That creepy feeling…

Downunderduchess · 2022-03-30T01:09:18+00:00

Ever get that creepy feeling about a person without any solid reason? I was out shopping this morning & was getting a taxi home. I know most of the taxi drivers around my way, but at first glance didn’t recognise this one. It was the only cab there so I decided to just get in & not call for another. Even before I’d sat down I was getting a really bad vibe from the driver. I almost can’t even put into words how I felt. I went to put the window down for some fresh air & it didn’t work, I felt a little rise of panic, but just said oh it’s not working. The driver then lowered my window from his side. It’s not a long trip home so I just tried to stay calm, all the time thinking I am scared of this man for some reason. When we got to my house he said I drove you home here before about five years ago. I just said possibly as I’ve lived here a long time. It sounds like a benign comment but it felt creepy. Couldn’t wait to be away from him. Just a really heavy feeling of badness. Anyone had anything similar?

urbanbuddha · 30/03/2022 02:31

A few months ago I was coming home at night through leafy south London and there was a guy lurking in the bushes. He came out ahead of me but by the time I crossed the road he was behind me. It's really difficult to explain why but I got a really REALLY bad vibe and I'm hard as nails with pervs. As I turned into the road to the station he was still behind me and getting closer but a little bus arrived at a stop just 10 yards away. Saved by the bus! I couldn't believe it.

He disconcerted me so much that I actually reported it to the police the next day. Felt a bit foolish, " there was this really weird guy" kind of thing, but they took it seriously and sent two coppers round for a description.

Kanaloa · 30/03/2022 02:54

That is a bit creepy if he just said it like that. Sometimes I think people are quite cold/don’t feel quite right. If I’m getting a taxi home I often ring DH and say ‘yes that’s me in the taxi, I’ll be at the door in x minutes pop my dinner in the microwave for me!’

Original poster

Downunderduchess · 30/03/2022 03:15

@Kanaloa yes, someone else could have said it & it would have felt entirely ok, it was just his vibe, almost like he had a bad aura (and I’m not really the woo type).

OP posts:

Od130990 · 30/03/2022 03:18

That's really weird, how the hell would he remember 1 passenger from 5 years ago out of 1000's; what a creep! I wouldn't use him again op
Sometimes you just know. Can't explain it but it's the feeling & feelings are not usually wrong.

PissedOffNeighbour22 · 30/03/2022 04:09

Mine was similar to yours, OP.
Caught a taxi from the rank in my local town. Always had to do this alone when out with friends as no one lived my way.

The driver started making very odd small talk, which made me edgy. I can't remember exactly what he was saying but he was starting to creep me out. As soon as we got close to the main road I asked him to drop me at x address - my house (lie). He didn't stop and said 'but that's not where you live'. I hadn't given him my address and I didn't recognise him as one of the few taxi drivers who had ever dropped me at my house (not many would go that way as they couldn't get a return fare).
I insisted it was in fact my house and he slowed down but didn't stop. I fake called my BF to tell him I would be home in a couple of mins and then asked him to stop again and luckily he did but he didn't unlock the door and told me where I actually lived. I told him he was mistaken and he needed to let me out. He unlocked it and I thrust a note at him and rushed out of the car - so fast that I left my brand new coat in the back :(

Another thing I'd noticed when he'd started creeping me out is that he'd removed his council taxi ID badge from the front of the car after I'd got in.

octoberfarm · 30/03/2022 04:41

@PissedOffNeighbour22

Mine was similar to yours, OP. Caught a taxi from the rank in my local town. Always had to do this alone when out with friends as no one lived my way.

The driver started making very odd small talk, which made me edgy. I can't remember exactly what he was saying but he was starting to creep me out. As soon as we got close to the main road I asked him to drop me at x address - my house (lie). He didn't stop and said 'but that's not where you live'. I hadn't given him my address and I didn't recognise him as one of the few taxi drivers who had ever dropped me at my house (not many would go that way as they couldn't get a return fare).
I insisted it was in fact my house and he slowed down but didn't stop. I fake called my BF to tell him I would be home in a couple of mins and then asked him to stop again and luckily he did but he didn't unlock the door and told me where I actually lived. I told him he was mistaken and he needed to let me out. He unlocked it and I thrust a note at him and rushed out of the car - so fast that I left my brand new coat in the back :(

Another thing I'd noticed when he'd started creeping me out is that he'd removed his council taxi ID badge from the front of the car after I'd got in.

That sounds terrifying, @PissedOffNeighbour22

I'm so sorry that happened to you.

Not exactly the same OP but I was once on a walk with my best friend (live in the US, she was visiting from the UK) and we were strolling through a lovely bit of preserved farmland, with my 3 month old in a baby carrier. Very safe area. We were a few miles from home but it was a lovely day, so we walked down onto a lane that we thought we would walk along before turning around, when I saw a man parked in his car by the entrance to the farmland (not unusual in itself) watching us. Perfectly possible he was just sitting there for some totally legit reason but I got a really, really bad feeling about him - felt sick and hot and panicky and insisted to my friend that we do an about turn and head back home. She thought I was bananas but something told me we weren't safe and that I needed to protect us and my baby. Big believer in trusting your instincts when something feels wrong. Still think of it sometimes. Very strange.

Seema1234 · 30/03/2022 05:14

It's not often happened. But we have a neighbour who is always pleasant, never says anything weird. But DH and I both say we wouldn't be at all surprised if he has bodies under his patio. He just gives off a weirdness.

Original poster

Downunderduchess · 30/03/2022 06:24

It’s a spooky feeling for sure, I won’t be getting in his cab again. My instinct was not to get in, however, I had a takeaway coffee and wanted to get home & drink it whilst still hot! It wasn’t worth the horrible feeling he gave me.

OP posts:

Gilead · 30/03/2022 06:37

I’ve always taught dds to take a picture of the number plate and council licence. We lived rurally for years. They still do it and their friends too.
Also taught them to trust their instincts.

HollowTalk · 30/03/2022 06:40

That is really creepy. You know on WhatsApp you can share your location with someone? It's always worth doing that if you're coming home at night. Also you can just take a quick photo of the drivers identity pass and send that too.

I wonder whether any men are ever scared in this sort of situation?

Joystir59 · 30/03/2022 07:04

@HollowTalk

That is really creepy. You know on WhatsApp you can share your location with someone? It's always worth doing that if you're coming home at night. Also you can just take a quick photo of the drivers identity pass and send that too.

I wonder whether any men are ever scared in this sort of situation?

Thank you for that tip about WhatsApp.

HollowTalk · 30/03/2022 07:26

faq.whatsapp.com/android/chats/how-to-use-live-location/?lang=en

On my WhatsApp I click on the + to the left of the message bar.

Covetthee · 30/03/2022 07:46

I knew this was going to be male related.

Ffs when will women be able to do simple things in life without feeling scared or creeped out.

Sorry for everyone who has had to experience this.

howdyhey · 30/03/2022 10:39

I started a new job at the same time as another girl and something about her just seemed ... off. My instinct told me she wasn't to be trusted but I felt awful thinking that because I didn't really know her. It turns out I was right, she got fired after 2 weeks for stealing and then lying about it.

NameChanged15729 · 30/03/2022 11:13

That creepy feeling has happened to me twice in recent memory but this one was the worst. I’m not a nervous type whose afraid of getting in taxis alone either.

It was a couple of years ago. I’d travelled to Birmingham to go to a gig with my sister and as she lived in Wolverhampton I was staying with her afterwards.
The next morning she ordered me a Uber to the train station which was a very straightforward, five minute journey. As soon as the car pulled up I had the ‘I don’t want to get in feeling’ but ds would have thought I was mad so in I went.
I told him the train station and he started driving. He then locked all the car doors which really made me panic! I was already on edge! As we approached the station I could see loads of signposts directing us to the station entrance but he didn’t turn off down any of them, instead he kept saying he didn’t know which way it was but he’d ‘definitely get me to the station’. He said this over and over again. At this point I got my phone out and held it. In my mind I felt like letting him know I could contact someone was a good idea.
He literally drove round and round the station area for the next ten minutes, at one point going a fair distance away from it before coming back on himself. He seemed to be avoiding all the ways to get in while claiming he didn’t know how to get to the entrance. Honestly I was shitting myself.
Eventually he did choose to turn down towards the station which was funnily enough very straightforward. The minute he unlocked all the doors I legged it out of there.
I can’t say for sure but I really felt like he was considering god knows what and backed out at the last minute. Nothing about it felt right.

the80sweregreat · 30/03/2022 13:12

I know someone who had a bad feeling about a man who going to marry her one of her colleagues ( she hadn't met him prior to being invited to the evening reception ) and she turned out to be right.
She often tells the story of how the hairs stood up on her neck and how she had to resist saying ' please , run why you can'!
They are divorced now and he was abusive :(
Some of these stories are so scary and we do have to trust others so much in life, we can't always 'stay safe ' at all times , but I do believe in gut feelings.

YoungSheldon · 30/03/2022 13:23

I get this feeling about one man I regularly see when walking my dog. I always got a creepy vibe from him and could never work out why, he was always pleasant, would say hello when walking past me etc.

One day his dog did something he didn’t like and he was horrible in the way he reacted to it. Threw the dogs ball away from it and wouldn’t let the dog go and get it, kept making it stay still and was shouting at it. I know that doesn’t sound bad written down and sounds like normal training but it was all about how controlling he was when something happened that he didn’t like.

longtompot · 30/03/2022 13:36

@PissedOffNeighbour22 that's sounded very scary. Was the address he gave you your actual address?

CoffeeBeansGalore · 30/03/2022 13:59

I was in hospital in January, very limited mobility. A porter came to take me down for a scan. He just really creeped me out. Couldn't say why, just not a nice vibe from him. Took me a back way to the lifts & I was very relieved to see a cleaner in the quiet corridor.
I'd decided that if I got him again I'd request someone else or a chaperone.
Very uncomfortable experience.

Afterallsbeensaidanddone · 30/03/2022 14:07

we walked down onto a lane that we thought we would walk along before turning around

To you it's a lane. To him it's probably trespassing. I wouldn't worry about that one.

JudyGemstone · 30/03/2022 14:08

@Covetthee

I knew this was going to be male related.

Ffs when will women be able to do simple things in life without feeling scared or creeped out.

Sorry for everyone who has had to experience this.

Funnily enough the two times I’ve experienced this have both been with young women, one only 18.

Can’t say too much as they were clients (NHS therapist) but I had a very strong feeling that I didn’t want to turn my back on them and the whole sessions felt very odd, sort of like they were playing a client and I was playing a therapist. I’m very experienced and not easily unsettled too.

ZimZamZoom · 30/03/2022 14:31

When I first left school, I worked as a Dental Nurse. Busy NHS practice, seeing around 20-30 patients a day every day; so many varied members of the general public passing through the surgery.

One elderly man came into the surgery, he seemed outwardly pleasant, polite etc but I had wave after wave of shivers throughout his whole appointment, I couldn't even bear to look at him tbh.

Absolutely, no idea why. This was 20 years ago and I've never forgotten the feeling he gave me. Like an icy blast of air on a lovely summers day.

Pebbledashery · 30/03/2022 14:38

Oh gosh, this reminded me of a time I believed I was followed home by a man who got off the same tube station as me. I was about 17 at the time. He followed me all the way to my road, I didn't want him to see which house I lived in so I purposely walked past my parents house and to the corner shop at the end of the road. I went in and told the shop keeper I was being followed.. The man who was following me cut down a side gate entrance and I could see him... The shop keeper told me to wait in the shop and after ten minutes the guy who followed me gave up and the lovely shop keeper walked me home.. I couldn't express how scared I was and thought I was going to be assaulted or worse.

PissedOffNeighbour22 · 30/03/2022 19:54

[quote longtompot]@PissedOffNeighbour22 that's sounded very scary. Was the address he gave you your actual address?[/quote]
He told me the directions to my house from where I told him to let me out. I definitely expected him to follow me in the car to see if I was lying.

User48751490 · 30/03/2022 19:57

My radar goes off regularly 😂