31 People Share The Most Unbelievable And Most Bizarre Moments In Their Life

There's probably about 1% of people in the world who have experienced these crazy things.

May

• Published in Interesting
• October 7, 2022

Let's face it: life can be pretty crazy sometimes. We all have those days when everything seems to go wrong, and it can feel like the whole world is against us.

Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do we make such poor decisions sometimes?

Why can't we just all get along? Unfortunately, there's no easy answer to these questions

But why do crazy and unexplained things happen anyway? One theory is that the universe is just trying to keep us on our toes.

After all, if everything always went according to plan, life would be pretty boring, wouldn't it? Another possibility is that we're just not paying attention.

With so much going on in the world, it's easy to get distracted and miss important details. As they say, hindsight is 20/20.

Or maybe we're just unlucky. Sometimes things happen, and there's no rational explanation for them.

Whatever the reason, one thing is for sure: life is full of surprises. And today, we are looking at the stories of people who experienced life's craziness firsthand.

From getting abducted to being remembered by one's favorite idol after x amount of years, people over at Reddit started sharing their very own random, bizarre stories.

Let's take a look!

1. Sometimes, you need to listen to your intuition.

I’m a medic and firefighter. We once had a call for something normal, like chest pain or something, I can’t remember. The caller said he was in his barn/garage, which isn’t weird really around here.

Anyway we pull up on scene and something just felt off. No idea why but something just told me in my gut that something was wrong.

I decided to do a 360 around the building before we went through the door at the front that was clearly the entrance. I walk around and come to a window on the side of the building and look in.

There was a shotgun rigged to the door. The guy had set a booby trap for us. And he had hung himself as well.

We kicked in this plexiglass type material on the side of the building and entered that way. Guy was dead. Nothing we could do about it at that point.

I would have been the first through that door. No idea why I didn’t just walk through it that day.

Edit: I’ll try to answer some of the questions here.

No idea why the guy did what he did, but my hypothesis in situations like this and mass shootings and the like is angry suicide.

The reason I made entry before police were present was because they were more than 30 minutes away and if the guy wasn’t dead I would have attempted to revive him. I assessed the scene and made a risk/reward decision and decided it was safe enough for me to enter from the side of the building.

I’m not religious and I think it was just training and experience that made me double check the scene. Something looked off to me at the time but I can’t even point out what it was. I’ve been in emergency services for about 15 years and this is just one story of weird s**t that has happened in that time.

And thanks to everyone for saying kind things about me still being here. I’m glad I’m here too.

2. This man was so lucky.

I had an ear infection that was misdiagnosed for years, from when I was about 25-33. During that timeline, it spread out of my ear canal and into the surrounding bone. Then, due to an atypical born formation in my skull that would have otherwise been asymptomatic, the infection traveled up my skull and into my cranial cavity, unbeknownst to me.

The symptoms I experienced were only in my ear, where I felt fluid and pressure. I finally demanded that an ent place a tube to try to clear out the infection.

The tube drained for about three weeks, and finally the ent I had gone to panicked and misdiagnosed me with a cerebrospinal fluid leak. He rushed me to the ER without even testing the fluid, and he intended to cut my skull open to look for a cerebrospinal fluid leak that didn't exist. I was in the ER on a table with the doctors running preop antibiotics when I got a call from a friend of the family who is a doctor. He had been speaking to his doctor friends, and they all agreed I needed to get the f**k out of there. They didn't believe there was a csf leak at all. I told the team of doctors who had assembled to operate on me that I was leaving, and they were pissed. They all shot me condescending and angry looks as I left.

I got a call two days later from the ent telling me that they got the analysis of the fluid back, and it wasn't cerebrospinal fluid. I was in shock. They were going to slice my head open on a fishing expedition for a csf leak that didn't exist. He didn't apologize or anything. I hung up the phone and never talked to him again.

Eventually, the team of neurosurgeons my friend knew diagnosed me with a runaway ear infection. One told me that I have "the most unique looking skull he'd ever seen." Some compliment.

One showed me a CT of my skull. "See this black spot inside your skull? That's air. That's not supposed to be there, and it means there is a channel from the outside world to inside your skull. That's very bad. Do you ever fly? [I responded that yes, I fly all the time. For work, for pleasure, all the time.] Well, stop that immediately. This is very dangerous. Every time you've flown over the last several years, you've been rolling a die. It's possible that, when the cabin pressurized, this air pocket would expand and create a midline shift in your brain and you'd die immediately."

So, after a sh*tload more scans, they took me in for an 8 hour surgery. They removed all of the infected bone in my skull, a piece that ran about 2" x 6". In its place, they put a titanium mesh implant to hold my skull together. The recovery was the weirdest and most disorienting experience. When I turned my head, I could feel the plate shifting, and my skull was no longer a full circle, so it wasn't structurally sound, so it too kinda shifted.

But the bone healed over the implant, and now you'd never know that any of this happened, except for a barely noticeable scar behind my left ear.

Thank God I had that friend to tell me to bolt from that emergency room.

3. This is just frightening.

This was early seventies when I was about 1 year old. My parents went on a camping trip in New Hampshire, got to the site late, and had to set up everything in the dark. My parents put me in this German-made baby leash thing and wrapped it around their arms, because I would "sleep crawl" and there was no crib.

The next morning my father awoke to tugging on his wrist. He finds me dangling by the leash straight over a several hundred foot shear cliff. They had set up the tent not knowing how close they were to the side.

If it hadn't been for a little leather strap attached to a harness around me, I would have plummeted to my death without making a sound that night and no one would have known for hours. It was possible they wouldn't have found my body because the valley below had coyotes at the time.

4. The ugly shirt worked to their advantage.

Me, my husband & 2 young kids decide to go to a Six Flags park on a Saturday. I picked out everyone clothes for the day, but my husband decided to wear a different shirt, an ugly green polo. I hated the shirt and acted pissy all the way to the park during the two hour drive.

We arrive and got in line to get admission tickets then a stranger walks up and asks us if we want to get in free as he had season passes and it was some kind of "bring a friend" type of promo day.

We thanked him for saving us admission costs and asked him "why did you choose us out of all he people here?".

It was because my husbands shirt color was the same color of his favorite sport team.

My husband laughed about it all day.

5. It's a small world after all!

I was visiting the Statue of Liberty with my family. Accidentally bumped into a woman. When I turned around to apologize I realized it was the exchange student we had hosted a decade before.

What a coincidence that we were visiting NYC from TN and she was visiting from Denmark at the same time, we both decided to visit the Statue of Liberty at the same time, and I just so happened to clumsily run into her. It’s a small world

6. Strangers gives a couple front-row seats

My husband and I went to a Tom Petty concert at the last minute only being able to get tickets for the cheap seats. Right before the concert starts somebody approaches us and says ‘do you want to get bumped up’ and I said sure because there can’t be any worse seats than this and he says ‘ I am with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and these are front row seats’.

He hands them to me and disappears. My husband and I looked at each other, walk to the front section security guard, showed him our tickets and he walked us to front row center seats and we enjoyed a really great concert.

7. Being at the right place at the right time.

I moved away from my hometown when I was 20. I started working for a company that had several locations around the city. One day I just happened to be walking past one of the locations that I didn't work at because I was going to an eye appointment.

Right as I was walking by, a guy I knew from that other location walks out the door and tells me that my mom is on the phone. She was desperately trying to get in touch with me because my grandfather had died.

She knew the name of the company I worked for but didn't know which location I worked at, so she got an operator to connect her with one of the locations at random. The guy I knew said he was on the phone with her and was just starting to explain that I didn't work at that location when he looked out the window and saw me walking by.

8. The ticket returned to its rightful owner.

Was going to see a concert with some friends. Printed my ticket at home. This was before mobile tickets were ubiquitous. We all decided to meet at a bar about a mile from the venue, then walk over after a few drinks.

Have our drinks and some food and head to the venue. When we get there, I suddenly realize I don't have my ticket on me. Panicked, I run back to the bar. Check my car in the parking lot, nothing. Head inside the bar, check the table we were at, look everywhere. No ticket.

Bummed and dejected, I leave the bar and begin to trek back to the venue to let my friends know I can't go with them. While I was waiting at a crosswalk, the wind blows a bit, and with it, a sheet of paper floats past me and comes to a stop on the sidewalk.

I reach down, pick it up, and it's my goddamn printed ticket. One of the best days of my life.

9. A human trafficking victim's dreadful experience

I was abducted when I was 15. My “best friend” helped the pimps (who she was working for) help sell me.

I had a pimp, named Goldie, beat the s**t out of me the first night and then made me go out on the streets. He followed me every time I was picked up to make sure I didn’t run away. I finally found a opportunity, and ran away with a couple of bucks in my pocket. Another pimp helped me escape. When I finally made it home, my parents were so happy. The rest of the world, not so much.

Kids at school found out and I was labeled a wh*re forever. This was 30 years ago, and I just had a girl I went to HS with message me on Facebook to tell me that I have to always remember I’m nothing but a cheap hooker. T

his was after she saw my name in a mutual friends post. I informed her I work with social workers and police officers who try and help victims of trafficking. That the shame spiral for these poor girls leads to all rate mortality at an alarming speed. That my partner and best friends know what happened to me.

I used to let it shape me. I used to think I was just an ex hooker so no one would ever love me or want me. That I wasn’t supposed to be happy or ever have a good job. Or that I would lose it all if anyone ever found out.

I’m only in my 40s now but I’m wise enough to have figured out all of my fears were just from PTSD. I do deserve happiness and a good life. I’m not an ex hooker- I was a kid and a victim.

Kids - if anyone tells you that you aren’t s**t, please remember you are AWESOME. And if your situation is s**t, I promise you. It can get better. Hugs from an Oregon mamma.

Edit : thanks so much everyone! Holy smokes I woke up to so much support and so many great messages and comments. You guys made my whole week.

10. Missing the target kept them safe.

Missed an archery target and hit a copperhead snake that was hiding in a bush.

11. She thought she lost the book forever.

My dad wrote a book a very long time ago, and signed the copy that he gave to his in-laws. Years after he had died I loaned the signed copy to a guy I was dating. We stopped seeing each other and he never gave it back.

Years later I decided I wanted a copy of my dad’s book even though it wouldn’t be *my* signed copy so I ordered it used on Amazon. The book that arrived is the signed one I’d loaned out. Turns out he had sold it to a used bookstore, and I just happened to order from them.

12. Happening upon a thing of the past

I was walking through the woods with my boyfriend in high school and we found some papers scattered everywhere. They were really old and gross but we were like "oh what if it's the DB Cooper briefcase" or something and picked up a sheet to see what it was and it WAS A HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT I COMPLETED AND TURNED IN DURING THE 4TH GRADE.

Nothing could have prepared me to see my own name in my own childhood handwriting in the middle of the woods lol

13. An effort that ended in vain

When I was about 12, there was a pizza place near my house with a Ms. Pacman arcade game in it. I had spent maybe two years trying to get on the Top 10 score list. Finally went in one night and was just possessed, played a nearly flawless game, and ended up being *the* high score on that unit! Put my name on the top of the list for everyone to see, and felt like a queen!

Not even maybe a minute later, three men, all asian and wearing what I think of as the stereotypical "Japanese office worker" outfit of dark slacks, belt, button down white long sleeve shirts, walk in, go directly to the game, don't order food or talk to anyone else.

One of them starts playing the game. And within a few minutes, he obliterates my high score and puts his name at the top. They left without interacting with anyone in the place. Just walked in and knocked me off the top and left.

If anyone can explain what happened to me that day, I'd appreciate it!

14. Fate

Have a 2 dollar bill that has me and my wife's signature on it saying "just the 2 of us". We did it when we first got together and after a while had it framed. Some years later it was stolen by some jackass who decided to break into my house.

I ended up going to some random gas station weeks later and got I back as change. Literally just stood there and stared at it in disbelief and told the cashier about it. Just insane coincidence and luck. Still have that sucker and it's been another 5 years.

15. What makes sleepwalking scary

Have a 2 dollar bill that has me and my wife's signature on it saying "just the 2 of us". We did it when we first got together and after a while had it framed. Some years later it was stolen by some jackass who decided to break into my house.

I ended up going to some random gas station weeks later and got I back as change. Literally just stood there and stared at it in disbelief and told the cashier about it. Just insane coincidence and luck. Still have that sucker and it's been another 5 years.

16. A stranger's helping hand

When I was a kid I slept walk really badly and would also sometimes quasi-sleepwalk where I was aware and would remember it later, but would be out of my f****n mind confused and semi-dreaming while it happened.

I "woke" up in the middle of the night one night at 7 or 8 years old and there was apparently a power outage because it was pitch black in my room, no nightlight, and no light coming in my window from the streetlights.

I wanted to leave my room and go wake up my parents because I was freaked out about the dark but got disoriented and confused my closet door with my bedroom door and started panicking because I thought someone stacked a bunch of s**t outside my bedroom door to trap me. Started throwing s**t out of my closet and got to the back wall.

Now, my childhood home had a dormer-style upstairs added before we lived there such that my bedroom was on the same level as the attic over the original house area. There was an access panel to the attic in my closet and I somehow managed to get that open and "escaped" my room into the attic.

Around that time I fully woke up the rest of the way to full lucid consciousness and freaked the F**K out not knowing where I was and surrounded by dusty-a*s boxes and spiderwebs and started screaming my f*****g brains out, turns out the part of the attic I was in was directly over my parents' bedroom and I scared the s**t out of THEM because my screaming was coming from their ceiling, they start freaking out and I was in there screaming for a solid 5 minutes before my parents were able to figure out what happened and rescue me.

I am 36 years old now and STILL have the occasional nightmare about waking up in that attic.

17. His lost driver's license came back to him in the strangest way.

In 2013 I received a notice from my college that my low GPA from the previous semester made me ineligible for financial aid the following semester. It was my last term in grad school and the college was threatening to drop me from all classes if I didn't pay tuition within 72 hours.

I went to drown my sorrows at a bar later that night and I met a stranger and we started talking. I told her my story and she offered to pay my tuition. I told her I didn't accept loans from strangers but she said it was a gift.

Turns out she was a very wealthy CEO and that night she wrote me a check for $2,500. I paid my tuition, finished school, and we still keep in touch.

18. This person ended up in a flight with a terrorist.

I was on a plane with a wanted terrorist. I was seated 5 rows ahead of Faisal Shahzad, the Time Square Bomber on a flight to Dubai. The doors were closed and we never left the gate, and the captain kept making announcements/excuses as to why we were delayed. After nearly 3 hours of sitting there, the federal agents rushed the plane and marched that little s**t off the plane.

Edit(s): this happened 12 years ago and my memory has failed me, so...

1) The plane did taxi away from the gate and returned, apparently. Many of you have made that clear.

2) I am not certain why it took 3 hours, but I suspect it was to evacuate the terminal.

3) Some of you object to the word "rushed". Really? The law enforcement officers did not amble or saunter onto the plane; they were in a hurry, IMO.

4) After the suspect was removed, all passengers deplaned. When I made it to the terminal there were hundreds of law enforcement officers: NYPD, FBI, ICE, Transit Police, etc. The flight crew and reps from Emirates Air were fantastic! Accommodations were made for everyone who did not want to get back on the plane. All our luggage was removed and scanned / searched, and we had to claim our bags under the supervision of many, many eyes. I got back on the plane, got airborne, made my connection in Dubai but my luggage did not. Emirates Air had it delivered to my hotel the next day.

19. An acceptable excuse for not finishing the homework

I was on a plane with a wanted terrorist. I was seated 5 rows ahead of Faisal Shahzad, the Time Square Bomber on a flight to Dubai. The doors were closed and we never left the gate, and the captain kept making announcements/excuses as to why we were delayed. After nearly 3 hours of sitting there, the federal agents rushed the plane and marched that little s**t off the plane.

Edit(s): this happened 12 years ago and my memory has failed me, so...

1) The plane did taxi away from the gate and returned, apparently. Many of you have made that clear.

2) I am not certain why it took 3 hours, but I suspect it was to evacuate the terminal.

3) Some of you object to the word "rushed". Really? The law enforcement officers did not amble or saunter onto the plane; they were in a hurry, IMO.

4) After the suspect was removed, all passengers deplaned. When I made it to the terminal there were hundreds of law enforcement officers: NYPD, FBI, ICE, Transit Police, etc. The flight crew and reps from Emirates Air were fantastic! Accommodations were made for everyone who did not want to get back on the plane.

All our luggage was removed and scanned / searched, and we had to claim our bags under the supervision of many, many eyes. I got back on the plane, got airborne, made my connection in Dubai but my luggage did not. Emirates Air had it delivered to my hotel the next day.

20. Lucky boy!

When I was a kid I caught MewTwo at full health with a Great Ball in Pokémon FireRed. I thought, “hey why not just toss one out on the first turn cause why not” and as the ball kept rocking back and forth I was like lmao there’s no way. But then it caught him and I just sat there with my mouth open for a couple minutes. I didn’t know what to do since it would’ve been impossible to explain to my mom the significance of what just happened. I don’t know the math but it has to be under 1% chance.

21. An old car's loyalty

When I was a kid I caught MewTwo at full health with a Great Ball in Pokémon FireRed. I thought, “hey why not just toss one out on the first turn cause why not” and as the ball kept rocking back and forth I was like lmao there’s no way.

But then it caught him and I just sat there with my mouth open for a couple minutes. I didn’t know what to do since it would’ve been impossible to explain to my mom the significance of what just happened. I don’t know the math but it has to be under 1% chance.

22. A doppelganger?

My husband and I woke up in the middle of the night to a hideous growling noise in our bedroom.

We were both jarred awake at the same time and started trying to turn on the lights (phone, lamps, whatever we could reach)

And there beyond the footboard of our bed, were TWO collarless, IDENTICAL-looking gray cats, growling at each other

WE ONLY HAVE ONE gray cat.

Literally seconds after we flipped on the lights, they get into a fighting/hissing match all about the room while my husband and I try to snap out of shock

We’re chasing these cats around, and I’m screaming to him “Grab Nenna!” and he’s yelling “I don’t know which one is ours!!”

In between several Oh my gods and WTFs?!?! and the moments that we could break them up enough to get a decent look at them, we could not identify our cat and had NO clue how another got into our bedroom on the 2nd floor

Finally they run into the next bedroom and one cat jumps out an open window onto a ledge

…which is when we realized the friend who’d stayed over a few nights before, left a window open

Talk about five LONG minutes in the Twilight Zone.

P.S. we’re like 97% sure it was *not* our cat that jumped back out the window.

23. If you're afraid of heights, this is definitely one of the things you don't want to happen.

My date and I got stuck at the top of a Ferris Wheel for nearly 3 hours when the ride's mechanism failed.

It was a very tall wheel - and she was afraid of heights. So, those hours in the Ferris Wheel car together seemed like eternity.

24. We hope this person is okay!

I was working a front desk job at a small office in a strip mall. A car pulled up, went over the curb, through the window, and hit the desk as I was sitting there.

25. Not all fans will have this experience

When I was a teen in the '80s, I got to meet and briefly hang out with an idol of mine. He was (and still is) an extremely famous rock star. He was very nice but a bit twitchy and very high-energy. Cocaine is a Hell of a drug.

At the end of my little visit, I asked if I could have a photo with him. He said "let's take a bunch!" So I handed my camera to an assistant and he took a few nice normal pictures. As I'm reaching to take back my camera I hear "ONE MORE!" from behind me, and the dude jumps on my back and assistant snaps the photo. Keep in mind that I was a 14-year-old girl at the time, Mr. Rock Star weighed probably 200 pounds, and I was caught completely off guard. It's a miracle that I kept my feet under me and didn't get injured, but I got the most hilarious photo ever!

Fast forward about 35 years, and I by some miracle had occasion to meet him again. I was standing around with some other people waiting, he came in and started shaking hands. When he got to me, he shook my hand, looked me straight in the eye, and said "Hey there Gorilla! How's your back these days?" I was literally shocked speechless. This man, who has been fighting drug and alcohol addiction for most of his life, remembered a 15 minute chat/photo-op with a nervous teenager several decades ago, remembered my name and his little prank, and recognized me in middle age.

What a great guy. I'm still his biggest fan.

26. They weren't meant to die.

When I was a teen in the '80s, I got to meet and briefly hang out with an idol of mine. He was (and still is) an extremely famous rock star. He was very nice but a bit twitchy and very high-energy. Cocaine is a Hell of a drug.

At the end of my little visit, I asked if I could have a photo with him. He said "let's take a bunch!" So I handed my camera to an assistant and he took a few nice normal pictures. As I'm reaching to take back my camera I hear "ONE MORE!" from behind me, and the dude jumps on my back and assistant snaps the photo.

Keep in mind that I was a 14-year-old girl at the time, Mr. Rock Star weighed probably 200 pounds, and I was caught completely off guard. It's a miracle that I kept my feet under me and didn't get injured, but I got the most hilarious photo ever!

Fast forward about 35 years, and I by some miracle had occasion to meet him again. I was standing around with some other people waiting, he came in and started shaking hands. When he got to me, he shook my hand, looked me straight in the eye, and said "Hey there Gorilla! How's your back these days?"

I was literally shocked speechless. This man, who has been fighting drug and alcohol addiction for most of his life, remembered a 15 minute chat/photo-op with a nervous teenager several decades ago, remembered my name and his little prank, and recognized me in middle age.

What a great guy. I'm still his biggest fan.

27. We're all living in a small world.

I (American) was visiting the UK for the first time. I got to my hostel and started chatting with the Australian guy in the bed above mine. When I mention where I’m from, he says there’s a famous restaurant there he really loves and goes to with his family every time they visit. Turns out it was a place I used to work. He says “Hey I have a picture of our server from the last time I was there, maybe it’s someone you know.” It was me.

28. From friends to family

I (American) was visiting the UK for the first time. I got to my hostel and started chatting with the Australian guy in the bed above mine. When I mention where I’m from, he says there’s a famous restaurant there he really loves and goes to with his family every time they visit.

Turns out it was a place I used to work. He says “Hey I have a picture of our server from the last time I was there, maybe it’s someone you know.” It was me.

29. How did it get in there?

In college, I was chilling with some friends, doing homework and hanging out, when I got an email from my grandma. She had been really into genealogy lately, and had found some distant branches of the family tree.

She was letting me know she'd discovered that I had a 3rd cousin who attended the same college as me. Well, not only did I know the guy, he was actually sitting right beside me as I read the email. I jumped up and shouted "Dude you're my cousin!" And that's how the guy one chair over got upgraded from friend to family in two seconds flat.

Edit: Somebody who was there that day just sent me an award, with proof. Looks like the anonymity of my Reddit account has been compromised. Time to burn it all down I guess.

30. An accident that led to a discovery

Taking a beautiful Saturday morning ride home on my motorcycle. Mini van pulled out in front of me. Totalled motorcycle and van. Hospital did a scan of my head. Come to find out I had brain cancer that we caught very early. Which may have saved my life.

31. How lucky!

Our guitarist was late to band practice so we decided to go to the mall and pick up our drummer's pre-ordered copy of GTA4. We decided we were hungry but we were ultra broke so we went to Wendy's. We happened to be talking about quad core processors (brand new tech) and how the rumors we heard was that they were prone to crashing. This old guy behind us interrupts us and tells us he finds them to be quite stable. We talk computers with him a bit and he says he'd be interested in hiring us for an infusion of youth into his company. He gave us his card and told him we appreciated the offer.

We look him and his company up later and he's a legit billionaire. Private jet billionaire. We apply and the interview was basically a formality because he met us in the lobby and said he was going to tell them to push us through.

I went from blockbuster to a corporate job as a software tester due to a series of coincidences.

Moments in life can be crazy sometimes. On some days we're disappointed.

But for some odd reason, there will be times when life finds a way to make things right. Maybe it's because of the decisions we made in the past.

Or maybe because there are people out there who are willing to help us. Have you ever experienced something bizarre in your life?

May