"Would you like to be hypnotised"

[TrainWeirdos]

Had a weird interaction on a train the other day (at 5pm in the countryside in the daylight!)

Teenage (14-16?) boy sits opposite me, despite there being hardly anyone in the carriage. He's staring at me, fidgeting, getting up and down, leaving his bag, looking over his shoulder and down the carriage, generally super shifty.

I start thinking about incel attacks - he's setting off all my 'panic danger' feelings but I am hyper vigilant and am very jumpy and can overreact so try to just calm down. I think maybe he's on drugs, maybe he's got learning difficulties, maybe it's innocent. Try to ignore him.

He moves back across from me, then again directly back opposite me on the table. I keep ignoring him, he keeps staring, and then says "Would you like to be hypnotised?"

At this point I am freaked out - say "no" and decide to move carriages. I start packing my stuff up - he gets his stuff, and goes to stand between the carriages next to the doors, staring back down towards me (don't know if at me or other). So I decide I am going to make him think I'm getting off the train at the next stop, by packing my stuff. Next stop, I faff about, he gets off the train, walks over the bridge, then I stay on.

What happened? Any ideas? I keep thinking about it. It was so weird... I had a sense of 'this boy is going to murder someone one day.' Was it all a coincidence? Does this sound like a neurodivergent behaviour? Is it a weird pickup line? Has anybody else ever been asked if they want to be hypnotised?!

Yes he sounds dodgy - YANBU
Probably harmless, calm down - YABU

I think it's hard to tell, but also it is VERY important to trust our instincts if we get a sense about someone.

There are some boys/men who find it amusing to scare women.

Theres also some very creepy "pick up" gurus on TikTok.

He could also have been a disturbed individual.

I've been around many terrible men who have done awful things, but only one who literally made the hairs on my arms stand up

My skin went prickly and my eyes filled up with tears because I just had a wave of fear.
This particular person had never done anything to me and I knew barely anything about him unlike other men (who I knew were bad) that I had no reaction around.

Whenever I've been uncomfortable on a train, I've moved seats or carriages.

Whatever the reason for his behaviour, it wasn't normal, so I'd have wanted to get away from him, if I thought I could do so without drawing more attention to myself or putting myself in danger.

The problem is that you have no way of knowing if he's harmless but just a bit odd or if he's a legitimate threat because he's violent, insane, or on drugs.