What do you do if you've got a Castagana stalking YOU?

[hsher]

I've got a Libertarian Republican stalking me right now. She started nine years ago because I accidentally announced I was trying to produce a cartoon version of a science-fiction show whose star she had the hots for and wrote fanfiction for. The police and I finally got rid of her, but guess what? She's back!

Some friends of mine researched her last year and put up some blogs about who she is and what she did, and she doesn't see the irony in herself being mad at them and at me, for doing the truthful version of what she did as lies nine years ago. She sent me a personal message in October calling me "schizophrenic" and telling me "you brought this misery on yourself". Hm... I'm in misery? Well, I didn't know that...

Her claim is I'm schizophrenic because I got a legal name change a few years ago. (Edited to add, she watches everything I do online and off it. I mean it. Everything I do, everywhere I go, wherever I work, she follows it. All because I wanted to do a TV show.) Well, um... I work in the movie industry, name changes are common, and mine was for religious reasons: I found out my family was Portuguese Jewish, so I changed my name to reflect the discovery. My whole family is thrilled, and my sister did the same thing. But to my female Chad Castagana, changing your name means you're crazy. She's even posted a blogsite about me calling me crazy, and posts entries under the word "crazy" with my full name after it. I'm unsure what to do about this nutball...

She just.won't.go.away... so I know what Letterman, Pelosi and the gang had to deal with this past October and now. It happens to us non-celebrities too.

So I've got a basement-dweller Freep chasing me too. What do I do to get rid of her?
Seriously?

[kestrel91316]

1. Cyber-stalking? Not coming to your house and vandalizing it??

IGNORE the freak.

[Sapphocrat]

2. Is it at all possible...

...she thinks she's in love with you (or worse, that she thinks you're in love with her)? I can't help but think of the word "erotomania."

[hsher]

3. A former atty of mine thinks so

But how did she find out what I looked like? Back then, I didn't have my photo profile up anywhere. It is up now, but this was 9 years ago. I have a profiler working on the case now who says she is "maniacal" and wants to "steal" my identity. It is true, everything I did in life that she found out about, she would post a Stephen Glass-Jukt-style insta-website claiming she did the same kind of thing. I tell you one thing, she is fanatical, vengeful and doesn't give up. She spread lies online about me for years. Some were funny; some weren't. Which is why I disagree with the poster above who thinks I should ignore her.

It's easy to ignore somebody until a co-worker in the hall comes up to you having Googled you because you're new, and asks you about the lies they've read about you. Then it ceases to be funny. Now that the blogs telling the truth of who she is and what she's doing are up, I get a whole lot less of it, and people seem to be putting 2 and 2 together on this turkey.

I have no idea how or why I attracted this person.

[blogslut]

4. Protection order?

Being stalked is not something to guess about. Take legal steps now.

[hsher]

5. Atty on the case now

We're sitting back waiting for her to put any entries on the libel site she's constructed about me. When she does, she's toast. You can see it here:

http://karenmccoyheatherferreira.blogspot.com/2006/10/heather-ferreira-well-known-nutcase.html

[Sapphocrat]

7. Oh boy.

I'm no expert or authority at all -- just your garden-variety reader long fascinated by abnormal psychology, among other related subjects. Erotomania has always been of particular interest, since I had my own real-life brush with it (no details here, as she is still very much alive and probably active on the 'Net; let's just say I'm much too familiar with what you're talking about).

If that's what's motivating your stalker, well, frankly, the odds are very slim she will ever stop -- unless she finds another victim to replace you with (and then, thank God, you will cease to exist in her mind). Police -- and restraining orders -- seem like the obvious solution, but sometimes do more inadvertent harm than good.

The best ("best" meaning most comprehensive) account of erotomania I've ever read is "I Know You Really Love Me: A Psychiatrist's Journal of Erotomania, Stalking, and Obsessive Love" -- http://www.amazon.com/Know-You-Really-Love-Psychiatrists/dp/0028616650 . You might want to pick up a copy just to see if any of the common characteristics stands out in your stalker's behavior; it was written by a (female) psychiatrist who, through no fault of her own, became the object of obsession by a (female) patient. It's extremely unsettling, but it may give you some insight, and some ideas on where to go from here.

I don't agree with the poster who told you to ignore it either. At the very least, your reputation is at stake; at the very worst, your life is at stake.

I wish you the very best of luck with this. It's a matter not to be taken lightly at all.

[11 Bravo]

6. I have a carry concealed permit. n/t

[hsher]

8. Should I get one?

The profiler said this woman fit the profile of someone who would "bump me off" and then steal my identity if her other personalities said to. I find that hard to believe - I've never seen a female "clear eyes assassin" before. But if he's right, then maybe I should get a gun? A friend here in Albuquerque has recommended I purchase one... and soon...

Do you really think I should? I can afford one...