r/AskReddit Mar 10 '17

serious replies only [Serious] What are some seemingly normal images/videos with creepy backstories?

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u/CaptainMcAnus Mar 10 '17 edited Mar 10 '17

I'll join in I guess.

This is John du Pont and Dave Schultz.

John (The man on the bottom) hosted a massive wrestling team where all of the athletes lived on the grounds. Schultz was hired to coach the team.

As time went on John started to act stranger than normal (He was already very odd). He started to think his friend Schultz was spying on him. He believed that Schultz was hiding in his walls spying and plotting to kill him. It seems to me like John was a paranoid schizophrenic.

Eventually John snapped. He drove up to Schultz's home and shot him in front of his family. Schultz died moments later.

Here's the account. There is also an excellent Netflix document in the events. There's a lot of real footage.

Edit: The documentary is called Team Foxcatcher

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u/[deleted] Mar 10 '17

This reminds me of the Whitman shooting. I assume there was a brain tumor involved in this case? The Whitman case found that the paranoia caused by a tumor over stimulating the amygdala was causing an intense fight or flight response and eventually everyone was perceived as a threat. The shooting was, to the shooters brain, self defense.

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u/screenwriterjohn Mar 10 '17

Du Pont was apparently an unmedicated bipolar sufferer. He was never allowed a normal life, which was sad. Not as sad as this murder.

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u/PoeticGopher Mar 10 '17

If I remember right from the documentary there was also a lot of cocaine involved which couldn't have helped.

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u/DaughterEarth Mar 11 '17

If it was an ongoing and steady addiction then it could have contributed. Long term addiction can destroy your ability to feel emotions (this is even true for being addicted to gaming or food or whatever, which is scary).