Story one:
One time I went exploring a mine in death valley. In this particular mine, about 100 feet in there was a vertical shaft with a sign posted that read "Unstable shaft, keep out". My two friends assured me that they had been down there multiple times, and that it was all safe (I had explored many mines with them before).
In order for the story to continue, I need to describe what the shaft was like. It was square shaped with big 8x8 beams stacked alternately, like Lincoln logs, with sections of ladder nailed to it (the ladders are vertical 2x4's with handles nailed to them).
So, we are climbing down, about a hundred feet down. Out of absolutely nowhere, the section of ladder I'm gripping with my hands pulls off of the wall. Not like, budged a little, I mean 100% off the wall. Fortunately the shaft wasn't very wide, so we wedged the ladder in the shaft so that when you are climbing up, you have to climb on top of the wedged part, climb up it to the other side of the shaft, then reach over and pull up onto the next section with your hands.
So yeah, we kept going, which was dumb. We made it to the bottom, and began walking down these big caverns over loose rock. At the bottom was the start of some railing that led deeper into the mine. On the railing sat the base of a mine cart, which still worked, so I sat on it and my friends pushed me through the mine. At the very end of that shaft was just some machinery and other junk in a big pool of water.
We made it out okay, then got hammered.
I'll post the next story later.