I Shouldn't Be Alive!! Your Dances With Death.

[Bwana]

Another thread got me thinking about various brushes with death throughout the years. What is the closest you have come to taking a dirt nap, kicking the bucket, cashing in the chips? Did you get hurt, or did it just scare the hell out of you?

I had one incident where I had a car going sideways around a corner at about 100 MPH. (No damage to me or the car) I have been bucked off several horses and landed in strange positions. (Bruises, but no broken bones) I have had an ATV on its side being drug along a pine tree, one sharp branch and I would have been toast. (Very lucky there) I have had guns pulled on me three times, knives twice. (Never shot or stabbed) Hell, I'm just getting warmed up here.


Dances with death, there is going to be some stories out there, lets hear them.

Originally Posted by kepp

Holy crap! Do you still have all your fingers?

They were removed in a surgical accident.

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

Fell off a motorcycle going 70 and slid directly under an oncoming car. Right under and out the back side. Lost all the skin on my back and a dislocated hip. Wasn't wearing a shirt. They say if I'd been wearing a helment I probably would have gotten hung up under the car. Note to self "7 bottles of cheap wine and motorcycles don't mix."

[kepp]

Originally Posted by Hog Farmer

Fell off a motorcycle going 70 and slid directly under an oncoming car. Right under and out the back side. Lost all the skin on my back and a dislocated hip. Wasn't wearing a shirt. They say if I'd been wearing a helment I probably would have gotten hung up under the car. Note to self "7 bottles of cheap wine and motorcycles don't mix."

I had a drunk motorcycle accident once. My friend was driving and I was on the back...we were both drunk. We were on back roads only going about 35 though. My friend forgot about a 90 degree turn and went straight into the ditch. We ended up only inches from a barbed wire fence.

[HemiEd]

Several, but three that I don't mind sharing.

1971, riding a brand new Honda 350 back to work (US Naval Air Station) after lunch and was in a hurry. I was doing about 55, when a Nova made a u-turn, and totaly blocked both of my lanes. Parked cars and oncoming traffic prevented me from escaping. Totalled the bike and broke my back, helmet kept me alive. It was a Bell, with a long gouge the totally went through the helmet from the accident. The driver of the Nova, turned out to be a Navy Steward (philipino) that had rented the car using a Navy forklift drivers license.

I was out in Dodge City, in a club that had a solinoid on the door, rough joint, playing pool. One of the patrons did not like what I was doing, and shot a hand gun off, right behind my head. I made an exit very soon.

I think it was 1977, I ran out the back of a bar (playing pitch) and was hit by a girl driving a VW down the alley.
What saved my life, I had thought about what I would do, in this case many times prior.
As soon as I saw I was going to get hit, I jumped straight up in the air. It happened almost instinctivly, since I had rehearsed it in my mind so many times.
Several witnesses saw me get knocked about 10 feet in the air, and land right next to a 4 inch post sticking out of the ground. I got up, dusted myself off, suit was torn all to hell. The witnesses and the driver went into shock.
I caved in the hood and knocked out the windshield of the VW.
Like and idiot, I did not even go to the doctor. The young lady did get a ticket, the cop told her to quit crying, I was the guy that got hit.

[Bugeater]

The closest I've ever been to death was when I was 19 or 20, I (stupidly) got into a car with someone who had no business with a driver's license. He was doing around 90 on a two lane street here in town, shortly after a rainfall, when someone pulled out in front of us. He had no choice but to take the ditch. We slid sideways about 300 feet or so crossing a couple side streets, narrowly missing a streetlight on the second one (which later on an accident investigator told us if we would have clipped it with the front of the car, it would've likely sent us into a nearby house), took out about 10 posts from a wooden privacy fence that was under construction and then the car finally came to a stop when it got high-centered on a railroad tie wall. Luckily, the undercarraige of the car took the brunt of the force so we weren't injured.

[Saulbadguy]

Ate at Taco Tico. I'll never make that mistake again.

[ROYC75]

Originally Posted by Saulbadguy

Ate at Taco Tico. I'll never make that mistake again.

That's funny ........

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by Saulbadguy

Ate at Taco Tico. I'll never make that mistake again.

They have truly gone to shit, gawdawful. I would say food poisening should be expected after a visit there.
At one time, especially back in the 60s, their food was really very good.

[Bwana]

Originally Posted by kepp

I had a drunk motorcycle accident once. My friend was driving and I was on the back...we were both drunk. We were on back roads only going about 35 though. My friend forgot about a 90 degree turn and went straight into the ditch. We ended up only inches from a barbed wire fence.

That reminds me of my first sky diving jump. There is a little town about 15 miles from here where they had a so called sky diving "school." A buddy and I showed up, they gave you the 101 on jumping, pulling the cord and proper landing procedure.

What they didn't consider was the 25 MPH winds that day and what that might do to ones trajectory, particularly after the parachute is deployed.

Now keep in mind, at the "Jed Clampet school of sky diving," they didn't start you out with a tandem jump and or a static line jump, it was jump, pull the cord, if that one doesn't open, try chute two. If one panicked and didn't open the chute, you were going to make the news. I went first from 8000 feet, I hit the proper level and deployed my parachute. What a fantastic view, my God, this is great I'm thinking. But wait, I'm starting to drift away from the landing zone, hard crank on the left chute handle, aww yes, back on track.

All was well until I hit about 200 feet and the cross winds caught me again. As I was drifting sideways, I notice a man eater, AKA a barbwire fence in the sky diving business, directly below. I had to give a last minute hard crank on the right handle to avoiding the thing, landed sideways and ended up bounding several times before I could get the chute to fold up. My buddy drifted about 3 miles away and ended up in a corn field after drifting over several power lines, the Yellowstone River and numerous tall trees. I went right back up and jumped again that day, he has never done it again.

[ROYC75]

I was lucky once, rolled a milk truck over 4 times , no seat belt, had a 100 # tool box and 2 hugh hydralic 40# truck jacks, tire tools,etc in the floorboard. All of it was flying around and ended up outside of the truck when it came to a stop. Any of that stuff that was loose could have smashed my head during that ride......

The only other time I got blown off of Hwy 169 North of Paola,Ks on a Yamaha 650 street bike. Crested a hill and a side wind blew me right off the road into the ditch and up alongside a fence row before I got it stopped. Talking about an omen, I just bought it and was riding it home that same day. I bout took it back.......

[wutamess]

Last year around this time I was "helping" my laborer install a 200 amp electrical panel. He went outside to do something while I was busy screwing the various wires into the panel.

I reached for the screw-driver and luckily I had my hand on the plastic/rubber part. I touched the hot part of the electrical panel with the end of the screw driver. Sparks flew everywhere and my flat head screwdriver was now a shank.

He heard the commotion from outside and yelled to see if I was ok. Scared the living shit out of me.

I immediately told the laborer to go fugg himself as I wouldn't be of any more assistance.

[Redrum_69]

THe closest I ever came was right after I picked up an overshield and my trigger finger launched a rocket at the person running to me firing his shotgun. If it wasnt for my overshield I would have been toast

[pr_capone]

I had a dukes of hazard like moment.

I was driving along behind this gigantic truck... the kind with 234 inch mudding wheels and a lift kit.

Anyhow, this guy swerves all of a sudden and for some reason my focus went with the truck as opposed to looking at why he swerved.

As soon as I look back to the road I am already hitting cones. Apparently, Aquila thot it would be wise to park in the middle of the fuggin street and set cones out only about 10 feet behind their trailer.

I immediately turn the wheel to the left and apply the brakes but it was too late. I hit the left ramp going about 45 MPH or so and caught air.

While I was up in the air I had time to hope that it would land where the car would just slam down, I could replace the rims, shocks, and whatever else bent from the impact. Then I felt gravity pull me to the door so I knew it would not be pretty.

I didnt have my seatbelt on so I climbed up and put my feet on the seat and braced myself against the roof of the car. The sound the car made when it hit was sick.... ripping and tearing metal are not my favorite sounds.

Thankfully, I did not get ejected from the car BUT the driver's side roof was smashed down quite a bit, so much so that I believe the roof might have snapped my neck had I been wearing a seatbelt that held me in place.

[boogblaster]

Having worked personel-protection, Ive came close way too many times to mention....

[BigRedChief]

I could write a book on the stupid ass chit that I did between the ages of 18 and 30 while I was traveling around the world. I'm very lucky to be alive. I've posted a few of my close brushes with death on here before.