Random tragic memory found in my old diary **Content Warning** Title edited by MNHQ

[cardiologist349275]

Sorry this isn't an AIBU but I didn't know where to put this. I was going through 20+ years of diaries and came across a story my mum told me before she died.

There was a little girl who went to school with my brother. She had a brain tumour. She was extremely unwell but still went to school every day, and one boy was always bullying her and pushing her over in the playground and she would cut her knees open all the time. The teacher was also a nasty bully (this was the 80s so she got away with it for years) and was very cruel to the girl because she had to wear trousers because she couldn't cope with a skirt, but she found the trouser buttons really hard to do up and the teacher would pick on her about it and not help her. She died on the day of the school play aged five.

My Mum was haunted by it and never forgot that little girl who she said was so, so sweet.

To add to the family's tragedy, their other daughter sadly suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and had to live in sheltered accommodation. One day about ten years ago the mother went to visit her, not knowing the daughter was having an episode and had snuck a knife into the flat. She was stabbed to death.

Though I never knew any of these people, I think of them often. Their tragedy has been lost to time, but I think if I remember them then they won't just be....gone.

Does anyone else have any memories of other people that come back to them in a haunting way?

[Redsquirrel5]

My baby sister who never came home from hospital I was three and remember. She lived for ten days. I still cry for her. It affected my mum.

My friend was due the day before me but had her baby 18 days early. I had mine and the day after her baby boy died of cot death. She was a midwife. I think of him on his birthday and the day he died every year. Our older sons were best friends and I am sure they would have been too given the chance.

A little girl at school was excited that her brother was going to start nursery after the holidays but he died of meningitis. The girl was very upset and used to talk to me at the gate. One of the teachers shoed her to go and play one day and I explained. She said “she should have got over that now.” I turned around and said “she will never get over it” and I walked off. I thought what a bitch! I still think of them sometimes.

When I was training part of my time was spent in the children’s ward and there was a lovely little child in who had to have his arm pinned. He was 2 1/2 but didn’t speak. We used to take him to the play room and one day I blew up a blue balloon for him he giggled as it was obvious he had never had one. He played for ages and was the happiest I had seen him. He was still in when my placement finished. I worried about him as it was suspected abuse. He was murdered. I went to the funeral. The detective was so kind to me.I still think of that little boy every Christmas and sometimes other times. I have never got over it but vowed to speak up and protect others and I was able to do that a few times in my work.

On a happier note when I was 17 I saved a little girl’s life. She was drowning and went under the for the fourth time but didn’t come back up. I was a distance away on the other side of the river but kept her in my sight while I removed my riding boots and I dived down several times until I found her. That amazing strength hit me and I pulled her out onto the side and got the water from her lungs and she came around I was so relieved. Someone took over and she went to hospital. The parents didn’t know I had saved her or probably how close to death she was and I was too shy to say. They knew it was one of the young instructors. We were at a children’s camp. I think of her and hope she has a happy life.

[CharityDingle]

Is OP coming back to the thread? Is it a journalist looking for an article?

[mumofEandE]

At primary school (v late 70s / v early 80s) in one class the punishment for being naughty was to sit next to 'smelly Matthew' - even the teachers called him this.

We must have been about 6 years old so it wasn't 'normal' teenage BO.
I often think for a 6 year old to smell it must have been abuse / neglect - how cruel for us children let alone adults to say this

[MobyDicksTinyCanoe]

Also remember my granny who was born around 1910 telling me about a dead baby they found at the bottom of a rubbish chute in a tenement block... She'd have been around 5 at the time. Also finding remains in ashbins and on the tip wasnt uncommon.

We're so lucky to have access to clean, safe abortion now. I can't even imagine what those women went through.

[Bobsyer]

When I was almost 13 and just going into Y8, I remember coming back to school a little later than everyone else as we'd been on holiday. Our year was awash with gossip.

Mark, a boy in my year, had hanged himself over the summer holidays. He had cancer and walked with a limp, and I know some of the more horrible boys would tease him. He was also one of the only black children in my school and I know there was a strong element of racism in the bullying he suffered.

I remember Alf, one of the 'popular' boys, making fun of the fact that Mark had taken his life. I don't think I've ever been so angry with someone in my life. I ripped into him, telling him what a despicable bastard he was; he made Mark's life hell and was now trying to make his death the same. Alf was an absolute shit right up until we left school and I'm sure he hasn't changed now.

RIP Mark. We weren't the best of friends but we were friendly. I think of him often, especially now I have boys the same age.

[thatonesmine]

An appalling thing that happened to someone I vaguely knew (friend of a friend) more than 30 years ago and has stayed with me. She was crossing the road with her child in a stroller when a car came out of nowhere killing the child instantly. She never got over it.

[13yearslater]

@LuluBlakey1

A boy called Kenny Dickson at primary school. He was a tall boy for his age and chubby and he could be naughty but was really kind. He had lovely dark curley hair and freckles and a big smile. He lived with just his mum and they moved so they lived out of the village.
When we were about 10 he was off school for quite a long time then he came back and he was thinner and limped and was quieter. The next year we went to secondary school and he was off again. It turned out he had bone cancer in his leg and he died. We just never saw him again and the school never told us until he died. I always think we should have made him some cards and his friends should have gone to see him and kept him company. He must have been so lonely without his friends.

My son went through cancer at primary school. They did send a big card signed by his class mates when he was diagnosed, but nothing after that.
He had four years of treatment - he was in and out of school. We had no support. He received a poor school report in his final year of treatment, for 'lacking focus'. We're talking 2012 - 2015.

[liliainterfrutices]

That’s dreadful 13years. I hope your son is well and happy now.

[LyndaSnellsSniff]

These stories are so desperately sad.

An American family had come over to Scotland for a couple of years whilst the dad did some research where my dad worked. The children both went to my school. On their way home from a holiday, driving on the motorway, they were hit by a lorry. The mother and daughter died instantly and the dad was in a coma for some time. The son escaped unhurt. I remember the headteacher telling the school about the accident. Just horrific.

A girl from my sister's year at school died in another car crash. She was sitting on the lap of the front seat passenger when the driver lost control and the car hit a wall. The same family also lost a young cousin when he was hit by a car.

A pair of twins from school ran across a busy main road. One got across safely, the other was hit by a car and killed.

My sister's karate teacher was found hanging in the woods. We were very young but I recall there being rumours that he'd been caught with images of child sexual abuse.

[Bubblecap]

My friends sister Suzanne died as a teenager from cancer. I have had a very difficult life, suffered a child dying myself a few years ago and had a very abusive childhood. If I ever feel really sorry for myself I always think Suzanne died so young she didn’t get to experience anything the good or even the bad.

[Nittersing]

I remember a large family, very, very hard up. All with social/emotional issues. Six children living with just their dad who didn't work. All of them looked tiny, underfed and in need of a bath and clean clothes. The one I particularly remember was feisty and often in trouble at school. I felt really bad for him as he was often picked on and had difficulty making friends. Later, we realised that they were the children of a terrible (female) serial killer who was now in gaol. Those poor children. They also all look very much like their mother so the connection is easy to see. 🙁😪

[Eggshausted]

I often think of a girl who was murdered near where my gran lived.I didn’t know her, but it was all over the media.Her name was Claire Tiltman and she was only 16. She was an only child and my heart broke for that family group that went from 3 to 2. They finally convicted the scumbag who did it.over 20 years later, sadly both her parents died before justice was done. I think of them every time I go past that alleyway.

[Walkoflife]

first year of secondary school so were age 11/12,
A girl in my year Katie killed herself took an overdose due to being bullied.

I never really knew her well but she seemed so happy and full of life and he had lots of friends.

It’s so sad thinking what her family must have gone through ☹️

[OnceUponAMidnightBeery]

This thread is heartbreaking, but it’s so good that they are still remembered

I still think of those I grew up or knew most days. Kate especially.

[oakleaffy]

As if we need MORE horror and despair after the recent threads...
What's the point of it?

Is it voyeurism?
Wallowing in another's ghastly misfortunes?
The recent case has been all over the news, but these gratuitous tales haven't.
Too depressing for words.

[Careve]

There was a girl in our school who didn’t fit in.
She was painfully shy, sat on her own in lessons and the other kids thought she was odd.
One day, getting off the school bus, she was killed by a passing car. I often wish I’d have made more of an effort and been a friend to her.
If we’d have been friends, maybe should have hung out with our group after school and not caught that bus. It pains me now that I don’t remember her surname 25 yrs later.
There was also a boy I fancied at school and never told (he was my friend’s brother), after leaving school, he got into debt and ended up hanging himself. I wish I’d have stayed in touch with him.
Finally, another girl from school died in a car crash when she was on her way back to Uni.
3 classmates all died before the age of 18.
I think about them all regularly.

[Mishuckliza]

Was this boy Gary?

[PufferFish]

Bubblecap

[TheLovelinessOfBaublyDemons]

[quote ninnynonny]@shortpoet. No, I was in an East Anglian village - H.[/quote]
Unless there's more than one East Anglian village beginning with H, which there probably is, that's near where my grandad was born.

[13yearslater]

@Bubblecap

My friends sister Suzanne died as a teenager from cancer. I have had a very difficult life, suffered a child dying myself a few years ago and had a very abusive childhood. If I ever feel really sorry for myself I always think Suzanne died so young she didn’t get to experience anything the good or even the bad.

to you Bubble. I'm very sorry for your loss. x

[WaterAndRichTea]

I remember when i was little, we had neighbours down stairs, on the day they moved out the mum told my mum that she was the only person who had ever been nice to her in her whole life. Still makes me sad

[DisneyDrop]

A very good friend of mine, his younger sister was killed abroad and put in a suitcase and dumped in the river

His dad had committed suicide when the children were little

And last Christmas his brother committed suicide

Him and his mum are massively struggling and i feel so sad for them

[DeadoftheMoon]

The 'butcher's boy', delivered the meat on Saturday mornings. Blue eyes, curly blond hair, seventeen. His Saturday job paid for his moped. Which he came off and died. Around 1975. I can see his face now, if I think of him.

Pupil,14, died of cancer, my 'right hand man' - I'm expecting him to come for me at the end of life. Pupil, 14, murdered by 'boyfriend', body found before her mother reported her missing. Pupil knocked down, died; her sister knocked down only weeks later, survived. Brother's friend, died of cancer in his twenties. Neighbour committed suicide under a train, allegedly because I didn't love him (I hardly knew him). Former pupil, 28, came to Parents Evening about another family member, told me that one of his children had died; to me, he was only a child himself, but he of course lived his adult life, and suffered an adult's heartbreak. Classmate 12 or 13, dragged under an articulated lorry and his skull crushed; his best friend crying the next morning when he told the teacher why A hadn't turned up for school. 'Friend' sexually abused by her father, as were her three siblings - it was discovered and they moved away; as an adult, saw her on television talking about it. Former pupil, sweet and beautiful, died of cancer, mid-twenties.

My mother always remembered her childhood friend, who wore red hair-ribbons. Around 1938. They had a sleepover and the friend told my mum 'there are people in the corner of the room, they've come to get you'. The next day, after my mum had gone home, her friend fell downstairs and died. My mum told me 'It wasn't me they'd come for!' But, she was sad about her friend, and superstitious, so I was never allowed to wear red ribbons.

I didn't read the thread when I first saw it - but yes, I do remember and it's worth sharing.

And having totally outed myself, I'll name-change in the morning.

[Nat6999]

A little girl who was in ds class when he started school was severely disabled, she was in a wheelchair, had to be tube fed & had a tracheostomy. One playtime she became severely ill & died in the playground while her carer was helping a child who had fallen down. Ds witnessed it as he often sat & talked to her at playtime, he was 6 years old & it still haunts him now at 17. Nothing was said at school but we got a text to say that school was closed the next day, then ds told me that she had been poorly & in his words she got covered in snow & ice. He still gets upset about it now, we were looking at his class photos with her on & he sat & sobbed.

[ClaudiaJ1]

@Nittersing

I remember a large family, very, very hard up. All with social/emotional issues. Six children living with just their dad who didn't work. All of them looked tiny, underfed and in need of a bath and clean clothes. The one I particularly remember was feisty and often in trouble at school. I felt really bad for him as he was often picked on and had difficulty making friends. Later, we realised that they were the children of a terrible (female) serial killer who was now in gaol. Those poor children. They also all look very much like their mother so the connection is easy to see. 🙁😪

@Nittersing I can only find 3 female UK serial killers, Myra Hindley (no children), Rosemary West (Fred was in jail at the same time so can't have been the father of this story) and Joanna Dennehy only has 2 children not 6. Is there another female serial killer in the UK that has never been publicised or is the one you are referring to in another country?