1. Episode One, A Sinister Compelling Charm Draws Us Toward Monsters

Welcome to the initial broadcast from Monster Stories Podcast - Living with Evil. Monster Stories Podcast: Living with Evil, is a series of narratives which convey the intimate experience of being (often captive) in a relationship with a person incapable of humane behavior; a person who derives pleasure from another’s pain. He may be called a beast, a sociopath, a crazed raging monster, a sadistic deceiver, a psychopath. Regardless of his name, the havoc he wreaks on those around him brings about the same damaging consequences. It is my hope that the imperfect words of these personal narratives may serve to reify the silenced terror stemming from your own encounters with the monster. May our time together begin to foster a common language to express the trauma of these experiences which heretofore have defied words and conversation.

In these initial episodes, we discuss our early encounters with the monster. Awareness of these portentous meetings are necessary, as, we each encounter psychopaths/sociopaths/borderline-disordered people (monsters) daily, some of us becoming more susceptible to his(her) charm and ensnarement than others. We may be his primary target, his auxiliary prey, his unwitting protégé, his discarded object. We may be a child of a sociopath, or the parent of one. All encounters with monsters. psycho/sociopath are wounding, cause chaos, leave us in a state of flux, and usually are never spoken of.

I offer my initial meeting with Dr. Mario (one of the main antagonists in these episodes), and ask that you to follow along with your own story, noticing where the psychological dynamics I raise are pertinent to you. We are writing these narratives together, creating a common language to express our experiences. Our narratives are the Urtext on this topic of having been with a monster, a psychopath, and then, with great courage, arisen from his lair.

We see many Netflix documentaries and podcasts on “the mind of the monster; the psychopath; the serial killer”, but what of we who have survived, and are here to tell the tale? Society is titillated with the sociopath, yet, his prey hasn’t a voice in popular culture…until now.

In this episode I raise the seminal rule mandated by a monster: the captivity of silence. The more we are ensnared into his reality (his lair), replete as it is with narcissistic behaviors, the more we come to know this insidious gag of silence. The monster spends his life breaking boundaries, hence, he draws us into his confidence; into the knowledge of his secret transgressions, obliging us to be part of his silenced coalition.

The language I use to describe the entanglement with the monster may not be the way you have come to identify your own experiences. In fact, you may still be with the monster, or in the process of finding your way free of him. You may not yet have been able to speak of the trauma. It is my hope that this podcast will help you find a voice to enunciate your circumstances. So few understand the constraints of captivity, nor the heroic burgeoning after a relationship with a monster. Yet, the proliferation of psychopathy is epidemic globally, as is the waning of empathy. read more on www.monsterstoriespodcast.com

This podcast has been a production of Honestly Speaking LLC. Suzann Kole, Ph.D. has worked in academe and the mental health field for over 40 years. She holds a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and Narrative Studies,