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People Describe The Absolute Scariest Thing That's Ever Happened To Them

People Describe The Absolute Scariest Thing That's Ever Happened To Them
Photo by Sander Sammy on Unsplash

Life is a giant mystery. Not everything is happiness and rainbows in there, either.

Sometimes, it's scary. Sometimes, life is more like a horror movie than a sitcom. Wild animals, unsurvivable situations, car accidents, awful awful things surround us on a daily basis.


They leave lasting scars.

u/kookiekutterklub asked:

What was the scariest thing that has happened to you?

Almost The End

I was driving to school one winter morning. It was winter, so it was still dark in the morning. I saw a trash bin in the middle of the road. I drive a crappy Saturn with plastic panels so I figured I'd take one for the nice cars and hit it to push it to the side of the road.

Also, I was a kid so it seemed like a fun idea. But last minute I chickened out, but still drove very close to it. That's when I saw it was actually a kid tying his shoe in the middle of the road. Doesn't paralyze me with fear, but it never fails to scare me with I think about how close I was to a different much worse life.

LazerWolfe53

Way Too Close A Call

When I was 19 I was VERY blatantly followed by a man.

I was backpacking in Europe for my gap year and one of my last stops was Lisbon, Portugal. It took me a little while to notice but after about 10 minutes, there was no mistaking it.

I was wandering around, taking in the city and stopping at some little shops on the way back to my hostel when I realised a man (mid 40s at least and fit/strong looking) walking parallel on the other side of the street was stopping at the exact same time as I was and just kind of resting against the wall whilst I was inside the shops. I made a point of abruptly turning around and going back the way I came and he did the same.

I took AGES in one shop thinking he'd give up but when I emerged 20 minutes later, there he was across the street staring at me. I stopped, stared back and yelled "What the f**k do you want?!" He looked away as though he was looking at the clouds. I walked back towards my hostel again, more quickly and he crossed the street and was getting closer to me. I panicked and stopped at a small restaurant and asked the man behind the counter for help.

Thank god his English was excellent because my Portuguese was (still is) utterly atrocious. I explained what was happening and he told me to sit and he would keep an eye on me. I sat and ate and read my book for more than 90 minutes before deciding it was safe to leave.

As I went to say goodbye to the shop keeper, I had a horrible feeling in my gut. The street was on a big hill so the restaurant was the lower level and a small skatepark/street performance area was above. I looked up and there he was.


Standing there staring at me like he'd been there watching the whole time. I FREAKED out! I yelled for the nice man who'd been helping me and screamed that he was right there, watching me! My hostel was no more than 400m up the road and I was terrified that he'd follow me all the way and then who knows what would happen next?! I was terrified!

That shop keeper, a genuine guardian angel, waved down a taxi and (I assume) explained the situation. He then gave the driver €20 out of his own pocket and looked at me and said "it is ok now". I was almost in tears, I wanted to hug him. The taxi took me on a big twisting route to get back to the hostel and stayed to watch that I got inside safely. I didn't leave the hostel for 2 days after this, I was just so paranoid. I'm so incredibly grateful to the man who's name I never got. I think it's safe to say he saved my life.

AirNomadKiki

The Kindness Of Strangers

Got roofied. Woke up on the floor of a strip club at 5 am with the bartender and DJ sitting beside me. They told me that I had passed out on the floor right in front of everyone and a customer kept insisting that he was "my friend" and was going to drive me home.

The bartender and the DJ didn't buy it, and stuck around after closing until I woke up. I didn't remember anything at all.

ifilostbackiamlook

Some of these people are lucky to be alive today.

A Temporary Scare

Had a car crash with my mom when I was eight. Direct collision with a truck. Good Samaritans took us in their car and drove us to the hospital.

On the way there my eyes got filled with blood and I went temporarily blind. All I could see was a light blue colour with a sort of tingling that I can't explain otherwise.

Started panicking very much and the two strangers were trying to soothe me while my mom was crying next to me. Their voices slowly faded away. I thought that I had died. F**k, it still gets to me..

JuniorLobster

Earthquake!

I was thrown out of bed at 4:30AM on 1/13/94 by an earthquake in Northridge California.

I was bounced up and down on the floor like a rag doll and had no ability to stand up to run or get in a doorway which would have been structurally sounder.

It was the most terrifying 2 minutes of my life and I have been thru some scary things, but this took fear to a whole new level.

kikuyu2020

Car Crash And A Sandwich

I was going to a community college and I had a break between classes, so I decided to drive to the mall and do some shopping. On my way to the mall, traffic got stopped by a train going through.

I decided to pull out the sandwich I had packed for lunch and eat it. I took a few bites and started choking... like legitimately choking.

I started to panic, not knowing what to do. I tried to cough it up, but there was no coughing. I immediately thought that I needed to run out into stopped traffic and frantically wave my hands for help, or else I was going to die slumped over my steering wheel.

I unbuckled my seat belt and threw open my car door. As I twisted to the left and went to stand up out of my car in the middle of stopped traffic, I dislodged the sandwich from my throat. Scary times.

thedek14

The Strangers

Being followed home from work by a stranger who then tried to get into my house (thankfully I locked the door right behind me). Once he quietly jiggled the doorknob and realized it was locked he started banging and saying "I know you're in there b*tch".

I hid in the shower and called 911. He tried to get in a window as well, then I shouted the police were on their way. He laughed and said "don't worry, I'll be back". I was on a work assignment, living alone 3000 miles from anyone I knew.

He was gone by time the police came. I never found out who it was but spent my last month of that assignment in a hotel. I didn't dare stay in the apartment my job provided out of fear he really would come back, like he said.

realish7

And all of these people carry those mental scars.

Sister Sister

I had just moved to a new city and was living alone with my dog in an apartment complex. It wasn't in the safest part of town. I got up to get ready for work one morning and opened my microwave. There was a note inside. It said "Your dog is barking."

I've never felt such a sense of dread. I called my parents who were about an hour's drive away. My dog wasn't reacting like someone was in the apartment so I just sat on my couch and silently waited for them to get there. We had the locks changed and my dad looked all over but it was just the note. Nothing else seemed out of place. My dog goes to work with me and so she's never just home barking alone. The whole thing was surreal and terrifying.


A few days later I'm talking on the phone with my sister, who had visited me a few weeks before I found the note, telling her about it and she casually says, "Oh, I found that note on your door when we got back from the store and put it in your microwave. I thought you would find it and laugh."

She had brought her dog when she came to visit and apparently she was barking when we left to get food. I just don't use my microwave very often so I didn't end up finding it until days after anyone else was in my apartment. Mystery solved!

Lacarac

The Sad Truth Of Schools

In the late '80s, we were sitting in our grade 2 classroom and they announced a strange code on the PA system. The teacher said we all had to be very quiet and go lay down between the bookshelves at the back of the classroom. I remember making jokes with my friend Jamil and the teacher gave us a look and held his finger to his lips - I knew then something was very wrong.

The classroom phone rang and the teacher crouched low and ran to get the phone. Shortly thereafter, someone quietly knocked on the door, was let in by our teacher and asked us all to line up.

We were told we were going to play a game to see who could run the quickest and quietest down the hallway and out the doors to the playground. Once we were out of the school we had to race to see who could run the fastest across the field to a neighbouring Catholic school.

Turns out, one of the dads had just had a domestic with his wife and broke into our school with a gun demanding to see his kids. After we were all evacuated, the police cornered the gunman in a teacher's washroom and he ended up taking his own life.

im_a_chick_i_know

Mother Nature Takes No Prisoners

My pregnant wife and I were passengers on a "luxury" yacht that got caught in a serious storm off the west coast of Iceland. 2 huge waves smashed through the backdoors of the yacht filling the entire lounge area in 2 feet of ice cold water. Most of the 60 passengers and crew were being sick, crying etc.


Electric shorted out, plates and glasses were constantly smashing. Wife and I managed to get back to our room, but all we could do was cling on to the bed for dear life. How the boat didn't tip right over I don't know.

This went on from 8pm to 5am. I can still hear the demonic sound of the wind and the huge bangs underneath the boat when it left the water. We left the boat when it docked the next day and didn't return. Got all our money back from the travel agency and did our own thing for the next 7 days.

AboutTimeCroco

The scary moments in our lives are all too common of an experience.

Hopefully you, reader, have not experienced anything to this magnitude, but if you have, please share your stories with us.

People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.