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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Presence of evil

793 replies

beachcitygirl · 17/01/2022 14:03

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)

OP posts:
BackInBlackAgain · 19/01/2022 10:11

@Mothership4two I have a sixth sense with male "cheaters" as well. I can pick them out easily from just being around them, often with their partners, in social situations.

Wow, i find this fascinating. Do you think its very subtle signs that people give off? Maybe holding eye contact too long or smiling at you too many times? I wish i had that skill, would have saved me so much heart ache.

Autumnrain7299 · 19/01/2022 10:24

The amount of people that have known murderers and abusers is scary!!!

biscuitbrown · 19/01/2022 10:27

When I was a child I was walking with a family member and dog on a common. It was deserted except for one man not far away and as he walked past I got the most horrific wave of fear and dread, it was like a physical shockwave. It was the day a young girl was murdered on that common. We were interviewed by the police after reporting we were in the area at the time, and described the man.

Another time I got into a taxi and got the exact same feeling. I then noticed there was no official taxi driver ID/license. I faked a call from my husband and asked to be dropped off then and there. The driver didn't want to be paid. To this day I know I avoided something...

StepAwayFromTheEcclesCakes · 19/01/2022 10:59

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

KERALA1 · 19/01/2022 11:16

A friend of my mothers walked her dog for years with an infamous serial killer. She said he was perfectly pleasant and was most surprised to see him as first item on the news!

Mothership4two · 19/01/2022 11:37

@BackInBlackAgain

Yes we must subconsciously pick up clues. I didn't mean men who had come on to me, more friends or friends of friends that we have seen socially. Especially if I see them with their partners and not the ones who are obviously going through marital problems. There's just something about them. I haven't picked up on unfaithful women though! My dh thinks its funny and a bit woo woo.

Sorry to hear you have had bad experiences with one of these plonkers!

Gwenhwyfar · 19/01/2022 11:42

@Lampzade

Those who say that evil does not exist are so completely wrong.
Well now that you present such compelling arguments to prove otherwise...
Gwenhwyfar · 19/01/2022 11:45

@Autumnrain7299

The amount of people that have known murderers and abusers is scary!!!
We have apparently all met a murdered.
Original poster
beachcitygirl · 19/01/2022 11:48

Let me again clarify for me, what I meant. I take evil to be a trait. A human trait. Like anger or empathy or cruelty or sensitivity.
I don't mean a malevolent force like the devil. I'm not religious.

I suppose I think we are at base animals & we have some protection senses that picks up on harm. Spidey sense if you like.
It could be micro mannerisms or scent or thst some people can sense when someone is masking or whatever.
Some call it gut instinct.

I'm certainly not mocking those of faith, but im
Not a religious or spiritual person.
Im speaking about human evil.

OP posts:
ChargingBuck · 19/01/2022 11:52

Satan is the ruler of this world, which is why we have faiths to keep us from evil

Oh dear @llizzie. How can I, a poor struggling atheist, keep from doing evil, without accepting someone else's imposed 'faith' to protect me & my supposed victims?

Guacamole001 · 19/01/2022 11:54

Why not start one evening a week to begin with doing eg another cleaning job then build on that. Slowly doing one or two more evenings when you are used to it. Would give you a bit more cash to help with the cost of living.

Guacamole001 · 19/01/2022 11:54

Oops so sorry. Wrong thread!

Gwenhwyfar · 19/01/2022 11:57

@Guacamole001

Oops so sorry. Wrong thread!
Clean the devil away lol
Sazzasez · 19/01/2022 12:32

Well, we were hitching in his area, in his heyday (1976), and he clearly spent a LOT of time driving around & offering lifts to young women. We were lucky there were 3 of us, and he was alone.

It’s in the middle of a 3-year period when he’s not known to have killed anyone. Still: I’m glad I didn’t get back into that van.

There were a lot more hitchers around, too.

I told this story (there’s more to it) at a True Stories Live storytelling event just before the pandemic, and a young woman in the audience came up & said her Dad got lifts from Fred West, who he knew from his building work. They lived in Cinderford in the Forest of Dean, which is close to where we were hitching.

TatianaBis · 19/01/2022 13:20

@Mothership4two

existential / anthropomorphic / synthetic / economic are also adjectives, but you wouldn't use them to describe a human being. It depends upon your interpretation of 'evil', if you think it means immoral and/or cruel, then OK. although why not just say that instead?. I don't interpret it in that way
If your interpretation of evil is that it is supernatural, why not just say that instead?
shewhomustbeEbayed · 19/01/2022 13:27

I remember Suzy Lamplugh’s mother coming to talk to us when we were student nurses and encouraging us to listen to our gut instincts in situations as they are invariably right, as opposed to responding to peer group pressure when something/someone doesn’t feel right.

oakleaffy · 19/01/2022 13:43

Re Fred West, and all the women who so say escaped his rentals and hitch hiking rides-
It’s become like the Titanic-
More people dodged the Maiden Voyage than could ever have been booked on it.

It’s known as “Foaflore”
Friend of a friend lore.

Basically made up apocryphal stuff.

Kanaloa · 19/01/2022 13:50

@oakleaffy

Re Fred West, and all the women who so say escaped his rentals and hitch hiking rides- It’s become like the Titanic- More people dodged the Maiden Voyage than could ever have been booked on it.

It’s known as “Foaflore”
Friend of a friend lore.

Basically made up apocryphal stuff.

For sure. And they always save it for the last line too.

Big long story about once seeing a man in a car, dramatic pause - and it was Fred West.

Who they recognise immediately when they see his photo on the news 15 years later.

Sazzasez · 19/01/2022 13:52

Really?

You’re telling me - a person it actually happened to - that I’m making it up?

Staffy1 · 19/01/2022 13:52

@Mothership4two

existential / anthropomorphic / synthetic / economic are also adjectives, but you wouldn't use them to describe a human being. It depends upon your interpretation of 'evil', if you think it means immoral and/or cruel, then OK. although why not just say that instead?. I don't interpret it in that way
As the dictionary definition is immoral and cruel, why not say evil as it’s easier being one word.
Mollysocks · 19/01/2022 13:55

@beachcitygirl

A few posters have said evil doesn't exist. I myself said I used it for a want of a better wordZ fwiw I still think it's the best for what I mean. But for clarity I suppose I meant what some would call psychopaths or a deadness in the eyes or as others have said, just a gut churning instinct that a person is wrong. I can't describe how cold inside that man made me feel. I've never felt it before or since. Chilling
There was a road sweeper in the town I currently live in. This is going to sound a bit ‘woo’ but one day I was walking to grab a sandwich at lunch and just felt a sense of doom (like my stomach had turned over) and like I was being watched. I looked up and there was a road sweeper (I think that’s what they are called, no van just a cart and a brush) and he was stopped staring at me over the road. Thinking about it really shits me up now, it was his face. The absolute look of hate and his eyes just looked dead or like he was full of anger and all the whole looking at me. Like his eyes were just brimming with hate and anger and it was all directed at me! I honestly felt so much negativity. I have never felt that before. I saw him a few weeks later and had the same response, my stomach lurched and I inwardly panicked. Never seen him again since.

I honestly can’t describe it, it sounds insane to actually type it out but it honestly felt evil! I felt like he meant me harm.

Kanaloa · 19/01/2022 13:57

@Sazzasez

Really?

You’re telling me - a person it actually happened to - that I’m making it up?

I’m saying it’s highly highly unlikely that all the people who have apparently escaped Fred West actually have.

Whether they’re making it up, have heard from a friend, or possibly have incorrectly attributed an event retrospectively I don’t know.

georgarina · 19/01/2022 15:23

Went on a first date and as soon as I saw him I felt very unsettled. We walked, and talked about nothing much, but I felt terrified - dizzy, physically nauseous, like I just had to get away.

Later found out these feelings were entirely warranted.

Runningupthecurtains · 19/01/2022 15:32

@Autumnrain7299

The amount of people that have known murderers and abusers is scary!!!
In my almost 50 years on this planet I must have met 1000's of people - I'm not aware of any of them being murders but I wouldn't be surprised if someone out of 100's I was at primary school with, the 1000+ I was at secondary school with, the 1000+ at uni, the 1000+ I have worked with plus everyone else I have met socially was a murderer.
BackInBlackAgain · 19/01/2022 15:49

@Autumnrain7299

The amount of people that have known murderers and abusers is scary!!!
You would be amazed. I used to work in pubs and just one pub i worked in a small northern town there were 2 murderers, one that worked in the kitchen and one was a customer.

Both had served their sentence and both were tried under manslaughter. (for separate murders, not the same person).