20. I nearly fell into ice

This isn’t the creepiest, but it is the scariest.

It was the middle of winter, I was about 11 years old. My friend and I had just gotten into an argument and took different ways home, even though we lived in the same neighborhood. I walked through a wooded area that ran below a cliff (which coincidentally had a big creepy mansion on it). I think the snow was about hip deep, but the path was mostly compacted.

At the base of the cliff below the mansion there was a small grove of trees with a pond in the center. I saw that the pond was frozen over, and decided to try to “skate” around on it a bit. The ice looked thick enough, and it didn’t even creak when I stepped on.

I played on it for about half an hour, which I guess is what did it in- I was standing in the middle when it gave away under my foot. I screamed, but there was no way anyone heard me- nobody lived in the mansion, and the closest other houses were across the river.

I crawled on my belly towards the edge where I had come on, and that gave away under my hand as well. My hand went in, and then my arm, and then I managed to pull myself halfway to my feet and jump to the ground, breaking all the ice I’d just been standing on.

I was a strong swimmer, but also wearing snowpants and a heavy down parka- there’s no way I could have swam out if I’d fallen in, and the water was cold enough to kill me quickly. I still get a little bit afraid just thinking about it- I nearly died, alone in the woods, because I was too bullheaded to apologize to my friend.

21. My drunken family members were playing with guns

I was a kid. Drunken family member was in the basement, I was upstairs. They were playing with guns. Gun goes off, from downstairs, bullet travels upstairs, misses me by about a foot or 2. Almost blew my head off. Still cringe thinking about it cause I had just moved a minute or 2 before it happened from where the bullet struck.

One of 4 times in my 22 years where I really should have died but didn’t.

22. The television turned on

A few months ago I woke up around 3 in the morning, and decided to go downstairs to the bathroom. When I opened my door and peeked over the stairs I saw a bright light in my living room upon further inspection I saw the TV was on a channel that was all fuzzy. There was no one on the couch or anywhere in the vicinity so I yelled my moms name, and as soon as I made a sound the tv turned off and my bathroom door slammed. I checked every nook and cranny of the bathroom and found nothing. Shit still haunts me to this day.