The global economic crisis turned Gothic horror in reality, as a group of retirees kidnapped and tortured their investment advisor. This British account reads like a revenge fantasy for 2009:
The furious investors got medieval on Amburn's hide. The details are right out of Gothic, pulp, or suspense fiction. A sample:
Unless the global economy magically turns around, expect more stories like this. And anticipations: higher security measures, more concerns about peasants with torches retirees.
(thanks to my dark-eyed wife!)
"I was led into the cellar," recalled Mr. Amburn, "I saw a folding bed and a WC reserved for me. They immediately went on about their money. I told them what I had told them before, that due to market conditions, unfortunately it was gone.
"I was struck. Again and again they threatened to kill me. The fear of death was indescribable. I never thought I would make it out alive."
"I was struck. Again and again they threatened to kill me. The fear of death was indescribable. I never thought I would make it out alive."
The furious investors got medieval on Amburn's hide. The details are right out of Gothic, pulp, or suspense fiction. A sample:
Two of his kidnappers are said to have hit [James Amburn] with a Zimmer frame outside his home in Speyer, western Germany, before he was bound up with duct tape, bundled into the boot of a car and driven 300 miles to the home of two of the abductors on the shores of Lake Chiemsee in Bavaria.
"I was bleeding from my eyes, nose and my mouth," he said. "But the nightmare had only just started."
During his alleged confinement in an unheated cellar, Mr Amburn, 56, claims he was burned with cigarettes, beaten, had two of his ribs broken was hit with a chair leg and chained up "like an animal."
"I was bleeding from my eyes, nose and my mouth," he said. "But the nightmare had only just started."
During his alleged confinement in an unheated cellar, Mr Amburn, 56, claims he was burned with cigarettes, beaten, had two of his ribs broken was hit with a chair leg and chained up "like an animal."
Unless the global economy magically turns around, expect more stories like this. And anticipations: higher security measures, more concerns about peasants with torches retirees.
(thanks to my dark-eyed wife!)
I'm finding it really hard to sympathize with the victim -- especially after looking up (as a North American) "Zimmer frame."
As long as the courts let white-collar criminals go free, I hope to see more of this.
Does that make me a bad person?
Posted by: HP | June 26, 2009 at 23:35
I think that's part of the dynamic, HP. People cheering on the violent, vicariously enjoying the actions.
Posted by: Bryan Alexander | June 28, 2009 at 09:27