We’ve all experienced the dilemma of being caught between listening to our gut and dismissing it as a typical case of overthinking. So, to unblur these lines, experts determined four criteria for when you should trust your instincts: when it pertains to your health, when you feel like something’s off in a relationship, when you doubt yourself, and, as this list shows, when it concerns your safety.
People on Reddit shared their experiences about how heeding their inner voice saved them from danger. They’ve been spared from potentially fatal attacks, freak accidents, or “wrong place at the wrong time” moments.
If you’ve been in similar situations, feel free to share your story in the comments below.
#1
I had pulled up to a three way stop in Indiana. It was early August, and the corn was high, making it hard to see cars at the other two stop signs. I started inching my car out, and clear as day, I heard my Granny say”stop!”
I hit my brake, and a car flew through the intersection without stopping. I would’ve been hit had I not listened to her voice.
She had died two years before this happened.
Image credits: keryia111
#2
I lived in the States (Australian) for 7 years. One morning I woke up in a panic with the thought, 'I have to go home NOW' and booked flights.
Managed to get back to Australia 2 weeks later.
1 week later, COVID hit and the riots ensued near my old residence in the U.S.
Image credits: yvonne_taco
#3
Not me,but my parents. My parents were in Thailand on their honeymoon on December 25 2004. They were by the beach. My parents say they had a feeling they should advance the tickets a day ahead. 8:00 am on the morning on 2004,they took off and saw the waves come in and destroy the resort they were in.
Image credits: mroshawatt
#4
I woke up to the smell of burnt rubber and it turned out to be that my garage was on fire. I woke up everybody in the house (9 people including a baby) and we got the hell out of there. Luckily the fire didn't make it into the house and we had it covered by insurance but it was scary as hell.
Image credits: elelfojoa
#5
I can think of many times at parties/clubs/events/ etc where I’ve felt the stare of a guy/group or guys and felt uncomfortable and that gut feeling of being uneasy and scared
Where I’ve been like “we need to leave now”
Not something uncommon when you are a girl.
Image credits: izzypy71c
#6
Was in a bar on the rooftop deck. Some dudes started getting rowdy near the entrance to the deck. I could see the escalation happening and I told the gal I had been talking to to follow me and we went down the back stairs through the kitchen.
Two things happened that night. First, one of the guys got stabbed... In the head... Like through the top of his skull. Super glad I got out of there when I did. Second, I got laid that night. She thought it was super cool to "escape through the kitchen".
Image credits: happyfuckincakeday
#7
Me and a girlfriend were making out in my car somewhere in downtown. Some empty parking lot at night. I happened to look out the window and see a guy walking up to us in the dark from a distance. I decided not to wait around. As soon as I started the car, he started running towards us. I took off as fast as I could.
Image credits: NoThanksJustLooking1
#8
Does that 'I need to go home now' feeling count? It wasn't me, though—it was my mom.
I was about 12, and my mom left to run an errand, leaving me home alone. Not long after she left, the doorbell rang. This was strange because we lived on a hill with only two neighbors, and we were all pretty reclusive. We just didn’t get random visitors. Thanks to some conveniently placed picture frames, I was able to look out without being seen. I saw a young man I didn’t recognize, dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, and something about him just felt... off. So I decided to ignore him and hoped he’d leave.
But he didn’t. He hung around and started smoking. Again, we were on an isolated hill, I was alone, and I started to feel really scared. I went and hid, planning to wait for my mom to return. But she’d only just left, had a few errands to run, and I couldn’t reach the phone without him seeing me.
As I was trying to figure out what to do, my mom came home. She rushed inside and asked if I was okay. Apparently, she’d gotten an overwhelming 'go home NOW' feeling, so she hadn’t even made it to her first errand. She turned around right away, found the guy in our yard, and asked what he wanted. He muttered something about looking for someone, and my mom told him to leave. He was acting strangely, which made her nervous.
To this day, I have no idea what he wanted or how my mom knew to come home. But I’m extremely grateful that she did.
#9
Was in Chicago, got off a train station and a homeless guy came up to myself and my friend. He said he was really depressed, wanted to k**l himself and wanted a hug. Had no idea what to do, but then he put his arms around our necks and put us all into a hug.
I couldn’t get out of the hug. I tried to leave. His arm was wrapped around my neck tightly. Eventually he asked us to come with him to the shops, I asked him if he wanted us to buy him something. He said no, he had the money.
We walk with him towards the shop, so uncomfortable. He had a duffel bag and said he’d pay, but he just wanted us to go with him to the shop.
Once we were outside the shop, I told my friend let’s get out of here. He started going into his bag and that’s when we legged it. I had no idea what he was going to grab, he could have been harmless but the fact that we couldn’t leave his hug earlier remains with me.
I can still feel his arm around my neck.
Image credits: nerdforest
#10
At a big college party. Talking to a guy. He leaned in and whispered, “things are about to get r**e-y.” I laughed to defuse the situation. Then I politely excused myself, found my friend and we immediately left.
Image credits: jellyfishwish7
#11
Was in Oaxaca, Mexico during the protests/violence that occurred. One day my dad and I were in the central plaza. It's mid-afternoon and about to rain and he's on the phone with my mom. I look around and realize we're alone. Nobody is in the plaza. We're a couple of Americans and also the only people there.
I tell my dad to get off the phone we meed to go. He waves me off. I tell him to turn around and look. He realizes were alone, hangs up and we need to go.
20 minutes later the local resistance takeover of tv and radio stations in the city started.
Image credits: shadowwingnut
#12
Once while my brother, myself and some friends were at a bar in a town that I'm not very familiar with I got really bad vibes from two guys that were drunk and getting loud with each other. I don't know why but I got that gut feeling that we needed to leave, so I got up, went and told these guys that we were leaving and so we did. Well the next day I hear from someone else that I know and he said that he showed up at the exact same bar awhile after we left and that the place was swarming with cops, emergency vehicles etc... And what he basically said was that when he asked someone what was going on they told him that two guys were fighting in the parking lot and that one pulled a knife out and stabbed the other one. That's all he said, but I have no doubt in my mind that it was the same two guys that I had noticed earlier. I often wonder what happened, if the one that got stabbed died and so on. But yeah anyway that was one time where I knew I had to GTFO!!!!!
#13
Not my story but my brother's. When he 20 he was with a friend of his and had just met a girl at a bar. He and the guy followed her into her flat where about 10 minutes later they heard the girl speaking in Spanish. All of my family can speak Spanish so when he heard her say "I got two for you" he quickly grabbed his friend and left. Don't know what she had planned for them but I don't like it.
Image credits: Fit-Arrival-2231
#14
I was walking home from school alone back in the early 80’s, and noticed a man in a truck was following me. I got a gut feeling to run as fast as I could, which I did. He sped up as well, but I managed to duck behind a big group of bushes.
I watched from the bushes as he slowed down in his truck scanning the bushes to see if, I was in there.
He drove off after about 5 minutes, and later that night my parents had the t.v on and the police were looking for that same man for an attempted kidnapping a few streets away.
Image credits: Bella702
#15
Riding with brother in law to help him buy a couch he found on Craigslist.
Pull into a very shady looking apartment complex and notice a few people up front watching us pull in and suddenly calling someone with their cell. Bad body language all around.
Lizard brain says it's an ambush.
Tell BIL and we turn around and leave.
That night on the news there was a shootout because dudes were setting people up to be robbed at the back of the complex.
Image credits: whyask102
#16
A few instances from mountain climbing/backpacking:
On the summit of Mt. Adams, a 12,500 foot (dormant) volcano in Washington state. The wind suddenly picked up ***very*** strongly as we were packing up lunch and about to descend. We looked up and saw what I can only describe as two horizontal tornadoes sucking up loose snow from around us. We basically ran/fell down the 50-foot snow slope from the small summit to a larger plateau below as the vortices descended to where we were just a minute before. We booked it across the plateau to the main slope, and then did a glissade (controlled sitting descent using an ice axe for rudder/brake) down a 3,000 vertical foot snow field in 15 minutes (it took us four hours to climb up the same snow field).
On a 13,000+ foot ridge in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, in Sequoia National Park. Light puffy clouds in the morning quickly built up to thunderstorms as we crossed the pass to get to the camp for that night. We could actually feel and smell the static electricity in the air as lightning began to strike. Again, descended as fast as humanly possible.
Image credits: flyzapper
#17
Stopped at a burger king for lunch with a couple friends when the cops showed up because someone threatened to shoot someone. The supposed gunman left right before we walked in.
We left the burger king and just as we crossed the street, we heard gunshots coming from the place and ran for a couple blocks.
Image credits: PM-Me-Your-TitsPlz
#18
I was at the zoo with my husband and daughter, who was about 2 at the time. We were in front of the elephants, and one of the elephants was apparently really pissed off, and started throwing baseball/softball sized rocks toward the people standing there. I was like, "s**t, we gotta move!", and we moved far away from the area. Other people were like "haha, look at the elephant throwing rocks", and then someone's kid got hit with a rock. The dude was so pissed off, he started throwing rocks back at the elephants, until a trainer came and got the elephant. I really hate zoos now (for lots of reasons, not just this specific incident). They make me depressed.
#19
I was driving home from my shift as a bartender and needed to stop for gas. I'm filling up and I notice there's a sedan parked over at the diesel pumps. Lights off, but clearly two guys sitting in the car. When my car finished filling up I went into the store, hoping these guys would leave.
I asked the guy behind the counter how long they'd been there, and he hadn't even noticed them. I stayed until another guy pulled up to the pumps and walked in, but they were still there when I left.
I checked the news the next morning and there was a robbery at a gas station nearby around the time I was going home. I don't know if it was those same guys trying to take down another place, but they were giving me bad vibes.
#20
I was at a party and saw some girls rushing out of the house. I was drunk and got freaked out and left. While sitting in my car attempting to sober up, i hear screaming and gun shots from inside the house and book it down the street for a couple blocks until someone came and picked me up.
Image credits: fattitz09
#21
Several years ago, 6 of my friends and I were out of state for a wedding. We rented an Air BnB for the group. Immediately after getting there we learned that the guy who rented out his house had a roommate who was almost never home, but happened to be there for the first time in weeks, and didn't realize the house was going to be occupied. The owner insisted that he spoke with him and he was planning to pack up and stay at his girlfriends so we could have the home to ourselves as planned. Sure enough, he was gone that afternoon.
We went out that night and came home intoxicated, as 20-something's do from time to time. One of our guy friends came up from the basement looking shocked. Apparently the roommate was back..and based on him being asleep..it was clear he planned to stay.
We quieted down and rearranged where we'd all planned to sleep. But this was only the beginning.
The next morning we were woken up by excruciatingly loud death metal blaring from the common living area/dining room upstairs. Two of the people who'd slept in the living room came down immediately and told us we needed to pack our s**t and get out FAST. We didn't ask many questions. Just sort of grabbed all our stuff, tries to clean up, and piled into an uber XL to head to the closest hotel.
Apparently before the music started earlier that morning they woke up to a bunch of clank/banging only to open their eyes and see this dude sitting at the table cleaning a shot gun and a hand gun.
Needless to say..i don't think he wanted us in his house.
#22
Was in Paris November 2015 on Vacation. My girlfriend and I were in a small pub having a drink before heading back to the hotel. Most of the pub was watching the soccer game and we weren’t really paying attention.
All of a sudden we noticed the whole pub went quiet, and we saw the news on the TV about the terror attacks. The bartender could speak English and said to us “Are you tourists? You need to get back to your hotel NOW”. We thankfully were close enough to run back and we basically hid there with the blinds closed and lights off watching it happen on TV, terrified because we had no idea how far the attacks were going to spread.
The scariest part is that had briefly considered getting tickets to the EoDM concert that night, had we gone who knows what could have happened.
Image credits: dacap00
#23
I was on a tour at the Korean demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North Korea and South Korea, back in 2010.
We were about to enter the Joint Security Area (JSA), where the actual border is. If you've seen newscasts showing light blue houses separating the two Koreas, that's the JSA.
Our last stop before entering the JSA was a gift shop. As we shuffled off the tour bus, a bunch of US military personnel came out of nowhere, holding their weapons, and ordered us to get back on the bus as quickly as possible.
Our tour bus made a bee-line out of the DMZ. It was clear that we won't be going closer to the border.
After a brief stop at another point of interest (in a safer area), our tour bus high-tailed it back to Seoul. We left so quickly that we still had our UN-issued "visitor" badges with us. We returned them to the tour guide, who exchanged them for our waiver forms – they were never submitted to the US military because of what happened.
I still have that form today. It basically says "we're not responsible if you get shot by the North Koreans or the Chinese People's Liberation Army" (it hadn't been updated for a while).
So... what happened?
2 months before our tour, there was a South Korean naval ship that was mysteriously torpedoed near the inter-Korean maritime border.
South Korea wanted to blame North Korea, who denied involvement. So an investigation was launched. On the day of our tour, South Korea called a press conference to formally accuse North Korea of the sinking. Nobody seemed to know that was going to happen.
That press conference happened at the same time that we were at the DMZ. So we were immediately ordered away to avoid possible retaliation by the North Koreans – a tour group would be easy pickings.
I don't know what the odds are for something like this. But I will forever have that story to tell – and can claim to have been ordered off a military base by soldiers near North Korea.
Image credits: buckyhermit
#24
I went to college in downtown Chicago and took the El tracks home after an evening class, it wasn't too late, maybe like 8p? This one time there were only a few other people in the train car I was in and so everyone was spread out. At one of the stops this shady looking guy gets on and even though there were plenty of empty rows where he could sit alone he goes and sits next to a woman. Not 2sec later that woman gets up and immediately goes to another car.
This same guy then gets up from the seat turns around towards where I'm sitting, mind you like the woman, I was sitting near the window and had my backpack on the seat next to me. He sits down on my backpack without saying a word. Shocked I yank my bag from under him and thats when I see that he has this weird silver finger cover thing over his entire pointer finger. This ornament finger thing looked heavy and it had intricate carved dragons all over it except at the end where a nail would be there was like a long claw-like dagger. I look at this guy and he is just staring straight ahead, didn't even flinch with me pulling my back pack, plus he reeked of alcohol. I then noticed this other guy who was seated across from us and was staring right at me mouthing: "GET UP NOW". So thats what I did, I used my back pack to kind of buffer me from him and pushed myself out of the aisle as the train was approaching the last stop, I left that car and had so much adrenaline pulsing that I kept going through other train cars to get as much distance as I could, until the train came to a stop and I ran the f**k of of there and down the stairs where I alerted a cta employee about him. It was really scary and after that my boyfriend got me a taser and pepper spray that I would literally hold in my hands so that everyone could see when I rode the trains at that hour.
#25
Went off roading with a friend in an area he’d gone to the week before. First we explored the stuff he’d already done, but decided to finish off by exploring some new areas. We get to the top of this crest and enjoy the view for a second before both looking down and seeing about 10 cars in a ravine. We were both ready to nope the f**k outta that.
Image credits: 01kaj10
#26
Oh yeah the time when me and my friends were in an abandoned farm house and then there random unexplainable screams coming from the basement. Fun times.
Image credits: Heyitsgonnabeokay
#27
Tornado sirens and the roaring sound of a train approaching. I didnt live near a train.
Image credits: Capricola
#28
Driving a friend home after a group dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. We pull into friend’s apartment and I notice a car following us. They pull in the apartment and park beside us. We sit a coupe of minutes just talking when I realize the guy in the next car who is alone still hasn’t got out. I told my friend something didn’t feel right. We back out and the car follows us. I knew a bunch of back road and hit those quick enough to lose the guy. One he was gone I took my friend back home and watched her go in safely.
#29
Latinamerican here.
I was with a coworker who wanted to become a youtuber, in a park that is very famous due to the apparition of *"La Llorona"* in that park's lake, we were videorecording some s****y videos of him talking about the legends of La Llorona and stuff, notice that it was very late in the night, even for latinamerican standards, we arrived to the park near to 2 am, seeking something paranormal to occur.
And it did.
I swear that at **3:30** am every single dog from that park started running away from the lake, and I'm talking about 10-15 dogs.
It was poop town inside my pants.
We leave that park soon after that.
Image credits: anon
#30
Alabama.
My wife (we were engaged at the time) and I were considering moving there because her dad had his business there and was offering to provide us lodging and jobs to come work for him.
He's a great guy, but we stayed with his at-the-time business partner who turned out to be a virulent, vocal, unapologetic racist who was also quick to yell at his wife. He also looked like a d**n ogre, which didn't help. Between him, the food (still scarred by the memory of a Chinese buffet outside of the Muscle Shoals/Florence region...) and the general feel of the place, we both just looked at each other on the second night and agreed we couldn't do it. We packed our bags that night, and the next morning she feigned illness and we took off as fast as we could. It meant giving up the prospect of easy work and affordable housing, but it was worth it.
#31
At 10th grade our teacher had the subject coordinator or vice principal or principal to have a regular inspection of how she handles her classes.. so this usually means we and the teacher would have to do something out of the ordinary unlike simply in the classroom and have discussions on the lessons. This is Science so, we had to have a lesson with chemicals. To the lab we go. Yay...
Like the usual at first, safty and everything. Lesson starts.. yada yada. This is where I had the "We need to leave now!" moment: she brought some chemicals in.. sulfuric acid and a base which I forgot.
These were the things that bothered me
1. She put the sulfuric acid first in the beaker.. a lot of it. The only other beaker aside from the one holding sulfuric acid.
2. She had forgotten to wear her googles onto her eyes and left it on her head as there was an intoduction to the lesson at first
3. I remembered that some acid / base combinations react violently on some specifications
4. There was no water near around her
5. As she put in the base on the beaker it reacted slow at first but I notice it to start making smoke 5 minutes in.. note that she also put a bit more of it han she should.
While everyone was amazed at the sudden pop of colorful smoke or something, I was watching the beaker closely and gut instinct said that I had to leave the room no matter what. (note I was in front so I am really close) I cannot say that I have to go to the bathroom to leave and I cannot disturb her while she discuss infront as someone at the back (principal of the school) is observing. I ran out of the lab. 10 seconds in and then.. BOOM! Like a gun shoot.
They had to leave the lab and some of those in front had to wash off the sulfuric acid off with water in the rest rooms and at the back of the lab with clean running water. The teacher however suffered some damage to here eyes.. luckily enough none of the sulfuric acid went to here eyes, but some glass shards did.. she was sent to the hospital after she was washed.
I got famous tho.. the guy who run.
Edit: TL;DR
I ran out of an exploding chemical reaction from a lab presentation back at 10th grade. Teacher got her eyes hurt.
#32
During high school gym class I had a run in with a much bigger guy who was basically the class bully. He was bossing me around and I snapped back at him, causing him to go after me, ultimately choking me against a tree while the teacher was away.
Skip forward to the following summer break. I'd since apologised to the guy in person as he was not the kind of enemy I needed. One day I was on my bike heading to a local field to hang out with my friends, when I ran into the very same guy also on his bike heading the opposite way. We briefly stopped and had an awkward greeting. He asked where I was headed and (naively) I told him. He seemed friendly enough at the time so I was thinking we'd buried the hatchet.
An hour or so later I was hanging out at this field with my friends and in the distance I saw a group of about 20 other kids coming onto the field, all on bikes. I saw that leading them was the guy. Instantly my stomach dropped as I realised he was going to jump me (that happened a lot at the time with that group of people).
Luckily I was a distance off and amongst some trees so I very quickly got on my bike, said bye to my friends and booked it home. Can't be sure, but I'm 90% sure I avoided getting the s**t kicked out of me that day.
#33
Some friends and I were on a road trip through California. It got late, so we decided to just pull over and sleep on the side of the road. Before we turned in, we thought we would sit on the ground and eat a little dinner. In the dark behind me I heard a noise and LEAPT into the car. Everybody laughed at me reacting the way I did. It took me a minute or two to even realize what the noise was I had reacted to. It was a rattlesnake rattle. I reacted automatically without any concious thought.
#34
I didn't need to leave, but he sure as s**t did. I was doing yard work in my front yard with my young daughter (4-6). She was inside the picket fence. I was just around the side of the house where I could still see her but wasn't visible from the street. Some creepy old white dude in a rusty panel van (by the gods, it was so stereotypical) drove by and slowed way down and was staring hard at her. I got this pit in my stomach when I saw him do all this. I came charging out from the side, like, I'm going to jail for murder, but worth it. When he saw me come around the corner, he laid about ¼ inch of tire in the road as he sped off. She was oblivious to the whole thing, thankfully. I called the cops and gave them the lowdown and a description. I never saw that rig again, but by Grabthar's Hammer, if I did, I'd shoot first and ask questions later. F**k that guy.
#35
I was in Camden. NJ. 1991. Hanging with some people I was familiar with and my friend T. T and I were just talking, hanging out on the block while the older kids were selling to passing cars.
For a couple weeks I had been trying to convince T to stop hanging on these couple blocks. There was too much turf s**t in Camden. Always someone or other rolling through slow or staring from the end of the block. Gang s**t.
Anyway, one evening I see this car go by three times. I knew that was it. I could feel it in my gut. I saw them turn in again and then start to go a little faster. Grabbed T and got low behind a burned out car and made myself the smallest target. 3 dealers died that night. I'm pretty sure one or two of the guys in the car died, too.
It was a f*****g mess. I booked it to the bus depot and stayed out of camden for a couple months. T was fine that night but died a couple months later in other gang s**t. F*****g gang s**t.
#36
As a kid, the torch from the Beijing Olympics was being run through an area near where we lived. We went to a viewing spot where they were holding a barbecue, so there were a lot of people gathered there.
Now it’s important to remember that China was under a lot of scrutiny for human rights a**se. As such, there were a number of pro-China supporters who had brought flags and such to the viewing. The whole thing had a bit of a tense atmosphere, but so far nothing bad happened.
Then, shortly before the torch was due to arrive, a bus-load of anti-China demonstrators rocked up. They started silently walking out holding signs condemning the abuse. And the pro-China crowd absolutely lost it. There was a barricade separating the two groups, and we were between the barricade and the pro-China crowd. I distinctly remember a group of them running towards the barricade throwing water bottles and such, oblivious to the fact that they were about to trample a kid.
My folks and I ran and left the area, watching the torch in a less crowded spot down the road.
#37
When some guy came into Waffle House looking for a piece of paper that the waitress accidentally threw away. The guy said he was going home to get his gun that was under his mattress and come back to Waffle House. My friend and I got our checks immediately, paid and left. We were not hanging around!
Image credits: pinkflower200
#38
We lived out in the country in backwoods Missouri. We had very few neighbors and they weren’t within walking distance, nor was it walking distance from town. Our rental house was an old historic farmhouse.
I was home alone and was showering upstairs. The stairs led directly into the master suite and were old, hardwood, and creaky. The bathroom itself was directly over the front door and you could hear the front door open and close while in the shower.
So, I’m in there doing my shower thing and I hear the front door open. Husband is a cop and sometimes stops home for lunch while he’s out patrolling. I assume this is him coming home. I hear someone walking up the stairs and it sounds “off”. Husband is 6’ tall and weighs about 250 pounds. He has huge feet. He’s just a really big man. His arms are the size of my legs and he’s not fat. These footsteps do not sound like a huge man ambling up a set of stairs. Still, I write it off as maybe him trying to sneak in and surprise me.
I hear the footsteps stop at the top of the staircase. I wait for them to proceed into the bathroom where I will feign surprise that husband has come home from work early. I continue to wait for another thirty second or so. The footsteps continue but seem to walk opposite the bathroom door and farther into the bedroom. Then, the footsteps approach the bathroom door. There’s a pause and I hear someone say:
“Hello?”
AND IT IS ABSOLUTELY NOT MY HUSBANDS VOICE.
This is not the voice of an older, pack a day, grizzled, former marine, police officer that is built like a brick s**t-house. This is a younger voice. This is a STRANGER IN MY HOUSE.
I jumped out of my skin. I immediately put my hand on the shower controls to turn the water off and then think better of it. I leave the shower running, hoping that the person on the other side of the door might think I didn’t hear them over the noise of the running water. I very gently, as quietly as I can, open the shower door, and tiptoe to the bathroom door. I reached out and as quickly as I can and turn the lock on the doorknob. Seconds later, I see the doorknob give a few quick jerks. As I stand on my side of the bathroom door, barely breathing, afraid to move, I hear footsteps walking away from the door, they move down the stairs, and towards the back bedroom of the house. I ran out of the bathroom, slammed the bedroom door shut, grabbed my husbands revolver from the nightstand, snatched my cellphone off the dresser, and fled the house out of the second story balcony where I took the (thank god it was there) staircase to our backyard, ran across the driveway and into our detached garage where I locked myself in and called my husband to tell him that someone was in our house.
He arrived a few minutes later, cleared the house, and chewed my a*s for not locking the front door.
#39
I was working nights when I was younger and was deep asleep when my brother ran into my room yelling we gotta go now!
I panic wake up and just run out the door, get in the car with him and my dad still trying to get my senses about me. We’re driving and my dad turns on the radio and there’s a tornado hitting our town. We didn’t have a storm shelter so we were rushing to my moms work.
The meteorologist comes over the radio saying it’s going to hit these cross streets any minute. We’re literally sitting at a stop sign at those cross streets.
My brother and I start panicking for my dad to just floor it like we gotta go now!
We thankfully just missed it but between being woke up and finally realizing what was going on in that moment I was terrified.
#40
Went to see a friend out of town and had never been to her place. Had another friend who said he knew which apt. it was so we followed him up. We get to "our friends" place and walk in. I immediately notice the decor isn't matching up (my friend being in her 20s at the time wouldn't have a dusty place with obviously old furniture) and then it hit me. The smell, it punched my senses and I immediately said it smelled like a decomposing body (No I had not smelled one before but the smell was so sour and bad that was just my best verbal description). My friends notice the smell and agree we fd up and went into the wrong apartment. Our friend laughed when we got to her apartment. A week later she messaged me, they were removing the body of a person who died and was smelling up the building a few floors down, the exact one we wandered into.
Image credits: VanIsleChef
#41
One time I went exploring in an abandoned shed in the Everglades. Everything was fine until I saw a wall covered in wasp nests. Got out of there faster than a greyhound.
Image credits: anon
#42
It was me telling myself that but it’s when I was at a “buddy’s” dorm room for a D&D session and was the only one sober.
“Buddy‘s” girlfriend tried to take off my shirt in her drunken stupor.
Realized then I needed to leave.
Image credits: RedShirtCashion
#43
Literally just happened this past Friday night-saturday night. Dallas TX. Me and a buddy were out at a club, k**led a bottle of blue. Went to another club, got a bottle of crown and met some new people. They wanted to go to some after party at one of the chicks condo. So me and my boy talked it over because we didn't know them. We figured, f**k it, we got eachother back. Whole night goes fine, everyone f****d up. Nobody driving home. Whatever. We stay up all the way until Saturday evening. 2 chicks in the bathroom for a minute then they ask one of the other dudes to go in there. I don't think much of it. None of my d**n business. Assumed it was d**g related. He comes out like maybe 10 minutes later. Doesn't say s**t, just walks out on the balcony. They ask another dude to go in there. While 2nd dude is in there, first dude says "y'all know whats going on?" I said do i wanna know? He goes, CPS about to take her kids so she asking us to beat her a*s so she can blame the BF. I'm like wtf?! Second dude comes out of the bathroom and he confirms the story. Now every d**n body is looking for their keys and s**t to dip the f**k out. While thats going on I can hear smacks and crying/whimpering coming from the bathroom. Chick got her friend to bust her in the face with a shoe like 30 times. She came out with one of them masks that is like a full pullover covering her face. Said some s**t about how she had just washed her face and looked like s**t. While her eye and cheek were already swelling up. I got the f**k outta there soon as I could. That b***h was crazy.
#44
Gonna get buried, but here goes. My mother and I like to go on late night walks. It works, because I (F) look like a guy enough that creepers in the night usually don't bother us. Anyway, so we're on our usual walking route along the side of a nature preserve, and (for reference, we live in an area with a lot of coyotes) all of a sudden, the street light above us loses power, and immediately afterwards, we hear distant howling of coyotes, which sounds a lot like a bunch of people screaming. So my mom, having had enough, starts running towards the next street light, but as soon as she reaches it, it goes out as well. At this point, I'm panicking, wondering how the hell that happened twice in a row.
THEN. While I'm running trying to catch up with her, I hear rustling in the nature preserve. I look through the wire fence and see a dark, crouched shadow, keeping pace with me on the other side of the 7 ft tall fence. I can see a faint light through the bushes, and at this point, I'm not in any position to tell my mother what I'd seen, so I bolt right past her and around the corner of the block. When she catches up with me, I look back into the nature preserve, I see the faint glow in the bushes and lead my mom across the street again, putting as much distance between us and whatever the hell that guy's problem was.
Nothing dangerous, and definitely something we joke about now, but certainly a rattling experience at three or four in the morning.
#45
I was underage at a club, asked an older guy to buy me a drink he responded with "what do I get in return?" I told him nothing because I'm not selling myself to him and I walked away. Three hours later and the club is almost closed, me and my friend are trying to get a uber he walks up with a group of 3 guys and says "I bought you that drink" and hands me one and walks to the other side of the bar. Had to take a second to even remember who he was, but as soon as I did I felt VERY strange. They were all kind of lingering and I didn't drink the drink, instead tried to head outside for the uber and they followed. It was a freaky moment for sure.
#46
When i found a small camp in the middle of a state forest with a childs onesie down a hole. The camp had hundreds of bones surrounding it.
I heard some noise and f*****g legged it, fell over on a bunch of bones, legged it harder.
Image credits: AnotherBrock
#47
I (30,F) was in a Las Vegas hotel and was invited in the elevator by a couple middle aged accented guys up to the penthouse to see the view. Immediately after I accepted I realized what a terrible decision it was, but I was too midwestern to be rude and cancel, so I went. Inside a bunch of guys of all ages were sitting around on couches on their phones, and it literally felt like I was in a movie where the group was about to get busted for d***s or a p**********n ring, so I stayed as long as I felt I had to before making an excuse and leaving.
#48
When I was in the boy-scouts on my first year my chief made me go look for some water during a walk.
I took a road leading to what I thought would be some houses.
Turns out this little road was the entry of a huge property guarded by 2 huge dogs. My patrol watched me run back to them at full speed screaming « RUN, RUN, F*****G RUUUUUUUUN » with the dogs on my tail.
Did not get my water, but at least the dogs stopped following us at some point!
#49
I was in Mexico City in September 2017. I was traveling with a friend and we were eating lunch at a restaurant. We were just finishing up our meal, when all of a sudden it felt like there was a wave beneath us. It took me a couple of seconds to register the feeling, and then just looked at my friend and said “this is an earthquake.” I start looking around and one of the staff is rushing to the exit and beckons for us to get up and leave. We jumped up and left everything behind on the table and just followed a bunch of people out to an area of the street that is reasonably distanced from any buildings. It really felt like we were walking on water, the earthquake alarms were blaring, and I remember looking up and seeing the power lines just swinging up above. I’d experienced an earthquake before but never like that.
We still paid for lunch.
#50
I went to a friend’s house with my mom to take them some old clothes. The doors were unlocked, cars were there, jackets on the couch, phones on the coffee table. But nobody was there. My insides were screaming that this was bad and we had to leave.
It turned out they had gone somewhere with another person and everyone thought I was crazy. The way they left the house was just super unsettling.
Image credits: catmamastylist
#51
Back when I was in North Korea, we went to a wrong floor of our hotel. The lights were off and it was eerily silent. Suddenly, we heard footsteps approaching our elevator. Everyone screamed in panic and we all slammed on the buttons to close the doors.
We made it our alive but I still don't know who it was.
Image credits: bustead
#52
I was taking a walk with my "friend" at night when we heard and saw firecrackers exploding. Then we see 2 guys wearing black with big wood planks running at us. Nuff said.
#53
During hurricane/tropical storm Isaias, our power went out. Shortly after that, the transmission lines that run next to the house started arcing. Flashes like lightning and booms like mortars going off every few minutes. We threw some stuff in a bag, loaded the kid and dog into the car and fled to a family member's house.
#54
Was going to traders world flea market with my kids, SO and our roommates. Went as far as parking and getting the kids in their stroller when people started fleeing out the doors. Someone said there was a shooter. Noped right the f**k out. Later found out it was some dudes who got in a heated argument and one shot the other.
#55
Double story!
#1: the gun in the park
I used to live in queens. not a bad neighborhood, but not a perfect one either. one time me, my sister, and my stepdad were at the local park playing tag or something. in the distance there were two kids who were arguing about something. then, randomly, out of nowhere, some guy comes up to those kids and pulls a gun on both of them. my stepdad immediately rushed us the f**k out of there, and that was the moment we decided: "we need to move." luckily, police came and apprehended the guy and no one got hurt.
TL;DR : while at the park, someone pulled a gun.
#2: the bomb in the air vents.
still in queens, I went to an elementary school that, for the most part, was pretty uneventful. one day though, the fire alarm went off. everyone thought it was a drill, but after being rushed out and brought to the nearest church/school thing, and after seeing fire trucks, we all quickly realized that this was the real deal. supposedly someone was smelling bomb fumes and instantly got the kids out of there and called the fire dpt. I'm not sure if there was actually a bomb there or not, but I was definetly scared as f**k. we stayed in the church/school thing until 5, and went home immediately afterwards.
TL;DR : someone smelt a bomb at school and we all dipped.
#56
At junior life guards, my friends and I were looking for leopard sharks. They’re very docile, and they can be fun to swim with. We weren’t having any luck. At some point, one of my friends felt weird and told us she thinks we should head back to shore. She was very worried, so we all got out. Around a minute later, a smaller kid screamed, “Sting ray!” and all of us scrambled out of the water. An older lady, a tourist, got stung in the exact spot we were in before. She went to the hospital, and she’s probably okay now.
#57
Got into the airport at ~10pm after a business trip by myself. Walked out to my car which was parked in the outdoor, attached parking lot (small airport). As I was approaching my car another car with 2 guys in it was stopped at the end of the next aisle down. The car then started driving up the aisle next to the one my car was in, followed by pulling through and into the space right next to my car. There were lots of spaces closer to the airport. I grabbed my phone so tightly, ready to call 911, threw my suitcase in my car in record time, and drove off as fast as I possibly could. I still can’t believe I made it out of that encounter safely.
#58
I was overseas at a competition and my friends and I left the after party. We part ways with me going my own way. Almost immediately I see a few men on the other side of the road, out the front of a bar look up, nudge each other and say something between them. As I walked past I see them cross the road to walk behind me. Mentally I’m thinking oh s**t, the rest of my walk would be down a not well lit, and sometimes very quiet stretch of road. I turn down a shorter street and pick up my pace a bit, and sure enough the men follow but I’ve put some more distance between us. I make the turn I was dreading and just bolt. There were a few houses here with decent gardens and I just needed to make it to one before the guys turn the corner. I make it to one of the houses, it has a giant hedge surrounding a small gate so I lean right back into the gate and hedge. I’m in total darkness, peering through the hedge when the men turn the corner, take a few steps and stop. They talk to each other, then turn around and leave. I wait a few more minutes to be sure then jog the rest of the way checking behind me.
#59
I was on a business trip in Spain in a rural area between Valencia and Barcelona. We were driving down the highway and there was no one around and the middle of the highway was blocked with tractors and guys standing in front of them with guns. As soon as we saw them we were just like "NOPE!" drove over the median and went the other way.
#60
Not me, but my family is from Louisiana and my aunt in New Orleans had a feeling to leave before Katrina (before it was known how bad it would be.) She took my uncle, cousins, and their dog and driver over to the west side of the state to stay with my great-grandma, days before it even landed… Not only did they avoid the craziness/hurricane all together, their house was severely flooded and looted by some violent dudes who ended up hurting the neighbor when they tried to loot his house too. She, like many people in Louisiana, had experienced hurricanes as a normal part of life; but for the first time in almost 35 years she said something just told her to leave.
#61
I was just at Costco and there was a lady hacking up one of her lungs. Every time she coughed she removed her mask. Not on anyone but still what the F$#%.
#62
The family home has huge eucalyptus trees in the backyard. No need for pruning the branches break off. So yeah every once in a while you take a stroll through the beautiful trees and then you hear this weird sound. Run! Lol every man for himself.
#63
Heading down the NJTP south to the Lincoln Tunnel. In/by Secaucus you could see the one of the WTC towers with a giant plume of smoke. Then the next one hit and this fireball.
It was horrible. My first thought was turn around, get as far away from the Tunnel and the Turnpike. I did a U turn at Exit 16 (the one for the LT) and sped home to Bergen County via backroads I knew.
#64
My Freshman year of HS I went on a church trip to Detroit. There were about 30,000 high school aged kids there at the same time from across the country, all carrying cash and prepaid debit cards for the week long trip. On our last day all 30,000 of us wore the same orange shirt so everyone knew who we were. We ended up taking the Q Line at one point in the day and there was a large guy going around to everyone in their bright a*s orange shirts asking for money. He started out pretty calmly, but previously our group leaders had told us not to give money out as it would likely be used for d***s / alcohol etc. So, nobody was giving this guy any money and he started getting frustrated. He then came up to a girl in my group sitting maybe three or four seats down from me and asked her for money too. She told him she didn’t have any cash on her (which was true) and he lost it. He started yelling and swearing all up and down the car about how everyone was lying and that they wouldn’t give him money because he was black and we were entitled white kids. Luckily the Line stopped before it escalated any more, but that was one of the quickest “I need to GTFO NOW” moments of my life.
Note: he stayed on the car after we left and another group of kids in orange got on. I bet he made a k**ling that day.
#65
So, 18 year old me decides to drive some of my more shady "friends" to the next town b/c they wanna go to visit a friend of theirs(I'm asked to drive homedude's car, because he's drunk). I have met said dude once, and learned 2 things about him. 1) he is mildly cute, and flirted with single me. 2) for some reason, these shady friends call him "Doc" or "Doctor Feel Good." Alright, whatever. I make a note to ask why they call him that later.
We arrive at the good doctor's house. It is a trailer. In a trailer park. He is not a doctor, which I already knew. We are warmly welcomed in to the doctor's abode, where there are party favors of the small round or beige oval blue/pink/green/yellow variety scattered across every flat surface (coffee table, end table, dining table). It's a veritable Disney Land for your average pill popper...
And that is when I guilted one of the drunks to drive me the three blocks to McDonald's, used their phone, called my mother to come get me, and bought myself a meal for the wait.
I could picture in my head, sober me hanging out with rollin' them, and police and a camera crew busting through the door "bad boys bad boys, whatchu gonna do?.." And my face being on tv for everyone to see. Nope, nope, and NOPE! Was not about to get busted for something I wasn't even going to do. Suddenly, that mildly attractive flirt became just some dude who didn't have a job or a car, who was about to get busted on candid camera. Mom wasn't even mad that I called her for a ride. I have other stories, but this is the one I picked to tell total strangers. Which means the others are way better... As you can tell, I was quite naive at one point.
#66
Was bow hunting up in NE Washington a few years ago, in the evening. I had set up a small campsite about 45 minutes up the mountains from the road I was on and was kneeling behind a pile of logs/bushes, waiting for a deer to come close. Well, finally had my opportunity and nailed a small whitetail buck. Clean shot through and the deer ran off a couple meters and died right next to a clearing.
Its starting to get late but I figured I could dress the deer before all the light was gone. Dropped my pack and went to work. I started to get this really weird feeling that someone was watching me. Several times I stopped and just listened and tried to see into the forest but couldn't see anything. The feeling wouldn't go away, so I finally turned around and saw two small flashes of light in the trees. My heart stopped because I just new it had to be a f*****g cougar. I slowly drew my .44 and tried to aim but was completely panicking. I ended up firing two rounds where I thought the cougar was, hoping to send it running into the next county, and grabbed my bow and pack and started to hoof it outta there.
I ended up turning on my head lamp and flashlight and walked out kinda doing this 360 degree dance, just frantically looking at all the bushes and trees. Went straight past my tent and kept going to the truck to spend the night.
Went back up in the morning and the deer was gone and it looked like the organs had been kicked around. Sure, enough there were very distinctive tracks all around the clearing. Well that was all I needed to see, so I grabbed my tent and big pack on the way back down and just left.
Honestly, between the bear, moose, cougars and recently reintroduced wolf population, I shouldn't have been there by myself. I now always hunt with a buddy... even if its just a day trip.
#67
I'm a touring musician. At one point in time my tour vehicle broke down in bumfuck Mississippi. We were able to pull into a gas station, but had thrown a belt and needed to get it replaced.
Cue a bunch of hicks helping us work on our car. A couple of band members rode with a random do-gooder to go get a replacement belt forty-five minutes away. The local sheriff pulled up and bought us all coca-cola. At this point we're stressed because we don't want to miss our next show in Arkansas, but not worried about safety.
Time stretched, and through trial and error we ended up getting things close to finished up. Then our lead guitarist pulls out his iPhone. He said he had an airdrop request, but we all kinda ignored it until the job was finished.
Then, just as we're getting into the car to pull away, he opens the airdrop.
There were seven pictures of dead bodies, although they appeared to be cleaned up like in a morgue or something, still freaking creepy.
The last two pictures were of us repairing the car in the gas station parking lot.
After that we lost our s**t, and (whether we were just freaked or it was genuine) the car behind us followed us for almost twenty miles until we got to a major highway and gunned it.
No other context, but it still freaks all of us out to this day.
Edit: Bonus creep points I forgot to mention, among the corpse pictures was a picture of one woman sitting up and smiling at the camera, the next shot she was dead.
#68
I was walking home one night, head down because I was dumbly looking at my phone. I almost stepped into what looked like barbeque sauce. Turned on the flashlight function for my phone - it was blood.
Every step, there was a small blood splatter - less than a teaspoon. I followed it along the entire long street while walking home. Maybe eight blocks. It was hard to tell, in the dark, but the trail seemed to end at a residential facility in my neighbourhood. I'm not sure what type of facility it is, but I've often met people with intellectual disabilities in the area - I've helped them with how to order a train ticket, counting cash for groceries, etc.
There were two people in the fenced off yard, talking low. I could only see their lit cigarettes in the dark. Suddenly I was filled with a sensation of wrongness. All the hairs stood up on the back of my neck and I felt cold. I kept walking, and did some loops before going back home and calling the cops about the blood trail.
My partner felt I overreacted, and it was probably just an animal or someone with a bloody nose. But that was a lot of blood in total, over eight blocks. And something felt deeply wrong. I didn't sleep well that night.
#69
When myself and two friends were about 12 one of them met a teenage boy online she wanted to meet IRL. I thought it was a bad idea. A 12 year old girl meeting a teenage boy was a bad idea.
Little idiots we were thought it would be safe to go together and have her back. We met him at a park. He was with two other boys, that were clearly men (college aged). They wanted us all to get in their car to go hang out.
Awe hell no. Instant no no vibes.
Idiot friend 1 got right in the car, as did idiot friend 2. They asked that I not embarrass them and to get in. I booked it. Just full on fear. I ran to the closest payphone and called my mom to get me and rattled off the license plate. My mother didn't write it down and I forgot it soon after. I tried but just couldn't retain the info long in my panic.
The guys assaulted them both and dumped them in another state. They both made it home alive. One tried to convince herself that it was consensual and that she was so cool for s*x, d***s and drinking so young. The other was traumatized and ended up pregnant. She tried to open up an investigation but there was never enough info to find these guys (1990s, limited tech). Both eventually blamed me for running. By the next school year we weren't friends anymore.
#70
That time I followed a s******r back to her trailer park (at invitation) and her friends became convinced I was an undercover federal agent because I use big words.
EDIT: I left with the s******r. Win.
#71
On vacation with the in-laws and their friends at a beach house. My mother-in-law had a tendency to go a little overboard with the wine sometimes. And on this night it happened to lead to a confrontation between her and her friend where nasty things were said and there was shouting and such. Told my wife, we needed to leave first thing in the morning as soon as our son was awake.
