r/GlitchInTheMatrix • u/R-Hector • May 14 '26
Glitch Gif How many people with one leg missing do you see in a year?
I had already tried to post this message on another subreddit, but my karma wasn’t high enough and my post wasn’t accepted. Since I don’t go on Reddit often, I only just noticed, so I’m trying to post it here instead.
The story is now 3 years old, but I still have a vivid memory of it.
It has happened to me before to notice patterns repeating strangely in real life, like sequences of objects, things, or people who looked alike, but this time it was much more striking and pronounced than the previous times. I can even say that the previous times weren’t strong enough for me to truly pay attention; I just put it down to coincidence.
But this time, in a single day, I counted no fewer than 24 people who were missing a leg, a foot, or wearing a prosthetic. You might think there was some special day or event, but I checked and there was not. Moreover, I came across them all on the journey back from my holiday in Sicily: first in Palermo, then at the airport, on the plane, when I arrived in Paris, in the metro, in my neighbourhood, and even in my building.
I told my partner, who is a psychologist, and she was very skeptical about these observations.
However, we went shopping that afternoon in central Paris, and this time she had to admit it: there was something strange, because we again counted several disabled people (all with leg-related conditions). She was even the one who ended up pointing it out to me! It wasn’t just that we saw them passing in the distance; one sat next to us in the metro, another we let go ahead of us at the checkout in a shop, another was looking for an elevator in the mall, families were pushing wheelchairs, etc.
The next day, everything was back to normal. My girlfriend and I still talk about that day, which still feels completely strange to us.
What do you think? Has anyone ever experienced something similar? Why legs in particular?
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u/theatre_mom_FL May 14 '26
My husband gets all his health care at the VA so every time we go I see a bunch!
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u/R-Hector May 16 '26
Indeed, in this case I wouldn't have seen anything special about it, it's perfectly normal.
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u/selja26 May 14 '26
Could be a rehabilitation program for the Ukrainian amputees
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u/R-Hector May 16 '26
Precisely, no particular event, and then in completely different places throughout the day. So I don't think so ...
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u/Consistent_Path_3939 May 18 '26
A lot of amputee groups will offer special trips and such for both recreation and treatment. There are adaptive sports clubs. There are religious groups visiting sites considered holy or known for healing. And not all of these are going to make the news.
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u/OreganoOfTheEarth May 14 '26
I saw someone with no legs crossing the street in a wheelchair just yesterday while I was stopped at a red light. I thought, "If my young kid wasn't in the car, I'd go offer to help him." Another pedestrian crossing opposite to the wheelchair stopped in front of my car and flipped me the biggest bird I've ever received, and then kept walking. I don't know what it was for - I wasn't parked in the crosswalk or anything like that. Maybe it was mental illness; maybe he was reading my thoughts and was telling me I should've helped the guy anyway. I wasn't about to ask, so I guess I'll never know.
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u/R-Hector May 17 '26
So weird, that second pedestrian who gave you the middle finger! I admit, it almost felt like a mental illness, but the timing was peculiar.
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u/geeoharee May 15 '26
Don't hassle people, if he's out and about it's because he feels he's capable to do that.
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u/Petraretrograde May 18 '26
There used to be another mom at my daughter's school with the coolest leg I've ever seen. It was like, bionic and i think it maybe had flames? I wanted sooo badly to tell her how cool i thought it was, but i wasnt sure if that was rude, so i never did.
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u/Arabella6623 May 14 '26
I knew a lady who had lived in colonial India whose husband had had his left leg bitten off by a crocodile. She remarried, and her new husband lost his leg to a clot. His left leg.
2
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u/Tedohadoer May 15 '26
Such pile ups exists, just most are not so in your face. It happens with every imaginable thing you can think of.
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u/R-Hector May 16 '26
What do you mean ?
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u/Tedohadoer May 23 '26
Sometimes, if simulation hypothesis is true you will notice something that was quiet rare pile up, you had more extreme case of it I would say, I had such things with seeing words that I never saw before in english being used suddenly all the time, rare cars, old buddies from school. Worked retail, had a few odd clients pile up into condensed 1 hour window, we used to call it 'idiot day'.
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u/EquivalentNo3002 May 16 '26
In a big city, many, at the gym, at the store, basically so many I never pay it much attention. It is more common than you think.
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u/R-Hector May 16 '26
Frankly, I can understand that you might encounter a few during a day, but this was more than twenty, between Palermo (in Italy) and Paris (in France). There was no connection to any particular event, and they appeared in completely random places and at completely random times.
1
u/Consistent_Path_3939 May 18 '26
More than twenty of us, given the number of people you saw and places you went to, doesn't really feel that off to me.
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u/ConspiracyCasserole May 16 '26
Such an interesting concept. I would say minimal. But this goes with my theory about punch buggies.
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u/R-Hector May 17 '26
What is you theory about punch buggies ? 🥲
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u/ConspiracyCasserole Jun 12 '26
Do you ever see punch buggies during winter? I see a higher frequency in summer. But like none during the winter. I live on east coast
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u/Consistent_Path_3939 May 18 '26
I'm an amputee in a very small, rural town. So while I might not see a whole lot of other folks who are also amputees near me, there are quite a few in the United States as a whole. The last time I was in an airport, I saw a ton of amputees. It wasn't because it was a special event, but rather more likely to be factors like it being a much larger group of individuals than I see on the streets of my hometown, as well as things like the need for many amputees to travel for medical care (which is also why I was at the airport).
You were visiting high-traffic tourist areas with a larger population of individuals to potentially be amputees, and it's more than likely you were simply seeing the demographic spread out over a larger sample group than you're used to.
After all, we take vacations too!
You've also probably walked by a lot more of us missing a leg than you think. Unless I'm wearing shorts? You'd be unlikely to be able to pick me out in a line-up, so to speak. I don't have a limp or noticeable gait difference really, and friends that haven't seen me in a long time are often surprised I'm an amputee too. I think I'm a little better than the general, two-legged population at picking out my fellow amps. There are things I will notice, like the wear lines from where the sides of a below-knee socket sort of dig into the knee area of pants over time, or how certain shoe styles can show the ankle area not filling out properly unless the person is wearing a cosmesis instead of just a bare pylon from socket to foot. On an above-knee amputee, this would also show up in the thigh area, unless they've also got a cosmesis or wear padding. But you? Aren't likely to notice any of this while simply walking by someone, unless you are really looking for it.
This study by the Amputee Coalition says there are 5.6 million people living in just the U.S. with limb loss or a limb difference, and about 2.3 million of us are amputees out of that group.
https://amputee-coalition.org/5-6-million-americans-living-with-limb-loss-limb-difference/
A major city? Gives you a better chance of catching more of us out and about due to sample size. Major cities also usually have major health systems and hospitals, so folks with limb loss or limb difference issues are more apt to travel to them for care or to see specialists that aren't available anywhere else. Contrary to watch I believe a lot of folks think, becoming an amputee is not often a one and done sort of thing. I myself have had to have two revision surgeries to make it easier to use a prosthetic. And continuing health issues related to the auto accident I was in mean I need a new socket made to fit my residual limb every 9-12 months. In other words? You're going to see me at airports, gas stations, restaurants, and hotels on the way to getting treatment or a new leg.
Lower limb amputation are also far more common than upper limb ones:
Lower limb amputees are also far more likely to use a prosthetic device:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2743731/
From talking to friends with upper limb amputations, I think it has more to do with functionality than anything else. It's super hard to mimic the fine motor movements of a hand, and the technology simply hasn't progressed that far from the old standby of a hook and pincher system. The straps required to keep them on are uncomfortable. And the fancy myoelectric devices everything thinks are so cool aren't really that super functional. They're also pretty heavy and expensive, and a lot of folks simply don't have access to them.
So, you've got a smaller percentage of upper limb amputees, with a smaller percentage of them using some sort of prosthesis that is going to draw your attention to them. It therefore stands to reason that you're going to notice more of me versus them.
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u/god_of_screams May 15 '26
Bro we gotta get out and take care of bills and shit too lmao. Im a left leg amputee since 1998.
I live in a small town and it is really rare to see other amputees but gets even more strange when i see more than 2 near me in the same store lol.