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“The Sound And Smell Never Leave”: 30 People Share The Absolute Scariest Things They’ve Seen
Interview
Most of us have fears, whether it’s spiders, heights, or even grass (if you just said “what?”, search hastenburaphobia on your browser) that tend to send shivers down our spine. But some situations can arguably be even more frightening than the common phobias we have.
Members of the ‘Ask Reddit’ community recently discussed such situations, after the user ‘Sanguine230’ started a thread about it. The netizen wanted to hear what was the scariest thing redditors have ever witnessed, and they had plenty of stories to share, ranging from fear-inducing to hair-raisingly terrifying. Scroll down to find them on the list below—where you will also find Bored Panda’s interview with the OP themselves—but do it at your own risk as some of the redditors’ accounts are pretty upsetting.
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#1
When I was just a kid, we witnessed a very bad motorcycle accident. The poor guy ran into the side of a car. He went flying over the top of the car. Before the guy hit the road, my father (who was a nurse) was out of the car. When the guy came down we saw a huge gash in his thigh and my Dad quickly took off his tie and used it as a tourniquet on the guy's upper thigh. Someone by then had thought quickly and called an ambulance. No cell phones back then so it took a while. Then the motorcycle rider went into cardiac arrest.My Dad didn't waste any time and gave him CPR until the paramedics arrived and took over. Thanks to my Dad, the guy survived and made a full recovery. Dad was being very modest about the whole thing and didn't want any fuss because it was his job. He is no longer with us, but I will always remember that event. He was a real life HERO.
Avoidance_Panda 5 months ago
Even in death a hero lives, lives through you his kid, the motorcyclist and their family.... A hero's actions echo though time...
#2
I used to work on offshore oil rigs. The generators that power them are the size of a small house. One day a technician forgot to lock out;tag out while he was checking why we were having voltage drops on the pump floor. A supervisor came by and saw the third generator was off and decided to fire it up. I was in the room trying to find a replacement pump sensor when it clicked. Boom pop zap. I saw a human explode, turn to plasma, then carbonize. The sound and and smell never leave.
Kombatbunni 5 months ago
I am so sorry you had to witness that, that would give me nightmares. I hope you had some kind of counselling at least
#3
My stepdad ripping a doorknob out of a door and throwing it at my moms face while she was on the ground.
she was crying and screaming and asked me to call for help.
my stepdad said if I called anyone, then I would be next.
I hid under my bed and called my grandparents.
I was 8.
In an interview with Bored Panda, the OP shared that they’re a big fan of horror movies; however, according to them, real life can be scarier than a movie sometimes. “I wanted to hear some real-life horror stories and the community did not disappoint,” they said, revealing the reason behind the question posed to fellow redditors.
#4
1 second after my first child was born by C-section one of the doctors dropped her straight on the floor. I have encountered some other bad things but never anything that hit like that.
She ended up totally fine (though kept in nicu for a week as a precaution).
LakotaWolf (she/her) 5 months ago
From OP on Reddit: "She didn't come out breathing and so they were rushing her to the resuscitation table which is part of the reason for the drop. Eventually, to start hearing faint cries and then loud cries was the best moment of my life. My wife had been in induced labor for like 30 hours up to that point so there was a serious exhaustion going on. We were just holding hands, praying and crying all the way up to that point. The hospital of course comped everything, and they were amazing with transparency about the whole process. We were visited during our stay by a good number of doctors and higher ups, explaining to us all the process revisions and procedure reviews they were doing to ensure such a thing never happened again. The doctor who dropped her and then ended up reviving her on the table was absolutely destraught and she had to take a month off work to deal with it. We were never angry or wanting to sue, we were just worried"
#5
Buried alive after an avalanche in CO We made an early morning ascent of Berthoud Pass; the snowpack looked good, and we had lots of fresh powder. I was first down into what looked like a perfect virgin powder bowl and right as I pitched in I felt the snowpack come with me. Weirdly enough, the avalanche itself wasn't that scary (I think that my body dumping every ounce of adrenaline it had ever stored took care of that) I remember thinking, "Well, I guess this is how I'm going to die" I swam as best as I could but it was a mess. I ended up buried about 8 feet down. I've never been particularly claustrophobic but I nearly lost my mind. Do you want to talk about fear? I was literally buried alive, with no knowledge of how deep I was, or if my friends (and way out) had been pulled in too, I had checked my beacon earlier but who even knew if it still worked after the beating I took. Fun fact about snow, after settling, it basically turns into concrete. You can't move. I didn't even have an air pocket, the only reason I could still breathe was that I was rocking my avalung (you rock black diamond!). I went through some pretty serious soul-searching in the 12 minutes (with literally no concept of time, it felt like 12 hours) before I felt a probing jab into my leg. I attribute my survival to three things. 1: my friends who are skilled backcountry skiers and know how to use their probes/beacons. 2: my avalung, I will never ski backcountry without one again 3: sheer effing luck that I wasn't snapped in half or pitched into a gully 20 feet; under. I still ski to this day, but I am much more careful in the backcountry. Shits are real out there and if you're not careful, the mountains will chew you up and spit you out with the spring thaw.
Kristal 5 months ago
Huh, I've never head of the avalung. Like others, I looked it up. It's like a snorkel mouthpiece built into a strap where tubing is for your breath. You breathe through the mouthpiece and the warm air is supposed to be expelled behind your back and the "fresh air" is inhaled through the front area that faces out from your chest. This is built so that the carbon dioxide buildup is away from the face and your body provides a barrier between the exhaled carbon dioxide (released behind the back) and the "clean air" in the front of your body. Otherwise, the carbon dioxide builds up right in front of the face and people suffocate faster. -- That's my interpretation of what I read if people are curious but don't want to google
The OP admitted being taken aback by the sheer number of replies from the online community. “I was very surprised by the amount of responses, I definitely didn’t anticipate the post would blow up like it did. I’ve had so many I’m actually still working my way through all the answers, barely halfway through yet.
“Some of the stories are very harrowing, but it is a fascinating read,” they added. “I’d say the survival stories shocked me most. Some users really have been through hell and back, and their resilience is incredible.”
The redditor was appreciative of people's sincere—and often heartbreaking—answers. “I’d like to add a massive thank you to everyone who contributed to the thread. It’s a very interesting read and I really appreciated people’s openness and honesty.”
#6
I worked in an ER. Let's just say:
1. Wear a helmet any time you ride a bike, skateboard, scooter, motorcycle, moped, e-bike etc. WEAR THE HELMET.
2. Never leave a child/baby unattended in the tub/shower/sink for a bath. No, not even for 'five seconds'
3. Do not let your kids wear flammable pajamas. EVER. The burns are awful. Also- smoke detectors matter, and you have NO idea when you're going to need it in working order. yes, go check on yours now. Right now.
cerinamroth 5 months ago
I would also add: carbon monoxide detector. They're cheap and save lives.
#7
Scuba diving a few kilometres off the coast with a friend of mine, he had a small tinny boat and the water was around 20-25m deep. Around 7am toward the end of our dive we came within metres of a Great White. My friend saw it first, as I was checking out some cool coral and the fish then I just see out the corner of my eye him waving at me and signalling like “stay calm”, then I look to my left and just this absolute beast of a creature was casually swimming by us. We both just stopped and stared. It cruised by for about 30 seconds and then turned away and swam off into the distance till it just vanished. Scariest s**t I’ve ever experienced, but also felt like an honour to see something like that in the raw wild.
#8
Watched a group of people cliff jumping nearby where my family members and i were having a beach day, one of the guys landed wrong and didnt come back up. hearing/watching his friends or family looking for him was awful.
As for their own experiences, the OP shared that there were two times they were scared to death that stuck with them the most, even if they, in their own words, “feel tame in comparison to some of the answers.”
“I was chased by a very angry stray dog,” they said, discussing the first one. “I was genuinely prepared to try and fight it or be mauled to death.”
“The second one was when I was in central London when all of a sudden there was a huge bang. Sparks flew and ash started raining down. I took shelter under a cafe table and everyone in the vicinity was screaming. Turns out some kids thought it’d be a good idea to set off some fireworks. Thankfully no one was hurt, but it was terrifying.”
#9
Was moving to another state. Driving cross country. I was in the car with my mom. My older sister and her friend were in the car behind us. I woke up to my mom gasping. I wasn’t sure what I expected but I turned around in my seat and saw my sisters car flipping through the air. It was like slow motion. When the vehicle came to a stop my mom ran over to my sisters friend, who was ejected from the vehicle, and took care of her. I walked around looking for my cats that were in the car. I was only 9 so my mom screamed at me not to go to the car my sister was in and not to go by where her friend was laying. As I was looking for my cats and processing, I saw my sister limping over, her left foot was covered in blood and glass and her just crying and asking where her friend was. Her car rolled 7.5 times. It was unrecognizable as a vehicle. Somehow both my sister and her friend made it out alive. But I’ll never forget seeing my sister limping through the carnage like the survivor of an ancient battle, or witnessing her car flipping through the air as chunks of debris flew off.
As for my cats I only found one. The one we found was named “China”. The other one that we never found was named “Baby”
#10
When I was really young living in North Carolina, my neighbourhood got hit by a tornado. My mom rushed my brother and I into a basement closet to keep us sheltered from broken glass and debris. However, the basement was flooding, and so water was halfway up our shins. My father was on his way home from work so my mother was running around trying to secure the house. As far as I remember, it ended up just being me and my bro in there until the tornado passed
Imagine standing inside of a small basement closet, water rising up your legs, your parents somewhere else and the sounds of a tornado ripping your house apart
To this day I still can't handle windstorms or even high winds. Traumatized me for life.
cerinamroth 5 months ago (edited)
My "Japanese mother" as I call her grew up on a tiny island off the coast of Okinawa and she said whenever the bell was rung because a tsunami might be approaching, they just went to the highest point on the island and slept there for the night. The highest point was a goat shed about 1.5 metres above sea level and the island is only 2 km long. She said she's been terrified of goats ever since - completely understandable. Mother Nature can really throw a hissy fit!
#11
I'll tell you the scariest moment I've ever had. I was a young guy who hadn't yet learned how important it is to drive defensively, and I was hurtling down a road on my motorcycle. Well "hurtling" may be overstating it, I was only going about 50 mph but I hadn't yet learned that some people just have a blind spot when it comes to motorcycles. They can look straight at you and not see you.
This is what the elderly driver departing a strip mall did as he tried to cross my lane, turning left to go the opposite direction as mine. He had looked directly at me and not seen anything. I probably owe my life to his wife seated next to him, who *did* see me and yelled at him to stop. He did, but was now completely blocking the road in front of me.
I had basically no time to think but remember briefly thinking I had to put the bike down. But with the reflexes of a young guy I swerved my bike hard left to try and cross the car's front bumper. I instinctively looked down at my right foot pedal to see it clear that bumper by less than the width of my foot. At 50mph or so.
Now I was in wrong-way traffic so at the next median I went back on the right side. About a mile or so later I had to stop at another strip mall, laid down on the pavement and start shaking uncontrollably for a pretty good while. After I recovered I drove back to my place, thought for a day or two about it, and put that bike up for sale.
Szzone aka Rottyintós Batman 5 months ago (edited)
I basically never learned to ride a bike because of how dangerous they are. And I don't mean dangerous on its own if you're not a highway-speedracing-ąsshole. I mean super dangerous because of the other drivers. That being sad, we went for a long weekend mini vacation w/ my gf a few weeks back. Bikers were roaming the roads in swarms, like they do in spring. They did some of the most atrocious violations I ever saw, often endangering both themselves and other drivers, including us. E.g. if a bike traveling at high speed between two, opposing lanes of traffic, got into an accident and frontally slammed into our car, they could easily have killed me and my gf. And these people are allowed to drive. I wish I had the power to stop them, take their driver's licenses, got their bikes on some sort of police trailers, and left them on the side of the road to think about their actions while they start walking towards the next settlement.
#12
Had a gun held to my head “as a joke” once. Same guy ended up in prison for life after attempting to rob a home a few months later and exchanged gunshots with the owner.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 5 months ago
My mom held a gun to my chin when I was 6. My dad had to leave on a business trip (he worked for IBM at the time) and my mom threatened that if he left on the trip, she would unalive "the kids" and then herself. I thought I was going to die. My dad said he wouldn't go on the trip and the situation defused. The next day at school, I told my teacher what my mom had done. When the teacher and principal called my parents in to talk about the incident, my mom lied and said I had seen it in a movie and it hadn't happened in real life. My dad said nothing. He was terrified of her. She was physically abusive towards him as well as me. I'm surprised I survived to adulthood.
#13
When I was a kid there was a firestorm (very strong winds and forest fire on tinder dry west coast forest).
My mom was trying to drive away from it and it was so much faster than the car. It started far enough behind us that all I could see was smoke, then I could see fire moving fast, suddenly it was all around us. Everyone was breathing through wet towels but could hardly get oxygen. I passed out. Apparently we crossed the big river and it slowed for a bit giving us a chance to speed into town where the massive parking lots saved us.
I breathed so much smoke I had to be admitted to the hospital and my lungs are still a little weak.
#14
I once found myself crossing a very isolated walkway in my town at 1am, no cars or any people in sight.
While completely isolated i met a group of 10 to 15 stray dogs from varying sizes coming from the oposite direction. I couldnt change my path or do anything about it, i needed to cross them.
Some of them were quite big but they were all kinda skinny, probably hungry and one of the small a*****e ones started barking and threatening me... That encouraged all of them to start barking and doing the same.
I knew if one of them attacked me, if i ran or tried to fight back it was game over. They were going to swarm and obliterate me. DEATH by being evicerated by a dozen dogs... The thought alone made me s**t myself completely.
I ate the fear and just ignored them, they ended up not attacking, but that was a traumatic experience just cause of the implication of what could possibily happen
not fun.
Ample Aardvark 5 months ago
Lots of stray dogs were I grew up We, as kids, were told to avoid going through their path or if that wasn't possible not to make eye contact and walk quickly and confidently. The only time I was attacked by a dog it was a pet (he didn't bite me, I punched his throat as hard as I could as a 7 year old when he dropped me to the floor and it fortunately startled the dog long enough for me to get away!)
#15
Came to a stop light on my bicycle at Cervantes and Fillmore in San Francisco at 5:03 PM on October 17, 1989.
Why do I know the time and place so accurately?
At that moment, the Loma Prieta earthquake struck, the so called world series quake. I was standing where the landfill met bedrock. It was like walking on a waterbed as the liquefied earth slammed against the rock. I jumped off my bike and carried it to the sidewalk. I turned to see the building across me collapse. The smell of gas waved over me.
Scariest thing I've witnessed, and experienced.
cerinamroth 5 months ago
That sounds terrifying. I was in Japan just after the big quake that caused the big tsunami in 2011 (Great Tohoku earthquake). Just the aftershocks from that were pretty scary.
#16
When I was 13, my dad popping out like 30 sleeping pills in front of me and swallowing all of them in an attempt to kill himself. My mom refusing to call an ambulance and I had to do it. The fire department arriving and keeping my dad awake as he swayed around and fell over and vomited in the yard.
Then they took him to the hospital and my drunk mom decided we should all get in the car and follow him and then we crashed the car and almost died.
I almost lost my whole family in one night!! Honesly haven't thought about that night since I was a teenager still.
#17
I was sitting at a red light when I saw a head on collision between two other cars. One of the drivers went head first through the windshield and landed with her head partially ripped off.
Wear your seatbelts, kids.
AtMostAFabulist 5 months ago
That would be a pretty graphic demonstration of why to wear your seat belt. I hope you are ok.
#18
I was driving through a rural area when my daughter says, "Mom, I think she needs help..." I pulled over and turned around, and there was a maybe 12-year old girl covered in blood on the side of the road. I don't know how I didn't see her, but another girl around the same age came out of the woods and said their car had flipped. I called 911 and went into the woods, and there's a car upside-down in this 50-foot ravine. It was too steep to get down, but I could hear a woman screaming over and over again, "my baby, my baby."
The girls said their mom and sister were still in the car, and rescuers arrived unbelievably fast. We gave the girl spare towels to stay warm, and then just got out of the way. I read in the paper that the 9-year old sister had died. Now I always scan those woods when I drive by.
#19
As a kid seeying my 5 year old friend going through leukemia - did not make it.
As a kid nature protects you of sorrow but it wasn't nice. Later in life you realize what you saw and also understand quickly that people do not understand what it is until you see it yourself.
Later in life seeing health issues somehow you are better prepared.
Partime lobster🦞 5 months ago
I'm so sorry for OP's loss :( may they rest in peace and never get sick again.
#20
About 16 years ago, I was washing dishes and the kitchen window was facing the front yard. Suddenly I see a whole f*****g SWAT team coming towards my yard. I was in disbelief when suddenly they knock on my door, upon opening it, one of them says to me “ma’am there’s a murder suspect in your backyard, we need to come in”. I immediately led them towards the backyard. After that, it was all a blur. They were in the backyard for what seemed a couple of minutes, then rushed back out.
Turns out, some dude had killed someone around the corner from my house. He fled, was hiding in my neighbors backyard for hours, until he was noticed and police called, dude then jumps the fence onto my backyard and was hiding there for god knows how long, and when he realized swat was close, he jumped to the back neighbors yard, from there he fled outside and was ultimately gunned down in the middle of the street. Certainly don’t miss living in that area.
WickedSwicket 5 months ago
Had an almost similar but way less dramatic experience when i was about 19 - was on a swing smoking weed with a gf at my apartment's kids playground area when the local version of SWAT came rushing by with automatics drawn. One of the dudes stopped & asked if we've seen anyone running past. We said no. He said thanks, gave a thumbs up & barked "PUT THAT S**T OUT & BIN IT !!!" before running to join his team. Turns out they've just jumped a d**g dealer's lab housed in one of the units in my apartment block & one of them dealers managed to make a run for it 😀
#21
An entire second team of like 20 doctors/nurses/interns/specialists enter the room right before my wife gave birth kind of freaked me out. The baby not crying and being immediately whisked to the special baby table was pretty scary. Baby ended up ok and just needed a tiny bit of fluid sucked out of their lungs, but I was definitely not prepared for it to not be a fairly routine birth.
cerinamroth 5 months ago
I hope your wife was OK too. Our baby was whisked away and then my husband was whisked away because I was haemorrhaging badly. We both survived and are doing well.
#22
I came around a bend on a highway to see an overturned school bus on the shoulder, laying on its side, smoke coming from underneath and the wheels still spinning.
Somehow I was the only car in sight on a 3-lane freeway at 7:30-8:00 am. As I slammed on my brakes and pulled off the road I see the driver climb out his window (now on the top of the vehicle) and jump down and run up the embankment as I'm jumping out of my car and running toward the bus, calling 911 on my cellular as I go.
I have no idea what I'm going to see. I'm panicking. School buses don't even have seat belts here. There could be dozens of children in any state of injury in there. I've already got PTSD from my own horrible car accident so I'm freaking out.
The bus is empty.
#23
The Route 91 mass shooting in Las Vegas. I was there. I look back and I realize how dumb I felt at first because when I first heard the gunshots, I thought “hmm…something must be wrong with the sound.” As soon as Jason Aldean ran off the stage, that’s when my heart sank. I could tell which direction the gunfire was coming from, but there was still that part of me thinking “I have no clue where the shooter is.” For all I knew, I could’ve been running right to another shooter. I still remember seeing gravel bounce up about 10 feet away from me from bullets striking the ground. When we finally found a place to hide with a bunch of other people, we still didn’t know if we were safe. We just as easily could’ve walked into a trap.
When I go back and read the report of what happened, I believe it said the shooting lasted for about 10 minutes or so. It was quite simply the longest 10 minutes I’d ever experienced.
#24
I was in Honduras working when I was in my early 20s. I had to travel from one area to another through a remote area that was known for having bandits that would try to stop you on the road and either kidnap or potentially murder you. In the truck I was driving there was a younger Honduran woman and an American woman. We had left in enough time to make it to our destination before dark, however we had a flat tire on route that caused us to be delayed for a while. It got dark on us. We were about an hour from our final destination up and over a mountain pass. As I came around a switchback a couple of men ran out in front of our vehicle. They were armed but not with guns - they had machetes. In that instant I acted on reflex and hit the gas - they were either going to move or get run over. They moved. It took a few hours before I could stop shaking. I never got below 30 miles an hour the rest of the way through the pass up the dirt road.
Jessica Bertram 5 months ago
Holy sĥịť. I have been in some parts of honduras that scared me. San Pedro Sula was...fun
#25
I was diving in Jupiter Florida and the visibility sucked. Then out of no where a Bull shark coming out of the murk then disappearing back into it in less than a second. Needless to say that dive was shorter than expected. I was 100% comfortable diving with sharks before now I'm 98%. That one scared the s**t out of me with how it was acting. Real twitchy with shark angles which isnt good.
Dawn Woolley 5 months ago
Bull sharks are not to be trifled with. A year ago one killed a teenage girl a in the river which runs through the middle of our city. Perth, Western Australia. This was an area where families picnicked, where they felt it was safe to let little children play in the river water.
#26
Was on a run when I was 15-ish. Mom was at work and my sister was at school so I was totally alone, being that I did high school online at the time other than sports at the local high school. When I was a couple of blocks away I got this really bad feeling like I was being followed but it was like 10 AM so I tried not to think too much about it.
A really bad habit I had post-workout was that, given we were in a rural area, I'd walk around the house without a shirt while making my protein shake and getting ready to soak in our hot tub. While doing these things my dogs started barking wildly but I dismissed it as being some sort of animal in the woods. After about an hour I went upstairs to change, and once again heard my dogs barking at the fence line bordering the woods. When I looked out the window I saw what looked like a man's shoulders and the top of his head facing our house directly in some bushes maybe 10 feet from the fence. After I stood there in horror for a little while he turned around and disappeared into the woods.
I immediately called my mom who called the police, and they checked the woods behind our house and didn't find anything. However when Mom brought it up to some parents in the area, some said their sons also reported a creepy older dude following them in those woods and on the outskirts of the high school grounds. Needless to say I switched to running on our treadmill for a long time, and made a habit of keeping all of our blinds closed. Was pretty terrified of this guy like breaking into the house and coming after me, too, so for a long time I kept my pocket knife on me at all times and walked around the house with my gas-powered BB gun.
Sweet Taurus 5 months ago
ALWAYS TRUST YOUR GUT!! If something feels wrong something is wrong.
#27
I was witness to an enormous turbulence on a plane trip when I was 13 years old. People’s belongings, as well as food and drinks hit the passengers, injuring some, and you could hear children screaming and crying. As a 13 year old, I was incredibly afraid and thought it was the end for me. I had no idea turbulence could be this bad. Luckily nobody was seriously injured and we landed safely.
WickedSwicket 5 months ago
Did anyone read about the turbulence that hit the Singapore airline? So bad that 1 was killed & countless others injured & about a dozen with very serious injuries & are still in ICU
#28
When I was a cub scout they had this local jamboree with all the packs and troops from the area. They put us all in the bleachers around a football field and then had this helicopter fly in to do a demonstration. The helicopter hovered over the field for a moment and then dropped like a brick. I would guess the collective failed and the blades went flat? Anyways, the thing hit the dirt hard and tipped and the top and tail rotors hit the ground and disintegrated and pieces went flying everywhere around the field and stands. No scouts were hurt, miraculously. But they made us all stay put in the bleachers while they carefully extracted the pilot and co-pilot from the wreckage and put them in ambulances.
#29
My sister having a grand mal seizure. I was five years old and had overheard my mom mentioning her epilepsy (without knowing what it was) but was f*****g terrified when she had that seizure while in our yard.
cerinamroth 5 months ago (edited)
Grand mal seizures are very scary to witness as a child. I remember seeing someone having one too - they grabbed my younger sister's leg and wouldn't (well, couldn't) let go. She's had agoraphobia ever since and still gets very panicky if she gets too warm (we were out at a theme park on a sunny day). The person having the seizure had family with them and got medical attention quickly.
#30
2 people burning in an upside-down VW Beetle.
What was the scariest thing you have witnessed?
Dominik Eppler 5 months ago
being attacked and nearly suffocated by someone i thought was my best friend. a few days later he threatened me with a switchblade and said he would kill me and my family if i ever told. (i am going for my blackbelt mma by the end of the year, they better not try sh*t now)
GhostlySnail (she/her) 5 months ago
Glad you are okay hope your training is great :)
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Spencer's slave no longer 5 months ago
Personally, an IRA car bomb on a Saturday morning in September 1989. A neighbour lost his legs, his wife was injured. My car was 'suspect' according to the bomb dogs. We were evacuated by MI6 Anti Terrorism Officers. We weren't in Northern Ireland. I've lost friends on active service and still keep in touch with their widows and children.
KimB 5 months ago
:( I'm so sorry the one person you're supposed to be able to trust betrayed you...I hope you find love and peace my friend <3
Load More Replies... Mr. Jones 5 months ago
As a kid, my parents went out with some friends. I was at their house with their babysitter. I was 5, their daughter was 4 and their son was 3. I went to the bathroom and when I walked out I heard to most awful sound and when I made eye contact with the babysitter. She said, "Go hide in the back room and I'll send "Tommy" to find you. I went to the back room and Tommy came in crying. He said his sister fell down. Within 20 minutes there were cops, an ambulance and then our parents. My parents quickly took me home. I found out years later that their daughter was playing ballerina and made herself dizzy and she fell backwards and hit her head on a very sharp corner of a table. She was paralyzed from the next down and suffered brain injuries to her head. This was the 70s and childproofing a house wasn't something people did. I'll never forget the sound of her head hitting that table. Even though I didn't see it happen, I was only a few feet away on the other side of the couch.
Marie BellaDonna 5 months ago
Horrible situation, I'm so sorry you witnessed that. Amazing job by the babysitter though, keeping calm, keeping you and 'Tommy' calm, not letting either of you realize the seriousness of the situation, and calling for help.
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Hobby Hopper 5 months ago
I've seen a lot of car crashes, but probably the most traumatizing was when I witnessed a suicide by motor vehicle. Not only that, but they chose to drive head-on at high speed into another vehicle instead of something stationary. I was in the next vehicle behind the victims. Fortunately, the occupants of that 2nd vehicle survived.
Papa 5 months ago
Years ago, when my children were young, we were walking in the pasture checking cattle, like we'd done many times, when I heard something, so I looked up to see a 1,000 lbs (450 kg) cow charging us, with her head down like she meant business. I picked my daughter up, stepped in front of my son, and when the cow got close I yelled real loud. She ran past us. We promptly got across the fence, where I had to sit down for a few minutes. That was the most frightened I've ever been, or hope to be.
Lisbeth Guz 5 months ago
Yes, I was also chased by a cow when I was a kid. It was really scary. Thankfully, we (dad, little brother, myself)managed to jump to the other side of their enclosure.
Load More Replies... Sweet Taurus 5 months ago
I was walking to the hospital to go see one of my friends who was there with his little boy. The hospital is located off of a fairly busy summit. Instead of walking up the summit i decided i was going to cross over through the weeds/sage brush. I came to this hill that was covered in thick thorn bush that I was unable to climb through. As I'm walking around the base of the thorn hill I get this sick/scared feeling in my stomach. Not sure why but I sort of high tail it out of there and walk back to the summit and up to the hospital. A few months go by and another friend of mine is telling me about how him and his dog were walking down in the same spot where the thorns were. He tells me his dog started barking and freaking out and as he got closer he sees that in the bushes in DOZENS of rattlesnakes. It's a freaking rattlesnake den!! Had I decided to climb through there or maybe even kept walking around it and not went back to the road who knows what could've happened!!
G A 5 months ago
Have seen 3 people die in front of me. All separate occasions. One family member. Had to have various pets put to sleep and held them as the d***s took hold. Saw inside a kids leg when he sliced it to the bone. Had to handle a drill bit right through someone's hand when I was a first aider. Saw someone sic a pit bull on another animal once. All bloody horrendous.
Rayne OfSalt 5 months ago
After working in animal welfare for a long time, I thought I'd seen all kinds of messed up stuff. Then one afternoon I saw a kid run directly into the path of a huge SUV that was doing 70 or so km/h. The noise has stuck with me for years.
Corinna Weisz 5 months ago
S**c*d* trigger warning Not really scary, but disturbing though. I was in a train, IC in Germany, with a top speed at 180 to 200 km/h. I knew something was up, when the train started to full break on the free track. Not like they have to go with the signals, and just get a bit slower, and slower and slower and eventually stop. No, full break and then several bumps. We stood there, then police and ambulance came (I think I even heard a helicopter and I still know, I thought what for. It was too obvious). After several hours they let a passing train come in, we changed to that other train and drove back to the last city (From there, there's also trains on the other side of the river to our destination. I should have known better, but while starting to drive in the other direction, I took a look outside and there where just chunks of meat. Somehow I pitied the train conductor more. I still get a bit irritated, when a train starts to break a bit stronger then usual.
Nickie LaRue 5 months ago
When I was 7, my mom and her boyfriend were fighting in her room, my sister (12) and I were in the living room. At one point I heard a slap and my mom scream. Then she started screaming at him to get the hell out. He runs out of the bedroom, through the kitchen to the living room. While running through the kitchen he grabbed a knife, and since I'd gotten up to go check on my mom, and was standing between the kitchen and living room entrance. He runs with me to the front door, puts the knife up to my neck, and tells my mom he's going to kill me and make her watch, then kill himself.. To be honest, I pissed myself right then and there.. the rest of kind of a blur.. somehow, my mom got me away from him, I don't remember how.. I was bleeding from a nick in my neck.. my mom pulling me and my sister down the street, trying to keep up and getting dragged. Went to a friend down the street and called 911. After some yelling and threats, he finally came out. My family never spoke of it again.
Nickie LaRue 5 months ago
Another time, when I was 9, my mom was fighting with a different boyfriend over the phone. They broke up over something, and he told her to "come get her f*****g dog or he'd shoot her". So my mom (I know now she was high on coke) decided to load me and my sister (14) in the car and go pick up the dog. We're flying down the freeway, and some guy cuts her off. She reached into the back seat and pulled out her baseball bat (back then she was a stripper, and kept it for guys who would follow her to her car and wouldn't take no for an answer) and speeds up to pull up next to the guy. Tells my sister to hold the wheel (we're easily going 90mph) and proceeds to try and hit the windshield of the guy who cut her off. After nearly falling out the car, she manages a glacing blow on the side of the car before losing her grip on the bat, and slowing down too much cuz she couldn't properly reach the gas. That guy noped the hell out of there.
Load More Replies... KimB 5 months ago
The guy. I get to my car and pop the trunk grabbing the bat and I swing it within an inch of his face. He whirled back in surprise saying he was just going to ask me for a lighter. I said how do you know if I even smoke?!? And don't chase women walking to their cars in the middle of the the night!!! I did smoke. I threw my cigarette lighter to him and said keep it. He walked away and I got in my car and locked all the doors. I remember I was shaking so bad I couldn't even put the key in the ignition. I had to sit there and calm down for a few minutes.
Poison Ivy/Boo 5 months ago
Been terrified 3 times in my life: 1 was shortly after I had my youngest and my eldest (18mos old) wanted to go to the park and told her to wait til I fed and changed the baby. She managed to climb the fence and go herself, unbeknownst to me, til 10-15 mins later when I call for her to go and see the back door open and she's no where to be found. Man, I have never been so scared in my life. Thankfully she came around the side of the house on the road. 2nd was after we moved into our new house in the city, my youngest took a strop with me when I was cleaning the upstairs bathroom, I thought I heard the front door open and closed. I called for her and she didn't answer, I thought she left the house. Word got out and the neighbours started canvassing the neighbourhood but they didn't find her. A cop shows up (my neighbour's cousin) and called out her name. The wee s**tê crawled out from the space under the stairs. And 3rd was when my eldest was crossing the street after school one day and
Poison Ivy/Boo 5 months ago
Was hit by a drunk driver. I was in the front drive watching the whole thing as it happened. After 20 years, I can still hear the thud, see her trainer fly up in the air and my husband go over to the driver (she had stopped), reach thru her driver's window, turn the car off and take her keys. The girls are fine. But damn.....those days I will never forget. And don't get me started on why I have mostly grey hair at 53 lol.
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Julia H 4 months ago
1971 Los Angeles earthquake. I was five. My sister and I were asleep when we felt the shaking. Already confused, our mother burst into our room, panicked. She had everyone huddling together in the livingroom. The thing that sticks with me to this day...news coverage of a bridge collapse. The freeway overpass had crushed a pickup truck. All I saw was the truck's hood sticking out from the rubble. No idea what happened to the driver.
Marie BellaDonna 5 months ago
Scariest thing I ever went through, was when my son choked on a piece of candy at the grocery store. Full on gagging, no air at all, choking. He was (and still is) small for his age, so I grabbed him up, turned him upside down over my knee, and started doing back blows. Nothing. I must have pounded his back 8 or 10 times, with him still gagging, and drooling on the floor below us. And just as I was thinking, 'One more time, and if it doesn't come up, I'm telling husband (who was standing there watching in horror) to call 911!' Literally as soon as the thought left my head, the candy popped out, and clacked to the floor at our feet. I had to sit down for a moment. Son wasn't even phased. Asked for another price of candy! Um, héll no, lmao!!
KillerKiwi 5 months ago
My family and I were at Crystal Hot Springs, so all of the pools are basically giant hot tubs. The bottom and sides are darker colored stone/tiles. So low visibility. My sister was around 4ish, too short to swim with my other sister and I. She stayed on the step with my parents. She stepped off the step and my mom didn’t notice, you could only just see the top of her head. She was standing up but wasn’t moving, probably a little bit shocked by the heat. I noticed when I swam back, and I don’t know how long she was under. It doesn’t sound like it, but it was was f*****g terrifying. No sound. No movement. Never again. 😬
KimB 5 months ago
Scary situation for me was early in my career at the hospital before they built us a parking garage. I was working second shift 3-11 pm, but we were slammed as it was a Friday night. It was summer and the weather was perfect it was baseball season and I was a coach for girls little league ages 9-12. I loved it. I thankfully had all my gear in the trunk of my car. So I left about 1:15ish and I'm walking to the parking lot when I notice a large man behind me and he's picking up speed towards me. So I start walking faster to my car. I can hear he's gaining on me by the sound of his footsteps. I'm focused on getting to my car because I know I have my gear in the trunk which includes baseball bats. I take off in a run and so does...
Mimi M 5 months ago
If I want to read about horrible stuff, I can go to Reddit. Not what I come to BP for.
veirdbuttrue 5 months ago
Yeah I know what you mean. I read most of the thread and the comments and I wish I hadn't.
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Eva-Katherine Smith 5 months ago
Me and my two toddlers were in NYC for work for a few months and I swear to god I'm never going back there. We stopped at a fast food place for lunch and there was what I though were four customers waiting for food. When we wentup to the till the cashier whisper "We're in a robbery, they're armed, leave calmly and don't look at them" I hawled both kids on a hip each and walked what must have been 2 mph to the car.
Rebecca Donaldson 5 months ago
My stepfather in a drunken rage, pinning down by brother for trying to call police and him being splattered by our mothers blood as he hit her for asking him too. I was about 4 years old and took off in the backwoods at night, more terrified of him than the dark woods, to go to the other neighbors house to call the police. I was afraid of what he would do to me if he seen me running to call. Nobody was at home, but they left the door unlocked, and the police came.
Dominik Eppler 5 months ago
being attacked and nearly suffocated by someone i thought was my best friend. a few days later he threatened me with a switchblade and said he would kill me and my family if i ever told. (i am going for my blackbelt mma by the end of the year, they better not try sh*t now)
GhostlySnail (she/her) 5 months ago
Glad you are okay hope your training is great :)
Load More Replies... Spencer's slave no longer 5 months ago
Personally, an IRA car bomb on a Saturday morning in September 1989. A neighbour lost his legs, his wife was injured. My car was 'suspect' according to the bomb dogs. We were evacuated by MI6 Anti Terrorism Officers. We weren't in Northern Ireland. I've lost friends on active service and still keep in touch with their widows and children.
KimB 5 months ago
:( I'm so sorry the one person you're supposed to be able to trust betrayed you...I hope you find love and peace my friend <3
Load More Replies... Mr. Jones 5 months ago
As a kid, my parents went out with some friends. I was at their house with their babysitter. I was 5, their daughter was 4 and their son was 3. I went to the bathroom and when I walked out I heard to most awful sound and when I made eye contact with the babysitter. She said, "Go hide in the back room and I'll send "Tommy" to find you. I went to the back room and Tommy came in crying. He said his sister fell down. Within 20 minutes there were cops, an ambulance and then our parents. My parents quickly took me home. I found out years later that their daughter was playing ballerina and made herself dizzy and she fell backwards and hit her head on a very sharp corner of a table. She was paralyzed from the next down and suffered brain injuries to her head. This was the 70s and childproofing a house wasn't something people did. I'll never forget the sound of her head hitting that table. Even though I didn't see it happen, I was only a few feet away on the other side of the couch.
Marie BellaDonna 5 months ago
Horrible situation, I'm so sorry you witnessed that. Amazing job by the babysitter though, keeping calm, keeping you and 'Tommy' calm, not letting either of you realize the seriousness of the situation, and calling for help.
Load More Replies... Hobby Hopper 5 months ago
I've seen a lot of car crashes, but probably the most traumatizing was when I witnessed a suicide by motor vehicle. Not only that, but they chose to drive head-on at high speed into another vehicle instead of something stationary. I was in the next vehicle behind the victims. Fortunately, the occupants of that 2nd vehicle survived.
Papa 5 months ago
Years ago, when my children were young, we were walking in the pasture checking cattle, like we'd done many times, when I heard something, so I looked up to see a 1,000 lbs (450 kg) cow charging us, with her head down like she meant business. I picked my daughter up, stepped in front of my son, and when the cow got close I yelled real loud. She ran past us. We promptly got across the fence, where I had to sit down for a few minutes. That was the most frightened I've ever been, or hope to be.
Lisbeth Guz 5 months ago
Yes, I was also chased by a cow when I was a kid. It was really scary. Thankfully, we (dad, little brother, myself)managed to jump to the other side of their enclosure.
Load More Replies... Sweet Taurus 5 months ago
I was walking to the hospital to go see one of my friends who was there with his little boy. The hospital is located off of a fairly busy summit. Instead of walking up the summit i decided i was going to cross over through the weeds/sage brush. I came to this hill that was covered in thick thorn bush that I was unable to climb through. As I'm walking around the base of the thorn hill I get this sick/scared feeling in my stomach. Not sure why but I sort of high tail it out of there and walk back to the summit and up to the hospital. A few months go by and another friend of mine is telling me about how him and his dog were walking down in the same spot where the thorns were. He tells me his dog started barking and freaking out and as he got closer he sees that in the bushes in DOZENS of rattlesnakes. It's a freaking rattlesnake den!! Had I decided to climb through there or maybe even kept walking around it and not went back to the road who knows what could've happened!!
G A 5 months ago
Have seen 3 people die in front of me. All separate occasions. One family member. Had to have various pets put to sleep and held them as the d***s took hold. Saw inside a kids leg when he sliced it to the bone. Had to handle a drill bit right through someone's hand when I was a first aider. Saw someone sic a pit bull on another animal once. All bloody horrendous.
Rayne OfSalt 5 months ago
After working in animal welfare for a long time, I thought I'd seen all kinds of messed up stuff. Then one afternoon I saw a kid run directly into the path of a huge SUV that was doing 70 or so km/h. The noise has stuck with me for years.
Corinna Weisz 5 months ago
S**c*d* trigger warning Not really scary, but disturbing though. I was in a train, IC in Germany, with a top speed at 180 to 200 km/h. I knew something was up, when the train started to full break on the free track. Not like they have to go with the signals, and just get a bit slower, and slower and slower and eventually stop. No, full break and then several bumps. We stood there, then police and ambulance came (I think I even heard a helicopter and I still know, I thought what for. It was too obvious). After several hours they let a passing train come in, we changed to that other train and drove back to the last city (From there, there's also trains on the other side of the river to our destination. I should have known better, but while starting to drive in the other direction, I took a look outside and there where just chunks of meat. Somehow I pitied the train conductor more. I still get a bit irritated, when a train starts to break a bit stronger then usual.
Nickie LaRue 5 months ago
When I was 7, my mom and her boyfriend were fighting in her room, my sister (12) and I were in the living room. At one point I heard a slap and my mom scream. Then she started screaming at him to get the hell out. He runs out of the bedroom, through the kitchen to the living room. While running through the kitchen he grabbed a knife, and since I'd gotten up to go check on my mom, and was standing between the kitchen and living room entrance. He runs with me to the front door, puts the knife up to my neck, and tells my mom he's going to kill me and make her watch, then kill himself.. To be honest, I pissed myself right then and there.. the rest of kind of a blur.. somehow, my mom got me away from him, I don't remember how.. I was bleeding from a nick in my neck.. my mom pulling me and my sister down the street, trying to keep up and getting dragged. Went to a friend down the street and called 911. After some yelling and threats, he finally came out. My family never spoke of it again.
Nickie LaRue 5 months ago
Another time, when I was 9, my mom was fighting with a different boyfriend over the phone. They broke up over something, and he told her to "come get her f*****g dog or he'd shoot her". So my mom (I know now she was high on coke) decided to load me and my sister (14) in the car and go pick up the dog. We're flying down the freeway, and some guy cuts her off. She reached into the back seat and pulled out her baseball bat (back then she was a stripper, and kept it for guys who would follow her to her car and wouldn't take no for an answer) and speeds up to pull up next to the guy. Tells my sister to hold the wheel (we're easily going 90mph) and proceeds to try and hit the windshield of the guy who cut her off. After nearly falling out the car, she manages a glacing blow on the side of the car before losing her grip on the bat, and slowing down too much cuz she couldn't properly reach the gas. That guy noped the hell out of there.
Load More Replies... KimB 5 months ago
The guy. I get to my car and pop the trunk grabbing the bat and I swing it within an inch of his face. He whirled back in surprise saying he was just going to ask me for a lighter. I said how do you know if I even smoke?!? And don't chase women walking to their cars in the middle of the the night!!! I did smoke. I threw my cigarette lighter to him and said keep it. He walked away and I got in my car and locked all the doors. I remember I was shaking so bad I couldn't even put the key in the ignition. I had to sit there and calm down for a few minutes.
Poison Ivy/Boo 5 months ago
Been terrified 3 times in my life: 1 was shortly after I had my youngest and my eldest (18mos old) wanted to go to the park and told her to wait til I fed and changed the baby. She managed to climb the fence and go herself, unbeknownst to me, til 10-15 mins later when I call for her to go and see the back door open and she's no where to be found. Man, I have never been so scared in my life. Thankfully she came around the side of the house on the road. 2nd was after we moved into our new house in the city, my youngest took a strop with me when I was cleaning the upstairs bathroom, I thought I heard the front door open and closed. I called for her and she didn't answer, I thought she left the house. Word got out and the neighbours started canvassing the neighbourhood but they didn't find her. A cop shows up (my neighbour's cousin) and called out her name. The wee s**tê crawled out from the space under the stairs. And 3rd was when my eldest was crossing the street after school one day and
Poison Ivy/Boo 5 months ago
Was hit by a drunk driver. I was in the front drive watching the whole thing as it happened. After 20 years, I can still hear the thud, see her trainer fly up in the air and my husband go over to the driver (she had stopped), reach thru her driver's window, turn the car off and take her keys. The girls are fine. But damn.....those days I will never forget. And don't get me started on why I have mostly grey hair at 53 lol.
Load More Replies... Julia H 4 months ago
1971 Los Angeles earthquake. I was five. My sister and I were asleep when we felt the shaking. Already confused, our mother burst into our room, panicked. She had everyone huddling together in the livingroom. The thing that sticks with me to this day...news coverage of a bridge collapse. The freeway overpass had crushed a pickup truck. All I saw was the truck's hood sticking out from the rubble. No idea what happened to the driver.
Marie BellaDonna 5 months ago
Scariest thing I ever went through, was when my son choked on a piece of candy at the grocery store. Full on gagging, no air at all, choking. He was (and still is) small for his age, so I grabbed him up, turned him upside down over my knee, and started doing back blows. Nothing. I must have pounded his back 8 or 10 times, with him still gagging, and drooling on the floor below us. And just as I was thinking, 'One more time, and if it doesn't come up, I'm telling husband (who was standing there watching in horror) to call 911!' Literally as soon as the thought left my head, the candy popped out, and clacked to the floor at our feet. I had to sit down for a moment. Son wasn't even phased. Asked for another price of candy! Um, héll no, lmao!!
KillerKiwi 5 months ago
My family and I were at Crystal Hot Springs, so all of the pools are basically giant hot tubs. The bottom and sides are darker colored stone/tiles. So low visibility. My sister was around 4ish, too short to swim with my other sister and I. She stayed on the step with my parents. She stepped off the step and my mom didn’t notice, you could only just see the top of her head. She was standing up but wasn’t moving, probably a little bit shocked by the heat. I noticed when I swam back, and I don’t know how long she was under. It doesn’t sound like it, but it was was f*****g terrifying. No sound. No movement. Never again. 😬
KimB 5 months ago
Scary situation for me was early in my career at the hospital before they built us a parking garage. I was working second shift 3-11 pm, but we were slammed as it was a Friday night. It was summer and the weather was perfect it was baseball season and I was a coach for girls little league ages 9-12. I loved it. I thankfully had all my gear in the trunk of my car. So I left about 1:15ish and I'm walking to the parking lot when I notice a large man behind me and he's picking up speed towards me. So I start walking faster to my car. I can hear he's gaining on me by the sound of his footsteps. I'm focused on getting to my car because I know I have my gear in the trunk which includes baseball bats. I take off in a run and so does...
Mimi M 5 months ago
If I want to read about horrible stuff, I can go to Reddit. Not what I come to BP for.
veirdbuttrue 5 months ago
Yeah I know what you mean. I read most of the thread and the comments and I wish I hadn't.
Load More Replies... Eva-Katherine Smith 5 months ago
Me and my two toddlers were in NYC for work for a few months and I swear to god I'm never going back there. We stopped at a fast food place for lunch and there was what I though were four customers waiting for food. When we wentup to the till the cashier whisper "We're in a robbery, they're armed, leave calmly and don't look at them" I hawled both kids on a hip each and walked what must have been 2 mph to the car.
Rebecca Donaldson 5 months ago
My stepfather in a drunken rage, pinning down by brother for trying to call police and him being splattered by our mothers blood as he hit her for asking him too. I was about 4 years old and took off in the backwoods at night, more terrified of him than the dark woods, to go to the other neighbors house to call the police. I was afraid of what he would do to me if he seen me running to call. Nobody was at home, but they left the door unlocked, and the police came.
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