Registered: Jul 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 11770

BBC story
A bizarre new service offering 'designer kidnapping' for thrill-seeking New Yorkers is dividing opinion across the city.

Brock Enright, a 25-year-old artist, has created a business where people pay him thousands of dollars a time to be violently abducted.

Around 30 people have used the service so far, and dozens of other personalised 'kidnap plans' are in preparation.



One of my favourite ones is the guy who loves small places. When I abduct him he's always under his bed

Each kidnap is different, to cater for the particular tastes of the individual.

Clients are mostly bound and gagged and taken away for a period of incarceration that lasts for hours, or even days.

"It's about stepping outside of yourself. I wanted to see what I could do," said Jason, a carpenter, in his mid-20s, who has gone through the kidnap experience three times already.

"I just wanted to see if it was possible for me to be in a situation like that."

Thrill of the unknown

Many clients are abducted in the street, day or night.

Some wake up at home to find Mr Enright's operatives - or "birds" as he calls them - looming over them.

"One of my favourite ones is the guy who loves small places. When I abduct him he's always under his bed, says Mr Enright.



"He wants to be taken out of his home always."

Psychotherapist Sheena Hankin believes there could be therapeutic value in kidnapping for fun - and would even try it herself.

"We're built for it. It gives us a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.

"Having had enough courage to go through something, when you get off the rollercoaster you feel really good about yourself.

"When you come out of this kidnapping - you've survived it," she said.

Kidnap "victims" agree a time-frame for their abduction, but the thrill comes in not quite knowing when the "birds" will strike.

Booming business

Brock Enright says that the profile of his average client is changing. More men are coming to him keen on trying to evade their kidnappers.



It can cause psychological damage, because it gives the impression to the person who participates that they can do anything


The danger may lie in not knowing when the hunted will cross the line and start fighting back.

There's nothing illegal about the business, but the New York Police Department is not happy about it.

"It's not something we condone," said a police spokesman.

"Something like this tends to desensitise people - especially if you find yourself in a real-life negative situation down the road."

The director of New York's Institute Against Violence, Professor Gerald Landsberg, agrees:


Jason has experienced the ordeal three times

"It can cause psychological damage, because it gives the impression to the person who participates that they can do anything.

"They're 'super-people' which can lead to other kinds of activities that are probably not in their best interests, or people that they know."

'Destructive activity'

Other care organisations are also angry.

The New York social workers' association says it's a destructive activity to be "enjoying" at a time when children continue to be regularly abducted from the street with tragic consequences.

Surprisingly however, there have not been any cases so far of outraged New Yorkers intervening in a kidnap scenario on Manhattan, despite the fact that many are carried out on city streets during the day.

As the whole business began initially as a piece of video installation art, before he realised its commercial potential, Brock Enright is well aware of the reason.

"People don't seem to bother us because they see a video camera - maybe two or three cameras going. Then they say - oh, it's a movie."

However Mr Enright admits to concerns that the service is beginning get out of hand and is becoming too violent.

"Right now I am worrying. I'm thinking about it a lot."

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Registered: Mar 2002
Location: Mountains
Posts: 4689

this reminds me of that movie "the game"

it actually sounds kinda fun.. I think I'd get off just from the waiting for it to occur..

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Registered: Nov 2001
Location: Colorado
Posts: 441

i was gonna say the same thing Sabine...good call

good movie to

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Registered: Jul 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 11770

So yeah, should I do this?

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Registered: Mar 2002
Location: Mountains
Posts: 4689

it would be quite a trip I'm guessing.. which is always good..

if I had the money I'd definately be tempted to..

it's a thousand bucks though right?
(and umm aren't you still job hunting?)

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Registered: Jul 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 11770

No, I mean start my own kidnapping service.

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Registered: Mar 2002
Location: Mountains
Posts: 4689

can I be first?

a free trial run type thing?

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Registered: Mar 2002
Location: Mountains
Posts: 4689

or fuck.. actually that would be one of the coolest jobs I can imagine..

I'll join you.

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Registered: Jul 2002
Location: Chelmsford, MA
Posts: 548

I wonder how they ensure that the person requested it for themself... think of how badly someone could freak out if some evil-minded acquaintance ordered an abduction on them.

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Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Shreveport, LA
Posts: 3786

quote:

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Originally posted by zornkugel
I wonder how they ensure that the person requested it for themself... think of how badly someone could freak out if some evil-minded acquaintance ordered an abduction on them.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: my mother's bloody womb
Posts: 7126

i think the real danger involved is when this business gets enough coverage so that it's considered "normal" for people to be abducted on the street. just think- anyone could have a friend hold a video camera and "film" a real abduction, and people will just think it's part and parcel of this guy's business. that's pretty scary.

__________________

[Ignore Sig]

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Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Baba Kueria
Posts: 3146

A few years back, some friends and I toyed with a similar idea, only our idea was home invasion with armed robbery, rather than kidnapping. The fact that someone is actually doing this now, and getting away with it... I find incredible.

Only in America...

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location: library
Posts: 19562

Sign my ass up, then I'll come help you run yours, I wanna abduct people.

-m

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Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Baba Kueria
Posts: 3146

heh.. I should clarify... our idea was not to charge people to break into their houses and abuse them... rather, there'd be a family of actors who's be the victims, and the customers would be the ones doing the break and enter. We'd supply the balaclavas, the shotguns, the blank rounds, the black van, the victims, and some loose direction on the scene.

Sadly, 'Home Invasion Inc.' would never be allowed in this country.

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Registered: Jul 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 11770

If the "victims" are actors, why not?

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26383

quote:

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Originally posted by morgana
i think the real danger involved is when this business gets enough coverage so that it's considered "normal" for people to be abducted on the street. just think- anyone could have a friend hold a video camera and "film" a real abduction, and people will just think it's part and parcel of this guy's business. that's pretty scary.

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Registered: Jul 2001
Location: Norfolk, VA
Posts: 4678

Actually this sort of thing would work beautifully in New York, the city of people who don't give a shit. I hear the followup service, which includes your choice of aggressive sodomy or near-drowning in the middle of the street while bored New Yorkers watch, is already drawing worldess mewls of anticipation from the sort of submissive weirdos who are into this kind of thing.

Sabine, I thought you said you were on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from the kind of personality who would dig on this (working for the company, I mean). Thinking of some personal growth or what?

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location:
Posts: 3030

quote:

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Originally posted by squee
.......the sort of submissive weirdos who are into this kind of thing.

Sabine, I thought you said you were on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from the kind of personality who would dig on this (working for the company, I mean). Thinking of some personal growth or what?

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: MadCo
Posts: 1801

Wow, where did that come from???

Melesse

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location: library
Posts: 19562

She's a bit sensitive about the 'submissive' thing.

-m

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Registered: Mar 2002
Location: Mountains
Posts: 4689

quote:

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Originally posted by squee
Sabine, I thought you said you were on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from the kind of personality who would dig on this (working for the company, I mean). Thinking of some personal growth or what?

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Registered: Apr 2001
Location: 0.50
Posts: 9355

so nymbus is a submissive weirdo? or is she a dominating weirdo, sticking up for her weaker half?

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Upstate NY
Posts: 10121

She's my submissive weirdo.

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