Thank you to those that submitted your troubling near death experiences.
Below are some of the highlights:
Tracy Matthews – Chicago
I survived a multiple car crash that ended up in a lake. 9 people died and I was the only one injured with a broken arm.. I thank god I survived!!
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Michael Fallik – Miami, FL
I once survived a Nickelback concert. Despite the generic pop hooks, inane lyrics, mediocre pyrotechnics, and throngs of popped collars and cargo shorts, I resisted the urge to rip my ears off and run head first into a wall. This was the closest I’ve ever been to death.
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Jeanette Mcgeisey – Los Angeles
I been in three bad car crashes in my life first one when i was ten years old some drunk guy hit the car so hard my left arm broke. five years later anothere was drunk guy hits the car again we had diffrent car that time. like two years ago another car crash some dumb chick speeding down the street hits my side i didnt get hurt just so mad i told her off
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choclynn – Los Angeles
A couple weeks ago I went camping on the river with my family. Every year I always go river rafting, but this year the river was really high so I wasn’t allowed to go. My neighbors, who had already been going down the river, offered to take me with them. Since my mom trusted them, she let me go. We drove up to the power plant and started there. We went down the rapids Little Mama, Big Daddy, and Sidewinder. Then we got back in the car and drove back to the power plant. We did a second run but instead of stopping after Sidewinder we also went down Frieght Train and Ewings Rapid. At the end of Frieght Train I flipped off my raft. Since the water was too fast I couldnt make my way over to the shore so my friend, Mike came and got me. We took a quick break and then got back in the water. Mike held onto my raft and he went first down Ewings. The first part of Ewings rapid is a three foot waterfall with a whirlpool at the bottom. In and instant he went down the waterfall and he flipped. As soon as I saw him flip I knew I would flip too and I said “Oh s***.” Not a second later I also flipped. The whirlpool pulled me under water and I was down under water for about a minute but it felt like forever, then the whirlpool spit me out and I was finally able to come up for air. The first thing I saw when I came up for air was a giant white cap and I was slammed back under the water. Whenever I was able to come up that happened again. While I was under the water I slammed into a couple giant rocks and hit my head on one. After I had been down under for awhile I gave up hope, I really thought I was going to die. I remember exactly what I was thinking, “This is it. I’m going to die and my mom is going to have to bury me. I’m never going to get to see anyone again.” Right after I thought that everything went black and I was numb. Then what I saw scared the day lights out of me. I saw my funeral, at first the top of the casket was open and I saw my pale body with my arms crossed over my chest. Then the casket closed and on top was pink and blue roses with babies breath. After I saw the casket lowered into the ground I was suddenly pulled out from under the water. I felt arms around me and they pulled me to the side of the river. I coughed up the water that I could and then sat down, the people that saw what happened called over a man that was a trained life guard. He said I was ok to go so I wnet back to camp. It was absolutely terrifying. For the next couple hours I was sick to my stomach and my hands were shaking. All I could think about was how close I was to dieing. I am so grateful for the person that pulled me out, I am positive that without him I would be dead right now.
As of August 3 there has been 10 reported drownings in Kern County, 5 reported drownings in Tulare County, 3 reported rescues in Kern County, and 3 reported rescues in Tulare County.
R.I.P : Charles Henry Burson, 19
Oscar Lima, 16
Daniel Kilgore, 57
Moises Aguilar, 31
David Medina, 44
Amilcar Guardado, 37
Hector Salinas, 29
Kristhian Nahun Fonseca, 25
Ivan Gameros, 18
Minh Tu Quang Nguyen, 22
Scott Neacato, 22
Arne Lauritsen, 53
Derrick Robert Rush, 28
Oscar David Alvarez-Ramos, 24
Everytime I think about what happened I think about how close I came to having my name added to that list.
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Mariana Martins Dallas, Texas
The Martins family decided to take a road trip during summer vacation for a magical experience at the “Happiest Place on Earth”. Little did they know, that their adventure would soon enough have them all facing DEATH.
Hours into the trip, the Martins found themselves in rush hour traffic. Bumper to bumper, they drove along onto a bridge… not just any ordinary bridge, this one was a mile long with nothing below except for the treacherous ocean infested with sharks! Traffic slowly began to pick up speed, all cars moving at 50 mph, still with no room for error.
Then, several cars back, an impatient man, driving a yellow Dodge Viper decided to take matters into his own hands. He began driving aggressively, desperately forcing his way through the army of cars. Misjudging the amount of room he had, he went to cut off the Martins family car… a green Ford Taurus Wagon. The Viper cut off the Taurus, the Martins luckily swerved over to the side to avoid the car but now they faced another contender… the BRIDGE BARRIER.
Past the barrier, there was nothing below except for the ocean full of man hungry sharks!
Luck was on their side that day, for they were able to miraculously stop the car about an inch from hitting the barrier. Death had lost that day…
—
Jordan Scrivner – Chicago, il
The Time I Almost Drowned in Hawaii.
I was fifteen and angry with my dad. A fifteen-year-old needs very little reason to be angry with his father. I felt he had forced this trip to Hawaii on me. I would have been much happier spending the week by myself, maybe inviting my friends over for non-stop video game sessions (I had not yet had my first alcoholic drink.) I was also way behind in my Chemistry class. This was the main excuse I used to get my dad to leave me behind, but it wasn’t flying with him. They had an extra ticket, and there was no way they were going to Hawaii without me.
Of course, I felt silly every time I tried to complain about my situation. It was the first time I, or any of my friends, had been to Hawaii. And I had to admit, when I landed and smelled the cool, wet air of the island, I felt an immediate affinity to the place, its history, and it’s relaxed demeanor. I hardly knew a thing beyond Hawaii beyond the teevee. Didn’t know about James Cook and King Kamehameha. How could I know about them? All I knew about Hawaii was I had never seen so many wild and roaming chickens before and that guava was quite possibly the best thing I had ever had up to that point.
I don’t have the slightest clue why I was so angry, or what prompted me to swim out into the ocean as far as I could. I grew up in Nevada, which is a desert planet, so it wasn’t often I got to swim out until I couldn’t swim anymore.
I swam into the history of the sea. Millions and billions of years of the Pacific, it’s anciency and animals. I felt wonderful. I stopped swimming and turned around. There was the expanse of the island all around me. Miles and miles of swimming resort tourists. The green trees. The volcano crowned by clouds.
I started to swim back. I swam and swam and swam. My arms got tired. The land did not get any closer. That was fine, I thought. I’ll just keep trying. I have to get to it eventually, right?
I didn’t start to really get scared until I stopped to rest and my foot scrapped against something sharp. Needles of pain shot up my leg. My first instinct was that I had cut it on some coral reef, and that I was now a beacon for the surely countless sharks in the area. I looked all around me. I saw no blood or sharks. Only sea urchins. And I was surrounded by them.
The ignorance with which I lived in was overpowering. I did not even know if sea urchins were poisonous or not. I kept trying to swim back, though now I was not only tired and in pain, I was realizing just how much trouble I was in. Panic was coming to a slow, steady boil.
Then a flurry of arms and splashing headed my way. I don’t remember the name of the lifeguard who saved my life. I remember holding on to him as he swam the currents back to a cove that I never would have thought to try to swim to. I remember his powerful, life-saving arms and thinking that this was the most homoerotic moment of my life. I remember being extremely embarrassed when my dad and stepfamily caught up with me, and I remember pissing on my foot to counteract the sea urchin’s sting.
I don’t remember too much of that night though, because that was the first time I ever got drunk. But that’s another story.
