The Day I Met A Murderer In The Mountains - A True Story

perceptualflaws in truth • 3 years ago

The Great Outdoors.

Hope everyone is well, I've been really busy and away from home for the last couple of weeks - hence my absence. I'll be back from next week onward. In the meantime, I thought I'd share a true story from a few years back.

As I pulled into the empty car park, the sun was rising above the snow-covered mountains. The first rays of dawn dancing across the stillness of the loch as if it were a fiery mirror. A beautiful start to what promised to be an exquisite days walking in the remote majesty of the Scottish Highlands. Now, on one hand I'm a social beast, but on the other (especially whilst hiking) I prefer to take the path less trod. In fact, I like to discover the remotest places I can possibly find, off the beaten track, to the degree that I can close my eyes and with a modicum of imagination begin to believe I'm the last man on earth.

Opening the car door, I inhaled a lungful of mountain air, "it may be beautiful but it's bloody freezing". Shuddering as the bitter stillness embraced her with an icy grip, my girlfriend nodded in agreement. We gathered our essentials, food - check, emergency bivy - check (you get the general idea) woke our young sleeping dog and we were off! The sun was shining, and the fading vestiges of morning mist were disappearing like a ghostly apparition fleeing the purity of daylight.

As we were leaving the car park, I noticed another vehicle pull in. I was surprised for we had driven along eight miles of bumpy dirt roads and were literally in the middle of nowhere, plus it was really early. Shrugging my shoulders, I gave the car a backward glance and we continued on our way, transfixed by the snow capped Scottish Shangri-La that lay enticingly ahead.

This is the only picture I have of this day and it was taken at the beginning of the walk. It was also taken on a film camera so you'll have to excuse the quality,

The path began to wind it's way alongside the flank of an imposing mountain. The deep glistening waters of the loch bid us farewell as we turned right onto a steep mountain pass and continued our journey into a seemingly untouched expanse of wilderness. As we climbed higher our feet begin to crunch through crisp fresh snow. The higher we climbed the more stunning the vista, primeval Caledonian pine forests and snowy mountain peaks that glistened in the morning sun like a psychedelic fire of ice.

It was only when I looked back that I noticed him, middle aged, rucksack and moving with such speed it was if he had the devil at his back. I turned to my girlfriend and grumbled to the effect of “so much for being alone”. Although with the speed he was moving I presumed he would be soon be past us and off into the mountains. As he drew level, he slowed his pace, in fact he slowed it to such a degree that it felt as though he’d reached his destination, and his destination was us!

Now without blowing my own trumpet and purely within the context of this story, I'm a highly perceptive and intuitive individual. I've also been around a fair bit, at first hand I've seen the good, bad, and very ugly of this world. I pride myself in my ability to read people and obtain their essence. Within five minutes I'd come to the conclusion that our fellow mountaineer was insane. I could feel an unpredictable & dangerous edginess about him. He wore his madness like some wear their hearts on their sleeve, but this heart was black. I've seen insanity before and this man screamed it from every fibre of his being and every pore in his body, a stagnating deodorant of psychosis and delusion.

He proceeded to follow us off into the icy wilderness. After thirty minutes he was still with us, talking about the Devil and how we all have to work out who is sent from the hell to deceive us. He started singling out my other half and moving between us, I could see the fear etched upon her face. We slowed down and he slowed with us, we sped up and he was at our heel. I started to ponder the vulnerability of the situation for we were in the middle of nowhere, does he have a knife or a weapon? One thing’s for sure, if anything does go down there is nobody around to help us. The way his eyes were (not so subtly) darting up & down the path hinted that he was engaged in a similar thought process.

I could sense the unease enveloping my other half. I suggested to her that we stop for a bite to eat and let him continue on his way, feigning hunger so as not to alert him to our true intention. We breathed a sigh of relief as he walked past, face contorted in indignation at the fact we hadn't invited him to join us. We watched as after a hundred yards he reached the brow of a false hill and disappeared out of sight.

We sat for half an hour or so, eating and drinking in the view, "he should be long gone by now" I muttered as we packed our bags and continued in the same direction as our mad mountaineer. Believe me if there had been a choice of path I would have chosen a different one, alas this choice was not there to make. We reached the point where he had left our sight and there he was! sitting down and obviously waiting for us. Again for the next half a mile or so he kept pace with us, his rabid wailing brand of conversation becoming more disjointed and confused with each passing step. It felt like he was testing the water and indeed testing the limits of what I would take. I remained calm and polite, not wanting to reveal my hand (or fist) until a moment of necessity required it.

Stopping with further excuses for food and drink, once more he walked on and then waited for us. The third time we stopped he continued walking and the path took him through a heavy stock gate, it's clang!! echoing through the valley. Again we carried on our way, we arrived at the stock gate and there he was! Two/three hundred yards ahead pacing up and down in an agitated state, talking loudly to himself whilst staring in our direction. Angrily I shook my head "fuck this, let's go back" my other half required no further persuasion. We turned our backs and started to head down the mountainside, within a matter of seconds I heard the familiar clang of the gate. From the time it had taken for him to reach it, I realised he must have been running, flat out!

Fight or flight!!?? Well I'm an ex boxer and martial artist, my girlfriend isn't known for her speed, and to run would have also given him the psychological advantage. This was no time to explore my inner pacifist. Reaching into my jacket pocket I found my solid metal dogs lead. Winding half of it around my clenched fist to make a rudimentary knuckle duster, the remaining half dangled in the breeze - swinging it in a helicopter motion, I turned heel and ran straight at him!

Source

As I closed in on my neurologically inept nemesis I could see the look of surprise on his previously maniacally grinning face, he stopped dead in his tracks. This wasn't the way he'd planned it, this wasn't what he expected to happen and he didn't know how to handle this change of fortunes. The wind had been taken out of his sails, the worm had turned and now it was he that was on the back foot.

Drawing within a foot of him I could see the high ground and the bravado he'd worked so hard to obtain, leave him with the speed of a deflated balloon. I opened my arms as if to gesture him in, exclaiming "what the fuck do you want??!!". Sheepishly he responded "erm nothing, erm sorry, erm nice day isn't it" and strangely "I wanted to know the name of your dog?". Fuck off!! I snarled back at him, and with that he turned on his heel and left.

We waited for a while and watched him walk off into the distance . Eventually we continued along our way and apart from a general air of unease, we didn't see him again. We got back to the car and on our way out saw an estate worker, after regaling him with our strange story, he promised to keep an eye out for the man in question. Equally, as he hadn't broken any laws or physically assaulted us, there was little he could do or report to the authorities.

Source

I was living in the highlands at the time and a few months later I picked up a local paper with the headline "Monster Of The Glen". As it transpired the story was about a poor American tourist, a lone female hiker who'd been attacked by a man wielding a metal bar and large rock whilst walking in the mountains. She miraculously survived the initial attack but was found unconscious in a pool of blood and sadly died in hospital a couple of weeks later.

I sighed as it was revealed that the perpetrator had a long history of violence and had (two years prior) been released from prison for the attempted rape and violent assault of another woman. When I reached the bottom of the article they had a picture of this "Monster" being led away from court in cuffs. My heart stopped and pangs of guilt and sickness knotted my stomach, it was the same man we'd run into (literally) on that cold snowy mountain pass! Could I have done more? should I have ignored the advice and contacted the police? Equally, he hadn't broken any laws - thus in this instance, he'd have been very low on their list of priorities.

Days before the assault he had hidden clean clothes, a sponge and disinfectant near the scene. He engaged his victim in conversation before he "went into a frenzy" and repeatedly hit the slight-built woman on the head with his weapons. She suffered at least 19 blows which inflicted horrific injuries to her eye sockets, cheeks and jaw.

Ross, 34, carried out the assault just six days after an order was granted banning him from approaching any woman. He had previously been arrested with what police believed to be a "rape kit" - a makeshift hood, a knife, gloves, electrical tape and condoms. The attack on Ms Layman-Mendonca took place less than a month after he was released - early - from a three-year sentence for an attack on a female German tourist. Source

Released from prison early, then found with a rape kit - and yet still allowed to continue his devastating crime spree.

Perhaps we were his intended victims? Perhaps he just wanted to mess with us and scare us? The answer to those questions will remain elusive and is not something I dwell upon. I have told this story from my perspective at the time and in the moment he certainly seemed insane. But once realising that the balance wasn't tilted in his favour, this pathetic excuse of a man still had the self control and composure to stop. I believe these were not the actions of an out of control madman, but the choices of a cold and calculating psychopath.

Written by @perceptualflaws

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3 years ago by perceptualflaws

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squirrelbait · 3 years ago ·

Unforgettable story and you tell it so well. Love the writing style.

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perceptualflaws · 3 years ago ·

Yeah it was a bizarre and sad sequence of events. Thank you for the kind words my friend - much appreciated. :)

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riverflows · 3 years ago ·

Oh my goddess - is that for real! That's terrifying - and so lucky you had the wherewithal to frighten him off. You were obviously more than he'd counted upon! Seriously, what a creepy experience.

Gee I'm happy to touch base with you again!

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perceptualflaws · 3 years ago ·

Oh yes - unfortunately it was definitely real - it played on my mind for a few months after it happened, especially when I read about the poor lady. Hopefully he stays where he deserves to be - in jail!

Yes my friend - lovely to see that you've made it over. :)

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blurtconnect-ng · 3 years ago ·

Hello @perceptualflaws
Thank you for sharing such great content!

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perceptualflaws · 3 years ago ·

Thank you kindly @blurtconnect and @chibuzorwisdom. :)

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perceptualflaws · 3 years ago ·

Thank you - much appreciated @abiga554

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perceptualflaws · 3 years ago ·

Thank you for the support @blurtlatam and @freakeao - I really appreciate it. :)

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perceptualflaws · 3 years ago ·

Thank you kindly @blurthispiano - I appreciate the support. :)

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practicalthought · 3 years ago ·

What a gripping story. So glad you faced him and changed the energy structure. They say Manson was the same way, that his power grew by the level of fear one held.

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perceptualflaws · 3 years ago ·

Thank you my friend, much appreciated.

What a gripping story. So glad you faced him and changed the energy structure.

My martial arts instructor taught that you should adopt the backward foot defensive position right up until the critical moment. At that moment they have already expelled their energy and have a triumphant mindset. Hence a quick reversal of fortunes can serve to disorientate them.

They say Manson was the same way, that his power grew by the level of fear one held.

Ultimately, if your physically balanced (on the macro scale of society the balance is hugely in our favour) its all a mind game - and the only power that these people really have is that which we give them. Thus, it's within our power to take it back - with the blink of an eye. ;)

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practicalthought · 3 years ago ·

I too have had training (a lifetime ago) and been in some pretty hairy situations.

Energy is always the key, like you did with that crazy person. I've also had others who were in a superior position back down when confronted by my counter aggression. It confused as you mention their entire narrative they had in their heads on what was going to happen.

Of course sometimes you know from the energy that the counter aggression will serve to force a physical confrontation based on their energy, but at that point one must accept what is and move forward accordingly.

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perceptualflaws · 3 years ago ·

Energy is always the key, like you did with that crazy person. I've also had others who were in a superior position back down when confronted by my counter aggression. It confused as you mention their entire narrative they had in their heads on what was going to happen.

Yes exactly, with the right mindset you can overcome insurmountable odds - and I have done this when I was attacked by a group of men. In this instance I was alluding to the poor lady - the odds were so stacked against her - it's difficult to see what she could have done in such a situation. :(

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northern-tracey · 3 years ago ·

Great story. I too walked around Loch Ness with a psycho but in my case it was my 'boyfriend' at the time.

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perceptualflaws · 3 years ago ·

Thanks my friend. This wasn't Loch Ness - but I know that area pretty well. :) There are plenty of nutters out there - and sometimes we find that out the hard way.

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ultravioletmag · 3 years ago ·

I actually love film photos, they have a magical quality I try and make my digital ones look like film most the time.

That is such a scary story, I guess the thing is even if you had reported him then the police likely wouldn't have done anything, it would be hard for them to arrest someone for simply being 'weird' but damn.

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perceptualflaws · 3 years ago ·

I actually love film photos, they have a magical quality I try and make my digital ones look like film most the time.

Yes, in retrospect I think I agree - I may try and share a few slides from my other hiking adventures - ones that went a bit more according to plan.

Yeah it was freaky, I was concerned that he might have had a knife or some kind of weapon. I've had dealings with the police (including when a female friend was stalked) and unless a crime has been committed they won't do anything. They certainly wouldn't have sent out a search party to find him - but yeah it's shocking end and my heart goes out to the poor lady and her family.

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owasco · 3 years ago ·

Yikes!

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perceptualflaws · 3 years ago ·

Exactly!

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The Day I Met A Murderer In The Mountains - A True Story

The Great Outdoors.

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