Redditors' interactions with animals were either empowering or terrifying.

A Chihuahua's Hero

"Mine is when I was in high school I lived out in the countryside of Central Texas. I was just kind of bumbling around on the property and my mom's little chihuahua was tagging along. I heard a bird, saw a fast moving shadow, and threw my arm out, slapping a hawk out of the sky as it tried to get my mom's chihuahua."

"Cut my arm pretty good, but saved that little rat of a dog. The chihuahua went on to pass away at a smooth 19 years old."

– itsthattedguy

Brush With An Owl

"I worked nights in college. I'd always take my two dogs out to pee when I got home and one late night an owl tried to snatch my Chihuahua but thankfully missed. My golden retriever ran back inside like the owl was going to somehow take his 60lb a** but my chi stood his ground like he could take it on. I got him inside and was much more careful after that. He, too, passed at 19. I miss him."

– jacyerickson

"I was almost drowned by a pod of dolphins while surfing at Salt Creek, Orange County, CA. I got up on a wave and one of them knocked me over, 2 wave pin down on a 5-7 ft day."

– jppope

These could be plot points in a movie.

Reunited Leash

"I was surfing in Santa Barbara County when I was a kid, maybe 14 or 15. When I would come in from a surf, I had the habit of undoing my leash from my leg while I was walking in the shallow water. Unbeknownst to me, the other side of the leash that connects to the board had come off. I lost my leash. I searched around the tidal zone but no luck. I was bummed but I just moved on."

"Three weeks later, I was surfing in Ventura county, and as I was walking in from the surf, a piece of kelp wrapped around my leg. I reached down to pull it off. It wasn’t kelp, it was my leash I’d lost a dozen miles north a few weeks back. It had algae and stuff growing on it, but no mistaking it was absolutely my leash."

– shah357

The Origin Of Love

"When my dad and step-mom met, my dad swore he’d met her before, but couldn’t remember when or where. Eventually, he decided he’d seen her in Cody, Wyoming, the town where he grew up. She swore she’d never even been to Wyoming (she’s from Oregon and that’s where they met)."

"Several years later, after they’d been married a while, step-mom mentions to her mom that my dad swears he met her in Cody, but she’s never been there. Her mom says 'Yes, you have,' and pulls out a photograph from 1956 of her, age 9, riding on a mechanical horse (a kid one) and in the background, standing around in the crowd, is my dad and his two brothers, ages 8, 10, and 11."

"She submitted the story to a local magazine for a Valentine’s Day contest one year and won a trip to a resort."

"Some honorable mentions: By the time I was 20, I was 1 degree of separation away from 5 different people who’d been murdered by 3 different serial killers (gotta love the PNW), and I almost hit Bob Dylan with my car once."

– JessicaGriffin

Getting Lit

"First time I ever smoked pot a police helicopter hovered above me and my friend and hit us with the spotlight. They were looking for someone else apparently because they immediately moved on. Nonetheless…"

– igottathinkofaname

VIP Client

"I took my VW to the dealer to get some work done. The service rep at the counter was so hung over (possibly still intoxicated) that he couldn’t handle completing the paper work. He told the tech that I was a VIP, specifically 'Britni Spears’s brother' and that he owed me a favor, so the work was on the house and they just never did any paperwork, didn’t charge me a dime, did the work, handed me the keys, and away I drove."

– peteschirmer

Spared By The Slipper

"I was having a really hard time passing a very large kidney stone, between 5-6 mm. 6 is too big to pass. After three weeks of episodic excruciating pain and bleeding, my doctor scheduled surgery to remove it. I wake up the morning of surgery without a lot of pain (pain came and went). I put on my slippers and was wearing long flannel PJ’s. I get up from the TV and I feel like there’s a pebble in my slipper. The stone dribbled out that morning. Had I not been wearing slippers that stone would have been lost on the floor somewhere and I would not have known I had passed it. The last hour discovery saved me from surgery."

– MikeyPapapacha

Inseparable Siblings

"I went to the Bahamas one time with friends and was drinking at a senior frogs. I look to my right and suddenly my sister and I make eye contact and gasp. We ended up at the same bar at the same time on separate trips and not even knowing where each other were going."

– smooth_bachacta

Path To Healing

"When I was 18 I walked across 3 states and hitchhiked another 2 just to kick a cocaine addiction. Went to rehab. Been clean from cocaine for almost 20 years now."

– PossessionNo68

Tuneful Coincidence

"I’ve only driven past the city of Welcome in Minnesota once in the past 40 years, it was in September of 2010. At the exact minute I reached the exit sign for Welcome, a 35 year old song came on the radio. The song? 'Welcome Back' by John Sebastian."

"I felt like the universe was having a little fun with me that day. The odds of having that 35 year old song play just as I passed the city of the same name the only time I went there in 40 years is some crazy coincidence."

– FightPhoe93

These Redditors couldn't believe their luck.

Contest Winner

"I won a two week cruise vacation for two in a contest."

"I never entered the contest."

"I was convinced I was being scammed."

"Even from the beaches of the Caribbean, I still wasn't convinced."

– Tokiw4

The Generous Friend

"Was in Vegas for a work thing. I was not happy about being there because it was a tough time in my life, money was really tight and Vegas is the last place you want to be when money is tight."

"I was telling my buddy about it and he says, 'Im going to pay pal you $150. Go play the poker tournament at the Venetian at night. You can drink for free and hopefully you last long. If you win anything, pay me back, if not, no worries.'"

"So I did. Won the tournament! $3200."

"The second night, I went off to play some craps alone one night because I did not like the work people and did not want to hang with them."

"Started with $200. 45 minuted later I 7’d out and had $37,000. Cashed out and told no one!"

"On the drive back (I lived in Phoenix) I called my buddy and told him (only) about it. I sent him $2500."

– Raspberries-Are-Evil

Beginner's Luck

"The one time I went to Vegas at the proper age of 21, I won $2000 on my first spin on the 25c slot machine. I didn't gamble the rest of the time and enjoyed the fact that my trip paid for itself. Came home with all the money I left with and an extra $800. Didn't tell my bf I was with at the time either; he would have tried to spend my money."

– KnowItOrBlowIt

Given A Second Chance

"I went jogging one night and came across a lady laid out face first. No heart beat. Started doing cpr. Never saw another person was able to call 911 while doing cpr. Kept at it twenty Minutes till FD got there. She made a full recovery. They said cpr that long has a 95% fail rate."

– DullAd2253

A friend back in high school told me he was a vampire when he dropped me off from band practice.

This was at a time when Anne Rice was super popular and everyone was reading the Lestat books.

Being an impressionable 15-year-old at the time, I believed him, because he warned me that if I ever revealed his identity to anyone, "I will find you."

A couple of years ago, I reunited with a mutual friend and I joked about how I believed so-and-so was a creature of the night. We nervously laughed.

Whether my blood-thirsty friend was weighing on my conscience or not, I've been visited by him in COUNTLESS dreams ever since I told my friend about him.

Call it what you want–paranoia or self-fulfilling prophecy–but there are some things in this realm I will never be able to explain.

I'm just glad I'm still here to talk about it now that I let the proverbial cat out of the bag.