"What’s your wildest story that sounds too far-fetched to be true?"
Redditors' interactions with animals were either empowering or terrifying.
A Chihuahua's Hero
"Mine is when I was in high school I lived out in the countryside of Central Texas. I was just kind of bumbling around on the property and my mom's little chihuahua was tagging along. I heard a bird, saw a fast moving shadow, and threw my arm out, slapping a hawk out of the sky as it tried to get my mom's chihuahua."
"Cut my arm pretty good, but saved that little rat of a dog. The chihuahua went on to pass away at a smooth 19 years old."
– itsthattedguy
Brush With An Owl
"I worked nights in college. I'd always take my two dogs out to pee when I got home and one late night an owl tried to snatch my Chihuahua but thankfully missed. My golden retriever ran back inside like the owl was going to somehow take his 60lb a** but my chi stood his ground like he could take it on. I got him inside and was much more careful after that. He, too, passed at 19. I miss him."
– jacyerickson
"I was almost drowned by a pod of dolphins while surfing at Salt Creek, Orange County, CA. I got up on a wave and one of them knocked me over, 2 wave pin down on a 5-7 ft day."
– jppope
These could be plot points in a movie.
Reunited Leash
"I was surfing in Santa Barbara County when I was a kid, maybe 14 or 15. When I would come in from a surf, I had the habit of undoing my leash from my leg while I was walking in the shallow water. Unbeknownst to me, the other side of the leash that connects to the board had come off. I lost my leash. I searched around the tidal zone but no luck. I was bummed but I just moved on."
"Three weeks later, I was surfing in Ventura county, and as I was walking in from the surf, a piece of kelp wrapped around my leg. I reached down to pull it off. It wasn’t kelp, it was my leash I’d lost a dozen miles north a few weeks back. It had algae and stuff growing on it, but no mistaking it was absolutely my leash."
– shah357
The Origin Of Love
"When my dad and step-mom met, my dad swore he’d met her before, but couldn’t remember when or where. Eventually, he decided he’d seen her in Cody, Wyoming, the town where he grew up. She swore she’d never even been to Wyoming (she’s from Oregon and that’s where they met)."
"Several years later, after they’d been married a while, step-mom mentions to her mom that my dad swears he met her in Cody, but she’s never been there. Her mom says 'Yes, you have,' and pulls out a photograph from 1956 of her, age 9, riding on a mechanical horse (a kid one) and in the background, standing around in the crowd, is my dad and his two brothers, ages 8, 10, and 11."
"She submitted the story to a local magazine for a Valentine’s Day contest one year and won a trip to a resort."
"Some honorable mentions: By the time I was 20, I was 1 degree of separation away from 5 different people who’d been murdered by 3 different serial killers (gotta love the PNW), and I almost hit Bob Dylan with my car once."
– JessicaGriffin
Getting Lit
"First time I ever smoked pot a police helicopter hovered above me and my friend and hit us with the spotlight. They were looking for someone else apparently because they immediately moved on. Nonetheless…"
– igottathinkofaname
VIP Client
"I took my VW to the dealer to get some work done. The service rep at the counter was so hung over (possibly still intoxicated) that he couldn’t handle completing the paper work. He told the tech that I was a VIP, specifically 'Britni Spears’s brother' and that he owed me a favor, so the work was on the house and they just never did any paperwork, didn’t charge me a dime, did the work, handed me the keys, and away I drove."
– peteschirmer
These Redditors couldn't believe their luck.
Contest Winner
"I won a two week cruise vacation for two in a contest."
"I never entered the contest."
"I was convinced I was being scammed."
"Even from the beaches of the Caribbean, I still wasn't convinced."
– Tokiw4
The Generous Friend
"Was in Vegas for a work thing. I was not happy about being there because it was a tough time in my life, money was really tight and Vegas is the last place you want to be when money is tight."
"I was telling my buddy about it and he says, 'Im going to pay pal you $150. Go play the poker tournament at the Venetian at night. You can drink for free and hopefully you last long. If you win anything, pay me back, if not, no worries.'"
"So I did. Won the tournament! $3200."
"The second night, I went off to play some craps alone one night because I did not like the work people and did not want to hang with them."
"Started with $200. 45 minuted later I 7’d out and had $37,000. Cashed out and told no one!"
"On the drive back (I lived in Phoenix) I called my buddy and told him (only) about it. I sent him $2500."
– Raspberries-Are-Evil
Beginner's Luck
"The one time I went to Vegas at the proper age of 21, I won $2000 on my first spin on the 25c slot machine. I didn't gamble the rest of the time and enjoyed the fact that my trip paid for itself. Came home with all the money I left with and an extra $800. Didn't tell my bf I was with at the time either; he would have tried to spend my money."
– KnowItOrBlowIt
Given A Second Chance
"I went jogging one night and came across a lady laid out face first. No heart beat. Started doing cpr. Never saw another person was able to call 911 while doing cpr. Kept at it twenty Minutes till FD got there. She made a full recovery. They said cpr that long has a 95% fail rate."
– DullAd2253
A friend back in high school told me he was a vampire when he dropped me off from band practice.
This was at a time when Anne Rice was super popular and everyone was reading the Lestat books.
Being an impressionable 15-year-old at the time, I believed him, because he warned me that if I ever revealed his identity to anyone, "I will find you."
A couple of years ago, I reunited with a mutual friend and I joked about how I believed so-and-so was a creature of the night. We nervously laughed.
Whether my blood-thirsty friend was weighing on my conscience or not, I've been visited by him in COUNTLESS dreams ever since I told my friend about him.
Call it what you want–paranoia or self-fulfilling prophecy–but there are some things in this realm I will never be able to explain.
I'm just glad I'm still here to talk about it now that I let the proverbial cat out of the bag.
Oh, dear...
"He was only a college freshman."
"I had a conversation with a friend once that went like:"
"'Drug laws are really strict in Japan'. Like, you can actually go to jail'."
"'Dude, you can go to jail in America for drugs'."
"'No, no. My friend got caught with weed once and he just had to pay a fine to the cops and they let him go'."
"That was fun to unpack."- anportan
Unless you're a colonial prisoner...
"That Australia isn’t a part of the UK."- weedrangoon·
australia lesson GIFGiphyLet's hope they were talking to a man...
"How a period works and what it’s for."- R_cheese
Hopefully a realization made before they were told this?
"No, my snake won't turn into two if you cut him in half."- NyalaBoy
Rare, but legal.
"That $2 bills are real, legal US tender."
"Got chewed out at a coffee job, for accepting 'fake money', because a customer paid with 2, $2 bills. "
"My boss was in their 40s."
"Took 10 minutes and a google search to prove I wasn't lying."- DarkFae420
homer simpson dollar GIFGiphyMight as well as well have worn a target!
"Not me but my husband."
"Had to tell his best friend why jumping around in the woods with some deer antlers he had found on his head was a Bad idea."
"They were hunting."- ZubLor
It's a universal inconvenience
"The fact that female anatomy is capable of farting."- samara11278
How did this conversation even begin?
"You can get pregnant if you have sex standing up."
"Had to explain this to a woman in her late thirties that had a teenage daughter."- PygmyPuff_X
If only...
"8% interest rate doesn’t mean you only pay $8 a month in interest."
Money Gold GIF by MediamodifierGiphy"I worked in retail for too long."
"One guys debit card declined, I told him so."
"He looked at me like I was an alien, and then loudly exclaimed, ‘how can a DEBIT CARD be declined?’ "
"So had to explain that one to him."
"Another person was traveling from a state that didn’t have sales tax, and expected me to remove the sales tax from their purchase because?"
" Apparently in their mind if you live somewhere without sales tax, you can travel the country and not have to adhere to those states rules I guess."
"Another person tried to use a tax exempt card from another state, on Black Friday, mind you, and was mad that I couldn’t honor another states tax exempt card."
"Honestly like it’s okay to not know stuff."
"But don’t be a fucking a**hole when someone tries to explain to you what the hell is going on, lmao."- plsdontkillmelol69
Nbc GIF by SuperstoreGiphyIt's hard to imagine how some of these people functioned living adult lives if they needed explanations on these things.
One can only hope they took this information in the first time they heard it.
To call it a "rabbit hole" is an understatement...
"Infinite scrolling in apps."- Ill_Animator_4437
"TikTok."
"The algorithm is insanely good at keeping people on it for long periods of time."- SDAPastor
"Social media."
"Everyone is always on social media, even i am personally an 'addict' I'm constantly taking pictures for my Instagram, posting on my Snapchat, or scrolling through TikTok. an endless cycle between the three apps."- meanbee90
Social Media Love GIF by Lumps"But enough about me, what do you think about me!"
"Attention."
"Some can't see the truth that they are out there trying to compete against one and other and can't understand why people don't like them."
"So they try harder."
"It's an endless loop because they will never be happy with what they have already."
"Life."- MywarUK
Look at that, I must have it!
"Shopping."- justnotthatwitty
I can just keep going!!!
"Energy drinks."- Professional_Grab513
Hey, you never know...
"Surprise no one has said this but lottery tickets."- Immediate_Pomelo638
Happy Winner GIF by Casanova RecordsGiphyDepending on your inner circle...
"Not crack, but cocaine is HUGELY accepted within pro sports, celebrities, rich people, so on an so forth."
"You'd be surprised at the amount of people who do it."
"People you'd never think of."
"It's a big secret a lot of the time but it's extremely popular."
"It is everywhere."- Reasonable-Low4120
If these addictions don't necessarily pose such an immediate threat to one's health that requires being sent to rehab, in the grand scheme of things they are almost equally dangerous.
So next time a close friend or family member asks if maybe you should think about cutting back, probably a good idea to listen to them.