Kate Hackett
I am here for all the delightful Halloween-y content we’re giving y’all the next six weeks.
Just in time for our gear-up to Halloween, Redditor SirHopper96 asked the AskReddit subreddit:
“What’s the scariest experience you have been through?”
The thread quickly went viral and we’ve rounded up some of the top comments.
1. Rocks
“I once got stuck on a rock when I was scuba diving and I passed out, but my dad saved me. When I woke up, I was so nervous, I threw up the entire contents of my stomach just because I was super nauseous and nervous.” —Repulsive_Ocelot2658
2. Trapped Underwater
“At a Duke of Edinburgh camp — while snorkeling in a reef — I went through a reef cave thing and got disoriented and stuck. Panicked, found a very small hole in the roof of the cave and crammed myself through it, cutting the shit out of my flanks. I was half convulsing and seeing the grey blur closing in on the edges of my vision as I surfaced. That was over 20 years ago and I still remember everything about the experience.” —Infidus_Imperator
3. Hit by a car
“Got hit by a car and was kinda just on the hood of the car for a bit before the guy realized he hit me and stopped.” —lookilooper
4. Lost son
“Our son was 4 years old and decided it would be funny to hide from us in Sears. He went all out not to be found. They locked the store down and had everyone looking for him. I was terrified to my core. Then a lady said, ‘Could he be hiding?’ So I called out his name, he didn’t answer.” “She said scold him. I called his name and said this isn’t funny. Come out now or you’re getting a time out! Then, 10 feet away he emerges from a rack of long coats and says, ‘Are you mad?’ I’d never been so happy and relieved in my life.” —Idktryit
5. Fire at 2am
“I lived in a second story apartment for a few years. Once, I was woken up around 2:00 a.m. to slamming on my door and someone yelling, ‘Fire!’ When I opened the door, everything was bright orange and I could hear the very loud crackling of burning wood.” “Thought it was either my apartment or the apartment under mine that was on fire, and my first reaction was to find my cat and get her out. Halfway through grabbing her, I realized I may have been putting myself in serious danger and thought I’d have to escape off the balcony.
Thankfully (for me), it was the apartment across from mine that was on fire, so I was able to get downstairs and to safety with my cat. The next hour or so was a completely different kind of scary as I crossed my fingers the fire wouldn’t spread to my apartment. It didn’t, but two buildings were destroyed, 14 residents were displaced, two cats lost their lives, and a firefighter was hospitalized.” —Feriend
6. Skydiving terror
“When I was 18, I went skydiving and the parachute didn’t deploy. As it was my first time, I had to have an instructor with me and she was the one who fixed the parachute.” —RubberDucky25K
7. Mountain lion stalking you
“I used to go out for long walks in the woods at night. That is until I got stalked by a mountain lion that had wandered into the city.” “The feeling of having an apex predator follow you is a nearly indescribable, primal thing. It’s so disconnected from any fear I’ve felt in my modern life. Externally, I was just walking home, but internally, I was absolutely and totally aware that there was a big cat behind me, it wanted to eat me, and I couldn’t stop it if it decided to do this.” —mus_maximus
8. Guy walked into my home
“My wife and I were eating dinner one night when a guy walked in our house. He told us he was the angel of death and was collecting souls for the apocalypse. Said there were demons outside everywhere. I thought, This is it, we’re dead. Luckily, he didn’t have a weapon and didn’t attack us.” “I talked him into walking outside with me so I could help him out and as soon as he stepped through the door, I slammed it shut, locked it, grabbed my gun, and called the cops. By that time, he was in the road, screaming nonsense. Turned out to be on meth. The whole thing didn’t last too long, but being told the angel of death is in my house to collect souls almost paralyzed me with fear.” —DrJape
9. Another fire
“I left a laundry basket on the space heater at my apartment because it was a warm day and we weren’t using it. We had the windows open and went somewhere. But it was late spring and the temperature dropped sharply and the space heater came on. The basket melted and dripped into the space heater and set the towels on fire.
“When we came back, we saw firetrucks in the driveway. The fireman asked if we lived in the apartment. My heart felt like it got squeezed in an iron fist. Things started to go black around the edges of my vision and grew until all I saw was a pinprick of light. I almost fainted. Fortunately, someone had heard our fire alarm and called 911. They got it just before the walls ignited. My cat was OK too. She literally jumped into my arms when I called her.” —u/PM_ME_UR_FLOWERS
10. A tornado
“I was stuck in a tornado while in a car. An F3 picked our car up and flew us. We weren’t that high off the ground and we moved at a fairly slow pace, so we were fine, but I have a fear of low clouds now. Not necessarily storms, just low, thick clouds.” —Bucky._.Bonky
11. Sank in freezing water
“I was on a tugboat that sank last winter at midnight and spent 8–10 hours on the beach in -40°C weather. Ended up with fourth-degree frostbite and lost two toes. All I was wearing were pajama pants and a long-sleeve shirt, with no socks or shoes.” —u/AllNamesAreTaken68
12. Male lion in camp
“I was in Africa and every evening, a big male lion would walk through the camp. He would roar outside my tent and it was bloodcurdling. I could even smell him, he was that close. Nothing separated me from him but a thin layer of canvas. He would hang around for 45 minutes to an hour at a time. You cannot imagine the horror of that sound.” —BeautifulStick5299
13. Boss died
“My boss dropped dead on the dance floor at the company Christmas party.” —you_cant_pause_toast
