Your Language Gives You Away

Using computerized text analysis, scientists are able to help police identify psychopathic murderers by analyzing the word choices they use when talking about their crimes. Researcher Jeff Hancock found that "the words of these criminals match their personalities, which reflect selfishness, detachment from their crimes and emotional "flatness."

Psychopathic murderers make identifiable word choices–beyond their conscious control–when talking about their crimes. But they aren’t the words you would THINK that killers would use– the researchers found that psychopaths used more conjunctions such as "because" or "since," and used twice as many words relating to their physical needs. While these criminals were studied after they were caught, it was important to identify the ones who are psychopaths, because this is a condition that is not curable and thus they should be incarcerated for longer periods of time, since as soon as they get out of jail, they are almost guaranteed to strike again.

Words are so important to people who come to this website. Some of the most important words Whitley ever heard came from the Master of the Key, who imparted huge amounts of wisdom when he burst into Whitley’s hotel room in 1998. The Key is now back in stock in the Whitley Strieber Collection. Why buy it from us? If you do, it comes with an autographed bookplate designed by Whitley!

And if you truly love words, you’ll want to be among the FIRST to read two new books by Whitley Strieber: "Solving the Communion Enigma" and "Melody Burning." Once you have purchased "Enigma", you’ll need to either forward the e-receipt or send as a jpg, screenshot (etc.) to the publisher. You will then receive an autoresponse that will include a link to a page where you can input your address. Tarcher will send a special "Communion Enigma" bookplate out to the recipients shortly before publication date. To learn more, click here.