People Are Sharing Unbelievable Things That've Happened To Them That Sound Fake, But Aren't
WARNING: This post contains mentions of kidnapping, violence, bodily injury, and guns. Please proceed with caution.
An anonymous Reddit user asked, "What’s something that’s happened to you that sounds fake but (unfortunately) isn’t?" Here are 21 of the wildest, straight-out-of-a-movie experiences they shared:
1."In 2012, I lifeguarded at a beach in Delaware. I was talking with a lady who was drinking a glass of wine on the beach. While telling her she was not allowed to do that, Dave Grohl walked behind me. I was/am a massive fan and knew he would vacation at this beach occasionally, but I never assumed I would run into him. In the moment of being absolutely star-struck the lady goes, 'Oh, you’re a fan of Dave I see?' Barely able to talk, I said, 'Yes, he is a reason I got into drumming.' She then said, 'Oh, he’s my son, you should go say hi!' I let her drink the wine and I was able to talk to my music idol for a solid 20 minutes. One of the best days of my life."
2."Years ago, I broke my right foot. After six weeks in a boot, I was leaving the orthopedist office boot-free. Just me and my own two feet, raw dogging the ground. I was so excited to drive home now that I was out of that damn boot. And then, on the way to the car, I stepped off the curb, rolled my left ankle, and broke it."
3."I was dragged out of a tent in my sleep by a pack of dingos on Fraser Island in Australia. I woke up to a weird feeling at my feet and saw that they were chewing on my toes through the sleeping bag. One of them was standing on my hips/stomach, staring me in the face. Now I'm not a fighter, but I hit him with a punch on the side of the head, like a perfect right cross to his cute lil' face. He went flying sideways, which spooked all the others (about four or five of them) and, with a few kicks from my bagged-up legs, they scuttled away. I went back into the tent to find my then-girlfriend still asleep and snoring away."
"The next morning, I went over to our tour guide fella — a massive Aussie dude named Tony — and told him what happened. He asked, 'Didja see which one it was?'
Funnily enough, I did. He had a yellow and blue tag in his ear (they're all tagged on the island), and I remembered because they're the Wicklow colors, where I'm from. And Tony just said, 'Aw yeah, that cunt.'
I ended up punching quite a bit of wildlife in my year there, but Australia definitely started it."
4."I was in a relatively mild car accident. EMS recommended x-rays just to be safe. I argued a bit, but ended up relenting. The x-rays lead to a CT scan and a kidney cancer diagnosis. The doctor said I would've been dead inside a year if it hadn't been found when it was."
5."My uncle was in Jamaica when his wife, who was doing fitness classes, died suddenly due to a perforated bowel from a meal she's eaten at the resort. The authorities drove him to an ATM and told him he would be suspect #1 if he didn't pay them, and that he'd never have his wife repatriated to the US. He complied and they took him back to the resort, but, unbeknownst to him, T-Pain was also there and caught wind of the situation. He worked magic with his connections to keep my uncle safe and bring my aunt home for a funeral, as well as provided his bodyguard as protection to my uncle."
"To this day, almost two decades later, they will video chat on holidays like Easter to talk. In my eyes, that man is a saint to our family. Anytime he's in town for a concert, they'll meet backstage and have a big hug. One time he even met T-Pain's family. I will never forget the kindness this man has shown over DECADES."
You can see a photo of this Redditor's uncle and T-Pain here.
Another Reddit user, u/demosthenes131, found an article where T-Pain himself shared his perspective. You can read it here.
6."I lived in a small, quiet town and my house was in a cul-de-sac, so all the neighbors knew each other and we all got along well. One night when I was about 12 years old, I was babysitting my baby brothers (twins). It was bedtime, so we were laying in my mom’s bed watching a movie to wind down. Suddenly, they both start whining that they wanted chocolate milk. I was super annoyed, because I just wanted them to go to sleep so I could be 'off the clock,' so to speak. Just as we walked through the doorway and out of the bedroom, I heard what sounded like firecrackers going off in the bedroom we just left. I peeked my head back in the doorway and heard a couple more."
"It sounded like it was coming from the closet, which was about a foot away from me at this point. I called my mom and told her what happened and that I was scared. We didn’t go back in the room until she got home.
Once she was back, we discovered several bullet holes throughout the bedroom — in the walls, in the closet door, and one in the corner of the TV. So, we called the cops. They figured out that our neighbor had been doing some target practice in his garage (and drinking), and his garage wall faced our house, so the bullets entered my mom’s bedroom through the wall, just a few inches above her bed, which had no headboard. AKA, right where our heads had been while we were lying there watching the movie.
If those little buttheads hadn’t bothered me for chocolate milk at that exact moment, things could have been very different."
7."When I was about 6 years old, I was at Dairy Queen with my mom and brothers. Mom needed to change the baby’s diaper, so she asked this guy sitting at a table near us on the patio to watch my 4-year-old brother and I. She had seen him around before and thought of him as a friendly neighbor. A few weeks later, he was on the news, He was Clifford Robert Olson — a serial killer known for murdering children and teens. I imagine he must have been smirking and thinking, 'Jesus, lady, you’re lucky they’re a bit young for my taste.'"
8."My grandmother prevented a neighborhood boy from kidnapping our next door neighbor. Our house was at the bus stop. I woke up sick that morning and didn’t go to school. Grandma was in the neighborhood and kept an eye on the kids that were at the stop every morning. There was only one girl waiting at the bus stop. My grandmother was watching her, looked away for a moment, and by the time she looked back, the girl was gone. The boy was dragging her across our backyard with a knife to her throat. My grandma ran at him, screaming and throwing rocks while I called the cops. She won citizen of the year in our city."
9."In 1986, my parents planned a trip to Disney in Florida. There, a random man tried to kidnap my half-brother by snatching him and running. He was tackled, and my brother was safely returned to us. Nothing happened to the guy, as he had disappeared into the crowd. Fast forward a couple years to 1989. We were in Ohio at a pop-up circus in a field. I was given change to go get a popcorn. A man dressed as a clown approached me and, after several long minutes of small talk, grabbed me. Bystanders saw the ordeal and a random man with exquisite side burns chased down this man who had thrown me into his pickup truck and gunned it."
"Mr sideburns and another man were able to pull him from the vehicle and stop the truck as it rolled into a parking lot and hit several parked vehicles. I was fine, other than some forehead scrapes from hitting the dash. The clown was not a circus performer or associated with the circus at all — he was an opportunistic predator."
10."I was hit in the head by a bowling ball on a trampoline. 911 hung up on my cousin because they thought it was a prank call."
"My cousin's brother found the ball in the woods. He sat it on the springs to clean it off and take a look. I was getting up and going to walk home when his older brother swan dove onto the trampoline. The bowling ball bounced and hit me in the back of the head as I was standing up. It had enough force to flip me over. I could feel my arms touching the mat, but I visually saw them still in the air. It knocked me out for a bit. Then, the EMT blew my vein trying to get IV in. I stayed strapped to a back board for over six hours as they performed x-rays and tests. I had a pretty nasty concussion after that."
11."When I was 10 years old, several people in my neighborhood were attacked by a deranged squirrel that was missing part of its tail. One day, my dad was at work and my mom was running errands, so myself and my two other brothers (aged 14 and 7) were left home alone. I was in the kitchen and my 7-year-old brother was playing on the back porch. Suddenly, a squirrel that was missing the tip of its tail started attacking the kitchen window, about 10 feet from where my brother was playing. I ran outside to caution my younger brother, but it was too late. "
"The squirrel had already bitten a chunk out of his finger, which was squirting blood, and was running up and down his arm while my brother screamed his head off. I grabbed this bloodthirsty creature with my BARE HANDS and chucked it into a tree.
By now, my older brother had come to see what was going on. I told him what had happened, and — because this took place in small town Mississippi — he of course had full access to the family gun cabinet. He got a gun, went outside, and shot some random squirrel that was NOT missing the tip of its tail. I told everyone that it was not the same squirrel, but no one listened to me.
The story of my brother’s heroic actions went around town and he was even written about in the town newspaper for saving the day. Absolutely no mention of me or my heroism at all."
12."I got bitten by a penguin…on my neck. No, I wasn’t doing anything stupid at the time. The penguin was standing on a table for photo ops (as an animal ambassador for a zoo) and it went for my wine glass as I stood next to it. I moved my wine glass out of the way and got nipped on my neck for my troubles."
13."I won an art competition with my painting judged while hanging upside down. When I told them, they tried telling me I was wrong...until they realized I had painted it."
14."A member of KISS cyber stalked me for almost a year. I was working as a bottle girl in Miami and ended up taking care of him. He gave me his number, took me shopping a couple of times, we had a couple of dinners, but nothing more than that. He then blew up my DMs on socials for months, trying to come see me or have me fly to him. One day, it just stopped. I assume he found someone else, but I don't know the real answer as to why. I'm just happy it did. I'm not sharing which one, but it was a founding band member."
15."I was thrown off a motorcycle on the interstate when I was 22 months old. Yes, MONTHS. My parents thought I was dead, because my head and skull were ripped open, but they took me to the hospital anyway. Here I am!"
16."I have a tech company, and we are not in the best financial situation currently. We had a very big contract awaiting signature, but it'll never get signed because the person responsible for the project was one of the five casualties from the Titan submersible."
17.And finally, "I was born in the early '80s, during that time where they took newborns to the nursery to be cared for away from the parents. When it was time for my mother to leave the hospital, they returned her baby to her. Before my parents left the hospital, they needed to change the baby’s diaper. Well, when they removed it, they saw that the baby that they had was a girl, when my mother had given birth to a boy. The hospital tracked down the parents who had me and got the babies back to their rightful parents. Some wild shit."
Have you ever had an unbelievable, straight-out-of-a-movie experience like these? If so, tell us about it in the comments below or via this anonymous form.
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
