Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Confess The Stupidest Way They Almost Died

People Confess The Stupidest Way They Almost Died
Image by F. Muhammad from Pixabay

"Dying is an art, like everything else. I do it exceptionally well."


Sylvia Plath said that. It's a bleak line that encourages us to think about death in bizarre terms. It feels icky to assess death and judge whether a particular way to go is worthy, impressive, or admirable.

Yet, because human beings are very strange creatures, we totally do that. How any times have you heard someone wonder aloud, "What a way to go," after tuning in to some morbid local news calamity.

Some Redditors turned the commentary on themselves when they encountered some very close calls.

When they dusted themselves off and sat back in the relief of safety, they realized just how dumb it would have been to die like that.

Dr___where asked, "What is the stupidest reason you almost died?"

Marathon Man 

"I played video games too much and forgot to eat, so due to a lack of nutrients my white blood cell count dropped too low and i passed out to get rushed to the hospital..."

"...not the proudest time of my life"

-- Jorxel

Death by Grape 

"Reason? I was young and dumb and heard a technique competitive eaters used and tried it out."

"I used to work in the produce section of a grocery store. I was the only produce worker that night and was alone in the cooler by myself."

"I had heard earlier that competitive eaters would swallow whole grapes to expand their stomachs and decided to try it. The grape got caught in my throat and I couldn't make any sounds or cough."

"Eventually I was able to give myself the Heimlich using a stack of boxed peppers."

-- tmezzo

Anatomy Lesson

"I almost drowned in the sink when I was a child thinking that I could breathe under water if I try." -- tulioarrudac1

"Imagine your parents explaining how their kid died." -- NotMrMike

"Someone:Your kid drowned..... In a sink. How???? Parents: We forgot to tell him he does not have gills. Moral: tell your children they can't breathe underwater." -- danielkratos219

Breezing Through 

"Not stopping at a stop sign on my bike. I figured it was a 4 way stop. I slowed down, and heard the car coming from a distance. The car also didn't stop, and I got t boned."

"I'm not sure if you can count this as almost dying, because there was somehow no broken bones and I didn't even end up going to the hospital. But its probably the closest I have ever been to dying."

"Huge bruise on my leg from hitting the pavement. Lots of damage to the car including a broken windshield."

"I make sure I stop at all stop signs and red lights now. It's not worth trying to save a few minutes on your ride."

-- w1n5t0nM1k3y

Brief Blank Intervals 

"I thought my being spaced out always meant I just needed to 'snap' myself back into reality."

"I did a lot things in the mountains that am almost killed me, f***ing around with waterfalls, climbing up and down cliffs with no rope."

"It turned out I was dissociating from PTSD so my adventures didn't help."

-- Catctus

Problematic Beer Blanket 

"There was a blizzard one night. The wind was so cold that it left blisters on your face. I decided to go to a friend's house to get a few drinks."

"I ended up drinking an entire big bottle of Jack Daniel's mostly alone and then I blacked out. However for whatever reason I decided I'd go home by foot through the blizzard. Maybe no cab would take me because I was so drunk?"

"In any case I know that as I was walking through the blizzard I started to come back to my senses and I realized that I was crawling more than walking, stumbling at every few steps."

"My home was about 40 minutes from my friend's so it could have been quite dangerous."

-- mikkeldaman

The Indirect Dangers of Hot Dogs 

"DEATH BY HOTDOG"

"Bent down to grab hotdog I had dropped (5 second rule) and smacked my head on the table. Knocked myself out and was bleeding profusely when I woke up."

-- KALO6II6

Doctor Blunder 

"My pediatrician thought advanced tonsilitis was just a sore throat and sent me home with some liquid Tylenol."

"When I could no longer swallow that, my mom took me to the ER where they did an emergency tonsillectomy. They said if she had waited an hour longer I would have died from suffocation."

-- coprolite_hobbyist

Poop is Communication

"Woke up in the middle of the night, thought I felt like I had a weird poo coming. After spending about 4x as normal trying with no action, still feeling weird I made the call to go to the ER."

"Turns out I had developed appendicitis. The doctor said if I had gone back to bed like I originally planned my appendix most likely would have burst. Not guaranteed to kill me but not great either."

"So basically I almost died because I just wanted to have a poo and go back to sleep after a long day."

-- btcraig

Just a Little to the Left and...

"Not me. I went on a camping trip last fall with a friend of mine."

"He was trying to split a log with some splitting spikes I brought. I was using the hammer for something so he grabbed the hatchet and tried using the back of it as a hammer."

"He had to get 33 stitches and 15 staples after it bounced back and wedged itself in his shoulder. It damn well could have hit him in the head or in the throat"

-- NewtGunrey

Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Jesse Watters; Person taking a bath
Fox News

Jesse Watters Dragged After Obsessing Over Men Who Take Bubble Baths In Bizarre Rant

The right-wing panic about masculinity continues apace, and the latest chapter in this very weird obsession comes via an unlikely villain: the bubble bath.

Fox News' Jesse Watters had an on-air rant about a government employee who shared a photo of himself working from home in his bathtub.

Keep ReadingShow less
Jill Biden and Donald Trump
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Notre-Dame de Paris

Trump Just Used A Photo Of Jill Biden To Hawk His New Line Of Cologne—And Yes, It's As Gross As You Imagine

After First Lady Jill Biden had a cordial conversation with President-elect Donald Trump at the reopening of Notre-Dame, Trump used a photo of Biden to promote his new line of "Fight Fight Fight" cologne.

The image of the First Lady and Trump, captured during the reopening ceremony for Paris' Notre-Dame Cathedral on Saturday, marking five years since the devastating fire that forced its closure, shows them seated one seat apart and Biden smiling at Trump in a friendly way. Trump's Truth Social post features his new "Fight, Fight, Fight" fragrances superimposed over the photo with the caption, "A FRAGRANCE YOUR ENEMIES CAN'T RESIST!"

Keep ReadingShow less
Park Sung-hoon; Sung-hoon in 'Squid Game'
iMBC/Imazins via Getty Images/Netflix

Netflix Sparks Backlash After Casting Cis Male Actor To Play Trans Woman On 'Squid Game'

Netflix has sparked outrage for casting a cisgender male actor to play a trans female character in the second season of the popular survival thriller Netflix series, Squid Game.

In a meet-the-cast special, South Korean star Park Sung-hoon revealed he would play Hyun-ju, a.k.a. Player 120, a willing competitor in the murderous reality game show for a chance to win the grand cash prize to help pay for her gender-affirming surgery.

Keep ReadingShow less
Man in business suit with arms crossed
Aslan Kumarov/Unsplash

People Reveal How Their Boss Managed To Get On Their Last Nerve

Many employees look up to their bosses for guidance.

That is if they are inspirational leaders. Not all leaders are worth looking up to if they constantly look down on employees and view them as cogs in a machine.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from Cooking from Carter's TikTok video
@cookingwithcarter/TikTok

3-Year-Old Chef Leaves TikTok In Awe With His Adorably Hilarious Videos—And We Can See Why

Here is your reminder that inspiration can come from the most unexpected of places and from the youngest of people.

Parents Chay and Adam from Dorset, England, agreed long ago that they wanted to raise independent children, and their three-year-old son Carter is no exception.

Keep ReadingShow less