Who The Hell Does This?
So my neighbors, the extremist Christians, did something this morning that topped everything else they’ve ever done. And real quick, let me just clarify: I have nothing against Christians. Or Muslims, or Buddhists, or atheists, or Wiccans, or anybody. People can practice whatever religion they want, and I respect that. What I don’t respect, though, are the extremists that think that their religious beliefs and ideologies are the ONLY way. And that’s how my neighbors are. And that just pisses me off.
Anyway. I’ll get off my soapbox now, because I need to tell you what happened this morning.
My neighbors have chickens, which they raise for the eggs. They’ve even given us eggs before, which was very nice and I appreciated it, but it doesn’t undo all the other weird crap they’ve done over the years. So anyway, apparently some of their chickens met an untimely death at the hands (paws?) of a raccoon recently. And Vlad (not his real name, and you’ll see in a moment why I selected this fake name), the husband, decided he had had enough of it. Understandable. So he set a trap to catch the raccoon, which my kids told me all about. They too were hoping this raccoon would be caught, partly because they felt bad for the chickens, and partly because they hoped it would be caught on a weekend and they would get to see it. They’ve only ever seen roadkill raccoon before, and they wanted to see one of the live variety.
Anyway.
Oh, side story real quick. My father-in-law has also recently had a raccoon problem. He doesn’t have chickens, but the raccoons were doing other things to cause mischief. So he set several traps for them, and he managed to catch a few. After he caught them, he took them and released them into the wild because he didn’t want to kill them. And I thought that was nice.
Okay, so my doorbell rang at 8:30 this morning. The neighbor kids were there. It seems Vlad was finally successful this morning in catching his deviant raccoon, and his kids were excitedly telling my kids to hurry up and come over so they could see it. Pajamas and shoes went flying, cartoons and cereal were ignored, and out the door they went.
Fifteen minutes pass, and I’m rinsing out my coffee mug when my younger daughter comes busting through the back door, talking a mile a minute. I managed to pick out the words “raccoon,” “head,” and “up on a stick” before the realization of what she was saying sank in.
“WHAT?” I said.
“_________’s dad just put the raccoon head up on a stick!”
“WHAT?” I said again.
She repeats it. I then learn that my kids are not over looking at live raccoon in a cage; rather, they are observing a raccoon that has been trapped, shot in the head, decapitated, and then had a pole driven through its bodiless head and placed in a tree.
WHO THE F DOES THAT?
Oh, and then he skinned it to make a coon tail hat for his infant son.
Please take a moment to understand the amount of rage that I was filled with upon hearing that.
Thank you.
Needless to say, my kids were immediately ordered back to my yard and away from Vlad (does the name make sense now?) and his disgusting practices. And let me clarify something else here: I understand that there is a need for disposing of animals from time to time. I’m not opposed to hunting, I eat meat, and though I love animals, I’m not an ANIMAL LOVER. Does that make sense? What I don’t understand, however, is killing an animal and then mutilating its body and inviting young children to come and view the desecration. Is anybody with me on this? Does anyone else feel that what he did was completely unnecessary and, in fact, borders on the insane?
Please share your thoughts with me if you read this; I need validation that I live next to a sociopath.
the middle path 
You do indeed live next to a sociopath. I would keep myself and my kids completely away from that household if I were in that situation.
That’s disturbing.
That is sick and wrong! I would have gone off if someone had showed Luke something like that. I too am not anti hunting or meat as long as I don’t have to think or be told about the process… but that’s disgusting! I’m a Christian as well, and as such have a great respect for life. If animals need to be killed it needs to be done respectfully. God did not give us animals to mutilate. Food? yes. Companionship? yes. Heads on sticks to show the neighbor kids? Not even a little!!!!!!!!
He must be hung up in the Old Testament or something. You know, sacrifices to God and all, but I never read about heads on sticks. I’d watch my cats.
Yes, it is sick and wrong. BUT, it also illegal. You can not trap and kill animals without a license in the city. Dad is probably not supposed to be trapping them and moving them either, but at least he isn’t killing them.
You are spot on Chandra with your assessment. There is something very wrong with a being that mutilates and displays an animal in that way with the intent to show children. The guy lacks the same cognitive element that sociopaths lack. I’d nip that in the bud and call the city.
Clearly Chandra, you have misunderstood this act of displaying the remains of a fallen adversary as being the disgusting and cruel act of a barbaric sociopath. This display is meant to send a simple and clear message. Any distress or harm inflicted upon the residents of that house will be reciprocated to a horrific degree. This was a common method of psychological deterrence utilized by many kingdoms during medieval times and obviously still practiced by many households today. After seeing one of their fallen comrades desecrated in such a way, do you seriously believe that man, his family, or his chickens will suffer continued harassment at the hands (or paws) of other woodland creatures? The answer is an unequivocal NO. We live in dark times and only those with the will to stand and defend themselves will survive.
Oh. My. Gosh.
What. The. HELL?!
Wow. That is insane. Even if he thinks that okay for his children to witness, he should have the good sense NOT to have anyone else’s children present for the… Whatever that was. Just… Wow.