Unsplash | Jesse Bowser

People Reveal The Most Disturbing Things They Have Ever Seen

Everyone has something tucked away in their brain's hard-drive that still causes them to shiver when they think of it. Whether it is the first time you saw a truly gory horror movie when you were way too young, or something more personal like when your first pet died, everyone has a bad memory that they try to compress down and forget.

However, one person wanted to find out what some of the most disturbing things that people have seen in their life were, by taking the Quora to ask, "What is the most disturbing thing you have ever seen?"

And, it will probably not surprise you to know that some people had some pretty horrific stories to tell. So, strap in, 'cause here are a collection of the most shocking!

(Please be aware that some of these stories contain instances of abuse, so please read with caution.)

Animal Cruelty

Instagram | the_adventures_ofholly

"Being a dog lover I used to feed even the stray dogs that wander outside my house. Last month a stray dog had littered 6 cute puppies. Since the Mom dog had to feed her puppies I used to feed her with rice, milk, biscuits daily [...]

"All went well for the pups for a month. This morning I was shocked to see the one of the one-month-old pup brutally hit on the head and killed with a big brick. The other pups were missing too. I just wondered how would someone have the heart to kill a one-month-old pup with a brick for any reason. I felt so sad for the little pups and I had plans to even adopt one. It is indeed true that the worlds dangerous animals are Humans and this sadistic human attitude disturbed me a lot." — Kisshor Prabu

How people can be so cruel to innocent animals never cease to baffle me. I hope whoever did this gets what is coming to them!

Burning Alive

Insatgram | arandg92

"It was a winter morning and I was ready for school a little earlier and hence went down to play with a friend of mine, living in an adjoining apartment. I used to hoot out her name loudly and she used to come down quickly every day. As per habits, that day too I shouted loud her name, awaiting her to appear. And all of a sudden from the second-floor house a lady came out in flames.

"In the blink of an eye the lady crying for rescue from fire was dragged inside her house and the house was locked from within. The cries became louder. A few of the neighbors got the situation and started banging her door to help her and finally broke the door. She was shattered on the floor still burning in flames." — Bhumika Keyur Shah,

Apparently, the parents of the lady had tried to burn her alive after she had become pregnant by someone of another religion to their own. The woman sadly did not survive.

Train Wreck

Instagram | freightspotting_france

"I was an assistant chief of a small-town volunteer fire department. A train hit a car crossing the tracks. I drove the 'fast out' truck [...]

"We started pulling the injured out of the car. The driver/father had slammed into the steering wheel. I could see his brain and the bone fragment that was crushed into it. I knew he wouldn’t survive. The mother/front passenger was dead, very physically dead. She was on the side where the train hit. No one was wearing a seatbelt." — Ron Wiltse

There was apparently another young boy in the wreck, and he was the first person this volunteer firefighter had ever had to do CPR on. It's hard to imagine this memory will ever leave this man.

Leaving Elderly Relatives To Die

Instagram | danb672

"I was a hospice nurse for a few years. I went to an elderly's woman’s home to admit her to our service for a cancer diagnosis. Her son let me in. He took me to her room, where she was lying in a puddle of urine on a damp mattress on the floor. She was covered in pressure sores and unconscious. She was in septic shock. He explained she had been that way for almost a week.

"I called an ambulance to come get her and take her to the hospital. I then called the police and reported her 50-year-old son for neglect. He couldn't explain to me why he did not call for help for so many days, and just let her on the floor to die, covered in open wounds, in pain." — Angela Bennett

Apparently the 50-year-old man faced criminal charges, and this nurse had to give evidence against him.

Late Night Child In The Middle Of The Road

Instagram | jonathanishere

"I'm driving along, only a mile from home maybe. All of a sudden, straight down the center-line of the road, running full speed in my direction with a huge smile on his face . . . I see a very young child in pajamas. He couldn’t have been more than 5 years old [...] So I start to slow, veering towards the shoulder, checking my mirrors for traffic behind me. As I pass the kid I see that a car behind me has pulled over as well.

"The kid wouldn't stop running, but we managed to divert him off the road. Some of the houses had been stirred and folks were turning on their porch lights and shuffling outside [...] Pretty quick, this kid just runs on in through the front door of one of the houses [...] The kid is autistic. His Mom accidentally left the front door unlocked for a few minutes, and he made a break." — Ryan Goodwin

They explained that the image of a smiling child in the middle of the road at night will remain with them forever!

Public Exposure

Unsplash | Sven Mieke

"I was a Receptionist and a man walked in during a rainstorm. He was asking about the company. Suddenly he whipped out his ding dong and plopped it on my desk! He was smiling and smug, 'There, what do you think of this!'.

"I started laughing, 'I think you outta put that poor, sad, tiny thing back inside before it shrivels up more. Poor baby ding dong!' Well, he stopped laughing real quick. His face turned purple-red and he raised his hand like he would hit me. That was no problem. I just whacked the ding dong as hard as I could with a large, very heavy stapler. He howled and ran away." — Deanna Muse

Sexual Assault

Instagram | jowevator3219

"One day my maid brought her daughter along with her. She said there was no electricity at her house so she wanted her daughter to study at our house [...] She was just 11 years old then and studied in class 5th, occasionally I used to teach her maths.

"So that day when she came, her mother started working and she sat at a corner studying with dedication. I was busy playing video games on my PC, so my mom did not disturb me and instead sent her to bring a packet of milk from the nearby shop [...] After 10 minutes she came back all sweaty and crying. We were surprised, what must have happened to her? After much questioning she answered in sobs, he touched me. Now this 'he' was a servant who used to work for our neighbors, this 'he' was 19 years old." — Akshay Kamthan

A lot of people were quick to ask why such a young child was sent to the shops instead of the adults present.

What This Family Saw At A Resort

Instagram | famejayapura

"My uncle suggested we all go to the pool, and of course, we all agreed [...] We dove in, and my cousin and I quickly began playing around in the water.

"I noticed my cousin kept looking at two teenagers about 10 feet from us. She had an expression on her face like she had just seen something that struck her as completely wrong. What she saw, was a boy and his younger sister in the midst of a semi-sexual act [...] The girl was visibly distressed, but when she pushed her brother away, he got visibly angry and started berating her.

"Later on I saw the parents discreetly concealing their daughter behind pool chairs, while their son repeated his earlier antics. This time, it was even worse, because their father was watching what was going on between the two. The girl didn't look to be more than 15 at most." — Anonymous

Threatening Behaviour

Unsplash | Mxsh

"I had gone to buy some provisions in a shop nearby to my house and nearby to the shop there used to live a family in a HUT which was built on No man's land.

"So here I am purchasing something when the family that lived in the hut comes by to buy something in the shop as well, however, the father of the family is clearly drunk and the wife is trying to convince his husband of something and just when everything seems okay the kid (About 17 to 18 years old) comes out of nowhere and just starts cursing at his father like there is no tomorrow [...] when his mom says to stop it to the kid, he just simply looks around and Goes 'Come Home I am gonna beat the F*** out of you today' to his mom and the next thing that I saw I will never forget her expression were filled with FEAR" — Avinash

Final Song

Unsplash | Joel De Vera

"When I was 14, I landed a part in the Fall theatre production. [...] One day I was walking out after rehearsal was done, chatting with my friend Charles about the upcoming choir concert. [...] I said goodbye, Charles popped in his headphones and I turned around to go back to the school while he crossed the street.

"In moments of extreme stress, it's weird how you remember little details. What I remember is this sound- it registered to me as the sound of a car running over a skateboard. [...] Then I remember turning around and seeing Charles on the ground. He had been thrown some 15 feet by the impact. I remember running up to him and barely processing what I was seeing, but the details were both disturbing and vivid.

"He was laying on the ground in a fetal position, eyes closed with a smile on his face. A halo of blood had begun to gather around his head, and one headphone was lying in the pool. I remember that a song was still playing but I couldn't make it out. [...]

"Charles was in a coma and taken off life support three days later because the impact had caused irreparable brain damage.

"I still look back and wonder what that song was, playing in the blood. He still had the other earbud in and it must have been the last thing he ever thought about. I hope it was a good song." — Padraig Criostoir Nolan

Sleep Paralysis

Unsplash | Gregory Pappas

"I once had a sleep paralysis episode where I saw a beautiful girl I knew walk through the door and up next to me as I lay in bed face down. I'm a single guy, so I was obviously confused but not completely perturbed with a midnight visit from a stranger I went to school with.

"I turned to look upward and she transformed into a dark and skeletal smoky figure. This figure was like the face of the demon king on The Black Cauldron if that gives you any reference. She or it towered over me and wouldn't let me get up. Needless to say, it was horrifying, and the worst part was I couldn't move, and when I tried to it felt like someone was pressing down on my back." — Jearlenbaugh

If you've ever been unfortunate enough to experience sleep paralysis, you'll know that it is a truly terrifying phenomenon.

For Want Of A Boy

Unsplash | freestocks.org

"I was 10 years old when there used to work a woman as a maid in my house. She was a nice lady and had 5 daughters. But she was really unhappy with her life which was made hell by her husband, who wanted a boy. Every year she used to get pregnant in a hope of getting a boy. This continued till her sixth child who still came out to be a girl. [...]

"One day she came to my house and I was shocked to see her. Her face was swollen and her hands were totally burned. My mom took good care of her and told her to report to the police, but she cried and refused. She was all the time saying he is my husband whatever he does to me I will still be loyal to him. After sometime she was again pregnant with 7th child. Me and mom prayed that this time she is blessed with a boy but our prayers were unheard. She again gave birth to a girl. And this time her husband deserted her and never came back. She is now alone with her seven daughters. My mother is giving fees for her first two daughters.

"But at least she is saved from getting assaulted everyday. She is taking good care of her daughters and my mother and my neighbours are helping her in every possible way." — Aastha

People Living On The Streets

Unsplash | Ev

"I worked in Surat for a year and a half. My office was situated on one of the busiest roads of Surat. There was a flyover passing in front of it and another chain of roads. The crossing for them was in front of my office. There were three to four families living under the flyover amid all the noise of the vehicles, pollution, rains, scorching sun, pollution and whatnot. That was really disturbing." — Vivek Sharma

This is a truly heartbreaking one. A lot of people wrote about freak incidents; however, a horrific amount of suffering goes on around us on a daily basis as people starve in our streets.

Aftermath Of Drinking And Driving

Instagram | rickmoon_br

"I saw a electric pole beside the road hit by a truck. I thought it was just a minor accident just some drunk truck driver knocking down a pole. Then I moved closer to the scene to have a look. What I saw shook me to the core. I saw a pool of blood [...] The victims of this accident were a small girl and her mother. They were just walking on the road when this drunk truck driver hit them from behind.

"People beat him very bad but what was the use the damage was done. I never felt this bad or angry ever in my life. I think of that little girl every year when the new year arrives." — Amar Shetty

Yes, this tragedy happened on new years day. The person who wrote this ended with a heartfelt plea for people to not drink and drive.

The Brutality Of Nature

Instagram | frank.bustos

"When I was a kid I used to spend several weeks each summer on my grandparents' farm [...] One day I was walking by the pond when I heard a strange sound. It was a high-pitched squealing, and I thought at first it was a bird. I moved closer to the sound to investigate. In the tall grass by the pond, a snake was in the process of swallowing a good-sized frog.

"But instead of swallowing the frog head first so that it would suffocate quickly, the snake had grabbed it from behind. Its legs and lower body were inside the snake’s head, but the frog’s head and front legs were free.

"The frog's screams were the noise I had heard. Its eyes bulged, its front legs clawed at the air, and its mouth was wide open in terror, as it screamed again and again." — Vicki Barnes

As a kid, the first time you encounter the true brutality of nature can be a truly eye-opening experience. This person wrote that this happened 50 years ago, and they can still hear the frog's screams.

Watching Someone Die Of A Heroin Overdose

Unsplash | Jair Lázaro

"I lived in a rural area and I was coming home from working the night shift. As I approached the last turn a work-van on my road flew past me and almost took me out in the process [...] then he just stopped right in front of my driveway.

"I pulled up alongside him and saw he was slouched over with the seatbelt holding him upright but it was restricting his breathing [...] His pulse was there, albeit very faint. His face was turning blue so I undid the seatbelt to help improve his airflow — his breathing started to sound more laborious. I asked if he could hear me but he didn't respond.

"But then he looked at me, although I really don't think he saw me. He just stared and started leaning to the side of his seat. I shouted a few more times to try to get any kind of response but it was in vain." — Lance C. Anderson

Apparently, when an ambulance arrived they tried to give him drugs to pull him back from the overdose, but it was too late.

Burned Alive

Unsplash | Joshua Hoehne

"One of the most disturbing things I saw was on an every day thing: Facebook. I was scrolling through and a video started auto playing. There was no warning or anything, a mutual friend had shared a video, a friend had commented on it, and there it was on my screen auto playing.

"It was a video showing a 16 year old girl in Rio Bravo being beaten and burned alive by a crowd of people. It was disturbing beyond belief because someone lit her on fire, and a man casually walked past and poured PETROL on her. She went up in flames and was rolling around the concrete trying to put out the flames before laying still. The crowd cheered as this 16 year old child slowly burned to death for the whole world to see." — Anonymous

"Human Barbecue"

"It was about eleven years ago, when I was in primary school. That fateful afternoon I was walking home from school with my little brother, who was only in nursery school.

"[...]There was a funny smell about I couldn't quite identify, kind of acrid, just awful. It was very sunny - extremely bright and extremely hot as we trudged along.

"When I saw it, I couldn't look away. It gives me chills just recalling the image. It was the twisted, blackened remains of a "hoodlum" who had been immolated by an angry mob.

"The charred skeleton of the car tyre probably used to restrain him and/or keep the fire burning was still around his shoulders. His form was a grotesque caricature of what was once human. His forearm was flexed as if in supplication, while his teeth still shone white through all the blackness.

"Life went on as normal around the human barbecue, cars passed by, nobody gave a damn. I wondered where the mob had gone." —Uzoaku Amadi

Bystander Effect

Flickr | Old Operating Theathre Museum

"One day, I was coming home from work. On the way, I witnessed a girl. She was holding her stomach, tears streaming down her face, achingly attempting to walk in the crowded street.

"I automatically came up to her, asked her what was wrong and if she wanted me to call the emergencies for her. She explained to me that she had endometriosis, and just needed to wait for the pain to subside.

"I sat with her on the pavement, offered her a bit of water and pain medication I had in my purse. After a while, she told me she felt good enough to keep walking so I asked her if she needed any more help and let her go.

"And then I wondered, what if I hadn’t stopped ?

"People were seeing a girl crying, holding her stomach, obviously in a lot of pain and no one stopped.

"No one asked her if she was okay, no one looked at her in the middle of that fucking crowded street.

"I hate living in such a big city that people don’t give a crap about each other anymore.

"It’s disturbing how inhumane we have become." — Shahineze Chebira

Near Miss

Unsplash | Deb Dowd

"When I was seventeen years old (way back in 1988), my friend and I were stopped at a busy intersection. The light for the intersecting traffic turned yellow, and a station wagon slowed to stop, because they would not make it through before it turned red. A Greyhound bus was behind that car, and it did not slow down.

"The bus ran straight into the back of the station wagon and violently pushed it into the intersection, right in front of us. [...]

"The back of the station wagon popped open, and a little girl, maybe four or five years old, came flying out the back. Her eyes were wild with terror, and toys were flying out with her. The bus was following right behind.

"The little girl's arms flew forward, as she grabbed frantically for the bumper of the station wagon. She caught hold of it, and she was dragged forward as the car slowed to a stop. The bus stopped just behind her.

"My friend and I heard this terrible screaming, and we then realized it was us. We couldn't move. We saw the little girl lying on the ground, still hanging on to the bumper, toys everywhere. We saw the parents jumping out of the vehicle and running to her, and we saw the driver of the bus running over as well. [...]

"We were told that she was fine. She had come out of it with only a nasty 'road rash.'"— Elizabeth Knight

Something In Their Burger...

Instagram | undergroundhamburgers

"In the mid-1970s, I was a high school student who had almost never been to a restaurant. But today my friends and I went to McDonalds. Short story is, while I was eating my Big Mac, I bit into something unusually solid and turned it over to find a dead mouse compressed into the bottom of the bun. I was so stunned that I could barely speak.

"I put the burger back in the bag and never said a word about it. I was, however, traumatized for years afterward. From that incident, I have some measure of compassion for people who sue for instances like that claiming long term emotional damage." — Don Preston

How this person didn't make a bigger deal out of this, I will never know! I'd have been freaking out like nobody's business.

It Takes A Second

Instagram | @heartfelt.home

"The body of my neighbor’s four year old son laying in a pool of blood on the sidewalk in front of my house. He was crushed to death by a falling TV and TV stand.

"It happened on the Fourth of July. I remember it clearly. [...]

"It wasn’t until later on that day, that we would learn the entire story. The two boys were watching TV in their living room when the phone rang. Their mother walked into the kitchen to pick it up, and that was all it took. The four year old decided to change the channel. He began climbing the TV stand, and the entire thing came crashing down on top of him, narrowly missing his little brother. Their mother watched the whole thing happen.

"Then, in desperation, she grabbed his lifeless body and went running to another neighbor’s house. The neighbor called for an ambulance, but by that point it was already too late. The little boy was dead." — Anceline Noel

A Legless Horse

Instagram | jelte_heinen

"As I was riding south I heard a noise some ways in front of me that I couldn’t identify, but I had heard some kind of bang and a thud. I don’t remember a car passing me but it must have. When I got around the bend in the road I saw a car had driven off the road to the right into a ditch. There were people standing around making a commotion, and there was a horse in the middle of the road

"I could see that both of the horses front legs were broken and were hanging by skin and the horse didn’t understand, and it was trying to stand up but couldn’t. The people around the horse were helpless to do anything. Nobody had any experience to know what to do. It was over 30 years ago and I can still in my minds eye see the horse trying to stand up" — Art Miller

Apparently the horse had managed to jump out of the field it was in, and landed in the way of oncoming traffic.

Dirty Hands

Unsplash | Ian Espinosa

"One night we were out with some friends. After 9 pm we all decided to head home as we had classes the next morning. So we all walked together until it was time for me to take a different street. [...]There was nobody else around and very quiet.

"Suddenly, I heard footsteps behind me. [...]

"The person started walking even faster, almost running. The next thing I knew was SOMEONE GRABBING AND TIGHTLY HUGGING ME FROM BEHIND. [...]

I was still very calm and in a good mood and was about to say something funny. AND THEN I LOOKED DOWN AT THE HANDS THAT WERE HUGGING ME…

[...] The fingers were shorter and all the fingernails uneven, badly bitten. Dark, very dirty man’s hands.

"So I did the only thing I could do - I screamed at the top of my lungs. I mean, I never thought my vocal chords could produce a sound like that.

"[...] It only lasted for a second, but I used his confusion, pushed him away as hard as I could and ran to my house. Before going in I looked back and saw him running away.

"I never saw his face. But I’ll never forget those dirty fingernails, ever." —Albina Griniute

"My husband drink himself to death."

Travis Grossen on Unsplash

"He died 12/14/2017. He had symptoms of liver failure for a long time. 2016 he was sober for 3 months, and convinced himself one drink won't hurt, well it was always 3 pints of vodka a day. We fought so much because I was convinced if he loved me, he would stop. Unfortunately, that's not how addiction works. The need for alcohol consumed him entirely. The love he had for me was astronomical, but the fucking alcohol won.

"He was the love of my life, he was my protector, my light in the dark, and rainbow after rain. Don't waste time with the ones you love because tomorrow is never guaranteed." — Monica Castillo

Too Spooky For You!

Unsplash | Jesse Bowser

"I came home from school (7th grade) one day and wanted to get changed out of my Catholic School uniform, and into my favorite t-shirt. I looked everywhere for it. I did my own laundry so I checked the washer, dryer, closet, everywhere!

"Eventually I put a different shirt on and heated up some leftovers before going out. When I went back up to my room to grab my keys, the shirt was sitting on my bed, laid out. I broke out in goosebumps and lost my breath for about 10 seconds. No one else was home. My parents worked till 6 and my sister had a job after school.

"The house wasn’t haunted, and I’m not crazy. I don’t believe in ghosts, but that shirt was not visible for about 2 hours. I never wore it again." — Matt Steffen

Voyeurism

Alberico Bartoccini on Unsplash

"That fateful evening, I parked my bike near Karachi Bakery (Cyber Towers) and decided to cross the road by walk to attend an errand. Half-way while crossing, I saw people assembling on the road. Out of curiosity, I ran towards the group.

"What I saw, can never be unseen. I almost puked and had to lean against the pillar to regain composure. A young 25-year-old was run over by a City Bus with half his brain pasted on the road. I will spare you further gory details. I don’t know what grossed me out the most, the scene or the people, who took videos of the scene." — Krishna Chaitanya

After witnessing this, this person never broke the speed limit again apparently.

It is a weird culture that we live in nowadays, where when something horrific happens, people's first instinct is to film it first, and help second.