Somerville man left 1905 page suicide note online before shooting himself to death

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This story is very sad. It appears this man was very smart but struggled with internal demons.

Somerville — A Somerville man fatally shot himself in Harvard Yard Saturday morning, authorities said. No foul play is suspected.

The Harvard Crimson identified the deceased as 35-year-old Mitchell Heisman who posted a 1,905-page document on www.suicidenote.info, a website he created, arguing history, politics, religion and death.

His mother reportedly told the Crimson to publish his name to let people know of his work “because that’s what he wanted.” She said he worked on his book in Harvard libraries and from his Craigie Street home. She also told the Crimson he seemed happy to be finishing his work.

Friend Jared Nathanson said he and about 400 others received an automatic email from Heisman on Sept. 18 at 4 p.m. containing a link to his site with the book attached. "Several of us wrote responses trying to dissuade him, not knowing it was too late," he said. "I am deeply saddened and surprised by his death."
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http://www.wickedlocal.com/somervil...e-before-shooting-himself-to-death-at-Harvard

Here's the suicide note: http://www.suicidenote.info/
 
How very sad, that at 35 he could write a book about why he committed suicide, but he couldn't or wouldn't ask for help. It would be very difficult to get an email and then find out it was already too late to help.
 
He enjoyed his intellectual certainty but somehow missed the point and paid the ultimate price for his anger and his arrogance.

Just guessing, that when he tried to engage his peers in this discussion they finally glazed over and conceded he might be right, just to stop the invasion.

:cow:
 
My prayers to his Mother, his friends and other family members.

I did download the document, and I will attempt to read it only out of respect for his Mother and what it was he was trying to say.

I did skim the overview of the doc and it reads more like a dissertation than a suicide note.

I haven't read any of the parts though, but found he used some interesting references to support his arguments.

Rest in Peace.
 
This "manifesto"- and yes, I read/skimmed over most of it- reveals to the world that Mitchell Heisman, like many other "psychotics", was first and foremost OBSESSED WITH HITLER. That was my first "uh-oh" observation. There is no way his work would have been accepted in the academic world. Why?
How about these chapter titles, for starters: THE SEDITIOUS GENIUS OF THE SPIRITUAL PENIS OF JESUS (p.359); [JESUS AS] SUPERNATURAL RAPIST;
HITLER'S MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS (p.508); THE NOBLE ARYAN ANUS;
BARACK OBAMA, SUPERN****R (p.675); MASTERING THE RACE. (Insert a *sigh* here- my own. Adding a "groan" would not be hyperbolic, truth be told...)
Heisman asserts that Jesus was possibly the son of a Roman soldier who raped Mary, who "possibly" was a *advertiser censored*. Oh, and he also theorizes "What the Nazis did... was to demonstrate the dark side of the extreme Jewish valuation of life."
In my opinion, Heisman was an obsessive-compulsive of sorts, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was considered paranoid and/or delusional. I'll bet he was constantly spouting off about his "theories" and I'm certain that he was rejected and possibly laughed at more than once. Of course, it is sad that he took his own life, and in such a dramatic fashion. This made it "easy", I would guess, for people to dismiss him as "loony." Obviously he wanted to be heard, and e-mailing this "suicide note" was a way of "forcing" others to pay attention to his convoluted ideas... sadly, I'm sure many people paid attention to his work the same way they "pay attention" to viral videos, or a "joke of the day." IN NO WAY am I trying to make fun of Mitchell Heisman. I wish I could say that I read his "note" and discovered that he was an undiscovered genius; instead, I see an intelligent man who was mentally ill and delusional. IMO, MOO, etc.!! His case is the polar opposite of John Kennedy O'Toole's, the great writer whose magnificent work "A Confederacy of Dunces" was "discovered" after his suicide, when his mother brought his manuscript to Walker Percy. Percy agreed to read it to basically get rid of the grieving mother and to "be nice"; instead he was fascinated from the first chapter onwards. ACOD went on to win the Pulitzer Prize postmortem for Mr. O'Toole (maybe his last name was simply "Toole"?? I can't remember, which is pretty pathetic on my part, as "A Confederacy of Dunces" is my favorite book ever.
Heisman hints at having Asberger's Syndrome, so I am certain he did receive mental health counseling at some point in his life. Too bad he never got well (my opinion); I am sorry for his friends and family and hope he can rest in peace now that he had his final "say.":twocents:
 
Very sad. This man was a genius, and personally, I beleive that being a genius can be a mental illness. Many geniuses are insane, as weird as that sounds.
 
Wow, if you want to draw attention to your suicide, shoot yourself with .357 magnum (!!!) in Harvard Yard around 10 in the morning....



Strange the Aryan stuff, when he himself must have been Jewish. And Yom Kippur is the Jewish high holiday of atonement. I suppose it's not all so complicated when you read about the "suicide note." I concur with the poster above that the poor guy was clinically whacked.
 
I guess we should be glad that he didn't decide to take other lives as well as his own. Personally, I am amazed that he didn't.
 
annmarie62 said:
This "manifesto"- and yes, I read/skimmed over most of it- reveals to the world that Mitchell Heisman, like many other "psychotics", was first and foremost OBSESSED WITH HITLER. That was my first "uh-oh" observation. There is no way his work would have been accepted in the academic world. Why?
How about these chapter titles, for starters: THE SEDITIOUS GENIUS OF THE SPIRITUAL PENIS OF JESUS (p.359); [JESUS AS] SUPERNATURAL RAPIST;
HITLER'S MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS (p.508); THE NOBLE ARYAN ANUS;
BARACK OBAMA, SUPERN****R (p.675); MASTERING THE RACE. (Insert a *sigh* here- my own. Adding a "groan" would not be hyperbolic, truth be told...)
Heisman asserts that Jesus was possibly the son of a Roman soldier who raped Mary, who "possibly" was a *advertiser censored*. Oh, and he also theorizes "What the Nazis did... was to demonstrate the dark side of the extreme Jewish valuation of life."
In my opinion, Heisman was an obsessive-compulsive of sorts, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was considered paranoid and/or delusional. I'll bet he was constantly spouting off about his "theories" and I'm certain that he was rejected and possibly laughed at more than once. Of course, it is sad that he took his own life, and in such a dramatic fashion. This made it "easy", I would guess, for people to dismiss him as "loony." Obviously he wanted to be heard, and e-mailing this "suicide note" was a way of "forcing" others to pay attention to his convoluted ideas... sadly, I'm sure many people paid attention to his work the same way they "pay attention" to viral videos, or a "joke of the day." IN NO WAY am I trying to make fun of Mitchell Heisman. I wish I could say that I read his "note" and discovered that he was an undiscovered genius; instead, I see an intelligent man who was mentally ill and delusional. IMO, MOO, etc.!! His case is the polar opposite of John Kennedy O'Toole's, the great writer whose magnificent work "A Confederacy of Dunces" was "discovered" after his suicide, when his mother brought his manuscript to Walker Percy. Percy agreed to read it to basically get rid of the grieving mother and to "be nice"; instead he was fascinated from the first chapter onwards. ACOD went on to win the Pulitzer Prize postmortem for Mr. O'Toole (maybe his last name was simply "Toole"?? I can't remember, which is pretty pathetic on my part, as "A Confederacy of Dunces" is my favorite book ever.
Heisman hints at having Asberger's Syndrome, so I am certain he did receive mental health counseling at some point in his life. Too bad he never got well (my opinion); I am sorry for his friends and family and hope he can rest in peace now that he had his final "say.":twocents:
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A tip of the hat for the John Kennedy Toole reference (yes, that's actually his last name), which was my first thought when I read the case - great book, just re-read it a month ago. As for the Roman soldier fathering Jesus, that's a fairly old notion and not unique to this person (although he shows his true delusional colors when he tacks on the "Blessed Virgin Mary was a *advertiser censored*" element!).
 
joeskidbeck said:
I guess we should be glad that he didn't decide to take other lives as well as his own. Personally, I am amazed that he didn't.
Click to expand...

Usually it's impulsive people who take others with them. This guy was a thinker- it seems he had to reason and re-reason then do it again 10 times before he acted on any thought. I don't think he'd have it in him to take someone else with him. It took him 1905 pages in order to be able to do it to himself.

mo
 
A bit healthier way of approaching the problem, written by the poet Amiri Baraka (Leroi Jones). Deprived of the freshness life can hold, we are all liable to destructive thoughts; Baraka chose to grasp that freshness when he sees his young daughter - and thus embraces that lengthy life yet left to him, as implied by the title:

Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note
(For Kellie Jones, Born 16 May 1959)

Lately, I've become accustomed to the way
The ground opens up and envelops me
Each time I go out to walk the dog.
Or the broad-edged silly music the wind
Makes when I run for the bus...

Things have come to that.

And now, each night I count the stars,
And each night I get the same number.
And when they will not come to be counted,
I count the holes they leave.

Nobody sings anymore.

And then last night, I tiptoed up
To my daughter's room and heard her
Talking to someone, and when I opened
The door, there was no one there...
Only she on her knees, peeking into

Her own clasped hands.
 
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