When did your world go quiet?

[PalominoOrGreyOrChestnutOrBay]

inspired by a tiktok trend recently, just thought it might be an interesting thread. I’m a regular poster not a journalist or anything like that (MNHQ can verify!).

When did your world go quiet? Basically, what was a time you got a fright and time seemed to stop or go quiet?

mine was I was on my horse and he decided to rear up, over concrete ground, and I felt him wobble back. As soon as I felt that first tilt backwards everything sort of went quiet and it was like an out of body experience (not a good one!). I couldn’t hear anyone around. I just remember the last thing I thought was along the lines of this is it im about to die and it was like everything was in slow motion. Luckily it was all ok but that split second was easily the scariest moment of my life and my world completely stopped.

So, when did your world go quiet?

When I got on a sitting camel earlier this week for what I thought was a photo and it turned out it was a trek round the streets. 😂🤣
camels are tall.
and when they sit back down it’s quite frightening!

Sending hugs to all ! 💐

Standing at my sisters funeral and seeing her beautiful smiling face looking back at me from the picture her husband had framed in flowers. I can’t explain the awful hopeless feeling of despair at knowing I’ll never see her again, but it’s like the world just stopped turning and everything lost all its colour, I’ve honestly never felt anything like it before or after. It’s as if your body knows you can’t take anymore and just removes you from that place and time

Being dumped off my board in really deep, rough surf. I wrenched my neck and was completely disorientated, I remember the churn of the water and noise being slowed down, tumbling in slow motion then finally feeling the sea floor and pushing up and kicking with all my might. It was probably less than 20 seconds but felt like minutes. I was 13 and remember it vividly 35 years on.

When dd was 3, she choked on a piece of mango (I had cut it up into pieces!!!) and I'd left the room for about two minutes to clear up the dinner things, I called to her to say that I was going to run her bath, and was only by chance that I looked in to check and she was sitting slumped forward with her back to me and her arm twitching... didn't really notice the slumped head, it was the weird twitching that made me stop.

When I rushed to her, she was making these quiet yet awful gurgling noises and her whole face was purple and her lips were blue. Smacked her hard on the back a few times and nothing happened, and whilst I was doing that, my brain was calmly running thorough the songs that I would play at her funeral... after what felt like about half an hour passed (in reality about 30 seconds), I thought, well, I'd better take her to the neighbours and they can help, hoiked her into my shoulder, and as I did, the piece of mango shot out, then she was violently sick all over both of us. Then we both sat and cried, she slowly turned back to a normal colour...

I have never felt fear like it, yet the calmness, it was like there was white noise in my brain, and felt like I was watching us from above, and the totally irrational thought about 'well, I'd better take her to the neighbours' (like they would have been able to help?!) totally unnerved me.

Plus the reliving the moment, what if I hadn't glanced into see her before I went upstairs, etc, what if I had been rushing around as usual, makes my blood run cold. It takes me about five or so mins to run her bath, she would have been gone. In my defence before people leap on me for leaving her for two mins, I am on my own with no support and worked full time. Have never left her since when she's eating, even though she's nearly five now.

She's obviously totally fine now! And I appreciate that my story is nowhere near the scale of harrowing and tragic like others, but that's my 'the world stood still' moment.

Having my twins. I couldn’t move or speak or even communicate with my eyes. No one knew because they were focused on the babies (rightly so) but all I remember was them talking about the volume of blood I’d lost and which drugs they were giving me into the cannula - it lasted two minutes until they managed to get the second baby out, then they could stop the bleeding. I’ve never actually written that down or described it before now. Interesting so many people have these moments in their lives.

Several

Car hit oil on on the road on a bend. It bounced off the pavement and shot across the road , straight through a fence before it smashed into a tree. We( me and DH) both walked away without a scratch.

In Asda. A middle aged man in front of me had some kind of fit, went stiff and toppled backwards like a fallen tree. He hit the stone floor and his head cracked open. There was blood and brains all over the floor.He was clearly dead. It was nearly 15 minutes before i could get my feet to move.

In the Breast clinic. Had just had a mammogram. Ultrasound doc walked in put machine on my breast. Cheerfully announced " Look theres your cancer !" I didnt know I had cancer.

Severe pre eclampsia, 25 hour labour and baby got stuck. Lost his heartbeat. Emergency c section. Pulled out blue, floppy baby. In the 2 mins it took him to cry the entire world stopped.

Seeing three year old DS olding 3 month old baby sister at the top of the stairs.time stood still then I ran up but calmly so not to startle DS
Finding 2.5 year old DD silently struggling after falling in a pondi still want to cry when thinking about both occasions

I went in DS bedroom and he was asleep with his eyes WIDE open (no REM movement) and his face looked contorted in a scream, we are already deathly pale family and hes the palest 'blue' colour and he didnt respond to the noise of me walking in (normally hes up like a flash at the slightest sound so we never see him asleep).

I have never seen someone look so dead and Ive seen actual dead bodies before, I shook him and he woke up but honestly it felt like the bottom fell out of the world (was only about 15-20 seconds but feels like a lifetime).

Turns out sleeping with his eyes frozen WIDE open in horror is just one of his many wierd ass freaky quirks the strange child lol. He thought mummy in a crumpled mess on the floor having a panic attack was quite amusing though.

Losing sight of my 3 year old in a busy park area that wasn’t enclosed. There were children everywhere but it was like they suddenly all went into slow motion and silent and became faceless. It was terrifying. We of course found her happily playing completely unaware.
I also had a strange experience sat on a bus that was waiting to pull out from the bus station. Everything went silent and things went into slow motion and it felt like something was going to happen like an explosion or something. It was like reality slipped for a couple of seconds.

At a rammstein concert in Baltimore. The venue had no separation between sections so about 2,000 people were in general admission area. We were in the fourth row from front and as soon as the band came on stage everyone crushed forwards. Then the pyrotechnics came on and the front rows pressed back. My husband and I were lifted off our feet and I lost a shoe. I didn’t touch the ground for twenty minutes, couldn’t pull my arms free to signal to the bouncers that I needed help. I could hardly breathe and we were both sure we would die. Then after twenty minutes the crush released us and we were ok.

next day my entire rib cage was black with bruising just from the bodies pressing against me, and my face had two footprints from crows surfers.

still the best concert so ever went to.

When I witnessed a fatal road traffic accident. There was a noise that made me turn around but my mind blocked it out. I do remember a scream immediately afterwards though. Incredibly sad.

When my first daughter was stillborn. I knew already but part of me still thought I'd hear her cry when she came out. Hardest silence ever. Opted for CS with my rainbows.
Sending much love to all of you who are haunted by a silence.

I once had an interaction with a strange man as I came out of Tesco. He was wearing a fleece jacket and a T-shirt with some kind of faded transfer, sweat pants and scruffy trainers. He asked if I had any change. Everything slowed right down and got very quiet in my head and I had the most ominous feeling, it was really unsettling. After what seemed like a minute but was probably just a few seconds I said ‘sorry what?’ and he repeated himself and I said no I don’t and quickly hurried off into the car park I looked over my shoulder to see him skulk into the shop and still had a real funny feeling about him.

About a week later I saw his face plastered over a report on itv regional news. He had been arrested for a violent crime against his partner and her kids. Looking it up on the internet it wasn’t too clear but was quite possibly the same day I had encountered him at Tesco.

As a survivor of child abuse I’ve unfortunately lived through too many of these moments. I am not triggered by doors being slammed open or even if they just open quickly. The world slows down for me. I scream. I am ready to fight or run from the situation even if the better part of me knows that that person is no longer in my life. It haunts me to this day.

Also a car wreck where I was T boned on the drivers side. Driver ran off. I was unharmed but at the time was certain I would die.

Another time when husband fainted from severe dehydration and I had to call 911. My daughter was only 2 months old. I went straight into survival mode. Never felt so empty in my life. Breastfeeding and changing diapers like a robot the entire time he was in the hospital. What was supposed to be a happy sweet time became very scary. I was fearful that he would die. Luckily he is alive and well now.

Went rock-climbing, but on the hike to the crag I took the wrong path and tumbled 6 meters (20 feet) down a cliff. Landed on the ground, still conscious - but for what felt like an hour, but was in reality just a few seconds, I was trying to figure out if I'd injured myself so badly that I wouldn't walk again.

(It turned out fine - bruised, battered, and embarrassed by my massive fuck-up, but nothing serious).

Oh and another horse one I've remembered, from years ago, it was winter and at night, and was walking her for a cool off round the side of the school.

She was absolutely fine and then suddenly spooked at a shadow, she went up on her back legs, a proper rear, I remember seeing the light from the indoor school sparking off her shoes, literally thought 'she's going to come down on my head' very calmly, didn't even flinch, it felt like it was destiny, and after what felt like an hour of her hooves hovering above my head, she came down. Then she did it again. Then she decided she had had enough of being a silly bugger, so I said 'ok, silly girl, enough, let's go', took her back to her stable, and went home in a total trance. Only when I got back and had a bath did I realise how close she was to coming down on my head (wearing a hat but even so).

My friend who was with me was traumatised, and said her front feet had literally skimmed my head. And she was a big mare, a solid 16.2. Makes my blood run cold.

Mine was when I was t-boned by another driver at extremely high speed. I didn’t realise at the time, but my car had flipped across the other side of the road, gone through a wall and landed upside down in a ditch. When I tried the door handle and it wouldn’t open I realised I was trapped, and it was like the whole world just stopped. I was in the car on my own. I could hear hysterical screaming coming from somewhere and it took a few seconds for me to realise it was actually coming from me

I was a passenger in a car whilst my mum was driving and I was pregnant. She had to do an emergency stop due to the stupid actions of another driver and time did slow down. Luckily, we didn’t crash but I almost felt as if we did on another timeline. It was very upsetting at the time . 🙈🙈

Wow that is awful. I’m so sorry you went through that. 💔

So many awful stories here. Sending love to all 💐Really makes you think.

Whilst waiting for my son to die in my arms

And again just as we pulled up to the crematorium for his funeral. Everything outside the car felt so slow, quiet and surreal. I remember seeing everyone standing there waiting for us to arrive, they didn't even look like people

This is like Maggie ofarrells book I am I am I am where she recounts her near death experiences. Worth reading she’s a great writer. A nurse saved her as a child from Saville by refusing to leave her bedside 😔.

The taxi one made my blood run cold.

DS tumbled down the stairs head first when he was 2. He didn’t cry, he just looked at me and didn’t move until the ambulance arrived.

He was fine by the time we got to the hospital, then had a proper cry because he was not allowed to go back home in ambulance.

Gosh, some of these are heartbreaking 💔 I’m lucky, I guess.