Something Is Wrong: These Chilling Gut Feelings Were 100% Accurate
Human beings have five senses, sure—but we all know about the sixth sense. The one that tells us when something isn’t right, even if there’s no logical reason for it. Don’t believe us? Well, just ask these people. They listened to that sinking feeling and ended up thanking their lucky stars that they did. From the bizarre to the disturbing, these stories gave us all the proof we needed to listen to our gut.
1. Truck on Truck Violence
I was driving to work one morning at about 2 am. As I was behind this slow 18-wheeler, I was getting a feeling I needed to move. When we came up to a red light, I switched over a lane so that I wouldn’t be behind him anymore. Just about a second later I heard something that sounded like an explosion. It was a tow truck slamming into the back of the 18-wheeler at about 70 mph.
It tore off the two rear axles on the trailer, and most certainly would have smashed my car to pieces.
2. Toxic Thoughts
My dad left for work, got a weird feeling, and drove back home. When he walked in, he entered a nightmare. Everyone in the house was unconscious. He had to drag or carry them all outside one by one and call the ambulance. It turns out that my mom and her entire family had severe carbon monoxide inhalation. Because he trusted his gut, they all survived.
3. Speed Demon
When I was 18, I was on a back road with some friends. A girl I didn't know was driving really fast. Now, I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie, and I have always enjoyed a calculated risk in the name of a good time, but I just had a terrible feeling this time. I told her to either slow the heck down or let me out. I literally had to start screaming at her before she listened and slowed down.
A week later, a friend told me a story that made my blood run cold. She had crashed on that same stretch of road at 90mph, killing herself and the three passengers of her car.
4. Warning Signs
I work at a psych hospital. I was in the cafe with an adult unit and the adolescent unit was also there. I had known one of the kids from when she was on the children’s and normally we had a good rapport. I went to say hi and told her I was proud she had been staying out of trouble, a few of the other girls reacted weirdly to me saying it and the girl looked guilty.
I told the staff on the unit and said they should keep an extra eye on the girls because I had bad vibes about it. The staff kinda brushed me off. A half hour later four girls—including the one I knew—literally almost killed the two staff, one got her head bashed in and suffered brain trauma and the other staff was blinded in one eye.
5. Tragically Right to Be Worried
My mom called me when I was out with a friend. She told me my brother didn't come home last night. She was very worried, even though this is not the weirdest thing for a 21-year-old. I went straight home, and we both felt like something bad had happened. At home, his phone was on the couch in the living room so we couldn't contact him. We called the police and after a week of investigation, his body was found drowned in a nearby lake. I miss him every day.
6. Don’t Laugh At Your Kid's Gut
A storm was gathering as my dad was driving. I was 8, sitting in the back and looking out the window. I told him: "You better hurry, that construction crane looks like it might topple." Everybody laughs at the idiot kid. That evening the whole family was watching the local news. They opened with that crane crashing down due to heavy wind.
Although nobody had been hurt, I felt vindicated.
7. Not What I Meant By Date & Dinner
Once at a party, I was about to kiss this girl, but my spider senses tingled. I took a few steps back, and she was like "what the fu- " before throwing up. So glad I dodged that bullet.
8. The Wheels of Fate
Was riding my motorcycle with a friend on the back. We were going down a country road behind a truck hauling a bunch of old car tires, when all of a sudden, I decided we shouldn't be there. I slowed way down to let the truck go ahead of us. Just as I did, one of the tires fell off the truck and landed right where we would have been.
9. Early Learner
When I was in middle school, I got into a local college’s summer program where kids study advanced subjects. The day was over before my mom's work day, so I would take the light rail to the library or sometimes the local community center. Anyway, it was my first time ever really being on my own in a city or in public in general.
My parents got me my first cell phone because of all this. They didn't make me scared but I was prepared about how to stay safe. I sort of did the same thing everyday; get off my stop, go get a burger, and then go to one place or the other, making sure not to talk to strangers and all that. A couple of times, I noticed a man walking behind me. He'd also go the same burger place that I went to.
He never tried to talk to me or do anything like that, but after the fourth time I noticed, I called my mom and she told me people are just going about their day, on a schedule like I am, so it could just be a coincidence. Well, one day I decided to eat inside the burger place instead of take it to go, and I saw him walking outside and straight toward the way I would normally go.
Before he got out of the parking lot, he started looking around, like he was looking for someone or something. I went to the restroom, called my mom, and told her to get me. I didn't go that way ever again after that, took a new route. About a week or so later, a chilling story came on the news about a girl who had gone missing. The video footage was from the same strip center as the burger place.
The suspect was the man who had been following me.
10. A Different Kind of Drive-By
My now-wife and I did the long-distance thing in college, and I planned on doing my normal routine to visit her, where I would leave Chicago in the morning and get to her in the early afternoon on Friday. Well, I’m closing my store on Thursday night, and get a feeling I should just leave that night. So I said alright and left right away.
A little after lunch on Friday, tornado sirens go off. I don’t think anything of it until I head back home Sunday and drive through a town about a half-hour north of her. It got lit up by the tornado. That’s when I realized. If I had left at my normal time, I would’ve been smack dab in the middle of the tornado.
11. Sometimes a Hot Shower Doesn’t Cure All
One day, I felt a sudden pain in my lungs when I inhaled. I’ve never been stabbed, so I don’t know what it’s like, but the pain should have been equal to it, if not worse. It had happened before, years ago. After some hot water in the shower, the pain was gone. My wife insisted on going to ER. I insisted on hot water. “I feel like we should go and see a doctor,” she said.
When I was examined, I was diagnosed with pulmonary embolism on both lungs. The doctor said “One or two more hours, and you would’ve been gone.” So yeah, I owe my wife one.
12. Watching The Ones Who Do Not Smile
I was at a party when I was in college when two older dudes showed up. The place was packed and most people were loaded. I noticed something was a bit off about them. They never smiled and weren’t really talking to anyone. Finally, someone accused them of feeling around in their back pocket and it turned out they were lifting wallets from dumb college kids.
Once confronted, one of the guys stabbed the kid in the stomach with a smallish knife. They left slowly and were never caught. It was pretty surreal. The kid who got stabbed turned out fine.
13. Granny Knows What's Up
We had a psychopath roaming South Carolina a couple years ago. No one knew what he looked like yet but he had already killed three people at this point. Well, my granny has lived alone since my paw-paw passed about 15 years ago. She lives at the end of a long dirt road with about 10 other families but the closest one was about a quarter mile up the road.
One afternoon some random guy comes knocking on the front door of her house. My granny is a practical woman, she has never been to school because she grew up on a farm and was expected to pull her weight, but she is a smart woman. She goes to the door but doesn't open it—it’s a glass door. The 40ish-year-old man is there asking if he can use the phone since his car broke down, but Granny doesn't like the look of this guy. If he doesn't live here there is no reason for him to be on this road and if he was visiting someone their house or anyone else's house would have been closer since she lives on a dead end.
Anyways, she tells him that no he can't use the phone and needs to leave. She backs up and picks up my paw-paw's 410 as she goes. Once he sees the shotgun he hightails it out of there. About a week later the cops finally catch pyschopath and lo and behold if it isn't the same man.
14. What’s the Harm at a Farm?
I had a co-worker who used to go to parties in high school. Several of the parties in her senior year were at some guy’s farm. She went to one and bailed right away, saying it felt weird. The guy who owned the farm was Robert Pickton.
15. The Nose Knows
I was like eight when my parents took me and my younger brother to stay the night at my paternal grandparents' house because they were in the middle of divorcing. They lived in a farmhouse that was connected to a barn with machinery, gasoline tanks, and hay on the ground floor and furnished rooms on the floor above that. The room we were supposed to stay in was in that barn.
As soon as we went into the guest room, I was overwhelmed by panic and felt really dizzy. I turned around and just said that we will not sleep in that room, and we spent the night on the couch in the living room instead. Later that night, a gas leak in the barn ignited. The entire barn exploded, including the guest rooms on its top floor.
Maybe I had that weird feeling because the gas had leaked into the room already, but no one else felt anything. I'm sure I would be dead if I hadn't noticed it
16. Trust Your Gut
A few years ago, I was at a bar with a couple of friends. All was good, we were drinking and having fun. All of sudden, we heard this discussion taking place just a couple of tables away from us. Two guys decided to have a shouting/threat match. I stopped everything to pay attention to them. My friends were making fun of me, saying I was gossipy. One of the guys in the discussion got up and left.
Immediately after he left, I told my friends we had to go. Right away. I was adamant. They didn't get why I was being weird, but we’d been friends forever, so they reluctantly agreed. We went to a different bar in a different neighborhood, but I couldn't take my mind off of those two guys. The next day, I turned on the news and I couldn’t believe my eyes.
There was a report about a bar fight. Apparently, the guy who got up went home, grabbed a gun and came back for a drive by. He mowed down four people in the process. My grandpa taught me to never ignore my gut, and I couldn't be happier to have listened.
17. Ditching Danger
I was driving a friend home late at night when I was around 21. She lived in a pretty rural area outside of St. Louis, MO and about a quarter mile from her house was an old abandoned farm and farm house. I always thought of this place as non-threatening as she told me she and her two sisters would go there as kids and they found an attic full of cool things, including a trunk of vintage woman’s clothing and old love letters. It was like something out of a movie.
Anyway, I’m driving her home and it’s a hot, humid Missouri summer so we have the windows open. We are also singing at the top of our lungs. We pass the abandoned farm and I drop her off at her house. I wait long enough to see she makes it inside and I head back out the way I came. I’m driving along and I get to where the farm is. I see two things in the middle of the road, but I can’t tell what they are.
My danger meter goes off. I had just driven this road and there was nothing there. That’s when I put the windows up and made sure the doors were locked. I got closer and realized the items are two car batteries, spaced out in the road in such a way that I would have to get out and move them to drive on the road. I immediately knew I wasn’t getting out of the car.
I picked the side of the road that had the more shallow ditch and I gunned it. I was driving a little SUV and remember feeling the car run over branches and things in the ditch, but I just gunned it and got out of there. All the way home, I felt creeped out and kept checking my rear view mirror. I called my friend the next morning and told her what had happened and we both agreed it was weird.
Shortly after that, I moved to another state and didn’t think much of it after that. Fast forward to a couple of years later when I was back visiting my hometown. I randomly ran into my old friend and she ran up to me with wide eyes and grabbed my arms. She asked me if I remembered what I told her that night. I said yes and she proceeded to tell me a story that made my blood run cold.
Not too long after the night with the car batteries in the road had happened, her family was awakened in the middle of the night to someone pounding on their sliding glass door. Her dad went to check and saw two naked, injured women. He let them in and immediately called 9-1-1. They had been abducted from St. Louis City, about 40 minutes away, by two men and brought to the old abandoned farmhouse where the men had attacked them.
The women somehow managed to get free and ran like heck to the only light they could see—the light over my friend’s garage. They both survived, but the men who grabbed them were never caught. There was evidence the men had been going there for a while. My friend was convinced they had put the batteries in the road to get me to stop.
I’m just really glad my gut told me not to get out of my car.
18. The Man in Red
Well, I was walking home. Wasn't late and I'm from a pretty safe area, but it was that time of year when it starts to get dark really early so felt kind of ominous. Anyway, I pass this guy in a red sweater and red tracksuit bottoms, and he looks at me funny. Maybe he's high, maybe he's loaded...either way something not quite right about him.
I keep going. Look behind me, he's still there. Cross the road. He crosses with me. As soon as I turn a corner, I sprint to my apartment complex and run into the coded gate and wait. He rocks up a minute later and stares at me through the gate. He just stares at me for a good 10 or so seconds then runs back the way he came.
Shivers.
19. No Party Favors Tonight
Had a friend who said we should go to this party he was invited to by a classmate of his. We ended driving out to it. We noticed the neighborhood was not too pleasant and sketchy. We saw that house had some lights on in backyard but kind of quiet for a party. I decided that we should not go since something felt really off.
Friend ended finding out that the classmate that invited him got robbed and threatened when he went to the party. It ended up being a fake party.
20. The Byes That Never Were
Years ago, I was staying the night at someone else's house, maybe an hour from where I lived. That night I was so tired, but I couldn't get to sleep. I was super anxious all night, which was very unusual for me, and I just couldn't relax. I came so close to just grabbing my things and driving home in the middle of the night several times, but I convinced myself not to.
Turns out I should have. If I'd gone home that night, I would have had the chance to say goodbye to my dad before he passed away that next morning. I still regret that to this day, and I promised myself that the next time I get a feeling like that I'll listen to it.
21. A Mother’s Intuition
When my mom was pregnant with my older sister, she and her family decided to go hiking in the mountains. On the day of the hike, she suddenly felt weird and uncomfortable. She stayed behind while the rest of her family went for the hike. Her family got lost, and this was long before cellphones. If it wasn't for my mom staying behind, no one would’ve noticed they were gone and so no one would’ve gotten help.
22. Road to Nowhere
I was offered a dream job at almost double my salary in a different city. It was only two hours away, but something told me not to take the job. I had a number of people tell me I would never have another opportunity like this, and my fear of leaving my hometown was holding me back. Two months after I turned it down, that division of the company was sold, and everyone in that department lost their job.
I would have been stuck in a new city with no friends or family nearby, and no job prospects.
23. When You’re the Responsible Adult
About 15 years ago, I left work early, like really early, for no real reason. I got home and all these kids were standing near my door (apartment complex next to a pond) and they were all staring at me and not saying anything. I went inside and dropped my bag. It wouldn’t stop weighing on me how weird it was, so I went back outside.
I spoke to them asking what was going on and one kid meekly asked if I could help his friend. A kid I didn't see was sitting on a curb surrounded by all the rest. They had all jumped the fence next to the pond, except he slipped and impaled the flesh of his inner thigh and got stuck, the kids helped pick him up off of it, but he was just sitting there bleeding everywhere with a bunch of meat hanging out. I got him treated and ambulance on the way, he came back a few weeks later with his family to thank me, said I saved his leg.
There were 6-7 kids who all just followed me with their eyes without any sound (no talking, no shuffling, no kid sounds) as I walked down the sidewalk, that’s what freaked me out. The kid in question was sitting on a curb in between them facing away so I didn’t notice him. When I asked what was going on, they parted like the Red Sea.
He was in shock and asked me if he needed help and then lifted his shorts leg. Everyone was eerily calm about the whole thing. However, once lights and sirens came, they scattered to the four winds. The railing was made of 1/2” steel tubing. The top had a horizontal runner about eight inches from the top of the picket. Each picket was four inches apart and the tops of each picket were pinched together flat then the edges were folded in, creating a spear but without any barbs.
This created a place to put your foot to hop the fence, provided you didn’t slip. So luckily it was smooth in and smooth out. What’s horrifying, and I never thought of until now, is the way that he had to fall to impale his thigh means he hung there with all his weight on it. Jesus.
24. Raining Down
I don’t know if it was a gut feeling or lucky coincidence, but either way, it was a really, really close call. I decided I should empty the garbage as I left the house for class, which added maybe 10 seconds to my journey as the bin was 10 feet from my front door. I began my walk to school. Just in front of me, some idiot from the third floor flat threw a load of glass out his window, smashing all over the path.
If I’d left ten seconds earlier—AKA if I’d left without taking out the garbage—it would’ve rained down on me.
25. Bouldering Is Dangerous
Went for a weekend away with a group from my local Scouting area, back in the ‘80s. I didn't know them all, went to make up the numbers and get some climbing/canoeing/caving done. We stayed in a rented house in the Peak District (UK). One evening, a few guys went out to try "bouldering"—climbing boulders 10 to 15 meters high.
I got there, took one look and said no, we have no climbing gear, that's high enough to die if you fall. I got the mickey taken, called "chicken," etc., so I left them to it and walked back. An hour later one guy fell 10 meters and split his skull open on the rocks below, killed instantly.
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26. Stranger Danger
I was maybe six years old and playing with a friend at the playground. An older man came and asked us if we would like to play at his private playground. I remembered my mum telling me to not interact with strangers, so I declined. I was sure as a kid that he had a private playground and was actually kind of mad at myself for not saying yes.
Years later, I was 25 and walked home alone from a club, being tipsy. That’s when it struck me. Suddenly, I remember this man from my childhood and it occurred to me what that really was. I see in the corner of my eye two guys behind me, one leaning on the wall, the other one just nodding and walking out of my perspective. Got chills like crazy.
All of a sudden, this dude locks me in his arms, trying to touch me. I said no, he didn’t stop. No one was around. So I said let’s just walk, because I was convinced that the other guy was just waiting as well. We walked, he held me super close to him. I asked him for his jacket because I thought I could run if he has to mess with his zipper.
He just grinned at me, held me even tighter and didn’t say a word. So I felt that I was running out of time, and there was still no other pedestrian in sight. So I relaxed my body on purpose while walking. He sensed it, stopped holding me so tight. I focused for 30 seconds and right at the moment when he looked back, I punched him as hard as I could on the side of his jaw.
He fell to the ground and I ran.
27. Stranger Danger!
This happened almost 30 years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I was probably 8 or 9 at the time and had been at the store buying candy for the weekend with the girl from next door, she was one year younger than me. A car stopped and the man inside opened the passenger door and asked me and my friend to get in the car. He was picking us up for our parents, he told us.
I could not shake the feeling that something was wrong and remember thinking "this is what my parents were talking about!" I grabbed my friend’s hand, said that we lived in that house "right over there" and pulled my friend with me. Went to their door, rang the bell, went straight in and told the people living there what had happened.
Turned out I was right, we were about to be kidnapped.
28. Expertise
Airline pilot here—warning, do not continue reading if flying makes you uneasy. One day we loaded up passengers and cargo and everything and we were ready to taxi. I noticed that the nose of the airplane seemed to be higher up than usual while we were sitting on the ground. I told my first officer about it and he agreed. We double checked the weight and balance and everything seemed to be right.
I decided to just taxi out towards the runway and see if the wheel struts would go back to their normal positions during taxi. Still felt weird to me. Something wasn't right. I told ground control we needed to go back to the gate. Called Ops and told them we're headed back because I think something isn't right with the weight and balance.
After we get back, I ask them to check how much ballast we have in the aircraft. It's verified on my sheet as 500lbs., but I have a feeling...Turns out, yep, they forgot to put it in the plane. So had we taken off, the center of gravity would have been out of whack—way past limits. It could have resulted in an airplane that was impossible to control. Just like that 747 that took off and had the load slide to the back.
That was a day that I was really pleased that I had so much experience flying to give me that feeling & that feeling could very well have saved my life along with others.
29. The Watcher
I used to date a girl who I would go see every night after I got off work, when I worked until midnight. After meeting, I would stay at her house until about one or two AM. Sometimes as I left her house, she would follow me in her car and stop at a nearby all-night grocery store. I always begged her not to go alone, but she always said she'd be fine.
Sometimes I would wait in the parking lot until she came back out and then we'd go our separate ways. Sometimes I wouldn't. One time I felt ill so as we left she said, "Just go straight home, I'll be fine, I always am." For some reason, I felt like that was the night I needed to be there, so I stayed, but I didn’t tell her. She thought I went straight home.
I was in the parking lot as she pulled in but she didn't see me. As she walked in, a shady looking dude was walking out. She ignored him but he looked back at her about three or four times. Then he gets to his truck and another guy is in there and they talk through the window for a minute looking back at the store a couple times. The second guy gets out of the truck, gets something out of the back of it then they both head back into the store.
I couldn't be sure they were going to do anything but I was not about to take a chance, so I go into the store too. I see them going past every aisle and then motion to each other like "there she is." So, I walk a bit faster to catch up. I turn into the aisle just as they are approaching her. They are looking at each other. From behind I yell "Hey!" They both turn, and so does my girlfriend.
I brush by them and give them a look and say "Hey guys." They nod awkwardly as my girlfriend says to me "What are you doing here?” I kiss her and make up some story about wanting to buy aspirin. The two guys leave. I never told my girlfriend that story, I don't know why. I don’t know what they were up to, but it wasn’t good.
30. Kill Em With Kindness
I have a story of what happens when you don’t listen to your gut—or at least, you listen to it a bit late. That day, my gut said “Don’t get into the car with this person you’ve just met.” I didn’t listen. He legit kidnapped me and drove me to a forest and tried to drag me out. My gut said to calm down and be nice to him. I basically talked my way out of the situation by being kind and stroking his ego.
I was able to convince him that he didn’t need to do this and that I’d be “his,” but he needed to let me go because my friend was waiting for me. She knew I was getting a ride and that if I didn’t show up soon, maybe we couldn’t “be together.” This guy was crazy but it worked and he drove me to where my friend was waiting. The entire time, I had to keep reassuring him that I wasn’t mad and that I was happy “he chose me”—gag.
Anyway, I got out safe and unharmed except for some bruises from when I first tried to fight him off. He spent a year in jail after that, and ended up going to jail for another crime right afterward.
31. Not Good With Rejection, Or Humanity
Worked as a Shot Girl at a pub. One night, I rejected someone who attempted to get my number. Not unusual and he didn't seem that bothered. The whole exchange wasn't strange to me. In the early hours after the bar closed, I went to leave through the back door into the car park like usual, when I saw the sensor light outside was on. Someone was standing just outside the door.
I felt uneasy so went out the front and asked one of the bouncers to walk me around the back to my car. As we rounded the corner, we spotted this guy lurking outside the door holding his belt like a makeshift garotte. When he saw us, he started screaming that I was a freaking shrew and I should die. He scampered off into the road and never came back.
32. Read, Aim, Fire!
I'm a firefighter. We got called out to a tree fire started by fallen power lines. We pull up in the truck, and I'm trusting that my driver and crew leader are doing their job and have good situational awareness. We get out of the truck, and we've parked next to a set of power lines (not fallen). It's a very windy night and I can see the lines swinging so I voice my concerns to my crew leader who says it'll be fine.
We get out hose out (risk of the tree fire catching onto a house outweighing potential risk of arcing plus the line disconnected when it fell), and I'm on the branch ready to start putting it out with 2 others near me when I get a chill. I look up to see the lines swinging violently and yell "everyone freaking move!” As the three of us sprint and dive out of the way we hear a thwip and crack, and, sure enough, the line we were under came loose and stayed connected to the power pole.
If I hadn't got that chill chances are, we would have had three fried firies.
33. Get Your Own
Not me but my best friend, who was driving to California from Arizona with her two-year-old for work (about 5 months ago). She stopped at a gas station and just got a weird feeling. She normally doesn’t lock her car when she pumps gas, but she decided to do it. During that process, a woman came up to her and started talking all nice and whatnot.
She got an uneasy feeling about it and heard a noise like someone trying to open a door. She turned around and saw the woman’s husband trying to get into her car to steal her baby. She told him to get the heck away from her car, and the man tried to play it off. She told them to screw off and got in her car to leave.
The couple got in their vehicle and followed her, tried to swerve her off the road and brake check her on the highway for a few miles. She was smart enough to call the cops (this was in Primm, Nevada btw), and they caught up to her and ended up arresting the couple. They had gotten multiple reports that day of issues like that.
34. The Longest Run
I was 13. The bus would take me home from school in 15 minutes, but I liked taking the one-hour walk home. While walking on a main road, a van pulled over some 100 feet away from me. It wasn't a family van, it was one of those utility, boxy-looking ones. The van door was open and a man was waving at me with both of his arms. I was too far away to hear what he was saying.
Usually, I love to help people, but something told me to keep walking. So I kept walking. I look back five minutes later and this guy is walking behind me. Relaxed pace. I'm not worried, but I walk a little faster. I look back maybe two or three minutes later and he's still walking, but closer, and waving his arms again. So I start jogging a little. Now he's jogging. Then I start running as fast as a I can, not stopping to look back.
At one point, I turned onto the next street and couldn't see him anymore. I was so cold with fear, out of breath, waiting for the intersection light to change. The light changed and I went back to walking, but I was out of breath. Five minutes later, I look back and I can’t believe my eyes. He's still following me. So I ran the last two minutes to my building, even though I didn't want him to see where I lived.
I ran into the building lobby, looked through the glass doors. He wasn't there. I pushed the elevator button, and went back to the glass door and saw him on the street far away, still walking. I've always tried to make sense of what he was going to do. This was a busy suburban area. Was he going to just stab me and run away? What did he want with me in particular? Did he just leave his van behind to get towed?
So many questions. So, so weird.
35. Voices in my Head
After a party many years ago, I was driving home at like four in the morning with my friend passed out in the passenger seat. I was driving fast down a steep hill that's like a half-mile long, at least. I was on autopilot, as I drive down that street every day. Suddenly, about a half a block from a major intersection, which I had a green light for, I heard a voice in my head.
It said these exact words: "You may want to slow down, because if you don't, you might lose your life." It was weird, because that's not really what my tone of voice of style of speaking is like. Anyway, I slowed down, and as I was entering the intersection, a car blew the red light at about 50-60mph, right in front of me. It was so close that I nearly threw up. I started shaking and punching my friend, yelling how I just saved our lives, He just groaned and went back to sleep. Jerk.
36. Depend on the Kindness of Strangers
I was at a party for my boyfriend’s father but I had a headache that wasn't going away. I had been drinking, but I wasn't drunk. I was just feeling terrible. So I made my excuses and left to walk home alone, as I didn't want to ruin his night with his dad. It was a ten-minute walk, if that, from the pub to our house and it wasn't properly dark yet.
I walked down the street and passed a man sitting on a wall drinking a beer. A minute after I passed, I heard the bottle smash and then footsteps a little while back. Nothing unusual, it was a main road and there was another pub further along but my gut was screaming that something was wrong. I hurriedly walked back to the pub and stopped outside to ask the smokers for a light and a chat as I smoked.
That’s when I saw him pass me, and then stare at me from across the street for an uncomfortable amount of time. With my heart pounding, I asked a bouncer working the doors if he could order me a taxi. A few weeks later, while in the town center, I saw a mugshot of the same dude. He was wanted for assault.
37. Just in Time to Say Goodbye
This happened just this week. My grandma got diagnosed with cancer about a month ago. We caught it late so there wasn't much we could do. She was too old and weak for chemo, so we decided against that. Last Sunday I just had a gut feeling I had to fly out to visit her. So, I did that, got back on Wednesday. She passed away Friday, a few weeks earlier than the prognosis predicted.
I'm really glad I was able to see her one last time.
38. War Never Changes
Iraq in 2006. We were going to be inserted for 48hrs. It was 2200 and past curfew. As we snake our way in our armored trucks down from a main avenue and just before my truck makes the left, a man smoking a cigarette and I lock eyes, he flicks the cigarette in my trucks general direction and walks away from our convoy. I leaned towards the center of the truck to look out the front windows and say "Stuff’s about to go down."
The first two IEDs and shots were fired within seconds of me saying that. The ambush lasted for what seemed like hours, was only a few minutes.
39. A Blast From the Past
It was near Halloween time when my friends and I were telling ghost stories. My friend said she was going to tell a story about her parents' first date. She said she didn't like telling the story, since it was actually true, but we prodded her on. To cut to the chase, the parents had spent a nice, if awkward, first date together and around the time that they would have said "good night," the male in the situation—my friend's dad—suggested that they go for a midnight hike up Provo Canyon.
He apparently knew the place, since he had done a fair amount of rock climbing in the area. So the two drove up to the mouth of the canyon, got out of their cars and started hiking under just the light of the stars, since it was a new moon. At some point, the male starts getting a "bad feeling," since the pathway ahead, which would pass under some trees, would be dark, and because it was getting to be quite late.
He ignores the feeling and presses on. In later rehearsings of the story, the female would say that she had felt the same feeling at what was probably the same time, though she didn't know the trail like he did. A minute later, the feeling came back to the male. He ignored it again, and started walking a bit of the way into the trees when his foot hit something "soft" in the middle of the path.
Under the trees, it was too dark to see just what this soft thing was, and the feeling came back stronger than ever. Instead of finding out what his foot had bumped into, he and the female both agreed to hightail it out of there...Years later, after being married for some time, they were watching an interview with the serial killer, Ted Bundy.
In response to a question asking him to describe the time that he felt the closest to being caught, he explained about the night that he lured a girl into Provo Canyon, and had just killed her when he heard some people coming up the trail. He explained how he hid in the trees just in time, only to watch some guy walk right into the body, and for some reason, just turn around and walk away.
40. Time for a Detour
First month, I was a student at college; I was bored and lonely and decided to walk to my best friend's house across town at midnight. It was a walk I'd made several times with no issues, but this time when I got to the edge of the campus parking lots, I had a gut feeling hit me that I needed to go back to my dorm, NOW. I did, and the next morning a campus alert went out through email that around 12:30 that morning, a student had been attacked in the parking lot I'd have had to pass through.
41. Not All Rest is Easy
About six years ago, my sister and her family were visiting. Her daughter—four months old at the time—was napping in the house while the adults were hanging outside. I went into the house to grab something and glanced over at my niece. She was limp and strange looking, like spaced out. It really freaked me out, so I picked her up, panicking a bit, and handed her to my brother-in-law.
By this time, she was back to normal, so we shrugged it off. I said something like "Oh I forgot how babies look when they sleep." Within 1-2 days, my niece started having 10 seizures a day. What I had witnessed was a seizure. That was the beginning of a multi-year nightmare of seizures, hospital visits, neurological testing, and many different types of anti-seizure meds.
She was diagnosed with a seizure disorder. Thankfully, the docs found meds that worked, her seizures went away, and she was eventually weaned off her medication. She has been seizure free for four years! Now she is a healthy, beautiful and happy little lady!
42. You Nearly Blue Your Life Away
A guy dyed blue came into the motel lobby at 1 am. In and of itself, not terribly unusual. Clubs get out, you see folks with body paint, foam, etc. But he just seemed "off." When he came up to the counter, I took a step back. Which is why his bowie knife hit my tie and not my neck. Slammed the fire door down, called the cops.
Wasn't difficult for them to find a bright blue guy (who got naked for some reason after I slammed the door) running around in the snow at 1 am.
43. Just Say No, Mmmkay
At a research institute, I walked into a mouse procedure/surgery room for a quick moment to grab something and leave. After walking out I felt, well to be honest, like I was a little high. There were three other people in that room, including 2 undergraduates so I got worried and went back inside to check things out. When I got back inside I asked if they were feeling ok, one of the undergrads turned to me and said she was fine, but was flushed and looked a little out of it.
So I went around to all the isoflurane chambers (odorless volatile liquid that KOs mammals at low doses and kills them at higher) looking for leaks. Sure enough, the gasket at the bottom of one of the chambers had failed and it was leaking out and immediately boiling into a gas, and filling the room. I told them their isoflurane was leaking, and the postdoc told me they were fine and that he uses that machine all the time.
He also pointed out that the isoflurane was in an air curtained biosafety cabinet and so even with the leak, they were protected. I called him an idiot because a biosafety cabinet recirculates air and doesn't evacuate it like a fume hood—which is what he should have been using. So I ignored him, propped open the door, and ordered the undergrads to get out of the room.
I then went to their lab manager and told her what I had found. Their lab manager came down like the wrath of God.
44. Crazy Step Mother
My father started publicly dating a woman shortly after my mother died—I later learned she's likely the woman he'd been having an affair with before she died. I liked her. One evening my father took me to one side and asked how I'd feel about him asking her to marry him. I got an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach and felt nauseated.
I told my father I didn't want him to and he asked why as he thought I liked her. I explained that I did like her but had a bad feeling and he said: "that's just a feeling, they don't mean anything." He already had the ring and proposed straight away. I got really excited about the engagement, the wedding, moving house, and my impending little sister.
After the wedding, she changed. And when my half-sister was born, she went crazy. She abused me, my sister (my mother's child), and later, my half-sister (her own child). He only left her when my doctor told him something was clearly going on with her that was affecting my health. She was putting a substance that I'm intolerant to in my food and my father wouldn't believe me and would force me to eat whatever she made.
However, I couldn't get a doctor alone without her to tell them. My maternal grandmother told him if he didn't leave her she'd go for custody that he finally left her. He accused me of lying for the entire time leading up to that and has never asked me about any of my attempts to get help since.
45. Day Care Don’t
Posted this before...took my two babies to an in-home daycare run by a lovely woman. About nine days in, the woman’s teenage son was home when I picked up my kids. He gave me a super creepy vibe. Pulled the kids from the daycare and placed them elsewhere. Maybe 10 years later that kid shot two people then shot his mom.
46. Have Heart, Not a Heart Attack
Came back to work after a week off for Christmas vacation and immediately noticed something was off with my friend. I had no clue what it was, but I just knew was something was wrong with him, but I couldn't explain what it was. I kept asking him if he was alright, but he kept saying everything was fine. On the second day, he came up to me and asked me how to do something that I know he knew how to do; I had trained him on how to do it.
I became very concerned at this point. The third day was New Year’s Eve, so we only had a half day and he was working on a spreadsheet. End of the day came around and I took one look at it and I could have printed it out and called it modern art, that's how horrifying it looked. I called the boss over and he pulled him off of it which caused my friend to break down and start crying because he couldn't understand that he had done anything wrong.
I was moving to a new place over our day and a half off, so I simply told him that something was wrong with him and he needed to get some help. We came back in for one day on Friday and my friend wasn't there. I learned that he was in the hospital because of a heart attack. Later on, we learned that during the days leading up he was suffering from mini strokes and that all of my constant nagging about if he was alright ultimately led to him thinking that maybe there is something wrong with him.
So, he called a taxi to take him to the ER on New Year’s Eve where they immediately recognized that he was having a heart attack. A doctor later told him that if he had not gone to the ER when he did, he would not have woken up if he'd gone to sleep that night. Because of this, my friend says that I saved his life through the power of our friendship.
47. Granny Senses
Not mine but my grandma's. We went camping at this one spot in the woods by a small creek every summer. One summer she gets this bad feeling and makes us pack up and we leave. Couple days later they end up finding a dead body right near our then-campsite.
48. Mom Knows When Something Is Wrong
My mom had one. I was there with my brother but we didn't believe her at the time. Three years ago, my brother, my sister and I were supposed to meet at mom's place for dinner at 7. My mom and sister are very close; her being the firstborn, the only girl and us being a Lebanese family. Anyway, they talk throughout the day quite a bit, daily.
Around 6:30 pm, my sister is not answering phone calls or texts. My brother and I think she's asleep or just doing whatever and it's nothing to worry about. By 7:15, still nothing from my sister and my Mom at this point is pretty much saying "Something is wrong here, I can just feel it." We still don't believe her but it's not her style to worry and she is really now worrying.
I call up her now ex-husband who was at a conference saying we haven't heard from my sister. It turns out neither has he. I asked if he knew her iTunes credentials so I could track her phone. Turns out she was at home. We called a friend, sent someone knocking at her door, and no answer. My mom started driving there and made the decision that we need to break into the house.
She texted her friends to kick the door down. They did and found my sister unconscious. She had a major stroke and a concussion. The aftermath was very, very difficult. I won't write a novel and be brief. Major stroke, concussion and required open heart surgery. Was told she may never talk and would likely be a vegetable and if we actually wanted to proceed with the surgeries.
We did. She's alive, she talks, she can walk with a cane and will at some point, walk without a cane. She lost everything on the left side of her body. The only part of her that may never come back is her left arm.
49. There Are Some Sick, Sick People Out There
Not me but my mom. When I was about ten years old I got invited to spend the night at my really good friend’s home. My mom said no. I begged her to let me go but she was adamant that I couldn't. She said she just didn't feel right about it and that no amount of pleading was going to change her mind. A few weeks later my friend’s dad was arrested for inappropriate child imagery.
After he went to trial it was found that he had also molested several young girls. He would have his daughter invite them over for a slumber party and then touch them when they went to sleep. If my mom hadn't trusted her gut feeling I could have been one of his victims.
50. Knowing What Is Best For Your Daughter
My oldest daughter (30-something) stopped by my work one day and introduced her new boyfriend. He seemed a little off to me, but I decided it was just "guy dating my daughter" and let it go. Later, he met my wife and I and she told me later that he seemed off to her, too. She has pretty good instincts about people, so we decided to investigate him a bit.
Typing his whole name into Google, the first result was a mugshot from a couple of years ago. The third was an active warrant. More searching resulted in finding three warrants from different counties, an extensive record (check deception, theft, driving while suspended, driving after a lifetime suspension, and driving while a habitual traffic offender), and a brand-new marriage license for him and my daughter. They were going to get married later that week.
We, of course, told her about him, but she insisted that he'd already told her about all of that and had "taken care of it." We emailed links to her roommate, who showed her, but she didn't have any luck talking her out of the relationship. They were in love, and everything would work out OK in the end.
We sent in an anonymous tip, and he was arrested the next day at her apartment. My daughter then found out that he'd been lying to her about pretty much everything. He had entangled her in a business he was trying to start that mostly involved her financing things for him, because his credit was trash due to records for bounced checks and theft. She's still working to untangle herself from that.
He is still in jail, and, according to her lawyer, will be for at least two years depending on what happens in two other counties.
51. Sixth Sense
My sister once called me downstairs to talk to my dad on the phone. At that time that was pretty regular, maybe once a week, and it wasn't at all an unusual time for it or anything. But my stomach suddenly dropped, I wanted to be sick, and I really, really did not want to answer. Turns out my grandfather, who I liked very much, had passed away very unexpectedly.
I still don't understand what it was. I got nothing from the reactions of my family because he wanted to tell me first, and it started before I saw any of them. There had been no news, medical or otherwise, about my grandfather beforehand.
52. The Mugging
I had a gut feeling I should pull my wallet and phone out of my purse. Not even 20 seconds later, I get mugged. The man dragged me across the sidewalk and stole my purse BUT all he ended up getting was a juice box.
53. The Kid Gloves Are Over
I was like six years old and in the backyard of my best friend/neighbor's, swimming in a three-foot play pool thing. She went inside to ask for something and right as she left, a guy on a motorcycle drove down the alley and stopped. The fence was a small chain link fence, so he definitely saw me and stopped. And I could see him clearly, like 20 years later it's still so vivid.
He pulled out some gloves and put them on, which is the last thing I saw him doing as I got out and ran through their garage out the front, and inside my house next door terrified. He drove around the front down the street slowly and about 10 minutes later, shot two kids at the park at the end of my street.
54. Clear as Glass
I was at my grandparents' for a gathering. Me and some of the other older kids were playing catch or tag in the front yard, I can't exactly remember, doesn't matter. The younger kids were playing in the backyard, doing whatever the heck kids do. While playing, I could SWEAR I heard a crying/wailing/screaming sound, but it was very quiet and distant. It was one of the most horrific screams I've ever heard, but I asked the others and they didn't hear a thing, and all insisted it was nothing.
I don't know why but felt absolutely dreadful and terrified, yet everything was fine, so I decided to go check it out. I run into the backyard and it turns out my little sister (4-5 years at the time) was bleeding severely—she was covered in blood and trying to crawl towards the house, I swear it was out of a damn horror movie, looking back I can't believe this actually happened.
Long story short, my little cousin (7-8 yrs at the time) decided it was a good idea to play "catch" with some broken glass he found in the backyard and ended up cutting her jaw very deeply. Kids are dumb.
55. Girl Talk
I used to work in a big city as a medical emergency responder/dispatcher. One night, I arrive for my shift and like one hour later, I get this call. A man calling for his wife who was choking on food, and who suddenly started to "feel better" during the call, which made him change his mind and say he didn't need an ambulance anymore.
I could've stopped the call there, cancel it or rank it as low priority. But I had this feeling, and when the man asked me if I wanted to speak to her, I said yes. "Ma'am, this is the emergency services, are you sure that you don't need help of any kind?" No answer. "Would you need the services of the authorities?" "Maybe." So, I ask. "Is the guy beside you dangerous?" "Yes."
Man, the rush of adrenaline I got. I made her go to safety and then she told me all about how he had been beating her for a long time, how she had no way to get out of this, that she was choking while eating because of the stress of being beside him...I worked with the police and they went on the scene, probably preventing the woman from being beaten up again.
Always trust your instinct.
56. Spotted in the Act
A few years ago, about 1 am on a Sunday morning, I had to take my dog out before bed. I live in a rough neighborhood and I am a female so I usually have my guard up regardless of the time. Before I left the apt building my gut told me something was up. The street was completely void of traffic and people except for a van parked out to the side of the road.
Outside of it were three people whom I quickly identified as male. Right away my reaction is to keep my head low, put my jacket hood up and not bring attention to myself. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see they were struggling; on closer inspection, I see two of the men are holding up the other man between them.
I make the assumption that they are headed home after a night of heavy partying and they are just helping their friend who is sick or something. I am telling myself this to ease my fears. Then they notice me and they stop everything and freeze. I thought that was odd and no good so I drag my dog straight back to my building (I don't even know if he got the chance to pee that night!).
I go to bed and thinking nothing more of it, until it's time to take the dog out again in the morning. There was a notice in the elevator asking for witnesses as to exactly what I saw that evening because a dead body had been found. So... this wasn't a friend of theirs after all, they were ditching a body. Still upsets me today and I will never ignore my intuition again.
57. A Big Sibling is the Best Lifeguard
My siblings and I were swimming at a neighbor’s house with their kid, but the adults were inside. Randomly, a thought came into my head: "Where’s my sister at?" She easily could’ve gone inside or have walked across the street and be home, but I felt like I needed to find her ASAP. I got all of us kids to search when we noticed she was at the bottom of the pool, completely blue.
She made a complete recovery and is one of the best parts of my life. Thought I should clarify a little bit and add ways to prevent drownings. She was only four, and my brothers and I were around 10. One brother got her out, one sprinted home across the street to get my mom, and I called 911 to get paramedics.
We are very lucky and grateful we got a happy ending, but not everyone does.
58. Don’t Date and Drive
I was on a date—he didn’t know where I lived or anything. I was always paranoid about that. But things had gone well, and my car was cold. So he offered for us both to sit in his while mine heated up, as he had a remote starter. I said sure. Besides, he had the cutest dog too. No one with a cute dog could be that bad, right?
Well, I sat down in his car and we close the doors. That’s when alarm bells went off in my head. The door was locked. I went to open the door because I was freaking out—it didn’t open. It also had a manual switch that could have been used, but it was broken. He told me that I would need a screwdriver to get it unlocked.
We were talking about things like religion, and when I told him I prayed, he told his dog it was a sign from God. He says they were gonna have to keep me. Then, he looks in the back seat. I look in the rear view mirror and see rope back there. He jokingly talks about kidnapping me a few times and goes to put the car into reverse.
I laugh right along with him, while praying silently. Something tells me to go along with this. So I tell him he doesn’t have to kidnap me to keep me. He also continues to make jokes about tying me up and keeping me locked up in his basement. That nobody would ever know and then I would never be able to leave him.
I go on a gut instinct. I tell this guy that I know I shouldn’t be saying this, and it’s only a first date—but something just feels really right with him. He puts the car back into park. Looks at me. “Really?” I go on this tangent about how I know it’s way too soon to know if there’s a connection, and didn’t want to tell him, for risk of freaking him out.
I told him I was really bummed I was going out of town for the weekend because that meant there would be no chance of seeing him when I got back. I keep going and say I had to be getting home, as my friend was expecting me over tonight so we could leave super early in the morning. I’m having so much fun I don’t want to leave. But I would like a real hug before I got in my car. You know the kind—one that requires standing and not being in a vehicle.
So he makes me promise that I’ll hear from him when I get back. Absolutely. He wanted a kiss if it wasn’t too soon, and me to be his girlfriend. Yep dude—whatever you want. My internal alarms are going off and I’m kind of terrified right now. The car door unlocks! We get our hug, I kiss him, and try to appear pleasant. Of course I had to tell his dog goodbye, so he rolls down the window for me to give the good boy pets.
Guess what I see. Trash bags and an axe on the floor. I get in my car, wave goodbye, and get the heck out of there.
59. Moms Always Know
When I was in fourth grade, I had a headache before school. Of course, me being a kid, I asked my mom to stay home that day. She, having a weird feeling about that day, said yes and I went back to sleep. She felt that something was off and when I came to her about staying home, she said yes, just in case she was right. It was the best decision she ever made.
That morning at school during breakfast, an older women ran her car into the school’s wall next to the lunch room, killing my best friend. He was eating breakfast and if I had gone to school I would have been eating with him at that table. The school was so certain that I was under the bricks and the lady’s car that they called my mom confirming my whereabouts.
My mom and I thank her gut feeling almost at least once a month for saving my life that day.
60. Quick Thinking Saves Lives
I was walking out of a grocery store when I saw this kid about to cross the road. Something came over me and I yanked him back onto the sidewalk. Not even a second later a truck came flying past. He was only around seven or eight years old.
61. The Gatekeeper
I was helping my company move equipment from our old office space to our new location. It required me to park my car in a very small alley in the downtown area of Chicago—the Loop, for those who know. The security officer told me that he would watch on the camera to see when I got there so that he could open up the big gate for the service entry.
The gate was about 30 feet wide and 20 feet tall, and it was one of those rollup types. I parked, got out of my car, and looked up at camera. He must’ve been watching, because the gate started opening up right away. I was going to duck under it once it got to about 4 feet high, but had a momentary gut feeling to not do that.
As soon as I took a step backward instead of going forward, the axle broke on one end and the entire 60 feet squared of steel gate came crashing down. If I had gone under the gate, I would’ve been crushed. In my panic, I scrambled backward to the alley wall opposite of the gate, and missed falling down a 4-foot window well by just a couple inches.
The security guard was amazed and incredibly relieved that I was alright.
62. Jeepers Creepers
I was walking back home from my grandmother's house when a car pulled up beside me. As I kept walking, the car slowly followed. When I looked into the car, there was a man in his 30s or 40s who had the evilest grin on his face. His face has never left my mind. As he was slowly coming toward me, his eyes not leaving me, I screamed out HELP and ran until I saw someone who let me into their house.
The man didn’t leave until we called the police. When they came, they searched his car and found handcuffs, a blindfold, and a big container with two holes poked in the top.
63. Lesson Learned
One day, I was driving away from my parents’ house. When I was about two miles down the road I got this really freaked out feeling, reached over, and pulled on my shoulder belt. I rarely wore it back then. Another mile down the road, my car started to drift a little bit. I made what I thought was a minor steering correction and felt the car jerk and hop towards oncoming traffic.
I corrected again, hit the brakes, and my car felt like it hopped from one side of the lane to the other, plunged off the road, and plowed into a telephone pole. I was completely unharmed, though the car was totalled. My parents had it towed home, and my dad found that a bolt had sheered off in the steering column.
I still have a chunk of that telephone pole over 20 years later. It helps remind me to always listen to my instincts. And to always wear my seatbelt.
64. A Hole In the Wall, Where They Can See it All
I woke up at 3 am once sitting upright in bed. I felt on alert and my heart raced when I saw that my cat was on alert too, wide awake by my feet with his ears perked up. But I didn’t see or hear anything weird. Something didn’t feel right, and I couldn’t relax. So, I got up and went to the kitchen. Turned on some lights and ate food even though I wasn’t that hungry. Eventually went back to bed.
We discovered the next morning that someone had stopped while in the process of using some kind of tool to silently cut a big hole in the glass window in the living room. They were trying to break in. Right next to the bedroom. I think the lights I turned on scared them away. We had three long years of issues with our neighbors. They repeatedly came into our property and were pissed that we put up a nine-foot fence to keep them out.
This attempted break-in happened right after the fence went up and two days before they all moved out. Glad those pieces of trash are long gone.
65. Age is Just a Number
Several years ago, at the end of April, I get a call from my aunt telling me that they've moved my grandmother into the hospital wing of the assisted living complex she'd been in with my grandfather (he'd died a few years prior). A thought flashed through my head... "this is it, she's getting ready to die, but she'll wait until after her birthday."
About 4-5 weeks later, on May 19th, I'm on the phone with a car insurance company. My call waiting beeps and I see it's my aunt. I tell the customer service agent "I'm going to have to call you back, that's my aunt on the other line calling to tell me that my grandmother's dead." The reason I remember the date is because she waited until the day after her birthday to die so that she could unquestionably claim to be 92 when she died.
66. A Litter of a Problem
I was suddenly going to the bathroom constantly and had a lot of blood in my urine. I became convinced I had a really serious issue. I went to the doctor, did some tests; they shrugged me off because they were negative. Another doctor, same thing. Finally went to the ER one night because the pain was so bad. They found a cyst on my ovary that was the size of a golf ball.
I had emergency surgery to get it and my right ovary removed and they said everything would get better. My issues were still there a month post-op and I was having a really hard recovery. I knew something else was going on. Told my surgeon and he literally said, “Take pepto” after I had been dealing with these issues for months.
I insisted something was still wrong. Finally, after begging he sent me to a GI specialist and guess what?? I was diagnosed with severe ulcerative colitis AND a rare liver disease. But no one took it seriously for seven months.
67. Leave the Show with Your Lives
My mom and dad were at some sort of festival when my dad felt some sort of change in the air, like something bad was going to happen. He and my mom got out of there quickly, wouldn't you know it, some messed up dude with a pistol started firing at the crowd.
68. Don’t Drink and Jerk
Went out for beers with some friends. Guy at the bar kept staring at my female friend. Didn’t think anything of it initially, thought maybe he’s just into her. Then, alarm bells start ringing for some reason. Minutes later, he went to my friend and I saw him try to slip something in her drink while she was talking to another friend of ours.
Good thing I was watching told him to screw off with that roofie BS. He tried to punch me but missed. Bouncer saw; he got kicked out. Funniest part was that when we met up with a mate of mine from university that night, he was getting his butt kicked for doing the same thing to his girlfriend.
Watch your drink, lads.
69. Thirst for Life
I think I was 10 or 11, and I was reorganizing my room, moving books and stuff around. I had been working on it all day and during the process I moved a book shelf on top of a dresser to give me more space and loaded it up with two encyclopedia sets and a bunch of other books. I ended up moving my bed parallel to the dresser and passed out from working on my room all day.
I woke up a little while after four AM and was contemplating getting a glass of water and moving my bed, because it didn't look safe under the bookshelf. I finally got out of my bed and walked towards the door, maybe two or three steps and that’s when it happened. The 1994 Northridge earthquake hit. The bookshelf instantly fell on my bed where I had just been laying down.
70. Flipped His Destiny
My friend asked me for a ride home. I told him I wasn't going his way and he was like "okay, I'll catch a ride with those people." I wasn't a huge fan of the people he was going to go home with, so I said screw it and gave him a ride. Turns out the kids who were going to take him home decided to speed down a windy, wooded road near his house at 80 MPH. They hit something and flipped the car multiple times. They all lived, but barely. The EMTs said that if they were bigger kids (they were all scrawny and under 5'10") they would've been crushed. My friend who almost went with them is 6'2". He absolutely would've died that day.
71. Bear-ly Avoided Catastrophe
When I was a little kid, I stepped outside to walk home from my neighbor’s place two doors over. I smelled what I knew was a bear, which are common where I live. If you've ever smelled a black bear, it's not that different from a skunk, which is what my friend's mom told me it probably was when I asked her to drive me home even though my house was literally right around the corner.
The thing is, a skunk's smell is strong, but doesn't, like, travel. A bear's smell is more... permeating? Begrudgingly, she drove me—only to see the bear sitting on my back steps outside the door I would've tried to enter my house with. Black bears aren't that vicious, but my friend’s mom apologized immediately about not believing me: could've walked straight into that thing at the age of 12.
72. Eureka!
I knew some people who were really into off-roading in modified Jeeps. Once they were invited by a group of people I did not know up to a mountain in Colorado. They chose not to go and everyone in the four Jeeps that went got caught in an avalanche and died.
73. Not With My Daughter You Don’t!
My oldest daughter (30-something) stopped by my work one day and introduced us to her new boyfriend. He seemed a little off to me, but I decided it was just "guy dating my daughter" and let it go. A bit later on, he met my wife and she told me afterward that he seemed off to her, too. She has pretty good instincts about people, so we decided to investigate him a bit.
Typing his whole name into Google, the first result was a mugshot from a couple of years ago. The third was an active warrant. More searching resulted in finding three warrants from different counties, an extensive record (check deception, theft, driving while suspended, driving after a lifetime suspension, and driving while a habitual traffic offender), and a brand-new marriage license for him and my daughter.
They were going to get married later that week. We, of course, told her about him, but she insisted that he'd already told her about all of that and had "taken care of it." We emailed links to her roommate, who showed her, but she didn't have any luck talking her out of the relationship. They were in love, and everything would work out OK in the end in her mind.
We sent in an anonymous tip, and he was arrested the next day at her apartment. My daughter then found out that he'd been lying to her about pretty much everything. He had entangled her in a business he was trying to start that mostly involved her financing things for him, because his credit was trash due to records for bounced checks and theft. She's still working to untangle herself from that. He is still in jail, and, according to her lawyer, will stay there for at least two years depending on what happens in two other counties.
74. This Teacher Got Schooled By the Cops
I had a math teacher in middle school who came off as creepy. He would try and get close to us guys and try and act like old friends. He seemed afraid of girls for some reason. I didn't like him. He gave me a very bad feeling. After about a year at our school, he wasn't there suddenly. We had a police officer come in and sit us down and interview everyone individually. It turns out that he was caught having a perverted party with some of his former male students from his previous school. He was sent to prison.
75. What Are You, Chicken?
Went on a high school field trip for a couple of days and the first day we had a barbeque. There was chicken and I didn't trust the other kids to make sure it was done well, so I passed up on it. Next day fifteen people had salmonella ruining their entire trip. Might fall under logic instead of instinct though…
76. Strangers With Trailers
I was at the mall with my friends, all of us around 12 years old. It was 8 pm, and my mom was on her way to pick me up. We were all chilling together until each of our parents got here to get us. As we’re standing by a store near one of the side entrances, a man comes up to us. He’s about 30-ish, wearing huge glasses, and carrying a clipboard.
The man says, “Hey guys, do you want to watch some movie trailers and answer surveys about them? I’ll pay you each five dollars per trailer.” Naturally, my friends are all for it. The thing is, my heart dropped as soon as I heard him speak. As they’re all saying yes, the man nods and then points to the side entrance. It’s pitch black outside, and that entrance leads to the back parking lot of the mall, which is always deserted.
Then, he says: “We can do it over there.” My friends start to follow the man as he walks toward the glass doors, and I’m trailing behind them. Then, as we get close enough for me to kind of see what’s outside, I notice a van parked right outside the entrance. The headlights are on, the car is running. The back doors seem to be open.
Every part of my being screams “NO! DON’T GO!” I stop in my tracks, and loudly say, “Guys, my mom is here to pick us all up, I don’t think we have time for it.” The man freezes and keeps his eyes trained on the doors, and I can see his jaw clenching tightly. My friends look at me with confusion, and I try to give them the most terrified expression of warning that I can.
Thankfully they get the message, and say bye to the guy. The man refused to turn to look at us, and simply began to walk outside of the mall. As we’re walking away, I turn and look behind me one last time. The van, and the man, were gone.
77. Missed the Bus—And Something Else
I went to go catch my bus and saw it about to pull out from the stop. If I’d run, I could’ve made it. But something told me to wait for the next one, so I did, and I caught the next bus half an hour later. Now, I usually sit at the back of the bus on the driver’s side. A little way into the journey, traffic was slowing, and we got to the cause of it. A truck had crashed into the bus I had missed, right into the back on the driver’s side. Had I caught that bus, I wouldn't be here. It still gives me chills after six years.
78. Coming Through
I was taking my mom to a follow up appointment from back surgery the month before. The freeway was closed due to a car accident and life flight was called to transport the people injured in the accident. The highway patrol was funnelling everyone off of the freeway to the right side exit. I had the strongest feeling we needed to move to the left farthest lane, so I did.
No more than a minute after I moved over, a garbage truck came barreling down the freeway and crashed into the car that was in front of us in the other lane. The truck was going so fast that it lifted the front end of the truck and landed on top of the car. We were in a tiny sports car that would have crumpled like a tin can under the weight of a garbage truck and definitely would’ve killed my mom and me in a second.
79. Predator and Prey
One day in elementary school, I was walking home alone and this beat-up white pick-up truck drove by me real slowly. The driver was a middle aged man that was kind of eyeing me. He drove a little further before turning into a driveway and turning around to drive my way again. At that point, I wasn’t convinced of anything other than that he needed to be watched.
He drove past me again and was 100% sizing me up or something, just looking at me like I was prey. I could see in his eyes that he was making decisions, and not just looking at me like a neighborhood kid. I turned my head to watch him pull into another tiny side street behind me. That’s when I knew for sure. I started running as fast as I could.
I didn’t see him again, so I think my sprinting away must have deterred him as it was still daylight in a populated neighborhood. It always stuck with me, and luckily I’ll never know if my gut actually saved me or not.
80. Never Too Young to Be On Edge
At age five, I was almost abducted by strangers at the park who had a bunch of toys on a blanket and tried to lure me into their motor home. I looked back to my dad, who was talking to his friend maybe 100 yards away. I got a “tummy ache” when one of them tried to coax me by reaching for my arm to lead me away, and I screamed and ran like hell back to my dad. Years later, I found out those same people had abducted other kids who weren’t so lucky. Never ignored a gut feeling since.
FYI, trust me, once my Dad got over the shock, he let me have it for not only wandering off but speaking to complete strangers. I talked to my mom a bit about it today. and she told me my dad broke down and blamed himself. Positive outlook on this though, guys, this is just one instance (scary as it may be) where my gut led me in the right direction and my instinct for danger is now uncanny. I truly believe everything happens for a reason. I trusted my instincts and it kept me safe still does.
81. There’s a Wrong Way to Name-Drop
Someone came into my work that gave me the “I’m in danger” feeling. I work in a place where 60% of my customers are children, and I naturally get very protective of them, but you can’t call the police because someone’s creeping you out. He kept getting close to children but not doing anything or even making them uncomfortable so there still wasn’t anything I could do.
He leaves and I shrug it off. Another customer soon comes in and gives me the same feeling, so I’m thinking “I’m just anxious today.” He’s talking about Donkey Kong and stuff, casual conversation. Then he says, “I’m best friends with Martin Bryant” (the spree killer from the 1996 port Arthur massacre, who is in solitary confinement and can’t even interact with whoever has to throw his food at him), so I’m getting a bit nervous now.
Then the first creepy guy comes in, and the one I was talking to says “I know him, we went to prison together!” So immediately I start having a panic attack and have to end the conversation as quick as possible, so I can contact the manager to say I need someone else to come into the store (I was there alone). They immediately call the police.
Turns out they were both registered sex offenders; neither were allowed anywhere near my work because it’s too close to the CBD, and they’re legally now allowed near anywhere that could have children there. I actually recently went to court for this, waited hours to go in, and he pleads guilty at the very, very last second. Bastard.
82. Head of Miseducation
Middle school vice principal was loved by everyone in the school. I was always creeped out by him. When I was in eighth grade, he was found sleeping with a previous student of his, who was only 16 at the time. He had a wife and kids when this all went down.
83. That’s Not Butterflies in Your Stomach
I woke up from a nap with this horrible stomach pain. I called my mom and she told me to just take an antacid, but I just felt that it was something very wrong. I went to urgent care, who immediately sent me to the ER. Turns out it was my gallbladder and I had to have surgery.
84. Rock(et) and Roll
Went to see fireworks one time. As I was watching, I got a bad feeling, being as close as I was, and I wondered how many people have died from fireworks. Not even 30 seconds later, one of the launch pipes for the fireworks tipped or something. All I remember was fireworks launching and exploding right in my direction, and one of the firework tails whizzing right past my head, then me running away like mad.
85. Sometimes You Can Judge a Book By His Cover
A dude named Jeth. He spoke in this really specific way. I can't describe it—all I can say is that is just sounded wrong. He always gave me bad vibes when I was around him, and he ended up being a "nice guy" and got stalker-level obsessed with the girl I was dating.
86. A Criminal Record Would Be the Real Party Pooper
At a party in college. Two thoughts occurred at the same time... 1) "Wow there's a lot of people here!" and 2) "A lot of these girls look really young..." Noped the heck out. Found out later party was busted, and several people who were there ended up in jail for a variety of things.
87. First Isn’t The Worst
When I was in middle school and around 14 years old, I was returning home. I live like five mins away from said school, and I noticed there was a man following me. He wasn’t looking at me; he was looking at his phone. He wore a cap, so I wasn’t able to see his face fully. Anyways he gave off this weird vibe. I reached my apartment building, and the guy was still behind me. I know mostly everyone who lives in my neighborhood and I couldn’t recall him.
Last moment. I decided I wasn’t going to go inside the hallway; I turned around and went to a store where I waited for my mom to come. A few weeks after, there were some news about an 11-year-old girl from my school who was assaulted in the building right behind mine two days after the incident. The guy they caught looked a lot like the guy who had followed me and given the time frame and the proximity there’s a high chance that it was him.
88. Blessed by the Belt
This past Sunday, actually. I was with 2 friends of mine going on a drive to a Magic the Gathering tournament, and it was raining to all hell. The friend that was driving is a habitually reckless driver but just in this case, he took precautions and slowed down to a safe 60 mph on the expressway. (I should say that just that morning I had a discussion with my mother about how fast and heavy a car needs to be to hydroplane.)
So, we are driving down the expressway, me sitting behind the passenger seat, when I realize I'm not wearing my seatbelt. I clip it in and make the joke "good thing I put my seat belt on before we hydr-" and then we spun out and ended up totaling his car. Messed up my hip and back and my bag nearly gave me a concussion when it hit me upside the head.
89. I’ll Pencil You In For Survival
So, when I was about 8-9 years old, I was coming from school later than usual, and right before I came to my house, I decided to go to a nearby store instead to buy a new package of pencils. (I used to like drawing back then). Returning from the store, walking in the courtyard, I saw from afar two people coming out of the house I live in, and they did not look friendly at all. As you probably guessed it, our house was robbed, and sadly, I couldn't remember the intruders' faces.
To this day I wonder, what would have happened if I have not decided to buy those freaking pencils...
90. How Did You Know?
When I was doing my PhD, I got offered the chance to go to the Central European University summer school programme to do a course that would have been extremely valuable. I even got offered a full scholarship to do the course, free accommodation, etc. A really amazing deal. Two weeks before I was supposed to leave, I said to my boyfriend at the time, something is telling me I shouldn't go.
And I was like, WTF brain, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. But the "don't go" feeling kept getting stronger. So I withdrew from the course, feeling stupid for doing it. The day after I was scheduled to leave, my perfectly healthy mom got sick. A week later she was in a coma, and a week later we had to turn off life support. Her funeral was a week after that. I would have been away in her last waking moments.
91. Life Saving Movies
My mum was supposed to take me and my sister to the Natural History Museum in 2005 since we lived just outside London and it was only a short tube ride. However, on the day, she had a horrible feeling so we stayed home and watched movies instead. That was the day of the 7/7 bombings.
92. Mind Over Matter
My severe back pain was misdiagnosed for about six months and I knew something was seriously wrong. I finally was able to get an MRI and they found a tumor about 1.5 to 2x the size of a softball on my spine.
93. Not So Cuddly A Plan
I tell this story a lot. An old friend and I used to cut through a construction site a lot to get to the lake we'd skip rocks on. We did it like weekly for a year and a half. One day, I just felt an intense urge to go the other way. I said we should just go the long way today friend. He asked why. I didn't really have a reason I just felt uncomfortable.
So long story short he called me a wuss and we walked up on a family of bears.
Wikimedia Commons
94. “Aunt” You Gonna Pay Me Back?
When my uncle married this woman that he had only recently started dating. I had a bad feeling about her from the get-go, although I tried to be supportive for him. Even her kids seemed too quiet and detached from our family. Turns out she was stealing his money and racking up huge amounts of credit card debt.
95. Trusting The Spidey Sense In The Rain
It was 1:30 am, raining, I was riding my motorcycle down a four-lane road with two lanes in each direction and a middle turn lane. I saw a car approach a stop sign, perpendicular to me, in the parking lot of a bar and thought to myself, "He's going to turn left in front of me." I was going 45mph, let off the throttle, and about 200 to 250 feet from him, he did exactly what I thought he was going to do.
Grabbed my front and rear brakes, back tire locked up and kicked out to the left. I had maybe 40 to 50 feet in which I would either high-side in front of the car and likely be run over, slam into the driver door or rear driver door or jump off to the right in a tuck and roll fashion. I jumped and my motorcycle slammed into the rear driver side of his car.
I had a couple scratches, bruises, and a sore tailbone. But I wasn't run over or hanging out in his back seat via glass window. Thank God for spidey senses.
Shutterstock
96. That's So Raven
Christmas day 2016. My family and I had packed the car with all the goods and were about to be on our way to my grandparent's house. The car wouldn't start. Let's back up: The whole day I felt I was in a trance or a dream. I kept feeling off and the night before I had a dream that we were driving on a bridge—our tire popped, we slid and a car slammed into my side of the vehicle.
I remembered it so vividly because I see the headlights coming at me in my head still. I get prophetic dreams a lot, but I really didn't think much of it because I also suffer from nightmares. Anyway, we call AAA. Meanwhile, I'm refusing to get in the car because everything feels OFF. The guy gets there, tells us it was our battery, so he charged it.
I still felt very off but seeing as he fixed the problem I get in, he turns around and says to my mom, "I just wanna check your tire pressure for some reason." Not kidding—he said one of the front tires was EXTREMELY high, was, and I quote from AAA dude, "About to pop if we were to drive, especially on a highway or turnpike." He fixed that too, free of charge.
The feeling of being uneasy and dream-like faded and I felt fine. Made it to grandparents house—awesome mashed potatoes. I know when to trust my gut.
97. Giving Pastors A Bad Name
I used to be a lifeguard in a very small gated community with a lot of wealthy people. I also used to sing at the local church services. I met the pastor in that context and something about him just seemed...off. It wasn't anything I'd be able to articulate. I just didn't like him. He just made my gut drop. Later, I noticed that the local pastor was spending a lot of time at the pool watching the little kids swim—one little boy in particular.
He would have a towel ready for him, he'd have the kid sit on his lap to dry off. As far as I knew, he wasn't babysitting him. He was just there, watching and touching. It made my hackles rise. I told his parents that the way the pastor was interacting with their son made me uncomfortable. They investigated and it turns out the pastor was going to their home when they weren't there and "spending time" with that little boy in his bedroom.
They didn't give me any more details than that but it was implied that something twisted had been going on. I don't know what happened to him after that but he was obviously removed as pastor from the church. It's so important to trust your gut on these things.
Shutterstock
98. Crazy Cocker Spaniel Got Yo Back
This was about 15 years ago. My parents went out for a nice dinner for their anniversary and decided that I was old enough and responsible enough to be left alone for a few hours on a weeknight. I was almost 9 and we owned a fairly protective dog at the time so it all seemed fine. They leave, tell me to lock up and to call if anything happens.
I do so and proceed to party around the house like a rockstar, cause dude I had the WHOLE dang house myself and I could do whatever I wanted, HECK to the YEAH! Halfway through a Sailor Moon marathon, I get a knock on the door. I'm confused as all get out cause it's only been about two hours and they said they probably wouldn't be back till around 10 anyway.
I guess mama has left something she needed AGAIN and swung by to grab it. My front door is a system of two doors, a super old, thick wooden door (the house was originally built in the 30's and this door is still the original piece) and then outside of that (at the time) a screen door. My dog is raising heck at the front door, but I just pull her back to calm down, cause she had a tendency to be reactive to most noises.
Well, it's not my mom at the door, some middle-aged man I've never met before in my life. Puppo is now basically feral so I keep the screen door firmly closed and a hand on her collar as I ask the many what he wants. He starts in on this weird convoluted story about how he has two young twin daughters and how they got into a fight and that one of them ran away.
Now, this man then claims that he believes his daughter is hiding in my house and would like to come look for her. I tell him no such girl is here and why does he think she would be here in the first place. He goes on into a long story about how this was the house they first lived in and how it's the one she was born in, and how it was like a safe place for her and would be the most likely place she would run away to as it was really the only other place she knows.
So I felt kinda weird since I opened the door and this dude's story hasn't been helping his cause, but now I KNOW something awful is going down. I, in no uncertain terms, inform the guy that he must have the wrong house because THIS house was built and has been lived in by my family since its construction. My dad was born in that house and after my mom and dad told his parents that they were pregnant with my older sister they gave it to them as a present to begin their family. He must be mistaken cause I know all this to be fact.
Heck, there were pictures less than 10 feet away from me on the wall of my dad and uncle playing in the front yard in the late ‘70s. By now my dog is growling like crazy and dude is getting kinda agitated. He insists that I don't know what I'm talking about and that if I would just give him a few minutes to search for his daughter he could be on his way.
The latch on the screen door was broken and I was putting all my strength at the time in holding my dog from the door. He opens the screen door with one hand and with the other reaches for my closest arm. My crazy cocker goes ballistic! Uses all her strength to lunge at him, gets a hold of his hand, and bites down. Now man is yelling and confused.
He pushes back against the screen door and slams it shut to get my dog off of him. Sadie gets pushed back indoors but is still raging. I quickly slam the front door, lock it, and chain it shut. Run around the house and make sure all other doors and windows are locked and then hunker down in the bathroom hyperventilating and wait about 15 minutes until Sadie's growling has calmed some. Check outside, no man or his car. Both long gone.
I call my parents and tell them they need to come home RIGHT NOW PLEASE. When they get home I recount the whole story. Dad goes the check the front door and sure enough on the screen door jam and siding of the house is a large smear of blood. Sadie was treated like a queen and got a whole steak for her to eat on that weekend.
"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog."—Mark Twain.
99. Stand Your Ground
Some dude gets off the bus at the same stop as me. It's about 8 pm and October so it's quite dark out already. He had spoken to me on the bus, one line about nice weather. Anyway, he gets off the bus after me. I cross the road and make a mental note of him walking the opposite way to me. I make sure to watch him walking away. Something in my gut says not to trust him.
To get to my house, I have to walk up a hill with a path alongside a high stone wall. It is secluded. Usually, I listen to music as I walk. I decide not to this time. I'm about halfway up when I get this awful feeling. I take out my phone, dial my mother's number and as I do, I hear fast steps of someone running up behind me.
I know it's the guy before I turn around and, as I do, he is literally running full speed towards me. I look him dead in the eyes, ready to fight for my life. As I do this, my mother answers her phone and I say, "Hi mom." He slows right down to a light jog and says "evening" as he jogs past me. I ask my mom to stay on the line. Her bf comes out to meet me at the top of the hill. The guy is nowhere to be seen.
He was definitely running up behind me to strike me and by turning to face him I'm certain it threw him off.
100. A Poisonous Branch of the Family Tree
Aunt married her second husband and he just gave me the creeps. She came into the marriage with a daughter who was about eight at the time. These were family we would only see maybe a couple times per year. Every time, something about him gave me the heebies, even as a 14-year-old boy. Something felt really wrong. Fast forward 6-8 years later, and we learn he molested my female cousin pretty much from the day he became her stepdad.
Years of it. Aunt divorced him but he's still around because they had additional kids together. I see him comment on FB posts of the cousin he molested. I'd love for him to die a slow and painful death, the sooner the better.
101. Man’s Best Friend
I've told this story before, but I'll tell it again. It's one of many, but this one stands out. I'm about seven, my neighbors are eight and nine, and we're at a bus stop. Guy in a stereotypical white van pulls up and asks if we've seen a dog. He doesn't describe the dog, and the truth is, dogs ran around in our neighborhood. My mother taught me stranger danger since as long as I can remember.
So, one of the boys at the stop, we'll call him Paul: Paul describes a dog and man in van is like, "That's my dog; why don't you get inside the van, we can all go look for him?” Well, I had red flags going off at this point, and said, "No, I have to ask my mother," and as soon as those words left my mouth, he peeled out.
It was only later that I realized I saved us all from child abduction, specifically Paul who was walking toward the van to get in. Teach your kids what to do if this situation happens. Get the license plate, the guys face, the car type, and what to do if something does happen. If I had known to snag his plates, we might have had a chance at catching him, but I only knew to "say no!”
Another time. I was speeding down a hill and thought, "What if there's a deer around the corner?" So, I slowed down and sure enough, there were three deer in the road. Saved my own life by a rando thought.
102. Lifesaver
I work as an ER nurse and had a patient with a little dizziness, a little nausea and a swollen abdomen. She was fairly bright, able to talk, and nothing seemed too horrific. But she was turning a grim gray color and breathing quickly. Our average wait time today was two hours. I could have put her back in the queue and moved on.
But I had a little dark feeling that there was something sinister happening here. So I called our most senior doctor out of a consultation and asked him to see her. Right now. Ever heard of your abdominal aorta? Enormous blood vessel that can pouch out, suddenly rupture, and make you bleed internally to death in minutes?
It’s called a burst AAA (abdominal aortic aneurysm). You’ve heard of it now. That’s what she had. I’ve never seen one before. But now I have. Within five minutes, she was barely responding. Within ten, her blood pressure had dropped to a barely sustainable level. Within twenty minutes, I was pouring blood into her and eight people were around the bed.
Within an hour, she was on an operating table clinging to life. But because I raised the alarm, and because my team worked their butts off, that woman is still, somehow, alive. Feels good, man.
103. Threat On The Docks
A former co-worker, Jason, told me this story. Jason was working at a dock in China and unloaded shipping containers from huge international cargo ships. A typhoon had just passed, and many of the inbound ships had been delayed for days due to the extreme weather. Once the weather cleared, there was a backlog of ships waiting to be docked and unloaded. To make matters worse, a tropical depression had just been upgraded to a tropical storm and was expected to make landfall within 48 hours.
It was organized chaos as the dock workers frantically tried to unload three times the volume of shipping containers in half the time. Jason was a Senior Cargo Agent, and his job was to verify that the information on the offloaded shipping containers matched the information on the manifest, and to visually inspect shipping containers for damage. A cargo agent had to sign off on all cargo before an unloaded ship could disembark. As there were a limited number of spaces for ships to dock, it was crucial that the cargo agents verify the unloaded shipments as quickly as possible so that another ship could dock immediately.
Everyone at the dock had walkie-talkies (hand-held portable two-way radios), and Jason heard Dock Manager 1 going absolutely crazy because an unloaded ship had been waiting in the dock for nearly two hours, and no cargo agent had verified their delivery. Jason radioed Cargo Agent 1 assigned to that area, but there was no answer. He then radioed Cargo Agent 2, and still received no response. He then radioed the next closest Senior Cargo Agent 1 and asked him to drop everything and verify the cargo immediately.
After thirty minutes, Dock Manager 2 radioed that the ship was STILL docked. Jason then radioed Senior Cargo Agent 1 who he had sent over there and did not receive a response. He then radioed Dock Manager 1 who had been screaming into the radio and again received no response. Jason was now the only Senior Cargo Agent in the area, and it now fell to him to verify the unloaded shipment and get the delayed ship out of port ASAP.
As he got into his truck to drive over, a nagging feeling of dread kept telling him not to go. He ignored the feeling and drove there anyway, all the while trying and failing to radio anyone else in the area. When he arrived at the unloading zone, he couldn't bring himself to get out of the truck, and later said that it felt as if he was being physically pushed back into his seat.
Jason then picked up his radio with a shaking hand and broadcast, "Unknown threat near unloading section four. All workers evacuate immediately. This is not a drill." And just like that, a multi-billion dollar port was shut down.
A HazMat team was soon dispatched and found that a shipping container damaged in transit had been carrying a heavier-than-air type of inert gas. The gas leaked and displaced the air, then became trapped between several rows of closely stacked shipping containers. Every person that approached immediately lost consciousness. Five people were found dead near the damaged container, and Jason was later fired because he did not actually have the authority to shut down the port.
Jason filed the Chinese equivalent of a wrongful termination lawsuit, but was strongly encouraged to settle, or else the Chinese government might find him partially responsible for the workers' deaths. As a white foreigner in China, this was a very real possibility, and he ended up settling for a modest amount. Jason still blames himself for the death of Senior Cargo Agent 1 and gave the settlement amount to the man's widow.
104. Day Care Blues
I worked at a daycare. One of the mothers gave me the heebie-jeebies. She would show up randomly and be like “my baaaaaaby, i neeeed my baaaaby.” Like, moms love their kids and miss them, but her obsession with her daughter really made me feel weird.
She ended up killing her daughter so that she could be an angel. It really messed me up when I found out.
105. Anxiety Strikes
A couple of months after my 10th birthday we went on a family vacation to visit my dad’s side of the family. They lived a state away. At the time, my mom was about 6 months pregnant with my baby brother. We got to our hotel at about 2:00 pm and by 3:00 pm we decided we wanted to make the most of the day and go to the aquarium. I got fully dressed and ready to go, and suddenly I was hit with this crippling feeling of dread.
At that age, I’d never experienced anything like it. Pure anxiety. But I knew, I just freaking knew if we waited 5 minutes, I would be fine. I tried telling my mom this and she was having none of it. I even tried to just stall her by begging. Nope. Got dragged (not literally) out of the hotel and into the car. We pull out of the parking lot and get T-boned so hard we do a 180 into oncoming traffic. As soon as we all realized we were okay I was like, ah, yep, there it is. I’ve never let either of them forget it either.
Pixabay
106. Kids Know More Than They Let on
My mom told me this story the other day and it freaked me out. When my oldest sister was little, like 3 years old, she asked my then-pregnant aunt to pick her up to hold her. My mom said she was like "She can't pick you up, honey, she has a baby in her tummy." And then my little sister was like "That baby is dead!" My mom freaked out, but my aunt and grandma were fine and were telling my mom it was all good, she was just a toddler and didn't know what she was saying.
Well, lo and behold my aunt goes to the doctor the next day for a routine pregnancy checkup, and the baby was dead. Give me the willies just thinking about it.
