# Ever Had the Feeling You Were Stared At? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 17, 2000, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-the-feeling-you-were-stared-at/13992 "2000-02-17T20:45:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![egkelly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/db5fbb/32.png) [@egkelly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/egkelly)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-the-feeling-you-were-stared-at/13992/1 "2000-02-17T20:45:00Z")
Many times I have felt that someone was looking at me, turn around, and indeed there was. What’s the explanation? Some possibilities: (1) ESP (unlikely, never been proven) (2) The human brain is programmed to make us turn around frequently (helped us avoid being eaten in prehistoric days) (3)?? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-the-feeling-you-were-stared-at/13992/2 "2000-02-17T20:52:00Z")
Maybe you’re just impossibly gorgeous. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-the-feeling-you-were-stared-at/13992/3 "2000-02-17T20:55:00Z")
Subliminal cues, most likely. Tiny noises made by another person breathing or moving around, or the sudden absence of noises (the air conditioner shutting off) that make us instinctively jumpy. Or it could be that little kid throwing pebbles at you. ---
**Author:** ![purrplebear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/90ced4/32.png) [@purrplebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purrplebear)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-the-feeling-you-were-stared-at/13992/4 "2000-02-17T21:01:00Z")
I tend to go with the ESP theory, that, or else we’re all just extremely paranoid, or who knows? I often feel as though I’m being stared at, especially when I’m eating a tunafish sandwich. (oh,wait, that’s my kitty) As for being too goodlooking, I wish I had that problem! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![SwimmingRiddles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SwimmingRiddles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwimmingRiddles)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-the-feeling-you-were-stared-at/13992/5 "2000-02-17T21:07:00Z")
Or maybe it’s those Sixth Sense ghosts. * * * Habit rules the unreflecting herd. - Wordsworth ---
**Author:** ![Frankie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/258eb7/32.png) [@Frankie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankie)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-the-feeling-you-were-stared-at/13992/6 "2000-02-17T21:16:00Z")
Its definatly ESP. Haven’t you ever stared at someone in Church or Class or something hoping they will turn around and look and they do?? Thats what im talking about! * * * -Frankie “Mother Mercy, can your loins bear fruit forever?/Is your fecundity a trammel or a treasure?” -Bad Religion ---
**Author:** ![purrplebear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/90ced4/32.png) [@purrplebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purrplebear)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-the-feeling-you-were-stared-at/13992/7 "2000-02-17T21:17:00Z")
Personally, I kind of subscribe to the ESP theory, either that, or we’re all just really paranoid. I often feel like I’m being stared at all the time, especially when I’m eating a tunafish sandwich (oh, wait, that’s my kitty!). As for being too goodlooking, I WISH I had that problem. Oh, well.😛 ---
**Author:** ![purrplebear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/90ced4/32.png) [@purrplebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purrplebear)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-the-feeling-you-were-stared-at/13992/8 "2000-02-17T21:20:00Z")
Hey, how’d that get in there twice? Sorry, gang\> I have often willed someone to call me, or to turn around and look at me, and they do, so I know what you mean. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-the-feeling-you-were-stared-at/13992/9 "2000-02-17T21:35:00Z")
What I want to know is why, on the occasions when I happen to glance at a person in a car next to me on the road or at an intersection, they are always ALREADY looking at me? Weird. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-the-feeling-you-were-stared-at/13992/10 "2000-02-17T21:51:00Z")
Cher: See my hypothesis re: egkelly, above. * * * Uke ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-the-feeling-you-were-stared-at/13992/11 "2000-02-17T21:56:00Z")
We used to do exercises in the Army where you have to sneak up on someone (usually an instructor) to teach us quiet stalking skills. I found when I looked at them (they were turned back to us and blindfolded) they would turn around, blindfolded and point at me, thus sending me back to the beginning. However, when I looked at the ground and just stole glances, they didn’t find me and I “got” them. Now, my instructors were not “impossibly gorgeous”, despite whatever they might think. I know I can “feel” when someone is looking at me although I don’t know how. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-the-feeling-you-were-stared-at/13992/12 "2000-02-17T22:01:00Z")
Ike, I try not to indulge but ``` :rolleyes: ``` ---
**Author:** ![Nu\_Vo\_Da\_Da](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/97f17d/32.png) [@Nu\_Vo\_Da\_Da](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nu_Vo_Da_Da)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-the-feeling-you-were-stared-at/13992/13 "2000-02-17T22:02:00Z")
I’d have to support the subliminal clues hypothesis here…even in your case, poysyn. Just because someone has a blindfold on doesn’t mean they can’t see something-and people notice people that are looking at them much easier than people that arent…(it’s a technique that i learned early on in school-if you don’t want the prof to call on you, don’t look at them.) ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-the-feeling-you-were-stared-at/13992/14 "2000-02-17T22:04:00Z")
Mom, Uke’s lookin’ at me again. Make him stop. * * * _Here’s mud in yer eye,_ UncleBeer ---
**Author:** ![saraam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@saraam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saraam)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-the-feeling-you-were-stared-at/13992/15 "2000-02-17T22:15:00Z")
I actually read about a study done on this phenomenon. I remember it was in a college psychology textbook, unfortunately, that’s all I remember about the source. However it was concluded that people turned around less than 50% of the time when they were being stared at, and chalked it up to coincidence. You think you always turn around, just because when you don’t- you don’t realize you were being stared at. So, I hold with the subliminal clues. ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-the-feeling-you-were-stared-at/13992/16 "2000-02-17T22:21:00Z")
I’ve had that “stared at” tickle before and have no idea the cause. The idea of ESP makes me pretty uncomfortable but I’d have to reject the subliminal clues hypothesis. I’m basing this on experiences in large crowded areas. One was terminal C at O’Hare (aka the 5th ring of hell) where the starer was a considerable distance away and there was so much confusion nothing more subtle than someone spraying the crowd with an Uzi would have been noticeable. BTW, anyone warbling that Some Enchanted Evening thing about “_across a croooowded roooom_” will be smacked severely. I’ll leave this to the GD fans because frankly it’s mildly creepy and I don’t like thinking about it. Trapped in linear thinking, Veb ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-the-feeling-you-were-stared-at/13992/17 "2000-02-17T22:23:00Z")
Thank you, egkelly. Now I’ll be turning around all day to see who’s looking at me. (swivelling head) no one yet, except of course the Internet gods. I think that when you turn your head, other people sense movement out of the corner of their eye, and so their first reaction is to look in the direction of the movement, so you end up starting at each other. Of course, in my case (let me say it before Uke does), I am impossibly gorgeous, so eyes are always slithering up and down my body like snakes, filled with lust and desiring what they can never have, hahahahaha. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-the-feeling-you-were-stared-at/13992/18 "2000-02-17T22:30:00Z")
Quotes “so eyes are always slithering up and down my body like snakes” Thank you for that image. I’m sleeping with the lights on tonight. ---
**Author:** ![frolix8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f04885/32.png) [@frolix8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frolix8)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-the-feeling-you-were-stared-at/13992/19 "2000-02-17T22:26:00Z")
I suspect confimation bias. Check this definition: [http://skepdic.com/confirmbias.html](http://skepdic.com/confirmbias.html) I am very guilty of this in regards to investments, whatever I buy tanks, and watering my lawn, it always rains the next day. Or you could all be psychics. Stop looking at me. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-the-feeling-you-were-stared-at/13992/20 "2000-02-18T01:42:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by cher3: > I’m sleeping with the lights on tonight. ## It doesn’t matter if the lights are on or night, they can get you as soon as you close your eyes! (evil laughter) Official winner of [Bricker Challenge #5](http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/004959.html). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-had-the-feeling-you-were-stared-at/13992.md?page=2)