Never underestimate the power of intuition. When these people felt something was odd, they trusted their gut feelings—and ended up saving lives. When they didn't, the consequences were disastrous. If you just can't help but feel like something isn't right, listen to the little voice in the back of your mind. It could change everything.
1. Tsunami Dreams
Since my sister was five, she was always obsessed with tsunamis and would always ask my dad every night before she went to sleep if there would be a tsunami that night (we lived on a beach). Six years later, when our family was holidaying in Samoa, an earthquake struck at about 6 am. It was only a dull low rumble, but it went on for over a minute.
Everyone at the resort woke up and went outside for a few minutes then went back to bed. My sister, having been obsessed with tsunamis, ran down to look at the water and noticed the sea going out. She immediately told everyone what was happening, and made sure we all hid behind the cliff near the resort. She ended up saving a lot of lives that day, including my own.
2. The Nutty Server
I was an expediter at a restaurant. It was super busy and I was trying to get runners for food. I was about to send out a stack of dim sum when I looked at the ticket again with a note that said, "No peanuts on the tempura tofu." I had read it earlier and didn't sprinkle peanuts on it. Another server was about to run it to the table when I told him to wait and get the actual server for the table.
We were slammed and he was kind of angry, but I just had a bad gut feeling. He went to get the server who had taken the order. The actual server comes back and he's all frustrated when I ask him, "Does your 'no peanuts' guy not like peanuts or is he allergic to them?" The server responds with, "He's very allergic to them, that's why I put no peanuts on the ticket!" He was being short with me. I told him, "Well the freaking tempura tofu is fried in peanut oil!"
I didn't realize the head chef was behind me and heard the whole thing. The server didn't know we only used peanut oil. It was an Asian fusion, really nice upscale restaurant. Needless to say, she (the head chef) reamed this guy out. I was a half-second from sending that food out too... it would have been really, really bad.
3. Close Second
I worked with a girl who casually told the story of someone almost kidnapping her little sister. One day she walked outside to tell her sister who was about six to come inside, and her sister was climbing into the open door of a car at the end of the driveway. My coworker screamed and the car drove off without the sister. Such a close call.
4. Bad Blood
I went to the hospital with shortness of breath and my heart racing. They did a chest x-ray, a blood test for clots, an ECG, and a few other tests but everything came back normal. After observing me overnight everything still looked good, oxygen saturation was perfect, my heart rate was still a bit elevated but nothing too crazy, and it seemed that it was likely leftover symptoms from a bad virus that I'd had a week or so earlier.
The ER doctor asks me how I would feel if they sent me home and I just had a bad feeling about it all. I told him as such and that I had no real basis for it except that I just felt off about it. He said fair enough, let's try one more test and if that comes back negative then we'll send you up to General Medicine and see if they can track something down.
That test was a VQ scan. When I saw the results, I felt a chill run down my spine. Despite all other tests showing no results for blood clots, I actually had a whole bunch of them in both lungs. I ended up with a diagnosis of unprovoked bilateral pulmonary embolisms and am now on blood thinners for life. Super grateful both for the bad feeling and the ER doctor who was willing to listen to it!
5. An Eye for an Eye
At my job, when I’m working away, it's really easy to talk myself into doing something quickly without my safety glasses; but there’s also always this voice in my head yelling to put them on. I stopped grinding the thing I was working on, got my glasses, came back, and then this chunk flew up and cracked the right lens...
Spidey senses: 1, Murphy's law: 0.
6. Unsung Hero
I went down to the local creek with my friend. We were probably 10 or so. The local creepy teenager shows up, drunk out of his mind. I immediately knew this was bad. He mumbles something under his breath, and I looked at my friend with the "we need to get out of here look." He stepped closer towards us just as another guy, older and probably twice the size, ran up and grabbed the teen away.
He told us to go home and not come back. Later the creepy guy was involved in a robbery that turned violent. I still feel so thankful that that other guy who was there.
7. Translation Please
Some people I knew in high school were bar hopping. They were all underage and traveling to a bar about 45 minutes away. All of a sudden, one of them got a really bad feeling and started panicking. His friends made fun of him and wouldn’t let him out of the car, but it got so bad they had to dump him in this small town in the middle of nowhere. He used a payphone and called a cab home.
The next morning, he saw that his friends had been in a car accident, obviously due to drunk driving. Most of the friends died, one survived with a severe brain injury. His life was saved all because of a gut feeling. Sometimes he has survivor’s guilt now.
8. Doesn’t Hold Water
There was this time I stopped at a rest stop on 280 toward San Francisco at night. I wasn't yet aware that rest stops were sketchy places and had no qualms about getting out to go to the bathroom. After I had done my business and returned to my car, I was trying to send a text message and suddenly a guy appeared outside my window.
I cracked my door open a bit and he said, "your car is leaking water," and I was so irritated I just said, "I KNOW" and slammed the door. I didn't really care since I had the AC running not too long before it got dark. Anyway, I resume texting, and about five minutes later, I hear a car door slam. I look in my rearview and the guy is starting to approach my car again.
I pretty much just said screw it and turned on the car and started to back out noticing that there wasn't a single drop of water on the ground under my car. I was immediately creeped out to the max. I watched him in the rearview as I exited the rest stop, and he just stood where he was in the middle of the lot, watching me leave.
9. An Electric Feeling
When my science teacher was a teenager, she was standing near some lights at a pedestrian crossing with her and her friend. Very chill, but out of nowhere, she had this gut feeling that both of them had to move. They moved just a couple of meters away, and the next moment a car had hit another car, which then hit one of the street electricity utility poles. It fell and exploded exactly where they were standing, just a moment ago.
That gut feeling of moving away saved both of their lives.
10. The Padlock
After enlisting in the Army, recruits get a list of everything they must bring to boot camp. On this list was a padlock. During "processing", the five or so days before the real training starts, recruits are given their equipment including duffel bags, and are told to put the things they brought with them in the duffel bag. After finally getting everything in the bag, I was left with just the padlock.
I had no idea what to do with it, but I noticed if I closed my duffel bag in a certain way, I could close the lock on the hook. So, we get to the training unit and off the "cattle trucks" while a few hundred drill sergeants are yelling and screaming, telling us to line up, which we do, with our duffel bags in front of us. The drill sergeants then proceed to check if the bags are locked, and if not, they grabbed them at the bottom and whirled them around flinging the entire contents on the ground.
Everyone in the entire company had their stuff dumped except for me and one other guy... because locking my duffel bag was the only thing I had thought of doing. Putting it in my pocket was not an option because they were very clear about not having any "civilian" items in our uniform pockets.
11. No Smoking Gun
A delivery driver I used to work with pointed a gun at my head as I was bending down to get something from the cooler I was working near. I cracked a joke about him and when I stood up, I felt it at my temple. He started laughing and I laughed it off too, got him his order as soon as possible and when he left, I went home and called my boss, and didn’t go back until he was fired.
After a few years after the incident, he was involved in a horrifying crime where he took both his ex-wife’s life and his own soon after.
12. An Alarming Thought
When I was 6, my brother (8 at the time) and I would go to my grandma’s house while our mom worked late some nights. Anyway, one day I was just randomly thinking about fire alarms. I don't know what caused me to think about them but after I started, I couldn't stop. I have ADHD and this super focus thing, so whenever I'm thinking about something as simple as fire alarms it consumes my mind.
I asked my grandma and she said she hadn't tested hers in a while. Just for kicks she did, and sure enough the batteries were dead. She replaced the batteries and made sure they worked. The VERY next morning her house caught on fire while she was asleep. If she didn't hear the fire alarms, she would've been trapped in her room on the second story without a phone or anyway to contact help. She most likely would've died. I always make sure fire detectors/alarms work in my house now.
13. A Fuzzy Black Sock
I was about to put a new load of laundry into my washing machine in the dark, when I saw what looked to be a large sock still in the washing machine. I put my hand halfway into the washing machine then pulled my hand back up suddenly. I thought “Huh, I usually don't leave things in my washing machine.” I’m so glad I stopped in my tracks. I turned on the light, and it was a bat sitting in there...
I never touched him, I just put him in some Tupperware and brought him outside. Left the container open with a bag of Doritos and he was gone in the morning.
14. Bad Feeling
I worked with this guy who was a hard partier. He seemed pretty cool when we were working, so when he mentioned a band that I liked was playing at a little country bar right outside of town, I agreed to go with him. We had a blast and I ended up wasted. He kept my drinks flowing all night which was fun for me because I was only 19.
We get back into town and he parks behind a bar that had a strict ID policy. He says he'll be right back. At this point, I'm not feeling good at all. Not drunk sick, but something different. I got out and made my way to my usual bar hangout across the street. A regular noticed me and later said that I didn't look right.
He got a number for my friend from the phone book and called him to come get me. The last thing I remember was the guy came in looking for me and the guy helping me refused to let him take me home. He left pretty quickly. I remember nothing else until I woke up the next day tucked in on my friend’s couch. I felt like I'd been hit by a truck.
I’m pretty sure the original guy roofied me and my instincts kicked in before he could accomplish anything. I avoided him like the plague at work after that. The good thing was, the guy that helped me at the bar ended up becoming one of my best friends.
15. Sixth Sense
My boyfriend and I were visiting friends for a week in Phoenix. We girls were lounging at the pool while the guys were flexing their grilling skills. My boyfriend paused a moment, stood very still then told me to go get dressed, we had to go. Right now. I wanted to fuss but something told me not to. We drove straight through to San Antonio right to his parents very rural house (this was before cell phones and they didn’t have a landline within a half-mile).
Seconds before we arrived, his little sister had jumped off of a rain barrel and landed on a metal spike that went straight up through her foot and into her leg. His dad was at work so there was no car available there. She was bleeding like crazy and his mother had just walked out and found her. I don’t know what spoke to him in Phoenix, but it would have been all bad if we had not arrived exactly when we did.
16. For Good Measure
When I was 10, I was learning violin from an instructor at my local music shop. I got the weirdest feeling from him even though he didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. I wanted to vomit every time I looked at him, especially his hands. After four lessons I told my parents that I had a terrible feeling about him and I never wanted to go back.
Luckily, they listened and didn’t make me ever go to him again. A few years later, we learned the awful truth. I was right to be scared. He was arrested for assaulting multiple students. I have no idea how I knew something was off. He never did or said anything but I just felt it.
17. Homeland Insecurity
When I was 15, I was regularly at home by myself since both of my parents worked full time and my brother had moved away to college. One day during the summer, I was just relaxing at home, when all of a sudden, someone knocks on the front door. I get up and check the peephole, and see two guys just standing in the driveway just off the porch.
One of them is wearing a suit, and the other is wearing sweatpants and a hoodie, but facing away from the house like he’s playing lookout. I decide to ignore them, because they’ll go away, right? Well, I was dead wrong. They continue knocking, knocking, knocking but getting progressively louder and more aggressive.
Finally, I decide to call the sheriff’s department and ask for a non-emergency check since they’re trespassing. My dumb brain decides to yell through the door that I had called, and before I can even realize how dumb it is, the guy starts kicking the front door. I freak out, run back toward the center of the house. That’s when I made a chilling realization. There’s a third guy trying to kick in the back door as well.
At this point I call 9-1-1 and start screaming about these three guys trying to break into my house. The sheriff’s deputies came over and took care of things. Thank God I listened to my instincts.
18. The Welcome Mat
I woke up from a deep sleep at like 2 am during a winter storm; something wasn't right...I immediately went looking for my senior dog and couldn't find her anywhere in the house. My roommates had a tendency to let her out for a walk and forget about her, closing the door. I ran to the front of the house and found her laying on the welcome mat, she was hardly breathing and covered in snow.
She had been outside alone for at the very least five hours. I got her inside and warmed her up. Thankfully, she was okay, but if she'd been out all night, she would have been terribly hurt if not dead. I moved out shortly after.
19. Reaching Out for Help
I was driving with my friend through a popular park in our city when we came to a dead-end parking lot trying to find a certain trail. We started to turn around when a man who was at the trunk of his car ran up to the passenger side of my car, panicking and throwing his arms up. I immediately think he's broken down or needs help or maybe something is wrong with my car.
I lock the doors and roll the window down a crack to hear what the issue was. When he came closer, I got a very uneasy feeling. The guy just didn't seem right. He smiled and asked if we had ever been to some store in the local area. He offered us candy and tells us to take a look at what we wanted in the back of his car. Keep in mind, I was 21 or so at the time, not a child.
At that point, I'm accelerating to get out of there and as we're pulling away there was another man coming down the hill with a huge stick in his hand and immediately tried to flag us down too. I sped off and saw them talking together and watch as I drove away. On the road out, we saw a woman jogging towards where we had just had this super creepy encounter and I pulled over immediately and told her to turn around.
I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I had just let her jog into a weird situation like that. I have no idea if those men wanted to kidnap someone or hurt someone or what, but I'm glad we got out of there. I haven't been to that park since.
20. The Spare
I was going on a road trip. We packed everything in the trunk. Then I realized that I forgot to check the air in the spare tire. Faced with unpacking and repacking, I thought, "What are the odds? We've had the car for years, never had a flat, we probably won't have a flat now." Then I changed my mind and thought "screw that" and tossed the floor pump I use for my bicycle into the trunk, "just in case.”
Well, I got a flat in the middle of freaking nowhere. The spare was too flat to drive on. The floor pump saved me. It gets packed on every trip now.
21. A Daughter’s Intuition
We had all started to walk around the development, when my mother, after about 50-75 meters from the house said, "I am going to go back and check on dad." I went with her, and I nearly witnessed my grandfather die. He was on the chair, conscious, but unable to move or talk... just looking at my mother with bulging eyes. She called 9-1-1 once, then twice when she felt that they were running late.
The ambulance came, got him on the stretcher, but it was too wide to fit out the door. We ended up tearing the door frame off to get him out. Because he was conscious, he actually remembers the ride to the hospital. He told us later that he heard the driver or someone say, there is not a chance that this guy lives. That was when I was around six years old. He is still alive to this day, more than a decade later.
At my mother’s funeral, part of his speech was about how, without my mother’s actions, he would not have been able to spend time with her during her final years of life. And for that, he is eternally grateful.
22. Bad Party Vibes
I had gone to this bar back home with a few friends, and afterward, everyone was supposed to go to this house party. I was game to go from the moment I was invited. Halfway through the night, I had this gut feeling to not go. I told my best friend that she shouldn’t go but she insisted that she wanted to go because there were a few cute guys there. I couldn’t shake the feeling that we shouldn’t go, but she talked me into it.
When we got in my car to head to the party, the gut feeling got even worse. I grew up around cars and drive a manual (my best friend is completely clueless when it comes to cars) so I deliberately grinded the gears and jerked the car and made it stall, acting like something was wrong. I pretended to try to fix what wasn’t broken and after about 15-20 minutes of “fixing” my car, cops and fire trucks followed by EMS flew by us.
I “fixed” my car but told my best friend that I just wasn’t feeling well and she agreed and said my car breaking down ruined her mood, so we went back to my place to watch movies. About an hour after getting home we got a call from a friend of ours saying that the girl who owned the house and who was throwing the party was cheating on her husband who was deployed. He came back on leave to surprise her and caught her in bed with his buddy. Dude pulled out a piece and started unloading at this girl and his friend while everyone else fled the house.
23. The Rollercoaster
I'm afraid of rollercoasters (mostly heights but they go hand in hand). My friends and I went to a theme park, and went on a rollercoaster that was in darkness and went underground. I rode it once, sitting in the back, and really enjoyed it surprisingly. When we reached the start again, there was no line (as it was the end of the day) so they asked if we wanted a final go before they shut down.
Something in my gut told me not to go on, so despite my friends nagging, I didn't and waited with the bags. When my friends got off the ride, they were white as a sheet. About 3/4 of the way through the ride, there's a big drop then it goes fast and just before that, my friend in the back's bar had risen up. Apparently, they had to grip onto her for the rest of the ride while trying to push the bar back down.
24. Plot Armor
About 10 years ago, I was working security at a site about 50 miles from home. I got off at midnight, and didn't bother to change out of my uniform because I was only going to stop for gas. Two stations in the town I was working in were open after midnight, but it slipped my mind as I drove past the first one. Pulled into the other (same brand, same gas price) and just didn't like something about it. There was nobody else around but the clerk that I could see, but I decided to go back to the other one.
I topped off and headed back out of town, and I get close to the station that had creeped me out again. Three city cop cars, two deputies and a state trooper are outside blocking the road with guns drawn. Turns out a city cop walked in on a robbery. Dude put a bullet in his vest, and the store owner knocked the robber out cold with a bat before the cop could recover enough to get his gun out.
That would have been me, in a uniform with a nice shiny badge, but no body armor.
25. Security Guardian Angel
When I was in college, I lived in a sketchy part of Chicago. I liked to take late-night strolls, even when I was living in that neighborhood as a 20-year-old woman. Yeah, I know. Pretty dumb of me. One night, I was feeling stressed out so I embarked on one of my late-night strolls. I was walking along a somewhat busy road. Cars were zooming past me. Pretty normal.
I wasn't paying much attention because I was too wrapped up in whatever was stressing me out that night. Suddenly, a chill shot up my spine. Hypervigilance washed over me and I became more alert than I had ever been. Something was wrong. Someone was watching me. I quickly spotted a car. It was driving in the opposite direction, a little slower than usual. It was too dark for me to see anyone inside the car, and the car was pretty unassuming. But I still knew something was off.
They were watching me. I just knew. The car drove past me and then made a U-turn. Now it was right behind me, creeping along the curb. Luckily, there was a convenience store a few blocks ahead. I started walking faster, and the car eventually sped past me and disappeared into a corner. I somehow knew I wasn't safe yet, so I still sprinted to the store.
I told the security guard what happened, and we both went outside. The car was parked up the street, about 50-100 feet away. The security guard was a big guy who looked intimidating. He marched toward the car, and the car immediately backed up, made a U-turn, and then booked it out of there. The security guard called the cops, and they drove me home.
I never took a late-night stroll again. My gut made me more alert, but it was really the security guard who saved my life. I'm positive that if he wasn't there that night, something bad would've happened to me. I wish I could find that security guard to thank him.
26. The Missed Train
A few years back I went to a university in Brussels. I would always take the train to get there. One morning I just woke up and didn’t feel great at all. Keep in mind I have had a horrible flare up of Crohn’s for the last weeks. But this felt different. Guess it was my gut. So instead of pushing through it as I did with my Crohn’s, I decided to stay home for once.
This was the only day that I ever stayed home from university. That day the terror attack happened on the train that I usually ride to get to school.
27. Illuminating
When I was 10 years old, I had a really freaky thing happen at my house. I woke up in the middle of the night really thirsty. It was around 1 in the morning and the entire house was dark. I got out of bed and went downstairs to get a drink. Conveniently, my mom had just gotten up to do the same thing. We head downstairs to the kitchen for some water.
Right when we got in the kitchen a random car pulled into our driveway and a man got out. My mom and I are standing in the kitchen watching him very aggressively start coming towards our door. He was a really big burly dude wearing a hoodie and black gloves. Right before he reached the door, my mom flipped on the light. Since the entire house was dark, he couldn’t see us but we could see him.
The instant the light flipped on, he stopped, looked right at us, ran back to his car, and couldn’t get out of our driveway fast enough to go down the road. We never saw the guy again. I don’t know if he was trying to break in or what he was planning to do, but I had nightmares about it for weeks. I was scared to death.
28. 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.
29. Perfect Timing
My aunt told me a story about my dad (who greatly dislikes his sister and is an all-around jerk 98% of the time) calling her out of the blue one night while she was in college. She answered, he said he didn't know why but he had this urge to call her, to make sure she was okay. She told him she was fine and thanked him for calling to check on her. She never told anyone else except me, and hopefully a therapist or two, but she was holding the bottle of pills and she was planning to take them all right when he called her.
Twenty-some years later and she's very happy with her decision to live.
30. Intrusive Company
My mom had a really bad encounter in the early 90s. She and her best friend had gone out drinking one night. While they were at the bar two strangers were trying to flirt with them, but just came off as creepy. The creeps wouldn't leave mom and her friend alone so they decided to leave. They went back to the friend's place who lived in a trailer park then and my mom stayed the night.
Some time after they got back, they heard a small noise at the door. What happened next is so terrifying I can’t believe it. They looked out the window and saw the two men from the bar at the front door quietly trying to break into the trailer—but it gets worse. The friend grabbed the phone to call 9-1-1 and the line was dead.
If I remember correctly, they grabbed large kitchen knives, banged on the window and showed they were armed and let them know they would kill them if they came in. The men took off and neither mom nor friend slept that night. Next day they found out the phone was dead because the men had cut the phone line to the trailer before they tried to break in.
31. Identification
When I was 20 years old, I worked at a gas station. They had just changed the law to if the customer looked 40 and under, you had to ID them if they were buying smokes. I was by myself and a lady came in and ordered a pack of Camels. She looked roughly 45, so I didn't ask. However, I had this nagging feeling throughout the transaction that it would be a VERY good idea to ask. Thank god I followed my gut.
So, before I took her money I kind of laughed and said, "Mind if I see your ID really quick? I'm really sorry, you're clearly old enough but they changed the law recently on who we have to ID." She just looks at me and said, "I'm so glad you asked!" and flashed her work card at me. She was a freaking inspector. If I didn't ask her, I would have been detained and fined.
That was the day I learned to trust my gut. And that I also suck at telling people's ages. She was 35.
32. Skateboarder’s Nightmare
In 2006, I had leg pain and it lasted for like four months. I was refusing to get it checked for fear that I would have to stop skateboarding for any amount of time. I was 15 years old. I had a math test I didn’t study for come up one day, and I used it as an excuse to leave and got my leg checked instead. If I hadn’t have done that, I don’t know what would have happened.
That day, I was diagnosed with osteosarcoma (bone cancer). 11 years later I’m still fighting it, but not a day passes where I don’t think how lucky I was to just pop over to the hospital. If I would’ve broken my leg (my femur was getting more brittle every day) the tumor would’ve broken and spread to my lungs—and there’s no way I would be sitting here typing this.
33. Adult Supervision
Back when I was in high school, my mom, dad, kid brother, and I went grocery shopping at Walmart. A teenage girl who was about my age at the time approached us and awkwardly said she thought some sketchy men had been following her around the store. I guess my family doesn't look very threatening, because she asked my dad if he would be willing to walk her out to her car.
She seemed embarrassed and kept saying she was probably overreacting, but my dad was quick to say that he would never want me, his teenage daughter, walking out alone if I suspected someone was following me. My mom, brother, and I stayed with our cart, and my dad went out into the parking lot with the girl. Several minutes later, they both came back inside and we knew something must've happened.
It turns out that an old van was parked and idling right next to her car. When the driver and passenger noticed the girl was with my dad, it sped away. The police were called, the girl's parents showed up, and my dad and the girl provided statements to the officer. The officer applauded the girl for going with her gut by asking my dad to walk her out, because based on the evidence, there very well could've been a much scarier ending to the story.
34. Always Be Prepared
I went hiking in the middle of the day with a friend and his girlfriend. I brought flashlights for each of us. Well, the hike took a lot longer than expected and my buddy's girlfriend sprained her foot at the end. It took us nearly three times as long to get back and it was dark with relatively rocky terrain. Those flashlights saved our bacon. I can't even fathom how long it would have taken stumbling in the dark otherwise...
35. Clairvoyant Boss
It was any old day at work, the dinner rush was about to hit, and I was tired. As usual, I was going to go to the dollar store to get some Red Bull. I asked my manager if he wanted to split it because they were 2 for $5, and he said no but as soon as I reached the door, he said wait. I asked him what was wrong and he said I should go later.
He didn't give me a reason and we were pretty relaxed, so I told him to screw off and as soon as I pushed the door outwards, I hear a sound I can't even describe aside from just BREAKING. Whatever it was it was broken, that's all I knew. Turns out an SUV drove straight into that dollar store's front door and their Red Bull fridge. My manager has annoyed me like that a million times, but I'll never forget the time he saved my life.
36. The Hudson River Pilot
I used to be a banner tow pilot, and I was often tasked to fly banners over the NYC area, especially over the Hudson River. I would pick them up at an airport in NJ and make my way over from there. Typically, if you were to run into some kind of engine problem, you have a fair number of places you could theoretically land if you had engine trouble—but not so much over the NYC metro area.
So, I picked out a "trail of breadcrumbs", if you will, of specific places I could try to land my plane if I ever had to. On the one-year anniversary of the Miracle on the Hudson (Captain Sullenberger, etc.), I was given the job to fly a banner over a boat on the Hudson that would be carrying the crew and some passengers from the flight.
On the way there, my engine failed while I was less than 1,000 feet above the ground. Sinking quickly, I needed to find a place to land right away. Fortunately, my best previously selected spot was just to my left—a landfill on Staten Island, and I was able to put the plane right on the top of it.
37. The Station Wagon
I was 15 and my mom dropped me off at McDonald’s to get breakfast while she went across the street to get Starbucks. It was a shopping mall in suburbia and we were on the way to pick up a new kitten a few hours away. Instead of walking the 100 yards to my mom, I sat outside waiting for her to pick me up. Teenagers, I guess.
As I’m standing there a guy in an old station wagon with two kids in the back starts talking to me. He asks me where I’m going and I say whatever town it was. He says he’s going there too with his kids and asks if I want to come. I tell him no, that my mom is across the street and he comes closer. My gut is saying something is off so I see a random woman walk out of Starbucks and I point to her and say that’s my mom right there. He freaked out and left really quick. I still remember those two kids in the backseat. They looked so off. I wonder to this day if they are okay.
38. Wear Your Seatbelt
My friends and I were always trash-talking another friend because he would never wear his seatbelt while driving. One night, he and another friend drove me home. it was pretty late and we were all tired, and when they dropped me off, I told him, "Use the freaking seatbelt, you idiot." The next day, around lunchtime, I got a call that made my blood run cold.
My two friends had been in a car accident. The idiot fell asleep while driving my other friend's car. They hit a parked car, which hit the car in front of it and got stuck into a wall. The parked car acted as a ramp for their car, and they flipped over—sliding like 20 meters while upside down. For some reason, the idiot had his seatbelt on for the first time ever and he didn't get injured.
Both of them crawled outside the car without a single scratch. If I'm not wrong my friend in the passenger seat broke his finger. My friend learned his lesson and his seatbelt is always on now, even when he's in the passenger seat.
39. The Phone A Friend Lifeline
When I was 13, I just got dropped off from the school bus, so I had a bit of ways to walk home. As I get close to the corner of my street, some guy in a dark blue car rolls up and asked where I was headed. I told him I was going home. The guy then excruciatingly slowed his car down to match my walk and asked if I wanted a ride home. I told him no thanks I'm almost home.
Then he continued to ask where I live and if I still wanted a ride home. Luckily, I had a phone at this age, and pulled out my Nokia phone and pretended to call my mom even though she wouldn't have picked up the phone and I was almost home. The guy saw what I was doing and sped off like crazy. From the age of 13, I started carrying pepper spray.
40. The Email
I was offered a job in Europe, where I was promised a bonus that was X% of my salary, paid twice a year. When the offer was sent, there was no mention of the bonus and when I questioned why, I was told, "Don't worry, it's in this email with my official company signature." I put that one into the saved folder, "just to be safe."
Fast forward to moving; on the first payout period, I was told I needed to be with the company for 90 days first before a bonus would be paid. Okay, I was annoyed, but I guess that makes sense. On the second bonus payment, they mentioned that the company hadn't had a great year and nobody would be getting bonuses. More annoyed, but if the company isn't doing great, what are you going to do? I should add this was in 2008.
The following year rolls around and the company announces that things have really taken off and they will pay out the previous bonus period, in addition to the current bonus period. The only problem is, I literally handed in my resignation that day. I inquire to find out if I'll be receiving my bonus from the previous bonus period, and they say, "Are you kidding? You just quit."
I call a lawyer. I dig up the email from the start of this post, hand that over, and the lawyer says it's a slam dunk case. She goes after both bonus payments from the first year, and both bonus payments from the current year, even though one of them hasn't happened yet. Company HQ calls me and tries to get me to drop it, and I refer them to my lawyer.
A week later, at my new job, the lawyer informs me that they've paid all four bonus payments, and she also went after her own fees, so it cost me nothing. Glad I saved that email. Cover your back, and do not let others push you around.
41. Hide and Squat
I was at my uncle’s house in some countryside with my sister and we were playing hide and seek. My uncle went out to buy some food for us. I was hiding downstairs in this weird closet/attic thing I found. I heard a little banging noise and got a little spooked. I then chalked it up to a little rat or something and continued to hide.
I then heard a snore and a groan. I immediately got out and ran to my sister. We both sat at the door together, crying, until my uncle got home. My uncle just laughed it off and we were relieved, but looking back, we were right to be afraid. A decade later, an old man’s body was found when my uncle tried to sell the house. Soon after, we learned the dark truth.
He had been squatting there for almost a decade, and he had written in a notebook how he was going to end my uncle's life and keep the home for himself. I really think that would've happened if he hadn’t passed away first.
42. A Drink at the Club
I normally go to the club with my husband. He was out of town but I had friends that said they'd be out. My club has always been a very safe club, but the area it’s in has had its ups and downs, because drinking and a bunch of clubs in a small area comes with drunks and ne'er-do-wells of all kinds. I parked on the street two blocks down from the bar.
The block itself was dark but the next block up was very brightly lit thanks to a big-name hotel. Basically, it was a straight shot from my car to the club, with one section of darkness. The MOMENT I got into the building I knew something was wrong but I couldn't put my finger on it. First, none of my friends showed up so I'm alone. Then, the vibe was seriously off. Some dude kept trying to buy me a drink that I kept turning down.
He was so insistent, so eventually, I said I'd have a water because it comes in a sealed bottle. Dude comes back with the type of glass that mixed drinks usually come in. The moment he gives it to me he leaves and I don't see him again for the rest of the night. The "water" went straight down the bathroom sink. My alarm bells were going off so I decided to get out of there.
I left the bar and THE MOMENT I crossed the street, this voice in my head says, "You messed up! Get your keys out and get ready!" I'm full-blown panicking at this point. And when I got to my car door, I learned that my instincts were completely right. As soon as I get my door open another car pulls up and slides into the spot directly behind mine.
I hit the door locks and start to back up. In my rearview mirror, I see the torso of some guy jump out and head toward my passenger door. I'm already pulling out of the parking spot but I could see his tensed-up arm and closed fist just outside my passenger window. As I sped down the highway in the most deafening silence I've ever experienced, I tried to understand what just happened.
It took me a bit to put the pieces together but I THINK the drink dude was spiking drinks and the car dude was picking up. The more I think about it the more I get the feeling that it was a trafficking operation. If I had been two seconds slower for any reason, I can only imagine how that night would have ended.
43. Jungle Silence
I was in the Amazon as the end to a 3-month solo trip around Latin America. I wanted to enjoy one last walk through the jungle before leaving, so I left the lodge around 8am to walk down to a small river nearby. I stop and close my eyes to listen to the sounds as the jungle is super loud with crickets, birds, insects, etc. Almost immediately I got a weird feeling and felt really uncomfortable—which was weird because up until then I'd only felt peaceful and happy.
When I opened my eyes, I realized everything had gone completely quiet which was definitely NOT normal and not something I had experienced in other rain forests I'd been to. It was bizarre. I immediately felt that I had to leave and fast. After I dipped and got back to the jungle lodge, I told the tour guide what happened and he said it usually only gets quiet when there is a big predator close by—thanks, but no thanks!
44. The Creepy Coworker
Years ago my partner at the time had a coworker that kept inviting us out to drink. I had never met the guy and was wondering why he seemed so eager to meet me, especially since I wasn’t even old enough to drink at the time. He eventually told my ex that we should come over to his place for drinks (in order for me to partake). I remember around this time creeping his Facebook and seeing the squirrelly guy posing in front of his Honda.
Something about it all made me laugh and wonder why does this 20 something year old want to go to such lengths to hang out with a 17-year-old girl he knows is taken? A couple of years later, I learned the awful reason. He got arrested on a multitude of assault charges. They seized several devices that proved he’d been doing stuff with children and animals since he was at least 13. Cherry on top? He was the local star cop’s son.
45. The Dipstick
I was undergoing pilot training and was pretty new to the whole thing; feeling the pressure to perform etc. I walked out to pre-flight a plane for a solo flight. You do this completely alone—the instructor was back at flying school doing something else. After doing my walk around it's time to check the oil. Cessna 172s have a dipstick that is attached to a cap that screws into the engine. You unscrew the cap and remove the dipstick along with it and check the oil. Except, after I unscrew the cap there doesn't seem to be a dipstick attached to it.
I have this thought, "Well, the engine is still warm from the dudes who just flew before me so they flew it like this... maybe they had a separate dipstick? They must have checked the oil some other way...." Then I have the, "Well, to be safe, I should actually pack this up and go ask someone at the flight school exactly how to check the oil in this case." Note: This takes quite a chunk of time out of my supposed flight and will cut my "lesson" for the day short by quite a margin, but I do it anyway.
Long story short, my hesitation saved my life. The dipstick had broken off during the previous flight that had landed just minutes before, and had slid straight into the engine, where the crank-case had been chomping away metal from the tip. That metal was now circulating in the engine. The aircraft was grounded. It was extremely dangerous to fly, and at massive cost had to be stripped down—the entire engine had to be disassembled.
They actually had to find every bit of metal missing from the dipstick and "re-assemble" the dipstick before the plane could be re-assembled and made flight worthy again. If, in a moment of stupidity, I'd taken off in that plane, I'd probably be dead.
46. Baring It All
A few years ago, I went for a leisurely jog in my quiet suburban neighborhood around dusk. I ended up making eye contact with a naked man about 25 feet off the trail. He started running towards me, so my rational response was to run into the middle of a busy road, flag down a car, jump in, and beg a complete stranger to drive me home.
I called the police, and later found out the naked man was caught asking a 13-year-old girl if he could impregnate her.
47. Now We’re Cooking with Grease
I went shopping to prep for my long-distance girlfriend that was staying over, and I saw boxes of baking soda in the market. I thought, "Oh yeah, it's smart to keep baking soda around in the kitchen in case you have a grease fire." So, I grab a box. She's cooking breakfast the next morning while I'm in the shower when I hear her yelling for help.
I come out and the stove is on fire. Like a champ I yell, "I'm ready for this!" I grab the baking soda and put out the fire. Always keep baking soda in the fridge, kids.
48. Canine Interception
In our mid-20s, my husband and I lived in a townhome without a yard in a pretty nice area of town. We knew we were purchasing a house soon, so we went ahead and got our first puppy! I’m a morning person, whilst my husband is not, so I would usually get up around 5 am and take the puppy out to the little patch of grass across the street from out townhome still inside the entire complex. I did this for several months, no big deal.
Well one morning while out waiting on the puppy, an old Ford van, all beat up with no windows, slowly drives by and goes back behind another building. A few minutes later as I’m getting ready to cross the street and go back inside, the van comes back up the road to where I was getting ready to cross, stops in the middle of the road and turns off its lights. I waved them on in front of me and at that point, both doors of the van started to open.
All I remember was seeing someone start to get out before both the dog and I felt the undeniable urge to run across the street and inside as fast as possible. Once inside, the van sped off and disappeared. But it gets even creepier. I went upstairs to wake my husband, only to find out he was in the middle of a dream where I’d been kidnapped. To this day, I refuse to run outside or go on walks alone, even on our quiet country roads. And big old vans still creep me out.
49. A Certain Smell
When I was 15, I smelled burning plastic early in the morning at my family cottage. I almost went back to sleep but in the end, I decided to get up to investigate. Thank God I listened to my gut feeling. A socket on the outside of the building had caught fire and flames were shooting up the wall. The rest of my family was still sleeping and there wasn’t enough smoke for the alarms to go off.
I ran and got the fire extinguisher, got my dad up, put it in his hands, and pointed him towards the fire. He stopped it and called the fire department.
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50. The Carpet Sellers
A few years ago, when I was 19 and studying abroad in Europe, my friend and I decided to go to Turkey. It was our first time really traveling on our own without a group and we decided to walk around the square outside of the Blue Mosque. We felt very safe during the day and decided to see the city at night with the lights. As we were in the square, we were hounded by typical store owners trying to sell us something.
Finally, most went away and as we were going back to our hotel, a younger guy approached us. He said he had a shop on the corner, which he pointed to with lots of souvenirs including carpets. I grew up with a lot of handmade, woven carpets from my parents travels to the middle east and Asia. I decided it would be a nice gift. So, we follow him, when we get to what we thought was his shop, we stopped.
We started to walk in and he said not that one, the one around the corner. We poke our head around and sure enough see a store, only selling carpets. I started to get a slightly strange feeling but nothing overwhelming, so we followed him as we could see the store. When we walked in, about 13-15 other men were in the shop. They were pointing out carpets and showing us around and I started to get really uncomfortable. My friend seemed completely at ease, so we followed the group around the bend to the other part of the store.
In Turkey, it is common to be offered tea, so that part is not particularly odd, but the men, who were now circling us, were insistent that we have tea with them in the basement. I kept saying no but they were leading us towards steps, completely surrounding us. We got to the steps and my friend started walking down, my body began to sweat, my heart went crazy, and I never had such an overwhelming fear. I kept trying to think of how we could overpower these men.
I grabbed my phone, stopped in my tracks, and gasped. "Friend's name, we need to go right now. My mom just texted me asking why we aren't back at the hotel yet cause the map shows we're at this store. We're supposed to Facetime with them in 10 minutes." The men kind of look around and tell us we can have tea in less than that amount of time. I keep insisting that my parents are freaking out because they can tell were in the carpet store and not the hotel and that they will likely contact the embassy if we don't get going.
They continued blocking the staircase. I told them that we would come for tea in the morning as I still really wanted a carpet and that we needed to get out of the store and back to Facetime. It took a little persuading but they eventually opened a path for us to go to the door. One of them followed us back to the square insisting that we return/come back and see them. Of course, we didn't.
I have no idea if they were completely harmless or not but I had never had such an overwhelming feeling. They easily could've drugged us, placed us in carpets, and taken us out. My parents didn't actually have our location as my phone was on airplane mode. So, who actually knows, on the other hand, I might've been paranoid, but it wasn't a situation I ever wanted to be in again. Once we were back at the hotel, she told me she was really scared too but that she thought I was fine so she went with it.
51. Baby Insurance
My mother's co-worker convinced her to get the best possible insurance when pregnant because this co-worker had kids who were deprived of oxygen at birth. She said she could lower the insurance once the kids were five years old and seemed normal. It was a struggle, as my parents were both in college and working while raising my brother, so they were looking to cut costs wherever possible.
Well, I ended up being born with a birth defect that required a transplant before the age of five. Before the new doctor even told my mom what was wrong (after rushing me away via ambulance), they asked her if she had insurance. She was able to say, yes, gold star platinum, whatever. Many kids passed on even with the top-class care I received, so I surely wouldn't have made it without it. I'm turning 30 next year.
Thanks, random lady I've never met.
52. How Can We Help?
I was mid-way through a 12-hour road trip alone driving all my college apartment stuff back to my parents' house. Car was totally overpacked with boxes, a bike, keyboard, and the like. I'm very low on gas, so I pull over to a gas station in the Middle of Nowheretown, Georgia. Sun is dipping low, and the gas station is empty, just off the side of the main road intersecting the highway. A few cars meander past on that road, but it's a quiet town.
As I'm pumping gas, a scraggly thin guy walks up and starts mumbling about asking for the time. I tell him the time and make small talk, but not a word this man said was intelligible. All the while, he's circling the car and commenting on my stuff, but, again, I can't really understand his words too clearly. I make an excuse to duck into the convenience store, which I needed to do anyways--my bike was rattling loose and I wanted a bungee cable to affix it more securely.
As I go into the store and search for a cable, I notice scraggly man also entered and he's now talking with the female clerk of the store. I find my cable and as I approach the register, she makes small talk about noting my car overpacked and asked if I was moving somewhere, all the like. She asks about the cable and I explain it's to secure my bike more firmly.
She then tells me I should drive my car behind the gas station and they'll help me tie it up tight. Speaking in the plural, implying what I kind of already deduced: she and the man are associates somehow. Again, my car is just outside the window of the shop, in clear view of the main road. She tells me I should drive it behind the building, where nobody could see it, for them to help me tie it up. As though that help couldn't be done in the normal refueling area.
At this point, my “get out of here” meter is maxing out at 3.4 region so I thank her but tell her I'll be ok, and then I practically jog to my car and get in, locking the doors immediately. As I leave, I watch through the window as the woman and man are in a very animated conversation, gesticulating towards my fleeing vehicle. Could I have been misreading these people because they kind of looked messed up? Sure. But making an offer that sketchy is not a very normal thing to do.
53. A Shady Character
I was president of a club, and a guy who'd recently joined just set off my alarm bells, but he never did anything wrong. I still couldn't shake the feeling that he was off. I asked my best friend, a pretty burly guy, to just keep an eye on him during a conference we went to. Most of the club (minus me) went to a party at the conference, my best friend kept an eye on the weird guy for most of the night, and ended up stopping him from touching a passed out drunk girl.
I pretty much always trust my gut feelings now.
54. Dental Defraud
I saved a receipt from my dentist. They charged me, then delayed the procedure I paid for. When I asked for a refund, they changed my entire bill and told me I owed them another $300 when all they actually did was a cleaning and x-rays. I submitted both copies of the invoices to my dental insurance company and told them what happened.
Three weeks later the insurance company resolved the issue with the dentist and I got a refund. Despite the dentist attempting to defraud me, they still regularly call me asking me to come back in. Recently they changed their name and moved a block down the road to try and hide from the plethora of negative reviews on Yelp. They're scam artists, through and through. Thank goodness I saved that receipt, or else I would had been one of their many victims.
55. Tough Cook
Last year, December 1. I had slept for almost a week trying to fight what I thought was the flu. I woke up and had a gut feeling telling me that something wasn't right with me. I called my parents to tell them, and then cabbed myself to the emergency room. The staff took blood and ran tests on me for 8 hours, then discharged me and sent me home.
I got a call the next morning asking me to come back because they found something in my blood: Bacteremia and Endocarditis. I was put on penicillin immediately, for two months. But I kept feeling like there was something wrong. I went for a specialized test on December 21, and woke up to the doctors telling me I need surgery as soon as possible. They’re trying to find a surgical team, earliest is the 24.
I go in and while they’re operating, I have an ascending aortic aneurysm and it caused an aortic dissection. They’re able to fix it. I’ve got a synthetic valve in there now. But that's not even the scariest part: I work in a restaurant kitchen, just before the start of the holiday season. Normally, cooks will tough it out and just work. Most think they'll get better soon.
I’m told that if I had done that, I more than likely would have died before my birthday and they would have found out about the aneurysm during the autopsy. That still sends freaking chills down my spine.
56. Yank Rescue
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 probably around 7 years old.
57. Defying Evil
I worked downtown Houston for 9-1-1 on the overnight shift. On a break I went out to my car. While sitting in there a homeless guy came and knocked on my window, which wasn't at all unusual. He rolled his fingers like “roll down your window.” I cannot explain what came over me but all of a sudden, my hair stood on end and I was flooded with the strangest feeling.
I felt fight or flight come over me. I didn't know where it came from, didn't even feel like my voice, but I yelled no! And I was pointing my finger at him. I sat there shaking all over, but his face was seared into my mind. So, a few days later on my day off was watching the news and the SAME damn homeless dude had been arrested that morning because he was the suspect for this horrific case that they had been searching for.
There had been a string of strangulations of mostly homeless women downtown. I could not believe it when his mugshot popped up on my TV. I just went cold. I'm so grateful though for what I assume was my intuition or guardian angel alerting me to danger.
58. In Case of Emergency
I had a guest speaker who was in the trade centers when they were hit in 2001. He said that he took the stairs all the way down 74 floors because he didn't trust the elevators. He was in a meeting with 55 other people, and he was one of four to survive. He said as he was heading down the hall to escape, he turned around and noticed everyone cramming in the elevators from the meeting.
Only the people in the meeting that took the stairs made it out alive.
59. Near Miss
I worked for a rent to own furniture place between my junior and senior year in college. I'm 6'3" tall and 280 lbs., so I'm built for lifting. The other delivery guy was a prison guard before, so he was fairly well built as well. Now, 95% of the job is delivering furniture. However, since rent to own requires, you know, rent, you tend to get those who get behind on their payments.
If they get too far behind, we pick up their stuff. Most people are actually happy since that means the phone calls from the manager stop. Some would rather run and hide. We've tracked people across town, to different towns, even one that moved across the country, no idea how the manager and corporate did that.
One day, we get told that after we make a delivery, we are supposed to check out an address. Supposedly, this girl and her baby daddy are eight months behind and keep moving to avoid us. The place is out in the country, but we live in a rural part of the world so that's no big deal. We find the place, with a half mile long drive way, leading to a trailer house.
There's a truck in the yard, doors open, hood up, lights on, someone was working on it, recently. We also notice that the front door to the house is wide open. Odd, when its 95+ outside. There is absolutely nobody around this place. Then, on the picnic table just outside the front door, we see a pretty new box of shotgun shells. It's open, and a few are missing.
Now, we had pulled up to this place, got out of the truck, but hadn't said a word. We just looked at each other, got back in the truck, and drove back to the store. We both just had that feeling that something bad was in the air. A couple of months later, after I had quit and went back to college, I saw that that girl and baby daddy had been picked up for their part in selling illegal substances. Crazy enough to shoot us? Probably.
60. The Perfect House
We were looking at houses a while back, and found one that was in a great location. It would have been the perfect size for us, and didn’t appear to need any work other than new carpet besides stuff I wanted to do like painting and switching it over from an oil-burning furnace. I just had a nagging feeling about it, and my husband agreed.
As much as we loved it, something was off with it (I actually thought a ghost or something silly like that), and we ended up passing on it. I was still kicking myself about it until a few months later when it had a major electrical fire. The whole house and everything in it was a total loss, and the family that lived there barely got out alive.
61. The Fast Lane
There's a very fun road in Germany where you drive at 50 or 60 clicks along smooth tight turns and little rolling hills. I go there a lot to relax. On this particular day, something like wheat was growing and it was high. I couldn't see around the corners, but I knew the road well and was staying in my lane. I was going fast, and smiling.
About halfway in, I heard a voice in my head as clear as if the speaker were sitting next to me and it said, “You need to slow down.” It was startling and I braked immediately. Two seconds later I come through one of the turns and into the butt end of a huge truck taking up both lanes and moving slowly. I barely stopped in time. Those extra two seconds of brake time saved a Volvo at least, but I'm pretty sure they saved my life too.
62. The Security Guard
Once I was going out drinking in San Francisco with some friends. We loved going to this kind of dive bar in the Tenderloin, which could be a rough neighborhood. Anyway, I had just bought a new car and was worried about parking it in the Tenderloin, while all my friends assured me it'd probably be fine. Spoiler: They were wrong.
As we parked on the street about two blocks from the bar, a homeless guy came up to me and said "Man, you don't want to park that new car here! Somebody’s going to smash them windows and take your stereo! Your sunglasses!" On a whim, I just said, "Yeah, but we're kind of late. Want to keep an eye on it for me?" He pauses for a sec and goes, "Like a security guard? Yeah, man. I'll watch your car. You got $10?"
My friends, confused, started mumbling about just walking on, but I thought it couldn't hurt much, so I gave the guy $10. "Here's your $10, keep an eye on it, man. If it's still in good shape when I get back, I'll give you another $10." He replied: "Darn! $20? All I gotta do is sit here?" I said, "And make sure nobody smashes my window. There isn't anything inside anyway, it's new."
He said, "I got you, man. I got you!" Anyway, the night progresses, we drink and have a good time, and now we're all properly saucy except for my friend Mary, who was our DD. I gave her my keys and we start walking down the block. One by one we notice almost every parking spot has shattered glass next to it. Somebody went through the area and smashed each window to get into the cars.
I get this sinking feeling in my stomach. I'm already mentally prepared to have to shell out a few hundred bucks to replace the window of a car that wasn't even mine a week ago. But lo and behold, we get to the spot and my car is fine—and the homeless guy is bundled up in a sleeping bag and he sees me and goes, "HEEEEYYYYY! You’re back! You won't believe what I did for you! Check THIS out!" I couldn’t believe my eyes.
He shows me this huge freaking bruise on his face and pulls off his gloves and shows me his knuckles which are scraped up. "What happened?" I said. He replied: "Some guy, he came around here smashing windows and grabbing stuff, he gets to your car and I'm like, 'Yo, pass that one. That's MY RESPONSIBILITY' and he turned around pulled back on this big ol' brick he's got in his hand, and I JUMPED THAT GUY from behind—he hit me in the head with his darn brick but I knocked him good. Man, I changed that guy's MIND man. He was all strung out and he ran off down the block!"
My friends and I are staring at this guy incredulously. My car is fine, spotless. I reach into my pocket for $10 but I realize I don't have cash. "Dude, thanks so much! Give me a second I gotta get your cash." I say as I walk into the liquor store on the corner to use the ATM. As I'm checking out, I realize they've got 750s of Wild Turkey in there. I buy one for him. I give him the $10 and the bottle. "Thanks for keeping an eye on the car for me."
You would have thought this dude just won the lottery. "OOOHHHH!" he kept screaming. Then he kicked the pile of blankets and stuff on the side of the road and I realized he had a girl there sleeping and he goes, "WAKE UP LOOK WHAT I GOT!" and she rubs her eyes and looks confused at us, then at him, then at the bottle, then at us.
Wordlessly she reaches for the bottle. He hands it to her. He's still screaming and hollering like it's the best day of his life.
63. Icy Scandinavian Roads
Back in 2011, my dad and I were driving down the country for New Year’s Eve. Suddenly he goes quiet, kind of starts breathing slow and steady, and tells me to look up the road. He was so calm and focused. I look up and see a car spinning in the middle of the freeway ramping up speed and knocking cars off the road.
This is in Scandinavia in the winter, and we were pretty much on ice. I imagine the driver of that car hoping, just hoping. So, my dad proceeds to accelerate towards the guy spinning, which didn’t even occur to me was weird. He was just so calm, which made me calm. The car hits us on my dad’s side, half a second earlier my dad turned slightly right, which was just enough for the car to push us out of the road and completely safe into a snow bank.
I realized a bit later that a lamppost on that same side we flew off to had crushed the back-right side of our car, just missing the angle that would’ve hit me. Years later I realized the reason my dad sped up the vehicle. Getting hit by that car was a question of when, not if, and if he had not accelerated, that lamp post would’ve been my death.
64. A Friend Indeed
I went out with my best friend on New Year’s last year, and was having drinks with her friends when I realized I was out of smokes. I left to grab a pack, and ended up talking to a homeless guy for a while. When I went over to the entrance of the bar, my friend was outside and said something mean to me for no reason and walked off. I was confused so I decided it would be good if I took a walk to let her cool off and then figure out what she was upset about.
I was going to walk down the street for a bit but something told me to turn left, walking behind the bar and then turning to the side of the bar when I see a girl laying down on the sidewalk and people walking by her. As I'm walking over to help, I realize it’s my friend and she's not conscious. She was probably drugged while I was getting smokes and who knows what would've happened if I hadn't decided to go that way.
65. Final Destination
I was driving on the highway headed back to college and I see a flatbed semi coming in the opposite direction that looked to be carrying railroad ties—big square logs, basically. I think to myself, "Huh, it sure would be bad if one of those things fell off." I hold my gaze on the semi and you can guess what immediately fell off and started tumbling right down the center of my lane...
I'm convinced I wouldn't have been able to react to it properly if I hadn't JUST thought of that exact circumstance.
66. Barking Mad
When I was very visibly pregnant, I ran to the grocery store one evening. For some random reason, I took my dog with me. She wasn't big or intimidating, all black but short like a corgi and super sweet. She never growled at anybody. I guess I just thought she would enjoy the car trip, not something I usually did for a quick grocery run.
Anyways, I bought my groceries and noticed nothing unusual in the store. It was just after dusk and I rolled the cart full of groceries out to the car. As I walked out, I noticed a man sitting in the driver's seat of a car facing my vehicle, but one parking lane over. He looked as though he was waiting for someone, but something about it creeped me out.
To this day, I can't tell you what about him creeped me out specifically. I just unlocked the back of my Jeep and started putting my grocery bags in. I hear a car door and turn to see he is out of the car and asking if I need help. I said no thank you and just kept going, making sure to not turn my back to him.
But he keeps coming towards my car saying, "Are you sure? I can help." I keep saying no thanks, but he keeps coming. At this point, I am trying to check if anyone else is in the lot and even though it's full of cars, no one else is out there. He is almost at the back of my car and my sweet doggy, in what seemed instantly, left her spot on the front passenger seat and was over the back seat and standing on the back bumper, teeth bared and growling at this guy.
Even though it seemed like only a half beat, it seemed like he considered whether this short dog was a serious threat or not. He held up his hands and said "nevermind" and walked away back to his vehicle. I drove home with no trouble and told hubby what happened and gave my doggy extra treats and snuggles.
The rational part of my brain says it was probably nothing, but what if my dog hadn't been there?! He clearly had no regard for my no thanks answers. It still creeps me out, 15 years later.
67. The Tropical Storm
A tropical storm was blowing through my city a few months ago, and we were projected to get some wind gusts and significant rain. Because our parking lot isn't large enough for all staff and our clients, a lot of us have to park on the street, which is lined with large, old trees. As I rolled up on the morning we were due to get the storm, I parked in my usual spot down the block.
Before I shut the car off though, I noticed that this particular spot was located directly across the street from one of the largest trees on the block. Thinking, "You know what, just to be safe..." I put the car in reverse and backed up about ten feet, safely out of the direct line of fire from any trees. In the middle of that afternoon, in the midst of the howling wind and driving rain, we heard a huge "THUD" down the street.
I went to investigate, and that same tree I'd been parked across the street from fell across the road and missed my car by about eight feet. At that moment, I was glad that I'd decided to play it safe—the car parked on the other side of the street directly across from where I'd initially been got absolutely destroyed. Crushed roof, windows blown out, just pulverized.
68. Bloody Trail
Me and my boyfriend came back at like 2 am from a night out. We were both quite drunk and stumbled into the hallway to the elevator when we see drops of something on the floor—and when I realized what it was, I felt ice in my veins. It definitely was blood. Fresh and wet. The elevator button and door were covered in bloody hand prints as well.
My boyfriend called the elevator, pushing me aside not knowing what would be in it. Luckily there was nothing except for a puddle of blood. The elevator came from the fifth floor. So, we went investigating. The trail of blood ended at a door with huge hand smears of blood on the door. It took all our courage to ring. But I am so glad we did.
An elderly man opened the door. He looked like straight out of a horror movie covered in blood from head to toe. His grey sweater was red. His hair was wet. His shoes were filled with blood. We immediately sobered up. I called an ambulance which arrived in two minutes. My boyfriend went inside the flat helping the man sit down. There was so much blood, I had never seen anything like that in my life.
We didn't know what happened to him until we met him properly for the first time. He recognized my boyfriend’s glasses. He was drunk, wanted to ride his bike home, crashed somehow, and got a huge cut on his head. He takes heart medicine which thins his blood that's why he lost so much. If we wouldn't have rung the doorbell, he would have bled to death. He actually gave us money and a super expensive bottle of champagne to thank us for investigating and saving his life.
69. Head Bump
One day I got a hit in the head while surfing. It turned out to be a concussion and I went to the hospital with my mom; I was 17 at the time. We met with the doctor in A&E and he said it’s a concussion; we could do a CT scan, but there was probably no need. I was unsure so I just said yeah, I would like a scan. After the scan, I was told that they didn't see anything but the radiographer would be checking it in the morning.
The next day, I got a call that made my jaw drop. The doctor said that I needed an MRI and that they found a tumor in my brain. If they didn't catch it there, I would have lost my vision from the tumor and it would have been too late to do anything at that stage.
70. Crummy Co-worker
I was with a co-worker. He had lied to me about inviting me to a family party of his. When I showed up, it was just him and I, and we went to a bar. I rolled my eyes and just thought I could clench my teeth through it. He knew the owner of the bar, and got me drinks (I was only 20 at the time, he was at least a decade older). I started pouring out the drinks when the dude was shooting pool because I didn't want to be tipsy/drunk while dealing with him. Looking back, this decision saved me from a horrific fate.
I told him I wanted to go home, but he talked me into taking him home first. So, I followed the directions he gave me and I pulled into a hookah bar parking lot instead. He started getting really aggressive and trying to kiss me. I kept pushing him off. I was still trying to be polite but firm and telling him to stop. That's when I noticed the group of guys around my car, talking to my coworker in my car in another language. He then opened my car door, got out, and proceeded to grab me by the hair to try to pull me out of my car, the other guys gathering around.
I had the mind to lock my door when I noticed the other guys. I also had put my car in reverse. So, when he grabbed my hair, I let off the brake and my car started rolling back so he let go of me. It was terrifying. I told our boss the next day and he quit when our boss asked him about it.
71. Double Down
I saved a receipt for a campus parking ticket I paid for during my freshman year of college. They do this thing where they double the ticket amount after a month of not paying. I paid it the week I got it, stuffed the receipt in my bag, and forgot about it. Apparently, whoever was in charge of clearing me didn’t, and I was told I had an unpaid, doubled parking ticket on my account after like three months when I tried to settle up tuition for the semester.
I disputed it and wore a smug look on my face as I directly reached in my bag and pulled the receipt out to show them. I mean otherwise, I would’ve had to essentially pay that ticket three times. Something tells me it’s not the first time that’s happened to students there.
72. Surprise!
I stayed up late one night playing video games, but I left an unfinished can of soda out overnight. When I woke up the next morning, I picked it up, held it about an inch away from my mouth, and was about to drink it. Then I thought, “Wait a minute, I don’t want this hot soda,” so I walked over to the sink to pour out what was left.
As I poured it, a huge cockroach crawled out of the hole of the pop-top... I promptly high fived myself.
73. Photo Evidence
When I was 12, my family and I went to Sam's Club. Being a little jerk, I decided that I didn't want to walk with my family, so I wandered around looking at clothes and books. An employee kept watching me like staring really bad. I figured he thought I was going to steal, so I smiled at him so he knew I wasn't Bad™. He smiled back.
He kept checking me out though, and asked me how old I was. We talked about my favorite books and video games. I remember being uncomfortable but couldn't figure out why, because he was super nice to me. I remember wondering if he was flirting with me, but reasoned that he couldn't be, because I'm a boy. Really weird conclusion to come to, but I was 12.
I genuinely thought he was just interested in my favorite video games. The conversation died down and I decided I needed to pee, so I went into the bathroom. Less than ten seconds later and the restroom door opens. The guy stands in front of my stall, even though there were empty ones. I recognized the guy's shoes as the employee's.
I stand there for a couple minutes, done, but really confused and kind of scared. I thought he followed me because he thought I was stealing. What happened next was so disturbing it’s impossible to forget. Then the guy held a camera over the stall door and took a picture of me. Like really quick, one or two pictures of me just standing there looking up at the camera. I had all of my clothes on so he was just taking a picture of me in the bathroom.
Someone else came in and he immediately went to the sink and started washing his hands like he'd just finished using the bathroom. Then he left. It was really creepy. I didn't tell my mom anything except that "the Sam's Club guy thinks I'm stealing." And she laughed. I realized way later that he was a total creep.
74. Bear Bag
I was out solo hiking/camping. It was the end of a long day and I really didn't feel like taking the time to tie up a bear bag—the bag with all your food tied up in a tree far away from your camp. I said, "You know what, just to be safe...I'll go set one up." Cut to the middle of the night, I'm woken up to the sound of a black bear walking 30 feet away from my hammock and heading straight to where I tied up my food.
75. Creepy Dad
When I was 10, I went to the beach with my older sister, her friends, and their parents. They had a van that was open in the back (think white creepy van), no seats. The other friends of my sister’s friends took turns sitting on the father's lap when he asked if they wanted to steer the van. He then asked me and my gut said, "No! This man is creepy as heck." The look in his eyes sent shivers down my spine.
Once we got to the beach, I forgot all about the creepy dad and focused on fun. Fast forward several months later, and my sister's friends asked if my sister wanted to sleepover. She refused and my mom and I were baffled as to why she didn't want to go. We kept encouraging her to. Soon she broke down in tears and told us that one night their father had touched her.
The van incident and feelings came flying back to me. I wish I had not forgotten my gut feeling and shared it with my mother and sister before anything happened to my sister. Sometimes I still feel guilty over it. That was over 30 years ago. I don't remember what happened to the guy. I just remember a state vehicle at my house a lot afterwards. No one ever talked about it again and I never asked.
76. Sweeney Todd Lives!
I was walking to the barbershop, and for some reason, everything felt off. I ignored the feeling, but every step I took just made me feel like something wasn't right, so I decided to go grab some food and come back. While I was eating, I saw police cars and ambulances driving to around where I was before, it turns out there was a murder. Now I always listen to my gut feeling.
77. Hostage Negotiator
When my cousin was a teenager, maybe 18 or 19, she and her friends went out to party a lot. In my country you can legally start drinking with 16/18, so most teenagers start going to clubs at 16. Back then, hitchhiking was still pretty common and most teenagers did it to get home or to the city, since only very few had cars of their own.
My cousin and her friend want to go home after a night out and get picked up by a middle-aged guy. He's nice enough and they make small talk while they drive—but in an instant, it all changed. Suddenly, he takes a turn onto a remote road leading into the woods. He locks the car from the inside and his friendly facade falls instead he's suddenly tense, quiet and determined.
My cousin's friend started crying quietly, but my cousin stays calm and starts talking to the man. She tells him about her family, her mom and dad, her brother and sister and asks if he also has a family. When he tells her that he has a wife and two children, she asks for their names and how old they are, which school they go to, what their hobbies are, all while he drives them deeper into the woods.
It must've triggered something, because after talking with him for a couple of minutes, he stops he car and breaks down. He starts crying and tells them that things are going well at home, that his marriage is pretty bad and he fears he'll lose his kids. My cousin comforts him during his break down and lets him spill his heart out.
Eventually, he starts the car again, turns around and drives them home, saying he's sorry. They get out once they reach the street my cousin lived on and when he drives off, my cousin sees him put a knife on the passenger seat that he had kept hidden next to him. They never hitchhiked again.
78. The Flirt
About 10 years ago when I was married, my wife's best friend kept on flirting with me. I had a really bad feeling about her. So, one time when she was being super aggressive, I recorded it on my cell phone. A few months later, she accused me of saying to her the very things that she said to me. One listen from my wife to my phone completely exonerated me and shut her down completely. She was trying to ruin my marriage because hers was terrible.
79. Raised by Wolves? Try Saved by One
I would visit my aunt in Ft. Lauderdale who had three adorable dogs she had rescued from crazy circumstances, and they were all awesome. Chico the hilarious Chihuahua, Patrick the lab mix who absolutely adored me despite coming from an extremely abusive home, and Zach, my grandpa’s favorite wolf/husky/shepherd gentle but very protective giant, who liked to dig holes under the house and lay in the dirt and get his white fur all covered.
Anyway, I LOVED to take them all walking around the neighborhood, usually separately. I was probably around 8 years old. Well one day I happened to be walking Zach. As he was in the little ditch on the side of the road Florida has to collect water, a white utility truck pulled up and the passenger door flew open and this mean creepy guy says, “Get. In.” as he throws the car in park.
I froze, and within the span of a second, Zach, who was otherwise not visible from where this guy was standing, LUNGED like a cheetah out of the ditch. The guy hadn’t even reached for me but Zach was snarling like nothing I had ever seen before. The guy pulled off so fast I couldn’t even process what just happened.
I’ll never ever forget it. I didn’t totally grasp what had happened. I know when I got to my aunt’s and told everyone what happened they were sort of panicked about it. But that good boy saved my life. I’ll never forget those buggers and I’ll always be thankful to Zach, the gentle protective giant.
80. Irish Roads
I took my first ever solo vacation when I was 24 to Ireland. When I got there, I was tired from the flight and confused by the car rental system, as I had never rented a car before. I accidentally overpaid for the total coverage Cadillac insurance package. When I got to the place I was staying, I called my dad to see why I had paid so much.
He called the car company, figured things out, and told me that the next day I could drive back to the airport and get my money back for a less crazy insurance package. At the last second, I figured I'd never driven in another country, much less switching to the opposite side of the road, so I decided to just keep the insurance.
Halfway through the trip, I made a boneheaded mistake, hit another car, and totaled my rental car. Didn't pay a penny.
Pixabay
81. The Other Side
I got divorced 11 years ago from a horrible woman when my son was only seven years old. Once I got my life together and settled in, I tried to get him to visit me as often as I could. Sadly, due to work, I had to live in a different state. Every single time I tried to make plans to fly him to see me or come see him, she would give me some horrible excuse about some medical thing he had, some event with school, or some emergency as to why he couldn't spend time with me.
Or even sometimes she would just tell me to screw off and straight up say no. She knew I didn't live in town and I wasn't just going to show up and see him, so that gave her some power. After the ninth or tenth time of that happening I said to myself, "You know what, just to be safe I should keep a record of all of this." Thank God I trusted my gut. I made sure I saved every text message as well as every email conversation between her and me.
Over the years, my son started to resent me thinking that I did not want to spend time with him. He became more distant and I was not able to communicate to him what was actually happening. At the age of 15 or 16, he stopped talking to me because he said that his depression was due to me not wanting to see him. I couldn't explain anything to him at all, so I emailed him to apologize and let him have his space.
Last year I was able to get through to him and convince him to let me come see him and spend the summer with me. I had the right to do so, and told him that he needed to tell his mother he wanted to spend the summer with me. She tried to come up with an excuse, but he was resilient in asking and told her it was his choice to spend his summer break with me.
She wanted to seem like a good person, so she said yes finally. I drove 1,100 miles to go pick him up and take the drive back with me to my state. I cleared it with child services, his mother, his grandparents, and everybody was okay with it. I was going to fly him back in two months when his break was over, a week before he started school again.
On the drive back he expressed to me how upset he was with me about not being around in his life and not wanting to see him. We had a difficult conversation and I just let him tell me everything he was feeling. It was hard to hear, but I wanted to know where his headspace and his heart was. So, when we stopped the first night at a hotel, I pulled out my laptop and told him I wanted to show him something.
I knew it would hurt, but he had to know how much I cared about him and how hard his mother made it for me to see him. So, I showed him every message and every email his mother had ever said to me about the lies she told that kept me from seeing him. I also showed him the documents from when I hired a lawyer to try to get custody of him and how difficult she made things.
I showed him the communications between her and I and how downright mean she used to get with me when we communicated—but that’s not the worst part. I also showed him the tweets from his now-stepdad that were basically calling him a loser and saying how much he didn't like him. I showed him a part of his family that he had no idea existed.
Immediately his attitude towards me changed. We spent the entire summer together and had the most amazing time rebuilding a relationship. He came to where I lived and saw the clean and responsible life that I lead, and the hard work that I do to make a living. He started to realize that life in the small town where he is at is very lacking and that his family there is toxic.
The entire summer he spent with me he had zero bouts with depression, and actually stopped taking his medication for it (his choice). He started to understand that his perceived depression was an environmental thing. As a thank you for coming to see me, I canceled his flight home and gave him my old pickup truck as an early 18th birthday present as his first vehicle, and drove it back to his home state with him when the summer was over.
He graduates from high school this year and is going to be moving here where I live to do college. Thank God I saved all those messages.
82. Lead Away
When I was about 3, I was outside playing in my front yard with my older brother. My mom came outside to check on us and I wasn't there. She asked my brother where I was and he said that I went to the library, which was a block away. So, my mom walked to the side of our house and saw a couple walking away holding my hands. They were walking the opposite way of the library. She lost it.
My mom ran up and hit the man right in his face and started going off on them. They ended up running away.
83. Wear Your Helmet
When I was 19, I used to ride with a local fixed gear group. I was young, very dumb and barely had enough money to start this new hobby to begin with. My boyfriend at the time (now husband), bought me a brand-new helmet and lights because it wasn’t an “expense” I could have covered just yet, but I really wanted to ride.
We argued over something I can’t remember now, but what I clearly remember is this. Me yelling: “UGH IM GOING FOR A RIDE!” Him yelling back: “FINE! YOU BETTER WEAR YOUR HELMET!” Frustrated, I shouted: “OKAY!” I took my usual route downtown, which is a few miles on an expressway and through an industrial area.
It was nearing sunset and I was about a mile away from my destination. A car crossed two solid lines and made a turn straight into me. I remember hanging onto the hood for about 15-20 feet before being thrown off, and opening my eyes seconds later while lying in the dirt. My vision was hazy but I saw them pause, back up, and drive away.
Long story short—and one expensive ambulance ride later—my bike was found 20 more feet away from where I was, the gauge earring I had was torn out, my bike was bent in multiple places and my helmet had four large cracks in it. I kept the helmet and bike to remind myself of how lucky I was. I married my boyfriend some years later. Best argument I didn’t win; saved my life.
84. Dream Job
I was offered a dream job at almost double my salary in a different city. It was only 2 hours away, but something told me not to take it. 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’d have been stuck in a new city with no friends or family nearby, and no job prospects.
85. Just in Time
My wife called me while I was at work just to say she was home from her night shift and planning to go to bed. She had worked the night shift for years and never called me just to say she was home and going to bed before. She also sounded weirdly detached on the call. I asked her if she was okay, she said yes—she just felt really sleepy.
I got a weird feeling and told her I was going to leave work and come home. She told me I didn’t need to, I said okay...and then I left work and rushed home anyway. I found a suicide note taped to the garage door. I got to her in time, rushed her to the ER, and got her the help she needed. This was about five months ago, and she is so much better now.
86. Gear Up
I am an avid motorcyclist that advocates wearing gear. I had this friend that didn't really care about gear of any kind, saying it was too hot in the summer to wear it. I was finally able to convince him to get gloves and a helmet after a few years of riding without them. I didn’t know just how important that timing was.
Not an hour after he bought the helmet and the gloves, someone turned left in front of him and he went down. He was able to reduce his speed before the crash but he still went flying over the hood of a Camry at about 30 mph, landing hands and face first on asphalt. He had a nasty gash on his leg and some pretty bad road rash on his legs and arms, but his hands and head were totally fine.
The bike was a total loss; insurance paid for it, along with the helmet and gloves. Once he was shipshape to ride again, he had me help him pick out a complete suit. I ride in full leathers and a very nice (and pretty) carbon fiber helmet if I am touring. I have Kevlar-lined riding jeans for local riding. I will never get on a bike with anything less than that.
87. Hey, Deer
I used to just around country roads when I would feel stressed out or sad, just to get away and listen to music. One evening I was driving with my best friend in the car, and we were on a gravel road that has a huge hill. We were driving towards the sunset, but it was winter and the light was fading fast. As the car started down the hill, I had this moment where I thought to myself, "My brights should be on" so I flicked them on.
At the bottom of this super steep hill stood six deer on the road. I slammed on the brakes and the car turned sideways and skidded to a stop like 4 feet from the deer. Those stupid deer didn't even move, they just stared into the passenger side of my car and my best friend pointed at them and said, "Hey, deer." The car was fine, we were fine, and Bambi was all good. I don't drive around like that anymore.
88. Spidey-Sense
Four students of mine won the first prize for a project they did and we all got a free trip to London. We had spent the day sightseeing and were exhausted, so we got ice cream and sat on a bench in a park to relax. A couple of minutes later I notice this couple walk by slowly, staring at us. My Spidey-senses go mental. I do not like these people for some reason.
She walks by and sits on the bench next to ours and he sits on the bench across from hers. They aren't talking, just looking at each other. And that is when I notice her reaching into her pockets. I jump up, grab my students, and run out of the park. My poor students are confused as heck and wondering what is wrong with me, when all of a sudden, we hear screaming.
It turns out she attacked a couple walking through the park, trying to rob them. It scares the ever-loving heck out of me, knowing had I not gotten my students out of there, we would have been attacked and robbed.
89. The Meds
I was in college and was having a bad time. I had started a new anti-depressant a week or so before but was also using sleep aids because without them, I had just been not sleeping at all. So, one night I’m lying in my dorm room after having taken my sleep aids, and sleepy me notices I have oddly shaped spots on my arm... and my legs... and my belly.
"What the heck. Why am I a leopard?" Sleepy me thinks. I want to roll over and lay down, but for some reason, the fact that I looked spotty bothered me. So, just to be safe, I stumbled out of bed to talk to the RA. I remember very little of that part. She took me to the hospital, and not a moment too soon. It turns out I am DEATHLY allergic to one of the ingredients in that new medication I was taking.
It just took a few days to build up in my system. By the time we got to the hospital my throat was closing and I could hardly breathe—but because of the sleep aid, this seemed like no big deal to me. I remember like five doctors/nurses around me. They had oxygen on my face and were rubbing my chest trying to help me breathe. I got like seven shots in the hip.
Eventually, they let me rest. When I woke up, they made it very clear that had I gone to sleep in my dorm, I would not have woken up again.
90. The Car Thief
When my husband and I were in college, we came home late one night after a long day and had to get up early the next day. We were both so tired, and he wanted to leave his backpack and computer in the car because we were going to be getting up and back into the car in a few hours. My gut feeling said absolutely not and I made him take his bag and computer.
When we came back down the next morning his car had been broken into.
91. The Sleeping Bag
I was driving halfway across the country to Austin, Texas to see a friend for a week. I threw a sleeping bag in my car, just in case. The week went fine and I didn't really use it until my way back home. An ice storm blew in and I had to sleep in my car in a hotel parking lot. All the hotels were full and the roads were getting bad. I was tired enough I would have wrecked my car.
It was below 30 outside and the heat in my car was dead. I put on all the clothes I had and slept in that sleeping bag. If it weren't for that bag, I likely would have frozen. I wasn't comfortable but I made it through the night. Several people passed on or were severely injured due to wrecks that night.
92. The Joker
Whenever I drive to my wife's grandma's house, I always play this little joke on my wife, acting like I don't remember which street to turn down. I'll either turn a street early or "accidentally" overshoot and pass it up and have to turn around. A few years back, we had moved across the country but were driving back home visiting family for Christmas.
Grandma said we could stay with her, so when we got into town late that night, I pulled the “ol' goof-em-up” joking like I had forgotten the street, turning one block early. Well, I noticed that a car had made the same turn as me, and just for the briefest of moments, I thought, "Hmm, that's strange. I'll keep an eye on them."
So, I made another turn—an awkward one since I was basically doubling-back due to my joke—and the other car made the same turn as well. This definitely caught my attention. I essentially went in a big circle, and the other car followed me every step—right up until I'd completed the circle, at which point they turned and sped off into the night. There was no question; they had been following us, and they drove away when they knew I had noticed it.
I told my wife what was going on, and the next morning, she found a news article about another family nearby being carjacked that night by someone who followed them home, pulled up behind them in their driveway, and pointed a firearm at them. If I hadn't been playing a goof on my wife and made the split-second decision to pay attention to the car behind me, that would have been us.
93. Trip to the Store
When I was about 3 or 4, my parents were building a big house and the lead contractor was always extra friendly to me. My parents were always a little bit hands-off so I somehow ended up alone with the lead contractor in a half-finished house. I vaguely remember him and honestly don’t know how long I was alone with him. My family always refused to say.
Later, I learned the dark truth. My mom caught him right as he was loading me into his truck and snatched me up while screaming at him, all while he’s insisting, he “just wanted to buy your daughter candy at the store!” They never reported him. I still can’t understand why.
94. Until the Bell
I work primarily unsupervised and often finish my work 30 - 60 minutes before the end of the day. One day I was finished super early and had a lot to do outside work. I was about to leave when I got this funny feeling, so I stayed. Sure enough, 10 minutes before my scheduled finish, my boss's boss walks into my otherwise forgotten office.
For the record, I'm salaried and am usually in early. My boss wouldn't bat an eye as long as my work was honestly finished. His boss, on the other hand, would probably have fired me on the spot.
95. Creeper Gauge
I was heading home from my mom's and was at a light next to a gas station when the person next to me told me there was something wrong with my tire. I pulled into the gas station and when I saw the person follow me in, I felt something off, so I didn't get out. Instead I called my mom on my cellphone and when the guy pulled next to me, I gave him a thumbs up through the windshield.
I then drove back to my mom's, which I had just left and was only a few minutes away. I get there, get out, we look at my tires and they are just fine.
96. 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 poisoning. Because he trusted his gut, they all survived.
97. Some Devastatingly Flawed Logic
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. I should have trusted my gut when it came to this lady. It turns out that she was not at all okay.
Tragically, she ended up killing her daughter so that she could be an "angel." It really messed me up when I found out and I regret not doing anything to this day.
98. 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.
99. 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 authorities and after a week of investigation, his body was found drowned in a nearby lake. I miss him every day.
100. 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.
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