(Oprah.com) -- If you  heard there was a weapon proven to prevent most crimes before they happen, would you run out and buy it? World-renowned security expert Gavin de Becker says this weapon exists, but you already have it. He calls it "the gift of fear."



One chapter in Gavin's book "The Gift of Fear" has stuck with Oprah since she first read it.



The story of a woman named Kelly begins with a simple warning sign. A man offers to help carry her groceries into her apartment -- and instantly, Kelly doesn't like the sound of his voice. Kelly goes against her gut and lets him help her -- and in doing so, she lets a rapist into her home.



"We get a signal prior to violence," Gavin says. "There are preincident indicators. Things that happen before violence occurs."



Gavin says that unlike any other living creature, humans will sense danger yet still walk right into it.



"You're in a hallway waiting for an elevator late at night. Elevator door opens, and there's a guy inside, and he makes you afraid. You don't know why, you don't know what it is. Some memory of this building -- whatever it may be. And many women will stand there and look at that guy and say, 'Oh, I don't want to think like that. I don't want to be the kind of person who lets the door close in his face. I've got to be nice. I don't want him to think I'm not nice.' And so human beings will get into a steel soundproof chamber with someone they're afraid of, and there's not another animal in nature that would even consider it."



For weeks, Nicole had a funny feeling that something odd was going on in her apartment. "My gut started feeling like something just wasn't right," she says. "I would come home, and there would be just weird lights on in my house -- lights that I didn't even remember turning on in the first place."



Then one day, Nicole noticed a UPS delivery box where it shouldn't be. "I'm like, 'How did this brand of box get on my back balcony?'" Nicole began to feel uneasy -- but continued to brush it off. "I would just come home, you know, and almost feel nauseous," she says. "I kept trying to justify it saying, 'Okay, it is in my head.'"



Nicole's funny feeling eventually escalated into full-fledged panic attacks, which Gavin says were her intuition's way of telling her that something was wrong.



"And intuition records everything. So when she started getting panics attacks, her intuition is saying, basically, 'You're not going to listen? Okay, I'll ramp it up. I'll give you panic attacks. You want sleepless nights? I'll give you sleepless nights.'"



Nicole eventually did listen to her intuition, starting with a simple test. "I dropped a tank top behind the door as I was leaving for work, thinking that when I come home that night, I'm going to peek my head around the corner. If [the tank top] had been pushed to the side, it would have been obvious that the door was opened." When Nicole got home, she says the tank top had moved.



Caught on camera



The next day, Nicole says she set up a hidden camera to try and find out what was going on in her apartment. Once she came home, Nicole says she plugged the camcorder into her laptop. "And the first thing I see is this man's head peeking around the corner into my house," she says. "What I felt at that point was just complete terror. I'm sitting there watching this video --this story unfold -- and this person comes in my house, is looking around, going through my things, looking through my laundry, holding up
What does he say about humans? When did the victims recall feeling uneasy? What is the only animal who senses danger and walks into it? Who are the only animals who can sense danger? Who says fear can be a gift? Who felt uneasy?
will sense danger yet still walk right into it. noticed a UPS delivery box where it shouldn't be. humans humans Gavin de Becker Nicole
question: What does he say about humans?, answer: will sense danger yet still walk right into it. | question: When did the victims recall feeling uneasy?, answer: noticed a UPS delivery box where it shouldn't be. | question: What is the only animal who senses danger and walks into it?, answer: humans | question: Who are the only animals who can sense danger?, answer: humans | question: Who says fear can be a gift?, answer: Gavin de Becker | question: Who felt uneasy?, answer: Nicole