The Scariest Place You've Ever Been?

Sailboat on the ocean around Maui.

 

In a Natural cave in the North Carolina Mountains!

 

Reptile house of a zoo

 

Alabama. It's truly the 1950's there.....with indoor plumbing and electricity to most places now.

 

Why was that? Not a good idea. Let's see rainstorm off Hana, big waves and strong currents between Maui and Big Island cause some problems? Most people do day sail in relatively peaceful waters off Lahaina...

 

I was going to say the inside of a Medicaid nursing/long term care facility. I don't mean home, I mean facility. People propped up and uncared for in a corporate cash mill...rolled in, then rolled out. Smells like a barn.

 

Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia

 

I drove convoy for a year out of Baghdad in 2004. Everyday was the scariest day.

 

At a speech with a room full of republicans!

William F. Buckley was the headliner.

 

My ex mother in laws house

 

The second scariest place was in Hardin, MT. Many years ago I was on a trip with my wife from our home in Missoula back to the Midwest. It was a time when only hippies wore beards and we had a van with a hand painted elk on the side. My wife had hippie clothing on.

Tho Hardin was adjacent to the Crow Reservation, there were no Indians in the roadside diner we stopped at….. just 20 or so red neck right wingers. As we entered the diner, conversation stopped and we were met with 20 very threatening stares. Wow. We sat down but the obvious visual threats continued….we quietly left with out ordering and felt safe only as we were many miles down the road across the Reservation.

 

Downtown Deteoit at the bus station. I got there at 6am and the last bus to Canada wasnt until 1am. I stood with my back to the wall holding my suitcase in front of me. Was too scared to go for a smoke, until a state trooper pulled up outside, so I went and chatted with him and we both had a smoke together. I was offered crack, jewellery, hookers...you name it. Scary shit!! Was so happy to board that bus!

 

The shower in my GF's bathroom when her soon to be ex husband shows up pissed off and demanding he take their kid home with him. I heard a smack and a yelp from her, shut off the shower, and stepped out into the bedroom. Then hear him yelling as he had heard me in there. I thought I was going to have to confront him, naked, but he realized he was fucking up and left the house. She ended up with a large bruise on her chest. Pictures taken and lawyers met. No charges were filed while the divorce settled out of court. Scared the shit outta me after it was all over when I realized I would have had to defend myself totally nude with my bare hands.

 

Scariest situation for me.... I was working on a new steel roof alone when a heavy fog rolled in fast. The roof turned very slippery.... I was working near the very top, and when I noticed how slippery it got I carefully worked my way back to the ladder, Lost my grip and slid down the roof, not a fast slide, actually kind of slow, tried getting my shoes hooked on roof screw heads but there wasn't a lot there since the roof wasn't complete. The drop was about 18' to hard ground covered with a thin layer of mud. I screamed bloody murder as I reached the edge, knowing there was no one around... 18' fall was instant. Landed on my feet but fell forward to my hands and was able to protect my head from hitting the ground. Not a mark on me, a little mud on my hands and knees, sore for a few days. Stupid, but I never told anyone it happened, embarrassed I guess.
That was about 7 years ago, I remember it like it was yesterday, and I definitely have a few aches and pains sometimes that I'm certain are directly related to that fall.

 

Yup. If there is any moisture on a metal roof--you're going off!! I started roofing at 26 years of age and stayed roofing until I was over 70. I got lucky though--only fell off different roofs 4 times over the years! Worked on some EXTREMELY DANGEROUS situations ---and loved every minute of it. Some would say I had more balls than a pool table---they would be correct.

 

I have 2
Travelling from Havana up to the coast in an old russian post war plane. Smoke was coming out of the "air con" and the attendants carried the coffee 2 cups at a time in their hands rather then trays because it was do turbulent. Equally bad on return trip.

In the Dominican Republic we can to a clearing in forest/ jungle and came upon an old colonial house with young guys patrolling the upper level with machine guns. Not being one easily scared (or not showing it) I just explained we were just out taking wildlife photos and had got lost. They didn't say much but we're cool about us passing through.

 

I dislike heights, not in a plane or a building, but anywhere I could easily fall from or off. Up on a ladder, anywhere over 20 feet off the ground is the scariest place I've ever been. As a homeowner, I've done it a number of times, and I've hated it every time.

I did fall once, or I should say that the feet of the ladder I placed poorly slid out from under the ladder, with me at the top of the ladder. Probably, I would have probably been badly injured on impact with a window on the way down, or the concrete below, but some landscaping stones stopped the sliding of the ladder's feet about mid-fall. Still scares fhe shit out of me.

It's simply my personal fear, and it features frequently in my nightmares. I have great respect and admiration for tree-trimmers, painters, roofers, tuckpointers, rough carpenters, and framers who have to overcome any fear they have of ladders and heights. FWIW, humans are born with only two innate fears: falling, and loud noises. Every other fear is learned. The innate fear of falling is probably an evolutionary legacy of our ancestors who came down from the trees about 2 million years ago. As we see our primate relatives today cling to their mothers almost from the moment of birth, so it was necessary for the newborn of our ancestors as well when they spent much of their time in trees.

 

I guess I am not very afraid of heights--I have a picture a reporter took of my set up where I stood on the very top of a fully extended 40 foot ladder power washing a two story shake roof in Lincoln City Oregon. But loud noises really startle me ---and piss me off!

 

I missed my R&R flight from Honolulu back to 'Nam in 1971 and had to get back myself.. I bought ticket to Guam and then took a four engine jet to 'Nam by way if Yahota AFB in Tokyo.. I was thinking the sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the 100s of deaths from shark attacks happened below us somewhere on this route when there was a noise.. then another noise.. captain said "don't be alarmed.. we've lost two of our four engines.. this bird will fly in one engine, but let's go back and get a healthy aircraft"..

actually.. at 19 yo that wasn't really all that scary.. more of an adventure..

what REALLY scared me was, after returning to 'Nam I had ti set up and test relay signal from Ashau Valley (SW of Hue near Laos (now called A Luoi Valley)) 18 choppers full of seasoned grunts, 4 Cobra gunships, 4 observation craft.. 2 A-1 Skyraiders at 5,000' and a pair of F-4 Phantoms up at 10-15,000' just in case..
iow: we went in heavy..

good thing.. the trees erupted with tracers and we went into Hot LZ.. that was not fun..

just 10 enemy shooting 700 rounds per minute at you can make your ass pucker..
and I was on last chopper in.. what a tempting target as we slowed down before our turn to hover/jump off..

the Cobras really lit up the treeline with miniguns/rockets.. A-1s/F-4s weren't needed but until the shooting stopped it's like hell..

yeah.. that was spooky..