a forgiving lot

12points

Woman Moves Out Of Parents' Home After They Asked Her To Give Her Space To Brother, They Freak Out

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#28

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks The b-52 crash that led to changing what large military aircraft are allowed to do for airshows. I didn't see the plane, but immediately saw the fireball. It was just a perfect, bright red turning to black mushroom cloud. Fairchild is a nuclear air base and there were a few minutes there where I was sure the world was about to end. A few years before a KC-135 doing the same thing crashed near the school while we were in class.

goffstock , USAF Report

Final score:

52points

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Bryn 1 year ago

Just for everybody information, Fairchild is no longer a nuclear base

17points

Delicious-Pear-No9 , Ian Bancroft Report

#29

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks Chernobyl. When we were small, we used to spend time on farms that my father worked on. When Chernobyl happened, there were so many dead animals and deformed baby calves and sheep that my Dad stopped taking us out to farms. Our own cow was in a calf, and my mother rubbed iodine all over the cow twice a day in the hopes of protecting the unborn calf. It worked, and the calf survived. (She still is really proud of her efforts)

The fall of the Berlin Wall. The show on TV stopped, and the station went live to the Berlin Wall falling. I didn't really understand much about it, but it was the beginning of the end of the iron curtain. I remember we had a teacher bring in a piece of the Berlin Wall. It had googly eyes on it and was in a small plastic display case.

The fall of communism and the lines for bread in Moscow followed by the huge queue when McDonalds first opened in Moscow. Tens of thousands of people queued in the freezing cold in Moscow to get their first taste of McDonalds. It was so extremely interesting because we knew absolutely nothing about Moscow before that there were so many stories and so much we didn't have a clue about.

The IRA ceasefire marked the beginning of peace in Northern Ireland. Our teacher brought in a radio into the classroom as the IRA ceasefire was announced. It was truly amazing after 30 years of constant violence.

A couple of years later, I was on my bike cycling to work when I saw General de Chastelain's convoy pass me. It was super early in the morning, and they were on their way back from visiting an IRA weapons dump. I obviously didn't know who he was, but it was really, really unusual to see such high-end cars down an isolated country road. They were in a convoy of very fancy cars, like Mercedes and rolls Royce, etc, and I ended up pulling into a gate where one of the neighbours explained who they were.

I see a lot of 9/11, but I was working when it happened, and we only had access to a radio. I didn't actually know what the World Trade Centre was, I vaguely heard of a Bombing that occurred in that building in the 90s, but I thought it was just 1 building. We didn't really have access to the Internet and we had to wait until after work and go to the pub to actually see it on the news because we lived in student accommodation and no one had a TV. There was a communal TV, but we didn't have access to it.

Y2K. I remember where I worked. All the checkouts got upgraded, and we closed the supermarket early for IT upgrades!

Obviously, Covid.

Final score:

51points

POST

Fun Fan 1 year ago

Related to Berlin Wall, 1989 december, the fall of romanian dictator, Ceausescu. I was 13 years old back than, and on the streets, where the fights were hold in a big city.

19points

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#30

“The Most Painful Thing I've Ever Witnessed”: 30 Historical Events Witnessed By These Folks I accidentally got caught in that Taxpayer March on Washington on September 12 2009. First time I went to the capital. I just wanted to see Washington D.C. since I moved to New Jersey a few months prior

SanadaBeach , Ben Schumin Report

Final score:

34points

POST

starkey [he/him] 1 year ago (edited)

i hate the people who think the join or die slogan/symbol flag is from the revolution.👏 IT👏 IS👏NOT👏!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it's from the french and indian war, when the colonies were told by ben franklin and many others to band together to beat the french [ftr they did but the colonies didn't really unite that much] [edited to say i was NOT talking about the gadsden flag but rather the join or die flag https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Join,_or_Die%5D

13points

I am a writer at Bored Panda. Despite being born in the US, I ended up spending most of my life in Europe, from Latvia, Austria, and Georgia to finally settling in Lithuania. At Bored Panda, you’ll find me covering topics ranging from the cat meme of the day to red flags in the workplace and really anything else. In my free time, I enjoy hiking, beating other people at board games, cooking, good books, and bad films.

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I'm a Visual Editor at Bored Panda since 2017. I've searched through a multitude of images to create over 2000 diverse posts on a wide range of topics. I love memes, funny, and cute stuff, but I'm also into social issues topics. Despite my background in communication, my heart belongs to visual media, especially photography. When I'm not at my desk, you're likely to find me in the streets with my camera, checking out cool exhibitions, watching a movie at the cinema or just chilling with a coffee in a cozy place

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What do you think ?

POST

Katie Lutesinger 1 year ago

It's probably mostly forgotten these days, even in Canberra itself, but I was there to witness the disastrous demolition of the old Canberra Hospital. It was supposed to be a nice safe implosion, to the point that people were encouraged to come and watch, but something went horribly wrong and it exploded instead, throwing shrapnel clear across the lake where we were all standing. I was one of two little girls named Katie to be present that day, and I was the Katie who made it home. The other was struck in the head and killed. There's a memorial to her by the lakeshore to this day. I was born in that hospital, and it still strikes me as bizarre that the same damn building could easily have taken me out again.

26points

Nice Beast Ludo 1 year ago

Oh wow

9points

Jessica Bertram 1 year ago

🫂💕😢

2points

Pieter LeGrande 1 year ago

The many canoeists present weren't too happy either, with large slabs of concrete dropping into the water around them.

1point

Doctor Strange 1 year ago

I watched the Towers fall. I went to school in Newark and you could see them from the top of our parking garage. A bunch of us where up there and saw it happen. I'll never forget that.

11points

Corvus 1 year ago

My grandma was in Ukraine when Chernobyl happened. She noticed there was an unusual amount of street cleaning going on, but no one had any idea why (authorities tried to keep the accident a secret for as long as possible... the bastards!). As for me - I witnessed the fall of the communist regime in my country, but memories are vague (I was only 4-5 years old at the time).

9points

Rostit. . 1 year ago

what part did she live in?

2points

Ariom Dahl 1 year ago

In Australia in 1957 my brothers and I went outside at night to see Sputnik One bee-beeping its way across the sky. Now, when the sky is clear and it passes overhead, I can see the ISS. (well, technically, the light reflected from it). I also watched the final orbit of Mir before it fell into the ocean.

6points

Ariom Dahl 1 year ago

After writing this I realised it wasn't really a painful memory, just an old one!

1point

David Paterson 1 year ago

I was present in the audience when the Higgs particle was announced. Earlier, I was in the audience when the immortal words "consider a spherical cow" were first spoken.

4points

Thenatural 1 year ago

Immortal words?

1point

Floeckchen 1 year ago

I lived in the center of Hamburg during the G20-Summit in 2017 and it's affiliated riots... pretty much in the vicinity of the Messehallen and the Schanze. It were several days of absolute mayhem.

4points

Bowtechie 1 year ago (edited)

I was studying abroad in Japan during the Fukushima quake and tsunami. I was in Nagoya, thankfully, but we still got hit and there was damage in the port areas. I ended up having to leave early because my program sorta descended into chaos and it was safer to just finish out the year back home. We saw them scanning our luggage for radiation on the tarmac when we boarded in Tokyo and again when we landed in LA. A few years later I went back to Nagoya for a university study abroad, and a volcano in the next prefecture erupted (Mt. Ontake). Ngl I'm a little worried what catastrophe will happen next if I go back.

3points

Pittsburgh rare 1 year ago

I was about to leave my building in Barcelona when a family of American tourists barged through the door and the mum proceeded to have a nervous breakdown right then and there. We gave her water and tended for the teen children too. We later decided it was smart not to go out and blocked the doors while a helicopter hoovered right over our rooftop. It was August 2017 and the helicopter was looking for the terrorist that had driven over 16 people shortly before. We left 4 hours later.

3points

Jessica Bertram 1 year ago

Well, this was a walk down trauma lane for most of the Gen Xers and Boomers on this site. Remind me why we do this to ourselves?

3points

Pittsburgh rare 1 year ago

Our time to shine... through disaster.

0points

Pferdchen 1 year ago

I was visiting my old hometown, Washington, DC, and went to the capitol to pay my respects while George H.W. Bush was lying in state. So, while our segment of the line is in the rotunda, they close the doors and leave us standing there. That's when they wheeled in Bob Dole so he could pay his respects. Fun fact: Bob Dole was wearing very colorful Christmas-themed socks. But anyway, all the news outlets covered this event. I've resisted the temptation, but I always thought it would be funny to include "As seen on FOX, CNN, MS/NBC & BBC" on my business cards. For the record: I voted against both Bush's and Dole's presidential candidacies, but I'd trade my right arm if they were representative of today's Republican party. Typically, I would have had a minute or two in the rotunda but ended up being in there for twenty minutes or so, which gave me a long time to solemnly contemplate the state of our nation. For me, the event was like a requiem for America :-(

3points

Pferdchen 1 year ago

p.s. - I REALLY had to bite my tongue about the guy wearing his MAGA hat inside the Rotunda with a former president of the United States lying in state. I doubt that the look of disgust on my face went unnoticed.

2points

Auntriarch 1 year ago

I haven't witnessed anything exciting. I've narrowly missed things. I'm just lucky

3points

Rae Rory 1 year ago

I don't know if this count as me, personally witnessing it, but I was with my parents in Sears in the Hollywood Mall when Adam Walsh was taken. For those too young, Adam was kidnapped and killed from that Sears in 1981. His case launched not only the Adam Alert, but his father, John Walsh started the show America's Most Wanted.

2points

Rostit. . 1 year ago

I was in HS whent he waco thing happened. We happened to recently get a KU band sat dish installed with a grant. My friends and I found a live feed from a camera at the compound and saw the firefight and ensuing inferno in real time.

2points

Carlos Moreno 1 year ago

1992 Venezuela, Chavez tried to overthrown the government by force. I lived in a military residence since my dad was the first lady's bodyguard. As a kid saw a plane being shot down and bullets flying. All without my father around because he had to protect the presidents family.

2points

Amy Smith 1 year ago (edited)

Small thing compared to some of these! Wow... I was on my way home from work while the London 2011 riots were going on. I lived in Lewisham at the time and was on my way back from Streatham where I'd been covering a branch of the company I worked for (my home branch was on Lewisham High Street). I remember all the roads being closed off, riot police everywhere and not being allowed anywhere near the High Street. If someone hadn't of called in sick in Streatham that day I'd have been right near it all.

2points

LooseSeal's $10 Banana 1 year ago

Not in person and not at all historically significant, but I remember vividly cutting on the TV after school one day and seeing Balloon Boy. No text at all on the screen, just video of a fast moving metallic saucer. Naturally I thought it was a UFO.

2points

Bryn 1 year ago

(1. the March on Wall Street. I remember being in college, & my English professor said that if we brought in proof that we had been to one of the marches, we would get extra credit. So I have video footage on my old clunker iPad.) (2. Death of Steeve jobs - I remember seeing Apple stores covered in post-it notes.) (3. the aftermath of 9/11 - I remember traveling to NY soon after it happened & seeing the memorials all around the building.)

1point

Honcho Chorcoran (who/cares) 1 year ago

I started a new contract job at Andrews Air Force Base outside of Washington DC on 9/11. (This is where Air Force One is based out of.) Listened to the news cast of a plane hitting the WTC on the radio on the way to work, arrived to the base to find out another plane had hit. Was shown to my desk the person assigned to me left me there. Internet was so slow it was unusable so impossible to get any information from it. Heard from a friend on the phone that the Pentagon had been hit. At that point the base was locked down and all civilians were told to leave for the day. On my way home the news was saying that car bombs were detonated outside the State Department and that there were more hijacked planes in the air. Driving home to Virginia from Andrews I could see the black smoke from the Pentagon. I called my bf at the time (now husband) and told him to lock the doors and be prepared for stuff to get worse just in case.

1point

Trisec Tebeakesse 1 year ago

I work in the building where the Biogen conference took place. (Marriott Long Wharf, Boston MA). That kicked COVID into high gear across the United States.

1point

John Dilligaf 1 year ago

Operation Desert Storm - our forward base was under the flight path of some of the first bombing runs of the opening salvo of the air campaign.

1point

lonesoul 1 year ago

As a gen z, corona f*****g virus.

0points

KombatBunni 1 year ago

Was shaken awake by that big a*s earthquake in Australia back in May of this year. Immediately started messaging friends and family to make sure they were okay. My poor birds started acting weird about five seconds before the quake hit. Spend the next hour or so hugging them and making sure I was okay!

0points

Huddo's sister 1 year ago

I felt some windows rattle and that was it- my sister slept through it (and mot quakes)

0points

Fred L. 1 year ago

Remember many from the news during and immediately after those events. In most cases I'm rather glad I was far away.

0points

Steve Kenney 1 year ago

I got caught in absolutely nothing. I sat home eating food and drinking soda as well as beer while it happened. I'm OK though thanks for asking.

0points

POST

Katie Lutesinger 1 year ago

26points

Nice Beast Ludo 1 year ago

Oh wow

9points

Jessica Bertram 1 year ago

🫂💕😢

2points

Pieter LeGrande 1 year ago

The many canoeists present weren't too happy either, with large slabs of concrete dropping into the water around them.

1point

Doctor Strange 1 year ago

I watched the Towers fall. I went to school in Newark and you could see them from the top of our parking garage. A bunch of us where up there and saw it happen. I'll never forget that.

11points

Corvus 1 year ago

9points

Rostit. . 1 year ago

what part did she live in?

2points

Ariom Dahl 1 year ago

6points

Ariom Dahl 1 year ago

After writing this I realised it wasn't really a painful memory, just an old one!

1point

David Paterson 1 year ago

I was present in the audience when the Higgs particle was announced. Earlier, I was in the audience when the immortal words "consider a spherical cow" were first spoken.

4points

Thenatural 1 year ago

Immortal words?

1point

Floeckchen 1 year ago

I lived in the center of Hamburg during the G20-Summit in 2017 and it's affiliated riots... pretty much in the vicinity of the Messehallen and the Schanze. It were several days of absolute mayhem.

4points

Bowtechie 1 year ago (edited)

3points

Pittsburgh rare 1 year ago

3points

Jessica Bertram 1 year ago

Well, this was a walk down trauma lane for most of the Gen Xers and Boomers on this site. Remind me why we do this to ourselves?

3points

Pittsburgh rare 1 year ago

Our time to shine... through disaster.

0points

Pferdchen 1 year ago

3points

Pferdchen 1 year ago

2points

Auntriarch 1 year ago

I haven't witnessed anything exciting. I've narrowly missed things. I'm just lucky

3points

Rae Rory 1 year ago

2points

Rostit. . 1 year ago

2points

Carlos Moreno 1 year ago

2points

Amy Smith 1 year ago (edited)

2points

LooseSeal's $10 Banana 1 year ago

2points

Bryn 1 year ago

1point

Honcho Chorcoran (who/cares) 1 year ago

1point

Trisec Tebeakesse 1 year ago

I work in the building where the Biogen conference took place. (Marriott Long Wharf, Boston MA). That kicked COVID into high gear across the United States.

1point

John Dilligaf 1 year ago

Operation Desert Storm - our forward base was under the flight path of some of the first bombing runs of the opening salvo of the air campaign.

1point

lonesoul 1 year ago

As a gen z, corona f*****g virus.

0points

KombatBunni 1 year ago

0points

Huddo's sister 1 year ago

I felt some windows rattle and that was it- my sister slept through it (and mot quakes)

0points