43 Of The Wildest “We Need To Leave Right Now” Experiences

Wasn’t so much as we but me. I was early elementary waiting for the school bus in my driveway. I lived in the country so they picked you up at your house and I always waited halfway down my long driveway until I saw the bus crest the top of the hill.

While I was waiting that classic p**o, windowless, unmarked, utility van pulls into the bottom of my driveway. A man pops his head out the window and waves at me and says he lost and needs directions. I instantly get that bad feeling about the guy and start slowly backing up my driveway shaking my head no at him. He says he can’t hear me and asked me to come closer. I refused and kept backing up the driveway.

My mom saw this from the kitchen window and came out to see what was going on and he backed out and left. Not long after that a girl was grabbed by a man in a van that matched the description of the one that stopped in my driveway. Thankfully she wiggled out of her backpack and got away but I don’t think they ever found the guy.

Driving in Mexico, north of Monterey. I was in a big suburban and suddenly feel this bump from behind. Look over to see a 'taxi' with two guys in the front. They were waving for me to pull over. I noticed there was no back-seat. I immediately thought 'nope, not pulling over to end robbed, r***d and shot in the desert. I floored it and left them behind.

Lived in Maine.

Went into the grocery store for a few items and saw this....very very very off looking individual walk down the ice cream aisle where I was. I got an insanely weird and panicked feeling, and told my girlfriend that we needed to leave immediately. It made no sense at all, but we quickly went through self checkout and left.

5 minutes later the person that I saw took out a knife and slit the throat of an elderly woman on the same aisle I was on, k*****g her. Apparently, the lady "looked at them funny."
They looked unhinged and I've always wondered what would have happened had I not bailed as fast as I did.

Was chilling in the back yard in San Diego with my wife and 2 year old daughter. All of the sudden I hear my wife scream and yell “GET IN THE HOUSE NOW!” Suddenly I heard a loud buzzing sound and started seeing bees everywhere. Once we got inside there were bees all over my house crawling on the windows. Apparently there was a migrating hive and my house was in the way. Never seen anything like it.

Wont be as bad as some, but was driving in remote Cambridgeshire fens, 40ish miles of terrible roads, sun was going down, and we pulled into a dodge flatroof pub to use the bathroom.

Went in, the bar was completely full of blokes silently watching the tv. Not one of them moved, said anything, or acknowledged me in any way, not even the barman. Got to the bathroom, light wasnt working, had to p**s in the pitch black. Blokes were in the same positions when i got out.

Got back in the car, my gf said she needed the loo to. Told her to put her seatbelt back on, cuz we were leaving now before we're burnt in the wicker man. I know it sounds silly, i just didnt want to be there when the sun went down.

Drove like the clappers until i reached the motorway, then we pulled over again.

Not sure why, but one of the creepiest and most unnerving experiences i ve had. Something just told me to scarper.

Not terribly terrifying, but led a group of students (boarding school) to a roller skating rink. We pull up and there's a KFC next door... kids always want fast food so I said OK, I'll get a coke and then go to the rink. When I got to the register, the cashier said 'Those seem like nice kids' Always nice to hear that they are being polite. I say something like 'Thanks, yeah, they are nice kids.' She replies 'You probably don't want to be here after 9.'


Thankfully, the kids figured out that a metal detector at a roller skating rink is a good indication we don't want to stay long. We were gone at 8:15.

This isn’t as terrifying as others, but it’s my most terrifying moment. You know when you hear on tv/radio “This is a test of the emergency broadcast system. This is just a test.” Well, I was living on a spit of land with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and a river on the other, and a nor’easter was barreling up the coast. It was just me and my baby at home at the time. Suddenly I heard on the radio the familiar buzz of the emergency broadcast system, then “This is NOT a test. Repeat, THIS IS NOT A TEST.” Then the electricity went out. This was before cell phones and computers. I didn’t know what to do because it was very much a flood-prone zone and I didn’t want to drive into a flood with my baby. About an hour later the National Guard came banging on the door and evacuated us in a big army truck. That was scary. Wish I had a cell phone back then because I’d have taken a photo of the soldiers holding my baby while I was climbing into the truck.

4th of July out in the wilderness. Me and my ex-gf figured we'd sit at the base of the foothills and take in the town fireworks. picnic-style, the whole 9 yards. We're sitting there around dusk, with no one around, and then I look about 125 meters away and saw that something was in the tall grass with it's head popped-up (it looked like a mountain cat at the distance.) I didn't think to much of it - thought my mind was just playing tricks on me. so I looked away. A min or two later I look back over in the general direction and this cat is a little more defined and making a direct line for us. I ask the ex-gf if she sees what I see. and she says "O, my god. That's a mountain lion." We didn't wait to ask questions, We noped the F out of there.

Was in a busy public square in France, and a car drove by, slowed down, and someone threw something out of the window that landed with a metallic "plink" sound about 20 feet from me. Lady sitting on a bench next to where it landed jumped when she saw it - it was a small Propane cylinder, wrapped in duct tape. I picked up my kid and ran. It didn't blow up, and police who arrived a few minutes later didn't make a big fuss, but it sure as H**l looked like an IED to me. 

Hiking with my now-husband on a 10,000+ year old indian trail now called El Camino Real de los Tejas. We came to a pond that was eerily quiet and I felt a twinge in my gut that it wasn't a safe place to be. He thought I was crazy when I told him it was too quiet and not to stand close to the water's edge. I soon started hearing alligator calls and across the water was a huge gator coming right for us. I told him to get out now. We ran back to the ranger station and as we were leaving, I asked about what I saw, she nonchalantly says, "oh yeah, that's just Snappy." As if it happens every day.

Not terrifying, rather lucky..

I heard of a house party after a local concert. It was at my friend's house who was under 21, I was just over 21. I figured there would be more people my age because of who attended the concert. I showed up with a case of beer and realized I was the ONLY of age person there. I said, yall keep the beer, I'm out. As I was leaving, just out of the driveway and on the street I saw 2 cop cars coming up with their lights off to bust the party.

2 AM or so, driving in an unlit road.


There was a guy laying on the road perpendicular to the road. The person driving slowed down and started to take off his seat belt, to move the person off the road.


Something felt off, so I told him not to stop and drive around. The body wasn't there anymore on the way back. 


Could have just been a drunk guy, or it could have been a trap. I'll never know

Shooting in the parking lot of a mall. Everyone b*m rushed in the opposite direction which for me and about two dozen people was inside an Apple Store. We all ran into the closet of the store until we got the all-clear. Apparently it was a couple of idiots fighting over a parking space and not some mass shooter. It was scary though.

One time, I took my sisters to the local park with my wife. We had a good time, and when it was time to go, I noticed some guy in a beige sedan pulled out and was following us. I wasn't sure, but I remembered when I was young someone was following my mom around once (long story) so I just kind of felt it? I whipped into a grocery store parking lot and parked somewhere. My wife started wondering what was up, so I explained my thoughts and saw he pulled into a spot at the very end of the parking lot, staring. He didn't get out, he didn't move. So I pulled out and in front of him to block his car, and we had a fun little stare down. After a second, I pulled off, down the street into a sonic parking lot, and back up to the store. Sure enough, he was gone. I'm not sure if he was actually following us or if I just scared him away from buying milk, but it freaked me out at the time

In the mid 90s, me and a friend were running the streets at age 14/15, at about midnight or so. We had just gotten off the max at 122nd and Burnside in portland and walking to my old house to meet a friend on 133rd down burnside, behind the old ballpark. About halfway there, a white van was heading towards us opposite side of the road. (Burnside is split by the max train tracks and one way each way, can't turn around unless it's a marked turn). I got the worst feeling and told her we need to cross now. I think that dudes going to come back around on this side. We ran across and sure enough, he's creeping on the other side now. He passes us, we cross back to the other side. This goes on for about 5 blocks. We think we lost him, turn onto my street and he's sitting 2 houses down from where I lived. The smile on this creeps face still gives me chills to this day. Lucky for us, my friend was waiting on my porch, saw the entire thing and chased the guy off. Years and years and more years later I was listening to a podcast and they were talking about Bobby jack fowler. Looked him up and it was the creepy dude in the white van!!!!! I cant believe we survived this guy. I wish we had called the cops at the time, but we were more concerned about smoking pot.

Me and my mom were homeless and lived in and out of our car for awhile which believe it or not has downsides.

We tried to park in nicer areas but not so nice you stick out. One night two dudes started banging on the windows and yelling what sounded like German (we live in Mass, USA). You never really slept when you were sleeping in a car kind of just this half sleep so Mom instantly woke up, turned the key and we left. She made peace with my grampa after that and we stayed with him thank god. So althrough scary, thank you darkly dressed possibly German carjacker dudes!

It was 1am and I was just about to get out of work. I was alone, and closing that night. Right about the last hour before closing I suddenly got the feeling like I was being watched. The hair on the back of my neck and arms stood up and my heart and breathing suddenly increased. I kept telling myself it's okay, remain calm. I turned on all the lights outside the building, but couldn't see anything out of the norm. Something kept telling me GET OUT, LEAVE NOW! HURRY! So I called a friend told them what was happening and gave them my location and told them to call 911 if something happens to me.

I've only felt that feeling one other time in my life. It was when I was almost abducted in a grocery store parking lot as a kid.

It's the feeling of being hunted, like prey. Your instincts kick in and it's like [what the heck]!

Texas freeze. Lived in a trailer in the country and I had an infant. It was icy. And I also had my now ex husband and his son, and a hairless cat.

We waited until we could wait no longer- and left to my parents house at midnight. It was icy, our toilet water and dish soap were frozen solid. Covered pipes burst. We didn’t get home for five days, luckily my parents are caterers so we cooked for the Power Plant people. My ex was very bad at making decisions so I took charge. I’m glad I did. We were alternating sitting in the car. It was way too much. Plus carbon monoxide poisoning is a thing, people died. I truly hate January and February. People might call this actual trauma and I’d probably agree.

I was staying at a road house in the Avenue of the Giants. The roadhouse had an attached bar and restaurant and the locals were talking about possible mountain lions in that area.

Early Next morning, I drove a few miles north, stretched , and set out for my run. A few yards down, I heard what could be described as a child wailing. In the complete silence of the predawn, the sound was horrifying. I have never run faster in my life to my car.

Was in Panama late 90’s for annual training (Army) and went to a club off post to have a few drinks with friends. We were told not to go off post and not to be in civilian clothes because not everyone is welcoming to our presence. We were there drinking and laughing for a few hours. Shortly after dark we noticed militants lining the wall of the club with AK’s and other weapons.
We left almost immediately.