What's the Scariest Thing You've Ever Seen in the Street?

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The last few days haven't been particularly encouraging for those of us who enjoy walking outside without feeling constantly terrified. First, residents of Northampton were terrorised by the creepy clown guy. And then news emerged that the pedestrians of Acapulco, Mexico have been dealing with a huge crocodile roaming wild on their pavements.

In light of these terrors to fans of pedestrianised zones, I set out to ask the good people of London what the scariest thing they’d ever seen in the street was. In hindsight, I really wish I hadn't.

Oliver: I think it was at Notting Hill Carnival. I turned around and there was a guy wearing a horse mask – it freaked the hell out of me.

I think worse things have happened at Carnival.
That was the scariest thing I’ve seen.

Did it ruin your vibes?
I was thinking it was good fun, and then I turned around and saw this face.

Did it speak?
No, it just looked. It stared straight into me.

Creepy.

Brigid: I’ve seen two dead people.

Wow. At the same time?
No. They were both in the same area, though – Stoke Newington, round the back of the church hall.

What happened?
One was a woman who had been beaten to death by her boyfriend, the other was almost worse – a little boy who had been playing and slipped out of a third floor window. It sounds like I’ve made it up.

I wish you had.
Those were the worst things I’ve ever seen. People don’t usually want to hear about it, but it has shaped me.

Chris: I saw a guy walk out into the street and just start banging his head on the floor.

In the middle of the day?
Yeah. This was in Shanghai. It was pretty freaky – there was blood everywhere.

Jesus, did anyone try to stop him?
No, no – they just let him get on with it. A few people filmed it on their phones, but no one gave a shit.

This is getting really dark.

Coleen: One time, I was driving at about 11PM and I looked in the rear view mirror and saw a group of people. I don’t know if they were kids or not – they all had Scream masks on and were running after my car. I was so scared I stalled the car. It wasn’t even Halloween, I don’t know what they were doing.

Scary. Did they catch up with you?
No, luckily I managed to get going again. I was so scared, though.

Elizabeth: We were walking home from work and there was a tramp coming out of a pub. He was really angry and he just threw his pint on the ground and smashed it. Then he stamped on the glass.

Then what?
Then he walked off leaving a trail of bloody footsteps.

Did you say anything to him?
No, he skulked off so we hurried away.

JK, stall owner: I saw someone die in front of me.

You’re the second person today who’s seen people die in front of them.
Well, the older you get the more chance you have of seeing stuff like that, don’t you? I was in a restaurant, sitting outside, and the guy on the table next to me just died. I asked him a question and his glasses just fell sideways. He’d had a massive heart attack.

Did he seem old and content at least?
No, he was only a young guy – a bit big, but young. The other time, I was working next to a swimming pool and a lady drowned. It was sad. Not so much scary, but sad. Life’s gotta go on, though, I’m afraid. As soon as you’re born, you’re dying.

Thanks, JK. I need to go home and have a long, hard think about things.

Previously – What's the Worst Situation You've Ever Been Stuck in?