Have you ever been in real danger?

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I really have not but I talk to many people who have been in serious danger and luckily got away.

Since I can't recall any dangerous situation i was in that I created, I have nothing much to share. But I would love to hear your stories and how you escaped or (sadly) did not. My worst experience was my mysterious car accident that I can not remember...assume I fell asleep or passed out.

All my life i had a very strong lack of desire to be a risktaker, even as a kid and teen. So I get my rush vicariously through others :).

I don't know if anyone wants to share but thought I would give it a whirl :)
 

Lil

Well-Known Member
I can only think of one incident where I truly thought my life was in danger and it was car-related as well. Now I find it an amusing story – so I’m going to toss this in as a lighter note in what may become a rather dark thread, given the theme.


In the 1990’s I worked for a law firm in a lake resort town. The senior partner owned a condo and he rented it to me at a very reasonable rate. There were only two buildings, mine was second tier, that is to say half way up a BIG hill from the lake itself, with a winding drive that came from the top of the hill, past my building on the left and the pool just below it on the right, then around a bend to the lower level, where if you turned right you’d go to the bottom building, if you stayed straight, you’d go in the lake. Basically, it was a steep, giant S shaped drive.


In the winter, I was the ONLY resident of the entire condo complex. Of course living near a large body of water in the Midwest means ice storms. We had a doozy – 7 inches of sleet piled up. The condo association was probably not too happy that they had to do it, but they paid a lot of money to a plow, that managed to keep the road clear from my spot on the parking lot, up the hill and to the street. The remaining drive, pool parking and lower building were all still ice-covered. Of course, between my door and my car was also ice…so I would literally crawl to my car and then stand up, get in, and away I’d go!


One morning I got up and did my usual routine, crawling in my jeans, tossing my skirt in the car as I had court that day, and I noticed that it looked like it had rained, but I didn’t think much of it…until I got out of my parking lot and started up the curvy hill and halfway up, realized it wasn’t water on the drive, it was black ice. The wheels spun, the car stopped, and then started sliding backwards down the hill. I tried turning the wheels, hoping to get the car to slide into the parking lot…nothing. I tried tapping my brakes and that put the car into a spin. After two, 360 degree turns, it finally stopped, past my parking lot, next to the swimming pool lot and facing back uphill again. I later learned that the little, light car had caught its front wheel on a tiny hill of ice that the plow had scraped up. That’s what stopped it. Why it followed the drive and didn’t just go over the hill into the pool…well, I’m just glad it did!


So…choices…I only had one. I didn’t dare stay in the car as I was now completely off the plowed areas and on the flat, thick ice. So I very gently opened my door, climbed out…and fell down and slid under the car! I was terrified to touch it so I wiggled my way out and then sat on the ice a minute. I gently reached in, got my keys, and left everything else, including the door open, for fear of dislodging the car. I couldn’t stand up, so I decided I’d have to crawl across the drive and slightly uphill, to get to my condo which was at that point just barely above me, but a streets-width away. Keys in pocket, on hands and knees, I started crawling. Halfway across the drive, my behind slid around and downhill – gravity, duh – and I started again sliding down the hill toward the lake – this time on my knees! I dropped flat hoping to stop – which in fact made me more like a toboggan than a sled – I just sped up! Eventually, about 40 feet from the flat ground and probably 80 feet or so from the lake – I caught my fingers in a little crack in the ice.


Now I was hanging on the drive by my fingers, looking UP the hill at the rear end of my car which I thought could start moving again if a stiff breeze hit it. Below me straight ahead was flat ground, but no way to walk on it and if I slid too far, the icy cold lake. To the left of that, as I was hanging with my back to the lake, was the lower tier condo. No one was there of course, but I considered trying to work my way there, break a window and go in and maybe at least have warmth and water and, if I got incredibly lucky, a phone. This was in the days before cell phones, and a lot of people disconnected the phones in the summer places when they’d be gone a long time. Option two was above me on my right. My ground-floor condo’s deck was above me, about 50 feet away if I could get directly up the hill, about twice that by road because it curved around. That seemed better than breaking and entering, if I avoided drowning in the lake, so I gingerly worked my way to the retaining wall that bordered the curved drive without losing much ground, shoving my fingers into the ice everywhere I found a crack, hoisted myself up and over…and realized there were big-ass SPIKES sticking out the back side! If I were to go straight up the hill and lose my grip and slide down, I could be impaled! So, back over the wall and onto the drive side again, hanging over it so I could hold on to the spikes, I did the only thing left…I hauled my heavy hiney UP the drive, hand over hand on the spikes, sliding my body along the top of the retaining wall, about 100 feet given the curve of the drive. I finally got to the top, crawled to my door, into my condo and continued crawling straight across the floor to the liquor cabinet.


After about 4 good pulls on the vodka bottle, my hands had stopped shaking enough for me to call my office and tell my secretary what happened. She called the court and asked for a continuance, but called me back and told me I’d have to talk to the judge myself. His Honor advised me if he and the clerks could get to the courthouse, so could I! My response, fueled by vodka and shock, was, “If you’re so sure I can get to court, you can damn well come get me yourself!”


I got my continuance. I didn’t go to jail.


Of course, later after the black ice melted off my boss sent someone to get my car and all was well. But being all alone, I could well have died if the car had not caught and stopped or if I had slipped into the lake instead of catching my fingers in that little ice crack. I stayed at a hotel for a few nights after that.
 
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BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Lil that's not funny AT ALL. It's SCARY! I am so glad you kept your head and are okay! Yeesh!

Reminded me of something I forgot about.

I was 18 and driving to McGovern headquarters to volunteer. The weather was fine. The streets were good. No reason to expect anything to happen.

All of a sudden, not too far in front of me, I saw an orange flash of very bright orangeolight and heard a loud noise. The electric wires had collapsed in front of me. If I had been any closer I would have been electrocuted. The wires fell across the street. I hope people know what I mean by the wires...I am not sure what to call them...the correct name for that. I just know they were sizzling with electricity.

I drove home shaking and never ever drove on that road again.
 

Lil

Well-Known Member
...I am not sure what to call them...the correct name for that. I just know they were sizzling with electricity.
Electric wire, electric lines, I don't know the proper term either. That is scary! I've never been around down power lines, but they've always scared me. It was not your day SWOT.

The only other time I felt really in danger, I probably wasn't...but it was CREEPY. I was in college and home for a break and the little local festival they held. Somehow, probably in the beer garden I was too young to be in, I got together with a friend of my big brother and he and I decided to "take a drive." Some people might not get this, but country kids...we drank, we drove the back country roads, it was stupid.

Anyway, we ended up in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by woods, literally 5 miles from the nearest town and at least a mile from any houses, parked in this little country church's parking lot. We were there a little while, if you know what I mean, when he decided nature called and got out to do his business behind the car. (Again, country kids, peeing outside is not a big deal.) As he was about to get back in we heard crunching in the leaves in the woods. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. I said "What's that?" He suggested it was an animal, but I know the difference between two feet walking and four. The crunching stopped, then started again, Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Coming toward the car. He reached in and hit the horn and the crunching stopped for a second...but then started again, getting closer with every step. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. He said, "Hand me my shotgun. It's in the back seat."

Crunchcrunchcrunchcrunch...AWAY from the car (and the gun). It was obviously a person...we never learned who. Certainly killed the mood. We went back to the festival.
 

AppleCori

Well-Known Member
Wow, cool topic, SWOT!

Lil, that scene should be in a movie!

I remember a couple of stories, offhand....

When I was about six we were at a lake. I was in the car with my mom, infant sister, and another small child when we drove to the top of the hill and my mom got out to go into the small store. I remember the car—it was a station wagon (anyone remember those?) and my mom must not have put it in park all the way or something. Anyway, the car started rolling down the hill, first slowly, then going faster. Directly toward the lake. I remember thinking about jumping out, but I was afraid I would drop the baby and she would roll under the tires, so I just sat there and decided that when we hit the water, we would jump out. I rolled down the window in preparation. Luckily, some man saw what was happening and ran really fast and got into the car and put on the brake. Yes, I didn’t even think about putting on the brakes. My mom was furious with me.

When I was a teen, a friend and I were driving somewhere and the car broke down in a fairly isolated area. Finally a man stopped and offered to drive us into the nearest town. I don’t know what it was about him, whether it was something he said or the way he acted, but I felt extremely fearful and told him no thanks. My friend was very shocked and mad, and insisted that we go. I wouldn’t budge. The guy got very mad and started cursing and threatening. Finally, he drove away, kicking up gravel as he went. My friend was still mad at me for not getting in his car.
 

Lil

Well-Known Member
Yes, I didn’t even think about putting on the brakes. My mom was furious with me.

You were SIX! I can't imagine why you'd think of that!

Those are pretty scary too! The second one especially. His reaction was WAY over the top for a guy who "just wanted to help". I suspect you dodged a bullet.
 

AppleCori

Well-Known Member
Oh, I have a “parking” story.

When I was in high school, we moved about eight hours drive away from where we had previously lived. My high school boyfriend and I were “in love” and kept up a long distance relationship. He drove down to visit. We hadn’t seen each other in a while, and remember back then when long distance calls cost extra? It was tough.

Well, he was staying at my house, so we didn’t have much privacy, so we parked one night at a graveyard. I started feeling funny, and I looked out of the windshield and saw the girl wearing all white and walking toward the car. I pointed it out, and my boyfriend didn’t see anything. Then I started seeing ghosts and ‘zombies’ and other things. I started screaming and yelling for him to drive away. He was like ‘if you don’t want to be with me, just say so.’ He thought I was making up stuff, I guess. We drove away and got out of the truck and I started feeling normal again. Somehow he then realized that I was suffering from CO2 poisoning from the exhaust fumes (at least that’s what I still assume happened). He was very apologetic.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
When I was a kid, my uncle was a volunteer for the ambulance and fire squad for the little towns he lived in. I lived in a neighboring town around a big city in OH. He and my dad were both safety crazy, so we had all kinds of rules for who would pick us up in an emergency, and all kinds of drills for fires, etc.... When I was 11, I was walking home from the library about a mile from home one day. I had my nose in a book as I walked, as usual. A man came by in a car and told me that my dad was injured at work and Uncle B sent him to pick me up to take me to the hospital to join my family. I looked at him and stared for a second. Then I yelled NO NO NO and ran to a house nearby. I was at a corner and couldn't run forward to get away, but I acted like I knew the people in the house and they were home. I did know them, and I knew they were not home.

He sped away very fast. I ran home (I was maybe a block away). I called Grandma to see if everyone was okay. When she answered and wasn't upset, I didn't tell her what happened. I didn't tell ANYONE about it.

In my family, I was the one who was "too excitable". I expected them to tell me I made it up or blew it out of proportion. That is what they told me when my brother come home stumbling drunk and throwing up. That is what they told me when he was smoking pot. Those were the big safety things in our world, so I figured they wouldn't listen to me on this. I put it out of my mind and buried it until I had my own child.

I was watching some Oprah episode while fixing a pair of Wiz' pants when he was a few month's old and it brought this up. I can still see the guy's car and smell his nasty cigarettes. When I described him to Uncle B, he knew who he was, but couldn't remember his name. It was a man he worked with who got very angry over something at work that Uncle B did. The guy swore to hurt Uncle B, and at the time Uncle B didn't have his own child.

I did safety drills and had a secret word with my kids so that no stranger could pick them up.

When Jess was born we lived above a family that was horrible. I think the guy was a drug dealer supplying the local cops because even when we SAW drug deal go down, the cops could not care less. Plus we saw him with the cops more than a few times, so we were afraid to call them. Then New Years Eve happened. The guy got really wasted. I saw him outside with a handgun. He was waving it around, yelling about something, mostly just ranting and raving. He would not let us down the stairs to get past him, so we could take the kids to a hotel where it would be safe. We spent the night in the bathtub (it had an old cast iron tub, so it was safer than anywhere else in the apartment) holding the kids. He fired that gun off several times. One round went through his floor and into the neighbor downstairs' apartment, killing her refrigerator. Better the fridge than her family!

Even with that, the cops would NOT do anything about him. I finally terrified him into not being a problem for my family. I convinced him I was a voodoo queen. I would go out and light black candles and incense and chant nonsense in Latin. I did all sorts of strange stuff, nothing actually authentic, but he didn't know that. Besides, isn't it the intent that matters? That man was awful! Apparently he BEGGED the apartment manager to make us move because we scared him. She told him that we had the right to practice any religion we wanted and she couldn't make us move because of that. We moved soon after that anyway. Insisted on breaking the lease with no notice and no fees/fines because of the shooting and his prior threats. A neighbor shot the drug dealer who lived below us a year later. Stand Your Ground law stuff.
 

KTMom91

Well-Known Member
I haven't been in real danger, but I've missed it several times.

I was working in a small town about 45 minutes south. Here in the Valley, winters mean tule fog, where it's so thick and gray you're lucky to see the nose of your car. Usually, I took the back roads to work, but on foggy days, I'd take the freeway. As I got to the on ramp, a million sparkly lights filled my vision, and I didn't get on the freeway, going the back roads even though I could barely see a foot in front of me.

I found out later that the stretch of freeway I would have taken had three different pile-ups that morning. A huge number of cars, people killed and injured, horrible scene. I would have been right in the middle of it.

Back in high school, I was working nights at a local pizza parlor. It was robbed at gunpoint on a night I was supposed to work, but had been told not to come in because business was slow.

During my retail years, I was managing a store in a crappy, dying mall. Not many customers, so our budget had been cut back to where we opened alone and closed alone. One of the managers down the mall, also closing alone that Saturday, was beaten and robbed, and left on the floor of the store. Her assistant found her the next morning.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Oh, I also was told I had that flesh eating necrotizing fascitis when I got cellulitis in my leg about ten years ago. It took a combination of the strongest antibiotics that they had over 6 days to get it to the point that I could go home. I have NEVER felt so bad in my life. I have no idea how it started, I just started feeling bad and went to the doctor because I could not keep my medications down. She didn't do more than look at me before sending me to the hospital. Not the ER, straight to be admitted. I had 2 picture lines, or whatever they are called, implanted for the antibiotics. The antibiotics camewith a warning that they would destroy my teeth over the next couple of years. I am now tooth free, but I have both legs. It is a trade off I can live with. Teeth don't give phantom pains or keep you hobbled. The cellulitis was close to my hip. If they couldn't get it to stop, there was a danger that it would do more than cost me the leg. It could have eaten my organs or gone septic.

Over 6 days I had the IV equivalent of 17 2 week courses of oral antibiotics. Then I went home with 2 different antibiotics to take over 2 more weeks, both SUPER strong (levoquin and something that was only given in samples at the time).
 

susiestar

Roll With It
My parents told us to NEVER play in parked cars. We were not even supposed to ride in the front seat of cars at age six. It boggles my mind that you got yelled at because the car rolled due to your mother's error! And your bro stole a car at TEN? WOW!!!!! Mind BOGGLED, Apple!

A relative who lived across from my Grandma died because he was working on a power line (he was an electrician) and his gloves were old and cracked. So the power line freaks me out, SWOT.

Love the "hand me my shotgun" story. Totally goes with my voodoo queen kind of thing. Just faster.
 

Triedntrue

Well-Known Member
All scary stories i am not sure mine will measure up but here goes.

When i was in my late teens I had a very sweet doberman. He was high energy so when I could i would take him to the country so he could run. This was of course before dog leash rules. On this occasion I rode to the country and started down a back road I had never been on. I liked to explore. I saw a big field with a rd going part way down and ending. Like they had been going to build and decided not to. Normally when i let my dog out he would run around always staying in sight and would come when i called. This time i got out and he was literally leaning on my leg. I tried to get him to run but he would not leave my side. There was nothing in sight no houses , people, anything . He was so spooked that i decided to leave .After i got home I told my mom about it and she asked where when i told her she told me that she had read a newspaper article about a man pretending to be a police officer in an unmarked car and had pulled over a woman and killed her there. He was caught a couple weeks later because he had pulled over another girl who thought it odd that he was wearing leather gloves in summer and wouldn't open her window and drove to a public place. They called the actual police and when they caught him from her description they found he was soaking his gloves in chloroform and when they put the window down he put his glove over their nose.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
TiredMama, your dog had good sense. And you had the good sense to listen to him. So many people ignore their animal's instincts. I am glad you didn't. And yes, your story counts. This isn't a contest.
 

AppleCori

Well-Known Member
Ok, I’ve got another story—

I was 11/12ish. I was walking with a ‘friend’, a boy that was 14/15/16 (I don’t remember exactly how old he was anymore). So, we were walking along and he told me that he had found some money back behind this building.

Well, I was just as interested in money back then as I am now, so I immediately wanted to go help search for more.

We got there and he told me to crawl back behind the bushes, because he was too big. I started doing that, and he pushed me down and started trying to put his hands down my shorts. I was quite surprised. I started fighting him and bit him really badly. He left me alone and I went back home.

I told my mom, and she laughed and called me ‘stupid’ for falling for the ruse. (In case you think this is a one-off for her, this is one of those “funny stories” she tells when I’m around. Every boyfriend I have had, she tells this to. Most people just sit there in shock, but she never seems to notice).

I found my younger step-brother and told him what had happened. He and I went to the kid’s house and my brother threatened him if he ever saw him out, he would beat him up. Now, my brother was 10/11 ish and not quite five feet tall, and this guy was probably close to six feet, but he never did show his face around the rest of the summer.

And that is one of the many reasons why we are so close to this day.
 
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AppleCori

Well-Known Member
OK, yet another—

When I was a preschooler, I had to go to be babysat by my great-grandmother and my great-great-grandmother. They lived together on the farm, which was connected to other relative’s farms.

My older cousin Sherry and I would walk all over those farms when she got home from school and in the summers. It was wonderful.

One day when I was four and my cousin was eight, we were playing in the hayloft in the barn. This barn had two haylofts-one on each of the longer sides-with a beam running across the middle, from one loft to the other. Well, Sherry got this great idea that we should walk across the bean to the other loft. I wasn’t real keen on this idea, but I didn’t want to look like a baby to my older cousin, so I decided to follow her. Well, I got about half way across, with her coaxing, when I just froze with fear. I couldn’t got forward, and back was just as far away. She was across by that time, and I cried for her to go get help. She said ‘I can’t, we will get in trouble because we aren’t suppose to be up in the lofts anyway”. This was true, though getting in trouble seemed to be the least of my worries right then. However, my begging didn’t convince her, so after while I realized that the only way I was going to get down was to finish walking across, so I did.

I never did that again, though.
 

Lil

Well-Known Member
KT those were some freaky near-misses!

Susie - I don't think I've ever heard of anyone with that not losing limbs! WOW were you lucky it was caught in time! How horrible.

Apple...I'm sorry, but I don't like your mom. :( I'm wondering how you managed to live this long! You've had a bunch of close calls.
 

RN0441

100% better than I was but not at 100% yet
I can only think of one incident where I truly thought my life was in danger and it was car-related as well. Now I find it an amusing story – so I’m going to toss this in as a lighter note in what may become a rather dark thread, given the theme.


In the 1990’s I worked for a law firm in a lake resort town. The senior partner owned a condo and he rented it to me at a very reasonable rate. There were only two buildings, mine was second tier, that is to say half way up a BIG hill from the lake itself, with a winding drive that came from the top of the hill, past my building on the left and the pool just below it on the right, then around a bend to the lower level, where if you turned right you’d go to the bottom building, if you stayed straight, you’d go in the lake. Basically, it was a steep, giant S shaped drive.


In the winter, I was the ONLY resident of the entire condo complex. Of course living near a large body of water in the Midwest means ice storms. We had a doozy – 7 inches of sleet piled up. The condo association was probably not too happy that they had to do it, but they paid a lot of money to a plow, that managed to keep the road clear from my spot on the parking lot, up the hill and to the street. The remaining drive, pool parking and lower building were all still ice-covered. Of course, between my door and my car was also ice…so I would literally crawl to my car and then stand up, get in, and away I’d go!


One morning I got up and did my usual routine, crawling in my jeans, tossing my skirt in the car as I had court that day, and I noticed that it looked like it had rained, but I didn’t think much of it…until I got out of my parking lot and started up the curvy hill and halfway up, realized it wasn’t water on the drive, it was black ice. The wheels spun, the car stopped, and then started sliding backwards down the hill. I tried turning the wheels, hoping to get the car to slide into the parking lot…nothing. I tried tapping my brakes and that put the car into a spin. After two, 360 degree turns, it finally stopped, past my parking lot, next to the swimming pool lot and facing back uphill again. I later learned that the little, light car had caught its front wheel on a tiny hill of ice that the plow had scraped up. That’s what stopped it. Why it followed the drive and didn’t just go over the hill into the pool…well, I’m just glad it did!


So…choices…I only had one. I didn’t dare stay in the car as I was now completely off the plowed areas and on the flat, thick ice. So I very gently opened my door, climbed out…and fell down and slid under the car! I was terrified to touch it so I wiggled my way out and then sat on the ice a minute. I gently reached in, got my keys, and left everything else, including the door open, for fear of dislodging the car. I couldn’t stand up, so I decided I’d have to crawl across the drive and slightly uphill, to get to my condo which was at that point just barely above me, but a streets-width away. Keys in pocket, on hands and knees, I started crawling. Halfway across the drive, my behind slid around and downhill – gravity, duh – and I started again sliding down the hill toward the lake – this time on my knees! I dropped flat hoping to stop – which in fact made me more like a toboggan than a sled – I just sped up! Eventually, about 40 feet from the flat ground and probably 80 feet or so from the lake – I caught my fingers in a little crack in the ice.


Now I was hanging on the drive by my fingers, looking UP the hill at the rear end of my car which I thought could start moving again if a stiff breeze hit it. Below me straight ahead was flat ground, but no way to walk on it and if I slid too far, the icy cold lake. To the left of that, as I was hanging with my back to the lake, was the lower tier condo. No one was there of course, but I considered trying to work my way there, break a window and go in and maybe at least have warmth and water and, if I got incredibly lucky, a phone. This was in the days before cell phones, and a lot of people disconnected the phones in the summer places when they’d be gone a long time. Option two was above me on my right. My ground-floor condo’s deck was above me, about 50 feet away if I could get directly up the hill, about twice that by road because it curved around. That seemed better than breaking and entering, if I avoided drowning in the lake, so I gingerly worked my way to the retaining wall that bordered the curved drive without losing much ground, shoving my fingers into the ice everywhere I found a crack, hoisted myself up and over…and realized there were big-ass SPIKES sticking out the back side! If I were to go straight up the hill and lose my grip and slide down, I could be impaled! So, back over the wall and onto the drive side again, hanging over it so I could hold on to the spikes, I did the only thing left…I hauled my heavy hiney UP the drive, hand over hand on the spikes, sliding my body along the top of the retaining wall, about 100 feet given the curve of the drive. I finally got to the top, crawled to my door, into my condo and continued crawling straight across the floor to the liquor cabinet.


After about 4 good pulls on the vodka bottle, my hands had stopped shaking enough for me to call my office and tell my secretary what happened. She called the court and asked for a continuance, but called me back and told me I’d have to talk to the judge myself. His Honor advised me if he and the clerks could get to the courthouse, so could I! My response, fueled by vodka and shock, was, “If you’re so sure I can get to court, you can damn well come get me yourself!”


I got my continuance. I didn’t go to jail.


Of course, later after the black ice melted off my boss sent someone to get my car and all was well. But being all alone, I could well have died if the car had not caught and stopped or if I had slipped into the lake instead of catching my fingers in that little ice crack. I stayed at a hotel for a few nights after that.

OMG that is TERRIFYING!!
 
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