Aww that was probably the scariest thing he woke up to too.

[deleted]

Oh my god thats so sad :c

My father is a war veteran and I've had similar experiences. He would wake up in the middle of the night and check all the rooms to make sure everyone was still alive because he thought something had gone wrong.

It's happened more than once when I would go into his room to get a towel (towels were kept there) and he would literally startle awake to the slightest sound and jump out of bed ready to kill me. Pretty fucking scary.

Apparently this is a real thing (or at least that's what they want you to think).

One of such cases was where a man supposedly went to sleep one night, began sleepwalking, drove his car to his mother-in-law's house, killed her (and I think his father in law as well, can't remember all the details), drove back and went back to sleep. He didn't remember a thing when he woke up the next morning.

EDIT: Some of this is inaccurate, it's listed under the "Parks" case. After the murder, he drove to the police station and basically turned himself in.

i cant breathe

That's metal

My uncle had a similar nightmare. He had a dream that he got shot in the chest. He woke up felt his chest and had blood on his hands...due to a bloody nose he had gotten in his sleep

Damn, that was hard to read.

TRAINADO.

That's so tractor

I did the same thing while camping and managed to scare my whole family into not sleeping the entire night! I've never been so relieved to hear that train whistle

I live in a train town in Kansas as well. I know tornadoes are supposed to sound like a freight train, but I hear those every day anyway, so I'm convinced I'm screwed when an actual tornado appears.

We camped next to a set of 'abandoned' tracks in Alaska and got woken up by a freight train from 20' away. Do not recommend, shit was terrifying on a primal level.

ANOTHER TRAIN!!!!!

proceeded to tumble down 18 stairs. All I got was a bruise

At least you were ok after :)

You're very lucky you didn't end up getting seriously hurt because falling down so many steps could have ended very badly :/

Waking up as you start falling down the first step would be the worst.

"Ughhh... Huh? Where am- oh fuck me."

How the hell do you fall down 18 stairs and only get a damn bruise?

When I was 8-9 years old me and my family were staying in an old style 2 story holiday house for a few weeks, on the first night at around 11pm I woke up and decided I needed a drink of water from the kitchen, completely forgetting we were In a 2 story house.

Anyway after a long stint in hospital for multiple surgeries and many hours of physical therapy to repair my fractured knee, elbow and arm, 7 cracked ribs, 1 shattered collarbone, 1 dislocated shoulder, major head trauma and a broken jaw (which required 23 stitches and hours of surgery to repair on it's own.)

Anyway how the fuck do you only get a bruise? After my accident my aunt suffered PTSD from finding me in a bloody heap at the bottom of the stairs and i still have trouble walking most days.

Imagine you had morning wood

I think it's better when you're a kid and smaller and therefore maybe the initial fall is a bit lessened. I fell down stairs when I was a kid with no real damage done, but if I did it now I think I'd be fucked.

I used to have dreams about faking down the stairs. Thank God though every time I was about to hit the steps I woke up

I did almost exactly this at the same age, except I slipped on one of my sisters dolls and I had an ankle the size of a grapefruit for a few days.

i did the same, except i was staying at a friends cabin and i tried to sleepwalk down the ladder from the loft. landed on my back on the hardwood floor, only got some bruises

18 stairs? Aren't most staircases 13 stairs? That must have been a pretty long fall. Glad you were okay.

I fell down 18 stairs and all I got was this lousy bruise.

It was your kick.

I used to sleepwalk when i was younger. I also went down the stairs, but I actually had my teeth puncture through my bottom lip on the way down.

I had a dream where I fell out of a plane that was like 50 feet off the ground, and had no injuries save for like a bruise

All I got was a bruise

You got lucky. It was probably because you were relaxed and didn't resist. It's the same reason drunk people don't get hurt doing stupid shit.

Probably didn't get as hurt because you just fell limp down the stairs because you weren't expecting it

After the initial shock, I would have laughed so fucking hard at myself.

Fell down 5 steep stairs last year, onto my head. Almost broke my neck. Had a giant bulge of fat on my forehead. When it passed, part of the fat stayed in my forhead so now when I raise my left eyebrow, my wrinkles don't go as deep there.

I feel asleep while walking down the stairs once and fell... How?

that sounds pretty tractor to me

Does every story you tell end in 'All I got was a bruise'

Not sure if I was sleepwalking. Used to go to sleep in one room and wake up in another. Thought I had been carried nut didn't know by whom.

Someone I vaguely know is in hospital at the minute because they sleepwalked out of a bathroom window at their hotel. I think she was 8 floors up, and the spot she landed was very narrow, to the left was jagged cobbles and to the right was a motorbike, a few feet in either direction she probably wouldn't have survived. It was the sleep bit that saved her life actually, she was unaware and relaxed the whole way down so it probably cushioned her a bit. She does have a broken, back, wrist & ribs, a punctured lung and various other injuries but she'll probably be back walking within a year. She has no history of sleepwalking either, and wasn't on any drugs, she just climbed out the window.

A girl in my class back in 7th grade did something similar, but far more serious. She was sleepwalking and walked straight out a third story window and ended up with a broken back for it. She got better eventually (if the movie had been out at that point, we probably would have called her batman) but she was in the hospital for months.

I apologise for this but I am in tears laughing at the image of you falling down the stairs having woken up a second before.

Count yourself lucky, I fell down 23 flights of stairs and fucked my back up. It's been 10+ years now and I still get the occasional debilitating back spasm.

I wonder if you only bruised because you didn't stiffen your muscles before the fall, like how drunk drivers generally survive crashes.

hashtagbattlescars

That last sentence makes it sound like you're disappointed

The classic 19 stair setup

I have done this also. I even crashed through the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs haha.

wow this just triggered a repressed memory of when I was no more than 6 or 7, on vacation in a guest cottage unfamiliar to me. Forgot which door led to my room, accidentally opened the door leading to a set of stairs to the cellar, and tumbled down in pitch black

I woke up to him just getting up and going back to his room.

Hahaha, that sounds fucking hilarious. No explanation or anything, just a silent escape full of regret.

Jesus Christ. That made me laugh!

He had to come out of the closet eventually

Dear lord, that sound like something that won't end very well. I've had someone to try to do something similar to me, ended up with me scaring the shit of them by attacking with the intent to kill.

Reminds me of watching a Baywatch episode where Stephanie gets taken by a shark.

My sister hid under the bed, and as I went to bed having brushed my teeth, she grabbed my ankles real hard. Still gives me fright to think about it:)

That entire scenario sounds like it came from a sitcom and your brother was involved in the episode until the end.

Good thing you didn't "Burn After Reading" him.

Whoa. Were you hurt at all? Or did you sleep through it?

At least it wasn't due to an airplane engine falling through. That starts all kinds of crazy shit!

That happened to me but it just barely didn't hit me and I slept through it

Donnie Darko style.

Similar experience earlier this year. My wife and I have lived in an old house for about a year now. We jolted awake at about midnight to a super loud crash and broken glass. My wife starts freaking, thinking someone was breaking in. We're in a small town where I grew up so I thought this unlikely. The previous owners had hung this really long shelf (kind of like a mantle? About 5 feet long and very solid) over the stairway leading up to the bedrooms. It looked like they did kind of a crap job hanging it and it somehow just fell off the wall dropping about ten feet onto the stairs below. We had pictures on it and they broke hence the glass sound. I would have been more creeped out if they were pictures of us on the shelf (like the house wanted us to leave)...but they were just pictures of our dogs, so I feel like the ghosts are cool with us. Also...I would much rather be woken up and scared by this than killed by it while walking up the stairs...so win-win.

I once slept through my ceiling falling in on me...

Woah dude, did you die?

This exact thing happened to me when I was 6. It had been raining all month and the ceiling and insulation above it was saturated. A quarter section fell on my lower body ans chest. Broke 4 ribs, even now at nearly 30 they are crooked and poke out in a odd and visible way.

Yeah, but did you survive?

I've always had this fear

This happened to me at a hotel, sort of. It actually collapsed over the bed next to me and I was so exhausted I went back to sleep. I got a free room out if it and then another free night to be used later. Worked out.

Last year there was some really heavy rain in my area which is very unusual. I slept in the back room which was known to have a couple of small leaks. I woke up to water splashing my face. Most of the roof had fallen off around me and the bed was soaked.

I had this happen to me too. However.....I slept through mine, woke up and just said what the fuck did I do last night

That's.. Not so tractor.

A tree fell through my ceiling and almost crushed me, get on my level.

Did you live?

I knew a guy who had a tree-branch snap off a tree and land on the side of the pillow he wasn't using while he slept in a tent under the tree. The entirety of the brand probably weighed close to 100kg and that branch would definitely have caused serious damage if it had hit him, especially with the height it had fallen from.

That happened to me once when I was a kid, though it didn't collapse on me, just in my room.

However when it happened I thought, "I have the weirdest dreams," and went back to sleep. My parents freaked out in the morning and got it fixed.

But I was so young when it happened, that years later I remembered thinking it was a dream over the reality and my parents had to convince me that it actually happened.

Same story, except the ceiling collapsed just off the foot of my bed, not directly on me, and we still haven't hired anyone to fix the fucking roof...eight years later. Dammit, mom and dad, get your shit together.

Had a bit of ceiling start to crumble and land on my face. Turns out a squirrel was chewing through.

It could have been a jet engine

This recently happened to my 12-year-old nephew. He about shit himself but, was unscathed.

This was always a fear of mine in the house I rented at uni this year. the roof directly above my bed was bellowing but thankfully it never decided to kill me.

At least it wasn't followed by a plane turbine.

I had a similar experience, only it didn't fall on me but near me. I was woken up by a dripping sound and then some noises as bits of ceiling hit the floor.

Is that when you started seeing the guy named Frank in a demonic rabbit suit?

Donnie Darko.

Donnie Darko?

Happened to me - twice. Once as a kid, once in a college apartment. Both times in the middle of winter. Ice melt during the day refrozen around gutters leaks in and can soak through into a plaster ceiling. The weight then causes the ceiling to collapse and if your bed happens to be underneath, you get bombarded by heavy, wet, ice cold plaster.

0/10 Would not recommend.

Had something similar happen to me, though it was in the opposite corner. It was a really bad storm and I had put pans down to collect the dripping water. I'm having a shitty time trying to get to sleep, but finally manage to doze off. Suddenly, just this huge crash noise. I turn on the light and the corner of the ceiling is just gone:

http://i.imgur.com/sl0u6l8.jpg

Holy shit the same thing happened to me. Only I live in an apartment building, and the idiots living upstairs weren't paying attention to the overflowing toilet in their bathroom.

Nearly the exact same thing happened to me! Except instead of being terrified I was groggy and very annoyed. I felt like someone punched me in my sleep and woke ready to attack. Then I went to the ER because 20lbs of plaster/drywall to the face causes concussions.

All around me are familiar faces

Worn out places, worn out faces

"Just play dead!"

"Play dead? Who's idea was that? MAYBE THE BEARS?!?"

In Lake Tahoe i woke up to the same thing. I was in a tent with my gf and her cousin. i will never forget that distinctive heavy exhale they make through their nose. When i heard that, reality set in and that whole surreal feeling you get in threatening situations as such set in. My gf and her cousin got a kick out of me being so deathly afraid of the incident the next morning and realized i was terrified of wild animals so they put cookies and food all around our tent the following night to attract the bears again. they stayed awake waiting for the bears to come and when they did the two of them woke me up and told me to look out our little tent window. all i could see was fur covering up the whole window of the tent and only right then did they tell me about the food they put around the tent. I was so afraid, just laying there shaking uncontrollably staring into an abyss while they are busting up laughing silently. I have never wanted to die so much in my life as i did then. Who the fuck does that.

Bears for me too.

Went camping with a bunch of friends. One of the girls thought we were crazy when we were bear-bagging all our food. We tried to explain how bears have a ridiculously good sense of smell, and how determined they can be to get at food. I think she must have thought we were screwing with her or something when we told her that bears can smell food from literally miles away because she went ahead and hid food in her tent anyway.

I don't think she'll ever make that mistake again. I'd be shocked if she ever went camping again. That was serious brown trousers time for all of us.

[deleted]

That happened to me once when I was camping. I just thought to myself "you should go outside to prove to yourself how crazy you're being." There were 2 bear cubs and a mama bear standing behind the tent

as much as i love camping, every rustling leaf, every snapped twig, and every thump i hear at night is obviously either a big fuckin bear or a mountain lion outside my tent with a craving for sleeping bag burritos.

This is one of my greatest fears. Thats why I take my Mossberg 500 camping with me.

Bears are people

I went to a summer camp in Ohio when I was about 11. I never did anything like it before, 6 days without my parents, my brother, or my house. I went with my best friend and we were miserable. I stayed up half of the night shitting myself over every sound I hear. So on the last night, I got food poisoning and as soon as I hit my sleeping bag I blacked out. All I remember was my friend panicking, whispering,"Dude, there's fucking bears!" Being half awake, I said something on the lines of who gives a shit. So yeah, I slept through black bears raiding our camp.

I was camping. And a dear was constantly brushing up against my tent. Scared the shit out of me. And all might they were scraping their antlers iron trees. Fuck dear.

I remember hearing this.

"Alex! Wanna see a bear?!"

"Because there's a bear 6 feet from your bivvy!"

Story time!

In Alaska when I used to live there we had a semi-famous story about a gentleman. This fellow happened to be on a tour with a few bunches of other intrepid semi-tourists including my mother. That night he had slept with his boots on, and left them sticking outside of his tent. This was in Kodiak Island which is otherwise known for having a shitfuckton of bears.

Well it just so happens that leather boots smell pretty damn good to bears, and he woke up to one gnawing on one of his. He shook the boot off and never saw it again as the bear left to enjoy some jerky.

Bears are pretty chill sometimes.

Camping in Northern Minnesota, I wake up around 6 in the morning to some rustling around the campsite. I poked my head out to see who was up, thought maybe they were filtering water from the river we were next to because I heard splashing. I immediately lock eyes with a fully grown male Moose who had been drinking from said river. My asshole clenched hard enough to turn charcoal into a diamond, my balls receded into my stomach, and as quietly as I could muster, I slunk back into my tent and stared at the ceiling of it for about 2 hours, until I was sure I was safe.

I prefer my humans covered in sour kraut. Im not so much a honey guy.

Me too!

That's so tractor

Look on the bright side, at least it wasn't a sea bear!

Niiga a bear in my tent - I don't know how to search my comments but I posted it before

Draw a circle, not an oval, a perfect circle. That will keep 'em out.

Horatio, is that you?!

Same here, with a twist.

There was something large outside our tent. A bear or a moose. It was getting closer and we were miles from anybody on a remote lake in north Ontario.

And then... there was a sound like a canon. It reverberated off the hills for what seemed like minutes. It scared away whatever was lurking and scared the shit out of us.

The next morning we saw where we had built our fire on a dome of granite next to the lake that the rock had blown off in a circle about three feet in diameter. The shattered disk was about half an inch thick in the middle and razor sharp at the edges.

I woke once when I was camping near Ashley National Forest in Utah to a pack of wolves roaming through my camp site. I didn't even have a proper tent, just a tarp I had fashioned into a shelter.

Glad to see you had better luck than Timothy Treadwell! What kind of bear was it?

Not quite as scary but related is when all the dogs in the tent start barking and growling like crazy and I'm lying there like, "What do you know that I don't!?" O_O

My first time LARPing, we had to go through a quick opening presentation about rules and such. The one thing was the bear rule. Essentially if you're asked if you're a bear (while sneaking or something) then you have to identify yourself. They then proceeded to tell stories about how there were bears in the camp and this that and the other. Afterwards I asked "wait, are these the kind of bears where you play dead or make yourself big and scare them away?" No one knew the answer. I came to the conclusion that I'd rather die toe to toe with a bear then lay down and be a snack.

A friend and I did a quick overnight a few weeks ago. We took seperate tents and a some point I was awoken by growling. We had seen some pretty large black bear printd about 200 yards from the lean to site we were staying at. It took me about a full two or three seconds even before I realized it was one long fart from my buddy. As the adrenaline stopped pumping and the fear left I realized how impressively loud and long that fart must have been.

I bet an airhorn would make them run, propelled by their own shit.

bull moose are also scary, mostly because you can't be sure without checking that it's not a bear

I read this as "a beer outside my tent" and thought that doesn't sound scary, that sounds wonderful!

Tractor. As. Fuck.

But did you die?

First thing my stupid brain thought was a "beer" outside your tent. I was like hmm that's not too bad.

Worse: a cub outside your tent. No sign of the mother.

I had basically the same thing happen to me, except with a wild horse.

Our first time camping in Yosemite NP I just HAD to sleep outside on a cot under the stars. Yeah bad idea, I feel a lite breathing on my face like a dog sniffing me, then move as im waking up. Then I feel this gutteral growl that reverberated through my entire body!! Yup 2 cubs and a 400lb mother bear surrounding my cot. Enter instant fliggt mode, as im ripping open my sleeping bag to run I see lights off near the road, I get into the tent and I hear yelling and a pop. Thank goodness for rangers!

Yeah man, we went camping in the Shining Rock wilderness a couple months ago and had this happen. Sleeping in my hammock when, around 3:30, rednecks camping down the path started screaming "Git bear, git!" Open my eyes and see this silhouette charging down the path and veer right past me towards our food bag. Plucked the string like a banjo, bag fell. We all watched as this bear and his friend (who came running from the other direction) tore into our food and trusty bag-o-wine. This was a no fire wilderness but we decided "Yeah, fuck it", made a big blaze and didn't sleep the rest of the night. Flashlights caught their eye shine a few times, just watching us watching them. Luckily they left around 5:30 and the cool couple camping next to our 4 man group lent us some Lance crackers breakfast to last us the trek back to the car. Fun times.

Full story: I was about 9 or 10 and family was camping somewhere close to a river (I want to say somewhere between Seven Devils and Yellowstone maybe). We had driven in on a forest service road and just set up shop in the middle of nowhere. We fished for food that afternoon and enjoyed smores next to the fire. Being good campers, we packed up our garbage and double bagged it before putting it in our truck (not the bed, the cabin).

We went to bed in our separate tents. My parents were in their smaller tent and the kids (10, 8, 3) got a larger tent. The tents were on the opposite side of the site from the truck, with the furepit in the middle. We all fell asleep eventually.

About 3 in the morning, we wake up to a odd snuffling sound right next to our heads, just on the other side of the canvas. I tell my siblings to shut up, and when the bear moved toward the fire pit area, I can hear my dad whispering from the other tent. He tells us to stay quiet and to leave the tent shut until he can scare the bear off.

We are nearly shitting ourselves at this point, since we had no idea it was a bear. I remember thinking we were going to die.

Suddenly, my dad quick unzips the tent, runs right past the bear (who is digging through the coals looking for fish bits) and vaults into the truck, slamming the door behind him. He turns on the radio, rolls down the windows a tad and lays on the horn.

At that point, the bear decides tasty fish bits are not worth the noise and ambles off into the woods.

Like a boss, we all tried to go back to sleep, with rearranged tent members.

And that is my bear story. I'm sure it is my dad's bear story too.

I awoke to a bear actually tearing into my tent. I staggered back and tried grabbing my shotgun I was keeping next to me but couldn't find it in the dark. My then girlfriend suddenly started yelling "what the hell are you doing?!" and I woke up. Turns out I was having a night terror, and was repeatedly slapping her in the face trying to find my gun.

I love camping, but I always have night terrors when I go. :(

Had this happen to me once when I got up to pee... I was mad, I really needed to pee.

I made the hilarious mistake of going camping with someone that was afraid of bears. She ended up sleeping next to the door of our tent, and insisted on sleeping with the bear spray because she would be the first to be attacked.

Obviously a thousand pound kodiak would obviously rip through the door instead of any other side.

Edit: diction.

Oh my god! Theres a bear in my soup!

For me it was a bear clawing at my son's window. He had left some snacks on his desk and hadn't closed his window all the way before going to bed.

I was camping in Yellowstone. Woke up to LOUD gunshots. Run outside and a park ranger is standing there, "there was a bear outside your tent - we were firing warning shots."

You just reminded me that this happened to me! Wow. I didn't keep food in the tent because I was scared this would happen and it did.

My fifth -grade teacher told us a story about how he once went on safari and woke up with giant claw marks ripped into the side of his tent. Turns out it was from lions.

Did you survive?

Jump on it's back and snap it's neck! call it a douchebag!

For some reason I read this as a beer outside my tent

This is why I never go camping without my Mosin.

"I'm Right Here Bear. I'm Mike and your a Bear, and we're ok..."

They can smell the menstruation.

Just last weekend I was out at my friend's cabin and had to take a shit. The plumbing isn't hooked up at the moment, so the shitter is basically a hole in the ground with some rocks around it back in the woods. Earlier, we had heard some twigs cracking in that direction, but didn't really think much of it. I was walking around in the woods, toilet paper in hand, trying to find the hole in the ground when I heard a very loud snort maybe 20 feet away from me. I didn't see it, but the sound was unmistakeably bear-like. I decided I could hold it until morning.

I am bicycling across the country, and although this sounds silly, I woke up on night last week to what sounded like a demonic poodle barking and circling my tent. I sat frozen for 15 minutes just waiting for it to leave.

I have no idea what it was, but dear god, I hope I never deal with that again.

can you please expand on that experience? Sounds terrifying.

I've had this happen too. Also elk and deer stepping on the rain fly of our tent all night. It would startle us awake every time they did it thinking it was a bear or cougar. I guess that's what happens when you backpack in 5 miles from the nearest road.

Been there. Hid in the mummy sack and pretended it wasn't there...

Thats funny, mine is a branch lightly brushing against the side of my tent

A bear in my fucking kitchen.

Ahhhh somewhat similar story here. Was out backpacking in the middle of nowhere with me friend and had gone to bed for the night. He had one of those tent hammocks and me my own little single person tent. Sleeping peacefully when I was jolted out of bed by gunfire, quite scary. Apparently a bear had been shuffling/knocking around buddies hammock and so he shot off a few warning shots. Scary way to wake up

I can imagine Bear Grylls, naked, and covered in dirt asking if you have any spare pee...

Been there done that. Scary shit right there.

I remember one summer a bunch of friends and I were up at a cabin and we decided it would be fun to get our sleeping bags and sleep on the dock. Woke up at about 4am to a couple bears wandering around on the beach. That was the last time we did that.

In scouts I thought a bear was walking around our camp site at night. I called 911 in my 12 year old panic since I didn't want to get out and look, nor did I want to yell and wake everyone up.

Found out 6 years later it was one of the assistant scout masters rolling on his sleeping mat....

Yep, this happened to me in Yosemite back in I think 1991. I was on what my church called Supertrip with a bunch of teens and about 4 adult church leaders. The very first night there, I woke up in the middle of the night to "gnhuuuuungh!" Me and the two gals in the tent huddled together in fear, our hands pressed firmly against our mouths so no sound would escape our lips. Eventually, the bear went away (but not before demolishing a huge can of Gatorade mix). We told our youth leader about it, and he laughed. That night, as we were getting ready for bed, the youth minister opened a huge can of tuna and run the juice all over the campsite right where several kids had decided to sleep outside (not in a tent). The bear came back one more time (thankfully I slept through it) but then never again.

I don't know which is worse, the bear or my itchy nose.

A variant of this: was camping with my bro. Middle of the night, bro suddenly yelps, "What was that?"

Next morning, we find he was sleep-talking.

Had a bear briefly outside my tent let out a sort of roar when I was maybe 9-10 camping with a friend. I had agreed with my parents to setting the tent up by our house, but it needs to be said that the house is surrounded by expansive woods on 3 sides and a field where we set up. A coyote or fox also circled the tent most of the night and starred into our souls, its shadow never leaving the side of the tent. My friend and I were both terrified and excited. Maybe the bear encountered the coyote or fox, or maybe it was the deer we think we heard. We whispered back and forth for hours in disbelief. In the morning we heard what I can only attempt to describe as a squirrel scream. We couldn't just leave the safety of the thin tent without ensuring our night friends had left, so we decided to do the only logical thing we could think of in our young minds and barked like dogs for a short period before racing to the house. The worst part is that my friend was somewhat known for making up stories, so no one believed us. I ruled out the noises being from most sources because I could see the outline of the animal through the tent. tl:dr coyote/fox circles tent all night, scaring friend and younger me. also bear "roar?" no one believes us

I misread that as "a beer outside my tent"

Oh shit, I just remembered my hunter's ed. teacher telling us a story about his wife. When she was young, her and her friends went tenting with one of their parents, but the parents stayed in a trailer. One day, she woke up and the tent was torn and her friends were gone. It was concluded she was a VERY deep sleeper and a bear ripped up the tent and took them. Apparently they were never found. Whether it was true or not, it still made me terrified to camp in tents.

Should have fucked it in the ass to establish dominance.

black or brown?

Haha wow. That's kinda crazy. Maybe he was a regular at the club before it was made into flats.

Almost exactly the same thing happened to me. At 16 years old I wake up to a horribly loud rhythmic banging noise coming from downstairs. I stumble out to the landing to see my (blind) father leaning on the front door and yelling at the person to go away and that he'd called the police. My mum then hustled me into my room.

The banging continues for about 15 minutes (which, believe me is long enough for you to decide that only murderous rage could be fueling it) before the police arrive and find that the guy outside was completely smashed and thought his girlfriend had locked him out (can't think why she'd do that, he seemed like such a catch).

The door just about held but all the hinges were almost busted off and the lock had begun to work it's way out so it all had to be fixed the next day.

Wow I had some close calls with robbers but none ever made it inside my house

i roll up to the club like what up i need to find a cot

I've woke up to a guy with a balaclava poking his head through my window, and scanning the room with his flash light. He didn't know I was there and promptly ran off when I whispered 'Hello?' through the darkness.

Less than a week later, a guy breaks into my apartment whilst I'm sat in my bedroom. I shit you not, I locked my bedroom door less than 2 seconds before he started trying to kick it down. Despite having a multitude of weapons at hand, I was still petrified of what lied on the other side (after the first incident I stocked up! This is in the UK, so no guns).

So yeah, in the space of a week or so I had both entrances to my bedroom breached. As a result, I pretty much sacked the rest of my uni year off due to fear or being robbed, and spent 24 hours a day in guard mode. I vowed never to live in a ground floor flat after these happenings.

I live in what was a night club, too! There was an askreddit post about what's something you have that no one else has, so my answer was a working laser light and fog system in my living room. But I'm thankful I've not experienced a break-in situation like that.

This happened to me at college. Some guys showed up outside the door at 1 AM and starting hitting it so hard the whole room rattled. I actually asked them who was there. Apparently they were looking for someone's room and somehow became convinced it was mine. I told them they had the wrong room, even opened the door a crack to show them my face, and closed it, and they just kept kicking it. I called public safety and they escorted them away. They were pretty wasted. I'm 90 lbs and it scared the shit out of me at the time.

TIL that people lock their bedroom doors...

Hacienda?

Halloween weekend in Athens, Ohio, so I can't say it was completely unexpected.

My husband and I woke up to see some drunk college-aged girl wandering past the bedroom. "Uh. Excuse me," I said (too sleepy to be worried). "What are you doing?"

"I'm staying here."
"Nope. Wrong house."
"I can't remember..." she muttered, and walked out.

I have no idea how she got in, or whether she found where she was staying.

This pretty much happened to me too. was wasted at home late on a weekend. heard some rustling in my corridor staggered to check what it was. found a wasted stranger falling around my flat. kicked him out went back to being wasted in living room. Forgot to lock the door so again staggering went and locked the door. Then back to the living room, hear rustling again an hour later. found out the guy walked back into my place had a nap and then woke up freaking because he realised he wasn't at home and was locked in some strangers house.

While staying with a friends family one stormy night (literally), we woke up at about midnight to a siren and an automated voice saying "BURGLAR! BURGLAR". It turned off shortly after, but I was freaking out. They told me nothing about even having a security system.

When I talked to them the next morning they laughed it off and told me it was just another guy staying with them who forgot the pass code. I thought I was going to die.

Happened to me, two kids in a town with many unemployed. After that night, every sound at night put me on edge.

They ran after I asked them to leave.

Sorry to hear about your fright.

I must admit I have probably been the cause of such experience(s). Once when (really) drunk, I lost my cap, and rang on every doorbell from that point on (going homewards) to inquire where my cap was. More than one person asked for ID (which I promptly presented, imagining myself to be on a legitimate mission). Luckily, no charges:)

Where I live there are a lot of young marines (I live close to the base where east coast marines are sent after boot camp), so there's stuff like that happening quite a bit. Once, on Christmas morning, my roommate went to his car, but stopped short because there was someone in the driver's seat and the doors and trunk were open. Turns out the guy was partying with friends in the complex, said he was going to walk home, and got into what he thought was his car to sleep it off. The poor guy was so apologetic. More so when he came back to ask if he could get his phone out of the car.

People often vomit from the Heimlich, and their ribs are often broken during CPR. You saved him. Good job.

I'm never swallowing a pill again.

Side note, is it EE that he has? If you haven't considered it, you may want to talk to a gastroenterologist about having a dilation procedure done. I have EE, and my gastro kept giving me steroids that didn't help. Finally she offered the procedure, and I'm so glad I had it. Choking and feeling it sit in your throat is the worst feeling ever, and that gurgling/gasping noise is horrific. It's been about seven months now, and things are much better. It was a little sore for a day, but really no different from a regular upper endoscopy.

If you've already been told this, please just ignore me. I just remember how painful it all is and don't want anyone else to deal with it if they don't have to. No one ever really mentioned it to me, but apparently it's a common procedure because the swelling will just get worse as time goes on.

Glad to hear he's okay now!

You have an uncanny ability to transmit panic through your descriptions. Nice. That sounds scary.

Anddddd this is why I have a pill swallowing phobia.

Up vote for ptooey.

My biggest nightmare. :(

Great job. I had to give my mom the hiemlich When I was like, 15. It's such an awful experience

Yeah, I don't think it's supposed to be neat. My ex told me how he once got a guitar pick lodged in his throat (trying to look cool doing some weird trick for a bunch of girls), and someone gave him the heimlich maneuver. He coughed it up and instantly vomited everywhere.

I had issues with my stomach in early middle school and had a sore throat for a full year after the issues stopped. Not a fun thing to deal with, stomach acid sucks.

WTF he did the same thing twice?! Or was the first time something else.

Judging by the drama, my GF had the same experience last night when I came to bed and asserted calmly "the dog is puking". He was just puking though, but she acted as if he was dying. Of course, he was puking in my spot of the bed so it better be taken care of, so I tried to lift him off the bed. But I'm a pretty relaxed guy. You often find my male ancestors on the early scale of the graveyard...

(She's a nurse with lots of expertise and years of experience, and the heart is where the heart is. We both love that dog, I "rescued it" on a different occasion. In any case, don't feel bad about breaking anything. Saving lives break bones. My mother (GP ++) often tells about the ones she couldn't save, those of whom the bodies are still "intact".)

Oh god I would be crying

And this is why I don't take pills.

Firemen???

We have to ask the important questions: which half of the nightie?

Holy shit!! I have the same problem as your husband. Been to the hospital on multiple locations and had many procedures to try and fix it. I know exactly that feeling that he was having of helplessness. He is lucky to have you around to help in those situations.

Typical women, always with the hysteria. With my medical license I would recommend a vibrator. It's simply the only cure

Nope. You don't "choke" in your esophagus. That won't obstruct breathing. You choke in your laryngopharynx.

Love, Pedantic

[deleted]

Was he ok?

I had no idea my dad had even had a heart attack until several hours after it happened.

I had moved about 600 miles away from home for a job and so I talked to my mom and dad quite frequently on the phone. I called my mom's phone one night and my brother answered. I said:

"hey, where's mom?"

"oh. right. we were about to call you. we're at the hospital. dad had a heart attack."

needless to say I was a little freaked out.

Sad to say my scariest is pretty much the same - was in a camper with my parents and brother and my mom woke us up because she couldn't wake up my dad. We called 911 and went to the hospital but it was too late. :(

Same thing for me except mine didn't make it :/

Exact same thing happened to me, but it wasn't actually a heart attack. My dad says he went to the bathroom, and his head swooned and he collapsed. My mom screamed for me to get up and call 911, and I'm out of the bed in a second. I kicked my nightstand over jumping out of the bed.

Waking up to the wailing of a banshee. Been there, done that.

I hope he was ok.

Been through that too, the sense of helplessness is worse than anything I can imagine.

some how my eyes fucked with that comment and your edit so I saw this:

The panicked shrieks of my mother. My father was having a heart attack. :)

What a tractory!

Why does this get gold but doolie_noted didn't, I don't understand why the mods can't give both gold.

That's so tractor. Sorry you had to go through that, and glad he's feeling better.

That's tractor :( was he alright afterwards?

So the dog and cat died? :(

Mental note to buy more fire extinguishers.... I'm so sorry this happened to you. Have you sought therapy for your daughter? I imagine she has some PTSD after this. :(

I had just moved out to St louis after that had happened. Every time I here the sirens go off I start thinking "okay let's grab the cats and important shit together just in case". I'm from Maryland and we have had a few here and there over the years.

How were your other pets?

Oh my god I'm so sorry. I woke up to my mom telling me our house was on fire when I was in 6th grade, standing in the street and watching your home burn in inexplicable. I'll never forget the way it felt, smelled and sounded. I hope your luck has improved.

After the tornado in Joplin, Missouri in 2011,

That's surreal. When I was a kid, I lived in Joplin as well. Well, Webb City, close enough. Anyway, we had a tornado rip through our town, came in on a straight path right for our house, and I shit you not, it jumped over 3 streets right before it got to our house and touched back down behind us. We just had a broken window and a hole in our roof from fallen debris.

Anyway, I'm glad you're safe. Tornadoes are fucking scary.

Did you find the puppy?

I fail to see how using a candle during a time of crisis is negligent.

That is horrible, I'm from Carroll county (MO ftw) and I remember seeing it on the news. So much damage.

Sorry dude...

I'm so sorry :( that's just an awful set of tragedies to go through.

How did the fire start? Especially with no electricity.

Ever find out how it started?

Did you ever get to know what caused the fire? Did you find the cat and dog?

How is your daughter doing?

So many things to feel about this. So sorry your daughter had to go through that horrible tornado, but so happy she made it through. And then again, so sorry about your house. I grew up, and lived in until a year ago, an hour away from Joplin and it was just unfathomable what happened there. I followed the coverage, and my brother was part of a hospital team a half hour away that took patients from St. John's. So sad! Anyway, all that to say I'm happy your family is safe.

I can't imagine going through overwhelming disasters like that. One of my best friends grew up in Joplin, and the storm was already rolling in as he walked out of his high school graduation. After the worst of it, his dad (retired soldier) put on his uniform and took my friend and his brother out in their truck to try to help people get to safety. They looked after their family, and then started taking people to triage tents. Said he saw a lot more bodies than he would have liked, but he did what he could. Then a month later he shipped off to Basic. Probably the kindest, most devoted person I know.

If I ever develop the power to travel through time and space, I'm going to travel back and blow that candle out.

This post will then be about the time someone broke into your house, rather then the time it burnt down, meaning I won't read it and travel back in time to save your house, causing a paradox that could potentially destroy the universe.

Keep the fire extinguisher in the kitchen and garage. Keep them up to date. Basic fire safety cost you dearly. I am sorry. Good luck in the future.

Legitimate question. Why do so many people live in a place that gets destroyed by tornadoes on a regular basis?

I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I moved from Joplin two weeks before the tornado and would have been dead had we'd stayed (20th street) . I thank my lucky stars every day, but I had family who wasn't so lucky. hugs

I'm sorry that happened to you guys. Did you ever find the puppy?

Did you find the cat and puppy?

Did you ever find the cat or the puppy? ):

I had a dream a snake was wrapping around my head but woke up to see my cat was patting at my head because a stink bug was in my hair.