Angry Mike sighting last night in Powderhouse Park

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

I had my first encounter with the Yelling Guy last night, crossing through Powderhouse Park. Someone had warned me about him by name sometime recently, but I couldn't remember it, though now I see from previous comm posts (thank you, tag "local characters"!) that it is Mike.

I didn't see or hear him until I rounded the corner on the path and came up behind him. He turned around, saw me, and that's when the yelling started. Mostly alternating sequences of "Get [the fuck] outta here!", mumble mumble, "... Whore!"

(Maybe it was the motorcycle jacket.)

... I understand that he's sometimes been physically aggressive with passersby, but in a sad way I got almost the opposite vibe: like I could walk right through where he was standing. Like there was no substance to him, no resistance, no personality, only a rogue burst of discorporated sound and fury fading into the night. Is this what it's like to see ghosts?

His nose was running. I felt sad. I passed him and walked on.

I will have to try addressing him by name next time. I hear that gives the user power over angry spirits.

Comments

[dphilli1.livejournal.com]

I've heard that if you flash him the peace sign he gets happy.

[zaarwin-devolve.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I'm not 100% sure it was him but I rounded a corner once and saw a guy coming towards me who looked an awful lot like him. I flashed a peace sign and said, "Hey Mike." The guy seemed pleased.

Not that I fear Mike or whatever but the effort to get around the annoyance is minimal, so why not try?

[jimmyfergus.livejournal.com]

The peace sign didn't work for me when he was following me and my three year old son home, getting verbally aggressive.

Nothing worked, in the end we just retreated into our house, and thankfully he didn't follow us onto the porch. My son was pretty upset and talked about it for days.

[spacegirlkate.livejournal.com]

Sometimes it does, but I flashed him a peace sign once when I was in a rush, and he cursed at me and whacked me -- not hard, just enough to startle me.

[elements.livejournal.com]

True. Also often just a genuine smile *at* him (not through him) will do it. Sometimes I think all he needs is to be acknowledged as existing by other human beings.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

My latest Mike encounter featured him trying to pick a fistfight with me for no reason. I just very sternly told him that it was unacceptable and he wandered into traffic. I wound up needing to call the cops before he picked a fight with somebody who didn't know who he was.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

For me it's only a problem when I'm waiting at the bus stop, because I can't just walk away. I recently had a nasty 10-minute wait where he kept coming back to call me a fucking whore over and over.

[frankmcs.livejournal.com]

I walk a 4 mile loop around Somerville almost daily and have encountered Mike frequently at Powderhouse. It usually alternates between us tossing each other the peace sign or him yelling obscenities at me. When he tries to talk with me, I take off my headphones and try to figure out what he is saying. I think he might be deaf, because of the way he talks. He is really hard to understand and he gets very agitated if you don't know what he is saying. He has never got physical with me, just yells obscenities. I think he is mostly harmless. I'd really like to learn more about him.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

he's not deaf. my husband and i have both had actual conversations with him. if you catch him in the right mood and are polite yourself, he's fine to talk with, though he does seem to have some pretty bad speech impediments.

sometimes he yells obscenities at me too. i usually say something like "take care, mike" and go on my way.

[bobobb.livejournal.com]

I just saw him this morning. He flashed me the peace sign first, seemed mellowed out. I get a little worried about him because it is flippin' cold out and he is just in a sweatshirt. Also, I often see him running into traffic. Who is responsible for his care?

[whitefire.livejournal.com]

He will leave you alone if you give him cigarettes.

Mike "Shouty Guy"

[zymurgist70.livejournal.com]

He's been largely harmless towards me, but I'm a 6'0", 210 lb. dude, so maybe he doesn't want to get physical with me. Not that I'd hurt him or anything. He's clearly suffering.

I've seen Mike around Powederhouse, Union and Davis for the past 15 years. I have found the peace sign works, especially if he flashes it at you first. I don't think he's going to hurt anyone, but it must be disturbing to meet him for the first time late at night at a bus stop.

Cheers,
Joe