Scariest thing you've ever experienced

[aproblemsharedisaprobleminhalf]

When watching a horror with my teenage son this evening, DS asked what the scariest thing I'd ever witnessed was and I simply couldn't think what my answer would be. I'm intrigued to know what other people's answers would be, I find it so intriguing

Someone grabbing me and pulling me down an alleyway as a teenager. I only weighed 7 stone but I struggled, kicked and screamed and he let go and ran off. One of the worst parts was passers-by deciding I'd just had a drunken tiff with a boyfriend when I was hysterically shouting for help afterwards (had only had juice...not that it should make a difference). Nearly 30 years on, and I still can't cope with being alone at night.

My 4th miscarriage. With no warning at all, I was mid sentence standing in the kitchen doorway chatting to DH, next thing I remember is waking up in a 2m round pool of blood on the floor being stared at by a terrified DH who was also covered in blood and 4 ambulance people all looking a bit shocked. Apparently, DH told me later I'd been talking, then he'd heard a splattering sound, turned around just in time to see my collapse and crack my head on the tile floor and the huge pool of blood that had come from between my legs. He'd called the ambulance who had arrived within about 10 minutes and in the meantime he'd had to keep checking i was breathing .

I was taken to hospital, I'd had a massive hemorrhage that had ended my pregnancy (i was only 8 weeks) and my blood pressure had completely tanked.

That wasn't the scary bit, the scary bit came 4 days later when i went home and started feeling really unwell. I had this really odd sensation that i was definitely going to die. Anyway I spiked a temperature of 41.7, called NHS direct and I was in the back of an ambulance about 7 minutes later and dont remember anything else at all about that day. I recovered a few days later, it was Sepsis and I was at very high risk of total organ failure to the point where they called my parents to come and visit me.

I found out later that the sensation that you're about to die is actually a really common symptom of sepsis.

[quote Pinkstars2501]@MJMG2015 that sound like sleep paralysis. I get it quite often and it's SO scary. Mine I'm always on my front and it feels like someone is holding me in place and I can hear someone running around my house. It's awful, but only ever get it when I'm on my own and DH has gone to work super early. [/quote]
I used to get sleep paralysis quite often. I would wake (I think) up paralysed and would realise that if I made a great muscular effort I could break the paralysis and recover. I not sure whether in fact I was actually still asleep and dreaming it all.

Waking up to a gun pointed at me.

The time between giving birth to my premature baby and hearing him cry. I think that was worse than the gun.

Waiting for my baby son to die and not knowing when or where it would happen. My same baby stopping breathing out on the street, totally blue, having a whole crowd of people gathering and staring while my partner gave him CPR and knowing that calling an ambulance would be useless due to the DNR on his notes 🙁

@bigkingdom that's heartbreaking! Why would a baby have dnr on notes?

@Bigkingdom I’m so sorry

Not scary at the time, just odd. I had insomnia, and decided to go to the 24hr Tesco nearby at around 5am. A car pulled up just before I got to the turnoff, and the guy driving asked if I needed a taxi. Weirdly his car didn't have any taxi company livery or anything. I said no thanks, and then he asked me for a light and a roll up; then he told me not to be scared of him and did I want to get in the car (I said no). He lit up and wasn't really smoking, but gathering ash on an empty coke can.

I burst my naivety bubble the next day when I was talking to a friend about it, and she told me the can/ash thing was probably an improvised crack pipe.

Didn't think about it again til a few months later - i was in a dentist's waiting room and saw his face on the front page of the local paper .

www.batleynews.co.uk/news/rapist-jailed-subjecting-sex-worker-degrading-ordeal-2204492

I absolutely freaked out, and am so glad I declined his offer.

@ EdwardCullensBiteOnTheSide he was terminally ill. They said he wouldn’t love beyond a year old. I brought him home from hospital at one month old and he died at 4 months. It is actually his birthday tomorrow, he would have been 20.

@ Audreyseyebrows thank you

@bigkingdom that is so awful, how sad, I'm so sorry

@bigkingdom I'm so sorry

Very near miss on the m40, short slip road, it's a miracle we didnt crash.

@mxjones
Same. Terrifying isn't it. Hope you're over it in some sense, although I know that you possibly aren't x

Wow, some of these stories are just utterly heartbreaking! You are all so strong!

One was being shot at whilst walking through a wood, they were actually firing at birds but didn't know we were in there until we screamed.

Second was hearing a car beeping its horn while I was putting stuff in my car, looking up to see Ds1 aged about 2 stood in the middle of the road going beep beep as well. Dh thought he was with me and i thought he was with dh, he had climbed the steps up to the road, even today (he's 28) i have flashbacks and cringe every time a car speeds down our road, if the car that stopped had been one of the speedy ones he would not be here.

Breaking down and coming to a standstill in the middle lane of the motorway. Hazard lights have never felt so small and useless, as vehicles swerved around us at 70mph or more. It was me and the dog in the car. I apologised to the dog, because I was convinced we would be hit, killed, and cause a major pile up. It's the closest I've ever been to actually wetting my pants with fear.

Nothing hit us.

Some of these stories are so terrible. Hugs to you all.

Having a nervous breakdown a few years ago where I was literally too scared to get out of bed. I wanted to sleep forever just to escape the pain of anxiety. My poor dc were so terrified as was I. My now exh was shit but my parents love pulled me through - I've had a couple of relapses since but it's made me far stronger.

When the midwife held up my floppy chalk white just born baby and a team of doctors came running in I realised the alarm going off was for her. It took just over a minute for them get her breathing but I thought it was about 10/15 until I had my debrief. I can still hear the alarm in my head and myself screaming at them to help her .

Mine are nothing compared to others. Years ago I worked in a psychiatric hospital and went out for a walk, to be joined by a pal who said she'd catch me up. I heard footsteps behind me and turned, expecting to see my friend. It was a stranger so I continued. He caught me up and asked me where I was going, could he kiss me, etc. I said no and walked faster. He tried to grab me, I pushed him off and thankfully he backed away. I told my friend later and she made enquiries. He fit the description of a patient who had very strange sexual fantasies about his mother and was considered dangerous. So why wasn't he in a secure ward?

About 10 years ago I had to call 999 when my now late DH struggled to breathe. He'd had a terminal diagnosis and this was the first time this had happened but it became a regular and more frequent event. Watching the person I most loved in the world get worse over a period of time and knowing there was nothing I or anyone could do was the bleakest and most frightening time and I think we were both in a permanent state of fear and sadness.

More recently, when starting chemo I had a reaction at the first session. First I felt woozy and light headed, then cold and tingly. I wondered if that is what it felt like to die. Two nurses were nattering and I remember not wanting to interrupt or make a fuss but I had to shout out, "Help" very loudly. They came running, pulled the curtains round, put the chair down, stopped the chemo and called a doctor. Eventually things got back to normal but it took longer than they'd anticipated. Further sessions went well and I'm in remission.

All of the emotional abuse that my ex husband put me through, but in particular the time when he screamed at me (whilst the DC were present) that he'd crash the car with them in it. The emotional abuse I'm has left the deepest scars, more than anything else. Also the time he snatched one of the DC out of bed in the night. And also the day that the police were finally called. But it got much better from then.

The phone call I got from some random person by the side of the road who called me to let me know the ambulance crew were with my husband after his accident. Knowing he would have phoned me himself if he was in any fit state. He's fully recovered now fortunately.

DS stopping breathing. He was 4 weeks old. He went a bit clammy, then suddenly grey, then gave a little strangled gasp and just stopped breathing. I know from reading his file that I performed successful CPR, and I have a flash of standing in resus at the children’s hospital crying whilst they cut his onesie off, but the pure feeling of terror is all I get when I think of it, even now it makes my heart beat faster and my eyes fill with tears and it was over 3 years ago. He spent a week on PICU on a ventilator. They never found out why it happened. It still scares me, I watch every day with the dread that it might happen again.

Some of these stories are absolutely terrifying and heartbreaking.

For me it was probably when DD had a seizure aged 2. She had been standing at the top of the stairs and thank god DH picked her up or she would have tumbled all the way down. As it was we were terrified because we didn’t know what was happening. I actually thought she was choking and she went blue and floppy. I really thought I had lost her. It was beyond awful. The next couple of times she fitted it was scary but since I knew what it was I wasn’t quite so utterly petrified.

Another scary moment was when I lost DD1 at Disney World. She was 3. All I could think about was Jamie Bulger being led away from his mum. We lost her for about 10 minutes. Luckily she was found safe and sound but it was pretty heart stopping.

Final one (and a bit less serious) was when I was sleeping in a “haunted” house as a teenager. Lots of people had experienced weird goings on in the house and I myself have had some unexplained experiences like hearing footsteps when no one there and seeing objects moving when no one has been anywhere near them etc. Figures have also been seen. Anyway, the house belonged to a family member and I was staying over. I woke up at about 4am. The bedroom was almost completely dark and as I lay there trying to figure out what had woken me I became aware of a strange sound in the room with me. The sound of very heavy breathing. I actually held my breath because I was sure it must be my own breath that I was hearing. BUT IT DIDNT STOP. Honestly that moment when I realised there really was something else in the pitch dark of the room with me was absolutely terrifying. I felt like my heart was going to leap out of my chest. After lying completely paralysed by fear for a few moments I managed to move enough to switch the light on.... to find the old Labrador had managed to find his way into my room during the night and was panting away on the floor next to my bed. I have never been so relieved!

Two weeks ago I was happily buggering around pretending to surf in waist deep water (in Aus, NW)
a bit further down from where all the other people were, when I heard someone yell "SHARK!". I turned to look and everyone further up the beach was looking at me. I paddled back fast First person I saw on the beach said "wow that was a big shark" and I said "where?? I couldn't see it??" and he does, "it was right next to you". I saw it then, it was massive.

Now every time anyone shouts at the beach i jump out of my skin. I won't forget the feeling of seeing they were all staring at me any time soon!