These people recount their brushes with death at the hands of another.
Grandpa Saved The Day
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“My father was in the Navy in Vietnam when I was born. He decided he did not want a child after all and declined to provide support until his CO was notified and forced him to send money home. While he was home on leave he tried to suffocate me with a plastic bag, My grandfather confronted him with a .30-06 hunting weapon and backed him out of the house.”
That Poor Kid
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“My girlfriend’s ex ambushed us coming home one night, around 1 am. He stepped from the garage and shot me in the chest, then as my girlfriend pushed her son toward the dark bushes and told him to run she tripped and fell. He shot her 6 times, in the head and chest with a .357, reloaded and then was scared off by the blazing security lights of our neighbor. Her son escaped because of the lights, I lived by playing dead, pulled my cell out when he ran off. Got 911 and cops/paramedics showed up after her son helped get a rag to cover what I thought was one hole. The necklace I was wearing deflected the bullet (novelty dog tag) and the bullet went sideways out chest my and into my arm. One bullet, three holes (four when they cut it out of my arm on other side where it stopped just under the skin).
Her son is pretty messed up by it all, to say the least as she was killed the DAY after she had the restraining order served; I’ve recovered mentally, I think.”
When She Didn’t Want To Get Pregnant, He Tried To Kill Her
“My ex was extremely violent and controlling. He was trying to make me pregnant so I would be dependent on him and never leave him. Basically, he found out I’d been taking birth control pills. He poured boiling water over me as I slept and stabbed me multiple times. Thankfully a neighbor heard my screams and called the police.
Now, I couldn’t be better. I am engaged to the love of my life and we have a beautiful son together and my ex is in prison and will not be seeing the light of day for many more years.”
Taking Monster In Law To A New, Horrifying Level
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“I was almost murdered by my mother in law. She’s literally the devil. She thought I was I trying to keep ‘her baby’ (no, not her son, my husband. she was calling my oldest kid HER baby). She also thought I ‘trapped’ my husband by getting pregnant (we were together for nearly 8 years at that time and married for 4 when I got pregnant). Anyway, she tried to set me up.
One day I walked into my home with my oldest son while I was pregnant. I walk into the bathroom to grab a towel or something and in there I found my mother in law covered in her own blood holding a knife. She starts to yell and then attacks me. She keeps saying how dare I try to kill her and take her away from her baby and how I was trying to deprive my son of her love. I was trying to protect myself and get out of the bathroom while trying to calm her down.
At this point, she stabs me in the chest when trying to stab my stomach and screams, ‘My baby doesn’t deserve you. How could he marry someone who tried to kill his mama?’ At this point, I’m REALLY in shock and realize she was trying to make it look like I attacked her and she was defending herself. I manage to run out and I yell at my son to go to next door and get help which he does. I barricade myself in our office room (it had these heavy oak doors) and try to control my bleeding. Mother in law is outside banging on the door saying how I’m jealous of her and the love and relationship she shares with her son and my son and how I’m trying to isolate them from her.
The cops came, she was arrested and I ended up in the hospital and lost the baby. It was and still is hard to think about the baby I lost, but I’m glad my mother in law is out of the picture right now as obviously she was locked up. And luckily my oldest son was really young and doesn’t have too many memories of that day. He didn’t see anything-merely heard all the shouting and me yelling at him to run away. Me and my husband at that time were actually considering divorce because of problems with his mother in law, but that situation changed a lot of things.”
Her Mother Was A Master Manipulator
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“My mother was abusive, when she couldn’t hit me anymore because of her arthritis she would encourage my younger autistic sister to hit me, usually while our mom watched.
As I got older it escalated. There was this time in high school where I had decided to really fight back, I didn’t care anymore about being punished for hitting back, but my sister was bigger than me so she kicked my butt. Then when she was done kicking me she got on top of me and started to choke me. I watched her squeeze her hamster to death a few years before so I thought she would kill me too, and she had already threatened it a bunch of times before.
I woke up on the floor of the living room with my sister crying next to me. She told me she thought I was dead, and that she was sorry, she had never apologized to me before for anything, so I just kind of sat there confused for a minute. She couldn’t stop sobbing, so I ended up comforting her and telling her that it was going to be ok.
This was about 11 years ago. My sister and I have had a good relationship now for 2 years. We hang out a couple of times a year and it’s been going well. She changed a lot for the better when she started living on her own and thinking her own thoughts. I don’t have a relationship with mommie dearest or my spineless father anymore and I plan on keeping it that way.”
A Family Picnic At The Beach Took A Sinister Turn
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“After the divorce, my father kept insisting that I was not his child. My grandmother, his mother, told him to shut his mouth because it was clear to anyone in the family that I was his, and to pay child support (pretty much everyone in my father’s family hates my father). Because my mother was on good terms with my paternal family, I spent a lot of time with them growing up (which was great, I had many cousins my age).
Once, when I was about five, we were at a family picnic at the beach and my father had opted to come along as well for once. This raised my grandmother’s hackles, but she didn’t say no, thinking that maybe, just maybe, my father was turning over a new leaf. Well, at one point my father decided to take me wading in the waves. I was over the moon, I loved the ocean and just wanted to splash around in it. Well, my father took me out wading a little, deeper than I had ever been, and there were waves crashing. I loved it.
Then he pushed me over and just kept pushing me down when I struggled to get back up. Over and over. I remember panicking because I couldn’t breathe, and my father wasn’t letting me up.
Thankfully my aunt noticed what was happening, she and another aunt tackled my father and rescued me. My father was shunned from the family after that, and a police report was made. Unfortunately some really stupid judge several years later declared that I had to spend time with my father to make sure I had a ‘good father figure’ in my life. My mother’s boyfriend, who she had been dating for most of my life, didn’t count. Yes, my father did attempt to kill me again. No, nothing was done about it by the courts because he always defended himself with the ‘she’s a crazy teenager’ line, and that garbage works, unfortunately.”
She Was Set Up By Someone She Loved
“My boyfriend was an addict. We were young and left New York to see if Miami would be life-changing. It was, but not in the ‘get a job and a cute apartment’ way.
We had been staying there for about three weeks when one day he begged and pleaded with me to go get him his fix, as he was going through withdrawals. I was an incredibly stupid and naive 22-year-old girl and I finally agreed. I had only gone with him downtown once. I didn’t know anything or anyone; I didn’t have an addiction.
I knew it was a bad idea, but I loved him and went anyway. It turns out, my best friend prearranged a payment plan with his dealer that didn’t involve cash – He sold me to his dealer. I was abused and beaten and strangled and left for dead in a place I had never been before. I knew he was going to kill me. While I was gasping for breath, all I could think of was that they wouldn’t find my body. I had no real home in Miami, we were living in a motel, my parents would never know what happened to me, I would just vanish. My heart broke when I realized what I was about to put them through, all for some boy, all because I wanted an adventure. I actually prayed that the man who was killing me would leave my license in my pocket, just in case someone found my body.
But, I somehow survived. When I eventually woke up, I was in a dark alley littered with paraphernalia. I remember someone coming up to me, another man. I was covered in blood and bruises, both of my eyes were blood red from being choked so hard, and this stranger actually ripped my necklace off of me and ran away. I stood up and then very slowly started walking again. I finally stumbled upon a model and photographer working out of their RV in a surprisingly desolate field for the middle of downtown (it was Miami, models are everywhere) and I begged for their phone and called the police.
The next thing I remember was waking up in a hospital bed. The doctor said I was 2-3 seconds away from dying had he just held onto my neck a little longer. The doctor also said that once I realized I was safe, my brain basically shut off, that’s why I have no memory of getting from the RV to the hospital.
I joined the military and changed my life once I physically recovered a few months later. I told myself that if I was going to die, it would be for something worth dying for.
My ‘boyfriend’ stayed in Miami a little longer. I didn’t tell him I was leaving, I just packed a bag at 2 am and got a bus to the airport. It didn’t stop him from calling me and begging me to send him money a few days after I got to my parents. I still wonder if he’ll ever apologize, but it’s been 13 years, so I guess he still doesn’t grasp what he did to me.
The man who attempted to kill me was located through DNA about four years later and I’m fairly certain he’s still in prison, but I never found out what his sentence was.
I allowed myself to grieve my lost soul and then I needed to move on. I forgave them both, but they’ll never know that.”
Her Boyfriend Violently Attacked Her… Twice
“I was attacked on two occasions by an ex-boyfriend when I was 19 and very stupid. I should have gotten away from him long before I did. We lived in a ground level apartment and I had kicked him out, but he showed up one night knocking on the window. I wouldn’t let him in, so he punched the glass out and climbed in. He took one of the shards of glass, sliced his own arm with it then came after me swinging it wildly, catching me on the arm and screaming he was going to kill me. Fortunately, neighbors heard the screams and were pounding on my door which scared him off and cops were called.
The second time was a few weeks later when my sister and her husband and husband’s cousin were there. My sister lived three floors up from me in the same building. They wouldn’t let him come into the building, so he went back to his car. I guess they thought he had left so they went up to her apartment, but he had gotten an ax out of his trunk. By a stroke of luck, I happened to glance out the window and saw him coming up the steps to the building. I immediately kicked off my flip-flops and I took off bounding up the steps to my sister’s apartment. He gained on me fast and was swinging the ax at me from behind. I could hear it hitting the walls behind me. I made it to her door, which was unlocked, ran in, slammed the door and locked it. He had so much adrenaline going he just ran right through the door like the Hulk, where he was met by brother-in-law and cousin. They quickly subdued him and held him until cops arrived. He was arrested and the last time I saw him was in court.”
Her Brother’s Violent Outburst Left Her Trapped
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“My brother assaulted me when I was a child, and I guess felt guilty so he took his anger out on me because I guess my existence reminded him of what he had done. He is a very violent person, and I am three years younger than him, about half a foot shorter, much smaller and a girl. So naturally, when he started physically abusing me it got really bad, as I was completely incapable of defending myself. He had tried to kill me by throwing me against concrete and stomping on my head and that sort of thing, but he had never used a weapon (aside from just grabbing something nearby to hit me with). My mom did nothing to stop him as she was afraid of losing him, and this made his behavior get steadily worse.
His final attempt before I was able to get away from him, for the most part, was while we were at the dinner table eating together like a normal family (something we have rarely done in my life). I forgot why, but he was flicking food at me with his fork and getting it all over my clothes (he might sound like a child but he was in college, and a big guy that lifts weights at this point). I guess he thought I was trying to retaliate by throwing food back at him when I told him to stop and picked some food up in my fork to keep eating because he swung his hand at me to try to hit me. I instinctively held my hands up and he hit my fork I was still holding so hard it stabbed into his hand pretty deep.
He grabbed his steak knife and started screaming in graphic detail about how he was going to kill me and skin me and rip me apart and so on while he chased me down with a knife while I screamed and cried and ran away. I managed to make it to my room, but he kicked the door in as I made it to the built-in bathroom. I locked the door and braced myself with my back against the drawers and my feet against the door so that it couldn’t open and he started kicking on the door and broke the place where the knob held the door shut, bending the door out each time he would push or hit it, and trying to shove the knife through all the while screaming about what he was going to do to me and that nothing could stop him and I would never be safe.
Thankfully, eventually he tired himself out and I curled up on the floor of the bathroom and cried myself to sleep while I heard him screaming to my mom about how someone really just needs to put me out of my misery. My mom still refuses to talk about it, and my boyfriend who came to my house and saw the damage afterward has said if he ever sees my brother make a move towards me again he will kill him. My boyfriend is very protective of me now.”
A Brutal Beating Gave Her The Courage To Escape
“I was engaged to an abusive man. I got pregnant. He did the usual threatening to kill me if I left him. One day he came home (he was a Navy corpsman) and beat me really badly, kicking my belly with his boots until I had a miscarriage. I think his goal was to kill me as well. He kept me in the apartment and would not let me go to a doctor or hospital. Losing that baby is what gave me the courage to escape when I could.”
If It Hadn’t Been For Her Stepsister, She Might Be Dead
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“When I was thirteen, my stepdad (who hated me) was prepping the blender for a smoothie. I asked if he would make enough so that I could have one as well. He was surprisingly happy to do so. When it was ready, he had this creepy smile on his face. I noticed he only made enough for me but didn’t think too terribly much of it.
As I poured from the blender to a cup, I saw my stepsister in the background motioning not to drink it. When my stepdad left the room, she said she saw him reach under the sink (into the chemical cabinet) and pour something in before he blended it. I opened the chemical cabinet, the nearest thing was a gallon of bleach. My stepsister confirmed this is what he poured into my drink. I told my mom, but she didn’t believe me. I ended up moving in with my grandparents a few months later.
He was involved with a cult and tried to get my mom to move deep into the Montana mountains, away from society. She finally came to her senses and is happily remarried to her soulmate now. Our relationship is pretty much healed. Last I heard, my ex-stepdad went off the deep end. He almost killed someone in a car accident because he was under the influence. He ran away to Arizona and no one had heard from him since, not even his kids.”
The Evil Stepmother Come To Life
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“I was seven years old and in a large mall with my stepmother. She resented my existence and really resented me living with her and my father instead of her own kids. She took this out on me quite often, with this day being the worst. We get to the top of the escalator, and I don’t remember if I paused, said something, or what exactly set her off, but she gave me a hard shove. I fell all the way down the escalator to the very bottom. I wasn’t seriously injured, but I remember my knees being torn open in the pattern of the escalator edge. Stepmother gets to the bottom and berates me for being clumsy. A well-meaning woman rushed up to see if I was ok, but I was crying too hard to answer. Stepmother slapped me for being rude and not answering the lady.
I don’t know if she consciously wanted me dead, but that fall was intentional on her part. I still have a phobia of escalators.”
She Put Poison In Vape Pen
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“My mother put some sort of incense oil into my e-cig fluid. She had found out the day before that her parents were giving their property to me instead of her. I don’t know what the oil was, but whenever she would burn it my eyes would swell and lungs would be raw for hours, and she knew it.
Anyway – I had just refilled my tank that morning. I took a huge draw off the vape and immediately knew I was messed because it tasted intensely of the oil. My lungs suddenly felt like they were trying to turn inside out while I started coughing uncontrollably and hacking up some sort of foam, it was so bad that every breath I took in felt like fire and kept me in a chain of violent coughing and dry heaving that kept making my abdomen spasm so hard it was like I was doing violent situps over the bathroom sink.
By the time it eased up, I was collapsed onto the sink and was barely conscious. I was drenched in sweat and my body hurt like I had pulled nearly every muscle in it. I laid down on the floor which was cold and that somehow felt better. I was there for what seemed to be a really long time, and I was so drained I couldn’t do anything else. I didn’t report it because who is going to believe someone poisoned vape fluid? Even I had trouble comprehending the situation. I kept the bottle for a long time and occasionally would get it out to look at the obviously separated fluid where the oil didn’t mix to remind myself that really happened.
A few weeks later I also got a visit from APS after she told them that I had strong-armed my grandparents into handing over the property to me and was stealing from them. Good times.”
Her Neighbors Saved Her Life
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“I’m a survivor of domestic assault. My ex got messed up on illegal substances and almost killed me.
His battery or something on his car had died earlier in the day and he had gotten a call saying if he could be there in a half hour he could get a new one. The place was 30-35 minutes away depending on traffic. I’m driving at least 10 over the speed limit just after leaving his house and he flips out on me for not going fast enough. We get probably five miles from the house and he’s still flipping out. I stop the car, planning on turning around and going back and dropping him off.
He gets out of the car and I stupidly did too, because I didn’t want him walking five miles home on the highway. He pushes me to the ground. My hands and knees are bleeding and I’m done. I tell him to get in the car or I’m leaving him there. We drive back to the house and I had already told him I was done. I was grabbing my stuff and leaving.
I get in the house first, make it upstairs to the bedroom, grab a couple of my things. He freaks out and starts strangling me. I fought him off for a good 10 minutes, fully expecting that I wasn’t going to make it. One of the times he started strangling me again I manage to squeak out a, ‘just kill me already,’ and he seems to snap and stops. He didn’t want me leaving and calling the police on him (I assume), so he stands in front of his bedroom door so I can’t go anywhere.
He starts getting violent again when there’s a knock on the door. The neighbors likely saved my life by not ignoring my screams. If you ever hear something going on, call. Don’t assume anyone else will. There was enough evidence that the state charged him. He got three or four felony charges and somehow only got a year with anger management classes. He sent me a message probably two weeks ago on Facebook and apologized. Said he was so out of it that the next morning he woke up and found himself in jail. Had no idea what happened and the cops had to tell him that he almost killed me. I think he wanted me to feel sorry for him.”