Intense Cheating Death Stories Shared By People

"Minutes before it happened, I was under the Cypress structure that collapsed during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in California (which was a magnitude 6.9). I didn't find out until later about the collapse, and felt like I had been punched in the stomach. I'd never felt so close to death before."

BuzzFeed Staff

—Lilac's Mom

—sllevey

As reported by CBS News:

"Stephen Levey was riding his motorcycle along Pacific Coast Highway on November 14 when he was nearly killed in a multi-vehicle crash. Wild footage of the crash captured by Levey's helmet camera shows a truck flying through the air toward him as he sat a red light on PCH and Kanan Dume Road. The truck landed on top of him, sending him to the hospital via helicopter.

"According to investigators, the truck was broadsided by a driver traveling at extremely high speeds behind the wheel of a Lexus that had run a red light, causing the grisly crash.

"The driver of that Lexus died at the scene after the car burst into flames following the collision. The Lexus was stolen, according to the L.A. County Sheriff's Lost Hills station."

—Anonymous

—hlane09

—monikap6

—may0007

—gabbsfrommars

—Anonymous

—emarshall12346

—saraho4a20298d2

—robcummingszombie

—aribuckley14

—ilovecatsandmyhoodies

—acekingkiwi11

—Anonymous

"I will never forget that man looking down at me as I lay in the ER saying, 'I don't know what God has planned for you, but he has something, and you need to find out. There is no medical reason how you could have lived through this.' My dog lived through it as well, and she had steak for dinner that night."

—Anonymous

"From what I was later told, they were drowning, but my mom managed to hold him up. I ended up at the edge of the pier, right before getting sucked out to sea. I somehow managed to grab hold and lift myself from the water and onto one of the wooden pier columns. I couldn't see any of my friends or my mom.

"This man came over on the pier and hoisted me up onto the pier. Now, the pier was several feet up, and this man used all of his strength to pull me up there. I ran down the pier and around to the beach. One of my friends was standing there, and she was shocked at all of the blood pouring from my head from the barnacles. I was screaming bloody murder for my mom. I kind of blacked out at that point and just remember seeing my sister, friends, and my mom sitting on the beach, all in a daze. My mom was covered in blood from the barnacles slicing her body. Ambulances eventually came, and I found out that the man who pulled me up onto the pier went and saved my mom and the friend my mom was protecting. He just kept coming back to save us until we were all safe.

"We learned he was the husband of a counselor at my elementary school. Every year since then, my mom has baked him and his family cookies on Christmas to thank him for saving our lives. I remember almost dying, the feeling of drowning. I don't know how I got onto that pier column. I was exhausted from fighting the current and trying to stay alive, but somehow got the strength to get on there. It was truly the most terrifying experience I’ve ever had. I’ve been back to the beach since, but not that particular beach, and if there are any piers, I absolutely refuse to swim near them."

—Anonymous

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.