Have you ever been scared?

Rofesleg said:
A mate of mine went for a job interview in Manchester. He had no money, just a train ticket.
He was forced down an alley at knifepoint and told to hand over his money. He was made to empty his pockets to prove he had no cash. The assailant felt sorry for him and took him to a cafe and bought him a cake and a cup of tea.
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See, I’m a nice guy really. That’s just how I treat all outsiders to begin with.
 
Had quite a scary experience as a child. Whilst trick or treating with my mates one halloween, my mate decided to freak us all out by telling us that he'd read in the Gazette that some crazed guy had written letters to Cleveland Police, saying he was going to drive about Halloween night in search of trick or treaters and would murder them.

We were all stood outside a house on an estate and the next thing we noticed a car parked further up along the road. The driver was clearly watching us and didn't have any lights on. One of mates shouted "run" and we legged it up the street and the next thing he turns on the lights and bolts after us. He jumps out of the car and we all ran into somebody's garden and he comes over to us and grabs our bags off us and starts looking in our pockets.

Turned out kids had egged his house and he'd suspected we were responsible, especially after we'd legged it.

He was really aggressive and clearly had anger issues. If I remember rightly he didn't even apologise afterwards. I remember it being a frightening experience. Looking back I can't believe an adult could react that way to kids, even if we had egged his house.
 
zzzzz said:
In a backstreet barbers in Tunis. Shudda walked straight out again but got invited to sit in the chair ahead fo 3 rough looking locals..... it was just the atmosphere, I could tell something was very wrong and their demeanor got worse. Declined the cut-throat shave and got out OK but I tnink I was close to being in big trouble.

And In Ardrossan many years ago. Went back to a womans flat, did the dirty deed and while have a beer afterwards 3 heavies came in. It was the woman's husband's mates checking up on her, her old fella was on remand for murder! Just as well I was fast in them days.

A mate of mine flew out to Chad to start work for Exxon. He was met at the airport arrivals by a guy with an Exxon sign with his name on it. He drove him out into the jungle, stripped him at gunpoint, took his luggage and everything else and pondered shooting him but just drove off and left him stood there. Lucky or unlucky?
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Airline employees sell passenger lists to local ne'er-do-wells so they are able to masquerade as legitimate 'meet and greets'. When I started flying to Latin and Central America regularly I was always given a password that the driver would speak to verify their identity. All very secure, other than every time the password was the name of the company I was visiting, which happened to be the sign they held up next to my name...
 
I was held up at knifepoint twice in Paris within 6 months of each other. I was working at Charles de Gaulle airport and for the first couple of months they had to pay me in cash as I needed a couple of months payslips in order to open a bank account. So I had my month's salary in various pockets, got the RER back to Gare du Nord and as I got off the train I bought a pack of cigs. As I left the station I was approached by a man asking if I had any cigarettes (which happened most days). I said I hadn't and walked on, he followed and asked again and I said no a second time. I carried on and he got hold of my shoulder and said 'Well have you got any money so I can buy some?' He opened his jacket and had a knife. I had always had in my mind what I would do in that sort of situation, but seeing the knife made all that go out the window. I emptied one pocket of cash and as he went to leave I said 'Hang on I have some more' - I proceeded to empty all of my pockets. a whole month's salary gone in a minute .

Second time I fell asleep on the RER - when I dropped off the carriage was full but when I woke up there were just 4 young lads sat surrounding me - one of them put a knife on the table, nobody said anything and I gave over my wallet (only had 20 odd quid that time).
 
I regularly walk from the cricket club through Normanby to Eston in the summer after last orders. Now that both Eston and Normanby are not that busy and you don’t see many people about if any that late at night. I’ve thought to myself when walking home what would I do if some person(s) where to target me especially now they’ve been a few knife crimes in the area. Quite unnerving reading the OP.
 
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NZBoro1 said:
Have had some hairy moments whilst in the RAF with tours in Iraq, Afghanistan etc.

Probably the worst was while doing a det in Karachi. We were there to ship/fly in LPG, water, food and other humanitarian aid (as well as other things/people that/who shall remain nameless).

Our accommodation was at an old airport hotel about 1km from the terminal we working out of. It was a real dodgy place, not allowed to walk between the 2 for fear of abduction etc, had Pakistan police guards in the hotel and around the terminal (we weren't allowed our own). Not armed and always in civvy clothes. To get from one to the other you had to call 'reception' in the hotel and they would arrange for a bus, with armed escort, to come and get you. On no account were you to travel on your own or travel without an escort.

Of course, one night working late and just me, I needed to get back. Was about 11 ish. Called the hotel, and they said they would arrange for a bus. Nothing for half an hour so called again. They again promised a bus. Finally, after about an hour one turned up, no escort and I was on my own about midnight. With no other way to get back I though I'm going to have to chance this and just be ready to leg it and climb out the window if all went dodgy.

When we should have turned into the hotel driveway we carried straight on. I thought right I'm no Daniel Pearl here and started climbing out of the window, adrenalin through the roof. At the point the driver saw what I was doing and laughed and said 'no no, they have changed the entrance, its a bit further on'.

I always made sure after that to travel with others, although we all agreed that should anything have happened the pick ups with the Karachi police in would Foxtrot Oscar pretty quickly.
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But was your wifi working and did the hotel have a good buffet? 😂
 
Queuing to get in the Holgate end at the Oxford game 1967, loads had come early but the turnstiles were closed. I was stuck in the alley impossible to get out and getting squashed from all directions, thought my ribs and lungs were going to give way. Scariest moment of my life.
 
The Ruthsayer said:
Climbed that in Feb just before Covid. There’s seismological equipment all the way up, just sticking up out of the snow. Stunning scenery from the top.
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I'd love to see that view but the only way i'm going up there is in a chopper with the rotors running and ready to go. The last eruption, she gave about 30 minutes warning before the gates of hell opened up. And I think the warning was a small earthquake less than 2 magnitude ... this from memory so details maybe wrong but the outcomes would be the same. You'd have 30 minutes to think about meeting your maker basically. The whole plane below is just covered in tephra.
 
Keuper - I was there too. I nicked off school to make sure I got in. The crush in that alleyway was really, really scarey. If anyone had fallen they wouldn't have got up.
 
Facefuzz said:
When in Iraq. Doing top cover in snatch land rover around Basra. Constantly thinking that if anyone has put wire across the road it will take my head clean off. I always hoped I’d be pulling a funny face that so whoever collected my head wouldn’t be to upset 😂
It scared me more than the ieds.
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The run between Basra Air Base and Shaiba Logs Base (where I was) wasn't much fun in a snatch. Eventually we stopped doing that and used choppers instead to get from one to the other.
 
Another medical one. Heart attack last year. I was actually quite calm waiting for the ambulance and during the angiogram. It was afterwards when I got told I needed a triple bypass that the fear hit me. I had to wait over 4 weeks for it and was ready to do the bloody op myself when the time came. 😁
 
Walking across South America in 2014, as we entered the desert just outside Mendoza and heading East towards Brazil the local cops snagged us just before we were heading into the most challenging part of the whole trip (was feeling super sketchy about 4 days walking through a desert with zero support)..

They drove us all the way back to the small town of La Paz and we didn't know if we were being arrested or what. They equally seemed ***ed off and frustrated having to deal with 3 mystery blokes from the UK causing complaints from scared locals wondering what the hell we were upto. Eventually we just confirmed we were innocently walking to Brazil for charity and they let us go.. not SUPER scary but defo not the easiest experience.


Most scared i've ever been was Snowboarding and coming seconds from death suffocating under some powder that had collapsed in on me.. My mates unclipped and ran back up the 50 feet as they'd seen me disappear, dug me out..and that moment when he pulled the snow out my mouth and that first breath of knowing i was going to survive was insane.

Great Thread

UTB
 
I was mugged in Salvador Brazil by some youths. Said he had a gun under his jumper but I didn’t really believe him but thought better to argue. Strangely I was t scared at all. Was quite calm to be honest.

The most scared I’ve been may have been my own fault somewhat. Went camping in northern NSW. We were camped in tropical scrub, it was proper dense. God knows why we thought it was a good spot to camp. We could hardly move. Me and my mate dropped some acid but my trip was unbelievably strong. Like nothing I had before. The dealer must have put two or three drops on by mistake. The ground was moving below me and the next thing torrential rain came. The heaviest rain id ever witnessed. We had leaches crawling all over us! Blood dripping down my legs and arms. I was absolutely tripping balls thinking I can’t stay here tonight. Luckily one of my mates wasn’t tripping and we jumped in the car and drove home.
 
A couple of years ago I woke up, went downstairs and made breakfast. Got a bowl of muesli. Put a spoonful of mesli in my mouth and it all fell out. Tried agin, same thing. I thought something felt weird. Went to look in the mirror and one side of my face was sagging. At that point I was scared. Feck, I'm having a stroke. But I feel OK. I tried all sorts of movement tests on the right side of my body and all was fine, but I couldn't smile, move my mouth, close my eye. I was still scared though. I was working away from home and staying with a mate. "I don't wanna be in hospital so far from my wife and kids" I thought. So I googled facial paralysis. Up popped "Bell's palsy". Symptoms fitted. So I went to work in the Countryfile office, where I was met with all kinds of stares and concern. "Go to hospital to be checked out". "No, I'll be fine". I wasn't scared any more. I actually went on location to film and, during those few days it did get worse, especially when tired and cold. Helen Skelton later told me she thought I was dying. But I wasn't. Anyway, that moment I looked in the mirror, yes, I babbed myself.
 
borolad259 said:
A couple of years ago I woke up, went downstairs and made breakfast. Got a bowl of muesli. Put a spoonful of mesli in my mouth and it all fell out. Tried agin, same thing. I thought something felt weird. Went to look in the mirror and one side of my face was sagging. At that point I was scared. Feck, I'm having a stroke. But I feel OK. I tried all sorts of movement tests on the right side of my body and all was fine, but I couldn't smile, move my mouth, close my eye. I was still scared though. I was working away from home and staying with a mate. "I don't wanna be in hospital so far from my wife and kids" I thought. So I googled facial paralysis. Up popped "Bell's palsy". Symptoms fitted. So I went to work in the Countryfile office, where I was met with all kinds of stares and concern. "Go to hospital to be checked out". "No, I'll be fine". I wasn't scared any more. I actually went on location to film and, during those few days it did get worse, especially when tired and cold. Helen Skelton later told me she thought I was dying. But I wasn't. Anyway, that moment I looked in the mirror, yes, I babbed myself.
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That will teach you to eat muesli.
 
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