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The reasons for why someone might disappear are many, including mental illness, miscommunication, misadventure, domestic violence, and being a victim of crime.

Interested in all of these cases, Reddit user Xenilovedon made a post on the platform, bluntly asking: "People who went missing, what happened?" And they replied.

As of this publication, there are over 5,700 comments under the question, many of which detail the funny, scary, and downright dangerous situations folks have found themselves in. Continue scrolling to check out some of the most memorable ones.

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#1

30 People Who Disappeared Share What Happened To Them When I was 4 I got lost in a city and was rescued by what my dad thought was a gang. We had dinner in Chinatown with another family. 5 kids in all. Crossing the street after dinner, we were holding hands in a big chain. My older sibling let go. When the light changed and everyone crossed I stayed on the sidewalk - I was looking through a window into a barber shop where some huge guy was having his head shaved - can still picture the scene. When I finally looked around everyone was gone. I started to cry. A group of teenagers approached and asked if I was lost. I said yes. A tall kid hoisted me into his shoulders and started down the block. Other kids split up and went in different directions. We rounded a corner and I saw my dad. He turned white and ran toward us. The kid lowered me to the ground. A few other kids were there. They stood around awkwardly while the tall kid explained what happened to my dad. My dad (not a demonstrative guy) flung himself at the kid and hugged him. My mom appeared and picked me up. Years later my dad told me he saw the same group of kids hanging around when he first parked in the city that evening and was suspicious that they were a gang. He was embarrassed and tried to be less judgmental after that. Wish I could thank those guys. This was a long time ago.

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Hannah Edwards
Hannah Edwards
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I used a booklet from the police “Feeling Happy, Feeling Safe” to teach my 3 year old daughter what to do if she ever gets lost. As soon as we went out to a supermarket, she took her younger sister to go and get lost. All the staff were searching for them, nightmare. Taught my son with the same book. He was swept away by a fun run going by in a country park. Found weeping in a bush. In conclusion, my kids might be stupid.

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    #2

    Throwaway account because I don't want this story tied to my main account.

    My friend and I were 15 at the time when we were both drugged and taken various places within the state for 3 days.

    During this time we were constantly separated, reunited, drugged, emotionally/physically abused, and honestly feared that we would end up being murdered.

    for 3 days we were constantly on the move. We never visited any homes. They made us sleep in wooded areas with thin blankets, separated from each other. This was during winter although there was no snow yet.

    The man (sounds strange calling him a man) that I was will was nicer than the other. He seemed to be the follower. He never did anything as cruel as the other did, but to this day I can't stand certain names, accents, clothing, looks in general. When I say he was nicer it's because he was rather gentle instead of forceful.

    on the third day they took us to a town about 40 miles south of our home in the middle of frankly no where. It's a town with one gas station, and few homes. They left us on the mountainside, told us the common " if you call the police blah blah we'll kill you, blah blah" We were there for a while before another car came around (hunting is rather popular around those parts)

    The guys who found us thought we had been stabbed or shot. Looking back I was a f**king chaotic mess as they tried to approach us. I became very defensive as my friend was still mostly lethargic and I didn't believe that they were there to help us.

    Another half hour maybe passed and police finally showed up. I hadn't felt so happy to see officers before in my entire life because I had been one of those "f**k the police" stupid girls back then. I remember falling and just crying. I remember grabbing my friend and telling her it was going to be okay.

    about a week later they found the guys. they arrested them, and they went to prison for some time. They both plead guilty for reduced sentences.

    The drugs they gave us make a lot of the details sketchy, so I can't really remember to much. I have scars still, I have trust issues. My friend on the other hand turned to drugs quickly after and we've lost touch with one another.

    Edit: Thank you everyone for such kind words. I'm trying to reply to just about everyone. Also there are common questions that keep coming up so i'll just add them here too for easiness and such.

    How did they take you, how did it begin? We met them at the local mall, after about an hour or so they offered us dinner from a local truck shop just out of our town. (they had cheap food, and pretty dang good food at that). After dinner we drove around for a bit believing that they were going to be taking us home as we were pretty close to home. From there the start of the situation began.

    What drugs did they give you? Over the course of 3 days we were given different drugs, and i'm not sure about how many my friend was given or what kind but I know I was given among other things: Pain killers, adderoll, ecstasy, ambien, and a form of a date rape drug.

    How old were they? One had just turned 18, and the other was 19.

    What type of abuse happened. I still don't really like to talk about and i'll just paste what i've already written to someone else: To this day i'm not 100% sure what happened to my friend, but just some of the things that happened to me was being, slapped, kicked, hair-grabbed, forced to perform sexual acts, and some other things.

    Again, thank you guys for your support, and your love. It is truly amazing and I appreciate it.

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    #3

    I went missing on purpose. I ran away as a teenager due to abuse and neglect. My parents did not even report me missing. However, because I was under the care of a social worker and having regular visits which I stopped going to and my parents appeared to give no s**ts when asked where I was, the social workers office reported me missing. So I live my life, started on the streets and slowly worked my way up...had kids, bought a house, doing very well for myself considering my start in life. 15 years pass....in that time I had had the usual life contact with police (traffic accident reports, one minor crime), had all my details registered in numerous govt departments as one would. Then one day I have to make a police report as a witness, and they pull up some info on the computer which shows me listed as a missing person. Somehow it had never shown up during any other government interaction?? Anyway, so they have to tell the reporting body that I have been located, but that social workers office has long been closed. Luckily my parents never reported me so they have not been notified of my status. I hope they think I'm dead.

    TL:DR - Was missing in plain sight for 15 years.

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    #4

    30 People Who Disappeared Share What Happened To Them So, back when I was in Boy Scouts, my troop lost me. Twice. In the same night. While I was still in my tent. This is not an exaggeration.

    The story is thus: we were at Camp Decorah, in Iowa. We had the idea to go and perform a raid on the counselor's tents/cabins. I, however, was feeling ill, so I specifically said "I'm not feeling well, I'm going to sleep." They acknowledged this, expressed regret that I was not coming along, and went to have their fun.

    They have their fun. They retreat into the woodline. Then they take a headcount. I am not in the headcount. They expect me to be in the headcount, because they forgot. So, now, there is a missing camper. The entire camp is set to searching for me. Some time during this, a guy from my troop decides to, get this, check the tents. I am in my tent, as I should be. So he goes to report that I am found. I go to the bathroom during this time. Someone comes back to the camp, and checks my tent. I am in the bathroom, so I am not in my tent. I am now missing again.

    I get found sooner this time.

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    #5

    30 People Who Disappeared Share What Happened To Them When I was a 1 or 2, my parents were hosting an annual party in the back yard for the Independence Day. It was warm and lots of family were there so why not have a small child out? Well while nobody was looking I made my way into the woods behind the house (around 50 acres of land at the time). I was gone for around an hour and at some point my parents noticed and began searching (even called the police). Well eventually I come out of the woods dangling by my clothes from our dogs mouth. My parents liked that dog :)

    TL;DR infant goes into woods, parents freak out, dogs saves the day

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    #6

    30 People Who Disappeared Share What Happened To Them I walked out of my life when I came home to find another man in my bed with my girlfriend. Spent a year hitch hiking.

    No missing persons report. No one looked for me. No one missed me.

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    #7

    30 People Who Disappeared Share What Happened To Them My oldest daughter K went missing when she was 2, she's 11 now. It was about 9 AM, I'm at work 2 hours drive away and I get a panicked call from her mother saying she can't find her anywhere and the front door is open. She had been sleeping and didn't hear K get up. I tell her to quit messing around and call 911.

    I'm freaking out and leave work immediately and start calling everyone I know local to home, relatives, friends, anyone who can start looking for her.

    20 minutes later a police officer pulls up front of our house with K in the front seat and her trike in the back.

    Long story short, K woke up that morning missing me and decided to come find me. Went downstairs, managed to unlock the front door, went around back of the house, and hopped on her trike. She then proceeded to travel about a mile on the sidewalk on her trike, in a only a diaper before a good samaritan called 911 saying they saw a naked toddler by herself outside.

    She had a few cuts and scrapes, but was otherwise ok. She was also mad that the police officer made her wear a seatbelt.

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    #8

    30 People Who Disappeared Share What Happened To Them When I was a young lad, my brother and I used to go to this gymnastics play area. They had trampolines, those bars you swing around, and a tightrope over a pit full of pieces of foam. My brother and I decided to play hide and seek, I hid first.

    About an hour later, the place is closing. My mum asks my brother where I am, he says we're playing hide and seek and I've hidden really well.

    Three hours later, the staff have locked all of the doors and phoned the police, my mum was in a blind panic, my brother had given up on finding me and was bouncing on a trampoline, the staff were frantically tearing the place apart looking for me.

    My brother got bored of trampolining so decided to play in the foam pit. He jumped in and heard a loud "OUCH". I climbed out of the foam and said "did I win?"

    We never went back to that place.

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    #9

    When I was 16, I got into a fight with my mother about how to properly load dishes into a dishwasher... She threw me out of the house. In typical teenage fashion, I told her if she threw me out, then I wasn't coming back. At that point, she had escalated to white-hot rage and said something like, "We don't want you here anyway." Well, that was all I needed, and really she should have been paying better attention to me.

    See, I had gotten a job as soon as I had turned 14, and I had purchased my own car. I had been buying my own clothes and things for years with money from that job. I left and could honestly say that I hadn't taken anything from the house that I hadn't personally paid for. To that end, I left my cell phone on the table. They had no way to get in contact. So hours later, when my mother's anger faded and she realized that she had just thrown her 16-year-old child into the streets over the dishes, she called the police.

    Well, the police showed up and heard her out. They put out the details on my car to try and find me, but they told her that since I had a car and clothes and had my own bank account and I had been gone for hours, there was no guarantee that I was even in the state anymore... After 48 hours, they had me declared missing, which apparently made my profile available to other states and such.

    And that was how they found me, two weeks later, 18 hours away. I was sitting on the hood of my car eating ice cream and filling out a job application. An officer noticed I was illegally parked and casually scanned my plates while he approached to ask me to move. I don't think he was going to give me a ticket; it was just a reflexive action. I came up as a missing kid, and he stopped mid-question and sort of stuttered, "You, uh, you should call your mother."

    I nodded agreeably and he gave me his cell phone... As soon as I identified myself, she turned into a screaming rage monster of hatred and insults. I casually put the phone on speaker for the officer to hear, and his eyes widened. She didn't stop to take a breath and let me get a word in, so I hung up on her. I told the officer that I was fine where I was, and since it had already escalated to this point, I was going to hold out for an apology or divine intervention. He sort of patted my shoulder and made sure I had someplace warm to sleep at night.

    Two days later, my dad showed up and got me. The officer had told him that if the situation was left to my mother to resolve, they would never see me again. I agree that it was for the best. I could have gotten my GED and a job, but I certainly wouldn't have been able to make my way through college and get my master's.

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    #10

    30 People Who Disappeared Share What Happened To Them Was about 5. Out of town with my family, staying at my aunts house. There was a giant country music festival going on. Me and my cousins were being babysat by some teenage girl while the adults went to the music festival. Babysitter was being a bitch and wouldn't let me in the house to use the bathroom. Only would let me use the bathroom outside. I told her I was going to run away if she didn't let me in. She didn't let me in. I ran away, barefoot in superman pj's... Was gone for about 8 hours. A car pulls up next to me, and three woman ask me if I needed help .....the three girls were the Dixie chicks....they found me and called the police.. There was a missing kid alert out for me.

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    Me Oh My
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    That's downright abusive of the babysitter. I dearly hope that she was never allowed to babysit again. Ever.

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    #11

    I was missing for eight hours after my very first day of first grade and mobilized the entire police force of the rural town where I grew up.

    Before I was old enough for school, my (single) mom used to drop me off at a daycare place every day and pick me up every evening. This was in 1986, so way before cell phones or pagers were common. When I got old enough for first grade, my mom took me out of daycare because it was expensive and school would be my daycare... My school was brand new, so my first day was also the first day the school was open. It was also the principal's first day as a principal and my teacher's first day as a full-time teacher...

    The first day at school was perfectly normal: I wrote ABCs, drew pictures with crayons, etc. Just like in daycare. My only specific memory was the cafeteria staff bringing our lunches to us in the classroom, because the construction in the cafeteria wasn't complete yet.

    School gets out, and I head to the buses, staring dutifully at the bus number my mom wrote on my hand... but the after-school pickup van from the daycare we used to attend was also there. The staffer from the daycare recognized me as I was walking by and called out, "Hey! We're over here. Come on, we're about to leave!" I guess she didn't know or didn't remember that my mom had taken me out of daycare. Anyhow, this lady was a known adult authority figure, so I assumed plans had changed, and I got on the bus.

    My mom gets off work and waits at my bus stop... I don't get off the bus. She calls the school, and they mobilize the whole staff to look for me... They don't find me. Hours have passed, and she's in full freak-out mode... She calls the police. The police start searching the fields and farms near the school, [but no luck]. They bring in more officers and more officers until pretty much the entire police force of this tiny town is looking for me. Meanwhile, my principal and my teacher are having the worst day of their lives... How could they lose a f*cking six-year-old on their very first day?!

    All the searching turns up nothing, and it's past midnight now, so some poor officer had to tell my mom, "Ma'am, you should go home. We'll keep looking all night, but we won't be able to find much until the morning." My mom goes home thinking her baby is probably [gone] and arrives home to find her answering machine full with messages from the daycare.

    So... yeah. I managed to upset an entire school system and traumatize my mom on my first day of school. I still refuse to accept responsibility. I was just doing what the grown-ups told me.

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    #12

    When I was about 8, my parent sent 4 of my siblings and I to summer school. One day, I was waiting for my parents to pick me up outside by the schools playground as they do 5 days a week. Normally, my siblings would wait with me, but I couldn't find them anywhere so I just sat on the sidewalk and waited. After more than an hour of waiting, my parents pulled up with all 4 of my siblings and a station wagon full of new toys from Toys R Us. Only after my parents took my siblings on a shopping spree did they realize they were missing me. They pulled up and told me that they were sorry. Yet no one picked any toys for me...

    ...middle child syndrome.

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    #13

    30 People Who Disappeared Share What Happened To Them I went sleep walking one night when I was ten years old. Unlocked the front door and went for a stroll through the neighborhood. I woke up a few hours later in the middle of the street, barefooted, in a cul de sac I've never been in before. Scared the bejeezus out of me.

    Ended up running through the streets until I found my way back home. My parents had been s**tting bricks looking all over for me. They put a lock on my door after that so I couldn't go for anymore midnight strolls.

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    yicam32 avatar
    Yaz Cam
    Yaz Cam
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I used to sleep walk terribly like this between 9-11 yrs old. It’s scary.

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    #14

    I was living with my new husband in a town about a thousand miles away from my mother, who has always been a world class worrier. This was in the days before everyone had a cel phone. His entire family was going to be invading us in a few days, so I was polishing up the apartment to look good, and in the process of wiping fingerprints off the phone, I turned the ringer off, and did not notice. We'd just moved in, so several days without any calls wasn't unusual.

    Fast forward. The in-laws have just arrived while I am lying down in the bedroom taking a nap because I have been spit shining everything in the place and making tasty baked goods all while coming down with a bad cold. There's a knock on the front door. My husband comes to the bedroom, and says there's someone who wants to talk to me. It's the police, and they insist on talking to me alone in the hallway to make sure everything is really, truly ok, then they tell me to call my mother. I come back in to see his parents, sister, brother-in-law, their seven kids, and a passel of assorted aunts, uncles, and cousins, all staring silently at me.

    But wait, there's more. Mom didn't have our address, all she had was a description of the building. The town was small enough that the police knew just where that was, but they didn't know what apartment, so they knocked on every other door in the building before getting to us on the top floor corner unit.

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    #15

    I got lost for a few hours at a country show when I was very young, 3 or 4 years old. I had been doing that thing where you are following what you think is your parents legs but turns out it was someone else the whole time. Cause of the crowds I got completely lost, being so young I just started wandering around on my own. My parents started freaking out, mother was crying while my dad frantically got the organisers to start looking for me. Luckily after an hour or so I was noticed by a kindly group of older ladies who got hold of a steward to reunite me.

    This isn't remarkable in itself but fast forward 20 years later and by coincidence I was at the show ground with my parents for another reason. I had completely forgotten about being lost but it was obviously still engrained in my parents minds. As we drove around (there was no show on at the time) my dad points to a spot and goes out of nowhere 'thats exactly where you went missing', and then a few minutes later 'And thats where they found you' and both started yattering on about what happened that day. Amazing to think after all these years that incident was fresh in their minds and they could remember it like it was yesterday, they were sort of joking around about it but you could tell the emotions of almost losing me were still raw. They can't remember where they left the TV remote but can remember the day they almost lost their kid as clear as anything.

    I guess you never stop being a parent now matter how old your kids get.

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    #16

    30 People Who Disappeared Share What Happened To Them My high school (American) football team had an away game in a somewhat sketchy city, bus took the team back to high school afterwards. I was too young to drive and I was grounded and had my phone taken away. I waited at the school for an hour and a half but my parents never came to pick me up. So I started the 4-mile walk back to my house carrying all my pads and school books.

    While I was walking back my mom showed up and I wasn't there. She panicked and found the coach and told him. My coach sent a group text to the entire team asking if anyone knew where I was. Came to school the next day and everyone thought I had missed the bus and gotten lost. It ended up being a team joke for the rest of the year.

    Bonus: My parents never took my phone away again

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    Louise Hubbard
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Worse than taking away your phone is that they left you waiting there for an hour and a half!

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    #17

    Got lost in an elevator in our apartment building when I was 5. I forgot what floor we lived on and what out apartment number was. I was and am still a very visual person. I spent 7 hours going up and down the elevator, and since we had just moved into the building, nobody recognized me. I was also too shy to ask anyone for help either, and didn't know they had a directory on the ground floor. At about 5 that night, a guy named Derrick got into the elevator. He was about 6'2 and had his little daughter trailing him. The daughter was like my age, and asked me my name and what I was doing in the elevator. I told her I had gotten lost in the elevator, and when Derrick heard this, he asked if we were the new people on the 7th floor. That was our floor number, and he had reminded me of it. He took us back to my apartment, and we walked in on a cop asking my crying mom for a description of me. Since it wasn't a good neighborhood and this was like 2000-2002 New York which was still pretty s**tty at the time, the cop figured I had been kidnapped and would never be heard from again. The look on my mom's face was extreme happiness and relief, and I never forgot the floor number again. I also never saw Derrick or his daughter again, but I will never forget them.

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    pixie420 avatar
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Did the cop walk up the stairs... or get on the elevator with you?

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    #18

    30 People Who Disappeared Share What Happened To Them Memphis Tennessee, the summer of 1990. I was 5 years old, and my best friend was this little black girl in my apartment complex. Her parents invited me to her birthday party at McDonalds. We all lived in a very low-income housing/projects type of place, so this was basically the height of excess, and I was hardcore excited.

    So they round up all of us kids and take us in a van to the local McD's. The party was pretty pimp, cake and stuff, and we were all playing in the little inside playground there.

    Long story short, I ultimately exit from the playground, and... no one was there. The little girl's parents f**king forgot me, packed everyone up and left me there.

    I didn't realize it at the time, being distracted by food and seemingly awesome covered slides. I was just like, "Whoa, this is longest part ever!" The staff didn't even say anything or notice something was off about an unattended kid just hanging around.

    Nine hours later (my parents weren't exactly winning any awareness awards themselves), my mom and dad and 3 cop cars finally come to get me. I remember my mom being downright irate because, "You were the only little blond-haired white girl in a f**king sea of black kids; not exactly unremarkable!"

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    2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Mc Donald's staff laughed when I counted children I brought for my kid's birthday before leaving but seems that I was not wrong...

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    #19

    30 People Who Disappeared Share What Happened To Them Once when my grandfather was watching my younger sister and I, I decided to take a shower and didn't think to tell anyone. I took my leisurely shower, and when I came out no one was in the house. I went outside to see if maybe they were out there (it was summer, so reasonable to spend the evening in the yard). It turned out, my grandfather and sister had alerted the neighbors that I had gone missing, and the entire neighborhood was out looking for me. It wasn't even that long of a shower.

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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Apparently the rest of the house wasn't in the search pattern.

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    #20

    30 People Who Disappeared Share What Happened To Them I had a 12-day period of dis-associative amnesia while I was in the USAF. I was doing laundry one Sunday night while waiting to start extra cleaning duty, I woke up 12 days later to my supervisor shaking me awake in my dorm room. No one saw me for those 12 days, no one heard from me. I was not a recluse, I was extremely outgoing and easily noticed. How I vanished for 12 days is amazing.

    **editing this to not have to reply to everyone: I was considered AWOL, got an Article 15 out of it. Was medically separated with a $25,000 severance and told by the USAF Psychiatrist that I was "useless to the USAF". I couldn't explain it, and through every pill I was prescribed and some therapy, they couldn't unlock my brain. It's said that it does not happen to people who are in their older 20's, but it did. It happened the once. My brain scan showed that "the hole every one has, is larger in yours" kind of thing. I never looked into it, as I really don't want to know if I went to France and killed people as a transvestite, or just f***ed off for 2 weeks.

    I had no reason to desert. I was in for over 6 years at that point. I'd been to PSAB (Saudi), South Korea, France, Spain, and was in Germany at the time. I f**king loved my time enlisted and would do it again.

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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Don't ever ask military doctors for any diagnosis or help. It's just "do what you're told or get out."

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    #21

    30 People Who Disappeared Share What Happened To Them A few years ago, I was depressed and not really very social to begin with. At some point, my boyfriend at the time broke up with me and I just snapped. I booked a train ticket to him (around 10 h ride) and just left the next morning. Also basically stopped going to work at the same time, from one day to the next. I told no one about the trip and stayed away for about 10 days. When I came back, I had a not from the police on my door about being registered as a missing person. I lived in a student house, so at least everyone on my floor must have seen that note.

    Turn out my friends had filed a missing person report because I guess work had contacted them. I was angry at the time, because I felt like s**t and thought nobody cared about me anyway and shouldn't interfere with my life (ironically, they had just shown that they did, indeed, care). Now I'm grateful that they did it.

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    #22

    30 People Who Disappeared Share What Happened To Them I was about 6 years old, one day I was playing outside. There's a petting zoo about 4 km away from where we lived and I guess I decided to go there. So I did, by myself, barefooted, in my pyjamas. When I got there the manager found out I was alone and had reached my parents by phone. I don't actually remember much of it but it's pretty hilarious.

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    #23

    30 People Who Disappeared Share What Happened To Them When I was four I disappeared for several hours. My parents freaked out, went door to door asking the neighbors if they saw me. They ended up calling the police. I had thrown a temper tantrum before my disappearance and went to my room. I ended up falling asleep squeezed on the ground between my bed and the wall with pillows pulled over top of me. Had a stern talking to by the police officer. Parents were a little upset. Not my fault I'm a champion at hide and seek.

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    SobyKay
    SobyKay
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Another strange missing in plain sight one. Are ppl really that bad at searching their own house?

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    #24

    The son of a family friend had been missing for about 3 months, since the last of his travellers cheques had been cashed. This was in the Fillipines. Helped out family friend search, contacted all sorts of people over there in hopes they could help search, she was in contact with embassies and foreign affairs. Had received copies from american express of all the travellers cheques front and back. Finally she hears from him, I think it was a postcard he finally managed to send. Turned out he had met a nice local girl, build a shack on the beach where he was living with her. He hadn't used any money because he was doing odd repair jobs for the local and got paid in food and fish, so didn't need anything. He was on a small island with no post office.

    Oh to be young and without worries. No idea if he ever realized what he had done to his family. They all thought he had been robbed, killed or left for dead.

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    #25

    When I was younger, there was this annoying kid that was our next door neighbor that liked to wander through our neighborhood and invite himself inside other peoples' homes in typical 90s fashion. One day Free-Spirit McGee came over unannounced as usual and wanted to play Star Fox 64, so my mom made me entertain him. About an hour later there was a patrol of police cars with their sirens on driving through the neighborhood. Turns out the little prick never told his parents he was heading out (he was like 11 years old), so they called the cops and said he went missing. Anyway, he saw the police through the window and immediately blurted out, "not again..." before sighing and waddling back home. Never saw or heard from him again after that.

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    #26

    When I was about 25, I got a letter in the mail to report to jail to serve 10 days for not paying a fine. At the time I was dealing with heavy depression and drank quite a lot, so I said: F**k it, if you want me to go to jail, come get me!

    Well, one sunday morning, they actually came. The cops rang the doorbell like maniacs, while I was still asleep from a stupor the previous night, trying to get me to open the door. I finally woke up, when one of the cops was trying to break into my appartement through the back door.

    The cops told me they'd bring me to jail and asked me if they wanted me to notify someone, in my still drunken haze, I told them no and that I'd call someone myself from jail.

    Turns out in my country you don't get one phone call when arriving in jail. In fact, it takes 7 days to be properly processed and during that time, no phone calls are allowed. I thought I'd be getting my phonecall on the 7th day, but instead they transfered me to another jail on my 5th day and at that place they told me the same thing: Processing takes 7 days and you're not allowed to call anybody!

    In the meantime, my friends & family were going nuts. A friend of mine who had a spare key to my appartement even went looking to check if I was hanging from the ceiling. They all had called the cops repeatedly, who didn't tell them that I was in jail, because of some privacy issues/reasons, which I don't really understand to this day. When my mom called the cops again, crying, on the 8th day, one officer finally cracked and told them that I was in jail.

    When I was released from jail and went by a friend's place on my way back home, he was very happy to see me, but he also yelled at me a lot and made me call my parents immediately.

    Called my parents… lots of crying, lots of yelling, but all in all very happy that I was still alive.

    TL;DR: Was in jail for 10 days, was not allowed to call anybody, family thought I was hanging from the ceiling of my appartement

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    #27

    I was 3 and was found outside the local shop in my underpants, vest and coat, asleep at 5am in the freezing cold rain with 2pence clutched in my hand. I was waiting for it to open to get sweets. I was also wearing shoes and no socks.

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    Albino
    Albino
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Perfect outfit for an early morning snack, although people tend to be older.

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    #28

    I was about 10 or so and I was a member of a club where I learned to shoot air rifles.
    My parents would drop me off, then go and take off again. And pick me up when it was time.

    One day they didn't show up. I waited for an hour, called home, no answer. This was before cell phones so I was stuck. No idea what to do.
    Well I did have one idea. I knew how to get home. It would be about 6 kilometers walking but I had a good mental map of the way back and the weather was fine.

    So I left the club and began to walk home. I made it about halfway before my parents pulled over next to me and they were kinda angry with him. Also kinda apologetic because they'd forgotten about me.
    They told me not to wander off like that again. And I told them not to forget about me again. Didn't get any punishment.

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    #29

    Was 2-3 years old. At the beach with dad and bro (on a camping trip). Just started walking around picking up bird feathers. My dad and bro and the rest of the people we were camping with went back to camp. I just kept picking up feathers.

    After a while my dad realized he forgot me and went back to the beach in a panic and found me with a large amount of feathers in my hands. I didn't so much go missing, as much as...got forgotten.

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    Sathe Wesker
    Sathe Wesker
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Same thing happened to my stepbrother. His dad loaded up the other two kids and went home, it was then he realized that he left the youngest at the hockey rink. Dads.

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    #30

    I got lost at a music festival once. I went to sleep in a tent with my boyfriend and best friend and I guess they woke up around 7 and I wasn't around. They figured I went to the bathroom so they just waited. After some time they decided to go searching. It must have been not too long after they left that I woke up in the back seat of the car and crawled back into the tent. I must have slept walked. Anyway, they ask EMT and other festival goers and there's a ton of people looking for me. I had no idea. They were making announcements over the speakers and even sent out a text on the system. My boyfriend came back to get his shirt or something and I was all snuggled in. He was reasonably angry. I told him what happened and it was whatever. When my friend finally came back, I told her the same story at which point she reminded me that we didn't have a back seat because it was full of camping supplies. Still to this day I have no idea who's car I fell asleep in.

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    #31

    I was hiking to see the volcanic eruption back in 2010 (the one before all the grounded flights). On the way back, I got separated from my group. We were about 8-10 people, one of whom was a very good friend of mine.

    Anyway, I tend to walk pretty fast, especially on my way down from a mountain. This was in March in Iceland, so it gets dark pretty soon and fast. Unfortunately for me, I didn't have a torch on me, and in maybe half an hour, everything went pitch black.

    I had chosen to walk the same path as the one I went up. This was extremely stupid of me, as that path was about five meters away from a 15-meter drop into a canyon. Not only that, but the path was beside a waterfall. Waterfalls tend to have a lot of mist coming from them. Said mist goes onto the path, and because this is March in Iceland and on a mountain, it's about -5°C without wind chill. That mist turns to basically an ice-skating rink on a 45° angle.

    That was an experience - I had been lost for about five hours (I didn't turn up until I got down from the mountain). But I was one of 20 that got lost that Saturday, two of whom [perished].

    Icelandic SAR groups were quite busy that time.

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    #32

    I had a Tinder account but was too embarrassed to tell my friends, so when I actually hit it off with this guy and he asked me on a date, I didn't tell anyone.

    At the time, I was in college and in a sorority that had weekly Sunday meetings. I never missed a meeting, and I lived with some of my sorority sisters, so we always walked to meetings together.

    Well, this date was on a Sunday, but I told the guy I HAD to be back for the meeting (easy get-out clause if the date went poorly). He was picking me up and taking me to dinner but wouldn't say where... Super sketchy, but I went with it.

    Turns out the date was GREAT. So great that dinner lasted forever, and then we went out for ice cream. I totally lost track of time, missed my meeting, and of course, didn't check my phone.

    I got back to my apartment hours after the meeting ended. It was full of my roommates and other sorority sisters freaking out about where I was. I was so giddy after the date, I totally wasn't expecting all the scared and angry looks. I said some lie about getting caught up at the library and forgetting my phone.

    It's been a year since that date, and I'm madly in love with him. Still no one knows we met on Tinder... We plan on telling everyone at our wedding.

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    tash-penpalling avatar
    Tenacious Squirrel
    Tenacious Squirrel
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    ALWAYS tell someone when you’re going on dates. Online dating isn’t embarrassing. No need to save it as a big reveal for your wedding.

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    #33

    My dad (my parents are divorced and I only saw him a couple times a year), my grandparent's on his side (that I saw even less), and my sister went to this huge waterpark. Apparently there was a water ski show they all wanted to watch. I asked if I had time to stand under the big bucket that splashes everybody. They all walk to the big bucket thing, and 7 year old me spends five minutes staring at the bucket waiting for it to tip over. When it finally happens, it is awesome! Then, I look around, and my entire family was gone. They only had two kids to keep up with... I, being a rather intelligent child, walked to the front of the park and got them to keep calling them on the intercom. They didn't come until an hour and a half later (after the show had ended). They told me after the fact that they indeed heard the announcements and thought I could find my way back. I didn't consider myself close to this side of the family as it was, but this was the first event that made me start distancing myself from them.

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    Katherine Boag
    Katherine Boag
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Shitty dad, if youre called on the intercom for your kid you go get them!

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    #34

    i was skiing with my family. We rent a House in the middle of the mountain. After we were done skiing we all met in a little restaurant on the top of the mountain. After meal my parents left with my litte sister. My brother, girlfriend, friend of my brother and me stayed. The restaurant was empty so we did some drinking game with the waitresses. After a while my girlfriend want to leave, because we have to went down to our house what means we have to ski like a 7 kilometer path in the dark. I want to stay so she goes alone. It was her second winter vacation, so she wasn´t a good ski driver (not english, dont know the real name :D). Lock back at this maybe the biggest regrets of my whole life. Thank god nothing happend to her, she made it to the house. A hour later the rest of us wants to go home. We were really drunk, like REALLY drunk. I was so drunk i couldn´t get my ski on. My brother and his friend start skiing, i was to drunk so i was going a other way. Both of them got to the house quickly, and i was like falling and laying on the ground all the time. I thought it was the last night of my life. I dont think i would make it to the house. My family was already searching for me with the help of the houseowner. Later a guy with a (jetski thing for snow :D) found me and we drove together to the house. Now two years later everybody make jokes about these event. I never told that it was that hard. They all think i was just driving a other way and was to stupid to make it fast enough and nothing happend. Since this day i didn´t drunk alcohol, and i guess i will never do. But the mistake i made was let my girlfriend ski the way alone, untrained skiing in the dark. Ps : not a native englisch speaker, hope its not that bad.

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    thereader19 avatar
    TheReader19
    TheReader19
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Glad you survived and realised your mistake with your girlfriend

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    #35

    I was on the missing/presumed dead list after Hurricane Katrina for nearly four months. I was 19, hadn't spoken to either parent since junior year of high school, freshly dropped out of my first year of college (I blame Ayn Rand), and just moving into a new apartment. We didn't have cell phones or TV's; honestly didn't know the storm was even headed our way until it was too late to do anything but stay. After the storm, we found rides for two of my roommates, but I didn't want to leave. James (name changed to preserve privacy) stayed with me because he didn't want to leave a girl by herself. We stayed and grilled on the porch drinking warm beers, sailing around the neighborhoods on a boat we made from pallets and tires, until the Mounties made us leave (yes, Canadian Mounties were on the scene before the National Guard). We hitched to Baton Rouge, James caught a flight to California, but I stayed until I caught a ride to Maryland. I spent the next few months hitching around the states relying on the kindness of strangers in what seems to me now as a stroke of freakish good luck, like a "Forrest Gump" adventure. I decided to go home in December, and caught a flight out of Boston to New Orleans on Christmas Eve. My family was in tears when I showed up on my grandma's porch; they had finally marked me as presumed dead the week before.

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    #36

    I went missing for about 8 months. I was so fed up with everything I just packed my s**t and left (I was paying for a room illegally kind of, long story, but basically this was ok). Not a word to anyone about anything, not in the school, not to parents...

    It was pretty heartbreaking that none of my 'best friends' even bothered to, I don't know, send me a message or anything, as there was nothing when I returned. Nobody looked for me.

    I was just hanging around Oxford Street in London, since it's pretty safe at night as there are always some people here and there (not a lot, but just a bit. Better than Tower of London or Bank area). Met a cool Jamaican dude, if it was too cold we'd sleep in a pit shop of his friend near by as he had some scrap cars that we could stay inside of.

    To be honest I'm amazed at how much more trustworthy and heartwarming people of the street are compared to the cold bitches that complain about their lives 24/7. I'd totally do it again if I were still in London. It was a good experience.

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    marakitsch0 avatar
    Candia Lee
    Candia Lee
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    There's a camaraderie of situation involved. People on the street are often good at sharing.

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    #37

    When I was about eight I was spending the night at my grandparents. My grandmother was working second shift and her car had broken down on the way home. My grandfather had to put my brother and I into the car and go get her. He didn't wake us up, just carried us one at a time. Me first. When he came back with my brother, I was missing. He put my brother down and did a sweep around the house. No beccainblue. Their house is on a 62 acre farm... he freaks and calls my grandmother, yelling that I had disappeared and he wasn't going to be there any time soon. She had him recheck the house, in the closets and under the beds. After 45mins of searching he found me asleep under my uncle's (who was in Africa in the Peace Corps at the time.) bed. My grandfather reminded me of his terror for years after.

    *Word

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    #38

    Last October I was 14 and suicidal, this was a terrible, terrible time in my life and I didn't know what to do. I live In scotland, a tiny little village of around 6000-7000 people, I walked off to the nearby village where my school was. I walked up to the cemetery, which is on a hill next to the school. It was pretty dark at this point, I think it was about 6pm (It gets dark quickly in the winter)

    I went up to my grandfathers grave and lay down beside it, just talking since I hadn't visited in a while. He had died in 2012 and he's somewhat albeit a tiny part of why I'm like this so I let it all out. I had nowhere to go for that moment so I just lay there. I stayed there until about 9pm and I started to walk back, as I got close to home the police picked me up and brought me home.

    I'm tired so sorry if none of this makes sense, if anybody replies at all I'll get back to them when I get up.

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    gglenn666 avatar
    Mouse
    Mouse
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I hope you're doing well now. It's good that you can go visit grandpa's resting place and release everything, a place like that takes some people a lifetime to find.. Good luck moving forward 😁

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    #39

    I met a girl on Craigslist, attempting to start a band with her. Turns out, she had zero talents, but I still became friends with her and her friends. We went out to a club and I'm drinking my usual tequila, lime, and Sprite. The next thing I know, I'm waking up in a drunk tank with zero recollection of my night, no glasses, a mild hangover, a gash in the back of my head, and a broken nose with stitches.
    Turns out, my blood alcohol was only .08%, which is the legal limit, so there's no reason I shouldn't have remembered my night. my memory fades in and out and I remember going out to my car to charge my phone, then I time travel to the inside of an ambulance, where I am screaming and crying, while blood is pouring out of my face. I tried to get information from the police, but the official report was that I had fallen down. We think I was probably drugged and then somebody beat me up.

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    lisac72 avatar
    Not Proud British
    Not Proud British
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    You need to pursue that because it does sound drug related and chances are they will do it again. I would want to know if the club had CCTV you can look at, so you can see exactly who you left with and what state you were in.

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    #40

    At 4yo, I fell asleep in a toy box in my closet. Big neighborhood hunt, police were called, etc. While everyone was on other side of neighborhood questioning my babysitter, I woke up, couldn't find anyone, and just cried on the backyard swing until they came back.

    As a teen, I ran away and lived at a waffle house by day, quiet elementary school at night, and sometimes waffle house employee's apartment. I didn't know the employees beforehand, but they seemed just a couple nice worried roommate ladies.

    Also as a teen, I ran off and a church member that lived on church property let me stay with him. Unfortunately, I fell ill very quickly with a very high fever. He didn't believe in medical attention, so anointed me and prayed over me a lot. This was a very serious southern baptist church. He also worked on the church property. When he went to work, I was delirious, left the bed, and fell unconscious on the sidewalk. I was found, rushed to ER, and learned Strep throat can get real bad.

    Sometimes I just need some alone time apparently, but it's better when I'm not sick.

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    #41

    When I was like 8 I went to a sort of s**tty private school. It was 20 miles out in the country and they had a bus that would take you from town to the school, but it didn't go right up to your house. You had to go to the bus stop which was the parking lot of a U-Haul store.

    One day my mom had some other comittment so she asked my dad to pick me up after school. He works nightshift and didn't set an alarm to wake him up, so after school I got off the bus in a U-haul parking lot and waited for 3 hours for nobody to pick me up.

    This is a small town so you can't just have a U-haul store and expect it to stay in business, so it did double duty as an indoor Honda dealership as well. I went inside and the dude running it let me sit on a bunch of motorcycles and ATVs the whole time. I spent like the next decade babbling about motorcycles and ended up f**king buying one. My folks weren't happy about that but they could have prevented it

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    #42

    I got black out drunk on the 4th of July and presumably tried to walk home from my friend's house. First thing I remember is being in a really sketchy part of town about 8 miles away from my home with my phone dead and still s**t faced. Went around knock on peoples doors at 3 in the morning trying to use a phone.

    I eventually stumbled to a grocery store at like 5 in the morning and asked for directions. When I walked outside these two real gangsta looking guys who were picking up more booze at the store asked if I wanted a ride. Being a very trusting person and drunk as s**t, I accepted. They lit up a blunt and we smoked it as they gave me a ride home. I stumbled into my house at 6 to be screamed at by my girlfriend who thought I was dead because the last text she got from me was, "help, I lost".

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    gglenn666 avatar
    Mouse
    Mouse
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Your poor girlfriend, with that text, the wait and the silence, it must have been been panic inducing

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    #43

    I wasn't exactly missing, but I did try to run away.

    I was around six years old and I was at a big campout for cub scouts (like boy scouts for little kids). My dad said he was going to take the tent and stuff back to the car, and that I had to wait around the campsite for a few minutes. Well, in my little kid brain, a few minutes felt like hours. I thought he had ran away without me. So I grabbed my backpack and began walking away. I reached the parking lot and saw his car was still there. However my little kid mind thought he had left anyways. I decided I would leave the camp and walk home. So I wondered around for a few minutes trying to find the exit. Then a man in a golf cart rode up to me. He asked me "Are you Savagecow?" and I just nodded my head because at this point I was crying. I got the cart with him and he drove me over to where my dad was. Apparently he really was only gone for a few minutes. He hugged me and we went home.

    Tl;Dr: had bad time perception as a little kid. Thought my dad ran away without me.

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    #44

    I drank too much. Left my buddy's house to get my phone out of his car. Woke up several hours later with about 5 cops standing on me yelling at me to "Quit resisting." Turns out I had wandered through two gates, a front porch and into his neighbors basement. When the cops showed up, I was snuggling with his neighbors two Rottweilers on their basement floor (reminds me of Lethal Weapon 3, now). They said I was lucky they didn't eat me.

    I was also lucky I didn't get shot. This took place in a small town near East St. Louis (pretty rough neighborhood). I was arrested for felony breaking and entering. Luckily, the cops ended up being cool and understanding. My buddy's elderly neighbors were just freaked out by a drunk, naked white guy sleeping with their dogs in their basement.

    My buddies had no idea where I was until the next afternoon when I called him from jail. Luckily, he was a good dude and bailed me out.

    All the charges were dropped. When I walked up to the attorney and judge at court, they all pretty much made fun of me and just asked if I learned my lesson.

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    #45

    1999.

    In Germany at the time, and a friend and I had gone to the Love Parade in Berlin. Was a crazy, crazy weekend. We were both 20 years old and had no plans other than just getting to Berlin.

    On Sunday, the train station was INSANE... A million people were trying to leave the city. Friend and I spoke almost no German. We had already bought our tickets for the return trip and had both used the last of our DM (currency pre-Euro) for breakfast that morning. We ended up getting separated in the train station. I looked at my ticket and was at the right tract at the right time. Showed someone that worked there my ticket and pointed at the train. Got a nod as it was so loud in there...

    Now, we were going to a school that summer that was about two hours south of Berlin. I had fallen asleep on the floor of the train huddled between a bunch of other hungover ravers. Then I noticed that I had been on the train for almost four hours. Was freaking out that I had passed my stop. Nope.

    Train was going west, and we weren't even that far away from Koln. I freak out. Get off at the next stop to try and figure out how to get home. I am sitting at this tiny train station in the middle of nowhere in Germany, not speaking almost any German, no money, no contact information for where I was staying, and still hungover from partying all week.

    I ended up looking at different train schedules on the wall and pretty much guessed which trains would lead me back to my city. The train that I needed wasn't coming for like five hours. Because I had no money, I couldn't buy another ticket. In the first train, I found this empty conference-like room and hid in a dark corner. Got off somewhere when I was getting too nervous about getting caught.

    Waited for another train for a couple hours. This train I hid in the bathroom. Knock-knock. Ticket person was knocking. I decided that I would just jump in the deep end and open the door and explain what was going on. As I spoke almost no German, and he spoke almost no English, he was just super super [angry]. Ended up not calling the police or even writing me a ticket but made me get out at the next stop.

    The next stop was some train station that was so small, it didn't even have a roof. Ended up sleeping on the grass behind the train station, as the train I needed wasn't coming until 5:30 am. In the morning, I again pulled the riding-without-a-ticket scam. This was a double-decker train, and I was on the top and watching both entrances to the car. When the ticket person came in and went downstairs first (thank God), I went to the other side and went downstairs when he came upstairs.

    Finally got to my city at like 7 am... almost 24 hours after my friend and I got separated.

    Got back to the dorm, and friend was just sitting on the bed in a towel after having just taken a shower. Was like, "Where the f*ck were you? I was about to tell someone you were missing."

    Not sure if I am glad he didn't tell anyone I was missing or [mad] that he didn't. We are still best friends now 15 years later.

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    #46

    I used to escape a lot when I was really small, like three or four years old. Once, we were spending the whole summer in this seaside town where my grandmother had a restaurant. It has a little marine, a big old town, and a huge hotel, with a huge balcony in the open where a band played every night for guests.

    So it's super busy every night in the center, and my mom was holding my hand while we were walking, but somehow, I disappeared. They looked for me everywhere for hours. In the end, my mom was certain I fell into the sea, and she was sitting there, crying the whole evening. Around 2 am, a young Italian couple brought me to my grandmother's restaurant, kicking and screaming.

    Apparently, I was at the aforementioned hotel the whole evening, dancing the night away. Everyone thought I was with someone. When all of them left, that couple saw me alone on the stage, playing with instruments. They recognized me from when they were having dinner at my grandma's place, so they knew where to take me. Needless to say, my mom went crazy when she saw me crying for being taken away from the stage.

    I escaped a few more times.

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    #47

    I was at a college house party. I went there with several friends. I didn't have a cell phone yet (managed to hold out until 2004, our dorm rooms came with land lines at the time). I ended up going home with a guy and hooking up with him. Woke up the next day, checked my email on his computer and found a ton of frantic emails from my friends. They actually thought that I'd been abducted, roofied or killed myself (I was very depressed at the time). They filed a missing person report on me with Campus Security and several friends were searching for me in the woods.

    TL;DR: my friends thought it was more likely that I'd gotten kidnapped than gotten laid.

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    #48

    My best friend and I decided to play near the river (I was six or seven) the thing is it was 5pm and when s**t got dark we didn't know where to go so we stayed near the river for the whole night.

    Telling scary stories while sitting near a river with no light is not the best thing to do.

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    Tenacious Squirrel
    Tenacious Squirrel
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    At 6/7 no parents/guardians knew where you were or came looking for you for an entire night?

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    #49

    My friend and I left the mall and walked to a friend's apartment about 2 miles away. This was before cell phones were common.

    I called my mom from the friend's home later to pick us up and said we were at XYZ Apartments and well meet you by the pool.

    It turns out I didn't know what the hell apartment complex we were at and had accidentally told my mom the wrong ones.

    After about 6 hours we were freaking out and so was she.

    We were sitting in a little warm area and saw her car drive by very slowly and start to leave.

    We caught up and opened the door and got in. I stated to say "Mom what the--" and then she let me have it.

    I believe I am still technically grounded.

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    #50

    I was 11 at a PGL (summer camp in the uk) trip.

    I went to the toilet block one night and come morning noone knew where i was. cue the manic searching of the site, phone calls to parents and diver teams being prepped to search the lake.
    4 hours later a friend went into a bedroom and noticed a pile of clothes moving on the top bunk (not my bed). apparently i must have sleepwalked into the wrong cabin and climbed up to the top bunk and settled down in the comfy clothes.

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    #51

    The closest I have to actually going missing/running away I think I was 6 at my grandmas house with my dad and I asked for something (probably something sugary and bad for me) and they'd told me no. Well, I had had enough and packed up all the little knick knacks I could into my Barbie lunchbox my grandma got me, announced I was running away from home, and walked to the end of the block from her house. Now, my dad could see me the entire time, but he didnt come get me or yell to come back. He just kinda waited. I sat in the middle of the street pouting for about 10 minutes before I got bored, turned around and started watching tv again. My grandpa likes to joke and started playing around like I'd been gone for a very long time and no one knew where I was. He wasn't there for when I announced it (my grandma told him though when he woke up from his nap and I was outside with dad) so I told him "I know grandpa, I ran away. That's the point." I was a very sarcastic child.....

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    #52

    I got separated from my family in nyc in a crowd when I was in middle school, from upstate, got on a subway and realized that I was following the wrong person. Asked people I saw if I could borrow their cell phones but no one let me, not even a f**king hotel! Couldn't believe that s**t. Ended up hanging out with some college guys looking for hookers, they went down to to port authority I think, it was a while ago. Then I found a phone and called my family, next thing I know police cars come screeching around the corner blaring a loudspeaker and horns and s**t. Got some pizza.

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    marakitsch0 avatar
    Candia Lee
    Candia Lee
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    You could have talked to the station agent selling tokens, or a subway cop.

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    #53

    My two sisters and I went missing when we were about 4, 5 and 6. I remember we were playing in my moms boyfriends back yard and we used to go exploring in the woods behind his house. one day we decided to go to this old car lot that we had found awhile back and play. i remember there was a fork in the road on the way there and my sister insisted we go right when I had remembered the lot was to the left. well anyway she was wrong and before we knew it we were lost in some giant forest in the middle of nowhere michigan.

    we were there for a total of 2 days trying to get home. I remember it snowed. my young sister got tired of walking and started crying and threw her brand new shoes in a stream. so we had to take turns carrying her. we slept the night outside huddled together, i dont think i got much sleep.

    the next day we heard someone yelling our names. it was my mom and her boyfriend. i remember my mom looked terrified. she hugged us and cried and then noticed my sisters shoes missing and got really angry. i remember we were put into time out for the night.

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    mariancochran avatar
    Me Oh My
    Me Oh My
    Community Member
    2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Ahaha I'm sorry your mother was mad about your sister's SHOES? SOMEONE'S got their priorities misplaced.

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    #54

    When I was about 5 years old my dad and I went into a gas station. My dad went to the bathroom and I just hung around the candy bars an aisle over. I saw a man walk past me that was wearing basically the exact same thing as my dad and was the same height/weight and everything. So i started following him as he went through looking at stuff (I don't even think he knew I was following him). A couple of minutes later and I turn around and make eye contact with my real dad and I am very confused. Dad freaks out and grabs me up and apologizes to the guy who looks really confused as well. Dad said when he came out of the bathroom and didn't see me waiting he was freaking the hell out and running through store aisles looking for me.

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    #55

    When I was around 3, I was at the beach with my family and was left alone for maybe a minute. I went to go to my parents, but being 3 years old, I didn't find them and wandered off a couple hundred meters to the left. When my parents found out, they informed the coast guard, giving them the information: "It's a blonde, naked 3 year old that can speak well for his age." Before the coast guard could go search for me, some 18 year old girl had brought me to the coast guard's tower, after having bought me an ice cream. So, thanks to that dear stranger, the situation cleared up pretty fast despite little 3 year old me's stupidity :)

    TL;DR: Got left alone at beach, wandered off, got ice cream.

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    #56

    At a new years party at a friend of the family's house, little 2 year old me vanished. My parents and most of the adults panicked searching the neighborhood for hours. Turns out I was upstairs playing with legos. My mom quit drinking after that. (Not that she did often anyways)

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    #57

    I was in 4th grade, made friends with a kid from my class, he asked me to go over to his house after school to play, said his parents would give me ride home, said I could call from his house. Got there, the little prick says, his Mom is sleeping, I can't come in. So, proceed to walk home as I usually did (this was in the 70's, city of 7,000 or so), get lost as I missed my corner. Proceeded to wander around for 2 hours. Getting dark (middle of winter), finally figure out where I was. Cops found me 1 block away from my house and gave me a ride home, wasn't scared till then when I realized what a big deal it was.

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    #58

    When I was 13 I was with my best friend in a hotel near Orlando, Florida. I slept walk unlocked both locks on the door got into an elevator and went up 2 floors. I woke up laying down in the elevator (which was mainly glass) with an attendant staring at me from the lobby.

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    Felice Coles
    Felice Coles
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Sleepwalking used to seem funny, but from all these posts, it's obviously dangerous af.

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    #59

    I was about 8 years old and had just acquired some camping gear for my birthday. I promptly celebrated by heading out into the woods behind my house to try them out. My 8 year old brain didn't think I needed to tell my parents where I was. Hours later my pops found me, and he was understandably f**king livid.

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    #60

    30 People Who Disappeared Share What Happened To Them Brb, googling statute of limitations.

    K, we're good.

    When I was 16 I stole $5,000 and ran away to New Orleans. Before Katrina when it was still fun. I'm old. Good times were had.

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    #61

    My Dorm room neighbor went missing our freshman year. He had actually ran away to new york to join the Occupy Wallstreet movement at the time. He told no one he was leaving, not even his family and his phone was off for over a week. Missing person posts started showing up all over facebook and apparently this kids' dad had friends in the hells angels who found him and brought him back to his parents.

    He ended up dropping out that semester, getting a job, saving up around 20k and traveled europe for an entire summer. I got to see it through snapchat too haha. I sure do miss that kid.

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    #62

    I wanted to study for some tests, so i turned off my internet and my phone for 3 days, moved to a friends house to avoid distractions, and forgot to tell my parents and roommates.

    I got home and there were police at my apartment looking for clues. Man where my parents mad.

    tl;dr i f***ed up.

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    #63

    When I was younger I went through a phase of sleeping on the floor... Now I guess I had fallen asleep and my mom came in to check on me and she didn't see me. She immediately starts freaking out. She calls all the neighbors AND the police, the neighbors then decide to start forming a search party. When I finally woke up, my aunt found me in my room underneath a bunch of blankets and I see that the house is packed with neighbors and police officers. What really makes no sense is as my "punishment" my mom made me go around to all the stores and take down my missing posters. Needless to say I got quite a few awkward looks.

    TL;DR my mom thought I was missing and I was actually asleep on the floor, as punishment I had to take down all my missing posters.

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    Katherine Boag
    Katherine Boag
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Wtf is with parents being mad at kids when the parents didnt check the house well enough

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    #64

    At 10 years old I packed my bag, put what little money I had in my pocket, got on my bike in the middle of the night and ran away from home. I spent 4 nights sleeping rough, until I realised that I would inevitably be seen/caught. People would actually be looking for a 10 year old rather than an adult. So I gave in and returned. My parents had been a bit desperate, but it only seemed to have a short term impact on my situation. Things returned to normal after a while and I actually learnt a life lesson from the whole episode.

    I do realise now of course how lucky I was, to have not been abused, robbed, killed etc.... The chances were small in compa

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    Tenacious Squirrel
    Tenacious Squirrel
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    At 10 you go missing for 4 nights and your parents were “a bit desperate” ?! I’m amazed a 10 year old could sustain themselves and sleep rough for 4 nights to be honest.

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    #65

    When I was 11/12 (and before i had a mobile phone) I went to the cinema with my friends one afternoon. When it came time to leave my friend said her mum would give me a lift home. Once we got in the car her mum said we were just "popping" to some church fête her dad was helping run. Several hours later we left said fête (I'd not managed to call home as no one else had a mobile and I was too polite to ask to go home since she'd so kindly offered a lift. I got home to find my mum in tears - as I'd not come back after the film my parents had worried and my dad had gone into town and had been wandering for hours looking for me. Additional issue was that he didn't have a mobile either so he had to keep phoning home from a payphone to see if I'd turned up yet. Which he did about half an hour later. Ever the fair parents I didn't get a telling off as it legitimately wasn't my fault and next opportunity to not appear to spoil me (my birthday) I got given a mobile phone!

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    #66

    It was winter break of my freshman year of college. I had just gotten dumped, I was depressed, and I just wanted to be alone. I had a decent amount of money, so I rented an extended-stay hotel room for two weeks, bought enough food and supplies for two weeks, shut off my cell phone, and didn't go outside the whole time.

    When I returned home, my family yelled at me for several hours, and I had received over 200 phone calls and over 500 text messages. 10/10 would highly recommend.

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    #67

    I got lost in the mall, and my dad got the information desk to announce my name telling me my dad is looking for me. Scariest day of my life.

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    #68

    Late so this will get buried, but I think it's funny. When I was little I used to love wandering away from my mom when we would go to the store. So she finally decided to let me do it, circle back around me and follow me while hiding until I started freaking out just to teach me a lesson. One time I got as far as to go up to a security guard and tell him, sobbing, that I couldn't find my mom. She then runs out trying to explain what was going on. He wasn't pleased.

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    #69

    I deleted my Facebook. Nobody could find me for weeks....

    (Edit because I'm serious)

    Seriously. I deleted my Facebook and realized that was my only connection to 90% of my friends. People thought something was wrong or I was upset and basically acted like I had died.

    I was just sick of the Facebook drama, and didn't make the grand "I'm leaving" announcement.

    Realized Facebook sucks but it's become a necessity for keeping in touch with many.

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    #70

    When I was around 6, I went missing while on a ship. The reason? - Well, I was playing one of those arcade stations, and when I was done, I looked to my left and couldn't see my parents, so I started walking that way to look for them. The f***ed part is, that they had been standing 2 meters to my right while I was playing the arcade game.

    Allways look both ways before crossing the roa.. ship to look for you parents, kids!

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    #71

    i forgot to pay my phone bill.

    seriously. like 4 days without a phone, and suddenly youre missing. not my fault the phone company takes a while, and i had the week off and i live in an apartment building without the buzzer thing.

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    #72

    When i was 3 years old i decided to go to a grocery store near my home, because i always went there with my mother. It wasn't for long when my grandma woke up from her nap and realized i was missing so she went outside to ask the neighbours if they saw me. One of them was not at home but grocery shopping, where he saw me and picked me up to bring me home. I was not officially announced missing but still shocked my grandmather a lot. I never got to buy the milk and lettuce i needed.

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    Huddo's sister
    Huddo's sister
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The last line reminds me of the story my mum has told many times. She was about 2 and saw her 'friends' (girls from the school her dad taught at I think) go past the house when she was playing in the front yard. Her grandmother was looking after her but had to go inside for something. She crossed the road and went down to the public pool following the girls. By the time her grandma found her she was at the pool fence. She always says 'I was just going to play with my friends!'

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    #73

    Funny story time. When I was about seven or eight I got separated from my father and sister at the ballpark. They freaked out, contacted security. Everyone's looking for me, thirty minutes turns into an hour. Dad goes to fill out the paperwork. Finds me in there, eating a hot dog and watching the game. Apparently I had been there for a while, and they just forgot because everyone was out looking for me. Oops.

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    #74

    Nothing too bad/extreme but I suppose I still went missing. My parents broke up when I was just over 1 I believe so I must have been about 1 when this happened. My mum & dad we're travelling somewhere by train (might have been the London tube, not too sure) but they got off and forgot me, with my mum realising as they stepped off but not with enough time to get between the closing doors. Luckily, a woman saw what happened and got off at the next stop with me in my pram, where my dad turned up shortly after, and my mum not too far behind. I'm guessing they ran there, as my dad always has been quite fit (Was army, now a body builder). So yeah, I suppose I got forgotten about for a few seconds, rather than went missing.

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    #75

    I wasn't missing, I knew exactly where I was.

    Though in retrospect it was my fault. I took an impulse-trip to London and didn't tell anyone. And actually managed to forget my phone at home. I was gone for 3 days. People freaked the f**k out.

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