In 2006, a man in Portland, Oregon hired a hitman to kill his 51-year-old wife, Susan Kuhnhausen. She ended up killing the hitman with her bare hands. When she had her hands on his neck she asked him, “TELL ME WHO SENT YOU HERE AND I WILL CALL YOU A FUCKING AMBULANCE!”
For many people, the presence of an intruder brandishing a hammer in a darkened bedroom would prompt an entirely understandable response. They’d run.
But Susan wasn’t most people. An emergency room nurse for nearly 30 years, she had disarmed injured men, helped crack open people’s chests to perform heart massages, and administered IVs in patients thrashing from drug withdrawal. She and all the other nurses at Providence trained regularly in self defense, learning how to slip out of headlocks and clutches.
Years of training steadied Susan, who was still wearing blue scrubs when she returned home that night. When her assailant came at her, Susan crowded him, knowing the swings of his weapon would have less force if she stayed close.
His first blow landed on her left temple.
“WHO ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU WANT?” she screamed as loudly as she could. But he didn’t answer. And he didn’t stop.
At 5-foot-4, Susan was 5 inches shorter than the man in the baseball cap. She had two bad knees from repeated injuries and excess weight. But she outweighed her attacker significantly.
Hoping to push him over, Susan says she slammed her body up against his.
He didn’t fall. Instead, he pushed Susan’s back against the pink-hued walls of her bedroom. He then uttered his only words that night: “You’re strong,” he told her.
The phrase sent surges of adrenaline through Susan—and a terrible awakening.
“He is here to kill me,” she realized at that moment. “I don’t know why. I don’t know who he is. But his intent was clear.”
Susan responded by pushing him again. “Who sent you?” she demanded.
She managed to wrestle the hammer from him, and she swung its claw three times, maybe four, into his skull.
He snatched the hammer back. So Susan grabbed his throat.
“WHO SENT YOU HERE?” she asked again, hands squeezing his airway.
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Theodore Lee is the editor of Caveman Circus. He strives for self-improvement in all areas of his life, except his candy consumption, where he remains a champion gummy worm enthusiast. When not writing about mindfulness or living in integrity, you can find him hiding giant bags of sour patch kids under the bed.