People Share Unsettling Stories Of Meeting Children Who Could Be Future Serial Killers

From Redditor /u/Not_Your_Average_Rat:

I went to this kid's house to babysit. He asked if we could go to his tree-house. I love tree-houses. So, I said yes. We went up. There, a wall held clear glass mason jars, supposedly empty. Weird, but I get paid. His eyes lit up seeing the jars. He dragged me to the shelves.

"This is my bug collection!" he said. That makes sense. But... there were no sticks, leaves, or dirt or anything.

"That's so cool!" I encouraged the kid to show people what he liked. "How about we get some sticks and things to make them feel better?"

"Yeah!" the kid said. We went outside, picked up sticks and leaves, and climbed back up. I gave him a jar and told him how to do it carefully. "But... that would let the air in... and give them food..." he said.

"U-uh, yeah, if they don't have food and air, they'll die..." I pointed out. He looked up at me, calm and cool, then spoke in a monotone, serial killer voice.

"I know. That's the point." This kid watched insects slowly suffocate and starve to death. Knowingly. No, no, nope. I called the mom and went home without pay. Demon child, I tell you.

From Redditor /u/emacee1203:

I taught preschool. One kid would push others to break rules, then watch what happened.

One sweet kid in class hit another student. When I asked why, he said, “Because X told me to.” X just sat at a table watching the whole thing.

Whenever X misbehaved, he would grab my legs. He flashed doe eyes and said, “Ms., I love you.” This felt creepy. A kid being that manipulative at three is unusual.

From Redditor /u/MyBelovedThrowaway:

"It was just a kitten."

I was fourteen. I watched two kids, four and six, during summer break. I did not know what he meant. His parents called later. They asked if I knew where the cat went.

From Redditor /u/Superbead:

A girl in my class tried to set fire to our school. We all had to evacuate.

The place was a large Victorian house in the UK with a basement. The basement split into two sections, used for sports ('PE') lessons: the boys' cellar and girls' cellar. The rooms were large, damp squares with benches and hooks around the edges. Each morning, we hung our sports bag on our numbered hook and went upstairs for lessons.

One day the fire alarm sounded. We had fire drills, where we all went outside to line up for a headcount, but this time it was different. Even the janitors and kitchen staff were there. Someone saw a teacher crying, and as rumors spread, the fire engines arrived.

A girl sneaked to the girls' cellar and used a lighter to set fire to a kit bag hanging on the wall. The fire got involved, but the teacher smelled the smoke, found it, and hit a breakglass point to sound the alarm. Firefighters put it out before it spread.

The building was old, full of kids, and likely not fire-resistant, so it was a close call. They found the girl straight away, and I think she was expelled. I saw her later; she had a cold, vacant look that never left me. This scared most of us. We were about ten, old enough to watch disaster shows and grasp the danger.

I have Googled her. Someone who looks like her with the same name has a responsible, respectable job now. Hopefully, she turned herself around.

From Redditor /u/Nurselennonclock:

Growing up, another kid looked at a praying mantis and whispered, "Why are you praying? Nobody will help you." He said it in a scratchy whisper.

He killed it, making me cry. Twenty-eight years later, he is in jail.

From Redditor /u/chaoticnuetral:

My roommate's kid was in the yard with me, holding a feather. He stared at me, smiling silently. Then he tried to stab my eye with the pointy end.

Thank goodness children need hand-eye coordination; his aim was low.

From Redditor /u/Froidinslip:

I babysat a four-year-old while we made dinner. I told him not to touch the boiling water. He balled his fists, looked me in the eye, and described how he would use a fork to twist my eyeball out.

I simply told him, "I want to see you try."

From Redditor /u/radioshackhead:

My cousin ran up and asked, "How many legs do spiders have?"

I said, "8".

He said, "Not anymore."

From Redditor /u/ItsACult_:

One kid in my class whispered in another language. When we asked what he said, he claimed he was cursing another kid to be killed by the saints that night. He said, "They will gouge his eyes out."

We were in second grade; this kid is still crazy.

From Redditor /u/backroundagain:

A kid whose dad was a principal lashed out violently at classmates one day and was sent to his office.

The guy tried to get him to let out his anger on pillows on his office couch. The kid tore the pillows apart, then said, this doesn't work; I need to hurt people.

From Redditor /u/Manny_the_Dog:

He worked with a child who, when angry, listed the names of people he felt wronged him in reverse chronological order, like a target list.

From Redditor /u/-Rodrigo-:

A kid in swim class almost drowned me. After I got out, I asked him why he tried to kill me. He said he thought I was someone else.

From Redditor /u/teashopfilm:

A little girl at my job drew an X in red sharpie on my hand and whispered, "X marks who's next".

From Redditor /u/pascalsgirlfriend:

My ex-husband's nephew appeared overnight, standing over his mother with scissors above his head. She woke suddenly; he said, "I thought you might want these." He was six.

My ex said the kid had no soul. He was a really creepy kid.

From Redditor /u/The_Eliza_Thornberry:

I taught a drama workshop. One kid kicked another. I pulled the kicker aside and told him to apologize.

He looked me in the eye and said, ‘I don’t know how to feel sorry’.

From Redditor /u/Zack-Black-_-:

As a kid, I had a friend whose mom had a beautiful garden. One day, they saw her bury a dead rat. She said it would act as fertilizer so the nearby flowers could grow huge.

Then he asked his mom how many flowers a guy (I assumed an adult) could fertilize.

From Redditor /u/TheUnforgiven0ne:

My six-year-old cousin said burning a body was the easiest way to hide it.

From Redditor /u/AlexatRF21:

"You have such nice hair".

A friend's six-year-old son took girls on house tours. He always ended the tour in his bedroom. He would sit the girl on his bed while standing on it and run his fingers through their hair.

At first, my then-girlfriend and I thought it was one event. Then, after a couple of beers one night, she told some friends who knew the kid. Every girl who visited that house shared the same story.

From a Redditor:

My niece enjoys seeing people suffer—falling, getting hit, crashing, etc. It makes me wonder. I know she gets this from her parents who love enjoying other people's misery.

From Redditor /u/spf1500:

A kid wrote "I hate Ms. Blank" about 50 times as the heading for his essay in like fourth grade.

He told the teacher, “I made this for you.” When she shared this story, I was not surprised. Kids have issues.