True Stories That Will Restore Your Faith In Humanity

Here are some stories that moved the world to tears!

October 27, 2023・

20 min read

The tantalizing tales in this article are linked by one thing: they’ll make you cry. Here are some true stories that moved the world to tears and will restore your faith in humanity.

He Ordered Pizza Every Day for 10 Years, Then the Pizzeria Employees Noticed Something Was Wrong

It was the long distant year of 2016 in the city of Salem, Oregon, where Kirk Alexander lived, a 48-year-old man and possibly the most passionate pizza partaker of all time. Old Kirk had been ordering pizza from his favorite outlet, Domino’s, almost every single night for 10 years. Because of that, the pizzeria employees saw Kirk’s name flash up on their screens all the time, and over the years had got to know him very well.

So well, in fact, he was like a part of the family! So, when his regular orders suddenly stopped coming in, it raised more than a few eyebrows. After not hearing from him for a whopping 11 days, the staff started to get really concerned.

It was completely unlike Kirk to go so long without placing an order, had something happened to him!? Delivery driver Tracey Hamblen was particularly worried, he knew that Kirk suffered from health problems.

So, with permission from his manager, he headed over mid-shift to check on him. When he arrived at around 1 a.m., he could see the lights and TV were on, but no matter how many times he knocked on the door, Kirk never came to answer. Something was horribly wrong.

Unsure what to do, Tracey rang his boss and she made the decision to call the cops. What felt like an eternity later, but was really only a few short minutes, the police arrived at Kirk’s place. And as soon as they did, the silence from inside the house was broken by a desperate plea for help!

Knowing time was of the essence, the officers popped the trunk of their car, grabbed a battering ram from inside, and lugged it over to the door. Then, with a tremendous swing, they brought it crashing down!

Everybody outside peered through the doorway and what they saw shocked them to their core. Inside was Kirk, lying on the floor beside his couch and weakly pleading for help. He looked terrible. Pale-faced, shaky, and weak, it was obvious to everyone that he’d needed medical attention yesterday.

Without wasting any more precious time, an ambulance was called and Kirk was rushed to the nearby Salem Hospital where he was treated in intensive care. After another agonizing wait, he was thankfully pronounced stable! So, when Domino’s employees visited him with cards and flowers a few days later, he was as grateful as it was possible to be.

Kirk lived alone, so if it weren’t for those staff members who went above and beyond to look out for him, things could’ve gone very differently. Considering he’d been radio silent for 11 days, we have no idea how long he’d been lying there. Perhaps he suffered a stroke? Or maybe he ordered from Papa John by mistake and his body couldn’t handle it.

The reality is, we don’t know exactly what happened, as the information has never been made public. But we do know that if those Domino’s staff hadn’t come in the nick of time, Kirk wouldn’t be here with us today.

Burglars Return Stolen Computers to Nonprofit

Stealing is wrong and most thieves know it. But even criminals sometimes have their own forms of moral compass. Over in San Bernardino, California in 2013, volunteers at a charity came in one morning to find that their computer towers, monitors, and laptops had been stolen!

It appeared that the villains responsible had dropped through a skylight the night before, grabbed what they could, and fled. But stealing from a charity?

The cops started chatting with some drifters around town to find out if anybody knew anything but got no leads. However, the next morning the non-profit’s executive director, Candy Stallings, got a call. Apparently, strange activity had been spotted outside the charity. Had they been robbed again? Candy got in her car and raced to the scene.

When she arrived, what she saw on the doorstep gave her chills. The criminals had returned to the scene of the crime and left a big, oddly shaped sack in their wake. Tentatively, Candy approached the sack, opened it, and received the shock of her life! Believe it or not, it was the stolen goods!

Yes, an apologetic note left with the returned tech explained that the criminals had no idea who they were stealing from and had leaped to return the loot once they found out. It’s a good thing Candy wasn’t there to answer the door when they’d returned or she might’ve fainted from the shock!

Inmates Rush From Cells To Save Deputy's Life

A lot of people assume convicts are all inherently bad. If you’re one of those people, you might feel differently by the end of this tale. In Gwinnett County Jail in Georgia back in 2020, Deputy Warren Hobbs was in the middle of a standard security check when he started to feel off. Suddenly, Hobbs collapsed, hit his head hard on the floor, and fell unconscious!

The only other people nearby were the prisoners looking down from their cells, and most of them weren’t even awake. So, things weren’t looking good at all. Fortunately for him though, help would come from an unlikely place.

Prisoners Terry Loveless, Walter Whitehead, and Mitchell Smalls had witnessed the entire scenario and despite what you might expect, they weren’t celebrating. In fact, they were desperate to help!

Wasting no time, the three inmates started banging on their cell doors and shouting as loudly as possible to alert someone, anyone to Hobbs’ state. But nobody was around. For some reason, whoever should’ve been watching on CCTV wasn’t at their post.

Just as things were looking really bad though, something miraculous happened. All the commotion woke the deputy up just enough for him to realize something was wrong. In his injured state though, Hobbs didn’t realize he was the one that needed help and instead thought one of the prisoners was in trouble!

Somehow, he managed to pull himself up and use his last bit of strength to press the button to unlock the cells! Then, he collapsed once more. But at the exact moment, the doors unlocked, Loveless, Whitehead, and Smalls rushed to his side and used his radio to get help.

More guards rushed to the scene, and Hobbs was taken to hospital where he made a full recovery. It turns out, the officer had suffered a heart attack, and without the 3 convicts’ quick thinking, he may well have passed away!

Talking after the incident, Whitehead said “I don’t care if it’s a police officer. I will do whatever I can to save a man.” Obviously, those 3 unlikely heroes aren’t completely bad people, they’d just made some bad choices in the past. For Warren’s sake, I’m kind of glad they did!

The Dancing Man

If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s bullies and none are more pathetic than internet bullies. In February 2015, this post appeared on the anonymous image-sharing site 4Chan, mocking a man for, dancing at a disco.

Pretty sure that’s what discos are for. But no, the OP just wanted to make fun of the guy’s appearance. According to the post, they’d laughed openly at him and snapped the pics as he danced, which stopped the poor dude in his tracks.

However, OP’s brazen bullying didn’t get quite the response they’d been hoping for. As the horrible post gained traction, it got the attention of people both on 4Chan and off everyone, was near-unanimously in support of the mysterious dancing man. Thus began a worldwide search to locate the bullied boogie-er and give him a night he’d never forget!

American journalist Cassandra MacDonald launched a Twitter campaign with the hashtag FindDancingMan, and just one day later somebody posted a snap of them dancing with him! It turns out, the dancing man was a Londoner named Sean O’Brien.

So, Cassandra got in touch with Sean and invited him down to LA for a colossal dance party thrown especially for him! One of the party organizers had set up a GoFundMe page and raised over $40,000 towards it in donations, meaning Sean wouldn’t have to pay a dime! Naturally, he graciously accepted his free vacation.

On May 23rd of that year, over a thousand people turned up at The Avalon nightclub in Los Angeles for the super shindig. The mega party even featured a video message from Pharrell Williams and made a grand total of $30,000 for anti-bullying charities.

A Boy Sent Baby Yoda To Help Firefighters

Back in 2020, wildfires were ravaging the state of Oregon. Though they’re not uncommon there, that particular wildfire season was worse than ever, with over a million acres of land savaged, thousands of homes destroyed, and even 11 tragic deaths.

A 5-year-old boy named Carver had seen the devastation on the news and desperately wanted to do something nice for the hardworking firefighters. So he spoke to his grandma about them and told her he wanted to give the emergency services something to make them smile.

So, what did he choose? He wanted to send them his own baby Yoda doll! If you’ve been living under a rock, that’s the little green Star Wars character from Disney Plus’s The Mandalorian. Carver marched his doll down to a local donation drive with a note that read “Here’s a friend for you in case you get lonely.”

The next day, Carver’s local fire department received the doll, but they didn’t just smile and pop the little green dude on a shelf, they made him part of the crew! The team took him on calls throughout the rest of the wildfire season and even started a Facebook group where they posted pics of themselves with him.

Before long, Carver’s gift had become a social media darling and he’d even traveled to different states to help firefighters elsewhere! Folks just couldn’t get enough of the cute little guy’s adventures.

Most of all though, it was the emergency services themselves that truly appreciated the doll. It was a slice of normalcy that reminded them of home. And all thanks to the kindness of one five-year-old boy.

Japanese Passengers Move 32-Tonne Train To Rescue Trapped Woman

If you’ve been on many trains, you’ll be familiar with the regular calls to “mind the gap” between the train and the station platform when embarking or disembarking. You might’ve heard it so many times you hardly acknowledge it, but trust me, you should.

Over at a train station in Saitama, Japan in July 2013, one commuter didn’t follow the golden rule and fell straight down the gap while stepping off the train! As if that wasn’t bad enough already, it was Monday morning rush hour, which is absolutely hectic in and around Saitama so the chances of anyone even noticing were next to none.

It was a complete miracle then that someone on the platform did notice. After the witness hastily alerted staff, a public announcement was made about the trapped woman, and something absolutely unbelievable happened. No less than 40 people immediately leaped into action and started pushing the train carriage!

Now, trains are solid, that singular carriage weighed a whopping 32 tons, but they can sway slightly back and forth if enough force is put on them. All they needed was for that gap to get a little bigger. And amazingly, after a colossal effort, it did. The hoard of helpful commuters managed to push the train back just enough for the woman to pull herself up and escape!

Perhaps equally amazingly, just 8 minutes later the trains were operating as if nothing had happened. That’s one massive win for our fallen woman and the heroes that saved her, and another for the sheer efficiency of Japan’s rail network.

Firefighters Rescue Kitten Trapped Inside Vending Machine

At a Walmart in Morristown, Tennessee back in 2022, employees experienced what can only be described as an utterly ridiculous event. When a worker named Lindsey passed by the Pepsi vending machine, she was shocked to hear more than the usual mechanical whirring, a faint meow was coming from inside!

Lindsey had absolutely no idea how, but there seemed to be a cat trapped inside! That dispenser wasn’t one of the glass-fronted ones so it wasn’t like she could just see it chilling in there. But unless the machine had an odd new feature, that sound could only mean one thing.

Confused but determined, Lindsay called the fire brigade and when they arrived, they were just as baffled as she was! The fire crew quickly unplugged the machine, removed the back plate, and managed to coax the animal inside.

It turns out, it wasn’t just any old cat, it was a tiny kitten, which explains how it got in there in the first place! Anyway, the defenseless animal was saved and Lindsay got herself a brand-new pet in the process.

I’m unsure what she ended up naming the soda-loving furball, but after the Morristown Government’s Facebook page posted about the story, one commenter suggested “Mountain Mew.”

The Boy In The Tent

When 10-year-old Max Woosey’s neighbor and friend Rick Abbott tragically passed away due to cancer back in 2020, Max wanted to raise some money for the hospice that’d looked after his friend. And he had just the idea. Before he’d passed, Rick had given Max a tent and told him to “have an adventure.”

So, Max decided to honor his friend by camping out in his backyard and setting up an online fundraiser. It was simple, the longer he stayed out, the more money he hoped to earn for the hospice. Well, that kind gesture would end up going way further than he could’ve ever expected!

The fundraiser ended up being really successful; thousands of dollars successful. So Max kept going. And going! And before he knew it, he’d been out there for 500 days! By that point, he had a whole legion of fans cheering him on and he’d even been invited to tea with the then-British prime minister, Boris Johnson! And still, the support and cash kept coming.

Max couldn’t believe it. In the end, Tent Boy kept on camping for a grand total of 3 years and wound up raising over £700,000 for Rick’s hospice, that’s over $870,000! As if that wasn’t enough, he was even honored by Queen Elizabeth II! Unsurprisingly then, the final night of his campout turned into a huge celebration, where everybody was welcome to join in on the festivities.

Stranded Dog Rescued By Sausage Dangling Drones

Over in the coastal county of Hampshire, in the United Kingdom, things weren’t looking good for a little dog named Millie. On one fateful day in January 2022, the Jack Russell Whippet cross managed to give her owners the slip while out on a walk. Then, she managed to give the authorities the slip as well!

Police, firefighters, and coastguards all failed to snag the slippery pup and time was running out. The thing is, Millie had run onto some coastal mudflats and the tide was coming in, so now she was being rapidly surrounded by water and she was too scared to swim to dry land! If something didn’t happen fast, it’d be bad for the poor mutt.

The team of rescuers were nearby but with a vast expanse of water between them and the hound, things weren’t looking promising. Suddenly, one of the group had a crazy idea. She’d seen a family further down the beach that was having a picnic.

Frantically, she rushed over to them and asked if they had any sausages. They did! The family generously cooked up a wiener and gave it to her, then she ran back to the rest of the team and started putting the plan into fruition. One of them just so happened to have a drone.

By attaching the tasty meat onto it with some string, it made an effective lure! The "saus-ified" drone was flown above Millie, and sure enough, the doggo just couldn’t resist the floating feast. Without hesitation, she jumped into the water and swam after it all the way to safe, dry land, where she was finally reunited with her owners.

TikToker Raises Over 170k To Help Elderly Walmart Employee Retire

It’s an all too unfortunate reality that a lot of people simply can’t retire at a reasonable age, even if they’ve worked hard their whole lives. One TikToker saw that sad truth firsthand back in November 2022. Devan Bonagura worked for a company that sold phones through Walmart, and one day he was on shift with an elderly woman called Nola.

It was clear that she was working well after she should’ve been allowed to rest, but she had a mortgage to pay off and had no choice. Devan felt terrible for her. So, to document the injustice, he took a short video of Nola while they were in the staff room together. And it’s a heartbreaking snapshot into her life:

After uploading the clip onto TikTok, it went viral and is now sitting comfortably at over 30 million views! In response to all the concerned viewers, Devan saw an opportunity to help and set up a GoFundMe for her. The goal was $10,000.

It's, safe to say, that it was smashed. In total, sympathetic strangers online donated a staggering $186,000 towards getting Nola out of that Walmart! When Devan handed the funds to her, she was overjoyed. But did she immediately retire?

Unbelievably, no! Nola wanted to continue working through the holiday season to do her part. What a woman! In January 2023 she finally packed it in and is now enjoying the quiet life, all thanks to one man’s video and a whole load of internet heroes.

Driver Rescued From Sinking Vehicle By Off-Duty, One-Legged Lifeguard

One fateful Tuesday afternoon in November 2020, New Jersey lifeguard Anthony Capuano had just finished up a workout in the park. Just as he was getting ready to head home though, he heard a massive commotion coming from the nearby Newark Bay.

Naturally, he went to investigate and discovered something horrible. In the middle of the water, was a car, rapidly sinking with its driver trapped inside! A huge crowd had gathered, but nobody seemed to be helping.

However, as if by magic, Anthony’s lifeguard training kicked in and he knew exactly what he had to do. Wasting no time, he yanked off his prosthetic leg, handed it to the nearest person, and ran to the rescue! That’s right, Anthony lost his leg in an accident when he was just 17, but that didn’t stop him from being a hero.

Our determined one-legged lifeguard leaped straight into the water and tore through it at speed towards the panicking man. And a good job too, he got there in the nick of time, ripped the door open, and helped the guy out of the vehicle mere moments before it sank.

Apparently, the 68-year-old driver had been attempting to pull over and answer a phone call at the same time when he lost control and crashed into the water. So it’s amazing luck that Anthony was there to save him.

Filipino Villagers Help Neighbor Carry House To New Location

Let’s be honest, nobody likes moving house, but it’s a lot less painful if you can wangle some help! In February 2023, in a village in the Philippines, one man got the greatest assistance he could ever have hoped for. He was elderly and had just lost his wife, so the lonely guy needed somebody to care for him.

His children wanted him to move close by but they lived on the other side of town, so he’d need a little help to get there. No, not just to move his stuff, to move his entire house! Yes. Remarkably, the whole village agreed to help in the endeavor and banded together to lift up his home and carry it all the way there!

But how on earth did they lift an entire house!? Well, that wasn’t a brick house. The old man’s home was a traditional nipa hut, a building composed of lightweight, natural materials like wood and bamboo, which allowed the group to perform that incredible task.

The tremendous effort isn’t uncommon either, it’s a perfect example of Filipino "Bayanihan" culture, where the whole community comes together to help any member in need. The journey took 2 sweat-inducing hours, but the exhausted villagers were treated to a delicious meal by the old man’s daughter once the job was done.

The Wyoming College Wrestlers Who Took On A Grizzly Bear

How far would you go for a friend? Would you lend them that new video game? Pay for dinner? How about battling an enormous fanged monster? Well, college wrestler Kendall Cummings proved that he’d go toe to toe with any beast for his bud!

While out hunting with his pal Brady Lowry in Shoshone National Forest, Wyoming in 2022, the duo found themselves becoming the hunted! Everything was going just fine until a huge grizzly bear descended on them out of nowhere and began an aggressive assault on Lowry. Both the boys must’ve been well and truly terrified, but that didn’t stop Cummings from selflessly coming to his friend’s rescue!

Like something out of a cheesy action flick, the brave lad did a running jump onto the grizzly’s back and started pulling on the ferocious furball’s ears. A short but very tense battle later and miraculously the bear relented, giving the pair a chance to frantically dial 911.

Then, with a little help from some passers-by, they made it back to the trail, where they were picked up by a search and rescue team. They were saved! So, this utterly bonkers story ends with our boys beaten and bruised, but thankfully alive.

Inmates Save Officer's Life

It was a swelteringly hot summer’s day back in June 2022 in Georgia, US. 6 prison inmates were out doing maintenance work in a local cemetery while a deputy sheriff watched over them. Suddenly, they were interrupted by a loud thud. Turning around, the convicts realized the deputy had collapsed in the incredible heat!

The men were out in the open so they had the perfect opportunity to make their escape or do something much worse. But that’s not what happened. Instead, the group immediately ran to the fallen officer’s aid!

One grabbed the cop’s cell phone and dialed 911 while the others removed his bulletproof vest to help cool him down. At that moment, they didn’t care who was in chains and who wasn’t, all they wanted to do was help. An ambulance arrived in time to get the deputy to a hospital where he made a full recovery.

It turns out he’d actually lost consciousness due to complications from a brain surgery 10 years earlier. He’s absolutely fine now but had those men not acted the way they did, he wouldn't have survived. But the tale isn’t over yet!

Because they were all nonviolent offenders who didn’t pose a threat to the public, the sheriff reckoned they deserved a reward. So he recommended they all receive a reduced sentence for their heroics! And you can’t argue it was undeserved. More importantly, though, they were thrown a pizza party with homemade desserts.

If you were amazed at these heartwarming stories, you might want to read our article about kids who will restore your faith in humanity. Thanks for reading!