People Who Accidentally Stumbled Upon A Dead Body Share Their Stories
Reddit user JohnnyNuclear asked: 'Anyone ever find a dead body unintentionally? What’s the story?'
In August of 1982, author Stephen King's publisher—my fellow Maineiac—released his book Different Seasons. It was a collection of four novellas set mostly outside the horror genre King had become famous for.
The four novellas—subtitled to reflect the four seasons—were:
- Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: Hope Springs Eternal
- Apt Pupil: Summer of Corruption
- The Body: Fall from Innocence
- The Breathing Method: A Winter's Tale
The first three became the major Hollywood films The Shawshank Redemption, Apt Pupil and Stand By Me respectively. 1986's Stand By Me helped launch or solidify the careers of Wil Wheaton, Jerry O'Connell, Corey Feldman, Kiefer Sutherland and the late River Phoenix in the critically acclaimed coming of age film directed by Rob Reiner.
I read the book when it was published then saw the film four years later. Both are superbly done and I immediately think of them every time the experience of finding a dead body is discussed.
That is the central plot point of the story—four boys on the cusp of adolescence take a pilgrimage to see a dead body discovered in the woods by the train tracks. The journey is life-changing for the fictional characters.
But what is it like in real life?
Reddit user JohnnyNuclear asked:
"Anyone ever find a dead body unintentionally? What’s the story?"
The Scene of the Accident
"I was at a family reunion forever ago. On my 13th birthday Papaw and I wake up early to go fishing on the big lake right next to the campsite."
"We get in my uncle's bass boat and start making our way out to find a spot. We eventually come across a jet ski, with the front end and handle bars all messed up, floating amongst some rocks."
"I will never forget it."
"We both immediately looked at each other and we knew what we were going to find."
"We didn't say a word, just took the boat over to the rocks and sure enough, there's a guy face down in the water in the rocks, obviously dead."
"We called the cops and waited so they could find him easier. They showed up maybe 20 minutes later and pulled him out..."
"Apparently he was drunk and riding his jet ski fast as Hell the night before and smashed into the rocks head on. Poor dude, think he was in his 40's if I remember right."
"We fished all morning and didn't say a thing. Didn't catch anything either."
~ ItsNotAToomah69
"Had a paper route when l was a kid. Part of my route was delivering to a retirement block."
"On this day l stepped out of the lift and as l approached the door to the corridor l saw a trail of blood running underneath it. As l opened the door an old lady was laid head first on the floor with blood pouring from her head, her front door open."
"Tried to help her but she was clearly gone. I chucked the paper over her body and into her flat and ran down to the warden's flat."
"40+ years later, remember it as clear as day. Got offered counselling and a trip to McDonald's from the police."
~ Thick_Letterhead_742
"I did search and rescue for a long time."
"I left because I was tired of the lack of rescues and mostly finding or recovering bodies."
"It was pretty draining."
~ Konstant_kurage
Or Maybe the Scene of the Crime
"A buddy of mine skipped school one day to go fishing."
"He thought his fishing line was caught on debris, but as he reeled in a human hand surfaced."
"He called the cops and they yelled at him for skipping school."
"Well, the hand was connected to a whole body."
"My friend just freaked out when the hand emerged."
~ Jolly_Street
"My youngest sister would babysit for the woman at the end of our block. She was a divorced woman with 2 kids."
"The ex-husband hadn't heard from her for a few days and came by her house to no answer. Came to my house to see if maybe the kids were there with my sister and if she had an answer why he hadn't heard from his ex-wife."
"Sister wasn't home but he and I went to the house. Knocked a few times, and then he just went to open the front door. It was unlocked."
"Her body was in the living room. She was murdered and her children were gone (turned out kidnapped by her then boyfriend)."
"The ex-husband was rightfully shocked and terrified, immediately called the police and reported as much info as he knew. My little sister had to answer some questions about the boyfriend, help give a description vehicle type. Just basic stuff."
"The kids were found unharmed at the boyfriend's mother's house if I remember correctly. I know for sure that they were OK and their dad was able to get them safely."
"I think the boyfriend was caught because of his mom. She called the cops once she saw the story on the news."
~ skeedlz
"Playing hide and seek in the woods . I was running after my cousin and tripped and ate dirt over what I thought was a rock."
"Turned over to get my shoe unstuck and saw it was something white and I pulled my shoe out. I got up and saw it was actually a pelvis (I didn’t know what the bone was named at the time but I knew what a bone was)."
"I screamed and my older cousins came running out from their spots to see me crying and trying to get away from the skeleton sitting in the dirt."
"We went and told my parents. We were pretty deep in the woods so one of us stayed near by it and another one of us waited about 50 feet away but to where we could still see each other."
"We basically made a trail of human bread crumbs to make sure we got back to the body to show the cops."
"I honestly can’t remember why it was there but I know it was only like a year old and partially buried."
~ Space_Junkie02
Sometimes It's Just Natural Causes
"Leaving my house for quick errand briefly noticed an elderly lady parked on side of the road."
"When I returned, her car was still in same location and as I looked closer she appeared unconscious so I stopped but her doors were locked so dialed 911."
"It was determined she had passed away."
~ GaGirl2021
"Had a guy collapse dead of a heart attack in my store."
"He put his full coffee cup down first."
~ Bokuden101
"My friend Vinny went to a new worksite. The supervisor brought doughnuts and coffee and was introducing everyone to everyone."
"He said this is Joey, Vinny, Jeff, Chad, Morris and then just fell over dead."
"He didn’t even finish introducing everyone."
~ Omegaprimus
"Worked at a movie theatre. It was a weekday morning, so usually pretty slow for us."
"Went in to clean a showing of The Hateful 8, there were only two people in the theatre. One in the very back, and one towards the front."
"Walk in to clean the theatre, see the guy up front. Figure he was sleeping, happens sometimes. Say a couple things to see if he’ll wake up. He does not."
"Get spooked and call my manager. Manager shook him a couple of times, realized something was wrong, called the police."
"Dude was dead."
~ chernygal
Over 53% of Deaths Occur at Home
"When I was 11 I woke up and was looking for my mom. Couldn't find her anywhere. Walked to her side of the bed and she was dead on the floor."
"That was in 92. She was 27. I'm 43 now."
"My hardest birthday was 28. I felt so young still and my life was just picking up, but I just imagined all the stuff she missed."
~ EndoHaze559
"I had a friend who called me around midnight when I was 15. I had a very lax childhood so both me and my mom were awake, but she wasn't exactly happy about my friends calling late at night."
"She chewed me out before I picked up the phone, so I picked up the phone and yelled at him because obviously I was upset that I had just been yelled at."
"He had just found his mom dead. She died of natural causes. She had been sick for a while, I don't recall what exactly was wrong with her."
"He called me after 911 because he didn't know who else to talk to or how to process the situation and the first thing I say is 'why the hell are you calling me this late?!'."
"I will never not feel like the biggest pile of human garbage for that."
~ Tw*t_Pocket
"I woke up around 2 in the morning to get a glass of water. I walked past my fiance, who I thought fell asleep on the couch playing his video game."
"Went to touch him to tell him to come to bed.. well, he was cold to the touch and wasn't breathing.. worst day of my life."
"We had celebrated our 10 year anniversary just the night this all happened. He had a heart attack in his sleep."
~ alienscrub
Regardless of Circumstances, It Makes a Lasting Impression
"In 2017 I used to work as a photographer for one of the biggest shoe stores in Gdansk, Poland. Like one of those with limited, mostly overpriced rare kicks mixed with normal New Balances and Nikes."
"I was responsible for doing packshots (pictures of the product on white background you see on every website) and more lifestyle type of content for social media. The latter was really fun, because I got to take 5 or 6 pairs and go somewhere to shoot with my friend, who would just put them on for pictures."
"Guy was very athletic so if I envisioned him standing on his hands, jumping very high or running super fast for photos, there was no problem with any of that."
"The golden rule was that location had to match the shoe in some way. For example soccer cleats somewhere on the field, basketball shoes on court, running shoes on track etc...."
"It was my role to get creative with it."
"One day I had to do a pair of Timberlands, some Puma running shoes and Vans’ in collaboration with Nintendo."
"I was really looking forward to those Vans because I managed to book a local arcade spot before it opened, so creatively it was dope."
"We shot quick pictures of running shoes on a local track and decided to take Timbs to a nearby forest where we knew there were some old, post-war bunkers."
"It was winter, so grey concrete, some snow and trees seemed like a perfect spot for mustard-colored shoes to pop up."
"And it was in theme since in Poland 6 inch Timbs are more of a winter shoe than work boots."
"So my friend put the shoes on, went to a spot near the entrance to the bunker where I told him to stand and froze..."
"He turned around and said 'Come here and tell me that I’m not seeing what I’m seeing'."
"So there I went thinking he found some money or a phone or something. Nope, there was a body like 2-3 steps inside the entrance. Completely covered with some rugs and cardboard except the creepiest, now engraved in my memory paper white face, with open eyes and open mouth 'looking' right at us."
"He was lying on his side and his head was turned up towards us, which made it even creepier."
"We just stood there for like 20 seconds not moving, not breathing in complete silence. Like we were waiting for him to say something or I don’t know, stand up."
"It was clear the guy was dead but we yelled 'hey' a few times because we couldn’t believe what was happening."
"The fact that this guy was near the entrace and there was this whole, huge, dark hallway with bunker behind it started to create weird scenarios in our heads straight from zombie/Friday the 13th movies."
"We went back to the car and called the police. Patrol car came in like 2 minutes. We told the two cops where to go since we really didn’t want to go there again."
"Turned out it was a homeless guy who got very drunk and went to sleep right after downing a whole bottle of vodka. Froze to death."
"Cops said they knew him, he was about 60, in and out of jail. It took them like 2 hours to take our statements."
"I remember one of them not believing that taking pictures of shoes can actually be a profession so I had to show him the pictures we’d taken already that day."
"We didn’t go to the arcade to take those Vans pictures. We went to a bar instead."
~ michal502
Luckily most of us will probably never have the experience of stumbling across a dead body.
But death is an integral part of life.
Whether we witness it first hand or not, it's something we all need to be prepared to face.
Have you ever heard of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey? He was an English politician who was murdered in 1678. His body was found in a ditch on Greenberry Hill in London. Three men were later arrested and tried for Godfrey's murder.
Their names? Robert Green, Henry Berry, and Lawrence Hill.
It's one of history's wildest coincidences and while it sounds totally made up, it's a story that definitely falls into the "weird but true" category.
We all have stories of things that have happened to us that sound a bit fictitious. People shared their stories with us after Redditor cats64sonic asked the online community,
"What perfectly true story of yours sounds like an outrageous lie?"
"I fell..."
"I fell 30-ish feet from a tree onto pavement. I landed on my back. No injuries. I was about 13. Just scared the crap out of my parents."
Redmonkeylover
Oh Lord... I had a few incidents like this too and it shocks me that I didn't seriously injure myself!
"A friend had a dog..."
"My first time going to jail was because of a dog."
"A friend had a dog that got loose one day and it got picked up by the city. When we got in the car to look for the dog, my friend didn't grab anything, no wallet. When we went to the pound to pick up dog, they required an ID."
"So I had to put the dog in my name. My friend was supposed to get rabies and city registration done within 6 months."
"Almost a year later, I'm coming home from work around 1:30am and get pulled over for speeding. Cop says I have a warrant for not getting dog registered with the city. Spent the night in jail."
Kbankss
I had no idea you could get a warrant for that! The more you know.
"My mom told me..."
"My mom told me my aunt starved herself to death due to dementia and was eaten by her dog and that this is why we would have no funeral, not much was left."
"I show up at Thanksgiving a few months later and guess who is there! My aunt. Alive, of course."
"A Thanksgiving miracle, you say? Powerful necromancy?"
"No, my mom lied because she had power of attorney over my aunt, stole her money, and didnt want me to contact her about it so she told me she was dead. My aunt did have dementia but had moments of lucidity."
moody4foody
This was quite the rollercoaster ride. Your mother is something else. There are no words.
"During Covid..."
"During Covid my grandma was pronounced dead by the nursing home (early Covid days) and when the funeral home came to get her they found she was still alive. She woke up, was real angry for like two weeks, then actually died of Covid."
moody4foody
Your grandmother had reason to be angry, it sounds. Sorry for your loss.
"My dog..."
"My dog once actually ate my homework the morning it was due."
[deleted]
"When I was a kid..."
"When I was a kid, my parents let me pick the lottery numbers one time. I got 4 out of 6 right, and they won like $50 for it, so they bought me a Super Nintendo game."
Azureknight205
It sounds like you were their lucky charm! But which game? You can't leave us hanging like that.
"The house I lived in..."
"The house I lived in was raided by a SWAT team because there was a murderer hiding in the basement."
MikeNoble91
That's pretty scary for anyone who happens to be caught up in it!
"The girl who bullied me..."
"The girl who bullied me in summer camp when I was a kid was my midwife when I was pregnant years later. She was very nice and professional."
TheOddFrenchNobody
Did she recognize you? Either way, it sounds like she learned her lesson and grew up.
"I played a serial killer..."
"I played a serial killer on Hawaii Five-0. I’m not an actor (or serial killer) so far."
TheBlueCoyote
There's always time! Be the change you want to see in the world!
"When I was in college..."
"When I was in college I had a roommate who had been my friend since high school. He talked in his sleep and was a generally odd dude, but a good egg so we kept him around for the laughs (with him, not at him)."
"One night I had a dream where he and I were climbing around on all these piles of garbage looking for something (I don't know what). I woke up and went to the restroom then came back. Just as I laid down to go back to sleep, this guy rolls over and mumbles in his sleep, "I found it, it's over here.""
"The next morning I asked if he remembered his dream. He said no. I told him what happened. He didn't believe me."
Spodson
Perhaps he was narrating his dream and you heard it and then had a dream of your own that was basically the same?!
Truth is stranger than fiction, everyone. Look around you: Everyone you meet has at least one wild story or two.
Have some stories of your own? Feel free to share them with us in the comments below!
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Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.
Sometimes the pressure of of having a wonderful time on your birthday can put undue stress on a thing that should be, above all, relaxing and enjoyable.
That can make us zero in on the occasional slights and bits of selfishness in our friends and loved ones on our big day.
But nit-picky observations are one thing, and glaring affronts are a whole other.
A recent Reddit thread asked people to share the most sensationally awful birthdays they've ever had.
Redditor hated1327 asked:
"What is your 'worst birthday ever' story?"
Many recalled the birthdays that left them stuck doing an activity that they had absolutely zero interest in.
The Clear Priority
"My fifteenth birthday, was on holiday with my bio-dad and step mum who despised me and my sister. My dad wished me a happy birthday and asked me what I would like to do, before I could answer my step mother insisted she needed a new pair of shoes."
"I spent my fifteenth birthday sitting quietly in the corner of a shoe shop while somebody who hated me and wanted to alienate me from my father tried on endless pairs of shoes, that he would buy for her."
-- ninja_jay
Polite and Quiet
"On my 21st birthday, a family friend who is an old lady invited me and my family to a dinner with her and her family, because by the Lunar calendar her birthday was on the same day as mine."
"Her family and my parents can all speak Cantonese. I cannot. They decided to go to a seafood restaurant. I am allergic to most seafoods."
"I spent my 21st birthday sitting at a table full of people not saying anything and not eating anything, because I couldn't do either."
-- Chroisman
Like Any Other Day
"I was really excited for my 19th birthday. I was going to have lunch with my gf, hang out with my friends after, and end the evening with pizza at my parents' home (as is family tradition; fu** cake)."
"The gf's mum picks me up (no car at the time because I was living with the gf and paying rent) and we go down to her university and she has to pick up some books so we go to the bookstore and she kills 2 hours in lines and shopping for clothing. Not all the books were bought so we went to an off-campus book store. Another hour or so in line. I text my friends and cancel our plans."
"We then go to The Olive Garden and she spends the whole time talking to her mum about something that the mum's most recent bf did. Started chatting up the server and mentioned it was my birthday to her SHE wished me a happy birthday. Gf looked at me puzzled. She had forgotten it."
"It's now 8pm and we are driving home. I'm in the backseat and I call my parents and tell them that I'll be home soon. There's an accident down the road on The highway... My parents call me and ask where I am. I tell them to eat without me. 3 hours later we are out of the traffic jam and I go to my parents home and cry."
"Broke up with her a few weeks later because she was cheating on me (for months now) and I was still salty about her forgetting my birthday and ruining that day. I hope you have a happy birthday! May it be less shitty than my worst."
Others talked about the times they found themselves forced to feel uncomfortable for someone else who wasn't having a good time.
A Complete About Face
"On my 22nd birthday, my housemates girlfriend insisted we go out. She kept badgering me about it until I named a local place that was semi-expensive, I also said chilis. She kept pushing for the more expensive place insisting it was my special day."
"We got there, she looked at the menus and immediately threw a fit, complaining she couldn't afford anything. When her boyfriend attempted to buy her meal, she declined him multiple times, and refused to share his as a compromise."
"For the rest of the night we ate in silence interrupted by her complaining about hunger pangs and how anyone could afford the place she had insisted we all go to."
-- zz4
The Best 'Actually, You're Speaking To The Boss' Experience | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Leading With a Guilt Trip
"My wife hates going to the movies so for my birthday one year she relented and took me to one I had been dying to see. This was all her idea and when she told me what we were doing I was super excited. As we are pulling up to the theater she starts guilting me with 'do you REALLY want to go see this?' and guess what, we didn't."
"Two years ago she was going to cook my favorite meal for me but put it off until the last minute and so then made some BS excuse about how she had plans to take me and the kids out for dinner. We get all loaded up in the car and she says, 'where do you want to go?' she had no plans."
"I was pissed but I picked a place but the wait was too long for her so we fought and I ended up eating a bowl of Chex for my birthday dinner. She will make elaborate plans for anyone and everyone else's birthday but when it comes to mine she uses it as an excuse to give me a big Fu** You!"
-- [deleted]
Red Flags Everywhere
"21st birthday. The week leading up to it my (now ex - thank fu**) boyfriend had been ignoring me, typical sh**. So the day comes, we take a boat ride (not my idea but hey, who cares it's only my birthday). Naturally after we end up at the bars, working our way back home and surely enough I'm drunk off my a** by the time we get there."
"So seeing this, he decides that now would be a good time to pick a huge argument with me in the middle of the bar, followed by a dramatic exit so he could smoke a cigarette, or so I assumed. It wasn't until I realized it had been like 20 or so minutes that I walked outside to realize he had left me there."
"Yeah. That one definitely takes the cake for me."
Others shared the sensationally bad birthdays. These were almost cartoonishly awful.
Two Hits
"10th birthday. my mom got a pinata. my best friend was trying to hit the pinata. on his back swing, he clocked me right in the forehead, but on his forward swing, he broke open the pinata. all of my friends saw the candy and immediately rushed to it while I was laying on the ground bleeding with a huge gash right above my eyebrow."
"I had to go to the hospital and get 5 stitches."
Into the Abyss
"When i was 5 I had a large birthday party at my house with everyone from my neighborhood and kindergarten class. We had a clown and a bounce house and everything. After the clown performed we all got in the pool and the next thing I know my dad is yelling at this kid 'dont let go of the damn cat.' "
"The kid let go of my brand new kitten and it went straight up in the air because he tied all of the balloons to its collar. So, we all watched my kitten get hung and disappear almost 29 years ago. =("
-- BLACKMACH1NE
Yikes
"Everything was going well, until I sat down with an opened Birthday Badge in my trouser pocket."
"The pinner pierced my testicle and I had to go to A & E."
Here's hoping that these people never endure a birthday that tops these bad examples.
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Sometimes we are in the wrong place at the wrong time. We don't plan on it, but sometimes our curiosity--or bad timing--gets the best of us.
In those moments, we find ourselves suddenly staring dangerous or creepy things right in the face.
We try as hard as possible to leave the situation and go back to how we felt before. But some things are a bit too upsetting to let go of so quickly.
Some, in fact, stick around in our minds for a good while.
Redditor pikachu2_op asked:
"What's the most creepiest thing you've seen that you weren't supposed to see?"
Many Redditors shared stories about the creepy observations they've made that are very sexual. Sex positivity is one thing, and problematic is another.
Gotta Be A Felony
"Walked in on my gym teacher with his member out. In his office alone. In the seventh grade." -- devo23_
"What is it with middle school teachers? We had one science teacher whose contract was non-renewed because he would leave the students to run ourselves and go meet his boyfriend in the parking lot for... Things. We know this because once he actually parked in the lot outside of the classroom, which had big windows and you could see everything going on about ten feet away."
"Got caught (and fired) after a student turned him in and they found all of the history on his PC." -- LinkMom37
Way Too Intimate
"It's creepy to me but not all that creepy on the whole but on two different occasions I've helped my dad with his iPad and found very specific types of porn in open windows because he doesn't feel the need to close them apparently."
-- Cuboneskull
As Good A Place As Any
"When I was growing up, my Mom and Dad were shopping for a new house. We went to a new construction neighborhood to take a look.
"There was a model that my Mom liked and the sales lady said there was one being built down the street, it was about 50% done, but we can take a look to get an idea of the space. So we all hopped into the sales lady car and went to go look.
"We got in the house and she started to show us around. We went upstairs and in the 2nd-floor bedroom, there was a guy fully nude. I am 100% sure he heard us coming as the house was empty and our voices were slightly echoing as we moved around."
"My Mom screamed, the saleslady screamed, my Dad said 'WTF,' I was just hysterically laughing. The guy grabbed his clothing and just ran past us and out the house."
-- mrsheikh
Working Hard or Hardly Working?
"A classmate of mine was sitting weirdly and covered his crotch with his coat, he's acting weird, so I asked him if he's okay, and it turned out that he was jerking during the math class."
"Not sure whether it's hilarious or creepy, a little bit of both maybe. His awkward smile is both disturbing and funny."
Does That Count As Ambient Music?
"Not see but hear. I was studying at the university library next to a guy who was listening to what I assumed to be music."
"He left to go to the bathroom, and when he took off his headphones I could hear that he was listening, very loudly, to some sort of anime loli moan compilation."
-- snoort
Others discussed the times they were unfortunate enough to stare death right in the face.
In His Chair
"Had to go to a coworker's apartment to retrieve office equipment and files, because he had died suddenly of a heart attack the night before."
"When I got there he was still in his recliner, the funeral home hadn't picked him up yet. I was not a happy puppy that day."
-- 1964GamerBro
Suddenly Gone
"On my way home, I was looking at a busy street from the subway platform I was on and I saw this guy that everyone knew as a scammer in the neighborhood. He'd throw himself In front of cars for money."
"But that day he threw himself Infront of a real nice car and it struck him real hard. He flew into the 4-way intersection, clearly shocked by the pain, and his head got crushed under a truck passing by that didn't slow down in time."
"It looked like a watermelon exploding. It's crazy seeing a full-on human who has existed for decades just stop existing in a few seconds."
-- stakedrivers
People Who Made A Lot Of Money From Something Totally Random | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Too Much Snooping
"My uncle was babysitting me when I was about 9 and so I went to work with him for the day. He was a landlord for some buildings in a city at the time and got complaints that an elderly woman hadn't been seen in a few days from the neighbors."
"She was on the ground floor and I think the door may have been locked from the inside with a chain or something but he had me climb in through the window to open the front door for him. My naturally curious self crawled through the window and instead of going straight for the front door I followed an awful smell towards the bedroom and found this lady face up on the ground dead."
"The place was a mess so I didn't immediately associate the bad smell with death but I bolted to the front door and watched them take her away in the ambulance. I don't know any legal answers here and I never really talked about it. Weird day"
-- Wellick342
Tough Day of Work for the Nanny
"When I was little me and my family lived over 20 kilometres from a city in the woods. We had a nanny stay with us when our parents were away."
"Once when only me, my sister ( we were around 8 years old ) and nanny were home while playing outside we saw a bunch of people emerge from the forest nearby and walk slowly like zombies towards our house, they tried climbing the fence, but they were too out of it to accomplish such a task."
"The nanny called our mom and she drove home from the city and took us all to our grandparents. We later found out that there was some drug infused party going on not too far from our home and 2 people died from overdosing, 1 from stab wounds there."
"To this day I feel super greatful that they were too tired or drugged-out to get past our fence that day and police was able to apprehend the ones that stayed around long enough."
-- Snapeeh
Eerie Timing
"I was working in a office at the bottom of an apartment building. I was out having a smoke between phone calls and I heard a noise from above and I looked up to see a middle aged woman coming straight down."
"I put my back against the wall and just watched the impact as it made a sound I'll never forget. I walked up to her to see if there was anything I could do. But I knew right away by her color and pool of blood forming beneath her i couldn't so I ran in and called 911. Police arrived and I filled a report, closed up the office and went home."
"The very next morning on my way to my other job I saw a person walking on the side of the highway. Maybe 10 minutes later I heard on the radio a pedestrian was struck on the same highway I was just on. So ya that was pretty weird.."
-- Lefebvre525
And others discussed the horrifying times they've encounter very dangerous people.
Not Very Neighborly
"As a kid I was walking through the woods when on holiday. I was only following the river up and down so I couldn't get lost. I saw a tarpaulin through the trees and thought I would go check it out. As I got close, someone I couldn't see said 'Turn around and keep walking.' "
"Which, unsurprisingly, I did. At a run."
"When walking back along the river the next day, the tarp was gone."
-- DoomsOfGod
Not a Group You Stick Around to Chat With
"When I was 15 me and a buddy were hiking along the Merced River to our fishing spot when we were stopped on the path by three guys with ball caps and bandanas covering their faces and holding shotguns. They told us to turn around and go back, which we did without question."
"Was very strange since we'd been down there dozens of times and had never seen them before or after this. Found out a few months after that there was a Klampers rally happening on the property of a guy who lived down there and they were guards."
-- Cwcooper57
Casing the Joint
"A few years ago I still lived in my parents house, it was about 11pm and our dog started barking viciously. The dog is only able to move around in the backyard, and normally he would bark at cats in the front yard, but something about his bark was different, so I walked to the window to see what was going on."
"I looked out and saw a man looking through the same window... We both froze and after a few seconds he ran off."
"A few weeks later when we came home after work all our electronics and expensive stuff was gone."
-- HeartStoneTV
The Lair
"A few years ago the wife and I were searching for our first home. I was in the basement of one of the places that we were looking at, and somehow noticed a light switch that seemed out of place. I was flicking the switch as my wife and agent came down the stairs. My agent noticed a bit of light comng from underneath the drywall framing the stairs."
"With a little further inspection I found a very tiny passage between the foundation wall, and the backside of the stairs."
"Said passage opened up into a undisclosed renovation that was a sub-basement room, that was completely rubberized with an industrial hose and shower head. Walls, ceilings and flooring was all rubber. It was 100% a secret murder room."
"My agent called the cops and 48hrs later the listing was removed and the home had police tape around it."
-- beelzebob909
Wrong Dwelling
"I worked at a Hospital when I was younger. Food service, delivering food trays to the patients. I walked into one of the psyc rooms unknowingly, there was a crazy lady sitting in a chair holding a bed pan full of feces. And let me tell you, when I say crazy, this woman had a look in her eye that I haven't ever seen and don't ever want to see again."
"She said 'if you don't get out of my dwelling, I'm gonna throw sh** on you little boy' I've never been so freaked out in my life!! Needless to say I dropped the damn tray and ran out."
-- Efrnzy
Here's hoping you've managed to stay out of these unlucky, unnerving situations.
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Though many may try to live life flawlessly, navigating through all the ups and downs as gracefully as possible, we still sometimes bang around like bulls in china shops.
We misread important instructions and do the wrong thing for way too long. We make split decisions that, in hindsight, were absurdly ill-advised.
We even think things through and botch it in the end.
Sometimes, however, the consequences of those mistakes end up surprising us. The fruits of our screw-ups are unforeseen, but can make all the difference.
Redditor HypnoViber asked:
"What is a mistake you've made that actually made something better?"
Many people shared stories about the mistakes they made while performing in front of an audience. It seemed like the most embarrassing possible time for a mixup, but it all turned out fine.
Throwing Them a Bone
"At a public event, I was accompanying the National Anthem on the organ and inadvertently played it in a lower key than the original score."
"Doing so made the higher notes much easier to sing for the assembled crowd."
"Later, people thanked me for playing 'The Star-Spangled Banner' in a comfortable key - the first time they'd ever been able to "hit the high notes" without straining!"
-- Back2Bach
Catapulting Careers
"I work in television. A few years ago I was a background PA (I help set Extras in a TV show and give them their actions). Anyways the scene taking place was that the main character was being checked by a doctor in an office with the door open (weird but I don't make those decisions)."
"I sent an extra down that hallway and told him to go inside the office to the right - the one across from where the scene was happening."
"I guess this guy didn't hear me correctly but during the scene he went into the office where the scene was happening, upon realizing his mistake he played along as if he were part of the scene and gave them an: Oops! And the actors reacted to him, making the scene funnier."
"My boss was quick to yell at me but the director came out and asked who made the decision because it was awesome! Of course, my boss stopped yelling."
"They decided to upgrade the extra and add his line. The man went from getting paid $125 a day to making a bit more than $1k for saying the word Oops!"
"The guy thanked me profusely because he was in desperate need of money and this was going to help him with rent. All throughout the day, he thanked me. My mistake made someone so happy. It made my day."
Stage Presence
"In a mandatory college speech class I accidentally left my note cards in my sleeves when it was my turn to talk and I quickly took them out. The rest of the class thought it was a magic trick or something and some even clapped."
"I was stunned for a few seconds not knowing what just happened"
-- zjanus89
Other Redditors remembered the times cooking a recipe got a whole lot better thanks to a misread.
Cut Out the Middle Man
"Made the wrong burger for an order at work. Turns out the server rung it in wrong and that's what it was supposed to be."
A Mistake Made Permanent
"I misread a chili recipe that called for tamari (a type of soy sauce) and put tahini (sesame seed paste). It was creamy and delicious! I realized my mistake the next time I made it, but to this day I still put tahini in it."
Double It
"We were making lasagna with my great grandmother. She made it in an assembly line type fashion because she would freeze a ton and then once a week, pull it out, and toss it in the oven."
"One day we were doing this and we had to take a quick break to help great-grandpa bring in groceries. Five lasagnas got double the garlic, and we already put tons in in the first place."
"Those five lasagnas were like a fun game a Russian roulette. You could smell when one of the double lasagnas were in the oven. Great grandma doubled the garlic forever after that."
-- ElChupaTata
The End of a Nasty Habit
"I ashed a cigarette in a glass that had a drink in it (don't ask me why). I accidentally picked it up and took the biggest swig of what I thought was my scotch- I projectile vomited, and never touched another cigarette"
-- Muriana_of
And of course, there were stories of romance. When love and relationships often come down to right place and right time, the mistakes that lead us there can seem like amazing luck.
The Wrong (Right) Dude
"I approached a dude in high school thinking he was someone else I met the other day. (I was new to this school and still learning who people were). I didn't realize this until days later when he told me. However we became best friends."
"He eventually introduced me to my future wife who I now have a family with. A simple case of mistaken identity shaped my whole life."
-- Actuaryba
Against Expectations
"A friend asked me on a date and I panicked and said yes even though I had no interest in him romantically. I spent the next day freaking out about going on the date and feeling like it was a mistake, that I didn't want to lead him on or ruin our friendship."
"We've been together for 5 months and it's the best relationship I've ever been in. I love him so much and he's so good to me."
Destiny via Bureaucracy
"I forgot to register for college in the fall after high school, then didn't fill out the right paperwork for the spring, and ended up starting a year late at the community college."
"It ended up working out, though. I met my wife that first semester in a freshman math class. If I didn't fu** up my registration, I never would have met her, nor would our kids be born."
"So you could say it worked out."
-- Pl0xnoban
Perhaps these stories offer an apt reminder to keep yourself open to what may come, even when it feels like you screwed up royally.
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