The Monster That Hides In Our Senses

When we were children, they always told us that the only monsters that exist are those that hide in fairy tales. No one ever told us that there are monsters hiding among us. Like that person who first ravages you, but then commits abuse against you and who eventually destroys your self-esteem. Like the parents who do not give their children any love. And also the terrorist who takes innocent lives or the politician who starts an unnecessary war.

If there is one thing we all know, it is that words are important. They put labels that are not always completely true. The term “monster”, for example, has both a real and a fictional meaning. However, this does not prevent us from being able to describe actions which, in our opinion, simply cannot be explained as anything other than pure evil.

However, we should point out that there is no scientific basis for this concept. There are no books with chapters on “How to Interview an Evil Person or a Monster”. There are also no manuals to help us identify them. But it is almost impossible not to use this word when describing a behavior that seems to completely deviate from what it means to be human.

Forensic psychologists believe that the term “monster” was first used by police in 1790 in London. Authorities were looking for a killer whose likes they had never encountered before. Something perverted and unbelievable that had terrified Londoners for almost two years. We are of course talking about the infamous “Jack the Ripper.

The word “monster” still has its original implications. The supernatural is combined with evil to harm us. Every time we apply this term to someone, we insinuate that the person in question is not human.

At the beginning of the article we said that this word is nothing more than a label but some kind of scientific substance. However, it has happened that experts in criminal profiling have committed this mistake. An example is what happened in the 70’s in the US with Ted Bundy.

Ted Bundy is one of the most ruthless killers in history. During the interviews, he said that he had killed 100 women. The authorities believed him because of his cold cruelty, even though they only found 36 of these bodies.

Bundy was a seemingly intelligent and admirable man. He had a bachelor’s degree in law and psychology, was becoming a politician and was constantly involved in community activities. He seemed to be the perfect example of a winner – a person who had a successful life ahead of him.

After a large number of university students had disappeared, it was discovered that Ted Bundy was behind these horrific actions, which were completely impossible to understand. Brutal murders that left the authorities speechless. They said he was a “monster”, not only because of the deeds he had committed, but because of the complex results that the psychological tests showed.

They concluded that Bundy was not a psychotic or drug addict, nor an alcoholic. He did not suffer from any brain injury or psychiatric illness. Ted Bundy simply liked to commit vicious acts.

We know that our world is sometimes reminiscent of Brueghel the Elder’s paintings. In his paintings there are monsters that hide among the population, among the masses of the masses in the city and on the streets. But the monsters that can harm us are not just in our environment. They also exist in our senses.

Sometimes fear, our emotions and our thoughts can lock us in a very dark place. A place where we are lost and suffocated by our own demons. There are writers who have managed to show us the journey you take when you come in contact with your own monsters. They try to get to know them, defeat them and return to the surface again, free from their chains.

Dante did it with Virgil in The Divine Comedy, Lewis Carroll did it with Alice in Wonderland  and Maurice Sendak did it with Max in Where the Monsters Live .

Sendak’s book makes one start to reflect regardless of age or background. Everyone can at some point fall victim to those “inner claws”, where the monsters drag us down to strange places.

This short book allows us to accompany a child on a journey. The adventure reminds us that we sometimes have to visit that wild and amazing kingdom where our strangest animals are. But we should not stay there, we must move on. But not before we have let out all the screams, played without rules, gotten angry, laughed, cried and done whatever it takes to defeat these monsters.

We will leave our imprints and rusty crowns in the land of monsters and rise again. We will feel free as we have taken a step out of the darkness. It makes us feel  purified and happy to have returned to life again as stronger people. For the monsters we heard about actually exist.

We can not always control those around us – those monsters that are camouflaged as “angels”. But let us be brave enough to scare away the monsters that hide in our own minds.