From a terrifying allergic reaction to almond milk, to almost getting run over by dads car, people who have had a near-death experience share what happened.
[Source can be found at the end of the article]
Mom had a seizure while driving and I was in the passenger seat. I couldn’t reach the brakes so I tried to take the wheel and do the best I could. I drove into a guard rail just before a pretty steep cliff and went under it, but it stopped us before we went over.
PersonaDante
I was shot with a bow and arrow. The arrow hit me in the chest and luckily missed my vital organs. It was a complete accident and I made a full recovery, but even though I forgave him, my friend who fired the shot and I no longer speak…
jonassteele
When I was a teenager, I was skateboarding down this stair-set near a road. I had been doing a few different tricks, but on my last try I did my signature nightmare flip, which I’ve landed on perfectly a hundred times. Somehow this time I messed up and fell on my butt, my board went into the street and got annihilated by a box truck instantly. Had I landed it, I would have been killed.
It wasn’t the kind of thing where I saw my life flash before my eyes or anything, but I just sat there in shock as the guy stopped and started screaming at me, my friends started yelling back, bla bla bla, everything was like muted and I just stared into the street like “what just happened?”
OutrageousClams
I was using a urinal in a restaurant, and the next moment I was on a backboard surrounded by first responders. I had fainted in the restroom, and smashed my head on the tile floor, causing a brain bleed. 1/3 of the people who do this die on impact (Sonny Bono). Another 1/3 die within 24 hours (Natasha Richardson). I was in the fortunate 1/3 that survive, but still have some lifelong issues from it.
Scrappy_Larue
I was maybe 7 or 8 years old. Friends and I were swimming in our pool and I decided it was a good idea to go to the deep end and swim from the bottom upwards behind the ladder, in the space between the ladder and the side of the pool. I knowingly did this and got stuck once I got the top half of my body past the first steps. So there I am basically stuck and drowning 4 feet underwater, my other friend who had goggles on saw me and somehow pulled the bottom half of the ladder far enough away from the wall for me to swim out from under it. The angle I was in, I had no leverage on it myself since my arms were stuck to my side. That was terrifying. Now anytime someone jokingly jumps on me or if I have the slightest feeling of being held down underwater I completely go into sheer panic. If my friend didn’t see me, or they just left me underneath I would have 100% drowned.
gt35r
I accidentally drank almond milk last year. I’m very VERY allergic. It was almost surreal, feeling each part of your body change one by one. First your mouth and tongue swell, your throats starts to close, you start panicking for air, your whole body erupts in hives and rashes and itches everywhere, then vomiting, choking on vomit because you can’t breathe. When people say the coming of death feels peaceful, anaphylaxis definitely does not apply. I was practically begging for it to stop.
ahpuuro
Driving home from school for Thanksgiving break just over a week ago I was caught in a flash flood going 80 down the highway. I was in the right lane of a four lane (two each way) road. A gust of wind hit me and I flew off the left side into a ditch, and spun around like a carnival ride. If the ditch wasnt quite as deep, I wouldve ended up in oncoming traffic.
Closest to dying Ive ever come.
canderis
This actually happened last week so it’s still pretty fresh.
My boyfriend and I go to college together, we also live very close to each other, so I was driving us home for Thanksgiving. I was on the highway, and someone decided to turn into my lane when I was only 10-20ft from them going 70 mph.
I swerved to avoid them, and my car ended up going into the grassy median. I swerved to avoid the guard rail and the various reflectors, but because I was still going so fast, I braked to slow down.
That’s when my car flipped over.
My boyfriend blacked out immediately, while I was conscious the whole time as we flipped three times. I was sitting in that car waiting for the sweet release of either death or a black out to hit. Thankfully, it didn’t.
Once everything stopped, I crawled out of the vehicle (which miraculously landed right side up) calling for help.
My boyfriend and I were very lucky. He and I both received concussions, he fractured his hand and big toe, I ended up with a bruised lung and several bruises on my legs and arms, but we were practically unscathed.
rosie-skies
I was skiing with my best friend on his birthday. For the skiers out there, it was a bluebird groomer day, so the snow was hard and fast. I have always been a bit of a speed freak so I was flying down the mountain. I must have been pushing 50-60 MPH.
I was getting down a double black diamond at the bottom of the mountain (Racer’s Edge for my Hunter Mtn. Skiers!) when I realized I was out of control and I was going to crash. The trail was split down the middle by a grove of trees that normally you could pass by on the left or the right eventually turning right to get down to the lift. This particular day, the right side was closed. On the left there is a fence to keep you from going into a ravine type of area off trail.
I cut as hard as I could to turn across the trail towards the lift as I approached the fence. All of a sudden, I am on my back against the fence. My skis were wedged into the fence so hard I had to release my bindings and pry them out. I was concussed, my googles cracked, mouth bleeding. I was wearing a new thermal and the spot on my back where I hit the ground ripped open from the impact and actually had a cut. I was in a sling stumbling around for a few days with a headache. The thing is, I don’t remember hitting the fence or falling or anything. One second I was turning, the next I was in the ground. For the life of me I have no idea how I survived… I should have gone headfirst into a fence that does not move.
SirSquonkington
I did go-kart with a scarf on, and it caught on the wheel. It was attached in a sort of sliding knot that meant instant hanged man.
It eventually ripped itself from my throat and when I found the scarf later, it was intact. I still don’t know how I survived that it should not have been possible.
It really should not have been possible. I should be dead.
Murderous_squirrel
About 9 month ago, I was in a car accident. I was on my way to my girlfriend’s house (45 minute drive). I had never seen so much rain before. And there I was, a 19-year-old guy driving his 1997 Mitsubishi Carisma. I hit a puddle of water which made my car aquaplaning on the left side. The car was turning left as I turned right. I over-steered the car and hit the crash barriers with about 120km/h.
In that short period of time I relived my whole life. Seeing memories Ive had with my family, friends and my girlfriend. I also remember thinking that this is how it is going to end.
Then a stranger opened the car door and asked if Im okay. I didn’t feel any pain, so I stood out and looked at my car. None of the airbags had been activated, and the front was completely crushed.
I walked away from the accident with a bit of pain in the elbows and back. I am thankful to be alive today!
Larselele
In the fifth grade, I was at a close friend’s pool party. We all decided to play chicken in the pool. Of course, I’ve always been the “tall guy” in the group so I’m usually on the bottom. Well, we lost a round and I fell flat on my stomach on the bottom of the pool. All fine and dandy until I realized that somehow a few of the kids’ legs were knotted and bound with my partner’s arm… that was wrapped around my neck. The worst part was that everyone in the pool kept pushing my friend down (the birthday boy) to dunk him and mess around. So my friend couldn’t tell them I was under him and no one knew I was at the bottom.
I attempted to push them all up to get out of the water about five times (being pushed and slipping back to my stomach on each attempt). The final time I had no more energy and felt calm laying at the bottom of the pool. My surroundings faded and I passed out.
I woke up at some point in the lawn throwing up water. A terrifying experience for me to this day.
Drew_Pooo
My house has a car entrance , and that’s where I would go with huge excitement to hug my dad when he came from work. (Keep in mind I was about 5 or 6 years old). So my dad comes and I run to the car but he can’t see me (I was very short), so he can’t push the brakes. I swear the only thing that saved me as I went under the car was a big vase that stopped the wheels. I remember my dad crying and I don’t want to imagine what would happen if not for that vase.
coughsyrypbby
I had been playing hide and seek at night when I was 12 and my mom had already told me to go inside several times. On the last game before we wrapped up, I ran for the base and did not see one of of those Mexican cast iron tripods used for cooking outdoors and ran straight into it
Ours was rusty and full of dirt from being left in the rain and one of those legs jammed strait my skin just above the ankle. It hurt A LOT! I didn’t want my mom to find out what had just happened, since she had already called me several times to go inside. So i limped it off rolled up my sock and hid it from my parents.
For about a week, I wore nothing but sweat pants around the house and jeans to school. I thought the gash had closed since I could see a scab had formed and it had stopped hurting even though it still looked red and swollen.
Fast forward a few days later and I have a ridiculously high fever and end up in the emergency room. The cut had gone septic and the infection had eaten away at the flesh just below the scab. The doctor said there was a high chance of amputation if the infection had reached my bone and I was lucky I didn’t die.
shuckels
I was working live sound at a festival for a small town. While we were setting up the speaker and light structure, we noticed the wire cable that hoists and holds the speakers was starting to fray so we were going to bring the speakers down to replace the cable. As we are bringing the speakers down I heard the cable start to creak.
Then like in a movie, time slowed down. I heard the cable snap, some lady screamed, and about 500 pounds of speakers fell from about 10 feet in the air and landed about 6 inches away from me.
Luckily no one got hurt but if I was positioned any more to the right I probably would have died or lost a limb.
AllDayIDreamOfCats
I was cycling down a blissfully quiet country lane in the UK in the height of summer, enjoying myself. An 18 wheeler comes out of nowhere from behind. I didn’t even hear it.
It sailed past me and the rear left tail light pylon clipped me, hooked around my back pack and ripped me out of the saddle and sent me flying into a ditch.
My view was straight ahead, then ground, then sky, then ground, then sky, then grass, then sky, then ditch, then black.
I remember coming round a few minutes later, and I distinctly remember it being quiet and sunny still, as if nothing had happened.
The driver didn’t stop, didn’t see him or get a license number or anything, and this was about 12 years ago so I don’t remember the fine details.
When I was flying through the air, I had the weirdest thought about the lorry that it was blue and that was a nice colour for a lorry. Why would you think about that when your life is literally flying before your eyes…
airwalkerdnbmusic
I was going fast on a highway when the car in front of me slammed on the brakes out of nowhere. I tried stopping but quickly determined at my current speed that what would end up stopping me was the car in front so I swerved to the open left lane. I ended up over correcting in a very top-heavy car and proceeded to flip my car multiple times through each lane until I ended up on the right shoulder with my car precariously balanced over the edge of an overpass I was on (Miraculously not hitting anyone else). I managed to walk away with some minor scratches and the EMTs were baffled as to how I was not more damaged after rolling my car a few times. My car was totaled and I ended up stranded in a city I knew no one in. Luckily an acquaintance just happened to be driving behind me and saw the accident and gave me a ride home. It was both a bad day (Car totaled) and a great day (No one died).
Detoxbyretox
I have a heart condition that causes me to faint and then consequently results in me having seizures. When I was 7 years old, this happened in a swimming pool and I drowned. The memories aren’t clear but I will never forget the blackness and the sensation of falling (I was terrified of heights and falling sensations prior to this). It was sort of like in the movies when the character is just hanging about in the black abyss but instead of floating it’s just endless falling. I don’t really believe in hell or the afterlife now, but at the time I was absolutely convinced that it was my own personal damnation. I still don’t like to think about it too much.
mountydoyle
I was 8 years old and at my friend’s swimming party. I was quite an excellent swimmer for that age, so my parents and friends never expected anything to happen.
You know those massive inflatable rings? Me and 5 other friends were sitting on top of one, and one by one dropping into the centre of the donut, swimming under the ring and surfacing on the outside. A boy pushed me into the centre. I decided to just swim under the ring and shove him in too. The only thing is, I only had about half a breath of air. One of the boys tried to reach down and grabbed my ankle as I was swimming down. I just kicked out and got free. I surfaced on the other side of the donut, but there was one of those massive floats in the way. I kept swimming along under it.
It turned out, the donut had drifted close to a wall. The float was pushed right up between the wall and the donut, so I couldn’t get to the surface. I was really panicking, but I managed to grab the edge of the float and pull myself backwards and up to the surface. The lifeguards hadn’t seen me, as I’d been below the ring and float. If I hadn’t been a strong swimmer, I might not have made it to the surface and I wouldn’t have been noticed for a minute or two.
Reckless_Fish
I was on vacation with my friend’s family on the beach, and we were all sitting on the hotel pool area porch type thing having some food and chilling. It was pretty windy out but tolerable.
I suddenly felt my chair get kicked / bumped into and I assumed it was one of my friends messing around or something and trying to move my chair rather than just asking me to stand up.
I turned around to be like “chill, dude!” and noticed that there was a 3-4″ long metal spearhead about 2 inches to the right of my head.
Turns out that this hotel, for some reason, has giant metal points on the ends of their deck table umbrellas and that they are not all properly secured to the tables.
A gust of wind took the umbrella and sent it flying right at my head. If I were sitting 2 inches to the right I’d probably be dead.
Lokotor
My brother and I were hiking up a mountain, nothing serious. We did it once a month every now and then. It was before the “winter apocalypse” hit the south. We always take a different trail because you could see more on the way up. What we didn’t know was that the trail had ice on it and there is a drop very close to the trail. We both slipped and was slid close to the drop. We held onto small craters for a good 5 minutes. We were scared and began breaking the ice so we could get up without falling again.
It’s unthinkable how long time can feel when your adrenaline goes high!
UnAuthorize
I was wake surfing on a lake with my family. Jet Skiers have a tendency to follow wake boats because they make nice waves to jump. I fell off the board, but the jet skiers didn’t see me fall. They kept going forward and one of them came a few feet from running me over at full speed (taking my head off basically). I distinctly remember seeing the jet ski a few feet in front of me driving straight at my head and thinking ‘not good.
But I’m still alive!
SadisticGinger-
I was working out for the Army and strained my neck. A few weeks later it still hurt so I went to a chiropractor. On the second visit, he twisted my neck in a way that tore an artery at the base of my skull. I bled into my brain, clotted, and immediately stroked out. I remember feeling really drunk right before I hit the floor because the clot was in the part of my brain that handles balance. Chiropractor freaked out, rushed me to the hospital, and I think I threw up in his car. Neurologist said if I had been ten minutes late, I would’ve probably been dead.
lookingeastward
When I was 8, I was at a driving range hitting golf balls with my older brother who was 19 and quite good. It was just me and him there since my dad was playing in a small tournament on the course and we were waiting for him to get done.
I hit a crappy shot that went like 15 feet in front of me to the right and I decided it was far enough away from my brother so he wouldn’t hit me and like I said he was a good player. The last thing I remember was bending down to pick up my ball.
Apparently my brother had a rare bad swing and his ball hit me very hard in the side of my head. I was knocked out immediately. My body went in to the fencing response as a result to the trauma and my brother thought I was having a seizure. He assumed the worst thinking it hit my temple and he really thought he had killed me. He stayed as calm as he could and called 911 and also tried to get a hold of our dad.
I woke up to my dad and brother next to me and my brother started bawling his eyes out saying how sorry he was and then I started crying too. I did have a concussion and eating for the next two weeks hurt my jaw because of the bruise. I learned my lesson and my older brother is currently an amateur on the PGA tour so I guess it had a happy ending.
Terarri
Me and some friends used to go to the beach to play volleyball some evenings. One night, me and one of the guys walked over to a gas station across the road in between games to get a snack or whatever. A minute or two later everyone pulled up in a car. When we went to go back, the girl driving (who no one really knew that well) was like, “Hey just hop on the trunk and hold on, it’s just right back across the road.” So my friend and I are like ok cool and hop on.
This girl had the brilliant idea once we were in the parking lot to take a turn going about 40 mph thinking it would be funny. We both got flung off the back of the car. Luckily, my friend landed in grass but still ended up breaking his arm. I was thrown onto the pavement where I cracked my head open, broke a collar bone, ankle, and 3 ribs. I went unconscious, and from what I was told, one of my friends literally sat there holding the back of my head together while they waited for medics to arrive. I had to get life-lighted to a hospital about an hour away. I had 2 or 3 seizures on the way. When I came around in the hospital later that evening, the doctor told me had my friend not been holding my head together, or had the medics shown up like 5 minutes after they did I probably wouldn’t have made it. But all is well now. The girl took off after she saw what she had done, and ended up getting arrested and charged with something or another. The last I heard she was in jail but that was like 2-3 years ago.
CarsenAF
I was hanging out in a train yard at like 1am with my boyfriend in high school. We climbed on top of a train that had two storage containers stacked (so it was probably about 30ft off the ground) to watch the stars. We really didnt expect the train to start moving because we had watched some other trains take off and we could see the lights and stuff come on well beforehand. Well, this one started moving with no warning at all so we had to scramble down as fast as we could. It was heading downhill so we had to move real fast or we werent going to make it. My boyfriend did fine coming down to the little platform between the cars because hes tall as hell but Im more than a foot shorter than him so I missed the footing and slipped down the last five feet or so. He had already jumped off because the space was small and he had to get out of my way before I reached it. I hit the platform and stumbled back and my foot went over the edge into the gap between the cars. I was so close to slipping into the gap and being crushed under the train that was now moving pretty fast. I still had footing with my other foot so I pushed as hard as a could and kinda launched myself to the side where I tumbled down the gravel hill. I had some cuts and bruises but other than that I was completely fine. I started laughing uncontrollably and basically thought what a cool thing that just happened! I could have died! but then I had nightmares about being crushed by a train for like a month. Im never gonna mess with trains again.
bluekc
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