Normally Calm People Share Stories About Times They Freaked Out In Public

Jump Scare

When people wake up in the middle of the night they suffer disorientation because they aren’t fully cognitive. It takes a few minutes and potentially a cup of coffee to become alert. That’s why it’s scary to unexpectedly bump into someone else in the darkness.

“I woke up and really had to pee,” the Redditor wrote. “So I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom only to find my mom sitting on the toilet in the dark with the door open. I screamed like you would not believe.” We believe it but it must have been funny too.

Existential Crisis

Every human has a finite existence. It doesn’t matter if they’re rich or poor because death comes for everybody on this planet. But we must make the most of every minute on this earth and not dwell on our impending doom. One Internet user said that they freaked out when they thought about it too much.

I do this frequently enough, unfortunately, but whenever my mind ventures to think of death and what it will be like, it scares the ever living s*** out of me,” the Redditor wrote. “Seriously I can’t cope with it for whatever reason, just ceasing to exist at all.”

Money Problem

Money makes the world go around but most of us don’t have enough of it. Regular people constantly try to make ends meet and grind their way through life. It’s tough when somebody realizes how precarious their situation is but usually, things work out.

Freak Out

Most spiders don’t cause physical harm but there’s something about all of those legs that horrify people. Arachnophobia is extremely common but usually, there is no reason to fear these tiny creatures. However, that doesn’t make life easier for the likes of the following person.

They freaked out after they had a close encounter with an eight-legged visitor. The Redditor wrote: “I was on the computer when a spider slowly descended right in front of my face. I normally don’t freak out from spiders, but this one was right in front of my eyeball.”

Idol Shock

We’ve focused mostly on when people freaked out for negative reasons. But sometimes calm and rational humans lose the run of themselves during a positive experience. Take the following person, who met the cast of “Whose Line Is It Anyway,” and couldn’t control their excitement.

“Mine was in a good way,” the Redditor shared. “Last Saturday I met two of my childhood and current idols, Greg Proops and Ryan Stiles. I became sufficiently incoherent within the first few seconds of seeing them.” That’s lovely because it must have brightened up their day a lot.

Grad School

These days everybody is competing with each other to stand out. That’s why increasing numbers attend grad school because it’s so difficult to get a job. However, it’s tough to deal with the workload and responsibility that comes with this intense education.

“Grad school is one freakout after another,” a Redditor explained. “The most recent one is realizing I have 3 homework and 2 tests in 3 days next week and I have no idea how to do one of the homework, and one of the tests is scaring the life out of me.”

Falling in Love

Love is a beautiful thing but it can also be incredibly confusing. If somebody falls for the wrong person it will irrevocably change the boundaries of their relationship. They’ll no longer look at each other the same way and sometimes it even ends friendships.

Don’t Talk

It’s important to take advantage of the quiet moments in our lives. Some people love to read at the end of the day because it transports them to another world. But they hate when somebody interrupts them and tries to speak to them while they’re relaxing.

Dim The Lights

Too many drivers don’t show consideration for other road users. One common mistake is that they leave their lights on full beam when they pass another vehicle. It’s good etiquette to dim the lights so that they don’t blind the other person and potentially cause an accident.

Shopping Carts

Everybody has pet peeves that exist because other people are idiots. It could be a personal habit that they have like chewing loudly or with their mouth open. Sometimes people are selfish and careless because they can walk away from the scene of their indiscretion.

Near-Death Experience

Losing control of a vehicle is one of the most terrifying moments of anybody’s life. Let’s hope that most readers never experience this because it’s traumatic. This Redditor freaked out after they regained control of the car and the adrenaline stopped coursing through their body.

“Somehow I managed to gather my wits, restart the car, turn it around, and drive off before another car hit me,” Kay_Elle wrote. “I stopped at the earliest possible parking opportunity, and that was when I felt it – the fear.” It’s natural because they went through sheer terror and came out the other side.

Sky Fall

Here’s another extreme situation where a person justifiably freaked out. They were on a plane when the pilot announced that there would be an emergency landing. Suddenly, the plane began plummeting, and they thought that this was the end of their life.

121Guy wrote: “All I could think about was I can’t see the ground and we are falling. I know there is a hill out here somewhere, this is where I am going to die. The plane got down to around 400ft off the ground before it finally started to climb.”

Giant Rat

Nobody wants to feel the touch of another unknown creature in the middle of the night. But that’s exactly what this Redditor experienced when they woke up in the middle of the night. They freaked out when they discovered their horrifying visitor.

“When I was trying to sleep at around 3 and felt someone press on my bed,” JakeWang1 shared. “Then the bag on the chair started shaking. Then again I felt something on my bed. Finally, I dared to switch on the light and found a giant rat on my bed.”

Full-Size Mode

Perhaps the following person isn’t calm or mellow because this may seem like an overreaction. But the reality is that even normal people have pet peeves that irritate them. It’s funny but they hate when Google gives them notifications after they selected an option.

CinnaSol6 wrote: “That dumb notification that says “the screen is now in full-size mode” on google chrome when you expand a video. I KNOW IT’S IN FULL-SIZE MODE GOOGLE.” The main reason why Google does this is to help confused users but that doesn’t change his annoyance.

Free Gas

The following story is one of the scariest on this list because it could happen to anybody. A female driver ran out of gas and pulled over on the side of the road. Then a man stopped to help her but suddenly his attitude changed and she freaked out.

“The complete change in demeanor and tone of voice scared the absolute s*** out of me,” Gutinstinct999 explained. “It sent a chill through my body. I was absolutely terrified. Even if I’d had a weapon, he could have overtaken me.”

Brown Snake

One person was cycling their bicycle when they encountered a lethal brown snake. They quickly flew past it because they didn’t want to die. That’s understandable but it’s not the end of the story. The Redditor freaked out with what happened next.

Five Minutes

Roller coasters provide a massive adrenaline rush but many people won’t go on one. They have a fear of heights and dread the thought of the ride breaking down. This happens in real life as the following netizen revealed. They freaked out when their theme park experience became traumatic.

The Redditor reminisced: “I was on a 360-degree roller coaster and you go around and around but it got stuck at the very top. The ride shut down for 5 minutes so I was upside-down and I was very little and it was terrifying.” What a horrible time this was for the poor person.

After The Storm

Water is beautiful but it possesses terrifying power. Humans realize how small and vulnerable they are in the middle of the ocean. Storms are even scarier because they possess the strength to devastate coastal communities and sweep ships away.

King Cobra

It’s always great to visit different countries and enjoy new cultures. But sometimes we receive more than we bargained for. One person visited their family in India for the first time and suffered a massive shock. They went to the bathroom but freaked out because of a terrifying sight.

One Redditor shared their experience. They said: “I was 6 years old and went to take a leak. I was at my grandma’s house in a small village in India. The bathroom was an outhouse. Just as I was about to start, I noticed a cobra hissing at me.”

Fasten Your Seatbelt

Anybody with acrophobia should look away now because this is haunting. Imagine if a rollercoaster attendant forgot to check the passengers’ seatbelts. Think of the potential lawsuit and risk to life because it would be massive. Luckily, this doesn’t happen often.

Tough Workout

Another normal person went to the gym and pushed themselves through a tough workout. They gave everything because they wanted to see good results. But they didn’t expect what happened after their training session. In the end, it was hilarious but they went through sheer terror.

They wrote about their ordeal: “I started to feel a tightness in my chest, and pain. I started clutching at my chest, thinking “NO NO NOT NOW, NOT LIKE THIS! IT’S TOO SOON! And then I let out the biggest, most powerful burp I’ve ever had.”

Stolen Keys

Most people feel safe when they’re at home and shut the door behind them. We think of our houses as our private castles and a shield against the world. But the reality is that it’s easier to access them than we may think. Take the following person’s story as a terrifying example.

The_Soup_Whisperer explained: “Once my mother called me on the phone telling me that a copy of our house keys was stolen that afternoon from the lobby and someone might be in the house. This happened at the exact moment I was entering the house.”

Rescue Service

Nature is glorious but we must respect it or it will make visitors pay. This Redditor discovered this the hard way when they had a near brush with death. If it wasn’t for the brilliant work of first-responders they may have died. But luckily they made it through their ordeal.

BonfireFanatic wrote: “My friend and I had to be helicopter rescued because we drove through a creek and camped on the other side and then melting snow from a town 6 hours away flooded and turned the creek into a raging river.” They should have been aware of the danger but they survived their mistake.

McNuggets

Embarrassing moments scar people for life. This person earned the nickname ‘McNuggets’ after a traumatic ordeal that everybody remembers. They freaked out after a terrible but hilarious prank that their friend pulled in the famous fast food chain.

“I was with my travel baseball team and we were standing in line at McDonald’s,” TravelAny398 wrote. “I was going to order and my friend pantsed me but got my underwear too.” The friend exposed their entire lower half for all of the patrons to see.

Collision

Some people feel a sense of calm the moment before they crash their vehicle. That’s because they know it’s inevitable and that they can’t stop it. But this person freaked out when they lost control because they knew they would die if they hit a giant truck.

Osprey11795 remembered: “At some point, I realized I was going to crash, and there wasn’t much I could do – the one thought going through my head was “don’t hit the semi-truck, don’t hit the semi-truck” over and over again.” Luckily, they survived because we don’t think this was their ghost.

Burn it Off

When we step onto any form of public transport we’re putting our lives into another person’s hands. It’s even riskier on an airplane because most crashes result in mass deaths. This Redditor freaked out when their pilot announced an emergency landing.

Chris_TT wrote: “I was on a commercial flight and the pilot came over the tannoy to tell us luck wasn’t on our side today. There was an emergency with the flaps and landing gear not working correctly, and that we would have to fly around to burn off the fuel.”

Cauliflower Smell

There’s something nice about cooking dinner for visitors. It’s nice to receive a homemade meal and to know that somebody put in a lot of effort. But this usually calm Redditor freaked out when their visitors mocked the meal that they served up. They couldn’t understand why they suffered this disrespect.

ricctp6 shared: “I made cauliflower once (in my own house) and two acquaintances who were over just ganged up on me about how disgusting cauliflower smells. I was like…ok that’s cool and everything but you can f*** right off since I’m making dinner for everyone here.”

Angry Day

Another Redditor explained how their friends freaked out when they lost their temper. That’s because he was a calm person who kept control of his emotions. It was unusual for him to have a strong reaction to anything. When it eventually happened he terrified everybody because it was out of character.

Wrong Turn

This person hated sharing a vehicle with a rude passenger. They think that some people have extreme expectations and should treat hardworking workers with more respect. When the driver missed a turn, one passenger freaked out but the Redditor put them in their place.

“Missing their turn or exit,” they shared. “You aren’t traveling in interstellar space. Go to the next exit and turn around.” This is true and if they’re in an Uber it shouldn’t matter much. Mistakes happen and in the end, they will arrive at their destination.

Food Wars

Many people have freaked out because of weird food concoctions. We don’t know why it’s a heinous crime to put pineapple on pizza but it provokes a severe backlash. But this Redditor argued that it doesn’t matter and that nobody is forcing them to eat it. They say that they lose patience with picky eaters like this.

Choking Child

Any parent will say that there’s nothing more terrifying than a child in danger. It could be because they’re suffering an illness or that they’re missing in a department store. This parent freaked out after she saved her child from choking on a spoonful of cereal.

Jelc17 shared: “Multiple slaps. The clog of cereal dislodged and he was able to breathe again. We both collapsed on the floor in tears, had cuddles, and generally recovered. Then he wanted to carry on eating his breakfast.” It’s unbearable to even think about this because it’s horrifying.

Active Shooter

Another person had a harrowing life experience when they went to the mall as a youngster. Security forces shut it down because of the risk of an active shooter. It’s safe to say that they freaked out because nobody should deal with this type of scenario.

“When I was around 14 years old, my friends and I were at a mall and the mall went on lockdown because of an active shooter,” ChaneI remembered. “Turns out it was just a guy shooting the air but at the time we didn’t know that.” Impending mortality is terrifying.

House Fire

House fires create a terrifying sense of disorientation. Usually, the smoke kills people before the fire burns them. Flames engulfed this Redditor’s home and they freaked out. Luckily they made it out alive and saved their beloved dogs in the process.

“By the time I had woken up the stairs were engulfed in flames,” ChicagoSpawn6 wrote. “I truly lost all sense of what to do. Thought it was all over. Eventually got to a window and ended up throwing my dogs out the window (all were okay) and jumping out the window.”