What is the scariest thing that has ever happened to you?

[Flashpoint]

Originally Posted by COGENT

A few years ago a teammate on my rec hockey league collapsed on the ice in the middle of a game. I was the first to him and treated it like any other injured player until his face turned purple. Next thing I know I'm giving him CPR. Up till that moment, by far the scariest thing in my life until they brought out the defibrillator. Next thing I know I found myself yelling "CLEAR" before hitting the button... hitting that button and watching my buddies body jolt is by far the scariest thing I have ever done/seen. We ended up hitting him with the defibrillator 3 times before the paramedics came.

It turned out he had a major heart attack. They weren't sure if he was going to make it but he ended up pulling through.

Nice save!

[JiriHrdina]

When I was a kid we were camping down in Little Bow park in our converted school bus.

In the middle of the night, a group of drunkards arrived at the campground and set up across from us. They were extremely loud and woke everyone up. When we turned out the light in our bus, they noticed and started yelling at us...things like “if you don’t turn off that ****’n light we’re going to come over there and shoot you all”.

Now they probably didn’t have guns but I was a kid so I believed them and I was petrified.

My dad tried to comfort me by reassuring me that he was there and would protect me. But I recall realizing that my dad couldn’t do squat if these guys had guns, or any other weapons. It was the moment when I lost faith that my dad would actually be able to protect me against the baddies of the world.

Not that scary compared to other stories being told.

[undercoverbrother]

Most of mine occurred during a UN tour in the early 90's

>Driving and being shot at. We could see the rounds hitting the road. We were in a tight mountain area with very little we could to other than drive a 2 1/2 tonne truck down a twisting mountain road over 100K. Some of the shooters were so close you could hear the crack, but not the thump.

>Same tour. We had an outside shower (the only warm shower around) that was run on an immersion heater, and powered by a M113. I was in the middle of showering, all soaped up and I heard the first round fall. The water stopped and the track pulled away. I had to run about 75 m across our compound wraped in a towel, wearing jungle boots, a flakvest, helmet and carrying a rifle. As I was running by the parked M113's they were shaking from the explosions.

[EverfresH15]

Having a gun pulled on my because of an ex gf.

[HELPNEEDED]

My buddy and I visited India:

Getting assualted by drunk cops and threatened to be taken back to jail and given a good beating to the legs.

[You Need a Thneed]

When my son had his first febrile seizure. It came totally out of the blue, and I had no idea of what was going on, or that such seizures aren't really worrisome at all.

My son, a year and a half at the time, was just recovering after being sick, but that morning had being doing pretty well, and was nicely playing on the floor. My wife had gone out shopping with her sister, and I was helping my daughter put together a new Lego set that she had gotten for her birthday at a table nearby. I remember sitting there one moment, and my son is playing, then next glance, he is obviously seizing on the floor. I run over and pick him up, and his whole body is convulsing, his eyes open but not responding to anything. I grab a phone and call 911, and my voice was trembling like crazy. The seizure ended about 2 minutes after it started, while I was still talking with the operator. My son came out totally confused and it took a couple of hours to get over that. After the paramedics had arrived, and I hung up on 911, and I had been told already that it wasn't too serious, and I had started to calm down, I called my wife on her cell phone and told her that our son had had a seizure. They quickly ended their shopping and my sister in law started driving my wife towards towards our home. Meanwhile, we loaded up in the ambulance (no lights or sirens), heading to the children's hospital, so I called my wife and said we were going there. We were just at McKnight and about Barlow when my wife pulled up behind the ambulance, and I could see out behind to confirm that she was right behind us, a short while later my parents in law caught up behind and got into the procession as well, all driving to the hospital.

Terrifying at the time, but now knowing what it was, I probably didn't need to be.

A couple of days later, I discovered that my daughter (who had just turned 4) had taken some pictures of the ordeal at our house with her new camera that she had received for her birthday. None really of my son, but some of the paramedic and stuff. She was totally calm the whole time.

[Reanimate]

I used to get sleep paralysis every few months. Thought I was being haunted. Now that I have learned what it really is, it hardly ever happens and I can handle it now when it does.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

[LGA]

I think the scariest moment for me was when I "came to my senses" after my career ending concussion. I don't actually recall what happened but I've been told that after I finished my check on someone in our zone, as the play was moving up the ice the guy decided to treat my head like a baseball and he was swinging for a homerun.

My memories of that year are pretty fuzzy and I don't feel like I'm the same person I was before. I can't handle being in busy/loud places, or even being around a lot of people that are talking as it feels like my brain just shuts down. Every now and again I get all "concussiony" all over again.

I think the scariest thing about the whole thing is that I developed a really bad case of insomnia not too long after the incident, and there was one stretch where I hadn't slept for a week. I was at work one day going up the stairs when the stairs just disappeared on me. By disappeared I mean just from my visual senses, I could still feel the railing and the fact that I clearly wasn't floating in the air, but I couldn't see the stairs. Sketched me out pretty bad.

[Phanuthier]

This is probably one of my better stories: http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showpos...05&postcount=1

Backstory: Yesterday, I was climbing the Snake Dike route of Half Dome in Yosemite (climbing route). The mountain we were doing was a clean sheet of granite (i.e. no trees or vegetation) with us climbing a dike on the cliff face. We had started the approach at 3:45am to try and get at the base by 7:30am since there was a 30% chance of thunderstorms by 3am. There were 4 of us, so 2 parties of 2.

Long story short, I was in the 2nd party and the 1st party had got ahead of us. On the 4th pitch of this 8 pitch climb, we had started to see puffy dark clouds form, but because the 1st party got ahead of us and this route was so runout it needed 2 60m ropes to bail, my party decided to keep going to see if the 1st party wanted to bail. After the 6th pitch, we realized the 1st party had topped out and we started saw thunderstorms approx 20 min away. I knew we were in trouble, so we tried to finish up the last 2 pitches quickly. After topping out (and a knarly class 3 walk off) we submit with thunderstorms a few seconds away. The walk off for half dome is chains aiding us down, as the walk off is steep (i.e. 75 degrees) and slippery for hikers.

Just as we reach the chains, the rain comes and it starts hailing pellets. I throw on my emergency poncho and we haul ass down the chains. A S&R Helicopter had just arrived on scene, and as I look down, I see a women is injured and requires S&R pick up. Lighting then hits the submit ground (granite) 150 ft away from me and I get spooked, but I try to refocus. I start treating the aid chains like a slide, letting my feet slide down a 75 degree angle while my hands slide along the chains (yes painful, but I didn't want to get hit by lighting). 40 seconds later, lightning hits the ground of where the chains end. Another 30-40 seconds later, lightning hits the side of Half Dome a few hundread feet away. As I bottom out, I see lighting hit the floor or the valley of Yosemite. All the while, hail is ripping away at exposed skin, I had about 30 lbs of climbing gear on my back and I had just finished a 8-pitch climb that had a 4 hour approach.

A quick shot of the scenery I am looking at, there is a S&R Helicopter a about 50 ft away with its blades ripping. Park Rangers are waiting at intermediate points as there is a mass exodus off Half Dome, making horse blinders with their hands so they don't see lightning hitting the ground every 30 seconds just a few hundread yards away from them. Hail and heavy rain grays out anything you see other than Half Dome that we were on. The mountain turns into a string of mini waterfalls and streams guided by the natural features of the mountain.

I reach the bottom of the chains and the heavy rain made small waterfalls all around the mountain. Trying to get the F off the mountain, I take one of the waterfalls and treat it like a waterslide, just sliding down. I did this for about 100 ft. When the terrain starts to level out and there are tree's, I start walking hoping lightning doesn't hit a nearby tree as lightning is still hitting the valley floor. However, I was still in my climbing shoes as the 1st party has my hiking shoes and I didn't know where they are.

After getting off the mountain, I was drenched, thin shells of clothing with what was essentially a garbage bag for a poncho, and I started shaking. I don't know if I was getting some adrenaline crash of sorts. I keep on walking, but I'm slowed down since I'm in climbing shoes and after about 2 miles, Park Rangers (seeing as I was having trouble walking, with 30 lbs on my back, and early stages of hypothermia) find me and 5 of them escort me to the midway emergency station. (One guy walked behind me to look for signs to monitor my hypothermia, one guy is carrying my rope, one guy is helping carry my partners climbing gear, one guy to help carry my personal backpack, one guy to lead and radio in the situation).

* some parts edited out for ease of reading

I went back to do the hiking route last weekend, much less committing! I plan to do Snake Dike again perhaps next season, but perhaps I may do it over a full moon as that seems pretty awesome! (also no mid-afternoon thunderstorms)

Link to the route: http://www.mountainproject.com/v/snake-dike/105836362

[Jiggyiggy]

Originally Posted by Reanimate

I used to get sleep paralysis every few months. Thought I was being haunted. Now that I have learned what it really is, it hardly ever happens and I can handle it now when it does.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

I went through a couple years where if I ever napped during the day this would happen to me when I was waking up. It is absolutely terrifying. You can hear and see but cant move.

Clearly I stopped napping for a while, but it is fine now. I did not realize it was a real medical issue, just thought I was crazy.

You learn something new everyday.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by LGA

I think the scariest moment for me was when I "came to my senses" after my career ending concussion. I don't actually recall what happened but I've been told that after I finished my check on someone in our zone, as the play was moving up the ice the guy decided to treat my head like a baseball and he was swinging for a homerun.

My memories of that year are pretty fuzzy and I don't feel like I'm the same person I was before. I can't handle being in busy/loud places, or even being around a lot of people that are talking as it feels like my brain just shuts down. Every now and again I get all "concussiony" all over again.

I think the scariest thing about the whole thing is that I developed a really bad case of insomnia not too long after the incident, and there was one stretch where I hadn't slept for a week. I was at work one day going up the stairs when the stairs just disappeared on me. By disappeared I mean just from my visual senses, I could still feel the railing and the fact that I clearly wasn't floating in the air, but I couldn't see the stairs. Sketched me out pretty bad.

Holy crap, was this a huge news story at the time? Was the guy charged with anything?

[bc-chris]

a couple of scary times for me were both from my previous job (construction)....

we were putting the roof on an apartment complex and we had a big 'pre-made' section we were walking into place along the top of the exterior walls. it had just finished raining so everything was slippery and the only way i could carry my part was to walk backwards - yup - walking backwards on a wet 2"x6" exterior wall that's 40'-50' up.... smart eh!?!?! my left foot missed the wall as i was walking and off i went. thankfully for me, the section of roof i was carrying landed on the top of the wall as my right foot came up to follow the rest of me over the side of the building. my right foot snagged it - so there i was - hanging off the side of a building by my right foot. i was able to pull my self back up, but i was pretty shaken up for the rest of the day.

another time (at a different site) we were sheeting a roof. we were using osb. now osb has a rough side and a shiny side. the rough side needs to be 'up' as the shiny side is freakin slippery!! well, i'm walking across the roof carrying a 4'x8' sheet of osb and some moron had put a small osb filler piece in the roof.... shiny side up. i bailed and started sliding down the roof. i screamed to my foreman and threw the 4'x8' sheet i was carry towards him (which he caught!). i continued to slide, gaining speed. i new that i was going off the roof so as i got to the edge i pushed off hard - which enabled me to grab a beam going across the top of a balcony. had i not pushed off i would have shot off the side of the building - below the beam and above the balcony floor.

and unfortunately, i still have absolutely no fear of heights!

[Cowperson]

Woke up one morning and found one side of my face paralyzed, couldn't close one eye, drooping mouth, a bit of drool . . .

The first thing you think is you've had a stroke. Like, "Holy Crap . . . "

A trip to emergency and I learn it's Bell's Palsy . . . . which likely means it would go away in a few weeks. Relief. Almost comic relief because I look like a bit of a freak (more than ususal). Then I google "Bell's Palsy" and see another possible outcome could also mean a lifetime of pain and disfigurement. It all depends on how it goes. Yikes.

It did indeed go away in a few weeks and it was fun joking about my appearance with clients. But I don't make fun of Jean Chretien's tilted face anymore. He's also a Bell's Palsy suffererer.

I was glad to finally see the backside of Bell's Palsy, although it could come back.

Cowperson

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

Jesus, for real? That is horrible dude, sorry.

Thanks man, yeah it was pretty messed up. It was 21 years ago, and I've managed to survive without going into remission, but it had a pretty huge impact on me. For a while, I would get pretty freaked out about even the slightest pain anywhere (if there wasn't an obvious cause like banging my knee on the coffee table). The problem, of course, is that it was coupled with being paranoid about going to the doctor...

Anyway, it's in the past now and I've learned to cope with things a bit better. When I get a cough now, I tell myself it's just a cold instead of worrying for a week about whether or not I have lung cancer.

[MoneyGuy]

Years ago a friend and I climbed onto an attached garage and into a bedroom window to warn people that their house was on fire. The fire investigators took us into their van for our statements. A guy driving by with a tow-truck got us to help him tow a car off the driveway to safety. It didn't seem scary at the time as we were acting instinctively.

[Lobotroth]

Accidentally nipping my scrotum while trimming my pubic hair.

Honestly, that's the scariest thing I can think of.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Lobotroth

Accidentally nipping my scrotum while trimming my pubic hair.

Honestly, that's the scariest thing I can think of.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Shelford

Shelford made his Test debut for the All Blacks later that year against France in a 19–7 victory in Toulouse, and then was a notable victim of the infamous "Battle of Nantes" in the second Test. Roughly 20 minutes into the match, he was caught at the bottom of a rather aggressive ruck, and an errant French boot found its way into Shelford's groin, somehow ripping his scrotum and leaving one testicle hanging free. He also lost four teeth in the process. Incredibly, after discovering the injury to his scrotum, he calmly asked the physio to stitch up the tear and returned to the field before a blow to his head left him concussed. He was substituted and watched the remainder of the game from the grandstand where he witnessed the All Blacks lose 16–3. To this day Shelford has no memory of the game.[2]

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by TheGrimm

Just curious, how does one accomplish this?

Originally Posted by Sliver

I lacerated my spleen snowboarding and was bleeding internally. The scariest part was when I was in the ambulance and passed out just as I heard the paramedic yell to the driver: "full lights and sirens!"

I thought I was a goner.

I was out of bounds at Fortress. I like to ride very fast. I was ripping down a pretty steep hill doing a laid out toe-side carve so my belly was fairly exposed to a rock/stump or something that was covered in snow and poking out of the ground. My spleen took the full force of impact and I was totally unprepared for it. Plus I had a camera in my pocket. I don't know if that helped protect me a bit or if it contributed to bashing my spleen.

[Coys1882]

Originally Posted by saskflames69

The area we were fishing in was pretty remote so had we not discovered his body, his remains might have never been found. He lived alone on a reserve not too far away so nobody reported him missing either.

Where was this?