Terrifying Childhood Experiences?

[tastybasslines]

I took my almost 2 year old daughter to the park today after work and she got stung by her first bee and was SCREAMING. I felt so bad and didn't know what to do...I couldn't keep her still and barely got her in the car seat to go home. I didn't want to try to pull it out, as I had no tweezers and didn't want to push it in. She was crying the whole way home. We got it out, but it took a while to calm her down. I think she was shocked.

It reminded me of the terror I felt when I happened upon an ENTIRE bees nest when I was 10. I was rolling down a hill, like we did, arms tucked in, and rolling down the grass. I somehow hit a nest near a tree. I felt a few bees, but realized I was starting to get stung. When I stopped rolling and got up, I was getting stung like crazy. I was SCREAMING like crazy too, and ran into the house of my parents friends with my arms flailing, a swarm of bees following. My parents and their friends and their kids got stung a few times too as they steered me toward the bathroom. I ended up in a bathtub of cold water, a doctor came, and was picking out every single sting. I was stung 77 times within about 2 minutes. 2 were on my underdeveloped testicles, and one was right on...him. They flew up my shorts. I'm lucky I'm not allergic to bees or I might of died.

I just remember crazy panic, and was terrified, and can only imagine what my daughter felt feeling that much pain for the first time.

Anybody have a terrifying experience like this when they were a kid? What happened?

[sandmangeck]

I've had a pretty similar experience, w/ both daughter and myself. At about age 1.5 my little lady got low to the ground on the porch, and looked like she kissed it. Then hopped up screaming bloody murder. She had kissed a bee. Ah, to be little and innocent again.
I thought it would be a great idea at about 9 yrs old to take a tennis racket to a beehive. Guess who won? I was out of school for a week because I couldn't open my eyes.

[Muddslide]

When I was about 11 I was on a camping trip with a few guys and some of their dads. We were on the western edge of Oklahoma.

At one point me and a friend of mine went off hiking around, we were traversing pretty desolate terrain and had hopped a couple of ranch fences, probably walking around for over an hour.

As we were making our way back and the campsite came into view, there was a fence ahead of us, between us and the camp. We could see my friend's dad trying to get the outdoor grills going.

All of a sudden two things happened simultaneously:

My friend's dad straightened up suddenly, cupped his hands around his mouth and, loud as he could, yelled "RRRRRRUUUUUUUNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!"

At the same moment, I began to feel the earth move. I could feel and hear this low rumbling. Earthquakes that you can feel are pretty rare in Oklahoma, but of course it's tornado country, so that thought crossed my mind, but then nobody else at the camp was trying to get to safety and in fact my friend's father was running towards us, so I couldn't reckon what was happening.

All I knew was I did what that man said. I didn't even take time to turn around. Neither did my buddy. We just high-tailed it. As the rumbling sound got louder and could be felt more strongly, we reached the fence, which was barbed wire. Both of us got cut up going over that fence. A barb caught me in the thigh, ripped my jeans and leg up about 18 inches. In fact I ended up having to go get stitches, cutting the camping trip short.

So, what had we been running from?

A herd of very large and pissed-off bison!

I'd say there were probably 30 of them charging at us. My friend's dad said they were so close behind us that he was positive we were going to get trampled. When I fell over the top of the fence and my leg got caught, it twisted me around so I ended up on my back on the ground looking back towards the fence where a huge mass of bison were still stamping and huffing.

My friend and I became aware that we had very warm, heavy moisture all down the backs of our necks. Of course we were sweaty, but this was different. It was actually bison breath that they had sharply exhaled onto us as we fled from them. That's how close they were to us.

I felt pretty alive that day, even though it was my first time being aware of how close I came to being killed or seriously maimed or injured.

[Kwesi]

My #1 is still not something I'm comfortable telling anyone (bet you wanna know now, huh ?) but #2 is pretty funny... now anyway .

Number 2 most terrifying childhood experience: When I was young our family used to go to the amusement park somewhat often (Adventure Land, it's now Six Flags though). For as long as I can remember I've been absolutely TERRIFIED of heights, moreso than anyone I've ever met. To give you an idea, we once went to some theme park in Florida and rode some huge elevator-like ride with a see-through floor so you could actually see how high you were. To keep from going completely insane I had to lay on the floor, curl up, close my eyes and cover my ears. Even then every time the ride stopped I yelped. Anywhoozle, when I was young my mom would pretty much force me to ride rollercoasters (Dad absolutely refused, my brother wasn't born yet and when he was he was too young) with her and the minute the safety harness came down I was screaming. Every. Single. Time. And this happened plenty of times. I'm still surprised that I never passed out on one... at least that I can remember.

[tastybasslines]

Originally Posted by Muddslide

When I was about 11 I was on a camping trip with a few guys and some of their dads. We were on the western edge of Oklahoma.

At one point me and a friend of mine went off hiking around, we were traversing pretty desolate terrain and had hopped a couple of ranch fences, probably walking around for over an hour.

As we were making our way back and the campsite came into view, there was a fence ahead of us, between us and the camp. We could see my friend's dad trying to get the outdoor grills going.

All of a sudden two things happened simultaneously:

My friend's dad straightened up suddenly, cupped his hands around his mouth and, loud as he could, yelled "RRRRRRUUUUUUUNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!"

At the same moment, I began to feel the earth move. I could feel and hear this low rumbling. Earthquakes that you can feel are pretty rare in Oklahoma, but of course it's tornado country, so that thought crossed my mind, but then nobody else at the camp was trying to get to safety and in fact my friend's father was running towards us, so I couldn't reckon what was happening.

All I knew was I did what that man said. I didn't even take time to turn around. Neither did my buddy. We just high-tailed it. As the rumbling sound got louder and could be felt more strongly, we reached the fence, which was barbed wire. Both of us got cut up going over that fence. A barb caught me in the thigh, ripped my jeans and leg up about 18 inches. In fact I ended up having to go get stitches, cutting the camping trip short.

So, what had we been running from?

A herd of very large and pissed-off bison!

I'd say there were probably 30 of them charging at us. My friend's dad said they were so close behind us that he was positive we were going to get trampled. When I fell over the top of the fence and my leg got caught, it twisted me around so I ended up on my back on the ground looking back towards the fence where a huge mass of bison were still stamping and huffing.

My friend and I became aware that we had very warm, heavy moisture all down the backs of our necks. Of course we were sweaty, but this was different. It was actually bison breath that they had sharply exhaled onto us as we fled from them. That's how close they were to us.

I felt pretty alive that day, even though it was my first time being aware of how close I came to being killed or seriously maimed or injured.

that is a seriously amazing story...I knight you TBOT warrior...crazy situation for your dad more than you...he can see it and you are just running!

[TomA1234]

Not quite as impressive as a herd of Bison but when I was about 6 I got chased by a young bull (it was still much larger than me).

I was walking down a narrow path with my family and after getting over a gate was ahead of them. It then turned out that a bull had got separated from the herd and walked out of some bushes beside that gate.
It then started running down the path I was on and I tried running away. My parents started yelling at me to dive off the track, so after a few seconds I did and luckily the bull carried on.

That is the scariest thing that has ever happened to me. Luckily I didn't really have a concept of what could have happened to me had I carried on so I haven't been affected by it.

[Big_Daddy]

I about probably about nine or so. I almost drowned at the pool at the day-camp I was going to. The waves game on, and I was at the point where the water was up to my upper chest. The waves ended up sucking me further into the deep end, I could barely keep my head above water, I couldn't swim, I was absolutely terrified. Did I life guard see me? Hah! Of course not! There was a volunteer for another camp who saw me, so he picked me up over his shoulders and brought me to shallower water.

That thought still comes back sometimes when I'm in deep water (even though I'm a decent swimmer). The fact that I'm also slightly afraid of deep water (especially when I can't see what's under me) doesn't really help.

[Quickie]

My father was military (Col). We lived in Panama in the late 60's. There was a huge pool on base and I went swimming every day. My father had a "friend", Sgt. Brubaker. A fat, obnoxious, arrogant man. One day while I was swimming, he grabbed me and put his hands around my waist and while digging his thumbs into my sides, would hold me under water and then pull me back up over and over again. I thought I was going to die....I guess I passed out as I came to on the poolside with a bunch of people around.

My father never talked to that **** again.

[madmatt]

You know what bag worms are? They hang around pine trees or bushs. Well I crawled into a bush when I was a kid and I looked around and saw I was surrounded by them. They freaked me out, I was screaming for my Mom to come get me.
When a teenager me and my Brother in law went Spelunking in Colorado Springs. We then started doing some climbing around the base of a mountain. I was carrying our gallon jug of tea that we brought to drink. So we got to a high point and it was pretty much a cliff face I was on and I dropped that gallon jug and watched it fall about 50 or 60 feet to the ground, SPLAT! I froze man, it seemed like an eternity until John came back and talked me out of it.

[stratovani]

When I was 6 years old my family and I went to spend a Saturday afternoon at a local state park. They had a lake with a small beach along with a diving board. I met up with a bunch of boys my age and got to playing with them. We were all playing in the water when one of them asked me if I wanted to dive off the diving board with him. Now I didn't know how to swim, but I didn't let that stop me. When kids are playing and having fun they don't think! So I went ahead and dove in. I can remember being underwater, thrashing about, and I felt like I was in a black hole, with no sensation other than stark, naked fear! A moment later, I felt something violently jerk me out of the water! Luckily, a man happened to be nearby, and he noticed this really small kid jumping in off the diving board and thought it unusual, so he kept an eye on me, and when I didn't come up, he quickly dived in and jerked me right out of the water. I was a bit groggy but otherwise OK, at least I had the good sense to hold my breath while I was under the water.

I'm sitting here on a Saturday morning, fifty years later, drinking coffee and typing this, because a stranger took notice of a young boy who couldn't swim. Guardian angel? Can't really say. I think everyone needs a hero at one time or another in their lives, and that man was my personal hero. And I'll never know who he was.

[drummer5359]

It was right before Christmas when I was four years old. My parents had us all bundled up, as we were getting ready to go to an uncle's house to a party. I fell and hit my head on the Lionel train platform and went into convulsions. I was rushed to the hospital. I had a head injury that caused me to have continuous episodes.

I don't remember the fall, but I remember waking up in the hospital. I didn't get to go home until some time in February. I remember being very frightened by just being in such a strange place.

When I did go home, we had Christmas all over again.

[Muddslide]

Originally Posted by drummer5359

It was right before Christmas when I was four years old. My parents had us all bundled up, as we were getting ready to go to an uncle's house to a party. I fell and hit my head on the Lionel train platform and went into convulsions. I was rushed to the hospital. I had a head injury that caused me to have continuous episodes.

Oddly, every drummer with whom I've ever worked has an incident of head trauma in their history. It explains a lot, I think.

j/k. Not to make light of your terrible episode. Your parents must have been absolutely stricken. As a parent myself, I can't imagine the worry and grief...

[Lesfunk]

Probably the scariest thing for me was August, 17 1977. I was 11 years old and was in a small airplane crash. It actually happened so quickly that there was no time to be scared. After climbing out of the Cessna with fuel leaking all over me, my mom and dad. We got to a safe distance and let it sink in. That's when it got scary. After I realized what had just happened.

[tastybasslines]

Originally Posted by stratovani

When I was 6 years old my family and I went to spend a Saturday afternoon at a local state park. They had a lake with a small beach along with a diving board. I met up with a bunch of boys my age and got to playing with them. We were all playing in the water when one of them asked me if I wanted to dive off the diving board with him. Now I didn't know how to swim, but I didn't let that stop me. When kids are playing and having fun they don't think! So I went ahead and dove in. I can remember being underwater, thrashing about, and I felt like I was in a black hole, with no sensation other than stark, naked fear! A moment later, I felt something violently jerk me out of the water! Luckily, a man happened to be nearby, and he noticed this really small kid jumping in off the diving board and thought it unusual, so he kept an eye on me, and when I didn't come up, he quickly dived in and jerked me right out of the water. I was a bit groggy but otherwise OK, at least I had the good sense to hold my breath while I was under the water.

I'm sitting here on a Saturday morning, fifty years later, drinking coffee and typing this, because a stranger took notice of a young boy who couldn't swim. Guardian angel? Can't really say. I think everyone needs a hero at one time or another in their lives, and that man was my personal hero. And I'll never know who he was.

I've experienced that underwater panic feeling before when I was a kid. I got dragged out by a strong riptide at the beach and that fear set in quickly, when I realized that I was powerless. A lifeguard came out and helped me back to shore. But that panic feeling...you cannot forget it. Drowning is a terrible fear of mine. It's like you are alive, but cant do anything...

[bongomania]

I found it pretty terrifying to exit the birth canal.

[tastybasslines]

Originally Posted by bongomania

I found it pretty terrifying to exit the birth canal.

But yet, you spend the rest of your life trying to get back in.

[bongomania]

I decided to leave that one open for somebody.



...so to speak...

[Papa Dangerous]

Hmm.. I can think of some scary things in my almost 24 years (in 13 days!) of existence.

I relate to the underwater panic. I did not know how to swim, was invited to a pool party at a pool club, seen all my friends in the water and jumped into 8 feet of water. I just remember kicking my feet waiting to find the bottom of the pool but I was not successful. I suppose natural instincts kicked in and I reached for my friend's mother's hand as she reached into the pool to get me out as the life guard approached. Took me a few minutes before I went back in.. I had no idea pools had gotten that deep.

I remember laying in an ambulance when I was like 5-7 suffering from pneumonia. Both lungs were filled with water and I recall laying with an oxygen mask on asking if the sirens were on the ambulance cause I was not able to hear them... I thought it was cool, for some reason in a semi comatose state, to be in an ambulance.

The two instances that probably left the biggest impact now relate to current freak outs when certain things happen.

1) When I was younger, I had a silver chain, which I still have like 10 years later, but back then I had a decent sized cross on it. I fell asleep with them on, and woke gasping for breath as the cross laid across my neck on my Adam's apple. To this day, I get very tense when certain pressures are applied to my neck. It adds to my biggest fears of suffocating via strangulation or drowning.

2) I was like six, and I was walking with my mom and brother. A beetle flew onto my ear and I got nervous and tried to get it out. I ended up pushing it into the deeper cavity of my ear. I remember clear as anything the sound of the bug buzzing, and the feeling of the bug's wings flapping against the cilia in my ear. I cannot even begin to explain how traumatizing that feeling is... I screamed and luckily we were by a fire station. My mom pounded on the door and a fire fighter shined a flash light in my ear and the beetle crawled out towards the light. The relief immediately following was to die for... For a long time after that, whenever I seen a fly I covered my ears in fear.
- Just the other day I was sitting at this bench, and I swear there is always just one bee by the bench that I frequent. I usually stay calm and still and it does not bother me. This day, it got too too close by my chest, that I got up and darted away a few feet. It flew by my face and it buzzed right across my ear. I grabbed my bag and jetted into the entry of a store and sat on their comfy display chairs for the remainder of my wait.

So, to the OP's question of if ever having a traumatizing experience, my answer is "yes!"

[Jon_West]

Originally Posted by tastybasslines

I took my almost 2 year old daughter to the park today after work and she got stung by her first bee and was SCREAMING. I felt so bad and didn't know what to do...I couldn't keep her still and barely got her in the car seat to go home. I didn't want to try to pull it out, as I had no tweezers and didn't want to push it in. She was crying the whole way home. We got it out, but it took a while to calm her down. I think she was shocked.

It reminded me of the terror I felt when I happened upon an ENTIRE bees nest when I was 10. I was rolling down a hill, like we did, arms tucked in, and rolling down the grass. I somehow hit a nest near a tree. I felt a few bees, but realized I was starting to get stung. When I stopped rolling and got up, I was getting stung like crazy. I was SCREAMING like crazy too, and ran into the house of my parents friends with my arms flailing, a swarm of bees following. My parents and their friends and their kids got stung a few times too as they steered me toward the bathroom. I ended up in a bathtub of cold water, a doctor came, and was picking out every single sting. I was stung 77 times within about 2 minutes. 2 were on my underdeveloped testicles, and one was right on...him. They flew up my shorts. I'm lucky I'm not allergic to bees or I might of died.

I just remember crazy panic, and was terrified, and can only imagine what my daughter felt feeling that much pain for the first time.

Anybody have a terrifying experience like this when they were a kid? What happened?

[Papa Dangerous]

Originally Posted by Jon_West

HAIL KITLER!