People Share Their Most Terrifying ‘We Need To Leave Right Now’ Moments

"I was walking by a long stretch of road with no houses. There was a cemetery. A van with two guys in it stopped to ask me if I needed a ride. This was in the late 90s, so it's not like hitchhiking was legal. I'm all. 'No thanks, I'm nearly home'. They wouldn't budge. They kept following me with the windows down, kept saying 'C'mon, just get in...'.

"At some point, they just stop, and they start getting out. I was just a teen, and they were clearly 20-something. I just took off running. I must have sprinted half a mile to get to an alley, and hid by the nearest building near the road. I waited about 15 minutes before moving on to make sure they had given up, so they wouldn't follow me home." — princessjemmy

Sprinting away was definitely the best move. Hitchhiking can be dangerous at the best of times, but if someone is this insistent for you to get in their car then that is a red flag.

"My car was stolen the very night I moved into my new house in a very good neighborhood. The neighbors had warned us that the neighborhood was being targeted at the time. They mentioned a woman around the corner that opened the door for knockers in the middle of the night and they attacked her and robbed her and almost killed her.

"We had reported the car stolen and did the police reports when it happened. Well, 2 nights later in the middle of the night I hear a knock on the door and they said open up, it's the police. [...] I called the police to say that two men claiming to be police are pounding on my door. They said there was no police in the area and they're sending a car. Turns out, these same guys stole the car and came back for seconds." — BreakingGaia

These criminals were clearly not the brightest of the bunch as they also used the car they had robbed to return to the crime scene, so the car was found and returned once they were arrested.

"When I was hiking in the woods and I saw a baby bear, I slowly turned and walked quickly away from the bear, because I'm not getting eaten. I had to drag my friend along with me because he didn't understand why we needed to return the way we came from." — LeviathanID

They sure are cute, but it's not exactly a good idea to go running up to one for a hug.

"Hurricane Florence a year ago. We planned to ride it out as we were on a hill and in an area where the winds wouldn't be bad. Mostly ignored the news, too. The night before, I got this huge pit of fear in my stomach and begged my dad for us to go stay with my sister a few hours inland. He fought with me about it but I finally convinced him.

"We came back a week later to find a tree fallen into our house, the house full of water. A tornado formed in the woods behind the house and pushed the tree up a 45-degree slope into our roof and through our house. Now, I will always trust my gut feeling, no matter how stupid it seems". — palegunslinger

Hurricanes and tropical storms provide the perfect conditions for spawning tornadoes, according to Live Science.

"I was at a national park on vacation. The layout was kinda like a crater with a rim you can walk under almost all the way around. Had this major gut feeling of yeah not going down there. Later that day a lady was killed from kids throwing large rocks/tree branches into the opening" — somedirtypunk

What an unfortunate and avoidable way to die. Someone out there lost a loved one because some daft kids thought it was a good idea to throw rocks, how sad.

"Years ago my BF owned a truck tire repair company. He stopped by a customer's house unannounced one day to try to get a check, as they owed a lot of money. When he came out of the house he was pretty shaken up. He explained the man's numerous other brothers were there (unusual), everyone was very jittery but they cut him a check and then rushed him out. He had a scary feeling that day. Two days later that customer and his brothers were arrested for a murder, that they had committed the night before we stopped by." — CynFullyYours

Who knows if the body was actually in the house when the boyfriend went in. The body was found not far from the house a few days later, so it is very possible.

"I was camping with a friend in a backwoods camping area [...] We drove into town to get some food, and when we were driving back to our secluded campsite we passed a man walking out of the only road to our site. We both locked eyes with him and I got a super creeped out feeling [...] When we got to our tent we went inside and everything we had in there was tossed. Our bags were dumped out and our clothes were thrown everywhere. We quickly realized both our hunting knives were gone, along with a bunch of our clothes.

"We jumped in the car and drove back towards where we had seen him, he was gone. We drove a bit further and found a common area where other campers were gathered. We sprinted down and asked 'have any of you seen this guy...' and described him. The people at the gathering just stared at us and didn't speak, giving us an, even more, creeped out feeling. It was at that point that I told my friend 'we need to leave this place right now'." — wentybrink

"I was walking home from school when a creepy older guy pulled over his work van, got out, was asking me for directions to a well known local place, and feigning like he didn't understand what I was saying [...] he kept looking around the whole time, and I knew he was about to try something. Some lady happened to be walking from her house to her car so I yelled out, 'Hey Mom! Can you come here and help give this guy directions?' Surprisingly, the lady actually came over and as she did, she yelled something like, 'your father and your big brothers will be out in a minute, are you ready to go?'

"He looked panicked, quickly got back into his car and took off. Once he left, that lady told me she knew what was up and made sure I was okay, before letting me use her phone to call the cops. Turns out I wasn't the only girl he tried to lure/abduct." — FTThrowAway123

It is important to play along with people in these instances if the person trying to instigate the conversation looks scared.

"We knew there was a fire somewhere. Maybe another town? We weren't too worried. The power is beginning to go spotty, and the winds are howling outside. Then my roommate gets a call from a friend on the other side of town: 'my house is on fire! You guys need to pack a bag!' after the call was over the power went out and stayed out.

"Not 15 minutes had gone by, and I look outside. We lived by a large hill only two blocks away, and it was burning. It got there so fast. I got back inside and tell my roommates we have to leave right away. This is when our neighbors started wigging out too. We had to then capture our 3 very scared and confused cats. It was so crazy to drive away and see only blackness ahead of you but in your rearview mirror only flames." — Voxtramus

The 2017 Thomas Fire led to the destruction of over 100 homes across California and burned a total area of 281,893 acres.

"My partner and I were walking back to our apartment. There's an alley next to our building with a locked gate we have a key to.

"As we were walking up to our door I saw a group of 4-5 guys across the street a bit ahead of us. They saw us, and I saw one turn around and tap one of the others, and then they started to cross the street toward us. I can't explain it but I know they wanted to hurt us, just the look in his eyes. I knew we wouldn't make it to the door. I grabbed my partner and just said, 'Run NOW' and we bolted to the alley. I had my keys in my hand already and as I was unlocking the gate my partner noticed them coming toward us and told me to hurry. We slammed it shut behind us and locked it. They stopped after we opened the gate and they just stared us down.

"I have never been more sure that I was about to get mugged or hurt by another person. A few nights later someone was robbed nearby and the description matched the guys I saw." — CandyBurritos

"One time, it was about midnight and I went into a supermarket with my boyfriend. It was a 24-hour supermarket. He went into the bathroom, and I decided I'd go too. So I walk down this corridor and turn right into the ladies. I was a bit drunk, so I spent a sec looking at my drunk self in the mirror before picking a cubicle.

"All the doors were weighted so they stayed shut. But as I was looking, I noticed under the reflection of one of the doors, I saw a pair of feet. Male shoes, crossed at the ankle, as though sitting in a very relaxed position. They didn't move at all. I was overcome by fear, feeling that someone had been sitting there waiting for an unsuspecting woman to come in, and I said 'o f*ck no' out loud and literally ran out the door." — Artemis420

This was probably the right thing to do! Well, leaving was, shouting "O f**k no!" was probably a bit unnecessary. Although, hopefully, it at least gave the person in there a shock!

"September 19, 1985, a huge earthquake hit Mexico City. Hundreds of buildings collapsed, and at least ten thousand people died. Every year, the earthquake is commemorated. In 2017, two hours after the commemoration, I was outside a classroom with some friends, waiting for our teacher. I saw one of my friends was uneasy, and she asked me to go to a small store outside the building with her.

"I could notice she didn't actually want to buy anything, she just wanted to get out of the building. We were just beginning to walk to the stairs when the earthquake sirens began to sound and the building began to move. The building we were at suffered little damage, just a couple of broken windows, but many other buildings in other parts of the city collapsed and more than 200 people died." — ThePeasantKingM

Who knows if she could actually feel it; but, either way, this person must have been glad to have listened to their friend!

"I was walking in my old local park with my sister, we entered it at about 3 pm and were hanging around until at about 9-9:30 we saw three people all wearing somewhat similar outfits all the way on the other side of the park. I immediately noticed but don’t think much of it. We walk for about 2 more minutes and I notice one of them stopped and was staring at us. I immediately had a bad feeling and told my sister we should leave, she noticed and obliged. Later that night there was word of a stabbing in the park and the suspects were all the people we saw in the group of three."

Hanging around parks late at night generally leads to bad things! Just watch any crime drama, there's always weird stuff going on at public parks!

"Nephew and I were walking home from getting a pizza at night and he and I just looked at each other and said 'do you feel that' in the exact tone and he and I both looked in the direction we felt it from and got spooked that we both had the same dreadful feeling and decided to run the rest of the way home. He and I have never felt such intense fear. I still think about it and have a feeling someone WAS watching us, probably looking for an easy target." — Myredditacctthatiuse

You should always trust your instincts, there is a reason why you have them and it's better to maybe look a little daft sprinting from nothing than facing potentially life-threatening consequences.

"Drinking at a bar with some mates (in Sydney); two young guys walked past, and I happened to make eye contact. He flashed a gun at me and nodded towards the door. I didn't make him ask twice." — beep_potato

This person ended up running with their friend and calling the cops. The young guys who were trying to rob the bar got away without being caught by the police sadly.

"I was doing my typical UberEats drives around 9pm-ish. I notice there’s a thunderstorm warning right when I thought about stopping for the night but it cleared so I decided to try to stay out til 10. I needed to get cheese so I walk in Kroger. As I'm walking in the door I hear the tornado sirens go off [...] I run and get the cheese(silly I know)And hurry to head home so I can get safe [...]

"I was terrified. I was speeding home and it seemed that every-time I passed a stoplight they were turning off behind me. I get closer to my apartment complex and it's all torn up. Shattered windows, trees down everywhere. But it was so ironic because had I been home I would have been worse than when I was sitting in the Kroger parking lot." — booksabillion

And people have the audacity to say that cheese is bad for you! It literally saved this man's life! Well, it pretty much did, that's close enough.

"My dad was into heavy drugs and would binge drink [...] One night, I woke up to my dad screaming and my sister crying. He had my mom's head under his foot with a shotgun in her mouth. I was paralyzed and thought for sure I was about to see my mom die. He yelled for us to run into the woods behind our house because after he killed my mom, he was going to come out and hunt us next.

"I grabbed my sister and bolted out the back door of our single wide and ran to the neighbor's house. They hid us there for 3 days and never called the police. Nobody ever called the police. And my mom stayed with him until I was 18. I still have nightmares and can smell the old blood." — Calamity_Kaiju

While it is good that the neighbors looked after you, I don't understand why they never felt the need to call the police. Thankfully, this person and their sister are now happily married to wonderful partners, and out of this toxic environment.

"I was driving my friend and I back from a bar on the way to our Airbnb out in the middle of nowhere small town NC. At some point early on, a car turns into the road behind us and it's dark and like 2am so I don't think anything of it [...]the longer were on the road, the farther we get from civilization and it is very unusual for another car to be going out the way we are. So about half a mile from our Airbnb, I pull off to a side street and let the car pass. Then we wait five minutes, turn around to get back on our road, and lo and behold the car is just sitting there waiting for us.

"So we nope tf out and now I'm FLOORING it back to town to the bar so we can get to safety. I do a rolling stop through a stop sign and the car finally turns it's cop lights on and pulls me over. Dude has the audacity to ask me why I ran a stop sign" — khaki53

Apparently the girls explained how weird it was to be stalking two young girls at night like that, and he ultimately apologised and let them off with a warning.

"Taking a stroll when I noticed an oddly lit house that was in the middle of its side of the street. Began noticing how despite the abundance of housing structures in the area, none of them were designed such that an inhabitant could notice were I to be killed/abducted on the spot save the oddly lighted one and panic-walked another few hundred meters out to save my life. The area was far too quiet and unsettling so and I've never felt such a rush of fear in my life." -grandmabreastmilk

"I was with my little sister at a small but local Popeyes. After making an order and waiting for a name to be called, we watch as 4 men walk in and we see one with a metallic item in his pocket and they are all cursing and as the argument continues. It seems to get more aggressive, and right at the climax of this argument our order is ready I ask them to bag it up and we dip! Later that week we hear about a shooting at that same local Popeyes and 6 people were injured. All I can say is thank God we got out of there." -avergaeJ0e69

"I was involved in an active shooter scare during the Halloween Haunt at Great America. We didn’t know it was a false alarm until an hour or so after we left the park but it was absolute mayhem. Basically, I walked into the restroom to use it, and when I had walked in it was super busy and the line was out the door. Spent a bit of time in the stall because I was wearing a stupid romper and had to pull it off and back on. When I stepped back outside, the restroom was completely empty which instantly made alarm bells go off in my head. I hurried out to meet my friend who was waiting for me and she told me what was going on.

Good thing it was just a false alarm, but in the moment it was very scary not knowing what was happening and just seeing people running and screaming. I’ll never forget the feeling of something being very wrong settling into the bottom of my stomach as I walked out into a completely silent bathroom." -chigochamp

"When I lived in the Bahamas, my Dad said we needed to 'leave now' when Hurricane Dorian hit us. Water was coming up by our neighborhood. Now THAT was terrifying. I'm still living at a hotel to this day." -Game-Bo

"Years ago, I spent a weekend in Chicago with my then-girlfriend. We were driving back to Indianapolis Sunday night, so we stopped at a gas station to buy snacks and gas up before we hit the road.

While we were standing at the counter ringing out, two guys came in. The first went toward the back of the store while the other just stood inside the door near the counter. The hairs on my neck stood up, and I had a gut instinct that something bad was happening.

We got out of there and drove away. I hope I was just being paranoid, but I never found out if something was actually going on." -DukeMaximum

"I was bored with my friend and we went rabbit hunting in an open space near my house. (This was in the Rockies btw. ) While we were crossing a field we both felt a lion watching us. And sure enough we scanned the tree line and there was one about 150 yards away." -JeromeMclardtin

"When I was a teenager I was partying with friends and we had just left a party. I was high and just sitting quietly in the backseat while my friend drove. as we were going up the street I saw a truck. The truck was stopped in the middle of the street and a girl was screaming hysterically trying to get away from two young white guys pulling her by the arms. I didn’t really smoke ever so I wasn’t able to move or talk fast enough. When I finally managed to tell to my friend and have us turn around, the truck was already gone. I still get really sad about that day and see the scene get played out like a movie. I wish I could have helped and always wonder where that girl is today... was I the last person to ever see her?" -tacocities1

"The Dayton Ohio club shooting over the summer. No further details needed other than man I miss my shoes" -rackjames

"Two summers ago, I was at Miami Beach with my ex-boyfriend and family & we were wading around in the water when my ex spotted a large black figure & asked if I saw it. At first, I thought it was just a big clump of seaweed, and then a fin popped up out of the water. I noped the f**k out of there and ran back towards the shore thinking it was a shark. It was a manta ray." -dalloe1

"Taking pictures of a family who wanted a fall photoshoot in a field. Hear something, look behind me, and a HUGE bull is pawing the ground, and when I make eye contact, it starts running towards us. I see that there is a fence between us, so I'm not as fast as I could be shooing the family to the car.....Until the bull gets to the fence and immediately turns away from us to run along it. I then notice that the fence ENDS halfway up the field, and that bull is MAD and running pretty fast." — ghostinyourpants

If you've ever been close up and personal with a bull loose in a field, then you'll know that it can be a terrifying experience. Some friends and I got stuck in a field with one once and it started looking pretty leerily at us, I don't think we've ever ran faster!

"Was riding my bike home from a friends house when I was a young teen, over 20 years ago. We had both lost track of time so it was dusk when I left. Lived about a mile away. Was traveling down one of the last roads to get home when I had this weird feeling, so I turned around to look back down the road.

"Saw headlights pass, stop, backup and turn on the road I was on. It was a pretty long road without many houses and no street lights or anything. As soon as they turned I bolted into the woods and hid pretty far in. The car slowly drove by and kept going. No idea what they were doing but I didn't want anything to do with it." — poundfoolish_