When I was 10 years old, my grandma was watching my younger siblings and me while our parents were at a weekend-long work conference.

We were sitting in the living room eating pancakes, and my siblings were watching cartoons while I read the newest Harry Potter book, which had just come out the day before.

My brother asked my grandma for more pancakes and she started to get up. I was only half paying attention because I was engrossed in my book, but out of the corner of my eye, I felt like she was taking longer than usual.

She tried to get up, but her leg wouldn’t move. She tried to pick it up with her hands, but one of her hands wouldn’t move. I knew something was wrong and I put down my book.

Then she fell out of her chair onto the floor. I screamed and she tried to tell me that she was fine, her leg had just fallen asleep and she tripped, but her voice was coming out all slurred and only half of her face was moving. I recognized signs of a stroke from The Baby-Sitters Club.

I ran into the kitchen- she had no cell phone back then- and called 911. Well, first I called my best friend, the only phone number I could remember, and asked her mom if I need to dial an area code before 911. THEN I called 911. Meanwhile, my siblings got the handyman who was mowing the backyard to come in and help out.

The ambulance arrived and they took her to the hospital, and I don’t remember much else. My best friend’s mom must have somehow gotten hold of my parents because they did eventually show up at the hospital.

But here’s the good news: because she was treated so quickly, she made a full recovery and is still alive and in good health almost 20 years later!

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C. Wade

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Some of the best things everybody should know: 1. How to recognize a stroke 2. How to do the Heimlich Manoeuvre 3. What to do if someone is having an epileptic fit. 4. What to do if a pet or a baby is chocking 5. CPR... Granted, you might never need them. But that one time you do? When it's just you and a loved one and they need your help? It might be the single best use of the internet in your life.

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TL;DR: Saved my dad's life off a 2am hunch I had that something was 'off'.

During the UK's first lockdown I hadn't seen my dad who lived on his own for 3 months - but we spoke on the phone everyday religiously. One night whilst I was drifting off to sleep at 2am I suddenly started feeling overwhelming anxiety, sweating and just feeling like something was 'off'. I could not get back to sleep due to worry so I decide to ring my night owl dad as I knew he'd be up and answer the phone... but to my suprise no answer.

I woke my partner and told him something was really off and my dad hadn't answered his phone which had my anxiety running tenfold at this point. He suggested if he still hadn't answered the phone in the morning we would drive over and check on him. However, I could not shake this feeling so at 3am my partner and I got in the car and drove 3 hours to my dad's home.

When we arrived at my dad's house I walked in to find my dad staring at the wall, grey/yellow in colour, slurring his words and utterly confused about where he was. I immediately phoned an ambulance and he spent the next 4 weeks in hospital with acute kidney failure from undiagnosed end stage liver cirrohsis. I'll never forgot the Doctor telling me if I had arrived at his home a few hours later I would have been calling an undertaker and not an ambulance.

Due to the sudden and random confusion caused by cirrhosis he genuinely believed the TV remote was his phone hence why he didn't/couldn't seek treatment. Kidney failure comes on so rapidly that the two together are fatal within hours so me turning up that morning was crucial to him getting the treatment at the right time.

As I'm typing this my dad is driving over to my house to spend the Christmas here with us and the cirrhosis symptoms remain under control - a happy ending! Sometimes anxiety can be a life saving gift.

Edit: Wow I am humbled by your support and awards - thank you so much! A bit more context for extra feels... I lost my mum and stepdad 6 months before this took place so my dad is my rock and I'm extra grateful for everyday he is healthy and happy. Even though his cirrohsis is not going away we still have time on our side :)

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Maroon

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I'm glad he's doing well! Something similar happened to me some months ago. I had trouble sleeping and felt really anxious, as if something was not right. Then at 3am came the phone call that my grandma had died

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Late at night, I was sitting in my car waiting for my boyfriend to finish his shift. A guy walks past and we make eye contact. I feel this sense of danger but figure I'm overreacting. A few minutes pass and the fear won't go away. I finally decide to move my car away from the edge of the parking lot to the front of the restaurant in the customer parking area. I start up my car and just as I'm putting it into drive, the guy rushes out from behind and tries to yank open my door, pulling on it really hard. I hit the gas and he trails me for a second, then hits my window with a rock. I keep going and he throws the rock at me then runs away. I was shaking so badly I could barely steer. Pretty sure he was sneaking up on me just as I decided to start my engine.

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Jo Johannsen

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Thank heaven for the gift of intuition.

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I was sitting on the beach alone and noticed that a man walking along the water was staring at me. I tried to shake it off thinking maybe he had friends or family somewhere behind and wasn’t actually looking at me.

He started walking up from the water and walked right up to me, but didn’t stop and circled around me. I felt awkward so I didn’t make eye contact. He walked away. I’m thinking at the time, maybe it was in my head.

About an hour later, he came back and did the same thing. Went down to the water, looked at me, then started walking up to me. He came right up to me again and as he starts to circle me I look at him and notice he’s staring not only at me but also at all of my things, like he was taking inventory of what I had with me. I finally said, “Can I help you?” And he seemed surprised that I spoke up and says, “oh no, no, no!” And walks away.

After he walked away, I couldn’t shake the uneasy gut feeling. They say when you know something is wrong, not to ignore your gut feeling. And I can’t explain it but I KNEW.

I was too scared to walk back to my car alone, so I ended up walking over to another man nearby who had been keeping to himself and told him what had happened and that I just wanted someone to walk back to the parking lot with so I wouldn’t have to walk back alone. He confirmed that the man was in fact totally watching me the entire time I was there - he noticed and said he saw him creeping around a couple other girls as well.

That beach is ruined for me. As I walked back with the kind stranger I still felt like I was being watched and I was paranoid my entire drive home. I’m so thankful for that kind stranger.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help and if you feel like you’re in danger, don’t ignore that feeling!!

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Hugh Willie Mungous

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Yes and please don't be afraid to approach a different man for help - we are not all ogres I promise!

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I've got 2 of them. Both shook me up.

I worked as a bouncer in bfe Missouri and about midnight one night I got sent to Walmart for some things. Driving down 50 I caught glimpse of a figure on the side of the road. Ghostly corner of your eye kind of thing. I pulled over and a young woman approached my passenger door.

She was hyperventilating almost and really freaked out. I couldn't understand her so I just told her to get in my truck. As we sat there for a moment she tried to talk. Just then a van pulled up behind me, still on the side of highway 50, and a man jumped out and approached the passenger side window that was still down.

He grabbed the girl and starting cussing me. About half a second goes by before I collect myself and in my biggest voice calmly explain he needs to back off and she's not leaving my truck. I told him I have no idea what's going on but I'm taking her wherever she wants to go.

We talked on the way to the hospital. She was from out of state, some guys she met through a friend assaulted her and drug her out to a field. She was beaten until she played dead. She escaped from the back of the van when they stopped for gas.

I don't usually stop for strangers at midnight but something in my gut made me slam on my brakes for that woman.

Other Missouri story, still bouncing, I used to drive girls for private shows. One girl decided to schedule her own show and make some money without having to tip me I guess. Guys wouldn't give her the address for the party just told them to meet them at a closed gas station off of 50.

On the way there she got nervous and called me. I was in bed half asleep but after hearing her I tried to talk her into just turning around. She insisted on meeting the guys because she needed the money. Made some comment about if I don't go with her it'll be my fault when she's missing and on the news.

So I met her at the empty gas station. The whole scene made me nervous, especially because they weren't expecting me. And as**oles get stupid when spooked. We sat for 10 minutes while we waited. The whole time I tried to convince her to go home.

3 vehicles rolled up with several guys in them. They were all drunk/f*cked up. She jumped out the car to be friendly. But the moment I stepped out and they saw me they started cussing and hollering and rolled out in a hurry.

I'm not the toughest idiot, I just don't think they expected a witness.

Avoid highway 50

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S.

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You are a good person.

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Few weeks ago, baby woke up in the night. I settles him but instead of going back to bed like normal, I sat outside his room waiting for him to settle. I thought he wasn't settled because the movement icon on the monitor was flashing.

Fun fact: it also flashes if the cot is empty of a breathing creature.

I poked my head in, thinking "why is he moving so much"?. Except it was silent in his room. The voice in my head sounded. Something is NOT right. I went to put my hand on his back and found he wasn't breathing. I managed to get him back but I think I had a tiny stroke from the fear. I've never been een more terrified.

If I'd gone back to bed, my baby would not have woken up the next morning. I am grateful for mom instincts and I listen to them hard-core now. I don't give a royal sh*t if people think I'm paranoid. My gut saved my boy.

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Flopsy

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One of the reasons I chose co-sleeping. I would wake up at any small irregularity in her breathing.

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My brother and I were free range kids in the 80s. Our summer camp was wandering around downtown all day until it was time to get picked up in front of the YMCA our parents dropped us off that morning.

2 or 3 years into this routine I would've been 9 and we spent a lot of time in the library, and I focused on WWII planes and read everything about them.

A young man befriended me with a story of being a production assistant to a movie studio charged with pulling background research for an upcoming movie and wanted my opinion.

Over the course of weeks he paid me (like $10 a day, which was a LOT of money to a kid in the 80s) to answer his questions and recommend books and it finally came to the day he was going to take me to the movie studio but he never showed up and I never saw him again.

The something isn't right here moment came from my brother, who saw this guy creeping on me and was content to let him pay me while we stayed in the library, but as soon as he heard about our little field trip, he followed the guy out to the parking lot and set him straight.

My brother was only 12, but was already 6'2 and like 190lbs and basically told this guy not only was he going to get f*cked up by my brother if he ever saw him again, but that he'd call the police if he ever saw the guy around town anywhere ever again.

So yeah, thanks bro, I prefer to stay unraped and/or unmurdered.

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Claire Jones

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My step brother hit 6' 5" at 14 so it is possible

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I was walking to school in middle school and this lady with a car pulled over next to me and called me Linda. That's not my name, but was close enough I looked up.

She apologized and explained she thought I was her grandkid. Then she offered me a ride to school. Except that I was already standing on the school grounds. I had a half block walk before I needed to turn to walk into the building.

When I said no she tried to demand I get into the car. I said no thanks and took off running. It occured to me much later that she probably had no intention of dropping me off at school.

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Hannah Edwards

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I can think of at least two serial killer examples where the woman in the pair lured children into the car.

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I’m a chalk muralist and was hired by my city to create art along walkways downtown for a festival. The thing with chalk art is you kinda have to create it the same day it’ll be displayed, meaning that I had to get started around 4am in order to be fully finished by the time the festival began at 10am.

It was around 5am, still dark, and I was just finishing up outside of a coffee shop located in a stand-alone building. I noticed a guy slowly walking down the street, several blocks away and very far ahead of me. He was far enough away that even if he’d started sprinting towards me, I would’ve had plenty of time to get into my car and flee. Still, something didn’t sit right, so I kept my eye on him. When he got about a block away, he took a left down a street where I could no longer see him. As soon as that happened, my inner voice told me I needed to get the f*ck out of there. So without gathering my chalk or any other supplies, I grabbed my car keys and hauled a*s to my car on the other side of the lot. I got in and locked my doors just in time to see him literally RUN out from the opposite side of the coffee shop where I’d seen him walking - right where I would have been on my hands and knees in a vulnerable position if I hadn’t gotten up. Idk what he was planning, but his body language told me he was in attack mode.

I ended up waiting it out for about a half hour, grabbed my supplies, and came back once the sun was up. It put me behind on finishing my work on time, but I will gladly take that L any day.

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Rissie

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Take someone with you I'd say. It's more fun and always safer if you're together. Goes for all those loner jobs. You need to focus.

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I was working on a radio system in the local water tower of a pretty remote outback town. It was a beautiful late spring day in October when I got there, but after about 2 hours the bird noises stopped, the breeze stopped... I took my equipment out of Standby and flagged it as live test because I had the weirdest feeling I didn't have time to fully test it and went outside to sit in the car. About ninety seconds later there was a direct lightning strike on the tower I'd just left, it was the highest point in 200km. It was literally the loudest thing I'd ever heard. Ever.

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Katie Lutesinger

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I was standing right next to a big tree when it was struck by lightning and it really is LOUD. Like "a gun just went off right next to my ear" loud. I was fine, but the tree wasn't.

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It wasn’t me that noticed “somethings not right”. Once a women came up to me on a train that I had gotten on and said “I just wanted you to know that man there is following you” and he was. He followed me (in a quiet way) when I changed trains and I ended up asking a cop to walk me home. It was one of the creepiest experiences of my life. In hindsight I shouldn’t even have gone home. I’m pretty sure he stopped following me when I spoke with the police officer. But still.

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Serial pacifist

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I saw a guy follow a girl in Istanbul, literally preying on her. The girl walked into a building before I could warn her and the dude stayed outside. He vanished before I could tell a cop, but it was freakish as hell. She had a backpack on her back and I think that’s what he was after. Anyhow, since that I always carry my wallet in one inside pocket and keep less valuable items in the obvious target, the backpack, especially when traveling as a tourist.

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Watching the water leave the harbor

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Beta

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Tsunami?

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My mom awoke from a dead sleep and had a horrible feeling so she checked on her children all fine and asleep cause it was like 2 in the morning.

Feeling stupid for worrying over nothing she decided to smoke a cigarette to calm her nerves before she went to bed.

As she was trying to light it she noticed something out of the corner of her eye, Before going to the bar my dad has made himself some ramen on the gas stove and he'd turned the flame off but left the gas on. Horrified she snapped it off and threw open the doors and the windows not daring to smoke inside until 2 days later out of paranoia

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Rissie

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That's not out of paranoia, she literally just experienced what stupid events can lead up to an extremely dangerous situation and had a great intuition. Her mind is adjusting in weighing normalcy into the equation.

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I planned to visit my Dad in the afternoon. Called him in the morning to ask if he needed anything because I was about to go to the store anyway and could easily pick up some things for him. He didn't answer. A little weird for him but not too uncommon. But I had that thought in the back of my head. So I tried again like 30 minutes later. Again, nothing. Neither land line or mobile. So I decided to drive over there early and check. Can't really explain it but I just knew that something had happened. Found him dead in his house. He fell and cracked his head open.
To this day I don't actually know what was worse: finding him like this or the 30 minute long drive where the feeling grew that I was going to walk into something like that.

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Dorothy Parker

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So sad.

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I used to have this drinking buddy. He was a regular at the cafe I worked at. Asked if I wanted to grab drinks, okay sure and hence began our drinking friendship. During this time, I was a heavy drinker. Like my roommate and I would usually take five shots to get tipsy kind of thing and then continue drinking throughout the night.

One night this guy asks me to come out with his friends to this pub. I get my own drink first, and then the second drink he offers to buy. I suppose I trusted him at this point, so I didn’t go up to the bar when he went. He comes back and I drink the drink.

I knew something was wrong within minutes. My head started swirling, I was slurring and I felt f*cked up and drunk. Right away I knew I had to leave. He was very vocal about me staying, but I just pushed past him. He followed me outside. Now this is when Uber first started up, so I called Uber from my phone. I was trying to close the door, he was still trying to argue for me to stay. Or perhaps he should come with me to make sure I got home alright. F*ck that, I left.

The next day I was asleep all day, I couldn’t really move or get up. I was in and out of consciousness. F*cking weird. And why do I think it was him that drugged me? I had put all my cards and my ID into a pocket on the inside of my jacket that was zipped up. They were all gone, and guess who had them? That guy. He went into my f*cking jacket and took all my sh*t so I wouldn’t be able to pay a cab. Jokes on him that Uber had just become a thing.

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K Witmer

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Can't even trust your male "friends". Have to always be vigilant. It's exhausting

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I was a teenager around 15 babysitting 4 younger cousins eldest was about 8. I was watching TV in the living room when there was a knock at the door. It was late and I knew it was odd. I approached the door with a "Hello?" A male answered and asked if someone random was there I said no. They then said can you open the door I need a light for a cigarette. I replied no again. I walked back into the living room and saw two faces trying to look down the side of the curtains. Then they started knocking again. I walked into the kitchen to arm myself as I walked in there, there was already someone half inside and another behind him. I went into protective mode thinking I won't let them get to the children, I picked up a large knife on the bench and charged towards them they stumbled and ran off. Shaking I picked up my cell phone, knocking was still coming from the front door asking to be let in. I called the police on my mobile. I explained I have 4 children in the house and there's 4 people trying to break in. They told me to remain calm and go somewhere safe with the children. A bathroom I could lock until the police arrived. I shut the back entrance and returned to the front. I looked out the side of the window and they were stood menacingly at bottom of the garden whilst I was on the phone to the police. The police came with helicopters and police dogs. They were never caught.

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Harrison Miller

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good on you for calling to police

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It’s a long story, but I caught some creepy guy trying to expose himself to my 11 yr old daughter. It was a gut feeling to go check on her (I was in another part of a store and walked up just in time). Always follow your instincts and trust your gut.

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Patricia

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Something weird like this happened when I was with my little granddaughter at the beach. She was playing in the sand well back from the water, and I decided to check out a flower a few yards away. Every couple of steps I looked back to make sure she was still safe. That's when I noticed a man had got up from his chair and was approaching her. Every time I stopped, he stopped, and pretended to be looking out to the horizon. It was like cartoon nonchalance. So I went and sat back down beside her, and he went and sat back down too. I wish I had magical powers and could make their bits shrivel up in flames, painfully.

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I went to a friends house for a party in the before times, a few years ago. She had another friend, we’ll call her Grace. Grace had brought this man with her to the party and everyone was fawning over him- he was apparently a somewhat well known local artist. I took one look at him and got a seriously unnerved feeling. I couldn’t explain why at the time but his eyes absolutely freaked me out. No emotion. Just… cold. Extremely off putting.

So I tell my friend that this dude is freaking me out but I can’t explain why. She tells me I am being sensitive, this guy is a local gem, yadda yadda. So I suck it up and start trying to interact— it was a very small party.

Within maybe five minutes, this guy has asked me and my friend, as well as Grace to go on a road trip to a remote waterfall in Montana with him.

“It’s a spiritual experience,” he says. “I go there all the time, I bring people up there.”

Obviously, I declined his offer. He spent several minutes trying to convince me but ultimately, nobody wanted to go to Montana — my friend worked a lot, and Grace was busy with something she couldn’t miss so he dropped it.

Grace continued seeing this guy and out of nowhere he flipped a switch and started beating her. She broke it off with him and he would drive in circles around her apartment, calling her and leaving messages that he was going to kill her. She had to call the police and have him detained and move to another city overnight to get away from him.

I’ve never been more sorry to be right. Thankfully, Grace is happy and safe now.

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Katie Lutesinger

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Ten bucks says the waterfall is where he hides the bodies.

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When I was about 19 I was waiting for my then boyfriend to get off of work at the mall, standing outside near the employee entrance. It was close to 10pm and the mall had already closed so the parking lot was fairly empty. This car drove up to the curb, probably fifteen feet from where I was standing at the wall and the window rolled down, the driver was the only person in the car and he asked if I knew how to get to X road. That road was the one visible from where I was standing so I pointed at it and told him the exit onto that road was right across the way. He kept looking at me and said, "I'm having trouble hearing you." So I walked five feet closer and shouted it at him. He said, "Could you show me? I'm terrible with directions." I immediately decided this man just wanted me to either get close enough to grab or to get into his car and just pointed to the road and said, "Drive that way, you can't miss it" and walked right into the employee entrance to wait for my boyfriend instead. I wasn't supposed to be in there but figured getting yelled at by security was way better than getting kidnapped by a guy in his forties.

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Kim Irving

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I doubt security would've yelled once you told them why you we there! They would've probably gone & checked to be sure dood was gone!

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Text my friend Katie the night before and never got a response which was unlike her. I had a gut feeling something was wrong based on that. Later in the day my other friend said we needed to talk and I instantly knew my friend was dead.

She had died in a car accident the night I text her and I knew deep down before anyone told me. Miss you Katie! RIP.

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Mina Becker

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I'm sorry for your loss. I had a similar situation last September. Was talking to a friend who was suffering from depression. Out of nothing and without context he texted me "I love you". I texted him back immediately because I had a weird gut feeling. Two days later I found out he killed himself. We were online friends and I didn't know anyone of his family so there had been nothing I could have done, but until today I feel like it's partly my fault.

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I woke up an hour and a half before my alarm and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I got up to make my partners lunch. I got up and the front door was open and the living room light was on. My mom was staying with me and had her dog so I assumed she took her outside, but the air around me felt really weird. So I started making the lunch and realized she still hadn’t come in. I open the door to look outside and she’s at the bottom of my porch steps laying in a pool of blood. I thought she had gotten shot. Turns out she tripped up walking down my stairs and cracked her head open. Spent a week in the hospital with a brain injury. She’s okay now. The doctors actually had found a spot in her leg where her cancer had spread and found it earlier than they would have if she hadn’t fallen.

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Vanta Black

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Glad to hear she's okay.

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One day I was in a parking garage across the street from a courthouse after filing a document (I'm a paralegal). As I'm me, I get off the elevator where I THINK my car is parked and it's nowhere to be found. This is not unusual so, I start wondering around pushing the button for it to beep. After about a minute of wondering I notice a guy walking around too. He doesn't appear to be following me but, he's giving me the creeps anyway so, I keep an eye on him. There is no one else on that level except him and me.

Finally I determine that my car must not be on that level and get in the elevator to go down a level. I get off the elevator and keep an eye on it for a second. The guy doesn't appear so I brush it off as my paranoia. I start walking around pushing the button again. Then, as I turn the corner, there's the guy again. So, this time I KNOW he's following me. I head for the elevators, then I notice that he's heading that way too and is on par to cut me off and I start to panic. Again, we're alone on the level.

Just then the elevator doors open and two guys in suits get off. I run up to them and say "THERE you guys are. I've been looking for you all over this level and the one above. Where the hell did you guys park?" and I laugh. The guys kind of look at me weird but, to their credit, they don't even blink and one of them responds with "Oh, sorry, we're on this level but we brought Tom's car instead of mine and I forgot to tell you. We're parked over here" and they lead me away. I see the guy that had been following me stop, stare, then start down the stairs beside the elevator. Once he leaves I tell the guys what had happened and they helped me find my car (it was on the first level, I just never got close enough to hear it beep) and I was safe. To this day I know that guy was waiting for me to find my car so he could do something nefarious.

I avoid parking garages at all costs now. If I'm forced to park in one, I take a picture of where I park so I don't get lost anymore. I also carry pepper spray on my keychain.

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Yugan Talovich

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2 years ago

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I've practiced martial arts for most of my life. Unless you're sort of nutty like me and spend hours and hours and more hours practicing, taking hard hits and still practicing, your martial arts training isn't as good as pepper spray. Listen to your intuition. If you feel something's wrong, hold your spray ready in your hand, not buried down inside your pack or purse.

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It was at the local mall a few years ago, I was there with a friend.She went into the bathroom and I was waiting alone outside the bathroom, it was near closing hours so it wasn't surprising that some guard told me that it was almost time to leave.

But before I could respond to it I took one good look at him and my stomach turned. It was not a guard. But he acted like he was. He then offered to escort me out of the building, people walked past and I noticed his badge was plastic and from some toy store.I just told him no and kept on waiting for my friend, everytime I looked at him my stomach turned and I got shivers. When my friend got out of the bathroom he was gone.

She asked me who I was talking to and after I told her we got out of there quick.

A week after I was there again to get some stuff and asked an actual security guard about the guy from earlier. They had to escort him out several times because he kept posing as a guard to get teenagers to come into his car. I haven't seen the guy since and it still gives me the creeps when I see that bathroom door. Waiting there felt like years. Who knows what actually could have happened if I listened to him? I also wonder if anyone ever actually followed him.

I hope not.

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Katie Lutesinger

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2 years ago

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Reminds me of the serial killer who used a fake police badge to lure people into his car. One woman got away because when the guy claimed her car had been stolen and could she please come with him to the police station she had the sense to realise no cop would be driving around in a VW bug.

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This is a bit long but it's the scariest thing that ever happened in my life.

I was just a kid when one time my grandfather decided to take my cousin and me on a trip to the gas station to pick up diesel for the tractor. We lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere, so there wasn't much else to do. We rode three deep in his single cab S10. I rode in the middle seat and my cousin in the passenger. My cousin and I are both 12-13 at the time and had long hair for boys in this town. When we get to the gas station my grandfather parks at a pump and heads inside leaving the keys in the truck with us buckled inside. Considering we live in a small town with next to nobody in it where nothing happens, this wasn't unusual. All was normal until that point

Just before my grandfather had walked in, an elderly man of a similar age sitting on the bench outside of the station stopped him and pointed at us. I couldn't hear what they said but I got a weird feeling about it suddenly. My grandfather walked inside after the short interaction and walked to the register. The man doesn't take his eyes off of us from across the parking lot. He suddenly gets up and just starts walking right towards us. I start panicking and my cousin does too.

As soon as he reached the truck he opened the driver's side door. My cousin unbuckles and tells me to get out as he hops out. I start mashing my buckle release but it's stuck and the seat belt is locked firmly against me from my panicking. My cousin leans back in and tries to push the release but realizes it's stuck too and then immediately hops out. The guy just looks at me and grins as he reaches for the keys in the ignition. I still to this day remember looking at that evil smile and watching his fingers touch the key. It still gives me f*cking chills and I remember just thinking that I was done. The next thing I notice my cousin is leaning back in with a hammer he grabbed out of the bed of the truck. Screaming that he's about to hit him. The old man immediately throws his hands up and says he's just joking and climbs out. He walks behind the station just as my grandfather comes out none the wiser.

When my grandfather gets back in we both try to explain what just happened to him but we aren't making any sense at all to him. I honestly just think it was the fact that we were in shock and he was so old and unsuspecting of that kind of thing in our area. As soon as we got home we told the rest of the family about it. They immediately start questioning my granddad about what the man said to them. He tells them the man just asked if we were his "granddaughters" but he didn't pay much attention to him because the man seemed deaf. This old creep thought we were two little girls and planned on abducting us! If my cousin hadn't been so fast on his feet, I'm not sure I would be here to tell this story.

This sh*t scarred me for life. I remember it all so well. I was completely terrified and cried the whole way home as my cousin held me. This guy just looked at me and smiled like he was enjoying my sheer terror. It was nothing short of pure f*cking evil. I still dream about it from time to time, to be honest. As soon as my grandfather put it all together he got all the men in my family to grab their guns and immediately drove back to the gas station. They called the police and we searched the area for him for about an hour before the police showed. He was never caught. I hope to God that he's rotting in a ditch somewhere. I probably shouldn't feel this way, but part of me wishes my cousin had beat him to death with the hammer. I would have got more sleep over these past ten years since it happened.

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Vanta Black

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2 years ago

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Bit of a d**k move by your grandpa to just shrug it off and carry on when you and your cousin were clearly distressed.

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When I was a teen I worked for my grandfather's construction company doing all manner of tasks. Everything from helping roofers to working on equipment to landscaping at my gramps house.

One day he purchased a bunch of motorcycles and scooters thinking he could clean them up and sell for a profit. He bought new batteries for everything and told me to fill them and swap them out.

I filled the first battery with the acid solution like normal and afterwards got a bad feeling while thinking to myself I should put on some goggles or a face shield. Looked around and found a face shield and put it on. Continued to fill the batteries when all of a sudden the bottom side of the acid container blew out and sprayed acid all over my face. Seeking out and wearing that face shield saved me from potentially disfiguring burns and blindness!

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Dorothy Parker

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2 years ago

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Very smart kid. Gramps wasn't.

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I was age 4 and with my parents in town on a very busy market day when I suddenly got lost and separated from my parents in the crowd. I quickly felt very disorientated and started walking around in circles and sobbing that I had lost my mum & dad, when this tall man approached me and told me that he would help me find my parents. He then said that I should come with him to his van that was parked a street away, telling me that he could drive me around to help me find my parents.

Nothing about him made sense to me and so I told him that I should stay where I was. He then started getting more pushy & short with me, trying to persuade me harder to go with him. I was terribly naive but I was instinctively scared & distrustful of him. It was just as he went for my hand that my dad and mum suddenly found me. My parents had been freaking out trying to find me that they didn't even notice the strange man I was with, but the second he saw them he melted into the crowds and disappeared.

​

I hate to think what my fate would have been if I had been a little more gullible or trusting.

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Kay blue

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I wouldn't describe OP as naive or gullible considering they were only 4 years old. Most four year olds don't understand the dangers of the world.

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I was living about five hours away from my parents and spent Easter with them. The plan was to take Monday off work and drive back that day, but for some reason, I decided to go back on Sunday night.

Woke up about three to a weird noise and hit the touch lamp next to my bed. It made a loud popping sound and turned off. Thinking hm, something isn't right here, I got up and grabbed the bedroom door handle. It was so hot that I immediately pulled my hand back. As it turned out, my entire apartment was in flames.

My living room caught fire from a faulty electric outlet and it spread to the dining room by the time I got up. The only ways out were through the living room to the front door or through the dining room and kitchen to the back door.

I used whatever strength I had to shove my headboard away from the window, broke the window out with my glass, and just screamed. My landlord was letting a guy illegally live in a storage room. He heard me and ran right down the block to the fire station. They actually got me through the window and then put out the fire.

I was hours away from my family, had no money or ID, lost my cell phone and car keys in the fire, and it was only like four am. I ended up losing pretty much everything. My neighbor was nice enough to let me shower at her place and give me some clothes until my parents made the drive.

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Sheila McEnany Markowitz

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I was sitting in my house one night, feeling too exhausted to clean my cat's box. Suddenly, it was as if my gut screamed at me "get off your #ss and go to the garage" ( I keep the stuff I use to clean my cat's box in the garage). So I listen to my gut, and as I am gathering what I needed, these huge pops/bangs start going off. It sounded as loud and very much like an automatic assault weapon so my first reaction was to think somebody is shooting into the garage, and I crouched close to the floor, only to look up and see flames shooting up a side wall. I grabbed the fire extinguisher and managed to put the fire out. It was our overloaded, and pretty old electrical box that was exploding and that caused the fire. If I had been lazy and not listened to my gut, no doubt the fire would have raged and potentially destroyed the house.

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I was home alone and someone rang my bell door, it was dark and I could see a person, but I was unable to see his face ( only like a shadow ). I didn't open the door because he never answered so I went back to playing, however my dog would look straight at the door like he know something was not right. After like 2 hours my parents arrived and told me there are 2 police cars on our street. Apparently, that person was a burglar and he knocked out one of my neighbors and stole from his house. This happened 2 years ago but I still feel unsafe because I am probably the only one that was able to see his face.

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Sheila McEnany Markowitz

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I was out working in my garage one day when I heard a very loud banging sound from inside the house. I went in and looked around, thinking maybe the wind blew in from my back sliding door and knocked something over, but nothing seemed out of place, and the wind really wasn't blowing. I went back to working in the garage and about 10 minutes later, I heard the banging, but even louder, so went inside and realized it was someone at my front door. I never open the door when I am alone, but my gut told me to do so and a woman who was much larger than I am looked surprised to see me and stammered while asking if so and so was home. I gave her the evil, dead eye and said "you have the wrong house". She turned and walked quickly to a Jeep, driven by a man. I realized she had been trying to break my front door down. Unfortunately, they went a block down and burglarized a house on my street. Always listen to your gut.

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Not me but my brother was walking home when he was about 7 or 8 and a man pulled up demanding to take my brother to the hospital because he was limping and was starting to push him into the car (he had foot surgery previously). Our neighbor, whose kids we used to play with, suspected something was up and yelled at the man and took my brother inside her house. The police didn’t catch the guy and years later come to find out the guy and his car matched the description of the man who kidnapped Steven Stayner a short time later, which was a famous incident in our parts. Life could have been very different if our neighbor hadn’t been paying attention.

I wanted to add that Timothy White became a sheriff but unfortunately died of an an aneurism. I like to think he did some good before he passed.

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buttonpusher

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Looked up the story. Wow and also tragic both died so young.

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I took a class on, among other things, lighting in a theater. One day I was using a single person lift to put myself 20 meters above the floor to change one tiny thing on one light. As I raised the lift closer to the light I had this feeling and then it got progressively worse. Literally every single safety thing that could be wrong on this very heavy light 20 meters above the crossroads of multiple walkways was wrong and about as wrong as it could be. It is a miracle this light hasn't fallen off and killed someone yet and it was about to. Moreover, whatever idiot managed to screw it up this badly(who had also somehow been competent enough to be certified to use a two person lift even though I saw every single person in a 45 person class of predominantly 14 year olds do a better job on a light the first time they ever touched one) also managed to touch the power coupling to the crazy hot light and make it stay there and the power coupling was melted and somehow still functional and it's a miracle the entire auditorium hadn't burned down whenever this idiot did this. It was extremely scary to me as I've been doing extracurriculars in that auditorium for the past nine years and I don't think this light had been touched in nine years so every one of the thousands of times I had used that path my life had been in danger.

Well, I fixed the light so it's safe now and had every single other light in the auditorium checked so it wouldn't be possible for another light done this badly to continue like this. Every other light in the auditorium was perfectly fine.

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cybermerlin2000

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Sounds like it was intentional. Possibly an insurance job that didn't go as planned

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