People Describe The Absolute Worst Ways They've Ever Heard Of Someone Dying

CW: Deaths and accidents.
News of someone's death is always sad.
In some cases, one can at least take comfort in the fact that the deceased at least lived a long, fulfilling life.
In other cases, however, news of someone's death is an unspeakable tragedy.
Particularly if this person was still young, and had so much more to offer in the world.
Be it a tragic accident or as the victim of an act of cold blood, some stories are so heartbreaking that even those who never met them can't help but shed a tear.
Redditor StrawberryPunk82 was curious to hear some of the worst stories of people's deaths people had ever heard, leading them to ask:
"What is the worst way you've ever heard of someone dying?"
Earthquake
"In the recent earthquake in Turkey, a woman and her baby in her arms got stuck after their building collapsed."
"They were able to talk to and hear outside but unable to come out."
"People around were trying to relax her, saying that help is on the way. (the weather was extremely cold)."
"After a couple hours, the woman said, 'leave me, go look for other people, my baby is dead'."
"Makes me get the chills."- fruitysucculent
Hot Air Balloon Accident
"I knew some folks who died when a hot air balloon crashed into power lines."
"The balloon ignites and basically becomes plastic/nylon magma that covered the basket and all of the people inside it."- 72Rancheast
Wind Turbine Accident
"There's a photo of 2 guys on a giant wind turbine that caught on fire."
"Probably not the worst, but man seeing that photo of them hugging each other right before was like getting punched in the chest."- 1Oshester
Farming Accident
"I'm a farmer."
"One of the neighbors was baling hay and got out to clear a jam with the round baler running."
"His leg got caught in the tines, and he was pulled into the machine and crushed, then spun around and around for over an hour before he was found."
"Absolutely terrible way to go."- ianj2807
Radiation Poisoning
"Hisashi Ouchi."
"83 days of radiation poisoning."- Cabbages6969
Amusement Park Ride Gone Wrong
"I once read about an amusement park tragedy where there was a log ride that collapsed, and the carrier dropped the people essentially into a gear meat grinder."
"2 children survived out of like a dozen people, by clinging onto the safety bars until their arms went numb."
"The emergency crew who came to save them described it as the most horrific thing they ever witnessed, and many still need therapy to this day to help them cope with the aftermath they witnessed."- noisyturtle
Burned Alive
"Burning alive has always seemed about as bad as it can get to me."- penguinpolitician
Sawmill Accident
"I remember when I was young hearing about an incident in a sawmill in a neighboring town."
"Three guys crawled inside the mill’s debarking machine, basically a giant drum lined with teeth that tear bark off of sawn logs."
"They climbed inside to do some kind of maintenance but didn’t lock the machine out properly."
"I think basically when the next shift arrived they didn’t know anyone was in there and they kicked it back on to start their day."
"They almost literally were put through an industrial wood chipper."- aerfgadf
Drowning
"I saw a video a few days ago of a mother of 2 wanting to do a polar plunge so they opened up a hole in a channel and as soon as she jumped in the current of the water underneath swept her away under the ice and she died."
"Imagine the panic that went through her mind as she was trapped under the ice not to mention the freezing temperatures she exposed herself to."
"That has to be one way I don’t want to go."- Huaco_kid
Desperate To Fit In
"At my university, there was a guy who wanted to sneak in at an event at a student club."
"So he thought it would be an awfully good idea to climb down the chimney."
"And he ofc got stuck."
"And this was just before the summer leave, so the entire place closed down while he was still stuck in the chimney."
"When they came back they discovered the stench from his corpse."
"He must have thirsted or suffocated to death in that place."
"Hour after hour just sitting there."
"Really bad way to go."- GubbenJonson
Trapped In Their Own Home
"Man got trapped in his closet by a fallen cabinet."
"He was recluse so nobody was coming to check on him."
"He realized he had to save himself, and broke through the ceiling and broke a pipe off, intending to tunnel his way out."
"It was a water pipe, and cold water started hitting down from above."
"It was several days before he died, trapped in the closet with water beating on his head."
"The only reason he was found was because the neighbor stopped hearing him banging for help, and suddenly got nervous and called the police to check on things."
"Secure your heavy furniture, y'all."- bruicejuice
Australian Bushfires
"In Australia during the bushfires - a family were cut off and trapped so they jumped into their water tank to avoid the fire."
"Boiled alive."- Plebarian
Choking At The Dinner Table
'My friend's husband choked to death at the dinner table in front of his wife and young kids last year."- 2021Blankman
Caving
"Basically any caving incident where someone got stuck and couldn't be rescued so they just had to stay pinned there til they died."
"Nutty Putty is probably the most well known one but I read about one recently where someone got stuck in a pit where there was really poor air flow, and the whole rescue team wasn't able to get them out so they just had to stay there slowly poisoning the air around them with their own exhaled CO2 until it suffocated them."
- MerylSquirrel
Death is always heartbreaking. And these stories definitely unlocked some new fears for us.
But not all deaths are tragic, and absolutely no one deserved what these poor people went through.
- People Confess Which Fictional Death Hit Them The Hardest ›
- People Debate The Absolute Worst Ways To Die ›
People Who've Spent Time In A Psych Ward Describe The Strangest Things They Ever Witnessed
Patients who have severe mental illnesses can pose a physical threat to themselves and to others, which is why they are often sent to psychiatric care facilities.
Those who have visited these institutions or individuals who work in one know firsthand how intense some of these patients can be.
Curious to hear examples from those who've witnessed extremely unusual behavior at these facilities had plenty to share when Redditor N3SSDOGGDOGG asked:
"People who have spent time in a Psych Ward what is the craziest thing you’ve witnessed?"
One thing is certain. There is never a dull moment.
Consequences Of Enabling Drug Addiction
"In our tiny community some kids are smelly because typically the parents are addicts who either didn't pay their water bill, don't own a washer/dryer or are too brain dead to care. The nearest laundromat is now 30 miles away because the local one got broken into and robbed too many times by. Our school is awesome, there are staff members who do laundry for these kids and make sure they get showers. It's discreet so they're not ridiculed. I hate how our society enables addiction and even celebrates drug use, but I don't know how we can fix it at this point. It's gotten completely out of hand."
– Marisleysis33
Taking You To A Live Commercial
"My brother-in-law had a stint in a psych ward a little over a year ago, and on a particularly manic day they were in the middle of the community room and started singing."
“I have a structured settlement and I need cash now”
"This was then met by about 40-50 psych patients shouting back."
“CALL J.G. WENTWORTH!!! 877-CASH-NOW!!!”
"After getting a few verses in the orderlies stepped in and kindly requested they stop, which was kinda a shame since it sounded like they were all having a good time."
– MikeMars1225
Select Highlights
"I've worked in one for about 2 years now. The staff are just as crazy."
"Here's some highlights"
"Patient got into the ceiling, couldn't get them down for a while."
"Patient milked themself into their coffee. Did you know some anti-psychotics make you lactate?"
"The entire adolescent unit escaping because maintenence forgot to lock the gate. Don't worry. They all came back eventually."
"And myself getting a concussion from a patient trying to escape, they weren't successful, but at least I didn't work for 6 weeks."
– NeverlandEnding
Character Performance
"The funniest thing I ever saw (spent total of about three years in in my teens and early 20's): a kid in seclusion who was having a genuinely good time making staff's life a living nightmare while he was in there, took apart the plastic mattress, tore the foam inside into small pieces, donned the empty mattress and started yelling 'I'M GUMBY, DAMMIT!' while tossing the pieces of foam around like confetti. Even most of the staff were laughing about it."
– t_portch
Physical violence seemed to be a common occurrence.
He Had A Violent Streak
"Not a patient but an employee. Had a 16 year old kid come in who was about 6'2 220 pounds. Built like a linebacker. I found out since he was technically a child he somehow ended up at an autism school for children with very little security. He ended up inflicting a TBI on one of the teachers and got sent to us. The kid had a violent streak the likes I hadn't seen before, he knew he was stronger than most and liked to fight unprovoked and it always took 4 to 6 people to restrain him. I never seen a patient spend more time than him in the 'safety room' an incredibly small padded room with nothing in it. His parents wouldnt authorize his move somewhere else and they wouldn't take him home either. We were not equipt for someone with his level of violence. So there he sat... For one and a half years..."
"It wasn't like a single incident that was crazy, it was the entire situation."
– DisagreeableFool
David And Wendy
"I was in an adolescent inpatient facility for 30 days. One kid named David who was very tall for his age, I think he was only 13. He insisted on watching Friday the 13th movies on movie nights and everyone was afraid to disagree with him because of his violent nature and frequent homicidal fantasies. He hated taking his meds, and probably 2 or 3 times a week he'd brawl with the psych nurses over it. No joke, it took 5 to 6 large grown men to overcome this kid. He was scary."
– better-off-ted
A Mother's Experience
"My mother worked in an asylum in Ireland when she was about 15. This was in the early 60s. She loved working there, despite the fact that some of the patients would physically try and kill her. One patient always stuck out to her, every day he would tell my mum he was going to kill her when she finished work. She knew he loved music, so would tell him she was out dancing that night, and could he wait until the next day, which he agreed to. The next day he would forget what he had said, and would threaten her again, and she'd say the say thing again. This went on for a couple of years that she worked there."
– tiredandstupid82
Turns out some patients weren't seeing a change of scenery any time soon.
Fighting To Stay
"I work inpatient and we had someone who was in for 2 1/2 years. They would try to take him out but he would start fighting immediately and eventually said he preferred it."
– Deathdad
Simon
I was a social worker at an institution that had a hall for what we called 'lifers,' it was essentially for people who had no hopes of ever being released due to their conditions. Anyway, my hall had 14 beds and it was full. There was this one guy who was huge. He was 6’7 and about 350. His name was Simon. He suffered from drug-induced schizophrenia and had bipolar disorder. He talked to himself all day, but never talked to others. All the other men in the ward were scared of him."
"It was my day to do first shift. I got there early to start on some paperwork I needed to finish. When I got my keys in the door, I heard Simon hit the door with his fists. I looked through the tiny window on the door and he and the hall was covered in blood. I panicked and called security for backup because I thought he had killed somebody."
"Turns out, Simon was in the throes of an extreme manic episode and had managed to walk the literal soles of his feet off. Other medication he was on thinned his blood and led to him bleeding all over the place."
"We checked the camera footage and he had walked and talked all night. The orderly (who was fired that day) had slept through his whole shift and never heard Simon walking back and forth."
– CamillaCream02
Some of these examples sound like they could patients in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, without Nurse Ratched tormenting them.
But props to the real humans who are compassionate and look after those who can't function alone in society.
Even before these far too frequent cases of violence in schools, not all students felt safe going to school every day.
As bullying continues to be an ongoing problem, with students being bullied by fellow students and teachers alike.
Sadly, bullying has become so commonplace that many students and teachers might witness it and not think much of it.
Every now and then, however, people will witness something happening within the presumably safe walls of a school which still keeps them awake at night.
Something so shocking or horrific that should simply never happen anywhere... let alone in a school.
"What was the most f**ked up thing you saw at your school?"
A Stupid Dare, Or Just Plain Stupidity?
"The ambulance in front of the school because two guys glued their eyelids shut with a quick-dry adhesive."- Teapunk00
An Accident That Should Never Have Happened
"A new kid at our school grabbed the art teacher's scissors and threw them over a dividing wall when the teacher left the room."
"They hit some girl in a different art class on the other side and one of the blades went through her cheek."
"We were held after class until he finally confessed, and we saw the police at the school later."
"He had been at our school for about a week, and we never saw him again after that day."- HairyDowntown
There's A Reason They Warn You Not To Play With Your Food
"Some guy got a concussion because someone threw a kiwi(fruit) and he got hit in the head."- BobbyLeFourbe
What Lesson Could They Have Possibly Learned?
"Some kids were punching a mason jar lid that we used to seal a jar with some bug in it."
"They were doing it as some sort of whose tougher test."
"When the teacher sees this and sees they have small scratches on their knuckles she proceeds to tell them that the bug was poisonous and they will die very soon since they drew blood punching the lid."
"We were maybe 10 at the time."
'She made them write goodbye notes to their parents and make goodbye speeches to the class."
"We were all tripping because we believed her too."
"It was wild."- country728
The List Goes On and On...
"Middle school:"
"Girl had the sewing machine needle go right through her finger."
"The left with the needle and thread just hanging out."
"Another kid had an exacto knife stabbed right into his wrist, by accident, so close to the artery."
"High school:"
"Girl was run over by a bus."
"It backed over her, then pulled forward over her again!"
"We had fundraisers and pep rallies for her."
"She made a full recovery and is still playing sports at almost 40 now."
"Sex in the bathroom."
"Endangered turtle was found during construction."
"All construction had to stop until the turtle moved out."
"PE teacher…you know how that one goes."- Dyltra
What A Way To Go
"The EMTs wheeling out the Spanish teacher after she had died in the girl's bathroom of a heart attack."- CapG_13
So Many Questions...
"A jeep ended up in the swimming pool."
"The student crashed through the wall during lunch, rumors about DUI flew, but never did find out exactly what happened."- Taladrac
Things Aren't Always What They Seem...
"When I was at 1-2 grades, we had this extremely friendly janitor, who could be found in his small office, and he would close the door and give you some candies."
"I heard about this, and never believed my friends, but I decided to go see him on one of the brakes."
"I know what you think, but stay with me."
"I knocked, he opened and asked me what my name was, and what I would like to do when I grow up, he gave me 2 candies and said thank you for visiting."
"Yep, just a normal dude who likes kids."
"Also, we had computer class where we were taught stuff like paint, word, PowerPoint."
"We had about 20 pentium 1 computers."
"One day, all the computers were gone, disappeared."
"And so was he, the candy giving nice dude."- EastOrganization2392
Strangest Thing About This Was That He Wasn't Watching It...
"Some guy in college sat in front of me in a studio."
"We were on stools so there was no back to the chair."
"He had his phone in his back pocket, screen facing out with porn playing on his phone, he had his headphones on."
"I wasn’t the only one who noticed, but I certainly didn’t want to break the silence by telling him."- ireallyamtired
Some Would Say They Deserved Much Worse...
"A bald girl crying as she walked to class."
"Someone had stolen her wig and run away with it."
"They knew she had brain cancer and couldn't chase after them."
"The wig was only returned after a popular boy made the girls give it to him."
"The girl died a few months later."
"Only bright side was that the girls who stole her wig had to change schools because no one would let them forget what a bunch of monsters they are."
"Play stupid games win endless harassment because you bullied the quiet dying girl who was nice to everyone."- godwins_law_34
So Much Wasted Talent
"We had a teammate drop dead mid-run during basketball practice in 8th grade."
"It turned out he had an undiagnosed heart defect and he just had a sudden heart attack with no warnings."- fightwallace
Everyone has at least one or two unpleasant memories from their time at school.
These sorts of things, however, no one should ever have to witness anywhere, at any time in their lives.
More often than not, when we indulge in a television show, we accept the fact that not everything we're watching is 100% realistic.
Even outside the world of science fiction and fantasy, we acknowledge that certain conflicts resolve a bit easier than they likely would in real life ("you had me at hello"? seriously?), or that modern medicine hasn't evolved quite that much (Meredith Grey drowning and coming back to life anyone?)
However, there are certain tropes and clichés which are becoming increasingly commonplace in film and television which result in viewers finding themselves truly unable to suspend their disbelief.
Sometimes not even coming until the film's climax, leading viewers to think "surely they're not going to go there?"
Only to find themselves infuriatingly disappointed that yes, they did.
"What single trope can cause you to fully lose interest in a movie/show?"
That is quite an unusual set of skills
"I can’t stand seeing specialists being cast as masters of multiple highly specialized skill sets or areas of study."
"I understand that it’s a popular action movie trope, but you also see this in the medical and academic fields."- BeatMeElmo
Income/Housing Disparity
"The main character bakes muffins part-time 3 days a week but lives in a 2500 sq ft loft penthouse in the chic part of town."- SeaTie
Henchmen Have Families Too...
"If I kill him I'm no better than him"
"Motherf*cker you just smoked 19 of his henchmen and put 5 more in a wheelchair for life, end his a**."
"And of course the bad guy gets let go, but decides at the last second to try to kill the good guy, justifying a bullet between the eyes, usually by either the good guy's sidek ick, or the bad guy's henchmen that he just got done betraying."- Pyrochazm
Get It Over With!!!
"The main character is about to get killed."
"The antagonist is sitting there pointing a gun at them about to shoot them, but they first have to give a 30-second speech."
"This gives the love interest/forgotten sidekick/child with developing fighting skills to come kill the enemy instead."
"Follow it up with a quote from them saying 'you think I’d miss this party?'."- Jimbo19091
Mortal Wound? No Problem!
"Being mildly impacted by lethal injuries."
"Likewise, when in subfreezing temperatures, not succumbing to hypothermia when soaking wet.'
"Not always enough to shut it off, but it always stands out and strains the illusion."- spill_oreilly
No Conflict? Let's Make Some...
"Smart people making dumb decisions for drama."
"I have stopped watching several shows because of this."- TheWalkingBlondeJoke
"We Can't Do It Without Them!"
"The cop who is about to retire, the soldier with one last mission before they're out, and the person who was about to get married WHEN THEY GOT KILLED."- virgilreality
"The ex-cop/FBI agent that comes out of retirement because the entire government can't catch a criminal."- The_Spyre
Just Kiss Already!!!
"'Will they won't they'."
"I liked watching 'New Girl', but when they completely restarted the main characters' relationship I was like, 'Oh, so it's going to be like that'."
"Dear producers, please let your characters grow."- MrMToomey
"But she has glasses! And a ponytail..."
"The 'clumsy, nerdy, awkward girl' who are normally played by the hottest actresses out there..."- Icy_Note_8154
It Only Took Two And A Half Hours To Figure Out!!
'“Wait!'
"I can explain this very obvious and easy to explain scenario'.”
“'Nope'."
"You’re dead to me."
"Now stare speechless as I’m meander my way out of your life slowly'.”-Aerhart941
"Something that can be fixed right away with just a conversation."- Beginning-Match592
"If an entire conundrum can be solved by just someone waiting 1 minute for the other person to explain but chooses not to."
"Irritates me to no end and I'd much rather stop watching the movie."- charthrowawayliet
Big Words Can't Get You Everything...
"When a character is repeatedly hyped as being insanely intelligent, but then they just have a decent vocabulary and aren't particularly insightful or clever."- Gloomy-Flamingo-1733
The best part of sitting back and watching a movie or a TV show is to surrender to a world completely different from our own.
And enjoying them in the comfort of our own homes gives us the freedom to scream at our TV sets when something happens to annoy us.
Tattoos can be art. Body art that is.
But tats can also be over the top.
There is such a thing as too much, too weird, and too obscure.
But, everyone is entitled to do whatever they want their bodies.
But whatever reactions you get, you get.
Some tattoo ideas are just very out there.
Redditor IsopodNo1129 wanted to hear about the worst body "art" ideas we've all witnessed, so they asked:
"What is the cringiest tattoo?"
I have tat ideas for myself. I feel like I may change my mind after reading this.
Rough Spot
"Barbwire on your bicep that doesn’t connect on the inside because that hurts too much."
copingwithchemicals
"Lol... the inside really does hurt like hell. I always tell people to pinch themselves in the spot just under their armpit then imagine having a needle going in and out there for 30 minutes."
UninsuredToast
Besties
"I was best friends in high school with a dude whose brother was a moron. He ended up getting a portrait done of his current girlfriend of only one week on his left forearm so she wouldn't break up with him. The guy that did the tattoo learned how to ink in prison so the portrait looked nothing like her. She broke up with him after she saw it."
gil_beard
Fail
"My fiancée is a tattoo artist, and she recently completed a full-back tattoo for a gym rat who sells his own protein powder, depicting him flexing his biceps especially powerfully (per his request) while holding his product on his arms. If this guy's business fails, I have no idea what will happen."
foodpoisoningsucks
Head Issues
"That woman who got the huge DRAKE tattoo across her forehead some years ago."
ReeG
I mean, that is certainly a choice!
Oh no!
"My freshman year of college, my buddy got 'love' with the o being a broken heart on his right forearm covering the entire inside of it."
Senior-Place-7627
Stay Sober
"My drunk of an ex-husband, on a bender got a shotgun tattoo with the words 'the best will rest.' It got horribly infected and me along with the emergency room staff tried to understand what it was supposed to mean. The closest we could come up with was 'mess with the best, die like the rest.' Stupid at any rate."
originaldp
The Devil's Work
"My cousin's fiancèe 'Steve' had a vulgar tattoo that nobody wanted to describe or even characterize. Very few people had seen it, and he could never go shirtless at the pool, lake, etc. His father punched him in the face when he saw it. I was eventually told that it was a large and very detailed tattoo of the devil hooking up with a girl. He was a white-collar office guy, supposedly he got the tattoo on a drunken bender with his mates. It was a point of eternal shame for him."
Explorer335
Hey Missy
"I knew a girl who got like a giant Ms. Piggy portrait and it has a quote that says 'You just yee’d your last haw partner!' It is arguably the worst tattoo I have ever seen. it was oversized and disproportioned and just overall TERRIBLE… I wish I had a photo oh my God."
jacobmca28
Translations
"Asian words or letters because they look cool without having any respect for the language or what the words actually mean when translated."
Cabbiecar1001
People, please be smart about how you decorate your body.
Do you have any tattoo stories? Let us know in the comments below.