Have you ever walked down the street at night and kept glancing over your shoulder, as if something were following you? That’s your survival instinct kicking in. It may sometimes be unrealistic, but it’s your brain’s way of keeping you alert.
Sometimes, though, it goes beyond that. You might not even be in a dangerous place, yet your gut tells you something isn’t quite right. That’s when you listen — or at least, when you should. The people in today’s story can attest to that. They shared the times their gut instinct told them to leave, and they listened. Only later did they find out why, so here’s what they had to say.
#1
Hiking in a slot canyon and noticing a trickle of water running down the floor of the canyon.
I told my friend to get out and hurry back the way we came. Within an hour the canyon was half full of raging water.
I told my friend to get out and hurry back the way we came. Within an hour the canyon was half full of raging water.
26points
#2
During a Thanksgiving a couple of years ago, I wasn't feeling well, and my eyes kept watering, plus they felt very heavy. I asked if anyone else felt weird, but everyone kept saying it was fine, so I just opened a window, thinking it might be allergies or something. We were about to finish cooking, but I still felt really weird, and I was low-key having a panic attack. Right around then, some of my family were about to smoke a blunt, and I was like, "No, we need to leave." Also very rude to do that in someone's home. So anyway, I threw a fit, and everyone kind of humored me, and some of us went outside while my brother started checking the house. The propane heater was messed up and leaking propane into the house. That's why my eyes kept watering. I'm so glad they didn't light anything, and I thank God we didn't pass away that day.
21points
#3
I was a photographer working with models at the time, and myself and the model found ourselves at what appeared to be an abandoned roadside stand. There was a small enclosed building, covered in dust, and a small stand with random bits and pieces strewn about. Visually interesting so we pulled over and started setting up for our shot.
It’s not even a minute before we just feel off. Not to the point that we rush to our cars but we quietly acknowledge to each other that we should be on guard. And then the feeling shifted so suddenly. The birds stopped chirping and the air felt heavy; I could feel the dread in the back of my throat. Without words, the model and I started back to the car.
Out of nowhere, an older man with white hair emerged from below a hill. We saw him crest the hill and contemplated running the rest of the way to the car but Midwest nice got in the way of reason. We said hi, apologized for stopping, and tried to walk away but he pursued. At that moment, divine intervention saved us.
A woman pulled up in a car and yelled ‘Oh thank goodness I finally found you. Come on, let’s go, your father is on his way to fix your car’.
And without any hesitation, we got into the stranger’s car and drove around for a while until we all deemed it safe to retrieve my car. When we asked her why she stopped, her only explanation was that something was telling her we were in danger and she had to intervene.
Many thanks to that kind woman. Who knows how the story may have turned out without her quick thinking and willingness to stop.
It’s not even a minute before we just feel off. Not to the point that we rush to our cars but we quietly acknowledge to each other that we should be on guard. And then the feeling shifted so suddenly. The birds stopped chirping and the air felt heavy; I could feel the dread in the back of my throat. Without words, the model and I started back to the car.
Out of nowhere, an older man with white hair emerged from below a hill. We saw him crest the hill and contemplated running the rest of the way to the car but Midwest nice got in the way of reason. We said hi, apologized for stopping, and tried to walk away but he pursued. At that moment, divine intervention saved us.
A woman pulled up in a car and yelled ‘Oh thank goodness I finally found you. Come on, let’s go, your father is on his way to fix your car’.
And without any hesitation, we got into the stranger’s car and drove around for a while until we all deemed it safe to retrieve my car. When we asked her why she stopped, her only explanation was that something was telling her we were in danger and she had to intervene.
Many thanks to that kind woman. Who knows how the story may have turned out without her quick thinking and willingness to stop.
21points
What makes someone turn around because the vibes feel off? And what exactly is a gut feeling? It turns out that psychologists refer to this kind of instinct as “thin-slicing,” a term that describes the brain’s ability to pick up on subtle patterns from brief moments of experience in a fraction of a second.
This means that when something feels off, the brain may pick up on microexpressions, body language, tone of voice, or even unusual details in the surroundings faster than our conscious minds can process them, triggering a reaction to leave.
#4
When we were kids my mom used to take us berry picking in the evenings in the spring just for something to do, my dad worked late and it stayed light out until like 10 so she basically wanted us all out of the house and tired out for bedtime. And also we got a ton of berries to eat, both there and after.
One night we were at this primo blackberry patch and she was all of a sudden like get in the car. My mom is a nice lady but she was an 80’s-90’s mom and never the type to ask twice. So all four of us dropped our buckets and got in the car. I remember when we got home we a) had no buckets of berries at at all, not even one single berry to snack on, and b) my mom’s explanation was fairly vague, like “oh yeah, this man alone came over to me and started asking me too many questions about how many kids I had and who all was with us, so I thought it was about time we leave.” Like even to my eight-year-old ears she was *too* casual about it.
Like twenty-five years later my mom told me she has never had as premonitory a feeling as she did when she met that guy at the blackberry bushes. And by this time she was a RETIRED FEDERAL PROSECUTOR OF 20 YEARS. Her pattern recognition for and exposure to this type of behavior was off the charts, and yet... .
One night we were at this primo blackberry patch and she was all of a sudden like get in the car. My mom is a nice lady but she was an 80’s-90’s mom and never the type to ask twice. So all four of us dropped our buckets and got in the car. I remember when we got home we a) had no buckets of berries at at all, not even one single berry to snack on, and b) my mom’s explanation was fairly vague, like “oh yeah, this man alone came over to me and started asking me too many questions about how many kids I had and who all was with us, so I thought it was about time we leave.” Like even to my eight-year-old ears she was *too* casual about it.
Like twenty-five years later my mom told me she has never had as premonitory a feeling as she did when she met that guy at the blackberry bushes. And by this time she was a RETIRED FEDERAL PROSECUTOR OF 20 YEARS. Her pattern recognition for and exposure to this type of behavior was off the charts, and yet... .
17points
#5
About 15 years ago I was driving from Delaware to New England with my family in the car. There was some work going on that was messing up the highway thru south jersey, so we stayed on the PA side.
Drove up thru Philly no problems.
get up towards trenton, I wanted to save some time so we got off the highway and the plan was to cut thru downtown to get on 95 and continue on our way... should save an hourish.
here's the kicker... its was 2am.
There's no one out, at all. Ghost town.
we stop at a red light... and the blue lights come on behind us. what? wasn't speeding, I know I stopped at the lights... cuz im still stopped.
Biggest cop I've ever seen, like Shaq's big brother, gets out of the car walks up to my door. I roll the window down.
Doesnt ask what I'm doing litterally asks "what the hell are you doing here?" told him.
He thinks for a minute and tells me that if I turn left at this light, that road will take us to the highway.
and we should speed and run every light we hit between here and there. he'll call it in so no other cops will stop us.
*blink*
I'm a combat veteran. The tone of his voice.
We hit 80 in downtown trenton.
Drove up thru Philly no problems.
get up towards trenton, I wanted to save some time so we got off the highway and the plan was to cut thru downtown to get on 95 and continue on our way... should save an hourish.
here's the kicker... its was 2am.
There's no one out, at all. Ghost town.
we stop at a red light... and the blue lights come on behind us. what? wasn't speeding, I know I stopped at the lights... cuz im still stopped.
Biggest cop I've ever seen, like Shaq's big brother, gets out of the car walks up to my door. I roll the window down.
Doesnt ask what I'm doing litterally asks "what the hell are you doing here?" told him.
He thinks for a minute and tells me that if I turn left at this light, that road will take us to the highway.
and we should speed and run every light we hit between here and there. he'll call it in so no other cops will stop us.
*blink*
I'm a combat veteran. The tone of his voice.
We hit 80 in downtown trenton.
16points
#6
Me and three friends, in our twenties, at Costa Rica’s capital San José. Part of town called Coca-Cola, not safe it turns out.
We have backpacks and are roaming around searching for our hostel. Turns out it does not exist anymore. At all.
We stand at the abandoned entrance like idiots, looking around. A local lady comes to us and says:
”See those guys over there?”
Points at three people talking on the other side of the street, occasionally glancing at us.
”In 2 minutes, they are about to rob you. You should get a taxi out of here, _now_.”
We did.
We have backpacks and are roaming around searching for our hostel. Turns out it does not exist anymore. At all.
We stand at the abandoned entrance like idiots, looking around. A local lady comes to us and says:
”See those guys over there?”
Points at three people talking on the other side of the street, occasionally glancing at us.
”In 2 minutes, they are about to rob you. You should get a taxi out of here, _now_.”
We did.
16points
#7
Boat from mainland Thailand to one of the Islands. Female, 22, travelling alone, had run out of money until my sister could wire some to me, so I bought a cheap ticket in the hold. It was only when I sat down on the floor with my backpack chained to my leg (like the seasoned traveller I thought I was), that my eyes slowly acclimatised to dark and I saw I was surrounded by 30 men also sat on the floor of the hold, and staring at me while sniggering and nudging each other. I don't scare easily - especially not then - but every part of my body was screaming get the f out of here right now. My brain was saying you've just paid £6 for this ticket and you can sleep on the boat and tomorrow you'll have some cash, and if you get off you'll literally be on the street for the night in a deserted dock town. It took about 2 minutes and one man moving over to me before I jumped up and speed walked off the boat, before walking round all night until I could get my money. Still makes me shudder.
15points
And in a way, you can quite literally sense danger before you even see or understand it. This is because sensory input, such as sounds, subtle smells, and visual cues, can reach the amygdala, the brain’s threat detector, milliseconds before it reaches other parts of the brain, including the visual or auditory cortex.
So, if you ever find yourself in a situation where you get that sinking feeling in your stomach or even experience sudden nausea because you feel you shouldn’t be in a particular place, it may be your nervous system triggering a stress response that affects your gut.
#8
We were walking along a sea wall in Hawaii and while my friends were looking at stuff on the wall, I saw this massive swell starting to come up on us. I panicked and started yelling that we needed to move and they just looked at me like I was stupid until the water started rushing at their feet and calves. So we ran and barely made it onto the shore without getting washed away.
The area behind the sea wall had filled up completely with water within seconds. There had been people in the area looking at tide pools. Thankfully they all made it out ok too. It was really scary.
The area behind the sea wall had filled up completely with water within seconds. There had been people in the area looking at tide pools. Thankfully they all made it out ok too. It was really scary.
14points
#9
This was a few weeks ago. I was doing a short work placement in Banff, Canada. I'd brought my bike and had taken to biking the townsite and trails after work in the evening. One evening I'm biking the road by Vermillion lakes. One other group of cyclists goes past the other way early on and after that I'm alone. It's starting to get dark but I have a light. Take some photos of the first and second lake, stop for a drink, and keep cycling.
You can hear the main highway not too far away for a while then the road takes a bit of a turn away between the second and third lake and it gets quiet. This is nice. Trees on either side, quiet evening, nice and peaceful, and suddenly every instinct in me starts screaming "turn around and crank it".
I proceed another 5 or so second, and vaguely feel like i hear something in the trees.
Turn around, and switch the bike into top gear back towards the townsite. Glance back over my shoulder a few dozen meters later. Oh look, there's a *BEAR* on the road.
Nope, nope, nopity, nope.
I learned that it was possible to hit 30kmph on an 8 speed bike when you're motivated enough (yes, I'm aware that I wouldn't have been able to outrun him/her even at that speed, but was the best chance I had).
You can hear the main highway not too far away for a while then the road takes a bit of a turn away between the second and third lake and it gets quiet. This is nice. Trees on either side, quiet evening, nice and peaceful, and suddenly every instinct in me starts screaming "turn around and crank it".
I proceed another 5 or so second, and vaguely feel like i hear something in the trees.
Turn around, and switch the bike into top gear back towards the townsite. Glance back over my shoulder a few dozen meters later. Oh look, there's a *BEAR* on the road.
Nope, nope, nopity, nope.
I learned that it was possible to hit 30kmph on an 8 speed bike when you're motivated enough (yes, I'm aware that I wouldn't have been able to outrun him/her even at that speed, but was the best chance I had).
13points
#10
I was at a Walgreens and ran into an old friend of mine who I have not seen in a few years. He asks if I wanted to hang out and he could introduce me to some new people. Everything in me told me to leave now, don’t go, leave. A few hours later I see his mugshot on tv, him and his friends had robbed a bank shortly after I saw him in the store.
13points
#11
Not scary but scary to me looking back if I didn’t listen. I was supposed to go boating with my sister for the 4th of July. Last second I felt like I shouldn’t go so I didn’t and I stayed home while my mom went out. An hour after my mom left I heard my elderly cat screaming and went in and knew something was wrong and called my mom crying. She came home and he passed away in our arms that night. Had I not been home he would have died alone and we only would have known when someone got home and found him.
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13points
Unfortunately, the people on this list aren't the only ones who have had this experience. Studies on intuitive decision-making suggest that 80% of adults report having a strong gut feeling that later proves correct.
Cognitive psychologist Gary Klein conducted research on experienced professionals, including firefighters, ER doctors, and military veterans. His study suggests that these individuals rely heavily on their gut instincts in high-stakes situations because their brains have built up extensive subconscious libraries of patterns from past experiences, allowing them to recognize situations and make quick decisions.
#12
Strongest intuitive gut feeling I’ve ever had was walking home around 1am after working late at university.
I was walking down the dark path leading from the building to the street, which was surrounded by trees, and looked to my left to see a guy just standing there staring at me. I instantly felt sick, and started sprinting down through the trees toward the street.
He followed me across the street and into the gas station shop I ran into, and left when he saw me using the phone. Police later used the CCTV footage to identify him, and called to tell me he was a known predator. THANKS INTUITION!
I was walking down the dark path leading from the building to the street, which was surrounded by trees, and looked to my left to see a guy just standing there staring at me. I instantly felt sick, and started sprinting down through the trees toward the street.
He followed me across the street and into the gas station shop I ran into, and left when he saw me using the phone. Police later used the CCTV footage to identify him, and called to tell me he was a known predator. THANKS INTUITION!
12points
#13
Dragged my friends out of the swimming pool at our apartment complex in Topeka Kansas when it had just started lightly raining. They were annoyed.
Three minutes later the swimming pool was struck by lightning. It boiled. Blew out my dads amp in our apartment and set off 6 building fire alarms in the surrounding apartment buildings.
I was 11 years old.
Three minutes later the swimming pool was struck by lightning. It boiled. Blew out my dads amp in our apartment and set off 6 building fire alarms in the surrounding apartment buildings.
I was 11 years old.
10points
#14
I once made friends with a colleague, and we used to sometimes go to the beach. We had similar backgrounds in common, and had a bunch of mutual friends. Once I was at the beach with him doing nothing much and an extremely clear voice in my head said 'he's going to hurt you'. It was out of nowhere, I was in no danger at the time, and sometimes I get anxiety and random cognitive noise so I disregarded it. He did in fact go on to become physically intimidating, and eventually stalked me. I will never ignore brief, clear, matter of fact types of thoughts like this again - they are intuition.
10points
#15
I was a teen working at a pizza place. I was sent outside to clean the windows when I noticed a very cliche white van sitting a few parking spots over in front of the physical therapy place next door no big deal but the dude was staring at me.
I kept an eye on him as he got on the phone and not too long later another van this time being burgundy pulled up too but right behind me. Both men got out of their vehicles and walked towards the door and I got a prickle feeling on the back of my neck.
I set down the window cleaning stuff and high tailed it into the shop. My manager took their order while I hung out in the back They got one small 10 inch pizza then left separately in different directions. I found this super strange for several reasons. One small pizza isn't enough to share for two grown men. Why did they meet up just to leave in two different directions?
Everytime I tell people this they say it was probably fine and I'm being dramatic but I really feel like I wouldn't be here today if I didn't go inside.
I kept an eye on him as he got on the phone and not too long later another van this time being burgundy pulled up too but right behind me. Both men got out of their vehicles and walked towards the door and I got a prickle feeling on the back of my neck.
I set down the window cleaning stuff and high tailed it into the shop. My manager took their order while I hung out in the back They got one small 10 inch pizza then left separately in different directions. I found this super strange for several reasons. One small pizza isn't enough to share for two grown men. Why did they meet up just to leave in two different directions?
Everytime I tell people this they say it was probably fine and I'm being dramatic but I really feel like I wouldn't be here today if I didn't go inside.
10points
#16
Not sure if this one really counts because I only had seconds to process that decision, but:
I was at a farm (south Florida) flagging the surface water and wetland boundaries. I was inside this vegetated area that was surrounded on three sides by a large farm ditch. Well, where you tie the flag material is where the surveyors will later come along and get that data point, so you need to be as accurate as possible.
So I’m tying flags to vegetation right at the edge of this ditch. I looked down and I saw this weird bowl-shape in the ground by the water. So I squatted down to look at it, because it looked like some farm hand took a shovel and just kind of scooped out a bowl. And I was thinking to myself “why would someone dig right here?”
Then I looked to my right and saw a mound of dirt. It was at that moment I realized it was an alligator nest and I needed to get out of there. About 1 second later the momma alligator came right out of the water at me(from about 3 feet away). And I managed to leap backwards and then further backed myself behind some bushes. That was probably the closest I had been to being gone.
I was at a farm (south Florida) flagging the surface water and wetland boundaries. I was inside this vegetated area that was surrounded on three sides by a large farm ditch. Well, where you tie the flag material is where the surveyors will later come along and get that data point, so you need to be as accurate as possible.
So I’m tying flags to vegetation right at the edge of this ditch. I looked down and I saw this weird bowl-shape in the ground by the water. So I squatted down to look at it, because it looked like some farm hand took a shovel and just kind of scooped out a bowl. And I was thinking to myself “why would someone dig right here?”
Then I looked to my right and saw a mound of dirt. It was at that moment I realized it was an alligator nest and I needed to get out of there. About 1 second later the momma alligator came right out of the water at me(from about 3 feet away). And I managed to leap backwards and then further backed myself behind some bushes. That was probably the closest I had been to being gone.
10points
#17
I was taking a bath. My partner came in to ask me if the lights were flickering at all because he noticed the refrigerator and oven were flickering on and off. I asked him if the lights were flickering in the rest of the apartment, and he said no.
I immediately got out of the bath and told him to grab the cats because there was an electrical fire. We then heard a loud POP! outside - we went out to look and sure enough, a transformer and a power line were enveloped in flames.
I immediately got out of the bath and told him to grab the cats because there was an electrical fire. We then heard a loud POP! outside - we went out to look and sure enough, a transformer and a power line were enveloped in flames.
10points
Many stories that show the power of gut feelings, beyond animals instinctively responding to their surroundings in nature, appear throughout history. In 2004, when the Indian Ocean tsunami caused massive casualties along the coasts of several countries, the Indigenous Onge and Jarawa tribes on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands reportedly suffered very few losses.
And it may have been thanks to their instincts. Reports suggest that they noticed subtle environmental signs, such as unusual bird calls, strange ocean currents, and changes in animal behavior. By paying attention to these signs, they then fled to higher ground before the tsunami waves reached the islands.
#18
This was in my early 20s. I was inside a packed bar/nightclub with a bunch of friends. We were bar hopping and stuff. I just got this super odd feeling where it felt like I sobered up almost. I don't know how to describe the feeling I got. Like everything got much clearer and my ears almost blocked out most sound.
I then heard a voice from a distance saying something to someone in an aggressive manner. No idea what they said but the tone immediately made me want to get out. I immediately told my friends that I'm getting a really weird vibe and we gotta go. And they insisted in staying because we were having a good time. But I was not able to carry on after that.
I was able to finally convince them to leave. The next day, I saw on the local news that a few people got hurt at that bar/nightclub after we left.
I then heard a voice from a distance saying something to someone in an aggressive manner. No idea what they said but the tone immediately made me want to get out. I immediately told my friends that I'm getting a really weird vibe and we gotta go. And they insisted in staying because we were having a good time. But I was not able to carry on after that.
I was able to finally convince them to leave. The next day, I saw on the local news that a few people got hurt at that bar/nightclub after we left.
9points
#19
Swimming off Sandy point, West end of St. Croix with some very trusting friends visiting from the states, in semi deep water where the turquoise azure waters turn to darker hues of blue, like 30-40 ft depths…my friends were following me, trusting me, and as I scoured the waters up ahead I noticed fish, lots and lots of reef fish, hurriedly swimming in our direction and something immediately clicked in my mind to look out for something much bigger that must be chasing them. Sure enough, beyond the steady stream of escaping fish and off in the distance, I see 2 long, dark shapes making their way towards us. They were 2 large oceanic white tip sharks. I knew these as dangerous sharks. the very rare few cases of fatal shark attacks in the US Virgin Islands have been from these, most recently in January of this year off a West end St. Croix beach where a visiting tourist was fatally bitten. My friends never saw them but I did. I swam back to them & told them “we must go now.” They were spooked, tried to ask questions but I just said “follow me, NOW!”
We made a beeline for the shore which was a good 75-100yards+ away. We had snorkel masks but did not have fins so we were slow and splashy. I stayed behind or next to them and made sure my friends were headed to shore before me. I’ve never been so grateful to make it back to land as I was that day. I still think of that from Time to time and the spookiness of it never fades.
We made a beeline for the shore which was a good 75-100yards+ away. We had snorkel masks but did not have fins so we were slow and splashy. I stayed behind or next to them and made sure my friends were headed to shore before me. I’ve never been so grateful to make it back to land as I was that day. I still think of that from Time to time and the spookiness of it never fades.
9points
#20
My work crew were eating at a restaurant and I looked out the window and saw the sky was green and black. I told everyone that we needed to go.... NOW. Everybody made it out but my partner and I because we caught a red light. That's when the tornado touched down.
9points