Most of us have encountered at least one stranger who left a lasting impression on us - for better or worse.
Sometimes all it takes is a moment of intense eye contact, a few brief words, or a bizarre shared experience with a stranger in order for them to have a permanent place in your memory. The shroud of mystery around these moments immortalize them even more in our brains.
In a popular Reddit thread, people shared stories of the strangers they still regularly think about.
1986. A year after graduating from a tiny college on Idaho, I was at Disneyland with a high school buddy. I was totally convinced that I saw a college friend, Adam, in line at Pirates of the Caribbean. I kept waving at him, but he looked at me like I was out of my mind. My high school friend tried to talk me down, saying that “Adam” clearly had no idea who I was...it’s not him...everyone has a twin...yada, yada, yada.
The line finally snakes around to where I am standing right next to “Adam” so I tap him on the shoulder and ask “hey, aren’t you Adam M?” And he says “no, I’m his twin brother Aaron”
34 years later and I still tell that story at parties. I only met Aaron once, in 1986, in line at Pirates, but I do wish him...and Adam...a very happy birthday on Facebook.
An old man I overheard telling his grandkids that if their dad got accepted to the job he was interviewing for in town, they would move there and then they could visit each other all the time. I never even saw the guy interviewing for the job but I really hope he got it.
I met my husband's doppelganger once. The man looked EXACTLY like my husband. I was with someone at the hospital waiting for their medical transport to pick us up and I saw who I thought was my husband across the street. My husband was supposed to be at work so I was confused. I called out to him but he didn't respond. My patient and I walked over to him but I stopped short a few feet away because I started to realize maybe it wasn't actually him.
His clothes were different and this man was assisting someone in care giving type role - my husband absolutely would not do that. The guy noticed me staring at him and so I explained why and even showed him a picture of my husband. He swore that was a picture of him and this was all some practical joke. I had to show him pictures of my husband and I together for him to realize the pictures were not of him. This man could have been his identical twin. I often think of that encounter and how insane it was. I also think of the astronomical chances that not only did my husband have a doppelganger but that we lived in the same city for a while and I happened to cross paths with him.
Not a complete stranger but a classmate in my first year at uni. We shared some classes but didn't really spoke to each other beside the casual greetings.
One morning she got a call on her cellphone, came back to the classroom visibly upset to gather her things and left. I never saw her again after that. Still think randomly about it sometimes, 14 years later.
I was having a rough day and I thought I'd get an ice cream to cheer myself up. I was standing in the line and this old lady looked at me and asked if I was okay. I said I was fine and just had a rough day. I got up to the front to get my ice cream and she tells the cashier, "I've got this young man, he's had a rough day". She smiles at me and says enjoy your ice cream. I still think of her whenever I have a rough day. I send her my good vibes.
Once I was walking to work past a homeless shelter pickup spot. It was a sunny day, middle of summer. A small lady was standing on the sidewalk wearing rain boots, a yellow raincoat, and wrapped completely in a blue vinyl tarp. As I walked by her, she leaned into me, looked me in the eye and said, “...fish monster...?”
I still think about her. Did she think I was a fish monster? Was she concerned that I had seen a fish monster? Perhaps she felt I was unprepared, and her questioning tone was more about if I’d heard about the potential of fish monsters.
Such a surreally complex interaction in just two words. One thing I know for certain is that whatever the fish monster status was, she was clearly the best prepared of everyone present.
When I was fresh out of college I drove over two hours away for a job interview and got into a car accident like a block away from the building. My car was completely totaled. A woman who was stopped at the stop sign near my accident pulled over and got out to make sure I was okay. I was completely fine physically but have very bad anxiety and immediately had a panic attack.
I was sobbing and couldn’t catch my breath and this complete stranger sat with me the entire time telling me to breathe and just being so caring and supportive. She waited with me for the police to come, she helped me talk them through what happened, she called my mom for me, she even called the office I was on my way to so she could let them know about the accident and that I would call them to reschedule my interview.
As if that wasn’t enough, once she found out that I was that far away from home and it was going to take my mom two hours to get to me, she CANCELED HER MEETING THAT SHE WAS ALREADY LATE TO SO SHE COULD DRIVE ME HALFWAY. She did not think it was a big deal whatsoever. She just stepped up to the plate to help without question. I would have been completely alone and lost without her that day.
She was an angel, honestly. I lost her business card between all the paperwork from the accident and I’ve been kicking myself over it for the last five years. All I want is to call her and tell her how thankful I am and that I’ve kept her in my thoughts ever since. Roxanne if you’re out there, thank you so so much. And please for the love of god send me your last name so I can send you some flowers.
An old lady who lived next door to me and had a key from the past renter. She walked into my place and made us breakfast thinking I was the same lady who lived there previously. She didn’t realize I was a different person.
We talked about her grandson joining the police academy and she was worried but proud of him.
She died that night.
Years ago when I worked at Lowe’s, a customer told me in great detail about how he fell through a rotting deck but landed with a joist between his legs and “had to go to the dick doctor”.
When I was a kid, I flew by myself for the first time. At the airport, when I was about to check in, I spotted an elderly lady looking at me. Deeply. At first I thought I accidentally hit her or something, so I asked if she needed anything. She nodded. Didn’t give it much importance so I just checked in and headed to my plane. Later, already on the plane, I see the very same lady, looking for her seat. Of course I helped her and asked her what number her seat was. She handed me her ticket. “B37”. I’ll never forget it because I was the C37. She sat right next to me. I was scared. I was a kid, and I wasn’t used to coincidences.
Anyway, long flight. When we arrived and were waiting for the plane to land for us to head out, she finally says “You know, you really look like my daughter, I even thought you were her! But she passed away 5 years ago, silly me. Here, this is her with my grandkids”. She handed me her phone with a zoomed in picture. I was paralyzed when I saw her.
She looked EXACTLY like me. But she was 28 and I was 10. I couldn’t even talk. Now that I am older, every time I look in the mirror for my birthday, I remember that lady and the picture. I am a living photo of her daughter. Every year that goes by, is a year that I look more like that woman in the picture.
When I turn 28, I hope this memory will finally scare me less.
I was on my way back from Disneyland Paris, sat in the airport and a guy beside me was typing away on his laptop. A little curious at what he was writing I peeked over and saw the title "the last letter I'll ever write". I was frozen for a few minutes, im 24 and I had absolutely no idea what to do. I thought maybe he was a writer and if I ask ill look stupid. Eventually though I turned round to him and said, "Look man, I really hope I'm making a fool of myself, but are you OK?". Turns out he and his long term partner had broken up, and they were meant to be coming on this holiday, that he'd now come on with his dad.
He blamed himself, and he'd been going to therapy for a while to get out of a a pretty dark place but some days were better than others, and writing the letters was an exercise from his therapist. We chatted for a bit, about her, his dad, me, life in general. Turned out his brother lived nearby me and frequented a coffee shop right by where I used to live.
Eventually my plane got called, and we hugged and I told him I really hope things get better for him and that at the very least I'd had a lovely time talking to him. We left there and I still wonder what happened to him. I hope he's happy now, I hope that he's managed to find some good in the world again. But I guess I'll never know for sure.
I was doing last minute Father’s Day shopping with my son for my husband. There was a young lady in the card section crying - full on, broken hearted ugly crying. I looked at her and thought ‘Poor thing, I hope she’s okay.’
We finished our shopping, line up to check out and she was still there. She’s pick up a card, look at it, burst into fresh tears, put it back then compose herself and lose it all over again. By now my heart was breaking for her, so I sent my son off to grab a box of chocolates, we bought our stuff and waited just outside for her. When she came out I grabbed the chocs, approached her and said ‘I don’t know what’s going on & it’s none of my business, but I got these for you. I promise things will get better.’
She burst into tears, grabbed me in a hug and said ‘My dad died two days ago.’
Anyway, longish story short, we sat down and she told me about her dad and how she wanted to put a Father’s Day card in his coffin with the present she’d gotten him and all the things people need to say when someone they love dies suddenly.
We went our separate ways when she saw how late it was and honestly, to this day I don’t know if I’d recognize her even if I bumped into her again. But I’ve always wondered how she made it through her first Father’s Day without her dad and how she’s doing now.
I haven’t told anyone but my husband this story before, and I’m only sharing it now on the random chance she reads it & remembers us and I can find out how she’s doing.
EDIT: Holy crap, thanks everyone! I’d lost my dad a few a years before so once she’d said that, there was no way I could leave her.
/u/EBone12355 made a great point - it’s the occasions where you’re meant to feel happy that are the hardest. Anyone that’s been through it knows this, so please please don’t be afraid to reach out when you’re struggling. My inbox is always open.
EDIT THE SECOND: thank you so much for all the kind words and the awards! Until now my most upvoted comment is shamefully admitting my love for a really bad video game movie.
Dave. I swear I think about Dave every week. I was hosting at a family Italian Restaurant and it was PACKED. We had a spaghetti meatball promotion where it was like 1/2 off the menu price, dine in and take out. Dave asks for a table and we tell him the wait (something like 45 minutes for a 2-top) and my co-host asks him for his name, to which he replies “If I give you my name, what will people call me by?” Like actual bonkers response. But he keeps going and cracking jokes left and right and tries to guess my co-host’s name but weirdly guesses my name?
Anyways he’s waiting and this other guy comes up and asks if another table would mind if he sat down with them. We told him that we couldn’t do that and he offers to sing for them. Once again, no. After a while we seat Dave and the evening is smooth sailing.
It’s slowing down and I’m helping the busser clean out a few booths when I hear some traditional Italian singing, like almost operatic. It’s Dave and his dad. They are singing to the people at the table next to them. I will never forget Dave. Never.
When I was young (maybe 5) my mom got really sick and was screaming in pain as she drove me and herself to the hospital (no one else was with us). When we got there, she passed out in the car. I ran up to the hospital and got a wheelchair. She managed to somehow flop herself into the chair and passed out again.
The hospital was uphill, and I was too weak to push her; she was too heavy. I stranger came out of nowhere, wheeled her in and made enough ruckus to get her immediate attention. She spent the next two months in the hospital. I never saw that guy again, but I think about him all the time and I’d like to thank him one day.
Edit: for all of the people wondering, what ended up happening was her small intestine and large intestine disconnected. She was not allowed any food or water by mouth (literally anything) for two weeks; the most she could do was wet her lips with a sponge. To this day, they are not sure what it is. She’s been to plenty of different specialists and they honestly still don’t know why it happened at all.
She’s been having intestinal problems since she was a young girl (her first surgery was when she was a few months old). When she came home from the hospital she was about 70-something pounds (I remember because I said ‘look! Mommy and I are the almost the same weight.’). That’s really all of the information I have about it, if you guys are interested I can ask for more information or make this a whole post somewhere.
When I was in Iraq in 2003, we were partnered with some local police. Their compound was a secure area, and no unauthorized people were allowed in. There was this little girl, probably about 7-9 years old that sold bananas and was allowed in or out whenever she wanted. I hope she’s doing well.
I was about 16 and getting the bus home from school. It was always super crowded and and you'd be really lucky to get a spot on before the driver closed the doors and drove off. You could wait 4 or 5 buses before one came along that you could get on.
Anyway, me and my friends had been really lucky that day and managed to squeeze on to the first one, just about. The lady behind us started begging to be let on, saying she had a job interview. The bus driver said he was sorry, but the legally couldn't because of how many people were on. He kept asking us to move down but there wasn't any room and people were starting to get mad and telling him to just go. The woman started sobbing. It was about 2010 so we'd all been hit really hard with the economic crash, and jobs were hard to come by.
Like, it broke my heart. It was the first time I'd really seen an adult publicly in such distress. So my friend and I just got off and she got on. We didn't even look at her or exchange any words. The bus was free for teenagers, all we lost was 30 minutes that we would have normally waited anyway. But my parents were fairly comfortable, I'd never had to face how bad things were before. It feel like a big moment for me.
I still think about her from time to time. I hope she's okay, I hope she got that job. I can't imagine how it must have felt to be that desperate.
I once saw my exact double in a Barnes & Noble. We saw each other from a far distance, locked eyes, gave a slow head nod to each other, and kept going without saying a word.
Sometimes I wonder how he is doing.
Edit: Lol. No, it was not a mirror. He was wearing different clothes.
I was at the mall as a teenager and a 90 something year old Indian woman made deep eye contact and nodded. I got a deep chill and a sense of familiarity but I was like 14 so I went back to my friends.
Until my most recent car, I’ve always driven old junkers that somehow managed to get me to and from work, and bless them for it- but for this memory my metallic orange 1996 Chevy Corsica was bottoming out the breaks when I was stopped too long at lights, and would shut down entirely. I drifted off to the side, called my parents and job to let them know what was going on, and just had to wait for help to show.
There was no shoulder for me to pull into, and cars were whizzing past fast enough to shake my car, which I was sweating to death inside of because of course none of my cars had AC. I watch the cars go by, see about two cop cars come and go without so much as a pause, which is weird given where I was stuck and with my hazards going too, but whatever. It’s Jersey, I’m not expecting much (besides a ticket)
An undercover car pulls up behind me and a sweet middle aged guy asks what’s up, I let him know I’m just waiting on help to push the car to the other side of the road at least since there’s a shoulder there. He has me hop out and make sure that there really isn’t any way to move it without some extra muscle, and lets me come hang in his car so I can at least catch some air. I leave the door cracked just to be safe but he’s nice about it all. He has the lights inside going and the radio is crackling things I barely understand, but seemed legit enough. Turns out he’s not police, but disaster relief, and tells me all about how he helped out when Sandy hit and also how he noticed the cops drive on past without even checking in, and how he’ll be reporting them for it.
Super chill dude, I had to ask why, if he’s just disaster relief, did he stop by, and he just mentioned that he would hope someone would do the same for his daughter. Eventually my help shows up and it’s all settled and I thanked him about a hundred plus times, but I still think about him and it warms my heart to remember that people do things just to be nice sometimes, too.
My girlfriend and I were looking for street parking at a local festival. We were 17. I stopped at a stop sign across from the firehouse. A car slammed into me, breaking my tail lights. The middle aged guy with his daughter got out and started screaming at me (you little turd), then opened my door and dragged me out. it was broken up pretty quick.
The cops came and the guy knew he was properly f*cked. Charged with moving violation, assault and some other stuff. His daughter was the most mortified person I have ever seen. Those firefighters were all out in front of the station enjoying the festival, in full view of everything. Can't get better witnesses. I think about that guy all the time.
Okay, so in my early twenties I needed a lot of attention and didn’t have a smart phone (2012ish, I was late to the game) and I also didn’t have many friends, so I’d go sit outside this Starbucks and drink iced tea and journal. I really was writing, but I was also looking for someone to talk to me.
And I got it. He was much much older, a little run down, but had bright eyes and the gift of gab. Let call him Ken. I was insufferably into myself, and during our conversation he asked what I was into - men, women, or what?
I replied, being the edgy little art chick I was, “I’m into men, women, and trees.”
I will never f*cking forget how his face changed. His eyes widened, his eyebrows came up in the center, his mouth fell open ever so slightly and his tongue protruded a bit over his lower teeth.
“Trees? You too?”
He was serious. I didn’t know what to do so I pretended I was serious and was treated to a half hour account of his sexual relations with trees.
I never used that line again. We are eight years down the road and I think of this moment at least once a week.
EDIT: thank you kindly for my very first gold. Wishing you well.
I got robbed at gunpoint and the perpetrators got arrested shortly after. At the sentencing (which was 6-9 months after the robbery), the judge read my victim impact statement, which I had written the day after it happened. I had mentioned something in that statement about being afraid. After the sentencing was over, I was getting ready to leave when a teenage boy came up to me. He asked if he could speak to me.
He was the son of the man that robbed me. He told me not to be afraid anymore and apologized for what his dad did. It still brings tears to my eyes when I think about this 10 years later. I hope he knows how much that meant and still means to me.
I was working at a grocery store once as a cashier. A woman comes into line, and the best way I could describe her was light as a feather, as if not a worry in the world would ever phase her. She's got her baby up top in the cart. The baby starts crying. And at that point I'm expecting the standard, "oh shh shh shh, it's okay, mommy's here. I'm so sorry." She doesn't instantaneously react like most parents do.
She just gracefully turns her head, looks at the kid lovingly, and the kid stops crying. She could just show that kid that everything's going to be okay with one trusting look. I had never seen anything that beautiful and sincere happen in my life that I had to stop and just question everything. Whoever that woman was, it just made me think there are some amazing human beings that exist out there and I may never encounter one like that ever again.
When I was 10 I went to a supermarket in my Taekwondo uniform, a black man asked me to teach him how to properly kick in the middle of the store in front of everyone, never seen him since.
I was 16 and was having a crappy day, but I had a couple bucks and went to a McDonalds. I was at a table for two but there weren't any other seats left, so this older woman asked if she could sit with me. Found out that at 16 she had run away and a convent took her in in exchange for chores until she got married.
Then her husband died some years later, they had no kids and she didn't have any family left, so she went back and struck the same deal. I'm in my 30s now and it still amazes me how peaceful she was when I remember her.
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Ob-GYN Dr. Jennifer Gunter 
Others 
Some 
Many couldn't believe that he thought the alternative to forcing his wife to work out included lecturing, whining and resentment:
Despite the fact that almost no one was on his side, the man logged back into Twitter to further explain and dig himself in even deeper.
Yeah, I'm no doctor but I don't think you can develop gestational diabetes from skipping one workout.
