"I investigated a case a few years ago involving a theft of $52,000
from the vault of a department store. The theft occurred sometime between
10 P.M. and 6 A.M. Assuming that it was an inside job, since there were
no signs of forced entry, the owners asked the two workers on duty that
night to write down what their activities were. What stands out in these
letters?"
"The Cashier's writing seems strained ... and the slant is a little
inconsistent. The janitor has a variety of slants, too, yet his letter
seems less stressed."
"You're right about the slants. Cashier A may have a tendency to
repress, but that doesn't necessarily mean criminal intent. A good first
step in interpreting a page is to examine the spacing. if there are
exaggerated spaces between words, the writer's mind was pausing or
hesitating while writing them. Why were they hesitating? You've got to
make an effort to lie on the page, an effort that interrupts the normal
flow of your writing. The truth usually flows pretty easily.
"So what can we conclude from the statements? It seems clear that
the large spaces in the janitor's letter between the words "at" and "my"
as well as between "of" and "6:00" suggest that he did not leave at the
time indicated.
"I called the manager and said that I could not conclude from the
letters who stole the money, but that the janitor probably was lying
about the at which he'd left that night. It turned out that he was told
to leave early the day manager, who had unexpectedly shown up two hours
early that morning, but hadn't informed anyone of his arrival. The
manager was later identified as the thief
"Criminal investigations are often solved solely through
graphology, and this case demonstrates that it is a very useful tool for
leading police in the right direction.
"There are hundreds of traits to examine, far more than I could
tell you about today, but much of the preliminary examination of
handwriting is guided by common sense. Look for the abnormalities, and
make educated guesses as to what they mean."
"Why do people's signatures often seem so different from the rest
of their writing. What is so special about them?"
"A signature represents the writer's public self-image. Notice that
I said image. The signature reflects how you perceive yourself publicly,
not reality."
"How can you come to that conclusion. Why isn't just a
representation Of self-image alone?"
"Do you ever sign something that is not intended for other people
to see? When you write sentences and paragraphs, you are communicating
feelings and ideas. When you get to your signature though, you're
communicating something completely different; you are leaving your name,
your public identity on the page. So if you are not the same person in
public as you are in private, graphologists will be able to see this in
your signature"
"In the above example, what's the first thing you see with Poet
Walt Whitman's sample? His signature. This is someone who feels that his
public self-image must be much larger than his real self-image. He is
screaming to be heard. A person with this trait generally feels small
inside, and to compensate he comes on extra big, cocky,
attention-seeking.
"A signature much smaller than the rest of the sample, such as that
of the musical producer Phil Roach (below) reveals just the opposite.
Phil's public image is under emphasized. He cares little about public
reaction to him. Both Walt's and Phil's signatures are legible though, so
they want you to be able to recognize them.
"Obviously, many people write their names so many times a day that
it is often impossible to write legibly on every occasion, but a
consistently indecipherable signature may suggest that the writer wants
to conceal his or her identity indefinitely.
"Can you possibly guess who's signature this is?
"Of course you can't, because the signature is totally obliterated.
Graphologists refer to the trait of crossing out part or all of your name
as scoring. This trait reveals a hidden desire to self-destruct. It might
come as some surprise to you to learn that was Napoleon's signature, and
was signed late in his career. He knew that his public self-image was
taking quite a beating.
"If only the first or last names of a signature are crossed out,
they are clearly the parts causing stress for the writer. If you cross
out your last name, maybe you feel anger towards your father, or your
brother or sister. There could be a thousand reasons, but family tension
is definitely present.
"If you think that Napoleon's image was suffering, take a look at
how Richard Nixon's signature deteriorated during his career."
"Notice how small Nixon's signature became in 1974, when he was
forced to resign. His signature was nothing more than a fine with a X
through it. Warning bells should go off all over the place on that one.
There is a small but perceptible decline to his name as well late in his
career.
"People who write on a decline are experiencing some sort of
depression, whereas level or inclined writing generally means that the
writer is content. Exaggerated incline and dedine are both considered
negative traits though."
"Other than details about a person's signature, what else about his
handwriting would reveal something about his character?"
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