At some point in our lives, most of us find ourselves in a sketchy situation that thankfully DID NOT end badly when it very well could have.
I can think of a few instances where some bad stuff was probably about to go down or DID go down but I wasn’t affected by it for one reason or another.
And I’m thankful for it.
Let’s dig into some sketchy stories from people on AskReddit who believed that they all dodged major bullets.
1. Bullets flying.
“An actual bullet that was fired upon a crowd of protesters I was in (Egypt 2013).
There was much more than one, plenty actually, but I will never forget that one that tore through the awning I was standing under.
There was probably other closer calls ( I ended up getting shot with a birdshot later that day anyway) but I think that one was the most visually striking.”
2. Don’t drive tired.
“I had been up over 24 hours attempting to drive from Kentucky to Florida, in the night, and I kept getting lost making the trip take longer.
I was getting impatient and reckless. I started speeding and impatiently passed a truck only to narrowly avoid a head-on collision with another truck.
It was really close.”
3. A wise choice.
“I had 2 groups of friends just after high school finished. One group would always go driving around in their cars into the early hours of the morning while the other enjoyed playing video games.
One night I’m trying to chose which group I’m going to hang out with. I hadn’t seen the gamer guys in a while so I was trying to organise a game of poker while simultaneously receiving messages from the other group about going to a drive somewhere.
I ended up committing to the gamer guys so we ended up playing poker. That night my other group of friends ended up in a car accident which killed the driver. I could have been in that car and who knows what could have happened.”
4. Afghanistan.
“Deployed to RC South in Afghanistan, which is known for victim operated IEDs.
I was moving in a four-man team to set overwatch for the rest of the element. After we found our spot, dude backtracked to unwind shock tube for claymore (to set up security). Stepped on an IED and lost his legs.
All four of us walked right over it, only when he went back did it go off.
I could go on about close calls from that deployment, sh*t was crazy.”
5. Pirates?
“On a ship (Gas Tanker) going through the Gulf of Aden.
Watchkeeper reports a fishing boat that has an unusually large number of folk onboard, with unusual looking fishing gear and an unusually large outboard motor.
It skirted around our stern uncomfortably close before proceeding towards a convoy of low freeboard tankers and bulk carriers. Eventually one vessel peeled away from the convoy and heading west.”
6. Terrifying.
“In college…about to visit my aunt. I was listening to music on my ipod…Metallica specifically.
I called for a cab and he stopped on the opposite side of the road. Out of carelessness, I started to cross the road while looking at the cab…don’t know what I was thinking.
There was a pause in the drums…one split second of silence…during which I heard a loud HONK! I instinctively stopped the next step I was taking and just then…a dump truck…doing 100 km/h just flew by…inches from my face.
I was taken by surprise for a few seconds…got in the cab…my right leg was trembling uncontrollably…and I realized what just happened.”
7. On 9/11.
“Uncle flew in from out of country and as a treat, he decided he would let me see what a trading floor/office at a bank was like.
He asked his NYC friends if anyone was willing to give me (elementary school me) a tour of their offices and trading floors. He set up a sort of “tour day” at the WTC. He was going to pull me out of school and I remember being really excited.
We ate oysters the night before and both of us got the sh*ts real bad, ended up never leaving my house.
The day that I was supposed to visit was 9/11.”
8. Timber!
“Several years ago I was camping with the family in Jasper.
Around midnight it started getting really windy and about 30 minutes later it started there was a large crack and crash. We went out to investigate to find an 80 foot tall (long?) tree on the ground about 3 meters away from our tent.
That night I learned that mountain winds are vicious! Also trees are scary…”
9. Shots fired.
“My gf at the time was invited to a party. She invited me as a plus one.
I didn’t know anyone there and was underage at the time. 19 or so. When I got there, my gf apologies to me and says everyone is mean mugging. I didn’t party much and actually kind of awkward in a party situation, so I actually didn’t notice.
It soon became apparent that the guys there weren’t really all that interested in meeting me. I got a little bored and my gf suggested we leave about an hour after we arrived.
About an hour after we left, there was a drive by shooting at the place. I don’t know all the details of why, but some people at the party were mad at others at the party. One girl was shot in the arm, but thankfully was okay.”
10. The stranger.
“Once on girlfriends private land with girlfriend, getting a little frisky by a small creek.
While I’m kissing her I hear a gun shot and just above my head, a bullet enters the tree we were pouched down beside. Whoever it was ran off. I literally dodged a bullet.
We never found the person.”
11. Shady character.
“So I was looking for a place to live.
Met a guy in a bar who was looking for a roommate. He gave me his address and invited me over to check out his place the next morning. It was a small town so I decided to walk to his place.
As I get there, cops are actively raiding his house. Turns out he was a drug dealer. If i’d have been 15 minutes earlier, I’d have been in the house, and in jail.
Who’s going to believe I just met the guy the night before and was looking at a room to rent?”
12. Boston bombing.
“I was living in Boston, which as you may know has a pretty amazing Marathon. The whole city stops for a day to see it, hell it’s even a city holiday where a majority of the offices are closed. It’s awesome.
My friends were at a bar right next to the finish line one year and sitting at the outdoor patio. They invited me to come join them, which I was going to as soon as I went about 10 minutes south of the city to walk my friend’s dog while she was on vacation. This was in 2013.
When I got to my friend’s house to walk her dog, I heard the news that the bombs had just gone off at the finish line. My friends were about 20 yards away from the explosion site. They luckily were okay but they were right in the middle of it, and I would have been too if my friend wasn’t on vacation that week.”
13. No way!
“I used to go swimming at a lake every summer with my family.
One year, I’m out in the water by myself, and my dad starts shouting at me, telling me to swim to shore because it was time to get out. He sounded really angry and concerned, so I obeyed and swam to shore as fast as I could.
When I got back on shore, my dad pointed out to a log in the water, maybe 10 feet from where I had just been. Turns out it was an alligator, just watching me swim. He said he had seen it moving in towards me and didn’t want me to panic.”
14. Glad to be here.
“I once was driving along the 57 in California one day from a day of fabric shopping. I blacked out while driving, veered out of my lane, and hit a guardrail. The result is my car doing a 360 in the air and landing upright with the passenger seat and back seats caved in.
To highlight how lucky I was, I was about a second off from hitting a highway support pillar stationed right next to me.
I got out without a single scratch and all I had to show for it was my busted up car. I got my important stuff out of the car and waited for my dad to show up after the police and medics made sure I was alright.
My parents then did something they never did before; they took the whole family to a Buddhist temple and thanked the gods that I was safe.”
How about you?
What are some big bullets that you’ve dodged in your life?
Tell us your stories in the comments. We’d love to hear from you!
