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AIBU?

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Original poster

To get an overwhelming sense of danger from a stranger?

676 replies

ThisIsCheese · 07/05/2019 09:57

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 Confused

OP posts:
MollysLips · 07/05/2019 12:07

@MyAuntyBadger

The only other time I've had that reaction to someone is when I see a particular celebrity on TV. It's weird.

Who? I'd love to know who it is. I get a weird vibe off one particular person.

Ratonastick · 07/05/2019 12:14

famalam Hilder.

If I remember rightly, he had a slightly younger sister and a bit of an odd family set up as their parents were together but lived separately. I can’t remember why, may have been work. I always thought his mum was v cool and glamorous as she had loads of records. Never got any funny vibes from him at all though.

I just called my Mum, who blithely announced that she’d seen it all in the news when it happened but didn’t think to mention it!

winecigsandchoc · 07/05/2019 12:14

@BlueberrySkies @recklessgran I also told a window cleaner I no longer required his services. He was very very creepy- used to make me feel utter dread and panic.

You're not based in the south are you?!

wheresmymojo · 07/05/2019 12:14

I think trusting your gut instincts and not going along with what someone who gives you the creeps asks you to do just to be polite is a really important thing to teach DC.

Women who have survived stranger murder attempts often say the person have them the creeps....these kind of people often rely on our need to be polite to get close enough to attack.

Ted Bundy for example lured a number of women to their death by putting on a cast and asking for help carrying his shopping, help finding his car, etc.

ruralliving19 · 07/05/2019 12:14

I've had the same thing a few times but the only time I can verify I was right was when I went on one date with a guy I met online several years ago. He made my skin crawl and I couldn't figure out why but I wouldn't see him again though he was persistent. I later met a new friend and discovered he was an ex of hers who'd since been sent to prison for raping a young child. I had 2 young girls at the time of a similar age. Very lucky escape....

The strongest sense of 'evil' I've ever felt was in a shop in Glastonbury. The man behind the till was dangerous, I'm sure of it.

Mitzicoco · 07/05/2019 12:16

This happened to me once. I was walking on the common with dh and dd and ds on our backs in those toddler sling things. A man walked passed us and without even looking at each other my husband I started walking quickly back to the car. Once we were safely in the car my dd said, without any of us saying anything about it. 'Away from bad man.'
Shivers.....

Osquito · 07/05/2019 12:19

I have had it. Once but I will never forget the sickening sense of threat. It was the taxi driver, who did nothing more than glance at us in the rear view mirror, but I was terrified. And my then-bf felt it too, and asked us to be dropped off long before our destination.

wheresmymojo · 07/05/2019 12:21

@ruralliving19 Apparently it's quite common to feel a sense of dread in Glastonbury - something to do with vibrations/electro-magnetic fields from ley lines

wheresmymojo · 07/05/2019 12:24

Where were you @Osquito?

Taxi driving is another occupation liked by rapists (obviously most taxi drivers are not, including my Grandad)...but obviously gives them opportunities with lone females.

ReanimatedSGB · 07/05/2019 12:26

I think it's an instinct: we are subconsciously picking up some kind of signal from a predatory person. As PP said, if you get those vibes an just walk away, you may save yourself a nasty experience - and if the person was actually harmless, then no harm was done.
The only time it might be a problem is if you get the creeps from someone you eg work with or see regularly; there is no evidence of this person ever having done anything wrong but you tell friends about it and suddenly everyone is scared of the person because of the rumours... this may cause trouble for someone who isn't predatory but who was just in a bad mood one day.

Artbum · 07/05/2019 12:27

Years ago I worked on the cash desk at a museum in London. There was a customer who asked me a question and I looked into his face/made eye contact for the 30 seconds or so as I answered his question. For a few of those seconds something else entirely seemed to look out of his eyes and then disappear again. It was weird like he was possessed by an entity. Never seen anything like it before or since and I had a number of customer facing roles.

I also had a few occasions when it felt like certain customers were emitting cold - a genuine physical sensation, even though they behaved normally.

HoumiLoomi · 07/05/2019 12:32

I’ve also had this once in a taxi. I was coming home from a hospital appointment. I got in and the driver asked me where I wanted to go. Something about the way he looked at me completely freaked me out. I mumbled something about having changed my mind and got out of the car. It was bizarre.

strawberrisc · 07/05/2019 12:40

When I was a child, every time I saw Rolf Harris I went sick inside. My Mum and Dad could tolerate not watching 'Rolf's Cartoon Club' but I had to leave the room when they insisted on watching 'Pet Rescue'.

OrangeSunsets · 07/05/2019 12:41

I’ve had it a few times.

I used to be a police officer and once was called to an address to take a report for something simple such as a wheely bin being stolen or such. The victim absolutely freaked me out. I felt sick and panicked and couldn’t get out of there quick enough. She was perfectly polite and nothing unusual about her appearance or speech.

Once out of there I ran a check on her and found out she was a convicted paedophile!

DistanceCall · 07/05/2019 12:46

Erm, I mean this kindly, ThisIsCheese. I think what is going on in your life may tinging your perception a bit - it sounds like you are projecting the badness you have so close to you onto another man.

HollowTalk · 07/05/2019 12:53

I suppose a lot of people who are dodgy are going to be self-employed. I imagine they struggle with social situations at work and with someone telling them what to do.

Often on here, too, an OP will talk about her partner who is absolutely fucking useless and who insists on working for himself, and you know damn well no employer would put up with his behaviour.

Osquito · 07/05/2019 12:54

@wheresmymojo Athens, Greece
I stood out as looking foreign there so was really used to being stared at - with either curiosity or suspicion, and bf was Greek... But I can only explain my sense of the driver as evil, not mere hostility or nosiness etc.

EerieSilence · 07/05/2019 12:54

@Callywalls I think it was also Paul Britton who was talking about meeting Myra Hindley. I vaguely remember (read the book about 10 years ago) that he wasn't at first spooked by her but he felt that her dog, a cocker spaniard I think, reacted very strangely to her, it was like it was on constant alert regarding her reactions and was afraid to move. I think he also described the atmosphere in the room and the house as very strange before the full scale of her involvement was known.

I personally believe in trusting my instincts, they're something that evolved over millions of years and served us well as species. If something seems strange, dangerous or your gut feeling is telling you to be wary, listen to it, in my opinion.

andthebandmarchedon · 07/05/2019 12:57

Yes, this has happened to me twice. The first time was with a man who was a parent of my child's friend. There was something about him that made me extremely uncomfortable and he always showed a peculiar interest in one of my children. No one else seemed to feel this but I was always vigilant.
The other was my husband's boss, a very senior and decorated official. The first time I met him I got a very strange feeling about him. He turned out to be a cold sociopathic bully who was eventually investigated and prosecuted for his behaviour towards subordinates.
Listen to your instincts as others say.

lolaflores · 07/05/2019 13:03

Man came to do a gas inspection. Young. Just an eerie feeling that he was watching me out of the corner of his eye.
He asked to use the loo which made me feel even more threatened and when he was out I slid a pair of scissors up the sleeve of my jumper.
Didn't wait for a goodbye or all of that,
I led him straight out the door and felt very unsettled for a day or so after and it still stand south in my mind.

Callywalls · 07/05/2019 13:04

@EerieSilence - how interesting, its amazing how sensitive animals are. Who knows what her poor dog had been witness to and how the poor thing had been treated. I am Northern and the horror of what those two evil monsters did haunted all our childhoods and no-one will ever forget it. The moors where they carried out their evil actions have a very eerie and haunted atmosphere about them.

Sosososotired · 07/05/2019 13:09

I’ve only had his once, quite recently from DC’s friends dad. He literally makes my skin crawl and I want to be nowhere near him. Not sure how I’m going to work that one with the DC. The mum is lovely however.

BeenHereForAges · 07/05/2019 13:11

I had this with a plumber once. He came around to give us a quote but I had this over whelming feeling that he was a very bad person, I cant even explain it properly but I just wanted to get away from him. I kept catching him staring at my big pregnant belly. A few weeks later my husband was stood behind him in a pub and he was drunkenly slurring to his mate about being attracted to his 13 year old step daughter.

KaliforniaDreamz · 07/05/2019 13:22

@ruralliving19 Apparently it's quite common to feel a sense of dread in Glastonbury - something to do with vibrations/electro-magnetic fields from ley lines

i love Glastonbury but i have to say i often get this feeling.

wheresmymojo · 07/05/2019 13:39

Beenhere...fucking hell, that is grim Sad

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