
There are few things in the world as surreal or unsettling as the sudden realization that you need to get away, and you need to get away now.
That building dread, rush of fear, and jolt adrenaline is one of those things you see in movies, or you hear talked about in self-defense classes, but there's nothing like experiencing it yourself.
In a perfect world, most of us would only feel it if we wanted to in controlled environments like haunted houses. But we don't live in a perfect world and sometimes life gets ... terrifying.
Reddit user the-70s-kid asked people to talk about it when they posed this question to Reddit:
"What is Your Most Terrifying 'We Need to Leave, NOW!' Rush of Fear You've Felt?"
So you know how sometimes you almost wish people were LESS open and honest? Yeah...
What Happens On Tour Stays On Tour
"I'm a touring musician. At one point in time my tour vehicle broke down in bumf*ck Mississippi. We were able to pull into a gas station, but had thrown a belt and needed to get it replaced."
"Cue a bunch of hicks helping us work on our car. A couple of band members rode with a random do-gooder to go get a replacement belt forty-five minutes away."
"The local sheriff pulled up and bought us all coca-cola. At this point we're stressed because we don't want to miss our next show in Arkansas, but not worried about safety... YET."
"Time stretched, and through trial and error we ended up getting things close to finished up. Then our lead guitarist pulls out his iPhone. He said he had an airdrop request, but we all kinda ignored it until the job was finished."
"Then, just as we're getting into the car to pull away, he opens the airdrop."
"There were seven pictures of dead bodies, although they appeared to be cleaned up like in a morgue or something. Among the corpse pictures was a picture of one woman sitting up and smiling at the camera, the next shot she was dead."
"The last two pictures were of us repairing the car in the gas station parking lot."
"After that we lost it. I don't know whether we were just freaked or it was genuine danger, but the car behind us followed us for almost twenty miles until we got to a major highway and gunned it."
"Once we got home (2 days later) the guitarist went to the local police department."
"They basically said since it was a different state they wouldn't do anything, and since we had absolutely no info about who airdropped it, he had nothing he could 'call in' to the sheriff of the small Mississippi town."
"They also insinuated that it was probably just someone who was a mortuary or something because all the pictures had posed bodies."
"Could be someone's sick joke (and if so, I guess they got us), but I don't see how someone fat-fingers an airdrop of corpses."
"No context, no explanation, no answers. It still freaks all of us out to this day."
- Kylar21
Following A Blood Trail
"I was walking home one night, head down because I was dumbly looking at my phone. I almost stepped into what looked like barbeque sauce."
"Turned on the flashlight function for my phone - it was blood. Every step, there was a small blood splatter - less than a teaspoon. I followed it along the entire long street while walking home."
"Maybe eight blocks. It was hard to tell, in the dark, but the trail seemed to end at a residential facility in my neighbourhood."
"I'm not sure what type of facility it is, but I've often met people with intellectual disabilities in the area - I've helped them with how to order a train ticket, counting cash for groceries, etc."
"There were two people in the fenced off yard, talking low. I could only see their lit cigarettes in the dark."
"Suddenly I was filled with a sensation of wrongness. All the hairs stood up on the back of my neck and I felt cold. I kept walking, and did some loops before going back home and calling the cops about the blood trail."
"My partner felt I overreacted, and it was probably just an animal or someone with a bloody nose."
"But that was a lot of blood in total, over eight blocks. And something felt deeply wrong. I didn't sleep well that night."
Heading Home
"I was overseas at a competition and my friends and I left the after party. We part ways with me going my own way."
"Almost immediately I see a few men on the other side of the road, out the front of a bar look up, nudge each other and say something between them. As I walked past I see them cross the road to walk behind me."
"Mentally I'm thinking 'oh sh*t' - the rest of my walk would be down a not well lit, and sometimes very quiet, stretch of road."
"I turn down a shorter street and pick up my pace a bit, and sure enough the men follow but I've put some more distance between us. I make the turn I was dreading and just bolt."
"There were a few houses here with decent gardens and I just needed to make it to one before the guys turn the corner."
"I make it to one of the houses, it has a giant hedge surrounding a small gate so I lean right back into the gate and hedge. I'm in total darkness, peering through the hedge when the men turn the corner, take a few steps and stop."
"They talk to each other, then turn around and leave. I wait a few more minutes to be sure then jog the rest of the way checking behind me."
- Grieie
Air BnB
"Several years ago, 6 of my friends and I were out of state for a wedding. We rented an Air BnB for the group."
"Immediately after getting there we learned that the guy who rented out his house had a roommate who was almost never home, but happened to be there for the first time in weeks, and didn't realize the house was going to be occupied."
"The owner insisted that he spoke with him and he was planning to pack up and stay at his girlfriends so we could have the home to ourselves as planned. Sure enough, he was gone that afternoon."
"We went out that night and came home intoxicated, as 20-something's do from time to time. One of our guy friends came up from the basement looking shocked."
"Apparently the roommate was back... and based on him being asleep, it was clear he planned to stay."
"We quieted down and rearranged where we'd all planned to sleep. But this was only the beginning."
"The next morning we were woken up by excruciatingly loud death metal blaring from the common living area/dining room upstairs. Two of the people who'd slept in the living room came down immediately and told us we needed to pack our things and get out FAST."
"We didn't ask many questions. Just sort of grabbed all our stuff, tries to clean up, and piled into an uber XL to head to the closest hotel."
"Apparently before the music started earlier that morning they woke up to a bunch of clank/banging only to open their eyes and see this dude sitting at the table cleaning a shot gun and a hand gun."
"Needless to say, I don't think he wanted us in the house."
"I wasn't the one who had rented the Air BnB. But yes, my friend was able to get a full refund and a big ol' apology from the owner. He said he didn't really know the roommate very well and hardly saw him, like he just sort of paid rent and stopped in only now and then."
"In retrospect the whole thing just seems mind boggling."
- jillaaa
We Could All See His Face
"It was more of a gut feeling than a rush of fear, but I was 12 or 13 with a friend in a corner store and a guy walked in. He didn't look like a criminal, he looked a bit shady but not too too off."
"But for whatever reason I just felt weird, and I whispered to my friend that I wanted to leave. so we quickly pay for our stuff, which was just a pack of gum 2 sodas and a large bag of chips and we leave."
"A couple seconds after we leave we hear 'Open up the drawer! I will shoot!' and we both book it."
"I don't know what this guy was thinking, his face was visible, I don't know if he put a mask on while he was somewhere in the store but either way the cashier, me and my friend all saw his face when he entered."
"Anyways he did get arrested, and the police found that his gun was in fact loaded, the cashier was not shot nor harmed, nothing too serious happened but it scared me that I was in a store with a man with a loaded gun."
Bill
"A few years back coworkers and I went to another coworkers house. The house was owned by an owner of the company but this one coworker, we will call him Bill, had a key and 'permission' to use it following a company Christmas party."
"Everyone was enjoying some drinks and some smoke. About 30 minutes into us partying, Bill started acting strange."
"Basically he started aggressively hitting on the girls at the party in disgusting ways. 'If I guess your age and you're older than me or younger than me you have to sleep with me' was a common thing he repeated to more than one girl that night."
"He started trying to separate other coworkers from their dates and got aggressive about it. When I say he got aggressive about separating other coworkers from their dates, he was taking dominoes and throwing them on the floor in front of coworkers and telling them they needed to help him pick them up."
"The first time he did this he got help from our coworker, at that moment Bill stood up and started trying to get our coworkers date to go into the next room with him. He was unsuccessful but about 10 minutes later he tried it with a coworker I was pretty close with, we will call him Dan."
"He threw a deck of cards and kept telling Dan to pick them up but Dan knew what Bill was up to. After a minute of Bill trying this sh*t I walked over started grabbing cards and stuffed them in his pockets."
"I was pissed, I kept repeating 'Come on Bill let's pick up some f*cking cards.' With a plain face and monotones voice Bill simply said 'I can clean it up myself.' "
"Bill was aggressively hitting on the girls at the party but Dan later told me that Bill told him 'You're hot, I can see why so-and-so wants to f*ck you.' Nothing against anyone sexual preferences but clearly Bill was going through some sh*t."
"Right around this time I started smelling gas."
"I walked through the house and realized he had turned the stove burners on but never ignited the flame. I turned them off but the smell kept building. I realized he had done this with the fireplace as well."
"As I turned off the fireplace gas I notice Bill messing with the stove again. At that point I lost it, I made a scene."
"Bill looked shocked when I yelled 'Yeah f*ck this. Everyone out, Bill is doing some weird sh*t. Out everyone out!' "
"He rushed to the door and tried calming everyone down. I'm telling you all it was weird."
"We had to push through Bill, who was blocking the front door telling us we were being crazy. 9 of us crammed into a friends Chrysler 300 as Bill tried blocking us in with a golf cart."
"He ended up moving it and saying we were all over reacting. I have no doubt Bill was up to some nefarious stuff and to this day I believe I saved a few lives."
"People reported it and Bill was fired not long after. A few months back I was doing some home improvements and while at Home Depot I hear Bill shout 'Hey!' "
"I turned around and had a few words with him. He works there, apparently loving life. I now shop at Lowe's."
Window Cleaners Share The Best Things They've Ever Seen | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Window washers have quite an interesting job. From death-defying heights, they see cities from unique perspectives and often catch glimpses into the lives of...BBQ Bummer
"I had just moved to South East Georgia. I moved into a predominantly black neighborhood which was totally fine by me. My neighbors were so welcoming and accepting."
"About 2 weeks in, I'm approached by a few white men in suits at work, asking me if I was new. I said I was."
"They said they were from the Chamber of Commerce. They wanted to invite me to a BBQ that weekend."
"Free BBQ? Sold!"
"... It was a Klan Rally. Many of them were wearing black shirts with the distinct symbol of the cross and flame."
"They introduced themselves as such eventually, though growing up in Portland, I was already pretty familiar with the symbols."
"Yeah, I wasn't keen to find out what was going to happen if they found out I was gay."
The Mall
"A friend dragged me to a mall (her old workplace) to visit her old coworkers. After arriving, I suddenly started feeling ill but not normal ill."
"Like really ill accompanied by a really bad gut feeling."
"I kept trying to get my friend to leave and she kept saying 10 more minutes but wouldn't leave."
"Something in my gut felt like something was really wrong and we HAD to leave and I was so panicked that I finally decided I'd leave without her if she wouldn't leave this time even though I'd have to walk over 5 miles to get home since she drove."
"She finally agreed to go and when I got home and flipped on the computer to do homework I saw that there had been a shooting at the mall after we'd left and it started at the store we were in."
High Alert
"One time I was shopping at a Walmart with my wife and a young, bald guy seemed to be following us around the store. He had a very intense look on his face and was speaking urgently into a headset."
"He wasn't wearing a Walmart uniform, but he was dressed in business casual with a name tag. He wasn't always following us; sometimes he would pass us going in the opposite direction."
"At some point, I realized he was making announcements on the overhead speaker for people to gather at the back of the store in the electronics department because there was going to be a drawing for cash prizes."
"I couldn't tell if he was actually making the announcements on the headset or relaying a message to another guy who was, but he was pacing through the women's clothing section (I was there buying scrubs for a job that I started the next day) and intently repeating the message for people to gather at the back of the store."
"He had no expression on his face and was just repeating the message in a monotone."
"Out of the two of us, I'm the level-headed one and my wife is the one who is scared of everything. In this moment, however, I just knew there was going to be a mass shooting at that store."
"I told her to put what she had down and get the hell out of there with me. Since I'm not normally scared of much, it freaked her out and we bounced."
"Of course, nothing happened and we had to go find scrubs somewhere else, but it was the strongest fight or flight reaction I've ever had."
"I think it must have happened right after a high profile shooting (god bless america), so I must have just been on high alert."
- CryptographerShot296
Party Pranks
"I was getting ready to go to a party with my friends after prom. We never go to the big parties because we were not as popular, but it was open invite and our parents let us go."
"We all got there and something felt off right away. I got a wave of anxiety and almost had a panic attack and we all left the party after being there for 15 mins."
"I thought it was just me being shy or overthinking until we wake up to the news that one of our classmates put drugs in drinks as a party prank and caused people to trip out. One girl overdosed."
- the-truth827
The White Vans
"I was at work one night and walked to my car before leaving to bring some things inside. I hate parking lots so I always park pretty far away to avoid having to pull out around other cars."
"I didn't think anything of it till after, but the parking lot was mostly empty apart from two white vans RIGHT NEXT to my car with people inside. I work next to a park, so it really isn't too unusual for people to just chill there in their cars for awhile."
"As I was walking up, the door of one of the vans slid open but no one stepped out. I wasn't paying attention so I didn't see the faces of the people inside."
"I was a little creeped out so I called my boss and he came with his dog. As soon as he stepped out of his car, both vans left."
"I get a call from my boss at 3AM that night, asking me for better descriptions of the car. Someone was assaulted and carjacked there that night."
"I don't park far away from the building anymore."
- euphoriugh___
For His Wife To Find
"Several years ago I was outside on a Saturday morning cleaning out my truck in the parking lot of my complex."
"A guy who lived in the building right across from me, but parked on the other side of the complex normally, suddenly pulled in a couple parking spots from me and just sat in his vehicle."
"I had my back to him, but I got such an overwhelmingly creepy feeling all of a sudden. I switched sides so I could watch him."
"He sat there watching me for about 5 minutes and then started his truck and drove off. I couldn't shake the weird feeling I had."
"Fast forward 2 weeks later and I'm just coming home from shopping with my son. On our walk to the apartment, I watch the guy's wife and two sheriff's go into her apt and 2 min later they come speeding out."
"Come to find out, when the wife went to work, he called a sex worker, they did their thing and then he killed her. He then stuffed her body into one of his military bags."
"Then he left her there in the middle of the living room for his wife to find. It was terrifying to learn that!"
- Pretend_Impression90
Storm Chasers
"Californian in foreign Kansas ground. Always loved the severe thunderstorms - so cool with nearly constant booming rainfall and torrential downpour."
"One day when I was playing on my computer and hear sirens. No clue, look outside and sunny outside and some people walking their dogs. Go talk to my wife and we look on TV and there is a tornado warning."
"Having no clue what to do, we huddle in the bathroom under a mattress with the news on display. Panic on the news is increasing (shocking I know) and they say this is a big one and if you're in a second-story place, you are not safe."
"Soon after they abandon the news station and all we hear is pounding hail, almost a deafening silence. Well sh*t."
"We panic and start knocking on neighbors' doors but no one is there. Not a cloud in the sky. Adrenaline is kicking in and I'm getting shaky."
"I call friends and they are all true Kansans and say 'noooo problem easy peasy.' Thanks alot."
"One offers for us to come to his house for safety. Me and my girlfriend jump in the car ready to go."
"We turn the corner and a sheet of golfball-sized hail starts pelting the car. It sounded like the car was being torn apart."
"Gut-wrenching metallic pounding mixed with glass clacking to hold with every ounce of its might. My wife starts screaming and crying and I just put my arm across her chest to try to calm her."
"I look out the car and the wind is whipping on itself and leaves are circling about. She reminds me the nearby grocery store has a shelter, since our friends house is far and not easy to find even in broad daylight."
"I begin speeding there racing through an intersection with a red light. I veer up to the grocery store greeted by dozens of cars with smashed in windows."
"To this day I have no idea how ours held."
"We get out right in front covering our heads in hopes we don't get hit by hail. The doors to the store are closed."
"Panic sets in. A man is beating the front doors screaming 'LET US IN! ITS HERE ITS HERE!.' "
"The store employee inside is pale and confused and shrugs to indicate no way to open. I contemplate throwing a pot through the window."
"After what seemed an eternity a fellow employee sprints up fumbling her keys and opens a side door."
"I look back and I can see nothing but wind and tree branches circling about... and darkness. My girlfriend and I run to the door and... she trips."
"I have that movie moment where my mind thinks.... should I grab her and risk us both or just go? Well I'd be dead either way lets grab her."
"We bolt inside to the meat locker shelter. As soon as we get in all conversations stop and everyone stares at us."
"We must've been white as can be and they could see the mixture of terror and relief in our eyes."
"We learn later that the guy banging on the door beside us was a tornado chaser and the tornado got rain-wrapped, or impossible to see, and he panicked."
"To this day I get a powerful feeling in the bottom of my stomach whenever I get a phone warning of a severe thunderstorm."
"At least picking up my girlfriend paid off as she's now my wife and we have a beautiful baby girl :)"
- getloppy
Welp. We'll be doing a LOT more trusting out gut from now on.
What sorts of "near danger" experiences can you recall? Sound off in the comments.
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People Break Down Which Things About The Early Days Of The Internet Most Folks Have Forgotten
Oh, the beginning of the interwebs.
Those were the days.
We definitely did not see what was to come.
Maybe it should've stayed simple.
We'll never know.
Computers rule the world now.
Let's see where we are in another twenty years.
RedditorEzucraAaAa wanted to wax nostalgic about the good old days of technology and its humble beginnings.
"Redditors, what's something the internet was crazy about but is now forgotten?"
I miss the simplicity of not having a thousand apps. I'm simple.
Ah Memories...
"Search engines before Google existed. Alta Vista, Lycos, Web Crawler..."
deenali
Bad Downloads
"Downloading custom cursors for your computer. I gave my family computer so many viruses back in the '00s trying to click things with a lightsaber."
TW1103
"Amazing. I had totally forgotten about all the virusy stuff I downloaded to my home computer, purely so the cursor would disappear and reappear. My parents had zero knowhow with computers either, so likely had no idea wtf I was downloading. Cursors were cool though, despite all the malware."
AdderWibble
Collections
"During the early days of the web, when most websites weren't plastered with advertising... Website view counters."
over_clox
"Back in the day of counters, one day I went to my website and the counter was in the thousands. I just thought it malfunctioned and ignored it. Years later I learned that my website, which had a MIDI collection, was published in a newspaper in another country. I couldn't say for sure if that was true and whether it aligned with the counter change."
pupeno
The Look
"Yea the internet was simpler too, layout style I mean. I like old style HTML webpage layouts. I personally don’t like hyper modern logos and designs on interfaces. Something about old slightly pixelated designs about them home screens and app logos really made them satisfying. I’ve even went as far as seeing if I could install some extensions that could change the layout of sites, make them feel older, give them that 2000’s html look."
Original_Ad_1103
Found It
"Stumbleupon.com"
idont*uckwithstupid
"I used to waste so much time with stumble upon."
lilbroccoli13
What a strange and crazy place the internet was.
notification
"Poking on Facebook."
lamspartacus
"I had a friend that poked me and I never noticed the notification. He died. I now have this unreturned poke as a reminder that I’ll never be able to poke them back."
Klaus0225
Playtime
"Flash games."
mc_mike810
"Many flash games are not dead. BEHOLD! The flashpoint project. They have saved thousands of the old flash games in a playable format. Go forth and relive your childhood Also paging u/The_Middler_is_Here"
Jayccob
I will find you...
"There was a rhythm game that I don't remember the name of that me and some friends would challenge each other in, and it had the song Guitar vs Piano 2 which introduced me to Envy, who was a pretty big newgrounds artist at the time. I wanna go check out their stuff again now, I'd completely forgot about them till now."
Silvervirage
GroupMeet
"Forums. There used to be so many, incredibly active and dedicated forums."
FromJavatoCeylon
"A lot of the forums I visited were ruined by photobucket when they decided they wanted paid a lot of money from their users. So many build threads and tutorials ruined."
jus_like_at
"IMDb had the best message boards back in the day. Chatting with your internet friends around the globe about every nuance in your fave movie. Man I miss that. Reddit is close, but nothing beats the olden days."
FeFiFoMums
Fun
"Do you guys remember those egg things that hatched little creatures after a while? You'd put one on your website and then the artist would update the source url with images of it hatching? There were all kinds of little fun things like that."
Sapiencia6
Those were the days!
Do you have something you'd like to share? Let us know in the comments below.
Not all television and movies are loved by all.
A story and its characters have to appeal to you in order for you to be engaged.
It can take next to nothing for us to lose interest and let the screen go black.
Redditor BarooTangClan wanted to compare notes on all the entertainment we've said "that's enough" to.
"What will make you instantly stop watching a movie or show and why?"
I hate bad acting, writing, storytelling... I hate bad anything.
Stop Jumping
"Fight scenes with a million visual cuts. Gives me motion sickness. Contrast the absolutely masterful work in John Wick. long cuts, realistic use of weapons (mostly), 100% skill."
StabbyPants
Louder
"When the actors whisper the whole movie and you have to crank the volume to hear what's being said - but the soundtrack or some other misc noise starts blaring at a higher volume directly after."
Blaze*itch
"I basically had to watch Stranger Things up in my attic with the windows and doors closed. I was worried the neighbors would think something was wrong or be annoyed if I watched it downstairs in my single family home. It was ridiculous."
ForecastForFourCats
"spice things up"
"Love triangles out of no where in a second or third season to 'spice things up' because studio writers are hacks and their idea of relationship drama is 'potential infidelity' at all times. It's the most tired trope on the go**amn planet and the second I see it rear its head I dip right the hell out."
amalgamas
"The whole concept of a love triangle to begin with an incredibly juvenile. Any healthy functioning adult who found themselves in a love triangle would soon choose to find themselves single."
Ouch_i_fell_down
Save your lips...
"When couples in a movie/show have a fight and one of them instantly goes to a friend and end up kissing her/him after talking for 5 minutes. I cringe so hard i turn it off and never watch it again."
Dry-Mycologist3966
"This pissed me off so much in Manifest. Girl is desperate to get back her ex-fiancé, he finally breaks up with his wife to get back with her and she's like 'nah, it's not fair to your wife, let me do this other dude I just met through a calling and be pissed at you for being jealous.' Michaela was the worst and everyone acted as if she were a saint the entire time."
gingerisla
Talk to Me
"Shows where a single polite conversation could fix everything."
Horror_Librarian_133
We are going overboard with the witty repartee. Talk normal...
Shut Up
"Annoying main character, especially if it's a kid."
abananation
"Kids who have a quippy, sassy retort to everything, and everyone just kind of crumbles before their wit."
CarpetPure7924
Speak Good
"Shows where kids in high school talk like they are 30 years olds who have done everything, been everywhere, know it all and use a ridiculously flowery and extensive vocabulary in every conversation. Like, have any of these writers ever been to high school? Literally no one talks like that. Even worse is when, in addition to this, all the adults talk normal or are just plain stupid, like so weird parallel universe."
StretchArmstrong74
Nonsense
"If the movie is too dark. Not graphic, just literally dark. I lose all sense of intensity in dark scenes and I'm not straining my damn eyes trying to figure out what the hell is going on."
TheShadowOfKaos
"I've seen about 10 percent of all DC movies recently. I've seen all of the individual films in full, just actually saw 10% of each of them."
Mortlach78
"Movies in the late 80s had a lot of dark but you could see the depth because of different shooting techniques. Now you cant see crap because its a CGI fest drowned in black color so you can't see crap because you have no depth in a scene. Compare night scenes in dark alleys in 80's movies and movies now. Utter crap show in the new ones."
Bombzey
Pay Attention Storytellers
"Bad editing would be a big one. A lot of modern horror movies can't help but edit the movies like they're trailers, with added noises to scare the audience because they are afraid the script alone isn't enough to keep people watching."
ThisIsCreation
"I remember this is where the first transformers movie lost me. When the transformers are fighting at the end, it's all a big, jumbled mess of metal and I can barely tell what's going on or who is who."
1840_NO
Drama
"When they go straight to relationship drama right away when it wasn't the selling point of the show."
LightInthewater
Do better, Hollywood. It's not that hard.
I fear death.
I wake up in cold sweats dreaming about it.
I think about it in my waking hours.
It's an obsession and clearly, I'm not alone.
But there are more preferred ways to exit.
All we can do is hope to be lucky enough to skip the mercilessly awful.
Please just let me go quick and in my sleep.
RedditorCallMehRiverwanted to hear about all the ways none of us what to leave this life.
"What Do You Think Would Be The Worst Death Imaginable?"
My list of the worst deaths is long. My imagination runs amok.
Trapped
"For me? Being trapped in a small tube or cave (like the ones you have to wiggle through) and getting stuck to where you can’t move your arms. And all you can do is wait to die. I’m getting chills just thinking about it."
Stuck
"The more I hear about cavers that get stuck, the more I think that's a crap way to go."
- braydenmaine
"There’s a great YouTube channel called Ask a Mortician and this was her #1 worse way to die. I can’t remember the exact details or their names, but two well-known divers went into an underwater cave."
"One of them became entangled and died. Years later, his friend dives back down there to try and retrieve his body, the body itself is rotten and his head comes off and the other guy also becomes tangled and dies. Really sad."
- melancholybuzzard
A Long Process
"Believed to be in a coma but coherent through the whole 20 year process until they pull the plug."
weebeardedman
"Oh man this just reminded me of a story I read on here about a guy who lost the ability to move and speak but was completely conscious. Had to just lay there and be awake but trapped in a useless body. His family thought he was brain dead or something and he couldn’t communicate to them that he was 'all there.' Crazy"
habeeb51
Slow & Steady
"Being slowly impaled by a growing bamboo. It was a form of torture probably used by the japanese during WW2 against Allied prisoners."
JazzySocrate
"My uncle who served back in the day said that people would have the bamboo slipped under their fingernails because it would continue to grow still. It would just continue growing into the body."
Payness0826
Excruciating
"Rabies."
Santolmo
"The scariest part is that once you have symptoms, you 100% will die. A 100% mortality rate has to be a psychological torture in itself."
RonaldRawdog
"Not only that, you feel irrational fear. Your brain is literally being eaten apart by the virus and it fu*ks up everything on it. You can't drink water because it hurts you. You feel dizzy, present a fever, excessively salivate, everything hurts and it only gets worse. I'd rather take a bullet and die when the symptoms are still tolerable."
Santolmo
Why can't we all just go engulfed in calm and quiet?
Suspended
"Some pulpy sci-fi book I read a while back had one of the best deaths of this real piece of crap bad guy. Left to die in a drowning sea lab under the Antarctic ice, he freezes himself in a state of the art suspended animation pod with some kind cold fusion power source that would keep it running for millions of years."
"But he forgot to inject himself with the drug that would put him to sleep. So basically he is in suspended animation at the bottom of the Antarctic ocean while his mind is perfectly awake and conscious in a near unbreakable machine that won't run out of power for millions of years and nobody knows about it."
DubiousAlibi
No Cure
"As an RN I have always thought that the worst way to die (natural process) is ALS. Lou Gehrig's Disease."
randymn1963
"My mom and grandmother have Huntington's disease, which is essentially ALS, Alzheimer's, and Dementia combined into one really messed up genetic disease. I have a 50% chance of inheriting it and if I hit 40 and there's still no cure I can't promise I'll feel like continuing on with my life because that disease is absolutely freaking miserable."
DevTheDummy
Agony...
"Radiation poisoning."
binhan123ad
"The fact your chromosomes can be so destroyed your body basically lost it's genetic code and with it the ability to make any new cells. It's literally a 'dead man walking' and you slowly rot away in agony. Stuff is so unimaginably f**ked up."
yea_nah448
"What's also bad about radiation is that it affects your nerves and brain cells last, so you have everything in place to feel all the pain of the rest of your cells being destroyed."
nosmelc
Goo
"I want to believe anything that slowly kills you painfully to be the worst. Such as slowly being crushed or something where the pain is beyond compare and yet not enough to throw you into shock or unconsciousness."
Beardless_Man
"Alternatively, being rapidly crushed into goo would probably be the least painful. I'm talking one of those massive industrial hammers they use for large steel work. Basically smooshed before the nerve signals make it to the brain."
Bannon9k
Now I'll never sleep again without nightmares of death.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
Foreigners Explain Which Stereotypically American Things They've Always Wanted To Try
Most Americans think nothing of their humdrum daily activities or amenities available to them.
However, others with a different perspective might romanticize the things that are otherwise commonplace ideas and concepts for US citizens, like going to a diner or riding the school bus.
One Redditor looked to foreigners to hear of their American desires to respond to the following:
"Non-Americans of Reddit: what is an American thing you have always wanted to try?"
The things depicted in film really captivated foreign audiences.
Casual Dining
"To visit a diner like in the movies. In the middle of the night, it’s raining and just a few people there with great music from a jukebox."
– TotalAd6225
Iconic Student Transport
"Ride a yellow school bus even if I'm too old. Growing up I always loved seeing them on TV."
– infiresemo
Just Like The Ones We Used To Know
"A white Christmas."
"Living in an Australian state where I've never even seen snow in our winter, let alone experiencing that classic Hallmark movie moment of waking up to a street full of it and sitting around a fireplace while opening gifts/preparing a feast."
"Guess it's not strictly American, but the imagery and trope is something I've only really seen from American Films."
– Stoibs
They may be ubiquitous for us, but they sure seem to be novel ideas to foreigners.
Let's Be Frank
"One of the hotdogs from those little street cart things."
– Who_is_lost
Kitchen Marvel
"A friend of mine from Indonesia said, 'the food chewer in the sink.'"
"Garbage disposal."
– Mnemonic22
American Pie
"Apple Pie made by white-haired grandma, placed near window, who says 'oh dear...' as I levitate towards it."
– MegaJoltik
Pre-Game Ritual
"Proper tailgating before a ball game, the kind where there's ribs and stuff."
– SpiralToNowhere
Fried Delicacies
"Deep fried foods at a state fair. I'm from Scotland and we love to deep fry everything and I wanna know if it's just as good or better."
– fenrisulfr94
There are places to see!
Places To See
"National parks."
– nhungoc1508
"America’s greatest invention!"
– nhungoc1508
Backpacking In Nature
"I always wanted to hike The Appalachian Trail if that counts. Or see Yellowstone."
– EphemeralRemedy
New Chapters
"Being able to start a whole new life 'elsewhere' without having to leave my country and going through an arduous immigration process."
– Gmtfoegy
My cousin told me she looks forward to visiting a Trader Joe's someday when she visits America for the first time.
Her bucket list option was hardly surprising. My parents used to bring treats from TJs as a novelty souvenir gift item, and my relatives ate it up. Literally.
Let's face it. The snacks at TJs rocks.
Even store locations in New York City would have ridiculously long lines during busy hours because the West-coast-based grocer was a novelty on the East Coast.