Life can be freaky and we all see and experience things from time to time that we have no rational explanation for.
Today's burning question from Redditor Angellic_Reaper: "Skeptics of Reddit, what's something you have seen that you cannot explain?"
Buckle up, kids. Things are about to get weird.
"I was hiking in Yosemite..."
I was hiking in Yosemite and one night while stargazing I saw a light that slowly moved across the sky in a reasonably straight line. I thought it was a satellite as those are incredibly common when you get out into place that shows the night sky clearly. The light then stopped and started moving in every direction in these erratic jumps and bursts of speed. It did this for maybe 20 minutes before it started moving in its original direction. I have never seen anything like it before or since.
Shooting stars or satellites don't just stop and zip around in random directions like that. It couldn't have been a drone because it seemed to be too high and you couldn't hear anything, and besides, most drones can't move like that anyway. Everyone in our group saw it but we didn't really talk about it much, other than my buddy referring to it as the "drunk driving alien". I don't know what it was but I have seen nothing like it before or since.
"It wasn't seen..."
It wasn't seen, but years ago I thought of my best friend's mother, who I hadn't seen or thought of in ages, and a few minutes later my friend called to tell me her mother had just died. Still freaks me out.
"About a week after she died..."
My mom died of cancer and during the final months, she was living with us and we took care of her until her last breath in our house. Four events have happened that were not easy to explain.
First, in her last week, I was trying to help her relax so I played a playlist I keep on my phone called "bedtime". It has some very relaxing music. Her breathing was getting loud and it was difficult to be there with her. At one point I was crying because of watching her this way. Her brother, Leo, had passed away before her so I closed my eyes and thought "Leo. Please take her. It's so hard for her. She's ready." Ten seconds later she took her last breath. It wasn't until later the next day that we realized she passed away on the exact same day that Leo did, ten years later.
About a week after she died, I was sitting on the couch and I thought to myself, "mom, if you're ok give me a sign". My phone started playing that bedtime playlist all by itself.
A few months later, we were moving out of that house. We had loaded the last box and I was doing my final walkthrough of the house. In my head, I said "mom, we're going to a new house. I hope you're coming with us." And I sh!t you not, my phones started playing that playlist again.
Two weeks ago, we were in Cancun on vacation. It's been a couple years since she's passed away. We were having a romantic dinner on the beach and I knew my mom would have really enjoyed it where we were and I thought, "mom, if you're still with me give me a sign" and about 5 seconds later a huge shooting star shot across the sky. It was actually a meteor. Like it flamed out in the sky.
"I have no idea what I saw."
I was 14 and vacationing with my family on a beach in Eastern Europe. Our balcony had a view of the beach and I would sit out there every night. One night, there was a man and a woman(?) walking on the beach. She would walk a few paces and then he would catch up to her. Except for she wasn't really walking like a human, but more like a horse if that makes sense. She would raise her knee, extend her leg (toes pointed), and then gracefully plop her foot down on the ground. She was super thin and looked bald. She also looked like a human mannequin made out out of fabric and stitched up. He was watching her walk and almost studying her.
She would walk 5-10 steps and then robotically turn around and walk the other way. The only plausible explanation I can fathom is that she was some sort of robot/sex doll/etc., but her movements seemed too fluid to be a robot and too robotic to be a human. Since then, I've tried researching different illnesses (maybe she was sick?) and looked at photos of the newest robots and no dice. I have no idea what I saw.
"I told her that I had just been at Ida's house..."
I'm a skeptic of basically everything, but my mom actually has a story about me as a kid she always tells that scares the hell out of people.
When I was 3 her aunt died, who she was very close to, Ida. A few months later her friends took her to a psychic as a birthday gag. The psychic told her not to worry about herself or me because a woman who was like a mother to her and who had died was watching over us both. It freaked her out, but she ignored it.
A few months later she was walking to bed past my bedroom door, which was open a little. She heard talking and she looked in. I was sitting at the end of my bed staring at the wall having a conversation in the dark. She turned the light on and shook me and asked me what I was doing and who I was talking to.
I told her that I had just been at Ida's house and we were eating cheesecake and playing Hi-ho Cherry-oh (both my mom's favorite).
I've never been to Ida's house and I was 3 and didn't know what those things were. And we lived across the street from a giant cemetery. And that's where Ida was buried.
"I didn't think anything of it..."
GiphyMe and my girlfriend stayed at a very old Hotel in Boston recently. I was going to take a picture of the staircase as we were staying on the top floor and it looked like a cool shot. Instead I realized it was on Video and immediately stopped it after 1 second.
I didn't think anything of it, but I went to play it the other day and there is a voice that says "Are you taking a picture of me ?" No one else was in the staircase; it's neither of our voices and it absolutely freaked us out.
"I went for my after work run one night..."
I went for my after work run one night around 11pm back in 2010 in my neighborhood. I was 18 and just about out of high school. I was headed home and I felt this weird buzzing electricity in my body. Ya know, that feeling when the hair on your body just stands up and you get cold chills? This weird feeling of fear draped over me and I for some reason thought I needed to stop to shake it out. Thought maybe I was just starting to feel tired or just...something. As I stood there getting my bearings straight and removing my headphones I was caught off guard by some sort of movement in front of me. I turned my eyes and I watched as a green orb, about 20 to 25ft away came up out of the ground. Almost like it had been in the Earth and just moved up out of the ground effortlessly.
It whirled around for about 5 to 6 seconds like it was getting a view of the area. I immediately became petrified. I'd never encountered anything otherworldly or supernatural-like in my life. I watched this thing shoot off like some sort of rocket, but faster. Like lightning. Idk how to describe how fast it went, but it shot into some trees a ways off. It was still out there, but was pulsating light in these trees. I ran home as fast as I humanly could. Walked in the door and parent's said "you are so flushed. It looks like you've seen a ghost or something?!" I immediately burst into tears from all the fear that was bottled up.
I'll never forget that.
"I was out on my boat with my dad..."
I was out on my boat with my dad, coming back from an island for lunch. There's this lighthouse really far away on a huge rock that sticks out and would ruin ships, and they were getting ready to do construction on it, and to replace the current bulb with a solar powered LED one to save money. Nobody was out there at this point in time. We were close enough to it that we could see the features of the rock and lighthouse but also relatively far away. I look to the left of it and there's this dark black square. I start thinking, 'I'm so tired.' And then ask me dad if he can see that black square. He said yes. I was super confused and freaked, it was a bright sunny day, and the square was half the size of this already huge lighthouse. I thought to myself it was surely some scaffolding tarp that had been caught in the wind, but the thing didn't flap and stood perfectly still. It got thinner and thinner and then poof. Vanished. I still have no idea what it was.
"As he was doing it, I saw something walk out of a corridor..."
There was the time when I was young.
My parents took me into the underground city in Edinburgh for a tour. The tour guide was giving the "don't get lost or we'll never find you" spiel.
As he was doing it, I saw something walk out of a corridor behind him. I'm gonna save text here because I could go all melodramatic and wax lyrical about it for ages - it was basically what we'd now call a grim reaper - skeletal head and hands, carrying an hourglass in the hand I could see, with what looked like smoke or shadows around it for clothes.
No one else even twitched. When I was clear that no one else was seeing this thing in the corridor, I freaked out to the point my parents had to take us off the tour.
The thing that still makes my skin crawl about that - I didn't have my love of sci fi, fantasy or actual science when I was that young. I didn't really get that until I read the hobbit a year later. So I didn't know what a grim reaper was. I didn't know the anatomy of a human hand's bones or the association of the hourglass with death. Yet I saw all those things and some of my drawings from that age have details I wouldn't have known at that age (like the fact the carpus at the base of the hand being seven bones in a cluster, not a single knob of bone).
Been over 20 years and I've still not quite figured out how I knew things like that for those drawings. If I didn't know better, I'd think I'd been the victim of a practical joke, but I freaked out enough that there's no way my parents would have kept it going.
"My friends and I camped out..."
My friends and I camped out in this abandoned island off the coast of my country once. The history is that British soldiers used to be based on this island during the age of imperialism and no one ever lived there again because they say either the souls of those British soldiers dwelled or the place is inhabited by "djinn" (Arabic for genies; sort of the Islamic ghost).
Anyway, we camped there when my friend went to go pee. He came running back freaking out saying he saw something. Keep in mind, we were the only people on the whole island as it is uninhabited. Later on, I needed to pee myself, so I went to a different secluded part and saw this shape... it was the silhouette of a very big cat. Feeling scared, I finished off and went back to my group and asked if there are any animals known to live there - everyone was adamant that nothing could survive on this island, and our region as a whole doesn't have that much wildlife.
The next morning, we went to inspect the rest of the island. It's not big... about a mile in diameter. We couldn't find any evidence of anything living there amongst the ruins. Still freaks me out to this day.
"An old house I rented..."
Not seen, but heard. An old house I rented was the home to a former whiskey-maker and county-wide notorious a-hole. One night, about 3-4am, I heard what sounded like an old-time radio show. Like a trio or duo of women singing old gospel style music, then an announcer speaking with them, all in that old times midwestern meter. I searched the house but could find nothing. I bailed and slept at a friends. A few nights later, several friends were over for a party, and by around 3am, it had died down, we were just vegging in the living room. One of my friends just asked "Does anyone else hear that old radio?" He described hearing practically the same thing I heard previously. I didn't stay at this house long.
"I came across a deer..."
GiphyA while ago I took a road trip to the southwest US. I was in northern Arizona, near the border of new Mexico on some back roads outside a reservation looking for a place to park and camp for the night. The sun had just went down and it was getting dark quickly. There was still a band of light across the horizon from the setting sun.
I came across a deer that appeared to be hit by a large vehicle, a semi or box truck or something like that. There was flesh and bits of fur in the road and a blood stain spiraling across the road that lead to a fresh deer carcass on the shoulder. It looked gruesome. Naturally I slow down and rubberneck. The deer was still alive and looked into the headlights. As I pass it, I swear it sits up straight like someone getting out of bed and starts to stand on it's back legs.
I punch the gas and didn't slow down until I got to Flagstaff. F**k that.
"My dad and I were in Montana..."
My dad and I were in Montana deer hunting on our friend's private property, and we came across what we believe were Sasquatch tracks in a large patch of snow. My father has been hunting his entire life- he's seen pretty much every animal and their tracks. I'll never forget the wide-eyed look on his face when he said, "That's not from a bear."
The tracks looked almost identical to a human's, but they were massive and at least 3 feet apart. I remember the toes were long and the soles wide. I don't think it could have been a person, since we were several miles into private property and our friend was out of town. I'm not sure what those tracks belonged to, but the fact that my dad was stunned and couldn't identify them leads me to believe that they were something very, very unique.
"I once had a dream where my grandmother..."
I once had a dream where my grandmother (still living) told me she was in heaven. It's unusual for me to remember any details of my dreams, but this one stuck with me. While having breakfast the next morning, my father called to tell me she had died during the night.
I don't believe in ghosts or anything like that, and I'm agnostic at best about the notion of an afterlife. I've had other people who were close to me die since, and nothing like that has ever happened again. The dream could have been triggered by simple unspoken realities; she was 93 and in the hospital, although she was not at death's door, so it wasn't like I was expecting it.
The one thing I come back to is the thought that Grandma and I were always very close. I was her first grandchild, and I think I was her favorite. So if there was any way she could reassure me from beyond the grave, she would. The logical side of me says it's all just happenstance. But the whole experience left me with a small flame of hope that I don't expect will ever get blown out.
"Was home totally alone..."
Was home totally alone, doors and windows all locked and double checked. I had our two dogs in my room with me watching a movie and snuggling round 2 am or so when I very distinctly heard my mums voice yelling for me from downstairs using my nickname no one else uses. My family was in Louisiana and I was in Texas at the time and so I just assumed I was overtired and my brain was short circuiting. Pretty quickly after that I heard it a second time and that time both dogs got up with hackles raised, got in front of me on the bed and started growling like the devil himself was at the door.
Of course I totally flipped out because they won't stop and won't even look at me as I'm calling them and petting their heads trying to get them to chill out. Heard something thud pretty heavily on the landing outside my bedroom. Both dogs loose their minds and vault off the to bed and starting barking and snarling at the door; I flew across the room locked the door and then booked it back to my bed .
Just about peed my pants and the dogs didn't chill out until the sun came up. They spent the entire night growling and sitting over me facing my bedroom door. They've never done it again and in the morning everything was still locked up and I couldn't find anything that might have fallen. Still gives me goosebumps to this day.
"So about a year ago..."
So about a year ago, I had a dream. I was playing a board game with my dad, which was fairly normal, as both of us love board games. I had never seen this game before. In the dream, my dad moved a piece (I won't elaborate on the actual game because that's kinda boring for most people) and he said "that piece is more powerful, so I'll take it out first." A couple months later, he got a new game. It was identical to the one in the dream. No differences whatsoever. The first time we played it, this event happened, word for word. Ever since then, I've had stuff like this happen every once in a while. I'll have a dream, or just be daydreaming, and then sometime from a day to half a year later, that exact same thing happens.
I have also been in the car with my parents going home, when we see some kind of plane (maybe 30 feet long) just hovering 10 meters above the ground. It wasn't moving at all. This wasn't a hallucination - my mom saw it too.
"This wasn't necessarily visible..."
This wasn't necessarily visible, but I still cannot explain this for the life of me
So I had a friend who lived in another town, about 1.5 hours from where I live, so we didn't talk often. At the time of this story (around 2011), we hadn't seen eachother in a good 8 months, or even conversed all that much since those 8 months. I decide it would be fun to hang out again, so I give him a call. Instead of him answering the phone, I get the message 'this person is already in a call' (paraphrased). I wait a minute and call again. Turns out on the exact moment I called him, he called me. I still don't have an explenation for this, except for chance of course.
"I saw a UFO..."
I saw a UFO outside my window when I was in high school. I was perplexed, and stared until it was out of sight.
I told people about it, but eventually I kind of just forgot about it.
Several years later I came across this documentary, and the UFO i had seen in high school was featured in the film. A guy from my hometown caught it all on camera, and many people from the area reported seeing it that evening. I saw it all over again, and still can't really believe what I saw...even though there is evidence. What the f*ck was it?
"When I was 4 years old..."
When I was 4 years old, I was asleep and my grandma came in to check on me before she went to bed. There was blood all over my blanket, sheets, and the wall. She woke me up and looked me over from head to toe but found no trace of a bloody nose or any cuts anywhere on my body.
"Was working as a floor nurse..."
Was working as a floor nurse on a busy med surg unit. One patient was going to have an open hysterectomy (1983 or so). Stated she had an identical twin sister living in Germany. Patient did not want to notify sister about surgery until it was over so she would not worry. On the afternoon of the surgery, about the time the patient returned from PACU, the twin sister called the patient 's home saying she had been having severe abdominal pains all day and a feeling that something was wrong with her sister. Patient in Tennessee. Sister in Germany.
The Best Ways To Tell If Someone's In An Open Relationship Or Actually Cheating On Their Partner
Views of commitment and monogamy in romantic relationships continue to evolve.
More and more couples have decided to open their relationships, seeing other people while still remaining committed to one another.
Dating someone who's in an open relationship can take some getting used to, however, as the feeling of knowing your new romantic interest is going home to their spouse or partner following your date is strange, to say the least.
Then too, can you ever be certain that they are in fact in an "open relationship," and not just cheating on their partner?
"How do you know when someone is really in an open relationship, and not a cheater pretending to be in one?"
When In Doubt, Don't...
"If you're feeling off about it, don't do it."- Massive-Ad7628
Bad Feeling I Anticipate Problems GIF by America's Got TalentGiphyConfirmation Needed From Both
"When the partner openly knows and acknowledges it."- EngineeringVirgin
"I was seeing a man who was married."
"He assured me that their relationship was open, that he had full permission to do whatever, and that if it would make me comfortable he would give me his wife’s number and she and I could chat."
"We saw each other for about four years."
"I went to pick him up at his house a couple times and his wife would say 'have a nice date!'."
"That’s the way to do it."
"Everything on the table."
"If there’s some sneakiness, something that makes you feel it’s not quite right, you need to listen to that feeling."- theyarnllama
"Ask to meet their partner."
"If they’re really open, it shouldn’t be a problem."- bloomautomatic
Threes Company Reaction GIF by moodmanGiphyAn Oldie But A Goodie...
"Ask them to pinky swear."- Still_kinda_hungry
Give Your Intentions A Second Thought As Well
"Agh."
"Ok so I’m in an open relationship with my partner and he hooked up with this girl, and we called her to go get a drink with us and she was like 'I knew he had a girlfriend, but I didn’t know you knew'.”
"After that I def didn’t want to hang out with her because she thought she was facilitating him cheating on me."
"Not cool."
"Intentions matter."- Physical_Witness_922
Ask And Answer
"In my experience, ask literally anything about what type of poly or open they are."
"Also anyone who isn't willing to get/show a recent std test isn't worth the risk."- Midori8751
just ask leslie jones GIF by Saturday Night LiveGiphyInstructional Videos
"My SO and I just make videos explaining the situation and ground rules."
"That way, our potential partner know what they are dealing with."- TagtheCat
Doesn't Hurt To Check...
"I slept with a woman who was in an open marriage."
"Her husband called to check on her and ask if she was ok."
"She said she was fine and that was the extent of the call. I think that’s a pretty good indicator."- Fit-Concern-81
It's All About The Reaction
"When they introduce you to their SO as their lover and the SO is fine with it."
"Open relationships rarely sneak around on each other."- welltriedsoul·
“'So like…. You know your husbands screwing Ashley right….??'”
“'Yeah I know'.”- AkKik-Maujaq
It Must Be A Mutual Decision
"In my experience, one of my ex's said we were in an open relationship, however I didn't know that."
"So yeah, that's a cheater."
"I briefly dated someone that was in an open relationship (the couple were long distance)."
"I spoke on the phone with the girlfriend before any sex happened so we could all be on the same page regarding boundaries and intentions, what protection will be used, testing, etc."
"It really wasn't awkward, and I appreciated knowing that everyone was aligned."- korova_chew
Cartoons Button GIF by NickelodeonGiphyIf They Say No, That's A Problem
"Ask them if you can talk to their partner."- vivi2626
Don't Ask, Don't Tell... Don't Date!
"I've been poly for closing in on 2 decades."
"I used to run a large poly meetup in a huge metro area."
"I've seen it all, personally talked to several thousand+ poly folks over the years, etc."
"I REFUSE to engage with anyone in a DADT policy at all at this point."
"HARD F*CKING PASS, the vast majority of the time its cheating."
"And when its not I swear 95% of the time is because the couple with the DADT policy hasn't done any work around opening up their relationship and there are a LOT of problems involved."
"And I want nothing to do with that huge nightmare of a cluster f*ck anymore."
"Here's my perspective and where it comes from."
"The amount of cheating I've seen is beyond staggering."
"A huge percentage of the women I know have run into TONS of men that are cheating and try to use poly, dadt, etc as a guise to do it."
"I have zero reason to put that much trust in someone I just met. It's the same reason I ask for proof of STI testing."
"I can't understand people with the attitude of 'if you can't trust them why are you with them' the whole point is you don't know them that well why would you trust them?"
"This is one step in establishing some trust."
"The ethical part of ENM is a big big deal to me, and I refuse to be complicit in cheating and be put in an unethical situation."
"If cheating was rare it would be a different situation, but f**k it's common."
"I've verified 100% of my partners are in ethical situations, and none of them had a problem with it."
"I've had a number of their partners thank me for actually checking."
"I'll accept a few options for verification, a phone call, voice chat, a brief text exchange while my date is present, a prerecorded voice / video message, or showing me snippets of a conversation where being poly is discussed / confirmed and there is a long-standing chat history with said person."
"Most of the time I had already met or seen their partner, so I already knew it was ethical."- f*cklifehard
Schitts Creek No GIF by CBCGiphyMany couples have said that their communication and commitment has greatly improved after opening their relationships.
When one half of a couple seeing other people causes pain and unhappiness, however, it seems clear that that relationship is not open in a healthy way.
Particularly if only one person is truly benefitting from it.
Rumors can be dangerous, especially when they are about scientific facts.
Sometimes, rumors are told and retold so many times that we actually start to believe the rumors rather than the actual fact.
These rumors turn into commonly held beliefs.
When I was little, I used to believe bumblebees were superheroes because they're wings were so small, physics said that they couldn't actually fly. I found out later than I would've liked that that's not true.
Redditors know a lot of commonly held beliefs that have actually been disproven by science and they are eager to share.
It all started when Redditor Redt_Wolf16 asked:
"What is a popular belief that is scientifically proven wrong?"
Heavy Winds
"Hiding under a highway overpass is actually not a good way to survive a tornado."
"It has been scientifically proven that the wind gets concentrated and the speeds increase underneath the overpass."
"If you aren’t shielded by a bridge girder or something similar you’ll just get swept away and mulched."
"Your best bet for survival if you cannot escape the tornado is to find the nearest deep ditch or hole."
– jitsbay
"That's just a rumor that was started by a tornado"
– MikePGS
He Sees You
"Goldfish have a three second memory."
"They don’t and, supposedly, you can even train them to do tricks."
– twerkette
"They can even recognize human faces."
– fractalfrenzy
"So…you’re telling me Pumpkin the goldfish recognized me? 🥹🥹🥹 He was my first pet and I loved him so much"
– Inevitable_Willow_15
"Recognised? Pumpkin loved you."
– ihaveadarkedge
Crack!
"Cracking knuckles = arthritis"
– bigfart99
"There was a guy who only cracked the knuckles on his right hand his whole life to test this. He had no real difference between his hands arthritis-wise."
– Lmtguy
Boil A Frog
"A frog thrown in a pot of boiling water will jump out immediately. If a frog is put in a pot of cool water and that water is slowly warmed, the frog won’t notice and boil to death."
"This is indeed false"
– Backwards_Pessimist
"I love this one, we slowly boiled the water and the frog didn't jump out!after we removed most of its brain"
"Also if you throw a frog into boiling water it's not going to jump out, it's going to f*cking die."
– Enk1ndle
BOOM!
"That rice will make the birds who eat it explode. Birds eat rice all the time! It's actually good for them, especially brown rice."
"I believe this myth was made up so people would stop throwing rice at weddings, but harming the birds wasn't an actual risk. It was getting rice grains stuck in your ear that was."
– Mister_Moho
"The church my family went to had a sign on the door about not throwing rice at weddings, because the birds would eat it and "would get harmed". I think they just got tired of trying to get the rice out of the carpeting."
– genital_furbies
What About The Other 90%?
"We only use 10% of our brain"
– Key-Wallaby-9276
"I'm pretty sure I know a few people for whom this is true."
– maybebaby83
"...and others, that is a very generous overestimation."
– Any_Street
Lightning Flashed
"Lightning never strikes in one place twice."
– JarJarLifts
"Right? The Empire State Building gets hit about a few dozen times per year."
– dcbluestar
"Friends" Lied To Me!
"Despite popular belief, urine is not sterile."
– koalamiracle
"As a corollary: do not pee on jellyfish stings."
– Slant_Juicy
Both Can Be True
"“Fish don’t feel pain” , and simultaneously “Fish do feel pain” are both arguments which ignore centuries of research."
"They lack a Neocortex which deems them unable to “process” pain, however they have several nociceptors located around the mouth which allows them to “feel it”. What does this mean? Well nobody actually knows yet, and it is largely open to interpretation. It’s unfathomably hard for us to understand, as we can both feel and process pain. Some scientists describe “acting on instinct” as symptoms of pain when these nociceptors become compromised. Some scientists describe it as just that though, acting on instinct based on what parts of their body are compromised and hence weaker or vulnerable."
"For example : You hook and release a bass. That Bass now moves slower, eats a little less, and socializes less. Are these actions the result of the fish acknowledging the compromised nociceptors and acting accordingly while giving itself a chance to heal? Or is the fish genuinely hurting and sad? Research points to both being correct, but neither have enough evidence to prove anything yet."
"All we know with certainty is that we don’t have a definite answer supporting either argument, so anyone that leans hard one way or another doesn’t know what they are talking about."
– goldieglocks16
Lazy Simba
"Don't know if it's been said yet still scrolling, but that male lions don't hunt or do anything. Yes, lionesses do most of the hunting but males do help if the prey is too big and strong, such as with cape buffalo or giraffe. Males do a lot, staying back and protecting the territory which is very important if there are cubs, not to mention that the mane not only blows their cover more when hunting, but it tires them out quickly as it's a bunch of hair weighing on their head. Males also have to leave their birth pride at a certain age which of course until they can find a pride, they at that point have to hunt."
"Also on the topic of African animals (wildlife nerd) hyenas hunt more than lions and are more successful predators, and hyenas aren't dogs. Elephants don't think you or any human is cute."
"Edit: I was told wrong a lion's mane doesn't weigh as much as I thought, but it does have more of a negative effect on their hunting compared to a lioness."
– wildnstuff
That's That
"The one about earlobes (free, or attached) being inherited from your mom and dad were taught to us in 8th grade. We were supposed to go home and examine our parents. Mine are free, both my parents are attached and I'm not adopted. My science teacher sadly informed me that I MUST be adopted and that's that."
– snarksneeze
"I have an identical twin and he has one attached lobe and another that is free. Both of mine are attached."
– philodendrin
"I’m sad to inform you that either you or your identical twin MUST have been adopted and that’s that."
– TaintlessChaps
Blue Bloods
"That blood is blue until it comes into contact with air"
– xPunkdaddy
"Wow thanks, this is the first one I read that I didn't know. My old science teacher was amazing and she taught us it was blue, so I really doubted you until I looked it up. In her defense, she was a physics/maths fanatic and openly admitted biology just wasn't her thing. But still, I presume it must have been in our textbook. Madness!"
– guypr
Sweetness
"The belief that sugar causes hyperactivity in children.This belief has been around for decades, but numerous scientific studies have shown that there is no evidence to support it."
– Logpoze3
"One of my all time favorite scientific studies looked into this in the 90s. The researchers setup a randomized controlled study of boys (n = 35; 5-7 yo) who had been reported as sugar sensitive by their mothers. In the experimental group, the researchers told mothers the boys received a high dose of sugar. In the control group, researchers told mothers they received a sugar-less placebo. Mothers in the experimental group reported higher levels of hyperactivity than mothers in the control group. Well, it turns out the researchers fed both groups the same sugar-less placebo. The only thing measured here was the mother's belief that sugar causes hyperactivity."
– Metridia
I used to believe that, actually. Glad to know the truth!
CW: Death, assault, and accidentals.
Katy B. She was my classmate.
She died tragically in a car accident.
Her car hit an oil slick and flew into the air, passing mid-sky over a median and landed on another car.
Katy was beautiful.
Katy was cool.
Katy was popular.
And best of all, she was kind to the unpopular.
She died shortly after graduation.
I hate that.
Life... at its worst.
Redditor leilavanora wanted to hear about the people who left this world too soon, so they asked:
"How did the kid from your school die?"
So many people gone before their time!
Gruesome
Episode One Armchair GIF by PBSGiphy"Fell off a jet ski and then got hit by it when the driver turned around. Drowned."
lindseys10
"Jet skis are insanely dangerous. If you read up on jet ski deaths they are awful much more gruesome too."
anightclubfordogs
Family Issues
"There was a boy from a family of alcoholics, whose parents divorced, he lived with a mom who was a very heavy drinker and a stepdad. Stepdad had a son who spent quite some time in mental facilities and rehab because he f**ked up his brain with drug use. The son eventually came home to live with his father and my classmate. One time the classmate accidentally saw his stepbrother sniffing glue from a bag."
"Stepbrother got mad, poured kerosene on him, and lit him up. When his mother saw her child was burning she jumped out the window and ran away while his younger siblings were trying to put out the fire. Unfortunately, once they managed to he was already dead."
Healthy-Gain-6586
April
"End-stage renal disease. She was doing good for a couple of years and waiting for a transplant while getting regular dialysis but ended up passing away in 11th grade."
whiteoff44
"That's sad. Plug for Organ donation awareness: April is National Donate Life month. Every day, 17 people die in the US waiting for an organ transplant. If you aren't an organ donor already, sign up at https://www.organdonor.gov/sign-up"
jackruby83
It was devastating
"He froze to death in his sleep after passing out in the snow. It was a school trip with his class and they had some beers but probably some of the first few times they tried alcohol. It was devastating. They were moving from one house to another and he had said he needed a break in between but everyone forgot or just thought he was in another house."
"It sounds like an obvious mistake but it's not necessarily that cold even if it's snow, especially after a drink. To lie down and chill on a snow pile with a good jacket is no problem but if you pass out and forget well damn."
Fit-Childhood879
WTF
Shock What GIF by Paramount+Giphy"In middle school, my neighbor accidentally shot and killed his best friend while hunting. Years later he was beheaded by the Taliban along with two English men. Unbearably sad."
Suspicious-War-8839
Guns and hunting. That is just constant danger.
No Violence
No Way Do Not Want GIF by Schitt's CreekGiphy"Wrestling team bully with anger management issues punched an elderly man in a road rage incident and the elderly man shot him dead and was acquitted as it was deemed self-defense."
evolution9673
So Fragile
"He was playing football and randomly passed out. Never woke up again."
Aints*itAngel
"Happened on the soccer pitch next to ours when I was playing 5-a-side with my work buddies. The kid who looked late teens fell down hard and didn't come back up again. They tried CPR and the defibrillator from the office before the paramedics showed up."
"We just stood there speechless watching it go down. And while it looked super bad, they took him away on a stretcher still working on him so I didn't actually find out he died until a week later when we were back for our usual slot and they held a silence."
"Never even found out the kid's name but I still think about it sometimes. Life can so be fragile."
ianjm
Wired
"An electrician screwed up rewiring her family’s house so a live wire was touching a metal pipe connected to the bath. Her mum was wearing rubber work boots when she filled the bath so wasn’t electrocuted but she must have accidentally brushed against the tap or gone to add some more water while submerged and was killed instantly. We lived in a very small town where everyone knew each other so it really rocked our community. She was in the grade above me so would have been around 10-11."
TimedDelivery
Be Safe
Driving Time Lapse GIF by YevbelGiphy"Like 5 of them died of drunk driving accidents, three of them at one time, Little redneck school in the middle of nowhere apparently people seem to think drinking and driving is the only way to have fun."
Maleficent-Touch-67
Life is fleeting and fragile.
Appreciate every second, kids.
Content Warning: Questionable medical care, sexual harassment or assault
Some people are really against making doctor's appointments or attending them when the day comes.
In order to properly care for ourselves, it's important that we follow through on these appointments.
But there are certain experiences that make it perfectly clear why a person would want to stay as far from a medical professional as possible.
Redditor Silent-Zebra asked:
"What's the worst thing a doctor has ever said to you?"
False Prognosis
"I went through treatment for Acute Myeloid Leukemia six years ago. I went through chemotherapy and total body irradiation with an allogeneic stem cell transplant."
"My 28-day biopsy after my stem cell transplant results came in, and my doctor literally came in stoic as could be with paperwork printed out. He just said the transplant didn’t work and I still had residual cancer cells in the flow cytometry of my marrow."
"I simply just accepted it and didn’t even look at the paper. My brain was just thinking of all the different scenarios."
"As the minutes went by, I had a different attending come in and say that there were still other options, which made me reassured. I also had another doctor from the Middle East come in after her and told me I was still young and there were other treatments we can try so it lessened the blow at that point."
"I had always been pretty optimistic even with such a poor prognosis."
"Fast forward another 14 days, I had another bone marrow biopsy to see how much the cancer had progressed to see how we could attack it and there were no signs of any cancer cells. Ever since that day, I have been cancer free."
"My donor cells attacked the residual cancer cells and saved me. I now have the DNA of a French woman that is six years old. Modern medicine can be amazing."
- GregNak
Don't Talk to My Child Like That
"When I was seven, I slipped and hit my head on the door axle. I was rushed to the hospital cause well, at that age, my skull was like butter."
"I was crying a lot, and one of the doctors told me, 'Stop crying or I'll make it hurt more.'"
"My parents couldn't do anything since she was the one responsible for fixing me up. But I know they must have been piping mad at that b***h."
- Foodcarsanime1390
Holy Misdiagnosis, Batman
"They told me that I have genital warts, proceeded to freeze them off, and sent me on my way."
"I went to my family doctor and she told me I did NOT have genital warts and was very confused by the other doctor’s diagnosis and treatment."
"I found out later on that the original doctor who gave me the treatment and diagnosed me with GW had come to Canada because he lost his license while practicing in the USA, then shortly after, his clinic was no longer open in my area."
- aycarambo
No More Martial Arts
"After my knee surgery, my doctor told me that I would still be able to practice my martial arts when I recovered. But I had never done martial arts before."
"He probably told me that because I'm Asian."
"We both had a good laugh when I told him that I didn't do any martial arts."
"I was actually a tennis player, and he told me that my tennis days were over. I still play tennis to this day, lol (laughing out loud)."
- MackumTheKnife
What's Said Behind Closed Doors...
"This was overheard by a friend of mine when a neurosurgeon looked at the CT scan of her son's brain: 'There's no point in doing this one. This kid is done. I'm out of here.'"
"The good news is another neurosurgeon did the surgery and the kid (now about 40) is perfectly fine today."
"Another story I heard while working in a hospital, but cannot verify:"
"A guy was gravely injured due to being shot in the face; there was no chance of recovery and he was expected to die within a very short period of time."
"An intern walked into the room and said, 'Is this the guy we are going to harvest the kidneys from?' The doomed patient was reported to have reacted by briefly bolting up into a sitting position. I hope it is not true, but they did get the kidneys."
- Ordinary_Today401
Incredible Violation
"I was 17 and saw a male doctor because I was scared I had an STD."
"He told me I had to give him a list of the names of all the men I'd had sex with."
"I was so young and very naive as this was a country area. And also I think I was naive by nature. So I gave him the names."
"He made it clear that I'd been shameful. In reality, it was two or three guys."
"Then he said he had to test me. He used some kind of tool to take a small chunk of the inside of my labia. Hurt like h**l."
" He then put vinegar straight onto the cut. Hurt like h**l. He said that that was part of the test for STDs."
"After that, I was messed up for years. I kept going to doctors thinking that there was something wrong with my genitals. It took one very kind doctor to realize that I had an emotional and not a physical issue, and he sat me down and told me that my vagina was in A1 condition, that it was 'beautiful,' and I had nothing to worry about."
"He said it in the most wholesome, genuine way and respectful way. And after that felt okay about my body again."
- thylacinesighting
Just, Gross.
"When I was 19, my primary care doctor (male) told me he could do a pap smear for me at my physical."
"When I told him I already had a gynecologist, he said, 'I can do it professionally or personally.'"
" Needless to say, I never saw him again and reported him."
- 2SadAllTheTime
Be More Reassuring
"'Welp, looks like you're probably going to go blind!'"
"While I have visions of myself walking about tapping a white cane in front of me, he blithely adds, 'But don't worry about it. Corneal transplants are 99% effective, you'll be fine.'"
"I did have transplants later when eyesight got bad enough to warrant it. They worked a miracle, but man, lead with the, 'You'll be fine,' next time."
- SchaefSex
How Frightening
"Three years ago, I went for an eye test, and the optician gave me a note and told me to go directly to an eye hospital."
"I gave the note to the reception at the eye hospital, the lady said, 'Oh, right, come this way,' and I was taken right through the waiting room and put in a CT scanner within 20 minutes of arrival."
"Shortly after, a doctor came and said that, 'There is something in the middle of your brain,' and that an ambulance is going to take me to a neurosurgery specialist hospital."
"A few hours later, I was having a drain put into my skull to get rid of built-up spinal fluid pooling behind my eyes."
"An MRI scan revealed a golf ball-sized cyst in the middle of my head that was causing problems."
"That was a pretty bad day."
- Cubix89
Incredibly Careless
"A doctor said that I obviously didn't dislocate my knee (I had put it back in myself before I went to ER) because it wasn't swollen out like a balloon."
"He then proceeded to push my knee down flat after it had seized in a bent position to put a stretchy bandage on it."
"I went back two days later because I had lost feeling in my toes as the knee had pinched nerves. They did an MRI and I had a complete tear of the ACL, and my bones in the shin bone and femur were bright white from the bone bruises/fractures."
"I absolutely dislocated my knee and the doctor just smashed my knee down and said, 'Off ya go,' basically."
- sillicibin
Abstinence Only
"I was 18 or 19, and at my first gynecology appointment, I told her how something hurt when I had sex and I wanted to start birth control."
"She told me that I was too young to have sex so she wasn’t going to help with that."
- sweetgirl757
More Exercise Isn't Always the Answer
"I would constantly complain to my doctor that I couldn’t breathe when I would walk and I would get shortness of breath, I was always tired and fatigued, and I would get dizzy if I walked too long."
"She always brushed it off and told me to get more sleep or drink more water, even though I was getting plenty of both."
"Finally, I made an appointment to talk to her face to face, and she flat-out told me I was lazy and needed to exercise more."
"I was so embarrassed because I went with my husband and she made me feel like I was just this lazy couch potato."
"I switched doctors, and my new doctor decided to do blood work, which is something that other lady should have done in the first place, and found out I was severely anemic, to the point of needing blood transfusions."
"I felt soooo much better after I got my infusions. Some people just shouldn’t be practicing medicine!"
- NotAsPlanned-
Worst Case Scenario
"At 30, I was rushed into hospital out of the blue with a Heart Infection, and needing a valve replacement."
"The Professor was absolutely brilliant, but she told me off the record that, 'You may want to get any close family to come and visit, and sort out any important paperwork as it's not guaranteed that you'll wake up again.'"
" I obviously pulled through, but her honesty was reassuring, and even after ten years, we still send the odd handwritten letter to each other."
"(We also had these stupid personal televisions at each bed which cost about £2 an hour to watch. The money would seriously rack up as I was in there for weeks, but she blagged me a pirated code so that I could watch it for free.)"
- stanagetocurbar
How Encouraging
"It was to my husband, I was in the room. He said, 'I’m not going to figure out what it is. If it was serious, you’d be dead by now.'"
"Later, we found out that this doctor was the one that my husband’s uncle was seeing before he was diagnosed with colon cancer. By the time another doctor found it, it was too late. He said there was no way it should have been missed."
- Mellopiex
Reality Check
"I’m a physician. Sometimes I worry that I’m not doing a good job because it took me an hour to return a patient’s call, or some other small thing. Then I read stories like these."
- MidnightMiasma
While there are always going to be situations where we need to seek medical attention, instances like this make it perfectly clear why some people would rather skip that appointment.