If you happen to see something disturbing, scary, or maybe even so outrageous you couldn’t believe it, it can be really hard to get those images out of your head.
It might even be impossible…
Some things just get burned into our brains whether we like it or not.
Let’s take a look at these responses from AskReddit users about things they can’t unsee.
1. On the job.
“Former volunteer firefighter. Currently a Paramedic.
First witnessed death on Christmas morning when I was 16 (as a junior firefighter)
Two mangled bodies in a Camaro that hit a tree doing 100+ mph. I was 17.
A man hanging from a tree in his driveway having set his house on fire. Christmas night. I was 19.
Driving up on a 64 yom (year old male) who was reported to have fallen and hurt his leg laying in a pool of his own blood just before he went into cardiac arrest. Also the blood that poured of the bed as I rolled the bed into the Ambulance.
The cat of the patient at the first cardiac arrest I attended with the ambulance service. It watched with only vague interest and had markings that made it look like hitler. I don’t remember the man.
The first birth I attended. That was nice.
The aftermath of a man who committed suicide by train. It was half a mile of pieces. He literally left a sh*t stain on the tracks at point of impact. His shoes, socks and feet were all separated.
Every hanging. I’ve been relatively lucky and not been to as many. They’re the worst.
Too many gross feet.
There could be another section on unforgettable smells.
Despite this I enjoy my job. These are not the majority of the work.”
2. True crime.
“The Facebook Messenger conversation between my now ex wife and a guy she knew discussing how they were going to stage an abduction and assault.
The conversation went down to how it had to look like he “kidnapped” both of them, that our son wouldn’t go with willingly so they had to drug him, and how she had ‘tested’ drugging me (with the name of the drug, that she had in her possession).
That also explained my “24 hour flu” that came randomly out of nowhere the previous weekend.”
3. A terrible day.
“Mine wasn’t something I saw it was hearing the final phone calls made from 9/11 on YouTube and this one man in his office is begging for help and then he’s like “Oh my god oh my god they’re falling” and then it cuts out.
God that haunts me still.”
4. Life is precious.
“My grandma had a bad fall and had to stay in hospital over night. I was with my auntie and my gran needed the toilet. My auntie took her to the toilet and I waited in the hospital bay, it was very late at night and most patients were asleep.
There was one woman who was awake but looked absolutely shocking, had heavy, wheezy breathing. There was a staff member sat next to her who was monitoring her.
I’d been stood there for maybe 5 minutes when the woman started coughing and eyes went wide. The staff member pressed a button which must have been a silent alarm because the next thing about 5 nurses and a Dr appeared. They went to the patient and put the curtain round.
Maybe 10 minutes later one of the nurses came out and attached a picture of a swan on the outside of the curtain. This meant the lady had passed away.
At the time I must have been 19, 20 or 21 I can’t remember, but it really stuck with me how quickly a life can pass. I was left thinking, what about her family? Does she have people that will miss her? Is there someone that depends on her?
I’m a clinical worker now so I’m more used to life and death, but that was a massive eye opening moment for me that I’ll always carry with me.”
5. Shooting.
“The livestream of the Christchurch mosque shooting. It took me a minute to understand that was I was watching was actually real, and it was f*cked.”
6. Ugh. No way.
“Surgery being performed on my back.
Was watching it through a reflection in glass wall.”
7. Shock and awe.
“On my way to work I stoped at a red light. I saw a old homeless man pull his pants down.
He bent over and proceeded to projectile sh*t all over a car. When the light turned green me and a the car behind me just stared in shock at the horrors we’d seen.”
8. Poor dog.
“My dog after he was hit by a car. I got a call from animal control while I was at work and raced home hoping for the best. When I got there I knew immediately he was gone.
The AC officers were great, and they tried to keep me from seeing him but I had to see for myself. I carried him upstairs and wrapped him in his blanket and sat in the shower and cried with him for idk how long.
I have aphantasia so i can barely form mental images, but that one image is burned on my mind.”
9. Afghanistan.
“In Afghanistan .
An 18 or so vehicle convoy was making the trek back to FOB Salerno from the Pakistani border. 3 dudes, in a wide open field of nothing but dirt see us on the road; they’re armed, panic, and start shooting at us.
I was airborne infantry; this was back in 2003. We used to roll around on the back of five-ton flatbed trucks, having built wooden benches to sit on. So when these guys started shooting at my company.. probably about 100 different weapon systems all pointed at these three men.
Maybe ten seconds later, the gunfire stops.
We dismount and move across the field to the dead bodies; one ended up playing dead, had primed a grenade under his own body, and tried to roll over and throw it at us as we passed.. but he was so grievously injured his throw didn’t really throw.. and he blew himself up. We shot him for another five seconds to make sure.
One of the three men caught a Mk.19 grenade that was a dud to his chest. Left a softball sized hole straight through his ribs; you could see the inside of him.
Another had caught a match-grade 7.62 round to the top of the head; the top of his head had come off like he’d been sliced with a sword – the neatest wound.. it was horrifying in how perfect it was. His brain had jumped up and out of his skull and landed near his feet.
We found out later why they had panicked; they had just got done lynching the local sheriff with telephone wire. In case you were wondering, THIS was actually the focus of my story here: he was strangled by it.
His whole head was a weeping bruise; he was bleeding from his nose, ears, eyes, tongue.. scalp. When we cut him down.. all that trapped blood came out.
Never seen anything like that. That man died bad.”
10. A light-hearted one.
“The Cats movie.
No matter how hard I try, no matter how much weed I smoke to make me feel better, no matter how much vodka I drink to make me forget it still won’t go away.
Every night when I’m trying to sleep it haunts me, my dreams are nightmares now, I suffer because I thought it would be funny.
Head my warning children, sometimes the memes aren’t worth it.”
11. The big boss man.
“My boss has a huge p*nis that he tucks to the side down one pant leg.
My coworker pointed it out to me a few months ago and now that’s all I can see.
It sucks because he’s a huge *sshole.”
12. A bad accident.
“As a young man in Framingham there was a late night accident about half a block away that I heard when I was out on the porch having a cigarette. I walked up there maybe 30 seconds to a minute after the accident happened.
As I was surveying the scene, car about 3 feet into an old oak, driver sitting on the curb crying, probably a dead girl crumpled in the middle of the road (ejected from front passenger seat), and two backseat passengers pretty well jammed under the seats in front of them
I looked around, knew there was nothing I could do, and left as the ambulances pulled up.”
13. This is awful.
“My infant daughter on life support in the PICU after suffering cardiac arrest. she was only 11 weeks old. Passed away 4 days later.
The gasping sounds she made as she passed away will haunt me the rest of my life.
The f*cking absolute worst week of my life and a nightmare I’m constantly re-living.
No one should ever bury their child. No one.”
14. Very sad.
“I work as a Peace Officer at a hospital in Canada. While I was walking to the emergency department one day, I was approached by a family (father and two sons). The father said, “excuse me, sir, can you help my wife out of the car?” Calm, collected, non- chalant.
I thought this was your run of the mill vehicle extraction so I mic’d to my partner to grab a nurse and a stretcher. The father led me to the vehicle and I could see his wife laying across the back seat.
Immediately I thought to myself, “sh*t, she’s not feeling well, definitely gotta help her out of there.” When I opened the door, her head snapped back (I guess her head was leaning on the door) and she was staring up at me, eyes bugged out and wide open like she saw something terrifying.
Startled the sh*t out of me and I looked back at the husband. Same relaxed, calm demeanor as when I originally talked to him. I pulled her out of the vehicle and I could tell she already voided so I’m thinking….sh*t, already too late. Nurse got on the stretcher snd started CPR on route to the trauma room.
After speaking with the father, I guess his wife had become catatonic about 15 minutes prior to arriving at the hospital and had stopped breathing. Instead of calling an ambulance, he decided to drive her there himself.
Father claimed no drug use but patient history showed she was an avid IV opioid user. Poor family thought she was just medically sick when really she overdosed. Really sad.”
How about you?
Have you ever seen anything that you can’t get out of your head?
If so, please tell us about it in the comments.
