Share your most terrifying experience here

Larry

"Uncle Larry"
Anything goes.

For me it was completely losing my steering while merging onto highway 95 at rush hour. I had to turn my wheel about 3 times completely around before I understood that I had no steering. By that time I had sailed across 3 lanes, barely missing a passing car by inches, barely missing the guardrail, and landing in the grassy median. Phew, what a terrifying 4 seconds that was. Amazingly, I fixed it in 5 minutes, temporarily.

Another one that qualifies was the realization that there could be alligators in the swamp I was wading through....at night....trying to recover a bag that a Florida police officer made me throw over a bridge. Not my finest hour lol.

I know they are kind of light weight compared to actual real terrifying experiences.

Feel like sharing yours?
 
Re: Share you most terrifying experience here

Early 1990s, as a student pilot, taking off solo and suddenly I'm graying out (starting to lose consciousness) in the air. That's when I found out about my arrhythmia. That was the end of my commercial piloting career aspirations, but at least I got the aircraft back down in one piece.
 
Re: Share you most terrifying experience here

Looking over at my four year old daughter in the pool and seeing her essentially standing on the bottom, submerged, with wide panicked eyes.

She was fine and it affected us more than her, but my blood quivers just thinking about it.
 
Re: Share you most terrifying experience here

One night when I was 12 or 13, I was sleeping in a camper up in the mountains. I woke up around 3:30am with a cold chill running down my spine. I looked at the window on the door and there was two giant red eyes staring at me. I have no idea what that was. I looked away at the clock to see if it might be the reflection, then I looked back and the eyes were gone. It really freaked me out. You know a kid's mind, I thought it might have been a demon or something supernatural.
 
Re: Share you most terrifying experience here

Looking over at my four year old daughter in the pool and seeing her essentially standing on the bottom, submerged, with wide panicked eyes.

She was fine and it affected us more than her, but my blood quivers just thinking about it.

The EXACT same thing happened to my son when he was three, only he had a tranquil look on his face. That taught me to not trust somebody else to keep an eye on my kid while I quickly slip into the house to pee...
 
I have, I believe, stared death in the face a number of times - by which I mean I have been involved in circumstances that I was certain would result in dying - but nothing frightens me anything like as much as seeing a dead bird. This is a rather unfortunate phobia for a mad cat lady to have.
 
I have, I believe, stared death in the face a number of times - by which I mean I have been involved in circumstances that I was certain would result in dying - but nothing frightens me anything like as much as seeing a dead bird. This is a rather unfortunate phobia for a mad cat lady to have.

And somewhere, in a parallel universe, Death is telling how he stared Magenta in the face many times, but what really scares him is butterflies.
 
Going 70-75 mph down the highway upside-down. I swerved to miss a deer. Went onto the soft shoulder, managed to get back onto the pavement but hit something and rolled/flipped. While I was upside down, I heard the most horrible screeching and saw blinding white light (I thought that was the end of me). Somehow, the car flipped a few more times (the police report said a total of 7 times), and I landed back upright.
 
I went on vacation recently to Cape Cod. When I came back there were over a dozen pages of threads with new posts on this forum. *shudder*
 
Re: Share you most terrifying experience here

Looking over at my four year old daughter in the pool and seeing her essentially standing on the bottom, submerged, with wide panicked eyes.

She was fine and it affected us more than her, but my blood quivers just thinking about it.


The EXACT same thing happened to my son when he was three, only he had a tranquil look on his face. That taught me to not trust somebody else to keep an eye on my kid while I quickly slip into the house to pee...

Oh man my son nearly drowned in a lake at age 4. I was at work, and he went down there with a friend who dared him to jump in. After my son went in, this kid walked up 9 houses to tell my then wife. Then she ran down 9 houses to the lake and didn't see him. Here he was going under and pushing off a rock. It's a muddy bottom lake I thank god there was a rock in a good place for him. He told me he was saved by someone named George. (I concluded it was guardian angel) I didn't list it because I wasn't there to see the horror. I feel for you guys. Thankfully, it wasn't their time.

I don't fear death. A painful death OK, but death itself? No. I think it will be a beautiful experience.
When my time is up, it's up.
Everything will be OK.
 
I have, I believe, stared death in the face a number of times - by which I mean I have been involved in circumstances that I was certain would result in dying - but nothing frightens me anything like as much as seeing a dead bird. This is a rather unfortunate phobia for a mad cat lady to have.

So how crazy of a cat lady are we talking here? We have 4...and a dog.

My most frightening experiences involve automobile accidents. I've been fortunate to survive rolling a car into a ditch, driving the same car head-on into a ditch a couple years later, getting t-boned in the driver's side in a Ford Ranger, and nearly plowing into an overpass riding in my friend's truck when he fell asleep driving.
 
I can't imagine many things more terrifying than watching something happen to one's child.

I don't fear death. A painful death OK, but death itself? No. I think it will be a beautiful experience.
When my time is up, it's up.
Everything will be OK.

That's how I feel about it too.

So how crazy of a cat lady are we talking here? We have 4...and a dog.

Four cats and a dog here too. The last bird incident happened when I was home alone and I had to phone a neighbour to get rid of it. I was absolutely beside myself with fear.

My most frightening experiences involve automobile accidents. I've been fortunate to survive rolling a car into a ditch, driving the same car head-on into a ditch a couple years later, getting t-boned in the driver's side in a Ford Ranger, and nearly plowing into an overpass riding in my friend's truck when he fell asleep driving.

Wow you've been lucky.
 
Skin of my teeth, 3 times, and I was thankfully plucked from the jaws of death; by what I do not know. Two of those times someone was also involved and they don't know who or what either.

Besides almost drowning in heavy surf with a compound fracture to the arm here's the one that stymies me to this day.

Rock fall up a steep cliff. We scrambled up a very large pile of rock and debris for about 30 minutes to get to the cliff face and collect some samples I asked my co-worker what time it was for the log book and he replied 11:55, I noted it. Heard a noise, looked up "AVALANCHE" ducked down and we were pounded by rocks, pounded.

The next thing I remember was sitting with Jeff at the bottom of that very large pile of rock and debris that took us 30 minutes to climb up. I asked my coworker what time it was and he said 12:00... "that can't be right... is your watch working"? His watch and mine were both working fine. Five minutes unaccounted for and we were safely back down the debris field and sitting safely on a rock... we were definitely beat up, my helmet was split, and we were both bruised up but our tool packs on our back saved us from too much trauma.
 
I have several,but getting shot in the chest as a rookie police officer probably tops the list.The "bad guy' was actually what the NYPD calls an EDP (emotionally disturbed person). We got the call for a suicidal EDP,and I tried to talk him out of his apartment.He responded by shooting through the door,and luckily,I was wearing my bullet resistant vest(they're not bullet proof,dispite what hollywood says).Two shots in the chest and it hurt like hell.He then commited suicide,dispite my best efforts.

Steve B
 
Two combat tours and not a scratch. I come home to civilian life, driving over the mountain pass between my home and Seattle, and hit a moose. Fortunately, the worst of it was the windshield scratching my knuckles where it came down over the steering wheel, and glass and moose bristles all over me, my wife, and everything in the car.
 

Attachments

  • NKCTrib150dpi002_Page_1_Image_0001_moose _crop.jpg
    NKCTrib150dpi002_Page_1_Image_0001_moose _crop.jpg
    186.1 KB · Views: 201
  • 2013-01-24_11-54-07_976_sm.jpg
    2013-01-24_11-54-07_976_sm.jpg
    165.8 KB · Views: 202
I had a 200 yard skid on my car once on black ice. Pulled up inches from the car in front. I'm glad I know how to drive and control a skid.

Had one last week when a drunken lady got right in my face and was shouting at me aggressively at work. That was... interesting. I'm a calm guy and didn't escalate it but it could have so easily have kicked off it wasn't me there.
 
Mine was in the car too.. Maybe not terrifying but the closest call I've had. I have an s15 Silvia that's fairly souped up. I had some car enthusiast mates that wanted to go for a squirt through the national park one night and they wanted me to lead because they had slower cars.. But I'd never been through it and I was just starting to settle down as a driver. I felt obliged to keep the pace (I over did it). The first km or so was very straight and we were speeding along, and out of the darkness this sharp left appeared on what I thought was a slight bend. I got on the brake and turned in, bracing for a crash. If the rear end hadn't of stepped out on a bump the car would have steered straight into the trees.. But instead I drifted around the corner very quickly, scrubbing off speed, complete opposite lock, like a Japanese touge video, and continued on. I was right into drifting (street and track days) but this was accidental and I'll always remember how lucky I was not to write my car off/break bones.

Never had a gun pulled on me or anything like that thankfully.
 
Jumped through a hole in the hedges that used to be in front of my house at about age 8 or 9 during a game of tag and the next thing I knew there was a sharp pain in my face. The hedges had just been trimmed the previous day and a sharp branch cut open an inch long deep gash directly under my right eye socket, requiring stitches. If that branch had been pointing a half inch higher I have no doubt that I would be missing my right eye.
 
Two combat tours and not a scratch. I come home to civilian life, driving over the mountain pass between my home and Seattle, and hit a moose.

Here in the northern NY-New England area, there are numerous road signs warning of moose-car collisions. Lots of people don't realize just how big moose can be, and with their long legs the center of mass is pretty high. A moose flipping over the hood and into a windshield is typical in these collisions, sometimes killing people. You're lucky you only got scratches.

I see you were driving the official car of Vermont, a Subaru (very common in upstate NY, too- my wife and I each have one, just bought our 6th).
 
Here in the northern NY-New England area, there are numerous road signs warning of moose-car collisions. Lots of people don't realize just how big moose can be, and with their long legs the center of mass is pretty high. A moose flipping over the hood and into a windshield is typical in these collisions, sometimes killing people. You're lucky you only got scratches.

At least in Vermont, they have the common sense to put "Moose Crossing" signs in low-traffic areas. They put those things anywhere out towards Seattle, including on highways like I-90. We should petition the state to move the signs to a less congested area so the moose have a safer place to cross.
 
Back
Top