It has been three years since the last overt harassment I'd received from Dan Schulz, Scott Wirkus, and the handful of followers who called themselves the "Phreak Army." This isn't proof that they'll never do anything again; there have been gaps in the past of as much as six months between their hostile acts. But it is encouraging, and this is a good time to reflect on what I've learned about their mindset. It's still bewildering that someone whom I'd never met could develop an obsession about me that lasted five years. Schulz and Wirkus obsessed about other people during that period, but it appears, from the evidence available to me, that their hatred of me was the dominant feature of their lives from 1996 to 2001.
There's no point in going over their specific actions again, except as necessary to illustrate a certain type of personality. Check my existing pages on their actions for background. What I'm trying to do here is to develop a perspective, not to pick at my old scabs. The line between the two can be very fine.
An online article, "Types of Stalker" by Dr. Lorraine Sheridan of the University of Leicester, sheds more light on their actions than anything I've seen before. She describes several categories of stalker. Of these categories, the "sadistic stalker" fits Schulz and Wirkus startlingly well.
A few of the many points which fit (English requires the use of either a gender or clumsy circumlocutions, but Dr. Sheridan recognizes that the stalker is not necessarily a "he" or the victim a "she"):
The advice which Dr. Sheridan gives also fits closely: "acknowledge from outset that the stalker activity will be very difficult to eradicate; acknowledge that there is no point whatsoever in appealing to the offender - indeed will exacerbate the problem."
Another piece of advice by Dr. Sheridan matches up with my experience: "the victim should carefully consider relocation. Geographical emphasis being less on distance per se, and more on where the offender is least able to find the victim." Since Schulz and Wirkus never attempted to contact me in person, though they did invite me to meet them, geography wasn't a factor; but "virtual relocation" by setting up email filters to minimize their capability for harassment and later getting an unlisted number so they couldn't call me, apparently has contributed to the long hiatus since their last acts of harassment.
Of the other categories, "delusional fixation stalking" is the closest to my experience, but there are marked differences. This type of stalking is overtly sexual or romantic in nature; that wasn't the case with Schulz and Wirkus, and their targeting phone sex operators when impersonating me isn't really the same thing. In noting the difference, Dr. Sheridan refer's to the delusional stalker's "stated belief that the victim wants to be with him (cf. sadistic stalkers' similar statements but with sinister twists such as 'in heaven' or simply as a means of accentuating the victim's feelings of despair that nothing works)." Schulz's statement on eyada.com that he wanted to "bury the hatchet -- in [my] head" is that kind of sadistic-stalker twist.
While simply describing a category isn't that much of a step toward understanding, there's a certain comfort in knowing that this type of case has been encountered and categorized before. The differences -- particularly Schulz and Wirkus's own delusions of fame, and their constructing the harassment in the framework of an Internet "comedy show" -- are also significant. Their ability to find scum with money who saw harassment as a niche in the dot-com boom made them perhaps unique for a time.
I certainly hope that Shulz and Wirkus's obsession with me has ended, but there are no assurances of that short of a coroner's report. Whether it is over or not, any shreds of understanding help me to deal with what has happened before.
Last updated July 25, 2004
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