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People Break Down The Scariest Thing That's Ever Happened To Them

People Break Down The Scariest Thing That's Ever Happened To Them
Image by Hans Kretzmann from Pixabay

Horror comes in many forms.


Sometimes the scary moments we encounter draw their horror from the eerie unknown in the same way horror films spook us.

Other times, terror comes in a very real-world, pragmatic form--sudden and grave danger of complete vulnerability.

However it comes, it's a whole lot better to read about it on the internet than experience it first hand.

Redditor aggressivepicklenato asked:

"What is the scariest thing that's happened to you?"

Of course, driving an automobile is one of the scariest, most dangerous things we can do. We often forget that, until one moment reminds us.

Out of Control

"Heart attack while I was driving. Pulled over and went into cardiac arrest." -- Big-Craft-72

"So you got arrested while driving." -- Quirinus84

Instincts

"I was driving home late one night when I saw a girl on the side of the road, asking for help. I distinctly remember every nerve in my body suddenly going on edge, and I locked the doors as I drove past (old car had manual locks)."

"But something was telling me that no matter what, I shouldn't stop and help this girl. As I went by her I remember her yelling 'Fu** you!' "

"I felt guilty for not doing anything about it, so next morning I looked up reports in the area to see if I could find information on her. Turns out a guy got car jacked in the exact same area trying to help a girl in distress."

"He pulled over, and a group of people beat him and left him on the side of the road while they took his car. The girl in the report perfectly matched the description of the girl I saw."

-- dibaw39699

Everything Stopped for a Second

"Truck swerved into my lane going highway speeds this last winter and smoked us. My wife, 3 kids and dog were in the car."

"The scariest part wasn't the impact, or the realization that we were about to get fu**ed. It was the brief moment of stunned silence after, the moment I turned around to see if everyone in my family was ok."

"Thankfully, my kids escaped with no injury, my wife had to undergo surgery for internal bleeding (but ultimately recovered and is great today) and my sweet, lucky old dog. Somehow, he survived getting tossed around in the trunk."

-- iD-Remus

When You Realize How Fast You Were Going

"I had a tire blow out while I was on the highway. I felt the wheel start to vibrate and my heart just dropped. Cars were flying by at least 70 mph as I'm trying to merge onto the shoulder."

"I have had anxiety about driving on the highway since then"

-- DemonicChronic

Others traced their horror back to the unbelievable power of the natural world.

At the Whims of Giant Plates

"I live in San Francisco, in 1989 we had an earthquake. It was so intense, it moved my refrigerator to the other side of the room."

"I've never felt that adrenaline fright as much as that day."

-- Sfswine

Never Underestimate

"Nearly getting swept out to sea while swimming alone in the ocean and barely making it back to shore."

-- ItAllDepends99

Pinned...Forever?

"This would be super scary now, but for 6 year old me this was TERRIFYING. I was out hiking with my cub scouts group, and I was trailing behind."

"I fell, slipped a couple feet down a hill, and got my leg caught under a log. It was only the start of the hike and it was pretty long, so I was terrified that I'd be stuck there for almost 2 hours. This is canada, during bear season."

"They came back after about 5 minutes. Present me would've know that probably would've happened, but that was terrifying for 6 y/o me."

-- QweqDuck

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And others recalled the times they were sure violence--and even death--were coming straight for them.

A Surge of Violence

"My ex is an angry drunk.. one night we got drunk for our mutual friends birthday. The birthday girl and her bf started getting in a big fight so we separated them. While doing that we got separated and couldn't find each other. I found him after about an hour."

"He was pi**ed I took birthday girl home and didn't care about him being at the bar alone with her bf. So he punches my car windshield out and chases me into the house. He catches up to me and pulls me by my head down to the floor. Proceeds to put one hand over my mouth and one hand around my neck."

"I remember nothing but begging for him to let go. Every second felt like a lifetime without air. On top of him sitting on top of me and the crying I was doing. I never thought I'd ever beg for my life like that. I was literally saying sh** like 'please just take your hand off my mouth, I'll do anything, please, I can't breathe!' "

"Eventually he just snapped out of it and let go in self pity 'omg what am I doing' and I ran upstairs to my roommates as he chased me again to try to not let them know what happened. Luckily I got to them in time and they called the police."

-- Drugsbunny23

Lock Up Your Guns!!

"I was 13 and baby sitting two 7 year old boys. One of the boys found his dad's gun. They proceeded to point it at me and threaten to shoot me, because they found it funny."

"I still don't know how I talked them into putting the gun away. I had been baby sitting them for a year on Wednesdays. That was the last night I did though."

-- KoebGaza

Smooth Talker

"Found myself behind my high school with a bunch of kids who didn't know who I was. They threatened me and pulled knives."

"I still don't know how I managed to talk my way out of it but I got out of there as quick as I could"

-- Chicten_Samdwich

When I was 12

"My step dad was angry in general and even angrier drunk, which he typically was. One day he decided to scream at me for some reason or another while I'm minding my own business, and he told me he was going to get his shotgun from his mom so he could shoot me. I was 12."

"I called the police, and he started to backtrack and beg me not to call on him. I told the officer to please take me to a friend's house. On the way, the officer was telling me that my stepdad was just drunk and didn't mean any of it. This was a small town where everyone knew each other."

- labbykun

Psychosis...

"I suffer from psychosis and I would have to say hallucinations."

- cottagefroggy1

"Psychosis was def the scariest thing I've ever been through in my life, and I'm sorry you struggle with it consistently. I went through it three separate times, some lasting days last summer. It was like waking sleep paralysis. At one point I thought I was bleeding out into my carpet, hallucinating the blood and having tactile hallucinations I was wet and sticky and my blood pressure dropped so low I had to be brought to the hospital. I hope you're in a better place. Take your meds, that's what made my hallucinations stop and I eventually began to be able to function."

- glittrglue

In the blink of an eye

"10 months ago when I heard a crash in the bathroom my husband was in and he didn't answer me when I called out asking if he was ok. Called 911 as I struggled to get the door open. Got in. Found him facedown. I rolled him over, and he exhaled for the last time in my arms. I tried to breathe for him, compress his chest."

"But I already knew he was gone. And in that moment, it was like a bomb exploded in the middle of my life. It's scary when you've lost your person, your love, the most important thing in the world to you. When your life changes in an instant. I went from being a happy wife to a 31-year-old widow with an uncertain future. In the blink of an eye."

- BreeElfin

A Trip to Florida...

"Wend for a scuba dive trip down in Florida. On the second day we were just finishing the dive in the Spiegel grove when out of the blue I see a panicked diver heading towards me. He shows me his digital console and there is a big fat 0 there. Gave him my spare second stage."

"The current was very strong and we still had to either descend another 15' or so to the main deck holding on to the railings to reach the boat line which was tied to one of the cranes , or gun against the current directly to the line. I chose the second. By the time we barely made to the line, i started to feel a little water in my regulator. That is a sign my air was depleting. The panicked guy was breathing like a bull. I switched him to my buddy's air and signaled to continue the ascension."

"Luckily as the pressure decreases, air expands a little in the system so o could still breathe up to 15'. I left the two of them there to do a safety stop and surfaced. With them surfacing 3 minutes later. Long story short, he lost visual contact with his buddies during the dive, panicked and used all of his air looking for them. Not following your training can get you killed."

- ElCaipi

Testing for Weakness

"Woke up around 3am one night to loud tapping outside my bedroom window (my bedroom was in the basement of our house). I assumed it was raccoons or something trying to get into our neighbour's shed. After listening for a while longer I managed to fall back asleep. In the morning I brought up the noise to my mom who said she had heard a similar noise coming from that same side of the house, only she got out of bed and went to the front living room window to investigate."

"What she saw was a man emerge from between our house and our neighbour's place. He stopped in front of our home, took a long look before removing a pair of latex gloves and then proceeded to walk down our street. I assume he was testing for weak spots or something and luckily didn't manage to make it inside that night."

- TEreAnah

Bad Night

"Mugged and beat up at 1AM behind a dumpster in Denver when I was 19."

- Dull-Sprinkles1469

"I went to middle and high school in Denver. It's a bad place to be after dark. Not a great city anymore anyways. It's gotten pretty spooky during day too. Hope you weren't hurt too badly, friendo."

- Artholos

Spinning out...

"Spinning out on a highway due to hydroplaning. Ended up barely tapping another car, but I thought I was done for."

- ReasonReader

"Sorry to make it about me but you just reminded me of my first "accident" a few years ago. It had rained the week prior so the ground was very mushy. First snow of the year and it had snowed a good 3-4in (and it was the nasty lake effect snow all Michiganders know)."

"I'm in the left lane, there's a smallish SUV ahead of me and a semi next to them. Then a pickup truck was trying to merge on to the highway. I think what he did was to try to beat the semi truck by speeding the heck up instead of being smart and just entering the highway like a normal person. This fool literally spun out a MINIMUM of 6 times."

"I tried following the path of the little SUV in front of me (in a company Nissan Sentra) which included slightly going off the road. I would have been fine until the pickup barely clipped my car and sent me into the median. And since it had been raining the week before, I was completely unable to get traction to get out. The pickup? Never stopped. By the time I realized he wasn't going to stop, it was too far away to read the license plate. A**hole."

- Scummycrummyday

At Night

"Also, sleepwalking. Holy crap, is it scary and disorienting to go to sleep in your bed and wake up mid stride through the living room, bruised and bleeding from bumping into things. Night terrors and sleep paralysis are also quite awful. I've experienced all of the above more times than I care to remember."

- AlieanBreac

Dad, what are you doing?

"Fell asleep in the living room watching TV. Wake up around midnight to my Dad walking pass me. He heads to the side door, unlocks it and starts walking to the chicken coop. By the time he's outside I'm up and following after him; calling out in a whisper "Dad, what are you doing?" - no response, I think maybe he can't hear me despite being only a few steps behind him."

"Dad walks in to the chicken coop and I lose sight of him for about two seconds - I walk in to chicken coop and... it's empty. I'm very confused now. There is only one door for the coop and I'm standing in it. Suddenly, there's a hand on my shoulder. Almost jump out of my skin and whirl around - it's my Dad. He heard me walking outside, had followed after me trying to call out my name but for some reason I hadn't heard him."

- Hbilmurbr

Surely you have your own example of the most horrifying moment of your life. Here's hoping the scars haven't lasted too long or burrowed too deep.

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We all have that moment where someone we know says something so completely absurd, the only response we think of is 'WTF is wrong with you?'

Sometimes, it's something woefully inaccurate that you can't wrap your head around the fact that someone believes that.

Othertimes, it's something completely offensive and you regret your association with that person.

My college roommate was a girl I knew from my high school. I didn't know her too well, but we had some big things in common, so I figured it'd be fun to live with her.

This girl was half-Korean and talked a lot about racist people. At first, I let her rant, figuring maybe she or someone in her family faced some racism. I faced some myself, and I agreed with most of the things she said about racists. Eventually, however, I realized she was equating the word 'racist' with the word 'white.'

I spoke to her once, telling her she can't use 'racist' and 'white' interchangeably. She agreed to stop doing that, but within a few days, she started doing it again. She was a very bright girl, so I was a little concerned about this, especially since her own dad was white and was possibly the nicest man in the world. Not to mention, this made her and her siblings half-white too. Did that mean they were all half-racist?

I stuck by her for a while, but when she started saying things about what she wanted to do to racist people (once again using the word 'white' instead of 'racist'), I realized I couldn't be around her anymore. She couldn't talk about anything else after a while, and every time she spoke, I wanted to say, 'WTF is wrong with you?'

We did not room together the next year.

Redditors have stories similar to mine (and some even crazier), and they are eager to share.

It all started when a Redditorasked:

"What did the person do/say that made you go "what the f**k is wrong with you?"

How To End A Friendship

"In college I used to kill time between classes hanging out with a guy who was from the same redneck county as myself. We didn’t really have much else in common, but he was nice enough and seemed eager to socialize so I figured why not. I wasn’t overly social myself and didn’t know a whole lot of people."

"One day we decided to go somewhere off-campus, and he drove us. While driving, on an interstate mind you, he proceeds to show me his handgun that he kept in his truck - not in a menacing way, but in a “Ain’t that cool?” way."

"I was not immediately frightened, but I respect firearms enough to recognize we are going like 60-70mph on an interstate in daylight, and nothing good can happen in this scenario. I calmly asked him to put it away because I was not comfortable in this situation at all. He then tells me “Oh it’s not loaded” and presses the gun to his head before pulling the trigger."

"Thank f**k he was right, but still it was a wild and frightening display of reckless disregard for his own life and mine for that matter in the event that he’d accidentally killed himself while driving us. I didn’t hang out with him much after that, certainly didn’t get in a car with him."

– omjf23

"“It’s not loaded” famous last words of many an idiot."

– GloInTheDarkUnicorn

The Worst Kind Of People

"When my dad was in the nursing home, they weren't running certain expenses, like ambulance rides, through his insurance. When I took over his financials, he was tens of thousands in medical debt that shouldn't have ever been charged to him in the first place. He was in numerous collections, and his credit score was tanked."

"When I complained to the nursing home director, he said, "Well, it's not like he's going to be buying a house or a car!" Then he laughed."

"My dad was paralyzed from the waist down and needed lifelong care, so he was never going to leave the nursing home. Even though he was technically correct, I gave him the "WTF is wrong with you look." Then I complained to HIS boss and he got canned a couple a weeks later. My dad's insurance was fixed pretty quick, too."

– MNWNM

"“Sorry, what was funny about that? Could you please explain.”"

– v3n0mat3

...Seriously?

"MIL told my wife she should divorce me bc I googled whether a lasagna should be covered with foil while cooking."

– Struggle-Silent

"This is my first laugh of the thread lmao wtf."

– koreantrvp

"It actually ruined this entire trip. It was at my BIL’s wedding, which was only close family (siblings + parents) and they had the caterer make a lasagna for an evening dinner."

"Father of the bride was gonna pop it in the oven and asked if it should be covered. I googled lasagna cooking instructions and said yes it should be covered and cooked at this temp. MIL said absolutely not!"

"Me and the father of the bride kinda gave each other a look and he covered it. MIL was furious and texted my wife that I was an a hole and she should divorce me before we had kids."

– Struggle-Silent

Hostile Work Environment

"Boss at old job told the team we needed to ‘get used to a healthy level of conflict, fear and anxiety in the workplace.’ I dipped so fast after that."

– Prestigious-Energy69

"Similarly, a boss told me that I owed him my loyalty because he was paying me."

– Kylearean

How To End A Relationship

"A girl I was with while we were still together just looked at me while I was driving to her house and said.” You know I would get over you faster than you’d get over me” I was like …… Tf did you just say?"

– omega91301

"Huh. And just like that I'm over you."

– Pineapple_Spenstar

"Honestly, that would absolutely do it for me. When I was younger, I would be stupid and hurt and argue. I'm past 50 and I got no time for that nonsense."

– Terpsichorean_Wombat

There Are Other Ways To Stave Off Boredom

"I was DD for some buddies who wanted to go to a particular dance club in Baltimore. They're all hammered, it's too loud and we've been there for several hours. Casually an older woman next to me chats me up and notices my eyes are nearly crossing from boredom. I explained what I was doing there and casually (stupidly) mentioned I'm a bit bored. This psycho BITES ME on the chest! Afterward says "Well ya ain't bored now, are ya??""

– Mike7676

"Well, were you bored after that?"

– DontWannaSayMyName

"I must say, I was not!"

– Mike7676

That Goes Both Ways!

"I'm a man who works with kids, and when I started this job, I was talking to one of my old coworkers about how every once in a while I'll get weird looks for being a man working with kids and my coworker said I deserved it because some men can't be trusted with kids. I was shocked and she went on to say that I did it to myself and deserve to be questioned about it. I immediately stopped talking to her."

– Dolhedew

"What? What in the actual f**k? Doesn’t she know there are women who can’t be trusted with kids?"

– Anonymoosehead123

That Escalated Quickly

"The lady that accused my kids of cutting the line. (They hadn't, I was watching). When I went to ask her what was wrong, she told me to go back to my own country with that sh*t. (I was born in Massachusetts.)"

"The line was to pet dogs at a Renaissance Fair."

– pasafa

Everything All At Once

"While alone with a coworker, he told me that "women in the work place will lead to the decay of the fabric of society" to me. A woman. He also asked me out, got an attitude when I didn't say yes and continues to walk around with huge incel energy. He always complains that he has no one to go home to yet refuses to look at himself as a possible reason."

– Nopeferatu31

"Sounds like they should learn something from the phrase, "if you meet one a**hole, they're the a**hole. If everyone you meet is an a**hole, you're the a**hole.""

– tmpope123

Ouch!

"I told a coworker my wife had died."

"Her response: "You're one of those bald middle aged guys with a dead wife.""

"Me: "Yeah.""

– WalrusCello

"I want to think this was a wholesome thought that came out wrong. An awkward attempt at dark humor."

– ThisUsernameIsTook

*Cringing*

"Had an otherwise normal co-worker who was completely convinced windmills will cause the earth to stop spinning."

– Shadowmant

"WINDMILLS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY! GOOD NIGHT!"

– Torvaun

These are all crazy 'WTF is wrong with you' stories, but that last one blew my mind in 'how is it possible people think that could be true' sort of way!

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