Gosh, I know exactly what you mean. Several years ago I was standing in line at Six Flags over Texas and I got the worst feelings toward a complete stranger standing in front of me. It was hard to explain. I never spoke to that person then or had ever seen her before, but it did feel like I had known her in another life and I don't know that I even believe in another life. It was very strange.

Yes, very much so.

I get strong feelings about a person almost immediately upon seeing/meeting them. Sometimes I really have to hold it in, and "give the person a chance," you know?

There are people who give me the willies just being in the same room with them ... and they have done absolutely nothing to me to warrant that feeling. I'm not good at reading a person through the eyes, altho I used to know someone who did that. For me, it's a "wave" of feeling that comes over me.

I have a good friend who was in a management position in our large company, and she used to ask me if I'd go greet candidates for a job opening she had. She would then interview them, and write up her observations. If there wasn't one candidate who "stood out" as being the best person for the job, she'd ask me my impressions to help make a decision.

I Very Much go with my gut feeling! This sounds terrible, but if I don't feel just right about someone, I just won't waste my time with them! My father always taught me to go with my first impression...and I really do.

This isn't people, but..when we were looking at houses many years ago, we walked into one, and I got a weird feeling, nothing I could put a finger on, just weird. We went to the 2nd level, and I walked into each room and right back out again. Dean is one that likes to LOOK at everything, I had to walk out of that house!!! I have thought many times of going and asking if I could see the house....but I have never done it...yet.

Gosh! Sandy, the same thing happened to me when I was house hunting years ago.

Yes, Stoney it is a "wave" feeling.

I think we are all capable of much more intuition than we use.

I walked in to visit my "senile" Mother the other day and she said "What is bothering you". She was right I had a lot on my mind, but I didn't think it was showing. She still has her intuition.

Gayle

Yes, all the time. But occasionally I remember reading an interview with the true crime writer Ann Rule, who spoke of knowing Ted Bundy (before he became . . . um . . . famous) and thinking he was such a good person that she wanted to fix him up with her daughter.

Sometimes the connection with me is so obvious that I figure we knew each other in another life. Probably many lives.

Yes, I can't say it is the eyes...just the feeling.

It's weird but I haven't been wrong too often, with my first impressions!

My first impressions about people are almost always correct, but there have been a couple of times when I was waaayy wrong about someone.

Linda

I mentioned something just recently about that Kevin Trudeau on the many infomercials. I mentioned that he blinks, and blinks so much it wears me out. GF said often folks who are lieing will blink a lot. I noticed he usually only did it when he was talking, and not when he was listening.

Sue...who often blushes when she 'fibs'

There was a guy that I used to work with that was not an admirable person.

He used to be in meetings, and when he thought he should smile, his mouth curved upward. However, the rest of his face, especially his eyes were not smiling, so you could tell that it was as fake as the rest of him.

Once in a while I get a feeling.
DW on the other hand is very good at reading people.
I met a client many years ago and we had an instant connection. Even though she was 20 years my senior we quickly became like brother and sister.

Ron

I firmly believe that the eyes are the window to the soul...you can read lots by looking at someone eyes...body language comes a close second...

I believe it too. I get vibes of honesty or sincerity. Often I try to give the benefit of the doubt to everyone, even when I get a bad feeling but sure enough, In time maybe years, the true blue colors show and I think back to my gut feeling. Most likely I knew that part of them back then. People who are good schmoozers, really throw me off, yet something in my gut says, be careful!

I think you mean 'gut feeling' and Yes - I have gut feelings about most everyone I meet. I think it is a natural survival tactic.

Yes...that's why I make it a point to see political candidates in person. The eyes and body language just show so much more than pictures or video.

I wondered about this, and thought that it was judging people. First impression looks, etc. Which I try not to do. Looks alone can really be deceiving. An actual "wave" of feeling about someone, I don't remember that happening.
I think I would like to be that intuitive.

Yes, and that person ended up killing a young girl and dumping her body in the desert. I found out about him years after I met him when I saw him on the news. He was in a psychiatric hospital and made the news because he attempted to strangle a woman who had run over and killed a bunch of people on Thanksgiving day in downtown Reno.

kath, two people I had bad vibes about ended up killing someone. I worked with them and there were times when I was forced to be with them and I hated it. One of them killed his 14 year old step daughter with a shotgun to the face while she was sleeping on the couch. His ex wife was terrified of him when he got out of prison. She moved and changed her name, but she was still so afraid. Last year his body was found, burned beyond recognition. He was identified by dental records. Good riddance you piece of $hit.
The other co-worker who gave me the creeps ended up marrying out plant manager back in the 1990s. Because of some unscrupulous dealings they both were fired along with some other people. She ( plant manager )did some things after becoming involved with him that she would never have done on her own. They moved to Murray, Kentucky and started their own business. One day while he was out of town his wife committed suicide. He came home and found her. He had her cremated as soon as possible and had memorial services for her. Then he contacted her family in California who she was close to. I talked to one of her sisters and she told me that she thinks he either did it or had it done, which is exactly what I thought. Most of us at Kellogg feel that he is guilty. That creep.
Linda

You know when a crime has been committed-- say Lacy Peterson-- and they interview the spouse on TV? Don't ya think you can just see it in their eyes? Something in the way they ask for help makes you know they don't really mean it. Something in their eyes makes you think, before you know they've been charged, "He did it."

The woman in FL 10 or more years ago who claimed her car was stolen w/kids inside, turned out she pushed them into the lake buckled in the car.. I remember seeing her interviewed on TV begging the thief to bring her kids back and I just felt from the look in her eyes that she had done something to her kids. I don't think I was the only one who had that first impression.

DD spent the night with a friend a few months ago, a slumber party. A couple weeks later the same friend asked her to come stay the night again. As much as the girls like each other, and DD generally likes a sleepover, I was surprised when DD said no and was very firm about it. I asked her every question in the book, she insisted nobody hurt her there but said "I just don't like her dad, he kind of scares me." She insisted he did not do anything to scare her, she just didn't like him. OK, good enough for me. Now the parents are divorcing, though I do not know why. DD will be glad, though, that she can play at her friend's and not see the dad.

Sometimes people surprise me, though, for the good and the bad.

and there are some children you just know are going to be difficult to work with..have run into a couple when i was working at daycare/school...

Yep, my boss. He just makes my skin crawl everytime he gives me that "evil eye" look of his. There is something about him I just cannot warm up to.

This isn't a situation dealing with strangers, but deals with well known people trying to dissemble.

My Mom, who is reported to have been great friends with Grandpa, was depressed a few months after youngest brother's birth (probably would have been diagnosed as post-partum depression in later years), was confined to psych. hosp. - I, oldest of 3 sons, was past 6.

My Grandpa had had prostate surgery some time before, but think he was not back to normal strength, got pneumonia and died, not long after Mom went into the hosp.

Dad had planned not to tell her when he went to visit, didn't want to upset her.

When he walked in, she took one look at him and said, "Grandpa's gone, isn't he?".

ole joyful

My problem is I almost always like everyone on first meeting. I mean if someone has a snarl on their face or doesn't say hi back then I get a bad impression, but generally I do have to get to know a person before I can really judge what they are like.

I don't think you can tell a whole lot from any physical feature... including the eyes. Some of the slyest individuals I know have been the most charming. And, by charming, I don't mean the fake salesman type smile and eyes... I mean the innocent type of eyes and smile an old grandma may have. Now, I have never met a murderer, at least that I know of, so maybe that would change if I met one.

I do get a kind of we're on the same "wave length" (and speak the same language) kind of impression from some people when I first meet them. But I still can't always really judge if they are really bad or good people just that we may laugh at the same type of jokes or are on the same intellectual level, etc....

Years ago, one of the security guards where I worked really gave me the creeps. The feeling was so strong, that I felt compelled to comment on it many times to one particuliar work friend.
Sadly, my intuition was correct. He assaulted and murdered a child. He is in prison now, hopefully for the duration.

I get "feelings" about buildings. Really odd, shivery, frightful feeling in some buildings and I refuse to go into them. One here locally was a market but after my first visit, I just couldn't go back. I found out later, that many years before there had been a gruesome murder there.
And in some buildings, I feel like I have been there before and just feel safe and comfortable.

I'm not good at reading people. I have had that "I just don't like him/her" feeling before, but it doesn't just come naturally to me all the time.

ginger

I am not the best judge of character and have been hoodwinked many times. So when I get "that feeling" about someone, it really means something to me.

Yes, constantly. I think that there is a constant struggle with our minds and our intuition. We get a "feeling" about someone and our mind tries to look for a logical explanation. I've taught my daughter to always go with her feelings....no matter what her friends or her logical head is trying to say. If you get a bad feeling...stay away from that person or situation. As a parent we have to protect our kids in that way too. Never think that we "shouldn't feel that way"....keep in touch with your little voice!

I think you should go with your intuition. I too like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but was really fooled by a guy that I fell for. I think I saw the red flags, but tried to rationalize those things and convinced myself he was a good person. Was I wrong, complete controlling, abusive nightmare! Now when I see him, his eyes give me the creeps and scare me. So I pay way more attention to those first little instinctive feelings that I used to.

As for Ted Bundy, I've read the book that Ann Rule wrote, she too thought he was a great guy and was alone with him on many occasions and never felt scared or creepy. But some of the girls that he tried to lure, said that they didn't help him because his eyes looked creepy and blank. Also have you ever seen interviews with Charles Manson, his eyes are creepy too! I've read that is one of the signs that you are dealing with a sociopath, the piercing stare!