Have you ever felt the presence of evil?

[Petridish]

I mean, without having any rational reason to feel it? It could be a person or a place.

For me, a friend's father used to really radiate evil - much later, my friend confessed that he had been physically and emotionally abused by his father

I also knew a woman who had a senior job with the police. She was a friend of a friend and I had a bad feeling about her. She eventually got struck off and imprisoned for stealing huge amounts of money from a children's charity she was in charge of.

I'd taken a short break to Amsterdam on my own, staying in a hostel. I went out that night with 3 of my hostel room-mates but had gotten separated before the night was out. I'd felt absolutely fine and comfortable drinking on the red light district until after about 1am when I suddenly had this overwhelming feeling of fear wash over me and I knew I had to leave quickly.

It felt like the atmosphere had changed in an instant and sweat immediately started prickling all over my body. I practically ran back to the hostel and only calmed down once I was safely indoors.

A few years later, I read the book Slave Girl and it dawned on me how stupid I'd been - I was in a foreign country, alone and nobody knew where I was or would be waiting for me to get home. I often wonder if that feeling I felt was a warning and what might have happened if I didn't leave when I did.

I know what you mean - but I was just worried I was being silly or prejudiced in some way I wasn't aware of. It's an amazing nursery and we love it apart from one member of staff - plus there are 4 of them in the "room" he's in so I feel like it's not just her looking after him. All the others are wonderful - and what if I went somewhere else and the same happened?! I have no real grounds to feel this way. I trust the nursery 100% but she's just .... Not right. You ever meet someone and feel that they feel a supreme hatred of you? That's how she makes me feel.

Thanks iguana he was. When he died (prematurely at the age of 62) it was standing room only in the church. Everyone said how fair he was. He was a bit of a hippy really. I try and be like him rather than my mum ( who is perfectly ok) in everything I do.

I remember when I was 12 I went to the park and was approached by a paedo who offered me and my friend a fiver to "rub his dick". My friend replied "what with? Sandpaper? " and we both ran off cackling. We thought it was hilariously funny - being 12 and a bit naive. When we got home my Dad found it a lot less funny and arranged for someone to come round to the house with the "sex offender" mug shots in the hope we could identify the man.

We didn't identify him but the "album" was a right freak show. I still to this day (30 years later) remember the eyes on some of them. I've often wondered if all mug shots look like that as obviously anyone being photographed by the police whilst being processed for a crime isn't gonna like they do on their holiday snaps, are they? You know that "faces if meth" advert? That's the closest I can get to describing them. Cold, dead eyes.

I don't believe in intuition in the sense of an angel whispering in your ear to lead you away from Bad Things, and I certainly don't think animals have a greater sense than humans, so I'm sure the below has a rational explanation but I'm almost glad I don't know what.

Our old dog was a bit 'nice but dim'; a very laid-back, friendly, big mongrel with no anxiety issues except for the usual dog horrors: fireworks and thunderstorms.

I once took her on her usual walk, when she suddenly dug her heels in and tried to drag me back, with bulging-eyed fear. I tugged her forward and when she realised she had no option she then went for a desparate lightning sprint, scraping her claws against the pavement to keep on the far side of me until we got up the road and then carried on as normal. Same thing in the same spot on the way back. Same thing happened every walk for a few days (there's no other way to go or I would have saved her the trauma), and I narrowed it down to a perfectly normal looking car that was parked on the side of the street (no bloody handprints on the windows, nothing). I can't say if it had ever been there before because I don't notice cars, but as soon as it vanished, our dog was fine with that section of street, and never did anything like it again.

I wish with the bravery of hindight that I'd had a good look round it and peered through the window, but we walked on the other side of the road and, in any case, I only went that route because it led to a field for the dog, so I always had her with me and she would clearly sooner have bitten her lead in half than gone near it. Anyway, I think her reaction rattled me to the point that I wanted as little to do with it as possible. I can't imagine what frightened her so badly about it. Something horrible, I think.

And "starey" very very wide open staring eyes.

Hanging Change your son's nursery.

Hanging - change nursery. Your instincts are telling you something.

hanging agreed, change nursery

AgeingArtemis when I met the last Earl Spencer, Diana's dad (not namedropping, he used to serve in the wine shop at Althorp), he radiated goodness. I've never felt that before or since.

Hanging I'll say the opposite.

Yes, always trust your instinct if you feel or your child are in immediate danger. In a situation where a stranger is staring at you late at night on a train, it's best to take all precautions. It's also important to never put yourself in a vulnerable position (if you can help it) unless you are 110% comfortable.

However, studies have shown that gut instincts are only 50% reliable at best. Whether you realize it or not you are looking at the world through a lens of bias based on your own experiences, not a lens of objectivity. People that have been abused may be reminded of their abuse when people exhibit certain mannerism, but the person may be a decent person (no one is a saint). People that have been abused also learn to trust or gravitate to the type of people they grew up with because humans like familiarity.

I've known plenty of people I didn't like, got a bad feeling about, or generally felt uneasy about and they turned out to be decent people. There's also been people I liked who turned out to be assholes. And of course, there's people who I didn't like and they turned out to be jerks. But that doesn't mean your gut is reliable, it just means that of the people you remember feeling uneasy about you were proved right. But how many people have you felt uneasy about and were proven wrong?

One of my good friends and I didn't like or get along with right off the bat. We simply didn't like each other. She's one of my better friends who I trust. There's others I didn't like and simply saw no point in giving a chance, and that's fine too. They have other friends that do like them, and as with most people they have a few people who don't.

But no one is psychic. It is however important to look for signs. So if you notice a change in your son's behavior, or she does something other that "You don't like her" then yes remove him. It could be as simple as she's automatically on the defensive with parents who are constantly telling her how to do her job with their child, but good with children.

So yes, change nursery if you're uncomfortable and are unable to relax at work about it. But also remember, almost all cases of abuse cases are from people that are personal friends with the parents, not child workers.

the house I grew up in, something wasn't right there

I had a sense of being followed every time I went upstairs

I moved out when I was 18 (17 years ago) and still clearly remember it. my parents have said there was something odd about the place, an unpleasant vibe. and my younger brother has also since said that he used to get a creepy feeling on the stairs. he described it as being "watched" ....I am quite woo and believe in ghosts and shit. but my parents and brother totally are not which makes me feel even more creepy about the place

urgh I would never go back in there

I've told this story before...

My Grannie was widowed at a young age and then had a boyfriend who was a lot older than her.

I never liked him - he was a nasty alcoholic and leched over me from me turning 13 onwards.

My parents couldn't stand him.

From early pubesence, this man bought me perfume and jewellery and commented on my appearance.

When I turned 13, this man told I looked "good enough to be raped". I told him that I was horrified and he told me that his comment was a very high compliment.

I think he was evil. I discovered, some time after his death, that he was a cruel man who was a dreadful father to his son. He regularly caned his son and was a poisonous, sadistic individual.

A few more -

An elderly couple who tried to abduct me and my brother in the late 70s - they stopped their car and tried to persuade us to get into their vehicle. We ran off and they drove away.

A horrible man who visited my primary school every week to teach art. He was vile and regularly called me a "blooming twit" or "stupid idiot" for no particular reason. Looking back, I think he was drunk.

I have felt (and smelt) the presence of evil after going into the toilet after the boss has been in there.

My first job as a teen. I was serving a woman who was very smart looking and probably in her late 40's early 50's. She just made me tremble with fear! no idea why, but there was something about her that was bad. Never felt like that before or since, but I have met some dark people over the years that I instinctively disliked or mistrusted.

Dianas dad worked in a wine shop?

Senpai sorry I disagree I also think hanging should change her son's nursery. I'd never ever take a chance on a child's welfare. I'd rather change the nursery and be proved wrong than not and be proved right.

When DS1 was a baby we went away to the Scottish Borders. DH had had enough of looking round ruins so he went back to the house while me and DS went to look around another nearby castle, I can't remember the name of it. It was a very strong keep with high grey walls. We were fine wandering around until we came to one corner which I just couldn't go in. The atmosphere was evil and I just couldn't go in there. On the way out I bought a guide book from the previously closed shop (shack would be more fitting). A map inside the book showed the area I couldn't go in was the murder hole! Very creepy!

There's a wall in my kitchen that creeps me out. When OH renovated he left this wall uncovered and the original wood. It has what looks like tally marking on it (four vertical lines and a strike through) all over the wall. No idea how old the house is as it was rebuilt here in the 30's.
Always feels like someone is in that room with you even though I'm not woo and don't believe in ghosts etc.

My lovely cheerful little sister always hated one of my parents friends. Made no sense he was good fun etc and she was an affectionate friendly child. But from age 3 she used to say she "hated that horrid old man" and would have nothing to do with him. It became abit of a standing joke.

A few years later he was in court on charges of under age sex with a pupil (he was married family man with dds same age as us and senior teacher). He got off the charges but other accusations made by girls in late teens he was late 40s and very unattractive and he dumped his family and now lives in Thailand. My sister aged 4 saw what no one else did.

This thread is creeping me out.

Fascinating thread but totally creepy!

^There's a wall in my kitchen that creeps me out. When OH renovated he left this wall uncovered and the original wood. It has what looks like tally marking on it (four vertical lines and a strike through) all over the wall. No idea how old the house is as it was rebuilt here in the 30's.
Always feels like someone is in that room with you even though I'm not woo and don't believe in ghosts etc.^

We have a friend who thought it would be funny to make his plywood base board under his carpet look like a bit of a murder scene, where his hands were being dragged into the vent, with bloody footprints pacing back and forth along the floor near the one wall. Thinned the paint to look like dried blood.

Someone's going to have a fun renovation when he moves out.

It was probably a prank, or... Someone keeping track of something mundane.

Cloppysow "Dianas dad worked in a wine shop?"

Surely you're capable of understanding that occasionally manning the till in the wine shop in your own stately home, isn't the same as "working in a wine shop" with the implication that he was working in an off-licence somewhere.

I have to say I am a bit by the suggestion that you should "always trust your gut." even to the point that people say someone should remove their child from nursery purely on the basis she doesn't like someone there.

I also think there is a bit of a double standards approach to that advice, as witnessed on a thread recently where an op was told to trust her gut when she thought her partner was having an affair purely based on a gut feeling about a colleague, but when she questioned him about it and she felt as certain in her gut that he was telling the truth, people told her not to trust him. Does the gut feeling only account for negative feelings then?

I believe that we often have intuitions and thoughts about people, but if gut instinct was so reliable there would be no need for jury trials or police interviews - people would just know by their instincts that the person was guilty, no?

Also, how often have people had a gut feeling which turned out not to be accurate? e.g. when it comes to missing people for instance, how many people had a gut feeling about Chris Jefferies when Joanna Yeates went missing, who felt there was something wrong about him on the basis that the police had questioned him. How many people thought the boyfriend was guilty? and it turned out to be neither.

I have to say that I do often have feelings about people and events, there have been some unsolved cases in the news I am certain about what happened for instance, but for every one of my "gut feelings" it surely also stands to reason that someone will have a gut feeling which is totally opposed? So whose gut should be trusted in that instance?