When Fairy Tales turn out to be nightmares

Why are these Psychopaths so Charming?

Sarah Strudwick

Everyone loves fairytales including adults so what happens when our dreams of meeting Prince Charming turn out to be a nightmare, or worst something out of a slash movie.  At what about all those Princesses men meet who turn out to be wicked witches 

Often the first people say when they meet what turns out to be a Psychopath is the appeared to be so Charming. You often hear expressions touted around such as Prince Charming turned out to be a monster, Prince Charming turned into Prince of Darkness, and what about all those lovely Princesses who turned out to be wicked witches.

These aren't stories from fairy tales and yet people are so easily sucked in by their charm. Often the charm is just a veneer, the false persona that these psychopaths always portray until eventually the mask starts to slip or crack and the real personality is revealed, often its too late and the person in relationship with them has already been victimised.

In one article from Psychology today entitled 'This charming psychopath' by Dr Robert Hare, the victim explains “She met him in a laundromat in London. He was open and friendly and they hit it off right away. From the start she thought he was hilarious. Still, there were details, unexplained, undiscussed, that she shoved out of her mind. He never invited her to his home; she never met his friends. "Where I go, what I do, who I do it with—it doesn't concern you, Elsa. Don't ask. He was like a different person.”

Another blog writer called Darlene Ouimet who has met more than a few psychopaths in her life eventually met the ultimate Prince Charming who was a murder suspect. She writes “I met a really charming and extremely good looking young man who I would say I had a “red flag” feeling about right from the start. I ignored it.  He was working with the security team in the major hospital that I worked in.  He told me that he was a city police officer who had been laid off due to cutbacks”. Darlene goes onto talk about a number of Red Flags .  Darlene goes on to say "Chris was a compulsive liar who had never been married nor had he ever been a cop and although he worked outside rounds for a major Security Company, he also didn’t have a driver’s license. Even they hadn’t checked him out.  In order to bring him in for questioning the police arrested him for unpaid parking tickets. (that was the best they could do) They slapped a restraining order on him. While they were trying to catch him (he had to go to the fake funeral first) I got protected. (at least until one of the married police officers wanted to get cozy with me….. but that is another story)

One particularly horrible wicked witch story was from a woman who wanted the ultimate fairy tale wedding.  However instead of Prince charming being the villain she was she used the sympathy vote to get the perfect free wedding by telling her soon to be husband she had cancer.  Interestingly enough this appears to be a common theme and story played out by both male and female psychopathic types. You can read some of the stories here. 

Not all psychopaths are violent - some are "merely" manipulative, dishonest and incapable of experiencing deep emotions, and blend in with society with relative ease. Some are just downright dispicable when it comes to exploiting people.  However what's clear from all of these articles is that despite the veneer and the charm it is quite easy to spot these people IF we are armed with education and awareness including the ability to spot liars.