I AM NOT OP. THIS IS A REPOST SUB. THIS IS NOT MY STORY OR SITUATION.
The original was posted on r/rbi January 13, 2023
The original was posted January 16, 2023
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**Witnessed death of neighbor as a child about 45-50 years ago, trying to find info about it**
# TW: Graphic violence.
Back when I was a kid living in New Orleans, LA., I saw someone die in the street with their throat slashed. It's a long story but these are the bullet points:
* We lived in Hollygrove, a neighborhood of New Orleans. 2936 Joliet St to be exact.
* Approximate timeline: 1974, 1975, maybe 1976 but I doubt it was in '76. I was either in 3rd or 4th grade and that would put it at fall 1973-spring 1975 school years' timeline.
* Neighbor's first name was Margaret. She killed the guy in self-defense, he was stabbing her with a screwdriver in the back. She grabbed a kitchen knife and slashed his throat.
* He stumbled out into the street and my father ran out to see if he could help. I followed and watched him die in the street.
This has affected me a lot in my adult years. It's constant fight or flight in my life. But the weird part is: no one else in the family remembers it, except for my dad who never wanted to discuss it and he's passed away since then. My mom claims that it never happened. What?? I was freaking 8 or 9 years old and watched as a man lay in the street, a giant gash in his throat gushing with blood and that never happened?!?
Ms. Margaret's sons were so nice and my good friends. I've never heard from them again after this and I would love to see if I can find them somehow and see how they are. (Of course, I wouldn't bring this up.)
I've looked in New Orleans newspaper archives for this time and cannot find anything.
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Relevant comment:
>Found an article in The Louisiana Weekly newspaper from December 1 1973, can see picture of the article original
OOP responds:
>Oh my God. This is it! I can't believe it, after so long searching and searching! I'm overwhelmed thank you!!!!!!!!!!
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**Update to my request re: witnessing neighbor's death as a child**
# Trigger warning: graphic violence
I want to thank everyone for their help from the bottom of my heart. u /smudgitt your discovery helped me so much; I am so grateful! I was able to show it to my mother, who indeed hadn't remembered! She was stunned. The address listed was the kicker, it confirmed that it was indeed Ms. Margaret and her cousin. I don't remember her being involved in the situation like my father and I were. She stayed in the house with my little sister and brother.
I'm posting the story, blocking some parts for violence.
This is what happened. It was late, I know it was around 10:00-10:30pm. I had already drifted to sleep but then I was awakened by loud talking on the other side of the wall. The talking turned to screaming and shouting, a loud argument. I've always been a bit anxious about arguing so I went to my parents' bedroom, woke up my dad and said I was scared because of the shouting. My dad scolded me and said to go back to sleep, that it was a school night, and I shouldn't be up and to mind my business. I reluctantly went back to bed, the shouting and arguing continuing next door. I thought about my 2 friends (her sons) that had to be just as anxious as me, listening to that. After about 2-3 minutes, the shouting escalated into HORRIBLE screaming and shrieking.
I was shaking, starting to cry. "I want a new life!!!" I heard the man shouting. I heard Ms. Margaret screaming at the top of her lungs. Then, he screamed too, and I heard him running up the hall to the front door. I scuttled over to the living room window and saw him lurching across the front porch. It was dark but I could see big globs of dark stuff falling from his neck. By this time, my dad got up as well and was standing at the front door. He ran out to the street where Arthur had stumbled to. I was shocked that my dad was outside in his underwear!
I followed my dad, who was crouched over him. I looked over his shoulder. Arthur's eyes rolled in the back of his head and a big gush of blood bubbled out of the wound. Oh my God, my dad said. He's dead, he's dead! I watched, fascinated and horrified...I didn't understand the finality of what I had just seen. Ms. Margaret was behind us, standing on the cement porch in a white t-shirt covered in blood. The back of her shirt had bloody puncture wounds and she was screaming that he tried to kill her with a screwdriver. NOPD arrived and took her away. My 2 friends, her sons, came to our house and sat on the living room sofa, quiet and in shock.
My dad told me to go to sleep, that someone in their family was going to pick them up. I couldn't sleep and watched them from down the hall, as they huddled together on our couch. I finally went to sleep, and I never heard from them again. I didn't go to school the next day, and I kept going to the bloody spot in the street where Arthur had died. I said some awkward kid prayers for him. Later that day, it rained and washed the blood away.
That memory has lived in my mind since. I'm restarting therapy and will do the EMDR process. There's a lot more that has contributed to PTSD in my life but as you can imagine, this moment created so many triggering behaviors.
Again, thanks so much to yall. Take care.
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Relevant comment:
>You already got your answer, and it’s not much, original.There isn’t any additional details on the event, but does give a date and time — November 20, 1973 at 11:30pm (which tracks well with your memory).
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Relevant comment from OOP:
>I showed my mom the news blurb that original found and she was shocked. She honestly blocked it from her memories. Up until yesterday, I had no way of proving it was real, only my memory and my father's. My brother and sister (and her) didn't witness what my father and I saw, only the yelling and screaming and whatever they could see from the windows. I was 8, my sister was 6 and my brother 4 so they definitely don't remember it.
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I AM NOT OOP. THIS IS A REPOST SUB.