Scariest experience of my life

sureshs · Dec 7, 2009

It happened Sunday morning. I was at a new place (a condo complex) for a tennis meetup. 3 of us showed up early, and we were hitting around. I decided to use the restroom before the others showed up and play started in earnest. I borrowed the organizer's pool key (he lives there) and located the men's room, unlocked it, and walked inside. The door shut by itself, and there was no light turned on inside. I made the huge mistake of assuming I could use the bathroom with the memory of what I had seen in the brief time the door was open. Sure enough, I was able to do what I wanted to do. Then, I started trying to trace back my steps to locate the door, and got disoriented. It was pitch dark, and panic set in. There was nobody in the pool area, the tennis courts were a little distance away, and there were no windows. I started banging on the walls and shouting. I imagined myself trapped there for hours or days. Maybe the organizer would come looking for me? I started feeling my way around but just reached one dead end after another.

Finally, my eyes adjusted, and I was able to see a sliver of light through the side of the door. I got there and opened it. I realized there was a timer-based lighting system, and you should twist the knob as soon as you can see it (with the door still open), or you are trapped in darkness.

What an experience!

borg number one · Dec 7, 2009

Wow, that is scary Sureshs. That's a good thing you regained your composure and that your eyes adjusted. Seriously though, if you had been there for a while, I'm sure your friends would have come looking for you and found you. I'm glad you got through it and after getting out, I'm sure you had a whole appreciation for the outdoors and playing tennis.

El Diablo · Dec 7, 2009

Has to be a lawsuit here -- this is America!! Think of the guy who got into an elevator Friday evening in a Manhattan building, got stuck in it, spent the entire weekend there.

sureshs · Dec 7, 2009

I forgot to mention that my cell phone was in my bag at the courts.

The guy caught in an elevator would have been found eventually. But in some of these apartment/condo complexes, areas like pool restrooms sometimes go unused for days together.

My hope would have been on the organizer. Mind you, this was the second time I was meeting them, so they are not my friends. Hopefully, they would have noticed that I had not returned and my bag was still there, and come looking for me.

sureshs · Dec 7, 2009

borg number one said:
Wow, that is scary Sureshs. That's a good thing you regained your composure and that your eyes adjusted. Seriously though, if you had been there for a while, I'm sure your friends would have come looking for you and found you. I'm glad you got through it and after getting out, I'm sure you had a whole appreciation for the outdoors and playing tennis.

Initially, I had a rush of appreciation for blind people. I felt that I had finally understood how they lived. Then I realized that they get used to it - but to me it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so it is scarier for me.

TheMagicianOfPrecision · Dec 7, 2009

sureshs said:
It happened Sunday morning. I was at a new place (a condo complex) for a tennis meetup. 3 of us showed up early, and we were hitting around. I decided to use the restroom before the others showed up and play started in earnest. I borrowed the organizer's pool key (he lives there) and located the men's room, unlocked it, and walked inside. The door shut by itself, and there was no light turned on inside. I made the huge mistake of assuming I could use the bathroom with the memory of what I had seen in the brief time the door was open. Sure enough, I was able to do what I wanted to do. Then, I started trying to trace back my steps to locate the door, and got disoriented. It was pitch dark, and panic set in. There was nobody in the pool area, the tennis courts were a little distance away, and there were no windows. I started banging on the walls and shouting. I imagined myself trapped there for hours or days. Maybe the organizer would come looking for me? I started feeling my way around but just reached one dead end after another.

Finally, my eyes adjusted, and I was able to see a sliver of light through the side of the door. I got there and opened it. I realized there was a timer-based lighting system, and you should twist the knob as soon as you can see it (with the door still open), or you are trapped in darkness.

What an experience!

Horrible experience- I would have paniced like crazy, I am scared of the dark AND a little bit claustrophobic.
Did you play good after that?

sureshs · Dec 7, 2009

TheMagicianOfPrecision said:
Horrible experience- I would have paniced like crazy, I am scared of the dark AND a little bit claustrophobic.
Did you play good after that?

I am somewhat claustrophobic too. I guess it goes back to when I was a kid and had what was probably my scariest experience, now that I think of it. I was in a very very crowded and hot school bus and trapped near the windows all the way across from the door by layers of students. I felt suffocated and thought I would die. Since then, I sometimes have nightmares about it. I am also scared of heights (looking down).

I actually played very good after that and won 4 out of 5 sets I played against different people.

atatu · Dec 7, 2009

It would have been worse if you had started to hear banjo music faintly playing (Deliverance reference)...

TheMagicianOfPrecision · Dec 7, 2009

sureshs said:
I am somewhat claustrophobic too. I guess it goes back to when I was a kid and had what was probably my scariest experience, now that I think of it. I was in a very very crowded and hot school bus and trapped near the windows all the way across from the door by layers of students. I felt suffocated and thought I would die. Since then, I sometimes have nightmares about it. I am also scared of heights (looking down).

I actually played very good after that and won 4 out of 5 sets I played against different people.

20 years ago me and my friends played hide and seek and i hid in a very narrow room where the door locked from the OUTSIDE-not the inside, so kids will be kids...I sat there screamed at the top of my lungs for 15 minutes then one of the kids mom opened the door, the room was hot since there was some pipes that lead to the washing-machine and there was almost no oxygen.

I feel for you.

I guess you were so releaved being out on the court that you just played out of your mind good

sureshs · Dec 7, 2009

In many countries, the idea of not allowing rooms to be locked from the outside, except in special circumstances, has not yet caught on. Quite a few horror stories about kids locking people inside their rooms.

In my case, I agree with a previous poster that a lawsuit is justified. I won't file one, but I think anyone who files it is doing a great service. That was another of my insights yesterday. It is just bad and dangerous design to build a bathroom with no windows and no automatic lighting with a door that closes by itself. Even automatic lighting is not good enough in case of malfunction or a power outage. To top it all, I was groping the walls looking for a flick switch, and instead it turned out to be a timer dial. How many people would be expecting a rotary timer in the bathroom? So I do believe a lawsuit would have helped in preventing this kind of thing from happening again, maybe to sick or older people or children.

JackB1 · Dec 7, 2009

sureshs said:
It happened Sunday morning. I was at a new place (a condo complex) for a tennis meetup. 3 of us showed up early, and we were hitting around. I decided to use the restroom before the others showed up and play started in earnest. I borrowed the organizer's pool key (he lives there) and located the men's room, unlocked it, and walked inside. The door shut by itself, and there was no light turned on inside. I made the huge mistake of assuming I could use the bathroom with the memory of what I had seen in the brief time the door was open. Sure enough, I was able to do what I wanted to do. Then, I started trying to trace back my steps to locate the door, and got disoriented. It was pitch dark, and panic set in. There was nobody in the pool area, the tennis courts were a little distance away, and there were no windows. I started banging on the walls and shouting. I imagined myself trapped there for hours or days. Maybe the organizer would come looking for me? I started feeling my way around but just reached one dead end after another.

Finally, my eyes adjusted, and I was able to see a sliver of light through the side of the door. I got there and opened it. I realized there was a timer-based lighting system, and you should twist the knob as soon as you can see it (with the door still open), or you are trapped in darkness.

What an experience!

That is scary, but why did you panic if you knew the door wasn't locked? It was just a matter of time before you found it. I mane, how big can a men's room be? I do hope you washed up good after touching all the walls in there!!

sureshs · Dec 7, 2009

JackB1 said:
That is scary, but why did you panic if you knew the door wasn't locked? It was just a matter of time before you found it. I mane, how big can a men's room be? I do hope you washed up good after touching all the walls in there!!

That is where logic failed. I was completely disoriented. See, I walked to the urinal from the door in pitch darkness, using memory. Then I used the sink to wash my hands, from memory. Then I turned around. Now I could not visualize where the door was. Had I remained put, I could have retraced my steps. But in my panic I started moving around and then lost my bearings. Then I found a door and grabbed the handle - but it was the stall. That broke me. Now I was hopelessly lost with respect to the door. I think the systematic way would have been to go hit a wall, and then proceed clockwise or anticlockwise in a systematic way feeling the wall and testing by sound what felt like a closed door. But remember there were the sinks where you would not feel a wall. What if I had walked into the stall, and then got lost there?

The more I write about this, the more my stomach turns. But I think it is good to get it out of the system and to warn others.

Always have a charged cell phone with you guys. And if you are older, get that LifeAlert or whatever it is called. And follow up on where your kids are if you are a parent.

albino smurf · Dec 7, 2009

You must live a sheltered ass life. Glad you survived your time in a dark room. You might want to avoid military service.

TheMagicianOfPrecision · Dec 7, 2009

albino smurf said:
You must live a sheltered ass life. Glad you survived your time in a dark room. You might want to avoid military service.

This is just very disrespectful- Not everyone wanna play warrior-d1cks with their lifes.

borg number one · Dec 7, 2009

FYI, a lawsuit filed by anyone would have no real potential, in that the first thing the Defendant is going to say, ok, so we MAY be negligent here, but what are your real DAMAGES?

Unless you prove that the incident has led to great mental anguish (e.g. real psychological damage) which is a HUGE STRECTH, you can't recover. I've seen cases involving horrific facts, say a parent watch his/her child die from a car accident that barely received anything in the way of mental anguish damages. Courts typically hate to award much in such cases.

A "Wrongful Imprisonment" suit is also not an option since no one intended to confine you in an area in any way.

The best thing to do is file a complaint or complaints with the complex and possibly also any state agencies/organizations that oversee/regulate apartment complexes.

Also, the actual tenants need to speak up and unite as they complain about that bathroom. That would be the best approach in my opinion.

sureshs · Dec 7, 2009

albino smurf said:
You must live a sheltered ass life. Glad you survived your time in a dark room. You might want to avoid military service.

I have avoided military service and now I am well past that age. With age, comes some other thoughts like what if I die here after a few days? What will happen to my family? To add to my panic, I have hypertension due to very strong hereditary tendency gotten from my father (identical symptoms/history/medication). I am told that a couple of days of not taking my pills can lead to a dangerous surge in blood pressure causing a stroke. That was panicking me as well.

If I had more experience in these things, I would not have panicked. But how does one prepare for situations like this? A blackout at home is totally different - you know the place well and light streaks in from here or there. But a new place, new room, total darkness - what experience in life would have prepared me for this?

MAX PLY · Dec 7, 2009

Saw where that happened to Lucy and Ethel once. Terrifying! Fortunately, Fred and Ricky let them out. Wow, I hope you recover. Oh, and thanks for warning us about this hidden threat.

El Diablo · Dec 7, 2009

This "previous poster" was JOKING about a lawsuit. I'm with smurf here -- doesn't sound like such a terrible experience. I've had much scarier moments in public restrooms -- like the handful of times I sat there and noticed there wasn't a single piece of toilet paper or paper towel in the room.

TheMagicianOfPrecision · Dec 7, 2009

El Diablo said:
This "previous poster" was JOKING about a lawsuit. I'm with smurf here -- doesn't sound like such a terrible experience. I've had much scarier moments in public restrooms -- like the handful of times I sat there and noticed there wasn't a single piece of toilet paper or paper towel in the room.

You should always check that there is enough paper before you sit down and do your buseiness

dlk · Dec 7, 2009

albino smurf said:
You must live a sheltered ass life. Glad you survived your time in a dark room. You might want to avoid military service.

I'm inclined to agree with you. Worst of numerous combat engagements, 30 DEC 2006, small village north of Fallujah. Convoy commander radioed IED, w/i seconds everything went black (we all survived with moderate injuries). No time for fear at time, but restrospection was a ***** on sleep, to this day. Or maybe it was I went to school & left my 150pt. report at home.

dlk · Dec 7, 2009

TheMagicianOfPrecision said:
This is just very disrespectful- Not everyone wanna play warrior-d1cks with their lifes.

You're calling albino smurf disrespectful? Oh, okay

borg number one · Dec 7, 2009

TheMagicianofPrecision, I was responding to Sureshs, post #10 as to a possible lawsuit. Also, on "doing your business", other than for #1, just stick with your own home, if AT ALL possible, lol..

sureshs · Dec 7, 2009

OK, now that I have said everything I wanted to, why don't we convert this thread to:

Post the scariest experience in your life.

dlk · Dec 7, 2009

sureshs said:
OK, now that I have said everything I wanted to, why don't we convert this thread to:

Post the scariest experience in your life.

Nothing to be ashamed of. Everyone's experience is relative. The less of these experiences the better.

TheMagicianOfPrecision · Dec 7, 2009

dlk said:
You're calling albino smurf disrespectful? Oh, okay

No, I didnt.
What he wrote- I called disrespectful.

If someone wants to go to war-Thats fine, either way, peoples phobics should always be respected.

TheMagicianOfPrecision · Dec 7, 2009

borg number one said:
TheMagicianofPrecision, I was responding to Sureshs, post #10 as to a possible lawsuit. Also, on "doing your business", other than for #1, just stick with your own home, if AT ALL possible, lol..

Oh I see, sorry then

Thats a good advice

dlk · Dec 7, 2009

TheMagicianOfPrecision said:
No, I didnt.
What he wrote- I called disrespectful.

If someone wants to go to war-Thats fine, either way, peoples phobics should always be respected.

Your abusing semantics. He/she wrote what he/she felt, therefore it matters not where your direction of disrespect lies. I would not have been so harsh as Albino, but that's beside my current point. Also, individuals don't want to go to war, unless a terrorist, political policy decides that.

TheMagicianOfPrecision · Dec 7, 2009

dlk said:
Your abusing semantics. He/she wrote what he/she felt, therefore it matters not where your direction of disrespect lies. I would not have been so harsh as Albino, but that's beside my current point. Also, individuals don't want to go to war, unless a terrorist, political policy decides that.

...and I wrote what I felt.
Im sure they dont, so who decides which individuals will go and who will stay home?

dlk · Dec 7, 2009

TheMagicianOfPrecision said:
...and I wrote what I felt.
Im sure they dont, so who decides which individuals will go and who will stay home?

You did not write what you felt, "No, I didn't. What he wrote-I called disrespectful." You qualified your opinion.

jmverdugo · Dec 7, 2009

Once when I was a kid me and my friends used to sneak in into the local tennis club. We used these water channels designed to take the water out of the club on the rain season, they are square and are open on the top with a fixed metalic grid. These channels are very small, our technique was to lay on the floor, face up, arms on the side of the body and move ourselves using our shoulders and the tip of our feet. The distance was something like 10ft. One time I was in the middle of the way when started to rain, the water level started to raise very VERY fast, way faster than I could move myself to the exit, when I was 2 or 3 ft away from the exit I was completed cover by the water and couldn't move, my friends gave my a plastic strow so I can breath, finally a gardener showed up and they took me by my hair and clothes and pulled me out. That was the scariest moment of my life.

Other time when I was very little I jumped on a pool without my mom knowing and I basically drowned, and was floating and not breathing when my mom found me. I do not remember this so I guess it is not my scariest experience but I am pretty sure it is one of the top scariest of my mom.

TheMagicianOfPrecision · Dec 7, 2009

dlk said:
You did not write what you felt, "No, I didn't. What he wrote-I called disrespectful." You qualified your opinion.

Uhrm...Ok, whatever makes you happy .
English is not my 1st language

sureshs · Dec 7, 2009

^^^ At least your friends were watching you all the way. That is a great comfort.

albino smurf · Dec 7, 2009

Wasn't trying to dog anyone, but being stuck in a dark room, the fear is coming from you, not from any where else. I've never served, I'm assuming that is what the warrior ***** thing was about, but when you look at your scariest experience in your life and it is being locked in a dark strange room temporarily and you post it on a message board, I think you better expect a bit of snideness. Glad you made it out OK and honestly I'm jealous that that is the scariest experience you've had.

sureshs · Dec 7, 2009

albino smurf said:
Wasn't trying to dog anyone, but being stuck in a dark room, the fear is coming from you, not from any where else. I've never served, I'm assuming that is what the warrior ***** thing was about, but when you look at your scariest experience in your life and it is being locked in a dark strange room temporarily and you post it on a message board, I think you better expect a bit of snideness. Glad you made it out OK and honestly I'm jealous that that is the scariest experience you've had.

OK, but this is not a contest

albino smurf · Dec 7, 2009

Not sure what that is supposed to mean. No it is not a contest, but I did have someone do that to me as a prank once. They set a bunch of trash cans on top of each other so when I did finally find the door it knocked over the cans and made a ton of racket. So you are lucky at least that my friends were not there to 'help'.

borg number one · Dec 7, 2009

LOL Albino Smurf, that sounds like some of my high school tennis buddies, or a frat house. Yeah, that is not cool for sure.

albino smurf · Dec 7, 2009

There was a packed restaurant in the next room. It was an awesome prank, painful to be the victim of, but a laugh nonetheless.

mtommer · Dec 7, 2009

No offense sureshs but there would be no cause for a lawsuit or complaint. You knowingly and willingly placed yourself in that situation. You could have refused to go farther until you found a light switch or you could have gone out and come back with something to prop open the door.

sureshs · Dec 7, 2009

mtommer said:
No offense sureshs but there would be no cause for a lawsuit or complaint. You knowingly and willingly placed yourself in that situation. You could have refused to go farther until you found a light switch or you could have gone out and come back with something to prop open the door.

I know that. The lawsuit would have been more appropriate for a child or a senior citizen who just walked in there and had the door shut on him before he realized what was going on. I dared myself to get in and out in the darkness and paid for it. But the bathroom design is flawed, nevertheless.

jazzyfunkybluesy · Dec 7, 2009

albino smurf said:
You must live a sheltered ass life. Glad you survived your time in a dark room. You might want to avoid military service.

Too freaking funny.

r2473 · Dec 7, 2009

I once spent an entire night in a dark room...........come to think of it, I spend every night in a dark room.

fed_the_savior · Dec 7, 2009

am i missing something, cause if you just go in a circle you'll always find the door?

russell · Dec 7, 2009

fed_the_savior said:
am i missing something, cause if you just go in a circle you'll always find the door?

candyman, candyman, candyman, candyman, candyman

fed_the_savior · Dec 7, 2009

russell said:
candyman, candyman, candyman, candyman, candyman

thankfully, i don't watch horror movies. maybe that's why it doesn't seem like a big deal.

MegacedU · Dec 7, 2009

This story, which I agree, would be terrifying, is actually pretty funny. I would have been screaming!

sureshs · Dec 8, 2009

MegacedU said:
This story, which I agree, would be terrifying, is actually pretty funny. I would have been screaming!

I wouldn't have minded it if you had come and rescued me.

sureshs · Dec 8, 2009

fed_the_savior said:
am i missing something, cause if you just go in a circle you'll always find the door?

I already mentioned that, and why it might be difficult.

I started trying it. Problem was it was chilly and all surfaces felt equally cold to the touch, so it wasn't easy to tell from the texture.

dropshot winner · Dec 8, 2009

My scariest experiences were both in water.

About 10 years ago, I was 14 or 15, we dived in Lake Zurich and found some old piece of machinery at a depth of 3m (9-10 feet), we were fooling around under water and then my shorts got stuck on a metal edge.
Usually that would've been no problem, but we were taking headers from trees before and to not lose my shorts I tied the shorts very tightly. So I couldn't take them off, and I couldn't get to the surface either, fortunately I somehow managed to calm down after being underwater for almost a minute and managed to detach the piece shorts from the metal.

I'll never forget the moment I could finally inhale and saw the sun.

The 2nd most scary experience was 2 or 3 years later. We were camping in france near the river "Doubs", there was some current but it didn't really look scary on the surface. We used the inflatable mattress to ride down the dam, after the 10th time or so I got caught in a swirl, it sucked the mattress under water and me with it. The worst part was the underwater current, it was like a bench vise, there was no way you could swim through it to get to the surface, I actually had to dive deeper to get up which I did.

I was definately lucky both those times.

sureshs · Dec 8, 2009

^^^ It is a reminder to never take water for granted. Even just getting entangled in weed or kelp can be fatal.

dropshot winner · Dec 8, 2009

sureshs said:
^^^ It is a reminder to never take water for granted. Even just getting entangled in weed or kelp can be fatal.

Yeah, in the end those events thought me some good lessons.

Water in all forms (lake, river, sea, snow, ice) can be very dangerous, but it's definately the most fun element and I would not want to miss it.

A friend of mine almost drowned a few years back and since then she isn't setting foot near any large body of water, I could never do that.

Scariest experience of my life

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