Have you ever nearly accidently killed yourself?

FatherLen · 18-06-2012 2:23pm

straight from the "most retarded thing you have ever done thread".

put a cable tie around my neck as a child and tightened it. my mother was not a happy camper that day. it all worken out in the end. when the cable tie was being cut off they caught a bit of my earlobe so i didnt get in trouble AND got ice cream

if my mother hadn't reacted so quickly i would have been in trouble.
i think i was only about 5 or 6.

that and the motorbike crashes have been close...

deirdre_dub · 18-06-2012 3:39pm

Hill walking - fell off a 50 ft cliff.

Connemara National Park, after rain, with the grass long (and hence very very slippy), we decided to walk up a narrow valley that had very steep sides. The valley had a shallow stream at the bottom of it. Half-way up the valley the stream fell down a nice picturesque waterfall.

Anyway, I was walking along the side of the valley when I noticed a small few-inch wide gap in the "track" ahead of me. I stepped over the gap, except the next thing I knew I was in mid air looking at the sky.

I didn't know if we had gone further up the valley than the waterfall - if we had, then I was going to have a short fall. It very quickly dawned on me that we hadn't passed the waterfall - I was going to have a long fall into a very shallow stream.

I'm sorry to say that at the time I was suicidal. I realised that if I craned my neck backwards, it would snap when I hit the bottom, and no-one would know that I had committed suicide - everyone would think that I had died in a terrible mountaineering accident. I also realised that this was the very best opportunity I was ever going to get to commit suicide - either I did this now, or I forever let go of ideas of killing myself. I realised that I didn't, actually, want to die, so I curled up into the foetal position and I waited for gravity and the earth to do their thing.

I then realised that my next conscious moment, if I had one, was going to be in hospital. I wondered what state I was going to be in. I saw that my greatest fear wasn't death - it was waking up paralysed. Still, I kept myself in the foetal position, and waited for the inevitable.

Then there was an enourmous SPLASH! I had landed in the pool of water carved out by the stream at the bottom of the waterfall - it was the single place in the entire valley where the water was the deepest (maybe 4 or 5 feet). The pool of water, coupled with the small back pack that I was carrying that took the brunt of my landing, saved my life.

I walked away from it with only a scratch to my left wrist. I still have the scar, though this was so long ago that my scar is only barely visible. When I'm feeling really down, I look at it to remind myself of the promise I made to myself that day to live.

Only one person saw me fall, and he was quickly by my side holding me. I think he got a much bigger fright than I did!

And I can report that my life flashed before my eyes. It did so in a strange way - it did so in the sense that I heard a "voice" "speak" into the top of my head a word. The word was "liar". It has taken me 20 years to fully appreciate what that was about, and I can say now that I've never ever been happier.

I later figured out that the fall took about 2.1 seconds. I managed to pack a lot into that time, and it was probably the most important 2.1 seconds of my life.

maximoose · 18-06-2012 3:54pm

Creative Writing forum = that way>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

18-06-2012 4:03pm

Never had the pleasure fortunately.

Dangerous Man · 18-06-2012 5:41pm

Jesus yes. Been hit by cars three times in my life. Fell through the roof of a shed (about 14 feet up) onto a concrete floor. Nearly fell from the roof of a two story house - began to tumble backwards when my brother grabbed the collar of my shirt to stop me. Received a massive macro electric shock across my heart and had to go to hospital. Accidentally set myself on fire. Had to be saved from drowning.

Now you know where the user-name comes from - although stupid man would probably be more apt.

Bruthal · 18-06-2012 5:50pm

danniemcq wrote: »

for all the people who are gettin shocked/electrocuted whatever and all those that might in the future can everyone please remember if you ever HAVE to check if a wire or something is live and only have your hand touch the BACK of your hand against the exposed surface.

If you use the palm then your muscles contract and lock on the wire meaning you can't get away. With the back of your hand however you'll be free to shoot 20 ft across the room

Well that is not a reliable test at all, the item you are going to touch with the back of your hand may well be fully live, and if you are only touching that and nothing else, and in dry shoes/runners, you will feel nothing, and there will be no muscle contraction.

And you might then assume the item must not be live, and now with no caution, you may end up on this thread with a good survival story:)

Proper testing, and then secure isolation is needed, not back of hand testing.

As for the shooting 20 feet across the room, mythical stuff:pac:

sparks24 · 18-06-2012 8:56pm

danniemcq wrote: »

for all the people who are gettin shocked/electrocuted whatever and all those that might in the future can everyone please remember if you ever HAVE to check if a wire or something is live and only have your hand touch the BACK of your hand against the exposed surface.

If you use the palm then your muscles contract and lock on the wire meaning you can't get away. With the back of your hand however you'll be free to shoot 20 ft across the room

evolution at its finest

Jim_Kiy · 18-06-2012 9:54pm

puzzle factory wrote: »

are you shaun o dowd?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_fSUd_h_Qc

ARRAGH how the fcuk can I get that out of head..my ding a ling my ding a ling
insanely catchy stuff:)

recedite · 18-06-2012 10:54pm

robbie7730 wrote: »

A lot of it is a myth, the shock would only have been across the finger or fingers that touched the pins, or across other parts of the hand if the light fitting was metal and properly earthed. People only think they are thrown. Its really the fear and mental shock that causes people to lose balance as well as jump away while losing balance etc. Got some proper severe ones a couple of times myself, from one hand to the other are the proper ones, still dont get thrown anywhere really, not from 230v anyway.

Standing in a pool of water on a concrete floor downstairs and then it does add a new level of danger. But on a stool, or even on the concrete floor in dry runners, and the shock would have only been across the fingertips from Live to Neutral pins, or also across the hand of the light fitting was metal and earthed and other fingers where touching that.

If you only touch the live wire, the shock can travel down one side of the body to the floor via your foot, setting off an involuntary muscle contraction in one arm and leg. How far you jump depends on how fit you are.

robbie7730 wrote: »

If a person touches just the live pin and nothing else, and had shoes on, or is on a chair, or floor upstairs, no shock would be perceived.

Don't try this at home, folks

frozenfrozen · 18-06-2012 11:17pm

Had completely forgotten about this one, I was about 7 and at the driving range with my dad and cousins and my cousin threw a golf ball to me and I didn't catch it and then tried to run after it as it bounced out infront of the next golfers lane. Just at that second he drove a shot and I could feel the air move from his swing. if i had been a second sooner he would have absolutely destroyed my face. Thinking back that man was a complete bollox he started shouting at me for almost getting killed when it was just an accident..

Ledger · 18-06-2012 11:29pm

MrSnuffleupagus wrote: »

Oh Jaysis, here we go

Wandered home in the rain the morning after a house party (in a suit and Hawaiian shirt, no less). Got home and all I wanted was a cup of tea. My housemate informed me that the kettle was broken. "Fair enough" I figured "Fuse might be blown, I'll swap the one in the toaster" (same fuse)
So I swapped them, and was just putting the back cover back on when the housemate says "why bother? You're just gonna take it out again when you're done"

In my hungover state I thought this was sound advice, so without thinking I put my thumb into the plug and pushed. Got an almighty shock (and I was still dripping wet from the rain).
The thump I gave my friend for that idea wasn't nearly hard enough!

I done this before,

I was changing a fuse too, and thought I would plug it in to check it worked before putting the cover on. Yeah, smart.

Also fell through a shed roof while clearing the ivy off it.

Aaaaaand I pulled a kettle of boiling water on top of myself when I was 2.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I jumped/fell off the side of a MOVING car while slightly intoxicated. Got away with "just" a skull fracture and internal bleed on my brain.

Yeah I'm a smart cookie....

Bruthal · 19-06-2012 12:03am

recedite wrote: »

If you only touch the live wire, the shock can travel down one side of the body to the floor via your foot, setting off an involuntary muscle contraction in one arm and leg. How far you jump depends on how fit you are.

If you are inside your house, on the floor in your runners, describe how enough current will flow through the insulating material of the runner to cause this spasm?

Don't try this at home, folks

No one said to try it. But its a fact.

p.oconnor · 19-06-2012 12:30am

Does it count if you were too young to remember??

Bruthal · 19-06-2012 12:32am

p.oconnor wrote: »

Does it count if you were too young to remember??

I would say it certainly does.

p.oconnor · 19-06-2012 12:36am

robbie7730 wrote: »

I would say it certainly does.

Ha I thought so, actually only came to light recently after the father finally told the mother after about 15 years....It was all my own work though ....:)

It was back when I was about four or five and me and my brother used to go for spins with my father in the truck, one evening he threw us into the cab to give the mother a break and drove on to Irish Steel in Cork harbour delivering a load, shortly after leaving Irish steel I obviously became interested in the door handle (remember these were the days that seatbelts were something to keep children entertained) and opened the door and fell out, the father said he nearly crashed stopping the truck from about 45mph thinking it was all over, he jumped over my brother to see a five year old boy still hanging on to a pocket on the door outside the truck

... he said I was a nice quiet boy for the the rest of the trip home and kept it from the mother until recently as he thought she would take us off him

mattjack · 19-06-2012 10:21am

danniemcq wrote: »

for all the people who are gettin shocked/electrocuted whatever and all those that might in the future can everyone please remember if you ever HAVE to check if a wire or something is live and only have your hand touch the BACK of your hand against the exposed surface.

If you use the palm then your muscles contract and lock on the wire meaning you can't get away. With the back of your hand however you'll be free to shoot 20 ft across the room

Have you tried that ?

Bruthal · 19-06-2012 10:36am

mattjack wrote: »

Have you tried that ?

I actually have myself, i dont know about the poster you asked there though, and as said, if you are only touching a live terminal etc, you wont feel anything, unless you are also making contact with another phase:eek:, or neutral, or earth.

Standing on the ground in dry shoes or runners, and no shock will be perceived, so touching the live terminal and feeling nothing, will in no way confirm it is de-energised or dead/off.

Most assume contact with a live 230v terminal or wire etc automatically means a shock. But there is almost always at least 2 points of contact besides the feet on the ground.

So the chance of being electrocuted by a ceiling bulb holder is remote, especially when its just a standard pendant fitting.

danniemcq · 19-06-2012 2:15pm

mattjack wrote: »

Have you tried that ?

Yup,

growing up in the middle of nowhere there was always a chance that the fence you are trying to cross was electric so a back of the hand rested against it will soon tell you, had tried the front before and got a few shocks as my hand seized up!

Bruthal · 19-06-2012 3:16pm

danniemcq wrote: »

Yup,

growing up in the middle of nowhere there was always a chance that the fence you are trying to cross was electric so a back of the hand rested against it will soon tell you, had tried the front before and got a few shocks as my hand seized up!

Electric fences and how they operate are completely different than mains voltage, so using that method wont tell you the item is not live with mains voltage.

MadsL · 20-06-2012 8:08am

deirdre_dub wrote: »

Hill walking - fell off a 50 ft cliff.

Connemara National Park, after rain, with the grass long (and hence very very slippy), we decided to walk up a narrow valley that had very steep sides. The valley had a shallow stream at the bottom of it. Half-way up the valley the stream fell down a nice picturesque waterfall.

Anyway, I was walking along the side of the valley when I noticed a small few-inch wide gap in the "track" ahead of me. I stepped over the gap, except the next thing I knew I was in mid air looking at the sky.

I didn't know if we had gone further up the valley than the waterfall - if we had, then I was going to have a short fall. It very quickly dawned on me that we hadn't passed the waterfall - I was going to have a long fall into a very shallow stream.

I'm sorry to say that at the time I was suicidal. I realised that if I craned my neck backwards, it would snap when I hit the bottom, and no-one would know that I had committed suicide - everyone would think that I had died in a terrible mountaineering accident. I also realised that this was the very best opportunity I was ever going to get to commit suicide - either I did this now, or I forever let go of ideas of killing myself. I realised that I didn't, actually, want to die, so I curled up into the foetal position and I waited for gravity and the earth to do their thing.

I then realised that my next conscious moment, if I had one, was going to be in hospital. I wondered what state I was going to be in. I saw that my greatest fear wasn't death - it was waking up paralysed. Still, I kept myself in the foetal position, and waited for the inevitable.

Then there was an enourmous SPLASH! I had landed in the pool of water carved out by the stream at the bottom of the waterfall - it was the single place in the entire valley where the water was the deepest (maybe 4 or 5 feet). The pool of water, coupled with the small back pack that I was carrying that took the brunt of my landing, saved my life.

I walked away from it with only a scratch to my left wrist. I still have the scar, though this was so long ago that my scar is only barely visible. When I'm feeling really down, I look at it to remind myself of the promise I made to myself that day to live.

Only one person saw me fall, and he was quickly by my side holding me. I think he got a much bigger fright than I did!

And I can report that my life flashed before my eyes. It did so in a strange way - it did so in the sense that I heard a "voice" "speak" into the top of my head a word. The word was "liar". It has taken me 20 years to fully appreciate what that was about, and I can say now that I've never ever been happier.

I later figured out that the fall took about 2.1 seconds. I managed to pack a lot into that time, and it was probably the most important 2.1 seconds of my life.

As some who has fallen a similar distance, forgive me if I am skeptical about the amount of thought that goes through your head. I think my thoughts were basically "oh fuck" and then wham.

I think you might be projecting backwards onto this event.

However, I do believe in my case that I may have made a conscious decision to let go. I gave up hope of holding on any longer I think.

Have you ever nearly accidently killed yourself?

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