10 Normal People Who Tried to Warn Us About TERRIBLE People

Martha Mitchell

Warned Us About Richard Nixon

The wife of attorney general John Mitchell, Martha’s notoriously talkative nature made her a political reporter’s dream. But her chatty habits eventually landed her in a nightmare. Her husband was a member of the Committee to Re-Elect the President—CREEP for short—the party responsible for the Watergate break-in. Martha was talking to a reporter friend about the incident over the phone when she was suddenly silenced, and the line went dead. For days, Martha was held captive in a country club to prevent her from exposing the political scandal. After she was released, the Nixon administration worked to discredit her story, blaming her so-called delusions on a nervous breakdown. Today, this misdiagnosis of paranoia is referred to as the Martha Mitchell effect.

Frances Haugen

Warned Us About Mark Zuckerberg

After working at Google, Yelp, and Pinterest throughout her early career, Frances Haugen joined the Facebook team with the hope of combatting misinformation and doing good for Facebook’s users. After witnessing the internal workings of the tech company that clearly valued profit over people, Haugen decided to expose the company’s wrongdoings. Haugen revealed Facebook’s missteps in dealing with political misinformation, hate speech, human trafficking, and many more dangerous topics. She alleged that not only was Facebook aware of the hate, violence, and misinformation prevalent on the platform, but that Mark Zuckerberg should be held accountable as CEO. In 2021, Haugen testified before Congress against Facebook and released tens of thousands of internal documents to the SEC and media.

Barbara Bouchey

Warned Us About Keith Raniere

The founder of NXIVM, an alleged self-help multi-level marketing company, Keith Raniere was exposed by former members of his organization as a cult leader, human trafficker, and fraudster. One of the individuals critical in bringing this master manipulator down was Barbara Bouchey—a financial planner, NXIVM member, and ex-girlfriend of Raniere. When Bouchey became aware of the abuse prevalent within the organization, she left the cult and went to law enforcement. This was a brave risk, given that she had already received threats and harassment from members still active in Raniere’s cult. Thankfully, her risk paid off and Raniere was convicted of his crimes and sentenced to 120 years in prison.

Rachael Denhollander

Warned Us About Larry Nassar

An attorney, author, educator, and survivor, Rachael Denhollander was the first woman to speak out against Larry Nassar, a former doctor who sexually assaulted over 200 young girls. As a teen gymnast, Denhollander was assaulted by Nassar under the guise of medical treatment for her lower back pain. It took Denhollander 16 years to gather the courage to speak out against his abuse. Her bravery inspired hundreds of other victims to come forward in the aftermath. Denhollander delivered a powerful speech at Nassar’s sentencing hearing, after which the disgraced physician was sentenced to life in prison.

Joan Tarshis

Warned Us About Bill Cosby

For decades, “The Cosby Show” creator maintained a squeaky clean image as “America’s Dad.” Behind the scenes, however, Bill Cosby was getting away with dozens of incidents of sexual assault. As an aspiring comedy writer, Joan Tarshis was drugged and assaulted by Cosby in 1969 and 1971. Tarshis initially kept quiet about the incidents due to shame and embarrassment, but when she felt ready to share her story with a reporter in the 1980s, the reporter refused to publish her claims. After Hannibal Buress’ 2014 stand-up routine about Cosby went viral, Tarshis felt compelled to share her story again, this time with far more success. Though his criminal conviction was overturned after serving about three years in prison, Cosby’s career and reputation would never recover.

Harry Markopolos

Warned Us About Bernie Madoff

You’d think having evidence exposing the biggest Ponzi scheme in history might pique the SEC’s interest, but Harry Markopolos’ experience was more like shouting at a wall. It took just minutes for the financial fraud investigator to notice that Bernie Madoff’s books weren’t adding up, and within hours Markopolos had irrefutable evidence of fraud. Markopolos brought his findings to the SEC in 2000, and in 2001, and again in 2005. Each time, he was ignored. Madoff’s $65 billion scheme wasn’t exposed until his sons went to the FBI in 2008. The SEC’s failure to investigate Markopolos’ tips allowed Madoff to continue defrauding his investors of billions. Biggest “I told you so” ever.

Virginia Giuffre

Warned Us About Jeffrey Epstein

While working as a spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, Virginia Giuffre was introduced to Jeffrey Epstein through Ghislaine Maxwell. This fateful introduction would be the beginning of two-and-a-half years of trafficking at the hands of Maxwell and Epstein. Giuffre eventually relocated to Australia with her husband, and the couple quietly settled and began growing their family. Thinking of her young children, Giuffre gained the courage to speak out in 2010. She began sharing her story with the media, aided the FBI’s investigation into Epstein’s crimes, and was crucial in exposing Prince Andrew’s involvement. Virginia Giuffre passed away in April of 2025. Her work in amplifying the voices of sexual assault survivors will never be forgotten.

John O’Neill

Warned Us About Al-Qaeda

As an FBI agent in the 1990s, John O’Neill took a particular interest in studying the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the rise of terrorist groups like al-Qaeda. O’Neill became a leading expert on al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden and frequently warned of potential terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. After retiring from the FBI in 2001, O’Neill took on a new role as chief of security at the World Trade Center. When a friend joked “at least they’re not going to try to bomb it again,” O’Neill replied, “They’ll probably try to finish the job.” Just two weeks later, O’Neill’s intuition was tragically proven right. O’Neill passed away during the September 11 attacks, while he was helping people evacuate.

Glenda Cleveland

Warned Us About Jeffrey Dahmer

If you’ve seen the chilling Netflix series “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” you’re already familiar with the tragic and frustrating story of Glenda Cleveland. Living in an apartment building adjacent to Dahmer’s, Cleveland frequently reported Dahmer’s suspicious activity to the police, only for her reports to be completely ignored. Cleveland even saw and reported one soon-to-be victim of Dahmer’s, Konerak Sinthasomphone, attempting to escape from Dahmer’s apartment while naked and drugged. Dahmer convinced police he and Sinthasomphone were in a relationship, and they allowed Dahmer to take the young boy back to his apartment. Cleveland’s persistent calls to police should have been all it took to stop Dahmer’s heinous crimes—if only they had listened to her.

Dorothy Thompson

Warned Us About Adolf Hitler

As a foreign correspondent based in Berlin in the 1920s and ‘30s, journalist Dorothy Thompson witnessed Adolf Hitler’s rise to power firsthand. In 1931, Thompson interviewed Hitler and wrote her impressions of the future German chancellor with scathing honesty in her book “I Saw Hitler!.” Thompson described Hitler as weak and insecure, “the very prototype of the little man.” This contrasted greatly with the popular image of Hitler in Germany, as the strong, powerful leader sent to save the nation. Because of her comments, Thompson became the first American journalist expelled from Nazi Germany. She then focused on educating the American public about the rise of fascism in Europe and the violent antisemitism of the Nazi party.

Did we miss any brave alarm-sounders? Let us know in the comments!