Have you had any Close Calls with Death ?

[Xraywolf]

I wonder if he will post his close call with death! Good work. Need more attitude adjustments like that today. ╦╦C

OMG wouldn't that be hilarious, a reunion ! "Yeah I was robbing this guy one time and ,,,,"

I have been in quite a few hairy situations and found I am good at disarming aggressive people, or lets say lowering their guard, they think everythings ok and going their way then BAM, lower the boom with a vengeance !
In this case, asking if he wanted my rings, showed to him that I was cooperative and submissive, the guy had dead eyes but I saw a little sparkle when I said that, and before he could say "hell yeah mofo, take em off" BOOM, things not going his way quick. When you ask someone a question, they briefly think about it and expect to give an answer, I calculated that was the time to strike, he was distracted and over confident. Never hurts to let someone think they are in control to buy a little time and set up an ambush - Key to that, and I suspect you would know a bit about this from your avatar pic, is no hesitation, 2nd thoughts or remorse once you make your move, literally have to go for the kill as if your life depended on it.

I do try to avoid rough neighborhoods but still can't help myself, I was nostalgically checking out the place I grew up at when this happened [and have been back there since], and I often work in rough areas.

 

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[ARC]

I cannot type OR remember them all.

Could write a book.

 

[CASPER-2]

I could write a book - I thought God just hated me

 

[Gare]

Why not share some of the real bad ones with us. I think we ALL would like to read about them !!

 

[Tpmetal]

yeah a couple...they all failed though as I am still typing this! Nothing serious like going to war or something like that. But I have been electrocuted, almost fell in a well detecting at night(the one shown on my profile pic), got a mutated strain of the west nile virus while camping in canada, got shot at by a farmer (pretty sure he intentionally was aiming over my head, most farmers don't miss), and a little less than a year ago I had thunderclap headaches which something like 30 percent of people who get them just drop dead from an brain aneurysm. I am positive I am forgetting a few, but you get the idea.

 

[Tpmetal]

oh yeah one that was really close is I almost drowned fly fishing on the bitter root river in montana. Fast moving water, a float boat going by snagged me on their back cast. surprised me enough to loose my footing and go under water. waders filled up, I barely had enough air to kick and crawl my way along the bottom to shore. Then I had to hastily strip down and build a fire.....dang that spring snow melt is cold in a steep shady valley

 

[Gare]

oh yeah one that was really close is I almost drowned fly fishing on the bitter root river in montana. Fast moving water, a float boat going by snagged me on their back cast. surprised me enough to loose my footing and go under water. waders filled up, I barely had enough air to kick and crawl my way along the bottom to shore. Then I had to hastily strip down and build a fire.....dang that spring snow melt is cold in a steep shady valley

WOW thanks for sharing.I am glad your STILL WITH US !!!

 

[mike b]

Almost 20 years ago a skyscraper landed 3 car lengths away from me, blew me up, choked me hurt me very bad and sprayed me with other people.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

And we're all still here!!! Though there are many living only in our memories now.....

Another "thrill" I had - was visiting a friend and his girlfriend and their about 3 year old daughter. They were busy doing something, and I was in their living room nodding off in a chair. The little girl said "I gotta real gun". Opened my eyes and yes she did Pointed right at me! I talked very sweetly to that little girl. Then the girlfriend came in and took the gun away from her.

Gotta keep guns out of the hands of children!

 

[Trezurehunter]

Yes, I forgot to bring home the milk one time ! OK, in all seriousness I almost drowned while swimming in the ocean on a vacation to Mexico, about 15 years ago. I am an excellent swimmer, but probably went out a little farther than I should have. Undertow started to pull me, and I panicked. Once I started to remain calm, the waves pushed my back in to shore. I looked like one of those cartoon characters on tv, clawing at the sand to get all the way onto the beach ! I wont go into the ocean any further than waist deep these days.

Second situation: My friend and myself were about 15 years old, and did a lot of Pheasant hunting at the time. He had just purchased a brand new shotgun from Sears. We walked to our field, & stood there to load our guns. After he loaded his (single shot shotgun) he closed the breach and the gun went off. I was standing right next to him and I swear it took my ear off. Luckily he had it pointed in the air. He did it again, and the same thing happened (this time pointing the gun in a complete different direction). Turns out, the gun had a faulty firing pin and every time the breach was closed, the pin came out striking the bullet even though your finger was no where near the trigger. If I had been standing a mere 1 foot closer to him the first time he loaded the gun, it would have taken my head off of my shoulders. And yes, I still hunt and am still a gun proponent today.

 

[Tpmetal]

Almost 20 years ago a skyscraper landed 3 car lengths away from me, blew me up, choked me hurt me very bad and sprayed me with other people.

Must have been hell

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

About 2 years ago I was attacked through my car window at a stoplight by a hitchhiker when I refused to give him a ride, I could tell he was high and it wasn't pot and I wasn't giving him a ride, he got mad when I refused, the attacked ended when I stuck my .45 in his face, oops it was he that almost died. Police told me if I had shot him they would not have arrested me as I was being attacked in my car, had witnesses and Florida has both "stand your ground" and "castle law" and the use of deadly force includes being attack in your vehicle.

Three times in my life people have tried to hold me up, once in DC at night at the monuments, once in Illinois out side of Chicago at a rest stop after midnight and once outside of St Louis again late at night in a rest stop. All 3 times I had my boxers with me, Mohammad was 110 lbs of muscle and very protective, Ali was female, 65 pounds and I would rather fight Mohammad butt naked then have to fight Ali with pads, due to the darkness none of them saw my dogs till it was too late, they were well trained and obeyed my voice commands, each time was in cool or cold weather and they acted like they had a firearm in their jacket pocket but didn't display it, they just said "give me your wallet, but when they did see my boxers they decided it wasn't worth it and took off, after each incident I bought them a steak as a reward.

I worked on the road back then for phone company, traveled a lot and slept in my van a lot at camp sites or stayed in old hotels that allowed pets, had 2 of the airport kennels in the van that was their beds when on the road. Both times in Illinois I had a firearm with me but since it was illegal in Illinois I didn't want to have to use it, having the dogs meant less chance of having to pull my firearm.

 

[RGINN]

Oh well, 25 years LEO and there were a few times when I was close to death. My own and those of others. No need to tell about those cause I don't want to sound like I'm braggin or anything. It was a job, and training got me through, no big deal. The one incident that did spook me was when a sniper shot my windshield at about 4 in the morning as I was patrolling along about half asleep really. Never found the guy. The ones that could be really scary, and I try not to think about are all the times I was close to death an DID NOT know it.

 

[TerryC]

My Vietnam combat experience aside, my closest CIVILLIAN "near death" occurred on the police department. The arrest of Van Skyhawk (Skyhock?). Look it up, mid-eighties... Wauwatosa, WI. Van Skyhock came to a motel door where we cops were posing as his hired hold-up goons. When we opened the door, he drew a .357 mag to kill as many of us as he could. He thought we were going to kill him as a double-cross. I saw the gun as he grabbed it from his beltline. I jumped up and took it from his hand before he could aim and pull the trigger. This happened so quickly that the officer to my right never saw the gun until it was unloaded on a nearby chair. I got a "hero medal" for my actions. Check out the news reports. True story. The entire narrative is really interesting ... and exciting, if you want to hear it. ╦╦C

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Prior to retirement, I lived in Metro-Cleveland for a decade. Then I moved to Metro-Detroit for another decade. Both of those locations were so intense, I'm still "affected". Had a CCW, I'd felt it was pretty darned necessary. Finally retired to my present home "up the holler". I never wanted any trouble from anybody, but living in the midst of that kinda humanity - each day was kinda questionable as to what I might face each and every day.

Oh yeah got that CCW, and I thank our Father I never had to pull my weapon. I have been very fortunate in my life through that.

NOW, they come up my holler - I may not be so generous. Isolated as I am, I've had a couple dudes knocking on my door after midnight - people I did not know.

We ain't safe NO WHERE. In this world we need personal protection - this world seems to be accelerating towards anarchy..... And, easy murder....

 

[Centsless Detecting]

Well I will consider this near death but it's far from everyone else's stories so far. Back when I was a dumb teenager, we were snowboarding at one of our local ski hills. The park closed and I felt the need for one more run. I walked to the top of the snowboard park because the tow rope was shut down. There were 3 jumps in a row at the park 10, 20 and 30 foot gap jumps. That night I wasn't successful in landing clean on all 3 in a row, especially the 30ft jump. I made the first two on that last run no problem. While mid air on the last 30ft jump, I was 10-15 feet in the air and I see the snow groomer cleaning the landing area... Fate let me land just a foot to my left of the snow groomers plow, dead even with the blade. Two feet to my right I would have landed on the blade, surely breaking my legs or worse and being run over... stay safe everyone and happy hunting.

 

[Gene Mean]

Got robbed once in Detroit, guy stuck a gun in my face and demanded money.
I said yeah sure anything you need, the guy was shaking and I said calm down man, here let me get you the money, so I reached in my back pocket I had a couple 20's. This guy was so agitated and spaced out I figured he might shoot me anyhow so I decided to make a move. I handed him the 20's and said, you want my rings too ?

He looked like he was thinking and the weapon was pointed slightly away from me so before he could answer I slapped the gun out of his hand, it went off and the bullet grazed my ear, damn near making me deaf but I wasn't worried about that, I grabbed his arm, twisted him around and did a leg sweep and face planted him on a sidewalk, cracking his noggin. I picked him up by the arm and rag dolled him, and also got an arm around his neck and throttled him while giving him kidney shots to the back. Didn't take long until he went limp, so I slammed him to the ground and gave him a boot to the head just to be sure, yep he was out. This was before cell phones and in a rough neighborhood so I wasn't going to find a pay phone and wait for the cops and probably get robbed again while waiting, I took off my shirt and picked up his gun and tossed it way back in an overgrown field and left.

Sorry if this sounds flippantly violent but I have no regard for criminals and thiefs, if he never got up wouldn't bother me a bit.

You did the right thing, even if you had killed him.

 

[Garscale]

Some good ones here. I have worn out a couple dozen guardian angels I guess. Some of my stories are just too hard to write. I'll tell one now. Maybe more later.

Halloween night 1980. I was 16 years old and had an old truck. A buddy my age was with me and we swung by a couple girls house and they sneaked out to ride around with us. We were doing everything to scare the girls like going to remote cemeteries and telling ghost stories. One of the girls asked me if I knew where a certain old half rotted down house was. I did. She said late at night some people had seen a light in the up stairs window and she thought it haunted. The old place had been abandoned all my life and I dont think it ever had electricity. Of course thats where I headed.

As I drove in view of the house, to my amazement I could see a dim light up there. We pulled up out front and was scaring the girls yelling for the ghost to come out. After a while I pulled my truck up close, climbed on the bed rail, and jumped up and caught the window sill. I chinned up to where I could see inside. The first thing I saw was a kerosene lamp burning. The next thing I saw was a scraggly old bum. He had a side by side shotgun shouldered and the barrel was inches from my face. I immediately let go and fell back into the bed of my truck.

Its possible the glare of his lantern saved my life. No telling who he was nor what he was hiding from but no doubt he was plenty scared himself.

 

[thumper]

I grew up in Detroit, In the 60's.... not fun at all.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

I grew up in Detroit, In the 60's.... not fun at all.

spent half my life in Metro-Detroit - my kids still live there.