“I had a lot of online boyfriends who had my address and would send me presents like stuffed animals or cute jewelry or video games. That probably was a bad idea.”

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"She then said I had to go with her. I was upset and confused at being accused of shoplifting, so I did. As she was leading me through the building, we bumped into my dad (THANK GOD), and I explained to him that this lady was a cop and they thought I’d stolen something, which I hadn’t. As I was talking to him, the woman makes (or pretends to make) a phone call and acts as if she’s talking to someone nearby who can see us. She says, "Oh, this isn’t the right girl?” And then hangs up, turns to me and says, "Sorry, wrong person” and then disappears into the crowd. It was so bizarre.

Later as I was talking to my mom, she was shocked at the way this had played out and took me back to the shopping center the next day to speak to center management and complain about the whole situation. And that’s when the manager said something that I can still hear clear as day: “We don’t employ undercover cops at this shopping center."— ToyStoryAlien

"I remember seeing the boy behind the bar, and his eyes basically said, “Get out, and take me with you!” My dad told me later on that night (and has told the story many times since then) that the owner was going into detail about how he would murder a woman who cheated on him. He asked if my dad agreed about this being the way to treat evil women who wronged men. My dad realized the danger we were in, basically being in this psychopath's company, and complied until he could get us out. Hope the kid made it out."

"When I got discharged from the line, I was told, "Look, we've done everything we can for you, and you're not getting any better here. So we're sending you home so you can be comfortable and have a home-cooked meal."

When I was 19, I told my girlfriend the story. She looked at me and asked "uhhhh, chalk, did they send you home to die? " I stood there for a moment replaying that line from the doctor in my head. Called my dad. "Hey dad, did I get sent home to die?" "Oh, yeah, I thought you knew. Nobody expected you to live."

"She had been two cars behind him and had seen me get into the car but was too late to hit the horn. She later said that she wasn't too worried, as it seemed I knew the driver. I did not know the driver. I am, however, convinced he knew me."

"Anyway, one day the woman decided to take me, my older sister, and younger sister for a walk (didn't include the sister whose dad's house we were staying at). We ended up on a trail running next to a kind of rapid little waterfall.

We continued to follow as she led us deeper and deeper against the current into the water. It got to a point that it was so powerful that we had to hold on to each other to not lose grip, but the woman never slowed or asked if we needed help. There came a point at the mouth of the waterfall where all three of us kids were crying, and my big sister held on to us one by one and got us to the bank.The woman wasn't waiting for us. We thought we'd have to find a road to ask for help, but she was parked at the exit with the attitude of, like, "Finally, took you long enough." We were nine, seven, and three years old.It's kind of tough to single out times when you were vulnerable in a sea of it, but this one sticks with me. I'm a well-adjusted 40-year-old and fully believe that woman didn't want us coming back."— unsuspected_doubtist

"I eventually was able to right myself and get out of the water and only had a couple scrapes on my feet, but looking back on it, I'm absolutely floored that my family was so laissez-faire about letting us swim in those waters (none of us were unable to swim, but I still feel like it could have ended much worse)."