“True fear is a gift that signals us in the presence of danger.” This is a quote from an insightful book by security specialist and author Gavin de Becker titled The Gift of Fear: And Other Survival Signals That Protect Us From Violence.

The quote highlights the importance of anxiety as a warning during a potentially dangerous situation. That trepidation likely triggered these people to act on the unpleasant feelings they felt​​ in the pit of their stomachs as they shared their personal stories in this Reddit thread. 

Having fear isn’t always a sign of weakness. As these commenters proved, it may also save your life.

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#1

It was a “don’t go home” moment, I was on my way home late, and accidentally pulled out on someone, yes that’s my fault, he blew the horn, but then kept following me, getting right up on my a*s when I would stop, I drove around a bit thinking it was a coincidence (before the days of cell phones) but nope, he stayed right on my tail, I was hoping I would spot a cop, but I didn’t, but I did know there was a Coast Guard Station nearby, so I went there, the gate was closed for the night, so I pushed the call button, told the guy my situation, the guy behind me saw where I was and turned around, the CG opened the gate as four big burly guys came out in case he tried to follow me in, he didn’t

They invited me in for coffee, told me hang out a bit to be on the safe side, and then two of them followed me home.

© Photo: Hello-Central

#2

Fifteen years or so years ago my friend’s parents were in Paris. They were in a central public place (not sure where) when they saw police start turning up and barricades being erected. My friend’s mother said she got a really bad feeling something was about to happen and told her husband they had to get out of there, stat.

They later found out it was a Justin Bieber appearance.

© Photo: United-Objective-204

#3

I lived a five minute walk from a grocery store. One evening, as I was leaving the grocery checkout I noticed a man at another register abandon his items without paying and walk out. I thought it was strange and kept my eyes open.

I realized the man was skirting around in the shadows following me so I stopped walking when I hit a busy corner and phoned my husband while the man hid behind some construction equipment.

My husband got our baby out of bed, strapped her in her car seat and drove down the street to pick me up and drive me home. We drove around the neighbourhood so the man would not see where we lived.

A week later that man was in the news, he was arrested for multiple r*pes in my neighbourhood. The cops chose to not warn women that a violent serial r*pist had been active in our neighbourhood. I was almost his next victim.

I never walked the 3 blocks to the grocery store again. Always drove. [darn] Toronto police for not warning us about a monster attacking women in my area.

© Photo: tulipvonsquirrel

#4

It’s weird I’m seeing this post right now because I’ve been getting that exact terrifying feeling about America. I don’t know why but my instincts have been telling me for weeks to get my passport ready.

© Photo: OyenArdv

#5

Was 20F Raised in a very rural area. Had to fly to ATL for an internship interview. I had been on a plane before (this is 2000 btw) but not by myself and I had never navigated a large airport or city by myself. Knew I needed a taxi to get to hotel. Was met by a taxi driver IN THE AIRPORT who asked if I need a ride. What luck! On the way out the door saw that signs that taxi drivers must wait in a queue for customers. No I didn’t turn around, I was naive and he had my luggage. Luckily there was a cab. He took me to my hotel but it was a long ride and he asked inappropriate questions. I played dumb about what his meaning. 
He got out of the cab at the hotel and followed me in!! Leaned across the desk where the clerk recognized the situation immediately and told him to leave. 
This was my first contact with that jewel of a human- the middle age or elderly Black lady who takes care of strangers as if they were family. After he left she assured me they wouldn’t let him in. He did call and ask for my room which they refused. 
Whew. 
Amazing hotel clerk who identified the problem right away. .

© Photo: Dobgirl

#6

I was the only girl at a football team party. Got out of there so fast.

© Photo: Enilorac1992

#7

In the early nineties my mother would regularly take my younger brother and I along when we she needed to run errands. I was around 7 years old and my brother 6. On this particular day she needed to run into Walmart, this was the early days before super Walmarts, so the store was relatively small. My mom told me to lock the doors after she left and that she’d only be a minute, she then hurried inside. About 2 mins later this man with Dahmer vibes walks up to the rear passenger door. Looked to be mid to late 30’s, heavy set, serial k****r glasses, etc. It startles me but my little brother is unfazed, he was playing a game of some sort.

As he says hello I can hear what sounds to be him checking the handle on the door. I’ll never forget the creepy smile he had on his face. He sees that the door is locked so he tells me to open it. I tell him no and that my mom would be back soon. He tells me that he just spoke with my mom and that she sent him out to get us. I don’t know what it was but it didn’t feel right. For the next minute, as I refuse to open the door as he’s still trying the handle, I can see him physically getting angry. This is when my brother starts to notice something going on.

Then all of a sudden he looks past me, looks at me, and takes off. 20 seconds later my mom arrives, apologizing about how long it took, which was common, and I ask her if she sent some weird man to come get us. Immediately she says no! Why? I tell her and she freaks out. She drives around the parking lot a few times in hopes of me pointing the man out but I never saw him again. To this day I still wonder what could have happened if I opened that door.

© Photo: dfrentz85

#8

When I was a teenager (14-15ish) I was sitting outside my sisters work. She worked at a building near a park with a track around it. I was sitting kinda away from the building and more towards the park. It was night and super dark in the park. I got a weird feeling and saw a man walking towards me quickly. I got up on instinct and ran into the building. As soon as he saw me stand up he started SPRINTING towards me. I can’t say for sure he was going to take me, but a part of me FELT his intentions before I even saw him.

© Photo: Lizzy24601

#9

One night I was vacuuming out my car at one of those self service car washes. The whole time I notice there’s another car in the corner but I didn’t see anyone inside of it. All the sudden, I look up as a van with the windows covered pulled in. I made eye contact with the driver and something in me said “get the [darn] out NOW” so I jumped in the car and drove off with my trunk still open. I had to pull through the actual car wash part and barely made it out as the other car was attempting to block me in. Drove back around 3 minutes later to see if they were still there… and they weren’t. I’ll never forget the feeling i had when we made eye contact. I’ve never moved that fast without thought in my life. His eyes were jet black and his face was skinny like a skeleton. I am a 125lb very young looking woman so I’m vulnerable.

© Photo: Ok_Benefit7428

#10

I was 16, waiting in the baggage claim for my dad, who I was picking up from the Detroit airport. A middle aged man started chatting with me. I was conditioned to be polite so I talked to him. He was asking a lot of personal questions (who am I with, do I live close). We start talking about running after I told him I liked to run. He says he has something in his car I have to see, a medal from a recent race. He gets insistent I follow him out to the parking garage so he can show me. Even grabs my arm at one point. I start to follow him. Get out the door. Freeze. Get a really creeped out feeling. And make up an excuse as to why I can’t go and run back inside. He never came back inside. I felt rude at the time, but in retrospect I’m convinced I saved myself from getting kidnapped.

© Photo: DanaPod

#11

My mom was a single mom with four kids. We lived in a single-wide trailer out in the woods. My two sisters were 18 at that time (twins) and I was seven. We constantly had prowlers and people broke in multiple times to cook themselves our food and use our shower and leave love notes for my mom and the twins. I got really sick with meningitis and was hospitalized for a good long while. Mom stayed at the hospital with me and my sisters were home alone until two guys harassed them one night by knocking on the windows and doors. They went to stay with my grandmother after that. Anyway, the day I came home from the hospital … I had a feeling that something truly awful was going to happen. I just knew it. I couldn’t get it out of my head. Something simply felt WRONG. My mom had gotten my prescriptions filled and tried to comfort me as the night went on but I was inconsolable. I kept saying that we HAD to go to my granny’s house. Around that time, we heard men talking at the back door of the trailer – when we lived on about 100 acres of woods with NO ONE around. Mom called the cops and they searched but didn’t see anyone. I was insistent that we absolutely HAD to leave and go to my granny’s house. I was screaming it by that point, bawling my face off. We packed up the car and got ready to leave … it was about 3 in the morning … and mom remembered my medicine. She kept the car running and told my sister to run and grab the bag of meds from the fridge. My sister runs in and gets my medicine and rushes back out. She’s halfway to the car when the front door of the trailer slams open behind her and there’s this HUGE man just standing there watching us go. He had come in through the back bedroom window while we were leaving, I guess. My sister jumped in and mom floored it and we went to my granny’s house. The police went and saw that the window had been opened and found that someone had urinated all over the inside of our trailer and slammed a knife through our dining room table and the knife was still there. We never went back there. My uncles went and packed our things and we moved in with my granny.

© Photo: EdenCapwell

#12

Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa, CA. Woke up at 1am to smell of smoke. Went to the bathroom and was hit with a feeling of dread. Went out into living room and peeked through blinds, saw our neighbor running to her car with her cat in one arm and duffle bag in the other. Saw the glow of fire in the distance. Opened front door to ash falling. Woke up my spouse, told her we had 5 mins to get dressed and pack a bag. Started getting our wallets phones passports laptop and clothes into a backpack. She stood there for a minute confused and I had to yell at her to put on her shoes, there was a fire, and I wasn’t joking. Fire came within 2 blocks of our apartment. Completely leveled the neighborhood north of us.

© Photo: anon

#13

I was running late at night in a not so good neighbourhood in my home town in Finland (ie. Still relatively safe) when a car drove past me reeeeaally slowly. It drove on behind a bend in the road. I then noticed from the movement of the headlights that the car made an U-turn and started speeding towards me. I quickly hopped a fence onto someone’s yard and looked through the cracks in the fence as the 2 guys in the car got out of the car and scanned the area for a while supposedly trying to find me.

© Photo: Flachm

#14

Was at a bar with friends, and some dude kept staring at our table all night. Like, not just glancing, but full-on staring. After about an hour, I told my friends we needed to leave ASAP. They thought I was being paranoid but agreed. Found out later that same guy pulled a knife on someone else that night. Trust your gut when something feels off.

© Photo: Fickle-Block5284

#15

My friend got roofied by the bartender at a concert. She was acting very off  and I saw the bartender come out to the crowd. Weird.  I got creeped out so I took her into the bathroom and she was crying over the sink and the female worker came in saw us and told us we had to get out of there. so I had to drag us both out of there. When we got outside she was laying on the ground completely off crying which was so not like her. I told her we have to get out of here cuz we were alone outside and I had no idea what could happen next. She also lost her wallet which is weird.

© Photo: ZestycloseTomato5015

#16

Back in the 80s in Brussels, I was partying in a punk disco with my BF and friends. Suddenly I felt the urge to leave but my BF begged for us to stay half an hour more, as planned, since a friend would drive us back home. Told him hé could stay but I was leaving *right now* and taking a cab. Hé came with me, not happy at all.
Half an hour later, a b**b exploded on the street we would have drive bye if we had gone back with the friend.

A few years later, I overslept and miss a class. My mom called me in panic because there had been a b**b in a classroom in my university. If I had gone to class, I would have been walking by that one right on time for the explosion.

© Photo: Doridar

#17

Father-son creep team accosted me in a nearly-deserted public park.   the boy was around 10 and I want to say I was around 8?  he no-question-about-it asked me several times if I wanted to [furtive hand gesture] while his dad just sat nearby scanning the park for potential witnesses.  it felt like the dad was the one in control.

I was *deeply* freaked out.  I’d never seen a 10yo with nicotine stains like that kid had.  or seen an adult provide/offer smokes.  .

© Photo: Optimal-Ad-7074

#18

Was on LSD with three friends passing by Anton Levay’s (leader of the satanic church) house in San Francisco, and we all heard an incredibly low growl from behind the fence in his front yard. Clearly, Satan. Totally freaked us out.

Thirty years later I learned it was in fact a tiger behind the fence.

© Photo: User

#19

A long long time ago, I worked evening shift. I came home late at night and saw a random guy walking around our parking lot. My gut told me he was up to no good. So I stayed in my car until he was gone. When the coast “was clear,” I walked to my apt and noticed he was across the street. He was startled to see me and came towards me. I ran in my apt. You know how in the movies, they fumble with their keys? Well that was me. But I was able to get in quickly. Later that week, I found out that a guy was walking around the complex breaking into apartments..

© Photo: TropicallyMixed80

#20

I live downtown in my city and I was taking a walk on my day off. A few blocks from my house, there was a man a few feet ahead of me, who was yelling at another guy across the street. They continued yelling back and forth at each other as they walked and I finally caught up to the guy at the corner, as I waited for the light to change for me to cross.

The two guys were still yelling at each other and getting louder and I got real uneasy, thinking what if one of them started shooting. The light was taking forever, so I just dodged traffic and ran across the street to get away. As soon as I was on the other side of the street, I heard gun shots! I started running, along with the other pedestrians, and we ducked into the closest building. I later learned that a bystander was shot in his hand, but luckily, he wasn’t seriously injured. The shooter missed his target, but he was arrested.

© Photo: MelanieDH1

#21

When i was 12 ,my ex stepfathers car haf broken down so my mam piled her 5 kids into the car to go tow it and bump start it,we get there she gets out leaving me (the eldest) in the front passenger seat and the other four in the backseat,so im messing abt trying to find a radio station that wasnt playing love is all around by wet wet wet coz i was sick of it,when a little voice in my head says look up ,i look.in the mirror and see lights but go back to silencing wet wet wet ,seconds later that same voice says look up now,i look up and realise the light are coming too close i had enough time scream everyone get down and throw the top half of my body over my siblings to keep them held down as a tow truck smashed into the broken down car at such a high speed tjat the broken down hit our car with enough force to send us over the other side of road and down an imbankment, i ended up being thrown forward at that point and briefly knocked out but my siblings were all unharmed.

© Photo: welshwonka

#22

My dad had abused me all my life until he was arrested for sexual harrassment of a lady at church, trying to run over the Deacun and abusing me in front of the church then speeding off with me in the car. The court threw everything out but the child abuse and the reckless driving. They said that a son needed a father in the court so they sent me to therapy to build my relationship with my father. If my mother did not take me she would see problems so I had to go. What I did is I has a review system and I never left alone with him and give him 1 and 2 out of 10 every time. Eventually the therapist changed his review system to out of 5 but it still never passed 1 or 2 where a 3 out of 5 would be considered average. I just ran him down for a year where my father and the therapist realized they were not making any progress and tried to have a meeting with me where I just bashed him telling everything he did wrong with the abuse. He called me a liar and he never wanted to see me again. Only times I heard from him after was 2 crazy notes trying to reconnect and from the coroner after he hung himself because he was being convicted of attempting to b**b the sheriff office. Uh clearly I was in the right to play it out. It was a situation I could not just leave though because that would have put us in a worse situation.

© Photo: elivings1

#23

When I used to live in New Orleans, I went out with a friend to watch a Saints game. We went to a bar after and this guy started talking to my friend really aggressively and my friend was trying to talk him down. I could instantly tell that something was off, paid for our beers and convinced him to go outside for a cig. We’re out there maybe 3 minutes and the other guy shoved someone through the window while screaming “I just got out of OPP (Orleans Parish prison) mother f****r!” But yeah the energy in the room was HEAVY right before it happened. I think anyone that has been in a fight or grew up with abusive parents can be attuned to the energy shift of a room and more easily say “let’s get tf out of here”.

© Photo: fpaulmusic

#24

Back in my short and sweet punk days, my gang of theater nerds and misfits used to crash parties and attend some illegal shows (as in, the shows were held in places they didn’t have a license to perform in, were serving booze to minors, no door checking, etc). This would have been early 1980s. In our friends group was someone named “Kathy.”

Kathy had this weird sixth sense about cops. I don’t know what it was, exactly, but when Kathy “got that look,” we all knew: RUN. Twice I was hanging out with her and witnessed this first hand. She would be just herself, and then suddenly, have this disconnected look on her face, like a minor seizure. Then she’d say, “we gotta go.” Sometimes it would happen in mid sentence. “So, then Tony was like, all over her and… …. we should leave.” At first, she had a best friend who knew what that meant, but quickly, we all did.

First time this happened, we were at a show at an abandoned movie theater. We were hanging out in the lobby in a sea of pot fumes, and she had just gotten out of the mosh pit and was having her friend look at a cut on the side of her head. Then. “I don’t know, I was in the pit, and some guy with a knife… cops. COPS!” and we grabbed everyone from our group, got in our cars, and JUST as we turned on the main road from the parking lot, half a dozen black and whites pulled in and blocked everyone in. Huge bust. Missed it by maybe 10 seconds.

Second time was at some house in Potomac (a really rich area around here). Some college clown held a party at his parents house, and it was like something out of a John Hughes film. I was with Kathy and some other folks in the living room, where someone had used permanent marker to draw rude things all over this huge portrait over the fireplace. I was telling Kathy about how this guy gave me $10 in a bet that he was Jesus Christ (he was high on something, lost the bet when he tried to fly by jumping off the porch landing) and Kathy’s face just… dropped. “Kathy? Should we go?” her friend asked. Kathy “snapped back in” and said “NOW.” We golted like h**l out of there, and sure enough, a cop car showed up right after we left.

Those are the ones I witnessed, but others told of similar stories. We asked her about it, and she shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s like suddenly, I just … know? Like my head goes quiet for a sec and then I am filled with dread?” Was her dad a cop, did she have some shortwave in some filling on police channels, what? She just didn’t know. Spooky.

© Photo: User

#25

My husband and I live at the base of Runyon Canyon. We ditched when the Sunset Fire broke out because it was at the end of our street.

© Photo: User

#26

We were in LA and went for a ride through The Los Angeles Mountains. It was beautiful and we were taking pictures at one spot when this guy pulls up on a motorcycle and stops next to us. I could feel the unease start when he got off the bike and as he started walking towards us.He struck up a bizarre conversation with us. Asked what we were doing, where else are we going, is there anyone else with us. But this time I was in going into full panic mood and my sensors were going off and telling me to get away from this man. Quickly try to get out and away. I whispered to my clueless husband that I was getting bad vibes about the whole experience.Our daughter was 7 and I just didn’t feel safe at all and felt very uneasy. I’ve never felt so relieved getting anywhere. When I got back to our home, I read about all of bodies buried in there and how there is still stuff going on in the park. I just knew something bad was going to happen. I kept getting flashes of bad stuff appearing in my head. I almost didn’t think he was going to follow us. He really didn’t want us to leave. His demeanor was so odd and freaky. I’ve never been so scared. I was truly terrified about that whole incident.

© Photo: User

#27

Just happened last week. Friend and I were in a Lyft. Driver literally didn’t know how to drive. I don’t know how he even got to us from wherever he started from. Didn’t understand the GPS or how to follow it. Barely managed to get out of parking lot. After barely getting onto highway (and then just driving into the breakdown lane going 25) we told him to pull over at nearest bar. He almost didn’t but we near screamed. Got out quickly and the driver wouldn’t leave the bar parking lot. We hid in the bar until he finally drove away.

© Photo: Visual_Owl_2348

#28

When I was involved in a large criminal organisation back in the mid 80’s I met a guy who wanted a large amount of the stuff we sold. I arranged a pick up and went with my driver to the address and he’s inside the property. Waving us inside I stopped got back in the car and drove away. I knew if we went in that house we wasn’t coming out.

© Photo: importantmaps2

#29

I had stayed overnight in Oregon in September 2020 and the morning of the almeda fire it was so windy that it knocked over a gallon of water I had on the ground while loading my car up, and the grass was so dry it shattered under your feet. Then the smell of smoke, and seeing hundreds of birds flying out of it in the opposite direction of where I was. I drove south on I5 all the way to Southern California only stopping for gas because there were fires on both sides of I5 down the entire west coast. It was honestly terrifying.

#30

My aunt used to live in this house with a very unsettling atmosphere. I was always scared there. I would babysit my cousin on weekends while she bartended so I was there basically alone at night a lot. I made a little bedroom in the attic and one night while I was reading my J-14 magazine suddenly a voice in my ear told me to get out. I went flying downstairs, completely terrified. Another time I saw something very strange in the shadows of the dining room that I could have sworn was a figure that looked like branches were coming out of its head. One night during a storm the power went out and that was one of the most terrifying nights of my life as I sat huddled in the kitchen by the window calling my aunt over and over again but she never answered. In their next apartment I was watching Amityville Horror of all things when one of his toys goes off by itself. I s**t you not it said “peekaboo I see you”. This toy was at the bottom of a basket of toys and he was asleep. I threw it away in the neighbors garbage can immediately. I know there was something bad in that house and I think it tried to follow them.

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