17 People Who Really Experienced ‘Missing Time’
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It’s not the juiciest story, but it really freaked me out at the time. I was playing games on my computer one evening at around 10 PM and decided to just finish what I was doing and then head to bed since I had work the next day. Next thing I know, I’m sat in front of a black screen in just my undies and it’s 4 AM. Computer was cold, so it must’ve been off for at least a little while. No idea what happened because I don’t have a history of sleepwalking.
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I went to a festival one weekend a few summers back. It was a pretty heavy weekend, but nothing out of the ordinary. I drove back to my apartment on the Sunday and figured I’d have the day to myself and just chill, get some takeaway etc. So I get in, pop a couple etizolam (similar to Xanax) and smoke a joint.
Come to and it’s Wednesday evening. I had missed 3 days of work, most of my stash is gone, call log shows I had two 7 minute phone calls with a director from my company at some point and I had absolutely zero recollection of anything since Sunday afternoon.
It was absolutely wild, never been so disorientated in my life. Luckily everything was OK with my job and I ended up just going in on Thursday with minimal repercussions. I had a bit of a drug problem at the time and this was the low point that made me start turning things around.
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It happened to me in first grade. Class was over and I remember walking deliberately to the bus pickup area. Only, when I got there, there were no buses. No kids, no teachers, just an empty parking lot. I went back inside where my teacher found me and called my mom. I’ve always wondered if I’m repressing some horrible event.
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I decided to take an impromptu weekend trip for my son’s birthday. He lives in Wichita I lived in Atlanta. Flights were too expensive so I decided to drive.
This is a 17 hour drive each way without including stops. I made it in time for his birthday but had to drive back home a few hours after.
After about 4 hours of driving it was 8am. I remember distinctly checking the time. Next thing I remember is glancing back down at the clock and it being 2pm. Scariest moment of my life. I panicked like I had just slept through work but instead I “slept” through 6 hours of driving.
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I was exhausted after being rotated Closing/Opening every other day for two weeks. I got in my car after a particularly long day, started it up and waited for it warm up, next thing I was aware of was sitting in my parent’s driveway (I was about 20 at the time, had just broken up with an asshole and moved back) with the car off but I was still buckled in.
My job was 12 miles, straight shot on the freeway, from home.
I have no idea how I drove myself home safely, because I have ZERO memory of it.
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I was a kid, my family and I were staying in a hotel room. We had just finished watching the Land Before Time and everyone else had fallen asleep, but I stayed up because I wanted to watch the snow on the TV for no reason.
One minute I was sitting in front of the TV watching the snow while everyone was asleep. The next moment, I was still sat in front of the TV with eyes wide open, only it was morning and everyone was waking up.
I felt like I had slept all night, but I don’t think I ever closed my eyes.
I can only assume I hypnotized myself.
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Went out of my dorm at 2 pm to go buy some food, returned at 9 pm. Freezing, with wet hair, not feeling my toes or fingers because apparently there was a hail and I went out without hat or gloves. I had a bunch of random stuff in my backpack that I assume I bought like a pair of cheap headphones, a picture frame and drying rack clips. I also had an ice cream paper cup which indicates I ate ice cream in -15 degrees Celsius OUTSIDE and an empty cup of iced coffee. My bf freaked the fuck out, because I told him I had no idea where I was and what I was doing. Surprisingly I didn’t get sick. Only a bit creeped out.
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I work the night shift at a warehouse. There were several days, usually around 3am or so, when I would kind of regain awareness. What is this in my hand? Where did it come from? Where am I supposed to put it? How long have I been sleepwalking through work? How many mistakes have I made??? Would happen maybe once a week or every other week if I loaded up on caffeine/energy shots. I’ve moved buildings and can stay awake my whole shift these days.
Could have been worse, honestly, and I’m genuinely surprised that this never caused a bigger problem than mildly freaking me out considering I worked around heavy machinery and conveyor belts a lot.
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I had a suicide attempt that ended up causing me serious brain damage. I woke up having no memory of the last 5 months prior to the attempt. 7 years later I am just now beginning to fill the gaps.
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Was on a transatlantic flight. Got into a good conversation with my seatmate, had several glasses of wine. Then about 4 hours from the destination, we both decided to get some sleep. But I was still animated from the discussion so took a sleeping pill.
On landing, the flight attendant woke me up. I exited, went to baggage claim, was picked up by my friend, went to her house, then crashed on the sofa.
Several hours later I awoke and could remember NOTHING of the landing, getting off the plane, going to baggage claim and immigration, meeting my friend, the drive to her place, our conversation—NOTHING. A complete blackout. Complete memory loss. No telling what I did or said during that time.
They mean it when they say on the pill bottle DO NOT TAKE WITH ALCOHOL.
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It wasn’t related to that kind of combination of things, but I had a professor who lost several hours because of exhaustion. He remembered getting in a cab at the airport at whatever time, and about seven hours later woke up in his hotel room, sprawled on the bed, still wearing his overcoat and with his briefcase still in his hand, hanging over the edge of the bed. He had checked in and gotten to his room in some weird sleep state.
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I have PTSD and this happens a lot, just flashbacks and memories I get caught in and can’t escape. I snap out of it sometimes minutes or hours later, had full text conversations whilst in the middle of it I don’t remember.
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I got drugged and robbed on an international trip. Dude in a bar started chatting me up. I got up to go to the bathroom (left my drink unattended). Next thing I know (about an hour later), I’m disoriented and standing outside the bar and my stuff is gone. All in all, was still a fun trip. Never change, Berlin.
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A guy was taking his drivers license exam and they were approaching the first stop sign. He remembers preparing himself for what to do as it was a 4 way stop.
The next thing he remembers is his driving instructor saying “Did we pass that stop sign?” followed by him looking in his rear view mirror to see it already behind him.
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I had an “urgent cesarian.”
I remember being in the operating theater and my baby being whisked away to the nicu. My next memory is being in a room with my husband and he’s about ready to head home, but got me snacks.
Apparently I missed five or so hours of my life in the recovery room after surgery. I was having full on conversations with everybody that entered the room, but I can’t remember any of it. I’ve asked my husband what I would talk about and he said everything, whatever the means. I don’t even remember what the recovery room looked like.
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I don’t remember being 6. I remember saying in my seventh birthday that I literally just turned 6 and now I was 7. It was really weird.
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Early 2000s, I used to do a rural paper route, 6 days a week, 1am to 5am. I never saw other humans or even animals often. My route almost never changed, no new customers, no new areas added, the monotony made all the days blur together. One night, 1:00am, I drove out of the depot where I pick up the papers, blinked and it was 4:30am and I was on the road to my house with no papers in my car. I remember very clearly the radio skipping from an advertisement to the middle section of an Unwritten Law song. My car lights were off too, the thing that snapped me out of it was that my rural street to my house has no street lights (most of the route had on the road) and I was driving into total darkness. I was confused and even called in the next day to make sure my papers got delivered, and they did. I think the level of boringness just made me go into a mindless trance.
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Walking down a hall at work, blink and I’m sitting in a chair at the other end of the hall with a nurse asking me if I’m okay.