“I'm a corrections officer. Which is scary enough. But as a woman, I was lucky to have a very experienced female trainer at the academy. She told me to always trust my gut. One day my male offsider went to the bathroom. So just me and about 80 male prisoners. They all went nuts saying someone in cell 39 was having a heart attack.

Cell 39 was on the upper landing, and hard to see from outside. They were screaming at me to go up there and help. I said just wait, I need my other officer. They kept screaming there was no time. I had to go. It didn't feel right. I held my ground and as soon as my male officer opened the door they all disappeared. They just wanted to rape and probably kill me. I still get sick thinking about it.” - catsandalcohol13

“Just being in the middle of the 1990 earthquake in the Philippines. After the main quake my dad and I walked the streets to get home and he shielded me from large, colored bags lined up on the ground. He later explained all those were dead people.” - Chowkingkong

“This is very tame compared to a lot of the stuff on here, but when I was twelve I saw this huge man drop a dollar bill. He seemed not to notice, so I ran across the street to hand it back to him. He thanked me several times, and I could see that he wasn't right in the head. I was a pretty small girl, probably only 100 pounds at the time. This guy easily had a foot on me.

All of a sudden, he grabbed me by the top of my head and wouldn't let go. I am so lucky that my dad was nearby, and he pretty much just picked me up and led me away.” - Simple-Muscle822

“I was home alone when I was 11. I had just fallen asleep and someone tried to break in the front door. I called 911 and hid in the pantry in the bottom shelf. They came to the door next to the pantry and tried to break into that door too. The police got there and one of them picked me up and held me until my mom got there.

I wouldn’t let go and he made sure I felt safe. I’m 27 and haven’t stayed home alone much since. The day I signed a lease for my first apartment I got a dog so I wouldn’t be alone. It’s pretty traumatizing when you’re that young.” - HistoricalHeart

“I was home alone (thankfully my kids weren't home) when my now ex husband's drug dealer came by. He busted I'm the door screaming at the top of his lungs that he's gonna f*ck us all up. I was hiding in my walk in closet under blankets on the phone to 911.

He got so close a few times, I have never been so petrified in my whole life. The cops came very quickly and he ran off, they caught him just a few streets over.” - Mason3637

“I had a pulmonary embolism last year in late August. I was going to get a pain evaluation the following Monday, but the pain was so bad on Friday that I just went in. The doctor told me that I’d have died if I had waited.” - jeff_the_nurse

“Went to therapy with my first husband. He went on and on about how I was a bad wife. When it was my turn I just said I would like him to stop hitting me/dragging me across the floor. He wasn't happy. The therapist asked me to attend the next session alone. Husband wanted to know what I told the therapist. I can't even remember what I said.

When we got home. He took my keys, pager, glasses and tried to lock me in the bedroom. He also had the landline cut off. It took two tries but I finally escaped with what I could fit in my car. This was 20+ years ago, I still have nightmares. He constantly told me if I left him he would kill me. So I am glad I got out. I was 14 when we started dating he was in his mid 20s and a friend of my Dad.” - Auferstehen78

“Was with a guy for a couple of years when I realized that he'd taken up smoking meth as a hobby after work. We had numerous problems already, and I had three small kids, so I finally kicked him out. A few days later, maybe a week, he makes a fake Facebook page, and sends me a friend request. The only posts on the page were talking about killing me and my children, his suicide, and how he planned to do it that day. The most recent post was accompanied by a selfie of him in my backyard; a recent selfie, so he had been there. I was on my way home with the kids late in the evening when I got the request. I had stopped by my parents home the day before and gotten my dad's 9mm handgun because he was sending messages through mutual friends about burning my house down.

I called the police as soon as I got home, and they didn't seem to think it was a big deal and didn't have an officer available to come check my house before we walked into it. I live in the middle of the woods and we have a rinky dink police force. Anyway, I made the kids stay in the car, I gave my oldest instructions on what to do if anything happened, and I had to sweep my own home, in the dark, with a 9mm in case he was in there waiting for me and my children, and it was terrifying.

I had to check my entire house every time we came home for a while, and I was always worried that I'd eventually find him in there. Police were called numerous times and I was eventually granted a restraining order a couple weeks later when the death threats continued. He died about a year ago and all I felt was relief.” - RaptorSandwich27

“Hearing a weird groan while hanging out with friends in a sketchy part of Phoenix. We could hear someone groaning and occasionally saying "help" in a soft and tired voice. We go towards the voice, and find a guy laying on the ground in a blood-covered shirt, one hand holding up a knife in his gut.

His eyes were weirdly focused on us but was whimpering and writhing. He kept saying "help me, oh god I'm going to die. Please, Help me." We said we would call an ambulance and he really didn't like that idea. "No! don't call 911 just help me! I'm going to die!" We called anyway. He stood up in his blood-covered shirt, knife in hand, said "f*ck!" and ran away.” - Theatre_throw

“A few years ago, when I still lived at home with my mom in Philly, someone tried breaking into our house. I looked through the window next to the door and saw 2 men wearing ski masks staring back at me, one with some type of pipe or tool and the other with a gun pointed right at me.

I bolted away from the door and got my dads 10 gauge and stood in the bathroom door as i called 911. they ended up running and were caught down the road by the police. they had multiple warrants each for break-ins in Maryland and Delaware, one of which left a father of 2 shot in the spine and paralyzed. I'm still thankful to this day that i wasn't harmed during that.” - daqauriousdingleden

“So, in my city there's a canal. There are several bridges crossing it, one being a smaller openable metalbridge for bikes and pedestrians. Its like a skeleton of iron bars with a wooden path in the middle. That said there are lots of large gaps in it. When I was young, don't remember exact age but under 10, I was biking with my parents and siblings along the canal and was about to cross that bridge.

Me and my brother went first, a little too close to each other resulting in us colliding and falling to the side on our bikes. My brother fell on the path but I was too close to the edge and went out through one of those gaps. The bridge itself was just like a meter over the water, and this was just in the edge of it but i just remember losing control over myself, splashing into the cold dark water fighting for dear life.

I was a kid. Couldn't swim. Somehow I was able to grab one of the metal bars slightly, which I held onto. Panic. Thats the only way to describe my feeling. All this happened in a couple seconds, but it felt like an eternity. Suddenly I heard a splash and felt my dad beside me in the water lifting me up. And that was it. Was so embarrassed, haven't to this day (I'm 19 now) told more than a handful of people about it.” - DorianDog

“Years ago in one of my first jobs, a colleague told me a story. The night before, she had gone out for some drinks and on the way home she had got off the bus and was walking down her road to her house. A taxi pulled up alongside her and the driver told her to get in the car, she obviously said no. He then said to her "call whoever you want whilst you're in the car, but please just get in and I'll explain."

So she got in. Turns out, walking towards her was a topless guy with no shoes on and a machete in his hand. Cab driver had already called the police but then saw my colleague so had stopped to look after her.” - Good-Helicopter-9303

“I was leaving a grocery store in Vermont back in '99. I passed a young couple, maybe in their late 20s with a toddler and a baby. They were arguing loudly but I chose to mind my own business. The arguing stops as she starts to leave. I dismiss it, and start to drive away, when I heard 4 or 5 gunshots. I watched him kill himself with the last shot through my rear view mirror. The POS killed his wife and kids before killing himself. I still have nightmares about what I saw.” - Carbon1te

“I was riding my motorcycle on the highway, going through a major city. I was still pretty nervous about riding on busier highways since I was still pretty new on the motorcycle. I was in one of the middle lanes when about 250 ft in front of me an 18-wheeler (Semi) kicked up a plywood panel that was in the road in my lane. It flipped around, making it look like I was going to run into it like a wall. Didn’t have enough time to brake or move lanes since I was surrounded by other vehicles. Luckily another 18-wheeler passed by it, causing it to rotate perpendicular, making it barely graze my elbow as I passed by it. I don’t think I moved a muscle for a quarter mile in shock that I survived that.” - FuryFlurry40

“When I first learned that some of the nicest people out there can be dealing with some terrible demons. When I was younger about around 2nd/3rd grade, I had a math tutor at the time. She was my mom's friend from AA (didn’t really understand it at the time.) She was a really nice lady and the reason I’m so good with math even till this day.

One of the days she was suppose to come over, my mother couldn’t get ahold of her, so my mom got concerned and we took a ride over to check on her to see if she was okay. When we got to her place, we found her so drunk, laying on the floor and couldn’t even stand. My mom had to call an ambulance. Later that day my mom had to explain to me what happened and that she had passed away. Taught me that day no matter how good things look on the outside for some people, the demons on the inside could just be moments away from taking them.” - UwUStepSon

“When I was about 8 or 9 my friend Brian had spent the night. I get up to use the bathroom and find him in the bathroom floor having a seizure. I wake my mom up and she calls 911. Turns out he has epilepsy and had been having seizures for a while but didn't tell anybody cause his parents couldn't afford to take him to the doctor.” - sentondan

“Being fully homeless for a period. A lot of people think homeless means "hobo on the streets" but it can also mean that you're always couch surfing or staying with family. This was usually my situation with occasional rented homes on short term leases that I would usually end up being unable to pay for. But then for about a week I was literally homeless, sleeping on the streets and having to find cover while it rained, I didn't even have much more than multiple coats and mostly slept in tennis huts at my local public park. It was terrifying tbh and I really wanted to die just to get out of it. There is a happy ending though, I've been married and a homeowner for a while and I'll never be in that position again.” - Arthur390

“I’ve had technically scarier things than this (like sexual assault) but I think this takes the cake as far as stories go. During that creepy-a** era where people were randomly dressing like clowns, was closing up the bar I worked at one night around 3am on a Tuesday. I walked outside and there was a clown across the street holding black balloons staring at me and smiling. He started crossing the street towards me so I ran back inside and went out the back door. No one else saw this happen. I still feel like I’m going insane when I think about it.” - TZYTIMEZ

“When I was 17 my mom's husband had this mental breakdown and plotted/attempted to kill her. I was recovering from knee surgery at the time but still ran from my room to see what was going on. My baby brother who was 4 at the time was in the room when he was choking and stomping on her. I had taken him out the room and told my other siblings to leave the house and get someone to call the cops.

I had to tackle him to get him off her and had pinned him up against the washer and dryer and yelled at her to leave. I had tried to lock him in their room to leave the house and look for my siblings, and he just pushed me and went into the kitchen to grab a knife. He was trying to hurt himself because in the small time frame I had called the cops.

While on the phone he looked me in the eyes and started to cut himself and then locked himself in the bathroom since he figured he would be arrested if he was gone. What scared me the most was how calm he was when he said “she’s cheating on me so if I can’t have her no one else will” as I was screaming at him. I have no idea how I had got him off her because he was 6’3 and 300 pounds. I’m 21 now and to this day I get jumpy around knives and panic when I don’t hear from my mom after she leaves the house.” - Esspressomydepresso

“I had salmonella as a kid. I spent a week at home with "the flu" before finally going to the doctor. I spent a week at my local hospital, having all kinds of different medications pumped into me. Then it was a week at the Children's Hospital where they wanted to make sure my insides hadn't turned to goo.

Fever of 104.0F, hallucinating crickets in the walls. Another week at home with god awful stomach cramps as my gut tried to get used to solid foods again. Fun times." - Oscars_Grouch

“I was rushing to a lab class, had books in one hand, lunch in the other and attempted to walk downstairs into the lab. Except the steps were old cement steps with metal lips. And the tip of my foot caught the lip. I went head first, never touched anything the entire way down until I landed on my neck against the wall at the bottom of the stairs. I felt my entire weight load into my neck and every single vertebrate popped. I knew I was dead. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move.

Everyone rushed out of the lab to see what happened (apparently it was loud....I was 300lbs at the time). And then all got the sudden the breath rushed back into my lungs and I could breath. I got up. It felt miraculous. Ended up with occasional severe back pain that eventually went away after 18 months or so.” - Ego_testicle

“Had a seizure so bad my bf at the time had to do compressions. Went to the ER afterwards and was there for hours.” - Vamp_Queen_Azeria

“Bombardment of my house by Russian troops.” - Chemical_Union226

“Went snowmobiling in the woods with friends of my parents and their mutual friends. Some psychopath decided to tie an iron wire across the trail from tree to tree. The sled in front of mine was going around 60 mph when the wire decapitated both of them at the neck. The sled and their bodies continued on until it crashed off the trail. Their heads in their helmets remained in the snow. This happened in Maine.” - 22newhall

“When I was younger, I had a bunk bed. I slept at the top and my brother slept at the bottom. One summer morning I was feeling extremely lazy, so I stayed in bed and had a lay in. I was the only one in my room. For some reason I always slept with the door to my back, so I couldn’t see who was coming in, unless I sat up and turned around. On that morning I felt someone touching me, I thought it was my little sister playing with me, so I told her to cut it out.

No response, a few minutes later told her to leave my room, no response and my door had stayed closed this whole time. So I suspect she was hiding under my bed, so I jumped down to kick her out, oddly enough no one was there. Till this day I don’t know who touched me but whatever it was felt real, it had weight to it. I did ask everyone if they had come into my room that evening but they all said no. It’s been 12 years and I still think about it.” - ThePineappleManager