Ever witnessed a death?

OP has vertigo

And he doesn't like to fly

Absent high winds, earthquakes, inner ear infections, suicide ideation, crazy birds or insects, murderous friends, and vertigo, you are as safe 2 feet from a precipice as 200.

Oh waaaaiiiiiiiiiiiii.........

[quote]Witnessed one young, cute (and gay!) male couple sidle up to the very precipice of the 300 + foot drop to take a damn picture. The edge of that rock was slick and sheer and one false movement would have sent them to instant death in front of hundreds of picnicking onlookers. It gave me chills just watching them and I had to look away.

Mary! They've practically given you the vapors!

..or flash floods, lightning, long shoelaces, falling rocks, avalanches, kids with beebee guns, bears, birds, rock climbers above...

I have witnessed quite a few deaths, but none from momentary spontaneous recklessness. It's pretty rough to see either way.

Yes. A woman jumped off the roof of a six-floor building and almost landed on me. She had her cell phone in her hand, and she screamed on the way down. I watched as the life drained out of her. She went grey.

You don't forget.

I narrowly missed a man getting hit by a train. It was at the station five minutes from my house. I guess he thought he could make it across the tracks

[quote] you are as safe 2 feet from a precipice as 200.

Try 2 inches and strong winds.

I did. back in college, a campus group would sponsor what they called, "Vomit Fest". Basically, a beer truck pulled up and opened the taps. A small group of us didn't attend the whole thing but late in the evening, we stopped by to see what it was about (we were freshman).

A very drunk guy was sitting next to a bonfire. He stood up, grabbed his chest, and fell face forward into the fire. He was unconscious. They pulled him out, but the EMTs said he was dead before he even hit the fire.

There is a huge Cage Match going on inside my head; so far my career is the most visible casualty.

Yes. I saw the entire cast die opening night of MOOSE MURDERS on Broadway in 1983. Only Eve Arden escaped. She jumped ship before it opened.

I saw a kid get hit when a car swerved to miss the school bus and hit him has he got off. I didn't see the kid up-close - but the sight of that lifeless body and those shoes that were easily 20 feet from the body stays with me today. When I'm out walking and I feel the power a car passing by me I can't imagine the pain of having a car actually hit you.

Cannot imagine the horror of 9/11 compounded by seeing bodies falling from the towers, hearing them thud on the concrete, and then splatter on the sidewalk.

Certainly hope nobody here was witness to any of that.

Saw a car go under a truck on the interstate because the driver fell asleep.

Call me the kiss of death.

When I was very young, our Disneyland Parking tram was hit by a car. I saw at least two people bleed to death.

Was present during an IRA letter bombing. Nuff said.

I went to the Neighborhood Playhouse for acting school. Across the courtyard, a woman was in a window trying to get the courage to jump. The acting teacher made us watch. Yes, she jumped.

I had a jumper land right in front of me on the sidewalk. (Turned out it was the woman who had attacked a friend of mine with a hammer.)

[quote] Cannot imagine the horror of 9/11 compounded by seeing bodies falling from the towers, hearing them thud on the concrete, and then splatter on the sidewalk.

[quote] Certainly hope nobody here was witness to any of that.

No bodies from the angle I was watching (live) from, but I'll always be haunted by the flutter of tattered office supplies (post-its and invoices) floating with the wind.

How far reaching are your tentacles R14? Should you be posting on DL?

I hear Free Republic has a fun group.

R16, actually, I had to stop to take my dog out. As they say on TV, "but wait, there's more."

I saw a friend die of an overdose. Suicide. The paramedics did their best.

I was across the street during the Ramrod drive-by shooting.

And, I was at the World Trade center ans saw the jumpers.

I have to say that the World Trade Center affected me the most.

Cars were backed up waiting for a long, slow freight train going upgrade at a crossing. As soon as the train cleared the crossing, where there were no gates, an impatient woman in a car made her quick crossing just behind the train. Unfortunately there was a fast passenger train coming downgrade on the track adjacent that smashed into her broadside, tossing her car in a twisting mass of metal, and shearing off the upper third of her head. She was probably dead before she knew about her mistake.

My husband

I know I've seen one, and maybe two, but I didn't really see the second one, and I hope the first one wasn't a death, but I'm not optimistic. Years ago, I was on, I THINK 3rd Avenue (as I was walking uptown in the direction of traffic) near the Rupert Towers (NYC). Bright sunny warm day. A kid ran out in the street with no warning, a car hit him (slammed on the brakes), and that kid (a boy) flew up in the air REALLY high and came down like a rag doll. This was before cell phone usage so I ran to a plaza level drugstore to call 911 while my boyfriend (a medical intern) ran towards the kid. It was about a block away and another doctor got to the kid first, as well as many bystanders (Upper East Side - that's where you'll find "another doctor" getting to someone first). I called all the E.R.'s I could think of that evening to find out if a boy hit by a car in the east 90s had been brought in to find out his fate but got nowhere.

Also around Rupert Towers, although I didn't see this, I came around the area shortly after a couple of people had jumped together from one of the highest floors. I remember seeing bits of stuff on the ground and thinking "Why did they jump with their groceries?" cause it looked like cantaloupe. When I think of bits of remains, I think of blood as being crimson, but actually it can look pretty orange.

Finally, about ten years ago I was on the downtown platform for the A train at rush hour (NY). I think it was the Port Authority stop. It was Thanksgiving week. This happened REALLY fast, but what happened was the train was about to come in, suddenly there was this jostling between two people - I think this redheaded guy flew towards another guy and there was some agitation struggle between them, and all of a sudden the train came in and there was just one guy - the redhead. The redheaded guy then flew to the emergency call box, very agitated, and reported someone jumping. He also told the conductor and that was it for our commute. We just milled around and then went to other lines at that station to get home. I remember the conductor or MTA guy going "Holidays." Although it happened that fast, I never got any vibe that the redheaded guy did anything to the guy who went over. He was reacting to something. I got the idea he saw that man was about to jump, the rest of us were checked out mentally, and he rushed to stop him but the guy just went off the platform and the train came in and the guy disappeared. So he was dead, and even though I saw him disappear, that's all I saw, was him disappearing.

I witnessed my father commit suicide when I was 10 years old. My older sister who was not home at the time it happened, told me years later than I did not speak or make a sound for at least two weeks after. She said one day I just started crying and that broke the silence. I have no recall of this silent period at all.

God, R13. That's my nightmare of nightmares.

And God, R21.

[quote] I have to say that the World Trade Center affected me the most

I watched it live on television (after that I believe they stopped showing the jumpers). Once we realized that we were witnessing people jumping and not trash falling, I had to change the channel.

The hopelessness those people must've felt still haunts me. Seeing it in person must've been truly horrifying.

I hope you were able to find peace

I killed a person in self defense. I think about it, but never regret it.

R24, did you have legal repercussions? Can you say more? R13 & r21, sorry guys.

R21 In a non-religious way I say bless you. That would be just about the worst thing for a child to experience I can think of.

[quote]Yes. I saw the entire cast die opening night of MOOSE MURDERS on Broadway in 1983. Only Eve Arden escaped. She jumped ship before it opened.

And I saw Eve Arden do her 1 preview performance of MOOSE MURDERS. It was worse than death. And no, she did not 'escape'... She was replaced the next day - and was dead within a few years.

R25, No. None at all

I'm glad you're okay, r28.

My great-aunt was murdered by my uncle when I was three, I was there, it was ugly. I don't remember her but I remember that night like it was yesterday- sort of; the memories are like a loop of 45mm tape. My therapist says that's because I was trying to store so much information in a short amount of time at such a young age. It was awful, I was so small; the take away: people who love each other sometimes kill, horrible message to receive at three. RIP, auntie.

Or whatever those old movies are, 35mm?

R5 here.

Funny, I try to block 9/11 out of my mind when questions like this get asked.

That was such a horrible day. I witnessed it.

It was so big that I don't think of it as a single death but rather as a disaster too major to be grouped in another category, if that makes any sense.

Many years ago I saw a well dressed man, standing not to far away from me, jump in front of an incoming D train at the West 4th St. station. There was blood and body parts on the tracks and platform area where he jumped. I was in shock and vomited my guts out on the platform.

I was in Vietnam. No descriptions will be given.

When I was 12 my family went to New York City for vacation. We were waiting for the subway and as the car came to the stop a man was too close to the tracks and somehow got twisted into a very small space between the subway car and the platform.

R33, I knew a soap opera stage manager who was in Vietnam. So was one of the lead actors. The stage manager told me the lead actor had invited him to go back (on the actor's dime) more than once, but he couldn't even go to Miss Saigan on B'way. The stage manager told me one thing that happened that's relevant to this thread, and that was plenty for me. I'm sure it was plenty for him too, but he'd had to stay there for more of it.

R29 I don't understand people doing that in front of a child, and yes, I know that's an inane thing to say, but still. I'm sorry. Very interesting explanation by your therapist about how come the memories are on a loop - makes sense.

As a nurse in an ER, I've seen virtually every death scenario. You don't ever get used to it.

i

I think so. I went to a Grateful Dead concert at the Oakland Coliseum in '87. My friends and I had never been to a Dead concert and walking around in the parking lot beforehand was fascinating. We walked past a guy who was passed out on the ground and had some green substance dribbling down his chin. We read later that someone OD'ed and died. Couldn't help but wonder if it was him.

R35- Was this One Life To Live? I know an actor on there who was in Vietnam.

R29, was your great-aunt murdered by your uncle, or great-uncle? Just for the record.

At Joshua National Park, there are MANY signs saying "Do not stray from path, dangerious cactuses". Well, who would do a thing like that? Some French person, apparently, who might not have read English. They probably brushed against a cactus, reacted, then...eventually wound up rolling on the ground with a hundred needles in them. It was more serious than you can imagine. I doubt they died, though.

[quote]the take away: people who love each other sometimes kill

No, they do not. There's nothing loving about murder. Except maybe in the case of assisted suicide of a loved one with something like ALS in the late stages. Your therapist is crap.

Won't you tell us the story, r24?

Nope.

R39, yes. One Life to Live.

R42, unless I misread, I don't think the takeaway was that people who love sometimes kill (I don't believe that, and that's not about a romantic view of love, either). I didn't think the original post was saying that. The therapist part was, when you're small, and have to process some enormous event, you might end up with a compressed, recurring loop as the original poster described. Too much info too fast.

R42 hasn't heard of a crime of passion, it seems. People who love kill all the time. I've seen an acquaintance die of a drug overdose (we didn't realise he was dead until some time afterwards), I discovered a close friend's body about four days after he'd died of a drug overdose (I was the last to see him alive as well), and I had to identify my best friend's body after he died of, you guessed it, a drug overdose. When you live on the margins you become far too accustomed to people you know dying young.

I didn't say it was loving, r42.

What I said is that [bold] the message I took as a three year old child [/bold] was that sometimes people we love kill. Sad and true in this case.

I've been fortunate to have a very skilled therapist walk me through this horrible trauma, one I've held on to for 45 years.

Her husband, r40.

He only got seven years, sigh. He's dead now, pig that he was.

He committed the murder in front of not only me, but five of his own children, teenagers. Horrible, awful, terrible situation. I feel for my mother, she's never been the same, god.

[quote]A woman jumped off the roof of a six-floor building and almost landed on me. She had her cell phone in her hand, and she screamed on the way down. I watched as the life drained out of her. She went grey.

911 are fast but not THAT fast.

[quote] she screamed on the way down

Maybe she didn't jump

My career.

a man jumped or was pushed out of a window from the Hotel St. George in Brooklyn Heights as I was walking to the Clark St. station of the IRT. He landed about 15 feet in front of me. Splat! blood everywhere. It was at 6:30 in the morning. I could have been killed as well but he missed and some blood got on my shoes. I took Kleenex out of my pocket and wiped the blood off and headed to the subway as I had an important meeting to attend at work. All I could say to myself was "damn! I haven't even had my coffee yet." There was a cop nearby who saw it as well so I didn't have to make any statements to the NYPD and let him deal with it. This was in 1973 when the hotel was infested with heroin junkies.

burmp

When I was 9 years old, I was on my way to school on foot. I watched as some kid with a big dog chased Nick G into the street. Nick was terrified of dogs for some reason.

About a second later an oil truck turned up out of nowhere and knocked Nick down and ran right over his head.

What struck me the most is how he went from a living person to a pile of meat in about a second.

I had nightmares for years.

I get phased by the kids playing on the edge of cliffs or anywhere else dangerous while the parents take pictures, chat, do anything but mind their children. I was at a rundown laundromat years back. The mother was busy gossiping while her 5 year old or so son played with a high voltage electrical wire while he stood on a wet floor in back of the washers. I know it wasn't my place, but I yelled at him to quit and go sit down. I was expecting the mother to have a fit since I dared to yell at her kid, but she just kept right on gossiping. I hope the boy made it to adulthood.

I can't imagine that, r23. I was living in Europe at the time and was leaving work so I didn't even know what happened until I got back home later that evening.

When I saw the footage of the people jumping, I just broke down. I cannot even begin to imagine the desperation. Those photos haunt me still.

R35 and R45, wow. I think I know who the stage manager was too- He was THE guy for 20-30 years? He was a well respected task master if it is who I think it is. Small world. I cannot imagine fighting in a war and essentially becoming a witness or perpetrator of horrors against anyone else. Even for a "good" cause.

I witnessed a family friend commit suicide when I was 5. He was a cokehead, severely depressed and on his sixth day of no sleep. I was at the bottom of the stairs about to walk up when I saw him just standing at the top. He put a gun to his chest and shot himself in the heart and made eye contact with me as he did it. I still remember every detail like it happened yesterday, down to what he was wearing, to him sliding down the stairs at my feet. You definitely never forget.

I used to work in an emergency room, so yes.

World Trade Center. Still affects me to this day.

R44 and R52

Thanks for the giggle, guys! Needed it today.

I always watch.

Otherwise what's the point of doing it?

A few, but one in particular has stuck with me. During one of my first weeks as an intern, a fundie Christian woman gave birth to a baby who was severely deformed. She knew the baby would not live more than a couple of hours but she refused to have an abortion. After giving birth both she and her husband refused to see the infant. I didn't know if the child had any sense of being but I couldn't bear to see her die without any human contact. She died in my arms.

I never witnessed death up close but I did watch the towers fall on 9/11 from Soho. It's weird, all I kept thinking was "you're witnessing history, take it all in." It was like being witness to the JFK assassination. Very surreal and shocking. I was haunted by the pictures of the jumpers and still am. You can google a bunch of the aftermath.

There is about one person a week who gets hit an killed in the NYC subway system. The platforms get so crowded sometimes that I turn my head as the train rushes in, just thinking someone is going to fall. The kids are the dumbest tempting fate walking right on the edge of the platform as the train approaches.

I didn't witness the exact moment but I did see the aftermath of some guy ripped open and dragged a block by a mail truck making a right turn down 7th ave and 23rd st. That's the amazing thing about death - it's something we fear but it's the most common of human experiences. I guess the fear comes from not knowing how it's going to happen to you.

R64,You did the right thing. That being was lucky to have you his/her final moments.

Yeah I witnessed hundred leap to their death from the World Trade Center on Sept 10th. That was the day Rosie O'Donnell lost her halter top.

Orphans.

*urp*

r59 did he live with you guys?

R21 knows why the caged bird sings.

thank you [R64] you were more "Christian" and compassionate that than useless breeder. I'm sure the baby immediately went back to heaven.

I agree with R71, R64, and I think you are a wonderful soul.

xoxoxoxo

Does being bored to death count?

[quote]Ever witnessed a death?

Yes. I watched [italic]Rosie Live![/italic] from start to finish.

I'm with r71 and r72, r64. Your post was heartbreaking, especially the last two sentences, but I'm glad that baby got at least a taste of human love and compassion. I hope she felt it before she died. Bless you for that.

I never have but I'd pay to see all of the Kardashians fall off of a cliff.

[69] yes, off and on. He was in his early 50s and had a family from what I'm told, but hadn't been in contact with them.

[quote]A few, but one in particular has stuck with me. During one of my first weeks as an intern, a fundie Christian woman gave birth to a baby who was severely deformed. She knew the baby would not live more than a couple of hours but she refused to have an abortion. After giving birth both she and her husband refused to see the infant. I didn't know if the child had any sense of being but I couldn't bear to see her die without any human contact. She died in my arms.

How very christian of them! Seriously, what a piece of shit for a mother. She probably thought it was demonically possessed in the womb or something. It would have been far kinder for her to abort than let the poor thing die like that.

a few years ago i got off the c train at west 4th street in manhattan and got on the a train. next stop 14th street for both trains. we got there at the same time, both trains went to pull out at the same time. it was winter and a guy jumped off the steps and threw himself into the c train. only his coat got in the door. the train was moving and he was frantically trying to pull his coat out, to no avail. he fell and began hitting the poles as the train dragged him along the platform. people were screaming for the train to stop. next day i saw a small article in the post that a man had been killed by a subway train at 14th street. lesson learned: never try to throw yourself into the train at the last second. three's always another one.

God, this is a morbid thread, but I'll just comment on the Yosemite stories. The sheer drops and ice cold water are perils that thousands of people ignore the risks of. A couple of years ag four young adults were swept over Vernal Fall to their deaths when they waded into the Emerald Pool at the top of the falls, despite all the warning signs. The fourth had entered only in an attempt to save his friends.

Foolish young men take incredible risks there - at Glacier Point there is the Overhanging Rock, made famous in those old photos of people seemingly dancing on it, though it is 3,000 feet straight down if you fall. When we were there a teenage guy ignored all the warning signs and went out on it and posed, inspite of the gusty winds. I had to look away as I was certain the next gust would blow him right off. Fortunately that did not happen.

There is an average of about 15 deaths per year at Yosemite, with most due to drownings, but sometimes even experienced rock climbers fall to their deaths. If you wat a fascinating but morbid read, check out the book "Off the Wall" about deaths in Yosemite or "Over the Edge" about deaths at the Grand Canyon, both by Michael P. Ghiglieri. There is also a book about deaths at Yellowstone, by a different author, but I can't remember the title or author.

R2, if OP is talking about Vernal Falls, you couldn't be more wrong.

[quote]I was in Vietnam. No descriptions will be given.

= Guess what girls? I've got a special secret! NO, not tellin. So THERE!

[quote] You don't forget.

I was jogging one night, and I heard a crashing noise, but I didn't know what it was.

As I kept jogging, I saw a moped on the sidewalk, and it was all crunched up with pieces all over the place.

Then I saw the rider. She was laying on the pavement, face down, blood running down from her head. No movement whatsoever.

A crowd had gathered, and they were calling 911. Interestingly, there was a fire station just about 200 ft. down the road. I jogged there and told the firemen what had happened.

They tried to revive her and even did CPR, but I knew she was gone. There is no way that girl would live.

Found out from the news the next day that she had died.

This poster was absolutely right. You never forget.

I had to stop jogging in that area, because it was a constant reminder, and her bloodstains on the road wouldn't wash away. I would see them every time I jogged by the scene.

Fuck.

R83, I heard/not saw a hit and run recently; fortunately the bicyclist lived, but I"m not going to forget his screaming in a hurry. Can't imagine what you saw.

OP, thanks to you I went down the rabbit hole of stories about Yosemite's waterfalls and am trying to lose the hate I have for the dad - part of a church group! - who in 2011 went over the guard rail and held his six year old daughter over the falls for fun while she screamed bloody murder and he laughed. This happened while his fourteen year old was taking their picture, and three other twentysomethings from the group who also went over the guard rail into about twenty feet upstream were acting like idiots, laughing at those screaming for them to come back, when whoops, one slipped and was carried to the edge, the other tried to help and slipped and was carried to the edge, and the third followed. All went over the 300+ foot drop. The End.

The dad with the six year old was en route back to safety when it happened. I hope his daughter grows up and murders him in his sleep.

It was years ago.

I was traveling south on Highland during morning traffic. Coming in the other direction, a pick up truck stopped suddenly. A motorcyclist behind him didn't have time to stop. When the bike made impact with the truck, the motorcyclist was launched into the air. Truly launched several feet into the air and forward. It was nothing like the movies. He was still in a seated position, arms frozen like they were holding on to imaginary handlebars.

He landed out of my sight. But given the speed, height, and his awkward position, he would have been lucky to make it through alive.

I was shaken up for days after.

A few years ago, I was driving my truck from Palmer, if I recall, to Anchorage (AK). There was fresh packed snow and ice on the road.

I was on an elevated highway that was not separate from oncoming traffic. That is, oncoming traffic had its own raised highway and between us was air and a long drop to the marsh below. There was no way for me to stop my truck and get over the median into oncoming traffic if I wanted to.

A white, new looking truck comes bounding around the corner on the opposite highway. I thought That guy's going way too fast. He looked like he was in a movie car chase scene. Sure enough, he skids sideways and, slamming on the brakes no doubt, flips end over end at incredible speed. In my rear view mirror, I watch him bang between the concrete medians until he's out of view.

It was weird to be unable to stop the truck or come to the driver's rescue. There was no way to get to him. It was a bizarre, helpless feeling to continue driving.

Even though I knew I could not help that driver, I felt like a bad person afterward. I wanted to know if the driver's fate, but there was no mention of an accident on the news that night.

As a nurse, many. But the first and worst was a young woman who jumped from the roof of a high rise in the Flatiron district of NYC. It took her a few minutes to do it and a crowd gathered, chanting "Jump, jump." She literally smashed into pieces. A huge splatter of blood and bits of brain were dripping from the glass windows of the store below. Police arrived and put sheets over various body parts. I'll never forget it. It was gory but the most disturbing thing was the crowd chanting.

Ew pardon my typos.

r86

Can anyone make an educated guess as to how many jumped from the World Trade Center? Someone up-thread said hundreds, and that would surprise me. What an awful day that was.

What year was the Flaitron jumping, R87? Just wondering if that was recent or decades ago.

More detail, useful or illuminating perceptions. honest responses beyond dismissive revulsive explication, if you can get past the shock, nausea and horror. Really commend brave posters on this thread so far. Very instructive stories on a taboo ridden line of inquiry. Sort of illicit genuine discussion one would find on old esoteric DL or like hidden board.

I was on the freeway somewhere in Wyoming, and came upon a jackknifed long-haul truck that took out about 8-10 cars. There was only one state trooper on the scene, so I stopped to help him. We blocked of the freeway with our cars. There were bodies all over, some alive and some not. With no medical experience, the only thing I could do was to make up some form of triage to alert the trooper to the most serious cases, as he was working on others and to comfort the injured. Yes, several died, and it was horrible. I stayed until he had back-up, then went on my way. I don't want to think about it anymore.

I got to the hospital minutes after my Mom died. They intubated her, then removed the equipment but left her with this ghastly expression, like someone just had a huge breathing tube thrust down one's throat. It wasn't pretty. And she was getting cold. I didn't reset her, but the mortition did later. She looked ok at the funeral. She died of a heart complaint, and then a knock to the head, so it wasn't messy. Her heathwatchers cleaned-up the blood really quickly, so I didn't see it, bless their souls.

I hope I'm not messy either. That's something that scares me, for that other thread.

I can't believe the horror of that Flatiron story. Why did that not make history and become a staple of Psych 101 classes, while the Kew Gardens story did?

Does watching NPH's new show count?

My last lover had MS and had suffered several strokes,and I was sitting in the hospital with him on his 50th birthday after family and friends had left .He looked at me and I knew he wasn't going to last much longer. I held his hand and tried to comfort him as best I could,but I will be haunted till the day I die by the fear and pain in his eyes as he took his last breath.Im convinced he waited until we were alone to go. It happened so fast I didn't even have time to call a nurse. 15 minutes before that he was sitting up in bed laughing and joking with everyone. My 1st true love died in a car accident on the way home from work,we were together 12 years and when I got to the hospital (too late) they had to sedate me as he was a bloody mess. Needless to say,Im done with love.

This was around 1984 or so. I was just starting my career working on Parliament Hill in Ottawa for a Minister. It was winter or else a dull and gray cold day typical of winters. I was trudging along at at my usual fast pace looking at the ground (bad habit) when I spied a few people in the middle of the downtown street right in front of a medium rise apartment block. Not used to seeing anything unusual in the capital (it is heavily policed by Ottawa Police, Ontario Provincial Police and the RCMP for the diplomats) so one no one ever, ever is in danger or sees an thing amiss.

Given the sterile environment just described, I kept on walking towards the small group of people and looked up to see a body lying on some hydro wires which ran almost level to where the body was. The police hadn't arrived but my mind couldn't or wouldn't process what I was seeing. I was mentally trying to determine if it was a suicide, or someone "fell" over and got caught in the wires. Kept walking, but it was the creepiest, odd, out of place and yet quietly horrifying thing I had ever seen.

I felt sorry for the person. I do remember that. Just inert, lifeless, rigid and in full view of passers-by.

R64, if there is a heaven, you have a first class ticket there.

Well written, R97. Tell me when the book comes out.

"I heard footfalls on the pavement. Odd, I thought, and continued on my way to the university bookstore. I fumbled with the keys in my pocket. It was a bad habit I picked up in Kandahar some years before. Then, a body appeared on the pathway. I saw his shoes were worn. Suddenly it all made sense..."

I just missed it. Thank God because I've seen 3 suicide victims in the ER, dead. On 9/11, a friend's wife committed suicide in their bathroom. She covered herself in towels, including her face. Supposedly rigged a shotgun aiming in her ear Blew her head off. Her face was clean off. Had a pot of water salted and oiled with the pasta on the counter. Husband talked to her 3 hours earlier. Odd, since most women rarely choose a gun. She was a codependent mess. Supposedly no note but I know her aND she left one but the husband says no. Yeah right Ashley Madison hack, she checked but instead found her husband of nearly 30 years had a Grindr account. Probably found some pedo homosexual porn as well. They never had kids but he mentored young boys through his Christian church. He always pinged to me. I guess finding out she was a beard for more than 3 decades was the icing on the cake. Kim Davis needs to see the consequences. Her brains, despite the towel were all over the ceiling and the barrel of the shotgun. They lived in McMansion, had horses and super high end vehicles That's the worst beytayal, isn't it?

I can't wrap my head around R87's story and the people yelling for her to jump. I don't understand how they could do that. Has the percentage of people who are sociopaths risen that much?

My first thought was Maybe they were yelling "don't jump" but the poster was too far away to hear it? IDK I can't imagine it.

Yes, that is why I wanted to know if R87's story was recent, or happened decades earlier. I had heard of earlier stories where people said jump. Just wondering if people would say that post 9/11.

Getting back to the OP's Yosemite story - I am reminded of a poster I had on my bedroom wall in the '80s. It was a photo of one of the famous waterfalls clearly taken from a helicopter. The POV was a bit above the waterfall, but not bird's eye, and included the tranquil looking pool of water right before the dramatic drop off.

In the photo, I swear I recall a group of adults clearly hanging out, taking a "dip" in the river which looked more like a still pond. They were frightfully close to the cliff's edge. I'm talking thirty feet. I doubt this would be allowed today (if it ever was).

It was a 25mph side street with a lot of morning traffic. A motorcyclist hit a deer ahead of me. The deer trotted off into a forest preserve.

Biker guy rolled over, crawled to a curb, and sat down - back absolutely straight. I thought he'd be ok since it was a low speed accident.

Staring at the preserve, he just leaned forward staring at the pavement. It was as if his upper body defied gravity.

The newspaper reported him dead on the scene.

It was so nonsensical - beautiful June morning, low traffic, low speed, seemingly survivable spin-out.

My father's it was really peaceful but very unexpected for me.I do believe that it made me more mentally stronger witnessing something like that.

Misty water color memories...

Several years ago I was walking from work to pick up lunch. As I turned the corner a window washer had just hit the ground from a very high fall. He was instantly killed. What was strange was how I handled it. I somehow averted my eyes from the body, walked around him, and went in the restaurant on the other side. I paid for my lunch and walked out and went around the block in the opposite direction to get back to the office. So I happened upon this horrible situation and my instinct was to block the whole thing out. My WASPy DNA came to my rescue. No memories and no nightmares.

Playing hide n go seek with my dad in our home. He was 36 and I was 4. I watched him clutch his chest, hit the wall and fall to the floor. This was 1960, before 911. My mother drove him to the hospital where he was pronounced. Years later, my mother told me that for months after his death, every morning when she would get out of bed, she would find me sleeping on the floor on my dad's side of the bed.

R108, WASPs aren't bad people. I don't know what you might mean!

R110, I think R108 was referring to the WASP tendency to repress and avoid disturbing things.

Is R100 ESL or something? Wtf is he babbling about, there was no Ashley Madison [and not even Grindr iirc] on 9/11!

I have seen 2 avalanches bury skiers. One was downhill skiers the other they were trekkers. Way off slope of course, just out there in the wild. Sometimes they pull them out alive sometimes not. In Switzerland you'd have to make a big point to find out the results the next day, as the towns don't advertise the deaths and recklessness.

Now its the insane base jumpers and wingsuiter nut jobs. They die, AND they are terrifying the domestic animals in pasture at high altitude and the wild animals on the rocky slopes, to jump in fear off the sides of the mountains.

R5, it seems to me that you'd be the one going gray.

R14, maybe we need a running commentary of your movements, along with an itinerary for any travel plans, just so we can avoid being in the same vicinity. Typhoid, Mary!

BUMP

Another nurse who witnessed many deaths, mostly of very ill.people. I,went on a date with a guy once who was creeped out when I mentioned that a patient had died on my shift that day. I still remember him saying incredulously, "You mean you've actually seen some one die?" I realized then that we had nothing in common.

Sadly, I held hands with each of my parents as they died after long illnesses (7 years apart). I was glad I could be there with them to say goodbye though. I remember walking outside after my mom died and thinking, "So this is the world without Mother in it." It was kind of inconceivable.

My mother and I took a trip a few years ago up north. One day around dusk, when the sun was going down, my mother started slowing on the highway. I was laying in the back of the SUV, and got up to see why. A guy riding his motorcycle had hit a deer and wrecked his motorcycle. His body was overlapping the left hand lane of traffic, as was his bike and parts that flew off from it.

She pulled off the side of the road, but I told her to stay on the highway to block oncoming traffic from hitting him. She decided to keep the vehicle parked off the highway and turned on the hazard lights. She told me to get out and we both walked up to the body. She told me to see if he was still alive. I told her No, and then she said we had to move him. I thought that was a bad idea, because we could cause more damage. We decided to try and wave at oncoming traffic to get them to stop, before they hit him. Thankfully, they stopped. It took the ambulance over an hour to get there, because we couldn't give the 911 dispatcher the exact mile marker. We told them what we saw and left. The guy was still alive.

What a strange question to ask.

Two people one each occasion watched in horror as I came this close to have a very violent death neither of which I was aware of. If I had been aware that these incidents were happening I would have been haunted by them for a long time.

The first was when I was a boy and I was putting coins on a track with a friend as a train was coming. He was on one side and I was on the other. I decided to cross over the tracks having no idea where the train was to join him. When I got to him his face was white as a sheet and he said 'I thought you were a goner.' Turns out the train was so close I should have been hit by hit it and I had no idea.

Second time I was at a stopped at a red light on a highly trafficked highway late at night. When the light turned green my old car stalled and I was of course annoyed and trying to start it again. Suddenly this monster rig is speeding by me blasting his very large earsplitting horn and I was like what is wrong with that idiot. After which I got my car to start again and took off.

Suddenly a police car is behind me with it's lights flashing and I pull over. One of the policemen gets out looks at me like he's looking at a ghost and says 'Are you drunk?!' I tell him no that my car stalled. He says that I was just about to be rear-ended by a truck that was able to swerve away at the last moment. I thought that's why that annoying trucker was blasting his horn. The policeman looked very unnerved and then I drove away.

Therefore I assume they were both very close calls where I was literally a second away from being turned instantly into ground beef. I assume if I had seen the train or the truck in the rear view mirror I would have been frightened for life.

I'd like to see all the people in this thread who have belittled or made fun of OP take a dip in Emerald Pool and go over Vernal Fall.

When I was 9, my grandmother. She had been sick for a long time. My dad made the decision to disconnect the life support. We were all in the room and heard her breathing get rough and ragged and Dad began to sob. Her breaths came less frequently and she kind of sighed, and faded away. She was 78.

When I was 19, I was stationed in 29 Palms, and we were coming back from a night out and saw police cars by the side of the highway and then a motorcycle we all recognized. A buddy of ours hit some gravel and lost control. No helmet. He was thrown clear and broke a lot of bones, including his neck. I'll never forget that broken body. He was also 19.

In heavy traffic outside of Dallas, I saw a black truck in my rear view mirror coming at me at insanely high speed. He passed about 6 inches from me, came up on a jersey barrier and went airborne, flipped too many times to count and landed in the median. Traffic stopped dead and didn't move for abiut a half hour. I passed the wreck as the EMTs arrived, and saw a glimpse of a young Hispanic guy halfway through the windshield and a cop giving CPR to a girl covered in blood who must have been thrown about 40 feet. No exaggeration.

And IED attack outside Kandahar. We all heard the explosion and felt the concussion. Three guys, all dead, not instantly. I knew all 3.

A few months later, also Khandahar province. We were on patrol and came up on a vehicle broke down by the sidea of the road. I knew this could be an ambush and already had my weapon out, and as we sped up to pass, the guy under the hood hit the dirt and 2 others came jumped up and sprayed the side of our vehicle. Me and the Marine sergeant with me returned fire and our driver floored it. Both guys went down and then the guy out front. I don't know who hit who but all 3 were hut and none of them were moving. We didn't stick around to find out if they died or not. I wasn't frightened then or later. It seemed unreal, as if it happened in slow motion I felt detached, as if I were watching it happen to someone else, but I could draw all 3 of those men from mEmory almost 10 years later.

^^^I should add, at some point on that deployment, the death of any remaining idealism I might still have had.

That's terrible, R119. Seeing something like that and being helpless to do anything about it is a miserable feeling. But at least the guy was aware that there were people there, trying to help, even if he ended up dying.

R103 what has that got to do with 9/11? Totally different suicide scenarios, I think if someone were to say that at all they would still be saying it post 9/11. Also not everyone is American and is deeply affected by or thinks much about 9/11.

BUMP

On Labor Day weekend of 1982, there was a fire in a room in the Holiday Inn on West 57th Street in Manhattan. It was on about the 9th floor. I happened by as the fire trucks were still arriving, on my way to see a friend who lived across the street at Addison Hall.

It all unfolded in seconds. The glass was smashed out of the window and smoke was pouring. A man was hanging out screaming, and I mean screaming, for help. I could see the firemen in the room above, preparing to rescue him from above. All of a sudden, the fire in the room just exploded. The man screamed and jumped. He landed about 50 feet from me.

In case you're interested. It ends with a loud thud, not a splat. Ask for a room on the ground floor.

An NYC friend of mine was in a meeting in a conference room in an older Manhattan office building. You know, the kind where the windows... open. He and about four others were sitting on the side of the table facing the window. The other side of the table faced the wall. All of a sudden, a guy whizzed by the window on his way down to the sidewalk. Half the people in the meeting screamed. The other half were spared that sight.

My sister died on 9/11. While I didn't see her actual death, I'm haunted by the sight of that burning building, with her trapped inside it.

"Witnessed" is, perhaps, a bit of an overstatement. I got a little distracted by crease in hem of my holiday jacket near the end.

for those that have a hard time with the jumpers on 9/11. hopefully this may help a little.

those people jumped because the heat and the fire were too intense. They were able to freely choose to jump rather than be consumed by fire so they were able to control how they died. They were close enough to a window to choose whether they wanted to jump . They died a much easier death by jumping than they would have by being burned alive. speaking from experience, you will do a n y t h i n g to escape smoke and fire. I would have jumped too and would have been grateful for the choice.

....

[quote]An NYC friend of mine was in a meeting in a conference room in an older Manhattan office building. You know, the kind where the windows... open. He and about four others were sitting on the side of the table facing the window. The other side of the table faced the wall. All of a sudden, a guy whizzed by the window on his way down to the sidewalk. Half the people in the meeting screamed. The other half were spared that sight.

I wonder if this story is connected to the one I've read here before about the NY exec who used to run and jump at the conference room windows where he worked and bounce off, laughing as he scared the shit out of everyone else in the room. He did it several times, and then there was that one last time...

R126 is a rude dick.

r133 No that guy was Canadian and what a fucking maroon! I wish I had been there for that one last time...

R12 I was on JFK Blvd-East, the narrowest part of the Hudson River on the Jersey side, directly across from the Twin Towers and saw them falling, three to be exact, one after the other. Of course, I didn't hear the thud when they hit the pavement but I saw them falling to their death. A horrible image, I can never un-see that.

Some guy (supposedly deliberately) drove his car into a tree. I was the first person there. Heard his death rattle.

July 1993. I took the scenic, two-lane highway to my hometown one Saturday morning. It was actually fewer miles than the interstates, but took about 30 minutes longer. There is a junction of another two-lane highway that runs perpendicular to the one I was on with a yellow blinking traffic light for us and red blinking for the cross traffic. All surrounded by corn fields. It was the end of July, so the corn was tall.

I saw a car about a half-mile in front of me and another one coming from the left. I actually thought that if the car on the other road did not stop, they would collide in the intersection. But I knew the other one had to stop. But it did not. It broadsided the car in front of me, sending it rolling. I came upon the intersection in a few seconds and stopped to help. The car that did not stop was crushed to the engine compartment firewall and two bodies were wedged into the windshield. One's skull was open and filled with blood. They other's head was twisted about 160°.

I ran to the other car that came to rest, right side up, on the side of the road next to the corn field. There was an adult and a child in the front, and two children in the back, all mangled and pinned against the passenger side of the car. I remember the metallic smell of blood clear as day right now. It took about ten minutes before somebody stopped and another 30 for the sheriff to show up. I stayed around for a long time to give statements and watched the rescue squads cut the roof off the car with the kids to extricate the bodies. I didn't reach home until late in the afternoon that day. When I got to my dad's house, he joked that he wondered if I had died. That's when it hit me and I broke down.

I am [italic]CONCERNED!!![/italic]