What was the scariest moment of your life?

[swindonseagull]

Probably,getting on a Hercules at Brize Norton for a flight to Oman,via Cyprus,when one had gone into the Irish Sea the week before with metal fatigue of the wing root.We drove past the rejects where weights on the wings had given them brewers droop.Then,subsequently,having two engine failures and return to Brize,I certainly didn't expect to see another 40-odd years!

When was that?

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I was stopped at a traffic light in São Paulo when a guy pointed a gun through the passenger window. I was stuck in traffic so couldn't get away. He made me open the door and he jumped in. He made me drive north out of the city under gunpoint where he told me he needed to buy some crack.
After about four hours I was running out of petrol and it was dark so he made me pull into the gas station. After I filled up he made me park in the car park. He then told me he was going to shoot me as I was a foreigner and that would make things difficult for him. By this time I couldn't give a monkeys and accepted the inevitable. However he took the car keys and saw that I had a São Paulo football club key ring, his team apparently. Because of that he said I could get out of the car and walk towards the gas station. As it was dark I put my arms above my head and decided to dive behind a car. No shots, and I managed to escape as he drove my car away.
End of part one......

I was there in 1992. My local contact drove through every red light. Why? Because if you stop some nutter will pull a gun on you and steal the car . . . . . Sorry that nobody had warned you.....

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

When I was arrested for attempted murder

Nice to see you taking the thread seriously.

(I did guffaw, tbh).

 

[Bill Cassidy's tie up]

Not at the time but probably when our hired minibus blew a tyre and rolled over a couple of times on the A1 coming home from Grimsby away. God knows how we all got out alive.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[hitony]

On patrol in Afghanistan in 2009 we had to cross a field to get to the safety of a compound, right in the middle of the field a machine gun opened up on us and churned up mud all around me, sprinting for cover we only just made it with nobody getting hit. we were so lucky it could have been a lot worse.

There are many touching, moving stories on this thread, I can only thank you for your service to our country and thank god that you and you're colleagues all made it that day, Thank you

 

[Doc Lynam]

Getting thrown out the Grand Canyon and the adventure that followed.

Mugged in New York.

Bungee Jump in Tenerife.

In the middle of a shoot out / stand off in Winnipeg.

 

[ExmouthExile]

I've had a few scares in my life. First one when I was 11 and a tree fell on me ( a big tree), luckily the trunk missed me but I got hit by some heavy branches and escaped with concussion and a broken collar bone. I've been thrown from the back of Linepainting truck and landed on my head in a field, concussion again and an earful of boiling hot plastic. Lucky again though as the truck flipped 90 degrees and had it gone any further it would have flipped over on top of me. And the last scare was when I had a diabetic ketoacidosis, was rushed to hospital where I was brought back from the brink of death. I felt like I'd been run over by a steam roller for two weeks after that, but thankful to be alive.

 

[Tokyohands]

11th March 2011. I was walking up the stairwell of my office and the whole thing started shaking, then the wall started cracking and plasterboards fell off. The cleaning lady was screaming, I shat myself and ran down those stairs and out the building as fast as I could. I've ridden many earthquakes in my time here but that was the only time I really thought the building was gonna come down. Not a nice feeling.

 

[sully]

I guess adrenaline has normally made most of my scrapes whilst climbing and mountaineering not appear scary at the time, but falling off an ice climb whilst soloing comes pretty close. I must have been close to landing on one of my ice axes, too, as it ripped my shirt and trousers. As you must, I got back on and completed the climb.

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

One time, I returned home from university and mother provided me with supplies to take back with me.

Upon my return I unpackaged the Mackerel Pate, garlic-stuffed olives and finest Sirloin Steak.

But then, to my HORROR, I noticed that the smoked salmon I had been given was NOT the premium brand but some CHEAP own brand item that one of mother's friends had brought to a dinner.

I just about got my composure together and managed to find a civilian who would take this GHASTLY item from me.

 

[Hampden Park]

Several near misses whilst in bomb alley during the Falklands conflict.

managed to get a jolly on the seaking helicopter on HMS Fearless, whilst they carried out a live seacat (missile) shoot. got to 4 thousand ft, dropped the flare and the order was given to engage. we dropped 2 thousand ft in what seemed like a split second, stomach to mouth. missile missed us.

whilst on a run ashore in athens, went out on a sunday, asked a taxi driver to take us to a bar that was open, (5 of us). he took us to the said bar but it was closed, told him to take us back to the dockyard. he did. we argued over the fare and ended up scrapping with lots of taxi drivers. police arrived, we try and disperse and get back to the dockyard pronto. they open fire on us.

p.s. excuse typo's, did this in haste.

 

[rdigs24]

I was on holiday in Sharm El Sheikh in July 2005. We spent the evening in Hard rock cafe and left just before 1am to get a taxi to our hotel. Just after 1am a suicide bomber walked in to the place we had just left and Blew himself up. I guess we were pretty lucky leaving when we did. It still shakes me up nowadays when I think about it

 

[Southern Scouse]

Terrifying but sounds like you played it pretty well. Well done. A cracking story, you should write it up in full.

There was a follow up. The car was a very exclusive (In Brazil anyway) black Mitsubishi Eclipse bi-turbo which I stupidly bought . Should have got a VW golf. Anyway about three months later I was told by my wife's cousin who was a delegado (police chief I think) that they had found the car and the gang in a small town a few miles outside of the city.
They raided the house, got one of the gang and recovered the car. As it happened it was the guy who kidnapped me.
Anyway he was taken to court and I had to testify, where somehow he managed to get the address where I worked together with my then girlfriend (Now wife). While he was in custody my secretary passed a phone call to me, this woman went on to describe that my girlfriend was crossing the street in a red dress and was liable to have a serious accident in a fe minutes.
I remember seeing her crossing the street to the bank but had no idea who was talking to me on the phone.
Later I was talking to our cousin and he said that we had three choices. The first was to drop the charges, the second to make him disappear or the best one was to have him killed. I needed to make a decision over the weekend.
In the end I paid for him to be flown thousands of miles away to the north of the country and we left Brazil a few months later permanently. It really was a life changing moment that changed our lives and those of my kids.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

There was a follow up. The car was a very exclusive (In Brazil anyway) black Mitsubishi Eclipse bi-turbo which I stupidly bought . Should have got a VW golf. Anyway about three months later I was told by my wife's cousin who was a delegado (police chief I think) that they had found the car and the gang in a small town a few miles outside of the city.
They raided the house, got one of the gang and recovered the car. As it happened it was the guy who kidnapped me.
Anyway he was taken to court and I had to testify, where somehow he managed to get the address where I worked together with my then girlfriend (Now wife). While he was in custody my secretary passed a phone call to me, this woman went on to describe that my girlfriend was crossing the street in a red dress and was liable to have a serious accident in a fe minutes.
I remember seeing her crossing the street to the bank but had no idea who was talking to me on the phone.
Later I was talking to our cousin and he said that we had three choices. The first was to drop the charges, the second to make him disappear or the best one was to have him killed. I needed to make a decision over the weekend.
In the end I paid for him to be flown thousands of miles away to the north of the country and we left Brazil a few months later permanently. It really was a life changing moment that changed our lives and those of my kids.

That'll teach you to buy a fast and flash motor. Only joking.
It sounds like something straight out of Narcos. Even more terrifying to have your wife threatened like that, Christ Alive.
What were you doing there? Still think you should write it up.

 

[Lush]

Driving towards the racecourse for one of those Albion Race Days. My mum was in the passenger seat, my two daughters in the back. My car was an old Mini.

Half way along Falmer Road, a sea fret swept over the road and visibility was reduced to about six feet.

All of a sudden, someone's brake lights appeared out of the mist. The queue at the Downs Hotel lights was a lot longer than usual because of the race day. I wasn't going fast and stopped safely.

Seconds later, a car hurtled past on the grass verge to my left. It finally stopped level with the car that was about three ahead of me.

Three generations nearly crushed to death in a Mini. I didn't say anything at the time as I didn't want to scare the kids, who were fairly oblivious to what had so nearly happened. But when I remember that moment, I give thanks that we are all still alive.

 

[sjamesb3466]

The moment my 3 year old daughter nearly choked to death in my arms.

She choked at something she had eaten, and within seconds went blue so I hauled her out of her chair and tried to whack her back hard enough to dislodge whatever was in there - no joy.
I tried a mini Heimlich on her - no joy
I hit her again, nearly upside down - no joy
Even though I know it's not advisable, I carefully put my little finger in her mouth to sweep for anything - no joy

I held her in my arms as my wife (on the phone to 999) and eldest were screaming, and I also just screamed my wife's name... and then my baby went limp and lifeless, and nearly fell out of my arms..
I started crying, but had enough presence of mind to hit her back again - still no joy, so I though 'screw it' - in with my forefinger, and managed this time to dislodge a huge piece of chicken.
I held her up and she gasped a huge breath and burst into tears. I screamed at her to "say something..." - and she simply said "Daddy!"

At which point I collapsed with total and utter relief and felt like I'd never have any energy again.


The ambulance said "all's well them - just take her to hospital to get checked out" (the hospital staff were livid with that!), and the hospital staff actually initially gave me a bollocking for using my finger, but soon after congratulated me for saving her life.

Me and my wife cried for days at the thought of what might have happened...Truly the scariest moment of my life and I hope no-one ever has to go through it.

My little girl has had a mini choke twice in the last week and it truly terrifies me. Both times only lasted a couple of seconds but it's horrendous.

I'm so glad your little one was OK and well done you

 

[Brightonfan1983]

Being in the square the Russians attacked in Marseille was pretty scary. Never seen trouble like that at football before.

That's the sort of thing that would absolutely terrify me, when you're not looking for trouble but it might find you. There was a documentary on Russian hoolies and WC18 a couple of months ago, which was scary enough to watch on TV.

 

[Brightonfan1983]

Several near misses whilst in bomb alley during the Falklands conflict.

managed to get a jolly on the seaking helicopter on HMS Fearless, whilst they carried out a live seacat (missile) shoot. got to 4 thousand ft, dropped the flare and the order was given to engage. we dropped 2 thousand ft in what seemed like a split second, stomach to mouth. missile missed us.

whilst on a run ashore in athens, went out on a sunday, asked a taxi driver to take us to a bar that was open, (5 of us). he took us to the said bar but it was closed, told him to take us back to the dockyard. he did. we argued over the fare and ended up scrapping with lots of taxi drivers. police arrived, we try and disperse and get back to the dockyard pronto. they open fire on us.

p.s. excuse typo's, did this in haste.

Are you being fired at as we speak?

Seriously: Respect

 

[Jam The Man]

My little girl has had a mini choke twice in the last week and it truly terrifies me. Both times only lasted a couple of seconds but it's horrendous.

I'm so glad your little one was OK and well done you

Glad yours was ok too. I wouldn't wish the fear on anybody

 

[jakarta]

Getting glassed by a couple of blokes who I thought were fellow bikers but were in actual fact complete & utter *****. They aimed at my face but I managed to turn away and just got stitches across the side of my head. Even 25 years later would still love to catch up with them for a free and frank discussion (with a baseball bat or similar).