# Have you ever met someone who tripped all your warning-signals? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 5, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-someone-who-tripped-all-your-warning-signals/770720 "2016-11-05T17:34:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2016, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-someone-who-tripped-all-your-warning-signals/770720/41 "2016-11-06T23:33:50Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > While I don’t doubt that humans and dogs can pick up on subtle cues that (in the case of humans) they can’t adequately verbalize, I strongly suspect that: > > 1. a large number of these interactions are with people who have no malicious/evil intent whatsoever, and > > 2. we often trust people who give off no negative vibes, but are best avoided for our mental and physical safety. > > Interestingly, there’s [some evidence](http://moderndogmagazine.com/articles/why-does-my-dog-some-people-and-not-others/91712) that dogs that react negatively to certain people are picking up on _our_ feelings, rather than specifically reacting to those individuals.\* > > \*and sometimes there’s no telling why a dog seems standoffish. One time I tried to make friends with a strange Labrador (with his owner’s permission). The dog was having none of it, until I asked the owner the dog’s name and then repeated it out loud. All of a sudden the dog became very responsive. (“He knows my _name_. He must be a FRIEND!” slurp slurp Slurrrrp). Several years ago, one of my Facebook friends posted that she was watching a program about 9/11 and her dog was sitting on the couch. Every time they showed a picture of one of the hijackers, the dog would growl and snarl at the TV - something it had never previously done. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2016, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-someone-who-tripped-all-your-warning-signals/770720/42 "2016-11-06T23:40:07Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I don’t remember any of it, other than some of the aftermath of stepdad’s confession. (Talking to social workers, lawyers, etc.) That guy just freaked me out so when I learned about that story later I wondered if there weren’t a connection. > > I don’t talk to my bio Dad anymore so it’s not really an issue. But the last time I did see that guy, I was in my 30s, and he still creeped me out. > > I can’t remember a time anyone else has pinged my creepy-dar. I tend to be pretty gullible and trusting. Even if you don’t consciously remember it (and no wonder!) it’s in your unconscious. And may lend something to your writing somewhere along the line. When I was two, I was quarantined in a military hospital for a week and my parents did not visit me. I don’t remember any of it, but my long-time therapist reacted so strongly when I told him that I knew it was part of my makeup and world view in spite of having no conscious memory. How could it NOT have affected me? I tried to access memories of that time through hypnosis, but the attempt was unsuccessful. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2016, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-someone-who-tripped-all-your-warning-signals/770720/43 "2016-11-06T23:46:46Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Yuppers. > > The easy ones to detect are the ones who try to be charming. The ones that really trigger my alarm bells are those who actually are charming. Beware! Beware! As in, they try to be too friendly and open considering the circumstances they’re in? Or they’re overly complimentary to you? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-someone-who-tripped-all-your-warning-signals/770720/44 "2016-11-07T01:03:13Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > As in, they try to be too friendly and open considering the circumstances they’re in? Or they’re overly complimentary to you? As in actually giving the impression that they are nice, good, together people whom one would naturally warm to, feel positively inclined towards, if I wasn’t working in the middle of a maximum-security prison. Chances are good they’re psychopaths, in that setting. Oh, not 100% for sure. Maybe even less than 50%. But it makes my alarm bells ring these days. Since over 10% of my patients are psychopaths, based on population studies of those in prison. And a LOT of psychopaths are genuinely charming. I compensate for it by treating them like I treat the rest of my patients: Formally, politely, with all due attention to their legitimate medical needs, and nothing more than that. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-someone-who-tripped-all-your-warning-signals/770720/45 "2016-11-07T01:26:54Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Even if you don’t consciously remember it (and no wonder!) it’s in your unconscious. And may lend something to your writing somewhere along the line. I have no doubt formative experiences even pre-narrative memory affect our development (especially with regards to neglect and abuse), there’s just no way of actually knowing _how_ for any given individual. I’ve got plenty of conscious memories to keep me occupied. And yeah, the written pages are where all my demons live. Better there than running amok in my life. [QUOTE=Jackmannii] While I don’t doubt that humans and dogs can pick up on subtle cues that (in the case of humans) they can’t adequately verbalize, I strongly suspect that: 1. a large number of these interactions are with people who have no malicious/evil intent whatsoever, and 2. we often trust people who give off no negative vibes, but are best avoided for our mental and physical safety. [/QUOTE] There is probably a lot of truth to this, but I want to acknowledge also that the subconscious is real thing. We have studies indicating, for example, that people recognize visual and number patterns before they are consciously aware of them. But we also know that people see patterns all the time where none exist – i.e. racism, or your standard confirmation bias, and in those cases our subconscious judgment can go disastrously wrong. In many kill-or-die situations (police/civilian situations, for example) there is no time whatsoever to make a conscious assessment of threat. In those two seconds pumped full of adrenaline, the subconscious is filtering through every pattern it knows about, and trying to decide where that potential threat fits. And that IMO is how unarmed black kids end up dead. It’s just as likely it’s also how people have ‘‘near misses’’ with serial killers because having someone drive up in their car with the window cracked is like textbook Unsolved Mysteries GTFO territory. Most people, especially women, are going to be creeped out by that. IOW, it’s just as likely the subconscious is picking up on patterns of behavior that are generally categorized as unsafe, as it is picking up on some subtle but distinctive clues that someone means them harm. I grew up with a sociopath (my adopted father.) I didn’t get weird vibes when I met him. I thought he was a gift from the heavens. I didn’t even figure out he was a sociopath until I was fully grown. And it was some more years before his own family figured it out. He didn’t really get sloppy until he was under the financial strain of bankruptcy and losing his business in the divorce. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-someone-who-tripped-all-your-warning-signals/770720/46 "2016-11-07T01:35:35Z")
[QUOTE=Count Blucher;] “XXXXXXX XXXXXX Registered Sex Offender” “Last Known Address XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Bronx, NY 10463” [/QUOTE] My zip code. I wonder if he’s in this Starbucks right now? Anyway, I’ve never lived in Philadelphia (in case anybody’s wondering). I’ll definitely be wary of any XXXXXXX XXXXXX’s I meet around here. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-someone-who-tripped-all-your-warning-signals/770720/47 "2016-11-07T04:30:32Z")
> [@AppallingGael](#): > > My zip code. I wonder if he’s in this Starbucks right now? Anyway, I’ve never lived in Philadelphia (in case anybody’s wondering). I’ll definitely be wary of any XXXXXXX XXXXXX’s I meet around here. Update: Starbucks has closed and I’ve moved on to McDonald’s–and I see “sex offender” in just about every face! Just to be sure, though–this isn’t one of those things where everybody sees his own zip code in your post, because his IP address is leaking, is it? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-someone-who-tripped-all-your-warning-signals/770720/48 "2016-11-07T12:51:51Z")
> [@Atomic\_Alex](#): > > A conversation today remind me of something which happened to me some years (more than I would like to admit!) ago. I was at a party when I was introduced to a guy, immediately the hair on the back of my neck stood on end and every instinct in my body was telling me to not just walk but _run_ away, it was if the danger sense in my hind-brain had been triggered and was going nuts. However objectively I could not honestly say there was anything wrong with him, he was perfectly polite, friendly and pleasant, nobody else seemed to notice (or notice the expression which must have been on my face) and there was nothing out of the ordinary about him. > > After some strained small talk I made my excuses, however for the rest of the evening he kept trying to make conversation, probably wondering why I was avoiding him. Needless to say I didn’t have much fun at the party… > > Thankfully I never met him again and I don’t know what happened to him. I was just wondering if anyone else has ever had a similar experience, or should just put it into the I was being crazy bracket. 🙂 When I teach self-defense seminars, I always tell the students to NEVER ignore their gut warnings about people. It’s far better to offend an innocent person than to fall victim to a not-so-nice person. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-someone-who-tripped-all-your-warning-signals/770720/49 "2016-11-07T12:56:26Z")
> [@AppallingGael](#): > > Update: Starbucks has closed and I’ve moved on to McDonald’s–and I see “sex offender” in just about every face! Just to be sure, though–this isn’t one of those things where everybody sees his own zip code in your post, because his IP address is leaking, is it? I don’t hink so. The posting seems to show a zip in the Bronx. I’m in Illinois, so it’s not my zip. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-someone-who-tripped-all-your-warning-signals/770720/50 "2016-11-07T13:36:58Z")
I’ve experienced this a handful of times in my life, usually with men, but it happened once with a woman too. I’ve never gotten any kind of confirmation at a later time that any of these folks had set fire to apartment buildings or had a 666 tattooed on their scalp. Weird, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-someone-who-tripped-all-your-warning-signals/770720/51 "2016-11-07T14:17:33Z")
Word up: If they try to get you to do anything and you refuse and they keep trying, run and yell like hell. Once a man who almost hit me with his car then offered me a ride. I refused (who gets into a car with a strange man who damn near hits her?) When he insisted, my hackles went up. I reached behind me and grabbed the fence with my left hand, raised my right fist and screamed “I SAID NO!” He drove off. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-someone-who-tripped-all-your-warning-signals/770720/52 "2016-11-07T15:18:12Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > When Ann Rule wrote The Stranger Beside Me, she heard from many woman who thought they had met Ted Bundy, but something told them to get away from him. She believed some of them were real encounters, and advised all women to listen to that voice, get away, run, or start screaming and fighting. In the early 70’s south florida I was walking home from elementary school alone and kept noticing a guy in a VW beetle driving by, at one point he slowed down and motioned me over. I almost trotted over there until I saw his eyes which seemed to glow and grow bigger in size. I backed off, he muttered something ugly and I took off running and I never saw him again. I casually mentioned it at home, Mom downplayed it, but come Christmas time I had a new bike that I road to school. Not too long after a girl from central florida disappeared and was a Bundy victim. I have a dozen stories of meeting people who tripped my spidey sense. SOmetimes not until it was almost too late to escape: I let a dude with mommy issues who I had met a club and left with him and let him recklessly speed us in my car to his boat slip late at night. When we parked I quickly grabbed my keys out of the ignition he protested but I still followed him to the boat where he went in the hold and starting swearing and pitching a fit but came out calm and said it was time to go for a cruise on Biscayne Bay. He went back in the hold to look for something, I got up and booked the hell out of there fumbled to get in the car and sped recklessly away ohshit ohshit ohshit ohshit. Stupid, my GF at the club were saying no don’t go, he’s creepy etc. I was stupid. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-someone-who-tripped-all-your-warning-signals/770720/53 "2016-11-07T16:02:24Z")
Not a person, but a place. We were living in the Jacksonville, FL area, and one day, my husband and I were driving across the Hart Bridge, one of 5 bridges crossing the St. Johns River in Jax. We both got a weird, creepy feeling that didn’t seem to be related to anything specific, but we felt it at the same time. In the days that followed, there were no news stories about anything to do with that bridge, but it was a long time before we used it again, having 4 other, less creepy options. Yet to this day, over 30 years later, I still remember the sensation quite vividly. ---
**Author:** ![Haunted\_Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/94ad74/32.png) [@Haunted\_Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haunted_Pasta)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-someone-who-tripped-all-your-warning-signals/770720/54 "2016-11-07T16:43:33Z")
I wonder if the Jacksonville bridge, or maybe wind under it, was creating infrasound. [Here’s a Cracked article,](http://www.cracked.com/article_18828_the-creepy-scientific-explanation-behind-ghost-sightings.html) which includes several links to actual books or articles on the same phenomenon, that describes how there’s a range of sound, below normal hearing but still perceptible by the human brain, that seems to create weird psychological effects. Dread, panic, a sense of creepiness, that sort of thing. As any structural engineer can tell us, bridges just vibrate. A vibration in just the right infrasound range would explain how two people independently had the same sensation. My own experience was in a small park near my car dealership, where I went to pass a little time between dropping my car off for service and the departure of the next shuttle car. I sat on a bench to just enjoy a little pleasant morning outdoor time. Within a couple of minutes, a pair of homeless men got up from where they’d been sitting a ways away and walked toward me. One sat down on bench near me. The other went around me at some distance but kept on in the direction that would put him behind me. I certainly don’t assume homeless people are criminals or anything- I actually try to help them when I can- but these guys’ actions just put me on edge. Perhaps not coincidentally, I’d read \*The Gift of Fear \*within the past six months, so I paid attention to my Spidey Sense and did a quick mental rundown: [ul] [li]It seemed weird to me that they got up and moved toward me almost as soon as I’d arrived.[/li][li]There did not seem to be any reason for the one guy to have abruptly moved from where he had been to right near me. What did he accomplish?[/li][li]There were two of them and one of me.[/li][li]The other guy was somewhere behind me.[/li][li]There was no one else in the park to help or witness anything, if it came down to something dangerous.[/li][/ul] Probably they were innocent, or had northing worse in mind than trying to cadge a few bucks from me. But, man, something about it all just felt wrong. So, I paid attention to that feeling and immediately got up and left. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-someone-who-tripped-all-your-warning-signals/770720/55 "2016-11-07T17:25:19Z")
Counterpoint. I knew a guy from grade school. He had a creepy air about him. Kept pictures of girls cut from the underwear section in his wallet. Had all the signs of being or becoming a sexual creep already in grade school. And as far as I know, he’s never done a thing. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-someone-who-tripped-all-your-warning-signals/770720/56 "2016-11-07T17:43:41Z")
> [@Haunted\_Pasta](#): > > I wonder if the Jacksonville bridge, or maybe wind under it, was creating infrasound. That’s by far the most logical explanation I can imagine. Thanks!! ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-someone-who-tripped-all-your-warning-signals/770720/57 "2016-11-07T17:52:45Z")
I worked with a multiple murderer long before I knew he was one. He didn’t set off any alarm beels, other than that he was a strange guy. I knew another guy who completely creeped me out, and I later learned he committed a number of small crimes like vandalism. So my answer is yes, but my senses are unreliable. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-someone-who-tripped-all-your-warning-signals/770720/58 "2016-11-07T17:58:26Z")
My ex-wife and I were, years ago, in a gaming group. We were looking for more players, and one of them tripped both of our danger senses. As she put it to me the night after we met him, “Please don’t ever leave me alone with him.” ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-someone-who-tripped-all-your-warning-signals/770720/59 "2016-11-07T18:05:04Z")
Thirty years ago while traveling in SEAsia with another young woman we had devised a secret signal. It was to waggle your head back and forth like you sometimes see older Indian men do. It meant one of two things, either; “Before I accept this invitation, do YOU want to go?”, or, “I’m feeling uneasy, wanna get out of here?” It saw a fair bit of use on the invitation front, people were forever offering to take us and show us things, and then the day came when I suddenly felt like we should leave these people and the place we were. I looked up, caught my friend’s eye, and in complete unison we both waggled our heads. We were out the door inside of 15 seconds! ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-someone-who-tripped-all-your-warning-signals/770720/60 "2016-11-07T20:51:11Z")
Soooo many times. I’m good at following my gut instinct. One notable one was a girl who hung around my neighbour for a short time. I had a skeevy feeling about her but she was always nice and we got along. I knew she didn’t have many friends so I took her out for her birthday, gave her hand-me-downs, helped her with things that I could, etc. Until my suspicions were totally confirmed when she went bat-shit crazy on my neighbour and I about something she’d been told that I’d said about her that wasn’t even true. I looked at her eyes while she was screaming at me and knew I was right and have stayed the heck away from her ever since. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-someone-who-tripped-all-your-warning-signals/770720.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-someone-who-tripped-all-your-warning-signals/770720.md?page=4)