- Human instincts have largely been dulled by our relatively safe and cushy existence (as compared to way back when we still had to worry about predators).
Sometimes, though, trusting a gut feeling can save us from a world of hurt.
Reddit user u/cantbebothered_tk asked:
"When did your gut feeling of 'something's not right here' save you?"
50.
I was walking home after buying cupcakes, and I noticed a man walking in the parking lot a bit behind me mumbling something. I looked at him and our eyes met and something told me I needed to leave immediately and go somewhere populated. So instead of going directly home, I speed-walked across the mostly-empty parking lot to my college campus parking lot where there was a crowd. I noticed he was following me at a distance, so went further out of my way and stopped to pretend to check my phone and keep an eye on him. He stopped across the parking lot from me (at a path that leads to the apartments I live in) and waited maybe 5 minutes before moving on and beginning to wander through the parking lot in what I can only describe as an aimless fashion.
I have no idea what would have happened, but I'm very glad I trusted my gut. It may not seem like I had much concrete to go on in the beginning, but the fact that he stopped when I stopped (and stopped in between where I was and where most people heading home would need to go) makes me think my gut feeling was right and I may have dodged being robbed.
49.
Not too dramatic and happened a few days ago. Little background: I live in an area with black bears, and have 3 that are regularly seen in my neighborhood and this is the time of year they wake up from hibernation. So I was on my deck with my back to the woods behind my house and hear rustling in the leaves. I immediately assumed it was a squirrel but my gut said it probably wasn't and to check anyway.
When I look over my shoulder a medium sized black bear was just coming out of the woods and into my backyard. It probably would've strolled right past me like I wasn't there, but it was a little too close for comfort for me.
48.
Back in 8th grade my school had open lunch. Me and my 3 other friends always went out to eat at nearby restaurants. One day before lunch I had a terrible gut feeling about going out with my friends so I asked my parents to pick me up and I ate with them instead. I came back to school afterwards and my friends were all in the front office scared to death with the police.
My best friend told me that 2 or 3 guys had followed them back and even tried to find them in and walked into the school (this was before the school had much security as it's a small town school). They even tried to walk really fast back to school and they just walked quick too. Back in middle school I didn't care what I said or did so I would've definitely got into a fight or confronted the guys so it could've been really bad. I think the police did get them and I think they had a knife. Not 100% since it's been so long ago, but definitely scary. I remember we didn't go out to eat without our parents for awhile.
47.
When I just first moved to Melbourne, I found a job near where I lived. I could either take the tram or cycle to work but I thought riding would save me money so I borrowed the landlords bike and helmet.
His helmet was loose because he has bigger head (I'm female) but I'd wear it everyday though loosely fastened.
One day I decided to buy a helmet my size and the next morning, I wore the new helmet for the first time. But this time a voice in my head told me to secure the chin strap tight.
I took off to work on my bike as usual. However along the way, there were cars parked on bike lane so I wasn't able to ride on it. I had to take the car lane and just like that, a silver car crippled my wheel from behind. I flew a few meters until my head knocked on the road and I tumbled a few times before I landed on my butt.
I survived with concussion that lasted for a few months. No bone/skull fracture. If I hadn't listened to my gut feelings that day I'd have been dead.
For the jerk who hit me, since there's no real-time witness, he blamed the accident on me telling the police it was my fault and they actually believed it because I was put in an ambulance. Of course, Aussie drivers hate cyclists, especially female cyclists. An Aussie friend told me that this happens a lot in MEL and they'll never admit it unless there're eyewitnesses.
[deleted]
46.
"There's been a few times where I hadn't listened to my gut but one sticks out where I did. I used to live in a smaller Minnesotan town down near some train tracks and a bike/running path that extends out of town into the woods. One evening I'm sitting outside on my porch drinking a couple of beers with my buddy. Two dudes walk up on us kind of out of no where and immediately something seemed off with them. It's a college town and drunk people come up onto your porch a lot or randomly just say hello on their way to or from the bars downtown. But these dudes had a bad vibe to them. I had a little black Louisville slugger lying next to me on the porch so I grabbed and just held it across my lap. One dude asks us, "You guys got an extra smoke?" Buddy says nope. The other guy comes up real close almost onto the porch and says, "Did you see my face?" I just kept looking forward but not directly at him and just said "Nah man we didn't see anything." He said something like "Good... lil punk.." and they both walked away.
Two nights later I'm sitting in my living room with the same buddy and the local news is on. Two guys arrested for robbing and stabbing a man a couple nights back on the trail down by the train tracks next to where I live. My buddy had looked at their faces coming up and I had seen the dude clear as day that had asked for the smoke. It was those same guys."
45.
I work in a mental health hospital - there's a set of communal stairs, a lift and some locked staff stairs. I was working on the top floor that night and my gut told me to use the locked stairs. More of an inconvenience than the lift.. Went through the last door and found the patient who lived closest to that door hanging in their room. They were only there about 1-2 minutes so I managed to call for help and get them down..
44.
We planned on camping for 3 days awhile back, when I was at least under 10 years old, I woke up on the first night, I had that gut feeling to get the hell out of that forest, note we were far into the forest at least a 1 hour walk back to the car. I woke up my parents and brother and told them we need to get put off here, we packed our valuables leaving the camp, food, and some other stuff. After reaching near our car we saw that a few other people were leaving too, my parents asked someone, I didn't know what happened on that day but recently from my parents I found out there was a fire in the forest, we were at least a 10 minute walk too. I learned this when me and my parents went camping again there.
43.
I stood up and had a quick Matrix like wave (just like how the walls flex in the move). I turned to the closest person and asked for a ride to the emergency room. Honestly, it felt like a little head rush or light headedness that I've had a hundred times before. If I would have brushed it off as such, I would be dead. My lungs were at 30% capacity as I was drowning from fluids and had absolutely no other symptoms than the brief lightheaded feeling. Also, I had been feeling a bit down and hadn't eaten. The more I analyzed the situation I have no idea why I asked a stranger for a ride to the hospital.
42.
When I was about 9-10 my sister (5-6), mom, and I were living in Florida with my mom's now ex-boyfriend and his two kids. We were coming out of a Lowe's with my mother, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend's kids a few feet in front of my sister and I. All of a sudden I got this sinking feeling in my stomach, telling me to turn around. So I did. And when I turned around, I saw this older looking man with long white hair and a long white beard reaching for my sister. I grabbed her hand and rushed to my mom. For some reason though, I didn't tell her what I saw.
A few days later we went to a local library, and they had a wall full of pictures of kidnappers. I hadn't know what it was at the time because I was a kid, so I was just looking at them innocently. Then I saw a picture of the same man who tried to grab my sister.
41.
Last summer, I would go for a run around a local reservoir every day, and then stop by Trader Joe's to grab a drink before I went home. One day, I had finished my run, and was about to pull into the TJ's parking lot, when my gut suddenly said "nope, bad idea" so I pulled into the Gelson's parking lot across the street instead. I had a foot in the crosswalk to go to TJ's when someone grabbed me and yanked me back, probably saving my life. I hadn't registered that a car was about to careen right in front of my nose.
The car slammed into a pole, a woman stumbled out and a man jumped out and began firing a handgun. He ended up barricading himself inside the store with multiple hostages, and one woman - Mely Corado - died. If I had parked in the Trader Joe's lot as I usually did, I would have been inside the store when he came in. Trusting my gut feeling meant that it took an extra minute or two to get inside, which may have been the difference between life and death.
40.
I was in Turkey for vacation when I was about 7 or 8 years old and I made friends with some other tourists but also some locals, all around the age range of 8-16. These two local guys were about 16, and at one point during the late afternoon they asked if I wanted to go with them to go-kart outside of the hotel area, and I agreed. Approximately 30 seconds of walking along with them, I got the most chilling feeling I've ever had in my life.
All the hairs on my skin rose up and I had this super uneasy feeling deep in my gut. It actually felt like some supernatural force was beckoning me to dip. I turned on my heels and sprinted so fast to get back to the hotel. I didn't even look back. When I returned, my mother asked where I had been. I told her I was taking a rough poo.
Oddly enough, I was quite fond of those guys before this happened. But, thinking about this in retrospect, why would two local 16-year-olds have any genuine interest in go-karting with a young 8-year-old tourist? I feel like I may have dodged a bullet. We may never know.
39.
I was thirteen at the time. I sat upstairs in my brother's room during a thunderstorm. It seemed like your typical, summer thunderstorm. Heavy rain, strong wind, leaves and branches being ripped off trees. My brother and I chatted for a few minutes. I'd always been a weather nerd and probably a touch paranoid. There was literally no change in the weather outside for the five minutes I was up there.
I suddenly felt sick to my stomach and a voice told me to go downstairs. My brother thought I was being ridiculous most Wisconsin storms are less intense than the ones we used to have in Texas. But when I got downstairs, I sat down at the table and pulled up a radar on my chromebook. The exact second I looked at the radar, a tornado warning was issued for my town. But it was only displayed for one second as the power went off.
I hollered at my family to get to the basement NOW. We waited out the tornado and went back to the main floor. Nothing was damaged inside our house, but the yard was pretty torn up. Nothing too terrible happened and I sure as heck listen to my gut feelings now.
38.
When my dad was in his twenties, he lived in San Francisco. It was the mid 1970s. He worked as a bartender at a restaurant. One day, he was walking home from work when a beautiful woman approached him. He said she was one of the most beautiful women he's ever seen. (Aside from my mother, of course!) The woman asked him out to dinner, and him being young, naive and single, said yes.
She took him to a giant house. It was beautiful, but something felt a little off to him. When inside, he was instructed to take off his shoes. Not unusual, but a bit odd considering. The woman sat him down at a big dining table. My dad noticed there were other people at this table, all around his age. As soon as he sat down, a movie started playing on a projector, talking about "the farm" etc. The beautiful woman was nowhere to be found.
My dad figured it out pretty quickly. He got up and started to head out the door. Right as he was leaving, the beautiful woman appeared again and asked him, innocently, "Where ya going?" That's when he grabbed his shoes and booked it. My dad had almost been lured into joining the Moonies cult. Thank god for his gut instinct.
37.
I am a petite woman, and was 19 at the time. Had a late shift that ended at 10pm. Hit the grocery before my walk home (about 10 blocks). I've got arms full of groceries and notice a car drive past me in the opposite direction. Heard it pull a U-turn behind me and park. I tell myself, 'probably just getting home from work too', but then i hear foot steps behind me. I turn around and its a man in his 30s, I'd guess. He doesn't say anything, but stops walking when i stopped walking. I keep walking, bit faster now and I can hear him speed up too.
I turn around again and say, 'hey man, whatsup?'. He says nothing. I turn around and keep walking, almost at a mini-jog pace and I hear him speed up too. I was about 4 blocks away from home. The adrenaline kicked in, I dropped my bags and booked it. Made it home, told my boyfriend what was happening. As he goes outside to find the guy, dude drives by in his car. Right past my house. We call the cops, give them a description and the operator tells us they've had other calls about the same guy. Really hoping he never actually caught someone. Really hoping this creep wound up in jail. Really happy I listened to my gut.
36.
I once was at my dads house when I was about 10 (my parents split up when I was turning 7) and I asked my dad if we could go on what I like to call a snack run (go to the local supermarket that's literally at the end of the street and get all the random snacks I felt like eating). We would do this like once a week so I was used to it and we always did them at like 9pm so pretty much pitch black except one street light over an empty lot that was being used as a car park down the road.
So just as I was about to step out the door to go (my dad was putting on his shoes) I instantly got that felling of complete un-describable terror rush up my spine and turned back to my dad and told him I had changed my mind (he could definitely see it in my eyes because he didn't even question it) and we stayed home. The next day we got up to do something (I can't remember what) and half of the cars in the streets tires had been slashed and the house across from us had been robbed. Needless to say we didn't go on any more snack runs for a long time and I haven't told my mother to this day (almost 10 years later).
35.
1st time was 3 weeks after getting my gall bladder out. I felt terrible i still had a drain in my stomach. I called my sister and said I'm afraid I'll be dead tomorrow. Went to the emergency room and turns out the surgeon had nicked my liver and I was bleeding internally. It turned into a blood blister on my liver and if it popped i would have bled to death.
2nd time i had been feeling like someone was squeezing around my chest for months. I passed out one morning, went to the hospital and they found a tumor between my heart and lungs. Turned out to be cancer. A couple surgeries and chemo and I've been in remission almost 5 years
34.
My best friend in second grade, let's call her Mary, lived just down the street from me, about a two-minute walk. Her mom was nice and she had a very aggressive little brother. Her birth father was not in the picture, but she did have a stepdad, let's call him Joe. Joe was a very tall, surly man who was never very pleasant. In the summer of second grade, Mary invited me to come over and help paint her treehouse. after we had finished, Mary pointed out that we both had paint all over our legs and arms. We went inside and Joe was there to greet us.
I absolutely DESPISED him. Every time he came near me my body physically revolted. He asked me if I was staying the night. I lived just down the street, so I said that would stay a little bit but then I would walk home. Joe told me I would have to go take a shower if I wanted to stay any longer. I was this tiny little thing, you could see my ribs and I was barely 4'4., Joe was maybe 6'2, and I just remember him looming over me while everything in my body screamed at me to get out of there. I said no thank you, I 'll just go home now.
I sprinted home and told my mom everything. She said Joe just didn't want a kid covered in paint running around his house. A couple of years later, when we were in 7th grade, Mary told me her mom and Joe were getting a divorce. Turns out that a couple of hours after I left, Joe got unreasonably drunk, beat his son and Mary, then proceeded to try and attack Mary.
33.
This is my first post, but here we go. My Uncle was member of a Motorcycle Club near my local area. Nothing extreme like GTA IV Lost MC, but still one MC Gang in our local area. He had been in Motorcycle accidents before and left with just a broken arm or leg. The Most recent one, however, he wasn't so lucky. My Uncle passed away when he hit the ground. A couple of weeks later his MC Gang is having a memorial at their clubhouse and invited most of my family and many other clubhouse gangs. (He was friends with a lot of people.)
Just to start off the day, while me and my brother are getting ready, it's hailing so hard the chunks can be broken into many little chunks. I thought it was pretty cool actually considering we have never seen this weather ever where we have lived for 14 years of our lives. On the way to the Memorial though, the hail turned to light rain and after driving for a while, a bird rammed right into my brothers windshield right in front of us. It's wing and blood was still on the windshield. Kinda ominous and my brother and I couldn't forget it till this day. We got over it for that time, however, and continued on our way to the Memorial. When we got there I found it really quite awesome to see. First time seeing some actual bikers with official leather Jackets with Patches and everything. For awhile it was a pretty good memorial every one was having a good time ( that's what my Uncle would have wanted) I was even taking videos to send to my friend who's really into to stuff like this to make him jealous.
There were many Different Clubs of MC's there and everytime I saw a different grizzled dude with their MC rank on their jacket from "President" to "Enforcer" I just got little and more little more cautious. I had no idea why I was acting like this, but I'm very pessimistic so I just thought I was freaking out. A couple of speeches go by, people start hanging out some more, loud music playing just an overall good time. When I asked my brother if we could ask early because the bad feeling I had, My brother suggested I was tired and go to sleep on a couch they have in a sort of lounge area. We were asleep for about 10 mins when I just suddenly woke up with this horrible feeling. I sit there for a while scanning for a family member, any family member, just in case. Then suddenly BANG BANG BANG. Some people think somebody just dropped something. (Mind you this is a warehouse type place FILLED WITH PEOPLE WITH NO SPACE TO MOVE)
I start slapping my brother to wake up. He's a heavy sleeper so he obviously gets mad at me until another BANG BANG. Then EVERYONE knew something was wrong. Everyone starting panicking and trying to squeeze through the tiny doorway to the front doors (where me and my brother are). We wait to see what we should do then everyone corralled out the front doors. However, we then here from the direction WE ARE ALL HEADING BANG BANG BANG. Everyone turns right back around and squeezes back inside. The last thing I remember is drywall falling on me from bullets hitting tight above the doorway we're all in and then (our saviors ironically) the "Angels of Death" forced the other gang to leave by chasing them out. Mind you there are children ranging from 8-18 here.
Luckily no one was hurt. My dad was at the place where it all started and told my brother and I that two gangs started to brawl and one shot in the air to stop the fight, but all that did was escalate it. Idiots. Since then I always trust my gut.
32.
Someone came into my work that gave me the "I'm in danger" feeling. I work in a place where 60% of my customers are children and I naturally get very protective of them, but you can't call the police because someone's creeping you out. He kept getting close to children but not doing anything or even making them uncomfortable so there still wasn't anything I could do. He leaves and I shrug it off. Another customer soon comes in and gives me the same feeling, so I'm thinking "I'm just anxious today" he's talking about donkey kong and stuff, casual conversation. Then he says "I'm best friends with Martin Bryant" (the spree killer from the 1996 port Arthur massacre, who is in solitary confinement and can't even interact with whoever has to throw his food at him) so I'm getting a bit nervous now. Then the first creepy guy comes in, and the one I was talking to says "I know him, we went to prison together!"
So immediately I start having a panic attack and have to end the conversation as quick as possible so I can contact the manager to say I need someone else to come into the store (I was there alone), and they immediately cal the police. Neither were allowed anywhere near my work because it's too close to the CBD, and they're legally now allowed near anywhere that could have children there.
I actually recently went to court for this, waited hours to go in and he plead guilty at the very very last second.
Edit: I offered way too many details and now I'm super uncomfortable with everyone guessing where I work (I've had terrible experiences with people finding out where I work and I'm a bit spooked)
31.
My gut feeling didn't save me per say but it did protect my girlfriend from getting arrested.
We're in a polyamourous relationship, i.e we can flirt with and date other people whole still dating one another. She met this guy at a trading card shop. She didn't think much of him but he apparently took a real shine to her. They exchanged numbers and that was that.
Next day he texts her. Asks her to his house , offers to introduce her and her folks to his aunt and grandma in the first text. My girl suggests instead that they meet this coming Friday at another card shop. Public setting with a few of her friends, me and my other partner there. The guy agrees, and says my girl's friend a can come too if they want to. Asks what grade my girl is in. She's in college and is 23. She tells him she's a college student. He says he's 18. She's a little weirded out by the age gap bit since he's of age she still agrees to meet up. This guy was giving me a weird feeling from the get go.. Like something wasn't sitting right in my gut. I tell my lady in a facebook message a few days later that I don't have a good feeling about this guy at all and that he makes me uncomfortable with his messages. She calms me down and lets me know that she'll take my concerns into account, but tells me not to worry.
Fast forward to the next day while I'm at work and she message a me to tell me that apparently my fears and gut were right. The twerp wasn't 18, he was a minor
My girl is 23. That could have gotten my girl into some serious trouble if his age hadn't been revealed. Like getting arrested trouble.
She then told him off for his stupidity.
Slightly in this guy's defense, my girlfriend does look pretty young, as do I. She looks like she could only be maybe 19. And she is pretty. But still. Damn dude, you could have caused her some serious trouble.
Always trust your gut feeling people. And if your partner's as well.
30.
A guy dyed blue came into the motel lobby at 1am. In and of itself, not terribly unusual. Clubs get out, you see folks with body paint, foam, etc. But he just seemed "off." When he came up to the counter I took a step back. Which is why his bowie knife hit my tie and not my neck. Slammed the fire door down, called the cops. Wasn't difficult for them to find a bright blue guy (who got naked for some reason after I slammed the door) running around in the snow at 1am.
29.
I've got one for when I was nine. In I think June I was at a party for my Grandfather. My mother's whole family was there. My 23 year aunt (At the time) was a fairly attractive woman who was very kind to me, and she had to head to Walmart to grab some ingredients for my grandma and grandpa's famous fudge sauce which was made for the even better lemon cake. I asked if I could run along with her. She smiled and responded with,
"Sure thing, bud." I remember it like it was yesterday.
'As we hopped into her car, we talked about how her and I adored her dog that was there with us. As we entered the store I looked around and joked about buying five things of soda. A man caught my eye, I was fairly intelligent for my age and my mother raised as a very vigilant woman. I noticed he glanced at my aunt. As we head to the alcohol aisle to buy some beers, the man give's a very dirty look to my aunt. Whom I noticed glanced toward him and she looked disgusted. I didn't tell my aunt about my encounter with this man but he did, however, glance at me (Not in a dirty way), and after I saw him he nodded at me. We walked to the aisle with the pantry food (As I like to call it). And he was Freaking BEHIND us. Bit of a smarty, acting like he was reading the nutritional facts on gluten free Oreo's.
My aunt looked back. She said,
"Ah, found it. Let's go, Liam." I respond with,
"That isn't it! We don't use whipped cream on it!"
"We're trying it like that today." She smiled.
This is where my gut comes in. 'Listen' it tells me. I get scared. I think I know what is happening. My mother taught me about kidnappings at an understandable age. I know what is going to transpire if my aunt isn't smart about this.
"Okay." I say.
We now go to the checkout. I asked for Skittles. She said no. Which is unusual. She often has no problem as I don't eat many sweets. I groaned but I didn't care at the same time.
We walked out the door, the man followed. I hear my aunt mutter,
Then we sprint to the car and my aunt covers by saying,
"Race ya!" She goes at my pace and says I'm fast. (Not meaning it I presume. Probably being a good aunt and not letting me be back with the man. She drives immediately and then goes around the parking lot without saying anything. The man, fast as hell btw. RUNS to his car and almost immediately JUMPS into his car and starts it as fast as possible. he goes way above the speed limit. and then drives to the exit where my aunt does a u-turn and like, breaks his ankles. (Breaks his tires?) And we get to the house as she explains what happened and I said, "He was looking at you when we went in."
"I know bud."
Haven't thought about it since. Though I did notice the man carrying something that looked awfully like an over sized pocketknife in his trench coat... Which I wisely did not inform my aunt of after the traumatic experience.
We never talked about this since.
28.
I've told this story before, but I'll tell it again. It's one of many, but this one stands out.
I'm about 7, my neighbors 8 & 9 and we're at a bus stop. Guy in stereotypical white van pulls up and asks if we've seen a dog. He doesn't describe the dog, and the truth is, dogs ran around in our neighborhood.
My mother taught me stranger danger since as long as I can remember.
So one of the boys at the stop, we'll call him Paul, Paul describes a dog and man in van is like, "that's my dog, why don't you get inside the van, we can all go look for him."
Well, I had red flags going off at this point, and said, "No, I have to ask my mother," and as soon as those words left my mouth, he peeled out.
It was only later that I realized I saved us all from child abduction, specifically Paul who was walking toward the van to get in.
Teach your kids what to do if this situation happens. Get the license plate, the guys face, the car type, and what to do if something does happen. If I had known to snag his plates, we might have had a chance at catching him, but I only knew to "say no!".
Another time I was speeding down a hill and thought, "what if there's a deer around the corner?" So I slowed down and sure enough, there were three deer in the road. Saved my own life by a rando thought.
27.
This happened when I was 11. When I was in Middle school I always walked home and the walk was quite far. However, there was a short cut whenever you took the bridge but the problem was to get to the bridge you have to walk past an alley behind three buildings and you were hidden from the other cars passing by.
One day I was walking from school and decide to take the short cut and walk in the alley. But a block down I saw a rusted orange pick up truck driving suspiciously slowly behind me. I saw two older men in the car and their heads were turned in the direction of the side I was walking on...alone. I ignored it at first but once I reached the alley and realized that no one else is around me I got this gut feeling that I shouldn't do that and should take the longer way instead.
Unfortunately, before I could make that decision the truck speeds down in the alley and is clearly heading towards me, I panicked and made a run for it. I bolted down the alley and ran to the bridge before the truck got close enough to me. Once I was far enough from them they stopped and randomly turned in another direction and I ran home as fast as I could.
Since then I asked my mom to pick me up from school. Sometimes I wondered what would have happened if I hadn't listen to my gut.
26.
Had a friend who said we should go to this party he was invited to by a classmate of his. We ended driving out to it, we noticed the neighborhood was not to pleasant and sketchy. We saw that house had some lights on in backyard but kind of quiet for a party.
I decided that we should not go since something felt really off. Friend ended finding the classmate that invited him got robbed and threatened when he went to party. It ended up being a fake party.
25.
One day, after school, I had a karate class. I was really excited to go except my stomach was hurting and I felt like my gut was telling me something. I went to the place where the karate class was held, and my gut was right. The place was on fire. Luckily, nobody was hurt.
24.
Well I was walking home. Wasn't late and I'm from a pretty safe area but it was that time of year when it starts to get dark really early so felt kind of ominous.
Anyway, I pass this guy in a red sweater and red tracksuit bottoms and he looks at me funny. Maybe he's high, maybe he's drunk...either way something not quite right about him.
I keep going. Look behind me, he's still there. Cross the road. He crosses with me. As soon as I turn a corner I sprint to my apartment complex and run into the coded gate and wait. He rocks up a minute later and stares at me through the gate. He just stares at me for a good 10 or so seconds then runs back the way he came.
Shivers.
23.
At the age of 9 I was with my family at an expensive motel.
My dad and mother had walked off and left me with my big sister, who at this time was 13. We are just chilling, I'm playing my Gameboy and she's reading a book. When, two strangers (both men) come up to us and ask if we wanna go for a swim in the water.
Immediately I felt on edge, like something was telling me to not go. But, I accepted my sister walked along to make sure nothing bad happened or if I drowned since I couldn't swim well. They take me to some place, then literally round the corner instead of going straight, where the body of water should be.
My eyes widened as my feeling became even worse, I walked off silently along with my sister. We end up leaving the motel a few days later due to a family emergency. Well, years later, somewhere about 2015, my sister calls and tells me. The two guys who tried to lure me to the ocean were both murderers. They had kidnapped and killed 3 kids before, using this same technique. still gives me chills, knowing that their body count would've been 5 had me and my sister followed them.
22.
My mother had passed away a few years earlier. Before her passing, she hadn't spoken in years so I had a hard time reminding myself what it sounded like. Until one night when a friend was smoking in my apartment. I heard her say my name clear as ever. When I looked up, I noticed the trash can has a trail of smoke. My friend had dumped an ashtray into the bin that was full of styrofoam that ignited seconds after I was able to get the trash into the sink and extinguish it. If I hadn't heard that voice or acted so quickly, I don't know what woudl have happened.
[username deleted]
21.
Technically this is an experience my Mom and I both had at the same time. This was 2012, I think. My Mom was driving me to a ballet class I used to attend, and she signaled to get into the turn lane. Then she asked me if I thought she should turn or go straight. I said straight, and that I had a bad feeling she shouldn't turn. She told me she felt the same way and that's why she asked, because she wanted to know if it was just her, and stayed going straight. A second later, at the exact time we would've turned, someone sped through the intersection. If we had turned it would've been a bad accident.
Another time, it didn't save me, but it was a gut feeling. I was going to pick up some pizzas with my Dad, and I kept having the feeling we were going to get in a car accident. I brushed it off, because I have anxiety about situations like that, and I have things like that happen often when I ride in a car. Well, we were driving a long, and it kept getting worse and worse, and I was really anxious. We stopped at a light, and I thought, it's going to happen when we get through the intersection, we're going to get into an accident.
We went through the light, and I was on the verge of a mild anxiety attack, and I was thinking, it's going to happen! It's going to happen! And then a woman side swiped our car. Luckily no-one was hurt to bad, just my Dad's shoulder from jerking a little, and the only damage to the car was a little traded paint and a few cracks on the bumper. I was more freaked out that my feeling was right more then from the accident itself I think.
20.
I woke up at 3am once sitting upright in bed. I felt on alert and my heart raced when I saw that my cat was on alert too, wide awake by my feet with his ears perked up. But I didn't see or hear anything weird. Something didn't feel right and I couldn't relax. So I got up and went to the kitchen. Turned on some lights and ate food even though I wasn't that hungry. Eventually went back to bed.
We discovered the next morning that someone had stopped while in the process of using some kind of tool to silently cut a big hole in the glass window in the living room. They were trying to break in. Right next to the bedroom. I think the lights I turned on scared them away.
We had 3 long years of issues with our neighbors. They repeatedly came into our property and were pissed that we put up a 9 foot fence to keep them out. This attempted break in happened right after the fence went up and 2 days before they all moved out. Glad those pieces of sh!t are long gone.
19.
This story happened to my brother when he was about 11 years old. He went with Mom to the grocery store to help her buy a few things. Our mom had said she was going to look for a shorter line and if she couldn't find one, she wanted my brother to stay in line. He then told me being in line his stomach instantly dropped.
Something inside of him basically told him that something wasn't right. Two minutes after, he ended up running at my mom screaming and crying. I found out why later on when I asked him. He said a man reached out to him and grabbed his arm but his gut instinct to run kicked in. He never saw the man again. Every time he goes to the store he brings a small Golden Snitch key chain with him because the wings are sharp.
18.
When my sister was 14 she was very depressed and suicidal. One day she went to the shopping center to go and meet with a friend with whom she had an argument. From the moment she left I felt something was wrong. She was not her normal self when she left and was not responding.
I told my parents that I did not trust it after she had left at around 10 in the morning. They shrugged it off and told me that she will be fine. She came back home at 1 in the night. She was completely drunk and had to be carried up the stairs by my father. He brought her to the bathroom where she threw up a lot. My parents brought her to the hospital, because she seemed more than just drunk. She was nearly killed herself with this. From that moment onward I have always trusted my gut feeling.
Luckily she got better and is now doing fine.
17.
At age 5 I was almost abducted by strangers at the park who had a bunch of toys on a blanket and tried to lure me into their motor home. I looked back to my dad, who was talking to his friend maybe 100 yards away, I got a "tummy ache" when one of them tried to coax me by reaching for my arm to lead me away, and I screamed and ran like hell back to my dad. Years later I found out those same people had abducted other kids who weren't so lucky. Never ignored a gut feeling since.
Thanks for all the positive feedback. And FYI trust me once my Dad got over the shock he let me have it for not only wandering off but speaking to complete strangers. I talked to my mom a bit about it today and she told me my dad broke down and blamed himself. Positive outlook on this though guys this is just one instance (scary as it may be) where my gut led me in the right direction and my instinct for danger is now uncanny. I truly believe everything happens for a reason. I trusted my instincts and it kept me safe still does.
16.
Not mine, my mom's story. Also, it wasn't a "some things VERY wrong here" More like a, "I have a bad feeling about this and I don't know why. " On the day of 9/11, it was my Mom's first day of working at the twin towers, (she didn't work there yesterday or any other time, just that day.) And her gut just said "I don't think I wanna go." Saved her life and saved mine, too.
15.
Was riding my motorcycle with a friend on the back. We were going down a country road behind a truck hauling a bunch of old car tires when all of a sudden I decided we shouldn't be there, so I slowed way down to let the truck go ahead of us. Just as I did one of the tires fell off the truck and landed right where we would have been.
14.
I was in kindergarten in my country Libya when i saw a dozen men with black masks in a pickup truck waiting outside the kindergarten. I had that gut feeling so I went to my teacher and asked if she can walk me home.
Later that day it was found out that they were kidnapping kids and selling their organs on the black market.
13.
I'm a firefighter. We got called out to a tree fire started by fallen power lines. We pull up in the truck and I'm trusting that my driver and crew leader are doing their job and have good situational awareness.
We get out of the truck and we've parked next to a set of power lines (not fallen). It's a very windy night and I can see the lines swinging so I voice my concerns to my crew leader who says it'll be fine.
We get out hose out (risk of the tree fire catching onto a house outweighing potential risk of arcing plus the line disconnected when it fell) and I'm on the branch ready to start putting it out with 2 others near me when I get a chill. I look up see the lines swinging violently and yell "everyone move". As the 3 of us sprint and dive out of the way we hear a thwip and crack and sure enough the line we were under came loose and stayed connected to the power pole. If I hadn't got that chill chances are we would have had 3 fried firefighters.
12.
This was a few years ago so it's kinda hard to remember but I'll try my best. My family was living in a house next to a really big forest. My older brother has had a lot of mental health issues and it was particularly bad at that time. One day when me and him were home alone he told me that he was going for a walk in the woods, I had no reason to be suspicious because he would do this pretty much daily but when I went to lock the door after him I just got this terrible gut feeling telling me that he was going to do something to himself. But I ignored and let him go.
Maybe 20 minutes later my mom calls me saying he's texted her a suicide note and that I need to go into the woods to look for him. Luckily he came home a few hours later and didn't hurt himself but man that really freaked me out. Always listen to your gut.
11.
Some dude get off the bus at the same stop as me. It's about 8pm and October so it's quite dark out already. He had spoken to me on the bus, one line about nice weather.
Anyway, he gets off the bus after me. I cross the road and make a mental note of him walking the opposite way to me. I make sure to watch him walking away. Something in my gut says not to trust him.
To get to my house I have to walk up a hill with a path alongside a high stone wall. It is secluded. Usually I listen to music as I walk. I decide not to this time.
I'm about halfway up when I get this awful feeling. I take out my phone, dial my mother's number and as I do I hear fast steps of someone running up behind me.
I know it's the guy before I turn around and as I do he is literally running full speed towards me. I look him dead in the eyes, ready to fight for my life. As I do this, my mother answers her phone and I say 'hi mom'.
He slows right down to a light jog and says 'evening' as he jogs past me. I ask my mom to stay on the line. Her bf comes out to meet me at the top of the hill. The guy is nowhere to be seen.
He was definitely running up behind me to strike me and by turning to face him I'm certain it threw him off.
10.
Not me, but my grandparents. My grandmother told me this story soon after my grandfather died (years ago now) so I don't remember it well, but here goes.
My grandfather was driving with my grandmother in the passenger seat on a normally busy road, but due to the time of day there was no one else around. They come to a red light at an empty intersection (also usually busy) and my grandfather stops. The light turns green, but my grandfather feels the need to wait a few more seconds. As he's about to shake off the feeling, a car comes FLYING across the intersection going at least double the speed limit. If my grandfather had gone as soon as the light changed it would have obliterated them. She said it still gives her chills to this day.
9.
Worked as a Shot Girl at a pub. One night I rejected someone who attempted to get my number. Not unusual and he didn't seem that bothered. The whole exchange wasn't strange to me. In the early hours after the bar closed I went to leave through the back door into the car park like usual when I saw the sensor light outside was on. Someone was stood just outside the door. I felt uneasy so went out the front and asked one of the bouncers to walk me round the back to my car. As we rounded the corner we spotted this guy lurking outside the door holding his belt like a makeshift garotte. When he saw us he started screaming that I was a... well, you know and I should die. He scampered off into the road and never came back.
8.
We've all seen that Final Destination scene with the lumber on the truck. Well, I tend to ignore things like that. But at the same time as this giant truck merged into the highway, both me and my girlfriend got a terrible feeling and we pulled off into the shoulder of the highway. Not three seconds later, the ropes on the truck snapped and the lumber was all over the road causing multiple accidents and total gridlock for hours.
7.
Not me but my best friend was driving to California from Arizona with her 2 year old for work, (about 5 months ago) and she stopped at a gas station and just got a weird feeling. She normally doesn't lock her car when she pumps gas but she decided to do it. During that process a woman came up to her and started talking all nice and whatnot, She got an uneasy feeling about it and heard a noise like someone trying to open a door. She turned around and saw the woman's husband trying to get into her car to steal her baby.
She told him to get the away from her car, and the man tried to play it off. She told them to f off and got in her car to leave.
The couple got in their vehicle and followed her, tried to swerve her off the road and brake check her on the highway for a few miles. She was smart enough to call the cops (This was in Primm Nevada btw) and they caught up to her and ended up arresting the couple. They had gotten multiple reports that day of issues like that.
6.
One day I heard a weird ambient noise in my house. My parents were gone, and I was alone with my 2 brothers. It didn't sound too weird, but I knew something was up. I got up and started to roam the house and found the source of the noise: my parents' bedroom. It was coming from their bathroom, and when I tried to turn on the lights in there, I stepped in water. For some reason, the pipe to the toilet was busted, and had flooded their bathroom. I called them, and by the time they got home, my bathroom had gotten a pipe busted too, and water was in the hallway.
Could've been in some hot water if I hadn't checked the noise out.
5.
My daughter was a year and a half at the time. She had a cold, but bedtime went off without a hitch. I woke up in the middle of the night that night, really uncomfortable and anxious. Something was off and I couldn't put my finger on it. I got up, had a midnight snack, tried to calm my nerves. I decided to check on my kids, who shared a room, before trying to go back to sleep.
I get in there and immediately I hear a light sound coming from her crib—wheezing. It was so quiet, there was no way to hear it outside of the room. I got her up and saw that her breathing was fast and labored. I took her to the hospital, where she ended up with an overnight stay, oxygen, and nebulizer treatments because her oxygen had dipped. She was diagnosed with Reactive Airway Disease due to the cold (which triggered the asthma attack).
4.
Riding a motorcycle. Driving a little too "spirited" for time of night and area. Hair stood up on back of my neck. I slowed down to under the speed limit ( shaved almost 240 kmph off my speed) come over a hill and there is about 7 deer sitting on the road. I would have obliterated at least 3 of them doing the speed I was before I slowed down and in no way would be here today. Had to pull over up the road I was shaking so bad. Rode home and ordered new headlights and started riding a lot smarter.
I had learnt a year or so before that ignoring the hair on the neck almost always ends up in a bad situation. No longer ignore it.
3.
I'm a type one diabetic with Gastroparesis and chronic vomiting disorder. When I get sick, I get REALLY sick. Back in early January I got a stomach bug from my daughter. After not being able to hold down even water for a few hours and my blood sugars spiking upwards with insulin not even touching them my partner and I ubered to the closest hospital. I was given IV fluids and antiemetics plus IV insulin for a few hours and then told that had "gotten me through the peak" of my illness and sent me home.
As soon as I got home and the meds wore off I was back in the exact same spot. So three days later we go back to the ER. Exact same song and dance. As the doc was telling me she was going to send me home, I was leaning over the side of the bed and puking into a bag my partner was holding. She had to raise her voice to be heard above my retching to tell me "I think you're fine and I'm sending you home".
I begged her to keep me longer for treatment. I told her I wasn't comfortable with that and felt unsafe going home like that. She basically told me that was too bad and that they needed the ER bay for "someone with an EMERGENCY and not the tummy flu"
I don't actually remember much after that. I remember going home and asking my partner to kill me because it hurt so bad and no one would help me. I remember paramedics in my house. I remember being in emerg and suddenly not being able to breathe after nine failed attempts to get an IV into my dehydrated veins. Then I just remember my partner saying "this is too much, I need to call your mom. I'm sorry" and then I woke up two days later in the ICU.
So I guess after we got home from the second ER visit I was still uncontrollably vomiting and heaving. My blood sugar wouldn't budge a single mmol. SO was wetting down my hair with washcloths in bed while I was puking into a giant mixing bowl. He says he went to empty it for me and noticed solid pieces in the stomach bile and had a terrible feeling about it.
I hadn't eaten anything or even had more than a few sips of water for the past week. There shouldn't have been anything solid. So he ended up calling 911 for me. When the paramedics got there, they said I was so sick they would have to take me to the closest hospital, the same one that kept sending me home.
So he lied to the EMTs. Told them my endocrinologist was at a different hospital so they'd have to take me there. He saved my life that night, without question. My body had gone into complete DKA and was starting to "eat" my internal organs for energy. The solid bits in my puke? Pieces of my stomach lining, apparently.
If it wasn't for him, I would've stayed home that night and most likely died in my sleep. His gut feeling told him I needed help and he was right.
TL;DR, SO realized I was sicker than we thought and called 911 apparently just in time.
2.
I was about to cross a bridge at night, on the campus ground, to get to my dorm. I had to get into a faculty area to get to the bridge. I suddenly felt the urge to turn away as I neared the faculty area.
As I turned away, I heard the sound of falling plastic bottle in the middle of the deserted parking lot. It would be less scary if it didn't happen on Sunday night and if the university was not famous for being haunted. I didn't dare to look further. I quickened my pace and chanted Jesus's name in my head as I hummed religious songs.
I learned from a few seniors that that particular faculty is known to be a bit problematic and there are rumours that the students from that faculty did some questionable rituals on the parking lot.
1.
To preface, I have never had ANY strong gut feelings before this, but had been in sketchy situations. I always figured they didn't work.
Last February, my boyfriend and I went to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Everyone kind of stays in the same tourist area for the celebrations, but we decided to head to a different part of the city far from the tourist area to try out a brewery.
We ended up getting stuck in traffic and both had to pee, so we stopped at a liquor store. When we got out of the car, I noticed a woman in her mid-30s in a bizarre costume sitting on the side of the road using her cell phone. It's Mardi Gras and people are a mess so I didn't give it much thought, but did think it was weird she was all dressed up, alone, and not by Bourbon Street.
We go into the store, come back out 20 minutes later, and the woman is in the same spot, still on her cell phone.
We get into the car and start configuring the GPS when I suddenly felt really anxious. I looked out of the window and the woman was standing there watching us. My boyfriend rolled down the window and asked what was up. She said she had gotten split up from her group of friends and needed a ride to where they were staying because her phone had died hours ago and she couldn't get in touch with them. My stomach immediately went into knots. I had just seen her on her phone. I remember her saying "I know I look crazy, I wouldn't give me a ride either if I were you."
My boyfriend flew off without saying anything. He had gotten the same feeling I had too. I don't know what would have happened to us had she gotten into the car, but I don't think it would've been good.
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