# I just saw a thing I wish I hadn't seen. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 18, 2019, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-a-thing-i-wish-i-hadnt-seen/841931 "2019-10-18T03:16:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2019, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-a-thing-i-wish-i-hadnt-seen/841931/21 "2019-10-18T18:22:33Z")
> [@El\_DeLuxo](#): > > There wasn’t jack shit I could do about anything, nothing but go back to the mailbox and deposit the rest of my postcards, then head back down to Market Street and start walking home fast-but real, _real_ cautious (sorry, but I don’t _ever_ talk to Officialdom if I can possibly avoid it). . Seriously? You were a witness to the incident. There will probably be same sort of investigation. What you saw and heard was potentially important. You should have stayed to make a witness statement, or at least left your contact details. I condemn your actions completely. Please do the right thing, contact the police and offer yourself as a witness. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2019, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-a-thing-i-wish-i-hadnt-seen/841931/22 "2019-10-18T18:26:37Z")
> [@El\_DeLuxo](#): > > I think that maybe what’s really jarring me is something similar but worse happen that I saw happen several years ago … I hurried off without stopping _that_ time, too. And later when I told a friend of mine what had happened, he told me I really should’ve stayed and made a statement. Your friend was right. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2019, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-a-thing-i-wish-i-hadnt-seen/841931/23 "2019-10-18T18:41:58Z")
> [@48Willys](#): > > I have seen way too much of this stuff myself. IME, You notice many things that you would not usually notice if you were not dealing with trauma. El DeLuxo gets a major pass from me. This. OP posted just 45 minutes after a major traumatic event, probably still pumped up on unholy amounts of adrenaline. That merits cutting him quite a bit of slack for statements and thoughts that might seem troubling or odd in other situations. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2019, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-a-thing-i-wish-i-hadnt-seen/841931/24 "2019-10-18T19:57:04Z")
During my Grandfather’s funeral one of the motorcycle cops who was escorted the procession was run over by my Uncle who had blacked out at the wheel of his van, I guess from the stress of his father’s death. We were in the cemetery at this point and the cop was standing stationary by his motorcycle, I heard a sickening scream, almost inhuman come from the cop a couple fractions of a second before he got hit, he flipped in the air like a rag doll several times. I know the cop survived but his Pelvis in addition to a lot of other bones were shattered by the impact, my Uncle visited him often in the hospital and felt very bad. I wasn’t traumatized by it but the image of it always stayed with me like a running movie. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-a-thing-i-wish-i-hadnt-seen/841931/25 "2019-10-19T13:47:47Z")
I was talking to a roomful of people on a warm, spring day and was walking back and forth as I spoke. As I walked toward the window, which was open, I heard screaming from the street six floors below me. As I looked to see what was up, a woman jumped from the eighth floor of the building adjacent to mine. I saw her entire trajectory as she passed me and hit the sidewalk. Had I known what I was going to witness, I would have avoided looking. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-a-thing-i-wish-i-hadnt-seen/841931/26 "2019-10-19T15:33:44Z")
> [@El\_DeLuxo](#): > > We really _don’t_ know the day or the hour, do we? Matthew 25 Nope. Knowing that is a lot different from _really_ understanding it. Our time is short. Thank you for reminding us. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-a-thing-i-wish-i-hadnt-seen/841931/27 "2019-10-19T19:01:15Z")
One of my indelible memories was being on a fully loaded train going 80mph that hit someone sitting on the tracks. Didn’t get a direct look at the accident, but some of the gore (because, really, we ARE just bags of meat and water) splashed all the way back to the passenger car windows. Yeah, you remember the weirdest details, like the little words “AMTRAK” woven into the carpeting on the floor of the aisle - I got a good look at it because when the driver threw the emergency brake on I went face-down onto it. The sound of luggage falling off the overhead racks onto the other passengers, and the sounds the passengers where making, too. The guy seated behind me slept through the whole thing because he was on pain meds for his broken collarbone, and he was wearing a pretty massive brace, too. I remember the train driver having to be sedated and carried off on a stretcher. I remember the lady sitting near me in a buff, camelhair blazer, white turtleneck and a gold necklace, long straight blond hair. I remember all sorts of little details. Some of them I think “WHY do I remember this bit?” But I guess under extreme stress the brain just files everything under “long term memory” _just in case_ that situation arises again the future. Or something. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-a-thing-i-wish-i-hadnt-seen/841931/28 "2019-10-19T23:24:05Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I understand that it was stressful. Maybe 7 years ago I was almost close enough to touch a motorcyclist as he drove into a parked truck at 70 MPH. Very disturbing, but in my case, it faded overtime. > > Some people seem to hang onto the most stressful thing they experience such that it adversely affects them - seemingly for the rest of their lives. I’m not sure why that is, but best wishes that that does not prove to be the case with you. I’m not saying to intentionally forget it. But if you find it is still adversely affecting at some time in the future, consider what you might be able to do/who you might be able to talk to, to reduce that effect. Studies about memory formation are fascinating, kids under 5 are about like people in old folks homes - you need difference in daily activities to set memories, bland day after day you don’t tend to remember, you remember days when something different springs to mind. I have one very clear memory from kindergarten - I was 5 at the time and while walking to school, a scant half block the other direction from the way I went a kid was hit by a bus and literally there was blood smeared on the street from the incident. For those of us not family school went on that day like normal, because I remember getting home for lunch and Mom asking me if anything happened at school. I don’t think it really affected me - none of us who were peripherally involved ever got any sort of counseling and they didn’t have any sort of ceremony or mourning or people wandering around crying and it barely got more than a brief mention in the town paper at all. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2019, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-a-thing-i-wish-i-hadnt-seen/841931/29 "2019-10-20T14:06:02Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > As I looked to see what was up, a woman jumped from the eighth floor of the building adjacent to mine. > > . When I was 12 or so a father threw four or so of his young kids out of the upper floors of a hotel in Salt Lake City. Maybe the 10. A friend of mind and his dad happened to be there and see it. ---
**Author:** ![FollowMeDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6a8cbe/32.png) [@FollowMeDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FollowMeDown)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-a-thing-i-wish-i-hadnt-seen/841931/30 "2019-10-21T14:39:32Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > One of my indelible memories was being on a fully loaded train going 80mph that hit someone sitting on the tracks. > > Didn’t get a direct look at the accident, but some of the gore (because, really, we ARE just bags of meat and water) splashed all the way back to the passenger car windows. > > Yeah, you remember the weirdest details, like the little words “AMTRAK” woven into the carpeting on the floor of the aisle - I got a good look at it because when the driver threw the emergency brake on I went face-down onto it. The sound of luggage falling off the overhead racks onto the other passengers, and the sounds the passengers where making, too. The guy seated behind me slept through the whole thing because he was on pain meds for his broken collarbone, and he was wearing a pretty massive brace, too. I remember the train driver having to be sedated and carried off on a stretcher. I remember the lady sitting near me in a buff, camelhair blazer, white turtleneck and a gold necklace, long straight blond hair. I remember all sorts of little details. Some of them I think “WHY do I remember this bit?” But I guess under extreme stress the brain just files everything under “long term memory” _just in case_ that situation arises again the future. Or something. I worked in Penn station central control for a few years and saw quite a few people (on video) either jump in front of trains purposely and a few who accidentally stumbled in front of an approaching train. One in particular had me crying when i finally got home. I really feel bad for the engineers who have to handle the stress. I knew one engineer who hit a nun. Crazy. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-a-thing-i-wish-i-hadnt-seen/841931/31 "2019-10-21T19:52:16Z")
Hey, **El DeLuxo** – any word on that skateboarder? I’ve been googling, and haven’t found anything on him (which I guess is good news; I assume a death would’ve made the news). ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-a-thing-i-wish-i-hadnt-seen/841931/32 "2019-10-21T20:38:34Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > What the hell does the sexual orientation of passersby on the street have to do with the tale of a car accident? The OP is under the effects of a traumatic event, the importance and relevance of details gets messed up in such a situation, I would not interpret too much into it. He is seeing flashbacks and cannot weigh them according to relevance yet, that will take some time, if my own past traumatic experiences are any guide. I wish him and the victim well, I know that is not better than offering thoughts and prayers, but still. ---
**Author:** ![Pferdchen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d07c76/32.png) [@Pferdchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pferdchen)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-a-thing-i-wish-i-hadnt-seen/841931/33 "2019-10-21T20:52:56Z")
Earlier this month, nearby, the railroad crossing guard gates came down. An impatient, possibly self-entitled, fellow saw that the freight train was a ways away and decided to go around the gates. Unfortunately for the driver, he failed to notice the high speed passenger train coming the other way on the other set of tracks. The fellow was killed instantly, car split in half, body parts everywhere, guts spilling out, etc. A friend was the first pedestrian on the scene. The woman in front of the line of cars was so traumatized that she was taken to the hospital. My friend learned something from the passenger train driver: he didn’t see it happen. Turns out he was trained to look down if an unavoidable collision is coming so as to reduce the amount of psychological trauma. The lesson: if you see something awful about to happen, look away. Goes against instinct, of course. Did observe a similarly traumatic event in my youth. Me and two friends went camping in the Shenandoah mountains. We picked a beautiful, if illegal, spot to camp on the trail, close to the edge of a valley right below a waterfall. The lady in our group spotted two kids climbing up the other side of the valley without any gear. She’s freaking out, saying “they’re gonna fall, they’re gonna fall.” The first kid makes it over the edge of the cliff, but his little brother couldn’t make it. His brother holds out a stick for him to grab onto but, alas, he didn’t make it. Fell about six stories, tree limbs breaking his fall a bit onto the rocks below. My other friend runs the 2.5 miles to the nearest permanent camp site. Was probably close to an hour and a half before any help arrived. We had to get going and didn’t stick around. I called the Park Service a week later to learn he was helo’d out and survived. I guess it made an indelible impression since I remember it pretty vividly 40 years later. Park Rangers were decent enough not to cite us for our illegal campsite and one was kind of tickled that I was out in the middle of nowhere reading “The Shining” 🙂 Your trauma will fade but you should take a lesson from it: don’t take unnecessary risks cause sh\*t definitely happens. Heck, if I’m waiting for a crosswalk light at a dangerous intersection, I even stand by the pole on the far side of traffic. I don’t stand at the edge of subway platforms, either. I guess that me going skydiving does make me kind of a hypocrite re:unnecessary risk, lol. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-a-thing-i-wish-i-hadnt-seen/841931/34 "2019-10-22T03:56:14Z")
> [@Pferdchen](#): > > I guess that me going skydiving does make me kind of a hypocrite re:unnecessary risk, lol. Statistically, you’re safer hanging from a parachute than you would be in traffic. I’ve done some hang gliding, and I’m more scared commuting on my bike (been hit a couple of times, and gone over the handlebars a half dozen times). ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-a-thing-i-wish-i-hadnt-seen/841931/35 "2019-10-22T05:22:00Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Statistically, you’re safer hanging from a parachute than you would be in traffic. Not to hijack, but how is this figured? ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-a-thing-i-wish-i-hadnt-seen/841931/36 "2019-10-22T05:41:17Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > … > > You know that thing about not being a jerk? You should try harder. Dammit! I came to make similar joke. Ok, how about: **I just saw a thing I wish I hadn’t seen.** Worst, yet best clickbait thread title ever. I hate myself for clicking it. But to the OP. I’ve been in similar situations a couple times. It sticks with you for a while. I wish you luck. However, I’m a bit weirded out that in this time of extreme stress you cared enough about the sexual preferences of the people involved. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-a-thing-i-wish-i-hadnt-seen/841931/37 "2019-10-22T10:30:09Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > Not to hijack, but how is this figured? Before the chute opens, there’s a fair bit of uncertainty about how your descent will end. After the chute opens, the probability of a safe outcome is much higher. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-a-thing-i-wish-i-hadnt-seen/841931/38 "2019-10-22T11:03:47Z")
Sorry you had to see that, DeLuxo. Any specific reason you don’t talk to the police if you can avoid it, or is it general “I’d rather not be any closer to a cop than I have to”? > [@Spiderman](#): > > What the hell does the sexual orientation of passersby on the street have to do with the tale of a car accident? The OP wasn’t actually referencing the man’s sexual orientation (which happens to be unknown) but his speech. I’ve just tried putting _amanerado_ (the word I’d use to describe the kind of speech I believe the OP meant) through google translate and it gives me: mannered (which I don’t think I’ve ever encountered without a “mild”) affected (ok, which % of the population uses this one in every-month speech?) camp (methinks this one isn’t getting much mileage lately, its variant “campy” gets more but still sounds like someone is talking about the 1970s) twee (to which I can only say “dafuq?”). The identification of that type of speech with male homosexuality is the reason we have jokes such as “he’s not gay, he’s European” or people who think they’re not gay because they don’t talk like that. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-a-thing-i-wish-i-hadnt-seen/841931/39 "2019-10-22T13:43:22Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Before the chute opens, there’s a fair bit of uncertainty about how your descent will end. After the chute opens, the probability of a safe outcome is much higher. Actually, all I have for a cite is that I was thinking of the first Superman movie, where he tells Lois “I hope this doesn’t put you off of flying. Statistically speaking, it’s the safest form of travel.” ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-a-thing-i-wish-i-hadnt-seen/841931/40 "2019-10-22T14:13:13Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I’ve done some hang gliding, and I’m more scared commuting on my bike (been hit a couple of times, and gone over the handlebars a half dozen times). Did you happen to see [this video](https://mashable.com/video/hang-glider-not-attached/) of a tandem hang glider where the pilot failed to connect up his passenger? A very scary two minutes hanging on for his life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-a-thing-i-wish-i-hadnt-seen/841931.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-a-thing-i-wish-i-hadnt-seen/841931.md?page=3)