Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Describe The Biggest Potential Disaster They Successfully Avoided In Their Life

Every red light, elevator ride, roller coaster... they're all riddled with danger. Seriously, the amount of crisis that we as humans escape on the regular is staggering.

I try not to think about the statistics of it all. If I thought any harder about it, I'd never have restful sleep.

I mean at this rate, just leaving a building that didn't collapse is something to be thankful for. How many times have you said... "But I was just there an hour ago!"

Makes you appreciate anytime we've got left.

Redditor NinjaNate123 wanted to hear about all the times many of us found a way to keep crisis at bay, by asking:

What is NOT a bullet you dodged, but a huge tactical nuke you dodged?

Most of my minor, well major miracles when you think about it, have been in cars. I've lost track of the amount of vehicle disasters I've averted, by the skin of my teeth.

Out Damn Spot!

GIF by Warner ArchiveGiphy

"My wife dragged my butt to the dermatologist for a cyst I have had for years. While there, the doc noticed a mole on my ankle that he didn't like. Turned out to be melanoma. Would have never gone if my wife didn't force me." ~ TheDistric

Say "AHHHH!"

"24 years old, had a pesky sore on my tongue that was really bothering me. My boyfriend's dad was a dentist so when I was over at his house one night I asked him to take a look. He recommended I go see an oral surgeon the next day for him to check it out."

"The next day I decided it was feeling better so I tried to cancel my appt but my boyfriend's dad insisted I go. I went, and the oral surgeon pretty much diagnosed it as cancer on the spot. It was aggressive and by the time of my surgery to remove it it had already spread to multiple lymph nodes."

"They ended up removing over half my tongue followed by chemo and radiation. Given how aggressive it was, I often think that if I had put off the doctors visit any longer I probably wouldn't have survived. I'm coming up on my 10 year anniversary in January." ~ bobear2017

Flip Out!

"When driving in the upper peninsula in Michigan last summer a truck full of logs flipped and barrelled straight into my car. Completely demolished the car, someone else had to come open the door for me after the fact because they were all pinned shut by logs. I walked out of there without a scratch on my body." ~ Tman2588

Pit Stop

"On a road trip in college with 4 friends. We stopped halfway for a pit stop because I had explosive diarrhea and was getting more sick by the minute. Friends carried on to Vegas and left me with one of the guys who rented us a car to return home. The friends that carried on got into a roll over: 1 died, 2 will be injured for life." ~ 4fingertakedown

Stay Single

Samuel L Jackson Reaction GIF by Coming to AmericaGiphy

"I was engaged to someone, but then came to my senses and broke it off. Nine months later I found out she got married to someone else, then about 1 year after that she killed her husband." ~ Green-Boysenberry396

Life is a minefield when you think about it. Sometimes the heartbreak of love is worth it in hindsight. You look back and realize you loved a psycho and just say... "thanks for looking out God."

Leaks

relief GIFGiphy

"The second floor of the house I was renting collapsed a month after I moved out. ETA: apparently a water pipe sprung a leak shortly after we left. We weren't in any trouble." ~ RenaKunisaki

On Impact

"I was driving home from visiting my brother in Vermont when a snow storm started. I didn't have much experience driving in serious snow and I completely lost control. Car careened off the road and I was heading for a giant boulder at around 50 or 60 mph. I felt time slow down and I reflected on my life for a moment and then said goodbye to my body. Suddenly, I was jolted out of it by an abrupt impact, but I could see that the boulder was still 20 or 30 feet away."

"When I got out of the car, I saw that I had hit a little skinny tree that I could have easily grabbed with one hand. However, it had a giant root system that lifted the car off the ground and stopped me. Car was totaled, but I was completely fine because of that little tree. There is no way I would have survived the other impact." ~ senatorbolton

These Gestures Are Offensive In Other Countries | George Takei’s Oh Myyy

Winter Days

"Walking to work in the winter. Half way through a step forward under a skybridge when an icicle taller than me (6') and probably 2' around at the base crashes down right in front of my nose. If my bus had been a half second earlier, if I had walked even a tiny bit faster pace."

"I would have been impaled from brains to testicles. I was frozen in place for a minute, quietly surveying my near-death. There was another pedestrian nearby who witnessed it and the wide-eyed, ashen look on his face as he stared at me confirmed just how narrowly fortunate I was that day." ~ MoridinXP

where I had just been...

"This happened before cellphones existed. I had a long commute home and on a rare occasion my husband drove into the city to meet me. I started for home about fifteen minutes before he did. On the stretch of Highway 101 that I needed to be on for about twenty miles, there was a big rig in front of me that seemed to be driving erratically."

"I got this weird feeling and just moved over to the next lane and accelerated past him. In my rear view mirror, I saw the big rig run over the car in front of him, flip to its side crushing the cars in the next lane (where I had just been). My husband was behind the accident and as the police were letting cars file past in single file."

"He saw one of the crushed cars had a red bumper. He got home a couple of hours after me and said he'd never been so happy to see my red car in the driveway. That he'd been holding his breath as he turned down our street because he really expected me to be under the big rig." ~ susgrigs

The Rising

Water Douse GIFGiphy

"My wife and I were prepared to buy a nice riverfront property in 2019, but the owners ( her dad and uncle) were dragging their feet. We had our down payment, we were approved for the mortgage, and we had even been living there paying rent."

"Then the river rose 30ft/10m and we had to evacuate. The water kept rising. The house was destroyed before we bought it. So we didn't buy it." ~ Idiot_Savant_Tinker

And these are just the disasters we know about. The truth is, we probably survive near-death experiences with every breath we take. God speed everyone.

Want to "know" more?

Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Miriam Margolyes
David Levenson/Getty Images

'Harry Potter' Star Miriam Margolyes Offers Mic Drop Explanation For Why Respecting Pronouns Matters

Sometimes it is just that easy to make people happy. This is a lesson learned over and over in our lives, but that's because it's an important one.

Actor Miriam Margolyes shared how she learned to change her behavior to make others happier. Margolyes appeared on The Graham Norton Show recently and brought up a fairly polarizing subject in the United Kingdom: trans people.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk looks on during a public appearance, as the billionaire once again turns a newsroom style decision into a culture-war grievance broadcast to millions on X.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

Elon Musk Cries Racism After Associated Press Explains Why They Capitalize 'Black' But Not 'White'

Elon Musk has spent the year picking fights, from health research funding to imagined productivity crises among federal workers and whether DOGE accomplished anything at all besides leaving chaos in its wake.

His latest grievance, however, is thinly disguised as grammatical. Specifically, he is once again furious that the Associated Press (AP) capitalizes “Black” while keeping “white” lowercase.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk; Yale University School of Engineering and Applied Science
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images; Plexi Images/GHI/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Elon Musk Gets Brutal Wakeup Call After Claiming That Yale's Lack Of Republican Faculty Is 'Outrageous Bigotry'

Elon Musk—who has repeatedly whined about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)—took to his social media platform to whine about a lack of conservative faculty at Yale University.

Musk shared data compiled by The Buckley Institute (TBI), a conservative-leaning organization founded at Yale in 2010. TBI found 82.3% of faculty self-identified as Democrats or primarily supporting Democratic candidates, 15% identified as independents, while only 2.3% identified as Republicans.

Keep ReadingShow less
Barry Manilow
Mat Hayward/Getty Images

Barry Manilow Speaks Out After Postponing Farewell Tour Dates Due To Lung Cancer Scare

"Looks Like We Made It" singer Barry Manilow is in the process of saying goodbye to the stage and meeting his fans in-person, but he has to press pause for a few months after receiving a jarring diagnosis.

On December 22, 2025, the "Mandy" singer posted on Facebook, explaining that a "cancerous spot" had been discovered on his left lung.

Keep ReadingShow less
Chris Evans as Steve Rogers in Avengers: Endgame, the last time audiences saw Captain America before his unexpected return was teased for Avengers: Doomsday.
Disney/Marvel Studios

Marvel Just Confirmed That Chris Evans Is Returning For 'Avengers: Doomsday'—And Fans Have Mixed Feelings

Folks, once again, continuity is more of a suggestion than a rule in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel has officially confirmed that Chris Evans is returning as Steve Rogers in Avengers: Doomsday, and the internet has responded exactly how you’d expect: screaming, celebrating, arguing, and a very justified side-eye toward how Sam Wilson keeps getting treated.

The confirmation comes via a teaser now playing exclusively in theaters ahead of Avatar: Fire and Ash. There is no official online release, despite leaks circulating. If you didn’t catch it on the big screen, Marvel’s response is essentially: sorry, guess you had to be there.

Keep ReadingShow less