Some events are designed for the unexpected: Some people go to car races to see crashes; others go to hockey games to see fights. However, it’s a big shock when unplanned scenarios pop up where we least expect to see them. From fireworks displays gone awry and to performance flubs, these Redditors share experiences when audiences went from entertained to horrified, or vice versa, faster than a set of traffic lights.
1. Too Real
When I was about 7, my mom took me to one of those big air shows with all the fighter jets and really cool-looking planes. They flew in different formations and the jets did tricks. Well, halfway through the show, one of the airplanes caught on fire. Like it exploded in the air, caught fire, and just went down. I specifically remember asking my mom if that was part of the show. It wasn’t.
2. Oh Boy!
When I was 10 and in a restaurant in Disneyland Paris, some of the Disney characters had come to visit the restaurant and everyone was excited to see them. They walked around the tables having pictures with people. Mickey Mouse got the most attention, of course, because he's the one and only Mickey Mouse. And then the illusion came crashing down.
As he was walking, Mickey accidentally kicked a toddler who was crawling on the floor, and he kicked the boy extremely hard. Shock and silence followed while the child cried and Mickey tried desperately to comfort him. The child was fine, so everyone forgot about it a few minutes later, but that was some mood whiplash.
3. Circle Of Life
A friend of mine is a magician. He told me that in one of his first shows, he had a young crowd, and he would perform an act with some birds that were in a box. Well, in the middle of the show, he opened the box—and witnessed a macabre sight. He kept waiting for them to fly out, but they didn't...because they were no longer live birds. The kids were screaming, and most people left.
4. Wrong End
I was at some weird zoo and animal preserve north of Phoenix in 2012, and there was a tigress in a chain-linked compound. This little girl went up to her and blew her a kiss. The tigress looked at her and licked her whiskers, and the crowd went "Awwwwwwww." Cuteness overload. Then, the tigress shifted a little bit and peed all over the little girl! The crowd was shocked and horrified, but I couldn’t stop laughing.
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5. Foot In Mouth
I was at a Russell Peters stand up show in a large theater. He started some banter with the guy in the first row, who happened to have a huge tattoo on his arm that read, "Skyler." He asked about that tattoo, and it turned out it was the guy’s daughter’s name. He started making jokes about daughters, some that were even racy, and then asked how old Skyler was. The man's response was horrifying.
First, the guy in the audience was not laughing for the entire time. Then he answered that she was no longer with us. It was pure crickets in the audience after that.
6. Curiously Ghastly
I was at a Bo Burnham show that he was recording for his Netflix special, but unfortunately—or maybe fortunately—this part didn't make the cut. He was telling jokes as usual, but then asked everyone in the audience to crack their knuckles together on the count of three. The snaps, crackles and pops blended together in the most surprisingly horrifyingly evil sound any of us had ever heard.
7. Royal Rumble
I was at a Sacramento Kings game. If I remember correctly, the Kings were winning and it was the third quarter. A timeout had been called so as usual, they showed off sponsors and whatnot. I was sitting in the upper bowl. They sent an employee to throw mini basketballs into the stands. People were excited as always when free stuff is in play.
Well, one guy had apparently indulged too much, and he picked a fight with a man in his 60s over the mini basketballs. It ended in tragedy. As they were standing on the stairs at the highest point of the upper bowl, the first guy pushed the man over a railing and he flew over, striking the handrail on the stairs, and falling onto the concrete of the entrance to our section.
People were terrified and some started crying. It looked unreal. He literally flew. The first guy tried to slip away with his buddies, but was stopped by some fans and eventually was handed over to authorities. The older man didn’t move for what seemed like an eternity. He survived with some head injuries but made a full recovery, thankfully.
8. The Sky Is Falling
One time, for an Easter event, my club had volunteered to oversee two bouncy castles. Both of our castles were full of kids, up to the limit, when suddenly the generators keeping the castles inflated shut off, and they started to deflate with the kids inside. Their excited laughter turned to screams as their blow-up world came crashing down.
That was terrifying for the little kids, and a lot of them didn’t come back over to bounce later. It actually happened twice, but the second time we realized as soon as the generators shut off and got all the kids out before they even deflated. Then we called it quits for the day, because we didn’t want to be responsible for any little kids getting hurt.
9. Dizzy Dancer
I was at a club one night, and this shirtless dude in front of me was dancing really well. People had given him space to watch him go, and were cheering him on. It all changed in a moment. Suddenly, he leaned back into a group of girls, staggered, and then slumped into them. People thought it was on purpose, but then we watched as his eyes literally went dormant.
The girls struggled to support him and he went down. His skin began to change colors very quickly and it was clear he was in trouble. People lifted him and made a hole to get him to medics very quickly, but he looked bad. The whole experience really messed me up. I'll never forget his face. I don't know if he made it. Still wondering.
10. Toro Oh No
At a rodeo, this guy rode the bull almost to the buzzer, but it threw him off at the last minute and continued bucking around in circles. Then, one of its back hooves planted right in the middle of the guy’s chest. He immediately started convulsing in the dirt, and you could just hear the crowd’s collective gasp. I will say, that rodeo medical team was on point; they had the bull out of the arena and the guy hauled out on a stretcher so quickly.
11. When Throwing Humans Turns Bad
I was at a world-class gymnastics competition in Austria, at one of the bigger performance nights, with extremely high-level acrobatic gymnastics teams. A team from Brazil was performing, and they had a little girl, probably around eight years old, being thrown from a human tower that was three people high. It all went very, very wrong.
The person doing the throwing fumbled catching her, and she fell, straight down onto her head. It took about 30 seconds for everyone to notice, but the feeling of hundreds of terrified people praying she wasn't hurt was unreal. We were informed later on that she was okay, although I have no idea what that means in terms of severity of injuries.
12. Something In The Air
Woodstock 99. Everyone was super cool and chill, having a blast—until all of a sudden it felt like the winds shifted. It was palpable; it felt like you could cut the air, it was so heavy. We got a super bad vibe, so we packed up immediately and left. By the time we got to the first gas station, the news was reporting fires and rioting back at the festival.
Wikimedia.Commons
13. False Fire
I was in Philadelphia for a July fourth fireworks show in a public park downtown. We are all in a field on blankets watching fireworks, when we saw something bone-chilling. It was a wall of people running at us, full tilt. Someone yelled, “They’re shooting!!!” And suddenly it was everyone running. Thankfully, it turned out to be a false alarm. It was very surreal to be a part of that.
14. Mixup At The Movies
I went to see the Pokemon movie with my fellow group home residents as a treat. There were maybe 70 of us there, and most had never been to a movie theater before, so it was a pretty big deal. The caregivers had even splurged to get everyone a small soda, candy, and a portion of popcorn. This was literally the best day of most of our lives so far.
We got settled in, taking up most of the theater, then the credits started and the lights dimmed. We were so excited!! POKEMON THE MOVIE was about to freaking start! The opening ads started, and we were silent the whole time in anticipation. Then the credits never ended, or so we thought, because this one "ad" seemed to go on forever. Seemed like a really long preview for some alien movie.
Then, to our confusion, credits rolled. Lights turned on. Nobody spoke. Every single face was deflated and so, so freaking disappointed. Someone at the theatre had screwed up and played "Galaxy Quest" instead of the brand new Pokemon movie. Nobody talked the whole way back to the house, but as soon as we got there, so many kids lost it. I didn't end up seeing it until like 10 years later.
15. Use Your Head
A friend of mine decided it would be fun to try and see if he could smash a glass on his head. Up until then, he was just being enthusiastic, and had some positive attention. Well, head wounds bleed A LOT in the first minute. Crowd went from "Aw, you're cute" to "Call an ambulance NOW" immediately. Thankfully, he was alright.
16. When Art Reflects Reality
Darren Brown is a TV magician and illusionist, sort of like a Penn and Teller of psychics. He had an episode on mob mentality, and he had an audience prank a man, Chris, who had previously consented to be messed with. There was a studio audience watching and voting on whether he got a "good prank" or "bad prank," with hidden cameras tracking him.
Chris's friends and family were luring him to certain areas where pranks could happen. The pranks started out silly; there was a “good” one where he was the lucky winning customer at a shop, then a “bad” one when he was accused of shoplifting. The pranks slowly got more and more extreme, and the audience started voting the bad pranks all the time, laughing as Chris's life was slowly falling apart in one day.
It ended with Chris being let out of a police car near his house, and the audience had voted for a scary black van to pull up and “kidnap” Chris. As the van pulled up, Chris ran away and the men chased him down—and that's when disaster struck. When he turned the corner, a car came out of nowhere and knocked him down. The studio went quiet, the lights went on.
Darren said nothing, letting the audience take in what had happened. After a while, Darren explained that it was all a set-up, and Chris was in on the whole thing. In fact, the audience were the ones being tested. He explained how being part of a crowd can make people lose their morality, and pointed out that they had just been cheering a man having his life ruined.
17. Isn't it Ironic?
When working on a kid’s show, I once saw a child go missing from the studio audience within the first 15 minutes of the show starting. The show had to call an emergency stop so that the parents could plead for the child to make himself known. Nobody was allowed to leave their seats or leave the building, and the whole building had to be searched.
Everyone assumed the worst but after half an hour, they resumed the show even though the kid still had not been found! Ten minutes later, we got word that the kid had wandered out of the building and was found safe and sound around the corner. To make matters worse, the show was Rapunzel. You know, the one where the story centres on a kidnapped child? The audience did not enjoy themselves that day.
18. Let Down
I was at the premiere of the trailer for the movie Devil at San Diego Comic Con. It was at the annual Trailer Park panel where they just show trailers for upcoming movies for an hour or so. It's Hall H, the biggest at the convention, and it's packed. The trailer plays, and people are so invested that you could hear a pin drop.
Then the opening words display on screen: "From the Mind of M. Night Shyamalan," followed by an immediate uniform disappointed "Awwwww," from 2,000 people. Then everyone cracked up because we all felt the exact same way.
19. Horsing Around
At a horse auction, the horses were led into a semi-circular ring at the base of some wooden bleachers, separated from the spectators by just a metal guardrail. One young stallion came in HOT. He jumped clean over the guardrail and started running, slipping, and sliding through the spectator-filled bleachers. It was terrifying, and it took quite a while to find a way to get the animal back to the barn.
Pixabay
20. Unforeseen Circumstances
One afternoon, I was at Busch Gardens, years ago. The elephant that we were all admiring suddenly relieved itself in a gigantic, loud way. I mean a monumental “Brraaaaappp!” Then, to top it off, goats ran over at warp speed and began feasting on it! The crowd was beyond appalled, it was hilarious. I’m giggling thinking about the poor, young girl emcee attempting not to wretch as the goat handlers tried to interrupt their party.
Flickr
21. Know Your Audience
I was at a music festival in the UK where American rapper Watsky was performing. He started to climb the rigging to the side of the stage, and next thing I knew he was about 40 feet up above the crowd, singing and dancing. Everyone was going crazy. I remember turning to my friend and saying, “He’s surely not going to jump from there, is he?” because at a lot of his gigs he will do just that, albeit from a lot lower heights.
Next thing I knew, the crazy guy leaps into the crowd with little to no warning. It turned horrific in an instant. He plummets to the concrete floor and hits a couple of people on the way. Instantly, the security and show staff shut everything down. It looked like he was dead and he injured a couple of people, but apparently everyone survived.
22. That Escalated Quickly
We were all around 17 or 18 and on a school trip. It was supposed to be a typical week away doing rock climbing, archery, camping, etc. At the end of the trip, we were gathered in a big hall for one final gathering when out of the blue there was a demonstration on how to effectively...slaughter a chicken. The horrifying part was that they demonstrated using a live chicken. No warning.
23. His Bacon Got Fried
Pink Floyd often would have giant inflatable floating pigs released during their concert. This would happen like half way through the show. People were indulging in all sorts of substances, so by the time the pig was released, it was basically like a god descending from the heavens. People were losing their minds at the pig.
Well, unfortunately, it got caught in one of the wires and caught on fire. I’ve never seen so many people fall to their knees in terror, fear and sorrow over a giant inflatable pig.
24. Just Kidding!
The climax of the last Twilight movie is a fight scene that goes on for 10 minutes. Vampires are ripping each other's heads off, giant wolves are throwing them around like chew toys and one by one, each of Bella's friends and family die around her. You can actually hear people in the audience react as each named character dies.
And none of this happened in the book, which was criticized for its lack of climax. As each minute goes on, it feels like they improved the film's story to give it a real sense of danger and excitement and payoff to the series. I found myself actually enjoying it. But then, right as they slay the big bad evil guy, the camera fades to black, pulls out—and reveals that all of it was a vision.
The last 10 minutes didn't happen; it was someone seeing a future that might happen. Well, nothing happened. Just a bunch of vampires and wolves standing around staring at each other in silence. Then they all walk away, alive and well. The crowd groans. A girl up front shouts "Are you kidding me?!" Everyone sits back in their seats; no one cares about what's happening on screen anymore.
Some people are laughing because someone apparently hit the undo button on the most exciting 10 minutes of the movie. Never have I seen a theater turn on a film so quickly and so hard.
25. Mystery Guest
I was at a Harley-Davidson 100th Anniversary party. For months, they said the headliner of the big weekend-long party was a “mystery guest.” Everyone assumed it would be someone who appeals to the Harley crowd, like The Rolling Stones or Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, right? So the show starts. The opening act is the Doobie Brothers and the crowd loves it.
Next is Tim McGraw and the crowd loves it. Next was Kid Rock and he just rocks and the crowd loves it. Then it’s time for the “Mystery Guest.” It’s Elton John. The crowd just pours out of the park. Plenty stayed and enjoyed the show I’m sure, but tens of thousands of people left.
26. Storm’s Comin’
I was at a water park when a storm front rolled in. It was about 80-90 degrees F and then all of a sudden, it dropped to 60 degrees, the wind picked up to an extreme degree, and it started pouring rain. It was almost comical how much people panicked. I’m from the Midwest, and we get these kind of severe thunderstorms all the time.
There was a family that panicked so much that they forgot their child! I watched as security took the child into their care. Meanwhile, my group was just chilling on the lawn chairs, waiting for everyone to clear out. I actually can’t remember hearing any thunder, but the pools did do the auto shutoff so I guess there was. Still, it was ridiculous.
27. It Got Real
I was at the Chicago Pier having dinner with friends and watching the fireworks on July 4th of 2019. We were sitting outside of Harry Caray's, and the only things separating us from the pier were several three-foot tall planters. The show was awesome, and my kids were having a blast. Then all of a sudden I heard a sound I had never heard before.
My first thought was that it was rushing water...but it turned out it was the sound of thousands of people running towards us. We managed to get next to the building and hunkered down. My little one, myself, a friend, and his child were on top of the planter because there was no room on the ground next to it. We were terrified.
Every time I would try to put my daughter on the ground to give her cover with the planter, people would push and shove and trample others. So I pulled her back up and my friend and I covered the kids the best we could with our bodies to protect them. Not 10 feet away, a group of officers were tackling a guy who had obviously attacked the crowd.
28. Not As Advertised
I was at Camp Flog Gnaw music festival in 2019 when Frank Ocean was rumored to be the secret guest—but Drake ended up coming out to perform instead. He got booed offstage after only a few songs. I was totally indifferent to the secret guest, but it was a surreal experience to see an audience so disappointed in who actually came out.
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29. Cookies Lost
During our kids' grade school concert, right in the middle of a number, a kid comes off the risers, hands over mouth, and he vomits all over the center stage. It wasn’t my kid, but the parents were sitting right next to us! The mom intercepted him quickly and whisked him off the stage. After the impromptu 15 minute “intermission,” the show resumed. Custodians are underpaid.
30. The Reveal
My very conservative church youth group was watching the Superbowl in 2004, when Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake's performance went awry. I was playing foosball with a buddy when the infamous "wardrobe malfunction" happened on live television, and I remember a startled hush and some panic from the adults that distracted us from our game and made us notice it.
31. Hit The Floor
When Jake Brown fell on the Big Air jump at the Xgames, the crowd’s mood went from entertainment to horror. His board fell out from under him and he sort of hung in the air for a moment. Everyone went from cheering to silent fear as they realized what was going to happen. He hit the ground after falling about 50 feet, his shoes flew off, and he just lay there. Seven minutes went by and everyone thought he was in bad shape, but he walked away. I'll never forget the sound of him hitting the ground.
32. D’oh, A Deer!
During a recent protest, the whole crowd of over 1,000 people was marching down the street near the local high school, chanting, waving signs etc. Then, out of nowhere, a large female deer ran through the crowd and straight into this older lady, full force. The lady dropped to the ground as the deer continued into the woods.
The whole crowd stopped and collectively freaked out. Medics and an ambulance quickly got her help. I'm glad it happened near the back of the marching crowd, because if it happened at the front, it probably would've stopped the entire protest, making it harder for the ambulance to get to the woman. She was rushed to a hospital a couple of towns over.
33. You Win Some, You Lose Some
It was a Christmas showcase in my secondary school, and I had just performed something on the piano with a singer in my class and everyone loved it. Then the a cappella group came on and, well, they had no harmonies, just kept hitting tri-tones. They were all out of time and the singer sounded like she had put earplugs in her nose. It was not a great sight, and I think only two or three people clapped in a crowd of around 500.
34. You Big Softie
One day, I was at my local zoo last summer. It's a small zoo and they really are more about education and conservation than anything else. The animals have large enclosures and lots of places to hide, so sometimes you just can’t see them. The female tiger was sunning herself on some rocks, but the male tiger was right at the fence pacing back and forth and seemed to be snarling.
A group gathered. It really is a small zoo, so maybe 15 to 20 people, and we were all expressing concern for the tiger. Eventually, a zookeeper noticed the group and came over. She actually laughed when she realized what we were concerned about. Apparently the tiger just does that sometimes; it was trying to impress the crowd and seem cool.
In reality, the female was the boss, so the male was trying to appear tough while the female was busy. The zookeeper jumped the little barrier to prevent people getting close to the fence. She put her hand to the fence and baby-talked a little, and the tiger immediately turned into a little kitten: rubbing the fence, rolling onto his belly hoping for pets, and chittering happily. It was very cute.
35. Politically Incorrect
Last week at a protest, they were letting anyone come up and speak through the megaphone. This man got up and started talking about his newborn son and how he wanted to make sure we have a better world for him. He then started talking about love and unity and the guy essentially had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand. Then he ruined it once and for all.
He brought up Bill Cosby and how he had been accused based on faulty allegations, and the crowd turned instantly.
36. Bad Timing
May 4th is a holiday in the Netherlands where we remember all of the people who lost their lives through war. At 8 o clock, we have a two-minute silence for remembrance. In 2010, one person thought it was fun to scream “bomb,” rendering all the people there terrified and running against the barricades in a hurry to get away. The King and Queen got escorted away as soon as this happened.
37. Everything Can Change
Monday Night Football, November 18th, 1985. Washington vs. the New York Giants. I was pretty young at the time, so being allowed to stay up late on a weekday was a rare occasion. During one of the plays, Joe Theismann was sacked by Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson of the Giants. The entire stadium went silent as Theismann would end up suffering a compound fracture of the tibia and fibula.
What I remember most vividly is that the broadcast kept replaying it over and over again. Seeing a shin snap at a 90-degree angle made me physically nauseated and I had to walk out of the room.
38. Bad Call
I was at the Detroit Tigers’ “almost perfect game.” We all saw the play and the dude was out. We all started celebrating…until we slowly realized that the umpire had actually called him safe. Celebration quickly turned to the opposite. The fastest 180 I’ve seen or been a part of.
39. Mother Nature, Party-Crasher
My dad was at Pukkelpop 2011, an annual Belgian festival. The day my dad went, at around 6PM, there was suddenly a massive storm, with hail and floods and everything. It got so bad that trees started falling down, causing massive panic in the crowd, who had just been enjoying the festival. Everyone went to seek cover in the big tents, but those started crashing down too. There were several injuries and fatalities.
Flickr
40. About-Face
Sting and Shaggy were touring together a few years ago. Most of the audience was there for Sting. One of the last songs they did was "Roxanne"—except, halfway through, they switched to "Mr. Boombastic." Never seen a crowd turn on an act faster.
41. Opportunity Squandered
When the Maple Leafs blew a 4-1 lead in the final 10 minutes of game 7 in 2013, it was the fastest I’ve ever seen a crowd go from elated to deflated. After the tying goal, the camera switched to the crowd of Toronto fans outside their arena, where they had been partying all night, and it was just sheer silence.
42. It’s All Fun And Games...
In a toddler classroom, we had some balloons, which were a huge hit with the kids. Until one balloon popped. Pandemonium. We don’t play with balloons anymore.
Flickr
43. A Heart Stopper
On St Patrick’s Day of 2012, during a soccer game between Tottenham Hotspur and Bolton Wanderers, a player, Fabrice Muamba, collapsed on the pitch due to cardiac arrest. The game was televised and I was watching it at my local pub. The pub became eerily silent. There was a weird sense of things not being good and everyone was concerned for a player we barely knew.
Football fans might be loud ruffians, but there’s a lot of respect when things go wrong. Fortunately Fabrice survived and recovered, however he retired on his doctor’s advice.
Pexels
44. Premature Celebration
The teacher said, “we’re watching a movie today,” and we all started to cheer, but we fell into disappointed silence when she finished her sentence, “But you have to take notes.”
45. Bad Blood
An American comedian performing in the Republic of Ireland once opened his act by exclaiming how happy he was to be in the United Kingdom. The crowd did not take it well.
46. Forget "Face-Palm"
In a high school football game, a player passed to another player at the end zone. It was a beautiful throw, but maybe a tad too forceful; the second player not only failed to catch it—it sailed straight through his hands and hit him in the face.
Flickr
47. Simpson’s Singing Snafu
I remember the Ashlee Simpson fail when she was performing on Saturday Night Live. During the introduction, everything seems normal—until it became obvious that it was totally the wrong song, and she was lip-syncing. She realized her mistake, danced a hilarious jig, and wandered off stage. Then she tried to blame the band.
Wikimedia.Commons
48. When The Unthinkable Happened
I attended a We Work event at a huge event space on election night in 2016 and watched a lively fun event turn to tears and a quickly ending party when it was announced Trump was the projected winner. Never seen a crowd of 2,000 or more disappear so quickly.
49. Not So Grand Finale
Ten years ago or so, I was watching fireworks for the Fourth of July with family and friends. You know how the show usually ends with a bunch of fireworks going off at once? Well, that seemed to be what was happening, so people were cheering. Until one of my friends suddenly got up, turned to us and said, "Something's wrong. We need to move." I looked over and my blood ran cold.
In that moment, I noticed that one of those "big ball" fireworks had gone off near the ground, showing only a fraction of the ball. Literally a second later, fireworks were shot into the crowd. It's not like movies. There was no screaming or fleeing for our lives. Everyone just froze. Two fireworks lost control and completely exploded in the crowd.
At that point, the fireworks were spent. And there was just a silence. One of the fireworks seriously hurt someone, I think a mom and her son got caught in its path and sustained injuries. As EMTs rushed to treat them and get them safe, the silence still hung over the crowd. Very slowly, people started to walk out of the park sombrely.
Needpix
50. Grandma’s Topple
I went to a wedding once, and the first person to be walked down the aisle was the groom’s grandmother. The grandmother had just had a hip replacement eight weeks before the wedding, but refused her walker and was wearing heels. The wedding was outdoors, on a slope, in the grass. When the grandma turned to get to her seat, the pins in her hip didn’t hold, and I think she technically broke it again.
All of a sudden, she was screaming in agony. Everyone’s smiles of happiness for the couple immediately went to shock. Everything was put on hold, the ambulance was called. The wedding resumed about an hour later from the beginning. Everyone held their breath for the bride’s grandparents as they walked down the aisle, and as soon as they were seated everyone let out a huge sigh of relief.
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