Real-life can often be far more gruesome and terrifying than the horror and crime movies we’ve seen and the books we’ve read. And in the real world, the good guys don’t always win, miracles don’t always happen.
Redditor u/relaxito27 asked people to share the scariest things that they’ve witnessed personally, and the stories these internet users shared are not for the faint of heart. They’re raw. They’re real. They’ll take you out of your comfort zone—and not gently.
A small note of warning, dear Pandas: this article isn’t for everyone because the stories here are, frankly, truly terrifying. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, we suggest that you read this Bored Panda article about heartwarming stories instead. For those of you brave enough to scroll down, we’ve got your backs.
Bored Panda wanted to learn about how to come to terms with the fact that life can, at times, be unpredictable and that accidents can happen. So we reached out to Lee Chambers, a Psychologist and Wellbeing Consultant, who was kind enough to answer our questions about traumatic experiences and resilience.
"As human beings, we have a desire for certainty and routine that keeps us feeling safe and able to plan what lies ahead in an organized manner. When unpredictable situations or accidents impact us, it can be traumatic, and we will likely feel a sense of disappointment, frustration, and loss," he explained.
"It is important however that we embrace the fact that the world can be unpredictable and uncertain, and become more tolerant of this being a reality. Understanding that things are sometimes out of our control helps us to accept that not everything goes to plan, and accept when things happen to us that are negative. This acceptance allows us to embrace the change and difference, and manage our expectations so we can become more resilient to the ups and downs that all our lives lead."
#1
I saw A head on collision between two SUV’s on a remote section of road near Jasper. Approximately 100km from the closet hospital. I was first on the scene, pulled bodies from burning vehicles after breaking windows, my shirt caught on fire pulling people out. I attempted CPR with two other people on 4 of the six people, until they past away in our arms. Their bodies were broken, or CPR was not possible due to severe facial injuries and pneumothorax. One man kept reaching up to me asking me if he was going to die, and telling me he couldn’t breath, but his lungs were obviously perforated, I breathed for him until he passed away. I told him he was loved and was with people who cared for him. The vehicles caught on fire, causing a forest all around us and had to be put out with a helicopter hours later. During the hour that it took for EMS to get to the scene a bear walked through the scene, and we had to constantly scare it away, probably due to the smell of blood. I watched 2 people burn to death because I could not reach them through the fire, I promise I tried to save them. I was covered in blood, body fluids, bone chips, and a tooth stuck in my knee. There was a baby laying face down on the road and it was placed on what I thought was the mom while doing CPR. In the end, the baby and mother were the only ones of all 8 who lived. So many peoples lives were destroyed that day. I still have ptsd from the experience. I often feel like I failed at saving people, but their bodies were so severely damaged. Smells, sounds, textures, were all so vivid that I get flashbacks, I’m emotional writing this. Since then, I have had many horrifying dreams, but the dreams that stand out most are dreams of meeting the people who passed. In the dreams they tell me positive words of encouragement and appreciation, even laughs and jokes about life. It’s weird. Please drive safe, love each other. I tried everything I could do to help, I promise to god I tried.
Edit; I sincerely thank you all for the outpouring of kind, loving and positive thoughts and comments! I am at peace with the events of that day and very happy in life! I’m sincerely not a hero, I was just trying to help where I thought I could. Whenever I think about that day I just think about hugging the loved ones of the people who lost their loved ones. Spread that love around and we will all be hero’s!
If you were involved, or know anyone at the scene, please reach out to me!
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371points
Bored Panda also wanted to know whether hardship always makes a person stronger. According to psychologist Lee, who is the founder of Essentialise Workplace Wellbeing and PhenomGames, growth, after we experience something traumatic, isn't necessarily straightforward, but it can create the conditions for us to become more resilient.
"Post-traumatic growth isn't always simple to explain or utilise, but often the adversity we face can create a precedent for what we can overcome, help us to see what we need to be grateful for, and give us an understanding of the support we do have. A big part of opening the door to grow from our struggles is finding acceptance and taking ownership over what you can control and finding healthy ways to express the negative emotion that comes with challenges that test us," he shared with us.
#2
My mom called me at midnight asking me to go check on my dad because she was worried about him but didn't say exactly why. I found him drunk in the woods behind the house sitting on a stump with a pistol in his mouth. I spent the next 40 minutes sitting there talking him down. He eventually gave me the gun and went to bed. I'll never get over it.
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285points
#3
When I was maybe 7, my cousin and I were playing outside. We went in the front yard and saw my brother in his car with his friend. Their eyes were closed, heads back against the headrests, windows rolled up on a hot summer day. Then they started making these odd jerking movements with their arms and heads. Being kids, my cousin and I thought they were just being silly and messing with us. But when we noticed the drool and that they weren’t responding, we got scared and got my parents.
We didn’t know at the time, but we were watching my brother and his friend overdose. I don’t know what they took, I probably never will. My parents sent us in the house while they took care of the boys. They thankfully survived. But that image of them passed out in the blue, 90s Toyota will stick with me forever.
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221points
Lee also opened up about what personally helped him when he had to learn to walk again. "Using journaling and talking about how I felt played a significant part in my recovery when I had to learn to walk again, and gave me the space to grow to become mentally stronger as a result. It is also important to reflect on all the hurdles you've overcome, so you can see what skills and lessons you've learned to apply in the future, and adversity often helps us to see what really matters, and gets us closer to knowing our values and purpose."
#4
I was with my mom at McDonalds. I was about 8 years old. We had just pulled up in the parking lot. A man came out, dragging his son by the collar. The kid was about 13 or 14 years old. He was also crying. The man grabbed the boy by the throat and slammed his head against the wall. I distinctly remember the boy's choked-off screaming. The man pinned him against the wall and hit him with a closed fist.
My mom immediately called 911 and stepped out of the car to yell at the man, telling him to stop. He called her a bitch and told her to mind her own business. The cops came quickly. They interviewed me and my mom, then the boy and his father.
Then they let the man go home with his boy. The cops said they didn't see anything, so they couldn't prove anything. I remember being frantic, terrified. I begged them to stop the man from driving away. They ignored me, got in their car, and left.
It was the most scared I'd ever been up until that moment, watching the cops drive away and the black pickup with the dad and his son drive away as well. I will never forget that kid or how scared I was seeing him hurt, then seeing people just let him get hurt more.
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210points
#5
Ah….well. This happened around 15 years ago. I was visiting El Salvador with my family and long time friend of 30+ years. One day we went to a coast line and thought it was a great place to fish, we could see for miles away and my friend was a well experienced diver+boater. I was feeling really tired that day so I head off to sleep.I wake up and realize I dozed off too long as It’s around 6pm and it’s dark. I look around the house that we rented for the week and realize I’m the only one here. My family or friend isn’t here so I wait one more hour and feel a sense of dread come over me almost Immediately and ran out to where I last saw them. As I run down the street I realize a large group of people are gathering at the coast and find out my kids are stranded near the coastline with people throwing things to them to latch on to. My wife is crying and yelling and I help some other guys pull them to safety. Then I realize that my friend and the boat is gone. I do one last look at the coastline and hear “IM SORRY! I DID MY BEST! IM SORRY!” And I see my friend go down the ocean with the boat flipping over him and drowning him. He swam for 3 hours in rough water with my kids bringing them as close to the coast as he could before succumbing to exhaustion still thinking he didn’t do good enough.
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186points
#6
A job I used to work at, my boss had a heart attack in his office and died in the middle of the shift. The office lights were motion activated so we thought he left to go something as it was dark. I went into the office to get a new radio and there he was, leaned back in his chair with his eyes wide open. Scariest thing I've ever seen
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174points
It’s no secret that we have a deep fascination with horror stories—whether real or made up—as human beings. The strange, the bizarre, the chilling all grab our attention and sometimes we feel like we can’t unglue our eyes from the screen. Topics dealing with death, especially, are popular (even if some folks won’t admit to enjoying reading them).
Award-winning editor and writer Doug Murano previously explained to Bored Panda that our fascination with scary stories lies in our deep-seated curiosity. “I suspect that most of us—regardless of our spiritual beliefs—have a longing for something beyond this life. Human beings seem to be pre-programmed with this urge," he told us.
"So much of horror and speculative fiction grapples with death and what happens after we die that I can't help but believe much of our interest in such stories is an expression of a longing for experiences and existences beyond our perceptions," the editor and writer mused.
"Great horror stories thread a precarious needle: They maintain a sense of the truly inexplicable while creating a world and a narrative that provides enough answers to ground the story,” he told us.
#7
I was a skydiving instructor for a couple years.
There was a really cocky kid that went through our program, who was pretty bad at listening, barely tested into the solo jump phase, etc. I didn’t have the authority to kick him out, and regardless, I wasn’t close enough to the situation to know whether or not they were wrong in letting him jump.
His first jump, he had a poor free fall (not uncommon), but not terrible canopy work.
I saw his second jump, where he didn’t follow radio directions under canopy, and turned without looking, such that his parachute wrapped around another student, obstructing that student’s vision and mobility.
At this point, with the first kid hanging by a collapsed canopy wrapped around the second kid (~1000ft off the ground), they are trained to ride it down since neither is moving at a dangerous speed towards the ground. But of course, dingus doesn’t want to follow direction (or the advice given to him over the radio). He cuts away his first parachute, going back into free fall, to allow his reserve to deploy.
Watching from the tower that day, I thought I would witness this kid bounce off the ground. Fortunately, we had some of the best riggers in the country working for us, and the reserve deployed immediately. No sooner had it fully deployed, that kid touched down.
He couldn’t have cut it any closer! Suffice it to say, this kid didn’t get to jump again.
Edit: all students jump with radios, so the kid whose vision was obstructed was able to follow radio instructions to land safely, even though he had to do so without being able to see in front of him.
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173points
#8
Saw an old man slip and die at a bus stop in Portland early in the morning when I was a teenager. That was sad, but what really shook me was the way he was picked up by an ambulance, the sidewalk was washed off, and they left. Within 15 minutes people were occupying that space waiting for a bus, and it was like it had never happened.
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165points
#9
Two drunk homeless guys were fighting and one got pushed down onto the Miami metrorail tracks with a train visible in the distance. He wasn’t able to stand on his own and nobody was helping. I jumped down and forced him back up as someone else pulled him on to the platform. I made it back up with the only like 20 seconds before the train came.
I was afraid I would be electrocuted or wouldn’t have been able to get him back in time and would’ve had to leave him.
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146points
“Over-explanation kills most horror, which is why the shark is scariest when you only see the fin; the alien is most terrifying when it's lurking in the shadows; the killer is most monstrous when he's masked," Doug explained to Bored Panda that if we can see the monster in the scary story, we can start thinking rationally. If it remains shrouded in the shadows, it’s far more terrifying.
Doug added that it’s best to enjoy scary stories in full no matter if they’re fact or fiction. A great story is a great story, regardless of whether it was embellished or completely made up.
#10
My cousin getting attacked by a Rottweiler. We had a neighbor (14) that had a Rottweiler tied up in their backyard. We always thought it was friendly. We would hangout with our neighbor often. This one particular time my neighbor's sister was feeding/playing with the dog. My cousin (8) and his twin brother went over to join her. One of them got on the doghouse and the dog didn't seem to like that, so it latched onto my cousin's thigh. He jumped down and tried to run away but the dog pushed him down and grabbed onto my cousin's head and started thrashing him around. I was in shock. I couldn't move and it took me a few seconds to realize what was going on. It was like watching it happen in slow motion. His head being snatched back and forth and blood everywhere. I snapped out of it when I saw my neighbor run towards them and started punching the dog in the face. He let go and my cousin took off running and screaming that he had a hole on his head. I ran over to him and tried to calm him down. His scalp was hanging off his head. I could see the white of his skull. We lived next to my parent's restaurant and the parking lot was full of customers. I called 911 and the ambulance was there in minutes. He was taken to the hospital and had to have his scalp stapled and stitches on his chest and thigh. He was scared of dogs for the longest after that.
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140points
#11
A car accident between a motorcyclist and a car, the cyclist head rolled to the sidewalk near me. Not pretty.
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136points
#12
I worked with a lady with dementia. Weird things happened often, but you know, not your house, creepy things happen. But then once, I was sitting on her bed, doing her nails, and she asked. “ Who’s that man?” And pointed to the foot of her bed. I looked, and was prepping my normal response, when I saw an indentation at the edge of the bed, rise like someone just stood up. She followed him with her finger.
133points
"My professional expertise is limited to fiction, but I'll say this: I've seen enough real magic and wonder in the world to make me think twice about whether the supernatural is real—and I think that's a healthy thing. It's perhaps less important to believe any given tale than it is to remain open to experiences while leaving room in your head and in your heart for belief."
#13
Just this past Saturday I hit the local bar to get some carry-out and a growler. I saw a friend outside and chatted for maybe three minutes when another guy took a step, tripped, and face planted hard into a “stepped” area of concrete. In the blink of an eye this guy was within minutes of dying. He began convulsing and vomiting uncontrollably, could not speak, and was bleeding profusely from his head, nose, and ears. He hit so hard that his nose was shattered and his skull split open across his forehead. EMT’s were stunned and got him out of there as fast as possible. The bartender came out and washed more blood and vomit than I’ve ever seen from the pavement with buckets of hot bleach water.
The scariest part was the speed at which this happened. People were standing so close to this guy but he went down so fast and hard that there wasn’t time to react and catch him. The violence of the impact was shocking.
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132points
#14
I watched both WTC towers come down from a few blocks away.
Had serious PTSD for about 15 years.
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132points
#15
Holding my dads hand and watching him flatline and die after pulling him off the machines.
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131points
#16
My husband having a psychotic break from sleep deprivation a few days after we had our first born child.
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129points
#17
Me, a 25 year old tram driver, once almost hit a group of teenagers who ignored all warning signs, causing me to hit the emergency brakes and injure 4 of the passengers in my tram, who fell to the floor due to the sudden stop of the tram. Also, i was traumatized for 2 weeks and needed to take off work to go to therapy. I swear, in that moment i saw these kids, i just hit the brakes, closed my eyes and prayed i dont feel an impact. That was by far the scariest thing in my life so far.
127points
#18
Arrived at an accident about 30 seconds after it occurred. A friend of mine was driving and rolled the car, she was thrown clear (no seatbelt - wear them FFS!) and hit a tree.
I found her, did first aid and helped the paramedics lift her onto the stretcher and into the ambulance. Her body stopped functioning about a week later but it's pretty obvious she died there (massive brain trauma), it just took a while for the end.
124points
#19
I haven’t had the most adventurous life, but I remember one time when we were camping, my family was hiking around on this big rock and it starting getting cloudy. My dad and siblings climbed up to the top of the rock but my mom and I decided it was too steep for us. My dad reached up into the air and said he could feel static on his fingers. My little sisters hair starting standing up a little, and my dad was just standing there with my brother, laughing at the staticky feeling he got when he reached up. My mom and I tried to convince him to come down but he wouldn’t. Eventually he ended up getting down and no one was hurt, but I was terrified watching my little sisters hair stand up and my dad not do anything about it. He’s a good dad, but sometimes he can be a moron. He didn’t think the situation was that serious, even with my mom and I freaking out
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124points
#20
Back in the mid 70’s I worked for a company called TriForm Corp in Gurnee, Illinois. I worked in the machine shop on day shift. I usually went in early so I could have a smoke and a cup of coffee before I started my shift. I worked on a turret lathe mostly. There was a woman who ran that turret lathe on third shift, so I always took over from her. I didn’t know her all that well, just knew that she was pretty and had long silky hair. One morning I heard a scream and then people scrambling, lots of shouting. I ran over to the source of the noise. It was that girl. Her long hair had gotten tangled on the piece of bar stock she had been working with. It grabbed her hair and ripped her scalp off, peeling in from the back of her head the tip of her nose. When I got there it was still spinning around. I’ll never forget that wet slapping sound it made. I hit the emergency stop. Somebody had grabbed towels and stuff and wrapped her head and was trying to keep her calm but she was hysterical. It was bad. Real bad.
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123points