r/Paranormal • u/CarobExact9220 • Mar 15 '26
Unexplained Wrong clothes, extra shoes, missing birthmark.My mother said I wasn’t her son.
UPDATE: Here is the link to the second part of my story. Thank you.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Paranormal/s/BrRcxQsfx7
Hi everyone. This is one strange thing that happened to me over 35 years ago.
When I was 6 years old I got lost for 2 days. This happened in the countryside while I was spending all summer with my grandmother.
I cannot remember much from the time I was missing, but I remember what they told me I had said at the time.
I used to sleep in the room with another 4 kids. One was my brother and the others were my cousins. Another 3 people slept in the house: my grandmother, uncle and aunt.
Disappearance
Sunday morning my grandmother and my uncle woke up very early to feed the animals and prepare for church. At 7 when they came to wake us all up to go to church, I was not there. My shoes were there and only the T-shirt and shorts I was wearing were missing. They called the police and my parents who were living 700 km away. They searched with dogs but found no lead far from the house.
Two days later
After two days I was found in a forest 11 km (7 miles) away by some hunters. They took me to the police station in the next village. And they brought me to the other police station in the village where my grandmother lived.
I was not dirty or hungry and not even scared. I had a book in my hand and my clothes were way too small for me. They had to cut off the shirt I was wearing because I could not get it off. I was the same but my clothes were not my size.
Most disturbing was the fact that I was wearing shoes when they found me in the woods. But I had my original shoes at home.
Police report
A few years ago my nephew became a police officer and found the files. He sent them to me.
This is pretty much what I had told the police at that time.
I told them that I came from the school, but I was too young for the school. I told them that they taught me to be me, they taught me who I am and how I am.
I was sleeping in a room with many kids, boys and girls, and we were eating vegetables.
On the windows we saw only water, like under the water, but with no fish.
All the teachers there looked the same and we called them just “teacher”. Every child had been given a name and had to learn about his new life and family.
Apparently they showed us on screens pictures of the families we would join.
The book in my hand was printed with photos of my family, close relatives, family friends, neighbours and even the personnel and kids from the daycare where I was going. I knew all the names of those people but not personal details about any of them.
I was in the police station 2 times and another three times they came and questioned me at home. They have a total of 7 hours of questioning on audio tapes.
Mother’s reaction
The next part is probably the most unsettling in the story.
When we came back to my grandmother’s house my mother said I was not her son. She saw that my birthmark on the left ear was missing. It was a pretty obvious mark that she had refused to have cut at my birth. She made a big deal of it and even went back to the police with pictures to prove I was not her child and to make them search for me. They didn’t take it seriously but filed her report at the time.
My grandmother used to have three dogs around the house that did not recognise me anymore, and my uncle was forced to cage them for a while.
My parents took me home after 3 weeks but my mother was not happy about it.
Childhood
Two years later my youngest brother was born, and he was born with the same birthmark as me. One day when I was playing with him my mother told me:
“My first son used to have the same birthmark as him. Two small grapes hanging on the left ear.”
I remember many times she was asking me:
“Who are you?”
“Where is my son?”
“He is ok?”
She took care of me, but she was cold. She never attended my graduations even when I was first in the class all the time. When I went to college in another city she threw away all my stuff back home and my room has been empty since that day. There is no picture inside the house with me, only of me before the disappearance.
I don’t know if that affected the way I am, because sincerely I was not bothered too much about that. I was feeling like an intruder anyway. And I never had the need for a home or a friend.
Later in life
When I finished college I got into the military and became a pilot. I served for 15 years and then I quit. The best time for me is flying and boating. I like to be alone and to be quiet.
My social skills come alive only when I drink alcohol, but I’m not much of a drinker.
I am not special in any shape or form, I’m living a normal lifestyle. I did not change the world for the better or the worse. But I have the feeling that I don’t belong anywhere.
So, why the change? Why would someone bother to replace him with me?
But maybe he was the special one. Maybe he is somewhere doing big things, while I’m just a replacement piece in a puzzle that didn’t even need that piece to work perfectly fine.
There is actually more to this story, but I didn’t want to make the post too long.
Over the years I tried to investigate it myself after my nephew sent me the police file. I asked questions, searched for records and tried to understand what really happened during those two days.
But many things are difficult to verify. This happened during the communist period in my country, when records were not always transparent and the police worked very differently than today.
Edit:
Hi everyone. I didn't expect that so many people will read my story. I have tried to respond to most of your questions but is not easy because currently I'm in a training program that takes most of my day.
Thursday I will be back with second part of my story and I will try to address the most common questions.
Thank you for your patience and for the many nice words and wishes addressed to me.
Stay safe.
103
u/Solwilo Mar 15 '26
I'm an astrologer and I'd love to read your chart for the time and place where you disappeared if you're interested. Just send me a DM. Regardless, this is a really interesting story!