## Book Review:
Gaslighting -
How to Drive Your Enemies Crazy

### by Victor Santoro,
reviewer Eleanor White
This page updated February 6, 2004

Copyright 1994
Published by
Loompanics Unlimited
PO Box 1197
Port Townsend, WA 98368 USA
ISBN 1-55950-113-8
Library of Congress number 94-75742
113 pages, paperback, indexed

This is an "Eleanor White Book Review". Such reviews are not like what you see in the print media. My emphasis is to provide enough information that a multi-stalking victim or supporter can make an intelligent decision as to whether to buy the book. This means most of the reviews are excerpted text, with comments inserted. This type of review is biased in favor of information relevant to the fight to expose, educate the public about, and stop, multiple stalking.

Note: In the excerpted text from the book, emphasis by way of ALL UPPER CASE LETTERS is mine. The reason for such emphasis is to point up information particularly relevant.

The MAIN purpose of this book review is to describe for the visiting public just how subtle and devious the "science" of harassment had become by the end of the 20th century. Multiple stalker victims will immediately recognize the modus operandi in this book.

The book Gaslighting is intended to show effective ways of driving someone who has done the reader a REALLY bad turn, or made life Hell for the reader, REALLY crazy. The author takes the position that a few people really do deserve extraordinary harassment. The problem with multiple stalking victims, however, is that they have done NOTHING to deserve the types of treatment described in this book.

REASON TO PURCHASE THIS BOOK: I, Eleanor White, have found that this little book in hard copy form can do a terrific job of making it plain to those not informed about multiple stalking that some people really do at the very least THINK, and SERIOUSLY, about such crimes. Especially good for doubting family members and co-workers, who often would really rather none of what the multi stalking victim says be true, and would love to rid themselves of worry by writing us off as mental cases.

## Table of Contents

    Introduction ..................................................    1

    Gaslighting Philosophy ........................................    5

    Causing Disorientation ........................................   19

    Building Paranoia .............................................   39

    Destroying Your Target's Reputation ...........................   45

    Provoking Confrontations ......................................   59

    Real Trouble ..................................................  101

    A Final Word ..................................................  113

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## Introduction

[p 1]

"Gaslighting" is a systematic array of techniques that destroys your target's mental equilibrium, self-confidence, and self-esteem, and is designed to drive your target nuts. Gaslighting is NOT conventional harassment or physical destruction, but highly refined and subtle psychological warfare.

[Eleanor White: Sound familiar?]

Relatively crude harassing tactics, such as sending him magazine subscriptions and having his utilities turned off make it unequivocally clear to the target that HE'S UNDER ATTACK BY SOMEONE ELSE.

[Eleanor White: And I might add, this book proposes tactics designed so that the target canNOT convince others that he IS under attack. The big difference is FREQUENCY of occurrence. While the normal breaks of life happen occasionally, "Gaslighting" and multi stalking victims may have these subtle attacks happen DAILY.]

Gaslighting is far more subtle, because most of the techniques NEVER CLEARLY POINT to a malevolent or vengeful other party. The hapless target never suspects that things are being done to him ... [EW: at first, anyway] ...he comes to believe he's DOING THEM TO HIMSELF!

Other tactics are designed to ALIENATE HIM FROM HIS FAMILY MEMBERS, NEIGHBORS, ASSOCIATES, FELLOW EMPLOYEES, AND EVEN HIS EMPLOYER!

[p 2]

The term "Gaslighting" comes from the 1944 Hollywood movie Gaslight... ... In the movie Charles Boyer tries to convince his wife that she's going insane by contriving incidents designed to make it appear as if she's forgetful, disoriented, an confused. ... Boyer ... was able to use the force of his personality to convince Bergman that she had inherited bad genes from her mother, who had died insane.

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## Chapter 1: Gaslighting Philosophy

[p 8]

A fundamental aspect of gaslighting doctrine is that it's a progressive attack on your target's personality first, followed by his social and occupational relationships. Unlike harassment, where you work from the outside in, gaslighting begins at the center and works out. The sequence of attacks is important, because if you were to mount a direct attack at first, you'd run into a strong and fully functioning personality, able to resist the assaults.

[Eleanor White: Thankfully, in many cases of attacks as described in this book, these sly moves actually STIFFEN and STRENGTHEN the target's resolve, not destroy it.]

[p 9]

There are several steps in preparing a gaslighting campaign against a target. The first is to find out all you can about your target. The first step is to find out all you can about your target, to uncover entry points into his life. The following list provides a minimal outline of what you need to know:

- Full name
- Home address
- Marital status
- Spouse's name
- Number of children if any
- Children's sex and age
- Other relatives
- Occupation
- Work address
- Work telephone
- Name of supervisor
- Names of fellow employees
- Spouse's workplace
- Hobbies and interests
- Motor vehicles owned
- License plate numbers
- Credit card accounts
- Bank account numbers

[Eleanor White: My multiple stalkers have demonstrated knowledge of all the applicable points listed above, and it is a real puzzle how this has been done.]

[p 12]

Your target should not discover that he's under attack until your plan is well underway and it's too late for him to counter it.

[p 13]

In many cases, you'll improve your chances of success if you have a confederate or two to support you. This is especially true if you're conducting a whispering campaign against your target. A target may accuse one person of "having it in for him," but if he begins voicing suspicions of SEVERAL people conspiring against him, he'll present an image of paranoia.

[p 14]

Official stationery from government agencies and letterheads from several companies can serve various purposes, so whenever you have the opportunity, take a few letterheads and envelopes from the office of every company for which you work. ... As we'll see, commonplace forms such as hunting licenses and vehicle registration forms enable you to use devastating tactics against your target.

[p 15]

Collect bars of soap and hotel stationery from several hotels and motels around the country if you travel.

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## Chapter 2: Causing Disorientation

[p 19]

If your target wears a hat, and you can find one just like it but a quarter size larger or smaller in a thrift shop, you can make him wonder if his head is swelling, or if his skull is shrinking. It becomes very easy if your target's headgear is a baseball cap with an adjustable plastic backstrap, and he leaves it on a shelf, hat rack or in a locker. Simply change the strap by a hole or two when he's not looking.

[Eleanor White: Substituting wrong-size clothing is reported by multiple stalker victims.]

[p 20]

Move furniture and other objects to disorient your target. The more subtle you can be, the better this technique will work.

[p 21]

Change one item at a time. Move a chair or lamp, or switch his paper baskets to the other side of the desk. If he has an adjustable chair, raise or lower it an inch. Next morning ... a sense of unease and mild disorientation will creep over him as he tries to readjust to the changed surroundings. When he finally notices that something's different, it will appear inexplicable. After all, who would sneak into his office or home to move a lamp a few inches?

[Eleanor White: Moving my furniture when I'm out is a daily occurrence.]

This works in other settings as well. If your target's a machinist, purloin his micrometer, caliper, or calculator, and wait until he's given up searching for it. Then put it back in a SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT place. During the interval, your target may have even accused another employee of stealing it, provoking a confrontation that will alienate him from fellow workers. When the tool reappears, he'll be doubly confused.

[Eleanor White: Theft-and-replacements are common among multiple stalking victims.]

[p 23]

Never siphon fuel from his tank, as your target would merely conclude that someone was stealing his gas. Instead, each night ADD a couple of gallons to his tank. Your target will begin to wonder when he's due for another fill-up. It will never occur to him that anyone would add gasoline to his tank, and pretty soon he'll doubt his memory.

[Eleanor White: This has happened to me too.]

If he drives to work, get into his car and move the seat an inch or two. If he has an adjustable steering wheel, readjust it slightly for him. If he normally leaves the window open a crack to let hot air out during the summer, crank his window up to the top.

[p 24]

Another piece of subtle sabotage has a long delayed action. Open his trunk and let the air out of his SPARE tire. This is another example of untraceable sabotage that can have serious effects.

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## Chapter 4: Destroying Your Target's Reputation

[p 45]

Certain companies have their security guards examine any packages or briefcases employees carry out the door. ... smuggle a homosexually oriented or bondage magazine into his briefcase. The guard's eyebrows will surely go up, and the find may become the subject of gossip.

[Eleanor White: A cranky neighbour of mine was told I am a pedophile. He took some porn material to my workplace one day when I was home sick. He told the receptionist in very loud tones to "GIVE THIS TO ELEANOR".]

[p 46]

The essence of defaming your target with a rumor is that it NOT get back to him.

[p 48]

Any close police investigation [after framing the target] causes ripples. Police officers who interview friends and neighbors may request that they keep the interview confidential, but some people can't resist the temptation to gossip about anything involving scandal. More importantly, your target's employer, if interviewed by police, may hold it against him. It doesn't matter at all if the police investigation "clears" your target. Both police and employer will probably assume that, although no hard evidence surfaced this time, the target's probably got something to hide.

... he may be on the execution list for the next downsizing. Whatever else may happen, promotion will henceforth be out of the question.

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## Chapter 5: Provoking Confrontations

[p 83]

Sabotaging your target's work is an excellent way of provoking a confrontation with his supervisor, but it's effective only if it appears to be the result of [the target's] carelessness. This is why ... deleting massive amounts of data from his computer ... is counter productive. There are other and more subtle ways of sabotaging your

- In a machine shop ... Turning a knob or changing the computer control setting can change a critical dimension by a couple of thousandths of an inch, enough to turn an entire lot of parts into scrap metal. Another way is to remove one part from the lot, making it appear [the target] spoiled it and discarded it to hide his mistake.
- Remove your target's micrometer or caliper and put it at the other's workstation.
- Re-calibrate your target's micrometer or caliper setting it to read one or two thousandths high or low.
- In a retail outlet, make an extra entry on his cash register. He'll come up inexplicably short in his tally at the end of the shift.
- If you and your target work for the postal service, swipe letters from your target's bundle and drop them into an alley somewhere along his route.
- If your target is a photographer, open the back of his camera momentarily while he's not looking. You'll fog his film and he'll have several totally spoiled exposures to explain away.
- In a photo processing plant, surreptitiously add acid, such as sodium sulfite, to your target's developer. This is particularly effective ... because it will degrade the quality without making it too obvious that something's gone wrong.
- If you both work in a high security plant, steal his badge just before quitting time, putting it in a place where he logically could have dropped it. If you do this on a day you know he has to be home early, he'll be frantic while trying to find it.

[p 98]

Once your target has begun to lose credibility with his neighbors, a few more efforts will build a reputation as the neighborhood crank. The basic tactic is a series of unfounded complaints.

[Eleanor White: Provoking the multiple stalking target to complain loud and often is a prime tactic used by multiple stalking perpetrators.]

[p 99]

If your target has his newspaper delivered, call the newspaper's circulation office a couple of times per week, giving his name, and complaining that his newspaper never arrived that morning. It helps to be abusive. If the route manager arrives with another copy to replace the missing one, and sees [the copy which was delivered OK] at his door, it won't take long for your target to become known as a nut case at the newspaper office.

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## Final Comments

Eleanor White talking: The examples above are only a small sampling of the many stalking and harassing techniques listed in this book. I've chosen a few which have been reported, (or very similar incidents reported,) by people who are victims of multiple stalking. One question for which we have no satisfying answer is HOW the stalkers get away with such invasive crimes, and HOW the stalkers can influence many people to assist.

One would suspect telling lies about the target would be one way. Beyond that, it almost appears as if the justice system deliberately turns their collective heads away and ALLOWS these crimes to happen and go uninvestigated and unpunished.

As a target since 1980, I sincerely hope we will eventually find out exactly how this modern-day horror happens, and how to stop it.