Kansas mom takes her kids to see ‘Moana.’ Then a suspicious man in sunglasses walks into the theater—and something unexpected falls out of his pocket

There's a fine line between pattern recognition and gut instinct, and parents online frequently share anecdotes of times their intuition has told them they or their children are in danger.

One Kansas mother is going viral for heeding that inner voice at a screening of “Moana,” no less.

‘Get out now'

Photographer Jessie Coult (@jessie_coult) shared “a little bit of a scary story time” about having a strong gut feeling as a mother. She asked her viewers if she'd overreacted to a potential threat. Her video has since accumulated more than 164,000 views.

“I don't know if this turned out to be anything, but my gut was telling me something weird was going to happen,” Coult said. “So today, I took my kids to see the new ‘Moana' live action movie … Obviously, I know previews take a little bit of time, but the movie started at 2:30 [p.m.]. At 3:45 [p.m.], so over an hour later, this guy walks into the movie theater.”

Coult said the man was wearing a baggy shirt, baggy shorts, a hat, and sunglasses in the “dark” movie theater. She also noticed he was “walking kind of funny … as if he was hiding something, carrying something.” She acknowledged “sometimes people sneak snacks into movie theaters,” but she found his behavior odd.

“So he walks right in front of us and starts to walk up the stairs,” Coult said. “When he steps on the first stair, he's getting ready to step again and something falls out of his pants. Instead of being like, ‘Oh, whoops! I dropped something, let me pick it up,' he froze and then immediately sat down in the first seat of our row and just sat there for a second.”

From what Coult could see, the man had dropped a short, “brown glass bottle with a thinner neck” that didn't look like a beer. She questioned why he'd sneak an unidentified drink into a movie marketed for children. As he began “shuffling things around” in his pockets, she started “getting this feeling like something is not right.”

“He takes his sunglasses off and takes his hat off and is like, [wide-eyed],” Coult said. “I don't know if he had some sort of plan, and because he dropped the bottle or whatever it was, that plan got messed up … I got this overwhelming feeling, ‘Get out now.'”

Coult exited the theater with her children in tow and told three employees what she'd witnessed, saying she would not be “sticking around to find out” if her instincts were correct.

“I don't know if I overreacted, I don't know if something weird happened,” Coult said. “I do know they called security … What would you have done?”

Signs someone could be dangerous in a movie theater

Coult's viewers applauded her for following her instincts, with one person commenting that “ever since that mass [shooting] at the Batman movie [they'd] always been paranoid at theaters.” This comment referenced a 2012 mass shooting carried out at a movie theater screening “The Dark Knight Rises” in Aurora, Colorado.

Another commenter told Coult she “definitely did the right thing,” as she “could've saved so many people by stopping to tell employees.” So what are the chances that Coult's instincts were right?

According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, some of what Coult witnessed could be classified as “suspicious activities.” The FDLE cites “individuals dressed in unseasonably bulky clothing” and anyone carrying “suspicious containers” as possible indicators of danger.

The FDLE lists other examples of “suspicious” behavior, which include the following: “Surveillance (note taking, using binoculars, mapping, etc.) of key facilities or exits”; “use of emergency exits during non-emergency situations”; and “unusual odors, substances, or stains resembling oil or other flammable materials.”

On its website, VSS Security Services emphasizes the importance of moviegoers staying attentive to their surroundings and reporting any suspicious activity to theater staff, just as Coult did. VSS also urges theater attendees to always have a plan for escape at the ready.

“Finding an escape route is important in almost any given situation, but definitely in a movie theater given recent shootings all over the country,” VSS says. “When you find your seat, locate the exit signs and plan your route out, just in case. It's even recommended to try and sit as close to an exit as possible – this will be advantageous when there is an inevitably chaotic exit if an emergency situation were to occur.”

Buzz News has reached out to Coult via contact form.