Any child pyromaniacs around?

[pjoa09]

Well I recently discovered that serial killers used to burn things for the hell of it. Now I am no serial killer but what came to my attention was that it is what is supposed to get a psychologists attention and point out a disorder. I saw other kids on youtube video tape stuff like that and I thought it was all perfectly normal.

Which is odd because everyone assumed and I assumed that I was simply interested in fire and the way it burnt things I guess. I had this thing when I was as old as 12 and went on as long as 18.

I stopped when I moved into a condo because now there is no way I can getaway with it.


Anyone else enjoys or enjoyed burning newspapers,fire crackers, and igniting the aerosol from a deodorant can?

Is it odd?

 

[lungs]

most males i've talked to about this have gone through a stage at one point or another. i don't think its that unusual.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

Anyone else enjoys or enjoyed burning newspapers,fire crackers, and igniting the aerosol from a deodorant can?

Is it odd?

I've never been through the phase, have lit a few stuff though. I do love firecrackers, but all the good ones are illegal here. And there is not much that is cooler than a homemade flamethrower.

I don't know about the correlation or indication of a disorder, it's simply fascination for the physics of nature. Though I could see if you were detached from the effects how it could manifest in a sadistic way.

One of my cousins used to flick a lighter for no reason other than to watch the flames, not sure if he still does it, but he's pretty balanced otherwise.

 

[MissQuote]

I wonder if being basically removed from fire in modern days has any effects on the psyche. Since we've mastered the control of electricity fire is no longer an essential to our survival, yet it (fire) is something that had until recent times, just a few generations, been harnessed by humans for use for thousand upon thousands of years the world over. Up until recently everyone in human history had ample opportunity to be mesmerized by the flames on a near daily basis, does that sort of thing get into the DNA at all? The same way we have instincts to fear, say, barred teeth in a beast? I don't know. That might be a ridiculous supposition, I'm not sure I understand enough about DNA yet to make sense with all of my speculations. But I wonder, if an inclination to be drawn to flames is more natural than assumed and if there is strange consequences to not exposing our brains to the sight of them any longer, causing in turn those who do seek it out to get carried away and ignore the consequences due to some deeply ingrained deprivation.

 

[MissQuote]

Oh yeah, My house is heated by wood stove, so I play with fire nearly daily eight to nine month out of the year, the other months I make a small bonfire in the fire pit in the back yard quite frequently.

 

[A22]

It's about embracing the chaos.

 

[intpz]

I think burning shit and liking chemical reactions (for a poor teenager fire is pretty much the only chemical reaction possible to get) is different. I don't enjoy burning stuff, but I do enjoy scientific experiments.

 

[MichiganJFrog]

Used to do all of the above and more -- sunlight through a magnifying glass, the whole bit. Loved burning whatever plastic was on hand -- straws, plastic forks, etc. I'd hold one end in my hand over the fire in the fireplace, light the other end, and just wait for the drops to start falling. They made the coolest sound, just "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh," like incendiary bombs or something. This is one of those activities that's considered totally abnormal and bordering on antisocial unless you can get paid for it.

 

[intpz]

I guess INTPs don't deal well with "don't play with matches John!" kind of situations. :smiley_emoticons_mr

 

[Vrecknidj]

I worked in a hospital for three years and saw plenty of burn victims. I have no interest in recreational fires.

 

[Hadoblado]

I played with fire because it has different properties to the other things in my childhood. It was not an uncommon thing to do, and I never caused any damage to property or people.

Now that I think of it, my Mother is a burn victim, she has scarring over 70% of her body including her face, arms, and chest region. Was it inconsiderate of me to play with fire?

Semi-off topic: in high-school someone was suspended for lighting the fire-alarm on fire.

 

[Cheeseumpuffs]

My brother and I lit a huge pile of leaves on fire with a can of WD-40 and a magnifying glass.


That was pretty cool.

 

[pjoa09]

Oh nice.

I thought if there is a wikipedia page considering it is a disorder that effects 1% then it must be something rare but it isn't.

WHAT IF : BECAUSE INTP IS CHILD PYROMANIAC.

But anyways, yeah. Thank that fact, I was partially freaking out because no one else liked fire like I did and Wikipedia had this page and all.

My recreational fires weren't huge. Often quite controlled. Although I must admit some ideas with fire crackers weren't that great. I had a rocket upside down inside a glass bottle. No one was hurt but thinking back that was pretty much a proper time bomb.


And no deodorant cans have ever exploded in my hand.

I used to normally burn newspaper and stare at it. Feel the heat and watch it consume. Rubbing alcohol did quite a damn good show too.

Damn magnifying glasses never worked! It's too humid here.

Well it's all cool and largely unreported then. I guess its just a fascination with physical elements.

 

[Pilot the Cannibal]

That's actually really common for males. For serial killers, setting fires is part of the homicidal triad (bed-wetting, starting fires, and killing animals) which would indicate homicidal tendencies in young males. However, one of these alone is not enough to predict homicidal behavior, as many young males exhibit at least one or two of these characteristics. Think of all the kids that set ants on fire with magnifying glasses. Did they all turn out to be serial killers? Do all bed-wetters turn out to be serial killers? Obviously, the answer is no. My brother sets things on fire all the time. He just thinks that it "looks cool." That doesn't mean he'll become a serial killer.

I think that what is really meant to be a cause for concern is when all three are exhibited simultaneously, and in very extreme fashions. For example, an eight year old wetting the bed probably doesn't indicate serial-killing tendencies. But a 13 year old who still wets the bed every single night, who sets fires that actually cause damage (such as setting another person's garage on fire) and has strangled the family cat...yeah, that would be a cause for concern.

 

[EditorOne]

It's not whether you like fire. It's whether you like it obsessively.

And I think everyone is nibbling at the edges of the idea that having a fire and making it do what you want is a basic, everyday form of wielding something quite powerful. Those with woodstoves indulge the thing in a socially acceptable way; the kid burning leaves who accidentally burns down the garage* can find himself sent by society to spend some time with a shrink who will surely find something ominous in it.

* One of my brothers-in-law did this.

 

[crippli]

It's about embracing the chaos.

Can you elaborate what you mean?

I thought burning was good for foul stuff. As it gets sterilized.

I may have started a few small fires that needed firemen, afaik, but not sure, could have been someone else too in between.

Now a fire for food is more then enough now and then. This is my last creation. Worked fine, wood lasted a long time. Next time I may attempt at an afterburner but not sure how to go about it only with stones.

 

[pjoa09]

That's actually really common for males. For serial killers, setting fires is part of the homicidal triad (bed-wetting, starting fires, and killing animals) which would indicate homicidal tendencies in young males. However, one of these alone is not enough to predict homicidal behavior, as many young males exhibit at least one or two of these characteristics. Think of all the kids that set ants on fire with magnifying glasses. Did they all turn out to be serial killers? Do all bed-wetters turn out to be serial killers? Obviously, the answer is no. My brother sets things on fire all the time. He just thinks that it "looks cool." That doesn't mean he'll become a serial killer.

I think that what is really meant to be a cause for concern is when all three are exhibited simultaneously, and in very extreme fashions. For example, an eight year old wetting the bed probably doesn't indicate serial-killing tendencies. But a 13 year old who still wets the bed every single night, who sets fires that actually cause damage (such as setting another person's garage on fire) and has strangled the family cat...yeah, that would be a cause for concern.

Here is where it gets funny. I have done all of that to a certain extent. So I don't know if I am being overly cautious or these serial killer warnings are all bullshit.

Because I was a bed-wetter till 10 years old I think. It was almost like a notable period. Like some sort of right to passage.

I have caused damage to property due to fire and firecrackers unintentionally.

I have also killed a pet guinea pig unintentionally in some sort of retarded "experiment".

Then you have that whole INTP shit going on. Like fantasies and daydreaming. Parallel life (again not of killing). Loser and Loner, or maybe that is exclusive to me.

I mostly am spooked out by Edmund Kemper's own words.
"When I was in school, I was called a chronic daydreamer and I saw a counselor twice during junior high and high school, and that was very routine. They didn't ask me a lot of questions about myself and that was probably the most violent fantasy time I was off into."
"My frustration. My inability to communicate socially, sexually. I wasn't impotent. I was scared to death of failing in male-female relationships."

Everyone like this to a mild extent too?

Also some videos of him mentioning a 'fantastic rage'. That bit too. Sometimes I just get so pissed off I have to punch things with so much energy and at times lasts for days. Then I think back at it and I am like 'what the hell was that all about?".

The link to the words.


But I don't have that urge to psychotically have sex with rotting corpses or harm anyone.

So its either utter bullshit or I am nitpicking and like a very evil lawyer spewing out events and calling an innocent guilty.

Or just being an introvert is serial killer-ish.

 

[KMaki]

I was reading this going "whoa, what a bunch of weirdos, I sure didn't..." - and was genuinely surprised when my memory threw at me an image where a father of a friend next door grabbed away a lighter I had been using to set fire on some bushes on a dry, semi-forested plot nearby. Stomping them out of course, but still. Just to see what it looked like, or felt, I guess. If I had to guess, I'd say I was around ten years of age at the time.

There seemed to be a common interest in fire among the neighbourhood boys around that time. Another neighbour family's son managed to burn down their garage. Luckily nobody got hurt. That boy is, as far as I know, now a very stable, normal man.

 

[The Gopher]

Maybe be cause I live in Australia but I went camping a lot. The motto was "BURN EVERYTHING YOU CAN FIND" most enjoyable... that said I am also entranced by water and waterfalls. Would sleep outside next to the waterfalls sometimes.

 

[ach003]

I admit I have dabbled in pyromania. When I was younger I would sit in the park setting leaves and paper on fire...also plastic bottles, etc etc. One time, I was in an alley behind a shopping center that was lined with bushes. I lit one of the bushes on fire and, it being a hot and dry summer day, it quickly caught more of the brush on fire and started smoking heavily....my friend I was with at the time and I just hauled ass out of there and hid in the tube slide at the park. We heard the cops and fire truck, but never got caught. Crazy times.

 

[Words]

um...It's a kid thing. The entire neighborhood children played with fire. We even made this fire shooting can-thing for massacring anthills. Then we experimented with other forms of flame-artillery. My thumb burnt in pain for weeks.

There is no type relevance, except "Pe" is somehow more pronounced in childhood. I don't really understand it well, but I know that the folks who are described as "adult outside, kid inside" are mostly Pe types, and the opposite "child outside, adult inside" are Pi-types or Te types or bah, I don't know. I don't care anymore. -_-"

 

[pjoa09]

I guess the serial killer signs are bullshit.

This pyromaniac phase lasted only as long as I saw I could do it without damaging someone else's property and be controlled. In fact I did my big ones only near a water hose.

Did you all feel satisfaction watching the fire rage?


Best one has to be the paint spray can and lighter. I stopped because I was scared it might blow up in my hands one day if I got it in the wrong angle or something.

 

[RedN]

As a kid:

I used to love making paper houses and paper people and then burn them.

I used to set my toys on fire, pretending tehy were killing each other, its war ok and fire makes the game more realistic?

I used to set ant colonies on fire.

I once set a trashcan on fire, inside my aunts room coz i hated her so much.

Add:
now would i enjoy seeing a real house burn, .... ehm... yeah? but i wont burn a house, im not stupid...