Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Describe The Most Dangerous Thing They Unwittingly Did As A Kid

People Describe The Most Dangerous Thing They Unwittingly Did As A Kid
Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay

Years ago I had a classmate who was a total daredevil... so much so that he would often injure himself. He once drove a bike in the direction of oncoming traffic, just for the hell of it. He got out of that episode unscathed––luckily. By contrast, I prefer keeping all my limbs, and still have them all. I wonder where he is now. Hopefully not too banged up. I did do some stuff unwittingly––like the time I stuck a fork into an electrical socket. I thankfully wasn't shocked too much. I was young and naive.

People told us all about the dangerous things they did when they were younger after Redditor Not-an-Ocelot asked the online community,

"What's the most dangerous thing you did as a kid without realizing?"

"My chore..."

"My chore was to wash the floors. I would mix all sorts of chemicals together, not realizing they don't mix. Like bleach and ammonia with other cleaning products."

Constantlearner01

This is very easy to do––and so dangerous! Thankfully you didn't harm yourself.

"I used to walk..."

​"I used to walk on a frozen river when walking home from school. I was about 7 at the time."

DrownedRacc

Nope!

Nope.

Nope.

Nope.

Seen too many movies about people stuck under the ice.

"We would sneak up..."

"I used to do parkour. We would sneak up onto the rooftops of condo buildings when they were washing their windows (the staircases leading to the top floor would be unlocked). We would then go roof hopping.

Literal roof hopping like in Grand Theft Auto. We would jump from a 12 storey apartment building's roof to an adjacent 10 storey apartment building's roof, etc."

HawkFrost549

How are your knees? That's bound to do some damage, no?

"I picked up..."

"I picked up a baby copperhead snake and gave it to my mom as a present when I was 6 or 7."

SquirrelonaMountain

Wow.

You must have really hated your mom.

"There was a railway crossing..."

"There was a railway crossing on my walk to school, and the train would often be blocking my path so I would always wait until it stopped moving and then climb on top of it and jump off the other side so I could keep walking and not be late."

theautomemoriesdoll

"Played inside..."

"Played inside an old broken refrigerator that was outside….not knowing it could have locked or tipped over."

BurntPelican

Yes, it could have! Thankfully it didn't. There's a really frightening scene in The Leftovers involving a character who nearly suffocates in a fridge.

No thank you.

"Like most Florida kids..."

"Like most Florida kids I swam where I shouldn't have and I'm very lucky I didn't get eaten by alligators."

VelociraptorSparkles

"After seeing videos..."

"Playing with fireworks. After seeing videos of kids blowing their fingers and hands off, I would never let my kids play with them, without lots of supervision."

knowses

"We are super lucky..."

"Getting on a boat with my then-boyfriend and not telling our parents where we were going. The boat ended up sinking during a storm and we had life jackets and floated on the ice chest. Only reason we are alive is because a ship that was coming in heard us screaming during the storm and called the coast guard. We were out there for a total of 15 hours and had severe hypothermia. We are super lucky to be alive."

Aeb1978

This is pretty terrifying.

Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

Yes, thankfully, you're alive.

"When I was about..."

"When I was about 9 or 10 a friend and I rode an air mattress down a river. Neither of us knew how to swim and we didn't tell our parents so when we came back cops were looking for us."

somedayisnow97

Well... these were a read.

If you'll excuse me, I'll stay indoors and wrap myself in bubble wrap. The outside world is scary.

Have some stories of your own? Feel free to tell us about them in the comments below!


Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Kate Gosselin
Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images

Kate Gosselin Shares The 'Lasting Effects' Of Having Sextuplets On Her Body—And We Can Only Imagine

TLC programming was a major part of Millennial and Gen-X culture, particularly shows like Teen Mom, Catfish, Jon & Kate Plus 8, and Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

If you were ever curious for a closer glimpse of Kate Gosselin, mother of twins and then sextuplets, and her life, now is your chance!

Keep ReadingShow less
screenshot of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris presidential debate
CNN

Video Of Kamala Warning Trump About Putin's Agenda Goes Viral After Russian Drones Enter Polish Airspace

One year ago, pundits and the press were analyzing the performances of Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and former President and MAGA Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in the first and only debate between the pair before the 2024 presidential election.

During that face-off, it was noted that Trump refused to answer if he wanted United States ally Ukraine to win the war Russia began by invading their neighbor.

Keep ReadingShow less
An 87-year-old Gramercy Park man and his wife fought off a pair of watch thieves in a scam gone wrong.
Eyewitness News ABC7NY/YouTube

87-Year-Old Foils Watch Thieves

Who needs another season of Mr. and Mrs. Smith when Gramercy Park’s own Larry Schwartz and Joanna Cuccia are already serving action-comedy gold? At 87, Schwartz casually knocks out 240 reps a day and chases off watch thieves as if it were just another warm-up set.

And Larry Schwartz wasn’t about to let some Rolex-swapping grifter make him the punchline of a TikTok crime wave.

Keep ReadingShow less
Anna Wintour Reveals Her Honest Reaction To Seeing 'The Devil Wears Prada'—And It's Kind Of Iconic
Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images; 20th Century Fox

Anna Wintour Reveals Her Honest Reaction To Seeing 'The Devil Wears Prada'—And It's Kind Of Iconic

If you've ever wondered if legendary Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour has ever seen The Devil Wears Prada, the answer is yes, and she's finally shared her opinions on the film.

The movie, based on Lauren Weisberger's novel of the same name, centers around the trials and tribulations a young writer endures under a legendarily icy fashion editor named Miranda Priestley.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots of Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Colbert, and crowd giving standing ovation
CBS

Powerful Line From Sotomayor's Scathing Dissent After ICE Ruling Ignites Standing Ovation On 'Colbert'

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor received a standing ovation during her appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert after Colbert read a line from her powerful dissent following the Court's ruling that immigration agents can use racial profiling when conducting arrests.

The case was brought by several individuals detained during ICE raids. A federal district judge initially found the raids unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Keep ReadingShow less