Redditor sintemp wanted to hear about the times we've all averted odd ways of perishing, so they asked:
"In what unusual way have you almost died?"
Life is littered with near-death incidents.
It's a wonder we can enjoy living at all.
Oh wait, maybe that's the point.
Close Call
Pop Tv Please GIF by One Day At A TimeGiphy"Almost booked a ticket on MH17 with my mum and brother, before my dad shut it down and said he’s fed up with flying with Malaysian airlines. So we flew with Emirates instead, wise decision."
KenyanJesus69
"Same, my mum booked our tickets for MH17. Then they were changed to a day earlier, my whole family was sad we left early. Saw the news on MH17 when we landed in New Zealand. Scary crap."
Zoutt
Lungs
"When I was born in 1995 one of my lungs was filled with amniotic fluid. The doctors went in to drain it and inadvertently tore it instead. Then they proceeded to tear the other one in an attempt to fix the first one. My mother remembers two doctors getting into an extremely heated verbal argument over this. Doctor 1 thought he could treat me at the current hospital I was in."
"Doctor 2 knew that I would die if I wasn’t transferred to a better-equipped emergency center. They were in such disagreement that Doctor 2 literally had to sneak me out after Doctor 1’s shift was over. Obviously, it worked. I turned out not just making a full recovery, but I left ALOT of people scratching their heads because my body never developed scar tissue from all of that. My lungs work 100%."
Ohlookitsyouagain
Not Faking
"Got pushed off a dock by a bully and drowned in front of a lifeguard who was yelling at me to stop faking. I was 9 or 10 at the time and I couldn't swim. The town had a population of less than 800, only had 1 lifeguard, and I was at the beach 3-5 days a week because of family, so they knew. Brother ended up pulling me out and resuscitating me himself. Lifeguard pretended she didn't notice."
ModularArchive
Death Secret
"I was digging a hole at 12-14 years old. Because I could, kid stuff. I only remember waking up, and it was dark. I had apparently hit an underground electric line. No one knew. I was there for hours. I got up, went inside, and ate dinner. This was in the early 80s. I peed my pants. And felt weird for a day or two. Never told my parents. Thought they’d be mad."
BadLuckEddie
Chew Slowly
top hat fish GIF by GoldfishGiphy"By inhaling a Goldfish. The cracker, not the animal."
"Got pneumonia, hospitalized, the whole 9 yards."
"I don't eat goldfish anymore."
EchoLynx
I knew those little goldfish were dangerous.
Fish are killers with the right cheese.
Horrors
Over It Rose GIF by HULUGiphy"My stomach veins exploded. It was like something out of a movie the blood pouring out of my mouth. Don’t recommend it. Still traumatized."
pancakesquest1
50 Feet
"I came ~50 feet away from getting struck by lightning in April 2015… in Auschwitz. I was there with my dad and we hopped off the main tracks about 15 seconds before lightning hit them in front of us. We always joke (darkly) that we’d have been the last Jews to die in Auschwitz if we hadn’t moved."
chyko9
A beaten body...
"Fell down a mountain. (It was like a slide area that went at an angle off vertical.) My clothes and skin were torn badly, one of my pack straps was broken, and, while nothing felt broken, I felt like I had been beaten by baseball bats for a week. Took me 2 weeks to get out and to medical care. I was bleeding from every orifice and couldn't eat or drink when I entered the hospital."
"For a CAT they dumped something like 1.5 liters of, what we soon discovered, of a dye that I was severely allergic to. I next woke in the same room with a technician sobbing into my face and a doctor who looked like he just ran a marathon holding those shock paddles."
"I was informed of the allergy, told I had died, and had to swear to the, still very upset, technician that I'd always tell others I had such a severe allergy. So, I dragged my beaten body into a hospital for them to kill me in an attempt to find out what was wrong."
Gurpguru
Combat Problems
"Was assisting at a target practice in the military when a trainee misfired and got saved by my Kevlar helmet, the force of the impact pushed my head backward, and fell into the ground with so much force that I got a concussion."
"Next thing I know, the drill instructors are tearing that trainee a new one while I'm looking at a beautiful blue sky hearing shouting far away. Luckily I got hit by a 9 mm. to the helmet and not a 7.62 mm. from our standard combat rifle."
CommieWhacker14
Safety Issues
excited d&d GIF by Hyper RPGGiphy"I almost got crushed in a pin setter when I was working on the pin table (bowling lane). I was lazy and didn’t LOTO because as the manager I didn’t think anyone would turn it on but me. I was wrong and it was a mistake I only made once."
HappyHubby33
Lord, half of these are the worst of my memories.
We're not even safe in our own homes!
Do you have any stories? Let us know in the comments.
What was that?!
poop woods GIF by WreckedGiphy"Being out in the woods at night and hearing the noises some of the animals make can really raise your hackles."
dfin25
Smushed
"I got rear-ended stopped at a light on my motorcycle. I flew right over the guy that hit me, easily ten, fifteen feet in the air, and landed on my back. Watched my bike get smushed into a pancake between the car that hit me and the car in front of me. I was shocked at the amount of people that came out of their cars to ask if I was alright."
"It took me a while to get my breath back. Had to throw off my helmet, felt like a fish out of water. Something about the way the bike got crushed, and I realized I would most certainly not be alive had I not gotten thrown off the bike. The driver that hit me was on his phone."
Springfield1
Nothing is Possible
"Biking in the woods with my Dad. We stopped to rest at his request and he complained about chest pain. Then he lost consciousness and became unresponsive. He stopped breathing and I started CPR. We were about two miles into the trail and it was getting late. I called 911 and continued CPR with 911 on speaker. It took about 25 minutes for first responders to to find us."
"I continued CPR the entire time until EMS showed up, I didn't think I could continue I was getting so exhausted. It was by far the most afraid I've ever been. I felt alone and completely helpless, I even considered hoisting him on my bike and thought maybe I could run him out of the trail to find help. But realized that wasn't really possible."
"He didn't make it and it effected me for awhile afterwards. It was thought at the time he had a heart attack and the autopsy later confirmed it was. I'm at peace with it now. I gave him the best chance I could. I will never forget the complete and total helplessness I felt."
Napp2dope
Alone
"I was in a motorcycle crash just last week and I’ve been trying to tell myself it wasn’t a big deal. A car turned on their left blinker and started to cross the yellow line, and began to pass on the right. They quickly swerved back to the right to instead take a right hand turn and I impacted their drivers side door and was thrown from the bike."
"It didn’t hit me how I could’ve died until the claim adjuster showed up a week later and pointed to damage points on the bike and where they had impacted the car. It was very lonely experience. The police never asked if I was okay, and neither did the bystanders. I felt so alone."
Puzzleheaded_Bit_641
Rattled
GIF by onmilwaukeeGiphy"Coming face to face with a diamond back rattle snake when I was 11 years old. Climbing up on huge boulders in central Texas."
tandycat56
Snakes are a HARD NO! I would be out so fast!
Please Breathe
"This was also my answer to what was the happiest I have ever been. My son had a massive seizure and stopped breathing in the emergency room. The nurses had to 'bag' him for over an hour to keep him alive. When I finally heard him cry I was happier than I have words to explain."
throwrabrotherdrama
That Night
"When I first moved into my new house in 2016, very night I would hear random bangs during the night. It horrified me but I just took the guess that it was my dog. Well one night at around 4am I hear a huge bang and then my door opening, see I have no freaking clue what it was so I pretend to be asleep and let it be."
"So after a few minutes my door closes and I run to grab my phone. As I'm walking across the house I go and look under the couch. Can you guess what I saw? A freaking chipmunk, I've been terrorized by a chipmunk for 3 months. Probably the scariest night of my life."
alli_the_gamer
The Storm
"A tornado warning, I was only 12, But tornados terrified me, And still do, I remember my grandparents waking me up, They had known about the tornado before we did. And we apparently took a long time to actually wake up, my family was rushing around the house in a panic to grab clothes, shoes, pets etc."
"I also remember running to my grandma's house as it was the safest place we could get to in the storm, I wasn't dressed in very warm clothing. And tripped into a puddle of mud, So I was cold. Wet and afraid Luckily it passed us."
LazyLittleBat
Fly High
"It wasn't scary at the time, but... I was on vacation in Greece, visiting family. We board a plane in Athens bound for JFK. Twas TWA flight 881. If you are not aware, the flight number is indicative of a route. Anyway, we land, disembark, get our luggage, hop on the BQE, then the GWB."
"Meanwhile, the airplane refueled, boarded new passengers, and it changed callsign... to TWA flight 800. We were somewhere in Jersey when it blew up over the long island sound. That same airplane we had just landed in... So... yeah. I hate flying now."
skrilledcheese
Any Waffle House at anytime can bring about nightmares. This list is a mess.
I believe we all live moment to moment literally just surviving. So let's hear about when death is being loud.
A Goner
confused fall GIF by Outside TVGiphy"Briefly trapped under the raft while in rapids white water rafting. Didn’t get the breath I thought I would when my head hit the bottom of the raft. Thought I was a goner. A second later I was to the side of the raft and only mostly still freaking out."
spaceman_danger
Stop Smoking
"I was 11. I had just developed asthma and my mother refused to quit chain smoking in the house. One night I have a severe attack. I'm trying to use my rescue inhaler and its not working. Each time I try to inhale it just goes right out my nose. I panic."
"I vividly remember my mother smoking a cigarette as the panic is giving way to hypoxia. She's screaming at me to use my inhaler. Right before loosing consciousness I realized that was it, I'm dead. There wasn't a whole lot of life to flash before my eyes. A sense of calm and peace settled over me as I collapsed."
"My parents did CPR on me until the paramedics arrived. I woke up in ICU days later with a tube down my throat. The doctors were surprised I survived. My mother never smoked in the house again after that. The car was still fair game for her though."
Saiyanman007
Lungs
"I was choking on food, almost a full blockage and couldn't get any air in. After several attempts to get it out, it sunk in that it was really lodged in my throat and I was screwed. Started to feel dizzy and everything moved slowly. I remember thinking what an embarrassing way to die and that I didn't want my kid to be watching (it was at breakfast)."
"I started dialing 911 when my husband came up behind me and started first aid. He got the blockage out and I started vomiting everywhere. It was very intense. I still went to get checked by a doctor to make sure my lungs were clear because I felt dizzy for hours after and my throat was raw. Took a day or so to heal. He 100% saved my life!"
shadowball46
Oh Crap!
"When I was a 6th grader I was cutting plastic with a box cutter, knife slipped and sliced a 6 inch long and .5 inch deep cut into my wrist, cut almost every vein and the tendon some people have, my first thought was oh crap I’m bleeding, followed by me running to the bathroom and then slipping on the blood and smacking my head of the floor, knocked out and somehow lived."
sovietsexyboi
Just a Graze
Bicycle Oops GIF by RETROFUNKGiphy"I went under the wheels of a semi while riding a bicycle. Trapped for 2 hours until they cut my bike apart around me. Walked away with a graze on my leg and elbow."
PokesPenguin
How in the world? My stomach is in knots.
Lived to see another day!
Crashing Car Crash GIF by Don BrocoGiphy"Squished in the middle car of a multi-car highway accident."
"Air bags deployed/car totaled/smelled burning scent (not sure what it was but assumed the car was about to explode). And stuck in the fast lane on the highway as other cars whizzed by this cluster-f#% at high speed. Lived to see another day! Felt extremely shaky from adrenaline for hours afterward…"
LBinSF
BOOM!!
"House explosion, 3 years old Edmonton, AB. I vividly remember standing next to a stove that someone was fixing in the basement apartment of my Dads friends house (who we were visiting) and next thing I was opening my eyes in in the daylight outside. I completely blacked out while the gas stove exploded and I landed clean in the driveway. My dad and mom were on the front page of the Edmonton Journal 1993."
"I remember distinctly thinking the brightness was heaven and that I had died and fell into heaven- my baby sister had died several weeks prior to SIDS and my mother and father had to explain where she had gone and I thought I was in heaven but it was the sky."
AD_Skinner_no_shirt
So mission accomplished...
"Car accident. We hit a patch of ice and went over a guardrail and off a 40 foot cliff. I knew was dead the moment I pulled my leg free from the piece of door stabbing through it and the blood came out like a faucet. I figured I could at least climb back to the road for help before I passed out so I did."
"I flagged down a passing truck and passed out and died in the ambulance before they brought me back. The firefighters used my blood trail to find my friends car which saved his life. So mission accomplished."
Shes_dead_Jim
fade to black...
"Had a car crash into my house and hit me when I was a child. I was sitting on the couch at the time and it hit me, drove through the next wall into the garage, then came to rest on top of my lap, pinning me down to the couch with it's full weight. I wont go into too much detail about my injuries: suffice it to say that it was pretty gorey."
"It took over an hour for the emergency responders to get me out from underneath it. That hour is foggy at best. I remember so much pain, and at some point I felt this overwhelming sense of peace about the situation. Like, I instinctually knew that all I had to do was let go and the pain would stop."
"I started to let go, and I began slipping away. The pain stopped, the world slowed, and everything started to fade to black. It felt like I was floating on water, and all the fear and agony was taken far away from me. I snapped back into myself to the sound of a firefighter yelling at me to stay awake. Immediately the pain returned and I was fully 'here' again. Didn't hit me until much later in life that I was interrupted in the middle of the death process."
Apprehensive-Donkey3
car slamming GIF"I'm laying in the hospital right now typing with one hand. I found out a few days ago that I remained conscious enough to call 9-1-1 myself even though I don't recall doing that. Pretty much the only reason I'm alive is because I didn't injure my head."
FormerUniform
Good for all of you. Do great with the rest of your lives.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
I hope I still have my memory. Then at least I can feel a comfort.
RUSH
adrenaline sport extreme GIF by Sport DecouverteGiphy"For me it was really just 'Oh F**k!'"
"Then a huge adrenaline rush after."
"Mine happened in Airborne school when I was in the military. My 3rd time jumping out of a plane, another jumper landed on top of my parachute which prevented it from opening all the way. Instead, it was pressing against my face and I could feel myself free falling."
"I looked down and was about to pull my reserve chute, but I realized instinctually that there was probably not enough time for it to open and catch enough wind to fully deploy and there was a good chance i’d die. It just felt surreal, all I could say was “oh f**k” and then my chute opened. "
"The dude that was on top of me was able to free himself and he was screaming in fear too. I landed safely and immediately felt an insane adrenaline rush; I was actually laughing hysterically after, probably a nervous response. Glad my days jumping are behind me! Lol that was the only close call."
DefiantFungus
I'm Good
"It was a weird sort of acceptance. I came to grips with the fact I was going to die and I was ok with it."
StanePantsen
"This was my exact experience drowning, I just thought 'oh OK, what a strange way to die, I feel bad for the person who has to find me'. I didn't really even get time to dedicate thoughts to my friends and family, just sort of accepted that this was it and GGWP."
chance_waters
I Lived
"I had a stroke; and on the way to the hospital, I was sad that if I died, I'd never have a chance to tell my best friend how much she meant to me and thank her for all of her support and kindness. I was more sad about that than the prospect of dying. Luckily, I lived. So, I told her that."
haloarh
Derek
"The calm, simple thought: 'Derek’s not that bad.' When I almost got killed with my coworker Derek who we all hated for some reason. I just like stopped hating people that day, realizing even the most annoying people aren’t that bad when you’re about to die together."
No_Helicopter3114
Tranquil
Chill Reaction GIF by MOST EXPENSIVESTGiphy"Shocked when I first realized what was happening. Then just a lot of peace. Peace like had never felt before. Then, for some completely unknown reason, my attacker just turned around and left."
Bebe_Bleau
Peace is so illusive in life. Of course we find it in death.
Invasion
burglar GIF by State ChampsGiphy"Been a victim of a home invasion before and honestly my only thoughts were to protect my little cousins."
"The adrenaline of escaping and running to the nearest store with them - didn’t make me realize I was cut, which I initially thought was made-up for movies. Glad I haven’t lived there in three years and to this day I’m too afraid of living in houses so I live in an apartment."
throwaway_anoni
'OHHHH MY GOOOOOD'
"This was a few months back, September 2021. I was headed home after a dinner with my wife, 18-month old daughter, and a family friend of ours; we were going 65 mph down the interstate when two other cars got into a brief altercation in the lane to my immediate left (two cars do not fit into one space)."
"My back left bumper got hit and I ended up losing control, spinning wildly and then sliding sideways down the grassy embankment on the right side of the interstate, before going backwards into a ditch and stopping among some trees. My car had missed smacking into a road sign passenger-side first by five feet."
"My only thoughts were concern for my family and my friend. I was screaming 'OHHHH MY GOOOOOD' but my mind was going Let them be okay let them be okay please let them be okay My 18-month old daughter, on the other hand, looked at us wondering why the ride suddenly stopped."
SolWishing12
“lucky son of a *****”
"I was in the rear passenger seat of my parents’ car while we were driving to dinner on Thanksgiving 2016. As we were turning left at an intersection I saw a car flying directly at us in oncoming traffic and right before we were hit I said, 'Welp, we’re dead.' My world completely turned into a beige color (which I think was the color of the airbags?) and we spun and spun for what felt like an eternity until we crashed into a tree."
"All my ribs were broken and I had a lacerated liver. The ER doc came in and said I was a “lucky son of a *****” because apparently my ribs all collapsed inward in such a way as gears might turn without actually impacting each other or puncturing any organs, which was apparently very unlikely and by all rights I should have died. It was a very strange and surreal several seconds of knowing I was about to die and having absolutely no control over the situation."
erichagarty
"this is gonna hurt"
"I was in a car accident when I was 18. As I lost control the car was drifting from one side to the other for what felt like eternity and was ultimately to be stopped by a ditch and a big tree. The whole thing probably only lasted a few seconds before the car flipped over and I lost consciousness for a moment, but I remember thinking 'Oh god this is actually happening"'and as I processed what was going to happen next 'this is gonna hurt.'"
"In the end, I only had whiplash and some bruises while my car was totalled but I was absolutely convinced that this was going to be the end. After the adrenaline wore of I broke down crying and felt incredibly relieved that I had decided to not take my dog with me. Something had stopped me from bringing her that day and I'm still so thankful for that."
Meenulara
fight or flight
"I died in a motorcycle accident and was revived, suffered a TBI and all kinds of other injuries. When I woke up I thought I was being kidnapped and went into fight or flight mode."
Awkward_Pianist3839
painful truths
"'This is going to hurt, I hope my son isn't the one that finds me.' I was checking on a newly born calf when the mom turned and charged me unexpectedly. I'm usually quick enough to step aside and dodge, but I stepped in a hole and fell instead. The cow ran right over the top of me, and stomped on my chest."
"That should have killed me on the spot, but I was in about 3 feet of fresh snow which gave me just enough margin to be severely bruised instead of crushed. I had to crawl back to our house on my hands and knees, where it hurt to move for several days."
ls1c-10
Don't Wait
"I got shot through the pelvis, nanometers from my femoral artery. Blood was still shooting out of me like a turbo-charged sprinkler. As I was laying in the back of the ambulance, looking at the grey 70W, thinking these are my last moments... all I could think about was all the things I wanted to do, and how I wouldn't be able to now."
"I saw all the faces of those I loved, and those I wish I got to see one last time. Do the things you only dream of. Tell everyone you love them, constantly. Don't spend your life waiting, it's up to you to take it."
Good_Will_Toking
Oh Damn...
"One word. 'Damn...' Then just blurry mental images of my immediate family for a few seconds before blacking out Really anticlimactic. There was surprisingly little emotion associated with the experience (over dose). When you abuse hard drugs for a while, you know death might be just around the corner so it's no surprise when it comes (or you think it does). It's not at all like a healthy person having a random stroke or something which would be terrifying."
SuspectFantastic7066
Ditched...
"Seeing a pickup towing landscaping equipment barreling down on me in my rear view. I was at a red light. My only thought was for my 1yr old in the backseat. And being pissed off at the idiot. Somehow he swerved at the last second and completely missed us by going into the ditch. He drove off like nothing happened."'
EstelSnape
4 Feet
"I was hiking in the mountains and slipped on a rock. I fell into a very quickly moving stream that turned into a 100ft drop off about 55 yards (50 meters) downstream from where I went in. I think my exact thoughts were HOLY F**K, HOLY F**K, HOLY F**K until the moment I was able to grab on to the side of the rock wall and climb out of the water. I was able to find a small ledge and then had to jump back over the stream to get to safety. The jump was not large but I was cold, wet and exhausted from climbing. Scariest 4ft leap ever!"
wannaplayaround
"well, here we go"
happy ronald mcdonald GIF by McDonald's CZ/SKGiphy"I was driving to work, when a Kia Soul in front of me slammed on its brakes. I slammed on mine, and barely miss god smacking this car. I then look into my rearview mirror, and see a semi truck barreling towards me at 40-50 mph. And I just tightened the grip on my steering wheel and thought 'well, here we go.'"
"Thankfully, the semi truck changed lanes, and missed me by a couple inches. Maybe I wouldn't have died if it hit me, but I sure felt like I was about to. All because some Kia Soul almost missed the turn for the McDonalds and slammed on its breaks."
TheJewFromTheMidwest
Under the Water
"I almost drowned in a white water rafting accident. It's very difficult to describe what I felt... there was a sensation of panic, but also one of surrealism. It didn't feel real, but... it did. I also remember being able to reach my hands out above the water and having an all encompassing yearning to be able to breathe."
"The combination of hypothermia (water temperature 35 degrees F/1 degree C for our friends who use a better system of measurement) and near drowning was a mind f**k."
Travalanche49
SWOOSH!
skiing GIF by NOWNESSGiphy"'OH DEAR LORD HAVE MERCY ON MY SINNED SOUL!'"
"Almost had a terrible skiing accident."
Walvie9
Oh Crap!
"I feel off a small cliff once and my exact thoughts were OH CRAP, were's that damn bush you see in cartoons? Fortunately I landed on my feet and only twisted my ankle but if i had landed on my jest or head i would not have made it to a hospital."
ExistingExample281
Death is coming. Try to prepare.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
***WARNING - THIS THREAD IS FOR 17 AND UP ONLY!!***
Intense
Excuse Me No GIF by Late Night with Seth MeyersGiphy"A dude got two full kettles of boiling water poured on his head. And a convicted murderer explaining how he killed, dismembered with an angle grinder then disposed of the body."
mcchronicles2
"It must have been tense waiting for that kettle to come to a boil for the second round."
curiouscuriousmtl
“shorts”
"Not me, but- I spoke to a former inmate after his release who had developed severe ptsd from some of the things he witnessed while incarcerated. One of the stories was that he was playing cards with some guys and one of them was smoking a cigarette."
"Another inmate who was not playing with them approached the table and asked the guy smoking if he could get 'shorts' on the cigarette ( shorts means, before you finished smoking, you gave the cigarette to someone else so they got the last few puffs of the cigarette before putting it out) the smoker agreed, the inmate wandered off and they went back to playing cards. Well the guy playing cards must have forgot and finished the cigarette."
"A little while later the other inmate came back to the table asking for the short, and the guy at the table told him that he had forgotten about it and finished the cigarette. Guy wanders off again and they go back to playing cards. Shortly afterwards, the inmate who wanted shorts comes back to the table, comes up behind the player, pulls his head back and started shanking him in the eye and throat with a pen/pencil. Dude died over forgetting to give someone a damn cigarette butt."
GeiCobra
Farts Away
"My brother said a guy across from him had a new cellmate who had gastrointestinal problems and wouldn't stop farting these rancid horrible farts after the guy told him repeatedly to stop (not like he could help it,) so the guy beat the farter to death in their cell with his bare hands. My brother said he had never seen so much blood from one person before."
I_Only_Eat_Tacos
Kajang...
"I did a 4 month stint in Kajang (Malaysia). This Nigerian dude used to pilfer from other cells. This Malay gang found him and dipped his hand in boiling oil (basically deep fried it while it was still attached to him). That scream, it still curdles my blood."
DeusExKFC
Bones
"I was in a South American prison, there was a lot of drug addicts, they usually sold their food in order to buy more drugs so they were always hungry. One day I was eating my lunch: rice, a leg of chicken and some beans. When I finished my meal there were some chicken bones left in my plate, and a drug addict approached to me to ask if I could gift him the chicken bones. So I lend him my bones and he started eating them. It was heartbreaking."
randy_robott
Until he was dead
"A guy got stomped to death my first day in. The 2 guys fighting were rival gang members. The guards didn't do anything until the guy getting stomped stopped breathing. Then they came in and took them both away. One in a bag and one in cuffs."
"The were in different cells and always talking sh*t to each other. When we had rec time they both ran at each other. They were both pretty big. One picked up the other and slammed him on the concrete and proceeded to kick him in the stomach and face until he was unconscious. Until he was dead."
fosnin
What happened to prisons initially being about rehabilitation? This is a mess...
casually walked away...
"Brixton, A Wing. Coming back from canteen this scary looking wild eyed dude steps across and tells me to hand over my burn/tobacco. I laugh and say no and walk by, waiting for him to do something. Nothing happened. Few minutes later, same guy opened some poor lads stomach with one slash and he was lying there trying to hold his intestines in, I saw the fear and panic on his face. The scary guy just casually walked away. No idea what happened to either of them. Alarms went off. Everyone back to their cells and locked up again."
Bully2533
The Cool Kid
"I was never in prison, but in jail a bit for drug charges. I was in my 30s, but my bunky was a really nice 19 yo kid in there for selling drugs. He seemed a bit over his head, but introduced me to the jits (I didn’t know anyone) and we’d play cards and stuff. He had a real high bond, and one day they said to get his crap he got bail."
"He didn’t know who, but I was so happy for him. The next morning the CO told me he was shot and killed that night (Being very respectful, everyone liked the guy). It was confirmed on the evening news. Really messed me up, and I can guess who got him bailed."
JoseZiggler
Misfits
"Not a crazy story but was in for a few days and didn't realize they put you in cells based on the color of your skin. I'm a white dude with a Hispanic last name and they put me in a cell with a straight nazi who told me if I went to actual prison (I was only in for a weekend) that I would be a misfit because I wasn't one thing or the other."
undego1423
"million dollar man"
"My criminal justice professor always used to tell us about the 'million dollar man' in his prison he used to work at. The prison was an old school style with multiple floors and the open part of the middle like you see in the movies. To avoid jumpers they put chainlink fencing along the walkways."
"One day this guy managed to squeeze through the fencing on the third floor and swan dive face first to the concrete floor below. When they came in they all thought he was dead until he began making noises. The prisoner was then transferred to a hospital for a year and a half getting around 12 different surgeries. Eventually he was released back to the prison and on his second month back he did it again but didn't survive this time."
"The running joke was that he was named the million dollar man because he had cost taxpayers millions from all his surgeries and time in the hospital. Our teacher also liked to add in every time he told the story that some how his glasses survived both falls completely fine."
juquavius221
Sicko
"I don’t know if this counts but, my dad was in prison with Richard Speck, who is, if you don’t know, an American mass murderer who brutally murdered and raped 8 nurses. My dad told me during his time in prison, Speck bragged about what he did all the time, and said prison was a wonderful vacation for him and he would do it all again if he had the chance. He would even go as far as saying how much he loved to kill those women. So sickening. Speck also made porn in prison, which I’m sure is on the internet somewhere."
Abisnailyo
Nightmares
"I saw someone take a hotpot fill it up with baby oil add a pound of sugar, add some magic shave, bring it to a boil then splash it in a person's face... It literally melted the guys face off. This happened around 1999 and I still have the occasional nightmare about it."
XconJon1978
So Casual
"Just the way that some people talk about murder. Some of the people in there would be telling a story, casually drop the fact that they killed someone, then keep going on with the story like nothing happened."
DrinkJazzlike3487
In the Yard
"I’m not a con but my dad told me when he was up stream, guards informed them that they had a high case child rapist coming in. When the guy got there he ended up being this old white man walking with a cane. He didn’t last very long on the court yard. (They killed him on the prison yard)."
Infamous-Reyug
Where to Begin?
"I spent time in county on misdemeanors. During my first week an alcoholic died in the cell below me. We could hear him moaning and calling for help and the guards had been in multiple times. The last time I heard the guard tell the “bum” to deal with his bad choices like a man. The man had a seizure and died in that cell in a pool of crap. The following week the jail was on lockdown and inmates where rioting in their cells."
"Fire sprinklers where broken and the pods flooded. I saw multiple inmates hauled out after being peppered and subdued. The guards left the inmates not participating alone in their cells, just bored. This all happened in a relatively small town jail (population ~80,000). The man who died was a well known homeless fixture."
"He was known for getting petty charges to have a warm bed during especially cold nights. He was arrested for drinking on the courthouse lawn. I consider this to be terrifying because as an incarcerated individual your medical care is given through the facility, and I have never met a more callous individual than the medical staff in jail."
Excellent_Chef_1764
Photo Proof
"Some forensic photos the guy in the cell next to me showed me of his victims (corpses, he killed them after he tortured them), in gang related abductions. He 'removed' a tattoo with an electric sander, and knives in both eye sockets, still in. (They were part of his trial evidence.)"
J_David_Settle_1973
The Corner Spot
"Ok so unfortunately, my bunk was close to the corner where everybody came to fight or whatever. So this one guy claimed that he was a gang member but it was discovered that he was a false-flagger. So, the gang members put him in the corner and took turns beating him."
He was in the infirmary for about a week. When he came back, the gang got him all over again. He was transferred after that. I promise there aren't many things more terrifying than hearing a grown man scream while he's being attacked."
NoObjective427
Patches
"I’ve had ex-cons as clients. One saw his friend get stabbed (a lot, to death) and couldn’t jump in to help him or he’d get stabbed too. Same guy was in charge of removing gang patches from other inmates. Patches, in this case, meant tattoos. You don’t see many elderly gangsters for a reason."
Catflappy
Well those stories are horrible. Let's all stay on the straight and narrow.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.