Presence of evil

[beachcitygirl]

Aibu to ask if you've ever felt yourself in the presence of evil. Following on from
The intuitiion thread.

I once met a friend of my ex in a coffee shop. The man was nothing but civil & friendly. Soft spoken & was an ex police officer. My then husband was there also.
I went to the loo & spent ages as something about him made me feel afraid. I stress it was just a feeling. Zero untoward behaviour.
Many years later he was arrested & found guilty of violent rape.

Has anyone else ever sensed evil? (For want of a better word)

Okay, I mean I don’t think we’re going to really be able to get into any type of sensible conversation about it.

I guess the difference is that you wonder about whether we’re all ‘fundamentally good’ and I don’t believe anyone is fundamentally good or evil.

I don’t think I would describe evil as supernatural personally, for me, acts I would describe as ‘evil’ are committed by those with no remorse, by those with no empathy, the kind of people who get pleasure out of torturing people/animals.

In my head those people are evil.

Saying evil doesn’t exist, in my mind is just like saying good or bad doesn’t exist.

You can’t objectively say one way or another as it’s subjective as to how an individual interprets ‘evil’

No Im hopeless at this -used to do criminal law and as a trainee was happy to accept a lift at night from a client after a meeting - a senior barrister ran after us and told client we needed a further discussion and he should go ahead without me then turned to me and said I was insane to even consider getting into a car with client on my own! I had thought he was quite nice. I met murderers and rapists and never got the sixth sense

Read the 'Gift of Fear'. We often pick things up without being able to pinpoint what it is we are reacting to. The book tells us to trust our instincts.

We're not getting into a "sensible conversation" because you've literally got no way to prove your outlook on life is valid, and neither do I. These things are intangible but making everything soothingly black and white and then escaping makes this world a more bearable place to live in. I get that.

Yes

Next door neighbours son when I was a kid. Gave me the heebie-jeebies. Later he was found to have assaulted a little girl.
Friends boyfriend creeped me out. He went on to grope me.
(Now Ex) husband of a woman I know turned my stomach from the day I met him. He is currently in prison for attempting to meet up with a very young teenage girl for sex. Turned out to be a vigilante group. While that was being investigated the fucking creep went and did it again. But again it was this group. Not only is he a disgusting pervert but he's as thick as pigshit.

But there have been more times that I've been wrong than I've been right. I remember those three because they're bloody awful but I often really don't take to people and never learn anything bad about them.

There's also been people I thought were ok who turned out to be total twats so 🤷‍♀️

[quote whiteworldgettingwhiter]**@Nowayoutonlydown* - She text me that night and asked how I knew. Knew what? That he had raped and attempted to murder his ex.hes on some sort of lifelong thing where he has to give the details of his crime before he sleeps with someone.*

This is batshit. Some people a on this thread are just daft.

Why would have been in your friend's house? Why would she have let him in? Why didn't she tell you about him when she saw toy were talking to him?

And there is NO 'lifelong thing where a criminal has to give details of his crime before he sleeps with anyone'! Where's your critical thinking? How would this ever be policed? And why on earth would anyone do this? 🙄🙄🙄[/quote]
Sexual Harm Prevention Orders quite regularly have this clause in. Offender managers in public protection teams police it, spot checks on offenders with it in their licence etc, polygraphs are used if they believe someone has breached it in some cases.

When I was younger we used to go on holiday to a place called Killin in Scotland. There was a small road that you could walk along next to the caravan site, which took you to the entrance to a field that had a path to walk around the Loch.
The first bit of the road was fine. You crossed a bridge, there were a few houses on the left but then there was a stretch that had trees on either side. Now I wasn't really a child that was phased by being in forests etc. We went to places with forests and walks in the middle of nowhere all the time, but this stretch of road terrified me. As a young child I had to get one of my parents to carry me and I would hide my eyes the whole way through that bit. I used to panic the whole way because we had 2 little dogs and I was so scared something was going to happen to them or me. Like something was going to come and snatch us away. Then my younger brother was born and I honestly remember feeling sick to my stomach walking through there with him as a little baby/toddler. I went back a couple of times as a teen and still felt pretty uneasy walking through there, although that could have just been because of the memories as a child.
I used to get this image in my head of big old grave stones at the top of the hill the trees went up. I have bo idea if there were graves stones up there though. I also have bo idea if anything bad had ever happened there, but I've been to loads of really old places in my life. Done ghost walks, been to old jails and castles as a child and I never felt like that anywhere else.

When I was at primary school a new head teacher was due to be appointed and students were selected to meet with him to see how he interacted with us. I was one of the children chosen. I went home afterwards and told my mum I didn't like him, but couldn't explain why. He was perfectly nice to us, but something felt wrong. My mum didn't think much of it until a couple of years down the line when he was arrested for indecent images of children (of all levels of severity) found on his computer at the school and his home. It wasn't really necessary to say I told you so, my mum was devastated.

ghostyslovesheets Clifford Tower is one of the most haunted places in Britain & York one of the most haunted towns

@HappyBunny123456789

We're not getting into a "sensible conversation" because you've literally got no way to prove your outlook on life is valid, and neither do I. These things are intangible but making everything soothingly black and white and then escaping makes this world a more bearable place to live in. I get that.

Okay, in addition to patronising you’re not being utterly obtuse.

I’m not the one being ‘black and white.’ That is what you are doing. I’m the one saying humans are complex creatures and almost all their behaviour is down to some mix of environmental and genetic influence. You’re the one insisting there’s some form of inherent ‘evilness’ that can’t be explained.

*now being utterly obtuse, sorry.

You have a really condescending tone too. It’s quite unpleasant to read.

@MaryAndGerryLivingInDerry

Ok *@Alexandra2001*. I’ll leave it there. You’re asking me to explain “truly evil acts” when it’s something that I don’t believe exists. It’s a pointless question. You’re going in circles. You might as well ask me to explain how Jesus walked on water. I can’t because it didn’t happen.

That's why i put "evil" in quotes, as its the word i use, i don't know what word you would use as you never said....

I asked you to try and convince me i was wrong, i ve tried to understand your POV but you haven't actually said anything of substance, so its difficult.

BTW i don't believe in good or evil people, i think evil resides in all of us (as does good) it just takes circumstance to bring it out and there are degrees.
e.g. my father wasn't as evil as Fred West but he was evil none the less, he could also be an extremely loving parent and husband too, most of the time he was but then something changed in him and he wasn't.

My danger instincts are pretty sharp and I’m a good judge of character… but years ago I worked with, and was friends with a prolific paedophile… I had no idea… just thought he was a bit of a loner, had questionable personal hygiene, but in the main sweet and genuine 😑😑😑

I asked you to try and convince me i was wrong, i ve tried to understand your POV but you haven't actually said anything of substance, so its difficult.

@Kanaloa I didn't even fully disagree with you... I said that humans were indeed complex and even Hitler was probably doomed from the start due to circumstances. Fine, read whatever "tone" you like into my comments. As unpleasant as you see fit. Clearly I had a very tough upbringing.

There is a very friendly older man in my village, once after we hadn’t lived there long, he started talking to me in the post office, chatting to my child in the queue (he was in front of me) after he went to the counter the woman behind warned me to be careful, he’d served time as a paedophile (I don’t know if this is true but we live in a small place and everyone knows everyone).

Many years later I was on a bus with my youngest and I saw him on there, he sat a few seats in front. Initially the bus was quite empty but slowly filled up. Weirdly, the seat next to him remained empty the whole journey despite people standing and lots of other oldish men being there to sit next to, he wasn’t the only one.

It intrigued me whether her was giving off a vibe, or it was my own bias.

@Thatsplentyjack

When I was younger we used to go on holiday to a place called Killin in Scotland. There was a small road that you could walk along next to the caravan site, which took you to the entrance to a field that had a path to walk around the Loch. The first bit of the road was fine. You crossed a bridge, there were a few houses on the left but then there was a stretch that had trees on either side. Now I wasn't really a child that was phased by being in forests etc. We went to places with forests and walks in the middle of nowhere all the time, but this stretch of road terrified me. As a young child I had to get one of my parents to carry me and I would hide my eyes the whole way through that bit. I used to panic the whole way because we had 2 little dogs and I was so scared something was going to happen to them or me. Like something was going to come and snatch us away. Then my younger brother was born and I honestly remember feeling sick to my stomach walking through there with him as a little baby/toddler. I went back a couple of times as a teen and still felt pretty uneasy walking through there, although that could have just been because of the memories as a child. I used to get this image in my head of big old grave stones at the top of the hill the trees went up. I have bo idea if there were graves stones up there though. I also have bo idea if anything bad had ever happened there, but I've been to loads of really old places in my life. Done ghost walks, been to old jails and castles as a child and I never felt like that anywhere else.

This made my eyes water! I've been there and felt the same!

What a shame @MaryAndGerryLivingInDerry and the rest of you, your squabbling is boring . You've spoiled this thread, I think you're all evil, thanks!

@TonksInPurple I also have love/hate with Glencoe, it's so oppressive. We have a house there, my husband loves it but although I spend a lot of time there,
I'm ambivalent about it... the Buchaille has a strange energy

Oooh I don’t know whether to be flattered or upset that only I got a name check in the ‘evil of MN register.’

If you can’t discuss the concept that’s being spoken about then what’s the point of a public posting board?

You could perhaps start a group WhatsApp and keep it private and only for people who believe you can somehow sense out evil on the bus.

For me personally I think insisting on the concept of ‘evil’ and trying to associate that with criminal or socially unacceptable behaviour is hugely backward and really damaging.

My cousins uncle. I was at my aunts house and she went shopping but I wasn't feeling well so didn't want to tag along. She dropped me at another aunts house. I was lying on the sofa when he walked in and grinned at me in a way that made me uncomfortable, I had a blanket on and wrapped it around me tighter. He hadn't announced himself just walked in. My cousin was shocked to see him, grabbed my hand and took me upstairs and locked the door of the room we were in. He called up the stairs as we were walking up to ask how long I would be saying, all the while smiling and taking me in. I was feeling ill but straight away knew something was off about him. It was before mobile phones and I had to wait until my aunt came to collect me. My dad went apeshit when he found out as I wasn't allowed to go to there house and my aunt got told off for putting me in danger. He was a peadophile.

My husband has a similar experience when he had gone to Pakistan as a young child and was off to an arcade with his cousin. A boy there said to come back to his house because they had lots of guns there and his uncle would allow them to shoot or hold them. My dh and his cousin went. The 'uncle' was happy to see them and showed them the guns. He kept grinning at them and offering them juice and food. Dh said he felt something was wrong and they both ran off. The man was found years later to be a paedophile and notorious serial killer. He would abuse boys on the streets and either kill them after abusing them or keep them to entice others to his home. The police found 100s of children's sandals he kept as trophies. If you Google the story it is notorious in Lahore. When he was finally caught and his.pictures in the press dh got a message from his cousin about it all and he confirmed that was the same man and how lucky they were to have escaped. He said it was the grinning as if he couldn't believe his luck that scared him and also the feeling of melancholy in that house.

In my sense of the word, “evil” has no supernatural connotations. Evil is human beings who take pleasure in hurting other people or creatures, especially vulnerable people. People who sexually abuse babies for example, evil.

I’ve felt it several times.

The first as a teen which prevented me being abducted by a man I later found out was equipped to do so and had sexual offences.

I use my instincts professionally. They are seldom wrong but keep me safe.

I agree (nervously) that the discussion of evil is relevant because if it doesn't exist, it can't leave its mark in the way that people are describing. For what it's worth, I believe that evil is a force that makes people do bad things. I believe elements of each person's situation and make up mean that they are more or less likely to be susceptible to this force, but I don't believe in inherently evil people. Whether a place where terrible things have happened could bear a perceptible mark of 'evil', I don't know!