Weird Tale by Else Cederborg: "Lions In The Home"

 

 

Lions in the Home (From my book "A World of Weird Truths And Truthful Weirdnesses", AuthorHouse, 2011 (ISBN 978-1-4567-7689-3 (sc) and 978-1-4567-7688-6 (ebk))

Jennifer heard the heavy panting and knew that she had to get out of the room as fast as possible. She couldn't see the animal, but the subdued growling told her that this would be a large feline of some sort. The sound came from the area in front of the three windows and she suddenly remembered that she hadn't closed the middle one. It came as a shock to her that she herself might have let in her assailant - and assailed she would be if she didn't get out - whatever the creature was. A pungent smell hit her nostrils and she realized that the animal by now was very close to her hiding place behind the couch. In the same moment she felt the paw on her thigh she rolled, lying full length on the floor, to the door.
Somehow she got out and even succeeded in closing the door behind her. This narrow escape led to a roar of disappointment from the other side of the closed door - and then she awoke, drained mentally with fright and soaked in sweat.
Slowly she sat up in bed, looking down at herself and her sweat-soaked nightie.
- Nothing to see today, she thought, heaving a sigh of relief. Then she caught sight of a small rip in the thin fabric. - Oh no, she thought, not that ....
As she sat staring at the rift the door opened and her mother came into the room.
"Good morning, darling?" she said. "Did you sleep well?"
Jennifer looked at her with dark, worried eyes which spoke volumes about nightly horrors.
"Oh dear, you ought to go and see doctor Rita so that you can get something to sleep on. It's too bad that you should have all these nightmares. What was it this time?"
Jennifer told her about the growling, the reek and the big paw.
"How strange," her mother said, "why should you dream of this kind of dangers? You've never ever met a lion or tiger outside of documentaries and the Zoo. Now they seem to inhabit your home at night. Very strange."
Jennifer agreed, it really was strange that these animals should appear in her sitting-room, bathroom, kitchen or study every night. The only place she hadn't met them was in her bedroom and still that was where she dreamt of them. Once she had fallen asleep on the couch in the sitting-room and then she
had met something that looked like a cheetah in the kitchen, but not the room where she in reality was.
"OK," she said, "enough is enough so I shall go and see my doctor although I don't expect much to come from it. What could she do except giving me some medicine to make me sleep?"
Her mother didn't answer, but she looked at her with very worried eyes. All this seemed so weird to her as she, as far as she knew, had never had a nightmare in all her life.
That same day Jennifer went to see her doctor who actually was her cousin, Rita. She told her about the strange occurrences and she also mentioned the rifts and tears she had noticed in her nighties.
"I've bought so many new ones," she said, "and somehow they too get torn."
"I hope you realize that you do it to yourself," Rita said in a stern voice.
"No, but I knew you would say something like that," Jennifer said in a teasing voice. "You always do ...."
"Well, being a doctor I have to keep my sanity ...."
"And I've lost mine?"
"No-no-no, but haven't you eaten right before going to sleep? Or what about watching Animal Planet of Discovery at a late hour?"
"None of that," Jennifer said. "I never watch any animal programs out of fear for having those dreams. However, they come anyway and now it's each night."
Rita sat still for at while, then she said: "OK, there are no simple explanation to this phenomenon, but lately the technique of "Imagery rehearsal" has become popular, maybe you should try that out ...."
"Is it any good?"
"It has been of help to many people, but I think it shall be difficult to get started on a treatment right away. Perhaps in 4-6 month or so ...."
"That long? Then I must have something to sleep on as I really need my sleep."
"Yes, even though I don't like it, you shall have something, and then I shall see to it that you may start on the "Imagery rehearsal" as soon as possible."
"Thanks," Jennifer said, "but what are nightmares?"
"We don't really know, but there are a lot of theories about them. Some say that they come from stress or post-traumatic experiences, but you're not stressed, are you?"
"No," Jennifer said, "I'm not. Neither overworked, depressed or anything like that, but I'm p..... off at this nightly show of claws and fangs from nowhere."
"Well, take a pill or two and phone me next week."
As Jennifer left she felt hopeful. Rita was a good doctor and also a good cousin. She would find a way to stop this nonsense. Then she came to think of those tears and rifts in her nighties and she got annoyed at the idea that she had made them herself. All of a sudden she felt the large paw on her thigh once more and saw the rift as if it was happening at that very moment.
Before going to sleep she took one pill and when she woke up in the morning she felt relieved: No big animals, no fear and no hazardous escapes, only a restful sleep all night. However, when she removed her nightie she saw a new rift and beneath it there was a fresh, but small wound. She stared at both in disbelief, but then she decided that she must have torn it in her sleep as well as hurting herself.
For a week she slept like a log every night, but woke up to new damages to her clothes and to herself. She decided not to tell Rita about these mishaps, but instead tell her the lie that she didn't have those scary dreams anymore. The exact same night she once more felt the presence of the big felines and smelled the reek of carnivores. She found it OK to start on a dose of two pills instead of one and for some weeks she didn't experience those nocturnal meetings with predatory cats.
- So that's the answer to the problem, she thought. More and more pills, even though I ordinarily never take any. She hated the idea of having to discuss the matter with Rita once more so she decided to make some experiences on her own: She had a couple of nice, rich sandwiches right before bedtime after having watched Animal Planet, Discovery and National Geographic for some hours and she didn't take any pills. Soon she felt the presence of the big feline, but this time she seemed to be in the middle of the pride of several animals. Claws and fangs to all sides of her, growlings and roarings as well as the strong smell of carnivores told her that her fear of not being able to steer her dreams had come true. As one of the lions (or whatever it was) brushed by her she felt its fur strike sparks against her thin nightie. The animal let out a roar right into her face and she fled out the room. This time she was followed by the animal who was right behind her when she woke up in the early hours. Her nightie was torn and she had something which looked like clawmarks on her legs.
That day she phoned Rita and asked her about the "Imagery Rehearsal"-program. However, now her cousin wasn't too optimistic about the treatment anymore. She told her that there had been a disappointment in this method, but that if she wanted to give it a try she would back her up and help her out.
Jennifer thanked her, but she didn't commit herself to anything. "I shall think it over once more," she said, "but if you say it's no good then I shall most probably not try it out."
The same night she found herself lying on the sun-drenched ground in the pride of the lions. She felt jaws close in on her legs and arms, claws tearing her chest and throat right before her mother woke her up, very worried at her high-pitched screams.
"Oh dear, I thought you had stopped those nightmares with the medicine ...." she said.
Jennifer didn't answer, all she was able to do was to sit up, bury her tear-drenched face in her hands and cry and cry and cry. Then she caught sight of her totally torn nightie and her bloodied legs and arms. She let out a scream, jumped out of bed and ran to the windows. Without any hesitation, and before her mother could stop her, she flung herself out the middle one.

Some months later one of the new owners of the flat, Katherine, had a strange dream of snakes. A big snake was lying on top of her chest, its tongue spilling in its mouth. When she woke up her husband, James, he consoled her and they had a loving talk about nightmares that ended up in passionate love-making.
However, when Katherine had another dream of snakes the night after James couldn't help being a bit annoyed. After all he had to sleep well to perform well in his job as a teacher.
Night after night, Katherine dreamt om snakes. When she one night was visited by a 6 metre long King Cobra that was the end of the marriage. They had a vehement fight and she moved out of the flat - never to dream of snakes again.
However that same night James had a most vivid dream of sharks. Somehow he had been transported to an underwater-world of ferocious predators with jaws like nothing else in the world. As he stared into the cold eyes of the sharks he felt a fear that went like a spear up his spine ....

 

Words, Dominance And Lewdness

Oh, that's baaaad - I bet .... However, some words are only bad or naughty in certain contexts. "Pussy" isn't in itself a swear or derogatory word, but when it's used the way X-president Trump does then it's both. 

Yes, we really should beware of WHOM we chose for stardom, or else we might get "fucked" which is something that, these days, doesn't always mean what it used to mean: Having sex, but seen from a male perspective as women were not supposed to "fuck" men. However, this word for something sexual turned into a swear word which is quite alarming now I come to think about it = Sex = Violence = Attack. "The fucking (: damn) woman might be "fucked" by the conquering male, but somehow a "fucker" means "dumb" which turns the image of "fucking" upside down. 

Yeah, The Fucker fucked America and the rest of the world, but no one declared him a lover, worthy of true love. That might be because everybody knows that he is what is called a "Prick", and no, in this context it doesn't mean a "penis", but a "terrible/rude person". A "Cunt" may both be a descriptive word for a woman's vagina, but also signal a person's total idiocy which REALLY is idiotic ....
 

Words are powerful, no doubt about it, and we ought to keep an eye on their development in a modern society. They change over time, and some of these changes turn them into something derogatory that should not go unnoticed as it signals an unacceptable attempt at dominance.

 

https://blog.lingoda.com/en/how-to-swear-in-english/ 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Sex-_and_gender-related_slurs 

 

https://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/a28915884/sex-slang-glossary-list/ 

 

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:English_sexual_slurs 

 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/455584 

 

https://www.fluentin3months.com/dirty-words/ 

 

Wikipedia

 

 

 

"Emasculation" of A Serial Killer

Even to talk of something like "emasculation" one must believe in a natural, "God-given" masculinity that somehow is quite different from the likewise natural and "God-given" femininity. In the 1600s when the word "emasculate" was coined it literally meant "castrate", i.e. not the soft medical castration of our times, but something much more extensive. Now we first and foremost use the word "emasculate" as a description of something psychological: According to psychologists - at least of former times - some/many women tend to "emasculate" the men in their lives, e.g. husbands, sons, etc. by not accepting their so-called femininity in a patriarchal society. For decades this female habit was seen as one of the many special, so-called crimes that mothers were accused of committing, maybe under the influence of what Freud called "penis-envy". Actually this is/was a weird and extremely self-revealing notion that tells a lot of those who coined it, but not much of the women who became the victims of it. 

This guy, the infamous Ted Bundy, may be the very incarnation of a serial killer. It is assumed that he at least killed 35 women who were strangers to him. Still he held a grudge against these female strangers and felt free to follow his instincts that were based upon weird sexual drives as well as a load of social frustration: All of the victims - except the last one, 12 year old Kimberly Leach - were free, pretty, young girls from a good social background, something which he resented as an affront to him, the illegitimate, maybe even incest-born child of an unmarried mother. The social standing of these women as well as their ability to move freely in society, i.e. living as they themselves wanted to, studying, driving cars, having lovers, etc., etc. felt like an "emasculation" and that was an important part of his reason for killing them. However, there is several other serial killers who operate from the same kind of "emasculation-insanity": One of the most notably ones is the Co-Ed Killer, Ed(-mund) Kemper (born 1948) who targeted the young, female students who exhibited their freedom not only by studying, but also by hitchhiking as they chose. As it is the term "Co-Ed" stands for a life style that makes it possible for young women to study at well-known universities, but primarily to "catch an appropriate husband who might give them a "career" as spoilt housewives". (However, I'm sure many of these women studied in earnest to make a career on their own, but many of Ed Kemper's contemporaries didn't believe that ....) 

Presumably Bundy had an IQ of 136 whereas Kemper scored 145 which means that although they committed stupid crimes from stupid sexist motives they weren't dumb in the ordinary meaning of that word. Both of them should have been able to understand that what they did to all those young women who actually were strangers to them, thus not having committed any crimes against these murderous men, was wrong on so many levels. Also they should have been able to question the concept of "masculinity" and "femininity", but they didn't even try which means that killing them was so natural to them that they most likely felt they acted from some inborn "right" as men.
 

At a height of 6 feet 9 inches (2.06 m) Kemper was a giant. Everybody who met him commented on this fact and it may even have had an impact on his mother, Clarnell Elizabeth “Clara” Stage Strandberg, who was afraid that he, being a boy, might molest his sisters, i.e. rape them, when he was a teenager. That's the reason why she forced him, at the tender age of 8, to live in a room in the cellar behind locked doors. He hated her for it and at some point it was considered best for him to live with his paternal grandparents. At that time he had been been living with his father and his new wife for some time, but he made his stepmother feel uncomfortable by always staring at her so his grandparents were his only choice. It seems that he loved his grandfather, but not his grandmother whom he felt was "emasculating" him the same way his mother had done.

His grandmother, Maude Hughey Kemper, was a talented lady who wrote children's books and painted. On August 27, 1964, she was working on a short story for "Boy's Life Magazine" when her grandson shot her dead. Then he also shot his grandfather, presumably to prevent him from getting a shock at seeing his dead wife and getting to know that it was his grandson who had killed her. Ed's description of his "deed" was: "“ .... my senile grandfather” and “my grandmother who thought she had more balls than any man and was constantly emasculating me and my grandfather to prove it. I couldn’t please her .… It was like being in jail .… I became a walking time bomb and I finally blew .…”

To him this artistic grandmother just was another version of his mother, and it's as deep irony that he came to kill both because they in his opinion "emasculated" him. After serving part of his sentence for killing his grandparents his mother accepted him back in her house, maybe because she at that time felt lonely. She may have felt unsafe, but that didn't stop her from giving her opinion on some of what he did or was as a human being and at some point in 1973 he not only killed her, but did obscene things to her corpse, e.g. raping her severed head. All of which he seemed to think that she deserved for her obsession with the idea that he was a threat to his sisters, as he never seemed to have made any inappropriate advances towards them. Still, nobody deserved what happened to her, her parents-in-law, the 6 Co-Eds or her best friends whom he also killed.

https://www.sinisterisles.com/post/who-was-ed-kemper-mother-clarnell-stage    http://edmundkemperstories.com/blog/author/edmund-kemper-stories/page/5/    https://medium.com/divine-magazine-detroit/emasculation-is-a-myth-e9f5661a627d    https://www.frieze.com/article/return-serial-killer-how-psychosexual-male-panic-infecting-pop-culture    Wikipedia

Confusing Women With Pigs????

 

I shall never be able to understand HOW these serial killers who murder women like they were flies justify something like that TO THEMSELVES. For instance what about the Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton who, according to his own admission, killed 49 prostitutes and fed some of them to his pigs? Were these women so low in his estimate that he didn't feel they were human beings or was it his pride in his maleness that made him feel so superior to them that that in itself gave him the right to go where his urges told him to go? 

As Pickton himself confessed to murdering 49 women I find it very hard to understand that the verdict by the jury wasn't for first-degree murders, but only for second-degree murders. Why???? That means that he may be released from prison on parole after 25 years. To me that's grotesque!!! I fully agree with the judge who passed this sentence: "What happened to these victims was senseless and despicable." I take it that he would have sentenced Robert Pickton to prison for life if the jury had been up to their obligations to bring justice. Maybe they were confused with the social status of these women as prostitutes are not in high standard with many people. Something which is sad and unfair: The women are not the culprits, as that role is taken by the men who kill them ....

So there he sit, being housed and fed by the Canadian taxpayers. As some have suggested that one of the reasons why he did what he did was that his mother had forced him and his brother to work hard on the pig farm and even go to school without showering it's quite weird to see him sitting there, obviously not paying much attention to his hygiene ....

 

Some Thoughts On Men And their Penis

 

This ancient corpse was found near The Black Sea where it had been buried in state. Not only was it furnished with what is considered the The World's Oldest gold, but this valuable material was used to adorn his manhood. One wonders whom it was who saw to it that this was done, was it him himself, a loving relative or some besotted lover? Well, no matter whom it was it's a proof of some special kind of manly status and respect that even followed the dead man into his grave. As it seems to take a man really to appreciate the male organ I feel that the one who saw to it that he was adorned this way was another man, most likely a lover.

In my opinion the most likely is that the gold adornment was chosen by a male lover, appreciating the penis of the dead man, but I, thinking from a Modern standpoint as I am, admit that I'm prejudiced. To me it would be more likely that a woman served the penis as a dish ....

or controlled it with an anti-rape device of some kind .... 

Many women are being swarmed with "Dick pics", but I doubt many swoon over them.

I wouldn't say that women NEVER appreciates "dickpics" or the "dick" itself, but most often I've had the impression that they see this male organ that is so beloved by men as a bit ridiculous. After all, it often is a sort of rival to the affections of the man: "Do you love me or your penis the most????" they may ask, probably without ever getting an honest answer.

It's my impression that most women see the penis as something more or less comical, the Joker of all the male body parts. The phallus cult always appealed more to men than to women, and why not? After all is the penis in a patriarchal society the main symbol of the male power, both in society as such or in their private lives. They may not be able to demasculise other men, but they may do a lot to have track of whom pees in the most impressive manner according to their own ideas of male grandeur.

In their need for affirmations some/many (?) have resorted to surgery: They want penis enlargements even though there are many sad stories about men who lose the ability to feel this quite vulnerable organ. Do they do it for women? That I doubt as a longer penis isn't what makes them tick. No, it's the mere or less public toilet and the eyes of their male counterparts that make them hazard their health with not all that safe surgery. After all, a penis is not only for adornments, but also for functionality. That may turn into a grave problem for some of those men who have resorted to surgical enlargements: A limp dick is not what they were after, but that was what they got. Not that they didn't know beforehand what might happen, but the dream of being one of the "big guys" enticed them into having surgery ....

https://theconversation.com/how-to-overcome-phallus-obsessed-toxic-masculinity-84388

 

https://metro.co.uk/2015/02/20/woman-tried-to-bite-boyfriends-penis-off-because-he-complained-she-was-too-needy-5072540/

 

https://www.politico.eu/article/viagra-viatris-us-vladimir-putin-hard-times-russia-steps-to-make-up-for-supplies/ 

 

https://www.psypost.org/2023/02/study-uncovers-a-particularly-alarming-link-between-mens-feelings-of-personal-deprivation-and-hostile-sexism-67296 

https://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2023/02/14/is-an-increase-in-penile-length-cause-for-concern/

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21707-penile-fracture

 

https://jimhopper.com/topics/sexual-assault-and-the-brain/repeat-rape-by-college-men/

https://theconversation.com/how-prosthetic-penises-in-shows-like-hbos-minx-reinforce-existing-stereotypes-and-taboos-179084

Shawn Grate - The Typical Rape-Murder Criminal

I shall never be able to fully understand the male fascination with killing women they are sexually attracted to. In many murder cases it looks like revenge because of this unsettling fascination, but the logic of it escapes me. One of these murderers of women is Shawn Michael Grate who proved to be a serial killer. He raped and killed five young women, but was later found out to have killed at least five more. Two of these murders were classified as "aggravated" which makes it even more appropriate that he was sentenced to death, and the execution is scheduled to 2025. Sadly enough that will not bring the women back to life, but it will save others which in itself is a consolation.

Like in many other murder cases of men who also rape their victims one wonders at their main motive: Was it the forced sex or the killing that drove them the most? Both these crimes is based on POWER: The man see them as an opportunity to show off their physical strength and what they see as the their main sexual ability, namely bringing about a female submission that, to them, proves their own superciliousness. I don't think I've read about any rape-murder cases in which this combination wasn't the incentive. To me that's a very potent indication that men in a patriarchy are brought up with rather sick notions about themselves and what constitutes the build up of maleness. Actually, I'm more or less convinced that all these rape-murder cases - and there are MANY!!! - may be an important key to what's going on in the world of men as such. However, not many non-feminists want to see them as such which in itself is quite interesting .... 

As to Shawn Grate he grew up to become a charming an quite good-looking man whom the girls liked. That he in reality was a monster didn't they know. The only one who might have suspected it at an early age was his sister as the two of them often would fight. At that time he was consumed with rage at their Mom for leaving their father and her kids to live with another man. This childhood experience may have brought about mental traumas, but it can never be an excuse for what he did to other women. However, it's often brought up in discussions of rape-murder criminals which is quite unacceptable. I see the fact of something like that being used as an "excuse" or "explanation" as part of the general leniency toward this kind of criminals. Actually, that brings about the main problem in understanding what's going on as it sort of blind us to it. Instead of investigating the problem of all of these almost identical rapist-murderers from new angels it leads us to turning the other cheek, so to speak, and not dig as deep as we should.

According to his ex-wife he, typically enough, expected to be obeyed: A "no" was not acceptable to him, the male. In my opinion wanting proofs of female submission can never become a proof - or even indication - of a genuine male supremacy. To me the very need of something like that looks like a genuine proof of the opposite ....

Grate was caught when woman (called "Jane Doe") whom he had kidnapped and raped several times succeeded in escaping and calling the cops. That must have been like a blow to the center of his male pride, but more important than that: It put a stop to his terror ....

 

https://allthatsinteresting.com/shawn-grate 

 

https://www.sportskeeda.com/pop-culture/living-with-a-serial-killer-where-serial-killer-shawn-grate-now 

 

https://www.the-sun.com/news/6643976/shawn-grate/ 

 

https://heavy.com/entertainment/2020/08/shawn-grate-survivor-escape/ 

 

Wikipedia

 

 

The Verdicts on Nazi Women

Irma Geese: No. 9

Somehow the crimes of Nazi women were not considered as grave as those of men. Many got away with a rap on the knockels after committing crimes that were as cruel and gruesome as those of the male culprits. One of the reasons for this was that there was a general misunderstanding about the true status of these women. Often they were seen as someones who were mislead by the men, not as anyone who did what they did because they - just as the men - believed in the propaganda of Der Führer. They were Nazis out of conviction and not by some kind of "mistake" or the wish to follow their menfolk, taking part in what we now know are heinous crimes. The image of the mild, charmingly naive and motherly "Hausfrau" who didn't dream of killing and torturing prisoners in death camps has cracked and is now shattered into fragments: They knew what they did and were as guilty as their fathers, brothers, husbands or sons. Some of these women proved to be monsters at the trials after the war.

One of those who obviously found it very difficult to see her torturing and killing female prisoners as crimes was the former overseer Gerda Steinhoff (center middle) who didn't even stifle her smiles at hearing witnesses telling about her Nazi "deeds". She was not in he least ashamed and I take it that the death sentence she received must have been a big surprise to her, but hanged she was. It's difficult to understand that many of these women - scum of the scum - were seen laughing and joking throughout the proceedings in 1946 where they should have been weeping at their own crimes.

Maria Mandl/Mandel was an Austrian kz-official who is believed to have played an active part in the deaths of more than 500,000 prisoners. She didn't get off the hook after the war, but was executed for war crimes. 

One of the most infamous one of these women definitely was Irma Geese. She was famous for treating the prisoners as "cattle" as one of the many cruelties she was reputed for was having (and probably ordering!!!) skin from the prisoners with interesting tats. Her belief in her own superiority both as a Nazi and as a woman must have been sky high. For instance, because she felt exceedingly beautiful she considered herself born to become a movie star after the war when she would gain fame and wealth for her so-called service to Hitler and his regime. When she received female prisoner who were good-looking she didn't take too kindly to that fact. Actually, she saw that as some kind of affront as it's well known that they didn't live for long in the camps she was working as an overseer.

 

https://allthatsinteresting.com/irma-grese 

 

https://allthatsinteresting.com/irma-grese 

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64036465 

 

Wikipedia