14 Truly Unbelievable Stories That Actually Happened to People

Have you ever had an occurrence so extraordinary, that half the world could never experience it, even if they tried? Well, these special people did, and had they not experienced it for themselves, they wouldn’t believe it either. Here are 14 stories so wild, they left us mesmerized.

Caught in a synchronized dolphin ensemble

I was out surfing, about 100 yards north of the main peak, by myself. Just as I was almost at the breakers, a nice right comes by — a super huge wave, barrel and everything.

As the wave is coming to an end there is a perfect air section that is extremely close to me and out of nowhere two dolphins come flying out of the wave and launched these huge air backflips that were synchronized — perfect airs (gravity defying moves) with that snap sound and everything.

Like 5 feet up and a few feet launched out forward. They had hit it as perfect as possible. The dolphins were so close to me that I could see their eyes, and there was nothing but pure stoke and joy in them as they were midair. After that, I realized that these dolphins are like us in ways I hadn’t thought of before. OkMeringue2249 / Reddit

Lost and Found

Had my wedding ring fall off of my finger while I had my hand dangling out of a car window while driving. Very upsetting to arrive at the hotel I was staying at to realize it had slipped off, wasn’t in my pockets or in the car anywhere — checked the floorboards, under the seats, console, I even checked the trunk — and figured it was probably laying on the side of the road somewhere along a 60-mile stretch of interstate.

But I was exhausted. It had been a very stressful day of travel. I checked into my hotel room, pushed my suitcase just inside the door of my room, and passed out on the nearest bed. Didn’t even stop in the bathroom to pee, or bother to get undressed or take off my shoes, just laid down on top of the hotel bed, went straight to sleep.

Woke up the next morning and sat up looking at my ring finger now minus a wedding band. I saw a glint of light on the desk by the window on the far side of the room. I’d been so tired the night before I hadn’t even closed the curtains, so the sunlight was pouring in. I got up and walked over to the desk to see what it was.

It was my wedding ring sitting by itself on the desktop. I must have stared at it for a solid minute trying to work out how it got there. I didn’t have it when I came into the room, and I up until that minute hadn’t even been on that side of the room. Still can’t explain how it got there. easygoer89 / Reddit

Elevator turned boardroom

I was just getting into work when the elevator broke down with myself and a co-worker in it. We were stuck in there for 2 and a half hours.

We had our laptops with us and were within reach of the work Wi-Fi, so we still attended our morning stand-ups and got a little work done. watabby / Reddit

Triggered a security breach

My brother joined the marines when I was 11, and I had to go and stay with him for the weekend due to life circumstances. The rules were very strict there, but I was a kid, and kids aren’t smart sometimes. So when I decided to go get late-night ice-cream, and snuck out of the barracks, it obviously triggered a massive security breach, and they had to detain and question me to make sure I was genuine.

This is more of a funny story now though because I don’t think I was ever really in that much danger, they were just angry. I stayed there a few more times after that and became much better at my sneaky ice-cream runs. daisygiraffe13 / Reddit

The pet penguin

I had a pet penguin for a couple weeks as a child. My mum was working in the local marina and spotted it swimming round in circles. It required surgery to fix its wing, but there was a two-week wait until it could be seen by the animal surgeons, and it couldn’t survive in the wild without being fixed.

So under those circumstances we were allowed to take it home and put it in our bathtub where we filled it with salt water and lined it with rocks from the beach to make it feel more homely. Our cat and dog simply waited outside all the time out of curiosity.

It was a little blue penguin native to New Zealand, and it mostly did nothing at all until you poured water on his head and he did a cute shake. We put him on our front lawn one day and even our cat and dog simply sat back and observed him like they even understood he was some foreign alien creature that had no business being there whatsoever. lospuebloschamp / Reddit

An unseen voice in the fog

A few years ago, I was hiking alone in a remote area of the Rocky Mountains. It was a beautiful, clear day and everything seemed perfect. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a dense fog rolled in, and I lost all sense of direction. I started to panic when I realized I was completely lost.

Just as I was about to give up hope, I heard a voice calling my name. I followed the voice and found an elderly man who guided me back to the trail. When I turned to thank him, he was gone. I’ve never been able to explain it, and no one believes me when I tell the story. After-Sense-9126 / Reddit

The expelled school

My entire high school year was expelled right before the finals for the year. We did one of those final school year party nights at the school with no teachers, and the school got pretty messed up.

Our principal went into a rage at the assembly the next day and expelled everyone. They later had to undo it as the parents were all furious. It was even in the newspaper. Radiant_Julyia / Reddit

Miracle Present

It’s near Christmas of 1980, I’m a young teenager who’s going to be spending Christmas (and New Year’s) in the hospital, so it was extra important to my dad that he got me whatever I wanted for Christmas. I wanted a memory game called Simon. It was one of the IT toys to have that Christmas — impossible to get, but my dad was going to at least try.

My dad is at a toy store, staring at the empty shelf where the Simon game would be if it were in stock. An employee with the name Matt on his name tag attached to his work vest asked my dad if he could help him. My dad said he was looking for a “Simon” game. Matt simply said, “Follow me” and led my dad back to a warehouse area and there was one Simon game by itself and, without saying anything, he picked it up, handed it to my dad and walked away.

My dad went to pay for it and a confused cashier asked my dad, “Where did you get this because this has been sold out for days?” My dad said Matt got it for me. The cashier, more confused now, said, “We don’t have a Matt that works here.” My dad described Matt and how he brought my dad to where it was. The cashier is now freaking out because no one with Matt’s description works there.

Both my dad and I had an extra special Christmas that year. 5 Christmas’ later, I wound up working at that same toy store. SnooTangerines4981 / Reddit

Dad?

I discovered at 18 that my dad had been in witness protection my whole life, and the name I knew him by wasn’t his real one. e******e******* / Reddit

The lady in the picture

Went to an antique store and found a 100+ year old picture of a lady, with a name & her city written on the back. I bought it. A short time later I was at a different antique store and found a picture of the same lady, just older. Again, her name & city were written on the back. Then, a third time, I was at the first antique store, and I found a letter, addressed to the same lady. Of course, I bought it.

Long story short, I posted the story on a genealogical Facebook page, and with the help of another person, I found a descendant of the lady in the photo, and mailed both pictures & the letter off to her. By far, it was the coolest thing to happen to me, possibly ever! MPD1987 / Reddit

How did you know?

I was working as a cashier in a restaurant. The first thing we’d do after greeting a customer was getting their name to write at the top of their ticket. This customer was particularly chatty, and I was making small talk with her when a very strange look came over her face and she got quiet.

It was then that I realized I’d written a name, her actual name, on her ticket without ever asking her for it or being told what it was. It was her first (and probably her last) time in that restaurant. Individual_Mail_800 / Reddit

“I got stranded in the Eiffel Tower and the gendarmes had to get me out.”

My wife and I were visiting Paris with another couple. On our obligatory visit to the Eiffel Tower, we eschewed the elevator for the more healthy option of climbing the stairs. On the way back down, I was reading some posters and was slower than the rest. As I followed them onto a landing, through a gate and down into another set of stairs, I heard the gate latch loudly. I turned the handle and realized it had locked behind us.

I also noticed that the stairs we were on were much dustier and looked unused. By this time, the rest of the crew were a couple of landings below. When I got to the bottom, the gate was locked and in front of it were a pile of postcard stands. As I rattled the gate, the lady in charge of the postcard souvenir shop (the unused gate was actually part of its back wall) came over to me with my wife in tow who was pleading to the lady to let me out.

The story was that we had come down a set of stairs that was no longer in use. The postcard seller had reluctantly let my wife and friends go through, but when another tourist had wanted to get her to move her stands again so that he could get out, she says to me “Non, non, non,” and points back up the way I came. I tell her I can’t, that it’s locked, but she either doesn’t understand or doesn’t believe me. So I reluctantly trudge the 10 minutes back up and rattle the locked gate, then head down again and try to explain to the attendant and the now small crowd gathering around the postcard stands that I am locked in.

The lady insisted that I go up and try again, but I knew that was futile and try to explain this to her with schoolboy French and decidedly amateur mime. During this time, my wife had found a gendarme and dragged him over to the souvenir stands. He instantly understands the situation and orders the lady to move the stands and unlock the gate, which, with much harrumphing and snorting, she begrudgingly does. There is a small cheer from the crowd and I raise my fist. HughLofting / Reddit

“I got lost in the woods in grade 2.”

I got lost, and I was about to sit down and bawl. I had walked straight into the forest one day at lunch because I realized I had never taken a good look around yet, like I had at home. I went so far I couldn’t hear the playground and I started to panic. I screwed up my courage and found my way to a road by the sound of cars, then walked back to the school.

Recess was just ending. I got back just as the bell rang, so the whole trip in and back was 30 minutes and no one even knew I was missing. I told my mom that night because I was proud of being brave and finding my own way back. Snuggle_Pounce / Reddit

Speedy license renewal

I once went to the bureau of motor vehicles, went directly to the counter, had all the documentation I needed and renewed my license in 5 minutes. joecoin2 / Reddit

Check out more jaw-dropping stories that will have you saying, ’wow’.