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Woman's Story About Unleashing A Rancid Fart In A Cave As A Kid And Setting Off Her Own 'Karen' Mother Is The Ultimate Cringe-Fest

Woman's Story About Unleashing A Rancid Fart In A Cave As A Kid And Setting Off Her Own 'Karen' Mother Is The Ultimate Cringe-Fest
SYLVAIN THOMAS/AFP/GettyImages

Atmospheric changes inside caves can unleash winds powerful enough to knock the hat off of a tourist.

But the powerful stench of a young girl's fart in tight quarters can knock tourists unconscious.


According to this woman, one of her first traumatic memories going through puberty was passing serious gas while visiting Mammoth Cave National Park.

The stench was so rancid, it even prompted her clueless mother Karen to behave like the characteristics of the eponymous meme by demanding some answers from their tour guide.

The memory from that episode still haunts Redditor "Amacrum" to this day.

The original poster (OP) shared her gassy story in the TIFU (Today I F*d Up) SubReddit and emphasized that her subterranean tushy cough happened years ago.

"Obligatory this didn't happen today.. It happened about 23 years ago but it was my first traumatic cringe."
"I was twelve. Picture what it would look like if Wednesday Addams really was genuinely dying to get into the Babysitters Club. Yup that's me."

Giphy


"Having my second period ever, complete with Satan's tsunami of pain and f*ckery happening to my insides."
"My family decided this is when were going to go visit Mammoth Cave National Park. I'm still in that stage when I'm embarrassed by my period/ sure that everyone everywhere just KNOWS it's shark week for me."
"(We're traveling light by my parents insistence so when I need a pad it's off to hassle dad to dig one out of his fanny pack and make the mortified trek to the bathroom. That's it's own tween trauma.)"
"We're taking the cave tour and in one of those really tight places with a horrible name like 'Fat man's death' and all hell is brewing in my gut."

Giphy

"Audible growling like hellhounds begging to be freed, loud enough for the people next to me to get that shifty eyed wtf look."
"At the time I'm 4'11" maybe a hundred lbs and all that stands between the world and the nuclear bomb in my gut is THE CLENCH."
"I clenched you guys. I clenched through so much of the longest cave system in the world (Google it) and I just couldn't f*ckin do it anymore. I fell victim to the oldest myth we tell ourselves... Just let a lil out. Just a little and I'll feel so much better...."

The proverbial flood gates opened and nothing could prevent the olfactory emission from assaulting everyone's nostrils.

"So I did...And I didn't. I cracked the door, but all the demons escaped. What came out was the most inexplicably silent fart accompanied by the most rancid smell I've ever smelled."
"The kind that immediately makes you think it couldn't possibly have come from your own body... Or any living body."

Giphy


"Immediately there was shuffling as it hit the polite people around me and they tried to avoid overly embarrassing the green skinned little girl with the demon gut it had to have come from."

Giphy

Enter the OP's mother, whose name is a popular meme used to insult entitled White women who often complain in public and ask to speak to a manager.

"This is where my mother comes into play. There's one thing you must know about my mother. Her name is Karen. Legend has it she is the original."

"If I had a dime for every manager spoken to while her family sat red faced, pleadingly apologizing with their eyes (blink twice for help) I'd be a Scrooge McDuck rich."

The mother inquired the tour guide about the source of the toxic airborne event.

"So here we are stewing in rancid hellfire corpse level stank and my mother asks the poor teenage tour guide (who is trying not to gag) 'Are there Sulfur deposits down here? I smell sulfur.'"
"Silence. A few discreet glances at the miserable little girl from polite strangers."
"No ma'am, no sulfur in this part of the cave system."
"My mother is never wrong. Not even when she's wrong. She insists...'That can't be right. I smell sulfur.'"
"No ma'am. No Sulfur."

Giphy


"If there was a manager nearby we'd have already been speaking to them. She's getting very upset because she's obviously RIGHT she obviously smells Sulfur and this ridiculous teenager doesn't know what the hell he's taking about."
"The back and forth goes on. Forever. Her insistence that she's right keeps ratcheting up. That poor bastard."
"To his credit he glanced at me, and did the kindest thing that kept me from just completely shriveling up and dying on the spot."
"He plastered a queasy grin on his face and said, 'You know what ma'am maybe there's is Sulfur down here I'm going to double check on that as soon as we get back. Maybe I'll learn something new today.'"

Giphy


"The cringe was so full on I don't remember anything else about that day. It's a blank."
"On that fateful day I learned never to trust a fart, that cringe that deep in the early tweens leaves a little scar tissue on your soul, and that the kindness of strangers is a very real thing."

And there you have it.

Redditors imagined the horrors of being one of the tourists reckoning with the punishment nobody deserves.

"Farting in a cave is like the ultimate dutch oven. Everybody's just trapped in there with it." – rj4001

Who doesn't love a good fart story?

"I dropped rancid ass in an airplane hangar when in college...It cleared the area immediately around me...then the cloud drifted, but retained sufficient concentration to clear out ANOTHER group across the hangar about 5 minutes later."
"Not gonna lie...I'm pretty proud of that one." – 0xD153A53
"My friend has a story from when he was on a tour bus in Morocco and someone let out a quiet but deadly fart. the tour guide stopped mid sentence and said with a very strong accent "Ah, silent but violent..." – homebrandsoap

Giphy

"I farted in front of my ex's son. He was startled and asked what the noise was. I told him my butt sneezed. Without missing a beat he says 'oh well then bless you!'"
"That kid is gonna go far." – freyjathebloody
"I'm a second-generation butt duster and man, there are some times I wonder what exists in my gut."
"I went with my mom and step-dad to get a cake for my Sweet 16 and for some reason had some raunchy internals that day. We were talking to the clerk at the bakery when I let out a silent(?) but toxic cloud, which my family, myself, and the clerk all were hit by at once."
"I had to deal with my step-father quietly gagging, my mother turning beet red, and the poor clerk trying to not be ill over the little cake book while simultaneously doing my best not too pee myself from holding in laughter. And it stuck with us the entire time we were there, so about 5 minutes at least."
"I still get a tongue lashing from my mom about that one, she was so embarrassed (I can give her crap now because her colostomy bag likes to be a mini bagpipe)."
"I think that time and the time my charter bus fart managed to make at least 50 other band students sick (including our directors) are tied." – Iradelle

Now, this is a cute catchphrase.

"When our daughter was a toddler my husband used to say 'catch that and paint it green' after a fart. Kids repeat everything and she repeated the phrase in her daycare after she tooted."
"It was a awkwardly funny moment when I picked her up and had to answer-the question. 'What does catch that and paint it green mean?"'– mellentheorchadork

Giphy

This Redditor believes that clenching is the last thing you should be doing when a toxic storm is brewing in your colon.

"This is honestly how a fart should be dealt with. I have stomach issues, and can't control my farts well. Some days it's just like a machine gun.
"On those bad days, I just start laughing like crazy as my wife just shakes her head. She's gotten used to it, and some times will laugh as well."
"The worst is when you are at work and gotta let one out. But when I'm having stomach issues, some times they'll slip out when I try to head to the bathroom. Some days they'll just slip and make the loudest fart you've ever heard."
"I was standing outside with a few friends once, and it happened. Instantly, everyone just burst out laughing about it."
"Farting isn't something to be ashamed of, and it can actually cause you some damage if you hold it in. I say we should just the wind flow freely, but keep an freshener near you though!" – StrangerFeelings

Giphy

Conditions inside caves are ideal for some things and not so much for others.

"Caves are usually humid. The moisture in the air traps the fart molecules and it floats in place like a cloud on a windless day. Prime dusting territory. I really need to visit a cave again." – Pi-stache-io

What an epic burn.

"My mom always said she can't fart cause women don't get a**holes til they get married." – DownToFarm

Didn't Karen talk about periods?

"That might explain how you felt about your period too. I felt so comfortable telling people I had it, and especially with my family."
"My dad would buy pads for me often. But, my mom talked about periods from before I can remember, so to me it was just a normal thing before I got it."
"I'm sorry that your mom caused you so much trouble." – boo29may

Which one is worse? The wrath of a Karen, or the fury of the foulest flatulence?

People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.