I went camping with a bunch of friends in college. There were at-least 15 of us. It was fourth of July weekend and we all went tubing down a long river with multiple coolers of alcohol strapped to the sturdiest of our floaty devices. 

Fast forward to a few hours later. We've all been hammered in the sun for hours. We reach the end of our trip and have to get out of the water. Cops are present at this pickup point to keep idiot drunks from getting into vehicles they'd parked before hand. Two of the folks in our group were unaware of the police presence, and they proceeded to crack fresh beers as they were getting out of their tubes. They got open intox tickets among some other things. They were both teachers, so they were freaking out. We had a sober ride lined up, it was just unfortunate that these decent people got themselves in a significant amount of legal trouble. Despite all this we ended up having a great time that night.

Jump to evening at camp. It's a public site, lots of strangers around. My brother and I were sharing a tent. I accidentally stepped on and crushed his balls trying to get back into my sleeping-bag after a piss in the woods. He had been sleeping at the time, but awoke instantly to what he interpreted as an intentional assault on his testicles. A loud violent sibling fight ensued, he began thoroughly kicking my ass. The savage melee destroyed the tent, support stakes were ripped from the ground as our sleeping quarters became a mobile battle arena, a fabric combat sphere wrapped in darkness. As my brother and I beat the ever loving fuck out of one another our tent was nearing the edge of the lake. A solid tackle by my opponent sent the entire mess toppling into the abyss. We forgot about killing each other long enough to remember how to swim and escaped to dry land. 

An unknown woman immediately ran up to us with 911 dialed on her cell phone and threatened to "fucking hit send!" She had heard the entire fight. My brother and I walked away seeking shelter in opposite directions after promising to avoid "waking up her children because they're trying to fucking SLEEEEP!" 

As I walked soaking wet back to camp I became aware of another commotion. Apparently one of the couples that were camping with us were having issues inside their tent. They were acquaintances at best and none of us knew them well. To put it bluntly, the asshole was literally raping his girlfriend. My friends had heard the entire exchange and decided to intervene. Instead of struggling to get the tent flap unzipped they used a pocket knife to gain entrance, dragged the rapist out, and beat the absolute shit out of the guy. The cops were called, rapist asshole's girlfriend didn't want to press charges and they left together. Somehow my friends avoided trouble for beating up the scumbag, the police said they had done the right thing.

The folks in our group that weekend were good people. Never had issues like this before, but the combination of my brother and I swimming in a tent and having to beat down a random rapist really killed the entire trip. My brother apologized and we laughed about our fight.
 
If that's not a shitshow I don't know what is.    

EDIT: My first gold is a story about my brother and I having a drunken fist-fight, and my friends stomping a dickless piece of shit rapist. Awesome, glad you folks enjoyed it!

[Source](http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/4tmpbf/what_is_the_greateat_shitshow_you_have_ever/d5itmwy)