PopHorror Let's Get Scared
I find psychopaths fascinating, and I am not alone in this.
Their allure may stem from how psychopath’s actions are the opposite of what we see as self-evident societal norms. Psychopaths lack empathy, are deceitful, callous, and remorseless after they commit acts that hurt others. Like seeing a video of a natural disaster, observing a psychopath is so unbelievably wrong, it is hard to not be rivetted.
One could sum up these psychopathic traits as a complete lack of what might be called a moral compass. The concept of a right and wrong, of a socially accepted behavior versus one that is shunned, is an alien concept to a sociopath. Not only do they not understand that difference, they often demonstrate an inability to process that such a difference exists. As a result, psychopaths can torture without guilt or kill without an emotional reaction. No matter how horrific the act, they see it as just another thing they did that day.
There is a possible scientific explanation for all this. Some psychopaths have an abnormality in their brain in the prefrontal-temporo-limbic circuit. These regions are involved in emotional and learning processes. Studies are still ongoing, but there is a lot of evidence that atrophy in these areas short-circuits our ingrained moral imperatives.
In my latest horror novel, Demon Dagger, I came up with another explanation, that lack of a moral center is not caused by a physical problem but by a spiritual problem. In my world, that moral center emanates from the soul, and if one loses that soul, all morality is lost.
How can one lose their soul in Demon Dagger? It’s a horror novel, so you trade it away to a demon. Duh. The demon has possessed a human and feeds on other human souls for strength. The trade is usually for a shortcut to fame or fortune or both. The soulless person begins a descent into the horrible future that awaits a psychopath.
Perhaps something like this happens in real life. If a series of small, amoral decisions are not punished, or even worse, rewarded, that reinforcement can slowly reset a person’s boundaries further and further into the antisocial realm. But it is much better reading to blame a demon.
In my book, that demon is Nicobar, an archdemon in fact, one of the original angels cast into Hell with Lucifer. He has possessed a new host and is out for revenge against the demon hunters who sent him back to Hell last time. Drew Price is one of those hunters, and his family is not out of bounds as an avenue for Nicobar to exact revenge. Drew must master the only weapon that will slay an archdemon, the demon dagger. But Nicobar seems one step ahead at every turn, and the stakes keep getting higher.
If you’d like to check out Demon Dagger, you can look it over here on Amazon or at any bookstore around the world.
One bit of advice… if you do meet anyone with psychopathic tendencies, don’t worry about why those characteristics manifested. Just get that person out of your life quickly.
