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."
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."
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."
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."
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."
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."
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
"OOO ARRRR"
lisa kudrow wow GIF by The Comeback HBO
Giphy
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
...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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
JUMP!
will smith run GIF
Giphy
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Killer Nuggets & Tea
Sipping Boba Fett GIF
Giphy
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.
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.
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 Dead
Giphy
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.
When we're intoxicated, or even the slightest bit tipsy from having a little too much to drink, our immediate perspective on things is hazy.
But there's nothing like a bit of alarming news or a jarring incident to snap us out of the fog and focus on the moment.
Sometimes alcohol isn't always to blame for our impairment.
It can be a state of mind, like a perpetual numbness from being complacent in life, and all it takes is one shocking moment to rattle us back to our senses.
Curious to hear from strangers online about this type of scenario, Redditor Known_Challenge_7150 asked:
"What’s one thing that sobered you up real quick?"
These individuals were witness to shocking events that sobered them up right quick.
Bleeding Out
"Got out of a taxi and found a naked man profusely bleeding from his head crawling up the driveway in my condo. Called him an ambulance completely forgot I was absolutely wasted until 45 minutes later when I'd helped him translate and in to an amublance and stepped in my front door."
"Later a few days later learned he'd slipped in the tub and literally crawled out for help. Poor dude. He was fine but I genuinely thought he was going to die there."
– DongLaiCha
Tragic News
"At a bachelor party and we got a phone call that the groom’s father had suddenly passed."
– accountnameredacted
Bottom Of The Barrel
"I went to visit my parents back in July. I was homeless and deep into fentanyl addiction so I lost a lot of weight. My folks could see it. They knew something was up. Anyway, I spent the night and I was getting ready to leave in the morning and I looked at myself in the mirror for a good long time. I finally had enough and told them everything. They took me to detox, from there I went to rehab. Graduated in August and been living with them ever since then. I have 160 days clean and sober."
– Crotch-Monster
A reality check can be enough for some people to snap out of it.
Like Father, Like Son
"Was driving a drunk friend home, he had been on a bender again and was smart enough to call me for a lift rather than try and drive. As I helped in to his house his mother came down the stairs and said 'your as drunk as your father' and went back upstairs. I haven't seen him drunk since then, he still drinks but the thought of turning into his dad scared him out of hard drinking."
– psycospaz
Busted
"Flashing blue lights."
– FiddleOfGold
"This sobered me up just thinking about it."
– redmaple_syrup
Losing Sight
"Woke up to no sight in one eye. I had cataract surgery so just thought one of the lenses had slipped and it was an easy fix. Eye doc says nope, you had a stroke. I loved soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and salty food, which caused high blood pressure, which caused retina damage. Over six months was able to get most of my eyesight back with medication, and all back within a year. Trying to navigate life with one eye was very sobering. Started taking HBP much more seriously."
– MissHibernia
Quitting The Bottle
"Looked up someone I went to highschool with who was an awesome guy. Found out he had been dead for 3 years from alcoholism, at age 33. I made an overnight change. I hadn't started drinking that night yet, 10 months ago. Haven't touched it again since."
– omgtater
These disturbing moments were enough for Redditors to immediately come to their senses.
Unplanned House Guests
"Me and a buddy Woke up in someone’s living room, realized neither one of us knew the people, they were just nice and let 2 drunk guys sleep on their living room floor. We didn’t even say goodbye."
– Oneinsevenbillion75
Serious Health Warning
"Elevated liver enzymes."
"And the knowledge that this sh** was gonna kill me and I just couldn't orphan my family over it."
"So I opted for recovery, instead."
"Clean and sober since June 5, 2009."
– Far_Meal8674
The Joyride
"Grew up in a rural area. The little town hosted dances at the hockey arena, everyone (adults and kids) went and they overserved everyone, regardless of age. I was maybe 16 or 17 and was absolutely sh*tfaced, and jumped in the back of someone's truck with about 8 other people to go back to someone's cottage for after dance drinking. The driver (still don't know who it was) started racing one of his buddies and we whipped around small dirt roads, flying around blind corners on the wrong side of the road, going god knows how fast. It was basically a disaster waiting to happen. It was crazy scary and I was sober and thankful to be alive when we finally arrived."
– foxfood9116
The human psyche is a fascinating thing, isn't it?
How we can automatically focus on something urgent at a crucial time, even after getting buzzed from drinking too much alcohol.
But as we're in the thick of the holidays, it's a good reminder to drink responsibly and stay off the roads if you drive to your celebratory destination.
Cheers. Stay safe. And happy holidays.
We've all complained or vented about something in our lives which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't exactly a problem, or is very easily solved.
Then there are those who complain about things that others almost hope will happen to them at some point in their lives.
These are known as "first world problems", as they are problems that pretty much only the world's one percent faces.
From having to fly business class instead of first class, or being served Roederer instead of Dom Pérignon, these complaints are often met with amusement, bewilderment, or even anger.
Redditor jennimackenzie was curious to hear the most absurd "first world problems" anyone ever complained about, leading them to ask:
"What’s the most ridiculous 'first world problem' you’ve seen people get worked up over?"
"Tale As Old As Time..."
"I once knew a mom who was legitimately devastated, to the point of tears/grief, because a doctor predicted her 8 year old daughter's final height to be around 5'2","
"Which wasn't tall enough to get cast as Belle at Disney World."
"That was the child's (and her mother's) only dream in life, apparently."
"Didn't appreciate my suggestion that she could be Minnie or Mickey."
"Lol!"
"Only a face character would do!"- TravelLovingMom
"Must Be Funny, In A Rich Man's World..."
"My boss from about a decade ago was this insanely rich dude who always went to the bank to get fresh and crisp currency."
"He'd call the bank in advance to make sure they had some on hand."
"I think he was a germaphobe."
"He had a trash can that he'd throw $1 and $5 bills in that he thought was 'dirty' and regularly just donated it vs spending it."
"I asked him why he did this and he said it was too much trouble and asked if I wanted it."
"I said f*ck yeah dumped it into my bag and when I got home it was close to $400 in singles and fives.
"Another time, he wanted to upgrade all the computers in his studio, so we went to a store and bought 10 PCs."
"They all had $150 mail in rebates and he wasn't bothered to go through the trouble of mailing them in."
"3 weeks later I received $1500 after spending a whole afternoon filling out all those goddamn forms."- azninvasion2000
Money Burn GIF by nog
Giphy
Who Wore It Better?
"When I was about 19 years old, I was at my boyfriends family BBQ."
"I was wearing this pretty floral sundress."
"His cousins girlfriend showed up in the same dress and she was SO mad that she went and changed."
"I will never understand being upset when someone is wearing the same thing as you.'
"Did you really think that your shirt you bought off the rack is going to be unique to you?"
"No."- mertsey627
Seeing Red! Or Blue In This Case...
"The blue of the balloons wasn't quite the same as the bridesmaid's sashes."
"Years ago my wife and I attended a wedding."
"It was very low key."
"The dinner was in the dining hall at the university where the couple met, cinder block walls and all."
"It was a Baptist wedding - no booze and very serious."
"The dark blue balloons attempting to liven up the hall were a slightly darker shade of blue than the sashes on the bridesmaid's dresses."
"The bride lost here sh*t and absolutely raved for nearly an hour."
"I can't remember how they finally managed to talk her down."- mechant_papa
south park wedding GIF
Giphy
See You In Court!
"Rich neighbors who end up in expensive court battles because they disagree about where a tree can be planted or whether the color of a fence fits in with the street’s 'amenity'."
'These disputes get really heated and rack up huge lawyers’ bills."
"The most pathetic part is after the judgement when they are arguing about who should pay the other party’s costs."
"Lots of affidavits filed citing the 'emotional distress' they had to endure, or painting themselves as brave warriors who were forced to take a stand to fight for 'justice'."
"Also lots of pompous litigants insisting that the judge refer to them by their 'Dr' title."
"An absolutely insane dumpster fire of entitled rich people problems."- ElectrocRaisin
It's Always People With Money Who Don't Want To Pay!
"I work in a public library."
"People will get so so mad if they have to be put on a wait list for a book."
"A popular book that just came out."
"Ok our services are not only free but so are the books."
"You’re welcome, a**holes."- Switchbladekitten
A Warm Butt Is A Happy Butt!
"My own."
"We have a bidet toilet seat (Fabulous! Everyone should have one!) and not only does it wash your bum and blow dry it, but the seat's heated!"
"It's shocking how much a heated toilet seat makes the whole process more agreeable."
"Except: We had a power outage and I went to use the toilet and the seat was cold!"
"Unacceptable!"
"This shall not stand!"
"I was really upset because it didn't feel good."
"Then I stopped and thought: This is the most first-world problem anyone's ever had."
"I was really pissed because my heiny was tepid."
"I got over it."- DeathGrover
homer simpson episode 23 GIF
Giphy
Holy Matrimony!
"Weddings are a gold mine for this question."
"People get so hyped up over their 'most important day of their life'."
"They'll destroy friendships, go into debt, and have crazy expectations."
"It's not always the couple who go crazy, either."
"Sometimes, it's the parents or another family member who feels entitled to control the wedding."
"It's just a party."
"Be considerate of guests, have plenty of food and drinks, and enjoy it."- magicrowantree
When Fast Food Isn't Fast Enough...
"Having to pull off to the side to wait for a drive-thru order to be brought out to you because your food isn't ready and there's a line building up behind you."- demanbmore
In Case You Don't Think Customer Service Employees Are Undervalued...
"I was working the return desk at a Target next to a military base so I have so many stories."
"One of my favorites was a lady who had her baby shower before revealing the gender and was livid that she had received floral newborn diapers when she’s having a boy."
"It was a huge box of super expensive, all organic diapers, that we didn’t carry and therefore could not return."
"I cannot accurately express her fury and disgust."
"How dare either suggest her boy could wear feminine diapers."
"I suggested she donate them if she didn’t want to use them and she instead threw away the entire box."
"When she left we pulled it out and threw it in our donate bin."
"There have also been multiple times where mom’s order massive toys and when we bring them out to the car they get furious that they aren’t wrapped."
"We don’t offer wrapping services."
"Here’s the thing, if you don’t want your kids to see the toys you got them for Christmas or their bit to day DON'T BRING THE CHILD WHEN YOU PICK IT UP."
'I’ve had multiple women scream and curse me out that I had ruined their kids Christmas by bringing the toys they ordered out to the car like they requested."- clever-mermaid-mae
Customer Service Waiting GIF by Juno Calypso
Giphy
Happiest Place On Earth!
"I used to work for Disney."
"That in itself should tell you everything."
"However for fun I'll give you two specific stories one form our tech department and one from my wife who worked bookings."
"I specifically worked for their call center to help with technical issues with magic band and the website."
"Suddenly got worse huh?"
"A right of passage call everyone has at least one story of is the 'Dome call'."
"Basically there is a subset of Disney Guest (TM) that believes if it rains at Walt Disney world there is someone that will push a button to encapsulate the whole of Disney property in a dome to keep out the rain."
"I'm not kidding."
"If this button is not pushed they call our tech department to angrily ask why."
"My wife worked booking."
"Pretty much everything including Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique and Pirate's league."
"These two things did roughly the same thing difference being price and theme."
"BBB was expensive did more and was focused on princesses, pirates league did a bit less and focused on mermaids and pirates."
"Lady called up my wife, and got pissed about BBB being booked up (It goes FAAAAST)."
"Karen: 'Im going to give the phone to my daughter and I want you to tell her how you are ruining her vacation by not letting her do BBB'."
"Wife proceeds to explain how pirate's league is so much cooler and how she can be a mermaid or pirate and basically gets the kid to start demanding to their parents about how they want to be a mermaid instead of a princess."- trollsong
Disney World GIF
Giphy
The horror!
Being booked into a junior suite at Disney World instead of an executive suite!
It's almost as bad as having no money for groceries, or no food to feed you children...
Said absolutely no one.