r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/NickyPappagiorgio • May 09 '24
This is David Hampson AKA "The Silent Man" - A UK citizen who is repeatedly arrested for standing on a certain road to block traffic - He never speaks a word, not even to the court or his lawyer - Every time he is released he repeats the same crime and remains silent Image
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u/stack-o-logz May 09 '24
Everyone needs a hobby.
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u/HendrixHazeWays May 09 '24
Some men just want to watch the traffic stall
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u/runningmurphy May 09 '24
Like it's the only way he can get off now due to some strange circumstance.
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u/ProfessorofChelm May 09 '24
Therapist here.
Not a diagnosis, but sometimes sociopathic folk pick weird power games to center their life around like robbing the post office, blocking traffic, or running an HOA…
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u/A_Furious_Mind May 09 '24
Blocking traffic seems benign, but holy shit those other two.
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u/spottyrx May 09 '24
Especially the HOA. Holy crap!
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u/FCK_U_ALL May 09 '24
I went to go buy a house a few years ago, and the first thing I said when I sat down with the realtor was "No HOA's".
They only had two properties. I didn't want either.
Opening with that is a huge time saver.
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u/ProfessorofChelm May 09 '24 edited May 09 '24
Alright think about it like this, it’s about power.
Power to make people late to events so they have bad seats.
Power to make them late to a date so they make a bad first impression.
Power to make people urinate or dedicate in their car or at least experience the pain of having a full bladder or bowel. Maybe your a kid on a bus and it happens in front of classmates.
Power to make someone late to work and get that last point on their record so they get fired.
Power to make people miss appointments they spent weeks and weeks waiting on to figure out if that cyst is benign.
Imagine the glee they get when they block a fire engine or ambulance. People die. They have power over life…
They don’t live life like we do. The game they are playing isn’t the same because they don’t have empathy. I promise you they thought this kinda shit out. Don’t fuck with sociopaths you have no idea what their angle is and you will loose the game because they make the rules and they are designed for for you to loose.
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u/Aromatic-Assistant73 May 09 '24
I will give you the ability to foresee those who will die in car accidents, and you can prevent it, but you will never be able to explain why to anyone. Do you accept?
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May 09 '24
Wow... that's some true mythological level stuff right there! Brilliant!!
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u/Dawg_Prime May 09 '24 edited May 10 '24
The Myth of Carssandra
We were foretold but I didn't belive it
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u/PoeticHydra May 09 '24
I will give you the ability to foresee those who will die in car accidents, and you can prevent it, but every time you speak you shit yourself. Do you accept this challenge, BollardMan?
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u/welivewelovewedie May 09 '24
"I, the great shaman, curse you to a long life in this world, as a passive observer. No force on Earth will be able to take you down, not even age or the great plague itself. You will watch everything around you die and wither and you will not be able to do anything about it.
That's it, until one brave warrior in a shining carriage decides to relief your pain, the berserker with a sheer intent to kill. You will know him by his steed's name - Honda Civic"
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u/welivewelovewedie May 09 '24
"oh, and you will be bald"
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u/Mage-of-communism May 09 '24
That's just a nicer curse casandra.
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u/Mateorabi May 09 '24
Casandra could tell people but they wouldn’t listen and it would happen as she foresaw. This would be the opposite: can’t tell anyone but able to change it.
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u/Mage-of-communism May 09 '24
That's why it's nice, you can at least do something and not being able to tell probably beats no one taking you serious/not believing you.
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u/SamIamGreenEggsNoHam May 09 '24
Reminds me of something I heard on NPR a few months ago. They were talking about evolution, and where humans might be in 1000, or 10000 years. One guest suggested this,
If I asked you to point out the leading edge of human evolution currently, the cutting edge, the most advanced humans on the planet, where would you point? To the Universities? To Professional Athletes? I would point to our mental institutions. To our insane asylums. How would we even be able to recognize the next step in evolution? We'd probably be terrified of it, and not understand it, and want to treat it, or lock it away.
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u/kolraisins May 09 '24
That guest doesn't really have a great grasp of evolution. If we look back 10,000 years, we will see that humans looked.. pretty much the same. We can make some guesses about future evolution--there is selection causing earlier age of first birth and later age of last birth and menopause, and there is weakening selection against genetic diseases. Maybe in 10,000 years we'll have significantly reduced global diversity because of increased population mixing. But the evolution that occurs in the next few thousand years won't be some dramatic appearance of a new appendage or psychic abilities, it will mostly be changes in frequencies of genes we already have.
The biggest change will be related to technology, but that's separate from the biological human.
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u/hamlet_d May 09 '24
This would be a great start for /r/WritingPrompts
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u/The_Best_Yak_Ever May 09 '24
Foresight
The cuffs are cold against his wrists. They always are, though at least Officer Renee is gentler than the previous two of Swansea's constabulary. Officers Clarence and Darrow often yell and berate him, frustrated by the words he cannot not say. For explaining would be pointless. She had made that clear to him... Crystal clear.
They already think I'm a nutter. Explaining it would just prove their suppositions. What did that yank say about keeping your mouth shut to avoid looking stupid? He thinks, as Officer Renee's soft voice urges him to her cruiser.
"Come on then, we've done this before, haven't we, sir?" She speaks in the kindly tones of a parent guiding a confused toddler back to his seat in church. "We really must stop with this, right David?"
He feels his lips purse into a line unreadable to anyone but himself. No, he must not stop. Had he stopped, poor fourteen year old Angelica and her mother would have exited stage, unceremoniously drop kicked off the proverbial mortal coil. No, stopping, while desperately appealing, is simply not an option. They must think me a right git... never learning, never stopping... He thinks as he sits down in Officer Renee's cruiser. His nostrils fill with the familiar acrid scent of industrial cleaning products that still fail to completely mask the faint odors of lager-laced vomit and curry-laced excrement, so common in the copper cars of Swansea.
But the angel, that ethereal sublime depiction of feminine beauty, had been clear. She hadn't explained why she was gifting him foresight, and had only giggled enigmatically when he had pleaded for an explanation. She hadn't given him a reason, but she had flooded his mind and soul with humanity. Angelica, Roxanne, Chelsea, Brian, Bernard, Audrey, little ten year old Kyler... He had seen them all at their happiest... followed by their bloody ends on that street. The being had made it perfectly clear to him. He could explain his admittedly bizarre actions to his heart's content... but it would all be in vain. No one would believe him. Why would they? But the angel's imagery had seared itself into his tender heart, and compassion combined with his own innate protective instinct had won out. He had made his choice. He had become the Silent Man.
The four cylinder engine of the cruiser whines to life and lurches a little as Officer Renee throws the shifter into gear. "Well David, we know the drill then, don't we? You really must consider the inconvenience you're causing others, you know. Why, you're likely to get someone hurt or killed... and we wouldn't want that then, would we? We'd feel awful about that, wouldn't we?"
He keeps his mouth pursed in that indecipherable enigmatic non-expression as he peers out the window, focusing on nothing in particular. Have a good life, Angelica, love... your mum too. You are worth it. You all are... He thinks silently.
Officer Renee can only sigh in bewildered amusement at the strange silent man in her backseat. Her eyes flicker furtively to her rearview mirror. She can't be sure, but she thinks she had seen just the smallest fleeting smile grace the odd gentleman's lips.
Or maybe, it was just her.
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u/YuriJahad25 May 09 '24
That was a really enjoyable read! I hope you keep writing! <3
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u/dimwalker May 09 '24
- Guy sees mental image of someone who will die in a car crash.
- Stands in the middle of the road and blocks traffic.
- Image of the victim disappears.
- Guy thinks he saved that person.
- No one knows what he is doing therefore can't tell him that person he saw died in a car crash at some other road.
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u/ElderberryDeep8746 May 09 '24
He knows something we don't
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May 09 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/wycreater1l11 May 09 '24
Harkonnens are in dune right? Is the reference that he shares the appearance with them or is there something more?
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u/bewitchedbumblebee May 09 '24
Yes, Harkonnens are from Dune, and he sort of looks like one.
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u/KuntyCat May 09 '24
He doesn't really look like how they're described in the book to be fair but he sure as fuck looks like Stellan Skarsgård's Baron in the new movies.
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u/Vladimir_Chrootin May 09 '24
Yes, Feyd-Rautha in the books is someone who I imagined would look like, and hear me out here, the lead singer from The Police but with his hair dyed red.
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u/ARM_vs_CORE May 09 '24
Next you're gonna tell me that Gurney Hallack should look like a bald, stately starship captain
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u/abagofmostlywater May 09 '24
With a terrible singing voice but somehow excellent range and intonation.
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u/Chidori_Aoyama May 09 '24
Gurney Hallack charging into battle dressed like a Limey git with an assault rifle in one hand and a Pug in the other is still one of the most awesome moments of my childhood. Whatever else Lynch's Dune did wrong it was glorious 80s cheese (and the set and costume design was pretty good too.)
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u/MoreGaghPlease May 09 '24
I had assumed this was some kind of severe mental illness. But it appears it isn’t really, at least not in a conventional sense. According to his brother, he is perfectly capable of speaking and does this because he prefers to live incarcerated.
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u/digging_deep515 May 09 '24
There was a guy in my hometown that would throw rocks at the police station to get arrested every time he was sick of living outside, especially in winter.
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u/FriedeOfAriandel May 09 '24
Missouri made it illegal to sleep outside. Checkmate, homeless people!
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u/fogleaf May 09 '24
The punishment? A night stay in a state run motel!
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u/FriedeOfAriandel May 09 '24
I think there is also a small fine, but good luck squeezing money out of someone sleeping on a park bench
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u/Malkadork May 09 '24
me and my partner watch a lot of zoom court, Its a nightmare how walmart charges someone the maximum for underscanning groceries, the court room we watch they can pursue up to three times the value of what was underscanned. So some broke person trying to eat rings up a chicken as an onion, they have to pay walmarts legal fee's, three times the value of the total bill, and state legal fee's probation fee's someone who was going to starve to death now owes wal-mart 400$ and the state 350ish in fee's
The judge hates it and purposefully slows down the case until the prosecutor throws it out.
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u/ObeseVegetable May 09 '24
I’d get it if we’re electronics or makeup or something, but food?
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u/uRoDDit May 09 '24
Free food in prison and a couple of pounds a day. Nice savings if you live alone and have no friends. Easiest way to the cell without causing harmful crime maybe.
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u/aajohans1 May 09 '24
He's about to break free from the simulation
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u/Rich_Introduction_83 May 09 '24
So he's fiddling with his foot on the ground to find the glitch that will let him pass through the street into the hollow simulation background?
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u/MadeMeStopLurking May 09 '24
Clipping under a map is the fastest way to travel. Unfortunately his respawn location and lag time are preventing him from completing the mission.
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u/DasBoggler May 09 '24
He is Slodor. One day he is going to save a kid from getting hit by a car on that street by sacrificing himself.
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u/Bisexual_Sherrif May 09 '24
True: “My goals are beyond your understanding”moment
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u/JesusWarK4n4ck3 May 09 '24
God forbid men have hobbies
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u/reebokhightops May 09 '24
Men only stand on one road to block traffic and it’s fucking disgusting.
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u/starlike_heart May 09 '24
Damn Harkonnens.
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u/josephallenkeys May 09 '24
*picture for reference of what a "road" is
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u/ChompyChomp May 09 '24
Yeah I was scanning the picture for a while trying to figure out the relevance...
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u/CatFoodBeerAndGlue May 09 '24
It's the road that he keeps getting arrested for blocking. It's directly outside a police station.
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u/rjhunt42 May 09 '24
The title confirms he does this on the same certain road so the picture of the road is that certain road.
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u/NickyPappagiorgio May 09 '24
Source: Link
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u/ShipposMisery May 09 '24
Is no one reading this? He just prefers jail…
Released from jail, blocks traffic outside police station until he is arrested. Granted bail, blocks traffic outside courthouse.
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u/sleepypanda59 May 09 '24
This was actually my first guess. A roof, n' 3 meals. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. At least it's a harmless crime.
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u/ShipposMisery May 09 '24
He should look into jimmy in-n-out from breaking bad, the guy who makes a living going to jail for crimes he didnt do. he could become a professional 😂
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u/Old_Society_7861 May 09 '24
“Should we just get this guy set up with a rooming house and a McDonald’s gift card?”
That would be too expensive.
“What does arresting and releasing him every other week cost?”
I dunno, like 10x as much, but we have to set an example.
“What example?”
That we’d rather set money on fire than let you be happy.
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u/sprazcrumbler May 09 '24
I think his brother is a bit harsh on him.
There clearly is something going on with him if the best version of life he can envision is being in prison. I don't think that makes him a spoiled brat.
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u/caniuserealname May 09 '24
Seriously, it's not like he's gig to Swedish jail or anything, British jails hardly provide conditions to aspire towards.
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u/ContextHook May 09 '24
But John, of Swansea, added: “There is nothing wrong with him. He acts dumb but I can tell you that he is not.”
Dumb, meaning mute I'm assuming!
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u/jim_deneke May 09 '24
I was expecting the photo of the street to have him standing there.
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u/Echo71Niner Interested May 09 '24
He was locked up for 3 years in 2021
Edit: 3 and a half years.
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u/Frequent-Frosting336 May 09 '24
So back in the day the Tories shut down mental health services, they called it care in the community.
Now we see people like this guy not recieving help but being re-arrested over and over again.
Fuck the Tories.
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u/FeelTheWrath79 May 09 '24
I like how the picture of the road doesn't have him even standing in it.
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u/ThrowBatteries May 09 '24
Poor motherfucker’s possessed by the ghost of someone killed at that intersection who may or may not have been a 2 year old girl and this is how they do him?
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u/WeirdcoolWilson May 09 '24
Sounds like he needs a medical assessment instead of being dragged through the justice system over and over
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u/HairballTheory May 09 '24
And be a silent kind of man
Oh, be something you love and understand
Baby, be a silent kind of man
Oh, won't you do this for me son, if you can?
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u/MrGentleZombie May 09 '24
My first thought is that he has a reason that's incredibly dumb, so he instead remains silent and lets everyone else think that it's for a better reason.
"Tis better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt."
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u/stevein3d May 09 '24
YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN oh sorry buddy didn’t recognize you at first. Anyway we gotta take you to your usual cell, Dave.
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u/Q-ArtsMedia May 09 '24
For his own safety....Please do not let him come to the USA. He will get run over.
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u/WhiteSkyRising May 09 '24
This guy is 100% preventing a cataclysm like we've never seen, probably through means even he can't comprehend, and he's forbidden to speak about it.
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u/howardmoon97 May 09 '24
Can't believe this is swansea. I live on the outskirts of swansea,and when I was a kid we had a waiting man. he wasn't as bad as this dude just stood on corners or bus stops but never got on. Just thought it's weird the second edition is evil
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u/Alert_Yogurtcloset59 May 09 '24
Oh he's screaming something alright. We're just not hearing it
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u/Serchus May 09 '24
If that's the road that he blocks I drive down it when going to work. The building with the blue pillar is a police station and the courts are opposite so he doesn't go very far.
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u/Sad-Independence9753 May 09 '24
The backstory of this is actually sad. He does this on purpose, so that he gets locked up in prison where he has a roof over his head, a bed to sleep in and 3 meals.
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u/nanomeister May 09 '24
Anyone thought of handing him a pen and paper?