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'Police hunting man who slaps people for sneezing in public'


bloom

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Link to the story, and I'm also going to put it up under a spoiler here just in case it ever happens to get taken down:

Detectives are hunting a middle-aged man who is slapping High Street shoppers in his town if they SNEEZE.

In what Cumbria Police admit is 'very unusual behaviour', the man first smacked a woman round the head after she sneezed in Carlisle on Monday.

Then on Tuesday, officers believe the same man launched a second attack on a frail pensioner who also had a bout of the sniffles.

In that shocking incident an 82 year-old woman who had just sneezed was slapped over the head in broad daylight at 11.30am in Scotch Street, Carlisle.

Police described their strange suspect as being in his mid-to-late 50s and wearing a plush, tweed jacket.

The force have now asked for anyone with any information about, or who witnessed, the two related incidents to contact them.

They have been informed about the first attack by witnesses - but have yet to trace the first female victim.

However the force said they are investigating two head-slapping incidents - and believe they are related crimes.

Sgt Gill Cherry said: “We are treating these two reported incidents as linked, and are appealing to the local community to help trace the man responsible.

“It is very unusual behaviour, and will have left his victims feeling confused and upset.”

Shoppers in Carlisle said they were bemused but frightened by the oddball’s behaviour.

Trainee shop assistant Gemma Prosser, 19, said: “We heard as it happened in the town centre and at first we just thought it was a bit weird.

“When you think about it, it is really awful because anyone can sneeze at any time and it’s not your fault.”

Worried dental receptionist Nicola Dawson, 48, who was visiting from nearby Kendal, said: “I have come here shopping on my day off and actually have a cold.

“If anyone smacked me for sneezing I would smack them back."

...Typically I try not to start threads about things unless there's really something to say about the material I've linked because it stifles discussion (hue hue no pun intended), but despite the fact that I'm kinda drawing a blank on this one, I really had to post it anyway, as it's incredible. heh.gif I know there are a lot people in the world who are really irritated by their own sneezing, but I have to say I've never heard anybody voice ire about other peoples' sneezing just generally - I can't begin to imagine a single sneeze making someone angry enough to assault anybody.

I know it's terrible of me because people have been assaulted but I seriously can't stop giggling at the absurdity of the entire situation. “If anyone smacked me for sneezing I would smack them back." about sums up my reaction to the entire thing, really.

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:lmfao: Oh my god what. If they do find out who it is, what would he be convicted of? Battery? Would the fact that he went around slapping people when they sneezed be an aggravating factor and earn him a longer sentence? :laugh::rofl:

Let's just ignore the fact I had to look up where Cumbria is, despite the fact that I now realise I've been there. At least I know now. :lol:

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According to TV Tropes, one of Vince McMahon's (from WWE fame) berserk buttons is sneezing.

Don't sneeze in the proximity of the man. Just... don't.

Not sure how true that is, but if it is, well, I'm pretty sure he never hit anyone over it. :lol:

Then again, how many of us would like to smack our family members around a little for sneezing? :twisted:

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It's like he has a phobia of sneezing. He is our antithesis.

I dunno about this really - I know people with phobias often react irrationally, but how common is it to actually assault someone over triggering your phobia? :lol:

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Just when you think the world can't get any weirder...

This is a bit of a threadjack but stories like this remind me of The Framley Examiner- it's a website which parodies stupid stories in British small-town local newspapers. Here's one of my favourites:

Cycle lane not even as long as small cycle

(Notice also in the bottom right-hand corner, the advertisement for the Newby's sale which says "20% off pepper" ;) )

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It's like he has a phobia of sneezing. He is our antithesis.

I dunno about this really - I know people with phobias often react irrationally, but how common is it to actually assault someone over triggering your phobia? heh.gif

Yeah, phobic reactions generally tend towards flight over fight. I'd actually be more inclined to believe that he's a fetishist who is seriously uncomfortable about his fetish than that he's afraid of sneezing. I'm not suggesting that's the case, but I would find that theory more believable than the phobia theory.

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^ Yeah, after all, why would he want to TOUCH the germy scumbags after they dared sneeze if it was a phobia? :bleh:

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Just when I thought the world couldn't possibly get any weirder. I hope they catch this guy because I'm really curious to know what on earth would possess him to react that way over sneezing???

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It's like he has a phobia of sneezing. He is our antithesis.

I dunno about this really - I know people with phobias often react irrationally, but how common is it to actually assault someone over triggering your phobia? heh.gif

Yeah, phobic reactions generally tend towards flight over fight. I'd actually be more inclined to believe that he's a fetishist who is seriously uncomfortable about his fetish than that he's afraid of sneezing. I'm not suggesting that's the case, but I would find that theory more believable than the phobia theory.

If he does have a secret fetish that he's so uncomfortable with, then I would think he'd want to hide it as much as possible, instead of assaulting people which would only draw unwanted attention to him. I'm leaning more toward the theory that maybe this is a very unusual case of OCD? If he only does it when people sneeze, then that sounds like possible OCD-type behavior. However, I'm not a psychologist so that might not be the case either but it's the only explanation I can come up with that would even remotely explain such an extreme knee-jerk reaction to sneezing.

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I actually laughed when I read this because it's so completely irrational, I thought it couldn't possible. But let me share something with you that actually relates to this.

I used to have this type of reaction to vomiting. I never physically harmed anyone for doing it, but when I saw/heard it, I would become FURIOUSLY angry. Like, violently so. Full-on red rage pissed beyond measure. Now, mind you, I was much younger when I had this type of extreme reaction and I have since eradicated it, but I can tell you that I have absolutely flipped out on people for getting sick around me in the past. I had such an intense fear of it, it all but permeated my entire psyche at every waking moment.

Of course, we can't possibly understand such a reaction to sneezing. There is also NEVER a reason to EVER physically assault another person (especially for something involuntary). I'm merely stating that I can understand the absolute rage that can ensue from a trigger. I don't condone it in any way. I just remember feeling it myself.

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What Geist said about vomiting: I react that way to certain types of snoring, to the point where--while mostly asleep, and ONLY while mostly asleep; I never had any memory of it the next day--I've smacked people sharing my space in an attempt to get them to stop snoring. Oops.

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Maybe he has Misophonia :awesum:

Quite possibly, Bondi. I know that's what causes my reaction to snoring, and my father's (angry, but not physically violent) reaction to babies' crying.

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3cd8a33a.png?1306264975

I don't know, I mean it's totally appalling, unacceptable behavior, but compared to an awful lot of other things that go on on this planet this guy's pretty harmless. I'd happily live on a planet with a hundred of this guy than a hell of a lot of other things. I just wouldn't want to live in his neighborhood :lol:

Maybe he has Misophonia awesum.gif

Quite possibly, Bondi. I know that's what causes my reaction to snoring, and my father's (angry, but not physically violent) reaction to babies' crying.

That's probably a better explanation than any of the other ones so far suggested. I'll be really interested to see what explanation this guy gives if they do catch him. It's such an aberrant thing to do...

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Maybe he has Misophonia awesum.gif

Quite possibly, Bondi. I know that's what causes my reaction to snoring, and my father's (angry, but not physically violent) reaction to babies' crying.

That's probably a better explanation than any of the other ones so far suggested. I'll be really interested to see what explanation this guy gives if they do catch him. It's such an aberrant thing to do...

“It is very unusual behaviour, and will have left his victims feeling confused and upset.” Straight from the mouths of the cops! heh.gif

Now I'm kind of curious to know how many people with misophonia are actually inclined to be violent (or at least to act on violent feeling) when they hear a trigger noise. I kind of assume not really very many or we'd hear about people getting slapped in public for things like popping their gum or grinding their teeth or whatever a lot more often than we do - it's what makes this particular incident so freaking weird.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I really hope they catch this guy, if only to find out:

His motivation.

What he would be convicted of.

How long he's actually been doing this ( is this a recent thing or has he done it for years?)

How his victims would react to all off of this.

Honestly, I just want to more. I'm so curious about this!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I actually laughed when I read this because it's so completely irrational, I thought it couldn't possible. But let me share something with you that actually relates to this.

I used to have this type of reaction to vomiting. I never physically harmed anyone for doing it, but when I saw/heard it, I would become FURIOUSLY angry. Like, violently so. Full-on red rage pissed beyond measure. Now, mind you, I was much younger when I had this type of extreme reaction and I have since eradicated it, but I can tell you that I have absolutely flipped out on people for getting sick around me in the past. I had such an intense fear of it, it all but permeated my entire psyche at every waking moment.

Of course, we can't possibly understand such a reaction to sneezing. There is also NEVER a reason to EVER physically assault another person (especially for something involuntary). I'm merely stating that I can understand the absolute rage that can ensue from a trigger. I don't condone it in any way. I just remember feeling it myself.

Now I'm kind of curious to know how many people with misophonia are actually inclined to be violent (or at least to act on violent feeling) when they hear a trigger noise. I kind of assume not really very many or we'd hear about people getting slapped in public for things like popping their gum or grinding their teeth or whatever a lot more often than we do - it's what makes this particular incident so freaking weird.

I came to this thread to bring up misophonia, but I see I was beaten to it. Just as you all are saying you find it kinda funny/the antithesis of how we feel to imagine violently reacting to sneezing, I find it funny that no one else sees it as two sides of the same coin. Well at least they are for me; I have misophonia triggered by sniffling, sneezing, and even congested mouthbreathing and things like that, the same things that trigger the fetish for me, but just for different people. (Oversimplifying it, but if I didn't I'd write an essay...) I feel that "FURIOUSLY angry. Like, violently so. Full-on red rage pissed beyond measure" that Geist describes when my mother or sister (or sometimes others) trigger my misophonia, and it's just about impossible to stifle or hide. My family thinks I'm crazy because they've seen the fight or flight rage on many occasions. I've yelled and slammed doors and said unkind things and left the room and plugged my ears and possibly self harmed a bit. Thank goodness I've never actually reached that stage of physical violence to the trigger person, but I always want to. And I am one of the calmest, most pacifistic people who never gets that kind of angry about anything else. It's awful, is much much more intense than the positive fetish reactions to sneezing and stuff, and has caused real issues with my family. They are starting to be less defensive/angry back about it all and sometimes apologize or warn me when they're about to make trigger sounds, so I can plug my ears and walk away, but I still wish it wasn't something any of us had to deal with. (Incidentally, Geist, your age isn't listed on the sidebar thing, but I'm curious how long it took for you to "eradicate" these reactions, and how you managed to do so? If you don't mind my asking) Anyway I've written too much and it's embarrassing but I just wanted to say I absolutely understand how this guy may feel, and really I'm lucky it's not me that y'all are reading/laughing about. There are times where it's almost unmanageable, such as especially when I'm trapped physically or by situations, like stuck in a car for hours with a sick person, or at an exam at that time of year when only 5 seconds go by without sniffling, and it's honestly amazing I haven't snapped yet.

Oh and just for anyone else who's curious about this whole thing, an interesting thing here describing the misophonia activation scale, which measures just how far the sufferer goes from mildly miffed to slapping people in public. I've reached level 9, but not 10 (yet?). Interestingly, level 7 says "There may be unwanted sexual arousal" which again makes me think that these are really just two sides to the same coin, at least for me, unfortunately.

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(Incidentally, Geist, your age isn't listed on the sidebar thing, but I'm curious how long it took for you to "eradicate" these reactions, and how you managed to do so? If you don't mind my asking) Anyway I've written too much and it's embarrassing but I just wanted to say I absolutely understand how this guy may feel, and really I'm lucky it's not me that y'all are reading/laughing about.

FYI, I laugh when I'm relating to something. It wasn't a "HA HA, THIS IS FUCKING HILARIOUS!" reaction. It was a, "Well, I'll be damned. I've done that same shit!" kind of laughing . . . at myself. Just felt the need to make that clear.

I don't remember exactly how long it took me to stop reacting like that. I went to therapy for my vomiting phobia, but the therapists were absolutely useless because they had absolutely no idea what to do with something like that. I do remember that one day, I woke up and said, "I'm tired of this thing." And I was angry about it and just so tired of how having that phobia made me feel.

So, I decided not to have it anymore. I'm not even joking. And from that day onward, it just drained away. I did "therapy" on myself where I started training my reaction to vomiting to be one of compassion instead of horrified anger and it worked. I no longer get angry and I don't have the fear any longer. I can tell you the whole process took several years, but I haven't had a major episode since. Do I still get a little freaked out if I feel like I'm going to be sick? Yes, but I think most people experience a similar level anxiety to what I experience now. I still GTFO if I hear/see puking, but who actually stands around and watches? :lol: It's usually more of a " NOPE!!!" kind of reaction where I just walk away and I'm not left angry and shaken. A little grossed out? Oh yeah. But none of the other.

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