total bizarre behavior in Kansas (from the BTK news)....abnormal stuff

[diamond14]

This is very abnormal bizarre behavior....too weird....


http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/special_packages/btk/11002824.htm

The marble gravestone has a police badge carved on one side, an Irish shamrock on the other.

Dan read the story about BTK out loud.

Then he looked at the gravestone.

"They got him, Pop," he said.

"They finally got him."

-----------------------------------------

Dan Stewart looked up from his father's grave on Saturday because he heard radios playing.

He looked around.

He saw other families. They carried radios.

They were playing them to the tombstones.

It was just after 10 a.m. on Saturday.

[brainshrub]

1. I think it's perfectly normal.

If a psychopath had killed one of my relatives, I'd probably be doing the same thing. These are people in pain and turmoil. If playing the radio over their loved-ones graves helps them deal with the grief, God bless them.

I suggest you alter the headline of your post. This is not "bizarre" in the slightest.

[Mad_Dem_X]

6. I agree - if it helps them deal with their grief

So what? I might do the same if it were me.

[Jamastiene]

2. Kansas...

Isn't that home to Fred Phelps who says that Elizabeth Taylor and Princess Diana were both evil?

[AZCat]

9. Phelps is from Topeka

Yes, Kansas is home to many nuts, but so is everyplace else.

California? Filled with nuts.
Texas? We've seen one in particular on the nightly news...
New York? I can guarantee that it's less than 50% peanuts, but otherwise...
Arizona? I live here - we have nuts galore!

Pretty much everywhere has crazy people, why should Kansas be any different?

[Jamastiene]

11. You forgot NC

Also full of nuts.

[kiraboo]

3. In good old blue Massachusetts

I know of a man who never leaves his wife's grave except for a few hours of sleep each night. Rain, shine, snow or sleet he sits beside her in a lawn chair. He seems normal, speaks coherently and well but something is obviously not right. I cannot imagine how he would believe that he is closer to his wife in the graveyard than he would be anywhere else, but I guess he does.

[MadHound]

4. Why is this so bizarre to you?

These people lived in fear and frustration for thirty one years. Fear of being stalked and killed, frustration because they couldn't catch him. Some people went to their graves, after dedicating ten, twenty thirty years to this killer's capture, empty handed. Some people live out their last years in fear, real, mind-numbing fear, of being killed by this guy.

Look, serial killers cause all sorts of reactions in people. Fear and frustration play out in many different ways. I remember the Son of Sam, amongst others, and what his rampage and subsequent capture was like. New York City was a basket case for months, and then when he was captured, there were many scenes like what is going on in Wichita. It is relief, the lifting of a huge burden after thirty plus years. It is normal.

I don't get your complaint, perhaps you need to experience what these people have before you understand. For your sake, I hope you don't have to.

[Bridget Burke]

5. Please--tell us what State you call home.

Surely it's an accident that you ommitted it from your profile.

Having a family member murdered is not "normal"--glad your life has been so sheltered. Of course, you live in a perfect state....

[Padraig18]

7. As the child of murdered parents, I can understand.

It doesn't strike me as the least bit odd, frankly.

[flamingyouth]

15. Me either.

:hug:

[uppityperson]

8. I'm missing the bizarre abnormal part here, thanks for the link

It sounds like a lot of people are very relieved that the trauma they've carried for years can now be over. As we all know, living in continual fear, wondering where the boogeyman will spring from next is very difficult. I am so glad for these people, hoping the healing can now being and they can get on with their lives in a peaceful productive more happy way.

[DearAbby]

10. My Father was completely lost without my Mother when she first passed.

He would even sleep there at the grave for some time following the funeral. People deal with their losses differently. These people have been tormented for over 30yrs.

This man had taken a part of them in the most violent way. I see nothing wrong in their actions. It was their way of sharing with those gone, that it is now over.

[fishwax]

12. The Situation is bizarre, but I don't see how the behavior is n/t

[Withywindle]

13. strange?

Bizarre? That's what gravesites are FOR. For the living to go and feel that they're visiting their loved one in some way, remembering them, keeping it pretty as a tribute to them, etc. All sorts of people "talk to" the departed there for all kinds of reasons, leave gifts, etc. (Man, sounds like Dia de los Muertos would REALLY freak you out.)

Even considering the particular issues unique to death by murder, which provoke strong emotions above and beyond "normal" sudden loss, I honestly don't see anything strange about this at all. :shrug:

[theboss]

14. Why is this bizarre?

A buddy of mine goes and does a shot of Crown Royal at his dad's grave each Christmas and then pours another shot on the grave.

[pinto]

16. locking

The characterization of families' behavior at grave sites as bizarre or abnormal is insensitive.

Thanks for your consideration.

DU Moderator