When things are going well, your instincts and common sense usually work together like a charm. But what do you do when they don’t agree? How can you tell if it’s time to trust that gut feeling of yours? Well, some folks just have an innate knack for intuition. They know in their bones when something isn’t quite right.
1. Tornado
I worked at a hospital PRN and frequently picked up extra shifts. I worked overnights and had asked the supervisor to go ahead and put me down to work the next night…
Well as the night went on I just felt awful, like completely doomed- I had never wanted so badly to be home (I lived an hour away from my job) so by the morning I called the supervisor and asked her to remove me from the schedule.
So I went home, feeling unexplainably scared…By the time I woke up, I was getting calls that an EF-5 tornado had hit the town I worked in and the hospital I worked at.
2. Last Day
I used to work as a nurse in an old people’s home. I had great contact with one of the little old ladies there. One night, after having helped her get to bed I said, “Good night, see you tomorrow”, knowing I was coming in the next morning.
“Oh no”, she said merrily, “I don’t think we’ll see each other tomorrow”.
It felt kind of off and I went home feeling strange about it. When I came in to work the next morning she had died peacefully in her sleep, no more than a few hours after I’d left her.
3. I Was Right
By the time I was 13, my mom had been battling cancer for a year and a half. It was a few days after my birthday, and she was due for an IV port surgery the following morning. Just a simple day surgery, right?
She came to my room to say goodnight, and I freaked out. For some reason, I knew this surgery would not go well ( this is after she had lung surgery and multiple bouts of chemo and radiation on her chest and brain). She reassured me that it was fine and that we would go bowling a few days later.
She never returned home. During the surgery, her remaining full lung collapsed, and it went entirely downhill from there. Just over a month later she passed away.
I have no idea what caused my fear of that being the end, but unfortunately, I was right.
4. Stage 4 Cancer
The night before my brother was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, this was only 2 weeks back. I was over at my uncle’s. During the night I had this feeling of dread. I wanted to be with my father and mother (brother lives away from us).
In the night I had a horrible dream. An indistinguishable figure was lying on a bed dying. I am waken up by my aunt who informs me my brother was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Idk what warranted that dream and feeling, but it was definitely something horrible.
5. Car Accident
My mom got a phone call one day, and I just got this overwhelming feeling that my dad got into a car accident. After she got off the phone, she told me she had to go, and that my dad had been in a car accident.
That was the start of his downward spiral in health.
6. Almost Got Kidnapped
I think a gut feeling led to me not being kidnapped. I was maybe, 9 at the time. I was in a department store, wandering on my own when all of a sudden the most terrible, gut-wrenching feeling came over me.
I don’t know how, but I knew I had to get back to my mom. I ran to the isle she was in, a man hurriedly followed me into the isle. When he saw I was with my mother, he stood there for a few seconds and stared at me, before walking away. I will never forget that feeling or his terrifying face.
7. Stalker
I’ve had a similar experience multiple times walking home from school when I was little. One time I just had a bad feeling about a guy on the same street as me, and I ran.
Sure enough, he chased me. Seemed intent on getting me. He didn’t say a word, just went after me. Luckily I was very familiar with the neighborhood and close to home.
8. Voice In My Head
I was in my early twenties, alone, driving on a major highway. In the lane to my left was a semi. Right behind my right ear, I heard a frantic, “Get away from the truck!” It wasn’t super loud, but it was authoritative, so not even questioning my sanity I put on my brakes and let the truck get several car lengths ahead.
Within 5-7 seconds probably, one of the truck’s tires blew out, and the truck swerved hard into the lane that I was in. Had I still been next to the truck I would have been pushed down an embankment doing 65.
I wouldn’t call it a gut feeling because I swear on everything that I am, I heard that voice in my ear. Zero explanation, but I’m okay with that because somehow I avoided a major accident that could have been devastating.
9. Worst Day Of My Life
My three-year-old kept hinting that he wasn’t going to grow up. He said he talked to Jesus at the science table in preschool. He said Jesus said he had to choose whether to stay or to go.
Of course, I was panicky and full of terror and kept saying that he was going to stay with Mommy, etc. Four days later a vehicle at a car wash (I was forced to moderate by my supervisor), rolled backwards from a parking space and killed my son.
My ex-husband had gone under the vehicle to check on some wiring. Worst day of my life. It is the first thing and the last thing I think of every day.
10. Bar Fight
Went to Dave n Busters. Hanging out at the bar and just had a bad feeling about the people around me. 30 minutes later, a fight broke out next to me between 2 different parties over some girl.
Got a piece of broken glass on my arm and security guards sprayed pepper spray everywhere and I caught some on my face.
11. How I Got Dumped
Fun story – a couple of weeks ago, my gf knew for the first time in 4 years where she wanted to go for dinner. When we got there she dumped me. Knew something was wrong the whole time, but everything was “fine” when I’d ask.
At one point she refused to hold my hand and I asked her one more time. Got a “Really? You want to do this here?”
12. I Almost Died
I once had an overwhelming feeling that I was about to die. It was like an anxiety attack. I pulled my car safely to the shoulder of the expressway to catch my breath.
Literally, 30 seconds later I saw a car nail a semi-truck which flipped onto its side taking two other cars with it. I didn’t die but it still counts for this post.
13. Missed Calls
I woke up to like 4219804 calls from my family…literally everyone but my brother. I had a gut feeling something happened to him.
Then my mom told me he had been in a car accident and they were still waiting for information about it. I had a gut feeling he was dead.
I had never been so sure of something in my life…I’m pretty sure I went through the 5 stages of grief backwards. I started off with Acceptance immediately. I pretty much accepted that he was dead even before my sister called me with the confirmation. My gut feeling was just that powerful I guess.
14. Reading Minds
I have a bit of a happier story than others.
I have had quite a few cases where I could virtually read someone else’s mind. I can sometimes tell if someone is looking to talk to me, what they want to talk to me about, and sometimes even when and where they will find me. Even if I haven’t seen them in weeks.
Sometimes I know exactly where people are. For example I am walking around Wal-Mart and I get an overwhelming feeling that my friend, Chad, who I haven’t talked to in years, will be right around the corner.
Then suddenly… Chad.
15. Nurse’s Gut Feeling
Nurses often talk of their “gut feelings”. I’m a cardiac nurse and at times you look at your patient and something isn’t right. Vital signs are fine, electrolytes are within range…. but something is off. Happened to me with a patient.
Just about to discharge them, they said they had to use the bathroom and their eyes rolled into their head. They didn’t make it.
16. Hardest Goodbye Ever
My mother was in the hospital for stage 4 lung cancer. I have a nightly routine where I check my emails, social media, etc, set my alarm for the morning and put my phone on silent/do not disturb for the night.
One night I just didn’t do it for some reason, something just told me to leave it on. I woke up from a phone call at 6 in the morning saying my mom was having complications, not to get on the bus for school, and that my aunt would be picking me up to take me to say our goodbyes.
17. Crazy Driver
I was driving last night when I noticed a car behind me to the right and got a bad feeling. The car passed me on the right going pretty fast and I got wary so I slowed down to let some space build between us.
Immediately after I begin to brake, the car swerves to the right, then back left, crossing my lane and entering oncoming traffic, hitting another car dead on. If I hadn’t slowed down initially I would have plowed right into them. Not incredibly scary but it happened less than 12 hours ago so it’s still in my mind.
18. Autistic Child
When I was pregnant, I was certain my child was autistic. She is. But really, it wound up not being what I thought it was. Thanks to propaganda by certain organizations, I thought all autistic people were severe and low functioning.
My daughter is high functioning with serious deficits in social skills and executive functioning. Honestly, she’s the most interesting person I know so I wouldn’t change a thing.
19. Battling Cancer
When I was around 14 my best friend was fighting cancer. One day my mom and I were driving around town in her convertible on a 104-degree day.
While at a stop light (no wind blowing) my whole body shivered and I had this sudden feeling of depression. Found out a few hours later that my friend lost his battle.
20. Almost Got Hit By a Car
My grandma was vacuuming and she had this terrible feeling that my aunt was in danger (she was about 5). She was in the front yard playing in the driveway.
My grandpa’s friend was pulling out and my aunt was right behind the car. Just before it happened my grandma screamed and he stopped the car. Inches away from my aunt.
21. Gay
When I was a little kid, maybe 10 or 11 years old, I knew that being gay would not be okay in my house. I knew that if my parents ever found out I would get thrown out. And one day, when I was 18, I was on my home after a party I got a really bad feeling.
I even told my friends that I didn’t want to go home that night. But I did. And sure enough, when I got home, my things were packed. They had found out from one of my old friends, that thought it would be funny to tell my parents. That was a sh*tty few months.
22. Nightmare
For years and years, I used to have a reoccurring nightmare every few months where my Mum would tell me that she was terminally ill. I would always call or text her the next morning to make sure she was still alive. In the dream I would get so angry and scream at her, telling her it wasn’t fair because she had more time with her Mum before she died.
In December my Mum was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. My Mum lost her mother when she was 33, I’ll be lucky to still have my Mum around when I’m 26. I haven’t had that nightmare since.
23. Horrible Feeling
On the morning of 9-11, I woke up in the middle of the night with a horrible feeling – like I had just woken up from a really bad nightmare but didn’t remember any of it. I couldn’t explain it so I struggled to get back to bed.
I tossed and turned until 5 AM (I’m on the West Coast) when I thought I should just watch some mindless morning cartoons until I had to start my day. Funny enough, the first channel that came on was a cartoon but I got bored of it quickly. I turned the channel and saw what was just starting to unfold…
24. I Should’ve Stayed
Well, the last time I ever talked to my brother I got a very intense feeling. Christmas day I went to drop off the camera he had gotten for Christmas so he could use it that day at his girlfriend’s house.
He invited me inside and I said no I gotta get home to see mom, I promised her. And as I was driving home I had this horrible thought that it was the last time I’d ever see him. I paid it no mind because I had had thoughts like this before with no ill effect. Turns out I was right. He died that night.
25. I Always Listen To My Mom
Not me but my mom. When I was little, she had a dream where she and I were in a car accident with her boyfriend and his brother where the car rolled and crushed us.
The next day, we were supposed to drive back from somewhere with boyfriend and brother and mom was instantly afraid and urged to get a ride later with another friend. The two went on and later rolled the car, crushing the brother to death as well as the whole side of the car that my car seat was in. I always listen to my mom.
26. My Poor Mom
Not me but when my mother was a teenager she was supposed to go babysitting for a family she had babysat for many times before, she had a bad feeling about it one night and called them.
They pleaded with her that it would only be a few hours but she insisted and they said ok and got another babysitter. The house was broken into and the other babysitter was assaulted. I sometimes think about how different her life would be if she did go that night.
27. A Murderer
My dad was walking to school when he was a kid when a man was walking the opposite direction of him on the same side of the sidewalk. He felt an uncontrollable urge to cross the road but when they passed the man kept on walking, disappearing out of view.
Later that day after my Dad had returned from school my grandfather told him that this man had just stabbed his wife to death, he walked passed him as he was on his way to murder her.
28. All Alone
I woke up in my father’s house, I had come to spend the last months of his remaining life with him, I had slept in. Maybe I knew because it was so cold because he hadn’t been able to close the windows in the night, or because it was dark because he hadn’t been able to turn on any lights, but even before I felt the cold I simply felt alone, more alone than I’d ever felt in my life, different, not alone as you are when everyone in the room leaves, but as you are when they leave, and you know they’re never coming back.
I’m sure you can all guess what I found when I went upstairs.
29. I Lost a Close Friend
I had this friend that I was really close to when I was little but we drifted apart over a couple years. A couple of weeks before this happened, I had this nagging feeling that I needed to talk to him at least once more but I always put it off.
One day in March I was on Facebook and saw some stuff about him getting in a wreck and dying. It still doesn’t feel real and I feel like sh*t for letting my oldest friend drift away from me.
30. Suicide
When I was in middle school, my friend was supposed to be missing school to tour a high school. I got the gut feeling that’s not where she was. Later that day, I found out her father had committed suicide.
31. The Man With a Knife
Was walking home from a party when I was in college. It was six a.m. and actually a little bright, very pretty, very quiet. All I could hear were my footsteps. I was still in my dress and heels, and one house away from where I lived.
A horrible feeling came over me, so I stopped, took off my shoes, and stayed perfectly still. About a minute later I was starting to doubt myself when a man stepped out of the hedges and looked straight at me.
I turned around as casually as possible and went down an alley. As soon as I was out of his line of sight I took off. I RAN into my house, locked the door, and turned to look out the window. He came running around the corner with a knife about two seconds later.
32. Always Trust Your Gut
When I was in grade twelve I never really texted (I had a Blackberry, enough said) and always kept my phone on silent, and usually in my purse. One night I was sitting downstairs and I got this urge to put my ringer on.
I went to put it on and realized I had a text from my friend that was sent around five minutes before. It said, “ash, would you care if I died?” I answered right away, beyond worried, and he texted me back saying he had just taken a ton of pills and booze, and that he was sorry.
I called 911 on my home phone and my friend on my cell, and stayed on the lines until the ambulance picked him up. I learned the next day that he almost didn’t make it, and had I not called 911 right away, he probably wouldn’t have pulled through. After that, I always keep my ringer on, and I always trust my gut.
33. Weird Feeling
I had been feeling weird, all day. Just kind of mopey and really sad, crying bad mood. Then I got a phone call from my best friend at the time. One of our mutual friends had died in a car accident on his way to his brother’s military graduation. We were 12-13. I cried nonstop for three days straight.
34. Unable To Move
This has happened to her three times in her life. She sees someone she knows and it’s like a giant hand grasps her and makes her unable to move. She can’t pull her eyes from them, her skin gets cold, and her feet completely stop working.
She is paralyzed like this until they leave the room. Every time it’s ever happened, the person was dead within 24 hours.
35. Fired
I got a new job and predicted I would get fired last Wednesday. I was warned by my new coworkers that management was very fickle and often changed directions. The other person I was hired with was fired after a week.
When I started I signed up for an Adobe trial for photo editing (part of my job) while they got me a license. The license expired on Wednesday. My only mistake was I forgot businesses like to fire people on Fridays.
So Wednesday came and went. I decided not to mention my expired Adobe and do other work. Then Friday came, and I got called into the office, and that was that. Fired at lunchtime on a Friday. It was so textbook that I should have predicted it.
36. Pacemaker
My sister recently had this feeling that our grandpa needed his pacemaker checked out. Didn’t think anything of it until my mom said she was going to take my grandpa to the doctor for his regular blood work. After she told my mom, my mom agreed that she would see if they could get him in to check on the pacemaker.
They get there, and they had an opening where they could go right back and check it out. Turns out some setting was way off which caused his heart to be beating a lot slower than it should be beating at.
37. Heart Attack
When I was 21 I decided to surprise my parents by coming over on New Year’s Eve. This was out of the ordinary because I was into the bar scene, and hated staying inside. You know how young people are–with the sense of urgency to go out and be seen. Still, I had this gut feeling that I needed to be with them.
When I got to my parents’ house, the cars were both gone and every light was on in the house. I called my mom and they were at the ER because my dad had had a heart attack.
I am so thankful that I was there to hold his hand. I was the only one of his three children within 500 miles. It was like I was drawn to them. They needed me and I was magically there.
38. Intruder
One night I was playing Portal. It’s my go-to game to kill time, so I played it quite often. Something felt off while I played it, kind of like I was being watched. I went straight to bed after that (God knows why).
I woke up not even 20 minutes later to police cars. Someone broke into my house. They were found by my dad hiding in my bathroom’s shower. He admitted to looking in two rooms. One was mine.
39. RIP, Hamster
I was maybe 12 or 13. One night, I fell asleep in the living room instead of the bedroom, where my pet hamster’s cage was. I woke up kinda late, around 10 and as soon as I did, my mom pulled me into the dining room and sat me down instead of letting me go to the bathroom (which was through the bedroom).
I got this weird feeling that my hamster had died, which is why my Mom wouldn’t let me into the bedroom. Then she told me my hamster had died while I was sleeping.
40. House Fire
My grandmother lived by herself. She was wheelchair-bound and lived by herself. For years, we pleaded with her to come to move in with us. She said she didn’t want “to be a burden.” Then it’s seventh grade. I’m in my last class of the day.
I get this terrible feeling that Ma had just died in a house fire. Not 5 minutes later, my mom came to school to get me. I instantly knew why. I was right. Earlier that day, an electric fire had started at Ma’s house. Her dog got out, but she didn’t.
41. Something Was Wrong
My grandmother swore from the time I was 5 years old that there was going to be something physically wrong with me, despite being very physically active and healthy as a child. Flash forward, I’m 18 and diagnosed with a severe form of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome that now limits me to my bed very frequently.
For some reason, I didn’t show symptoms until high school. When we called my grandma to explain my diagnosis a year ago, she replied, ‘Jen (my mother) I knew something was wrong.’
42. Tough Times
Driving home from work, I decided to pick my daughter up from school rather than let her take the bus. I never did that, I just felt like I had to. She was 7 years old.
I had this weird feeling that I had to go find her in the upstairs bathroom – somewhere I had never been yet knew where it was. Went right in there, my eyes went right under the sink where she was hiding just as she let out a wail of a cry. She was bawling her eyes out. It was a very tough time emotionally for her, but she needed her mama and used her child beacon.
43. Both Of Our Cars Got Totaled
About a week ago I was stopped in traffic. For a second I looked at the car behind me which was about to reach the line of stopped cars and briefly thought “That car is going to hit me… Nah.”
I didn’t really have a whole lot of reason to think this because he was far enough back to stop in time. I took my eyes off the rearview mirror.
A couple of seconds later there’s a crunch and the car lurches forward. And that’s how both our cars got totaled.
44. Bomb
I was in Oslo, Norway on vacation. I was walking around town and seeing the sights. I was on my way up the street where a lot of government buildings were located. As I neared the street, I had this distinct urge to return to my hotel.
I couldn’t shake it, so I returned to my hotel. 15 minutes later, the hotel shook and I thought it was an earthquake. Turns out it was from the blast of the bomb that had gone off on that street. I avoided the bomb by listening to my instincts.
45. Earthquake
I’ve had a few that I don’t remember and one that I do. When I was 14, 11 years ago I was reading a book sitting on the floor and I got the sudden strong feeling that an earthquake was about to happen, I got up and ran to my mom yelling about it and she said “sure sure.”
I stood around for about 10 minutes then gave up and went back to my room, before I sat down the earthquake hit, it broke a few plates, but overall wasn’t strong. There hasn’t been an earthquake here since, nor had there been one before.
46. Stroke
When I was 8 I told my father not to go on a date that night because something bad was going to happen. He told me not to worry that I would be with my grandfather. When we (grandfather and I) got back to his house he laid on the couch and died in front of me from a stroke.
47. I Lost My Best Friend
Ugh, this happens to me every once and a while, I’ll have a nightmare that feels so real and then it comes true.
One of the worst ones, I had a nightmare I lost my best friend. Was told I could never see him again. I woke up crying and was hoping this would not be one of the ones that come true like others in the past. The next few days whenever I was with him I was scared something would happen, don’t know if he ever noticed.
About a week later, exactly like in the nightmare, I lost him.
48. Making a Move
I had a nasty gut feeling that my sister was flirting and trying to get at my husband. I always brushed it off because I would think “Well I would never do that to my sister so she wouldn’t do it to me.” Boy was I wrong. Thankfully when she actually made a move my husband told me.
49. High Fever
My 2-year-old daughter had a fever that we were struggling to keep down with Tylenol and Motrin. We all took a nap, and I woke up about 2 hours after she went down, partially thinking “she needs sleep, she has the flu” while also partially thinking “I need to see her, need to check on her, SOMETHING.”
It was a fight for me but I decided to wake her up because I needed to see her. Her fever was 106.1F. Scariest moments of my life. I can’t imagine if I had left her longer.
50. I Dodged a Bullet
In my first week of college, a guy in one of my classes randomly approached me after class and asked me out. On the day of the date, I got a weird feeling like I was going to throw up and made up an excuse not to go.
The next week, he got kicked out of our school for violently attacking a girl he was on a date with.
