I’ve a bad feeling about this…?

[HerbalBovril]

Have you ever experienced a moment/situation/circumstance wherein you had a “bad feeling”…almost a premonition of a terrible or tragic thing to come, only to be proved correct?

I’m not talking vagaries or coincidence…more akin to, “I’m somewhat petrified that I saw this coming, despite it being impossible to do so”.

Yes. Sometimes I can’t do anything about it (ie. a decision someone else is making at work). On occasions that it has been about me I wish I’d heeded my gut feeling!

Oof…I know exactly what you mean @Juliagreeneyes. And that’s the tightrope walk of it in a way. X

Not even necessarily a la “The Gift of Fear”…but a wave of cognisance/knowing/awareness, possibly in no way that relates personally, but regardless emerges as fact. One minute it’s a passing thought; next minute you’re looking at a headline/text message/loved one explaining that it’s become reality 🙁

Often.

One of the most memorable was during a conversation about my grandmother pulling out of a family outing because she was unwell. I said to cut her some slack because of the cancer and everyone told me to stop being dramatic, of course she didn’t have cancer.

She was diagnosed with cancer a couple of weeks later.

It's always coincidence. You can tell because it only ever happens with things that are already pretty likely or certain to happen, and usually only in a vague sense, and you don't discount all the times you were wrong.

Having a premonition that Trump will be president or an old person will get cancer when 1 in 2 people get cancer in their lives is very different to having a premonition that cousin Billy will have a number one hit with a song about green pigs and as a result end up doing a concert in Vegas where he's sadly taken out by a wandering heroin addict.

I’m so sorry @StormingNorman

I totally get that experience of everyone else looking at you like you have two heads too. I had a similar experience. My dear friend was due to attend a get-together at my place several years ago. I vividly remember reaching down for a nappy at the change-table of my own LO, and understanding suddenly and specifically that she was experiencing a miscarriage. She didn’t tell me until years later that she’d suffered that loss.

When I was 21 I was pregnant with my first baby. I had an awful dream I gave birth to a premature baby who died. It was so realistic. I didnt buy anything for the pregnancy because I could never ever see me coming home with the baby. I gave birth to him at 24 weeks and he died 2 hours later. My mum still remembers me telling her about the dream. It's like my body/brain just knew.

By the time I was pregnant with my DD she was my 5th pregnancy & at the 6 week scan i just knew she was a girl and that she was staying. Bought pink and purple baby grows despite only being 6 weeks & having a history of losses. Shes almost 10 now

Oh @Ichangemynamealllllllthetime…
What a bittersweet roller-coaster. I’m so sorry for the heartache you’ve experienced, and at the same time “get you”. It’s almost a feeling of being forearmed by being forewarned. (I don’t say that lightly btw - trust me.)

Your adored daughter is bookended by my two (they’re eight and eleven). What a joy that we have these beautiful girls treading this planet (even if and when they make us prematurely grey!!!) ❤️

Fair enough @potatocakesinprogress

I don’t disagree for the most part, hence my stipulation earlier about vagaries and coincidence. I’m talking specifics 🙂

Waiting for specifics to be mentioned. I notice you haven't shared any of your own, so presuming you started this thread because you're writing an article for a fluffy women's mag or column?

Edit: Oh I just saw the one you posted further down. Is that why you started this thread?

Yes. I have had quite an eerie feeling for a few days now. I’d like to have the opposite feeling, when something good is about to happen. That would be nice for a change.

I guess I’m not quite thinking about that kind of premonition @potatocakesinprogress. More like: when I was splitting up with a partner because I had fallen in love with someone else. And in the middle of the night I woke up and I knew, I just knew with absolute certainty that it was a really wrong decision, and would be a disaster. There was no particular reason why. I went ahead and did it anyway because I wanted to, and got stuck in a horrible, despairing relationship with a man who turned out to be extremely abusive. I now realise something in my gut must have known things weren’t right. I wish I’d listened. I’ve had a few things like that, wheee I’ve had a bad feeling about a person or a situation for no reason at all (for example at work), and it’s later been proven right. I joke at work that people should hire my gut feeling for decision making!

@Ichangemynamealllllllthetime a close friend who was pregnant once rang me up distraught around 9am one morning, because she had just woken up from a really vivid dream that she was having a miscarriage and was going to lose the baby. I reassured her that there was no reason to worry, everything seemed fine, just a dream etc. The next morning she rang me again to tell me she’d miscarried overnight - had started bleeding around 5pm on the day of her dream. I don’t know how her body knew, but it did. I wonder if there’s some kind of knowledge that the body has that it allows to emerge into the subconscious somehow. I’m not a woo person at all, but from what I’ve read about consciousness I don’t think it’s impossible.

I’ve had a few things like that, wheee I’ve had a bad feeling about a person or a situation for no reason at all (for example at work), and it’s later been proven right. I joke at work that people should hire my gut feeling for decision making!

I'm similar, especially when it comes to new hires. If someone is a bad fit for the organisation (whether skills or personality), I can usually tell within the hour or so it takes to do their induction and when I've had a strong negative feeling, I've never been wrong (frustrating as I'm not usually part of the decision making team, and even if I was I'd need objective evidence on which to base the decision rather than a "gut feel", which is 100% fair, but...).

I wonder if there’s some kind of knowledge that the body has that it allows to emerge into the subconscious somehow. I’m not a woo person at all, but from what I’ve read about consciousness I don’t think it’s impossible.

I think our subconscious picks up on more than we give it credit for... there are even certain conditions, e.g. stroke or heart attack, where a "sense of impending doom" is a valid symptom that doctors will take seriously.

Went to Alton Towers with some uni friends, almost 10 years ago.

I’m not a massive fan of Roller Coasters but I had been on some upside-down ones in the past so I was up for trying them all. Anyway, we were in the queue for the Smiler ride which was fairly new coaster, and queueing time was about 2 hours.

After an hour I suddenly got this overwhelming feeling of dread and needed to leave. Told my friends I felt ill and would meet them after. I left the queue and just sat on a bench with a drink. Afterwards they met me and said I’d missed out on an amazing ride.

The next day the same ride malfunctioned and the carriages crashed, was all over the news. 2 girls ended up having a leg amputated due to injuries.

Obviously a tragic and crazy coincidence, but something told me that day “don’t go on that ride”.

Yes, more than once. A few years ago I had a very strong sense of something and someone. I'd felt something awful was going to happen to them a few months beforehand and, that day, it was at critical levels. The next day that had changed to a sense of emptiness and many thoughts of them. Two days later I learned they had died overnight. I wish I could share the whole thing with anyone at all. I had a lot of specific feelings that day. I did try telling a counsellor once but could tell they didn't believe me. So now I just keep it to myself.

Oh wow some of these have given me goosebumps.

I've never experienced anything like this.

There’s always one know-it-all trying to shut down anything interesting. Ignore it OP.

I haven’t intuited anything dramatic but can sense if a couple is about to split up with greater accuracy than, say, my partner! I think that’s just by paying attention though.

I had an unshakeable view that my baby was a boy. I bought nothing but blue clothes (ok, I'm a sexist traditionalist). Not just a vague feeling, I just knew and was unshakeable in that belief. My husband was worried in case it wasn't a boy because of how sure I was. It was no surprise at all to me that it was indeed a boy. Still I suppose it was 50:50 odds and both our families are rather boy heavy.

My mother was told I was a girl - long before sophisticated scanning existed - and seemingly having gone to the doctor because she thought she had the 'flu. He apparently delivered the happy news to her without any examination at all and after years of her failing to conceive and told her it was a girl. He ordered immediate bed rest and she was so shocked she didn't wait for my dad to pick her up in the car and wandered home in the rain in a complete daze. (My dad wanted a daughter and she wanted a boy so she was thrilled with grandsons.) I did grow up with cowboy curtains though as it was obvious the room had been originally decorated for a boy.

Oh yes! A feeling unexplainable I can only describe it somewhat similar to déjà vu.

I remember one night on the phone to a close friend of mine, a feeling came over me similar to approaching a rollercoaster, I told her something has happened and that I needed to go, I ended the call. My Grandmother was very ill at the time so I called my Mum and she said Nan was fine and that she just spoken to her. The feeling wouldn't go away and 40mins later my ex husband calls me and said our daughter had a seizure. He was on an overnight trip with both the girls and my daughter was getting ready for bed then collapsed, he was crying uncontrollably when describing what had happened. She was in the hospital waiting for an MRI scan, unfortunately it was the start of her Epilepsy journey. She was eight at the time and now at 16 she is doing well, at college studying performing arts.

I remember years ago I lived in a ground floor flat that had a huge back garden. My living room/kitchen was at the back of the house and I remember going to my bed one night feeling really uneasy like I was being watched. I even checked the cupboard in my bedroom to make sure no-one was in it. I had never had that feeling before. I woke up 2 hours later as I heard a banging noise, I went through to the living room/kitchen as that was where the noise was coming from. It was someone trying to break into my flat. They had managed to open the kitchen window and I had obviously disturbed them when I turned the light on. I found it really difficult afterwards to sleep there and I ended up moving out. Even though this happened over 16 years ago I still find it difficult to sleep on the odd occasion my OH isn’t here and even though we have an alarm I’m still on edge.

On occasion I have passed by someone and this knoeledge they will be dead soon suddenly pops into my mind
These can be people who I don’t know but later I recognise their picture in a paper. Sometimes it isn’t through illness but by their own hand

I do have a very heightened sense of smell and I always wonder if my nose picks up some sort of smell from the changes in the body when someone is ill but even they do not know it or has decided to do something

I don’t think these things are just random but our brains sre picking up almost imperceptible signs that we have learned over the years to interpret

The problem is we would be vilified if we went up to a perfect stranger in the street and said go to a doctor you are ill when they feel fine

@potatocakesinprogress ah the fluffy women's mag, nothing like a good slug of internalised misogyny.

I've accurately predicted all sorts, both personal and in the wider world. Some really weird stuff and a long time in advance. I just believe I
notice patterns and pick up information subconsciously.
I am also really good at spotting when people are going to become very famous in the future, even if they are quite shit at the time. I do not think it's woo. I think confirmation bias plays a big part though.

Sorry, I get that's a bit party pooperish.

Often. Usually I'm wrong but I really remember and attach significance to the times when I was right.

I get this sort of thing all the time.

My sister was booked onto the ferry that capsized off Holland all those years ago as part of a business trip. As she set off she had an overwhelming fear of the journey and called in sick and stayed in a hotel that night. She woke to the news of the accident and travelled a few days later.

I have had many such feelings and in general they are accurate but the most profound ones I have are rare and involve aircraft. If I dream about an aircraft crashing, I know for certain that the next day there will be a news report about this. DH eyerolls every time but I'm scarily accurate on this one thing.

I hate this part of me.