Okay, for starters I personally believe that in 2012 we are more paranoid than we have ever been. But I don't think we are any less safe than when I was growing up in the 1980s. I was born in 1980 and there are things I did that might get my parents put in prison now. Maybe not, but there is no doubt my parents were never afraid of me wandering around by my self, with my friends or on my bike. Here are things that I think could have set me up with getting on UM, but it didn't of course.

- In 1991 I was at a Philadelphia Phillies baseball game with my parents. My sister stayed at the hotel and didn't come. The Phillies were bad back then and there weren't a lot of fans sitting up on the upper deck. After the game I wanted to wander around the upper bowl and walk around the whole stadium. My parents told me to go ahead and they'd be sitting at their seats waiting. I was almost 11. When I returned they were gone from their seats. To top it all off the upper bowl was virtually EMPTY with people. The game was long over, all I saw was a hot dog vendor. None of the concessions were open. Then out of sheer luck I see these two cops walking down an escalator. I yell at them and they came over and eventually they reunite me with my parents who went to the info center at the stadium. It turns out an usher kicked them out of their seats despite their pleas that I was still wandering around. Then they looked for me, couldn't find me and found the info booth. Strangely enough at that time I was so self sufficient that my parents didn't feel at all concerned about walking by myself exploring, and neither did I.

- I would ride my bike everywhere. All over the city we live in (200,000 people). I would be gone for an hour or two or even more without even telling my parents where I was going. I never felt threatened but I biked EVERYWHERE! In familiar places, in unfamiliar places so I could learn the street names. And I always knew my way back. Again, not me or my parents were worried. But I was a kid and anything could have happened.

- One of my friends lived 5 minutes away from me. No big deal. The only things was he lived across a big large school field from me. At night I would always leave his house and walk across the field - at night - and thought nothing of it. There were houses around the school, but if you were yelling for help they wouldn't have heard you. All there was would be maybe a couple lights from the school and from a far distance the street lights.

So here's the question. I personally don't think we were wrong back then because our parents let us do those things. There were no cell phones, your parents called you in from their front porch. There certainly wasn't the paranoia then.

But if you allowed your kids to do that stuff nowadays would you be an unfit parent?

Name other things you did as a kid or even as an adult years ago that you would deem unsafe today.

riding in the back of a pickup truck,but what does this have to do with UM?

When I was in elementary school, my little girlfriend and I would hang out at our older brothers' football games. They were usually on Friday nights, and our parents let us run all around the football stadiums by ourselves. We'd go wander the parking lot, hide under the bleachers, go sit on the opposing teams' bleachers, etc.

It doesn't seem that unsafe, but the Morgan Nick case reminded me of why a lot of parents probably wouldn't let their kids do that nowadays.

When my friends and I were in middle school, our parents would drop us off at the public swimming pool and then come get us when we were done. Again, I'm not sure if a lot of parents would do that nowadays.

Also, when I went away to college, I attended a school in Washington, DC. I worked till about 11pm at a hotel, then I would walk back to my apartment, alone. It was quite a long walk, too, but ther was no subway line directly to it, and I was so poor at the time I literally couldn't have afforded it, anyway. I also would wear my headphones and have them blaring. VERY stupid. I'm shocked nothing at all ever happened to me!

riding in the back of a pickup truck,but what does this have to do with UM?

Lots, if you want it to be. You can tie things together with a UM case of someone who did the same thing. Or just talk in general about the changes in our society and the paranoia that surrounds us today

I did a lot of things when I was a kid, but that was before the world became a toilet.

When my siblings and I went places with our grandparents, they would put the seat down in their station wagon so we kids could sprawl out while they drove us places. No seat belts, and here we were in the back of the station wagon bumping around. If this was today, my grandparents most likely would've been in pretty hot water!! :eek: :eek: :eek:

Growing up as a teen, my friends and i would hitch hike to the store or mall. I wouldnt do it now for nothing.

One day back in 1989 I walked to my mom's house after school, alone, on a wooded path that was a shortcut. It's something I wouldn't do now, even in the middle of the afternoon.

Lots, if you want it to be. You can tie things together with a UM case of someone who did the same thing. Or just talk in general about the changes in our society and the paranoia that surrounds us today
ok,I'm game then. :) only other thing that comes to mind right now is the way kids stayed home without an adult present..most parents would never even consider that nowadays.

My neighbourhood was pretty safe, everyone knew each other and it was all good.

When I was 10-11 years old, couple of Germans started a business nearby and they made gravestones and sold it.

For some reason me and my friends decided to throw stones and appels at them. From where we stood, the store was couple of meters down, so we stood pretty high up the ground and they were underneath us. We threw things at them for couple of days, and every kid in the neighbourhood joined in. One day some of the older guys went down to the store and starting throwing things. We didn't expect them to be there but one guy suddenly popped out of nowhere with an axe and chased one of the older guys.

Then one time me and the kids where throwing things at them, and he suddenly popped up right next to us to scare us. We ran like **** but he didn't come after us or anything.

Once I was alone, I was just standing there and looking down at the place, and he came outside of his store, and he saw me. For some reason he started waving and I waved back. Then he yelled out: Come down here!

Here I had terrorized the guy for weeks, and he had chased another guy with an axe... And now he was telling me to come down to his place, ALONE. No one knew even knew where I was.

For some reason I decided to go down. I don't know why I did it, but I did it.

I go down and the guys speaks English. I was 10-11 at that time and didn't speak so well English, but I managed to have a conversation with him. He shook my hand and said let's go inside. I am going to show you around. Till this day I don't know why I took the risk, but I went inside with him. It was a pretty cool place and he showed me what they did there and was cool and everything. I regretted terrorizing him for so long, and he was all cool about it. Then I went back home.

Thankfully nothing happened, he could have been a psycho who abducted me or something.

The sad thing is that even walking to school alone is dangerous these days. I lived a long way from my high school and junior high and I walked home quite a bit. But now you hear about kids disappearing at bus stops and so forth. So scary! Makes me very happy that I don't have kids.

yes I recall the days when ppl left their doors unlocked,didn't lock up their lawnmowers and things,left their keys in the car w the door unlocked,and even left the car running to go inside the store for a minute..things you would never consider doing now.

The sad thing is that even walking to school alone is dangerous these days. I lived a long way from my high school and junior high and I walked home quite a bit. But now you hear about kids disappearing at bus stops and so forth. So scary! Makes me very happy that I don't have kids.

But is it any different now than, say, the 1980s? Kids got abducted then too. In 1991 Jaycee Dugaard got abducted right from her bus stop with her stepfather watching. Is it really any safer today than 30 years ago? I'll agree things were probably safer in the 1950s. Not that a kidnapping never happened, but there was much more faith between your fellow man and people freely left their babies, cars and children unattended and thought nothing of it because everyone did that.

But I don't think we are any different today than the 1980s. We are just more paranoid.

Sometimes I still take wooded paths, but I never do it alone anymore. I went on a visit to England and got followed when I went into a meadow and had to run like hell. I'm a young woman and really thin so I don't have a lot of muscle. I understand that it makes me more of a target.

As a kid I used to walk around the neighborhood alone all the time.

I used to stay home alone a lot as a kid. The Jeanine Nacarico case TERRIFIED me when I was ten years old because that was her age and I looked a little similar to her as a kid.

One time when I was five I walked away from the elementary school summer program and went to a friend's house when I didn't know her family or anything about them. We walked away from the school to do it. It seemed so nonchalant then, but now I picture how vulnerable two five-year-olds must have looked!

But is it any different now than, say, the 1980s? Kids got abducted then too. In 1991 Jaycee Dugaard got abducted right from her bus stop with her stepfather watching. Is it really any safer today than 30 years ago? I'll agree things were probably safer in the 1950s. Not that a kidnapping never happened, but there was much more faith between your fellow man and people freely left their babies, cars and children unattended and thought nothing of it because everyone did that.

But I don't think we are any different today than the 1980s. We are just more paranoid.


No, I completely agree with you but what I was thinking is that if I had kids I'd be a lot less likely to allow them to walk to school these days. Just sayin...

Oh and I just thought of something else. When I was a kid I would never dream of using a helmet to ride a bike, but now I would use one even if it wasn't the law. Believe me, I was hit by a car on my bike and I had one heck of a migraine when my head hit the street.

I was born in 1980 as well so we're the same age.

I'm having trouble thinking of many examples. I lived very close to all my schools growing up. It was a very safe neighborhood. I did the whole sitting in the back of a pickup truck as a little kid in a family friend's vehicle but other than that, there's not much to add to the list.

My mom grew up on the west side of the state (I live in Michigan) and she told me that my grandma used to drop her and my aunt off at the beach on the Lake Michigan sometimes during the summer for as long as 5 hours when they were 6 and 10 years old. This was in the late 50's. I highly doubt many parents would or could do that today.

-Biked all over the place as a child and only occasionally checked in with my parents.

-Walked to the corner grocery store by myself as a child (a couple of blocks away).

-In college, I had a few night classes and I'd have to walk across campus alone back to my dorm. I'd always take quick shortcuts around buildings and walkways that weren't well lit.

We used to drive on the colonial parkway at 2 am and would sometimes park and walk around. This was around the same time the killings were going on. My rule now is to only drive it during daylight hours.

I worked in some pretty bad parts of town and would go to the supermarket or drugstore after work because it was convenient. A co-worker scolded me for going to places alone, it turns out she had been abducted in broad daylight a few years previously. I also used to go to the ATM at night if I needed money.

My friend and I were on a school trip (we were 17 and 18 so we could run around unchaperoned) and we met a cute guy and went to his apartment to watch TV.

My parents took a trip to another state and left 3 kids home alone for several nights. I can't remember how old my oldest sibling was, but I'm pretty sure he was under 18. My daughter is almost 18 and has never stayed home overnight without an adult. Hubby and I are planning a trip for this summer when she'll be 18 and we considered a cruise, but don't want to be more than an hour or so from home.

-In my early to mid 20's I spent a lot of time clubbing in & around the Detroit area. A lot of times I went alone and would be walking around alone downtown Detroit, Corktown & Hamtramck.

-I went to Aruba with my parents when I was about 21. I just think about how lonely and gullible I was at that age and am glad I never wandered off with any shady people

My mom grew up on the west side of the state (I live in Michigan) and she told me that my grandma used to drop her and my aunt off at the beach on the Lake Michigan sometimes during the summer for as long as 5 hours when they were 6 and 10 years old. This was in the late 50's. I highly doubt many parents would or could do that today.

How about this. My great Aunt, about 85 years old now, remembers her and her brother and sister in Niagara Falls with their parents around the 1930s. For whatever reason her parents went alone on the "Maid of the Mist" boat ride (for those familiar with Niagara Falls you know what I mean) and told the young kids to sit on the bench and wait for them to come back. Maybe the kids were too young to go, I don't know? But judging by whenever I have gone on that ride it can take up to an hour with the lineups and such so my great Aunt was basically sitting alone in a very populated area as a young girl waiting for her parents to come back.

She never speaks very highly of her parents, maybe they weren't good parents, but they did that with relative ease not even thinking about an abduction. You'd have Social services take your children away from you in a hearbeat today and this was "only" 80 years ago or so. Not that long ago in the grand scheme of things.

When I was eight-years-old (back in 1993), my older sister and I would play hide-and-go-seek at night with the kids next door. It was more challenging to find one another in the dark, and scarier, too. :D It would be around nine or ten at night, and we would go out and play. Granted, even as kids we never strayed far from our respective homes, but thinking about it now, I would never let any of my hypothetical children play outside the house at night.

Another child of the year 1980 here. I spent the first 10 years of my life in Des Moines, IA. Johnny Gosch disappeared from the suburb of West Des Moines (maybe 10 miles from me) the day after my second birthday and Eugene Martin (http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/m/martin_eugene.html) disappeared two blocks from my grandmother's house just before I turned 4. Despite these events, I was given carte blanche from a young age to roam the neighborhood with my friends both on bike and foot during that day. Often, these allowances came from my babysitter (best friend's mom) rather than my parents although they never complained about the sitter allowing me out. When I was 10, we moved to a small town (2000 people) in central Indiana. We actually lived out in the country near the town. Once we did that, my parents got even more lax about letting us out without supervision. I was allowed to walk or bike to visit friends who lived 1.5 miles away by myself anytime I wanted. I was also allowed to carry my pellet pistol with me pretty much anywhere I went in a holster on my belt.

Parents are definitely more paranoid about these types of things these days, and I blame television and the internet for that mostly. I don't believe that life is any more dangerous now than 30 or even 50 years ago. I believe the vast amount of information about crimes and criminals available to people has made them far more paranoid about such things. The ability to make national news out of missing children and violent crimes has given the illusion that the world is more dangerous than when we were younger. I'm not just talking about the news and true crime shows. Shows like CSI, Law & Order, and NCIS have given people an impression of the terrible and reprehensible things that people can do to each other which has led people to be far more cautious especially as parents.

When I was eight-years-old (back in 1993), my older sister and I would play hide-and-go-seek at night with the kids next door. It was more challenging to find one another in the dark, and scarier, too. :D It would be around nine or ten at night, and we would go out and play. Granted, even as kids we never strayed far from our respective homes, but thinking about it now, I would never let any of my hypothetical children play outside the house at night.

I did this as well. The seeker carried a flashlight. However, if you read my previous post, this was after we had moved to the rural area where I spent years 10-18 of my life.

Side note: I was not still playing flashlight hide and seek at 18.

Oh, one more thing, when I was in my early 20s and attending college, I lived with my mom. I used to take long 2-2.5 mile walks around her neighborhood at all hours of the night, sometimes as late (or early???) as 3am. She lived in safe middle class neighborhood but you never know what could happen. I, however, never viewed it as unsafe and probably still wouldn't. If I still lived in that neighborhood, I would probably still take nighttime walks. Although, they'd be closer to 11pm rather than 1-2am as I just don't stay up quite that late anymore.

Not wearing seat belts every time was a big one. Other than that, my Mom was paranoid that something would happen to us, so we weren't allowed to wander off. I remember being upset that my Mom wouldn't even let me cross the street when I was 12 alone. I don't blame her for being protective though. While our area wasn't bad, there had been quite a few bad things happen. Serial killer (William Suff), a few kids were kidnapped, my friend was almost kidnapped in front of me, things like that.

yes I recall standing up in the front seat when I was 3 or so,and when my mom had to slam on the brakes,I was thrown fwd and hit my head.(she even blamed me for failing to sit when I was told to).no carseats back then,and I never wore a seatbelt till I was 19.And even then it wasn't mandatory.(I was born in '65).
I also recall mothers holding babies and little kids on their laps when they were driving.talk about dangerous!

Go to a nightclub and drink and smoke (whatever) with people you didn't know before that night. These days people tend to kill or injure others because of their own paranoira caused by them getting too stoned or high.

think of all the drinking and driving that went on in the old days as well...I know my inls thought nothing of loading up cases of beer in the car,and packing the whole family of 4 kids while they drank all the way to the beach with them (several hrs away) or across several states.it's a wonder they weren't caught or caused an accident.this was 60's-early 70's.

I can remember hopping on boxcars and taking a ride for about a mile when we were about 14. We always jumped off while we were still close to home, didn't want to end up in the stockyards in East St.louis. I seldom see trains with open doors on their boxcars anymore. I would hate to be a hobo these days.

Okay so here's the thing. I was born in 1980, not that long ago really. The stuff my parents let me do by myself my mother claims she wouldn't now let the grandkids do (between my sister and I we have 4 kids). Why is that? My mother locks the front door in the middle of the day and we never used to do that. I remember my dad locking the door with the deadbolt at night before he went to bed and that was it. Other than that the door was open.

But there was one day time burglary during the day in my parents neighbourhood and all of the sudden my mom thinks it is unsafe if she's home alone in the day in an unlocked house.

So let me put it this way, if we let our kids do the stuff that our parents did are we considered bad parents? Or SHOULD we be considered bad parents? I don't think so personally, but I think I'd be in the overwhelming minority.

Okay how about this one? I stumbled upon a Dr. Phil video recently and a woman had a two year old daughter in her car. She got out of the car, let her child stay asleep, and walked 30 feet towards a Salvation Army box (or something) and walked back to her car only to be apprehended by a female security officer (almost certainly NOT a parent) and got arrested. The charges were dropped but think about this for a second..............she left her child in a locked car, walked probably 15 steps, could SEE the vehicle at all times, and this was considered abuse? And to top it off, there were women being interviewed who thought it was wrong and wouldn't even leave their children alone in a car if it meant grabbing something out of the mailbox 5 feet away. I am not kidding, fast forward to around the 5 minute mark of this video, Dr. Phil interviews a woman who would NEVER do this to her child. It is scary mothers are this paranoid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl6D447uDcI

So I want to ask you all here, how many of you remember your mother telling you (and maybe your siblings too) to stay in the car while she goes to the bank? Or if she told you to get back out and sit in the car because you were frustrating her? I can distinctively remember being 9 or 10 and on holidays and my mom would stop somewhere along the way home and want to go into a strip mall because something caught her eye. I hated doing that so she would often go in with my sister and my dad while I waited out in the car - with the keys still in there! I am serious. This is in a town we weren't familiar with either. Man, could my mom do that today in our sensitive society?

I personally would probably be afraid to do that, Clockwork, probably because of watching things like UM and other news stories, but the chances of anything happening are so slim. I can't fault the woman, especially since she could see the car at all times! They should really be getting parents who abandon their children completely or leave them in the car overnight or something, not people like this woman. I used to stay in the car all the time as a kid (not at two, but a little older).

I remember visiting my aunt in Texas (and being around ten) and going to get something from the car parked outside. I was only out there for about three minutes since I was checking something and she came marching outside concerned that something had happened. I couldn't believe how paranoid she was about it. Caution is cool, but really, paranoia is not!

I personally would probably be afraid to do that, Clockwork, probably because of watching things like UM and other news stories, but the chances of anything happening are so slim. I can't fault the woman, especially since she could see the car at all times! They should really be getting parents who abandon their children completely or leave them in the car overnight or something, not people like this woman. I used to stay in the car all the time as a kid (not at two, but a little older).

I remember visiting my aunt in Texas (and being around ten) and going to get something from the car parked outside. I was only out there for about three minutes since I was checking something and she came marching outside concerned that something had happened. I couldn't believe how paranoid she was about it. Caution is cool, but really, paranoia is not!

Is this not a bad commentary on our society where a woman like this gets vilified for doing that? I mean, she can see the car, what in the world can happen in 30 seconds in a locked car? Is it wrong to NOT wake a sleeping child while you pay for gas at a gas station? You are right there, a few feet away with a glass window to view your car. What is wrong with us as a society when that parent is a criminal?

Most of you all are babies compared to me! I was born in the mid 50s. By the time I was in 2nd grade I was walking back and forth to school. I also started walking several blocks to the store at this time as well as riding my bike all over the neighborhood. Downtown and Dillard St were the boundaries!

And every eveining after supper in the summer the mosquito truck came and a whole gaggle of us kids would ride our bikes behind it till we got to the boundaries in the thick "smoke" it put out. we thought it smelled good too!:eek:

Summers were spent at the city pool dropped off by our parents when it opened and picked up when it closed.

I went for walks in the orange groves alone....

later on as a young teen after getting dropped off at the football game, my friends and I would walk all over town talking and smoking, thinking we were soooo cool and not scared at all.

It was nothing when we were older to go to Orlando to the mall and hang out and meet up with total strangers and ride around....even did that at Disney World at some of the park parties they used to give.

But by the time my kids started coming along in 1978, they didn't get to do anything like I did. My DH or myself was always there. I thought THEN that times had changed and it was no longer safe for kids to be around, out and about with out an adult, not even in their own yard!

At 9 or 10 I was calling a cab and going to the movies while on holiday on a small island.

And let's not forget riding around in the back of a pick up truck.

Or piling 14 kids into a station wagon.

When I was 13 a friend and I would cut curfew really late at night during the summer (at risk of getting caught by police since it was after 10) and think we were so cool to be out at night doing this. We walked all around near busy streets and in residential neighborhoods including to places we didn't know well. It was a safe area, but anything can happen anywhere so I think we got lucky, considering we also cut into alleys and things.

WHen I think about some of the things I did, It's truly a miracle I am still here. So many missing young people did the same things and as a result lost their lives. We weren't bad kids, we just like most kids, had no fear and the mindset of "it couldn't happen to me". I think that was a learning experience for me and vowed MY KIDS would not do things like this.

As a child ,I would ride in the back of my parents truck.I don't see many people doing this today whether they are an adult or kid.

So I want to ask you all here, how many of you remember your mother telling you (and maybe your siblings too) to stay in the car while she goes to the bank? Or if she told you to get back out and sit in the car because you were frustrating her?

When I was 8 years old, my mom pulled me out of our pool to run up to the pharmacy. Since I was barefoot and wearing a bathing suit, I couldn't go into the building so she left me in the car. This was right in the middle of the Oakland County (michigan) Child Killings and the pharmacy was 1 1/2 miles from where one of the children had been abducted.

While I was waiting for Mom to come out, a guy tried to abduct me from the car. I got away, but had to go to court and testify against him. He looked like David Norberg, who was one of the OCCK suspects. None of us in the family remember my perp's name, so I don't know if it was Norberg or not.

Also in the mid 1970s, my mom was walking out of the bank when she saw a car with a few little kids in it rolling out of the parking lot and into traffic. She jumped in and hit the brakes. The car was a manual transmission and apparently the dad who left the kids in the car forgot to set the brake or something, the kids knocked the gear shifter by accident, and the car started rolling away.

I can remember many times when my parents would go out to lunch or dinner with friends and take me along. I'm an only child and since there were no other kids out at these events, I got bored easily. My parents would let me go out into the parking lot alone to sit in the car and listen to the radio rather than have me fussing in the restaurant and disrupting their meal. I have no idea why neither my mom or I thought to bring along a book or some toys that would keep me occupied and out of their hair, but the solution was to send me out to the car. Weird.

I was frequently allowed to walk several blocks from home to go to the convenience store to buy candy and was allowed to go two blocks away and play at the park all day without adult supervision.

My mom must have been in serious denial. I can't even count how many times she had me stay in the car while she went grocery shopping. IMO, it would have been safer to just leave me home alone. Although, I do remember one time she left me home in the middle of the night to go pick up my dad at work. In the half hour she was gone, someone tried to break into the house. I don't know if it was just a drunk who had the wrong house or if someone was watching and waiting for her to leave so he could break in.

When I was 8 years old, my mom pulled me out of our pool to run up to the pharmacy. Since I was barefoot and wearing a bathing suit, I couldn't go into the building so she left me in the car. This was right in the middle of the Oakland County (michigan) Child Killings and the pharmacy was 1 1/2 miles from where one of the children had been abducted.

While I was waiting for Mom to come out, a guy tried to abduct me from the car. I got away, but had to go to court and testify against him. He looked like David Norberg, who was one of the OCCK suspects. None of us in the family remember my perp's name, so I don't know if it was Norberg or not.

Also in the mid 1970s, my mom was walking out of the bank when she saw a car with a few little kids in it rolling out of the parking lot and into traffic. She jumped in and hit the brakes. The car was a manual transmission and apparently the dad who left the kids in the car forgot to set the brake or something, the kids knocked the gear shifter by accident, and the car started rolling away.

I can remember many times when my parents would go out to lunch or dinner with friends and take me along. I'm an only child and since there were no other kids out at these events, I got bored easily. My parents would let me go out into the parking lot alone to sit in the car and listen to the radio rather than have me fussing in the restaurant and disrupting their meal. I have no idea why neither my mom or I thought to bring along a book or some toys that would keep me occupied and out of their hair, but the solution was to send me out to the car. Weird.

I was frequently allowed to walk several blocks from home to go to the convenience store to buy candy and was allowed to go two blocks away and play at the park all day without adult supervision.

My mom must have been in serious denial. I can't even count how many times she had me stay in the car while she went grocery shopping. IMO, it would have been safer to just leave me home alone. Although, I do remember one time she left me home in the middle of the night to go pick up my dad at work. In the half hour she was gone, someone tried to break into the house. I don't know if it was just a drunk who had the wrong house or if someone was watching and waiting for her to leave so he could break in.

I remember sitting in the car listening to the radio, too, because I was bored being the only kid in inside. Eventually, my parents just let me stay home. Sometimes it would be creepy to be alone and one time I thought someone was in the house on the extension because the phone had a problem. I picked up every single phone in the house and made sure they were off but there was still no dial tone. That was scary. A friend and I grabbed hammers and waited outside for my parents to come home just in case (I was about nine). I still don't know what caused the phone to do that, but my biggest fear at nine was someone breaking in like on UM.

How did the guy try breaking in? That's horrifying, especially being in the middle of the night! Did he eventually just go away or did you call the police?

I remember your attempted abduction story. Thank God you were ok. Is there any way you can look at court records or anything to find out the name of the man if you so wish?

How did the guy try breaking in? That's horrifying, especially being in the middle of the night! Did he eventually just go away or did you call the police?

He just tried busting the door in by kicking it or ramming it with his shoulder. I can't remember if I heard him trying to use the doorknob first but I do remember him banging into the door very loudly. We had a dead bolt lock on that door but I don't know if my mom locked it or not. She could have locked it with her key from the outside which would have made it very hard to bust that door open.

He left when he couldn't get in and my parents never called the police to report what happened.

I remember your attempted abduction story. Thank God you were ok. Is there any way you can look at court records or anything to find out the name of the man if you so wish?

I used to talk to some people on Helen Dagner's OCCK message board and asked them about how to look up old court records. My case happened just across the line from Oakland County in Macomb County. The folks on Helen's site who've been studying the case in detail said that county was notorious for keeping sloppy records. They don't have any info available online either. I'd have to physically go to where the records are stored, and since the case was tried over 30 years ago, they're less likely to have anything useful.

I might try looking into it one day since I'd like to know the guy's name and if he was ever considered as an OCCK suspect. The detectives who investigated my case told my mom that if they didn't get him locked up, the guy would eventually start killing his victims to keep from having any witnesses to his crimes that could testify against him.

Back when this happened, there were no "accosting children for immoral purposes" type laws and the guy was only charged with assault and battery. Since I got away without being harmed, the guy beat the charges and did no jail time at all. Within two weeks of trying to abduct me, he managed to get a 12 year old into his car and was caught in the act of strangling her while she was naked. IIRC, he only did 3 months in jail for that. Good thing they finally toughened up the laws since the 70s. I can't believe that a child rapist could abduct and attempt to abduct a little kid and basically get away with it.

Walked to school in Kindergarten past a bowling alley, vacant lots, Catholic Church, and houses. Worst that happened to me was two Kindergarten boys followed me and stole my doll. Sad thing is by then I was so conditioned by Jets Cereal commercials (highly objectionable ads in which boys would beat up girls for taking their cereal, but it was so good the girls considered it worth a beating) to expect something awful I was delighted all they did was steal my doll! One boy's mother made him deliver me a replacement and an apology. How often would that happen these days?

I think the worst my mother did was let me go outside to play alone or with friends at 4-5 years of age.

We lived in an apartment complex, the neighbourhood was aparently quiet, medium class with no aparent risk.

But me and my best friend were females and almost toddlers. I think it was very unsafe because a child molester or a rapist perfectly could live in a quiet neighbourhood and if you are 4-5 playing in the common gardens at 15 pm when it's no adult circulating, it's dangerous. My father always thought that I was supervised by my mother when I was playing outside but I wasn't. I think she was very unconcerned about us.

I never would let my children play outside ALONE at that age. Maybe at 8-9 with friends, but if they are younger than that I will always be there looking them.

I think beeing a mother is a very hard responsability, but that's the life.

what???

Geez dude, if you're gonna troll, at least put some effort into it.
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Riding around with my buddies when we were little all day,it very easily could have gone horribly wrong looking back on it. Also id always go look in the toy section alot in the department stores by myself. As a kid there are so many instances where we were allowed to do things on are own.

I've read this thread with mounting interest - what struck me is that no-one mentioned hitchhiking.

Born in 1968, I lived in a quiet community in Westchester/NY until I was 8, then, after my Dad's passing away, we moved to Hamburg, Germany. Besides from being culture-shocked, as nothing was like it has been in the States ("Alles Verboten!"), terrorism was at it's high, the year being 1976/77. At that time I watched a lot of TV, to learn German and getting used to the sound of it when I happened accross the Granddaddy of all call-in crime-solving shows: "Aktenzeichen XY...ungelöst" with Eduard Zimmermann, who invented the format which Americas Most Wanted and Unsolved Mysteries later picked up.

The short films showing the later victim in their everyday situations and the point in time where the crime took place have been similarily traumatic to us in Germany like UM has been to you - gobbling all the UM episodes I could get my hands on, I know exactly how you feel.:eek:

Eduard Zimmermann has handled 30 years of unsolved crime cases, much of them were young lady hitchhikers being sexually assaulted and murdered. He has warned all millions of viewers of all generations again and again about the dangers of hitchhiking; nevertheless, as a teen, I held out my thumb whenever in need of transportation, which was mostly in the middle of the night.

My mom worked long hours, so she didn't notice how I sneaked in at 3 or 4 a.m., to catch a few hours sleep before getting up again for school. She would've gone ballistic if she knew what I was up to. There was nothing to climbing into a rig at 2 o'clock at night for a ride home, which was a bit outside of Hamburg.

Then again, I always think those who finally stopped to offer me a ride might have been a bit more scared of me than I was of them - I was a punk and looked pretty wild (black leather bike jacket with chains and band-logos all over, torn jeans, combat boots etc.).

Today, I would't even pick up a hitchhiker (not that I've seen a lot) and wouldn't hitchhike if my life depended on it. Even if I still wear combat boots.:D

I remember biking around my neighborhood alone as a kid and even walking to friends' houses alone. Even though the houses were just a couple blocks away, as we've all seen on UM, something can happen even in that short distance. I also remember waiting in the car while my mom ran into stores. Scares me now to think of all the times I could have been kidnapped had someone wanted to kidnap me!

A couple of times as a teenager, I waited in a car for someone late at night (as a passenger) in not-so-nice neighborhoods. I have read Charley Project stories similar to that and am sufficiently freaked out that something could have happened. Now I would probably go in, no matter what the location!

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/g/green_martha.html
This is one case that makes me shudder and reminds me of waiting in a car.

Kids (I'm talking as young as 6 or 7 years old) used to be able to go to the store and buy cigarettes for their parents.

Riding around with your friends on bikes by yourselves till dark or going to friends house by yourselves or going to the mall by yourself this is back in the 90's early 2000'a era for me personally.

From age 6 walking to school alone and to the store for my parents. Riding our bikes all over the neighborhood in the thick smoke from the mosquito spray truck.

I too was a kid in the 80's and while I had about the same level of freedom to ride my bike around with my friends back then, my parents were actually pretty on the ball during my childhood. My mama had an extremely difficult upbringing and sadly ended up living on the streets by the time she was a teenager because it was safer there than at home quite frankly. She survived that time in her life and swore that if she ever had children, she would be a much better parent than her own had been. I believe that her experiences with the harder side of life, unfortunate though they were, helped her to become the amazing pàrent she was.
That said however, there was one area of my life that wasn't as strictly monitored as it probably should have been IMO. My internet usage was probably more careless back then, but fortunately it all worked out.

wow an 8 year bump. I guess for me I would say that I did a lot of stupid things like hang around the wrong people far away from home in social settings that could have turned out a lot worse. I have 2 daughters and I protect them the best that I can, although now there is a new challenge of social media and that creates another mental health concern. one thing that we see that hasn't changed over time is that women are still subjected to constant violence and that always upsets me.

We would ride our bikes and be out until 9pm or so in the dark on weekdays. Would walk a mile to a friend's house late at night without a worry. I remember walking home on a Saturday night alone at 11pm when I was 14 or 15 without a problem. Nowadays I wouldn't want to walk at night in some of those same areas

When I was 16 and a new driver, I would get off work at a restaurant and drive home 30 minutes before cellphones were a thing. Sometimes at 1 or 2am. Was never worried or paranoid.

Nowadays having a cellphone is nice