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October 31, 2007

My Halloween tradition

America has its scary Halloween tradition of overeating and general gluttonizing. The Castro has its scary Halloween tradition of stabbies and shooties. And now I, too, have a scary Halloween tradition of being yelled at by a terrifying Weird Sister who is just as creepy but much less coherent than the witches of Macbeth.

This tradition began when I lived in my studio on 17th and Market. In the weeks leading up to Halloween I was frequently woken in the darksome night by a homeless lady yelling in the alley outside my window. I described it this way:

Last night my schizophrenic homeless friend spent an hour (between 3 and 4 in the morning) screaming her mantra outside my apartment ("HolyshitHolyshitHolyshit...") When I say "my friend," what I mean is "the disembodied voice who comes along every few days to wake me up and creep the shit out of me."

On Halloween night of that year she really lost her shit and I think was actually trapped in the alley for a little while until she figured out how to open the door.

Now it is a few years on, I have moved house, and she has learned new tricks. As I type this, she is standing on the small patch of Market Street I can see from my window, yelling her head off.

"I didn't abduct you! I didn't rape you! I didn't leave you in a bucket of ice!"

It goes on like that. I'm trying not to listen, because it's terrifying on so many levels. Like, where is this story coming from? Who did this happen to? Why does she have to face my building and look up at my window while she yells this?

I realize that being freaked out by a poor, mentally disturbed woman who is obviously having a really hard time of things is probably not the best reaction to have. I still don't know what is the best reaction to have. Can you call social services for this kind of thing? Would that be at all helpful for her? I just don't know. But at least I'm maintaining my personal Halloween tradition, and I guess that's something.

Posted by didofoot at October 31, 2007 03:52 PM

Comments

is it the same woman?

Posted by: tracy at November 1, 2007 02:02 PM

If this person is as disruptive as your story suggests, you can definitely call the police about it. I would personally use the non-emergency number and let them know that a seemingly mentally ill person is screaming outside your building and has been for a while, and could someone drive by to check on the situation. Most likely this person will be well known to the local cops, and they can at least get her to move along, if they can't do anything else to help her.

Posted by: DrMH at November 1, 2007 04:28 PM

The question then being, do you want to get her to stop being freaked out and agitated and mentally unwell, or just to stop being those things in your backyard? And if the former, is there any hope of your call making that happen, and if there isn't, is there any benefit to moving her along?

I'm not lecturing. Maybe there is a benefit, like maybe there's something about your location that has bad associations for her and makes her more agitated than she would be elsewhere. Then again, that thought, if it were me thinking it about my apartment late at night while not being distracted by yelling people, is creepy enough to kind of counteract the positive effects of peace and quiet and uninterrupted sleep. Gah! I'm going to stop now.

Posted by: Dianna at November 1, 2007 05:07 PM

Yes, the call could potentially produce some positive benefits for the crazy lady, in that police officers are well acquainted with local shelters, or, if necessary, psychiatric hospitals. In my experience they will direct people to the closest shelter, and in some cases drive them there. However, whether or not the person is capable or willing the accept the help is frequently in question.

At any rate, as a psychologist I would feel very comfortable with the ethics of making the call.

Posted by: DrMH at November 5, 2007 10:02 PM

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