6 Normal People Who Turned Into Superheroes Out Of Nowhere

6

An Electrician Poses As A Pedophile To Save Girls From Sex Traffickers

In 2001, someone told Tony Kirwan about an American vacationing in Thailand who offered young girls $400 to "do-as-you please." But unlike most of us, who would respond by saying "That's horrifying," then trying to forget about it by not inviting that guy to parties anymore, Kirwan decided to rearrange his whole life to save sex trafficking victims from perverts. Even if it meant posing as a pervert himself.

Kirwan quit his job as an electrician to travel Southeast Asia undercover as an ... uh, "connoisseur" of really young children. His idea was to pretend to be a client, and once someone took him to the "merchandise," he'd then lead the girls to freedom. But it wasn't that easy. At first, none of the girls trusted him, because why would they? So Kirwan developed a method to earn the girls' trust, which mostly consisted of not touching them inappropriately.

Kirwan also started collaborating with local authorities to organize raids and sting operations. Not content with handing the girls to a social worker and riding into the sunset feeling good about himself, Kirwan also founded an organization called Destiny Rescue, which places trafficking victims in safe homes and helps them recover both physically and emotionally. Kirwan and his team of volunteers have rescued 2,000 children in the last seven years alone, which is 2,001 more than we ever will (we assume we will damn a child at some point in our lives, just playing the odds).

5

Average Joes Risk Their Lives To Recover Other People's Stolen Property

In 2015, a Seattle engineer we'll call "Bruce W." was looking at cheap bikes on Craigslist when he found one that seemed perfect, except for one problem: It was too cheap. Bruce looked up the model online and confirmed that the bike was stolen. No one would fault him if he'd simply alerted the owner, emailed the thief a photo of his butthole, and moved on. We've all been there.

4

A Rocket Scientist And A Mystery Novelist Teamed Up To Solve Genetic Mysteries

One has a PhD in nuclear physics. The other used to write code and mystery novels. The only thing they had in common was a passion for genealogy ... and justice.

Colleen Fitzpatrick, the rocket scientist, already had some experience using DNA to solve historical mysteries, like the identity of a baby who drowned on the Titanic. Software developer / novelist Margaret Press, meanwhile, had some experience researching unsolved murders, and used to help adoptees find their biological parents. In 2017, the two women united their powers to form the DNA Doe Project, a nonprofit that uses genealogy to put a name to the nation's many, many nameless cadavers.

They took the case of the "Buckskin Girl," a Jane Doe who had stumped investigators since the early '80s, and solved it in only four hours by uploading her DNA to a public genealogy database, then recreating her family tree. They did this even though the original DNA sample was in pretty poor shape, due to not being refrigerated for 37 years. (Always read the back of the blood vial before you put it in the pantry!) We've previously mentioned that DNA Doe also solved the mystery of "Lyle Stevik," a suicide victim whose identity had baffled the internet for a decade.

3

An Accountant Identifies Murder Victims Through Better Police Sketches

Like most recently unemployed people, former Disney accountant Carl Koppelman spent a lot of time on the internet, especially on message boards. The difference is that, instead of getting in 20-page debates about whether or not Shrek is circumcised, Koppelman's message board addiction is identifying long-forgotten murder victims.

Koppelman stumbled upon amateur investigators site websleuths.com, which has a forum dedicated to identifying murdered John and Jane Does. But as he looked over the police sketches for these cases, Koppelman realized something: They sucked. So he loaded up a copy of Corel Photo-Paint and began modifying photos of unidentified dead bodies to simulate what they might look like if they were alive, which is way more complicated than drawing googly eyes on them.

And it worked. In 2015, Koppelman linked a missing person's photo with his reanimated sketch of a body that no one had been able to identify since 1979.

Carl KoppelmanThat's roughly 500 Star Wars movies ago.

2

The Women Who Track Bogus Crowdfunding Campaigns

In 2015, the internet fell in love with Bart, the "zombie cat" who got ran over by a car, was buried, and clawed his way back to life. A GoFundMe to pay for his medical bills got more than $6,000. Remember that feel-good tale? So does financial reporter Adrienne Gonzalez, because she's the one who found out there were no bills. The Humane Society was paying for everything.

1

The Beach Bum Who Can't Get Out Of Bed Without Taking Down An Evil Cult

Paul Morantz was a self-described LA "beach bum" who'd studied law as a fallback but really wanted to become a professional writer. That didn't work out, because Morantz was apparently cursed to fight injustice wherever he went. In 1974, he stumbled upon the case of Golden State Manor, a nursing home that was basically abducting homeless people and keeping them doped up while making big bucks billing the government for their "care."

Having nothing better to do, Morantz spent two years building and winning a case against Golden State and the "dog-catchers" who fed hapless bums to them. He returned to focusing on his writing career, and even sold a TV movie of the week ... but then an old acquaintance came back to pull him right into the stakes-raising sequel.

Morantz was asked to help a girl held prisoner by a group called Synanon, a drug treatment program that gradually transitioned into a truly terrifying cult. They brutally assaulted anyone who opposed them, forced members into having abortions, and built a heavily armed "security force" known as the Imperial Marines. Not satisfied with merely getting the girl out, Morantz dedicated himself to taking Synanon down. The cult hated him so much that they put a live rattlesnake in his letter box, which is something we had no idea happened outside of kung fu movies.

Via Paul MorantzLittle did they know he would be treated with an IV drip of concentrated vengeance.