Barking Mad

Barking Man Bites Mailman

Plumb said he bit the carrier as a joke, and has no history of criminal activity or mental illness, police said.

The kindling effect

I’m told that besides bipolars and schizophrenic visionaries, political dissidents and “subversive herbalists” were also tortured and burned at the stake. Let’s add Lesbians to the list. It makes sense that a single woman might make her living from herbalism. Which she may have learned from a lesbian mentor. Which was part of that Old Time Religion, not Christianity. Herbalism, that is, not lesbianism!
Hallucinogenic plants are very effective in treating certain kinds of ailments. Sort of like early transpersonal psychology. Until one of the Good Townsfolk took the belladonna and had a bad trip. She’s a witch! Burn the witch!
According to the infamous “Hammer of Witches” gay men were to be thrown in with the bundles of sticks as kindling, hence faggot. It was so prevalent that the word for kindling became applied to gay men as a pejorative.
The mentally ill are *still* seen as being demon-possessed in some places, even in the US. I have talked to folks who have been forced to undergo exorcisms. Of course, there was that unfortunate incident in Romania where the Romanian Orthodox church crucified a schizophrenic nun.
On the other hand, you could see an exorcism as an extreme form of psychosocial therapy. I mean, the whole family had to commit themselves to the new, well person. If you think about it, you spend years in therapy and your family still bears a grudge for the things you did in episodes 15 years ago. You can never live it down, not ever. It would be nice to make believe that some demon left and took my sins with it.

Technorati: schizophrenic schizophrenic nun burned at the stake Christianity lesbianism hallucinogenic transpersonal+psychology exorcism faggot demon demon-possessed psychosocial therapy