I have yet another question for the board. Have any of you ever encountered someone that you believe to be truly evil? Not just bad or disturbed but really EVIL?

I have not, other than my manta ray thingie, but my mother reminded me of something that happened to a friend of hers and it got me thinking about it.

One evening my mom got a phone call from a friend who was a store manager for a chain of clothing stores. Her store was in a rather rough neighborhood in a big city, so this store manager had dealt with many bad situations and was always able to laugh about them later. This lady was one tough cookie. She once took down a robber with a metal pole and kept him pinned until the police arrived. This was not a woman who got shaken easily, but she was absolutely terrified when she called my mom.

She said that it was a very normal evening in the store until the man came in. My mom's friend said that from the second he walked in, she knew that there was something really wrong with him. Every hair on her body stood up and she felt absolute and total dread. She was literally frozen with fear. When she managed to look away from him, she noticed that everyone in the store, employees and shoppers, were also frozen, just watching this man. He browsed through the store casually but my mom's friend said that she got the clear feeling that he knew the terror he inspired and thoroughly enjoyed the effect he was having.

She said he was a totally normal looking person, handsome in fact, and well-groomed. He was in no way overtly threatening, but he was totally freaky somehow. He never said a word, just browsed.

When he finally left, one of the shoppers said "I think we just saw the Devil" and everyone in the store started talking about how scary he was and how "off" he felt. They were all really affected by it, so much so that it took them a while to calm down. My mom's friend admitted that she was shaking like crazy and sweating.

She shooed the customers out as quickly as she could and locked the door behind them even though closing the store early was a fireable offense. She actually called her husband to come pick her up because she was too afraid of meeting that man in the dark to walk to her car. They made sure the other employees drove off safely before they left.

She called my mom as soon as she got home. She said that she knew that she had come into contact with someone or something that was pure evil.

She lived in constant fear that he would come back but she never saw him again.

So, I'm wondering, have any of you ever had a brush with real evil?

The kind of evil you seem to be describing in your opening post to me sounds like what I would call "evil incarnate". Someone that just exudes it and doesn't have to say or do anything. It's just ingrained in their demeanor. The fact that this individual came in a "nice package" really is interesting and disturbing. I've only ever known one person who I would place in the evil incarnate category. It was a guy in my neighborhood growing up who just scared everyone to death. I'm not sure about his background (he was about 8 years older than me I guess) and many years have passed since I've even thought about this guy but he was one of those people who I think had some mental issues that were compounded by hard drugs & alcohol. You'd need only to look at this guy to plainly see that there was a problem. He wound up in jail after freaking out and attacking several neighbors one night. The police unleashed police dogs on him, the dogs chased him behind an old school a couple blocks away and into a dead end below ground stairwell. He wounded all three of the K-9s (one fatally) before they got the best of him. They said it was a regular blood bath at the scene. He survived and was in jail for a looooooooooooong time, he beat an old man into a coma for essentially $15 and stuffed his body into the fridge. That horrible crime was the one we knew about, who knows what other mayhem he was involved in. It didn't take a genius to see his road would end badly, but I've often wondered what contributed to his vile demeanor. He scared me enough that I didn't ask questions of people I know who knew him, it was almost like mentioning his name would as they say "summon the evil".

Evil incarnate – that's exactly what I'm talking about! Thank you for that phrase. It completely captures the kind of encounter that I am wondering about.

Has anyone else ever encountered someone who they sensed was evil incarnate?

I'll throw this answer into the mix with a religious point of view. For those of us who believe in God and His creating everything, then there is no such thing as "pure evil" cause God would not create something that is pure evil. Satan was in fact a fallen angel so he was at one time good.

Ah, but they key is he was AT ONE TIME good. Now he is committed to the downfall of humans, right? In essence, he is pure evil. Some believe that angels can walk among us so isn't it theoretically possible that the Devil or his minions walk the earth as pure evil? Even if it's just as possessed people? Or maybe these are people who for some reason have no soul. Is that possible?

Not saying that it's true, but that it is possible.

I think that I once encountered a person who was pure good, so I guess I can believe that there is someone who is pure evil.

In support of this, I found an encounter very similar to my mom's friend's. I even half wonder if this could be the same man.

"I was suddenly and unexpectedly gripped by an overwhelming feeling of fear. As I felt this "person" move toward the counter and closer to me, I involuntarily closed my eyes and screamed silently in my mind. When I realized what I was doing, I immediately tried my best to pull it together.

This "thing" appeared to be a tall, slim man about 40 or 45 wearing a dark blue worker's uniform. The weird thing was that he seemed to absorb the little bit of light coming from the dim bulb above him near the door. The area where he stood, which had previously emitted a soft glow now seemed almost dark as if the little bulb was about to burn out. Almost trembling, I mustered the courage to turn my head toward him. He looked back at me, smiled and simply said , "How are you this evening?" I somehow managed a "fine thank you" and quickly turned back to the counter utterly terrified.

He asked the waitress behind the counter for a soup to go, paid and left. As strange as it sounds, I knew the moment I laid eyes on him that this was not a man; at least, not a human man.

The waitress behind the counter said to the other, "que asusto!", which means "how scary he was!" To which the seated waitress nodded in agreement. This confirmed for me that I wasn't just imagining what I had felt, but that others had felt it, too."

http://paranormal.about.com/li…..h07_15.htm

It's telling that all three women felt the same "vibe" or evil emanation from this man just as everyone in the store felt the same way about the man in the store that night.

And a story from a chiropractor:

"I met evil once. She was in the form of a patient. She made the hair on my neck stand and I felt physically ill/drained being around her. She is the first and only patient in eleven years who prompted me to ban her from ever setting foot in the practice again. There were other wacky and weak people. There were even unbalanced and in one or two cases, psychotic people. There’s been a stalker. But evil is a whole different kettle of fish and it’s a disgusting, oily, leaves-a-rancid-residue experience to interact with them.

When I met evil, I felt afraid."

Many people who have been in the presence of Iran's president also report that they felt that he was truly evil.

Pure evil may be very rare, but I believe that it exists and that these people may have encountered it "in the flesh", so to speak.

I think evil is like ghosts or angels: no one really believes until they have a personal encounter.

Part of the problem is that we as a society are losing our moral compass. Things that used to be black and white are now gray. Now right and wrong is "relative". Nothing is bad unless thinking makes it so. I'm okay, you're okay. It is absolutely sickening.

Sex with children is an example of this slippage. Once it was considered appalling but now there are groups and internet sites that tell people that it's okay. People actively admit that they are pedophiles and are still allowed to walk around as free people. Look at NAMBLA. Look at the the many pedophile sites on the net. There's one for every preference. Instead of reinforcing that pedophilia is wrong and that the person who has sexual feelings for children needs to get help ASAP, they tell each other that it's "normal" and to not be ashamed – they just need to change society's point of view. They cite the ancient Romans and Greeks as evidence that it was once considered to be acceptable and should be again. It just makes me sick to my stomach and sick at heart.

NAMBLA is an evil organization because they are actively lobbying to make pedophilia legal and acceptable. These people want no limits on the age of the children involved, and argue that parents should be able to consent if the children are too young to talk. These people are working hard and donating lots of money toward achieving their goals and sadly, there are actually politicians and experts who support them. Pure EVIL.

Young people go to those sites to find out if their feelings are bad and they get told that they aren't and are actually given advice on how to pursue children. In my opinion, anyone who encourages another person to not seek help for sexualizing children is EVIL. What's really horrifying is that there are women on these sites. One woman on a site for people who like little girls admits that she had a great childhood. She also admits that she has the strong desire to torture and kill children. She openly admits that she does not know if she will be able to control this desire.

Personally, I don't give a flying flip about why these people are like they are. I don't care about their backgrounds or their experiences. The important thing is that they are dangerous. Jail doesn't deter them. Many of the people on the pedophile sites have served time for it and it just makes them more careful. These people do not respond to treatment. IMHO, they just need to be exterminated like the vermin they are, starting with the members of NAMBLA. You can feel sad for the rabid dog, but it still has to be put down.

I'm sure there are sites for people who want to commit murder, rape, torture, etc. but I don't have the stomach to find out for myself.