62 People Reveal Terrifying Moments That Nearly Cost Them Their Lives—and How They Miraculously Survived
Ever found yourself sitting somewhere perfectly safe, then out of nowhere, life nearly turns into a disaster movie? Like that one time I was chilling just outside my college dorm, minding my own business, when I had this sudden urge to move — and almost got flattened by a massive pane of glass crashing right where I’d been moments before. Talk about a heart-stopping “what-if” moment! It really makes you wonder: how often do tiny, random decisions save us from the unthinkable? Or put another way — could a single second, just one breath, change your entire story? Dive into these nail-biting tales where people teetered on the edge of catastrophe, all thanks to timing so precise it’s almost supernatural. Buckle up; you’ll probably think twice before trusting fate again. LEARN MORE
Outside my college dorm my freshman year there was this “stoop” that was half under the building, half out from under it. The building was 18 stories tall.
So I’m sitting out there sitting on the steps (not under the building) and I get up for no real reason and walk under the building. As soon as I get under the building, a huge sheet of glass falls right where I was sitting. Some idiots where messing around on the 11th floor and knocked a 10×9 window pane out of its mooring.
On 16th December 2004 I was with a friend having a beer in a bar on the Koh san Rd in Bangkok, Thailand. It was the last week of my bumming round the world and we had a decision to make.
Do we go home for Christmas or spend it on the beach in Phuket. Neither of us had been to Phuket and we thought it would be an awesome end to living out of a back pack for the last 18 months but on the other hand Christmas at home with the family was also appealing.
So we flipped a coin and went home to the UK.
Flipping that coin a second earlier or later could have sent us into the path of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.
This is a sweet memory: My girlfriend at the time and I were walking on a semi-rural road in Santa Cruz County around 1993 or so. We stopped for a second and kissed. In that moment a car went careening off the road just a few feet in front of us. Had we not stopped for that kiss we would have been directly in its path.
My friend and I were taking an elevator down to the cafeteria in our dorm in college. For some reason, we were arguing about something when the doors opened, so we hung back for a second.
Then the elevator dropped two floors with the doors open.
I still hate getting in/out of elevators and I do a weird running start every time.
Edit: happened in Canada, was an old building/elevator.
My dad and I were driving down the road after heavy rainfall in Vermont. He is driving, and I am fiddling with the radio. I hear a very load CRACK, and before I can ask my dad what it was, out of the corner of my eye I see movement.
An entire tree was falling on the road – due to the heavy rainfall, the dirt was too wet to keep some trees in place.
My dad stood on his brake, cartoon style, and we slid nearly right into the tree. I heard a pop before we fully stopped, and when we lurched back to 0mph, we were both breathing hard. My dad got out to check the damage, and the pop I hear was a branch hitting a headlight out.
First time I’ve ever seen my dad call 911. It was scary. Could have been the end of us if he didn’t stop to chat to the waitress after we left the restaurant to go home.
Once I almost stepped on a scorpion fish, that was a close call believe me. It was in no more than 3 feet of water in plain sand, so be careful everyone.
While my family & I were hiking in a national park in the mountains of North Carolina, we stopped beside a small stream close to the top of a waterfall for lunch. I decided to walk down closer to the waterfall for a better look.
All of a sudden, bees. Multiple bees, and me terrified of them.
I start doing what anyone at my age with no survival skills and a fear of bees would: closing my eyes, shrieking, flailing around & running in circles. Right by the edge of the waterfall.
My family came to pull me out & back up the ledge. They said I came close to falling. I ended up with just a couple stings. Bees & I now keep a healthy distance.
I was about 9 or 10, and riding a horse for the first time on a trail ride. My horse suddenly pricked its ears and went a little faster, and a tree fell across the trail directly behind us.
Was hiking on an unofficial trail with some friends when we decided to climb up a rather steep dirt hill to look for a new path. Being the heaviest, I was on the bottom as my buds climbed up above me. The dirt was pretty loose and sometimes would slip underneath us. The drop was pretty decent, the bottom being a ravine covered in plants such that we couldn’t actually see what was there, just hear the water. Anyway, as the lightest of our group climbed further up to search for possible paths, every pebble he kicked down would knock over progressively bigger rocks until I saw one the size of my backpack plummeting toward me. I wasn’t really scared by it, my mind just registered, “Hey, I should probably move right about now.” I transitioned to another rock foothold and the second I turned around I saw the rock fly past the spot where my backpack had just been. Had I turned a second later the rock would’ve slammed into my backpack and launched me into the ravine. We decided to search for a new path elsewhere.
I was caught in a Rip Tide in the Caribbean. All my friends were on shore. I was waving back to shore to try and signal help & my friends were waving back. I was paddling so hard against the current panicking I could feel my body giving up with exhaustion. The danger was I had never heard of a rip tide or how to deal with it. The beach was also littered with no swimming signs but a local guide said it was fine. Thankfully one of my friends decided to play catch waist high in the sea with another friend and got close enough to hear me struggle. Told me to swim sideways, I was seconds away from giving up. When I finally got to shore I collapsed from exhaustion and lay on the sand thanking my lucky stars.
When I was in middle school I called my mom on my cell during lunch because my head hurt so badly I couldn’t move (she was 1 on speed dial). Well the nurse came and brought me to the office for a check up and some pain pills while I waited for my mom (we didn’t live close).
Nurse said no fever, and to take me home and put me to bed. My mom watched me get into the truck and decided that maybe we should go to the hospital to be safe. By the time we reached the hospital (it was further then our home) my temp was at 104 and I was incapacitated.
I had meningitis. If we went home and she put me to bed like the nurse suggested, I never would have woken up.
Edit for detail: For those who keep asking/speculating it was Viral Meningitis (the less severe form) but it progressed very quickly. I had no headache when I arrived at school. By lunch time I couldn’t move on my own and I couldn’t see because light was too bright. The nurse came to get me and I didn’t have a fever. After waiting for my mom 10 minutes and the 20 minute drive to the hospital and 10 minute wait at the hospital it was at 104.
Yes we told the nurse after, but there was only some of the symptoms when I left school. She never gave me or my mother advice again, just told symptoms and gave pain meds.
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