Mine scare was fairly tame compared to those posted. Night VOR in IMC
approach to an uncontolled airport in a Mooney Ranger, pulled on the
carb heat and the cable kept coming out of the panel. Later we found
the cable had broken right near the carb.

FWIW, leaning can keep (or at least in this case, kept) enough engine
power to fly the miss, fly 50 miles to an airport with an ILS, and
make a succesful approach. I figured out leaning worked after pulling
and pushing on every other knob in the cockpit. Landing lights didn't
help, cowl flaps, pitch, gear up (manual gear retraction in those
airplanes). I do wonder about blood pressure readings at a time like
that,

Picking up a bunch of ice was a close second, but that was the result
of a stupid decision. Ice = turn around, even if the airport is only 20
miles away.