Scared Shitless

[ruaidhri]

Have you ever been scared? I don’t mean afraid. I mean scared, scared shitless.

Going down a roller coaster at an amusement park doesn’t qualify and neither does any activity that you purposely engage in to scare yourself. What I’m talking about is a fear that commands your very soul because you believe you might not make it out alive.

When I think back over my life, one incident pops to the surface. It was the fear of the unknown.

The year was 1962. I was 21 years old and in the Coast Guard. I was stationed on the USCGC Mallow, a 180 foot buoy tender moored at the tip of Tongue Point in Astoria, Oregon. During WWII, Tongue Point had been a large U.S. Navy base, which the Navy had since closed and abandoned. A Coast Guard Base, my ship and another Buoy Tender were at the far end of what had been the base. All the remaining buildings were empty, no longer used by the Navy. There was a single two lane road leading from the highway to the abandoned base.

It rains just about every day in Astoria. Of course the sun does come out but then it rains and then the sun comes out again. In the Winter, it mostly rains all day and if it’s not raining it’s drizzling or misting. Plants grow big in all this rain. It was very, very green with very high ferns and other shrubbery. This forest of green came right up to that two lane road from the highway to the entrance of the abandoned Navy base.

I didn’t have a car to take me into town so if I wanted to go into Astoria for Liberty I either had to hitch a ride with one of my shipmates or walk to the highway and hitch a ride with a passerby. Usually, I had to walk to the highway. Very few people on the ship made enough money to own a car.

Now, at the time I was in the service my brother taught High School in Portland. When I could, I would visit him on weekends. My brother was a firm believer in flying saucers and the abominable snowman, or Big Foot or Sasquatch, as the creature was know to the Indians in the Pacific Northwest. My brother kept tabs on every sighting of this huge, fearsome, half man half beast. He told me stories of how the creature would sometimes peer into windows and how onetime one of them had run alongside a big truck looking through the cab window at the driver. I didn’t really believe all the stories, but then…

When I visited my brother, I would take a bus from Astoria to Portland. When I returned to Astoria I would have the bus driver drop me off at the highway entrance to the old, abandoned Navy base. I caught the late bus back one Sunday evening and got off the bus in the darkness. This was not a starlit night. There was no moonlight. It was dark. It was totally black walking down the two lane road for the mile from the highway to the base.

It was like being blind. I was feeling my way down the road that I couldn’t see, only feel. My other senses become very alert as they do when you can’t see, especially when you’re all alone in the dark, in the night.

As I walked, I was very aware of the wall of rain forest that hugged each side of the road. I was also thinking about the many stories my brother had told me about Big Foot. Then, I heard something walking alongside me in the forest. What is that, I thought. I stopped. It stopped. Must have been my imagination, I told myself and started walking again. My unseen companion joined me. What? What is that? I stopped again straining my ears to hear anything. I heard nothing. I was really beginning to get freaked out. Here I was where if I screamed for help no one would hear. I was alone. With my heart pumping faster now, I began to walk once more. Again, the accompanying footsteps joined mine. Damn, now I was certain. Something was out there and I didn’t want to know what. I walked faster. The sound in the forest kept pace. I started to run. It ran with me. Now, I forgot all semblance of bravado. I was scared shitless.

My arms were pumping and my legs were moving as fast as they could carry me. I blew past the unguarded entrance to the old Navy base and continued running at full speed through the base and down the dock to my ship. I ran across the gangplank and didn’t stop until I was panting for breath at a table on the mess deck.

My shipmates of course were quite curious about me. When I told them what happened they all laughed and called me a pussy. But then, I suggested that several of us go out and investigate. No one was willing. No one wanted to temp fate.

Several times on other dark nights a crewmate would come running on board the ship all red faced and panting. Maybe it was just our imagination. But then…

[Jay]

I can't say I've ever been scared shitless about anything.

Did you ever find out what it was that was keeping pace with you?

Edit: Another great story. Keep them coming.

[ruaidhri]

Jay, it’s the imagination that scares more than anything real. My other story about the sinking of the Number 10 buoy was indeed frightful but it was real. I knew what happened and what I had to do. With that lonely walk down the dark road my imagination went wild. First, I questioned what I didn’t believe. Then, I tried to find something real such as another animal making its way through the forest. Finally, I reacted to the terror of not knowing what to do except to escape in a totally unreasoning flight for life.

My story impressed the other young sailors on board my ship. They laughed on the mess deck but it wasn’t so funny when they were the ones walking down that dark and lonely road. My story gave their imagination a path that led them, like me, into terror. No, we did not discover what was following us if it were indeed anything real.

[Joe]

Man, i live in oregon, and I never hear about crazy giant monkey men. Although, it's probably one of those things where people got tired of hearing about it in the 60's.

P.S. Isn't it beautiful hear? It's so perdy...

[ruaidhri]

Perhaps it was the time, the early 1960’s. Possibly it was my brother’s obsession with all things bizarre. At the time, I also questioned the “giant monkey men” but my brother was fun to be with and it was easy to get caught up in the excitement he generated. Today, I still question how, if it does exist, Big Foot has managed to avoid exposure. Regardless, when I was walking down that dark and lonely road, I didn’t question. I just ran.

Yes, the Pacific Northwest was indeed awesome in its beauty. I left back in 1966, when I was discharged from the Coast Guard. I would like to return to show my wife the places I talk about. You are indeed lucky to live in Oregon.

[13usta]

maybe it was jus a animal....following you

[Joe]

I <3 stargate and startrek Voyager, they rock, nice Sig.
ruaidhri, you were discharged? Does that mean your term was over, or were you in trouble or something?

[hapacheese]

There have been two instances when I have been scared shitless. One was an immediate fear of death, the other, a slow-burning fear that lasted for a week.

The first instance was on a plane on my way back from Japan. I'm used to flying, so I don't really sweat most turbulence. I tighten up a little and listen for anything unusual, but that's about it, and even that, only when the turbulence is abnormally rough. However, during this trip, right as we were about to hit the Aleutian Islands, we started to shake a bit. We were all in the middle of dinner, and it was fairly dark outside the window. The lady sitting next to me looked a little nervous, and the guy on the aisle across from me looked at me and winked (he was a cowboy-looking guy... probably trying to act cool).

Suddenly, the intercom flipped on, "Cabin attendants... get to your seats. Now." That was the most abrupt message from an airplane captain I'd ever heard. Suddenly, we hit a big jolt... It was big enough to make the water spill out of my cup. There was a moment of quiet, but then BAM! We dropped a good 20-30 feet. Food hit the ceiling, a couple people fell out of their seats, and some women started crying. It didn't help that there was a row of Buddhist monks sitting a few rows in front of me, and they started chanting. It was all very surreal... My heart wouldn't stop pounding, and my only thoughts were of my girlfriend at home (now my fiance).

Turns out, we simply hit a terrible storm and just went through a big air pocket. After landing safely at SFO, I heard that an Alaskan Airline plane went down right around the same area we were (this was about 5 years ago).


The second time was when I discovered that a lymph node in my neck was swollen. I thought it was strange, so I went to see the doctor, and he told me he'd have to remove it and perform a biopsy. I asked why and he told me, "It could be symptomatic of Hodgkin's Disease. Do you know what that is?" I did. It is a form of cancer.

So, I had to have the surgery and then had a week-long wait for the results of the biopsy. Turned out to simply be infected, so I was safe... But I was honestly scared. Not in that "OMG WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?!" sort of way. But, rather... just, "Crap, there's still so much I want out of life."

[baslisks]

There have been two instances when I have been scared shitless. One was an immediate fear of death, the other, a slow-burning fear that lasted for a week.

The first instance was on a plane on my way back from Japan. I'm used to flying, so I don't really sweat most turbulence. I tighten up a little and listen for anything unusual, but that's about it, and even that, only when the turbulence is abnormally rough. However, during this trip, right as we were about to hit the Aleutian Islands, we started to shake a bit. We were all in the middle of dinner, and it was fairly dark outside the window. The lady sitting next to me looked a little nervous, and the guy on the aisle across from me looked at me and winked (he was a cowboy-looking guy... probably trying to act cool).

Suddenly, the intercom flipped on, "Cabin attendants... get to your seats. Now." That was the most abrupt message from an airplane captain I'd ever heard. Suddenly, we hit a big jolt... It was big enough to make the water spill out of my cup. There was a moment of quiet, but then BAM! We dropped a good 20-30 feet. Food hit the ceiling, a couple people fell out of their seats, and some women started crying. It didn't help that there was a row of Buddhist monks sitting a few rows in front of me, and they started chanting. It was all very surreal... My heart wouldn't stop pounding, and my only thoughts were of my girlfriend at home (now my fiance).

Turns out, we simply hit a terrible storm and just went through a big air pocket. After landing safely at SFO, I heard that an Alaskan Airline plane went down right around the same area we were (this was about 5 years ago).


The second time was when I discovered that a lymph node in my neck was swollen. I thought it was strange, so I went to see the doctor, and he told me he'd have to remove it and perform a biopsy. I asked why and he told me, "It could be symptomatic of Hodgkin's Disease. Do you know what that is?" I did. It is a form of cancer.

So, I had to have the surgery and then had a week-long wait for the results of the biopsy. Turned out to simply be infected, so I was safe... But I was honestly scared. Not in that "OMG WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?!" sort of way. But, rather... just, "Crap, there's still so much I want out of life."

Wow that would of been an interesting flight. What happened afterwards? Did you get an explanation?

[Random]

Could it have been echos of your own footsteps that you heard following you?
I've had the same happen to me before, in devon.

Also, famous tale of a guy on a mountain seenig a massive shadowy beast follow him up the mountain, only to realise that it was his shadow on a cloud that he was seeing.

[KujiInRetsu]

When I was younger, I was held at knifepoint by a couple of neighborhood hooligans at, get this, my own driveway. Now, knowing that at the time I was only five, I could hardly understand what was really going on, but thinking about it now, if it happened to me at 16, right at this moment, I would've been scared pretty shitless depending on the mood I was in. Perhaps I might be scared shitless, or another day when I've had the absolute shittiest day of my life, I might be suicidal and take on my assailant(s).

Though, ruaidhri, I agree, the human psyche does tend to produce the most frightening things known to us. Figments of the imagination can take on any form and assail us in any manner, and so that's why they inspire so much fear. I'd probably be scared shitless in your situation. There's no figment of my imagination I'd be willing to take on in hand-to-hand, simply because some of the worst figments of my imagination have had demonic weapons and jaws oozing with gore from their previous victims (some of my nightmares are fucked up like that).

[baslisks]

there is nothing to fear but fear itself. If you fear the unknowkn then you scare yourself to quickly. Damn how can you overcome that kind of fear?

[ruaidhri]

Yes, Hepacheese, both of your scary events justify your being scared shitless. I'm sure your blood ran cold for both. It’s funny how after we survive these frightful events we always remember the total panic we felt as they played out.

13usta, it's possible that it was an animal following me but it's also possible that it was just an overactive imagination of a 21 year old (me) filled with stories of monsters by his older brother. Regardless, I'll never forget the total terror of the situation.

Joe, I joined the Coast Guard in 1962. My active duty requirement lasted four years until 1966 when I was actually only released from active duty. My inactive reserve requirement lasted an additional two years until 1968 after which I was Honorably Discharged thereby ending my military obligation.

[baslisks]

what did you join the coastguard for? College or something eles?

[hapacheese]

basilisks - I looked at all the people sitting around me, just for confirmation that we weren't going to die. The cowboy guy looked scared, but he sorta nodded like, "I think the worst has passed." The lady next to me nearly started crying, but the cowboy and I just started joking around with her to cheer her up. Eventually the monks stopped, too...

It was funny, the captain got on and you could tell he was relieved, "Ladies and gentlemen, we apologize for that... um... little bump back there. Seems we hit an air pocket. Don't worry, we're all safe and sound." (paraphrasing of course)

Everyone was just a little bit friendlier on that flight afterwards. When I landed, my gf picked me up from the airport, and I don't think I've ever kissed her for so long in my life :)

[baslisks]

well what ever makes the food taste better. damn that airline food.

[ruaidhri]

Baslisks, there were several reasons why I joined the Coast Guard. A big one was that when I was young military service was required of all healthy young men. If you didn’t enlist, you were drafted into the Army for a two year active and four year inactive requirement.

I chose the Coast Guard for several reasons:

I like the sea and ships;
My brother was in the Coast Guard during WWII;
I didn’t want to be in the Army;
I thought it would be better to save rather than take lives; and
I wanted to contribute to my country as asked by President Kennedy.

At the time I was in we didn’t have the enlistment incentives that exist today. There were no enlistment bonuses and I didn’t join to pay for college. I actually had to spend two more years on active duty because of my choice.

If I were a young man, would I join the Coast Guard today now that the U.S. no longer has conscription? Yes, for several of the same reasons. I recently started a thread in the General Discussion forum about the Coast Guard offering it as an alternative military service www.outpostnine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=814

[baslisks]

cool. always a good time spent when listening about the old military. No coasties in my family but just a long list of army navy and airforce. One for every generation I believe. Goes back a long way.

[h2orowe]

Hapacheese XD Buddhist monks praying on a plane sounds so cool!
Ruaid! That sounds scary.
The most scared I've been of real danger, well there were two instances. One was my mom's boyfriend strangled me, for taking my mom's side in a quarrel of theirs. I wasn't scared that he would kill me. I was scared that, since we couldn't call the cops, because we had nowhere else to go, that he would do it again. Then the other time, my brother accidently tripped the supposedly disabled alarm system on accident, and it went off, so he goes upstairs to get my mom and her boyfriend, well my mom had surgery and stuff so she had sleeping pillls, so she was knocked out, but my mom's boyfriend was just drunk passed out. He knocked on their door for a while, and the door was locked. The cops came, and gave us a slip thingy for the call, and checked on us; so yeah, it wasn't disabled. Well, later my brother leaves for a bit, my mom comes down, I sort of yell at her, just cuz I was pissed cuz I didn't know that she was on sleeping pills, so I thought she well, I don't know what I thought. So, she tells her boyfriend, her boyfriend yells at his son, even though he had nothing to do with it; he comes down and screams at me, and I was playing a video game, so, he's done this quite alot.... gotten into a fight with my mom or such and just bitched out the whole house.... making me uneasy and I stop the game, well anyway I explain it to him, he just gets pissed off, and shouts at everyone... it was like a 250 dollar fine, he goes through probably that much or more in alcohol in 2 weeks... well like a whisky bottle a day or two :/ ...... My brother comes home, and my mom's boyfriend yells at him, and my brother says to me after he left "Wow, he's lucky I'm a nice guy, or else I'd kick his ass; he had no right yelling at me just cuz' he was to passed out drunk to open his door" I just nodded. Well, he starts yelling again, my grandpa comes out of his room and says "Jeffrey! (My brother) Let's pack our suitcases, it looks like we're getting kicked out (he said this cuz my mom's boyfriend has threatened to kick us out, and told us to get out, but he just passes out, and appoligizes in the morning; man it sucks being trapped)" my mom's boyfriend turns to him and says "Fuck you Claude (Grandpa), just shut the fuck up you fucking piece of shit" he stomps upstairs, and him and my grandpa stare each other down while they do; I could tell if it weren't for my brother (all county lineman) that he would've attacked my grandpa; so, my brother says "Fuck you Phil! You have no right to talk to my grandpa like that. If you fucking talk to him like that again I'll kick your ass!" ( My brother has every right to kick his ass.... he's screwed us over so much..... I wish I could kill him, but I wouldn't throw my life away to take his... all though it is temptig) So, my mom's boyfriend runs upstairs and locks himself in his room; he shouts at my mom for like 10 minuites, which she did absoulutely nothing. She comes down in tears, and tells my brother that her boyfriend kicked him out. The guy was too much of a pussy to say it to my brother so he has my mom do it.
My brother grabs his stuff, and makes a couple calls, than talks to us for a few minuites; I was like "Jeffrey don't go! He might hit mom, or hit me or grandpa" my brother said, don't worry about it, and so did my mom. By this time I was in tears, because I was so scared, I was feeling shitty, and my jaw was shaking uncontrollably. I was begging my brother not to go, but he had to, or else more drama would go down. So, he leaves. I was so pissed off that night..... and the next couple of days; until my mom's boyfriend finds out he won't get fined, and he lets my brother come back, than he appoligizes to him. They talk about it, and of course.... my mom's boyfriend brings up the strangling me incident.... and blames me for what happened, thinking that he, a 48 year old choking me (At the time) a 13 year old ( the day before my 14th birthday) was perfectly fine.... he said it was in self defence, but there was two witnesses there that both say that he attacked me, and I was nowhere near him.... he just doesn't want to admit that he's a sick excuse for a human being (he's said before, to my cousin "Mexican girls are only hot til they are 12, and after that, they get fat and ugly" so I don't let any of my friends that are girls come over around here..... even if he just stares at them, I don't want him to be happy). Later on, I get home from school, my brother tells me everything's cool... but than he goes back in his mind... and thinks about what happened. He said "You know, Phil (my mom's boyfriend), his appology, it sounded good at first, but now that I think about it...... that's a bunch of bullshit...." I said "Yeah, when he appologized for choking me he said ""Sorry that I yelled at you.... Next time, mind your own business (which he asked me! ASKED ME! who started the fight, and I said he did, and he said Fuck you, so I said fuck you, and he strangled me. He didn't even remember doing it. Yet, when he brings it up, now that someone told him he did, he says it was in self-defence)""" Anyway, sorry I wrote so much.... I just like venting about him....
Those were the scariest real danger moments in my life.


The scariest imagination one was:
Two or three nights ago, my friend had told me some stuff about the Emily Rose movie..... now I don't get scared AT the movies, but I freak out at night..... but since it's based on a true story, and I'm somewhat Christian... I was scared... than my 19 year old cousin (he lives with us) comes home after seeing it that night. He's scared... alot. So, he goes into the kitchen, and looks for food, and notices the garage door is open. He asks "Joey, is your mom still in the garage?" I say "No" so, he makes me check inside..... he was standing behind me. I open the door and hide behind it, so incase someone was out there he'd be attacked (trying to use a 15 year old as a shield! That bastard!) Than he sees the gate part was shut, just the door was open a bit. I shut it, he goes to bed.... later that night I go to bed around 12/1 and like, I lay down, and turn off the TV, but than I turn it on, and put it on sleep, I hear a noise; it was a HUGE crash sound, and I jolt up and shout "Oh shit!" and stand there for twenty minuites or so. My cousin says like "Oh my god, when you shouted a while ago, you scared the shit out of me" cuz I woke him up. So, finally, after like 30 minuites of standing up, I lay down... SLOWLY. Than, I reset the sleep timer, and go to sleep.

Anyways, I was scared. Similar incident happened to me, me and my cousins and my brother, were watching The Ring.... this was the first movie to truly scare me (Curse movies scare the shit out of me) and like, I go upstairs to my room (back when I lived in my old house, when I didn't share a living room with my cousin) and turn on the TV, expecting Cartoon Network or Comedy Central, it turns to a fuzzy black and white screen..... I got so scared, I just shut off the TV, and shut the door, and slept at the foot of my mom and her boyfriend's bed.... at 12 years old!

[ruaidhri]

H2orowe, very interesting comments.

Yes, there are two types of fears, real and imagined. Both can scare you shitless. Both can make you fear for your life.

Life, earning a living, sharing and communicating can be very difficult for a lot of people. When something goes wrong the impact is often felt by many. At the extreme it can result in a terror filled situation where you don’t know what to do or how to defend yourself. If you’re a child you are particularly vulnerable. This is real life, not pretend.

Your mother’s boyfriend sounds like a real coward, a person that attacks those that can’t fight back. He’s a bully and a jerk. The fact that your family depended upon his “good” will for your housing is more than sad, it’s horrific. He is a weak person that depends on other peoples’ dependency to feel powerful. He is a parasite on society ass.

I hope that you are free from him and people like him.

We all like to be scared. That’s why scary books and movies have always been so popular. They spark our own imaginations and cause us to see or imagine things that are not really there. You could say that’s what happened to me. My brother was very talented in verbally weaving a tale of terror. He loved the bizarre whether it is Big Foot or flying saucers or unknown entities of any sort. My brother taught art in a Portland High School so he would draw terrifying depictions of the beasts he talked about. Following the stories, I found myself walking down a dark and lonely road with only my imagination as company. Was there really something in the woods following my every step? Maybe, but most likely, there wasn’t. The fear, however, was real. I wasn’t just scared. I was scared shitless.

[Kustom]

I was scared shitless once, for something pretty meaningless...
I already wrote this somewhere else on the forums:

Once I had a dream of the most peculiar kind. I was dreaming a normal dream I cannot remember, and suddenly I got overwhelmed with the consciousness of PURE, NASTY EVIL. An intent to murder, maim and destroy more intense than ANYTHING I could ever remember, a hatred unlike anything I have ever felt towards anybody. It totally freaked me out. I woke up covered with cold sweat and shaking.

Now, I really have to wonder: did this horrible inhumane feeling exist outside of me, or is it a part of me that surfaced in my dream, lying deep in my subconcious self? Both hypothesis and their implications scare the shit out of me.


Now, it looks a bit ridiculous to be scared shitless by a dream, but before you call me a pussy, consider the following:

- I was an aid worker in Rwanda (not during the genocide), and one night I found myself staring up the barrel of an AK-47, in a dark alley. I was really scared, but somehow, not "shitless".
- I got trapped once in a storm on top of a mountain in Corsica. Me and my best friend had done the typical mistake of climbing the mountain without warm clothes, not thinking about the brutal changes in weather... We were absolutely frozen, and we had to actually run down the mountain for 3 hours in the dark to escape, or we would have frozen to death. It was pretty intense, one mistake and we could have fallen and killed ourselves; we were exhausted in the end. My best friend later told me he was scared shitless and seriously thought we would die. Somehow I wasn't so scared.

I think in my case, what scares me shitless is the unknown, the mysterious, much more than actual danger. I'm more scared of going crazy than of dying, maybe.

[ruaidhri]

Kustom, yes, I agree with your statement “what scares me shitless is the unknown, the mysterious, much more than actual danger. I'm more scared of going crazy than of dying, maybe.”

Real situations usually have a solution, a deliberate and planned action you can take, like running down the mountain. Dreams and unseen fears terrify because there is no explanation, no immediate solution.

[baslisks]

DOn't you have a whistling in the dark trick you use? I literally whistle in the dark and it clears my mind thinking of the theory behind the whistles which allows me to better grasp the situation. Doesn't scare me any less just allows me to recover quickly so I can act faster. Usually its just deer or perople taking shortcuts home but its still scary to see something moving in the cornfields or tall grass.

[KiwiKitty]

Hmm. I've had a couple of moments.

I hate ghosts. Lived around too bloody many of the things, the atmosphere just feels too wrong for me, like I should be seeing something, but can't, and that unnerves me. So, two of my moments are related to ghosts.

The first, I was surfing the net, found a ghost watch site. It's midnight, I'm already tempting fate by looking at ghost sites... oh look, this one's got sound files grabbed from a ghost watch in this building in the stairs someone jump from, let's play it.

Yeah, big mistake. Forgot I had the sound on the computer right up and my earphones on... I had this huge screaming in my ear that dopplered as if someone were speeding past me. Didn't get to bed for another 3 hours that night, trying to calm down.

There were a couple of times in my ex-gf's place, which was haunted. That place was just wrong, so bloody wrong.

Another time, in NZ, I ran out of our house to go for a walk, and saw the outline of a person behind the window of our laundry door. I wouldn't go back inside until nighttime, when someone else came home... another haunted house (and no one else on the farm when I saw that one).

People-wise... the only real time I've been scared that much was when I had to have an HIV test 4 years ago. I was scared sick, and that night was extremely violently ill. Thankfully, I think that's about it for physical causes. The one car crash I've been in, I was more upset I couldn't get to school to say goodbye to my friends (last day of school before I moved to Australia).

[ruaidhri]

KiwiKitty, I do believe you're helping me to better define "scared shitless". It's when you are at the mercy of events and there's nothing you can do to affect the outcome. Your Aids scare certainly qualifies. Belief in, and fear of, Ghosts and other wordly beings also fits the bill, but that could be caused more by imagination than reality.

[Uh_oh]

I've been scared shitless once in my life that I can remember. It was when the Nigata earthquake hit Japan. I was in Nigata at the time, and I have always hated (and feared) earthquakes, I think because when one hits all you can't do anything but wait it out and pray, and with anything else, you can at least do something, even if it's not likely to acctually help much (if at all), I find that doing something helps keep the fear at bay. But that Nigata quake, standing in the kitchen (holding the cupboards shut so the dishes wouldn't fall out and shatter), I was terrified.

However, have had two times othertimes when I thought, honestly, that it was the end for me (both times were the result of mistakes/ bad desicions I had made) and both times, I found I wasn't really scared, but just rather resigned to what I felt was inevitable. I now am certain I have a guardian angel, beacuse I don't know how, but I survived both times. And both those times, I wasn't scared beacuse I could do something, that, while I didn't think it would save me (it did the first time, the second I survived beacuse of luck and outside help), helped me control my fears. The sort of idea that if I'm going to die, I'm going to die fighting.

[ruaidhri]

Uh_oh, I agree, earthquakes can scare a person shitless. The thing about earthquakes is because we don’t have wings and we can’t fly, there is nowhere we can go to escape them.

I’ve been in a couple of big ones myself. The first was the August 17, 1959, 7.8 magnitude quake in West Yellowstone, MT. The second was the April 29, 1965, 6.75 magnitude quake with an epicenter in Renton, WA. The first, I barely missed being killed but it didn’t scare me because I was driving and thought it was just wind. The second, I was acutely aware of and survived being scared shitless only by taking action (although stupid) to protect myself.

I will write about both my earthquake experiences in a future post in this forum.

[KiwiKitty]

Um... okay, been in earthquakes, but they've been like 4-5 tiddlers in NZ. Of course, if never occurred to me we lived on... Limestone? Sandstone? And on the edge of a cliff that kept crumbling.

I think I mentioned accidentaly jumping off the hill.

Nearly got hit by a car one morning biking to school in 92 when some woman driving her daughter to school didn't bother checking the road to see if anything was coming before she pulled out. Time went slo-mo, the daughter (I can still see her face) leaned around her mother with her mouth in this big "O" shape, and THEN her mother turned to look while I'm heading straight into her car door... she swore (at me!) then put her foot down and took off. Thankfully she did, because I was going at a great rate of knots and couldn't have stopped or otherwise avoided it.

Um... I got shot at once by the son of a friend of my parents'. It was with a sluggun, but they'd been shooting randomly at me as they'd come down a hill, and I was hiding in a hollowed out bit... I stuck my head up just far enough to see out, and a slug smacked into the ground about an inch in front of my eyes... that freaked me out and I took off to find a better place to hide (after shooting back to get them to stop aiming the bloody gun at my hiding spot).

Probably doesn't still match being scared shitless, but I can frighten myself more than other things do ^^