To get an overwhelming sense of danger from a stranger?

[ThisIsCheese]

The weirdest thing just happened. I’m in the supermarket and as I’m stood selected and bagging vegetables I suddenly feel very uncomfortable.
There is a man about 50 something stood with his elderly mother a few feet away to the side of me and I felt very sick and uncomfortable when I looked at him.
Absolutely no reason for it but it was overwhelming, like a sense of fear he was not a good man.

Completely clueless why I felt that way I moved along quickly but I crossed paths with him again in another aisle and knew he was there before I saw him because the sick / anxious feeling returned.

Anyone else ever had this? I don’t have anxiety or anything but this feeling was so odd, like I could sense he wasn’t a good person.

Never met him before, he could be perfectly lovely but my physical reaction to him was so strong

Malcolm Gladwell's pop science book 'Blink' on instinctive/first reactions is interesting. Some situations we can and should trust our 'gut', is the tldr, but there are sometimes unconscious prejudices at play. A good 'snap judgement' usually depends on a fair amount of experience.

I just screamed, to get the attention of my DF ahead, and just ran away, only to hear him shout "I didn't do anything, I didn't touch her, I didn't touch her" over and over again. I just felt like he was going to reach out and grab me

But he didn't?

And would it be odd that he shouted that in view of some random person having caught his eye and then started to run away, screaming?

He may have been terrified that you were going to confabulate some story of abuse when all the happened was that you looked up and made eye contact with him.

@YesQueen I hope you told someone who could 'do something about it' about the letter because every letter posted out of prison is censored and most especially those of sex offenders. A letter of any kind of threatening language would (should) have been dealt with severely.

I've had a few moments but, the most frightening was a customer in the shop I worked in aged 17/18. She just made me shake so badly, I could hardly write what I needed to and I couldn't speak properly. Funny thing was, her name was Mrs De'ath. No joke.

I know he didn't touch me, but I felt if I didn't get away in that split second that he would try to grab me. I have no idea why! I felt I just needed to get away from him, as if he posed some threat. I explained to my family when I caught up that he didn't do anything, he just scared me. I think they both found it rather funny.

@Solo yes it was reported to the prison. I was 13/14 and have no idea how he got my address

A few months ago DD (4) and I went to pick her older brother up from school. There is a climbing frame on playground that the younger sibling all play on whilst waiting. DD came running over to me crying, telling me she'd fell over. I picked her up and she kept looking back at climbing frame. There was a young boy stood next to climbing frame staring at us, it made feel uneasy even though he only looked about 5yrs old. A few weeks later he ran up behind DD and pushed her over. It was deliberate, it was unprovoked. We did tell his mum, we did get an apology from him, but his mum struck me as strange as well.

Yes, some of these stories people have relayed are absolutely not what the post was about at all!

Walked down dark alleyway and got followed - not the same
Bumped into a man on a country lane and was surprised - not the same.

Someone said that they get a creepy feeling from Donald Trump......

I've had this several times and I always trust my instincts. An uncle, who creeped me out even at the age of 5. Turned out he sexually abused my cousins. My dad said to me that he never let me be alone with him, so it wasn't just me.
A very well known broadcaster (dead now) who always made my skin crawl. A friend at uni told us that he had stayed at her house when she was 14 and he tried to get into bed with her.
A man who used to come into my work who radiated evil. Was found guilty of people trafficking a couple of years ago.

I also use to feel like that about DW I actually could not watch the comedy sketch he used to be in but I don't feel that way anymore since seeing him on BGT I think he seems a lovely man very eccentric
I think I use to feel that way cos of the characters he played in the sketch they would give me the creeps I think that might be why a lot of ppl would think the same maybe

I totally believe in going with your gut instinct. In many of the stories here people have just felt an inexplicable fear and repulsion towards someone they don't even know and then later that individual has turned out to be a very bad person. Just goes to show that its not mumbo jumbo. Best to always be on your guard. My DD is a sociable well behaved girl who gets on well with everyone. When she was about 8 she had a supply teacher for a couple of classes at school. For some reason he put real fear into her. She became hysterical and panicky at the prospect of having to go into school and to be in a class with him - though she said nothing had happened between them. She just said he was weird and looked at her funny. Luckily her permanent teacher came back so she didn't have to face him in class again. Don't know what I would have done though had he become a permanent fixture because I knew that I couldn't put her back in the class with that guy - not that she would have gone had I tried to make her. She's had other male teachers since and no issues. Don't know what you do as a parent in these type of situations because I do believe in following gut instinct but you can't exactly turn up at the school gates to say your child has a teacher phobia because they give off weirdo vibes.

I don't think most people here started spreading vicious rumours after their experiences though did they?

How can someone damage the reputations of all these strangers you are worrying about, when people often dont even know their name or have any way of identifying them to anyone else?

Most people say nothing or to a close trusted person because they feel silly or that people will say its all in their mind. Which happens a LOT. its happening in this thread.

Even those that mentioned it and got 'slapped down' just voiced their opinion or experience. I was slapped down once but i was right (though was down to experiences with said person after an initial feeling) and it was other men telling me no and making excuses for the person. They got proved entirely wrong. But that person still isn't sacked. And they are a fucked up predator.

I would say more often than not, people entirely get away with stuff, rather than there being a long list of wrongly accused or innocent people. How many people who actually do wrong and are lifelong wronguns get any kind of comeuppance? Its pretty low isnt it. And if they are, what do they get? Pitiful sentences.

Those saying they find someone creepy but have no evidence, what can they really say beyond that (obviously other than lying and making up evidence which yes, is wrong) to harm someones reputation any more so than any other myriad of judgements some people make about others they have viewed, without 'evidence'.

It always comes down to usually, protecting men and their reputations, than women who are usually the victims of these types of 'hidden' dangerous men. The older i get the more it is blindingly obvious that there are SO MANY people that are ill willed and dangerous. 'the majority of people are good' is used sometimes to lull us into a false sense of security. I know lots of people are good, lots, i am a positive person and not doom and gloom, but i have read, seen and experienced enough to know i need to always be alert, observe and trust my brain and body.

I feel i am within my rights, as a woman, if i pick up on any strange, sly, dangerous, predatory looks or behaviour to say so or to tell anyone i choose. Most people, especially women have been alive long enough and have experienced ill intentioned advances and interactions to just KNOW as far as i am concerned. It sadly becomes a skill for many, almost. Its the not saying anything that is far, far more often the problem than someone being wrongly accused of being something they are not.

Hear hear Lumpy. Especially this:

I would say more often than not, people entirely get away with stuff, rather than there being a long list of wrongly accused or innocent people.

And this:

It always comes down to usually, protecting men and their reputations, than women who are usually the victims of these types of 'hidden' dangerous men.

Give a fuck if a man is offended that I think he’s creepy. I’d rather be wrong and apologise than get assaulted or murdered out of politeness.

I feel it too about that seleb. I know people find some of the innuendo laden comments he makes to male contestants under his camp persona funny - but I think they are inappropriate. If he was making them to a woman there would be an outcry. Found him really creepy ever since he created the character of that teenage boy that fancied his pal's geriatric gran and fantasised about having sex with her. What sort of imagination comes up with that?

Really interesting to read upthread about children from chaotic backgrounds always being on high alert for potential dangers.

I’m no contact with my Dad, who was a violent narcissist growing up. He would turn on a knife edge and as a result we had to always try and preempt his rages and learn when to get the fuck out of there. Unfortunately my poor dm bore the brunt of much of his violence. He was a doctor - a consultant, who would have patients refer to him as God (not joking!). He was charismatic and would charm the whole room all the while mentally picking holes in everyone there. He would relay these thoughts to us when everyone had left.

I am definitely on high alert when it comes to these outwardly charming people and always see through the facade. I’d never attributed it to my childhood experiences of my father until reading this thread. It makes so much sense now.

@BertrandRussell

Someone said that they get a creepy feeling from Donald Trump......

Then they're an empath of the highest degree
That hardly ever happens to anyone.
I think we're on the same page, BR.

I feel I'm being a bit narky here; I was quite enjoying some of the stories, but some really are a bit silly. Someone looked at me in a funny way so they must be the devil incarnate.

However, I do know that acting on one's instincts can be a good thing. For example, the Twin Towers disaster: those who chose to run down the stairs rather than stay put - as was advised - tended to escape.
So, yes. Do what you think is the safest thing. But try not to think you've got some special "spidey sense" (upthread somewhere).
Sometimes you're right, sometimes you're being overdramatic.

I thought people were talking about JC not DW.

There is a shop assistant in our local supermarket that I think is creepy. Whenever he used to give you your change, his hand used to linger too long touching yours. He has obviously been spoken to about it and now no longer touches peoples hands when being given change. But he still feels really off.
I think he enjoys making women uncomfortable.

But he does not feel really dangerous like the incident I already posted about. I have only had that feeling once where I felt like prey and felt I could have been murdered.

I’d like to add that I don’t get that sense of foreboding with every charming person I come into contact with. It’s the eyes, the body language and minute facial expressions that give them away every time.

I’d like to add that I don’t get that sense of foreboding with every charming person I come into contact with. It’s the eyes, the body language and minute facial expressions that give them away every time.

Yes exactly. You’re highly attuned to it. There’s a forensic science devoted to analysing body language and micro expressions. Professional law enforcement spend years learning what us children of addicts and abusers have been trained in since birth.

But Claire that's not the same thing as this thread is about. He's obviously creepy and a bit slimy - that's totally different from walking past someone and waves of pure evil roll off them isn't it - it's so utterly different.

Yes true it is different.

I also find this trying to tell people what they have experienced and felt is/was instinct or an unknown sixth sense or whatever you want to call it, ISNT and is silly and magical to be sneering and really condescending.

My mum had a physical and visual experience when a family member nearly died in an accident, miles away, at the exact time of accident. It was detailedand specific to that person and accident. She's never taken drugs, had any mental illness causing hallucinations etc. It is not normal or explainable by beloved science. It happened though.

But naysayers say that didnt happen and that youre away with the fairies or usually they like to infer youre a bit simple or thick.

Its the same for millions of people who have similar experiences, who see ghosts or whatever you want to call them, and are told 'no you didnt'. Yeah ok then, you MUST be right. Millions of folk are making up unexplained stuff. Just like all the 'unproven' rapes, assaults etc with no evidence.

Fuck. Right. Off. I can understand not believing or understanding especially if youve never experienced but that haughty 'oh dear, do try not to belive you have a magical power, dear' tone is beyond gross.

I do think that we repress our basic intuitive responses to a lot of things and could probably do well to listen to them more.

However the post upthread which said ( I'm paraphrasing) " I went to Belgium and got a weird feeling, and after I came home I heard about a paedophile ring in Belgium" is just nuts. If this level of foreboding meant anything you'd never be able to leave the house!