Luckily I haven't experienced anything that was described here.
I do remember a horrible accident that happened when I was in high school though.
My german teacher ran over one of the students there. It wasn't her fault, it was the kids. He was riding down a side ride as fast as he could, and he came right out on to the road without stopping or even looking for cars. A van hit him, he flew onto the wind shield, which then bounced him into the other lane of on coming traffic. He landed right in front of the german teachers car, and she ran right over his head, compressing it and splattering brains everywhere. A senseless death that could have been avoided by the kids. Sad, so sad.

MustangMan.....I hear you man.  I too have a son and I feel very lucky.  I will give him a hug tonight, and please give your daughter a hug for me.

This van wrecks on the Interstate--it rolls over and the front door is jammed and the occupants are pinned in anyway.  Then it catches on fire. Nobody can get the door open to get to them. The guy pulls out a pistol-- shoots his wife and then commits suicide.  Now as a cop, I've seen weird stuff, but this was way weird..

Damn!

I had a dream like that years ago.  that is why I put a pry bar in my trunk and carry a knife.  I dreamed that I could not save a lady because her seatbelt was stuck and I could not get her out.....one of those dreams that wakes you up sweating.

Holy shit!

But if it came to burning alive or a gunshot to the head, I'd take the gunshot. Not that I would want either...

Av.

Stormbringer, get one of those safety/EMS seatbelt cutters. They'll slice through a seatbelt just fine, and you don't have a sharp point going who-knows-where.

I thought 1Gunnrunner's comment was aimed at the folks who were adding what some might term, "mushy" stuff...huggy talk, you know.

Here's the one that absolutely stayed with me longer than anything else I've ever seen or been a part of...

Back in '80 or so, I was doing an ER rotation for Paramedic class in a little town north of Austin,TX. We got a call to a trailer house in the farm country. The mother was hysterical and we put her in the unit with the female nurse who came along. The paramedic and I went to the back bedroom doorway and confirmed that the 17y.o. male who literally blew half his head/face off was indeed d.o.s. (dead on scene). There seemed to be not a single inch of wall/ceiling that didn't have a part of him on it. Now, I'm sure for most folks who work in the public service sector, trauma is often not the most difficult thing to deal with. I felt pretty calm about that. But when I went outside to see his Mother, the S.O. brought his Father home. This man was restrained by three or four officers while trying to get into the house to see his son. He kept shouting, "I'VE SEEN BUDDIES BLOWN UP BESIDE ME IN KOREA, LET ME SEE MY SON!". Finally he gave up trying and they brought him over to the back of the unit.

When he saw his wife, he just kept repeating, "WHY, WHY, WHY?". All I could do was to step around the unit and take a few minutes to choke down the feelings that wanted to come out. It took me many years to finally open up. I have never seen such an agonizing display of sadness, frustration, and ... well, I can't think of the word I want to say.
The boy had a fight with his girlfriend, went home, wrote a note, then while his Mom was cooking dinner at the other end of the trailer house, he took his Dad's shotgun and took his life.  No matter how hard things have ever been in my life since, the memory of this incident reminds me that suicide is never an option.
I've seen what I feel is more than my share of humanity's suffering (much like many other members here it seems). For some reason, this is the one for me.

Mustang, You, your daughter and family have my respect. You sound like a strong man and your daughter is lucky for that. May you always Fare Well.

I got to witness a hip replacement on a obese white female, approx age 70-75.

It was more than I was prepared for as she was totally nude from the waist down and very....very prominently displayed.

Nasty .....too nasty.

This one is a real toss up for me it is a tie between
1. public execuitions in rihyad
2. thanksgiving 1996 had a man pull the trigger on a 12 guage with 4 buck in his mouth before we could stop him.
3.  Body parts lying around Kohbar towers and seeing the blood runnign down the stairwells.
4.  Brain matter and hair stuck to ceiling of the "resistance house" in kuwait city from an RPG7 hitting a man in the toros
5.  and in september 1996 I had to relieve a troop from post when I got there there was a suburban on the saudi Highway that had rolled and ejected 8 children at around 75mph.  the father was walking around in shock picking up pieces of his children and carring an apparent dead infant by one leg.
John

4-5 years ago in the ER, guy got rolled in who tried to kill himself after his girlfriend broke up with him by putting a rifle under his chin.  He only used a .22LR though and ended up only blowing off his lower jaw (the bullet richocheted off his hard palate).  His lower lip was split in half and his tongue was intact and hanging out and they were all writhing - He reminded me of the Predator from the Predator movies.

I have seen some pretty horrible real life things but for some reason the scene in the movie Hannibal where he cuts the guys skull with a bone saw and pulls off the top of his head and slices a part of his brain off cooks it and feeds it back to the same guy who is drugged up and not feeling a thing really got to me.

And to think, I started this thread on an old, naked,yucky lady sponge-bathing herself.


Yall have seen some sick ass shit.

Not really squemish and have been told I am cold hearted, but......

Every year on Christmas Eve, (or close to it, Sat. this year) I deliver Christmas baskets to needy families in the area.  Alot of the people are just lazy and abusing the system, but, one particular Christmas we delivered to an old house in the middle of a field.  A young mother was cooking what little food they had for her two children.  No father.  She had no job.  While she was dirt poor, her house, old as it was, was immaculate.  Kids clothes were all mended, not full of holes and clean.  Really felt for her as she was trying her best but didnt have the money to buy even the food required for two growing boys.  She apparently got a job as it was the only year we delivered there.

Last year, delivered to a house.  Big beautiful house.  Told my dad who was driving I thought these people were playing us.  He told me that these people didnt have ANYTHING.  They had just moved up here on the promise of a job that fell through and had sold everything they owned to get here and make a better life.  Some relative owned this house and rented it out and told them they could live there for a while rent free.  Walked in the door and there wasnt a stick of furniture anywhere.  No tree, no presents, 4 kids I think.  They had one old refridgerator and a small kitchen table.  Wood heat.  We took food and some presents and the lady started crying and thanking us.  Tore me up.

Always makes me appreciate Christmas so much more when I can see what little some people actually have in this world.  A little mushy but thats what wrenches my gut.

The reaction from a young mother, returning from an evening out, having left her baby in the care of a sitter...when she asked why police were here and I had to tell her that her baby was dead...SIDS.
I could go ten careers without ever having to do that again and it wouldn't be long enough.

Luckily I have not seen some of the distrubing things some others have there are a couple things that stick with me.

One time I was out squirrel shooting, I had a single shot .22LR loaded with hollowpoints.  Anyway this was the first time I had ever tried to shoot a squirrel.  I saw one facing away from me in a tree about 15 feet up.  I was only about 5 yards away from him.  In the excitement I forgot to compensate for the close range by holding over abit(i was using a scope about 1.5 inch above the bore).  I aimed at the back where I thought it would blow through and hit the heart.  Anyway that hollowpint did the job all right but it hit low, a gutshot actually.  Since I was so close the bullet mushroomed nicely but still went right through.  The poor things guts popped right out and he just hung from the tree.  I couldn't get another shot so i shook the tree until it fell.  It fell to the ground and I rechambered another round as quick as I could.  The poor creature was shaking around and I managed to pin him down and fire a round into his head.  After being sure it was dead I used a stick to flip him over.  The exit wound was almost an inch with guts everywhere.  Now I do not worry about a .22 hollowpoint being enough for shooting any shooting small game.  But I was very angry at myself for not compensating for the close range which caused the poor squirrel to suffer so long.

Pics, man, we want pics !!!!!!!!!

#1 Watching planes hit the WTC
#2 Working at Ground Zero that same day

This one will always be with me. When my wife & I were waiting the birth of our first born, she started to go into labor. By the time we got to the hospital, there was no fetal heartbeat. I had to wait 12 hours to watch my wife give birth to our daughter. I held her limp body in my arms for a couple of hours before I had to go make burial arrangements on what was supposed to be one of the happiest days of my life. We now have 2 healthy happy children ( a boy and a girl) but she will always be my first.

The autopsy of a 3 year old girl after we harvested her organs.  She had died frome brain trauma, most likely from a beating by her mothers boyfriend.  She had the bluest eyes...One of the scrub techs held her hand thru the whole thing.

Being a Firefighter/EMT for 15yrs,in te 4th largest city in the US.


Burnedbodys,wrecks,gunshotwounds,stabings,dismmbered bodys.seen alot.Sometimes pepole ask me the kinds of things i have seen.And i wont tell them out of respect for the dead.

And 9-11-01 all  those FF that lost their lives doing there job!!! YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTEN
1 HOLE

that one gets my vote. i wish i had listend to everyone and NOT watched. the worst part was the noise

Working an ER shift for the EMT class I was taking a guy came in to see the Ear Nose Throat doc.  He had a cyst in his nasal cavity.  They had to take a mallet and beat the needle required to drain the cyst into his sinuses.  I was fine until I heard the bone crunch.  I ended up getting 18 stitches in my forehead from hitting the corner of a counter as I passed out.  Strange thing is I have worked on eviscerated limbs and dismembered bodies with no ill effects.  Mental preparedness is important.