Strange incident in the woods

[Livelaughlovesigns]

It’s still playing on my mind and was just really odd.

Today, Dh and I took Dd, 5 and our dog in the woods/fields by our home. All was fine and we were heading back home, I was walking ahead keeping track of our dog and Dh was with Dd (she walks slowly, wants to stop to play/have adventures etc)
I saw a person walking behind Dh who was swaying from side to side and just seemed very odd, I felt a bit strange and started to call to Dd to run to me (as in a game-run as fast as you can/who’s the winner type thing) Dh had also noticed and started to walk more quickly, he then picked her up and started to hurry to me and we got to an open part where there were houses and cars. Dd was getting upset and shouting about why he picked her up etc and we were watching this person in the distance acting so strangely, staggering everywhere and then suddenly running.
A man came up talking on his phone (Russian I think and looking around everywhere) Dh asked him if he was looking for someone, the man didn’t speak English, so Dh started motioning towards the woods where the person had ran ( Dh says it was a woman)
Dh then went with the man to show him where she was and Dh said he saw this man find her
We explained to Dd, without trying to scare her.
As we were walking back we were discussing it and saying why did we try to run away, why didn’t we try to help them.
It was just a really really odd situation, we in these woods almost daily, nothing ever happens.

I keep wondering about this woman and what on earth had happened to her, Dh thinks she may have been drunk because of New year and wandered back and lost her way (the woods are next to the beach)

Would you have done the same thing? My initial feeling was fear and to get dd away

TW: abuse
this reminds me of something that happened a few years ago.

me and my partner went on our usual dog walk round the block but in a woodland area (we live in the countryside). We did this walk religiously.. along the walk is a large yard with lorry’s parked there, we saw an older man and a young girl (4/5 yrs old) go behind the lorry, I immediately felt something wasn’t right due to nothing being behind the lorry other than some banking down to a river... it was a very isolated area.
Nothing felt right about it and it’s always stuck with me.
about 6 months later an article come out about a local man in our village that had been abusing his granddaughter, I know of the family & had recognised the girl.
I immediately thought back to that day.
I just couldn’t be sure if they were who I saw that day or if it was even connected. It could have been innocent.

I live in Ohio and there was a guy a few years back named Ariel Castro who kidnapped these three women into his basement and they'd been in there for years and then finally one of them escaped and was able to call 911. I hope that's not the situation here. But it absolutely would have been my first thought. I would have called the police and waited with her until they showed up.

Could of been drunk but I would of rang the police when you did not know what was happening she could of easily been drugged. A women came in to my friends work a couple of years back could not speak English very distressed. She was quickly brought in the back and there was about 5 men walking through the store not asking staff anything but looking for her.

This ^^

I wouldnt send a man into the woods after a woman. My instincts don't work like that. & I'd watch from afar to see what happened when they met up. I'd give DP what for, if he called out to a man and pointed a woman out in lonely spot. But he wouldnt, he'd be saying to me hmm sutuation looks strange doesn't it. Then he'd be watching them from afar too. Why is it you didnt speak to her and ask her if she was ok, yet your husband decided to speak to the man?

I dont understand why in your opening post + explanations, you didnt say she was on the phone to this man and looked pleased to see him. You dropped this pertinent information in later on, so unfortunately people will be sceptical on this. I really hope she's ok. Disorientated and left alone in the woods with a man. Seems more likely to me that she went in there to hide, as opposed to walking on streets

You never know how you'll react in a given situation until you're in it. I once saw an ad for a flat and only realised the next day that is was surely fishing for trafficking victims, it's not something at the forefront of my mind. I tried to go back and find it to report it but couldn't. Sometimes I think of it and feel a little sick.

My first thought here was trafficking (or a creative writing jolly), but if she's older more likely DV. Hope everything is ok with her.

Honestly… if you’re in an Easter European country and this happened on New Years where drinking heavily..
this is completely normal and very likely a husband looking for their wife imo

It is unusual behaviour yes, but you and your husband's was equally odd. Why/who to was your OH shouting as he 'scooped up' your child? Why were 2 adults intimidated by a lone woman (albeit staggering) but chose to talk to and assist a grown man speaking another language to find her. What happened when he found her? Did she seem distressed etc?
Personally I'd have called 101.

^ This. Same old. Same old.

I feel really reassured that so many posters would have their doubts raised in this situation and would try to support the woman without pointing a man in their direction. Thank goodness I’m not the only one who would be suspicious.

Have a closer read of the thread, maybe? I’ll continue to speak up for OPs getting slammed with nastiness, regardless of who agrees with me or not. So funny how there was an evidenced domestic abuse thread not long ago where OP had called the police and got completely buried with posters telling her she was an idiot and should keep her nose out of other people’s business.

This thread is Mumsnet at its' worst.

I'm glad you all act perfectly when you're worried or freaked out 🙄

Meanwhile somewhere in a house there's a lady with a cup of tea and her husband laughing that she got daft on the new years plonk.
He's saying 'good job that lovely family were there I couldn't find you anywhere'
She's saying 'god, I'm never drinking again'

And they are blissfully unaware that on some daft forum thread he's being called an abuser, a trafficker and that she's distressed and kidnapped.
If the threads dodgy report it, it will be removed

Exactly @Didimum and what the high and mighty posters seem to fail to grasp is that you can disagree, even strongly, with an OP without making them feel like shit. I think everyone made their point early on about the event in question, now it just feels like an attack. People keep saying “I can’t imagine doing what OP did” Well I can’t imagine getting my kicks from being a keyboard warrior, laughing at an OP who is clearly already worried about a situation.

Agree. My thought was trafficked woman escaping. Tbh in the whole incident I'd've responded differently if it was a woman - sounds like she needed care not running away from!

Meanwhile, 1 in every 4 women will be a victim of sexual assault.

Too many arm chair critics on this thread..

@Sundaefraise having left his office when his sugar levels dropped without telling anyone.
Those sugar levels - drop and rise without so much as a by-your-leave. They never tell anyone anything!😀

@Blueberry911 phew, luckily no evidence or reference to that here.
My explanation is the likely one, even your statistic agrees.

Really sad to see women not looking out for other women.

She wasn’t worried about the situation. Don’t know if you’ve read the post at all

She has said in several of her subsequent posts that she’s now worried sick and realises they may have made a mistake. Maybe you haven’t read the thread.

Yep that’s not how she started out though. Personally I think she only said that because there was a pile on about how utterly unconcerned she was about the woman’s wellbeing