Hey Pandas, What Is A Terrifying Experience You’ve Encountered Firsthand? (Closed)

High school.

Realizing the people you cared for don't care about you

Afghanistan, Iraq and Bosnia......Need i say more, 8 years of my life

OK, take your pick of my top 3:

1. Was driving on a exit ramp which veered to the right, so I wanted to follow the exit to the right. But my car went straight ahead and headed towards a large 3 m wide road sign, then towards a street light, then into the bushes. I experienced time slow down, it all seemed to take minutes, but in reality it probably was 2 seconds. Turned out the road had unexpectedly iced over. Car had damage on 3 sides and was total loss, I was fine.

2. For the first time in my life I had a plane seat on the front row and was really enjoying the experience. Plane started taking off and just before lift off the pilot hit the breaks. We got slammed into our seat belts. Everybody was screaming. Pandemonium in the cockpit (the door was open so I could see, this was a holiday flight). Plane stopped just before the end of the runway with burning tyres, flames, and lots of smoke. Total panic, ambulances, fire trucks etc all over the place.

Turned out there was a red light on in the cockpit none of the pilots knew the meaning of, so they thought it better to abort take-off. The light (they found out later) was just to signal that de-icing of one of the windows was not functioning. We were in a tropical place.

3. Was canooing by myself on the Gambia river. Saw a large crocodile on the left bank. It saw me, ran to the river and dived in. I could not see which way it was going and panicked, being from a country that does not exaclty have lots of wild crocodiles. Tried to remember what to do if a crocodile attacks you in a canoo and could not come up with anything. Also, the current was quite strong so I could not really take my time to look for it. I just kept on canooing, totally stressed out, and hoped for the best. That was the most intense canoo trip I ever made.

When I was 10, I went canoeing with my dad. The canoe caught on a log just under the surface, tipped, and I got trapped underneath. It's been almost 30 years, and to this day, just being near natural bodies of water triggers a panic attack.

I once worked in a really rough run down pub ( i wont give its original name) which had the unfortunate nickname of "the bucket of blood".
I was working the bar alone on a very quiet Sunday evening (the manager was upstairs) when a group of males came in already half drunk. They were celebrating the release of one of the group who had just finished time for killing his own brother. (the family were well known for being pretty violent and evil). This was in Scotland in the 1980S. we were familiar with the odd stabbings and knife fights but that was about it. As the night wore on, the demand for drinks grew more bizarre until they asked for a bottle of MOET champagne. I tried to laugh it off thinking they were joking and saying "Aww we just sold the last bottle" but when the business end of a shotgun was presented to my face, i almost s**t myself for real...my bowels nearly emptied, and i don't know why they didn't. The manager had seen the whole thing on CCTV and came down at a run. They repeated the request to him and he disappeared (to call the police i thought). He returned shortly after with champagne (i had no idea we had any) and gave it to them for free.. that's when i realised that the police were powerless in this area. I had never seen a real gun before this night. within a couple of years, that pub was razed to the ground after a fatal shooting.

Standing 6' away from a cop that shot a kid dead - not justified. i had my 3YO daughter with me - bullet could've hit her if the cop missed. I thought he went mad and was going to start shooting all us hippies.

I was in the Candlestick Park F5 tornado in 1966 in Mississippi. It was scary - it was unbelievable.

being kidnapped by my uncle im never been the same

There was that one time, when my mom died, in her/my childhood home, in the middle of winter, in the middle of nowhere, on a mountain, that my sister got the State Police to physically eject me from the house (because she had gotten my mother [in full dementia] to sign a Deed giving her the house - and told the police I was violent and destroying the house). The State Police forced me to drag my luggage through the snow, off the property, and into the street, refused to take me anywhere (even the police jail would have been warm), and just left me there (while threatening me with jail). There is no ride share...or taxis....or even cell service on the side of a random mountain in West Virginia.

Then there was the time my ex held a shotgun to my chest and informed me I was never gonna leave him (not in WV).

And then there was the time I had to drive myself to the emergency room after my appendix burst (fortunately, also not in WV).

Being a helpless 6-year-old with a broken leg in a wheelchair and your friend slips and let’s go while on a hill. I did not let anyone touch my wheelchair for a month afterward.

I enjoy freediving, I love the feeling of total freedom and weightlessness. I am not one for pushing the envelope, so my tendency to take risks is limited.
Until I broke all the rules, went without a buddy and almost died.
A while back on the archipelago of Malta, one of the islands, Comino has a little island across from the Blue Lagoon called Cominoto.
This Island has a so-called swim through under the rock and totally submerged. It´s not a deep dive and not terribly long, and the light is unreal and not of this world.
I went, on my own with a lee wind blowing, diving from the Blue lagoon to a "V" shaped exit at the hight of the jellyfish season.
Mauve stingers to be specific... nasty jellies, really bad blobs of snot. The pain from being stung by one is like having a red hot wire pressed against your skin.
What could possibly go wrong?
I was almost through, running out of air with blood CO2 levels rising and the surface was covered with jellies to a depth of four or five meters reaching tens of meters out into the bay. Think going between the fingers in "Finding Nemo"
It´s amazing how much air you have left when you think you can´t go on. Obviously I survived by carrying on until the sea was free. My dive computer told me that I had been swimming underwater for three minutes fifteen seconds at 17 meters and for a stretch of 50 meters.

I worked at Cracker Barrel as a cashier long ago. It was busy and this guy waiting in line with his hands in his pockets gets to my register, pulls on hand out to show me it's holding a gun pointed at me and tells me to give him all the money in my register. So I tell him my register won't open unless there is a sale, so maybe he wants to 'buy' a pack of gum or something? Give me the money in the register, he growls. So I get on the intercom and call for a manager who has keys to the register. The manager asks what seems to be the trouble? This guy wants all the money in my register, I tell my manager. Well, lets give it to him! he says, so we did. Later I gave a police report, but I don't know whatever happened after he left with the money.

After my dad had a seizure when I was a kid, I found him in a pool of blood because he broke his nose.

When I was a little kid (7 or 8 maybe) I rode my bike too far from home and wound up in a really "cool" deserted place - between the freeway overpass, the L.A. River and the railroad tracks. I was riding my bike around the dry riverbed and noticed a guy down the way about 100 ft from me, under the overpass. Didn't think about it, just kept riding, and when I looked back again he was closer. Kept riding and when I looked back again, he was walking towards me fast. An alarm went off in my head and I rode out of there as fast as I could, too afraid to look back. Pretty sure I dodged a bullet.

Crashed through a glass roof once, almost drowned once and got a tile from a roof punch a hole in my head once.

I worked night shift at a hotel, only one there at night. We hired a guy who gave me such a bad vibe I eventually hung out on the sidewalk down the hill, with the transients and druggies, until it was time for my shift to start.

Dude was the only person I even got a truly malevolent vibe from. His behaviour grew more and more off, and he loathed that I'm pagan. Tried to convince me to burn my hand with a lighter, saying that the 'fires of hell' we're a thousand times worse. Grew so I did not even feel safe being the only one there at night.

Three days after we let him go, he stayed at one of our sister hotels. During that time frame he murdered two people, a few days apart. The victims were chosen by his religious motivation. If he hadn't been caught, I would have been next.

Where do I begin... ? There's so , so much...Molestation by cousins very young , chalked up to " experimenting " , Grandparent beating me and verbal abuse till I was 14 ( she got too weak and died when I was 16 ) Raped , and forced to marry rapist due to " surprise pregnancy " 10 years of continuous marital rape and abuse till the state decided " yes , he was dangerous and divorce with protection order was granted " ( lasted a month ) He re-married and divorced doing the same to 2nd wife ... Doctors never believing my scar tissue / body issues/ missing teeth coming from said marriage ... Only assuming " weight issues due to food / bad dental hygiene " Ovarian cancer ( currently dealing with ) Poverty due to said situations , 3 children in 3 years, having to give the youngest up to adoption in order to save his life ( homeless when tried to leave after a terrible moment with 2 babies ) Ect..
However... I have survived ! I am now happily re-married. My kids are grown and safe. I haven't reunited with the youngest yet , but will someday. I never loose hope. I have beautiful grand children . I cherish each moment I get. Every day is a struggle , but thank goodness I'm still alive and get to enjoy all the little things.

The bank I worked at being robbed by a large cruel man, head to toe in black, ski mask, & gun.

I was a teenager with a fairly new drivers license. While on the freeway, headed to work through a mountain pass, the power steering in my car went out. If you have not driven a car without power steering you need to know that it takes A LOT of force to turn the wheel. I was lucky enough to be near an off-ramp. I put all my body weight on the wheel and just barely made it to a parking lot. God, I hated that car.

When i was little i had a friend, that friend had a dog, a big dog as big as i was at the time, maybe even bigget.My friends family would lock up the dog when i was there since i was afraid of dogs and this one didn't like strangers. One day my friend wants to show me something. He walks to the cage with the dog with me, and the dog is growling. He then does something on the lock and I already started running. That dog almost bit me but i got to the house (the cage was outside) quick enough. That was our last visit there.