While horror movies can be frightening, nothing is ever as chilling as a real-life encounter with a truly evil human being.
A huge number of brave survivors of attempted murder have shared their stories on Reddit - and they are truly eye-opening reads.
We have selected twenty of them for you to read for yourself below.
1) ‘I was just a newborn baby’
When I was a newborn baby, my biological father tried to kill me by choking me. It happened in my grandmothers kitchen and my mom bopped him over the head with a frying pan and stabbed him with one of those hot dog pokers you use on the grill.
He’s always been a real big piece of s**t.
2) ‘My father shot me in my sleep’
When I was eight, my father shot me in my sleep, shot and killed my brother in his sleep, and committed suicide. I lost all of my sight, my left eye, and my sense of smell.
I survived the shot because the bullet entered from my right temple and exited out my left, instead of enter from the back of my head or my forehead. The bullet lodged into my left hand because my head was resting on my hand when I was sleeping.
3) ‘I was stabbed while bouncing at a bar’
I was stabbed while bouncing at a bar. I’m not sure if that counts. I doubt the guy was really trying to kill me, though he very easily could have. It required emergency surgery to close up an artery and the knife stopped just shy of puncturing my lung.
My friend, also bouncing, was stabbed over his heart, but his sternum stopped the blade. That’s probably what caused the stabber to slice his own fingers open, which led to finding him and the conviction.
He was charged with attempted murder, along with a bunch of other things. He was convicted of at least some of those charges and did 6 years.
All in all, not bad. 10/10, would get stabbed again.
4) ‘A bully held my head underwater for two minutes’
When I was a kid, my neighbours were this sweet old couple, and occasionally their grandkids- five boys- would come to visit. The oldest, Liam, was my age and had severe behavioural problems. All his younger brothers were terrified of him, and I hated his guts, but I still had to hang out with him.
One time, we were playing in an inflatable pool in my backyard. Liam, my sister and I being the oldest ones there - no adults were around. Well, Liam wouldn't stop picking on his poor brothers, so I pantsed him. Everyone laughed. He did not take it well.
When I turned around, he ran up behind me and shoved my head underwater and held me under for about two minutes while I struggled. I could see his brothers' legs around me but none of them moved, that's how petrified they were of him. I thought it was over. I was starting to black out when I began to hear a SWOOOSH SWOOSH SWOOSH noise and then suddenly I was free, flat on my back and coughing up water.
My sister had waded over as fast as she could and punched him in the face so hard she broke his nose.
5) ‘My boyfriend tried to throw me off a balcony’
When I was 17, I had a 22 y/o boyfriend who I dated near the time I finished my secondary school education. He was genuinely amazing and I thought he was perfect as every naive young girl does, my friends warned me saying he was manipulative and abusive but I brushed it off assuming they were jealous. But I started noticing things, and I wouldn’t give him his way, we started fighting more and more.
One night we were relaxing and watching my favourite movie in my room (Robots I think it was called), anyway my boyfriend starts trying to pressure me into giving him oral. I tried pulling away but he was holding my head down into his lap, that’s when I started shouting and screaming. He grabbed my neck and threw me to the floor and began kicking me, at this point I was completely dazed and in shock so I couldn’t defend myself. After what seemed like ages I finally screamed stop, he grabbed my hair and dragged me to my balcony where he tried shoving me over the guard rail. I was fighting but I’m really small so I don’t have much strength. Suddenly something grabs me and at the same time I see my boyfriend fly headfirst over the rails. Turns out my neighbour got home early and noticed the situation unfold, he ran, broke through the front door and upstairs to my room, then tossed my boyfriend over the rails and grabbed me stopping me falling.
Police and ambulance were called, boyfriend was taken to hospital and charged with assault and attempted GBH. Luckily my family has cameras on the balconies and porch to catch thieves so they caught almost everything that occurred. My neighbour didn’t get charged as he acted in my defence. That was about 3 years ago. Neighbour and I are close friends and boyfriend is still in prison. I realise I really should call him my ex but it seems odd in the story.
Stock image - Getty
6) ‘Getting stabbed saved my life’
I was stabbed in the stomach during a bar fight and I passed out from blood loss. When I came to I was in the hospital, the surgeon who patched me up let me know that had I not been stabbed I could have died from my appendix bursting.
Apparently without realising it, my appendix was perforated (and not related to the stab wound). What I thought was just some cramps was actually a life threatening time bomb, and thanks to being almost stabbed to death I got to live.
7) ‘She tried to cause a deadly car accident’
Driving through rural Oregon with a couple of buddies on Spring Break, on a stretch of highway with one lane in each direction, we were stuck in a line of cars behind a woman who was driving a little slowly. We hit a stretch where passing was allowed so I moved over and sped up so I could get around her.
She sped up too.
I was driving a Civic with three big guys in the car so I couldn't beat her. OK, I thought, be that way. I slowed back down to get back behind her.
She slowed down too. She wasn't going to let me back in.
The passing lane was coming to an end and I was starting to get a little nervous. I tried to catch her eye to indicate that she had to let me in and realised she was staring at me, smiling. I looked forward and realised a semi was coming straight towards me. I jerked left, onto the shoulder of the oncoming lane, and missed the semi by a few feet.
The cars behind the psycho had seen the whole thing and let me in between them, and she exited shortly after trying to kill me.
8) ‘My cousin tried to drown me’
My cousin tried to drown me a few years ago. We’d been on bad terms for years; she beat me up constantly when we were kids and she sabotaged my work a few times in high school. I never fought back because she was absolutely f**king crazy and I figured she was “special”.
About three years ago I dated a guy she was interested in (didn’t know she was into him) and that was the “final straw” as she put it.
So she decided to kill me by dragging me into the pool in her backyard and holding me underwater until I blacked out (she’s easily twice my size/weight so it was the easiest way for her, and she could just blame my death on drowning by accident).
Anyways, she successfully held me underwater until I stopped breathing, then got out of the pool and sat in a deck chair to watch the show. My friend found me and he genuinely thought I was dead. He dragged me out of the water and did CPR, and that probably saved my life.
If you’re wondering where psychopath cousin was for that whole ordeal, she was still sitting there in her pink flamingo deck chair, smiling like Norman f**king Bates.
Charges were pressed, and insanity was pled (which was probably accurate anyways).
I do not really talk to that side of the family much anymore.
9) ‘A man tried to rape and strangle me on holiday’
A man jumped me and pummelled me on a beach in Barbados in an attempted rape. When I attacked him in defence he tried to kill me and started strangling me. I dug my shoulders into the sand to relieve pressure and not black out.
I managed to squeeze my knee between us to separate his torso from mine, he then arched his back bringing his face closer to mine and I grabbed onto it with my teeth and bit hard — ripping parts of his tongue off while he screamed.
That got him off me and running.
I felt high and happy after the fact, but my bf who was running down to help me cried for hours.
The real horror came after with the hospital visit and the next day reporting it to the constable. Barbados police don’t give a s**t about rape and society there victim blames. Nothing was computerised and I had to write three copies of the incident to get it reported.
My only consolation is that tongues don’t grow back and that mofo will remember me forever.
10) ‘He wasn’t trying to specifically kill me…’
I'm not sure if this counts exactly since the person wasn't trying to specifically kill me... but when I used to work at Starbucks, a guy was trying to kill his ex girlfriend by causing a gas leak at our location with all of us still working there. Our shift supervisor smelled the gas and had us evacuate while calling the fire department.
I remember thinking "wow, I could have died over some stupid high school drama." Made me realise that every time something bad happens to me, I shouldn't overreact to the point where it inconveniences others like I'm the only person with problems to deal with. Don't want to be like that guy.
** Stock image - Getty **
11) ‘My ex wife sabotaged my car’
My ex wife had her new boyfriend cut the brake lines on the driver side of my car. Her logic was that when I was heading to work, I’d have to stop at the end of the Mississippi river bridge, swerve off, and land in the half frozen river underneath.
It almost worked. Thankfully my car swerved hard to the right and totalled itself on the guard rail.
12) ‘My ex girlfriend tried to gas me’
One night I got in an argument with my girlfriend back in college. Apparently it was never resolved to her liking because I woke up the next morning and she wasn't in bed or in the apartment.
I noticed a smell almost immediately and found all four burners of the stove turned on but not lit. [I got the hell] out of the apartment and called 911. Fire dept, police dept, etc came out.
They killed the gas lines and evacuated the whole goddamn building.
It was obvious that she did it (to me anyway), but long story short, she never had to face the music.
I later took all of her stuff from my apartment and burned it in a garbage can in front of her car.
13) ‘My dad tried to kill the whole family’
Back in 2011, on Sept 30th, my Dad attempted to end the abuse he inflicted on us for years by burning my mom alive and then hunting us kids down.
He succeeded in burning down the house, my mom was able to get away, and my Dad was arrested and thrown in jail before he could get to the guns and come after myself and my sister. He was charged with arson and assault, only serving 3 years of his 18 year sentence as the judge allowed him to serve simultaneously. He wasn't charged with attempted murder as much of the evidence and testimony was dismissed, the hospital lost some of the articles and didn't document what happened to my mom. The judge was lenient and the prosecutor didn't push harder. He was let out early on good behaviour.
My mom and I are now in the Safe at Home program in an undisclosed location. Life is different now…
The thought is still in the back of my head, the whole family could have been killed due to my crazed father. Everyone is still alive, and for that I am thankful.
14) ‘A stranger broke into my bedroom with a noose’
I was 16, and asleep in my bed when I just abruptly "felt" something wrong. I rolled over, and saw a person by my bed. He was wearing a hoodie, and my father used to wear a long ponytail and in the dark, these things looked pretty similar.
I said, "Dad?"
The person jumped on the bed and shoved his hand into my panties, and into me.
There was a really long terrifying moment where I thought it was my father doing this to me, incidentally. He told me, "Shut up, b**ch!" and started choking me, hard.
I realised finally it wasn't my father, and started fighting with him, my brain finally kicked in and shook me out of the shock I was in. I started struggling with him, and eventually managed to get my knee into his groin, which I don't think hurt him so much as it just dislodged him enough he lost his balance.
His hands fell away from my throat, and I screamed like I have never screamed before in my whole life. I hope never to scream like that again.
He paused, unsure of whether or not to stay and renew his efforts on raping me, or to leave. He decided to leave, and dove out my window.
I was so incensed I chased to the window after him and kept screaming after him.
We called the police, who took pictures of the handprints on my throat, and took things as evidence, like my underwear, and a phonebook they thought he might've touched.
Hours later, I braved going back into my room to get something, I noticed an extension cord was out of place, the one that plugged into my radio - only part of the end of it was visible, and the plug portion was cut off for some reason. I was baffled. I pulled it out from around the corner of my bed, and the end had been fashioned into a noose, big enough to fit around my head.
So it was then, finally, that 16 year old me realised this man who broke in had intended to actually strangle me to death, and for whatever reason, I had woken up in time to catch him before he got that far.
I've never slept soundly since. I am almost 40. I am always afraid someone is in my house.
**Stock image - Getty **
15) ‘I was stabbed trying to save my girlfriend’
When I was 17, I took my girlfriend to winter dance. Before though, we went out to dinner in the city (Dayton, OH). There is a nice Thai place we were going to, but I hadn't really learned my way around (and this was before pocket GPS). I ended up parking outside of the "nice" district a bit too far, because of traffic and no parking spots being open. We figured walking would just be faster.
It was snowing, we were enjoying a conversation, but I noticed a man alter his trajectory slightly towards us.. as we go to pass, sure enough the knife comes out. Buck knife. Doesn't ask for money - he tells us to shut up and say nothing. He looks at my date, and gives a look that tells me this is not about money. I had to decide, do I wait another 5 seconds to see what he does, or do I be stupid and rush him?
So I decided. I rushed diagonally at him, and even with my hands up he got the blade into my guard and sliced the outside of my orbital socket. Date ran the opposite direction screaming for help. I take the chance to rush into his off-swing, and he hits my ribs with the butt of the handle. I can't breathe, or see in my right eye - but I have his neck with my thumb on the trachea, and my right hand us barely holding his arm to me ( so he can't get the knife loose ).
I apply as much raw force to his neck as my adrenaline fuelled body can manage. I hear a small pop, and he fell away fast. I hadn't crushed it, but he was definitely feeling it. I took this time to fall back, but was so winded I could only manage about 50 feet. I'm bleeding like a faucet from my right eye, and l was certain the eye was slashed.
I slink away, and he didn't follow. The police and my date found me on the sidewalk after some people ran out of an apartment to investigate.
I have my eye, but only about 50% of my vision. It looks only slightly like Fogarty from A History of Violence. Also, a long scar from my eyebrow to my cheek.
16) ‘My jealous friend tried to kill me’
A friend tried to kill me with a knife. We were/are both experienced martial artists, and he got a knife while I was sleeping. He made a lot of noise in the kitchen and it woke me up. He came to my room and I was sitting up in my bed already, completely oblivious. He lunged at me and he nicked my chest, but eventually he lost and was in the hospital with a broken rib.
He did this because I got with a girl I liked. I introduced him to her at some point, and he got upset when later on we started dating. A year later, after the longest time being bros, he tried to f**king kill me.
This, along with other things, has attributed to some horrible PTSD. So, no, not over it.
17) ‘My dad tried to kill me before I was born’
My mother told me this story... when she was 7 or 8 months pregnant with me, my father came home really drunk one night, convinced that she'd cheated on him and that I wasn't his.
He pinned her against the wall with a knife to her stomach and said he was going to cut the little b**tard out of her. She somehow talked him out of it, and here I am, 30 years later (and definitely his kid).
18) ‘My mum was cornered in an elevator’
As usual on Reddit, this didn't happen to me. It happened to my mom, but she doesn't have a Reddit account, so...
She was in her early 20s coming home late at night. As she got into the elevator to her apartment, a dude got in with her shortly before the door closed. The elevator went up and she noticed that the guy was nervous: breathing heavily and sweating, even though it was cold outside.
At some point he said: don't be afraid, it will be over quickly and pulled a knife out.
My mom subsequently kicked the dude in the nuts. She immediately hit some random floor and the elevator stopped. She then ran up the stairs to her apartment. The killer followed her and screamed after her: "I'll catch you b**ch and I'll stab you until you bleed to death". However, she was faster than him and got into her apartment.
The dude didn't know where she went, screamed a bit and let it go. She called the police, of course, but they couldn't find him. Creepy s**t.
19) ‘My brother tried to drown me’
I don't remember exactly how old I was, but my brother tried to drown me. We took a family trip to six flags, and we got in the wave pool. When the waves started coming, he grabbed my shoulders and started pushing me down under the water. I think the waves are what saved me here, when one would pass I would try to push myself up and take a breath.
When I told my dad and step mom he just got a slap on the wrist.
Stock image - Getty
20) ‘My pregnant mother was attacked by a home invader’
My story may be a bit different but it technically fits this topic. My mother was almost murdered while I was in her womb.
She was home with my 3 year old sister at the time. She had put her down for a nap and had gone to the washroom. As she entered the washroom someone with a similar build dressed like my father and carrying a knife came out the shower and tried to attack her. She managed to fight him off enough to make a run out the front door across the street to a neighbour’s house where she banged frantically until they let her in.
The guy never pursued her out of the house. That's when the terrible realisation hit her that her daughter (my sister) was still in the house with the man that just attacker her.
My neighbour, without hesitating, ran into the house. In what was probably the longest and most terrifying minute of my mother's life, the neighbour emerged with my sister safe and sound. They called the cops immediately but it looks like after my mom had escaped the guy must have left out of the backyard.
The man was never caught. A lot of questions went unanswered. My father spent the next month sleeping in the living room with a gun until they were able to move.
It's crazy to think about how close I was to never being born.
Visit this Reddit thread to read more real-life accounts from survivors of attempted murder.
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