What was your most terrifying experience?

[Mixedupworld]

For me it was being winched up into helicopter after I fell and injured myself.

Followed closely by me and a friend aged 12 getting cut off by the tide and having to be rescued by RNLI. We didnt have phones so had to scream for help and were eventually heard. It was pitch black.

Being on a yacht in the Solent with my 8 year old son and my Dad my Dad was the only one who knew what he was doing and he got knocked unconscious. It was really windy we had all the sails up. I didnt know how to steer it, how to take the sails down, how to use the radio, it was really busy with other boats and our boat was tipping right over because it was so windy. We must have been obviously panicking/sailing erratically as another boat called the Coast Guard for us. I have never been so happy to see a lifeboat in all my life.

Telling my DH and friends that my brother had sexually abused me from ages 7-12.
I had experienced scary things before that - nearly losing my foot to an infection, being shot at from outside our “house” (barn) by my boss with a gun when he was pissed at 2am, running away from that job in the middle of the night, being stranded in the Australian outback with no way of getting to a town and a psycho boss who wouldn’t take me... lots of scary things, but nothing as terrifying as telling people my deepest secret.

-Being on a rickety sky lift ride in Spain and the wind was swinging the capsule really strongly. They shut the ride down as soon as we got to the top and had to send jeeps to take everyone back down.

• Being on a plane which was about to take off and a woman started screaming horribly that we were all going to die, please let her off, the plane was going to crash. The terror in her voice made me go cold.

• Being on a plane landing in a bad storm and it was lurching from side to side. They closed the airport after we landed and everything else was diverted to Bristol.

• The fear that my depression will return and I won't be able to do anything about it this time.

My husband not showing up for work 3 years ago, totally out of character. Missing for 17 hours until the police told me he had killed himself

In the operating theatre, being prepped by a nurse for a C-section with DD. I knew they were concerned they couldn't find her heartbeat. But, when the surgeon told the prep nurse to "go faster" it sent me cold and aged me 10 years. Suddenly the theatre filled with loads more hospital staff, and all the cheery chatting stopped and everyone went very quiet and focused. They had her out of me in about 2 mins. She is utterly beautiful and turns 18 this year.

After the mammogram, and the tests, and the biopsy, and the scan - being told "You have a large patch of DCIS and within that patch is a 1.7mm area of invasive cancer." There are no words.

I was very successfully treated and have a very low risk of reoccurrence, but that moment changed me and my outlook on life, forever.

An incident at work (I'm a nursery nurse) where a baby stopped breathing and had no pulse. Thankfully all fine in the end!

I still have nightmares about it.

I was very close to a terrorist attack but being chased by a cow was way scarier

Recovering the body of a murder victim when I was in the police force

Every person on this thread - you are absolutely heroic!! My goodness. And to those of you who have experienced any type of abuse, I'm so sorry, and so glad you came through it and you're here now. ❤

Being trapped under a vehicle after an horrific RTA , I’ve never been so relieved to hear sirens.

This is a bit outing as I tell people this often - but

Was about thirteen and walking across a sort of deserted alleyway/bridge thing. A man came walking towards me and said “you heard about the man who’s been raping young girls around here? Well it’s me.”

I completely froze...

He then said “well actually it’s not but you should be careful walking around here on your own”.

As an adult looking back on it - I’m not sure whether he got a kick out of terrifying me, was genuinely thinking what he did was helpful or something else. It absolutely petrified me. And it’s not as if I could avoid the fact that I was still trying to walk home.

My most scary experience to date was about 2 years ago when 2 masked men kicked my door in and demanded money. They were unlucky because I keep very little cash in the house and do everything online. I managed to keep my calm and explain this to them. I told them I dont have cash, a car jewellery or even a smartphone. Go rob someone else.

One of them had hit me a couple of times (although not as hard as he could have done). I told him off for hitting an old lady with a bad heart and reminded him that if I died it would be murder and his life was over. He didnt hit me again.

My screaming as the door caved in had alerted neighbours and about 7 of them had come out of their houses. The robbers ran off empty handed. They were obviously not very bright. I was not physically hurt but I now had a new security system with panic buttons in every room of the house. I even wear a panic alarm around my neck 24/7. Psychologically I have never really recovered.

I hope they burn in hell.

I’ve a few.
The umbilical cord snapping as I gave birth to dd1. I later found out it was only 15cm long.
40 foot near miss landing into Paris Charles de Galle airport.
18 storeys up in a hotel in Istanbul when a massive earthquake hit Turkey in 1999.

Hiding in my storm shelter staring at the news on my phone as a tornado unlike any I had ever seen before approached my house. I’ve stared them down before, but this wasn’t a column, it was a wall. It turned right before it hit our neighborhood. I still feel guilty at how relieved I was. Luckily it’s new path was at least less populated, but that isn’t much comfort to those who lost loved ones.

Living alone in a flimsy studio flat in my 20’s, in a small building with people with fairly dodgy mental health issues.

I woke in the night to hear the sound of breathing very close to me. I lay under the covers, too terrified to move for ages, convinced someone was metres away from me.
I plucked up the courage to finally move and confront the person as they were just waiting there........ never have I been so scared.........

I’d left the Big Brother live feed on the telly and all the housemates were asleep - this was the days when Channel 4 would broadcast them sleeping, live, throughout the night!

The relief!!! I’ll never forget it!

One I can actually remember is climbing a 100ft scaffold recently for work. I’m terrified of heights but was very aware I couldn’t show it because of being with colleagues. My knees were shaking at the top

That would do it for me! I cannot even get up a helter skelter at a fun fair!!!!

My mother's "morning rages". We were all terrified of her. She would just wake up in a terrible rage, thunder down the stairs and whoever got in her way was for it. I still shake when I think about being pinned up against the wall or gripped by the hair as she screamed and spat in my face.

There was the time when I was 11 and my brother 13, it was NYE and she lost it for some reason, I can't remember why. She made us pack up all our belongings, thundering about screaming while we did it that we'd never brought her anything but fucking heartache and she didn't want us any more. She made us load it all into the back of the car, drove us to my dad's house and dumped us in the garden in the rain. My dad was out drinking and the house was locked up. He worked in the middle east and didn't live there more than a few weeks a year anyway, the place was freezing, damp, practically derelict and not really habitable. She came back for us a couple of hours later and drove us home in silence, apart from saying "DS, you can leave whenever the fuck you like. Sadpaper - you're not going ANYWHERE."

There was one incident that was much less violent and physical than most of my worst memories but it makes me shake and gives me flashbacks, I was so utterly chilled by it. I was actually 18 and home from university. She was having one of her morning screaming fits at me, it had been going on about an hour, when one of the neighbours knocked on the door (about something unrelated). I opened the door and tried to speak normally but was visibly upset. They asked to speak to her so I called up to her, and she replied in a completely cheerful, happy voice, calling me "darling" etc. I glanced up at her from the doorway and the hatred in her face nearly knocked me over. Sorry if that sounds dramatic but it was so intense, like a punch in the stomach.

Car accident involving a HGV when I was 12. We were pushed along in front of a lorry for what felt like ages, with my mum just shouting for us to hold on. I don't really remember much of the aftermath, apparently I was screaming my head off. Only minor injuries and a fear of any large vehicle that's still present on occasion.

Last year when I had a strong glass of gin and tonic. I was suffering quite badly from anxiety (diagnosed before anyone jumps on me) at the time, and it was the first alcohol I'd had in months. I had intrusive thoughts so bad I genuinely thought I was going to kill myself. Luckily I had just about enough self-awareness to realise that it was probably the effect of the alcohol and to ride it out, but I was terrified. I've been avoiding alcohol since then.

I realise how ironic my username is for that post! I used to really like gin lol

Losing my daughter out shopping. She had been spinning round and walked off in the opposite direction. She was missing no longer than 40 seconds but every possible eventuality went through my head as I ran round. Found her and burst out crying.

@southern82

Been on a ride at a theme park when I was 17 and as it went upside down and was held there, my bar across my knees moved and I started falling out. I had a bar above me that I had to hold onto. I honestly thought I was going to die.

This has raised my blood pressure....OMG!!

Losing DD, then aged about 7, on Boscombe beach in Bournemouth during a really busy and hot day. She'd gone to the waters edge with my DM who'd turned round to find DD had simply vanished.

We'd hired a beach hut, luckily close to the beach security hut. DH shot in there and they put a call out all along the beach with her description. I was sobbing by then, but a couple walked past and asked if I'd lost a child and that there was little girl further up crying. I took off running shoeless and she was a long way up the beach on the prom with two ladies about to walk her to the security hut. She'd got lost and was looking for our hut but they all looked the same and she'd got so lost and just panicked.

The whole thing seemed to last ages but she was only gone about 10 minutes. I aged 10 years that day. I still shiver to think of what might have happened to her.

A few years ago i thought i was going to choke to death on a piece of food stuck in my throat (not windpipe). Attempted to wash it down with water which led to me not being able to breathe for about ten looong seconds and it then thankfully went down. I only swallowed very teeny mouthfuls for an extremely long time after that.

@sadpapercourtesan

My mother's "morning rages". We were all terrified of her. She would just wake up in a terrible rage, thunder down the stairs and whoever got in her way was for it. I still shake when I think about being pinned up against the wall or gripped by the hair as she screamed and spat in my face.

There was the time when I was 11 and my brother 13, it was NYE and she lost it for some reason, I can't remember why. She made us pack up all our belongings, thundering about screaming while we did it that we'd never brought her anything but fucking heartache and she didn't want us any more. She made us load it all into the back of the car, drove us to my dad's house and dumped us in the garden in the rain. My dad was out drinking and the house was locked up. He worked in the middle east and didn't live there more than a few weeks a year anyway, the place was freezing, damp, practically derelict and not really habitable. She came back for us a couple of hours later and drove us home in silence, apart from saying "DS, you can leave whenever the fuck you like. Sadpaper - you're not going ANYWHERE."

There was one incident that was much less violent and physical than most of my worst memories but it makes me shake and gives me flashbacks, I was so utterly chilled by it. I was actually 18 and home from university. She was having one of her morning screaming fits at me, it had been going on about an hour, when one of the neighbours knocked on the door (about something unrelated). I opened the door and tried to speak normally but was visibly upset. They asked to speak to her so I called up to her, and she replied in a completely cheerful, happy voice, calling me "darling" etc. I glanced up at her from the doorway and the hatred in her face nearly knocked me over. Sorry if that sounds dramatic but it was so intense, like a punch in the stomach.

My heart goes out to you. I hope you are nc now and that you and your brother are still family.

My mum was toxic and did something similar to your last example. I wasn't allowed friends over without arranging it long in advance. My parents were really antisocial. I forgot once when I was playing with my best friend from across the estate and brought her back with me to see my hamster. My mum opened the door and said " Hello Jenny" in a sacharrine voice but grabbed the skin on my arm as Jenny walked in ahead of me, twisted it and pinched it really hard to let me know I was in huge trouble when Jenny had gone home. We are no contact now thank god and typing this has made me furious. I always made sure ds's friends were welcome when he wanted to play with them. Why wouldnt you?

A work situation: I went onto a male Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit without alerting staff I was entering or taking an alarm. Walking down a long corridor towards the communal area which the nursing office is on the other side of, no staff in sight. Very large man rounds a corner and starts walking towards me, when he's a couple of steps away pauses and says "I could rip your fucking heart out of your chest right now" with real malevolence. I've been in situations where violence was happening, situations where I was probably at much more risk, but none that made me feel as afraid- and as stupid, because I had left myself so open and if he had acted on his thoughts I would not have managed to alert anyone before he harmed me.