What's the scariest experience you have been through?

Getting stuck on a train tracks when I was a kid. It was a bit like that scene from Stand By Me.

Two events come to mind. The first one is the short, sharp "life flashes before your eyes" variety. My mom and I were driving from Heidelberg to Frankfurt on the motorway. As we were approaching the tail end of some heavy traffic on the eight-lane section of the A5 motorway north of Darmstadt, the brakes of our car only engaged on one side of the car when my mom tapped the pedal. Que the car careening, swerving, zig-zagging and rotating across the entire motorway like a 900-kilogram pinball before coming to a standstill on the hard shoulder, car facing the way we had come. How we didn't hit any other car, let alone the steel median barriers is beyond me to this day.

The other event wasn't as potentially lethal but all the more soul-crushing. It happened almost exactly four years ago now. My parents and I had this tradition after I moved out that we would still speak once a day, just to talk about how our day went and most importantly bitch about work 😉 After my mom had passed away, I'd kept up the tradition with my dad.

On that particular evening, I'd come home as usual, after exchanging some emails with dad throughout the day and I picked up the phone to call him. No answer. Okay, maybe he's busy. Called again twenty minutes later. That's strange... Sent him a text message. No response. Called his mobile. No response. Panic is beginning to set in at this point. Another call to the land line - No response. Okay, he has hearing problems, let's send him an email. He's practically in a relationship with his PCs anyway. No response. At this stage, I've been trying to reach him for over an hour and I'm scared shitless, to put it mildly. I call his closest neighbour to check up on him, no response either. Finally, after over two hours, another neighbour picks up the phone and goes over to check on him, only to find his body.

I hope I don't have to go into detail about how gut-wrenching those two and a half to three hours in total were.

Spent the night in a mobile home literally 30 metres from the Atlantic coast during Storm Ellen last year. The walls were bending and flexing for 8 hours from the 100km/h-plus winds, and the noise was horrendous and relentless. I didn't sleep a wink - spent the night looking at the Windy app, watching the swirling arrows, willing willing the storm to move on. Had the car keys clutched in my hand in case the whole thing came crashing down around me so I wouldn't have to find them in the rubble. Mobile home survived fully intact, so I really wasn't in any danger, but it didn't feel that way at all.

Another time I was on a RIB (boat) in Doolin, as a trainee diver, going out for a scuba dive with some very experienced folk. Wind picked up something terrible just as we left the pier. Suddenly there was a massive swell, and we had to turn back. As we turned, a 3 metre wave came in and was about to hit us side-on, when the coxin just hammered the throttle and jumped the wave. I was sitting on the pontoon and obviously wan't holding on properly, because suddenly I was up in the air looking down on the rest of the crew, who were down below looking up at me. Luckily I crashed down into the boat, between the pontoon and the rack for the dive bottles. I was a couple of inches from ending up in the water and having the helicopter out to rescue me. We managed to make it back into the pier by timing it just right in between the waves.

They were the only two times I was actually really scared for my safety. Next one is more on the emotional fear side.

A few years ago, my at the time healthy and very independent Dad checked himself into Beaumont Hospital. Said he wasn't feeling well during hot spell of weather, and got a taxi up to A+E. Turns out he had a heart attack. He called me the next day and I immediately travelled across the country to see him. Next morning I went up to the hospital in the morning to see him again. He was dressed, but asleep on his bed. It was a very warm summers day, and all the men in his room were napping, so I decided to head up to the supermarket up the road to get him some stuff and leave him to rest. When I got back 45 minutes later, he wasn't on the bed. His jacket and bag were there. Waited a few minutes, no sign of him. Asked the nurses - they didn't know where he was. Called his mobile, no answer. Texts, no answer. More calls, no answer. Nurses got concerned. I, they and security searched the hospital and the grounds.

I remember sitting outside the main entrance, alone and in panic, and everywhere I looked I saw tall, grey haired men with glasses and blue shirts and beige slacks exactly like him. But none of them were him. I won't go into the whole story of what happened then, but suffices to say that he had basically lost his mind to vascular dementia, and wandered off into Dublin city centre. When we got him back later in the day, he was never the same again. He spent the next 6 months in the hospital, then just over a year in a nursing home before dying from Covid last May. The whole 20 month experience of his illness, decline and death was awful, but that few hours of him being missing was terrifying.

mushbroom trip from hell

After I was at a bohs v rovers match went back to the car to drive home. We all got into the car and 5 seconds later 2 men walk up to the passenger window asking for directions. As the driver gave directions i seen one of the men had a gun behind his back. I was maybe 10 years old and started pinching the driver whispering drive drive drive. Someone else then told the driver to drive and he did - but when i looked back at the 2 men the fella had the gun pointed at us as if ready to fire it. We talked about it on the drive home and the passenger beside me was an oulfella and he seen the gun and reckoned it was real.

Other times i was scared has to be when i was in 3 separate cars that flipped onto their roofs. On the 3 occasions the cars where taxed insured and tested

I had horrendous turbulence 1 hour out of Atlanta in April 2015 on an overnight flight back to Dublin. We were heading up the east coast of the US but over water from the map. The cabin was banging (think it was the overhead bag compartments). The pilot was having to fight the plane a bit with the engines getting power reduced and then back on again to change altitude and speed. A few screams on board at time with the jolting. Horrendous stress which last 45 mins.

Losing my daughter this morning for 10 long minutes on the way to school & having to race around a multitude of housing estate roads trying to find her in a panic. She disappeared in what felt like 20 seconds. She somehow managed to get to the school happy out with a bunch of other parents with her.

earthquake, 5000 killed

A trip to Skellig Michael in very bad sea conditions. A lot of people with sea sickness and the boat rolled very badly for the entire journey. I ended up with serious back pain.

This was then followed up by a very scary descent down the uneven steps of the Skelligs in very windy conditions. At the very top, a gust of wind caught the camera that was around my neck and I nearly went over the edge. I had to descent the steps on my bum to what is called Christ's Cradle and put the camera in the backpack. Properly shat myself descending the rest of the way after that scare, really thought that my number might be up.

Scary dreams that happened in reality.

Xmas night 2004 I dreamt i was on a beach and suddenly a massive tidal wave started coming towards the shore and everyone started panicking and running trying to get away. Woke up the next morning to the news that thousands of people had been killed from a tsunami in the Indian ocean.

Late 80s I dreamt of being on a boat at night with lights from buildings all around the water. Suddenly something happened and people were panicking and jumping into the water. Woke up the next morning to the news that 2 boats collided in the river Thames that night and a number of people had been killed.

Dec 88 dreamt of some big explosion in the night sky. It was like big red flashes across the sky and then a short time later what looked like a mushroom cloud explosion in the distance. People were in the streets fearfull and wondering what happened. The Lockerbie air bombing was on the news the next day. A man was was being interviewed on TV the following night describing what people saw . It was exactly like in my dream ,red flashes and a mushroom cloud explosion in the distance.

Early 90s had an odd dream about Holland, I had never been there or had any desire to go there. Woke up the next morning and thought it very odd. Listening to the news when I got up it said that 2 trains collided during the night in Holland ,30 people killed.

Dreamt one night about 20 yrs ago of some man who died in hospital. In my dream the surname of O,Riley was coming through in my dream for some reason . Woke up thinking it was very odd. On the radio that morning it said an Irish journalist with a surname of O,Riley died during the night in hospital (cant remember his first name) but I had never heard of him before.

The night before 9/11 i woke up in the middle of the night and was overcome with a feeling of dread that something bad was going to happen. If I wake up during the night I fall back to sleep after a minute or 2 but this night I couldn't get back to sleep for about an hour and a half.

All coincidence or something else? I will never know. Maybe in some way with my mind being in a relaxed state due to being asleep i was somehow able to tap into these events ,with whatever emotions etc that were being released and that we are all connected in someway or other???

Random theory. You have some radio alarm that is actually going off in the night reading you the news for a few hours before it turns off.

Or you brain can decipher radio waves. Essentially you are a receiver of some sorts.

I find there is always an obvious explanation rather than some clairvoyant stuff going on. The brain is amazing thing so likely it has picked up a few bits and pieces without you knowing and tricking you somehow.

I actually only read recently that the brain creates what we see based on know information rather than us actually seeing things in real time. This is to account for the delay for light to reach eyes and be converted and all that. Fascinating stuff

I had a coffee jar full of shrooms in the garage. I knew they were there and i knew they were strong as i had taken a small dose of them before. I had consumed a fair bit of alcohol and i had serious lower back pain. I had a niggling notion to down the shrooms. I don't know....seemed like a good idea at the time.

Anyway i could feel myself coming up on them and it was intense. I felt overwhelmed and decided to go to bed to try and sleep it off. Bad idea. It lasted 12 hours and was hell. Everytime i thought it was easing off ....away i'f go again. The Mrs was going to call for an ambulance at one stage. She said i was babbling on like the priest ini the film Apocalypto. It's difficult to describe. like putting into words a nightmare youve had. Words can never truly convey the experience.

For me probably getting chased by 40 youths with sticks, swords and hatchets from the neighbouring Cranhill in Glasgow, simply because I was not from Cranhill but across the road. My escape brought through the back hedges to my house, it resembled the winning horse in the Grand National bounding over eight hedges to my house and in the door latched. It kinda happened quite a lot in Glasgow in the late seventies.

Perhaps and that is a very good possibility but that doesn't explain my feelings before 9/11 for example ,before it even happened. Although that might have been totally coincidental of course.

I still think those dreams are Perhaps about our connectivity with one another . Mind with mind etc and perhaps there is no such thing as true time, be it the past, present or future. My belief is that everything in the universe is connected in someway shape or form. I could be totally wrong but that's the feeling I have.

A fire. I was in a first floor apartment above a cafe (that was closed for the evening) but the apartment wasn't completely separate meaning to enter the apt one had to go through the ground floor cafe first. I smelt something odd whilst watching TV, went to investigate, opened the front door to the apt and could see nothing but thick black billowing smoke which came rushing in. That was the only exit. What to do now?

Well to window of course. I recall looking down to the pavement and saw the awnings of the cafe were't pulled in and though it could break my fall. As I was looking out a man in the adjoining building beckoned me from his window to escape and as it turned out it was quite easy to get on the external window sill and hop over to his. I don't think I had to jump just step over although if there was no fire or adrenaline involved I may not have thought that crossing such a casual manoeuvre.

The fire was subsequently put out and the apartment only suffered smoke damage but the downstairs cafe had to be fully renovated. Could have been worse but it was still 'scary'.

Yes I believe we are all connected more then we can imagine.