HUNTINGDON -- It was one of the biggest manhunts of the time.
On May 11, 1966, Peggy Ann Bradnick was abducted after getting off the school bus in Shade Gap by a man with a sawed off shotgun.
She spent eight days with William Hollinbaugh, now dubbed "8 days of terror."
She was beaten, abused and starved at just 17 years old.
She lived to tell her story and it's one she's always believed was orchestrated by God.
On Wednesday, she told her story, but more importantly, described why she's advocating for mental health awareness.
"To be put through what she went through and still having the love and compassion (she does). She forgave him. Not a lot of people could do that," says Stephanie Visciani, who attended the lecture at Saint James Evangelical Lutheran Church in Huntingdon.
The horror of Bradnick's kidnapping are now forever preserved on newspaper clippings. But her real story isn't in the headlines of her survival but in the humble way she's lived her life in the half century since.
"There is no greater gift that God gives us than to love and return love," she says. "In my case, I have a lot of love to return and a lot of thank yous to give back. Public speaking has afforded me to do that on one of the most important days of my life."
Bradnick was forced to be chained to her abductor, who made her walk an estimated 250 miles through the woods.
She says his goal was to get to his hometown of Mifflintown, heading to the Pennsylvania Turnpike with the goal of killing people. Hollinbaugh is a man Bradnick says she's always known was mentally ill.
"I forgave him from the very get go because you can't blame something that's blameless. He was blameless. The system failed him and it cost him his life and there's no reason to hate that," Bradnick says.
She visited a marker earlier Wednesday, placed in honor of a man who died while trying to save her. FBI Agent Terry Anderson was shot and killed by Hollinbaugh during the manhunt.
Bradnick was later found and rescued. Hollinbaugh was shot and killed by police.
Nearly 350 people touched by Bradnick's story of survival and forgiveness packed into the Huntingdon church to hear her story.
"It's touching history. It's having history speak to you," says Huntingdon Historical Society President, Fred Lang. "It's important we do this. The outpouring of people that came here...we were just blown away."
Bradnick, now Jackson, is married, still living in the area, working on a book, and advocating for mental health awareness and reform.
"My hope is to find a way that everyone will get a chance to be treated properly and be productive and put back into society with a reason to be here," she says. "The purpose of being here was to share the blessings God has afforded me with my life from 1966 to present date. I feel marvelous."
Bradnick credits her family and all of the law enforcement officials who fought to find her. She is adamant about how God chose her for this journey and she couldn't be more thankful for that gift.
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