People Who Survived Animal Encounters Reveal What Happened To Them In The Wild
[rebelmouse-image 18345498 is_animated_gif=Mother nature can be a scary lady, especially with her most ferocious creatures roaming the Earth. We can all imagine a horrific close encounter with a wild beast and how intense it would be. What would you do if you were face to face with a bear or a lion? Would you even know what to do?
franksNbeans69420 asks:
People who have survived a dangerous wild animal attack what is your story?
Be careful in the water...
[rebelmouse-image 18345499 is_animated_gif=I was mistakenly bitten by a lamprey eel when I was five. They aren't really that dangerous to humans, but to a tiny five year old in open water they can be extremely dangerous. I freaked out, it freaked out, and I fell and twisted my ankle and ended up past a drop-off in the river and nearly drowned. Still have small, weird scar on my thigh a crippling fear of natural water. My sister was supposed to be watching me and all I remember is her and her friends pointing and laughing while I tried to keep my head above water. My sister is still grounded and she's in her forties.
Watch out for the Moose
[rebelmouse-image 18345500 is_animated_gif=I was following a moose after school one day in Canada. It kept looking back at me but I thought I was far enough back that it wasn't bothering her...
Then she stopped, turned and ran full speed at me.
I froze and my thought was to not run. So I literally leaned ever so slowly forward. That is literally all I could muster in the 0.05 seconds I had to think.
It was enough though and about a meter in front of me she veered to the right and ran into the Bush.
I turned and ran home. My dad laughed at me and said "That's what you get for following too close."
It's also how I got my game handle and reddit name!!
Moose are now my spirit animal.
Tiny but mighty
[rebelmouse-image 18345501 is_animated_gif=Not really a dangerous animal. I have lost count on how many times I have been stung by scorpions. My dads house(the house I grew up in) is infested with scorpions. The worst was when I woke up to a sting and immediately woke up and freaked out. It stung me like 10 times in a matter of seconds and even worse, it was a momma with a ton of babies on it. Imagine ants being all over you except a bunch of baby devil lobsters.
Don't mess with a pigs food
[rebelmouse-image 18345502 is_animated_gif=Almost had my ankles broken by a hungry pig a few years back on a farm. I was warned by my boss not to be even a few minutes late feeding him, and his wife promptly lifted her skirt to the knees to show me this horrible, roped scar that was nearly a foot long. Apparently that was how they learned he was potentially deadly... but they ran a rescue farm for unwanted animals. So.
Birds are vicious
[rebelmouse-image 18345503 is_animated_gif=HENS ARE DEADLY WILD ANIMALS AND THIS IS NOT A JOKE
I grew up on a farm and when I was a kid the neighbors were chasing the hens around a pen and for some reason one of them decided to throw a rock at one of them, and when he did I was the first thing the hen saw so ofc it attacked me. It flew up in the air and dragged it's claws from the top of my head down towards my jawline. I'll be honest it hurt so much that I blacked out and have absolutely no recollection of the pain but I still have the scars on my face.
Who knew Seaworld was so dangerous
[rebelmouse-image 18345505 is_animated_gif=was bit by a whale at seaworld fl. paid to have the whale encounter where you are part of the show. son and i were sitting on the ledge giving commands and WHAM, grabbed my foot and tried to swim off with me. was lucky to have a hold of the ledge, and he grabbed my foot top and bottom but not past the ankle. ripped my foot from his mouth and noped out of the rest of the experience while ever so calmly requesting my son to also remove himself from the pool (at the top of my lungs, with poorly chosen words for his 10 year old ears) was not in any way acknowledged by seaworld, fun fact...they will take pics for you from the audience, some shots seemed to be missing. meh...it happened. when we met up with my wife later and my son told her what happened, she looked me up and down, nodded and said "yup, seems about right", i love that woman's sense of humor.
Bison on the loose!
[rebelmouse-image 18345506 is_animated_gif=Returning from breakfast at a lodge in Yellowstone, my son and I came upon a man who was photographing a bison that was walking through the parking lot. We decided to take a closer look ourselves. While my son was beholding the beast, park workers walking on the other side of the lot suggested we give the animal a little more room. I thought that was reasonable. As I turned back to gather my son, I saw that I was too late. He was running directly for me with the bison in pursuit. Not thinking, I started running directly for him. The bison intercepted before I did. It lowered its horn and ripped a hole in his T-shirt and gave him a nasty abrasion on his back. Fortunately my son was short enough and light enough to avoid being hooked and thrown. It was then that I grabbed him and immediately turned right. Chance would have it that someone left a cabin door open. I ran past the beds and into the bathroom, expecting our friend to follow. After hearing nothing for a minute or so, I cracked the bathroom door open only to find Buff still on station. He eventually decided to wander off. We then had the opportunity of meeting most of the smoky-bear-hat-wearing Rangers within a mile of us. My son's sense of humor didn't return for quite some time.
Sneaky snakes
[rebelmouse-image 18345507 is_animated_gif=I think it was three summers ago; I was mowing the lawn with the ride on mower, I was doing my normal laps cutting the grass. We have the original North Carolina intercostal waterway going through my backyard, so there are plenty of marine life gong through it.
I always get leery when getting close to the drop-off where the water is, since we have snakes. At one lap, I see this black thing in the grass that I don't remember seeing the lap before this. When I get closer, it shoots up, and I realize then what it was. A Water Moccasin. It raised its head high, and I froze like a deer in headlights. The problem now is that I'm cruising right at it on the mower! I freaked out and almost jumped off the mower and ran. I jerked the wheel to turn away, and as I was passing him, he darted into the water.
You were asking for it
[rebelmouse-image 18345508 is_animated_gif=Does destroying a giant paperwasp nest(size of beachball) count? Then getting chased off as they SWARM you and your buddy? Getting stung repeatedly. No they didn't chase us tooooooo far in the big scheme of things, but at least 200-300 yards. (Upstate NY)
Geese are never nice
[rebelmouse-image 18345510 is_animated_gif=I once "adopted" a goose while I was at a holiday resort with chalets that backed onto a lake. Friendly enough and always returned to say hello so I decided to let it in the chalet. It went absolutely berserk and wrecked absolutely everything, broke two of my fingers and gave me a lifelong fear of geese.
Those hogs are tough
[rebelmouse-image 18345511 is_animated_gif=I was in Texas visiting family at one of their ranches out in the country. I had brought a couple rifles because I knew I'd be there for a couple weeks, and brought my M16 to let my cousin shoot it and get a feel for full auto.
Well, he and I were riding out into the boonies to go shooting, and almost as soon as we dismounted a couple of bull hogs came charging out of the undergrowth. His horse panicked, and that seemed to only encourage the hogs. They closed extremely fast, and so I just brought up my rifle and put an admittedly terrible burst across their noses. I hit at least one because there was a blood trail, but it was enough to get them to break their charge and let us go try and find his horse
No one was expecting to hear this one
[rebelmouse-image 18345512 is_animated_gif=A couple years ago I was camping in the Tongass national forest in Alaska. So what happend was that I went kyaking in a river, and I was rowing past a spot where salmon were jumping over. Well, I was being dumb and thought I could go past them, but ended up getting hit by a big a** salmon and breaking my nose. It was supposed to be a 3 week long trip, but got cut short a couple days in because of the attack.
Can you imagine being eaten by a wolf?
[rebelmouse-image 18345513 is_animated_gif=Was backpacking with my dad and cousins as a kid probably 12 or so. I was slowing them down and it was starting to get dark, so they said they were gonna run ahead and set up camp. I didn't mind, I was stopping every 20 feet to pick berries. They were everywhere and delicious. Across a nearby river I see some wolves running by. Then I see one cross the river 50 meters or so down stream. I practically s* myself and shimmied up the nearest tree. The wolves found me in the tree and didn't do much. Just kinda hung out there. Eventually my dad and cousins came back for me, and the sounds and flashlights scared the wolves off.
I want to suck your blood
[rebelmouse-image 18345514 is_animated_gif=yeah a bat flew into my hood, I reacted well
I would not want to cross an elephant
[rebelmouse-image 18345515 is_animated_gif=Was on vacation in Kerala, India. Driving to the hotel, saw a bunch of wild elephants at a watering hole near the side of the highway, stopped the car for pics. Stupid move, one ajuvenile elephant f charged us. Thankfully it was f** with us and stopped at the edge of the road. It was starting to get worked up and was right about to charge us again when the driver finally started the car and we got out of there. Next morning newspapers mentioned how a couple guys in a truck got killed by an elephant at the same spot.
A pack of anything is bad news
[rebelmouse-image 18345516 is_animated_gif=We got out of the car and immediately fam friend is like everyone don't move. Turns out, a pack of about 10 coyotes had us surrounded. One (the alpha I assume) walked up to my mom and I and was within a foot or so. We all stood completely still for a few minutes until they left. Not sure what they would have done if we had tried walking inside the house.
That time you almost lost your leg
[rebelmouse-image 18345517 is_animated_gif=When I was a scrawny kid i was attacked by a pack of coyotes while walking around my grandparents property.
I must have walked up on a recent kill of theirs or maybe their den cause coyotes never attack people but these one did.
I got a hold of a big stick and started teeing off on these a* and know for a fact that to took one of their eyes out before they gave up. I don't know if they gave up cause i scared them off or if the battle dragged on enough that we were no longer near what they were defending but they eventually stopped attacking.
Went home and got stitches and shots and still have a couple scars on my legs today.
These little guys can really get around...
[rebelmouse-image 18345518 is_animated_gif=Wild boar, had to climb a tree and it was trying to climb up also, the crazy porker actually trashed a nearby field also.
Being an emergency responder is a high-stress job.
It's a career with long, laborious hours.
There is always a hint of danger. And death is always around the corner.
So we as a society could try to help these people out and not put ourselves in unnecessary danger.
Redditor Diligent-Log6805wanted the rescue workers out there to tell us about the times they rescued people. They asked:
"Emergency responders of reddit, what are some dumb things that have lead to an emergency situation?"
These workers and the world already has enough trouble without my stupid.
"So... was she impressed?"
"Kid driving his new truck down a residential street, wet from a recent rain, lost control and hit a parked car, overcorrected and rolled it once back onto its wheels up onto a lawn. He told the fire chief he had gunned it to impress his girlfriend and the chief just looked at him and asked 'So... was she impressed?'"
AntiMacro
Ricky
"I had a client once who was basically Ricky from Trailer Park Boys, loud, obnoxious, hilarious and every second word was some Maritime slang or a derivative of 'f**k.' He has been on daily eye drops for decades for dry eyes, sure ok cool. I hear screaming down the hall and run in and he's wedged against the wall and the bed just screaming 'I f**ked up boys, I dunno what the f**k is f**king happening but It's f**ked."
"Turns out he mistakenly put Jublia which is an antifungal ointment for toenails in his eye thinking it was his eye drops. The strangest part was the bottle has this miniature sponge at the end so you soak the sponge then paint it on like a gel...he painted this antifungal ointment onto his eye which immediately went red and angry then proceeded to do the other one."
"So he's at the eyewash station and I'm talking to poison control and they are pretty stunned because they have zero data on what happens to a human eyeball when it's painted in antifungal. I can hear the staff at the other end kind of snickering under her breath and she asks can you compare and contrast the eyes? Well... he put it in both eyes. The line goes silent because I can tell she is howling. Guy was totally fine but it was a standout for sure."
krzysztoflee
Will they show?
"Responded to a call of two minors being kidnapped and their parents being beaten in front of them and then taken someplace else. One was around three years and the other one was six. They were held captive in an apartment out of hundreds of residential apartments which not easy to locate, upon reaching there we found out that the boy six was just playin' with us to see if we would actually respond. Their parents were so embarrassed by all of that and vowed to not give them mobile until they are adults."
erectilereptilelol
Bowled Over
"When I was an EMT in NYC years ago we had a call for a man 'unresponsive.' We entered an upscale apartment that was a hoard: floor to ceiling newspapers and magazines, just a mess. The woman who called said her brother was in his bedroom sick."
"We entered his room and it was pretty obvious that he had already passed away. She had placed a bowl under his mouth because he had hemorrhaged which had coagulated the day before it was crazy. We asked her why she hadn’t called sooner and she said thought he’d get better?!"
"The joke around the house was 'if you have to put a bowl under a relative who is bleeding from the mouth, call 911. Don’t wait.' Never thought we’d have to advise anyone to do that. But there ya go. Also, it was Thanksgiving. Didn’t eat any cranberry sauce that year."
Sufficient-Swim-9843
God Only Knows
"Had a guy call because he had the cure to Covid and needed a ride to the local education hospital so he could share it. Dude was so high on meth He ended up having 4 or 5 binders worth of scientific looking notes. God only knows what was actually in them."
Flame5135
Wow, people really need to get a grip. Of their minds.
"Sparky"
"One of my old bosses once built a new shed in his back yard, to replace his old, worn-out one. He moved everything from the old one to the new one, then decided that the best way to remove the old one was by burning it down. He ended up with no sheds and the nickname 'Sparky.'"
Wadsworth_McStumpy
Dead in the living room...
"Paramedic here. We responded to this 54 year old having chest pain. Man was having a heart attack. Dude didn't want to go to the hospital because it too early in the day. That's it. We tried to convince him to go. Got the ER doc to talk to him and he wouldn't budge. He signed a Refusal. Later that same night, his family found him. Dead in the living room. We got to him and started CPR, meds, everything. Dude didn't make it. When we advise you to go to the hospital, go."
Chaprito
Bad Ideas
"Got called to a shooting. A guy says he received a text message from an anonymous number saying his brother has been shot. He checks all the hospitals with no luck. He goes to his brother's apartment but gets no response at his door but sees his car and can hear the TV on. We get there, attempt to get an answer at the door."
"Eventually we kick the door in to make sure he wasn't dying in his apartment. We boot the door, announce police, and find him asleep in his bed. The guy tells us that he got a new phone number and decided to mess with his brother by texting him he had been shot. He then fell asleep and forgot about the text and was woken up by us. So many wasted resources on his idiotic prank."
TheDOC816
The Swimmer
"Got called to a priority job. The caller was kayaking in a lake and said that there was an unresponsive male in the water. So off we went, lights and sirens. We requested paramedics and fire to attend as well for the rescue operation. There were about 6 emergency vehicles attending including a rescue boat. We got there within minutes and met the caller who showed us where the guy was."
"He was just swimming, minding his own business. The caller said he was unresponsive, but really he was just ignoring her. Had a chat with the guy, he seemed alright, said he swims here every day and likes the quiet. No issues. Would have been nice if the caller told the operator that he was still conscious and swimming rather than 'unresponsive.'"
amazingbecauseitis
Chew Slowly
"Well, I was taking a lady home from dialysis and she decided to eat a snickers in the back of the ambulance, and she started choking. Had to do the heimlich, and tell her to finish her food at home."
HotSoupInYourA**
If it's not a true emergency dial 311. Please.
I hated science classes.
As soon as I could I ran.
But it follows me.
Because science can be downright disturbing.
That's why I blocked out so many of the details.
Redditor Flimsy_Finger4291wanted to compare notes on all the frightening facts that are a definitive. They asked:
"What's the scariest thing that science has proven real?"
As if knowledge isn't scary enough, let's her more...
Hello Terry
"Some tumors have teeth, hair and even eyes."
Twat_Waffle_Stomp
"My sister had one minus the eyes! It was cantaloupe sized on one of her ovaries before it was found. She named it Terry the Teratoma."
Karina_is_my_cat
Hungry Bacteria
"Brain-eating amoebas."
dark_n_lovely_qu33n
"My best friend and bunk mate from summer camp died from one of those when I was in 7th grade. Happened so quickly, we were a week into camp and he got really sick. They gave us all heavy meningitis shots because they didn’t know what it was and within a few days he was dead. Turned out to be a brain eating amoeba."
"Edit: strangely enough on the same day he started getting sick one of the lifeguards that was sitting out in a boat waiting for the next group of kids for what we called Trojans Vs. Spartans day had a seizure, fell off the boat and drowned. Only deaths they’d ever had in the 50+ years the camp had been open."
Csharp27
Far Far Away
"The size of our galaxy, how many other galaxies there are and how far away they are. When you can actually see something that incomprehensible.."
Jfonzy
"The nearest star to us would take the Voyager 70,000 years to reach. The nearest galaxy to ours would take the Voyager 749,000,000 years. If we some how managed to take on the monstrous task of speed of light travel it would still take 25,000 years to reach the nearest galaxy. And it's even further apart after you read this. Wild stuff!"
ConqueredCorn
Head Changes
"How the brain is literally rewired and chemically altered by childhood neglect and abuse."
petalumaisreal
"It's genuinely kinda freaky, playing a puzzle game, and noticing how quickly you're getting better at it. The kind of puzzles that were a real blocker in the beginning become baby-easy after like an hour of playing puzzles like it."
LtLabcoat
"My sister faced horrible abuse at the hands of our father, and she has been working through it with multiple therapists over the last 10 years and she is only now starting to get her life back. I feel like she was robbed at a fair chance at life because of our a**hole father."
Pehdazur
Awake
"Prions, horrific and totally unpredictable."
geordiesteve520
"Fatal familial insomnia is a prions disease where you can't sleep anymore, you just stay awake until your brain deteriorates and you die."
DrinknEspresso
Now I can never UNKNOW about prions. Perfect.
Days gone by...
"Ageing. I'm content with death but the idea of my body growing old, frail and eventually falling apart before the end game gives me goosebumps."
EvidenceOfInnocence
Bursts
"Gamma ray bursts. No warning, no escape, no defense, no survivors."
Swampwolf42
"If you're talking about supernovas if the star isn't too close the gamma burst would probably only destroy some part of our ozone layer. And gamma radiation is actually the least lethal out of all types of waves."
Broccoli_sauce24
Sizzle
"Entropy. Time shall consume all things. Inevitable heat death of the universe."
Revolutionary_Elk420
"I personally want the 'Big Crunch' to be true. That instead of fizzling out it all gets sucked back into an infinitely small/dense particle and then another Big Bang happens. It’s my explanation for the multiverse. It’s all one timeline. Just infinitely long."
ChoppyWAL99
They're Watching
"More like a theory, the 'orangutan paradox,' when we film a documentary on orangutans, they can’t realize that we are observing them, yet they are the most intelligent species of their category, so aliens might be watching us and we are as oblivious as an orangutan."
Time_Succotash
Fade 2 Silent
"That hearing is the last sense to leave, when dying."
User Deleted
Well that is the antithesis of comfort. Life is so fun.
Ever since Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope opened on May 25, 1977, a devoted fanbase developed.
And that fanbase has opinions.
Lots and lots of opinions.
Redditor Ebo8000 wanted to know:
"What is your most controversial take on Star Wars?"
Doors
"LASERS LOCK DOORS. LASERS OPEN DOORS. LASERS KNOW WHAT YOU WANT THE DOOR TO DO."
- SlamVanDamn
"But if you get past the door and close it behind you and you don’t want anyone to follow you through it…"
"…you shoot the bloody door panel!"
- treeonwheels
"Also, f*cking hell, we're in the future (or in the past), whatever, and people have better technology."
"Why put the door control RIGHT NEXT to the door? Put the door control system in a breaker box."
"Build every door so in case of malfunction they all shut closed (after all, they're in space and you don't want to lose air in decompression, do you?)"
"Shoot the breaker box, now the whole floor is closed until someone can figure out what happened."
"Almost look like those doors just exist as dramatic elements..."
- smegma_yogurt
The Past
"I’d like a film about when the Republic was at its height. 1,000 generations is 25,000 years and we’ve had 9 movies about the last 60."
- Musickat18
The Future
"Not sure if controversial but they need to take the franchise and yeet it 200 years in the future."
"I'm tired of the Empire era where they need to justify why more than 2 Jedi and 2 Sith exist at one moment alongside knowing everything is pointless until Luke leaves the farm."
- Alandrus_sun
Design Fail? No!
"The Death Stars weren't badly designed they were just badly managed."
"Yes, designing them assuming large scale assaults was stupid given the political state of the galaxy but the second Death Star wasn't even finished so that doesn't count, it's all Palpatine's fault. As for the first one that was finished, the Alliance made three runs on the exhaust port."
"The first was called off before they made it to the trench, the second failed and the third was carried out by space Jesus which isn't exactly fair."
"All in all it sounds like a fairly effective defence when you consider the design philosophy."
- Engeneus
Cool Factor
"The entire universe has a cool factor that outweighs the atrocious storytelling."
- Ozty
"Bro imagine the following movies, but if they were in Star Wars universe."
"Magnificent 7 - A Jedi, Bounty Hunter, Ex-Imperial, Pilot, Wookie, a Droid, and Lawman team up to defend a town against pirates"
"Dredd - Two Jedi climb up an apartment block to confront a new dark side user who has mental control of the entire apartment block"
"Supernatural (T.V. Show) - A Jedi and their apprentice go around and solve and defeat Dark Side Force spots—where the Force consolidates from emotions and creates foul creatures to fight"
"Top Gun - But it's you know, Wedge or something"
"Ford versus Ferrari - But it's podracing or swoop racing"
- BoutsofInsanity
Ships
"Something about the ships in the original series always felt more like real ships than in any of the later movies, despite the objectively better effects of the later films."
"Some of this is probably the use of models (i.e. actual three dimensional objects), but I think there is some critical difference in the design that makes them feel more real (probably because they were designed to be things that would actually work as models)."
"Whatever it is, I LOVED the ships in the original series and never really liked any of the new ones."
- UnspecificGravity
"The original trilogy changed the world by showing a universe in space that was dirty and lived in. The special effects from the later movies did not recognize this."
Boba who?
"Boba Fett is an oddly overrated background character, and even after watching The Book of Boba Fett, I don’t really care about him."
- imidoesonlyfans
"He was never a character. He was a cool helmet."
- JimPlaysGames
"He was a cool jetpack too."
- RipperFromYT
Time for the weather...
"Han is actually older than Obi-Wan due to Time Dilation."
- Snowbofreak
"Time dilation in a universe where every planet and moon has the same gravity and atmosphere?"
- suman_issei
"And just 1 biome."
- DogShampoop
"That way they only need one Weather Channel per planet."
- The_Most_Superb
"And over to Klaatu for the Tatooine weather report. Klaatu?"
"It's still sunny."
- Budsygus
These are the droids we're looking for.
"Star Wars is actually the life story of C-3PO—think about it."
- jonguy77
"I disagree. I think its R2-D2's story. He had a much greater presence in Episode 1, 2 and 3, and got the same amount of screen time as C-3PO in 4, 5 and 6."
‐ MacGregor_Rose
Fan is short for fanatic.
"Fans ruined the whole franchise."
- SeaworthinessNo5209
Ouch...
So, did your controversial Star Wars opinion make the list?
Death is a subject many people shy away from because what they don't know beyond our realm of existence can be intimidating.
Hollywood hasn't helped, as movies and TV have typically portrayed death as something sinister and violent.
How could anyone be convinced death is a peaceful transition, and that what awaits on the other side is actually an unimaginable utopia?
Curious to hear strangers' thoughts about death, Redditor GoodNess2020 invoked a quote by an iconic literary figure and asked:
"Mark Twain once said, 'I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.' Why do you agree/disagree with his statement?"

People clarified what actually terrified them most about death
The Process
"I don't fear being dead. I fear dying."
– magicbluemonkeydog
"Yeah, that's usually the issue. It's why that quote doesn't mean much, to a lot of people."
"It's not a fear of eventually dying and not existing anymore. It's the act of dying itself. He didn't constantly die for all of time. He just wasn't alive."
– appleparkfive
Concept Of Loss
"To have not existed for billions of years is to have spent billions of years never knowing loss. To die is to know loss."
"If you look into a new bank account and see zero dollars, it’s nothing. If you look into a bank account that once had a million dollars and see there’s nothing in there, you’ll know it’s absence."
– -CrestiaBell
People provided an analogy to articulate what ceasing to exist must feel like.
It's About Time
"Time is only relevant to you when you are alive. He is right. Have you ever been sedated for surgery? You go under, and then instantly wake up and procedure is done.... or you died so no worries."
– 20190419
Consciousness Is Life
"You won’t be feeling anything in death though is the thing. That infinite/instant sensation was a living feeling, you just weren’t conscious for it - your body experienced it anyways. No body, no experience."
– Parradog1
Like Being Under
"That is very true, but for me, that's the closest amalgamation of what it probably feels like."
"No one can tell you what actual death will be like. It's impossible for you to experience nothingness."
"Thinking about death can be paralysing sometimes, and when I remember that the closest thing i can link as an experience I had, being put under, was actually sort of pleasant. I then think maybe death will be like that, and honestly it doesn't seem that bad."
– IamEclipse
When In Deep Sleep
"Yeah in contrast to sleep where you can actually feel like time has passed when you wake up."
– GreyFoxMe
Think Line Between Death And Slumber
"As CGPGrey puts it, your bed might very well be a suicide machine."
"Given our lack of understanding for the fundamental processes of our sentience, it's entirely possible that when you fall asleep, your mind is functionally killed, disassembled, analyzed, sorted, tweaked, and adjusted by your biology, before being reassembled when you wake. Every night."
– Mazon_Del
People opened up about their insecurities around the concept of death.
Fear Of What Comes Next
"I’m just paranoid that something does happen after death and it’s just based on one thing that you didn’t know about."
– PsychoDog_Music
The Circle Of Death
"There’s nothing to fear in oblivion. Unless, of course, your consciousness survives death. If so, it would be reasonable to fear the sensation of consciousness without senses, suspended alone in the cosmos, with no one to hear you, and no way to make yourself known. No reference point for counting time – a count that does not matter anyway in a literal eternity."
"You might wish that you still had a corporeal form, only so that you could make your mouth move to express your terror, to make the universal form of a terrified scream – the form of a letter O."
"But you won’t be able to. You just won’t!"
"This has been the Children’s Fun Fact Science Corner. Brought to you by shame, loneliness, and the letter..."
"O....."
– CecilSpeaksInItalics
When Faith Fails You
"what do you mean I'm going to hell?! I was a good person and attended church regularly!"
"Ah yes, but you failed to put a blue feather in your hat and then turn in circles the times praising God Almighty on the fifth Sunday after your twelfth birthday. To the pit with you!!!"
– phormix
There is an poignant episode from the Twilight Zone that brought me a sense of peace surrounding the concept of death.
Death was embodied by a handsome police officer who had been shot–played by a young Robert Redford–and begs to be let into the home of an elderly woman who had been living in perpetual fear of meeting "Mr. Death."
As the episode continues, she discovers much to her dismay that she welcomed Death into her home, but he warmly reassures her there is nothing to fear.
The episode ends with her finally offering her hand to Death after much protest, and they peacefully walk out together, arm in arm, into the light.
It was sweet and beautifully done. The 1962 episode was titled, "Nothing in the Dark."
That's how I imagine it to be.
A dashing Prince of Darkness telling me it's time to join him in guiding me to the other side.