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

[1stLand]

Laying in the Operating Room just as I was being put out for surgery to get my appendix removed (it was an emergency as it was swollen and I was in excruciating pain).

Also getting laser eye surgery.

I've been in the middle of a few large brawls when I was a bouncer and I was outsized. Scary because a few of the guys were seasoned brawlers and drunk as hell

[Huntingwhale]

Botched circumcision

[JonDuke]

About 15 years ago, I picked up a "friend" just minutes before his house was to be raided by the police. (we found that part out later)

Upon leaving his house, we noticed we were being tailed by an unmarked car. 2 blocks later, another unmarked car. For some reason, rather than drive around and risk being pulled over, we decided to take a detour and hit a Mcdonalds drive thru. Both tails followed us. By the time we reached the first window, instead of being met by a pimple faced teen, I had a gun pointed to my head by a cop who was already inside.

Turns out they were looking for a handgun, which he had on him when I picked him up.

Or, as a flight attendant... passengers board, ready to leave Toronto. Close the main cabin door and notice it's not sealed. Tell the pilots, who tell me it will close properly with the pressure of take off. I tell them ive never seen that in 7 years of flying. They leave anyway. Engine start up, loud as hell, and it didn't seal when we took off. A solid inch gap between the door and the frame. Freezing cold and windy with passengers throwing up because they were so scared. They pilots turned around and it ended up being a 12 minute flight before an emergency landing. Quite a few scary situations as a flight attendant, but that one took the cake for sure.

[saskflames69]

(That didn't happen to me. ^^)

When I was 12, my uncle, my cousin and I went ice fishing at a lake on Boxing Day. We noticed that nobody else was out on the ice except for us and another tent about 300 metres away from our shack. We fished for 12 hours then packed everything up and left. We assumed that the other person would eventually pack up his tent and leave.

The next morning we returned to the spot at 6 am and we noticed that the tent was still there. My uncle shined his headlights on the other tent and two grey wolves came running out. After making sure that there were no other wolves in the area he got out of the truck to search the tent. Inside was the severely disfigured and mangled body of another ice fisherman. He was missing half his body as the wolves got to him before anybody found his body. The police figured he had died of either a heart attack or hypothermia about a week earlier.

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. Scary as hell. It was pretty gorey and the scene was something you'd expect out of a horror film. Since it was not too long ago, I can still vividly remember everything. I'm not going to get much of a sleep tonight.

[vektor]

snowboarding (out of bounds, stupid yes I know) with friends and I flew between two trees off a snow capped boulder. On the other side of the trees was about a 500-600 foot vertical drop. All rock.

I grabbed out and caught onto the roots of the trees sticking out above the cliff face and then I was just stuck laying against about a 60 degree steep 6 foot tall wall of snow on the other side of the trees with my friends no where in sight. There was about 2 feet of snow left before it went all to rock and the cliff went about 30 feet to both sides. I held on the to the roots with one hand and undid my bindings with the other.

I pushed the backs of the bindings down to make the board flat as possible and I stood on it and shimmied it sideways like a plank inch by inch through the snow to get to the end of the cliff face. Took 45 minutes, by the time I got strapped back in and rode down the mountain the whole thing took about 2 hours. I passed out at the bottom from exhaustion. The medics hooked me up to an IV and said I was lucky not to be dead from dehydration. For 2 days I couldn't lift my arms to do anything due to clutching onto the trees for dear life. Still remember that initial holy #### there's a good chance I am going to die right now feeling.

[Nage Waza]

I was in a small plane that couldn't land, in the mountains. We were basically running out of fuel and I had to pee really bad. Once we landed some people with big guns wanted to take me away, but I just stood there peeing. My peeing and confusion allowed the pilot to refuel and I got on the plane for an emergency exit. True story that was glossed over in a documentary.

[T@T]

A somewhat controlled airplane crash(deadstick)

Landed in a farmers field and hit a fence,plane flipped a bit but I walked away with only a little bump on the noggin and knee.

Funny thing is I don't remember any fear when it was happening but after I got out and thought about it I was freaked for days.

[Dion]

When I was 5 years old a friend of mine at the time fell into a dugout on a worksite. He hit the ground hard and wasn't moving. I was scared that he might of died and ran home for help. The fire department was there quickly to get him out and they told us he was knocked and now has a bad consussion.

[Fobulous]

A few years ago my parents and my wife I traveled to India. On our way back to Canada, we had to fly from a city called Ahemedabad (AMD) to Mumbai (BOM) and then from Mumbai on to London and finally back to Calgary.

We had a 2 am flight from AMD to BOM which was delayed due to rain. We finally took off at 4 am. I am convinced had we been in North America we would have never been allowed to take off. It was pouring like I had never seen it before.

As we took off the flight continuously would drop 100's of feet (I could tell based on the back seat GPS/altitude readings) not to mention how much it wavered back in forth.

Everyone in the plane was terrified. You could see the fear in people's faces and to this day I have never been the same flier as I was before that.

We finally made it to BOM and the rest of the trip was fine; however, I honestly thought we were not going to make it that day.

[TheGrimm]

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.

Just curious, how does one accomplish this?

[the crispy badger]

On Nov 3rd 1988 we were moving from Calgary to NB with all our possessions on a trailer behind our van, we managed to make it outside of Thunder bay when we noticed a Semi on the other side of the road headed directly for us, the thought 'im gonna die' flashes in my head at 14 years old but luckily my dad swerved enough that it took out the side of the van and peeled it almost completely off and taking my dads side mirror off.

We lost everything we owned that day and had to stay in a shi$$y motel for a week, we flew into NB a week later and to this day I have a nervous tension to semis on the road.

[the crispy badger]

This past summer I dated a woman whos parents house was VERY haunted by the previous owners, she had a 2 year old daughter who was always kept when she napped in a room with a latched door, numerous times we would go up to get her and the latch would be down and the door partially open, we nervously laughed everytime until one night.

I was in bed across from the babies room and i witnessed something pull the latch down and the door swung open all on its own, half an hour later my eyes starting seeing 3 glowing strange orb like circles in the babies far window bobbing up and down for almost 1/2 hour, they seemed to be watching over her(the owner of the house had passed on in 1995 and they think its her being where she belongs) ..this by far made be a believer and there are stories of things being thrown at people whom the spirit didnt want there, a frying pan, etc.

[FanIn80]

When I was 17, I got punched in the stomach pretty lightly. It dropped me like a rock though, and I was in pain all night as well as the following day. It wasn't severe pain, but it was enough that it was noticeable. I finally went to the family doctor in the evening, and he booked me into the hospital right away for tests. He told me it was most likely a ruptured cyst on my kindney...

The next morning, I was told I had cancer.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

When I was 17, I got punched in the stomach pretty lightly. It dropped me like a rock though, and I was in pain all night as well as the following day. It wasn't severe pain, but it was enough that it was noticeable. I finally went to the family doctor in the evening, and he booked me into the hospital right away for tests. He told me it was most likely a ruptured cyst on my kindney...

The next morning, I was told I had cancer.

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

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Danijam

I was once in a film camp and we had permission from the Subway on 4th to shoot a movie at their store. It was a robbery scene and we shot it several times. Before anyone knew what was happening the place was crawling with cops, guns drawn and pointed at us. They said, 'Drop your weapon' and the young girl dressed in all black with a black balaclava accidentally lifted her replica gun in the air. The cop didn't shoot her, thankfully, but once things were sorted out he was really shaken up. So we're we.

Did you keep shooting (with the camera)? Because that had to be pretty dramatic.

[polak]

Wow my life has been pretty uneventful compared to a lot of you guys...
I had a few scary moments but they really pale in comparison to some of the posts in here.

- Years ago when I was around 7-10 years old, my family and a group of our family friends went for a bbq past Elbow Falls (where that run-off tunnel that goes under the road is) and me and one of my friends went to hike up a little mountain that overlooks the picnic sites. I don't know if anyone here has been there but on this hill there is a 100 - 200 ft cliff over the river, thats probably 10 meters away from the beaten trail (I think, haven't been there in probably a decade) but being the stupid little kids we were, we decided to walk closer to the cliff. Well as you got closer to the edge the terrain starts sloping down to the edge and, of course, my friend slips and is laying on his stomach on the downhill slope. I can't remember exactly how far he was from the edge but it was close enough that he was crying out of fear and I'm pretty sure if he lost his grip on whatever he was holding, he could have slid more. Anyways, I pulled him up and we got a good lesson on why the beaten path exists...

- One time me and my girlfriend were upstairs at my house and we both heard some guy shout something from the bottom of the stairs. It was definitely from inside the house. Reluctantly, I went downstairs to check it out and there was no one down there or in the basement. The back door was open but we left it open. We think it must have been the radio or tv or something (both of which were off before and after) and I never heard anything like that again but walking down those stairs with god damn a tennis racket was probably the most fear I've ever felt.

- I was on a plane back from Frankfurt about to land in Calgary when we hit pretty heavy turbulance. The turbulance didn't really worry me... That is... Until the flight attendent that was in the middle of the plane RAN full sprint into her seats. So that, plus being in the clouds for what felt like half an hour of turbulence was pretty scary too. Since then turbulance has made me more uneasy then before and I'm a pretty good flyer.

[AMG_G]

Getting charged with 9 counts of assault with a weapon and 1 count of aggravated assaulted at age 19 scared the crap out me. It sure straightened out my life though.

[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.

[MacDaddy77]

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.

Good for you for acting so fast and properly! I know that unless your trained (which you may be) the seriousness of the situation doesn't get recognized by most people in time to make a difference.

[Ashartus]

When I was a teenager on a canoe trip I was goofing off and my canoe was pulled under a sweeper (a tree hanging horizontally across the water) - I thought I was going to drown.

About a year ago I felt really lightheaded, dizzy, short of breath and nauseous all of a sudden. I thought I was having a heart attack without chest pain. After getting a bunch of tests at the hospital they concluded it was just a reaction to a virus combined with stress but I was pretty scared at the time.

Like a few others here my kids have given me a few scares too, particularly my son. He used to hold his breath until he turned blue when he got upset, and also had a couple of nasty tumbles down the stairs.