Truck Drivers Describe The Creepiest Things They've Ever Seen On The Road
CW: Graphic stories about accidents.
When you spend a lot of time on the road, you're bound to see some crazy or spooky things.
Truck drivers spend a lot of time on the road, and it seems like they've seen plenty of creepy things. The truck drivers of Reddit are ready to share those creepy sights and stories.
It all started when a Redditor asked:
"Truckers of reddit! What spooky things did you witness on the road?"
Yikes!
"my grandfather-in-law, who recently passed away, said back in the 70s, he saw a man get decapitated by some kind of heavy duty cable at a truck stop."
– _bakedgouda
Shouting Fire On A Street
"I was driving between Melbourne and Albury very late one night on the Hume Fwy. For the non-Aussies, that stretch of the Hume is very wide, flat, and straight, so it's boring and hypnotic, especially driving alone at night."
"It was the middle of summer, so I was surprised to see little wisps of fog whipping through my headlight beams, but then the smell of burning plastic hit my nose and I realised it was smoke. Up ahead, there was one other car on the road, and I could just see a tiny yellow light on the back, like a candle flame."
"Worried, I sped up to catch this guy, and by the time I reached him his entire muffler was on fire. I flashed my lights and honked my horn, trying to get his attention. Just as I drew up alongside him, I saw him turn to look at me, and then a HUGE gout of orange flame burst out from under the car and licked across his driver's side window."
"Needless to say, he pulled over in a big hurry and I pulled over about 50 metres ahead of him. I jumped out from behind the wheel and sprinted back to him to make sure he was out of the car and safe, then back to get my phone, and called emergency services while running back to him. It was less than a minute since he'd pulled over and the entire car was a fireball."
"I asked if he was okay, and he said yeah, but his phone and wallet were both still inside the car. I let him use my phone to make some calls and gave him all the cash in my wallet, which wasn't much at the time, and finally continued on my way once the firefighters and ambulance arrived."
"Let's just say I was WIDE awake for the rest of my drive."
– MCDexX
A Truck Driving Hero
"TL:DR Stopped to help a motorist with a possible flat, may have prevented a murder."
"I service fire equipment, so I drive a box truck, and cover parts of PA, NY, OH, MD, and WV. I was in rural NW PA, returning from a service call and heading towards the interstate to go home."
"On the way to this customer, I saw a small pickup truck on the interstate whose right rear tire was steadily deflating. A mile or so before my exit, they pulled off to the side. I didn't stop to see if they needed help, and felt a little bad about it."
"As I drove down this dark, twisty road, I passed a Dodge Durango pulled over into a barn driveway. There was a person lying on the ground behind it, struggling with something. It looked like the guy was trying to change a tire or get the spare out from under the Durango."
"Remembering the pickup from earlier, I decided to turn around and see if he needed help. I pulled into the first driveway I saw, about 1/4 mile down the road, turned around, and headed back. Halfway back, the Durango passed me, going the direction I had originally been headed."
"I got back to where I had seen the Durango, planning to turn around again, but as I swung into the driveway, my headlights caught a figure lying motionless in the snow."
"I stopped and jumped out just as the figure sat up. It was a woman, maybe in her 40s, in a thin, torn black skirt and top. Her hair was mussed, her eye was starting to swell, she had red marks on her throat, and her lip was bleeding."
"I helped her up, got her into my truck, and cranked up the heat. I had taken my jacket off, so I gave it to her, and she covered her torso and arms."
"She didn't want to say anything. Her throat was sore, and she was badly frightened. I called 911, and they dispatched a police car."
"I gave her a bottle of water, and she whispered, "Thank you", then sat with her head bowed and eyes closed. It took about 15 minutes for the police car to get there, and she stayed silent."
"As the car pulled in, she said, mostly to herself, "He's gonna arrest me." The trooper walked up and motioned me to exit, asked her if she needed an ambulance (she declined) then asked me what had happened."
"I explained what I had seen. He wrote everything down, then talked to her for a few minutes. He helped her out of the truck and into his car. She quietly thanked me for coming back, because she thought that guy meant to kill her."
"A far as I know, she wasn't arrested. She was pretty beat up, and the trooper spoke and handled her as if she were the victim of an assault. It was almost certainly a transaction that had gone badly."
"I never found out what had happened. I watched the news outlets for that area for a while, but never found anything."
– Jef_Wheaton
Put On Your Seatbelt
"A fresh solo traffic accident. the car was flipped upside down on its roof. the drivers head was halfway out to the neck, through the shattered front window. he did not have a seatbelt on."
– Divutski
"With a seatbelt you not only protect your life but also the mental well-being of others. No one should have to see something like this!"
– Deleted User
Never Found Out The Truth
"I used to travel for work doing construction. My boss was driving and I was passenger. were on our way back home from Tennessee to Illinois. Just leaving the mountains but still pretty much the middle of nowhere and we notice a couple dead deer on the road. These things are like... Exploded. My boss and I say something about "that sucks, a semi must have been hauling and clipped a herd". We get to the top of a hill and there are so many more dead exploded deer. Possibly hundreds. Definitely dozens. They didn't look like they got hit by a semi. They looked like they had sticks of dynamite put into them and lit off."
"Semi trucks had definitely been driving through because we didn't have to dodge any of them. And we were driving our big work truck and trailer so if we had to crush a couple it was no big deal. It went on for more than half a mile. Maybe up to a mile and a half."
"My boss had been on the road a lot more years than I had. I asked him "what the hell was that?" And he seemed just as lost as me. Said "I have no f*cking idea and I'm not stopping to find out. That sh*t didn't make any sense.""
– kickaguard
Migrating Tarantulas
"My mom is a trucker, this is her story."
"She was driving through Arizona when she saw what she thought was leaves blowing across the road in the distance. This puzzled her since there's mostly pine trees in northern Arizona. When she finally got to the "leaves" she realized that they were migrating tarantulas, 1000s of them. There were so many of them that her truck was sliding on their guts so she had to slow down. She stopped at the first truck stop and told her co-driver to fuel up (he was sleeping at the time) because she wasn't going to step foot outside after what she just saw. Her co-driver was pissed since it was technically his time off, and he thought she was crazy, until he saw the tarantula guts and legs caked in the inside wheel well of the truck."
– digitalmarketeramil
Last Words
"She also outran a tornado in the midwest. She was about to pull over and take cover until she saw another big rig that was parked on the side of the road get tossed a couple hundred yards like a toy. She called me and told me that she thought she was going to die and wanted her last words to be "I love you" to me. She pulled off the freeway and got to a Wal-Mart, where she ran into the basement where all the staff and customers were taking shelter. After the tornado passed, they stepped out of the basement and into daylight, since the Wal Mart was destroyed."
"She has many many stories like this. Trucking is 90% boredom, 10% insane sh*t like this."
– digitalmarketeramil
The Dog-Man
"A trucker I know claims he was driving a logging truck down a remote dirt road in the middle of a forest at around midnight when a "dog-man creature" walked out in the middle of the road. It stared at him for a few seconds plainly visible and well illuminated by all the auxiliary lights on the truck, then it just took off and disappeared into the woods on the other side of the road."
"He's not a superstitious man and he rejects everything supernatural as fiction, but he 100% believes that what he saw that night was real. I've only heard him talk about this twice, he was very drunk both times he opened up about it. Just talking about it rattled him, he was clearly uncomfortable thinking back about that night."
– Kitten-Eater
Truly Tragic
"This happened in Chennai, India. Was driving back into the city on the two-lane coastal highway with a few of my friends. Most of the highway has no streetlights, just reflectors. Around on of the bends, my friend who was driving slammed on his brakes. This was just after sunset."
"At first, all we could see were two motorbikes on their sides, little debris from them scattered around. It was only when we got closer that we saw three guys laying down awkwardly."
"Turns out, the bikes were heading in opposite directions at high speeds, lost control and slammed head-on. The riders of one of the vehicles wasn’t wearing his helmet, and his face was smashed. We could hear his shallow gasps for air, but he was definitely a goner."
– dontdieinthesky
Definitely Ghosts
"When I was a kid my mother was driving at night with my step-dad in the passenger seat and us three kids in the back."
"Apparently (I learned about it later as I was asleep) what happened was my mother and father both saw, flitting across the road from one side to the other, two glowing silhouettes of what looked like two little girls holding hands. My mother said, picture a silhouette, only instead of featureless black this was featureless bright yellow/white, in the perfect shape of two little girls holding hands and moving across the road in their headlights."
"They saw them for so long that my step-dad was able to process the scene and sternly tell my mother not to steer suddenly, just to brake and not to attempt any huge steering movement."
"The forms reached the side of the road and faded away; our car slowed but didn't stop, and my parents continued their journey."
"When they related their encounter to my grandparents, whom we were visiting, they said that two young girls had been killed in a traffic accident on that same road."
– MagicSPA
That last one is the scariest in my mind!
Being a truck driver sounds like a difficult task. As someone who doesn't drive, I can't imagine operating one of those big sixteen wheelers, so I have mad respect for those that do. Not to mention the fact that truck drivers barely get to sleep, and have to be on top of it at all hours of the day.
So a bunch of truck drivers took to Reddit to tell the world how we can make their jobs a little easier. Jamesjamesjames3 asked:
Truckers of reddit, what are some less common road courtesies that we can offer to you to make your job safer and easier?
Generally, most truck drivers just ask for you to obey the rules of the road.
Definitely a headache.
“I say this as a former trucker and as a regular driver. I appreciate the gesture but please don't be polite. Be predictable! Follow all the rules of the road as written and there won't be as much confusion.”
“That is one of my biggest pet peeves. In my area, no one seems to know how to stop at a two way stop. I've raged about it a few times and people I considered pretty intelligent confessed they didn't know the rules so they wave people through.
Basically, if you're turning right, you're good. For some reason people going straight like to stop and wave the people the if left through. They do it in the dark when there is no way you can see them waving. They do it with tinted windows. I get so mad because I've had to sit through 5 minutes of openings only to have the person going straight stare at me until the opening passed.
I've also seen near accidents where the person going straight goes when it's their turn and the left turning person expected they were going to get a free pass. It's a headache.”
This one seems obvious, but not a lot of people follow it.
parking GIFGiphy“Don't park in no parking zones... They may look like an empty spot marked off for no reason, but they are often there to give the trucker room to back in his very long trailer in what is probably already a tight space. If you park there, they cant get in.”
“Similarly, stop at the stop light where indicated. Sometimes the line is far back from the intersection to allow trucks to make the turn.”
“We always flash our headlights to signal that it's safe for a truck to merge in front of us. They often reciprocate with a return flash of 4 ways as a thank you.”
“A quick use of the 4 ways is usually a "thank you" signal to someone who indicated to them that could make some kind of traffic maneuver safely, like "i'm dimming my headlights because yes make your lane change, it's clear".
If a moving truck's 4 ways are just ON-on, then
- they are moving much slower than the speed limit and want people behind them to notice that
- it is a downgrade and they are reminding people that passing and then cutting them off with too little space is a really bad idea
- they see some hazard ahead and want people behind them to heighten awareness and slow down
- they are rapidly stopping because of standstill traffic or an accident and want people behind them to heighten awareness and slow down”
Truck driving can get incredibly dangerous. Here are a few ways we can make it safer.
Well that’s terrifying.
“From back when I was driving, pass quickly and only on the left. If you camp out on my side, you're sitting next to tires that have a pressure of 100 pounds per square inch.
Never had a tractor tire blow, but when the trailer tires went it shakes the truck like a grenade went off. Don't sit there waiting for the grenade to go off.”
Window Cleaners Share The Best Things They've Ever Seen | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Never tailgate a semi.
homer simpson truck GIFGiphy“I drive for Amazon and I once had to take a right turn into a gravel lot to drop off a trailer. When turning you have to slow down A LOT and make it a wide turn so your trailer doesn't hit the curb or ditch on the side. Well this turn had a ditch and the fellow driving behind me was tailgating and was also impatient.
He misread my wide right turn as me turning left (for some reason?) and then proceeded to speed up around me which would have him heading directly towards my cab. So when he realized he effed up he swerved into the ditch and his car bounced back out of it totaling his car. All while this was happening I was just hoping he didn't hit me.
I pulled into the lot all the way so I wasn't blocking the road and then got out and asked him if he was okay and all he did was yell at me and curse and then called the police. When the police got there and heard both sides and realized that he did it to himself because of his reckless driving and that we didn't actually make any contact they let me go about my day.
The wife of the dude actually called me later and apologized for her husband which I thought was hilarious. So yeah don't tailgate a semi people.”
Good tips.
“I own a trucking company, here's some things we would love the public to practice. Keep in mind, this is for the large sleeper bunk with 53' trailer. The guys who live on the road.
- Never get in front of a truck when you're approaching an amber light or a red light. That truck may weigh up to 80k and you've just reduced his stopping distance. You can out run him when the light turns green and get in front of him after.
- Tankers are dangerous, especially if they don't have baffles. Don't make any erratic moves around them because if they have to suddenly stop, Newton's first law will f*ck you up.
- If you're changing lanes in front of a driver, signal and slowly merge. Most driver's are trained to look several vehicles ahead and they have a better view. Just give them space, they could already be adjusting for a situation that's out of your field of vision.
In summary, give them space and time to assess the situation.
If a truck hits you, you'll probably die and the driver will be fine. Safety in large commercial vehicles primarily has the public in mind and driver's are trained to be defensive. Trucks and loads are insured, therefore replaceable.
At the end of the day, there is a human being in that truck and they are prone to the same emotional behavior that non-commercial drivers have. Most driver's are very mature, however, have tons of patience, and have seen a lot of sh*t on the road."
Never brake check a semi either.
“Do not brake check. Stopping an 80,000+ pound vehicle is a lot harder than you might think."
"Yup. It takes a real idiot to brake checks a semi, and there are a lot of them.
Every trucker I know (my relatives and many family family friends) has at least one dash cam. Insurance companies and the trucking companies will KNOW with video evidence that the brake-checker was breaking the law. Often it's preceded by swerving in front by the car, giving insufficient space with an improper lane change.
If they collide the truck driver gets a short break, maybe a paid couple days off while repairs are made. Sometimes that's a minor inconvenience if they had intended to see family or something, but most long-haul truckers are gone for months at a time and it's actually a welcome break.
The trucking company and their insurance company bill the idiot's insurance company for the damages and the lost time.
The idiot who brake-checked has to pay their own repairs, often are given a ticket by cops (who are shown the video) and points on their driving record, and their insurance rates will go up assuming they can continue to get insurance.
The best case scenario for the idiot who brake checks a truck is that they get lucky and aren't hit.
If they truly 'succeed' then not only will the idiot's car will be totaled, maybe they'll even die."
But with all of the safety protocols, there are also a few things you can do to make a truck driver’s day.
This is so wholesome.
top gear GIFGiphy“My dad was a trucker and I rode with him for years and years. Please do the air horn thing with your arm. It makes their day."
"My dad is a near retirement age trucker. His favorite story is the time he saw a group of school children walking on the sidewalk as he rode to the paper mill. They were all doing the arm motion, but it's illegal in the city limits so he's torn. He sees the end of the line and a police officer is at the end, one known as "Officer Friendly" and the officer looks at my dad and does the pull with a big smile so my dad just blasted that air horn.
The horn and the distinct sound of jake brakes define my childhood.
I called my Dad to tell him about this post and first I was proud he knew what Reddit was, second he got a real kick out of it. He said " It don't matter if you're a hard a**, tough guy trucker, you see a kid make that motion, you blast that thing!" And if you read that in the voice of Matthew McConaughey in Dazed and Confused you get the authentic Gator because even though he's spent 40+ years almost as far North as he once was South, he doesn't sound like it."
A truck dance.
“Not a trucker but while driving through Nebraska one night I gave a trucker some room to get over but he didn't think he had enough so I flicked my headlights (turned them off and back on quickly) to let him know he had space. He moved over and then made all the lights on his rig and trailer do this crazy dance. That made me feel pretty cool.”
Give them space!
“For the love of all things kind and generous, please wait until you've got at minimum 4-5 car lengths of space before returning to my lane after passing. Cutting back into the lane immediately is dangerous and completely unnecessary. If there is no traffic behind you, 50 car lengths is better. Just give us some space please.
Same for vehicles towing a boat or other trailer. Provide those drivers the same courtesy that you'd give a trucker. They're often not very experienced with towing and space is free to give.
For example, a well kept BMW 3 Series with good tires and brakes takes about 200 feet to stop from 75 MPH AFTER recognition and decision. That is about 16 car lengths. Even if purely for self preservation, that ought to be the minimum space you'll allow between yourself and other vehicles. Yes I know that in heavy traffic that is often impossible to maintain but I've been on the interstate with just 1 other car visible and they'll stay in my lane until I think they'll hit my rear bumper and cut back in within 15' of my front bumper. Seriously, you've got the whole freeway. These drivers could wait minutes before switching back to the right lane and disrupt no one.
Trust that if you feel safer speeding by staying in the right lane as much as possible, today's Laser speed devices employed by the police can snag your speed at great distances no matter what lane and what vehicle is nearby. If you're going to speed, man up and take your chances because you’re still vulnerable anyways.”
Let’s be real, truck drivers are the real MVPs.
Keep these in mind next time you’re on the road.
trucker GIFGiphy“Not a whole lot, just a couple of things
When you're merging onto a highway, do your best to be going as fast or faster than traffic before you get into a lane of travel
Secondly try not to drive beside the truck/trailer as there are many times we need to move over because of people merging, broken vehicles, police officers, etc and it kinda sucks when we have to dump a lot of speed so that the car beside us will pass pass before we get to the thing we need to move over for because it takes much longer for us to accelerate to our previous speed.”
Stop being helpful!
“Rode shotgun for about two years, the number one thing my fiancé said was do not ever try to be helpful, drive like you normally would, being helpful makes you unpredictable.”
Watch out for tight turns.
“There's a red light on my way home and it's really tight for truckers turning onto the road. I always stop like 15 feet from the white line and the truckers seem to really appreciate it. They always give me a little wave.”
That’s a tough one.
Excited Truck GIFGiphy“I'm not a trucker but I'd like to point out that trucks are often excluded from the left lane on a thee lane road. That means the middle lane is their only passing lane.
It drives me nuts when I see people driving the same speed in the middle lane as the traffic on the right creating a rolling road block for truckers.
If you see a truck behind you and you're in the middle lane, move right if you can, especially on a downhill grade!”
Good tips!
“When you see a truck parked on the side of the highway, move over or slow down (also called Murphy's Law in some states). Most of the time you'll see little orange hazard triangles on the road leading up to the truck but not always.
In very windy days, pass as quickly as possible if you need to pass. There were a few cars that didn't do this and when they went under an overhead bridge the suction was enough the cars lost complete control.
Also, when you pass, give room. If you can't see tires on the ground (and even a little road) in your rearview mirror you're too close to move over. This works for EVERY vehicle you pass and not just semis.
Pay attention to in town. When trucks make a right turn they have to do it wide! The number of cars I've seen that just take up the space between a truck and the curb because they weren't paying attention is insane.
One more: DON'T park on a curve. If the road is curved chances are nobody can see your vehicle if you park there, and once again it makes it difficult for trucks to make their wide turns.”
To basically summarize everything written here, just don’t be an a**hole. Use common sense, and remember how much bigger a semi-truck is compared to your car.
Also, do the arm pull thingy. They love it.
Truck Drivers Describe The Creepiest Thing That's Ever Happened To Them On The Job
It's no secret that truck driving is quite a dangerous job.
That truck is gigantic and very heavy, the driver often drives for hours and hours on insufficient sleep, and the highway is an unpredictable place.
But what happens when it ceases to be simply "dangerous" and goes a whole step further?
Some Redditors who are truck drivers themselves--or at least know someone who is--shared the stories of the creepiest things that have ever occurred while driving the rig.
sinoxx_the_maymayer asked, "Truck drivers of reddit, what is the creepiest thing that has happened to you while on the job?"
A Tragic Mess
"There are several truckers in my family. The worst story would have to be when one of them witnessed a motorcycle accident of a father carrying his 8 year old son on the back."
"They had just left court where the Father had won full custody."
"I'll spare details, but somehow they hit into another semi and went under. It was a gruesome and heartbreaking thing for them to witness."
Opportunist
"Many years ago before GPS and smartphones, picking up meat downtown Chicago. Got lost, and came upon a bridge I couldn't get under."
"Dude on the corner yells at me and says for $25 he'll get me back to the highway. I agree, he hops up on drivers door steps. Dude gets me right back to the highway."
"I pull out the 25 bucks, he pulls a knife telling me to give him everything I got."
"I roll up the window, and start getting on the entrance ramp to I-94. Got up to about 35 mph before he finally jumped off."
A Shakedown
"One other time, pulling out of same meat plant. Get stuck at a stop light to get on the highway."
"There was one truck ahead of me at the light. Bunch of people standing on the corner. I assumed they were waiting on the bus."
"Next thing I know, they are breaking the doors open on the trailer of the truck in front of me. Like an assembly line throwing boxes of meat to each other."
"I holler at the driver on the CB, she pops out with a gun. Thankfully I was far enough away from her that I could get around and get he hell out of there."
A Haunted Road
"My dad's coworker was a dump truck driver. Idk of that counts."
"One night he ran over a horse and buggy. He could hear the people screaming and the horse screaming and the wood and metal grinding under his truck."
"When he got out of the truck there was nothing there. Eventually he went on his way, stopped at the next place he saw that was open which happened to be a little all night diner."
"The waitress pouring his coffee asked him if he'd been in an accident with his truck because he was white as a sheet and shaking."
"There had been a gruesome accident with a horse and buggy years back. And every once in a while someone would come in telling the same story about hitting an Amish buggy that disappeared."
-- Chaithecat
Brush With the Wild
"My dad's been a truck driver for six years now. He told me his scariest experience was when he stopped in Colorado to take a nap because he was getting sleepy after an 11 hour drive."
"He said the truck stop he was at was completely surrounded by a forest that went for miles."
"After about an hour or so he suddenly woke up to a loud thump on his hood. He slowly got up and moved the curtains that separate the beds from the drivers seat and lo and behold were two of 'biggest wolves he'd ever seen' he said."
"They gave him a deadpan stare as soon as they noticed him. My dad immediately honked his horn and they jumped off, yet he said he didn't sleep after that."
"He later grabbed his gun after he thought it was safe and went for a coffee. Then resumed his drive."
"His story didn't sound that scary, until I looked up the size of a wolf. Apparently, those f***ers are huge."
Not an Apparition, a Suspect
"Not a truck driver, but my dad is. One day, two years ago, I hadn't got school, so he decided to make me go to work with him to keep him company. He had to travel to another city about 45 km from where we live."
"To get to this city, you have to pass a road in the countryside with not a single soul around."
"So, while he was driving, I was looking outside the truck windows, when I saw something so creepy... There was a woman staring at us standing in a field."
"I decided to concentrate on the music coming from the radio."
"Later that day, the news reports that a woman who escaped the prison had been arrested again... I realized that I saw that woman..."
More Wildlife
"My uncle was a trucker and he pulled over because he saw a baby bear by the road."
"He was playing with it when the momma bear showed up."
"He made it back to the cab but she took a swipe at the door and her claws dug an inch into the metal and left behind curls in the metal. This was in the 70s."
-- Chaithecat
Not What You Expect to See Out There
"Not me, but an ex-girlfriend's cousin's uncle (Yeah, I know its a friend of a friend situation, but it was a well known tale among the family)."
"He was driving on a Mexican road at night. He felt a call of nature, so he parked on the sideway and jumped off the truck. He walked to relief himself and while doing that he felt a presence beside him."
"He pointed his flashlight at his side and saw, standing besides him, a small deformed person. It was naked and had both its head and face bloated. And he was standing just there."
"The driver (ex-gf's cousin's uncle) ran away to his truck, jumped in, and drove away from there."
Glimpsing a Well-Known Legend
"Got to see The Black Dog."
"Had been running a long week and long hours in an industry very similar to truck driving but less regulated."
"I can't say how many hours I had been driving that day but the people talking on the radio had stopped making sense; they had faded into a white noise din along with the ever present whistle of wind and turbo."
"I had stopped babbling to stay occupied. I was driving as a robot and not fully aware of where on the familiar mountain route I was."
"The beast was beside the truck and the size of a car in the shoulder lane. It was keeping pace at 70 mph but the legs moved slower."
"It was like a shadow and had form but when you looked, it disappeared. It existed only in my peripheral."
"The Black Dog is said to be an omen of death and they aren't wrong. I wasn't falling asleep (the energy shooters were making sure of that) but my brain was entirely shutting down."
"It's something buried in in your subconscious that can only be accessed in your deepest primordial lizard brain. At first it was confusing but not scary; though I should have been scared."
"I should have slept but chose to continue on and end my week in my bed. I could have died or killed a van full of nuns and orphans coming back from free puppy day at the shelter."
"I chose to keep trucking and that choice made me the monstrous demon in the night."
-- dirty_hooker
"Not even close"
The only thing that happened to me was an hour-long traffic delay but the experience was creepy as hell. Eastern Tennessee, I-26 northbound. I finally round the corner to see the accident.
It was a Fed Ex semi that had run into the trees on the right. This was instantly apparent because there were literally FedEx packages in the trees, like 40 feet in the air, dozens of them. That was a little bit creepy.
So one's eyes always look to see the damage to the tractor. Did the driver survive, one wonders? I was going slow enough to get a good look. The trailer was mangled but identifiable. The tractor was missing. There was no way they had removed it, it was just not there.
It was the only time I actually got rattled by something like that. My hands started shaking, I had a fight or flight response in my body. Despite the delay, I had to stop at the first rest area and walk it off.
I get out, and see another driver pull in. He gets out and looks like I feel, unsteady on his feet. We talk. I ask him about the missing tractor. He says he was stopped there long enough to figure it out.
The engine was at the base of the big ass tree. The two sides of the cab went way past the tree on either side. The chassis was in several chunks.
Survival? Not even close.
Concrete jungle
Not a truck driver but my dad is one. He was in New York City and asked a guy on the street for directions. The man jumped up on the side of the cab and told him directions but then also demanded money for the directions. My dad was dumbstruck but obliged and gave him a few dollars but then the guy started to get belligerent but my dad just started to drive and the guy jumped off the side of the truck but it always creeped me out thinking of what might have happened.
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Tattooing is an art form. It can also be one of life's biggest addictions. Some people love to be tatted like a flesh canvas. Tattoo artists have reality shows and have become celebrities on their own. However, as much as some tats are a work of divinity many of us really need to rethink our life choices when permanently marking our bodies. FOR LIFE! For instance, at least get engaged to someone before branding yourself with their name.
Redditor SledDog888 wanted the tattoo artists of the internet to admit a few things... Tattoo artists of Reddit, which tattoo made you they most uncomfortable to do?
The semi-truck seems like a bit much. No?
It wasn't so much the tattoo, but rather the customer. He was a very strange older guy, and out of 7 artists in the shop, only one could tolerate working on him. He came in sometimes days in a row, and normally we don't recommend getting multiple tattoos so quickly, but with this guy it was like, to hell with it.
He came in one time for a semi truck with 'kicking a**' written on the back window. A few days later he came in to get 'alone and beating it' - completely unaware of the irony.
Thank the Lord...
The discomfort came after. When the client was paying I went to grab the money and he said something along the lines of "you like that money baby?"
It was awkward I'm usually quick with comebacks, but I just stared at him until he left. Also the women who moaned loudly the whole time I tattooed her. She said it was to help her ease the pain, but I'm not entirely convinced as I was near her lower regions.
Also not me, but my boss and other workers at the shop had to deal with a lady that would reach into their shorts. Some liked it some didn't, plus she was aggressive and would call for the lords help loudly every time she got tattooed.
Dust Bowl
My ex-girlfriend's best friend was dating a guy at the time named Dustin. Her nickname for him was 'Dusty'. I'll let you guess what she got tattooed... right above her vagina.
She's not dating him anymore, so I'm sure that's an interesting one for current / future partners.
Johnny Forever!!
Wife's friend is a tattoo artist. She said her most memorable was a young woman who came in and wanted Johnny tattooed on her chest because she loved her boyfriend so much. Said boyfriend showed up at the tattoo parlor after she finished so she could show off the new tat, they ended up getting in a huge fight and he broke up with her.
Couple months later, girl comes back in with a different dude for another tattoo. Says to the artist, "this is my boyfriend, Johnny!"
Not the dark place!
I was getting tattooed once and this guy comes in to get a tattoo of a diver swimming out of his a-hole. Luckily I was lying down so I had an excuse not to look over but the artist seemed kinda uncomfortable afterwards.
Dated a girl once with numbers tattoo'd on her wrist. As it was highly unlikely she had been in a concentration camp, I asked her for the story. It was her social security number, apparently her mother had this done to both her and her brother in case (and I quote) "they find your body but the head's been cut off and they need to identify you."
Yeah that family was a little messed up. Oh and it was pretty sloppy, like prison level, so considering that and the fact that it would have been done on children, it wasn't likely done at a professional shop.
X does NOT mark that spot!
Tattoo artist here.
I recently had a man come in and ask about getting a name covered that was placed right above his genitals. He brought a drawing in of a tribal dragon that he did himself. After explaining that his drawing really wouldn't work for the area or the cover up he said, "I guess that spot wasn't a great place to put my daughters name huh?" After a really awkward few moments he left.
I didn't end up covering it and haven't seen him since.
I was asked by a research lab to tattoo 3 hamsters that were identical. Like a little symbol on two of them, so each could be distinguished. I wasn't sure if it was real or not, as the interaction was over the phone.
I tattooed a couple of real characters over the years, including one guy who kept getting the same tattoo over and over again (a tiger head) and eventually just got little dots to fill in around them all, and another guy who got vertical and horizontal lines on various body parts to make himself appear larger. He talked about getting additional teeth implanted so he could process food more efficiently, and wanted me to be his disciple.
I can't hear you Sir...
I was being tattooed once and this guy walked in, super strange and we could tell something was off about him. He was wanting some kind of Japanese symbol on his forehead and my artist (shop owner) asked him if had any other tattoos. The guy says no and the owner tells him he won't do face tattoos without having any other tattoos.
This guy proceeds to just stare at us all for a solid two minutes without saying a word. Wide eyed, like we were from outer space and told him the Earth was flat. Then the artist says "Sorry man. I can tattoo the symbol on you anywhere else but I won't tattoo it on your face without any other ink." The guy continues to stare at us, says okay, slowly turns around and walks out the door. We thought he was going to come back and kill us.
My friend is a tattoo artist and a guy came in wanting a KKK tattoo. So the very heavily muscled black tattoo artist came out like "you're gonna be in my station." The guy shuffled out of the shop very awkwardly.