Something weird has always stuck in my mind

[zuuk]

This happened thirty years ago. I was 18, I’d just moved to London and was living alone for the first time.

I became ‘friends’ with a girl who turned out to be very unstable, and after a night clubbing I had to escort her home and listen to her sobbing for hours and hours. She then told me I had to leave her flat. By this point I was sobering up, probably half tipsy.

It was 4:30AM and I was about to embark on a four mile walk, all alone through central London. Pitch black. I knew a shortcut through a wide alleyway/walkway, that was sort of behind Victoria Station. I wear glasses, and can see alright, but not perfectly. I got around half way up this alley where I see a man, or maybe even a woman. A man in drag I think, around 6ft 4 with green dyed hair, stood to the side looking at me.

I was absolutely petrified, and it was too late to walk back the other way, so I decided to risk it and just keep walking and go straight past him. I’ve hardly ever felt more scared, I could see my life flashing before me, I genuinely thought it was a murderer or a rapist.

I walked past without looking at the person and kept going. They didn’t move at all.

Now over the pat thirty years I’ve recalled this numerous times, and every time I shudder. I have no idea what that person was doing and why they were just watching.

Have you had any weird things that have stuck in mind forever?

I’m pretty sure this is mostly a lighthearted thread. No-one is baring their soul - so to extrapolate into asserting I would deny women’s experiences in all circumstances is slightly nonsensical!

Which particular bits do you find lighthearted so far?
You have the experiences of women which left them afraid or anxious. Who are you and I to tell them that their feelings around these situations are invalid or silly?

Some people would find an argument in an empty room...

Indeed. I’ll take a step back here and get on with my day. One of my new year resolutions was declining to engage in online arguments over not much with people I don’t know and will never know. That doesn’t make a happy or healthy person!

No, I don't find this weird, I would say quite normal for 4.30am London, he'd had a night out and was going home, like you?

Now what would have been weird would have been to happen across a group of kids playing hopscotch.

Some things do stick in your mind because they’ve made you feel uncomfortable.

At a church dance/disco when I was around 10, an old (old to me then- probably in his 50s, as I am now) man kept coming to dance with me during the formation type dances. He reminded me of my grandad a bit, and he kept telling me how pretty I was - prettier than all the other little girls- and my dress was much nicer.

I still remember this 42 years later, as although I initially liked it because he was like Grandad, I became uncomfortable quite quickly.

@Lampshadylady maybe time to brush up on why you made the New Years resolution and why you 'engaged' so soon into that resolution, eh?

I remember when I was 6 and staying on a caravan park on the Isle of Wight, I made friends with a girl a bit older than me.

She persuaded me to steal sweets from the site shop and I can vividly recall being caught and trying to give the shopkeeper back half a jelly crocodile (he didn't want it, funnily enough!).

It's kept me honest ever since!

Another quite uncomfortable memory was at Brownie camp. The Brown Owl’s daughter, who was about 13/14 came with us. We (her and I- aged about 9) were exploring upstream from our camp and a man started talking to her. He said he was a photographer and told her that she could be a model. He asked her whether she had a bikini and told her to go and change into it, but not to tell anyone because he only had enough film for her photos. She did. I remember her in a half lying down position on a flat limestone rock, in this white bikini. He wrote down her address and said he’d send her the photos when they’d been developed.

He seemed irritated that I was there, but didn’t want me to go back to camp alone.

When me & my bestfriend were 15 she was staying over ,it was the 90's so we did a all nighter so we sneeked out of my house roaming the streets these guys id say 18-20 year olds were in a car started to follow us,we ended up in someone's garden to hide.it was really scary ,thinking back i wonder what would have happend if we diddnt get away.

lamp I would hazard a guess you haven't been happy or healthy for a while 😉😂😂

I was offered an 'incentive flight' - DH was in the Air Force, and it was something offered for various reasons, a short flight on a military aeroplane just to see how things work and do a bit of oohing and aahing over the views of the countryside. There were about ten of us going, we had a tour of the 'behind the scenes' at the hangar, and then we were supposed to have a short briefing then a half-hour sightseeing flight on a military transport plane.

I did the tour, went to go into the briefing, and stopped dead with the most intese feeling of dread. I knew that if I stepped on that plane, something terrible would happen. I backed out, the tour and flight went on without me, and nothing happened. But it was SO weird. I'm not 'woo' but nothing, nothing would have got me on that plane.

I should point out, I've flown dozens of times, before and since, and I have zero fear of flying.

I’m not sure if this counts but it’s just a moment I’ll never, ever forget.

I was 18, had gone home with two boys from the local nightclub. My best friend was there too. We were in their flat, laughing and drinking. I knew them vaguely but not well. All of a sudden one of them pulled out a shotgun and pointed it at my head. He was laughing and saying I could kill you if I wanted to. I froze, I can just remember looking down the barrel of that gun and thinking what a fucking twat I was for going home with them. He kept laughing and making it click so it sounded like it was loaded (I don’t know how guns work). It was the most terrifying point in my life. I tried to run for the door but it was locked. I don’t know how long he pointed it at my head but it felt like hours. Eventually he showed me it was empty and he and his friend plus my best friend laughed at how terrified I’d been. I’ve never seen any of them again. That moment of utter horror has stated with me.

I've had a number a weird experiences - some I put down to being woken from sleep and not quite with it. Others with being tired, sometimes I wonder about mental illness. A few family members have MH issues.

A lot of unbelievable stuff happens to me. I think I have a bit of pre-recognition but it isn't fail-safe. I mess up magnetic key cards. I attracted insects as a child. I see things that aren't there (or no one else sees them). I sometimes hear a helpful voice in my head. Sometimes it's more of very strong feeling. Sometimes It's as if it's an actual voice.

I'm late forties and it has almost disappeared now, as a child it was much more intense and colourful. I still get glimpses of things. My house isn't haunted but I sometimes don't think there are only the two of us that live here. I did suspect an old resident was coming in every so often to use the toilet, boil the kettle to make a drink and collect their mail. I got the locks changed but I still sometimes feel not as alone as I should when I'm on my own in the house. It feels comforting rather than frightening.

Another relative shared their similar experiences when they were younger - they'd experienced less but one incident was witnessed and drew attention. They later said they were lying and it was all made up. They were ridiculed at school about it as it got out. I asked a few years ago and they said they didn't remember and no one will talk about it.

I have tried to talk about it with people over the years but I feel like they treat me as if it's all in my head or if it's due to being tired or just woken up from sleep. I feel very wary about telling people this stuff as they generally respond badly and avoid me afterwards. I make up rational reasons myself to explain stuff. It's coincidence, chance, luck or I read situations well.

I imagine man in alley was waiting for sex, either a hook-up or as a male hooker.

I was in the bath with my baby sister when I was 4 years old and she was 2 and half. She showed me her finger tip and it had a smiley face on it sort of imprinted into her skin. I have literally never forgotten it!

Looking back now this man probably suffered from a mental illness

I was 13 and in London, on the tube leaving Stamford Bridge direction

Sitting opposite me was the most striking man, with long blonde hair parted in the middle. Think Hanson in the 90s

He was holding a little blue bag of something, legs parted and half leaning forward. He was chanting something over and over again, I was a child and couldn't help but look

He looked up and met my gaze just as the tube train stopped - then he stood up and I dunno, aggressively flounced off the train looking behind him at me

I have never forgotten him. Chilled to my bones

@Bumbalaya had your baby sister pressed her finger onto a bath toy?

I'm not really seeing what's creepy tbh with the OP. Sounds like the man you saw was a prostitute?

There used to be a huge guy in heels, fishnets and a bad wig near one of my old workplaces so that's what I'd assume anyway...

Back in the day when I was 9. I was playing outside with my little sister, she was 6 at the time. I saw a sliver car drive around a few times and funny enough I got a uneasy feeling. At the time we lived in a flat and remember telling my sister to run upstairs fast as we were going to have biscuits. The car then pulled into our road very fast and a man got out and started to run towards us Thank god we were only on the second floor and use to prop the door open. However I will never forget the terrible panic I felt that day.
I believe if anything makes you feel uneasy or frightened listen to your instincts.

The strangest thing that happened to me, was once I was driving past a graveyard. It was quite local to me so I'd driven past it many times before.

As I drew level with it, I distinctly heard a woman's voice say the name Zillah. It was so clear it made me stop the car, get out and wander around the graveyard (totally out of character I might add) but I could find no graves with the name Zillah.

I was so freaked out about it I told my partner and we both went back together to have another look around. He went straight to the far side of the graveyard and immediately found a grave with the name Zillah H---- on it. Doing some research I found out that she was actually my great, great grandmother.

Very strange.

Mine isn't creepy. I remember being in a cafe. I must have been about 3 years old. And being absolutely fascinated by these two old women who were eating scoops of ice cream from an individual chrome dish. The women were playing with the ice cream though in the way they were eating it. I was amazed that adults would do that, and remember thinking that I would have been told off if I did that.