Ever had a near death experience?

[trof]

Not where you saw the 'bright white light' and went out of body.
Just where you got into a situation where you nearly got your ass killed but didn't.

I have a few, but I want to hear yours.
I'll chime in later.

[customerserviceguy]

1. Does driving through Newark count? n/t

[trof]

7. Possibly.

I would also cite Atlanta and the entire state of Connecticut.

[customerserviceguy]

25. No experience

with Atlanta, but I will give you that for at least the western half of Connecticut!

[lark]

82. That's nothing - try driving through rural Texas, or MS or LA for a truly terrifying experience.

I won't do it again, I fly now to avoid the small town sheriffs and their phony reasons for locking up all strangers unless they pay up in cash. And don't even try to stop at restaurants unless you are in a big town if you look any different. There's a good chance you will be harassed at the least and even possibly assaulted. This was because one of our friends was ethnic Chinese and the 2 guys had long hair and we were from CA (at the time). Luckily my German Shepherd was very protective and fierce so the big TX Bubbas left and we survived unharmed but shaken.

[jpak]

69. Yes - Atlanta on 85 N during Friday night rush hour.

With everyone ODed on Stupid Pills

[Ptah]

2. A motorcycle wreck in 1979

[dchill]

3. The toaster fell into the tub while I was taking a bath...

I saved myself by running to get the scissors and cutting the cord. I later learned that I could have killed myself twice. But I didn't. Not even once. Don't try this at home.

[Farmer-Rick]

29. If you were running to get the scissors

You were out of the tub, why go back and cut the cord?

[jberryhill]

42. But making toast in bathroom seems normal?

[Farmer-Rick]

44. Yeah right, that one went right over my head.

[jberryhill]

45. You know what mom always said

Don’t run with scissors when the toaster is in the tub.

[Farmer-Rick]

46. Oh that's funny. You made my day.

[dchill]

51. I wasn't done?

[jpak]

70. LOL!

[lordsummerisle]

35. I can't understand making food and cleaning myself at the same time n/t

[dchill]

52. It does take practice.

[RandySF]

4. Almost hit by a sports car in Hong Kong

Last edited Wed Jul 31, 2019, 01:27 PM - Edit history (1)

[mr_lebowski]

55. I nearly died every few days when I lived in Hong Kong ...

You take your life into your own hands every time you cross the roadway ... people don't GAF ... at least not circa 1980 ...

Aside from all the times, back in my dark days, I wandered the Tenderloin looking to cop after dark, my closest near death experience happened on Market Street, when I nearly walked in front of a bus cause I had headphones on and wasn't paying attention and turned around to cross a crosswalk and didn't notice that a bus was RIGHT THERE, going about 30 mph. I must've JUST missed the side mirror, which would've certainly f-ed me up bad even if the bus didn't hit me.

I still think about that time frequently ... I literally don't know how I didn't die that day.

[jberryhill]

74. Honk Kong?

Is that King Kong's cousin?

[DFW]

97. No, that is his uncle, Donkey

Donkey Kong is is semi-retirement, these days.

[jberryhill]

5. LAD coronary artery obstruction

Was out on my bike, thought I was a little winded, stopped by the side of the road, and became progressively incoherent.

Stayed barely conscious until the ambulance arrived and then gave out on the way to the hospital. CPR failed, was defibrillated and then received a cardiac cath, angioplasty and stent.

Was back on my bike as soon as my ribs were healed.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

36. Wow. Did you call the ambulance or did someone else?

Sounds like you are luck to be alive.

[jberryhill]

43. A postal worker

I had waved off a couple of people, thinking I was fine. He called the ambulance when I started spouting gibberish about snow, rain and gloom of night. Realizing I had become incoherent, I agreed that an ambulance might be a good idea when he said “I’m calling an ambulance.”

I didn’t know my heart stopped until they told me later. I was conscious for the angioplasty and when he got the artery open it was like coming up from being underwater. I thought I’d get up and go home.

It wasn’t my day to die, apparently.

[DFW]

98. I had something similar

My wife and I were in Fiesole (near Florence) hiking a few small hills, and I noticed a shortness of breath and twinges in my left shoulder. Since two of my grandparents had died of heart attacks before age 70, I had read up on all the symptoms, and knew that these were warning signs. I sought out a cardiologist when we got back o Germany a few days later.

Now, whatever some people tell you about the German system of health insurance, if I had been a normal German, I would have died. The cardiologist asked if it was an emergency. Not knowing my situation, I said I didn't think so. They said they had an appointment opening in two months. I didn't want to wait THAT long, so I said I was from he USA, passing through, and would pay cash up front. Suddenly, they had an opening that afternoon. An EKG showed an irregularity, and I was asked to come back in two days for an echo-stress test. I did, and right after it, the cardiologist said, OK, in my office, NOW. He said he was calling up to the cardiac clinic in Essen (about half an hour away by car) and telling them I was arriving that night for immediate treatment. I said, wait, I'm not free until Monday. He said, "now you are. You can't afford to wait that long." So, my wife drove me up there that night. The next day, the head surgeon looked at my chart, said, clear the schedule, this guy gets done ASAP.

The short version is that I had two forward coronary arteries 99% blocked, and I was about to drop dead of a heart attack. I have low blood pressure, so I didn't feel hardly anything like chest pain, and would have had no warning, just *poof* lights out. The surgeon put in 2 stents, and said I was the luckiest guy in Europe that day.

[jberryhill]

108. Hey...heading your way tomorrow.

Made it to Bourne from Wellesley

Link to tweet

Just a reminder. We have 5000 cyclists moving through Truro tomorrow, lol.

[DFW]

109. We made a timely escape

We just arrived in Boston. I head down to Washington tomorrow while my wife has to get back to Düsseldorf.

[Dave in VA]

6. Medical test

Endoscopy. Dr kept injecting Valium into IV. Tube was kinked. When he removed the kink all of the meds rushed in. BP fell to nearly nothing. Narcan had just been developed and that is the only thing that saved me.

So short answer is yes.

[trof]

9. OK. That is just effing scarey.

[Laffy Kat]

8. Survived an armed robbery where I was shot at.

I was 19 working through school as a desk clerk at a hotel on the banks of the Mississippi within a stone's throw of the Old Memphis-Arkansas Bridge. The robber was an ex-employee of the hotel and knew I could ID him, so he tried to abduct me. I knew exactly what he was going to do and as he was taking me out of the back door of the hotel with a .22 in back of my head, I broke free made a run for it. I figured I'd probably die either way but took a chance. He missed me and escaped himself but was apprehended a few weeks later. He got 30 years to life due to his habitual criminal status. It was a close call. Such a long time ago, seems like a dream now.

[trof]

11. Whew.

Glad you're still with us.

[Fla Dem]

14. What a frightening experience Laffy Kay.

Your split second decision undoubtably saved your life. My God. What an experience.

[Laffy Kat]

17. I guess, but while it was happening...

I didn't feel frightened. In the memory of the event, I'm watching it happen, watching myself, but not really experiencing it. I've read where that is a symptom of disassociation.

[delisen]

10. Passenger in car. Heavy rain. Train grade crossing no gate

Back of car just cleared the tracks as train hurtled past at significant speed.

[Rorey]

79. Same here, except I was the driver

It was late at night and I was on my way home from work. I didn't even see the train until i was on the tracks. I didn't even have time to accelerate at that point. I still can't believe I made it and that was decades ago.

[drray23]

12. Several times.

Nearly died while rock climbing. I was not roped, fell and crashed into a tree which broke my fall. I just ended up with a broken wrist and ribs. Got shot at twice. Once in a bar fight ( the guy missed) and once in the army (not actually shoot but came close) .

A recruit went batshit crazy at the range and turned on me ( I was the range officer) with a loaded famas ( french equivalent of the m16) .

He was threatening to shoot me. Back then, if you were exhibiting signs of unstable behavior, you could be excused from the draft by being reclassified as medically unfit for mental health reasons. So, some guys tried crazy stuff like that.

My Sargent was able to come from behind while I was talking the guy down and he tackled and knocked him out.

Another time another recruit tried to stab me. He missed, I brought him down. This was in the days where military service was mandatory in France. My platoon was assigned new recruits for training that had been in jail for various crimes. Back then, they would get these kids from jail and put them in military units for a mandatory service.
Many of them, we actually helped in the long run. We gave them structure and purpose. Also, literacy classes, some of them got a driver's license for trucks ( which was redeemable for a civilian one after you were out) which enabled them to get jobs after they finished the service.

[mindem]

13. Every time my dog farts.

Uffda!!

[keithbvadu2]

15. Bleeding ulcer. Dark, dark black stool. Was pumping dry.

Bleeding ulcer. Dark, dark black stool. Was pumping dry.

I remember arriving at the hospital but very little else for the next two days.

Surgery, cat scan and lots of blood but I don't remember any of it.

Girlfriend told me.

They operated down the throat, endoscopy, clips.

Woke up for a few minutes and realized I might be about to die.

Was slightly pissed off about it.

Realized that I had no control about it so stopped worrying.

Worried less than two minutes, maybe less than one.

Thought about not going back to sleep to stay alive. Went back to sleep not knowing if I was going to wake up.

One blessing was that there was no one in the room to give me any advice.

I had an ongoing delusion that had a complicated, developing story line during that time.

[Laffy Kat]

18. Whoa. nt

[4139]

16. Trunk of a 100 foot tall hemlock fall 6 inches from my left shoulder

Working in the woods can me spooky

[qazplm135]

59. similar story

I was enlisted and doing a two week training exercise in LA at the old JRTC site at Fort Polk. It was brutally cold and I was in a pup tent sleeping. I hear a large crash next to me in the middle of the night.

When I wake up the next morning, a VERY large branch that had to weigh 40-50 lbs or more was laying probably a few feet from the tent. If that had fallen on my from the height it likely fell, I don't think I'd be here.

[smirkymonkey]

19. Not completely, but I have had a few incidences where I was sure I was going to die

and the reality of it wasn't as bad as what I had imagined.

The first was when I was skiing on an Austrian glacier and i got cut off by two other skiers. I had no place to go so I was force to go head first into a snow bank where my head and neck just compressed and it felt like it snapped. I felt like I was going to die and my first thought was "how stupid, what a dumb way to die". There was no fear or panic like I would have expected, just a silent resignation at how silly it all seemed. Obviously, I survived, but I was in a lot of pain afterward.

The second time, I was body surfing in the Carribean (St. Maarten) and it was similar. A large wave drove me into a sand bank and again, my head and neck folded and I could hear them crack. Again, I thought I was going to die and I had the same feeling of "what a stupid, insignificant way to die". However, I managed to survive that as well.

So they weren't near death experiences because I never actually died, but they were sort of "pre-death" experiences where I felt I knew exactly what it was going to feel like the moment before death happened and I was surprisingly calm.

[NJCher]

64. that's interesting

two experiences of the same nature.

I seem to specialize in automobile spin outs. I've had two. On one I was heading down a very steep hill and my car spun out in front of a semi- heading toward me.

On the second, I hit black ice going onto the NJ Turnpike and spun out as I emerged onto the Turnpike.

In both cases I remembered exactly what to do (which is counter intuitive: drive into the spin) and I did it. I didn't panic in the least and was totally focused on getting the car under control.

I didn't even get shook up after each of the incidents. I just continued driving.

However, the experiences had a long-term effect. I can remember each incident as if it just happened.

Life hangs by a thread and I realize every day that it could be my last.

[smirkymonkey]

86. It's amazing how calm you become in situations where you always assume that you

will naturally panic. I suppose some people do panic, but I seem to react calmly to situations like ours, and freak out over stupid things.

I was almost in a car accident over the Christmas holiday in Vermont - my sister-in-law was driving and we skidded off the road and were heading for a tree that was right on my side. I had no fear, I just watched as we approached as if in slow motion and we missed the tree by a hair.

It's so strange how we can go through these experiences and there is seemingly no surge of adrenaline or fear when their should be. But someone will come up behind me at work when I am not expecting them and I will scream and jump two feet in the air at being startled.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

20. Engine failure shortly after takeoff in a light airplane.

I was the flight instructor in the right seat, a student on her second or third lesson in the left seat. The engine wasn't producing enough power to climb and I was very worried that it was about to quit altogether - we never got up to even 100' above the ground. I managed to get it turned around and back on the runway and I didn't have time to think about what might have happened until we were stopped and out of the airplane. I never saw the student after that.

[mnhtnbb]

21. Near drowning when I was 16.

Had gone to Moonlight State Beach in Encinitas, CA with a friend. He had enough and got out of the water. I was still playing in the waves. Pretty good surf that day. All of a sudden I was getting pulled out after diving through a wave, then pushed toward the shore and then sucked out and another wave would break over me. After several times of the same thing, I realized I was caught in an undertow. I screamed for help. Lifeguard down the beach couldn't hear and didn't see I was in trouble. Friend on the beach didn't realize I was in trouble. I was totally out of breath and energy from fighting to the surface each time I was dragged under. It dawned on me that if I wasn't going to drown I had to get myself out of the situation. Next time I was dragged under, when I came up I let the current carry me out past where the waves were breaking and then started swimming parallel to the shore. I was a good swimmer, having grown up swimming in a private lake in NJ. Passed Red Cross Junior lifesaving when I was 12, but never spent much time in the ocean. I did remember what to do if caught in a rip current or undertow.

I eventually got out of the undertow and was able to get on the beach, but I sure was exhausted. My friend had no clue that I had been in trouble and hadn't heard me yelling for help.

[MaryMagdaline]

31. Horrifying. My nephew had a similar experience but was too exhausted to

Swim. His wife recognized his “calm” demeanor was that he was drowning. She jumped in and saved him. She had learned how to hold the person so they don’t drag you down with them.

Every year they post something about what drowning looks like. Not thrashing so much as total passivity.

Thank god you are a good swimmer.

[mnhtnbb]

63. We've already had several deaths from the beaches of NC this summer

of people caught in rip currents. The beach where I like to go--Emerald Isle--is posting flags and doing everything they can to alert tourists to dangerous ocean conditions.

I was fortunate to have the knowledge and the ability to get out of the situation.

Glad to hear your nephew also survived.

[NJCher]

66. see my post 64

I was fortunate to have the knowledge and the ability to get out of the situation.

See my post 64.

I did my Master's thesis on "self efficacy." It may not always be the case, but it felt good to get myself out of such a situation.

I recall my dad telling me that he never had to worry about me. He said "You know how to take care of yourself."

But hey, when your number's up, your number's up. That day will indeed come.

I always pay attention when they have those tips on TV about how to save yourself if your car goes into a lake or whatever. Thanks to our government's public health officials and media for carrying this information.

[smirkymonkey]

85. I had a similar experience as well, down in Florida on the Gulf Coast.

I was on a deserted beach with some friends late in the afternoon. They were just lying on the beach and I was swimming. Suddenly I heard them calling to me asking me to come back in, when I turned around I realized that I had been carried very far out into the ocean without realizing it and started to swim back to shore.

However, I couldn't, I wasn't moving. I was caught in a rip-current and was struggling just to stay afloat because I was so exhausted from trying to swim against the current.

I suddenly realized what was happening and I remembered what my swim coach had taught me and started doing the side-stroke, parallel to shore. It was the most relaxing stroke I could think of in that moment and I could view the shoreline. I was suddenly very peaceful and just knew what I had to do.

The words of my old swim coach was going through my head like a mantra (he had died many years before), he always used to say "stroke and glide, stroke and glide" when he was teaching us as children. It saved my life that day. I was able to swim out of the current and washed back into shore, exhausted and battered by the surf, but alive.

[handmade34]

22. motorcycle accident

1994... helmet saved my life... 7 surgeries and 2 years made me almost ok

1998... rolled a Ford Ranger on black ice on a hilly Vermont road (almost killed was result of heavy chains in cab rolling around in the cab with me...


my son had a bicycle accident a month ago with DAI (diffuse axonal injury- TBI) rushed to the ER to see him in a coma with tubes and monitors (including one inserted into his brain to gauge swelling)... I lived it as if it were me (he has a long road of healing ahead of him)

[True Dough]

32. I also rolled a Ford Ranger on black ice!

Last edited Thu Aug 1, 2019, 08:49 AM - Edit history (1)

Went over 3 and 3/4 times. The engine was still running afterwards, which struck me as strange. The "crumple zones" were well engineered. Just climbed out and only had very minor abrasions from the tempered glass shattering into a million pieces. Was sore as hell the next day from tensing up so severely during the several seconds the truck was tumbling.

Would never own another Ranger. The narrow wheel base and light weight make it too susceptible to "fish tailing."

[solara]

23. The more I thought about it, the more I remembered

I have 7 such incidences...when I looked at them, they made my life seem like a bad movie so I didn't write them down here..

No white light but I learned how powerful laughter at the right moment can be. I learned about resignation and calm acceptance, how to be proactive without being threatening and how to be my own hero.

Not bad lessons at all.

This was all before I was 30.. life has been pretty tame since then (in comparison)

[petronius]

24. Tried to swim across the Colorado River back in high school - luckily I had

friends who were better swimmers, and even luckier that some people in a ski boat were paying attention and willing to investigate the floundering...

[NNadir]

26. I was in a coma for three days, was checked to see if they could take my organs.

My joke is that I was brain dead but they revived me anyway.

No out of body, no encounters with dead people - although frankly I didn't know any dead people at the time - no bright lights, but a hell of a lot of pain when I woke up from bruises, cuts, broken ribs and the tube to re-inflate my lung and that damned feeding tube.

I guess I don't do near death with style.

[MaryMagdaline]

28. Wow! Glad you are with us

[NNadir]

39. At the end of the day, it turned out to be a good thing.

I was a very stupid kid and living in a kind of stupor. Looking back, I don't even think I was actually living before it happened.

It broke me out of all that lazy immaturity. If I met myself as I was in those times, I'd be appalled.

Some bad things happened over the years, but ever after that I was alive.

[MaryMagdaline]

27. Almost drowned at age 2 - actually floated and life guard scooped me out

I was not afraid. I still remember my mother’s face standing up and pulling her hair just like a cartoon. It became the family story where I “almost drowned.”

Age 11 I was almost hit by a car. Ran across several lanes and did not see a car coming. The driver cursed at me and he and I were both shaking

[tymorial]

30. Yes.

Every year my buddies and I get together at a friend's family cabin. There is a mountain stream that runs along it. Further down stream there is a small waterfall run off into a pool. To get to it you have to climb down about a 20 to 30 foot drop. We were used to free climbing so we had no lines or rope. We always just climbed down.

Well one year about 17 years ago I went way way too fast and wound up going off the route. I dropped about 10 feet, tripped over a log at the bottom and landed on a pile of rocks. I jammed my shoulder, my head smacked a large rock and I tore ligaments in my left knee.

I had to have surgery to repair it and as a result I got hooked on vicodin. I sometimes wonder if that didnt happen if my life would be different. My addiction contributed to the loss of my first marriage and my first career.

[True Dough]

33. It's better that

you're "tymorial" rather than "memorial."

[tymorial]

56. Oh trust me I know

It's my fault, I went down too fast. The moment I started I knew it was going to end badly.

[BigMin28]

34. Halloween 1981

Had rained hard all day. On my way home from a Rolling Stones concert. Was still raining hard as I drove down a back road home. I had to drive slow because of the rain. At a dip in the road I saw the water rushing across. No time to stop, and within seconds my car was afloat , being carried towards the woods. I suddenly noticed there was water in my lap. Without thinking, I rolled down the window, manually back then, and jumped out of the car. I was immediately pulled under the car and came up near the truck. I tried to swim into the current towards the road, but it was to strong. Last thing I remember was putting my back to the current and swimming for all I was worth. I honestly don't remember or know how I got out of it.
And passerby in a truck heard me yelling but was an amputee. He went to call for help. The police said my car was about 100 yds from the road, and there was about 20 feet of water at the time I went in.

[Thomas Hurt]

37. Almost drown at the public pool when I was in grade school...

Back packing in the Rockies and lost my balance crossing a patch of snow, went sledding down the snow and bounced another 25 yards on scree before bringing myself to a stop.

Car accident when I was in college, fell asleep, lucky I didn't roll the car and no one was on the road.

[qazplm135]

61. me too!

I went under twice, third time I reached out and grabbed the side of the pool.

I get out, look around, and NO ONE even noticed lol

[Lars39]

72. That's exactly how it happened with me too

Makes me wonder how many times that does happen at pools.

[csziggy]

38. My horse was spooked by a passing truck, spun out into the road and fell on the center line

She landed on my right leg which was not broken, but the sheath around the ankle joint burst and the leg was so swollen I was on crutches for six months. The situation was bad enough but the next night on the news there was a story about a woman who had the same thing happen - but there was a vehicle immediately behind the first one. It hit and killed both her and her horse. I decided that I should not feel sorry for myself after that.

Another time a filly I was showing reared and struck me on the forehead. I went down, out cold. Woke up still holding the horse, blood coming out of my nose and mouth. Second concussion of my life with enough swelling on the brain I couldn't stop crying for a week.

There were the medical situations - a vasovagal syncope after my aortic valve was replaced - passed out and my heart monitor sent out a cold blue to the entire hospital. Another one after my recent back surgery - passed out out, bashed my head (but no concussion), blood pressure when I woke was 57/48, not really compatible with being vertical or very conscious. I was sort of gray for several hours after that one!

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

40. I was married for twelve years to a gold digger.

While it wasn't technically "near death," trying to keep up with her never-ending spending just about killed me.

Fortunately, she divorced me when I lost my job and the income stopped coming in. I'm now married to a woman who loves me as much as I lover her. I guess that falls into the category of "I've seen the light."

[Farmer-Rick]

41. I was stopped at the postoffice parking lot stop sign waiting for traffic to clear

When a huge semi truck came up behind me then started ramming and pushing me out into oncoming traffic.

I went through all possibilities in seconds - jumping out, waiting in car, moving out into traffic - My mouth felt like a desert. I couldn't go backwards or to the side, no room. I thought the trucker was going to drive right over my little Nissan and I would be crushed. What an awful way to die I thought. I laid on the horn but he kept ramming me. By now my door wouldn't open because of the damage to my car.

I decided on driving out into traffic so that at least I would have a chance of controlling it and maybe not get hit. I did with cars honking and screeching tires, then I pulled over about 100 yards from where the semi attempted to crush me. I climbed out on the passanger side shaking.

I watched that SOB who was trying to kill me ride off as if he never rammed and smashed up my car. I got part of a license number and a description but it ended costing me for a new car. No cameras back then.

At least I was alive.

[JoeOtterbein]

47. I ended up under a tractor-trailer on I-83 in MD.

The first person who saw me get out of the car asked why I "was still alive."

All I had was a bruise on my arm where I tried to protect my head.

For weeks, I felt like everything was sparkling. Like sugar sprinkled on my life. Everything alive was/is beautiful.

[ProudLib72]

48. At 18 I was out rock climbing by myself

I had been doing some really stupid things over the last several months, like hardish climbs without any protection and maybe 400 feet off the deck. A fall there would have been certain death.

I was out in a remote area accessed by walking down a train track three miles and then up a steep hill for another half mile. It was the middle of the week, so I was truly alone. Anyway, I fell about 20' and landed in a sitting position between a fallen tree and a big boulder. If I have fallen a few inches over in any direction, I would have been dead. I ended up with four crushed lumbar vertebrae, and the the radius in my right wrist was broken completely in half at the joint. I remember finally being able to stand up and being in horrible pain. I said out loud to myself several times, "How long is it going to take to die?"

I had to hike out, slipping and falling on my way down the hillside. When I got down to the train tracks, I met up with a group of kids maybe 10 to 14 years old (sheer random luck they happened to be there at that time.) They were really worried about me after I told them what happened. Two of them ran on ahead, broke into a house, and called 911. I was in the hospital for three days on a morphine drip and catheter. Then I got the back brace I would wear for the first two months of college.

I don't think I've ever been more certain I was going to die than on that day, and I have been in other harry situations.

[Doreen]

49. May 22nd 1988

I was on my Riva Razz moped ( without a helmet, please do not yell at me as I am still paying for it ) when a Pinto station wagon was on the wrong side of the road and hit me head on.

I broke both arms, broke my right leg, broke my left leg in a several places, broke my collar bone, and fractured my face.

I got a hole drilled into my head to release the pressure on my brain and reconstructive surgery on my left leg. I was in surgery for 6 hours. I was in a coma for 9 days.

I had to relearn to do everything and some things never came back. What damage I got from being born with FAS got worse. My once being able to do anything physical like run, walk, work went away forever.

Is that detailed enough for my near death experience?

[Duppers]

60. Goodness!! So sorry. nt

[Bayard]

50. I've had a number of close calls....

Today's selection:

Many years ago, I was training for a half-marathon, in the best shape of my life. One Saturday, I went out for a quick 5-miler because we had tickets to a play that night. Rural road, but nice 4 lanes because it went past one of the big Ford plants. Hardly any traffic on a weekend. I was running past some bushes, when this big guy with a stocking over his face and a butcher knife jumped out.
He grabbed me. First reaction is shock and yelling. Second reaction was to run like hell. He kept saying--you come with me or I'm gonna cut you. I figured he was going to kill me anyway, so I twisted away and took off. He caught me a couple times, I got dragged along the road on my legs. The last time, I made it to the landscaping trees at the Ford plant. I wrapped my arms around one and hung on for dear life. The threats became more dire, so I took off for the Ford guard shack (along with putting in the miles, I was also doing sprint work on the track). I made it, and scared the old guard half to death---appearing out of the blue with blood all over me, and babbling like a crazy woman. My attacker had taken off by that point.

So, big hullabaloo, with tons of cop cars and a helicopter. They caught him running up the interstate. His idea of a disguise was to turn his jacket inside out. I just ended up with some spectacular road rash on my knees from getting dragged, and a bad case of pissed off as hell. All the blood was actually his--he had cut himself with his own knife.

Turned out to be a 17 yr. old kid, that had nabbed several other women in the area. He was a karate instructor at the local Y. My 15 minutes of fame--I was interviewed on TV. I had to testify against him in court. He had his wife, baby, and his mother all there, and I don't know who was screaming the loudest. He still ended up getting sentenced as a juvenile, even though he was charged with attempted kidnapping, rape, and assault. and only did a few months in junior jail until he turned 18. Then he was back out and his record was expunged.

The only good thing that came out of the situation is that I organized a self-defense class for women that the Louisville Police Dept. came in and taught. They gave me a martial arts weapon that you put your fingers thru, and has big sharp points that sit on your knuckles. I never ran without it afterwards. I hoped the class helped somebody else in a bad situation.

[Duppers]

73. Holy, holy!

You're mighty tough and courageous.

[True Dough]

78. Always hard to say what the right thing to do is in that situation

but if your instinct is to fight and you adrenaline is pumping like hell, might as well go for it. Some people would just faint.

Glad you made it and you're here to post about it. Hope it didn't cause you too much trauma for years afterwards.

[sakabatou]

96. *high-fives fellow martial-arts instructor*

[DFW]

100. Or, as Juanita Chang's brother calls it.....

Maa Shalats!

[sakabatou]

102. ...who?

[DFW]

103. Juanita Chang's brother Miguel.

Two excerpts from the novel "The Time Cellar:"

The year my parents died, I even got to hire an assistant. After six or so interviews, I settled on a short, very plain-looking, slightly plump forty-something woman named Juanita Chang, a Guatemalan with a green card who had married and divorced a failed Chinese short-order cook. On her application, she had written, “efficiency and reliability must necessarily be viewed as inseparable assets.” This had really impressed me.

When I met her at the oral follow-up, I remarked on what she had written. She said, “Jus’ like I written down, I gotta be dere to do what djoo need when djoo need it!” Amazing. She had the IQ of Einstein and the energy of Mount St. Helen’s. Her English, when she put it to paper, was fluent and as good grammatically as that of Winston Churchill, but when she opened her mouth, she sounded like Speedy Gonzales--a little like having salsa on your fish and chips. Juanita did not have a great education and was mostly self-taught in English.

In the oral interview, as a joke, I asked her if she had learned to speak Mandarin Chinese while she was married. She thought I was being serious, gave me a stern look, and said, “Djoo kiddin’ wit’ me, Señor Roberto?” Okay, maybe my little joke crossed the line, although by this time, I had decided on hiring her anyway. But before I could apologize, she continued. “My ex-hosban ees from Hong Kong. I only learn to speak Cantonese, no Mandarin.”

Umm, right. After deep insertion, remove foot from mouth as gracefully as possible. But like I said, I had already decided on her.

-------------------------------------------


Monday, August 30

At the office, Juanita introduced me to a wiry, diminutive man with decidedly Asian features. He was her brother, Miguel. His Mayan features were even more pronounced than hers, and if you had told me he was Han Chinese, I would have believed it. I said, “Buenos días,” and his face broke into a big smile.

“¿Hablas español? Djoo espeak espanis?” he asked. Juanita wasn’t kidding about his English being every bit as good as her own.

“Not really,” I answered, “only a few words.”

“No problem. I espeak inglis.”

So I noticed. I said, “So tell me, what do you do for a living in Guatemala?”

“I am instructor (een-strook-TOR) in maa shalats!” he explained proudly.

I had no idea what “maa shalats” was. Some long-lost Mayan herbal medicine treatment, maybe? I nodded, not wanting my ignorance to show. Miguel was no fool, though, as I should have figured, seeing how his sister’s IQ was probably tops in the firm. He saw I didn’t understand him. “Djoo know maa shalats?” he asked. “Like dis, I show you.”

I wanted to be polite, but I didn’t really want to chew on some magic herb that would transform me into a chicken. Instead of pulling out some pouch of crushed leaves from behind his back, he casually came up to me and twitched his arm. In half a second flat, I lay looking up at him from the floor. After helping me up, he said, “Not juss jujitsu. I know also kung fu, karate, an’ Thai kickboxing!”

Maa shalats. Martial arts. Took me long enough, didn’t it? Who knew they had martial arts instructors in Guatemala?

[sakabatou]

104. I'm pretty damn sure there have been hand-to-hand combat

techniques, forms and styles before Eastern styles were introduced.

[DFW]

105. No doubt

But I've never been to Guatemala, so what would I know?

[sakabatou]

107. Neither have I

[democratisphere]

53. drumpf was elected and I nearly died.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

54. Thanks to everyone who posted.

I have not had anything remotely resembling a near death experience, and I appreciate all the stories told here.

[underpants]

57. No but I stood and watched a friend have one

Sailing. 1992. Beautiful day on the York River. I was home on leave from the Army. I also had an epiphany of sorts that day. As we were in the shadow of the bridge I was laid out in the deck at peace with the world and I realized....I didn't want to be in the Army any more. I went back and did my last 2 years though.

Returning home my best friend slipped, hit his chin on the side of the boot, started sinking into the river. He looked right into my eyes and I froze. Flat out froze. He made it back into the boat. I will never forget that nor will ever stop being ashamed of myself.

[Beringia]

58. I did have one that is too personal to share here

But at one point I shared a room in a woman's shelter in Alaska with a Native woman. One night in the midst of my being in danger of losing my life, a white owl appeared to me, omen of death among Native peoples.

[hunter]

62. My most recent landed me in a locked psych ward for three days.

I'll skip the details, but I know women who have cut themselves and I used to try to make sense of that. After my last experience with near-death mental health catastrophe, I had this sudden insight that males tend to be less direct in their methods of inflicting pain upon themselves. Self destructive males in this society can more easily hide behind a mask of testosterone-fueled stupidity, like you are some kind of hero if you go out into a dangerous surf, or fall off a cliff, or get assaulted by people with guns or knives (all things I've done). I'd probably read that before, or heard it before many times, but I'd never thought how it applied to me.

Maybe two thirds of my "near-death" experiences are a consequence of some sort of self-destructive behavior. I go into a dark place and need to feel something. Instead of cutting myself, I can put myself into a situation where someone else or simple physics will make me bleed, internally or externally, and maybe even brag about it later.

[kairos12]

65. Drumpt's election. Ongoing.

[trof]

67. I was about 7 or 8. 70 years ago.

I was at a YMCA summer day camp by a lake.
There was a high dive, maybe 15'?
I finally worked up the courage to climb that l-o-n-g ladder up to the board and jumped off.
A huge fat kid (Gaylord. I'll never forget his name.) followed me and did a cannonball right into the middle of my back.

It knocked the wind out of me and I went straight to the bottom.
I still remember how murky the lake water looked down there.
It seemed very peaceful and then I blacked out.

I came to retching water. A lifeguard had seen it all and somehow managed to find me on the bottom of that muddy, murky lake.
I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on a bench. I was probably in shock.

The YMCA bus took us all back to town at the end of the day and my mom picked me up.
Nobody from the Y said anything about it to her.
I didn't even think to tell her about it until some days later.

Ever since then I figured I've been living on borrowed time.

[jpak]

68. Yes

Caught on a 14 foot Zodiac in Antarctica in a 65 knot gale that came out of nowhere - 4 miles from Palmer Station in iceberg and sea ice infested waters where we could maybe make 2 knots of headway.

Caught in 50 foot seas in Arctic Canada, on a 300 foot Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker that nearly capsized.

And last week when I was cornered at work by a unhinged insanely enraged client in an empty room with no escape and no way to call for help - that was the worst thing I had to endure in my entire life.

[Skittles]

71. no

[jberryhill]

76. I think the OP is calling for volunteers

Would you like to have one?

[Skittles]

83. I....er.....not really

I was with an adrenaline junkie in a Cessna yesterday......what is with those folk, they just LIVE on the edge.

[jberryhill]

89. Pilots are all a little off kilter IMHO

[Skittles]

90. yeah

I was in the Air Force, I am well aware

[Harker]

75. Yes, twice.

A drunken fool who had a beef with a friend pointed a loaded .357 magnum at me. I also went sideways off a highway into a ravine at 55 mph after a nea collision with a deer.

It was at night, and the deer just stood there staring at me like a cliché.

[Nay]

77. Yes, two times. As a child I nearly drowned. We lived within walking distance to the beach, and

were allowed to go down there to play, but were not allowed in the water without a parent. I decided I didn't need a parent. I could swim!

I took my inner tube and went out by myself. As I sat in the tube, a big wave flipped me over and I couldn't get out of the tube -- I don't know how long my head was underwater, but I remember waking up on shore, coughing up water. Never did that again.

When I was 7.5 months pregnant, I started to have contractions. Drove myself to hospital with my MIL. Got admitted because they could see it wasn't just normal. They called my obstetrician and, while I was in a bed waiting, they asked if I minded if a group of nursing students came in my room as a part of their rounds. Sure, I said, no problem.

As they were standing there and the head nurse was jabbering on some pregnancy topic, I felt a huge rush of something -- water breaking? -- and said, "Hey, hey! Something just happened! I'm all wet!" She threw back the sheet and --- the whole bed was awash in blood. The students all jumped back and started screaming.

As I was being rushed into surgery, I wasn't scared at all. I remember feeling very peaceful about myself being about to die, but unhappy that my baby would probably die, too.

I woke up alive, and the baby is a healthy 37-year-old.

[WePurrsevere]

80. Not that I recall but I've had a near life experience a time or 200.

[lark]

81. Yep, almost drowned.

I was 6 and couldn't swim. My dad took my sister on an inner tube ride to the end of the springs, I wanted to join so followed after yelling for dad but he didn't hear me over all the other people there that day. I kept following and the depth kept getting deeper, I was just sure any moment he'd turn and see me. He didn't. I kept going, there was a current & I couldn't stop and the ground was dropping out from under me. I touched down, water over my head and waved my arms, and pushed with all my might to get my mouth above water and yell. The next step I couldn't reach the top so just waved my hands and was starting to see spots and was about to breathe in water because I couldn't help myself when all of a sudden I felt a disturbance and saw a body and hand coming towards me. My cousin saved my life. He later turned bad (drugs controlled him for decades) but I could never dislike him the way the rest of the family did, he freaking saved my life!!

[kwassa]

84. I feel so lucky.

I have had several near death experiences, but never had any big lasting injury.

I also almost drowned as a child, when I jumped out of a boat with the big kids not realizing how deep the water was. My father did a flying dive off the dock and rescued me.

I almost drowned as an adult trying to save two drowning Japanese tourists being dragged out to sea by a current at Haunama Bay in Hawaii. I dove to the bottom and pushed them onto a reef, almost dying in the process A lifeguard finally showed up on a longboard, and took them to shore. Nobody saw it or thanked me. I lay on the reef winded, with lots of small cuts from the coral.

I almost died from overusing a steroid drug on my skin for psoriasis. It shut down my adrenal gland, which controls all kinds of things. As I rode to the hospital in the ambulance, nobody thought it important until they took my blood pressure and it was 50/25. Then they freaked. I recovered.

Then there was my heart attack, or attacks. I didn't know what was going on. Symptoms were atypical, with shoulder pain in the back. I thought I had a pinched nerve. A heart attack is like pain on a bell curve. The problem is that I never knew where the top of the curve would be. I have no warning characteristics, no family history. I only had a stent, no open heart surgery.

[DFW]

99. Hanauma is tricky

Near shore, it seems like a kindergarten aquarium, but once you get out beyond the initial reefs, it's the aquatic version of the wild west.

[Iggo]

88. A bunch. Most of 'em when I was up to no good. (n/t)

[Upthevibe]

91. During the Northridge earthquake in January of 1994...

I was living five miles from the epicenter. It was 4:31 a.m. I wasn't injured. Having said that, my bed was literally (we had hardwood floors) jumping up and down and traveling through out my room with me in it! We had an aquarium in the living room and of course all of the typical dishes, mirrors all about, etc. It sounded like a shooting gallery the way everything was breaking. I had only lived in California (from TX) for six years and had never even felt a trembler. I remember it was a very, very happy time of my life. I was finally able to move forward with my dream of going to school and was in my second semester at the community college and was in a program where I could go to school full-time and work full-time. I loved my classes, enjoyed my job, had good friends, and was just loving living in California. (I'd had a traumatic childhood and was an alcoholic throughout my 20's and had had so many blackouts and close calls I was lucky to even be alive). Anyway I knew I was going to die during that earthquake. I remember saying thank you out loud to God, The Universe, My Higher Power, whoever was out there for the happiness I had experienced in the years since I'd moved to CA. I felt such a sense of peace and calm. It was kind of like okay, if this is how I go, I will have gone being happier than I had ever been in my life...I'll never forget that....on so many levels..

[trof]

92. OK, here's another...mid air collision.

It's way too complicated to get into the weed on, but I was flying in a 4 ship (F-84s) formation headed for an air refueling hookup and 2 of the aircraft got into a canopy to canopy collision.

I wasn't one of them and we were able to get both guys on the ground with no injuries.
Some serious damage to the aircraft though.

[JonLP24]

93. Yes

But I dont really want to talk about it. I blocked out the trauma.

The ones that aren't so traumatic are I almost slipped off the side of a mountain but I grabbed onto a plant.

[MountCleaners]

94. I was rear-ended at high speed on Lake Shore Drive!

Some road rager. He deliberately rammed into me, and my little car went spinning into the middle of traffic on LSD. All of the other cars managed to avoid hitting me, but I could have been killed! There were a lot of witnesses and they stopped and called the police for me. The car was utterly crushed, and I just sat there, stunned. I couldn't believe I was alive and unhurt, and here I am on this busy throughfare - on a holiday, no less - with all of these cars whizzing by me, and I had to sit in my car until the cops came and shut the drive down to get me out of my car and help me to the side of the road.

Ended up with nothing but whiplash but I was in shock for a few days. Apparently the dude managed to drive off and escape, because they never found him!

It shook me up for a long time, and I never did get another car. I just rent a car or Uber when I need to, my nerves driving were so bad after that.

[sakabatou]

95. Yep. I was infected with a virus and got ADEM.

Docs told my parents I would die due to this, but here I am, still kicking after 12.5 years.

[DFW]

101. Nearly crashed in a commuter plane to Sprout City once

In the days before high speed trains cut the travel time in half, the now-defunct Belgian airline, Sabena, used to run tiny commuter planes between Düsseldorf and Brussels. The train trip used to take four hours in each direction, whereas "the mosquito" made the trip in 35 minutes. One day, on the way over to Brussels, a huge wind storm formed at the airport, and the pilot was having trouble keeping the plane level while on landing approach. Just before touching down, a huge gust hit the plane and flipped the wings vertical. I thought, OK, that's all, folks. The pilot knew his home airport well, fortunately, and managed to turn the wings horizontal again at the last second, and touch down at a 90° angle (!!) onto a training runway he knew was there.

[mercuryblues]

106. Not near death

but I would be dead and so would have my now 18 year old son (he was 4 at the time), if I hadn't been paying attention and listened to my inner voice. I was at a 4 way stop. Someone had a sign for VBS in their yard at a local church. I stayed at the sign to read when it was. As I was reading it I noticed a car coming up to the intersection pretty fast. I said to myself...that car ain't gonna stop. So I stayed there. 3 things happened at the same time.

1/ my sis in the passenger seat asked if I was ever going to go.
2/A car behind me honked.
3/ the car blew through their stop sign going about 15-20 mph over the speed limit

Me, being me, said very matter of factly ...nah, I think I want to live today.

If I hadn't stayed an extra 3 seconds to read the VBS sign, I would surely have been at least seriously injured along with my son, in his car seat behind me. Divine intervention, in the literal sense?

[SoCalDem]

110. Too many to count..

I am lucky to be alive..many times over