DID YOU EVER HAD A CLOSE TO DEATH EXPERIENCE?

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When I was nine I almost got hit by a car trying to pick up a penny.

Classic...

What about you?
When I was 8, I was running along a dark corridor in school. I was laughing like crazy, but suddenly doubled over in pain. Took me time to realise that my side got slashed by an out-of-nowhere cutter. I was then carried to the clinic, and my parents were called. Luckily, the wound was minor.

My parents were worried, of course. But me? I was pissed. What? It was my best shirt!
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
Oh yeah, I got stories. You ever see Final Destination? Yeah, that movie can be remade using my life as a script. Before I continue, I would like to stress that I am NOT making any of this up. These events actually did happen.

Less than a year ago, I was taking my dog out for a walk in the park. As we got to a wooded area, she went off the trail wanting to sniff something. As I was waiting for her to finish, I heard a crack. I looked up and saw a huge tree branch that had broken off high above and was sailing towards me. I felt the wind from the branch hit me as it landed less than an inch from me and stuck straight up from the ground. If I was an inch to the left, that branch would have gone through my head.

About a week after that, I was cooking on the grill, and the grill literally blew up in my face. I was on fire for about two seconds. No severe burns, but it did scare the crap out of me.

And there was that time when I was pushed face first into a giant campfire a month after that.

And then there was that time when I was white water rafting with an idiot for a guide. He slipped on the raft and smashed right into me. I fell out, went under the current, and got my foot stuck in a crack underwater. Managed to get out, obviously, by yanking my foot free.

Not sure if this one counts, but I was knocked out for thirty minutes because someone got carried away and smashed my head with an iron bar. (Don't ask how it happened. Frankly, I'm not 100% sure how either. My memory of that day is hazy, and I never saw that other person again.)


And people wonder why I don't like going outside...
Corfaisus
"It's frustrating because - as much as Corf is otherwise an irredeemable person - his 2k/3 mapping is on point." ~ psy_wombats
7874
No, but I had a close to life experience once; scared the shit out of me.

Aside from taking a dodgeball, basketball and frisbee to the eye throughout my growing up, the closest I've ever felt to the sheer panic of "this might just be the end" was once back in the late 90s when I was walking home from school and crossed the road without looking both ways (either that or the sun was just bright enough to temporarily blind me). Halfway across the road I looked to my right and saw an 18-wheeler rolling towards me (the driver probably stopped already but when you're only a few feet tall against a behemoth like that, it doesn't matter). I immediately sprung out of the way and, after a moment of watching it drive away, continued walking home.

There was also a time when I went over the front of my push scooter and faceplanted on the sidewalk back in middle school. and from my perspective it seems like I hit the ground then a second later opened my eyes and bounced back to my feet with a couple of scratches along my chin and cheek. Or that time when I was riding my brother's bike down the sloped sidewalk in the old neighborhood and I got the speed wobbles and felt no other option at the time than to jump desperately into the grass once the bike started tipping over.

Nothing in my life has ever really struck me as cheating death, more a jolt to reflect on.
I've never really been on the "edge of death", but there are a few instances where if shit went more southward than it did, I probably could have been injured for life or actually killed.

When I was about... 10? I was in a car accident. Me and my friend were in the back, and Dad was alone in the front. We lost control on a slushy hill and slammed head first into a black Hummer... Driving a gold 1994 Toyota Corolla. You can imagine how that panned out, repairs to the Hummer probably involved a new coat of paint on the front, and we had to buy a new car. Thankfully nobody was hurt, and I think the girls in the Hummer were in more pain, emotionally, since they got out and started crying- thinking they had killed a family I guess.

A few months ago while working up in Alberta I almost fell off of a scaffold. We were building a cantalever off of some hanging I beams, and the outside edge was still left open (because we had to build up another scaffold and connect it on, shit was pretty cash when it was done). I was walking along the open part (handing a two foot tube to my crewmate, so I had to reach quite a bit (he was around a corner on the edge)), and I didn't pay enough attention to my tie off point. Before I got to him my harness hooked me in the back, and my momentum sent my twisting out towards the open side. Luckily I caught my footing, and we all just had a good laugh about it.

Now, the scaffold was above a building, so dying probably wouldn't be likely. I will say however that the building roof would definitely have broken if I hit it, and the room below was filled with live electrical equipment. Not a pretty thing to crash land in.

BurningTyger
Hm i Wonder if i can pul somethi goff here/
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When I was sick with a liver abscess in the hospital, it was terrifying; before the ambulance came to pick me up, my head was whirling with nightmares. I was terrified and had no idea what was going on... It took me along time to recover, both physically and emotionally from both the surgery and the limits my regeneration placed on me- not being able to lift things and la the other limitations. It really affected me and it was only comparatively recently that I regained my full self-confidence. I STILL don't like going to the doctor, but will no longer put off seeing them, not much anyway. Nor do i wish to be a hypochondriac i was for a time. Did I dodge death? No, I danced with it , and it was terrifying. But I'll only burn brighter because of it. . Hold on to what you got! *Was just watching Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal and is fired up* But seriously, there's a lot to lose in this life so you have to fight for it, and recognize the treasure in your hand.
I almost crashed my car really bad two times when I was a young driver.

I was smoking in my dad's car when I wasn't supposed to and I dropped my cig between my legs. Not wanting to burn the seat I was focused on that. I had veered into the other lane. After about 5-10 seconds of looking down, something told me to look up. And I saw the headlights of another car coming at me about 2 car lengths ahead. It was an 80km/h zone. I swerved and missed it.

Btw, you would call it a near death experience.
Seiromem
I would have more makerscore If I did things.
6375
I almost drowned at my friend's pool party.

My life was saved by a kid floating by on his... float thing... who I thought was autistic, but in fact just had a speech impediment.
Let me see, I only have about two major events that would count as a near death experiences.

The first time was when I was 11 and my step uncle decided to point a shotgun at me and my father, because we were digging up a road bump the man had decided to set up in the middle of a public street, that damaged my father's porche when he rode over it. Luckily for me, my father is a bit of a terrifying person at times, and he put himself in between me and the shotgun and scared him with mere shouting.

The second time was of course, 5 years ago when me and my family woke up surrounded by flames. The gun stash had just caught fire, as had the moonshine, so bullets were exploding, sending shrapnel everywhere. We all luckily escaped the cabin before the roof began to cave in.

The third time, and I am not sure this would count, was last year in japan. I went on a 75 day trip to move there... And I ran out of money with 11 days and 2 hours to go. I was in Saitama, and my return ticket was at haneda airport, over 80 miles south of me... So I started walking.

Day 3, I exhausted the last of my rations(Three onigiri, 1 for each day...). By Day 5, the sky tree was in sight. I would walk until my feet would scream, and walk some more. Find a park, a place to hide at late night, and sleep wrapped in my sleeping bad and tarp. Day 6, Shibuya. Day 7, I made it to lower shinigawa, my feet begin to bleed, I keep walking. On the 8th day, I made it outside of the airport, and for the first time in my life, I collapsed face first into the grass. I remember a kid asking me if I was alright, and I in my infinite pride, managed to say "Hai, dajoubu desu.".

It was the next day when I awoke, I discovered I could no longer walk further then a half mile before my body would give out. I was literally at the verge of starvation, about to die because I used up too much and had no food to fuel my body. I was going to die, in such a pathetic way. I considered stealing from a convience store, but I knew my odds of getting away were terrible, I was the only white man for miles arround. On the 9th day, I found I needed to sleep most of the day, because I had no energy to spare, Death was knocking.

On the 10th day of the entire quest, or the 7th of no food, I finally prayed to God for salvation for I would die that night of starvation, and behold it came; A japanese woman named yuko came up to me, read my name tag and brought me to her apartment. Her husband had left her that day, and she wanted someone to talk to. In exchange, she cooked me a feast and baked me a loaf of bread. Trust me, the religious symbolism was not wasted on me. She promptly tossed me out to the street with my clothes clean and the loaf of bread wrapped in a cloth.

I am ashamed to say, I eat most of that loaf that night in the park, and saved a small piece for morning. That was the closest I have ever came to death, and I respect food more now then ever before.
One time I fell down a mountain and bashed my face on a boulder. I was unconscious for a few seconds.
While I was in high school, a friend and I were fooling around in the junkyard. We were jumping from car to car, about 30 feet above the ground (covered in shards of twisted metal), and I lost my balance and fell backwards off a car. Luckily, I landed on the hood of the car directly below it, but for a moment I thought 'well, this is it. I had a good run'.

When I was 18, I was driving down an unpaved road with some friends, and we had some hunting (sort of) rifles in the back seat of the car. One of them went off, and the bullet when through the windshield right in front of me, very fortunately missing me and my two friends in the front seat. I don't know exactly how close it got, but my first thought was 'How did that go through me without me noticing?'

Once when we were driving down a logging road in my friend's old Toyota pickup, and the throttle got stuck full on. He shifted to neutral, but we went sideways and almost flipped the car going about 55. Perhaps we would have lived through it had we flipped, but it certainly wouldn't have been pleasant.

When I was 20, the front tire of my Jeep Cherokee flew off while I was going 75 MPH (I had put some really terrible aluminum wheel spacers on it...don't do that). I very almost lost control and would have veered into the forest. Again, maybe I'd have survived. I'm glad I didn't get to find out for certain.

I'd like to think I'm older and wiser now.
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