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People Share The Craziest Cases Of Vigilante Justice They've Ever Heard Of

This isn't the Wild West....

People do awful things in life, illegal things that wreak havoc onto the innocent. And for that they must be punished, in the right way, through legal channels. Vigilante justice has more often than not caused more pain than peace. It is difficult to deal with pain and loss but taking retribution into our own hands is dangerous. The actions people have taken part in, in the name of justice is shocking.

Redditor u/Stock-Mud wanted to discuss all the reasons why some people need to be careful with their need to justice... an eye for an eye only brings more darkness and chaos by asking.... What's the most fitting case of "vigilante justice" you've ever heard of?

1-

The man's name was Ken Rex McElroy. He terrorized the small town he lived in for years. He was accused of: regularly stealing from his neighbors stuff like livestock, gasoline, and antiques; robbery; harassing women; destroying property (including burning down his wife's parents house when she tried to leave him); assault, including shooting at least 2 people. He was charged with various crimes at least 3 times a year, but he had an incredible lawyer.

Dude was only ever charged with anything once.

He used to intimidate witnesses against him by following them or parking outside their homes and watch them until they were too scared to testify against him.

That one time he was charged, by the way? He shot a grocer in the neck with a shotgun. For that he was given a charge of second degree assault. Max two year sentence.

But he appealed of course and got out on bail. So he goes into a bar and loudly threatens to murder said grocer (who survived the shotgun to the neck by the way). All that did was get his trial pushed back.

Anyway so the town had a meeting, then a big group of them went to the bar where Ken liked to drink and shot him in the damn head. GiftedContractor

2-

All these stories about sickos getting their teeth kicked in or murdered.

What about that nut that drove around his town spray painting penises on all the potholes? That way the city was forced to repair them. Not like they where just going to clean the paint and leave the pothole. Funkybag

3-

It's more of just "justice" but there's the judge that comes up with punishments that fit the crime- a lady left a box of puppies outside, so he ordered her to sleep outside in a box. WatchTheBoom

4-

Phoenix Jones

A real-life costumed vigilante in Seattle, originally an amateur MMA fighter. He (and later his team of other costumed vigilantes) would patrol the streets of Seattle and stop crime, mainly assault and theft.

A quote from his Wikipedia article:

Jones says he wanted to take policing matters into his own hands after a few incidents changed his mind about Seattle. The first was when Jones says that his car was broken into and his son was injured after returning to the vehicle and falling on the broken glass. Jones was told that several people saw the break-in happen, but did not intervene. Later, Jones says that he encountered a friend being seriously assaulted outside a bar, and after calling 911 he put on the mask from the earlier break-in and "made a commotion" until the police showed up. "And I thought, why didn't someone help him? There were seventy people outside that bar and no one did anything." ArcticFox46

5-

I remember a newspaper article going around the internet about a junkie robbing a store. While fleeing, he was stopped by a few marines on leave, and he stabbed one of them. He then ended up tripping and breaking both his arms, 7 ribs, his jaw and his nose, losing most of his teeth, and crushing his windpipe. UnoriginalUse

6-

Ok, not so dark and brutal as most comments here. Czech republic had its own vigilante hero named SuperVaclav for a time.

He sat in a park, and when dog owner did not pick up poop after his dog, SuperVaclav did it for him - and spread it on owner's back. Or, putting out smoker's cigarette on bus stop with bucket or water, etc.

It kind of broke my heart when I read it was probably all just some viral marketing stuff. rouen_sk

7-

In Texas, a guy's truck broke down a few feet from his house so he had his two sons get out and push the truck to the driveway while he steered the car. A drunk driver came and hit the truck, the crash was so hard that the elder son who was pushing the back left side of the car (the side closer to the road), had his limbs scattered along the road. The other son pushing the car also died

At some point after the crash and before the cops were arrived, "someone" came and shot the drunk driver with a gun. No gun was ever recovered from the scene and when the father was asked whether he had a gun, he said he did but that he had lost it. All the cops could find in the guy's house was the empty holster and ammunition matching the caliber found in the drunk driver's body

When the crash happened, his neighbors came out to see what had happened. One called the cops about the crash and you could hear the gunshots in the background.

Whatever happened between the crash and the arrival of the cops, his neighbors refused to speak

https://www.cnn.com/2014/08/28/us/texas-father-acquittal/index.html

https://www.chron.com/news/article/Judge-in-murder-trial-asks-family-to-remove-pins-5697997.phpMissionExit

8-

My first job was at a tire shop, and I worked with this older guy named Doug. He was around 60 yo— the nicest guy I've ever met. One day at work, a guy and his girl got into a heated argument in our parking lot, and the guy slammed her up against his car. Doug and I saw it, and Doug just looks at me, with a tire iron in his hand, and goes "one sec."

He walks over to the guy, drops his tire iron, and slams the guy in the ground. He whispered something to him that I couldn't hear from where I was, but the guy got up and opened the passenger door for her and they drove away. Doug walked back over and just started working on a car like nothing ever happened. I'll never forget it. _tommy-_

9-

Back in middle school I admittedly bullied this other girl pretty bad, including once shoving her into some dog poop.

One day her older brothers came by as I was walking home from school and forced me to eat dog poop. foxurinefetish

10-

Somewhere in northern Ontario a few guys bagged a dude. sack on head and beat him so bad he spent a long time in the hospital. dude was physically abusing his wife and daughter. cops came to the high school and "questioned" people. everyone knew who did it.... boyfriend of the daughter but cops dropped all investigations soon after. k0r0ze

REDDIT

Do you have something to confess to George? Text "Secrets" or ":zipper_mouth_face:" to +1 (310) 299-9390 to talk to him about it.

Things People Secretly Love But Would Never Admit To In Public

Reddit user sweet_chick283 asked: 'What do you secretly love that you would never admit to in public?;

Collection of VHS tapes
Bruno Guerrero/Unsplash

What makes us all unique is our passions and the things we love, whether it's singing in the shower, reading books, or listening to specific music artists.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where we are judged for our various tastes and interests thanks to social media, and it makes us consciously selective about sharing the things we love on the internet.

Curious to hear about people's personal desires under anonymity, Redditor sweet_chick283 asked:

"What do you secretly love that you would never admit to in public?"

These aren't really chores for the following Redditors.

Good Clean Fun

"Mopping, im a janitor and generally hate my work... but damn mopping is so good."

– MrDDog06

"When you have a great rhythm going it is something special. I get the same feeling while I vacuum, but won’t let my wife know I enjoy it."

– Bogus_34

Act Of Unwrinkling

"Ironing clothes. A dozen of them. Can’t explain how it relaxes me. I told one person and they looked at me like I’m crazy."

– eerie_white_glow

"My mum misses the days when dad would be out on a Friday night, my brother out with friends and me upstairs quietly playing PS1. She would pour herself a Bacardi & Coke and do the ironing while watching her TV shows."

"I'm sure she doesn't really miss it now that we've moved out and they've retired but it was her wind-down after a busy working week so I can see how people can find it relaxing."

– xdq

Our solo actions can spark joy.

Big Brother Is Watching

"pretending to be on the Truman show and whenever im in my house i act all inconspicuous so they dont know that i know that they’re watching me."

– Bec_121

"C’mon man, you’re not supposed to let him know. You signed a contract when signing up for live views. I’m reporting you."

– doeswaspsmakehoney

The Multi-Tasker

"Playing video games naked at home while eating cheese."

– thickening_agent

Releasing The Kraken

"I love the feeling when you've eaten good fibre and let out a solid long train log in the toilet. That feeling is heavenly."

– therapoootic

"Even better when it’s a clean wipe and not a poo crayon."

– TheWarmestHugz

Ultimate Comfort

"My (male 41) weekend routine is coming home from work, make hot chocolate, start a fire, dress in a ugly pink nightgown made for old ladies and watch forensic files."

– crazyloomis

Some people are obsessed with collecting things.

So Kawai

"Sanrio stationery stores. All those different multicolor pens, a thousand kinds of erasers, spiral bound notebooks galore... my kids sadly have absolutely no appreciation for this wonderland..."

– HavingNotAttained

It's A Staple

"Office supplies have a weird, special place in my heart ever since I was a kid. They don't even have to be 'cute' necessarily."

"Japan's legendary stationery stores is unironically a reason I want to go."

– _CozyLavender_

Not Caring Anymore

"The older I get the shorter that list gets. Not because I love less things, but because I don't care about hiding it."

– Bi-Beast

"YES!! I'm 53 now. I'm working my first job in public since 2006. Today is Halloween and we're allowed to dress up so I am sitting here waiting to go to work dressed as a VERY bad Wednesday Addams. My bf said I'd 'look stupid' because no one else will probably dress up and I'm like, 'WHO CARES!' My makeup looks horrible and not like I practiced, but I DO NOT CARE! I'm having fun with it anyhow and I don't care if my coworkers dress up or not. I'm bein' ME! :)"

– deanie1970

Honorable mentions start here.

The Savior

"Picking up worms from the street and sidewalks when it rains and moving them into the dirt so they don’t burn in the sun, every time it rains I do this."

– sky_kitten89

Hero Of The Moment

"Yoooo I scoot SO many snails and worms. I work as a tech/mechanic at an automotive shop, I had a peoject car towed to my house the other day and it was covered in snails. I saw them when the tow guy/coworker was unloading and I was like, 'oh! It comes with free snails!' and began moving them. He laughed then realized and said, '... Oh, you're serious. Uh... Okay.'"

"I don't care who knows it. These little things barely can look out for themselves, why shouldn't we if we can take a moment to help? I don't care what happens next, it probably doesn't matter overall but I can help this moment."

– chris14020

Why should some of the hidden desires mentioned above have to be secret?

Redditors opening up about some of these would make them a hit at parties–no shaming.

As a matter of fact, I'll totally be down for a Forensic Files viewing party where we all make hot chocolate, light the fireplace, and cozy up together in our respective pink ugly nightgowns for old ladies.

historical reenactors
Sigmund on Unsplash

We've probably all heard some variation of the saying "Truth is stranger than fiction."

Real life isn't just strange, it can also be downright ridiculous.

History is riddled with moments of absurdity.

So ridiculous that people have a hard time believing real life is, well, really real.

Keep reading...Show less