When I think of evil children, I think of movies like The Omen (1976), Orphan (2009) or the aptly titled Who Can Kill a Child? (1977). Children of the Corn (1984) is fun and all, but it's a little cartoony for my taste. (That's a shame, by the way, because the short story is so good.)
But so-called evil children can and do exist. They're not just the stuff of fictional stories. Ever heard of Mary Bell (who strangled two boys when she was about 10 or 11) or Eric Smith, who killed a four-year-old in the 1990s? What possesses children to get to that point?
After Redditor mrpooks asked the online community, "What's your 'That child is evil' moment?" people shared their stories.
"I showed these neighborhood kids..."
I showed these neighborhood kids a bird's nest in a cedar tree. Later that day I noticed that a couple of branches on that tree were askew, and when I looked closer the nest was missing.
One little kid had taken the nest behind his shed and smashed each chick with a hammer.
When confronted he thought it was funny how upset everyone was. That smile on his face...
"And he was right."
I admitted a patient to the hospital for homicidal ideation and threat. He was 8. Mom and Dad had a newborn baby sister, he tried to kill her with a knife. Mom and dad both got cut up saving the baby's life. That kid was psychotic. When I asked why his parents brought him to the hospital he said "Cause I'm going to kill my sister. They can't keep me away from her forever." And he meant it. And he was right. And they actually had a nice, normal family too (highly unusual). He never went back to their house as far as I know. He stayed with us for a few weeks while we found placement in a home through the state and tried different psych meds and therapy-nothing helped. In that time he destroyed his room, attacked a nurse and twisted her breasts very hard, punched almost all the security guards at some point, peed on the floor and threw stool, threw a standing fan out of his room where it shattered on the opposite wall. A true psychopath.
"A girl I know..."
A girl I know confessed that in her early childhood she saw her mother washing and squeezing out water from a stuffed bunny and she repeated that act on her real baby rabbit pet eventually killing it.
WHAT.
Oh my.
"He got very angry at me..."
Babysitting a 5-year-old boy. He got very angry at me for some reason and pulled a knife out of his parent's knife block in the kitchen and came towards me. Luckily he was 5 so I got it from him pretty easily but it was very alarming.
More alarming was 2 minutes later when he looked me in the eye and said, "Make sure I can't reach those anymore."
"When I was about 9..."
When I was about 9, my mom asked me what I wanted to be for Halloween that year. I, as she tells it, turned to her deadpanned and said that I wanted to take kids name who I really didn't like at school and who was a bit bigger than me, and I wanted to make a slit down his back, remove everything from inside and put a zipper on the back so I could wear him like a suit.
I must have been joking, but the way my mother tells it still has me surprised I'm not a serial killer.
"Kid was throwing rocks..."
Kid was throwing rocks at a stray cat that ran and hid on the other side of a fence. Luckily, he couldn't see where the cat went because of the bushes. She came out of hiding after he left and I took her home. 13 years later and she's laying on the couch next to me.
"Not even an hour later..."
My friend had a roommate who had partial custody of his eldest daughter. She was maybe 10 years old. My friend always told me there was something wrong with her but for the first while that I had known her, she seemed alright.
Well, his roommate and girlfriend were fighting so my friend and I decided to take the girl and her younger sister down by the creek to play. I found a buried crayfish and showed the girls who both seemed really interested. I dropped the crayfish back in the water and watched this girl circle around it, looking up to see if we were watching, and when she thought we weren't, she stomped on it purposefully and killed it.
Then, when she thought we weren't looking again, she slowly dragged her younger sister to the deep end of the creek (she can't swim), making it seem like they were just playfully swimming together, and then quickly took off, leaving her sister to fall off the ledge under the water and sink beneath the surface. My friend dove in so fast to save her. It was at that point we walked them home and told her dad what was up.
"I think about that incident."
My 'friend' made me watch him feed a live rat to his ball python, and he just laughed at it much to my horror. He mocked the rat squeaking and seemed to take genuine pleasure in watching it die. Even 10+ years later it still haunts me whenever I think about that incident.
Can we not?
Poor rat.
"When I confronted him..."
When I was working as a teacher assistant, I was bringing extra paper to the classroom and a student was torturing the class pet with those pins you stick in the board and he was laughing while doing it. When I confronted him he just kept smiling at me, he didn't even say sorry or show any kind of guilt for what he did.
"When I heard about the murder..."`
When I heard about the murder of James Bulger. Those boys that killed and did unspeakable things to the poor little one are truly, truly evil.
"I've met kids..."
I teach 11-18 year old. There are some children who seriously scare me, it's not what they do but how they look at you. With some of them, it's like they have no empathy, nothing behind their eyes. Others are genuinely malicious, who want yo hurt people.
I've met kids who will literally stare at adults to creep them out (like for a solid 30 minutes). Kids who make false allegations about innocent people just because they don't like them, or because they purposefully want to ruin someone's life.
"The youngest boy..."
We used to go to my mum's friend's house a lot when I was little, and she has two boys about the same ages as my sister and me. The youngest boy used to collect snails, slugs, and occasionally frogs and stamp on them in front of me and my sister. We would both cry every time he did this, but none of the adults seemed bothered.. no idea what he's like now (~15 years on), but he was an evil little freak back then.
Have some of your own stories to share? Feel free to tell us about them in the comments section below.
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Dating and the search for love and companionship... What a nightmare.
This journey plays out nothing like in the movies.
Every Prince or Princess (or everything in BTW) seems to have a touch of the psycho.
The things people say during what should be simple dinner conversation can leave a dining partner aghast.
Like... do you hear you?
Redditor detroit_michigldan wanted to discuss all the best ways to crash and burn when trying to make a romantic connection. They asked:
"You're on a date and it's going really great. What can another person say to ruin it completely?"
I once had a guy ask me if I was willing to follow him into the woods, depending on the price of the meal.
Yeah. No steak is worth that.
Plans After...
"Thanks for the ride but I have a date with someone else, I figured you wouldn't drive me if you knew I was going on a date with someone else and I really needed a ride."
"Online dating, talked to her for a while, finally got the courage to ask her out and then she said that as we got there."
iareyours
Mirror Image
“'You look just like my wife!'”
catalinachild
"I did have a guy tell me I reminded him of his son. I don’t believe English has a word to adequately describe my feelings at that time."
UnicornMagicRainbow
"That would definitely do it."
chaotica78
Third Wheel
"'Hope you don't mind if my mother joins us.'"
ofsquire
"Actually had a girl do this on a first date because she had anxiety issues. Honestly wasn’t bad except that 90% of the time she was silent and her mom talked over her."
"I didn’t mind that much and wouldn’t have minded trying again when she was more comfortable except that she was let go at the company we worked at and she deleted her social media profiles and she never responded on her number. Ah well."
Seightx
Liar
"'Hey bro aren't you gay? I made out with you last night.'"
"Random dude I've never seen before in front of my (f) date."
JHXC16
Was he lying though?
Filter Issues
"'You looked better on Tinder.'"
waqasnaseem07
"Isn’t it basic knowledge that everybody looks slightly worse than the worst picture you can find?"
no_user_ID_found
The Past
"'My ex used to do that too.'"
xxIvyOF
"Yep. I’ve definitely had two otherwise-decent-guy date-situations sour because the ex-comparisons just would not stop flowing. No woman wants to be seen as interchangeable—I’m not here to perfectly fill that ex-sized hole in your life. Focusing on the present moment and a future we could build together is a courtesy we need to grant each other in earliest dates of dating."
LarkScarlett
Powerless
"'I'm an alpha, you cant handle my top energy.'"
Midnightgay28
"I actually left a dude in the middle of dinner, in part, for saying this. I ordered an Uber under the table while pretending to listen to him. Went to the bathroom, and never came back. That was when I was young. Now I’d just say, 'How about we enjoy this meal in silence, before we head our separate ways.'”
UnicornMagicRainbow
Mommy...
"'Mother says I should be back by 9.'"
"Saying 'mother says' just feels weird."
bunnyrut
"That gives me Norman Bates vibes."
Werewolf_lover20
"'Mother says alligators are aggressive because they have an overabundance of teeth, but lack a toothbrush.'"
sodaextraiceplease
Obvs...
"'If you were going to be murdered, what method would you prefer. Purely hypothetical. Obvs.'"
Specific_Tap7296
If it looks anything like a Dateline NBC episode... RUN!
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Despite the advancement of technology rendering people left to their own devices–literally–to entertain them, there are some leisurely activities that will never go out of style.
Or so you would think.
Do people still knit to pass the time? Are people actively collecting stamps?
It depends on who's asking.
Curious to hear about hobby trends, Redditor gizehgizeh asked:
"What are once popular hobbies that are slowly dying these days?"

Before we've become conditioned to living on our phones, these activities used to keep people occupied.
Before Texting, There Was This
"Letter writing."
– littlekingMT
Literal And Tangible Joy
"Well the internet killed pen pals for sure. I do remember I had a Japanese girl for a penpal maybe back in 2007 or so. I honestly don't remember how it started, pretty sure some website, but that was a fun experience. But now I can just straight up talk to foreign people real time, lol. But yea getting a physical letter that someone took the time to write and mail still is hard to beat feelings wise."
– skyburnsred
Model Trains
"When I was growing up, every town had a model train store in it. Now I have one in region and everything else has to be bought online."
– Hairy_Effective1172
Pretty Rocks
"Don’t see anyone playing marbles anymore, I had an awesome collection in school."
– sheeple85
"I had some marbles as a kid in the 90s. My grandma got them for me and I had no idea what I was supposed to do with them. I always imagined them as a thing kids in the 40s played with."
– Ryoukugan
People Were Moving Canvases
"Paintball has been dying a slow death since 2006. Sad, really."
– hobo_recycler
Before the general population began hating clutter, collecting was once a "thing."
Precious Coins
"Coin collecting... I'm a silver/gold nut and I'm always hunting for precious metal coins. whenever I go into a shop they get all excited because 'no one under 70 collects coins anymore.'"
– ThatFishySmell99
Post It
"Stamp collecting."
– spooky_scully_mulder
"Collecting in general, really. Of course there are still prominent collectors but it's slipped more into enthusiast and niche territory than being a popular hobby that you might expect anyone to have."
– iuytrefdgh436yujhe2
What A Gem
"Rockhounding was immensely popular back in the 1950's and 1960's. Personally, I think it's a fascinating and fulfilling hobby, but when I go to a meeting at a rock and gem club, I'm usually the youngest one in the room by several decades."
– filthy_lucre
People once enjoyed making things.
Admiring The View
"Stained glass. I learned how to make it from my old man, and my junior high art class teacher also taught it. Very few artisans are still around."
– brobeanzhitler
Metal Vocation
"Black smithing."
– kenworth117
"I bought a forge to try. It’s insanely hard work, and crazy expensive. I still haven’t finished a piece."
– DSentvalue
Scrapbooking
"Yeah. I'm watching the arts and crafts stores around me completely uninstalling their racks for specialty paper. Now the only thing they have is mega packs of repeating colors/images. To boot all the inclusions like papercraft/die-cut things, washi tape, scissors, stickers, etc have gotten so expensive I would rather go buy $5 bags at value village to get an assortment of things versus buying anything new. I really, really miss yard sales for the same reasons."
– Phantasmai
I envy people who have jobs that are basically their hobbies.
Not everyone gets paid doing what they actually enjoy and have a profound level of passion for.
If they do, kudos to them.
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When we first meet someone–whether through mutual friends, at school, or in a new work setting–we generally feel people out to determine if they're worth getting to know.
While the process could take time, some people make our jobs much easier after spotting instant red flags.
Curious to hear about our general radar of people, Redditor xxFluffie asked:
"What is something that makes you immediately dislike someone?"

Some people just think they are absolutely hilarious and never realize they're the only ones laughing.
Next In Line
"They laugh about having screwed someone else over. If you think you're not next, well, you'll learn."
– whiznat
Unfunny
"when you mention you don't like a thing and they immediately do that thing 'as a joke.'"
– wayfinder
Playing Devil's Advocate
"Kneejerk contrarians. People who, no matter what you say you like or believe, just have to dismiss it and say they like or think the opposite."
– BubbhaJebus
People who put others down get slammed here.
Bad Parents
"When they treat their kids sh**ty in public. I don't mean handling tantrums, setting a rule, having to hurry to the train etc. I mean perfectly normal-behaved kids getting in trouble for trailing along peacefully, looking at things, asking questions etc."
"If you don't like tiny humans who learn the world, why have them??"
– raxeira-etterath
Public Humiliation
"Treating people sh**ty in public for laughs. Like being rude to service workers because they think it’s funny. Big red flag."
– Ok_Personality_1080
Simply Uncalled For
"Someone who is a d*ck to other people or animals for no reason."
– xebt1000
Those with ulterior motives rubs people the wrong way.
The Scheme
"If they try to get me to join their MLM scheme."
– spazmcgee1
Hard Sell
"A guy I used to be friends with in high school reached out a couple of years after graduating about a business opportunity he wanted my opinion on because 'you've always been smart', then he set up a Skype call and brought some other dude into the call and they started trying to sell me on what was clearly an MLM scheme. The guy went from friend to 'I'm never talking to you again' in a matter of 10 minutes."
– Mental-Afternoon-164
A Timeline
"Good gawd, this! I've had more than one exposure to this abject bullsh**tery..."
- Back in the late 80's/early 90's I was invited to a meeting of literally the OG "Pyramid" where you're recruited to pay in, and then you go out and recruit others to pay in, and the last in line got f'kall.
- In 1995 I had a coworker try to reel me into Amway, which was a hard no.
- In 2000 it was Pampered Chef, though to be fair they did have useful products.
- In 2009 a coworker tried to get me into some stupid video calling service that was obviously stupid from the description. He even got offended when I called bullsh*t.
– Mystical_Cat
Too much ego is a no-go.
I Can Do Better
"Being a b*tch just to stroke their own ego."
"We get it, you can lift 5lbs more than the 12 year old, you don't have to rub it in their face just because you're slightly better"
– Livia_Pivia
Can't Top This
"Oh, you did <story that's been told>? That's nothing! I did <implausible story>.
"I get the whole empathy through relating common experience, and I'm someone who does that (which drives some people crazy on its own), but there's a big different by empathising through common experience, and one-upmanship."
– Tisarwat
Lacking Conversational Etiquette
"Starting to talk over me when I was already talking."
"Stop it you rude, arrogant jerk."
– R33Gtst
If one or more of these traits sound familiar to you, you're not alone.
We don't have time for braggadocios, pyramid-schemers, and conversation interrupters.
And that's just for starters.
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Children tend to believe just about anything they hear.
That there are monsters under your bed, watching too much TV will make your head explode, and silly faces will be permanent if you make them too often.
The sky is truly the limit when it comes to silly things that children will believe.
Some call it naivitée, other's youthful innocence.
But it's hard not to look back with embarrassment on certain things we believed as a child, that today might simply seem dumb.
Redditor Disastrous_Toe_6548 was curious to learn the multitude of silly things people believed when they were children, leading them to ask:
"What's the dumbest thing you believed as a kid?"
Pleading to deaf ears...
"My dad told me he had hearing loss and couldn't hear me if I whined because my pitch would get too high."
"Would completely ignore me until I asked him questions in a normal voice."
"Trusted him implicitly until I was 12 and he yelled at my younger brother for whining."- Tyrion_Stark.
Get it while you can.
"That they took everything off the shelves when the supermarket closed."- fgyfddg.
Silly superstitions.
"My grandfather used to tell me that if I played with the fire, I'd pee the bed."
"I believed him for a while, until I got older."
"I think he was just trying to protect me from the fire."- teddypa1981.
"Rain, rain go away..."
"That if it was raining where I was, it was raining everywhere in the world."- morningshartz.
Age is just a number.
"My parents used to seem really old to me, so much so I believed they grew up like cave people as children, wearing giant leaves for clothes and what not."- Laleena_.
So that's how they're made!
"That smokestacks from the power plant created clouds."- Scaniarix.
An instant cure.
"The sun gives you sunburns, therefore, moonlight should heal them."- velocipeter.
Better safe than sorry.
"Don't drink and drive meant all drinks."
"My dad was super confused when I told him he wasn't allowed to have any soda until we got home."- hulagirlslovetoparty.
Don't believe everything you see on TV.
"There was an episode of Mickey Mouse where Mickey couldn’t reach something at first, so he tried again and somehow his arm was long enough to reach it."
"As a small kid I believed that if I couldn’t reach something, I should just try reaching for it again and my arm would then somehow be long enough to reach it."- That-Dutch-Person.
The miracle of childbirth.
"That babies are pooped out."
"When I was like 7 I was listening to my aunt as she explained that childbirth was pretty intense and painful for her, and I was all solemnly like, 'yeah, sometimes just my poops are painful, I don’t think I could get a baby out' and she went 'um, WHAT?' and her reaction made me realize real quick that I had f*cked up somewhere and I tried to change the subject while my mind was just reeling lol."- thesoundingfurrows.
Oh to be a child again.
And to believe literally everything you're told.
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