People Share Times They Knew Something Was Off About Someone But Couldn't Prove It
Photo by Poseidon X on Unsplash

There are just some people who always trigger the spidey senses.

The problem is that we don't trust our instincts enough.

How many people have just left you feeling... ill at ease?

Probably more than we care to admit.

We don't want to be wrong about someone.

That is the main problem. Then we'd be embarrassed.

That feeling changes to relief when we see them on the news or a Dateline NBC episode.

RedditorLucky_Solution7999wanted to hear about the people who inexplicably rubbed us the wrong way. They asked:

"Hey reddit, what is one time you knew something was off about someone but couldn't prove it?"

When I was doing online "love" browsing a bunch, I was always good about being in tune to my icky feelings.

the guitarist...

"My buddy and the guitarist in my band started dating this girl we were on the same forum with. I raised concerns based on some red flags she posted, but everybody in my band said I was overreacting."

"Cut to about a year later. The girlfriend cheats on him and gets pregnant. When my friend goes to confront her about it, she has the baby’s daddy and five of his friends jump him and beat him into hospitalization. Hate to say I told you so, but…"

gothdaddi

A Guy

"I hired a guy a long time ago and worked with him for years. Very talented and smart, plus a nice guy. At some point, he started making super strange decisions. Kinda impulsive, very odd stuff (asking if he can invite his girlfriend to a staff meeting, for instance). A lot of crap that didn’t make any sense. He got hired to a better job and I lost touch."

"A few months later, he died of a large number of brain tumors. The timeline his girlfriend-turned-wife offered matched up with what we’d been noticing for years. I look back in the arguments and realize there’s no way I could have known. At the same time, that’s kinda the point: you really can’t know what’s going on with someone, so act accordingly."

patricksaurus

psycho

"My parents had a close friend when I was pretty young, maybe between 8 and 10 years old? He came over a lot, to drink or shoot guns with my dad, but I didn’t like him one bit. He just gave me a bad feeling. I remember sticking my tongue out at him every time his back was to me. Never said anything to my parents though, I just stayed away when he was over."

"My mom ended up hiring him to work at the pawn shop she ran, and after he started things went missing. I don’t remember how they figured out he was stealing but he had a gallon ziplock FILLED with jewelry. The cops tried to convince the owner not to press charges (since he got the jewelry back) but the owner went through with it."

"As soon as they booked him, his finger prints came back from an unsolved double homicide- he had brutally murdered an elderly couple when they came home mid-robbery. After he killed him, he drank their milk, leaving his prints on the jug on the counter."

AlwxWrites

“too comfortable”

"My mom used to have this friend years ago when we lived in a pretty nice looking house, and she would often show up uninvited and act 'too comfortable' in our house. my mom would always just say that it’s probably just because that lady comes from a different culture but i was suspicious of the lady stealing some stuff from our house. one day the lady invites my mom to the beach."

"My mom has a huge fear of water and can’t swim at all so she avoids it, but she tends to be overly polite, so she decides to go. at the beach, the lady pressures my mom to go swim assuring her that they’ll stay close to the shore and what not. the lady ended up shoving my mom in and standing back to watch as my mom had a difficult time keeping herself up and trying to swim back to shore."

4bunny44

2 Days...

"My best friend at the time worked with a guy who I had met a few times as I'd join them for afterwork drinks, clubbing, etc. I always felt uncomfortable being around him but didn't know why. He was nice enough and quite funny but something just seemed... off. Anyway, we were out one night and he seemed extra off and ended up disappearing from the club. We found out 2 days later that he had gone home, killed his gf, dismembered her body and put her in the bin out the front of his house."

lilpinaylander

What in the world? Talk about nightmares.

The Former

"A former friend's husband. He always tried just that bit too hard to fit into the group and be involved in everything. Always had to be the smartest guy in the room. I don’t know what it was but I disliked him from the moment we met and there’s not that many people I dislike."

"Long story short, he turned out to be a controlling, emotionally abusive sack of crap who hated me because I kept encouraging my friend to be independent and my husband and I encourage each other to have a life outside of each other."

Yanigan

“too comfortable”

"My mom used to have this friend years ago when we lived in a pretty nice looking house, and she would often show up uninvited and act 'too comfortable' in our house. My mom would always just say that it’s probably just because that lady comes from a different culture but I was suspicious of the lady stealing some stuff from our house. One day the lady invites my mom to the beach, my mom has a huge fear of water and can’t swim at all so she avoids it."

"But she tends to be overly polite, so she decides to go. at the beach, the lady pressures my mom to go swim assuring her that they’ll stay close to the shore and what not. the lady ended up shoving my mom in and standing back to watch as my mom had a diffcult time keeping herself up and trying to swim back to shore."

4bunny44

he's weird...

"I was friends with this kid for awhile and he was always weird. he always made some sort of sexual joke or comment about you or something he wanted to do to you, although the comments were weird everyone brushed them off as if they were a joke."

"Me and him were really close at one point and decided that we would get drunk, at first I felt uneasy as i do not drink and i wasn’t really comfortable with the idea of being around him and getting drunk as i know his personality. eventually he persuaded me to drink with him and after a few shots we were pretty drunk."

"After that we headed over to his place and had to act completely sober in front of his parents. After awhile it had been quite awhile since we had drank i was starting to feel/act more sober than a few hours before and from my point of view, he did too."

"After awhile he was starting to act his usual self and make the sexual comments but out of nowhere he started acting upon it too. The friendship had ended shortly after that experience."

BitLimp5448

"broke up"

"My best friend was a wealthy only child. We went to the same college and he had his own apartment off-campus. His party lifestyle attracted good and bad attention. Eventually, an older (mid-twenties) guy latched on to him and moved into the spare room with his girlfriend."

"This guy had a big fake smile and was constantly talking about holistic medicine, aromatherapy, blah blah blah. His girlfriend was basically a slave that cooked and cleaned up after him. I spent less time with my friend but I was there the day things boiled over. Items had gone missing and my friend was upset."

"He accused Mr. A**hole of stealing from him and that led to a fistfight. I (6'4" 250 Lbs) 'broke up' the fight and kicked out the unwelcome guest and told his GF to pack their s**t. Turns out the 'holistic medicine' they favored was heroin. The girlfriend was a runaway whose family was desperate for her return."

"She made it home and went into rehab after he got arrested in an airport out West carrying two ounces of sneezing powder in his hand luggage. He was wanted in three states for trafficking and someone who hated him even more than I did set him up for a 20-year stay at Club Fed."

patmcgroin

That Guy

"A guy in my college friend group. Nice, funny, seemed like a really good guy. He and I shared a lot of interests so we would hang out a lot just the two of us, but always in public places. I would get a slightly weird vibe from him but ignore it since he was being nothing but friendly."

"One night we had all been drinking at his place. I realized too late that I had missed the last bus home so I asked if I could crash on his couch until morning. Which in hindsight might have been the most stupid decision of my life, but I didn't think any of it at first as I was used to hanging out with him."

"The other people left and it was just him and me. I started getting a really bad feeling out of nowhere so instead of going to sleep like had planned I pretended I wasn't tired and kept talking to him. He offered to show me around his house. I agreed, but again had a very bad feeling about."

"It so I made sure to put my phone in my pocket before I followed him and never put him between myself and the door. Nothing happened, we just stayed up talking and I felt really stupid as I left in the early morning hours. Two weeks later he assaulted another girl in our group while she was at his house. After that I never ignore my gut feeling about a person."

SupaFroosh

Bullets Didged

"Was going to a very big university in a college town. Barely 18. Worked at a fast food restaurant that had people bring you food on skates. I got hit on a lot by college kids. Big football player asked for my number, I gave it to him- he looked handsome and nice. He texts me later and asks to go to a party with me. Idk why, instantly got bad vibes from him. Don’t know what made me feel that way."

"I said no thanks, I’m busy. He instantly tried to guilt me into going and I felt good about my decision about not going. YEARS later, I see his face on the news- he’s been found guilty of multiple assaults. He’s still in jail to this day. BIG BULLET DODGED. Always listen to your gut."

marlzbarkley23

fake...

"This guy seemed great at first. His situation was exactly what I was looking for, we were so compatible, he was pretty much perfect. Slowly he started to get pushy about certain things. I couldn’t put my finger on what was off, but how perfect he was suddenly seemed… fake?"

"We’d just had sex and he went to the bathroom. I noticed the condom on the floor and picked it up. It was empty. I asked him why and he said 'Oh, I thought you were okay with me taking it off.' I freaked out and left. Never spoke to him again. That was a few months ago."

HuffleSl*t_

One Shot

"In law school, I had a guy who' sat in front of me for contracts every day for a year. He definitely gave off some serious red flags when he would answer questions, etc Second year of law school and I didn't have any classes with the guy that I know of. Apparently he wasn't going to class anyway."

"I have no idea what took place but one day the dude shot his mother and then himself with what I remember to be an AK 47. https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/local/2014/09/17/officials-vt-law-school-student-kills-mom-self/15811161/. Off topic but That same year one of our professors from 1L shot herself."

getyourgolfshoes

Block Him

"Had a guy in high school who was overly pushy about wanting to hangout with me after only knowing me for a day. Would constantly message at all hours of the night. One day when on my way home I took a back way and passed by him laying in his car down the road from my house just watching."

"Needless to say I blocked him on everything and cut all contact. Fast forward three years, and he was charged for murdering his sisters son who he was fostering. The little boy was only 18 months old and had evidence of months of excessive physical abuse that eventually lead to him dying."

EmBreezy1997

"retreats"

"It always seemed strange to me, when growing up, that a particular priest spent an inordinate amount of his free time with boys:"

"Coaching basketball, organizing canoe trips, 'retreats' for boys, boys choir, altar boys training sessions, etc. Sadly, later in life my doubts proved warranted as he was eventually defrocked for sexual abuse and indulging his pedophile urges."

Back2Bach

“bad seed”

"My mom's coworker was a good friend of hers. Her son was a few years older than me, it was a family of mom, dad, son, 2 daughters. The son was always a 'bad seed' as my mom put it and did drugs and went to a school for 'troubled kids' etc. He kicked my baby carriage type of stuff. Giving the family lots of stress. Many years later my parents and her and husband are at a Christmas party."

"The husband seems really really off, and my parents made comments to each other about what must be going on with him, he seemed like he’d kill himself tomorrow. A few days later the daughters find their dead brother and father in the house. The father did a murder suicide and left the women for themselves. He probably thought he was doing her a favor."

wowguineapigs

Bye Bye

"I got pulled off from all projects at work. I thought it was strange to see my schedule so empty. I consulted my boss. He said everything is fine. Took me out for coffee. I could see through his bullshit. Turned out I was right because I got canned."

theatre_gang

Paranoia...

"Ya know, that one friend some girlfriends/boyfriends have that make you feel they don't want to be just friends with your SO? There was one my ex girlfriend had that gave me that feeling. Very hard to prove when it could be just me being paranoid. I guess I was right since my ex gf and that friend of hers is now her husband and the father of her kid."

mizukata

This is a lot. This is why I avoid people. People are crazy.

Want to "know" more?

Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.