15 People Tell Their Story of How a Complete Stranger Saved Them From Danger

Almost every day, we interact with strangers who are willing to lend a helping hand with some mundane task — holding the lift door open, giving directions, or pulling the stroller onto the porch. But sometimes, it so happens that our safety or even our lives depend on people we’ve never seen before. Meanwhile, some, like the girls in the bonus story, come up with their own personal lifehacks to avoid trouble.

• At 13, I had a job cleaning the local card store on Saturday mornings (vacuuming, etc.). Every time I went to the closet for supplies, the owner would “need” to squeeze in the tiny room too. The 16yo old working the register started pulling everything out before I got there. My hero. © knitmom1418 / Twitter
• I was with my mom at the grocery store. Think I was around 6 or 7. Middle-aged woman working there was giving out samples of sausage. I grabbed a big piece and ate it. It had a tough outer skin that I didn’t chew well enough. I started choking, and my mom didn’t know what to do. Sample lady runs around from behind her table and gives me the Heimlich. Thanks for saving my life sample lady. © hrabib / Reddit

• One time, a woman walked up to me, hugged me, and asked how my mom was, and then, after a couple of minutes, she whispered she had noticed a man watching/following me and wanted to scare him off. She then walked me to my destination. I was only 14. © gleefulthoughts / Twitter
• It was 2 AM in the middle of winter, I’d been out with a friend and was walking home when suddenly I spot a frozen pole in the distance. My brain tells me to lick it, so I did. A few seconds later, I’m stuck to this pole, there’s not a person in sight, and I’m freezing to death when, suddenly, a woman appears out of nowhere, pours boiling coffee on my tongue, and then runs for the hills, disappearing into the night. © Bloody_Conspiracies / Reddit
• As we’ve seen, some people have a real talent for easily finding solutions to problems that life throws at them.
• At a funfair as a kid, we went on a ride that went through a dark tunnel. My uncle and bro had sat far away, and a young man came and sat by me. The guy whose job was to give the green signal flat-out refused to let the car move. He said, “I don’t let strange men sit by girls.” King. © shreyaamishra07 / Twitter

We bet that these, and other, stories about people whose sensitivity and kindness know no bounds can restore faith in humanity, even in the most hardened of sceptics.

• When I was 4, I was sitting alone in the backseat of my mom’s car and decided to crawl up to the front while she paid for gas. In doing so, I grabbed the stick shift, accidentally pulling it into neutral. The car starts rolling backward, and I freeze up. Then, a random guy runs over, opens the driver’s door, and jumps in the car to stop it. He walks me inside, takes me to my mom, and then buys me a huge Snickers. I wish I knew him now. © jbrsci / Reddit
• I requested an escort from a store at the mall after a man appeared to be following me. After waiting 20 minutes, I found a couple with two children and acted like I knew them. I explained the situation, and they made sure I got into my car. © UpperFalls / Twitter
• When I was around 2 or 3 years old, I jumped into a pool at a hotel without even knowing how to swim. And a 7-year-old girl jumped in, grabbed me, and pulled me out. © Wolfwood428 / Reddit
• Here are some more stories of strangers coming to the aid of people in all sorts of situations.
• Once slid into a ditch on a winter road. As I’m standing outside my car, this guy pulls up, gets out, and says, “Well, I bet your day just went downhill?” He then proceeded to help me push my car to a point where it could be driven out, never even got his name. Crazy nice guy. © ReluctantEagle / Reddit

• At Walmart, I had a guy ask me if I could buy his bread. He followed me around the whole store while I was shopping because I said, “Sure.” But when we (daughter and I) were leaving, he kept following. So we went to the bathroom and left our cart outside the bathroom. I came back out and he was still there. So I said, “One second, something looks wrong on my receipt,” and I went to an employee. They got the tallest dude ever and he walked us to my car. © makiiramae / Twitter
• Two guys walked up to me, asked if I knew any pharmacy around, and I directed them. They came back again asking if I could walk them down a bit because they didn’t get the directive. It was around 8 PM at night. A woman just appeared behind my back, scolding and reprimanding me, talking about how she sent me on an errand and I am here talking to some guys... The guys scurried away. She walked me to the bus station and waited for the bus to leave. What a wonderful woman! © Okikimiposi / Twitter
• I was swept away from a beach in Mexico by a rip current. I was too far from shore. Water got suddenly very deep. Couldn’t keep my head above water anymore. Suddenly, a little Mexican boy on a boogie board floats by. I grab onto the boogie board and we float back to shore. Seven-year-old Mexican boy saved my life. © DomeyDion / Reddit

Not only children, but adults too can get in trouble at the beach. To avoid that, find out which bodies of water can pose danger.

• I was 12 and was with a group of friends at a fair. This old dude kept talking to us in line and wouldn’t leave us alone. The woman in front of us pretended we were her daughter’s friends, and he instantly left us alone. He probably would’ve followed us the whole night without her. © impliedvictory / Twitter
• One day last year, I was walking from my car to my daughter’s house, and a random man came up to me and started a conversation. I stopped walking because I didn’t want him to know where she lived. He got belligerent when I refused to give him my phone number and a couple of street entrepreneurs saw me and yelled, “Yo, Auntie, you all right?” I said “No.” They came off the stoop and got between us, walked him off the block, and then checked on me the next day. © iambcreative / Twitter
• My two friends and I were waiting to cross a busy street somewhere in midtown. For some reason, I thought it was now safe to cross and I started crossing. Then suddenly some woman grabbed my shoulders and yanked me back onto the curb. A taxi then flew by a second later right where I would have been walking. She then sternly said, “They will hit you.” All my friends and I remember that exact quote. © trendo / Reddit

Often it’s not the people around us, but we can harm or endanger ourselves. So it’s a good idea to find out what habits and decisions you should avoid so that you don’t get into trouble.

Bonus story: Girls come up with their own signal for help.

• In college, my friends invented “Bob”. If one of us appeared trapped in a conversation, we’d walk up and ask, “Have you seen Bob?” If she answered, “I think he left,” it meant all’s well, but “No, but I really need to talk to him,” meant get me out. © jenmerlis / Twitter