One of the biggest things I've learned from being a "Criminal Minds and Law & Order: SVU" aficionado is that we're swimming in psychopaths.
Our neighbors, bosses, and loved ones could all be nuts.
And when we learn these truths, it's all too shocking.
Who hasn't been confronted with another person's crazy at the wrong time?
That's why it's always good to be aware of all the exits in any room.
Keep those running shoes ready.
Redditor Ok_Sample_1624 wanted to hear about the times we've all been shaken by a crazy person, so they asked:
"Reddit, what was your 'Oh sh*t, this person is a psychopath' moment when meeting people?'"
No Desert
"Went on a date once and she casually dropped how she killed her brother's hamster with perfume as a kid because she was mad at him like it was just a quirky little story to laugh about. Needless to say, I started looking for an exit strategy at that point."
- scrumbob
hamster GIFGiphy
True Sociopath
"When he just casually mentioned putting a cat in a cage and then putting the cage in water so he could watch it drown like it was no big deal and like it was something everyone has done at least once."
- seylotrash83
"This is the first one for me that is actual psychopath material. All the ones I've read are people being weird or socially stunted. This one is an actual evil psychopath. I'm not even a cat person, I'm a dog person. However, I am a don't harm any animal (without valid reason - being attacked, etc) person."
- Scouse_Werewolf
"Why don’t we put him in a cage and throw it in some water to see how he likes it."
- PizzaguySensei43
Balcony Chat
"Years ago, I went on a date with this one man who kept telling me about his 'friend,' who liked to hurt dogs. To torture them. He kept talking about it, saying he didn’t think it was that bad, and asking if I did. At a certain point, I realized that I was not in a safe place. We had gone to dinner and then he was showing me this balcony on the building because it had a beautiful view."
"So I’m standing alone with him up on this balcony, and I realize that he is most likely telling me that he likes to hurt these animals. I tried to act like it wasn’t a big deal, and then suggested we took a walk, that we leave. I just wanted to get away from any possible danger. But I refused to go out with him again."
- DecadentLife
Canceled!!
"It was an Uber driver. My wife and I took an Uber down to the bars one weekend. Once he picked us up I could easily tell he was on something. While we were crossing a bridge on the interstate, about halfway to our destination, he said 'Isn’t it crazy that I could swerve off the road and kill us all right now?' I told him to get off on the next exit and canceled the ride. I also reported him to Uber so hopefully, nobody has to get in a car with that lunatic again."
- cooltoast
Poor Baby
"A kid I went to primary school with invited me to his house after school one day. Not many people talked to him because it was a private school and he was only a student there because his dad was a groundskeeper. I didn’t want to go but didn’t want to be a d**k like everyone else so I said yes but I couldn’t stay long. We went behind his house and there were several bare spots in the grass."
"Some of them had a single stick sticking up in the middle while others had a thin plastic tube poking out. He was very excited as he started digging up one of the spots with a hose poking out. He pulled up a jar with a dead baby bird in it. The hose was poked through a hole in the lid to let air in."
"He went on to tell me he likes burying things alive. Sometimes he seals the jar tight, sometimes gives an air hose, and even puts a little food and water in to keep them alive longer. He said you can’t bury them too deep or you can’t hear them trying to escape. Occasionally he would pour water down the tubes to drown the animal. I was 8-10 years old at that time. I’m 52 now and it still makes me sick to think about that."
- Unlikely_Coyote7499
Spoiled Milk
"Was chatting away with a guy in a pub. Seemed like a normal nice dude, and got on really well. At some point in the conversation, he casually mentions he's not long out the jail for torturing a guy. (He never said torturing he said what it was he did to him). He slipped it into the conversation so casually as if he was telling me about running to the shop for a pint of milk. Never saw it coming. Asked around another day and confirmed he wasn't full of s**t."
- CheetahNervous7704
Family Ties
"My brother. As a kid, he used to enjoy watching animals die. As an adult, there were plenty of moments which reminded me that he was little changed."
"The scary thing was the complete indifference he would display when you tried to explain why doing stuff like this was wrong, it was like the thing that would normally naturally horrify people over committing such incidents was just completely lacking in him."
- Creative_Recover
Basic Displays
"At a party once I met a friend of a friend who worked as a nurse at a local hospital. She was of the sort who would sigh heavily and use the unique stresses of her job to bring her the attention she was looking for. She took the spotlight with pleasure and started talking about how hard her job was. When I asked if there were things she liked about her job, she beamed and explained that she worked primarily in maternity."
"However, her anecdotes had nothing to do with mothers or infants; she spoke primarily of how wonderful it was to be in charge of these women's lives. She explained how fragile they were in those moments, and how even after delivery she was the only one on the floor for hours who would be able to forecast if there were going to be life-changing complications. She absolutely glowed as she explained how these people's lives were in her hands."
"The conversation steered in other directions amongst party-goers, but she reclaimed it on the topic of high school experiences. She shared an anecdote about how she was rejected for an advanced choir position and blamed it solely on the poor judgment of the instructor. Years later, she got to sing at the instructor's funeral."
"I'll never forget the pride she took in having control over other people's lives. It struck me as the most basic display of evil."
- actually-a-horse
Dear God
"When my ex's dad told the story of the time he put a wet towel on top of an ant hill, and then threw the towel at my ex. The wet towel stuck to her skin and she was immediately covered with ants, who bit her all over her body. He was laughing when he told the story like it was the funniest prank. My ex told him that it actually hurt a lot and it traumatized her quite a bit, and he just said 'Well, I'm ok because I already asked God for forgiveness.'"
- ImInJeopardy
Episode 1 Dont Know What To Say GIF by The Roku ChannelGiphy
Bye Tinder
"She came late to our date, immediately ordered a drink and burger, then told me she was late because of a family thing."
"Before the burger arrived she mentioned she’d have to cut our date short because she was having a family dinner. I was like, 'ok, all good.'"
"Then she told me that the craziest thing had happened when her sister met a dude on Tinder and they ended up going to a family barbecue and it ended up with them getting married."
"Before her burger even arrived, she said, 'Wouldn’t it be funny to pull a prank on my family? Like, you and I went to my family barbecue and let everyone assume we were really hitting it off, and they’d totally think we were gonna get married!'"
"I’ll admit I’m also the psychopath in this story cuz I went. Good mashed potatoes. She spent all night introducing me as her future fiancé, and I had to take a Tinder break after that."
- azeldatothepast
Fatal Attraction
"My friend found a psycho. Met her at the bar and ended up taking her home. She decided it should be more than just a one-night stand and suggested a date the following weekend. He obliges. Their first date was meeting her parents, where she told them how they were going to spend the rest of their lives together, where they were going to buy a house, the names of their two children etc. He dated her for about a month, and after they broke up, she started stalking his friends, not him..his friends. She'd somehow find out where we would be and threaten us with lawsuits for 'ruining her life.'"
- MarijuanaPepsiJordan
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I think these could all be "Criminal Minds" episodes.
I bet if we dig a little further, we're gonna find at least half of these people on Dateline NBC episodes.
What are the lessons to be learned here?
Make sure we're ready for battle.
The world is really just an open-door asylum.
Good luck to us all.
