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Did Anyone Have a Henry Bowers in Their Life?

posted 8 years ago by scottberman-68696
25 replies | jump to latest

I've never had a bully in my life quite as sadistic as Henry Bowers, but I did know a kid who was similar to him back in high school. The kid never went to class so he either dropped out or got expelled, and then managed to fail out of a trade school for welding. He was racist beyond all belief and hated anyone who was not white, and a friend told me his family was the same way. He had been known to make racist comments during classes and end up getting kicked out. If he was drunk or high enough he was known to actually even threaten minorities before. Eventually he was arrested for something having to do with drugs, and then got sent to a rehab. I remember the day he came back to town he started doing heavy drugs again, and he told me he went around with random people slashing tires the night before while high. A friend also told me this kid went around a local cemetery pushing over headstones, which ended up making the news. I remember hanging around playing video games with this guy, and he would say things like: "Hey, where's that stupid cat? I want to set it on fire!" Henry Bowers did not do drugs in the book, but this kid had many similarities to him besides that. It's very unpleasant being around people like this, but I feel like many of us have had the experience.

[–] bossdog677 8 years ago

Larry Ellis

[–] ThulsaDoom88 8 years ago

yes. Unfortunately there were a lot of Bowers types around where I went to school. I had a bully when I was very young. about 5 or 6 I was at the time. He chased me from school (I lived a stones throw away from the school) He was very Bowers like. I discovered my version of 'The Losers' at the same time. We were very similar, even built a dam! and we had a Pennywise sort of monster we believed in as well ( we called him/it the Crowman) It's probably why I have such an affinity with, IT. There are so many similarities to my personal life.

~Stop Now Before I Kill You All.A Word To The Wise From Your Friend Pennywise~

[–] chrisdamato87 8 years ago

Many. I had a knife pulled on me at a fair once

[–] killa-kael 8 years ago

I did. James Snow. Wanna know the most messed up part? All of us kids including him watched the It miniseries and all knew about it. It was almost like being in the movie. Thats why Im excited for this film. Nostalgia and memories

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jackrmoody 8 years ago

No one kid, but I know some people now (I'm still in high school) that has aspects of Bowers (racism, drug use, weapons), and you could probably take traits of each of them to create Henry.

[–] Occult_Detective 8 years ago

There had been an older kid in my old neighborhood who was something like a bully, though he was more like Patrick than Henry, honestly. He would brag about killing animals and seemed obsessed with talking about committing his "first murder" way back when. While he never really bullied me, per se, I knew I didn't like him and thus kept my distance. I actually looked him up online recently, and it looks like he's been in jail repeated times for being busted with serious drugs. Anyway, he lived down the street from me and my best friend at the time, Peter, said that he would always threaten that he was going "to kill him." Which, reminded me of Henry Bowers 'I'll kill you all!" line from the miniseries when I was younger. But I never really had a personal bully. Was in quite a few fights, though.

"Stay Bloody!" - Seth from Blood Puddle Reviews

[–] t3cii-1 8 years ago

Yikes. That kid sounds like a psychopath.

[–] rmaddox96 8 years ago

Very much so

[–] Occult_Detective 8 years ago

Yeah, he definitely was disturbed. This was way back when we were just in elementary school, so I never witnessed anything too horrible back then. But there were always rumors about that kid going around, that he had been in a mental institution, or had already been through Juvi, which is why he was 12 and still in the fifth grade.

The only real encounter I had with him was once at lunch when he came up and played "eeny meeny miny moe" between my friend and I, and landed on me, claiming he was going to fight me at recess. Didn't happen though, I guess he'd forgotten about it by time lunch was over Lol. But yeah, everyone seemed to have rumors about him, like that he pierced his own ear with a belt buckle or that he had a tattoo, that kind of stuff. Really, I think that kid was more of a talker than anything else. He liked to brag about doing all this horrible stuff, but only rarely did he ever actually get caught doing anything of the likes. Once when I'd had a tent set up in my back yard, we found it with a huge hole cut through it, and we all kind of suspected it'd been him who did it, but of course he would never admit to it.

Something about that kid that cracked me up though, was that instead of carrying a gun, or a knife, or anything like that... People said he carried nunchucks with him. I thought that was a rumor too, until one day on my way home from the library, I saw him swinging them around. Sure, nunchucks can be a serious weapon, but I just always found that slightly weird. Like, if he were to make an attempt to attack someone, out would come the nunchucks? Lol, when I saw the movie "Get Over It" there's a scene when one character pulls out nunchucks and the main guy yells "Who keeps NUNCHUCKS in their pants?!" and that had reminded me of him and probably the funniest part of that film to me.

"Stay Bloody!" - Seth from Blood Puddle Reviews

[–] sflowers539 8 years ago

All schools have bullies and always will, but I think there are very, very few out there close to the caliber of Bowers. Our bullies stripped your books like a football walking down the hallway, made fun of you on the bus, threw paper balls or fruit snacks at you, and stuff like that. Nobody ever had their arm broke, a M80 tossed at their head, face rubbed in gravel until it bleed and things like that.

[–] bender-56241 8 years ago

Yeah I had my Bullies, but I learned one punch will take care of that.

One kid tried to say I was a Homosexual. I ignored him, but when he tripped me while I was getting off the bus, one punch to the left side of face solved that. The principal was not sympathetic to him. He told him you never question a man's sexuality and not expect to get hit. He then suspended him for 3 days.

Another kid tried to bully me while he was sitting behind me on the bus. He put his head between the window and the seat on my left side. He was saying some nasty things to me. I tried to ignore him, but he was starting to piss me off. Out of nowhere my left hand swings at him. I am facing forward he is behind me with his head between the window and the seat. I am not aware that my left hand did anything because I do not feel my hand make contact with his face. My friend sitting next to me says I just hit the guy behind me and now this 14 year old kid is crying. My left hand had a mind of it's own.

[–] BrunoAntony 8 years ago

Yeah I had my Bullies, but I learned one punch will take care of that.

One kid tried to say I was a Homosexual. I ignored him, but when he tripped me while I was getting off the bus, one punch to the left side of face solved that. The principal was not sympathetic to him. He told him you never question a man's sexuality and not expect to get hit. He then suspended him for 3 days.

Another kid tried to bully me while he was sitting behind me on the bus. He put his head between the window and the seat on my left side. He was saying some nasty things to me. I tried to ignore him, but he was starting to piss me off. Out of nowhere my left hand swings at him. I am facing forward he is behind me with his head between the window and the seat. I am not aware that my left hand did anything because I do not feel my hand make contact with his face. My friend sitting next to me says I just hit the guy behind me and now this 14 year old kid is crying. My left hand had a mind of it's own.

You sound closeted and angry.

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[–] bender-56241 8 years ago

You sound closeted and angry.

LOL

[–] thefilmdevotee 8 years ago

He called you a homosexual and here you are years later calling yourself bender?

[–] BrunoAntony 8 years ago

Irony

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