Going through daily life in the 21st century we don't often experience the same primal fear our ancestors probably felt on a daily basis. Unless you count driving to work we rarely put ourselves in any real potential danger. But sometimes something happens that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, because you are in real danger. These 20 people took to AskReddit and shared the story behind the moment they found themselves in the most danger they've ever been in. 

Very often we don't realize the danger we're in, and that was definitely the case for one small girl who got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. Smelling something odd, she went downstairs and discovered the gas stove running. Thinking nothing of it, she turned the stove off and went to wake up her parents and ask them if she did the right thing. Many years and opened windows later, she realized how close her situation might have been to disaster. 

Read about that, and 19 other more dramatic tales of real danger.