# Have You Ever Felt "The Pull"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 5, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-the-pull/566530 "2011-01-05T20:16:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-the-pull/566530/41 "2011-01-06T17:07:56Z")
**Temptation** That’s the tempting itch, the thought of death that makes a bridge abutment whisper _fly_. It’s why I keep no toasters near the bath, no rope stored on a rafter. Bottled lye stays at the store. It’s easy to eat earth or bullets, but too hard to mention why. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-the-pull/566530/42 "2011-01-06T17:19:50Z")
Sure, I totally get that urge, to throw myself off a cliff or whatever. Unless my kids are with me, then I’m way too busy imagining them falling off and holding on to their hands so they can’t. They laugh at me, but I’m saving their lives! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-the-pull/566530/43 "2011-01-06T17:29:43Z")
> [@kapri](#): > > I love in Florida now, so I haven’t experienced this in a while. I don’t get it: what does your locale for sex have to do with this? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![nikonikosuru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@nikonikosuru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikonikosuru)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-the-pull/566530/44 "2011-01-06T17:31:14Z")
The Imp of the Perverse is my backseat driver. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-the-pull/566530/45 "2011-01-06T17:35:35Z")
> [@nikonikosuru](#): > > The Imp of the Perverse is my backseat driver. At least he’s not your copilot. ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-the-pull/566530/46 "2011-01-06T17:46:02Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > “Right. Well, I have to… I have to go now, Duane, because I… I’m due back on the planet Earth.” I voted yes, but before I tell about it, this was what I was thinking as well. As a matter of fact, I watched that movie last night. 🆒 I used to work downtown, and would walk across an overpass which crossed the interstate. Even though there were high fences meant to keep jumpers from offing themselves, I often felt the urge to go splat right on the pavement some 20 feet below, or if possible, right on someone’s windshield. I kept walking until the feeling passed. For one thing, it’d be a horrible thing to do to some innocent driver. I’d ruin the person and his/her family, probably, not to mention what it’d do to my family. I’ve also felt the urge to push someone off a ledge at an overlook, or something. Never even moved my hands to do it though, nor would I. But in my mind? Sure. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-the-pull/566530/47 "2011-01-06T18:19:44Z")
[QUOTE= H.L. Mencken] Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag and begin to slit throats. [/QUOTE] I think there is a difference in the urge between doing to others or doing to yourself. (causing someone on a deserted road to go over the edge vs. driving off yourself) One, I think, is helping to keep you aware of your situation - helping you survive by showing you the possibilities of your actions. I’ll leave it to the reader to decide which. ---
**Author:** ![nikonikosuru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@nikonikosuru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikonikosuru)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-the-pull/566530/48 "2011-01-06T18:30:01Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > At least he’s not your copilot. Ahahah dammit, that was the word I was looking for! I was like “Hmm…‘shotgun’ doesn’t sound quite right and neither does ‘backseat bitch’…” ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-the-pull/566530/49 "2011-01-06T18:56:36Z")
For me, it’s not an urge. It’s the chilly sensation of contemplating the consequences. ---
**Author:** ![kapri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-the-pull/566530/50 "2011-01-06T18:58:11Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > This describes it perfectly for me. A couple times a year I drive out to the coast along some winding, mountains road and I’m always thinking to myself, “Don’t drive off the cliff. Don’t drive off the cliff.” I know I wouldn’t really do it. I don’t even want to do it, but what if I do it? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/pGtFWAivsqY/hqdefault.jpg "Great Movie Scenes - Annie Hall (1977) - Dwayne's Urge For Collision") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGtFWAivsqY) ---
**Author:** ![kapri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-the-pull/566530/51 "2011-01-06T19:03:02Z")
\*I used to work downtown, and would walk across an overpass which crossed the interstate. Even though there were high fences meant to keep jumpers from offing themselves, I often felt the urge to go splat right on the pavement some 20 feet below, or if possible, right on someone’s windshield. \* Oh noooo. I’ve never had the impulse to do that. And I guess that’s the word I should have used in the original post–impulse, not urge. Although to be honest . . . the feeling I had when I wanted to jump into the Niagara was more of an urge. Think about how cool that would be! (Until you died at the end.) ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-the-pull/566530/52 "2011-01-06T19:38:31Z")
Driving and stopped at a light and knowing that I could instantly seriously hurt or kill someone crossing the street in front of me. I also feel the pull of throwing my car keys or cell phone in the river when walking across it on a bridge or walking on the shore. ---
**Author:** ![Minnie\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-the-pull/566530/53 "2011-01-06T19:58:08Z")
It’s one of those fleeting thoughts that you know you would never act on, but still have them. IANA psychologist/psychiatrist, but I would assume it is fairly normal and nothing more than a curiosity of the human brain. Repeatedly acting on such impulses would probably be characterized as some sort of mental defect or disease, if you didn’t kill yourself first. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-the-pull/566530/54 "2011-01-06T19:59:24Z")
I never think about jumping off a cliff or bridge I only sometimes think about the car off the cliff thing But I **always** imagine putting my hands into chainsaws and the belts of running motors. I can’t walk past a table saw without thinking about cutting off my fingers. I think it comes with the excitement of totally and completely changing my life with one simple stupid move. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-the-pull/566530/55 "2011-01-06T20:31:07Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > Happens to me all the time, and it freaks me out. It’s like the urge is always there but I’m controlling it… _what if I lose control_? I get this. This is why I don’t like heights without railings. I don’t want to jump, but I’m afraid of what would happen if I lost control of that impulse to jump. > [@FuzzyOgre](#): > > Over at an aspergers forum we have a long running thread “you might be an aspie if…” and one of the ones that made me laugh referenced an impending supermeteor strike on earth. Sure, you’d die a horrible death, but wouldnt it be neat? You’re sure this isn’t “you might be an astronomer if…”? I saw a professor from my grad school on one of those “disasters” shows once, talking about gamma ray bursts. He was talking about what would happen if one happened too close to Earth, and how terrible it would be. But you could tell from his face that some part of him thought how cool it would be, too. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-the-pull/566530/56 "2011-01-07T04:08:14Z")
> [@nikonikosuru](#): > > The Imp of the Perverse is my backseat driver. Cool song lyric! Also… don`t you live near HELL, Michigan? Reckon a lotta imps be around them parts. I get this impulse quite a lot too, especially while driving. Especially as a kid, I always wanted to open the door and either jump out or at least watch everything go flying out. (This actually happened once, due to no action of my own, and unfortunately it was as every bit terrifying as I had imagined it would be exciting) I wouldn`t go as far as calling it a strong urge, but it`s definitely something that takes effort (or rather conscious non-effort) to put out of the mind. It`s part what-if, part fascination of the sheer simplicity of such a terrible act, and part perverse desire for self-annihilation… what a fascinating world we live in! ---
**Author:** ![Rala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Rala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rala)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-the-pull/566530/57 "2011-01-07T06:38:00Z")
[http://xkcd.com/706/](http://xkcd.com/706/) I’ve felt this “call of the void” (I like that phrase) too. The impulse to throw myself off a dam or into the path of a train, to drive straight into a wall, to cut my finger instead of the carrot I’m slicing. The most recent one that’s been bugging me is that when I’m shaving my armpits I think about taking the razor to my nipples instead. I know that I really _don’t_ want to know what any of these things are like, and I’d never follow through with the urge … but what if I did? It’d only take a momentary slip … ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-the-pull/566530/58 "2011-01-07T11:18:12Z")
> [@Rala](#): > > The most recent one that’s been bugging me is that when I’m shaving my armpits I think about taking the razor to my nipples instead. Of all the impulsive and violent urges mentioned in this thread, this is the only one to make me cry out in horror. ---
**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-the-pull/566530/59 "2011-01-07T12:45:05Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > I saw a professor from my grad school on one of those “disasters” shows once, talking about gamma ray bursts. He was talking about what would happen if one happened too close to Earth, and how terrible it would be. But you could tell from his face that some part of him thought how cool it would be, too. Haha! Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![nikonikosuru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@nikonikosuru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikonikosuru)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-the-pull/566530/60 "2011-01-07T13:33:05Z")
> [@Autolycus](#): > > Cool song lyric! Also… don`t you live near HELL, Michigan? Reckon a lotta imps be around them parts. Nah, more on the east side, about 20 minutes from Detroit. And believe me, there are a lot of perverse imps here! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-the-pull/566530.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-the-pull/566530.md?page=4)