This happened to me about 40 years ago, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and it still give me a chill when I think about it.
A bit of background first, at that time, in Belfast, we had old knackered taxis sent over from London that just followed the bus routes, they were owned and operated privately and you just flagged one down at a bus stop and basically paid per bus stop, you would just share the taxi with existing passengers, if that makes sense.
Anyway, I flagged this taxi down, I didn’t usually use them as it was widely believed that they were controlled by various paramilitary factions, but I was in a hurry and had missed the bus.
Got in and sat in the back seat, taxi pulled away.
Opposite me, in the seat that backed on to the driver, was this guy, man, that immediately gave me the creeps, he just did not seem right, that’s putting it mildly, he was so wrong.
Imagine Mr Punch, from Punch and Judy, this man had the exagerated face of Mr Punch, his nose visibly curved down and his chin curved up, I don’t mean a little, I mean a lot! He was very thin, gaunt, very well dressed in an almost old fashioned pinstripe suit, shirt and tie, his legs were crossed and he was sitting back in the seat looking out the window, his hands were rested one on top of the other on his knee, very relaxed.
On his right hand he wore a ring, and that ring was a face, his Mr Punch face!
He never looked at me or seemed to be aware of me in any way, and I got no feeling of evil or malevolence from him but he just felt so terribly, fundamentally wrong, I asked the driver to let me off at the next bus stop and I walked into town, the experience unsettled me for a long time and the only other person I’ve told about Mr Punch is my brother. I sometimes worry that I’ll see him again, and I’m a 56 year old guy!