‘Oh, F—, I’m Going To Die:’ Samuel L. Jackson Recalled A Terrifying Story About A Near-Death Experience He Had On The Subway

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Samuel L. Jackson is undoubtedly one of our most outstanding living performers, having brought some of the most iconic characters to life in contemporary cinema. Yet, despite only receiving a solitary Oscar nomination throughout his career, it’s unsettling to discover that we may have missed out on numerous other unforgettable performances by Jackson, as he discloses a near-death experience 35 years ago.

On the latest episode of the Mad Sad Bad podcast, I shared an unforgettable experience from my life. One fateful day, while rushing through a subway station, my foot got stuck in a train door. The ensuing chaos left me being dragged for quite some distance. In that moment, as the world spun around me, I truly believed death was imminent. I remember vividly how I grappled with the gravity of the situation, knowing full well that it could very well be my last day alive.

In 1990, I was pulled by an A train in New York City. Luckily, I was standing near the middle door of the final car and it was a particularly long station. When the door closed on my foot as the train took off, I found myself thinking, “Oh no, I’m about to meet my end.

It’s hard to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, but I can guess that it must be quite terrifying to sense that you could be approaching death. It’s definitely not a sensation anyone desires to encounter. Sometimes, actors experience fear of death when performing risky stunts on film sets. Tom Cruise often takes risks with his life, yet people don’t anticipate feeling threatened while commuting via the subway.

Jackson watched as he thought certain doom approached in the shape of a train entering a tunnel, and no matter what actions he took, there was no apparent means of escape. He recounts that although the train was moving quickly, the whole incident felt like it unfolded slowly for him, until the train finally came to a halt. He stated:

“I watched as the train headed towards me like an oncoming tunnel of death, but I couldn’t find any way out. Despite its rapid pace, time seemed to slow down as if in a dream, until it eventually stopped.

As the tunnel approached, I struggled to find something to grasp or cling to, fearing I would be trapped inside when the train entered. Fortunately, the train began decelerating extremely slowly, almost to a standstill, before finally coming to an abrupt halt.

It wasn’t until two years later that Jackson found out why the train had halted. He subsequently filed a lawsuit against the transit system due to this incident, and it wasn’t until he stood in court that he discovered it was an unusual individual who ended up saving his life in the process. Jackson recounted:

As a bystander with a limp, I found myself relying on crutches amidst the chaos. While everyone else around me was desperately trying to force open the door, free my foot, and push and pull with all their might, the only thing this individual seemed focused on was reaching for the emergency cord. Eventually, he managed to pull it, halting the situation.

There appears to be some ambiguity about how near death Samuel L. Jackson truly came, but the account certainly seems terrifyingly grim.

It would be truly unfortunate for anyone to perish in a chance subway mishap, but if Samuel L. Jackson had passed away, the film industry and its fans would have been deprived of some remarkable films and performances that he brought to life. Although he had already delivered some memorable roles by 1990, it wasn’t until 1994 with his breakout part in Pulp Fiction that he truly shone. Had he died four years earlier, we wouldn’t have fully grasped the greatness that was taken from us.

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2025-06-06 05:07