https://gcaptain.com/drowning/
Another link to the article with no paywall
this post was submitted on 23 May 2026
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Drowning 100% looks like drowning. The problem is that people dont know what drowning looks like. Including myself.
Yes, headline is stupid. Author should be set on fire.
And then drowned.
yeah but you should know that burning doesn't look like burning!
Or be left to drown?
Both? Hm, no
being set on fire doesn't look like what you think
especially with methanol.
Many years ago we were having a pool party. My wife and our adult niece were standing on the steps of the pool, so I walked over to say hi. Looked down and there was our niece's toddler daughter standing on the lower step, head totally submerged, just looking up at me through the water. Words wouldn't even come out - I just reached in, grabbed her arm, and pulled her up out of the water. When I started to reach between them, my wife and niece looked at me like I was being a jerk or something, then both got wide-eyed when they saw the girl come up out of the water. She had been standing on the same step as them, but accidentally stepped off to the lower and they didn't notice. Terrifying.
That is absolutely terrifying. Good instincts on your part. I'm assuming/hoping she was okay?
Totally fine - she didn't even seem phased at the time - wasn't crying or anything - was wondering why her mom was holding her and crying.
I'm relieved to hear that. I'm thinking back about the times where I might have missed something like that. Not a comfortable thought. Thanks for the reply!
Some people have more or less. I happen to have a LOT of it, at least in the context I work (inpatient psychiatry, violence deescalation). I've also noticed it occasionally happen at other times like one time my foot had the brake pedal flat on the floor for a full half second before I was able to consciously recognize the deer eyes on the side of the road. Sometimes the feeling just hits and I have to trust it or else.
From seeing which of my coworkers have or don't have it here's some observations. It's partially innate / genetic, but very much affected by especially childhood environment (but other significant life experiences can sometimes strengthen it, few things actually weaken it but trauma can certainly make it more erratic). Overall, the kids who had to learn to hide for whatever reason as a kid have the strongest sense of it.
That said, the one important thing you can do to strengthen and more importantly tune that sense is to think about it and think about why you got that feeling. Even if you're out of the immediate situation walk it back in your head. When you visualize it can you (mentally) point to a physical spot on the person or thing? You might realize you saw their fists clench or that you didn't like their facial expression or that you saw them glance at the knife block. Was there a specific point in time you felt your adrenaline spike? Was everything fine but you got nervous when they mentioned going to a party? And the last question I like to ask is what was the worst case scenario you were picturing? When they talked about going to the party did you suddenly think about them drinking again?
Even if that moment seemed like a huge overreaction from your brain (and maybe it was!) but the human brain is a very powerful prediction engine and even if it was ultimately an overreaction / catastrophizing it's worth examining what caused your brain to have a reaction at all because even if maybe it wasn't worth all that maybe it's still something you should still act on just in a more controlled manner.
Very interesting and credible. I recognise the hypervigilance part, and it sounds like there's some practice/training as well as "instinct" in there too.
I can confirm this - I have nearly drowned a few times, and it felt like I couldn't move. The natural reactions just took over me, and to be honest felt quite counterproductive. Until I was helped, I felt completely frozen, only moved by the water, until someone helped me, it was terrifying.
One of the worst parts was because I had got water in my lungs, even as I was helped above the water, I tried to breathe, but I simply couldnt. I thought I was going to die and I couldnt communicate it because, like the article says, breathing first, speaking second. It took what felt like multiple minutes but was probably like 10-20 seconds before I could actually breathe.
I'm very grateful for those who have saved me, and I clearly haven't learned my lesson because I still love being in water :P
Happened to me twice. Both times due to cold shock and I couldn't move. For some reason people like to lie about water temperature, "jump in, it's not too cold"
A Username like that and still drowning that's impressive mate,
I can't swim very well so I just stay out haha
Surely you learned something, and wouldn't be drowning for the exact same reason next time?
I too want to know exactly how this happens “a few times” wtf.
That was a terrifying read, but thanks for sharing. I'd like to be able to spot it.
I remember this interactive game/video where you can try it out yourself
Yeh, it's an http site. So any browsers that require https will block/warn.
But also, holy hell is it obvious once you realise.
Arms up, then swipe down out to the sides, and repeat. Like frantically trying to fly.
As SOON as they are in trouble, it's arms flailing in that pattern. Like, look for white splashing water and assess if it's playing or panic.
A few you can tell who it is gonna be because they flip off their donut. And a few you can tell cause they are trying to swim but are looking up and aren't keeping their mouth above the water (I clicked on one of these to be told "it's fine" only for them to start thrashing and get rescued when I resumed the video)
I think, from the article, they will not always flail arms that much
Your link is automatically converting to https on my phone which for some reason doesn't work.
Odd, its a pretty old website so maybe something broke. Looks like they have issues with their certificate or something
When I manually edit it to https, I needed to accept the risk to see it
What the fuck is this shit?
How to spot a drowning website.
No idea, I refreshed the page and it went away.
The blur came back for me after refreshing, but after following the bluesky link above I found the very same article on this site.
When I was a kid at some church event at a local kids camp I noticed a kid that jumped from the (very low) diving board wasn't coming up. I had no idea what drowning actually liked like. I yelled to the lifeguard but jumped in anyway. The lifeguard saved the kid before I got over, but a chaperone noticed and sent a letter home to my parents saying they should be proud. I learned that day that cartoons aren't so real
Wonderful article. A long anecdote to introduce the topic and then a paywall before you reach the useful information of what the fuck drowning DOES look like.
See the archive link: https://web.archive.org/web/20260523203542/https://slate.com/technology/2013/06/rescuing-drowning-children-how-to-know-when-someone-is-in-trouble-in-the-water.html
Also, it seems like the paywall is just on the client-side, and (at least in my case) just uBlock origin removes it
uBO did not remove it for me when I was reading the latest capture on archive.org
Article is behind a paywall on mobile.
That doesn't load in security hardened browsers.
If you post this every year, can't you find a better source?
doesn't it? It's archive.org over HTTPS
it works for me
“Security hardened” for some might specifically mean “no JS” which will tend to break web pages that rely on async content loading and rendering.
humerously, web archive also gave me a pop-up about my blocker. But ads aren't served on web-archive? so I just turned the blocker off.
I guess they are trying to preserve page scripting for functional menus and whatnot, but its not perfect
Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning: I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.
I had no idea!