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Original poster

What's the worst thing you've witnessed? [Content warning added by MNHQ: distressing content]

163 replies

Osidge · 25/02/2024 13:12

Not long ago I was awoken at 3am by loud banging outside. It sounded like someone was banging on my window. I went to look and I saw three men with baseball bats hitting a car in the middle of the road. The car was revving and then I saw another man run out of the opposite house with a huge machete and a big ruckus ensued. I was absolutely terrified as I had visions of people breaking into houses.
I called the police and an armed unit came. There was chaos with people running and shouting. Police with rifles and dogs. Helicopters with beams going for hours.
I was really shaken for weeks. This was in south London so I guess not too surprising but I've never seen anything like it before.
Have you ever witnessed something horrible?

OP posts:
ButterBastardBeans · 25/02/2024 17:59

I was threatened at gunpoint in my job in the 90s.

I witnessed an accident in Cornwall one early morning. A bloke with a boat on a trailer going like the clappers and piled into a family saloon. The father and daughter survived but the mother and son went through the windscreen and were evidently dead. The driver of the boat car just tore his Puffa jacket and all the blood had feathers stuck it it and it was shocking to me how much blood there was. This was before mobile phones and it was early so it took ages for someone to call an ambulance. Awful.

Gloriosaford · 25/02/2024 18:00

@Wordsofprey please dont blame yourself, your instincts are in the right place, you are a decent & good person, but you'd been exploited by a predatory man

AnneElliott · 25/02/2024 18:08

Several traumatic things while working in forensics. But the worst was the scene photos from a man who had killed his wife and children. I can still see those pictures in my head. The police officer who broke in apparently never recovered from it and never went back to work.

Wordsofprey · 25/02/2024 18:17

Gloriosaford · 25/02/2024 18:00

@Wordsofprey please dont blame yourself, your instincts are in the right place, you are a decent & good person, but you'd been exploited by a predatory man

Thank you, I genuinely appreciate it. Thats why I've made a point of always standing up and getting involved when the time calls ever since. It's amazing how strong a hold that nasty, evil people can have on you and make you do or not do things that go against your better judgement.

winmh · 25/02/2024 18:20

Once found a body on the field behind my house. Well, my house at the time, I moved out after that..

People I love wasting away with cancer.

If someone is from the same area they will recognise this one.. A security guard getting shot in the head on the steps of the local town hall. He didn't make it.

When I was a kid my uncle took me to the local swimming baths, we finished swimming and went to the car to see a man that had just been ran over by a truck, Always remembered it because the man was bald and his head was completely red, Always stayed with me.

Also when I was a kid, and the first funeral I ever went to.. My best friend when we were 9, he ran out into the road, excited to see me on the other side, he got hit by a car and didn't make it, The thing I remember most was the screams coming from his mum who saw it happen. She was and is a lovely lady but was never the same after that, The light went from her eyes and never returned. RIP Matthew.

itsgettingweird · 25/02/2024 18:21

sprigatito · 25/02/2024 15:20

@tryingtobenormalish you'll be comforted to know that we all have crippling mental and physical health problems. Clearly we deserve it.

No you don't.

Don't allow stupid people to place any of this on your head. You've experience horrific abuse. Luckily for most of us we don't experience that and therefore most won't judge.

I hope you and your siblings find some peace in life Flowers

OutingPosts · 25/02/2024 18:22

On my honeymoon, watching a man drown trying to save a young woman. We formed a chain to pull him out of the sea but he didn't make it.

Watching DH die of cirrhosis.

tomago · 25/02/2024 18:23

A man who had fallen from a multistory carpark

Dontcallmescarface · 25/02/2024 18:26

A man in a parked car punching a woman in the passenger seat. He saw me looking and drove off. I reported it to the police and gave them the reg number, but never heard anymore about it.

Nevermind91 · 25/02/2024 18:29

I was driving to work at about 5.30 one summer morning. As I approached a section of dual carriageway, a car shot past me, clipped the kerb in lane 2 and lost control, ploughing straight in to a tree.
I stopped and called the emergency services as I walked up to the car. It took a while to spot the driver, as the impact had taken him and his seat into the boot of the car.
At the inquest a few weeks later, it transpired that he had been playing away and was rushing to get to work.

RickyGervaislovesdogs · 25/02/2024 18:30

Big Issue seller in Cardiff, it was Christmas and he had a bulldog with him that he’d dressed up. When he thought nobody was looking he shouted, screamed and kicked the dog who was obviously tired and just wanted to sleep- but the outfit didn’t move if the dog didn’t..

I saw him, I was around 18 at the time and he just laughed and scurried off.

Cunt.

MikeLitoris · 25/02/2024 18:33

HarrietStyles · 25/02/2024 14:53

I’ve seen a lot of violent acts but the thing that most stands out in my memory was something that made me realise that so many humans are just utterly devoid of compassion……

In a supermarket a lady collapsed on the floor by the kiosk desk, we suspected a heart attack. Myself and another lady were helping her, called 999 and ended up having to give CPR. As she lay dying on the floor and we desperately tried to save her life people stepped over her body to buy their fags, booze and lottery tickets.
To this day it still makes me sick to think about it. That a whole bunch of humans could be so cold and selfish as to prioritise buying their fags over letting this lady have some dignity.

Similar to this. Aortic rupture, unfathomable amount of blood, crash kit, CPR etc. people stopping with their trolleys to watch on their way into the supermarket. It was so ghoulish the way they would just stand there gawking.

I’ve got PTSD from the experience, happened months ago and I can’t wrap my head around it. It was so frighteningly quick and so, so gruesome. I still see his face in my thoughts every single day.

just to add, this was a family member, I wasn’t one of the ones morbidly watching it happen.

SonyaBoot · 25/02/2024 18:41

This reply has been withdrawn

Withdrawn at OP's request.

SonyaBoot · 25/02/2024 18:43

This reply has been withdrawn

Withdrawn at OP's request.

MarjoriefromHemelHempstead · 25/02/2024 18:43

In primary school in the mid 70s. During a lesson, the deputy head teacher walked into the classroom. A short, petite, pale woman who always wore black Victorian style dresses. During the weekend she had received some verbal from one of the girls in our class. She made this girl stand on a table in front of everyone, teacher who was taking the lesson included, and laid into her massively with a tirade of abuse. Cant remember the specifics.

My abiding memory of the incident is after a while, the form teacher hurriedly putting newspaper on the table underneath where the girl was stood, to mop up the piss that was streaming down her legs. She was crying her eyes out, and I vividly remember her white tights becoming sodden from her wetting herself.

Original poster
Osidge · 25/02/2024 18:45

thebestinterest · 25/02/2024 16:46

Yes, still sticks with me to this day.

When I was at college, many years back, I was up late one night doing coursework when I heard a bit of a rumble out front of my house. I turned off my lamp and looked out the window to see a black vehicle partially crashed and a police cruiser side parked along the road. 5 police men got out of the cruiser and 4 went over and pulled a man and his companion out of the partially crashed black car.

1 officer took away a cellphone from one of the men and seemed to be going through it. After about a minute of looking at the phone he snapped it and stomped on it with all his strength then picked it up and put it in his pocket, all the while the other 4 officers were basically lynching the other 2 men…

They finally stopped, grabbed the men and threw them into the back of the cop pickup truck and drove off.

I was terrified for those men. They obviously had taken photos or videos of something they shouldn’t have and were chased. Two weeks later the bodies of two men fitting their descriptions were found in an abandoned lot just outside the city.

I never reported what I saw to any authority because of the country where it happened in, and because I didn’t trust that I wouldn’t be retaliated against. This was in Central America..

Oh wow, that's truly terrifying. Sorry to say but I was reading I just knew it was in America. Bad things happen here obviously but over there is something else.

OP posts:
Original poster
Osidge · 25/02/2024 18:46

ThriftyQueen · 25/02/2024 17:01

Two that stand out, both absolutely traumatising.

A friends baby dying, to not go too much into details, it was an awful accident that happened when we were all together, I’ll never forget the screams.

A friends horse getting shot, I held her while it was happening and had my back turned but the sound of the gun and her dropping to the ground and the nerve twitching afterwards was just awful and unfortunately a 2nd bullet had to go in.

Oh god. That makes me want to cry.

OP posts:
LeSoleil · 25/02/2024 18:47

Osidge · 25/02/2024 18:45

Oh wow, that's truly terrifying. Sorry to say but I was reading I just knew it was in America. Bad things happen here obviously but over there is something else.

Show quote history

Thank god I live in the UK.

Original poster
Osidge · 25/02/2024 18:48

Boomer1964 · 25/02/2024 17:07

9 year old girl mauled by 2 alsations 40 years ago. So.e men tried to get the dogs off her. In a beer garden one warm April evening. Blood everywhere. Girl lost her arm and dogs euthanized. Still remember her screams.

Oh Jesus. My grandfather was attacked by an Alsatian years ago. I remember my mum telling me about it. She's been nervous around dogs ever since.

OP posts:
OneStripeySockAndOneSpottySock · 25/02/2024 18:48

ToftySheepdog · 25/02/2024 13:44

What is the actual purpose of threads like this?

Agree with you !

Original poster
Osidge · 25/02/2024 18:49

ilovepixie · 25/02/2024 17:35

Watching my partner die from oesophagus cancer. I had to witness him screaming in pain, throwing up blood and faeces, the pain, suffering and fear he went through was just awful. He was diagnosed just 12 weeks before he died, you wouldn't wish that suffering on your worse enemy.

Oh no. I'm so sorry. 😢

OP posts:
LeSoleil · 25/02/2024 18:50

Caswallonthefox · 25/02/2024 15:57

I sat and watched my dad die. He'd been diagnosed with cancer, not sure when. He went into hospital on the Wednesday, had tests and I was sitting with him on the Saturday, I watched him cough up blood in various stages, from brown to pink and frothy. I watched a tear roll down his face. I gave him permission to go because he didn't have to suffer any more. He died at 3.15pm
I then had to explain to my sister, In graphic detail, why she was lucky that she wasn't there. Because, you know, watching someone die is such a wonderful experience /s.
It's been 18 years.

This is why we need compassionate assisted suicide in the UK. Why should it be a privilege and €15,000 to achieve but go to Switzerland?

Hibye23289 · 25/02/2024 18:51

sprigatito · 25/02/2024 13:24

My mother force-feeding my autistic little brother his own vomit while screaming at him and battering him around the head. I'll never forget the terrified look in his eyes.

Or possibly the months of "holding therapy" she subjected him to where he was screaming and distressed for hours, to the point of soiling himself.

Closely rivalled to the homemade "treatments she imposed on my quadriplegic little sister, such as hanging her upside down from a doorframe to "stretch her hamstrings". She adopted these disabled kids and used them to gratify her raging ego, she was convinced she was going to cure them and be famous. She made my siblings and I help her perpetrate this shit on them as well. She's a massive arsehole.

Gosh that is awful and so sad! Was there a better outcome for your siblings eventually?

Original poster
Osidge · 25/02/2024 18:54

Wordsofprey · 25/02/2024 17:44

I've seen some traumatic things but the only thing worthy of a thread like this (or really that I can't forget even though my memory is a sieve) is from when I was around 15/16. I had an abusive boyfriend who was quite nasty, not a good soul. We were at a skatepark in Kensal Rise. He was doing his thing all day and I was just watching, some maybe 14 year old chubby lad was there and I was speaking to him most of the time. He was very nice. I asked him if he knew anybody with weed locally and we ended up going on about an hour long walk through London to get some. We got back to the skatepark and I was chatting to him the whole time. Towards the end of the day it was going to get dark but still daylight. A group of boys probably 11-14, maybe 6 of them? Come to the skatepark. None of them are riding. I'm not paying much attention but I noticed they were just sitting opposite us. So the young chubby lad said he was going to go, and started walking off. There was probably a 5 min walk to the main high street and the skatepark itself was under a bridge so it was quite isolated. Anyway as he walks off, they all jump up quickly behind him. Less than 10 seconds later I hear a commotion and I jump up to see where theyve gone. They're absolutely beating and kicking the shit out of this boy, stamping on his face, 6 of them, who easily could've just taken his stuff and he would've obliged. I was in shock and they carried on as I was standing 2 meters away, my ex motioning to get the fuck back to him. I went over and begged him to say something, we both went over and I think all he said was "that's enough" with a sort of agreeing face on him. They went off with his oyster card, and that was literally it. I helped the lad up and his face had been entirely rearranged. His nose was on the other side of his face and eyes so swollen he could barely see, and his forehead was a few inches protruding, covered in blood. Ears swollen. Horror show. I said we need to call an ambulance, are you okay, we walked towards the high street and my ex dragged me off and said we need to go NOW. I was young and my biggest regret to this day is leaving, I didn't call an ambulance, I didn't do anything, because I was terrified of both the boys coming back and of my ex. What truly disgusted me is we rode off on his demands leaving the boy by the main road, and we rode in a different direction to how we got there down some dirty estate. We happened to see the boys ahead. I was scared, but my ex decided to pull up and have a chat with them. What was that all about, he said, while kind of laughing like he was on their "side"...they all had a laugh as I stood back in disbelief and then we took off back home. I have stood up to people ever since in all sorts of situations almost getting stabbed once by a crckhead on a train trying to mug a young boy. But that one occasion I did nothing because of the control my ex had over me and I didn't know how to react, also scared they would turn on us. I still think about him to this day, the injuries were serious. He was walking straight after but he was truly battered to a pulp, for nothing. I will always regret doing nothing, not even calling an ambulance. Before I get judged which I do accept, I was very young in a relationship that traumatised me even to this day I bear the scars from it. But that will always stick with me. Nice young boy going to the skatepark by himself no fear, leaving with terror and probably not going out alone again for a long long time. Never saw anything on the news about it. I think about him often.

This is truly tragic. I'm sorry you went through that. Try not to feel bad, it's not your fault and it's understandable that you were afraid.

OP posts:
LeSoleil · 25/02/2024 18:55

ilovepixie · 25/02/2024 17:35

Watching my partner die from oesophagus cancer. I had to witness him screaming in pain, throwing up blood and faeces, the pain, suffering and fear he went through was just awful. He was diagnosed just 12 weeks before he died, you wouldn't wish that suffering on your worse enemy.

And another why we need compassionate assisted suicide in the UK. Why should it be a privilege and €15,000 to achieve but go to Switzerland?

Because some right leaning religious zealots in the Church still believe it is God's right to take us when and how he decides? Bollocks.