Psychopaths - do you know any?

[SoCalGNX]

Some estimate that one percent of the population is made up of psychopaths. We have seen a few of these in the news lately, both locally and internationally. Some of the traits attributed to them are personal charm, manipulation of others, parasitic lifestyle, emotional shallowness, lying, lack of empathy for others etc. Ted Bundy comes to mind but so do many others.
Have you met one in real life? Without necessarily identifying the individual, can you describe them?

 

[pixelsmith]

I know one. This person has similar interests to my own actually. He is a nice guy but has turned on me in a heart beat for simply disagreeing with him. Then after he thinks about it he will apologize only to go crazy again a few weeks later. I haven't heard from him for a while now. I hope he is doing ok.

 

[Kandinsky]

Luckily for us, they are few and very far between. 'Normal' killers are more frequent...

I was once loosely acquainted with a guy who's now serving life for the murder of a 17 year old local girl. Through my job, I worked with a teenager who was sentenced last year to life in prison for bludgeoning an old man he befriended for his money. He was superficially charming, intelligent, amoral and violent. He'd made threats to me of stabbing, cutting and murder which I didn't take seriously. Months later and he proved how capable he was!

The closest to a text-book psycho was an ex-forces man I worked with in 2002. It was a festival security part-time position. He was violent, no empathy and very charming when he felt like it. He'd beaten a young black man with his mag-lite at another job. He avoided an attempted murder sentence as the guy was in a permanent vegetative state and the only witness. There was no doubt he'd tried to kill the guy as he laughed about it. He kept a case with telescopic baton, night-stick, cuffs and 8-cell mag-lite. It also contained a screwdriver. He described how the screwdriver was to provide a reasonable force justification the next time he overreacted and beat anyone senseless. He'd put it in their hand after he was done. He was sacked after police intervened and found stolen credit cards from people he'd evicted from the festival. God only knows where he is at now...hopefully behind bars.

A friend works for the UK Probation Service. Last year we were all out having a beer. I asked him if he'd met any psychos and how many did he think there are in England? It's been a while, but I think his answer was 'about a hundred.' That's not a lot in a country of millions.

I've never thought about it before, but in the course of life and work I've known 3 murderers. I've worked with teenage sex-offenders, rapists and two young men who could easily make the newspapers one day. Talk about 'life's rich tapestry!'

 

[saucerwench]

I was aquaintence with this man who is and was a ufologist. He was 'unavailable' but I had a crush on him from afar. Without explaining into long detail, he knew this of me. One day, he asked me to meet him at a restaraunt. A 'date' I guess. It was very brief, then he walked me to my car and said "I'll call you." I cried for three days. One time, he invited this long absent former volunteer assistant who was also a young single lady, to show up while I was helping him. You could obviously tell she was crazy jealous, but trying to hold it somewhat back, for the sake of a modicum of public civility. I still got 'hissed' at, no doubt. A guy who knew this guy, told me that he like to do this with people and watch the results. Also to the woman he lived with. That, I observed. This guy was always calling me if he could, and not saying anything. This was 20 years ago. I did not have telegagetry to factually verify such, but at that time, I was changing my residences kinda alot. I noticed that right after I gave this guy my new landline home phone number (I did this for my own theory test) the calls immediately began, where, prior to me giving him it, there were no calls. This worked every time like that, consistently.
This man is extremely intelligent, with advanced formal education, and has done contract stuff for government.
When you were near him, he always had this, I don't know what to call it, except "edge", that reminded me of actor Christopher Walken, when he would portray a bad guy.

 

[davide]

I do now -- take a hard left at Albuquerque. 8)

 

[Tom From Hong Kong]

Some of the traits attributed to them are personal charm, manipulation of others, parasitic lifestyle, emotional shallowness, lying, lack of empathy for others etc.

This describes most successful investment bankers and trial lawyers.

Seriously, perhaps one set of environmental factors drive a given individual one direction, while another set of factors lead them to an entirely different life. Indeed, how much "choice" do we genuinely have in deciding what becomes of our lives, outside of ultimately deciding whether to screw over others in response to what fate delivers to us -- good or bad -- during the course of our lives?

 

[1stEarthBattalion]

I new this kid who squeezed his brothers pet hamster to death and showed no remorse - stayed away from him.

I think the odds are wrong - I think there are people out there who want to be considered psychotic on their terms but true psycho very rare.

There are those with a rep who just go over the top in social environments and do very dangerous stuff, however when you single them out for retribution they break down and whine.

I am extremely proficient in martial arts, boxing and generally diffusing situations and when you come across a psycho you need to make sure they are neutralised and do not know where you live, also they tend not to start trouble but hold on to a driven goal to justify the acts they choose to perform.

My advice please do not go looking for them, warn your friends and family of any suspicion, avoid letting them get any personal information on you.

If you do find yourself caught up with a suspected one in your circle of people - start training yourself in a form of defence so that you do not allow fear to rule your life.

The mouthy git in a group of antagonists is just a mouthy git and not a psycho and remember the hardest, best equipped, and largest gang is on your side. You behave and the police will have your back.

 

[Kandinsky]

This thread has had me thinking about psychos and murderers for the past couple of days.

Perhaps the most interesting interview with a stone cold psychopath is Iceman's. He was a Mafia hitman for years and confesses to killing over a hundred people.. Eventually he was caught and now lives in prison. The interest arises from his understanding that something was 'wrong' inside his brain. He describes hog-tying a guy, cutting him and leaving him in a Pennsylvania woods cave with one of those old reel to reel cameras running. He returned for the tape and watched the footage of the bound man being eaten alive by rats...without empathy. The indirect emotion he felt was a sense of loss for the feelings he thought he should feel. As videos go, it's a kicker. It leaves a lasting impression...

 

[lucid55]

I worked as a Mental Health Officer in a prison mental hospital and got to see these guys up close on a daily basis.
Most of the 'clients' there were there for parole evaluation, but there were some serious 'bugs' (psychotic prisoners)
in there as well.

Inside the facility with the 'Man from UNCLE' sliding bulletproof glass doors and television cameras, the psychopaths
seemed like day-to-day guys -- unless you read their record about the stuff that got them put away. Then you were really on your guard.

Periodically, it was my turn to tour outside the barbed wire fence during recreation time in the car, armed with the shotgun and the pistol. I was once asked by these guys if I'd shoot if they tried to go over the fence.

I answered affirmatively without hesitation.

My eyes were opened in that job back in the 70's. There are some really sick and violent people wandering around.
Movies like Fargo and Pulp Fiction depress me because I know that some of those guys are wandering around. You
don't even have to go looking for trouble to have trouble find you.

 

[saucerwench]

Inside the facility with the 'Man from UNCLE' sliding bulletproof glass doors and television cameras, the psychopaths seemed like day-to-day guys -- unless you read their record about the stuff that got them put away. Then you were really on your guard.

You made a very important point. The one I knew was very low key and strongly in control of himself outwardly. A man of few words for sure, but charming and compelling, and without silly bravado or other look-at-me stuff. One of the things that attracted me to him was that he seemed like a solid rock so-to-speak, opposite of my own emotions and impulsivity. Another aspect was that he was super-self confident and strong-willed, but now in retrospect, I recall that he seemed highly vain. He had a - subtle - mean streak, seemed not curious, and definitely without empathy. Those should have been red flags for me at that time, but I was young, vulnerable, and beset with unacknowledged maladies. Those should have been red flags for him, (or a - really - normal person) to be more sensitive and mature.