We live every second of everyday on borrowed time. What they say is true, we start dying the second we're born. And we avoid crisis and death more times than we realize. One of the main causes of death that is always lurking near is evil. Fact. People are crazy and there are way too many people willing to exterminate the life of another. How many of us have tales of escaping death at the hands of another? Far more people than we'd like to believe.
Redditor u/Robz05 was hoping people would be willing to share some stories of hope and survival by asking... Have someone you know ever tried to kill you? And why?One of my favorite shows of the past decade was a creepy tale on FOX called "The Following." It starred Kevin Bacon and it was about a cult of serial killers. It used to come on at 9pm on Mondays. I would take my dog on a really long walk at 8 because I refused to go out after 10pm once the show was over. It reinforced for the me the fact that crazies are everywhere. Need proof? Listen...
Blades
When I was about 4/5 (f) (I had dreams about it growing up and then was told the whole story when I was older) my half brother (who has empathy issues and poor choice skills; 16 at the time I believe) was playing a game where him and his friend were bad guys and me, my sister, and our cousin had to run from them. We were also playing in an abandoned shop our grandparents owned.
Well he ended grabbing one of those sharp circle blades you cut wood with and threw it at me; slicing my head open. He then proceeded to scoop me up and climb on the roof while I was bleeding in his arms. My grandpa had to climb onto the roof and take me from him so I could go with the ambulance.
Vehicular
Someome decided to string a thick line of wire across a dark single lane of an unlit country road at the night. The plan was to take out a vehicle in the hopes of killing the people inside. Well, the people inside were my mom and me, and the attempted murderer... he was good old dad. A true narcissistic psychopath who despite his serial infidelity and his pathological liar, who decided he could not take the hit to his pride and ego of mom filing for divorce first.
Her saying she was done before him was an unthinkable situation in his mind. He decided he would rather play the role of grieving widow then rejected husband. And as for me, he knew how he could use the death of his daughter to manipulate women in sleeping with him.
Fun Times
My dad's mother tried to drown me when we visited her (for the first & only time ever again), because she didn't like that I was born a girl :). She wanted a grandson. From what my mother says: My dad's mom let me swim in her pool, 'cause hanging out with adults is boring (they were there to talk about her husband who had died recently, my dad's dad). My parents were inside with her in the living room. She said she wanted to check on me & she'll be back in a minute.
Much more than a minute passes, Ma starts getting worried. Dad goes to see what's up. Closer dad got to the backporch door, heard splashing, saw her trying to drown me in the pool & my dad knocked her to the ground. Yelled for my mom. Ma snatched me up & took me to the car as I struggled & cried, trying to breathe again.
Filed a police report & they never made contact with her again. Fun times.
Duck and Cover
My ex husband and I had been separated a few weeks. I arrived home late at night from work. My work shift ended at 11:00 p.m.
I didn't notice his car in the parking lot as I walked toward my apartment until he gunned the engine and drove straight toward me. I ducked into the entrance alcove and his car struck a parking barricade and the curb and some landscaping before it stopped within 2 feet of me and the building. I ducked inside and called the police (not for the first time).
Ok, see there? You can't even trust the people closest to you. You just never know what kind of warped mind is too close for comfort. This thread is making think about hitting up the shooting range. Or maybe I'll go back to church. Ask God for some shelter. I'll continue...
Under the Water
When I was around 7, an older kid at the local pool was trying to teach me how to do something (dive, I think?) but I wasn't catching on fast enough for him.
So, naturally, the best way to express his frustration was to try to drown me.
Chopped
Not intentionally, but my dad ran me over with a boat once. The propeller went all the way up my side. Surprisingly, didn't really cut me though, just left a line of crazy bruises and a couple of scratches from my knee up to my shoulder. Still hurt like a witch.
That was Then...
Mine isn't so much an attempt to kill my brother, it just could have ended that way. Anyway...
When I was around 10 and my brother around 4, we shared a room. He would drag his red tricycle into the house and up to our room and ride it in circles in said room. One night mom yelled up the stairs that dinner was ready and we needed to come wash up for dinner.
Broham parked his trike right in the doorway, I was annoyed by this and proceeded to push him and his trike down the stairs. He held on for dear life and rode that thing to the bottom like some kind of trike pro, then slammed into the door at the bottom of the stairs. He got hurt, but nothing was broken. Just some cuts and bruises.
We are best friends now.
The Last Call
This man my mom was with kidnapped me when I was two years old. I've always joked about it because the guy was just a loser alcoholic and I assumed he did it just to upset my mother. When the cops found us, we were at his favorite bar. What kind of idiot kidnaps someone and then goes to a place where everyone knows that you go? That's why I never took it seriously.
Well, two weeks ago, I'm texting with my older brother and I made a joke about him kidnapping me. I said something like "what was he planning on doing? Raising me? Killing me?"
He was maybe ten or eleven when this happened, so he remembers a lot of that day. He told me that I'm lucky to be alive. Apparently, he planned on killing me. My mother had lied to him and told him that I was his kid. In a brief moment of clarity, he pieced together that the timing was off and I wasn't his. He went to that bar so he could get drunk enough to go through with it.
I still can't really believe it.
Liar
My mom's mom did not like me. At all. I always tried to be polite and pleasant and helpful. One day when I was about 16 she asked for my help with an outlet she had been fixing. Of course I ask if she'd turned the power off. She said yes. She lied.
PUSH
I'm so glad you asked!
I was ten years old. After school with a couple of neighbor friends. We walked a block to the corner store for snacks. Walking back home, we're standing on the corner. Next thing I know I wake up in the hospital. Find out I was hit by a 30mph mack truck. Kid next to me pushed me into it.
Told police I , "darted into traffic and turned around to taunt them." Ten years later I found out from a mutual friend the kid admitted to pushing me. That kid is currently in Indiana State Prison for two counts of armed robbery. He's still "innocent" for pushing me.
(Currently looking for legal help before offender is freed in 2026. He will hurt somebody else).
I Can Taste It
My mother-in-law did something to me the first two times I went over for dinner. The first time she put an allergen in the food, and then when I asked before eating (as I always do anywhere I eat) she lied about it. I could clearly taste it and had a really bad reaction, then she suddenly remembered that it was there. The second time, we reminded her of the allergy, she cooked food with the allergen in it, but then admitted it before I started eating.
Just Eat It
A kid a used to hang out with in my neighborhood wanted to test my peanut allergy, so she deliberately ate a PB&J before seeing me and was very adamant on sharing a soda. Another kid was in on it, and when I drank from the soda after she did they were both wide eyed and asking me if I felt ok. Luckily my allergy was not extremely sensitive so I did not have a reaction and I was completely fine. The other kid told me about a year later and that's the only reason I knew. I stopped talking to both of them.
Don't Shoot
Not intentional. But my idiot friend negligently discharged a .357 magnum in between my legs.
It blasted a bunch of mud and dirt up right into my business and actually hurt my testicles and for a second.
Ramming for Me
I was riding my motorcycle home from work, when all of the sudden this van starts aggressively blocking me from passing him. No matter what I did he would block me over and over. He was literally swerving from lane to lane to block me out. Finally, I passed him and then made a poor decision. I gave him the finger for blocking me.
He immediately floored it and rammed me from behind causing me to veer into another lane and slam into the side of a semi truck. I managed to save it through sheer luck. I unfortunately never got his license plate number but it was the closest I've come to being murdered.
No Air
Not me, but a cousin of mine when he was a kid tried suffocating his younger toddler sister with a pillow to make her stop crying.
He didn't know it would kill her though. They're both fine today.
Freedom!!
My ex-husband was a controlling a**hole who eventually cheated on me. When I found out, I told him I was taking our kid and leaving. He seemed cool with it, even to the point where he was willing to drive me to my friend's house to pick up empty boxes to pack my crap.
On the way there he told me I was never going anywhere again.
After he attempted to kill me, I walked a mile and called the cops from a daycare that I found. They picked me up, took me home, and found him and told him he had to be out of the house for 24 hours so I could pack my crap.
I called my mom, who sent my sister and nephew to drive eight hours to pick me up with a Uhaul.
I never pressed charges because it would have meant staying in that city in order to do so, and I was terrified and alone.
That was almost 14 years ago. Life is much better now.
Leaving Me Behind
Can't be proved but my ex husband - I had some work done on my teeth under general anaesthetic, wasn't supposed to be left alone. He laid me out in front of the gas fire and went out to do whatever... I woke up hours later to an empty house and the smell of gas everywhere. I used to chalk this up to him being thick and self centred but realistically... he had no need to leave that long when he was supposed to be keeping an eye on me, and he seemed really surprised to hear from me when I called, thinking back on it.
Frenemies?
Two friends i had snuck into my bedroom one night and tried to hang me from my bedroom door. They locked the door to stop it from opening and woke me up to brag about how easy it was. I started banging on the wall while choking to wake up my other housemate. Their ego is why I'm still alive.
Only One
When I was a baby and my brother was toddler, he tried smothering me with a pillow lol. My mom found us in time. I guess he took "there could only be one" seriously.
Everybody always seems so innocent. Clearly it's all an act and a plot. When you can't even trust grandma, there is no hope left. I would say recommend reading this thread to a friend, but not in the dark. Bless those that are still able to tell the tales.
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When looking at a resume, it's easy to understand how prospective employers will assume someone is very intelligent based on their education and past experience.
But one shouldn't only assume someone's intelligence based on what they read.
More often than not, one can tell rather quickly that someone possesses above-average intelligence, based on how they speak, how they behave, or other telling details.
Redditor PadWanKenobi was curious to hear what people felt were the tell tale signs they were in the company of a possible genius, leading them to ask:
"What’s a sign of extremely high intelligence?"
Instant adapability
"Ability to intuitively and quickly understand complex systems and how lots of parts relate in a coherent whole."
"Like I work with some people who just keep tons of concepts in their head and easily integrate new information into their understanding of those concepts."
"They immediately know what questions they should be asking to better understand."
"And these are things they're currently working on, not like things they spent time studying in school over years."
"They just have a very strong ability to synthesize new information into their understanding."
"I sit in meetings distracted and confused having forgotten what we talked about in the previous meetings, and these folks just consistently have a solid handle on everything."- Ok-Control-787
Innate Problem Solvers
"They know when not to solve a problem."
"This took me a while to understand but the smartest people I know do this."
"It could be a really simple thing like ignoring emails from people asking for help."
"The supervisor or boss might have a quick and easy solution for the situation but instead of just handing it to the person that asked they let them figure it out on their own."
"They know who they can do this with and when to do it."
"If they did that with all of their underlings it would just create a mess."
"Another example that I can think of is planned chaos."
"Some people can predict exactly where things will go wrong and they could fix it before it creates a problem."
"They don't because nobody ever notices what's going on in the background when things are working perfectly."
"Once things fails then everybody notices and if you are the one person that fixed it you become the hero."
"They can also use then chaos to reach a goal they couldn't get before if things were working correctly."
"There's many examples of this in every day life that I didn't see before until I realized what was happening."- atapes
You know what they say about people with small hands
"If your hand is smaller than your face."- FallofTheKnight
The all knowing glow.
"When someone asks you a question and you push your glasses up while light comes out of it and covers your eyes for some reason."- JonEregor
Those giveaway behavioral quirks
"Wearing glasses and saying things like 'ah yes', and 'I see' while you pensively rub your chin."- iuytrefdgh436yujhe2
Encouraging others
"When they explain something they make the people around them feel smarter, not dumber."- redkat85
Being one step ahead.
"The capacity to understand complex things, see patterns where regular people don't."- Ostepop234
"They have this tendency to make you go 'Ohhh, why didn't I think of that?' when listening to them talk."- did_it_forthelulz
An endless love of learning
"A passion for knowledge and expanding understanding of complex concepts."
"The plumber can be just as insightful as the scholar."- KatatoniK94
Of course, one shouldn't always be fooled by what they see.
As many people are masters at appearing much smarter than they are.
In fact, one important sign of super intelligence is being able to separate those who appear smart, from those who actually are.
With each passing year of a marriage, couples will often discover that while they don't love each other any less than they once did, that spark their relationship used to carry has faded.
This will often lead these couples to look for ways to spice things up a bit.
Among the more popular experiments is inviting a third member to their bedroom.
Enticing as this prospect is, however, it's also easy to be intimidated by the reality of it, or even the mere suggestion of it.
"Men, what advice do you have for men whose wives want to bring a third into the bedroom?"
Make sure you want to do it.
"You need to be completely honest with yourself, ask if this is something you want and could live with."- Dame87
Proceed with caution
"It’s like frolicking in a mine field."
"You both better be SUPER into the idea, you can’t have one person who’s reluctantly agreed to go along with it."
"And established rules."
"A threesome sounds like fun and games until you’re watching your partner make faces and sounds that you only thought were for you in your most intimate moments together, and a burning jealousy comes out of nowhere and breaks your heart."
"I’m not saying it’s automatically a bad idea and I know people do polyamory successfully, but dear god be careful."- coleosis1414
Make sure you're an active participant
"I had an ex that was adamant that she wanted to be a swinger or whatever."
"The one time I decided to roll with it, I hit it off immediately with the other dude's girlfriend and had a blast hanging out with her all night."
"The other dude was a total creep, though."
"Also, my ex could not handle the fact that someone else was giving me the slightest bit of attention."
"So, needless to say, that didn't go anywhere."
"Turns out she didn't want to be a swinger, she just wanted to have sex with other people behind my back, which she had no problems whatsoever with."- Ted_Denslow
Look out for ulterior motives
"Just remember that if you bring this up and your husband is against it, that could be the beginning of the end of your marriage."
"For a lot of people their partner saying 'I am seriously considering having sex with other people and I'm checking with you if it is ok', is a deal breaker."- gamerplays
Consider a test run?
"Go to a bar together separately."
"Watch them flirt/interact with someone else."
"If you get jealous, it's probably a bad idea to bring in a third."
"If it turns you on, go for it."- SinSlayer
Query people with experience.
"It’s something my wife and I have talked about."
"We both agreed that opening the Pandora’s box is not the way we want our relationship to go."
"While it sounds fun, we have seen way to many relationships derailed because of it."- DarthDujo
Consider going whole hog.
"Bring a 4th."- xxemrgmi
Evaluate your relationship first.
"Make sure you and your partner are secure in your own relationship before having another person join."
"Have boundaries, and no secrets."
"From my experience it doesn't usually work out in the end."- Thick-Procedure455
Just don't!
"Don't do it."
"For a long time, my ex harbored a fantasy of watching me have sex with another woman."
"Hey, who knows why any of us are wired the way we are?"
"After contemplating the idea together for a while, we decided to approach one of her more attractive co-workers, who had made a series of flattering comments along the lines of "you're so lucky" and "he's so good-looking'."
"She enthusiastically agreed."
"Our first meet-up was of course awkward, but the second, third and following were pretty good."
"In fact they got progressively hotter, as we all got more comfortable with each other's boundaries, erotic likes and dislikes."
"However, over a few months these occasional kinky weekends transitioned into the co-worker asking more frequently and aggressively to be invited over."
"We tried to explain that we had intended these threesomes to be rare and exotic highlights in our sex life, not regular occurrences, but she didn't take the message to heart and instead became increasingly insistent, bordering on smothering."
"After being turned down one Friday, that night she unexpectedly showed up at our door anyway, carrying a weekend bag and wearing nothing but a raincoat, stay-ups and heels."
"While that was quite a sight, it definitely creeped us out, as it made us finally realize the whole arrangement was descending into 'play Misty for me' territory."
"My ex and I agreed that her unexpected and unwelcome appearance signaled the end of future three-ways, at least until we were able to cool our own selves down, reassess, and perhaps later find a less demanding and insistent third."
"Things subsequently got very sticky at work for my wife, as her co-worker, with whom she had to interact closely, strongly resented being permabanned, and kept demanding to know 'what she'd done that was so awful'."
"Coworker eventually asked to be transferred to another office, but by the time that process was over and done, the discomfort / guilt / pressure / confusion my ex was suffering both at home and at work had begun to take its psychological toll."
"I must confess it didn't help that our own sex life was simultaneously going through a rough patch."
"Long story short, we ended our decade-long relationship less than a year after breaking off the threesomes, chiefly due to trust issues and growing sexual incompatibility, both perhaps triggered by our experimentation."
"Ever since, I've regretted agreeing to that first three-way."
"If I hadn't been so damned eager to take a bite of forbidden fruit, we might have kept our relationship intact."
"But I guess this can also be put down as what sometimes happens when you ignore that old advice, 'don't sh*t where you sleep'."- theartfulcodger
When venturing into the unknown, it's always wise to gain some first hand experience, to hear a variety of pros and cons of what you're possibly getting yourself into.
That way, deciding whether or not it's for you will become increasingly clear.
It's also important to remember, that it is always ok to say "no".
People Share Their Best 'You Either Die The Hero Or Live Long Enough To Become The Villain' Experiences
"You either die the hero or live long enough to become the villain."
Though not necessarily a universal truth, all of us have witnessed unfortunate moments in our lives where we've seen this saying become a reality.
Be it seeing our favorite public figures take a serious fall from grace, someone we know and admire eventually disappointing us in a devastating manner, or even seeing ourselves turn into someone we promised we'd never become.
One Redditor was curious to hear people's examples of this saying coming to light, either from a personal experience or seeing it happen to a well-known, public figure, leading them to ask:
"Who is your example of 'you either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain'?"
Jim Jones
"Jim Jones."
"He originally stood up for civil rights when it was really unpopular."
"Was hospitalized and accidentally placed in the black ward."
"When the doctors found out, they tried to move him, but he refused."
"Then he became a cult leader and used his power and influence to end the lives of a thousand people."- Crvsby
Earning a position of power
"Working in restaurant kitchens."
"You either burn out young, or become the boss that everyone hates."
"There's exceptions, but that's the rule."- grandpas_old_crow
Henry Heimlich
"Henry Heimlich, inventor of the Heimlich Maneuver."
"Made up a bunch of untested uses for it, treating people having asthma attacks, and drowning victims were the two I remember that he publicly talked up."
"Later, he funded an experiment that involved injecting people with Malaria to see if it would treat other conditions.
"The experiment was found to be unethical by American review boards, so he conducted them in Ethiopia." - User Deleted
Philippe Petain
"Philippe Petain."
"In WW1 he led the French to victory at Verdun, one of the worst battles in human history."
"In WW2, after France was beaten, Petain was the head of state of Vichy France."
"Guy went from the Lion of Verdun to the biggest Nazi collaborator in France."- arthuranymoredonuts
Our bodies
"Every organ until it gets cancer."- SuperBaconjam
Conor McGregor
"Conor McGregor."
"He had the whole country behind him here in Ireland at one point bar people who thought combat sport is grotesque."
"He was witty, original, backing himself up and having a Hollywood like rise to stardom."
"Now he's someone who the whole country is ashamed of, goes punching old men, clearly sleeps around on his wife while she's at home with the kids, just a walking caricature of himself."
"He didn't listen to his own advice."
"Get in."
"Get rich."
"Get out."- StephenPigot2020
Turning into our parents
"My dad used to annoy me by calling my Pokemon cards 'Pokey-Mans'."
"Now my kids have them and I do the same thing and it annoys the sh*t out of them."
"Thanks for the (Pokeyman) gold!"- rumpel4skinOU
Benedict Arnold
"Benedict Arnold."
"Almost died during the revolutionary way, if I recall correctly, and if he had he would have been remembered a huge hero, and a martyr."
"Instead he lived and changed sides, and is remembered only for his being a traitor."- uniqueperson22
Be it someone we knew quite intimately, or someone we admired from a far, it is always heartbreaking to see someone evolve from someone we love, to someone we utterly hate.
Sometimes we do things that have to be done.
And some of those things live in life's gray area of right and wrong.
What comes as a surprise to some is when we don't care if we're wrong.
We may still technically be in the right.
But morally and ethically, there may be some issues.
But still, many people don't care.
Redditor BirdyPizzawanted to see who would fess up about some of the worst things we're responsible for but have no shame.
"What is the darkest thing you have ever done and don’t regret?"
I've stolen from department stores that overcharged. I was arrested. I didn't care. So there...
The Grief
"Five years ago my dad suffered a catastrophic stroke. Left paralyzed and robbed of his speech and ability to communicate he was a shell of the once vibrant, charismatic man he once was. He was moved into skilled nursing where he lived for nearly two years, he was miserable."
"On my last visit I told him it was okay if he wanted to leave us, that we would miss him but he should go. A week later I received the call that he had passed. Instead of immediate grief I felt relief. Relief that he was finally free. The grief came later and I still miss him every single day."
theroadtoeverywhere
Things Missing
"Got into a car accident and had to stay with my mom for a couple days to figure out what to do. Went back to my apartment (I had two roommates) and everything was missing from my room. Long story short one of my roommates had everything hidden in her room."
"I called and told her the things were missing from my room and she came up with a lie that a couple girls came to look at my room (I was moving out bc of the accident, long story) and that they must have taken my things. She had everything I owned. Including my grandmothers perfume bottles, stuffed to the back of her closet, under her bed, behind her dresser etc."
"So I packed all of my stuff up. Then took a giant black garbage bag and stuffed as much of her closet in it as I could. Took it to the middle of nowhere, dug a hole and burnt it. She called screaming at me that her stuff was missing. I told her the two girls must have come by and taken her stuff too."
udntsay
Violence
"I hit my uncle left right and center when he was trying to choke my father to death. I was 16 years old at that time, a very skinny girl. I beat his face neck and every part of him that I could target with so much intensity that my knuckles turned blue the next day. I had an animalistic rage that day trying to help my father get away from his death grip. I hate my uncle even today."
"I got anger issues because of growing up around him. And I don't regret beating him that day at all. He was physically abusive to his wife as well. One fine day, his wife retaliated by beating him blue with a stick. And he stopped being physically violent towards her post that."
avadakebakra
Danger
"A neighbor like 10 years ago was neglecting their dog badly in the heat. The dog escaped often and ended up at the shelter a lot. One day she jumped the fence and got her tie-out cable stuck on the fence. (She was not in danger of choking.) Neighbor put her on a 3-foot-long cable tied to a doorknob, no water, 90 degree day. I let some kind folks steal her, watched the whole thing and said nothing to stop them."
Oh-Oh-Ophelia
Goodbye
"When my father was dying and in pain I was the one who told the doctors he had been through enough and we couldn't see him suffer anymore. Doctor injected him with something, I assume a morphine mega dose and he passed peacefully moments after. Euthanasia may not be legal in UK but compassionate doctors know what's what. I don't regret it because my pa made me promise I would have his back when he got sick or old. I'm sad he got sick and never got to get old."
Express_Evidence_23
That is a lot of mess. But sometimes we have to do what we have to do.
Toxic
"One of my ex best friends in high school was a real narcissistic lunatic. Had so many egotistical fantasies about what he deserved but I remained his friend because we met through my close friend (his girlfriend). As I started realizing what a terrible person he was I convinced him to go after his fantasy of a harem by asking to add a 3rd to their relationship, that led to a fight between his gf."
"I called her about it and asked how she felt about him adding someone to their relationship and about him sleeping with her. She said she knew nothing about that and started crying because he cheated on her. I basically helped orchestrate their breakup and have no regrets. She is happy with her first child now and he is in a toxic af relationship with 3 kids, 2 of which aren't his and his partner is 8 years older than him."
skijeng
My Buddy
"Had to make the choice to take my dad off of life support after he got Covid this year. He was sedated for a couple of weeks and one of his lungs collapsed and I couldn't watch him fall apart anymore. My dad was a bulky dude. Constantly did a lot of outdoor work and to see him bone skinny and have no muscle left killed me and I knew even if he somehow got through it, he would have been so miserable and depressed in that state he was in. I don’t regret it. I think it was the right thing to do by him. I’ll never not miss him though. That was my buddy."
CarterS20884
The Ruin
"Turned a close friend into the fish and game. He would poach mountain lions and bears. His whole family would literally shoot them and leave them. He would brag about it. I couldn’t stand it and felt that I needed to stop him. He’s in prison and so is his uncle. I know I ruined his life but he was literally killing so many mountain lions and bears."
Donkey-Puncherr
School Daze
"In middle school, there was this group of boys that would corner me in the hallway and try to scare me. I was the perfect target for these little b**tards. I was short, skinny, and had (and still have) and anxiety disorder. One day I just had enough, and asked a friend if I could have an extra pencil, sharpened it as much as I could, and when I saw one of them in the hallway, I stabbed the hell out of his leg. Sh**head got what he deserved."
leserolith3
Wow... we really are a dark and secretive people.