7 Terrifying Close Calls Caught on Camera
You never know what’s going to happen to you the minute you step out of your front door.
The truth is, no matter how prepared we think we are: dangers will always be present in
our lives, and sometimes, the only things that let us live to see another day, is some
quick thinking and a bit of luck.
Today we take a look at 7 terrifying moments that were just a little too close for comfort.
A “Shocking” Moment
You have to be pretty unlucky to be struck by lightning and for one boy, luck may have
been the one thing that saved his life during a heavy storm in Posadas, Argentina.
In 2017, Carolina Kotur whipped out her phone to film her 12-year-old son joking with her,
as he stood with his umbrella outside in the rain.
However, what started as a light-hearted moment quickly turned into terror for the mother and
her unnamed son.
You can hear the horrified screams of his mother as she films the lightning bolt narrowly
missing her son and illuminating the whole yard with dazzling light.
Miraculously, however, while a nearby fence was set on fire, Kotur told local media that
her son was unharmed.
It seemed luck was truly on the boy’s side that day.
Not only did he miss being hit by lightning by mere feet, the cement rim around the pool
probably saved his life as well by blocking residual current.
It goes to show that we can never know when disaster might strike, and in the middle of
a raging thunderstorm… well, it’s always best to stay inside.
Deadly Prank
Anyone who has ever had a best friend has no doubt participated in some playful teasing.
Light-hearted jokes and pranks are one thing, but sometimes people end up taking things
way too far.
In April 2018, security camera footage taken in Bielsko County, Poland captured such a moment between
two teenage girls as they walked down the street.
Everything seems fine until suddenly one of the girls shoves the other to the side, causing
her to fall right at the wheels of a moving bus.
The wheels come frighteningly close to the girl’s head, but amazingly, she was uninjured
aside from some bruises.
The friend who did the pushing seems to realize instantly the severity of what she has done.
It is only by sheer dumb luck that her friend survived this impulsive prank.
The two girls share a hug and walk off together, but while the friends seem to have put this
all behind them, the Polish authorities were not so forgiving.
The near-disaster ended up causing the pusher 70 euros in fines (around 77 USD) with the
police even seeking possible jail time for causing a traffic hazard.
But, at least, didn’t have to pay with her life.
Truck Stop
Everyone knows that you should always look both ways before crossing the street, but
kids aren’t always the best when it comes to following the rules.
A dashcam video taken in Gol, Norway back in June 2017 captured this next harrowing moment.
A school bus lets off a group of five young children on the right side of a highway.
They all start to go their separate ways with two of the children hurrying to cross the
road without checking for oncoming traffic.
Luckily for the boy, the driver who took the video alerted the truck by honking their horn
and flashing their lights.
The semi-truck driver manages to hit the brakes just in time, and narrowly misses running
the child over by mere feet.
Thanks to the driver’s quick thinking and the trucker’s even quicker reflexes, nobody
got hurt that day.
Hopefully, that boy learned an important lesson: you can never be too careful when crossing
a busy road.
A Shot Too Close
Many Youtubers put themselves in interesting situations to entertain and educate their
fans, and sometimes they capture some pretty scary moments.
Kyle Lamar was a popular Youtuber and Twitch streamer who ran the channel FPSRussia.
Using a Russian persona by the name of “Dmitri Potapoff”, his content mostly focused on
firearms and other weapons, which he would give demonstrations on for his 6 million subscribers.
In January 2013, he uploaded this video of him testing out a DRD Paratus-18, also known
as a suitcase gun.
“You don’t need any tools to assemble it, everything is just hand tight.
So there aren’t any special wrenches to keep up with, no allen keys, anything like that.”
Dmitri quickly assembles the gun and shows off its accuracy and firepower by shooting
soda bottles and concrete.
To show off how impressive the gun really is, he takes aim at the door of an old pickup truck.
Things almost immediately go awry when the truck explodes and a large piece of metal
comes flying toward him, missing him by inches.
“Ok, so one last thing, I figured we couldn’t make a video with such a high-powered rifle,
without blowing up a truck.
So, let’s get a nice big explosion and maybe a little shrapnel going.”
While Dimitri's accent is fake, the look of shock on his face is certainly not.
But, ever the professional, Dimitri takes a deep breath, hides his horror and continues
his presentation to the camera, never once breaking character.
“Maybe a lot of shrapnel.
Well, I really like this rifle, I’ve got to say.
Like I said, it’s so compact, you can fold it up and stick it anywhere.
Hope you guys enjoyed the video, and as always, have a nice day.
Rainy Road Crash
Driving in heavy rain is never ideal, but trying to maneuver slippery roads while riding
a motorcycle can be downright dangerous.
In 2015, a couple in Thailand inadvertently captured the terrifying moment in which they
almost lost their lives.
The unnamed man rides his motorcycle down a slippery road while his girlfriend hangs
on behind him.
It’s raining very hard, and the roads are so wet that the water seems to even form waves
on the highway.
As the boyfriend speeds up, he suddenly loses control of the motorcycle, causing it to slip
out from underneath them.
The boyfriend immediately takes the woman’s hand as the couple goes sliding down a shockingly
long stretch of the road.
Without missing a beat, he helps guide her body towards the muddy side of the highway.
They finally come to a stop and it quickly becomes apparent that the woman’s helmet
was too big for her - even with their gear, she probably could have been very seriously
hurt, had the man not thought to pull her along with him.
Though the girlfriend is visibly shaken by the ordeal, the two of them appear to be completely unharmed.
Luckily for the couple, there didn’t appear to have been any oncoming traffic that they
could have crashed into.
Hopefully, the man will take this as a lesson to never speed in the middle of a rainstorm.
Falling into Trouble
Heights and flying are common fears that many people have, so it’s no wonder why so many
thrill-seekers looking for their next adrenaline rush take to skydiving, and while it may be
a great adventure for some, there’s no denying that it can get very dangerous very fast.
Because of this, it’s common for beginners to jump attached to an experienced instructor
in what is known as a tandem skydive.
However, even the most experienced instructors can end up in some scary situations.
On October 19th, 2014, Forest Troy Pullman filmed what should have been a routine tandem
skydive over a drop zone in Thailand that nearly turned into a disaster.
With his friend’s wife in tandem, he jumped from the plane and for a few moments, everything
appears fine, and the woman is clearly enjoying herself.
That’s when Pullman notices their plane diving 180 degrees--right towards him and his passenger.
The plane flies so closely to them, they very narrowly miss being struck by its wing, propeller,
and tail.
Unfortunately for them, the plane’s wing did end up clipping Pullman’s drogue and
bridle, making it impossible to deploy the main parachute.
The two go down in a terrifying free fall.
Thankfully, Pullman is able to deploy the reserve shoot and both he and the passenger
eventually make it to the ground safely.
“Okay.
Okay.
Okay!
We are Okay!
Oh my God!
Okay.”
Pullman later stated in the comments of this video: “On this jump the pilot messed up
in a big big way.
We all are very lucky.
If the wing did hit us it could have crippled us or killed us easily.
The impact could have ripped the wing off possibly killing the pilots who also got very lucky,”
Pullman also said that he stopped working at that drop zone and had to take some time
off skydiving after the incident.
Angry Mama Bear
Anyone who likes to spend time outdoors knows you should never mess with a wild animal,
and as long as you’re on a predator’s turf, there’s no such as being too careful.
On June 27, 2018, Caleb Invidiata and Shannon Long, two hunters out in the Canadian wilderness,
got closer than they ever expected to a family of bears.
On the first day of their 5-day-long hunt, they set up some bait near a trail overlooking
a few black bears.
A sow and her two cubs come by, and the men watch them for about an hour.
Just as they believe the family is about to retreat, the sow turns back and runs straight
toward the camera - and Caleb.
“Hey!
Hey!
Get!
Go!
Hey!”
The mama bear tries to jump on Caleb and attack him though she didn’t realize Shannon was
there, too.
He kicks at the bear and shouts to scare her off for a moment, but she charges back a second
time at full speed.
“Go!
Hey!
Hey!”
With lots of shouting and a knife, the men manage to scare the sow off for good this time.
Caleb said: “If we were not together that night we do believe she wouldn’t of stop
trying to maul one of us”
Luckily, aside from one of the men suffering a cut finger, everyone managed to get away
without harm - mama bear and cubs included.
Which one of these terrifying close calls did think was the luckiest?
Have you ever had a terrifying close call in your own life?
Leave your comment below and let us know.
Thanks for watching!