Scariest Moment of Your Life

[lalalei2001]

Mine is when I almost drowned in a swimming pool when I was six.

[Lord of Denial]

When my son was born he was not breathing and the doctors could not get him to breath and told me I had to step outside so they could do their jobs.

Everything turned out fine but I have never been so scared in my life.

[Shellhead]

Car accident.

Icy roads and rush hour traffic. A really slow vehicle pulled right in front of me, and I slammed on the brakes to avoid a collision. I spun around in a 180, and then the car behind hit me hard and put me in the ditch.

That was really scary.

Eventually, I lashed the hood back down with a bungee cord, to compensate for the now-broken hood latch. As I continued down the highway, one of the hooks on the bungee cord pulled free, and the hood swung up and smashed my windshield.

That was just as scary.

[Dreadstar]

Coming home after work on a Sunday night around midnight, my wife and kid packed and gone.

[BlairH]

When I got stabbed 4 years ago.

[Forefinger]

I was in Iraq and motherfuckers were trying to kill me. Pretty damn scary.

[hoffmandu]

Coming home after work on a Sunday night around midnight, my wife and kid packed and gone.

NO WAY! So, was it what it seems to be?

[Dreadstar]

NO WAY! So, was it what it seems to be?

I don't call her "my ex" for nothing.

[Quarterwolf]

When my dad had his heart attack right in front of myself and my brother while playing Uno. Scared the shit out of me when I realized he was not faking it to avoid drawing four.

[Lord of Denial]

When my dad had his heart attack right in front of myself and my brother while playing Uno. Scared the shit out of me when I realized he was not faking it to avoid drawing four.


The same thing happened to my mom and sister. My mom was just talking with my dad and all the sudden he started to babble and was asking my sister and my Mom who they where and we found out he had a stroke.

Scary as hell.

[Quarterwolf]

The same thing happened to my mom and sister. My mom was just talking with my dad and all the sudden he started to babble and was asking my sister and my Mom who they where and we found out he had a stroke.

Scary as hell.

We were sure he was faking it cause we were all laughing our asses off and then he just nodded his head and fell off his chair in mid laugh. Great way to go laughing and having fun with us but what a crappy time to die. He was only 46.

[Lord of Denial]

We were sure he was faking it cause we were all laughing our asses off and then he just nodded his head and fell off his chair in mid laugh. Great way to go laughing and having fun with us but what a crappy time to die. He was only 46.


Sorry to hear that. My Father died as well as a result of the stroke. He was older at 68.

[jessecuster3]

I have a few unfortunately.
Once was getting "t-boned" at 1:45 am I clearly had the green going about 35 MPH and the guy coming perpendicular ran his red, right into the passenger side of my car. It was totally one of those whole world slowing down for a sec but nothing you could do to stop it. Needless to say those plastic Saturns are actually really tough. Oh and thank god my buddy who had been out with me, went home with someone else.


And then I was in Centennial Park in Atlanta during the Olympics, I don't think I need to say any more do I ?


Finally, we were sitting down to eat at a brand new restaurant, and were asked to leave, it seems a disgruntled potential employee phoned in a bomb threat.



And just for the record, Forefinger wins this hands down.

[meethraa]

I was in Iraq and motherfuckers were trying to kill me.
Why? What did you do?

[Mike Smith]

Being hit by a speeding jeep while my car was stalled.

[DubipR]

Once was getting "t-boned" at 1:45 am I clearly had the green going about 35 MPH and the guy coming perpendicular ran his red, right into the passenger side of my car. It was totally one of those whole world slowing down for a sec but nothing you could do to stop it. Needless to say those plastic Saturns are actually really tough. Oh and thank god my buddy who had been out with me, went home with someone else.

Had the same experience as well. Mid afternoon, I get t-boned turning my 4 door Camry into a 2 door Smush! Bastard was DUI and had 3 kids in his car. His car slammed into my and spun out. One kid went flying out, cracking his skull. I came out with a majorly bruised ribcage, even with the seatbeat on. If he hit me any harder and on my side, I wouldn't be typing this.

Other moments:
- Had a slight heart attack about 3 months ago. Stress from work got to me and other things.
- Fear of being pulled over at the US/Mexico border for carrying 16 bricks of pot.
- Chased for 2 miles by some a-holes after I head home from a gay bar. I mean seriously riding my car without hitting it and stopping next to me everyother red light. Glad I drive into the nearest police station. First time I was happy to have law enforcement on my side.

[Spike-X]

"I think I'm pregnant."

[Lord of Denial]

"I think I'm pregnant."


That can go either way. But yeah it can be scary if not ready for it.

[BlairH]

Why? What did you do?
"He tried to steal their oil!"

[Thanos_6383]

When my son was born he was not breathing and the doctors could not get him to breath and told me I had to step outside so they could do their jobs.

Everything turned out fine but I have never been so scared in my life.

Glad all is good.;)

[Sanagi]

Mine is when I almost drowned in a swimming pool when I was six.
That's pretty much mine, too. I don't remember exactly how old I was, but around that age. Someone threw me in a deep pool and I didn't know how to swim yet. I frantically clawed and climbed my way back out. Probably my nearest brush with death, as it was a private party and the pool was crowded so they might not have noticed me for a couple minutes if I hadn't made it to the surface.

[Lord of Denial]

Glad all is good.;)


Thank you!:D

[Guapo Méndez]

18 wheel fully loaded gasoline truck jacknifing on the highway, completely flattening the hood of the car 10 meters ahead of ours. It cut off road communications with the southeast of Mexico for 8 hours.

To this day, I have no idea why the truck didn't blow up.

[Copper]

I was driving to Greenwich on I-95 when I hit stop and go traffic. I put on the breaks, only to feel the pedal go straight to the floor. If I recall I was doing around 70 in the fast lane and was coming up on the rear bumper of a minivan. That's when the adrenaline took over and I saw an opening across the other two lanes and shot the car through, getting a fender bender in the process. Then came the 30 seconds near the curb trying to stop the car and finding out the emergency break wasn't working either--I finally managed to stop by shifting into neutral.

I later found out that the break lines fell off completely.

[meethraa]

I'm going for a moment "post-2000" because anything before that doesn't really count, and the whole year 2000 itself was way too scary but in a way I wouldn't know how to write about here.

-Smoking too much skunk for the first time. (that wasn't the scary part)
-Parting ways with my friends and suddenly finding myself unable to move like a normal person and realizing that I couldn't keep my arms steady enough to use my bus pass...
-Not really knowing if that was a natural effect or if something was wrong.
-Calling the only other person who had smoked as much as I had, but instead of saying something useful she just blowing me off (too busy blowing something else).
-Meeting some other friends for a movie... trying to act normally while wondering if I was going to get permanent brain damage or something.
-Paranoia.
-Paranoia.
-Paranoia.
-Drinking more water than ever before in my whole life. Pissing an ocean in just a couple of hours.
-Spending the night at what was essentially a strangers' house.
-Waking up every 30 minutes to see if I could already feel the right side of my face.
-Getting to a production office the other day and smoking some other type of pot with a production student after being reasonably assured that I'd be good as new by the end of the day.
-Swearing off skunk for the rest of my life.

[meethraa]

"He tried to steal their oil!"
You just don't get yourself between iraqis and their erotic massages.

[JeffreyWKramer]

The scariest thing that ever happened to me was a few years ago, when my son was around seven. I was out bike-riding, and he hit a stick in the road and wiped out right in front of me, and before I could stop, I'd already ridden over him, right at his head and neck area. Thankfully, young kids are pretty flexible and resilient, and he'd been wearing a bike helmet. For a second there, I thought I'd killed him, but other than some scrapes and minor cuts, he was fine - I think he was more freaked out by how much I freaked out than he was by the accident or his injuries.

[Stony]

The second scariest moment was suddenly remembering while clinging halfway up a cliff I climbed that I don't like heights very much.

The first was having a slippery green frog jump down my shirt about 30 seconds after the second scariest moment.

I hate frogs.

[Jeff Brady]

Back in college, I lived in the Newport apartment buildings in Jersey City. Once in a while I'd get up on the roof with my camera and take shots of the surrounding area. To get a better shot, I started climbing down the outside of a venthilation duct. The wind picked up pretty fiercely, 34 stories up. I had trouble keeping my grip & balance. I decided that it would be a very stupid way to die, and got the fuck back inside.

[Grazzt]

And just for the record, Forefinger wins this hands down.

I think Jeffrey's "I thought I snapped the neck of my child" beats his. MHO, of course.

[meethraa]

I think Jeffrey's "I thought I snapped the neck of my child" beats his. MHO, of course.
But that's 20 seconds of panic against whatever time Forefinger had to dodge the half naked oiled-up iraqis.

Seems silly trying to compare scares, though...

[StoneGold]

"I think I'm pregnant."
I'd be scared if you were pregnant too. Well, less scared, more confused.

[i_mmmchocolate]

-The day I thought I lost my parents at a department store.

-The afternoon I walked home from school without permission.

-The time I almost drowned in a public pool, thanks to my middle school bully.

-Um, the time I accidently choked on an ice cube because I was laughing too hard (high school).

[Rabid Trekkie]

Sitting next to my Grandpa at the dialysis center after one of his treatments. One minute he was talking and smiling, the next his eyes were open and no one was home.

It wasn't a stroke or anything, his blood pressure had just sunk way too low. Thought he had died though. I was actually more afraid then, than when I was told he was actually dying.

[StoneGold]

Bear Creek. The words still send shivers up and down my spine.


It was a Boy Scout backpacking trip, in preperation for the upcoming 50 mile backpack. Going in to Bear Creek was no real problem. I seem to remember it being relatively easy, even. Getting out was the nightmare.


The trail was completly overgrown. It wasn't long before we were pretty lost. And not long after that until we were really lost. Sure, we could always follow the creek, but that meant multiple water crossings, which are always a pain in the ass, and wading through the occasional patch of poison oak. But when you start getting 10 hours outside of your original projected arrival time, you start getting scared.

By the time we made it out, they had just started to send choppers over the area to look for us. I guess some of the parents had started to get worried. And every couple of years, I hear a story about some troop that actually gets lost in the Bear Creek area for at least a day or so. We were better than that, but at the time, that was some scary shit.

[Gary_B]

I worked at a camp for diabetic children when I was a teenager and was a camp skills instructor for the last couple of years I was there. A friend and I built a huge rope swing that was tied to a high branch on a tree that hung out over the lake. We built a platform on the side of a steep bank about 40 feet above water level. To launch yourself out over the water you stood on the platform, gripped the rope and pulled yourself onto the big knot. Gravity did the rest and launched people to serious heights. We had a mixed group of 15 year old boys and girls using the swing one day and the counsellor responsible for the girls was afraid of heights. She got pretty serious peer pressure to use the swing and eventually succumbed. Unfortunately she was pretty heavy and rather than pull herself onto the rope she jumped out into space. The rope went slack at first and snapped her off when it pulled tight. She was thrown onto stumps and rocks at the bottom of the hill and tumbled into the water with one foot clearly turned backwards on her leg. She floated face down in the water for a few seconds before getting her mouth up for a scream. I paddled a canoe as fast as I could to the nearest property hoping there would be a phone I could use (1970's - no cell phones) and called for help. I didn't know if she had spinal injuries or not. While I was gone seeking help a local speed boat owner had witnessed the fall and loaded her into his boat. We were all angry because he didn't know her spine was un-injured and could have caused more harm by lifting her out of the water. She ended up having no serious injuries other than the broken ankle but at the time we thought she might die and we felt responsible for her injury.

[Nikita]

I guess my asthma has been making me more nervous over the past year or so. I only have what's considered mild to moderate asthma but I've been reacting to more things over the past year and reacting more easily. My asthma doc said my lung capacity is down overall and I need to be better about taking my steroid inhaler every day. But then we get a gas leak again like this week and my lungs are still affected even when I take my meds religiously. Asthma is the one disorder that can kill you in just a few minutes so I hate that I have to worry about that sometimes.

[SteelTownr]

18 wheel fully loaded gasoline truck jacknifing on the highway, completely flattening the hood of the car 10 meters ahead of ours. It cut off road communications with the southeast of Mexico for 8 hours.

To this day, I have no idea why the truck didn't blow up.

Because you weren't in a movie.

Mark B.

[SteelTownr]

18 wheel fully loaded gasoline truck jacknifing on the highway, completely flattening the hood of the car 10 meters ahead of ours. It cut off road communications with the southeast of Mexico for 8 hours.

To this day, I have no idea why the truck didn't blow up.

Because you weren't in a movie.

Mark B.

[SteelTownr]

18 wheel fully loaded gasoline truck jacknifing on the highway, completely flattening the hood of the car 10 meters ahead of ours. It cut off road communications with the southeast of Mexico for 8 hours.

To this day, I have no idea why the truck didn't blow up.

Because you weren't in a movie.

Mark B.

[lalalei2001]

Another thing that scared the crap out of me was a character in a video game. It was a kiddy video game, but the character was the Grim Reaper. And I was playing late at night, and then he suddenly apppeared...

And my eight year old self started screaming.

[JDogindy]

To be honest, I had to have surgery on my brain when I was 3 because I kept having gramma seizures.

But, the truely scary moment for me was being on a wooden roller coaster at Paramount's Kings Island. You see, I have SLIGHT acrophobia but my main concern here is a fear of falling (no actual name to that).

[Pinball]

When my car caught on fire.

at the gas station.

[JuggernautRM]

Jet Ski accident 2 miles away from the shore in probably shark infested waters. Hit a big wave and on the way down the rubber grip for one of the handles fell off and my face smashed against the metal bar. Lost 5 teeth and bruised my face. Lot of blood and I fell in the water. Got scared shitless because the feeling of being in the ocean, bleeding, and not seeing whats under you scares the living shit out of you.

[Solaris]

When my husband was having an anxiety attack, and I thought it was a heart-attack. Also, the moment I discovered that my 17 yr old daughter had INDEED swallowed 55 Tylenol plus a few Advil, in a suicide attempt. I was scared shitless, both times.

[Corrina]

When my oldest daughter, then six, fell down the stairs and knocked herself out for a few seconds. Longest few seconds of my life.

And I think the moral of this thread should be: Stay away from kids & cars and your chances of being scared go down considerably.

[Azangel]

Sitting in the dark with a radio on during Hurricane Erin, listening to the wind howl outside at 100+ mph, then hearing a loud crash, and a thud that shook the entire floor.

No not that part...

The sudden gust of wind that came through the house at the same time.

The door to the attic had blown open and the wind was blowing into the house. I was CONVINCED that the roof was gone. (The house was fine, the neighbor's tree took out our fence but missed the house...and we tied that blasted door down before the NEXT hurricane.)



The other time was when I was around 12, I was in Oklahoma with my dad, in a car out in the middle of nowhere (NOTHING but WHEAT everywhere) on our way to visit my Grandmother.

There was a tornado was on the ground on our left, I didn't see it, but my dad did. He pulled up next to a metal shed and parked. There wasn't anywhere to go. The wind was shaking the car back and forth, there was quarter size hail and heavy rain...

It suddenly got quiet, the rain stopped, the hail stopped, as the tornado went up in the clouds and came down on the right side of the car, about 1/4 mile away, where I could see it. I was climbing the sides of the car when we finally got to Grandma's house.

[Azangel]

Aw.... did I kill the thread?

[hoffmandu]

16 years old, was spending the night at a friends house. We snuck out in the middle of the night, general high school shenanigans, finally came home around 2am. ANyway, the friends father was waiting at the door, everyone thought we were busted. Turns out, my mother had called, Dad had a heart attack and I needed to come home asap. That 10 minute car-ride easily tops my list.

[hoffmandu]

Dup post sorry

[lalalei2001]

I just saw this REALLY creepy preview for a horror movie. It has this little girl singing in a sweet, yet scary voice 'Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?" And then she sings the movie info.

I'm scared to close my eyes.

[lalalei2001]

>_>

<_<

Hello?

[Forefinger]

Why? What did you do?
I killed some of them.

[moebius]

Being mugged at gunpoint while rooting through the dashboard of my parked car looking for work notes for the next day. Fortunately my wallet was back in my hotel room (I had taken out $300 for expenses that morning), so it was an inexpensive and painless lesson.

1. Always keep an extra ID and $40 somewhere for emergencies.

2. Keep unnecessary documents (SSN, etc.) in a separate folder.

3. Don't carry a credit card with you if you don't need to.

[cosmoboy]

Similar to Dreadstar's: She sat me down on the couch and said she'd had enough after five (I assumed) happy years. First couple months are pretty scary. Oh and the time a Polar bear and a rabid sturgeon fought over me.

[Jabuka]

I was 10 in a swimming pool in arizona during the summer i hit my head on the concrete my head was bleeding a little i was drowning keep in mind that i CANT swim tryed to grab a pole for leverage burned my hand got out by a miracle with my head and knees bleeding (I was trying to run up the concrete because the poe litteraly burned my hand)this all happing with my mouth open and people ask why I never swim any more :).

[Lubichev]

Realizing that I was going to have to raise my daughter on my own.

[hoffmandu]

I once farted and a little poop came out. You guys know what I'm saying.

[SINALOA]

got into an argument with 2 gang lowlifes, they pulled a gun out on me shot, ran into my car drove off and they chased me for about a mile. At the time it was happening I wasnt scared, it wasnt til about 30 minutes after I lost them that it all sunk in

[hoffmandu]

got into an argument with 2 gang lowlifes, they pulled a gun out on me shot, ran into my car drove off and they chased me for about a mile. At the time it was happening I wasnt scared, it wasnt til about 30 minutes after I lost them that it all sunk in


Geez, did you get hit?

[Jade_GL]

I have a few.

When I heard that the bank that my mom worked at was robbed. I was told in the same breath that she was ok but it was probably one of the scariest things I had ever been told. On top of that, it was unexpected because of where I live. I never thought that I would have something like that happen to someone in my family. I mean, I live in Maine, it just seems like that doesn't happen here, but in that moment I realized it did.

The second was when my dad had his heart attack and I had to go to the hospital to see him. My dad hadn't told anyone that he was in pain all night. He just watched the Red Sox, went to bed, and then he drove himself to the doctor the next morning. He could have killed himself, but he didn't want to believe he was in trouble. So my aunt drove me to the hospital to see him when they finally got him to the ICU.

The third was when my mom had to be admitted to the hospital because she had a stroke. Very unexpected because she is only in her mid-50s. The same feeling I had when my dad was in the hospital.

[Lubichev]

I once farted and a little poop came out. You guys know what I'm saying.
"Hard gas."

[Rexi]

I surprised a mountain lion in the forest once. I was with my brother and we kind of just stood still and stared it down for a while. Then slowly backed away. It seems like the encounter took forever but it was probably only a few seconds.

[moebius]

I surprised a mountain lion in the forest once. I was with my brother and were kind of just stood still and stared it down for a while. Then slowly backed away. It seems like the encounter took forever but it was probably only a few seconds.

My father saw a mountain lion in the northern New Jersey 'burbs last fall (lives up against some woods). He was walking the dog, and very glad the dog didn't see it (would have started barking).

That dog also got my step-mother into a fist fight with a pit bull. Great dog, nonetheless.

[Rexi]

My father saw a mountain lion in the northern New Jersey 'burbs last fall (lives up against some woods). He was walking the dog, and very glad the dog didn't see it (would have started barking).

That dog also got my step-mother into a fist fight with a pit bull. Great dog, nonetheless.
Im sure it is a great dog lol...

What was really scary about my was that it was standing over a carcus, probably why it didn't flee. The lion was covered in blood which made it look much more imposing.

[bushboy]

Either nearly driving off a cliff in VA, or being chased by two rabid Dobermans when I was six.

[lalalei2001]

I was playing a video game and turned it off in the middle of saving. I panicked.

Luckily it was fine, but at the time I was pretty scared.

[Shellhead]

My father saw a mountain lion in the northern New Jersey 'burbs last fall (lives up against some woods). He was walking the dog, and very glad the dog didn't see it (would have started barking).


At the first CPA firm that I worked at, I was rushing into the reception area as a shortcut to get some paperwork upstairs to one of the partners. As I turned the corner, I nearly stepped on a cougar. No, not a sexually aggressive woman in her 40s, but an actual adult cougar. I froze, and the cougar leaped several feet away from me, because it was so startled and yet on a leash. I didn't move or say a word until the owner got a grip on the cougar's collar.

[Hellbaby]

My mom was scheduled to fly to New York City on a business trip on September 11, 2001.

We watched the news in class that day and I saw that New York had been attacked, and since I didn't know where the plane had left from, I started to panic. But luckily, she called the school and told my brother and me that her flight was cancelled.

[Brad Barton]

I was working as an Assistant Electrician for my uncle some years ago. We worked around 350 kw Industrial generators--often around 220 Volt "Hot" bars that could set you alight in an instant at the slightest graze--and lots of exposed wires, sometimes ones you couldnt see.

I guess we were a little cocky while doing the work back then, as we would often root around in the junction boxes without gloves if we were in a hurry. One day I was in one unhooking a piece of heavy equipment's cam-locks (plugs) from the Junction box. One second I'm rooting around in the box, hands intertwined around various wires and breakers that are leading to countless other pieces of equipment, the next instant what feels like a locomotive hits me square in the chest, head and body simultaneously, and then I'm on the floor of the Generator trailer, the engine screaming about 2 feet away from my face, bleeding from a gash on my head. It wasn't till I picked myself up off the ground, hands shaking almost uncontrollably and my heart beating so hard I could literally feel it in my eyeballs that I realized what had happened.

I was electrocuted then literally slammed to the ground by 220 Volts. Scariest moment of my life and it very easily could have killed me, it's actually sort of a wonder that it didn't stop my heart.

[Wally_West]

i finished college.

i went to work for a great company.

i got fired 6 months later.

[Gilda Dent]

I was 17 and had driven into the city to see a movie Saturday night, going to a show that started at around ten and ended just before one AM. It was the middle of a long cold snap in mid-January and the temperature was somewhere around zero degrees, with the wind chill quite a bit lower. The radiator in my car had a small leak, and I foolishly had been adding back in water and not mixing in an appropriate amount of anti-freeze. While the car had been sitting outside the movie theater, the radiator had frozen.

It started and ran just fine, just long enough for me to get a decent distance outside the city before it died on the now deserted rural highway leading back to the town where I lived.

After fruitlessly trying to start the car and in the process running down the battery, I was left with a decision; stay with the car and hope someone showed up, or walk far enough to get help. Reasoning that walking would generate heat, and not wanting to just sit there for the next three or four hours with nothing to keep me warm by my winter jacket, a stocking cap, and a pair of wool gloves, I decided to walk to the nearest house to ask for help.

Houses were scattered along the highway in between farm fields, so I had to walk for some fifteen or twenty minutes. In that time, I had already begun to lose feeling in my fingers, but assumed I'd be able to get out of the cold with some friendly farmer or one of the other nearby homes soon, or at the worst might have to wait thirty or forty minutes at the car for someone to come get me after I called home.

I approached the first home that was closest enough to where my car had broken down to ask for help. Had it been any warmer, I'd have just walked it, but even that short time in the cold with inadequate gear had me a little scared in a numb sort of way.

The porch light was on, which I took as a good sign. I knocked, and after a brief time, a teenage girl, about my age or perhaps a year or two younger, opened the door a crack, the chain still on. I told her my car had broken down and asked if I could use her phone. She said "Just a minute," and closed the door. I waited. A couple of minutes later, the door opened again, this time without the chain. A middle aged man was standing there, turned about 3/4 profile, one hand behind him.

"Whaddaya want?" he asked. I could smell alcohol on his breath. I told him of my dilemma and asked if I could use his phone. He looked at me silently for a moment, then said, "Son, I think you oughta just head on down the road." I stammered a bit, then started to ask if perhaps if I gave him the phone number if he could call for me, or call me a tow truck, but as I spoke, I saw him shift his weight from one leg to the other, and as he did so I could see that he was holding a gun behind the thigh of his rear leg, just out of sight.

The man was literally twice my size. I'd have been little threat to the teenage girl who had answered the door initially, let alone this man much larger than I was.

I said, "Thank you," stammering a bit, "I'll just walk from here" and turned to leave.

It was clear with a nearly full moon, no clouds, and winds weren't terrible, but they were enough to make a cold night feel really cold. My jacket wasn't heavy enough, nor were my gloves, so I considered walking back to the car to see if there were anything extra I could use to conserve heat. I decided that I didn't want to add another half hour to my walk, so I adjusted as best I could.

I kept walking back towards town. I wasn't sure how far I'd gone from town, but I knew it was closer than the small town whre I lived, and that there was a convenience store open all night at the edge where the highway I was on joined the city proper.

I made my way a mile or so to the next house, and stood there contemplating whether to attempt calling again. The first encounter had scared me badly, but the thought of walking for several hours in the cold and wind also scared me. The idea of freezing won the contest as to which was the scarier prospect, and I began walking up the driveway towards the house. When I was about halfway down the driveway, the porchlight came on, and a figure stepped out on the porch holding what appeared in the dark to be a shotgun. It's entirely possible that it was some other long narrow object and I mistook it for a gun in the paranoia that had carried over from the previous farmhouse, but at that moment I was convinced that if I kept walking towards the house, I would be shot.

Discretion being the better part of valor, or perhaps cowardice and paranoia winning out over self-preservation, I turned around and walked back to the highway, deciding to just walk until either a car came along to pick me up or I got to town, hoping the latter would be no more than a couple of hours walk.

By the time I reached the next house, maybe another mile, I had calmed down a bit, and stopped for a moment on the shoulder contemplating a third attempt to get some one to let me use their phone or make a call for me or even just call 911 or the police or sheriff. I tried to tell myself that surely there wouldn't be three people that afraid of little old me that they'd get out a gun, and maybe the second guy had something else and I was just panicking, but much as that made sense to me, I was by this point irrationally convinced that if I were to walk up to any of these houses I'd be shot on the spot. I know now that this was unlikely in the extreme, but my mind wasn't operating entirely rationally, so I passed it by and decided I'd ignore the houses and walk into town.

I'm not sure exactly how long I walked before the car stopped, or how close I was to town, but it felt like hours, and I was increasingly convinced as I walked along that I was going to freeze to death before making it to town, and scary as that thought was, I was more afraid to approach any of the houses that gradually started to occur closer to each other.

But a car did stop and offer me a ride, a young couple heading into town. Their car was warmer than the road had been, but still not warm enough to take away the chill completely, and I sat and shivered in the back seat, starting to feel a little sleepy. The young woman kept talking to me, telling me I needed to stay awake. They stopped at the convenience store on the edge of town, and I went in where it was finally nice and warm. I started getting chills after I got inside the warm building, which seemed strange to me after feeling numb for quite some time.

While in the process of asking if I could use their phone, I suddenly felt lightheaded and the strengthe went out of my legs and I nearly collapsed. The store clerk and the couple that had brought me there caught me and managed to help back to the manger's office where I sat down, and where it was warmer. The next part is a bit fuzzy, as I started to fade in and out of consciousness, and was having difficulty holding a thought, but I tried to ask to use the phone.

Before I was able to call home, I passed out, and the store clerk called 911. I came to in the ambulance and the paramedic did his best to keep me awake, but things started fading in an out again, I lost consciousness and woke up in the emergency room, where I had a nurse talking to me to try to keep me awake. I had apparently gone into hypothermia and the sudden influx of heat in the convenience store had raised my circulation and caused the colder blood in my arms and legs to circulate into my body core, causing a rapid drop in my core body temperature, which was what had caused the fuzzy headedness and caused me to lose consciousness.

I did come out of it none the worse for wear, but I can still recall vividly the increasing level of terror I felt at each of the three farmhouses, the worst of it being the time I spent standing in front of the third one, convinced that if I approached the house I would be shot, and if I didn't, I would freeze to death.

There have been other scary moments, and anxiety has been a near constant thing in my life, but nothing to match those moments in front of those farmhouses.

[Wally_West]

the worst of it being the time I spent standing in front of the third one, convinced that if I approached the house I would be shot, and if I didn't, I would freeze to death.

oh man...that SUCKS. glad you came out of it alright.

[Paradox]

Rock climbing in Sedona Arizona and I stupidly wore my new hiking boots. Wrong choice. Stiff soles were not made for that. Got almost to the top of this one rock and I sat down and wouldn't go any further. My brother called me a sissy but I just said "Nope. Scared and not afraid to admit it." The trip down was no festival of joy, either.

Not as scary as most here, but I haven't had much to be scared of in my life.

[Spike-X]

Oh, there was this one time a had a psycho passenger who was threatening to kill me for about twenty minutes. Kept giving me a destination, then asking me, "Where are you going? I want to go (some place completely different than where he'd said)". Just very calmy and quietly talking about how he was going to kill me, and me just as calmly and quietly trying to...well, not talk him out of it, as such, just asking things like why he'd want to to that, etc. My throat has never been that dry in my life, before or since.

I was hitting my emergency button all the time, but I'd never had to use it before and I was doing it wrong.

I finally got to a service station, got out, and told him that he could go where he liked, I wasn't going any further. All the while flashing my lights at the guy behind the counter so he'd call the cops. Of course, psycho guy had long gone by the time the cops eventually got there about ten minutes later.

[Wesley Dodds]

Oh, there was this one time a had a psycho passenger who was threatening to kill me for about twenty minutes. Kept giving me a destination, then asking me, "Where are you going? I want to go (some place completely different than where he'd said)". Just very calmy and quietly talking about how he was going to kill me, and me just as calmly and quietly trying to...well, not talk him out of it, as such, just asking things like why he'd want to to that, etc. My throat has never been that dry in my life, before or since.

I was hitting my emergency button all the time, but I'd never had to use it before and I was doing it wrong.

I finally got to a service station, got out, and told him that he could go where he liked, I wasn't going any further. All the while flashing my lights at the guy behind the counter so he'd call the cops. Of course, psycho guy had long gone by the time the cops eventually got there about ten minutes later.

Christ, that gave me chills. Mind if I use that in a story one day?

Do you keep some kind of weapon in your cab? I once talked to a cab driver who kept a metal pipe at his side to defend himself against psychotic passengers.

[Spike-X]

Christ, that gave me chills. Mind if I use that in a story one day?

Sure. Feel free to PM me or whatever if you want more details.


Do you keep some kind of weapon in your cab? I once talked to a cab driver who kept a metal pipe at his side to defend himself against psychotic passengers.

I did not. I knew a bloke who kept a whopping great torch (perfectly legal, but heavy as a motherfucker when full of batteries). This bloke was a big guy anyway - a person would have to be crazy to start shit with him.

My boss gave me some good advice once, though - if you think you're in a situation where you may have to strike back in self-defense, grip the steering wheel firmly with your left hand (right hand for the Yanks), and try to basically pull it off. Then, when it's clobbering time, let go. You've built up a bunch of tension that will partly make up for not having the room to swing properly.

Came that close (holds up fingers really close together) to having to use that one one night, too.

[lalalei2001]

I'd pack a taser. If they're legal to have. *knows very little about weapons*

[Gladiaria_Alata]

When my sister hit her head hard enough that she had to have CAT/MRI and stayed in hospital for a week.

The horribly blank look in her eyes before she was taken to hospital terrified me.

And when I my father arrived home in the midst of a subarachnoid hemorrhage.

[Spike-X]

I'd pack a taser. If they're legal to have. *knows very little about weapons*
I don't drive cabs any more, so it's no longer an issue, thankfully.

[Zombienorthstar]

I have a brother who's about ten years younger than me, we're incredibly close. When i was around 12/13 (so he's two/three) he comes down with a terrible fever and my parents are up all night looking after him.

I wake up at around 2 in the morning and notice that his bed is still empty, so i walk out onto the landing of our house and i just hear the most desperate screams ive ever heard in my life coming from my mother. She's screaming over and over to my father 'Ian, he's not breathing i think he's dead' she's literally repeating it over and over because she's gone into some sort of shock.

I walk into the living room and my brother is in my mother's arms and he's convulsing and only the white of his eyes are showing. My mums cradling him like a baby. My dad's on the phone to the paramedics.

Turns out my brother was epileptic, this was the first time he'd fitted...obviously since that time we've all been in that situation over and over and known what to do, but at the time being so young and seeing my mother just absolutley helpless and in pieces was terrifying.

[Dee3]

Let's see I've had a couple

Once I was at a bus stop near my high school wating for the 69W and this kid walks up then a few minutes later a cop pulls up behind him and gets out of the car and frisks him turns out he had a gun.

Another was when my mom had her stroke last year

Recently this fucking wack job pulls out behind me while I'm walking to the bus stop gets out of the van but I'm well out of site by then. Then a couple of days later he pull out in front of me. Needless to say I haven't been to that area since.

[Spike-X]

Oh, and there was also the time many years ago when one roommate pulled a kitchen knife on another roommate.

Took until about 11am the next day for the shock of that one to catch up to me.

While I was at work.

[rick]

My scariest moment?

It's pretty much a toss-up between the time I found my two year old daughter Jessica floating upside down in the pool and the time the gas heater went out and I had to rush both daughters, Angie and myself to the emergency room.

Getting stabbed was a cakewalk compared to those moments.

[MJC]

I got nothing that can compare to most of these stories.

I graduated college a few weeks ago and haven't found a job yet, but I guess that's not quite as serious as most of the stuff here.

Oh, and I do get sleep paralysis pretty often, that's pretty scary too.

[Brad Barton]

My scariest moment?

It's pretty much a toss-up between the time I found my two year old daughter Jessica floating upside down in the pool and the time the gas heater went out and I had to rush both daughters, Angie and myself to the emergency room.Good lord, Rick. Both those do indeed sound absolutely terrifying. I thank god everyday I've never really had a crisis-of-family, in that way, happen to me in my life.

If you don't mind me asking; did your daughter Jessica turn out alright?

[MWGallaher]

I actually stepped in quicksand once, and after a childhood of Tarzan movies, the experience of actually sinking into semisolid soil brought me to an immediate panic. Fortunately, I was with someone (thanks, Lisa!) who yanked me out when she saw me glaze over in terror.
The only other occasion that competes was a consequence of my own stupidity: on a rare occasion when it actually froze here in Huntsville, I thought it would be fun to break the ice in my swimming pool using the telescoping pool pole. As my family slept in on a Saturday morning, I poked at the ice, lost my balance, and plunged fully clothed--with coat--into the deep end, through the ice, arising beneath a thankfully thin layer of ice somewhere else in the pool. I broke through, and continued breaking through toward the steps (once I figured out where the steps were; I was pretty disoriented after the initial plunge.

[Brent1974]

When I found my mom dead in the bathroom seven years ago in our old apartment.

Followed by my birthday this year when my dad was diagnosed with cancer.

Adding to this the impedding thoughts I have everyday that he might die if the cancer is not killed by chemo/X-Rays/experimental stuff etc.

If he does die it's just me and my sister, and I just got a 30 year mortgage on a rental property, as well as opening a business in a year. Plus my sister being in a wheel chair.