News stories that stay with you and upset you

[PurpleSky300]

I've been reading the updates around the deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy tonight, and my God it's horrible. A comment I saw on Reddit described it as "Stephen King level of horrifying" and it really is, I can't stop thinking about it. Such a great actor, gets to a grand age of 95 and then... Alzheimer's takes his mind and he ends up living in the house with his wife's body for a week? and unable to feed/save their dog too? Unimaginable.

I've also been reading the court reports from the Kyle Clifford trial, the evil feral thing who murdered John Hunt's wife and daughters. That is evil beyond all belief.

These stories have rooted in my brain and I can't seem to distract myself. Has this happened to you, with news events? How do you cope with it?

The murders of Shanann, Bella, Celeste and Shanann's unborn son Nico. How any man can perpetrate such violence on their family is beyond me.

Holly and Jessica I think. We were the same age and I remember how devastated my parents were.

Victoria Climbie is one who will always stick with me.

That smile and sunny disposition even in the midst of horrific abuse.

It informed my future career choice.

Onlyfoolsandmothers I agree .I have taken a break from the news for now ,so upsetting .I couldnt sleep for a week properly after seeing that lovely baby. Gene Hackman led a full life of wealth and fame . We attended my friends Dads funeral this week .He was 95 and had served in the Army The Vicar said he had had a good life and to give thanks .I am like you, something will really resonate and I cant lose it .I will watch QI or The Comedy show on BBC2 now .

For me, it will always be Dunblane. It happened a few weeks before my youngest child was born. My oldest child had recently started school and the children who were killed were only a year older than he was. If this tragedy had not happened, many of them could well be parents themselves now - a similar age to many on MN. The haunting class photo of the children with their teacher which was taken shortly before the terrible events of that day still has the power to shock and upset. I hope it always will.

The Rwandan genocide....I remember sitting on the sofa with my grandma and it was on the news....a man was loading a truck with dead bodies...my grandmother covered my eyes but I still saw it. Horrific

When dc1 was a newborn, there was a news item about a little boy, around 2 years old I think, who had cancer in both eyes. His parents had to make the awful decision for his eyes to be removed. The news report focussed on how the mum had been allowed to stay with him whilst the anaesthetist administered the anaesthetic, so that the last thing he ever saw would be his mummy. It still brings me to tears even now, almost 40 years later.

The murder of the two students and caretaker in Nottingham two years ago. DS1 was at uni there at the time and lived round the corner. I think about them often.

Currently the Gene Hackman story. Before that the man who used a crossbow to kill the 3 women.

The Southport Massacre

Not just the three girls that died, but all those other children that were stabbed and survived and how their lives are now.

Ben Needham, poor parents not to know what happened.

When I was a young child in the 80s/early 90s, the newspapers and tv news used to include much more detail on animal cruelty stories. I was a very sensitive child who loved animals and found it deeply upsetting when I accidentally overheard a story.

I remember two that haunt me - One where burglers kicked a little dog half to death in a home they broke into. Another where youths ripped the arms and legs off of a kitten and threw it onto a fire.

I cried myself to sleep, and felt utterly sick for months.

Yep, this one for me too. And there was a young mum who died before that and her child died too. On the back of these stories I bought one of those fancy watches that will call the emergency services if it detects a fall, and I made sure my DS knew how to ring 999 on my mobile and unlock the front door.

For you maybe. It's not a race to the bottom. Try not to be so judgemental

Back in the 80s in Northern Ireland two British soldiers drove their car down a wrong road and came across a funeral procession. They were dragged from the car, beaten and executed by IRA supporters. There were photographs in the newspapers of their beaten bodies laying in just their underpants.
These images have stayed with me since then. It was awful.
Other equally dreadful images and stories haunt my thoughts.
Life can be awful.

Gene Hackman died of starvation. An elderly dementia sufferer who would have had no idea if he was hungry, thirsty or how to even get a glass of water let alone his medication. He would have died an awful death, and knowing he was well off enough to have had care is heartbreaking. How anyone can dismiss that, I don't know.

There are a few for me:

The Space Shuttle Challenger exploding shortly after take off. It was televised and it was just awful.

The Twin Towers attacks

The Dunblane tragedy

Hillsborough Disaster

Jamie Bulger murder

Hollie Wells and Jessica Chapman

April Jones

Breck Bednar - the grooming murder. Poor guy. Could have been anyone's kid.

More recently the Nottingham attack victims. I have a DD of the same age at Uni and this one struck a massive chord.

Sarah Everard, Joanna Yeats, Libby Squire, Brianna Ghey, Angel Lynn.

And what happened to Jack O' Sullivan?? That one haunts me. His poor family!

The teen who was ra9ed by a male "friend", then by her brother who subsequently murdered her and left her body in woodland. Then a 40 something male passerby found her bloodied half naked body and raped it again instead of alerting the police.

Shows me all I need to know about a lot men and I will never forget it.

Most of the high profile murders of women and children we see on the news. I see the photos of the victims and think “I shouldn’t know who you are” - they should be happily living their lives

The background to those killings:

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporals_killings

Good grief

Never heard of that one

Some of these stories are so awful and seemingly perpetrated by normal people (mainly men)!who suddenly become rapists, murderers, torturers without any thought or remorse. Sophie Lancaster was another. Killed because of how she looked/dressed. Not in some backwards village in a poor country but in the UK.

@sammylady37
I feel even worse now! My son is 24. They were so young.

The racially motivated torture and murder of 15 year old Kriss Donald.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/aug/08/man-jailed-for-10-years-for-raping-girl-who-was-later-murdered-by-her-brother
This was the poor girl and the first rapist, only convicted after she died