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People Describe The Scariest Thing They've Ever Seen

People Describe The Scariest Thing They've Ever Seen
Image by Franz W. from Pixabay

Life is an unrelenting obstacle course toward survival. The irony is that the end of the course is the end of life, so we're all going to end up dead anyway.

But we have to jump through hoops to stay alive and have a long course to run.

Thank the Lord sent spirits in bottles to help us through. When we're not traversing our own course, we're bearing witness to others.

Whether it be accidents or murderers, the plights of others can be haunting.

Redditoru/im_a_noob_lolwanted to hear about the things that have scarred the psyche of many by asking:

[serious] what is the scariest thing you have seen ever?

I've lost count of the number of times I've been left SHOOKETH to the core of my being. Of course being scared seems to be structured into my DNA. I can be thrown off by a mild noise at night. And I faint at the sight of blood, mine or yours.

RIP

Acds2 Look Away GIF by Anime Crimes DivisionGiphy

"My brother losing consciousness and falling down the stairs. He lay on the floor with his eyes open and blood coming out of his ear. He was fine after one day at the hospital, but I sure as hell thought I just witnessed the death of my brother."

- thingstooverthink

The Long Driveway

"My dad and grandma waiting for me at the top of our driveway when I got off the bus coming home from kindergarten. My mother had breast cancer and the moment I saw them waiting there together, I knew she was dead. We had a long driveway to begin with but that day it felt like it took an eternity to climb. I knew what they were going to say but I still dreaded hearing it. I've never felt that kind of terror since."

- Brainsonastick

The Blackout

"This happened just this past weekend."

"Came home to find my brother blacked out and when he came to he could barely stand, walk, was in an altered mental state talking like he was drunk. He hadn't eaten or drank anything but water in 3 days and had been sleeping pretty much around the clock. Turns out he's diabetic now and was experiencing Diabetic Ketoacidosis."

"Spent the weekend in the ICU. He blacked out because he was so dehydrated that his heart couldn't properly pump blood and his blood pressure was bottoming out while his heart rate was skyrocketing. His blood glucose was sky high. He's doing better now thankfully. But I thought I was watching my big brother, my best friend, die right in front of me at the time."

- kat4190

In Class

Scared Breaking Bad GIF by davidsaracinoGiphy

"A 4th grade student of mine had a seizure, it was just awful and terrifying."

- Logical-Bottle-3465

Oh yeah, those people should be thankful I was not around. That is a whole messy lot trauma. Having to be a witness to or a survivor of frightful experiences can leave you changed for life. Let's try to go on...

Pleading

Not Safe For Work No GIFGiphy

"Another convict begging the co's not to let him die as he nearly bled out after having his throat cut from ear to ear. It was the begging that I can't forget. I had seen someone killed before and it didn't effect me nearly as much."

- dayman1224

Up in Smoke

"The Black Saturday bushfires."

"We were in a small town where my grandmother lived helping her pack up to get to safety. The fire was moving so fast we had maybe 1 minute to move if they sounded the warning to leave. Watching the horizon change colour from black to a dark orange to a full wall of flames in a matter of minutes is freaking intense."

"The trees exploded from the intensity of the heat making these dull popping sounds amongst what sounded like rain from ash and embers falling everywhere. It's worth noting that the town is nestled amongst a bunch of hills in dense bushland with treacherous terrain and we were almost completely surrounded. Every hill glowed for hours."

- VagrancyHD

Last Breathes...

"Finding this young dude after he'd been stabbed like 7 times and trying to comfort him. I knew the guy was going to die and I think he did too. About a year of sleepless nights and a moderate case of PTSD later I've come to terms with what happened."

- ProfessorInitial4019

Best Excuses For Late Assignments That Were Actually True | George Takei’s Oh Myyy

Oh Mom

"Seeing my sweet kind terrified mother crying out for death as she dealt with a huge tumor in her esophagus that prevented her from swallowing, after having had brain surgery to remove another tumor, to help with quality of life. I hate cancer."

- frauleinsteve

Pulse Check

"I watched a girl get hit by a car and stopped to help. The panic I had when the guy who got there first said there was no pulse. Lucky in that case he just didn't know how to take a pulse. But 18 months later and I still wonder how she's doing. It's like the old Chinese/Buddhist proverb "if you save a life, you're responsible for it" only I can see how you'd still feel it even if you couldn't do anything."

- angelerulastiel

Terror Cycle

"I survived a plane crash. It was far and away the scariest thing I've ever witnessed. Second behind that was watching a van full of people wrap around a bridge underpass pillar (the driver fell asleep behind the wheel). 6 of the 7 people died - the 7th person was laying in the back seat sleeping and avoided being crushed."

"Strangely enough, about 5 years after that accident, I was in Basic for the Army and met a girl that lived a few hours north of me. She KNEW the people who were killed and their funerals were in her high school gym. It's a small world, folks."

- justjordyjc

On Track

loop time GIFGiphy

"A speeding train hitting a guy."

- defnotqnx

Life Saver

"Finding my husband in a full cardiac arrest. Thankfully I found him very quickly and was able to commence CPR and save his life. There is a slim chance of survival for cardiac arrest so I'm grateful it happened a couple of minutes after I got home. Most terrifying moment of my life."

- Existing_Condition24

In the Air

"I was a receptionist at a trucking company. I was sitting the front desk and all of a sudden there was the loudest sound ever and as I looked out the window I saw a small building fly up in the air. Found out later that a welder and his helper had tried to weld something and there was an explosion. They both died. That was pretty sad."

- Picklesgal111

Remaining Scars

"I've seen my brother and another guy get blown up in a natural gas fire. Soaked/emerged in natural gas liquids and ignited Prob 70% skin/ hands looked like shredded white latex gloves with blood dripping from the tears. Lots of hospital time. Remaining scars are relatively Insignificant."

- luludrager

Up in Smoke

Sad GIF by PokémonGiphy

"Watching 3000 houses go up in flames about a mile east of me. I had the cats in carriers in the car, ready to go west."

- VapoursAndSpleen

Hearts

"Someone already covered 9/11, so I'll add one that's more existential fear: seeing my dad in recovery after heart surgery. It was only then I really realized how mortal and vulnerable he was, and that he wasn't going to be around forever."

- Athrynne

"I remember walking into the hospital room after my dad had his quadruple bypass surgery. Seeing him unconscious with a ventilator down his throat made me feel so helpless."

- ProudBirdMama

PB+J

"When my son was 18 months old I fed him PB+J for the first time for lunch and my wife said he'd already had some at daycare. I laid him down for a nap a short time later like usual after lunch. About 45 minutes later he woke up crying and I could tell he was in pain. I rushed to the room to find him completely swollen. I instantly knew he was allergic to peanuts. I did a 10 minute drive to the hospital in less than 5 minutes."

"The whole time I was thinking his throat would close and I would have to watch my baby boy die in the back seat. I got him there and everything ended up being fine as they treated him instantly. Thankfully his reaction to peanuts, so far, has only ever been a surface reaction and no throat closing. He's 11 now and to this day I've never experienced anything more scary."

- Controller87

Door Issues

"Bus doors closing on me with my mother on the other side as a child and seeing her chase the bus down to get me out. It's not that my mother wasn't watching me, I just found a coin on the ground and of course me being a kid I picked it up and the moron bus driver was too impatient to wait for me to leave, it was literally a 6 second window between my mother getting off and the doors shutting. Thank goodness she made enough noise outside for him to stop and let me out".

- Ragingbull444

Through the Crosswalk...

"I saw a guy on a bike get hit by a car. Guy blew through a crosswalk on his bike when he wasn't supposed to, car came to a stop and bumped him. Car was going maybe 2 miles an hour, but the dude still got flown a good 6 feet. You don't really think about how big and heavy cars are until you see something like that. Anyway, dude got up, shaky as all hell, waved at the car, then pedaled off. Nuts to see."

- salmon_samurai

I would never be able to leave home after seeing things like that, heck just reading it is giving me anxiety. This is why therapy and Xanax are a must have for survival. Good luck out there. The clock is ticking for us all.

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People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

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

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

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

– Practical_Eye_3600

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

– bikergirlr7

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

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

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

– KingBooRadley

Remember

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

– AquamarineCheetah

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

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

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

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

– OhhGoood

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

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

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

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

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

– RandomSharinganUser

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

– Kolkeia

If Only

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

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

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

– drummerskillit

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

– Isitjustmedownhere

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

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

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

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

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

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

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

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

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

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

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

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

– We-R-Doomed

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

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

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

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

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

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

– LesPaltaX

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

– MoonlightKayla

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

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

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

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

PeachesnPain

Recovery

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

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

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

good_golly99

Take Me Back

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

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

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

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

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

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

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

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

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

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

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

Hannah_LL7

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

huntokarrr

The Fog

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

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

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

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

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

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

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

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

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

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

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

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

– r7ndom

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

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

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

– dee-fondy

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

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

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

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

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

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

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

– KatMagic1977

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

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

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

– WaySavvyD

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

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

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

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

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

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

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

– LiZZygsu

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

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

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

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

– Princess-Pancake-97

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

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

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

– snic2030

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

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

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

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

– dma1965

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

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

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