“Something Wasn’t Right”— 25 Times People Trusted Their Instincts and Escaped Danger

We’ve all had those moments where something deep inside us tells us to leave immediately. Call it instinct, intuition, or survival instinct—sometimes, our gut feelings can save us from danger. A Reddit thread asked users to share their scariest “I need to leave… NOW” moments, and the responses were both chilling and fascinating. Here are some of the most gripping stories.

#1

Image source: Ok_Water6863, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Just happened to me. I was in Las Vegas for a work event and I went to taken an elevator up to my room on the 44th floor. When I got on, there was already one man who had pushed floor 27. As the doors were closing two guys shouted “hold the doors” from the hall, but the man who was in the elevator with me, was pushing the door closed button. The two guys from outside the elevator managed to stick their arm between the doors at the perfect moment to open the doors back up and get on. The two men who just got on pushed floor 32.

As we went up, the doors at floor 27 opened, but the first man didn’t get off (this was the floor he had chosen before I even got on). The elevator stopped at floor 30 and one person got on and pushed the button to floor 40. Floor 32 came, the doors opened, and the two men asking to “hold the doors” got off. Meanwhile, the first man is still on the elevator. He kept looking at me and I just got a bizarre feeling. He wouldn’t stop staring at me even when I was giving him mean looks. so when floor 40 opened I got off with the person who pushed that floor’s button.

I was pretty freaked out at this point so I actually went to the lobby and got a hotel worker to take me up to my floor. This whole deal was probably another 10 minutes when i finally reached my floor with the hotel worker. We took a hall that curved, and once we rounded that curve, i saw that man who was originally in the elevator with me that was staring. Looked like he was just pacing the hallways.

I told the hotel worker that was the man who I was concerned over and they called security to come get him while the hotel worker and I went back down to the lobby and waited till it was clear.

I’m not sure of anyone’s malicious intentions in this situation, but I wasn’t going to f**k around and find out as a younger petite woman.

#2

Image source: Salt-3, Viktor Avdeev / unsplash (not the actual photo)

I got into an Uber. He had his hood up, didn’t look at me, and didn’t say a word. As soon as my door closed, he took off. He asked me where i lived and how to get there. I told him to follow Uber maps. He asked again. He was driving erratically and running stop signs. So i told him to turn onto the street we were riding parallel to. He passed multiple turns, blatanly ignoring me. He asked me if I had a music preference, and i said no. He picked a song and turned the volume to max. Not just a little loud, all the way up. He opened his console and reached in, sprayed cologne on himself. Then, offered me gum, taking a piece for himself. I politely declined. He started reaching all around the back seat, saying he dropped his piece. I NEVER SAW HIM DROP ANYTHING. The song blaring was saying, “Is there anyone out there cuz it’s getting harder and harder to breathe”. Mind you he picked this song, it wasnt the radio.

There was a UPS truck blocking the one-way street. Knowing this may be my only chance to exit the vehicle, i quietly unbuckled with one hand, and the other was on the door handle. as we approached and he was forced to slow down to a stop, i dipped and sped walked the other way.

It really felt like he was getting ready for something. To rob me, r**e me, traffic me, k**l me. I dont really know, but I had a horrible feeling. Was the music maxed out so nobody could hear me?

I have never heard my gut so loud in my head repeating over and over. “Get out.”.

#3

Image source: 2spooky4me5ever, Mitchell Hartley / unsplash (not the actual photo)

I was a little kid living in a low income s****y apartment complex. I was walking home from the store one day with my kid sister and noticed a weird guy following us like, 6 feet behind. I started weaving through the apartment buildings and he followed. We were freaked the f out and I told my kid sister that we absolutely couldn’t go to the building we actually lived in because he’d know where we lived.

We hauled a*s to the apartment manager’s office and told the woman inside we were being followed. They let us hide in the bathroom and called the cops. Unexpected from low income housing but the woman inside had kids so she took it seriously.

The cops came and took down our description of the guy but they didn’t look for him immediately. The lady let us stay until our folks got back from work.

A week later we saw cops and the dude got taken away in handcuffs on our way home from school. I guess he also lived in the complex and was beating his own children.

I don’t know if anything was happening to us but it was the 90’s and stranger danger was still shoved on kids where I lived so he triggered my fight or flight. I’m very grateful the lady in the office believed us. Scary stuff.

#4

Image source: llamafriendly, Adrian “Rosco” Stef / unsplash (not the actual photo)

I was assessing a man for mental health reasons at a community mental health agency. He wasn’t okay, so I was asking my standard questions to determine his mental status. He was saying odd things and then locked eyes on me. His eyes were fully black, so completely dilated. He was looking too intently at me for too long. He asked if I knew what it felt like to be shot. I said no and asked if he experienced that, but he stayed silent, still looking at me. A shiver ran up my spine, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I had an instant flash of him lunging across the desk at me come into my mind, like it’s what he was thinking of doing. I immediately left the room saying I’d be right back. I ran to a co-workers office and locked us in, calling 911. I attempted to get him moved to the ER, but they sent PD and put him in a psych hold cell. I assessed him at the PD outside of the room. He then said to me that I had ruined his day; he had planned to “chop” me up and bury me.

I had one situation previous to the above where I saw, only seconds before, what bad thing was about to happen before it happened. I didn’t listen to my instincts then and wish I had. I am grateful I listened to them this time. I think the human brain has some amazing ways of protecting the body and I experienced that. I always listen to my instincts now and train my staff to do the same.

#5

Image source: sewflamingo, Majestic Lukas / unsplash (not the actual photo)

I invited a guy I’d only just started seeing over for a drink, and my usually overly friendly dog snarled at him and wet herself when he walked in. When she didn’t stop I told him a friend had just text saying she needed help with something and bailed. When I drove home later that night he was still sitting in his car two houses down from my place, watching my house.

#6

Image source: sylvanwhisper, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo)

I went to Nashville for a concert with a friend. We got into a taxi (this was right before Uber took off) and directed the driver to our motel. For a while he just made small talk. Very friendly guy. He was one of those people that come off a little lonely and a little socially awkward.

The hotel was about thirty minutes away. He was sort of exhausting and I was already looking forward to being out of the car.

About ten minutes in, he says “Motel 6 huh? I heard they had bedbugs.” I actually had checked recent reviews because this is one of my fears. So I said that. He said “Oh, no, they probably still do.” And keeps really pushing the point. I said i knew how to check for them and if they do, we will move.

He says, “Well, why don’t you girls stay with me and my wife?” And he goes on about how much better and comfier and safer it would be. In the South, you do have people who would totally offer this, be sane, and okay. He was a bit older, so at first, I just thought he was a bit behind the times. But then he kept pressing the point and making us uncomfortable. He finally said, “Nothing would happen to you.”

I got chills. I said our friend and her boyfriend were expecting us at the motel. I said, in fact, that reminds me I need to call and see if they’re there so we will know if we need to get the room key from the office.

Those friends didn’t exist, so I called my mom and asked her a question that is code for “I’m in trouble” and she played along until he was convinced.

I think if we’d gone with him, we’d have never been heard from again. Or at best, we’d have woken up somewhere violated.

#7

Image source: Fantastic_Exit_6868, Liam Martens / unsplash (not the actual photo)

My friend and I were traveling Europe and she was single so we met up with a few people on her tinder to show us around the place. We’d met 2 guys already who had given us tours so everything had been going fine. It was getting kind of late and she wanted to meet one guy who was very attractive but I wanted to go home. I didn’t want to spoil her excitement so despite not wanting to, I told her I didn’t mind. We met him in a crowded bar, but he had brought along a friend who was much older than us, and he also looked nothing like his pictures. They tried to buy us drinks and insisted they ordered them instead of us getting the drink directly. We said no and they basically ushered us out of the bar to go to their “preferred bar” and he dabbed up the bouncer while going in. I’ve never felt so uneasy seeing someone interact with a bouncer like that. Something about the situation said “he could do whatever he wanted and get away with it because he was the king here and he knew it”. I knew if I didn’t do something then, something really bad would have happened to us.

I didn’t know what else to do so I pretended to have a psychotic breakdown outside the bar. I learned one of the few things a cocky man fears is an unstable woman. He tried to “calm me down” and anytime he stood near me I screamed at him like I was maniac. He went from confident to terrified pretty d**n quick and my friend said she was gonna take me away for a few minutes to a less busy street to calm me down and we’d come back. He started following us as we walked down the street and we both ran back to our accommodation. Thankfully she was just as scared as I was and was incredibly grateful I was able to think fast like that. Still gives me the shivers when I think of it.

#8

About five weeks ago I was walking my foster dog early morning through the city. My area is pretty well lit and there are usually other people walking around. Overall a pretty safe area, but still not an ideal situation for a single girl in her twenties.

My foster was sniffing some plants when this guy in all black comes running out of nowhere towards us. It’s not uncommon for early morning runners, but he was beelining straight in our direction.

He asked where a certain trail was a few blocks away. I started to explain how to get there when all of a sudden, my foster dog goes NUTS. Prior to this, I had never heard her bark. She loves people, is incredibly sweet but a little timid. Never displayed any aggression, ever.

This guy set her off. She was growling, lunging and freaking out trying to get at him. Once I got over the initial shock of the change in her personality, my internal alarm bells started ringing as loud as her barking. It was a primal “you are in danger” kind of feeling, so I turned and RAN with her without saying another word to this guy.

Two hours later I get a neighbor alert about a man in all black who attacked a woman the same exact time, two blocks away. It was the same guy.

I 100% believe my foster picked up on his energy before I did and saved my life!!

Image source: itsafoster4medawg

#9

Image source: phelpska, Val Vesa / unsplash (not the actual photo)

I was on a small Horizon Airlines flight, sitting on the window of one of those small flights that are just 2 seats per row. After I get settled, an older guy sits next to me.

The entire flight, we don’t say a word. But he does give me a funny look when I ask for a beer to drink.

We land, folks start deplaning. It’s one of those small flights/airports where you can exit from both the front and the back. Folks around us start shuffling off, this dude is just sitting there, looking straight ahead. Doesn’t move a muscle. At first, I just assume he doesn’t know our exit is behind us. I lightly tap him on the shoulder, politely tell him we can go.

The dude turns to look at me with the most intense face and quietly says: “I don’t converse with liars.”

I don’t know what it was, maybe his low/but intense tone. Girl-instinct kicked in and all the hairs stood up on my arm. I realized that it was pinned in by this guy. He is too big to get around.

Fewer and fewer people are on the plane. This guy is just radiating this intense, mean, aurora. I tried to press the attendant call light, but it was too loud for anyone to hear it. Finally this nice man caught my eye, and basically forced this guy to let me up.

I dont know what happened to him, because I literally ran through to the pickup point. But I’ll never forget feeling helpless and trapped in those 5-10 minutes.

#10

Image source: othybear, Giulia Squillace / unsplash (not the actual photo)

I was driving home alone from a college party to the apartment I shared with my then-boyfriend at 2 am. The car I had was s****y and couldn’t handle the freeway, so I was taking a roundabout route home. It was maybe a 45 minute drive. I noticed shortly after I left the party that someone was follow me, turn for turn. It was very apparent they were following me specifically after I took many turns and we were nearing my apartment. I didn’t want whoever it was following me knowing where I lived, so I tried to lose them. It didn’t work. Instead, I decided to pull into the cop station that was a couple of blocks from my apartment. They were well lit and open. The dude following me drove away very quickly, and I had a cop follow me all the way home to make sure I made it back in one piece. I don’t know why they were following me, but the fact they’d been following me since I left campus meant they probably didn’t have any good intentions.

#11

Image source: FunctionalERP_92, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo)

During college, I had procrastinated and had a paper due in the morning that I had barely started. When I would do this to myself, my typical remedy would be to head to the library and pull an all nighter. It was maybe a 10 minute walk from my house just off campus.

I’m making decent progress as the night goes on, but I’m just feeling mentally burnt and my gut is telling me I’ll be more productive if I get a few hours sleep. The library started to feel uncomfortable for some reason.

I packed up and left, walked home, and as I’m stepping out in the back porch to smoke a jay before bed, I hear a not-too-distant pop pop pop sound. As my phone began to blow up a few moments later, I found out that that quick pop pop pop was the school police taking down a school shooter. Shortly after I’d left, he had walked into the library, shooting and paralyzing one student just outside (a hero who managed to call 911 before passing out), and shooting a few others inside before going outside for s*****e by cop.

Campus was a wreck for a few days. Many other times I had stayed through the night, often popping outside for a quick break in the same area where the first student was shot.

So i guess it may not count as scariest in the moment since it was just a tired feeling and gut feeling of needing to lay down for a while rather than imminent danger, but thought I’d share.

#12

Image source: Elasmophile, Jakub Kriz / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Just after Thanksgiving friend and I were driving up a mountain on a narrow gravel road to hike to a peaceful and stunning overlook. We got stuck behind a powder blue rusty 90’s Ford truck going a little faster than idle speed and began to get frustrated. We rounded a turn and saw there was a small old dog running along side the truck. The truck stops, opens the driver-side door and the dog hops in. We both then felt bad for thinking bad things about the driver, he must have just been looking for this dog. The truck starts up again and after several hundred feet the truck pulls over to the left side to allow us to pass. As we pass the driver is an older man, with missing teeth, dead eyes and straggled hair. We locked eyes in slow motion and he had the most evil, hateful look on his face. A shiver went down my spine and the hair went up on my neck. I joked with my friend to break the tension in the car, “Well that’s not terrifying, he definitely would k**l us.” We enjoy a lot of dark humor. I look in the rear view mirror and he is still watching us. He has an 8 point deer skull tied to the front bumper. We shook it off and didn’t think much of it after that. In the south you get all sorts of folk around these mountains.

We get to the small parking area and hiked the short distance to our spot. To my knowledge, the way we took was the only trail available to get to the overlook. We arrived, excited we had the place completely to ourselves and enjoyed the view. We were glad we chose the smaller public mountain overlook than the much larger but more crowded one further up the mountain. We talked and reminisced old memories, traded war stories about jobs. It was a perfect afternoon before she had to fly back home. We had been there for about 20 minutes when suddenly we heard a jingle coming toward us. It was the old dog, about 50 feet away. Then we see the shadow of that man barreling toward us, behind the dog from a different direction than the path we took. We both shoot up from our spots and after exchanging a look my friend says, “We need to get the f**k outta here.” She starts running back up the path we took and I’m right behind her. It was hard to hear from the crunch of leaves but we both agreed he said, “HEY, get the hell back here!” I looked back and the dog was at his side. He was not yelling at the dog. There were his hateful dead eyes again, realizing we weren’t going to be polite and stick around. We’ll never know what the hell that man wanted but we both felt that internal panic that every woman knows. I’ve never been back to that spot again but I’ll be sure I’m not alone.

#13

Image source: htx8688, Jordan González / unsplash (not the actual photo)

A couple years ago my kids were at school, we had a threat for severe weather that day, but that’s somewhat common for our area. I had the midday news on at home like I usually do and it was saying we were probably going to have heavy rain at pickup time. Our streets flood easily so I decided to go pickup my kids early. Got the first kid from the elementary and then pulling up to the middle school the sky was a weird black/green color. I was starting to feel uneasy. We got home, I turned back on the news just in time to see them saying to take cover, then the power went out. An EF3 went through our neighborhood, ripped roofs off houses, collapsed a wall at the elementary school. I still can’t believe I got my kids just in time 😭.

#14

Image source: joesjunkhouse, John Thomas / unsplash (not the actual photo)

I was out hunting with my son. He was 10 at the time. We were walking an old logging road to a cut block in a pretty overgrown area. We got to the trail leading to the cut block and started in. We got about 30 yards when I stopped dead in my tracks. I didn’t think to stop, my body just did it on its own. I had my hand on my kids chest, my hair was standing on end and I’m trying to figure out what was going on. This all happened in a split second. My instincts were screaming run. That’s when I looked up and saw the a*s end of a grizzly with last year’s cub about 10’ to my right in the underbrush. The air that was in my lungs decided to leave making a noise and it spooked the both of them. They EXPLODED through the bush away from me. Spun the kid around and hightailed it out of there. Got back to the truck and the kid said, thought we were going hunting? He hadn’t noticed what happened or saw anything, completely oblivious. On the drive home I think I realized I smelled the bear (if you’ve been around them they have a very distinct smell) and my caveman brain kicked in. Not the last time I walked in on a grizzly but the closest call I’ve ever had. If she had seen us first it would have been over before I could have done anything. Still get the shiver thinking about how close that was.

#15

Image source: GloomyPassion8049, Caique Morais / unsplash (not the actual photo)

I was around 12 when this happened, but I was lost in a Walmart looking for my brother when this older guy about 50-60, was following me. I noticed and tried not to look nervous. I was waking faster and he sped up with me, I moved to a different aisle to try to lose him but he was still following me, that’s when I bumped into an employee stocking inventory and saw my brother. Shortly after that we left.

I don’t know what he would do if he had gotten me or why he was following me, but I am grateful my brother found me when he did.

#16

Image source: zoethesteamedbun, Ioann-Mark Kuznietsov / unsplash (not the actual photo)

When my mom failed to strangle me when I was 16. It was the first time in my life I ever actually swore at her and she lunged at me and put her hands around my throat and pushed me down with all her weight on the couch. My stepdad, brother and aunt all watched as I started to lose consciousness (to be fair my brother and aunt were younger than me and screaming and crying for her to stop). I managed to kick her off of me when my stepdad finally began to pull her off of me, I scaled a couch and ran to get my phone from my room and they both beat me over the head as I’m trying to escape the house and they are trying to pry my phone out of my hands. My exit was blocked and I knew they wanted the phone and as soon as I let go I ran to the balcony and jumped off the second floor onto some grass and ran to my neighbors house I had never talked to to please let me inside that my mother was trying to k**l me.

They let me in and I found out that day that calling the cops is never a good idea, even if you’re in trouble. My mom got to the police first and told them a very fake story that my stepdad backed up and she coerced my brother to lie as well. They made me beg her to let me stay and not be brought to juvie (my whole life she fed me stories about how much worse it would be there or being in the system and to never talk to cops or CPS).

I left home very soon after and am not the same 20 years later, I’ll never forget the feeling of I HAVE TO LEAVE OR I WILL DIE and have severe anxiety issues. Her abuse definitely lead me down a path to more abuse as well as an adult… there’s so much trauma surrounding this event….

#17

Image source: OhMyCuticles, Walter Fieuw / unsplash (not the actual photo)

I was on a solo drive on a non-busy, scenic parkway that has a lot of historic/picnicking/bathroom stops and I stopped at a bathroom to pee. There was a small old building that had bathrooms split by a corridor which had pamphlets and brochures for various local businesses. Those bathrooms were closed, but there was a trailer-like temporary-looking bathroom structure placed to the side of the building to address this.

On further inspection, I saw that the door on this bathroom did not lock. Furthermore, the toilet was about 10 feet from the door in this needlessly spacious bathroom, so holding the door shut was not remotely possible. I did a small sweep of the grounds and noted that the only person there was an old man who appeared engrossed in the pamphlets.

I felt confident that I could pee fast enough to avoid anyone walking in on me. I swiftly walked to the bathroom. I had my belt unbuckled before I went in, my shorts and undies down on the walk between the door and the toilet, forcefully emptied my bladder like it was an Olympic sport, skipped wiping, and was just buttoning my shorts when the old man opened the door. He didn’t apologize and close the door. He just… stood there and stared at me as I finished buckling my belt.

I had all kinds of sirens blaring in my head at this point and I’m not sure how I stayed so calm but I just started making friendly small talk as I slipped by and got the fuuuuuck outta there. Logistically speaking, based on where he was and how fast I was, he would have to have known that I was in there. He must have been moving towards the bathroom as soon as I shut the door. All indications pointed to him hanging out at this stop and watching a bathroom that he knew didn’t lock (and possibly caused not to lock?!) so that he could intrude on people in the middle of their business. AT BEST. Ugh.

#18

Image source: hunkpobbit, Shayon .S / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Went to a park near my house with the intention of smoking a joint. There was this big empty stretch of grass sandwiched between a playground and a soccer field. I was getting ready to spark up, then I see a disheveled looking white guy slumped over in front of the public bathroom. I think nothing of it, sometimes there are junkies at this park. I’m about to take the pre roll out of my pocket, then I get this weird “I NEED TO LEAVE NOW” feeling. I look back, the dude is stumbling to his feet, and starts screaming gibberish. He starts running at me and yells “YOU! B***H WITH THE RED HAIR!” I had just dyed my hair and there was nobody else around, so I booked it and started running towards the soccer field where some kids were playing.

I approached this random middle aged woman who was walking in the direction of the crazy dude. I tell her “hey that dude is unstable, don’t go there,” and she immediately turns around and walks with me. She says to me “My son’s soccer practice is about to end, you can stay with me until he goes away.” The kids start walking off the field and getting into their parents cars, then the crazy dude emerges from the bushes and is screaming some more gibberish about 9/11 and how the the city is being “dirtied by brown people,” (almost everyone at this park is indian or middle eastern). Everyone is understandably put off by this, the crazy dude picks up a rock and throws it at someone walking by (didn’t hit them). Then out of nowhere this dude throws himself on the hood of a car that is leaving the area. The dad in the car with his 2 kids revs the engine and turns on the windshield wipers, the crazy dude falls on the sidewalk and they drive away.

At some point during the chaos, people called 911 and several cop cars showed up within minutes. At this point I decided to go home. Later I check the NextDoor app and it turns out that this man was reportedly involved in a heated confrontation at a nearby McDonalds and flashed a handgun at the other person. When the police were called, he made a run for it and ended up at the park. He was arrested there and they found the loaded handgun and several magazines of ammo in his backpack. Could’ve easily been a mass shooting situation based on the way he was acting.

TL;DR – Went to a park to smoke w**d, got yelled at and chased by a tweaker who was harrassing others in the area, jumped on a guy’s car, threw rocks at people, and ended up having a gun the whole time.

#19

Image source: chocolate-loverr, Curated Lifestyle / unsplash (not the actual photo)

This guy my age used to come into my work regularly. He would chat with me and my coworker and was very friendly. We ended up exchanging numbers and going out to the same bar one night. He was a large guy, tall and just generally big. It was getting late and he wanted to leave. I did not want to go home with him as I saw him as a friend. The bar was so busy, full of people. He grabbed my wrist and tried to lead me through the crowd out the doors. I tried to pull away several times to go find my friends/get away. I told him I need to find my friends, tried to tell him I needed to go to the bathroom, he insisted we go and would squeeze tighter. I got a horrible gut feeling and knew I needed to get away from him. Thankfully we were in a very crowded place so I kept continually pulling my hand away and finally got my wrist loose. I saw my friend and we went into the bathroom. I told her we needed to leave. I don’t know why but I just got this horrible feeling that I had to get out of there and couldn’t forget the grip he had on my wrist. He was standing by the door waiting for me but her and I snuck through people and ran away. We were staying in a hotel near by for a friends birthday and we ran the entire way there.

#20

My two friends and I were roaming around a park night in a not so great part of LA. We had a few drinks, a few smokes, and there was a stage in the park so I started singing and playing on it. My two friends were laughing and we were having a grand old time.

Afterwards, we started across the park back towards our car. It was maybe 10pm at this point and dark. We got to a point where we could go to our car or venture underneath the freeway through a tunnel to a newer part of the park.

I’m always aware of my surroundings and had noticed a very sketchy guy who had slowly, gradually been following our every move. He watched me on the stage and he followed us across the park in the distance hiding behind trees.

We got to the tunnel and my friends said “let’s go here!” And walked off without me or asking me if I wanted to go. Within seconds, this dude popped out from behind a tree the closet tree to the tunnel opening and tried to follow them into the dark tunnel.

I said “GUYS!!!!!! I HAVE TO SHOW YOU SOMETHING LETS GO!!!!! ITJUST GOT DELIVERED TO MY HOUSE!!!!! LETS GO!!!”

They stopped. Turned around and said ok. The guy slipped back behind the tree. When they got closer to me I told them what was happening and we all booked it pretty quickly to the car.

I know for a fact if I wasn’t on my toes that guy would’ve robbed my friends in that tunnel, if not worse. I’m glad I was paying attention. Could’ve been a real bad event.

Image source: Lightningbeauty

#21

Image source: Iflydryandsly, James Sullivan / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Walking to my now wife’s place in east London in the early 2000’s.Sunday afternoon, was eerily quiet, I passed under a sky crane that looked like it was being raised to a higher level. I remember thinking that if that collapsed on a busy day, there would be carnage. I booted it to my partner’s place and sat down to watch an old black and white movie, across the bottom of the tv screen a news flash came across. The crane I walked under had collapsed, k*****g 3 people. To this day it freaks me out.

#22

Image source: DaZoomies, Rhea Lofranco / unsplash (not the actual photo)

I was ten or eleven years old. We were staying at a hotel in Nashville. I was roaming by myself in the lobby area when I suddenly had a sense someone was following me. I remember walking onto a bridge of some kind, it must have been outside in front of the hotel. I stop to “look at nature” but really I think I was trying to figure out what was going on. I sense someone has also stopped a bit past me. I look over and see a much older man, scraggly. He gave me this terrifying smile and everything in me just came alert in that moment. I turned and booked it back into the hotel lobby where I spotted a family of brothers I had been chatting with in the pool the day before. They were sitting just hanging out and I plopped right down with them. I remember telling them someone was following me but that’s about it. I never saw the guy again. I think about that moment a lot and wish I had told someone. But I never mentioned it to an adult. That man was a predator through and through.

#23

Image source: ejedus, FORREST CAVALE / unsplash (not the actual photo)

This was a few years ago. I had just finished a day of kayaking at lake Pillsbury in Northern California. I’m driving my two seater truck back to town when I come across three young men. It was a nice day so I’m driving with my window down when one of them called out to me saying they had been walking for days and requesting a ride.
The lake I was leaving is accessed by a long, winding, narrow dirt road in the mountains, basically in the middle of nowhere. It was a weekday afternoon so no one was really around and it didn’t look like these guys had any water with them. I instructed them to hop in the bed of the truck and I’ll drive them into town. It took about five minutes for the pit in my stomach to start to develop. Here I am in the middle of nowhere where outnumbered three to one and I suddenly have this feeling of dread.
I’m watching them in the rear view as I drive and they are talking amongst themselves and glancing my way. Now luckily for me, as I mentioned before, the road was dirt and windy. I speed up a bit to keep them off balance and keep an eye on them as best I could. It took about twenty minutes before the gut feeling finally started to dissipate. It took about forty five minutes until I was able to drop them off at a corner store in Potter Valley, where they offered me some cash. I declined and went about my day.
When I get home , I’m cleaning up my gear from the day and as I’m in the bed of the truck I find a bullet rolling around. I’m not sure what their intentions were but they couldn’t have been good.

#24

30 years ago I was young and I’d just moved to Vancouver from London and I still in ‘holiday’ mode so my guard was down. Because Vancouver then was utterly delightful and nothing like the s****y but if London I had left. So that night I’d met some new friends for a couple of drinks and then got a cab to my apartment.

I got out the cab and saw two guys walking towards me. I didn’t think much of it when they walked up the steps of my building behind me. I opened the door and held it for them (how f*****g stupid am I?). Just as I got to the elevator I realised they were standing weirdly, too close and either side of me not talking.

That’s when I realised I needed to get the absolute f**k out of there. I could hear the ancient elevator coming and just before it got to us, I pushed hard past one of them and ran. I banged on some of the neighbours doors and got to the stairs.

I heard them run, thankfully back out the main entrance and they left the building. If I’d gotten in that elevator I dread to think what would have happened. Always listen to your gut instinct and don’t be afraid to make a scene.

Image source: Mischeese

#25

Image source: AvidHarpy, Zac Ong / unsplash (not the actual photo)

I worked in a small, tourist town one summer in the 90’s and there were always a lot of different people passing through, military groups, temporary staff, etc but a group of 3 guys in particular gave me the serious creeps. It near the end of the summer season and we went out on a quiet week night for a few good-bye drinks with some friends who leaving to return to school. The group got pared down to myself, 2 female coworkers (Cindy and Mindy) who were leaving and Rob, who Mindy had been casually dating. We had been hanging out at a pub and decide to head out to another bar as some friends had said they might be there.

We get there and the place is very empty, maybe 2-3 other tables and no sign of our friends but we decide to just have one more drink. We sit at a table that is tucked away and are just chatting over our drinks when a table of 3 guys move to the table next to us. The one guy keeps trying to aggressively strike up a conversation and making dumb/rude comments (negging lite). We are not interested, so I just give one word answers and focus on my friends…not rude, just not interested. At one point he starts getting pissy and belligerent as to why won’t chat with them and I tell him, “Look, no one here is interested in hanging out with or chatting with you guys. We are having a last visit, please leave us alone.” And he gets right irate and starts on about how “He is just trying to be friendly and people go out to bars to meet people and what is my problem!!”. I tell him my problem is that he won’t take a hint nor politely being told that we do not want to hang out and if he could just f**k off at this point. He calls me a rude b***h and moves with his buddies to a table in a differnet section of the bar and we don’t see them again.

About an hour later, Cindy and I decide to head out..say our good-byes to Mindy and Rob and start walking home. Neither of us were intoxicated as we had each had about 4-5 beers in about 4 hours and I get this strong, urgent gut feeling that we need to hurry…so I grab Cindy’s hand and say “Let’s run home..bet we can make it the whole way without stopping!!”. Cindy was a jogger and thought that was a great, funny idea, so we held hands and ran all the way to our accommodation.

Cindy and Mindy headed back to school and 2 days later, a police officer show up where I work. On that night we went out, a woman was s****************d near the bar we were at by men matching the description of the ones who came and sat next to us. The bartender kind of knew Rob and the police tracked him down for a statement and he was able to tell them where I worked (this was pre-cell phones so it took a few days to find the witnesses). Apparently, these guys left right after Cindy and I left, so who knows if they were looking for us or trying to follow us but because my brain was screaming RUN, we were long gone.