We all have our fears. What might be soul-crushingly terrifying to one person is a casual romp to another. However, what we can all agree on is the feeling we have when we're afraid, as evidenced by these following stories.


Reddit user, u/az1mo, wanted to know the horrifying truth when they asked:

What is the scariest thing you have ever experienced?

Seeing It Was Probably The Worst

I once had my foot cut off in a car accident. The doctor reattached it. Lots of nerve damage.

I fall down occasionally. Most of the time I don't. I worry that at some point in my life it will be amputated. I fear the concept of ruining my body.

SilverWingsofMorning

Who Knows What Evil Lurks...?

Giphy

Amphetamine induced psychosis. I spent a period of time addicted to crystal meth, and the psychosis one goes through after having not slept for days at a time is scary.

You see "shadow people." You believe everyone is out to get you. Every conversation out of your earshot is about you. Your delusions become very real. At one point I though there were leprechauns that were out to kill me. I saw the leprechauns. I heard them whispering and plotting against me. It's insane. I'm so glad that's in the past!

eternalrefuge86

A Close Call With The Ocean

Got caught in a riptide 200 yards of shore with all of my family, including my at the time 6 year old little sister. We all made it out fine except my dad. He was so exhausted from carrying my sister that he was barely able to stay afloat, they had to send a rescue crew to get him. We all made it out alive, thank God

PD_120

An Awful Situation Where People Watch

Probably the aftermath of a grand mal/tonic-clonic seizure in which I fractured a vertebra. I woke up on the ground with two strangers over me while I was in the worst pain I had ever experienced and I didn't know where I was or who these people were (turned out to be EMTs) or why I was in too much pain to move.

They kept asking really simple questions and I just didn't know the answers which freaked me out more. It was May and they asked what month it was. I thought really hard and didn't know and I looked outside and thought it looked like August and gave that as my guess. They asked where I was. I didn't know that either; it turned out to be my living room.

My girlfriend was also right there, having called the ambulance. They asked me my girlfriend's name. I said I didn't have a girlfriend. This was a very different form of negative emotion, I feel so guilty about that even though there was nothing I could have done about it. I also feel guilty about having had a seizure in front of her because it scared the sh-t out of her.

314159265358979326

Feel. The. Burn.

I pour steel in a foundry.

I've had a mold blow up on my legs causing 3rd degree burns down my legs.

Still dealing with aftercare now about it.

brodellthe6th

Hearing The Oncoming Strike

My wife was stationed in Hawaii when they had the false incoming missile warning.

I was not.

She called me and we basically said our goodbyes. Then she lost phone service. I thought that was it. She called me back only a few seconds later, but it seemed like an eternity.

_iNerd_

Hear It Before You See It

Hearing a car crash right outside my apartment.

Afterwards hearing blood curdling screams of pain from the guy that was injured.

That sh-t was too real. All the people gathering outside to watch and make sure someone called an ambulance.

illyay

...Probably Time To Get Out Of Here

Giphy

One day me and a friend were playing in the woods. We spent a good 3-4 hours there because it was sunny and a day before Christmas Eve

I realized I forgot something there the next day. It's now Christmas Eve, and it snowed a whole inch over night. As I'm walking to the spot where we were. I noticed that someone set up (in a previously trashed area that someone probably camped in) 5 expensive foldable chairs in a semi circle with a ladder and a noose in the middle.

I bolted out of there because if someone is crazy enough to set that up in the middle of the night when it's snowing on Christmas Eve, then they might have still been there waiting for someone

Havosian

Unable To Do A Thing

My wife and I had already lost twins @ 8 weeks and a daughter at 20 weeks and suffered under years of infertility.

We had twins - they came early. Neither one was breathing, and my wife's BP was critically dropping. As a father in the ER, I had 3 of the people I loved most in this world in severe medical distress, and I had no idea what to do for any of the three. I was useless, in the way and paralyzed with fear about what was going to happen. I have never felt so helpless in my entire life.

RoboNinjaPirate

What's the most terrifying thing you've ever suffered through? Let us know about it!