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We've all experienced the pressures of cliques--in school, at work, even in families--those little groups that adhere to a strict line of behavior and choice of 'friends'. In many cases, those who are prone to belong to one, often are seduced by the indoctrination of a cult--religious or otherwise. Sometimes it begins with something so simple as a Chat Cult. A group who believe they are in complete control of who visits a certain chat, and who are led by a "Guru" to perform abusive cyber acts against those who do not adhere to its ill-founded fanaticism. IMO, it is only a small step to see those cults grow into fanatic groups, who hold delusional visions of their superiority and selectivity to the point of harmful behavior to those around them.
Richard Smith, from yesterday's blog, has given several sites with information on what to look for and how to escape from controlling organizations. I've started here with the article on::
CULTS
Cults, wonderful on the outside but on the inside are very manipulating. Cult leaders are desperate to trick you into joining. They are after your obedience, your time and your money.
Cults use sophisticated mind control and recruitment techniques that have been refined over time. Beware of thinking that you are immune from cult involvement, the cults have millions of members around the world who once thought they were immune, and still don't know they are in a cult! To spot a cult you need to know how they work and you need to understand the techniques they use. Teaching you these things is what this article is all about.
This article exposes the secret techniques cults will use to try and trick and control you. Cult leaders will not want you to read this, but read it anyway. Once you understand How Cults Work you will be better able to spot and avoid cult recruiters, and protect your family and friends.
First let's eliminate some misconceptions about cults.
*Cults are easy to spot, they wear strange clothes and live in communes.
Well some do. But most are everyday people like you and me. They live in houses. They wear the same clothes. They eat the same food. Cult leaders don't want you to know that you are being recruited into a cult and so they order their recruiters to dress, talk and act in a way that will put you at ease. One cult has even invented a phrase to describe this, they call it "being relatable".
*Cults are full of the weak, weird and emotionally unstable.
Not true. Many cult members are very intelligent, attractive and skilled. The reality is that all sorts of people are involved in cults. One of the few common denominators is that they were often recruited at a low point in their life — more about that later.
*Cults are just a bunch of religious nut cases.
This is a common mistake people make thinking that cults are purely religious groups. The modern definition of a mind control cult refers to all groups that use mind control and the devious recruiting techniques that this article exposes. The belief system of a religion is often warped to become a container for these techniques, but it is the techniques themselves that make it a cult. In a free society people can believe what they want, but most people would agree that it is wrong for any one to try to trick and control people. In the section "Types of Cults" we will examine the various types of cults you may come across.
*Christians call all other groups cults.
Basically Christians have said that if a group claims to be Christian and yet teaches something fundamentally different from what the Bible teaches then they are a cult. ie. a Buddhist group that claims to be Buddhist is not a cult, but a Buddhist group that pretends to be Christian is. This definition is not used in this article.
So what is a cult anyway?
The modern definition of a mind control cult is any group which employs mind control and deceptive recruiting techniques. In other words cults trick people into joining and coerce them into staying. This is the definition that most people would agree with. Except the cults themselves of course!
RELIGIOUS
Cults that use a belief system as their base are very common. Their belief system could be standard Christianity, Hinduism, Islam or any other of the world religions, or they may have invented their own belief system. What makes them a cult is the fact that they use mind control, not what they believe.
COMMERCIAL
Cults that use commercial gain as their base are called "cults of greed". They will promise you that if you join them and follow their special program for success then you will become very rich. Often they will hold up their leader as an example and explain that if you do what he or she says then you will be successful too.
Commercial cults use mind control to get you working for them for free, and to make you pay for an endless stream of motivational tapes, videos, books and seminars all of which are supposedly designed to help you succeed, but in reality are designed to enhance the cult's mind control environment and keep you believing in their almost impossible dream of success. Of course they never mention that the primary way the leaders make money are by selling these motivation materials to their group! For more information see below under the section, "Pressure Selling".
SELF HELP AND COUNSELLING
Cults that use "self help" or counselling or self improvement as their base often target business people and corporations. By doing their courses and seminars they claim you and your staff will become more successful.
Business people locked away in hotel rooms are subjected to quasi-religious indoctrination as they play strange games, join in group activities, and share their innermost thoughts with the group. Once you have completed one course you are told you need to do the more advanced course, which naturally costs more than the last. These cults will sometimes request that you do volunteer work and that you help recruit your friends, family and work mates. These groups specialize in creating powerful emotional experiences which are then used to validate your involvement in the cult. The religious overtones are couched in terms which don't sound religious. They usually come to the surface as you near the end of a seminar. Many people have been bankrupted by involvement with these cults.
POLITICAL
Cults that use political ideals as their base are well known throughout history. Hitler's Nazi Germany and Stalin's Communist USSR were classic examples of mind control on a very large scale. On smaller scales white and black supremacists, terrorists, and rebel groups commonly use forms of mind control to recruit and dominate their members.
MIND CONTROL
This is a suite of psychological techniques that cult leaders attempt to control their members with.
Cultwatch does not consider Mind Control to be some magical device which can take away peoples' free will. In other words it does not turn people into some sort of remote control robot. Rather we see Mind Control as a dishonest influence placed covertly on cult members by the cult. So instead of Mind Control being some sort of irresistible force like the aliens in the movies that take over peoples minds, rather it is more like a gun. The cult leader points the Mind Control "gun" at a member and says, "if you leave us then you will lose all of your friends and family", "if you don't conform then you will go to Hell", "if you don't give us money then you will fail in business".
We have broken Mind Control up into a series of techniques that the cults use. Together these techniques make up Mind Control.
DECEPTION
A cult needs to recruit and operate using deception. Why? Because if people knew their true practices and beliefs beforehand then they would not join. A cult needs to hide the truth from you until they think you are ready to accept it.
For example, imagine if the leader of Heavens Gate cult was open and honest about the group and had said to new recruits, "Join us, wear strange clothes, get castrated and then drink poison!" he would not have had many takers.
PUBLIC RELATIONS
A cult will have a slick well-rehearsed Public Relations front which hides what the group is really like. You will hear how they help the poor, or support research, or peace, or the environment. They will tell you how happy you will be in their group (and everyone in the cult will always seem very happy and enthusiastic, mainly because they have been told to act happy and will get in trouble if they don't). But you will not be told what life is really like in the group, nor what they really believe. These things will be introduced to you slowly, one at a time, so you will not notice the gradual change, until eventually you are practicing and believing things which at the start would have caused you to run a mile.
EXCLUSIVISM
A normal religious organization would not have any trouble with you moving to another similar organization as long as you stayed in that same religion. Because it is the belief system that matters, not membership in an organization. For example if you were a Christian then you could move from one church to another and still be a Christian.
However cult leaders will tell you can only be "saved" (or can only be successful) in their organization alone. No other organization has the truth, all others miss the mark. So it is not the belief system that decides your future, but it the belief system AND your membership with that particular group.
The cult leaders need to make you believe that there is nowhere else you can go and still be saved, and if you ever leave the "one true church" then you are going to hell. This is a fear based control mechanism designed to keep you in the cult. It also gives the cult leaders tremendous power over you. If you really believe that leaving the group equals leaving God (or means you are leaving your only chance to succeed in life), then you will obey the cult leaders even when you disagree with them instead of risking being kicked out of the group. Exclusivism is used as a threat, it controls your behavior through fear.
Be very suspicious of any group that claims to be better than all the others. A religious group may say that other groups following the same religion are OK, but they are the ones who have a better grasp of the truth and they are superior to the rest. This is often just a subtle version of exclusivism.
This is one of the practices that cults are often very deceptive about. For example, first off they may give you the impression that they think you are a true Christian, Buddhist or Muslim and it's not until later that their true position is revealed.
FEAR AND INTIMIDATION
Cult leadership is feared. To disagree with leadership is the same as disagreeing with God. The cult leaders will claim to have direct authority from God to control almost all aspects of your life. If the cult is not a religious group then questioning the leaders or program will still be seen as a sign of rebellion and stupidity.
Guilt, Character Assassination and Breaking Sessions.
GUILT will be used to control you. Maybe the reason you're not making money is because you're not "with the program". Maybe the reason you're not able to convert new recruits is because "your heart is prideful and full of sin". It could never be that the program isn't working, or those new recruits have valid reasons for not joining. It's always your fault, you are always wrong, and so you must try harder! You will also be made to feel very guilty for disobeying any of the cult's written or unwritten rules.
CHARACTER ASSASSINATION is used to help create the GUILT in you. Character Assassination is a type of false reasoning used by people and groups who have no real arguments. The technical name for Character Assassination is "The Ad Hominem Fallacy". This is how it works. Imagine if you will a conversation between two men, Ford and Arthur…
"One plus one equals three", says Ford.
"No I don't think so. You see when I have one thing, and I have another thing, then I have two things not three", replies Arthur.
"I see your point, but what you must realize is that one plus one when calculated in relation to this complex number domain, which I just invented, and then squared by the sum of the ninth tangent in the sequence of the Fibonacci series results in three!", stated Ford triumphantly.
Ok, Ford is wrong, but that is not the point. The point is that Ford tried to answer Arthur's reasoning with more reasoning of his own. This is the healthy way people and groups debate subjects. Now lets see what would have happened if Ford had used Character Assassination…
"Arthur I have been a mathematician longer than you. How dare you disagree with me! You are obviously a very smug and prideful person. I think you are disagreeing with me because you are jealous of me, and to be honest with you Arthur your rebellion has really hurt me and a lot of other people too", stated Ford his face intimidatingly close to Arthur's.
You see Ford didn't answer Arthur's argument, instead he attacked his character. If you are not aware of how Character Assassination works then it is a powerful way to exert control over you.
BREAKING SESSIONS are when one, two or more cult members and leaders attack the character of another person, sometimes for hours on end. Some cults will not stop these sessions until their victim is crying uncontrollably.
LOVE BOMBING AND RELATIONSHIP CONTROL
Cults know that if they can control your relationships then they can control you. Whether we like it or not we are all profoundly affected by those around us.
When you first go to a cult they will practice "love bombing", where they arrange instant friends for you. It will seem wonderful, how could such a loving group be wrong! But you soon learn that if you ever disagree with them, or ever leave the cult then you will lose all your new "friends". This unspoken threat influences your actions in the cult. Things that normally would have made you complain will pass by silently because you don't want to be ostracized. Like in an unhealthy relationship love is turned on and off to control.
Cults also try to cut you off from your friends and family because they hate others being able to influence you. A mind control cult will seek to manoeuvre your life so as to maximize your contact with cult members and minimize your contact with people outside the group, especially those who oppose your involvement.
INFORMATION CONTROL
Those who control the information control the person. In a mind control cult any information from outside the cult is considered evil, especially if it is opposing the cult. Members are told not to read it or believe it. Only information supplied by the cult is true. One cult labels any information against it as "persecution" or "spiritual pornography", another cult calls it "apostate literature" and will expel you from the group if you are caught with it. Cults train their members to instantly destroy any critical information given to them, and to not even entertain the thought that the information could be true.
Common sense tells us that a person who does not consider all information may make an unbalanced decision. Filtering the information available or trying to discredit it not on the basis of how true it is, but rather on the basis of how it supports the party line, is a common control method used throughout history.
REPORTING STRUCTURE
In a mind control cult like in Nazi Germany or Communist Russia you must be careful of what you say and do; "The walls have ears". Everyone is encouraged to watch out for "struggling" brothers and sisters and report what they see to leadership. Often information given in deepest confidence is automatically reported to leadership. Cult leaders will then use this information to convince their members that they have a supernatural link, the trusting member does not suspect the very natural mechanism behind the supernatural revelations they are given.
People in a mind control cult will also hide their true thoughts and feelings, and instead wear a mask which presents them as a perfect cult member. This mask is a defense against being reported to leadership and being punished for not measuring up (cult members never feel like they measure up to the cult's ideals, and yet often believe the other members around them do, when in reality the others feel the same as them). Hence cult members are trained not only to deceive outsiders, but also to deceive their fellow cult members.
Rarely can close friendships form in cults, and if they do the cult's leaders may see them as a threat and move those people away from each other. Nothing is allowed that can be more powerful than the cult members' allegiance to the group and it's leaders.
TIME CONTROL
Mind control cults keep their members so busy with meetings and activities that they become too busy and too tired to think about their involvement.
Time control also helps the cult keep their members immersed in the manufactured cult environment.
And time control helps keep cult members away from friends and family.
MIND CONTROL TECHNIQUES
Together they make Mind Control. Remember, people are not perfect, but if they employ them constantly you are most likely dealing with a cult.
PRESSURE SELLING:
One of the most common forms of commercial cults is the pressure selling organization. These groups ostensibly make money by selling goods via their sales organization, but in reality they make their money by selling goods and motivational materials to their sales organization. Using mind control they seek to enlarge and maintain their sales force, and hence their profits.
Some names along with the bad reputations of these groups are well known to the general public, so their recruiters need to be very deceptive. They will call and ask to come and meet you to discuss a "business opportunity" or new "eCommerce venture", not once mentioning the organization behind it. In fact if asked they might mention a completely different name. Meeting with them will involve a long intense presentation carefully designed to convince you that you could make a lot of money by following their plan. Only near the end will they briefly mention the real organization behind it.
Here are some key warning signs to watch out for…
* Deception. No valid business needs to use deception.
* Super hyped meetings, books, tapes, videos, leaflets, products.
* Use of Mind control, refer to the earlier "Mind Control" section.
Here are some key questions to ask the recruiter…
* Is it XZY group? Ask them if they are, or are involved with any of the well known commercial cults. Often the recruiter will admit to some connection, and in fact the clever recruiter will plainly state their involvement rather than having their deception uncovered later on.
* Could I see some properly certified audited accounts which demonstrate this business model working? Like any business they should be able to provide the hard numbers. Not stories of other people making it big, or generalizations about six figure incomes, or more enthusiastic claims that you can make it if you work hard enough. If this is a new business then you want a business plan, profit and loss projections for the next year, two years and five years. If they claim it is a successful established business then demand to see the books.
These are not unreasonable demands, no successful business person would ever touch a venture without this basic information. Tell the recruiter that you want to run them past your own accountant, and perhaps your lawyer too. If it's for real then they will be more than happy to comply, otherwise watch them squirm and dodge with all manner of well rehearsed excuses. Of course if they do produce the information then go to your accountant, you're a fool if you don't.
CULT RECRUITING TECHNIQUES
Here are some key warning signs that may indicate a cult is trying to recruit you.
HYPED MEETINGS
Rather than explain to you what the group believes or what their program is up front, they will instead insist that you can only understand it if you come to a group meeting. There everyone around you will seem so enthusiastic that you will start to think there is something wrong with you. They create an environment where you will feel uncomfortable and the only way to become comfortable is to join them. This is an application of controlled peer pressure.
INTENSE UNRELENTING PRESSURE
They call repeatedly. Meet you on campus or outside your work. Trick you into coming for only an hour and then lead you into a long study, meeting or talk. They have to keep the pressure on, otherwise you might snap out of the mind control environment they are trying to immerse you in.
THEY TELL YOU THAT THEY ARE NOT A CULT
This is a preemptive strike against the warnings from friends and family members which they know will come. In fact some cults go as far to tell you that Satan will try and dissuade you by sending family members and friends to tell you it is a cult. When this tactic is used then often a warped form of logic occurs in the recruits' mind, the "agents of Satan" do come and tell them that it is a cult. So since the group predicted that would happen, the group therefore must true! Basically if any group tells you that they are not a cult, or that some people call them a cult, then for goodness sake find out why!
* Times you are vulnerable.
* Experiential rather than logical.
* Fake friendship.
* End of world pressure.
* Pressure to do crazy things.
* Secret knowledge.
KEY WARNING SIGNS
* Single charismatic leader.
* People always seeming constantly happy and enthusiastic. Especially if you discover that they have been told to act that way for the potential new recruits.
* Instant friends.
* If you are told who you can or cannot talk to or associate with.
* They hide what they teach.
* Say they are the only true group, or the best so why go anywhere else.
* Hyped meetings, get you to meetings rather than share with you.
* Experiential rather than logical.
* Asking for money for the next level.
* Some cults travel door to door during times when women are home alone. They, and this is rather sexist, think that women are easier to recruit and once they have the woman then it will be easier to snare the husband or partner.
* Saying that they have to make people pay for it because otherwise they will not appreciate it. This is of course a very silly reason, plenty of people are able to appreciate things which they did not pay for.
FIND OUT MORE
The Internet should be your first stop if the group you are interested in or involved with has an international scope. Most of the larger cults will be mentioned by counter-cult organizations like Cultwatch, and commonly many ex-members will have posted their cult involvement stories on the net.
Many of the larger cults hate the net since it allows their members access to information they deem subversive or evil. A good place to start is www.CULTWATCH.com, there we have cult information and links to other counter-cult groups. Also go to the search engines and type in keywords associated with the group, like the name of the group, the leaders or founders name, the titles of books they use and any peculiar words that the group uses. If the group is new or too small to have been exposed on the net then read stories of other people who were in mind control cults. The patterns may seem familiar to you. If you are still unsure then email us your story at cultwatch@cultwatch.com, we will let you know of any thoughts we have.
OTHER WAYS::
Old publications by the group. Often the older cults have predicted the end of the world or changed their beliefs significantly, hence their older publications become a danger to them. For some of the older cults people have produced books of photo copies of these changes.
www.CULTWATCH.com
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Every morning I have a habit of visiting different sites, keeping up on what's going on around the area where I was born and grew up, checking out some blogs and forums, and of course, looking for material to add to "Love Me -- Or ELSE!".
Recently I've been following a commentary forum on the "Herald" from my home town. Folks who are subscribers to the paper can comment on any news story that is featured on any day. When I ran across this hot & heavy discussion today, I realized that it spoke so well to the 'bully', guru, enabler, themes that have been reported here, I just had to bring it as some true-life examples of the professional theories that I've presented.
Apparently, in the small town of Greenville, a church had been spray painted, vandalized and pretty badly messed up. The minister of that church hit the newswaves by blaming it on "Witches" and young people who HATE CHRIST. Of course, there have been no arrests or even any evidence of who did the deed, but there HAVE been plenty of interesting arguments about 'religions', and finally some very pointed statements about the Rev. Smith and his manipulations of his church and flock.
See if you can pick out the behaviors of the writers and the minister that apply to 'bullies', 'gurus', and 'enablers' as we've talked about here. I found it fascinating:::
good-day
Newcomer
Posted August 15, 2006 08:51
quote:
Originally posted by Marcin:
Wasn't this discussion about a crime of vandalism?
Seriously, you folks (especially "Formerly Thought Police") have way too much time on your hands or just love to hear yourselves talk.
well it seems that the reason why this tread was started was because of mr. smiths accusation. and so i in pages back wrote why he said it that way. now its time to explain a little better now that i have dismised my self completly from mr. smiths church.
i speak only what i have seen and heard while there, this is for all to beware in that area of mr. smith's church and for those that will pray and or even help those stuck in that church to see the true light of Christ. i repeat i am not bitter but i am mad, and my friends are stuck in that place and mr. smith has control of their minds with the help of those over him of course. i have talked to the local police and they know more then you think, and i have called the FBI because its getting worse by the year at mr. smith's church!
my name is richard scott and i started going to floyd's church in 93 i left for a few yrs some where around 98 then i came back in 2004 and i have lived with many of the members. i left for the last time this febuary and just told them recently why i left. i am using this oppurtunity on a local site to expose the lie and tell the truth.
hear is a response from one of the members after i told him why i left, he has been a member longer then me. please forgive the lack of spelling and grammer lol!
attex_david: pastor wanted me to telll ya that bout 3 weeks ago or so... he was prayin for everyone in church... wen he got to ur name... holy ghost said STOP! too late.. he disqualified himself, he is done!
rrichy1: lol!
rrichy1: thats good!
attex_david: he said that this will b confirmed bcause thats time he qwit emailing u
rrichy1: i dont care about his emails
attex_david: u amaze me
rrichy1: thatnk u!
attex_david: so dull of hearing... so unwilling to be humbles, or live cross life
rrichy1: what ever makes u beleive im wrong and every one else that has left the church
rrichy1: and others that have watched
attex_david: everyone who ever left is ttally backslid...
attex_david: EVERYONE!
rrichy1: thats what u have to belive to keep goin on with the act
attex_david: im not stupid rich, andf i can hear god
rrichy1: ok
rrichy1: i said the same
attex_david: c i dnt follow in blind faith.. i pray god directs. u never did that
rrichy1: but i kept my haert open
attex_david: =))
rrichy1: and over all these yrs the holy spirit finaly got through
attex_david: bud yur heart was never opened lmao
attex_david: yes i bleve he did get thru honestly i do
rrichy1: thats what u have to think
attex_david: darrell buck wa there 3 mos ago said holy ghost fillin the unteachables hearts w there own desires and ways, they will fall to the wayside, will think its god directing them away Smiler)
attex_david: so ur rite lol
rrichy1: i care about u guys i knew u wouldnt want to hear me say these things i hope someday while u r still able u will see that floyd is leading u down the wrong path
attex_david: said pastor dont shed tears wen they leave, its me cutting them off lol
attex_david: so actually u r being true to gods calling now....
attex_david: only sad which calling Smiler)
rrichy1: they r not true men of god that hold floyd up
rrichy1: i knew he would say that
attex_david: rich u hav never been accountable to anyone but ur belly, god gives grace to the humble, u hav NEVER!!! EVER!! been humble
attex_david: i have nothing more to say
rrichy1: god told me he will deal with floyd
attex_david: you have been ignored by attex_david
rrichy1: sorry dave that u have to go thourgh more of what u have been in till u see god outside of floyd
attex_david (8/12/2006 11:57:34 PM): prophets all said that the stragglers, the unsubmitted was gonna develope lead poisoning, no doubt it wuld b u lol
attex_david (8/12/2006 11:58:15 PM): cuz u was always a straggler, and an unsubmitted bumb in the kingdom, now ur just 7 times worse lol
attex_david (8/13/2006 12:00:10 AM): c the only reason that u "think" god is tellin ya to leave now, is cuz u never settled that years ago wen u shuld have... cuz yu was too busy tryin to figure out how to chuck your responsabilities, just like u r now... your so stupid that it isnt sad... i find u kinda hilarious really... kinda like that movie dumb and dumber hahahahahahaha
attex_david (8/13/2006 12:00:36 AM): ur such a puppet 4 the devil it aint funny. if he aint usin ya, ur asleep hahaha
rich scott: all u have to do is turn all u say and that floyd about others that r tring to help u see ur deception and point it back to ur selfs, its so sad and yes funny that u guys cant see the truth when u do u will feel so bad. im motivated by love u guys are saying these things because u are motivated by a false gospel
attex_david: if u hav love at all, scriopture says u wuld go to floyd, and hav a talk, instead u gossip bhind his bak
attex_david: so the proof in the puddin bud
rich scott: this is not gossip, and its way beyound just me goin to floyd now, he has been told for far to long by so many people that he was wrong but all he did was discreadit them and keep teaching a false gospel, i dont have to say a word to him!
attex_david: yes u do
attex_david: scripture says u go to him and nvr speak bhind his bak
rich scott: so im warning u guys to please open ur eyes before its to late
rich scott: i told u he wont listen
attex_david: rich ur track record shows that u r nothing but a lazy feeling chaser
attex_david: ur words mean nothing
rich scott: he is blinded and to prideful
attex_david: i mean so little that im not even mad at u, and ur dawgin my sheppard... ur jussa bag of cold air
attex_david: go to him u loser
attex_david: be a man
rich scott: u have a excuse for every one that trys to say something is wrong
attex_david: everyone that has said sumthing is wrong was nvr willing tov fight, and hav all bakslid
attex_david: duhuh!
attex_david: ur so dumb lol
rich scott: u dont know that they r backslid u just try to place them in ur box and if they dont fit then they are backslid
attex_david: i know they hav bakslid hellooooowa?
attex_david: none even attend church u dummy
rich scott: church is not everything true believers are and u dont know how many dont attend, know ur talkin like a catholic lol
attex_david: i know they dont
attex_david: jus go away rich
attex_david: u hav no clue bout anything
rich scott: ok dave(little holy spirit) u know all things lol
attex_david: ur jussa navel gazer
attex_david: i cant follow a guy that cant even pay bills, cant tythe, and cant wake up lol'
rich scott: ur not suppose to follow man
attex_david: but yet god shows u how deceived a man of god is ? HAHAHAHA
rich scott: thats what every one is trying to tell u
attex_david: that aint even gods way of doin it lol
attex_david: ur just dumb
at
attex_david: but dont turn the table cuz u was lazy
attex_david: later!
attex_david: i dont follow man, i spend everyday listening
attex_david: u never did
attex_david: u followed ur belly
rich scott: to the wrong spirit
attex_david: and u know im rite
rich scott: u have to think ur right so u can dismiss what im saying
rich scott: ur talkin and listining to the wrong spirit
attex_david: u hav to think ur rite so u can rebel
attex_david: atleast im payin a price, and im servin sumthin other than my belly lol
rich scott: i have no idea what u mean i only served my belly but anyways
attex_david: it doesnt matter
attex_david: c ya
attex_david: and good luck
rich scott: u will see some day that u have been duped then u will think of me and others that have tried to warn u and u will be very thankfull that we took the time and paid a price of ur guys rejection to tell u the truth but all u guys did is crucifie us but i understand i used to be the same not as bad though like u said i wasnt like u lol
good-day
Newcomer
Posted August 15, 2006 08:53
and this is a letter i sent to all of the members.
To all of In Spirit and in Truth Fellowship in Kinsman and Greenville,
whose pastor is Floyd smith,
Please understand I do not have a bitter attitude towards you all but one of love and forgiveness, I am writing to you all to warn you like others that have left in spirit and in truth fellowship that have tried to warn you.
Floyd smith is not a true man of God but a false witness to the most extreme extent. He is deceived in thinking that God has given him the authority to spiritually abuse you.
Please let me remind you of some things he has said.
From the pulpit he has told you all and the loved one’s of those that have died while going to that church, that they have died because of their rebellion against his teachings and prophecy’s thus they were into witchcraft because they where coming against God’s prophet, whether or not they voiced opposition towards him personally they died because they did not obey Floyd’s words or god’s words in the bible.
He has from the pulpit told you all the visions or dreams and words he has heard about those that have left the church because of his teachings and controlling spirit, which were about how those that have left will die or what their lives will be like now that they have rebelled against god by leaving in disagreement with him (Gods prophet)
He has over and over talked about his young Christian life in other church’s that when they would come against his teachings something bad would always happen in their life’s, Even how church’s would spilt or be no more after he left because he did not get the respect that he should get as a prophet of God.
And told me personally in front of many of the men on a sat work day that if I don’t stop arguing with him that the Holy Spirit will tell him to pronounce a judgment on me that will be one of the worst things that has happened in my life.
He has from the pulpit said while young people where present that “true love is to know when to turn to your friend your loved one and put a gun to their head and pull the trigger.” Among other type of counsels of his that "you as a Christian are to know when that day comes to take physical force toward those that oppose this Christian dominionism.” And all these things he says proudly and you all have seen and heard it!
He has said from the pulpit things to discredit those that have left to the point of insanity like one person in the church had a vision from God and this person told it to Floyd and it was the weirdest thing I have heard except allot of the other things this person supposedly heard from God about, and Floyd actually attempted to interpret it and Floyd said that "the vision
meant that this person that had left the church was abusing his wife
spiritually, soulicaly and possibly physically!” And the sons of this wife was just sitting there believing every word Floyd said!
Floyd constantly comes up with these types of words about people that have left telling the congregation something sensitive about them or completely untrue to get the congregation to not trust them whom they should trust! He will talk about sensitive personal things in some one’s life whether it was an actual fact or something he believes he heard from god about them and tell the whole congregation! He has done this over and over!
And he does this to you all whether you are present or not! Floyd constantly puts you all down just to pull you back up to make you think he is helping you. This is not god but a ploy to control you and weaken your will and your own God given reasoning towards him.
and yes I don’t think he actually knows he is doing it but he has refused the counsel of so many that he is abusing you all that I’m not sure if God can get through to him anymore but I wont say that God has given up on him, I wont say to him the things that he has said about me and others that “God told him that he is done with me" or that "I or others will go to hell or die a terrible death; that the rest of our life’s on earth are a waste now, that we have lost our calling in God or he is weeding me and other like me out of your midst.” Gods will be done in his life!
Why do you all believe he can hear god about me or others that have left so clearly but yet from the pulpit week after week say things that god told him or he sensed and turn out to be wrong? This same man told one of you that they should buy a particular Wall Street stock program which was about $5000. And this person took that money out of their son’s college money to get it. Once I found out what she did I researched this software to find that it cost a $1000. On top of its regular price so the buyer can return it with in 30days if they choose not to pay the $1000. Extra there was no refund trial time! This made me to search more of course because most people would of knew that a $1000. Add on for a 30 day trial is a scam!
So armed with all this info about the software and yes this software company has many class law suits against them! the reviews and user reviews about how it was a scam and that the person that made the program was a criminal in his past and how the algorithm they use in this software is free in other software and web sites to use one the stock market which is the selling point of the said software I emailed to Floyd and asked him to please tell the lady in the church that paid for this software with her sons college money to send the software back as soon as possible so she wont loose her refund if she
could get it back at all because many cant.
He then the next time in church said aloud for every one to hear how he disagreed that the software worked and the reviews where just haters.
I then shut my mouth seeing there was nothing I could do since he took such a stand for the software and pondered that among the many things Floyd has said and done that don’t seem to be that of a mighty prophet whom supposedly God trusts and is his friend!
Or the time Floyd said from the pulpit that God said there is some one here that has $5000. To spend and they wont let go of it, that God said they should use that $5000. To build the church a satellite tower so they can reach the nations.
After I told him that a satellite in our area was the worst solution for internet the cost the lack of speed when we have cable and DSL all around us, for way less money and more speed so many times faster and more reliably then satellite! Yet God said that someone needs to build a tower and told Floyd how much money they had to do it!
How about what happened with Floyd’s son in law? His son in law was having sexual relations with an underage girl of one of the woman in the church and this girl and her mother only lived 2 houses down from Floyd on the same street and this relationship had been going on
for a while! And Floyd the prophet and friend of god didn’t know! Yet here’s more that is crazy to believe the mother of the girl after all this and lost her girl to her x, a robber stole money from the church book store which the Mother ran, the money the robber stole was in her cash register so after this robbery and nothing else was stolen but some t-shirts in the book store Floyd said God told him it was because of the mothers sin that the thief stole only the money from her store so it was a sign from God that she need to repent! He said this from the pulpit and many times!
And yet again Floyd told me he was going to make a deal with this mother for some landscaping in her yard that the church will do it for money to go towards some music equipment well he was delighted to get her to pay them $1000. For a few hrs of work in her yard! Well I’m sorry but if you don’t see the control he has over this mother and others? All that and more that mother has been through yet she still believes he is the authority of God in her life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Floyd is always bragging about how well he hears God and that how pure his heart is that why God allows him to place judgments on people places and curses.
Floyd brags allot many yrs over and over on how him and his wife sally smith went to the town meeting at Clarence Darrel’s house in kinsman, and under their breath they where places curses on the house and on the words being spoken from the people mouths of whom where talking about the house, he said God told him to curse it!
Why do you think he tells people to not see their family? Others have left because Floyd told them that they can’t let their mother
see their babies because that mother left the church and other family
members that are against it or for what ever reason. Always Floyd and sally are trying to tell people to stay away from their family and to shun any one who leaves!
Why doesn’t he let people make their own choices about marriage? He tells them who they can’t and can marry! He doesn’t have that authority!
The last time Floyd went to minister in Africa we all where praying for him to be blessed and each of us had are own days and times to pray well I had among other days the last day he was to come back, and so I knowing how he brags all the time for yrs about the same things to the same people- us, I knew that he was going to be puffed up real bad like he always is so I prayed that God would humble him lol! Well the next service after he was back he was mad at who ever this was that had the last day of his trip to pray, he was yelling even, that this person wasn’t praying at all or didn’t know how to pray! Because his trip back was terrible! He had to sit next to a fat stinking man on the plane back and other types of trouble he had I mean he was mad! Lol! All I could do is smile the whole time he was complaining!
Remember the time someone was teaching from the pulpit and that person
mentioned judgments God pronounced and Floyd interrupted and with the
church’s attention said he felt that he can be trusted with such power to pronounce judgments on people? And a shock wave went out over the whole church? I set there thinking (and he can’t even discern the simplest matters but he thinks he can discern when to pronounce a judgment on someone? Very bad I thought!)
And also from the pulpit he has said many times even yelling at the
congregation that if we didn’t shape up or pull more weight or bring in more members, that God was going to move him down the road! The arrogance and audacity of such a man! This congregation that tithes probably more then most churches and comes on work days all the time for yrs and is at his call like seems 24/7 is not doing enough and God has put so much time and effort into him Floyd that God would rather take Floyd out and plant another church elsewhere and start over because this church is not growing and it’s the peoples fault!
Please why don’t you all see what’s wrong with this picture? Because he has been brainwashing you and there is a seducing spirit on your
minds that keeps you locked into Floyd’s world and out of god’s!
You all have been seeing the things that are terribly wrong there but why don’t you leave?
You owe Floyd nothing you don’t have to say a word to him! Just leave run--leave anything behind that slows you down! The judgments he has proclaimed for people that where following god and that love god will someday come back on him! Get away as fast as you can! What ever he says is wrong with others just turn it around and point it at
him and you will be 99.9% percent right in what he is!
He is real close to the unforgivable sin though I would not say when he has crossed it of blaspheming the Holy Spirit! And is teaching you all to do the same!
He is the real Judas, like Judas he betrays you for what he thinks is going to be his inheritance just likes Judas he wants a place in Christ’s government rule and he wants it now, Floyd even has said that many times!
I had visions allot about him over the yrs and it was always him very angry!
One vision I had back in the late 90’s was of him tiring to start some old propeller planes by spinning the blades it was in like a back yard on a hill and he was very angry that these planes would not start, then three people walked away a couple with a child and walked down the hill and away from him they all had short hair.
I told him back in 1993 that when he talked the front of my fore head would hurt, I thought it was a spirit of anti- Christ in me but it just got worse as he got worse before I left this February my head was hurting so bad when ever he would speak I was thinking man shut up and sit down! Lol!
His words are so condemning and no love what so ever yet he , yrs ago I thought even when my mind was a mess I thought this man(Floyd) has some serious psychological issue’s! But I stayed because I felt I was in no way capable of judging Floyd he was to me a spiritual giant and with all the other so called prophets that came in to confirm him I couldn’t believe he was wrong or I would be denying god’s word!
Now I feel like one of the dumbest people on earth to have been in that church for so long. And I believed all the lies about those that have left and that God was pruning the church well how long will he prune your church people? Floyd is saying the same about me I know.
Please I’m telling you wake up! Its God taking me and others like you out and away from the destructive words and spirit of Floyd, these people that support Floyd are obviously not of God either because they cant see what’s wrong, And their other church’s are in the same mess!
I often saw picture of David buck and Floyd together and I kept hearing that’s a false prophet but I thought no and I could barely hear that about Floyd in the pic because I was blocking it out so well but I did hear it, what I heard was very loud about David and it happened every time I saw the pic!
Please hear god, you all have been blocking the Holy Spirit from speaking to you but have been listening to Floyd’s soul and every ones soul in the church and the spirit of the false Christ!
Most of you all know I have for years listen to the bible on my ipod if I worked a 16hr day I listened to the bible the whole 16hrs even on break my headphones are always on, some times I take them off my ears to hear some one or talk to some one, and always I ask the Holy Spirit to open my eyes and ears to his truth to wash me with Gods word and conform me into his image to not allow any one else’s opinion of truth in my head.
The 16hrs was on my Sony mp3 player it can go for 40hrs on one charge the rest on the ipod it’s a superior product anyways. Lol The more I got of the word in me and the less of Floyd the more I could see
what was wrong in comparison to the word I just let the word teach me
instead of coming to it with my own ideas and that others like Floyd’s
ideas.
I didn’t just wake up and say I’m in a cult I must leave. (Though I wish that happened) People around me was trying to warn me also but I would block them out as Floyd is doing to me now I said I’m not stupid I would now if I was in a cult! But I kept what they said in the back of my mind and even then I saw things that where wrong with Floyd but I kept denying cult.
Well the holy spirit got though to me and I am so happy he did this is now the start of a better life for me in God I’m so thankful for the opportunity to have learned about this false gospel the way I did It has taught me so much about the real gospel! Though like I said I feel real stupid for being a part of Floyds flock but at the same time I’m so glad!
I now know that dominionism is the wrong path and Jesus did not teach it he taught just the opposite till he returns then HE will set up his kingdom from Jerusalem and yes he will use his saints but that is not till he returns, till then we are to live as he did!
Search the net about the shepherding movement and prayer circle’s among others.
Love you all don’t ever doubt it no matter what!
Rich
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THE MURDERER NEXT DOOR:
Why the mind is designed to kill.
Dr. David Buss
Evolutionary Psychologist
When Dennis L. Rader was arrested as the B.T.K. (bind, torture, kill) serial killer suspect—and eventually charged with 10 killings—his Wichita, Kan. community reacted with shock and contradiction. After all, he was a leader in his church, a husband and father of two, living among the very neighbors whom he secretly terrorized.
It left people to wonder what would drive a man who appeared so normal to his neighbors to commit murder. According to new research, the answers may lie in evolutionary psychology.
David Buss
Dr. David Buss, an evolutionary psychologist at The University of Texas at Austin and author of the just-published “The Murderer Next Door: Why the Mind is Designed to Kill” has conducted an unprecedented set of studies investigating the underlying motives and circumstances of murders, from those of serial killers to the perfectly friendly next-door neighbor who one day commits murder. He examined FBI files of more than 400,000 murders, conducted a highly detailed study of nearly 400 murders, and led, with his collaborator Joshua Duntley, the largest homicidal fantasy study ever conducted.
“Killing is fundamentally in our nature because over the eons of human evolution murder was so surprisingly beneficial in the intense game of reproductive competition,” Buss said. “Our minds have developed adaptations to kill, which is contrary to previous theories that murder is something outside of human nature—a pathology imposed from the distorting influences of culture, media images, poverty or child abuse.
“Though we may like to think that murderers are either pathological misfits or hardened criminals,” he added, “the vast majority of murders are committed by people who, until the day they kill, seem perfectly normal.”
To determine what would drive people over the edge and cause them to kill, participants in one of the studies were presented with more than a hundred different scenarios in which they recorded the probability they would kill.
“Nearly all people express a willingness to kill in some circumstances—to prevent being killed or to defend their children from killers,” Buss said. “The study reveals the specific circumstances in which normal people said that they would kill, with some surprising findings. For example, men indicate an increased willingness to kill as their mating prospects become dire; women do not.”
In Buss’s sample of 429,729 homicide FBI files, 13,670 were cases in which a husband killed his wife. A husband discovering his wife having an extramarital affair is one of the leading causes of women being murdered, particularly when the woman is dramatically younger than her husband. This leads to a disturbing theory—the more good-looking, healthy and fertile the woman, the more motivated the man will be to kill her upon discovering a sexual infidelity.
Separation is also a powerful trigger for murder. According to a study of homicides in Chicago, 50 percent of wife killings took place within the first two months of the separation, and an astonishing 85 percent of these women were killed within the first year. In contrast, among the women who contemplated killing their mates, getting dumped accounted for only 13 percent.
“Among women killed by a partner they have separated from, 88 percent had been stalked prior to being killed,” Buss said. “Although most stalkers do not kill their victims, most mate-killing men do stalk their victims. Stalking is one danger sign that women should not ignore.
“Just when women feel as though they have successfully escaped a bad marriage is precisely the time when their lives are most in danger,” he added. “It is likely that the key danger is not the length of time per se but, rather, when the man realizes she will never return to him.”
Based on existing research, Buss concluded for the few mate killings that occur a year or more after estrangement, it seems the couple actually had sexual contact during the year even though the woman had moved out. The hope that she might return, as indicated by sex, offers a protective buffer, lowering the odds the man will try to kill her. But then when the sex stops, and he realizes she will never come back, the woman’s life is in danger.
Previously, Buss led one of the most massive cross-cultural studies ever undertaken, documenting mating desires among 10,047 people in 37 cultures, residing on six continents and five islands. Taking these findings into consideration, when and why men or women commit murder can be explained by the differences in evolutionary pressures and the differences of what they value in a mate. The most desired characteristics in a romantic partner, valued by both men and women, included a mate who is kind, understanding, dependable and intelligent. However, in comparison, men had a much stronger desire for beauty, youth and fidelity. Women had special desires for economic success and high status men.
Though we may like to think that murderers are either pathological misfits or hardened criminals, the vast majority of murders are committed by people who, until the day they kill, seem perfectly normal. -Dr. David Buss led the largest homicidal fantasy study ever conducted, using 5,000 people, 375 who were actual murderers. The study looked into why people have homicidal fantasies and the specific circumstances in which they contemplate killing. The research team discovered how homicidal fantasies are used to build and work through scenarios of killing, how they help channel murderous intentions into other means of seeking redress, how they can also be used to simulate and rehearse carrying out murder and how particular passions come into play in evaluating whether or not to turn fantasy into reality.
Buss’s homicidal fantasy research revealed that 91 percent of men and 84 percent of women have had at least one vivid fantasy—often intense and astonishingly detailed—of committing murder.
“As with most instances of homicidal fantasies, few thoughts are translated into deeds,” Buss said. “Most people work through cost-benefit calculations, figure out alternative means of solving the problem and decide that the costs of killing are too high.”
One indication of how infuriated both sexes feel when romantically rejected comes from an analysis of whether torture was part of the fantasy. The response to getting rejected and discovering a partner’s sexual infidelity proved to be about equal for women and men, with 57 percent of the victims of each experiencing torture fantasies.
“The key differences between the sexes is not so much in having homicidal fantasies about the mates who have left them but, rather, in the likelihood of acting on them,” Buss said. “Among the men who entertained thoughts of murdering their mates, 54 percent were triggered by the woman ending the relationship.
Buss's homicidal fantasy research revealed that 91 percent of men and 84 percent of women have had at least one vivid fantasy-often intense and astonishingly detailed-of committing murder.“Whereas men kill mates who have dumped them,” he said, “women kill mates who sequester, abuse and threaten them so heavily that they see killing as the only way out.
“Many abused and battered women choose a time to kill when their partner is more vulnerable, such as when he is drunk or asleep,” he said. “Because the laws typically state that a person’s life has to be in imminent danger to invoke self-defense, defense lawyers often have a difficult time convincing juries that a battered woman who waited until her husband fell asleep was actually acting in self-defense.”
Interestingly, women who live close to their kin experienced dramatically less violence at the hands of husbands than women whose families live hundreds or thousands of miles away.
Repeated physical, sexual and psychological abuse are by far the most common triggers of women’s homicidal fantasies, and also the leading predictors of when women kill their mates. A major trigger of homicidal fantasies for women, though much less frequently translated into actual murders, is having been raped. Although many women express strong fear about being murdered by a rapist, in fact only one in 10,000 rapists kill their victims. Sexual predators exploit fear of being killed as a strategy designed to successfully carry out a rape.
“Most participants feared getting killed by strangers more than acquaintances,” Buss said, “despite the fact that most murderers know their victims, often intimately.”
The method for killing in the fantasies also differed between the sexes. Because men are larger and stronger than women on average, women must use different means of killing, even in their fantasies—where one would presume they could do whatever they wanted. Women are far more likely than men to use poison. In fact, only one man in the sample of more than 5,000 participants mentioned poison in his homicidal fantasies.
“When we asked people to estimate the probability that they would carry out their homicidal fantasies if they could get away with them undiscovered, most men thought that the likelihood would quadruple,” Buss said. “The most frequently cited reason for not carrying through on the homicidal fantasies was the fear of getting caught and spending their life behind bars. Many of us owe our lives to the fact that murder is so costly to commit in the modern world.”
Public humiliation tends to lead to especially violent fantasies about killing the tormentor. The vividness and elaborated details of such homicidal fantasies highlight the magnitude of the social cost and psychological agony experienced by those whose reputations are damaged. For men there are even higher stakes, given that their status and reputation are important in attracting a mate. Instances of being embarrassed or ridiculed in public may lead to a violent reaction. Men are far more likely than women when losing their jobs, to take revenge by shooting a boss or rival co-worker whom they blame for their demise. Another scenario is that a man may suffer more ridicule when his wife cheats and his reputation may suffer catastrophic damage.
Serial killers account for only one to two percent of all murders, and according to Buss’s theory, may murder because they seek vengeance for status denied, while mass murderers kill to get to the top in a status hierarchy and stay there.
“I would argue that the underlying motivations that drive them to kill are the same as those behind the everyday killings over status and reputation,” Buss said.
For example, Ted Bundy, one of the world’s most prolific serial killers with a death toll of at least 36 female victims, began his spree after a beautiful woman of higher social standing spurned his offer of marriage. Bundy explained his motivation for killing as “stealing the most valuable possessions of the established classes, their beautiful and talented young women.”
“Serial killers and mass murderers, at least the ‘successful’ ones, almost invariably achieve a certain sort of status,” Buss said. “Many, in fact, married and had children after they were caught and convicted. The children of Charles Manson and Ted Bundy are among us today.”
Amazingly, even today convicted murderers remain highly appealing to some women. Scott Peterson, recently convicted of murdering his wife and unborn child, has been bombarded with hundreds of love letters and marriage proposals.
For centuries, power and status has affected a man’s reproductive success. Oxford geneticist Dr. Chris Tyler-Smith and his colleagues discovered roughly half a percent of the world’s population, 16 million people, are likely modern descendants of fierce Mongol emperor Genghis Khan.
“People might mistakenly assume that the theory of adaptations for murder implies approval or acceptance of killing,” Buss said. “It doesn’t. I would suggest instead that those who create myths of a peaceful human past, who blame killing on the contemporary ills of modern culture, and who cling to single-variable theories that have long outlived their scientific warrant tread on dangerous moral ground. The problem of murder cannot be solved by wishing away those aspects of human nature that we desire not to exist.
“As an evolutionary psychologist,” he added, “I’ve become accustomed to critics who confuse what is with what ought to be. We can prevent murder, in principle, through a deep understanding of its underlying psychological circuits and designing environments that prevent their activation.” Michelle Bryant
Office of Public Affairs/College of Liberal Arts
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I found the great site of Crime Files from which this first addition to Black Widows is brought. It is their introduction to the various records of Black Widow killers in their files...old and relatively new. I find it fascinating, as I read, to see the relativity of these cited killers to many of the control/abuse items which have gone up here previously.
CROCODILE TEARS
A long convoy of automobiles sits idle along the winding driveway beside the plot of graves in a shaded cemetery. From the hearse, in front of the convoy, six dark-suited pallbearers lift a platinum coffin and, somberly, carry it to a gurney waiting beside a newly dug place of interment. Mourners, leaving the confines of their cars, whose windows have been tagged with a purple sticker identifying them as a funeral procession, follow behind. The minister motions family, friends and neighbors to circle the grave, then leads them in a simple rendition of "Rock of Ages". The voices stilled, he whispers a few prayers, decreeing the body of the loved one to the earth and his soul to God. While he prays, he lays a comforting hand on the shoulder of the new widow who weeps into a handkerchief beside him. Family members cup her elbows to keep her from fainting. She looks so frail; the widow does; so forlorn, so much in anguish.
And while she moans, groans, and wets her hankie with thespian tears, she is wondering just how quickly — she hopes it is quickly — Friendly Insurance Company will deliver the check for dear old hubby.
She is a Black Widow, named after the venomous multi-legged crawling thing that comes out of nowhere, bites fast and hard, without deliberation, and kills. The above scenario, though presented tongue-in-cheek, is not, however, atypical. Stereotypical perhaps, but it is true. The scene — the grieving widow cum charlatan — has replayed itself over and over again in real life. Movies starring lovelies Theresa Russell, Jane Seymour or Elizabeth Montgomery murdering unsuspecting beaus do not do the Black Widow justice. Hollywood tends to downplay the Black Widow guile by having us believe that successions of men are drawn to them because of their physical beauty, but that is simply untrue. In reality, the most prosperous Black Widows had neither the statuesque lure of a Seymour, the innocent cuteness of Russell, nor the pouting charm of a Montgomery. Most Black Widows were real "Plain Janes."
But their unattractiveness applauds their cunning. A Black Widow is able, with the right words, with the right smile and with a deep feminine charm that far surpasses outer beauty, to envelope a man in her arms and, in turn, to ingratiate herself into his total trust and, notwithstanding, his bank account. Every penny of it.
Historically, Black Widows meet their husbands through lonely-hearts ads, at widows-and- widowers clubs, or through mutual acquaintances who fail to spot something wrong with their friend. It is not rare that, as one husband dies, the Black Widow will relocate to an entirely new area of the country where she will change her name, her personality and create a totally fabricated background, playing each personae to the hilt.
Nancy says: I'd add internet chat rooms and forums, etc. to the above)
Some Black Widows had children from their earliest marriages. We mentioned a few of these killer mothers in the previous chapter. Now, children are perceptive, even to the point of sensing horrible things within their own parentage; yet most of the young victims seemed to have been oblivious to the murderous intent of their mothers.
The Black Widow's façade holds up well in a society that has always placed so much stock in the virtue of the faithful wife and doting Mom. Say the Kellehers in Murder Most Rare, "Because she will deliberately target those who have come to trust her, the crimes of this type of serial murderer violate our basic assumptions about love, loyalty, guardianship and friendship."
The majority of Black Widows begin killing in their mid-thirties, although some have begun much earlier. Based on cases of record, the average number of victims has been six to thirteen in the United States and ten to fifteen in other countries. Murders occur within an average span of eleven years in the States and sixteen elsewhere. Motive is profit, and only on rare occasions does rage enter into the crime. There have also been a few cases where the Black Widow has been suspected of murdering someone who she fears has learned the truth about her. Otherwise, every murder is a well-planned, methodical masterpiece.
Following are a dozen profiles of Black Widows whom scholars like the Kellehers, Hickey and others uphold as the most wicked, colorful, and dangerous of the lot. They cover a virtual history of the Black Widow in modern times.
The profiles begin with Britain's Mary Ann Cotton ("Lady Rotten") and Belle Gunness ("America's first female serial killer") whose crimes shocked the brittle Victorians who vouched for sweet femininity. From that pair, we move on through the 20th Century where, despite scientific innovations and a keener awareness by law enforcers, Black Widows continue to ply their greedy, homicidal trade.
Profiles and stories to come as time permits. Feel free to comment with any cases you know and find particulary interesting.
I've been wondering whether to look into material on control and abuse of the elderly, or into this serial killer area. Found the following on "Dead Silence" when I was googling around earlier today, and I think it is a really good start into the subject. If anyone has anything interesting to add, please feel free. We'll start with this introduction to ::
BLACK WIDOWS
Music To Kill By
From "Dead Silence"
July 12th, 2006 at 8:55 am (Information)
No, I’m not going to post Marilyn Manson or Gwar lyrics. What you’ll find in this post are some “cute” little songs made up about certain murderers. We haven’t always had the newspapers and internet to help us tell and spread news. Many years ago they instead would make up little songs to help spread news. How many of us can remember the lyrics to a song but can’t remember what we did 2 days ago? See my point? Here are just a few songs that I’ve found:
Emma Pitt:
This Emma Pitt was a schoolmistress
Her child she killed we see,
Oh mothers, did you ever hear,
Of such barbarity?
With a large flint stone she beat its head
When such cruelty she’d done
From the tender roof of the infant’s mouth
She cut away its tongue
Belle Gunness:
Belle Gunness was a lady fair,
In Indiana State.
She weighed about three hundred pounds,
and that is quite some weight.
That she was stronger than a man
Her neighbors all did own
She butchered hogs right easily
And did it all alone.
But hogs were just a sideline
She indulged in now and then.
Her favorite occupation
Was-a-butchering of men.
Lizzie Borden:
Lizzie Borden took an axe
And gave her mother forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done
She gave her father forty-one.
Isn’t it interesting how it seems they mostly made up little songs for women killers?
I'll be putting some BW stories up as comments here. You can do the same, if you wish.
