This is a big one, I was kidnapped in Bali after I stayed at a hotel and caught the manager filming me in the shower (I'm a dude btw). I told him that I would report him and demanded my money back from the trip. He told me he would get someone to kill me if I was ever to release a video of him and others talking about it. He got his thugs to intimidate me in the hotel. Anyways I was in a taxi van thing, with other travellers and it turns out they were in on it as well. They knew I was on edge and said something along the lines of throwing me off a cliff. Slide open the taxi door and jump out at this point from the anxiety and paranoia of being threatened with my life abroad my body went in full fight or flight mode. I ran through a jungle, and was being chased by about 20 Balinese guys where it was literally a game of cat and mouse for hours. I eventually came up to a road where a group of them were (I was covered in blood and mud) to which they started taking pictures of me and wiping their hands on my skin. I then ran away again to where I was free running through peoples back gardens to where I fell through a roof and rolled down to someone's pool. I was found again to where they chucked rocks at me and threatened me with bamboo sticks (one also had a machete). I was put in handcuffs and put into this van with three rough looking balanese guys, I was taken back to the hotel where I first arrived in my trip. I was locked in my room for days without food or water, one of the men in the hotel let me out to where I was so frightened and distrusting everyone I was surrounded with I went to the roof of the hotel and sat up there. I was forcibly taken down, where I had a short stand off with about 6 Balinese guys to where they put me on the floor and tied me up by my arms and legs. We drove for a while, and I was taken out of the car and tied to a bed, rolled into a building of a mental asylum. Yes a mental asylum abroad. I was injected with sedatives and woke up tied to a bed with the door open sharing the room with other patients. After contacting the embassy and convincing them I wasn't crazy I was released. But that whole experience wasn't the scariest part. Because I had been going through so much trauma, stress and paranoia I ended up having a psychotic episode. Which honestly, is one of the most terrifying experiences.
It's now 3 years later. I don't suffer from psychosis anymore, nor do I have flashbacks, nightmares or have a massive care for the trauma. I'm at university studying literature and film, I'm two months clean of alcohol, drugs and cigarettes (used them for years to self medicate after the trauma). However, I would be lying to tell you that things have drastically improved. I sufferer from chronic PTSD where I'm constantly on alert and in danger which goes hand in hand with depression, anxiety and social anxiety also mood swings. People use to respect and look up to me I guess as I was considered somewhat "popular" but toxic friends and love interests revealed themselves when you find yourself in a dark place to where I have recently blocked around 6 friends, my ex girlfriend and my alcoholic mother who is now going through a divorce with my dad where my two sisters, my dad and myself have to share a 2 bedroom flat. Also since the event, I have had a hard time with my confidence and self-esteem and I've been actively avoiding my housemates and have lost 2 stone in weight over the past 2 months from not eating. I really want to push through and beat this thing after not experiencing any mental illness for 20 years and it's been running my life for 3 years. I'm intending on focusing on my studies, get writing, learn a martial art, meet new people with the same interests, stay sober and hopefully meet a nice girl.
Whelp that's the scariest thing that's happened to me! I know it sounds fake but it's actually a true story.