Presence of evil

[beachcitygirl]

Aibu to ask if you've ever felt yourself in the presence of evil. Following on from
The intuitiion thread.

I once met a friend of my ex in a coffee shop. The man was nothing but civil & friendly. Soft spoken & was an ex police officer. My then husband was there also.
I went to the loo & spent ages as something about him made me feel afraid. I stress it was just a feeling. Zero untoward behaviour.
Many years later he was arrested & found guilty of violent rape.

Has anyone else ever sensed evil? (For want of a better word)

@QueeniesCroft

"You might want to take a look at the damp proof as well. You seem to have a lot of mould in here"

@QueeniesCroft, I would watch your TV show.

Especially if you manufacture 'jeopardy' by having a load of woo folk on, who are scared shitless by totally normal phenomena.

@greenmarlin

I met a work contact over email who was quite pleasant but I couldn't get a clear picture of what he was like. I asked around and he came back with good reviews, everyone in my industry seemed to know him and I didn't hear anything bad. I then arranged to meet him in person for lunch - he met me at a train station and as I walked up to him I got the most nauseous feeling, which over the next few months turned out to be very accurate as he was one of the most difficult, nasty people I've ever met. Thankfully i was able to extricate myself but god he was a nightmare.

Perhaps what you picked up was his underlying dislike/contempt (not for you as a person just for anyone in your position) which leaked out before he had got his 'nice guy' mask in place.

I'm having far too much fun imagining Mumsnet Haunted now!

@QueeniesCroft

I'm having far too much fun imagining Mumsnet Haunted now!

grin]

You could stage an episode in the Sistine Chapel.

You would end up with loads of people from the property/DIY board talking about rewires and damp treatment.

GnomeDePlume yes that was it - it was impossible to get a measure of him over email, and we'd been communicating for a while, but the moment I saw him his expression was contemptuous and cold, a kind of unbroken stare as I walked towards him. Not "evil" exactly, but a kind of ah-ha moment of thinking, oh, I bloodywell knew there was something off about this guy and I was right!

@Thatsplentyjack

When I was younger we used to go on holiday to a place called Killin in Scotland. There was a small road that you could walk along next to the caravan site, which took you to the entrance to a field that had a path to walk around the Loch. The first bit of the road was fine. You crossed a bridge, there were a few houses on the left but then there was a stretch that had trees on either side. Now I wasn't really a child that was phased by being in forests etc. We went to places with forests and walks in the middle of nowhere all the time, but this stretch of road terrified me. As a young child I had to get one of my parents to carry me and I would hide my eyes the whole way through that bit. I used to panic the whole way because we had 2 little dogs and I was so scared something was going to happen to them or me. Like something was going to come and snatch us away. Then my younger brother was born and I honestly remember feeling sick to my stomach walking through there with him as a little baby/toddler. I went back a couple of times as a teen and still felt pretty uneasy walking through there, although that could have just been because of the memories as a child. I used to get this image in my head of big old grave stones at the top of the hill the trees went up. I have bo idea if there were graves stones up there though. I also have bo idea if anything bad had ever happened there, but I've been to loads of really old places in my life. Done ghost walks, been to old jails and castles as a child and I never felt like that anywhere else.

Look up Black Duncan of Glenorchy. There’s folklore of a beheading pit at Killin too, I find parts of it feel very sad.

@thegreylady

Glen Coe terrified me even driving through on aSummers day. There was such a sense of violence and sadness there. There is a bridge over the canal in Skipton which has a dreadful chill under it unrelated to the weather. The next bridge along is called Gallows Bridge which may be relevant.

A lot of people say exactly what you have and there are parts on the mountains I don’t like going, Glencoe is beautiful though. Rannoch Moor terrifies me, we’ve walked it once in all the years we’ve lived here and never again would I walk on that moor. Will-o'-the-wisps are definitely real from the experience we had.

My dog had a strange reaction to a man in the street, my dog is friendly but does pick and choose who she will go up to. One day this bloke was standing in street waiting for a bus and my dog literally gave him a wide birth with her hackles up and gave off a low growl till we passed him and then she was fine again.

How naive do you have to be to say evil doesn’t exist??? Ted Bundy, Rose West, Myra Hindley - ring any bells?

@groovergirl, I had a quick look into the history of the castle and apparently there is also a hanging tree which was used for the execution of commoners. Beheadings were saved for nobles. I think the whole history of the castle is a bit grim.

Interested why so many posters say evil doesn't exist ? How? Of course it does... its the predetermined goal or constant objective to do harm to others... human or animals. It must certainly does exist and either on its own (nature) or become a product of circumstances like abuse, reacting revengeful, etc (nurture)

@MaryAndGerryLivingInDerry

Well evil doesn’t exist, so no, but you can certainly form accurate gut instincts about people based on unconscious signs they give off.

Can you explain the evil doesn't exist?

Yes, I once met a woman who gave me an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach every time I looked at her. It was at a house party, she was the neighbour of the host. She was sitting in the lounge, didn't really say or do anything and stayed in the chair the entire time but as soon as I walked in the room and saw her I just had this horrible feeling that didn't leave me. The only other times I've felt it is when I've been somewhere spooky, or in situations where I've been scared.

I have a a friend who sufferes from Mental health issues. A customer complained about him, saying something was wrong with him. He is not violent or dangerous in anyway shape or form but maybe she sensed his pain. I sometimes get that ick feeling around men, a sudden nausea, a need to get away. That tightening of the scalp, I've even had it around woman.

@lemuelgulliver really? I can't decide whether I'm glad I'm not the only one that felt like that or not 🤣.

I was out for a walk in a forest and there was a man standing just off the trail on the way back to the car park. My DS and I had fallen behind and there was no one else around and I clearly remember thinking 'This man is waiting for us to pass him because he wants to do something terrible, to us or someone else'. My husband doubled back to say something to me before we reached him, and the man immediately turned and strode away down the hill, off the trail. I saw him in the car park afterwards, hanging around, watching people get out of their cars. I cannot convey to you the sense of menace I got from him on both occasions.

My DH works with criminals and has only met one that he considered to be evil, but that man he literally couldn't bear to speak to because he was so unsettled by it. He mentioned it to the police officer he was with and the officer hadn't noticed anything odd about him. The man was convicted of abusing children. DH is extremely down to earth and unimaginative, and has dealt with many murderers and paedophiles, but he was completely horrified by him.

I had a dream years a go whilst I was in a previous relationship which at the time I was happy. In the dream I was face down partner attacking me , laughed it off with a “ omg you won’t believe this weird dream!!” Couple years later he strangled me unconscious and I woke up with a messed up face . Listen to those weird feelings!

Her similar as burnt down the disco. Everywhere in Aushwitz was distressing, but felt incredibly I'll in the gas chamber. Had to exit straight away

@Noangelbuthavingfun

Interested why so many posters say evil doesn't exist ? How? Of course it does... its the predetermined goal or constant objective to do harm to others... human or animals. It must certainly does exist and either on its own (nature) or become a product of circumstances like abuse, reacting revengeful, etc (nurture)

The definition of evil isn’t ‘the predetermined goal to do harm to others.’

That’s the problem, you’re saying something definitely exists while not actually defining that thing correctly.

Evil means profound wickedness or immorality, especially when regarded as or influenced by a supernatural force.

So perhaps that’s the issue. Do I believe that there are people who seek to harm others and that is wrong and socially unacceptable? Yes, of course. Do I believe their actions are influenced by some profound evilness in their very being? No, of course not.

When I was 19 I worked at a summer camp in America for about 2 months as a drama & dance councillor. Although I enjoyed the experience of being part of the camp and have some great memories, I’ll never forget the woman (mid fifties) who I worked with alone in the theatre department. It was just the two of us for most of the time and she was my supervisor so to speak. I felt chilled as soon as I met her, she just left me feeling very cold - hairs would literally stand up on the back of my neck. Anyway I worked hard with the children putting together a show they would perform for their parents - I received loads of compliments from other colleagues and the kids loved me. I’d even work late into the evening on the set on my own time. This woman never thanked me, not even once. She wouldn’t let me come to the final performances, didn’t even give a reason, just took the credit and told me not to come near. The kids were really upset when I wasn’t there. I was young but I’ll never forget that presence and to this day I still believe it was something evil. I understand when people here have mentioned eyes as hers were empty.

A few years ago I was sitting at my computer desk at home when I felt what can only be described as an 'evil presence' behind me to the right. It was probably only there for a second, but it was definitely very frightening! I discussed it with a friend of mine who is is a spiritual healer and medium, and he just told me that if it ever happened again, I just had to tell it to go away and it would. This kind of thing isn't uncommon.

@Bobbie1976

How naive do you have to be to say evil doesn’t exist??? Ted Bundy, Rose West, Myra Hindley - ring any bells?

How naive do you need to be to think horrific crimes are committed completely outside of social influence and environmental issues and try to categorise them as ‘evil.’

Interesting that of all the notorious criminals you could have chosen two of the three are women - both of whom acted in league with a man. Why are they somehow more ‘evil?’

Is it perhaps because it’s frightening to look into the social issues surrounding those two particular criminals? It’s easier to brand them as ‘evil’ and comfort yourself that no woman would do that no matter what, only some supernaturally touched ‘evil’ woman would possibly commit those acts.