According to the Polly Klaas Foundation, 99.8 percent of children who go missing do come home. In fact, the organization points out, "Nearly 90% of missing children have simply misunderstood directions or miscommunicated their plans, are lost, or have run away."
9 percent of children are kidnapped by family members in custody disputes. 3 percent are abducted by family members, and the kidnapper is often someone the child knows. In fact, less than 1 percent are kidnapped in the cases of "stranger danger" you likely grew up hearing about. Half of those children, the organization notes, end up coming home.
One Redditor asked:
"People who've been kidnapped, how did you survive?"
"I was kidnapped..."
"I was kidnapped in my car, when I was 18. I had been stalked by the guy for at least a few days (saw the same truck follow me a couple times on my way to college campus). I was just about to get out of my car to go to a bookstore, and this guy jumps in the passenger seat with a gun. He made me drive out of town to a remote area where his truck was parked (never found out how he followed me to bookstore without the truck)."
"He wanted to keep the gun on me while he got out of the car because I had a mace thing on my keychain. As he was backing out, he slipped and lost his footing, and I took off in the car. I drove straight to the police station. He was never caught."
"I was on my way home..."
"Almost. Age of eleven. Do NOT go to second location. Fight like hell to stay in the first. Even if you get taken anyway, raising a huge noise can cause a witness to come see what's happening to you and they can report it."
"I was on my way home from school for lunch and some guy in a small quarter ton truck gets out, claims he's a police officer and tells me to get in the truck. Right away I'm thinking I'm not going anywhere with this clown. He claimed to be a cop and I asked where's your badge? While he's launching into this rant about how much trouble I'll be in if I don't do as he says in my head I'm thinking all we have to do is bolt behind the house right next to us. That neighbourhood had a whole mess of pathways that went all over the place. If we make it to that, there's no way that guy is gonna catch us."
"I straight up told him I'm not going anywhere with you. That caught him off guard, like he wasn't used to someone challenging him. He got this scared look on his face and got back in his truck. Then he tries laying this bullshit on us he's some secret undercover cop and don't tell anyone he's there."
"Yeah right, my friend and I, we both ran home and told our parents first thing. They called the cops and we gave a full description of both the truck and the guy. The friend who was with me actually remembered the license plate. After that I couldn't tell you what happened, we never got an update from the police and never saw that guy ever again."
"She didn't mistreat me..."
"I was kidnapped way before my memories formed so this is all from my parents and the police report."
"Basically, a lady in the nursing ward decided to give me a "spicy adoption" by hiding me in some sheets and taking me out of the hospital. She was tracked down a few days later and I was handed back to my parents."
"She didn't mistreat me, apparently I was a healthy normal child and she even bought the expensive stuff in order to take care of me."
"I got to meet her in my teens, I asked her "why me" and it was because my family hadn't done the paperwork for me correctly so I was easier to slip out and potentially give her more time to disappear with me."
"I got very, very lucky."
"I got very, very lucky. The two men who kidnapped me from a bus stop (I was 16) had clearly done so with others before. They'd removed the door handles from the back seat doors, so when I tried to make my way out at a red light I couldn't get the door open. I'm pretty sure they intended to kill me."
"They drove me to an abandoned gas station. A police car drove up to check out what was happening. The man in the back seat with me at that time threatened to slit my throat if I screamed, while his partner got out and convinced the cop that I was his niece, and that he and my "dad" brought me out to talk to me. He said they needed to set me straight because I'd been acting out."
"The cop insisted they leave the station right then, and he followed our car back to the highway. They got so worried he'd remember them if my body turned up the next day that they decided to release me right then. I got thrown down a gravel embankment along the highway, and ran in the dark to a nearby open restaurant."
"I will never forget lying there in the wet grass after coming to rest at the bottom of the embankment, gazing up at a sky filled with stars, and realizing that, holy hell! I was somehow still alive."
"I was very, very lucky."
"The family member..."
"I was kidnapped when I was 7. It was by a very drug ridden family member who told me he was bringing me out for ice cream. He left me on a bench outside of a bar when the bartender told him he couldn't bring kids in. It was a dirty biker bar in Las Vegas during the 90's. I was young, scared and didn't fully comprehend the situation. I was confused why we didn't go to an ice cream shop."
"The family member came out with two men that fully terrified me. One of them touched my curly bright red hair and smiled wide. I remember not knowing what to do so I started scream singing Joan Osborne's "What if god was one of us." They got freaked when I wouldn't stop singing and walked back in the bar. I was definitely a weird kid but scream singing as self defense was kind of smart."
"I was left alone on the bench again when a man walked up and asked me where my parents were. I told him I didn't get ice cream and wanted to go back to my mom but my family member wouldn't let me. He walked in the bar but came out just a minute later and sat with me until the police arrived."
"20 years later my mom saw that family member for the first time. He was on end of life hospice care but made it to another family members funeral. When everyone was filtering out he was waiting on the bus home when my mom punched him in the face. I love my mom."
"At the time..."
"I was kidnapped at gunpoint along with my younger brother and my early-twenties mother when I was in kindergarten. My father (~40 years old) hadn't taken the divorce well and already had some psychiatric illness, so he forced us all into his truck and drove us from California to Mexico."
"At the time my parents told us kids that we were taking a family trip. I remember the drive, shopping in a street market, and being greeted by the flashing lights of police cars when we eventually returned to the states. The police were nice and let us sit in the police car! I remember being excited about that."
"The next thing I remember was coming home to dead pets (I think just two mice, but still). Then being upset that I had missed picture day in school when I saw the other kids receiving their photos. I'm not sure how long we were in Mexico but maybe that'll help set the time frame."
"I'm not sure what would have happened if my father hadn't decided to take us back."
"I was eating dinner..."
"I was "kidnapped" at 17 by goons my parents hired to take me to rehab when they found out I smoked pot."
"I was eating dinner with my parents when all of a sudden they got up and walked out of the room with no explanation, then a few seconds later two huge guys showed up out of nowhere blocking both the exits to the kitchen and told me to come with them."
"Since they didn't identify themselves at all or tell me what was going on, I assumed i was being kidnapped for real, so I grabbed a kitchen stool and started swinging. I took one down but the other guy tackled and handcuffed me."
"After they forced me into a car, they explained who they were and that they were taking me to a "wilderness program" in Georgia. We were in DC so I spent the next few hours apologizing, sucking up to them, and basically trying to get them as much on my side as possible."
"It worked because they stopped for food and told me they would take off the handcuffs and let me eat if I promised to behave. I was a model citizen all throughout dinner and when we got back in the car they didn't put the handcuffs back on."
"A few hours later we stopped for gas. It was dark by then and I asked to use the bathroom. One guy was filling the car with gas, and I noticed the guy who was escorting me to the bathroom was limping badly (I learned later I shattered his kneecap with the stool) so I figured it was my chance to escape."
"I made a break for it - I had a good head start on the guy pumping gas and the limping guy couldn't keep up. I ran into the woods next to the gas station and just kept going."
These are some harrowing stories. Do you have similar stories to share? Let us know in the comments below.
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.