r/AskReddit When did a gut feeling save your life? 

ALWAYS trust your gut instinct. Your brain has had millions of normal interactions with people/things and will instantly know when something is off.

this lowkey scares me because I am usuallly like, “nah, you’ll be fine.” now im scared im gonna walk up the stairs and die in my sleep or something

The weird thing is, only those who's instinct kicked in are around to tell their story...

This may get totally buried but one night when I was about 7 my mom was feeling really tired and like she was coming down with the flu. She was planning on just taking a benadryl and going to bed and but my dad insisted on taking her to the ER, something very out of character as he's a total DIY guy and penny pincher. They do her vitals- her blood pressure is 52/39. 52. over 39. "Incompatible with life". My mom was undergoing toxic shock syndrome, a rare but life threatening bacterial infection. The doctors told my dad if she had gone to sleep that night she would not have woken up. Still scares me to think about today. SO glad he took her to the ER for "being tired".

What if those gut feelings are your last thought in a paralel universe where you actually did die?

People really be having spideysenses

The faceless crying woman gave me chills although nothing happened but the way he told the story

People can sense when they're being watched. If you stare at someone they'll look back at you.

When I was in middle school, I had an awesome bus driver. I always said "thank you" to her when I got off the bus. One day, I said my usual, went to step off, but suddenly felt the need to turn around and say "see you tomorrow". As I said that, a car zoomed by at top speed on the shoulder. I realized then that I would be dead if I hadn't turned around. Needless to say, my bus driver lost her cool and screamed "DID ANYONE SEE THAT JERK'S LICENSE PLATE?" Never seen her pissed before, it was scary. Edit: forgot to mention where the guy passed which helps understanding of situation.

6:43 Thank you, big intimating security guard we'll never know.

When I was a baby my mother was having a bath when she had the feeling something wasn't right. She went to check on me and I was completely blue, I had stopped breathing for at least a minute and a half.

My Dad once told me a story about his aunt and uncle, who lived in London during the Blitz. One night the air raid sirens go off and they run for their nearest shelter. My great-aunt freezes at the top of the steps. Absolutely refuses to go down. So she and great-uncle take off for another shelter and get there safely. The next day they learn a bomb had rolled right down the steps of that first shelter before it went off, killing the people inside.

When I was 14, my mom decided to drag me with her to go pick up my older sister from work in her little Pontiac Sunfire. Before we left, she told me I could sit up front instead of the back where I normally did. I didn't really get a feeling, but my brain was screaming at me to do it, so I decided to sit in the front seat. While we waited to turn into the parking lot, a speeding Ford slammed into us from behind because he didn't want to wait for us to turn. The Pontiac was thrown into the other lane of traffic, nearly flipping over, but hit another car and just put us in the nearby ditch. My mom suffered the worse of the damage, cracking her collarbone and getting a concussion from hitting the steering wheel. (Airbags didn't work.) I just got some minor cuts on my arm and shoulder from shattered glass. Later on, when we saw photos of the damage, we were stunned. The truck had slammed into the little Sunfire so hard, it pushed the trunk INTO THE BACK SEAT. If I had been sitting there like I normally did, I would have been killed.

I was chronically ill from the age of 9 - 16 and was bedbound for most of that time in my life. When I was about 12 or so, I was laying down as usual, about to fall asleep, when a sudden spike of adrenaline jolted me awake. In that moment of absolute clarity, I got the distinct feeling that I needed to sit up and that I couldn't leave my head on my pillow. I obeyed the instinct, looked down at my pillow, and a brown recluse spider was quickly crawling towards the area where my head was just seconds ago.

I was in the hospital and had a nightmare that my best friend at the time jumped in front of a car to kill herself. I woke up and demanded to have my phone to contact her to make sure she was okay. It thrns out she had attempted suicide that night by sitting in her idling car. She was hospitalized. She's okay now, healthy and happy. We grew distant after highschool, but I really will always love her and wont forget that feeling. I woke up knowing something happened to her.

Two stories; not necessarily life-saving, but possibly. First, I was in my college apartment, playing games at my computer desk around 2 AM. My roommates were visiting home and I was home by myself, so I hadn't bothered to dress in more than the essentials (underwear). I got a weird creeping feeling and turned down the volume, then heard a tiny scraping noise on the pavement right outside my ground-floor window. I turned and peeked out the blinds...and saw the front of a dude's jeans, about two inches from the window. I screamed and leapt back, then called for my guy roomie (he wasn't there, but creeper didn't know that), and I heard him take off running. Scared the shit out of me, especially since I had no idea how long he might have been peeking through the blinds at me. After that, I kept my blinds twisted the other way, so you couldn't look down through them from close enough. Second, my 14-year-old, 200k+ miles Jeep had started acting up. I got out of work on campus past midnight and found that it wouldn't start. None of the coworkers I had just left with were parked near me, and of course that day I had forgotten my phone at home and couldn't call them. Even my fiance was stationed overseas (Army) at the time, so no one was waiting for me. I was dead tired, but knew I had to walk home. The walk along the main, well-lit streets was 2-3 times as long as taking the back road I usually drove to get there, and said fuck it. So I got my LED flashlight and my dad's old pocket knife out of the car. (Decent sized knife, but the tip was broken and it wasn't overly sharp anymore.) I was super anxious and paranoid and likely crying the whole walk. I did what I often did on campus and put in my earbuds but didn't have the music on. At one point I had to either walk past some dark, thick trees or walk in the dark road and risk getting hit by cars speeding around the corner ahead. I felt that seizing little chill up my spine just before I heard a faint crack behind me. I spun and raised both the flashlight and the knife and let out a snarl that would have made my former martial arts instructors weep with pride. A dude had come out of the bushes just a few feet behind me. I figure he saw the knife and that's why he yelled and ran back into the bushes. I walked in the street after that, and strangely passed a group of girls going the opposite direction and warned them. Once I was alone again, walking down the middle of the street, I made myself sing out, "I've got a knife and I know how to use it, so don't fuck with meee~!" until I got to the intersection right before my apartment complex. Dunno if it helped, but it couldn't have hurt. Got home and collapsed crying. Definitely one of those 'long, hot shower and big bowl of ice cream' nights.

It makes me so angry that peopke like in the story around 6:30 cannot longer take their late night strolls because of some freaking creeps who prey on you at night. It's just so infuriating that they feel like it's somehow their mistake if something happens to them since they went on a walk in the middle of the night

My wife’s close friend goes to a college a few blocks a way. This guy (fellow student) messaged her on FB and implied they maybe met at some point. She accepted his friend request, and after messaging a bit, he asked her to come over, bake cookies, and watch a movie. He had several roommates and so it wasn’t a huge deal, they wouldn’t be alone together but my wife’s friend decided she wanted to bring one of her friends just in case. She didn’t remember meeting this guy before. She said she had a super bad feeling about it even though nothing was crazy weird. Strange situation but not insane. She cancelled last minute. A few months later he got arrested on sexual assault/rape charges and lewd conduct with a minor. He essentially raped a minor and they were able to charge him with like six felonies or something. After that, dozens of female college students came forward saying he had messaged them on FB. The local news reported 70 some women came forward but, by people I know it’s around 80 women that have come forward with near identical stories to my wife’s friend’s. I guess he finally got some 15 or 16 year old to fall for it and took advantage of her. Absolutely crazy that like 80 college girls had the same gut feeling about this guy. He is pretty handsome and was rather polite. He was (until his arrest) listed in the student directory and lived on/near campus, so it wasn’t impossible that they bumped into each other and he stumbled across her on Facebook awhile later. And yet they all had bad feelings about this guy. It’s kind of a miracle really that more women weren’t hurt by that monster. Edit: not sure where I worded it wrong, but there is only a single rape victim (that has come forward). The other 80ish women didn’t fall for it. It wasn’t that 80ish women fell for it, it was that 80ish women trusted red flags and gut feelings. Edit 2: all the charges stemmed from a single sexual assault with the lone victim. Multiple sex-related charges can come from a single sexual assault. The county prosecutor really tore this guy to shreds, and our small town couldn’t be happier to see charges get absolutely dumped on him.

Have tinnitus ( a phantom ringing or buzzing in my ears) and sometimes it gets really bad, like double me over with pain bad. So I was mowing the lawn and suddenly it kicked up to eleven, like I dropped to one knee and let go of the mower that’s how bad it was, and a piece of metal shoots out of the lawnmower into the space my neck/head had been seconds earlier. Pretty sure the lawn mower hit a beer can, we live near a relatively busy side road so someone probably tossed it out.

"I wish I could find that security guard to thank him." Yea, if only you knew where he worked...

For the first part people, your blood pressure should be 120/90 so that is EXTREMELY high

I've never had a gut feeling save my life but I chose to ignore the feeling once and then got into a car accident because I did.

This is kinda dark but every choice you make because something doesn’t feel right, could be a life saving choice

This happened to my dad. He is a paramedic and was dispatched to a house. When he pulled up all the lights were off and he had a gut feeling something was off. He called into dispatch to confirm the address and turned out they were at the wrong house. A couple of days later it was on the news that the house he originally pulled up at was a meth lab that was rigged to explode if someone entered. Had he gone to the door he mostly likely would not be here anymore.

There's this kid in my grade that gives me that impending doom feeling whenever I see him. He's that kid you'd expect to... y'know... Pumped Up Kicks.

Remember, feelings of impending doom, like you're going to die soon but you don't know how, are symptoms of heart attacks and seizures, as well as other things.

Don’t know if this counts, but somehow I’m able to know what song is going to play next in the car. Like if I try to force it it doesn’t work, but it will just pop into my head and I know what it will be.

Kind of related, but not. I was 10 or so and we were going on a trip to the Bahamas. My dad splurged and got a first class flight, expensive hotel and all of that. On the way to the airport (3 hours from our house), we’d realized we had forgotten my passport. It was disappointing for everyone in the family, as we had to cancel everything because we missed our flight. Thank god for that, because our flight we were supposed to go on had ended up crashing. I pray and thank his so much everyday for this.

So basically it was like 3am in the morning and me and my sister were on our phones doing whatever.Suddenly , I get this uncomfortable feeling that something was wrong with the plug near our bedroom so we told our parents and my dad switched the upstairs power off and called his friend over to check it out the following morning. If it hadn’t been for me , either somebody could have received a nasty shock or it could have started a fire behind the walls. Phew!

I also have one but it wasn't a life-threatening incident. I usually sleep near the window which is located right next to my head. One night I had the sudden urge to cover up my head with the blanket(I don't cover up my head as I can't really breathe). I didn't feel cold but I did it anyway. The next morning, my dad found me covered with glass pieces. The window had shattered due to the coconut from my neighbour's tree bouncing off their house and hitting the window. I didn't wake up as I'm a heavy sleeper (is that the right word?). It could have damaged my face or even scarred it.

Pay attention when you feel that something's wrong. What I mean is- don't ignore it. When I was in college, I had to go to the store to pick up a few items, and when I stopped to get gas, I got this general, "something's not right," feeling. I couldn't pinpoint what it was, but something just felt wrong. I debated with myself about turning around and going right back to school, but convinced myself otherwise. After all, the store was only 2 streets away. I got back in my car, kept going, and a few minutes later got into an accident. People who saw my car were amazed that I got out relatively unscathed. A minor fracture in my foot, what I assume was a pulled muscle or two, and a dozen or so bruises. Anyway- fast forward 4 years and I was diagnosed with brain cancer. I had several symptoms in college, but I didn't know that's what they were. And one symptom was 'a cognitive awareness that something is off.' I don't remember the exact words, but basically a general feeling of something not being right. I also found out from my oncologist that what I thought were migraines in college, turned out to be mini-seizures. I had headaches all the time, and I told my closest friends that I thought I had a brain tumor. I wasn't 100% sure, of course, but my dad died of one, and I figured my chances were higher than most. But the slight chance that I would be completely fine, kept me from going to the hospital. I didn't have the money, and if I was fine, my parents would have killed me about the cost. Anyway, my point is, is *you know* when something is wrong. You know yourself better than anyone, and if you know something is wrong, go get checked out.

I suffer from epilepsy and get the same "impending doom" feeling the first woman describes, although when it starts I only have 30 seconds to 1 minute before I have a seizure which means finding the best available place to lie down and make sure something is underneath my head so I don't hit it off anything. The feeling is very scary although at least I know what's going to happen whereas she had no idea, just that she thought something bad was happening

Tfw you have anxiety and don't know whether or not to trust yourself anymore

Isn't it funny? I found this in my recommendations just after I almost died yesterday. Here in my town we can park on the side of the street for short periods of time, and yesterday I went to a coffee shop with my family, and my dad left the car parked in the street, while I went inside the shop to place the order. I went back outside while our drinks were ready, we were having them 'to go' (idk if that's what it's called) so I was leaning on the side of the car, talking to my brother through the window, and I suddenly felt like I needed to get away from the car, like I couldn't stand being there, so I went back to the coffee shop to wait for my order inside and as soon as I got to the counter, I heard a crashing sound outside, so I ran back to our car, and a very heavy truck had passed so close to our car that it took the side view mirror off it's place, and scratched a bit of the doors, right where I was leaning a few seconds earlier talking to my brother. I got very scared, if I didn't have gone into the coffee shop, I would've been crushed between the truck and our car, and if the truck had gone a bit more to the side, I would've lost my family. We're still in shock and i just realized this morning that the coffee we bought was left on our dinning table since we got back home yesterday. So... I'm sorry if this is hard to understand, English is not my first language

I was gonna go buy some candy late in the evening, but when I was about to open the door and go out something just told me "nah, I don't need it right now." Mom called me about 20 min later. There had been a shooting at the plaza where I live about 15-20 min ago. Didn't hear anything cause I was gaming with headphones. Yikes..

Twice I've had a gut feeling that I need to leave town and go home or my bikes gonna get stolen. Twice I've ignored that feeling and I now need a new bike

I'm a motorbiker, and I go all over the place on my bike, but can't afford to take it abroad with me for motorbike holls. Anyway, went on holls and went to rent a bike, but I just knew from looking at the bike that it had something wrong with it. I tried the brakes, suspension, all the normal things, but it seemed fine. Anyway, I thought, bugger this, I'll pay more for a different bike. Discovered a week later that someone had taken the bike out and the front wheel literally fell off from where the bike had rusted. The bike owner painted over the rust to hide it. The guy who had it out was in bad shape from slamming into a curb or something. Thank fek I had that funny feeling.

The one with the crying woman made me creep into my bed omg That was scary af

Not me but my best friend and I was there sort of. Basically she was talking to a guy and suddenly there was a tornado siren. He offers to give her a ride to the shelter on the other side of campus but she didnt feel safe with him. But couldnt stay outside. She gets in and calls me. Pretending to be super worried about where I was even though I was six states away. I was confused but had a bad feeling so we stayed on. Yhe guy kept trying to force her off the phone and she yelled that she was driving the wrong way and I told my fiancee to call the police. He had been driving back to his dorm but they tracked her GPS and caught him just as she was being drug inside.

I forget my exact age when this happened but as a kid I'd occasionally go fishing with my dad, my uncle ronnie, and my cousin kevin. Real crack of dawn, going exactly for the tides fishing. One night we were on our way home, country roads with little to no lighting, and nobody seemed to be paying attention to the road, I'd been lost in the thoughts of a

My instincts would prolly sit back and laugh at me instead of warning me about these situations...

My mother had a dream about both her sister and her mother. (both are deceased and were at the time) Because of the strangeness of the dream and the feeling she woke up with, she kept both my sister and I home from school. That day was the day of the Newtown school shooting. *edit* No I do not go to Newtown. I live four or five towns over.

Instead of these "gut feelings" do people get a feeling like they know 100% what a outcome is going to be? Even tho it's like a week away? Not like simple outcomes. Example. So when I went to college, They had this raffle thing where if they pick your name, you'll get a prize. The prize for that week was a tablet. Anyway when the teacher was going around telling us that the prize is a tablet, I got this feeling that I knew I was going win the raffle. So after the teacher left, i told everyone in my class that I'm going to win the raffle, they all asked how i knew but all i could say is "I have a feeling" a week went by, the teacher came into my class room and handed my the tablet. All the kids in my class looked shook lol. Like they were so confused. I just knew for a fact that I was going to get it, idk why or how but I did.

Was at a club a couple of years back and just had a strong urge to get out and leave the club like at that second. So I convinced my friends to leave and we wake up in the morning to the club being on the news.. there was a shoot out

If your instinct says "there's something wrong about this", trust it. If your instinct says "I can trust them", don't trust them unless you know them well.

So when I was maybe 15 I broke both my legs while skiing, I went over what I thought was a just a hill, but it turned out to be a ski jump that I wasn’t ready for. My head hit the hard packed snow and the force ripped my helmet off my head and threw it 20 feet away. That morning I had wanted to wear a hat instead of a helmet but instead I decided to put on my helmet just something told me I should. If I hadn’t been wearing the helmet I’d be either dead or a vegetable now.

When I was a child, I was on my way home from primary school. Walking along the path the other kids walked, but without a friend. It was pouring with rain A car pulled up beside me, and the driver opened the passenger door and said "It's pouring out! Come, I'll give you a ride home. I know your parents!" I got a bit scared, and refused her offer. But she insisted for a bit. I refused a couple more times and left, and continued walking to where my mum usually picks me up from. I remember I didn't recognise the driver. When I got older, I found out this area has a pedophile problem. Even one of my old teachers was arrested for being one! Freaky I still wonder sometimes, where I'd be today, if I got in that car.

The lady with the blood clots, I've been there. Long story short, I got sick (H1N1), got stuck in the bed three weeks, very high fever, lost about 60 pounds during that three weeks, when the fever broke I found I had no strength in my legs. Could barely stand. Thought it was from the sickness. A couple days after the fever broke, I woke up and got out of bed to use the bathroom, and immediately collapsed onto the floor and began feeling chest pains. Something inside me said I needed to go to the ER. I called 911 and crawled my way to the door. The paramedics couldn't get an IV started. Got to hospital, took an hour and several nurses to get an IV started (it lasted my whole stay). The next day (after a lot of tests) the doctor walks in and mentions how surprised he was I was still alive. Turns out, I had SEVERAL clots in my right leg AND several in EACH lung, AND a few clots near my heart. A month in the hospital, a year on blood thinners, and a decade on aspirin and I'm pretty much ok. Lesson learned, keep moving no matter how sick I am.

Nothing bad but I was walking with some firends in my apartment complex when I just like had a weird feeling. My ears literally perked up it was weird. I simply turned around and said somebody's following us. Everybody laughed or said something else. It was fucking like a horror movie ok. So then we continue to walk when like this feeling comes stronger and I just start to freak out and tell everybody I actually think someone there. My two brothers agree and say they think someone is there too but continue to walk. Then somebody said something behind us and we all fucking scream and bolted outta there. It turned out to be our other friend but I low key thought I was gonna be killed

A gut feeling saved my wallet, I almost preordered the collectors edition of fallout 76

Nice security guards melt my heart

One of my first festivals I was working at, we were tearing down the stage. The lighting system is hung on these trusses, which are held up with 2 pulleys. Not paying to much attention to the truss as we were rushing to get the job done. But I had this gut feeling to step back. At the same moment a colleague starts yelling that I should work faster as my side wasn't coming down. I look up, see the frame hanging in an angle, hear a loud metal bang, and the whole truss came flying down and stopped right in front of me, chest hight. All the bulbs inside the lamps needed replacing and the pulley was busted, but that was just a minor inconvenience. If I didnt move back, I would have died on the spot with the lighting rig smacking me on the jar. We took a long break right that moment.

A couple months ago, I had gone down to see some friends from a high school I used to go to perform at a play festival. By the time it had ended, it was very late at night and I had to drive 4 hours home. At some point around 2-2:30, I was really tired, so I decided I’d pull over and take a quick 20 minute nap. I pulled, over set a timer on my phone for 20 minutes, and turned my headlights off. About 10 minutes later, I awake and realize my timer hadn’t gone off yet. Just before I close my eyes again, I see car pull past me on my side. The car then slowed down, made a U-Turn, and went the opposite direction. At that point I felt off but I didn’t do anything yet. Then the car made another U-Turn and pulled off the shoulder of the road almost right behind where my car was. At that point, I felt this heighten sense come over me. Not necessarily a sense that I was in immediate danger, but my gut just kept telling me “You shouldn’t be here. This isn’t right.” So I turn my car back on and I begin pulling back onto the road. At this point, the car behind me’s break lights had turned off and they started following me back onto the road. That’s what did it. I just got a feeling that told me to get the absolute fuck out of here. I floored it, and the car behind me kept following me. I was on edge for like 10 minutes before I finally see a pretty crowded gas station, and I decide to pull into there. The car kept on going when I pulled in the station and my heart-rate slowed down after that. I’m never parking on the side of the road to nap again.

Great, now I'm going to be hyper sensitive of every twinge and odd feeling today...

Story: My junior year of highschool, I was coming in through one of the back entrances, and I noticed a dude I have never seen before walked in, normally I would assume this is a student, but still, I didn't like the looks of him. I reported him to the front office, and went to my classroom. The school went into a Hold (basically a lockdown, but it's business as usual, with the classroom door locked and nobody allowed to leave). About a half hour later, the guy was apprehended by the school's officer. It turns out he was armed with a hunting knife, and planned on murdering his daughter's Spanish Language teacher for getting his daughter suspended.

Stopped walking suddenly Huge rock went past my face. Someone was wrecking someone else's van and he hit it with so much force that the rock bounced off and went flying towards me. Had I not suddenly stopped I could be dead. It was the size of my head and was going pretty fast too. It would of hit right above my ear.

This just made me really paranoid

I was smoking in front of my apt next to a parking lot at night. Nobody was there and i heard nothing. But all of a sudden i felt like something was wrong, so i threw my ciggie, ran into the apt building and made sure the door was locked. And through the glass entrance door, i saw a man popping out of nowhere to catch me. I guess he was hiding behind a car, waiting for the right moment. And everytime i needed to get off the bus, i used to jump off instead of just walking out when i was a kid. One day when i was about to jump, when my knees were slightly bent to jump further, my gut didnt tell me anything but my body just stopped. I couldnt move my body for a second. And the very next second a motorcycle passed by with high speed on the pedestrian road, right in front of me and that could have hit me. Other than those two, i have no sixth sense or haunch or whatever. Completely clueless. One time i even held the apartment door for a man who followed me(i thought we were living in the same building. Dumb af) and tried to kidnap me lol

I always wake up before someone walks into my room when I’m sleeping. Even if it’s not at regular times

Dang I'm paranoid af now

I once walked into a restroom in highschool and a guy tells me... Hey are you Mark? Me: no Him: ok So I do my business and get out. As I'm walking out, I see another guy walk in. Same guy: Are you Mark? Other Guy: What? Then, the guy beats up that other guy... Note, I'm not Mark and have no idea what the problem was, but I'm glad my first instinct was to say no.

My gut felt hungry and I ate so it saved my life.

I sometimes get the gut feeling that something is really wrong but tbh it's not always right, more often i got 'saved' when i somehow just do something without really knowing why. Once my bf at the time were driving and i told him to stop a bit on the side. He thought i was weird but is used to it lol and stopped and asked me what is it now. I laughed and said that i dnt know and let's just go home, i actually got goosebumps around 2mins before i asked him to stop and teared up for no reason. We continue driving and ahead see a crash that just happened. Another time my friend and i were supposed to go to a local club, but last minute we just said nahh as stupidest of reasons we both needed to wash our hair so it was too much of a hassle to get ready, next day on the news a shooting between mafia members happens right next to where we usually sit there.

This is a long one. I appologize I was twelve years old and it was easter. In Sweden all kids on easter dress up as witches and go to the neighboring houses, knocks on the doors and asks for candy. Kind of like halloween. Me and my friend thought we were a bit too old for that now and this year was the first year that we did not dress up. Instead we went to a beach at a small lake near the town we lived in. Since it was still pretty cold no one was bathing and we were the only ones there. Not very fun so we decided to go to the opposite side of the lake where there was a big forest. In the ”corner” of the lake was a swamp and to not have to walk all the way around the swamp to get to the other side, the township had put a small footbridge across the swamp. Because all the snow had recently melted there was a lot of water and we hadn’t been able to walk in the swamp even if we wanted to so we were lucky the footbridge was there. We went over to the other side and explored this forest for a while. However, we didn’t get far away before my friend stopped me and said the felt weird being there. I felt it too. It felt like we were being watched or wasn’t supposed to be there. We decide we should go back. When we cross the footbridge the second time my friend sees a funny looking plastic bag in the water. She picks a stick off a tree, squats down on the footbridge and started poking in the water. She was sitting in front of me on the footbridge and even tho we were tiny i could not pass her without risking pushing her down in the water. So when i saw that the footbridge started vibrating, turned my head to look behind me and saw a tall man in his 20’s, black clothes black make up, just stepping on the bridge the second i noticed him i was SHITSCARED. He was walking towards us but was still maybe 20m away. I started poking on my friend and whispered her name. She looked my way and instantly she also saw the tall, tall, TALL man looking straight at us. She stood up as quickly as she could without falling over and we started walking towards the other end of the footbridge. However his legs were taller than ours so the distance between us became smaller. Me and my friend looked back and saw this so we started walking faster. When we did that he also increased his pace. Now my friend was also SHITSCARED. As soon as we got of the footbridge we upped our tempo even more and heard his steps on the footbridge did too. So we started running towards an apartment block 100m away. When we reached the park area associated to the apartments we saw many kids and their parents dressed up as witches walking around with bags full of candy. We knew we were safe as long as there were other people close by that would hear if we screamed for help so we stopped. He had also stopped, probably stopped as soon as he realized where we were running because he stood maybe 50 meters away. He just stood there and looked at us. He had crazy in his eyes, he looked at us like we were pray, however i did not recognize that look at the time. The older i get the more scared i become when i think about what could have happened if he got us. I am sooo thankful for me and my friend listening to our gut feelings when we were in that forest. Maybe when we felt we were being watched, he was actually watching us.

The problem with having an anxiety disorder is that I constantly have that “something is wrong” feeling so I can’t trust myself

I was at a cross walk and the light turned indicating I could cross and I had an overwhelming feeling to wait, so I did. And then a semi truck speed through the red light at full speed. If I had crossed I would've been hit and probably killed

this isnt my personal story but i was there when it happened. when i was a kid my family liked to travel around with a trailer home. one time, we were driving down this country road, corn and other crops as far as the eye could see. right before a long sharp turn, my mom grabbed my step dadès hand (who was driving) and told him to pull over right this second. he quickly pulled over in a panic and asked why, and she said she had a dream that they were going down this road when a truck swerved into their lane and killed everyone in the car. SECONDS after she said that, a large green truck took the turn to fast, skidded into our lane, and went off the road into the field. everyone, including my mom was in shock. she said that that isnt the first time a dream has came true like that and she refuses to tell me how many times its happened since then (this was like 5 years ago)

I just remembered one more story. Car related again. But it didn't save my life, it kept my mom from accidentally running someone over in her minivan. Quick disclaimer: I am not religious, I got sick of my family throwing religion down my throat and decided I'd had enough, so I never went to church with them unless a friend was in town that I could visit during the sermon. This time I had met my friend at the library. We were parked at the church, which that church was pretty much old people, and some relatives who came to visit every now and again. I had been sitting in our minivan reading while waiting for the coffee hour to finish. She got in the van, buckled up, and put the minivan in reverse. During that time, one of the oldest members of the church (without either of us knowing) had stumbled and fell behind the minivan. We couldn't see her. She released the brake and suddenly put it back on again, asking if I felt a bump. Then we heard yelling and the pastor, came up to the drivers window and asked her to go into park. My mom started freaking out when she saw the member being helped up (not ran over). Then my mom tried to tell me it was God's work... I just figured it was gut instinct. One more disclaimer: I have nothing against religion. I just hate being told what to believe. So please do not take my comments offensively. I mean no discourtesy and will not bad mouth you unless I feel you are disrespecting my right to believe what I want.

My gut would never be able to save me, as I have anxiety issues, and I'm constantly overwhelmed with a sense of dread and terror :')

Not really a gut feeling but common sense in my state. So...I was about to take out the trash one night, it was really dark and there was only one working street light since I live in a rural state and area there wasn't a lot of money to fix other lights and things ya know small podunk country town. Anyways, I was about to take out the trash but I got a feeling saying "don't forget your knife, protect yourself like we always do" so I walked into my room and grabbed my knife, put it in my pocket, and went and took the trash out but as I walked outside there was three guys all stronger than me because I knew they did sports and stuff( I was in high school at the time and the guys I saw were students as well) so I thought nothing would happen to me since this is a small town people know better. I was wrong, two of them were trying to chat me up asking me out for their friend and I got extreme creepy vibes either way I pulled out the knife and they backed the fuck up and left me alone. For a little extra information, I'm a curvy girl I have a desired body by a few of the guys that went to high school with and nobody fucked with me because I was and still am in a relationship. The point of it was I didn't like any guys in my grade at that time because they were all fuck boys and knew I was in a relationship and those guys were getting really close to the point where I didn't like it and wasn't comfortable. Thanks to whatever's in my brain reminding me about knives saving me from practically getting raped that one night. Sorry that this is a bit long thought I'd share my experience.

One day I was returning from school I just got dropped of the bus and was walking half a mile. I walked in an alleyway that was lit. I suddenly get a feeling something is wrong “what is wrong?” I asked myself several then I thought to stick to the road and talk to a guard to escort. I was 11 years old and I was scared so I ran quickly and looked back for a second a guy with a small iron pole chased me so I ran to the guard for him to protect me then he escorted me to my home.

Once me and my grandpa were standing outside during a huracane. I saw a zinc plate about 6’x8’. I felt like a bomb drop in my stomach and told my grandpa to move into the shed, 3 seconds after the metal plate flew 5 feet and smashed into the wall where he was leaning on and took out a chuck of the cement... after the hurricane I told him to stand there again... the whole from the chunk the flew off was at his neck high.... if I wouldn’t have told him to move... he’d probably be dead Edit: all hospitals were closed.... this was huracane maria in Puerto Rico 2017....

Not me but when my dad was younger, he took care of some cattle, he was resting by a tree when voice in his head told him "dont stay in this spot, move" so he did, and a little after, a truck struck where he had been resting

One time, I was playing dead by daylight. When I was fixing a generator, Spine Chill lit up, so I left. It saved my life.

This is not my story btw My mum and dad were on their honeymoon in Phuket. They were having a great time, until my mum had this gut feeling. She said she just felt like they should go home early. Luckily my dad said yes and they went home. 2 days later, they heard that there was a tsunami that hit Phuket and other places. (You know the 2004 tsunami) if my parents didn’t leave early they would’ve been killed.

Literally. TL;DR is down below. Late last summer I had been having occasional sharp pains on the upper right hand side of my belly, close to my diaphragm. Painful as hell. Started one morning randomly, thought I had just eaten too much the night before and was having trouble digesting it, so I went for jog; got back, and after taking a shower, the pain had gone away. Fast forward two weeks and I get the same pain in the same general area. Again I can only think of the same cause, but this time the pain lasts through the shower so I take a bath. It helps for a bit, but keeps up until I’m in my truck on my way to work and dissipated before long. Another two weeks go by. Same crap happens again. Same conclusion, same idea to help it go away. After the shower the pain got gradually worse. Started having trouble keeping my pain from being audible. Dad ends up coming to my room to tell he’s taking me to the Urgent Care center (for things that need to be checked but don’t require a full hospital). Whole time, pain starts at about 4/10, at the Urgent Care it goes up to 6; while at UC waiting to be seen (about 30 minutes) it goes up to a 9; on the way to the ER for a CAT scan and full testing it’s up to about a 12/10. Turns out, according to my surgeon, that the cause of that pain in my gut was a gallstone getting lodged in the entrance to my bile duct and working it’s way out, back into my gallbladder. By the third time experiencing that pain, the gallstone was about 1 inch in diameter (think of one of those large leader marbles..also, the bile duct is at best half that size). Doctor told me that if I had waited another day or two to come in to have it removed, my gallbladder would’ve gone gangrene/necrotic and would’ve most likely killed me. TL;DR: My gallbladder tried to kill me with a gallstone the size of a large marble (1 in. diameter). I cut it out of my life; dead weight and all that. FYI: Sharp, pulsating pain on the UPPER right hand side of your belly just below your ribs means possible trouble with your gallbladder. Your appendix is your LOWER right hand side, and ANY kind of pain in that area should definitely be looked into.

The alleyway one gave me chills.

one time I was asleep and I woke up in a sweat, I had a feeling danger was around and my adrenaline was through the roof, I didn't know what was wrong and I tried to go back to sleep but it was like my body was stopping me from even closing my eyes, I tried to ignore it thinking I was being stupid but I laid in my bed for two hours in complete panic. turns out my next door neighbours at that moment were having their house mugged with three small children in the house. I wish I had listened to my gut instinct that something wasn't right and investigated

My instinct is always dodging or blocking myself whenever my mom moves her hand or something , don’t wanna get slapped out of no where

I always get that gut feeling when I’m at school. Usually, I ignore it because it’s such a normal occurrence. However, I think I dodged a bullet last week. My science teacher is a huge pervert and all the students know it. However, the school does nothing due to lack of evidence. Well, I got a lunch detention from him for something stupid and I was about to leave the lunch room when I had this overwhelming feeling to just skip it and take the after school detention in the library. I did and I think it was worth it.

Learn how to interpret your gut feelings. It tells you stuff every day even in the most common of things, but most people never bother to learn that. These situations are so extreme that your subconscious just makes up an out of the ordinary physical reaction to make you instantly alert to the situation. Even my friends and coworkers started realising that whenever I said something about a specific situation/idea it was almost always true. Never fucking distrust your gut, for the good and bad.

So my sister she was young and had no idea that putting nail polish on a toothbrush is a bad idea, So when I went to go brush my teeth I noticed white blotches that only people would think is toothpaste and just wash it off, I smelled it and then told my mom, my little sister would have killed me if she knew what she was doing Also the nail polish was white

Just a few months ago I was going in a elevator, but before I entered, I had a gut feeling that something bad will happen. I shrugged and went in. Then a few seconds later the elevator didn’t move and I got trapped in there for a while..

(6 YEARS AGO) The cats, dogs, chickens and hugs had been acting strangely and clouds had weird formations, I had a gut feeling an earthquake is going to happen, that time I was in my dorm room, I tried to tell ALL OTHER PEOPLE IN THE BUILDING IN KNOW BUT THEY THINK I AM JUST OVERTHINKING AND PARANOID NO MATTER HOW I CONVINCED THEM TO GO WITH ME so I calmly stayed outside on the open area park near by but enough safe from getting hit by larger objects. I bought extra foods with me and clothes and emergency kit, off course phone and charger, laptop, I had enough time nothing was still happening, the. 1 hour later a magnitude 7.5 earthquake was occurred, I was very safe sitting on the open area grass on that park, HOWEVER it kept my heart in pain seeing the building of my dorm room destroyed by the earthquake (this is not the type of dorm that is part of the school it’s separated) now I miss those beautiful people who were in there wasn’t able to make it outside :( only a few of them were able to get out....

7:50 this story reminds me of when my basketball team and I were heading home from a game a good hour or two away. I remember it so vividly. The coach I was with had gotten a call from the boy’s team coach that a chaperone had gotten into a crash and was partially in a ditch. We were ahead of them so we made a u-turn and basically booked it to the crash. All of us were so confused and scared. It was late at night and it had snowed just before hand, and black ice was probably all over the road. This also happened on a backroad highway, so it was super sketchy in general. We parked on the opposite side of the crash, and the coach turned on the emergency lights. He and the other coach with us left the van and went to make sure that no one was hurt. Our team captain, bless her soul, made sure to try and keep us calm while her (basically) S.I.C. and I called the emergency number. We explained what we were doing and where we were (thank you Google Maps). The police in the receiving area was a good ways away, so we just had to sit tight. The S.I.C. stayed on the phone with the operator, and the captain let those who didn’t have a phone to call their parents and explain what was going on. This is about when I got a gut-wrenching feeling, dread pouring over me. Almost thirty seconds later, we all were facing the road in front of us. Many cars had stopped to help and pulled over. They tried to motion for people to slow down, but then a green sedan came barreling down the road. I my heart drop to my stomach for a moment, and watched as though it were slow motion as the sedan scrapped past the truck of parents that came with, barely scrapped one suburban, caused our coaches to jump out of the way so they weren’t hit, and tear off the doors on the right side of the second suburban. Everyone in our car screamed in horror as this played out, and most of us went into hysterics. The captain and S.I.C. tried to calm us all down, saying that our coaches and everyone was ok. One of the coaches for the boys comes over and grabs our foreign exchange student from Spain to help them. The woman in the car didn’t speak any English, and she was panicking and had her foot pressed down on the breaks, one of our coaches managed to get the keys out of the car, stopping the engine. We believe that if the woman’s car never turned off, it could have easily started a fire. In the aftermath, we were told that one kid hit his head on the windshield and had a mild concussion, and vomited. Everyone else was ok. A few weeks later, my friend who was in the other car said that his teammate was about ready to leave from that side of the car when the sedan ripped off the door, right where the kid could have been a second later. It was surreal.

I remember when I was a kid I was walking on a road and noticed a van getting VERY close I don’t know what happend but some primal instinct kicked in and I knew to run

Not nearly as intense as the other stories, but I had an experience maybe 2 weeks ago. I had to cross the street to get from one side of an intersection to another. The pedestrian crossing light was on and the timer had just started to tick and I was about to walk when I got the sudden urge to double check that I had my keys. I stay on the sidewalk for a second while I check, and at that moment, an old woman in some old sedan (like the ones from the 70s that are built like tanks) comes zipping through the crosswalk at maybe 40 mph. She passed by so close to where I was standing on the sidewalk, her rear view mirror nearly hit me in the stomach. Had I not waited to start walking, I probably would've gotten seriously hurt or maybe killed.

You called it gut feeling. I called it a tap on the shoulder from guardian angel

I was out walking late one night with a friend when a man in a car stopped next to us asking us if we wouldn’t mind showing him where a certain address was. Typically I’m inclined to help out a stranger, but I happened to look at the street sign, noticing that the address in question would’ve been on that street which spanned 5 blocks and which we were currently at the end of. I pointed this out and watch this guy turn to the right, away from where we were going’s . So I marched her back to her dorm (3 blocks away, small campus), never told her this but I saw that guy driving by after I left her dorm lobby. I’m not sure what this guy was trying to pull, whether he was just lost or if he was intending to do something nefarious. The more I think of it though, the more off the situation felt. Another time was less of a life or death thing but still weird. It was the night before my Aunt’s wedding, me, my grandfather, and my soon to be uncle were talking about his business and life when we get on the subject of his past wife. He said something about how she left him and I got the sweats and I heard a voice saying something along the lines of him being a creep. I wanted to tell someone immediately after I had the thought but figured it was just my imagination and wasn’t a good idea to stir up drama so close to the wedding. Found out later that my gut was like 90% accurate on all the specific details.

My buddy told me this story about what could have happened to his step-father, who I still think is still in active service(?), he was stationed somewhere in the Middle East, his step-father went for a smoke break and there was smoking area where he was supposed to go to smoke, he instead smoke somewhere in the premises, while smoking his base or station(?) was under attack from mortars and one of the shells landed right on the smoking area. My friend told me this story I’m not certain if he made it up or his step-father did, I just listened.

My story isn’t as dramatic as the others on here but; Where i live there’s a big..area,i guess? That has a ton of little shops that sell all types of animals (hardly professional or hygienic, but as a kid i loved being there) as we were walking towards it (currently on the outskirts) my dad saw an old friend, and started some small talk as they were walking, me being an embarrassed 10 yr old decided to walk through another path, passed by a few parked cars until i heard a voice from the side, i turned my head to see a guy wearing sunglasses and a black cap in a pickup say: hey! Ive got a really cute dog come take a look, cmon. I hesitated at first and started to remember all the things my parents would tell me like don’t take up any offer from a stranger, etc. and when he reached out so close to grab me, i ran, like raaaannnn (faster than Usain bolt perhaps..) and bumped into my dad, hugged him and later explained what happened. He said he was proud that i didn’t believe the guy. To this day it creeps me out, and i wonder where i could be at this moment if i had moved just a little closer.

As I watched this I felt like I was being watched and a car pulled up in my drive way . I almost got robbed

My best friend and I were four wheeling and she had told me to hop on the back of her fourwheeler so we can do a trick up the hill together. I told her no and she kept peer pressuring me to the point I was actually behind her until I chickened out bc i felt horrible and got off her four wheeler . She does the trick and immediately drifts the wrong way because it had been raining earlier in the day and the tires had no grip . The back of the four wheeler ( where I would be sitting) slammed on a tree and she flew . She had to go to the hospital but didn't break anything or sustain major injuries . I would have died though and we still talk about how I have magical powers for not doing the one crazy thing that would have ended my life .

A gut feeling didn't save my life but it saved my mom's. My mom and dad got in a fight and my mom is depressed and she had a mental breakdown and ran to the bathroom. As soon as I saw her close the door my heart dropped so hard I felt it hit my stomach and I kicked the door open and found her with a cut on her arm and her fingers as she struggled to get the blade out of the razor. I bandaged her up and cleaned her wound. I ran at first and threw up while having a ptsd / panic attack (i had ptsd from another incident whe i was much younger) but i didn't cry. I had to but I refused to cry because I knew it would hurt my mom. She cried and apologised and started worrying she had fucked me up even more. I smiled and told her that it's hard to get more fucked up than 110% fucked up and she hugged me and I helped her clean up. I always looked after my mom eveb as a kid, one time i was 7 and she burned her finger when cooking so I covered a silk ribbon is cold water and wrapped it around her finger. She is what has kept me going and I would go through a million breakdowns if I had to, for her.

Once I had this terrible feeling about letting my dog outside. We later found out there was a bear in the yard.

So we all basically have spider sense without knowing it.

Back when piggly wiggly was big, my great uncle worked for them. They wanted to fly all of the important people to another state to meet with the other presidents of the company (so they could merge the two). My uncle didn’t want to move to another state, so he stayed back and later started a business in Georgia. Good thing he did too, because before that plane got a chance to land... it crashed. Everyone died.

Parents asked if i wanted to go to the city, i declined. Just wasnt feelin it. They got t-boned in the side of the car I ALWAYS sit on. Completely caved in the back seats, parents were mostly okay but dad dislocated his arm, his rotator cuff was already torn from military service. I would have been dead if I left with them.

When I was 9 I moved to Korea because of some family issues, not sure what. I spoke very minimum Korean (I was born and lived in America up to then) and wasn't so used to Korean food. But one day after school a few of my classmates asked if I wanted to get some spicy ricecake before going home. Since I didn't really have friends, I gladly did. When I got there I realized that I don't eat this and wanted to go home. I knew my way home and decided to just leave the group. On the way home I was walking a smaller road/alley and heard a car drive real slowly behind me. It's common for no side walks to exist where I lived and people just kinda walked on the smaller car roads and there would be cars parked on either side of the road. So I moved to the side of the road so this car can drive past me. My thought process was "Cars move fast and I walk slower than cars. They must be frustrated that I'm in the way." I keep walking on the side of the road, but the car wouldn't drive past me. I stop and look back at the car to see if I wasn't making enough space and the white van just jerked to a stop as I stopped. I turn around and keep walking again, the van starts driving slowly. I look back and the van stops. I am a small child and there was more than enough room for this van to just pass me. The van driving real slow and stopping whenever I look back just gave me really bad vibes. I sprint to the end of the alley where there's an open car wash with a lot of people. I stop to catch a breath and then run all the way home. A bit before this insident the area where I lived in just found a chopped up female body and a few elementary girls were missing. It got better over the last decade, but it was one sketchy place back then. Still not 100% sure if that van had bad intentions, but I like to think I was keeping myself safe.

I always ignore my gut feelings sometimes Can @ robots reading reddit like this