The Formerly Kidnapped Are Sharing Stories About How They Survived

This didn't happen to me but a family member, my "cousin".

He and his brother went to Tijuana and were drinking at a bar. They were finishing up their drinks when a girl approached my cousin and asked him to dance. He obliged while his brother stayed at the bar.

After some time passes his brother looks to the dance floor to look for him. He doesn't see him on the dance floor or the girl. He checks the restroom, outside, asks around and gets nothing. He decides to stay for a number of days to see if he will turn up but gets nowhere.

Eventually his brother returns home and everybody in my family knows that he is missing. We all think he went somewhere off with the girl, lost his phone, got lost, etc.

Then my "aunt" receives a phone call.

It's a man and he is telling my aunt that he has his son and that he wants $10,000 for him or they will kill him. My aunt asks to speak to him to make sure he is alive but they say no. She tells them to give us some time to come up with the money as we don't have that type of money laying around.

My aunt tells the police about it but they say there is nothing they can do because they have no jurisdiction (we live in the U.S.). The kidnappers call my aunt again and they tell her to wire the money to a location here in the states. The cops say if the withdrawal is made here they can get involved.

The cops wait there for somebody to make the withdrawal and when the man does they make the arrest. The guy gives the cops nothing- no names, location, or anything. My aunt stops receiving phone calls from the kidnappers, they just abruptly stop.

Months pass and we hear nothing. My family assumes the worst and they think that he has been killed. I remember being upset with my family that they had "given up".

Out of the blue my aunt receives a phone call from a hospital in Mexico. They say they have been nursing a man there for months. He had no identification on him and couldn't remember anything. He slowly started to remember his name, phone numbers, and relatives. That is when the hospital had called. It was my cousin.

Eventually he was released from the hospital and came home. He can not remember anything that happened at the bar or anything after that only from before and when he was in the hospital.

Username: KnockoutNed85

Dad has always been a bit sketchy on the details on how he managed to piss of the mafia (or local gangsters or whatever they were), but suffice to say it involved a bar room brawl where he was out numbered and the local mob had the cops in their pockets, one thing led to another and he ended up in jail while they waited on their boss to get in to town.

He sweet talked the cops into letting him out or at least got away and hi-tailed it for the local shipping port. Back in those days, access to ships were plenty if you were able bodied, so he jumped on the first ship that would take him and disappeared off into the night.

At the time, he didn't know where the ship was headed, but he soon learnt it was on its way to Japan. This concerned him a fair bit as he was unsure of any potential connections between where he had been and where he was going (yakuza or whatever) and he had no idea how much 'trouble' he was in.

He got on the ship with $10 in his pocket, the clothes on this back and a small ham radio. As they hit the coast of Japan, he sent out a broadcast to anyone that would listen asking for help. After a few days, someone answered, it was a Japanese guy trying to learn English, so although they couldn't communicate very well, the Japanese man said he would help.

A day or so later he arrives in port and departs the ship. Now, he wasn't sure what to expect when he got there, but when he walked into the terminal there were 8 men, all dressed in black gowns/clothing looking quite serious. Dad was expecting one person, so he sat in the corner and waited, hoping these men were not after him.

About an hour passes, the men are still there and no sign of his radio friend. So, with nothing else to loose, he approaches the men and asks them who they are looking for. After about a few minutes of confusion, lost in translation, they land on the word 'Pazu's last name', which they all nod approvingly.

Turns out, the Japanese man Dad was talking to had broken his leg skiing a few days before, so had sent his monks to fetch dad. Dad, much relieved, and his new monk friends all piled into a small car designed for about 4 people, and headed back to Tokyo.

This was a drive that should have taken them 2 days, tops. It took them 6 days. Why? Because the Monks, determined to 'welcome' dad to Japan, stopped at every bar on the way to Tokyo to have a drink or 5. Was apparently a very interesting trip back - certainly a good ice breaker!

When dad arrived back at the monk's temple, the monk, who I will name Bob, hobbled out and welcomed him. Shortly after, Bob had to go and see one of the families that worshiped at the temple as a family member was very ill.

Dad, being quite young and strong, offered to carry Bob to the car. After that success, Bob said Dad should carry him every where. Over the next 6 months, Dad carried Bob around and taught him English, in turn Dad had a place to stay.

Fast forward many years later, Bob is still alive and well at his Tokyo Buddhist Temple, has a wife and a daughter and is also my god father. Its been a few years since I have seen him, but even he swears every word is true!

Username: Pazu86

Do political "disappearings" count?

Throwaway, because I have friends who were effected by this and they still live in the country where it happened.

I had just gotten a new job a few days before and one of my co-workers wanted to invite me to some office activities and take me out to lunch to show me the best local food. As we left her office and headed to the door, we were suddenly stopped by a group of about 12 men and women, a few of whom were in uniform. They quickly ushered my co-worker out of the hallway and demanded I hand over my cell phone and passport. I didn't have the latter as it was at the government office for work visa related updates.

They surrounded me and forced me into the elevator of my apartment and up to my apartment. When I tried to move they would throw me against the walls. When I asked to contact my embassy they screamed at me and threw me down against the couch. They searched everything. They then told me I needed to pack. They constantly were shouting at me to hurry. When I went into the bathroom to grab my prescription medications they started screaming at me. I think they were worried I would lock myself in. I packed my entire apartment in 10 minutes.

They took my bags away from me and put them in one unmarked car. I was put into another unmarked car with smoked-glass windows. I had officers sitting on either side of me and I was in the middle. They wouldn't let me look out the windows and wouldn't tell me where we were going. I still cannot ride in cars with smoked glass windows. I get claustrophobic and sick.

I was brought to a police station where I was interrogated for several hours. I was accused of organizing demonstrations against the government, all of which was completely false. They wouldn't let me take off my jacket, and ratched up the heat in the room. They wouldn't let me go to the bathroom (until I threatened to shit in their chairs). They also did a lot of psychological stuff, so even though I know I was innocent, I still sometimes believe that their accusations were true.

I was terrified because I knew that no one knew where I was. I later found out that, thanks to a system I'd made with my family, my family had started looking for me almost immediately. No one knew where I was. Even my government was lied to when they demanded to know my whereabouts.

I knew they had already made me "disappear" and I knew they were capable of making that permanent. I was absolutely terrified. But worse was knowing that they could, they would, and they DID, use my phone and my interrogation to take in friends, who were held for longer and were probably physically tortured. I don't know because we can't talk about it on the phone. None of us ever did anything wrong.

Eventually, I was escorted, with undercover soldiers, out of the country. I did not get back my phone or my passport until after I had left the country.

I still have nightmares and occasional panic attacks, I am very paranoid and nervous about not having my passport. For example, I had a long layover in the middle east recently, and my airline set me up with a hotel. We didn't need to give the hotel our credit card (since it was covered) but the front desk held our passport. I had to consciously work not to panic. I frequently have nightmares about interrogation or the police using my phone to track down my friends. My boyfriend tells me I scream in my sleep. I recently, for the first time in years, spoke to a friend who had also 'disappeared' with me.

He confirmed the timing which proved that the police used my interrogation information to take him. While I logically know it wasn't my fault and that there was nothing I could have done differently, and while he assures me that it wasn't my fault and that he's OK now, I had a complete breakdown when I found this out and spent a day crying uncontrollably whenever reminded of it. I still feel sick with guilt that my actions, even if there was nothing I could have done to change anything, resulted in innocent people being imprisoned.

Username: disappearedthrowaway

It didn't last any longer than an hour, maybe... but I can say for sure it was the most horrifying hour of my life.

I had gotten back into my car from the subway station, and as I checked my side mirrors for incoming traffic, I noticed two figures approaching on foot, rapidly. One of them, the one closest to the car, had something on his leading hand, which I later found to be a pistol/revolver.

Suspecting (hoping, actually) it'd be a robbery attempt, I opened the door and stepped outside, meaning to leave the vehicle and belongings for them, only to be pushed back inside, onto the passenger seat.

They announced the kidnapping, forced me to strap on the seatbelt, all the while being verbally and physically abusive - the one on the backseat seemed very agitated and was now the one holding the gun. Maybe to deter me from attempting "anything stupid", I was hit on the shoulder blade with the pistol butt, leaving a pretty nasty bruise afterwards, and effectively proving to be a likely legit firearm.

They inquired all sorts of things: "does the car have a tracker?", "how many people are in your house right now?", "how much money do you have on you / your bank accounts?" etc... I had nothing on me besides a borrowed cellphone, a zune (microsoft's take on ipod, for those unaware), thorn shoes, etc. so really nothing fancy on me.

I found myself so dumbstruck that I hadn't realized I'd been looking straight into the driver's eyes, to which he punched the glasses out of my face, urging me not to look at him. He also told me that if I cooperated they'd spare my life, and from the very beginning I showed no intents of fighting back - always complying with what was requested of me. I even attempted some lousy small talk every once in a while to hopefully lighten the whole situation.

They drove me around town through the expressways, easily surpassing 160 km/h (the speed limit by that time was either 70 or 90 km/h). At some point they made me lie down in between the front and back rows of seats, completely eliminating any possibility of reaction from me. From then on there was very little to be aware of besides the cold end of the gun constantly pushing my head down against the floor mats. I lucked out to still have some juice left on my phone's battery, since it was only through it that my bank credentials and passwords could be accessed.

After stopping by some ATMs, both of them got back in the car and they mentioned "handing" me to someone else, presumably with the pretense of ending my life. I embraced the fact that my life was over, and it was one of the weirdest feelings I've ever felt. To make peace with the end is a morbid thing, and although I've lived to tell the story, it feels like part of me truly died that day.

After some while, the driver instructed me to leave the car, run in the opposite direction and not dare look back. As I hopped off, I realized my right leg was completely unresponsive due to the exhaust-shaft numbing my muscles, and so couldn't properly get away as fast as I hoped.

As soon as the fright of being shot on the back diminished, I decided to look back, and they were gone. I then ringed somebody's doorbell, asking to speak to my parents and the police.

The car was later found with an overheated engine still running and doors all opened. I now ride my bike much more often because fuck that shit, I ain't getting kidnapped in my own car ever again.

Username: Borboh

Hoooo Boy. This is going to get buried, but here goes.

Both myself and my mom were kidnapped at gunpoint by my father on my 5th Birthday, way back in 1994.

Me, personally, I don't remember much of that night, considering it was over 22 years ago now. Mostly what I do remember are vague flashes, that loosely form a narrative that made sense long after I put the facts together on my own.

My dad was a drug user. Cocaine and Meth, probably a lot of other stuff. My mom and him separated over it pretty badly, and they weren't getting along at all. It came to a head one night(my 5th Birthday) and he planned to kill both of us and bury us out in the woods near the house where they used to live when they first moved to Texas, then off himself. The night he planned this he was also pretty drunk, and that'll come into play down the road. Literally in this case.

Anyways, he came to my mom's house, high and drunk. Kicked down the door and beat the crap out of my mom. She managed to call 911 but this being rural Texas and the weekend, they didn't get there fast enough, and by the time the County PD arrived my Dad had thrown both of us into his Cadillac and taken off towards their old place hell-bent on murder-suicide.

He never got that far though - seeing he was also drunk he lost control of the car and crashed it into a tree, injuring all of us in the process. Now, at this point you might think it was over. Nope, a pair of long-haul truckers passing by a few minutes later saw the crash and stopped to help. My dad forced them out of their truck at gunpoint, forced me and my mom into the sleeper cab, and he took off in their rig with us in the back.

While all of this is happening, All of the police departments in SE Texas are mobilizing to find us. The two truckers run to a nearby farm where they call 911, saying they'd just been held at gunpoint by my crazy drug-addled dad and he'd hijacked their truck.

Something like a hundred cops and a police helicopter are now looking for the truck and stopping every big rig from Tyler to Beaumont. While that is happening my Dad managed to get about 15 miles in the rig, and considering he had no fucking idea how to drive one, manages to jackknife it at an intersection.

At this point he's mostly lost his shit. He forced my mom and I out and into the woods, which is around the time the Police Heli sees the wrecked truck and starts combing the woods looking for us. by this time the sun's coming up, and a hundred cops converge on our location. About a half hour after he wrecks the truck we're surrounded and he surrenders without firing a shot. Turns out the gun he had was unloaded.

So yeah, that's my story. He went away needless to say, facing a myriad of charges ranging from Armed Kidnapping to Hijacking to Armed Robbery. He got out of prison last year, due to severe health issues and overcrowding. I still talk to him once every week or two, having long forgiven him.

I don't really have any proof of any of this happening. You won't find it on the Internet because this all predates the Internet, albeit barely. I only found articles about it from microfilm archives at my local Library.

Username: TheMadmanAndre

When I was in middle school I wanted so badly to be one of the "punk" kids. They were all rebellious and so I started doing thing like staying out late and never letting anyone know where I was. My parents worked thirty minutes away and were never home when I walked home from school, so it was very easy to get away with.

My mom put a stop to that by telling me if I wasn't home by 4:30, she would call the police and report me as a runaway. I had been in a bit of trouble with the law, so I figured she was right and then made every attempt to be home to answer my mom's phone call at 4.

One day, this creepy kid from my class who had been stalking me (ugh, different story at a different time.) started following me home so I ran and hid in the bathroom of a store that in between my house and my school. He eventually got bored and went home and on my way out the door I saw it was 4:10 and I was still about 20 minutes from home. I started running down the street to to try to beat my mother's phone call when I pass a truck that was parked in the entrance to a subdivision. I ran past him and a second later he caught up.

He rolled down the window and asked if I wanted a ride. I was out of breath, but I looked at him and sized him up. He had a really round, gentle looking face, and all the "DON'T TAKE RIDES FROM STRANGERS" ran through my head as I sighed and said yes. It was 4:25 when I looked and I thought, "sweet Jesus, I'm going to be home in time!"

The guy starts asking me questions like what my name is, where I live, and how old I am. I told him I was 13 and he said, "wow! You look at least 16 to me." and I got a chill down my spine. The way he said it made my blood run cold. I laughed and said, "turn right here." which he did.

My house was the second one, so I told him that was my house and he said, "I'm in no rush. We're having fun here, let's drive around a little more." I instantly got sick to my stomach and begged him to please just let me out, but he laughed and started asking me questions.

I had been staring out the passenger window pretty much the entire time, trying to not make eye contact, but I looked over at him and he was stroking his dick through his pants. He asked me if I wanted to see it and I said I would prefer not to, he laughed and started asking me about my sexual history and if I'd even seen a dick before. I started crying and he shushed me and asked me if it would be okay if he just pulled it out. To which I started crying harder.

The entire time this was going on, we were doing bigger and bigger circles in my neighborhood and he was getting closer to the exits. At one point he tried to leave the neighborhood and I started screaming trying to get someone's attention.

He quickly drove closer to my house and told me he was almost done. As he was nearing my house I made the decision to jump out of the car when he got close enough. I was like, fuck my backpack, it can stay. He already knows where I live, so if he's really that upset he knows where to find me.

Anyway, we approach my house and I get ready to bail and I grab at the door handle. It's locked so I scramble with it for a second and as I'm about to pull it open he grabs my shoulder, slams me into the seat and says, "Sit down. Buckle up. And don't reach for the door again or you'll never see your family again."

I was inconsolable. I was sobbing and begging him to let me go as he's sitting there with his dick out masturbating. He tells me he isn't going to touch me again and that he's sorry, but he's bee-lining for the exit to my neighborhood when my sister and brother drive up in my sister's car. My sister sees me and waves, as does my little brother.

I screamed, "THAT IS MY SISTER AND MY BROTHER! THEY HAVE SEEN ME AND YOU AND YOU WILL NOT GET AWAY WITH THIS." Like a damned cartoon he slams on the breaks and comes to a screeching halt. He unlocks my door then throws me and my backpack out on to the ground and speeds away.

And that was the second to the last time I ever hitched a ride home from a stranger!

Username: gendres

This happened a few years ago when I was backpacking through Australia with a couple friends. We were traveling up the coast of Queensland in my friend's van and stopping by in all the major cities to party, etc. One night, we stopped off in Cairns, a popular beach town, and hit the beach around 5 pm.

We went to a few bars, had a few drinks and by 10 or so I was pretty tired so I decided to head back to the van (we were planning on just sleeping in the van and heading to our final destination the next morning) while my friends stayed out.

So I walk back to where we had parked, a large parking lot close to the beach but not a lot of open stores around. There were still a lot of cars parked but no people.

I headed to what I thought was our van and tried to open the door...only problem was, my friend's van was a really generic white van that was really common all over Australia, and as I had had a few drinks, I must have gone to the wrong one.

From here my memory gets very hazy and I can only remember bits and pieces but next thing I know there are two very pissed off Aborigine guys yelling at me. I can't clearly remember what I had been doing at their van, between the 3-4 drinks I had and the beating they gave me afterwards. I think they thought I was trying to break into it.

Anyways, after that the next thing I remember is waking up in a chair with my hands tied behind my back and they're both taking turns punching me in the face over and over. There was another lady there who I think was related to one or both of them and she was trying to get them to stop but they didn't listen.

I guess they got tired after a while because next thing I knew it was early morning, sun's barely coming out and the woman was untying me from the chair and she told me "You need to get the fuck out of here now boy because when Brother John wakes up he's gonna kill you."

So, totally disoriented, without even my shoes, I stumbled out of there and somehow or other made it back to the van, I have no idea how because everything was just totally hazy, like a dream you can barely remember, and I didn't have any coherent thoughts.

My friends had been kinda worried wondering where I had gotten to but didn't start freaking out until I told them what had happened. After that they made me lie down in the back of the van while we GTFO of there in case they decided to come back.

Strangely enough, it wasn't scary at all to me at the time because I was so disoriented from the punches to the head I barely even knew what was happening. It just felt like a movie. There were some lasting consequences however, a couple years afterwards I started getting seizures which my neurologist says is because of the trauma my brain received in the beating.

I don't think about her enough or adequately appreciate what she did for me but that woman whose name I don't know, whose face I can't even remember saved my life that night, and she may have been taking a huge risk to her personal safety by doing so.

Username: DtownMaverick

Almost. When I was a day old. This was back in late September of 1996 in Canada.

So when I was born, I was pretty dark skinned (naturally Caucasian). There was another baby also dark skinned; born in the next room for me, on the same day. We later shared rooms with our moms.

A lady dressed like a nurse came into the maternity ward at the hospital. She had been faking a pregnancy from her abusive First Nations boyfriend for 9 months now. She told my mom and the other mother that there was a brand new thing the hospital was doing and it was to take pictures of new born babies a few rooms away. She was very convincing in her sell. So naturally wanting the lifetime memories of their new borns both women agreed.

My mom agreed to have me go first. So the “nurse” leaves to “get set up”, and comes back a few hours later. Now Im not religious or anything, but there must have been a guardian angel watching over me, because just before she came back o got hungry. So my mom pulls the curtain over the bed to have privacy as she feeds me. The other mother goes to the washroom around this time.
The “nurse” returns and she takes the other baby.

The other mom comes out of the washroom and notices her baby is gone, so they figured she came and took the baby for photos.

After some time and the “nurse” not returning, they asked another nurse when the photos will be done. The real nurse had no idea what they were talking about and that’s when the figured out what had happened.

Cops came, and they took statements. During the questions they realized who this lady was, as she had issues with the cops in the past. So they go to her place. They found a crib and all this baby stuff. No baby.

A few days go by and a few more visits from the cops they finally get a warrant to arrest her and the boyfriend and search the property. Now at this point it’s night and it’s below freezing. They search for hours and there’s no sign of the missing baby so the cops decide to search the nearby woods.

Half hour to an hour later the dogs pick a scent and are leading the cops when they hear a faint wailing and it grew louder. They did find him underneath a tree, wrapped in a blanket. He was returned safely to his parents.

After trial the nurse got I think 8 years. She’s currently living in another province. My mom told me that when I was born, I had a very faint cry. If it was me that was taken, they would have never found me.

I wasn’t told this story until I was 12.

Username: maskedkiller215

My "kidnapping" isn't nearly as severe as a bunch in this thread, but it was pretty interesting and I got to play to with some awesome little kids, so here we go.

When I was about 16 I was enrolled in some state job core thing where basically people 15-25 could apply to be worked part time in local businesses and the state would pay them minimum wage to work there. Businesses get free labor, we get $7.25 an hour, and life is great.

While I was doing paperwork, this woman, maybe about 21, 22, comes over and starts talking to me, asking me questions about if I knew how to fill out certain parts of the forms. All I really remember is she smelled like a pack of cigarettes and was super skinny and hella pregnant. Odd combo, but it was east TN so I didn't question it. Being the good person I am, I helped her the best I could with some of her forms and she takes a liking to me.

At the end of the day, she meets up with me and my grandfather (who was going to drive me home) and asks if I want to ride to walmart with her and she'd get me food for helping out with her paperwork. My grandfather is like, "Why not? I'm a good judge of character obviously." and says we can go. I figure I'm about to get a nice free burger out of the deal, so I hop in the car and ride along.

We get into town and she completely passes the local Walmart. Thinking maybe we're going to get food first, I stay silent till we pass the city limits and end up on the highway. At this point I'm getting a bit nervous and ask where the hell she thinks she's taking me, to which she asks, "Hey kid, you ever smoked pot before?" I say no, and she just laughs and says "Hell yeah I'm about to get you fucked up!"

I'm freaking out in the car, doing my best to try and convince her to take me home, my parents are going to be pissed, they're gonna call the cops, etc. but she won't have it. Drives me about 2 hours away to her house and makes me go inside and sit on the couch with her husband, who's this generic looking creeper dude.

She proudly says she's brought me here to get high for the first time, to which he gives me a high five and says he's going to get us celebratory beers at the gas station and leaves. As he's gone, she breaks out her bag of weed and starts getting ready to fry my brains out.

At this point I should mention she had a two year old and a one year old in the room at the same time. So here I am, begging to call my family, begging to go home, and she's got this pipe in my mouth telling me to "suck it like a big black dick". Aaaand the kids are having a blast on the 2nd hand smoke.

A couple hours pass, I'm high as a kite and paranoid to no end, this woman's off in lala land, and her kids are tossed out in my lap when the husband comes home and starts losing his shit because his crazy wife has kidnapped some poor girl for about 6 or 7 hours at this point. He wakes her up and says she has to take me home this instant.

We get her into the car and I'm having to guide her back to my house and keep her from running off the road. She drops me off and I nearly got my ass handed to me by my parents for being gone for so long.

I wanted to tell them what had happened, but I was afraid they wouldn't believe me and I was paranoid they'd beat my ass for the shit ton of weed I smoked, so I just said we spent longer hanging out than I anticipated.

Username: Chopstick-Ninja

happened about 3 or 4 years ago in the DMV (DC Maryland, Virginia)

me and two of my friends were in a cab home from a night out. it was around 9 pm on a summer night. my one of my friends (we’ll call him Bob) decided it would be funny to film people as we were sitting at a red light. He started flipping off these two young middle eastern men in a mercedes G wagon. They flipped us off back and when the light turned green they turned their car, blocking us between the curb and their car so we couldn’t move. cab driver for freaked out and at the next light would not pull up next to the g wagon.

as we are crossing a bridge to go back home, the g wagon comes up beside us and side swipes the cab, almost pushing it into oncoming traffic. at this point we were all terrified. the cab sped up and ran a yellow and the g wagon got stuck at the red. my other friend and i (we’ll call him chris) got out of the cab on the side of the street because Bob wanted to take the cab all the way to his house and chris and i wanted to catch the bus. so now Bob, the one who caused this all, had left us on the side of the road.

as soon as we get out the G wagon zooms past us and does an illegal u turn and starts trying to hit us as we are standing in the street after getting out of the cab. he starts chasing us and i immediately run, screaming for Chris to follow me up this hill of this apartment complex. Chris trips up the hill and i’m thinking holy shit he’s gonna shoot me or Chris. Chris gets up the hill and we run and hide in this little embankment on the side of one of the streets of the neighborhood near the apartment complex.

at this point we had gotten away from the G wagon but we knew it was in the area still looking for us. I told Chris we have to fucking go this embankment is not good enough. we ran through this persons driveway near the embankment and opened and closed the gate to this random persons backyard. we laid down in the dirt directly next to each other barely even breathing for about 20 minutes. during this time we watched through a slit in the fence as the G wagon drove past the house 3 different times super slow, looking for us. at one point the guy got out of the g wagon and said something in arabic to his friend still in the g wagon. they were incredibly close to us. right outside the fence, standing on the street. s2g i thought i was going to be thrown in the g wagon and killed or taken if we got caught.

we waited another 10 minutes then climbed the back fence, ran down a giant hill, across the street and into a convenience store. we told the owner what happened and he said we could get behind the counter and that he had a gun. the owner was gonna call the cops but we told him not to (looking back i wish we did but i guess we just wanted it to be over and maybe didn’t want to get Bob in trouble)

i never told my family because it just scared me too much but i remember i was on edge for a few days after, scared the g wagon would come to my house.

i do remember the license plate however, it said

“MRQATAR” or MR.QATAR” which would
make sense because Qatar is in the middle east.

thank god we left the embankment and went into the backyard or i’m sure they would have seen us

Username: jconorfitz153

I dated briefly and decided that I didn't want to date again. When I first dated him he seemed okay, he was good looking, successful, owned his home, funny, interesting and seemed to have interesting friends.

By the third date, he had turned creepy and stalkerish, calling constantly, driving by my house, leaving expensive gifts on my porch and talking about me moving in right then and being a mother to his kids. I was successful on my own, owned my own home, had two sons, a healthy relationship with their father and had no desire to jump into a long term relationship - nor was I sleeping with this man.

I attempted to return these gifts while inviting a close couple friend on our next "date". He took them back but later that night dropped them all on my porch and sat outside my house calling constantly until my friends came and asked him to leave.

He then called for days threatening to hurt himself saying I had promised to be his children's mother (whom I'd never met) and he didn't know how to tell them. Saying he loved me. I let the police listen to the voicemails. Since he didn't threaten me, I couldn't get a restraining order, they just did a well check on him and asked him to leave me alone.

This is after THREE DATES! He kept leaving expensive gifts every few days. I took my kids to their Dad's house because I was worried, his messages revealed that he thought I wouldn't do what he wanted because of them! I stayed with friends for a week or so. A few days after I went home, he took me and took me to a cabin of a friend of his.

It was a Thursday afternoon when I would be working from home. My ex didn't notice anything strange until I didn't attend call or see my kids over the weekend, but mostly because I didn't attend a sporting event Monday evening for my son. It took a week and a half for me to be found.

While there, I used several tactics. I talked to him as the independent, strong woman I am and let him know that there was no way in hell that I would ever be with someone like him nor would I ever raise his kids (whom I met while I was there!

They were every bit as creepy as him - except the son tried to get him to stop hitting me, turned out the son knew one of my sons from school and the man had been stalking me for a while from the parent pick-up line at the elementary school! He wanted to be brothers with my son and my son bragged about me as his Mom!). I also eventually pretended to start listening to his line of "reasoning".

I'm not good at pretending or lying - derision is written all over my face, I'm pretty up front and even my sense of humor can be sarcastic and/or blunt. The time I got the farthest away was when he had to leave to take his kids back to their mother's house.

It was around 2 hrs round trip. He locked me in a room and I was "pretending" to think at that point. He only tied one hand and one foot because I was really beaten up by then. The door handles and locks were cheap so once I got out, the door was easy and I broke a window. He was driving up by the time I was out, but the police were behind him.

They had been following him from his exes house hoping he would lead them to me! I darted off into the field with the bushes and he had a standoff, tried to run - luckily in the opposite direction of me. Many terrible things happened in that cabin that I won't detail here.

He went to prison for many years and both of his children faced charges as well. My advice is to try to judge your captors sanity level - I'm not sure I did the right thing by showing my independent streak - I don't know how to act weak, but in the end I definitely felt weak. You can't really win against a psychopath like this guy.

Username: crazydayzi

Growing up in a small town that was nestled in the mountains, I was only afraid of some of the wildlife. When I was seven years old, my parents and I went over to a friend's house for dinner. We were in the middle of nowhere. These people lived at least twenty miles from town. They had two children, a boy (who I'll call Jimmy) who was ten years old and a girl who was sixteen.

I went outside to play with Jimmy while my parents and Jimmy's sister were inside. Before I left, his sister told me not to go and play with Jimmy but I didn't listen. I didn't really like Jimmy but I wanted to play outside. I should have listened to her.

Jimmy convinced me to take a hike with him without telling my parents. I wanted to stay and play on the trampoline. He promised to show me a magic trick if I went with him. It was dusk and the the trees were morphing into dark shadows as we hiked up the hill deeper into the forest. After awhile I didn't know where we were or how to get back.

Jimmy brought two things with him on our hike, a rope and a pair of handcuffs. I was too young to think much about this. Or perhaps I was too naive.

He told me that he wanted to show me his "neat magic trick" and popped the handcuffs on my hands. Next he tied the rope into a noose and slipped it over my neck. I felt like my legs were cemented to the ground.

He told me that he wanted to see a dead body in person and that he couldn't wait to watch me die. He wondered if I'd make any funny faces. He put the noose around my neck and threw the rope over a tree branch.

My mom always told me if someone took me to fight back. In her words, "some things can be worse than death." I pawed at the handcuff, but they were too tight. I was a scrawny little girl, I couldn't overpower him. My parents had no idea I was missing. I had no idea where I was. He was tugging on the rope, tightening it, forcing my chin upwards. I tried to stay calm. He began molesting me with his free hand. He looked down at me and I can still picture his maniacal expression. He was pale with wiry red hair, yellow teeth, and lips that pulled back into thin lines when he smiled. Boy, did he smile while he was doing this to me.

Adrenaline or something kicked in and I started talking to Jimmy. I laughed at him and told him that hanging someone by the neck wouldn't kill them. He was infuriated. He asked what would kill someone. I told him that hanging a person by their wrist was far more effective.

With a grunt he let the rope go slack and I ran, hoping that I was running in the right direction. The handcuffs were still on. The trees flew past me as I ran down the hill and never looked back. I finally saw lights in the distance, it was his house. I ran inside. His sister helped me get the handcuffs off.

I was too shy to say anything. I was embarrassed. I wasn't sure what had happened. Was he just playing around? He came to the house about an hour later. We all at dinner after we had finished eating he left and went in his room. I told my parents about what he did on the car ride home but I'm not sure if they believed me. Needless to say I refused to go back to that house again.

A few years ago, "Jimmy" tried to add me as a friend on Facebook. I blocked him.

I'm not sure if this is considering kidnapping because I willingly went with him before he tried to kill me.

Username: luckycharmtoads

Almost. When I was in highschool I was introduced to marijuana. I would usually sneak out at night so I could smoke it by a skatepark that was close to me. I would do this probably 4 times a week.

I lived in a pretty sketchy residential area so I was always aware of where I was going and knew I should change my routine every time I went out.( Street smarts 101) I would sometimes go at 11:30 and sometimes around 12.

One night it was just one of my normal walks to the skatepark, a joint in hand and everything, what could possibly go wrong? Well, it came to a point where I was approaching a roundabout which was very close to the skatepark, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a black van parked along the shoulder of the road, the passenger side door was slightly open.(which got me very suspicious of a setup.)

I thought I was just paranoid and kept walking towards the roundabout when all the sudden the back doors of the van opened up slightly as well. At this point I was for sure something was wrong. I then started speed walking past the van while not letting an eye off of it. Just as I passed it and thought I was fine both the doors (back and passenger) flew open at the exact same time.

As they opened the doors I heard the van turn on. All the sudden 2 men in black hoodies and clown masks rushed out of the vehicle in a huge burst and started running after me. At this point I was about 18ft away from them running my ass off. While running I heard the driver yell to one of the guys to get in the car as one chased after me. I knew to myself that this was a life or death situation and needed to get the f**ck out of there as soon as possible.

Fortunately, I knew those streets like the back of my hand, and started running straight for the police station that was a couple blocks away from the roundabout. However, there was no way I would make it running down the sidewalk as they had a car. I decided to go into a little pathway where a vehicle couldn't get into. This was my only choice even with another guy chasing me.

Since it was super dark I wasnt able to see the guy chasing me and thought I might of lost him. Nope, I could still hear his hard breathing getting further and further from me. As I got to the end of the pathway out of nowhere I see the black van pull up right infront of the path blocking me. With them infront of me and a guy behind me my only choice was to fight the guy behind me.

Take note that I was heavily into mixed martial arts and have been fighting for over 5 years. I ran at the guy behind me ready to fight with my adrenaline fired up. I noticed the small mistakes these guys made by putting loose masks on.( So I would have an advantage.)

My first move was throwing a direct knee right to his chest, most likely shattering his rib cage. As I threw the knee the man instantly dropped to the ground and started gasping for air. Me thinking that he was done I started running the way I came from and he managed to grab my leg and trip me. Keep in mind the guys in the van probably couldn't see us due to the darkness.

Anyways, he tried getting up and on top of me, thankfully, I know Jiu Jitsu as well and was able to get him into a standing armbar eventually snapping his arm. And *crack*, his arm was broken and I was already running away. While running off I heard the guys in the van get out and ask what happened and where I went.

The guy on the ground could only do nothing but yell in pain "WHERE DO YOU THINK HE WENT IDIOTS!?" At that time I was long gone and was where the start of the pathway was. I continued on running to the police station while pulling my phone out to call 911.

As I was almost at the station I knew I had weed still on me, so I dumped it in a bush that I could come back to another time. I got in the police station letting the 911 operator know I was safe. You could only imagine the explaining I had to fill my parents with.

The men were all caught later that night as the van was a stolen vehicle the morning before. Turns out these guys were involved in human trafficking and more.

So I'd say that I'm proud of myself and am a little more street smart after that. Oh, and the guy who I fought was sent to the hospital with a shattered rib cage that had stabbed into his lungs and a broken arm.

He lived. All the men got life in prison as they had previous crimes. I could only imagine where they would've taken me and what they would've done with me. I hope my story was a lesson for you as it was for me.

Username: devtime16

I have been kidnapped 5 times, though legally only one really “counts”.

All 5 times were by my mother. Everything would be fine (per both side of family’s accounts), and she would up and leave. She accused my dad of beating her and being controlling.

No one that was around corroborated this. She would leave the state and basically call my dad taunting him (per his side of the families stories).

There was hiding of me done by my dads side to keep her from running off with me before the fourth one, and I even think she ran a fence down (conflicting stories). After the fourth one, my brother was born. My dad filed for divorce (in my opinion: because he loved my brother more, but that’s part of a different story in total, soooo).

With the divorce going through, one of the conditions was no leaving the state with us. At this point, I was 4, and remember so much.... The 5th time I knew I was not allowed to go anywhere with her at all pretty much (per dads rules).

She told me to get in the car, and as a 4 yo, I stood in the driveway debating her and telling her I would only go to the store with her... After a long while, she convinced me. And we drove past the store (about a mile away).

I begged her to stop, she kept going. I remember bits and pieces of the drive from San Antonio to North Carolina... I remember living with my grandparents and them giving me an inflatable boat, and their apartment complex.

There was a nice kid next door with a ghostbusters pack and trap set, so we played that a lot. During this time, Texas rangers got involved with the case.. The divorce finalized, and my mom lost complete custody.

My aunt tells me she prayed to find me. They were driving to Florida (last known grandparents location), but “the Holy Spirit” told her to go to North Carolina. This was in 89/90, so I have no idea how the fuck she knew otherwise.

I came home in the back of a station wagon with the rear facing seats. We stopped at a gas station and we got mini games popular at the time for car trips, and I got one of those sketch pad things.
When I came back, I remember an appointment with a therapist or a lawyer or something.

Then I didn’t see my mom until I was 13/14. We tried to regrow a relationship. She told me my dad tried to kill himself on my first birthday (one of the times she kidnapped me)... There was a lot more horrible shit.

Eventually I realized she was a shitty person. I dropped her from my life completely sometime around 25. She tries to get my brother to tell me to reach out once in a while. She is dead to me.

So that’s my story.

Username: justjoshdoingstuff

This didn’t happen to me but happened to a really close friend of mine from high school. I’ll call her Tiffany just for storytelling purposes. Tiffany was from a lower- middle class household and unfortunately many of the kids in our school in that income bracket did some form of drugs at this point(myself included). Tiffany’s parents were divorced, her father was still single and lived alone and her mother remarried and had two more kids that were younger than her.

Tiffany had developed very early, she was gorgeous and all of the other girls in our school treated her like shit because of it. Mind you I didn’t know her personally at this point, I really wish I did because I’m very aware of my surroundings and very cautious which she at the time was not because she didn’t want to be home ever and didn’t seem to care much where she was as long as it wasn’t home.

Her D.O.C was benzos and her “friend” had told her to meet her at some dudes house cause he would give them to her for cheap. So Tiffany gets there and her “friend” isn’t there but dude is and Tiffany has always been a very polite person so when he invited her in and assured her that the other girl would be there soon she complied. The guy gave her some pills and alcohol because the way her friend worded it it sounded like a little get together like they would be drinking and doing drugs.

Long story short her friend ditched her to go to other parties that night and didn’t tell her this so she basically went mia and the dude who’s house Tiffany was at had roofied her drink and she was soon passed out cold. She told me she remembered him raping her than he invited his friend over to do the same. They eventually had her in the basement naked and chained to the wall on a dirty mattress and they continued raping her.

After the second day of Tiffany not coming home her dad realized something was wrong and notified police who assumed she just ran away. He tried to get his ex wife (Tiffany’s mother) on the same page but she just agreed with the police and kinda brushed it to the side because she had a new family.

Tiffany had continually been drugged and raped for a week straight before the men tried to sell her to someone so they dyed her hair black ( her natural hair color is blonde) and made her put makeup on in a way that made her look different and more gothic.

Tiffany had been spotted at a gas station with the men shortly after and her dad went on the news crying begging for his daughter back, which was absolutely heartbreaking to watch.

After having been missing for about 3 months Tiffany was able to break free from the men keeping her while they were out in public and she just ran into the largest crowd of people she could find. She said that she complied with them as much as possible and just tried to be as nice as she could because they wouldn’t hurt her as much when she would do that, as they had been putting cigarettes out on her for the first week until they “broke “ her.

I’m no expert but Tiffany has done an absolutely astonishing turn around. She still has her issues with this obv but she is one of the strongest women I know and I actually look up to her when I go through hard times.

We grew very close in high school because some kids started rumors that she just ran away to “whore around” for three months and this infuriated me. She’s like the sister I never had and now that we’re adults she has two kids and is happily married.

Things like this are absolutely awful but stories like hers blow my mind.

Username: Meowmix97

I may have already told this story elsewhere so forgive me of this is the case.

I was 14, just moved to the state of Georgia. I had only been there a few months and I already made a few friends I hung around regularly.

One day myself and one of my friends (lets call him Bill for privacy sake) decided to go down town to the waterfront. Kids our age hung out there and we wanted to meet girls.

We were hanging out there for two hours or so, and we decided we were going to call a taxi, go to Bill's, and get his mom to buy us alcohol (Bill's mom was a real piece of work). Bill looks up from the park to a balcony across the street. This was a popular restaurant, and Bill saw some of his older friends hanging out on the balcony.

They had seen Bill and were yelling at him to come up and say hey. Bill obliged and said "I'll be right back, wait here for the taxi so he doesn't think we left". So I did that. I sat at the corner where there were some benches.

I looked around and saw a couple of kids a few years older than me crabbing at the docks. Being a northerner this was new to me so I watched for a moment. When I looked back to my right towards the street Bill was on the other side of, I saw a Crown Victoria parked in the middle of the street.

As I stared wondering what this person was doing, the interior light comes on. Its an older man (maybe in his 60's) staring at me with his finger still on the light button.. just staring directly at me. This freaked me out so I stood up and started walking toward the park. The man quickly turned around, parked illegally right next to where I was sitting. He gets out and I lost my shit, I ran as fast as I could to the dock I mentioned before.

There were maybe 10 kids on this dock all older than me. I told them "hey, I'm new here, do you see that guy?". The guy says "yes". I say "I think he's a pervert I think he's trying to get me!!" The guy says "See that guy back there?" Biiig muscle bound jock, easily 6 feet tall over 200 lbs. He says "We call him Sachsquach, ain't nothin gonna happen to ya while he's around".

The man following me walked my direction towards the start of the dock. He lights a swisher sweet cigarillo (grandpa smoked em for years and I could instantly recognise the smell). He just stared at me the whole time he smoked.

Then the cab showed up just 30 yards beyond where he was standing. I start yelling for Bill to come over. I got a few of the kids and walked to the end of the dock, jumped off the side of the dock onto land, just to make sure he didn't grab me.

Ran to the cab and the man started to leave. Continued to watch me the while time we were leaving. As we were almost block and a half away all I heard was tires squeeling and there he was speeding away.

Username: Orafferty

My mom was almost kidnapped twice. By the same guy.

I know this technically doesn’t count but I’ll tell the story anyways. My mom was born in 1973 she was about 14 maybe when this happened ( you do the math lol).

Anyways one day she got a call from some boy ( or at least she thought he was a boy) asking for Anna ( my moms name) my mom talked to him asking him if he was a boy that she met roller skating with her friends, he said yes. They talked and then planned on hanging out he said he would come pick her up. My mom lived in a weird located house it’s on a tiny road that goes through a block, so it’s completely surrounded by houses and if you didn’t know it was there you would probably never find it. The guy gave up after driving around and called my mom and said he couldn’t find her house. My mom agreed to meet him a couple of streets away on the Main Street of our town.

She walked down there and she obviously realized before she got into the car that he wasn’t 16-17 like he said. My mom made up a lie saying “I only came down here to tell you that I can’t hang out my mom said no, but I didn’t want you to be waiting on me” ( thank god my mom was quick on her feet with a lie lol) as my mom walked away he started to chase after her in his car.

She ran through streets and went under fences because she didn’t want him to know where she lived. My mom got home and my grandparents didn’t give two shits on what happened ( something that I think still pisses my mom off)

The second occurrence. A few months pass and my mom is with a friend walking to a local store in the town. As they’re coming up my mom spots him and her and my mom start to run as fast as they can.

As they’re running from him the man shouts “I’m gonna get you” and my mom responded with “the hell you are” and my mom and her friend ran away with him chasing them through the streets. My mom said he was inches away from grabbing her friend who wasn’t as fast of a runner. They both ran to a mutual friends grandmas house. My mom wouldn’t leave until my grandma would come up and walk her home.

For the whole summer my mom never left the house out of fear.

At some point months later my moms family was watching the news and then my mom starts screaming “that’s the guy who tried to kidnap me”. The man was arrested because he was caught raping a women behind the local Kmart.

Supposedly that guy was known as a local perv and he harassed multiple girls and he even stalked one of my aunts friends back in the day.

Sorry for the long story. It’s something both me and my mom think about and talk about sometimes.

Username: Jason105768

I'm not sure this counts, as I wasn't abducted and I'm not 100% positive it was the intent, but in November I had a really scary incident with some guy at a bar.

I was actually not chatting him up or anything, I had met a nice guy there, a vet - it was veteran's day, and we talked about that, and started playing pool - and this weird guy joined our pool game. He didn't seem too weird off the bat, just really outgoing and up in our personal space, but he said he was from Nigeria so I attributed it to a cultural difference.

Anyway, the guy I was playing pool with started to remark to me that this guy seemed really drunk, and we kind of cut the pool game short. The guy I met was walking me to my car and stopped in to use a public restroom.

While he was in there, Nigerian guy swerved up in his pickup and just said "Get in." I said "No, I'm waiting for my friend." and he said "No you're not. You're getting in." The other guy came out of the bathroom* and the truck drove off.

I was watching the truck and telling my new veteran friend what had happened and I said "I think it's ok now, he left."

But the vet said "I'm not so sure" and as he was saying that, we saw the truck a few blocks ahead pull a sharp u-turn, the wrong way down the one way street, and speed back at us. The veteran guy yelled at me to run back to the bar, as we were out of public sight at the time.

I ducked behind a wall in front of the bar and the veteran and his friend, the doorman, formed a wall in front of me, and the pickup turned the corner, drove up on the sidewalk, and the Nigerian guy got out. The doorman yelled "You're done, man, I'm reporting you for drunk driving."

The guy yelled at the two guys "I'm not here for you, I'm here for her, she's mine." He started to come at them until the doorman started to dial 911, then he got back in the truck and sped off. The idiot had apparently left his ID in the bar so the doorman went and got it and gave the police his name.

It was a really weird night. I was kind of in shock about the whole thing with that guy, but the whole incident apparently set off some kind of PTSD episode in the veteran I was talking to, so I spent the next couple of hours trying to get him to relax, as he wouldn't stop pacing around downtown.

I have no idea what the Nigerian guy would have done if he'd gotten to me, but it can't have been good. I mean, I can hold me own - I'm no waif, I'd be hard to lug around - but I don't know if he was armed or anything.

I also never heard any followup about an arrest. I should ask the doorman.

Username: calliope720

I may have already told this story elsewhere so forgive me of this is the case.

I was 14, just moved to the state of Georgia. I had only been there a few months and I already made a few friends I hung around regularly. One day myself and one of my friends (lets call him Bill for privacy sake) decided to go down town to the waterfront.

Kids our age hung out there and we wanted to meet girls. We were hanging out there for two hours or so, and we decided we were going to call a taxi, go to Bill's, and get his mom to buy us alcohol (Bill's mom was a real piece of work).

Bill looks up from the park to a balcony across the street. This was a popular restaurant, and Bill saw some of his older friends hanging out on the balcony.

They had seen Bill and were yelling at him to come up and say hey. Bill obliged and said "I'll be right back, wait here for the taxi so he doesn't think we left". So I did that. I sat at the corner where there were some benches. I looked around and saw a couple of kids a few years older than me crabbing at the docks. Being a northerner this was new to me so I watched for a moment. When I looked back to my right towards the street Bill was on the other side of, I saw a Crown Victoria parked in the middle of the street.

As I stared wondering what this person was doing, the interior light comes on. Its an older man (maybe in his 60's) staring at me with his finger still on the light button.. just staring directly at me.

This freaked me out so I stood up and started walking toward the park. The man quickly turned around, parked illegally right next to where I was sitting. He gets out and I lost my shit, I ran as fast as I could to the dock I mentioned before.

There were maybe 10 kids on this dock all older than me. I told them "hey, I'm new here, do you see that guy?". The guy says "yes". I say "I think he's a pervert I think he's trying to get me!!" The guy says "See that guy back there?" Biiig muscle bound jock, easily 6 feet tall over 200 lbs.

He says "We call him Sachsquach, ain't nothin gonna happen to ya while he's around". The man following me walked my direction towards the start of the dock. He lights a swisher sweet cigarillo (grandpa smoked em for years and I could instantly recognise the smell). He just stared at me the whole time he smoked.

Then the cab showed up just 30 yards beyond where he was standing. I start yelling for Bill to come over. I got a few of the kids and walked to the end of the dock, jumped off the side of the dock onto land, just to make sure he didn't grab me.

Ran to the cab and the man started to leave. Continued to watch me the while time we were leaving. As we were almost block and a half away all I heard was tires squeeling and there he was speeding away.

Username: Orafferty

I told this story before on a different sub but ill tell it again.

It was Christmas day around 10 pm. I (23f) now 28 (f) lived in a really rough neighborhood. My bf lived close by at the other end of a roughly half mile, one way that kind of cuts across a section of the city and an elementary school/ park. There are no side streets or turn offs. Once you are driving on this one way you have to see it through to the other end. Its has barley any lighting at all and is super dark.

I was annoyed because I had been waiting for him to pick me up and it was getting late so I decided to walk. At that age I thought I was invincible even though in reality i’m a 5’ 100lb girl, It was a really stupid thing to do.

The direction i was walking was against traffic. It was snowing pretty hard and there was almost nobody out. The one way ends at a semi busy, very well lit intersection, my bfs house is across the intersection and around the corner. Super close.

Im getting closer to the end of the street, on my right is the big dark park followed by the elementary school. The left side of the street is densely packed with multi family homes but almost everyones light are off. All the sudden a little crappy red sedan turns onto the one way.

They slow down and I can see there at least 4 maybe 5 people in the car which kind of put me on alert. As they drive by me they roll down the window and start cat calling me, telling me to come over to the car in that sickly sweet way. I pick up my pace and keep walking almost jogging.

Again, this one way was very narrow with a parked lined by a wood fence on one side and houses on the other and impossible to turn around on.

These dudes stop the car, put it in park and are yelling at me and getting out of the car coming towards me. Idk what happened after that because my adrenaline kicked in and I booked it to the intersection. I cant believe i didn’t eat shit with all the snow and ice. Flew across the intersection and around the corner, into my Bfs house. He grew up in neighborhoods like that and said while he’s glad I was safe he hopes I learned Something from that experience. He had been telling me not to walk around alone at night for a while and I kept brushing him off thinking I knew better.

Its funny because the only other people I encountered along the way was a group of teenaged black kids, much bigger than me who were walking behind me but they were friendly in a genuine way and just over all gave off good vibes like they were just enjoying walking in the snow. But when that car rolled up and those guys started trying to talk to me I instantly knew the did not mean well, it wasn’t just some ignorant but “harmless” cat calling.

That was obviously confirmed when they put their car in park and got out in the 20 degree weather in the fucking snow. All 4 doors opened and all 4 were getting out when I just booked it. Never looked back but theres just no way those dudes weren’t trying to grab me.

I believe I was probably just a crime of opportunity, bird of a feather flock together and I was a small girl walking in the dark, very very alone but It still gives me chills to think about.

Username: [deleted]

Many years ago, my sister was kidnapped when she was 12 years old. My parents dropped her off at the wrong place for an after school club meeting. She didn't have any money to call home, so she was just waiting around outside a church for a couple of hours until my parents would come back for her. A guy drove up and grabbed her and dragged her to his car.

He drove around with her and brought her to his house where he tried to kill her in various ways. He ended up slitting her throat open with a butcher's knife (but not killing her), and then he drove to some lonely spot on the freeway and dropped her by the side of the road when she promised him that, if he let her go, she would lie about his appearance and that he would get away with it.

He drove away, and she walked for miles to get to a suburb where there were some houses. It was hot that day, and she had to walk a hell of a long way with her throat gaping open. She had blood all down the front of her dress, and loads of people passed her without stopping. This was before the days of cell phones, but I don't think anyone called the cops.

At one point she sat down and started getting sleepy, but she says she heard a voice telling her to get up and walk. If she had fallen asleep, she's sure she would have died somewhere along the road. She knocked on a few doors, and finally, someone let her use their phone.

They called the police and my parents, and that was the start of a long nightmare for my family. I was only eight at the time, and I can tell you that I was very frightened if a car ever slowed down near me when I was out walking around or biking in my neighborhood after that. It took me many years to get over feeling frightened and vulnerable after that.

My sister remembered lots of very precise details about the guy's car and house, so the police were able to pick him up within a couple of weeks.

She was tough as nails through the whole trial, and when the police asked her sometimes (when they were having her look through mug shots and make a composite) if she wanted to take a break, she said that NO, she did NOT want to take a break. They needed to find the man who had hurt her so he couldn't hurt anyone else.

He was convicted and went to prison, but I heard that he got out on parole after 7 years. My sister was incredibly brave and composed for such a young kid. The guy who did it had been in prison before for molesting kids, and he had got out early from his last conviction for good behavior.

My parents lived with a lot of guilt for not making sure that she got inside ok when they dropped her off. The lesson here is that you can never be too careful with your kids' safety.

Please, please always make sure your kids have a way to make a phone call if you leave them somewhere and something unexpected happens.

My sister was going to a meeting that was sometimes held at a church and sometimes at a school. The meeting place had been changed, but she didn't know about it, so no one else was there. Never leave your kid somewhere assuming that whoever they're meeting is going to be there. See your kid inside.

EDIT: I have talked to my sister a lot about the whole experience over the years, and she has some very interesting thoughts about it all. She's been writing a book about it, and she's doing very well. Username: ifirehorse

I’d broken up with my abusive fiancé for the second, and final time. I finally realized his issues were way deeper than anything I could deal with and I was worth more than that.

But, like an idiot, I agreed to meet him for dinner “just so we could end it on a good note’’...his words. I still can’t believe I fell for it.

Anyway, my car mysteriously got two flat tires while we were at the restaurant and the meal had gone so well, as far as him not begging me to come back or turning angry on me, that when he offered to drive me back to my brothers house, where I’d been staying,

I agreed to it. He had just got a new truck and told me he wanted me to drive us home, to see how nice it drove, etc.

So I’m driving toward my brothers home when the ex says something about how big the glove compartment is and opens it and pulls out a gun. He aims it at me and says I’m not going to my bro’s house, I’m going to ‘our’ house and we’re going to stay up all night until I realize that I’m supposed to be with him forever.

But it was too light outside so we couldn’t go back to our house yet because he didn’t want anyone to see us coming home. So he made me drive for a while as he tried to convince me that we should be together. I was in total panic inside, but I just remained calm and focused on driving and paying attention to traffic and figuring out a plan of escape.

When I had to stop at lights or signs he put his hand on the gear shift so I couldn’t put it in park and get out of the truck. I continued driving until we got to an area that I realized would probably be the last place I’d be able to run for help and also there weren’t any cars behind us. I took my chance and just slammed on the brakes in the middle of our lane and hurled myself out the door without even putting it in park.

It was dark and the only light was from traffic so I took off running down the middle of the road in the direction we had just came from because I figured one, there were no headlights coming at that time, so he couldn’t see me, and two, if he decided to get in and drive (as opposed to just chasing me on foot) then he’d have to turn around and that gave me a few extra seconds of time.

So I ran into a ditch beside the road and hid and when I didn’t see him come back by after a few minutes I got back on the road and ran for about half a mile until a family I knew from the area we were in drove by and recognized me and stopped.

They drove me to my sisters house. I called the police, they came and took my story and went to pick him up but he never went back to his house (for a couple of days) and when they finally got him to go into the station to give a statement he denied it and there was no way of me proving anything so that was that.

It was a tumultuous end to the worst two years of my life but i got out with my life and my child’s life and I’ve dealt with it and moved on.

Username: beatricetalker

My mother kidnapped my brother and I when I was about 9 or 10.

My parents had recently separated, not legally, but we knew it would lead to divorce. My mother moved out of the house and lived in an RV park. My siblings and I only saw her at school (where she was a teacher). I should note here that my sister was in California staying with my maternal aunt - this is quasi important.

My middle brother and I missed our mom so we asked our dad if we could visit her for the weekend. He had no problem with it; kids need their mothers.

Well, my mother took us out of school early and told us that we were going on an "adventure" ; destination TBD. We talked about heading north from Central Florida to New England, but next thing I know we are headed west on I-10.

Now I had assumed that my father knew about all of this because my mother would never go behind his back like this, but things started getting suspicious when we weren't allowed to call him on our road trip. He was very surprised when we weren't at church on Sunday and he found out that we had been taken out of school early. When we were allowed to call him my mother monitored our calls to make sure we didn't say where we were. She allowed us to send post cards since we would be long gone by the time they arrived to my father.

She tried to make it fun for us, stopping at the space station in Mississippi (Alabama?), then the better one in Huston, the Alamo, Carlsbad Caverns, etc.

Next thing I know, we are parked outside my aunt's house in the Mojave Desert.

From there we stayed in the RV at a small TV studio where my mother landed a job as a producer for their morning show. Then we moved to an apartment. My mom met a friend of my cousin and next thing I know they are an item.

The whole time I'm being told how shitty my father is and why my mom just had to leave him, move across country to be with her sister and 3 of her 4 children (my oldest brother was a senior in highschool and taking classes at a community college still living with my father in FL). Basically I was being brainwashed.

My mother even took my sister's roundtrip ticket back to Florida (they have the same name) to get some of her things and drove back to Cali.

My father tried to file a report for her kidnapping my brother and I, but the police couldn't really do anything since he still had contact with us and my parents were still technically married.

I was finally able to get away from my mother by convincing her that I was completely brainwashed against my father; but that I still missed him. I told her I would be coming back to her and the asshole she shacked up with after a few months.

I got to Florida and breathed a huge sigh of relief. But the worst times of my life were just starting; my mother decided to move her, my 2 siblings, and her beau back to Florida to try to guilt me into living with them. By this time my parents were divorced and my mother got visitation even though I didn't want to see her.

From there it was a constant struggle between my parents over who had custody of me. My father turned abusive, so I left to go live with my mom who had moved to Mississippi. Later things turned sour as my mother became unbearably overbearing. I left to go live with my father in Chicago.

All we did was fight and argue; he kicked me out to go live with my mother back in MS. I lived with her for a while, until she wanted to move to Tennessee to be near my sister who was pregnant - I told her I wasn't moving so soon after getting settled again and to be near my friends so she left me in MS with my grandparents.

I ended up getting into a huge argument with my grandfather (an old fundamentalist evangelical preacher) by telling him to shove his demands up his ass; he kicked me out so I had to move to TN with my mom where I lived in a one bedroom apartment until she got married to some other asshole and they got a 2 room apartment. I lived with them until I graduated from highschool.

Username: dcommini

Sorry this doesnt fit 100%, but I was held captive by the husband of the (toxic, deranged) lady I was hanging out with.

She had orchestrated for me to come over and hang out and spend the night like usual. Unbeknownst to me she had just had her husband and kids over and ended up having sex with him but he couldnt finish so he went to drop their girls (10f and 3f) off at home. So I get there and we are chilling and then we hear a bunch of loud pounding on the door. Then he yells my name and tells me to come out.

Now, since before she and I started hanging out she had been telling me and everyone else at work that they were separated, he was bat shit crazy, abusive and so on. We all knew she had a boyfriend (a big time drug dealer) because she talked non stop about him at work. I took his place and ended up having to threaten him multiple times to get him to stay away from her for her children's sake as well as, honestly and selfishly, mine.

So the banging continues. Hes going around to every door and window and pounding to the point I was worried the glass would break. She starts calling him and telling him to leave and that shes going to call the cops. After about 10 minutes of her repeating that she tells me shes going out to talk to him. I tell her not to because as soon as that door opens he is coming in and I will then have to deal with it. She didnt listen.

She opens the door. He rushes in. I was standing in the hallway and he rushes up to me and shoves me into the washer and dryer. The moved back 3 inches. He kept throwing mock punches and stopping before hitting my face all while yelling how he is going to murder me.

I had heard a lot about this guy and knew he had zero confidence though. While he was physically larger i am average height, broad as all hell. That combined with my history of playing for a national football team, wrestling, and my history of fighting in school for fun, made me pretty self assured that I was fine. I kept my hands by my side and let him try to fake me out.

This whole story is a bit long, but at one point the lady and I tried getting him out of the house. He slammed the door and wouldnt leave and wouldnt let us leave. His threats of murdering me continued and he kept laying hands on me and not allowing either of us to leave.

A while later after many events he leaves, but not before grabbing a big box of glass Tupperware I had just bought and smashing it outside.

Later the cops came and talked to us. The nut of a lady of course lied to the police. Cops didnt believe he had only shoved me and thought he had hit and scratched me as well because my left forehead was swollen and I had scratches down my face and neck. He had also slammed my hand in the door at one point as well. At first I had declined pressing charges but the cop later explained this wasnt the husband's first offence and should be held accountable. So I started pressing charges and but later dropped them a couple weeks later.

Fun times (not really. It was all really dark being addicted to such a monster. Her games and manipulations had me on the brink of suicide for nearly a year. Almost a year later and while I'm doing a lot better i know deep down I have a lot of healing to do from it. This was just one occurence and not even the most damaging. A couple weeks after this incident she had actually convinced her friends and family I had kidnapped her and was taking her to commit murder suicide.

Again, all was orchestrated by her to create drama. To this day, I have people coming to me saying their friends who work with her now hear I am a crazy stalker who harasses her and threatens her family --all despite me having a protective order against her. Luckily everyone who knows me saw the hell she put me through and have my back. Even still It sucks to be slandered to people you dont know in your home town.)

Username: mercuryhg17

When I was 4 my parents separated. My mom hadn't told anyone how dangerous my dad was, she was embarassed. He was a drunk, and my very first memory ever was of him beating me. He grabbed me and my cousin by our throats (she was 2, I was 3. I don't know if he hurt be previous to this) and had us up against the wall so our feet weren't touching the ground.

I couldn't breathe or even scream, when he let my neck go I gasped and screamed as loud as my very sore throat allowed... After this he threw us on the bed and hit our bare butts repeatedly so hard we had dark bruises in the exact shape of his hand. There was also the same bruise around our necks.

My mom finds us like this and kicks him out. He moved out of the state for a few months to stay with family. Well he keeps telling my mom he's coming to get me and take me to live with him. She was terrified so we stay with a friend for a few nights. Well it was his friend too and when my dad knocks on the door at 2 am and we were all asleep the husband answers the door, he's a friend of my dad and didn't know anything about any of this.

Just that he missed me and wanted to stay the night too. Well I didn't even wake up. He just took me from the bed (I was in bed with my mom) and we left. I woke up in the next state over like 5 hours later and all I was so confused. He took my mom's truck too so at first I thought I was with my mom. I wouldn't stop crying the whole time. He scared me and on one hand I had missed him but he had really hurt me so I was afraid he would again.

He kept calling my family (it would have been a 3 or 4 day drive) and they kept saying keep coming, you deserve her. Well the second day in I'm still crying this whole time and calls my mom so I can talk to her.

She's crying and trying to get me to tell her where I am, I really don't know. I'm 4 years old and we were calling from payphones in empty parking lots... my dad actually had a heart and he drives me back home to my mom. My mom had been calling the cops but they couldn't do anything because she never made any police reports and they weren't legally separated.

He hopped on a plane and I didn't see him for probably 3 years after that. He got visitation rights, I saw him for a week maybe every 1-3 years. It really fucked up my mom.

For about 8 years after that she made me sleep in bed with her and she literally wrapped her arm and leg around me. She would prep me for my visits, telling me what do do and where to go if they threatened to keep me there and not let me come back home.

She had no idea what he was going to to, she was so afraid for me. I know he messed up but my dad seems like a great guy now. Granted I only see him occasionally, I do call him regularly. He married a woman who was like 12 years older than me, had 2 kids with her and pretty much stopped visits for a while. Barely there, really. I told everyone I didn't have a dad even though I still talked to him like once a month.

Now, I really love my dad. He's a messed up person but if I didn't remember him hurting me I wouldn't ever think he was capable of that. He's still a blackout drunk but he gets sad now. He calls me drunk and cries, tells me how sorry he is for everytbing.

He doesn't know I remember all of this. Not the most intriguing of kidnappings but it was scary and it scarred my mom for life, more so than me for sure. BTW this was about 23 years ago.

Username: FunnyLittleHippo

I guess my story is a little different. I does not involve parents, ransoms or anyone known to me. Just me, a very naive 11 year old boy who met a strange man while walking through local bushland.
It wasn't exactly "Yes I would love to go see your secret cubby house"... more like I felt something was off, and agreed to go off with this man to appease what seemed like a dangerous and irritable side to him.
Anyway we arrived at a secluded area and he quickly pulled out a knife and put it too my throat. And the he kept me all day. No assault nothing physical. He just kept me at knife point while telling me fantastical tales of complete bullshit, which under the circumstances were starting to mess with my sense of reason.
Then something odd happened, workmen showed up. Workmen, on a weekend, in the late afternoon, in hard hats (no normally worn in the bush). They appeared to be oddly loitering 30 meters from where I was being held. Just making a show of looking at trees. I normally would have not noticed anything astray, but maybe six hours with a knife on you changes your levels of critical thinking dramatically. I was directed not to call out for help or I would die. I had no reason to doubt this.
Then the knife was removed I was told not to move, or run for the men. I didn't I still had no Idea what was going on and reasoned "If I ran the kidnappers best option was to stab me in the back before the workmen were wise". 

I had two options ahead of me however, seek help with the "workmen", or stay with the kidnapper (it was getting dark). I was panicking and could not move.
The knife then returned. It was pointed at the workmen. The guy sounded annoyed / disappointed. I didn't know what was going on. He stepped back and said he had to piss, told me not to run, made some sound with his boots, like he was letting me know how far away he was. 

I knew this time I could not afford to be paralyzed by fear. At this point some things started rigging through my memory. Urban legend like stories of other children in the neighbourhood who had escaped kidnapping years ago. I knew running for the workmen would not be wise. I would gladly jump in their car... I would wind up in a local quarry.

In a adrenaline fuelled moment, I had done a lot of reasoning to find a plan to get out safe. - I ran to the workmen, meatering my pace. Fast enough to be away from the kidnapper, but keeping a lot in reserve. I shouted "help, help". The workmen looked my way, but did not move. At what I judged to be the halfway point between both parties, I turned left and hoofed it full pelt. Don't know what unfolded behind me, but I mad it out safe.
Why did I do this? Well I figured scenario A) the workmen were real. In this case the kidnapper would not pursue me if I ran directly at them shouting, opting instead to run from discovery. Or B) The workmen were fake. The kidnapper would not pursue me initially, as things were going to plan. 

The workmen should stay still letting me run to them. I could use this period to maximise my distance between both parties before making my real escape.
I discovered in myself that day more than just the scarred, naive little kid that the kidnapper had found.

Username: myOtherAccount_18573

I wasn’t kidnapped, but I almost was. It was really late at night ~2 am in the morning since I had a closing shift at work. At the time I didn’t have a car, so I had to walk ~2 miles home. Now, my town is fairly safe, but I always was super paranoid.

I usually listened to music as I walked, but usually kept one earbud out so I could stay alert. I was crossing a cross walk through this big intersection, and the road right next to me led from the freeway almost directly into my town.

A tiny car with four men sat at the light and I got a terrible feeling. I looked at them, who ignored me, which was fine. Something just felt off so I started playing with the knife at my belt.

When the light turns green I’m a couple of feet away from the cross walk near a gas station. As soon as the light turns green they take a quick right and do that creepy thing guys do when then slowly drive past you then speed up after checking you out. I get shivers down my spine and think ‘oh fuck this’. (Hope you guys know what I’m talking about XD) They quickly head into the gas station.

Well at this point, I’m not that much of a happy camper, so I pull out my knife. I’ve had multiple instances of people trying to assault me in one way or another, so I’m ready for the worst. I keep nervously glancing behind me to find all four of the men jump out and start full blown RUNNING towards me.

I, at this point, am pissed. Usually when I’m threatened my body chooses the fight option, and I don’t know if it’s because that’s what evolution picked for me or if I just HATE running.

So I stand my ground as they run towards me, and I take note that they’re much bigger then me (at the time I was as scrawny 16 y/o girl). They start yelling things like ‘come here’, and ‘we need your help’.

I have my knife out and get into a fighting stance, and very clearly make sure they can see my knife. Distance is closing and I’m starting to think maybe they’re not realizing I’m going to stab them.

I felt low key bad because if they actually did need help I didn’t want to stab them for it, so I wave my knife in front of them. I say something like ‘FUCK OFF BITCH’ and the guy leading the pack sees, shakes his head ‘no’, turns tail and runs.

That night 3 more cars stopped near me, in which if they were behind me I drew my knife and kept glancing behind, and if they were in front I waited for them to leave because I’m not walking by someone’s car while they’re in it. (More of a chance of getting kidnapped) anyways, I thankfully got home safely. Pissed, but safe.

(My current boyfriend said that the guys probably though ‘yeah we can kidnap her, but she’s taking one of us down and I don’t want it to be me. Also sorry for how long this is)

Username: 119Chickens

So I was ALMOST kidnapped as a small kid, but then saved at the last second. Like something out of a TV movie.

Back in the early 90’s this radical anti-abortion group posted an online hit-list of doctors who perform abortions. The names were all written in dripping blood, if you can imagine what a webpage from the early 90’s looked like. They also posted the addresses of the doctors with the names.

My dad is a doctor, but he has literally nothing to do with abortions. He reads x-rays all day as a radiologist. Unfortunately, he has the exact same name (First, middle initial, last name M.D.) as this crazy abortion doctor in a completely different state.

This other guy had lost his medical license for doing illegal abortions, but was continuing to practice under the radar doing really unethical stuff, like in the parking lot with a hanger type shit.

Anyway, he was known to this violent anti-abortion group. But they posted this guy’s name online but used MY family’s address. The idiots got the wrong fucking doctor.

So these people start creeping around our house all the time. Our neighbors repeatedly call 911 because they see people going in and out of our garage and looking in the windows at night. The FBI finds the webpage and notifies my dad he is on this hit list.

My dad tells the FBI there are these weird people creeping around and everyone is like holyshit, this all connects. So they start posting cars to watch our house.

I am seven years old and have no fucking idea any of this is going on. So one day I get off the school bus and I’m walking home. It’s like a half-mile walk from the bus stop to my driveway, suburbia, very safe. I’m walking home, and unknown to me this guy starts following me.

He walks up right up behind me, then next thing I know he is being tackled out of nowhere and there are people with guns, everyone is shouting and there are police sirens going off. Somehow I end up back home, safe and sound, and over the years I completely forgot all about this happening.

Fast forward 20 years, one day in casual conversation my dad’s like “hey, did you know you were almost kidnapped once?” I’m like, “ummmmmm no...” and he tells me this crazy story. And then the memory of the guy getting tackled and all the police yelling sort of creeps into my memory, and it clicks for me.

My parents had completely played down the thing at the time to prevent my sister and I from being traumatized. No one had mentioned it for 20 years until my dad just randomly brought it up one day. Thanks dad.

Username: [deleted]

I was dating this guy, much older than me and way more intense than I was really into. I was not a "nice" girl, I enjoying riding in the back of a motorcycle and drinking and partying into the night... But I didn't want to be a biker "chick", I've always had a mind of my own and a mouth to go with it.

I told the guy, as he was dropping me off at home that I didn't want to see him anymore. He didn't take it well, punched the gas tank of his bike and left a huge dent but he left and I just figured it was over.

A week or so later I had a friend ( guy friend ) over for dinner, chillin and having fun when biker guy kicks in my door. He's got a friend with him and a shotgun.

I was stunned but realized pretty fast that this was bad news. He was taking me with him, that was what he wanted and he wasn't taking no for an answer. I tried to grab the phone and dial 911 and he punched it off the wall.

My friend tried telling him to calm down and he hustled him down the hall into the bathroom, I'm not sure what the plan was but he fired the shotgun into the ceiling in there. I ran for my room past the guy he brought with him and dialed 911 and dropped the phone.

He drug me out of the house with him and his friend, shoved my into a car and took off hell bent for leather. Wasn't long before cops were behind us and he tried to take a turn too fast and rolled the car. I was bruised up but ok, and glad as hell to see police for once in my life.

My friend at my house had pointed the cops the way we went, he was beat up but not shot thankfully.

Biker guy went to prison, our landlord didn't renew our lease so we had to move, but he still managed to call me from prison one time telling me he would never let me go.

Scared the shit out of me but I've never seen him again so... Who knows what happened.

It was in the newspaper. I got briefly famous with my friends, but it actually scared me and I got really iffy about guys for a while. Got sent to a therapist who was a piece of shit ( whole other story ) and my head was even more screwed up. I don't know how I lived through my wild years honestly, but I do know that having my oldest child as a teenager is what saved my life.

I loved him so much that I stopped doing stupid shit and busted my ass to try and be a good mom to him.

Username: Mazziemom

My friend was kidnapped from the front seat of a car was mom was putting the grocery cart back she just put him in the car front seat so that she could place the cart back in the rack after she had put all the groceries back in the car.

He was about 8 or 9 at the time. this was in Michigan he said he remember being drugged and put in a basement with numerous other children ages 5 to 12. The kidnappers had some sick joy of making the children fight one another... and cutting off fingers of those that didn't fully commit to fighting to the death.

The was a pit in the basement that was full of bodies of the children that succum to death. My friend was drugged and told to fight till he killed two girls that were of the eighteen that he was caged with in the basement.

The little girl was five and had other fingers already taken off because of her unaccepted demands to fight some of the other children. He told me she begged to die. He said he cried and did not know what to do. He was screamed at by the wife and husband of the house to kill and fight them both.

He didn't do either and was stabbed and beaten for his unwillingness to go through with the violence. While the little girl was only about five at the time... he killed her with his hands with a rock to the head. He never did another violent thing after that inncodent, he refused was screamed at and stabbed with what he described was a large kitchen knife in the back, pushed in the pit with other bodies of those that had died.

He said that he couldn't see light down there but he estimate that he lay there for about two days. He told me he begged God to let him die. After two days he pulled the knife from his back he decided that they all needed to break free from all the this. They together about eighteen of them clawed, chewed and bit at the door , hours had gone by but they had made progress.

He told me when they broke free to the inside of the house that it was dark outside... but the house was extremely nice and well furnished. He said that opening the door to the outside of something that before that moment was a dream.

He was running through the front yard with the others screaming for their lives. Pounding of the nearest neighbors doors screaming. He said he stopped mid through the front yard and returned to the house walked through the doors... quietly through the house found the kitchen for a knife in anticipation to go back the the basement to free the other kids that had been tied to the walls.

He said as he turned to return to the foyer of the home to go downstaurs , he saw in the corner the man of the house.... he yelled out to my friend ... he ran at him my friend scared for his life, ran up the stairs to the nearest room, which happen to be their bedroom where the wife had been sleeping.

She screamed and reached for the gun that was somewhere in reach (I don't remember now where he said it was) she swung the gun around but in the process flung it in my friends direction, to his feet.

He picked it up and immediately shot the man coming into the room and turned back again to the wife and shot her as well. From this he is still in contact with the girl that he was made to fight with in the basement. They have received cousling through the state because of the innocent steming from the creation of a political figure in Michigan. They were also given hush money although I didn't ask further as to how much.
Thank you for reading this story.

I stand to believe this story because I've known my friend for almost eight years and have never known him to tell a lie. He was about in tears telling me all of this. Its almost been a year since he told me this.

Username: Tbilnakc