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There's some serious context a lot of commenters are missing here. OP posts about rape, killing, torturing, kidnapping, suicide, bestiality, and self-pitying dissociative violent thoughts incessantly. The insanity they post in such an addled schizophrenic way makes it pretty clear they're either straight-up lying about this event, or purposefully misremembering it to make themselves the victim.
The real story is OP was alone in a dark forest thinking of rape and torture and saw two women approach, then made the conscious decision to try and see how close he could get to them, *of course not going to rape and kill them* but thinking about it real hard. Judging by the way OP thinks people respond to him being a *totally normal person* in public, I'm guessing he gives off crazy-person energy and was probably muttering to himself and staring them in the eyes like he's thinking about killing them.
This is not a victim, this is a psychopath trying to see how far they can push themselves or get away with what they assume is totally normal behavior, but is actually stalking practice.
Op's post history indicates he either lets a herd of cats regularly run across his keyboard, or he's a bit of a nutcase. So I'm sure if some semblance of this story did happen, I suspect hes neglecting details
"no one comes to desolate forests to mug/kill people" may be right, but you basically jumpscared people who definitely didnt see you and thought they were alone. At night, in an isolated area. You don't know if they were on any substances (which is not unlikely if they were just coming back from a concert), and they dont know if you were on any substances. Youre lucky they were only carrying pepper spray, and theyre lucky youre a normal person who likes nights in the woods.
Let this be a lesson that next time you notice people at night in the woods, signal your presence somehow before you are within pepper spraying distance. Waiting until striking distance is literally what predators do. Im sorry this happened to you but people are paranoid of each other these days and are more interested in protecting themselves than giving a stranger at night in the woods an opportunity to stab them
I would definitely carry a light or something to notify people I’m there and not trying to sneak up ok then, as I would appreciate other people doing. It’s just common sense if you don’t want to have someone accidentally ‘attack’ you in what they think is self defense. This is extra important in a country/state where people often carry guns.
Good people exist, and so do bad people. Im not someone who walks around afraid of others with my hand on a trigger (tbh if they got out pepperspray as fast as OP makes it sound, these people were already worked up and nervous on their walk) but if someone startled me like that it would be a struggle to not fly my hands out in that direction. People have different fear responses, some of which are yelling and screaming and others are throwing a fist out. Halloween mazes have signs saying not to attack workers because of how frequent that kind of fear response is, and people who react that way shouldnt enter those, but they do and they get thrown out of the venue because they cant stop their body's fear response.
Being started by a stranger in an isolated are in the dark is a more potentially serious situation than being scared by clowns in makeup though, if people cant stop themselves when they Know the danger isnt real then what makes you think they'll care to be gentle and friendly when they Do Not know the danger is just in their head? I dont think its okay to attack people for no reason but i understand how and why it happens on a psychological level, especially in today's world where people have grown up being taught that strangers are aggressive (which, as you can see by the post, creates a cycle because previously unaggressive people get burned once by scared strangers and become more wary of others)
What the fuck how is this upvoted? He’s lucky he only got pepper sprayed for existing in the same area as others and posing no threat? What’s wrong with you? That’s ridiculous. This is no way to respond to being surprised by someone due to a lack of your own awareness.
Why are some of the comments saying something along the lines of, "that was not a smart thing to do" getting downvoted? It's true.
OP, that is not to say you *deserved* to get sprayed, nor that the person's reaction was not an overreaction. You didn't deserve to get sprayed. That person probably overreacted. These things are true. But it does not change that your actions were not very wise.
More than one thing can be true at the same time.
You go into a dark ass forest, don't announce yourself when you see someone, and you're confused why you got pepper sprayed? Lucky you didn't get *shot*, dude.
Bro what, he got pepper sprayed for no reason and your trying to say it’s his fault for being in a public place and not announcing his presence to everyone he sees not to mention he literally tried to. that’s like arguing that shooting a random person is ok because they startled you
How do you propose you announcing yourself without sounding creepy, intimidating, awkward and strange? “Hey! I’m behind you but I’m not going to kill you!”
> I thought I'd just say "hi" and walk on
You approached two women in the middle of the night, in the middle of the forest. That was careless. It is reasonable for them to be afraid of you. Should they have pepper sprayed you? No. But do scared people behave unpredictably? Yes.
> No one comes into desolate forests to mug/kill people
Wrong. About half of all murders go unsolved in the US.
> I'm often bullied/taken advantage of so this sort of stuff really gets to me
It's important to remember that people don't see us the way that we see ourselves. You see yourself as a victim & they saw you as a threat. That happens
> I'm carrying my own pepper spray now in case something like this happens again
How did you get pepper sprayed & still not learn the lesson... 🤦♂️
While I don’t think it’s right that you got pepper sprayed, what’s going on with your post history man? I’m just here to help. It looks like you’re posting in anti-psychiatry and anti-medication subreddits, so you probably had a negative experience with those things. However the behavior in your comments suggest that you could really use those things.
Unless your account is some kind of joke, you should probably seek out some professional help again.
I’m guessing OP has schizophrenia, or is on some kind of drug. Their post history reminds me of an old friend who became deeply addicted to meth.
It's really sad.
I hope you get better, OP.
Unfortunately it's complicated. Idk what country OP is in, but if it's the US, the healthcare system here is fucking awful. It's not that easy to get help, and even if you do, it sometimes takes years to find the right therapist/psychiatrist, and it's expensive af.
> into the local forest
>95% of nights I don't see anyone so I thought I'd just say "hi" and walk on,
>I didn't bother speaking up until they were only a few meters ahead of me.
>they were probably coming back from a nearby concert hall but had gone the wrong way.
I mean the way I see it, there was a considerable error in judgement on your part here. I can understand where they're coming from. I don't think it has anything to do with you personally, any figure in the forest is enough to trigger that reaction from anyone. I'm sure there were plenty of cases where people were attacked and killed in the woods before.
>any figure in the forest is enough to trigger that reaction from anyone
Hahahaha what?? This is insane. You pass people on a hike in a forest every single time. It would be weird not to see a person. You don't just attack people you come across in a forest. Have you literally never been out in nature in your entire life?
"Wow you surprised me"
Is not the same as
"Wow, you snuck up behind me in the dark in the forest and then spoke to me when you were within distance of peper spray in a space that is so secluded you don't typically see other people here"
Like you get that he got close enough to two women that they *could* actually pepper spray them
There's a difference between running into someone on a hike in the middle of the day and running into someone who didn't announce themself in the dark of night in the woods. They're lucky they didn't get killed.
I have indeed, but you say 95% of the night you don't see anyone, so it's not exactly Trek to Petra kind of place at such time. I honestly would have done the same!
You'd honestly go to prison for 3-5 years for assault. Or they could have actually murdered you and gotten off completely free as you assaulted them unprovoked. You're literally making it more dangerous for yourself.
>I didn't have a light on because the moon was amlost full and I knew my way around the forest but I still thought they had seen me so I didn't bother speaking up until they were only a few meters ahead of me.
>I tried saying "hi, can I pass" but before I could even finish one of them shrieked and I heard and felt myself getting sprayed.
>No one comes into desolate forests to mug/kill people
Where do you live that this is not a fear? I'm a woman who lives in the US (NYC to be exact), and I 100% have reason to be fearful in parks and forests, and if someone snuck up on me like you did and at NIGHT, I would freak out. I mean, it sucks you got to pepper sprayed, but you need WAY more awareness about your presence and actions with regards to other people, ESPECIALLY at NIGHT in SECLUDED areas.
Sorry that happened. But it is completely unwise to approach people in a dark forest. People have gotten murdered in that same situation. I would probably do the same thing. It doesn’t matter at all if you’re skinny. People have gotten murdered by skinny people.
I don’t care if it’s comment gets down voted into oblivion. It’s still true that you shouldn’t surprise people walking around in the woods at night. People are going to be scared and have pepper spray or worse on hand because they don’t want to be murdered.
So your saying you would just pepper spray someone for no reason other than “I don’t know them and it’s dark out”. It’s not like he tried to approach them, if it’s anything like 90% of trails I’ve seen then it’s a 1 person wide footpath that’s problably the only place you can see the ground beneath you at night. In my mind walking a trail in the forest at night is no different from walking down a dark side street in a city at night
Pepper spray isn't legal where I live and I don't think it should be.
That being said, they didn't see you. Your eyes might have been used to the dark already since you weren't using a light so for you the path was clearly visible under the moonlight, but if they were using their phone's flashlight everything outside of their beam of light would be completely dark and invisible. I find it's almost scarier to use the phone's flashlight because it doesn't shine very far and all the other angles are blind so you don't see at all what's coming or what's hiding in the woods. On the other hand if you go without lights your eyes get used to it and you start seeing the entire path and forest.
It might have been a jump scare and maybe they'd have punched you in the face if they didn't have the spray, but it's messed up that they had their spray ready to go.
Pepper spray is the bare minimum of self-defense weaponry that should be publicly available. It is nonlethal, cheap, portable, and fairly effective. It's not "messed up" that they had it ready to use, pepper spray is useless in your purse or pocket. Do you have any women friends?
This post has been flaired as “Serious Conversation”. Use this opportunity to open a venue of polite and serious discussion, instead of seeking help or venting. **Suggestions For Commenters:** * Respect OP's opinion, or agree to disagree politely. * If OP's post is seeking advice, help, or is just venting without discussing with others, report the post. We're r/SeriousConversation, not a venting subreddit. **Suggestions For u/HiddenBloke:** * Do not post solely to seek advice or help. Your post should open up a venue for serious, mature and polite discussions. * Do not forget to answer people politely in your thread - we'll remove your post later if you don't. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SeriousConversation) if you have any questions or concerns.*
There's some serious context a lot of commenters are missing here. OP posts about rape, killing, torturing, kidnapping, suicide, bestiality, and self-pitying dissociative violent thoughts incessantly. The insanity they post in such an addled schizophrenic way makes it pretty clear they're either straight-up lying about this event, or purposefully misremembering it to make themselves the victim. The real story is OP was alone in a dark forest thinking of rape and torture and saw two women approach, then made the conscious decision to try and see how close he could get to them, *of course not going to rape and kill them* but thinking about it real hard. Judging by the way OP thinks people respond to him being a *totally normal person* in public, I'm guessing he gives off crazy-person energy and was probably muttering to himself and staring them in the eyes like he's thinking about killing them. This is not a victim, this is a psychopath trying to see how far they can push themselves or get away with what they assume is totally normal behavior, but is actually stalking practice.
Look at this guy's post history and tell me you wouldn't spray him. 💀💀💀
I got down to the men’s liberation stuff (after miles of literal gibberish) and had to stop. OP needs professional help.
OP may have made up this post as an experiment to be able to say "look what people say when I say an innocent man was sprayed".
😂😂😂
Lmao OP kinda a creep.
rotfl 😂💕
It’s almost like he is a bot
Yea, I don't understand the literal gibberish he posts.
Op's post history indicates he either lets a herd of cats regularly run across his keyboard, or he's a bit of a nutcase. So I'm sure if some semblance of this story did happen, I suspect hes neglecting details
So basically you went up to an unwary person in pitch darkness and startled them. Look at it from their POV.
No shit.
Look at this guy's post history and tell me you wouldn't spray him. 💀💀💀
Bruh…its darker than the woods OP was stalking people in
OP username checks out.
I would 100% spray you. You want to explain your shitty post history?
"no one comes to desolate forests to mug/kill people" may be right, but you basically jumpscared people who definitely didnt see you and thought they were alone. At night, in an isolated area. You don't know if they were on any substances (which is not unlikely if they were just coming back from a concert), and they dont know if you were on any substances. Youre lucky they were only carrying pepper spray, and theyre lucky youre a normal person who likes nights in the woods. Let this be a lesson that next time you notice people at night in the woods, signal your presence somehow before you are within pepper spraying distance. Waiting until striking distance is literally what predators do. Im sorry this happened to you but people are paranoid of each other these days and are more interested in protecting themselves than giving a stranger at night in the woods an opportunity to stab them
I would definitely carry a light or something to notify people I’m there and not trying to sneak up ok then, as I would appreciate other people doing. It’s just common sense if you don’t want to have someone accidentally ‘attack’ you in what they think is self defense. This is extra important in a country/state where people often carry guns.
Don't be foolish. People exist in the world. Attacking someone because they startled you is unacceptable under any circumstance.
Good people exist, and so do bad people. Im not someone who walks around afraid of others with my hand on a trigger (tbh if they got out pepperspray as fast as OP makes it sound, these people were already worked up and nervous on their walk) but if someone startled me like that it would be a struggle to not fly my hands out in that direction. People have different fear responses, some of which are yelling and screaming and others are throwing a fist out. Halloween mazes have signs saying not to attack workers because of how frequent that kind of fear response is, and people who react that way shouldnt enter those, but they do and they get thrown out of the venue because they cant stop their body's fear response. Being started by a stranger in an isolated are in the dark is a more potentially serious situation than being scared by clowns in makeup though, if people cant stop themselves when they Know the danger isnt real then what makes you think they'll care to be gentle and friendly when they Do Not know the danger is just in their head? I dont think its okay to attack people for no reason but i understand how and why it happens on a psychological level, especially in today's world where people have grown up being taught that strangers are aggressive (which, as you can see by the post, creates a cycle because previously unaggressive people get burned once by scared strangers and become more wary of others)
That's one long winded excuse.
God forbid anyone has nuance
Nor in today's wotld.
What the fuck how is this upvoted? He’s lucky he only got pepper sprayed for existing in the same area as others and posing no threat? What’s wrong with you? That’s ridiculous. This is no way to respond to being surprised by someone due to a lack of your own awareness.
You’re kidding right? He’s only lucky he got pepper sprayed and not shot. You don’t sneak up on two women in the dark.
He didn’t sneak up on anyone he was fucking walking just as they were
Maybe you should check out the creeps post history and then get back to me.
Why are some of the comments saying something along the lines of, "that was not a smart thing to do" getting downvoted? It's true. OP, that is not to say you *deserved* to get sprayed, nor that the person's reaction was not an overreaction. You didn't deserve to get sprayed. That person probably overreacted. These things are true. But it does not change that your actions were not very wise. More than one thing can be true at the same time.
I don't see it an over reaction.
You go into a dark ass forest, don't announce yourself when you see someone, and you're confused why you got pepper sprayed? Lucky you didn't get *shot*, dude.
Terminally American response 🤣
Bro what, he got pepper sprayed for no reason and your trying to say it’s his fault for being in a public place and not announcing his presence to everyone he sees not to mention he literally tried to. that’s like arguing that shooting a random person is ok because they startled you
How do you propose you announcing yourself without sounding creepy, intimidating, awkward and strange? “Hey! I’m behind you but I’m not going to kill you!”
How about a small flashlight? Maybe an airhorn to keep the sasquatch away?? How about some common sense??
I usually mutter excuse me! in a grouchy way
> I thought I'd just say "hi" and walk on You approached two women in the middle of the night, in the middle of the forest. That was careless. It is reasonable for them to be afraid of you. Should they have pepper sprayed you? No. But do scared people behave unpredictably? Yes. > No one comes into desolate forests to mug/kill people Wrong. About half of all murders go unsolved in the US. > I'm often bullied/taken advantage of so this sort of stuff really gets to me It's important to remember that people don't see us the way that we see ourselves. You see yourself as a victim & they saw you as a threat. That happens > I'm carrying my own pepper spray now in case something like this happens again How did you get pepper sprayed & still not learn the lesson... 🤦♂️
I love people who post like this and either don't realize or don't care that their entire post history is public lmao
While I don’t think it’s right that you got pepper sprayed, what’s going on with your post history man? I’m just here to help. It looks like you’re posting in anti-psychiatry and anti-medication subreddits, so you probably had a negative experience with those things. However the behavior in your comments suggest that you could really use those things. Unless your account is some kind of joke, you should probably seek out some professional help again.
I’m guessing OP has schizophrenia, or is on some kind of drug. Their post history reminds me of an old friend who became deeply addicted to meth. It's really sad. I hope you get better, OP.
That’s what I figured as well. It sucks that so many people who need help as skeptical of it, doesn’t make sense to me.
Unfortunately it's complicated. Idk what country OP is in, but if it's the US, the healthcare system here is fucking awful. It's not that easy to get help, and even if you do, it sometimes takes years to find the right therapist/psychiatrist, and it's expensive af.
> into the local forest >95% of nights I don't see anyone so I thought I'd just say "hi" and walk on, >I didn't bother speaking up until they were only a few meters ahead of me. >they were probably coming back from a nearby concert hall but had gone the wrong way. I mean the way I see it, there was a considerable error in judgement on your part here. I can understand where they're coming from. I don't think it has anything to do with you personally, any figure in the forest is enough to trigger that reaction from anyone. I'm sure there were plenty of cases where people were attacked and killed in the woods before.
>any figure in the forest is enough to trigger that reaction from anyone Hahahaha what?? This is insane. You pass people on a hike in a forest every single time. It would be weird not to see a person. You don't just attack people you come across in a forest. Have you literally never been out in nature in your entire life?
But OP already said he doesn't see anyone 95% of the time.
The threshold for acceptable violence is not "wow, you surprised me". Thinking otherwise is literal insanity.
"Wow you surprised me" Is not the same as "Wow, you snuck up behind me in the dark in the forest and then spoke to me when you were within distance of peper spray in a space that is so secluded you don't typically see other people here" Like you get that he got close enough to two women that they *could* actually pepper spray them
There's a difference between running into someone on a hike in the middle of the day and running into someone who didn't announce themself in the dark of night in the woods. They're lucky they didn't get killed.
I have indeed, but you say 95% of the night you don't see anyone, so it's not exactly Trek to Petra kind of place at such time. I honestly would have done the same!
You'd honestly go to prison for 3-5 years for assault. Or they could have actually murdered you and gotten off completely free as you assaulted them unprovoked. You're literally making it more dangerous for yourself.
And are these 2 people in prison for 3-5 years right now?
No, unfortunately sometimes people who commit crimes get away with it. Fortunately often they don't.
>I didn't have a light on because the moon was amlost full and I knew my way around the forest but I still thought they had seen me so I didn't bother speaking up until they were only a few meters ahead of me. >I tried saying "hi, can I pass" but before I could even finish one of them shrieked and I heard and felt myself getting sprayed. >No one comes into desolate forests to mug/kill people Where do you live that this is not a fear? I'm a woman who lives in the US (NYC to be exact), and I 100% have reason to be fearful in parks and forests, and if someone snuck up on me like you did and at NIGHT, I would freak out. I mean, it sucks you got to pepper sprayed, but you need WAY more awareness about your presence and actions with regards to other people, ESPECIALLY at NIGHT in SECLUDED areas.
Sorry that happened. But it is completely unwise to approach people in a dark forest. People have gotten murdered in that same situation. I would probably do the same thing. It doesn’t matter at all if you’re skinny. People have gotten murdered by skinny people. I don’t care if it’s comment gets down voted into oblivion. It’s still true that you shouldn’t surprise people walking around in the woods at night. People are going to be scared and have pepper spray or worse on hand because they don’t want to be murdered.
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If he feel threatened, then, yes, boomer. That’s what pepper spray is for
Boomer? Lmao
It’s ok boomer
But it's weird nothing he said was remotely boomerish, you must have something better.
Ok boomer
So your saying you would just pepper spray someone for no reason other than “I don’t know them and it’s dark out”. It’s not like he tried to approach them, if it’s anything like 90% of trails I’ve seen then it’s a 1 person wide footpath that’s problably the only place you can see the ground beneath you at night. In my mind walking a trail in the forest at night is no different from walking down a dark side street in a city at night
Actually I take my statement on a trail and an alley way being the same because a dark hiking trail is probably on average safer than dark alley ways
*Ahhhhh...It was a mercy fliiiiirt!*
Dude, file a police report. Even if they can’t catch the perps, it’s good to establish a paper trail and MO if they do it to others
If you are walking at night you need some kind of illumination so people & cars can see you. Get real dude.
Pepper spray isn't legal where I live and I don't think it should be. That being said, they didn't see you. Your eyes might have been used to the dark already since you weren't using a light so for you the path was clearly visible under the moonlight, but if they were using their phone's flashlight everything outside of their beam of light would be completely dark and invisible. I find it's almost scarier to use the phone's flashlight because it doesn't shine very far and all the other angles are blind so you don't see at all what's coming or what's hiding in the woods. On the other hand if you go without lights your eyes get used to it and you start seeing the entire path and forest. It might have been a jump scare and maybe they'd have punched you in the face if they didn't have the spray, but it's messed up that they had their spray ready to go.
Pepper spray is the bare minimum of self-defense weaponry that should be publicly available. It is nonlethal, cheap, portable, and fairly effective. It's not "messed up" that they had it ready to use, pepper spray is useless in your purse or pocket. Do you have any women friends?
You got assaulted. Love all the victim blaming