Diving Gone WRONG | Horrifying Ocean Diving Incidents

Thalassophobia is an intense phobia or fear of large bodies of water. Nothing epitomizes this more than if you imagine being in the middle of the ocean, far from land, and poking your head under the water with goggles on and seeing the vast empty expanse of dark water thousands of feet below you. You have no idea how deep it is or what lurks there, but you know that you are completely helpless to whatever it might be. So, here are three open-water diving incidents.

[TheHamsterMaster]

Being stranded out in the wilderness is one thing, but being stranded out in the middle of the ocean (especially at night) is a whole other level of nightmare.

[Ronin]

Being alone in a large body of water, with nothing or no one in sight would scare the hell right out of me. Hard to see that as an unreasonable fear. Great video, Sean.

[harperm]

I'm a professional sailor. I love being out of sight of land, am respectful but not afraid of storms, ocean creatures, or the vastness of the sea. But diving is a giant nope for me. I always say that my job requires me to be on top of the water, and if the water is on top of me, something has gone horribly wrong.

Edit: In response to the curiosity about what kind of sailor I am -- I sail tall ships. My specialty is bosunry, i.e., taking care of the rigging and going aloft. My knowledge of engines is sketchy at best, but I can jury rig a mast with the best of them. It's kind of a weird career, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

[davidgoodman]

Forget a "head count" they should have been doing a "name count" for Tom and Eileen. Call each persons name and physically see them answer that they are on board. Do it twice to be sure.

[sgvincent]

As a lifelong scuba diver since my teens, I had many diver acquaintances who had done night dives, but I thought that would be too freaky. I finally did my first night dive in Hawaii when in my forties, and just like my very first saltwater dive, I was instantly hooked. I didn’t find it scary at all, but absolutely enthralling, beautiful, and exciting. Even when I would turn and shine my dive light behind me into the black distance, even the thought that a shark or some other creature could be lurking just beyond my view didn’t bother me. I felt a lot of peacefulness, even while realizing that I was in *their* territory, as a grateful visitor. I even got up the nerve to shut off my light and experience utter darkness for a minute, although it wasn’t utter darkness - the bioluminescent plankton left otherworldly light trails as I swept my hands in the water.
At the end of the dive as I surfaced, it was actually much more unsettling to find myself alone bobbing in the ocean, out of sight of land, stars blazing overhead, and the dive boat maybe 50 yards away. It took my sister about another minute to surface next to me, and that one minute alone made me realize why stories about being shipwrecked alone out In the open ocean are so frightening. I’d rather be down under the water face to face with the moray eels and rays and groupers, and even sharks!, than bobbing around on the surface wondering when something invisible is going to grab me.

[rchristy]

As an Aussie, I was devastated they were left behind like that. It's just unfathomable.😔

[lapislazarus]

I love that background music/sound you use, it's so appropriate for going deep into unknown darkness. Raises gooseflesh on my arms.

[aemrt]

Yep, experienced thalassaphobia. Now I know what it was!

I was snorkeling in the Caribbean. It was an excursion on our honeymoon cruise, so snorkeling is not a regular activity.

It was a beautiful area of reefs and fish. The guide mentioned an underwater cliff near our area. Being mountain climber and in my youth, I HAD to see it.

My wife stayed with the group. I swam over the cliff and it was surreal and surprisingly frightening. It was like looking at a bottomless pit into eternity. I thought having been in the mountains would have made it no big deal. It hit something primordial in my brain, that abyss was downright scary underneath me and I pictured being sucked into it. Yes, it was an irrational feeling, and I knew it at the time, but that did not matter, I quickly turned around and returned to the shallow area.

[animeprofilepicture]

When I've been scuba diving the experts I dove with typically did multiple headcounts, furthermore one would count the people and one would count the tanks then swap and double check each other. I can't see how someone can be in charge of a bunch of strangers and only do a single headcount before potentially leaving someone in the middle of the ocean.

[miawallace]

My husband is an avid snorkeler. I’m an incredibly strong swimmer and absolutely love the beach and water.
However, I have a true fear of open water. I learned just how serious my fear was when my husband pushed me to do a tour along the coral reef in the maldives.
I was extremely hesitant but, agreed.
Everything was beautiful along the shore, that is, until we swam around a cove where there was an abrupt, deep shelf leading to a massive abyss.
I was literally, physically paralyzed by fear. I began hyperventilating and tucked my entire body into a tight ball. Even after my husband and the guide noticed I had fallen behind and swam back to me, I couldn’t even make a coherent sentence. I needed to get the hell away from that open mass but didn’t want to let go of my arms and legs to swim back around the cove to the beach. I trembled and shook for hours after making it back to land. I also had nightmares for weeks.
I think it’s fair to say I 100% have thalassophobia.
I will never do anything like that ever again.

[Viknuss]

In the Marine Corps I got to go out into the middle of the Ocean. I jumped in deep and opened my eyes, took one look under the water and saw nothing but that abyss. I sat there appreciating the complete hostility of that environment. How entirely Alien it is to us by design, and how little right we have to be there. I've never felt smaller in my entire life.

[yellowjackboots]

I've watched so many diving horror stories recently, I get anxiety just looking at a glass of water.

[hurleycapetown]

I have done about 300 dives, dived with tiger sharks, gone down fairly deep and in gnarly conditions but i once got talked into a deep blue dive, which for those who dont know is just going out into the deep ocean and diving with absolutely nothing below you or around you but water and darkness, it was one of the worst experiences of my life, to make it worse there was a storm on the day and we dived in conditions that were about as bad as you could imagine, worst mistake of my life and never again.

[stacymirba]

I live in a city on the Gulf of Mexico. While I've never been in the ocean, I have been in the Gulf at night and when you turn the lights off on your boat it is pitch black and all you hear is the water. That was the creepiest feeling I can ever remember.

[RP-dymu]

Hey Scary Interesting, I just wanted to say I really really love the ambient sound effects in your videos. Especially the sound that sounds like someone is hitting a bamboo pipe 4-6 times. It fits the feel of diving, and with the ominous tone it fits the diving horror theme so, so well. Please don't change it.

[Mrwest]

My cousin is a marine he did six tours and became a underwater welder .He absolutely loves going into deep dark water.He says he hears nothing and it calms him .Im thankful he found something to give him peace he seen somethings and I know the water is something that really helps with peace

[seankilcullen]

I am a dive instructor on the island of Palau. Just off the Eastern shore it drops straight off to 24, 000ft. Crazy to think about what lies down there

[annettehellingrath]

I was dating a guy who was living by a lake and was an avid boat enthusiast. Eventually he asked me to go for a boat ride like I knew he would. I never thought that I had a fear of water, but after a few minutes of seeing nothing but water all around me I had a mental image of me dead on the bottom of the lake with my gold necklaces, earrings and bracelets twinkling in the sun. For the rest of the ride I just hung on and waited to be back on land. I have never had any interest in scuba diving or caving and find all these videos chilling. I love this channel, thank you.

[serendipity]

I love the sophistication and intellectual balance of this channel. You get your fear factor and education all in one. I’ve learned so much history while getting the creeps lol. Kudos to you and may you continue to have great success 👊

[rebeccajohnson]

the most shocking thing about the tom and eileen story is that their personal items were placed from the boat back in the shop and it still took the shop 48 hours (and a call from the hotel they were staying) to begin the search