Things one thinks about when about to die

[Banquo's Ghost]

This article in the Independent about the death of George Clooney's pet pig provoked both sympathy and reflection in me. I found the following anecdote very funny.

Occasionally, all that squealing can come in handy, like the early morning hours of 16 January 1994, when the Northridge earthquake shook most of Los Angeles, prompting shortlived but very real fears that the Big One had struck.

As Clooney recounted it: "Max was in bed with me and woke up minutes before it happened. And I was yelling at him for waking me up, when everything just exploded. So, I'm naked with Max, and running ... because I'm in a house on a hill, and if it's going down I want to be up on the street, dodging the next house.

"My buddy, who lives in the downstairs guesthouse, comes running up. And he's naked. With a gun, because he thought someone was breaking in. And I'm trying to write a note to my folks, trying to explain to them in case we die that it's not what it seems: two naked men, a gun and a pig."

I was interested to know if anyone has been in a situation where they considered they might die and found themselves trying to write a last note?

My closest experience (outside the normal fun of being shot at etc in the Army) was a plane crash. I was flying in part of the world notorious at the time for the poor state of maintenance of its air fleet and the severity of its winter weather. The pilot notified us that the undercarriage had frozen solid about thirty minutes before we were due to land and that a crash landing was inevitable.

I was on my own at the time, but with a very loved cat who had a pretty idiosyncratic personality. I found myself writing in my passport a long, detailed, and pretty weird note to my mother about how to deal with him and his peccadillos. A couple of other passengers noticed what I was up to and we soon had a big group of us all sketching notes to important people, sharing thoughts and ideas - took our minds off, I guess.

Clearly, most of us made it down alive, the fuel having been jettisoned and the frozen ground actually letting us slide through a long impact and get stopped relatively gently by loads of trees.

Still got that passport, and it makes me chuckle to remember what seemed to be important then.

[Dave1984]

Clearly, most of us made it down alive

Most?

[Vladimir]

Odd thing really, all that male nakedness. To answer your question: No . Writing a letter while in a sliding house, or partially submerged, seems a bit odd.

[Don Corleone]

I wrote a letter to my wife when going through some particularly bad turbulence flying to Singapore one time. I don't mean garden variety... some oxygen masks deployed at one point (though the crew were quick to jump on the horn and say the oxygen levels were fine, the masks released because of the pressure differential. I was trying to be cagey in my words, because I wasn't convinced I was going to die, it just struck me as a very real possiblity. What's more, i was writing it on my laptop so I figured there was small chance of it surviving without me. Now I make myself read it whenever my wife and I are in a 'brooding' phase during a fight. Usually solves that problem pretty damn quick.

[Aenlic]

Thanks to the usual American upbringing, I'd hear my mother's voice asking if I remembered to put on clean underwear with no holes.

[IrishArmenian]

I've thought about my family, my girlfriend, my favorite footballl clubs and who owes me money.

[Tribesman]

Things one thinks about when about to die

Generally it has been either , oh bugger or wow .
Afterwards it has always been bloody hell that was amazing .

[Beirut]

"Oh no... Not again!"

[KukriKhan]

Generally it has been either , oh bugger or wow .
Afterwards it has always been bloody hell that was amazing .

My experience so far, too. Never had time to write.

[doc_bean]

Hmm been a while since I've been in real life threatening danger.

Usually when I have thoughts about going to die in a moment I think i've had a good ride and get kinda sad for the people I'm leaving behind.

I've also had the occasional thought about it being a really bad time to day, right *after* you did something very unpleasant or just when you're looking forward to doing something really fun a little later.

[DemonArchangel]

Shoot, move, cover, shoot, move, cover, shoot, move, cover, reload etc. etc.

Just kidding

All I've thought was: "I'm going to die."

[Ronin]

"**** this is gonna hurt"

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

So how many near-death experiences have you lot had, on average?!

I can't even think of one. Perhaps I've just lived a sheltered life.

[Ronin]

So how many near-death experiences have you lot had, on average?!

I can't even think of one. Perhaps I've just lived a sheltered life.

just the one....

I was surfing, lost control and fell straight head down to the bottom.....it was quick but not quick enough that I didn´t have time to realize that if there was a rock or something in the bottom I was done for (and thinking "**** this is gonna hurt").......luckily the bottom there was just sand.....it hurt....but once I made sure all the pieces still responded to my commands and moved I decided it was enough for the day and paddled for shore.

[BDC]

I had a near death experience this morning. Had I actually died my last thought would have been "never mixing on an empty stomach whilst taking decongestants again"...

[Mooks]

I suspect my last words are going to be "O, ****."

[Reenk Roink]

I suspect my last words are going to be "O, ****."

I smell another thread in the Watchtower...

[Mooks]

I smell another thread in the Watchtower...

Hahaha. Have to keep the admins on their toes.

Nice response time mithrandir. Next time ill get a stopwatch and see how long it takes someone to delete dirty pornography.

[KafirChobee]

My Mom, who at times had the habit of doing things (as in safety) out of order once set the oven temp before lighting the pilot (old oven). I was peeling potatoes beside it (in the sink), when the oven blew its door off. Seems one should light the pilot before setting the temp. My entire life - all 14 years of it - flashed before my eyes, was very depressing. After all, I hadn't really done anything, yet. Still, it was all very vivid.

Aside from that, I have been in a number of harrowing situations, but never felt they were life threatening. For example; I was with a friend when he decided (unintentionally) to crash his Corvette. First he lost control - showing off his new "tiger-paw" tires in the rain (never go from 2nd gear on dry pavement - an underpass, to 3rd gear on wet with the petal to the metal), after swinging into on coming traffic he over compensated and put us into a spin. Where upon we hit first a light post and then a telephone pole - still spinning we careened into a parking lot (empty, thank you). The second contact with a pole must have splt the gas tank because gas was being tossed every where - also I learned that metal can create sparks even when it is wet. The gas ignited at about the same time the vet stopped spinning. My friend bailed from the car. I, on the other hand was stuck - I rarely wore a seat belt (was 1974 btw) so was unfamiliar with this ones release. The car itself was on fire by this time and flames pretty much surrounded it. My friend was screaming for me to get out, I asked him how to release the safety belt - was really stupid of me - just lift it up. Which initially didn't work, and then it just seemed to fall free of its own accord. I opened the door, stepped through flames (still don't have much for eyebrows - use to get accused of plucking them even) and was safe. The vet was engulfed in flames seconds later. The thing is, I never once considered that I was in any real danger. [We had only had a couple beers, so neither of us were even close to being intoxicated.]

Btw, I might add, the reason I put on my safety belt was because my friend began showing off his new tires on our way down Topanga Canyon coming home from "The Coral" (Black Oak Arkansas was playing). Not that it would have done much good had he lost it then and we had gone over the side.

[Samurai Waki]

Pretty much my only Near Death Experience, involving a rather nasty Car Accident when I was 16. I remember my last thought was that I really wanted to get out the Blizzard as soon as possible. and then *Flip*

[ZombieFriedNuts]

Near death experience hmm driving to a cross roads had to stop, pulled out didn’t realise there was a car coming from my right and crashed, all I remember is thinking, that shouldn’t be there, the good thing is if the other car hadn’t been clever and swerved they would have hit me in the door and killed me instead of hitting the bonnet.
Rather interesting I still had to go to work.

[Lemur]

So how many near-death experiences have you lot had, on average?!

I can't even think of one. Perhaps I've just lived a sheltered life.

Or maybe you're just a lucky guy. Depends on how you look at it.

I've had a few near-brushes. Most of my words and thoughts at those moments would be unprintable here. I can think of two incidents that wouldn't break any Org rules:

While sliding uncontrollably down an ice face in the Rockies: "I'm gonna hit the boulder field ..."

In Morocco, when a teenage soldier shoved an AK-47 in my stomach: "But I'm an American ..."

The latter must have been the last thought of a lot of my countrymen.

I've never had an opportunity to try to write something down -- my experiences have been fast and physical. Nothing like that for a long time now, for which I am duly grateful.

[Tachikaze]

I was mistakenly pulled over by police thinking I was armed and dangerous. I was driving a manual transmission car with the clutch depressed at a stop sign.

The first one yelled for me to stop, exited his car, and came over to my car, telling me to put my hands on the steering wheel. He had a bright chrome magnum aimed at my face. I could see the tips of the big, fat bullets in the magazine. I was so scared thinking that I could get shot from any small wrong move I might make. I thought of the impact my death might have on my family and girlfriend. I also wanted to keep my head intact. I'm rather attached to my brain.

The second cop to get there had a snob-nosed .32 or something. It was so small in comparison, I almost laughed. It looked like a toy. There were a few more police, all holding various revolvers at my head.

My leg got tired holding the clutch down, but I felt if I let it out, the car would lurch forward and my head might get perforated. If I reached down to shift to neutral, they might think I was reaching for a weapon and I might get gray matter splattered all over my Fiesta's interior.

So, I held the pedal down until they figured out I wasn't dangerous.

[The_Mark]

"Well, there's supposed to a bit of suspense in life."

[Tachikaze]

Double post.

[Caius]

Nothing.That was so fast.

[Reverend Joe]

I was mistakenly pulled over by police thinking I was armed and dangerous. I was driving a manual transmission car with the clutch depressed at a stop sign.

The first one yelled for me to stop, exited his car, and came over to my car, telling me to put my hands on the steering wheel. He had a bright chrome magnum aimed at my face. I could see the tips of the big, fat bullets in the magazine. I was so scared thinking that I could get shot from any small wrong move I might make. I thought of the impact my death might have on my family and girlfriend. I also wanted to keep my head intact. I'm rather attached to my brain.

The second cop to get there had a snob-nosed .32 or something. It was so small in comparison, I almost laughed. It looked like a toy. There were a few more police, all holding various revolvers at my head.

My leg got tired holding the clutch down, but I felt if I let it out, the car would lurch forward and my head might get perforated. If I reached down to shift to neutral, they might think I was reaching for a weapon and I might get gray matter splattered all over my Fiesta's interior.

So, I held the pedal down until they figured out I wasn't dangerous.

Next time, release the pedal very, very slowly. The car will lug first and then stop.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

Next time, release the pedal very slowly. The car will lug first and then stop.

I'm not sure about that. If you lift the clutch up slowly in first gear, the car will move forward slowly on the idle revs of the engine, without you pressing the accelerator at all. In a diesel, which idle at a higher RPM than petrols, you can get up to more than walking pace this way.

[Cowhead418]

I was born prematurely (two months) and was very near to death then, so I obviously can't give my thoughts at that time. Another near-death occurance I suppose was when I got hit by a car back in the 4th grade, though the injuries I received were far from being life-threatening. I've been pretty lucky.

[Reverend Joe]

I'm not sure about that. If you lift the clutch up slowly in first gear, the car will move forward slowly on the idle revs of the engine, without you pressing the accelerator at all. In a diesel, which idle at a higher RPM than petrols, you can get up to more than walking pace this way.

Well, it won't if you have your other foot on the brake.

As for what I would think- I don't know. I haven't been there yet. I doubt I would think anything; just fear and survival instinct.