through on that threat, and, as justice would have it, it was her own children who wound up at the center for delinquents, within six weeks.
5
MOB PSYCHOLOGY
GERTRUDE WRIGHT had a sense of timing that could turn child’s play into sadism. A psychologically passive woman among her peers, she had a way with children—an evil way. For whatever motive, she was able to mobilize children’s play energy to serve her own dark purposes with Sylvia Likens. In this sordid venture, she was ably seconded by her aide-de-camp, Paula, who had become extremely jealous of Sylvia.
What started as horseplay turned out to be quite rough on the wretched Likens girl. One popular household sport at 3850 East New York Street in the autumn of 1965 was judo. The children practiced judo flips on one another; the mattress on the floor provided a handy landing mat.
Paula, Stephanie, Coy and Sylvia were playing the game one day; and when Coy flipped Sylvia, he missed the mattress. That was fun, and it set the pattern from then on. Coy later found the judo flip to be an effective form of punishment when he believed Sylvia had questioned Stephanie’s virtue.
Sylvia was a flipper too, but she always managed to come out on the short end of things. For example, there was the day Jimmy leaped on her back for a promised piggy-back ride. Sylvia, surprised, exercised her new skill to flip the boy on the floor. But Jimmy had kidney trouble, and his sister Shirley naturally thought it mean to toss him on his back. She slapped Sylvia. Sylvia did not slap back. Mrs. Wright and the children learned to take advantage of her reluctance to fight back.
Pudgy, whiny-voiced Anna Siscoe, 13, found herself in a fight with Sylvia the first of September. When it was all over, she realized it was Mrs. Wright who had caused the fight and encouraged it.
Anna originally liked Sylvia, as did nearly all those who knew her. But she did not appreciate the remarks Sylvia was supposed to have made about her mother. Mrs. Wright told the Siscoe girl, “Sylvia said your mother goes out with all sorts of men for $5.” Anna slapped and kicked the unresisting Sylvia, then dug in her fingernails and scraped the length of Sylvia’s back.
Other children moved to break up the fight, but Mrs. Wright called out, “Let them fight their own fight. Get up, Sylvia.” The girl kicked Sylvia in the abdomen; Sylvia writhed and clutched her belly, moaning, “Oh, my baby!” It appeared that Mrs. Wright had convinced her she was pregnant. After the fight, Mrs. Wright graciously applied Merthiolate to Sylvia’s wounds.
Fights with Judy Duke and Paula and Stephaniehad similar origin and encouragement. A pretty 12-year-old blonde with a lagging I.Q., Judy slapped and kicked Sylvia when told by Mrs. Wright that Sylvia had called her a bitch.
Paula was choking Sylvia once in September. Gertrude pulled her daughter off twice, then assumed an air of indifference. “Just let them fight; it’s their fight,” she said. Paula had been told that Sylvia had spread rumors she was a whore.
Sylvia’s supposedly best friend in the house, Stephanie, also went along with the rumor-fed mob psychology. Told by just about everyone that Sylvia had been bad, Stephanie took it upon herself to apply the paddle.
Before long, the mob psychology had turned it into a game. Paula would club Sylvia in the head with whatever she could find—hair-spray cans, dishes, bottles; as soon as Stephanie would grab one weapon away, Paula would grab another one. One evening at dinner, Paula tossed a soft drink bottle across the table, striking Sylvia in the hand.
Gertrude’s aim was more accurate. Upstairs, she plunked Sylvia in the head with a bottle. Although Gertrude’s special talent was in egging children into bullying Sylvia, she was not above grappling with the girl herself. She doubled her fists like a boxer, and punched the girl repeatedly. Sylvia dared not fight back.
One of Gertrude’s complaints against
5
MOB PSYCHOLOGY
GERTRUDE WRIGHT had a sense of timing that could turn child’s play into sadism. A psychologically passive woman among her peers, she had a way with children—an evil way. For whatever motive, she was able to mobilize children’s play energy to serve her own dark purposes with Sylvia Likens. In this sordid venture, she was ably seconded by her aide-de-camp, Paula, who had become extremely jealous of Sylvia.
What started as horseplay turned out to be quite rough on the wretched Likens girl. One popular household sport at 3850 East New York Street in the autumn of 1965 was judo. The children practiced judo flips on one another; the mattress on the floor provided a handy landing mat.
Paula, Stephanie, Coy and Sylvia were playing the game one day; and when Coy flipped Sylvia, he missed the mattress. That was fun, and it set the pattern from then on. Coy later found the judo flip to be an effective form of punishment when he believed Sylvia had questioned Stephanie’s virtue.
Sylvia was a flipper too, but she always managed to come out on the short end of things. For example, there was the day Jimmy leaped on her back for a promised piggy-back ride. Sylvia, surprised, exercised her new skill to flip the boy on the floor. But Jimmy had kidney trouble, and his sister Shirley naturally thought it mean to toss him on his back. She slapped Sylvia. Sylvia did not slap back. Mrs. Wright and the children learned to take advantage of her reluctance to fight back.
Pudgy, whiny-voiced Anna Siscoe, 13, found herself in a fight with Sylvia the first of September. When it was all over, she realized it was Mrs. Wright who had caused the fight and encouraged it.
Anna originally liked Sylvia, as did nearly all those who knew her. But she did not appreciate the remarks Sylvia was supposed to have made about her mother. Mrs. Wright told the Siscoe girl, “Sylvia said your mother goes out with all sorts of men for $5.” Anna slapped and kicked the unresisting Sylvia, then dug in her fingernails and scraped the length of Sylvia’s back.
Other children moved to break up the fight, but Mrs. Wright called out, “Let them fight their own fight. Get up, Sylvia.” The girl kicked Sylvia in the abdomen; Sylvia writhed and clutched her belly, moaning, “Oh, my baby!” It appeared that Mrs. Wright had convinced her she was pregnant. After the fight, Mrs. Wright graciously applied Merthiolate to Sylvia’s wounds.
Fights with Judy Duke and Paula and Stephaniehad similar origin and encouragement. A pretty 12-year-old blonde with a lagging I.Q., Judy slapped and kicked Sylvia when told by Mrs. Wright that Sylvia had called her a bitch.
Paula was choking Sylvia once in September. Gertrude pulled her daughter off twice, then assumed an air of indifference. “Just let them fight; it’s their fight,” she said. Paula had been told that Sylvia had spread rumors she was a whore.
Sylvia’s supposedly best friend in the house, Stephanie, also went along with the rumor-fed mob psychology. Told by just about everyone that Sylvia had been bad, Stephanie took it upon herself to apply the paddle.
Before long, the mob psychology had turned it into a game. Paula would club Sylvia in the head with whatever she could find—hair-spray cans, dishes, bottles; as soon as Stephanie would grab one weapon away, Paula would grab another one. One evening at dinner, Paula tossed a soft drink bottle across the table, striking Sylvia in the hand.
Gertrude’s aim was more accurate. Upstairs, she plunked Sylvia in the head with a bottle. Although Gertrude’s special talent was in egging children into bullying Sylvia, she was not above grappling with the girl herself. She doubled her fists like a boxer, and punched the girl repeatedly. Sylvia dared not fight back.
One of Gertrude’s complaints against
Similar Books
Butterfly Fish
Irenosen Okojie
For Love of Charley
Katherine Allred
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
Suzann Ledbetter
Into Oblivion (Book 4)
Shawn E. Crapo
Afterlife
Joey W. Hill
One Night With Morelli
Kim Lawrence
The Garden of Unearthly Delights
Alex Connor
The Unlikely Spy
Sarah Woodbury
The Last Girl
Stephan Collishaw
In My Sister's Shoes
Sinéad Moriarty