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

Taking the action that meant I'd take exh to court for the kids. They'd finally had enough and were to scared to see him any more. It was like jumping off a cliff. I ended up in criminal court for non-presentation. He threw everything he had at me and the kids.

DD going into respiratory failure at 4 weeks old and being transferred to ICU (prem baby who contract RSV). They took good care of her and she is fine.

DS2 - Brain MRI to rule out a brain tumour ( he was having unexplained seizures with nausea). Again, all fine (after 2 years of treatment for a difficult to diagnose & treat seizure pattern)

Car crash age 19. Flipped the car on a coastal road. The car settled less 3 feet away from a sheer cliff.

The most frightening was sitting next to a foolish friend who accidentally shot himself in the head (playing silly buggers with a gun - in SA many people own them). Sadly he died.

Losing my daughter near the beach for about 20 minutes, I felt like she was gone 20 hours.

Walking across the rope bridge in NI, that was when I realised I had developed a fear of heights

Car in front of me started cartwheeling down the outside lane on the M25 in the rush hour. Hit the brakes and managed to avoid hitting anything. The road was swimming in petrol but managed to get the driver out , who was well into her third trimester. She was a tad shaken with shards of glass stinking into her forehead. It was only then that I noticed that at least another 6-7 other cars were involved.

Birth of DD. The words in my head when I came round were “is the baby alive?”, the words that came out of my mouth were “is the baby a girl”. It was a close call for both of us, but she’s fit and well and 9 soon.

Actually, coming in from school when I was about 17 and finding my dad passed out, wedged into our tiny bathroom (he was very tall).

^ previous post, posted too soon.

There was no immediate danger, no fire, dad was breathing etc, but once I’d ring 999 a d my mum I had no idea what to do or what would happen.

Watching my son die at 8 hours old 😔. Then, panicking in the middle of the night thinking I'd never cope with the grief and I didn't know how I'd get through the pain.

It physically hurt.

I'm another sleep paralysis sufferer. I often hallucinate that I'm being dragged off the bed by my feet by some unseen monster and I'm trying to thrash around to wake my husband up. Eventually when it starts to wear off and I can make a noise he shakes me to get me out of it and I'm still in the same position in bed. Terrifying.

First labour with DD1, had the big red button experience when her heart rate dropped after she got stuck (back to back) I just remember loads more staff running in and then they sucked her out with a ventouse and she was almost blue. Thankfully ok now.

When DD1 ran away during a MH episode last year and the police eventually found her. They brought her home but she refused to go sit in the car to talk to them to diffuse the situation (she had given me a fair few bruises and broken one of my fingers) and they ended up dragging her out of the house. She has never forgiven me for letting them do that and has a deep distrust of the police now.

When DH called me at work to tell me DD had been hit by a car. My legs actually went from under me. Very minor injuries but the fear that went through me when he said those words will never ever leave me.

I’m so sorry baremineral. My post above yours seems very insensitive now.

Pulling my daughter back up through the window when she tried to hang herself.
When she tried again by nearly jumping in front of a train, thank god for the transport police who were fantastic.
When she took a huge overdose and was finally sectioned .
Same daughter in a car crash. Nobody told me. When I finally found out which hospital she was in and the ED consultant asking how quick I could get there. Apart from facial injuries she was ok.
for everyone. Some of these are heart breaking

A very short flight between Tallin and Helsinki. The turbulence was so bad I genuinely thought we were going to crash (and I'm a good flier). Longest 35 minutes of my life.

@BikeRunSki

Actually, coming in from school when I was about 17 and finding my dad passed out, wedged into our tiny bathroom (he was very tall).

I'd forgotten this (obviously managed to blank it from my mind) but earlier this year DH passed out, hit his head on the way down and was lying there with his eyes open and his mouth hanging open. I genuinely thought he was dead. Fortunately he was fine but it was vaguely interesting to find out how I'd react.

Opening the door to two police officers in the early hours of the morning. I think my life sort of suspended for the few minutes it took for them to establish ( I saw them looking at photos on the mantelpiece) that the body they had just identified on a road was my 16 year old son.

Major earthquake that razed city to the ground and killed hundreds

My first severe asthma attack after suddenly developing asthma out of nowhere as an adult. Didn't understand what was happening to me or why I couldn't breathe. Had to go to hospital

Also anaphylaxis which showed up around the same time but thankfully only happened once.

Many of these are so sad to read. to all.

Childbirth with DC1 and subsequent postpartum sepsis. With the early stages of the sepsis I was abandoned in a room on the postnatal ward with no one taking me seriously and I thought if I went to sleep I wouldn't wake up again

Baby DC2 in high dependency unit not at all well, and a posse of anaesthetists suddenly turned up around the end of the bed. I knew anaesthetists turn up in large numbers when someone's very ill indeed.

Both DCs are fine now.

The other one is entirely self-inflicted, I did a fixed-line parachute jump once and when it came to jumping out of the plane I was completely paralysed by fear. I can barely remember exiting the plane but apparently I tumbled out screaming. I landed safely.

Losing toddler DD at the supermarket check out, just after Madeleine McCann went missing. I seemed to miss out all the usual steps of fear at realising your child is missing and panicking - I want straight to "I will never see her again."

I very quietly said to the checkout lady "I don't know where my daughter is". She offered to put the shopping through while I looked for DD. I'm not sure what happened next, but about 10 members off staff suddenly appeared and were looking for my DD while I was so scared I could barely move and just stood there with tears rolling down my face.

She had merely slipped round the end of the check out, as pointed out by another shopper, who was also a school mum and knew she was my DD. The staff were amazing and offered to push my trolly to the car.

It was so out of character for me.

I've had lots of "scary" things happed to me when I was younger but I'm not really bothered by those and mostly find them funny.

Between seeing my son at 6months turn blue from choking whilst being no where near any help or hospital

He is fine now

Otherwise having a c section earlier this year alone

I had an extreme allergic reaction to a medication within 24 hours of the first two doses. I was unable to move or talk unfortunately I could still hear & understand...
Listening to the doctors & my parents discuss my care was awful. I was scared that this was it - I had in locked-in syndrome.
They put me in an induced coma to reduce the pressure on my brain & luckily after a fortnight things had healed a lot & I was able to come out of it.
The idea of locked-in syndrome quite frankly terrifies me.

Finding my husband dead, knowing he was dead the moment I found him but having to perform cpr on his body for ten minutes whilst waiting for the ambulance to arrive.

Living in a bed sit in Fulham in the 90s I woke up in the middle of the night to find the landlords assistant at the foot of my bed (he had a master key). Told me I was the reincarnation of his dead wife & I had to return to Albania with him . Somehow managed to keep calm and talk him down & eventually he left (at which point I fell to pieces!!) left the next day. Six months later working in a pub same guy came in & declared that if I was rejecting him then in 'his culture' I had to prove it by burning him on his hand. In those days you could smoke in pubs & he wanted me to use a fag to burn him. Naturally I refused, but he grabbed my wrist and thrust my burning cigarette into his chest - I could hear & smell the flesh burning. Fortunately my boss then rushed over & chucked him out. Never saw him again (thankfully) but murder of Jill Dando just round the corner of my bed sit a few years later did make me wonder....

@Hugstoall I'm so sorry 💐

@TwixTwixtwoo

Aggravated burglary, being held at knifepoint on our sofa while they ransacked upstairs where DD was sleeping.

This hasn’t happened to me, but it’s my biggest fear. Waking up to find someone in my house that shouldn’t be.

God, now I’ve read the whole thread. for those of you that have experienced things far worse than anything I can imagine.

My scariest incidents - for myself, it was when I almost choked. A piece of garlic bread went down the wrong way, was lodged in my windpipe I couldn’t breathe or speak. I jumped up at the table, I was crying. Luckily DH reached quickly and smacked my back and it came out. I was so scared I wet myself. I was literally thinking, ‘this is how I die’. By comparison, I was raped when I was 20 and I remember thinking the same thing as he held me down by my throat. But I was calm then.

In relation to my kids, it’s been the two times I thought I’d lost DS3. The first time it was in our locked up house, and I thought I must be going mad because he literally could not have got out but wasn’t anywhere. He was hiding, watching me rampage about the house screaming his name. He was only 2 so I’ll let him off!
Second time, same son, we were at a family party at a social club but there was a very big empty field and it was late and dark. I was convinced he’d been snatched from the field where he’d been playing with his cousins. In reality he was having a dump in the men’s toilets but obviously I couldn’t go in. I had gone from 0-60 in terms of panic stations before I even asked DH to check. What a divvy.