There's a very thin line between staying safe and disappearing without a trace. A lot of people have come frighteningly close to never making it home and leaving their loved ones with unanswered questions about what happened to them.

Several netizens shared experiences like these in an AskReddit thread after someone asked what had happened to them that made them feel lucky they hadn't become unsolved mysteries. Their accounts are genuinely chilling, and some will have you wondering how you would have reacted in their shoes.

Settle in, Pandas, and scroll on to discover just how close these people came to becoming stories nobody could explain!

#1

When my son was four and playing in the front yard a man stopped his car and asked my son to help him find his lost dog. Before he could get in, our dog, an Australian shepherd, got in between them them, pushed my son out of the way, and began growling. The man was driving off as I got to the door. The bond between my son and that dog was incredible.

#2

I worked in land surveying a good part of my life and thought nothing about being way out in wooded areas by myself. I also spent a lot of time doing recreational things out in the woods. One morning I got up around 5am, grabbed my fishing stuff and drove to a wild life refuge on the shore of Charlotte Harbor here in SW FL. I parked and hiked about a half mile to the water and then started fishing my way along the shore. I came upon a tidal creek and decided to work my way up that. There is a type of fish here called a Snook, that is an excellent fighter and good to eat as well. They like to hang out up those tidal creeks.

I had waded several hundred feet up this creek in the mangroves when I walked into quicksand. I ended up sunk to my armpits in it. I had been in it before so I started working on getting myself out. Basically you lay your body down in it and wallow using your body for leverage and work your self out. It’s not like the old movies where you are going to disappear in it. The danger is, it was low tide and if the tide comes in and it’s over your head, you could drown.

It took a while, but I got out. I left one of my shoes in the stuff. I was covered in slime from the top of my head to me feet. Because it’s full of organic material, it smells pretty bad. I made my way back to my car and went home. When I walked in the house and my wife saw me and heard my story, my nice church going wife who never uses harsh language, called me “a moron”.

From the time I parked my car that morning to the time I came back, I had not seen another person. That tidal creek I got stuck in was several miles up the shore line and the mangroves it ran through were 8 to 10 feet high. If I had stayed stuck and drowned up in there, the chances of anyone ever finding me were slim to none. Always tell people where you are going when you go off in the wilderness!

#3

My family visited Salt Lake City, Utah in 2002. I don’t remember this-I was still pretty young-but my mom likes to talk about it. She and I were leaving a mall when a man came up and started talking to me. He had wild hair, a huge bushy beard, and crazy eyes. He was dressed in white flowing robes. She got creeped out when he kept trying to talk to me and got both of us out of there; we left SLC shortly after.

Elizabeth Smart was abducted a month or two later. I looked a lot like her, just with darker hair. My mom swears up and down that the man was Brian David Mitchell scoping out the mall for his prey.

Missing-person reports are filed in staggering numbers every year. In the US alone, the FBI recorded nearly 500,000 missing-person entries in its database in 2025. That's a sobering figure, especially when you think about the families anxiously waiting to hear from someone they love.

Although many cases are eventually resolved, the uncertainty can be incredibly distressing for those left wondering where their loved ones are and whether they'll ever see them again.

#4

YES

in the infancy of internet meet ups (think AOL, 1998/1999ish) my friend and I were 16. We met some guys on the internet and literally hopped into their cool Camaro and cruised around the city all night, while each of us was “spending the night” at the others house. They took us all kinds of places and turns out they were extremists. That didn’t creep too much into the conversation because we were super naive and aloof about it. Like we asked some stupid questions about what they were saying because in our sheltered lives, we truly didn’t know what the hell they were talking about. To my recollection., they did become somewhat irritated with us, but we both remember thinking of the night as fun and a good time. We got home and all was well. Until the next day when we excitedly analyzed what we had done with these guys who were older (20s) that we started to realize how stupid we were and my friend said “dude...they could have taken our lives and no one would have ever found us.”

She is still my best friend to this day and we talk about that all the time lol. Stupid us.

#5

During college, I worked in NYC, but lived in the boroughs. I had about an hour and a half commute and often finished late, because I worked at a bar. One day, I was just exhausted - I'd closed the night before, had an early class, then straight to work to close again. I fell asleep on my train home.

I was woken up several stops later ( thankfully still before my transfer!) by a plain-clothes cop. He flashed his badge, because I was obviously freaked out by this huge guy right up next to me, then told me why he'd woken me up. When he got on, he'd seen a group of guys eyeing me and starting to surround me. He pushed through them to sit next to me and they hopped off the car, then he woke me up. He stayed with me until my transfer, told me to be more careful by myself.

I never let myself fall asleep on the subway again - I'd stand, blast music, eat or drink - anything to keep myself awake and aware. I had my share of harassment as a regular rider, but this was the first and only time that I hadn't be aware and able to defend myself. I obviously don't know what would have happened - could have just been robbed (had my phone in my hand), or something worse. But it wouldn't have been easy to solve regardless. There were no cameras, only a few other people in the car with me - there would have been little to no evidence to follow if they'd grabbed me or attacked me. I will always be thankful that that cop got onto my train, in my car, and noticed the situation I was in.

#6

I can think of two stories:

1. I was around 10 years old. I was waiting at the bus station for my bus after school. I was alone and a car stopped by with two people inside. A man came out and asked me of I could help him. He wanted me to take some flowers and go to a house nearby, ring the doorbell and give them to an old woman living there. For some reason, he couldn't do it himself and needed my help. Instinctively, I knew something was off. I was very uncomfortable and I said I couldn't because I was waiting for my bus, my parents were waiting, etc. I remember he insisted, saying to would only take 5 min, trying to make me feel guilty or something. I stood by my decision although I felt incredible insecure. The bus arrived and they drove away. I never said anything to my parents. At the time, I thought I had been rude for not helping someone because I was scared. Only years later, I realised with horror what these guys were trying to do.

2. I was 21, travelling in Asia with my then boyfriend. We decided to go on a 5 days hike in the Himalayan region (the lower, more popular hiking area). I had already travelled a lot alone and I was definitely a responsible, young girl. But, we had no money for a guide, so we decided to go without and rely only on our maps. Everyone told us the trail was super clear and it was impossible to get lost. While this was true for most of the hike, we did end up losing the trail... I have no idea how it happened, we didn't do anything particular, suddenly we were just lost. We were a bit uncomfortable but mostly pretty chill, at first. We searched for almost 2 hoursfor our trail, we totally lost any sense of direction... until we finally found something that looked like our trail. Now, panic started to kick in as it was getting late, the sun was setting soon, and it started raining and lightening. So we started walking as fast as we could, we were almost running, towards what we hoped would be the next stop of our hike. We finally arrived at the next village, it was almost dark, and we were freezing and soaking wet. We ate and laughed about it and honestly, for years, I thought it was a cool story to tell. Now when I read about stories like the one of Kris & Lisanne in Panama, I realise all the mistakes we made, even though we were not reckless young people, and what a dangerous situation were in. In the end, we were very lucky.

Being aware of what's happening around you can help you stay safe when you're out and about. It's easy to get distracted by your phone or become so absorbed in your music that you barely notice what's happening nearby.

Keep your headphones at a volume that allows you to hear what's going on, and avoid getting so caught up in your screen that you lose track of your surroundings.

#7

We were driving home from vacation when this HUGE black pickup came barreling up behind us on the interstate. Immediately I felt like something was wrong. That gut feeling of worms in my stomach.
I told my husband to get off at the next exit. The truck followed us but fortunately got stuck at a red light.
We pulled into a restaurant and parked. When we got inside I realized our car was visible from the road, so we went back out to move it behind the building. The whole time this feeling in my stomach is growing worse and worse.
We finally sat down to eat (as an aside, probably the grossest place I've ever eaten, both food and cleanliness), but I couldn't stop staring out the window.
By my count, that black truck drove past the restaurant 7 times at a snail's pace. Then suddenly, that wormy feeling went away and I knew it was safe to leave.
Over the years, there's been plenty of times I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and lucked out with my life intact. But the intuition I felt around that black truck was by far the most afraid I've ever been.

#8

When I was little my sister and I were playing in the front yard of our house in a small safe hoity toity seaside town in the north east.

We were having fun playing when I noticed a cop in his patrol car parked on the other side of the road staring at us. At first I didn't think anything of it I mean what kid would?

All of the sudden he starts motioning my sister and I to the cop car I see him put his window all the way down. Something doesn't feel right and I tell my little sister to RUN but being the older nosey child I go over to the car.

He starts asking me directions to a local coffee shop. I knew something was off every cop in town knew how to get to this particular shop. My parents always went there and every time we would go I would see a cop.

I tried to give him directions to the shop anyway. That's when he asked me to go with him to find the shop in a really agressive tone I started backing away pretty quickly. I turned around to run and he was trying to get out of his car he started screaming things at me and kind of motioning his arms like he wanted to grab me. I couldn't even understand what he was screaming or saying at that point.

Once I got to my door he took off down the road. My sister and I told my mom what happened but she didn't believe us! In her mind stuff like this didn't happen there and a cop would never do anything bad.

My sister and I still talk about it sometimes. I did a lot of research in the area looking for leads on this but never found anything. I can't be the only girl he ever targeted.

I think I will always have a hard time with trusting cops and I even still have nightmares about it.

#9

A couple of years ago at age 29 I had two attempted kidnappings of me within a month of each other.

The first one I walked from my work to the convenience store on my break to get some snacks. I’m a very small female at 5’ and 100 pounds. That day I was wearing jean shorts and a t-shirt with my hair in a ponytail. I’m giving these details so when I say from behind I looked like maybe a 12 year old girl it makes since. Well I was coming back from the convenience store and this SUV pulled up onto the sidewalk trying to block me in. There were two guys in the SUV and the passenger got half way out of the car and straight out of one of those stranger danger videos goes hey can you help me look for (couldn’t hear.) I immediately screamed some cuss words and ran all the way back to my work. I honestly think the only reason they didn’t lunge and grab me and kidnap me when I started running was because they heard me and got a close enough look that they realized I wasn’t a child. I called the police when I got back into my work safely but I could tell they didn’t believe me.

Only about a month later I was at my boyfriends hockey game and decided it was a blow out so I’d take a walk around the park next door. While I was walking, there was an area where I walked around a turn at the park and no one was there but a guy in his car in the parking lot. The road for the parking lot goes right along the walking trail and he begins to pace me in his car. After the occurrence the month before I now carry a pocket knife with me and so I quickly brought it out in my hand that he couldn’t see. Luckily this older lady with a giant pit bull comes around the corner and see’s what is happening. She quickly comes up to me and loudly yells greetings pretending we were meeting each other so the guy would leave me alone. After he leaves she stays with me and walks me back to where the park opens back up to more people. I was so grateful for her rescue.

It's important to let someone you trust know where you're going, especially when meeting someone new or visiting an unfamiliar place.

Tell them who you're meeting and roughly when you expect to be back. You can even arrange to send them a quick message once you're home. That way, someone knows where you were supposed to be and when to expect you.

#10

Was looking for surfing spots with a friend - there is this cliff with rocks and an old handrail- I leaned on it and just broke - I almost felt to the cliff.

Nobody would know.

#11

I was in college and unknowingly got followed home. I got out of my car and the other car pulled into my driveway and parked. The guy got out and started trying to talk to me and asked if I could give him a ride to Walmart. Then he started getting closer and asking if any guys lived there. Luckily the guys above me heard and raced down the stairs and threw the door open. He ran and jumped in his car and tore off. The cop I talked to then told me it’s a good thing he didn’t get me because girls who go missing there usually ended up south of the river.

It terrified me and I’m so thankful the guys lived above me!

#12

Not me, but back in about 98. Open unregulated chat room days, I was about 14/15. My best friend met a lad who she thought was just a little older than us, 16. She talked to him for a really long time, they were practically bf and gf. Eventually he talked her into meeting him in a park in our nearest big city.

She was excited but also nervous. She had of course shared this info with all our friends. We decided as a group to all tag along too. We didn't think to go because of security, that thought never occurred to us. We just went to be nosey mostly. She said that he only wanted to meet her so we were allowed to come, but keep at a distance till she gave us the all clear.

I think you probably have guessed where this is headed. She was sitting alone on a bench while we were sat on the grass behind her, far enough away to be separated but we could still get a good look at this "boy". Well the "boy" never turned up. But this older man eventually approaches my friend. He starts asking her if her friend has due to meet her but was a no show. This was the weird thing that for me gives away the fact it was actually "him", why would just a random friendly person guess that. He also just looked really F creepy. I instinctively jumped up and as a whole group we ran over and were like "it's okay, we're here sorry the bus was late!" This guy looked livid, but also very quickly and nervously took off. An innocent good Samaritan wouldn't have taken off as quick.

My friend was understandably upset and shaken. The "boy" never turned up and this creepy old guy does. It was too much of a coincidence, we were convinced that it had been him all along. My friend clearly had a close call, she knows how to handle herself but if we had not been there to bail her out I shudder to think what might have happened. The "boy" also totally ghosted my friend afterwards.

We never told this story to any adults, we were afraid we'd be in trouble. In hindsight we should have gone straight to the police and they probably could have caught him. This was in very the early days of the internet and we had no idea what a potentially dangerous person that guy was. We also had no concept that people on the internet could be "Catfish" it wasn't even a term that existed then.

Your phone can be an important safety tool, as long as you don't let its battery run flat when you need it most. Consider sharing your live location with a trusted friend or family member when traveling alone.

It's also helpful to let someone know which taxi or ride you're taking, including the vehicle details, so they have something to refer to if you don't arrive when expected.

#13

When I was around 10/11, I was walking with my friend along a footpath alongside a fairly busy road. This man pulls up in a car, asks us where a popular grocery store is. We tell him it’s the other side of town but there’s literally it’s equivalent/ competitor just within pointing distant. He said he can’t go there because he needs to buy something they don’t have but didn’t specify what. My friend and I although pretty young must have known this was dodgy af but we were too young to be able to give directions to where the other store was. He then said well, get in and you can point the way. We said no, we can’t and this is where he got really insistent. He said if “you get in I’ll buy you both a can of coke and some chocolate”, he was honestly close to begging us it gave me goosebumps. “If you don’t want coke, what else would you like? What do you like?” We just kept saying no and starting to walk away in the other direction. He sat watching until we got to a footpath that was like a trail that took us to the store. Then we jogged into the store.

Looking back it’s so weird to think about. Middle of the day, lots of traffic (but no other pedestrians) and this guy really, really wanted us in his car. He was jittery and really laid on the “please” “please, I need your help”. Now that I’m a grown adult I can’t imagine ever doing that to a couple of kids even before google maps. And I can’t imagine his intentions were innocent either.

#14

I had just gotten done with work on Black Friday a few years ago, and I was walking to the bus. It was well into the early morning hours, and I was at the point of collapse from how tired I was.

Only one other person was behind me. I figured it was another employee at the mall I worked at, and thought nothing of it.

As I continued to approach the bus, the man behind me said, “Don’t get any closer to that bus.” His voice sounded chilling.

By this point, I was maybe 100 feet from the bus. The man who had been following me was roughly 15-20 feet behind me. I sprinted to the bus, and asked the driver to close the door. He knew I wasn’t joking.

Whether the guy who had been following me had been joking or not, I was just relieved I had gotten away from him.

#15

Late 90s I was a solo traveller around south east Asia. I took an overnight train, and then an 8 hour boat ride to an island, I was exhausted. I was carrying my big heavy pack, hadn’t really slept in a couple of days and just wanted to find a place to sleep and chill for a few days. When the boat landed at the harbour, there was a clamour of taxis and backpackers heading off. I was a tiny, skinny single female, so let everyone off the boat first. I watched as everyone’s taxis headed off in the direction of the main town. A sweet looking local kid about my age asked if I needed a taxi, I nodded and he lifted my large backpack off my shoulder and threw it into the back of a pick up as he gestured me inside. I hadn’t even noticed the older guy at the wheel… before I knew what was happening, I was in the middle of older guy at the wheel, and sweet looking local, and we were heading off on a small road in the opposite direction of everyone else and the main town, even though that was where I had told them I wanted to be. Adrenaline kicked in then and as we past dense thickets turning into jungle, I realised I hadn’t told anyone where I was (this was back when email was in its infancy and contacting parents was by phone) as I had just arrived at the station and picked my direction and ended up at ‘beautiful island’.
As it happens, older guy at the wheel and sweet looking local guy were lovely. They got me where I wanted to go, helped me sort cheaper accommodation and were generally awesome people, but I will never ever forget that sharp knot of fear in my stomach when I realised that had they wanted to, I’d have probably ended up as an unresolved mystery.

When meeting someone for the first time, choose a public place where other people are around and make sure you have a way to get home independently. It's best to stick to the original plan rather than agreeing to move somewhere private or unfamiliar at the last minute.

Keep your drink in sight, and don't hesitate to leave if the person ignores your boundaries or makes you uncomfortable.

#16

Yeah, had a guy in a car follow me when I was about eight years old, speeding up and slowing down, calling to me, trying to talk to me, until I ran up to a totally random house, knocked on the door, and said (probably with huge wide eyes), "Hi, is Becky home? I wanted to know if she could play!" The woman at the house looked at me, looked at the car driving away, and ushered me inside and just let me stay there to calm down for an hour before I thought it was safe to run back home.

#17

My close friend and neighbor in middle school was walking with her sister home from our school in broad daylight. Literally down the street from her house a guy pulls up from behind them and gives the “have you seen my dog? No? Well can you get in and help me look for him?” My friend was and always has been incredibly gullible so she starts to get into this guy’s car. Her sister literally has to scream at her to get out because they didn’t know the guy at all. They run home and when my mom and I got word I wasn’t allowed to play outside alone for a good year. I haven’t heard anything since (this was in the early 00’s in suburban Colorado) or other cases but I just think about if he ended up getting some other poor kid at any given point after.

#18

Two of my older sisters and I (we were the younger three ) had to wear matching clothes for years. I thought it was normal and part of life when I made a joke about it a few years back. Turns out, I'm the reason we all matched. When I was two, our parents took us to a local carnival. Mom took all of the older kids to rides and games while Dad manned the stroller. The thing about my dad was he is a TALKER. He could talk to anyone about anything and everything. He was the stereotypical small-town small talk champion. So of course he's chatting away with someone local about whatnot. Being two, I had no interest in anything other than apparently leaving. I got out of the stroller and left. I didn't even get very far when someone picked me up, just around a corner. It took Dad a worrying amount of time to realize I was gone. He, the local guy, and a few others nearby started looking EVERYWHERE. Dad couldn't say what I looked like or was wearing.This was in the late 80s so missing kids and panic was prevalent. When Mom came back she went into Mom mode, contacted authorities. It was a harrowing few hours from what I was told. No one could find me.

Which it turns out was one of the best times I ever had since a police officer had seen a child wandering alone at a carnival so I was hanging out at the police station and was delighted. Eventually everything turned out alright since it was an officer who got me instead of a dangerous person. Since then my mom has dressed the three youngest the same so there would be an easy reference to what one of us looked like if it happened again. I wasn't allowed to be alone with Dad again unless I was buckled into the stroller from then on.

Remember: you don't have to be polite at the expense of your safety. You can walk away from an uncomfortable conversation, refuse to get into someone's car, or leave a place where you no longer feel secure.You don't owe anyone an explanation for putting your well-being first.

#19

When I was pretty young, maybe 4 or 5, I lived about two blocks away from my elementary school. Normally, my brother and I walked to and from school with a group of other kids, but this day, my brother was staying home for a doctor's appointment. I didn't know that-- I was just jealous he got to stay home. So during one of my classes, I asked to go to the bathroom and just... left. Went out one of the basement doors, walked across the parking lot and started my way home like I always did. At the end of my street, my house was in view, this pickup pulled up next to me. There was a man driving, and a woman in the passenger seat. They were fairly young, if my memory is accurate, I'd guess they were in their 20's. And the girl asked me what I was doing, where I was going, was I alone. They kept offering to give me a ride if I just hopped into the bed of the truck, even though I kept saying I lived just down the road. I kept walking, and they followed slowly. When I got to my apartment, I slowed down, and the truck slowed down. The girl opened her door at the same time my neighbor came outside and asked me when I had gotten home. The girl swore and shut the door, and they sped off and that was it. However, when my mom finally got home, several hours later, she asked how and when I got home. When I told her I left, she went and checked the answering machine for a message from the school. Nothing. Nothing on her pager. She waited until school was dismissed, never heard from them. Finally she drove me back to school, and as soon as the principal saw me and my mom in the office, they all started blustering about how they had been JUST about to call her, they were so worried, whatever could have happened and was I okay? My mom tore into them, and it was later regarded as one of those stories she liked to tell when my boyfriends to showcase that I had always been a problem. But if those two were creeps, it's kind of terrifying to think no one would have known I was even gone for hours. And like, I'm sure we all know the statistics on child abductions when you don't immediately get eyes looking for the kiddo. Sometimes, even if you do, it happens quick.

#20

One day I was outside my house waiting for the bus and a car parked in front of me, it was a couple with a baby in the back.

They made a sign to me and thinking they were asking for directions I got a little closer. They asked me where I was going and told me that they could give me a ride, that I should get on because the bus was going to take a long time because many people were waiting for it, that I should not be suspicious because they had their baby, that they only wanted to help me.

They told me all this in the space of a few seconds while I was thinking if I should run, I wanted to get into my house but was worried about turning around to open the door and they would take me to the car, in the end I decided to say no and started to walk or run away, at that moment a neighbor came out and I saw how the car drove away, ahead there were other people but I did not see them stop to do "the favor" of giving them a ride.

#21

My mom has a story about the time she was driving across the country with my brother and me when we were very young. Dad had taken a job in California and we were moving out to join him—no doubt an exhausting trip for all of us.

One night we were at a rest stop or a gas station when a man came over to the car and pestered her with too many questions. He finally reached his hand through a partly open window, as if to open the door. Fortunately our little Scottie went ballistic and tried to bite him. The man backed off and my mom managed to drive away. I don’t even want to contemplate other scenarios that might’ve happened to us.

Being extra careful and paying attention to your own safety doesn’t mean you have to go through life being suspicious of everyone. But it can help you stay prepared and make it easier for someone to help if something goes wrong.

Now, Pandas, have you ever experienced a close call that still makes you wonder how things could have turned out differently? Tell us what happened in the comments. Your story might be exactly the reminder someone else needs to take their own safety a little more seriously!

#22

I took the city bus to college. I had a man in a car follow me from my house to the bus stop.

He then appeared at the bus stop where I got off the bus, up to a spot where I normally would cut through an area with just a sidewalk, across a medical campus to an apartment complex.

He showed up in the apartment complex parking lot. I quickly ran to the edge of the apartment complex which had another sidewalk-only path to the college campus.

When I emerged on the other side, he was there waiting at the campus building I did work-study from. I went in a side door I usually didn’t use. He tried to get to me but couldn’t quite.

I got his tag number and called the police and then told a friend I worked with. He had a police scanner and turned it on immediately to the proper channel. He got the person’s name and address off the radio and gave it to me. I have since lost it. I always wonder if he escalated.

The scariest part of this is — he knew my route. Every turn I made, he was there. He had a plan.

#23

I had a strange guy show up at the front door when I was 16. Looked like he was in his 20s. I was babysitting my siblings (who were no older than 7 at the time) so they were making a lot of noise. The guy told me he was selling magazines and would I please come take a look at them in his car. I thought this sounded really off. I don't remember what I told him but, suffice to say, I didn't follow him. He kissed my hand before he left which really weirded me out. I shut the door on him and locked it. He never came back that I know of, but I was scared to be home alone for a long time after that. In fact, because of that, I never open the door unless I'm expecting someone.

#24

Not me, but a friend of mine was almost abducted from a mail parking lot when she was in college. A couple of guys were hanging around the mall entrance, she noticed them when she went in, but she figured they were just waiting for a ride or something. She finished up her shopping and they were still there when she left. Suddenly, they were on either side of her and one of them grabbed her arm, I can’t remember the details exactly, but I believe they said they had a gun and told her to take them to her car and get in. She’s my hero, because despite her terror, she had the sense to throw her keys as far as she could and run back to the mall. I shudder to think of what would have happened to her if they had gotten her into the car.

#25

So this story isn’t as harrowing as the others since everyone had good intentions. But when I was around 16 my mom and I took a trip to NYC. I was from a small town so I was sheltered and naive.
One night we had tickets to CBGB but my mom wasn’t feeling well so I went alone. I met a girl around my age and her dad there. I talked to the girl the entire time. Afterwards her dad asked me if I wanted a ride back to my hotel. Not thinking anything bad I agreed. He was parked way in the corner of a pretty empty parking garage. I followed this guy I had just met into a dark parking garage. And my cell phone didn’t have good service so I couldn’t text my mom to tell her what I was doing.
Nothing bad happened he dropped me off in front of my hotel and even waited until I went in. But years later I think to my self how dumb that was. Anything could have happened to me and my mom wouldn’t have known anything.

#26

Not me, but my husband, was a swimmer and when he was a school age kid he would ride the city bus from school > practice > home. One time he was talking to the bus driver (or the bus driver was talking to him?) and my husband mentioned that practice was going to be really late that day. The driver informed him that it was after hours of the bus system running but that he could come back in his own personal car and pick him up and drive him home. My naive husband said sure! Later, at swim practice, his coach asked him who was going to pick him up from the late practice and my husband happily informed him the bus driver would in his personal car! Coach was immediately like omg no - not that exact quote but something like it - and called my husband's mother to inform her what happened and make sure she was there to pick him up instead. To this day my husband and I ponder what would have happened if the coach didn't ask and my husband had gotten into the car with the bus driver late at night. Would he have just driven him home like a nice Samaritan? Or would my husbands body never been found?

#27

My mom trained us thusly on stranger danger: scream and run. I later found out that this originated when she was almost abducted on the way home from elementary school in the mid-'60s. She lived about 5 blocks from school and was walking home one day when a guy in a car pulled alongside her. He said something like "hey hop in, I'll give you a lift home!" and my mom refused.

He tried once again, saying "It's OK, I know your mom. She asked me to give you a ride." My mom continued to say "no," and his attitude suddenly shifted and he screamed at her "YOU GET IN THIS CAR RIGHT NOW!"

My mom yelled "NO!" at the top of her lungs and sprinted the rest of the way home. I don't think she ever told my grandma what had happened and she never saw the guy again.

#28

I was 20/21, living away from home in a bottom level apartment. I was wearing a night shirt while washing dishes around 10:30-11 pm. The window in the kitchen was open slightly and I suddenly became aware that someone was jacking off very nearby. Thank goodness I had a cat who was hissing and spitting at the window or I might have run out the nearest door and almost directly into him. At the time I had no idea he was right outside the window because he sounded so close.

I called the cops and they didn’t even really take a report. Couple weeks later in the same apartment complex it happened to another woman. This time her upstairs neighbor saw it and scared him off, but not before he dropped his gun. This one made the newspaper. Still pissed the cops didn’t take me seriously.

#29

I'm pretty sure we've all encountered some pretty shifty situations, just in some cases, we may not realize how close we were to trouble.

For me, it's two that I am aware of:

First is when I was 10 years old, and refused to get in the car of a man who claimed he was my dad's friend, and chose to be rude instead, and he sped off in a different direction than he was saying he would. He was a nondescript man in a nondescript car who complimented me on my skirt and said he's going to coffee at my dad's and that he'll drive me so I don't have to walk. I told him I don't recognize him, and that if he's at my dad's place when I get there, I will apologize, but I don't trust him.

The second was when I was 16 years old and I went to France to practice my French before my end of school exams. I was there for two weeks, and alone, just staying at a place of a family friend. I was always a tomboy, and all my friends were guys, so I was a bit naïve. After about 10 days, I was really social contact deprived, and I got talking to a student at an art gallery, and then went to watch a movie at his place. Given how naïve I was back then, I've allowed him to completely victim-profile me (given the information shared). His place smelled like rotten meat too. There is an odd chance that he was just strange, but then, he wasn't socially awkward in public, so I think it was more dropping pretenses rather than not knowing how to talk to people. He started asking me over and over and over whether I was afraid yet, while watching the movie, and it didn't seem conversational. Not only was he really giving me his entire attention when asking, but he asked multiple times. That's when I realized that it's dangerous. I told him I see no reason, because I always text the address of where I'm at to my mom and boyfriend, and I made sure my body language shows how relaxed I was. I sunk into to the couch and 'lounged' as much as possible and trash talked a little. I let that sit a bit, and then told him it was getting late and I had a curfew, and whether he'd please walk me to the bus, that I would feel much safer with him. He almost seemed disappointed.

#30

About 4 years ago I went to walk to the store at the bottom of a little where I lived. There was no sidewalk down the street so you kinda just had to walk in a ditch the whole way down. You'd have a little bit of two parking lots to walk through a bit of the way. The first was the stone masons lodge, which is where I got to. Which was right across the street from my home. So I walked across to the lot and started to head down the hill. There was a red truck sitting vacant in the lot. As I go to exit the lot and continue my walk down a smaller four door car pulls in and almost hits me as he went to the inside on the way in so I was on his side of the car. Well he barely even got out the sentence, "hey can you help me find" before he grabbed my arm and tried to pull me in. I'm not sure what his reasoning was as it was always weird to me. Was he just gonna have me hanging halfway out and drive off if he could...or what? But the owner of the red truck came out of the masons lodge and started hollering and he sped off. I really believe that Man saved me that day. I don't think Dude would of let up.

#31

I'm a little late to the party, but I was almost a victim of a stranger abduction in a foreign country.

When I was in college, I studied abroad in Madrid for a semester. It was overall a really wonderful experience and I highly recommend study abroad for any college student who can manage it. I absolutely loved Madrid. It was my first big city experience. Unfortunately, I didn't get along well with my host mother, so I tended to take really long walks, often in the middle of the day (never did get the hang of siesta).

I was walking in a park one afternoon, and since it was the middle of siesta and kind of the off-season for tourism, there wasn't anybody around. A man came up to me and started speaking English. Weirdly, he was speaking English with a Spanish accent, but he was asking me for directions to something nearby, so I assumed I'd been interpreting his accent wrong. I told him where to go, but he insisted he'd just come from that direction and it wasn't there. He tried to lead me down a side path to show him, but I wasn't having it. Then I noticed that there was a car a little ways behind him. Now, this was a park with some roads through it (for anyone familiar with the area, it was Buen Retiro), but he was parked on what was distinctly a footpath. To this day, I'm not entirely sure how he got a car there.

Anyway, he says "I'll drive there, you can show me, we can go together." And I said no, and repeated the directions I'd previously given. All of a sudden it was like a switch flipped and he's thanking me for the directions, telling me how glad he was that I spoke English (despite the fact that it clearly wasn't his native language), that I was a beautiful, helpful person, and started giving me a hug. A creepy sort of hug that went on way too long and involved some wandering hands. I started to pull away, and then he sort of shoved my head into his shoulder so I couldn't scream and started to drag me to his car. Luckily for me, I'd been taking martial arts classes back home, so I managed to throw him to the ground. I heard something crack, and I kicked him (this part was not self-defense, I was just pissed) and ran away. Only time in my life I've ever managed to run in heels.

If he'd actually gotten me in the car, I don't know how anyone would have found me. It was the start of a long weekend, and I was a shy kid without many friends, but wasn't super close to my host mother, who lived alone. It's entirely possible she would have assumed I was off with someone else or was traveling that weekend and forgot to tell her. I may not have been reported missing until I didn't show up for classes. I highly doubt this guy was a trafficker or anything (Taken is just a movie, after all), but I have no doubt he had malicious intent.

#32

Okay so this did not happen to me... but it happened to a close friend of mine where I was growing up in... lucky for my friend that her older sister was with her and was immediately suspicious of it (thank good!!).

So my friend and her older sister were riding their bikes to a campsite and hiking trail close to the neighborhood where we lived, to buy ice cream from the on-site mini store (it was just a small thing that sold memorabilia trinkets and necesseties like water bottles, band aids, canned food and other for hikers). But they also sold Ice Cream. Which was popular among us local kids who could bike there in the summer and get a good excersize in (it was a 30min there and back ride).

While they were there my friend got her ice cream open and left the store so it would not melt and drip inside, while her older sister was choosing hers & paying for them.

While my friend was waiting for her sister there was a man who pulled up to the mini store in a campervan, smiled to my friend and told her that if she wanted to she could say hello to his puppy in the back.........

Thankfully she was very hesitant to do so and asked what kind of breed it was instead of simply going with it...

While he was insisting on it that his puppy was shy, and maybe would come out if she went in and things,
her sister came out from the store and asked what was going on, the man had smiled and said the same thing to her but she began arguing against this mans urges to go see the puppy with clever questions like "Why don't you take the dog out so we can see it must be warm.." she was talking so loud the store owner came out, and then the guy immediately rolled up the window and drove off....

They told everyone about ut as soon as they came home and we weren't allowed to go alone to the ice cream store anymore after that. their mom called the police about the man and described the van. It wasn't seen again luckily and we will be thankful for ever they never became an unsolved mystery.

#33

I had the same thing happen to me with a man in a car when I was around 19 (I'm shorter than average, so I've always looked younger than I am).

I was walking down the street by myself, waiting to meet up with a friend. A car pulled up to me and started trailing very slowly, until the guy rolled the window down and shouted to me that he had a question. He held out his phone and asked me, "can you show me where the high school is? I'm lost and I have no clue where I'm going." I knew this was an absolute lie, because from where we were, you could literally see the high school, with the name of the high school in giant letters, from where I was standing.

I took a few steps backwards, away from his car, pointed over my shoulder while still maintaining eye contact with him, and I said, "...it's literally right there."

He leaned forward in his car even more, held out his phone again, and said, "oh. Well, I'm picking up my cousin from school, and I have to drop her off at the Boys and Girls Club, and I don't know how to get there either. Can you show me that?" That was also a very obvious lie, because the high school gets out at 2:02 pm, it was after 4:00, and high schoolers don't go to our local Boys and Girls Club. It's only for kids.

At this point, I took out my phone, held it up so that he could see it clearly in my hand, and responded with, "uh, just type in 'Boys and Girls Club' and it'll bring you right there with GPS. You don't need a map."

I pretended to call someone after I answered, but I never took my eyes off of him. I think that rattled him a bit, because he kind of just morosely answered, "oh," looked all around before peeling off, and drove in the entire opposite direction of the school. A friend of mine is a sheriff in our town, so I told him about the guy and gave him his license plate number, but I never heard anything else after that.

#34

I was working at a casino and my shift would end at 2 or 3 am. One day they put security detail on me, to walk me to my car for about 2 weeks. About a month later I found out that a girl whom looked just like me was abducted from the casino grounds and police thought the guy was really after me when they reviewed security footage. He abducted her, and they caught him on tape several times after that, right as my shift ended. The casino moved me to the morning shift and I dont know if the guy was ever caught because I became pregnant and so sick I needed to quit.

#35

I think I was around five or six when I was waitting in a tanning salon for my mom to stop tanning, they had a small waitting room I'd sit in not the best place to leave a child especially when one employee is at the front going in and out cleaning things. One time a guy walked over, and sat by me trying to be all buddy to buddy with me. He kept trying to talk to me so I calmly said. "My mommy said not to talk to strangers." The one thing she'd told me to say to strangers when they approached me, this didn't stop him however. He said and I quote "Well I work with your mommy so it's ok." He just kept going on and on after that, and even offered to take me out to get something, but I just kept looking ahead pretending like he didn't exist. Nothing really exciting happened after that, but once the employee returned back he stood up, and left the building. Thinking back on it this tanning salon was primarily a female establishment, and he didn't go into any of the rooms or check in just tried talking to me. I'm just really really glad I listened to my mom, if he took me I don't think anyone would have found me.

#36

I hitchhiked on the Highway of Tears, this was before anyone paid attention to it, early 90's.

#37

Way back in my college days, there were two nights I remember in particular that I had way to much to drink, left the party to presumably walk home (not unusual to walk, its a very walkable town) only to 'come to' and realize I had been walking in completely the wrong direction (and for quite a while). The one big one I'm thinking of was on a very rural road by that point. This was in the middle of winter and I could very easily have ended up missing and no-one would have any idea where I was.

#38

Oh gosh, I'm so happy to hear you made it out safely. These stories are wild.

As to whether I have one? Maybe, I'm still not sure to this day. About ten years ago, I was a young teen. My family was moving back home to New York (the state, not the city) for my dad's job. The house they bought had a rent-back for the sellers for the summer, so we stayed in an apartment temporarily in White Plains. It was a pretty nice city, clean and not too crazy if I remember correctly.

My mom and I went out one afternoon to visit an art supply store a few blocks over and grab a slice of pizza for lunch. On our way back, we passed a construction site. For some reason, we both locked eyes with the same worker, who started walking in our direction, and then each other. I don't remember ever speaking to her to determine something was wrong; I think it was just one of those moments where we both knew instinctively something was really off.

Now mind you, this was broad daylight, in a city. We weren't even close to alone. Should anything happen, there would be literally hundreds of witnesses. Despite this, we both felt really uncomfortable, and immediately started speedwalking away from the site. After a few storefronts, I checked the throng of people over my shoulder. About ten people back, I see him, weaving in and out of the crowd, headed towards us. At that point, we really start hustling, trying to put distance between him and us. When we don't see him behind us anymore, we ducked into a little boutique. We skulked around in the very back, behind the clearance racks, and watched the windows.

Neither of us saw him after a good five minutes, so we thought we must have just panicked. Just as we're about to start walking towards the front of the store, he slowly walks by. We see him pass by, turn around, and peer into the window, which luckily was one of those semi-mirrored ones. Hard to see in but easy to look out, and we were way in the back. He just looked briefly, checked up and down the street once more, turned around, and headed back, presumably, to the construction site.

We waited in the store for another 10-15 minutes. After that, we high-tailed it out of there back to the apartment. When we got back, we told the front desk fellow about him just in case, and he thankfully believed us (bless you, Richard). He said he'd keep an eye out.

We never saw that guy again. To this day, we still talk about how weird that whole event was. It should be noted that my mom is filipina, and though I certainly wasn't getting close to the construction worker, he looked like he could have been as well. My mom has a face that a lot of people think they know too. It's entirely possible he thought she was an acquaintance and was just trying to flag us down to talk (most filipino social circles are large). But I don't know, the fact that we both got that ick-feeling makes me think not.

#39

I can’t say for sure what would’ve happened here, but once when I was probably around 9 or 10 while at a girl scout cookie booth at a local department store, two mid-20s looking men approached me and the other girl working the booth at the time. The troop leaders were supposed to be watching us but they’d gone into the store for a bit so we were alone in the store lobby (attached entrance room to the store itself, so we were selling in the store but not where any customers and staff were). It was a slow day at the store I guess because we were alone without other customers coming in and out for at least 10 mins with the men. The men told us they assumed we were teenagers (i remember at the time thinking it was flattering but as an adult I realize a 9 year old is not going to be mistaken for 18). They invited us to a “party” and gave us the address to an old motel in town. We told them actually we’re just kids! We can’t even drive! But they got more and more belligerent about us attending this “party” until even offering to take us themselves, and more pressure and belligerence. This obviously freaked us out. I remember I wanted to go inside to find the adults, but we’d gotten the big talk about not leaving our products or money unattended so got nervous and just waited with the booth. We then told them our troop leaders were in the store and would be looking for us if we left. they booked it out of the lobby after that. I remember when our leaders came back, we told them and they flipped! They went and searched the parking lot and the store but didn’t see the guys. Nothing ever came of the motel address mostly because I don’t think our leaders reported the incident to the store or LE out of fear of getting in trouble for “leaving” us. But it is still a little spooky if i think about, if those guys had just grabbed us instead of trying to coax and pressure us into coming, where would I be right now?

#40

I was in New Zealand by myself in 1996. I was in this little town on the west cost of the North Island, and staying in a hostel. I went down to a little bar and got some drinks, again alone. After, I started walking back to my hostel but got turned around. I ended up in an alley, in a lot of shadows. Suddenly, at the end of the alley was a group of 8-10 young men, maybe in their early 20s. I was about 22 at the time. Theses guys were clearly drunk and looking for trouble. They laid eyes on me and started immediately running toward me saying “get her,boys!” I turned the other way and ran like mad, with no idea where I was. Just after I lost them (or thought I did), I turned a corner and there was my hostel. It was honestly a miracle They didn’t catch me. I don’t know what they had in mind, but it wasn’t good. I had extremely short hair at the time and got a few homophobic comments even though I am cis-het so I wondered if that was the reason they targeted me, or if it was just because I was a woman a lone.

#41

When i was in college i was traveling around Europe for a summer. I took a ferry to Ios, a big party island in Greece. As soon as i got off the ferry i was hungry, so i stopped in a place for a gyro. As the guy behind the counter handed me my gyro, he said to me, “You know, someone could take your life here, and no one would ever find your body.” I’m a big guy, so wasn’t scared at all, but did think that the comment was weird AF. I figured this guy just liked to mess with the tourists...

#42

When I was 4/5, my mom married my daddy (step dad) and we moved out of my grandma's house and into a new home, as this is what married people do lol. Well I guess I didn't want to move away from my grandma's and decided that I was going back. Our new house had this long gravel drive way (now older, it's not as long as my 4 yr old brain remembers) it's right on a busy stretch of road and along a curve in the road. Anyways I had made it to the road and this van pulled over with these old ladies in it. I can't remember if they were trying to get me to get inside the van or if they were trying to help me. As soon as they opened the van door and asked me what I was doing my daddy was right there grabbing me up and walking me away from the ladies. I know that I told them that I was going back to my grandma's house and I remember that none of them had gotten out of the van and the lady who opened the side door kept telling me to get in that they would take me to my grandma. Luckily my daddy was there instantly to get me and that I didn't get kidnapped by a bunch of grandma's in a van lol. What I don't understand is why would they try to get me in the van instead of walking me back to my parents? I keep saying they but it was only one lady who I remember speaking with and I don't recall her and my daddy talking long either. He basically grabbed my up and rushed me back inside.

#43

When I was in 6th grade (around 1976), I was walking to the bus stop for school, which was at my friend's house about 3 blocks down the road. We lived in a suburb of Seattle called Kent. It was not very urban at the time, pretty low key. There were no sidewalks on our street, just a little gravel on the side of the road and a ditch before you entered someone's front yard. This car pulls up alongside me and follows me at a slow speed. The guy inside asks where I'm going, and I tell him the bus stop. He offers to give me a ride to the stop. I politely decline. He tried to persuade me by telling me how much faster it would be, etc. I still declined and kept walking. He kept at my speed for about a block before another car came up behind him and he left. It was disturbing while it was happening, but I didn't really realize what could have happened until a little later.

#44

Shortly before I was born, my parents were house sitting at my grandparents’ farm. My mom was working in the closest city and driving out to the farm after dark one evening and assumed that the headlights behind her were my dad, also just off work (this was all pre-cell phone). The farm was down a long dirt driveway off a gravel road off a rural route- really in the middle of nowhere.

When she pulled in, the other car close behind her, the farm dog, who was generally very sweet, came running out barking and snapping and ran straight past her towards the other car. Whoever was in it (my mom never got a good look at them behind the headlights) put it in reverse and drove away in a hurry.

My dad got home about half an hour later- he had been delayed at work.

I’m so grateful for that dog, because I can’t think of any reason for a stranger following a young woman down a dirt road in the middle of nowhere that is good.

#45

I'm actually embarrassed to admit how old I was when this happened, but I was 30 years old and had just been in New York City for a few days with family members at my cousin's wedding. I flew back to Lexington Kentucky, where I was staying with my aunt and uncle, who her parents of the groom. I had just graduated nursing school a couple of weeks before. Before I left new york, I called a cousin to see if she could come pick me up and she said she wouldn't be able to because of the schedule conflict. My aunt and uncle with whom I was staying in Kentucky and their daughter and her husband were all driving back to Kentucky together, I had gone up with them in the van but decided to remain a couple of days longer after they left because there was a fellow I was sort of hoping to start a dating relationship with and I remained in New York a couple of days longer and then flew home. I might add, I made that arrangement without first really checking to see if anyone could pick me up at the airport when I arrived. But there are taxis, right? On the playing, I happen to sit next to a very pleasant, somewhat quiet gentleman of about 40 who did make conversation about traveling in general and offered to give me a ride back to my aunt and uncle's house, just as the plane was landing. Well, I took him up on it! Yes, it was daylight, middle of the afternoon but that doesn't really matter. He was a total stranger and I knew nothing about him and once he had me in his car he could have hopped on the freeway and driven off at 80 miles an hour and there is no telling what my fate would have been. Fortunately for me and my stupidity and immaturity, he was a very nice person, took me to my aunt and uncle's house, I thanked him, he said have a nice visit and that was that. I actually had no reason to feel nervous in the car with regard to his actions but I felt quite nervous as the 20-minute drive progressed because I realized how very stupid I had been and accepting his offer. In fact, I actually had him let me and my suitcase out three houses from my aunt and uncle's house and walked up to the door and pretended to be unlocking it as he drove off. I did not walk over to my aunt and uncle's until I was certain he was out of sight I did that just in case he had any nefarious purposes in mind, which I doubt that he did, but even though it was a bit late to be careful, I figured better late than never. As I said, I'm really ashamed that I did it at all but especially at that age when I should have known better. The cousin who said she had a scheduled conflict and couldn't pick me up, ask me a day or two later how I managed to get back and I told her I had just called a cab. I didn't want to admit how stupid I had really been.

#46

When I was 16, I was on vacation with a friend of mine and we were walking back to the condo by ourselves around 2-3 am. A van pulled up next to us with 4-5 men in it and they all just turned and smiled at us. We ran. Super creepy.

#47

Something happened to me in the Chicago suburbs in the early winter of 1978, when I was a junior in high school. I was walking to school on an especially cold winter's morning. I had begged Mom to drive me to school, but she was worried about driving because it was so icy and she had a new baby, my brother, at that time.

I wasn't even two blocks from my house when a guy with a dark, thick beard and frizzy black hair pulled up next to me in a Volkswagen bug. He rolled down his window and held out a normal looking house key, asking me to take it. I wasn't thinking at the time that he was trying to kidnap me, but he looked weird and I didn't trust him. I didn't even say anything, just started walking faster. He was so insistent on me taking the key and just didn't let up for a while.

He kept creeping up next to me, driving slowly, and I was so scared. Nobody was outside right then. The neighborhood was upper middle-class and full of biggish houses, but I think it was just so early and the roads were bad. Definitely no other walkers out then either.

He kept driving with my walking speed for about five minutes and I didn't look at him again, after my initial oh my god, he looks like a creep vibe. Eventually, he yelled out the window, "jerk!" and drove off. I have always wondered why he was trying to give me a key, what it was for, and why if he didn't want it, couldn't he just throw it out somewhere. After my fright wore off, I realized it seems he just wanted me to get close so he could pull me into the car. I was just so naive and innocent thinking back then.

I just feel lucky I had enough brains as a naive teenage girl to just keep walking and not get close.

#48

One of my first memories was of me walking through the mall. I was holding my mom's hand and we were going to get a smoothie at this really good kiosk. I remember the hand being incredibly soft and looking up and it was a man. It's like burnt into my memory; I walked with this guy for a lot longer than I realized.

If it wasn't in a mall and people weren't looking for me I probably would have been kidnapped.

#49

Absofreakinglutely. This was years ago when I was about 25. I had just finished helping run an event, and out group decided to go out for drinks afterwards. We were sitting in a lounge area at a martini bar when another group walked in. One of the men who came in with the second group ended up sitting and chit chatting with us.

He was giving extremely vague answers to questions, and he was paying an uncomfortable amount of attention to me. Basically focusing on me to the exclusion of anyone else whontri d to talk to him. I figured he was just a terrible pick-up artist, but when he grabbed my hand and said "Let me see your palm, you can tell so much about a person from looking at their hands" I had enough and decided to peace out.

The walk to my car I was looking over my shoulder and just about had a heart attack when I heard footsteps, but it was just one of my friends saying he'd left something in his car. He walked me the rest of the way to my car, and watched me get in.

The next day I called my best friend to rehash the night before. She said that after I left, the stranger who sat with us said he would be right back, and also got up and left. One if the order women with our group had a weird feeling and told someone to make sure I got to my car. Apparently the stranger was following me, and when he saw someone else come out he ran the other direction.

Long story short, walk your friends to their cars.

#50

I was suspended from school for 10 days my Freshman year of highschool. As punishment my parents made me walk up and down our country mile road in bufu kentucky with a trash bag to pick up garbage. At the bottom of the hill about two miles from home a man pulled up in a truck and stopped started asking me questions. I turned around and started hoofing it back up the hill to home. He put his truck in reverse and started following me back up the hill. Telling me to get in his truck that my dad sent him to get me. My dad didnt know hardly anyone out so I knew that was lie. He continued to be persistant and I tried ignoring him. Until he reversed in front of me so he was blocking my way. I took off running down into the woods to get away. I could hear him yelling at me as I blizted past trees to get home. I showed up at home 2 hours latercovered in mud and burs because I was terrified of going back to the road. I got in trouble because my parents didnt believe me and thought I was just trying to get out of my punishment.

#51

I wandered away from after school hours care in 1995 aged 5. I had decided I wanted to go home with a friend after school and the friends mother just took me. Got to their place and realised I didn’t know where I was and started crying. The lady dropped me off at the local police station and my mums work was called so she could pick me up. My mum says it was the scariest day of her life and now as a parent too I could imagine how.

#52

A bouncer at a blues bar I frequented offered me a ride home one night. Since I thought I knew him I said sure. Well, on the way he drove down a side street into a deserted parking lot. He had locked the doors from his side and I couldn't get out. I had to convince him I was a virgin which was hard because he didn't think virgins went to bars. I finally started crying and that did it as he unlocked his doors at that point and let me go. I was terrified.

#53

When I was around 16, and my sister was 8, we lived on a very rural road that didn't have mail service to our house as it was too far from town. The mail stopped at the house before ours, about a mile away, and there was a row of mailboxes there for everyone who lived beyond that house (who didn't keep a PO Box in town). We were walking to get the mail with our dog and a neighbor's dog who basically lived at our house - both very friendly country dogs. A ramshackle truck drove past us quickly, with the multiple male occupants catcalling us. The truck turned around and drove past us much slower, clearly checking us out and the men seemed pretty drunk. The dogs came out of the bushes and flanked the two of us and had bared teeth, full growls and all hairs standing on end for the truck's third pass by. The truck didn't come back, thankfully, nor did the dogs leave our side for the rest of the walk home.

I've always kept at least one big dog since, and I've obedience trained them, but not necessarily well-socialized them. A few years ago, the neighborhood (in an actual town, not the country home growing up) had a rash of night break-ins and while we had a few nights of intermittent crazed dog-barking, we were never broken into!

#54

It's really too long a story for here, but the TLDR version is that, in the early 00s, while I (f, early 20s at the time) was on a road trip through the Former Yugoslav Republics with two girlfriends we came extremely close to having something horrible happen to us a couple times due to my friend's Serbian accent and big mouth and the fact that memories of the war were still very fresh.

#55

I was just thinking about this recently..
When I was 5 years old I was playing in my front yard with my siblings and cousins when a black truck stopped in front of the house. He sat there watching us. My brother ran inside yelling and got my dad. As soon as my dad came out the truck drove away.
A few weeks prior to this Amber Hagerman was kidnapped a few blocks away by a man in a black truck.

#56

When I was about 4-5 (before I started school), I took off walking down the road by myself early one morning. I was trying to find my mom, who usually walked the neighborhood with my aunt early mornings. On this morning I ended up outside of our neighborhood and in another neighborhood. A lady came by in a black car and I got in with her. Thankfully she didn't have any ill intentions and helped find my mom, but if she wasn't a kind person, I could have disappeared. My mom, aunt AND grandmother spanked me when we got back home.

#57

Also from the Chicago suburbs, was walking back from school in the late early 00s around 10 years old. I was distracted and a man who looked to be in his mid to late 20s was suddenly standing in front of me. He was exposing himself and talking about how he liked to wear women’s underwear. I screamed and the people living in the house I happened to be in front of came outside immediately and he took off and got in his car that was parked right near us. No idea what could’ve happened if the people who lived in that house weren’t home! I went to my friend’s house a few houses down and called the police. The police brought a sketch artist and I was able to describe his vehicle. They found a couple cars in the neighborhood that matched the type/color so they drove me by to look at them but they weren’t the car. Nothing ever came of it after that as far as I know.

#58

I'm sure this will get buried now but when I was about 12 and my best friend 10 or 11, we were camping in a remote area with her family are a small family site. We were exploring around and there were two guys who were watching us. We started to feel creeped out and circled around them to get back to our site, they were taking about how much they'd rent my friend for. The last thing we heard was "yeah, I'd get two hundred bucks for the girl in blue!". We started running. We told her parents but no one took us seriously. That was almost 20 years ago and I think about it from time to time.

#59

Sounds creepy definitely. It could've absolutely been a trick to lure you closer, because everyone's got keys and people might not think and just assume it'll be theirs.

It could also be that he had actually found the key on the street and for some reason was very convinced it was yours, so he tried to return it. Maybe he imagined you'd be grateful and talk to him – desperate people can be maximum creeps without turning dangerous.

But either way, good on you for not taking the bait. Always best to follow you gut instinct on these things.

#60

Not me, but one of my siblings. He is an adult who has developmental and intellectual disabilities--he can manage fine in lots of normal/regular situations, like going to the store or things like that, but does not have a good meter of what is and is not a dangerous situation and when to trust people or not.

He for some reason decided at like 2 am one night that, because he was still upset with our parents from an argument the prior day, he was going to walk from his place to theirs to yell at them. One of our other siblings was living with him and had their bedroom door open while they slept in case of him getting a weird idea like this, but didn't hear him leave, unfortunately. He then proceeded to head out on what is, if taken directly, a 1.5-2 mile walk from his place to our parents' place. It was early spring and pouring rain--thinking ahead is not his strong suit so he left in just a t-shirt and pants and sneakers. He also does not really understand how to use Google Maps and does not have a good sense of direction so he started out just kind of ambling in the vague direction of our parents' house.

He passes by a park and ends up talking to a guy who spends an extensive amount of time trying to talk him into going back to his hotel room with him. It's very difficult for someone to talk to my sibling for more than a minute or two without realizing he has intellectual disabilities, so whoever this guy was clearly realized my sibling was vulnerable and an easy target and just went for it. My sibling said they probably talked for 10-15 minutes, with this guy spending the entire time trying to convince my sibling to follow him. Fortunately, my sibling said he had "a weird feeling" and decided not to go with him. I'm so happy that was the case, because god knows what could have happened. He eventually made it to my parents' place by asking passers-by how to get to a well-known restaurant that is next-door to where they live, and woke my parents up at like 4 in the morning standing over their bed soaking wet.

#61

In 2012 (I was 21, female) I was on a TrekAmerica trip across the US (having been studying there for a year). We were in Santa Fe and the group all split up to do their own thing and explore.
I ended up in a really quiet little mall and was just window browsing when a vendor inside this store struck up a conversation. He had noticed my necklace which I kept lots of different charms on from different family members and friends. One of them was a cross.
"Hey, I notice your cross! You are a Christian?"
"Ehh, kinda" I say.
"I am Egyptian, but I am a Christian like you. Are you visiting America? Do you like America?"
"Oh yes, I'm visiting but I love it here. I wish I could stay really!"
"You want to stay in America? I can make sure you stay in America." He hands me his business card. "You come back here tomorrow, bring your passport, and I can make sure you stay in America."

I take the business card, nodding politely and back outta there. I get back to my group a while later and retell the story in a "haha, isn't that crazy?" kinda way but our tour leader was quite alarmed. He asked if I still had the business card and I gave it to him and he said he'd make a call to a friend of his who worked for the FBI. To this day I am not sure if he was joking.

#62

Like many other women here, I was told to get into a vehicle (or in this case, hop on some guy’s motorbike). My parents sent me to church, I was 15 and walking by myself, it was literally only a quarter mile walk.

Also, “it’s what she was wearing.” I was wearing baggy slacks and a polo shirt.

I started carrying a knife with me when walking to church. I never told anyone because somehow it feels shameful, not that it was my fault in any way.

#63

Another one was when I was 20 and went to Paris with a group from college. Around 5 am I couldn’t sleep and wanted to smoke a cigarette so I tried to go out front but the doors were locked. The concierge, at first, was hesitant to let me go out because “it’s not safe” (his words). For some reason, he changed his mind and unlocked the door. There was no one else around except for a man I saw standing on the corner across the street (the hotel I was at was a ways back from the corner and a little bit below street level). Probably 30 seconds later I hear footsteps and this guy is coming right at me. I ran back inside and luckily my room wasn’t far. Not sure if anything would have happened but I wasn’t sticking around to find out. Some people I tell that story to think I’m exaggerating but it was scary.

#64

When I was around 12 yrs old I went camping with a friend's family. We spent a lot of time on the beach and hiking.
The morning we were expecting to leave I woke up to something shaking the corner pole of the tent. I was scared but very intrigued and didn't move the shaking happened 1 or two more times while I listened closely.
I am normally a pretty logical and calm person I thought maybe it was a raccoon and after waiting a couple minutes I poke my head out of the tent to investigate.
Along the tree line of our camp there was a grown man and he motioned for me to come over to him. I stared him down to memorize his description and went back into the tent and woke up my friend. Neither her or her mom believed me.

#65

My mother had a job in Boston in the 1980s and one day I had no school for some reason and came in to hang out with her. I was probably in early high school and pretty Independant, so I left her office downtown and wandered around enjoying the city. I liked to play detective, and I had read that if someone is following you, you should dash across the street unexpectedly to confuse them, so I pretended I was being followed and when traffic had stopped for a light, I jaywalked across the street. And I just so happened to see in a car mirror a man who in fact seemed to be following me and looking stunned by my sudden move.

I didn’t believe he was really’following me, though, at first because that’s a weird coincidence: you suddenly decide to shake an imaginary pursuer and it turns out you have a real pursuer? So I forgot about him — until he caught up to me. He tried to convince me to go with him to get paid for helping “wash his car,” which didn’t sound like a good idea even if I hadn’t figured out he was tailing me, so I said “no,” and got the hell out of there and he let me alone.

But it feels like I had a close call.

#66

Stalked by two strangers while sightseeing alone in London, they kept offering me gum. This was in broad daylight in a touristy area, I was in my early twenties.

Have always gone on hikes, runs and bike rides alone, but never felt in danger, even when strange men hit on me or tried to strike up conversations. Except the one time I was 14 and a van of men approached me after a run, but I was able to ditch them.

#67

I delivered newspapers to the same business complex at about 5:00-5:30 am each morning. At around 1:30 am the I-5 Bandit had entered the business and was doing evil to two women. I had no idea their bodies were inside.

#68

I was about 13 (F) and was walking to our local grocery store to get candy. i was leaving our apartment complex and a man in a yellow beat up Toyota drove slowly past me (coming from my front side) and looked at me in a way that gave me the chills. i left the complex and was walking along the main road when the man drove up behind me, slowly, but kept going. i saw him turn around and come back towards me. after he passed, i ducked down a side road and hid behind a bush. i saw him drive very slowly by again, obviously looking for me. i honestly believe he would have tried to grab me at that point. after he passed, i started running as fast as i could to the store. i saw him turn around and was driving towards me again. before he could turn around and approach me from behind again, i made it to the store. i hid in the restroom and called my dad from a very old cellphone that was about the size of a small novel. he came and got me and took me safely back home. i feel very lucky that nothing happened, my gut tells me that man was up to no good.

#69

When I was in college my parents moved to a town that I'd only visited a few times. It was in the early 1980's, so no cell phones.

I took my mom one morning to work so I could have the car that day. After I dropped her off, I stopped at a convenience store. As I came out, two young guys where coming in. One of them grabbed my arm, the other one said something about me being pretty.

I said F you and gave them a middle finger before I got in my mom's car. As I backed out, I noticed they didn't go in the store but jumped in their truck.

They followed me, tried to run me off the road. I went past my parents house. It was a two lane winding road, no where to stop. I just kept driving. They zoomed up on my bumper and honked down on the horn. I just kept driving.

Thankfully, they gave up and turned around. I had no idea where I was, but just knew I had to keep driving. I finally stopped and couldn't stop crying.

#70

A few years ago I rented a space in an old church next to a museum. My face and figure don’t match my age. On a hot day with my doors open and in and out of the building a van pulled up. A man got out. He said, ive got this old map I want to show you. It’s in my van. I was like no, private property go away. CREEEEPY.

#71

I had a similar experience walking home in the evening on an icy road. I tried looking up any crimes in the area from that time but not much came up. All I remember is that it was a red truck and he was in his 40s-50s. Wanted to give me a ride home and followed me all the way back.

#72

My Mom grew up in a small town and was 11-12 in the late 60’s. She was riding her bike with friends and a man tried to get her into a car with him. She told him no and when he persisted she yelled at him to “GET LOST” and sped away on her bike. Considering my Grandpa taught all the neighborhood kids how to swear I’m really not surprised that’s how she responded.

#73

Background: I grew up in a small town that was about 3 miles at it's widest. I love walking to this day and I walked pretty much anywhere I needed to go. According to all our family friends, this was incredibly weird behavior and every walk was littered with people asking me if I needed a lift. I was constantly explaining that, no, I didn't need a ride because I was deliberately walking.

Actual story: shortly after moving to college, I go for a walk at the break of dawn. Very typical behavior for me before I got my insomnia under wraps. Then this construction worker pulls up in a giant black pickup and is like "hey you need a ride?"

At first I don't think anything of it because I've been asked this so many times. I explain that I'm walking on purpose, but thank you. And he just keeps insisting that he take me "wherever I'm going." By this point, I feel hesitant about explaining that I'm not actually going anywhere. I don't want him to think that no one is waiting for me, but I also just moved and only know about a cantina and a grocery store, so I can't really lie. Instead I just reiterate the point (over and over and over) that I'm just trying to get a walk in before class and hoping that registers to him that someone will miss me if I don't show up. I get louder and louder as I argue with him and eventually this scared him off.

I think he realized I was just gonna keep yelling at him from the sidewalk until he left or I got someone's attention. I have probably walked hundreds of miles in that neighborhood and if he ever saw me again, he kept going. If I'd been a fully-fledged adult at the time, though, I'd have recorded his license plate and called the cops. I don't even like the cops, but that guy was fully trying to kidnap me.

#74

I did so many foolish and careless things when I was young I’m surprised I’m still here.

74 People Share Terrifying Close Calls That Could Have Made Them Unsolved Mysteries

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

#11

#12

#13

#14

#15

#16

#17

#18

#19

#20

#21

#22

#23

#24

#25

#26

#27

#28

#29

#30

#31

#32

#33

#34

#35

#36

#37

#38

#39

#40

#41

#42

#43

#44

#45

#46

#47

#48

#49

#50

#51

#52

#53

#54

#55

#56

#57

#58

#59

#60

#61

#62

#63

#64

#65

#66

#67

#68

#69

#70

#71

#72

#73

#74