Flying Monkeys: Learn to Defend Against This Top Weapon of Covert Narcissists

Narcissists use them to manipulate you, surprise you, and shatter your reality

Paul Ryburn, M.Sc.
7 min readMay 4, 2021
flying monkey with teeth bared
Image by Hier und jetzt endet leider meine Reise auf Pixabay 😢 from Pixabay

You feel attacked. People are pointing at you and whispering — some of them total strangers, some people you know. People you thought were your friends seem to be avoiding you lately. You hear that you’re being gossiped about. You’re being lied about. You start to feel like an outcast in your own social group.

I hope you never experience this, but if you do, there’s a good chance you’re the victim of a narcissist’s smear campaign. They spread lies about you and bash you in an attempt to tear you apart from the people and places you love.

Narcissists recruit others to spread the lies, to actively participate in the damage to the target’s reputation. The psychological term for these associates (I kid you not) is flying monkeys.

The covert variety of narcissists is more likely to use flying monkeys than their overt counterparts. This is because covert narcissists prefer not to draw attention to themselves.

Origin of the term

The term “flying monkeys” originated from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. The villain of the story, The Wicked Witch of the…

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Paul Ryburn, M.Sc.

I write about writing, ideas, creativity, homelessness, intuition, spirituality, life lessons. Ex-college teacher Twitter: @paulryburn