Recently, the BuzzFeed Community (and beyond) shared their dramatic Final Destination-like stories. Turns out MANY more people have had similar near-death experiences...so, we did a part two! Here's what they shared:
1. "I was driving on the highway, and the truck in front of me was carrying a big sign that was attached to it and swung from two huge thick iron legs. The wind picked up, and I saw that sign start to jiggle, and immediately Final Destination popped into my head so I quickly moved into the other lane. A split second later, that sign went airborne and crashed into the lane I just got out of. The scariest thing was how high and fast it was flying; it almost certainly would’ve hit our windshield and possibly would’ve killed us. If I hadn’t seen Final Destination, I really don’t think my thought process would be as quick as it was."
2. "I got ejected from a car at 90 mph and stopped the fall with my head on I-80. Nerves ripped out of my spinal cord, my spleen and kidney were impaled by my ribs, brain swelling, TBI, and post-traumatic anosmia, my left hand was completely shattered, and my right wrist/hand was broken. Still have a pretty cool scar from where the bone came out. I’m supposed to be very, very dead."
3. "I was driving back home and was at a light waiting my turn to cross a divided highway. The light changed, and I wasn’t paying attention or something, so hung around longer than I normally would’ve. An 18-wheeler blew the intersection going 50–60 mph. Needless to say, if I’d been on the ball with the light, I would probably be dead."
4. "At 2½ years old, the downstairs neighbor was cleaning his shotgun when it fired through the floor right next to my bed."
5. "I was about 5 years old, swinging in a tire swing on our apple tree in the backyard. A giant spool that my Dad got from work somehow started rolling down the hill, gaining so much speed, and smashed into the apple tree. It pinned me against the tree by my hair, pulling out a big clump, and took a giant chunk out of the tree. The rim of the spool missed taking off the top of my head by a fraction of an inch. Luckily, I survived, although concussed."
—Anonymous
6. "I was driving on the 10 freeway in LA going 60 with cars speeding all around me. A big pickup truck in front of me had large rolls of carpet in the back. One fell out across my lane like a giant log. Unable to break in time or swerve around it, I prepared for impact. In that split second, the carpet unrolled flat on the road, and I drove over it. In shock, I looked around to see other drivers around me looking at me, amazed at how lucky I was!"
—Anonymous
7. "In December of 1988, I was in London on business. I was scheduled to fly back to Dallas on the 21st via Pan Am. I was excited about the long layover in New York. Unfortunately, I had to change my plans and go home a day early. I was so mad! The next day I learned that the flight I was originally booked on, Pan Am Flight 103, exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, and everyone died. I fainted."
—Anonymous
8. "In 2005, I was sent to Puerto Rico to help with onboarding and hiring. We were allowed to travel back home every two weeks. I rarely flew back to the States because I was living on a Caribbean island for free. But the one time I did, my flight back to the US was a nightmare. The plane dropped roughly 6,000 feet and barreled out of control. Oxygen masks dropped, and the lights were flickering. The whole nine yards. This happened after 100 minutes in the air. The flight finally went as normal, but my coworker then grabbed his carry-on bag with extra clothes and brought it with him to the lavatory. It was harrowing, to say the least, and I still remember each moment like it happened yesterday."
9. "I knew I had a kidney stone, but I had no PTO at work, so I kept working even though I was MISERABLE. Fast-forward a couple of days, and I started to get really sick. Oh great, I thought. Now I'm getting the flu ON TOP of having this kidney stone. One morning, as soon as I got to work, my boss told me I looked horrible and made me sit down so she could take my blood pressure, and it was SKY HIGH. I ended up driving myself to the hospital, and when I got there, I had a 105° fever. Come to find out, it wasn't the flu. It was a RAGING kidney infection, and I was septic. I was admitted to the hospital for almost two weeks. I had a very rare E. coli infection in my kidney that had to be treated by a doctor called in specially from the Atlanta CDC."
"The doctor told my husband to prepare for the worst because they didn't think I was going to survive. I was released from the hospital with a port and had to continue daily IV antibiotic infusions for another 10 days. PTO or not, I will NEVER let my health go like that ever again."
10. "I almost died when I was 8. We didn’t know I had a heart defect until one night when my heart rate was 30, so my mom took me to the ER. I was diagnosed with heart block (the top and bottom don’t communicate so they beat out of sync) and transferred. Six months later, after my school year finished, I had my first pacemaker put in. They gave me morphine for pain which made me throw up. All of a sudden, my heart rate went back down, and my whole body was twitching. 'Ok, the lead (wire) is loose; we’ll go fix it.' I woke up from my second surgery with a zipper scar down my chest and tubes sticking out everywhere. It turned out the pacemaker lead had completely pierced my heart and diaphragm and was working out of the chest wall, and I’d had two more surgeries, not one. If the lead had pierced a few more milimeters in any direction, there would have been severe damage to my heart."
11. "My aortic valve collapsed, and I also had an aortic dissection at the same time. In fact, the dissection happened while I was in the CAT scan machine. They med-flighted me (from the Cape) up to Brigham and Women’s Hospital (in Boston). I’m really, really lucky to be alive!!"
12. "A few months ago, I was put on the medication metformin to help with my PCOS. Knowing it caused stomach problems, I wasn’t too worried when I began having cramps and nausea. Two weeks into the med, I began throwing up and having diarrhea so bad I began going numb in my arms/legs and passed out on the toilet where my roommate found me. She raced me to the ER, and we found out I had a toxic buildup of lactic acid in my bloodstream. It was 4x the normal amount a human should have. It was an extremely rare reaction to the medication I was on. Having such severe lactic acidosis, the doctors said we should have called an ambulance. If my roommate wasn’t there that night, I would have died in that bathroom. I always tell her she saved my life!!"
13. "Several years ago, I was driving to work. It was a nice morning. I went to grab something from the passenger seat. Not even three seconds. My car hit the gravel shoulder, and I lost control. My car rolled at least twice. How I missed curve warning signs that could have literally taken my head off, trees, and a metal fence is a miracle. When my car finally stopped, it was lying on the driver's side. I walked away with bruises and was sore for months. Even the EMTs commented, 'How did you survive that?'"
—Theresa S
14. "When I was 18, I was driving to a friend's house to spend the night. I had boxes of glass bowls, plates, and cups in the trunk. I drove a suburban so you could climb in the trunk from the back seats. A tractor came from the opposite way with a really bright blinding light, and I have astigmatism which makes me see halos and rays around lights. This tractor was also taking up half my lane so I had to swerve in the dirt and then swerve really fast because I almost hit a mailbox. I landed in someone's ditch, had to crawl out the window and grab my phone out of the grass to call for help. When I went back to the vehicle, I saw a giant shard of glass stuck in the back of the driver's side headrest; it went all the way through, and if my head had bounced back, I'm pretty sure I would not be alive. I went home with just a concussion, a couple of scratches, and some bruises. I found glass in my hair for the next week."
—Anonymous
15. "When I was 7–8 years old, I was caught in a riptide at the beach. My parents were at odds with each other and were not paying attention to us kids. My older brother and I wanted to go play in the water, but the rule was a parent had to be present. But somehow, they just sent us out by ourselves. It was so early in the day that not many people were on the beach. We were playing with a piece of foam board we found, and somehow, I got sucked out by the riptide. My brother kept yelling at me to come out of the water, but it was too strong for me."
"The water was so deep that I could not touch the bottom, and the swells were going over my head. I remember thinking, God I don’t want to die. At some point, a father and his 16-year-old son saw what was happening, and they jumped in to save me. I panicked and pushed the son under the water. The father came up behind me and put his arm around my neck and was able to pull me out of the water. I was so terrified of what happened that I just ran into the house without thanking them! My brother did thank them, though, and then got on me for not staying to say thank you. My parents were so wrapped up in their being angry at each other that they never even knew what happened. That’s why I never let my kids out of my sight when we go near water."
—Anonymous
16. "My nephew and I were trimming branches off a tree — one branch fell against all odds in a direction that defied gravity and should have been impossible. It hit me and sent me flying backward off the ladder. I landed on the ground, my head inches from a branch that broke off and stuck straight up in the ground. The chainsaw went flying and hit my nephew's jacket right on the shoulder. For some reason, the safety didn't work, and the saw never stopped running. It bounced off of him and landed at his feet. Our guardian angels were on high alert — neither of us were hurt and went back to finishing the tree after a long ('Holy crap, dude') break."
—Anonymous
17. "I was maybe 8 years old, and a friend of the family who was a carpenter left the trunk of his car open with all of his tools inside. So, of course, being a really nosy kid, I checked the tools out. I found a staple gun and tried to watch the staple coming out. I wasn't strong enough to pull the trigger while looking at the business end. I then turned it around and managed to pull the trigger. The staple pinged around the trunk four or five times. Had I been able to pull the trigger while looking at it, it would have killed me."
—Anonymous
18. "Heading to town at a lawful 60mph when I passed out due to an undiagnosed heart conduction disorder. Woke up several seconds later in the oncoming lane, and managed to get back into my lane without overcorrecting. Heart had slowed to 20bpm."
—Anonymous
19. "Back in the '90s, I was driving south on 101 on the way to San Francisco with my then-husband and another couple. I saw a pickup truck with a really wobbly tire. For some reason, I just kept my eye on it. Then, the whole tire and axle came off of the truck and bounced all over the highway. I just braked slowly and moved over a few lanes. After we passed it, the other three in the car seemed to let out a collective breath. They couldn't believe how calm I was; they were certain that tire and axle were coming through the windshield."
—Anonymous
20. "The story goes that when I was a toddler, a group of friends and neighbors were in our driveway chatting, when one of them got in their car and backed out of the driveway and headed down the alley, when they realized I was missing. They all ran after the car to find me underneath with my shirt caught on the underside of the car. I scuffed my knees."
—Anonymous
21. "So when I was 20 and pregnant with my now 14-year-old, being a dutiful girlfriend, I set off to pick up my then-boyfriend from his course. It had just started snowing, but hey, this is England; it's not going to settle anyway. Unfortunately, I was VERY wrong. Halfway along, the main road had been closed and diverted to the country roads alongside it. Still only focusing on pushing ahead and not leaving my boyfriend stranded, I continued."
"The snow at this point was heavy and had settled on the road, making driving conditions very dangerous. I had managed to get the car up a rather steep hill. Well, what goes up must come down, right? The car gained so much speed that I had to overtake the car in front of me on the other side of the road, pull back in, and wait for the car to gradually slow down before the brakes would work again. Had there been a car on that side of the road or anymore cars in front of the one I overtook, I don't think myself and my daughter would have come out of that alive."
—Anonymous
