[PenultimateManStanding]

I'm lucky to be alive, I've had so many brushes with death. A horse almost kicked my face in, I fell out of a pepper tree and smashed myself bad, I've been thrown from a speeding car and cracked ribs. A guy I knew once who told me stories of his from two volunteer tours as a Ranger in Viet Nam said the closest he ever got to death was as a mercenary in Rhodesia when he was within a hair's breadth of being trampled to death by an enraged elephant. Any scary brushes with Death?

[seldom_seen]

Me too, lucky to be alive.

[PenultimateManStanding]

When I was in high school, a friend bought a brand new VW bug and proceeded to go around a corner onto a freeway onramp with me in the passenger seat. He went around this corner too fast and rolled the bug. We banged up and down for about four rolls (wearing no seatbelts of course). Walked away with nothing but bruises.

[Jake_old]

On holiday in Anglesey (thats Wales) me and 3 friends climbed a twenty foot cliff face over rocks and crashing surf whilst high, no ropes, nothing.

One is dead now but the rest of us do shudder at the thought that we could have all been wiped out if the one at the top lost his footing.

I got stuck in quick sand with my sister too once. Very very frightening and when we got back to safety we got bollocked like you wouldn't believe. Like we needed it, the experience was bad enough to stop us wandering out on the mud flats of Fleetwood again.

[MacG]

Almost drowned. Twice. Sitting with people dying. Twice. Great gift.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MacG', 'A')lmost drowned. Twice. Sitting with people dying. Twice. Great gift.

[holmes]

boarding a vessel during 15-25 foot waves. Ensign power trip.
Port au Prince, Haiti 1991
Columbia, SA 1991

nuff said

[PenultimateManStanding]

Cool! Once I almost stepped on a coiled hissing rattlesnake while mapping rocks in the White Mountains on the California/Nevada border. I couldn't hear it because I can't hear high pitches (a result of a pre-natal viral infection which came within a week of leaving me stone deaf). Nobody for miles around. Once I was cleaning the filter of a pool and stuck my hand within an inch of a live Black Widow spider.

[Specop_007]

Started to drift a corner at 80. Bit too fast, Rolled the RX-7. No seatbelt, walked away.

Dumbass friend was doing 70 down a country road and lost control, into the ditch sideways. Didnt even roll.

Drove home at 100 on country roads after having woke up from being passed out. Dont remember the drive, dont know how I made it.

Drove home after a bit too much Pill N Swill. Got on the interstate at 35th street. My exit was 87th street. Only thing I remember was gettign on at 35th and thinking "Ok, 95th here I come". I remember seeing 87th street exit. Next thing I remember is driving off the road into the ditch. Looked around, no lights. Anywhere. The city ends at 151st street. Kept driving, no clue where I was. Gott off at the next exit which was not the first toen past 151 but the second. I missed my exit by damn near 50 miles, and dont remember 1 bit of it.

Driving home in the winter on country roads, hit some snowdrifts doing around 60. Didnt know those drifts had melted then frozen, they were hard as a rock. Jumped the car Dukes of Hazard style 3 times then rolled 4 times. No seatbelt, RX-7 was totalled, walked away.

Looked down the barrel of a 9mm Glock held by a guy who was just out of jail. Drug deal gone bad. That'll make the sphincter pucker up tight.

Dropped acid on a drive back home. Drove 4 hours on the interstate tripping balls like a madman.

Thelist goes on. I dunno who He is Upstairs, but whoever He is He seems to look out for me. I've lived a colorful life.

[ashurbanipal]

I've dodged a couple .410 rounds at fairly close range (fortunately, the guy was drunk or my ass would be toast).

Been in a couple wrecks that should have killed me. Worst one was headon with a semi, 60 mph, no seatbelt. Miraculously saved by smashing into the rear-view mirror and the windscreen actually holding; I think my legs being well under the dash probably kept me from flying completely through the windscreen. I was in a back brace at the time, and it's rigid structure probably also helped tremendously.

I've found myself clinging to the side of a cliff on more than one occasion with a sheer drop of 50 feet or better.

I've walked out of a 7-11 not 20 seconds before a couple gangstas went in and killed everyone.

I was on the receiving end of a Scottish Claymore (for real); I jerked my head back just in time to only get kissed on the nose. That hunk of sharpened steel might otherwise have gone through my head.

A mixed bag of other such events, some due to bad luck, some to sheer stupidity.

[jdumars]

More than I can count... shotgun blast, train derailment, struck by lightening twice, 3 major car wrecks, giant sea tornado in the middle of the Pacific, 2 major airplane malfunctions including a fire, ship fire, home-made explosives, climbing near-misses, encounters with scorpions rattlesnakes etc.

I often wonder how it is that I am still around!

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ashurbanipal', '
')I've walked out of a 7-11 not 20 seconds before a couple gangstas went in and killed everyone.

[Jake_old]

bollox

i'm sorry

where do you live?

[Specop_007]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jdumars', ' ')home-made explosives,

[smiley]

Nearly stabbed, drowned, exploded, burned, electroshocked, crashed. The usual tough stuff

But the worst one: Cut my arm badly on a strip of metal while moving my refrigerator. Passed out from the blood loss. It took several hours for someone to come home and find me. Woke up in the in the intensive care the next day and was hospitalised for a week.

That would have been a very embarrasing way to go.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ashurbanipal', '
')I've walked out of a 7-11 not 20 seconds before a couple gangstas went in and killed everyone.

[Eli]

I got a good one

I was at my friend's Dad factory where he worked and they did industrial painting of large metal parts.

Any who, we were shooting the pigeons that had been crapping on all the parts. But the pigeons got smart and started hiding behind the metal girders. So I climbed up a metal ladder to get a clear shot.

I had to turn the opposite way on the ladder to get a shot so I was standing with my back to the ladder. I had looped my arm through the metal ladder and was holding the gun with both hands to steady myself.

I sighted a pigeon and as pulled the bb gun up to my eye to take aim my arm hit a bare 450V wire that powered an electric crane in the factory.

I didn't as much scream as all the muscles in my chest contracted at once and forced all the air out of my lungs. When I came to I was swinging two stories up above the concrete floor still holding the bb gun rifle in my hand.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', ' ')A guy I knew once who told me stories of his from two volunteer tours as a Ranger in Viet Nam said the closest he ever got to death was as a mercenary in Rhodesia when he was within a hair's breadth of being trampled to death by an enraged elephant. ?

[eastbay]

Here's a few from the home front only:

* Answered a knock at my door to discover a desperate drug addict stuffing a S & W .38 into my chest. I immediately grabbed the end of the pistol with my left hand (still have the scar where the sight punctured the palm of my hand) and started punching him in the face with my right. I was a skinny 19 year old and fought like crazy with the guy on the front porch for what seemed like forever but was really only a few seconds. He finally broke free and ran away. No shots fired and I was otherwise uninjured.

* Fell asleep at the wheel drunk (no seatbelt) along a lonely country road and nosed my big '78 Dodge under a steel guard rail snapping the vertical support allowing the blunt end of the rail to rise up through the grille and hood smashing through my windshield missing my face by inches while harmlessly spraying glass everywhere.

* Drove off a freeway onramp (drunk) and down a 100' cliff in my '67 Bug. The car luckily landed in a soft creek on all fours and was undamaged. I was uninjured. The cops never showed up and after having it towed out an hour later I was able to drive away as if nothing happened.

* I ride a motorcycle 90 miles a day and it seems like I get a few hair-raising near-misses every year much like most regular bike riders. [B]

[PrairieMule]

New theme music for topic-

I been in the right place
But it must have been the wrong time
I'd of said the right thing
But I must have used the wrong line
I been in the right trip
But I must have used the wrong car
My head was in a bad place
And I'm wondering what it's good for -Dr.John

Most terrified I have ever been was getting lost 11 yrs ago in Ouachita National forrest. Wandered in circles went 24 hours without food. Slept outside under a log in 20 degree temp. Kept my mind occupied by going through old John Belushi SNL skits. Very scary to be that alone, tired, exposed and hungry. Took up backpacking a few years later-conquered my fear.