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.
#41
When our doula walked through our front door, heard one contraction from my wife in active labour, and mouthed to me “we need to go”. Not super scary but definitely got the heart rate up.
Report
3points
#42
I was in the woods hunting in my state. I’d been out most the day just having a good time, hadn’t shot anything yet but I just like being out in nature so I wasn’t even mad about that.
I’d been walking around and suddenly I realized that there was no sound, no birds, no insects, no squirrels, ect. This is incredibly odd if you’ve spent a lot of time in the woods you know they shouldn’t be that silent.
That tells me there’s a large predator around, and I probably need to go because my current loadout was likely just going to tick it off, so I start to head back and while I was doing that I kept hearing sounds behind me.
I turned and there was a man about 15 feet from me, just following me. My spider sense just started shouting at me so I put my hand on the pistol at my side and told him to beat it. He stared at me for a moment, but before I could say it again he nods once and walks away into the brush.
I just couldn’t shake the feeling there wasn’t something right about him. I like to view the woods as my home, but that day I was the most frightened in them that I’d ever been.
I’d been walking around and suddenly I realized that there was no sound, no birds, no insects, no squirrels, ect. This is incredibly odd if you’ve spent a lot of time in the woods you know they shouldn’t be that silent.
That tells me there’s a large predator around, and I probably need to go because my current loadout was likely just going to tick it off, so I start to head back and while I was doing that I kept hearing sounds behind me.
I turned and there was a man about 15 feet from me, just following me. My spider sense just started shouting at me so I put my hand on the pistol at my side and told him to beat it. He stared at me for a moment, but before I could say it again he nods once and walks away into the brush.
I just couldn’t shake the feeling there wasn’t something right about him. I like to view the woods as my home, but that day I was the most frightened in them that I’d ever been.
Report
3points
#43
When I was 13, I took a few kids I babysat trick or treating in our neighborhood. There was a medium sized hill on one of the main streets in the neighborhood, and I remember feeling really uneasy as we started climbing. There was a guy in blue coveralls standing next to an unmarked white van just over the top. I whispered to the kids not to make eye contact and to keep going. Usually they would argue with me, but they must have sensed the same thing that I did because those eyes stayed on the ground. As we walked past, he called out that he had candy from the company he worked for and asked if we wanted to come over to get some. I remember thinking that it was really fishy to hand out Halloween candy from your workplace in an unmarked van. He then started walking towards us, and I screamed at the kids to start running back towards my house. He got in the van and tried to follow us, but quickly backed off when he realized that there were multiple groups on the street. It still scares me to think about what would have happened if one of the kids had decided to go for the candy or if that guy had decided to just grab one of us.
Report
3points
#44
FL, 2013, walking along a busy road at night to the package store. I always wore a hoody if I went out late, even in hot weather, was always paranoid about attention, especially from the guys that frequented the bus stop. I cross one road the same time some guy was crossing and something in my gut twisted. I started walking faster and he also sped up. Ducked into the collection of stores and he did too. Finally stopped in front of a mattress store with its doors open, don’t know how it was still open but I was so glad it was. Guy stops next to me and says, “you were walking real fast.” I curtly said, “Yup.” He goes, “Did I scare you?” And I just stared down at my phone, ready to go into the store. He laughed and kept going.
Maybe not the scariest but everything in me screamed to not keep walking with him behind me.
Maybe not the scariest but everything in me screamed to not keep walking with him behind me.
Report
3points
#45
I was gonna go hang out with a buddy of mine at a Walmart and just chill. We had had the plans for a few hours when around 9 or so I called him up and was like yo uh you just want to play cod because I don't feel like leaving. And we find out that around the time we would have met up there a mass shooting happened there.
Report
3points
#46
Camping in BC and I thought I heard something. I couldn't get back to sleep. Just me and a buddy, but I convinced him to have coffee in the truck(raining). We had an early day fishing planned, and it was close, so no real step back being awake 20 mins early.
When we were in the truck, quiet and still due to the roenvious 3 days of camping and hiking.
Well, what comes out of the woods and walks by our truck? A pack of wolves. Like 7 or 8. Some big wolves among them, a couple regular sized but there was two huge wolves.
Either way, we drove about 40 minutes to another spot, not the one the wolves were heading towards(assumed den that way, we went a different way).
When we were in the truck, quiet and still due to the roenvious 3 days of camping and hiking.
Well, what comes out of the woods and walks by our truck? A pack of wolves. Like 7 or 8. Some big wolves among them, a couple regular sized but there was two huge wolves.
Either way, we drove about 40 minutes to another spot, not the one the wolves were heading towards(assumed den that way, we went a different way).
Report
3points
#47
I got in an argument with my wife one night and figured I'd go for a ride on my motorcycle to clear my head.
About 3 miles down the road, I got a strong "go home!" feeling, that I initially ignored.
About 4 miles down the road, I get a strong "don't go any further" feeling, and somehow my front tire went flat (what!!), so I pulled in to a gas station to air it up. Then, as I'm about to pull out of the gas station, my motorcycle falls down underneath me (it was dark and there was a patch of gravel that I stopped at).
I pick the bike up, then right as I'm about to pull out onto the road, and fire truck zooms past in front of me with the lights all lit up.
I did not go any further. I took myself straight back home.
About 3 miles down the road, I got a strong "go home!" feeling, that I initially ignored.
About 4 miles down the road, I get a strong "don't go any further" feeling, and somehow my front tire went flat (what!!), so I pulled in to a gas station to air it up. Then, as I'm about to pull out of the gas station, my motorcycle falls down underneath me (it was dark and there was a patch of gravel that I stopped at).
I pick the bike up, then right as I'm about to pull out onto the road, and fire truck zooms past in front of me with the lights all lit up.
I did not go any further. I took myself straight back home.
3points
#48
Spring break in Texas many years ago. The whole house was sleeping in besides me and one friend. We thought we’d be nice and walk to a little market a few blocks away to get groceries for breakfast. No cars along the street, no one inside, not even a cashier. I said we needed to leave immediately. Friend complained but i practically ran back to the condo. Heard police sirens maybe 10 minutes later. Found out via local news that night that the store had been robbed at gun point that morning, about 10 minutes before we got there. To think the robber could have still been in the vicinity when we were walking there chills me. I always trust my intuition.
Report
3points
#49
Kind of the opposite but me, my best friend, and her gf did a road trip from California to Zion to camp. We were driving home in the middle of the night and it was super icy at one point. We were driving super slow because there were no other cars around. All the sudden, a car comes up behind us and zooms around us. A few minutes later, our gps tells us to suddenly make a right turn. It ended up bringing us up someone’s driveway. We left when we realized and kept on the same road. The car that went around us had had its front end crushed by a boulder just a couple minutes down the road. It might have been us if we were going a little faster and hadn’t been led up the driveway.
Report
3points
#50
When I was younger, I was at the gym with my mom. I decided to hang out in the pool for a bit. A guy comes, early forties we will say, I was about… 17? Sure. Me and the guy started talking some. Then it got personal… theeeen it got creepy. I had a bad feeling then, got out of the pool, dried off and went to mom. Told her what happened and how it made me sick and we left.
A few months later that guy was on our news station for heinous crimes.
A few months later that guy was on our news station for heinous crimes.
Report
3points
#51
I was a 15y girl. I had just moved to a new state and was hanging out with a guy from the neighborhood one Friday. We ended up at an apartment complex. The whole place was one big party. I somehow ended up in an apartment that had beer packaging for wallpaper. I was the only girl and the youngest person there by at least 5 years. It was midnight, I got separated from the guy I was with and couldn’t find him. It was the late 1980’s , no cell phones.
All the sudden something triggered my fight or flight response and I knew I had to get out of there immediately. I went to the front of the complex where the washeteria was, found a pay phone, and called my step dad to come get me. I didn’t even know where I was but luckily he did. Found out later two people passed away there that night and a girl was hurt.
All the sudden something triggered my fight or flight response and I knew I had to get out of there immediately. I went to the front of the complex where the washeteria was, found a pay phone, and called my step dad to come get me. I didn’t even know where I was but luckily he did. Found out later two people passed away there that night and a girl was hurt.
Report
2points
#52
I was stalked by a mountain lion in Arizona. Couldn’t really ‘leave’ as we were hiking in the middle of nowhere. When we couldn’t see the mountain lion anymore, we didn’t feel any better. It was terrifying.
Report
2points
#53
During the flood of a river in my back yard, a shipping container form upstream that people use to store things floated by my back deck and smashed into the tree 15 feet away from my 1000 gallon propane tank.
I have never had the "I need to get out of here" feeling more than that 30 seconds.
I have never had the "I need to get out of here" feeling more than that 30 seconds.
Report
2points
#54
Was at a rave in a warehouse where the wooden floor was packed wall to wall with dancing people and bending about two inches up and down with the beat. Told my crew we needed to leave and they came with me.
It didn't collapse, thankfully. Never seen anything like that before or since.
It didn't collapse, thankfully. Never seen anything like that before or since.
Report
2points
#55
Not a gut feeling, more like a thank god there was intervention…
When I was in high school I ran away from home. I lived on Long Island and my plan was to run away to New York City. After messing around for a few days I decided I was going to get to the LIRR and head in. On the way, a teacher spotted me and even though I could have ran away from them, I decided I was caught and just went back home with them. I did not go to school that day. Instead, I sat on my couch watching footage of the twin towers collapsing.
When I was in high school I ran away from home. I lived on Long Island and my plan was to run away to New York City. After messing around for a few days I decided I was going to get to the LIRR and head in. On the way, a teacher spotted me and even though I could have ran away from them, I decided I was caught and just went back home with them. I did not go to school that day. Instead, I sat on my couch watching footage of the twin towers collapsing.
Report
2points
#56
Was in an abandoned house as a kid and we lit a fire in the fireplace in on of the rooms.
It got very smokey in there, so we decided to leave.
Open the door to the hallway and it is thick with smoke. We got out fast.
Turned out some other little scoundrels had set the house on fire not knowing we were inside.
The fire brigade were surprised to see us!!
It got very smokey in there, so we decided to leave.
Open the door to the hallway and it is thick with smoke. We got out fast.
Turned out some other little scoundrels had set the house on fire not knowing we were inside.
The fire brigade were surprised to see us!!
Report
2points
#57
2009, Middle of the night, Chicago, we were about to cross a bridge and noticed two people standing in the middle of the bridge, felt like they could have been waiting for someone, it wasnt super threatening but it made me really uneasy and I went the other way.
Report
1point
#58
I was walking home with my kids from their school and passed a terrifying man. He was coming out from an alley behind a local business where they often had cars parked that somebody would work on. (The business was a rug store.) He was in his 50s, was dressed very sharply in what seemed like expensive clothes: a black turtleneck sweater and what I remember as very nice army green pants. His haircut was sharp. Behind him were two very shiny, black mercedes sedans with dark tinted windows. He looked like maybe he was an officer in the Russian military or in organized crime. A few months later we learned he was the father of the Tsarnaevs, the Boston marathon attackers. I've never been so immediately terrified of a person ever. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. He was in front of me for maybe 2 seconds, not even looking at us, and I wanted to get as far away as possible. I told my parter about him that night. They showed him on the news a lot after the incident, confirmed he worked on cars in that location, which is how we found out who he was. On the news he was always shown looking rumpled and run down. We have always wondered about him and his role.
Report
1point
#59
When I opened the door of an old outhouse and saw blankets and old clothes on the floor of it and they squirmed.
Report
1point
#60
My brother and I were living in Shanghai in 1996, and it was one of their big holidays, like our July 4th. We took the subway down to the Bund (area next to the river) which was full of people celebrating. We saw these people play fighting with these blow up toys, like hammers, swords, etc. My brother and I buy one each and start play fighting with people (mostly little kids who were psyched they we foreigners were playing with them) as we walk towards the river. We get there and continue play fighting, but the kids are getting bigger. Teens. Then young adults. Then all of them together. We found ourselves encircled by about 50 people with play swords, with another 100 or more behind them watching. My brother and I are back to back moving in a circle around as we look at these faces with evil smiles on them. I've never been jumped before, but I knew it was about to happen. I turn to my brother and whisper "run!" and I use my considerable mass to plow a hole through them and we ran for the subway station to get back home, not stopping until we were on the train. Scariest/funniest thing that's ever happened to me.
Report
1point