Life is a rollercoaster—and sometimes, it just goes off the rails. These horrifying "I'm done for" moments are some of the worst close calls imaginable.
1. Out Of Control
I was in an SUV when the brakes failed. There was a brief moment where we all knew this was going to end badly. I actually had a moment to think it over. That was way scarier than another car or something coming out of nowhere and smashing into you. I ended up hitting a retaining wall and wedging the SUV sideways between a utility pole and that wall.
The front passengers were lucky that the pole didn't shear off the top of the SUV because it would have smashed them right in the face. But the scariest was that whole moment when I noticed the driver was driving erratically and driving really fast. I was like “Hey, what’s going on up there"? He just quietly said, “The brakes aren't working”.
I just made sure my belt was secure, braced myself with the seat in front of me, and waited for disaster.
2. The Lifesaver
I was choking on food; it was almost a full blockage, and I couldn't get any air in. After several attempts to get it out, it sunk in that it was really lodged in my throat and I was screwed. I started to feel dizzy, and everything moved slowly. I remember thinking that this was an embarrassing way to go and that I didn't want my kid to be watching.
I started dialing 9-1-1 when my husband came up behind me and started first aid. He got the blockage out and I started vomiting everywhere. It was very intense. I still went to get checked by a doctor to make sure my lungs were clear because I felt dizzy for hours after and my throat was raw. Took a day or so to heal. He 100% saved my life!
3. Out Of A Job?
Six months into my marriage, my wife approached me and said she wanted to quit her job so she could focus on studying for her CPA. I said cool, I'll handle your bills in the meantime. A week later, she tells me, “Never mind”. Her job asked her to stay part-time while keeping her full-time salary. I couldn't believe our luck and thought things were going well.
Eight months into my marriage, I walk into my home after a normal day at work and the first thing my wife says to me is, "I hope I don't cheat on you". This is when I knew things were not as I assumed them to be.
Spoiler alert: She was having an affair with her married coworkers that she had never mentioned to me before. They confessed their love for each other during their goodbyes after she turned in her notice. Then, the part-time arrangement was made. He conveniently traveled to our city once or twice a month for a week and stayed in a hotel on the company's dime.
You can guess the rest. Next month would have been our five-year anniversary. I miss the wife and best friend I thought I had.
4. Just Fire Me Already
It was my first day on the job at my first real job in the 1980s. It was at Apple computer, and I was a temp. I told them I'd never driven a forklift and he showed me how. Then he says to test me, I had to pull a few pallets of two meg profiles. They were like, two grand each and I had to drive down a narrow hole dug out of several rows of them.
Going in, I did great, and I grabbed the stack perfectly. But then it all went horribly wrong. I start to back up, had a brain lapse, steered it the wrong way, and knocked down a whole wall of them. I knocked down 30 plus pallets with eight per pallet, so about 480k worth of product, and they scattered across the floor.
Everyone comes running, and there I am still on the lift but now fully exposed looking like an idiot. I got off the lift, walked to the boss’ office, and said “Well, it was fun while it lasted, but can you sign my card and I’ll just leave"? He asked me why I was quitting, and I explained what happened and that I was sorry.
He asked if I did it on purpose and of course, I said no. He said, “So go clean it up and send them all to the QC department to make sure they are okay”. Only two were physically damaged but it took a lot of re-boxing the damaged boxes. I was shocked but did it.
At the end of the shift, I asked if I should come back, and he said, “Everyone makes mistakes. Just don’t make it a habit”. He was the coolest boss I ever had. He hired me after I completed my needed hours at the agency. I worked there for 15 years, they paid my college tuition, and I got my MBA while working there.
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5. The Dangerous Dishes
I was home alone and doing the dishes when I dropped a ceramic bowl. I jolted my hands down instinctively to catch it, and it cracked in half. A sharp, jagged edge pierced into my arm and completely severed one of the tendons in my arm. It started gushing blood as I’d never seen before, and I screamed out to Siri to call 9-1-1.
It took three tries before Siri understood me. By the third try, I was beginning to lie on the floor and watch the blood pool around me. Everything was going fuzzy, then I got a knock on the door. I managed to drag myself over to the door and unlock it before I passed out. My downstairs neighbor had heard me screaming for Siri to call 9-1-1 and found me on the floor in a pool of blood.
He drove me to the hospital, and they patched me up. The best part? The tendon I ruptured is one that the surgeon described to me as a “spare part”, so I didn’t need any additional surgery and my arm is fine now. Just a strange, random scare that could have gone a lot worse.
6. When Anxiety Attacks
Years ago, at one of my first jobs, I accidentally knocked over a massive pallet of hard drinks. If I had to guess, I probably destroyed somewhere around $10,000 worth of booze. I somehow managed to wreck nearly all of it. I was on my knees hyperventilating, babbling, and freaking out. Looking back on it, I was probably having an anxiety attack.
I was certain that I was going to get fired. My boss was clearly irate, but when he saw me freaking out, I think he took pity on me. He just told me to be more careful and didn't let me pull any pallets without being supervised for a while.
7. Up On The Rooftop
The roof on our new home has a very steep pitch and we had an abundance of dried leaves stuck. We were worried that it would cause a leak. My husband got up on the ladder, but the pile was too far for him to reach with a rake. I decided that being smaller, I'd climb onto the roof and pull the pile down to where he could reach it.
I'm fairly sure-footed, but I didn't realize how deteriorated the roof was because after scrambling up to the leaf pile, the gravel from the roof just started giving way and I was slipping down too quickly. I was flat on my stomach now sliding, getting zero traction with my shoes.
At this point, I know I'm in trouble. I'm going to slide off the roof and crush my husband who was preparing to catch me. Now had we been 30 years younger, I'd have more faith in my husband's abilities, especially since I weighed significantly less back then. I knew it was going to be bad.
I called out to God, angels, anyone up there, and I was stopped right at the edge. Then my husband climbed up the ladder and slowly pulled my legs so I could get a foot on the ladder. We called a roof service the next day to take care of the leaves and help with a new roof.
8. Surprise Stunt Driving
It was 4 AM, and I was driving down the highway at about 70 miles per hour. Out of nowhere comes an absolute torrential downpour. Before I can even turn off the cruise control, I start to hydroplane. My rear end comes off the road, I do a 180, and then somehow without flipping it, end up doing a huge 360 through the median and back up onto the highway.
I ended up in the same lane as I started in, facing the right direction, and still moving forward. There were no other vehicles involved or even in sight due to the time of day. It was nuts and it felt like it was happening in slow motion. The whole time I'm just thinking to myself, when it flips, I'm done.
I pulled over at the next exit and let the adrenaline clear out of my system while still barely believing that had happened.
9. This Is Stomach-Churning
I was searching for a job right after the end of my college years in March. My parents were furious with me because I couldn't find one. I found one in a chicken factory three months after. The smell and the meat texture, mixed with the conveyor belt in front of me made me sick. I asked my boss where the toilets were and vomited hard.
I looked at the toilet, full of vomit, and thought "Yup, I'm done". My other boss brought me outside to breathe. I vomited once more. They sent me home very nicely, telling me it happens and that the job was not the right fit for me. I lost my job one day after being hired. I cried in my car while driving home. I knew my parents were going to lay into me for this.
10. Steering The Sails
I was sailing and thought it would be a good idea to let my friend try steering. BIG MISTAKE.
We are both in our twenties and I’m fairly experienced at sailing. Before I handed it off to him, I explained why the boom is dangerous. For those who don’t know, it can swing wildly and is pretty much head level, so if you’re not aware it can very easily hurt and injure someone.
Not a minute after I handed off the helm, I was still in the cockpit and he suddenly ducks. I just remember the boom swinging towards my face and thinking it was over. Somehow, I contorted my body and hit the deck. Needless to say, he spent the rest of the trip away from the helm.
11. Swept Away
I went to Thailand during the off-season when the sea is really rough. I actually did not know it would be like that, I was in Phuket and all the adverts show this calm, crystal clear water. It wasn’t like that at all but normal for that time of year. There weren’t many tourists around because it’s off season, but I saw some people swimming, so I went out into the water.
They had red flags up and it was swim at your own risk. I went out, not that far I thought, but was quickly up to my neck in the water, and then a huge swell of water came up over my head. My feet weren’t touching the bottom anymore. I tried to come up for air, but the water was much higher suddenly and I got swept away.
Then, I panicked and tried to swim to shore, my head popped out of the water, and I was caught in these waves just struggling to get back to the beach. This may have all happened in a minute but seemed like forever. I got back to the beach but was waaaaay down the beach from where I set my stuff up on the beach. I never went in the water again that entire trip.
12. A Trick Visit
A few years ago, my significant other asked if we had time to hang out with a friend for an hour or so on a random afternoon. No problem on my end, so we hang. When we arrived, I remembered this was the friend who was moving into a different apartment that did not allow dogs. I realized this right as her sweet little dachshund mix appeared before me, tail wagging, eyes huge with adoration.
As the pooch curled up into my lap, I realized I had been duped into a meet and greet with the pup.
13. That’s A Lot Of Blood…
I have a scar above my left eye from falling and slamming my face on the corner of my stairs. There was so much blood and I remember crying to my mom that I loved her and I'm sorry. Everything after that was like a blurry dream. I vaguely remember her getting towels, saying "Oh my god" a lot while saying "you'll be fine" and just seeing all these bloodied rags around me.
She stitched me up while I was half conscious feeling nothing but "I'm losing a lot of blood. This is bad". Head gashes bleed A LOT and FAST. I remember coming to the next morning and the laundry looked like our family cleaned up a scene from CSI.
Thankfully my mom was there and stayed calm enough to slow the bleeding while knowing how to stitch enough to give me emergency stitches.
14. Did I Do That?
I used to have this laptop that would overheat and turn off when it got old, especially during the summer. One warm summer night, I was sitting on our balcony and the laptop was close to fuming. "Any minute now," I thought. Eventually, it turned itself off, and with it, every single light source that I could see. Every house, every streetlight. Pitch black.
It took me a second to realize what had happened. And for that one second, I thought to myself... What have I done?!
15. I Can, I Swear
When I was in elementary school, my friend invited me to her pool birthday party, and I lied and said that I knew how to swim. I didn’t want to look uncool. So, she surprised me from behind and pushed me into the pool. I started panicking and flailing while inhaling water, but she thought I was joking at first.
She had to jump in and save my lying butt. I was so embarrassed. I spent the rest of the time sitting by the edge of the pool while everyone else kept playing in the water.
16. Spinning Out
I was sitting in the passenger seat of my boyfriend’s car, watching my spilled coffee suspended in mid-air and then looking up to see through his windshield, the horrified face of the driver who was once driving behind us. We were merging onto the freeway at about 90 miles per hour, and the guy in the left lane merged onto us.
We overcorrected and began to spin around at least three times in the middle of the freeway, still moving at an impressive speed. Everything was in slow motion. As we were watching this happen, my boyfriend calmly said, “We’re done,” and my response was “I know”.
17. The Rickety Roller Coaster
I wanted to go on this roller coaster, which went around and around in loops, to prove I wasn't scared. However, when I got on it, the lap bar didn't even touch me, and this thing goes upside down. So then when the ride starts going, I started freaking out because every time we went upside-down, I would be falling out of my seat.
I had one arm around the lap bar tightly while my other hand was holding on to the side of the ride and my legs hurt from clenching the seat the whole time. The whole ride was about five minutes, and the entire time I was just telling myself "Don't let go," because I was sure I would have fallen out.
It was at one of those little fairground things too, so they already weren't the safest rides there.
18. Tipping The Kayak
I went kayaking with friends down several miles out in the middle of nowhere. I hit a rush of water at a bend and tipped and ended up getting sucked underneath a tree growing off the side of a cliff and got stuck underwater, in the hundreds of roots. I figured that was it for me, but I managed to get pushed through the one little hole after a few seconds and went on through the rest of it.
It freaked my friends out really bad but not much I can do.
19. A Terrible Time Travelling
I just got off an 18-hour flight and had a four-hour layover before another flight to reach my destination. I was really tired and couldn't sleep at all on the long flight as the turbulence was really bad. I decided to sit down in front of my gate. I pulled out a pouch from my carry-on that has my passport and my Air Pods in it.
I plugged in the Air Pods, and stupidly just put the pouch that has my passport in it on top of my carry-on. Didn't pay too much attention to it whatsoever. 15 minutes later, the pouch and my passport were gone. I immediately thought to myself, "Yep I'm screwed, I'm in a foreign country, without my passport". It must have fallen from my carry-on and was taken by someone.
Worst thing is, I was sitting right under a CCTV camera, but the matter wasn't deemed serious enough, so the airport authorities refused to access it.
20. Just Like The Movies
The elevator I was in stopped in between floors in a small hotel in Amsterdam, and a lady inside started freaking out. Someone didn’t come to our rescue for 35 minutes. It was standing room only in there. You know those movies of people climbing out between floors? Yeah, that was us. I thought that was it because the elevator stopped moving all of a sudden.
21. But It’s Educational
While in elementary school, I stayed at my best friend’s house, where we discovered the massive collection of National Geographical in his basement. We spent way too long looking at the pictures of people in their “native” attire. The next day, I heard the phone ring and when my mom answered, I knew immediately my friend’s guilty conscience had screwed us.
22. Caught Red-Handed
When I was around nine, My mom had just finished lecturing me after getting in trouble. She turned her back to walk away, and I started flipping her off behind her back. My brother was standing behind her, his jaw dropped, and he loudly gasped when he saw what I was doing. This prompted my mom to turn around and catch me mid-bird. Thanks a LOT, ALEX!
23. Unlucky Leftovers
I think it was 7th or 8th grade and my class had a community lunch in which we could cook a certain meal and have it for lunch. Our lunch for that day was Italian, and my mom made chicken Parmesan for my class. After the lunch was over, there was some chicken left over, and I took it home to have for dinner. As I was eating it, I noticed it tasted weird and had a fatty texture.
After eating half of it I looked down and realized that this piece was raw! I looked at it and realized I was in trouble. Good news was, I didn’t get sick, so I had nothing to worry about.
24. Rough Waters
Quite recently I was jet skiing in the Chesapeake and when I started hitting some choppy water, I drifted over a tad to correct. I look over my shoulder because I hear yelling, and this guy in my class didn't look where he was going and hit my jet ski. All I remember is the split second of just “Oh no”.
Luckily, he barely pulled away, we only skimmed, and we both fell off instead of a full rear-end impact.
25. A Feeling Of Vertigo
I am acrophobic: scared of heights. I was on the road to visit family in Reno, Nevada, and part of the drive involves a mountain pass. I wasn’t driving since my parents were, but I was, unfortunately, sitting on the side of the car that was against the edge of the road. We had to stop since a semi had to reposition slightly and my mom got out to look at the view.
I decided to as well. I know, I’m very dumb. I look out and instantly feel light-headed. I realize I’m about to faint while staring over a cliff. When I came to, I found that my dad caught me and pulled me into the car. That was a close one.
26. Midnight Escapades
When I was 17, I escaped my house in the middle of the night to meet up with my cousin in the park and see if any stores were open and to just chill. During this time, my parents were at his house celebrating with his parents, and once I walked my way to the park, we began strolling around trying to see if the Little Caesars nearby was open.
Seeing it wasn’t, we then began making our way back to the park. That's my cousin received a call from his mom. Our stomachs dropped. He declined it and we both just looked at each other and began sprinting towards our houses, he going one way and me the other.
I was just one block away from reaching my house when I hear my uncle’s car speeding towards my house with my dad inside. Once I was able to see my house, all the lights were on as if it was some kind of raid. I was in trouble!
27. The New Game Is Out
When I was a kid, we always had a lot of chores to do. I remember my mother always telling me to dry off the dishes as she washed them. Or to clean off and wipe down the kitchen table. Well, the new Mortal Kombat game had just come out, and I was itching to play it. My mom and dad had just gotten me it for my birthday, but I hadn't gotten a chance to play it yet.
My mother and father had to leave the house to go somewhere, and I distinctly remember my father saying, "No video games until you've done all your chores". Well, boy howdy did I turn right around and start blasting through the new Mortal Kombat. I was playing and fighting all day that I lost all sense of time. By the time I heard the door open, five hours had already gone by, and I forgot to do my chores.
I really knew I was in trouble when my father brought out his expensive pair of jumper cables while shouting "You do what you're told, when you're told"!
28. That Was Expensive
I was carrying a little wooden bench through the building where I worked because we were setting up for an event the next day. One of the legs of the bench caught on a shelf with a little porcelain statue. It fell, along with a bunch of other merchandise and the statue shattered into pieces. But that wasn't the worst part.
I recently found out that the statue was worth up to a thousand dollars. I apologized profusely to my manager when it happened, but I still feel incredibly guilty.
29. Almost Attacked
I was standing outside with my mom and my aunt after Easter brunch. All of a sudden, two very large and angry dogs start charging at us, barking like crazy. I was like “Well, oh no. We’re going to get bit". Thankfully, their owner, my aunt’s neighbor, corralled them at the last minute. I found out afterward that one of the dogs had bitten a little girl in the face so badly that she had to get a ton of stitches.
30. Making A Wish
In the 4th grade, my reading class went to the library to do a class assignment. My friends and I went to a table and started the assignment. Later, about five to 15 minutes later, the teacher came to our table to check up on us and see if we were on task. I remember the exact time because it has a semi-key role in the story.
It was 11:11 AM and me and my friends thought we could make a wish. We were in 4th grade, so we believed in everything. My friend then says, “Make a wish"! So I then close my eyes and say my wish out loud. My teacher then says, “You’re supposed to say it in your mind, not out loud".
So instinctively, I say “shut up” in a semi-serious tone. I then say in my mind, “oh no…” and after that, she says “Oh really"?
31. Kids, Am I Right?
I was at my brother-in-law’s house to visit his family on vacation. My sis had just had a baby with him, so she asked me to get milk for the kid. Now, the house had two floors, and the rooms we were staying in were on the second. So, I had to go downstairs to get the milk and heat it up.
I’m in a rush down the stairs because the baby is starting to cry a lot, and when I’m near the end of the stairs, I miss one step and hit my left ankle hard on the floor.
I’m in pain, and I could have sworn I heard a crack or a pop as my ankle hit the floor, but when I checked, it looked fine. The baby needed the milk, so I went to go get it. When I come back upstairs and check my foot, however, the side of my ankle where I got hit swelled up MASSIVELY. I thought, “Welp, this wasn’t good”.
One trip to the doctor later that day, and it turned out I tore a ligament. Now I gotta be in a cast for 21 days. As of today, it’s been a week. So much for vacation.
32. The Stress Test
I was scootering around in Da Lat, Vietnam. I had just gotten an oil change, but I had not watched the Vietnamese tech pour in the oil and I didn't really know the place or if they were reputable, so I came to the conclusion that he could have just re-used old oil. The logical conclusion my early 20's brain made was "Let’s stress test the motor and compare the sounds from the before and now".
However, instead of stress-testing it on a hill, I just drove the bike a little faster than usual. As I was making a turn, I noticed I turned too sharp, and my tires lost traction. At that moment I realized, "Yup I am screwed". Luckily, I bought the most expensive helmet, and the following moment when my head hit the ground I thought, "This helmet is the best purchase of my life".
33. Losing Time
One time I was on a plane from San Francisco to some Washington state city. The plane was supposed to travel for almost four or five hours I think, but during the middle of the flight, the plane was heading down. I was beginning to panic and so is the person who was sitting next to me. I tried to stay cool and not say anything stupid to startle everyone, but I am super scared of heights.
A few minutes later all of the cabin lights went out and I could hear the loud engine sound beginning to fade—and that's when I lost it. I literally thought that was it! I told the person next to me that something is wrong with the plane because it was heading down so early! Then for some reason, he smiled and said: No, I think we are already here!
Turns out, I didn’t realize I had napped most of the flight time away.
34. Science Fair Fire
I had a science fair in 8th grade, and my project was to create different colors of fire using different solutions and chemicals. I had to use rubbing alcohol to turn the fire blue and accidentally spilled it, making our cardboard, stand, and decorating paper all set on fire and burnt my hands while trying to put out the fire. Obviously, I didn’t end up winning the fair.
35. When You Cut Class…
This happened around four years ago in art class. Most of my friends had skipped class, but I covered for them. This classroom had massive windows, and I saw my friends and they gestured for me to jump out and skip class with them. When the teacher left the classroom, I was like screw it, opened the window, and jumped out.
Right as I started running away, I knew I was doomed. I heard the teacher shouting after me, I continued running and she started chasing us. It ended with my friends successfully running away and me in the principal’s office. Luckily, I was able to shed a few fake tears and an apology, and they let me go.
36. Smashing The Snow
I no longer felt the snow beneath my snowboard, and I saw that I was falling in such a way that I would likely be hitting a pointed tree stump. I got lucky and hit mostly powder in a belly flop. The stump ripped my jacket on my left side pretty good, but I was completely untouched. Then, I heard my buddy coming behind me, but with the wind being knocked out of me I couldn’t warn him.
All I could do was watch and hope as he sailed off the cliff right over me. I’m very thankful that we both survived that.
37. The Cat’s Claws
I was moving a temperamental cat that didn’t want to go into his box. He had slipped into a position where I couldn’t hold him properly. My options were either drop the cat and have an angry cat running around the room and attacking anyone that got close or try and slide the little guy into his box and possibly risk getting clawed.
This cat proceeded to slip down and dig his fangs deep into my hand. Luckily, I didn’t need stitches, but I knew either way I was going to get hurt with this cat.
38. A Sudden Stop
I was out walking in my neighborhood. A neighbor used lava rock in their landscaping, and some of it had spread into the sidewalk, but I hadn’t noticed. I unwittingly stepped on a lava rock. Lava rock doesn’t slide easily due to its rough texture, so when I went to take my next step, it was like my foot hit the brakes.
As I was falling forward onto the sidewalk, I realized that this was happening, and I was powerless to stop it. The only option was to brace for impact. My arm was extended downward, and I landed on it, causing an injury to the muscle around my ribs. I also skinned my knee. For the next couple of days, ice packs became my very good friends.
39. Tattoo Troubles
My conservative mother noticed the tattoos on my shoulder blades. She was holding a cheese slicer and didn’t say a word, just stared at them with an intense look of pure hatred. Having just turned 18, I just ran, and she ran after me holding the slicer. My schoolmate was left alone in the kitchen just wondering "What the heck just happened"?!
She had a heck of a good laugh later on when she understood the situation. Also, for every tattoo onward I will lose 20% of my inheritance.
40. Quick, Hit The Breaks
I was about 12 years old, delivering newspapers on an old 10-speed bicycle. I was going down a steep hill with the papers under one arm and the other on the handlebars when I realized I was going way too fast, and the brakes weren't working. To top it off, there was a car coming in the opposite direction of the home. Up the hill.
I saw a side street coming up I knew I had to duck into it to avoid the car, but I was going too fast. There was a very high curb over a sewer grate that I hit directly, and literally went flying. I'm not really sure what happened, but I think I just flew almost parallel to the ground and landed softly sliding forward on soft grass.
I ended up about 25 feet away from my bicycle which had stopped right at the curb. I got up, I still had the newspapers under one arm, and had not a scratch on me.
41. Just This Much Away
I was driving and coming to a stop at an intersection when I looked in my rear-view mirror and just saw the grill of a GMC Yukon. I saw the whole car tilt forward as the driver pressed his foot on the brake as hard as he could, and the passenger even had her hand on the windshield, as they stopped about one centimeter from my bumper.
The driver did not take his hands off the wheel and was just staring straight ahead, whilst the passenger had her hand on her chest, and they were both just in pure shock. They would've turned my car into jelly if they hit me. I drove home with the adrenaline of a lifetime and a heartbeat like a racehorse—not a fun time.
42. You Need A Better Chair
When I was 33, nearly 12 years ago now, I had a traumatic spinal cord injury. I was always a little disappointed that I don't have a cool story for it. Essentially, I have bad genetics and I broke my own neck sitting in an office chair. I turned my head to see my boss, there was a POP, and I couldn't feel my right leg at all.
Everything after that is blurry, though I'm pretty sure I drove home. Then my husband at the time brought me to the ER. The doctor looked and sounded like Alan Alda. I have had multiple surgeries and can walk now because I have a medical device implanted in my butt that delivers medication to my spinal cord. It was close for a while to see if I would ever walk again.
43. A Skating Crash
I was going maybe 10-20 mph on my skates turning a very hard turn, at this point, I knew I was in trouble and was going to fall. Knowing that if I stayed on concrete, I was gonna break something, I ran myself into the grass so I wouldn't hit myself onto concrete and get road burn.
I ended up falling on my left side, scuffing my skate a bit, getting a shoulder cramp due to impact, and a broken ego. Thank god I know how to fall and not hurt myself. I won't be outdoor skating with kids around anytime soon.
44. Under The Leaf Cover
I was walking in the woods looking for a path that vanished under my feet. There were dry leaves piled at the height of my ankles, and I inadvertently I put my foot in a hole I didn’t see because of the leaves. On my right, there was a small rocky hole and I stepped right into it. When I saw my foot doing an “s” shape with my leg, I said to myself: Yep, I’m very screwed.
45. Too Heavy For The Tree
I was 13, in the first few weeks of a new school year at a new school. I was staying after school with another student I carpooled with, trying to make friends. He took me out to the woods behind his house and showed me a tree he liked to climb with a few boards across the lower branches to sit on.
We climbed into the very upper branches of this half-rotted pine tree, but I forgot that this kid was tiny and possibly 50 pounds lighter than I was. I thought I was dreaming the moment the branch snapped.
I was falling from 30 some feet up in a tree, this couldn’t possibly be real, right? That illusion was shattered when I hit the first branch. Then I was pretty sure I was done for. I plowed through several more branches on the way down which scraped me up but fortunately absorbed the impact instead of my bones.
It probably helped that I landed on a pile of branches instead of hard ground as well. When I hit the ground, I had a moment to think "Oh, that wasn’t as bad as I thought”, and then I screamed, because it was still pretty bad. However, I stood up and hobbled away, cut and bruised all over, but not seriously injured. My poor mother was not amused.
46. What Actually Happened?
I was a director of one of the largest museums in the United States and walked out on stage to give a pretty controversial presentation. I was already pretty nervous. That's when a loud bang reverberates from the center of my head.
I don’t feel my body drop but I can tell I’ve hit the floor, my vision blurs and turns red, and in the three seconds after the bang, I conclude that I’ve been shot and have seconds to live.
I’m a very large man and as I’m fading out, I see my friend, the museum nurse trying to pull me up. I was in shock and the pain didn’t really faze me, but wow did it hurt. It was indescribable agony. I accepted very calmly that my nurse friend’s face was the last thing I’d ever see and then I faded out.
I woke up four hours later in a hospital after an emergency surgery. Turns out, I hadn’t been shot after all! I somehow had an abscessed wisdom tooth that had become highly infected, and the abscess exploded upwards into my head, splitting the tooth from tip to jaw and breaking my left maxilla. It erupted with such force that my eyes bled, and the pain knocked me out.
While I was out, my wisdom tooth was pulled without anesthetic and the infection drained. I get phantom twitches just thinking about it.
47. I Need A Ride…
A guy approached me at a gas station in the middle of the night and asked for a ride. I said no, obviously, and he pulled out a massive blade and insisted. Of course, I agreed at that point because I wasn't trying to get sliced and asked where he wanted to go. He directed me to a sketchy motel in the bad part of town holding the blade toward me the whole way.
As we were pulling into the parking lot, I thought for sure that everything was over for me—but then the unthinkable happened. He got out of the car first and suddenly two guys came out of nowhere like guardian angels and jumped the guy who had kidnapped me.
From the little I heard, he must have owed them money. I didn't stick around to find out. I hauled out of that parking lot with the passenger door of my car wide open. I still can't believe I lived through that.
48. Like A Ton Of Bricks
I was investigating a fire out in the middle of nowhere. It was a single trailer with a brick house built around it. If you don't know, trailers burn like a torch and the brick means all the heat stayed inside, making everything extremely unstable. That's when I made a near-fatal mistake.
I was walking through taking my photos and accidentally stepped on a part of the roof that was somehow still attached to the brick wall that was still standing. The entire brick wall then fell on top of me and buried me. It hurt like crazy. I don't know if you know what a brick wall falling on you feels like, but everything hurts, everywhere.
I laid there under the bricks for probably five or six minutes trying to figure out just how injured I was, if anything was broken, and if I was going to be there forever. I had no cell service, and no one was going to see me if I couldn't get myself unburied. I'm in the middle of a completely burnt building miles away from anywhere, buried under a brick wall.
I thankfully, only had scratches and bruises and managed to dig myself out after a good while. But good lord was I sore for a while.
49. Wait, There’s A Problem?
I was once in an MRI machine when the tech suddenly called, "Don't worry, we're gonna get you out"! I went, “Wait, what"?! Turns out the computer had crashed, and the machine was frozen. I had no way to know that, with my head inside the machine, because it's not like there's a display screen in there or anything.
The tech was flustered and didn't realize I had no idea there was a problem, so she accidentally led with her attempt to be reassuring! It was no problem at all, in the end. She and an orderly hit the manual release and between the two of them, they managed to pull me out. But I had a very awkward moment of not knowing if it was time to panic!
50. A Watery Terror
25 years ago, my friend and I were cruising around some backroads outside of town. It was a regular school night, not doing anything crazy at all. Two kids driving around and chatting about the things 17-year-olds chat about. We started heading back toward town on an unfamiliar road. It was dark. Seemingly out of nowhere, the road just ends and the nightmare begins.
We flip the truck into a canal. We weren’t going fast, and both were wearing seatbelts. No panic at first. We’re ok. Upside down, but ok. We undo our seatbelts and attempt to open a window or door so we can escape. It’s pitch black. We’re under eight feet of water. I’m fumbling around trying to figure out how to open the now upside-down door.
Nothing is where it should be. It’s confusing. I can’t get the door open. The truck starts to fill with water… Panic sets in. My door just will not open. I can’t find the window lever. The water is quickly rising. Is this how it ends? I’m only 17. As the water rises my mind sort of splits in two: one side panicking, the other somewhat calm as I realize that this is going to be how it ends.
I just started Grade 11 and I’m going to drown. The water rises up to my neck. My door just. won’t. open. Then my buddy yells “I’ve got my window! Let’s go"! We’re almost completely underwater now. I scramble over to his side and feel the opening. I pull myself through. I swim over to the embankment and climb up to my buddy. We made it.
Sources: Reddit
