People Who Were Scared To Their Core Share Their 30 Spine-Chilling Experiences

I went to go stargazing with a friend at a nearby field in Pennsylvania, near Collegeville, around 1995-1997 ~~1998.~~ We were laying down in the tall grass and looking up at the stars and we heard a rustle in the trees nearby...and then then the nose of a gun poked out of the bushes maybe 15 feet away, pointed in our direction. It was a hunter who thought we were deer, because he couldn't see us, but he heard & saw the movement of the grass. We knew if we moved, invisible (as humans) in the tall grass, we would be shot. We even saw a deer earlier, as he probably did.

I felt pure terror in that moment and without even realizing I was doing it, I found myself raising my hand slowly while singing "You are my sunshine"; I just wanted to be as NOT DEER as possible. I kept singing until I was standing up and the gun retreated and I heard twigs snapping as the hunter walked away. I honestly don't remember what happened after that, adrenaline and all, but I assume we must have walked back soon after. I have no idea why that song came to mind, as I was on total auto-pilot survival mode.

Probably the bravest thing I have ever done and i'm glad it was just a hunter hoping to bag a deer. I'm glad I was able to convince him I was not a deer.

EDIT: this was along the Perkiomen Trail near Ursinus College; and it wasn't hunting season so we were not expecting to need precautions.

When I was little I had sleep paralysis. I thought I was getting kidnapped by aliens until my wonderful mother convinced me it was actually demons trying to take possession of me. I had it pretty frequently and it was terrifying "waking up" unable to move, completely helpless, and convinced something evil is trying to destroy you. I was convinced at the time if I could just start praying out loud the demons would have to leave, but I couldn't speak often for what felt like minutes at a time. Nowadays sleep paralysis is a favorite topic on the internet, but I didn't understand what was actually happening to me until I took a course on the neuroscience of sleep in college.

Snowpocalypse last year. I'm from Texas and have lived here my entire life. I've seen snow maybe 10 times. My power kept going out buy I wasn't too worried. It would be off for 5 minutes then back for an hour but by that afternoon it turned off completely. My mom had been offering to come get me and my cats all morning but I didn't want any of us driving after I read about all of the wrecks that had already happened but once I'd been without power for a few hours and started shivering I realized I couldn't stay. I spent the next hour so scared for her driving but also for us if she couldn't get to my side of town. Luckily we made it back home safely and I will always be so incredibly grateful because my apartment lost power and water for 5 days. I had a full blown panic attack once we made it there safely. People made fun of us for "not being able to handle a little snow" but it was terrifying. Our houses are built to keep the heat out so it very quickly dropped to freezing inside for a lot of people. We had 6 adults and 10 pets staying with my folks by the second day because they are on the same grid as a hospital. We lost water but had prepared for that. So many people died just trying to keep warm any way that they could.

I'm pretty sure these two old dudes were going to kidnap me once when I was 16. When I tell this story, people think I'm overreacting to some typical "harmless" creeps who weren't seriously going to do anything to me. But you would have just had to see their body language and hear this man's voice for yourself to get it. Like most women, I have heard my fair share of creepy comments from the usual men that cat call women in parking lots and stuff. This was very different. I was browsing cds alone in a store. The cd section was completely empty, aside from me. While I was looking, suddenly these two middle aged men materialized out of nowhere. They had me corned up, standing so close they were almost touching me. I looked up into the face of the one on my left, and he just had this completely blank face. With no inflection in his voice, he said, "Hey gorgeous, what are you doing tonight?" I remember being surprised by how normal he looked, because he looked like he could have been one of my friends' dad's or someone my dad knows. Very typical looking man in his mid to late 50s with completely gray hair and glasses, and a buttoned up long sleeved shirt tucked into his jeans. He looked clean and well kept. But he was giving off major serial killer vibes. His cold, expressionless face, his monotone voice... I just knew he wanted to do some Ted Bundy stuff to me. I didn't look at his friend's face, but I remember that he had a huge beer gut. I didn't reply, I just quickly darted between him and his fat friend and ran away.

Got lost when I was out skiing and almost dove off a cliff. Wound up hanging on the edge of a tree branch off like a 100 foot drop.
It was 25 years ago and I still can feel that almost hollowed out feeling in my chest. Almost like a vacuum.

Met a bear cub walking through the forest. It was 10 ft away from me, and was curious so was walking towards me. Couldn't see it's Mom. Just slowly backed away and kept walking backwards for probably half a mile.

I was home alone when there was a knock on my front door. A man I’ve never seen before. I peeked through the blind and shook me head no and pointed to go away. He drove off a few minutes later. I’m standing in my kitchen when I see the car back in my driveway again and I see him walking around to my backyard. I immediately go upstairs to try to get a better view of where he is and what he’s doing. I went to go downstairs to grab a knife when I hear my front door open and he’s inside. I locked myself in my mom’s bathroom frantic, tried to open the window to jump out but the window got stuck. For a good 5 minutes I genuinely thought I was going to get murdered. I’ll never forget the feeling. Turned out to be a new rennovation man who was sent over for the first time that day and had a key.

I was sick at home lying in bed when I got the news that my cousin’s school was now in lock down do to a active shooter. I texted him and got no response for awhile. I’ve never felt more cold in my life and I can still feel the dread crawling up my spine if I think about the memory. He’s alive and ran away since he was outside but he had his phone taken away at the time but god damn I’ve never simultaneously had my heart pounding at the speed of sound while the world was moving slower than any slow mo camera will ever be

Hit a mountain on a submarine at 250 feet and 6 knots.

Hit it a second time with the rudder and emergency blew to the surface.

Port side ballast tanks check valves froze shut until I hit them with a rubber mallet.

My fifth day at sea.

Tornado sirens blaring at 11:30 at night