
Police Share The Most Absurd Situations They Stumbled Upon Without Being Called
[rebelmouse-image 18358748 is_animated_gif=What is that age old expression we've all used? "As luck would have it!" Who hasn't been on the receiving end of that? The funny thing about that sentiment though is it's lack of definition. I'd like to know... exactly what kind of luck will one be experiencing? As luck would have it, I've stumbled upon... money, love... trouble. That leaves a broad scope. And for many of our police and first responders this saying is an unfortunate way of life.
Redditor _imsophreshie asked Police officers of Reddit: What absurd situation have you just happened upon and realized NO ONE called the cops?
FOLLOW THE BLOOD...
I was responding to a disturbance call in a trailer park that turned out to be BS. As I was leaving I noticed a giant puddle of blood on the ground near a different trailer. Upon further inspection I realized that there was blood all over one of the doors complete with smeared hand prints and blood dripping off the door knob. It looked like a massacre!
I started pounding on the door and this junkie comes out and starts yelling at me for waking her up. I asked her if she was hurt and she said she wasn't she then proceeds to go crazy about all the blood. She has no idea where it came from.
I followed the ungodly amount of blood to a trailer about a block down where there is a giant party taking place. I ask the group of guys standing outside where the injured person is and they all go G-code on me and say they don't know what I am talking about (while standing in the blood trail). I push passed and continue down the road to Oz where at the end of it I find a guy in an what used to be an all white outfit that is now dark red attempting to control his massive head bleed on his own.
I later discovered that he had been trying to break into that other trailer when he drunkenly cut his head on the window that he broke out.
NEXT TIME GO TO IHOP...
[rebelmouse-image 18358749 is_animated_gif=Former LEO...worked a late shift and was driving home and decided to stop for some breakfast at waffle house. I noticed a few people flagging me down as I pulled into the parking lot (which was shared by an auto repair shop)...they point me to the back so I pull over and turn my spotlight on...
On the backside of the repair shop there was a dumpster, and there was a man laying down beside it behind the fence...I could see his feet. Then another homeless man walked out with a bowl and literally walked right by my car toward Waffle House (he was soaked btw).
So I walk over to the man laying down and he's unresponsive...I call in and EMT's arrive and the guy is dead (I still to this day have no idea how or why). I have the homeless guy waiting for me next to waffle house and I ask him what happened and he said "He was out cold, I was pouring water on him to keep him warm..."
Video from the auto shop shows guy walking and collapses next to dumpster (he wasn't shot or anything so who knows, heart attack, stroke, something)...and for 45min. this homeless man walked over to a water hose beside the waffle house, filled a bowl up and poured water on him because it was slightly cool outside and he didn't want him to get too cold (water was cold faucet water btw).
Literally nothing ever came close to the weirdness of that night in my entire career.
I NEVER LEAVE HOME WITHOUT A SOFA CUSHION EITHER...
[rebelmouse-image 18358750 is_animated_gif=This was only a few years back.
Driving along a suburban road one night and a guy wearing only his underwear ran up to our cop car and threw a very large sofa cushion at us. As we slowed down to find out why he had thrown said cushion he tried to jump into the back of the car. We got out and had a chat to the poor guy who told us he had used about an 8 ball of poor quality cocaine and wanted to get out attention to help him.
Kicker was he had been running around the suburban streets all drugged up for about 30 minutes and no one thought it was odd enough to call us. To be fair it wasn't the nicest area.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?
[rebelmouse-image 18358751 is_animated_gif=Not a cop (I'm a paramedic) but I think this fits. My partner and I were at our post which was in the parking lot of a strip mall that had a bunch of stores and one bar which was known to be pretty sketchy. My partner was taking a little nap (it was around 1 am) and I was watching a movie on my phone, waiting for a call. Eventually I notice a few people coming out of the bar and just sort of lingering in the parking lot. A few more people come out, one lights up a cigarette and they all just stand around. I go back to my movie and 20 minutes later I notice there is now a much larger group lingering outside of the bar. Nothing strange was happening but I thought it was weird that they'd all been there for so long so I decided to check it out.
I woke up my pissed off partner to have him pull our rig closer to th edd group. As we approach with our lights on, the group notices us and starts to break apart. A few people scatter and I see that in the middle of the group there is a person on the ground motionless. My partner and I jump out and ask what's going on. Somebody in the group goes "this guy is wasted, he just stumbled out here and fell asleep on the ground" I shout to the man on the ground and he doesn't respond, I check for a pulse and there is none. I start CPR. while my partner gets our jump bag and notifies dispatch. For a full 30 minutes, people had just stood around looking at this dead guy on the ground, some smoking cigarettes, none doing anything about it. There wasn't even a noticeable commotion. Nobody asked if he needed help or called anybody and they probably never would have.
The guy was cool to the touch by the time we got to him, down for at least 30 minutes, we went through the motions but there was no saving him. We transported and he was pronounced at the hospital within 15 minutes.
How hard is it to ask someone if they are Ok? Or to dial 911? How was not one single person in that group not alarmed by seeing a man "sleeping" on the ground in a parking lot?
I've had similar variations of this scene happen at least 3 times while on duty.
GARDENING CAN BE DANGEROUS!
[rebelmouse-image 18358752 is_animated_gif=My father was a village police man in he UK during the 80s, so this is his story. Lady bought a house and after many days/weeks getting settled, she turned her attention to the garden. She started digging some flower beds, but as she was working she came across some small bones in the dirt, baby sized bones.
This house used to belong to a doctor, so the lady puts two and two together and assumes he was a child murderer or maybe did some off-the-books abortions back in the day. This lady is shocked and terrified that her new home could be tainted by this horrible past, but she didn't call the police... Instead she just avoids the garden. Completely. The whole thing weighs heavily on her mind as the years go by.. 5, 10, 15 years (I forget how long exactly but it was at least a decade) until one day she can't take it anymore and calls the police to report the bones.
My dad goes out to investigate, in to the garden where she shows him roughly where they were. He digs around a little (this was the 80s and apparently they were less concerned with disturbing evidence) and finds not a dead baby, but a small plastic skeleton. Poor woman had been living with guilt and fear for decades because of a kids toy.
WHERE THERE IS SMOKE...
[rebelmouse-image 18346812 is_animated_gif=I'm really late to the party here. But three weeks after I started, I was on my way to our off site property control. Just driving through a residential area to avoid the congestion and take a look at my new beat. I drive past a house with smoke pouring out from the eves and two guys watching across the street. They pointed at is as I stopped and said, "I think there's a fire." Think was an understatement. This entire house was filled with smoke, windows were black with soot, and still no call. These two guys were just chatting away and not doing anything. I couldn't see fire, but it was July 10th and a sunny morning. No mistaking a house fire in broad daylight.
So I call it in and try to gain access and yell for any survivors. Keep in mind I have zero fire training, but have half a brain enough to know that if there are any survivors in there I won't be any help to them, and will just be another body to yard out once fire does arrive. I get into the back yard by jumping over the hood of a minivan and sliding across like a Duke brother because there is so much junk everywhere. This takes a piece of the wooden fence and jambs my radio key button open, so everyone can here me breathing, yelling for survivors, etc. I have no idea I've got an open mic at this time. I lay down on the deck and look through the sliding glass door and there is only about 4 inches up from the floor I can see. I continue to yell for survivors but get no response.
As soon as fire gets there, they make a slow entry because the front door has been barricaded. This is when I knew something wasn't right. Suspicions were confirmed when fire fighters yarded out four children, a mother, and father. The father was the last one taken out and the only survivor. Everyone else, except an infant, had been murdered with a kitchen knife.
BLOOD IS ALWAYS THE GIVEAWAY...
[rebelmouse-image 18979736 is_animated_gif=Not in LE anymore, but was for about 12 yrs in a large city. When I was a patrolman, I got a call about someone shooting off fireworks in a strip mall at 2am. These were common calls, so we would usually just go check the area and clear the call. I checked the parking lot and didn't find anything, but noticed the lights were on at one of the strip mall businesses.
I won't say what business it was, but it was owned by a pretty prominent local businessman. Anyways, I got out to check and found the front door unlocked, which was suspicious. We had a lot of burglaries in that area , so I asked dispatch to call a rep for the business. I was clearing the building and found the owner and several other people (all really prominent) in a backroom where a poker table was set up.
One of the guys was sitting down and had a pile of coats in his lap which was really weird and he was acting like he was in pain. I saw blood droplets under his chair and asked him what was wrong. He broke down and moved the coats, then revealed he had a gunshot wound in his thigh.
Long story short, these guys had a high stakes poker game every week and someone tried to rob it and things went sideways. The dude robbing it shot this guy in the leg, which some citizen heard and called in a fireworks call. The guys involved in the game weren't going to call the cops and were arranging to have a doctor come treat him "off the books." Gambling is illegal in the state I worked in, but we honestly wouldn't have given a crap.
We actually caught the guy that did it, but the DA wouldn't prosecute because the victim / witnesses didn't want to testify or be involved. The victim recovered fine. One of the guys who I interviewed told me that they were robbed of over $30,000.
BLINK!!
[rebelmouse-image 18979737 is_animated_gif=Started my four-to-midnight shift by heading directly to get a coffee. Beautiful summer day, people everywhere. I pull into the parking space and see a dude lying on the ground in front of a park bench.
I jumped out of my cruiser, grabbed my first aid bag, and called it in. The guy was conscious but not really responsive. It sounds like a movie but we were doing the old_"blink if you can hear me" _deal. The rescue finally arrived and took him to the hospital. I found out later on that the poor guy had suffered a severe grand mal seizure and was still in an episode when I rolled up on him.
The frustrating part was the dozens of people milling about that couldn't even bother themselves to call 911 nevermind find out of the guy was ok ????
SOMEDAYS ARE JUST TOO MUCH.
[rebelmouse-image 18979738 is_animated_gif=I do mountain bike patrol in a smallish/medium sized city. Was just riding one morning just after rush hour and spotted a little kid probably 3-4 years old standing on the side of the road with no parents in sight. Stopped and asked him where his parents were and he just kinda shrugged. Called it in and some dude ran out of some townhomes across the street and said the little dude was standing out there for a few hours and he was watching him to "keep an eye on him." There were people around and everything, but we never got a call for it.
Long story short, he wandered out of the room him and his mom were staying in nearby and wandered out to the street. Place was a shelter for women and he was able to get out past the manager and a court police officer. Mom had died from a heroin overdose 3 days prior and when the little guy got hungry he got out of the room and wandered out to the street. No one even went to check on her either despite the smell.
EVERYTHING IN MODERATION.
[rebelmouse-image 18979740 is_animated_gif=Current police officer.
Was driving an emphasis patrol in a hot spot area known to be a car prowl area. A house party is going on, three people are face down in the yard and people are just standing around them like.... uhhhhhhhh.... cool!
One died due to suffocation on vomit. One suffered brain damage from a drunk fall and the third one lived. Based on my investigation they were like that for 15 or more minutes. With dozens of people around.
NO HEADPHONES? DUH.
[rebelmouse-image 18346901 is_animated_gif=Known drug dealer shot another guy. It's a smaller town. Looking for him but couldn't find for hours and hours.
He had snuck into some other random guys basement. Random guy finds him down there and is totally cool with this drug dealer guy with a gun just hiding in his basement (he didn't know him). He just carrys on with his day doesn't call the cops.
Eventually at 4am the hiding drug dealer is bored now and starts playing music on his phone. Well apparently that was what pissed the homeowner off to call the cops.
Because the dude started playing music...
DO YOU SMELL SMOKE?
[rebelmouse-image 18979741 is_animated_gif=My brother in law was on his way home from the night shift a few months ago, and happened to drive past a house that was on fire.
he ran up to the door, beat on it with no answer, broke the door down and ended up rescuing a woman and her child/children (I'm not sure how many kids there were). they were all fast asleep and had no idea the house was on fire.
GOD BLESS OUR FIRST RESPONDERS...
[rebelmouse-image 18979742 is_animated_gif=Obligatory not a cop, but I am an EMT.
We were waiting at a light right as we were headed back to the station for our end of shift. We see a man running like Usain bolt across the crosswalk to beat the light and a woman chasing him. My partner and I both look at each other and he says "she's gonna get hit..." the car in the rightmost lane guns it as the light turns green and the next thing we see is flip flops flying and a pair of legs in the air. Female was plowed over and landed on her face in the street. We immediately turn on our lights and hop out of the ambulance. When we get to the girl she's unconscious, pissed herself, and is bleeding from multiple lacerations on her limbs and a nasty head wound. My partner (who is a paramedic) starts his assessment as I go to grab a backboard and c-collar and call it into dispatch.
She wakes up and immediately starts screaming about her boyfriend leaving her. She stands up and tries to run after him, face plants on the curb, and proceeds to lose a tooth. We finally calmed her down enough to get her onto the gurney, mind you she wouldn't listen and kept trying to walk around after suffering a couple head injuries. Once we get her into the back of the ambulance and out of the road into a nearby parking lot the driver that hit her rolls up. By now firefighters are on scene and asking what the hell is going on, we give them the lowdown and my partner tells them we can handle it so they leave, confused and somewhat trepidatious. We talk to this women for a while while insisting that she needs to go the hospital, but she keeps saying that she can't go and she needs to find her boyfriend. Meanwhile the driver who hit her is apologizing to me and saying she wants to help anyway she can. The woman keeps saying she can't go the hospital. After we got her cleaned up and bandage all the wounds she asks if we can take her to her boyfriends house. Well as an EMT I can do one of 2 things, either take you to the hospital or leave you where you are. She refuses transport vehemently so my partner and I tell her that we can't take her anywhere. She then proceeds to hop out of the ambulance and ask the driver who just hit her if she would take her to her boyfriends house if she didn't call the cops. Sure as shit before we can even radio in that the patient was refusing transport to the hospital she's rolling away in the car that just hit her and tossed her 8ft in the air. It's not the craziest story but one of the few that we just happened to be there for.
THAT IS WHY I MAKE COFFEE OR TEA AT HOME.
[rebelmouse-image 18979743 is_animated_gif=Let's see... there was the dead homeless guy on the sidewalk that people thought _"oh he's drunk and passed out". _He was laying awkwardly, not like the homeless usually sleep. I got out to check on him and realized he was dead. The most absurd part was the people walking around him to go to work/get coffee/etc. as if it was business as usual. Once the commotion started and I taped off the scene, I was then accused of shooting and killing him by a passerby.
THE FUN NEVER ENDS...
[rebelmouse-image 18979744 is_animated_gif=I'm not LEO, but I moved out of Racine, WI in the 90's because in the last three weeks I lived there there were 24 drive-by shootings, and three of those happened when there were already cops at the scene for unrelated reasons.
STAY STRONG!
[rebelmouse-image 18979745 is_animated_gif=I was off duty playing poker with some neighbors and friends. One of the guys at the table is a Vietnam vet. In the middle of a hand he downs his glass of scotch hits himself in the chest and lights a cigarette he stands up and says "well I'm having a heart attack" he then walks out and drives to the hospital. Everyone thought he was joking. Sure enough he had and survived a heart attack
THE THINGS YOU'LL NEVER UNSEE.
[rebelmouse-image 18979746 is_animated_gif=I remember not long after I started (9 years ago) a woman came to the police department saying she hadn't heard from her boyfriend in 3 days. She told me where he lived and once I got there there was no answer.
I was able to gain entry and noticed the ripe smell of death. There was tweaker shit everywhere, stuff taken apart, random tools and motors and all kinds of stuff tweakers "work" on. The house was near pitch black due to all the foil and blankets covering the windows.
As I began to clear the house I walked into one of the kitchen entries and as I turned the corner I looked into a big wall mirror and saw the reflection of her boyfriend hanging from a doorway. His body was a death gray and his neck had stretched at least 8 inches. I remember having to pick him up and pull the belt from the doorway. That image has stayed with me everyday since.
I WANT A DONKEY.
[rebelmouse-image 18979747 is_animated_gif=Not a cop but my apartment got broken into a few years ago. It was one of those off campus college apartments. We called the police who came at about 430am. Our neighbors were playing loud music which was pretty typical for them. When they arrive they are taking to the report when the officer I was talking to ask if our neighbors are always loud and I told him it was only on Saturday and Thursdays and how it didn't really bother us, but before they left they knocked and pounded until they finally answered, when they opened the door there was horse or a donkey in the living room, several studio cameras and 3 or 4 people who were apparently filming a donkey show. I know those cops were probably expecting some weed maybe a few minors drinking but not a donkey show.
LESS IS MORE Y'ALL...
[rebelmouse-image 18979748 is_animated_gif=Ex-officer here. Got called to a noise complaint and my partner and I knock on the door as it's actually pretty rowdy and could be heard across the street. Turns out there was a Hen's night full of drunken thirty-somethings and the cop stripper was running late.
That took more explaining than it should have, but they eventually turned the music down...
THIS IS A HAPPY STORY.
[rebelmouse-image 18354561 is_animated_gif=Right place right time story. We pulled into the gas station and I was standing in there and this dude runs in screaming at me to make his baby breath and I legit thought this guy was messing with me. But I run outside with him and his 8 week old baby girl that he had adopted THAT day was sitting in her car seat as blue as could be. My partner and I did CPR on her, got her breathing, put her on the chopper and the flight nurse called us later that day and said she made it and was doing fine.
Being an emergency responder is a high-stress job.
It's a career with long, laborious hours.
There is always a hint of danger. And death is always around the corner.
So we as a society could try to help these people out and not put ourselves in unnecessary danger.
Redditor Diligent-Log6805wanted the rescue workers out there to tell us about the times they rescued people. They asked:
"Emergency responders of reddit, what are some dumb things that have lead to an emergency situation?"
These workers and the world already has enough trouble without my stupid.
"So... was she impressed?"
"Kid driving his new truck down a residential street, wet from a recent rain, lost control and hit a parked car, overcorrected and rolled it once back onto its wheels up onto a lawn. He told the fire chief he had gunned it to impress his girlfriend and the chief just looked at him and asked 'So... was she impressed?'"
AntiMacro
Ricky
"I had a client once who was basically Ricky from Trailer Park Boys, loud, obnoxious, hilarious and every second word was some Maritime slang or a derivative of 'f**k.' He has been on daily eye drops for decades for dry eyes, sure ok cool. I hear screaming down the hall and run in and he's wedged against the wall and the bed just screaming 'I f**ked up boys, I dunno what the f**k is f**king happening but It's f**ked."
"Turns out he mistakenly put Jublia which is an antifungal ointment for toenails in his eye thinking it was his eye drops. The strangest part was the bottle has this miniature sponge at the end so you soak the sponge then paint it on like a gel...he painted this antifungal ointment onto his eye which immediately went red and angry then proceeded to do the other one."
"So he's at the eyewash station and I'm talking to poison control and they are pretty stunned because they have zero data on what happens to a human eyeball when it's painted in antifungal. I can hear the staff at the other end kind of snickering under her breath and she asks can you compare and contrast the eyes? Well... he put it in both eyes. The line goes silent because I can tell she is howling. Guy was totally fine but it was a standout for sure."
krzysztoflee
Will they show?
"Responded to a call of two minors being kidnapped and their parents being beaten in front of them and then taken someplace else. One was around three years and the other one was six. They were held captive in an apartment out of hundreds of residential apartments which not easy to locate, upon reaching there we found out that the boy six was just playin' with us to see if we would actually respond. Their parents were so embarrassed by all of that and vowed to not give them mobile until they are adults."
erectilereptilelol
Bowled Over
"When I was an EMT in NYC years ago we had a call for a man 'unresponsive.' We entered an upscale apartment that was a hoard: floor to ceiling newspapers and magazines, just a mess. The woman who called said her brother was in his bedroom sick."
"We entered his room and it was pretty obvious that he had already passed away. She had placed a bowl under his mouth because he had hemorrhaged which had coagulated the day before it was crazy. We asked her why she hadn’t called sooner and she said thought he’d get better?!"
"The joke around the house was 'if you have to put a bowl under a relative who is bleeding from the mouth, call 911. Don’t wait.' Never thought we’d have to advise anyone to do that. But there ya go. Also, it was Thanksgiving. Didn’t eat any cranberry sauce that year."
Sufficient-Swim-9843
God Only Knows
"Had a guy call because he had the cure to Covid and needed a ride to the local education hospital so he could share it. Dude was so high on meth He ended up having 4 or 5 binders worth of scientific looking notes. God only knows what was actually in them."
Flame5135
Wow, people really need to get a grip. Of their minds.
"Sparky"
"One of my old bosses once built a new shed in his back yard, to replace his old, worn-out one. He moved everything from the old one to the new one, then decided that the best way to remove the old one was by burning it down. He ended up with no sheds and the nickname 'Sparky.'"
Wadsworth_McStumpy
Dead in the living room...
"Paramedic here. We responded to this 54 year old having chest pain. Man was having a heart attack. Dude didn't want to go to the hospital because it too early in the day. That's it. We tried to convince him to go. Got the ER doc to talk to him and he wouldn't budge. He signed a Refusal. Later that same night, his family found him. Dead in the living room. We got to him and started CPR, meds, everything. Dude didn't make it. When we advise you to go to the hospital, go."
Chaprito
Bad Ideas
"Got called to a shooting. A guy says he received a text message from an anonymous number saying his brother has been shot. He checks all the hospitals with no luck. He goes to his brother's apartment but gets no response at his door but sees his car and can hear the TV on. We get there, attempt to get an answer at the door."
"Eventually we kick the door in to make sure he wasn't dying in his apartment. We boot the door, announce police, and find him asleep in his bed. The guy tells us that he got a new phone number and decided to mess with his brother by texting him he had been shot. He then fell asleep and forgot about the text and was woken up by us. So many wasted resources on his idiotic prank."
TheDOC816
The Swimmer
"Got called to a priority job. The caller was kayaking in a lake and said that there was an unresponsive male in the water. So off we went, lights and sirens. We requested paramedics and fire to attend as well for the rescue operation. There were about 6 emergency vehicles attending including a rescue boat. We got there within minutes and met the caller who showed us where the guy was."
"He was just swimming, minding his own business. The caller said he was unresponsive, but really he was just ignoring her. Had a chat with the guy, he seemed alright, said he swims here every day and likes the quiet. No issues. Would have been nice if the caller told the operator that he was still conscious and swimming rather than 'unresponsive.'"
amazingbecauseitis
Chew Slowly
"Well, I was taking a lady home from dialysis and she decided to eat a snickers in the back of the ambulance, and she started choking. Had to do the heimlich, and tell her to finish her food at home."
HotSoupInYourA**
If it's not a true emergency dial 311. Please.
I hated science classes.
As soon as I could I ran.
But it follows me.
Because science can be downright disturbing.
That's why I blocked out so many of the details.
Redditor Flimsy_Finger4291wanted to compare notes on all the frightening facts that are a definitive. They asked:
"What's the scariest thing that science has proven real?"
As if knowledge isn't scary enough, let's her more...
Hello Terry
"Some tumors have teeth, hair and even eyes."
Twat_Waffle_Stomp
"My sister had one minus the eyes! It was cantaloupe sized on one of her ovaries before it was found. She named it Terry the Teratoma."
Karina_is_my_cat
Hungry Bacteria
"Brain-eating amoebas."
dark_n_lovely_qu33n
"My best friend and bunk mate from summer camp died from one of those when I was in 7th grade. Happened so quickly, we were a week into camp and he got really sick. They gave us all heavy meningitis shots because they didn’t know what it was and within a few days he was dead. Turned out to be a brain eating amoeba."
"Edit: strangely enough on the same day he started getting sick one of the lifeguards that was sitting out in a boat waiting for the next group of kids for what we called Trojans Vs. Spartans day had a seizure, fell off the boat and drowned. Only deaths they’d ever had in the 50+ years the camp had been open."
Csharp27
Far Far Away
"The size of our galaxy, how many other galaxies there are and how far away they are. When you can actually see something that incomprehensible.."
Jfonzy
"The nearest star to us would take the Voyager 70,000 years to reach. The nearest galaxy to ours would take the Voyager 749,000,000 years. If we some how managed to take on the monstrous task of speed of light travel it would still take 25,000 years to reach the nearest galaxy. And it's even further apart after you read this. Wild stuff!"
ConqueredCorn
Head Changes
"How the brain is literally rewired and chemically altered by childhood neglect and abuse."
petalumaisreal
"It's genuinely kinda freaky, playing a puzzle game, and noticing how quickly you're getting better at it. The kind of puzzles that were a real blocker in the beginning become baby-easy after like an hour of playing puzzles like it."
LtLabcoat
"My sister faced horrible abuse at the hands of our father, and she has been working through it with multiple therapists over the last 10 years and she is only now starting to get her life back. I feel like she was robbed at a fair chance at life because of our a**hole father."
Pehdazur
Awake
"Prions, horrific and totally unpredictable."
geordiesteve520
"Fatal familial insomnia is a prions disease where you can't sleep anymore, you just stay awake until your brain deteriorates and you die."
DrinknEspresso
Now I can never UNKNOW about prions. Perfect.
Days gone by...
"Ageing. I'm content with death but the idea of my body growing old, frail and eventually falling apart before the end game gives me goosebumps."
EvidenceOfInnocence
Bursts
"Gamma ray bursts. No warning, no escape, no defense, no survivors."
Swampwolf42
"If you're talking about supernovas if the star isn't too close the gamma burst would probably only destroy some part of our ozone layer. And gamma radiation is actually the least lethal out of all types of waves."
Broccoli_sauce24
Sizzle
"Entropy. Time shall consume all things. Inevitable heat death of the universe."
Revolutionary_Elk420
"I personally want the 'Big Crunch' to be true. That instead of fizzling out it all gets sucked back into an infinitely small/dense particle and then another Big Bang happens. It’s my explanation for the multiverse. It’s all one timeline. Just infinitely long."
ChoppyWAL99
They're Watching
"More like a theory, the 'orangutan paradox,' when we film a documentary on orangutans, they can’t realize that we are observing them, yet they are the most intelligent species of their category, so aliens might be watching us and we are as oblivious as an orangutan."
Time_Succotash
Fade 2 Silent
"That hearing is the last sense to leave, when dying."
User Deleted
Well that is the antithesis of comfort. Life is so fun.
Ever since Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope opened on May 25, 1977, a devoted fanbase developed.
And that fanbase has opinions.
Lots and lots of opinions.
Redditor Ebo8000 wanted to know:
"What is your most controversial take on Star Wars?"
Doors
"LASERS LOCK DOORS. LASERS OPEN DOORS. LASERS KNOW WHAT YOU WANT THE DOOR TO DO."
- SlamVanDamn
"But if you get past the door and close it behind you and you don’t want anyone to follow you through it…"
"…you shoot the bloody door panel!"
- treeonwheels
"Also, f*cking hell, we're in the future (or in the past), whatever, and people have better technology."
"Why put the door control RIGHT NEXT to the door? Put the door control system in a breaker box."
"Build every door so in case of malfunction they all shut closed (after all, they're in space and you don't want to lose air in decompression, do you?)"
"Shoot the breaker box, now the whole floor is closed until someone can figure out what happened."
"Almost look like those doors just exist as dramatic elements..."
- smegma_yogurt
The Past
"I’d like a film about when the Republic was at its height. 1,000 generations is 25,000 years and we’ve had 9 movies about the last 60."
- Musickat18
The Future
"Not sure if controversial but they need to take the franchise and yeet it 200 years in the future."
"I'm tired of the Empire era where they need to justify why more than 2 Jedi and 2 Sith exist at one moment alongside knowing everything is pointless until Luke leaves the farm."
- Alandrus_sun
Design Fail? No!
"The Death Stars weren't badly designed they were just badly managed."
"Yes, designing them assuming large scale assaults was stupid given the political state of the galaxy but the second Death Star wasn't even finished so that doesn't count, it's all Palpatine's fault. As for the first one that was finished, the Alliance made three runs on the exhaust port."
"The first was called off before they made it to the trench, the second failed and the third was carried out by space Jesus which isn't exactly fair."
"All in all it sounds like a fairly effective defence when you consider the design philosophy."
- Engeneus
Cool Factor
"The entire universe has a cool factor that outweighs the atrocious storytelling."
- Ozty
"Bro imagine the following movies, but if they were in Star Wars universe."
"Magnificent 7 - A Jedi, Bounty Hunter, Ex-Imperial, Pilot, Wookie, a Droid, and Lawman team up to defend a town against pirates"
"Dredd - Two Jedi climb up an apartment block to confront a new dark side user who has mental control of the entire apartment block"
"Supernatural (T.V. Show) - A Jedi and their apprentice go around and solve and defeat Dark Side Force spots—where the Force consolidates from emotions and creates foul creatures to fight"
"Top Gun - But it's you know, Wedge or something"
"Ford versus Ferrari - But it's podracing or swoop racing"
- BoutsofInsanity
Ships
"Something about the ships in the original series always felt more like real ships than in any of the later movies, despite the objectively better effects of the later films."
"Some of this is probably the use of models (i.e. actual three dimensional objects), but I think there is some critical difference in the design that makes them feel more real (probably because they were designed to be things that would actually work as models)."
"Whatever it is, I LOVED the ships in the original series and never really liked any of the new ones."
- UnspecificGravity
"The original trilogy changed the world by showing a universe in space that was dirty and lived in. The special effects from the later movies did not recognize this."
Boba who?
"Boba Fett is an oddly overrated background character, and even after watching The Book of Boba Fett, I don’t really care about him."
- imidoesonlyfans
"He was never a character. He was a cool helmet."
- JimPlaysGames
"He was a cool jetpack too."
- RipperFromYT
Time for the weather...
"Han is actually older than Obi-Wan due to Time Dilation."
- Snowbofreak
"Time dilation in a universe where every planet and moon has the same gravity and atmosphere?"
- suman_issei
"And just 1 biome."
- DogShampoop
"That way they only need one Weather Channel per planet."
- The_Most_Superb
"And over to Klaatu for the Tatooine weather report. Klaatu?"
"It's still sunny."
- Budsygus
These are the droids we're looking for.
"Star Wars is actually the life story of C-3PO—think about it."
- jonguy77
"I disagree. I think its R2-D2's story. He had a much greater presence in Episode 1, 2 and 3, and got the same amount of screen time as C-3PO in 4, 5 and 6."
‐ MacGregor_Rose
Fan is short for fanatic.
"Fans ruined the whole franchise."
- SeaworthinessNo5209
Ouch...
So, did your controversial Star Wars opinion make the list?
Death is a subject many people shy away from because what they don't know beyond our realm of existence can be intimidating.
Hollywood hasn't helped, as movies and TV have typically portrayed death as something sinister and violent.
How could anyone be convinced death is a peaceful transition, and that what awaits on the other side is actually an unimaginable utopia?
Curious to hear strangers' thoughts about death, Redditor GoodNess2020 invoked a quote by an iconic literary figure and asked:
"Mark Twain once said, 'I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.' Why do you agree/disagree with his statement?"

People clarified what actually terrified them most about death
The Process
"I don't fear being dead. I fear dying."
– magicbluemonkeydog
"Yeah, that's usually the issue. It's why that quote doesn't mean much, to a lot of people."
"It's not a fear of eventually dying and not existing anymore. It's the act of dying itself. He didn't constantly die for all of time. He just wasn't alive."
– appleparkfive
Concept Of Loss
"To have not existed for billions of years is to have spent billions of years never knowing loss. To die is to know loss."
"If you look into a new bank account and see zero dollars, it’s nothing. If you look into a bank account that once had a million dollars and see there’s nothing in there, you’ll know it’s absence."
– -CrestiaBell
People provided an analogy to articulate what ceasing to exist must feel like.
It's About Time
"Time is only relevant to you when you are alive. He is right. Have you ever been sedated for surgery? You go under, and then instantly wake up and procedure is done.... or you died so no worries."
– 20190419
Consciousness Is Life
"You won’t be feeling anything in death though is the thing. That infinite/instant sensation was a living feeling, you just weren’t conscious for it - your body experienced it anyways. No body, no experience."
– Parradog1
Like Being Under
"That is very true, but for me, that's the closest amalgamation of what it probably feels like."
"No one can tell you what actual death will be like. It's impossible for you to experience nothingness."
"Thinking about death can be paralysing sometimes, and when I remember that the closest thing i can link as an experience I had, being put under, was actually sort of pleasant. I then think maybe death will be like that, and honestly it doesn't seem that bad."
– IamEclipse
When In Deep Sleep
"Yeah in contrast to sleep where you can actually feel like time has passed when you wake up."
– GreyFoxMe
Think Line Between Death And Slumber
"As CGPGrey puts it, your bed might very well be a suicide machine."
"Given our lack of understanding for the fundamental processes of our sentience, it's entirely possible that when you fall asleep, your mind is functionally killed, disassembled, analyzed, sorted, tweaked, and adjusted by your biology, before being reassembled when you wake. Every night."
– Mazon_Del
People opened up about their insecurities around the concept of death.
Fear Of What Comes Next
"I’m just paranoid that something does happen after death and it’s just based on one thing that you didn’t know about."
– PsychoDog_Music
The Circle Of Death
"There’s nothing to fear in oblivion. Unless, of course, your consciousness survives death. If so, it would be reasonable to fear the sensation of consciousness without senses, suspended alone in the cosmos, with no one to hear you, and no way to make yourself known. No reference point for counting time – a count that does not matter anyway in a literal eternity."
"You might wish that you still had a corporeal form, only so that you could make your mouth move to express your terror, to make the universal form of a terrified scream – the form of a letter O."
"But you won’t be able to. You just won’t!"
"This has been the Children’s Fun Fact Science Corner. Brought to you by shame, loneliness, and the letter..."
"O....."
– CecilSpeaksInItalics
When Faith Fails You
"what do you mean I'm going to hell?! I was a good person and attended church regularly!"
"Ah yes, but you failed to put a blue feather in your hat and then turn in circles the times praising God Almighty on the fifth Sunday after your twelfth birthday. To the pit with you!!!"
– phormix
There is an poignant episode from the Twilight Zone that brought me a sense of peace surrounding the concept of death.
Death was embodied by a handsome police officer who had been shot–played by a young Robert Redford–and begs to be let into the home of an elderly woman who had been living in perpetual fear of meeting "Mr. Death."
As the episode continues, she discovers much to her dismay that she welcomed Death into her home, but he warmly reassures her there is nothing to fear.
The episode ends with her finally offering her hand to Death after much protest, and they peacefully walk out together, arm in arm, into the light.
It was sweet and beautifully done. The 1962 episode was titled, "Nothing in the Dark."
That's how I imagine it to be.
A dashing Prince of Darkness telling me it's time to join him in guiding me to the other side.