Two Foiled Kidnappings: Solo Women Travelers Who Got Away!
By: Michael Brein
Tags: Travel Writing, Metoo, Travel, Solo Travel, Women

Two Foiled Kidnappings: Solo Women Travelers Who Got Away!

CLOSE CALLS & GREAT ESCAPES

KIDNAPPINGS

SOLO WOMEN TRAVELERS

by Michael Brein, Ph.D.,

The Travel Psychologist

Beware of Black Limousines Stalking You! • Sketch Ted Keller

Story 1:

Chased in New Delhi!

New Delhi, India

1970

Michael interviews Jamie G. for her story.

I was in my early 20s, and I was walking along a main street in New Delhi. I had just turned right onto another main street and was about to make another right down an alleyway.

Just as I was turning into the pathway, a black car suddenly pulled right up in front of me, screeching to a sudden halt — they were obviously going too fast. I heard two doors swing open, and these two men jumped out of the car.

I could see they were both staring at me with the intent of grabbing me! So, I started running.

Michael: What clued you in on that?

Their very anxious and intense staring. They focused their complete attention on ME. It was the abruptness of it all: the screeching of their brakes and the abruptness of what they did after they braked to a sudden stop.

They had very rough, nasty looks on their faces.

Michael: What did you do?

I ran. I had, in fact, just come from the Himalayas, from literally running up and down mountains, so I was in great shape at the time.

They started chasing me down this pathway, and I was running to my hotel. They were right in back of me, but as soon as I hit the doors of the hotel, they backed right off and ran off.

Michael: Did anybody see them?

Nobody saw them. It was amazing nobody saw them. I didn’t scream. I was going to start screaming if they had followed me into the hotel, however. But no matter, they backed off.

Michael: What do you think was going on?

Well, they definitely wanted to take me for the slave market. That was high stakes in the 1970s. There were all kinds of stories of white women being kidnapped in India.

Michael: In INDIA, of all places?

Oh, yeah. In India, all right! All across Asia, in fact, from Turkey to India. That’s what we were hearing — stories of women being kidnapped. We heard from other travelers, mostly Europeans. We heard from them to be very careful about traveling alone, especially as a woman.

I heard stories in Europe even before I went to India. Funny, I did not even intend to go to India, but it so happened I ended up going there.

I heard all along we had to be very careful and to watch out where you are going and watch out who you talked to. They could sell you for a lot of money. You’re a valuable commodity to them. (Laughs.) They sell you, and you can get raped and killed. All kinds of wonderful things!

Michael: Did these guys look like they had done this before?

The ones that were after me? Oh yeah, they sure did. They looked like they had done this MANY times before; it was their very high intention of grabbing me. It was all very scary.

Michael: Were you wary of leaving the hotel after that?

No. I went out again. But I was leaving India in a few days, so I was ready to leave. I was planning to go back up to the Himalayas.

Michael: Have you ever talked to anybody else who had that same problem as you had in India?

I’ve met maybe three to five women in the last 20 years who have gone through that same trek halfway across Asia. There were hardly any women the whole time I was there, mostly European men. So, I didn’t see many Americans during that time at all.

Michael: Do you think it’s still happening today?

Maybe not quite as much because you can’t go across Iran so easily any more.

I’m sure there are still the slave markets, though—perhaps even the so-called ‘white slavery’ markets!

Now you see her, now you don’t! * Sketch Ted Keller

Story 2:

Abducted in a Russian Republic

Unnamed former Soviet Republic

1993

Michael Interviews Rebecca R. for her story:

One of the ‘Stans’ (the Former Soviet Asian Republics), 1993. My friend, Kim R., graduated from law school and passed the bar exam and began traveling around the world for at least six months.

It was in broad daylight, and she was literally abducted right off the street, on a side street. Two or three men, like in an alleyway, put a burlap bag over her head.

She had light brown hair and blue eyes. She definitely looked Western in their eyes. They apparently put a bag over her head, pulled it down — I think it was something like a burlap sack or something like that, pulled it down over her, grabbed her and threw her into the back of a truck and were driving her off to somewhere.

Apparently, they did not tie her up, however. In the back of the truck, she knew immediately what was happening. She knew she was being taken somewhere. And she did not think that there was anyone in the back of the truck with her.

Michael: Can you describe her emotions?

She was a very cool person under pressure. So, she kept a cool head and did not panic. She was a law litigator, after all, so she had the singular quality of being able to handle herself on her feet — or not on her feet — as the case may be, in this particular situation! And so, I think she immediately tried to figure out how she could get away.

It was pitch black, and she was in a sack in a truck! Probably didn’t hear any voices or anything. She assumed she was in the back of this truck by herself.

I don’t think there was anyone in the back of the truck with her, as far as I can tell. And I feel pretty confident that she was not tied up, and that she was only loosely inside a bag.

The startling nature of that attack was enough to keep her immobilized for a little while, or so, at least, that was probably the thinking of her abductors.

I know she got away. And the way I believe she got away was she either got out of that sack and rolled off the back of the truck, or even while she was still in the sack, she managed to wriggle the sack out and off the truck and on to the street.

In any event, she was quite lucky to be able to do that. I think she said she landed in the street on cobblestones below, so it probably was not very comfortable for her.

I think she then called out for help. I think she knew enough common phrases in Russian or something that she could cry for help, which she got. She continued on with her travels to other parts of the world, including Europe after that, but, most definitely, she left that country immediately.

Michael: Did she ever say she would have done anything differently than she had done?

I don’t know. I don’t recall her saying anything about that. Idon’t think we were talking about it as some kind of a traumatic or watershed event for her, either — it was more like something that happened and she managed to overcome and just went on with her life.

The Travel Psychologist’s Take:

Hindsight is always 20/20. It’s always easier to look back and analyze situations to see what we coulda/woulda/shoulda done in hindsight. Nevertheless, we can undoubtedly learn a lot from people’s stories… from their close calls and great escapes.

After all, we learn from experience, especially from our mistakes. Sometimes you never get a second chance to make a better first attempt.

The two solo women travelers whose stories I have included here were LUCKY! They lived to tell about what happened to them. They exercised perfect good sense; perhaps what they did was their only possible escape routes. We will never know!

Nonetheless, I assure you some women solo travelers disappeared to no one knows where. Perhaps to North African or Middle East slave markets. I mean, even in 2020, today, we are well aware of human trafficking taking place even in America!

What Can We Do?

Live and learn. Read accounts. Read people’s stories. And please do read my “Travel Tips for Staying Alive for the Solo Woman Traveler” here on Medium.

Please look for me: Michael Brein, Ph.D., The Travel Psychologist.

Once a Bedouin Always a Bedouin! * Sketch Ted Keller

Story 3:

And One Sold into White Slavery!

One maybe not so lucky!

Atlas Mounains, Morocco

1968–1969

Is it all balderdash or the stuff of urban legends, this notion of women being captured around the world and sold on the North African slave markets? Here’s my story that makes a very strong case for the trafficking of women and carting them off and selling them into slavery!

Michael interviews Peter R. for his story:

In 1968–1969, I had a friend, Ron L., who went on a quest looking for a Persian rug in Iran, Turkey and North Africa. At that time, it was before the Shah of Iran was deposed in Iran, so seeking out such a rug at that time was quite the historical conquest. He went all over North Africa and spent a fair amount of time searching for the carpet in Morocco.

He went into the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, and he was traveling with some Bedouins. Oddly enough, he came across a white American woman who was in her early 20s who spoke English.

She was traveling with the Bedouins, and he was trying to find out why she was there, why she was traveling with them (the Bedouins).

At first, she was hesitant to say anything at all. But anyway, the story emerged that she had been kidnapped in Europe a few years earlier and that probably might have been, I would guess, 1965–1966, something like that.

She had been anyway in Europe and taken to Morocco in North Africa. Apparently, she was sold to a white slave trader because, you know, she was young and white and cute — the whole bit. And because she had blond hair and blue eyes, she had been a target for the white slavery trade.

So anyway, she was kidnapped and taken to and sold to some Bedouins, and they took her south into the desert and kept her there for some period of time, maybe a couple of years. After a time, she had gotten involved with them and started to learn their language.

Apparently, she was no longer inclined to run away, and I guess she had become… what you’d say, she had transferred her allegiance to them in some way, and was not inclined anymore to run away. Yeah, she was an American kidnapped in Europe, but I’m not sure where exactly she was abducted from.

So, by the time he met them, she was already implanted into their culture and was no longer really a true captive anymore. She was a captive in spirit by that time more than anything, and apparently he had asked her why she didn’t escape or why she didn’t run away?

She said that, since she’s been there so long, by then they were now her people, and so, she was inclined to stay. He didn’t question her any further on that issue, and he traveled with her for some time.

In their conversations, he also inquired whether, to her knowledge, this happened elsewhere. Her response was that it wasn’t an uncommon occurrence, at least at that time.

So that’s the story as I know it. Whether she’s still there now about 20 years later is anybody’s guess.

I think the important thing that stuck in my mind about all this was that she had originally been kidnapped and taken somewhere by force, but by the time Ron had met her she was no longer staying there under duress anymore.

She’s been absorbed into the culture in a way she wasn’t inclined to leave on her own. I think that was the critical point that I caught.

Well, interestingly, she certainly wasn’t inclined to use him as a route to escape or anything like that, and apparently didn’t have an impulse to escape anymore at that time.

You know, I’m not sure, but I think if she had wanted to escape, I’m sure Ron would have helped her out, but apparently she didn’t want to anymore. So, but because this was a direct contact, you know, I kind of think it’s probably a reasonably reliable story.