The Biggest Red Flags People Have Ever Come Across
Reddit user Gorilla-Jay asked: 'What is the biggest red flag you have come across?'
If it wasn't for our inner voices warning us about various life predicaments, who knows where we'd end up?
When a salesperson for a product works their charm to persuade us, our instincts may tell us not to rush into purchasing due to the suspicious quality of the product.
When a prospective date shows up in person and they just don't match the impression you got during the online interaction, your gut is telling you to back away.
But sometimes, the warning signs don't come from you.
Strangers online weighed in with their experiences about being tipped off whenRedditor asked:
"What is the biggest red flag you have come across?"
These Redditors discuss polyamory and how it may or may not apply to them.
About Unfaithfulness
"Used polyamory as a scape goat for cheating."
– Helix_On_The_Hill
"I have a friend who claims to be poly. Then she confessed to me that she and her partner hadn't had sex in over a year, supposedly because her prescription meds lowered her libido - so she declared to him she was asexual. Partner just apparently went with it. Last year we went on a group trip overseas, and she immediately f'ked a stranger she met. She told her partner, which made him pretty upset (and he didn't do anything about it other than bottle it up), and that caused some tension during the trip."
"She then explained to me that it's okay to be poly and at the same time refuse to have sex with your primary partner. She offered a compromise to her partner that she would see a sex therapist."
"I ended up biting my tongue (this person reacts badly to getting feedback) and lost a lot of respect for them as a friend, because of the way she treated her partner when it came to sex."
– monkeychasedweasel
Common Strategy
"My Ex used the 'poly so I can cheat' strategy twice because she was disinterested in me. I would go into more detail but I’ve mostly chalked it up to a learning experience, moved on and mostly forgot about it."
"The other thing is that I can be a very clingy person and that’s why the strategy was so effective."
– Helix_On_The_Hill
Updating Your Significant Other
"I decided I'm poly and we're in an open relationship, sorry I didn't tell you until after I cheated".
– anon
"I'm poly. Every once and a while (really only ever seen it online), I'll hear about someone 'coming out' to their partner as poly. Grosses me the hell out."
– petrasdc
Full Transparency
"I would figure that's something you'd mention pretty early on to a potential new partner. Not go 'This isn't what it looks like!' In the middle of things."
– Mike7676
Anger issue is all the rage.
Tipping Point
"I've said it here before on my old account, the biggest red flag is quick to anger. If their default emotion is anger, that's unhealthy. I'm talking about snapping over the smallest mistakes/things. Over the top anger reactions. Any volatile reactions that do not match the situation are huge red flags."
– Practical_Reindeer23
Relationship On The Rocks
"My partner got angry with me while I was having a moment of big overstimulation when we were at a concert, because I physically could not communicate (sometimes that freeze mode really takes hold) and he was trying to get me to leave, as his way of 'fixing' the situation. I at least shook my head no, because I was waiting on the band I wanted to see play, I just couldn’t physically vocalize. I was definitely very tense and was dealing with a lot of ticks, which isn’t normally how I get, but I was trying to handle it on my own, using tapping techniques and things. He got angry that I didn’t do as he wanted and that I didn’t vocalize a response, 'it’s not that hard when someone asks a question for you to answer.'"
"We’ve been together for 7 years and have gone through a roller coaster of changes/self development. But I exploded once I ended up giving in to his wants and leaving the venue."
"I don’t feel supported or listened to or validated, ever. Everything outside of his mindset doesn’t matter to him so why bother discussing anything."
"I hate it here."
– Virtual-Moment-9132
As if first dates weren't already nerve-wracking.
Dating Nature Boy
"The guy would ONLY go on dates in the woods at night. I’m not even kidding. I’d suggest a movie night or a restaurant I wanted to try but it was shut down immediately because he only did dates in the woods. Worst part is I went on 3 of them before I cut him off."
– PixelatedBats
Flashing Warning Sign
"I made out with a guy on a party. He told me 'I have to warn you: I'm really an a**hole.' I was pretty taken aback, then thanked him for the warning and avoided him for the rest of the night."
– skanus_cepelinai
Having Strict Parents
"She asked her mother for permission to eat meat. A 30 year old with a full time job."
– yumsilly
"I had a coworker who had a family tracking app on her phone, but it was her parents tracking her. She was 25."
"She thought it was normal or not a big deal. Her mom would flip out if she did something like go shopping at lunch or spend too much time at the gym."
"Apparently, her mom was super paranoid she was secretly dating 'inferior' men and not the ones she was trying to set up for her daughter."
– ohlookahipster
Year ago I met a guy who was super sweet at work, and there seemed to be a mutual attraction.
However, I didn't jump to pursue anything with him, especially after I found out through a mutual friend that we had conflicting interests.
He was into Nazi uniforms and paraphernalia.
I gradually started disassociating with him because I didn't need that in my life.
It just goes to show, you never really know about a person, even if everything else seems perfect about him.
People Describe The Creepiest Encounter They've Ever Had With A Stranger
Reddit user SilentBaker8893 asked: '"People of Reddit, what's the creepiest encounter you've had with a complete stranger that still gives you chills?"'
Depending on where you live, It's hard to be friendly with strangers because you really don't know about a person.
Gone are the days when you struck up a conversation with a random stranger just to pass the time.
Nowadays, you never know whom you're dealing with, and it's better to stay vigilant and be discerning about a person's character when you're out in public.
It's a sad way to be, but it's the way people are socialized in a very divided and bonkers climate.
Those who had unsettling interactions in public with people they hardly know shared their experiences when Redditor SilentBaker8893Baker8893 asked:
"People of Reddit, what's the creepiest encounter you've had with a complete stranger that still gives you chills?"
Keep an eye out behind you.
You never know if you have a new friend.
Give Me Your Number
"I was in a grocery store doing my weekly shop, and was approached by a man who said I was pretty and asked for my number. No intros, no asking me how I’m doing, just getting straight to it. I politely declined and said I wasn’t interested. He became persistent, so I ended up telling him to just give me his number so I could end the interaction."
"After he gives me his number, I go back to shopping without incident (or so I think). It turns out that this man was keeping an eye on me from the dairy section as i was walking up and down the aisles. As I’m getting ready to head to checkout, he decides to approach me again. This time, he’s super agitated and raises his voice while asking why I won’t just give him my number. I decide to be direct, and tell him that I said I wasn’t interested and I will not be giving my number to a stranger. He really had an issue with it, became irate, and had to be removed from the store. I was walked to my car, and he ended up following me out of the parking lot."
"I was on my street when I noticed I was being followed, drove past my house, and started driving towards the police station in my city. He followed me until he realized I was turning into that driveway and then sped off. Luckily I haven’t seen him since."
– Dismal_Ingenuity2247
The Homophobe
"I was walking home from work around 11 pm from Wrigley Field in Chicago. I walked home every night for years through these parts and never had any issue. I had my music in but never listened loud just in case. For about a mile I could hear someone yelling behind me, but they weren’t close and I couldn’t make out anything they were saying. I started to get a really bad vibe and decided to mute my music for a bit."
"I started to hear the voice getting closer but still couldn’t make anything out until I heard a distinct 'I just really really DONT like gay people.' I turned around and saw an old janky dude just sprinting at me full force from behind, I remember his arms were flailing in the air uncontrollably. I decided quickly to just cross the street and see if he would follow me. I turned to stare at him as he slowed to a walk and stayed on his side of the street. Once he was parallel to me, without even glancing over, he calmly said 'That’s exactly what I would have done.' And continued on, turning left into the train station about a block ahead. Gave me the creepiest feeling. I definitely was ready to fight if I needed, but dude had the most whacked out posture and vibe I’d ever seen."
– jaaaayy13
The Face Changes
"When my son was a toddler, I made a late night run to a 24 hour Walgreens to pick up a prescription for him. We lived in an urban area where that Walgreens was actually busy at that time of night. It was also right next to a Metro stop and was not a place where most people drove, so parking was super limited. I ended up parking at a curb a bit away from the store. When I got back to my car a youngish, very normal (by my estimation) guy came up to my window. I rolled it down a bit and he said 'I think I know you from xyz place.' I had actually been to xyz place before (xyz place was also a very popular place), so I tried to remember him."
"In that spilt second that I hesitated trying to remember him, his eyes went completely black, his whole face changed, and he grabbed the door handle of my car and tried to open it. I put the car in drive and peeled out of there, looking straight ahead. Only when I got to a red light a few streets away did I realize that the overhead light was on. He had actually opened my door a bit, and I hadn’t realized. I never forgot his face. How it changed. I remember one of Ted Bundy’s victims (survivor obviously) described how his face went from normal, attractive, friendly to black-eyed, unrecognizable, and frenzied. That’s how this man transformed. There were some missing women in our city, and I always wondered if this guy did it."
– teeshirtandundies
These are reminders to stay vigilant when traveling.
Stalker
"Driving across the country with my wife and dog, we stopped at a gas station around midnight. I was coming out of the bathroom, and I saw the guy mopping the floor had stopped, and was just staring out the window at my wife, who had finished letting the dog pee and was slowly walking back to the car."
"There was a super creepy guy slowly sneaking up behind her. He was like 20 feet back, but quietly getting closer, and my wife had no idea. So I got out of the gas station real quick, and loudly went over to them, hugged the dog said let's get going, etc. The second I walked over to them the guy turned around and ran away."
"My wife never knew there was a guy sneaking up behind her until I told her once we got back in the road."
– Veritas3333
Cadillac In The Rear View
"I was driving on a back road at night heading to my parents house when a Cadillac started following me. It was a one lane road at night, dizzling on and off and this guy I notice has been following me for a little over 2 miles. At first I thought it was paranoia, so I used my blinker and they copied me. Every time I did it. A sole blue light then went off on their hood behind me I guess trying to get me to pull over. I called 911 and stayed on the line until the police intercepted me. Lst: the guy ended up being wanted on warrants for skipping bail on an SA charge. Definitely came way too close that night."
– Successful_Arm_7509
A Beautiful Distraction
"I was in Vienna during Christmas break. There is a large open air market in the middle of the city and thousands of people were milling about, eating, drinking, and shopping in the evening."
"A very attractive blonde woman with light blue eyes bumps into me, and in accented English apologizes. I said ‘No worries’ and we started chatting. She says she’s from Poland and she’s here for New Years visiting a friend. I mentioned I’m American but Polish in heritage and we continue to talk for several minutes. She says that she’s hungry and wants to get food. I offered to buy her a slice of pizza at a booth. I get one for both of us and she takes a bite and says she doesn’t like it and wants to go to a place away from the town center."
"Something about how quickly she rejected the pizza, which was quite good, set off alarms and I wished her a pleasant evening and walked away. I looped around the town center and coincidentally saw her walking down an alley with two large men, one on each side of her…very quickly I realized that she was bait to draw me into an alley so they could mug me."
"I definitely dodged a bullet that day."
– LaximumEffort
Listen To Your Gut
"I had a similar thing happen to me."
"Years ago I was in Edinburgh for the fringe festival. I was drunk walking back to my hotel when I passed by a bar and I hear an American voice say 'Hug me, it's my birthday'. She was cute and she sounded sad so I gave her a hug a cigarette and we started talking."
"We chatted for a few minutes, I can't remember many of the small details but I remember a few things that big red flags for me. The first was the she said she was in the UK doing an internship in becoming a pharmacist and every so often a word just wouldn't come out right. It just hit my ears wrong."
"My sister-in-law is a pharmacist and I remembered her talking about how hard it was to get her program to sign off on an internship in another state, let alone another country. And I got lost in that thought for a second when the girl said she just wanted to ditch her friends, and go anywhere else. And that's when it hit me why her words weren't hitting my ear right... she was trying to hide an accent. Sounded Irish to me but it didn't matter. At this point I had decided that I wanted to keep my kidneys so I gave her another cigarette and a hug, wished her a happy birthday and walked away.
"I don't know that I dodged a bullet but I'm pretty sure I was going to end up robbed or worse."
– NicktheEvil
These Redditors saw the red flags and avoided disaster.
Daughter Whisperer
"My wife and I stopped at a park with our then 7 year old daughter. My wife went off on her own for a few to look at some trees while I took my daughter over to the bank of the lake. Seemingly of nowhere this really creepy guy walked up and started addressing my daughter while ignoring me. He was going on about how to attract the ducks and was positioning himself in a way to get in between us. I did a quick calculation where I had a base set up to kick his @ss into the ropes along the edge of the lake which would trip him at his knees and send him into the water. I had my daughter by the hand and just interrupted the guy and pulled her away, the guy turned around and went right to his car, and left immediately. My insticts were strongly indicating that this man intended to abduct my daughter, and the chills from that experience still haunt me many years later."
– NorthernH3misphere
Item Was Not For Sale
"When I was 9, I was in K-mart with my uncle in the television section (remember when k-mart had those separate rooms for the tv's and big electronics?) It was Saturday morning and he sat me and my little sister down and told us to watch the cartoons on the tv's while he hunted down a sales person. Not 2 minutes after he was gone, we approached my 2 men and they tried everything to lure us out. We were petrified and didn't say a word. They finally lifted my sister to carry her out and was reaching for me when my sister peed on the one guy. He dropped her and she started crying. My uncle heard her and came running. The guys bolted. I still think about that all the time. We were so lucky that day."
– TheLastMo-Freakin
Wrong Signal
"When I was about 6 years old (this would have been around 1990), I was riding my big wheel bike down my block in a DC suburb. The way our street was situated, at the end of the block was the entrance to an alleyway that took you behind all the houses. I would frequently turn down the alley and go behind our house and enter through our back gate."
"As I got towards the end of the block, a car was coming and I stopped and waved my hand indicating that they could go ahead and I would wait for them to pass. The driver in the car refused to go and motioned for me to turn instead. So I went ahead and entered the alley."
"I got about halfway up the alley not quite to my house when someone grabbed me from behind. It was the driver and she was pissed. She had turned into the alley after me , drove down, parked her car in the middle of the alley and gotten out. She yanked me up by the arm, and screamed in my face 'Don't you ever use police signals with me!' I immediately began sobbing, ran to my house and told my parents. By the time they ran out the back door, the driver was gone."
"I'm 38 now and still think about it."
– hoyahoyahoya
Offering A Ride Home
It doesn't give me chills but I do reflect and wonder what would have happened."
"We had just moved from Illinois to Florida. I had just turned 12, so this was '86. It was a weekend; I don't remember the specific day. I got up early and went to the basketball court in the apartment complex I lived in. Started playing and this hatchback pulls up. Guy gets out of the car and asks if he can shoot around with me. He's talking to me, don't remember the actual conversation. I do remember him telling me that he had a job interview and needed to borrow a comb. He asked me if I had one and I told him yeah. He asked to borrow it and I said sure, I just need to go grab it real quick. He said that he would drive me and I told him, 'no, that's ok. I live right over there and I could walk'. He was pretty insistent on giving me a ride. Finally I just told him that I'd be right back. Went towards my house through the courtyard, but never went there. Waited around the corner to see what he was doing. One of the older girls that I played ball with showed up. He left a couple minutes later."
"Coming from small town Illinois, I was pretty naive. But that whole thing felt off. The dude didn't bother me; just the insistence on him giving me a ride."
– ReapYerSole
The term "Stranger Danger" was used heavily in TV programs and public service announcements aimed at children during the 80s through the early 2000s.
It basically educated kids to be aware of possible dangers associated with adults they don't know.
The same could even apply for adults.
I once interacted with a guy at the Gap in Manhattan while I was shopping for a pair of shorts and I initially thought he was "normal." He was a really good-looking customer–with dark hair, blue eyes, 6'2–who told me that the pair of shorts I was holding at the time would look very attractive on me.
I was flattered, and we got to talking. I was impressed by how articulate and smart he was, and I was under the impression he might be flirting with me.
He wasn't.
Long story short, he gave me his number and insisted I call him for information about this group he was a part of and that I would be the perfect candidate for joining and making money and going on various retreats around the world attending seminars on how we could better ourselves.
Yup. He was too good to be true.
Knowing he was trying scam me into joining some pyramid scheme-y cult group (I still have no idea what it was), I said I'll call him only if he went out with me for coffee after shopping and if he let me passionately make out with him while I was wearing the shorts he thought would look hot on me.
I was kidding, of course.
But he didn't know that. Suddenly, his entire demeanor changed. He called me a homophobic slur and stormed out of the store.
He even left his bag of purchases, and I yelled out before he exited, "Sir, you left your bag!"
Turns out it was a prop.
Careful, everyone. Don't be fooled by a gorgeous smile.
There are despicable people in our midst who can hide their true colors until it's too late.
It's all unfortunate really, as I've generally lost trust in people.
My experience–along with separate mugging incidents–has left me acting socially awkward when out on my own in public.
Serial killers capture the attention of the public.
"Serial killer" is recognized by the FBI as a distinct classification of murderer differing from a "mass murderer" or "spree killer" or "contract killer."
Documentaries, books, TV shows and films have all been made about the lives and crimes of these killers—many of their names are part of pop culture.
But what about the people who lived to tell about their encounter with a killer? What were these killers like day to day?
Redditor LiamTheGuyYaKnow asked:
"People who have encountered or saw a serial killer in their lives, how did it feel? What was the interaction like?"
Adam Strong
"I encountered Adam Strong."
"He used to work at the gas station right around the corner from my in-laws’ house. I saw him there once."
"I was sitting in the car while my (then boyfriend) husband went inside to pay for gas, and Strong came over and stood right by my window, he was just hanging around the gas pumps. I just felt an overwhelming feeling of fear and disgust, I thought he was the grossest thing I’d ever seen, he didn’t even seem human."
"When the news broke of him, my in-laws were shocked. He’d served my MIL at that gas station a million times."
"That gas station is in the same plaza as a Tim Hortons. My brother-in-law used to hang around that Tim Hortons, and smoke outside, and Strong would often join him, they got to know each other. They weren’t friends, but they took smoke breaks together semi often.
"Also, my husband and I were walking through the park/lakefront in Oshawa all day Sunday, right before they found the body of Rori Hache."
‐ di3tc0k3head
Lonnie David Franklin Jr.
"I lived down the street from the 'Grim Sleeper' when I was a child to my early teens (after his active years).
"Whenever I walked my dogs I used to walk past his house and talk to him whenever he was outside."
"I never received serial killer vibes from the guy who murdered 25+ people, he was really nice and always spoke when he saw me."
- SteezMeOut
Ivan Milat
"My sister-in-law encountered Ivan Milat, one of the two men that inspired the Wolf Creek horror movie series. She was travelling the east coast of Australia for a few weeks with her brother."
"One night, her and her brother were having jerky and beer by a campfire when Milat sat down at their campfire. When she first saw him, she thought he was park ranger because of his style of dress. She thought he was going to tell them that they built their campfire in a prohibited area, but instead he commented on what a beautiful evening it was and pointed out some of the notable stars in the sky."
"Ivan never properly introduced himself. He just sat down and started chatting. He asked my sister-in-law where she was from, and she told him Darwin."
"He said, 'What's a Darwin girl doing all the way out here?' My sister-in-law explained that she was on a road trip. She seemed to pique his interest when she told him that instead of doing the usual beach vacation, she wanted to do something a little more rugged, like explore caves, do a little rock climbing, and hike trails that were not popular with the tourists."
"My sister-in-law says that Ivan was friendly, and he had a lot of ideas about places she might like to go, including a cave that had a waterfall inside, which was a bit of a hidden gem not well-known to tourists."
"She felt comfortable talking with him, and when he invited her and her brother to join him at his campsite for some rabbit stew and beer, she would have said yes, but her brother instantly turned him down. Ivan's response to the rejection was a slight 'Well, I tried' shrug of the shoulders."
"He went back to his campsite, and her brother quickly packed their things in their rented Land Rover, and they wound up sleeping in the Rover outside a well-lit gas station that night."
"She said what was so scary about that night is that she felt almost immediately comfortable around Ivan, no red flags whatsoever. He reminded her of one of her uncles that worked construction—one of those rugged but worldly kind of guys, while her brother was immediately suspicious of the charming stranger."
"She kind of wonders what would have happened to her if her brother had not been there that night."
‐ Thorne628
How many?
"This whole thread makes me wonder how many serial killers I’ve met in my 50 years."
- portablebiscuit
FBI estimates are that between 25 to 50 active serial killers are currently in the United States.
But author, researcher and former detective Michael Arntfield believes the number active is as many as 4000 based on the definition of serial killer as a "person who has killed three or more people in a period of more than a month."
Angel Maturino Resendiz
"My cousin was killed by the Texas railroad killer in the 90s."
"I never knew her and I was really young, but my mom did. She had stayed with them recently when visiting Texas."
"Karen Sirnic was my first cousin once removed. She and her husband were bludgeoned to death in a church, where the husband was a pastor."
- CamaTatertots
Harry Edward Greenwell
"He was in our small town for 20 years, worked for the Railroad. Grew vegetables which he sold at the local farmers market. Frequented the local diner & liquor store."
"Known throughout the community as an odd guy, but no one expected what he had done. His step kids used to throw parties in high school.
"Just months ago DNA linked him to 3 murders, assaults & 2 attempted murders & assaults in the late 80's, & early 90s. Died of cancer ten years ago."
"Just a surreal crazy feeling for everyone to find out he did such horrible things. Was nice to neighbors & everyone in the community."
"Murders took place several states away. They dubbed him the I-65 killer."
- Ia_corncob-trying
Ian Brady and Myra Hindley
"My Auntie was nearly a victim of the 'Moors Murderers'."
"She was walking home from school one day, when a land rover pulled up next to her and rolled its window down. There was a lady driving, she told my Auntie to get in and she'd drive her home from school."
"My Auntie said she didn't get in cars with strangers. The woman said that she was a family friend and my Grandma had sent her to pick her up."
"My Auntie noticed that there was a motorbike parked just up the road and the rider was watching this go on. She had the good sense to run into a nearby shop and didn't come out til they left."
"Sure enough, a year or so later, she saw the woman's face all over the news. It was Myra Hindley. It also came out that while Myra was luring victims into the car, Ian Brady would follow behind on his motorbike.
"My Auntie says she just instinctively felt there was something very 'off' about the situation, and that the woman seemed 'too keen' to get her in the car."
- DendroNate
Bob Berdella
"I grew up about a block and a half from Bob Berdella. He was eventually caught for picking up teenage gay males and torturing and killing them. Prior to that he was, from what I remember, a pretty normal and fairly social person. He was actually part of the neighborhood watch group that my dad was on."
"He ran an 'oddities' shop at the flea market near our house called Bob's Bizarre Bazaar, which I guess is a little weird."
"I still remember the day he was caught. I was over playing at a friend's house whose father was a police sergeant. There was a frantic knocking at the front door and like thirty seconds later my friend's dad asked us to go play at my house for a while."
"One of Bob's would-be victims had escaped by shimmying out of a second-floor window while Bob was at work. The man, basically naked, ran across the street and started pounding on doors and the first people that answered were next door to the house I was playing at."
"They immediately came next door, knowing a cop lived there."
"So Bob lived across from a police sergeant for years, torturing, raping, killing, and burying his victims in dog food bags in his backyard, never being caught."
"This all happened just as school was getting out for the summer and my parents just let us stay home while they worked instead of doing daycare. Most days we'd hang out in the backyard behind Bob's which was slightly elevated above his, watching the cops dig up dead bodies."
"My mom claimed the number of cops in the neighborhood for the next two months was so large that we were probably safer there than at a daycare."
- wildwildwaste
The English term and idea of "serial killer" are generally attributed to FBI Special agent Robert Ressler, who is documented using the term "serial homicide" in 1974.
Credit for making the term official often goes to LAPD detective Pierce Brooks, who created the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP) system in 1985.
While some law enforcement sets the threshold for serial killers at 4 or more murders, some require only 2.
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Are chance encounters really serendipitous or is it part of some grand master plan?
"What was the most important random encounter you've had?"
People from the past were brought together by fate.
Creep Reunites Old Acquaintance
"I'm from London but have family in Ireland and used to spend all my summers there as a kid. Anyway, a few years back I'm stuck waiting for a night bus in another UK town at like 3am and there's one other girl waiting there and a creepy dude who keeps hitting on us. We basically start chatting to have an excuse to ignore him, and i notice she has an Irish accent. I ask what part of the country she's from and she answers with my family's home town. Turns out I played with her regularly when we were five and our grannies are BFFs. Neither of us had recognised each other or even knew the other was living there, just random chance."
The Girl Who Made Silly Faces
"While in college I did some photography work for the marketing department of a theme park. A tall, pretty girl in one of the shops made faces at me when I tried to take her picture. Several years later I went to a jewelry to store to get a battery for my watch and she was working behind the counter. I was glad I had a conversation starter because we hit it off right away and went out to lunch together. Been married 38 years now."
How They Became Best Friends
"First day of university in home country, know nobody in my course. Sit next to another guy in orientation, introduced ourselves, go to lectures together. Over the next few weeks we discover that our parents went to college together in the same home country 25 years previously (all four parents), his family had moved to the far east, mine to Europe. We had met when we were 1 year old and his family visited mine before our parents lost contact with each other. Then we had independently returned to the same home country, got into the same university, chosen the same course, and sat next to each other in a room of 300 people. Found a photo of us together aged 1. Now one of my best friends."
From The Same Hospital
"I moved to a new school in 11th grade and made friends with a girl in my English class. We realized our birthdays are only one day apart, and later discovered we were born in the same hospital. In college, she found a photo of herself in the hospital nursery and on the name tag on the bassinet next to hers you could see the last 4 letters of my last name."
These Redditors had poignant encounters with the elderly.
The Card
"I worked at CompUSA in Baton Rouge, LA. in their computer repair shop. It was sh*t. There were invisible 'sales goals' we had to meet, the team there was f'king creepy - they took every computer and first thing they did was look through your personal photos for nudes or stuff they could otherwise copy, take home. Gross. It sucked."
"A customer came to pick up his computer, and he was an older gentleman and his computer was comedically large so I offered to carry it to his car for him. When he opened the trunk of his car, there were architectural manuals and I mentioned I studied drafting. He gave me card, that led to a job, which led a year later to a completely different card, which led to a career."
"I don't carry his computer later, 20 years later there's a good chance I'm still in IT and still not great at it."
Sharing A Name
"I had never ever met anyone with the same name (as me) in 25 years."
"So I had this big surgery coming up, and the night before in hospital, I was super anxious. Completely random - I meet a 96 year old guy who has the same name as myself at the ward. He also had surgery the next morning. He wore a diaper, but were super super happy and nice."
"It felt very special to me at the time. It kinda felt like destiny, or that one of us wouldn't survive the next day. We both did tho, but it was still nice :)"
The Landlord With Horses
"My brother rented a house from an older guy. I went to visit my brother one day and he was telling me about his landlord and said if we ever wanted to go ride horses, we could go out to his place. He's had, somewhere around, 20-30 for the 10 years I've known him. Turned out to be one of my best friends. Helped me learn how to mechanic, how to ride junk horses, how to make good horses, how not to ruin good horses. All while specifically telling me you didn't have to be a bronc rider in order to be a cowboy. I've had some bad wrecks in the past and he helped me work through them. I'm a much better horseman now, and much better person in general I think. I never could've asked for a better friend. He's helped me with so much, while never asking me for anything in return. That's hard to find now a days."
"He's 61 and I know he won't live forever. And I'll cry more for him than I ever will my dad."
Coolest Stranger
"I was thirteen and riding the train back from Raleigh, practicing my German on duolingo. I was struggling a bit with some of the words. An old guy who looked like a bearded Morpheus, big old coat and all, heard me and corrected my pronunciation of 'zucker'. This turned into a conversation of how he was stationed in Germany in the 80's, used to sneak out with his buddies to do graffiti on the Berlin Wall with the locals, and was in the crowd the day it fell. He kept several chunks of it. Still one of the coolest strangers I've ever met. Felt like some movie sh*t."
Former Anti-Vaxxers Explain What Actually Made Them Change Their Mind | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Literal Coincidence
"I was sitting in Washington Sq. Park, reading a book, one that would change the course of my life, and an older man sat down on the bench beside me. He asked what was I was reading. I showed him the cover and he smiled and said 'I'm the author, Paul Rosenfels' and he extended his hand. His picture was on the back cover, and indeed it was Paul. The book was 'Homosexuality a Creative Process.'"
The small acts of kindness by these Redditors made lasting impacts.
Accidental Therapist
"Once I talked to a guy who was deeply confused about his next steps in life. We didn't know each other, we just started talking out of nowhere, can't remember the reason. He seemed really lost, but I pointed out that he talked about some solid strategies for his future and just didn't notice them. He was shocked and really happy with the new perspectives I could offer."
"Months later, he found me on instagram through a mutual friend and sent me a dm thanking me for listening to him and saying that he started therapy immediately after our conversation and got his life back on track because of me. He even has a thriving business now! We didn't keep talking, but I'm glad I helped a total stranger with just a few encouraging words. It was one of the nicest, most touching moments of my life."
The Man In The Wheelchair
"I went to help a disabled gentleman who had gotten his wheelchair wedged between his minivan and the parking lot curb. He was really nice and thanked me profusely. Later, I was reading and drinking coffee when he rolled over and thanked me again, and introduced me to his wife. We talked and realized that I had gone to school with his niece and that his wife knew my dad (Hawaii is a small place). Fast forward a few months and they asked me to house sit their place on the Big Island and take care of their pets while they went on vacation. It was the first time I left Oahu and the first time I lived alone. It was a really special time for me, a kind of formative moment in my life when I had time and space all to myself. Just really happy memories from those six weeks."
Things Will Get Better
"At age 18 i left my home at 2am in the middle of winter, wearing pyjama shorts and no shoes. I walked 30 minutes towards a motorway, stood on the side and waited for a car to drive past so i could jump in front of it. After a while of waiting i had collapsed from the cold and pretty sure i was slowly trying to drag myself into the road. A car obviously saw me from a distance, put their hazard lights on and pulled up on the side of the road where i was laid. It was an old woman and she dragged me into the car and drove me back home. I was heavily anorexic at the time so she gave me her cookies she kept in the car for her grandkids, and talked to me about what pushed me to suicide and told me things will get better. She dropped me at home after hugging me for a while and i cried until morning. I wish i had learnt the name of the woman who quite literally saved my life and picked me up as i was dying and i think of her all the time. Random acts of kindness can do more good than you realise."
A Promise Made, A Promise Kept
"I once got into a train with no ticket, since I couldn't find a terminal to buy one. But once the train arrived and the doors pulled open, I saw a ticket terminal inside. Unfortunately, I discovered that the terminal only accepted cash. And all I had was my debit credit card. I was perhabs 16, and was freaking out at the prospect of getting a fine, but it just didn't dawn on me that there were still places with 'cash only.'"
"A sweet lady got up from her seat, likely having seen me sweating bullets as I stood there with my credit card in hand. And said to me 'Yeah. It's cash only.'"
"She reached into her purse pulled out her wallet, and started rooting around in her change. She then gave me the equivalent to 10 dollars in Danish Kroner (DKK) and said 'Here's the money for a ticket. But! you have to promise me, that someday, when you encounter someone in need of money for a train ticket. You have to offer to pay it for them' I gratefully agreed, bougt my ticket, and kept that promise with me for about 10-12 years."
"Then one day I actually happened to be at a train station, where a teenage girl in front of me, got her card declined continously at the ticket terminal and I could see the frustration and embarresment build up inside her."
"I still cherish the memory, of actually being able to redeem my promise to that lady in Hundested. As I paid for the teenage girls ticket, and send her on her way with the same promise as I had made a decade prior."
An incredible chance encounter happened to my dad once when he was golfing in LA.
He struck up a conversation with another solo golfer and ended up hanging out and putting together on the fairway for the rest of the afternoon.
When my dad asked what this gentleman did for a living, he was told he used to be in a pop-rock group called The Monkees. Turns out my dad was talking to Micky Dolenz, the drummer of the band and one of the known heartthrobs of the group during the late 60s.
It doesn't end there. Micky inquired about my father's story, and my dad eventually mentioned I was living in New York and doing a Broadway show at the time as one of the dance captains.
Micky, with whom I happened to work and taught him the show when he came in as a replacement as one of the villainous roles, was shocked and referred to me by name.
They were both dumbfounded.
Cut to me inside a movie theater in NY on a Monday afternoon and getting a phone call. Seeing that it was from my dad, I picked up in case it was urgent.
Who I heard on the other end of Micky Dolenz, who dialed me up using my dad's phone. "So I'm golfing with your dad.." he said, and I can hear my dad laughing in the background.
That was a wonderful memory I'll never forget.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
All of us have had an interaction with someone that just kind of didn't sit well later. Maybe we couldn't quite put our finger on why, or maybe we absolutely knew right away - but without a doubt all of us know what it is to just feel creeped out.
So let's talk about it. One Reddit user asked:
What are some creepy encounters you've had?
And yeah we've got everything here from near-miss kidnappings to what might be aliens, maybe the CIA, we're not sure. There was at least one entry that made us go "oh uh-UH no thank you!" out loud. Like you can just politely decline being stalked.
Proceed with caution, fam. Things are about to get a little unnerving.
Sleep
I brought up this question to my mom just now. She says when I was young and we lived in an apartment (just us) she woke up in the middle of the night while it was pouring rain because she heard a loud noise.
She went to the front door and looked through the peephole to see if she could see what made the noise. There was a person standing there, facing the door, hood over their head, repeating over and over again "just go to sleep...just go to sleep...just go to sleep."
I never really knew about this until recently. I asked her this morning what she did: She said she slowly backed away from the door because she didn't want them to hear her (they were basically up against the door facing it)- then in her words "remained vigilant" but she didn't call the police.
Our neighborhood had a fair number of homeless people. I think she would have called the cops if he tried anything else. Besides being creepy and terrifying my mom.
Borrow Your Phone
GiphyI was walking in the parking lot of the mall with my ex-girlfriend and it was 7pm but it was already dark out. I forgot something in the car and we were only about 30 feet from the side entrance of the mall so I told her I'd meet her inside. As I'm walking back to the car, I hear two guys come up from out of nowhere and ask her if they can borrow her phone.
Something didn't feel right so I rushed back over to her and grabbed her hand so we could head into the mall. Sure enough about two weeks later, I saw those same two guys on a local news channel because they were arrested for attempted kidnapping of two young women.
In The Background
I've had the same creepy older man pop up in the background of 5 different pictures that were all taken at different places on different days over the course of a few years when I was a child. I didn't notice him until I started putting together a scrapbook for my mom about six years after the first pic.
I'm pretty sure he was stalking me, cause it's not like he'd just be walking by in the pic. No, he'd be standing in the background looking at the camera. I understand it happening once or twice could be a coincidence, but 5 times is way too many for it to have been chance.
The police were shown the film scans/double copies, because stalking a ten year old child is creepy and so illegal - but because so many years had passed & the quality of disposable cameras weren't the best you couldn't really make out who a person was when they were lurking in the background.
I've since caught him once or twice while out & about, so I know he's real. However, I never noticed the pictures until I was putting together that scrapbook for my mom and had the horrifying realization sink in as I was going through bins and bins of images.
Needless to say those 5 photos were burned after the police reviewed them.
Walking Alone
The creepiest thing is to walk alone as a young girl. I remember a car with 2 grown men in it asking if I wanted a ride. I was 12. I told them I lived right across the street. I did not. They kept following me and I walked up some random person's driveway and hide on the side of their house making sure not to move because they had motion sensors. Idk why I didn't knock and as for help. I guess I was afraid of what would happen if they didn't answer. They stayed down the street for like 15 mins waiting for me to come back out.
House Stock
Creepiest encounter, by far, in my long nursing career was my patient that whipped out a stack of Polaroid photos of women bound and gagged; some bruised and bleeding, all half naked.
He proudly told me about being in a motorcycle gang and all these women were "house stock",
I was a young nurse but knew not to give him the satisfaction of my disgust. I just gave him his meds and walked out of the room. His toothless cackle still makes me sick when I have the random nursing nightmare of all the sh!t I've seen.
A Black Thing
This was around 5 to 7 years ago.
My cousin's family from the city came for a sleepover at our house in the countryside. Me and my family live in a village that is "suburban-like" is surrounded by forests and wild vegetation.
We finished having dinner and I invited my younger cousin for a walk outside. This was only around 8pm. Near the end of our little stroll around the village, I looked up at the sky only to be greeted by thick clouds hanging weirdly low in the sky and blocking out the stars.
That's when I noticed something else strange.
Hovering lower than the already-too-low clouds was this black... thing. No, it wasn't a hole in the clouds revealing the night sky above it. It was very noticeably a T H I N G.
It was like the size of a fighter jet, but solid black. It wasn't moving at all just hovering. It only caught my attention when I looked up because I couldn't hear anything.
It didn't make a sound at all. Like zero.
The weirdest part was that it seemed to know that people on the ground could see it. so it made itself hard to see by constantly changing so you couldn't quite make out what it really was.
Sounds strange I know.
What I mean is that when you look at it head on it's like it's trying to change its shape subtly so your brain has a hard time understanding the nature of the object. But when you have the object in your periphery, it's as still as an image. It's like it doesn't want your eyes to focus on it.
I called the attention of my cousin to the blackest "object" I've ever seen and he can't understand it either. Like when you see something in the sky like a plane or a bird you understand it. Your brain recognizes it even if you just glanced at the thing. But this, stare at it for as long as you like, it doesn't want you to figure it out.
It was just... black.
- oapecnal
A Very Oblivious Kid
I was nearly kidnapped in Mazatlan when I was 11. My dad walked up at the last second, grabbed me and screamed at the two women escorting me away. I had no idea what was happening, or that I was even in danger. I was a very oblivious kid. Very close call.
I shudder when I think about what may have happened to me.
I Lied
I was seeing a girl for a bit. She was into supernatural stuff; believed her dead brother was watching over her etc. One night as we were falling asleep, she sat up a bit panicked and said she'd seen the figure of a man in the hallway. I said I didn't see anything.
I lied.
3AM On A Dark Path
GiphySnowing night about 2 years ago. Was going for a walk around 3 AM because I couldn't sleep.
I was walking on a narrow pathway in a pretty rural area, it was the middle of the night so it was absolutely pitch black; I could see absolutely nothing but kept walking straight.
I reached an area of the pathway where a small light in the distance lit up the path a little more so I could see my direction better. That's when I saw something obstructing my pathway.
There was some sort of object in the direction I was walking, a pretty tall object; looked like a sign or something? So I kept walking. As I got closer, I started making out more about this "object" and I realized it was actually the silhouette of someone standing there.
There was literally a person standing in my way at 3AM on a dark path.
I probably stood there, completely frozen for a few seconds. Trying hard to process what I was seeing, and what the fck to do. The figure I was seeing didn't move either.
Noooope I turned the hell around and walked straight the way I came, no hesitation.
The Kids Were Oblivious
Went shopping with my kids. My 8 and 9 yr old girls had a milkshake, so they waited outside a clothes shop for me so they didn't accidentally spill on anything.
A guy sitting across the way immediately started smiling at my daughter like a creep. He was staring at her with a horrible smile. She is very pretty and tall with long brown hair. Her sister is equally as pretty, but is shorter and had cut her hair very short so she looked like a boy from this guy's distance.
I told myself not to be paranoid but after going back and forth from the shop I brought them in with me. I walked in front of my girls I tried making eye contact with the creepy guy but he kept staring at my daughter.
By the time we left the store he was gone but I felt so paranoid decided just to go to a book store right by the bus stop. I let my kids go to the kids section and followed them down. I normally feel safe enough to leave them together and go upstairs to 2nd hand part of the store, but that day was different.
After a few minutes I start to feel very uncomfortable and tell kids it's time to go. Turn around and creepy guy is stood between two aisles with a kids book in his hands just staring at my daughter.
I grabbed kids and got a cab home instead of taking the bus. I don't know if he followed us or if it was just a coincidence, but was definitely a warning sign to always keep my eyes on my kids.
Thankfully kids were oblivious.
Good Dog
My dog found a guy trapped in the bushes at our house.
We check when he signals because sometimes it is important (like he flipped out when there was an escaped bull nearby) but usually it's one of the neighborhood cats or a groundhog.
This time NOPE. Random dude. Rather polite, but not particularly coherent.
A Bony Figure
Oh my gosh, one time while staying in rural Devon, I left the house in the middle of the night to let my dog out (no garden) and walked to my left where there was a patch of grass. Between me and the patch of grass were cars which I normally walked between to get to the grass. Pretty straightforward.
As I nonchalantly walked between two cars, my dog (a chill dude) was growling and seemed hesitant. I kind of just ignored him, which was dumb.
As I got between the cars, I realised there was this kinda bony figure there, crouching, between the cars tearing into something with their teeth. Reminded me of how a zombie in the walking dead eats something.
They were just crouching. In pitch darkness at like midnight, in the shadow of those two cars. I practically had to squeeze past him and he didn't even look up or acknowledge me. He was just completely engrossed in frantically eating (?) the bag.
I completely blanked out, I made it to the grass and was just panicking about how to get back to my door without passing this guy again. In the end I just legged it past him, practically hysterical with fear!
I always wonder what the FUCK that guy was, he definitely couldn't have been homeless because this is a small rural village there are no homeless people. I've never even come across a creepy person there it's all very safe, doesnt seem to be any drug problems I don't know.
It was almost inhuman in the way it moved and stuff. I have never in my life felt fear like I felt, my god. Was terrified to walk my dog at night ever since. Gives me shivers to even think about.
The Deer Carcass
GiphyThis was about almost exactly year ago. I was jogging in the nature trails of a park near where I live. I was a senior in HS at the time and had been running in these trails for cross country for almost five years and nothing out of the ordinary had ever happened so I felt very comfortable alone in those woods. I find running to be an incredibly meditative sport so I try to find places away from people, and that day I had the wonderful idea to go to the park at night so I could run completely alone.
I got to the park around 2am and got the chills as I was locking my bike in the gravel parking lot. I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I've never been particularly fond of the dark, even in the comfort of my own house. At that, I told myself I was just being stupid and that I'd calm down once I started my run.
Keep in mind two things before I go over what happened:
- There is a small stream that runs in a little valley sort of thing along the left side of the trail loop
- I have never seen deer or really any animal bigger than a squirrel in this park; It's not a very large park and it's surrounded by suburban neighborhoods.
So for this run I decided to do three loops of the trail, about 6 miles. I finished the first loop and confirmed that there was nobody around, so I decided to put my earbuds in. Bad idea.
The trail passes through the parking lot as you finish a loop, and as I finished my second loop, I noticed a pair of footsteps wearing vans had stepped through the line my bike made in the gravel (there's a light at the entrance which let me see this). It took me a couple seconds to realize that this meant I wasn't alone anymore.
About a third of the way through the last loop I noticed a dark shadow up ahead in the stream to the left. As I got closer I realized it was a grown man on his knees, hands behind his back, face buried in the gut of a fcking deer on the ground in front of him.
He looked up at me as I passed him, sprinting at this point. I was terrified. It was pretty dark but my eyes were adjusted enough to see that his face was dripping, with blood I assume. To say I was terrified out of my mind is an understatement. I sprinted as fast as I could, taking a shortcut through the center of the park so I could get to my bike faster.
If I didn't have my earbuds in I would've heard him chasing me before I looked back. I did not hear him.
I think that's the scariest thing I've ever seen, ever. Looking back over my shoulder to see a grown man chasing me through the woods in the middle of the night, fcking dripping with blood. Thank god I was in good shape and could outrun the guy.
I fumbled with my bike lock and it felt like it took forever to unlock it. I kept looking back at where the trail meets the lot, knowing that this guy would come bursting out any second.
I unlocked my bike, charged home as fast as possible, and called the police. They checked out the scene in the morning and found the deer and the imprints of his knees in the mud of the stream but the guy was gone.
I still have trouble falling asleep at night. I never went back to those trails either. It's really a shame, they were great trails. Really beautiful.