One day, sooner or later, all of us will meet our end. That’s the inevitable truth of life. Ideally, it happens in our sleep, in old age, after a great and fulfilling time on this planet. Sadly, though, not everyone gets that luxury. Some people experience the very opposite.
One Redditor asked users to share the most horrifying deaths they’d ever heard about, and the responses are enough to send chills down your spine. We’ve rounded them up below—just be warned that they are not for the faint of heart.
#21
Most of the ones that really chill me have already been covered, but no one has yet mentioned Vladimir Komarov, "the man who fell from space." First cosmonaut ever to go up twice. It became increasingly apparent during planning and training for his second mission, Soyuz-1, that it was terribly flawed at every level, but all official protests fell on deaf ears because of the bureaucratic culture of the program and the Kremlin. The whole thing had an air of doom but he knew if he backed out, apart from all other consequences, his close friend (and Soviet hero) Yuri Gagarin would be compelled to take his place.
The launch was a success, but after achieving orbit the solar sail failed to properly deploy, leaving several crucial systems unpowered and obscuring transmission from communications and navigation equipment. He wrestled with the craft trying to get it manually oriented for five hours and , through skillful piloting, partially succeeded, but failing thrusters and bad weather conditions caused mission control to scuttle a companion launch that was intended to aid him, and to abort his mission.
He had to stay up orbiting earth 18 times without proper guidance systems, acting as a human computer and gyroscope to get it into a proper reentry window despite the unresponsive thrusters, but he eventually succeeded. He was in radio contact with Gagarin assuring him conditions were good. It looked like he may actually make it... and then the primary chute failed to deploy. And then the secondary chute got tangled in the primary chute. THEN the retro rockets failed to fire on ground approach-- which would have been right before he hit the Earth at 90mph. Some reports have him transmitting screams of rage on the way down.
***
In a similar vein, I was literally nauseous with horror when I first found out that NASA covered up the fact that the Challenger accident wasn't immediately fatal and that several of the astronauts were very likely alive and conscious as their capsule rocketed off and then plunged into the sea.
The launch was a success, but after achieving orbit the solar sail failed to properly deploy, leaving several crucial systems unpowered and obscuring transmission from communications and navigation equipment. He wrestled with the craft trying to get it manually oriented for five hours and , through skillful piloting, partially succeeded, but failing thrusters and bad weather conditions caused mission control to scuttle a companion launch that was intended to aid him, and to abort his mission.
He had to stay up orbiting earth 18 times without proper guidance systems, acting as a human computer and gyroscope to get it into a proper reentry window despite the unresponsive thrusters, but he eventually succeeded. He was in radio contact with Gagarin assuring him conditions were good. It looked like he may actually make it... and then the primary chute failed to deploy. And then the secondary chute got tangled in the primary chute. THEN the retro rockets failed to fire on ground approach-- which would have been right before he hit the Earth at 90mph. Some reports have him transmitting screams of rage on the way down.
***
In a similar vein, I was literally nauseous with horror when I first found out that NASA covered up the fact that the Challenger accident wasn't immediately fatal and that several of the astronauts were very likely alive and conscious as their capsule rocketed off and then plunged into the sea.
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15points
#22
I heard of a news story about a small child in Ohio (a baby) that was left behind for 10 days on end by her mom who went on a vacation.
Oh, and Lacey Fletcher.
thenetyss:
The Jailyn story has haunted me since I read about it. It comes unbidden to my mind when I'm taking care of my daughter and I just can't fathom it.
Oh, and Lacey Fletcher.
thenetyss:
The Jailyn story has haunted me since I read about it. It comes unbidden to my mind when I'm taking care of my daughter and I just can't fathom it.
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15points
#23
In 2022 guy I went to high school with got a new job at Caterpillar’s foundry. It’s his second week on the job and he was tasked with taking a sample of the 2,600 degree molten iron. Safety procedures weren’t provided- there was literally no guardrail- and he FELL INTO THE CRUCIBLE OF MOLTEN IRON.
Corner titled his death “thermal annihilation”. He literally disintegrated.
That was the second death at that facility within 6 months. There’s recently been another death from a guy getting molten iron sprayed on him. For the guy I knew- Caterpillar was given a wrist-slap fine of a mere $145,027 by OHSA, despite their revenue being more than $50 billion in 2021.
Corner titled his death “thermal annihilation”. He literally disintegrated.
That was the second death at that facility within 6 months. There’s recently been another death from a guy getting molten iron sprayed on him. For the guy I knew- Caterpillar was given a wrist-slap fine of a mere $145,027 by OHSA, despite their revenue being more than $50 billion in 2021.
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15points
#24
Retired firefighter here. The cause of death was a massive heart attack, but the discovery of the body was the horrific part. My engine company was sent to a smell of gas in the area. PD was already in the area and they told us, via radio, that there was a strong odor in a residential area. We arrive on the block and yeah, there's definitely a strong odor. We bust out the "sniffer" and check out some of the gas meters near by. Nothing, no hit on the meter. While searching around, this lady walks up to us and says she called 911 to report the odor.
We walk over to her house, and notice the odor getting stronger as we approach her residence. I go in her back yard and was over-powerd by the stench of rotting meat. like something cooked, but then left out in the sun to rot. We looked over the fence into her neighbor's back yard and found the cause of the smell.
Her neigbor, a portly man in his 60's, died while in his hot tub. She said she hadn't seen him for a few days. Well, he died, and was stewed into a nice thick, rich gravey while in the tub. Cooked right off the bone. Problem solved. Smell found. I was a vegetarian for the next eight years.
We walk over to her house, and notice the odor getting stronger as we approach her residence. I go in her back yard and was over-powerd by the stench of rotting meat. like something cooked, but then left out in the sun to rot. We looked over the fence into her neighbor's back yard and found the cause of the smell.
Her neigbor, a portly man in his 60's, died while in his hot tub. She said she hadn't seen him for a few days. Well, he died, and was stewed into a nice thick, rich gravey while in the tub. Cooked right off the bone. Problem solved. Smell found. I was a vegetarian for the next eight years.
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15points
#25
I have read stories somewhere about survivors of the Titanic sinking.
They said that, after the funnels fell, and the ship was sinking, people started getting sucked in to the holes left by the funnels, as the water flowed in.
Sucked in like flies, is a phrase I think I read.
I can't imagine how horrific a death that would be. Being sucked in to the bowels of the ship, crammed in to a narrow fume uptake, which is also probably still hot, as tons and tons of freezing water pounds down on you until you either drown, are crushed to death, or asphyxiated. And that's assuming you got wedged the right way up.
X10 if you got wedged upside down.
And all that in utter darkness.
They said that, after the funnels fell, and the ship was sinking, people started getting sucked in to the holes left by the funnels, as the water flowed in.
Sucked in like flies, is a phrase I think I read.
I can't imagine how horrific a death that would be. Being sucked in to the bowels of the ship, crammed in to a narrow fume uptake, which is also probably still hot, as tons and tons of freezing water pounds down on you until you either drown, are crushed to death, or asphyxiated. And that's assuming you got wedged the right way up.
X10 if you got wedged upside down.
And all that in utter darkness.
15points
#26
My partner has a book called "cruel and unusual punishments form history" I read most of it page by page, all your medieval trials and tribulations of trials and retributions but when I got to the Asian practice of "death by a thousand cuts" I had to put the book down for a bit, it said a seasoned practitioner could reduce a person down to a skinless head and torso with just the bones of the limbs left all without killing the victim! I can't think of a much worse way to go! Except maybe that guy that got sucked through the five inch decompression chamber porthole but he didn't feel a thing!
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15points
#27
Jumping out of the World Trade Center windows to avoid a fiery death on 9/11.
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15points
#28
2015 Georgia. 43 y/o Man volunteering to help clean up after major flooding was killed by a tiger when entering a local warehouse. Flooding allowed animals to escape the local zoo. He died in the local hospital after being mauled. Can’t imagine that moment of disbelief he had.
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13points
#29
In a city near where I live, there was a parent who walked in on her toddler and their friend who were having a sleepover and saw that they had been both strangled to death and were being eaten by a giant anaconda.
It had escaped from an illegal reptile merchant's shop that was on the lower level of the apartment building they were in. The kids had visited a petting zoo the previous day so they smelled like the animals. The snake escaped it's enclosure and slithered through the ventilation ducts to find them.
It had escaped from an illegal reptile merchant's shop that was on the lower level of the apartment building they were in. The kids had visited a petting zoo the previous day so they smelled like the animals. The snake escaped it's enclosure and slithered through the ventilation ducts to find them.
13points
#30
Here’s the story (I’m from Canada and it made national news): It was about six or seven years ago, not back in 1988 after the games. The bobsled track has a gate halfway down that is closed when it’s being used for the luge which has a lower entrance point to the main track.
Two twin brothers and six of their friends climbed over the fence to Canada Olympic Park in the dead of night. They had plastic slippery slides things from Costco used for tobogganing. They had done this before and didn’t know about the gate. A bobsled expert said the second they got on the track they were dead because it’s pure ice, there’s no way to stop, and they would have hit the gate at over 100 kph.
A group pushed off, slid down the track, and crashed into the gate. The first twin was killed. His friends suffered catastrophic injuries but survived. The second group, not knowing about the gate or the accident, slid down a few minutes later. They crashed into their friends and the gate. The third sled went down and crashed into the others. The second twin died and one of the twins was internally decapitated.
The parents sued the park for failing to have adequate warnings or security around the bobsled track. All the kids had to do was climb a chain link fence. I can’t remember if they won.
On a personal note, I have a friend who taught at the school where one of the twins attended. I reached out to her after it hit the news. She said he was a brilliant kid and was the student body president, but the whole school was in mourning and in shock at how someone so smart could do something so stupid. :/
Two twin brothers and six of their friends climbed over the fence to Canada Olympic Park in the dead of night. They had plastic slippery slides things from Costco used for tobogganing. They had done this before and didn’t know about the gate. A bobsled expert said the second they got on the track they were dead because it’s pure ice, there’s no way to stop, and they would have hit the gate at over 100 kph.
A group pushed off, slid down the track, and crashed into the gate. The first twin was killed. His friends suffered catastrophic injuries but survived. The second group, not knowing about the gate or the accident, slid down a few minutes later. They crashed into their friends and the gate. The third sled went down and crashed into the others. The second twin died and one of the twins was internally decapitated.
The parents sued the park for failing to have adequate warnings or security around the bobsled track. All the kids had to do was climb a chain link fence. I can’t remember if they won.
On a personal note, I have a friend who taught at the school where one of the twins attended. I reached out to her after it hit the news. She said he was a brilliant kid and was the student body president, but the whole school was in mourning and in shock at how someone so smart could do something so stupid. :/
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13points
#31
Standing on the edge of the 30,000 gallon tank of pig manure, getting overcome by the fumes, falling in, and drowning.
Happens every year. (Not to the same person, clearly. ).
Happens every year. (Not to the same person, clearly. ).
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12points
#32
Probably not as bad as the other ones in this thread, but there was a man that got "pranked" by his friends who pumped air in his [behind]. His intestines and internal organs exploded.
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12points
#34
I saw something the other day about a woman who was doing research in the ocean, and got dragged 300ft underwater by a leopard seal that grabbed her by the foot. They resurfaced ten minutes later. I believe it’s the only recorded leopard seal attack resulting in death. Hopefully she passed out quickly… that’s just so terrifying to me.
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11points
#35
Kelly Ann bates. Her MUCH older boyfriend groomed her and ended up isolating her from her family. He called the police one day to say he accidentally killed his girlfriend and she drowned.
When the police arrived she was dead in the tub but she was covered in varying stages of healed bruises, I believe her knees were broken, and he had gouged her eyes out. It was determined by the ME that the eyes were done no less than five days before her death, but no more than two-three weeks; but either way it happened while she was alive. On top of her eyes being gouged out, her eye sockets were also stabbed with a knife. Truly a horrific case.
When the police arrived she was dead in the tub but she was covered in varying stages of healed bruises, I believe her knees were broken, and he had gouged her eyes out. It was determined by the ME that the eyes were done no less than five days before her death, but no more than two-three weeks; but either way it happened while she was alive. On top of her eyes being gouged out, her eye sockets were also stabbed with a knife. Truly a horrific case.
11points
#36
Tuna plant employee cooked alive at Bumblebee plant inside the oven with tuna.
11points
#37
Some guy went into the forest to shot himself in the head. He did and survived, but couldn't move to get help. He ended up dying from dehydration. He had taken pen and paper to write a note apologizing to his family. There was a second bloody note saying how sorry he was and that he was wrong and didn't want to die.
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10points
#38
The 19 firefighters who were trapped during Yarnell Hill Fire in 2013.
The station night club fire.
The station night club fire.
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10points
#39
The guy that got his head lopped off after jumping two fences to retrieve his hat from beneath a rollercoaster. His head was *kicked* by someone's free hanging legs from the coaster going by and decapitated. The poor woman who hit him shattered her leg from the incident.
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10points
#40
A friend of mine fell off of a parking deck and straight into the fan blades of an industrial HVAC unit at a high rise hotel and he struggled trying to get out while being chopped to bits until he died.
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10points