Comments on: WTF Wednesday: Enough Rubbernecking, Already!

By: Ericka Scott

Ericka Scott — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:44:41 +0000

Here here!

I know I felt absolutely horrible for the parents while the event was happening…all I could picture was one of my little ‘uns doing something like that and…well, losing them. A parent’s nightmare. But, when I found out that he’d been hiding while his parents looked for him for 5 hours, that was too much. My boys can’t sit still for 5 minutes, let alone that long unless they were scared to death of the punishment (which I initially flirted with)…but as it unfolded more, I figured it was a hoax and felt bad for the child who was manipulated and for his parents, who were sure to get caught.

By: admin

admin — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:22:25 +0000

I know it’s possible for small children to go missing as you both describe for long periods of time and wind up being perfectly safe. It was more the order of business that made me pretty darn sure it was a hoax. The boy had reportedly been seen in the balloon by the brother only MINUTES before lift off. It just seems highly implausible that a 6yo (who is well past prime nap age) would fall asleep THAT quickly. I just didn’t buy it for a second because the confluence of events seemed too convenient–brother sees kid in balloon, balloon lifts off, family frantically searches for kid but only find him AFTER the balloon is brought down and we know he’s not in it. Sorry, that’s just too many coincidences for credulity .

By: Clisby

Clisby — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:32:56 +0000

Something like Elise describes happened in my parents’ neighborhood once. The kid next door (maybe 3?) was missing. The parents looked all over for him, called him, checked with neighbors, etc. The neighborhood is a subdivision, but it borders a swamp (alligators! snakes! who knows what else?) so they called the police. The sheriff’s department and about a dozen neighbors were out combing the place for him. A couple of hours later, the kid wakes up from his nap in the cabinet under the upstairs bathroom sink (he had crawled in there to play and fell asleep.) Happy ending.

By: Elise Logan

Elise Logan — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:29:18 +0000

I have to say – and this is not a defense of this situation, more a general comment – that I can see a situation in which a child could be on premises and not respond to calls and not be found.

We had a situation when I was young – oh, about 10? – when my brother, then 6 or 7, went missing. My dad (who has a voice like booming thunder and can be heard, no kidding over 1/4 mile away) called for him. We looked for him. I rode around looking for him on my bike. Mom and I went in the car. We searched the house and everything. No Bro. We called the cops. The cops looked. The cops called. Neighbors looked. Neighbors called.

Four hours later he woke up. He’d fallen asleep in a tent in the back yard, pressed up against the side and under a sleeping bag so no one saw him. He slept through the whole thing. Did I mention he slept like the dead? I don’t think nuclear explosions would have woken that kid.

Neither my parents nor Bro did anything wrong, and we were FRANTIC.

So I can see how it COULD happen that a child would be in the house or vicinity. But awake and alert and not responding to people? That is a far stretch, especially for a young kid. And in this particular case… I’m not buying.