Honestly, I can’t decide whether “third man syndrome stories” make me feel comforted or terrified.
Warning: This article contains mentions of domestic abuse, bodily injury, and attempted murder.
c’mon proceed with caution.
If you’re new here, welcome!
Let me catch you up to speed.
This phenomenon is called “third man syndrome” in homage to a T.S.
I’ve gotten hundreds of submissions fromBuzzFeed readersrecounting their experiences with third man syndrome.
Here are 22 of the best, most jaw-dropping, most inexplicable tales:
1.
It was raining and the roads were slick.
It startled me, but I was confused where the voice came from.
I am certain that my car wouldve been either crushed or run off the freeway.
I believe that voice saved our lives.
I definitely thanked whoever was watching out for us that day!"
Tamara E
2.
“I wear a CPAP at night due to severe sleep apnea.
There is a small tank of water that keeps the air from drying out my lips and throat.
I thought my husband was waking me up for work, so I shrugged him off.
About three seconds later, I feltanotherhard shake, even stronger than before.
My tank was backing up into my mask and I seriously could have drowned.
I’m pretty sure that hand was my mom, saving me in my sleep.”
Jodi, California, USA
3.
“I was a competitive cyclist in my mid-thirties.
I never gave them the address of my house or directions on how to get there.
They politely declined, saying this is what they do all the time.
Then they just disappeared.”
“Once, I went on a skiing trip with some friends.
After the first day of sking, we headed back down the slope.
Right at the bottom near the chair lift, my ski tips crossed and I fell.
The pain was getting worse, and I feared it was a cracked rib.
After the exam, the guy there said that I could go and would probably be OK.
I asked them call an ambulance because of what the voice said.
Three hours and 90 miles later, we arrived at the regional hospital.
They took me in and ran a CAT scan on me.
The doctor came back and said I was bleeding internally and my spleen was ruptured.
Anonymous
5.
My wife had been up with her for a while and had finally gotten her to sleep.
Out of the blue, I heard a girl’s voice tell me to get up.
I didn’t think anything of it at first, but the voice yelled, ‘GET UP!’
Reluctantly, I did and checked on the kids.
I immediately unwrapped her and she took the biggest breath ever.
If that voice had not woken me up, we would have lost her.
J. Kent, CA
6.
To make it worse, my phone had just died and I forgot my charger in my dorm room.
While he was talking to me, I felt calm and completely at ease.
I wasn’t scared at all.
As he promised, he got my car started and off I went.”
“When I was 28, I had to go in for an emergency C-section.
His heart rate kept dropping whenever I’d have a contraction, and I was terrified.
There was this kind nurse who came in with the OBGYN who was going to do the procedure.
She was about my age, Black, and had her hair up in a beautiful bun.
She stayed at my bedside the whole time and came with me into the operating theater.
You’re scared, but it’s gonna be okay, honey.'”
I remember having my kid, kissing his forehead, and then being knocked out to finish up.
She said she’d never seen a nurse that matched the description I gave.
Same for the doctor and nurses who were in the operating theater for the C-section.
Ellie, Pennsylvania, USA
8.
“I was a very poor college kid who hitchhiked almost everywhere.
One day, Id been out visiting some friends that lived about 10 miles from my dorm.
Id gotten a ride back with a guy I had met in class.
It removed the van door and the trim off of the door frame.
It had passed on the wrong side of the road!
Im very thankful to whomever reminded me of manners that day!”
“My oldest was a child who would wander off regularly.
Typically, they would always find me.
This was a couple decades back, and the world wasn’t as scary as it is now.
“One day, they left school and no one knew where they had gone.
One of the other children heard them say that they wanted to walk home by themself today.
I was enraged that they had literally lost my kid and had no idea what to do.
They didn’t call the police or anything.
I was nearly non-verbal with terror at this point, speaking aloud only what I could.
I stopped outside a strip mall on the other side of town from the school.
When I looked up.
he was just gone…poof!
I couldn’t see him walking anywhere or anything.
I asked my child, ‘Where did you find him or did he find you?’
We posed by the Pyramids of Giza and folks commenced wandering around.
The voice said my name sternly and then said, ‘RUN NOW.’
I started running before I even looked around, Chacos slipping in the sand as I went.
Lindsay, Milwaukee, WI
11.
“I got into a car accident last year.
I lost control on black ice and flipped my car four times into a field.
Finally, she screamed at me to STAY AWAKE!
I woke up in the ICU, where I had nearly died.
No one could explain how Id managed to get out of the car with how injured I was.
I dont know what or who she was, but I love her.”
As a strong swimmer, I enjoyed the beach and body surfing the waves.
This particular day I was out in the surf when I saw a large wave coming.
I crested the wave just before it broke, only to see another, larger wave coming.
Struggling, trying to find the surface, and out of air, I stopped trying.
It was at that moment that I felt someone grab me, bringing me to the surface.
I gasped for air.
The large set of waves had passed and the surface was as it was before the large waves.
I’ve never once mentioned that no one was there, until now.
Instead, I made up that it had been a lifeguard.”
Gary, California, USA
13.
“In 2000, I was living in Florida with my ex-husband.
He was very controlling and I wouldn’t allow me to have any friends or talk to anyone else.
It was like that for many years.
After 13 years of the same situation, I was fed up.
We argued, and I asked him to leave and told him I was calling the cops.
I was confused because the line was busy, not realizing he’d unhooked the phone downstairs.
I looked at the phone and I heard a male voice say, ‘duck.'”
“It was a deep, beautiful voice.
I bowed my head instantly, and I felt something graze the hair on top of my head.
My husband was behind me and had tried to behead me with a machete.
That day, I fought for my life.
He was way stronger than me, but I survived.
I think that whoever was with me in that room saved me.
MG
14.
I immediately hit my brakes and got over as far as I could (there was no shoulder.)
Had I not been warned and had I not instantly responded, it would have run right into me.
I believe that voice saved my life.”
Joyce, Virginia, USA
15.
“I was 34 years old and new to California.
I did my laundry at a laundromat about three blocks from my residence.
This particular Sunday, the laundromat was open but empty.
I had finished two washing loads and started to load a dryer.
Two large guys got out.
One walked up to the only door of the laundromat, blocking my only exit.
The other guy stayed by the car, standing by the driver’s side door.
Then, a large woman got out of the back seat.
“All the hairs on my neck stood up and I started hyperventilating.
I knew I was in trouble.
I started grabbing my soaking wet clothes out of the washer and stuffed them into a pillow case.
He was carrying a toddler.
I just knew I was meant to follow him.
Sure enough, he got his change and stood by the man until he stepped aside.
I looked for the man and his little girl as I left, but there was no one there.
“About 10 years ago, I lived in Chicago with my family.
A huge snowstorm hit us one weekend, which was nothing for us.
We went to volleyball practice as usual in my mom’s minivan.
Unfortunately, that day our van got stuck.
An old man got stuck in the same spot and we were trying to help eachother.
A few minutes later, he had both cars free.
I turned around to thank him…and he was gone.
We were in a random neighborhood and I never saw him leave a house or go back to one.
I’ll always remember him.”
Naomi, Indiana, USA
17.
“In the mid-’80s, I was in college and flew home for a weekend for my moms birthday.
The flight was late, which made the entire evening off-schedule’ and later than anticipated.
Finally, I went to my bedroom in the lower part of the house.
For whatever reason, I could not fall asleep which was unusual for me.
As I sat up in bed, I felt something strong push me, so I laid back down.
Almost simultaneously as I laid flat, I heard two extremely loud explosions.”
“After the second explosion, I shot out of bed and ran to the foot of the stairs.
I went up the stairs and the three of us explored the house to figure out what happened.
It was imbedded in the walls, the wooden furniature, and its upholstery.
The double pane picture window had two holes where two bullets had entered the house.
The bullet’s metal fragments shot all the way to the back of the house.
When we answered, the voice on the opposite end just laughed.
The bullets were intentional.
Ted B, Piqua, OH
18.
“When I was 17, I was in a single-car accident.
At the bottom of these two hills was a creek that ran perpendicular to the road.
As I drove down this hill on my way to school at 6:30 a.m., I hit black ice.
I tried to control the car, but then hit another patch of black ice and lost control completely.
My car started going off the road at about a 45 degree angle.
I hit a snow bank, which launched my car into the air.
I went through a fence, over some small trees, and landed in the creek.
It was almost as if someone grabbed my car as it was in the air and turned it.
To this day, I can barely remember how I got out of the car.
I smelled her perfume in the car that morning and haven’t smelled it since.
“Marci, Pennsylvania, USA
19.
He was going to stay with us for a while until he got an apartment of his own.
He was carrying a small pot in his hands, with an equally small cactus plant in it.
On our drive home, Neal was in the backseat of my car.
Its been almost 50 years and I can still remember everything about how that had happened.”
Stever, St. Paul, MN
20.
It was almost as if someone was tapping me on the shoulder, trying to get my attention.
It broadsided a school bus that was coming in the opposite lane of the street we were on.
I’m convinced it saved the life of my baby.”
Rochester, NY, USA
21.
“Ive actually had more than one experience with this.
The first was in 1992, as told by my dad.
My dad said he heard a very loud voice urge him to rush out of bed and grab me.
“The second was when I was in elementary school, in Brownies to be exact.
We took a troop trip to the mountains.
We were at a marina in Lake Arrowhead feeding some ducks.
It was wintertime and I was wearing several layers of clothes.
I was so heavy and weighed down that I could barely get to the surface.
We were all absolutely shook.”
22.And finally, “My experiences are AS the third man.
My whole life since I was very young, Id have dreams of people I didnt know.
Then, Id wake up.
Ive met a few of the people Ive helped in dreams in real life, years later.
Note: Submissions are edited for length and/or clarity.
