Life is difficult to live and bare witness to. There are moments and situations that are seared vividly into all of us. The things we can never unsee. Whether it be a moment of violence or tragedy or heartbreak, it'll be something we all wish we could change. That's why it's always best to have others to share with. Reach out. Especially to loved one and professionals.
Redditor u/ThisDudeDaShawn wanted to know what unspeakable acts of life we've witnessed by asking.... What is something you wish you never saw or heard?
Damn Leukemia.
I saw my best friend dead in his coffin when I was 8. He had died of leukemia. It fundamentally changed me as a person. I grew up a lot that day and I think it's part of the reason I am the way I am with people and relationships. I never want them to end. My biggest fear is losing people. I think that's probably why. NotABurner2000
Her Face.
My mum walked into my bedroom at 3am coughing, she had stage 4 lung cancer but was generally coping. She passed out and by the time the ambulance came she had passed away. They left her on my floor for hours and it was only me and her in our house. I couldn't face moving her to a bed or something so just sat next to her on the floor for hours. Her face was weirdly bruised where she hit the floor and her tooth was wonky and I'll never forget the look of her face :(. At times the image pops into my head, every time it just makes me want to cry even years on. I felt pretty bitter towards my siblings for a while for being the only one there to deal with it all but l slowly learnt it's a pointless resentment to hold. yuuuuuuuiipr
Too Much to Stomach.
The toybox killer David Parker Ray. There is a transcript of a video that he would play to his new victims as he had them shackled to a table. I never made it through the whole thing.
Some of my coworkers were once talking about the worst things they have seen or read on the internet. I told them about this transcript but warned them it is the most disturbing thing I've ever read and I wasn't even able to finish it. They didn't make it to the end either. I won't link it but you could easily find it with the info I listed. Tokenofmyerection
Sad.
I saw my friend inject some bad heroin, nod off, puke white stuff, pee his pants and die before the paramedics arrived. Delsentido
Poor Baby.
A 2 year old stuck in a borewell at 80ft deep, died inside 2 days later despite the efforts to save him. A picture of him was released a day later he got stuck, mud over him, only hands can be seen since his hands were up. Nobody could save him because the diameter of the well was so short that he was slowly descending from 20 ft to 80 ft over the span of 5 days. This crushed my heart and I wish I never heard or saw something like this. despaireduser
So Helpless.
When I was about 7, I had gotten up early in the morning to watch cartoons. I lived with my mom as my parents had divorced the year prior, and she was still sleeping. As I was watching TV I started hearing a lot of coughing, I went into my kitchen and my dog was coughing non stop, it might have been choking but I don't remember well. I went to tell my mom and in her extremely tired state said 'he does that sometimes', I went back and sat with him for a few minutes, until he dropped to the floor, and I instantly started crying and dragged my mom out of bed. Her pushing me out of the kitchen and yelling at me to call my dad is something I'll never forget, when he arrived he closed the door and all I could hear for the next few hours was my mom's bawling. I never felt so helpless. l_dead_fl_dead_f
Melted.
I used to do research for an energy services company. I could have gone my entire life without reading the details and seeing the pictures of what happens when you touch a downed wire. Best outcome is honestly death. Your face literally melts.
Stay away from powerlines and any sort of live wires. Please. Just call the professionals and keep others back. Beachy5313
The EX.
All the evidence of my ex-wife's affairs. It's good in a way though because of the flashbacks it mostly kept me from going back and falling her for crap again. aravenaaravena
Silence.
The silence as my (then) girlfriend have birth to our stillborn son. I just wept and wept when I could hear the sound of a baby crying. She went through 13 hours of labor only for our world to be completely destroyed. Behold_the_Bear
I am so sorry for your loss. I too have lost a child, and it is heartbreaking. It never goes away, but it does get easier to deal with it. I hope you're both doing ok. lovesilver
TRAIN!!!
My husbands mom told him this a lot growing up. This weekend we were on a little train ride and he was sitting in front of me with our 1.5 year old son in front of him. Our son was laughing and I kept looking at the back of my husband's head with some of his grey hairs coming in, freckles on the back of his ears. He looked to the side and I could see a huge smile on his face from our son screaming tree! Train! And I've never felt so much love, I hugged him right from behind and told said - I'm so glad you're here.
He makes me a better person. No matter how many times his mother told him that out of frustration or because she was drunk I'll never let him think for a second he's not appreciated or absolutely needed in my life.
Just because your mom makes you feel worthless doesn't mean you are. strictlytacos
Sorry Diane.
I found my neighbor Diane (late 60s) dead in her bed. Her mom (100) came over banging on my door and praying at the top of her lungs and told me she couldn't get up the stairs to check on her. I went up there and she was dead. I told the mom and Diane's daughters that it looked like she went peacefully in her sleep. That was a lie. She. Looked. Terrified. I'll never forget the look on this woman's face for as long as I live. She knew what was happening. bowyer-bettybowyer-betty
The Pool.
I saw a young girl drown in a hotel pool when I was on holiday with my dad in Majorca. I was 14 at the time.
They pulled her out of the pool and were performing CPR on her for a long time, with everyone else around the pool watching.
The feeling of utter tragedy emanating from everyone around the pool was devastating. The parents, her siblings, the lifeguard who missed it and felt fully responsible. Everyone left the pool, but no one knew whether to leave the surrounding area or not. Everyone just kind of watched on in silence. It was pretty surreal. Dipso88
Oh Dad.
Finding my father dead in his home. Wrong_Answer_Willie
My grand father died in my living room when I was 16. He used to sleep in his chair a lot so none of us realized he was dead. He was ice cold by the time we realized so he must have been there for hours while we all watched TV. It hurts looking back in it. ShadowWingZero
Dear Brother.
When my brother died the Army sent his things back to us in a large box. I got to watch my mom open it and discover they also included the blanket (they wrapped him in for the life flight) that still had his blood, hair and brains all over it. It was the first thing we saw. Whole family looking at that blanket, crying and screaming. He was 20 and the youngest of 7. Oknocando
"no body wants to die."
Death rattle. This is the sound of someone's breathing as they die. Awful to hear. Sully1102
Yeah, experienced this sound with two family members over the last year and a half-ish. i cannot get the image of the dead step-father laying in his hospital bed out of my brain. or the way my great-grandmother sounded when i heard her speak the last proper sentence she managed when they were discussing if she wanted medical intervention or to pass away peacefully. "no body wants to die." i stayed at the hospital listening to her labored breathing until late that night. she passed away early morning.
that sound. its an absolute death omen. Sully1102
14.
I lost my father when I was 14. I was in my room on the computer and I heard him gasping and breathing really strangely from the bathroom. I called down to my mom who ran to call 911, I was the one that was trying to keep him conscious while the ambulance was on their way.
Turns our his heart basically exploded because of blockages, and there was nothing that could be done. But looking at my dad's glazed over eyes and hearing his gasping and weak breathing took a toll on me.
My brother was also not home at the time, so the proverbial icing on the cake was hearing an 18 year old screaming "No daddy, no daddy no!" at the top of his lungs.
There was nothing that could be done to save him, but the paramedics told us there was no suffering and he was dead before he knew that anything was wrong. But still, those sounds and that sight of my dad will haunt me for the rest of my life. siphonsoul
Two occasions at an old job spring to mind.....
Two occasions at an old job spring to mind
- I became pretty friendly with one of the executive's daughters. At that time I was the company's IT systems administrator. One of my responsibilities was to review inbound/outbound items quarantined by our anti-spam server. I stumbled upon e-mails of her very married father negotiating terms with an escort. The next day he e-mailed her about how she was amazing the night before, and how he couldn't wait to see her again. I didn't think it was my place to insert myself into their family, but it made hanging our with the daughter really awkward. It was always in the back of my mind. I dunno. Maybe I should have told her.
- One morning I receive a support ticket that one of our employees can't login the night before. I go over to look into it and one of his colleagues mentions that he was set to be fired when he arrived, and that his account was disabled the previous evening. Unfortunately, his boss wanted to let him go in person but was involved in a relatively serious car accident on his way to work. They made it very clear that under no circumstances was I to allow the employee to login. So for 4+ hours I had to keep bullshitting him that it was caused by some weird server error every time he dropped by my desk for a status update. Poor guy. funky_shmoo
The Puppy.
When I was 9 Years old, I witnessed my dog get run over by a car. It was so bad, I'd have eventual flashbacks throughout my teens of him lying in blood with all his guts out whenever I'd look at the road.
I wished I never saw it, But most of it all I wished it never happened. K9Seven
The Pigs.
A few videos that I've seen online have stuck with me. One that springs to mind is a tipper truck of live pigs being dumped into a pit. I only watched less than 30 seconds of it because I just thought "why the heck am I looking at this?" The sound is what really got to me. Humans can be so cruel. flypaperhat
Head On.
I worked as a tow truck driver. I worked a head on collision with fatalities that included some small children, there was carseats soaked in blood snacks everywhere stuffed animals covered in blood. I quit my job that day and went back into welding. pbrstreetgang865
f you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
Who else wishes they were blind?