Thread: Brush with death

ive had 2 close encounters, i was working on a vehicle one day with my old man and we had it jacked up to put the springs under it, i just looked up and thought this could fall so told him to get his head out from under it and i did the same and before i could move to get the stands it fell, cracked his head and gave me a nice bruise on my chest, another was my own fault we (me and a buddie) decided to race four wheelers on a dirt road near my camp late one night. no cars ever travel this road so we thought. well we went and raced side by side and around a blind corner there was a tri axe coming with a load of stone for another camp, i was in his lane with no way to get over i remember seeign the lights and thinking ok im dead now but at the last second my buddie was able to get stopped enough that i could cut the wheel and get to the other side and survive. the trucker was nice after i appologised. he said he was scared also. i proptly parked the machine for the night

I pranged my old Toyota trayback 4x4 , had a guts full of rum, and hit dead mans corner on the way to Inman Valley, a few miles out of Victor Harbor, funny I remember watching sparks , coming from the roof gutter as the old girl slid down the road on her side, then she stood back up, minus her front axle. Had a pericarditis a few years ago, took 1325cc of fluid of my heart, apparently was a pleasant shade of purple. Short range memory has never been the same since, has got better, was about 10 minutes from a pine box. Guess those of us who live adventuresome lives will have a narrow squeak from time to time !!

Have had thousands of near death experiances.You see back in the day I had a problem with Alcohol (9 yrs clean and sober today) every day after work driving home late at night tottaly blitzed, was a near death possibility for not only me but others.
Sitting in a duck blind with my buddys drinking two qts. of brandy was a near death experiance with shotguns for sure
Driving back one rainy night from my duck club in colusa hauling my 26 ft layton trailer,dodge power wagon was my baby,wife and I started coming down altamont pass going into livermore,big semi passed and got us all wonky on the road,tapped the brakes, tapped the trailer brakes,could not stop the fish tailing,Told my wife to hold on,I think we are going over,slid across 3 lanes of traffic,back and forth,could not do anything,God sent us to the right hand berm,hit it and rolled 3 times,ended upside down,looked at my wife, you okay,we were both fine,all buckled up and injury free.
But, That was back in the early 70s,anyone remember gas rationing?
I installed an aux 80 gal tank in the bed of the dodge,was full,we are upside down and I start smelling gas,cannot open the doors as the roof pillers are buckeld,I start to panic,told the wife,put your feet on the windshield,I did the same,push as hard as you can girl,I did the same,windshield popped right out,we got out and ran.
Never any fire thank gawd,but what a trip.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Have had thousands of near death experiances.You see back in the day I had a problem with Alcohol (9 yrs clean and sober today) every day after work driving home late at night tottaly blitzed, was a near death possibility for not only me but others.

Many, many congratulations!

When I was 13 my friend's brother was killed by a drunk driver on his grad night. Seven or eight years later, another friend lost his Mom who was t-boned at an intersection by another drunk who ran a red. And about 12 years ago my sister and Bro-in-Law were very nearly killed by yet another drunk driver.

Attitudes about drinking and driving have thankfully changed here, but there are still too many folks who continue to do it. Thank you *very* much for no longer being one!

Wow, great stories. Lot's about vehicles trying to kill us...

So, I almost died on my 21st birthday. I was with friends, going the rounds, getting completely tanked as one should do on their 21st. After being bought quite a few rounds by old friends and new friends (strangers), hopping several bars, catching myself dancing with women (not a bad thing of course, just unusual as I used to be very shy), tossing cookies in the men's room and using a long island to fix my breath, I was done. Well, maybe before that I was done, but I didn't stop until then.

I decided to go home. My friends were lit and we were all walking, so I had no ride and decided to leave right away. I guess I kind of bailed, but I'm not sure. I recall saying goodbye to at least one friend who did not stop me.

It was pitch black and pouring rain that night. I had about 5 miles to walk, all back roads, none wide enough for my swerving. I stumbled from far left to far right of the street, slowly proceding forward. My peripheral vision was gone and the remaining small square in the middle was flashing on and off. The puddles in the potholes were like quicksand that pulled me down plenty of times, deep enough to cover me in water when lying on the ground. This is were the memory completely stopped. This is my only blackout ever.

I did make it home. I made it upstairs to my room. I shared it with my best friend Matt, a minor, who could not come to the bars. I passed out on my back. Remind you of anything you heard in school? Yeah, well I threw up in my sleep. On my back. I began the drowning process, but was making choking noises. Matt woke up, saw my face filling up with yuk and saved my life. Rolled me over and made sure the puke got away from my mouth and nose.

So, friends got me drunk and friends saved my life. I could have done the former on my own, but not the latter. Thank goodness for friends right?!

I'm not sure if it was near death or not, but it certainly fueled my claustrophobia.

I grew up on a farm and one day I was out with dad digging drainage trenches with the tractor and a grader blade that attached via the three point linkage.

The tractor got stuck, so I got off to decouple the blade. long story short, I ended up trapped under the blade with my face in the mud. Dad had to dig me a breathing space while he tried to get me out.

Ended up with a broken nose and a fear of enclosed spaces.

I have a few tractor stories actually, but that one was probably the best.

James

I wouldn't call it near death, but it kind of fits here...

Why I missed the Milwaukee meet two years ago:

Playing at Crash Test Dummies again?!


Mick

To quote Iron maiden: Is it the hand on your shoulder from the Lord above, or the devil himself, come to give you a shove?

I believe that when your time has come, there is no fighting the reaper. The Lord may grant temporary reprieve, or the devil may help you towards an untimely death. But I think those are exceptions. 99.999% of the time, people die when their sand has run out.

As I posted in the conversation some time ago, I saved a life. I stopped a woman from committing suicide. It were literally my hands and my fast reflexes that made the difference between life and a big messy splat. The thing is: I was not supposed to be there. It was a very unusual set of circumstances that made me be there at that place at that particular time. I think the divine plan is not so much God doing big things that make us go wow, as moving little pawns slightly to the side so that the right people are at the right place at the right time.



For added irony, the day I saved that life I was wearing a t-shirt with the grim reaper printed on it. I wear reaper t-shirts most of the time. Aside from the fact that I think they look cool, they help me keep in mind that our time is short and we should a) make the most of it and b) one day we will all be judged.

have always had this thought in my mind since a young man.
God has this giant leatherbound book on his huge ebony desk,hundreds more on his bookshelves,in this book is every living humans name alive today.next to each name is a number,when he picks the number you die.how he decides has always been a mystery to me.