The Bad Effects of Panic; a True Story

Blind panic, not governed by any sort of reason, nearly always leads to bad results. Sometimes those results can be life-threatening. Naturally, the time to get a firm grip on your emotions is before the panic sets in. Once you lose total control, it can at times be nearly impossible to calm down and regain control. The following story illustrates this point well.

It happened in the early 1960’s when I was living in Crater Lake National Park. There weren’t many families that lived in the park all year long, so there weren’t many kids living there. This meant that strong friendships developed between the kids that were there. We played with whoever was available and if we were fortunate, there would be more than two or three kids that were available at any given time. There were fewer than 10 kids within five years of my age.

That was the case on that fateful day. There were six or seven of us, so we wanted to do something special. What is special for an adult isn’t the same thing as what was special for kids. Our ‘special’ event was to race up a hill that was near the superintendent’s ‘mansion’ at the time. We all knew the hill and the area, so the point was to be the first to the top of the hill.

Ready, set, go and we were off. At the halfway point, Johnny was in the lead, I was just behind him, and I was followed by Billy and his younger brother, my best friend, Tommy. The rest of the kids were several steps behind everyone else.

All was going well and I was certain that I could pass Johnny and win the race. John jumped a log and I did too, a half-step later. A moment later, John landed and instantly yelled, “Bees!” 

What could I do? I was airborne and though I tried to back-pedal like in the cartoons, that did nothing to stop or slow the inevitable. I landed and my heel sunk momentarily into the entrance of the rotted and buried log that was actually a yellow jacket nest. As John had done, I allowed my momentum to carry me several steps beyond the nest, despite the fact that in the brief time my heel was in the opening to the nest, I was stung seven times in an area on the back of my heel about the size of a quarter.

Even when I was being stung, I fought to keep from panicking. When I came to a halt, I froze. John was also standing like a statue. There were yellow jackets everywhere, landing on us, flying away and coming back, and my foot was throbbing. I got a couple of additional stings while standing there, but I knew better than running from the enraged wasps. Yellow jackets are aggressive and if anything bothers the nest, they will come after any movement at all. Unlike bees, a wasp can also sting multiple times and they can sting from one end while biting from the other. I didn’t know how many times John had been stung (three times, as it turned out), but he also controlled his panic for the same reason. 

Unfortunately, Billy had launched himself into the air just as Johnny had yelled, “Bees!”. Billy was in a panic before he ever landed. He landed with a foot on either side of the nest and did the absolutely worst thing he could do under the circumstances. He stomped up and down while flailing his arms and screaming. Billy was immediately covered with yellow jackets.

By that time, adults were already arriving, alerted by the screams. It happened quickly and we were rescued, but Billy was in bad shape. Crater Lake is 60 miles from the nearest hospital and bee sting kits weren’t available at the time. He was rushed to the hospital at break-neck speeds and almost didn’t make it. 

Bill had suffered over 300 yellow jacket stings. That is more than enough to kill a normal adult who isn’t allergic to yellow jacket stings. Bill’s survival couldn’t be explained, except to say that God was protecting him. There is little doubt of that fact. 

Bill nearly died from his panic that nearly anyone, myself included, could have found themselves in. Tom, my best friend, died last year, totally unrelated to this incident. Hey, all of this happened over a half-century ago. Yet Bill is still alive, thank God. 

Allowing panic to take control is a bad thing. Nearly everyone would agree about that. It is exceptionally difficult to put that knowledge into practice, though, short of just trusting God. I still don’t know how I was able to stay motionless while I was being stung. It sure wasn’t anything special about me and I give credit for it to the Lord. Still, at least attempting not to panic in dire situations is what we should all strive for. 

As a sad addendum to this story, the yellow jacket nest was destroyed by the park service. We caused the incident, the yellow jackets didn’t. The nest wasn’t close to people or the public. Yellow jackets serve a very useful purpose, though Bill is allergic to them to this day.