Most of us will spend most of our lives blissfully unbothered by our mortality.
We know we're all going to die some day, but we don't often stop to think about how close we could be at any given moment... unless you have a death-related anxiety, in which case this article may be triggering, so proceed with caution.
People Who Avoided Disaster At A Spot They Normally Would Have Been Explain How They Felt When They Learned The News
With 7 billion people, countless machines, and shifting earth formations all humming along constantly, sudden chaos is never far away. Every time we leave the house we accept the possibility that some total calamity could erupt around any and every corner.
But most of us don't encounter the chaos. We gamble, leave the house every day, and never pay for it. While others, unfortunately, are caught in the most sudden, tragic catastrophes that occur.
And then there are some people who make up a kind of middle space. They narrowly missed a calamity. They saw that the very place they should have been was utterly destroyed. Or maybe they were actually in the tragic place, only to leave unexpectedly just moments before disaster.
For those people, belatedly discovering their proximity to death can leave feelings of ghostliness. Some Redditors share their experiences with the near miss.
A Miserable Few Hours
"At the end of a trip in Egypt around 15 years ago me and my father arrived late at the airport so we missed our airplane and took the next one. The first airplane crashed and all our family thought we died."
"When we arrived at the airport, nobody was here to greet us and we didn't know what happened. When I called my mum I heard her cry like never before."
-- johanjudai
Life Saving Tardiness
"My great uncle worked at the twin towers... I'm not sure what he did because he doesn't like talking about it... but apparently he was running really late for work that day and i sh** you not he was getting ready to go in and he watched the plane hit the building. He was standing outside completely in shock... he still goes to therapy for it..."
-- echomcl
A Sign
"Not me but my wife. She missed work one day and there was a shooting right outside her office, right about the time she would normally be leaving for the day. Not necessarily certain death but who knows. She worked in bad part of town, in fact there was another shooting right by there again this week."
"She was doing important work there (addictions counseling) and I was very proud of her and would never have asked to leave her job but I was quite relieved when she got a new job in a safer neighborhood."
Held a Little Tighter
"Not a place I would normally be at, as it was supposed to be my first time going to the Route91 concert in Las Vegas where people were shot. I got strep throat and cancelled on my friend and her group the night before we were supposed to leave."
"Friend messaged me after she and her friends had run from the shooter and found shelter in a random hotel."
"My now-husband held me a little tighter that night, and my parents and boss messaged me saying they're glad I got too sick to go."
-- willbills18
The Best Airport Pickup
"1996, the Olympics were held in Atlanta. Late one night, my fiance and her 2yo son were flying in to join me. Myself and two brother-in- laws were at Olympic park, when it was time to leave to pick them up the airport. 30 minutes later, Eric Rudolph detonated a bomb in the same place we were standing."
-- itsjusthop
Saved By No Money
"Me and my cousin and friend were chilling driving about. And I suggested let's go to the movies to see the new Batman movie. We drove over to the century 21 when I realized I didn't have any cash. I asked everyone if they had money no one did so we just stopped and went to my boy's house."
"All of a sudden we see cops, a bunch of them swarming to the theaters, we looked at each other and found out the next day that James guy went in and started shooting up the movies. I was like holy Sh** that could've been us"
"During the week they raided James Holmes house and I legit lived a block away from his place. He booby trapped his house but luckily no one was hurt."
A Bad Feeling
"I live in northern England. When i was a little girl my dad took me and my brother shopping for a mother's day present in a place called Warrington. We were almost there, pulling into the car park when my dad just went:
" 'No, no we'll go to Leigh (another town) instead' "
" 'Why dad?' "
" 'I've just got a bad feeling' "
"We saw on the news that that day a bomb exploded planted by the IRA where we would have been shopping, killing and injuring children and parents who were there shopping for mothers day gifts just as we would have been."
"There's a memorial there now and whenever i see it i feel such a deep sadness and almost guilt that i survived it."
A Game of Inches
"I was letting my dog outside in a rainstorm so leaned up against the metal pole by our house then my dog wanted to run inside so I step away from the pole and not 5 seconds after it was struck by lightning" -- livelifegood123
"I was once outside on the oval with a bunch of kindergartners. A storm was gathering and we were rounding up the kids. Suddenly one of them pointed at me and started laughing; my hair had stood up on end. I could feel it crackling."
"Noped the f*** out of that." -- Echospite
Most Important Meal of the Day
"Sisters ex boyfriend dad. He would get breakfast with the same crew every morning. He showed up late, put his stuff at the desk and walked to the elevator. They were getting off while he was getting on. He asked if they wanted to accompany him, they said they ate without him."
"As he walked out the front door the first plane hit HIS floor. As a new yorker you hear these stories all the time"
-- CF0311
Mothers Against Explosions
"My mom was supposed to go to a marshmallow factory in kindergarten. They didn't have enough chaperones so it was canceled. Later that day it blew up, and they would've died if they were in it." -- Pidge_The_Turtle
"Not me but my mom and grandma when I was twelve they were going to a lab to get a blood test. They decided not to go because they were a little late. At the exact same time my mom planed to arrive at the building exploded. So she was thankful they stayed home instead" -- Stromboli_The_III
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Near-death experiences are fascinating enough to have captured the attention of many people over the years. Television specials about them were fairly popular on the 90's and 00's.
Some people experience a feeling of euphoria, or extreme calm, or just don't remember anything at all.
The circumstances that find people rapidly approaching death's door can be fascinating as well though, even when they don't experience any supernatural-seeming situations.
Reddit user inflake_ asked folks at r/AskReddit about their near-death experiences:
"What are some of the near-death experience you faced?"
10.
I had one just yesterday. For context, I work at a car dealership. I had just picked up a car from a local auction house and was doing about 80 in a 75 down the highway. As I was going over a bridge in the lane closest to the edge of the bridge, a huge and also dead/dried up Christmas tree flies out of this truck ahead of me.
I obviously swerve very quickly into the shoulder and one of my back tires is in the air with the whole car about to flip. I somehow managed to reel it back in and gain control of the car again. If I had lost it and the car had flipped like it almost did, I would've gone over the edge of that bridge and I don't want to think about what would've happened to me.
9.
Last summer i went camping in a small island in Greece with some friends. Some time after we landed we met a group of girls, but didn't meet again for a couple of days. One night we decide to go to a club so we change things up, since we were stuck to mainstream camping stuff. I got pretty f***ed up and on the way back to our tends i pass out, fall on a parked motorcycle, and the glass bottle i was holding breaks in my hands cutting 2 arteries.
My friends were stunned and couldn't act at their best, since they were drunk as well (not as much as me though). Out of nowhere the group of girls we met at the beginning recognize us and start helping me. It was like some trained drill. Apparently most of them were training for these type of cases. I eventually went to an underfunded hospital, after an ambulance arrived 1 hour later. I think its safe to say it could've been much worse.
8.
I had a rock thrown at me, split my skull open, lost enough blood that it put me in hospital for half a year. Had to learn how to walk properly again as my muscles had wasted away from being in a bed for so long.
According to my mother, she knew exactly where I got hit because you could follow the trail of blood to where I got hit to my front door. The worst part? I was an "indoors kid", so my mum was so thankful for me being outside that when i banged on the door to be let in, i got a hearty "f**k off". I collapsed against the door and that's why she opened it.
7.
I was diagnosed with a rare cancer that was connected to my lung and chest. When they did surgery to remove it, i flatlined twice on the operation table and again after the procedure was done. But to me it felt like i was in a dream. I was talking to someone about my life and what he said to me was 'i know you're tired but it's time to go back'. When i woke up it was a few days later and i found out i was put in a medicine induced coma to keep me from flatlining again. To this day, that man and our conversation still creeps me out.
6.
It was more what I felt than what I saw. I almost drowned my first time white water rafting. I started out panicked, as is expected, until I realized I was truly stuck in a rapid with a raft and 4 other people on top of me that wasn't moving. At that point I honestly just gave up and started to taking on water, eventually starting to black out. My world got quiet and peaceful and my whole body got really warm. I was almost out completely when somebody jumped into the water and frantically kicked me out from under the raft.
I've spent a lot of time trying to get back to that level of serenity I experienced that day through meditation, but have never been able to feel that since then.
5.
I was walking in the yard with my dad when I was like 10 years old. It was raining like hell but we had to get something from the shed, I don't remember what.
Lightning struck the grass maybe 5 meters in front of us.
Safe to say I don't like lightening anymore.
4.
I almost drowned twice. Not super fun. Not much to say other than river + me + not able to keep head above water consistently = a bit traumatic.
The second time was as an adult river rafting. I fell out in a dangerous stretch of river. Couldn't seem to get any progress away from the rapids. I had resigned that I was likely going to die before the main boat caught up to me and got a paddle for me to grab on. I hadn't properly adjusted my life jacket so every time I got up for air my head was a floating a few inches lower than it should have and my gasps were met with the top of a wave.
Anyways I get back to the raft, humbled by the river and frankly terrified to get back in. We got to a big slow moving stretch and the boat captain(?) said, "I'm not going to pressure you to get back in, but if you don't do it now you will probably be too scared to swim for the rest of your life" and so against my better judgement I hopped back in.
I still swim on occasion but if even the slightest drop of water gets in my snorkel while snorkeling its pretty much an instant anxiety attack.
3.
I burned in a gas explosion in August 2014. When I woke up 4 months later in hospital, I knew without anyone telling me that I crossed the boundary between life and death. The doc later confirmed that they did in fact, lose me during one of the operations, but I resurfaced.
I have recovered almost completely, against all odds, but I can no longer smell or taste much, and my eyesight and hearing are not great anymore, and I can no longer be in the sun.
I still wonder about my experience when I "died".
2.
Ex and I were chilling in the lounge at her parent's house in winter and had the gas heater on. both fell asleep and when the movie ended she said we must go to bed and I wanted to just sleep down there with her (weren't allowed to sleep in the same bed you see so I thought I could get away with the couch) and she said we cant and pushed me upstairs.
I woke up the next morning to the house smelling like gas cause we had closed the lounge door without turning the heater off and it had burnt off all the oxygen and gone out so filled the room with propane.
would have never woken up if she hadn't told me to go to bed.
1.
A few years ago I was in a workplace accident that nearly killed me by a slow crushing. Time just seemed to slow down, all my senses seemed to get a lot sharper all of a sudden, lights were brighter, sound was louder, smells were stronger and a sense of hopelessness overcame me because there was nothing I could do to escape the situation, I thought I was either going to die or was going to be snapped in half and left a paraplegic, all I could think about was my daughter. Luckily neither of those things happened as the person operating the peice of machinery that was crushing me noticed that it was going at a slower rate then usual and stopped it to check why. It left me unable to walk properly without pain for about 6 months but I'm fine now.
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Near death experiences are a phenomenon that thankfully not everybody really gets to experience. They're fascinating anomalies of science because they are impossible to explain and are different for each person.
The trauma surrounding the near-death-experience, though, stays present and strong well after the fact. It can be difficult to move on with one's life after the emotional scarring. Trigger warnings: violence, depression/suicide, blood, death.
u/lifeandtimes89 asked:
People who have had a near death experience, what did you experience?
Here were some of the answers.