Freaky Times People Dodged Life-Ruining Bullets

Author image for Eric Lund
Eric Lund
Sep 26, 2021 11:00 AM EDT

Everyone has dodged a bullet in their life at one time or another, but what that means to each individual is different. Some bullets dodged are literal; a fresh hole in your wall where you stood a moment ago, or a high school student skipping curfew only to find that a car rammed through their bedroom — exactly where they would have been if they arrived home on time. Other bullets dodged are existential; a good Samaritan offering a ride home to a drunk person in a not-necessarily safe area or having a negative gut feeling about a new acquaintance justified.

We've all had some close calls, and sometimes it just makes us shiver to think about what could have gone wrong in our own lives. But learning about other people's close calls is pretty cool. U/MentalMaddness and other users on r/AskReddit commiserated over scary situations they've narrowly escaped, or former friends and romantic interests they lost touch with who they now realize were negative influences. Check out some of these entries for a look at how unpredictable life really can be.

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  • 01
    Font - XXBBB2003XX · 22h My brother and i were drilling into a piece of metal and it started emmiting wierd sounds, i was standingto the left of the drill. He quietly and calmly muttered "you should probably move" and i dodged the piece of metal that flew where my head was. It hit the wall behind me with a lotta speed. He keeps on doing stuff like that btw
    via AskReddit
  • 02
    Font - mixednuts_trailmix · 20h 93 3 2 When I was a dumb young woman I lived in St. Thomas Virgin Islands. I worked in an area that could be very sketchy after dark. One night after work I got really drunk. I stumbled into a taxi to head home. So drunk I'm not even sure how I gave him my address. When we arrived I started digging in my pocket for cash to pay the taxi driver and he reached over and said "no, no baby. I'm not a taxi. I just wanted to make sure you got home ok". Apparently I had ju
    via AskReddit
  • 03
    Font - Wu-Kang · 22h S Had gall stones and the doctor game me a choice between surgery to remove the gall bladder or antibiotics. I choose the surgery, which is very unlike me. When they started the surgery they found out the gall bladder had burst and the stones were in my body cavity. What was supposed to be a short procedure through the belly button turned into a 10" incision to remove the stones. I was supposed to leave the hospital that day, but it turned into a week. However, if I chose an
    via AskReddit
  • 04
    Font - yeahdude4930 · 23h I stayed out of the house overnight while in high school. My dad was pissed off and told me that I better be home that night. I didn't listen and instead stayed at a friends house with my girlfriend. At around 2 am a kid from high school drove a Denali into my house. It ran directly into my room and destroyed my room, bed and anything else around. He was estimated to be going around 60mph. My dad is blind and thought that I may have been in the room. He was searching fo
    via AskReddit
  • 05
    Font - flO0fypanda 22h I'd planned on doing some grocery shopping one afternoon after running other errands in the morning. By the time I got done with my morning errands, the weather looked quite gloomy so I decided to leave the groceries for another day. Just as I got home I got frantic texts from a friend of mine asking if I'm okay and to respond immediately. Apparently around the time I decided last minute to forgo shopping, someone opened fire at that exact grocery store I planned on going
    via AskReddit
  • 06
    Font - dances_w_dingoes 21h · edited 21h O Ive got an almost literal "dodged a bullet." I was cutting a tree with a chain saw. The saw wasn't mine, it was old, and I don't know how well maintained it was. The chain broke and came whipping back at me. I didn't even react, it was too fast. I didn't feel any pain, I turned and saw the chain was hanging, half stuck into a tree behind me at head/neck level. The tree was directly behind me, in a straight line from the chain saw. Somehow the chain whip
    via AskReddit
  • 07
    Font - Bechimo · 22h Living in southern Vermont, I work for a small software company, wife teaching at a small local college. We decide to move to the southwest, wife gets a job, we sell house & move cross country. Within a year my company was sold and most employees let go, wife's college closed. We would have been stuck with a hard to sell house and the only possible jobs at least an hour away. Happy where we are, timing is everything
    via AskReddit
  • 08
    Font - MooseOnTehLoose · 22h Was helping two other people cut down a tree with a chainsaw after a storm that knocked out power, we had to get specific trees down before the electric company would come out to fix the lines. The tree snapped and gave way above the chainsaw cut and kissed my lip. If I was standing an inch further it would have been... extremely painful.
    via AskReddit
  • 09
    Font - Paulecut · 20h I once went scuba diving with two friends to try a drysuit to dive in really cold water. As we entered the water it felt really cold. I thought everything was normal. Back than I had no reference for cold water and the feeling in a drysuit. The suit had a leak and was filling with water ( 1.5°C). After 15 mintues realised that the temperature wasn't normal. I signaled to my buddies that I need to get back. By that time the suit was halfway filled with water. It took us quit
    via AskReddit
  • 10
    Font - Odd-manz · 22h About five years ago my family was having a marshmallow roast on an open fire (huge fire). For some reason I didn't eat anything off of the fire. Next day I woke up and I could barely see. Walked into my bathroom without my glasses still didn't see anything wrong. Walked into my parents room (still dark). I got my mom to get up and come look at me. She seemed pretty surprised. I had a severe case of poison ivy from the fire. One thing I'll never forget is when my dad saw me
    via AskReddit
  • 11
    Font - Ciqbern · 20h My ex fiance cheated on me. After I broke it off with her the guy she cheated on me with essentially slipped right into my place like the scumbag he is. He ended up getting her pregnant a few months later and then marrying her. After the breakup I realized how abusive and sh."y she really was, just a bad person all around but I had that whole sunken cost fallacy thing going on so I didn't break it off until she cheated. Years later they are f..kin miserable assh- 'es (we hav
    via AskReddit
  • 12
    Smile - Chaseus_Clay 23h Fell asleep at the wheel on the interstate and got woken up by an 18 wheeler blaring it's horn at me. So thankful I didn't hurt anybody, it was 3 in the morning and I had been up since 5 something.
    via AskReddit
  • 13
    Font - Sub_pup - 22h Was driving back home after a bad breakup. 8 hours in I pass out at the wheel, I open my eyes and im left of the center shoulder driving on mud and grass at 60mph, people honking like crazy, veer back onto the road seconds before plowing into some trees and barely missing the guard rail end cap. Stopped at the next exit and drank 2 huge cups of black coffee and checked my pants.
    via AskReddit
  • 14
    Font - shatterdiver 21h Was working with a hydraulic press. My professor didn't check the specs on my project. Turns out I used zinc screws instead of steel. Press almost hits max and a screw flies off, bounces off the steel plate on the wall, wizzes 6 inches next my head and digs itself an inch into the steel plate behind me. I literally dodged a bullet
    via AskReddit
  • 15
    Font - CharlieTuna_ · 21h Years ago I was at a Bitcoin meetup. The organizers knew I was a programmer and there was an apparent high roller was coming by. I remember meeting a bunch of people but when I sat down with this guy something felt odd about him. He wanted programmers to write an exchange for him and wanted me on board. There's nothing wrong with liking profits but this guy was a bit unusual in his obsession with it. It felt like I was doing business with a mob boss and figured I might
    via AskReddit
  • 16
    Font - zachtheperson - 20h My friend was doing a party trick for a group of friends where he shot a bullet out of a pair of pliers. What was on the other side of the wall he was shooting a bullet at? Me microwaving ramen. Heard the bang and went into the other room to see wtf was going on. Friend stared at me like he'd seen a ghost and the entire room just went silent. It wasn't until I went back to grab my ramen that I saw the hole in the wall inches away from where my head was. Yeah, literally
    via AskReddit
  • 17
    Rectangle - BravesBro · 23h I was obsessed with my high school girlfriend, but she was super flakey and unreliable. I cut off contact with her after graduation. Years later, I hear through the grapevine that she's a recovering meth addict with 4 kids from 3 different dads.
    via AskReddit
  • 18
    Font - WitzEndSendHelp · 22h When I was hard into the dating scene I went and hung out with this guy for a night and decided that he wasn't the one, so I told him and he started calling me multiple times a day, he wrote a 4 page (front and back) letter about why I should give him a chance, and then when I wouldn't respond he made a video that lasted a half hour explaining why I was just a rude b:ch and how I shouldn't have led him on...I met him once for coffee at a Waffle House.
    via AskReddit
  • 19
    Font - Fessir · 20h My first girlfriend and then best friend got together behind my back. A few years later, dude was caught in a volatile sh.y off-again, on-again relationship because she had "forgotten" about the birth control she supposedly took. Four times. That chick really wanted a whole lotta kids while she was still young and she didn't care to talk about it with her partner.
    via AskReddit
  • 20
    Rectangle - displaced_virginian - 22h I was delayed in traffic between work and the gym. When I got to the gym, I found that a tornado had hit it. If I'd been on time, the tornado and I would have been crossing the parking lot at the same time.
    via AskReddit

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