Was watching a short series tonight, The Serpent, based upon a true story of a serial killer in the 70's who preyed upon young hippie tourists in Asia. He lured them in, eventually stealing their wealth and passports, and then "disappeared" them.
When watching this, I was amazed really at how gullible so many of the victims were. I was not raised in a truly functional family, but I wasn't raised by psychopaths, maybe just confused and conflicted humans.
I was reminded of so many situations after I left home at 18 and travelled around to many places, and how for some reason I was fortunate that my innate spidey sense recognized evil. I would never have fallen for that cult!
I have lots of stories, but I'll just share a few,. After I returned from a year living and working in St. Thomas, VI, I worked for a winter at the Palm Beach Hotel. Sitting on the beach one day, I was 20, a very handsome man sat down next to me. We talked. He was charming. He flattered me and apparently he had lots of connections in Hollywood. I was impressed. He invited me out to dinner the next night, and I said, yes.
He drove to a restaurant quite outside the PB complex, and as we sat at the bar, his conversation became quite sexual, and he began telling me about how prudish most Americans are, and that he could show me a whole new world of wealth and power, etc., etc. I became quite uncomfortable and said, know what, I'd like to go back to my "worker quarters" at the hotel. He was giving me the fucking creeps. He laughed and said, I'm not trying to frighten you, sorry if I did that. I was being recruited. I excused myself to the bathroom, found a window I could climb out and I ran away. Eventually hitched back to town.
Another one was driving across country in a used and clunky Triumph Spitfire, from NE to CA, and a car was obviously on my tail. I stopped to eat at a rest stop, and there this creep was. He asked if he could join me. I was a polite young woman, okay. Didn't take long to know that he was a creep either. I drove another 100 miles that night, exhausted, just to get him off my tail.
When I was working one summer on Cape Cod, no car, and at that time, hitchhiking was quite popular and an accepted mode of transportation. I was hitching back from work one afternoon, got picked up by a 40 something guy driving a fancy Corvette. Suddenly, he tells me, he needs to turn off to check on his construction site. I say, well, that's fine, just let me out here. He said, this will only take a few moments, as he turns off onto a dirt road. There went my spidey senses again, and first time he had to slow down enough at a turn, I jumped out and ran into the woods.
Another time when I was older, living in SF. We parked sideways on hills. Got up to go to work and all the gas was on the downside. I pulled out my 5 gallon gas can to walk down hill a few blocks and get it filled. On my way back up, a handsome guy in a sports car pulled up beside me and asked if I would like a lift, and I clearly got a Jeffrey Dahmer vibe. Call me paranoid but I trust my spidey sense.
I could tell a lot more stories but the reason for even writing this is, I have a lot more stories of wonderful experiences with strangers, but when the hair bristles on the back of your neck, trust your intuition.