21 Historical Events People Personally Witnessed
‘Hailey’s Comet, on my way to school in 1986’
![21 Historical Events People Personally Witnessed](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/5/5/1238155_320x180.jpg)
By definition, history occurred in the past, often the distant one. That means we’re often limited in terms of how much we can really know about its events. We may have eyewitness accounts, but no matter how many movies they make, we’re simply never going to know what it was like to be present at the gladiatorial games, the French Revolution or the invention of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
But history is constantly happening, sometimes even in full view of people who are still alive today. It turns out those people are usually pretty eager to share their stories, too. That’s why user FictionVent asked r/AskReddit, “What is the most historically significant event you witnessed IN PERSON?”
![1y ago Ran away from the 2004 tsunami. Twice.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/8/3/1225083.jpg)
![Catlenfell 1y ago Halley's comet, on my way to school in 1986.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/8/2/1225082.jpg)
![ccnomad 1y ago I watched MTV arrive on the air, playing Video Killed the Radio Star by the Buggles : :)](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/8/1/1225081.jpg)
![CatacombsRave 1y ago I saw Félix Hernández's perfect game in Seattle in 2012.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/8/0/1225080.jpg)
![Tokiohas12biffles 1y ago Seven rows back ringside when Tyson chomped Holyfield's ear off](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/7/9/1225079.jpg)
![go4tli 1y ago 9/11, I could SMELL the collapse of the towers](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/7/8/1225078.jpg)
![Jamf 1y ago I was working in New York City ICUs in April 2020. Would not recommend.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/7/6/1225076.jpg)
![stinkykitty71 1y ago I sat on the roof of our house and watched Mt. St. Helens erupt less than 100 miles away.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/7/7/1225077.jpg)
![TsuDhoNimh2 1y ago The 1953 testing of the Salk polio vaccine ... I was volunteered for the event by my parents.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/7/5/1225075.jpg)
![TheLonelySnail 1y ago I was on the freeway in CA in the 90s when a white ford bronco passed us, and then a whole lotta police cars! I was like 10](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/7/4/1225074.jpg)
![Cautious_Guava 1y ago I was at Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the Challenger explosion as a little kid. I only realized something bad happened when I saw the horrified faces of the adults around me. I was four years old.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/7/3/1225073.jpg)
![dubawabsdubababy 1y ago I was at The who concert in Cincinnati where all the people were trampled dead. I was within 6 ft of the pile of people that died](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/6/8/1225068.jpg)
![Miraclefish 1y ago I was in Paris for the Notre Dame fire and accidentally ended up on top of a statue with a Tricolore flag being waved and a crowd singing Ave Maria and it was like a scene from Les Miserables.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/7/1/1225071.jpg)
![StrangerRanger80 1y ago I was in the courtroom for the first decision in Gore v. Bush. I had to sit in on court cases for a college class and happened to choose that day. I saw a ton of cameras being set up and asked what case it was. Lucked into getting into the courtroom.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/7/2/1225072.jpg)
![green_all 1y ago Edited 1y ago Boston Marathon bombing. I was there and then part of the medical team - the tents at the finish line. Ive worked in the medical tents for a decade now. The year it was super hot the news came to do a piece about us and used me with a patient as their backdrop - my phone erupted as soon as they aired it!](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/6/7/1225067.jpg)
![hiker201 1y ago Edited 1y ago The Three Mile Island nuclear accident. I was a young newspaper reporter (21 years old) standing outside the plant the morning of the accident when the workers evacuated. They refused to say what if anything was wrong. I was the first reporter on the scene, as I had been writing about (the many) previous problems at the plant. The morning started off as a local news story. By lunchtime, it was international news. There obviously were no cell phones. There was a single pay phone in front of the plant's observation center where we](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/6/4/1225064.jpg)
![KitchenBandicoots 1y ago Edited 1y ago The failed implosion of the Zip feed mill in Sioux Falls, SD in 2005. They hyped it up, sold tickets to it, had a big BOOM marketing thing, and broadcast it live on TV. The explosives took out the main supports on the first floor, and the rest of the building above it just plopped down 10ft or so and came to a rest. It was a massive failure, and was a funny little blurb on news stations around the world that day. Definitely not major news, just the rest of the world taking](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/6/5/1225065.jpg)
![CatDaddyWhisper 1y ago October 17th, 1989. I watched the 880 Nimitz freeway collapse during the San Francisco earthquake. The Honda in front of me had the upper deck crush her front-end engine compartment. The mother and her daughter were shaken up but completely fine. I was driving a convertible Triumph Spitfire, which was scratched up slightly from debris. However, I walked away unscathed. Aside from the fact I pissed my pants, which I didn't notice until much later.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/6/9/1225069.jpg)
![Scarlaymama0721 1y ago I would have to say the LA riots. I lived about two blocks from where it started. I was on my way home from school and saw someone throw a brick through a window. I didn't even wait. I just started running the whole way home.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/7/0/1225070.jpg)
![SingedPenguin13 1y ago The tumbling of the Wall in Germany... along with people selling bits and pieces of it on tables in lobby in front of commissary and px in the following weeks and months. I had picked up a chunk about the size of an oreo and kept it... has blue spray paint on the flat side. Wonder if anyone is buying them now?](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/6/6/1225066.jpg)
![Harold-The-Barrel 1y ago I saw the DVD logo hit the corner of the tv](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/6/3/1225063.jpg)