20 People Talk About The One Thing That Made Them Seriously Think Someone is a Psychopath
1. My Mother’s Ex
Was my mother’s ex-boyfriend.
Used to be a great guy- even raised me like one of his daughters by doing stuff like paying for my school fees and buying stuff for me. Don’t know what happened but his relationship with my mother turned sour and shit went crazy:
He locked us in the house and locked the fridge so my mother and I just lived in my bedroom and had to buy a fridge for there and live there;
Would turn off the hot water in the morning and lock the gate so I would have to bath in freezing cold water in winter and have to climb over the walls to get to school, and;
When she got a court order to get him out of the house, he would stalk her and constantly ram his car into the gate until the early hours of the morning, I think once he snuck into the yard ad smeared chicken blood all over our door.
All of this in a span of two months.
zodwa_wa_bantu
2. Cat Murderer
I used to be a social worker.
Had a client that I knew something was off about. He gave everyone the creeps, especially the women in our office.
Part of my job required obtaining background checks. We got one on him and it turns out he was arrested for being a cat serial killer.
Guy was stealing cats from his neighborhood and killing then in different ways. He stabbed some of them, threw some against walls, broke their necks, etc.
And the police found them in his freezer.
Edit- just looked him up. He was arrested recently for threatening a woman with a knife.
ApatheticWithoutTheA
3. Elaborate Lies
When I was a teenager I worked in retail with a woman who I’ll call Jackie, who had a son in high school/going off to college. He would come into the store at times and while I didn’t know him very well, I knew of him from those few times he visited, he was always very sweet. Jackie was a bit of your typical Karen; loud, pushy and had the attitude that she is always right and everyone else just has to deal with her.
I quit later that year, and was walking by the store a few months after and saw Jackie was working so I stopped by to say hello with my mother. Jackie informed us that her son, in his first year of university, had been struck on his bike by a drunk driver. She tearfully, in a detailed hour long story, told us about how he had been on life support as her and her family rushed the 6 hours to his college town to see him, with him dying just as they arrived, and all the details of his funeral. My mother and I were in tears and consoling her as she went through this harrowing tale.
About 2 months later I started university and wound up in a class with Jackie’s niece (who I had at one time worked with in the store). We were catching up and I offered my condolences on the death of her cousin. She gave me the weirdest ‘wtf’ look and asked what I meant. I explained, and she just shook her head saying “Oh, not at all – once he got out of the house he refused to speak with his parents. He is perfectly healthy, talked to him last week!” And laughed.
That was a huge moment of realization for what a narcissistic person will do for control of the narrative and for pity, and the fact that it was just ‘another thing Jackie does’ was terrifying. Scary shit, she even described the floral arrangements at her sons ‘funeral’….
mrstaeger
4. Different Levels Of Messed Up
I was in jail and my cellie (who was there on murder charges) and I were looking out our window at this CO who was doing his regular thing where he would attempt to provoke an inmate into making a first move against him so that the CO could then start to kick the shit out of the inmate (with the help of his CO buddies of course). And my cellie was like “that dude is fucked up”. I was like, yes, murder guy, he fucking is.
This CO also attempted to provoke me by ripping up a letter from my dad while he was doing a cell search. Why rip it up? No reason. It was a really good letter too, I used to read it over and over.
The CO ended up moving too far into ‘fuck around and find out territory’. The pod ended up basically politely informing him to “roll out.”
throwawaysmetoo
5. Double Date Gone Wrong
Dude straight up lied to my date during a double date that I had a weird (sexual) relationship with my mom. He was jealous that they were talking to me more. Absolutely insane that he did that. Cut him out of my life immediately.
Edit for more context: Dude was lying about everything the whole date, yet couldn’t really add to the conversation. I basically had to carry the conversation myself. The date wasn’t going well and my date and I were in no way compatible so I didn’t care even if she was super attractive. So I was just trying to help get him in the conversation and help him do well with his date, who he liked. He got jealous. I went to the bathroom as we were leaving which is when he told my date that weird lie he made up on the spot. He admitted to it later that night when I asked what happened. After that, stopped talking to him. I felt bad because some people at our college didn’t like him, thought he was a douche. I gave him a chance. Turns out they were more right than they knew. We were in our late teens. This was college.
TheHunterZolomon
6. Murderer Coworker
Old co worker used to have anger issues and would often stab chef knives into the tables few years later murdered his grandma now he’s serving life in prison I still get the creeps thinking i worked alone with him.
YoongiMin__93
7. Flushed All The Meds
My nephew got mad at my sister and flushed all of her medications down the toilet.
acheron53
8. Manipulative Guy
I used to work with a very manipulative guy. He had a lot of sob stories and I would say about half the people who knew him felt sorry for him. Thought he was a good guy down on his luck, trying to get it together.
The other half of us got major creep vibes, something was just wrong. I wouldn’t even talk to him about anything not work related, would not ever go out after work if he was going to be there. I hated being around him, I warned all the new hires to stay away from him, we had a lot of young girls working there.
One night he did end up attacking one of my coworkers. Luckily, some people saw and broke it up before he could hurt her too badly and he got fired and banned from the building.
SailorSpoon11
9. Evil Old Lady
I volunteered at a charity clothing shop when i was 18. The manager showed me around, introducing the workers and the sweet lady who worked behind the cash register… They all seemed nice.
Out back there were piles of clothing and other things that needed to be sorted. The manager told me that i could have any single item i liked, if anything caught my eye. I jokingly picked out a children’s book about hedgehogs or some crap, and said “Guess I’ll get reading.”
She left me to it and after a little while, the other worker who was out back with me left. That’s when this little older lady who worked the cash register came out and walked over to me. She pointed at the book and said “So you’re going to read that are you?”
I said “No, i was just joking. It’s not really my thing.” Suddenly she leans in and starts whispering all evil like. Telling me I’m not going to get away with bullying or taking the piss out of the girls working there. She essentially threatens me that if i don’t work hard she will see to it that i will regret it.
I was genuinely scared of her. The difference in how she had behaved earlier and how she was behaving then was mental.
I think i stammered an agreement and just kept my head down for the week i volunteered there. I didn’t incur her wrath. Still have no idea if she was watching me on cams or what? But it was 12 years ago and I’m still scared of her.
Random_Critic
10. Listen To Your Gut
I’ve posted this before, but it’s proof positive (IMO) to “go with your gut” when something feels off…
I worked at a doctor’s office. We had a patient, “Mark.” He worked in construction and was about 6’5″ and 250# – BIG guy, all muscle. Something just seemed off about him. He was pretty quiet and generally kept to himself, but he just gave off a really weird vibe. At first I thought it was just me, but all the ladies in the office got this bad energy from him. He had a workman’s comp back injury, so he was doing a several month course of treatment with us. We all told the doctor that NONE of us wanted to be alone with this guy and he should handle all treatments himself. Since we pretty much NEVER requested this from the doctor, he said “OK” and we scheduled all his appointments with the doctor and always when the office was very busy.
So the months pass, Mark completes his course of treatment and the whole thing was generally uneventful. Never saw him again after that.
However, about 2 years later, I was reading the newspaper and saw that Mark was arrested for severely beating and raping a woman. He was eventually convicted. I am absolutely sure it was him because he had a very unusual last name and the age/residence were the same (we had that info in his medical files).
Scary to think we saw this man three times a week for several months. When your gut speaks, LISTEN.
SuchLovelyLilacs
11. What a Psycho
I returned a wet-dry vacuum I’d borrowed to this guy.
I told him I’d replaced the filter because there’d been some old water left in it when I got it and the filter had rotted
It would have blown the motor if I’d used it in that state
He got super angry, banged the table and yelled, “No there goddam wasn’t!”
I wasn’t scared or upset, I was just bewildered by such an unusual and over the top response
Like, I literally did the thing for the reason I said, are you gaslighting me?
I thought, “What a psycho.” and just left shaking my head.
DSlamAU
12. Narcissistic Signs
I have a group of friends since we were children from school. Another fella from school started trying to hang out with them when I was away for a few months. He was the idiot bully in school, so it surprised me.
When I returned he was very nice to me, then slowly I noticed I wouldn’t hear about nights out.
I got engaged, told them all in the group, he never congratulated me.
Then a few weeks later, he got engaged, pretended he didn’t know I was engaged . It turned out he went nuts when I got engaged and told one of the friends “ now it will look like I just got engaged because he did!” and that friend told me all about it.
Countless other examples like this, him slowly getting “into” the music / politics the other friends were, then slagging them off behind their back and putting them down when we are out and talking to girls etc.
All these things are so subtle, but you just know he is a complete psychopath, but probably more on the narcissistic end of things.
February83
13. That Guy on Tinder
I told a guy I had just met on tinder that it was too late to call (2 a.m.). He proceeded to call me 68 times over the course of the next five hours (hiding his number once I blocked him because you can’t block hidden numbers). He told me it was “to teach a bitch a lesson” and that he “enjoys teaching bitches lessons”. Weirdly, he said he “forgave me” the next day and would like to meet up after I apologize to him.
He later pulled a gun on my friend. He’s going to kill someone some day and the police truly do not care.
DigitalNomadKate
14. He’s a Cop Now
Around 25-30 years ago when I was in middle school, there was a kid who would brag about physically abusing his dogs with the intention of “making them into killers’. He hated women and “the h*mos”. He also bragged about dropping a fat turd in the corner of the boy’s locker room and how great it was that no one caught him.
Dude is now a cop.
berriesandblooms
15. Half of a Date
Went on HALF OF ONE DATE. It was painfully clear during dinner that she was completely fucked in the head. 10 minutes in and she’s talking moving in with me. It… it didn’t get better after that. So I excused myself and noped the fuck out of there. 2 weeks later I’m coming out of Walgreens and I get jumped from behind and wake up in the hospital all fucked up. Turns out she told her banger brother that I got her pregnant and cheated on her. HALF A FUCKING DATE!!! So he tracked me down and him and 3 homies broke 3 ribs, an orbital socket, 2 fingers and dislocated my shoulder. Some friends went and had a chat with him and explained the situation and that his sister was insane. He came to my house and apologized and that was that. Never saw her again thank fuck.
kl0wn420
16. It’s The Mayo For Me
My roommate in college put mayonnaise on a PB&J! I will never be the same…
MaelstromFL
17. The Dog Knows
I have the friendliest dog in the world. He loves everyone and would happily go home with a stranger.
One day I was taking him out to walk and we walked past a guy (I honestly didn’t notice anything off) and my dog stopped, stared at him, and just started peeing a little bit in fear. Nothing happened, but I 100% trust my dog and that guy was bad news.
LeotiaBlood
18. Screaming In My Driveway
My ex followed me home after a night shift and proceeded to scream at me in my driveway, after I ghosted him for cheating on me.
Tatted13Dovahqueen
19. Gaslighting Pro
Got into a small argument with her roommates (2 close friends of mine), couldn’t come to an agreement, and she said they should move out. They still had months on their lease and tried to resolve the issue, she didn’t want to and said she’d have to “get rid” of them if they were going to “be difficult”, so she put shards of glass in their loofahs, food, and bed. They both got serious cuts that required stitches.
When they confronted her she had a meltdown and started hitting herself in the face, and told them she’d tell the landlord they assaulted her.
When they tried to move out she slashed their car’s tires in front of them, literally as they were about to drive off with all of their stuff packed, and said they couldn’t leave, rent is due next week and she can’t afford the whole place by herself.
This is part of a pretty long list of offenses this woman committed against her “friends.” But, she had been incredibly manipulative and scared a lot of people into staying hushed about her behavior, so most of it didn’t come to light until she cut herself off from the circle and moved to a different state. I remember talking about her with a group of people and folks saying they felt like they were going crazy, no one believed them, they almost didn’t believe themselves. Gaslighting is a hell of a thing.
pspisy
20. Sexual Coercion
A woman I went out on a few dates with. I always try to respect a woman’s physical boundaries, especially when we go hiking in the woods or some other scenario like that. If I don’t see clear signals that physical contact is wanted, I don’t make any advances. So we sit by a lake on a hike and she sits a few feet away, past arms reach. So I respected that space. Next date? Bonfire, same thing. Next she grills me some steak and potatoes and we go for a walk, sit on a big log and she again sat several feet away.
Later back at her house she finally asks: “why haven’t you made a move yet? Are you not interested in me physically?”
I’m like: well I saw what I thought was intentional space and I respected it, I would love to be cuddling right now.
She then started guilt tripping me and saying I needed to “prove” I actually found her physically attractive, which was super anxiety inducing and shitty. Basically sexual coercion.
So yeah thankfully I saw what was happening and escaped with my self esteem and dignity mostly intact.
LivingWithWhales