Discussion
Eddie Strohacker said:
My daughter aged about two or three, choking. I remember she was in a high chair with a detachable tray that I tore off, then grabbed her, turning er upside down & walloped her in the back.
I'd done Heimlich training but in my blind panic, reacted instinctively rather than with any clear thought. She'd already gone bright red in the face & it did the trick but maybe more luck than judgement. Scared the living s
t out of me., And her too to be fair, one minute eating your dinner, the next dad's kicking the snot out of you.
This for me. My now 4 year old had a bad habit of choking on an almost weekly basis from about 18 months till a few months ago. One night sticks in my mind, sausage got stuck and I ran over, tipped him forwards and proceeded to wallop the sI'd done Heimlich training but in my blind panic, reacted instinctively rather than with any clear thought. She'd already gone bright red in the face & it did the trick but maybe more luck than judgement. Scared the living s
t out of me., And her too to be fair, one minute eating your dinner, the next dad's kicking the snot out of you.t out of him. Eventually it popped out along with a load of bile/sick. We both just sat there crying, covered in the stuff. I thought he was going to die that day.Walking back from a bar in Spain with a group of friends in the early hours down a very long dark road in the middle of nowhere as we couldn't get a taxi and all of a sudden being surrounded by 4 very large wolves.
It was by far the scariest moment of my life and luckily a local driving saw what was happening and drove at the wolves and got us in the car.
It was by far the scariest moment of my life and luckily a local driving saw what was happening and drove at the wolves and got us in the car.
Weekend before last taking my family with another family train to Ascot racecourse.
Stood at the Martins Heron train station buying tickets, I'm aware of how busy the station is, my son (5) and daughter (8) are there and there.
Looked up to speak to my wife about what ticket to buy at the machine, look back and my son has vanished. Our planned train pulled in at the same time and sheer panic sets in. My wife and our friends are trying to work out where he had gone whilst trying to keep our heads. The train doors start beeping indicating they are about to close; has he just got on the train?
Snap decision to leave others searching the platform and car park as if he's gone on that train, how the hell are we supposed to find him?
Train is packed and I'm asking everyone if they have seen a little boy in a blue coat. Nobody has and others now seem worried too.
I finally get a call from my wife saying as the train pulled out he's stood on the platform on the other side waving.
A mixture of emotions but scared was certainly one of them.
Stood at the Martins Heron train station buying tickets, I'm aware of how busy the station is, my son (5) and daughter (8) are there and there.
Looked up to speak to my wife about what ticket to buy at the machine, look back and my son has vanished. Our planned train pulled in at the same time and sheer panic sets in. My wife and our friends are trying to work out where he had gone whilst trying to keep our heads. The train doors start beeping indicating they are about to close; has he just got on the train?
Snap decision to leave others searching the platform and car park as if he's gone on that train, how the hell are we supposed to find him?
Train is packed and I'm asking everyone if they have seen a little boy in a blue coat. Nobody has and others now seem worried too.
I finally get a call from my wife saying as the train pulled out he's stood on the platform on the other side waving.
A mixture of emotions but scared was certainly one of them.
227bhp said:
LordHaveMurci said:
What's the most scared you've ever been?
Probably the scariest though was going into the mortuary at the hospital to see my Dad, my sister insisted I went to see him, I will be forever grateful to her for that.
You were more scared than you've ever been to see your own Dad?Probably the scariest though was going into the mortuary at the hospital to see my Dad, my sister insisted I went to see him, I will be forever grateful to her for that.
At that point I had never seen a dead person before, had never even lost anybody close to me.
Many of the things that scare us are irrational.
Some great stories guys, keep 'em coming!
September 1981. Lying on the floor, in a French bank.
Three pumped up guys with Uzis standing over us while their mates ransacked the strong room. I've worked with guns all my life and one half of me was interested in the kit, whilst the other half was screaming "this is for real, you f**kwit!"
My overriding fear, was that the police would arrive before they left. The rest of the honeymoon was quite peaceful.
Three pumped up guys with Uzis standing over us while their mates ransacked the strong room. I've worked with guns all my life and one half of me was interested in the kit, whilst the other half was screaming "this is for real, you f**kwit!"
My overriding fear, was that the police would arrive before they left. The rest of the honeymoon was quite peaceful.
Jonmx said:
I don't really feel fear, I suspect I may have some kind of personality disorder but it's an emotion I don't really have. I've had knives pulled on me several times, rolled cars, been stuck on a cliff 100ft up but felt perfectly calm throughout. When I rolled my 3 series I remember thinking how cool it was being upside down and enjoying watching the fence as I rolled. I'm trying to get my psychiatrist to explain why this is, but I'm getting nowhere.
You don't have a personality disorder, and a psychiatrist isn't the person to see if you did - they deal with mental illness. You just weren't scared, probably because the car flipped so quickly.Sat fishing by a river on my own on the edge of dark and I could hear someone in the woods on the opposite bank. After a few minutes a pheasant burst out of the woods, flew over the river and straight over my head, followed a split second later by a blast from a 12 gauge that was close enough that I felt the shot go past my face. I shouted across the river, and silence descended for a few seconds; the silence was replaced with the sound of panicked running through the woods.
I sat there for about 30 mins quietly shaking when I realised I'd been within a couple of feet of having my head taken off.
I was in the middle of nowhere, with no mobile and the guy who had nearly killed me obviously shouldn't have been there.......
I sat there for about 30 mins quietly shaking when I realised I'd been within a couple of feet of having my head taken off.
I was in the middle of nowhere, with no mobile and the guy who had nearly killed me obviously shouldn't have been there.......
Having a fear of heights I thought booking a weeks rock climbing course might cure me, it didn't.
The one time I really remember having feelings of real fear was on safari, we weren't in the usual type of vehicle, we were in a Land Cruiser that had had both nearside doors taken off and a small platform mounted on the side with a foot high screen round it so you could sit with your legs outside the vehicle and film or take pictures. So you weren't really supposed to go off road, but the guy we were with had been doing filming, and was used to getting into difficult places, so had taken us off road to photograph a couple of male lions. So I am sitting with my legs hanging out of the car taking pictures as one of the lions starts walking diagonally past the vehicle then, when he is 5 metres or so away, he turns straight towards us. So suddenly I have a 250kg animal, capable of killing me in an instant, walking straight towards me with only a small plastic screen between us, the ground was too rough to drive away so I had to sit there as it walked to within a few feet, looked me straight in the eye and then walked away. You really don't realise how big and powerful they are until you get that close.
The one time I really remember having feelings of real fear was on safari, we weren't in the usual type of vehicle, we were in a Land Cruiser that had had both nearside doors taken off and a small platform mounted on the side with a foot high screen round it so you could sit with your legs outside the vehicle and film or take pictures. So you weren't really supposed to go off road, but the guy we were with had been doing filming, and was used to getting into difficult places, so had taken us off road to photograph a couple of male lions. So I am sitting with my legs hanging out of the car taking pictures as one of the lions starts walking diagonally past the vehicle then, when he is 5 metres or so away, he turns straight towards us. So suddenly I have a 250kg animal, capable of killing me in an instant, walking straight towards me with only a small plastic screen between us, the ground was too rough to drive away so I had to sit there as it walked to within a few feet, looked me straight in the eye and then walked away. You really don't realise how big and powerful they are until you get that close.
Last day of a motorbike tour round France, Portugal and Spain, headed for the ferry at Santander, we had a few hours to kill so we hit the beach on a scorching hot day. One bloke looked after all the leathers and boots whilst the rest of us went for a dip in the seemingly calm looking sea.
After about 20 mins, and apparently from nowhere, we got caught in a rip current. I'm 6ft and was then 16 stone, reasonably hefty, was standing comfortably in water between waist and chest height, then all of a sudden couldn't hold my feet. I've done a lot of surfing as a kid, and whilst I knew the maxim of 'swim across it, not against it', it took longer that I would have liked for that thought to kick in. After swimming for what seemed like an eternity across it we eventually reached calm water and were able to turn and swim for shore.
My pal Dave is the life and soul of the party, never shuts up. As we trudged ashore utterly exhausted we both looked each other in the eye and gave the other a knowing look that we had a very near miss there. Neither had the energy to say anything. It's pretty scary, even when you know what is happening, and know how to deal with it, to have to put that theory into practice. The bloke looking after the leathers wasn't aware, so took a photo of us as we emerged from the sea. The look on my face is one I never really want to see again.
Several beers were sunk on the ferry back to Pompey, all our wives and girlfriends always worry about one of us having a bike acicdent, it would have been pretty poor form for us to spend two weeks blasting around Europe at high speed only to meet our makers having a refreshing dip!
After about 20 mins, and apparently from nowhere, we got caught in a rip current. I'm 6ft and was then 16 stone, reasonably hefty, was standing comfortably in water between waist and chest height, then all of a sudden couldn't hold my feet. I've done a lot of surfing as a kid, and whilst I knew the maxim of 'swim across it, not against it', it took longer that I would have liked for that thought to kick in. After swimming for what seemed like an eternity across it we eventually reached calm water and were able to turn and swim for shore.
My pal Dave is the life and soul of the party, never shuts up. As we trudged ashore utterly exhausted we both looked each other in the eye and gave the other a knowing look that we had a very near miss there. Neither had the energy to say anything. It's pretty scary, even when you know what is happening, and know how to deal with it, to have to put that theory into practice. The bloke looking after the leathers wasn't aware, so took a photo of us as we emerged from the sea. The look on my face is one I never really want to see again.
Several beers were sunk on the ferry back to Pompey, all our wives and girlfriends always worry about one of us having a bike acicdent, it would have been pretty poor form for us to spend two weeks blasting around Europe at high speed only to meet our makers having a refreshing dip!
I've always had a passion for climbing with a rope, but scrambles like Aonach Eagach Ridge (Glencoe), An Teallach (northern Highlands) or Curved ridge Buachaille Etive Mor were particularly scary at the time, the thought of one slip and a 300+ metre fall is not nice.
Crevasses scare the life out of me, as do hidden frozen waterfalls when skiing. But for me, icy North facing slopes are the harbinger of doom. It's the feeling of not being able to stop before putting in the next turn, only to gather more speed, then hoping for a bit of purchase before the next..all this on a 45°+ slope and often surrounded by cliffs.
However, I would never ever go caving!
Crevasses scare the life out of me, as do hidden frozen waterfalls when skiing. But for me, icy North facing slopes are the harbinger of doom. It's the feeling of not being able to stop before putting in the next turn, only to gather more speed, then hoping for a bit of purchase before the next..all this on a 45°+ slope and often surrounded by cliffs.
However, I would never ever go caving!
R8Steve said:
You must have lived a sheltered life 
Sometimes it depressed me beyond measure that the closest thing I can comment on here is in the stories about getting to the top of a big climb and being scared to step over the edge to climb back down. And my comment would be "yes, I have that with ladders". Any other comment I make would be along a very different track than the OP intended, I feel.
A head on at 50, when someone pulled across the road in front of me. Nothing I could do so I gripped the steering wheel, hit the breaks and pushed myself back into the seat, what was seconds felt like ages. I'll never forget afterwards, some guy opened my car door and I just looked and asked him if I was alive, and if so, can I have a fag! Fractured spine and a broken nose, but my little Clio 172 stood up fairly well.
The mrs has had a worse one, carjacked and held at gunpoint when she lived in Joburg, can't imagine what that must be like.
The mrs has had a worse one, carjacked and held at gunpoint when she lived in Joburg, can't imagine what that must be like.
austinsmirk said:
I used to go caving. Glad I did it, but glad I'm not doing it anymore. Looking back: no one knew where we were exactly (pre- mobiles so no leaving messages with folk)
doing 8-10 hr pull through trips, where you take all yr gear with you- so descend a pitch, undo yr ropes and carry on- hoping cave isn't sumped or collapsed and you can continue and get out.
done a few blind swims in sumps- to pop up into chambers (no scuba gear)- you rely on caving books and knowing its a short stretch.
a lot of caving is descending and then coming back up the same way: I can recall a system starting to fill quickly and we made the right call to head out- the water was getting far stronger and of course many descents are back up into the force of a waterfall.
Oh and into old abandoned mines.
scares me a lot now, looking back. I guess now there'll be FB pages and allsorts rammed with latest info on a stretch of cave etc before you start a trip.
Oh and amazing LED lights. not filament bulbs, dying battery packs and and naked flame carbide lamps stinking the place out and illuminating nothing.
Jeez, I'm glad I'm out in one piece.
I got into caving whilst at uni and I very much enjoyed it..... for me though, after the first sump dive I decided that was it for me, the rewards no longer outweighed the risks. Can't say that I was hugely scared, just possessed of an imagination!doing 8-10 hr pull through trips, where you take all yr gear with you- so descend a pitch, undo yr ropes and carry on- hoping cave isn't sumped or collapsed and you can continue and get out.
done a few blind swims in sumps- to pop up into chambers (no scuba gear)- you rely on caving books and knowing its a short stretch.
a lot of caving is descending and then coming back up the same way: I can recall a system starting to fill quickly and we made the right call to head out- the water was getting far stronger and of course many descents are back up into the force of a waterfall.
Oh and into old abandoned mines.
scares me a lot now, looking back. I guess now there'll be FB pages and allsorts rammed with latest info on a stretch of cave etc before you start a trip.
Oh and amazing LED lights. not filament bulbs, dying battery packs and and naked flame carbide lamps stinking the place out and illuminating nothing.
Jeez, I'm glad I'm out in one piece.
As far as scared is concerned, probably swimming off the beach in Puerto Rico, Gran Canaria a decade or so ago... I'm not a strong swimmer but I was determined to make it to the floating rope that marked the outside edge of the swimming area.
By the time I got there I was utterly spent and although the rope was buoyant in itself, it certainly wasn't able to offer me any support and I was in no state to start swimming back to shore.... panic started to set in, I've always feared drowning.
In the end I pulled myself hand over hand along the rope until I got the rocks at the edge and could climb out - I had to have a little sit down though as my legs were shaking so much at what might have been that I couldn't walk!
Placing my 24hr old daughter on the bed in the theater ante-chamber ready for anesthetic and walking away. Fear, confusion, dread.
Several years later, the same daughter refusing to wake after a botched sedation for an MRI, being discharged and still having an unconscious daughter several hours later, when NHS Direct said they were asking for an ambulance and asked me to put her in the recovery position, that was pretty heavy duty.
The paramedics, after we blue lit her to the local A&E, said they thought they were going to have to give me treatment as well.
Several years later, the same daughter refusing to wake after a botched sedation for an MRI, being discharged and still having an unconscious daughter several hours later, when NHS Direct said they were asking for an ambulance and asked me to put her in the recovery position, that was pretty heavy duty.
The paramedics, after we blue lit her to the local A&E, said they thought they were going to have to give me treatment as well.
One that sticks in my mind - out running in the munros on a spring evening. A route I'd done plenty times before, passing lots of folk walking off the hill at the end of the day. Message left with work where I'd be and when I'd be back. Lost my footing, and fell 20-30ft. Nasty gash to leg but otherwise okay to hobble back to the car. It was only afterwards that I realised where I had been and what nearly happened, potentially facing a night in the scottish hills in spring in a place where I wouldn't be easily found hidden from sight from the path.
I can relate to the caving story posted earlier in the thread. At the end of one of my school terms we had an activity day and I "won" a place on caving/potholing trip. I would have been around 13 at the time and having never done it before was looking forward to it; I mean what could possibly go wrong?
There were 4 of us and 2 teachers. The location was somewhere in N Yorks - Pateley Bridge area rings a bell or it might have been up near Ingleton. The caves had so many 'instant death' parts when I look back now I wonder how the hell it was even allowed! The first part was squeezing sideways through a gap in the rocks barely wider than your body. What's the problem with that? Well, you had to lean back against the rock face behind you and have your toes balanced on a tiny ledge opposite which was about the width of a fag packet and below the ledge was a huge drop into an abyss. You had to shimmy your body sideways in this gap to make your way into the caves. One slip with your footing and you'd fall down into the abyss, either smashing your skull open getting wedged in between the rock faces or if you made it through you'd land in the raging torrent of black water from the recent heavy rains running through the caves. Bear in mind that everything was soaking wet and slippery too!
But that was not the worst part! After crawling, climbing and squeezing through gaps that were only fractionally bigger than your body and wading through the waters, the teacher said this was as far as we were going due to the time and after a break we'd head back.
Remember that water we'd been wading through an hour earlier? The level had since risen substantially as had the sheer force and the noise was absolutely deafening. The water was nearly up to roof of the tunnel
. At this point the seriousness of the situation started to sink in, further compounded by the teacher (allegedly an experienced potholer) announcing that we needed to move FAST. We managed to work our way back into the big cave with the waterfall cascade and made our way down to the bottom, but there was no way out. I remember looking round for where we came in and it was not there. The potholer teacher wasn't there either when I looked round but suddenly he springs up out of the black water. One of the other kids asks how we get out and he points downwards into the water . Everyone said you can forget it. Teacher then tells us the seriousness of the situation and that the weather has caught us out and how we need to move fast because if we don't go now the water level will be too deep to swim into the next cave . There's no fking way I'm going underwater to a place I can't see how far away it is! Nope nope nope nope !
He says to everyone to take a big deep breath as it's only just the other side of this rock and you'll be straight out again. The other lads got their st together and went one by one, with the teacher following behind to guide them, and then it was just me left. I refused to go as I was absolutely stting myself and in full on panic mode. I can't hold my breath under water and nor can I open my eyes either so what he wanted me to do was impossible in my head and I'd already made up my mind I'd be trapped in that cave and probably die there.
He got me to do a couple of dunks under the water whilst holding my breath to instill some confidence that I could do it, and I could do it just bobbing up and down under the water, but actually swimming as well, in the pitch dark, with only a rough general direction of where I need to aim and only his word on how far under the water it is until the next air pocket? He didn't waste any more time "right, let's go! DEEP BREATH NOW, GO! I'm right behind you to guide you, DON'T PANIC YOU'LL BE FINE" and down I went, haplessly trying to guide my way with one hand on the roof and the other arm for swimming. He was pressing right up against me pushing me along and eventually I felt air on my face even though my helmet was wedging up against the roof. After spluttering out gobfuls of sheep piss water with twigs in I looked around and saw we'd come up in a tiny air pocket - the water level was at my chin. Teacher was facing me and grinned "you alright?!" but then quickly went serious again and said we can't stop here and got to move NOW, I'LL GUIDE YOU AGAIN, 1 2 3, <DEEP BREATH> GO!
The next underwater section was looooooooooong and I lost my st and started taking on water. I truly thought I was going to drown to death, but then I heard the claps and cheers from the other lads. Whilst sitting there keeled over coughing up my guts for 10 mins and trying to get my breath I learned that we were through the worst of it and it was mostly an uphill climb back to the surface from that point. The rest of the climb out was uneventful but the vivid memories still give me drowning nightmares 30 years on.
There were 4 of us and 2 teachers. The location was somewhere in N Yorks - Pateley Bridge area rings a bell or it might have been up near Ingleton. The caves had so many 'instant death' parts when I look back now I wonder how the hell it was even allowed! The first part was squeezing sideways through a gap in the rocks barely wider than your body. What's the problem with that? Well, you had to lean back against the rock face behind you and have your toes balanced on a tiny ledge opposite which was about the width of a fag packet and below the ledge was a huge drop into an abyss. You had to shimmy your body sideways in this gap to make your way into the caves. One slip with your footing and you'd fall down into the abyss, either smashing your skull open getting wedged in between the rock faces or if you made it through you'd land in the raging torrent of black water from the recent heavy rains running through the caves. Bear in mind that everything was soaking wet and slippery too!
But that was not the worst part! After crawling, climbing and squeezing through gaps that were only fractionally bigger than your body and wading through the waters, the teacher said this was as far as we were going due to the time and after a break we'd head back.
Remember that water we'd been wading through an hour earlier? The level had since risen substantially as had the sheer force and the noise was absolutely deafening. The water was nearly up to roof of the tunnel
. At this point the seriousness of the situation started to sink in, further compounded by the teacher (allegedly an experienced potholer) announcing that we needed to move FAST. We managed to work our way back into the big cave with the waterfall cascade and made our way down to the bottom, but there was no way out. I remember looking round for where we came in and it was not there. The potholer teacher wasn't there either when I looked round but suddenly he springs up out of the black water. One of the other kids asks how we get out and he points downwards into the water . Everyone said you can forget it. Teacher then tells us the seriousness of the situation and that the weather has caught us out and how we need to move fast because if we don't go now the water level will be too deep to swim into the next cave . There's no fking way I'm going underwater to a place I can't see how far away it is! Nope nope nope nope !He says to everyone to take a big deep breath as it's only just the other side of this rock and you'll be straight out again. The other lads got their s
t together and went one by one, with the teacher following behind to guide them, and then it was just me left. I refused to go as I was absolutely stting myself and in full on panic mode. I can't hold my breath under water and nor can I open my eyes either so what he wanted me to do was impossible in my head and I'd already made up my mind I'd be trapped in that cave and probably die there.He got me to do a couple of dunks under the water whilst holding my breath to instill some confidence that I could do it, and I could do it just bobbing up and down under the water, but actually swimming as well, in the pitch dark, with only a rough general direction of where I need to aim and only his word on how far under the water it is until the next air pocket?
He didn't waste any more time "right, let's go! DEEP BREATH NOW, GO! I'm right behind you to guide you, DON'T PANIC YOU'LL BE FINE" and down I went, haplessly trying to guide my way with one hand on the roof and the other arm for swimming. He was pressing right up against me pushing me along and eventually I felt air on my face even though my helmet was wedging up against the roof. After spluttering out gobfuls of sheep piss water with twigs in I looked around and saw we'd come up in a tiny air pocket - the water level was at my chin. Teacher was facing me and grinned "you alright?!" but then quickly went serious again and said we can't stop here and got to move NOW, I'LL GUIDE YOU AGAIN, 1 2 3, <DEEP BREATH> GO!The next underwater section was looooooooooong and I lost my s
t and started taking on water. I truly thought I was going to drown to death, but then I heard the claps and cheers from the other lads. Whilst sitting there keeled over coughing up my guts for 10 mins and trying to get my breath I learned that we were through the worst of it and it was mostly an uphill climb back to the surface from that point. The rest of the climb out was uneventful but the vivid memories still give me drowning nightmares 30 years on.Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff