People Who Survived A Murder Attempt Explain How They Lived Through It
Hearing people open up about their near-death experiences is fascinating and it can reignite a sense that life is precious and can be taken away from us at any given moment.
But while a renewed perspective on life after narrowly avoiding accidental death is affirming, nothing is more terrifying when considering those who've managed to avoid death when it was motivated.
Curious to hear from those who were lucky to survive violence at the hands of someone with an intent to kill, an anonymous Redditor asked:
"Murder attempt survivors, what happened?"
These Redditors experienced sharp pains after being sliced. They live to tell their story.
Ultimate Defender
"9 years ago, buddy got jumped at a house party. I jumped in to pull the guy off of him. Attacker ended up pulling out a knife and shanking me in the stomach before fleeing to a getaway vehicle."
"Police were called. Caught the guy. We were supposed to come into court to point at him and be like 'he did it' but the day before he pleaded guilty. No idea what happened to the guy after that or what his punishment was but he probably didn't learn anything from the situation."
"Me? I feel completely fine. Sometimes I forget that I even got stabbed. I feel a little uneasy whenever someone has a knife in their hand and its not dinner time, but that's about it as far as trauma goes."
– TheBadman9001
Disturbed Patient
"I was working as a support worker for people with mental and physical disabilities. My client had schizophrenia and BPD due to childhood and substance abuse."
"She stabbed me three times in the chest (once in the heart, penetrating my right ventricle and severing a major artery) after I advised her against a medication (nicotine gum). I almost died, doctors said that it was a miracle I survived, with a 3% survival rate due to the severity of my injuries."
"That only happened back in August this year, I’m still in recovery and I’m dealing with PTSD. She’s completely ruined my life, and I’m now struggling with my identity and what I want to do in life."
– fridaskahlo
Targeting The Paramedic
"A pregnant drunk lady called an ambulance. I was working with a junior colleague but a female one. The patient said she thought she was in labour and was sat on the floor legs open knees bent with a blanket over her lower part. There was a small table next to her, glass top wooden coffee table thing. My colleague asked to examine her and for some reason she got angry and insisted I examine her not my female colleague. After a bit of back and forth I knelt down and went to lift the blanket to have a look when there was a sudden crash. My colleague had put her foot through the glass table and was standing on the patients hand which had a huge knife in it. Turns out she wanted to stab a paramedic and when we turned up she chose me. My colleague saw it just in time and saved my life."
"Patient had already had several children who were in care and had foetal alcohol syndrome. I was asked for a statement when the next one was born and they were also taken in to care."
"She got away with the premeditated attempted murder on grounds of mental health."
– AsleepPipe371
Parents are supposed to raise you, not kill you.
Going For A Spin
"I was 17 at the time. I was wicked sick one weekend and my mother decided I needed to go to the hospital. She had been drinking all day, as she was a terrible alcoholic. It turned out that I had strep throat. So they're typing out my discharge paperwork and my mother approached the desk where the nurse was sitting. Clearly stinking of alcohol, the nurse told my mother that she wouldn't be allowed to drive me home because she was clearly intoxicated. This sent my mother into a drunken rage, swearing and threatening the nurse. Who told her if she left the police would be called. My mother grabbed me and hurries me into the car. I start yelling at her about how irresponsible she is and how she is ruining her life with alcohol. This pisses her off even more. We only live less than a mile away but my mother has taken a different route than normal, when I ask why she just says it's the long way and she doesn't want to get caught. As we're traveling down this dark, Maine back road she begins speeding like crazy. We were doing at least 90 mph when she looks over at me with a blank face and says I'm sorry. She then pulled the E brake and cut the wheel sending us flying off the road."
"The next thing I remember is sitting in the front seat of a pickup truck with an EMT shining a flashlight in my eyes along who the president was. I responded that Bill Clinton was the president (2000). Apparently she had crashed us into a huge rock at the end of someone's property, directly on my side of the car. Apparently I crawled over her and staggered to the door of the property to ask for help. They put us in different ambulance and we headed back to the hospital we just left. Upon arrival, the nurse my mother fought with said 'I knew you'd be back'. My mother in a drunken semi conscious state kept saying I'm sorry I tried to kill you, I love you, over and over. She suffered several broken ribs, a broken collar bone, broken nose and cracked vertebrae. I had a concussion and some cuts on my face from the door window basically exploding on impact with the rock. She was sentenced to some alcohol program through the courts and some community service. She suffered severe depression and six months after this she took her own life in another car accident. She actually asked me if I wanted to go for a ride with her that night and I told her no, I'll see you when you get home. That was the last thing I ever said to her."
– Sentient_DMT_Crystal
Violence At Home
"my mum was incredibly abusive. on one occasion, I was around 12 and she came into my room while I was sleeping and stabbed me in the chest with a kitchen knife, puncturing my lung (I didn't know this at the time). obviously this woke me up and I just rolled out of bed and ran around the house screaming. someone on our road noticed the noise and called the police. just before the police arrived, she started choking me and I lost consciousness. I later woke up in the hospital and (mostly) recovered. she's now in jail. this is not the only time that she tried, but it was the most dramatic and came the closest to actually killing me."
– 1BUK1-M10D4
Don't Do Drugs
"I was 15 and my dad plotted to murder me. My dad had only been back around for a few months after being homeless for a while due to his 20+ year meth addiction. He had never been violent towards me before, but I later found out he had tried to kill my mother just months prior and she brushed it off as him having a PTSD episode."
"I came home from school, he surprise attacked me by suffocating me with a pillow/strangling.
"I ended up being able to get up and run to the bathroom- the only room in our house with a lock. He grabbed the door but I found a sharp object in the bathroom and told him to back up or I’d kill him. I somehow was able to shove the door shut and lock it. He tried to get in the bathroom but couldn’t."
"He actually said 'I’m leaving!' and open/closed the front door to try and lure me out. It was quiet for a while but then I heard him breathing outside the door. He eventually left after a few hours, taking my money I had hidden in my bedroom, and called a relative telling them I’d been in a terrible accident and he needed a ride to the hospital. He ended up running when dropped off and was missing for a year. Most terrifying year of my life."
"His body was found by a fisherman at his favorite lake growing up. They found high levels of meth in his system."
"Later, when investigating the home I was attacked in, they found hammers/duct tape/knives under my mom’s mattress and looked like he very much so intended to kill me."
"Edit: Thank you everyone for the kind words. Certainly the craziest life experience I ever hope to have and therapy was a long journey. The craziest part of it all was that my dad from childhood was still there simultaneously with the horrid attacker. He cried outside the door for a while telling me he was so sorry and I wouldn’t ever see him again, but would switch to trying to lure me out and being aggressive. There were many moments I could hear the duality of who he was. The murderous cracked out crazy person and someone who was regretful and really sad inside. Idk- just thought that was an interesting thing to add for context. It’s not always just so cut and dry between a crazy/bad person and a good/normal person I’ve learned."
– livinlavidaanxious
Gun violence survivors share their harrowing stories.
Obsessed
"Not me but my friend's mom. A coworker of hers was stalking her, obsessed. Convinced he was in love with her and nobody else deserved her, that kind of thing. Eventually he came to their office with a revolver."
"She was bending down to put files away, or something similar. He quickly approached her from behind and shot her in the back before immediately shooting himself in the head. She survived obviously, though the wounds were significant. Incredibly fortunate she wasn't hit in the spine or major organs."
"I often wonder how different it would have played out if she had been standing, or facing him. More than likely she would be dead."
"This was before my friend was born, and his mom made a mostly full recovery. Still has chronic pain and PTSD, but she can walk and has a job. Not reclusive or unfriendly to strangers. Terrified of guns, of course, but that seems fair. Both my friend and her are extremely lucky."
– Cutter9792
Never Welcome Strangers
"At the beginning of October my husband was trying to buy a PS5 on letgo. He wanted to make sure it actually worked so he gave the guy our address. I told him a dozen times that he was going to get robbed. He still had the kid come over."
"As soon as he got there he pulled a gun, grabbed the cash and shot twice. One hit my husband in the abdomen. The second went through the stairs behind him and traveled 30-40 feet to the kitchen."
"I heard the commotion and ran downstairs and chased him away from the house. We got to the front gate and he pulled his gun again and shot at me. He missed my head by less than 2 inches."
"He was caught and is being charged as an adult (16) for 2 counts of attempted murder and a variety of other charges."
– jmrobins00
Fortunately, these examples are of people who were extremely lucky to share their stories after a near-death experience since not everyone is able to escape their fate.
But just because one managed to avoid having their life taken from them, it doesn't mean it gets easier in the aftermath.
The lingering PTSD can be unbearable to live with, and anything can be a trigger that brings survivors back to a scary incident.
We never truly know of the trauma or horrific history of anyone around us.
With that in mind, remember that kindness in general goes a long way.
Some people love to talk.
Often, much to the dismay of whomever they're talking to.
Even when you think they've finally run out of things to say, they swerve the conversation in another direction and just keep on talking and talking.
Most of the time, these people are well-meaning -- and that makes getting out of the conversation all the more challenging.
As we don't want to hurt their feelings or come off as rude.
It is for this reason that others have developed and perfected a perfect escape plan to cut a conversation short when there is no end in sight.
Leaving everyone happy, with no hurt feelings.
"How does someone politely end a conversation with a person who won't stop talking?"
Slowly But Surely...
"Worst case I’ve ever had, I basically gave every verbal cue I knew of, eventually stood up, then stood in the doorway, then backed out of the doorway, and this dude was still talking."
'In the end I just said ‘I’ll be back’ and closed the door on him mid-sentence."- delpigeon
Sometimes You Have To Cut In...
"Mental health worker here."
"I see patients every day who will talk forever if you don't stop them."
"You simply have to interrupt and redirect/or end the conversation."
"I always politely tell them, 'let me stop you there' or 'Let me jump in there'."
"Sometimes you have to be abrupt or else you will be held hostage by the one sided conversation."- DeadSharkEyes
Noises In Your Head...
"'Ssshh! Do you hear that??'"
"'No?'"
"'One Sec', and just run off."- i_f*ckin_luv_it_mate
My Ride Is Waiting...
"I'm an Uber driver, I was once summoned to pick up two people for just this reason."
"They had me drive four blocks/.25 miles/1.5 minutes to another bar just to get out of a conversation with someone."
"Minimum fare ($3.75) and $10 tip on the app."- verminiusrex
Slightly Outdated...
"I have to return some video tapes"- LeMarcusKing
You're Really Helping Each Other Out...
"I don't mean to interrupt but-"
"It's got to be done, so just do it."
"They need a break anyway."- p1um5mu991er
Who Are You Again?
“'Ann was getting a little chummy. When people get too chummy with me, I like to call them by the wrong name to let them know I don't really care.' - Ron Swanson."- Pyre_Aurum
Just Be Straightforward
"I read one of those mildly interesting newspaper features recently with an 'etiquette expert', their advice was rather than make an excuse, you should be more direct that you are ending the conversation and say something like 'I've really enjoyed talking with you, I'm going to circulate around the room now' as it's less likely to create an expectation you might come back."
"It does work too!"- Boyleingbass
Reverse Psychology, The Irish Way!
"We have a great line that we use in Ireland."
"I haven't heard it used abroad but it could well be used all over for all I know."
"The person is rabbiting on and is showing no sign of stopping."
"You clearly and firmly say 'I'll let you go'."
"Then with the confidence of a person doing them a favor, you turn on your heel and stride away."
"This has the effect of making them think you are the one wanting to avoid wasting their time."
"If they figure it out they can't call you out on it because to do so would be to admit, at least to themselves, that they are wasting your time."
"In fact most people never allow themselves to think it might be them who is holding you up so they accept the 'offer' of your leaving in order for them to get on with their important work."
"In general if someone says 'I'll let you go' to me, rare but it has happened, I smile and say bye and end the conversation."
"It is a social convention and I abide by it."
"They want out."
"No ego."
"Let them go and the best of luck to them."
"People appreciate that I imagine."- Nuffsaid98
Of course, all of the above are ways of telling people whom you presumably do want to see again, one day, to stop talking
If you never want to be on the receiving end of someone talking, a simple "shut up" should prove quite effective.
Escape Room Employees Describe The Weirdest Ways Customers Have Tried To Free Themselves
I don't see the appeal of these rooms.
Why would one enjoy being trapped in a room?
When you watch people trapped in a movie you cheer for their release.
But this activity has gotten super popular.
And people have gotten real creative in their escapes.
Redditor CaptainCatButtwanted to hear confessions from the great escapes. They asked:
"Escape Room employees, what's the weirdest way you've seen customers try and solve an escape room?"
I haven't tried these rooms yet. Not sure I want to. Highly claustrophobic. Convince me...
No touching...
"I used to work at one. I can’t tell you how many people thought that power outlets were a prop and tried to stick keys into them. Guys. There was a lamp plugged into it and a 'do not touch, not a part of the game' sticker on it. It’s not a trick, don’t do that."
brasscassette
Shackles
"A friend of mine works for an escape room and he told me one about a puzzle where the key to the next door was shackled to a desk by a combination lock. What you are supposed to do is figure out the combination for the lock from the clues around the room to free the key. What one group decided to do instead was get a guy on each corner and pick up the 150 pound desk and carry it across the room, slide the key into the lock, and then rotate the entire desk to unlock the door."
sharrrper
'Yale'
"I am not an escape room employee but I did a lot of em and talked to the employees often. One of them told me there was a simple lock (opened by a key) that had 'Yale' written on it (the name of the lock company) and a lady (not native English speaker) thought it read 'yell' and legit shouted 'OPEN!!' at it, expecting it to open."
Dorza1
searching the fountain...
"Recently went to an escape room with my co-workers. Before we started, we were explicitly warned not to touch or drink the bright blue water coming out of a fountain because it would turn our skin blue - clearly people had tried searching the fountain as part of the escape room previously and now they have to warn everyone."
babers1987
Voice of God
"I was in an escape room once where one puzzle involved some objects that needed to be manipulated inside a structure that made it very awkward."
"We were all looking at it trying to figure out how to proceed when I said 'Well, the bottom is held on with screws and I have a screwdriver in my purse, but that would probably be cheating.' Instantly the Voice of God came over the intercom 'THAT WOULD BE CHEATING!' So we didn't do that..."
Miss_Speller
Well people really do get creative at this game... don't they?
Reverse
"Had a group of engineers who were familiar with the style of the lock effectively reverse engineer the lock. They showed us how they did it afterwards."
Snowf1ake222
Smoked...
"When I was in one they told us several times that the fire extinguisher is NOT part of the puzzle. They said it so many times, I'm 98% sure someone once used it lol."
Zirael_Swallow
"I always wait to see if they say not to disassemble smoke detectors, if they have that warning, I ask about it, and every time they will always have a story about a dumby who ignored the warning labels and disassembled the smoke detector."
cleverplaydoh
Group of 4
"There was a story on here a while ago about a guy in a group of four who took a broom from the first room because 'it had to be for something.' He said it looked too out of place to not be needed. Well he was half right. It was out of place but that's because it was the broom used by employees to clean the room."
"It was simply forgotten when they cleaned last time. The guys giving hints thought it was hilarious that this guy carried a broom through four rooms expecting it to be the key to their escape at some point. I thought that was funny as hell."
PCCoatings
Damages...
"Take in a screwdriver and dismantling furniture or taking doors off hinges... all the while we specifically tell them not to use force and that furniture is just furniture. Though I don't care cause they gotta pay the damages. Also had some groups press our panic button cause that opens all the doors (for emergency cases)."
"So they can skip puzzles and be faster. Makes zero sense to us cause they are paying for an hour of playtime and to solve puzzles, not like the prize is reduced cause you solved less in fewer minutes. Especially since our prices aren't cheap."
karmasabitterpill
Idiots
"Breaking EVERYTHING. Trying to eat or drink things they should totally not be trying to eat or drink."
Radiant-Comb9058
Perfect Pitch
"My brother and sister once did an escape room where they fell behind 45 minutes in to their one hour limit. Then my brother sat down at the piano and just played the background music that was on (he has perfect pitch). This happened to be the code to open the final door."
B1ue_zangoose
Are you crazy!?
"I did a spy thriller which had a chalk board. Trouble is, 3 of the 4 of us were scientists. A chalkboard full of equations?! Clearly this meant something. Now. In hindsight. It seems unlikely that any puzzle designer would expect you have the working knowledge to solve quadratic equations. Or that you'd need anything but the most basic of mathematical skills."
"So that was our first error. The second error was when our friend (fiancé of one of the three scientists and only non scientist of the bunch) immediately goes to erase the board with its immaculate display of complicated formulae and equations. She was immediately wrestled to the ground."
"Sheer panic. No dignity. Are you crazy!? You don't just erase someones chalkboard!!! Full blown PTSD of Uni is the play here. Lo and behold. Erasing the board revealed some unerasableble text, spelling out the clue. We felt bad for that one. She was right."
Kenobi_01
Numbers
"We were supposed to find the numbers to a padlock. My boss had guessed the answer within 5 minutes."
Th3_Accountant
"I had to do this once. In a poorly designed room, one of the padlocks needed to be open by a hint that led to a 5 letter word, but the lock only had 4 digits so the designers of the room just took the last letter off of the word and spelt it wrong. We were trying real 4 letter words and couldn't figure it out so I just started guessing and eventually got it."
ObsquatuIate
Digits
"Not an employee... but my group once was so bad that we solved the room by fully misunderstanding the concept and we ended up getting the five digit code to the lockbox via some truly failed logic that shouldn't have worked."
xeothought
Water Levels
"One of the puzzles is opened at the start of the room to reveal a large jug of water with a floating key, but the water level is too low for you to reach it. As you progress through the room you get smaller canteens to fill up the jug. Bachelor party comes in already tipsy, orders multiple drinks as they progress through the room, and at some point one of them pees into the jug to raise the water level. This is what made me leave for another job. If you ever go to an escape room, just know we're judging you for every move you make."
Xenomorph_Queen
Your UV
"I was in a room once with a puzzle that required UV light - and you did find a UV torch somewhere. Problem was, the batteries were as good as dead. Luckily I had a UV torch on me because I hadn't yet unpacked my pockets from night geocaching the previous weekend. Came out of the room, telling the employees, 'Your UV badly needs new batteries.' - 'How did you solve it then?' - 'Well, had my own...'
bbgreenie
Hey Jeff...
"Went on a team building escape room and ended up in a room with a colleague we'll call 'Jeff.' Jeff is profoundly deaf and a large part of this particular room involved listening to messages on Dictaphones that could be found in different drawers* etc."
"About ten minutes into the timer an employee burst into the room in a panic and we turned to find Jeff taking the Dictaphone apart piece by piece because he had no idea it was making any sound. He was not supposed to do that, still a top bloke."
ifthen_endif
Letters matter...
"I don't know if it's the weirdest but we had a puzzle which involved morse code. Usually you had to use an endoscope to find the alphabet in a chest. One person in this group actually knew the whole alphabet and was able to solve it."
MrNighty
She broke the machine...
"Not an employee, but while doing a casino-themed escape room with some colleagues, the worker told us 'please do not pull the lever on the slot machine as it will break something later in the game.' The timer started and my coworker went 'well we’re obviously supposed to do that first' and pulled the lever. We were not supposed to do that first. She broke the machine."
ProfessorBeer
Even though there are a million ways to escape, I'm still gonna pass. My claustrophobia won't allow it.
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People Who Have Narrowly Avoided Being Murdered Share Their Experiences
It's the spooky time of year where horror and gore are all around us. In movies, shows, and campfire stories, we share the most gruesome tales to scare one another.
But when you're faced with real life horror, that's a different stories.
In a 2019 study from the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime found chances of falling victim to a homicide worldwide are about 6 in 100,000.
So we went to Reddit to know what it's like to narrowly escape a murder.
Redditor EntertainerWeary7463 asked:
"People who escaped killers in the last second, what is your story?"
Thank goodness they escaped to answer this question.
A terrifying bike ride.
"I was biking home at midnight from work in the city, 2 people stopped my bike, 1 had a bike 1 was on foot. My flight reaction kicked in I started biking as fast as I could. She tried to grab my bag but couldn't hold on and the guy chased me down on his bike for another half mile dinging the bell saying he was going to kill me. Was able to lose him and make it home without them in sight."
"Side note: my car got broke into that night as well."
"All after a working double in the ER."
"Let me add, who knows if they were gonna kill me but given the area I was in and circumstances, I was scared for my life and felt like they would have left me beaten and unattended to, so I feel this qualifies."
"The ringing of the bell with the death threats is a nice touch."
Strangers at a bar.
"It's weird, I was just thinking about it the other day. At the time, I was 22 years old and I went to a casino in New England. I got pretty intoxicated and met this older guy at the bar. I asked him if he wanted to go outside to smoke he said yes. And we went outside and 3 tribal police jumped out of the bushes and slammed him to the floor because he was on the run for assautling and murdering someone."
"So I didn't escape, the Native American police saved me."
"You were very lucky."
"Yep. The part I think about the most is that invited him outside- he didn't even have to do the work. As a good prospective victim, I did it for him. At the risk of sounding melodramatic I wonder if he saw this tendency in me from far away somehow. I do NOT talk to strangers at the bar anymore. In some ways that's sad but it's for the best. Obviously from that point onward I come from a bias perspective on the benefits of socializing with random people."
Caught in the act.
"I was walking home from a late shift and heard this commotion behind a few stores, as I got closer I noticed that it was a guy literally stabbing the sh*t out of another guy, he turned around to see me and came running toward me, I knew of a side alley for service us near my work and I cut down there and circled back round to find the man had been brutally stabbed but not fatally, I called the emergency services and the man lived, the CCTV of that night was able to help police identify him and he's currently in prison on 2 counts of murder and 1 attempted. So yeah that was close."
Escaped the most prolific killer in the U.S.
"I once heard this story where there was this guy coming home late at night when some guy offers him a ride and he accepts. But then he gets this odd feeling and jumps out of the car. A few years pass and he sees this documentary on tv on a serial killer. Apparently the killer had took off his back seat door handles and when the police ask him why he did it he answers, 'Cause the first guy I tried to kill jumped out of the car.'"
- kie_m
"I saw this too it was a college hitchhiker who needed to get back to his dorm when John Wayne Gacy picked him up"
"Oh man that hitch hiker is very lucky to have got out of that car alive."
"Believe it or not, Gacy apparently gave a few hitchhikers rides and didn't kill them. One even offering to have sex with him for money (almost all of his victims did) but he declined."
"33 murders, paid around 150 young men for sex. 20 percent chance of murder. Horrifying. 5th most prolific serial killer in US history (that we know of)."
- drak0ni
Another hitch hiker.
"Hitchhiking back in the day and a guy in a big shiny Cadillac gave me a ride. He then proceeded to tell me about the two young men he slept with the night before."
"Told him to let me out right here and he kept going. Pulled off on a gravel road and drove down it before stopping. He started to reach under his seat as soon as the car stopped."
"I spun around and kicked his head bouncing it off his window, got out and ran like hell back to the highway and immediately got another ride."
"Have absolutely no idea if I hurt him bad or not and I never lost a single night's sleep over it."
"Wow that was close! Good job on the fast thinking and action!"
"No thinking involved. That was just pure scared sh*tless reaction."
"Did they ever get caught?"
- ZaYeDiA
"Never even knew their name. And from the little bit of reading I've done on it, most psychopaths aren't caught. A very small percentage of society, but with 330 million in the US it still adds up."
Parents Explain Which Things Surprised Them Most When Their Child Moved Out | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Parenting is a lifelong commitment but the load is certainly lightened when kids go off to college or move away for their first "adult" job. It can be quite ...Saved by a seven year old.
"I was five years old when this happened."
"My parents had just separated and my mother decided to attend a girls' night out. She commissioned my 16-year old, male cousin to babysit my siblings and me."
"After my cousin put my siblings and me to bed, he invited some friends over to hang out. One of his friends was completely messed up on acid. Said friend went into the kitchen, grabbed a butcher knife from the block on the counter and walked towards my bedroom."
"My brother (who was 7) happened to be watching this guy from his own bedroom. As soon as he saw him walking towards my bedroom, my brother jumped up from bed, ran into my room, grabbed my arm and pulled me off the bed just before acid guy began repeatedly stabbing the mattress."
"I don't recall what happened next that night. I only remember looking at my shredded mattress the next morning and then watching my mother talking to some people at the front door."
"I would later learn that once I was dragged off the bed, my brother began screaming, which brought my cousin and his other friends running. Upon seeing the carnage, they all wrestled acid guy into submission, called the cops and had him hauled away."
"The people at the door the next morning were the acid guy's parents. They offered to pay off my mother in exchange for her dropping the charges against their son. Mom agreed. I got a new mattress and my mom bought a nice, above-ground swimming pool with the leftover money."
"Acid guy would go on to finish college, get married, have several children and now owns a successful car dealership. He's not exactly a killer, but only because of the quick thinking of a seven year old."
The lifeguard was no help.
"When I was 11 a sitter took a bunch of us to a public pool. Around 4ish, the sun moved and it was getting cooler so everyone headed out."
"I was last of our group in pool. Not a good swimmer. I noticed two teen boys pointing at me. They suddenly dove into the water. One grabbed my long hair and pulled me to the bottom while the other tore my bathing suit bottoms off."
"I fought like the devil and they eventually surfaced for air. I did too, and they jumped out of pool and took off. I regained my strength and got out of pool and found a lifeguard who I think must have seen something. Anyway, the lifeguard told me if I couldn't get along with people to leave the pool."
"My stepfather went to the pool when he got off work to have 'words' with the lifeguard."
"What kind of lifeguard is this?! Dude should not be in that role at all! I'm glad you survived!"
- xcomcmdr
"Almost sounds like they were in on it, they were so casual."
Our mental health system failed this family.
"My brother-in-law killed my mother and father-in-law and their dogs, set several fires, and was most likely on his way to our house for us and our dogs before his truck caught fire."
"He'd set several fires in town, including to his own property and a neighbor's, and something caused his truck to ignite - we don't know if it was some kind of accelerant and intentional fire or if gunfire returned from police set it ablaze. My partner is devastated; we were very close to his parents. Lots of therapy and support from friends and family lately, which has helped, but it's been hard -- especially because his brother was mentally ill and had tried seeking inpatient services months earlier only to be told it would be a 3 month wait."
"Please tell me he's either dead or in prison for life?!"
"He died in the truck, either as the result of the fire or of police gunshots. We don't know for sure yet."
"When I was maybe 10 or so years old, my family took a trip up the west coast of the United States. We stopped at a familiar thrift store we would always visit each time we'd go visiting in the area. My mom and dad usually didn't mind me going off in stores as long as I stayed a few aisles away."
"At some point in the store, I started to realize a man following me around. I didn't think much of it but kept my guard up just in case. (Was taught stranger danger early on). I get to the toy section, and was playing with a few random toys when the man started asking me questions randomly. 'You have pretty hair. Do you brush it yourself?' 'You like to play with toys? Which ones do you prefer?' 'What's your favorite color?'"
"At this point I'm getting scared because he was closing the gap between us and I was stuck down an aisle that only had one way out. He began coming closer to me, a creepy look on his face and as he tried to reach out to touch me I screamed bloody murder. EVERYONE in the store ran over to see what was going on."
"The man freaked out, grabbed me and tried to run. I'm screaming for my parents who came running a few seconds later and my dad punch the guy, grabbed me when the guy let go of me when he was punched, and we went to the front of the store to call the police. (Back when cellphones didn't exist). Police arrived and my parents told them what happened but I guess the guy bolted out the back door because he was gone. I don't remember all the details of how he escaped."
"A few years later I was watching the news and saw a familiar face and my mom started freaking out and told me and my dad that the guy on the TV (he was booked for kidnapping,). It was the guy who tried to take me."
Threatened to be set on fire.
"College buddy and I had just completed a big project and went out for late-night milkshakes to celebrate. On the way back he stopped for gas near campus. Three kids (maybe 13, 15 or 16, and 17 or 18) are there with a gas can asking for a ride back to their car. For some unknown reason my friend (who was normally pretty curmudgeonly) offers them a ride."
"We go several blocks to a sketchy part of town when they tell us to pull over behind a car parked along the side of the road. As soon as we do, the youngest kid opens the back passenger door and books it, the middle kid starts splashing gasoline on us, and the oldest gets out via the back driver side door and leans into the front trying to grab to grab the keys and demanding our wallets or they'll set us on fire."
"I go for the eyes of the guy leaning in, he pulls back and we skedaddle out my side, soaked in gasoline. The middle kid comes after me and I just push him and we start running. I lose my flip-flops and am running barefoot, we jump a fence and find a bougainvillea bush on the other side, and finally make it back to the gas station and call the cops. Within 1 minute we have (what I later learn) is every patrol car in town pull up."
"They take us back to find the car, which is abandoned with a gasoline pooling on the floorboards. We have it towed and go back to file a report and look through mugshots. The police question us for what seems like a long time, and finally as we're leaving one of them apologizes for the third degree and tells us based on the location they initially thought it might be a drug deal gone bad."
"Finally get back home, throw away my clothes, and as I'm showering and trying to get the gasoline smell off of me, notice blood running down the drain. Discover in my hasty barefoot retreat I'd stepped on a dime-sized piece of glass that was still embedded in my foot."
"Not a great night, although it has gotten me out of jury-duty a couple times."
The terror is unmatched.
"Two guys followed me home from work when I was 15. I called my mom because I noticed them and was being careful. I got inside my house and locked the door and the guys started banging on the window. My mom conferenced in 911 while I tried to find a different way out (one big window and one outside door for the whole house). Cops showed up right as the window broke and they were coming in. I remember being curled up in a corner yelling to 911 to hurry up. Nothing will ever match that terror."
"Please tell me they were arrested!?"
"They actually ran. I had to give a statement and do the drawing thing. My dad picked me up and we drove around town looking for them. We actually drove by one of them but he and I made eye contact and my throat closed up and I froze. On one hand, I'm glad because I'm sure my dad would've beat him half to death (if not completely) but on the other hand, they both still roam free."
The chances of being murdered are usually based on location, age, race, and gender, so it's hard to say what the actual chances are, but if you want to find out you can go to RateMyRisk.com and find out.
And try not to worry too much.
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With the way things are going with our government these last few years it feels like we're living in a cult. Doesn't it? Now we have this Qanon craziness, and it's followers have infiltrated the House and not just in an insurrection. There are actual Qanon members of Congress. That does not bold well for the sanity of the nation. Cults have been around longer than the dawn of time. I think because everybody is looking for a tribe, no matter how detrimental they can be.
Redditor u/HeyItsMeLeslie wanted to hear how we can shine more light on groups that are dangerous to the world by asking... What are some modern day cults that kinda fly under the radar?Nobody wants to be lonely or left behind and charismatic whackos know that. Some people are just gifted at manipulation and they fashion their talents to control others for their diabolical doings. David Koresh. Charles Manson. Jim Jones. Donald Trump. They all created groups with followers who drank all the Kool-Aid. And there are more out there.
Stay Awake
Apparently the Sleepytime tea company is a cult? Or at least founded by one.
https://www.foodandwine.com/drinks/sleepytime-tea-and-little-known-religion-behind-it You weren't kidding.
The 12...
The 12 tribes. If you've been to a "yellow deli" restaurant you are supporting them unknowingly. They have it in their heads they need to raise 140,000 male virgins to be sacrificed on 2070 for the second coming of Jesus. You have to own enough property/money to join or they won't let you in as everything you own gets signed over to them right down to what clothes you get to own and where you live even if you own a home yourself.
They don't allow children to go to school and force them to work the farms that supply their restaurant, they also obviously have been charged dozens of times for gross child neglect/abuse and violating child labour laws. They are one of the more disgusting groups that doesn't get acknowledged. Also they exist all across Canada and the USA.
Doomsday
The House of Yahweh. It's literally a doomsday cult that has had 4-6 failed nuclear doomsday predictions. The founder believes he and his brother are prophesied messiahs but he went to jail for marrying off underage teens to older men in the group, oh and every female follower changes their last name to his last name I think, I think the founder also has multiple wives.
They have a compound and theres only one road that goes to it and on all the telephone poles along the road are cctv cameras
The members also have to pay tithes and the high ranking male members have like old testament names like Jebediah or Malachi, the founder changed his name to Yisrayl*.
For real Gwyneth Paltrow is in a league of her own in being a champion of champagne pseudoscience. She recently came up with her list of "long COVID remedies" that include kimchi, kombucha, herbal non-alcoholic cocktails, detoxifying "superpowders," an infrared sauna blanket, and a $125 goop-branded T-shirt.
The ridiculous part is that her podcast has 36 million listeners so to argue that her influence is not that big a deal would be foolish to say. Of course if you have a functioning brain, you'll be fine.
I had no idea about any of these people. Why has Dateline NBC and Oprah not done specials with them? And now I have to change by tea preference. The insidiousness is everywhere. Let's continue on with more bad news.
JMMI
There's this christian cult a cousin of mine joined. JMMI (Joshua Media Ministries International). The leader is a self-acclaimed Apostle, David E. Taylor. I am legitimately afraid for my cousin. She packed up her life on the east coast and traveled to Missouri to be a part of their church. I think it flies under the radar because it pretends to be a christian church. The "apostle" is very creepy and has been accused by former members that he operates his "church" on slave labor.
To me, he appears to be another narcissist that preys on women. I'm afraid my cousin will be another victim of his. She actually told me she wants to marry him. She's so far in it that I don't know if she'll ever get out. He claims he predicted 9/11 and that he's curing COVID through prayer. He's one of those nut jobs where when I listen to him speak he sounds like he doesn't even realize he's lying through his teeth.
If you look up his depositions on YouTube (about misallocation of ministry funds) you'll see what I mean.
Sweat Group
Crossfit feels cultish. I've tried a few times at a few different places and I kept getting a lot of bad advice, but people are still fanatics about it. Crazy high injury statistics to boot.
Religious Issues
I was a member of a cult (Gulenists in Turkey) and I fell for it. I was in top 100 in nation-wide exams where around 1 millions students participate so I think I got the brains. But brains is not enough. A brain dedicated to scientific thought and reason and taught in the ways of logical fallacies/dogmas etc and never accepts any claim without irrefutable proof is required. It was hard to find that in children in my country then. Today still many fall to religious cults, secular cults, nationalistic ideas etc.
Space People
The Raelien Society. They have some other name too, but basically they are trying to clone hot women to breed with the alien overlords, when they show up.
I would like to announce that I am an alien and that I have been in hiding for years and if you choose to make me your overlord then I'm willing to accept that burden. Where should I meet the chicks?
The Long Con
Not a traditional cult, but very cult-like. Certain schools of chiropractic "medicine."
If you look into the history of chiropractic a little, it is pretty wild that some of the more traditional schools are allowed to operate in modern times.
The founder was a lifetime conman who claimed to have discovered the science of chiropractic by talking to ghosts. Traditional chiropractic philosophy believes that ALL sickness is due to "subluxations," aka misalignment in the spine.
There is also a huge crossover between traditional chiropractic theory and anti-vax messaging, because they believe ALL sickness can be remedied through spinal manipulation. In lieu of antibiotics they recommend adjusting (aka cracking) infants necks to treat ear infections.
I'm not saying that there aren't modern chiropractors who view their craft as a portion of more holistic treatment for muscular/skeletal issues, but an alarmingly large number of chiropractors believe and practice what I described above.
YL NO!
Essential oils, specifically Young Living. It's an MLM, and the story of the founder is absolutely frightening (he might've drowned his own baby). A lot of MLMs are cult-like in one way or another, but YL is absolutely the most cultish of them all and checks pretty much every box.
Where to Begin?
Quiverfull, IBLP, basically the Duggars (of 19 kids & counting) & the like.
Follow the Leader
Any number of "economy of belief" cult-like groups like otherkin and soulbonders.
And Second Life has a subcommunity with strong economy-of-belief behaviour. It's where someone says "actually, I'm the reincarnation of Alexander the Great", and most people ignore them. But then someone comes along and says "hey, maybe you are, because I'm the reincarnation of Nikola Tesla" and they get along - they believe each other. And then someone else gets involved, and it slowly becomes more and more appealing to have this weird - but self-gratifying - belief affirmed by more and more people, just in exchange for doing the same for them.
And inevitably people then end up internalising and acting on the belief more and more since they can get it validated now, and it becomes more and more important to them until the mutual belief is locking them into the group; and then you end up with a social hierarchy inside it, gatekeeping and conflicts, and assorted mess.. there's usually not a single "leader" but it can become very like a cult, in particularly in terms of recruitment and aggressive response to outsiders not towing the line.
Bring Peace
Nonviolent Communication. Supposedly a program to learn how to communicate nonviolently, it's a new-agey philosophy on which you have to be trained by a certified professional (which costs money) or become a certified professional yourself (which costs money). It's all based on the teachings of one Marshall B. Rosenberg who IMO ticks all the cult leader boxes. I've read accounts of people whose close ones practice it and it devolves into mindless repetition of what emotions the other expresses and passing it off as empathy.
Praise
Some independent Evangelical churches. You'll know it's a cult when they turn a member away from their family.
In Alberta...
Oh man, this one is just strange, but not in an "we're all going to kill ourselves" or "live on a compound" way. The audience of weirdly devoted followers just have a weekly staring contest with this guy. $10/person to go.
It's The College of Integrated Philosophy in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It's been around since at least the 90s.
Basically the leader of the cult just has this staring contest with his attendees once a week for 3 hours and answers the odd question from the attendees. He's on a big screen while hundreds of people watch from the audience.
He's the "living embodiment of truth" supposedly. Things snap into place with the truth he spoke or something when he answers.. I dunno, but it's mostly just a staring contest.
The cult runs this super fancy conference hall (Oasis Centre) outside of the weekly meetings. It's really nice, my friends had their wedding there.
Edit:Vice article on it.
The Salesman
CUT Church of Universal and Triumphant. A vacuum salesman spread his ideas to customers in the California. His wife Elizabeth Clair Prophet eventually took over and moved the followers to just outside Yellowstone Park in the 80's. They had some beliefs about colors and swords and nuclear war. Their followers built fallout shelters and gave up everything at the end of the world. Each time the end didn't come, some of these people had nowhere to go, no money, and no jobs. CUT mostly fell apart when Prophet was diagnosed with dementia, but there are some splinters.
People got scared in the 80's. They didn't want a mass murder, poisonings, or suicides like other cults like the Bagwan Shree Rajneesh or the Manson Family. Someone took a shot at a bus of their kids. One of the local University student newspaper bankrupted itself because the editor spent their annual budget on surveillance equipment.
The area still has purple houses, one of their things.
Some still live in the bomb shelters. I have friends that grew up in it. One has a book written about her. Just by how they dress, you can tell some old ladies were in the cult, modeled their wardrobe around Profit and never changed. Some people you can just tell hearing them talk. It's as if a Rush Limbaugh listener took a lot of acid, conservative hippy kinda mix of ideas.
The guy that wrote Eragon grew up in the church. One of the members of the 80's band "Men at Work" was also a member.
Joe
Joe Rogan's most devoted fans. They aren't just fans, but people who turn "I heard it on the Rogan podcast" into their personality.
Rogan has on physicists and comedians and philosophers and soldiers, and...etc.
It seems like these guys think that repeating a smart person's words makes you smart, mimicking a comic makes you funny, you get the idea.
Before COVID, I'd see them at comedy shows wearing the Rogan Experience shirt and trying to start conversations with people so they could impress them with "their" deep thoughts and knowledge.
Crazy Music
WFMU has a radio show, Music of Mind Control, which features music from past and currently operating cults along with brief descriptions of the leaders/followers. Tuesdays 6-7pm EST, but the entire archive is available for streaming on their website.
Now go forward with eyes wide open. And if you're lonely, get a therapist and be very weary of strangers who want your money and hangout in groups. And if you feel something... say something. If it seems strange, it is.
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