Abducted Man Finds Way Home Using Google Maps After 23 Years

Now this is definitely a modern day version of Hansel & Gretel (no, not the high tech witch hunting pair of siblings as depicted on the silver screen earlier this year), where a 28-year old man who was abducted more than two decades ago (when he was just 5 years old) actually managed to find his way home. Of course, there was no gingerbread house in the picture or breadcrumbs for him to follow, but rather, his ingenious use of Google Maps to figure out his 1,500km journey home to Guangan City, Sichuan Province from Sanming which is located in the Fujian province.

The abducted Luo claimed that ever since he was abducted, he would remind himself of what his hometown looked like mentally every single night before he fell asleep. Obviously through the past 23 years, his memories faded with age, although there was one thing in his mind that stuck out like a sore thumb – a set of two bridges. It was last year that Luo stumbled upon a website that provides services for victims of abduction, where he posted a rough depiction of his hometown. Approximately half a year later, he was pinged by a volunteer who informed him that a couple in Guangan, Sichuan, had lost a son exactly 23 years ago. Serendipity, perhaps? Luo then used the satellite view of Google Maps to check out whether anything clicked with his memory, and much to his amazement, he saw the same set of bridges which had been burned into his memory all those years ago. Needless to say, there was a happy ending to Luo’s story as he eventually reunited with his family. Of course, there are certain quarters who doubt the veracity of this story, but it is a great way to end the week with a smile on our faces, right? This is the kind of stuff that Disney movies are made out of.