25+ “Cheating Death” Stories That Were So Intense, People Really, Really, Reaaaallly Wanted to Share Them

Skydiving falls into the category of extreme sports, and with good reason. Jumping out of an airplane and falling thousands of feet isn’t exactly safe, which is why skydivers go through rigorous training with strict safety procedures in place.

The reserve parachutes are checked frequently for reliability, but no one wants to be in a situation where they have to use theirs. That’s why it’s important to get the jump right from the get-go.

California is well known for its earthquakes, but one of the more famous ones is the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake — often called the World Series earthquake because it happened during the 1989 World Series game between two teams that were both from the area where the earthquake occurred.

The flat tire sensation that this person experienced was the earthquake. It was only later that they learned what happened to the double-layered structure, and how lucky they were to have raced out from underneath it in the nick of time.

A PR stunt is an event that’s intended to get the attention of members of the public, and there are some pretty crazy ones. This person rappelling off of a building is a great example.

Thankfully, they managed to wait for the perfect moment to drop the last few feet into the balcony while still being blown around by the wind. One has to wonder if they ever pulled a stunt like that one again, or if once was enough.

Cranes are a common sight in cities. They’re essential when it comes to lifting the heavy objects needed to construct buildings that would be hard for humans to do alone.

But like any construction equipment, one wrong move or bad situation can lead to severe and even fatal accidents. This person wouldn’t be with us today had they not walked away at just the right time. Maybe some part of them deep down knew what was coming.

Being an ironworker is the definition of perilous — high-rise construction, heavy materials, and dangerous heights make a pretty dangerous work environment, especially if you’re unlucky enough to have a beam get stuck, like this man experienced.

The beam didn’t quite hit him, but rather knocked off his hard hat and nicked the side of his safety glasses. It missed his face by less than an inch, saving him from what would have been a nasty ending.

Crossing the street as a pedestrian can be very dangerous. You think that you can tell a car is going to stop, yet the driver behind the wheel is thinking they can make it before you cross.

Miraculously, they landed on their feet, told the driver that they were fine, and just left! Later on, they thought better and paid a visit to the hospital, where they were informed they had no injuries and should buy a lotto ticket thanks to how lucky they were.

Gas leaks in homes pose severe threats. Highly flammable and odorless gases, like natural gas, can lead to explosions or fires, as well as cause tons of health issues. It’s one of the top home issues people should pay attention to.

They went out to run errands, and when they came back they felt horribly ill immediately, only to finally realize what was happening around 20 minutes later when they saw the stove knob. They were likely a few minutes away from an explosion.

Sitting on the floor as an adult is great. It makes you feel like a kid again, especially if you’re eating a snack or watching a movie. But, even sitting on the floor can be dangerous with large furniture nearby.

Anchoring heavy things like shelves and china cabinets is super important for safety, especially in areas susceptible to earthquakes. This person may have lost their television, but they kept their life, which is way more important.

There are a lot of different types of trailers that trucks can haul, but one thing’s for certain — most of them weigh a lot, and no one would ever want to know what that weight felt like on top of them.

With their leg stuck and a large trailer wheel coming at them, they screamed as loud as they could, and the truck driver slammed his brakes. Apparently, their scream was so loud it could be heard several streets away, but at least it was effective in saving their life.

Anyone who grew up around train tracks knows that there’s such a thing as train track safety. You must look both ways when you cross the tracks, and it’s also often a good idea to roll the window down and listen for the sounds of a train coming.

The train hit the front end of their car and dragged them a few hundred feet down the track, but they walked away from the situation with a few cracked ribs and their life.

Most people celebrate when they finish driver’s ed, as it means that they finally get to gain the freedom of being able to drive wherever they’d like. That’s what these students were doing when disaster struck.

They all had to be taken to the hospital with concussions, but other than that, they were okay. Had that car hit a few inches further up, they may not be here today. Even the person at the salvage yard where the car was taken didn’t think they’d survived.

When living in an area where icicles are commonplace in the winter, “Always look up” is extremely commonplace. One glance upward can be the difference between making it to your destination and total disaster.

Discouraged by the fact they were nearly impaled by an enormous icicle, they decided it was a sign that they shouldn’t go to class and walked home instead. Were their professor to hear what happened, they probably wouldn’t blame the student for not showing up.

Those who can nap in a moving vehicle are very lucky people. Many others get motion sickness or just can’t get comfortable when being jostled around so much, especially when jostled around by a literal car accident, which is what ultimately happened here.

It’s unclear why sleep saved their life (perhaps the lack of tension in the neck?), but one thing’s for sure — they were definitely surprised when they woke up to a crushed car and missing window.

Some people hold their breath when passing a cemetery due to an old superstition that it wards off spirits or prevents bad luck. This belief is pretty common despite lacking any scientific basis (for obvious reasons).

On top of speeding through a stop sign, the car swerved into their lane, yet they managed to narrowly avoid the accident. It just goes to show that sometimes your siblings annoying you is for a good cause.

Sports can be really dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. Put a bunch of students together playing one and odds are something is going to go wrong. In this case, it was a baseball bat and an unsuspecting victim.

All things considered, they were actually very lucky as their neurologist told them that had the guy swung and missed, they would have died. The contact with the ball must have slowed the bat down just enough to not be deadly.

College campuses are busy places. There’s tons of pedestrian traffic as students go to and from classes, meaning that anyone driving on a campus needs to be extra careful.

They said that the truck either didn’t see them or didn’t care, and either way, that truck driver was being reckless when driving through somewhere as busy as a college campus. The student just contemplated life and how lucky they were for a while when they got to their car.

Waterparks are both great and horrible in the summer. They’re great in the sense that water obviously cools you off, but waiting in line in a bathing suit in the heat can be really exhausting.

The tube cushioned their fall and stopped them from hitting their head on the top of the slide or the concrete, which may have been the line between a fainting spell and something much worse. They were lucky to have that tube there.

In many places, it’s common to have stoplights where those wanting to turn left across a busy intersection have to wait for their own special green light to go. It’s also common for people to not look around, blindly trusting the green light.

These children were very lucky that their mom didn’t do that, but rather remembered what she was taught in driver’s ed, which is to always look at oncoming traffic before moving. No one wants to be hit by a speeding truck.

Rivers are beautiful yet dangerous creatures, just like the ocean. They can be deceivingly calm or hide a lot of dangerous rocks underneath their surfaces, which is why safety when near rivers should always be taken very seriously.

This person was lucky as a child that their cousin caught them in the nick of time. No one wants to hit rocks or run into a water wheel, and thankfully this OP never had to learn what that would have felt like.

Riding a motorcycle offers a sense of freedom as well as better gas mileage and a better ability to navigate traffic. Unfortunately, because of how small and exposed you are, it also poses a certain level of danger.

Lucky for this driver, the two farmers were able to use the skid loader to lift the trailer off of them. They did CPR, and a deputy showed up soon after. If it weren’t for the farmers, rescuers could have never lifted the trailer with tons of heavy equipment off of the motorcyclist!

DIY car repairs are never anyone’s first choice on a sleepy Sunday morning. Usually, they’re reserved for emergency roadside tire changes. But once in a while, an at-home alternative becomes available, especially when you have a new toy to play with.

The car ended up with the front end touching the ground. The guy came out of the occurrence with what he described as a “big scrape mark” on his shoulder, and couldn’t believe that was the only injury he sustained, as he was no more than a few inches away from being crushed.

Be wary of carbon monoxide. It’s an odorless, colorless gas that can prove fatal if ingested in too great a quantity. Fortunately, it seems that some breeds of dog are able to spot a gas leak before things get too dangerous.

The girl’s boss called 911 and she spent eight hours in the ER. Doctors told her that she should have already been in a coma by the time her dog gave the warning, and under most circumstances would never have woken up. Needless to say, that dog got a well-deserved steak dinner.

Rip currents happen when waves break near the shoreline, piling up water between the breaking waves and the beach. The result is a small, but potentially deadly, tidal change that is almost impossible to escape.

The victim ended up at the edge of the pier before managing to lift themselves from the water. A man hoisted them onto the pier before returning to the water to save their mom and friends. They had a justifiable fear of swimming near piers after that.

Choking isn’t an enjoyable experience, especially when you don’t have anyone close by to save you from suffocating. The good news is that there is always hope. All you need is a love for TV shows and a chair.

Taking inspiration from the show, they did the same thing and managed to save themselves. Their friends were lucky since they got to enjoy the Christmas party, and the choker gave thanks to the great Tina Fey.

High-speed collisions can prove to be devastating to the people involved due to the incredible deceleration their bodies endure during the crash. Your best bet is to be lucky, especially when a semi-truck is involved.

When the car finally stopped, they were in the fetal position with a missing shoe, covered in safety glass and a bit achy, but otherwise unharmed. They were super lucky that the semi-truck driver wasn’t going full speed upon collision.

Gas leaks can fill an entire building with highly flammable gas that can ignite with just a hint of a spark. So, if you have a house filled with deadly gas, you had better hope that a guardian angel is on your side.

The fans running must have lowered the gas concentration enough that the person not only stayed conscious but didn’t spark an explosion upon sparking the lighter. They must also be a huge fan of electric fans after that experience.

You’re more likely to hear traumatic stories about wave pools than good ones, which makes you question why exactly wave pools still exist. If they’re busy enough or you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, these pools can be disastrous.

This is a common experience at wave pools, and it’s surprising that the lifeguard didn’t seem to recognize what was happening and go help this person. At least their husband was there.

Long drives can often turn into boring slogs, especially when you’re stuck behind a giant, slow-moving vehicle. But when you have three of them surrounding you, you had better hope that the drivers of the other vehicles know you’re there.

Their car bounced, hit a guardrail, and then bounced in front of the truck. By some miracle, they walked away from the situation totally fine, but likely with a big fear of semi trucks and blind spots.

The best thing about stop signs is that they’re impossible to ignore, and they save lives every day. The worst thing about stop signs is that they’re heavy and have seriously sharp edges.

There were too many people for them to get away, but lucky for them, the guys managed to stop the stop sign before it hit the student’s head and caused serious damage. They decided to leave for sure after that.

Black ice poses significant dangers on the roads. Its transparent appearance makes it nearly invisible, catching drivers off guard. That’s why those who drive often in winter conditions learn of how dangerous it can be and to be careful.

They said that after a woman called 911 and they managed to get out of the car, they realized the true extent of the damage and how lucky they were to have been in the front, non-crushed half of the car.

Some people are more superstitious than others. They’re scared to walk under ladders, or broken mirrors, or they knock on wood whenever they talk about something bad happening. But, what about believing that ladybugs are the bringers of doom?

The friend’s superstition came true once again as a massive old branch of the tree they had been sitting under crashed right where they had been. They aren’t so sure about the reliability of the “ladybug prophecy,” but it was spot on that particular day.

Steamrollers, which are also often called road rollers, are mostly used to flatten surfaces during construction, like when building new roads. They’re super heavy and very important for building long-lasting roads because they help make them more solid and stable.

If someone in the car is yelling at you to go, you go, no questions asked, as there’s likely a good reason that they’re being so disruptive as a passenger. Who knows the damage that steamroller could have done?!

The whole world is aware of the events that took place in New York City on September 11th, 2001. They were devastating, and too many lives were lost that day, but one person’s dad got super lucky that he wasn’t one of them.

Imagine your son being born in the nick of time. His birth was the difference between a happy family with a newborn and the loss of a father. His dad will forever be grateful for that timely phone call.

Have you ever had a dream that was so vivid or surreal that it made you wake up wondering if there was a greater meaning behind the dream? This person did, and for them, that dream was a matter of life and death.

The fresh air made them feel better, and they were smart enough to get some warm clothes on, open up doors and windows, and get the heck out of there. That dream saved them from gas poisoning.

Music can have a powerful effect on us. It can cheer us up, make us sad, or make us feel pensive and sentimental, like this person did when they stopped to watch a lone hedgehog late at night.

They normally would have dodged the hedgehog, but a sentimental song made them want to stop and watch it. Right as they did, a UPS truck with no headlights flew around the corner, hitting the hedgehog but missing the person who was lucky enough to have stopped.

Scuba diving is a delicate sport. It requires a ton of training and safety equipment, and things going wrong isn’t too far-fetched. This poor diver discovered it the hard way when they got separated from their group.

As they accepted their fate, a Coast Guard boat appeared out of nowhere. They were baffled at the timing and odds of it, but they called out and the Coast Guard helped them out of the water, saving their life.

Some really old houses are very well built. Others may have been at one time or another, but time and the elements have worn them down to a point where they can become dangerous, as this particular house did.

A ceiling collapsing is a very scary thing, especially when it happens right where you were sitting. Perhaps they would have survived, maybe not — but either way, they would have been very banged up. Good thing they’re clumsy!

Hiking through the mountains is a sport that should not be taken lightly, especially if you’re anywhere near a cliff’s edge. One wrong step can cause a very serious fall, which is what happened to this hiker.

At that moment, they realized that their bag’s hip belt was the only thing holding them to a tree branch above huge, deadly rock formations. The guide saved them, and they’ve had a huge love of trees ever since!

Hailing a cab is an experience that’s unique to living in a city. Once you flag it down, you’re paying for the service, so most cab drivers won’t wait around for a customer who has to do something like run back inside and grab their wallet.

Can you imagine a wallet being the difference between you being alive and being in an overturned taxi cab? It’s the kind of experience that really makes you stop to recognize how lucky you are.

Parking lots can be surprisingly dangerous. Between the high amount of cars passing through, parked cars blocking visibility, and no specific places for pedestrians to walk, you’ve really got to keep your wits about you in a parking lot.

It turned out there was a bar on the other side of the parking lot, and we don’t need to tell you what happens when people who have spent a few hours in a bar get behind the wheel.

When you’re a parent, sometimes all you desperately want is a night away from your kids. So, you call a babysitter and get ready to go out, only for the babysitter to cancel.

In 2003, a band was giving a concert at The Station nightclub, but one of their pyrotechnic displays set a fire that quickly raged through the club due to flammable acoustic foam. The friend was lucky to not be one of the 100 people who lost their lives that sad night.

In some busy areas, towns and cities will label streets as pedestrian-only, meaning no cars are allowed to travel down them. Some drivers seem to not get the memo, though, as this high schooler nearly learned the hard way.

There are great friends — and then there’s this girl, who’s not only a great friend, but has lightning-quick reflexes and saved her friend’s life. Thank goodness she didn’t freeze in the face of danger.

Bus tours offer an excellent way to explore a country comfortably. The tour guide’s narration enhances the experience, and you get to focus on the sights without worrying about navigating. But like with any vehicle, accidents are a possibility.

Sometimes, people just get a gut feeling that they should do something differently, and that’s likely what her dad experienced that day. While what happened to the other passengers is tragic, they’re lucky that they weren’t onboard themselves.

Anchoring furniture to the wall is vital for safety, especially in homes with children or in earthquake-prone areas. It prevents tipping accidents like the one this person experienced as a young child.

Thankfully, the dresser didn’t crush them because there was a small stool standing between the dresser and the floor. Their mom came in and found them a few minutes later, and hopefully realized that stacking dressers like that is never a good idea, especially with little kids around!

Seatbelts can do some harm when you’re in a serious accident, but the amount of harm they prevent — which often involves loss of life — is completely worth it. Seatbelts are a legal requirement in most places for very good reason.

The OP’s life was saved by that seatbelt, because without it, they would have flown through the windshield and hit either the dirt wall or the trees in the forest behind it. Lucky for them, they didn’t.