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When we think of psychopaths, most of us imagine them as characters on a screen—Hannibal Lecter, The Joker, Patrick Bateman—the kind of people who belong in fiction, not in everyday life.
But some have crossed paths with them in the real world. On Reddit, users shared what those encounters were like and the moments that revealed who they were really dealing with. Scroll down to read their eye-opening and disturbing stories, and upvote the ones that left you the most surprised.
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#1
My son. From day one he was incredibly difficult. He never really had specific cries for things like my other children. I was always guessing what he needed. His sleep was terrible, so my sleep was terrible.
He was impossible to teach. He loved to throw toys, so I made a consequence that any toy thrown gets out in timeout. They went in a clear bin, my thinking being a normal 3-4 year old would hate losing his favorite toys and stop throwing them. Nope. It wasn't even hard to earn them back (I can't recall specifics but things like getting dressed on time in the morning, brushing teeth, etc) he just didn't care.
Then he started torturing animals, but carefully and his cruelty was always so carefully done that there was never any proof. He was f*****g brilliant, reading biology textbooks at 10, that kind of thing.
I took him to therapy, I asked for help from the state, I tried to find ways to have him committed, but there was literally nothing I could do. There was one private hospital I found that could take him (and wasn't one of those questionable a*****e ranches) but they charged 4x our annual gross income. His dad and I separated so we could keep the kids in separate homes at all times, protecting his siblings as much as we could, though we later found out it was too little too late.
Eventually his siblings reported their abuse in a way that could be prosecuted and there was enough documentation from the school and he went to juvenile. I relinquished my parental rights to the state and got restraining orders for the whole household, including the kids too scared to report.
It's a horrific thing for a family and there really isn't any support in the US for those who have to survive it.
Upstaged75 3 months ago
Sounds very "We Need to Talk About Kevin". I think some people are just born "wrong".
Sathe Wesker 3 months ago
That’s the whole argument of “nature vs. nurture”… more often than not, I find it to be “nurture” in my studies, but yes, some are indeed “born wrong” I believe.
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Onleetoogenders 3 months ago
People like this should just be feed to lions. Down vote all you want. Idgaf
JK 3 months ago
They either end up in prison or as CEOs. Guess who has the higher rate? Corporate executives.
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Sarah Bailey 3 months ago
I am so very sorry you and your family had to experience such emotional turmoil and pain that must have been. I can't imagine being in your shoes. It must be very hard.
Sofia 3 months ago
On a side there are people that denies that their child needs help, on the other there are others actively asking for help and nothing is done...
Vermonta 3 months ago
for some kids there is no help, they are too twisted.
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Zann 3 months ago
The older ive gotten, the more I realise that not all kids are born normal and no family can be safe with potential psychopaths, which technically they are becoming..just sad and scary for everyone else around these blank kids, blanks as in no emotional connections to normal life, people and God help all the innocent animals., they always a***e, or their own siblings. There is absolutely nothing you can do short of locking them up permanently. Pls not all of them turn out fully crazy though, so there's that. Without anyone kicking my a*s here.
Heir of Durin 3 months ago
Similar situation here. So sorry, OP. It’s just terrible having to make these decisions as a parent. ☹️
RELATED:
#2
Years and years and years ago when I was in my early 20's dating casually I met up with a guy who was a highway patrol police officer, he had previously worked in intelligence for the airforce and was telling me various stories but what got me was his story about his favourite thing to do at his current job.
He told me his favourite shift is the morning shift as it is during the peak morning work traffic and he loves to look out for people who he can tell are in a rush, they aren't breaking the law, or speeding per say but he can "just tell" that they are running late or have something very important on, so he will pull them over and take as long as possible to run all their information, f**k them around and create more stress for them, he had the widest smile and his eyes were just manic as he was telling me all this.
He finishes it off with something like "yeah just knowing i've completely f****d up someones entire day brings me more joy than anything in the airforce" a tiny example but ill never forget it.
Blue Bunny of Happiness 3 months ago
In my personal experience, cops are either the loveliest people or complete psychopaths. There doesn’t seem to be a middle ground. Regardless of that, it’s not a job I could ever do, and I’m grateful they do it.
#3
My former spouse.
She was charming, charismatic, beautiful, manipulative, pathological liar, emotionally and financially a*****e.
I dropped her off at the hospital so she could takeover watching her mom to give her aunt and uncle a reprieve.
Aunt and uncle informed me MIL was doing well.
I drove home. She called me 20 minutes later to say her mom suddenly died.
She smothered her mother to death.
After our divorce, I met with her step mom and SIL to talk about things. Unsolicited, they said they believed she smothered her mom. I nodded my head in agreement.
#4
I’ve worked with teenagers my entire career, and I’m fairly well-versed in how mental illnesses can show up with middle/high school kids.
We had one kid, let’s call him Evan (not real name). I generally understand why kids are popular, but this kid befuddled me. He wasn’t charismatic in the hallway, he wasn’t a party kid, he wasn’t athletic, he wasn’t funny, and he certainly wasn’t kind. This kid ALWAYS had fanfare and would pick out one other male peer and essentially friend love bomb them. He build these emotional bonds with them, and then totally use it for his benefit.
He would pick a teacher, and mercilessly torment them. For example, for creative writing he wrote about how a character in his story named Kevin (again not real but very close) had gone to a teachers house that happened to have a dog like the teacher had and he wrote graphically about how he tortured it, not k**l it, but tortured it. He’d change details justttt enough and say he was mimicking Vonnegut or something like that. When he got disciplined for it, he had the current favored male peer, ‘talk sense into the teacher.’ Yeah this friend ended up getting suspended bc that “talking sense” just was threats to protect Evan. When the friend came back from suspension, his mom asked everyone to try to keep him away from Evan. Evan got in no trouble bc he didn’t think this friend would get aggressive (yes he did).
It was constant and eventually he was placed in my class. He tried the ole essay to scare the teacher thing again (he wrote about how a character not named Evan but something mighty close, knew where a teacher that sound like me, lived and was planning on burning my house down with her entire family in it). The next day, I read it out loud to the class and asked them to give him feedback ALL TOGETHER during class. He didn’t like that at all especially bc the girls, who knew nothing of this drama before, were horrified. And deemed him a creep that they didn’t like.
He ended up moving the next year, and he is an adult (18+) now. Every now and then I google his name bc I truly don’t know what damage a person that operates that effectively can do.
Harry Gondalf 3 months ago
True psychopaths can be hard to spot. there are two segments of society that contain more than their share of psychopaths: prisons, and corporate executive offices.
#5
I was told prior to meeting them that they were diagnosed with psychopathy. It was a situation where they were talking to my coworker and I was supposed to observe. It was like seeing through glass. The person was there but there was no substance. The words and mannerisms were right, but there was no personality. No source. It’s hard to explain.
#6
I used to work for one. Every sincere, vulnerable moment was fabricated to prompt me to share my story, so he could collect information to use against me. He used to get upset that he was "so open" with me and I was "like a brick wall". Sir, I'm at work.
He told me he used to live in London, his marriage open and he was lining up dates on his business trips, how he used to be romantically involved with his last assistant when they would travel together, he keeps his parents on payroll to help them out, etc. None of it true, except him having blatant affairs. He would name drop people of influence saying so and so was an old friend - just compulsively lying to make himself seem important.
He would fabricate dramatic situations that were "my fault" so he would have an excuse to scream (literally) at me. Like wording a phrase just wrong enough that I would misstep. His eyes would go absolutely black.
I started questioning when I met someone close to him in his personal life, and was asking "oh was that when he lived in the UK?" (insert confused expression). I got coffee with his former assistant and she told me she had never travelled with him let alone had an affair with him. It was ALL a lie.
I screen shot him making really obscene, sexual comments towards me on slack. Still not sure what to do with it all. Obviously I don't work for him anymore.
to say I had PTSD would be dramatic, but the emotional whiplash of someone being manipulative and having power over you, left me scarred in unexpected ways for a long time. Now I just see him as a tiny piece of s**t.
The Majestic Opossum 3 months ago
Sadly, this just sounds like most of the men I've worked for. Lying and saying anything they can to manipulate others into doing what they want - and being damned good at it too.
#7
My mother. She's VERY good at hiding herself. Very charming, smart and pretty. Appearances are the most important thing to her. Im her oldest child so I was the one that got the most a***e. We are 3 daughters all smart, never got into trouble, never did d***s. Yet she loved to make up stories about us to other adults about how bad we were- RIGHT in front of us. (Honesty dont know why. Wouldn't you want people to know your kids are great?) It got to the point that we would call her out to her face while she would say her stories. She also hates my husband just because we are high school sweethearts and I quote "He's a lower class than we are." She's all sweet around extended family and no one really sees who she really is.
We are low contact now because of her hatred of my husband and horrible things she's done to him. Ive started to tell a select few extended family how and who she really is. Im tired of everyone telling me how amazing my mother is. NO she is not. If she wasn't married to my dad, I would never speak to her again
I know this is late to the thread but it felt good to get it out there.
#8
I told this story once before.
I met a woman at a party who gave me this kind of chilling suspicion. She was sociable and easily commanded to attention of every small gathering she was in. She leaned on the woes of her job to keep the conversation about her.
She was a nurse working in the maternity ward, and she went on about the hours and the pay and everything. To change the vibe I asked her what she liked about her job and she lit up.
But what she said didn’t come down to her coworkers, or helping people, or making a difference; her answer amounted to power. She absolutely glowed as she described how fragile new mothers are, and how many subtle things could go wrong. She was proud to say how she knew when a mother wasn’t going to make it through the night without complications, and how she was the only nurse on the floor to be the one that could help the mother. She loved how she was in control over a precious and delicate thing that could not be replaced.
I remember feeling deeply uncomfortable by her answer, and that smile of hers. I still remember that smile. Others around us at the time picked up on it too.
#9
Oh this one is easy. I didn’t realize he was one at first. We actually dated for 3 months and I thought he might have high functioning autism or something, like I noticed he reacted to things different. He was really cute and we had a lot of the same hobbies. He liked to climb so I kind of ignored it, but the longer we were together I would notice little things like he would feign when he thought he was supposed to be upset about something. He would know it was an upsetting thing but only when he realized I noticed or other people noticed would he have tears or act sad. He hit a wolf one time when we were on the way to a camping spot in northern Idaho. And that was when I really saw it. He took a life and didn’t even react. I know some people just don’t think animals are important, but he didn’t even swerve the car or react at all. He said it should have known better to cross the road and I cried because to me hitting a wolf was traumatic and I wasn’t even the one driving. They are beautiful creatures and he looked right at me stone cold and said, you are ruining my weekend by crying. I need you to stop right now. I broke up with him as soon as we got home I was too afraid to do it in the woods.
#10
He told me an elaborate story of how his puppy got out and when he found it, it had been attacked by something so he had to k**l it to end its suffering. Months later after our relationship ended, I found it he actually just left it in his apartment with no food or water to die.
He is now in prison for... I actually don't know what, but it involved children. It's the closest thing I've encountered that screamed psychopath. Looking back, the list is long and a huge reason for much of my trauma.
#11
Used to work as a mental health nurse, so saw people with diagnosed psychopathic traits. The thing that got me were their eyes. They could have the most brilliant, dazzling smile and have a contagious laugh, but their eyes were just flat, empty, lifeless. Sent chills down my spine every time.
Sunshine 3 months ago
I've known one person like this. The moment I met her, I knew something was missing from her eyes. It was unnerving, and I would often blame myself and think how unkind I was being bc maybe that's just how she looked. It wasn't that she had and evil glare or anything. The eyes were just dead somehow. She would smile or frown or make facial expressions but they never reached her eys. I can't explain it. It was just weird. She eventually showed, in many ways, how sociopathic she was.
#12
I am diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Disorder— commonly known as Psychopathy. The way to catch a psychopath is in the details of what they tell you. We ASPDers like to come up with elaborate lies to paint ourselves in certain lights. You might not focus on the details because you trust someone, but you need to do that when someone has ASPD. The tiny details will be inconsistent or won’t make sense— focus on them and make the psychopath explain them.
KnightOwl86 3 months ago (edited)
This sounds like my stepbrother, he will do whatever it takes to gain people's trust, he'll be whoever they need him to be and lie his a*s off. Once he gets them to trust him he'll get close then start to destroy their life, when he's done with them he'll brutally attack them, usually with weapons. He's been in prison 5 times for attacking women with knives, including the mother of his son. After the first of these attacks, he casually went to my parents house (victim was their neighbour) covered in blood and taking swigs from a bottle of vodka, walks straight into the kitchen and starts making a sandwich, he then leans against the door frame and casually said "someone should go check on (victim) I just stabbed her" then he just ate his sandwich while watching the news on tv waiting for the police to come get him.
#13
My now dead husband. He created scenes as proof of cheating in order to allow him to a*****t me, then admit he planted the false evidence etc. He blatantly lied when telling stories to his friends that would make him seem heroic or funny. He actually would be smugly happy when his friends or family suffered a downfall but act concerned to their faces. List could go forever but yeah f**k him.
Drop Bear from Hell 3 months ago
OP please tell me your brakes failed as he crossed the street in front of you.....
#14
Everything is a lie. They lie to themselves and the grandiose facade is so complex and deeply rooted in them that you believe it too at first. Their words do not line up with their actions or reality. Everything is a way to make themselves look better than everyone else, or to put others down and thus themselves higher. They view people as a means to an end. Can be extremely charming, outgoing, fun on the surface— but there is literally 0 depth beyond. It’s quite sad when I realized. They sure do know how to reel people in, tell them what they wanna hear, and sell this image of themselves.
#15
He was charming the first two years, but once we got engaged he locked in. Controlled all my money, friends, time outside of the apartment. It took a physical altercation that I successfully defended myself from to escape, I mean he had everything from me possession wise and social wise. It happened so fast too.
When I got away a few years later and he did a week in jail and some anger classes, I saw him again, and he smiled and came up to me like nothing ever happened. I literally stared him dead a*s in the eyes (it was a public panera bread) and just said firmly "nope" and left. He didn't follow me.
That was years ago.
#16
When I went to therapy after dating satan, and my therapist looks at me one day in a session and says “so, you know you dated a psychopath right? That everything you’re saying is actual, psychotic behavior and non of this is normal” that’s when I knew. They have an amazing way of facading through life.
#17
Former manager. I realised that he would literally work me to death and his only problem with that would be finding a replacement.
17 people in that company left within 6 months of him joining. People were crying at their desks. He implemented a ban on the dev team communicating with the marketing team. He secretly has our IT systems modified so he could read our emails and used that to attack us.
Imagine feeling like someone’s knee is on your throat all day, every day. That struggle to breathe. The weight crushing you. Several of us developed anxiety and depression as a result of working under him.
There was a time after a group of us had quit that we started discussing retaliation. Nobody said the actual words but we all knew what we meant. Even though I very much wanted “retaliation”too, I convinced them that our best retaliation was to move on and be successful.
As it happens, 13 years later I’m working with two of the same guys and we’re absolutely smashing it and working in a great place with great conditions.
But I still have to convince myself not to find him and retaliate.
#18
I think for me it was how charming, outgoing, and kind he was to others.. one time we went down to the woods by our houses and I found a wild rabbit with a bite mark in it but it was still alive, I picked it up and was trying to wrap my sweater around it, during this I kept the rabbit on the floor on top of my bag and he shot it dead. Right there. In front of me. While I was trying to save it. He thought it was the funniest thing ever and that was the day I decided to leave.
Saeyoul Akiyune 3 months ago
The poor bunny....That sounds horrible and traumatizing, I'm sorry 😢😢
#19
They put on a mask ALL THE TIME. They treat a specific group of people they deem weak horribly while trying to maintain a good image with anybody else. The closet ppl to them will describe them completely different than a colleague or a stranger they just met. And before u say everyone is like that NO this is veryyy different.
#20
Psychiatrist here. I’ve met several men with true antisocial personality disorder through my work, no women yet, and it is truly unsettling. Some of their earliest diagnostic behaviors include k**ling animals as children, although it had often progressed to violence toward other people (I will keep the details vague for anonymity). There is indeed often a legal history for those that make it to the inpatient unit, but a lot of these people in the general public can be extremely charismatic and successful.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 3 months ago
I have some of the traits of being antisocial, but I would never, ever harm an animal (unless it was an animal attacking one of MY pets. Then I would defend my pet.) I generally can live without human beings in my life and dislike interacting with most of them. I have some of the other hallmarks of antisocial personality disorder (I lack lack empathy, I exhibit impulsive behavior, I struggle with financial and social responsibility, and I lie* both compulsively and habitually. I also lack true remorse and can be very charming) but I cannot fathom harming/k!lling an animal. Am I antisocial just towards humans? :p (* Note: I lie IRL - I generally don't lie much online and am very willing to be open about what I've done/gone through - such as my struggles with add!ction - but for some reason I lie IRL nearly constantly. Maybe I feel safer online?)
#21
I fell in love with this guy who did a lot of hardcore sports. Dangerous stuff. All the time.
I went through a seriously traumatic event when on my way to meet him for vacation. He had been so charming, and made a lot of grand romantic gestures back then. He impulsively got us tickets to a cruise. I got to town a day before him to visit family. I went out with friends the night before he arrived - things went way wrong.
When he got off the plane he found out that I had been attacked. Instead of coming to me at the police station, he told me I should have fought harder and had ruined his vacation. He went on the cruise without me. Went straight to the ship and didn't even bother to see me.
Broke my heart at one of the lowest moments of my life.
When we got to talk about it later - I told him I had noticed his lack of empathy, thrill-seeking, impulsive behavior. I had also noticed that he was always "happy".
He looked at me without a mask for a moment. And told me I was very observant. It was chilling. He could move so easily from this charming guy who seemed almost altruistic to someone I didn't recognize.
#22
I’m a storm chaser. In 2011 I was with a chase group that got extremely close to the very deadly joplin tornado. Was a very sobering event. Several days after was speaking to another member of the group who informed us that the best part of the trip was seeing the town get destroyed. He also cheered watching a different tornado hit a house. Even crazier? His wife cheered too. Two psychopaths — and they found each other.
#23
I have a sibling who is a psychopath.
They are just... empty. They try thing after thing after thing to fill the emptiness and move onto harming people or themselves when they can't.
And there's an uncanny valley quality to them because of the emptiness. They do not respond in a normal, expected way to anything. They are cold, like someone doing an impression of a human.
They're good at acting and putting on the charm but most people catch a whiff of something that's not right, something off and strange. So most of their relationships are entirely superficial. It's very much a "you know it when you see it" situation. You know in your bones something is wrong and your brain says, "Run," even if you're having a totally banal conversation. And they have ALWAYS been like this, they've just gotten better at acting to fool whoever they need to.
JK 3 months ago
Same, sister is more of a sociopath, borderline psychopath. I've studied criminal psychology in graduate school. She wasn't overtly evil, just greedy and pretentious. Tortured me as a kid until she got kicked out at age 16, I was 2 years younger. She asked me what I was wearing to her wedding. A black dress, as requested and a three strand pearl choker. Her response was "Are they Mikimoto?" JFC. A $36k necklace? Made $ in real estate, which is good for socio-psychopaths, which is a good field for women. The issue of female psychopathy has not really been studied. I think they fall on a spectrum between socio and psycho.
#24
I am technically still married to one, although we have been no contact for over three years. I can name a thousand different things, but I will stick to one in the interest of time. One night...one of many similar nights, we argued and he assaulted me, generally this meant him biting me and choking me. I was at perhaps the lowest point in my life, brainwashed, gaslighted, torn down, so I got up the next morning and decided to make the best of it. I cooked all day and he stayed in the bedroom. I remember listening to music and just really being in a good mood. I made his favorite dinner and brought it to him in the bedroom. He was looking at his phone. I said I made your favorite dinner 😃, and he looked at me and said Your so simple. That moment changed my life. It was a gift, because I left the next day and never looked back.
Sally Moen 3 months ago
Simple is bad to them? Its like they can't chill for one day and enjoy the peace. Their like the eye of the hurricane and the cause of it too
#25
They are incredibly selfish but they don’t make you feel they are being selfish. Instead you eventually see they don’t care about you and that when they do nice things, it’s actually for themselves more than you. You are easily ignored when you have no value left for them.
I suppose that some of these people are good in that they can move on from you and you can just completely forget about them even though you are related. .
Undercover 3 months ago
Sounds a bit like my brother. Every time I try to grab him, he slips through my fingers. From the most charming guy to totally emotionless and absolutely self-centered. Can't take an ounce of critique, must be the center of attention, cheats in relationships. Sometimes he feels SO close to me, but just when he needs something. When he sees no personal gain, he ignores you, sometimes for years. Abt 2, 5 years ago I cut all ties, but he came back abt 1 year ago because he needed his family - a family he didn't contact / visit for over 10 years. Thank god he now moved to another country and I hope I can finally find closure and escape the toxic spell.
#26
He was my friend in high school. He literally saw himself as an apex predator. He was kind of a weird guy in general but it was high school, we were all a little weird. But he was one of the most selfish people ive ever met and would creep out any girl we got near. He would always make jokes about how he could just k**l someone if he wanted to and they wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Anytime he tried to be emotional with someone it always felt really fake and forced and it was typically an attempt at manipulation.
Honestly, he was a fun guy to talk to when we talked about video games and such but being a teenager I just completely ignored so many red flags. It wasn't until college when I was doing a research paper on psychopathy that I had an "Oh my God" moment of realization.
#27
I lived a few years in a state mental hospital where I lived on the same ward with one.
She outright said to me that she was a "dignosed psychopath," but in reality thats not a diagnostic term. She most likely was diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Disorder.
Anyway, she would say or do anything as a means to an end. If she wanted something, shed go for it. Relationships, s*x, cigarrettes, clothes, food. Everybody and everything was dispensible to get what she wanted and often at a moments notice. A lot of the patients had been used at some point by her for something.
Another "fun" thing about her was she would self harm by swallowing objects. She had a ton of deep scars on her stomach where they had to surgically remove potentially deadly items. I watched her as she swallowed long wires she had dug out from the patient phone, and she once swallowed the batteries from my CD player when I wasnt looking. Good times.
#28
I like to think I'm pretty good at reading people but they'd stare at me sometimes when we were in bed together and I'd simultaneously feel like they cared for me and that they were about to attack me at the same second. I could never fully read that look behind their eyes, it was like it was ebbing and flowing between love and hate.
It would create this push and pull in my gut where I was drawn to them but afraid of them.
I started to catch out lies. I watched their movements change when no one was looking. Every word was calculated to manipulate something or someone. Their emotions were mimicking others rather than their own.
I got out before they hurt me and in the process found out what they'd done to many, many others.
If you're reading this, you and your sibling should be in jail. Both of you should play in traffic.
LinkTheHylian 3 months ago
I like to think I'm a good judge of character too. Ian Watkins always gave me the creeps. And that was just from photos and interviews.
#29
I work in a prison and have dealt with literal psychopaths diagnosed and all that.
The best way I can describe it and keep in mind this is coming from someone who knew what they were going in...there is something missing in their brain. Like you can see it in their eyes that there is a void behind them and when they talk to you it's just a big game. I'm not talking "oh, that's a lack of empathy" (which it is) but an emptiness that just is not natural. Like inmates plays games (lies, manipulation, playing dumb to see what you know, it's part of their world) but with them there is a lot of deliberation and measuring in their interactions with you that just doesn't exist with regular inmates. Like they are sizing you up and man you gotta be very aware of what they are doing and just go along with it sticking to policy, procedure and your job. They love control and they are trying to get some of it with you and you have to not allow it.
Drop Bear from Hell 3 months ago
Yep - I spent many years in Corrections, diagnosed and counselled numerous psychopaths and sociopaths. They are scary as you can never really know what they are going to do. Imagine a rabid wolf circling you....that's the feeling just awaiting the charge.
#30
It took years for me to realise, but eventually saw that they never spoke a single word from their mouth that wasn't intended to manipulate and control others. Every single conversation and interaction was manufactured and not genuine - no 'genuine' version of that person exists. They also took every opportunity to subtly put people down if they were threatened by them. Made people (including me) doubt ourselves deeply.
Also, everything they did to control and manipulate others had plausible deniablility because they were so clever and careful about it. Everything was done in between the lines so it was hard to prove.
Eventually those people almost always give themselves away though, in my opinion/experience.
#31
My friend’s child.
When our kids were in elementary school, I met another parent and we became fast friends. Adored my new friend and our kids were the same ages. My kids, social and friendly, didn’t love going to play dates with her kids.
She had a crazy tall staircase, like a story and and a half, one long straight run. The kids playroom was at the top. I was half way up the stairs to check on them, my daughter was standing at the top looking down at me.
My angle kept me out of sight from the playroom, and I saw my friend’s son sneaking behind her, maniacal expression of glee as he was about to shove her down the stairs.
I yelled, he startled and then reset his face. I saw him transform from evil to cute kid. I grabbed my kids and never talked to her again. I was afraid to have my kids in his presence and the sweet mother would never believed what I saw. I tried a million times to figure out how to explain my actions, but couldn’t bring myself to do it.
#32
My mom. She made everyone think she was the best mom in the world. My classmates would say “your mom’s so cool, she’s great, etc.” But behind closed doors, she would sit me down every night for up to 4 hours (I know,bc I’d watch the clock in agony), while she explained what a terrible person I was while reading scripture.
She also didn’t like our fish tank, so she put a towel over it and waited for the fish to die.
#33
"I got so angry I decided to shoot my wife. But then I thought to myself that if I k**l my wife my son will be lost in this world so I have to k**l him too."
I work in inpatient psychiatry.
Pro tip: if you ever go to the psych hospital and meet someone and you decide you want to be friends with them on the outside DON'T!
#34
I am no specialist and fully aware that ASPD cannot be diagnosed in a minor , but having said that-
work with children with behavioural issues and encountered a highly intelligent preteen with zero empathy. It was really quite unsettling - would utter the most horrific , personal insults with a near-reptilian look and, when facing a consequence ,merely lament that he would be bored during time out.
Consulted with the police when he started sending chat messages of himself torturing his pets as some intimidation tactic.
T'Mar of Vulcan 3 months ago
I taught a child like that. He had dead eyes, and he knew the tactics teachers use to get kids to behave, so they didn't work on him. He'd even say, "I know you're doing this to get me to behave." He was expelled (or maybe suspended - I suspect our principal couldn't actually get him expelled) the last week of school for spray painting the boys' bathroom. I used to say that if you threw holy water on him, he'd start fizzing. He scared the absolute cr@p out of me.
#35
This person hasn't been diagnosed, but I strongly suspect she is. She can be very charming superficially, good at ensnaring/luring people in and very believable in spinning a good story to get people to side with her and believe what she's saying. She has very limited emotional range, it's just fake happiness/contentment and rage. There is nothing in between. Can also fake cry on command which I find very disturbing. She does it to the cops whenever her partner and her have had a DV incident. I usually believe most women when they say they are victims, but not her. She is cunning and evil. She has gotten away with her behaviour her whole life and I don't see it changing. She knows how to manipulate people into bowing to her demands and if they don't, she flies into a rage where she attempts to physically harm them. Also, if you don't side with her, you're against her and she will launch a campaign into smearing your name and reputation.
#36
I used to work across the road from a State Hospital (mental health hospital) at a big box store.
They treated all walks of illness, including psychopaths and the criminally insane.
Those that were allowed due to having a day pass or whatever they were called would come either on their own (rare) or with case workers to do shopping. This didn’t include prisoners, I guess obviously, but sometimes we’d get patients that were just…off.
So I’ve interacted with a few. For me, the usual giveaway was the sticker name tag, lol. But there were some who didn’t wear them, or who “escaped” and wandered over on their own.
For me, it was their laugh. They actually tend to laugh a lot, but ONLY at things they themselves have said or precipitated in.
And then, it’s an…almost naughty-child snicker, like they think they’re the most clever person in the room. I can’t say if this is a medication side effect (because I assume all those I interacted with were medicated?) but that’s how I’d tell.
The other way is that they seemed to have a momentary delay in replying to things, like they were referring to a script or buffering. Again, may have been a side effect from medication causing delayed cognitive processing, but it was a tell for me. Usually I’d interact and see these tells and then their case worker would pop up to direct them back across the toad.
#37
We had a boy at the school I teach at who would lie, about things that we literally saw him do, with such calmness that it was chilling.
He would mess with kids stuff, like hiding their bags, and then just stand in the distance and watch them panic.
One day he got in trouble for throwing some boys clothes into the toilets. The next day his mother wanted to know what we were going to do with the boys who broke his fingers.
We didn’t know what she was talking about as we’d seen him carrying heavy books and using his hands fine after the incident.
She showed us the x-rays to confirm it though.
We think that he had broken his own fingers to get out of the initial trouble.
He was 10. .
#38
It ran in his family and he was always worried I’d find out “what he’d become one day”, but he already was one, because he was so cruel. Every plan to help or impress me had some ulterior motive of purposely making me insecure or diminishing me in some way. He also thought k*****g pets were no big deal and he always tried to tower over me and pretend to be angry to intimidate me.
#39
It’s something about the eyes and the micro expressions. I just get a vibe from them. I am autistic and spent 20+ years studying and watching people, so I am hyper aware and have fairly decent pattern recognition in general. There have been a couple of people who flew under my radar initially but caused intense anxiety to be around. But the veil always lifts eventually.
katiekat0214 3 months ago
The intense anxiety is the tell: it's your nervous system being aware before your brain is aware. Trust your gut always.
#40
Talked to a guy online who after two weeks of conversation told me sometimes that he wanted to k**l someone just to see what it felt like in random conversation, and told me that when he was younger he had a plan for k**ling a girl in his class he thought was annoying and that “no one would miss”. Could he have been an edgelord? Maybe. However, I am not taking my chances. Pretty sure he was literally psychopathic.
#41
I work at a residential psych unit. A guy lives there who was found not guilty by reason of insanity for k***ing a family member 20 years ago. Supposedly “cured” of his “psychosis” he was allowed to step-down. The he day he came he was so superficial and scripted and fake-charming I was like nope he’s a Psycopath who convinced everyone he had weed-induced psychosis.
#42
I was in a lab group with the guy who dressed up as batman and k**led a bunch of people in a movie theater.
I never realized it. He was worthless as a scientist and didn't make a single contribution all semester. It was to the point that two of us in the 4-person group went to the professor. He would just stare blankly when I'd yell at him for not putting in the work. I was patient at first, but it wasn't shyness or even ineptitude. He was just in his own world, and nothing else was real to him. I've met a few more psychopaths and k**lers since then. When they see a person as a thing, it's like being yelled at by a rock. They don't really see anyone as much more than meat. It was the class where we drilled holes in rat heads to control their brains, so his chosen branch of education wasn't exactly helping his condition.
Peeka_Mimi 3 months ago
I go to that theater all the time because it's close by. I always think of his victims.
#43
Watching them learn how to mimic genuine empathy, then weaponize it. Just this one person though.. fortunately.
#44
My mom
I secretly recorded a video of her infantilizing me and I sent it to my therapist. My therapist told her to stop treating me like a child. She then used ChatGPT to write an eviction letter. She wants to take the car away from me because I want a job.
🇺🇦 🇵🇸 TribbleThinking 3 months ago (edited)
Newsflash - she wants to take EVERYTHING away from you. Start saving secretly - do everything you can to get away and cut contact. That little bit of material comfort you get from her is not worth a life never lived.
#45
My ex bit my ear off and never apologized although given plenty of chances. He then used every excuse to explain away what he did because it was something I did wrong.
#46
Very friendly people-pleaser type guy I kinda worked with always low key gave me the creeps, because way back in his instagram he had pics of him that looked like he had a completely different personality, in a different city with completely different people. Made me feel like he was faking everything.
If you saw him when he was drunk or high enough his mask straight up slipped and the only discernible emotion on his face if not dead blank was seething rage. After I noticed this I started telling people I thought he was a closeted psychopath.
Ended up getting with one of our coworker and beating the s**t out of her. Called it.
Panda Cat 2 months ago
Huh. There’s a certain wife in the White House who has a lifetime of discarding people. Apparently, as she moves on in life she dumps the friends she’s had before. Sure, we all lose track of some people in our lives, or ditch the toxic ones but I’ve read that this is pretty much how she is with everyone. Well, everyone except her “chain immigrated” family and her son. I can only hope she was a good parent to him since kids deserve at least one reliable person in their childhood.
#47
Would never have been able to tell through my interactions with him and I can’t even say for certain that he did have psychopathy or ASPD. I was just a contractor working on his house for an extended period of time. But when I had to go into his casita office to test a line, he had a shelf full of books on psychopathy and ASPD, lots of stuff like Understanding Antisocial Personality Disorder, Living with ASPD. All alongside one hell of an arsenal, not that the guy would need guns, he looked like if Terry Crews could eat Terry Crews for breakfast.
#48
Demanded we cut open a baby bird and inspect each organ. We were young kids but still as young as I was I knew this was something weird to do.
Also the time he hit my back of my head with a huge metal pole in front of my parents. Got knocked. He showed no remorse at all. No idea where he is now though. .
#49
Not a psychologist, but, my cousin.
Enjoyed humiliating other children when he was just a child.
As a late teen/young adult he clipped the tattoo out of his ex her skin with a nailclipper.
Had many pet snakes, really enjoyed feeding it, even went as far as buying pet rabbits and pretending to be this forever home, when he was planning on feeding it. He laughed his a*s off about this man cuddling with his rabbits the last time.
Had rats, some he kept as pets and some were meant to feed the snakes. He bullied a rat-mother if she tried to get away from her babies for a second and punched the poor animal. It died eventually. He had another mother and she had to feed 20 something rats (half of them weren't hers), same thing, ended up letting his girlfriend bottle feed the rats.
His little brother confessed that at some point, he had 5 cats in his room and he'd let them get pregnant all the time. If he couldn't sell the kittens he just k****d them.
I once planned to buy a puppy somewhere, beautiful puppy. My grandparents lost their freaking minds over it because it was a very big breed and had no papers, they said if it wasn't from a good breeder, it was basically a m****r-machine and they talked me out of it. I had however already taken a picture of it, this was 10 years ago. and I recently recognized the picture I took on marketplace. My cousin is still trying to scam people with the picture I took of that dog. I know it was him because he used his dad's account.
Lots of other examples.
My family always knew. I used to tell them it was just a child and he would get over it and not to be so dramatic about their own cousin. But, yea, they were right. He's an adult now.
#50
Dude had a couple people bowing down on their knees in front of him praying through him to Jesus or something. He was really good at reading people and manipulating them. Charles Manson type stuff.
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What do you think ?
FreeTheUnicorn 3 months ago
We've all met psychopaths, theya re 1% of the population. Most aren't a threat, and continuing to use the word as a catch all derogatory label is as wrong as using the r word that way. A lot of the cases above sound more like sociopaths, but it's not the pathology that makes them awful people, the pathology just means their empathy is turned way down. But that can also happen as a result of trauma, or just general non-pathological meanness.
Ryan-James O'Driscoll 3 months ago
Fun fact, we are actually really bad at recognising psychopaths. They can be really good at hiding it. What we often think about with psychopaths is often people with other stuff going on. I suspect a number of these stories are the usual fakery created for Reddit karma, but many of them describe things that are consistent with other conditions. Despite what movies make out, psychopathy does not come hand in hand with murder or other horrible crimes.
Roberta Surprenant 3 months ago
Some can be so convincing with their bs because they believe it themselves. Was married to one of those long ago.
Natalia Allen 3 months ago
Many people have many psychopathic and sociopathic traits without actually being either. The biggest mistake many people make is thinking that other people are like you. It never ceases to amaze me the complete lack of empathy many people today have. Scary!
DC 3 months ago (edited)
I changed schools in 2nd grade. Of my new classmates, one stood out pretty far. When I first locked eyes with him, I saw something in them I had never seen before. Hard to describe, a sort of coldness. He lived up to, and exceeded, the expectations - if there was a fight, it was usually caused by him, and he would NEVER stop until he was made to stop. If we hadn't prevented him from punching on and on and on, he'd likely have killed at least two classmates. When he was with us (I wonder why we even allowed him to join us...), and we visited somebody, even people unknown to him, he stole something. At my place, a watch. The stolen items were, then, gifted to other people so that he could enjoy a fight between somebody trying to retrieve their property, and somebody trying to keep a gift that was just received. In another, more wellknown, incident, he and two others invited a classmate who was considered a crybaby - and, frankly, he was - and forced him to chose which sort of adult movie they were gonna watch. As he didn't want to, they locked him up in the attic at his place. He came home too late, too crying, and a class conference including the principal and such was held, that had ... once again, no result. His mother was convinced that he was just short of being holy, and she was loud and demanding. When she finally had realized it was her precious son who instigated just exactly EVERY fight he was ever involved in, ... well, he wasn't my classmate anymore by then. I met him a few times, and never enjoyed meeting him, but was glad whenever our ways parted again. But, the smiles and occasionally snitchery got him, in the teachers' view, above me - I never was that brutal or downright immoral, but I never played interested when I wasn't. He was a fairly good actor, at least in getting stuff perceived to his advantage.
SkippityBoppityBoo 3 months ago
Was my ex a true psychopath? I think he was, the police think he was... There's never been any remorse or guilt from him... He's a very charming, good looking guy. Everything was someone else's fault. Seeing his dead empty eyes when he was strangling me? It was... Nothing there... No life, emotion or anything... And that's when you know you've come across a true psychopath... So my advice is? Do what you have to do to get away, escape from the situation. Not violence unless absolutely necessary as a last resort but I've talked my way out of dangerous situations by being "charming" back and then phoned the police.
Mimi M 3 months ago (edited)
I've told this story before - so sorry if it's redundant. When I was living in DC, I went to a philosophical discussion group (I later led the same group for a couple of years in a different city). So at the DC group, there was this guy and he started talking about how humans were damaging the planet and hurting the animals and it would be better if the humans were not around. I took a small piece of paper and scribbled on it 'guy's a sociopath', and slid it over to the group leader, who was sitting next to me. After the group ended, the leader became angry and critical of me for making that comment (even though it was private). I had a small discussion with the weird guy, and recommended a book to him. He emailed me about it later, but I didn't respond because of his weird vibes. A year or so later, a gunman took control of the Discovery Channel building in DC (a high-rise) and took several people hostage. He was later killed by snipers and the hostages were freed. He was characterized on the news as a 'radical environmentalist'. When they showed his face on the news - you guessed it, it was the guy that I had described as a sociopath.
Mike F 3 months ago
Does anyone else have a serious case of deja-vu? Like this was posted just a couple of days ago? Maybe I'm old AND crazy.
megabeth 3 months ago
Maybe post about ask a psychopath? One answered questions something like that...
Load More Replies...
Skywitness 3 months ago
I retired a few years ago and had the fortune or misfortune to only work for one psychopath. He definitely had superficial charm, He also had an explosive temper and I saw him raging at a coworker about an inspection. His eyes were bugging out and spittle was flying from his mouth as he screamed, "Who told you to do this? " The answer was , "You did." He didn't apologize but he did leave.
BrunoVI 3 months ago (edited)
I met Cardinal McCarrack, the then-Archbishop of Washington. If you don't know who he was, he was part of a ring of perverts who helped install other perverts as bishops all over America. I didn't realize who he was even though he was wearing his purple skullcap (zuchetto), because he was small and I think you expect powerful people to be larger than life. He hadn't been outed yet, but nonetheless I instinctively pulled my head back, as if I'd reached into a dark hole and felt s**t all over my hand. He later got fired for sleeping with a bunch of seminarians under him. Somehow, Pope Francis made him sort of a kingpin again in the American Catholic church anyway. The media wasn't so outraged because they liked Pope Francis and this was one of their guys, if you know what I mean. I'm very religious, but also very definitely a sinner, so it sort of boggles my mind how I could get such a strong vibe off of him, but other people around him supposedly didn't know.
BrunoVI 3 months ago
I met a lot of politicians, too, by the way. It's a little bit creepy how energetically they can be interacting with you, and you still get a feeling like they're there but they're not really there. But I never got such a feeling of disgust off of any of them like I didn't from McCarrack.
Load More Replies... Ryan-James O'Driscoll 3 months ago
This is a made up narrative in your own head. Despite clearly not knowing what psychopathy is or how it manifests.
Load More Replies... FreeTheUnicorn 3 months ago
We've all met psychopaths, theya re 1% of the population. Most aren't a threat, and continuing to use the word as a catch all derogatory label is as wrong as using the r word that way. A lot of the cases above sound more like sociopaths, but it's not the pathology that makes them awful people, the pathology just means their empathy is turned way down. But that can also happen as a result of trauma, or just general non-pathological meanness.
Ryan-James O'Driscoll 3 months ago
Fun fact, we are actually really bad at recognising psychopaths. They can be really good at hiding it. What we often think about with psychopaths is often people with other stuff going on. I suspect a number of these stories are the usual fakery created for Reddit karma, but many of them describe things that are consistent with other conditions. Despite what movies make out, psychopathy does not come hand in hand with murder or other horrible crimes.
Roberta Surprenant 3 months ago
Some can be so convincing with their bs because they believe it themselves. Was married to one of those long ago.
Natalia Allen 3 months ago
Many people have many psychopathic and sociopathic traits without actually being either. The biggest mistake many people make is thinking that other people are like you. It never ceases to amaze me the complete lack of empathy many people today have. Scary!
DC 3 months ago (edited)
I changed schools in 2nd grade. Of my new classmates, one stood out pretty far. When I first locked eyes with him, I saw something in them I had never seen before. Hard to describe, a sort of coldness. He lived up to, and exceeded, the expectations - if there was a fight, it was usually caused by him, and he would NEVER stop until he was made to stop. If we hadn't prevented him from punching on and on and on, he'd likely have killed at least two classmates. When he was with us (I wonder why we even allowed him to join us...), and we visited somebody, even people unknown to him, he stole something. At my place, a watch. The stolen items were, then, gifted to other people so that he could enjoy a fight between somebody trying to retrieve their property, and somebody trying to keep a gift that was just received. In another, more wellknown, incident, he and two others invited a classmate who was considered a crybaby - and, frankly, he was - and forced him to chose which sort of adult movie they were gonna watch. As he didn't want to, they locked him up in the attic at his place. He came home too late, too crying, and a class conference including the principal and such was held, that had ... once again, no result. His mother was convinced that he was just short of being holy, and she was loud and demanding. When she finally had realized it was her precious son who instigated just exactly EVERY fight he was ever involved in, ... well, he wasn't my classmate anymore by then. I met him a few times, and never enjoyed meeting him, but was glad whenever our ways parted again. But, the smiles and occasionally snitchery got him, in the teachers' view, above me - I never was that brutal or downright immoral, but I never played interested when I wasn't. He was a fairly good actor, at least in getting stuff perceived to his advantage.
SkippityBoppityBoo 3 months ago
Was my ex a true psychopath? I think he was, the police think he was... There's never been any remorse or guilt from him... He's a very charming, good looking guy. Everything was someone else's fault. Seeing his dead empty eyes when he was strangling me? It was... Nothing there... No life, emotion or anything... And that's when you know you've come across a true psychopath... So my advice is? Do what you have to do to get away, escape from the situation. Not violence unless absolutely necessary as a last resort but I've talked my way out of dangerous situations by being "charming" back and then phoned the police.
Mimi M 3 months ago (edited)
I've told this story before - so sorry if it's redundant. When I was living in DC, I went to a philosophical discussion group (I later led the same group for a couple of years in a different city). So at the DC group, there was this guy and he started talking about how humans were damaging the planet and hurting the animals and it would be better if the humans were not around. I took a small piece of paper and scribbled on it 'guy's a sociopath', and slid it over to the group leader, who was sitting next to me. After the group ended, the leader became angry and critical of me for making that comment (even though it was private). I had a small discussion with the weird guy, and recommended a book to him. He emailed me about it later, but I didn't respond because of his weird vibes. A year or so later, a gunman took control of the Discovery Channel building in DC (a high-rise) and took several people hostage. He was later killed by snipers and the hostages were freed. He was characterized on the news as a 'radical environmentalist'. When they showed his face on the news - you guessed it, it was the guy that I had described as a sociopath.
Mike F 3 months ago
Does anyone else have a serious case of deja-vu? Like this was posted just a couple of days ago? Maybe I'm old AND crazy.
megabeth 3 months ago
Maybe post about ask a psychopath? One answered questions something like that...
Load More Replies... Skywitness 3 months ago
I retired a few years ago and had the fortune or misfortune to only work for one psychopath. He definitely had superficial charm, He also had an explosive temper and I saw him raging at a coworker about an inspection. His eyes were bugging out and spittle was flying from his mouth as he screamed, "Who told you to do this? " The answer was , "You did." He didn't apologize but he did leave.
BrunoVI 3 months ago (edited)
I met Cardinal McCarrack, the then-Archbishop of Washington. If you don't know who he was, he was part of a ring of perverts who helped install other perverts as bishops all over America. I didn't realize who he was even though he was wearing his purple skullcap (zuchetto), because he was small and I think you expect powerful people to be larger than life. He hadn't been outed yet, but nonetheless I instinctively pulled my head back, as if I'd reached into a dark hole and felt s**t all over my hand. He later got fired for sleeping with a bunch of seminarians under him. Somehow, Pope Francis made him sort of a kingpin again in the American Catholic church anyway. The media wasn't so outraged because they liked Pope Francis and this was one of their guys, if you know what I mean. I'm very religious, but also very definitely a sinner, so it sort of boggles my mind how I could get such a strong vibe off of him, but other people around him supposedly didn't know.
BrunoVI 3 months ago
I met a lot of politicians, too, by the way. It's a little bit creepy how energetically they can be interacting with you, and you still get a feeling like they're there but they're not really there. But I never got such a feeling of disgust off of any of them like I didn't from McCarrack.
Load More Replies... Ryan-James O'Driscoll 3 months ago
This is a made up narrative in your own head. Despite clearly not knowing what psychopathy is or how it manifests.
Load More Replies... You May Like 43 Horrifying Things People Have Woken Up To That Still Haunt Them 57 Creepy True Ghost Stories To Never Feel Alone Again “I Really Wish I Was Making This Up”: 44 Unbelievable Moments That Made People Question Reality
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