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People Break Down The Most Horrifying Experience They've Ever Lived Through

The zombie apocalypse and paranormal activity are undoubtedly terrifying enough to keep us up at night.

But the scarier things in life are the things grounded in reality.


I remember going over to a friend's house for a party back in college when all hell broke loose.

My friend's older brother – who I never met – was there with a couple of his buddies. To this day, I still have no idea what prompted it but an argument turned physically violent, and there was a gun involved.

People were screaming and scrambling in different directions from the living room. It was complete pandemonium.

Long story short, I found myself hoisting my body over the second floor balcony along with three others to flee from one of the brother's friends wielding a knife.

The four of us ran to one of our parked cars and managed to pile in after struggling with the keys to unlock the door – just like in a horror film.

The pursuer tried smashing the rear window with his bloodied knuckles as we were all screaming and crying from inside the vehicle. And that was when the cops arrived.

There were severe injuries sustained but no fatalities. I still shudder thinking about that night and continue counting my blessings that I was okay.

Being pursued by disturbed individuals, witnessing death, and even unwelcome animals were others examples shared by strangers of the internet when Redditor LauraPalmerIsNotDead asked:

"Whats a horrifying/creepy experience you have lived through? (Serious)"

Suspicious Driver

"When I was maybe 19 or 20 I nearly got run off the road on my way home from work one night. No actual accident, but it shook me up so I pulled off on the shoulder to calm down before continuing to drive."

"A windowless van pulled up behind me and a man got out, and approached my car. He asked if I was okay, and I told him I was fine, just gathering myself after a scare. He offered for me to wait in the van with his 'wife and kids'. He insisted multiple times that I get in his van. Luckily my door was already locked and I had only cracked the window to speak with him."

"Since he parked his van right behind me and I could see in my rear view there were no visible passengers in his van."

Sithasaurus

A Parent's Agony

"The scream of a parent realizing they lost their child is a different kind of scream you never forget."

"I heard my mother's scream after she found out my brother died... Still sends shivers up my spine."

merlamer

The Break-In

"One night of college, I heard a woman screaming for help. I looked out my window and saw her right next to the street. Keep in mind this is a popular college town and the street was busy and there didnt seem to be anything immediately attacking or endangering her. After a few minutes I was about to go down when a car pulled up and three guys got out. I could overhear the convo since it was right out of my bedroom but she said no one was paying attention and they should 'try' some other apartment. They all jumped in and drove off."

"A month later an apartment got broken into and four people were caught, 1 women and three men. Apparently she was in the house and left the door unlocked and the men then came in and robbed the place."

ZeusAlmighty1

All About Timing

"Something similar happened to me. My parents told me they'd be home in 30 minutes. They were totally lying and were like 2 hours away. When 35 minutes went by and someone knocked, I just opened the door. They just shove the door open, but luckily I had forgotten the latch."

"It was some lady and a really thuggish dude. I shove the door closed and lock the deadbolt. They're yelling at me that they need to use my phone ASAP because her kids got abducted. I call the cops but she wants me to go outside and let her use the phone. Luckily I live 60 seconds tops from a police station. Within 1 minute there is 4 cop cars outside. The dude had a weapon and was just trying to get in the house. Scary stuff."

"Having the police station so close has saved my a** so many times. One time two guys was trying to break in through the back window. I call the cops again. I swear hardly a minute passed before I saw flashlights. They had to call a helicopter because the guys jumped a few fences."

Ronachickamonga

The Blood-Curdling Scream

"SO I wouldn't say this belongs here as a 'horrifying experience' in the end, though it was for a brief moment, but your story reminded me of it."

"I was living alone on a fairly quiet back street of a larger city. One night I was in bed and heard a woman screaming outside, like really screaming, a raw guttural scream like she was fearing for her life or something. It happened a couple of times and I went to look out the window, I was on the 5th floor of a large apartment building. I looked around to see if other people were showing concern or looking out of their windows but nothing. It happened again and sounded like it was coming from directly beneath my window, there was a small enclosed car park there but it was dark, I shone my phone's flashlight down there but couldn't see anything."

"I thought about calling the police. Then it happened again loudly and I made a split second decision to rush down there, I ran down there as quick as I could, already partially regretting the decision, and crept around to the rear of the building where the scream was coming from. It happened once more, like a blood-curdling scream. I shouted 'HEY!' as loud and intimidating as I could. Nothing happened. I was terrified, my heart was beating out of it's chest, adrenaline pumped, hands were shaking. I couldn't see anything, I put the flashlight on on my phone and shone it around. Nothing."

"Then, two foxes darted out from behind one of the cars. I watched them scurry off down the street with a wave of relief thinking 'It can't have been that?.' I looked around a little more and then went back up to my apartment and got on Google, and yes it was foxes."

"I had no idea, but the sound that foxes make when f'king or fighting or whatever they were doing sounds like witches being burned at the stake, and it's a horrifying thing to hear if you don't know what it is in the middle of the night."

F**kTheseNewPlastics

Dude Looked Like A Demon

"After getting evicted from our apartment, my sister and I lived in a station wagon with our mom for almost a month. One night, we were parked in a lot kind of hidden behind some dumpsters. It was just my sister and me, trying to sleep when we woke up to someone tapping on the window. It was an old man with a scraggly beard and these wet lesions all over his face. He smiled at us and told us in this raspy voice, 'Hey, roll down the window.' In the dim light from the streetlamp, he looked like a demon pressing his face against the window glass. We shook our heads and held each other as he went around the station wagon checking each door to see if it would open."

"Eventually, he came back to the rear and this time he wasn't smiling but looking really angry and demented. He started slamming on the back window and telling us to 'Open the f'king window!" I remember being terrified that he was going to break the glass with his fists."

"He suddenly stopped and walked away when an SUV pulled in and shone its headlights on him. I don't know if it was a cop or a security guard or just someone driving by, but it was enough to scare him away. My sister and I jumped out of the car as the SUV pulled away. We went to the laundromat and sat in there for the rest of the night."

useonce736492

Like A Horror Movie

"I was driving home from Target at around 8PM at night and got the feeling the car behind me was following me. I started taking a very weird, circuitous way and they stayed behind me...not tailgating, but close enough to not lose me. Finally, they turned and I breathed a sigh of relief..."

"...until I turned on a side street, saw an idling car with its lights off, and the HEADLIGHTS CAME ON and they started following me again. I was freaking out and drove as fast as I safely could to the small-town police station. When they saw me turn into the parking lot, they sped off. I sat there until my adrenaline calmed down a bit, and then I drove home and promptly burst into tears. Closest I've ever come to living out a horror movie."

BarracudaImpossible4

The Church Next Door

I've seen a lot since I used to live in a bad part of town, but the one that really stood out was when one of the wiremen was literally burnt into a crisp.

We were at the church next door which was at the 2nd floor and had a big window, from the back you could see the wireman doing something, but then suddenly he grabbed hold on a live wire, he tensed up started shaking and he couldn't let go, people tried getting him down using wooden sticks but it only caused him to fall down still clinging on the live wire, I didn't see anything else after him falling down but our neighbors said his clothes were burnt off and he was literally charred and unrecognizable.

- FaoLOr64

Back from Wendy's

My grandmother and I got some fast food for dinner and on our way back to our neighborhood. A good 10ish miles away from the restaurant that involved getting on and off a freeway. I noticed the car behind us was the same as the one behind us in the drive thru. And was making all our same turns.

We thought what are the chances they were a fellow neighborhood resident who also picked up Wendy's for dinner. But as they turned on our specific street, we knew something was up. We immediately kept going and left our neighborhood and got back on the freeway to go to our local police station.

About another 15 miles of freeway of following us in various lanes they abandoned their mission and violently drove across 3 lanes and onto an off ramp leaving us on the freeway. Good thing too because around then we realized we were really low on gas.

Our theory was these people saw an elderly woman with a handicap license plate picking up food and going home to eat it as an easy target for a possible home invasion/kidnapping etc.

- Moonlight150

The Rammer!!

I was on my way home from work and there was a car parked sideways in the road, blocking both lanes. I stopped and waited a couple of minutes, waiting for the driver to go, he didn't move, so I honked my horn. At this, he pulled around and tried to ram me. I was able to get around him and head for home, but he kept chasing me, trying to run me off of the road. I am a fairly good size guy, about 35 years old at the time, but there was no way I was going to confront this crazy butt hole.

So I sped away, trying to get home without being rammed, I couldn't lose him, and there was no way I was going to lead him to my house, so I drove to the police station, and went inside and he sped off. He must have been from out of the area because he didn't know that only the lobby was open at that hour, and there were no cops there. He very well could have followed me in, there was no one there to help me, just a phone that rings the county police dispatcher.

- Another_Russian_Spy

The Arsonist

When I was 19 I was 7 months pregnant with my oldest daughter. I still lived with my parents and came home after work around 1130pm. I usually checked that the vehicles were locked before going inside. But this night I was overcome with a sense of immense fear. I wouldn't even look towards my parents vehicles and hurried into the house. Twenty minutes later a guy is knocking on our door telling us that my parents SUV was on fire and to get out of the house, saving our lives and we called 911.

There was a serial arsonist on the loose in our town and when he was caught and he confessed he admitted to watching me come home that night and how he was preparing to hurt me in case I had caught him, but I never looked over his direction as he was sitting in my parents SUV when I had arrived home. It took years before I was able to be out at night alone.

- An_allergic_reaction

Close Calls

B (said friend) and I were meeting at the local abbey's to say hi to friends in the parking lot because that's what you do in a small town. As we left we drove through the small neighborhood that was behind the pizza place, we came up to a four way stop, and stopped like one does. Then as we start to pull through, this man in a huge truck blows the stop sign and almost hits us. We were shook up but wrote it off an an accident and kept driving. About a mile down the road B noticed that the guy was behind us, thinking it may be a coincidence he took a random turn to drive in a circle and he followed us. He kept yo-yoing behind us trying to act like he was going to hit us with his truck. We start driving towards the police station and turned off into another neighborhood to try to lose him in. As we were driving around we took a wrong turn onto a dead end street.

The man in the truck blocked us in, got out of his truck and was just absolutely screaming and trying to get us out of the truck. He kept going to the back of his truck and yelling he would show us a real lesson. I called the cops and we waited. It took the cops 20 minutes to show up and the man just kept escalating, I was on the phone screaming to the operator because he was making it very clear he was going to shoot us every time he came up to our window. I have no doubt he would have if the cops didn't show up. I'm so sorry you had to experience what you did... I'm so glad that you're safe!

- Mycatbigmomma

Underwater

When I was about 6 my parents dropped me off at this swimming lesson class. now this was back in China over 2 decades ago, i remember that class had a lot of students. anyways i was scared of the water and didn't want to go in and the teacher got frustrated and just tossed me in the deep end. to this day i remember clearly the panic i felt, the sheer fear as i choked and gaged on the pool water as i sunk lower and lower. it felt like ages before the teacher shoved a long pole into the pool for me to grab onto to pull me out. i remember the sensation of panic and edges of my vision getting dark.

For several years after i was so terrified of water going over my face that i had trouble showering and washing my hair. i had to force myself to take a deep breath, go under the water and scrub as fast as i can and step out. every time my heart rate would go crazy and i would be on the edge of a panic attack.

anyways it wasn't till i was in my mid 20s that this even came up during a family visit and my grandmother told me that when grandpa found out, he got so mad he called in favors from his army buddies (literally old revolutionary soldiers from Maos days) to go in there with high ranking government officials to scare the hell out of that swimming school/teacher.

- Illidariislove

Duck and Cover

It's more creepy than horrifying. This was right after the mass Las Vegas shooting. I was at my sister's keeping her company (her husband was out of town) and we had her two young children. We were talking about the shooting and how probably a lot of people don't run away at the start of a mass shooting b/c gunfire in real life doesn't sound like it does on TV.

At that very moment, we heard this BANG BANG BANG and I thought it was someone trying to kick in her door. We took the kids to the bedroom and hit the panic button on her security system. It wasn't someone trying to kick in the door. Someone had shot through her front door.

- Kikabennet

To my Throat

One time my mom put a knife to my neck and told me that she'd rather see me dead than to have a child who would not do everything she demanded. my mind went blank and i wasn't feeling anything. it left such an impression on me that i still heard her voice screaming my name even after i moved away from home.

- doubledoorfridge

"OOO ARRRR"

lisa kudrow wow GIF by The Comeback HBOGiphy

18 years ago I was flatting with someone, she had a trip she went on, which left me in the house by myself.

I woke up in the middle of the night, it was almost pitch black and I looked over and saw someone in my room.

I had a huge dose of adrenaline and I tried to yell out in the toughest voice I could "WHO ARE YOU???" but I was half asleep and it came out like a pirate "OOO ARRRR"

It sounds funny to type that, but in the moment it was terrifying.

I rolled over in my double bed to gain about 10 inches of distance between us and tried again "WHO ARE YOU!" but again I said "OOO ARRR!!!"

At this point I realised any attempt at sounding like a tough guy had just gone out the window and the panic was rising, until I woke up a little bit more and realised I was yelling at my towel that I'd draped on my computer chair.

I find it hilarious now, but at the time it was horrifying.

- d38

The Memory

it's not supernatural or weird, but I was with my dad when he died. He had cancer (sarcoma), and towards the end his body just started failing. He was in a medically-induced coma for the last week of his life, and my mother made the difficult decision to pull the plug when it was determined the cancer had taken over and he wouldn't pull through. In the small hospital room when it was time there was myself, my mother, my older sister, 4 of my dad's closest relatives, a doctor and nurse, and a woman who was there to read his last rites.

It was shockingly quiet apart from us softly crying and the woman reading the religious stuff (I'm not religious, so I'm not sure what the proper terminology is here). My dad's face turned a purplish-blue shade and his body lightly convulsed... and then it was just over in a couple minutes. At the time I was 17, probably in shock, and very sad, but I didn't think I would linger over the memory as much as I do even now as a 24 year old.

- AspiringSubS**t

In Atlanta

My son having an anaphylactic reaction while we driving down a major interstate in Atlanta. I had to pull over on the side of 285 (the interstate) and give him an epipen injection. I called 911 and told them I was driving to CHOA (Children's Healthcare of Atlanta) emergency department and coming in hot, and to be ready. Thankfully, we weren't far from the hospital. I have never been so terrified in my entire life.

- AlysonWonderland7

Eyes Open

This happened just a few weeks ago, and maybe it will get better with time. But I literally watched my mom die. She was on hospice care for multiple medical issues but the major thing was she had a stroke leaving her paralyzed and kept developing pneumonia. Back in October, she was sent home from the hospital and we were told that medication was no longer working to treat it and that, she shouldn't be brought back in for it. Fast forward to the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and she was sent to the ER for a basic procedure that Home health just couldn't do. So she gets to the hospital, and they run tests and everything that could be wrong is, high potassium, signs of heart failure, signs of liver and kidney failure.

They told us she wouldn't make it through the night. We knew my mom wanted to die at home but the doctors didn't think she would survive the EMS ride back. Her PCP which is the greatest doctor ever personally came in, (without anyone asking) had the ER do a few things and they agreed she was stable enough to be sent home. Hospice came that night, and my mom did okay for a few days but then went downhill fast. My dad asked me to stay with him and luckily I was working remote. On December 3rd I woke up having a panic attack, I don't remember a dream or anything, and I just knew that was the last day we'd have her.

She was doing okay that morning but was in a steady decline. We were giving her big morphine doses and doing our best but she just couldn't breathe. She sounded funny almost like she was snoring, but her oxygen and heart rate was fine. My dad went to check on her 5 minutes later, and I was in there too. At first, we thought everything was okay but then her pulse was really low teens and her oxygen dropped to 10, my dad held her and told her "it was okay to let go and her eyes opened and stared directly at me.

- cantyoukeepasecret

across the pavement...

In 2016 I laid my motorcycle down going about 45mph. When I knew I was going to wreck, I had just enough time to realize that this was not going to be good. Everything went black and I 'came to' standing in the middle of the road watching the crash. I watched my body flop across the pavement and didn't really care.

Everything was more 'real' than I've ever known. The colors were brighter and just more, the birds chirped in the most beautiful way you could imagine. Everything was super focused body and bike, they looked different somehow. I don't know how to describe it.

I noticed a male presence (that I never saw) silently pushed me and I was back in my body. I sat up in the ditch, wiped the blood from my eyes and slowly got up and started walking for help. (I was by myself, couldn't lift my bike, and hadn't told anyone where I was going.)

I made a lot of mistakes that day, going alone without having my license, taking back roads I wasn't familiar with, not wearing gear, not wearing a helmet, etc. I was dumb but that experience changed my life.

- Pyroclasmic88

BOOM

Slept through but my roommate told me about it. I was asleep while he was playing video games when I suddenly sat up and said " Screw this thunder, yo" and laid down immediately after. 2 seconds later a jet flew overhead and created a sonic boom.

- bigbulk94

Blood Everywhere!

I was out to eat with my family, and my dad, who is usually super calm, while about to eat a Cubano sandwich he always orders at our spot, yells "holy S**T!" and turned white. I asked what happened, and he stammered that some guy just fell. I turn around and there is a man on the pavement motionless. Without thinking, I darted out of the restaurant and crossed the street without even looking to try and help him. I am lucky I didn't get hit by car doing so. Well, it was too late. He was dead. Blood was absolutely pouring out of his mouth, head, nose. I shouted at him to try to get him to respond and he laid motionless. I then turned my back on him and called 911. Someone must have already called, or by chance, a fire truck was nearby. They rushed over, but it was too late. Threw immediately threw a white sheet over him. A week later, a detective called me.

They ruled out suicide, so, it may have been an accident, or a homicide. He had fallen from the 5th floor around dinner time. I saw his face for weeks randomly. I still have no idea what happened. Haven't been back to that restaurant since. The messed up thing, was his blood strain was on the pavement for months after, faintly there, people walked right past it likely unknowing. The red tape that clung to the pole remained barely attached, weathering away. No one ever put flowers out for this guy. I wonder if he could hear me, screaming at him, or if he was already dead.

- ttmoodaat

In Hiding

I had a step-dad and he was heavily on drugs. My mom finally decided to leave him after 6 years when he threatened our lives. We had to go into hiding and get a restraining order. We later moved in with my nana, not so far from the area where we originally lived. There was nothing more scary than seeing a car that looked similar to his or going to the store and seeing someone who looked like him. You would basically freeze in fear.

- Disoriented_Neptune

Miles Away....

When I was a kid I was woken up by what I thought was an explosion. I thought maybe the furnace exploded or something. I got up and crept around but nothing was amiss. I found out the next day it was a sonic boom from an AF base probably 15 miles away. The pilot wasn't supposed to do that so it's not like something that regularly happened.

- Chairish

Mom's U-turn Save

It was the creepiest thing to happen to me.

When I was 15, my mom dropped me off at our town center's library to meet with my friend. We were supposed to meet there for a school project. She dropped me off and left to do errands.

As I was heading in, there was this homeless guy sitting on the nearby bench. I froze (strange feeling came over) and speed walked in without looking at him much.

While looking for a book for the project, my mom popped up out of nowhere. Less than two minutes had passed. She makes pleasantries with me and taking me through the sections.

She tells me to pretend to look for a book on the bottom shelf. Weirded out, I do. She then tells me,

"You're being followed by the same homeless dude. He's not alone."

Low and behold, the dude is pretending to look around, but still trying to keep me in his line of vision. With another person. Couldn't tell if it was another guy or woman. My mom noticed this as she was pulling out of the library parking lot and pulled a U turn. I don't remember how we got out of his sight. My friend luckily couldn't make it that day.

- ASeriesofWierdEvents

Far Gone

Finding my 49 year old mother dead of an overdose when I was 17. I did CPR on her but didn't realize she'd been dead for 4 hours already by that point.

- kalooboo

Senior Year

Senior year of college I was living with my brother and came home to find him dead. He had ODed that morning while I was in class. We lived about a half hour out of town and I had been certified as a Wilderness First Responder that spring through NOLS. In hindsight I wish I had slowed down and not put myself through the hell but the training kicked in and I did everything I knew to try and revive him. There is a recording somewhere of me screaming at the 911 dispatch knowing he was already gone because his body was already in rigor mortis.

But that dispatcher kept coaxing me to keep doing CPR until other EMS arrived. They got there and I walked out. A sheriff showed up as I was walking out of the house and asked who I was and what I was doing. Almost attacked him and then went into the front yard and broke down. I was the one that called my parents to tell them. I know I will have bad days again in my life but I really just hope nothing will ever be worse than that day.

- Nevernever33

Fence Jumper

When I was around 13 I had a tendency to stay up late and try to beat my current n64 game of choice over a weekend. One night I had decided to move my stuff to the living room, now keep in mind our house had a hallway connected to the bedrooms but the hallway had a door for some reason, so after moving everything to the living room I closed the door for the hallway to not wake up anyone, about two hours into my gaming session I started hearing tapping noises, so I paused my game and the noises stopped, then for ten minutes it got louder yet this time coming from the sliding glass door in the den.

At this point I ran to get my dad, he ran out of his room and went out back only to see someone jump the fence.

Turned out that a local mental hospital had an escape early that evening according to the police who arrived, what was more creepy was the glass on the window was very close to breaking. I never once played video games in the living room again and now I suffer from night terrors and a severe fear of looking out Windows or doors at night.

- spicypanda66

...steamed??

A few years ago I was sleeping then all of a sudden I wake up, then start hearing sounds in my room. It's kinda hard to explain but something like the sound of your furniture when you put something on it? Or like the sound it makes during an earthquake? Like that. In this case, I was hearing it all around my room, like there was something jumping across everywhere. I was terrified lol I was aware some crap was happening but I was too scared to peek around (at this point I was hiding under my blanket).

Eventually the sounds stopped and I gained enough courage to stick out my arm and reach my phone which was on my nightstand. I turn it on and notice it's... steamed?? Like, it had condensation all over the screen. Nothing else seemed out of place after that, and I had a really hard time going to sleep again that night.

- Anal_Milk_Popsicle

More MEDS!

I have one more... When I gave birth to my son by c-section, my nurse on shift forgot to refill my morphine drip in the hours after my surgery. So my pain meds completely wore off exposing me to the full pain of having had my abdomen sliced open and I absolutely panicked. The pain was excruciating. I had to lay there suffering while my nurse went to get more for the drip which took quite awhile. The only thing I knew to do was breathe the same way I would in natural childbirth (which I had already experienced), to keep me from passing out from the pain. That experience left me traumatized for awhile.

- starshinefirebubble

Get Out!

Trying to get home one day I found the entrance to my road blocked off by several cops with bloody big guns. Turned out the man who killed 51 muslims and injured as many more was knocked off the road directly by my house. The whole area was evacuated because the shooter's car was wired to explode.

- tenebraenz

In the Sierra Leone

My father was deployed with the U.N. in Sierra Leone during the civil war two decades ago. If you know anything about the subject, I'm sure you can imagine what would happen to a man after seeing the things that went on there. While I was growing up, my father wasn't an alcoholic or addict, but something inside him had snapped. He did a good job of covering it up, but when he was angry it was truly something else.

On one specific occasion I was being a miserable child (as 11 yr olds do) and he grabbed my neck and screamed at me about how he had taken the lives of countless men in Africa, how he had witnessed and killed child soldiers younger than me, how my life could be snuffed out for being an ungrateful sh!t to him. Worst of all, even though this was in anger, he said all these things with pride. He told me that he was three times the man I'd ever be. I still remember the date, February 15th 2014, because I thought I'd one day prove him wrong. Took me a long time to understand that I wasn't the one at fault for what he said.

- funky-lesbian

In the Room

All throughout my childhood whenever I slept in my parents room I had to have the door to their closet shut. If it wasn't shut I would see shadowy figures wall through the door, they would disappear if I shut my eyes for a minute but yeah it was pretty creepy. Fast forward to high school and we have redone our house and a corner of my room now takes up where that closet door used to be. My junior year of high school we got a new dog. This dog would sleep everywhere in my house, except my room. Whenever he was in my room at night he would stand in the center of my room, stare at the corner that the closet was once in and whimper.

I could not get him to calm down unless I let him out of my room. During this time I would also hear scratching coming from this corner, which I know people might say it could be a mouse in the wall or a bird or something, but these scratches were distinctly different from the sound nice make. They also sounded like a much larger thing was making them. The sounds have since stopped and I sure as hell hope they don't come back. I'm sure I'm missing some stuff, I'll add it if I remember it.

- woohoo1900

JUMP!

will smith run GIFGiphy

My friend and I dumbly decided to explore an abandoned asylum (one from like the 40s) and got hunted by a guy with a knife and had to jump out a window and landed in a gross disgusting lake... I can still feel that nasty, gross lake water in my nose.

- wrong47

Fallen

When I was 20, I was visiting my neighbor and helping with a project when his 3 year old came around the corner with a bad head injury. She had fallen off her kiddie swing, and hit the back of her head on a rock. While her parents were wrapping her wound up and getting into the car, I called 911 and informed the operator of the injury, and what hospital they were going to. Even told them what model of car so they could inform police about why they would be speeding.
I still get chills every time I think about it. There was so much blood. It's a particular kind of sinking feeling to know that there's nothing you can do when someone's badly injured.

- manatarms1989

Tears of Joy

A few years ago I had a relationship with a girl who literally went from waking up in the morning and just sitting in her bed in tears of joy because she was convinced I was her soulmate, planning her future with me, meeting my parents and having her think she was lovely, to essentially just waking up one day and losing all feelings practically overnight. No explanation or even any desire to explore why, and I got the impression she didn't even understand why herself.

Just an incredibly haunting moment of acceptance, like she just "knew" and had to go with it.

The fact that this is even possible within the human condition honestly terrifies me. She was so completely convinced we were meant to be, too. She was always looking ahead towards our future together, right down to details like how she wanted to have a pet fish when we moved in together one day. Then just... nothing.

- flameylamey

I Shut Down

My alcoholic brother went into a rage and my entire family had to hold him down. My mother punched him in the face because he wouldn't stop cursing the family and saying awful things.

It doesn't sound special, but I remember in the moment thinking how bizarre my life was. It was an otherwise normal family that was holding my brother down with cops on the way.

I had a panic attack an hour later when my body finally caught up with what had happened. I'm not that type of person who can't take stuff. My whole body shut down.

- king063

10 Years On

Family members murdered. It messed me up nice and good.

To add, the party responsible stalked my mother for two years

It's been over a decade and I'm still in therapy.

- DomDeluisArmpitChild

Florida

I love to have my windows and screen doors open on the rare cool evenings that we have in Florida. There was this one night where I heard the unmistakable sound of someone trying to open my back door. The handle is really old and it squeaks loudly when you squeeze the button. Thankfully, I'm pretty paranoid so I keep everything locked. I often wonder what would have happened if it wasn't locked. It wouldn't have taken much to get inside anyway. I'm just glad whoever it was, didn't want to bother.

- fastfood12

Near Home

When I was about 9 years old, I went to the park near my house with my older sister (17) and her boyfriend (18 or 19). My sister and her boyfriend were walking around the track while I played on the playground there. It was early evening/dusk so I was the only one on the playground. After 10 minutes or so a middle aged man walked up and started talking to me. Can't remember the exact things he was saying and asking me, but I do remember him slowly getting closer and closer to me. I was on a platform with one of those bridges connected to it and he was on the ground at the other end of the bridge at first and slowly made it to the platform.

My sister and her boyfriend came into view on the track about the time I started getting nervous and he asked if it was my parents. (They were still a little ways away so I doubt he could tell how young they were) I said no that it was my sister and her boyfriend and he hurriedly said goodbye and left. I can't say for sure that anything would have happened had they not came around then but I'm sure glad that they did.

- mynameizbrian

Killer Nuggets & Tea

Sipping Boba Fett GIFGiphy

It wasn't like a horrifying moment from a horror movie but just generally scary to think about. When I was like 6 or 7 years old, I chocked on a chicken nugget. I remember just trying to call for help but couldn't.

Then a neighbor understood my hands banging on everything and my probably purple face and then preformed heimlich maneuver and succeeded. When I got home (I was at my neighbor's house when eating it) and told my parents they freaked out. My blood vessels above ny eyes had popped, like as if I had freckles and my nose was filled with weird thing which I couldn't find out what it was. As for the neighbor that saved my life, we gave him a nice tea set. He said he enjoyed it. And if you wanna know, when i was chocking I did not have my life flash before my eyes or anything, I just thought that I NEEDED help.

- notabot_gamer

Until Paris...

When I was 10 coming back from Guadeloupe, our dc10 of AOM airlines hit some cumulonimbus head during the night and literally stalled sideways for several thousand feet. Everyone was asleep and completely taken by surprise since the flight was so calm until that moment. I hit my head on the baggage compartment since I did not have my seatbelt on (but thankfully no injury). I was dead scared for my life and I only have memory flashes of people screaming and of my mother's face holding me down onto my seat with an impassible expression. We eventually resumed leveled flight until Paris in the morning. I don't have any recollection of how I felt for the remaining of the flight.

My kid's fascination for airplanes completely yielded to severe aerophobia until that pre-9/11 day when a nice British Airways 737 captain invited me in the flight deck after a flight attendant told him there was a scared kid in the back who was on that flight from a couple months ago. He gave me the pep talk, the complete tour of the instruments and systems and had me stay for landing. That cured me instantly. Luckily a kid's fear is like clay. You can reshape it before it sets for life.

- Chapachpa

That Guy!!

One night when I was 10 we were at an away camp. The campsite had other groups there, but we had separate cabins for boys and girls where we were staying (obviously).

One night me and the other boys decided to sneak over to the girls cabin and bang on their windows to scare them.

We waited will probably midnight, then sneaked on over making sure to not wake up counselors.

We rounded the last corner of the cabin and standing at the window peaking in was a man in a white shirt, probably 30s.

We were absolutely terrified it was a ghost or something so we bolted terrified back to our cabins (we'd been telling our own scary stories).

We never got caught leaving, and we never told our counselors because we thought we'd get in trouble for sneaking out. No clue what the guy was doing or would have done if we didn't happen upon him by chance.

- Bbiron01

Nope. Nope. NOPE!

come at me bruce campbell GIF by Ash vs Evil DeadGiphy

I was out at a pretty secluded lookout near my town you need to drive through some forest and some dirt roads In the hills to get to it.

So I'm sitting there with a friend just taking in the view and this car comes flying down and blocks us in with spotlights turned on and someone gets out and starts coming towards us with a freaking chainsaw. Noped the hell out of there. Started my car and just hit the gas managed to get out of there, they gave chase and stopped once I got to the main highway.

- suicide_nashline

REDDIT

People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

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

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

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

– Practical_Eye_3600

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

– bikergirlr7

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

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

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

– KingBooRadley

Remember

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

– AquamarineCheetah

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

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

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

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

– OhhGoood

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

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

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

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

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

– RandomSharinganUser

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

– Kolkeia

If Only

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

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

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

– drummerskillit

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

– Isitjustmedownhere

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

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

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

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

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

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

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

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

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

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

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

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

– We-R-Doomed

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

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

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

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

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

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

– LesPaltaX

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

– MoonlightKayla

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

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

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

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

PeachesnPain

Recovery

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

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

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

good_golly99

Take Me Back

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

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

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

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

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

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

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

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

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

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

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

Hannah_LL7

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

huntokarrr

The Fog

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

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

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

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

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

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

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

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

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

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

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

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

– r7ndom

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

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

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

– dee-fondy

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

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

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

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

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

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

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

– KatMagic1977

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

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

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

– WaySavvyD

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

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

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

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

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

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

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

– LiZZygsu

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

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

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

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

– Princess-Pancake-97

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

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

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

– snic2030

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

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

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

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

– dma1965

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

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

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