I've never had any real theme to my blog other than the usual self aggrandizing pictures, but for the next couple of posts I am going to write about scary stuff! Well, I should clarify, I will be writing about stuff that is scary to me. Here's the inaugural post:
This morning I went jogging before work and decided to listen to my i
pod. I usually jog without it as I think that it is a little unsafe on roads with no sidewalk and I am more prone to ignore what my scenic surroundings. However, today these surrounding lost there usual charm and the sounds that I usually associate with small animal frolicking through the woods along side the road turned into sinister forewarnings of potential predators. What you may be asking yourself cause this dramatic perspective shift?
This American Life!
Today I justified listening This American Life on my ipod while jogging because it's not blarring music and I would only wear one earphone, thus leavi
ng my other ear free to hear oncoming cars, small creatures, pedophiles, rapist and the usual jogger threats. The last few items have always been on the list but the story I was listening to pushed them to the top.
The story I was listening to was titled Pro Se. The first story on the podcast was about a boy who had critically harmed a homeless man and claimed he was mentally ill to avoid going to a normal jail. He heard that psychiatric hospital are cushier, so he proceeded to described heinous ideations, most of them based on horror or thriller movies he had seen. Well, the authorities did think he was crazy so they sent him not to just any psychiatric hospital but Broadmoor, the place where they send the most "dangerous" criminals, the serial killers, pedophiles, etc.
The story was really interesting and has some insight into the power of stigma and perception but I am afraid that even as I write this the more powerful idea and feelings are paranoia and fear. Especially as they described the acts of his fellow inmates while eerie music played in the background. In the end the psychiatrist and psychologists didn't believe this boy was mentally ill in the way he pretended, but instead they diagnosed him with a psychopathic personality disorder. By the end of the story the matter is unresolved but what is certain- that is the fastest I have jogged in a long time and I won't be jogging with my ipod anytime soon.
Stay tuned for more eery stories...
Broadmoor
2 comments:
I was just listening to that episode last night while I was jogging too. I listen to alot of podcasts while running, and I'm only ever freaked out by This American Life. Like the time I was running down a dark dirt road, and the story was about rabid raccoons attacking people. I just about wet myself when I saw two beady little eyes staring out at me from the side of the road.
more fear, more fear!
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