Have you ever met someone you felt was truly evil?

[Isisiris]

Inspired by a thread,not a TAAT. have you ever met someone and just known they were evil?
Or has someone you know done something you felt showed they were?
I'm suffering insomnia and this subject fascinates me.

@tigerbear...that scared the crap out of me and I'm only reading it

My ddog as a very young dpuppy took a dislike to a neighbour.. She would growl at the window if he was in the Street. Once he came in the house she was quite aggressive towards him. We had little to do with him for a few years.
Until he had a street party and killed another of our neighbours... Went to jail sadly for not long enough..
Turned out he was an abusive dh and df also..

Once.
A child I taught on teaching practice, 20 years ago. I think he was a psychopath, I found out at some point that he had already been implicated in an arson attack. (he was only about 7!).
I was very professional with him of course, and did my best for him as his teacher, but there was something about him that was seriously unsettling.
I wish I could remember his name, as I'd love to google it and see if he has committed a crime.

Taught many children, some more likeable than others, some 'naughtier' than others, some that, sadly, you could imagine getting in to trouble later, some who did some bad things, but all just kids. There was something about this particular child that was chilling.

But, on the other hand, you can't always tell. I knew a man quite well for a long time. He was married to a close friend, she had not got a clue, and then one day police arrested him. Masses of child porn on his computer in secret files, and he was convicted of rape of a small child. it was a total shock and surprise ot all of us who knew him. He was a perfectly nice guy to all appearances.

I had dealings with a man a few times who gave off a palpable feeling of absolute fear and made me want to run away.

I later found out he had been committed to a secure MH unit when younger as he had attempted to chop someone’s limb off and he had a history of extreme violence towards women. He had the gift of the gab and I’m sure could have taken vulnerable women in to his confidence. Just writing this down makes me feel a bit nauseous at the memory and it was a long time ago.

8Almost always there’s a pretty clear explanation and ‘if things had been different that could have been any one of us’ type thought.*

while that is my thoguht about most people who get into trouble, I do think there are a few people who are very frightening.
It may be because they are so damaged that they have lost an element of humanity. It may be because they are born that way. But there are certainly some people who are terrifying.

I've met one or two people who have given me a really bad feeling when I first met them. They've then gone on to do things that have proves me right.

Like some pp though, I don't believe anyone is intrinsically evil. I believe everyone is a product of things that have happened to them during their lives.

No, I've worked in men's prisons and locked psychiatric units over the years and I've met people who are truly mad but not evil.
Evil is a religious concept and most people who do terrible things are psycopaths or so disturbed they don't function properly.
There is no place in science for "evil".

I have met two people who subsequently were convicted of murder (this was years apart). Not a clue to be honest.

Yes, a family member.

I was always afraid of him even as a child even though he never did anything to hurt me. He was always outwardly pleasant I thought but I've learned as an adult that he was always causing trouble in the family and did and said some really awful things. Not violent or sexual but just super nasty, manipulative, lying, fraud, theft from family etc. He never did anything to children, but I always remember never wanting to be alone with him (I assume my mother always ensured this was never the case anyway, given what I know now).

He went on to murder someone. He's been in prison for twenty five years now and even though he could have been released years ago his parole is consistently denied.

He's been tested, assessed every which way over the years. He has no mental health problems/conditions. He was raised in a loving home same as his siblings who are all normal functioning members of society without as much as a speeding ticket between them.

A colleague showed me a photo of her husband and he just made my skin crawl just by looking at it. There was just something urgh about him. Years later he was convicted of child sexual abuse, he used to be a minibus driver for a school of children with learning difficulties. He had abused some of them and his own children too.

There is no place in science for "evil".

Of course there is evil, doesn’t matter science can’t explain it, science can’t explain a lot of things.

Steppemum a tip to remember a name is think is the letter A. Then B. Keep going. Your brain should pause or take you back to the correct initial that the name starts with.. Works amazingly ime...

I'm another one who believes that most people we think of as evil are victims of horrendous experiences themselves. I'm not saying it justifies what they're capable of doing to others, but it can explain how they might be capable of evil acts. Obviously, it's an extreme example, but right now I'm thinking of Lisa Montgomery.

@Isisiris

I'm derailing a little but, of the dog thing, my local pub has an elderly lady come in with her husband and another couple (well, it doesnt now, pre covid!) And my dog HATES her! She's a tiny little posh polite old lady,loves dogs and she's mortified that my dog growls and 'tail between legs'and cowers. She tries to make friends with her and I've told her to stop even trying because although my dogs never bitten anyone, she's a big dog and she really doesnt like her and I'm petrified soemthing might happen! I honestly cant see that this woman is evil(who knows though) or that my dog has a feasible reason to react that way. I even spoke to the woman about why, asked had she got different perfume on or soemthing. My only reasoning was/is that she perhaps has a disease or something that my dog doesnt like the smell of?

You mentioned the possibility that the woman might be ill, and that the dog might have picked it up.

I feel that I know that dogs can pick up things like that, things that wouldn't be obvious to us. One of my saddest memories is that some years after my cat died I lifted down the box containing her ashes and put it next to my little dog. I don't know why I did it, but the dog cried in alarm and backed away. She looked truly frightened, and I felt terrible. About a week later my little dog died very suddenly overnight (I'm not suggesting that the two events are connected). I'm sure that Piggle somehow knew that Puss's ashes were in that box, or something of that sort, and she was clearly very unsettled by it. I'll always feel very guilty about unintentionally frightening her like that.

No I don’t agree. I’ve watched many crime programmes on tv and read many books on it. Many of them come from perfectly happy homes. Nothing can account for some of the horrendous crimes they do. Just evil to the core I’m afraid.

Of course there ARE some that come from horrendous backgrounds themselves that goes someway to explain how they turned out the way they did. But discounting them, there are truly evil people in the world.

Yes. A child, well a boy who is probably around 20 years old now.
The look he would give and the way he would act made you feel like he was the devil himself. I will not be shocked if I read something in the papers in the future about terrible crime he has committed.

Years ago I worked as a prison nurse. There were a lot of people there who had done awful things due to mental illness. I dont think thats evil. There was one man though, who had no mental illness but had abused young boys. He was evil.

FWIW I think 'evil' people are very rare, but they're defo out there.

I think the danger of this thread is that it encourages people to think that 'evil' can be spotted. We are encouraged from the picture books we read as children to movies as adults to think that 'bad' people look bad or ugly can be spotted in some way, as if their inner evil radiates outwards.
In reality they cannot be spotted. Its the person you least suspect who abuses your child. They are likeable and normal people, if not, you wouldn't have let them near your child in the first place.
That's the most terrifying thing about it.

I worked in a shop when I was about 15. Man used to come in few times a week to buy cigarettes and milk. Always really friendly but I was fucking petrified of him. Could never figure out why. Turns out he'd murdered his wife and had her body in the under stairs cupboard for ages before discovered. Not sure that he was evil but he definitely radiated something uncomfortable to be around.

I'm not aware that I've met anyone evil, but I have certainly met people who I immediately knew to be dangerous (usually because of a volatile temper which they wore like a badge).

The only one I would say made my skin crawl was a man I met in a playground. I was there with my DS and he was there with a group of totally normal middle class parents and children (including his wife/partner and daughter). I can't explain why but when we were talking I felt that he had identified me as prey. That was the way he focused his attention onto me, although he was outwardly pleasant.

@tigerbear that sent shivers down my spine

I have worked in secure hospitals and met convicted serial killers. None came across as particularly evil. Bad, yes, but not evil.

Other patients though, although not necessarily convicted of anything, would have a terrible kind of "aura" around them. They would make you feel incredibly on edge. Even the toughest of forensic nurses would notice it.

Yes. A kid from a few streets away. He was about 10 when he first came on to my radar, he's about 22 now and has a long criminal record and is currently awaiting sentencing for murder.