I used to work for a utility company and one day at a job site we were at, I nearly died. The phone pole we were there to remove was dry rotted just below the depth we check at (I was told this by the OSHA investigator later on) and it came down before we were ready for it to.

It hit me and knocked me to the ground. My foreman told me he thought I was dead until I came to about a minute later and was screaming/moaning in pain. My hard hat was found about 30ft away from me, it got knocked off me with that much force. Broke my spine in 6 places.

I'm good now, about 4 1/2 years later and lots of physical therapy, surgery etc. I'm half an inch shorter due to the compression of my spine but I am alive.

The scariest part of all this has been dealing with Worker's Comp & the industrial commission, who throughout all of this have fought me every step of the way even though OSHA determined it was not my fault. Good times!