You should trust your intuition. It's usually correct. Ever been somewhere and had those alarm bells go off in your brain? Be aware: If something genuinely doesn't feel right to you, it's likely because it isn't.
After Redditor euphoricwarriofangirl asked the online community, "What was your 'Something's wrong, I can feel it' moment?" people shared their stories.
All we have to say to some of these stories is... yikes.
"I was on a ladder..."
I was on a ladder at my work, and thought "someone could die falling off of this." I get home to find out my best friend died while falling off a ladder at the same time.
"My mom didn't call..."
My mom didn't call at her usual time. I had an overwhelming sense of dread. I called an ambulance. She'd had a pulmonary embolism. Despite arranging for her to be flown to the nearest trauma center she died six hours later.
"I always could just feel..."
Every time one of my ex-partners cheated on me. I always could just feel when it was happening. I can't explain what was going on or why, but I knew something was.
"I'd been having..."
I'd been having very brief speech problems I'd just written off. Then I couldn't find my way home from work, so I couldn't keep living in denial.
"That feeling confirms to me..."
I describe it as "feeling death." I remember the feeling clear as day. I was driving and kept looking around because I was certain there was some hazard I couldn't find. I got to my destination fine but within 15 minutes my brother is calling me that my dad passed.
Felt it again a year and a half later on the elevator at work. This time I recognize the feeling. I checked in with all my loved ones. They are okay. Later that day found out a super awesome co-worker died of bee stings.
That feeling confirms to me that there is something more than what we can see.
"When my kitten..."
When my kitten refused to eat and drink for a couple of days. Honestly had a "she's gonna die" panic moment that night. Two days after the discovery, we took her to the vet. After being there literally all day, they discovered she ended up having an incurable infection in her intestine. She was put down that night, after my brother, father, and I visited her to say goodbye.
"It felt like this oppressive cloud of dread..."
I woke up one random morning with this horrible, overwhelming sense of doom. It felt like this oppressive cloud of dread on top of me. I have anxiety, so I'm familiar with the anxious impending doom feeling, but this was not it. It felt ominous. I tried to shrug it off, go about my morning routine. Midway through making coffee, my best friend calls me. Her mom passed away that morning.
"I can't really describe it..."
Not mine, but my Grandma's. My grandpa was on the liver transplant list at the time. She was working and she decided to go home for lunch. She never, ever does that but something was pulling her that way. When she got home, Grandpa was in a coma with his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He would have died then if she hadn't come home and called emergency services.
My body has its "something is not right" moments. I can't really describe it, but I'll pause whatever I'm doing and then immediately hit the ground or try to get somewhere safe. Seconds later, I will blackout and eventually recover. It's weird. It's happened while riding my horse (she's extra tall, so I galloped her over to the porch, slid off of her, and then blacked out on the porch. When I woke up, she hadn't moved and stood over me with the dogs hovering and the goats as well), at work at the vet clinic, several times just walking to a room in a house, in the bathroom, etc.
"I honestly don't know..."
I connected with this guy on Tinder and I just felt weird about him. I can't put it into words, but something just felt off so I stopped responding to his texts. Then like three weeks later, I started thinking about the situation and decided that I ghosted this perfectly good guy for no good reason. I texted him and we started talking.
About a week later, we decided to go out on a date. I asked him for some bar suggestions so we could meet for a drink. He suggested a bar right around the corner from his house despite the fact that we lived nearly an hour apart. I was a little annoyed but ok fine. So I got there at 8, which is the time he told me to meet him. Dude was half an hour late. He texted me to let me know he was on his way (about 15 minutes after we were supposed to meet), so I stayed. He didn't really have a good reason for why he was late, just that he got wrapped up in things. Off to a good start.
So we had our date and while he was extremely hot, he just wasn't for me. It was like I would say something and he would respond by just jibber-jabbering about that topic. It wasn't for me. But listen, he was hot so I decided to at least get laid while I was out so we went back to his place to fool around.
I honestly can't explain it. He did nothing that I can pinpoint, but I just felt very very weird about him being on top of me. It was like, oppressive. I just felt scared, which is weird because I usually really enjoy the feeling of a man on top of me. About 5 minutes in, I bailed. He let me leave, but he didn't take it well.
So I'm driving home on the interstate in the dark and in the rain and he just will not stop texting and calling me. At first I was nice to him because I did feel bad for abruptly leaving like that. But then he just got angrier and angrier and started lecturing me so I hung up on him and stopped responding. I would have blocked him but I wanted the evidence in case I needed to call the police.
This went on all night long until about 8am and then picked up around 2, so I guess he got some sleep. This went on for the better part of a week. I honestly don't know wtf would have happened if I'd actually tried to date the guy. I dodged such a big bullet.
"I was driving..."
I was 16 or 17, and my family was heading out of town to visit relatives for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I was driving for the first leg. It was night, and the interstate through town was almost empty. I was in the right lane, had cruise set right at the speed limit, and a semi was slowly passing on the left. A car came off an onramp that turns into a temporary lane that ends as an exit. The car didn't have room to merge on unless I slowed down, but I got this feeling to not let it pull in front of me. His turn signal comes on, requesting I give him room to merge. I bump up the cruise control 1mph to keep him from merging. Right as he's being forced down the exit ramp, the back of his car lurches with a mechanical tearing noise and a shower of sparks, and I watch his right rear wheel land in the road as he disappears down the ramp.
If I'd let him merge in front of me that wheel would likely have gone through the windshield.
"A few years ago..."
A few years ago I was dating this person, and they were not responding to any text messages I was sending. I usually assume if someone does not respond they are busy. But for some odd reason something felt off about it this time. Turns out he was stuck up on a mountain with a girl he was cheating on me with.
Did not suspect the cheating but felt like something was wrong for sure.
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The Mandela effect is when multiple people share the same, incorrect memory.
Its name stems from when paranormal researcher Fiona Broome falsely believed that the future president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, died in prison in the 1980s.
A false memory she shared with a number of others.
Our memories have been known to deceive us, as we might frequently forget someone's name or one of our numerous online passwords.
But when we share a memory that turns out to be false with many others, convincing ourselves it wasn't the truth can be a very difficult ordeal indeed.
Redditor Mysterious_Boat_1701 was curious to hear people's most unsettling experiences with the Mandela Effect, leading them to ask:
"Which Mandela effect freaks you out the most and why?"
A mysterious gym
"Just had one personally."
"Went to a mall where there was supposedly a gym, asked around and nobody that worked at the mall knew what I was talking about."
"Looked around and couldn't find it."
"Come back a few months later and it’s right there in front of my face, you'd have to be strung out to not notice it."
"idk how or when it just appeared but it freaked me out."- prex320278
A "fruit"ful logo.
"That the fruit of the loom logo never had a cornucopia."
"What’s crazy about that one is that someone emailed the creator of the logo about it and he said even he remembers it having one."- mrcock2·
Less well intentioned than they thought.
"I Mandela effected my whole family once."
"Years ago there was a football player on a rival team that always did a dumb celebration after he got a sack and my family and I always hated it."
"One night after he did it my family started trashing the celebration and I said as a joke 'we are all going to feel terrible when we find out he is doing that celebration as a request from a make-a-wish kid'."
"Fast forward to years later and our team is playing that team again."
"The player got a sack and did the celebration."
"I rolled my eyes and said 'I hate that celebration so much' my mom instantly turned and said 'don't say that, he is doing it for a sick kid'."
"'I actually like it."
"So I was like 'what?'"
"'No there is no sick kid', my whole family then proceeded to argue with me'."
"They all vividly remembered reading articles about it, seeing special report segments before games about it, and other information."
"Some of them even thought they knew the disease the kid had and even extra details about why the kid chose that specific celebration."
"They all had these shared memories that they were sure were true."
"I was floored by all this and insisted none of that was true."
"So we looked it up.'
"Not true."
'No kid like that ever existed.'
"They still have trouble wrapping their heads around this one."
"Turned out human memory is not near as reliable as we think"
"It was American Football and the player was Jared Allen of the Minnesota Vikings and his cattle roping sack celebration."
"This was maybe 10 years ago."- AUSpartan37
His eyesight was better than we thought.
"Mr. Monopoly's monocle."- Additional_Day9903
It's not easy being green.
"I have a personal one that to this day a decade later still destroys my mind."
"I had an old(ish) 2001 dodge neon."
"With BLACK SEATS.'
"I drove this car for years and years, like 80,000 miles.'
'All through college."
"I took work breaks in my car, commuted hours every day total, to college and then the opposite direction to work and back."
"I even lived out of this thing on several occasions.'
'The day I go and trade it in, I'm pulling misc things out of the car at the dealer."
'And the seats are GREEN."
"Not even a little."
'Like very unmistakably GREEN."
"In my black Neon, with black interior, that ALWAYS HAD BLACK SEATS."
"My girlfriend then, wife now, goes oh they've always been green."
"EXCEPT THEY F*CKING WEREN'T DON'T LIE TO ME."
"This is still upsetting to this day..... life is a lie and nothing is real."- ZakuLegion
An urban legend was born.
"Not a global one, just a family thing."
"Back in 2002 my grandma had her 60th birthday, my father took us home at 10.00pm, ready for bed."
"We, me and brother, were 12 and 14 at this time."
'All went well."
"Over the years, a story was made up that we went missing after visiting the local playground after dinner at said grandma's birthday party."
"Some neighbors help to search us, the whole train of 'missing children in a smal village'-thing."
"Fun fact: we never went missing."
"Dad brought us home, put on 'Toy Story' on tv and left."
"My brother and I heard first about this in 2015.'
"From different people on different occasions."
"'Ah your one of the missing boys'."
"I first thought they were mocking me for a different event.'
"I got lost, but it was 2013, alcohol inflicted, different story."
"But then they ALL tell us the same story about us going missing."
'And the stories are damn close to 'true' in every story my mum is driving around the same neighbors to different locations to search, old wine yard, old mill etc."
"Sometimes I think I got lost on the most brutal way."
"I was lost and changed this plane of existence with another one."
"It sometimes made me think about my whole life."- tjorben123
Memories are a fascinating thing.
They can be changed or altered with even the tiniest suggestion.
And making the truth seem less believable than lies.
One last time. One last meal. How do you choose a last meal?
Let's hope we never have to find out. People on death row get that option.
The menu options are almost endless...
RedditorNo-Caterpillar4212wanted to know what our menu choices would be if we faced the end.
"You're on a death row, you have one hour left, they ask for your final meal - what is it?"
I'd want 2 hours in a Golden Coral with a bar.
Covers it all.
Years
"I want a nice filet mignon, medium rare, a baked potato with everything on it, and a nice Cabernet from a good year - I'm thinking 2135."
cleon42
"'Sorry, we couldn't get the Cabernet from 2135. So instead of what could have been a great wine request from a more plausible period of time, you get this crappy stuff we sourced from Wal-Mart. Enjoy your meal, I hope that maintaining your sense of humor was worth it."'
Until_Morning
Take Me
"Something badly cooked so I will be sick and want to die sooner and have diarrhea so bad it will be a last revenge!"
ratchet0101
"Taco bell it is!"
No-Caterpillar4212
"If Taco Bell makes you poop a lot, it's a sign that you probably need more fiber in your diet."
RDAwesome
The Yuck Factor
"A huge bowl of baked beans, a bowl of shredded wheat, a six egg omelette, and a gallon of apple cider. I'm gonna make it awful for everyone."
"Save yourself the hassle of eating all that, just ask for one pack of sugar free Haribo gummy bears. Should make for an interesting time for the folks watching you die."
MamaSweeney24
"You void your bowels when you die too so that should be lovely."
IDontControlTheFood
Fried chicken is on the top of everyone's list!
Details
"150mg of MDMA. I’m dying happy."
W0nderfu1W0nder
"This should absolutely be allowed. If our leaders insist on the practice of capital punishment then the condemned should be able to ingest any substance they damn please."
forewontoi
Broken
"McFlurry. Those machine are always broken. I just bought myself some time."
Curiousuk_South9566
"Is this like an American thing? I worked at a McDonald's in Denmark once and our machine was never once broken when i was there."
oliv111
"I saw a video about this once. I'm a little fuzzy on the details but I think it has something to do with the contract that was signed in America. Only one company is allowed to do maintenance on the machines and they basically lock out if it's cleaned incorrectly. It's a crap system."
grilled-pbj
Sorry
"Cabbage!! Add some cabbage. I don’t know if an hour if enough to take effect but there was an old coworker on a cabbage diet. Omg she smelled, like it was coming out of her pores. She knew she smelled and kept apologizing and reminding us of the diet."
ImStillaPrick
The OG Always
"Olive Garden. Unlimited soup and breadsticks."
thegodfaubel
"I saw a sketch once, can't remember who it 2qs from. But a an inmate ordered the all you can eat buffet and had been eating for like 8 years. He's constantly on the toilet and takes micro-naps between bites."
KingOfTheGoobers
"Unlimited for 1 hour. Cool."
anticlockclock
How Golden
"If my grandma is still alive her potato soup and cheesecake. Hopefully I'd be able to cook said meal with her one last time."
ATLAS_IS_LOST
Let's hope none of us has to make this decision.
Most people have friends they've been close to for most of their lives.
But at the same time, friends evolve, and everyone finds themselves losing touch with any number of people they at one point considered their friends over time.
Most of the time, this isn't intentional, but just simply happens.
On rare occasions though, people might realize that their friends were not exactly who they thought they were, and didn't like who they revealed themselves to be.
Redditor One-Refrigerator69 was curious to hear stories of people who realized their friends were not exactly the nicest people to be around, leading them to ask:
"When was the moment you realized that your friends are assholes?"
Compared to others...
"When I started hanging out with better people."- Darklink326
All it took was getting my life together
"When I quit drinking ‘cos it was killing me."
"There were people I literally saw every single day who just disappeared as if by magic."
"12 years ago this week, as it happens."
"I’m not anti-drink, far from it."
"Some people, me included, just can’t enjoy it without it becoming a problem."
"Everyone is different."- bigdaftgeordie
A little perspective goes a long way.
"After I realized that other people don't sh*t on each other on every possible occasion in their circle."
"And that it isn't right when a 'friend' uses every known insecurity as an argument against you when you do not behave the way he/she would want you to."- ViscousPlateman
Lack of respect for other people's things
"I let my friend borrow my ps2 when I went to boot camp."
"When I came back, he said he sold it and gave me $50 I think?"
"This was in 2006."- madmike-86
Lack of mutual respect
"When he does sh*t to me and acts like it’s no big deal, then I do the same back and he gets offended."- Primary-Maybe-2749·
Constantly being taken advantage of.
"They only bothered with me when it suited them."
"I'd rather have nobody than have to deal with that."- zombi33mj
When they literally revealed themselves to be criminals
"When they robbed me at gunpoint."- Ok_Student8032
When they stopped liking them after a change of situation
"Fourth grade, when my parents economical situation went downhill and suddenly no one invited me to their birthday party."
"Until Seven years later no one had never invited me to their birthday, or to anything at all actually."- Justalittletoserious
Not being able to get a word in...
"When they tell me to shut up when I say anything."- the_golden_cheese
Violently playing with emotions
"She got a boyfriend and would let him listen to our phone calls and not tell me, even if I was crying about personal stuff that I would only ever tell her."
"Then they both started lying to me about my crush liking me back, forcing both him and me into awkward positions, telling everyone we liked each other so they'd play along, swapping places constantly to make us sit next to each other, pressuring him into giving me a lap dance, making him kiss the prettiest girl in the room, etc, and encouraged me to shoot my shot more and more."
"All the while they knew he didn't like me, he had told them both directly."
"One night I was crying on the phone cause I was so confused why my advances weren't working, and they just kept explaining it away, blaming some other bullsh*t reason and telling me to try again."
"The next day they told me they were laughing throughout the whole call, because I didn't get it and I was so upset."
"I should add I had no dating experience at all and nobody had ever liked me at this point."- Juliemj
It's always sad when our friends disappoint us.
But when our friends proved to be completely different people than we thought they were, it can be devastating.
As the saying goes, one never truly knows who their friends are.
When visiting any foreign country, one should always be familiar with the laws and customs of the land.
After all, what might be generally accepted on your home turf, might be frowned upon, if not illegal, elsewhere.
For that matter, even locals might need a refresher course on what they can and can't do while at home.
A recent Redditor was curious to hear what tourists and locals alike should avoid doing in the USA, leading them to ask:
"In the United States, what should you never do?"
Stay out of the skies!
"Don't fly a drone in Washington, DC."
"The whole D.C. Area is a no fly zone."
"It's a federal offense."
"Just don't do it."- PeytonCarrK
Cops can't be bribed.
"Don't try to bribe cops when you get pulled over."
"I had some Argentinian friends immediately pull out their wallets and start pooling their cash when they got pulled over once.'
"Fortunately someone in the car noticed and told them to put it away immediately."- PeytonCarrK
"Don't pay off the police."
"My dad has friends from several third-world nations where it is common practice to give the police some cash when you are pulled over."
"However, if you try to bribe a police officer here, you'll get into a lot of trouble."- JohnASmiley
Know your rights.
"Everyone, including foreigners, has the right to be silent and have a lawyer when being questioned."
"Don’t say anything."
"Also, even if you speak English fairly well, ask for an interpreter."- WickedLilThing
Enjoy all that nature has to offer... carefully!
"Don't wander off in the national parks."
"It's very real wilderness and you can get lost and die out there."
"This includes going over railings you aren't supposed to, or off trails."
"People have died accidentally falling into a steam geyser that looked like normal water, mauled by animals or left to the elements."- AlphaOhmega
Allow plenty of time!
"Expect consistency at TSA in airports."- WickedLilThing
Some terminology doesn't translate...
"If you’re from England, they’re called cigarettes here."- Yung_Onions
Make sure your license is up to date.
"If you come from a walkable country don’t come here expecting the same."
"There are some areas with good public transportation and bicycle/pedestrian friendly streets but for the most part, especially outside of cities, the areas are designed to accommodate cars more than anything else."
"The reason a lot of Americans drive everywhere is because, depending on where you live, we have no choice."- The_Cars93
Wait for instructions.
"Get out of your car and approach the cop when being stopped by a cop unless told to."- hildrash
Whether your'e waling down a street in a foreign country, or the street you've lived on for your entire life, it's always wise to be on guard and aware of your surroundings.
Not to mention, obey the law.