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

I've had this before and though I wouldn't describe myself as 'woo', I think our instincts have been honed over millennia for a reason

There's a dad at school and he literally makes my skin crawl. His wife is lovely and always makes an effort to speak to me but I can't even bring myself to look at him, he makes me shudder. I cannot tell you what it is about him though, it's just something

I refused to watch Jim'll Fix It when I was young because JS made me feel the same way. Easy to say now, but him being on the screen would make me feel physically ill

One of the DC went to a playdate years ago at a close friends house; we'd spent lots of time with them through his childhood, and the Mum had a new DP who'd been around for a few months (I'd met the partner, all seemed totally above board).

DS came home and asked if it was ok not to like an adult, and said that the new partner had made him get a horrible feeling in his stomach, and that he never wanted to be near them again. He broke his heart crying to us that evening, something entirely out of character for him. We listened and supported him in his feelings, thinking how odd it was for him to say such a thing. The friend asked a few weeks later how things were and I mentioned how upset DS had been coming back from their house, she lost her temper and the friendship sort of fizzled out from that point with no more contact.

A couple of years on it was entirely by chance I had to run into our local court to drop off a document for my parents. There was security everywhere and a 'buzz' in the air that someone quite high-profile was about to be remanded, and a day or two later the partner appeared in the national press, having been caught sexually abusing the DC of the friend. It was absolutely hideous, realising that it was solely the DS' terror that stopped us from remaining friends with them. DS doesn't remember the person or the event, but it puts the fear of God into me when I think about it.

I've posted on here before about DS's orthodontist giving me bad vibes. He was a very personable older man too. I always made sure I didn't leave DS alone with him.

Once while we were waiting, I had to nip out and put some money in a parking metre and when I came back DS was gone. The receptionist was dealing with another patient and I'm afraid I interrupted her very rudely to ask what room he was in. She asked me to wait my turn in no uncertain terms and I remember feeling an absolute panic.

When I finally raced to the room there was a dental nurse there too, much to my relief. But I felt he knew why I was so flustered. Just the grin he gave me.

Getting 'the creeps' is, apparently a well documented phenomenon when meeting a psychopath.

<a class="break-all" href="https://choice.npr.org/index.html?origin=www.npr.org/2011/05/21/136462824/a-psychopath-walks-into-a-room-can-you-tell" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">choice.npr.org/index.html?origin=www.npr.org/2011/05/21/136462824/a-psychopath-walks-into-a-room-can-you-tell

Self defense mechanism against predators

These are good but yuck. Recently we had someone workmen come to the house and the dog met them. One totally was fine the other made her turn into a snaling beast (she’s generally placid and so friendly) that gave me the fear. I was on high alert the whole time and believe the dog had spotted something.

I used to have to go to people's homes alone. Entered one place and I never wanted to leave somewhere so much in my life. The man seemed nice enough we had a nice chat but there was something that made my skin crawl.
I got sent back a few times (couldn't really say I can't go back because he gives off creepy vibes) and hated every minute of it. He then sexually assaulted me. I ran like crazy locked myself in my car cried and handed my notice in.
I wish I had refused to go back after the first time.

Agree with the pp who said Jimmy Saville - he was awful, really creepy to watch. I remember a bus driver who used to drive a smallish minibus home from my secondary school (I lived rurally). We all made damn sure we didn't leave anyone on the bus alone at the end of the route. Later on he did end up doing time for a sexual assault on a teenage girl.

@ArtBum

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.

This is chilling! Yikes, how strange. Like a demon, or he was an alien wearing a human suit like in Men In Black...

@Barbie222 I had a similar experience with the driver of the school minibus. I was always the last to get out on my own and he eventually tried to trap me on the bus with him. I managed to get out of the situation and then walked the several miles home each day after that until the end of term (luckily he wasn't around the next term)

Many years ago, when I was a young girl, my Dad would occasionally take me into work with him if he was popping in.

This one particular day, a lady he worked with was there & make a real fuss of me & gave me chocolate but I had a strong feeling that it was all show & that she disliked me intensely.

A couple of years later, it came out that my Dad had been having an affair with someone he worked with.

When I was a bit older I asked my Mum, what job role she'd had & it was the same lady...I'd obviously picked up feelings of resentment from her...bitch!!

All these stories are so chilling but I'm envious; I worry that I don't have this ability. Aside from crossing or changing my path to avoid lone men sometimes, I don't think I've ever met someone who has made me feel intense fear. I was friends with someone that had been sexually assaulting teenagers and I never once had an inkling!

Re Paul O'Grady, it would be such a big deal that Myra Hindley was in the hospital that there's no way he wouldn't have known who she was.

In photos taken of her in prison she looks very different from her mug shot, no bleached hair or heavy make up. I doubt that it was heavily publicised as she was such a hated character that trips out of prison, even to hospital, would have been kept quiet. I wouldn't have thought that a hospital would make a big deal of any patient for confidentiality which she was still entitled to.

I have lots of these types of stories. One of the people I had very bad vibes about on the train went on to follow me home and mug me - and he had literally done nothing other than sit in the same carriage as me with his back to me but I felt desperately uncomfortable.

This happened to Dd (age 14) and I yesterday.
She is very friendly will chat to just about anyone who speaks to her in the line at the shop. But we went to lunch, fast food, not overly full as it was getting late for lunch. Dd sat I went to get food. As I walked back, a youngish man (20's?) went to sit next to her. I was right there and asked if he would mind moving so I could eat with my daughter. He had what looked like food for two or three people. no drinks, smiled and moved over one seat. Dd ate in silence, head down. Then he left right before us. She looked horrified, she said he gave her the ceepiest feeling as soon as she saw him standing next to her.
He gave me a creep vibe, I feel he was going to strike up a convo with Dd offering food or something.
It's still got her a bit shaken up today. I keep telling her to remember how he felt that she should follow her gut. This has only happened to her twice in her life. Last time she was 3 and tried to climb over me to get away from a man in line and refused to look up till he left.

Yes. Someone who used to sit on our board. He repulsed me. Others thought I was mad, but he literally made my flesh crawl.

He got caught a few years after I left the company downloading images of child abuse and was sent to prison.

I had a very uneasy feeling when I went to work for a couple as a babysitter.I usually just saw the mother of the children before and after her work.

Her and her husband changed jobs,both doing shifts at the local factory.
It meant I had to sleep over one night while the woman was at work and the husband would be up very early for the day shift....he flung me on the bed and went to dive on top of me,I punched him in the face and managed to move out of his way. I didnt work for them again.

My son invited a friend home from secondry school quite a few years ago. I just didnt like the boy,there was something very odd about him.
Now as a young adult he has been locked up for sexual offences to underage girls.

A neighbours son I have taken a dislike too. I have actually hated that kid since he was about 4 years old. Not like me because I love kids but I really cant stand that boy,he is 18 now and just a horrible peron,real nasty streak.I wouldnt be surprised if he were to be jailed for something nasty.

One of these stories reminded me of when DD2 went into complete shutdown mode when we were out for dinner.

She was almost 2 and this older gentleman was staring at her from the next table (not unusual, lots of people who like babies). I acknowledged him, smiled and that was kind of his cue to turn back away. But he kept staring at her, and she literally hung her head so low into her lap I was worried she’d struggle to breathe. She would not respond to me and it was getting really awkward, so I picked her up and as soon as he was out of sight, she was normal again. May just be that she was particularly shy that day, but I’ve never seen her like that before or since and he clearly knew she was uncomfortable and didn’t stop anyway. Weird.

Had this on a mundane trip to the go surgery. Walked into the waiting room with 3 kids aged from 1-9, and this man's eyes just lit up in a horrific way as the kids walked in. I never normally think about paedophiles but this guy had such a foul leering stare. He looked as if he was undressing the children with his eyes. I stared at him and just had this overwhelming feeling that he had a sick soul and that he had black thoughts in his head. Never felt that way, I felt physically sick and moved the kids away. It was such a strange feeling.

recklessgran - your window cleaner doesn’t drive a van that isn’t a window cleaning van ? My friend has one and he also has a shoe fetish !!

I literally had this last week, I don't like a lot of people anyway and can read people well but this man...I've never experienced such a visceral reaction. He works at one of our suppliers, I've seen him a few times before and even though he's odd I put it down to awkwardness - but this time he wasn't even serving me and I felt like I'd swallowed a brick, I couldn't bring myself to even look at him and the hairs on my arms were standing up. I didn't have my lunch that day because I had a such a nervy tummy, it was really unsettling, even thinking about him now churns my stomach and I've refused to go back.

lots of window cleaners, I think it might be because they have to intrude on your personal space so much and sometimes surprise you but my friend used to date one, he was one of the most deviant people I've ever known. I'm talking weird animal stuff, using dangerous inanimate objects and so on...I always warned her to not have him around her kids.

I had this once with the manager of a travel lodge type hotel. Young guy but just got the weirdest vibe from him. I was assigned a room on the ground floor pretty near to reception and he had mentioned he was on the night shift that night. I ended up being so freaked out by him that I stayed on my friends couch (whose city I was visiting) that night and went back to collect my stuff the next morning. No idea if my fear was justified or not but I'd never had such a strong feeling before or since.

Yep I'm quite good at reading people, even from being a child. Recently was with my dd at the doctors and noticed an older man smiling at her. Not unusual she's very pretty (not that I'm biased) and always singing dancing etc. But I got such a strong reaction from him it was unnerving. There was definitely something off about him.

A couple of things to think about. We’re all programmed to read body language, and some of it are better at it than others-and we all give off micro signals all the time.

Another thing- we tend only to remember things that fit- we won’t remember the 20 people we got bad vibes from who turned out to be innocent- we will remember the one who didn’t. And there are always people who say the knew any criminal was a wrong ‘un -remember that chef who was murdered’s landlord? I seem to remember some mumsnetters condemning him on appearance alone.

My DH made friends with someone who had moved to the area, the first time I met him I felt really uncomfortable, but I put it don't to the fact I am rather socially awkward, anyway everyone liked this guy, it was only me that didn't, and he tried to rape a girl.